Spiritual Formation and Mystical Symbolism: A Selection of Works of Hugh and Richard of St Victor, and of Thomas Gallus (Victorine Texts in ... 5) ... Edition) (Victorine Texts in Translation, 5) 9782503553115, 2503553117

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Spi ri t ua l For m ati on a n d Myst i c a l Sym b oli sm

VICTORINE TEXTS IN TRANSLATION Exegesis, Theology and Spirituality from the Abbey of St Victor

5 Grover A. Zinn Editor in Chief Hugh Feiss, OSB Managing Editor Editorial Board Boyd Taylor Coolman, Dale M. Coulter, Christopher P. Evans, Franklin T. Harkins, Frans van Liere

Spiritual Formation and Mystical Symbolism A selection of works of Hugh and Richard of Saint Victor, and of Thomas Gallus

Grover A. Zinn Dale M. Coulter Frans van Liere eds.

F

© 2022, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2022/0095/91 ISBN 978-2-503-55311-5 e-ISBN 978-2-503-57331-1 DOI 10.1484/M.VTT-EB.5.112383 ISSN 2507-1912 e-ISSN 2507-1920 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper.

For Luc Jocqué

TABLE OF CONTENTS

9 Preface 11 Acknowledgements 13 Abbreviations



21 General Introduction Dale M. Coulter



53 Hugh Of Saint Victor – Two Writings on the Ark of Noah Introduction and translation by Grover A. Zinn



55 Introduction 83 Appendix: An analysis of Book Three of the Ark of Noah By Hugh Feiss, OSB 87 A Little Book on the Formation of the Ark 133 On the Ark of Noah According to the Ark of Wisdom with the Ark of the Church and the Ark of Mother Grace 241 Richard Of St Victor – On the Ark of Moses Introduction By Dale M. Coulter Translation By Ineke Van’t Spijker and Hugh Feiss, OSB 243 Introduction 255 On the Ark of Moses 455 Richard Of Saint Victor – Tract on Psalm 28:1–11 Introduction and Translation By Christopher P. Evans 457 Introduction 463 Tract on Psalm 28:1–11 519 Thomas Gallus – Commentaries on the Song of Songs Introduction by Craig Tichelkamp Translation by James Arinello and Craig Tichelkamp 521 Introduction 531 Commentaries on the Song of Songs: Selections

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571 Bibliography 589 Indices

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S

Master Hugh of Saint Victor in the classroom. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 403, fol. 3.

PREFACE This volume, the fifth in the prospectus, but the tenth and last to be published, was suggested by Grover Zinn, at the early stages of the project. He had spent years studying the two Ark treatises of Hugh of Saint Victor and had translated Richard of Saint Victor’s two treatises on contemplation, which are indeed works of spiritual formation and spiritual or mystical exegesis. These four works are among the most studied and read of the Victorine writings. They trace the stages of spiritual development from initial conversion to contemplation to sharing the fruits of contemplation in preaching, writing, and ministry. Contemplation is both the summit and the source of the Victorines’ understanding of the unfolding of the graces of faith and baptism in their spiritual lives. This volume begins with Grover Zinn’s translation on Hugh of Saint Victor’s two treatises on the Ark of Noah. Hugh’s interpretation of the Ark of Noah synthesizes verbal and the visual descriptions of the Ark in an amazingly comprehensive way. It starts with a description of what the Ark must have looked like, focuses all time and space on the dying and rising of Christ, and ends in the triune God. Hugh’s treatises on the Ark of Noah draw on a rich tradition of thought shaped by the writings of Augustine and Gregory the Great. However, Hugh also was a very important pioneer in the study of Pseudo-Dionysius, and elements of Dionysian thought and vocabulary can be found in the writings of Hugh and Richard of Saint Victor translated here. Richard of Saint Victor was fascinated with the design and fabrication of the Tabernacle of Moses, the Temple of Solomon, and Ezekiel’s vison of the restored temple. He spent a great deal of effort on the literal meaning of the biblical descriptions of these constructions trying to visualize and describe how these buildings fit together. His treatise known as the Benjamin major is given many names in the manuscripts in which it is found: Mystical Ark, Ark of Moses, On Contemplation. It is an interpretation of the moral meaning of the Ark of Moses, which presupposes the literal meaning of the text. It begins with an entire book about the nature, kinds, and value of contemplation. In doing

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P R E FAC E

so, it starts where Richard’s work known as the Benjamin minor—also called The Twelve Patriarchs or the Preparation of the Soul for Contemplation—leaves off. If for Hugh and Richard, contemplation is the source and summit of the spiritual journey, contemplation is almost Thomas Gallus’ sole concern. His writings are saturated with the theological vocabulary of Pseudo-Dionysius and his primary source, the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus. Thomas Gallus was a major influence on later writers. His works have only recently become available in scholarly editions. The translation of Richard of Saint Victor’s Tract on Psalm 28 is not a sustained explanation of a single symbolic object, but a treatise that incorporates several sermons, and offers a moral interpretation of many persons, places, and things mentioned in Psalm 28. At least in part intended for novices, it covers the entire range of Victorine journey toward contemplation and beyond, and is representative of a number of similar works by Richard of Saint Victor. This entire series aimed to make the writers of twelfth- and early-thirteenth century St Victor more known and accessible. The idea began with a meeting at the University of Notre Dame in 2004 hosted by the late Michael Signer, a major contributor to Victorine and Jewish-Christian studies. When the idea was presented to Luc Jocqué at Brepols Publishers, he bravely embraced the idea and has helped and encouraged us all along the way. Without his faith in the project, Victorine Texts in Translation would not exist, without his patience it would not have been completed, and without his editorial guidance it would be much more flawed than it is. It is to him, therefore, that we wish to dedicate this final volume of the series. The Victorines—not just those represented in this volume, but others like Adam, Andrew, Achard, Maurice, Walter, Godfrey, Odo, Absalom, and the penitential writers Peter of Poitiers and Robert of Flamborough—believed that one advanced to God through doctrina veritatis and disciplina virtutis. This series has immersed its editors, writers, and translators in both doctrina and disciplina. It is our hope that it conveys something of both to its readers beckoning them to veritas and virtus. Deo gratias. Hugh Feiss, OSB Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present work was commenced under the general editorship of Grover Zinn and Dale Coulter, who also wrote several of the introductions. The editors would like to thank all the contributors for their authorship of the present introductions and translations. Hugh of Saint Victor’s two treatises on the Ark of Noah have long been at the center of Grover’s scholarly interests, and we are grateful to have these two works heading off the volume. The translation of the Ark of Moses is a joint undertaking of Ineke van ’t Spijker and Hugh Feiss, with the assistance of Mary Clare Murphy. They finished their work in 2014, but have revised the translation more recently, in light of more recent editions of the same work. The translation of Richard of Saint Victor’s Tract on Psalm 28 was done by Christopher P. Evans and is based on his own Latin edition. Like the translation of Richard’s On the Ark of Moses, this work was completed some time before the final appearance of this volume, and has been patiently biding its time. James Arinello and Craig Tichelkamp, two students of Boyd Taylor Coolman, did the translations of selections of Thomas Gallus’ Pseudo-Dionysian Commentaries on the Song of Song. After an editorial hiatus, Frans van Liere took on the final editing of this volume and readied it for publication, with the indispensable assistance of his student assistant Adrienne Ora. Adrienne supplied numerous missing references, and created the bibliography, abbreviations list and indices. We also wish to thank Nancy Van Baak for proofreading several of the contributions. A  word of thanks is also due to the Department of Historical Studies at Calvin University, for the contribution from the John Van Engen Fund that made Adrienne’s employment possible. It seems particularly fitting that this work was made possible by John’s generous donation to Calvin, since his own research has contributed so much to our understanding of medieval spirituality. Finally, this book is dedicated to Luc Jocqué, on the oc-

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AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S

casion of his retirement, in deep gratitude for his enduring support of this series. On the Feast of Saint Nicholas, 2021 Dale M. Coulter Pentecostal Theological Seminary Frans van Liere Calvin University

ABBREVIATIONS GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS Ancient Christian Writers (Westminster/New York: Newman/Paulist Press, 1946–). AHDLMA Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge (Paris, 1926–). BnF Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris) BV Bibliotheca Victorina (Turnhout: Brepols, 1991–). CCCM Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis (Turn­ hout: Brepols, 1967–). CCSL Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina (Turnhout: Brepols, 1954–). CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna: Tempsky, 1866–). CV Corpus Victorinum (Münster: Aschendorff, 2007–). CWS Classics of Western Spirituality (New York, Paulist Press, 1978–). Denz.-Hün. Kompendium der Glaubensbekenntnisse und kirchlichen Lehrentscheidungen, Lateinisch-Deutsch: Enchiridion Symbolorum, Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum. 3rd  ed. Ed.  H. Denzinger, tr.  Peter Hünermann (Freiburg: Herder, 2009). FOC The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1947–). Grosfillier, Œuvre L’œuvre de Richard de Saint-Victor: 1. De contemplatione (Beniamin maior), ed. J. Grosfillier. Sous la règle de saint Augustin, 13. Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. MGH, SS Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores (Hannover: Hahn, 1826–) PG Patrologiae cursus completes … series graeca, ed. J.-P. Migne (Paris 1857–1876). PL Patrologiae cursus completus … series latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, 221 vols (Paris: Migne, 1844–1864). ACW

14 SBO

SC TPMA VTT WSA

A B B R EV IAT IO N S

Sancti Bernardi Opera, ed. J. Leclercq, C. H. Talbot, and H.  M. Rochais, 9  vols (Rome: Editiones Cistercienses, 1957–98). Sources Chrétiennes (Paris: Cerf, 1942–). Textes philosophiques du Moyen Âge (Paris: J. Vrin, 1958–). Victorine Texts in Translation (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010–). Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Cen­ tury (Brooklyn: New City Press, 1990–).

BIBLES DR

NABRE NRSV

The Holy Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate … by the English College at Douay, and … the English College at Rheims New American Bible, Revised Edition New Revised Standard Version

VICTORINE AUTHORS

Achard of Saint Victor Discretione

Serm. Unitate

De discretione animae, spiritus et mentis, ed.  Häring, Mediaeval Studies 22 [On the Distinction of Soul, Spirit and Mind, tr. H. Feiss, in Works, 353–74]. Sermons inédits, ed.  Châtillon, TPMA 17 [Sermons, tr. Feiss, VTT 4.89–118]. De unitate Dei et pluralitate creaturum, ed. E. Martineau [On the Unity of God, tr. Feiss, in Works, 375–480].

Godfrey of Saint Victor Microcosmus

Microcosmus, ed. Delhaye [Microcosmus, part. tr. Feiss, VTT 2.301–41].

Hugh of Saint Victor Adnot. in Pent.

Adnotationes elucidatoriae in Pentateuchum, PL 175.29–114.

A B B R EV IAT IO N S

Archa Noe



15

De arca Noe morali, ed. Sicard, CCCM 176; PL 176.618–81 [Selected Spiritual Writings, tr. a Religious of C.S.M.V.]. Arrha De arrha animae, ed. and tr. Sicard et al., Œuvre 1:226–83 [The Betrothal Gift of the Soul, tr. Feiss, VTT 2.183–232]. Chronicon Chronicon vel de tribus maximis circumstantiis gestorum, partial editions: ed. Green; ed. Waitz, MGH, SS 24.88–97; ed. Baron [The Three Best Memory Aids, part. tr. Mary Carruthers; tr. Zinn, VTT 6.137–45]. Didasc. Didascalicon, ed.  Buttimer [Didascalicon, tr.  Harkins, VTT 3.81–202]. Eulogium Eulogium sponsi et sponsae (De amore sponsi ad sponsum), PL 176.987–94 [In Praise of the Spouse, tr. Feiss, VTT 2.113– 36]. In Eccl. In Salomonis Ecclesiasten homiliae, PL 175.113–256. In hier. cael. Commentaria in hierarchiam caelestem, PL 175.923–1154. Inst. nov. De institutione novitiorum, PL  176.925–52; ed.  Sicard, Œuvre 1:18–114 [tr. Van Liere and Coulter, VTT 9.207– 54]; ed. Peirel, CCCM 178. Libellus Libellus de formatione arche (De arca Noe mystica), ed. Sicard, CCCM 176. PL 176.681–704. Meditatione De meditatione, ed.  and tr.  Baron, SC  155.44–59 [On Meditation, tr. Van Liere, VTT 4.381–94]. *Misc. Miscellanea, PL 177.469–900. Practica Practica geometriae, ed.  Baron, Opera propaedeutica, 15–64 [Practical Geometry, tr. Homann]. Sacr. De sacramentis christianae fidei, ed. Berndt, CV Textus historici  1; PL  176.173–618 [On  the Sacraments of the Christian Faith (De sacramentis) of Hugh of Saint Victor, tr. Deferrari]. Sapientia De sapientia Christi, PL 176.845–56. Script. De scripturis et scriptoribus sacris, PL 175.9–28 [On Sacred Scripture and its Authors, tr. Van Liere, VTT 3.213–30]. Sent. div. Sententiae de divinitate, ed. Piazzoni [Sentences of Divinity, tr. Evans, VTT 1.111–77]. Septem donis De septem donis Spiritus sancti, ed. Baron, SC 155.

16 Subst. dilect.

Tribus diebus Unione Vanitate Virtute orandi

A B B R EV IAT IO N S

De substantia dilectionis, ed. and tr. Baron, Six opuscules, 89–93 [On  the Substance of Love, tr.  Butterfield, VTT 2.139–48]. De tribus diebus, ed. Poirel, CCCM 177.3–70 [On the Three Days, tr. Feiss, VTT 1.61–102]. De unione spiritus et corporis, ed. Piazzoni, 1980. De vanitate mundi, PL 176.703–40. De virtute orandi, ed. Feiss, Œuvre 1:126–61 [On the Power of Prayer, tr. Feiss, VTT 4.331–43].

Liber ordinis Liber ordinis

Liber ordinis Sancti Victoris Parisiensis, ed. Jocqué and Milis, CCCM 61.

Richard of Saint Victor Adnot. Psalm. Apoc. Arca Moys.

*Cant. Erud. Exterm. LE *Misc.

*Nahum Nonn. alleg. Pot. lig.

Mysticae adnotationes in Psalmos, PL  196.265–402 [Mystical Notes on the Psalms, tr. Evans, VTT 4.147–229]. In Apocalypsim, PL 196.683–888 [On the Apocalypse]. De arca Moysi (De arca mystica; Benjamin major), ed. Grosfillier, Œuvre; ed. Aris, Contemplation [Ark of Moses, tr.  Zinn, Twelve Patriarchs, 149–343; tr.  Kirch­ berger]. In Cantica Canticorum explanatio, PL 196.405A–534A. De eruditione hominis interioris, PL 196.1229A–1366A. De exterminatione mali et promotione boni, PL196.1073–1116. Liber exceptionum, ed. Châtillon, TPMA 5 [Book of Notes, tr. Feiss, VTT 3.297–319]. Miscellanea 4.43–47, PL  177.721–25; Miscellanea 4.52, PL 177.726–27; Miscellanea 5.4, PL 177.753–54; Miscellanea 6.14, PL  177.817–19; Miscellanea 6.27, PL  177.826–27; Miscellanea 6.28, PL 177.827–30; Miscellanea 6.33, PL 177.831– 36; ed. Châtillon, “Autour des Miscellanea,” 299–305. In Nahum, PL 96.705–58. Nonnullae allegoriae tabernaculi foederis, PL 196.191–202. De potestate ligandi et solvendi, ed. Ribaillier, Opuscules théologiques, 77–110.

A B B R EV IAT IO N S

Quat. grad.

Quaest.

Serm. cent. Statu

Super exiit Tract. Trin. XII patr.



17

De quatuor gradibus violentae caritatis, ed.  Dumeige, TPMA 3.126–77 [On  the Four Degrees of Violent Love, tr. Kraebel, VTT 2.261–300]. De quaestionibus Regulae sancti Augustini solutis [Questions on the Rule of St  Augustine, tr.  Feiss, VTT 9.277–301]. Sermones centum, PL 177.899–1210. De statu interioris hominis post lapsum, ed.  Ribaillier, AHDLMA 42.61–128 [On the State of the Interior Man, tr. Evans, VTT 4.251–314]. Super exiit edictum ou De tribus processionibus, ed. Châtillon and Tulloch. Tractatus super quosdam Psalmos (Mysticae adnotationes in Psalmos), PL 196.265–404. De Trinitate, ed.  Ribaillier, TPMA 6 [On the Trinity, tr. Evans, VTT 1.209–382]. De duodecim patriarchis (Benjamin Minor), ed. Châtillon, SC 419 [The Twelve Patriarchs, tr. Zinn, 51–147].

Thomas Gallus SS2

SS3 Expl-AH Expl-DN Expl-EH Expl-MT

Second Commentary on the Song of Songs, ed.  Barbet, TPMA 14 [part. tr.  Arinello and Tichelkamp, VTT  5, below]. Third Commentary on the Song of Songs, ed. Barbet, TPMA 14 [part. tr. Arinello and Tichelkamp, VTT 5, below]. Explanatio in librum De angelica hierarchia, ed. Lawell, CCCM 223A. Explanatio in librum De divinis nominibus, ed. Lawell, CCCM 223. Explanation in librum De ecclesiastica hierarchia, ed. Lawell, CCCM 223A. Explanatio in librum De mystica theologia, ed. Lawell, CCCM 223.

Walter of Saint Victor Serm. ined.

Sermones inedita triginta sex, ed. Châtillon, CCCM 30.

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OTHER AUTHORS

Anselm of Canterbury Mon.

Monologion, ed. Schmitt, 1:1–87 [Monologion, tr. Harrison, in Davies and Evans, ed., The Major Works].

Augustine Civ. Dei

De civitate Dei, ed.  Dombart and Kalb, CCSL  47–48 [The City of God against the Pagans, tr. Dyson]. Conf. Confessiones, ed.  Verheijen, CCSL  27; PL  32.657–868 [Confessions, tr. O’Donnell; tr. Chadwick]. Doc. Chr. De doctrina Christiana, ed. Daur and Martin, CCSL 32. En. Ps. Enarrationes in Psalmos, PL  36.67–1028, 37.1033–1968; ed. Dekkers and Fraipont, CCSL 38–40. Gn. litt. De Genesi ad litteram, ed. Zycha, CSEL 28.1.1–456. Jo. ev. tr. In Joannis Evangelium tractatus CXXIV, PL 35.1379–1976. Quaest. Quaestionum in Heptateuchum libri VII, ed.  Fraipont, CCSL 33; PL 34.547–824. Trin. De Trinitate, ed.  Mountain and Glorie, CCSL  50–50A [The Trinity, tr. Hill].

Bernard of Clairvaux SCC

Sermones super Cantica Canticorum, SBO 1–2 [Sermons on the Song of Songs, tr. Walsh and Edmonds].

Boethius Cons.

De Consolatione philosophiae, ed. Bieler, CCSL 94 [The Theological Tractates: The  Consolation of Philosophy, ed. and tr. Stewart, Rand, and Tester, 128–413].

Gregory the Great Mor. Hom. Ev. Hom. Ez.

Moralia in Iob, ed. Adriaen, CCSL 143–143B. Homiliae in Evangelia, PL 76. Homiliae in Hiezechielem, ed.  Adriaen, CCSL  142; ed. Morel, SC 327, 360.

A B B R EV IAT IO N S

Cant.



19

Super Cantica Canticorum expositio, PL 79.471A–548A.

Hildebert of Lavardin Letter

Letter to Master William of Champeaux. PL 171.141A–43A [tr. Hall, VTT 9.431–32].

Isidore Etym.

Etymologiarum sive Originum, ed. Lindsay [The Ety­ mologies of Isidore of Seville, tr. Barney, et. al.].

Jerome Comm. in Isa. Heb. nom. Ep. Praef. in Reg.

Commentaria in Isaiam Prophetam, PL  24.17A–678B [St Jerome Commentary on Isaiah, tr. Scheck, ACW 68]. Liber interpretationis Hebraicorum nominum, ed. de Lagarde, CCSL 72.58–161. Epistolae, ed. Hilberg, CSEL 54 [tr. Scheck, ACW]. Praefatio in libros Regum, PL 28.547A–555A.

John Cassian Coll.

Collationes [Conférences, tr.  Pichery, SC  42, 54, 64; tr. Ramsey, ACW 57].

Origen Comm. in Cant. Hom. in Gen.

Commentarii in Cantica Canticorum, tr.  Rufinus of Aquilea, in Origenes Werke 8, ed. Baehrens. Homiliae in Genesim, PG 11.115–414 [tr. Heine, FOC 71].

GENERAL INTRODUCTION Dale M. Coulter The works translated in this volume bear witness to over a century of Victorine occupation with the meaning of contemplation in relation to the spiritual life. More than that, however, they attest to a pedagogical program of spiritual formation, designed to restore the soul so that it might peer into the portals of divinity. It may be best to describe this program less in terms of a studium with a master, and more as a path (via) to perfection and happiness. Hugh offers an outline for just such a path through discipline and goodness to happiness in On the Formation of Novices, while Richard describes it in terms of a transitus from Egypt to the wilderness and then the Promised Land.1 In his homilies on Ecclesiastes, Hugh views this journey as a movement through meditation into contemplation, which has both creatures and the Creator as its object. Following Origen, he relates the Book of Proverbs to meditation, Ecclesiastes to the contemplation of creation and its ultimate vanity, and the Song of Songs to a final ascent into contemplation of the Creator.2 Hugh’s different formulation opened the door for Thomas Gallus (d. 1226). He begins his prologue on the commentaries to the Song of Songs by applying the distinction between knowledge of creation (Ecclesiastes) and knowledge of God (Song of Songs) to two types of knowledge, the second of which is a Dionysian move into “super-intellectual wisdom.”3 While there were different ways a Victorine thinker could construe the journey to God, 1 2

3

Hugh of Saint Victor, Inst. nov., prol., VTT 9.217–18, Sicard, 20; Richard of Saint Victor, Exterm., PL 196.1073C–1116C. Origen, Comm. in Cant., prologue, Baehrens, 75.2–79.21 where he compares Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs to the Hellenistic division of philosophy into ethics, physics, and theory (theorica/inspectiva). This basic division comes down to the Victorines in a number of channels, most notably Jerome, Isidore, and Boethius. Hugh follows Jerome’s division into ethics, physics, and theology in Didasc., 4.8, VTT 3.141, Buttimer, 80–81. See Jerome, Commentarius in Ecclesiasten, PL 23.1063A–1064B. The Victorines had a copy of Origen’s commentary on the Songs. See Paris, BnF, lat. 14285. See Thomas Gallus, Commentaries on the Song of Songs, prologue (below, 531–32).

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what holds the Victorine pedagogical program together is the extraction of wisdom from creation for the purpose of encountering God. By synthesizing its various dimensions, the texts in this volume open up the spiritual dimension of the pedagogical program at Saint Victor. They all function within the Victorine understanding of creation as symbol, both in terms of its mirroring capacity and its formative capacity. The former points toward the way in which any object or narrative of events within history might reflect a deeper invisible reality. This is because everything in creation fundamentally participates in the Wisdom from above that is interwoven throughout the cosmos. The latter reveals how objects or narratives could become mental architecture to sharpen the mind. The story of the twelve patriarchs, the ark of the covenant, or Noah’s ark could organize the mind by a kind of mental scaffolding that served as both a mnemonic and telescopic device. Once internalized, Noah’s ark turned the mind into a storehouse of knowledge that simultaneously became a looking glass into the invisible realm. Hence, Victorine symbolism was always about the path back to God through the restoration of the soul. Even more so than their Benedictine or Cistercian counterparts, the Victorines sought to develop what Leclercq called an “integral humanism,” which is a better way of describing their project than Southern’s “scientific humanism.”4 They were less invested in the new study of language and its application to theological problems than they were to a journey to a wholeness of self as it moved from the wisdom of creation to divine wisdom. As Jaeger suggested, human dignity was more a pedagogical goal than simply an idea among others.5 The study of language was crucial, but only insofar as it served the journey to contemplative vision. In order to understand how the texts presented here synthesize the Victorine program, we first need to unpack the historical context within which it was developed before turning to an overarching analysis of the program itself. This will then allow us to explore important themes across all of these texts and show how they attempt to combine extracting wisdom with forming the person, or, to put it in Victorine terms, how they seek to handle ignorance of 4 5

Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture (New York: Fordham, 1982), 140. C. Stephen Jaeger, “Victorine Humanism,” in Hugh Feiss and Juliet Mousseau, eds, A Companion to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 83. Jaeger sees Godfrey as the last representative of Victorine humanism, but Thomas offers another glimpse albeit exported to Vercelli rather than Paris.

G E N E R A L I N T R O DU C T IO N



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the mind through restoring contemplative vision and vice of the soul through cultivating moral virtue. HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT

The texts assembled in this volume show a development in Victorine thought over the course of a century. The three thinkers represented here (Hugh, Richard, and Thomas) operated at different times in the history of the abbey and under different circumstances. At the same time, there is a communal structure that the abbey afforded, which helps to explain how Saint Victor could stimulate important thinkers in the High Middle Ages. Through the delivery of sermons, conversations with novices during times like the “time of speaking” or the “time of conference,” teaching times with novices as part of their education in the order, or lectures that were open to external students, the abbey of Saint Victor offered a robust communal life that enabled its representatives to cultivate their ideas. Hugh’s thought, developed over twentyfive years, supplies the intellectual framework that derived from and reinforced the important values of communal life at the abbey. While it is clear that Richard’s thought influenced Thomas, understanding both requires a more thorough understanding of the development of Hugh’s own intellectual journey. Hugh of Saint Victor arrived at Saint Victor sometime in 1115 with his uncle, the archdeacon at the cathedral of Halberstadt. Beginning in 1120, he taught as the primary master at the abbey for the next two decades until his death in 1141.6 One can divide Hugh’s writings into three distinct periods: those composed before he took up teaching (1115– 1120); his first full decade as a teacher at Saint Victor before he began to work on his magnum opus, On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith (1120–1130); and his final decade in which he completed On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith (1130–1141). Surveying Hugh’s immense output over twenty-six years reveals the significance of his work. Even among such luminaries as Peter Abelard, William of Conches, Bernard 6

On Hugh’s biography, see Jerome Taylor, The Origin and Early Life of Hugh of St Victor, Texts and Studies in the History of Medieval Education, 5 (Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 1957); Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1952), 83–97; and Damien Van den Eynde, Essai sur la succession et la date des écrits de Hugues de Saint-Victor, Spicilegium Pontificii Athenaei Antoniani, 13 (Rome: Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum, 1960).

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of Clairvaux, and Thierry of Chartres, Hugh of Saint Victor stands out for his influence and effort to develop a comprehensive intellectual and moral program. He took up Hildebert of Lavardin’s call to William of Champeaux to pursue true philosophy, which combined knowledge of the truth with moral formation in the context of communal life.7 During his first five years, Hugh initially focused on a contemplative vision of creation. In On the Three Days, he interpreted creation as a vehicle of spiritual ascent to God through the attributes of power, wisdom, and goodness. For Hugh “this whole sensible world is a kind of book written by the finger of God, that is, created by divine power, and each creature is a kind of figure, not invented by human determination, but established by the divine will to manifest and in some way signify the invisible wisdom of God.”8 From this positive interpretation of creation as a symbol of God, he turned to an exposition of Ecclesiastes and began to interpret creation as empty and vain. Having just started the Exposition on Ecclesiastes in his early years, he continued to work on those homilies and eventually paired them in the late 1120s with On the Vanity of the World, a dialogue that placed reason in the position of Solomon in order to convince the soul that it must move beyond the mutability of things. We see in these three works an effort to interpret creation both positively as a mirror of the divine and negatively as a sea of chaos, mutable and perishable. At the same time, they represent an extended meditation on creation that moved into contemplation of the Creator. Shortly after Hugh took up teaching in earnest, he began compiling his Notes on the Pentateuch, Judges, and Kings. The Notes on Genesis were another attempt to understand creation through a focus on the interpretation of Scripture. In the Notes, however, Hugh began with reading words rather than with a meditation on things. Even so, he noted that either starting point worked: “Just as we come to know the truth of things through the truth of words, we also, conversely, more easily come to know the truth of words once we have grasped the truth of things.”9 The focus on scriptural interpretation inspired a broader analysis of reading in the summer of 1121, the Didascalicon, which set forth a program of reading secular and sacred writings grounded in 7 8 9

Hildebert of Lavardin, Letter, VTT 9.431–32, PL 171.141A–43A. Hugh of Saint Victor, Tribus diebus 4.3, VTT 1.63, Poirel, 9. Hugh of Saint Victor, Adnot. in Pent., VTT 6.61: sicut per veritatem verborum cognoscimus veritatem rerum ita contra, cognita veritate rerum, facilius cognoscimus veritatem verborum. I have rendered my own translation.

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the liberal arts.10 As with his works on meditation, Hugh framed the program of reading in terms of the pursuit of divine Wisdom so that the soul might be restored. He accompanied this programmatic work with shorter treatises that expanded or summarized his analysis: Practical Geometry, On Grammar, and On Sacred Scripture and its Authors. By the time Hugh arrived at the end of the 1120s, he had spelled out a program of reading that moved from literal to spiritual interpretation of texts and a program of meditation that went from the visible works of creation to contemplation of invisible realities. Hugh’s focus on reading and meditation led him to Boethius. One can see the Boethian theory of language behind Hugh’s approach to words as human inventions designed to organize and identify the external world. He utilized the Boethian triad of word-concept-thing (vox-intellectus-res) to talk about how the external world impresses a concept on the mind that required the invention of words.11 While the movement was always an interpretive leap from language to reality, this did not mean it was always from a written text. As Hugh had indicated in On the Three Days, the entire world was a book, a point he repeated in The Ark of Noah 2.10. Reading concerned the interpretation of texts, whereas meditation took the mind into the visible world through the concepts that human language evoked. He makes this point clear when he states that “meditation takes its beginning from reading, but it is bound by none of its principles or precepts. For it delights to run in open areas where it fixes its keen and unrestrained vision on the contemplation of truth, now glancing at those causes of things, now penetrating the depths, leaving nothing uncertain, nothing obscure.”12 Meditation completes the process of learning that begins in reading in the same way that focusing on creation itself helped complete the interpretation of texts in reading. Hugh wedded this basic Boethian understanding of language to Augustine’s framework that in Scripture things signify other things, and that the key to spiritual interpretation resides in whether the passage deals with caritas or cupiditas.13 He also employed Boethius’s divi10 11 12 13

On the dating of the Didasc., see Dominique Poirel, Des symboles et des anges. Hugues de Saint-Victor et le réveil dionysien du xiie siècle, BV 23 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 150–64. Didasc., 5.3, VTT 3.151, Buttimer, 96–97; Script., 14, VTT 3.225; Sent. div., prologue, VTT 1.119. Didasc. 3.10 (VTT 3.125; Buttimer, 59). Augustine, On Christian Teaching, books 1–3. See also Franklin Harkins, Reading and the Work of Restoration: History and Scripture in the Theology of Hugh of Saint Victor (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2009).

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sion of the theoretical branch of the arts into intellectible (theology proper), intelligible (mathematics), and natural/sensible (physics) as an epistemological framework for the movement from visible to invisible realities. When one combined the Solomonic triad of Proverbs (ethics/ cogitation), Ecclesiastes (physics/meditation), and Song of Songs (theology/contemplation), one could see how the ascent was itself about love and contemplation that culminated in vision and union. Hugh’s two perspectives of reading and meditation formed parallel tracks that grounded his theology. When Hugh turned to the Dionysian Celestial Hierarchy in 1125, he framed the approach in terms of two types of simulacra in relation to mundane and divine theology.14 Contemplation on the simulacra of creation was the domain of philosophical pursuit that Hugh saw as a kind of worldly theology. Contemplation on the simulacra of grace, on the other hand, begins with the humanity of the Word and all of his sacraments. These two distinct starting points harmonize as the wisdom of creation culminates in Wisdom, but only for the person who has been inwardly illuminated. Hugh viewed Pseudo-Dionysius as a theologian who understood how creation mirrored the divine because of the inward illumination received in and through the simulacra of grace found in the work of restoration or the humanity of the Word and his sacraments. The angelic hierarchy stood between the divine and the human in the same way that the intelligible hovered between the sensible and intellectible. This explains why Hugh treats angels as participating in divinity through intelligible things. In this way, Dionysian darkness was made to serve Hugh’s Augustinian mysticism of light and vision. Hugh ended his first full decade at Saint Victor by composing his two ark treatises and taking his first steps toward a complete expression of his ideas about creation and redemption in the Sentences of Divinity. He had already begun fusing Boethian and Dionysian elements into a fundamentally Augustinian framework. Thus Hugh forged an alternative to the Platonism found in William of Conches, Bernardus Silvestris, and Thierry of Chartres. One detects a slightly veiled critique of those who attend Mass and yet “love the nonsense of the poets” in The Ark of Noah.15 As he turned in the second decade to complete his 14

15

Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael. 1.Prologue, CCCM 178.399–413. See also Dominique Poirel, Des symboles et des anges. Hugues de Saint-Victor et le réveil dionysien du xiie siècle, BV 23 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013). Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 4.8, below, 207, CCCM 176.106.

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ambitious project of theology, he first set forth briefly an introduction to history in the Chronicon. The opening line pursues a familiar theme by declaring “wisdom is a treasure and your heart is a treasure chest (archa).”16 It is taken from the Wisdom of Jesus Sirach, which was read at mealtimes in the summer as part of a regular cycle at Saint Victor. The Chronicon completed Hugh’s project in history as foundational to understanding the works of creation and restoration, which enabled him to turn in earnest to the exploration of allegory in On the Sacraments of the Faith. History was the horizontal foundation without which one could not enter a vertical ascent from the visible to the invisible. The final decade of Hugh’s life, then, concerned completing that magnum opus along with other shorter works on prayer, Mary, the Spirit, Christ, and love. Many of the shorter works apply his thought to or expound upon specific topics in light of requests from others. One must return to the late 1120s for the context of the two ark treatises even though Hugh later revised the Little Book on the Formation of the Ark. Hugh places the origin of The Ark of Noah in a conversation that occurred shortly after lunch during the “time for speaking” (hora locutionis). Grounded in the ancient monastic custom of conferences between leaders and novices, one canon would lead a group of canons in a discussion as they sat facing one another in the cloister.17 Hugh probably has this kind of conversation in mind when he tells novices that there are “places where we can speak for the sake of discipline and instruction in morals, and others where we can have talks (collationes) regarding the understanding and exposition of the Scriptures.”18 He employs the same term for “conversation” (collatio) at the beginning of The Ark of Noah, noting that “some things in this collation particularly pleased the brothers.” It may be that the discussion occurred in the summer, since Hugh indicates that the topic was the instability of the heart, and there was a cycle of reading through the wisdom literature in July and August, which included readings from an exposition on Ecclesiastes.19 In his own exposition of Ecclesiastes, Hugh had identified three kinds of vanity based on its source: mutability, cupidity, or 16 17

18 19

Hugh of Saint Victor, Chron., VTT 6.137. Liber ordinis, 34, VTT 9.129, Jocqué and Milis, CCCM 61.163–64. See the discussion of Patrice Sicard, Diagrammes médiévaux et exégèse visuelle: Le Libellus de formatione arche de Hugues de Saint-Victor, BV 4 (Paris-Turnhout: Brepols, 1993), 16–20. On the ancient practice, see John Cassian, Coll. Hugh of Saint Victor, Inst. nov., 15, VTT 9.242, Sicard, 83. Liber ordinis, 48, VTT 9.156, CCCM 61.213.

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mortality. The connection among the three was that they emerged from the transitory and unstable nature of life and how that produced continuous fluctuations in the individual.20 The relationship Hugh draws in the commentary between vanity and the fluctuations and instability of the soul could have provided the context that gave rise to this kind of discussion in the first place. Hugh appeals to Ecclesiastes in The Ark of Noah 2.13 as part of his claim that human works will not endure. Between 1125 and 1130, Hugh was in the prime of his teaching at Saint Victor. He was guiding Lawrence, the former abbot of Westminster, and Robert of Melun in their initial lectures on divinity while also covering Boethius with Clarembald of Arras. The teaching of external students, however, did not stop him from synthesizing his basic pedagogical program for the novices of the abbey. As The Ark of Noah attests, Hugh seemed regularly engaged with the canons in their quest to continue the path that he outlined in his book dealing with their formation. The ark treatises allowed Hugh to use a symbol that fused together moral virtue with contemplative vision as part of the ascent from the visible to the invisible. It also offered a way for Hugh to argue that history was foundational to this ascent. In an important sense, the ark treatises became an early summary of Hugh’s thought in the service of the canons at Saint Victor. Like Hugh of Saint Victor, Richard quickly assumed leadership positions at Saint Victor after his arrival sometime in the late 1140s. His sermons and expositions stem from various oral contexts in which he was either preaching or teaching canons in the community. The lengthy Tract on Psalm 28 represents an important composite work that most likely stemmed from the variety of contexts within which oral teaching occurred at Saint Victor. Many of the works Richard composed in the 1150s represent early explorations of various ideas in the service of helping novices continue on the path of conversion. Addressed to novices, the Tract on Psalm 28 explores the pursuit of the moral life in terms of a movement from stability of place to stability of heart. It reveals how thirty years later, novices at the abbey still wrestled with the same basic moral problems after they entered the abbey that Hugh had covered in The Ark of Noah. The work begins reminding the novices that they must be sons rather than hirelings or serfs and then gradually unpacks what that means. Entering the abbey was simply the first step. Richard admonishes the novices to “take the difficult road, and enter the narrow gate 20

Hugh of Saint Victor, In Eccl., Homily 1, PL 118D–125A.

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into religious life, into the vow of profession.”21 The novices now must embark on a journey through the landscape of their soul in an effort to subdue wayward desires. The path unfolds as discipline and correction that brings compunction and seeks to subdue disordered affections like pride, and as the flight of desire to its true home. Through his tropological interpretation, Richard weaves together action and intention. He speaks of purity of mind, purity of mouth, and purity of deed. Pride must be dealt with first and then lust can be tamed, which occurs in the discipline of the abbey. And yet, the rigorous behavior prescribed by the Book of the Order does not touch the interior life or intentionality. For this, the novice must begin to sculpt the affections through thoughts of judgment that produce fear and contrition and thoughts of the good that turn cupidity into charity. Richard acknowledges that the novice will struggle with bitterness after renouncing the world and entering the abbey, which only intensifies under the discipline of the abbey.22 The second half of the treatise turns away from action toward study and contemplation. Richard acknowledges the difficulties and frustrations of study. Borrowing again from Hugh, he states that one must follow Noah and erect an ark to survive the flood of divine presence in the grace of contemplation. Acquiring wisdom is a battle that can only succeed with the help divinely bestowed through a contemplative ecstasy that bursts upon the canon “when the whole mind is suspended in the heavens … and in the great flood of wisdom it contemplates nothing but heaven.”23 It’s clear that the mental structure of the ark tames and focuses the mind so that it becomes a storehouse and a citadel prepared for the struggle of learning and the desire to break through to insight. Richard’s flood of wisdom is when a canon suddenly penetrates the meaning of a passage or sees the passage in light of the self. It is akin to the burst of creative insight that occurs when the pieces of a puzzle arrange themselves in the mind to form a coherent picture. The more insights the canon receives the more he learns about God’s purpose and builds the intellectual virtues of deliberation and discretion that govern his heart. Richard’s argument enters into a heightened appeal as he turns from describing the novices as sons to seeing them as knights who are trying 21 22 23

Richard of Saint Victor, Tract., 3, below, 466. Richard of Saint Victor, Tract., 6, below, 484–87. Richard of Saint Victor, Tract., 7, below, 492.

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to lay siege to the kingdom of heaven. He commands them to build siege towers of “meditation, speculation, and contemplation” in order to penetrate the city and obtain the secrets of wisdom. The various authoritative opinions from Scripture function as stones to hurl at the walls while vigorous arguments form battering rams until finally the walls begin to crack and revelations pour out. Through all of this activity of study, the novice-turned-knight receives the wounds of love that merely intensify the battle until this love takes him into ecstasy and then returns him to his neighbor. The tract concludes with a detailed explanation of the peace that emerges after such intense warfare along with a refrain that Richard made over and over to his hearers: “it is better to learn these things by experience than by explanation.”24 When reading these treatises, it is easy to forget that they were first and foremost practical works of spiritual advice to aid canons as they sought to live out their vows. Underneath the words are concrete struggles over desires to return to a life outside the abbey and complaints about the rigor of this new life. One can almost hear the grumbling about the abbey’s routines behind Hugh’s admonition that “love of this world seems to be sweet at the outset, but it has a bitter end, whereas the love of God begins in bitterness, but its end is full of sweetness.”25 The struggles of studying Scripture merely compound the harshness of the daily routines, times of confession, and rigors of discipline experienced in the abbey. Following Hugh, Richard describes the process of formation in virtue and knowledge of truth in terms of mental scaffolding through the erection of an ark. He moves from action to affect and from affect to knowledge that then culminates in wisdom born of contemplative vision. More than that, however, Richard takes a cue from courtly literature and describes the novice as a knight on a quest to the heavenly Jerusalem where he might find peace. No doubt stories of the crusades lingered in the background. The thoughts and insights Richard explored in various sermons and tracts found their way into the grand synthesis in his three-volume tropological examination of the canonical life. The Twelve Patriarchs, The Extermination of Evil and Advancement of Good, and The Ark of Moses simply unpack the journey by placing the canon in a narrative transitus that turns the affections into a tribe who can then march into the Promised Land and construct an interior ark. Out of the three 24 25

Richard of Saint Victor, Tract., 9, below, 507. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 1.2, below, 135, CCCM 176.6.

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works, The Ark of Moses attempts to bring together the entire program of reading and meditation Hugh had developed into a mental movement from creation into the self and upward to God. In his own way, Richard is articulating the twin movement of reading texts and meditating on creation that one finds in Hugh’s early works. Richard shows the canon how all the liberal arts aid in learning about creation, before turning to an investigation of the human person that can then serve as a launching pad for the movement between the divine nature and three persons or between unity and Trinity. These are the six wings of the seraphim that symbolize contemplation, with the first two covering creation, the second two the movement from creation to the self, and the final two from the self to God. Hugh had outlined more than one path through the visible to the invisible world. The path from thinking to meditation and then contemplation could move through the liberal arts into Scripture or it could move through the Solomonic corpus of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and then the Song of Songs. Thomas Gallus elected to form his own thoughts around the latter movement after he departed Saint Victor and settled at Vercelli. He served as a master at Saint Victor during the first two decades of the thirteenth century before moving to Vercelli at the request of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, the papal legate to England and France. He would eventually become abbot in 1226, a post he retained until his death in 1246. During his time here he composed three sets of commentaries on the Dionysian corpus of writings, as well as three commentaries on the Song of Songs. The third and final commentary on the Song, however, was composed during a sudden exile when Thomas had to leave Vercelli quickly. He notes in the prologue that he did not possess his other two commentaries and thus decides to begin afresh, probably without the benefit of any books from the abbey. Nevertheless, the third commentary on the Songs retains the basic movement from visible to the invisible that Hugh had found in the Solomonic corpus. Given that Hugh had placed both the Song and the Dionysian writings in the area of divine theology, it is no mistake that Thomas chose the Song as the counter to his deep investment in Dionysian thought. Thomas begins the prologue of his commentary by noting two kinds of knowledge. The first is “intellectual and composed from the consideration of created things (as in Ecclesiastes), according to the exposition of our venerable teacher Master Hugh.”26 He weaves this 26

Thomas Gallus, SS3, prologue, below, 531.

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insight into the way the Dionysian corpus begins with the visible world as a representation of the invisible. The Solomonic journey through creation in Ecclesiastes becomes the counter to Dionysian positive theology. This sets the stage for the second kind of knowledge that Thomas equates with the negative move into unknowing. The Song of Songs forms the practical counter to Pseudo-Dionysius’ Mystical Theology. By practical, Thomas seems to mean the actual practice of the contemplative life as a movement into ecstatic embrace rather than the theoretical framework he finds in the Dionysian hierarchies, which themselves serve as a kind of master symbol for the interior ascent to God just as the ark does for Hugh and Richard. In his own way, Thomas extends the program that Hugh had set forth and Richard developed. THE VICTORINE PROGRAM

The program developed at Saint Victor was a comprehensive pedagogy that focused on the restoration of the human person. It offered a kind of “integral humanism” grounded upon a commitment to human dignity. Yet, this dignity was marred and required a restoration process like cleaning a great work of art to reveal the vibrant colors hidden underneath layers of dust and grime. On the one hand, it was a way of life that unfolded at the abbey through its customs and manners designed to shape the action of the canon. Hugh referred to this way of life as disciplina, which he defined in terms of the “ordered movement in all one’s members and an appropriate disposition of them in attitude and action.”27 On the other hand, it was an intellectual program of reading and meditation centered upon the arts or the disciplines. In this sense, disciplina was about the focused investigation of speculation (speculatio) and philosophy, “the discipline that plausibly investigates the reasons of all things, both divine and human.”28 Because of its versatility, Hugh employed disciplina as his way into the program of learning at Saint Victor. As he instructed new canons, Saint Victor was a “school of discipline” (schola disciplinae).29 Following Augustine, he understood disciplina as always orienting the canon regular toward the practice of the Christian life whether that practice took 27 28 29

Hugh of Saint Victor, Inst. nov., 10, VTT 9.229, Sicard, 48. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 1.2, VTT 3.84–85, Buttimer, 6–7. Hugh of Saint Victor, Inst. nov., 8, VTT 9.227, Sicard, 44.

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the form of external actions that cultivated virtue or mental exercises that inculcated knowledge and wisdom.30 This becomes clear in Hugh’s overarching treatment of disciplina as precepts of living (praecepta vivendi) for a way of life and precepts of reading (praecepta legendi) for the purpose of studying.31 The term allowed Hugh to move seamlessly between discipline as bodily control through regulation of behavior in the abbey, mental control through intellectual exercises, and training human reasoning through distinct areas of study. From this vantage point, philosophy is the “discipline of disciplines” because it encapsulates all of the arts as a set of practices designed to investigate all things divine and human. Hugh’s division of philosophy into theoretical, practical, mechanical, and logical branches merely underscored its function to utilize all “disciplines” as tools in the practice of reading and meditation to cultivate and restore the soul. Moreover, philosophy as a discipline related to teaching (doctrina) in the Didascalicon while Hugh talks about knowledge through instruction as the path to discipline and then goodness in On the Formation of Novices.32 The pathway in both the Didascalicon and On the Formation of Novices is from the external to the internal through teaching or learning at the abbey. Given that disciplina always orients the canon regular to the practice of morals and study, one can see why Hugh utilizes the ark of Noah as a symbol so that “you may learn wisdom, discipline, and virtue to adorn your soul.”33 The movement from external intellectual practices in the disciplines to internal wisdom accompanies the movement from external moral practices in the life of the abbey to internal virtue. To put it another way, for Hugh and Richard, the active life encompassed the morals and mores in the abbey. In The Ark of Noah, Hugh described this life as going out the door of the ark through action. Conversely, the contemplative life of leisure concerned the formation of the mind through reading and meditation, which Hugh interpreted as the window of Noah’s ark.34 The ark became an architectonic symbol to aid the 30 31

32 33 34

Henri-Irénée Marrou, “‘Doctrina’ et ‘disciplina’ dans la langue des pères de l’église’,” Bulletin du Cange 9 (1934): 5–25. Didasc., 3.12, VTT 3.127, Buttimer, 61. Hugh states “and so he bound precepts for living to precepts for reading in order that the student might know both the way of life he should undertake and the manner of studying he should pursue” (et ideo praeceptis legendi, praecepta quoque vivendi adjungit, ut et modum vitae suae et studii rationem lector agnoscat). Didasc., 2.1, VTT 3.96, Buttimer, 24; Inst. nov., prologue, VTT 9.218, Sicard, 21–22. Archa Noe, 1.3, below, 138, CCCM 176.10. Archa Noe, 2.2, below, 156–57, CCCM 176.35–37.

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canon in the movement from external teaching to internal wisdom and external mores to internal virtue so that the individual might become a house of God. As Hugh states, “There are four ways through which a creature could know the Creator. Two are according to nature and two are according to grace; two are internal and two are external. Reason and creation are according to nature; reason is internal and creation is external. Inspiration is internal and teaching external.”35 In his role as master, Hugh believed that God joined teaching to creation so that the creature could know the Creator, which meant that the canon regular should be enveloped in a way of life through disciplina. While disciplina provided the door and the path to the Victorine program, Hugh grounded it upon humanity as imaging God and thus a kind of mirror of the divine. He began in the Didascalicon by claiming that the mind had been stamped with the likeness of all things, not in the sense that all things were actually present but that there was an inherent potential and power (virtualiter et potentialiter) in human nature to mirror creation.36 In the words of Richard and Godfrey of Saint Victor, humanity was a microcosm of the external world.37 On the basis of this claim, Hugh suggested that the human heart “was founded in such a way that in it, as in a kind of mirror of its own, Divine Wisdom would shine forth, and what could not be seen in and of itself would appear visibly in its own image.”38 Hugh’s understanding of the image set the tone for how humans participate in wisdom by moving from the external to the internal and then the eternal. The use of wisdom (sapientia) in Hugh is crucial to understand the program he constructs. In keeping with his fusion of Boethian and Dionysian ideas into an Augustinian framework, Hugh asserts that Wisdom is first the “sole primordial Reason of things.”39 Before the act of creation, God “conceived in eternity in his Wisdom, which is coeternal with him, the forms of all creatures. These forms are coeternal with that Wisdom and are called the ‘reasons’ (rationes) of things in the divine mind, or ‘ideas,’ or ‘notions.’”40 Thomas Gallus will utilize this idea to 35 36 37 38

39 40

Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., part 3, VTT 1.156. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 1.1, VTT 3.84, Buttimer, 6. Richard of Saint Victor, Statu, 14, VTT 4.263; Godfrey of Saint Victor, Microcosm, VTT 2.303–41. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 3.7, below, 177, CCCM 176.63–64: quoniam ita conditum est cor hominis, ut in eo tanquam in quodam speculo suo divina sapientia reluceret et que in se videri non potuit in sua imagine visibilis apparet. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 1.4, VTT 3.87, Buttimer, 10–11; 2.1, VTT 3.96, Buttimer, 23–24. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., part 2, VTT 1.141.

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claim that God is only seen in “those highest and eternal archetypes … which are ideas or exemplars of all creatures subject to God.”41 As uncreated patterns, divine ideas inhere in the Person of the Son and form part of the Son’s own personhood as Wisdom distinct from the Father and the Spirit. Augustine’s triad of memory, understanding, and will grounds Hugh’s trinitarian image of power, wisdom, and goodness, with the Son expressing understanding and wisdom.42 Hugh calls the uncreated reasons primordial and comes to associate them with the triad power, wisdom, and goodness. Yet, it’s clear that this triad only exemplifies and grounds uncreated reasons.43 In the Didascalicon, he identifies uncreated reasons with Nature in its most basic sense of the original exemplar that gives created reality to all.44 From these uncreated reasons, creation unfolds as a procession through a series of created reasons that flow into matter and become the basis for its arrangement or structure. What Bernardus Silvestris had broken up into a cosmic myth with Nature complaining to Noys (Providence) about the state of Hyle (matter), Hugh finds in a vision of the Son as both Nature and Wisdom moving forth into matter through created ideas.45 In The Ark of Noah, Hugh portrays the Son as the Book of Life both because Christ summarizes Scripture and because the Son is the Wisdom through whom God made all his works.46 The Son stands at the center of both the triune nature and creation as the Wisdom who contains the uncreated patterns that differentiate matter according to form. Since Hugh associates Wisdom with the Son and uncreated and created ideas, he also sees wisdom in terms of the structure (dispositio) of the entire creation. This structure gives rise to a beauty expressed in the harmonious composition of matter, the symmetrical placement of created things in relation to one another, and the temporal harmony of days and seasons. Hugh identifies these various elements of the cosmic structure as the disposition of places, times, and parts in On the Three Days. He moves from the structure to the particularity of creation by discussing the movement, appearance, and quality of created things.47 This corresponds to 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Thomas Gallus, Exposicio Vercellensis (1233), 7, McEnvoy, 31. Hugh of St Victor, Sent. div., part 3, VTT 1.157–60. See Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., part 2, VTT 1.141; Sacr., 1.2.1–3, Deferrari, 28–31. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 1.10, VTT 3.92, Buttimer, 17–18. See Winthrop Wetherbee, The Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris (New York: Columbia University Press, 1973), 65–69. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 2.10, below, 166, CCCM 176.48–49. Hugh of Saint Victor, Tribus diebus, 1.4–13, VTT 1.62–73, CCCM 177.4–27.

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Hugh’s second definition of nature as the distinct being of each aspect of creation through its differentiation according to form.48 Nature gives rise to the natures of all things and forms the ground of the structure. One can see why Hugh understands the work of wisdom in terms of the knowledge of all things and the arrangement of all things. Knowledge refers to the grasping of the whole in a kind of Boethian eternal present so that Wisdom “in one glance of vision comprehends everything simultaneously and once-and-for-all.”49 While one can describe this vision as foreknowledge or providence, it all comes back to a simultaneous beholding of the whole. Contemplative vision mirrors this eternal vision and becomes the way in which the created wisdom of the rational mind fully reflects divine wisdom. What Hugh calls the arrangement (dispositio) of all things refers to the internal structure of God’s trinitarian life and its reflection in the structures of creation and the soul. The affective ordering of the soul through love so that it passes from being to beautiful being evinces this structure.50 God constructed the rational soul in the knowledge of the truth and the love of goodness so that human wisdom paralleled divine wisdom in both its knowledge and internal structure. When Hugh introduces love, he instinctively moves into an Augustinian pneumatology. This is why he calls the Holy Spirit an artisan (artifex). Through love, the Spirit realizes the divine patterns in all of creation, which is in accordance with the grace of creation and salvation.51 Hugh views the universe in architectonic ways as a kind of hierarchically ordered cosmic machine patterned upon God’s vision of the entire structure of divine ideas in the Son and their arrangement in rational creatures and creation through the love that the Spirit as divine artist pours out. When Hugh claims that the sensible world is a kind of book, he has in mind the way in which each created thing is part of a continuous divine discourse. In The Ark of Noah, Hugh speaks of three books, the second of which is “the one God created from nothing … in which visible work the invisible Wisdom of the Creator has been visibly written.”52 As the Wisdom of God, the Son is the Book of Life, which is woven into the book of creation and stands at the center of the book of Scripture. 48 49 50

51 52

Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 1.10, VTT 3.92–93, Buttimer, 10–11. Hugh of Saint Victor, Tribus diebus, 2.20.8, VTT 1.84, CCCM 177.49–50. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., part  1, VTT  1.130–31, Sacr., 1.13, Deferrari,  9. See also ­Augustine, Conf., 11.7.9, Boulding, 290; 11.11.13, Boulding, 292; Boethius, Cons., 5.6.9–10, Loeb, 422–23; 5.6.25–31, Loeb, 423–25. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., 1.6.17, Deferrari, 105–6. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 2.10, below, 166, CCCM 176.48–49.

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The counter to the claim that creation is a book is Hugh’s assertion that “things derive their meaning from the institution of God” and function as God’s own language.53 Hugh expresses this point in The Ark of Noah as the three words, the second of which is “the word of God (that is, the work of God), which, created, does not subsist without changes.”54 He goes on to describe creation as an external word whereas the Wisdom of God is an internal word. The implication is clear: creation is the external expression of the internal divine discourse that is the Wisdom of God. As a “likeness to divine Reason,” each created thing points back toward the Wisdom of God, paralleling the way that human words embody and express human concepts. The Boethian movement of vox-intellectus-ratio-res (word-concept-reason/ideathing) bears fruit at this level. The external word mirrors an internal concept that is grounded in the rationale or reason (created idea) for the thing. In this way, “all things together and each thing individually declare all [of] Wisdom. The word, therefore, speaks about the Word.”55 While humans have invented various languages, the very possibility of linguistic depiction of created things echoes the mirroring capacity of the whole universe. Human language mirrors created reality and created reality mirrors divine reality, which is another way of describing a movement from the visible to the invisible. Language is a function of the capacity of the mind to bear and construct images or likenesses, which takes the person back to Hugh’s earlier claims about the soul mirroring divine wisdom. All of creation functions as divine language and the God-given human capacity for language enables humans to organize and understand this language. This examination of how Hugh understands wisdom invariably leads to Hugh’s epistemology and his program of formation, or reformation. The restoration of the soul through overcoming ignorance, concupiscence, and bodily infirmity occurs as the person uses all of the arts to move from creation to the rational soul to the Creator. The order of knowledge (ordo cognitionis) is the ascent from the visible to the invisible while the order of creation (ordo conditionis) is the descent from the invisible to the visible.56 Hugh skillfully adapts the idea of procession and return through his own creative articulation of Christian 53 54 55 56

Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., prologue, VTT 1.119; Didasc., 5.3, VTT 3.151, Buttimer, 96–97; Script., 14, VTT 3.225. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 2.11, below, 167, CCCM 176.49–50. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 2.14, below, 169, CCCM 176.51–52. Hugh of Saint Victor, Tribus diebus, 3.25.1–3, VTT 1.90, CCCM 177.61.

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Platonism. One cannot understand Hugh’s use of the liberal arts or his epistemology apart from this procession and return motif. There are two dimensions to Hugh’s epistemology that are important, both of which he derives from Boethius. First, Hugh’s reading program begins with texts and their interpretation because human reasoning starts with the meaning of words. All pagan writings function with a basic movement from words to concepts to ideas to things. One begins to understand the visible world through the analysis of human language as a mechanism to access that world. This approach undergirds an important aspect of Hugh’s view that history is foundational to the entire enterprise of learning. The most basic definition of historia or littera is the movement from word to thing, which means that the trivium grounds the act of interpretation. He states that the logical branch of the arts concerns discursive reasoning by attending to the concepts of things (intellectus rerum).57 It is crucial to note that the literal meaning at this level simply refers to the words human authors employ to signify deeds or things. Because history in this basic sense is foundational, Hugh sees reading as the first step in learning. Second, Hugh’s program moves from reading to meditation and back again. The reciprocating movement involves going from words through the trivium to things through the quadrivium and back again. Central to the analysis of things is the theoretical branch of the arts. Hugh refers to the theoretical branch as “speculative” because it entails a contemplative vision (theoria) that unfolds through the mirrors of created things (speculatio). He divides the theoretical branch into theology, mathematics, and physics, which examines intellectible realities (theology), intelligible realities (mathematics), and sensible realities (physics). This Boethian triad is both metaphysical and epistemological so that the person ascends from the sensible to the intelligible and arrives at the intellectible. It is not strictly speaking a movement from the concrete to the abstract, but more of a movement from the multiplicity of things to their ideas and, finally, to pure wisdom. Hugh combines the Porphyrian classification tree of species to genus from the Isagoge to his metaphysics of ascent to reinforce an epistemology of ascent from word to thing to idea to wisdom. In this case, the movement from species to genera is a movement from things to their patterns/ ideas while the movement from genera to wisdom is the movement 57

Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 1.11, VTT 3.93–95, Buttimer, 18–19; 2.17, VTT 3.105–6, Buttimer, 35–36.

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from created ideas to uncreated ideas and then eternal Reason. Hugh takes the metaphysical realism one finds in William of Champeaux and weds it to the old logic as the Victorine response to Abelard. This movement begins with sensible things, examining them through physics, and then turns to intelligible things before finally coming to rest in the intellectible reality of God. To describe this triadic movement from sensible to intelligible to intellectible is to highlight not only an ascent to God but a mental movement from the senses to the imagination to the understanding (intelligentia). This movement also corresponds to the movement from thinking (cogitatio) to meditation and then contemplation or a movement from the eye of the flesh to the eye of reason and finally the eye of contemplation. While the chart below offers a sketch of what Hugh seems to have in mind, these three dimensions participate in one another so that the boundaries remain blurred. For example, imagination participates in sensation by receiving the forms of things through the five senses. These forms are the equivalent of the ideas that human concepts embody and to which words point. The movement of wordconcept-idea/reason-thing overlaps with the movement of sensible-intelligible-intellectible precisely at the point where a concept embodies an idea that reflects the created idea/pattern embedded in each created thing. But it also participates in understanding by beginning to order those forms and analyze them in particular ways. Eye of Flesh → Creation → Physics → Sensible/Natural → Cogitation → Sensation Eye of Reason → Soul → Mathematics → Intelligible → Meditation → Imagination Eye of Contemplation → God → Theology → Intellectible → Contemplation → Understanding We will see in the next section how Richard inherits this basic Hugonian schema and builds it into a more elaborate epistemology of mental and spiritual ascent through the six kinds of contemplation. What remains crucial is to see how a metaphysics of procession and return gives rise to an epistemology of ascent, as the soul comes to embody wisdom in the movement from being to beautiful being. Given that the fall into sin was a turning away from God toward creation, Hugh understood this aversio as a kind of move away from the unity of the Creator toward the multiplicity of creation. The integ-

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rity of the soul is in its simplicity or its capacity to gather together all created things into a unity in the self and use this vision of the whole as a tower from which to peer into divinity. In Hugh’s mind, the eye of contemplation was an original vision of God, which humans possessed by virtue of their simultaneously perceiving the very nature of the soul in the reflective likenesses of created things, and through the soul’s own reflective capacity the Wisdom of God. It was a holistic vision stemming from the soul’s own simplicity as a reflection of divine simplicity. In making this connection, Hugh seems to be drawing on Boethius’ link between divine simplicity and eternity. The latter involves “the whole, simultaneous and perfect possession of boundless life,” while the former relates to God’s knowledge as embracing all things “in the simplicity of his present.”58 The simple vision of the soul involves its capacity to embrace the whole at once, which, as we will see in the next section, requires a symbol to hold together the knowledge it possesses. Yet, this simplicity is precisely what was lost as the soul turned toward the multiplicity of creation. The soul runs toward visible forms of bodies through sense perception and loses its simplicity by being shaped in accordance with these visible forms. This is a kind of disintegration. Hugh states that “souls degenerate from being intellectible things to being intelligible things when they descend from the purity of simple understanding, which is darkened by no image of corporeal things, to the imagination of visible realities.”59 The soul must ascend to pure understanding in order to collect itself again and achieve simplicity or integrity. This understanding of a fall into the multiplicity of creation governs Hugh’s understanding of sin. He begins The Ark of Noah by indicating how the soul lost its stability the moment it turned away from God. “Since [the mind] cannot find the object of its longing in the things it embraces, it always reaches out with its longing, seeking that which it can never attain, and it never rests at peace.”60 The heart obtains its deep instability by a descent into multiplicity. As Hugh later states, “For since the worldly things (res mundanae) that we chase after with such disorder are infinite in number, the thoughts that we generate inwardly from memory of these very things also cannot be finite.”61 58 59 60 61

Boethius, Cons., 5.6.9–10, Loeb, 422–23; 5.6.25–31, Loeb, 423–25. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 2.5, VTT 3.100, Buttimer, 29. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 1.1, below, 134, CCCM 176.5. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 4.2, below, 195, 176.89.

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By “worldly things,” Hugh means created things that exist in the world, not sinful things. As long as the canon allows his thoughts to wander across the landscape of creation, he will be caught up in the unending flow of multiplicity and find that all is vanity. Hugh is describing what he called “thinking” (cogitatio) in his homilies on Ecclesiastes. Richard locates these wandering thoughts in the imagination that has become beastly because the mind is simply drinking in a sea of images from creation without organizing or ordering them through discretion and deliberation.62 This phenomenon resides behind Richard’s saying that thinking is the “careless looking of the mind, prone to wander.”63 To return to the beginning of this section, disciplina offers a path out of multiplicity by helping the canon to engage in a kind of recollection of the self. Hugh invites his fellow canons listening to his collatio to “imagine a human soul rising upward from this world, as it were, toward God and always gathering (colligentem) itself more and more into a unity as it rises.”64 The symbol of the ark mirrors this movement as it goes from a broad base (multiplicity) to a sharp point (unity). Hugh then admonishes his canons, stating “as we rise up from this deep place, from this vale of tears, by certain increases among the virtues— by certain ordered stages in our heart, as it were—we are slowly drawn together into a unity, until we reach the simple unity, true simplicity, and eternal stability that are in God.” Reading and meditation, then, ultimately concern the formation of the soul so that it might return by a process of gathering the likeness of all things into itself and, from this “watchtower of interior contemplation” (internae contemplationis specula), form a comprehensive vision of the whole.65 This is how the soul participates in its own restoration. SYMBOLISM AND CONTEMPLATION

The elaborate nature of the program Richard and Thomas inherited from Hugh should be clear. Central to the program is a metaphysics and epistemology grounded in a mirroring capacity woven through 62 63 64 65

Richard of Saint Victor, XII Patr., 16, Zinn, 67–68, Châtillon, 130–32. Richard of Saint Victor, Arca Moys., 1.4, below, 261, Grosfillier, 96–98. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 4.2, below, 196, CCCM 176.90. Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 3.7, below, 178, CCCM 176.65; See also Richard of Saint Victor, Arca Moys., 3.10, below, 329–31, Grosfillier, 300–305. Richard talks about understanding as the watchtower because it is the highest mental activity.

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creation. Given that creation is a divine discourse flowing out of eternal Wisdom, the Victorines developed an elaborate understanding of the symbolic potential of created things that relates to different parts of the Victorine program. First, every created substance is a symbol because it embodies the divine pattern that points back toward Wisdom. This understanding of creation as symbol grounds both spiritual interpretation of Scripture and meditation on creation. One must peer into the mirror of creation in order to see God. Second, as a confluence of visible forms, some symbols reveal deeper insights into heavenly realities. In this sense, a symbol becomes a place of encounter, a way in which the mind can imaginatively fuse together created things to forge new insights. With their confluence of different creatures in a picture of angelic beauty, cherubim and seraphim exemplify this symbolic approach. Finally, certain symbols become architectonic devices designed to re-form the soul so that it can become a platform from which contemplative vision emerges. If the vision of contemplation is a grasping of the whole all at once in a way that approximates divine simplicity and eternity, then the entire self must be shaped into an “eye,” as it were, that is, the full mirroring capacity of the self must be unleashed. This requires a symbol to form and shape the self. The Victorines weave their understanding of contemplation into these three aspects of symbolism. The Victorine understanding of symbolism begins with viewing creation in terms of its capacity to mirror. One might describe this more in terms of a sacramental vision of the whole of creation, or, following Chenu, the symbolist mentality at Saint Victor.66 Regardless, the Victorine use of symbols operates within this framework. Every part of creation functions as a symbol that mirrors the deeper wisdom governing all things and found in the Son for those with “eyes” to see. In Hugh’s words, “there is one sun, and every eye is illumined by it, but not all who see by means of the sun recognize the sun. So too the true light which illuminates every man coming into the world is poured out upon everything, gives its brilliance to all, and illuminates everyone. But one person sees through true light, another sees the light.”67 One of the key differences between non-believers and 66

67

M.-D. Chenu, Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century, selected, edited, and translated by Jerome Taylor and Lester K. Little (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997), 99–145. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sapientia, VTT 7.98.

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believers is that the latter remain mired in created realities and their transitoriness rather than following their symbolic potential back up the metaphysical chain of return to the light itself, which is the Wisdom of God. For Hugh, this means that every person begins to peer at creation in the same way, namely, through the eye of the flesh. To do so is to begin with “thinking” about the world through the historical and literal interpretation of words and things. Hugh depicts the created world as the house of God in The Ark of Noah, noting that every human person exists in this house by virtue of their creation. Reading and meditation begin at this point. And yet, Hugh also recognizes that even to begin reading correctly, the individual must move from the randomness of thinking to the focus and concentration of meditation. The life of virtue must inform the reading and interpretation of texts by helping to tame the thoughts and affections so that they move together in the act of interpretation. Apart from ordering thoughts and affections, the individual will not be able to engage in sustained meditation long enough to succeed even at literal interpretation. Literal interpretation first involves the analysis of language. In its more narrow sense, Hugh understands history as finding the primary referents of the words. He states “now history is the first meaning of a word with respect to things.”68 The first step of reading texts is to consider the immediate context of a passage in order to understand what the author intends. Yet, there is a broader meaning to history that Hugh also employs. History concerns a series or narration of events. In this respect, one can speak of history in terms of a particular event like the flood and Noah’s construction of the ark or in terms of the entire sequence of human history in relationship to the work of creation and the work of restoration. Hugh’s advice here is that “you should learn history and diligently commit to memory the truth of things having been done, reviewing from beginning to end what was done, when it was done, where it was done, and by whom it was done.”69 Hugh composed the Chronicon as an outline of history in this broad sense so that canons could memorize it. The point is not simply understanding historical facts, but to enlarge the “treasure chest of the heart” through understanding how God shapes time. 68 69

Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., prologue, VTT 1.118. See also Hugh of Saint Victor, Script., 3, VTT 3.214; Sacr., prologue.6, VTT 3.264–65. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 6.3, VTT 3.164, Buttimer, 113–14.

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As the structure of human events, history parallels the structure of creation. To claim that history is foundational ultimately means to claim that the reader must understand the relationship between language and created reality as well as how this reality unfolds in the works of creation. For Hugh, one cannot understand creation as a symbol of wisdom until one first sees how each created thing evinces this wisdom in its particular structure and the relationship between that structure and the rest of creation. Hence, Hugh grounds the movement between what he calls “first things” to “second things” in an analysis of the quality and form of each thing. In Hugh’s words, “the meaning of all things is determined either by external form or by internal nature.”70 To see each created thing as a symbol of something else, one must first engage in “scientific analysis” by which Hugh means unpacking its meaning through the arts. The symbolic potential of creation opens up through the analysis of individual things and their relationship to the larger whole. One can see how this works by examining the movement from literal interpretation to spiritual interpretation. This movement occurs as the person draws forth likenesses from one created thing to another. As Hugh notes, in Scripture “the things themselves signify other things.”71 Scripture is the divine word that mirrors the divine word of creation so that they function as two interlocking volumes of a single narrative. As the individual begins to use the quadrivium to understand the created thing referenced by the words of Scripture, it allows for the symbolic potential to come out. Hugh begins to show the symbolic potential of the ark of Noah through a detailed analysis of it as a created thing. Once this analysis is complete, he draws forth likenesses between the wooden ark and other created things like the ark of wisdom in the soul. The movement is from the created order to ordering the soul. Reading through Victorine treatises in this volume reveals just how pervasive this use of the symbolic potential of creation is, especially as it relates to the interpretation of Scripture. Hugh, Richard, and Thomas all move from visible thing to invisible reality in a kind of labyrinthine argument that moves from this symbol to that one in order to build up a thick account. Nevertheless, there is a logical flow to this movement in that it is always from the literal to the spiritual, or from the visible to the invisible. Spiritual exegesis forms the 70 71

Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., prologue, VTT 1.119. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sent. div., prologue, VTT 1.119.

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counter to interpreting creation by unlocking the symbolic potential of the things identified in their narrative structure in the same way that one examines things in the structures of creation. In Richard’s Ark of Moses, the analysis of created things occurs in the first two levels of contemplation. Richard identifies the third level as finding the ratio similitudinis, by which he means drawing out analogous likeness on the basis of the created idea (the ratio) of each created thing.72 Finding correspondences between two created things through likenesses means teasing out the mirroring potential in creation. As with Hugh, the move from literal to spiritual parallels the movement upward through created things. Behind this movement is the view that every created thing functions as a symbol because hidden within each created thing is the uncreated idea or divine pattern that points toward another idea or pattern. The second understanding of symbol among the Victorines stems from Hugh’s definition in his commentary on the Celestial Hierarchy. He  defines a symbol as an “assembling of visible forms to demonstrate invisible things” (collatio formarum visibilium ad invisibilium demonstrationem).73 Hugh clarifies the meaning of this definition: I have already mentioned previously what a symbol is, namely, an assembling, that is, a harmonious blend of visible forms set forth to demonstrate something invisible. For example, when we want to express visibly the natures of heavenly spirits, we indeed blend together human faces with the wings of a bird into one composite form such that, in light of the face of a man, who alone among visible things employs reason, these invisible spirits may also be understood to be rational and wise; yet, by means of the wings, the agility of their natures and their rapid movement in every direction may be expressed.74

Hugh’s explanation singles out a set of composite images in Scripture that combine features of different created things in order to convey 72 73 74

On this point, see Dale M. Coulter, Per Visibilia ad Invisibilia: Theological Method in Richard of Saint Victor (d. 1173), BV 19 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), 106–24. Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., 2.1, PL 175.941B; 3.2, PL 175.960D. See also Sicard, Diagrammes médiévaux, 261–62. Ibid., 3.2, PL 175.960D–1A: Supra jam diximus quid sit symbolum, collatio videlicet, id est coaptatio visibilium formarum ad demonstrationem rei invisibilis propositarum. Verbi gratia, cum spirituum coelestium naturas exprimere visibiliter volumus humanos quidem vultus, sed alas avis in unam compositionis speciem coaptamus, ut pro vultu hominis, qui solus ex visibilibus ratione utitur, ipsi quoque invisibiles spiritus rationales et sapientes esse intelligantur per alas autem agilitas naturae illorum, et velox ad omnia motus exprimatur. The text most likely should break between volumus and humanos, which I have reflected in my translation.

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an invisible angelic reality. The symbol functions as its own collatio through a collision of images and ideas. Each created thing contributes a particular form and quality to the image as a whole so that the sum total of these images paints a holistic picture of the angelic nature. While all of creation has a mirroring capacity and thus is symbolic, Hugh reserves this narrower understanding of the symbol to unpack the complex nature of an invisible reality. A symbol is able to hold together several images/ideas in a single comprehensive whole. Richard utilizes Hugh’s definition of symbol in his commentary on the Apocalypse, noting that the book is filled with the formal likenesses of temporal things, namely, of heaven, the sun, the moon, clouds, rain, hail, lightning, thunder, winds, birds, fish, beasts, animals, serpents, reptiles, trees, mountains, hills, air, seas, lands and other things, which do not go against the senses. For it was necessary because of our weakness, which can only grasp the highest things by the lowest and spiritual things by corporeal things, not to know unknown things by those more unknown, but to know them by those things we do know.75

Richard’s explanation of why the Apocalypse employs symbols to describe heavenly realities reinforces their utility in moving from the visible to the invisible. The method of drawing forth likeness remains the same, but the use of symbol in the strict sense always involves a “gathering together,” which sets the stage for the most important way the Victorines understand symbol. The key part of Hugh’s definition of symbol is its functioning as a collatio. As we saw earlier, the basic problem of the soul was its fall into the multiplicity of created things through its desire. In his later works on love, Hugh followed Augustine in talking about the one stream of love (amor) in the soul turning either to lust (cupiditas) or to charity (caritas) depending on whether the affections are properly ordered to move inward and then upward to God or disordered in their movement outward to external things.76 The problem remains 75

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Cf. Apoc., 1.1, PL 196.687D–88A: Liquet igitur quod eam tertio videndi modo contemplatus sit, eo praesertim quod liber iste formalibus rerum temporalium plenus sit similitudinibus, videlicet coeli, solis, lunae, nubium, imbrium, grandinum, fulgurum, tonitruorum, ventorum, avium, piscium, bestiarum, animalium, serpentium, reptilium, arborum, montium, collium, aeris, maris, terrae et aliarum rerum, quae modo sensui non occurrunt. Necessarium erat enim nostrae infirmitati quae summa nonnisi per ima, spiritualia nonnisi per corporalia valet capere, non ignota per ignotiora, sed ignota per cognita noscere. Hugh of Saint Victor, Subst. dilect., VTT 2.143, Baron, 82–83.

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the way sense perception draws in likenesses through the imagination that then shape the soul in such a way that it loses its simplicity and stability.77 The path back to charity is when individuals begin “gathering themselves (colligentes) back together from this distraction to the simple fount of their nature.”78 Hugh uses colligere as short hand for the soul’s return to simplicity. He tells the canons, “let us imagine a human soul rising upward from this world, as it were, toward God and always gathering (colligentem) itself more and more into a unity as it rises.”79 It underscores the architectonic use of a symbol to begin to gather the soul back into a unity.80 The soul’s “gathering together” of itself into a simple unity occurs in two ways. First, the symbol of the ark of Noah or the ark of Moses functions as a mnemonic device that enables the canon to hold together all of the knowledge received from study and to organize that knowledge. In this sense, it functions as a rhetorical device or a kind of mental landscape that the mind can fly across.81 Shorter works such as Hugh’s diagram of the ark of Noah or Richard’s use of diagrams in his commentary on Ezekiel reveal just how important they saw symbols as memory-devices to hold together a large body of knowledge. Building such an internal ark requires that meditation become speculatio as the canon begins to draw into himself the likenesses of visible things and organize them accordingly. This is how an interior ark of wisdom comes to exist in the soul. The Victorines recognize that constructing this internal ark requires the transformation of the affections and the cognition. The canon slowly constructs it by moving through the moral life, taming the affective moments, and organizing the thoughts into a whole. As an architectonic symbol, secondly, the interior ark does more than simply function as a mnemonic device to organize the thoughts. 77 78 79 80

81

Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 2.3, VTT 3.98, Buttimer, 26. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 2.5, VTT 3.100, Buttimer, 29. Hugh of Victor, Archa Noe, 4.2, below, 159–60, CCCM 176.90. While colligere relates to collectio, it points toward the use of the symbol as a collatio. Richard had altered collatio to collectio in his modification of Hugh’s definition. See Apoc., 1.1, PL 196.687A. Even though etymologically conferre and colligere are quite different and entail diverse meanings, Chenu argues that since both had the basic sense of bringing together, it was inevitable that their meanings became intertwined. Taking into account the fluid nature of Richard’s vocabulary, his use of collectio suggests that he saw a similar meaning and purpose behind both terms. Cf. M.-D. Chenu, “Collectio, collatio: notes de lexicographie philosophique médiévale,” Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 16 (1927), 445. See Mary Carruthers, The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric, and the Making of Images, 400–1200 (New York: Cambridge, 1998), 1–39.

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It also turns the entire person into a kind of mirror of God by unleashing the reflective capacity of the soul. One might think of how the entire female body turns into a single, united organism to give birth to a child. The construction of an internal ark turns the soul into a single whole from which contemplative vision is born. In this sense, the construction of an interior ark also concerns the movement from sense to imagination to reason and to understanding, which parallels the movement from the natural to the intelligible and the intellectible. With the completion of an interior ark, the soul positions itself to take contemplative flight toward God, which is precisely how Hugh ends The Ark of Noah. He states that “the ark is like a storehouse stuffed with all sorts of delights … there are all the works of restoration … the history of things done … the mysteries of the sacraments … a kind of body of the universe … but whatever is there is there in the present.”82 Hugh’s appeal to “present” knowledge points toward his understanding of contemplation as “the penetrating vision and free gaze of the animus extended everywhere to perceive things.”83 The soul has become a watchtower from which to peer into divinity because the mind now approximates God’s own eternal present in gathering into itself and organizing the likenesses of all. One might, then, talk about two steps to the way a symbol helps the soul “gather itself,” the first of which is gathering into itself the likeness of created things and the second of which is gathering itself into a single whole. This is how the soul becomes a mirror. Richard’s expansion of Hugh’s program in The Ark of Moses helps illustrate the process. He describes the ascent to God through the architectonic symbol of the ark of Moses as movement through the six kinds of contemplation. They are as follows: In imagination and according to imagination only In imagination and according to reason In reason and according to imagination In reason and according to reason Above reason but not beyond reason Above reason and beyond reason The first two operate “in” the imagination, the second “in” reason, and the final two “in” understanding. Richard’s use of “according to” 82 83

Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, 4.9, below, 215, CCCM 176.115–16. Hugh of Saint Victor, In Eccl., Homily 1, PL 173.117A.

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highlights the dimension of the mind being deployed to examine the particular image in the mind. Thus, a mental image is both held “in” a particular mental operation while being examined “according to” another mental operation. The point is to underscore that all mental operations flow in and out of one another in the mind and yet also to maintain a mental ascent that parallels the movement from the visible to the invisible. The final two kinds of contemplation function primarily in the understanding (intelligentia), but Richard subdivides them into “pure understanding” (pura intelligentia) and “simple understanding” (simplex intelligentia). Pure understanding is devoid of imagination while simple understanding is free from reason, which is why Richard reserves it for the sixth kind of contemplation when the soul has finally constructed the ark and gathered itself back into a unity and a simplicity. Richard seems to be clearly following Hugh’s paradigm by describing the movement from the senses to reason and understanding. Richard’s modification of Hugh also involves his use of the Boethian movement vox-intellectus-ratio-res. Whereas Hugh had devoted a separate section to the literal interpretation of the ark of Noah as the movement from words to things, Richard’s focus on tropology means that he begins with the created thing itself (although Richard is engaging in some literal interpretation throughout the work). The first three kinds of contemplation move from created things to their created ideas (rationes) to draw forth analogies from them (ratio similitudinis). This pattern follows the movement back through created things to their ideas or the patterns hidden in the thing itself. The final three kinds of contemplation build on this by using the likenesses of created things to understand the soul (fourth kind) and then divine unity (fifth kind) and trinity (sixth kind). Richard’s use of simple understanding to describe the sixth kind illustrates his point that one has moved beyond created ideas into uncreated ideas and their place in God. In a sense, the canon has finally ascended back to behold the being of God in some way. The final three kinds of contemplation also represent the movement from the macrocosm of creation into the microcosm of the soul and then upward beyond creation to the divine ideas as they exist in God and speak of God. It is only in the final three kinds of contemplation that the architectonic function of the ark of Moses begins to do its real work. When one reads through book 4 where Richard discusses the fifth and sixth kinds of contemplation, he invokes the term collatio numerous times. With a vision of the whole of creation informing the

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nature of the soul, the canon can begin to compare and contrast the different aspects of the soul with divine unity and trinity in the light of faith and revelation. The symbol of the ark of Moses offers a framework by which the mind can begin to peer into divinity through comparing and contrasting the various created ideas in relationship to divine ideas and the divine being. In achieving the final two kinds of contemplation, the soul has finally constructed enough of the internal ark to gather itself together into a whole and then use that whole to perceive God. Constructing an interior ark makes contemplative flight possible. While meditation concerns the construction of the ark, contemplation is the free flight around this mental architecture and the various fields of knowledge it embodies. One can see why Richard describes three modes of contemplation in book five because he is trying to articulate three ways in which this free flight emerges. It moves from the mind’s expansion to its elevation and, finally, its disengagement from created things and their ideas in a spiritual encounter of wonder. Through the ecstasy of wonder and joy, the vision of God opens up in a momentary flash of the whole. The final movement into ecstatic embrace involves transcending the mirror of creation to behold God through the divine ideas. This seems to be what Richard means by contemplation as a vision of “the truth in its purity without any wrapping or curtain of shadows.”84 At this stage, speculatio has been left behind for the final move of contemplative flight into ecstatic vision. The canon has become nothing less than an eye, capable of glimpsing momentarily the whole and thus having the eye of contemplation proleptically and fleetingly restored. As Boyd Coolman’s work on Thomas Gallus has shown, Thomas follows a similar pattern by deploying the Dionysian corpus as a whole.85 The Dionysian angelic hierarchy becomes the architectonic symbol for the soul so as to facilitate the return back through the visible to the invisible. This is to follow the path of wisdom. Yet, Thomas is much more Dionysian when he sees the final movement into God as exceeding the intellect entirely in affective union. For Thomas, the canon moves from theoriae of divine ideas symbolized by the cherubim to the apex of affection (apex affectionis). The soul functions less as a watchtower and more as a launching pad for bridal embrace in 84 85

Richard of Saint Victor, Arca Moys., 5.14, below, 411–14, Grosfillier, 558. Boyd Taylor Coolman, Knowledge, Love, and Ecstasy in the Theology of Thomas Gallus (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).

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a kind of death. The metaphor of death signals a move beyond intellect and yet, as Coolman argues, Thomas holds out the possibility of affective cognition. Coolman states, “For Gallus, Pseudo-Dionysius’ unknown God is cognized affectively (uniting wisdom and goodness) through the fullness of the Bridegroom.”86 In other words, the uncreated ideas of wisdom and goodness simultaneously attract and transform the intellect and the affections in a final intuitive grasp of God in the midst of darkness. One might see this final movement in terms of an ecstatic experience of divine plenitude that Richard sought to capture in his work On the Trinity. Richard’s principle that some things must be experienced rather than taught bears its final fruit in Thomas’s Dionysian ascent through the architectonic symbol of the angelic hierarchy replicated in the soul. Thomas, thus, functions within the basic Victorine paradigm while expanding it in a Dionysian direction. CONCLUSION

The works translated in this volume give a glimpse of the comprehensive program the Victorines sought to develop. The  aim of this program was the restoration of the soul through a return back to the Creator from which it came. Such a return occurred through a movement from the wisdom woven into creation to eternal Wisdom, through the Spirit’s forming and shaping the soul. It was a movement from being to beautiful being and happy being. To unleash the eye of contemplation required that the individual canon turn the entire soul into a mirror so that it could become something like a telescope. This required discipline of the body and the soul by following the monastic regimen prescribed in the Book of the Order of Saint Victor and the practical advice given in treatises like Hugh’s On the Formation of Novices. Hugh admonished new canons that they had come to a “school of discipline,” which meant doing the hard work of training body and soul through the rhythms of teaching, preaching, liturgy, work, and study. What might seem bitter and difficult at first could turn into the sweetness and rest of contemplative vision for those canons who truly desired to be transformed. 86

Coolman, Knowledge, Love, and Ecstacy, 178.

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The architectonic use of symbols became a way for the Victorines to hold together the transformation of body and soul through the reorientation of love into charity. Regardless of whether it was the ark of Noah, the ark of the covenant, or the angelic orders, these symbols turned the mind into a storehouse and a habitation for God. This occurred first and foremost by enabling the person to build up a large body of knowledge by organizing and shaping the images of creation contained in the mind. Architectonic symbols also enabled the canon to gather himself into a unity so that the soul could become a launching pad for contemplative vision. Contemplation is simply the free and penetrating gaze of the soul in wonder over the wisdom from creation and its relationship to Wisdom. Thus, the symbol allowed the mind to move through visible things to created ideas and from created ideas to eternal ideas from which it finally peered into the divine nature. While contemplation was a mental activity of free flight across the entire landscape of the mind formed by the symbol, it was ultimately a mode of ecstatic vision and union. This was a movement into the realm of the intelligible, or a movement through the transitory and yet beautiful nature of creation (Ecclesiastes) into the arms of the beloved (Song of Songs). At the heart of the Victorine program was a desire to see and experience God in contemplative ecstasy as a proleptic realization of the “eternal now” that the beatific vision embodied. The momentary flight of ecstasy was when heaven and earth met as the whole person became illumined and inflamed with divine presence so that he was a single eye.

HUGH OF SAINT VICTOR TWO WRITINGS ON THE ARK OF NOAH INTRODUCTION AND TRANSLATION BY GROVER A. ZINN

INTRODUCTION Hugh of Saint Victor’s treatises on Noah’s Ark translated in this volume—The Ark of Noah (De archa Noe) and A Booklet on the Construction of the Ark (Libellus de formatione arche)—stand as two of the most important spiritual treatises of the twelfth century. They continue to attract attention today not only from students of mysticism, biblical exegesis, and theology, but also from art historians and persons interested in memory, maps, and medieval diagrams. A third treatise, The Vanity of the World (De vanitate mundi), uses the Ark of Noah in a similar way as a symbolic vehicle for spiritual teaching. It is, however, not translated in this volume.1 The Indiculum of Hugh’s Writings (Oxford, Merton College MS 49) lists Archa Noe and the Libellus.2 The Indiculum places them in the first of four volumes of Hugh’s collected works, along with other major treatises written before about 1130–1131, i.e. the Didascalicon, De Scripturis et scriptoribus sacris, the Notulae, De grammatica, and De institutione novitiorum. These works are foundational texts for Hugh’s educational program at Saint Victor, focused on the study of philosophy and Scripture to acquire knowledge/wisdom, training in disciplina (outward behavior in community), and virtue as the means of overcoming the ignorance and disordered will (concupiscence) that resulted from the primal act of prideful disobedience in Paradise.3 As will be discussed later, there is a particular linkage between The Formation of Novices and the Ark treatises in the shaping of Victorine canons.4 1 2 3

4

It is included in Hugh of St Victor, Selected Spiritual Writings, tr. a religious of the C.S.M.V. (New York: Harper and Row, 1962) 157–82. The translation is of the first two books only. Cf. Joseph de Ghellinck, “La table des matières de la première édition des œuvres de Hugues de Saint Victor, ” Recherches de science religieuse 1 (1910): 270–89 and 385–96. Hugh repeatedly presents ignorance and a disordered will, along with bodily weakness, as the basic results of the Fall. For reading as the foundation for the restoration of humans to their pre-Fall state, cf. Franklin T. Harkins, Reading and the Work of Restoration: History and Scripture in the Theology of Hugh of St Victor (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2009). On Hugh’s educational program, cf. Donna R. Hawk-Reinhard, “Hugh of Saint Victor’s Pedagogy,” in A Companion to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, eds Hugh Feiss and Juliet Mousseau. Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 79 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018), 113–46. For a translation of Inst. nov., see VTT 9.217–53. Cf. the introduction, VTT 9.209–15.

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Patrice Sicard, editor of the Latin text of the two works, has dated the composition of De archa to 1126–1127 and the composition of the Libellus to 1128–1129, with a slightly shorter, revised version of the Libellus produced by Hugh in 1135.5 The Hugonian authorship of the Libellus and its revision, affirmed by Sicard, has been sharply questioned by Conrad Rudolph.6 The Ark treatises were very popular. In his edition of them, Sicard lists 143 extant manuscripts of Archa Noe (85 with the Libellus and 58 without), 88 manuscripts of the Libellus (85 with Archa Noe and 3 alone), and 33 fragmentary manuscripts, for a total of 179 surviving manuscripts of all or part of either work.7 THE SETTING

The complex symbolic structure of Hugh’s drawing of the Ark of Noah, described in the Libellus and the treatise it accompanied, The Ark of Noah, originated in the creative dialogue of a conversation with his fellow canons in the Abbey of Saint Victor. The exchange took place during the hora locutionis in the afternoon, a time when the canons gathered in the cloister of the abbey to discuss, not hear, a lecture by a master.8 The canons asked Hugh two questions: What causes so great a tumult of thoughts in the human heart, and: Is there an art or discipline that will overcome this great instability and restlessness?9 Hugh answered these questions and then presented a memorial of that exchange in the treatise The Ark of Noah. In the conversation and the treatise, he brilliantly used Noah’s Ark and its architectural form as the structural framework undergirding and giving order to his answer. The narrative of the Ark, floating upon the heaving, swirling, and deadly waters of the Flood that destroyed all living beings except the Ark’s occupants, evoked the sense of a place of safety amid the tumult of thoughts in the human heart and the overwhelming confusion and distraction of the mind and will as the result of the primal Fall in Paradise. 5 6

7 8 9

Cf. Patrice Sicard, Diagrammes mediévaux et exégèse visuelle: Le Libellus de formatione arche de Hugues de Saint Victor, BV 4 (Paris/Turnhout: Brepols, 1993). See his “First I Find the Center Point” Reading the Text of Hugh of Saint Victor’s “The Mystic Ark.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 94.4. (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004). Rudolph argues that it is a reportatio that was based on remarks by Hugh and the anonymous author’s observation of the drawing in the cloister of the Abbey. Archa Noe, Sicard, CCCM 176.*29-*69. On the place and time of the collation, see the translation below, note 1, p. 217. Archa Noe I.i.5–9, CCCM 176.3, below, p. 133.

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As a structural symbol, Hugh’s pyramid-shaped Ark provided the divinely designed framework for a “map” of the stages of the contemplative quest, as one embraced the task of reforming the deformed soul of fallen humanity and journeyed to the transforming, sacred center. As noted in the general introduction, Hugh’s use of the Ark was the first of several Victorine uses of biblical structures or sequences to express the ordered stages of the spiritual quest. The Victorines came to use these images through an immersion in the texts of Scripture and the liturgy, especially the melodies and actions required by the latter. Through these practices, the power and use of a symbolic image may suddenly “appear” in the consciousness of someone who has meditated on them. At the time the treatises were written and the drawing of the Ark was created, Hugh was well established as the master of the Abbey school, and he was an author of major works, with more to come. About a century later the Franciscan theologian, spiritual writer, and Minister General Bonaventure signaled the breadth of Hugh’s learning in his On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology. Dividing the field of theology into the three categories of faith, morals, and “the goal of both” (that is, the categories of reasoning, preaching, and contemplation), he identified one “ancient” and one “modern” master for each: The ancients were Augustine (reasoning), Gregory the Great (preaching) and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (contemplation); the moderns were Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, and Richard of Saint Victor. But, Bonaventure continued, the master of all three was Hugh of Saint Victor.10 In these two treatises Hugh brought his exegetical and theological powers, spiritual insight, and creative vision to bear in creating two works that have a profoundly practical and personal aim. Here, we are not in a rowdy classroom of the Parisian schools or in a vigorous theological debate between masters; we are in a cloister, reflecting deeply. Hugh is initiating his listeners and readers into a spiritual quest that seeks the melting, transforming embrace of divine love while surrounded in a religious community of those who “teach by word and example.”11 10

11

Bonaventure, On the Reduction of the Arts to Theology, tr., intro., and comm. Zachary Hayes (St Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1996), 45. Cf. Paul Rorem, “Bonaventure’s Ideal and Hugh of St Victor’s Comprehensive Biblical Theology,” Franciscan Studies 70 (2012): 385–97. On regular canons and teaching by word and example, cf. Caroline Walker Bynum, “The Spirituality of Regular Canons,” in Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle

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A LITTLE BOOK ON THE FORMATION OF THE ARK

The Libellus is precisely what its full name (Libellus de formatione arche = Little Book on the Formation of the Ark) implies: a short work on forming, or drawing, the diagram/painting of the symbolic Ark of Noah (and two other major elements in that construction) that served as the visual accompaniment to the spiritual teaching of The Ark of Noah, where it is described. The Libellus presents a drawing of the Ark that views it from above (a “floor plan”) in the form of a line drawing of a rectangular, truncated, three-decked pyramid-shaped Ark with an apex that is a square measuring one cubit on a side. Hugh gives the dimensions of the Ark according to the biblical description in Genesis 6:15: 300 cubits in length, 50 cubits in width, and 30 cubits in height. After describing the construction by means of geometrical techniques of three nesting rectangles (with a square in the center) to represent the three decks of the Ark, he says that he has modified the biblical ratio of six to one length to width to four to one so that the shape is more easily constructed. It also gives the Ark a more open, that is, less narrow, “space” for displaying iconographic elements. However, in the two treatises Hugh always refers to the Ark with the biblical dimensions, and inscribes those dimensions on the Ark as descriptors.12 There is much more to say about this rectangular “floor plan” of the three-decked pyramidal Ark and other elements in the complex drawing, but at the outset we need to be clear about the way Hugh draws the Ark and its difference from the “historical” Ark as described in Hugh’s literal/historical exegesis of the biblical text in The Ark of Noah and the allegorical exegesis built upon that.13 The historical/allegorical Ark is a five-decked Ark in which the three lower decks have the same floor size with vertical sides that rise up one above the other. The upper two decks are underneath the roof that slopes inward as it rises to attach to the square one cubit on a side at the peak of the Ark. That Ark also has decks with differing vertical dimensions, which Hugh admits is a non-biblical detail: the first deck is four cubits high, the second five, the third six, the fourth seven, the fifth eight, giving the total height of 30 cubits. In the allegorical Ark these heights become the basis for symbolic interpretation. 12 13

Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 22–58. Libellus I.1–23, 48–107, CCCM 176.121–22, 123–25, below, p. 87, 88–89. The literal exegesis is in chapter 4 of book I, the allegorical in chapter 5. Cf. Archa Noe I.iv.1–148, CCCM 176.18–23, and I.v.1–236, CCCM 176.23–32, below, p. 144–54.

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This Ark is clearly different from the Libellus’ Ark, which Hugh describes as having “sides” that slowly draw together as the structure of the Ark rises from a broad base to the square at the top.14 Elsewhere, he describes the framework of the Ark as having four timbers that extend from the four corners of the Ark on the broad bottom deck to the corners of the square at the top. The two other increasingly smaller flat decks are then described as being attached to the timbers.15 With smaller sizes, they are “visible” in the drawing. In The Ark of Noah, at the end of the careful description of the five-storied Ark secundum litteram, Hugh briefly comments that the Ark being described is not the Ark that he has drawn, because on a “flat drawing” (in plano) you cannot show decks that are the same size.16 Therefore, he has drawn an Ark in which “the (supporting) timbers that rise upward on all sides are slowly drawn together until at the peak they come together in the measure of one cubit.” It may seem ironic, but for the shape of the Ark on which to base his spiritual teaching, Hugh adopted the pyramidal Ark of Origen that he had roundly criticized as being unseaworthy earlier in the section on literal exegesis. Conrad Rudolph’s reconstruction of the Ark as a stepped pyramid with vertical walls, rather than the smooth inwardly angled surface of a true pyramid, thus distorts the visual meaning and spiritual significance of an Ark that draws together slowly as it rises.17 One more element of the bare structure of the Ark needs consideration. Like the decks and timbers, it will become the bearer of much symbolic imagery and meaning. A (non-biblical) column rises up in the center of the Ark and extends to the apex.18 It has one basic symbolic reference, which becomes doubled. Primarily it represents the incarnate Christ, but that significance is visually doubled by repeated references to his two natures. The south side represents his divinity. It is the Tree of Life, and it is colored green. The north side represents his humanity; it is the Book of Life, and the column is colored sapphire. It is covered with inscriptions and associated with books, leaves, and fruit. In describing the column, Hugh mentions that it “supports the entire structure [of 14 15 16 17 18

Archa Noe IV.ii.28–49, CCCM 176.90–91, below, p. 196. Libellus I.119–32, CCCM 176.125–26, below, p. 90. Archa Noe, I.iv.139–47, CCCM 176.23, below, p. 147. See Rudolph, Mystic Ark, p. 5, fig. 3, for his reconstruction of Hugh’s three-decked Ark of the Libellus. For the column and symbolism, cf. Libellus 1.108–57, CCCM 176.125–26, below, p. 90–91. More descriptions of inscriptions and books, leaves, and fruit associated with the column can be found in Archa Noe II.viii.1–27, CCCM 176.46–47, below, p. 165–66.

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the Ark],” which would indicate that it supported the inward leaning sides of the pyramidal-shaped Ark. For Hugh, this architectural element evokes Song of Songs 8:5 (in the Vetus Latina version), “Who is this who ascends, having been made white, leaning upon her beloved?” Hugh begins his drawing/painting by laying out and decorating a small square representing the truncated apex of the Ark (one cubit square) and the cut-off upper end of the column.19 Its imagery is described in more detail than any other single object, and perhaps for good reason: it represents Christ, divine and human, the center of history, agent of salvation, and more. Hugh draws the small square in the center of the flat surface on which the Ark is to be depicted and adds a slightly larger square around it to form a rim. Next, he inscribes an equal-armed cross within the square followed by lettering (alpha and omega) on the rim of the square above and below the two vertical arms of the cross and the Greek letters chi and sigma representing the first and last letters of “Christ” on the rim next to the ends of the horizontal set of arms. He then adds gold to the cross and two colors to the square (red and sapphire) to represent the fire and cloud that accompanied the Hebrews in the desert during the Exodus, and purple and green to the rim of the square to point to the human and divine natures of Christ. He finishes the cross, and the square, by adding a standing lamb in the center of the square. As is true in the remainder of the treatises, Hugh gives an interpretation of the deeper, spiritual meaning of the letters, colors, and lamb. Indeed, he makes an important and revealing statement, asking what the picture (pictura) and the writing (scriptura) say, thus suggesting, in a way, that all the assembled elements of the drawing can “speak.” In the course of the Libellus, Hugh introduces numerous other iconographic elements, personifications, inscriptions, colors, genealogies, etc. that in their own distinct ways “speak” to the reader/viewer. The Ark drawing becomes filled with a symbolic cargo of great diversity and profound teaching value by means of “visual exegesis” and the multiple interpretations offered by Hugh. At the end of the Libellus, having completed the “construction” and interpretation of the drawing/painting of the Ark, Hugh describes a circular symbolic cosmos (Hugh calls it “the machine of the universe”) that surrounds the Ark and then places that cosmos in the embrace of a figure of Christ seated on a throne in majesty and accompanied by two seraphs, as described in Isaiah 6:1, the same figure described and interpreted in such detail in The Ark of Noah. 19

Cf. Libellus I.1‒47, CCCM 176 121–23, below, p. 87.

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To describe the complete drawing from the outside in, we have: (1) the figure of Christ as in Isaiah 6:1; (2) in front of his body he holds a circular cosmos with a an oval mappa mundi (rather than the usual disk labeled mundus) to represent the earth at the center, with concentric circles around the map defining spaces for the air (with personifications of the four seasons and the twelve winds) and the aether (with the signs of the Zodiac and depictions of the labors of the months); (3) the rectangular diagram of the three-decked Ark, placed on the oval map, with the bow near the eastern edge of the map, which in medieval tradition was at the top of the map, and the stern near the western edge of the map. Within the Ark two directions become important: (1) the “keel” of the Ark from bow to stern, representing the flow of time from Creation to Consummation, from Paradise at the east edge of the map, to the Last Judgment depicted at the west edge, and (2) the vertical structure of the Ark defined by the four timbers that draw together while rising from the bottom of the Ark. The flow of time is represented by the genealogy of Christ (inscribed from the bow to the square in the center) and the spiritual genealogy of the Bishops of Rome (inscribed from the square to the stern). As the reader will discover, this timeline becomes the visual center of a major teaching aspect of the drawing. Hugh correlates it with his presentation of three temporal periods: the Natural Law, Written Law, and Grace. The three periods further identify the complex idea of peoples of the Natural Law, of Written Law, and of Grace, with an attendant complex scheme of bands of color stretching along the length of the Ark to mark these divisions. The timbers become supports for twelve ladders arranged in four series of three ladders each that reach from corners at the base of the Ark to the peak.20 These ladders, with ten rungs each, bear much symbolic cargo in the form of inscriptions (biblical verses, the names of the thirty books of the Old and New Testament as Hugh counted them, and descriptions), personifications of vices at the foot of the first ladder at three corners, virtues beside the ladders, and 60 queens and 60 “strong men of Solomon” who singly occupy the 120 rungs of the ladders, adding a visual dynamism as they climb upward. On two sides of the column in the center 20

The ladders and the complex iconography of vices, virtues, inscriptions, figures on the rungs, etc. are addressed over several chapters. Cf. Libellus IV–VI, CCCM 176.138–50, below, p. 100–108. The ascents symbolized by the ladders are presented in Archa Noe II.vii.1–95, CCCM 176.42–46, below, p. 162–65. There the ascents are made on the mountain of the House of the Lord, celebrated in Psalms, thus homologizing the pyramidal Ark and a biblical mountain that has a destination with divine presence.

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(Christ as Book and Tree of Life) hands reach down with open, inscribed bibles (Book of Life; Christ’s humanity) or leafy branches and fruit-filled branches (Tree of Life; Christ’s divinity). The ladders visually encapsulate Hugh’s teaching on the twelve stages of the contemplative/salvific quest as a progressive return to the original state of humanity with the ascent from ignorance, culminating in a melting and transforming of the soul by the fire of divine love. The four divisions of the stages represent the three traditional divisions of the contemplative “way”: purification, illumination, and union (or perfection), with the addition of an initial stage of awakening.21 A chart of Hugh’s ladders, and the vices from which they “ascend,” will clarify how they relate to the Ark diagram, the blindness of ignorance and the chaos of desires in carnal concupiscence (the results of the Fall), and advancement toward the square at the peak/center of the Ark, which Hugh describes as representing the “simple unity, true simplicity, and eternal stability that are in God.”22 In the journey of ascension from the disaster of the Fall, the first three ascents are from vices, but the last is not, as the chart shows that the final ascent, which is a return to the beginning in the southeast corner of the Ark (and the inner presence of God in contemplation, the fruition of the third ascent) is an ascent of spiritual fervor always rising to the better. Stage/Ascent

Vice

Awakening

Pride

Purification

Carnal Concupiscence

Illumination

Ignorance

Union/ Perfection

No Vice Spiritual Fervor

21

22

Virtues/Ladders Ascending Love Sorrow Fear Compunction Mercy Patience Contemplation Meditation Cognition Fortitude Prudence Temperance

Christ/Column Book chides (Rev. 8:13) Tree shades with leaves Book illumines (Gen. 1:1) Tree feeds with fruit

For the ascents, cf. Grover A. Zinn, “De gradibus ascensionum: The Stages of Contemplative Ascent in Two Treatises on Noah’s Ark by Hugh of St Victor,” Studies in Medieval Culture V (1971): 61–79. Archa Noe IV.ii.43–45, CCCM 176.91, below, p. 196.

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The complex iconography is beyond the scope of our presentation here. But the reader will do well to note the way in which the personifications are presented as active, not passive, figures. They do things; they move upward; they stumble. They also seem to be unique to Hugh, a product of his creative imagination. The personification of Ignorance, veiled and thus blind, stumbles and breaks a vase. Cognition, meditation, and contemplation are shown respectively finding the shattered pieces, collecting them, and melting them down in the fire of divine love. This transformation of the fragmented vase into liquid that flows into the central square as if into a mold for money in order to be reformed into the likeness to God is a profound evocation of the re-formation and unification of the soul in this spiritual journey.23 Compunction is shown as a person striking his chest while praying. Mercy is shown giving alms. Temperance is the head of a family at meal who distributes alms—symbolic of someone who “uses the world properly” on the first ladder marking out the final ascent from the good to the better. The figures on and around ladders are dynamic, just as the life of the fallen sinner, returning via the long journey from ignorance and concupiscence to the center of the Ark, is active in transforming good thoughts into proper actions, and then possessing the virtues that are manifest in the actions. The Libellus begins the conclusion of the presentation of the Ark image in the drawing with tropological readings of the door and the window of the Ark, both the subject of tropological commentary in The Ark of Noah, to which the Libellus refers.24 Subsequent to these tropological readings Hugh composes an interesting section that associates the small platforms for amphibious animals on the outside of the Ark with penance in the Church, a striking and memorable image for those unstable in their lifestyle and commitment.25 The last mention of images associated with the Ark itself is a descrip23

24 25

See also Hugh’s description of contemplation in the first Homily on Ecclesiastes: “… in the pure fire of love, with the utmost peace and joy, the soul is gently beaten back. Then, the whole heart being turned into the fire of Love, God is known truly to be all in all. For He is received with a love so deep that apart from Him nothing is left to the heart, even of itself.” In Eccl. I, PL 175.118B; C.S.M.V., 185. In his Commentary on the Celestial Hierarchy of PseudoDionysius the Areopagite Hugh uses other images to point out the liquefying, transforming, and penetrating power of love. Cf. In hier. cael. VI, PL 175.1037–44. Cf. Libellus VII and VIII, CCCM 176.151–53, below, p. 108-10. Libellus IX.1–42, CCCM 176.153–55, below, p. 110–11.

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tion of two biblical journeys inscribed on the map and Ark that are deeply emblematic of the vision embodied in the drawing.26 One is the Exodus from Egypt, a journey of liberated people, inscribed as a procession on the map from Egypt in the southeast quarter of the map to an entrance into the Ark, and then along the outer edge of the first deck of the Ark to the square representing Christ and Jerusalem in the center. This is matched on the opposite side of the Ark by a procession representing the Exile, starting at the timeline and exiting the Ark to make the journey of the captives across the map to the city of Babylon located in the southeast quarter of the map. One journey is a banishment that effects isolation from the lifegiving center, the House of God in Jerusalem. The other is a journey from slavery in a foreign land toward the center where restoration and unity await.27 As an attentive reader becomes more and more familiar with the intricate imagery and interpretation embedded in the text of the Libellus, the skill and insight of the one who devised the drawing becomes clear. Only a master of the art of memory could have created the drawing which, whether drawn in the twelfth century or not, presents such a multilayered, theologically sophisticated, spiritually perceptive, complex yet ordered gathering of images to “speak” to those who read the description or attempt to replicate the drawing set forth.28 As a final comment, we can do no better than to quote Hugh’s own definition of a symbol as “a gathering (collatio) of visible forms for the demonstration of invisible things.”29 The definition points to the presence and the transformative and visionary power of the gathering of biblical and cosmic forms that Hugh set before his readers in the twelfth century and still sets before them now.

26 27

28

29

Cf. Libellus IX.43-X.28, CCCM 176.155.6, below, p. 111‒12. On exile, see Grover A. Zinn, “Exile, the Abbey of Saint Victor at Paris and Hugh of Saint Victor,” in Medieval Paradigms: essays in honor of Jeremy duQuesnay Adams, ed. Stephanie Hayes-Healy, 2 vols (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 2.83–111. Cf. the perceptive section on Hugh and the Libellus in Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 294–302. On Hugh and the Art of Memory, cf. Grover A. Zinn, Jr., “Hugh of St Victor and the Art of Memory,” Viator 5 (1974): 211–34. In hier. cael. 2, PL 175.941BC, cf. Coulter, Per visibilia, esp. 49–60.

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Diagram of the drawing of the Ark of Noah surroundeed by a Mappa Mundi. The Ark is not presented in the same proportions described in The Ark of Noah to allow for descriptive labels. Design by the author, graphic drawing by Julia Martin, Oberlin College, Ohio.

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THE ARK OF NOAH

The Ark of Noah is a treatise focused on the answer to two questions: What causes so great a tumult of thoughts in the human heart and is there an art or discipline that will overcome this great instability and restlessness?30 The aim of this introduction is to present the relationship of the four books that constitute The Ark of Noah, which is not immediately obvious and tells us something of what Hugh had in mind in writing it, and, secondly to examine how Hugh develops the theme of the Tree of Life in Book III. Book III interrupts the discussion begun at the beginning of Book II, which is entitled “The Ark of Wisdom.” Books III and IV do not have titles in the Latin text. The outline of the work is as follows: I. Ark of Noah: The setting; the drawing of Christ in majesty; the historical Ark; the allegorical Ark of the Church. II. Ark of Noah: Tropological interpretation of the Ark: the Ark of Wisdom III. Excursus: The Tree of Life IV. Ark of Noah: Tropological Interpretation of the Ark continued, the Ark of Wisdom. The opening page of Archa Noe presents the treatise as Hugh’s account of the subsequent discussion, no doubt spread over several sessions, if we are to trust Hugh’s comments at the end of Books I and II. After stating the problem, Hugh undertook an answer using, as he says, both reason and authority. The first three chapters of Book I offer a general overview for the treatise. One must first know the state of the first human and the effect of the primal disobedience, the Fall, and the result of sinful pride. The first human was kept in a state of stability and unitary experience through internal vision and knowledge. God was immediately present to the first human through contemplation and, known in this way, God evoked total, unitary human love. Disobedience and the Fall produced the loss of the internal vision of divine presence and consequently loss of the unifying love of him. Later in the treatise Hugh will say that in opening his outer ear to the serpent, Adam closed his interior ear to God’s voice. In the dark cloud of ignorance, humans soon forgot the divine presence 30

Cf. Archa Noe I.1–63, CCCM 176.3, below p. 133–35, for the setting.

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and became disordered as they plunged more and more into chaotic desires. Fallen Adam becomes emblematic of this new state: he is a wanderer because of concupiscence and an exile because of a guilty conscience. The cause and cure are set in an Augustinian perspective: the cause is love of the world and unfulfilled desires; the cure is the unifying and restorative love of God. Adopting the medical motif of applying a remedy or cure, Hugh says he has identified the cause as “a tremulous heart” stemming from love of the world and the remedy as a stable heart produced by the love of God. He adds that there is a fourth part, which concerns how to acquire this remedy. “Without this,” he says, “it would be of little or no profit to know the other three things.”31 With this, the nature of the inquiry shifts. No longer is knowledge, even theological knowledge, being sought simply to “understand” the human condition. One must go beyond that to active transformation of self and a return to the pre-Fall human state.32 The chaotic love of the world is symbolized in the Ark treatises by the swirling, chaotic, overpowering waters of the Flood, upon which floats the stable Ark, symbolizing the spiritual chamber in the heart for the inner restoration of God’s loving presence. Building that Ark within the human heart/soul is the ultimate goal of the Ark treatises. But Hugh has a methodical way of unfolding the path to that construction. First, he offers a brief but penetrating exploration of the trajectories of love of the world (from pleasure to pain) and love of God (from the pain of ascetic discipline and denial of gratification to the joy of spiritual rewards). After this is an engaging passage on how one comes to know God as one knows a person, with a comparison of the way in which God dwells in the world (as an emperor in his kingdom; pagans and the unfaithful are there), the church (as the head of a family in a house; the false faithful are there as well), and the faithful soul (as a Bridegroom in a marriage chamber; the faithful soul is becoming God’s house because he inhabits the soul through love).33 A chapter titled “That God Dwells in the Human Heart in Two Ways,” adapts Gregory the Great’s image of the stages of constructing a building34 to express the relation of knowledge and love: “… knowledge erects the superstructure 31 32 33 34

Below, p. 135. Cf. Boyd Coolman, The Theology of Hugh of St Victor: An Interpretation (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010). Archa Noe, I.ii.1–71, CCCM 176.7–8, below, p. 135–37. Used in the Didascalicon to represent the three sequential disciplines in biblical interpretation: history [foundation], allegory [structure], tropology [coating of color]. Cf.  Did.

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of faith by means of cognition, while love paints the surface of the building—applying a coating of color, as it were—by means of virtue.”35 This concludes with an ecstatic cadence of biblical images for God’s indwelling: temple, house, tabernacle, Ark of the Covenant (used by Richard of Saint Victor as the structuring symbolic image for The Ark of Moses, translated in this volume),36 the Ark of the Flood, and more. The names are multiple, the reality is one. Finally, Hugh introduces the discipline of reading texts that will dominate the remainder of the treatises. (He uses Isaiah 6:1–2, Genesis 6, selected Psalms, Gospel of John, and others.) Hugh’s reading of Genesis 6, the scriptural framework of The Ark of Noah, proceeds strictly according to his three-fold sequence of methods or disciplines of interpretation: history, allegory, tropology.37 Before presenting a reading of Genesis 6 (the Ark), Hugh offers a reading of Isaiah 6:1–2, Isaiah’s vision of the Lord sitting upon a throne, accompanied by two seraphim. He introduces it as an exemplar of the spiritual building where God lives “which your eyes will see outwardly so that your soul may be fashioned inwardly into a likeness of it.” Colors, forms, and figures will delight one’s sight, but they are there for a purpose: to teach wisdom, discipline, and virtue “to adorn your soul,” words which associate the goal of The Ark of Noah with the aim of The Formation of Novices, which is to teach knowledge, discipline, and goodness as the path to beatitude. In chapter three of Book I we have the first hint of the drawing described in the Ark. It is not without significance that the figure of the Lord embracing and enfolding the cosmos, the earth, and the drawing of the Ark represents one of great theophanies of Hebrew Scripture. There are “peculiarities” to the image. The face of the Lord is unveiled. The seraphs do not hold their wings as described in the Bible—each seraph flies with two wings, covers its body (not the Lord’s) with two, and covers the Lord’s head (not his face) and his feet with the third pair. Hugh gives the reasons for both of these, and also tells the twelfth-

35 36 37

6.2, Buttimer, 113.19–21; PL 75.513C; VTT 3.166–67. Cf. Gregory the Great, Mor., 3.110–14, CCSL 143.4. Archa Noe, I.iii.5, CCCM 176.9, PL 176.621D, below, p. 137. Below, p. 137–38. Didasc., 6.1–5, Buttimer 113–23; tr. Taylor, 135–44; VTT, 3.163–72. See also Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1952, and Franklin Harkins, Reading and the Work of Restoration: History and Scripture in the Theology of Hugh of St Victor. Mediaeval Law and Theology 2. Studies and Texts 167 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2009).

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century listeners/viewers to follow the drawing, not the text. Hugh touches on angels, time and eternity, knowledge of the divine, the three disciplines of levels of biblical interpretation (history, allegory, tropology), and much more in his allegorical exposition of the text. Drawing upon an interpretation by Jerome, Hugh declares that the Lord’s body represents the world, and the length of his body represents the entire sweep of history from creation to consummation. The fact that his head (but not his face) and his feet are covered by wings of the seraphs means that humans are unable to search out the Lord in eternity, but they can understand the visible world and its manifestation of the divine. Hugh declares the body of Christ is the Church (and by implication the Ark). As Hugh turns to the Ark and building it within ourselves, he proposes three things to consider: how to build it within ourselves, how to enter into it, and how we ought to dwell in it. Hugh turns to the business of building the Ark of Noah within the human heart by reading/interpreting Genesis 6 on the Ark according to his threefold pattern of interpretation. Book I contains the historical and allegorical interpretations. The tropological sense is the subject of Books II and IV. Since Book III, functions as a digression through the15 stages in the growth of the “Tree of Wisdom/Life” as the pattern of spiritual growth from Fear through Compunction to Charity and culminating with Contemplation, it will be introduced in an appendix by Fr. Hugh Feiss. For the historical Ark of Noah, Hugh focuses on the form and the size.38 On form, Hugh begins by quoting Origen’s description of the Ark (a pyramid) and rejects it on grounds that it is not seaworthy. He favors a five-decked Ark with vertical walls for the three lowest decks which are all the same size, so the walls go straight up. A roof that slants inward on all sides as it rises to the square at the peak of the Ark covers the top two floors. The placement of the door and window are of particular interest, as is the height of each deck, even though the height is not given in the Biblical text. The numbers are useful for allegorical interpretation, so Hugh proposes an answer. The question of size is primarily about the ability of the Ark to hold all the necessary food for the occupants and the occupants themselves, a topic regularly addressed in the commentary tradition. In his exegesis Hugh draws on traditional sources, including Origen, Augustine, Bede, and the Carolingian interpreters. 38

Archa Noe I.iv.1–148, CCCM 176.18–23, below, p. 144–47.

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Hugh thinks that discussing the size of the Ark requires a diversion into geometrical exercises, so he launches into one, but first reviews the relationships of various units of measurement, from finger through cubit and great cubit, up to Roman mile. After that there are a number of exercises related to calculating areas and also the hypotenuse of triangles. These apply to the deck of the Ark and the lengths of various inaccessible measurements, including distances from the peak of the Ark to the edge of the deck and corner of the Ark. We can see here Hugh’s application of the quadrivium to his analysis of the Ark through his use of geometry.39 With that completed, Hugh suddenly inserts a brief paragraph noting that he has not drawn the Ark of his literal exegesis but rather a pyramid-shaped Ark, “because on a ‘flat drawing’ (in plano) you cannot show decks that are the same size,” i.e. the bottom three decks.40 The allegorical interpretation presents the Ark as a symbol of the Church (I.5). The five decks, the animals on each deck, the vertical walls, and the sloping roof are all given meanings that relate to the Church and the members of the Church. Hugh derives the meanings of the differing numerical heights of the walls and the dimensions of the Ark from Christian tradition (Augustine, Carolingian exegetes, Origen, and others) or classical antiquity. Six is a perfect number either because of the six days of Creation, or because it is the sum of its parts (3+2+1 = 6). Seven signifies rest because God rested on the seventh day. This kind of numerical interpretation is applied over and over in connection with the ladders of ascent in the Libellus. The similarity of the ratios of length, width, and height of the Ark to those for the human body is also brought into play at the conclusion of this chapter. The second book opens by announcing a move from the external to the internal (II.1). Allegory is set in the world of things—one thing (res) in the Bible indicates another thing in the Church or world. Tropology is set in the realm of thoughts. The Ark of Noah, the dwelling place for God in the heart of humans, becomes a place of shelter, silence, and rest from the swirling flood waters that denote the chaos of disordered thoughts and desires. Having built the Ark in one’s heart, a person gradually begins to live not in time, but in the convergence of past, present, and future in the mind. One of the main themes running through The Ark of Noah is Hugh’s concern for, one might even say fixa39 40

Cf. Didasc. 2.13, VTT 3.13, and esp. Practica, where Hugh applies geometry. Archa Noe, I.iv.139–47, CCCM 176.23, below, p. 147.

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tion on, what he sees as the infinite number of thoughts and desires that besiege the fallen and undisciplined mind, blind to spiritual truth and enmeshed in the ungoverned desires of concupiscence. The question is how to restrain thought, how to make it productive of virtue, and how to overcome ignorance of truth. Deprived of the knowledge and love of God that anchored and stabilized life in Paradise, human beings are adrift and tossed in a world of disordered thoughts and desires. Books II and IV set out to re-form the soul by using the image of building the Ark of Noah that floats securely on the raging waters of the Flood. The tropological interpretation begins immediately.41 The timbers of which the Ark is made are right, useful, and pure thoughts, a designation of thoughts which will return. The dimensions of the Ark suggest the “size” of the heart, the boundaries of its thought. To make the heart 300 cubits long is to follow the length of the Ark as a symbol of time, which represents sacred history (the deeds of God for and by his elect). The heart is 50 cubits wide by considering the faithful in the Church and setting that lifestyle as an example to follow. The heart is heightened to 30 cubits by acquiring knowledge of the 30 books of Sacred Scripture. These measurements form the limits or boundaries. One can also see they sequentially focus the mind. The length is the whole sweep of history, but focused on God’s deeds in time as a “foundation” that reflects the importance of history in Hugh’s theology and exegesis. The width is the Church, considered as a community of people. The height is the textual world defined by the Bible, one of the ways God calls out to fallen human beings who are blind to his presence and whose interior, spiritual ear no longer hears his words. All three involve bringing limitation and order into Hugh’s tropological world of thoughts. The door and window allow Hugh to address proper and improper ways to act and think, using the symbolism of the door for going out by action, and the window for thought. This is a good example of Hugh’s ability to make distinctions that clarify and focus. There are four ways to go out by the door and four by the window. Three of the four are good. One can think about the world as vanity. One can think about the world as a manifestation of God’s power and Wisdom, a way of thinking Hugh addressed in one of his early works, On the Three Days.42 One can also think about the sky, water, fire, air, or earth as agents 41 42

Archa Noe II.i.19–56, CCCM 176.33–34, below, p. 155–56. Tribus diebus, CCCM 177.3–70; VTT 1.61–102.

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of God’s favor or wrath. For example, water washes or drowns; earth buries people or bears crops. Finally, as a reminder of the link between thinking and acting, the visible world can be thought about as nothing more than a means for satisfying lust.43 The fifth chapter of Book II44 brings together important themes and links the teaching of The Ark of Noah to The Formation of Novices as two complementary expressions of the Victorine pattern of pedagogy: one directed to the re-formation of the soul in the contemplative quest; one directed to the initial moral formation of the new members of the community of Saint Victor.45 One can almost catch a glimpse of Hugh pointing to the drawing as he tells the gathered canons that the three decks of the Ark are labeled Right, Good, and Necessary Thought. We are still in Hugh’s inner world of thought, as he suggests by mentioning meditation and “dwelling in the Ark,” but here thinking is directed toward outward behavior and personal moral transformation. Right Thought is gathering up knowledge about behavior and goodness. Useful Thought is the beginning of external transformation by imitating the appearance of good behavior in other people. Necessary thought is actual inner moral reform, styled as the possession of the virtues. One does not possess the virtues by acting or appearing virtuous (humble, generous, temperate); one possesses them by having the inner disposition that inspires the outer action. Hugh’s movement from thinking to forming behavior after good exemplars and then the grace that transforms is the pattern of formation outlined in The Formation of Novices. There Hugh carefully considers knowledge, expends most of the time on discipline by describing at length the “good manners” taught by word and example to the novices, and says as far as goodness is concerned: “pray that God may give it to you.”46 Hugh makes the relationship even clearer and more memorable by pointing out that cognition (the acquisition of knowledge, not mere thinking (cogitation) is inscribed on the first deck, action on the second, and virtue on the third. The link is even more obvious in the citation of Psalm 118:66 43 44 45

46

Archa Noe II.ii.1–II.iv.37, CCCM 176.35–40), below, p. 156–60. Archa Noe II.v.1–40 (CCCM 176.40–41), below, p. 160–61. Stephen C. Jaeger, “Victorine Humanism,” in A Companion to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, eds. Hugh Feiss and Juliet Mousseau, Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 79 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018), 79–112. The tradition of moral formation, the “pattern of right living,” and the “beautiful manners” in the schools and its place at Saint Victor as expressed in Inst. nov. is treated in detail in Jaeger’s The Envy of Angels; Cathedral Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950–1200 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994), 244–68. Inst. nov., VTT 9.249.

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which has goodness, discipline, and knowledge. Reverse these, Hugh says, and you have knowledge, discipline, and virtue. The triad can also be paired with the goal of the drawing and treatise as presented when the image of the Lord enthroned is introduced in Book I: wisdom, discipline, and virtue. Having summed up the Victorine program for forming lives in a dynamic process of outer and inner transformation, Hugh turns to two central symbolic elements of the Ark drawing, the column in the center and the four ascents at the four corners of the Ark, although, as we shall see, the Ark disappears from view for a while. The first element, the column in the center of the Ark, symbolizes Christ who is both “below” in his humanity and “above” in his divinity; below as an example, above as the remedy. Hugh succinctly summarizes the Christological meaning of the column in a passage dense with theological and spiritual significance:47 For since Jesus Christ is true God and true human being, he presents an example (exemplum) in his humanity and a remedy (remedium) in his divinity. By the humility manifest in receiving [human] weakness, he rebukes our pride and illumines our blindness. By the power of his majesty, he feeds our souls with invisible food and by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit he protects our bodies from the surging heat of the vices. The  same one is made the Tree of Life and the Book of Life for us: Tree because he shades and feeds; Book because he rebukes and teaches. He rebukes the haughty; he illumines the blind; he feeds the hungry; he shades those overcome by the heat. Let the haughty hear the rebuke and be made humble; let those who are blind in their soul (animo) hear teaching and be illumined. Let those whom the surging heat of the vices burns up receive shade so that they may be refreshed. Let those who hunger and thirst for righteousness make haste hither so that they may be filled.

The fourfold function of Jesus as Tree and Book in shading, etc. is echoed in the drawing when images of the four living beings (lion, eagle, calf, human) representing the four gospel writers are drawn at the foot of the four sequences of ladders. They become “outward cries” of Jesus via the gospels, directed to those who are ascending, who neither inwardly behold the presence of God nor hear his voice now that their

47

Archa Noe II.vii.22–37, Sicard CCCM 176.43–44, below, p. 163.

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interior ear is closed.48 As with Isaiah’s vision, biblical visionary experiences (Daniel 1:10 and Revelation 4:7) become vehicles of spiritual instruction and transformation. The second element is the four ascents (via ladders in the Ark drawing) to the apex of the Ark and column. In The Ark of Noah, the ascents are not with ladders, but by pathways that lead upward on the mountain of the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. This is the center to which people dispersed through the world flock and make the arduous climb, which Hugh assures is made easier by love.49 The gathering from dispersion symbolizes recovery from the dissipation and fragmentation of the soul by the disaster of the Fall. It is a counter image to the square at the bow of the Ark in the drawing, which is inscribed with the letters of Adam’s name. Those letters, inscribed in Greek, are the first letters of the names of the four directions in which Adam’s descendants were scattered after the Fall.50 In a rising crescendo of affective prose, Hugh sketches a scene of pilgrims returning from the “four corners of the earth” (in the drawing the four corners of the Ark are inscribed on the map of the world) to Jerusalem as the center. They stream up the mountain, rejoicing as they climb and as they process through the streets of the Holy City of Jerusalem. The pyramid-shaped Ark, with the 60 queens and 60 “strong men of Solomon” climbing up the ladders, has vanished while another pyramid enters the picture, at least verbally. The new “pyramid” is a sacred mountain, on which rest the House of God and an emblematic cross, reminiscent of the cross inscribed in the central square of the Ark drawing. Hugh has identified, homologized if you will, two biblical structures, producing a rich layering of multiple meanings on powerful, evocative sacred structures.51 In the Libellus Hugh introduced into the drawing another biblical ascent up a sacred mountain to a transforming moment of divine presence, identifying the ascent of the Ark with Moses’ ascent of Mount Sinai. Hugh identifies the first deck of the Ark with Moses, eating and drinking on the plain with the people of Israel. The second deck is identified with Moses climbing the mountain with the elders. The third deck is Moses entering the cloud enveloping the presence of God. 48 49 50 51

Libellus IV, CCCM 147.224–28, below, p. 106. Below, p. 163–64. Cf. Libellus II.36–52; CCCM 176.128, below p. 92–93. Cf. Sicard, Diagrammes médiévaux.

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The ascension has many referents, including a journey from the many to the One (with many, with a few, alone with God). Again, Hugh has homologized two “mountains” and produced a confluence of images and deeply layered meanings. As far as the four ascents are concerned, The Ark of Noah succinctly describes each one. The descriptions are affective and also effective in conveying the dynamics but not the details. Here is the third ascent, from Ignorance, via Cogitation, Meditation, and Contemplation in the drawing:52 The third ascent is from the cold of the west because when we have completely extinguished carnal feelings in ourselves through abstinence and through training in discipline (per abstinentiam et exercitium disciplinae), then we shall be able to rest quietly and freely in meditation and in the teaching of the Divine Scriptures.

Meditation and the teaching of the Divine Scriptures take us to the first two levels of the ascent from Ignorance. Abstinence is one of the virtues in the second ascent (from Concupiscence, “carnal feelings”), preparing quiet (in thoughts and desires) to facilitate the third ascent. Finally, “training in discipline” reminds the canon in the collation that the ascensions of the mountain/Ark are linked to the pedagogical program expressed also in The Formation of Novices. Having set before the canons the moving rhetorical depiction of ascending the holy mountain, Hugh continues in chapter 8 with more on the column as the Book of Life and the Tree of Life. The book then concludes with a sequence of chapters comparing books, words, and trees in triadic comparisons that often have a cosmic or divine/human dynamic, as in books written by humans and those written by God: human books are mutable, they “die”; a divine “book” will be eternal, incorruptible, and “the book of life,” not like that of humans, who write a dead book for the dying. The living book is Christ. So, the comparisons continue until the Tree of Life in Paradise appears: the tree in the middle of the earthly Paradise; Christ as the Tree of Life in the midst of the Church; Christ as the Tree of Life in the heavenly Paradise.53 Hugh begins Book IV with a new approach to building the Ark in the heart of humans. Hugh is still deeply concerned about the chaos of life and the distractions of the world leading to an infinite cascade of 52 53

Archa Noe II.vii.70–73, Sicard CCCM 176.45, below, p. 164. See Hugh Feiss’s Appendix, below, p. 82–86.

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thoughts and their attendant desires. But he applies a distinctive pattern of distinctions and analysis to give structure and the all-important aspect of order to the analysis and discussion. He brings the exegetical practice developed in the Victorine classroom into a collation for spiritual advancement and healing. He now analyzes building the Ark of Noah in the heart according to the six traditional rhetorical circumstances used in On Sacred Scripture and its Authors to organize and order the proper exegesis of the historical meaning of Scripture by analyzing the characteristics of the res (thing) in the text in terms of the thing (“matter”), the person, the number, the place, the time, and the deed.54 He is making divisions and distinctions to understand and then gathering together to produce a result. First, he discusses the place and material, which correspond to the heart and the thoughts. Building the ark in the heart of one’s thoughts requires cooperation between God and the soul through grace. Hugh turns to a more precise consideration of how to construct the Ark. The answer to “how” allows Hugh to discuss the order, arrangement, and measurement. Order and limit form the antihesis of the disorder and chaos of the “waters” of the human heart on which the Ark rides. Water—formless, noisy, chaotic, unstable, running downward (not ascending), enfolding with death— becomes an enduring theme in Book IV in contrast to the stability, symbolic form, peacefulness, and rest found within the Ark. As an evocative symbol, the floating yet inwardly stable Ark sails through many passages in Book IV. As Hugh brings the treatise to a conclusion, he applies the six rhetorical circumstances to the works of restoration, God’s action in the world to announce, promote, manifest, and apply his saving action before, during, and after the Incarnation, on which all salvific knowledge and deeds depend. Here are his words:55 The works of restoration, therefore, are all the things that have been done or will be done for the restoration of human beings, from the beginning of the world to the end of the age. Among these works, we must consider the things done (res gestae) and the people by whom and for whom and among whom these things have been done, together with the places and the times where and when things have been done. Order in the works of restoration should be considered in three ways: according to place; according to time; according to dignity. According 54 55

Archa Noe IV.i.1–90, CCCM 176.86–89, below, p. 193. Archa Noe IV.ix.2–10, CCCM 176.111, below, p. 211.

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to place: what has been done nearby and what far away; according to time: what has been done earlier and what later; according to dignity: what is more humble and what more exalted. This last item is separated into many distinctions. What is holy; what is more holy.

This will become a powerful tool in “organizing” the persons, places, deeds, times, etc. when the works of restoration become part of the furnishings and symbolism of the Ark. Time applies to the timeline along the keel of the Ark and persons to the genealogies inscribed on it. Hugh links place to the map surrounding the Ark, which accords, as Hugh maintains, with the flow of time and people along the timeline. The unlimited thinking of people unaware and ignorant of divine presence and judgment, immersed in the words of the poets or the pleasurable distractions of the world, has no limit or order. The faithful within the Church, with the works of restoration, have a limit, as we discovered in book II. The works of foundation form the arena in which people live their lives, full of pleasurable material distractions and thoughts. Should the material be abandoned? For Hugh the answer is no. In and of itself, the material world was created for the benefit and pleasure of human beings. The thoughts and intentions of people make the world a dangerous, evil place. Hugh asserts that holy men can think about filthy things in a good way. The world need not be left behind because it is the material world but because it is the occasion of distorted love, love of the world which, in Hugh’s lapidary answer that set off the discussion, is the cause of the restlessness of the human heart. Throughout Book IV Hugh often sounds hortatory—he is exhorting, persuading, and, perhaps, frightening his listeners, in order to hasten the construction and occupation of the Ark. He paints a rhetorical picture of those people who have no Ark and are in the destructive waters of the Flood; of those people who have an Ark but do not live in it and thus are at risk of destruction in the flood of thoughts and desires; and of those people who are secure in the Ark that they have built in their heart—where they may dwell with God in the peacefulness of quiet interiorization, secure in meditation and the pursuit of virtue. The question of God’s presence—and absence—in experience is addressed in delineating the way in which God speaks in a hidden way, in secret, rarely, or with only a few. The narrative exploring God’s speech in secret in Book IV.4 is a moving and affective evocation of divine absence and presence explored through the deeper sense of a

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love dialogue between the Bride and Bridegroom in the Song of Songs. The Bridegroom looks through the latticework, speaks softly, but then runs away. He entices the Bride to come with him to his own country where the garden is fresh and flourishing in the springtime. This dialogue of God’s/Christ’s hiddenness and presence, the game of hide and seek, powerfully evokes the elusiveness of the divine presence in life and the isolation of those who, as Hugh puts it in the opening of this section, have lost the interior ear into which God spoke in Paradise. The Fall closed the interior ear and opened the outer ear to the distractions of the world. CONCLUSION

Hugh’s concern with the flux of time and infinite distraction of thoughts and desires is encapsulated in Book IV.2 and its image of the Ark. This is perhaps one of the most evocative and memorable images that Hugh brings forth in these works. It presents the pyramid-shaped Ark, floating, but stable, upon the flux of time and thought as the image of the spiritual journey laid before the canons in the treatise and this drawing of the Ark, the cosmos, and Christ.56 So that what we are speaking about may become clearer by means of an example, let us arrange three things in a pattern: the first thing is at the bottom; the second is at the top; the third is in the middle. Let us put the world at the bottom, God at the top and [then] place the human soul in the middle. Next, let us consider the great and horrible confusion of all things and the infinite distraction of human minds that exist below in this world. Meanwhile, up above with God there is everlasting and unshakeable stability. Then, let us imagine a human soul rising upward from this world, as it were, toward God and always gathering itself more and more into a unity as it rises. Then, we shall be able to see spiritually the form of our Ark, which was broad at its base and became narrower as it rose higher, until it came to the measure of a single cubit at its peak. Likewise, as we rise up from this deep place, from this vale of tears, by certain increases among the virtues—by certain ordered stages in our heart, as it were—we are slowly drawn together into a unity, until we reach the simple unity, true simplicity, and eternal stability that are in God. No one becomes perfect immediately, but by making progress every56

Below, p. 196.

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one moves forward towards perfection, since as long as a person still has that in which he is able to make progress, he has not yet arrived at the highest perfection. Here, if we wish, we may consider the manner of our restoration.

As the treatise comes to an end, Hugh breaks into praise of the Ark and its furnishings, of the “other world”—that exists over against this world—in the Ark. The Ark has now become a storehouse of marvelous things. Hugh asks if the reader considers it a labyrinth. Surely this has not come to mind, for there is no labor within, there is only peace within. The storehouse represents in a figurative, yet present, way the saving things of this world and at the same time manifests the presence of another world, beyond time, free of the perishable and transitory nature of things in the ordinary world.57 There all the works of our restoration—from the beginning of the world up until the end—are contained in all their fullness, and the situation of the universal Church is figuratively represented. There the history of things done is woven together; there the mysteries of the sacraments are found; there the stages of feelings, thoughts, meditations, contemplations, good works, virtues, and rewards have been set out in order. There, what we must believe, do, and hope are set forth. There, the form of human life and the summation of perfection are preserved. There, hidden things shine forth; there, difficult things appear easy, and things that on their own could be regarded as having little agreement are judged appropriate when considered in their proper relationship. There, a kind of body of the universe is represented, and the harmony of individual things is made clear. There, indeed, another world is found, over against this perishing and transitory world, since the things that pass by at different times in this world exist there simultaneously—as if in a kind of state of eternity. There the present does not follow on the past, nor does the future displace the present, but whatever is there is there in the present.

Hugh’s comment that closes The Ark of Noah returns us to the collation in the Victorine cloister and the spiritual journey his auditors were invited to initiate: I meant to speak briefly, but I confess that it delights me to have said much to you. And perhaps there was more that I might have said, if I did not fear your dislike. Now, just as we promised, let us display the exemplar (exemplar) of our Ark, which we draw in an external form so 57

For this quote and the next, see below, p. 216.

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that you may learn outwardly what you must do inwardly. As a result, when you shall have copied the form of this exemplar within your heart, you may rejoice that the house of God has been built in you.

For them the journey of formation has just begun, moving from the outer world and the external image to the inner world of thoughts and desires, to be shaped according to the transforming power of the spiritual storehouse laid before them in the drawing of The Ark of Noah.58 THE PRESENT TRANSLATION

The two treatises are printed in the Patrologia Latina, volume 176. They have been edited by Patrice Sicard in Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaeualis, volume 176.59 His monograph, Diagrammes mediévaux et exégèse visuelle: Le Libellus de formatione arche de Hugues de Saint Victor, is an excellent study of the two texts, the drawing, and their relationship, followed by consideration of “visual exegesis,” and Victorine pedagogy and spiritual teaching. The only previous English translation of Archa Noe is by a religious of the Community of St Mary the Virgin (Oxford, England).60 The Libellus has been translated twice recently, first by Jessica Weiss61 and second by Conrad Rudolph, whose translation accompanies a complete study and the most complete digital reconstruction of the Ark, with numerous images of sections of the reconstruction and medieval images used to guide that reconstruction.62 As mentioned above, the Libellus exists in two versions, long and short. The long version is the original, with the short version altering some of the iconographic and inscribed elements.63 The long version is translated here. All translations of Biblical texts are my own. An Andrew  W. Mellon Emeritus Faculty Fellowship provided partial support for the translations of The Ark of Noah and the Libel58

59 60 61 62 63

For the Ark drawing as a visual device for meditation practice, considered from a comparative History of Religions perspective, see Grover A. Zinn, “Mandala Symbolism and Use in the Mysticism of Hugh of St Victor,” History of Religions 12.4 (1973): 317–41. Hugh of Saint Victor, De archa Noe, Libellus de formatione arche, ed. P. Sicard, CCCM 176 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001). Hugh of St Victor, Selected Spiritual Writings, tr. a religious of C.M.S.V. (New York: Harper and Row, 1962) 45–153. “A Little Book About Constructing Noah’s Ark,” in Mary Carruthers and Jan M. Ziolkowski, The Medieval Craft of Memory: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures, 45–70, intro. 41–45. Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 397–502. Cf. Sicard, Diagrammes mediévaux, 76–99.

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lus. I am indebted to colleagues Frans van Liere, Dale Coulter, Boyd ­Coolman, Franklin Harkins, and Hugh Feiss for their good counsel and continuing support. Hugh gave valuable advice on the translation at an early stage. Oberlin College and the Oberlin College Library, especially the Interlibrary Loan Librarian, Diane Lee, also provided essential support. My late wife Mary Zinn, our children Andrew and Jennifer, and my present wife Nina Love have given me support, empathy, and love. My late cocker spaniel, Max, made certain I took a daily walk or two.

APPENDIX: AN ANALYSIS OF BOOK THREE OF THE ARK OF NOAH By Hugh Feiss, OSB Book III of the Ark of Noah is about the Tree of Life.1 It coordinates the life of a fruit-bearing tree with the unfolding of the Tree of Life in the soul of the believer: planting = fear of the Lord watering = grace decaying = sorrow about this world (dolor) rooting = faith germinating = devotion sprouting = compunction growing larger = longing (desiderium) growing stronger = love (caritas) greening (viror) = hope leafing out = circumspection flowering = discipline fruiting = virtue ripening = patience harvesting = death feeding = contemplation Why would Hugh have been drawn away from his plan to write this chapter? For one thing he is knowledgeable about fruit trees: the process of planting, and germination, grafting, techniques to coax the branches to spread out. He could have picked up this knowledge while he was growing up or at St Victor, where there seem to have been fruit 1

Archa Noe, III, ed. Sicard, CCCM 176.55–85.

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trees.2 Perhaps most of the canons of St Victor knew about fruit trees; people were certainly much closer to farming and crafts than they are in modern urban societies.3 Hugh surely is not just stringing a list of desirable attitudes and actions together; he believes that he is marking out the normal trajectory from fear to love, conversion to contemplation. At the end of each chapter, he summarizes the names of the steps reached at that point. By the end of their study of the book, readers would likely have the list memorized. They are invited to see if they can see a similar trajectory in their own lives, and perhaps notice a step that they missed. Hugh does not think of this as a board game where moves from one square to another, leaving the former square behind. One is building a house of Wisdom; each stage adds something permanently active to the rising building, which is alive like a tree. The first of the fifteen stages is fear of the Lord; appropriately since fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.4 When someone returns to himself after being struck with terror, he looks for protection or escape and when he finds it, he loves it. Then Hugh presents the goals of peace and contemplation. Fear also teaches poverty of spirit, so one does not have a high opinion of oneself. This brings peace. Having withdrawn for external things, the mind the soul in collected and then lifted up to contemplate. The second stage is irrigation by grace. Grace is important in Hugh’s theology; he returns to it in IV.3, where he gives a clear summary of the Church’s understanding of predestination, grace, and free will. The watered seed needs to decay so that it can germinate and sprout: that decay is sorrow over the corruption of the world. The Tree of Life takes root through faith. Hugh distinguishes unbelievers, wavering believers, and mature believers. He understands well the divided heart of wavering believers, and the reasons they offer for the instability of their faith. Mature believers have good for their soil; they are rooted in Christ through faith and love. Now the seed can germinate, which occurs in devotion, the fervor of a good will sprouting in zeal and compassion. As the tree grows taller it becomes a kind of watchtower of contemplation, gazing from afar at a region of light, which it desires 2 3 4

Richard of St Victor, Quaest. 14, tr. Feiss, VTT 9.291. Richard of St Victor vividly describes mucking out a house in Serm. cent., 5 (VVT8.169–71), and Serm. cent., 41 (VTT 8.239–46). Prov. 1:7.

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to enter after leaving concupiscence behind. This desire is the eighth stage of the journey. While up to now the path has been from bad to good, from now one it is to be from good to better. The tree now spreads it branches widely in charity. Charity is like wine: it makes one cheerful through a good conscience, bold in faithfulness, strong in the confidence faith brings, forgetful of transitory things, forgetful and somewhat insensible to transitory things. Warmed by the Holy Spirit from above, and watered below by the pursuit of good works, the tree becomes greener in hope. Next it leaves out through circumspection, which enables people of contemplative bent to see heavenly secrets, and active people to spread their attention widely. This gives Hugh the chance to mention several ideas that appear in Victorine writers. First is a warning to contemplative people not to become uncritically proud of themselves and judgmental of others, prying into their lives, condemning them by putting the worst possible interpretation on them. They are dragged from compassion to contempt of others. Having fallen this far, such people abandon contemplation for the active life, and if they are blessed, they learn to respect those who are engaged in administration and service. Likewise, circumspection invites them to order their relationships: obedience to superiors, affection to equals, fatherly kindness to others. Temptations and trials provide opportunities to train oneself in the proper ordering of the basic affects such as fear and anxiety, and the necessity of giving and receiving what is needed for human existence. The rest of the life-cycle of the Tree of Life is treated briefly: the tree’s flowering has three characteristics that figure the effects of good life: the hope of harvest it brings symbolizes the hope of reward; its beauty is a symbolic of good example; its fragrance symbolizes good reputation. The fruit of tree is virtue within. It ripens through patience. The ripe fruit signals the banquet of heaven where we shall be food that brings God good pleasure and where he will be our food by our face-to-face vision of his glory. Finally, the picked fruit represents contemplation. This fifteenth stage, the sum of seven and eight, has various numerical meanings. Sicard’s edition lists 146 surviving complete manuscripts, and another 33 partial ones, many of which contain only Book III on the Tree of Life, some of them adding to it the last chapters of Book II, which

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introduce the topic of trees.5 Richard of St Victor’s Twelve Patriarchs (Benjamin Minor), and other of his works, although they do not use the tree image, present a similar procession from virtue to virtue toward the goal of contemplation. The Tree of Life theme, if not Hugh’s development of it, was the seed of other works, not least Bonaventure’s Lignum Vitae (Tree of Life), a meditation on the life of the historical Jesus, his cross and glorification. Christ is a tree upon which bloom various virtues, which the Christian should imitate. As Bonaventure writes in the prologue: “To enkindle in us this affection, to shape this understanding and to imprint this memory I have endeavored to gather this bundle of myrrh from the forest of the gospel.”6 It is the same Tree, Christ, but the way in which he is presented if very different. In their theoretical and devotional Christology, the Victorines are the culmination of an era, after which, to put things simplistically, one side of the Tree of Life, Christ the Lord, was replaced by another, the Crucified Jesus.

5

6

Archa Noe, ed. Sicard, CCCM 176.*27–*69; see Patrice Sicard, Iter Victorinum: La tradition manuscrite des œuvres de Hugues et de Richard de Saint-Victor, BV 24 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015), 88–102. Bonaventure, Lignum Vitae, in Decem opuscula ad theologiam mysticam spectantia, ed. PP. Collegii S. Bonaventurae, 2nd ed. (Quaracchi: Collegium S. Bonaventurae, 1900); 168–223. The Soul’s Journey to God, the Tree of Life, the Life of St Francis, ed. Ewart Cousins, CWS (New York: Paulist, 1978), 117–75.

A LITTLE BOOK ON THE FORMATION OF THE ARK I

On the flat surface on which I wish to draw the Ark, I first seek out the center point (medium) for the location of the foot of a drawing compass (centrum).1 There, after having pierced a point [in the surface], I draw around it a small square (quadraturum equilateram) in the likeness of that cubit in which the Ark was brought to completion. Then, I draw another slightly larger square around the first one so that the space which is between the outer and inner squares looks like the border of the cubit, as it were. After doing this, I draw (pingo) a cross inside the inner square so that each of its arms touches one side of the square. Then, I cover the cross with gold. Next, I clothe with color those spaces that remain on the surface of the square between the four angles of the cross and four corners of the square: the upper two with fiery red color; the lower two with sapphire color. As a result, one half of the cubit, in fiery red color, seems to represent fire; the other half, in sapphire color, a cloud. After this, in the border of the cubit above the cross I write A, which means “the beginning.” On the opposite side of the square below the cross, I write ω, which means “the end.”2 At the right arm of the cross I write Χ. This letter comes first in the name of Christ and signifies the Ten Commandments of the Law which was first given to that ancient people, to the elect and just, as it were, placed at the right.3 At the left arm [of the cross] I place C. This is the last letter in Christ’s name and signifies, in the number one hundred, the perfection of grace which was given to the Gentiles who, after first being rejected on account of unbelief, seemed destined to be placed at the left.4 Next, I cover the area of the surrounding border with the colors purple and green: purple on the outer part; green on the inner part. And in the center of the gold cross that I have made, I draw (pingo) a year-old lamb that is standing.5 When this has been done, the cubit has been completed. If you seek the meaning of this thing, what else does this writing seem to say to you, except that Christ is the Beginning and the End,

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the bearer of the Old Law and the New?6 And what does the painting show you other than if it were to say:7 This cubit signifies the same as the column of fire and cloud that went before the people of Israel in the desert, illuminating them by means of the fire, and protected them, shading them by means of the cloud?8 He who was terrifying to the earlier people by punishing sin through the fire of Divine Majesty also appeared mild to the later people by pardoning sin through the cloud of his humanity.9 For the sins of human beings, he was sacrificed on the cross like a gentle lamb, who did not open his mouth, and for the righteousness of human beings, he was exalted by rising up and ascending above the heavens. To those coming to him from every side, he sets forth through the purple of his blood the example of his Passion and in the undying color of green the prize of a supernal reward. Or: in the color purple [he sets forth] the blood of the Passion that sanctifies, and in the color green, the water of baptism that cleanses. Or: in the color purple [he sets forth] the fire by which he is going to judge the world at the end, and in the color green, the water by which he judged the world in ancient times. Or: in the color purple [he sets forth] the damnation of evil people whom he will justly condemn, and in the color green, the liberation of good people whom he will mercifully save.10 He stands because he summons; he stands because he comforts; he stands because he strengthens; he stands because he crowns; he stands because he keeps watch in order to protect his city.11 And so, after having completed the cubit in the center, I draw another rectangle around and some distance away from the above-mentioned center point [for the foot of the drawing compass], [and I make it] of a size as great as the size that I wish to make the Ark. This rectangle should be six times longer than it is wide since the Ark measured three hundred cubits in length and fifty cubits in width, which means that it was six times as long as it was wide.12 However, in order to produce a more suitable form in the painting, I have shortened the length to about four times [the width]. After this, by drawing two lines lengthwise through the center of this rectangle, that is through the center of the bottom of the Ark, I enclose as much of the space of the width as is equal to the interior square of the central cubit. In a similar manner, by extending two lines from one wall (pariete) to the other through the center of the width of the Ark, I mark off the space of the same width [of the interior square of the central cubit]. The result is that these two bands13 that intersect with each other—one of which is extended through the center along the length, and the other through the center

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along the width [of the Ark]—meet in the manner of a cross under the cubit in the center. They equal the inner breadth of that cubit, and they are exceeded slightly on all sides by the border of the cubit. And so, after this has been done, I divide the distance that lies between the point [for the foot of the drawing compass] in the center—or better, the cubit in the center—and each of the corners of the Ark into three equal parts by placing pricked points as markers.14 And then, after placing a straightedge to connect pairs of adjacent points along the length and width, I draw a line from point to point, thus going around [the cubit in the center].15 In this way, I construct two other rectangles, six times longer than wide, just as before.16 They are separated from each other by such a proportion that the first is larger than the middle one to the extent that the middle one is larger than the third.17 Within these, the third rectangle—which is the smallest and is enclosed within the others according to placement on the flat surface [of the drawing]—surrounds the central cubit. This smallest rectangle cuts through the two previously mentioned bands—one of which extends along the length of the Ark and the other, along the width—in four places. It cuts through one band above and below [the cubit in the center]; it cuts through the other band left and right [of the cubit in the center]. Next, the second rectangle encloses the third and in a similar way cuts through the previously mentioned bands. Next, the other rectangle, which is outermost on the flat surface [of the drawing] and also the lowest with regard to the height [of the Ark] (in alto ima), encloses all the other rectangles and with each of its sides (lateribus) contacts [one of] the four outer ends of the two bands, thus containing the entirety of these bands within itself. Now that this has been done, if you wish to know how this figure represents the form of the Ark, you should understand that the square column erected in the center of the Ark is made, as it were, from the band that is extended through the center along the width of the Ark. The height of the column is less than the width of the Ark to the same degree that three is less than five because the height of the Ark was thirty cubits and the width, fifty.18 However, if you wish to know by what reasoning you should understand that the column is made from this band, consider this: The cubit that now lies fixed in the center of this band according to placement on the flat surface [of the drawing] is lifted upward in such a way that it pulls [upward] along with itself the very band that is folded up, as it were, under the center. As a result, both halves [of the band], while hanging straight down, would be

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joined together flat surface to flat surface, so that the column would seem to stand upright. That cubit, which, according to its former position on the flat surface [of the drawing] lay in the center, would now stand at the top of the column. This cubit ought to be understood as nothing other than the cut-off end of the column as seen from above. The border of the cubit would be a kind of lip or projection made above at the top of the column, in order to receive the timbers rising up from below on all sides. These timbers were attached to the column under the same projection under which the upper part of the roof also was brought to completion, after the manner of the roofing tiles (imbricis) that receive the upper edge of the roof. And although the height of the column does not appear to be greater than half the length of the band, since it has been made from that band divided in half (in the twodimensional drawing of the Ark), you must understand, nevertheless, that the height of the column is greater to the degree that 30 is greater than 25, although this cannot be represented on the flat surface [of the drawing]. To state it another way, since only half of the band contains the complete height of the column, what follows is the reason why both halves of it have been depicted. The column that is set up in the center of the Ark signifies the Tree of Life that was planted in the center of Paradise—that is, [it signifies] the Lord Jesus Christ (who is both God and a human being) planted in the center of the Church according to the form of human nature that he received.19 And that side of the column which faces the north signifies his humanity, which he assumed for the sake of sinners. The side that faces the south, however, figuratively represents his Divinity, which feeds the minds of the faithful. And this is the reason why we have drawn the height of the column twice on the flat surface [of the drawing]: because it was necessary to represent the surfaces of both sides. Without a double presentation [of the column], the figurative representation (figura) cannot be produced. Therefore, after the column has been set up in the middle of the Ark, timbers should be set up from each corner to the top of the column and attached to it under the projection of the outer rim. Next the two interior rectangles should be lifted up and joined orthogonally on all sides with these same timbers according to their position, while the outermost and largest rectangle remains at the bottom.20 Then you will see how the space that is between the first and second rectangles is reckoned as the first deck; that which is between the second and third rectangles is reckoned as the second deck; and the space that is between the third

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rectangle and the square at the highest point is reckoned as the third. After this has been done, you have the complete form of the Ark: wide at the bottom and narrowing to the measure of one square at the top.21 Moreover, the position of the above-mentioned column is such that it rises up from the center of the bottom of the Ark, occupies the central place in all the decks, and supports the entire structure [of the Ark]. The mystery of this is the following: The column is Christ. The south side of the column, which signifies his divinity, is called the Tree of Life and has been coated with the color green. The north side, which figuratively represents his humanity, is called the Book of Life and has been coated with the color sapphire.22 The Ark leans upon the column, and Christ’s Church leans upon him, because unless he sustained her, she certainly would be totally unable to stand. As it has been written in the Song of Songs: Who is this who ascends, having been made white, leaning upon her beloved?23 Again, just as the column measures out the height of each of the decks, so Christ sets in order the virtue and progress of each and every person. And just as the column marks off the [relative] positions, so Christ distributes in Holy Church the gifts of his graces according to the decision of his regard. He establishes some as prophets, others as apostles, still others as evangelists, and all the others whomsoever as sharers of spiritual gifts. And just as the column occupies the central place with regard to everything, so the Lord Jesus Christ says: Wherever two or three have gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.24 If our infirmity is so great, therefore, that we are not able to ascend to the third or even to the second deck, nevertheless, let us not give up hope, and let us gather in unity through faith in his name. Let us at least be on the first deck. Let us be in the unity of the Church. Let us hold fast to right and inviolate faith, and he himself will come to us so that he will stand in our midst, congratulating us on our good beginning, prepared to give aid and to raise us to higher things so that he may be One in all, One among all, and One before all, the Lord Jesus Christ. II

It remains now for us to show you the meaning of the other band that is extended through the center of the bottom [and] along the length of the Ark from one end to the other. For if the Ark signifies the Church, it remains [for us to show] that the length of the Ark figuratively represents the “length” of the

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Church. However, the “length” of the Church is thought about in terms of temporal duration, just as the “width” is thought about in terms of a multitude of peoples. For the Church is said to be widened when the number of believers is increased and many are gathered to the faith. The length of the Church, however, consists of the extension of times by which she stretches herself from the past, through the present, into the future. The time that is related to the length of the Church is from the beginning of the world until the end of the age because Holy Church commenced in her faithful from the beginning and will endure until the end of the age. For we believe that there has never been a time from the beginning of the world up until the end of the age in which those faithful to Christ cannot be found. Therefore, the band that is extended from one end of the Ark to the other designates the course of time from the beginning of the world until the end of the age. However, the half of that band that is above, from the bow (capite) of the Ark to the column, signifies the entire time from the beginning of the world until the Incarnation of the Word. The other half, which is from the column downward [to the stern], designates the entire time from the Incarnation of the Word until the end of the age. So, on the upper half of the band, from the bow of the Ark to the column, is written the line of generation according to the flesh from Adam to Christ. On the other half, from the column downward, are written the names of the Apostolic Men (apostolicorum, i.e. Popes) beginning with Peter in the order in which spiritual sons succeeded [spiritual] fathers, as it were, in the governance of the Church. Since from Adam to Christ was the old generation which is according to the flesh, therefore the course of times in the earlier part of the age is marked off by generation according to the flesh. But since in Christ there began a new kind of generation which is according to the spirit, the course of times in the later part of the age, i.e. after the advent of Christ, is marked off according to spiritual generation. I arrange these generations in the following way: the upper half which is from the column upward, I divide into three equal parts, and so each third is one-sixth of the entire length.25 After making this division, I begin up above, at the bow (sursum a capite),26 and first of all, I write the name Adam in the following way. On the outer surface [of the bow] of the Ark (in ipsa fronte archae)27 I make a small square to represent the four quarters of the world. Then, on the upper side of this square, which side is to the east, I put A, which is the first letter of the name Adam. On the lower side, which is to the west, I put D, which is the second letter. On the right side, which is to

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the north, I put A, which is the third letter. On the left side, which is to the south, I put M, which is the fourth letter.28 Now, in the Greek language the individual quarters of the world begin with these letters: Anatole, that is East, begins with A, and therefore A was placed to the east. Dysis, that is West, begins with D, and therefore D was placed to the west. Arctos, that is North, begins with A, and therefore a second A is (sic) placed to the north; Mesembrion, that is South, begins with M, and therefore M is (sic) placed on the southern side.29 Some people set forth the reason for this thing in the following way: They say that the first parent, who was destined to be scattered throughout all parts of the world through his descendants, rightly received the letters of his name from the four quarters of the world.30 According to the line of generation, after Adam are written: Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.31 And these are placed in the first part [of the timeline]. In the second part, first I write Judah, and around him I arrange the remaining Patriarchs on both sides—the right and the left—in the following way.32 Beginning at the right-hand side, according to the order of birth, I first write Reuben because he was firstborn; next Simeon; then Levi. These are placed to the right of Judah. These four were sons of Leah. In a similar way, to the left of Judah, according to the order of birth, first Dan is written, then Naphtali. These were sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Leah.33 After Naphtali, Gad is placed, then Asher. These were sons of Zilpah, the handmaid of Rachel. Next is Issachar, then Zebulun. These again were sons of Leah. Finally, Joseph and after him Benjamin. These were sons of Rachel. After this, above the individual names I place their images (imagines), half of a figure, drawn from the chest up, of such a sort as are usually represented on panels which the Greeks call “icons” (iconias), according to their usual custom. In this way, the twelve Patriarchs appear in their places, set in order and traversing the width of the Ark, as if they were a kind of Senate of the City of God. Next, returning to the line of generation, after Judah I place Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Ahaz. And these are in the second part [of the timeline]. Next, in the third part [of the timeline], following in order, I first place Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Eliakim, Jehoiakim, S­ alathiel,

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Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, Joseph.34 Between Joseph and the column I write: “Up to here, the first Adam according to the flesh.”35 After this, in a similar way I divide the remaining half [of the band], which is from the column downward, into three equal parts. Now, the three parts that are above and the three that are below are marked off by the sides of the decks (latera mansionum)36 where those sides cut across the [vertical] band according to their position on the flat surface [of the drawing]. Then, after making this division, I  place Peter first in the line below the column and around him to the right and to the left, the twelve Apostles along with their icons: six to the right and five to the left. The result is that the twelve Patriarchs are situated on one side of the column, and the twelve Apostles are situated on the opposite side, in the likeness of the twenty-four Elders seated around the throne in the Apocalypse.37 And just as the twelve Patriarchs, who are above, fill the width of the Ark since all of the ancient people of the Written Law descend from them according to the flesh, so also the twelve Apostles, who are below, [fill the width of the Ark] since from them all the people of the New Law, that is of Grace, were spiritually propagated through faith. Then, after Peter the line continues: Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Thelesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Anicetus, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephyrinus, Callixtus, Urban, Pontian, Anterus, Fabian, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephen, Sixtus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychian, Caius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Mark, Julius, Liberius, Felix, Damasus, Siricius, Anastasius, Innocent, Zosimus, Boniface, Celestine, Sixtus, Leo, Hilary, Symplicius, Felix, Gelasius, Anastasius, Symmachus, Hormisdas, John, Felix, Boniface, John, Agapetus, Silverius, Vigilius, Pelagius, Benedict, Pelagius, Gregory Dialogus, Sabinian, Boniface, Boniface, Deusdedit, Boniface, Honorius, Severinus, Boniface, John, Theodore, Martin, Eugene, Vitalian, Adeodatus, Bonus, Agatho, Leo, Benedict, John, Conon, Sergius, John, John, Sisinnius, Constantine, Gregory, Gregory, Zachary, Stephen, Paul, Stephen, Adrian, Leo, Stephen, Paschalis, Eugenius, Valentinus, Gregory, Sergius, Leo, Benedict, Nicholas, Adrian, John, Marinus, Adrian, Stephen, Formosus, Boniface, Stephen, Romanus, Theodore, John, Benedict, Leo, Christopher, Sergius, Anastasius, Lando, John, Leo, Stephen, Marinus, Agapetus, John. Leo, Benedict, John, Benedict, Donnus de Suri, Boniface, Benedict, John, John, John, Gregory, John, Sylvester, John, John, Sergius, Benedict,

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John, Benedict, Sylvester, Gregory, Clement, Damasus, Leo, Victor, Stephen, Benedict, Nicholas, Alexander, Gregory, Victor, Urban, Paschal, Gelasius, Callixtus, Honorius.38 The space that remains on down to the stern of the Ark will hold those who are to come after us, up to the end of the age. The first period of the age, from Adam to the Flood, contains 1656 years. The second, from the Flood to Abraham, contains 292 years. The third, from Abraham to David, has 942 years. The fourth, from David to the Exile, contains 473 years. The fifth, from the Exile to the advent of Christ, has 588 years. The sixth period, which is now occurring, has an unknown length in years; but since it is an enfeebled period it is destined to be swallowed up in the death of the entire age. Those who have overcome these miserable, toil-filled periods of the world with a blessed death have already been taken up into the seventh, [that] of the everlasting Sabbath, and await the eighth, [that] of the blessed resurrection, in which they will reign forever with the Lord. III

After this, I  divide the [length of the] Ark into three sections. The first section, which is from the beginning to the Twelve Patriarchs, I take as the time of Natural Law. The second section, which is from the Twelve Patriarchs to the column—that is, to the Incarnation of the Word—I take as the time of Written Law. The third section, which is from the column down—that is, from the Incarnation of the Word to the end of the age—I take as the time of Grace. And so, I mark off sections on both sides of the Ark in accord with these divisions. Next, on both of the sides and passing through each of the divisions, I lay out three strips of colors so that they are joined together side by side, like timbers of a sort stretching along the length [of the Ark], with each strip being given an appropriate width. The outermost strip, which appears on the outside [of the Ark], as it were, ought to be wider than the others; after this [in width is] the interior [strip]; the one in the middle, being confined between the other two, as it were, will have the smallest width. The position of these [three strips of color] should be varied in such a way that the one that is outermost in the first section should be in the middle in the second section, and the one that is in the middle in the first section should be innermost in the second section, and the one that is innermost in the first section should be outermost

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in the second section. Similarly, that [strip] which is outermost in the second section should be in the middle in the third section, and that which is in the middle in the second should be innermost in the third section, and that which is innermost in the second section should be outermost in the third. Here is the mystery of this thing.39 These three colors signify three kinds of people, that is, people of Natural Law, people of Written Law, people of Grace. For just as there are three time-periods, that is, the time of Natural Law, the time of Written Law, the time of Grace, so there are also three kinds of people, that is, people of Natural Law, people of Written Law, people of Grace. People of Natural Law belong to the time of Natural Law. In a similar way, people of Written Law belong to the time of Written Law, and people of Grace, to the time of Grace. Nevertheless, if we give careful attention to the matter, we find all of these kinds of people in each of these time-periods. That is to say: in the time of Natural Law, there were people of Natural Law, and similarly, there were people of Written Law and people of Grace then. However, at that time people of Natural Law were there properly, while people of Written Law and people of Grace were there like strangers. The time of Natural Law properly belongs to people of Natural Law because at that time they were greater in number, more obvious in manner of behavior, and more excellent in status. There were also people of Written Law and people of Grace then, but they appeared few in number and hidden in manner of behavior. You should know that the situation is similar with the time of Written Law and the time of Grace. Therefore, let us now set forth what should be said about people of Natural Law, [people] of Written Law, and people of Grace so that by making a distinction between them as individual groups, we may more easily gather together what we have to say about them. Nature is usually understood in three ways in Sacred Scripture. First, it stands for that integral and uncorrupted good in which the first human being was created. According to this interpretation we say that everything is naturally good. Next, it stands for that corruption of sin in which we are born, according to which the Apostle says: By nature we are sons of wrath.40 That is, we are born in corruption and enslaved to sin. Nature is also interpreted in terms of the remnants of natural good that remained in humans after sin. For the natural good in a human was able to be corrupted by sin, but it could not be completely extinguished because a spark, as it were, of natural reason still lives in the human mind. By means of this spark, a person distinguishes be-

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tween good and evil. In accord with this, the Apostle says: For when the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, naturally do those things that are of the Law, they, while having no Law, are a law unto themselves.41 People of Natural Law, therefore, are those who, not having any other law, establish their manner of life and behavior by means of natural reason. Or, people of Natural Law are those who, in accord with the corruption of sin, walk about following the longings of their flesh because they were born in concupiscence. People of Written Law, however, are those in whom cognition (cognitio) flourishes more,42 those who derive a lifestyle (formam vivendi) from the traditions of the Scriptures and from commands that are right and honest. Those are called people of Grace, however, into whose hearts charity has been poured by the Holy Spirit who has been given to them.43 Through the Spirit they are illuminated so that they may acknowledge what ought to be done, and they are aided so that they may be enabled to fulfill the good which they have merited to understand. From these [distinctions] we are able to gather together in what way all three of these kinds of people were present in the time-period of Natural Law. For, at that time there were, indeed, only a few just people, still almost unrecognized in the world, whom God had by the Holy Spirit set on fire with his love. He disclosed to them the pathway of truth by speaking outwardly and inspiring inwardly, sometimes appearing visibly to them and presenting himself on intimate terms with them in mutual conversations. These were the people of Grace. Again, there was another group of people who were acquainted very intimately with those just people, whether by marriage or from the similarity of their manner of behavior. Since they had learned from the words and deeds of the people of Grace many pertinent examples that were relevant to justice and moral discipline, they imitated them, not with regard to virtue but rather with regard to a kind of respectability in this life.44 Such people were all wayward sons of religious men, or relatives, or even friends. They maintained their discipline not out of love but out of a certain habitual form of living. Such people as these were people of Written Law. The remaining multitude of the human population was guided by neither divine precepts nor human principles, but each person’s will was the law for that person. And while whatever was pleasing was allowed without punishment, each person followed above all that to which a natural impulse impelled him, whether an impulse of the flesh toward concupiscence, or an impulse of reason toward some form of justice. And so, these people, who were guided to such a

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degree by a natural impulse of either concupiscence or reason, are not unworthily called people of Natural Law. However, as was said above,45 concupiscence is called natural because a person is conceived in it and is born with it. On the other hand, reason is called natural because a person still retains it from the first foundation. Therefore, reason is natural from [our] foundation; concupiscence is natural from being born. Reason is natural because we received it when we were formed at the beginning; concupiscence is natural because we have carried it with us and in us ever since we were born into this life.46 Such people existed in the first time-period of the world, when there was no law that might punish sins and when people sinned freely. Nor did they hide their sins, with some people not believing them in any way to be sins and others certainly recognizing them to be sins but holding the opinion that they were of little consequence and that they could be absolved by an easy sin-offering. But after the Law entered and showed people their sins and at the same time denounced and prohibited them while prescribing punishment, people began to hide their sins and to show certain works of the virtues outwardly.47 They did this not so that they might fulfill justice but so that they might avoid punishment. And so people of Written Law increased in number. However, people of Natural Law became fewer and fewer. By way of contrast, people of Grace began to be somewhat more obvious than they were earlier because the Law—good in this way—called people to justice and rendered the lifestyle of just people that much more evident. After the rigor of the Law was changed into mercy with the coming of Grace, people of Natural Law are again multiplying in numbers as those who earlier allowed themselves to be repressed almost completely through fear of punishment are now openly chasing after their vices. However, people of Written Law are decreasing in number. Nevertheless, this time is called the time of Grace for this reason, that although people of Grace are lacking in numbers, they are, nevertheless, more outstanding in status. This is because, indeed, truth is firmly adhered to by only a few, but it is recognized by almost all people and is preferred by the common judgment of all. And it is clearly the case now that a person is justified not by works of the Law, as was thought earlier, but by the grace of God.48 Therefore, people of Natural Law in any time-period whatsoever are openly bad, while people of Written Law are falsely good, but people of Grace are truly good. People of Natural Law are partly “outside” the

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Church, as are, for instance, all unbelievers, and partly “in” the Church, as are those who have faith alone without works, but in no way are they “of ” the Church, because they are not good. People of Written Law are to some degree “in” the Church because they have faith, but they are not “of ” the Church because they are not good. Only people of Grace are “in” the Church and “of ” the Church because they have faith, and they are good. Those three strips of colors—green, yellow, purple—that we arranged in order along the sides of the Ark are meant to signify this. The color green, which is placed on the outside in the time-period of Natural Law, signifies people of Natural Law, who were more obvious then. This green strip is “in” the structure of the Ark, but it is not “like” the Ark and by way of contrast has a likeness to the earth outside.49 The Ark, which has been covered on the inner surface with various colors according to the diversity of decks, nevertheless ought not to be covered over with green color in that part where people of Natural Law are gathered together inside, nor with yellow color where people of Written Law are inside. But, where people of Grace are placed within, it ought to have the color purple, since this likeness alone relates to the other two, just as by means of the color green the surface of the earth outside the Ark agrees with people of Natural Law. The color yellow, however, was located on the innermost [of the strips] in the time-period of Natural Law because it signifies people of Written Law who were nourished in yellow according to the judgment of the Prophet and were hidden at that time.50 Indeed, this color was placed “in” the Ark; however, it is “like” neither the Ark nor the earth because these falsely good people are neither outwardly similar to the unfaithful by works nor inwardly similar to the faithful by virtue. In the time-period of Natural Law, however, the color purple lies in the middle, tightly confined by both other colors, as it were.51 This is because on account of its royal beauty it signifies the people of Grace who were then the most hidden of all. This color is “in” the Ark by both position and likeness because the people of Grace are in the Church by having faith and are good by having virtue. The position of these colors in the other time-periods is varied in accord with the signification proposed. Again, people of Natural Law are those who have only a dead faith, one without works. People of Written Law are those who have faith and the works of faith, but they do not have charity. Only people of Grace have faith that does works on the basis of love.52

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IV

Next, I turn my hand to the width, and beginning up above [at the bow of the Ark], I extend two timbers from the right corner all the way to the line of generation. Then, still up above, in a similar way I extend two timbers—the same, indeed, but transposed—from that point, that is from the line of generation, all the way to the left corner. Next, down below [at the stern of the Ark] I extend two timbers in the same way from the right corner to the left corner in a continuous sweep (ductus) without transposition.53 After having fitted together the sides according to length and width in this way, I set out their inscriptions as follows. On the right-hand side from one end of the Ark to the other I write: Three hundred cubits will be its length.54 Opposite, on the left side, in the first part I place, “The time of Natural Law”; in the second part, “The time of Written Law”; in the third part, “The time of Grace.”55 This is done so that the first hundred, as it were, is the time of Natural Law; the second is the time of Written Law, and the third is the time of Grace.56 On the upper part [which is the bow of the Ark] I write from the right side to the left: Fifty cubits its width.57 Opposite, on the lower side [which is the stern of the Ark], I write an explanation, as it were, of this: “All of the faithful under one Head, Christ.” In the upper corner, above the ends of two timbers that run into the long [side], I put, “Mount Zion”; in the left [corner] I put, “The Sides of the North.” Underneath [the two sets of timbers] and opposite the center [of the Ark] I put, “The City of the Great King.” The two timbers on the right signify Mount Zion, that is the Jewish people of both sexes; the two timbers on the left signify the Sides of the North, that is the Gentile people, likewise in two sexes, with both peoples together running toward faith and making from both peoples one City of God, which is the Church. For that reason, both a transposition of the timbers and a division of the inscriptions were made on the upper side, while on the lower side there was one line and one inscription because these two people, who earlier were divided among themselves, afterward were made one people of Christ by faith. Next, in the right corner above the ends of the three timbers that are extended lengthwise, I write “People” transversely. Next, in the left corner, as if it were a definitive statement about the inscription just mentioned, I write “of Nature” at the top of the outermost timber; I write “of Written Law” at the top of the innermost timber; I write “of Grace” at the top of the timber in the middle. This is intended to

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signify that these three timbers placed side by side signify people of Natural Law, of Written Law, and of Grace. We have spoken about them previously.58 The inscriptions on the decks are as follows: on the right side on the first deck I inscribe “Faith”; on the second deck, “Hope”; on the third deck, “Charity.” On the left side on the first deck I inscribe “Knowledge”; on the second deck, “Discipline”; on the third deck, “Goodness.”59 On the upper side on the first deck I inscribe “Nature”; on the second deck, “Law”; on the third deck, “Grace.” On the lower side on the first deck I inscribe “Right”; on the second deck, “Useful”; on the third deck, “Necessary.” To some extent this last distinction relates to the individual inscriptions just mentioned, such as right Faith, useful Hope, necessary Charity. Or in this way: right Knowledge, useful Discipline, necessary Goodness. Or in this way: right Nature, useful Law, necessary Grace. There are still other differences with which the height of the Ark is marked off. The first deck: “those who are married”; the second: “those who are continent”; the third: “those who are virgins.” Or: The first deck: “those who use the world”; the second: “those who flee the world”; the third: “those who have forgotten the world.” Or: The first deck: “those who creep”; the second: “those who walk”; the third, “those who fly.”60 In a similar way [consider this] according to the individual corners [of the Ark]. For those ascending from the cold of the east, that is, from Pride, the first deck is Fear; the second is Grief; the third is Love. For those ascending from the heat of the west, that is, from Concupiscence of the Flesh, the first deck is Patience; the second is Mercy; the third is Compunction. For those ascending from the cold of the west, that is, from Ignorance, the first deck is Cognition; the second is Meditation; the third is Contemplation. For those ascending from the heat of the east, that is, from Spiritual Fervor, the first deck is Temperance; the second is Prudence; the third is Fortitude. Therefore, twelve ladders that go upward have been set up, passing through the corners of the Ark. Three are associated with each corner. Four are on each deck, with one located in each corner. Each ladder is divided into ten steps, which is a total of one hundred and twenty, that is, sixty plus sixty. By means of these steps, sixty men and sixty women ascend to the square at the top as if ascending to God. They ascend, male alternating with female,61 by means of the individual ladders, as it were: sixty strong men who surround the bed of Solomon,62 and sixty queens, who climb into the embrace of Solomon.63 They ascend by

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twelve ladders, that is, by Apostolic doctrine; by ten rungs, that is, by the ten precepts of the Law; from the four corners of the world, imbued with Trinitarian faith and Gospel doctrine. From the cold of the east the thirty books of the Divine Page64 have been written in order going upward, with ten for each deck. This means with individual books placed in order adjacent to individual steps along the outer sides of the ladders. And each of the books is marked off on the outside into three segments, according to the threefold understanding, that is, history, allegory, tropology.65 On the opposite part of the ladders from that same corner is written going upward on the first ladder: “Here ascend those who fear Gehenna, with Isaiah crying out and saying: Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be extinguished”.66 This is quoted from Isaiah because that is the uppermost of the books on this ladder, and this is the end of the book. And this verse is marked off into three segments67 on the outside, all along the individual steps, according to the three things that are mentioned in Ezekiel, i.e. lamentation, song, and woe.68 Lamentation pertains to present misery; song, to future glory; woe, to Gehenna. And it is necessary for those who advance through Fear not only to fear Gehenna but also to grieve for present misery and to love future glory. Nevertheless, on this ladder Fear is primary. On the second ladder is written thus: “Here those mourning the exile of the present life ascend near the vessels of the house of the Lord that were taken captive to Babylon.” This is quoted because it is narrated at the end of the [second] book of Chronicles, which is the uppermost book on this ladder.69 And this verse is similarly marked off into three segments all along the individual steps, according to the above-mentioned triad, but here Grief is primary.70 On the third ladder is written thus: “Here ascend those sighing for the homeland, anxiously awaiting the return of the Bridegroom and saying: Come, Lord Jesus Christ.”71 From the cold of the west thirty books are written in a similar way going upward. Indeed, they are the same that were set in order in the first corner, with ten books on each deck. The result is that these two separate corners with an orderly distribution of books are in accord with the face of the northern side of the column, the side that has been called the Book of Life. We will say more about the mystery of this thing later.72 And just as has been done above, so here we mark off the individual books with three segments along the ascent.73 On the opposite part of the ladders, [going] upward from that same corner, I write on the first ladder thus: “Here ascend those who, after

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[falling into] ignorance, receive the first cognition of God in creatures, as Scripture teaches and says: In the beginning God made heaven and earth, et cetera.”74 This is because Genesis is the first book on this ladder. This verse, however, is marked off into three segments from the bottom upward, segments that signify three things that ought to be admired in the works of God: immensity, beauty, and usefulness. Immensity is related to power; beauty, to wisdom; usefulness, to kindness. If anyone wishes to know more about this he should examine the treatise that we have written which is entitled: On the Three Days.75 On the second ladder is written thus: “Here ascend those who remain awake, meditating on the Divine Law for instruction in right living and listening to what Scripture says: Behold, I established you so that you could tear up and destroy and build and plant.”76 This is found in Jeremiah, which is the first book on this ladder. This verse is marked off on the outside into two segments, in accord with the two things that are necessary for right living, which the Psalmist calls to mind, saying: Turn from evil and do good.77 On the third ladder is written thus: “Here ascend those who, after cleansing the interior eye, thirst to contemplate the light of internal vision, like people returning, as it were, from Babylon to Jerusalem.”78 This is, of course, read in Ezra, which is the first book on this ladder. This verse, however, has no divisions, but one strip of color is spread out from the bottom to the top because contemplation is uniform and simple. From the heat of the west, in a similar way this verse is written on one side of the three ladders in one continuous strip from the bottom to the top: “Here ascend those who flee from the heat of the vices to the Tree of Life, and under its leaves they hide themselves from the boiling heat, as if [they are] under a shelter from the midday sun.”79 This verse is marked off on the outside, from the bottom to the top, into seventy-seven segments, that is, twenty-six per ladder, except that one has twenty-five. These segments signify what is said in the Gospel concerning the forgiveness of sins: Seventy times seven.80 Seven usually signifies the totality of that thing to which it is applied, while eleven signifies transgression.81 Thus, seventy-seven signifies the totality of the transgression that is forgiven for those ascending here. On the other side of the first ladder is written: “Here ascend those who by abstinence and affliction mortify their limbs, which are upon the earth with vices and concupiscence.”82 This verse is marked off into forty segments, which number is a sign for abstinence.83 On the second ladder is written: “Here ascend those who redeem past sins with alms

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and other works of mercy.”84 And this verse is marked off into fortysix segments because the union of alms with abstinence, as it were six with forty, makes a perfect work.85 On the third ladder this is written: “Here ascend those who with a contrite heart and an afflicted spirit offer an unceasing sacrifice to God in an odor of sweetness.”86 And this verse is marked off into fifty segments, which number is the sign of forgiveness and freedom because from the moment a person puts into practice three things, namely abstinence, alms, and compunction, he will immediately discover absolution of his sins and the consolation of the Holy Spirit in the beginning of true freedom.87 In the heat of the east, which is the final corner for those returning and the first for those descending, I write in a single sweep, from the bottom to the top: “Here ascend those who no longer move from evil to good, but instead progress from the good to the better. The Tree of Life feeds and advances them with its fruit.” On the first ladder this verse is marked off into thirty segments, in accord with the first order of the faithful in Holy Church, that is, those who are married and are signified in the Gospel by the thirty-fold yield.88 On the second ladder there is a marking off of sixty segments. This number relates to those who are continent. On the third ladder, there [is a marking off of] one hundred [segments]. This number relates to virgins, than whom there are none higher since they lead a celibate and angelic life. Now, on the opposite side of the first ladder this verse has been written in addition: “Here ascend those using the world properly, like reptiles in the Ark and like the children of Israel on the plain, eating and drinking and seeing the glory of God from afar.”89 This verse is marked off into five and one-half segments in accord with a good work that is less than perfect. Perfection, which none of these people is able to attain, is signified in a full six. On the second ladder is written: “Here ascend those forgetting and fleeing the world, like quadrupeds already walking about in the Ark and like Aaron with the elders of the sons of Israel in the ascent of the mountain.”90 This verse is marked off into six segments according to the perfection of work to which these people have already been advanced. On the third ladder is written thus: “Here ascend those who have forgotten the world, like birds in the Ark and like Moses alone on the peak of the mountain, in the cloud with the Lord.”91 This verse is marked off into seven segments because along with the perfection of work, such people also have a quietly peaceful mind.92 You should know, however, that these segments are always to be inscribed on the outside with the verses, so that the verses themselves

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extend upward between the segments and the ladders. Also, the segments are to be marked off by various colors. For the purpose of signifying the historical sense, we have used green; for the tropological sense, yellow; for the allegorical sense, blue. Now let us return to the first ladder. For those ascending from the cold of the east, the first ladder is Fear; the second, Grief; the third, Love. For those ascending from the cold of the west, the first ladder is Cognition; the second, Meditation; the third, Contemplation. For those ascending from the heat of the west, the first ladder is Patience; the second, Mercy; the third, Compunction. And these three ladders bring Justice to completion. The remaining three of the four-fold group of the virtues follow in the fourth ascent.93 For those ascending from the heat of the east, therefore, the first ladder is Temperance; the second, Prudence; the third, Fortitude. Each of these virtues has been drawn in its own location. We make [the drawing] so that the four corners correspond to the four quarters of the world from which are gathered those people who ascend to the prize of a supernal reward. They are the elect of God, [who come] from the heat of the east, from the cold of the east, from the heat of the west, from the cold of the west. The heat of the east is Fervor of the Spirit; the cold of the east, the Swelling of Pride; the heat of the west, Concupiscence of the Flesh; the cold of the west, the Blindness of Ignorance. The first person was created in the heat of the east. Afterward, on account of pride, he passed over to the cold of the east, as if to the north, to the company of the Devil.94 Next, through concupiscence of the flesh, he fell to the heat of the west and through ignorance, to the cold of the west. And so, he was scattered and dispersed throughout the four quarters of the world. However, when people are gathered up and called back, first they come from the four quarters of the world to the Ark, which is the Church.95 Then, as they ascend upward, they gather themselves little by little into a unity, until they arrive at the summit. Moreover, they begin their ascent from the place to which they first fell, that is, in the cold of the east. There they trample on the head of the serpent, that is, on Pride.96 Next, they ascend from the heat of the west, and there they trample on the stomach of the serpent, that is, on Concupiscence. Next, they ascend from the cold of the west, and there they trample on the chest of the serpent, that is, on Ignorance. Next they return to the heat of the east, where they were created; ascending from there, they crush down all the coils of the serpent. This is so that on each ladder, the person who is the last of those ascending is seen to tread

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underfoot the serpent that coils around both legs of the ladder. Now, the two legs of the ladder designate the body and the soul, which the serpent encoils because in whatever way possible it still rules in both.97 But those who ascend by means of the rungs [of the ladders], that is, by means of the divine commandments, crush the serpent down everywhere. The four Gospel writers have also been drawn at the four corners of the Ark: In the cold of the east, the Lion so that it may terrify those who exalt themselves; in the cold of the west, the Eagle so that it may illumine the blind; in the heat of the west, the Calf so that it may punish the flesh; in the heat of the east, the Human Being so that he may call people back to their origin.98 Those who ascend from the cold of the east and from the cold of the west, ascend alongside the Book of Life, which faces to the north. For that reason, in both areas [that are beside the column’s side that represents the Book of Life] a hand with an open book reaches downward on the inside from the top of the lowest ladder so that on one side it rebukes and on the other it instructs, just as if this were coming from the Book of Life. In one [book a] rebuke has been written: Woe, woe, woe99 and in the other, instruction: In the beginning God made (fecit) heaven and earth.100 This is in accord with what the meaning of the ascent on both sides requires. Those who ascend from the heat of the east and from the heat of the west, ascend alongside the Tree of Life. For that reason, in both areas [that are beside the column that represents the Tree of Life] a tree limb is extended downward from the top of the lowest ladder. One tree limb has leaves, and the other has fruit so that just as if coming from the Tree of Life, it feeds those on one side and shades those on the other. However, the virtues have been depicted in this way: beside each ladder, on the interior, at the edge [of the deck].101 V

First, from the cold of the east, Fear, [drawn as] a naked person who has just discarded the clothing of pride down below alongside the fire and worms that have been drawn at the foot of the ladder, ascends opposite the book [held by a hand]. On the second ladder, Grief is drawn and beside her the Exile to Babylon.102 The Exile begins from Jehoiakim and descends in an oblique line to the foot of the second ladder, where it exits from the Ark into Babylon, the location of which is fixed at that

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location on the map of the world.103 Love is drawn beside the third ladder, like one of the virgins, who with a burning lamp and a vessel of oil, awaits the coming of the Bridegroom.104 In addition, the virtues, each with one hand reaching upward, portray the gesture of a person who is ascending. In this instance, you must pay attention to a difference: people ascend on the ladders; virtues are placed beside the ladders, on the inside, in the open spaces.105 In the heat of the west, beside the foot of the first ladder, a woman, nude down to the waist, comes out of a cave, while being shaded by the leaves of the branch mentioned above. Opposite her, at the edge [of the deck], the Inciter of Vices blows flames from his mouth and nostrils in order to portray Concupiscence. A little higher on the same ladder, a nude man is struck with rods in order to portray Patience. On the second ladder someone is freely giving alms in order to signify Mercy. On the third ladder someone is represented striking his chest, in the likeness of a person praying, in order to denote Compunction. All the virtues should be looking upward so that they do nothing for human praise. From the cold of the west, beside the foot of the first ladder, someone with a completely covered face falls down while coming out of a cave and shatters the vessel that he carries by striking it on a rock. This is in order to portray Ignorance that breaks up the integrity of the soul by means of many errors. After this, on the same ladder, Cognition is drawn standing opposite the book that is held out by a hand extending downward, and the fragments of the vessel are near her (et iuxta eam fragmenta vasis).106 In this book, as we have said, has been written: In the beginning God made heaven and earth,107 because the first Cognition of God is in created things. On the second ladder, Meditation is portrayed sitting down and gathering up the fragments of the broken vase. On the third ladder, Contemplation is fashioned in the likeness of a smith who is melting down the same fragments, so that just above [the depiction of Contemplation] the liquefied fragments are seen to flow through the band of color that we earlier extended upward beside the verse on this ladder. The liquefied fragments flow through a tube, as it were, into the central cubit, as if [flowing] into a matrix [used for casting a coin]. Here is the mystery: Ignorance shatters the integrity of the soul into pieces; Cognition discovers the fragments; Meditation gathers them up; and Contemplation, after melting the fragments with the fire of divine love, pours [them] into the reforming matrix of the divine likeness (in monetam divinae similitudinis reformandam).

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VI

From the heat of the east, beside the first ladder, Temperance is drawn in the likeness of the head of a family sitting at a table and eating while also distributing alms, like a person who would use the world properly. On the second ladder, Prudence is drawn in the likeness of a pilgrim walking about, like a person who would flee the world. On the third ladder, Fortitude is drawn covered below by a cloud, like a person who has trampled the world underfoot and has been lifted into the heights, with hands held upward.108 As we have said, you must take note that the virtues are placed beside the ladders on the inner side, while the people are placed on individual rungs [of the ladders], a single man alternating with a single woman so that there are sixty strong men of Israel and sixty queens.109 Let us now briefly repeat the number and order of the above-mentioned virtues. In the cold of the east, for those ascending from Pride, the first ladder is Fear; the second, Grief; the third, Love. In the heat of the west, for those ascending from Concupiscence, the first ladder is Patience; the second, Mercy; the third, Compunction. In the cold of the west, for those ascending from Ignorance, the first ladder is Cognition or Thinking; the second, Meditation; the third, Contemplation. In the heat of the east, for those who are advancing by means of virtue rather than ascending from vice, the first ladder is Temperance; the second, Prudence; the third, Fortitude, which marks the fulfillment of the perfect life. The first ascent, which is, of course, from the cold of the east, is in feelings. The second, which is from the heat of the west, is in works. The third, which is from the cold of the west, is in thoughts. The fourth, which is from the heat of the east, is in virtues. There are many other things that could be said concerning these things, but it is unavoidable that we must pass over them in this place. VII

Now, we arrange the door of the Ark in the following way. Since the column signifies Christ—who says: I am the door110—the column has been presented in the Ark as two-fold, that is, with two sides, as it were, for the reasons mentioned previously.111 Therefore on both sides of the column—that is on the side of the Book of Life to the north and on the side of the Tree of Life to the south—we draw a door in the lower

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part. And, just as we show one column by means of two sides, so we show one door by means of two doors. In relation to the Book of Life, the door that is to the north signifies faith, by means of which we enter the Church by leaving infidelity behind. This happens through the humanity of Christ, by which we have been called back. This door ought to be closed, so that we no longer revert to ancient errors. In relation to the Tree of Life, the door that is to the south signifies the passage from this life to future glory, that is, to the fruit of the Tree of Life. And this door is open because we must always direct the eyes of our mind toward it and long for it so that we may leave this misery behind as completely as possible. We also signify something else by the door. Since the door is below and the window is above, we have placed the window above [the figure of] Compunction. A hand with a dove reaches out of the window. Thus, the door can suitably represent going out by means of activity and the window, going out by means of thought. Now, there are four ways in which we go out by means of activity. For all action is either earthy or spiritual. One way of going out is to be enslaved to earthy actions because of cupidity, like an unclean animal. Another way of going out is to organize things in light of necessity, like a clean animal. A third way is to undertake spiritual actions because of cupidity, like an evil person. A fourth way is [to undertake spiritual actions] because of usefulness to the neighbor and praise to God, like a good person. Therefore, we have drawn four kinds of living beings going out through the door: an unclean animal, an ass; a clean animal, an ox; a good person, Noah; and an evil person, Ham. God opens the door for the good person; the evil person shatters the door and, disobedient, goes out the opposite side of the column. VIII

In a similar way, we go out in four ways by means of thought. The first way is when we consider what every creature is in terms of itself (ex se). The second way is when we consider what every creature is in terms of the Creator’s good favor. The third way is when we consider how God uses the ministry of creatures to carry out his judgments. The fourth way is when we consider how a person makes use of the help of creatures to carry out his desires. In terms of themselves, all creatures are vain and transitory. In terms of the favor of the Creator, they are everlasting. When they serve God, they are an instrument of justice.

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When they serve a human being, they are an instrument of concupiscence. The raven, which found a corpse and came to rest on it, went out in the fourth way. I have discussed these things at greater length in that book which I have written about the Ark.112 The first three ways of going out are related to the dove, that is to the three kinds of good thoughts, which are Cognition, Meditation, Contemplation. We think about vanity; we meditate on justice; we contemplate that which is everlasting. IX

Now, concerning the “small platforms” (mansiunculas),113 let us see how they should be arranged. Some people say that the “small platforms” were nests of a sort, that is, certain kinds of small receptacles built on the outside surface of the wall114 of the Ark for those creatures that are unable to live either always on dry land or always in the water. By moving back and forth repeatedly, at one time they go from water to dry land, and at another time they return from dry land to water. Since the [door of the] Ark could not be opened so many times, Divine Providence brought it about that, lest these [creatures] perish, small receptacles, the entrances of which were always open to the outside, were fashioned for them on the outside surface of the wall of the Ark, with the wall of the Ark remaining permanently intact inside. These are believed to have been arranged in this way so that while the Ark was carried upon the waters, when [the creatures] outside approached through the water, their access might take place by means of a flat surface. Scripture does not mention the number of these receptacles. Nevertheless, taking account of the likeness to the six cities that are set aside as refuges for murderers,115 since both aim at the same significance, we have arranged six “small platforms” on the Ark in the following manner. First, the Jordan River is drawn [flowing] through the center of the Ark, that is, from one wall to the other, beside the upper side of the column, in the likeness of baptism, whose water of sanctification flowed from the side of Christ. In Holy Church baptism is the end of Law and the beginning of Grace, so to speak. And since of the six cities, three were ordered to be established on the far side of the Jordan and three on the near side, we follow this likeness and also position our “small platforms” in the following way.116 Three we place beyond the Jordan, that is, in the upper part [of the Ark]; and three we place on the near side [of the Jordan], that is in the lower part of the Ark.

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The first has been placed up above on the outer surface of [the bow of] the Ark, that is, at the beginning of Natural Law. The second and third [have been placed] in Written Law, that is, just above the bank of the Jordan, one at each side [of the Ark]. The fourth, fifth, and sixth [have been placed] in the time of Grace: two below the Apostles, opposite the two above on each side [of the Ark] and one below at the stern of the Ark, opposite the first one. And so, Natural Law has one; Written Law has two; Grace has three. The mystery of these [“small platforms”] is this. The Ark signifies the Church; the Flood [signifies] the concupiscence of this world; those animals that go frequently from the Ark to the water and return again from the water to the Ark [signify] those infirm and carnal people established in the Church, who often give in to the concupiscence of the world by sinning. Nevertheless, for these people the curative medicines of penance have been prepared, like certain “small platforms” in the spiritual Ark, that is, in Holy Church. Concerning these “small platforms,” Natural Law had one, as it were: sacrifice. Two were devoted to Written Law: offering and purification. Grace, however, has three spiritual ones over against the three carnal ones: confession, prayer, and affliction of the flesh. Confession offers up; prayer cleanses; affliction of the flesh punishes.117 After this, a portal is opened in both sides [of the Ark], between Natural Law and Written Law.118 Through [the portal] that is to the north, the people are led captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.119 Through [the portal] that is to the south, the people liberated from Egypt enter as they journey to the Promised Land. How this agrees with the location of places will be made clear later in the description of the map of the world since Babylon is to the north of Jerusalem and Egypt is to the south [of Jerusalem].120 Therefore, beginning from that portal by which the people enter into the Ark and going downward to the bank of the Jordan, there are written in order on the inside of the side of the Ark the forty-two stopping places along which the people of God journey spiritually from the Egypt of Natural Law, through the Desert of Written Law, to the Promised Land of Grace.121 X

These stopping places are: First, Rameses; second, Succoth; third, Etham; fourth, Pi-hahiroth; fifth, Marah; sixth, Elim; seventh, Red

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Sea, the second time; eighth, wilderness of Sin; ninth, Dophkah; tenth, Alush; eleventh, Rephidim; twelfth, Sinai; thirteenth, Sepulcher of Concupiscence; fourteenth, Hazeroth; fifteenth, Rithmah; sixteenth, Rimmon-perez; seventeenth, Libnah; eighteenth, Rissah; nineteenth, Kehelathah; twentieth, Mount Sheper; twenty-first, Haradah; twenty-second, Makheloth; twenty-third, Tahath; twenty-fourth, Terah; twenty-fifth, Mithkah; twenty-sixth, Hashmonah; twenty-seventh, Moseroth; twenty-eighth, Bene-jaakan; twenty-nine, Hor-haggidgad; thirtieth, Jotbathah; thirty-first, Abronah; thirty-second, Ezion-geber; thirty-third, Zin, which is Kadesh; thirty-fourth, Mount Hor; thirtyfifth, Zalmonah; thirty-sixth, Punon; thirty-seventh, Oboth; thirtyeighth, Iye-abarim; thirty-ninth, Dibon-gad; fortieth, Almon-diblathaim. And since one of the six “small platforms” has been situated in this area—on the side-edge of the first deck [of the Ark] just above the bank of the Jordan—for that reason, since they would have come to it at the fortieth stopping place, the next two [stopping places] are inscribed in a similar manner, running along beyond the same bank of the Jordan, within the second deck [of the Ark].122 They are: forty-first, Mount Abarim opposite Nebo; forty-second, the plains of Moab above the Jordan near Jericho. We shall pursue more broadly what ought to be said concerning the interpretation and the mystery of these stopping places in another possible work that we are thinking about writing concerning this same Ark. We shall also explore why Natural Law is compared to Egypt, Written Law to the Desert, and Grace to the Promised Land, and what sort of transition takes place from the first, through the second, to the third.123 XI

These things concerning the construction of the Ark can suffice for those who are either unable or unwilling to do more. Nevertheless, we have done some additional things, which we shall mention briefly. After the Ark has been brought to completion in this way,124 around it is drawn an oblong circle that touches the Ark at each of the corners. The space that the circumference of the oblong circle encloses is the orb of the earth. In this space a map of the world is drawn in such a way that the bow of the Ark is pointed toward the east, and the stern of the Ark touches the west. The result is that according to a marvelous dis-

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pensation, from the same beginning point the location of places runs along downward in coordination with the order of the time periods, and the end of the world is the same as the end of the age.125 Moreover, the “cone” of that [oblong] circle, which protrudes toward the east at the bow of the Ark, is Paradise, like the bosom of Abraham, as will be apparent later after the Majesty has been drawn.126 The other “cone,” which protrudes to the west, contains the Judgment of the Universal Resurrection, with the elect on the right and the reprobate on the left.127 In the northern corner of this [western] “cone” is Hell, into which the damned will be thrust, along with the apostate spirits.128 After this, another slightly larger [circle] is drawn around the circle described above so that it seems to make a [circular] band, as it were. This space is the air. In this space the four seasons are arranged according to the four quarters of the world, so that spring is to the east, summer to the south, autumn to the west, winter to the north. Spring is drawn from the waist up as a boy holding a shepherd’s pipe in his hand as he sings. Summer, a youth, gazes at flowers. Autumn, portrayed as an adult male, brings a fruit to his nose and smells it. Winter, shown in the form of an elderly man, eats fruit. All are drawn from the waist up, each of them in its own cardinal direction.129 Spring provides enjoyment for the ears; summer, for the eyes; autumn, for the sense of smell; and winter, for the sense of taste. This is because the delight of childhood is in hearing instruction; the delight of youth is in the imitation of deeds; the delight of adult manhood is in the desire for uprightness; and the delight of old age is in the practice (experientia) of virtue.130 Individually they occupy individual quadrants of the year. Summer occupies the upper quadrant; winter, the lower; spring, the right; autumn, the left.131 In each of the quadrants two strings are stretched out, as it were, according to the two-fold property of each season. When they have been connected together, the musical octachord is expressed, from which the harmony of universal concord is composed (temperatur). Spring is damp and hot; summer, hot and dry; autumn, dry and cold; winter, cold and damp.132 For the sake of the brevity of this work, [we] will refrain from a lengthy discussion of all these matters. In this same space, the twelve winds are arranged, with three assigned to each season. They are [placed] beneath the region of the aether and [depicted] as if they are falling downward. With wings protruding from [their] shoulders, each wind is set in proper order beneath a single month. With respect to these winds, four are cardinal, each of which has two subordinate winds, one on each side.133 From the

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middle of the east blows Subsolanus, having two accompanying winds, one on either side, blowing in unison: on the right Vulturnus; on the left Eurus.134 From the south blows Auster or Notus, having at the right Euronotus, which is also Euroauster, and at the left Libonotus, which is also Austroafricus. From the middle of the west blows Zephyrus, which is also Favonius, having at the right Africus, which is also Lips, and at the left Corus, which is also Argestes. From the middle of the north blows Aparctias, which is also Septentrio, having at the right Circius, which is also Thracias, and at the left, Boreas, which is also Aquilo. Each of the principal winds blows out of two horns, while each of the subordinate winds blows out of one.135 After this, yet another circle is drawn around the outside of the two circles already mentioned above, and the space that it encloses is taken as the region of the aether. In this space, the twelve months are arranged according to the sequence of the seasons [of the year], and the twelve signs of the Zodiac are placed in relation to the twelve months so that a sign always begins in the middle of its own month and, conversely, a month begins in the middle of a sign. Each of these signs is marked off on the upper side into thirty segments, with the beginning taken on the upper side of the first segment of the Ram. And so, with all of the signs arranged in a circular path that “faces” the world136 and, indeed, with them lying down against the firmament itself but with the months standing upright [with respect to the earth], the result is that the signs, located above in the highest sphere [that of the fixed stars] seem to stand or walk while turning round in the circle.137 The months, however, are visible standing in the aether “behind” and “below” the signs.138 And so, the signs are shown in the highest level; under the signs, the months; under the months, the winds; under the winds, the seasons. In this grand arrangement, the rational order and operation of nature are marked out, and the entire circuit of the heavens is thus brought to completion. After constructing the machine of the universe in this way, the Majesty is formed in the area [of the drawing] just beyond [the machine of the universe].139 From [his] shoulders up and with [his] feet down below, the Majesty projects [beyond the universe]. He sits on a throne, as it were, in such a way that with his arms stretched out on either side he seems to embrace everything. With three fingers extended through the middle [of the air and aether] toward the orb of the earth and with the others folded into his palm, he encloses the heavens. In his right hand he holds a scroll (thomus) that hangs downward at an angle through

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the space of the air and extends to a point just above the place in the right-hand part of the “cone” at the stern of the Ark where, as we said above, the elect rise up and the angels, having prepared that very place, receive them into heaven. On this scroll has been written: Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the beginning of the age.140 In his left hand he holds a scepter, which is directed downward to the place on the left-hand side where demons, who block the way, seize and carry away the evil people who are rising up. Therefore, on this scepter has been written: Go, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.141 Next, the line of generation from Adam is extended upward outside the Ark, through the center of the protruding “cone” [and continuing] up to the topmost limit of heaven. On this line, six disks are laid out in a series [with the use of a drawing compass] so that the last of these disks seems to encircle the beginning of the Ark itself. Now, these six disks portray the works of the six days.142 The first disk, which is also the highest, ought to be fashioned in such a way [that it represents] what the world was like on the first day, when light was created; the second, when the firmament was placed between waters and waters; the third, when the waters were gathered in one place and the land was covered with plants; the fourth, when the sun, moon, and stars were made; the fifth, when the fish were placed in the water and the birds in the air; the sixth, when the beasts and a human being were made on the earth.143 The result of this is that the Word goes out from the mouth of the Majesty, the entire ordering of creatures follows, and the stretching out of the Ark itself reaches from the beginning of the world (a principio mundi) to the end of the age—[passing] through the center of the earth, which has places, mountains, rivers, castles, and towns situated on both sides [of the line], with Egypt to the south and Babylon to the north.144 After this, two seraphim are drawn facing the center, one on each side of the throne. With wings outstretched above and below, they veil the head and the feet of the Majesty while the face remains uncovered.145 Under the upper wings of the seraphim, however, and in the space that is between the shoulders of the Majesty and the wings on both sides, the nine orders of angels are arranged, turned so that they contemplate the face of the Majesty.146 To be sure, the highest and true unity itself occupies the central and highest place. Next, the first order of angels [is like] a crown,147 with two angels on each side [of the head of the Majesty]. The second order has three on each side; the third or-

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der, four on each side; the fourth order, five on each side; the fifth order, six on each side; the sixth order, seven on each side; the seventh order, eight on each side; the eighth order, nine on each side; the ninth order, ten on each side. This is done so that the origin of everything might be from the first unity, and the creation of the angels, who number one hundred and eight all together, might be brought to completion in the second unity. However, after a single angel fell from each of the orders, ninety-nine angels remain, to whom humanity is added as the hundredth sheep, and the Supernal City is brought to completion.148 We have said these things concerning the forming of our Ark so that if it should please anyone to gaze with admiration at the beauty of the House of the Lord and its marvels—which are without number— that person, meanwhile, might stir up his feelings with this exemplar. Blessed be God through all the ages of the ages. Amen.

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8

9 10 11

The Latin word centrum is specifically the point for placing the fixed leg of a drawing compass in order to scribe a circle or an arc with the moving leg. Using a straightedge (regula) and a drawing compass many geometrical constructions can be carried out, including drawing a square to a given size. In the course of discussing the general principles of architecture in Book 1 of De architectura, Vitruvius gives the three divisions of “arrangement” which, together with “fitness,” provide the basis for architectural work. These divisions are ichnography, orthography, and scenography. The first he describes as “the representation on a plane of the ground plan of the work, drawn by rule and compasses.” The drawing described in the Libellus is precisely this kind of production, which is carried out, as Vitruvius clearly indicates, with a straightedge and drawing compass. The second division of arrangement is drawing the “elevation of the front” of the structure; the third “exhibits the front and a receding side, properly shadowed.” Hugh does not provide these two kinds of drawings, but by various visual elements in his drawing and descriptions of it he suggests the appearance of the vertical elevation. Cf., for instance, Libellus, I.108–32, CCCM 176.125–26, PL 176.684AC, and this volume, p. 91–92, in which Hugh describes imagining that one (1) raises up the cubit in the center of the Ark to define the height of the column at the center of the Ark, (2) sets in place the sloping timbers that support the roof, and then (3) lifts the middle and top decks to their proper positions in which they are attached at each corner to a sloping timber for support. The letter A stands for the Greek letter alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. The letter ω stands for the Greek letter omega, the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Cf. Rev. 1:8: “I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord God, who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Also, 22:13: “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” The letter X stands for the Greek letter Χ (chi), the first letter of the Greek word Χριστος which is Christos when written in Latin. Hugh then takes the letter as the equivalent of the Latin letter X, which represents the number 10 in the Roman numerical system. The Greek letter-form C is one way of writing the letter sigma (also written with the forms σ, ς, and Σ), which is the last letter of the Greek word Χριστος. Hugh then takes the letterform C to represent the Latin letter C (the third letter of the alphabet), which represents the number 100 in the Roman numerical system. On the symbolism of the number 100, cf. Bede, In principium Genesis, II.6, 13–14, CCSL 118A.103.1069 and Gregory the Great, Mor., 30.35, CCSL 143B.1542.110, as noted by Sicard, Libellus, I.19–20, CCCM 176.121. Cf. Rev. 5:6 and 12; 14:1. Cf. Rev. 1:8. The explicit contrast of the “writing” and the “picture,” emphasizing the knowledge conveyed by each, is a key element in grasping the way in which the depiction of the Ark and the accompanying images and inscriptions were understood by Hugh. Text and image each have their ability to convey information and insight. Cf. Grover A. Zinn, Jr., “Mandala Symbolism and Use in the Mysticism of Hugh of St Victor,” History of Religions 12.4 (1973):317–41. For the fire and cloud, cf. Exod. 13:21. In Sacr., II.ix.5, PL 176.474A, Deferrari, 317, Hugh associates the column of fire and cloud that preceded the Hebrews during the Exodus with the flame of the Paschal candle, further commenting that the candle designates Christ, with the wax his humanity, the fire his divinity. Cf. also Sacr. II.vi.8, ed. Berndt, 188, PL 176.454D–455A, Deferrari, 286; Misc. I.ii.6; Sent. de div. I.368–71; Vanitate, IV, PL 176.729C. Libellus, IV.229–40; Archa Noe, II.8.8–23; Sacr. VI.5, PL 176.267A. Sacr. VI.5, PL 176.267A. Cf. Ps. 126:1 (NRSV Ps. 127:1).

118 12 13

14

15

16

17

18 19

20

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Cf. Gen. 6:15. The Latin here is cingulus, which has the meaning of a zone or band drawn on a representation of the earth, and not cingulum which means a man’s belt. “Band” is used here for clarity in the translation. Zones or bands which were drawn on representations of the earth in order to mark different climates were characteristic elements of the maps of the earth that accompanied Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. Maps of that type are also found in other works, including the Liber floridus by Lambert of Saint-Omer (c. 1120) and William of Conches’ De philosophia mundi. Cf. J. B. Harley and David Woodward, Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, The History of Cartography, vol. 1 (Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1987), 300. For more detail on Macrobius maps, cf. Marcel Destombes, ed., Mappemondes a.d. 1200–1500, Catalogue préparé par la Commission des cartes anciennes de l’Union Géographique Internationale (Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1964), 85–116. A line segment is easily divided into three equal parts by using a drawing compass and a straightedge. By noting that each line should go from the central cubit to a corner of the Ark rather than from the the central point of the drawing, Hugh ensures that the line representing timbers rising from the lowest deck to the top of the central cubit will accurately depict the equal distances between the intersections of the decks and the timbers, as well as the termination of the timbers at the edge of the cubit. If the length of the line to be divided into thirds were determined by extending it to the central point rather than the edge of the central cubit, the distance between the innermost rectangle and the edge of the cubit would be shorter than the other two distances between decks. As mentioned earlier, a straightedge (regula) and a drawing compass together are sufficient to construct the basic geometric figures involved in Eucledian geometry and thus suffice for drawing the diagram of the Ark. Hugh’s wider application of geometric figures and drawing as applied to practical problems can be found in Hugh’s Practica geometriae, ed. Baron, 15–34, tr. Homann. Homann translates a portion of Hugh’s geometrical exercises related to the Ark in Appendix F, 85–86. This contradicts Hugh’s statement just above that in the drawing he has made the length of the Ark about four times the width “in order to produce a more suitable form in the picture …” Conrad Rudolph sees this shift “back” to the six to one ratio of length to width as one of several major reasons to believe that the Libellus is not by Hugh but by someone who is giving an imperfect description of the actual drawing. Cf. Conrad Rudolph, “First I find the centerpoint”: Reading the Text of Hugh of Saint Victor’s The Mystic Ark, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 94.4 (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004), 12–13 and Conrad Rudolph, Mystic Ark: Hugh of Saint Victor, Art, and Thought in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 10–16. This means that in the diagram “on a flat surface,” the distances between the three nested rectangles are the same (i.e. large to middle, middle to small, and small to central cubit). It is noteworthy that Hugh takes care to specify that the line extends from the cubit to the corner and not from the center-point to the corner. If he had used the center-point, the actual distance in the drawing from the cubit to the small rectangle would have been shorter than the other two distances. Cf. Gen. 6:15. For the column, cf. Archa Noe, II.vi–viii, CCCM 176.42–47, PL 176.640C–641B, C.S.M.V., 82 and this volume, p. 42–47. There Hugh first presents the column as a symbol of the Tree of Life in Paradise and then develops it as a two-fold symbol representing both the Tree of Life and the Book of Life. Together with the earlier paragraph describing lifting up the cubit so that the bands re­ presenting the column in the center of the Ark hang down and form a vertical column, this paragraph describes an imaginative mental process for moving from a two-dimensional drawing on a plane surface to an imagined three-dimensional object in space by “rais-

NOTES

21

22

23 24 25

26



119

ing” each of the decks drawn on the plan to their respective positions on the four sloping timbers that become their supports at the four corners of the Ark. This gives the Ark of the Libellus the shape of a truncated pyramid. In contrast, in Archa Noe, I.4, CCCM 176.18–23, PL 176.626D–629D, C.S.M.V., 49–50, and this volume, p. 18–23, Hugh explicates the literal sense of Biblical passages that describe the Ark of Noah. Hugh describes an Ark with five decks, a hull, vertical walls and a sloping roof that covers the top two decks and narrows to a cubit measure at the peak of the Ark. At the end of this presentation, following a lengthy passage that explores some geometrical “exercises” that can be applied to the layout of the Ark and its measurements, Hugh indicates that there are some who state that the Ark had only three decks with divisions into “rooms” (cenacula), with one room on the lowest deck, two on the middle deck and three on the uppermost deck. Hugh then explains that “because in a two-dimensional drawing on a flat surface we are not able to show easily the height of the walls” he has drawn a three-decked Ark in the form of a truncated pyramid in which the timbers of the structure draw together as they rise upward, until at the peak they are separated by one cubit. This form for the Ark allows the floor of each deck to be visible when the Ark is depicted from above in a drawing, although the actual heights of the decks cannot be shown. In the five-decked Ark of Archa Noe, the floors of the three lowest decks would be precisely superimposed in a drawing of the Ark as if seen from above and thus would be undifferentiated in the drawing. In Archa Noe, I.v. 157–62, CCCM 176.29, PL 176.633A, C.S.M.V., 51, and this volume, p. 152, Hugh writes that the form of the five-decked, biblical Ark when seen from above is a truncated pyramid (ad similitudinem curte pyramidis), which is true because when seen from above the lower three levels are exactly superimposed and one only “sees” the sloping roof over decks four and five. This gives the Ark of the Libellus the shape of a truncated pyramid with three “decks” or “floors.” This is, of course, totally different from the Ark that results from Hugh’s literal interpretation of Genesis 6 in Book I of Archa Noe. The five-decked Ark of the literal sense has vertical walls for the lower three decks and a sloping roof that covers the fourth and fifth decks by sloping inward on each side of the Ark from the fourth deck to the cubit at the apex of the Ark. This introduces a third pair of colors with symbolic meanings into the narrative of constructing the Ark. In the opening paragraphs of the treatise fiery red and sapphire are colors for the cubit at the center of the Ark. They represent the fire and cloud accompanying the people of Israel as they traveled through the desert in the Exodus. Then purple and green are introduced as the colors of the border drawn around the Ark, with several symbolic interpretations, including the purple of Christ’s blood representing the Passion and the color green, a supernal reward. Now sapphire is combined with green. Sapphire retains the reference-value of Christ’s humanity, and green, which earlier pointed to aspects of grace and salvation, is now keyed to Christ’s divinity, but still represents life-giving aspects. For fiery red and sapphire, cf. Libellus, I.9–13 and 28–36, CCCM 176.121–22, PL 176.681AB and 682A, and this volume, p. 121. For purple and green, cf. Libellus, I.21–23 and 37–45, CCCM 176.121–23, PL 176.681BC and 682AB, and this volume, p. 21–22. Song of Songs 8:5. Hugh’s text reads: Quae est ista quae ascendit dealbata, innixa super dilectum suum? The Vulgate has: Quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto, deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum suum? Matt. 18:20. The repeated indications of “upper” and “lower,” “upward” and “downward” are made with reference to the physical layout and placement of the drawing so that the bow of the Ark points upward and the stern downward with respect to the square representing the column in the center of the drawing. I take capite, from caput (head), as meaning the top, end, or extremity, and thus referring to the bow of the Ark, located “above” in the drawing.

120 27

28

29 30 31

32

33

34

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  I take frons in its literal sense of “face, forehead, façade” as determinative for the translation here. Caput is the word that Hugh uses for the “front” or bow of the Ark, so frons is something different. I take it as the “outer surface” or façade/face of the bow or front of the Ark (which is flat not pointed). This means (as will be seen later in Hugh’s presentation) that the small square inscribed with Adam’s name is on the outside of the Ark and thus in the area of Paradise on the mappa mundi and not “inside” the Ark. Paradise is, of course, the place where Adam receives his name, well before the events of the Fall came to a climax with Adam and Eve being thrust out of Paradise and into the world of temporal change and history represented by the Ark and the timeline along its keel. Other reconstructions of the drawing place the inscribed square inside the Ark. Cf. Rudolph, “First I find,” 2, fig. 1, 6, fig. 4, and 7, fig. 5 and Mystic Ark, 17, CCCM 176A, fig. 11, and Danielle Lecoq, “La ‘Mappamonde’ du De arca Noe mystica de Hugues de Saint-Victor (1128–1129),” in Géographie du monde au moyen âge et à la Renaissance, ed. Monique Pelletier, Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, Mémoires de la Section de Géographie 15. (Paris, 1989), 9–31. Also, Sicard, Figurae, CCCM 176A, fig. III. Hugh expresses all directional orientations (except up and down) either in terms of compass directions, with east at the top of the drawing, or in terms of the right and left hands of Christ (the Majesty) who holds the cosmos surrounding the Ark. In other words, right and left in Hugh’s description are like “stage left” and “stage right” in drama—determined with respect to actors on the stage, not left and right for the audience who view the stage. Cf.  Augustine, Jo. ev. tr., IX.xiv, PL  35.1465 X.xii, PL  35.1473–74, and En.  Ps., XCV.xv, PL 37.1236. Rabanus Maurus, In honorum Sanctae Crucis, D.xii, CCCM 100.251–52. Cf. Libellus, CCCM 176.128. Cf. Augustine, Jo. ev. tr., X.xii, PL 35.1473 and En. Ps., XCV.xv, PL 37.1236. From Adam to Jacob the genealogy comes from Luke 3:34–38 except that Hugh omits Cainan between Arphaxad and Shelah. Hugh has a somewhat different genealogy from Adam to Christ in Script. 3.1, VTT 3.237. Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 416, n. 98, comments that the line of generation is “largely and variously composed from Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–16.” This is incorrect, as will be seen in notes that follow. The situation for the genealogy of Christ is much for complicated. Rudolph has ignored Hugh’s use of genealogical information from 1 Chron. and 2 Kings. For the Twelve Patriarchs, cf. Gen. 29:32–35, 30:4–24, and 35:23–26. For the genealogy from Judah through Ahaz in this second part of the genealogy, it may appear at first that Hugh means to follow Luke 3:31–33 and then Matthew 1:6–9. A striking difference from the gospel genealogy, however, reveals a very different situation regarding the actual source used for the genealogy. From Judah through David, Hugh follows 1 Chron. 2:3–5, which is also the basis for Luke 3:31–33. From David through Ahaz, Hugh continues to follow that book, but a different chapter: 1 Chron. 3:1–13, which was the source for the genealogy in Matthew. The genealogy in Matthew at first follows 1 Para., but between the kings Joram and Joatham, Matthew has only one king, Uzziah (or Ozias). Hugh has four: Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Ozias (or Uzziah). 1 Chron. 3:11–13 has four: Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, and Azariah (also known as Ozias). Hugh has clearly included information only available to him via 1 Chron., or a list based on that passage. In an error that is impossible to explain adequately, Hugh has identified Bilhah as the handmaid of Leah and Zilpah as the handmaid of Rachel. Each wife is related to the wrong handmaid in Hugh’s presentation. However, the order of birth for the sons is correct as is the mother of each of the sons. The Chronicon, in a table with various lists of descendants, has the same error. Sicard has a brief note on this error in the Libellus, crediting it to Hugh, with further reference to the Chronicon, in De archa Noe, CCCM 176.235*. From Hezekiah to Joseph, Hugh basically follows Matt. 1:10–16, with one telling exception, the succession after Josiah. In Matthew, Josiah is followed by Jeconiah, a grandson (skipping a generation), followed by Salathiel, Jeconiah’s son. Hugh’s list has Josiah, Eliakim,

NOTES

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36

37



121

Jehoiakim (Pharoah Neco changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim) and Salathiel. Hugh omitted Jeconiah (Josiah’s grandson) and replaced him with his father who is named twice (!). Hugh found Eliakim (and Jehoiakim) in the royal succession scheme in 2 Kings 2:34 ff. Matthew erred in omitting Eliakim, skipping a generation. Hugh erred in omitting Jeconiah and in doubling Eliakim’s name—but he did this with attention (less careful than usual) to other Scripture sources. Libellus, CCCM 176.129, cites only one Biblical source, Matt. 1:2–15, for this genealogy. He does not cite any of the 1 Chron. or 2 Kings passages in connection with the second and third parts of the genealogy. He does, however, mention the differing chronologies that are found in Script. 3.1, VTT 3.237 and in Hugh’s Chronicon, Paris, BnF, lat. 15009, fols. 3r–3v as sources in connection with the genealogy after Hezekiah. Rudolph’s translation of this portion of the genealogy misunderstands the genealogy immediately after Eliakim. He lists Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) as the king after Eliakim. In Hugh’s list the King’s name is Ioachim, which should be rendered (modernly) as Jehoiakim. He is the father of Jehoiachin, who is not in Hugh’s genealogy; Rudolph’s mis-reading forces Hugh to conform to Matthew, which is an error. Cf. Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 418, n. 110. In translating Libellus, V.3–7, CCCM 176.148, PL 176.696C, Rudolph also mistranslates Ioachim as Jehoiachin. Cf. Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 460, and n. 117. Hugh’s various chronological and genealogical tables are difficult to analyze and compare easily as a whole. The most significant beyond the Libellus are in The Diligent Examiner, tr. Van Liere in VTT 3.237–248 (tr. for c. 18 of Script.) and in Hugh’s Chronicon, Paris, BnF, lat. 15009, fols. 3v–40v. In the description here, Hugh uses the Latin latus to mean the “edge” or “side” of a deck, not a vertical wall associated with a deck. Rudolph is mistaken in assuming that Hugh is discussing walls at this point. (cf. Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 419, n. 119.) Hugh is, in fact, describing the flat drawing without any reference to vertical walls. By latus (side) he refers to the lines in the drawing that mark the edges of the decks and also cut across the band that is inscribed with the genealogy and runs through the middle of the Ark from bow to stern. In other words, latus refers purely and simply to the sides of the rectangles in the drawing and not the walls of the Ark. In any case, the pyramidal Ark has no vertical walls. The “walls” of the Ark of the Libellus are the sloping faces of the pyramid. They reach from the very bottom to the very top of the structure. When Hugh has in mind the vertical walls of the five-decked Ark according to the literal sense as discussed in Book I of Archa Noe, he tends to use the word paries for “wall.” Cf. Archa Noe, I.iv.48–60 and I.v.100–105, CCCM 176.19–20 and 27, PL 176.627D–628A and 631D–632A, C.S.M.V., 62 and 67–68, tr. Zinn in this vol., p. 145 and 150. Outside of its use in Chapter IX, in connection with the “small platforms” (mansiunculae) attached to the outer walls of the Ark, the word paries (wall) occurs only once in the Libellus, in a passage in which Hugh describes the band that reaches from one “wall” (ab uno pariete) of the Ark to the other and runs through the center point of the Ark/drawing. Cf. Libellus, I.58, CCCM 176.123, PL 176.683A, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 88. On the other hand, there is one passage in Archa Noe in which Hugh uses latus with general reference to the side of the physical Ark, as he discusses the placement of the door in the side of the Ark. The brief mention of latus in this passage, which is dominated by references to paries (wall), seems to be occasioned by the text of Gen. 6:16 (Pones ostium in latere deorsum. “Place the door in the side below”). Hugh immediately interprets latus (side) to mean “side wall” (paries lateralis), which indicates that he finds a need in this passage to assert that latus really means paries. (cf. Archa Noe, I.iv.19–47, CCCM 176.18–19, PL 176.627AD, C.S.M.V., 61 and this volume, p. 144–45. It is worth mentioning once again that the description of the three-decked Ark of the Libellus drawing has almost no correlation (basically only the length, width, and height of the Ark and the presence of decks) with the five-decked Ark in terms of physical shape and structural elements. Cf. Rev. 4:4.

122 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

54 55 56

57 58

59

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  The list of the Bishops of Rome here differs from the lists in the Chronicon., Both begin with “Petrus, Linus...” in contrast to the Libellus. By mysterium (mystery) Hugh means the symbolic meaning of the colors as placed and used in the drawing of the Ark. This is parallel to the use of “mystery” to designate the deeper, symbolic/spiritual meaning of Scripture (i.e. allegory and tropology) for Hugh. Eph. 2:3. Hugh’s text reads: Natura filii irae sumus. The Vulgate reads: Eramus natura filii irae. Rom 2:14. Part of the basic triad of cognito, meditatio, contemplatio. Cognitio is acquiring knowledge as a human activity, whereas cogitatio is the process of thinking about something. Cf. Rom 5:5 which Hugh paraphrases here. Cf. Archa Noe, III.xiii.1–7, CCCM 176.81, PL 176.661C, C.S.M.V., 118, in this vol. p. 190, where Hugh contrasts outer activities with inner virtue. Cf. the previous paragraph. Note the repeated contrast between the situation of humans as the result of forming/ founding in the Beginning and their situation as the result of being born. Cf. Rom. 3:20 where the Law makes sin obvious. Gal. 2:16, which Sicard cites at this point, seems not to be relevant. Cf. Libellus, CCCM 176.136. Cf. Rom. 3:24–28. This is a reference to the “earth” of the mappa mundi that surrounds the Ark in the drawing with the land colored green. This passage gives a garbled presentation of the Ark’s colors.. Lam. 4:5. By this, Hugh means that the purple strip is placed so that it is between the green strip on the outside surface of the side of the Ark and the yellow strip that is on the inside surface. Thus, it can be said to be “hidden.” Cf. Gal. 5:6: sed fides, quae per caritatem operatur (“but faith, which works by charity”). This paragraph is one of the more difficult passages to translate in the Libellus. As is the case elsewhere in the description of the drawing, references to “right” and “left” are made with references to Christ’s right and left, not the right and left of the observer looking at the drawing. Gen. 6:15. For the points on the timeline that mark the transitions between these three sections, cf. Libellus, III.1–6, CCCM 176.132, PL 176.688B, and this volume, p. 95. The Latin text, ut quasi primus centenarius sit tempus naturalis legis, is problematic. Centenarius needs an accessory word to define that of which there is 100. The two most logical hundreds are years and cubits, but neither of those options fits the periods of time or dimensions of the Ark as set forth elsewhere. The Time of Natural Law occupies 50 cubits of the length, The Time of Written Law occupies 100, and the Time of Grace occupies 150. In terms of the lapse of time, the Time of Natural Law occupies more than 100 years. The text remains unclear at best and confused at worst. It is possible that we have simply a failure to recall that the length is not divided equally between the three “times” but rather has an unequal division. Cf. Gen. 6:15. The peoples of Natural Law, Written Law, and Grace are the subject of the whole of Libellus, III, CCCM 176.132–38, PL 176.688A–691C, and this volume, p. 95–99. The three timbers mentioned here, with the headings “Nature,” “Written Law,” and “Grace” are associated with the previously mentioned and discussed three strips of color that extend along the sides of the Ark from bow to stern. They are mentioned for the first time at Libellus, III.8–39, CCCM 176.132–33, PL 176.688B–688D, and this volume, p. 95–96, and then again at III.132–57, CCCM 176.137–38, PL 176.690D–691B, and this volume, p. 99. On first mention, the strips of color are described as being “like timbers of a sort stretching along the length of the Ark,” above, p. 95. This triad of Knowledge, Discipline, and Goodness is of particular significance for the Ark treatises and their relationship to Inst. nov., VTT 9.217–49, PL 176.925–52. The triad

NOTES

60

61

62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71

72 73 74

75 76

77 78



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is the guiding structure of the latter treatise, and in a variation (Wisdom, Discipline, and Goodness) Hugh uses it to describe what he intends for the reader/viewer to learn from the drawing described in the Libellus and interpreted in Archa Noe. See the introduction to these two works in this volume. These three sets of three-fold differences are applied later in the Libellus to the three ladders of the fourth and final ascent which is from the heat of the east and located in the southeast corner of the Ark. Cf. Libellus, IV.157–81, CCCM 176.145–46, PL 176.694D–695B, tr. Zinn in this vol., p. 105. Cf. also Libellus, VI.1–7, CCCM 176.150, PL 176.697B, tr. Zinn in this vol., p. 108. Hugh’s text reads: Per quos ascendunt ad supremum cubitum … viri et mulieres sexaginta et sexaginta: alternatim per singulas scalas … alternatim. I have taken this to mean an alternation of male and female on the rungs of each ladder. In Libellus, VI.7–11, CCCM 176.150, PL 176.697C, and this volume, p. 108. Hugh explicitly says that people (in contrast to the Virtues) are placed individually on rungs of the ladders, male alternating with female (alternatim viri et feminae). They represent the sixty “strong men of Israel” and sixty “queens” as they stand on the ladders: homines autem in scalis per singulos tramites singuli alternatim viri et feminae, ut sint sexaginta fortes Israel et sexaginta reginae. Cf. Song of Songs 3:7. Cf. Song of Songs 6:7. Triginta libri divinae paginae (“Thirty books of the Divine Page”). Hugh occasionally uses divina pagina as an alternate for sacra scriptura (“Sacred Scripture”). This three-fold scheme for biblical interpretation is a hallmark of Hugh’s thought. Cf. Didasc. V.2, VVT 3.150–51, Buttimer, 95–96 and Script., 3, VTT 3.214–15, PL 175.11D–12C. Isa. 66:24. Here gradus is translated as “segment.” Cf. Ezek. 2:9. Cf. 2 Chron. 36:18. This inscription suggests that the depiction of the Exile in the drawing shows vessels from the Jerusalem Temple being carried to Babylon by the exiles. The triad is lamentation, song, and woe, mentioned just above. Rev. 22:20. Hugh’s text reads: Veni Domine Jesu Christe. The Vulgate reads: Veni Domine Jesu. Later, when Hugh describes the personification of love (amor) to be drawn beside this ladder (cf. Libellus, V.7–9, CCCM 176.148–49, and this volume, p. 107, he has in mind another biblical passage that refers to anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Bridegroom. Love is to be depicted as one of the wise virgins who, “with a burning lamp and vessel of oil,” await the coming of the Bridegroom. Cf. Matt. 25:1–13. Cf. Libellus, IV.229–36, CCCM 176.148, PL 176.696B, and Libellus, V.26–40, CCCM 176.149– 50, PL 176.697AB, this volume, p. 106 and 107. Just above, when describing the inscription of the names of biblical books on the three ladders ascending in the cold of the east, Hugh associates the division into three “levels” with the three-fold interpretation of Scripture according to history, allegory, and tropology. Gen. 1:1. Hugh’s text reads: In principio fecit Deus caelum et terram et cetera. The Vulgate reads: In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram. Hugh’s text with fecit can be found in Augustine. Cf. Conf., XII.21, PL 32.837, a passage in which Augustine considers various interpretations of Gen. 1:1. Cf. Tribus Diebus, VTT 1.61–102, CCCM 177.3–70. Jer. 1:10. Hugh’s text reads: Ecce constitui te ut evellas et destruas et edifices et plantes. The Vulgate text reads: Ecce constitui te hodie super gentes et super regna ut evellas et destruas et disperdas et dissipes et aedifices et plantes. It appears that Hugh shortened the quote by removing two phrases: hodie super gentes et super regna and et disperdas et dissipes. Ps. 36:27 (NRSV Ps. 37:27). Cf. Ezra 1:1–3 and 11, especially verse 11. Libellus, CCCM 176.143 cites no biblical references in connection with this inscription.

124 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95

96

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  For the phrase “under a shelter from the midday sun” (sub umbaculo meridani), cf. Ecclus. 34:19, where God’s protection is described as an umbraculum meridani. Libellus, CCCM 176.144 cites no biblical references in connection with this inscription. Cf. Matt. 18:22. 11 is one more than 10. Cf. Col. 3:5. Hugh’s text has membra sua, where the Vulgate text has membra vestra. Hugh has modified the text to fit the context in which it appears. Cf. Christ’s 40 days in wilderness, Matt. 4:1–11. Cf. Dan. 4:24 (NRSV Dan. 4:27). In this verse Daniel calls upon Nebuchadnezzar to redeem his sins with alms and his iniquities with works of mercy. This is clearly in Hugh’s mind with respect to this inscription. Six, being the sum of its divisors, is considered a perfect number. Cf. Ps. 50:19 (NRSV Ps. 51:17). Number symbolism for abstinence, alms, and compunction: 40 + 6 + 4 = 50 = forgiveness + freedom. Cf. Mark 4:20. This inscription and the two following ones make reference to the Gospel parable of the thirty-, sixty- and one hundred-fold yields of the seeds sown on various qualities of ground. Cf. Mark 4:1–20; Matt. 13:3–9; Luke 8:5–8. Cf. Gen. 6:20 and Exod. 24:1–2 and 11, esp. verse 11. Sicard, Libellus, CCCM 176.145, cites from Exodus only 19:17, which is less relevant, and fails to mention Genesis. Cf. Gen. 6:20 and Exod. 24:1–2 and 9, especially verse 9. Cf. Libellus, CCCM 176.145, with no mention of Genesis. Cf. Gen. 6:20 and Exod. 24:1–2 and 12–18, especially 18. Cf. Libellus, CCCM 176.146, which fails to mention Genesis. The number seven = sabbath rest and quiet. In referring to “the four virtues” Hugh has in mind the scheme of four virtues that is present in the ethical writings of the classical world: Justice, Temperance, Prudence, Fortitude. Cf. Isa. 14:13–14. Cf. CCCM 176.146. At this point, Hugh continues his narration of fall and return with verbs still in the singular. Up until now the narrative has been about the “first person (primus homo),” i.e. Adam, whereas from this point onward it is about anyone in general. I have continued the narrative in the singular, with the subject “a person” inserted here to mark the general applicability to everyone of this concise sketch of a return from geographic dispersal (meant to mirror the fragmented love and knowledge of fallen humanity) to the Ark, a return that effects a recovery of unity as individuals climb the ladders toward the spiritual center of the cubit at the center/peak of the Ark. This is the only mention in the Libellus or Archa Noe of the image of a serpent that touches the bases of the four series of ladders at the corners of the Ark. Given the description, I have assumed the reference is to a single serpent extending from base of the ladders in the northeast corner (cold/pride), through the bases of those in the northwest (cold/ignorance) and the southwest (heat/concupiscence), and finally to the base of the ladders in the southeast (heat/creation). This means the serpent touches the corners of the Ark, which are also located at the periphery of the mappa mundi. This leaves unclear whether the serpent directly encircles the Ark or the map. Since the devil, symbolized by the serpent, subverts the world as well as the Church and the individual, I would place the serpent so that it surrounds the map—except that the area in the east that represents Paradise is not bordered by the serpent. The absence of the serpent around Paradise is made clear from the fact that Hugh says that the head of the serpent rests at the northeast corner of the Ark (the “place” to which Adam “falls”) and the tail is at the southeast corner (the final “crushing” of the serpent), with the body passing past the two western corners of the Ark, where concupiscence and ignorance are overcome in the process of individual restoration. This reconstruction is in contrast

NOTES

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98 99 100 101

102

103

104 105 106 107 108



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to that offered by Rudolph, who has the serpent encircling the Ark alone. Cf. Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 184 and fig. 29. For the interpretation of the two legs of a ladder for spiritual ascent as representing body and soul, cf. RB, VII.9, CSEL 75.41, cf. Libellus, CCCM 176.147. The image of a serpent coiled around the base of a ladder that represents a spiritual ascent can be found in paintings in manuscripts of works by John Climacus, a seventh-century Greek monastic author. Climacus’ treatises seem not to have been fully available in translation in the West until the thirteenth century. However, there is a famous image of a ladder with monks, nuns and clerics ascending toward a figure of Christ at the top (and with a serpent at the base of the ladder) found in the Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg, written and illustrated between 1167 and 1185. Hugh could not have known this ladder, which serves as a later example. The lion symbolizes Mark; the eagle, John; the calf, Luke; the human being, Matthew. Rev. 8:13. Gen. 1:1. As before, Hugh has fecit, not creavit (the Vulgate reading). Here and in several paragraphs that follow, Hugh comments yet again on the placement of the virtues and other figures on and near the ladders. In sum, virtues are placed beside ladders on the inner side in the open spaces and are depicted looking upward, with a hand reaching upward as if ascending. People, i.e. the 60 strong men and 60 queens (cf. note 114 below) are to be placed on the ladders. There are times when Hugh writes that a virtue is depicted “on” (in, as with Grief in the next paragraph) a ladder, rather than beside (juxta as with Love in the next paragraph) a ladder. Given that the ladders are filled by the strong men and queens, the only clear place for the virtues is beside the ladders, even though the positions are described variously as either on or beside a ladder. For the Exile under Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), not Jehoiakim (Joachim) as Hugh believed, cf. 2 Kings 24:8–17. Earlier, in Libellus, IV.91–93, CCCM 176.142, PL 176.693B, and this volume, p. 102, the inscription on the ladder of Grief (in the northwest corner of the Ark) refers to “the vessels of the House of the Lord that were taken captive to Babylon.” This refers to the mappa mundi in the Libellus drawing (cf. Libellus, XI.4–16, CCCM 176.157, PL 176.700CD, in this vol. p. 112–13). It is an oval shaped map (circulus oblongus) with the Ark placed on the map on an east-west line through the center of the map, from the top of the drawing to the bottom. The bow of the Ark is at the eastern edge of the map, stern at the western. Medieval T-O maps had Paradise at the east/top (bow of the Ark), with Jerusalem at the center, Babylon in the northeast quadrant (top left of the map as viewed) and Egypt in the southwest quadrant (top right as viewed). The centerline of the Ark, as we have seen, is the timeline stretching from Paradise to the Last Judgment represented at the stern of the Ark. The geographical locations of Babylon and Egypt, which have symbolic significance in the Libellus, are each near one of the portals that were depicted in the drawing, since the transition from the period Natural Law to that of Written Law is one-sixth of the distance from the bow to the stern of the Ark and thus adjacent to the appropriate quadrants. Cf. Matt. 25:1–13. The people ascending on the ladders are the 60 queens and 60 strong men mentioned earlier. Cf. Libellus, 4.64–72, CCCM 176.141, PL 176.692D, and in this volume, p. 101–102. The text reads et iuxta eam fragmenta vasis. The feminine pronoun could refer to the ladder or the personification of Cognition since both are feminine in Latin. I have chosen the personification since Cognition is the subject of the sentence. Gen. 1:1, again with fecit rather than creavit (Vulgate). Note the similarity of the triad of sitting, walking, and being lifted into the heights to the triad of the actions of creeping, walking, and flying that is associated elsewhere with

126

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110 111 112

113 114

115 116

117

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H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  these three ladders and stages of advancement. Cf. Libellus, IV.157–81, CCCM 176.145–46, PL 176.694D–695B, and this volume, p. 104. On the 60 queens and 60 strong men, cf. Libellus, IV.64–72 and VI.7–11, CCCM 176.141 and 150, PL 176.692D–693A and 697C, and this volume p. 101 and 108. In the preceding chapter there are several passages that note how “people” and “virtues” are to be placed relative to the ladders. The comment here makes it clear that the earlier references to “people” are about the 60 strong men and 60 queens. John 10:9. Cf. Libellus, I.108–18 and 133–37, CCCM 176.125 and 126, PL 176.684AB and 684C, and this volume, p. 90 and 91. Hugh has in mind Archa Noe, II.ii.46-iv.37, CCCM 176.36–40, PL 176.637C–639C, and this volume, p. 157–60. Although he speaks in Archa Noe of going out “by means of contemplation (per contemplationem)” and in the Libellus of going out “by means of thinking (per cogitationem),” the definitions of the four ways are the same. From the description that follows, Hugh has in mind some sort of cages, platforms, or enclosures that are attached to the outside of the Ark for amphibious animals. Cf. Archa Noe, I.v.55–60, CCCM 176.20, in this vol. p. 145. With the use of the word paries = “wall” as opposed to latus = “side” Hugh shifts his narrative from the description of the drawing (in which he always uses latus for the outside edges of the decks, where the sloping roof of the Ark joins the floors of the decks in the drawing) to what he judges to be a significant feature of the material, historical Ark which he discussed in great detail in Archa Noe, I.iv–v, CCCM 176.18–32, PL 176.626D–634D, tr. in this vol. p. 144–54. When dealing with the material Ark of history Hugh uses paries to refer to the vertical walls of the three lower decks of the Ark, with the two upper decks of the Ark placed under a roof that slopes toward the cubit at the center of the Ark. Cf. use of paries at Libellus, IX.3, 4, and 8, CCCM 176.153 and 154, PL 176.698C, and this volume, p. 110. Cf. Num. 35:6, 15. Cf. Num. 35:14. The “far side” of the Jordan is the eastern bank; the “near side” is the western, in line with the usual Biblical view which is as if standing in Jerusalem and looking east (i.e. toward the top of the mappa mundi surrounding the Ark in Hugh’s drawing). The references to “above” and “below” in the next sentence have to do with above and below with respect to the orientation of the drawing (above is above the central cubit and the Jordan River), not above and below with respect to the vertical dimension of a threedimensional Ark. They underscore that fact that the drawing was placed on a wall, with the bow of the Ark and the direction of east at the top of the drawing, and thus the stern of the Ark and west at the bottom of the drawing. Cf. Sacr. II.xiv.2, PL 176.549D–580B, Deferrari, 406. There Hugh has a long presentation of many aspects of the sacrament of penance. It is of special note in the context of the development of penance and pastoral care in the twelfth century and in light of the responsibilities of the Victorine canons for pastoral care, and later, in the thirteenth century, pastoral care and especially confession for the students of the schools and the university at Paris. With Hugh’s statement that there are “portals” in the sides of the Ark (the sides, lateres, not the walls, parietes) for entering and leaving in addition to the door mentioned in Scripture (and presented in section 7 just above) it is clear that the thread of thought has returned to the drawing alone after the discussion of the “small platforms” in terms of an examination of specific accommodation for amphibious animals in the literal, historical Ark of Noah which Hugh considered in Book I of Archa Noe. Thus, Hugh’s concern with the literal, “historic” Ark (a concern absent thus far from the Libellus up to this point) has managed to intrude for a brief moment, as he introduces a new physical aspect of the Ark, which he has immediately interpreted in an ecclesial, allegorical way, concerned with

NOTES

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120 121

122

123 124



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the church and believers. After introducing this brief glance at the sacrament of penance, Hugh “transfers” the dynamics of the personal journey of restoration to the dynamic process of the Exodus from Egypt to Jerusalem. Back to consideration of the drawing, Hugh interprets the Exodus (drawn as a procession from Egypt to Jerusalem on the map, as the journey from alienation and darkness to the reconciliation, unification, and the noetic and ethical transformations that occur as one return from the “four corners of the world” to the ascending pathways that lead to the spiritual center and the spiritual apex of the Ark and the spiritual journey. The the symbolic role of the Exodus and its 42 stopping places in the desert as emblematic of a restorative spiritual journey to the transforming center of the Ark is joined here by its opposite: the symbolic role of the Exile to Babylon as emblematic of a negative, destructive, debilitating spiritual journey. Both of these journeys are traced on the physical map of the world (mappa mundi) in the Ark drawing (cf. later in this treatise), but in that physical tracing on the map, they are meant to map interior spiritual journeys (both negative and positive) of deep significance. As Hugh notes in Archa Noe, a person returns by a long journey (the Exodus) which demonstrates in experience how far (the Exile) one has fallen from knowledge, goodness, and the presence of God. The historical sequence of the two journeys is of no significance to Hugh, in this case. Their symbolic meaning is dominant, although the physical locations of Babylon and Egypt with Jerusalem, especially the distance of both from Jerusalem and their place outside the Ark, are deeply significant. Cf. Libellus, IV.91–94, CCCM 176.142, PL 176.693B, and this volume, p. 102, mentioning the vessels of the House of the Lord taken captive to Babylon, and Libellus, V.3–7, CCCM 176.148, PL 176.696C, and in this volume, p. 106, mentioning the depiction of the Exile to Babylon as part of the drawing of the Ark. Cf. Libellus, XI.100–101, CCCM 176.161, PL 176.702C, and this volume, p. 115, which locates Egypt to the south and Babylon to the north of the timeline running from East to West. For the 42 stopping places, cf. Num. 33:1–49. The placement on the inside of the side of the Ark (in latere archae intrinsecus) indicates that Hugh is back to a description of the two dimensional drawing, not considering the places of the six “small platforms” and their amphibious passengers on the three-dimensional, historical Ark of the literal sense. An accurate understanding of Hugh’s description requires an interpretation that takes account of the details of the drawing in this area. When read in conjunction with a careful consideration of the drawing, Hugh is saying that the location of the two “small platforms” in the layout of the drawing is within the area marked by the outline of the edges of the second deck. So, they are located in the drawing between the southern edges of the second and third decks. He is not making a statement that involves the vertical dimension of the Ark, an assumption made by Rudolph in his translation of this passage. He translates: “… the next two [stages or stopping places] are written above on the second stage [of the Ark], also right up on the bank of the Jordan.” Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 479. Note 369 makes quite clear that Rudolph understands these two stopping places to be associated with the second deck of the Ark, not the first. All attempts of Rudolph to associate the 42 stopping places with the vertical dimension of the Ark in either description or interpretation are not supported by the text. No such treatise is to be found among the works of Hugh. Conrad Rudolph translates this phrase as describing what is to come in the treatise—“The Ark is finished in the following way” (Mystic Ark, 482, n. 375). The note makes it clear that he assumes the drawing of the cosmos and the Majesty, which surrounds the diagram of the Ark, is necessary to “complete” the Ark drawing. Properly translated, the phrase states what will happen now that the Ark has been constructed. It is a statement that, “after the

128

125 126

127

128

129 130

131

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Ark has been brought to completion in this way (Hoc modo archa perfecta)”, more will be drawn. The drawing of the pyramidal Ark has now been completed. What follows is something other than the Ark. Rudolph fails to see that Hugh thinks of the Ark as a specific “structure” in the entire drawing. Cf. Hugh’s similar description of the visual correlation of time and place in a visualized map that has a timeline running through the map from east to west in the preface to his Chronicon, tr. Zinn, VTT 6.141–43. This is an important iconographic description. Among other things it means that in the drawing Christ holds the diagram of the cosmos and the mappa mundi in such a way that the phrase “Paradise, like the Bosom of Abraham (Paradisus … quasi sinus Abrahae)” describes the way in which the location of Paradise in the eastern “cone” of the mappi mundi is superimposed upon the chest of Christ in the drawing. I do not accept the contention of Rudolph, Mystic Ark, 484–85 n. 380, that this reference to the Bosom of Abraham means that an iconographic element representing the idea of the Bosom of Abraham (the resting place for those “somewhat good souls” who await the Last Judgment in a quiet place not of this world, but not in the presence of God, where only saints are found) was included in the area of Paradise. The relation of the understanding of Paradise (whether the earthly one or a celestial Paradise) to the concept of the Bosom of Abraham is complex and not the issue at hand in Hugh’s description here. For the drawing, the only issue is the visual similarity of the placement of Paradise “on” Christ’s chest and the placement of “somewhat good souls awaiting the Last Judgment” on the Bosom of Abraham in iconographic representations. A contemporary twelfthcentury example of the iconography for the Bosom of Abraham, see the representation on the central tympanum of the west front of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, completed in 1140. Cf. Paula Lieber Gerson, Abbot Suger and Saint-Denis: A Symposium (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986), 184–85. The personified souls are gathered in a group on the chest of Abraham, hence the name. On the matter of the earthly and celestial Paradises, cf. Alessandro Scafi, Mapping Paradise. For the Bosom of Abraham, the development of ideas about the fate of souls between death and the Last Judgment, and purgatory, cf. Jacques Le Goff, The Birth of Purgatory, tr. Arthur Goldhammer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981). The placement of the resurrected elect at Christ’s feet on his right and the reprobate on his left is congruent with the arrangement of sculpted depictions of the Last Judgment or the Second Coming, generally on the central tympanum of the west front of Romanesque churches (and, later, Gothic). This iconographic element differs markedly from the usual arrangement as described in the previous note. In those presentations, the mouth of Hell (if present) is found on the side of the reprobate, i.e. on Christ’s left. In the case of Hugh’s drawing, Hell is on Christ’s right. The “northern corner” of the “cone” would be where the outer rim of the “cone” meets the corner of the Ark described as the “cold of the west.” This placement of Hell is consistent with the Archa Noe, which locates Hell in the north. The image for each season is typical of the usual representations of seasons and months in medieval illuminations and sculpture in that the figure represents an “activity” of the month/season. These two groupings are typical of medieval “quaternaries” that link various groups of four, such as four directions, four humors, etc. Note also that in Archa Noe (and elsewhere) goodness is associated with a flower and odor; virtue is associated with the taste of God, etc. Note the 4 “ages” correlate with the triad of knowledge (doctrina), discipline (opus), and goodness (uprightness and virtue). As has been repeatedly noted in the literature, this arrangement of the seasons and the four directions does not correspond to the arrangement given just above (spring to the east, etc.). It is, however, notable that the description with summer at the top (east) ad-

NOTES

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133

134

135 136 137 138

139



129

heres to the usual way in which placement is described in the Libellus, i.e. left and right correspond to Christ’s left and right. The order of the seasons here reverts to the same order used in the first description of the cycle of the four seasons, implying that the scheme with Spring at the top is intended. Hugh here suggests a schematic diagram which links each season to the next by two lines associated with two of four qualities (hot, cold, dry, wet). With two lines (“strings”) attached to each season, this produces a schematic with eight interrelated “strings” that indicate “sameness” and “difference” for the seasons as they progress through the year: Spring (wet/hot), Summer (hot/dry), Fall (dry/cold), Winter (cold/ wet). Between each successive pair of seasons, there is sameness and difference. In the Didascalicon Hugh relates harmony, concord and similarity/dissimilarity to music: “Music or harmony is the concord of a number of dissimilar things blended into one.” In another passage he says of the “music of the seasons” (part of the “music of the world”) that “some is in the days (in the alternation of daylight and darkness of night), some is in the months (in the waxing and waning of the moon), and in years (in the succession of spring, summer, autumn, and winter).” Cf. Didasc., 2.15, Buttimer, 34.19–20, tr. Taylor, p. 69, VTT 3.100. In three sentences Hugh gives a succinct but detailed summary of the visual presentation of the winds. There are twelve. They are depicted beneath the aether, i.e. they are in the space of the aer. They are drawn as if they are falling down, and they have wings that protrude from their shoulders. Finally, each wind is drawn beneath one of the months. All of these characteristics show that Hugh was choosing among various ways of representing the winds. The last, that a wind appears under a month, is especially important for the visual presentation in Hugh’s drawing. Many representations of the winds in a circular arrangement have the three winds associated with each cardinal direction bunched together, not distributed evenly around the circle. Hugh’s names for the 12 winds are based on Isidore, Etym., XIII.xi.1–17. The received names originated with the Greeks but became Latinized and then passed into the early medieval tradition. Hugh’s spellings have been regularized. In placing subordinate winds to the right or left of the cardinal winds, “right” and “left” are understood as if facing the direction in which the particular wind blows (i.e. facing west for the east wind). Thus, left and right are from the viewpoint of the subject (Christ/the wind) and not necessarily the viewer. This arrangement of winds is typical of many wind diagrams from the medieval period. The phrase contra mundum literally means “opposite the world” but the translation “that ‘faces’ the world (i.e. the mappa mundi)” seems to express more clearly what Hugh has in mind. The Latin word aplanes (in the phrase in ipso aplano) is from the Greek πλανής and refers to the sphere of the fixed stars (otherwise known as firmamentum in Latin). In saying that the months seem to stand “behind” the signs of the zodiac, Hugh does not mean they are visually “behind” the signs in the drawing. He means, rather, that in the presentation of the yearly procession of the months and signs in the drawing, the personifications of the months are “behind” the zodiacal signs in the order of procession through the year. The next sentence makes the spatial arrangement very clear. Cf. earlier in this paragraph where Hugh states that in the drawing a sign begins in the middle of a month—which means that as the days move around the circle, the beginning of the “space” delineating a month appears before the beginning of the sign traditionally corresponding to that month. This in fact corresponds to the actual astronomical situation with regard to the temporal correlation of zodiacal signs and months in the twelfth century. As is made clear in Archa Noe, the “Majesty” is Christ who is described in Isa. 6 as sitting on a throne high and lifted up and having on either side a seraph whose six wings are

130

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141

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144 145 146

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  arranged in three pairs so that the first pair covers the seraph’s body, the second pair is arranged so that one wing covers Christ’s head (but not his face, in contrast to the biblical description) and the other his feet, while the third pair is used by the seraph to fly. In agreement with this and the next two sentences here, Archa Noe, I.iii.35–213, CCCM  176.10–16, PL  176.622B–626A, C.S.M.V., 52–58, and this volume, p.  138–40, clearly states that the arms of the figure of Christ described in Archa Noe embrace the Ark/world and his head and feet extend beyond the Ark/world that covers his body. The opening phrase here echoes the phrase “After the Ark has been brought to completion in this way …” at the beginning of this chapter (Libellus, XI.1, CCCM 176.157). Again, the process of creating the drawing is seen as one done in unitary stages: Ark, machine of the universe surrounding the Ark, and now the Majesty, the final unified “element” which in this case, embraces the universe, which surrounds the drawing of the Ark. Cf. Matt. 25:34. Hugh’s text reads: Venite benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum quod vobis paratum est ab initio saeculi. The Vulgate text reads: Venite benedicti Patris mei possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi. Augustine, Sermo de symbolo ad catechumenos 4.12, has precisely Hugh’s text (i.e. percipite rather than possidete and ab initio saeculi rather than a consitutione mundi). Cf. Matt. 25:41. Hugh’s text reads: Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius. The Vulgate text reads: Discedite a me maledicti in ignem aeternum qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius. Augustine, Sermo de symbolo ad catechumenos 4.12, again has Hugh’s text, except that Augustine omits maledicti. Hugh’s text is the text generally found on depictions of the Last Judgment/Second Coming that are found on the west façades of Romanesque (and Gothic) cathedrals. Cf. Gen. 1:3–31. These six disks with scenes representing the works of the six days of Creation are like the vertical series of roundels with images representing the six days/works that are found painted on the initial letter “I” at the beginning of Genesis (“In principio …”) in illuminated Bibles of the Romanesque period. Cf. Walter Cahn, Romanesque Bible Illumination (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982), 175–79. In using this particular representation of the days, Hugh shows a remarkable ability to take an iconographic device from one context and deploy it in a dramatic visual manner in a completely different context in order to convey a set of theological and spiritual concepts. In the case of the Ark drawing, the Creation in its temporal extension comes directly out of the mouth of the Creative Word, Jesus Christ, who is also the Sustainer (holding the world in his hands) and the Final Judge (Last Judgment at his feet). Furthermore, the visual chain of the six days/disks links the eternal/spiritual world of the Word to the temporal/material world of human existence represented by the Ark and the mappa mundi. One may also note the similar presentation of the six days of creation at the head of the first chronological table of Hugh’s Chronicon. The days, accompanied by their works, are arranged in a vertical list, continued by the line beginning with Adam. On the further significance of this mention of Babylon and Jerusalem, cf. Libellus, IX, 43–54, CCCM 176.155, PL 176.699D, tr. Zinn, in this vol., p. 111. On the seraphim and their wings, cf. Archa Noe, I.iii.132–82, CCCM 176.13–15, PL 176.624B– 625B, tr. Zinn, in this vol. p. 139–42. On veiling the head and leaving the face uncovered, cf. lines 157–77. For the nine orders of angels, cf. Gregory the Great, Sermons on the Gospels, II, 34. Also, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, De Coelesti Hierarchia, 6.2, PG 3.202. The number of the angels, both total and in each rank or order, was an open question in the medieval period. As will be seen, the number of angels in each rank gives a total (108) which, when one angel falls from each rank, equals 99 and allows for a shift to the parable of the Good Shepherd in a way that follows Gregory in his sermon just cited.

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The evocation of a crown seems to indicate the placement of the two angels on either side of the top of the Majesty’s head. Successive ranks of angels are placed below each other until the ninth order is located at the Majesty’s shoulders. The 99 angels and humanity as the hundredth sheep makes reference to the parable of the Good Shepherd who looks for and finds the one lost sheep out of his flock of 100 sheep. In the drawing, the number of angels is 108. One fallen angel in each rank means that there are 99 unfallen angels. Hugh then related the number of these angels to the parable of the Good Shepherd, in which the shepherd searches for and finds the lost sheep, returning the number of sheep in the flock to 100. Cf. Luke 15:3–7.

ON THE ARK OF NOAH ACCORDING TO THE ARK OF WISDOM WITH THE ARK OF THE CHURCH AND THE ARK OF MOTHER GRACE BOOK I

chapter one One day when I was sitting in the gathering (conventum)1 of the brothers, many things were suggested for discussion as they asked questions and I answered. At long last the conversation was brought to this, namely, that we all began to sigh and marvel above all else at the instability and restlessness of the human heart. And then they began to plead earnestly that I show them what cause could stir up so great a tumult of thoughts in the human heart. Next, they pressed me to teach them if it were possible to resist so great an evil with an art2 or the practice of some sort of activity. Wishing to satisfy the charity of the brothers in regard to both of these issues—insofar as we might be able with the inspiration of God—we resolved the knotty problem of both proposed questions with support from authority and also from reason. Because I know that some things in this collation particularly pleased the brothers, I wanted very much to set them down in writing. This I did, not so much because I thought them worthy to be written out, but rather because I knew that some people had not heard them previously. For this reason, they were, in a certain way, greatly appreciated. First, therefore, it must be shown from whence so great a tumult arises in the human heart; then, how the human mind is to be brought back to a steady peacefulness; and, finally, how it is to be preserved in that same stability. Without doubt, this work is properly carried out by divine grace, and not so much by human efforts as by a divine gift and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I know that God wishes for us to be co-workers, and so He offers the gifts of his loving kindness to those who are grateful, just as he often takes away from the ungrateful those things that he has given. Moreover, it is not use-

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less to recognize the greatness of our infirmity and the manner of our restoration because a person who does not know how much grace has been bestowed on him does not understand how much gratitude he owes to the one who has given the gift. The first human3 was founded such that if he had not sinned, he would have always stood before his Creator’s face by means of the presence of contemplation. As a result, by always seeing [his Creator], he would have always loved him, and by always loving him, he would have always clung to him, and by always clinging to him who is immortal, he himself would have possessed life without end. This was the one true good of the [first] human, namely, full and perfect cognition of his Founder; full, that is, according to the fullness that he had received when he was created and not according to what he was going to receive after fulfilling obedience. But he was thrust out from the face of the Lord, when, after having been struck with the blindness of ignorance because of sin, he came outward, away from the inner light of that contemplation. And to the extent that he inclined his mind ever more immoderately toward earthy4 longings, to the same degree he began to forget the great sweetness of supernal things, the taste of which he already had lost. So, he became a wanderer and an exile upon the earth:5 a wanderer, namely, on account of disordered concupiscence; an exile on account of a sinful conscience. So, this is properly added by the voice of such a person: Whoever shall have found me, will kill me.6 For every temptation that attacks [it], overthrows the mind that has been deserted by divine aid. Thus, the human heart that in the beginning continued in a stable state while attached to divine love and remained unified when loving the One, later began to [lose its stability and] flow in different directions because of earthy longings—divided, as it were, into as many parts as there are things that it craves. And so it happens that the mind that does not know how to love the true good can never be stable. Since it cannot find the object of its longing in the things that it embraces, it always reaches out with its longing, seeking that which it can never attain, and it never rests at peace. From this, therefore, are born movement without stability, labor without rest, running without arriving. As a result, our heart is always restless until it begins to cling to that One in whom it rejoices that its desire lacks nothing and is assured that what it loves will endure forever.7 Behold! We have shown the disease: a tumultuous heart, an unstable heart, a restless heart; the cause of the disease: namely, love of the world; and the remedy of the disease: love of God. To these it is neces-

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sary to add a fourth thing: acquiring the remedy, namely, how we may attain the love of God. Without this it would be of little or no profit to know the other three things. chapter two Concerning Love of God and Love of the World Between the love of this world and the love of God there is this difference: the love of this world seems to be sweet at the outset, but it has a bitter end, whereas the love of God begins in bitterness, but its end is full of sweetness. The Gospel story shows this to us in a most beautiful similitude when it celebrates the wedding of our Bridegroom, saying: Every person first serves the good wine and when everyone has become inebriated, then [they serve] that which is worse. You, however, have held back the good wine until now.8 For in fact, every person (that is, every carnal person) sets out the good wine first because in his delight he feels a kind of false sweetness. However, after the passion of evil longings has inebriated his mind, he then sets out wine that is worse since after the stabbing thorn of conscience overcomes the mind, it cruelly tortures the mind that earlier took false delight. But our Bridegroom offers the good wine at the very last, when he allows the mind—which he plans to fill with the sweetness of his love—to be made bitter at the outset from [stabs by the goad of] compunction stemming from tribulations.9 In this way, after the taste of bitterness, the sweetest cup of charity is drunk most eagerly. This is the first sign that Jesus performed in the presence of his disciples.10 And they believed in Him because the sinner and the penitent first begin to have faith in the mercy of God when, after a long weary time of grief, they feel that their heart has been refreshed by the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Let us seek the way in which we may attain the love of God since it will unify and stabilize our hearts, restore peace to them, and maintain continual joy. No one, however, can love what he does not know. If we, therefore, desire to love God, we must first set out to become acquainted with him, especially since he himself is such that he cannot be known without being loved. The splendor of his beauty is so great that a person who has been able to see him cannot fail to love him. A person who wishes to know the behavior and private life of another person makes himself a friend to him, frequently visits in his house and with those who are his friends. And if he sees that things around him are arranged

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honestly and wisely, he then becomes more certain about the virtue of that person and considers him worthy of love, because he recognizes that he has discovered so many obvious marks of his good character. Let us inquire, therefore, where God lives, where his house is located; let us ask his acquaintances about him. If he is wise, if he is faithful, he is worthy of praise. If he is kind, if he is merciful, if he is humble, he is worthy of love. If he takes good care of his house, he is wise (prudens). If he practices no deception of those serving him, he is faithful. If he freely shows mercy to sinners, he is kind. If he has compassion on those who are afflicted, he is merciful. If he rules those subject to him by helping them rather than oppressing them, he is humble. But perhaps you ask: where ought this house of God to be sought; where might it be found? The house of God is the entire world; the house of God is the catholic Church; the house of God is also every faithful soul. But he inhabits the world in one way, the Church in another way, and every faithful soul in yet another way. He is in the world as the emperor in a kingdom; he is in the Church as the head of a family in a house; he is in the soul as the Bridegroom in a marriage chamber.11 Pagans and the unfaithful are all in his house (that is, in his kingdom) because through the power of his divinity, he upholds and rules everything that he has founded. False faithful are in his house (that is, in the Church) because he entrusts participation in his sacraments to all those whom he has called to faith. But the faithful are in his house, and, as I should say in all truth, they are his house because by inhabiting them through love, he possesses and rules them. We are all in his house by means of the foundation by which he has created us.12 We are in his house by means of the faith by which he has called us; we are in his house by means of the love by which he has justified us.13 If you are in the house of God by means of [your] foundation, the devil also is with you. If you are in the house of God by means of faith, the chaff is on the threshing floor along with the grain.14 If, however, you are in the house of God by means of charity, blessed are you because not only are you in the house of God, but you are beginning to be the house of God so that he who made you lives with you and in you. This is the dwelling place of salvation;15 these are the tabernacles of the righteous,16 in which the voice of rejoicing and exultation always resounds,17 where the blessed live. The prophet craved [to see] the beauty of this;18 he yearned to inhabit it; he burned with desire for it. If, therefore, this dwelling place has begun to exist within us, let us go in and live with him. We shall find peace and restful quiet there where

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he has condescended to dwell, the location of which was established in peace.19 If, however, this dwelling place has not yet begun to exist in within us, let us build it because if we shall have willingly prepared a place for him, he who made us will gladly come to us so that Jesus Christ our Lord may dwell in us.20 chapter three That God Dwells in the Human Heart in Two Ways God inhabits the human heart in two ways: namely, by knowledge and by love. Yet there is one dwelling place because everyone who knows him loves him, and no one who fails to know him can love him. Nevertheless, they seem to differ in this way: that knowledge erects the superstructure of faith by means of cognition, while love paints the surface of the building—applying a coating of color, as it were—by means of virtue.21 And so, each one is seen to be necessary for the other, since the building could not be glorious it if did not exist, nor could it be pleasing if it were not glorious. Enter now into the innermost place of your heart and make a habitation for God. Make a temple, make a house, make a tabernacle, make an Ark of the Covenant and make an Ark of the Flood.22 For by whatever name you call it, there is one house of God. In the temple, let the creature adore the Creator. In the house, let the son revere the father. In the tabernacle, let the soldier honor the king. In the covenant, let the follower (assecla) heed the commander (praeceptor). In the flood, let the shipwrecked person cry out to the helmsman. God has been made everything to you, and God has made everything for you. He made the habitation, and it has become a protection. This one thing is everything, and everything is this one thing: it is the house of God; it is the city of the King; it is the body of Christ; it is the bride of the Lamb; it is the heavens; it is the sun; it is the moon; it is the morning star; it is the dawn; it is the lamp; it is the trumpet; it is the mountain; it is the desert; it is the Promised Land; it is the ship; it is the path in the sea; it is the fishing-net; it is the vine; it is the field; it is the threshing floor; it is the granary; it is the stable; it is the manger; it is the beast of burden; it is the horse; it is the storeroom; it is the hall; it is the bridal chamber; it is the tower; it is the camp, it is the battle line; it is the people; it is the kingdom; it is the priesthood; it is the flock; it is the shepherd; it is the sheep; it is the meadow; it is paradise; it is the garden; it is the palm; it is the rose; it is the lily; it is the fountain; it is

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the river; it is the porch; it is the dove; it is the clothing; it is the pearl; it is the crown; it is the scepter; it is the throne; it is the table; it is the bread; it is the bride; it is the mother; it is the daughter; it is the sister. And so that I may conclude briefly: concerning this, for this, and on account of this, all Scripture was made. On account of this, the world was created. On account of this, the Word was made flesh: God was humbled; human nature was exalted. Therefore, if you have this, you have everything. If you have everything, there is nothing more to expect and your heart may rest in peace. Now, as the exemplar (exemplar) of this spiritual building, I will set before you the Ark of Noah, which your eyes will see outwardly so that your soul23 may be fashioned inwardly into a likeness of it.24 There you will see certain colors, forms and figures that will delight the sight. But you should know that these have been placed there so that from them you may learn wisdom, discipline, and virtue to adorn your soul.25 And since this Ark signifies the Church, and the Church is the body of Christ, I have drawn26 Christ’s whole person (i.e. head with limbs) in a visible form, so that the exemplar may be made clearer for you. This is so that when you have seen the whole, you can more easily understand the things that are said afterward about the parts. Here, I wish to show you the person [of Christ] in such a form as Isaiah testifies that he saw him.27 And for this reason I present in detail his very words and draw forth from them what I wish to show you so that what the words say, the prophecy may demonstrate.28 Thus, Isaiah said: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.29 The throne is high because it has been placed in sublime regions; it is lifted up because it has been transported from the lower regions to higher places. Angelic spirits are the high throne; the souls of saints, who have been transported from the abyss of the present world to the joys of supernal peace, are the lifted-up throne. And since God rules over both, he is, therefore, presented as sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. In what follows, however, this is said: And the whole earth is full of his majesty.30 By earth is signified every corporeal creature that is full of the majesty of God because just as the Divine Essence rules over the spiritual creature by knowledge, so he fills up the corporeal creature by ruling it and setting it in order. What is said in another passage: I fill heaven and earth,31 and elsewhere: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is the footstool for my feet,32 is said here [in Isaiah] in this way: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up,33 and then: The earth is full of his majesty,34 and those things that were beneath him

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filled the Temple.35 The Temple means the capacity of the human or angelic understanding, which Temple is filled with those things that are beneath him, since the immensity of the divine works is so great that the understanding of a created being in no way suffices to comprehend these works perfectly. Consideration of these works fills our heart, but our heart cannot comprehend their immensity. But when shall we, who cannot comprehend completely the work of the Maker, be able to comprehend the Maker of the work? We can also say that this throne, high and lifted up, on which God sits, is also the eternity of the Deity, since it is said of him alone: He who dwells in eternity.36 This is not because God is one thing and his eternity is another. But, since a throne is for those who rule, he is rightly presented as sitting on the throne of eternity because just as with his being (essentia), so also his omnipotence is found to have neither beginning nor end. He always has been, and he always has been omnipotent; he always has been full and complete in himself and by himself, yet never in excess. Therefore, Isaiah says: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up,37 because the power of Divinity precedes created things in eternity, rises above them in dignity, and sets all of them in order by power. This follows: And those things that were beneath him filled the Temple.38 In this passage, the Temple can be understood as the cycle of the seasons and the circling39 of the ages. For when the seasons in their course return themselves to themselves by going in a circle, they draw, as it were, the boundary of a temple. Therefore, what Isaiah says: Those things that were beneath him filled the Temple,40 ought to be understood in this way: that all the seasons are endlessly filled by the works of God, and every generation tells the story of his marvels. Or, Those things that were beneath him filled the Temple41 can be read in this way, that is: “Those things that filled the Temple were beneath him,” since whatever unfolds in a temporal manner is found to be less than eternity. The immeasurable extent of eternity encloses beneath itself the narrow extent of time because eternity is both before time since it has no beginning, and it is after time since it has no end, and it is above time since it does not allow change. The Seraphim stood upon it.42 The two Seraphim mean the two Testaments. The word “Seraphim” beautifully signifies divine Scripture because it is translated as “burning,” for Scripture causes those whom it has first illuminated by knowledge to burn more fervently by love afterward.43 For when Scripture shows our mind what it ought to long for, it first illuminates the mind and then makes it burst into flame. Scripture

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burns, therefore, because it makes the mind burst into flame, just as in other passages it is said to give light because it illuminates. Concerning this, Peter the Apostle said: We have a more firm word of prophecy; you do well to pay attention to it, just as to a light shining in a dark place until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.44 And perhaps this: The Seraphim stood upon it,45 has been said here according to that similitude, which is usually applied to Scripture itself because of what it produces in the hearts of those who listen to it. For Scripture rises up when it encourages us. It walks when it causes us to advance. It stands when it firmly fixes us in a good intention. But we ought to inquire why God is said to sit upon the throne, and the Seraphim are presented as standing—not sitting—upon the throne. And because earlier we interpreted this throne in two ways, we ought to adapt the manner of our interpretation in line with both ways. If, then, by the throne of God we understand spiritual creatures, God is rightly described as sitting upon the throne, because, since the Divinity of the Deity is above everything, it neither advances in virtue nor increases in wisdom, since fullness cannot be enlarged nor can eternity be changed. However, as often as the human mind is raised up for contemplating celestial things after being illuminated through cognition of Sacred Scripture, if it also passes beyond the choirs of angels and advances to the presence of its Creator, it does indeed ascend upon the throne. Nevertheless, the human mind stands—it does not sit—because it comes by means of labor to that point of fulfillment where it is unable to remain by nature. For standing belongs to those who labor; sitting, to those who rest quietly. Therefore, we stand upon the throne, but God sits upon it because by grace we begin to be there where God is by nature. Likewise, if we understand by the throne the eternity of God, we stand upon the throne because we are not able to arrive at his immortality except through the laborious suffering of death. We, who are subject to death on account of our [original] foundation (ex conditione), are made heirs of eternity on account of adoption (ex adoptione). One had six wings and the other had six wings.46 That is, each of the two had six wings, which formed three pairs of wings by being joined two by two. Each covers its own body—not the Lord’s—with two wings. This is the first pair. Each extends two wings: one for covering the Lord’s head—not its own; the other for covering the Lord’s feet—not its own. This is the second pair. Each flies with two [wings], [striking] one against the other. This is the third pair. Therefore, if the Seraphim signify Sacred Scripture, the three pairs of wings are the

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three ways of understanding the same Scripture—i.e. history, allegory, tropology. Each [way of understanding Scripture] is two-fold because each [way] sets the minds of readers on fire with love of God and of neighbor. The two wings that cover the body of the Seraphim are the historical meaning, which covers the mystical meanings with the veil of the letter. The two wings that are extended to the head and feet of the Lord are the allegorical meaning because when we learn the mysteries of Divine Scripture, we penetrate, by means of the illumination of the mind, as far as knowledge of Divinity himself, who is before all and after all. But you should know that the wings that are stretched out touch the head and the feet, and both together cover what they touch, because as often as we are snatched away by means of ecstasy of mind to thinking about his eternity, we discover in him neither beginning nor end. We extend a wing to the head when we think about his existence before all things, but with this same wing we veil his head from us since we are unable to comprehend how there is no beginning in him. We extend a wing to the feet, when we consider him to be after everything, not in terms of time but in terms of eternity; but we cover his feet when we do not find an end in him. Therefore, when we touch his head and feet, we cover them since the more the human mind struggles to search out his eternity, the more it marvels at his incomprehensibility. However, it is not written in Isaiah: “They veiled his head,” but rather it is written: They veiled his face.47 This ought to be understood in the way in which it was said to Moses: You will not be able to see my face, for no human being shall see me and live.48 The full knowledge of Divinity that is promised to the saints in eternal life—about which the Apostle says: We shall see him face to face,49 and again: Then I shall know as I am known,50—is veiled and hidden for those still living in this mortal state. In that life [which is] eternal, however, full knowledge is not veiled but unveiled and seen openly, just as the Lord bears witness in the Gospel concerning the blessed angels: In heaven, their angels always see the face of the Father.51 Since it is particularly relevant to the present discussion that the face should remain uncovered, we do not alter the words of the prophet, but rather we overlook them. So that the truth that no one is able to comprehend a beginning in God may be affirmed, we veil the head from above. And so that what is said: In heaven their angels always see the face of the Father,52 may stand, we leave the face uncovered. Other things that are said otherwise in this work should be regarded not according to the prophecy but according to the drawing.53

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With two wings they flew.54 The two wings with which the Seraphim flew signify the tropological meaning because when we are instructed concerning good works through the reading of Scripture, we are lifted up to higher things by wings, as it were. We fly with these [by striking] them one against the other, when we urge each other on by zeal for good deeds. However, we cry out: Holy, holy, holy,55 as we fly, if through our good works we fully occupy ourselves with increasing not our own glory but the glory of our Father who is in heaven. For what does it mean to cry out: Holy, holy, holy,56 other than to proclaim outwardly in public the Creator’s glory that we have recognized inwardly? Having explained these things briefly, let us now begin to treat in order those things that follow. Now that we have shown what it means for you that in our reading the head and feet of the Lord are found to have been hidden from us, it remains that we should show what ought to be thought concerning the rest of the Lord’s body. Therefore, if we have said that God’s head is what existed before the establishment of this world, and that his feet are what is in the future, after the consummation of the age, we may rightly interpret the length of his body as the extent of time that is in the “middle” between the beginning and the end. The head and the feet are covered since we are unable to search out the beginning and the end.57 The body is visible because we see in the “middle” those things that occur in the present age. This body is the Church, which began at the beginning of the world and will endure until the end of the age. This is the Ark, about which we have set out to speak. It extends from the head to the feet because through the succession of generations Holy Church reaches from the beginning to the end. But you should know that just as for a human being there are some things that surround his body but are neither in the body nor of the body, and there are other things that are in the body but nevertheless are not of the body, so it is likewise in the case of the body of Christ, i.e. the Church, which lives in the midst of depraved nations. When the Church is exposed to the attacks of unbelievers, the Ark is buffeted, as it were, by certain kinds of turbulent waves of external dangers. When, however, she suffers tribulation from false brothers, the body is tormented inwardly, as it were, by certain kinds of noxious vapors. Those things, therefore, that are against the body, whether internal or external, are not of the body. However, because in this drawing the arms of the Lord embrace everything from both sides, this signifies that the totality of everything is under his power, and no

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one is able to escape either his right hand, which rewards, or his left hand, which punishes. Why, then, are the members, who recognize the great power of the Head, so anxious about the health of the body? He, who by compassion feels the danger and by power supplies the remedy, knows what is helpful for his body. It is he himself who makes a path in the sea,58 since he guides his body (i.e. his Church), like the Ark in the Flood, through the storms of this life and leads her to the port of a peaceful eternity. If, then, we wish to be saved, it behooves us to enter into this Ark, and, just as I said above, we ought to build this Ark within us so that we are able to dwell in it within ourselves. For it does not suffice for us to be in the Ark outside of ourselves, if we have not also learned how we must dwell in it within ourselves.59 Concerning this, there are primarily three things that we must consider: first, how we ought to build this within ourselves; second, how we ought to enter into it within ourselves; third, how we ought to dwell in it within ourselves. Behold! While we set out to speak about one Ark, our mind is being led through a succession of things in such a way that we already seem to need to speak among ourselves not about one Ark only but about four. Of these four Arks, the two visible ones have been constructed externally and visibly; the two invisible ones are made internally and invisibly according to an invisible means of construction. The first is what Noah made with mattocks and axes from the materials of wood and bitumen. The second is what Christ made through his preachers by gathering nations into one confession of faith. The third is what Wisdom builds up daily in our hearts through meditation on the yoke of God’s law. The fourth is what Mother Grace accomplishes in us by joining many virtues together into one charity. The first is in things; the second, in faith; the third, in knowledge; the fourth, in virtue. Let us call the first, the Ark of Noah; the second, the Ark of the Church; the third, the Ark of Wisdom; the fourth, the Ark of Mother Grace. Nevertheless, in a way there is one Ark everywhere since one likeness is everywhere and something that does not differ in what is proper to it ought not to differ in name. There is one form, although there are diverse materials because what is in the wood is in the people and what is in the mind is also in charity. Nevertheless, we have undertaken to speak especially about the Ark of Wisdom, and for that reason, we will pass quickly through a presentation of the other three Arks so that later on we may have more leisure to linger in explaining the Ark of Wisdom.60

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chapter four On the Ark of Noah According to the Literal Sense Those who wish to investigate more deeply the truth of the things that are reported about the Ark of Noah according to the literal sense ought to look especially into two things, namely, the form and the size of the Ark. Indeed, Origen said concerning the form of the Ark: “I think—insofar as it appears from those things that are described—that the Ark rose up from a base with four corners, and it was gradually drawn more closely together at these same four corners all the way up to the top, [where] the Ark finally came together in the space of a single cubit.”61 A number of things seem to stand opposed to this opinion. First of all, this shape does not seem to be suitably seaworthy. For it is a fact that a vessel of such a great size and burdened with so many animals and so much food would be completely unable to float upon the onrushing waters in such a way that the greater part of it would not be pressed down [under the water]. We can set up a test of such a situation with great sailing ships carrying weighty cargoes. If, as it is said, the Ark began to draw together right from the bottom so that the sloping sides did not repel the swelling waves on all sides, but rather received them, and thus the waters did not so much carry the Ark as the Ark carried the waters, how could it happen that the whole vessel did not sink to the bottom immediately?62 Again, when the text says: Place a door in the side below,63 by “side below” it seems to signify a side wall (parietem laterem) as opposed to the surface that was up above in the roof, in which, perhaps, a window had been placed. And when it says again: Noah opened the roof of the Ark,64 it sufficiently indicates, as a result, that the Ark itself had walls below, on which was set the roof, which was above the uppermost deck, which was where human beings were located. For these and other similar good reasons, it seems to us that in [the structure of] the Ark walls were erected on the four sides, and on them a roof was set such that at its peak it narrowed to the measure of one cubit. Authority does not say what the height of the walls was, but, nevertheless, we conclude that the height of the walls was such that they reached to the floor of the fourth deck. For learned people affirm that the doorway of the Ark was located between the second and third decks so that the threshold of the doorway would be adjacent to the floor of the third deck, while its entrance would be cut out above in the wall of the same deck so that,

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indeed, there might be two decks below the doorway and three above. And they say the first deck was set up to receive the animals’ dung; the second, the animals’ food. On the third were the wild animals; on the fourth, the domesticated animals; on the fifth, which was the highest, were human beings and birds. And it is likely that when the Ark was floating, the two lowest decks were submerged below the surface of the water, while the third, on which the animals that needed an open vent for breathing air were located, was the first to rise above the waters. The result of this would be that for those in the water approaching the Ark from the outside, the door would be almost level with the water. And perhaps in accord with this situation it was said: place a door below.65 Below, therefore, because on whatever deck it might be placed, it should be placed down low, so that the feet of those entering would be at floor level. But if it is asked whether or not the heights of the individual decks were equal, we cannot determine on the basis of authority what the conclusion should be. Meanwhile, we ask, nevertheless, that what is not contrary to authority be allowed us. For we wish to make divisions in such a way that we assign a height of four cubits to the first deck; five to the second; six to the third; seven to the fourth; eight to the fifth. And so, the height of the walls will be 15 cubits, and the height of the roof will be 15 cubits. Nests (nidi) or small platforms (mansiunculae)66 were built on the outside surface of the walls of the Ark, as it were, so that the entrance to these nests might be open to the outside, while the wall itself would remain permanently unbroken on the inside. And they67 say these nests ought to be built for those animals that are not able to spend time always in the water or always on dry land, as is the case with otters and seals. These things have been said about the form of the Ark. Concerning the size, it is said: The length shall be 300 cubits, the width 50, the height 30.68 But there are those who say that this great size would not suffice to hold so many kinds of animals and the food on which they would feed for an entire year. Learned people69 solve the question with this reasoning: They say that Moses, who (as Scripture bears witness concerning him) had been instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,70 set down in this passage the number of cubits according to the art of geometry in which the Egyptians were especially skilled, in which one cubit is reckoned as equaling six cubits.71 If this reasoning, in particular, is followed in establishing the size of this Ark, such great extensions of length, width, and height will be found that it

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truly would be able to contain the seeds for the restoration of the entire world and stock for renewing all of the animals. You should know, too, that those animals that are not generated by sexual intercourse need not be carried in the Ark. These are animals born from the soil of the earth or from carcasses or from the decay of other sorts of things or born from the union of different kinds, such as mules and donkeys. From these things it can be concluded that it would not be impossible for a place with such a large capacity to contain stock sufficient to restore all the other animals. If, however, you wish to inquire more diligently about those things that relate to the reasoning related to geometrical measurements, a great number of things related to this discipline are manifest here. We touch upon a few of them quickly on account of a need for brevity.72 The smallest division used in measuring fields that has a proper name is a finger. For whatever is less than a finger, we define according to parts, that it is a one-half, one-third or one-fourth part.73 We measure by a finger in such a way that we place thumb beside thumb, crossing the space [to be measured] with the adjacent roots of the fingernails tracing a straight line.74 And in this way four fingers make one palm; four palms make one foot; one and a half feet make a small cubit; and six small cubits make one great cubit. And so, one great cubit will have nine feet; a small cubit will have one and a half feet.75 Therefore, a length of 300 great cubits has 1800 small cubits, 2700 feet, 10,800 palms and 72,000 fingers.76 Also, five feet make one pace, 125 paces make one stadium, eight stadia make one [Roman] mile. And according to this it is clear that this Ark had a length of 540 paces, which is four stadia (i.e. one-half a Roman mile) plus 40 paces. With similar reasoning, measurements can be discovered for the width and height. Also, if one delights to know how large the plane surface (that is, the area) of the rectangles would be, either in feet or cubits, multiply the longer side by the shorter, and what this produces as a result will be the area of the rectangles. For instance: say 300, 50 times;77 they become 15,000. This is the area of the rectangle in cubits. It is the same with other things. If you seek [the length of] the diagonal line of this rectangle,78 here would be the rule for you. Multiply both [orthogonal] sides (i.e. the longer and the shorter) by themselves. In the one side that combines both of these, you should seek the result that is produced.79 And you have this as the diagonal. For instance: say 300, 300 times; they become 90,000. Say 50, 50 times; they become 2500. The “side”80 of the sum of these two is 304 and one-half, which is

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not an integer. If you divide this by two you have 152 and one-quarter. This is [the length] that extends from the corner to the center [of one of the three lower decks of the Ark]. If you have this for a base and set up a perpendicular 30 cubits in height in the center of the Ark and mark off 15 cubits upward on this perpendicular from the top of the third dwelling place, and [if] you then have this for a perpendicular, and you join (comparaveris) this base to the downward hanging part of the perpendicular according to the geometrical rule, you will see that by a marvelous rationale, every corner leads to an hypotenuse with a measurement of 152 and one-half cubits.81 In a similar way, if you join the perpendicular to the base running from the front of the Ark to the perpendicular, you will see hypotenuses (hypotenusas) with a length of 152 and one-half cubits that extends to the front.82 The hypotenuses which rise up from the sides of the ark extend to a length of 29 and one-half and have bases of 25.83 The rule for finding the [length of the] hypotenuse is this: you should multiply the perpendicular by itself and likewise the base by itself. You should add these two results together, and the [length of the] hypotenuse will be the “side” of the number that results. In this Ark, sloping timbers act like the hypotenuse as they extend from the lowest to the uppermost point [of the Ark]. The perpendicular is the column that was set up in the middle of the Ark (in medio archae) to reach the height of the square at the summit. The base is the long line stretching from the corner of the Ark to the perpendicular. The line that extends from one corner to the opposite corner is called a “diagonal.” In these triangles and rectangles you will find many other things pertaining to subtle aspects of the discipline of geometry. We leave all of these aside so that the reader will not be bored. There are some who say that in the Ark there were only three decks, and among these, one had a single chamber; the middle, two chambers; and the top, three chambers.84 And they say that Scripture calls these divisions of the decks, “rooms”85 but calls the three decks themselves “three levels.”86 And here is the reason that we have drawn this form of the Ark rather than others: because [in a two-dimensional drawing] on a flat surface we are not able to show easily the height of the walls. Indeed, in this form the timbers that rise upward on all sides are slowly drawn together until at the peak they come together in the measure of one cubit.87 These things have been said about the Ark of Noah according to the literal sense.

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chapter five On the Ark of the Church Now it remains for us to see what the Ark of the Church may be. Let me say it as clearly as possible: the Church herself is the Ark that her own Noah (that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, the pilot and the port) steers in a straight line through the violent storms of this life and leads by means of himself to himself. The length of 300 cubits signifies the present age, which passes through three time periods (that is, the time of Natural Law, the time of Written Law, the time of Grace), through which Holy Church moves from the beginning of the world to its end, from the present life to future glory. The width of 50 cubits signifies the totality of the faithful, who have been established under one head (that is, Christ). For 50 consists of seven sevens (that is, 49), the number that signifies the totality of the faithful, plus the number one, which signifies Christ, who is the head of his Church and the final end for all our desires. For this reason, the Ark is brought to completion in one cubit. The height of 30 cubits signifies the 30 volumes (volumina) of the Divine Page (i.e. 22 of the Old Testament and eight of the New Testament) in which are contained the sum of all the things that God either has done or is going to do for his Church.88 The three decks signify the three “orders” of the faithful who are in Holy Church, the first of whom make use of the world—legitimately, to be sure; the second flee and forget the world; the third have forgotten the world and are near to God.89 The fact that the Ark is drawn together in its upper parts while it is larger in its lower parts, signifies that in Holy Church the number of those leading a carnal life is greater than those leading a spiritual life so that, as always, the more perfect people are, the fewer in number they are.90 The Ark is drawn together to the measure of one cubit at its uppermost point because Christ, the head of his Church (who is the saint of saints91), is similar to humans by nature and above them by the uniqueness of his virtue. The 100 years during which the Ark was built signify the same as 100 cubits. For the 100 years signify the time of Grace because Holy Church, which began with the beginning of the world, received redemption through the sacrifice of the unblemished Lamb in the time of Grace. For, in fact, the Ark was formed at the time when the sacraments of the Church flowed forth in blood and water from the side of Christ while he hung upon the cross.92 When the Lamb was sacri-

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ficed, then the Lamb’s Bride was born.93 When Adam was put into a deep sleep, then Eve was formed.94 Our Bridegroom went up to the bed of his marriage chamber;95 he slept by dying; he showed what has been beneficial from the beginning; he did what has been from the beginning. See whether Scripture wishes to say the same thing when it speaks about the construction of this Ark, that is, the Church. What does it say? The Lamb, it says, who was killed from the beginning of the age.96 What does this mean? The Son of God came in the flesh at the end of the age; he allowed himself to be crucified for the salvation of human beings; he allowed himself to be killed; he allowed himself to be immolated. Thus, the Lamb was killed at the end of the age; he was killed once for all. How can the following passage be correct, in which it is said: He was killed from the beginning of the age.97 How could he be killed before he was incarnated? For at that point he still had nothing of mortality, so how could he have been able to die? If he was killed from the beginning, first he was killed and then made incarnate. If he was killed from the beginning, it was not once for all, but often; indeed, he was always killed. For since he was from the beginning, he always was, and since he is from the beginning, he always is. But perhaps if you had said: he was killed from the beginning, that is, for those who have lived [at some point] from the beginning, meaning for the redemption, for the salvation, for the reconciliation of those who have lived [at some point] from the beginning so that by the phrase: from the beginning, you establish not the time of the killing but [the time] of salvation, it will be not be a contradiction if he is said to be killed both “once for all” and “from the beginning.” For his death was beneficial from the very first; then later, it happened. First came the promise; then came the showing forth. He was killed from the beginning of the world, therefore, since from the beginning of the world there were those people for whom he was killed at the end of the age. But, nevertheless, when he put on beauty—that is, the unblemished flesh, the unpolluted flesh, the splendid flesh assumed from the virginal body—and clothed himself with fortitude (that is, he fought the powers of the air by means of the cross, the sign of victory), from then his throne was prepared for him; from then his Church was redeemed; from then the lost sheep was found;98 from then the entryway to the Kingdom of Heaven, which had been closed before this time, was thrown open. Now you see why the Ark is 300 cubits long and was built, nevertheless, in 100 years, not 300. This is because the Church, which was from the beginning of the age, was redeemed at the end of the age.99

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Since the Ark is, in fact, six times longer than it is wide and ten times longer than it is high,100 it presents a resemblance (instar) to the human body in which Christ appeared, for it also is itself his body.101 Indeed, the length of a body from the top of the head to the soles of the feet is six times more than the width [of a body] from one side to the other; the length is also ten times the “thickness” (altitudo) of the body. The measure of this “thickness” is taken on the side from the back to the belly. Or, if you should be measuring a person lying either on [his] back or face-down, the length from the head to the feet is six times the “width” from right to left or left to right—and the length is also ten times as much as his “height” from the ground.102 Six goes into 300 fifty times, and there are six divisions (aetates) in the three time-periods of the age.103 Again, 300 signifies faith in the Trinity or else it signifies the cross because of the letter Tau, since Tau signifies the number 300, and among the residents of Syros, the number 300 still retains the shape of a cross.104 Fifty designates the remission of sins; 30 designates the measure of the full extent of Christ’s life.105 According to that decision by which we divide the vertical arrangement of the interior of the Ark into five decks, the Ark is the Church, and the five decks are five states of life: three of the present life and two of the future life. The first state is that of those persons who are called carnal, about whom the Apostle says: I was not able to speak to you as spiritual people but, as it were, as carnal people. I have given you milk to drink, not meat.106 The second state is that of those people who are called natural (animales), about whom he says on another occasion: A natural person (animalis) does not perceive the things that are of God.107 The third state is that of spiritual people, about whom he says: The spiritual person (spiritualis) judges all things, and he himself is judged by no one.108 The fourth state is that of souls who have cast aside the body. The fifth state is that of those who rise up again in both body and soul; this state is the highest and is next to the square at the highest point. The fact that [the walls of] the three lower decks rise upward in a straight line according to the height of the walls and are not sloped toward the supreme cubit, signifies that however much we may advance in this life, nevertheless, we remain turned away, as it were, from the face of our Creator, because although we rise up by merit, nevertheless we are not inclined toward him by the presence of contemplation (per contemplationis praesentiam). Hence, in the Song of Songs, the Bride rightly calls to mind that her Beloved stands behind a wall109 because

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as long as we are enclosed in the skins of this corruption, we are kept apart from his face by the interposition of a kind of wall, as it were.110 However, [the roof of] the fourth and fifth decks is drawn together into a unity as it rises because, after having put aside the burden of the flesh, the souls of the saints now rejoice in contemplation of their Creator. Later, when they shall have received back their bodies, now immortal and impassible, they shall cling most fully and most closely to him by means of the presence of contemplation.111 What does it signify that the Ark is drawn together in a unity in the roof above? Surely it means that when we have been delivered from the darkness of this life, then we will focus the end of all of our desires on the One. When we have begun to see God just as he is, nothing will be pleasing except to gaze upon his face without interruption, to be satisfied by his sweetness without tiring, to enjoy fully his love without imperfection. This is what it means to move toward him and to reach him—always to seek him by longing, to find him by knowing, and to touch him by tasting. On the deck that was at the bottom, the animals’ dung was deposited. This rightly expresses the life-style of carnal people because what do those who serve the longings of the flesh become, other than rotten? The second deck contains the foodstuffs for the animals, and this appropriately indicates those who hold a sort of middle state in Holy Church, who neither yield fully to the flesh through illicit longings nor are able to reach the rank of spiritual persons through contempt of the world. When these people, who obtain spiritual things from spiritual people, give to their teachers a payment of earthy wealth for the distribution of the word of God, what do they become other than a storehouse of food for holy animals? The third deck holds animals, to be sure, but they are wild animals, by which is indicated the life-style of spiritual persons, who, as long as they are held in this corruption, have been subjected to the law of God by reason and at the same time carry in their flesh that by which they still oppose the law of God. Therefore, they are animals because they live by the rational principle of the mind, but they are wild on account of illicit longings of the flesh. On the fourth deck are the domesticated animals because—just as the Apostle says: He who is dead is justified from sin112 and according to the saying of the Prophet: On that day, all their thoughts shall perish113—when they shall go free with the destruction of the chains of carnal corruption, at the same time they shall be calmed down with respect to illicit longings. The fifth deck holds humans and birds. The liveliness of reason and understanding is designated by humans, while the quick mobility

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of incorruptible nature is represented by birds. Therefore, when this mortal body shall have put on immortality, and this corruptible body shall have been clothed in incorruption,114 then with mind and body equally made spiritual according to our proper measure, we shall know everything by the illumination of our mind and be able to be everywhere by the mobile lightness of our incorruptible bodies. We shall fly mentally by contemplation; we shall fly bodily on account of incorruption. We shall discern with our mind and, if I may say so, we shall discern with our body, when the very senses of our body shall be turned into reason, reason into understanding, and understanding shall pass over into God, with whom we are united by the one mediator between God and humans, the Lord Jesus Christ. However, since the form of the Ark—which is in the likeness of a truncated pyramid as seen from above115—does not extend to the highest possible peak, this is able to signify that what is beneath God is less than perfect since according to the form of humanity that he received, our Redeemer himself is less than the Father, and through obedience he himself submitted to the Father that which he did not receive from the Father through the equality of majesty. However, if anyone should wish to investigate the mysteries of the numbers that we assigned above in the measurement of the height of each one of the decks, he will see how suitably the number four is assigned to the lowest deck. For since the human body is composed of the four elements116 and built up from the combination of the four humors,117 the life-style of carnal people, who are enslaved to the pleasures of the body, is rightly represented by the number four. Next, in accord with the five senses, the number five aptly symbolizes natural people (animales homines), who, although they do not submit disgracefully to shameful passionate carnal actions, nevertheless, pursue and love things that lead to the delight of the senses since they have not become acquainted with what spiritual delight might be. The number six applies to spiritual people, because of the perfection of deeds. The number seven, since it signifies the peaceful rest of souls, indicates those resting quietly in hope and awaiting the glory of the resurrection. The number eight, because it is the sign of beatitude, is appropriate for those who, after having already received back their bodies, rejoice in blessed immortality. There is still something more that we can say about the first three decks. Each one of us has three wills in himself: the first of which is carnal; the second is natural (animalis); the third is spiritual. The carnal

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will wishes to relax the bridle restraining concupiscence and in everything to heed carnal longings without restraint, to submit to no law, to fear no one, to do whatever it wishes. In contrast to this, the opposing concupiscence of the spirit longs to cling so completely to spiritual endeavors that it wants to eliminate even bodily necessities. Therefore, the will, halting between these two concupiscences of the soul in a kind of blameworthy middle position, neither is delighted by the shameful passionate actions of the vices nor accepts the painful struggles of the virtues. In that way, this kind of will seeks to exercise restraint over the carnal passions in such a way that it will not need to consent to the necessary painful struggles without which spiritual longings cannot be possessed. It longs to obtain the gift of chastity without punishing and wearing down the flesh; to acquire purity of heart without the labor of vigils; to show the humility of Christ without tossing aside the honors of the world. To conclude: in this way the will wants to pursue future goods in such a way that it does not lose present goods. A will of that sort would never lead us to true perfection but would place us in a kind of totally shameful lukewarm state, unless increasing warfare between these two kinds of concupiscence were to destroy this utterly lukewarm state. For when we, who give ourselves over to this will, wish to loosen ourselves from it a little, the stings of the flesh that rise up immediately do not allow us to remain in the harmful state of that lukewarm purity in which we delight, but they drag us to the frightening pathway, packed full of the thorns of the vices, that we dread. Again: when, after being set on fire by the fervor of the Spirit, we wish to get rid of the works of the flesh without concern for human weakness and to apply our whole selves with a prideful heart to an unrestrained pursuit of virtue, the disruptive weakness of the flesh calls the spirit back from that blameworthy excess and slows it down. And so, with the two opposing concupiscences fighting against each other in such a struggle, it happens that the will of the soul is, indeed, controlled by a just restraint since the will wishes neither to surrender itself totally to carnal longings nor to sweat in the labors of the virtues. A certain balance of equality in the established balance scales of our body—which allows neither the mind enflamed with the ardor of the spirit to overweight the tongue of the balance on the right nor the flesh enflamed by the pricks of the vices to overweight it on the left—makes that lukewarm state of the natural will impossible and compels that will to come in a healthy way to that fourth state that we do not want. In this state, we acquire the virtues not with leisure and in a carefree way, but with

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continual sweating labor and contrition of spirit, lest if we remain in that thoroughly perilous lukewarm state, God should begin to spit us out of his mouth.118 The Apostle demonstrates this struggle between flesh and spirit and the fruit of it as well, when he says: I say, however, walk in the spirit and do not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves in opposition to the spirit, and the spirit craves in opposition to the flesh. These are in conflict with each other so that whatever you wish not to do, those things you do.119 According to the tropological meaning (moraliter), however, whoever struggles to separate himself from the delight of this world and to give attention to the virtues, must, with God’s cooperating grace, construct inwardly a building of the virtues. This building should have [a length of] three hundred cubits in the faith of the Trinity, a width of fifty cubits of charity and a height of thirty cubits of the hope that is in Christ so that it may be lengthy in good deeds, wide in loving, and high in longing so that the heart may dwell above, where Christ is now seated at the right hand of God. Whence the head of the Crucified One himself was placed at the high point of the cross. The hands, however, were stretched out across the width so that the affection of our hearts may reach out as far as loving [our] enemies. The body of the Crucified One was placed lengthwise on the cross so that our actions may be expansive, not restrained, and may endure to the end.

BOOK II

chapter one On the Ark of Wisdom What we propose to say [now] about the Ark of Wisdom must be kept separate from what has been ascribed to the Church according to allegory in the previous book. In this way, what has been shown there in [the world of] things120 may be sought here in [the world of] thought.121 For things have a certain kind of existence of their own in the human mind, where even those things that in themselves either have already occurred or are still in the future, can subsist together. And in this regard, the rational soul has a certain likeness to its Creator. For just as in the divine mind the causes of all things subsist eternally without change or temporal distinction, so also in our mind past things, present things, and future things subsist together by means of thought.122 Thus, if we have seized the opportunity to live in our heart through persistent dedication to the practice of meditation,123 we have in some way already given up an existence in time. Having become dead to the world, as it were, we live inwardly with God. Then we will easily despise whatever fortune sets in motion externally, if our longing has been fixed there, where we are not subject to change, where we neither seek out past things nor look forward to future things, and where we fear no disasters.124 Let us, therefore, have right thoughts, let us have useful and pure thoughts because we shall make our Ark from such materials.125 These are the timbers that float when placed in water and blaze up when placed in a fire since the flowing stream of carnal delights does not submerge such thoughts, but rather the flame of charity ignites them. You should not fear this fire in your house. Woe to you, if your tabernacle has not been set ablaze by it.126 After this, you shall coat your Ark with pitch inside and outside:127 outside so that you may show128 gentleness; inside lest you lose charity.129 There is no way that you will be able to rest pleasantly in the innermost chamber of your conscience, unless you have first learned to endure evil people outwardly with gentleness and then with charity not to hate them inwardly. Bitumen is fiery by nature and is born from land struck by lightning;130 charity is produced in the soul that has been struck by the fear of divine judgment.131 Next let us consider the measurements of the Ark, and how they may be formed in us.132 We have said previously that 300 cubits mark

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off the present age.133 Thus, if you have led your thought from the beginning of the world to its end, and if, when traversing this, you have reflected on what marvels and how many of them God has performed—and will still perform—on behalf of his elect and also through them, then you measure the length of 300 cubits in your heart. If you run through the Church by means of thought, and after contemplating the lifestyle of the faithful, you set that lifestyle before yourself as an example,134 then you enlarge your heart to 50 cubits in width. If you acquire knowledge of the Divine Page, which is contained in 30 books,135 then you lift up your heart to a height of 30 cubits.136 This is the Ark that you must build. These are the boundaries of your fathers, which it is not legitimate for you to cross, which the Most High established according to the number of the sons of Israel when he separated the sons of Adam and divided the nations.137 This is the land that you should inhabit, and upon whose riches you should feed.138 Therefore, rest peacefully within these walls; remain under this roof; live in this house—for storm and wind are outside.139 Whenever you go outside, you will suffer shipwreck. If, on account of pride, you attempt, with your own wisdom, to pry open the divine secrets that God has not wished to disclose to us through his Scripture, then you go beyond the height of 30 cubits. If you do not believe in a Church that will endure until the end of the age but believe that God’s aid will abandon her at some point in time, then you go beyond the length of 300 cubits. If you have frequently taken delight in thinking about those who love this world and about their vain way of life, then you have gone beyond the measure of 50 cubits. chapter two On the Door and the Window The Ark of the Flood, as has already been said, is our heart’s innermost chamber in which we must lie, hidden away from the clanging noise of the world. But since the very weakness of our condition does not allow us to rest for long in the silence of inward contemplation, we have an exit: the door and the window. The door signifies going out by activity; the window, an exit that happens by thinking. The door is below; the window is above. This is because actions concern the body; thoughts concern the soul. Hence it is that birds went out through the window; beasts and humans went out through the door. As for the fact that the soul is signified by a bird

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and the body by a human being, we have a passage from the book of Job, in which it is said: A human being is born for labor; a bird is born for flight.140 For we have been born into this life in such a state that if we want to raise up the soul by means of contemplation, it is necessary to wear down the body by the exercise of labor. Since the location of the door is said to be in the side, this signifies that we must never go out from the innermost place of our heart by taking up an activity on our own initiative but only because a need arises. And perhaps it is not without a reason that Scripture is silent about the window since even if it were permissible on occasion to go out voluntarily by thought, nevertheless we must never go out by activity except on the occasion of yielding to a necessity. Indeed, this is appropriately suggested by the fact that a person opened the window himself when he wished in order to send forth birds. We read, however, that the door was closed by God from the outside and then opened by him so that a person might go out. We go out by action in four ways. Some actions are carnal, that is, they relate to the use of the body; others are spiritual in that they are related to the instruction of the mind. Good people and evil people go out in both ways. Those who are outwardly enslaved to fulfilling disordered desires by earthy actions are like the unclean animals that went out from the Ark.141 However, those who carry out earthy actions for practical necessities are animals, indeed, but they are clean animals. Now, those who take up carrying out the responsibility of ecclesiastical governance (which certainly is a spiritual action) and go forth into public life, away from the innermost place of internal quiet—not on account of ambition but on account of a command of obedience—are like Noah, who offered a sacrifice when he went out of the Ark.142 This is because the more they recognize that on account of their engagement with the world they have endured severe inward damage to the time of peaceful quiet, then the more they kill off by abstinence the impulses of the flesh in themselves. Those, however, who receive honors in the Church for their own glory, and then, when they find themselves placed in high positions, despise others and refuse to look down with compassion on those who have been placed in lower positions in the Church—these people are like Ham, who laughed when he uncovered the genitals of his father and on account of this deserved to receive a declaration of damnation.143 We go out by contemplation in four ways.144 The first way is when we consider what every creature is in and of itself. And we discover everything is vanity because just as every crea-

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ture comes into being from nothing, it also shows with daily change that, as great as it is in itself, it tends toward nothingness.145 The second way is when we consider what the same creature is on account of the gift of the Creator, and we see in it a likeness of the divine reason. This is because the very creatures that are subject to changeability on the basis of their created condition, at the same time receive this from the good will of the Creator: that they will never completely cease to exist. And so, in some way a temporal work imitates the stability of the eternal Maker. The third way is when we consider how God uses the ministry of created things for carrying out his judgments, either distributing benefits in accord with his mercy or disbursing punishments in accord with our merits. In this consideration we discover that everything is an instrument of divine ordering and evidence of our twistedness. In this kind of contemplation we hear every creature speaking to us with three voices. chapter three On the Three Voices of the World The first voice says: “Receive”; the second says: “Repay”; the third says: “Flee.” Receive the benefit; repay the debt; flee the punishment. The first voice is the voice of one who serves; the second, of one who admonishes; the third, of one who threatens. This is the voice of one who serves: Heaven says; “I provide light for you in the day so that you may stay awake and darkness in the night so that you may rest. For your delight, I produce the welcome changes of the seasons: the temperate weather of spring and the heat of summer, the fruitfulness of autumn and the cold of winter. I measure out the varying lengths of days and nights by lengthening the one and shortening the other to the same degree. This I do so that variation may banish tedium and rational order may produce pleasure.”146 Air says: “I offer you life-giving breath and send every kind of bird for your service.” Water says: “I offer you a drink; I wash away dirt; I moisten that which is dried out; and I provide various kinds of fish for you to eat.” Earth says: “I support you; I feed you; I strengthen you with bread; I bring you cheer with wine; I bring you delight with all varieties of fruits; I fill your tables with various animals [for meat].” This is the voice of one who admonishes: The world says: “See, human being, how he has loved you, he who made me on account of you. I serve you because I was made on account of you so that you might

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serve the One who made both you and me. He made me on account of you; he made you on account of himself. If you perceive the benefit, repay the debt. If you receive kindness, repay charity. God bestows the one and demands the other.” This is the voice of one who threatens: Fire says: “You will be burned up by me.” Water says: “You will be drowned in me.” Earth says: “You will be absorbed by me.” Hell says: “You will be devoured by me.” This is because just as each created thing is made to serve humans on account of its own creation, so it also threatens sinners with an awareness of their evil deserts, such that they dread to endure from individual created things what they recognize they have deserved. According to this it has also been said that: a wicked person flees even when no one is in pursuit,147 because a wicked person is fearful in the midst of security, just as a righteous person is secure in the midst of distress. The fourth mode of contemplation is when we view created things with an eye to the way in which a person can put them to use in satisfying the disordered passion of carnal concupiscence. We think about them not as an aid for natural weakness but only in terms of the pleasure of sexual desire.148 Eve looked at the tree with this kind of eye: Because it was beautiful to look at and delightful to eat, she plucked its fruit and ate.149 The people who go out by means of thought in this way are like the raven that did not return, because when they discover outside what delights in an evil way, they no longer wish to return to the Ark of the conscience.150 The other three kinds of contemplation, however, are represented in the going forth of the dove, who, after she had been sent out and could not find a place where she might rest her feet, returned in the evening carrying in her mouth a branch from a live olive tree.151 chapter four How the Olive Branch is Returned to the Ark The dove went forth without anything, but she did not return without anything because she found outside what she did not possess inside. Nevertheless, she did not love outside what she brought back inside. The branch of a live olive tree clearly represents the good feeling of the mind, since often [it is the case that] the more holy men behold divine works externally, the more they burst forth internally with love of the Creator. For when they behold the changeability of present things, they immediately find that all the things that seem to be beautiful in this world grow worthless to them in their thinking.

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And returning within, as it were, they carry the olive branch in their mouth since those who have discovered that there is nothing in created things that might bring delight, crave all the more fervently to see the appearance of their Creator. The mind is delightfully fed within since it is not held outside by delight, and after returning to the safe harbor of its Ark, as it were, the mind that earlier was shipwrecked amid the turbulent waves of the world now dances about free from care. Likewise, in the second kind of contemplation, as often as we learn to marvel at the invisible power and wisdom of God [manifested] in visible things, we bring a branch of the olive tree back from the waters to the Ark, as it were, because in the changeable things outside of us we come to know that One, whom we love unchangeably within ourselves.152 Again, in the third kind of contemplation, when we turn our attention toward his outward judgments, we are inwardly renewed in fear and love of him.153 In the first contemplation, therefore, an examination of the source of vanity brings forth in us contempt of the world. In the second, the representation of reason brings forth praise of God. In the third, the means of establishing order brings forth fear and love of God. In the fourth, the tinder of cupidity brings forth the fire of sexual desire. Let us, therefore, guard against this last going forth, lest we thoughtlessly go out. Let no one be confident about his own conscience. Dinah was a virgin within; she was pure within; she was a dove within. But because the dove, after being seduced, had no heart, when she went outside, she changed her color along with her name.154 Indeed, so it is written: Dinah went out so that she might see the women of that region. As soon as Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of that land, saw her, he fell in love, and he carried her away and slept with her, overcoming the virgin by force.155 That she was overcome by force shows that she sustained the unwilling loss of her chastity not because she went out in order to be corrupted, but because she went out thoughtlessly. Moreover, what is added: He joined her to himself,156 means that the raven found a corpse and did not wish to return to the Ark. chapter five On the Three Decks The three decks in the Ark of the understanding signify three kinds of thoughts: right, useful, and necessary.157 If I shall have begun to love meditation on the Scriptures, and if I shall have gladly chosen to think about the virtues of the saints, the

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works of God, and other things that relate to the improvement of morals or the training of the mind, I have already begun to live in the Ark. But if I still neglect imitating the good that I know, then I can say that my thought is right, but it is not useful because, indeed, it is good that I think about other people and recognize things about them, but that good is of no use to me if I do not take it up as an example for living.158 For the virtue of another person is useless to me, if I have failed to imitate it as much as I can. Hidden treasure, hidden knowledge! What usefulness is there in either of these?159 I hide knowledge, if I do not show in [my] action the good that I know, and, therefore, it is impossible for me to be useful when I knowingly hide [the knowledge] that I possess. If, however, I have carried out an action not only so that I may know those things that are good and useful, but also so that I may do them—and if the thought of my heart has been assiduous in discovering how, through training in discipline and in the form of right living, I may make mine the virtues that I have already learned to love and to admire in others—then I can say that the thought of my heart is useful. Then I have ascended onto the second deck and have already gathered my heart into a greater unity so that it will not dart about through those things that are vain and have nothing to do with usefulness. There remains a third thing: that when I shall have begun to have the actions associated with the virtues, I also should labor diligently to have the virtues themselves. What I mean to say is that what I show outwardly in action, I should possess inwardly in virtue. Otherwise, it does not mean much at all for me to have the actions, unless I also have the virtues associated with the actions. In this situation, therefore, if I organize the thought of my heart to this end so that I strive to present inwardly to the divine eyes whatever good in me that appears outwardly to human sight, then I have ascended onto the third deck where the necessary virtues exist. But among all of these [virtues], one is principally necessary—i.e. charity, which unites us with God. The Ark is thus drawn together to a unity at its highest point so that we now may think of the One, expect the One, long for the One: the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, cognition is on the first deck; action (opus) is on the second; virtue is on the third; at the highest point is the reward of virtue: the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Psalm where it says: Goodness and discipline and knowledge,160 you have these levels if you turn it around: “Knowledge, discipline and goodness, teach me, Lord Jesus Christ.”161

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chapter six What the Column Set Up in the Middle of the Ark Means The column with a height of 30 cubits set up in the center of the Ark—on which the entire structure of the Ark leans and the cut off square end on the top of which measures one cubit on each side—re­ presents the Tree of Life that was planted in the center of Paradise.162 It is the Lord Jesus Christ planted in the center of his Church, as it were: labor’s reward; activity’s recompense; the journey’s goal; the battle’s crown; accessible to all the faithful in common. He it is who arose from the earth and penetrated heaven. He came to the lowest but did not leave the highest. He who is above, is the same one who is also below: above in majesty, below in compassion. He is above so that he may attract our longing. He is below so that he may offer us assistance. Below, he is among us; above, he is beyond us. Below is what he has assumed from us; above is what he has offered to us.163 This is the mountain of the House of the Lord, prepared on the top of the mountains, to which all nations stream and to which they go up from the four corners of the Ark as if from the four quarters of the world.164 chapter seven How [the Ark] is Ascended by means of the Four Corners of the Ark Some ascend from the heat of the east, others from the heat of the west, still others from the cold of the east, and others from the cold of the west.165 The heat of the east is fervor of the spirit; the heat of the west is carnal concupiscence; the cold of the east is the swelling of pride; the cold of the west is the blindness of ignorance. A human being was created in the heat of the east, for which reason he was placed in the Garden of Eden in the southern portion of the east.166 But he crossed over to the cold of the east when he joined himself in partnership with that one who first said he would place himself on a throne in the north.167 Then he fell into the heat of the west, when after sin he discovered another law in his members fighting against the law of his mind.168 Then, finally, he sank into the cold of the west, when, after being struck by the blindness of ignorance, he began to forget having eaten the bread of heaven. In the heat of the east is the beginning of a good nature; in the cold of the east is the beginning of sin; in the heat and cold of the west are the punishments of body and soul respectively.

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In the heat of the east, a human being was created in the heights. In the cold of the east, that person wished to exalt himself on account of pride, and for that reason, that person sank to the depths in the heat and cold of the west.169 Behold! Through the Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and humans, these now come from the east and those from the west so that they may recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.170 Already there is a shout to the north: “Give up,” and another to the south: “Let not the Son of God be hindered!” For since Jesus Christ is true God and true human being, he presents an example in his humanity and a remedy from his divinity.171 By the humility manifest in receiving [human] weakness, he rebukes our pride and illumines our blindness. By the power of his majesty he feeds our souls with invisible food and by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit he protects our bodies from the surging heat of the vices. The same one is made the Tree of Life and the Book of Life for us: Tree because he shades and feeds; Book because he rebukes and teaches. He rebukes the haughty; he illumines the blind; he feeds the hungry; he shades those overcome by the heat. Let the haughty hear the rebuke and be made humble; let those who are blind in their soul hear teaching and be illumined. Let those whom the surging heat of the vices burns up receive shade so that they may be refreshed. Let those who hunger and thirst for righteousness make haste hither so that they may be filled.172 Let no one excuse himself. Where a place is established for bad people to improve themselves and for good people to become better, there each person will find a remedy matched to his sickness. Let us, therefore, put everything else aside and go up at every opportunity. Let us go up eagerly. Let us go up joyfully because we shall go into the House of the Lord.173 Let us, the tribes of Israel, go up to the feast day of the supernal homeland, to confess the name of the Lord amid the towers of Jerusalem. Let us lift up our eyes to the heights; let us look upon the bright paved paths174 on the sides of the eternal mountains and the footpaths on the heights that lead upward straight to the gates of Jerusalem.175 There, as the Cross, the sign of victory, gleams on the summit with a rosy glow of light, it terrifies enemies and comforts friends. The gates of the city are open, and the voices of those who sing “Alleluia” are [heard] in its squares. You will see many peoples going up there: well dressed; singing Psalms; drawn from all peoples, nations, and languages; some radiant in rosy garments, others gleaming with white clothing, others shining brilliantly in violet-scarlet, all of them

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adorned for a great solemnity.176 Grand and uncountable are the people who have been gathered for the Day of the Lord. The King himself is above, and he invites us; he is below, and he helps us.177 The sluggish are encouraged; the timid are reassured; the weak are strengthened; the bold are given more vigor. People of all ages, both sexes, all conditions rush together from all quarters of the world and go up with eagerness and joyfulness in friendly rivalry to see the King in his beauty.178 All together and each singly they wish to appear festive on a day of such great solemnity. Let us now speak about these steps of the ascents by which a person climbs to heaven so that the labor of the journey will not frighten anyone who is delighted by the promised reward. There are, indeed, beautiful ascents there because, although the ascent is laborious, the charity that is spread underfoot lightens the labor itself. And so the first ascent is from the cold of the east, that is, from the swelling of pride because, first of all, it is necessary that the sinner, who by disobedience plunged into the bruising fault of sin, be humbled and [then] rise up again by obedience. The second ascent is from the heat of the west because next it is necessary to tread underfoot the vices of the flesh so that we no longer walk about according to our own longings and [also] to mortify our members that are upon the earth179 so that we are no longer enslaved to sin. The third ascent is from the cold of the west because when we have completely extinguished carnal feelings in ourselves through abstinence and through training in discipline,180 then we shall be able to rest quietly and freely in meditation and in the teaching of the Divine Scriptures181 so that the eye of the mind may again be illumined by the pursuit of reading and meditation, just as the Psalmist says: Depart from me, evil ones, and I shall examine the commands of my God.182 The fourth ascent is from the heat of the east, where we advance from the good to what is better since there is no way that we can come to perfection unless we strive continually to grow in the good things that we do. In the middle of the Ark, we have set up a column with a height of 30 cubits. Whether or not we believe this [to be true] according the literal sense [of Scripture] makes no difference, if we understand, nevertheless, that a space of the same dimensions and quantity extends from the bottom upward to the summit. Earlier, we said that Divine Scripture is signified by the height of 30 cubits, and after that we declared that Christ is symbolized by a column with a height of 30 cubits.183 These statements are not contradictory because all Divine Scripture is

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one Book, and that one Book is Christ, for all Divine Scripture speaks about Christ and is fulfilled in Christ. When we read Scripture, we seek this: that while we come to know his deeds and words and commands, we may be worthy to do what he orders and to receive what he promises. And so, as we increase in the knowledge of truth and the merit of virtue, let us strive spiritually for conformity to him and to the measure of the age of his fullness.184 chapter eight On the Tree of Life and the Book of Life on the Column So that what we say may be clearer, in the middle of the Ark we have drawn (depinximus) the very column mentioned above.185 And likewise we have inscribed the name “Tree of Life” on the south side [of the column] and “Book of Life” on the north side. On the same side [as the Book of Life] we have set out the 30 volumes (volumina) of the Divine Page in order, from the bottom upward to the summit, which means ten on each deck.186 This is because, as we have said, all Divine Scripture is that one Book (liber), which is the Book of Life. And you should know that Christ can appropriately be called both Book of Life and Tree of Life according to either nature, since one eternal person abides in two natures. But yet he has especially been made the Book of Life for us according to the form of humanity that he assumed187 since in his human nature he presents an example. He has been made the Tree of Life according to the form of divinity, since on account of the power of divinity he presents a remedy (remedium).188 A tree has two things on it: fruit and leaves. It feeds with fruit and gives shade with leaves. So the power of divinity is the refreshment of the minds of those who have been illuminated and a shade for the weak.189 The Book of Life faces north because through the humanity of the Savior light has arisen for those who dwell in the region of the shadow of death.190 And the Tree of Life is turned to the south so that it may feed the healthy with a taste of its sweetness and may yet lead the weak onward under the wings of its protection, hidden, as it were, under a midday umbrella lest they should succumb in the heat of temptation. May it not be burdensome if we to want describe these things in a little more detail. For we wish at one point to clarify the meaning with words plain and few in the manner of an expositor; at another, in the manner of someone meditating; yet again, doubting, as it were; and

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then making discoveries, as it were, running here and there with the sharp gaze of the mind. chapter nine Why It is Called the Book of Life Some books have been written by God. Other books have been written by human beings. The books that humans write are made from the skins of dead animals or from other sorts of corruptible material. Since they lack durability, they themselves grow old, and with what might be called their death, they dissolve into nothingness, leaving, one after another, no trace of themselves. All those who read these books will one day die, and no one can be found who lives forever. Since these books are made from dead things by mortal people who are going to die, they cannot give a continuing permanent life to those who read them, to those who love them. In no way are they worthy to be called books of life; but on the contrary they are worthy to be called books of death, or better, books of the dead or of the dying. But, if I were able to discover a book of such a sort that its origin [was] eternal, its essence incorruptible, its knowledge life, its writing imperishable, its appearance desirable, its teaching easy, its knowledge sweet, its depths unfathomable, its words beyond number and yet all one word—this would be the Book of Life. We shall see this quickly as we make distinctions: chapter ten On the Three Books There are three books. The first is the one that a person makes (facit) from something; the second is the one God created (creavit) from nothing; the third is the one God generated (genuit), God from God himself. The first—the work (opus) of a human being—is corruptible. The second is the work of God that never completely ceases to exist, in which visible work the invisible Wisdom of the Creator has been visibly written. The third is not a work of God, but the Wisdom through whom God made all his works—Wisdom, whom he generated and did not make—Wisdom in whom he has kept from eternity everything he was going to make according to the decision of [his] providence and the precepts of [his] predestination. And this is the Book of Life, in which whatever has once been written will never be effaced. All those who shall have been worthy to advance to look upon it will live eternally.

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chapter eleven On the Three Words Likewise, there are three words. The first is the word of a human being that ceases when it goes forth. The second is the word of God (that is, the work of God), which, created, does not subsist without changes but nevertheless does not cease to exist at some time. The third is the Word of God which, generated and not created, knows neither beginning nor end and is not subject to any changeability. And this is the Word of Life. chapter twelve On the Three Trees Likewise, there are three Trees of Life. The first is the material tree that the Lord God brought forth in the beginning from the soil when he planted Paradise in the middle of it.191 After sinning, the human being was thrust out of Paradise, lest he should touch the fruit of this tree.192 The second is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to the form of humanity that he assumed, was planted in the midst of his Church, like the Tree of Life planted in the middle of Paradise.193 Anyone who shall have deserved to eat worthily of this Tree will live eternally.194 The third is the Tree of Life (that is, the Wisdom of God) that was planted in that invisible Paradise. The fruit of this tree is the food of the blessed angels. The second and third are one Tree of Life. The human being was created for the third; the human being was thrust away from the first; the human being is called back by the second. Thus, the Tree of Life exists only in Paradise. It cannot be found outside of there. There is its place; there it fixes its roots; there it spreads its branches and produces fruit in its own time. In addition, I believe that since it was planted close to the spring that bubbles up in the middle of Paradise and irrigates all of Paradise, therefore, because of the rushing flow of the living waters its roots cannot dry out, its branches cannot wither, and its leaves cannot wilt, but it remains perpetually verdant. You have, then, three books, three words, and three trees. If you wish to compare each with the others in turn, you will see how the lowest is nothing compared with the middle, yet the middle compared with the highest cannot be as much as the lowest is compared with the middle.

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For example: chapter thirteen Comparison of the Three Books We have already described three books to you: the first, which is the work of a human; the second, which is the work of God; the third, which is not the work of God but the Wisdom of God through whom God made all of his works. Therefore, call them: the work of a human; the work of God; the Wisdom of God. Let us see what sort of comparison there is among these. Certainly, after Solomon had looked at the works of human beings and considered them, he spoke thus: Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. What more has a person from all his labor, by which he labors under the sun.195 It was not sufficient for him merely to have said vanity, unless he multiplied it by repetition: Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.196 And quite rightly, if the Psalmist bears witness: Every person living is vanity,197 then the work of a human is deservedly called not only vanity but also vanity of vanities. However, what Solomon thinks concerning the works of God is shown a little later, when he says: I have learned that all the works that God has made will endure into eternity. We can neither add anything to them nor destroy those things that God has made so that he may be feared. What has been made, endures.198 What, then, shall I say? If I wish to compare the works of humans with the works of God, shall I say the work of a human is “something,” or not? When it is considered in and of itself, it seems to be something. When it is compared [with the works of God], it seems to be nothing because it is incalculable by how much it is surpassed in a comparison. If, however, by ascending higher you shall have compared the work [of God] to its Maker you will find that the whole extent of time is still less when compared to the eternity of the Deity. This is the way it is concerning the word: chapter fourteen comparison of the three words The word of a human is one thing; the word of God, a work of God that is not God, is another thing; and yet another thing is the Word of God, who is God. But the work of God, because it is visible, is called an extrinsic word, an expression from the mouth, as it were.199 However, the Wisdom of God, because it is invisible, is called the intrinsic

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word of God, a concept of the mind, as it were. And just as the sound of the voice perishes immediately after being expressed, while the understanding remains, so what God has made undergoes changes, but what God is, is not changed. And just as the thought of the heart is known by the expression of the voice, so the Wisdom of the Creator is shown in his work.200 For this work is a beautiful work, a worthy work by God the Maker, a work that is fitting for Wisdom, a work that no one except the Almighty could make. And therefore by its outward splendor, as if by a kind of voice, it proclaims the power of its Creator and speaks of Wisdom. This Wisdom has made the universe fertile in such a way that it dwells in those things it has made: completely in individual things and completely in the whole of everything; neither more in everything nor less in individuals. Thus, all things together declare no more, and individual things declare no less; all things together and each thing individually declare all [of] Wisdom. The word, therefore, speaks about the Word: The word that was made speaks about the Word that has made; the word that passes away speaks about the Word that admits no changeability; the word that is perceived by the senses speaks about the Word that is seen by the pure in heart;201 the beautiful word speaks about the most beautiful Word; the word that delights the eyes of the body speaks about the Word that illumines the eyes of the heart; the created word speaks about the Word not created but born, not expressed by the mouth but sent forth out of the heart—not the word that fades away after being sent forth, but the Word that remains after being born. Therefore, if you compare the work of Wisdom with Wisdom itself, everything that passes away is less than that which knows no changeability; or it is the flash of the present moment compared with any time, however long, that does not go beyond the narrow limits of time. This is the way it is concerning the tree: chapter fifteen Comparison of the Three Trees There are three Paradises. The first is the Paradise set upon the earth, the first inhabitant of which was the earthy Adam.202 The second is the Paradise of the faithful, which is the Church of the saints, which the second, heavenly Adam—that is, Christ—founded and inhabits. The third is the heavenly Paradise, which is the Kingdom of God and eternal life and the land of the living, or better, the living land in which

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God dwells.203 In the first Paradise, the Tree of Life is a material tree. In the second, the Tree of Life is the Savior’s human nature. In the third, the Tree of Life is the Wisdom of God, the Word of the Father, the Fountain of Life, and Source of Good—and this truly is eternal life. Now let us come to the comparison. Certainly, the Tree of Life that was in the Paradise set upon the earth would have been able to support an undying life (vitam sine defectu) only for the body. However, the Tree of Life of the Paradise of the faithful—that is, Jesus Christ— promises eternal life to those who eat his flesh and drink his blood.204 Wishing, nevertheless, to make clear how distant the sacrament is from the power, he said: The body is able to do nothing; it is the Spirit who gives life.205 This is as if he said, if you eat me bodily in the sacrament, do not believe that this suffices for you, unless you also have learned to eat me spiritually insofar as I am the Word of Life—illuminating souls, justifying sinners, and giving life to the dead. chapter sixteen Concerning the Tree of Wisdom This, therefore, truly is the Tree of Life: the Word of the Father in heaven, the Wisdom of God, to be sure, which in the hearts of the saints as in an invisible Paradise is planted through fear, is watered by grace, dies through grief, takes root through faith, germinates through devotion, sprouts through compunction, grows larger through longing, is made stronger through charity, flourishes through hope, grows leaves and spreads branches through circumspection, flowers through discipline, bears fruit through virtue, ripens through patience, is harvested by death, is fed through contemplation. But since this conversation has gone on for a long time, let us rest for a bit while praying together to the very Wisdom of God, that he who did not disdain to redeem us through the taste of bitter death may deign to satisfy us with a taste of his own sweetness, to whom be honor and dominion in the eternal ages of ages. Amen.

BOOK III

chapter one At the end of the preceding book we showed, by using the likeness of a tree, how wisdom begins and grows in us. The stages of its increase, which we touched on briefly and in a summary form there, we now explain more extensively by going through one stage at a time. chapter two On Planting In the previous book it was said about wisdom first of all that it is planted through fear. In a beautiful way, wisdom truly is planted by fear because fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.206 And just as shoots grow from seeds, so wisdom is born from fear of the Lord. For charity itself is wisdom since through charity we taste God, and by tasting we come to know him, just as the Psalmist says: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is.207 Fear of the Lord, however, brings charity to us because at the same time that fear teaches us to fear danger, it makes us love protection. Indeed, after the soul has reflected deeply about the punishments of Hell and the torments that await those who have been condemned, it is suddenly struck with terror. Then, after regaining its composure and seeking a way to escape, it immediately searches with longing for him through whom it perceives it can escape the impending danger. After it finds him and is embraced with a feeling of love (ex affectu dilectionis), then that horror, unbearable at first, is lessened by love (ex amore). And so, indeed, charity (caritas) is born from fear, but fear is destroyed by charity. In addition to this, after fear of the Lord comes to the heart, it makes [the heart] poor in spirit.208 Now, poverty of spirit is of two kinds, for there are corporeal riches that consist of an abundance of temporal things and spiritual riches that consist of the possession of the virtues. God clearly regards both as riches and excludes both from the Kingdom of Heaven. On the one hand, there is the person who craves (concupiscit) to abound with an excess of temporal good things that will pass away; on the other hand, there is the person who, with an exalted opinion of himself, boasts that he stands firm by his own virtue, as it were. But when the fear of the Lord enters the mind, it places before us in [our] thought the weight of the future judgment and the strict-

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ness of the judge who is to come. By usefully recalling to memory our weakness, this puts an immediate end to all the delight of earthy concupiscence and shows us how humble we ought to feel about ourselves. Then, after the mind has put to sleep the noisy clanging of earthy longings, it is immediately settled into the quiet of internal peace, and by virtue of its own calmness, it is made ready to be capable of receiving heavenly Wisdom. For Wisdom does not know how to dwell anywhere except in a heart at peace. Therefore, those in whom earthy longings still make loud noises do not know what wisdom is. For, as blessed Job bears witness: The sea says, wisdom is not with him,209 since minds that carnal cares stir up cannot grasp Wisdom. But a person who is restrained in [his] activity discovers Wisdom because after the soul has been drawn away from external things, it is gathered within itself and lifted up more strongly to contemplate eternal things. In this way, therefore, fear of the Lord makes [the heart] poor in spirit, poverty of spirit calms the heart, and calmness of heart is the beginning of heavenly Wisdom. chapter three On Watering In the second place it was said: It is watered by grace. Just as fear is like a seed, so grace is like moisture which waters a seed that has been planted in the earth and makes the seed germinate. For, after a person’s mind has been wrenched away from carnal delight by fear with a violence of sorts—if I may speak in this way—the mind must immediately begin to have a foretaste of some portion of spiritual joy, lest, if it should remain completely separated from delight, it would, like a dry seed without moisture, be unable to be strengthened for the sprouting up of Wisdom. Thus, it happens by the inspiration of divine grace that when the soul has been stripped completely naked of bodily passions and earthy longings, it is flooded immediately by a kind of unaccustomed joy so that it recognizes all the more that what it has abandoned is quite bitter, the more it finds that what it tastes is very sweet. This is grace, which, when poured down from above, waters the seed of wisdom that was sown in the human heart through fear since a longing for inner sweetness draws along those minds that the feeling of carnal concupiscence has in no way tied to external things. Therefore, let this be said about wisdom: it is planted through fear and watered by grace because, first of all, fear cuts away from the soul

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the feeling of carnal delight, and then afterward grace floods the same soul—now cleansed and purified from filthiness, as it were—with spiritual delight. chapter four On Decay Thirdly, it was said: It dies through grief. Just as seeds cannot germinate unless they first decay in the earth and, in a way, die,210 so we cannot bring forth a good sprout unless we first die to this world by a kind of healthy and life-giving grief. This grief is concerned with the exile of the present life. And grief is rightly born after the reception of grace because we truly recognize in what an evil state we live when, after having been illuminated by the infusion of divine grace, we are able to taste, to some degree, the sweetness of spiritual goods. Whence Solomon says: Whoever increases knowledge also increases sorrow.211 For whoever remains unacquainted with the sweetness of spiritual goods, loves the sufferings of carnal concupiscence, even when they distress him. Grace visits the heart, therefore, to wake it up so that a person recognizes his exile and learns to weep over the evils that he endures. And so it is, that after having received the gift of grace, the mind is immediately dissolved in laments, feeds on grief, and is delighted by tears. And now, the more impatiently it endures present evils, the more ardently it sighs for future goods after a similar reminder. At that point, it not only abandons the world, it flees it; it not only thinks the world is of lesser importance, it hates it. Earlier, when compelled by fear, it abandoned the things that it illicitly possessed; now, after being pricked by the goad212 of a healthy grief, it continually groans that it is enslaved to those necessities required by the weakness of the human condition. And just as earlier it separated itself from the illicit actions of the world on account of fear, so now it totally eradicates from its thought all the outward appearance of the world—as much as that is possible for one still living in this mortal life.213 chapter five On Taking Root In the fourth place it was said: It takes root through faith. There are three kinds of people: the unfaithful, the weak in faith, and the faithful. The unfaithful are people who fail to know God, who do not believe the gospel of Christ, who decide that no other life exists

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beyond this life that is lived out here in a temporal existence. These people fix their roots in the earth since the more entranced they are by present things, the less knowledgeable they are about the everlasting goods that come afterward. They embrace earthy things. They seek to be happy here since they hold the opinion that there is nothing to come in the future after this life. Among their number was that fool of whom Eliphaz made fun in the book of Job: I saw the fool firmly rooted, he said, and cursed his beauty immediately.214 A fool is someone who fails to acknowledge that for which he has been created, who believes that nothing exists beyond what he sees, who does not know how to prepare for those evils that await him, and who loves these perishing and deceptive goods as if they are going to endure forever. There are times that the fool seems to be firmly rooted here, when he flourishes for a moment, but the wise man immediately curses his beauty because the wise man knows to what evils the fool is destined to be snatched away after these fleeting goods. Concerning this fool, the Psalmist said: The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.215 After listing the fool’s confederates, the Psalmist says: There is no fear of God before their eyes.216 For how can people who do not believe that God exists fear God? Whence, as a result, it is obvious that those to whom the fear of God does not come also fail to attain the very beginning of wisdom. Now, concerning those whom we have named second, let us see if they are rooted, and where they have fixed their roots. These people do not appear to have roots. They are weak in faith. They have already been persuaded somewhat about the truth, but while still doubting things in the manner of a decision by a divided mind,217 they neither totally reject nor completely agree with the things that are reported in the Sacred Writings concerning the future rewards of good people or the future punishments of evil people. For they see that certain things in this world are so ordered that from them it can be understood that God exists and cares for humans and also that every deed of human beings, whether good or evil, is subject to judgment. When they consider this, therefore, they begin to fear what God threatens. When compelled by this fear, they decide to do what he commands and to avoid what he forbids. And sometimes it happens that when they have been exercised by this fear for a while, then they not only fear what God threatens, but they also, with a certain disposition of the mind, begin to yearn for what he promises. But later, when they observe that evil people flourish in this world and that many other things in this life are tossed about in such disorder that it seems the world is not governed

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by God’s providence, but rather the outcome of everything seems subject to accidents of chance, then they immediately begin to pursue the “prosperity of sinners” and crave that they themselves may also flourish in this world.218 In their silent thoughts they say to themselves that it is vain to fear the Judgment, that what foolish people have invented for themselves concerning the punishments of Hell and the torments of evil people amounts to nothing at all, and that these things have been produced from fear, not truth. For assuredly, if God meant to weigh the deeds of humans so strictly, he would have been able to make this so clear with quite obvious signs that in the future no one could be in doubt. Finally, they say it is completely against reason to leave the certain for the uncertain and by chasing after invisible things—things that no one has been given to know whether they are true or have been contrived by deceived people to be such—to despise with an outrageous presumption clear and present goods which the common judgment and opinion of all take to be not only good things but also to be definite necessities for human nature. This is all the more so, since God is shown to have created all these things only for the use of human beings. It does no harm to God, therefore, if humans use these goods, which he created for no other reason than that humans should use them. Such people as these, who do not know how to think about their faith except in terms of the uncertain outcomes of events, cannot be stable because, just as with a certain lightness of mind they easily believe in the word of truth for a while, so also in a time of temptation they easily fall away from belief in the truth because when they are tempted they are easily persuaded of what is false. So, earlier they doubted, even when they seemed to stand firm. The Prophet portrayed himself as a model of this kind of person when he said: My feet were almost trembling, my steps were almost slipping, for I was jealous of sinners, when I saw the prosperity of sinners.219 And a little later: They asked how does God know and also if there is knowledge in the Most High because these sinners and wealthy people have obtained riches in the world.220 They question and they doubt; in the heat of their thinking, so to speak, they go in circles, with no idea to which side of the question they should incline their mind’s decision. They are unable to believe, and they dare not deny. A declaration is full of doubt, and faith is suspect. Those who are faithful, they have roots. But they do not fix their roots in this world like the unbelievers; on the contrary, the faithful are rooted and grounded in God through faith and love. They are the Lord’s vineyard in Soreq.221 They are the faithful vine, the righteous

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vine, which the good husbandman himself planted and then transplanted since he brought a vine out of Egypt, drove out the nations, and planted it.222 In another passage, the Lord says of these by the Prophet: I will plant them upon their own soil and dig them up no more.223 For God is our soil and our homeland in which we are planted when we cling to him by the mind’s devotion, saying with the Psalmist: It is good for me to cling to God, to put my hope in the Lord God.224 We will certainly not be dug up from this soil again, if we continue in love of him until the end. Concerning this rooting, the Holy Spirit says by the Prophet: Whatever shall have remained from the house of Judah shall send roots down below and produce fruit up above.225 The faithful are signified by those who remain from the house of Judah. They send roots down below since they fix every thought of their heart on internal joys. They produce fruit up above, however, since in the supernal homeland, which in this life they always seek by love, they later receive the gifts of life as a reward. What the unfaithful deny and about which the weak in faith have doubts is what the faithful believe and await. What the unfaithful love and the weak in faith seek out is what the faithful flee. It is faith, therefore, through which wisdom takes root since through faith the soul is made strong and feeling is made stable. He who hesitates in matters of faith, however, cannot be made perfect in either the fear or the love of God. For we fear in one way what we doubt; we fear in another way what we believe. What we believe, we fear completely; what we doubt, however, we often for the most part fail to fear because from our very uncertainty we fall into a kind of ruinous sense of security so that we believe to be right only that which we perceive does not conflict with our own cupidity. The result is that our deceived mind often thinks that what it longs more to have happen to it, is what will more likely happen in the future. Therefore, lest fear be lax and feeling be lukewarm, it is necessary that we have a firm and unshakeable faith, by means of which we who have been firmly rooted may strengthen those good things that we have received in the three preceding [stages]. chapter six On Germination In the fifth place it was added: it germinates through devotion. Devotion is the fervor of a good will. It makes its presence known by means of clear signs that the mind is not strong enough to repress. It is

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divided into three parts: zeal, compassion, and goodwill. Zeal is when, on account of love of justice, a soul—unable to endure a malicious misrepresentation of truth—spontaneously offers itself as a defender. Compassion is when we grieve along with others in their misfortunes. Goodwill is when, with a ready will, we agree to requests for favors. And there is a beautiful similitude. We say grains germinate when nature, with a hidden power, as it were, breaks open the covering of the seed so that the sprout lying within may come forth. And in no different a way does goodwill, unable to conceal itself, break out with a kind of violence, if I may put it this way, to show good actions externally. chapter seven On Sprouting In the sixth place it was said of wisdom: it sprouts through compunction. At this point, there comes to my mind the Gospel parable in which the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a treasure hidden in a field.226 Now, the Kingdom of Heaven is eternal life, to be sure. Eternal life, however, is Christ, and Christ is Wisdom, and Wisdom truly is the treasure. And this treasure was hidden in the field of the human heart, when a human being was made in the image and likeness of his Creator.227 The human heart was founded in such a way that in it, as in a kind of mirror of its own, Divine Wisdom would shine forth, and what could not be seen in and of itself would appear visibly in its own image. Great, in truth, was the dignity of a human being to bear God’s image, to see God’s face continually within himself and to have him always present by way of contemplation.228 But later, when the first parent scattered his delight on the earth after having sought out what was prohibited and then touching what was forbidden,229 then the dust of sin that was sprinkled over the human heart hid that precious treasure from our sight, and the enveloping cloud of ignorance shut out the light of Wisdom. This is what was symbolized by the Temple of Solomon when we read that after Solomon finished all the work of building the House of the Lord and everything related to furnishing the House was completed, a cloud immediately filled the House so that the priests could not minister.230 Solomon, of course, means “peaceful” and signifies the one who is our peace, who has reconciled us to God with his own blood.231 And because the same Jesus Christ Our Lord is the Wisdom of the

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Father, Solomon built the Temple for God since the human heart was made by the Wisdom of God so that in it, as in a Temple, God might dwell. This is Wisdom who built herself a house because: playing on the orb of the earth, she says her delights [are] to be with the sons of humans.232 But after the house had been built, it was filled with a cloud since after the human being was created, then by sinning he tumbled down from that watchtower of interior contemplation and fell into the miserable darkness of the present life.233 In this darkness a human being is unable to serve God worthily because after having been covered over by a veil of ignorance, he now does not see, for the most part, what he must either do or avoid. This treasure that was hidden in the field of our own heart is found when Wisdom sprouts. Wisdom sprouts, however, when truth is made visible; truth is made visible when ignorance is driven away; ignorance is driven away when the mind is illumined; the mind is illumined when, after having been set on fire with love for its Creator, it is pricked forcefully by the sharp goad of compunction.234 Compunction sets the mind on fire; the mind set on fire, however, is illumined; the illumined mind drives away ignorance; when ignorance is driven away, truth is made visible; when truth is made visible, wisdom sprouts; when wisdom sprouts, the treasure is found. Compunction, like a sharp stake, digs up the ground of our heart; like fire, it burns away corrosion; like a flashing brilliance, it drives away darkness. By means of compunction, we must dig deep wells in our hearts, thereby expelling all earthiness from us so that we may be able to find the hidden treasures and the hidden channel of living waters. So, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our fathers, dug wells, seeking the living water of wisdom.235 And when they were away, the Philistines236 filled up those wells with earth. But our fathers dug them again; they sought the living water again. This they did repeatedly. And so, after we have cleansed our hearts of all earthiness through the application of compunction, if invading malign spirits fill them again with earth, we must dig them out again and then cleanse them again by means of compunction. And this must be done until we find the living water and recover the precious treasure. When we have found it, however, we must hide it, for what is carelessly shown abroad is quickly lost. A person shows the discovered treasure, when, after receiving the gift of wisdom, he puts it on display. A person hides the discovered treasure, when, after receiving the gift of wisdom, he seeks thereafter to glory inwardly before God and not outwardly in the eyes of people.

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We also must go and sell all that we have and buy this field237 because anyone to whom internal joys have been unveiled must, for the sake of the sight of these things, readily reject everything in this world that could delight him. In the midst of these matters, those who seek wisdom must take careful note that wisdom must be sought for itself alone and not for the sake of something else. Nothing is better than wisdom. Therefore, that person is unworthy of wisdom, who intends to get something other than wisdom by means of wisdom, who does not seek wisdom in order to possess it but rather seeks wisdom so that he might prostitute it by selling it. In addition, if Christ is wisdom, then the person who seeks wisdom for human praise is shown to be like the traitor Judas, who sold Christ.238 Let us, therefore, seek hidden treasures, let us seek wisdom, let us seek Christ—but not like Judas, who sought Christ so that he could sell him, not so that he could possess him. For Judas sought Christ, found him, and grasped him, but he did not keep him, for he sold him. But the holy women, who went to the tomb with spices, sought Christ and found him, grasped him and kept him because they did not seek in order to sell but in order to possess.239 Let us, therefore, say of wisdom: it is planted through fear, watered by grace, dies through grief, takes root through faith, germinates through devotion, and sprouts through compunction. It seems to me that these stages are signified by the passage in which Abraham is commanded to go out from his land and from his kinfolk and from his father’s house, and then at last the land that is going to be shown is promised to him. Go out, the Lord said, from your land and from your kinfolk, and from your father’s house, and then go into the land that I shall have shown you.240 Through fear, therefore, we go out from our land; by grace we go out from our kinfolk; through grief we go out from our father’s house; through faith and devotion we follow the Lord. And so next, in the sixth stage, the Promised Land is shown to us through compunction. Through fear we abandon earthy wealth; by grace and through grief we change [our] feeling; through faith and devotion we strengthen [our] soul; through compunction we find that for which we long. We go out from our land, when we leave behind those outward earthy goods that we possess. We go out from our kinfolk, when we renounce those vices that have been born in us and from us. We go out from our father’s house when we completely banish from our thinking the entire world and those things that are in the world and focus the soul’s entire intention on eternal things alone.

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The devil is our father according to the birth by which we were born in sin because according to that birth we belong to his dominion, for he is the author of sin. His house is this world because as a reward for his perversity he has been made the ruler of this world and of those who love this world. After we have gone out from our land, from our kindred, and from our father’s house, another land is shown to us by the Lord, when some hint of the fragrance of future joys is granted from afar, as it were, to us who are completely dead to the world. For the soul breathed on by the Holy Spirit rejoices with an unaccustomed joy and marvels at what a full taste will be like when it is so marvelously refreshed by the slightest fragrance. chapter eight On Growing Larger In the seventh place it was added: It grows larger through longing. Just as compunction is compared to a fire, so longing is like smoke that is born from a fire and goes directly upward. The higher smoke rises, the more it spreads out, and finally, after being borne upward into the highest regions, it vanishes from the view of those who are watching. For  after the corrosion of sin has been destroyed in the mind by the fire of compunction and that internal brilliant light has begun to glitter in the heart, then the soul is immediately raised up to a sort of watchtower of contemplation.241 And there, being in some way raised above itself—if I may put it this way—it sees from afar a region of light and a new land of such a sort that it never remembers having seen before and never thought could exist. The soul marvels at what it sees, and in the joy of the light that is present, it reproaches the now-past darkness of its ignorance. It marvels at the depths below itself, where it lay prostrated; it marvels at the height above itself for which it strives when lifted up. It rejoices that it has now escaped so much of what causes grief; it grieves that it is still so far removed from what it loves. Therefore, it strives; it makes haste; it climbs up; it grows through longing. And just as the higher a column of smoke rises, the more broadly it spreads out, so also as the soul approaches the heavenly regions and disperses the whole cloud of earthy concupiscence, it becomes totally spiritual and finally withdraws from human sight. While refusing to go out any more to earthy and visible things through the craving of concupiscence, the soul glories within in the hidden face of the Lord.

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chapter nine On Growing Stronger In the eighth place it was added: it is made stronger through charity. Charity is like wine. For wine makes those whom it has inebriated cheerful, bold, strong, forgetful, and in a certain way insensible. So, charity makes the mind cheerful by cleansing the conscience. Next, it makes the mind bold when through purity of conscience it preserves faithfulness. After that, it increases strength because as Scripture bears witness: He who trusts in the Lord is as strong as a lion.242 For a pure conscience cannot be overcome by any adversities because when it always trusts interiorly in the help of God, it easily despises and conquers whatever adversities it outwardly endures. Charity engenders forgetfulness because when it draws the whole attention of the soul to longing for eternal things, it completely veils from the soul the memory of all things that are transitory. Charity makes insensible because when it fills the mind at its deepest core with inward sweetness, it despises, as if it cannot feel it, whatever bitterness is brought in from the external world. Charity, therefore, strengthens wisdom when it preserves faithfulness and strength and a kind of unconquerable steadfastness in the mind by making it, in a way, insensible. We can, if we wish, note that in the foregoing eight stages, the eight Beatitudes are set forth in order. “It is planted through fear,” relates to Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.243 “It is watered by grace,” relates to Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.244 “It dies through grief,” relates to Blessed are those who weep, for they shall be comforted.245 “It takes root through faith,” relates to Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.246 “It germinates through devotion,” relates to Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.247 “It sprouts through compunction,” relates to Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.248 “It grows larger through longing,” relates to Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.249 “It grows stronger through charity,” relates to Blessed are those who suffer persecution on account of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.250 chapter ten On Greenness (virore) In the ninth place it was added: it is green through hope. The hope of future goods is like a small spark in the mind, which is fed with kindling wood. For hope is a kind of memory, as it were, of

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unseen joys. While hidden in the human heart, this memory warms it inwardly and does not allow the cold of unfaithfulness to wither it in the winter of this life. And as long as this hope lives in our mind, the Tree of Wisdom never withers. But just as that tree preserves its greenness when it has a proper combination of moisture and heat,251 so the soul cannot wither when the heat of the Holy Spirit nurtures it by shining from above and the pursuit of good works waters it from below. chapter eleven How It Puts Forth Leaves In the tenth place it was added: it puts forth leaves and spreads out its branches through caution. There are certain people in whom wisdom increases in height, and there are other people in whom it spreads itself out in breadth. It rises in height in contemplatives who by keenness of mind penetrate so far as to contemplate heavenly secrets. It extends itself in breadth in active people because these people spread the attention of their mind outward in many ways to put earthy things in order. There are some, however, who, through a peacefulness divinely given to them, grow a great deal in contemplation when they are beginning, but later when they see other more “simple” brothers occupied with earthy activities, they despise these people in comparison to themselves. While they themselves are barren of [any] good deed, they nevertheless have no fear of passing judgment on the good deeds of other people. Since they fail to stand firm in humility, being shaken by the winds of self-esteem, they fall from the high point of contemplation, and being cast down, they suffer from various errors and are dragged away from that inner peace in a variety of ways. Surely the root of their errors is this: they refuse to acknowledge humbly their weakness but instead they are recklessly proud regarding a gift they have received from God. It is inevitable that the deeds of others would become vile in the eyes of those who think in such an unrestrained way about their own merits. Unless they were first puffed up in themselves, it would be impossible for them to presume to judge the life of another person. Once this error has made its way into the soul, it diffuses its venoms widely. Slithering in secretly and mixing itself with all the movements of the soul, it alters decisions, destroys plans, twists thoughts, corrupts longings, and introduces useless cares. And since the soul (animus), once it has been puffed up, has learned to think in an exaggerated way

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about itself, it scorns submitting its own deeds to the balance-scale of reason. The more the soul believes that there is nothing in it worthy of blame, the more freely it attacks the life-style of another person. Nevertheless, pride first covers itself with the appearance of good zeal. Then it convinces the deceived mind that he who gives consent to the fault of another is no perfect lover of justice, and that he who fails to denounce an offender when he is able, consents wholly to the fault of the other person. After being deceived by this error, the mind, bereft of any caution, gives itself over totally to [the vice of] curiosity. As the disease gradually increases, at first the mind becomes accustomed to attacking the errors of others without any restraint, while later it is led to this, that it attempts to condemn openly or to interpret in a perverse way whatever it has seen. In this way, if some people seem to be somewhat anxious about things that are for the use of all, they call these people covetous. Those whom they perceive to be foresighted, they call greedy. They say, however, that those who show themselves kind and cheerful to all are slaves to the vice of flattery. They believe, moreover, that those who frequently present a sad face are consumed with jealousy. And they claim that those whom they perceive as devoted in service are lighthearted and restless. They accuse those whom they find feeble or burdensome of being lazy or weak, as it were. They think that abstemious people suffer from the disease of hypocrisy and that those who yield more to necessities are enslaved to luxury. And, indeed, a manysided confusion follows this error. Moreover, an evil and unhealthy curiosity, which shamelessly strives to search out the personal matters of other people, often does not cease to suspect perverse things, even when it finds nothing at all that it can rightly criticize. But if it does find something worthy of criticism, this immediately drags the swollen mind not to compassion but to contempt. Contempt, however, stirs up anger because the soul that is puffed up by the vanity252 of pride believes that anything it endures from someone for whom it has contempt is intolerable. Next, anger grows into indignation; indignation advances to insult; insult produces hatred; long-established hatred passes over into jealousy; jealousy brings forth weariness in the soul; when weariness has burrowed into the heart like a moth, it destroys the heart; and with joy suffocated, the conscience wastes away within itself. The soul becomes a burden to itself;253 remaining immoveable like a block of lead, it cannot be raised up above. And he who earlier was accustomed to penetrate the heavens on the wings of contemplation now falls below himself, pressed down by a burdensome weight. He is terrified by the

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personal darkness he experiences within, and if it were possible, he would flee from himself. After abandoning his conscience, he is poured out into the external world and immerses himself in earthy activities so that having made himself busy he may be able to forget his evil deeds. And because he judges every evil to be trivial in comparison to what he endures inwardly, he loves even the miserable distresses of his outward busyness. And because on account of an enduring weariness the heart’s palate has forgotten the taste of true sweetness, the thirsty soul ardently drinks the vinegar of carnal concupiscence. The devil thus destroys the person caught up in external concerns and drags to the precipice of every possible error the person who for himself now resists nothing with the judgment of reason. But since we have now said into what great evils our pride flings us, it is worthwhile that we also consider what the medicine is by means of which divine grace restores us. For this antidote is such that it not only restores our original health but also adds even greater strength. It not only repairs what has been destroyed but also adds what has been lacking. Whence God—praiseworthy and most glorious in everything, alone merciful and kind—who freely bestows a gift and freely restores what has been lost, has so renewed us that we, who were unworthy even to receive back what we had lost, seem to have fallen not to ruin but to growth. With regard to the person who had risen upward on account of wisdom and taken pride in his high position, it is good for him to be cut back and become accustomed to spreading his branches out in breadth. It is good for him to be forced—by interruption of the pursuit of contemplation—to turn to outward things for a while and undertake external things that need to be managed. This happens so that he may learn by experience how difficult it is to pay attention to external matters as a duty and, nevertheless, not abandon interior things for which one longs. And when he shall have realized that he is unequal to the responsibility for the administrative tasks that he has undertaken, then he will know what he should have thought about those people whom he thoughtlessly despised earlier when they were placed in the same situation. And because the greater the power, the greater the anxiety that usually accompanies it, let that responsibility itself train him so that he may learn to be foresighted and cautious, and let him not become listless through leisure so that he may strengthen [his] soul prior to [the appearance of] danger and pay attention not only to what is happening but also to what may possibly happen. Let him not trust too much when fortune smiles; let him not lose faith in

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the midst of adversities; and let him disregard equally whatever result is going to occur—whether good or bad.254 Let him anticipate all sorts of events in his planning; let him strive to provide for friends in need; and let him trust in his own opinion no more than is proper. Let him love all people equally but not trust them equally. Let him give the duty of obedience to those who are superior to him, affection (dilectionem) to those who are his equals, and fatherly kindness to those beneath him. And so, by means of various ways of pursuing the virtues, let him spread out the branches of his wisdom. And then, at last, the Tree of Wisdom, which earlier had appeared in a poor state with the look of a bending reed with a bare trunk, will raise the tip of its trunk again as it is strengthened by the continual pursuit of virtues and clothed all over with the foliage of caution. It looks better now to the degree that it is stronger, more experienced, and more elegant through caution so that the pruning of the tree seems to have been good for it. But since this same wisdom spreads out its branches by means of caution, let us now define certain general circumstances in which caution is employed. There are four of these: fear, anxiety, necessity, feeling. Fear is worry about danger. Anxiety is a concern to avoid what is unpleasant or to obtain what is pleasant. Necessity is the duty to give and the need to receive. Feeling is the longing to enjoy. Fear burdens down; anxiety draws down; necessity binds; feeling wounds. When farmers wish to spread out the branches of a tree, it is customary that they either lay weights on them in order to press them downward, or they tie weights underneath to draw them downward, or they place poles near them and tie the branches to the poles so that they cannot rise upward but rather spread themselves to the side, or they insert grafts into the bare trunk so that the grafts cover the tree as they grow on the trunk. Fear is like a weight placed on the top; anxiety is like a weight hanging down below; necessity is like a pole that holds in place; feeling is like a graft that wounds when it is inserted. These four are born from the four kinds of evils that a person endures in this world. Those evils are God’s anger, the vanity of the world, the weakness of the human condition, and the Devil’s envy. It is God’s anger when we are worn down by afflictions. It is the vanity of the world when we fall into disordered pleasure by going beyond the proper limit of necessity. It is the infirmity of the human condition that we are easily thrown off balance by adversities and find it difficult to recover our ability to do good things. It is the Devil’s envy when, incited by him, we are set on fire for vices. Therefore, God’s anger

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weighs us down with fear; the vanity of the world drags us downward by producing needless anxieties; the weakness of our condition binds us with dreadful necessities; the Devil’s envy wounds us by setting us on fire with illicit longings. In all of these things, however, the servant of God is exercised for the purposes of a reward, and the evils to which he is subjected serve him, since by afflicting him, they try him but do not overthrow him. All these passions—that is, fear, anxiety, and illicit longing—are evil. And the basic necessities of the present life are called evil by the Lord. But God allows these things to dominate the minds of his elect for a while so that, when they have learned from experience how much misery accompanies these false delights, they may seek out more ardently those eternal and true joys that no sorrow corrupts. And sometimes for their own health, those who have been abandoned are permitted to serve the passions of their flesh so that they may recognize their weakness, not be presumptuous about themselves, and subject themselves more devoutly to divine grace to the same extent that they have learned more clearly from their previous fall that they are unable to stand firm by their own strength. There is yet another reason why it is sometimes useful for the servants of God to be tempted—so that, namely, the temptations themselves may train (exerceant) them and make them more cautious. This is because conflicts with the vices are opportunities for training in the virtues. And just as by falling a person often learns with how much caution he ought to watch his step when walking, and a person who has been wounded frequently in the conflict of battle avoids with the greatest caution the blow that is about to come, so also a person who has often been deceived by the Devil catches on more skillfully to the Devil’s tricks at a later time and upsets his devious plans. And so it is that we see many people ascend to the height of the virtues after great deeds of wickedness and with such great power turn aside all the Devil’s efforts set up against them so that where the Devil earlier rejoiced that he had been victorious, now it seems that he has not plundered them, but on the contrary it seems more likely he has armed them against himself. Certainly, this is the deep and hidden plan of God: that the very thing that the enemy was boasting would lead to a victory for himself, might, instead, advance God’s elect to a crown. Now, I would like to consider how opportunities for training are born from those very passions that we mentioned just above, and then how caution is increased by these same opportunities for training. The four [passions] are fear, anxiety, necessity, and feeling. And from three (i.e. fear, necessity, and feeling) the fourth (i.e. anxiety)

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is born. We strive restlessly to escape what we fear may take place. We strive restlessly to distance ourselves from what makes us grieve when it happens. We strive restlessly to obtain what we long to acquire. And so after the feeling that arises from a passion, comes the anxiety of restlessness. And after the anxiety of restlessness comes effort in the opportunity for training in doing something (conatus in exercitio operationis). And with the opportunity for training in doing something, the precaution of being careful increases. And since, on account of the disorder of our corruption it happens to us that we are more diligent in acquiring those things that we crave in a perverse way or in avoiding those things that we fear excessively, the result is that for evil pursuits we easily acquire the precaution of being careful which we have neglected to establish in our good pursuits. Often a person who does not fear the death of the soul is frightened at the death of the body, and a person who gives no thought to the unending tortures of Gehenna dreads suffering temporary pains. Often, a person who has not yet learned to fear the confusion that is going to come to sinners before the eyes of God and of the holy angels is ashamed to be contemptible in the eyes of people. And people exert themselves to avoid these things, which for the servants of God are not only things that ought not to be fled, but on the contrary, when their fruit is known, they sometimes ought to be desired. Likewise, there are many who ignore the hunger of their soul, and yet they sweat profusely getting food for their stomach. And in order to fulfill carnal longings people often willingly endure many harsh and bitter labors that they refuse to undergo—even to a small degree—for the love of eternal life. On the contrary, the elect labor without ceasing and afflict themselves lest they fulfill carnal longings. They also are not without fear in attending to their own necessities, for they fear lest what the weakness of their condition demands might lead on to the delight of disordered pleasure (ad delectationem voluptatis). Carnal people, however, who willingly endure labors in order to fulfill their longings, wander aimlessly not only outwardly in their deeds but also in their minds. And as they learn much by experience of things, they become more prudent, as it were, from the undertaking itself. Concerning these people, the Lord says in the Gospel: The sons of this world are more prudent in their generation than the sons of light.255 But sometimes when such people as these abandon depraved pursuits after being converted from their error by God’s mercy, they do not lose the prudence that they acquired in their depraved pursuits. And they become all the more cautious in doing good things, the more

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zealous they appeared earlier in carrying out evil things. Whence it is clearly shown that it was beneficial for them that they seemed to have been abandoned for a time. According to what was said above, there are four things that train (exercent) a person in caution: fear, anxiety, necessity, feeling. Now, the worldly or carnal fears are three: fear of contempt; fear of punishment; fear of death. Each of these causes its own anxieties. Necessity, however, is twofold: first, to give what is due; second, to receive what is needed. In one place it is said: It is necessary to give tribute to Caesar.256 Elsewhere it is said: It is necessary to give food to the stomach.257 It is necessary for you to give tribute to Caesar because you must give. It is necessary for you to give food to the stomach because it needs to receive. Both Caesar and the stomach are tax collectors. Both food and money are tribute. But if we wish to think about this more precisely, it is less harmful for Caesar to take money than for the stomach to receive food. For at the same time Caesar takes our money, he also takes away worry, but the stomach, by continually demanding food, never allows us to be without worry. Caesar, by taking our money, makes our burden lighter; the stomach, by receiving food, burdens our body and our soul alike. By taking money, Caesar makes us humble through poverty; by receiving food the stomach sets us on fire for vices through a surfeit [of food]. To conclude briefly: I see the person who is enslaved to the stomach as more miserable in every way than the person who is enslaved to Caesar. Thus, there is one kind of necessity that is to give what is due; another kind that is to receive what is needed. And, indeed, that necessity, which consists of a duty to give, is understood in a number of ways. For prelates owe guidance to their subjects; subjects owe obedience to prelates; people owe fraternal charity to people of the same status; the wise owe instruction to the foolish; the rich owe alms to the poor. But since without prudence and caution we can neither rightly render what we owe nor obtain what we need by asking for it, in what are we being educated, if not prudence and caution, while we are subject to these necessities? And just as it has been said about fears, so each necessity also gives rise to its own anxieties. Feeling is the longing to enjoy fully.258 Some longings are good; others are evil. Spiritual longings are good; carnal longings are evil. Spiritual longing, like sweet wine, inebriates pleasantly; carnal longing, like a bitter and poisonous wine, either kills those drinking it or spins them into a raving fury. Concerning the sweet wine, it is said: For the chalice in the Lord’s hand [is] full of pure wine.259 Clearly [it is

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full] of the wine that makes glad a person’s heart.260 And elsewhere: The Lord’s chalice that inebriates, how excellent it is.261 Many other places in Scripture speak about this wine. However, concerning the bitter wine, it was said: Their wine is the bile of dragons and the incurable venom of asps.262 This is because it is pressed from the bitterest grapes and because Babylon offers a drink [of it] from the golden chalice of her fornications, from which all nations become drunk.263 Concerning this bitter wine it is also said in the Gospel: Every person first serves the good wine and when everyone has become inebriated, then [they serve] that which is worse.264 Concerning the sweet wine, it was said: You, however, have held back the good wine until now.265 Carnal desire, thrust into the mind like a strange graft, wounds it deeply. And this is the stranger concerning whom Nathan spoke to David.266 The stranger had come to a rich man, and the rich man, in order to feed him, left untouched one hundred sheep of his own and seized a poor man’s one ewe lamb. The longing of carnal concupiscence had come to David like a strange guest when, as he was walking on the roof of his house, he saw Uriah’s wife Bathsheba bathing herself, and he fell in love.267 Then, to provide food for the stranger, he killed the poor man’s one ewe lamb, while leaving untouched his one hundred sheep, when he stole Uriah’s one wife in order to satisfy his own disordered desire, while leaving untouched his many wives. Strange grafts, therefore, are thrust into a bare trunk in order to cover it since Almighty God often allows those whom he sees are lukewarm in the midst of their leisure and naked of good deeds, as it were, to be wounded for a time by illicit longings so that they may become fearful and cautious. It is difficult, however, to know and even more difficult to describe how these feelings train people, since the feelings are evil. The person who does [these things], knows. chapter twelve How It Flowers It flowers through discipline. There are three things in a flower: hope, beauty, and fragrance. We find a likeness of all of these in a good deed. For just as in a flower fruit is promised in the future, so in a good deed the reward of future recompense is expected. And we hope that those people in whom we see good deeds attain a share of supernal recompense. Again, just as a flower shimmers with beauty and pleases with fragrance, so a good deed certainly shines forth as an example when it appears praisewor-

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thy to those who see it and sets them on fire to imitate it. Moreover, it pleases by means of fragrance when, by the impression of a good report, it becomes known to those who are absent and far away. chapter thirteen How It Bears Fruit It bears fruit through virtue. The fruit of a good deed is the hidden virtue of a right intention. For beneath the flower of a good deed that shines forth outwardly as an example, the fruit of virtue, indeed, lies hidden within in the mind, as it were. Hence, whoever makes in the eyes of humans an outward show of a good deed and yet is void of virtue is like a tree that flowers without bearing fruit. chapter fourteen How It Ripens It ripens through patience. A virtue that is begun is useless unless it is carried through to the end. And so, according to this, whoever begins a virtue forms, as it were, a kind of fruit of goodness in himself. But if, before it is finished, that person abandons the virtue that he has begun, this is as if the fruit, unripe and inedible, falls before it is ripe. Patience, therefore, is truly necessary for us so that we may steadily persevere to the end in the good that we have begun well by God’s grace. chapter fifteen How It Is Harvested It is harvested by death. When the fruit is ripe, then it is picked so that it may come to the head of the family at table. And when we shall have attained the measure of our own perfection, we are cut off from this life by death so that we may be taken to the banquet of the Eternal King. And this is what the Bride is saying to her Beloved in the Song of love: Let my Beloved come into his garden and eat the fruit of his trees.268 And in the same passage, he in turn replies to her about himself: I have come into my garden, my sister, my Bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spices. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk.269 Thus, we are harvested by death so that like a

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sweet-smelling fruit we may be presented at the wedding of the Eternal King. There we shall be the food of God because he will be well pleased with us. And he himself shall be our food because our delight will be in him as we contemplate his glory face to face so that the words of the Prophet will be fulfilled in us: I shall be satisfied when your glory shall have appeared.270 Thus, let us conclude with the highest level of perfection and say: chapter sixteen How It Feeds It feeds through contemplation. God is the food. Contemplation is the refreshment about which the Psalmist says: With your face, you shall fill me with joy; in your right hand [are] delights until the end. Amen.271 chapter seventeen Behold! Our Tree of Wisdom reaches the high point of its growth by fifteen stages. This number, however, is part of a great mystery. First of all, this is because it is made up of seven and eight. The number seven signifies the present life that runs through seven days. The number eight, however, which comes after seven, designates eternal life. Thus, the number seven pertains to the Old Testament, in which temporal goods are promised. The number eight, however, corresponds to the New Testament, in which we are told to hope for eternal goods. Thus, let wisdom grow by means of seven and eight. Let it begin with seven and reach perfection by means of eight. Let the first wisdom be to ask for earthy goods from God. Let the second and greatest wisdom be to long for God from God.272 Again: if fifteen is doubled, this adds up to thirty. And so, if, with the addition of charity, wisdom is doubled through the love of God and of neighbor, it leads us to conformity to the age of the fullness of Christ.273 Again: the middle point in fifteen is eight for it has seven [numbers] on either side.274 It is quite clear that the number seven refers to a peaceful rest—primarily because on the seventh day the Lord rested from all the work that he had done.275 Again, through the Prophet, God promises anew to those who love him: Sabbath for Sabbath and month for month.276 This means rest for rest, perfection for perfection: for a rest of the mind, a rest of mind and body; for a rest in which they do not consent to evils, a rest in which they know nothing of evils. Again,

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for the perfection of a deed, the perfection of a reward. When he says: “Sabbath for Sabbath,” it is the same as if he were saying: “rest for rest”; and when he says: “month for month,” it is the same as if he were saying: “perfection for perfection.”277 Our first rest, our first Sabbath, therefore, ought to be to cease from evil in the present life so that we may be worthy to obtain the second Sabbath in order to rest peacefully with Christ in eternity. But whoever intends to keep a Sabbath from evils in this way must necessarily endure many adversities in this world before he comes to that future Sabbath. So, therefore, at the eighth stage, at the center and midpoint of all—between seven and seven, between sabbath and sabbath, as it were—“the endurance of hardship” is affixed to our Tree of Wisdom when it is said: “It grows stronger through charity.” It is necessary to have strong charity over against great tribulations. And this is why, after the Lord had enumerated seven beatitudes in the gospel, in the eighth he urged the endurance of suffering, saying: Blessed are those who suffer persecution on account of righteousness, for of such persons is the Kingdom of Heaven.278 For what is said there [in the Beatitude]: Blessed are those who suffer persecution on account of righteousness, this is said here [concerning the tree]: “It grows stronger through charity.”279 But now, while following out an explication of numerical matters that have come to mind, we have strayed far from our topic. Hence, we ask your forgiveness for this, because to tell the truth, while writing this treatise we have quite often found things that we wanted to write down once they were discovered. Yet, I do not blush to admit my foolishness in this matter. Now, therefore, returning to the topic, let us continue with the consideration of the construction of the Ark of Wisdom.

BOOK IV

chapter one Where and From What, With Whom, and How the House of God Ought to be Built We wish to speak about the building of the House of the Lord— speak, that is, if we who are unworthy can say something worthwhile concerning so great a thing. But if we are not sufficient in and of ourselves, he who is mighty—without whom we discover that we do not think anything suitable about God, not to mention say anything that is worthy of note—is able to supply us a sufficiency. The first thing that needs to be presented is the place in which the House of the Lord must be built. Then, it is necessary to describe the material. The place is the human heart; the material is pure thoughts.280 Let no one excuse himself. Let no one say: I am unable to build the House of the Lord; my meager and modest resources do not suffice for such a great expense. I have no place for it, for I live in a foreign land as an exile and a pilgrim. This work is for kings; this is a work for many people. But I, how shall I build a house for the Lord?—Why do you think in this way, O human? This is not what your God asks of you. He does not say to you that you should buy the lands of another person in order to make his [God’s] courts281 larger. God wants to dwell within your heart: extend this; enlarge this. Enlarge it, I say, for the Lord is great and does not know how to dwell in a narrow space. Enlarge your heart, therefore, so that you may be able to contain him whom the world cannot contain! Enlarge your heart so that you may be found worthy to have God as a guest and have him as a guest not just for one night, as is the custom among people, but as an eternal resident. Enlarge your heart, therefore. If you fail in enlarging it, he himself will enlarge it for you. A person whose heart was once enlarged by him said to him: I have run the way of your commandments since you have enlarged my heart.282 Concerning the cost, what should I say? It is not necessary to traverse the seas and explore unknown regions in order to acquire precious stones and select marbles, or to transport great cedars across the deep sea by fleets of ships after having cut them down in Lebanon, or to bring together I know not how many thousands of artisans, which would impoverish the riches even of kings. None of these things is being asked of you. You shall construct a house for the Lord your God

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in yourself and from yourself. You yourself will be the builder, your heart the place and your thoughts the material. Have no fear that you are unskilled. He who asks this of you is a skilled builder, and he makes builders of those whom he wishes. We have learned from the testimony of the Divine Scriptures that many have been instructed by him. He taught Noah to construct the Ark.283 He showed Moses the exemplar according to the likeness of which he should construct the Ark [of the Covenant].284 He instructed Bezalel.285 He enlightened Solomon with wisdom so that he might build a temple for his name.286 He made the Apostle Paul a builder (architectum)287 and also many others whom it would take too long to enumerate here. And in any case, no one was learned who had not learned from him, and no one who was worthy of learning from him remained unskilled. But if it would please you to hear something about his works: He created from nothing everything that you see. He built the marvelous machine of this world.288 He devised how each individual thing was to be brought forth in its form and appearance. He formed the beauty of everything.289 Consider, therefore, how much he who has arranged these visible things in such a marvelous manner is able to do in the case of invisible things. Call upon him; pray to him; implore him that he may deign to teach you too. Call upon him; love him. To call upon him is to love him. Love him, therefore, and he will come to you and teach you, just as he has promised to those who love him: If anyone loves me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make a dwelling place with him.290 He did not say: “After a dwelling place has been made, we will come,” but he said: We will come and make a dwelling place with him.291 As I understand it, the Lover of a pure heart cannot remain with us, unless he has first made himself a dwelling place in us. Certainly, this is the Wisdom of whom it is said: Wisdom has built herself a house.292 And in another passage the same Wisdom shows where and from what her house has been built, saying: I, Wisdom, dwell in counsel and am there in well-reasoned thoughts.293 And elsewhere the soul of the righteous is called the Seat of Wisdom.294 Thus, it is established that Wisdom fashions a house for herself in the human heart out of well-reasoned thoughts. There are three things: the place, the material and the builder. As we have said, the place is the human heart, and the material is the thoughts of the heart. There are, however, two builders: God and the person. These two work together. For God, who deigns to dwell with a person, does not disdain to prepare a dwelling for himself with that person.

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So, a person ought not to despair when thinking about his own lack of experience or his own weakness. On the contrary, a person ought to pay more attention to him who deigns to work with him. For God is Power and Wisdom, and a person cannot fail with that Power or be ignorant with that Wisdom.295 He himself is precisely the same one who cooperates with us when we are doing good and gives abundantly to us when we are not doing good so that we want and are able to do good. Indeed, the work of God in us is along with us, and our work in ourselves is from him. His work in us and with us is our assistance; our work in ourselves is from him as his gift. With these things having been said, let us go on to the topic that we intended—that is, since you have come to understand where and with what material and with whom you must work, you may now come to understand how you should work. In the construction of every building there are three things that must especially be considered: the order, the arrangement and the exact measurement—that is, having a precise beginning and end. It now remains for us, therefore, to seek out what the order and arrangement of our thoughts must be so that a House of God may be built with them. After that, we must consider carefully by what reckoning the house that we build as a dwelling for God can be given an exact measurement, since its occupant is God himself, who is infinite and unmeasurable. Let us start, first of all, with the topic that we earlier suggested should be investigated. chapter two From Whence Comes an Infinite Number of Thoughts The number of all things is infinite as far as it pertains to the capacity of our understanding, since that number cannot be comprehended by us. However, where there is no limit, there is no certitude; where there is no certitude, there is confusion; and where there is confusion, there can be no order. Hence, when we allow our hearts to chase after earthy things without restraint, it happens that a noisy crowd of inane thoughts springs up immediately and drags our mind in such contrary directions that the very orderliness of our natural discretion is also thrown into confusion. For since the worldly things that we chase after with such disorder are also infinite in number, the thoughts that we generate inwardly from the memory of these very things also cannot be finite. For when they come forth in so many ways, springing up one

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after the other at every moment, we are unable to grasp in what order or in what way they enter or leave the heart. Accordingly, if we wish to have ordered, stable, and peaceful thoughts, let us strive to restrain our hearts from this uncontrolled distraction. This will be possible if we designate for ourselves some specific, well-defined things to which the intention of our heart can be continually directed and with which its meditation can be continually engaged. There are three possibilities: to be distracted by an infinite number of things, to remain focused always on a single thing, or to change within limits. We are not capable of one of these. Another, we should not attempt. Therefore, the only one that remains is this: that since, in truth, we are unable now to be stable in our heart, we should meanwhile at least recollect our hearts from uncontrolled distraction. In this way, while we continually struggle to be less unstable, we begin at all times to imitate true stability more and more. So that what we are speaking about may become clearer by means of an example, let us arrange three things in a pattern: the first thing is at the bottom; the second is at the top; the third is in the middle. Let us put the world at the bottom, God at the top and [then] place the human soul in the middle. Next, let us consider the great and horrible confusion of all things and the infinite distraction of human minds that exist below in this world. Meanwhile, up above with God there is everlasting and unshakeable stability. Then, let us imagine a human soul rising upward from this world, as it were, toward God and always gathering itself more and more into a unity as it rises. Then, we shall be able to see spiritually the form of our Ark, which was broad at its base and became narrower as it rose higher, until it came to the measure of a single cubit at its peak.296 Likewise, as we rise up from this deep place, from this vale of tears, by certain increases among the virtues—by certain ordered stages in our heart, as it were—we are slowly drawn together into a unity, until we reach the simple unity, true simplicity, and eternal stability that are in God. No one becomes perfect immediately, but by making progress everyone moves forward towards perfection, since as long as a person still has that in which he is able to make progess, he has not yet arrived at the highest perfection. Here, if we wish, we may consider the manner of our restoration. Almighty God, for whom nothing is impossible, could, if he so willed it, immediately and without any delay translate those on whom he intended to have mercy from the labors, disturbances, and dangers of this present life, which is filled with temptations, to the stability of eternal life. However, he wills that his elect who are being purified

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should pass through various tribulations and many temptations so that when they return to him through many sorrows, they may learn how far they have distanced themselves from him by sinning. For when by doing penance they travel the road along which they strayed by sinning, they travel not as people being translated but as people returning.297 Thus, if I may put it this way, they realize from the prolonged weariness of the journey that they have been led back from afar. And all of this happens so that the grace of God may be commended to people so that the more they see that they were never abandoned by him even when they were far away, the more fervently they will love him. This is just as the prophet Isaiah promised, saying: I will lead your seed back from the east, and I will gather you from the west. I will say to the north, “Give up,” and to the south, “Hold no one back. Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”298 Each of us who is mindful of where he was and recognizes where he is, can, perhaps, see in himself how a person is brought back from afar by divine mercy and is gathered into a unity from his scattered state. It remains, now, that we consider what the things are that we mentioned just above, things in which the soul must be engaged so that little by little it may accustom itself to withdrawing from the distraction of this world and, having been strengthened, may rise up to that supreme stability, the contemplation of God. It may be viewed in this way: chapter three On the Two Works of God: Foundation (conditio) and Restoration (restauratio) All the works of God have been done for the benefit of humans,299 both the things that pertain to the original foundation (conditio) of humans and the things that have been done for the restoration of humans (ad hominis reparationem). To the foundation of humans pertains the creation (creatio) of the world, that is, heaven and earth and all those things that we read were made by God in the beginning. To the restoration of humans pertains the Incarnation of the Word and all those things that either have from the beginning preceded the Incarnation in order to prefigure it or announce it beforehand, or have happened after the Incarnation up to the end of the world, for the sake of preaching about and believing in it.300 With respect to those first works that pertain to the foundation of humans, God is the God of all, because he created everyone and

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conferred these temporal goods on everyone, the good and the bad, without discrimination. With respect to those works that pertain to the restoration of humans, however, God has not willed to be the God of everyone, but only of those whom he chose before all time according to the intention of his good will so that he might call them at a particular time and justify them and glorify them in his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why in Sacred Scripture, he [God] particularly calls himself the God of individual persons, as in this case: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.301 For, just as has been said, he who created everyone has not redeemed everyone. Some he saves on account of mercy; others he condemns on account of justice. Therefore, those things that have been done for the restoration of humans do not pertain to everyone but only to those who are being saved. Just as they are not for everyone, so also they have not been done in the presence of everyone, nor have they come to the attention of everyone, but they have been done in certain places, at certain times, with certain persons who have been ordained for this according to the depths of divine counsel.302 For while God in his omnipotence could have made use of many different ways for the restoration of humans, nevertheless he preferred to chose a way that was more suited to our weakness so that the work of his mercy might be put into effect not only powerfully and justly but also wisely. The first human, however, abandoned his Creator, even when he gazed at him by the immediate [experience of] contemplation. Now, however, a person seeks by faith the Creator whom he no longer sees by sight.303 The first human was able to stand without effort, and he fell down through his own choice; now, however, when a person rises up through his own choice, he returns to God by means of travails. The counsel of divine dispensation for our restoration is supremely well ordered so that he who fell through his own choice should not rise up under coercion but through his own choice. And he who was made sick through free will should not recover health until he wills, through free will, to be cured. However, this does not happen from ourselves, as we will, but rather, God does this in us. The grace of God goes before and arouses our free will so that a person is able to will to be healed, since on his own, a person who was able to will [only] to be weakened is not able to will to be healed. This, therefore, is what is happening to the elect now so that in the present life they may be prepared for future blessedness. In this way, a person, after having been placed in this [place of] unhappiness, may be found worthy to rise up to that [place

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of] happiness, just as earlier a person, after having been placed in that [place of] happiness, deserved to descend to this [place of] unhappiness.304 That merit, however, by which a person has deserved to be unhappy was completely from himself, but, on the contrary, the merit by which a person deserves eternal happiness does not come from the person. The grace of God does this in a person. It is not without a reason, therefore, that when calling a person back from the blindness of ignorance that follows after sin, God so moderates that person’s knowledge of him that he may, indeed, become known, yet, nevertheless, always remain “hidden.” For if he made himself known so openly to humans that no one could have doubts about him, then faith would have no merit and unbelief no place. He becomes known, therefore, to nurture faith; he remains hidden, lest unbelief should be proved wrong. He remains hidden to test faith; he becomes known to condemn unbelief. Since believers have something on account of which they can doubt, and unbelievers have something on the basis of which they could believe if they so wished, a reward is justly given to believers for faith, and punishment is justly given to unbelievers for unbelief. It pleased God, however, that he should make the first human merit the blessedness that he was going to give freely to him in such at way that, nevertheless, both the merit and the reward of merit should be from God himself. God, therefore, puts off giving now what he is going to give—that is to say, full health, full knowledge, and full happiness. Meanwhile, he illumines our blindness through faith so that as we advance by means of it, we may be worthy of arriving at his clear shining brilliance. So it is that from the beginning God has spoken with few persons, rarely, obscurely, and in secret. chapter four Why God Always Speaks in Secret (In abscondito) Let us examine Scripture, and we shall find that God scarcely ever speaks to a crowd. On the contrary, as often as he has wished to become known to people, he has shown himself not to nations or to peoples, but to individuals, or to just a few people, who were separated from the ordinary crowd of people, whether in the silence of the night, or in fields, or in the wilderness and on mountains.305 And in this way, he spoke with Noah, with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, with Moses, with Samuel, with David, and with all the prophets. Then, when he appeared in the flesh, even though he spoke openly in the world, nev-

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ertheless, he led his disciples apart onto a mountain in order to show them his glory.306 In another place he said to them: To you it has been given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God; to others, however, it has been given in parables.307 And again: What I say to you in the darkness, you are to speak in the light; what you hear in your ears, you are to preach from the rooftops.308 He did not give that ancient people the Law in Egypt, but he waited until he had led them apart into the wilderness.309 And there he did not give it openly to all, but Moses alone went up onto the mountain, in order to receive the Law.310 Now, what does it mean that God always speaks in a hidden way? Surely it means that he calls us to what is hidden. What does it mean that he always speaks with a few people? Surely it means that he gathers us together. Consider these two things that I have said: “he gathers together,” and “he calls to what is hidden.” Before the first person sinned, he had no need for God to speak with him in an external way, because he had an internal ear of the heart with which he was able to hear the voice of God in a spiritual way. But after he opened the outer ear to the persuasive words of the serpent, he closed the inner ear to God’s voice.311 Therefore, since that person threw away the ability to hear inwardly, by which he heard God speaking, God now shouts outwardly when calling us back to himself. But when he speaks, he always withdraws himself, as if he wishes to hide so that through that which he says, he may remind the human mind about himself and so that by the fact that he flees by hiding himself, he may draw the human mind to himself. He stimulates our longing since by speaking he arouses in us love for him so that it may increase and by fleeing he sets us on fire so that we may follow him. For the human heart is such that if it cannot obtain what it loves, it burns all the more with longing. So, in the Song of Songs the Bridegroom comes; he stands on the other side of the wall; he looks through the windows and the latticework in such a way that he hides and does not hide, as it were.312 He puts his hand through the opening; he touches the Bride.313 Speaking softly in a low voice, he calls to her and says: Come, my Beloved, my precious one, my dove. Look! Winter has passed away; the rain has ended and gone; the flowers have appeared in our land; the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.314 As soon as the Bride hears the Bridegroom at hand, she rises up immediately, makes haste, opens the bolt of her door, and with welcoming arms, as it were, makes ready to embrace the one who comes.315 She can scarcely endure it; scarcely contain herself; scarcely wait. Her soul (anima) melts; her heart is aflame;

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her inward parts tremble. She leaps for joy; she rejoices; she dances; she is delighted; she dashes to meet the one who comes. But just when the Bridegroom is thought to be held, he turns away and suddenly flees, escaping from her embrace, as it were.316 What does this mean? When he is not sought, he seeks; when he is not called, he comes. But when he is sought, he turns away. And when he is called, he flees. If he does not love, why does he come? Or, if he does love, why does he flee? Yet he loves, and therefore he comes, but because he does not love here, therefore he flees. What does it mean that I have said: “He does not love here?” I mean: not in this world, in this age, in this land, in this homeland, in this exile. On the contrary, he calls us to his land, to his homeland, because such love is not appropriately suited for this homeland. The wretchedness of the place debases the love. Love that is delightful seeks a pleasant place. Therefore, he commends his own land to us; therefore, he praises his own homeland; therefore, he says: The flowers have appeared in our land; the flowering vines have released fragrance; the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.317 This he does so that we may crave such a lovely place, may long for such a lovely homeland and may follow him. There he loves us; there he longs to enjoy our love; there he asks for an embrace from us; there he does not flee from those who follow him but rather waits for those who come to him. He presents himself when he is not sought so that he may set us on fire with regard to his love. When he is sought, he flees so that he may make us run after him. For if he did not first show himself to us, no one would ever love him. And if he did not flee when sought, no one would ever wish to follow him. The flowers, he says, have appeared in our land.318 Not “in my land,” but in our land so that he might share it with us. It is as if he said: I am present as a faithful messenger to you; I have seen that to which I bear witness; I have heard what I say. Have no fear; have no doubt; have no hesitation. Follow me to the place from which I call, for you belong to the place from which I come. Here you have no lasting city. This is a foreign land in which you live; you have come here from another place. If you were able to remember your homeland, you certainly would not love this place of exile. For this reason have I come: to lead you away from here. I have not come to remain with you here forever. Therefore, I call to you from a secret place since I merely want to become known, not to remain. Therefore, I call to you from afar since I am making haste to return. It suffices that I have shown myself enough to be heard. I should have thought that I myself had suffered a loss had I continued along what

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remains of the way. Every delay is painful. The flowers have appeared in our land.319 When you see me fleeing, you know how much you ought to hasten. I would not have come to you, if I did not love you. I would not have fled, if I did not want to draw you after me. This is the reason why God always speaks in secret. For a similar reason, he speaks obscurely. Just as in the Law and the Prophets, so also in the Gospel he spoke in parables and enigmas. It is fitting that the secrets of mystical understandings should be hidden beneath the figurative use of words since these meanings would be quickly reduced in value if they were always accessible to everyone. So truth exercises the faithful through inquiry and remains hidden, lest it be discovered by the unfaithful. When truth is difficult to discover, it inflames the faithful with greater longing. When it cannot be discovered at all, it blinds the unfaithful. In relation to the same thing, therefore, the faithful advance and the unfaithful stumble and fall because the faithful come to the recognition of truth by humbly listening to and faithfully seeking out the word of God while the unfaithful, however, never arrive at truth, on account of neglecting, despising, or deceitfully misunderstanding the word of God. We have now said why God speaks obscurely and in secret. It remains to say why he speaks with a few and rarely. chapter five Why God Speaks With a Few and Rarely The nature of the first person had been so set in order (ordinata) and established (instituta) by God that the soul (anima), which governed the body, would certainly fulfill the services of the body outwardly by means of the senses, but she also would always direct her intention inwardly to her Creator by means of reason. This means that by means of the sense faculty, the soul would outwardly move the members of the body to action but would inwardly direct her intention and desire to the Creator alone and would outwardly do nothing that failed to proceed from or have a relation to love of him. The result would be that charity would command, reason would set in order, and the sense faculty would fulfill and complete every action. As long as the first person maintained this order in his nature, even though he would experience change outwardly because of his actions, nevertheless, he remained inwardly stable through intention and love. For he had only one intention and did everything in accord with that one thing. He loved one thing

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only and related the purpose of every act of the will and every deed of his to that one thing. Unwearied, he directed the unceasing attention of the mind’s eye to one thing: his Creator.320 For this reason, he was never able to have doubts about his Creator, to whom he was always inwardly present by means of contemplation. The sight of his Creator illuminated his heart through knowledge and made him rise up and lie down through love. But after he was cast out from the face of God on account of his deceit, he was made blind and unstable: blind because of ignorance of the mind; unstable because of concupiscence of the flesh.321 When [both of these] were transmitted from that person to all of his descendants, all evils were brought forth. Through ignorance, human beings finally sank to this: they did not recognize their Creator and either supposed that God absolutely did not exist or ascribed divinity to those beings that were not gods. Through concupiscence, they were distracted and scattered by an infinite number of falsehoods. For when they were shrouded in the darkness of ignorance and knew nothing of the existence of other invisible goods, it was a necessary result that they should experience limitless instability because of concupiscence for the earthy things that they saw. God, therefore, wishing to gather our hearts together from such distraction and recall them to contemplating internal joys, speaks outwardly in order to urge us to turn our attention inward.322 But since the mind that is accustomed to visible things does not learn quickly how to rise up to invisible things, he himself decided also to perform some miracles that were visible, with which he might nourish our feelings and commend his charity towards us. Now, these things are especially those that relate to the restoration of human beings (ad reparationem hominis). For those things that were done with regard to the foundation of human beings (ad conditionem hominis) show us mostly the power of our Maker (nobis potentiam opificis). But those things that have been done with regard to the redemption of human beings (ad redemptionem hominis) pertain in particular to charity. God, therefore, has done these things so that he might show what sort of love he has for us and call us away from love of this world and back to love of him. He willed that these works be limited in number, lest they be infinite in number and distract our soul, which ought to be gathered together in its working. Yet [he willed that] these things also should be many in number so that the same soul, being still unable to tolerate total stability, might take delight in a variety of things. For that reason, he chose one people and one place where he might begin the sacraments that pertained to the salvation not merely of one people but

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of the entire world. This was so that unity would be commended everywhere so that the human soul would be called back—both inwardly and outwardly—to unity so that just as the salvation of all comes from one Savior, so also the beginning of salvation would spread out from one place and one people. For he who made everything for our sake undoubtedly acted as he knew would be most useful for us. Now, [God] has done these things partly by humans, partly by angels and partly by himself: very many things were done by humans; many things were done by angels; a few things were done by himself. When, in meditating on these things, the human soul advances by rising up from the deeds of humans to the deeds of angels and from the deeds of angels to the deeds of God, it so happens that it becomes accustomed to gathering itself, little by little, into a unity so that the more it escapes multiplicity, the more it begins to draw near to true simplicity. Therefore, when God gathers our minds into a unity by speaking with a few persons and rarely, and also draws us upward toward himself by speaking obscurely and in secret, what is this—if I may speak in this way—other than that he molds in our hearts the form of a kind of invisible Ark?323 Although he made all of his works for the sake of humans, nevertheless, he willed that some works would be those that would provide support for those who are healthy, while other works would bestow a remedy on those who are ill. For the world can serve a person who is healthy, but it cannot make a sick person well. Consequently, after that first foundation of things that were made to support those standing, it became necessary to do other things to raise up the fallen. To the degree that these latter works are more worthy than the first-mentioned works, they are more necessary. To the degree that they excel in dignity, they extend through a much longer period of time. The first-mentioned works were made in six days. The latter works are accomplished in six ages. The foundation of things was done in six days; the restoration of humans is completed in six ages.324 chapter six That the Elect Ponder the Divine Works in One Way, While the Reprobate Ponder Them in Another You must know, however, that the elect ponder the divine works in one way while the reprobate ponder them in another. For the elect prefer the works of restoration to the works of the first foundation

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since the latter were made for servitude, the former for salvation. But, in contrast, the reprobate love (amant) the works of foundation more than the works of restoration since they seek present delight, not future happiness. The philosophers of the Gentiles sank into uselessness in their thoughts by investigating the natures of things—i.e. the works of foundation—with a kind of superstitious curiosity.325 The philosophers of the Christians drive all vanity away from their thoughts by meditating continually on the works of restoration. As the elect consider their own restoration, they are set on fire by the flame of divine love; as the reprobate love the beauty of created things in a perverse way, however, they become cold in the love of God. When the reprobate immerse their thoughts in transitory things, they forget their Creator; the elect, however, are unable to forget their Creator since they are always meditating on his mercy with respect to their own salvation. When the reprobate cast longing gazes at temporal things, they put an end to thoughts of eternal things; when the elect, however, reflect on temporal benefits from God, they advance to the recognition of eternal things. The reprobate fall away from invisible things on account of visible things; the elect, however, rise up to invisible things by means of visible things.326 You must know, however, that the visible things from which they rise up are one kind of thing; the things by means of which they rise up are another. They rise up from the works of foundation, by means of the works of restoration, to the Author of foundation and restoration. These ascents must be thought of, however, as taking place not outwardly, but inwardly in the heart, by orderly stages going from strength to strength. Perhaps we shall be able to understand this better in this way: chapter seven There Are Two Worlds Just as we have made a distinction between two works (that is, the works of foundation and the works of restoration), so let us also understand that there are two worlds: the visible and the invisible. The visible world is, indeed, the machine of the universe327 that we see with bodily eyes; the invisible world, however, is a person’s heart, which we cannot see. And just as the waters of the Flood covered the entire earth in the days of Noah, while the Ark alone floated on the waters (not only could it not be submerged, but what is more, the higher the waters swelled up, the higher the Ark was raised up into the heights328), so

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let us now understand that in the human heart the concupiscence of this world is like the waters of the Flood, as it were, while the Ark that was carried upon [the waters] is like the faith in Christ that tramples underfoot transitory delight and is eager for those eternal goods that are above. The concupiscence of this world is compared to the waters, since it is liquid and slippery and since in the likeness of water flowing downward, it always seeks out the lowest place and makes its followers unstable and degenerate. If a person shall have entered into his heart, he will be able to see how concupiscence always flows downward to those things that are transitory, while faith moves toward those everlasting goods that are above.329 But when Scripture says that concupiscence resides in the flesh and that faith resides in the heart, how can we affirm that both are in the heart, unless we then say that we crave with the flesh when we crave with the heart in a fleshly way?330 The heart is able both to crave and to believe, but in one instance it is the case that it loves earthy things and in the other it is the case that it seeks heavenly things. Therefore, concupiscence is from below; faith is from above. Concupiscence is born in the heart from the flesh; faith is inspired in the heart by God, not by the flesh. So, then, when the Lord praised the faithful confession of Peter, he said: Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.331 Concerning concupiscence, Paul says: I do not do that, but rather the sin that dwells in me.332 And what in me means, he determines in another place: I know, he says, that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwells nothing good.333 Again he declares in another place what that sin is, which he has said dwells in the flesh: Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the longings of the flesh,334 calling concupiscence longings of the flesh. Concupiscence, therefore, dwells in the flesh, that is, low down in the heart; faith, however, dwells not in the flesh but in the spirit, that is, up above in the heart.335 You must, nevertheless, consider carefully that when the Apostle said: Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the longings of the flesh,336 he did not say: “you will not feel,” but: you will not fulfill. Thus he clearly declared to every person that as long as he is in this life, concupiscence is necessarily present on account of the corruption of the first birth.337 Nevertheless, with the aid of God’s grace, it is not impossible that a person will not consent to the same concupiscence. For that reason, Paul said elsewhere: Do not let sin reign in your mortal body.338 This is as if he said: It cannot be the case that sin (that is, the tinder of sin, the spark of vices, the prick of concupiscence) should not exist in your

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mortal body. But with the assisting grace of God, it can be the case that it does not reign, does not dominate. It is impossible for you not to feel it, but it is not necessary that you should consent to it. Thus, every person endures inwardly in his heart a kind of flood of concupiscence, from which only the Ark of faith can free him—where the evil person walking on dry land is drowned, and the good person submerged in the depths of the sea is not harmed. Deadly dangerous is the flood that is within. Woe to him who is at risk there! There is no safe harbor, no secure anchorage, and no serene tranquility for the person who is inwardly tossed about by the convulsions of his concupiscence and swallowed up in the insatiable whirlpool of sexual desires. chapter eight On Three Kinds of People Here we can consider three kinds of people: those who have a Flood within and have no Ark; those who have both a Flood and an Ark within but are not in the Ark; and those who have an Ark in the Flood and remain in the Ark. In the Flood without an Ark are the unfaithful, whom carnal longings engulf, who do not think that anything exists beyond this transitory life. Those people who have an Ark in the Flood but do not remain in it have already learned to believe through faith that a future unchanging life exists after the end of this life of change, but after having given some thought to this, they subject their soul to the delight of temporal things. Scripture says: Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.339 This means: where your longing is, there your heart is also; where your delight is, there your thought is also; where your thought is, there the dwelling place of the interior person is. For, according to the inner person, someone is said to live in the place where he lives in his thought. And so, those who establish their heart’s delight in the vanity of this world, even though they may have an Ark of faith, nevertheless, they are shipwrecks within. Although I pass over in silence other lovers of the world, how many educated people do we see these days who want to be called Christian, and yet when they go into the Church with other believers and partake of the sacraments of Christ, in their hearts they more often recall to memory Saturn and Jupiter, Hercules or Mars, or Achilles and Hector, Pollux and Castor, Socrates and Plato and Aristotle, rather than Christ and his Saints! They love the nonsense of the poets and either neglect the truth of the Divine

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Scriptures or, what is worse, they laugh at it or despise it. Let them now see what good it is for them to go into the church externally and then to fornicate inwardly in the heart against the faith. I say to them publicly that in the end they are destined to be associated with those with whom they now unite themselves in their thought by the feeling of their heart, and they will be sharers in the punishment there of those whose life-style they love here. What benefit is it for them to have faith but not to remain in the faith? What benefit is it for them to have a seaworthy ship and I do not say merely suffer shipwreck in the tossing waves but willingly cause that wreck to happen? What benefit is it to know the truth and love falsehood? Those who are truly faithful are not like that. Would you like to know what they are like? Hear what one of them was like and understand all of them. For those who are one in the truth are not able to be unlike each other. Hear what is said about that person: The Law of his God is in his heart.340 This means to have an Ark within. And since perhaps this may not be sufficient, listen again: His will is in the Law of the Lord.341 This means to live in the Ark. This is the perfect person, who loves what he believes so that he has a faith active on account of love that overcomes the world.342 This is the Ark in which we must be saved. It is able to float upon the waters and can never be submerged by them because it uses this world (mundo) as far as needs go, but it does not succumb to it on account of cupidity. This is what is said in the Psalm: This great sea, with arms outspread; reptiles without number are there. Animals great and small; ships shall sail across there.343 For the sea in us is the concupiscence of this world, in which pleasures, if they can be found, have been scattered among the many bitter things that flow downward in our heart according to carnal feeling. The reptiles are carnal thoughts, the stinking deformities of varied vices. When we admit these carnal thoughts to our heart without restraint, we fill our inner self with certain monstrous reptiles, as it were. The ship is that spiritual Ark—that is, our faith—which, after being raised up inwardly, crushes beneath itself the concupiscence of the world. However, [Scripture] said ships on account of many souls, for many souls are one soul according to oneness in faith and love, and one faith is many faiths, according to many faithful souls, just as it is said: Your faith has made you well,344—both “my faith” and “his faith”—since there is, nevertheless, one Catholic faith. Only the ship of faith, therefore, crosses the sea; only the Ark escapes the Flood. And if we crave to be saved not only must the Ark be in us, but we must also remain in the Ark.

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Let no one trust in his own conscience and say: “What does the Ark have to do with me? The flood of carnal concupiscence has been dried up in me.” He who is turned toward external things does not know what is happening within. But if a person shall have returned to his heart, he will find there a stormy sea of fierce floods stirred up by violent winds of evil passions and longings that sweep the soul totally downward, as often as they subjugate the soul by its own consent. This flood is in every person—or better, every person is in this flood—as long as he lives in this corruptible life, where the flesh craves against the spirit.345 But good people are in this flood like those who are carried over the sea in ships, while evil people are in it like shipwrecked people who tumble over and over in the waves. Indeed, in good people the waters of this flood begin to diminish in this life, and according to the difference of graces in individual people, the waters decrease more or less. Nevertheless, as long as good people live in this life, the earth of the human heart can never be dried out completely. Therefore, the dove sent out [from the Ark] did not find a place where she might rest her foot but always returned to the Ark.346 This is because the pure mind, when it is unable to find anything in this world on which it might securely place the foot of its feeling, dreads to be away for very long from the protection of inward meditation. But, if perhaps at some point it has gone out by thought—like a dove flying and going far away—it quickly returns to the solitude of its conscience and rests peacefully there away from external clanging noises, as if it were in the Ark, away from tossing waves.347 Let us understand, therefore, that in us there is that from which we flee and that to which we must flee: that is, concupiscence and faith— concupiscence, which we must flee; faith, of which we must take hold. We must rise up from concupiscence so that by advancing we may leave it behind; we must rise up by means of faith so that by grasping it we may always advance to what is better. Concupiscence has to do with the works of foundation, and faith has to do with the works of restoration, since by loving the works of foundation in a disordered way we become unstable through concupiscence and by devoutly believing in the works of restoration we are made firm through faith. And for that reason, the divine warnings often shout to us and urge us to flee the world, not so that we go out beyond heaven and earth, but so that we do not continue in the concupiscence of the world. What does “[so that] we do not continue” mean? Who continues in concupiscence of the world? He who sets the delight of his soul in it; he who continually

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intends to find fulfillment in it; he who constantly thinks about it and affirms the intention of his soul for it; he who from deliberate choice follows after it and by consent delights in it. The world, therefore, is cursed in Sacred Scripture; it is called the enemy of God.348 However, this is not because the substance of the world is evil, but because the beauty of the world seduces souls. If concupiscence of the world were not evil, it would not be necessary to flee from the substance of the world. Thus, when we flee the concupiscence of the world, we flee because it is evil. But when we flee the substance of the world, we do not flee because it is evil, but because it is the occasion of evil. The feeling of concupiscence is born from thinking about the outward appearance of the world. Consequently, if we wish to avoid concupiscence of the world, it is necessary, first of all, for us to banish the memory of this world from our thought. In my meditation, says the Prophet, a fire flares up.349 Just as pieces of wood feed a fire, so thoughts feed longings. If there have been good thoughts in meditation, the fire of charity flares up. But if there have been evil thoughts, the fire of cupidity flares up. For just as the eye is fed by outward appearance, so also the soul is fed by thought—and by a certain kind of vile dealing, the impure mind enjoys its longings when, in a certain way, it inwardly embraces through thought the thing that it craves. Occasionally, it happens that we illicitly crave what we often think about in our leisure. And the person who gets pleasure by consenting in thought is judged guilty of having done it. Therefore, just as sick people abstain from certain foods, not because the foods themselves are bad, but because they are not suitable for them to use, so also we must keep the outward appearance of earthy things out of our thoughts, not because these things are evil in themselves, but lest our soul, which is weak when left on its own, be corrupted even more by recalling these things. Still, as far as things themselves are concerned, since every creature of God is good, there is nothing that cannot be thought about without sin. Again, if we give attention to depraved feelings, there is nothing about which we cannot sin by thinking [about it]. For we are able to think in a good way about an evil thing, in an evil way about a good thing, in a pure way about an impure thing, in an impure way about a pure thing. For thoughts should be judged not on the basis of the thing from which they arise but on the basis of the feeling that they engender. We read about holy men who not only thought about impure things but also spoke about them and wrote about them. They certainly would in no way have done this if thoughts of impure things defiled the soul. It is of no concern at

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all, what sort of thing it is that is thought about; but it is significant what sort of feeling results from the thought itself—because thought does not pollute the mind where delight does not corrupt the conscience. Nevertheless, it is expedient for us, as we have said, that we should forget this world and blot out the memory of it from our heart, lest while thinking of it frequently, we may be drawn toward concupiscence of it. We have, I think, now shown with sufficient clarity from whence comes the infinite distraction of our thoughts that we endure. It comes from the world and concupiscence of it—that is, it comes from the works of foundation. Again, we have shown what it is by which our thoughts may be gathered into a unity—that is, by the works of restoration. And since, just as was said above, there can be no order where there is no limit, it remains for us that after leaving behind the works of foundation, we should seek the order of our thoughts there where they have a limit—that is, in the works of restoration. This is what we proposed earlier to investigate:350 namely, what the order of our thoughts must be so that from them a spiritual house of wisdom may be built in us. And since thoughts come from things, it is necessary that the order of thoughts should be taken from the order of things. Next, therefore, as we leave behind the works of foundation, from which we have emerged as if from a kind of flood flowing beneath us, let us begin to discuss the works of restoration. Let us now enter into the works of restoration, as if we are entering into the Ark. chapter nine What Are the Works of Restoration The works of restoration, therefore, are all the things that have been done or will be done for the restoration of human beings, from the beginning of the world to the end of the age. Among these works, we must consider the things done and the people by whom and for whom and among whom these things have been done, together with the places and the times where and when things have been done. Order in the works of restoration should be considered in three ways: according to place, according to time, according to dignity. According to place: what has been done near by and what far away; according to time: what has been done earlier and what later; according to dignity: what is more humble and what more exalted. This last item is separated into many distinctions. What is holy; what is more holy. What is useful; what is more useful. What is honest; what is more honest. What

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is beautiful; what is more beautiful. What is marvelous; what is more marvelous. What is rare; what is rarer. What is difficult; what is more difficult. What is believable; what is more believable. What is great; what is greater. What is hidden; what is more hidden. And so forth. Indeed, this order that is according to dignity seems to relate to the height of the Ark, such that if we say that those things that are holy are to be reckoned on the first deck, [then] those that are more holy are on the second, while those that are most holy are on the third—and so on when considering the other things that we have enumerated. The order of place and the order of time, however, seem to run along together through everything according to the sequence of things done. And so, everything seems to have been set in order by divine providence so that those things that were done at the beginning of time would be done in the east [on the map]—at the beginning of the world as it were.351 Then with the progression of time toward the end, the most recent things would descend downward toward the west so that from this we would realize that the end of the age approaches since the course of things already approaches the edge of the world.352 Therefore, when the first human was founded, he was placed in the Garden of Eden in the east so that from that beginning he would spread out over the orb of the earth through the propagation of his descendants. Again, after the Flood, the beginning of kingships and the capital of the world were in the eastern regions, among the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Medes. Next kingship came to the Greeks; later, around the end of the age, supreme power descended to the Romans in the west—to those living at the edge of the world, as it were. And so, with the sequence of things running in a straight line from the east to the west, the things that have been happening to the right or the left (that is, to the north or the south)353 correspond so well to the signification of these [directions] that if anyone has considered these things carefully, it would be impossible to have any doubt that these things have been placed in such an order by Divine Providence. For example (so that we may speak about a few things [chosen] from among many): Egypt is to the south of Jerusalem, while Babylon is to the north.354 Egypt is interpreted “darkness” and the south wind is hot. Thus, Egypt represents this world that has been set in the darkness of ignorance and the heat of carnal concupiscence.355 Babylon, however, is interpreted as “confusion” and signifies hell, where there is no order and horror lives sempiternally.356 We read that the ancient people of the Hebrews first served in Egypt amid clay and bricks, and later after the passage of

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many years they were taken captive to Babylon.357 What else does this fact indicate to us, other than the situation of all humanity: banishment from the heavenly homeland on account of the original sin (peccatum originale)? As a result of this, a person is first of all subjected to the vices during this mortal life on account of ignorance and concupiscence and then later, after this life, is taken prisoner and led to Hell in painful bondage—that is, to Babylon, to the north, of course—where the first apostate angel placed his seat.358 The order of dignity, therefore, relates to the height of the Ark; the order of time to the length; the order of place to both width and length. To the length of the Ark pertains: The Kingdom of Heaven is like the head of a family, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.359 Likewise, when he went out at about the third hour, and the sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours, he saw others standing around and sent them to work in his vineyard.360 To the width of the Ark pertains: Their voice went forth to the entire world and their words to the edges of the orb of the earth.361 To the height of the Ark pertains: There the tribes went up—the tribes of the Lord, the testimony of Israel—in order to praise the name of the Lord.362 And lest I entangle you in delays by going through individual items, I will tell you briefly what needs to be said. All of Divine Scripture is contained in these three dimensions. For history measures out the length of the Ark, because the ordering of time is found in the sequence of deeds done. Allegory measures out the width of the Ark, because the gathering together of the faithful people consists in participation in the sacraments. Tropology measures out the height of the Ark, because the dignity of merits increases with the progress of virtues.363 In addition, if we wish, we can divide the height of the Ark in another way so that while the truth remains the same, the teaching of it may be multiple. For we wish the reader also to be advised that in this treatise we have often expressed the same thing in different ways, leading to a richer presentation of teaching so that the wise soul may experience every approach to knowledge, with this observation only: that nothing that is contrary to the truth should be either thought or said.364 Just as the Ark is divided into three decks, so the works of restoration are also divided into three groups. In the first group—on the first deck, as it were—is the shadow. In the second group—on the second deck, as it were—is the body. In the third group—on the third deck, as it were—is the spirit. Or if you prefer, say it in this way: figure, real-

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ity, truth so that you may understand that shadow and figure are the same, and likewise for body and reality, as well as spirit and truth. Those things are called shadows, which were done bodily and visibly under Natural Law and Written Law before Christ’s Advent in order to prefigure those things that are now being done bodily and visibly in the period of Grace, after Christ’s Advent. They are called shadows because they were bodily things and figures of bodily things. Our sacraments themselves that now happen visibly in Holy Church are called body. Spirit, however, is that which the grace of God accomplishes invisibly “beneath” the visible sacraments. For instance, let us give one example: the Red Sea prefigured baptism, which is now celebrated in Holy Church. Baptism itself, however, visibly signifies the cleansing from sins that the Holy Spirit invisibly accomplishes within souls “beneath” the sacrament in which bodies are washed. The Red Sea, therefore, is the shadow and the figure; baptism in visible water, which we have now, is the body and the reality; but the washing away of sins is the spirit and the truth. There is still another way, about which we spoke above,365 according to which we can divide the height of the Ark. For God has carried out the works of restoration partly by humans, partly by angels, partly by himself. On the first deck, accordingly, let us gather together human works; on the second deck, the works of angels; on the third deck, the works of God. Or, according to the moral sense: the first deck is faith; the second deck is hope; the third deck is charity. Or, according to the anagogical sense: the first deck is right thought; the second deck is prudent meditation; the third deck is clear contemplation.366 Or, according to activity (secundum operationem): the first deck is knowledge; the second deck is discipline; the third deck is goodness.367 Or, according to different statuses: the first deck is Nature; the second deck is Written Law; the third deck is Grace. If these three things just mentioned are considered according to time, they measure out the length of the Ark; if they are separated according to dignity, they divide the height of the Ark since just as they follow after each other according to time, so they surpass each other according to dignity. What is this Ark, about which so many things are said and in which so many intertwined paths of knowledge are contained? Surely you do not think it is a labyrinth? [There is] no labyrinth but rather quiet rest within. How do I know this? Because he who lives in it said: Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, and you will find rest for your souls.368 If there is labor where he is, how

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do those who come to him find peaceful rest? But now: He has established his place in peace and his dwelling in Sion. There he has shattered the powers of bows, shields, swords, and wars.369 There, every clanging noise and noisy crowd is far away, and joy and peace and a quiet rest are always present. Of what sort is this Ark? Do you wish to know of what sort? Bear with me so that I may tell you a few things out of many. This Ark is like a storehouse stuffed with all sorts of delights. There is nothing you shall have sought in it that you will not find. And when you shall have found one thing, you will see many others presented to you. There all the works of our restoration—from the beginning of the world up until the end—are contained in all their fullness, and the situation of the universal Church is figuratively represented. There the history of things done is woven together; there the mysteries of the sacraments are found; there the stages of feelings, thoughts, meditations, contemplations, good works, virtues, and rewards have been set out in order.370 There, what we must believe, do, and hope are set forth. There, the form of human life and the summation of perfection are preserved. There, hidden things shine forth; there, difficult things appear easy, and things that on their own could be regarded as having little agreement are judged appropriate when considered in their proper relationship. There, a kind of body of the universe is represented, and the harmony of individual things is made clear. There, indeed, another world is found, over against this perishing and transitory world since the things that pass by at different times in this world exist there simultaneously—as if in a kind of state of eternity.371 There the present does not follow on the past, nor does the future displace the present, but whatever is there is there in the present. For this reason, those who abide there remain there always, rejoice always—grieving not for the past, fearing not the future. They have what they love and see what they crave. Perhaps, therefore, this is why the Apostle said: The figure of this world passes away,372—the form of this world, the outward appearance of this world, the beauty of this world—since there is another world, the figure of which does not pass away, the form of which does not change, the outward appearance of which does not waste away, the beauty of which does not fade. That other world is within this world, and this world is smaller than the other world, for that other world contains him whom this world cannot contain. The eyes of the flesh see this world; the eyes of the heart contemplate that other world inwardly. In this world, people have their amusements; in that world the delights are indescribable. In this world people dash about and applaud displays

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of vanity; in that world they are occupied with internal silence and make merry with a pure heart in the contemplation of truth.373 I meant to speak briefly, but I confess that it delights me to have said much to you. And perhaps there was more that I might have said, if I did not fear your dislike. Now, just as we promised, let us display the exemplar of our Ark, which we draw in an external form so that you may learn outwardly what you must do inwardly. As a result, when you shall have copied the form of this exemplar within your heart, you may rejoice that the house of God has been built in you.

NOTES 1

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The Liber ordinis of Saint-Victor describes five periods during the day when the canons gathered in groups for various activities. (cf. Liber ordinis, CCCM 61.36–42) (1) After the morning time for work the canons gathered in the cloister in two groups, one to prepare liturgical chants, the other for individual reading (always vocalized in a soft voice); (2) a period of time after vespers during which the canons gathered in silence, neither reading nor chanting [as they did in (1)]; (3) the daily chapter meeting with its sermon—but no discussion; (4) the hora collationis in the evening at which a lector read to a silent audience from a book provided by the armarius; and (5) the hora locutionis in the afternoon, after the mid-day meal and before none and vespers, when canons again gathered in two groups in the cloister, one for general discussion under the leadership of a canon who sat facing the group and one for a lectio by a master, based on a text, which the group, seated facing each other, discussed. Grover A. Zinn, Jr., History and Contemplation: The Dimensions of the Restoration of Man in Two Treatises on Noah’s Ark by Hugh of Saint-Victor (PhD diss., Duke University, 1969), 273, n. 1, identifies two possible times for the discussion Hugh describes: (1) and (5). Patrice Sicard, Diagrammes médiévaux et exégèse visuelle: Le Libellus de formatione arche de Hugues de Saint-Victor, BV 4 (Paris-Turnhout: Brepols, 1993), 9–20, presents a detailed analysis of the Liber ordinis arguing correctly for (5). Sicard also successfully argues for the first group in (5) (i.e. engaged in general discussion) as the venue in which De archa Noe was first presented, since De archa Noe states the discussion took place in the conventus and the Liber ordinis applies same term to the first, general discussion group. Cf. Didasc. 1–3, ed. Buttimer, 4–69, tr. Taylor, 46–101, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.81–133 for Hugh’s extensive discussion of the liberal and practical arts. In Didasc., 1.11, ed. Buttimer, 18–22, tr. Taylor, 57–60, esp. 59–60, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.92–93 Hugh discusses the origins of the arts, pointing out each art is the organization of knowledge related to a certain set of practices. Before there was arithmetic, people were counting; before there was dialectic, people were distinguishing true from false by reason. In Cassian’s first Conference the Desert Father Abba Moses distinguishes between goal and art (or method) in the spiritual quest. Cf. Coll., I.2, Pichery, tr. Ramsey, 41–42. The first human is Adam, hence the masculine pronouns. Throughout the treatise the origin of humanity is traced to “the first human,” (primus homo), Adam, and not to a human pair, Adam and Eve. Here and throughout I have chosen to translate terrena by “earthy” rather than “earthly” in order to draw attention to the concrete image of “dirt” and uncleanness as well as association with the material world in contrast to the spiritual/celestial. In this sentence note the non-abstract quality of opposing “earthy longings” with “the great sweetness of supernal things.” Gen. 4:12 and 4:14. With the kind of correlation Hugh favors, “wanderer” = disorder; “exile” = guilt. Gen. 4:14. These are the words of Cain after God declares that Cain will henceforth be a wanderer and an exile. Cf. Gen. 4:12. Cf. Augustine, Conf., I.1, CCSL 27.1. John 2:10. Mentem … quadam prius tribulationum compunctione amaricari sinit. I have translated tribulationum compunctione by the phrase “from stabs by the goad of compunction stemming from tribulations” to emphasize the connection with the verb compungo which can mean a shepherd’s use of a goad (a stick with a sharp point) to prick and thus guide sheep and other animals. Cf. John 2:11. Cf. Ps. 18:6 [NRSV 19:5].

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H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Hugh uses the Latin word conditio, here translated as “foundation,” as the term for all of the “works of foundation” (opera conditionis) that God performed in creating and ornamenting the cosmos in the six days of creation. The contrast of the “works of foundation” in six days and the “works of restoration” (opera restaurationis) in six ages is one of the major themes informing Hugh’s thought. Cf. Sacr., Prol. 2 and 3, PL 176.183A–184C, tr. DeFerrari, 3–4, tr. Evans, VTT 3.262–63 and Sent. Div., Prol., VTT 1.120–21. For the two works, as well as the fundamental place of history in Hugh’s thought, cf. Harkins, Reading and the Work of Restoration, 3, esp. 147–49; and Grover A. Zinn, “Historia fundamentum est: The Role of History in the Contemplative Life according to Hugh of Saint Victor,” in Contemporary Reflections on the Medieval Christian Tradition: Essays in Honor of Ray C. Petry, ed. George H. Shriver (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1974), 135–58. Cf. Rom. 8:30. Gregory the Great speaks of the wheat (faithful souls) combined with the chaff (sinners) in the Church in Mor., VI.xxxvii.62, CCSL 143.331. The word here translated “dwelling place” is mansio, which literally means “stopping place.” It is found with the latter meaning in the Biblical text with reference to the 42 stopping places in the desert in the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt; cf. Exod. 17:1; 40:36; Num. 33:1. Hugh uses it in this way in Libellus, IX.50–54 and X.1, 19 and 24, CCCC 176:155f., PL 176.699D–700B, above, p. 111–12. However, in the present passage, with the mention of a “dwelling place” (mansio) that exists within human beings, Hugh joins this mention of “stopping places” and tabernacles to the use of the word mansio in John 14:2 and 23, where Jesus speaks of “many dwelling places” (“many mansions” in DR and NRSV) in heaven (vs. 2) and affirms that he and the Father will come to make their “abode” (DR) or “home” (NRSV) with those who love Jesus and keep his word (vs. 23). Elsewhere in Archa Noe and the Libellus, I have translated mansio as “deck” when it refers to one of the levels in the structure of the Ark. (In an ordinary building, “floor” or “storey” would be appropriate as a translation. A Religious of C.S.M.V. uses “storey” for levels in the Ark in her translation (C.S.M.V., 45–153). Rudolph, The Mystic Ark, passim, uses “stages” for the levels. Cf. Prov. 14:11. Also cf. Ps. 117:15 [NRSV 118:15], as noted by C.S.M.V., 50, n. 1. Cf. Ps. 41:5 [NRSV 42:4]; 46:2 [NRSV 47:1]; 117:15 [NRSV 118:15]; Isa. 48:20. Cf. Ps. 44:12 [NRSV 45:11]. Cf. Ps. 75:3 [NRSV 76:2]. Cf. John 1:14. The image of knowledge erecting the superstructure of faith by means of cognition while love paints it by means of virtue is drawn from Gregory the Great’s Letter to Leander prefaced to his Moralia in Iob. Gregory likens the interpretation of Scripture to the erection of a building: the literal/historical interpretation lays the foundation, allegory erects the superstructure, and tropology covers the superstructure with beautiful color. Cf. Gregory the Great, Epistola missoria, 3, CCSL 143.4. For Gregory and Hugh, allegory has to do with knowledge and tropology has to do with virtue. In terms of Hugh’s theology of the restoration of fallen humanity, the acquisition of “knowledge of truth and love of virtue” restores fallen humanity and overcomes the ignorance and concupiscence that are the result of Original Sin. As Biblical structures and images, many of these have a significant place in Victorine writings. As will be seen, the Jerusalem Temple is a major symbolic reference point in Archa Noe, as is the alternate name, “House of God.” The Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant are major symbolic referents and structures in Richard of St Victor’s treatise on the contemplative life, Arca Moys.. A brief treatise that functions as a condensation of Arca Moys., but also with a wider reference to the structure and furnishings of the tabernacle, is Nonnullae allegoria tabernaculi foederis, PL 196.191C–202B, tr. Zinn, 344–70. I have translated both animus and anima with the word “soul,” given the way in which Hugh uses these words. When Hugh uses anima I indicate that parenthetically. The word mens I have translated as “mind.”

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Beginning with this mention of the Ark of Noah as an “exemplar” and continuing through the remainder of this chapter, Hugh is referring to the drawing of the Ark of Noah which is at the center of a symbolic cosmos that is held by the figure of Christ seated in Majesty and accompanied by two seraphim as described in the Libellus. Thus, the drawing described in the Libellus is presupposed by Hugh’s presentation in Archa Noe, which makes specific reference to elements in the drawing that are explicated in more detail in the Libellus. This sentence also introduces the idea of the spiritually transformative function of the image of the Ark, the cosmos, and Christ. Wisdom, discipline, and virtue as the three pedagogical goals of the drawing and the treatise immediately call to mind the three organizing topics for Hugh’s treatise Inst. nov. These are knowledge, discipline, and goodness. Hugh’s formulation in Archa Noe with wisdom for knowledge and virtue for goodness emphasizes the special knowledge sought via the Ark treatises: spiritual wisdom. Inst. nov. is Hugh’s presentation of a program for the training of novices in mind, body, and spirit as they enter the Abbey of Saint Victor. For the wider context and organization of the entry and training of novices at Saint Victor, see the Liber ordinis, CCCM 61. A translation with introduction of Inst. nov. by Frans van Liere and Dale Coulter has appeared in VTT 9.277–54. It is of no small significance that the Ark treatises and Inst. nov. are found adjacent to each other in the four volumes of Hugh’s collected works, assembled at Saint Victor by Abbot Guilduin shortly after Hugh’s death. When describing the making of the drawing/painting of the Ark, cosmos, and Christ in Archa Noe and the Libellus, Hugh most often uses pingo, depingo and circumduco to indicate the process of drawing or sketching out the various elements of the drawing whether colored or not, while scribo is ordinarily used for inscribing words and letters. Cf. Libellus, I.1 and 7 and V.1–7, CCCM 176.121 and 148, PL 176.681A and 696C, tr. Rudolph, 397–98 and 459–60, and tr. Zinn in this volume p. 87 and 106–107 (depingo, pingo), and I.14–15 and IV.79–98, CCCM 176.121 and 142, PL 176.681B and 693B, tr. Rudolph, 399 and 440, and tr. Zinn in this volume p. 87 and 102 (scribo). When specifically mentioning the application of color, Hugh tends to use superduco or vestio. Cf. Libellus, I.8, 10, and 133–37, CCCM 176.121 and 126, PL 176.681A and 684C, tr. Rudolph, 398–99 and 412–13, and tr. Zinn in this volume p. 87 and 91. Cf. Isa. 6:1–3. ut quod dicit littera probet prophetia. Isa. 6:1. Plena est omnis terra maiestate eius. This phrase is absent from the Vulgate text of Isaiah 6.1 (In anno quo mortuus est rex Ozias vidi Dominum sedentem super solium excelsum et elevatum et ea quae sub eo erant implebant templum), but it is found as part of Isa. 6:1 with other authors, from Jerome to Hugh and Bernard of Clairvaux and beyond. A variant of this phrase, with “house (domus)” rather than “earth” is found as part of Isa. 6.1 in Jerome, Ep. 18A. Jerome does not have the concluding portion of the Vulgate text of 6.1 (“and those things that were beneath him filled the Temple.”) for he continues immediately with verse 2, “And the seraphim stood round about him.” Cf. Jerome, Ep. 18A, prol., CSEL 54.73, ACW 68.930. The same text for Isaiah 6:1–2 is in Ep. 18A.4, CSEL 54.77–78, ACW 68.932. For Bernard of Clairvaux, cf. Pro Dominica 1 Novembris, I.1, PL 183.344CD and V.5, PL 183.355C. The text of Isa. 6.1 in the Glossa ordinaria has Hugh’s text with one exception: The Glossa reads domus (house), thus agreeing with Jerome. Needless to say the history of variants for this text is complicated. It is worth noting, however, that Hugh’s text is found in Thomas Aquinas, Super Evangelium S. Ioannis lectura, prooemium, ed. P. Raphaelis Cai (Rome: Marietti, 1952 [6th ed. 1972]), 1. Cf. Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John, prol. 1, ed. and tr. James A. Weisheipl, O.P. and Fabian R. Larcher, O.P. (Magi Books, Inc: Albany, NY, 1998) (The Latin text has terra. Weisheipl’s translation inexplicably translates this as “house.”) The Aquinas Institute translation of the Commentary on John also has terra, Super Evangelium Sancti Ioannis Lectura (Lander, WY: The Aquinas Institute for

220

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

58 59

60

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  the Study of Sacred Doctrine, 2010), p. 1. In his exposition, Hugh divides the text of Isa. 6:1 into three “units,” exactly in the way Thomas later divided it: “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up,” “the whole earth is full of his majesty” and “those things that were beneath him filled the Temple.” Sicard, CCCM 176.11, fails to understand that the phrase plena est omnis terra maiestate eius is part of Hugh’s citation of Isa. 6.1, and he thus mistakenly associates the text with Isa. 6.3 and Ps. 71:19. Conrad Rudolph also mistakenly associates this phrase only with Isa. 6.3. Cf. “First, I Find,” p. 93, n. 102. Jer. 23:24. Acts 7:49. Isa. 6:1. Isa. 6:1, not in Vulgate. See note 30. Isa. 6.1. Isa. 57:15. Isa. 6:1. Isa. 6:1. The Latin is ambitus, which carries the physical sense of drawing a circle, marking the edge of a circular object, etc. Isa. 6:1. Isa. 6:1. Isa. 6:2. For the interpretation of the name seraphim as meaning “burning,” cf. Jerome, Ep. 18A.6, CSEL 54.81, ACW 68.934. 2 Pet. 1:19. Isa. 6:2. Isa. 6:2. Isa. 6:2. Exod. 33:20. 1 Cor. 13:12; Exod. 33:11. 1 Cor. 13:12. Matt. 18:10. Hugh’s text has: vident faciem Patris; the Vulgate text has: vident faciem Patris mei. Matt. 18:10. The Latin is ad picturam. This is once again a reference to the drawing of Christ seated in Majesty accompanied by a pair of seraphim and holding in front of his body the diagram of a symbolic cosmos that includes the Ark of Noah. Cf. Isa. 6:2. Hugh’s text has Duabus alis volabant. The Vulgate text reads Et duabus volabant. Isa. 6:3. Isa. 6:3. The idea that the covering of the Lord’s head and feet by the seraph’s wings signifies that humans are unable to know what there was in eternity before the creation of things and what will be in eternity after the end of the world is found in Jerome, Ep. 18A.7, CSEL 54.82–83, ACW 68.935. Cf. Isa. 43:16. (Called to my attention by Hugh Feiss, O.S.B.). Hugh here succinctly contrasts being “in” the Ark of the Church “outside of ourselves” with being “in” the Ark constructed internally within the self. Constructing the internal Ark (the Ark of Wisdom as it is called later in this section) is the subject especially of Books II and IV of Archa Noe. The Ark of the Church is the subject of section 5 of this Book. The historical Ark of Noah is treated by Hugh in Archa Noe, I.iv, CCCM  176.18–23, PL 176.626D–629D, C.S.M.V., 60–63, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 144–47. The Ark of the Church, i.e. the allegorical interpretation of the historical Ark, is treated in Archa Noe, I.v, CCCM 176.23– 31, PL 176.629–634C, C.S.M.V., 64–72, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 148–54. The last paragraph of chapter 5 takes up tropology. The five-decked Ark as described in chapter 4 provides one

NOTES

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62

63 64 65 66

67

68



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basis for the allegorical interpretation concerning the Ark of the Church. The three-decked pyramidal introduced briefly at the end of chapter 4 (p. 147) also receives a brief allegorical interpretation at the beginning of chapter 5 (p. 148). The Ark of Wisdom is the subject of Archa Noe, II and IV, CCCM 176.33–54 and 86–117, PL 176.636B–646C and 663A–680D, C.S.M.V., 73–93 and 122–53, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 154–70 and 193–216, and is the tropological interpretation of the three-decked, pyramidally shaped Ark of the drawing mentioned and briefly described in Archa Noe, I.iv.139–47, CCCM 176.23, PL 176.629CD, C.S.M.V., 63, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 147, and then described in detail in the Libellus. The Ark of Mother Grace, which as Hugh says is accomplished in us as Mother Grace “[joins] many virtues together into one charity,” is not introduced again by Hugh in the subsequent books of Archa Noe. (cf. Archa Noe, I.iii.238–39, CCCM 176.17, PL 176.626C, C.S.M.V., 59, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 143.) Cf. Origen, Hom. in Gen., II, PG 11.162B, tr. Heine, 72–73. Heine’s translation is of Rufinus’ translation of Origen into Latin. A manuscript of Rufinus’ translation of Origen’s Homilies on Genesis dated to the middle of the twelfth century is among the surviving manuscripts from the medieval library of the Abbey of Saint Victor. It is Paris, BnF, lat. 14285, which contains all of Origen’s Homilies on the Old Testament. Cf. G. Ouy, Les manuscrits de l’abbaye de Saint-Victor: Catalogue établi sur la base du répertoire de Claude de Grandrue (1514), BV 10 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1999), vol. 2, p. 179. Origen is repeated by Bede, In Pentateuchum, VI.3, PL 91.221D. Alcuin, Interrogationes et Responsiones in Genesin, 105, PL 100.527C repeats Bede. Cf. also Rabanus Maurus, In Genesim, PL 107.514C and Angelome of Luxeuil, In Genesim 6, PL 115.157D. As seen just above, Origen considered the Ark to be a pyramid, which had no vertical sides to repel waves, with the result, as Hugh understood it, that the waves would fall on top of the sloping sides and press the vessel downward. On the other hand, large sailing vessels for transporting goods, as seen on the Seine River near the Abbey, had more or less vertical sides that would turn back the waves, which appears to have been Hugh’s criterion for seaworthiness. Gen. 8:13. Gen. 8:13. Gen. 6:16. The Latin mansiuncula is the diminutive of mansio, the word used for the 42 stopping places in the desert in the narrative of the Exodus from Egypt. It is also the word used by Jesus in the Gospel of John when referring to the “many dwelling places/mansions” in heaven. Cf. n. 15 above. With reference to the internal structure of the Ark, I have translated mansio as “deck.” In line with that, mansiuncula could be translated “small deck.” However, since a mansiuncula is something attached to the outer surface of the side of the Ark, I have used “small platform.” The question of amphibians (inside or outside the Ark) and their survival was first raised in the Pseudo-Augustine treatise, De miribilibus sacrae scripturae libri tres, I.5, PL 35.2156 without a solution to the problem, as Beryl Smally pointed out in The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1952; 3rd ed., 1983), p. 96, n. 4. Smalley did not explore the later solutions by Carolingian exegetes. Alcuin, followed by Angelome of Luxeuil, suggests that perhaps loca (places) were attached to the outside of the Ark so that otters and seals could move from the water to a dry location and back to the water, while the birds that feed on marine creatures but must rest on land would also have a place to rest. Cf. Alcuin, Interrogationes et Responsiones in Genesin, 124, PL 100.530CD and Angelome, In Genesim, VII.21, PL 115.159CD. Remigius of Auxerre says that there were loculos (small places) outside the Ark for such animals and also there were mansiunculae (small platforms) on the outside for birds that feed on sea and river creatures (In Genesim, VI.19, PL 131.75D–76A), cf. Libellus, IX, 1–42, CCCM 176.153–55, above p. 110–111. Gen. 6:15.

222 69

70 71

72

73

74

75 76 77 78 79

80

81 82

83

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  The idea that Moses used something called a “geometrical cubit” that is six times as long as an ordinary cubit goes back to Origen. In the tradition leading up to Hugh, Augustine cited Origen, and Bede quoted Augustine. The Carolingian exegetes followed Bede. Cf. Bede, In Genesim, II [6:21], CCSL 118A.111–12, PL 91.92A. The passage from Augustine is Quaest., 1.4, CCSL 33.3, PL 34.549. Cf. also De civitate Dei, 15.27, CCSL 48.495–96. Cf. Remigius of Auxerre, In Genesim, VI.15, PL 131.75A. Cf. Acts 7:22 for Moses and Egyptian wisdom. Hugh’s text reads: omni sapientia Aegyptiorum fuerat eruditus. The Vulgate text reads: Et eruditus est Moyses omni sapientia Aegyptiorum. The cubit “reckoned as equaling six cubits” is also known as the “great” or “geometrical”cubit. The Biblical cubit is generally reckoned to be approximately 17.5 inches long. This makes the “great” or “geometrical” cubit approximately 105 inches, or 8 feet 9 inches, long. With this dimension, the Ark would be 2625 feet in length, 427.5 feet wide, and 262.5 feet high. Geometry is one of the four divisions of mathematics in Didasc., 2.6, 9, and 13, ed. Buttimer, 30–33, tr. Taylor, 67–70, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.101–4. Cf. Practica, ed. Baron, 15–34, tr. Homann, on the measurement of distances, heights, and astronomical distances (planimetria, altimetria, and cosmimetria). The first four units of measurement are based on the ancient designations, with the first three named for body parts: finger (the width of a finger), palm (the width of the palm of a hand across the knuckles of the fingers) and the length of a foot. The fourth unit, the cubit, is related to the length of a foot. Hugh’s description suggests the following. Place each thumb underneath the index finger; with the hand flat and palm downward, place the index fingers (with thumbs beneath) of the hands adjacent to each other. The alignment of the eight fingers allows measurement of a segment in “fingers.” For a different set of measurements, cf. Hugh of Saint Victor, Diligens, VTT 3.236–37. The number of “fingers” should be 43,200, on the basis of 10,800 palms and four “fingers” to a palm. The text as printed in Migne has the correct number: digitos vero quadraginta tria [duo] millia ducentos. (PL 176.628D). Literally, “Say fifty three hundreds.” (Dic quinquagies trecenti). Hugh here uses the Latinized form (tetragonus) of the Greek word for a rectangle. Hugh here suggests the Pythagorean Theorem: the sum of the squares of the lengths of the orthogonal sides of a right triangle equals the square of the length of the third side (the hypotenuse) of the triangle. To “seek” the result of this operation is to take the square root of the length of the hypotenuse. Cf. the following note. The word latus, here translated here as “side,” is a multivalent term in Roman mathematics. As in modern usage, it can be simply a straight line (the “side”) linking two of the three apexes of a triangle. But it is also a technical term in Roman calculations, representing what we call “square root.” In the present sentence, determining the “side” refers to finding the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle. This requires finding the square root of the sum of the squares of the other two sides of the triangle. (According to the Pythagorean Theorem, the sum of the squares of the orthogonal sides of a right triangle equals the square of the hypotenuse, which is what Hugh is describing in practice.) The actual calculation is 90,000 plus 2500 which equals 92,500 with the square root of this number 304.14. Hugh gives the number as 304 and one-half. The actual calculation using Hugh’s numbers is 152.252 + 152 = 23,405, with the square root of 23,405 being 152.98. This statement is not accurate, since the line from the center to the “front” of the Ark is slightly shorter than the line from the center to a corner of the Ark. The actual calculation is 1502 +152 = 22,725, with the square root of 22,725 being 150.75. Hugh’s claim of 152 and one-half is not completely accurate. With sides of 15 and 25 cubits, the hypotenuse is 29.15 cubits. As is the case with previous calculations in this series, Hugh’s use of only a half or quarter cubit measure for expressing

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88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96

97 98 99 100 101 102

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the result allows for far less accuracy than the fractional units that are found in various calculations in his Practica, where we find sixths, sevenths and even smaller fractions. Cf. Practica, III.40.61–69 and 45.218–26, ed. Baron, 51 and 57, tr. Homann, 58 and 61. Cf. Bede, In Pentateuchum, PL 91.223. Bicamerata and tricamerata appear to be words invented for the Old Latin translation of Genesis. cenacula. The Latin tres tristega of Hugh’s text translated as “three levels.” This is a crucial paragraph, for here Hugh introduces the idea of an Ark with three, not five, decks and a roof that slopes inward as it rises from the bottom of the Ark. The Ark is thus a three-decked pyramid, a shape Hugh rejected for the literal interpretation but one he now embraces as the basis of his later tropological interpretation in Books 2 and 4 of De Archa and in the Libellus. The three-decked Ark is an alternative seen throughout the exegetical tradition and goes back to Origen. As Hugh makes clear here, this three-decked Ark is the one he has depicted in the drawing of Christ, the cosmos, and the Ark mentioned earlier in this treatise. He never says that he has drawn the five-decked Ark. Hugh’s reason for drawing the three-decked, pyramidal Ark is straightforward: on a two-dimensional drawing that views the Ark from above, it is impossible to represent the various heights of the walls of the individual decks. After Hugh gives the allegorical interpretation of the five-storied Ark of the literal sense, the only Ark being described or interpreted is the three-decked, pyramid-shaped Ark he has just mendtioned, except in Libellus IX. Cf. n. 135, p. 235–36 for the canon of Scripture. Cf. Libellus, VI, CCCM 176.150, PL 176.697BC, this vol. p. 108. Cf. Origen, Hom. in Gen., II, FOC 71, 72–88. Cf. Dan. 9:24. Cf. John 19:34. Cf. Rev. 21:9. Cf. Gen. 2:21. Cf. Augustine, En. Ps., XL.x.15–20, LVI.xi.27–29, CXXVI.vii.7–15, and CXXVII.xi.21–25 and Hincmar of Reims, Explanatio in ferculum Salomonis, PL125.818B. Rev. 13:8. Hugh’s text reads: Agnus qui occisus est ab initio seculi. The Vulgate reads: Agnus qui occisus est ab origine mundi. With regard to the translation of the word saeculum I have translated it as “age” in this portion of Archa Noe. Saeculum has primary reference to a period of time but can also be translated as “world” in some contexts. Where appropriate, the translation “world” is used. Hugh’s usage has a certain amount of ambiguity to it. Rev. 13:8. Matt. 18:10–14. Like the close reading of Is. 6:1, this advances the Ark’s symbolism. The Ark dimensions of 300 cubits long, 50 wide and 30 high yield these ratios. Later in this paragraph, the fact that that 300 divided by 50 equals six is symbolically important. For the Ark as representing Christ’s body, cf. De archa Noe, I.iii.196–205, CCCM 176.16, this vol. p. 142. The text “Indeed, the length of a body … width (altus) from the ground” is a quotation from Augustine, De civ. Dei, XV.xxvi.1, CCSL 48.115, tr. Dyson, 687. There are two notable variants, however. In the last sentence of the quote Augustine has latus where Hugh has altus and altus where Hugh has latus. I have translated Sicard’s critical text rather than emending it in light of Augustine. I have translated saeculi as “age” in this context. Syros is a Greek island. The tau has the shape of a cross. Note the assignment of numerical values to letters of the Greek alphabet. Eph. 4:13, in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi. Cf. John 1:16 where John also speaks of the “plenitude” of Christ from which all have received. In the medieval view of Christ’s life, this occurred at age 30, which most likely provides the link.

224 106 107 108 109 110 111

112 113 114

115

116 117 118 119 120

121

122

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  1 Cor. 3:1–2. 1 Cor. 2:14. 1 Cor. 2:15. Cf. Song of Songs 2:9. Cf. Song of Songs 2:9. The fourth and fifth decks are under the roof of the Ark. The roof slants inward until the sides are separated by one cubit. In an early article on Hugh’s description of the Ark, I proposed that the Ark he envisioned ad litteram was one with a roof that slanted toward the center as it rose on the long sides, with a ridge-line one cubit wide. This Ark would have gables on the prow and stern “ends” of the roof. This kind of roof with gable ends can be found on many twelfth-century depictions of Noah’s Ark. However, reconsidering Hugh’s remarks here and elsewhere on the convergence of the roof on all sides of the Ark as the structure rises, it is clear that Hugh thought of the material Ark as having a roof that slanted inward on all four sides as it rose to the one-cubit square peak of the Ark. The roof sloping inward on all four sides is true for both the five-decked and the three-decked Arks. The only difference is that the five-decked Ark has vertical walls for the lower three decks. The three-decked Ark has no vertical walls, with a “roof ” that slopes inward from the bottom to the peak. Rom. 6:7. Ps. 145:4. [NRSV 146:4]. 1 Cor. 15:53–54. Hugh’s text reads: Quando ergo mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem et corruptibile hoc vestierit incorruptionem … This is a conflation and modification of verses 53 and 54 in the Vulgate: Oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem: et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem. Cum autem mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem … This is a remark about the Ark with five decks, vertical walls for the three lower decks, and a roof that covers the upper two decks and slopes inward on all sides to the cubit at the peak. When viewed from above (desuper) the Ark looks like a truncated pyramid since the vertical walls of the three lower decks cannot be seen; only the pyramidal roof is visible. This remark has nothing to do with the three-decked, pyramidal Ark in Archa Noe, I.iv.143–47, CCCM176.23, PL 176.629D, C.S.M.V., 49–50, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 147, described thoroughly in the Libellus and mentioned repeatedly in Archa Noe II and IV. The four elements are earth, air, fire, and water. The four humors are blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Cf. Rev. 3:14–16: “But because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to spit you out of my mouth.” Gal. 5:16–17. The mention of in res (“in things”) with reference to allegory points to Hugh’s exegetical theory and practice in which the allegorical sense is based not on words but on material “things” (res) and events in Scripture that signify another “thing” or event. Cf. Harkins, Reading, 137‒96, for Hugh’s exegetical theory and practice. In distinguishing the worlds of “things” and “thoughts” Hugh distinguishes two kinds of deeper meaning to be found in the material “thing” called the Ark of Noah. Book 1 has explored the allegorical meaning and applied it to the Church as a multifaceted historical reality: institution, community of believers, etc. The Ark and the Church are both “things.” In turning to the world of thought, Hugh continues his interpretation with the historical Ark as a “thing,” but the meaning sought is found not in history but in the human mind, in thoughts. For Hugh, shaping of the mind is a moral endeavor, thus building the Ark with thoughts can be seen as the third sense of Scripture recognized by Hugh: the moral or tropological sense. Here Hugh echoes Augustine’s reflections in Book XI of the Confessions on the nature of time and the relation of past, present, and future to present awareness. Cf. Con., XI.14–31, CCSL 27.202–16.

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For Hugh, meditation is midway between mere thinking (which moves about freely from one thing to another) and contemplation, which is a transformative experience that takes the mind beyond itself to apprehend divine things. Meditation is the focus of the mind on consideration of a single topic or thing in concentrated activity. Cf. In Eccl., I, PL 175.117AB. As Hugh suggests here, meditation turns inward to the world of thought, apart from the flow of time with its fragmentation of experience. Here are the beginning of Book II Hugh sets out a glimpse of what he will say about the Ark of Wisdom at the conclusion of Book IV: There he underscores that for those who inhabit the Ark of Wisdom, built within the self, things past, present, and future—things that come into being and then pass away—exist together, “as if in a state of eternity.” Inhabitants of the Ark of Wisdom, “rejoice always—grieving not for the past, fearing not the future. They have what they love and see what they crave (concupiscunt).” Cf. Archa Noe, IV.xi.132–65, CCCM 176.115–17, esp. lines 145–53, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 215. Neither fearing the future nor grieving for the past can be seen as a Hugonian restatement of the monastic virtue of apatheia. In Book III of this work, Hugh presents another succinct evocation of apatheia: “Let him not trust too much when fortune smiles; let him not lose faith in the midst of adversities; and let him disregard equally whatever result is going to occur—whether good or bad.” Cf. Archa Noe, III.xi.97–100, CCCM 176.74, PL 176.657C, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 184–85. Hugh discusses right and useful thoughts (with the addition of necessary thoughts) in chapter 5, below. Cf. Archa Noe, II.5.1–40, CCCM 176.40–41, PL176.639D–640C, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 160‒61. In the drawing of Christ, cosmos, and the Ark, the categories of right, useful, and necessary are individually inscribed on a side (edge) of one of the three decks of the Ark in order from the lowest deck (right) to the uppermost (necessary), as mentioned in Libellus, IV.41–43, CCCM 176.140, PL 176.692B, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 101. There they are especially associated with right knowledge, useful discipline, and necessary goodness. CCCM  176.33 cites Job 15:34 and Ps. 73:7 [NRSV  74:7] as biblical parallels. Ps.  73:7 [NRSV 74:7] is an unlikely source. The fire burning the sanctuary/tabernacle there is a destructive fire set by enemies. The same is true for Job 15:34. The fire destroys the tabernacles of those who take bribes. Cf. Gen. 6:14. I  have corrected exibeas in the critical text to read exhibeas. Cf.  Archa Noe, II.1.26, CCCM 176.33, PL 176.635C, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 153. Another masterful tropological interpretation, with the attachment of a two-fold morality to a simple description connected with building the Ark. Outward coating with pitch indicates forming a virtue practiced outwardly; inner coating indicates an inner transformation by charity. Augustine, in C. Faust., XII.14, CSEL 25.344–45, tr. Teske, WSA I.135, associates both “the ardor of love” and toleration with bitumen. Isidore, Etym. XVI.ii.1, ed. Lindsay, 2.14, tr. Barney, p. 317, associates bitumen with fire and burning. For another mention of fear leading to charity, cf. Archa Noe, III.2.1–17, CCCM 176.55, PL 176.647AB, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 171. For the dimensions of the Ark, cf. Gen. 6:15. Cf. Archa Noe, I.5.6–30, CCCM 176.23–24, PL 176.630AC, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 148. Elsewhere exemplum = “example” is used with respect to Christ’s humanity. The word exemplar = “exemplar” or “pattern” is used with respect to the drawing of Christ, cosmos, and Ark. Hugh sets out the canon of Sacred Scripture in Didasc., 4.2, Buttimer, 71–72, tr. Taylor, 103–4, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.134–36; Script., VI, PL 175.15A–16B, VTT 3.218–19; Sacr., I. prol. 7, PL 176.185D–186D, tr. VTT 3.265–66. The canon of 30 books is presented as follows: Old Testament: (1) Pentateuch (Five Books): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; (2) Prophets (Eight Books): Joshua, Judges (and Ruth), Samuel (“which is First

226

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138 139 140 141 142 143 144

145

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H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  and Second Kings”), Kings (“which is Third and Fourth Kings”), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Book of the Twelve Prophets; (3) Writings (Nine Books): Job, David (Sacr. gives this as “the book of Psalms”), Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Daniel, Paralipomenon (Chronicles), Esdras (Esdras and Nehemiah), Esther. New Testament: (1) Gospels (Four Books): Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; (2) (Four Books) Acts of the Apostles, “fourteen letters of Paul contained in one volume,” canonical epistles (epistles of John and Peter), the Apocalypse; (3) decretals and the writings of the holy fathers constitute a third cate­ gory of writings, but Hugh notes these are read but they are not part of the canon. Thus 22 books comprise the Old Testament and eight comprise the New Testament for a total of 30. Hugh’s formulation of the list is dependent on Jerome, Praef. In Reg., PL 28.552ff and/ or Isidore, Etym., VI.1, ed. Lindsay. Cf. Harkins, tr. Didasc., VTT 3, p. 192, n. 191. In this paragraph concerning tropological meaning, the dimensions of the Ark are referred to inward thoughts/heart. In the earlier interpretation with respect to the allegorical meaning (cf. p. 148 above) the dimensions are referred to the Church as an outward institution in history. The first part of this sentence, which concerns transgressing boundaries, echoes Ps. 103:9 [NRSV 104:9]: Terminum posuisti quem non transgredientur. The last part of Hugh’s sentence is basically a rephrasing of the last part of Deut. 32:8: Quando dividebat Altissimus gentes, quando separabat filios Adam, constituit terminos populorum iuxta numerum filiorum Israel. Hugh’s text reads: Isti sunt termini patrum tuorum, quos tibi transgredi non licet, quos Altissimus constituit iuxta numerum filiorum Israel quando separabat filos Adam et gentes diuidebat. Cf. Ps. 36:3 [NRSV 37:3]. Hugh’s sentence is partially a rephrasing of the last half of this verse: Spera in Domino, et fac bonitatem: et inhabita terram, et pasceris in divitiis eius. Hugh’s text reads: Haec est terra quam inhabitare debes et pasci in divitiis eius. The safety inside the walls, roof, and house of which Hugh writes echoes Ecclus. 14:25–26, in which the wise person who attends to Wisdom takes particular care to dwell near Wisdom’s walls and house and also places his children under her roof. Job 5:7. Here and throughout I have chosen to translate terrena by “earthy” rather than by “earthly” in order to emphasize the concrete image of “dirt” and uncleanness as well as the contrast between the material things and those that are spiritual/celestial. Cf. Gen. 8:20. Cf. Gen. 9:21–22. This lengthy section on going out “by means of contemplation” is paralleled by a very short section in the Libellus concerning going out “by means of thinking” which has the same topics with similar but very compressed content. Cf. Libellus, VIII.1–16, CCCM 176.153, PL 176.698CD, tr. Zinn in this volume p. 109–10. This consideration of creatures as coming from nothing and tending toward nothingness reflects Hugh’s thoughts in Didasc., 1.6 (“On the Three Modes of Things”). There the third mode/order of things consists of “works of nature” that have a beginning and an end, i.e. come from nothing and return to nothing. Cf. Didasc., I.6, Buttimer, 12–14, PL 176.745D– 746A, tr. Taylor, 53–54, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.88–89. This consideration from the point of view of God’s creative activity, with the idea that things never really cease to exist, reflects again Did. I.6, in this case the second mode/order of created things brought into being by God’s will. Hugh terms them there “the substances of things the Greeks call ousias.” “… no essence is destroyed. For the essences of things do not pass away, but rather their forms do.” Cf. Didasc., 1.6, Buttimer, 12–14, PL 176.745D–746A, tr. Taylor, 53–54, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.88–89. Writing in Tribus diebus about wonder at the beauty of the divine works, Hugh includes a section on “The Disposition of Times,” which has an appreciation of the variation in the relative lengths of night and day, the relation of day and night to awakening and rest, and the succession of the seasons in a cycle of renewal. Cf.  Tribus diebus, I.6.1, CCCM 177.16.118–25, tr. Feiss, VTT 1.67.

NOTES 147 148

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153

154

155 156 157

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Prov. 28:1. Hugh’s word order differs from the Vulgate. Hugh: nemine persequente fugit impius. Vulgate: fugit impius, nemine persequente. On the created world as an aid for “natural (bodily) weakness” cf. Didasc., ed. Buttimer, 16–17, I.9, tr. Taylor, 56, VTT 3.91–92 on the mechanical arts as ameliorating such weaknesses as the need for clothing, tools, housing, etc. Cf. also in Archa Noe and elsewhere the way in which the world and body are good in and of themselves; they become “evil” based on the ways in which humans use them after the disorder of the will and the impairment of reason following upon the Fall. Cf. Gen. 2:9 and 3:6. Hugh has conflated portions of two verses: beautiful to look at and delightful to eat is from the description in Gen. 2:9 of “all the trees” that God brought forth from the ground. She plucked its fruit, and she ate is from Gen. 3:6, which describes Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. CCCM 176.38 cites only Gen. 3.6 as a source. Cf. Gen. 8:6, for the raven. Cf. Gen. 8:8–11, for the dove. The manifestation of God’s power, wisdom, and goodness (or kindness, benignitas) is one of the most basic and creative themes of Hugh’s theology in its Trinitarian aspects and in the Victorine conception of the manifestation in the visible world of the invisible things of the divine. Tribus diebus is a thorough presentation of the many ways in which Hugh found power, wisdom, and goodness so manifest. In the literature on Tribus diebus, cf. especially Poirel, Livre de la nature et débat trinitaire au xiie siécle: Le De tribus diebus de Hugues de Saint-Victor. BV 14 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002) and Wanda Cizewski, “Reading the World as Scripture: Hugh of St Victor’s De tribus diebus,” Florilegium 9 (1987): 65–88, as well as the introduction by Feiss in VTT 1.51–60. For the idea that fear leads charity, cf. Archa Noe, II.1.30–31, and III.2.9–10, CCCM 176.34 and 55, PL 176.615D and 647B. Fear and charity are first and eighth stages by which the Tree of Wisdom grows in Book III of Archa Noe. For these cf. Archa Noe, III.2.1–43 and III.9.1–37, CCCM 176.55–56 and 69–70, PL 647A–648A and 654C–655C, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 171–72 and 181. This is an echo of Hos. 7:11: Et factus est Ephraim quasi columba seducta, non habens cor (“And Ephraim has been made like a dove who has been seduced, having no heart.”) Hugh’s Latin text here reads: sed quia columba fuit seducta non habens cor. The sentence also seems to be a somewhat elliptical reference to the whiteness of a dove and the blackness of a raven, with the added contrast of returning/not returning. CCCM 176.40 does not note this echo of Hosea. Gen. 34:1–2. Gen. 34:3. In the drawing of Christ, cosmos, and Ark, these three terms are individually inscribed on a side (edge) of one the three decks of the Ark, with “right” on the lowest (and largest) deck and “necessary” on the uppermost (and smallest). Lowest and uppermost decks here refer to the vertical dimension of the Ark, not orientation in terms of the two-dimensional drawing of the Ark. Cf. n. 125, p. 225 above. This and several following sentences repeat a central theme introduced in the opening of Archa Noe, that knowledge is not useful until it is applied to one’s actions in life. Cf. Archa Noe, I.i.58–64, CCCM 176.5, PL 176.619, tr. C.S.M.V., 47, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 134–35 where after presenting the restlessness of the human heart as the problem to be solved, Hugh presents the cause (love of the world) and the remedy (love of God) and then says that it is useless to know these unless you apply the remedy to your life. Cf. also Meditatione, II.2, Baron SC 155.48, VTT 4.388: “For meditation is reflection on the plan of how to put into practice what we know, because it is of no use to know something unless we put it into practice.” Cf. Eccles. 20:32. Hugh’s text reads: Thesaurus absconditus et scientia abscondita, que utilitas in utrisque? The Vulgate text reads: Sapientia absconsa, et thesaurus invisus, quae utilitas in

228

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162 163

164 165

166

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H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  utrisque. Hugh seems to have drawn on a variant version of this text in the tradition. With the substitution of sapientia for scientia, Bede cites Eccles. 20:32 in a form identical with Hugh’s text except for word order: Et scriptum est: Sapientia abscondita, et thesaurus absconditus, quae utilitas in utrisque? Cf. Bede, In Luc. III.10, PL 92.462D; Homiliae, 68, PL 94.444C. Ps. 118:66 [NRSV 119.66]. Ps. 118:66 [NRSV 119.66]. Knowledge, discipline, and goodness are the three topics of instruction in Hugh’s Inst. nov. This treatise was a handbook of instruction for novices in the Victorine community and was meant to impart to them ideas about knowledge (the “knowledge of right living” [scientia recte vivendi]), discipline (disciplina, understood as training in bodily deportment, gestures, eating, etc. with outer actions reflecting inner formation), and goodness (bonum; also virtue; understood as the gift of grace). With regard to goodness/virtue Hugh says only this, at the end of Inst. nov.: it is a gift from God, to be sought in prayer. Cf. Inst. nov., VTT 9.249. An important variation on the three terms (wisdom, discipline, and virtue) appears in Archa Noe, I.iii.35–40, CCCM 176.10, PL 176.622BC, tr. Zinn, this vol. p.­138. This is the point at which Hugh introduces the drawing of Christ holding the cosmos (that encloses the Ark) and sitting upon a throne while accompanied by two Seraphim as in Isaiah 6.1–3. Hugh states that in the drawing, the viewers will see beautiful colors, forms, and figures from which they are to learn wisdom, discipline, and virtue with which to ornament their souls. Cf. Gen. 3:3. This series of contrasts is another example of Hugh’s use of a dyadic structure (above/ below) to present powerful theological/spiritual journey concepts. On Hugh’s use of homo assumptus in his Christology, cf. Franklin T. Harkins, “Homo Assumptus at St Victor: Reconsidering the Relationship between Victorine Christology and Peter Lombard’s First Opinion,” The Thomist 72 (2008): 595–624; also, Christopher Evans, “Victorine Christology: A Theology of the Homo Assumptus,” in A Companion to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris, Hugh Feiss and Juliet Mousseau, eds, Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition 79 (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2018), 298–327. Cf. Isa. 2:2 and Mic. 4:1, which provide Hugh the texts from which the pattern of an image of ascents from the four corners of the Ark and the world is drawn. Isa. 2:2 has omnes gentes like Hugh; Mic. 4:1 has populi. This presupposes the drawing of Christ, cosmos, and Ark in which the rectangular Ark is superimposed on an oval map of the world (mappa mundi) so that the bow of the Ark points to the east and the stern to the west. The heat of the east = southeast corner of the Ark, since for Hugh south = hot; cold of the west = northwest corner of the Ark, since for Hugh north = cold. The geographical orientation of the corners of the Ark presupposes the drawing of the rectangular Ark superimposed upon an oval map of the world (mappa mundi) with the bow of the Ark in the east and the stern in the west as described in the Libellus, XI.4–16, CCCM 176.157, tr. Zinn, p. 112–13 in this volume. The centerline of the Ark from bow to stern marks the sequence of time and events from Foundation to Consummation. Cf. Archa Noe, IV.9.1–55, CCCM 176.111–13, PL 176.677B–680D, C.S.M.V., 132–33 and Libellus, II.1–35, CCCM 176.127–28, PL 176.684A–685A, tr. Zinn, p. 91 and 211‒13 in this volume). Cf. also the introduction to the Libellus in this volume, above, p. 58. The directional reference to the “southern portion of the east” becomes clear when related to the drawing of the Ark, Christ, and the cosmos just mentioned. The place of Creation and the place for the base of the series of three ladders that ascend from the “heat of the east” (i.e. from the southeast) are both located at the southeastern corner of the Ark, which is also located in the southeastern region of the map of the world that surrounds the Ark in the drawing. On the mappa mundi the Garden of Eden is located in the eastern tip of the oval map, outside the outline of the Ark. There is, therefore, a part of that tip that can be described as the “southern portion of the east.” Cf. Libellus, XI.102, CCCM 176.157. The reference to a person on a throne in the north is to Lucifer, the first of the apostate angels. Cf. Isa. 14:12–13. In Book IV of Archa Noe Hugh associates the place of punishment

NOTES

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171 172 173 174 175 176

177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188



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for the damned with Babylon “in the north” where “the first apostate angel placed his throne.” Cf. Archa Noe, IV.9.51–55, CCCM 176.112–13, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 112–13. Cf. Rom. 7:13. Traced on the surface of the Ark/mappa mundi in the drawing, the sequential order of the spiritual journey traced by the four ascents rising up from the four corners of the Ark and terminating at the cubit in the center of the Ark as they mark out the return from the Fall to the fulfillment of the individual spiritual journey forms a chiasmus. This is, of course, also the form of the Greek letter X, which is the first letter of the name Christ. Hugh does not always discuss/describe ascents and their ladders in the order of the spiritual journey. They are also described by simply going around the corners of the Ark in counterclockwise order from the southeast to the southwest, or as earlier in this section, first on the north side, then the south, from east to west. Rudolph insists this is evidence of confused thought and a lack of order. I would maintain that when he is not focused on the order of the spiritual journey, Hugh uses the most convenient descriptive order. Cf. Matt. 8:11 and Isa. 43:6 for this sentence and the next. In the first sentence, Hugh slightly modifies Matt. 8:11 to fit the sentence. For the second sentence, the shouts from the north and the south are taken from Isa. 43:6, with the addition of “the Son of God” to the second shout. Note Hugh’s division of Christ’s saving work in terms of divine and human natures, always insisting on the unity of the person, but with a distinction in actions. The contrasts are three: humanity/divinity, in/from, example/remedy. Cf. Matt. 5:6, the fourth of the Beatitudes. Ps. 121:1 [NRSV 122.1]. Hincmar, Explanatio in ferculum Salomonis, PL 125.827B (cf. CCCM 176.44). The opening sentences of this paragraph draw on images of a festive ascent to Jerusalem and the Temple in Ps. 121:1–7 [NRSV 122:1–4]. Three colors of garments may suggest three kinds of martyrdom, as proposed in C.S.M.V., 144–45, and note which cites: liliis virginum, rosis martyrum, confessorum viriditate, from Peter Chrysologus, Sermo xcviii (PL 52.476B) and Honorius Augustodunsis, Gemma Animae, 9.1.162: Rosae sunt martyres, lilia virgines, violae saeculi contemptores, viridae herbae sapientes (PL 172.594). Another example of Hugh’s use of the above/below polarity with respect to Christ’s actions; cf. just above, Archa Noe, II.vi.1–16, CCCM 176.42, PL 176.640CD, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 162. Cf. Isa. 33:17. Cf. Jude 1:16, 18 and Col. 3:5. per abstinentiam et exercitium disciplinae. For the twelve virtues of the four ascents by ladders in the Ark drawing, see Libellus VI, 1–27, CCCM 176.150–51, PL 176.697BD, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 108. Ps. 118:115 [NRSV 119:115]. Cf.  Archa Noe, II.i.40–42, CCCM  176.34, PL  176.636A, C.S.M.V., 74 and II.vi.1–16, CCCM 176.42, PL 176.640CD, C.S.M.V., 82, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 156 and 162. Cf. Eph. 4:13. This is another passage that assumes existence and availability of the drawing of Christ, cosmos, and Ark. Hugh is referring to the mention of the column in the previous paragraph. On the canon of Scripture, cf. n. 135, p. 225, above. secundum formam humanitatis assumptae. Cf. Harkins, “Homo Assumptus at St Victor.” This same contrasting comparison of humanity/divinity and example/remedy is made above in Archa Noe, II.vii.22–24 (CCCM 176.43, PL 176.641B, C.S.M.V., 84, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 163). The entire paragraph there is an extended contrast of Christ’s role as Book of Life (humanity/example) and Tree of Life (divinity/remedy), cf. lines 19–37, CCCM 176.43– 44, PL 176.641BC, C.S.M.V., 83–84, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 163.

230 189

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191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199

200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Hugh here introduces a slightly different terminology for those who are ascending the three ladders of the fourth and final stage of the spiritual journey in the southeast corner of the Ark. Here he calls them “those who have been illumined,” emphasizing what they achieved in the third stage. Usually he speaks of them as those who advance “from the good to what is better,” emphasizing that toward which they progress in the fourth stage. For example, cf. Archa Noe, II.vii.76–77, CCCM 176.45, PL 176.642C, C.S.M.V., 86, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 164. Cf. Isa. 9:2, the last phrase of which Hugh effectively quotes: For the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who dwell in the region of the shadow of death, a light has arisen. Hugh’s text: exortum est lumen habitantibus in regione umbrae mortis; Vulgate text: habitantibus in regione umbrae mortis, lux orta est eis. The whole of Isa. 9:2 is quoted in Matt. 4:16 as the prophecy fulfilled when Jesus went to Capernaum and began his preaching ministry. As we have seen and will see later, Hugh associates the direction north with punishment, Hell, and Lucifer as the first fallen Angel. Cf. Gen. 2:8–9. The antecedent to the “it” that ends the sentence is somewhat ambiguous in its reference. The most straightforward interpretation is to take “soil” as the antecedent, thus understanding “the soil” to represent the entire extent of Paradise. Cf. Gen. 3:22–24. These verses mention only Adam when describing banishment from the “Paradise of Delights” because of having eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Cf. Gen. 2:9. Cf. Gen. 3:23. Eating worthily of this Tree is an allusion to the sacrament of the Eucharist. Eccles. 1:2–3. Eccles. 1:2. Ps. 38:6 [NRSV 39:5]. Eccles. 3:14–15. This text bears comparison with the visual representation of the six days of Creation in the Libellus. In the drawing of Christ, cosmos, and the Ark, the role of Christ (enthroned as in Isaiah’s vision [Is. 6:1]) as the Creative Word is figuratively represented by six disks (each with a scene depicting the work of one of the six days of creation) that descend like a vertical chain from his mouth to Paradise at the eastern end of the Ark (which is also the beginning of the time-line that runs the length of the Ark to the stern). With this innovative visual representation, the days of creation emerge from the mouth of the Creative Word in a powerful symbolic representation. Cf. Libellus, XI.86–101, CCCM 176.160–61, tr. Zinn later in this volume, p. 115, esp. lines 96–98: “The result of this is that the Word goes out from the mouth of the Majesty, the entire ordering of creatures follows, and the extension of the Ark itself reaches from the beginning of the world (a principio mundi) to the end of the age.” In this passage in Archa Noe, the resulting cascade of comparisons of the created word of the world and the eternal, uncreated Word/Wisdom is another example of Hugh’s dyadic constructions that are symbolically and theologically powerful. Cf. Tribus diebus, VVT 1.61–102. Cf. Matt. 5:8, the sixth Beatitude. Cf. Gen. 2:7–8 for Paradise; Adam receives his name in Gen. 2:19. For the phrase “the land of the living” (terra viventium) cf. Ps. 26:13 [NRSV 27:13] Credo videre bona Domini in terra viventium = “I believe to see good things of the Lord in the land of the living.” Cf. John 6:47–58, esp. 55. Cf. John 6:64. Cf. Prov. 1:7: Timor Domini principium sapientiae; sapientiam atque doctrinam stulti despiciunt. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and teaching.” Hugh’s text reads: Timor Dei principium est sapientie. Ps. 33:9 [NRSV 34:8]. The idea that fear leads to charity is found also in Archa Noe, II.i.30– 31, CCCM 176:34, PL 176.635D, C.S.M.V., 74, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 155.

NOTES 208

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facit pauperem spiritu. Cf. the first Beatitude, Beati pauperes spiritu … (“Blessed are the poor in spirit …”) Matt. 5:3. This first stage, Fear, is associated directly with the first Beatitude in Archa Noe, III.ix.19–22, CCCM 176.69, PL 176.655A, C.S.M.V., 107, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 181. Cf. Luke 18:24–25, for the exclusion of a rich man from heaven. Cf. Job 28:14. Hugh’s text reads: Mare loquitur secum non esse sapientiam. The Vulgate reads: Mare loquitur non est mecum. Hugh appears to have modified the text to provide a specific reference back to the question in Job 28:12: Sapientia vero ubi invenitur? (“But where is wisdom found?”) Hugh has modified the reflexive with me (mecum), which refers to the sea in the Vulgate, to a reflexive with se (secum) that refers to the person with a mind that is “stirred up.” Cf. John 12:24. Eccles. 1:18. Compuncta is translated with the phrase “after being pricked by the goad” in order to bring out the implied association of the verb compungo with the sharp pain produced by the sharp-pointed goad used by shepherds to herd sheep. Cf. Archa Noe, IV.viii.86–159, CCCM 176.108–10, PL 176.675D–676D, C.S.M.V., 141–47, and this volume, p. 209–11, where Hugh discusses keeping “the outward appearance of earthy things (terrenarum rerum speciem)” out of one’s thoughts (Archa Noe, IV.viii.123–24, CCCM 176.109, PL 176.676C, C.S.M.V., 145, and this volume, p. 210. In that section Hugh analyzes at length the concupiscence of the world and points out that one should flee the world not because the substance of the world is evil but because the beauty of the world seduces souls. People should flee concupiscence of the world, not the world as such. All things of the world, so far as their simple existence goes, are good; it is willful, disordered craving of things, not the things themselves, that produces sin. Job 5:3. Ps. 13:1 [NRSV 14:1]. Cf. Ps. 52:1 [NRSV 53:1] which has a phrase identical to Ps. 13:1. Ps. 13:3 [NRSV 14:3]. Cf. Ps. 35:2 [NRSV 36:1] which has almost the same phrase as Ps. 13.3, except it has “his eyes” rather than “their eyes.” Literally, ancipiti mentis sententia = “decision of a two-headed mind.” The phrase “the prosperity of sinners” comes from Ps. 72:3 [NRSV 73.3]. See the next note. Ps. 72:2–3 [NRSV 73:2–3]. Hugh’s text reads: Mei autem pene moti sunt pedes, pene effusi sunt gressus mei, quia zelavi in peccatoribus pacem peccatorum videns. The Vulgate differs in one phrase. It has zelavi super iniquos not zelavi in peccatoribus. Ps. 72:11–12 [NRSV 73:11–12]. Hugh’s text reads: Quomodo, inquiunt, scit Deus, et si est scientia in Excelso, quia ipsi peccatores et abundantes in saeculo obtinuerunt divitias. The Vulgate text reads: Et dixerunt: Quomodo scit Deus, et si est scientia in excelso. Ecce ipsi peccatores, et abundantes in saeculo, obtinuerunt divitias. Hugh here quotes the Old Latin version of Isa. 5:2: Et plantavi vineam Soreth. Cf. P. Sabatier, Bibliorum sacrorum latinae versiones antiquae seu Vetus Italica (Paris: Vincent de la Rue, 1743), 2, 525. Cf. Ps. 79:9 [NRSV 80:8]. Hugh’s text reads: Quia de Aegypto transtulit et eiecit gentes et plantavit eam. The Vulgate reads: Vineam de Aegypto transtulisti eiecisti gentes et plantasti eam. Amos 9:15. Hugh’s text has Plantabo eos super humum suam, et non evellam eos amplius. The Vulgate text is the same except it has eos ultra humum suam. Jer. 24:6 and 42:10, cited by C.S.M.V., 100, n. 3, offer partial parallels: et plantabo eos et non evellam (Jer. 24:6) and plantabo et non evellam (Jer. 42:10). Ps. 72:28 [NRSV 73:28]. 2 Kings 19:30. C.S.M.V., 100, n. 5 cites 2 Kings 19:30 as the verse here. Hugh’s text has Quodcunque reliquum fuerit de domo Iude mittet radices deorsum, et faciet fructum sursum. The Vulgate differs in that it has the phrase de domo Iuda mittet radicem. CCCM 176.62 is in error citing Isa. 37:31. This verse is close, but Hugh is citing 2 Kings. Cf. Matt. 13:44. Cf. Gen. 1:26.

232 228 229 230 231 232

233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240

241

242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251

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H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  eum semper per contemplationem presentem habere. Cf. Gen. 3:6. Cf. 1 Kings 8:10–11. Augustine, En. Ps., LXXI.1.7–10, CCCM 39.971; Gregory the Great, In Cant., 3.9, PL 79.505A (cf. CCCM 176.65). Cf. Prov. 8:31. The Vulgate text reads: ludens in orbe terrarum et deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum. Hugh’s text reads: ludens in orbem terrarum delicias suas dicit esse cum filiis hominum. Hugh has changed meae to suae to fit the context. Hugh’s reading in orbem is found in Alcuin’s Bible, cf. Biblia sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem, ed. R. Weber (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), 964n. For another mention of the “watchtower of contemplation” cf. Archa Noe, III.viii.9–10, CCCM 176:68, PL 176.654B, C.S.M.V., 106, above p. 180, where Hugh employs the image to convey a raising up of the soul in spiritual experience. On the translation of compungo, see n. 9, p. 217. Cf. Gen. 26:15, 18–19, in which Isaac digs again the wells that were dug earlier by his father Abraham and then filled in by the Philistines. Isaac finds “living water” when he digs in the torrent Gerara (vs. 19). A well associated with Jacob appears only in John 4:5–6. Allophili = foreigners or Philistines. Cf. Matt. 13:44. For Judas as traitor, cf. Luke 6:16. For Judas selling Christ, cf. Matt. 26:15. For the holy women at the tomb, cf. Luke 24:1. monstravero tibi. Cf. Acts 7:3; cf. Gen. 12:1. The events are described in both verses. However, Hugh’s text which reads Exi de terra tua et de cognatione tua, et de domo patris tui, et veni in terram quam monstravero tibi is not the Vulgate text of Gen. 12:1 but rather the text of Acts 7:3. The Vulgate text of Genesis 12:1 reads Egredere de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et de domo patris tui, et veni in terram quam monstrabo tibi. CCCM 176:67 mistakenly gives the biblical source for Hugh’s citation as Gen. 12:1. in quondam contemplationis speculam. The “watchtower of contemplation” also appears earlier in Archa Noe III.vii.30–35 (CCCM 176:64–65, PL 176.652BC, C.S.M.V, p. 103, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 178). In that instance, Hugh employs the image to envision the Fall of Adam as a tumbling out of the elevated height of the watchtower of contemplation by sinning. Prov. 18:1. Matt. 5:3. Matt. 5:4. Matt. 5:5. Matt. 5:6. Matt. 5:7. Matt. 5:8. Matt. 5:9. Matt. 5:10. Spring, the time of budding for trees, is characterized as “moist” and “hot” in the medieval cycle of the harmony of the seasons that associates each of the four seasons with two of the four humors (hot, cold, wet, dry). In Libellus, XI.17–54, CCCM 176:157–58, PL 176.700D– 701BC, tr. Zinn in this volume, p. 113–14, the drawing of the symbolic cosmos that is held by Christ and surrounds the Ark is inscribed with a diagram of the harmony of the seasons expressed through pairs of the four humors, along with the personifications of the four seasons, all related to the four directions, the cycle of the four ages of human beings (youth, adolescence, maturity, old age), four senses, 12 months, 12 signs of the Zodiac, and 12 winds. The critical Latin text has typo (from typus  = form, image). Cf.  Archa Noe III.xi.54, CCCM 176.72, PL 176.656D, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 183. I have emended the text to read typho (from typhus) = pride, vanity. I am indebted to Hugh Feiss, OSB for pointing this out.

NOTES 253 254

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fit sibi ipsi gravis animus. Cf. Job 7:20: factus sum mihimet ipsi gravis = “I have become a weight unto myself.” I am indebted to Hugh Feiss, OSB, for this reference. A succinct statement of the virtue of detachment or apatheia. Formulated in the third and fourth centuries by the Desert Fathers, this concept of detachment from joy or sorrow, pain, or pleasure, etc. remained central in the practice of spiritual discipline in the Eastern and Western churches. In John Cassian’s reformulation of monastic practice and theology that became primary for the Western Latin tradition, the Greek term apatheia was translated as puritas cordis = “purity of heart.” This, of course, also attaches the concept to the sixth Beatitude and the vision of God. Cf. the beatitudes at the end of chapter 9 just above: Archa Noe, III.ix.19–37, CCCM 176:69–70, PL 176.655AB, C.S.M.V., 107, tr. Zinn, this vol. p. 181. Luke 6:18. Cf. Mark 12:14; Luke 20:22, 23:2. Cf. 1 Cor. 6:13. The Latin word affectio, here translated as “feeling,” is a term that is only with difficulty translated into a single English word. It has connotations of emotions, feelings, psychological states of pleasure, pain or desire, and the like. Ps. 74:9 [NRSV 75:9]. Hugh’s text lacks the final word (mixto) of the Vulgate text, which reads: Quia calix in manu Domini vini meri plenus mixto. A partial use of Ps. 103:15 [NRSV 104:15]: Et vinum laetificet cor hominis = “And [so that] wine may make glad a person’s heart.” Hugh’s text reads: Vini videlicet quod laetificat cor hominis. Ps. 22:5 [NRSV 23:5]. Hugh’s text reads: Calix Domini inebrians perquam optimus est. The Vulgate text reads: Calix meus inebrians quam praeclarus est. Deut. 32:33. Here Hugh clearly means to make an allusion to Jer. 51:7: Calix aureus Babylon in manu Domini inebrians omnem terram de vino eius biberunt gentes et ideo commotae sunt (“Babylon, a golden chalice in the hand of the Lord, inebriates all the earth; the nations have drunk of her wine and therefore they have gone mad.”) The mention of fornications is an allusion to Rev. 14:8: Cecidit, cecidit Babylon illa magna: quae a vino irae fornicationis suae potavit omnes gentes (“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great; all the nations have drunk from the wine of the wrath of her fornication,”) which is the only biblical passage CCCM 176.79 associates with Hugh’s text at this point. C.S.M.V., 117, n. 1, cites comparisons with Rev. 17:1–5 and 18:2 ff. There are a number of parallel words in these two passages, but there is not the close parallel that Jer. 51:7 offers. John 2:10. John 2:10. For Nathan’s confrontation with David, cf. 2 Sam. 12:1–10. For the account of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah, cf. 2 Sam. 11:1–27. Song of Songs 5:1 [NRSV 4:16]. Song of Songs 5:1 [NRSV 5:1]. Ps. 16:15 [NRSV 17:15]. Ps. 15:11 [NRSV 16:11]. Hugh’s text has Vulgate text, except Hugh has delectationes instead of delectatio. The numbers link Old Testament = temporal gifts, with New = eternal. Eph. 4:13. Wisdom = 15. Wisdom doubled with addition of charity = 30. Here Hugh alludes to the age at which Jesus began his ministry, i.e. was baptized, 30. Cf. Luke 3:23. Hugh thinks here of someone visualizing the line of numbers from 1 to 15, as practiced in the medieval art of memory and recommended in his treatise on memory, Chronicon, VTT 6.138. There are 15 “locations,” one for each number, in this line. Since the eighth “location” (the number eight) is in the middle of the line, there are seven “locations” on either side of eight. Visualizing a line of numbers, with a “location” for a visualized image

234

275 276 277 278 279 280

281

282 283 284 285 286 287 288

289 290 291 292 293 294

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  or text associated with each number, plays a major role in Hugh’s presentation of the art of memory in De tribus maximiis circumstantiis gestorum, the preface to his Chronicon. Cf. Chronicon, tr. Zinn, VTT 6.138–39. In De tribus maximiis the line of numbers and associated places provides a visual device for memorizing and recalling the text of each Psalm according to numerical order of the Psalms and their verses. Gen. 2:2. Isa. 66:23. Cf. Hugh, Sent. div., 1, tr. Evans, VTT 1.137–38. Matt. 5:10. On the Tree of Wisdom that “grows stronger through charity,” see the previous paragraph and also Archa Noe, III.ix.1–37, CCCM 176:69–70, PL 176.654C–655A, C.S.M.V., 106–7, tr. this volume, p. 181). As Hugh describes the process of building the inner Ark of Wisdom he often divides or distinguishes things or processes in a way that can be seen as reflecting the way he employed the six traditional rhetorical circumstances to distinguish and organize the narrative of the biblical text for allegorical and tropological interpretation. Hugh described the circumstances as, “the thing (“matter”), the person, the number, the place, the time, and the deed.” (Circumstances quoted from Script., 14, PL 175.20D–21D, VTT 3.225–26.) In the first distinction here, place and material are clearly two circumstances that are being used to organize the narrative of the construction of the Ark of Wisdom. The threefold distinction of builder, place, and material in the next paragraph functions in the same way. This manner of creating distinctions to order material is a recurring characteristic of Hugh’s thought that is exemplified in many treatises. The word translated here as “courts” is atria. The usual meaning is the entrance-room or hall of a house. In the Vulgate text of Exodus, the Psalms, and Ezekiel in particular, atrium, is used of the court or courts around the Tabernacle and the Temple. Cf. for example: Exod. 27:9, Ps. 83:3, 11 [NRSV 84:2, 10], Ezek. 40:14, 17, 23, 31–32. Ps. 118:32 [NRSV 119:32]. Cf. Gen. 6:1–40. Cf. Exod. 25:10–16. Cf. Exod. 31:1–11 and 35:30–39:31. Cf. 1 Kings 5:1–6:38. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:10 and 2 Cor. 6:1. Cf. Archa Noe, IV.vii.4, CCCM 176.102, PL 176.672D, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 205, and Libellus, XI.70, CCCM 176.160, PL 176.702A, tr. Zinn in this volume p. 114, where the phrase machina universitatis is found. In the Libellus the phrase refers directly to the drawing of the circular cosmos that is held by the seated figure of Christ and that surrounds the mappa mundi with the Ark of Noah in the center. On wisdom, beauty, and creation, cf. Coolman, Theology, 81–102. In Hugh’s theology, the beauty of the world is the result of development, since in the first three days of creation, the world is brought forth and in the second three days the world is ornamented. John 14:23. The Latin mansio is here translated “dwelling place” in accord with the sense of the usage of the word in this passage of the Gospel of John. For more on the translation of mansio, cf. n. 15, p. 218. John 14:23. Prov. 9:1. Prov. 8:12. Hugh’s text reads: Ego sapientia in consilio habito, et sensatis intersum cogitationibus. The Vulgate text reads: Ego sapientia habito in consilio et eruditis intersum cogitationibus. Hugh’s use of sensatis appears to be a unique reading of this verse. Cf. Prov. 12:23. Hugh draws on a formulation (Anima iusti sedes sapientiae) found in earlier writers and based on the Septuagint text of Prov. 12:23. Cf. Jean Leclercq, Recueil d’études sur saint Bernard et ses écrits (Roma: Edizioni di Storia e letteratura, 1962–1966)

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vol. 1, 308–9. Cf. Gregory the Great, Mor., XXIX.xxviii.55, CCSL 143B.1473.15. Leclercq cites additional passages from Gregory and also from Bernard of Clairvaux. In addition to the Gregory passage, De Archa Noe, CCCM 176:88 cites Rabanus Maurus, De universo, IX.iii, PL 111.264B and Augustine, En. Ps., 98.3, PL 37.1259–60. Cf. Anne-Marie La Bonnardière, “Animi iusti sedes sapientiae dans l’œuvre de saint Augustin,” in Epektasis: mélanges patristiques offerts au Cardinal Jean Daniélou (Paris: Beauchesne, 1972), 111–20. In Hugh’s theology of the Trinity, Power and Wisdom are identified with the Father and the Son, while Kindness (benignitas) is identified with the Holy Spirit. For Hugh’s Trinitarian theology and the distinctions of Power, Wisdom, and Kindness (or Goodness), cf. Tribus diebus and the study of D. Poirel, Livre de la nature et débat trinitaire au xiie siècle: le De tribus diebus de Hugues de Saint-Victor, BV 14 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002). This sentence echoes Hugh’s initial and very brief description in Archa Noe, I.4.139–47, esp.145–47, CCCM 176:23, PL 176.629D, C.S.M.V., 63, tr. Zinn, this volume, p. 147, of the drawing of the symbolic Ark presupposed by the spiritual teaching of Archa Noe and described in the Libellus. In that initial description Hugh says, “Indeed, in this form the timbers that rise upward on all sides are slowly drawn together until at the peak they come together in the measure of one cubit.” This sentence, in turn, echoes Origen’s comment on the shape of the historical Ark (i.e. according to the literal interpretation of Genesis) at the opening of his second homily on Genesis as translated by Rufinus (Hom. in Gen., tr. Heine, 72). Hugh quotes Origen, only to reject this pyramidal form of the Ark for the form of the historical Ark, in his own literal exegesis of the Ark’s description in Genesis. Cf. Archa Noe, I.4.5–19, CCCM 176.18, PL 176.626D–627A, C.S.M.V., 60–61, tr. Zinn, in this volume p. 144. The contrast here is between the verbs transfero (translate) and reduco (return). To be “translated” in this case means to be “moved” immediately by divine power from one state of life to another. To “return” means to “travel” through stages of transformation and development under the impetus of both one’s own will and divine grace in line with the divine plan for salvation. Isa. 43:5–6. Hugh’s text begins with Adducam ab oriente; the Vulgate with Ab oriente adducam. In this presentation of the works of foundation and the works of restoration, Hugh discusses them in relation to the creation and salvation of homo. I generally translate homo as “person” or “human being.” Here the word is clearly used primarily in a collective sense for human beings, although the word is singular not plural. “Humanity” is a possible translation, but that has a more abstract, conceptual feeling, so I have chosen “humans.” Later in this Book, when there is a contrast between Adam (primus homo = “first human”) and a later individual (homo) I have used homo = “person.” The division of everything that exists into the works of foundation and the works of restoration is one of the most fundamental motifs characterizing Hugh’s thought. The definition presented here differs from those found in Sacr. and Script. Cf. Sacr., I. prol, ed. Berndt, I.31.20–32.2, PL 176.183, tr. Deferrari, 4, and Script., 2, PL 175.11AD, VTT 3.214. Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:26. Cf. Exod. 3:6. Place, time, and person are three of the six “circumstances” that Hugh directs the student consider when interpreting Scripture, especially in discerning the allegorical and tropological meanings of passages. Cf. Script., 14, PL 175.20D–21D, VTT 3.225–26. The other three circumstances are thing, number, and deed. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:7 for contrast per fidem, per speciem. Going from a place of happiness to a place of unhappiness refers to the Fall of Adam, who was sent from the happiness of Paradise to the unhappiness of life in this world. These times and places suggest several biblical instances: In the silence of the night— Samuel, Wise Men, Shepherds; in fields—Shepherds; wilderness and mountain—Moses on Mount Sinai, Jesus’ Disciples and the Transfiguration.

236 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314

315 316 317

318 319 320 321

322 323

324 325 326

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Cf. Matt. 17:1–9; Mark 9:1–8. Luke 8:10. Matt. 10:27. Exod. 19:1–20:26. Cf. Exod. 19:20. This passage seems more likely to be in Hugh’s mind than verses 3 and 12, which Sicard cites, cf. CCCM 176.95. Cf. Gen. 3:1–5. Cf. Song of Songs 2:9. Cf. Song of Songs 5:4. Cf. Song of Songs 2:10–12. Hugh’s text reads: Veni amica mea, speciosa mea, columba mea. Ecce hiemps transiit, imber abiit et recessit, flores apparuerunt in terra nostra, uox turturis audita est in terra nostra. The Vulgate text reads: Surge propera amica mea, columba mea, formosa mea et veni; iam enim hiemps transiit, imber abiit et recessit. Flores apparuerunt in terra; tempus putationis advenit; vox turturis audita est in terra nostra. The underlining in Hugh’s text marks words not in the Vulgate text. In the Vulgate text the underlining represents words not in Hugh’s text. As will be noted from the underlining in the Vulgate citation, Hugh omits an entire phrase in verse 12: tempus putationis advenit. Hugh’s use of speciosa mea rather than formonsa mea in verse 10 appears to be a substitution of the speciosa mea of verse 13 in the Vulgate text of verse 10. Cf. the next citation of Song of Songs 2:12 in this paragraph and the note there for more on Hugh’s presentation of this passage from the Song of Songs. Cf. Song of Songs 5:6. Cf. Song of Songs, 5:7. Cf. Song of Songs 2:12–13. Hugh’s text reads: Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra, uineae florentes odorem dederunt, uox turturis audita est in terra nostra, which differs from verse 12 as cited just above. The present citation adds the phrase vinee florentes odorem dederunt to the text. This phrase is drawn from the Vulgate text of verse 13, where it reads uineae florentes odorem dederunt suum. To complicate matters, the Vulgate text of verse 12 (as noted earlier) reads Flores apparuerunt in terra, tempus putationis advenit, vox turturis audita est in terra nostra. Thus, Hugh’s text not only inserts a phrase into the previously cited verse twelve; the verse he inserts replaces a phrase (tempus putationis advenit) found in the Vulgate text of verse 12. Cf. Song of Songs 2:10–12 earlier in this paragraph and the note there. Song of Songs 2:12. Song of Songs 2:12. acies mentis. In Sacr., I.vii.25–38, PL 176.193AB, tr. Deferrari, 132–41, Hugh discusses at length the results of Original Sin, its effects and transmission. Ignorance of the mind and concupiscence of the flesh are punishments and guilts from Adam’s sin of disobedience. The third punishment (but not a guilt) is bodily weakness and mortality; cf. Sacr., I.viii.1, PL 176.193C, tr. Deferrari, 141. Didasc. 2, tr. Harkins, VTT 3.96–116, presents Hugh’s program of reading philosophic works the liberal arts that train in knowledge and virtue as the remedies for ignorance and concupiscence and the mechanical arts (weaving, carpentry, etc.) as remedies for the punishment of bodily weakness and mortality. Coolman, Theology, 81–102, esp. n. 92. Hugh refers here to the pyramidal form of the Ark of the drawing. With four sides that lean inward toward the center as they rise to the peak that measures one cubit square, the Ark offers a vivid image of gradual unification while spiritually ascending, a frequent motif in this treatise. Cf. Script., 2, VTT 3.214. Cf. Rom. 1:21. See also Hugh, Sent. Div., Prologue, VTT 1.113. The idea that visible material things have the ability to “lead” a person to invisible spiritual realities is a key aspect of Hugh’s theological and spiritual teaching. While the material

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343 344 345 346 347

348 349 350 351

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world is, as Hugh makes clear here, a distraction and, indeed, an occasion for sin, it also leads the properly prepared person to knowledge of things of the invisible world of spiritual realities. The deeper meaning of Scripture is discovered through the interpretation of the material “things” of the text (persons, places, objects, etc.) while the same material “things” in the world are able to have a deeper meaning for the faithful beholder. machina universitatis. The same phrase is used in Libellus, XI.70, CCCM 176.160, PL 176.702A, tr. Zinn in this volume p. 114, where it refers to the drawing of the cosmos that is held by Christ in front of his body. The phrase ammirabilem huius mundi machinam is found in Archa Noe, IV.i.44–45, CCCM 176.87, PL 176.664C, C.S.M.V., 123, trans. in this volume p. 194. Cf. Gen. 7:18. Another use by Hugh of dyadic contrasts in parallel: above/below; stable/unstable; flowing downward/rising upward. Cf. 1 John 2:16 which speaks of “concupiscence of the flesh” (concupiscentia carnis). Matt. 16:17. Rom 7:17. Rom. 7:18. Gal. 5:16. Cf. Archa Noe I.v.179–224, CCCM 176.152–54, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 152–54 Gal. 5:16. ex corruption primae nativitatis. The “first birth” is physical birth, here implicitly contrasted with a “second birth” in the sacrament of baptism. Rom. 6:12. Luke 12:34. Ps. 36:31 [NRSV 37:31]. Ps. 1:2 [NRSV 1:2]. fidem operantem ex dilectione quae mundum vincit. Cf. Gal. 5:6 (… fides, quae per caritatem operatur. [… faith that is active by charity.]) and 1 John 5:4 (Quoniam omne quod natum est ex Deo, vincit mundum: et haec est victoria, quae vincit mundum, fides nostra. [For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory which overcomes the world, our faith.]). Noted by C.S.M.V., 142, n. 3. Ps. 103:25–26 [NRSV 104:25–26]. Matt. 9:22; Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50. Cf. Luke 17:19, 18:42. Cf. Gal. 5:17. Cf. Gen. 8:8–9. For an earlier passage using the symbolism of the dove leaving and returning to the Ark to represent what Hugh there calls contemplation (as opposed to meditation here), cf. Archa Noe, II.iii.39–4.21, CCCM 176.38–39, PL 176.638D–639B, C.S.M.V., 79–80, tr. Zinn, in this volume p. 159–60. James 4:4. Ps. 38:4 [NRSV 39:3]. Cf. Archa Noe, IV.i.79–90, CCCM 176.89, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 195 Hugh is now setting out to discuss matters of place and time with respect to the mappa mundi already mentioned in Archa Noe and described in the Libellus. Paradise is shown in the east and therefore appears at the top of that drawing, a location that Hugh describes as in principio mundi, i.e. where the world “begins” at the eastern border of the map, the site of Paradise and the formation of the first person, Adam. Note relation of this description to the map layout. The statement “descend toward the west” accords with west at the bottom of the mappa mundi as it is oriented in the drawing that is described in the Libellus. “The end of the world” (finem mundi) indicates the western boundary-line of the mappa mundi in the west, which corresponds to the end of the timeline that runs from east to west.

238 353

354

355 356

357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364

365 366

367 368

H U G H O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Another visual clue with reference to the mappa mundi that indicates the drawing probably was placed on a wall, with east at the top and west at the bottom so that the time line from Creation to Judgment runs “downward.” The declaration that events and places on the map to the north are on the right and those to the south are on the left means that Hugh is describing the drawing with left and right understood as Christ’s left and right, i.e. “stage left” and “stage right” in modern usage. Hugh is speaking of the placement of Egypt and Babylon on the mappa mundi in the drawing. However, from a remark in Libellus (describing where the Jewish people “enter” the Ark in the Exodus from Egypt and where they “leave” the Ark in the Exile to Babylon) we know that rather than being directly “north” or “south” of Jerusalem on the mappa mundi, Babylon is to the northeast and Egypt is to the southeast. This corresponds to the location of those two places in relation to Jerusalem in the respective quadrants of typical medieval world maps. For the Libellus, IX.43.54, CCCM 176.155, PL 176.699D (openings in north and south sides of the Ark for processions marking the Exile and Exodus) and V.3–7, CCCM 176.148, PL 176.696C (opening in the south side of the Ark for a procession to Babylon marking the Exile) see p. 111 and 106–7, above. For the interpretation of Egypt as “darkness” cf. Augustine, En. Ps., lxxvii.28, PL 36.1001, C.S.M.V., 148, n. 1. For the interpretation of Babylon as signifying “confusion” cf. Jerome, Comm. in Isa., 6.2, PL 24.205D, tr. Scheck, 292. For Babylon as “hell,” cf. Libellus, XI, 12–16, CCCM 176.157, PL 176.700D, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 113, where Hell is explicitly situated in the northern portion of the “cone” that comprises the western end of the oval-shaped mappa mundi, the area in which the Last Judgment is depicted. Cf. also the linking of Babylon, Hell and the North at the end of this paragraph. Cf. Exod. 1:1–14 and Jth. 5:10 for Egypt; cf. 2 Kings 24:10–16, 1 Chron. 9:18–20 and 2 Chron. 36:17–20 for Babylon. Cf. Isa. 14:12–15, in which Lucifer is said to have his throne “on the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north.” Cf. Libellus, IV.204, CCCM 176.146, PL 176.695D, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 105, where Hugh associates north with “the company of the Devil.” Matt. 20:1. Cf. Matt. 20:3–7. Ps. 18:4 [NRSV 19:4]. Also, cf. Rom. 10:18. Ps. 121:4 [NRSV 122:4]. For Hugh’s understanding of the three senses of Scripture, cf. Didasc., 6.2, VTT 3.164. Hugh’s major theological work, Sacr. was written as an introduction to the allegorical reading of Scripture. In brief passage in Archa Noe, II.viii.24–27, CCCM 176:47, PL 176.643B, C.S.M.V., 87–88, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 165–66 Hugh suggests several different approaches to instruction/ explication in the treatise: exposition (more exponentis), meditation (more meditantis), doubt (quasi dubitantes), and discovery (quasi invenientes). The last is described as “running here and there with the sharp gaze of the mind.” Cf. Archa Noe, IV.v.56–64, CCCM 176.100, PL 176.671D–672A, C.S.M.V., 127–28, translated in this volume, p. 204. The anagogical sense here refers not to the anagogical sense as one of the four senses of scripture interpretation (historical, allegorical, tropological, anagogical) typical of much medieval exegesis (in contrast with Hugh’s three senses), in which anagogy refers to interpretations having to do with heavenly matters or eschatology. In this passage the anagogical sense refers to an “upward leading” mode of knowledge that progresses from the material world to the world of pure spiritual reality and the divine. For knowledge, discipline, and goodness in Archa Noe and Inst., cf. n. 101, p. 223, above. Matt. 11:28–29.

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Ps. 75:3–4 [NRSV 76:2–3]. In the text as edited, Sicard does not treat this as a biblical citation. Cf. CCCM 176.115.126–28. Hugh’s text reads: in pace factus est locus eius et habitatio eius in Sion, ubi confregit potentias arcuum, scutum et gladium et bellum. The Vulgate reads: Et factus est in pace locus eius et habitatio eius in Sion. Ibi confregit potentias arcuum, scutum et gladium et bellum. The three parts of this sentence are a lapidary summation of the “content” of the Ark as presented in the drawing and also the “divisio” of that content into three categories that relate directly to the three senses in Biblical interpretation: history, allegory, and tropology. Cf. the association of the length of the Ark with history, the width with allegory, and the height with tropology just above, p. 213. This sentence and the next two return the reader to key ideas set forth in the opening paragraph of Book II, where Hugh presents the three-storied, pyramidally-shaped Ark of Wisdom as the symbolic/tropological representation of the spiritual journey of shaping the inner self, with God’s gracious aid, to be a dwelling place for God’s presence. Cf. Archa Noe, II.i.2–18, CCCM 176.33, PL 176.635AB, C.S.M.V., 73, tr. Zinn in this vol. p. 155. 1 Cor. 7:31. Cf. Matt. 5:8, the sixth Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”

RICHARD OF ST VICTOR ON THE ARK OF MOSES INTRODUCTION BY DALE M. COULTER TRANSLATION BY INEKE VAN ’T SPIJKER AND HUGH FEISS

INTRODUCTION One of Richard of St Victor’s most important works is The Ark of Moses. While the work has been assigned different titles (The Mystical Ark, On Contemplation, Benjamin Major), it seems best to utilize Richard’s opening lines that the work concerns the “mystical ark of Moses.” This title is also reflected in at least half of the manuscripts.1 The work represents Richard’s attempt to summarize the Victorine educational enterprise in concert with Hugh’s programmatic pursuit of wisdom/Wisdom. Fusing together the Davidic phrase “ark of sanctification” with the story of Mary choosing the better part, Richard claims that the path of sanctification involves a contemplative grasp of the wisdom that orders all things. In making this claim, Richard follows Hugh in both personifying wisdom and linking its pursuit ultimately to the pursuit of the Incarnate Word. Mary’s capacity to peer beyond bodily flesh to the eternal Word symbolizes the capacity of human understanding to peer through the materiality of creation and discover the divine wisdom underneath its order. In this treatise, Richard places the Victorine educational program within a framework that cultivates the capacity for contemplative vision and thus sanctifies the soul. The treatise is more than simply constructing an interior ark of the covenant in the mind in order to extract wisdom from God’s two great books of Creation and Scripture. It also concerns what Richard calls the “grace of contemplation” by which he means a grace that both induces and accompanies contemplative vision of God. For Richard, human effort can go only so far under the normal operation of grace in its pursuit of wisdom. This is the point of the three modes he discusses in the final book. The third mode of the mind’s complete detachment (alienatio mentis) from the external world and the self, symbolized 1

See Jean Châtillon, “Richard de Saint-Victor,” in Dictionnaire de spiritualité, ed. M. Viller, F. Cavallera, and J. de Guibert, vol. 13 (Paris: G. Beauchesne et ses fils, 1988), col. 615; Dale Coulter, Per Visibilia ad Invisibilia, 12fn5. Marc-Aeilko Aris, Contemplatio: Philosophische Studien zum Traktat Benjamin Maior des Richard von St Viktor (Frankfurt: Josef Knecht, 1996), provides an introduction with an improved edition of the De arca Moysi based on a comparison of three manuscripts with two printed editions of the work. The most recent improved edition is Jean Grosfillier, L’œuvre de Richard de Saint-Victor: De contemplatione (Beniamin maior), Sous la Règle de saint Augustin 13 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013).

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by the figure of Moses, can only occur through a special grace that facilitates the final climb into the heavens. The purpose of constructing an internal ark is to cooperate with normal modes of grace and prepare the person for the special ecstatic embrace and uplift found in the grace of contemplation. In The Ark of Moses Richard combines Hugh’s program of reading in the pursuit of wisdom with mystical contemplation to show how the vision of human understanding can finally peer into the portals of glory and behold the Wisdom of God unclothed from any created reality. To see how Richard pulls off such a systematic approach to contemplation that retains its ecstatic and mystical dimensions, one must understand the context, structure, and important themes in the work. CONTEXT

Richard’s works are notoriously difficult to date with specificity. The general approach has been to divide them into three periods that correspond to Richard’s movement from magister to prior.2 Arriving at the abbey in the mid-1140s, Richard quickly became an important teacher, most likely of the novices. He maintained the title magister until he became sub-prior in 1159 and then prior in 1162, which he retained until his death in 1173. The challenge with using these dates is that Richard served only three years as sub-prior, making his “middle years” too short to mark a distinctive phase. Instead, Richard’s works fit into two periods that comprised his early (1145–1159) and later (1160–1173) writings. The first significant period of creativity for Richard was when he wrote as a canon and then a magister. He was still under the shadow of significant men like Robert of Melun, Achard of St Victor, and Andrew of St Victor. Much of his writings consisted of “textbooks” (Book of Notes and The Apocalypse) for Victorine students, sermons directed at the spiritual life of the abbey, and brief excursions into aspects of the contemplative life (Tractate on Select Psalms). Toward the end of the 1150s Richard began to establish himself as a significant Parisian theologian. The departure by 1163 of the men who had dominated St Victor in the 1150s forced him to take a more prominent role. Richard’s years as sub-prior (1159–1162) marked a significant transition at the abbey in which he was left to carry the torch. 2

See, for example, P. Cacciapuoti, “Deus existentia amoris”: Teologia della carità e teologia della Trinità negli scritti di Riccardo di San Vittore († 1173), BV 9 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998).

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Richard’s most significant works stem from this period, beginning with a series of letters on theological topics that partly engaged Peter Lombard’s recently completed Sententiae.3 During the first half of the 1160s, Richard embarked on an intensive examination of the prophets with works on Isaiah (The State of the Interior Man, Isaiah 1.5b–6; On Emmanuel, Isaiah 7.13–14; On That Day, Isaiah 7.21–22; He Calls to Me From Seir, Isaiah 21.11–12), Ezekiel (The Vision of Ezekiel), and Daniel (The Instruction of the Interior Person). He also composed a trilogy focused on the story of Israel from the patriarchs (The Twelve Patriarchs) to entering the Promised Land (The Extermination of Evil and Advancement of Good) and the construction of the ark (The Ark of Moses). The reference to The Twelve Patriarchs in The Extermination of Evil and Advancement of Good indicates that Richard intended a sequence that concluded with The Ark of Moses.4 These works all fed into his crowning theological work On the Trinity, which was completed in the final years of his life. Within the body of Richard’s work, The Ark of Moses represents his definitive statement on contemplation in relation to the spiritual life. The work not only incorporates insights from his explorations of contemplation and meditation in the 1150s, it also stands as the capstone to the spiritual movement out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. This movement corresponds to leaving the world, entering the abbey, advancing in the moral life, and cultivating the disposition that opens up the ecstatic embrace and contemplative vision. Richard provides a framework for the entire movement in The Extermination of Evil and Advancement of Good. This allows him to focus on the development of virtue and the moral life as preparation for contemplation in The Twelve Patriarchs before turning to an analysis of how to cultivate the mind so as to open up the self to the grace that induces contemplation in The Ark of Moses. The moral life always precedes contemplation because love gives rise to vision. Richard makes this point clear when he states, We must first believe, hope, love and desire greatly the blessings of the Lord in the land of the living, then it is given to us to know and understand and see face to face. “Unless you believe,” the prophet declares, “you will not understand” (Is. 7.9). “He who loves me,” the Lord says, 3 4

See the theological letters in Jean Ribaillier, Richard de Saint-Victor: opuscules théologiques, TPMA 15 (Paris: Vrin, 1967). Richard of Saint Victor, Exterm., 3.6, PL 196.1106C-D.

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“will be loved by my Father, and I will show myself to him” (John 14:21). Love, therefore, precedes the showing so that the showing may follow love. The crowd of our affections must precede the ark so that the ark of contemplation may follow after this crowd. We must first possess the Promised Land through desire and then through understanding.5

In The Twelve Patriarchs the relationship between Leah and Rachel symbolically makes the same point. Leah represents the cultivation of moral virtue or ordered affections and Rachel symbolizes reason illuminated or the pursuit of wisdom. After Leah gives birth to Judah (ordered love), Rachel yearns for children because “where there is love there is vision; we see freely the one whom we love much.”6 The framework is a spiritual movement from the world to the cultivation of moral virtue that then gives rise to contemplative vision. Another way of describing this movement is from the condition of disordered desire to inflamed love and then reason illuminated by wisdom/Wisdom. The Ark of Moses builds upon the previous two works by focusing exclusively on what is required for contemplative vision. It attempts to answer the question more carefully of how reason is illuminated by wisdom than Richard did in the figures of Joseph and Benjamin in The  Twelve Patriarchs. Richard incorporates Hugh’s educational program into this work because the person must build up a body of knowledge as well as cultivate the requisite intellectual virtue in order to acquire wisdom. The figure of the ark becomes both a mnemonic device to expand the mental capacity to hold the knowledge one acquires from reading the books of Creation and Scripture and an immersive meditation device that focuses the mind on the topic at hand. In Richard’s words, the ark is both an ark of sanctification because it shapes and orders the mind so that the grace of contemplation may come and an ark of the covenant because it is a repository of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Yet, the entire enterprise must be driven by ordered affectivity or the affections as unified and oriented by the love set ablaze for the Wisdom of God. 5

6

Richard of Saint Victor, Exterm., 2.5, PL 196.1091B: Prius enim necesse est bona Domini in terra viventium credere, sperare, diligere, multumque desiderare, quam detur nobis cognoscere et intelligere, facie ad faciem videre. Nisi, inquit, credideritis, non intelligetis (Isa. VII). Qui diligit me, inquit, diligetur a Patre meo et manifestabo ei meipsum (Joan. XIV). Manifestationem ergo praecedit dilectio, ut dilectionem sequatur manifestatio. Praecedat arcam affectionum turba, ut turbam subsequatur contemplationis arca. Prius oportet promissionis terram tenere per desiderium quam per intellectum. XII patr., 13, Châtillon, 126: Ubi amor, ibi oculus; libenter aspicimus, quem multum diligimus.

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STRUCTURE

Richard structures the work around contemplative vision first by introducing important concepts (book 1), showing how to build an internal ark in the mind that serves as a container for knowledge and focuses the mind (books 2–4), and then offering an analysis of the various ecstatic modes from which contemplative vision emerges (book 5). Richard also moves from the six different kinds of contemplation (books 2–4) to the three modes of contemplation (book 5). His exploration of the six kinds of contemplation relates to the building of an internal ark in the mind through a movement from exploring the visible world (book 2) to the invisible world of the soul (book 3) and culminating in the invisible world of the divine (book 4). This follows the basic Augustinian movement from the external to the internal to the eternal or the general movement in Romans 1:20 from the visible world to the invisible world. The first book opens with a discussion of the ark as an ark of sanctification and an ark of the covenant (chs. 1–2). Richard hints at the direction of his argument by noting that human insight (intelligentia) is the only suitable place for the ark because it can receive the teaching that comes by inspiration and revelation. Building on Hugh, Richard asserts in his sermons that knowledge comes inwardly by reason and inspiration/revelation and outwardly by scripture and creation. Reason and Creation pertain to nature while inspiration and Scripture pertain to grace.7 The grace of contemplation is a form of interior inspiration 7

See Sermo 8, PL 177.916D = Liber exceptionum 2.10.8 (Châtillon, 391): Homo quippe, quem Dominus docet scientiam, revocatur ad verum et immutabile bonum, non tantum intus per rationem et aspirationem, sed foris quoque per scripturam et creaturam. “To be sure the person whom the Lord teaches knowledge is called back to the true and immutable good not only inwardly through reason and inspiration but also outwardly through Scripture and the creation.” Sermo 61, PL 177.1087D: Sane quatuor modis Deus occultus ad notitiam hominum venit, duobus modis intus, duobus modis foris.Intus per rationem et aspirationem, foris per creaturam et doctrinam. Ratio et creatura pertinent ad naturam, aspiratio et doctrina pertinent ad gratiam. “Indeed the hidden God comes to the knowledge of humanity in four ways, two of which are inward and two of which are outward: inward by reason and inspiration, outward by creation and teaching. Reason and creation pertain to nature, inspiration and teaching pertain to grace.” See also De eruditione interioris hominis 1.32 (PL 196.1284B-C). In his Sentences about Divinity, Hugh states, “There are four ways by which the creature could know the Creator. Two ways are according to nature and two are according to grace; two are internal and two are external. Reason and the creature are the two ways according to nature. Reason is internal while the creature is external. Inspiration and teaching (doctrina) are the two ways according to grace. Inspiration is internal while teaching is external (V.33–37, Piazonni, 949).” There is a similar discussion with further explanation in the Miscellanea,

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and revelation to the understanding. This leads Richard to discuss the nature of contemplation as a particular mode of thinking distinct from cogitation and meditation (chs. 3–5). He concludes the opening book with a discussion of the six kinds of contemplation and the cherubim as symbols for each kind (chs. 6–12). In the second book, Richard discusses the first three kinds of contemplation through a tropological interpretation of the material and dimensions of the ark itself.8 The purpose of these three kinds of contemplation is to examine creation. It involves a movement from objects in creation (res) to their purpose (ratio) and then how these objects serve as likenesses for the invisible world (ratio similitudinis). The first kind of contemplation involves an analysis of human language and its description of objects through three broad categories of res, opera, and mores. These categories begin with examination of the nature, material, and form of various objects to see how they function in nature or can be used by the mechanical arts, and concludes in the human and divine laws that govern their use. What one begins to see is that Richard is employing the tools of all the arts (liberal and mechanical) in his movement through the first kind of contemplation. The second and third kinds of contemplation focus on the purpose (ratio) of each object so as to draw out likenesses. Richard’s analysis of the purpose moves from an object’s immediate purpose in nature to its purpose in the divine plan through an examination of Scripture. This analysis allows Richard to explore how objects in the visible world correspond to realities in the invisible world. He uses the phrase “analogous likeness” (ratio similitudinis) to express this movement. The phrase comes close to what Aquinas would later describe as the analogia entis. By the time the reader finishes the second book of The Ark of Moses, he has learned how to use the tools of the liberal and mechanical arts to begin to read Creation and Scripture correctly. The third book of The Ark of Moses turns to the examination of the soul and the fourth kind of contemplation. After building the ark, the task is to construct the mercy seat. Richard indicates that this kind of contemplation concerns incorporeal and invisible essences (incorpo-

8

1.63, PL 177.504C–5D. Hugh modifies his statements slightly in the Sacr., 1.3.3, PL 176.217C-D, Deferrari, 42–43. For further discussion, see Coulter, Per Visibilia ad Invisibilia, 106–23.

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reis et invisibilibus essentiis) or angelic and human spirits (spiritibus angelicis et spiritibus humanis), but much of his analysis concerns the interior life of the human person. He moves from creation to justification and then glorification. The former corresponds to humanity under the works of creation and the latter to humanity under the works of restoration. The reader is invited to examine the psychology of the human person and its transformation by grace as a foundation for the final movement to the realm of divine realities. The fourth book examines the final two kinds of contemplation through an interpretation of the two cherubim over the mercy seat. The fifth kind of contemplation corresponds to the unity of God and the sixth to the triune nature. Since Richard follows Augustine in using the psychology of the human person to draw out analogies for the divine, he sees the mind of the investigator as moving constantly between the mercy seat and the two cherubim. The point is that one must move from humanity to the unity and triunity of God in order to unpack who God is. In the final book, Richard turns to the distinct modes within which contemplative vision occurs. He utilizes the figures of Bezalel, Aaron, and Moses as symbols of these modes. As a creative artist, Bezalel symbolizes the mind’s expansion (dilatatio mentis) through knowledge and focus. This is precisely what Richard has tried to do in his analysis of the six kinds of contemplation in books 2–4. Hence, Bezalel symbolizes the normal mode of contemplative vision emerging from an expansion of the mind through human investigation and analysis. Richard understands, however, that contemplative vision requires a special grace, which begins to impact the human mind through the figure of Aaron. During any investigation, the grace of contemplation can suddenly impact the mind and elevate it to see heavenly realities. The final mode of contemplation is the highest and the one Richard spends the most time discussing. Symbolized by Moses, it is ecstasy in its proper sense, which is when the mind becomes detached (alienatio mentis) from creation and the self to behold the Lord. For Richard, such a movement can only occur by the grace of contemplation, but he notes how intense devotion, admiration/wonder, or even an overwhelming experience of joy and delight can all serve as the launch pad. In the final mode, Richard has returned to the relationship between love and vision or the affections and the understanding. Ecstatic union with God is first an affective union facilitated by love that then opens up intellectual vision, which Richard describes in terms of seeing God face to face.

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IMPORTANT THEMES

Richard’s ideas revolve around his understanding of contemplation. He first discusses contemplation as a mental activity before turning to analyze it as a kind of vision. In the final book, he treats contemplation in terms of different mental states in relation to ecstasy. The analysis of contemplation moves from mental activity to mental vision and then mental state. Because his entire discussion of contemplation revolves around the mind, he delves deeply into an analysis of the different operations within the mind (imagination, reason, and understanding). To follow his discussion, it is crucial to see the various ways he unpacks contemplation and its relationship to human psychology. Richard first treats contemplation as a mental activity. He compares it to thinking (cogitatio) and meditation (meditatio).9 Thinking is a free-flowing mental activity centered in the operation of the imagination. It’s a kind of wandering through a flood of images and ideas without focusing on any particular one. This is the mind at its most elementary level of engagement. While all mental activity begins in thinking, meditation requires concentration and focus. Richard associates this kind of activity with the operation of reason (ratio) because meditation involves the “careful gaze of the mind” or “the eager straining of the mind” (1.4). Following Hugh, Richard sees meditation as discursive or investigative reasoning, which requires the intellectual virtue of discretion, the capacity to distinguish, order, and make decisions about objects or subjects.110 Meditation sharpens the mind and allows for the penetration of hidden things. As a mental activity, contemplation synthesizes the characteristics of thinking and meditation into a distinct modality in the same way that understanding is a deeper operation of the mind that brings together imagination and reason into a whole. Like thinking, contemplation involves the mind’s free flight. Richard compares contemplation to birds darting through the sky. Yet, contemplation is not aimless wandering, but retains the focus and penetration of meditation. This is because admiration or wonder always accompanies contemplation. Richard employs the figure of a hummingbird with its rapidly beating wings and sustained attention. These ideas go into his definition of contemplation as “the free perspicacity of the mind into the sights of wis9 10

See Hugh of St Victor, In Eccl., Homily 1, PL 175.118A-D in which he explains the three terms. On discretion as an intellectual virtue, see XII Patr., 66–67 and Statu, 26–32.

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dom, hovering in wonder” (1.4). For Richard, contemplation involves the creative fusion of images and ideas that gives rise to fresh insights. When Richard turns to discuss the six kinds of contemplation, he has in mind a particular kind of vision more than a mental activity. This is why he introduces the term “speculation” (speculatio) with its implicit reference to mirror (speculum) and thus seeing things through analogous likenesses.111 Stemming from Boethius, the term initially served as a translation of theoria, but in the Victorine orbit came to refer to the contemplative vision generated through a process of drawing forth or extracting likenesses from objects in creation. In many respects, it encompasses what the Victorines mean by the cosmos functioning as a hierarchy of being in which one ascends from lower to higher through building an analogical bridge from one reality to another.112 Richard reserves the term contemplation, strictly speaking, for a vision that is direct and unmediated by likenesses, which is what he means by “pure and simple truth.” The individual no longer utilizes analogies from created things as though looking indirectly through a mirror, but begins to perceive the Platonic forms or truth at the highest level of being. To clarify what he means by contemplation as “pure and simple truth,” Richard invokes Boethius’ distinction between sensible, intelligible, and intellectible things (sensibilia, intelligibilia, and intellectibilia). Sensible things refer to knowledge derived from the material world through the imagination whereas intelligible things concern knowledge of the invisible realities of rational spirits. Reason governs intelligible things because rational substances are one step higher on the chain of being. Intellectible things relate to knowledge at the highest level of being, which concerns the being of God. For Richard, this means it flows from the insight (intelligentia) and relates to the two highest kinds of contemplation because of their focus on divine unity and trinity. Richard describes these final kinds of contemplation as above and beyond reason because they function in the realm of revelatory intuitive knowledge rather than discursive knowledge. Contemplation as a mental vision of “pure and simple truth” is when there is what Richard calls “pure insight” and “simple insight.” The former means no images from the imagination whereas the latter means no 11 12

Arca Moys., 5.14. See Dale M. Coulter, “Contemplation as ‘Speculation’: A Comparison of Boethius, Hugh of St Victor, and Richard of St Victor,” in From Knowledge to Beatitude: St Victor, TwelfthCentury Scholars, and Beyond, ed. E. Ann Matter and Lesley Smith (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), 204–28.

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discursive reasoning. It seems clear that he has in mind an intuitive grasp of pure form, which is tantamount to seeing God face to face. Since contemplation involves a mental activity that gives rise to a particular kind of vision, Richard describes three mental states within which this vision can occur. The modes of contemplation he discusses in the fifth book offer a third glimpse at the ascent into a pure vision of the truth. This ascent is not only a movement up a Platonic hierarchy of being from matter and form to pure form, it’s also a movement from human activity to divine activity or from reason to inspiration/revelation. The first mode of contemplation involves the mind’s expansion (dilatatio mentis) through the reception of knowledge and the formation of meditative skill. This is how the ark becomes both a storehouse and a memory device that sanctifies. The person slowly expands the mind to behold many things in one clear vision through the effort of study and reading. This process of expansion is also a process of elevation as the mind moves through the hierarchy of being, and yet Richard notes that divine illumination can intervene at any point in the journey of ascent. Symbolized by the high priest Aaron, the mind’s elevation (sublevatio mentis) involves being taken from lower to higher levels of being either through human effort or by the sudden illumination from God bestowing the grace of contemplation. The final mode of contemplation is ecstasy in its purest form. Richard reserves the Augustinian phrase alienatio mentis to refer to this kind of ecstasy because it points toward a mental disengagement from all material and earthly realities. This is solely a work that God brings about by overwhelming the affections of the person in devotion, wonder, or exultation. In other words, the final movement occurs through an intense affective response to the divine presence that forms a kind of mental barrier (in Richard’s words a cloud) between knower and known. Putting these three meanings of contemplation together, the reader comes away from The Ark of Moses with the view that, strictly speaking, contemplation is a state of ecstatic wonder or awe in which the mind suddenly and momentarily glimpses the divine nature unencumbered by materiality. In this ecstatic state, the mind is rapidly moving between a vision of the human spirit and God as one and yet three. It is made possible first by constructing a mental ark that positions the individual to receive the revelatory insight of the grace of contemplation. To construct such a mental ark requires that the person learn to read the book of Creation and the book of Scripture in a continuous

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meditative movement from language to visible world and from visible world to invisible world. For this reason, it requires all of the arts Hugh and Richard outline. The Ark of Moses is Richard’s grand synthesis of the program of reading at St Victor to facilitate a contemplative vision of God. THE PRESENT TRANSLATION

The Latin text of Richard’s Ark of Moses can be found in volume 196 of the Patrologia Latina. The present translation is based on an improved edition of this text by Mark-Aeilko Aris.13 While the present translation was being completed, a new edition appeared, by Jean Grosfilier.14 Where possible, this edition has been taken into account. Earlier partial translations of the text appeared by Grover Zinn,15 and by Clare Kirchberger.16

13 14 15 16

Richard of Saint Victor. Contemplatio: Philosophische Studien zum Traktat Benjamin Maior des Richard von St Viktor. Edited by Marc-Aeilko Aris (Frankfurt: Josef Knecht, 1996). L’œuvre de Richard de Saint-Victor: 1. De contemplatione (Beniamin maior), ed. Jean Grosfillier. Sous la règle de saint Augustin, 13 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013). The Twelve Patriarchs, The Mystical Ark, Book Three of the Trinity, tr. Grover A. Zinn. CWS (New York: Paulist, 1979). Richard of Saint Victor, Selected Writings on Contemplation, tr. Clare Kirchberger (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1955).

ON THE ARK OF MOSES BOOK ONE

chapter 1 Contemplation and Its Excellence That mystical ark of Moses,1 I would like to unlock it even only a little bit—if the gift of inspiration of him who has the key of knowledge allows it—through an explanation of our nightly studies, and if something still lies hidden in this secret place of divine mysteries and repository of knowledge which through our limited ability could be drawn out to the advantage of some, we shall not be sorry to explain this publicly and to place it before all. Many things may already have been said profitably about this matter, yet many things still remain that can be said profitably about the same matter. What this ark represents in a mystical way according to the allegorical sense, or how it signifies Christ, has already been said by scholars before us and has been treated by more sharp-sighted people. Yet, we don’t for that reason expect to incur the suspicion of careless foolhardiness if we now say something about the same subject matter in relation to the moral sense.2 Nevertheless, so that an assiduous treatment of the matter may be the sweeter for us and attract our desire more ardently towards its admiration, let us consider what that excellent prophet thinks about it, who calls it the ark of sanctification: Rise up, he says, Lord, to your resting place, you and the ark of your sanctification.3 The ark of sanctification, do we take it, brothers, that its name derives from the thing, this ark that is called ark of sanctification? We have to pay careful attention and seriously to keep in mind that this ark, whatever it is, is called an ark of sanctification for you, whom our Teacher instructs saying: be thou holy as I am holy.4 You then, who are sanctified today and tomorrow, don’t be negligent on the third day5 in your attention to what it means that it is called ark of sanctification. But if Moses is rightly believed, we know that whoever has touched it will be sanctified.6 If that is wholly so, it is with good reason that all people seek to touch it, if the power of sanctification springs forth from it.

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Oh, if among you just one man could be found such as that man from Ramathaim,7 who, dressed in the garments of glory, as befits a High Priest, would be worthy to enter into the Holy of Holies, so that he would be able not only to see, but even to touch this ark, which is called ark of sanctification, and be purified from his impurities. But what shall I say about that man, if perhaps the key of knowledge has been given to him by the one who opens and nobody closes,8 so that he could see what this ark of sanctification holds inside? For I reckon that something precious is preserved in this ark. I would very much like to know what this ark is, which is able to sanctify those who come near to it, so that with good reason it is called ark of sanctification. Now about Wisdom, I have no doubt that it is Wisdom herself who conquers malice.9 I know equally well that, whoever are healed from the beginning, have been healed by Wisdom.10 But this is also sufficiently clear, that nobody can please God, unless Wisdom would be with him.11 Who would doubt that it pertains to sanctification that man is purified from his impurity, that no matter who he is, his mind12 is cleansed from all malice and wickedness? For these are the things that pollute man. Thus he is cleansed by Wisdom when she, the stronger one taking over,13 conquers malice, as she reaches powerfully from end to end and sweetly sets all things in order.14 And to be thus cleansed, this is precisely, I think, to be sanctified. When the Lord was going to order Moses about the construction of the tabernacle, first of all, he instructed him about building the ark, so as to intimate by that very fact that all the other things were to be made because of it. No one will doubt, I think, that the ark is the most special and most important sanctuary of all those things that the tabernacle of the covenant contains. Therefore, when someone asks what privilege might be signified by that shrine, which was more worthy than all other things, it will easily occur to him, unless perhaps someone is in doubt that Mary has chosen the best part.15 But what is that best part that Mary chose, if not being free and to see how sweet the Lord is?16 For, as Scripture says, while Martha was taking care of things,17 Mary sat at the feet of the Lord and listened to his word.18 She therefore understood by listening, and by understanding saw the highest Wisdom of God, hidden in the flesh, which she could not see with eyes of the flesh, and in this way, sitting and listening, she was free to contemplate the highest truth.

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This is the part that is never taken away from the elect and the perfect. This is truly a business that has no end. For the contemplation of truth begins in this life, but is celebrated in the next in continuous perpetuity. Truly, through the contemplation of truth man is instructed in justice, as well as brought to perfection for glory. Thus you see how correctly the grace of contemplation is understood as represented in that shrine, that is preferred to all other things in God’s tabernacle because of some dignity it possesses. Oh what a singular grace, oh how to be singularly preferred, the grace through which in the present we are sanctified, and in the future we are blessed. If thus by ark of sanctification one correctly understands the grace of contemplation, rightly one aspires to this grace, through which he who receives it is not only cleansed, but even sanctified.19 Without doubt, nothing so cleanses the heart from all worldly love, nothing so inflames the mind to love of heavenly things. It is this grace, surely, which cleanses, which sanctifies, so that through assiduous contemplation of truth the mind becomes clean through contempt of the world, and holy through love of God. chapter 2 How Profitable and Lovely this Grace Is for Those Who Make Progress in It But the same thing which is called ark of sanctification by David, is called ark of the covenant20 by Moses. But why ark, why ark of the covenant, and not of just anyone, but of the Lord? Well, we know that all precious things, gold, silver, and precious stones, are usually put away in an ark. Therefore, if we consider the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, we shall soon find what is the place to store that sort of treasures. What shall be the ark fit for this business if not human insight?21 Now this ark is built and gilded with the help of divine teaching when human insight advances to the grace of contemplation by divine inspiration and revelation. But when we make progress towards this grace in this life, what else do we receive than some pledges of that future fullness, where we shall cleave without interruption to everlasting contemplation? This grace, then, we receive as it were as a pledge of divine promise, as it were as a pawn of divine love, just as some bond of a covenant and a reminder of mutual charity. Do you see how correctly the ark, in which and through which such grace is figuratively expressed,22 is called the ark of the covenant of the

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Lord? How willingly he who desires or trusts to receive such a pawn of such love, has to prepare himself for all labor. I have no doubt or whoever among you is a Hebrew slave would serve willingly for this sort of grace for six years, so as to walk out free and freely in the seventh year, to be able thereafter to have time for the contemplation of truth.23 If, in fact, someone is found among you who would be Jacob, or who could be thought worthy of such a name, for the reason that he would be a man strong, and mighty in battle,24 a strenuous fighter, and who supplants vices25 so as to surmount some vices by fortitude, supplant others by discernment: such a man will indeed willingly serve seven years and seven again for such grace, to the extent that it would seem to him a few days in view of the greatness of his love, as long as he would be able to arrive at the embraces of Rachel, be it at a late hour. For he who wishes to reach her embraces must necessarily serve seven and again seven years for her, that he learns to find rest, not only from evil works, but even from superfluous thoughts. For indeed many, even if they know how to be unoccupied in their body, yet are not at all strong enough to be unoccupied in their heart. They do not know to have Sabbath after Sabbath26 and therefore are not able to fulfil what is read in the Psalm: Be free and see that I am the Lord.27 For being free in their body, but wandering around everywhere in their heart, they don’t at all deserve to see how sweet is the Lord,28 how good is the God of Israel for those, who are right of heart.29 And that is why their enemies deride their Sabbaths.30 But a true Jacob does not cease to labor until he arrives at the goal of his desire, serving with the true Laban, truly whitened,31 because glorified, whom the Father has glorified in his own presence with the brightness that he had before the foundation of the world,32 who ought to suffer and thus to enter into his glory,33 that he might add the radiance of his glory to the form of a servant34 and might be truly whitened, whiter than snow,35 crowned with glory and honor,36 and that he might become beautiful not just more than the sons of men,37 but even more than the spirits of the angels, and such, that the angels would desire to see him.38 Do you see how great is this grace, for which one labors so patiently, so willingly, that is acquired with such labor, is possessed with such delight? Moses deals with this very grace in many places of his scriptures in a figurative way of speaking;39 but here he distinguishes it more fully by a mystical description, when he arranges it by different kinds.

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chapter 3 The Nature Proper to Contemplation or in Which Respect It Is Different from Meditation or Thinking Now, that we may be able to grasp more easily the things that must be said about contemplation, and distinguish it more correctly, we must first seek, by determining or defining it, what it is, and how it is different from thinking or meditation.40 And so one should know that we regard one and the same matter in one way by thinking, we explore it in another way by meditation, and in another way we marvel at it by contemplation. These three are very different from each other in their mode, although at times they correspond in their matter. For indeed thinking deals with one and the same matter in one way, meditation in another, and contemplation in a vastly different way. Thinking wanders through whatever by-ways, with a slow pace, without regard for arrival, in every direction, hither and thither. Meditation presses forward to what it is heading for, often through arduous hardships, with great diligence of mind. Contemplation moves around with astonishing mobility in a free flight wherever its impulse carries it. Thinking creeps along, meditation marches forward and, at the most, runs. Contemplation however flies around all things and when it wishes it balances itself in the highest things. Thinking is without labor and without fruit. In meditation there is both labor and fruit. Contemplation persists without labor but with fruit. In thinking there is wandering, in meditation investigation, in contemplation wonder. Thinking is on the basis of imagination, meditation on the basis of reason, contemplation on the basis of insight. Behold these three, imagination, reason, and insight. Insight occupies the highest, imagination the lowest, reason the middle place. All things that are subject to the lower sense necessarily are subject to the higher sense, but the things that are subject to the higher sense need not equally be subject to the lower sense. Therefore, it is obvious that all things that are comprehended by imagination, these as well as many others that are above it, are comprehended by reason. Likewise, the things that imagination or reason comprehend, fall under insight, as well as things which those two cannot comprehend. See then how widely the ray of contemplation spreads itself, and illuminates all things.

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And even when people may often be preoccupied with the same thing, one by thinking, another by meditation, another by contemplation, they are driven, although not on a dissimilar way, yet by a dissimilar movement. Thinking always passes from one thing to another by a wandering movement, meditation steadfastly strains around one thing, contemplation spreads itself under one ray of vision over countless things. For indeed through insight the inner space of the mind is immensely expanded and the acuity of the contemplative mind is sharpened, so that it is capacious enough to comprehend many things and acute enough to penetrate subtle things. For contemplation can never be without some liveliness of insight. For just as it is on account of insight that the eye of the mind is fixed on incorporeal things, so it is obviously on account of the same power that it is extended under one view into corporeal things, to comprehend such an infinity of things. In short, as often as the mind of the contemplative is extended to the lowest things; as often as it is raised to the highest things; as often as it is sharpened to see inscrutable things; as often as it is rapt with astonishing agility, almost without delay, by countless things, don’t question that this is on account of a certain power of insight. These things are said for the sake of those who take it to be unworthy that those inferior things fall under the sight of insight or belong to contemplation at all. Yet, that is especially and properly called contemplation, which has to do with lofty things, where the mind uses pure insight. Always, though, contemplation is about things which are either naturally obvious by itself, or intimately known through study, or transparent by divine revelation. chapter 4 A Definition of Each Individually: Contemplation, Meditation and Thinking It seems therefore that we can define things as follows. Contemplation is the free perspicacity of the mind into the sights of wisdom, hovering in wonder. Or really, as that excellent theologian of our time liked to say it, who defined it in these words: “Contemplation is the penetrating and free view (contuitus) of the mind extended every­where in perceiving things.”41 Next, meditation is the eager straining (intentio) of the mind occupied in investigating something, diligently persisting in it. Or as follows: Meditation is the careful gaze (obtutus) of the mind ardently occupied in search of the truth. Think-

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ing, however, is the careless looking around (respectus) of the mind, prone to wander. The three thus seem to have in common, and as it were as belonging to their essence, that they are a seeing (aspectus) of the mind. For where nothing is perceived by the mind, none of these is rightly mentioned, or said to occur. Now both contemplation and meditation have in common that they are occupied with useful things and dwell indeed constantly especially in the study of wisdom or knowledge. But in this of course they are usually most different from thinking, which is used to unloosen itself in almost each and every moment into silly and frivolous things and to hurl or throw itself headlong at all things without any bridle of discernment. However, contemplation and thinking have in common that they are carried around hither and thither by some free motion and according to a spontaneous pleasure, not obstructed by any difficulty or obstacle in its impulse of running around. They differ, on the other hand, especially in this very respect from meditation, which applies itself always, by whatever industrious labor, by no matter what mental trouble, to apprehend any difficulties, to force a way into obscurities, to penetrate what is concealed. Yet it often happens that when our thoughts are wandering, something occurs to our mind of such a nature that it ardently seeks and strongly pursues to know it. But while the mind, satisfying its desire, applies its zeal to such an investigation, it already exceeds, in the process of thinking, the mode of thinking. Of course something similar usually happens with regard to meditation, for the mind usually eagerly receives a truth that has been indeed sought for a long time and finally found, it marvels exultantly and engages a long time in wonder about it, and this is already to exceed meditation while meditating and for meditation to turn into contemplation. And so it is the characteristic property of contemplation to engage with wonder in the sight of its delight, and in this it seems to differ surely from meditation as well as from thinking. For thinking, as has been said already, always turns hither and thither, with a rambling tread; meditation, however, its advancement established, always tends towards what lies beyond. chapter 5 The Mode of Contemplation Occurs in a Manifold Way But although that penetrating ray of contemplation, because of its great wonder, always hovers over something, yet this occurs not al-

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ways in one mode or in a uniform way. For that liveliness of insight in the mind of the contemplative at one moment goes and returns with astonishing agility, at another moment bends itself as in a circle, at yet another moment gathers itself as it were together in one point and, as if immovable, fastens itself. Indeed, if we consider it rightly, we see the form42 of this thing daily in the birds of the sky. You may see some now raise themselves to the heights, then again plunge deep down, and repeat the same manner of ascending and descending many times. You may see others now turn to the right, then again to the left and bend now in this direction, then again in another, they make little or almost no progress and again and again repeat with much perseverance the same alternations of their toing and froing. You may see others again that stretch themselves forward in a great hurry, but soon return backwards with the same swiftness and often do this same thing and continue and prolong the same charge forward and backwards in long and frequent repetition. One can see others, how they turn in a circle, and how suddenly or how often they repeat the same or similar circuits now a bit wider, now a bit narrower, always returning to the same point. One can see others, their wings quivering and often beating, how they hover for a long time in one and the same place and by their rapid movement they keep themselves as it were fixed and immobile, they do not at all retire from the same place where they are hovering, where they remain long and strongly attached, as if by steadfastly accomplishing their work they precisely seem to cry out and say: It is good for us to be here.43 According to this model, of the likenesses proposed here, surely, the flight of our contemplation is varied in many ways and is fashioned in a diverse manner depending on persons and matters at hand. Now it ascends from the lower to the highest things, then again it descends from the higher to the lowest, and with the agility of its reflection44 now it runs from the part to the whole, then again from the whole to the part, and it draws its argument for that which it must know now from the major, then again from the minor. At one moment it turns in one, at another in the opposite direction, and it elicits a knowledge of contraries from the science of contraries, and depending on the diverse mode of oppositions it is accustomed to vary the process of its reasoning. Sometimes it runs forward and suddenly returns backwards, while it seizes upon the mode or quality of any thing, one moment from effects, another moment from causes and antecedents and consequences of whatever kind.45 At some time, in fact, our specula-

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tion is conducted as it were in a circle, when for every single thing we consider what they have in common with many other things; when, to determine any single thing, we ascribe and assign a reason now on the basis of similar things, now on the basis of things that behave in a similar way or happen in a common way. Then again, our enchanted reflection rests as it were immobile in one and the same place, when the attention of the contemplative readily dwells on the observation and wonder of the being or characteristic property of something, whatever it may be. But, lest our words may seem redolent of human philosophy, or deviate from the plain and simple tenor of Catholic doctrine, it is probably more appropriate to say that ascending and descending, going and returning, bending now here, now there, sometimes proceeding in a circle, or finally clinging to one thing, is nothing else than to pass mentally with the utmost agility, now from the lowest to the highest things or from the highest to the lowest, then again from the first to the last or from the last to the first, to go one moment from one kind of merits and rewards to different ones, at another moment to ponder and diligently survey the circumstances and connections of anything whatsoever, or finally sometimes to satiate the mind with the novelty of some speculation and the wonder of this novelty. You see certainly what we said before, how the business of our contemplation always hovers and lingers over something while the mind of the contemplative willingly dwells at the sight of its delight, while it always strives either to return often to that very sight, or to remain in it, immobile, long enough. Hear, about that mode of contemplation which in a certain way usually happens forwards and backwards: The animals went and returned in the likeness of a flashing lightning.46 Learn also about that mode through which the mind is seized in different ways, and, running about now in this direction, now in that, is urged, in marvelous agility, in opposite ways: The just will shine, and run about as sparks through the stubble.47 The psalmist expresses in few words the mode that happens as it were upwards and downwards: They ascend, he says, to the heavens and descend to the abyss.48 You are admonished to the mode of contemplation that is conducted as in a circle by the prophet’s voice that says: Lift up your eyes all around and see.49 Then again the ray of contemplation is as if fixed immobile in one place, when whosoever experiences in himself the text from Habakkuk: The sun and the moon stood in their dwelling place.50

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Behold, now, we have shown what contemplation is by determining and defining it. What remains is that we divide it by its sorts and see consequently how many kinds of contemplation there are.51 chapter 6 How Many Kinds of Contemplation There Are, and What They Are Now there are altogether six kinds of contemplation, distinguished from and among themselves. The first, then, is in imagination and according to imagination alone, the second is in imagination according to reason, the third is in reason according to imagination, the fourth is in reason and according to reason, the fifth is above reason, but not beyond reason, the sixth is above reason and seems to be beyond reason. Thus there are two in imagination, two in reason, two in insight. Our contemplation dwells without doubt in imagination at the moment when the form and image of visible things at hand is brought to reflection, while we attend with astonishment to, and are astounded with attention by, these corporeal things, for which we draw on our corporeal sense, how many they are, how great, how varied, how beautiful or delightful, and in all these things we venerate with admiration and admire with veneration the power, wisdom and munificence52 of the creative being above all being. Then indeed our contemplation dwells in imagination and is formed according to imagination alone, when we seek nothing by argumentation or investigate nothing by reasoning, but our mind runs about freely hither and thither, where our wonder seizes it in this kind of sight. The second kind of contemplation, however, is that which, surely, depends on imagination, yet is formed and proceeds according to reason. This happens when, regarding those things which we turn over in imagination, and which, as we have already mentioned, belong to the first kind of contemplation, we seek and find their reason, indeed, once we have found and know their reason we bring it with wonder into our reflection. In the first it is the things themselves, in the second especially their reason, order, arrangement, and each and every thing’s cause, mode and usefulness that we examine, observe, admire. Thus this contemplation depends on imagination, but according to reason, because it proceeds by reasoning about the things that are turned over in imagination. And although in some respect this contemplation, in

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which the reason of visible things is sought, already seems to depend on reason, yet it is correctly said to depend on imagination, because whatever we seek or find in it by reasoning, we adjust it without doubt to the things that we turn around in imagination, while we pursue our reasoning about them and because of them. The third kind of contemplation, we have said, is the one that is formed in reason according to imagination. Now this kind of contemplation we truly use at the moment when through the likeness of visible things we are lifted up into the speculation of invisible things. This speculation in fact depends on reason, because by its attention and investigation it pursues only the things that go further than imagination, because it strains to invisible things only, and especially those alone which it comprehends by reason. But it is said to be formed according to imagination for this reason, because the likeness is drawn into this speculation from the image of visible things, from which the mind is assisted in its investigation of invisible things. And correctly indeed this contemplation is surely called in reason but according to imagination, although it proceeds by reasoning, because its every reasoning and argumentation takes its foundation and receives its support from imagination and extracts the reason of its investigation and assertion from the characteristic property of things that can be imagined. The fourth kind of contemplation is that which is formed in reason and according to reason, which happens particularly when the mind, once the service of all imagination is put aside, strains to those things alone which imagination does not know, but which the mind gathers from reasoning or comprehends by reasoning. We pursue this sort of speculation when we bring into our reflection what is invisible in ourselves, which we know from experience and grasp from insight, and by reflecting on these things we rise to contemplation of celestial minds and superworldly intellects. This contemplation, then, depends on reason, because, once all sensible things are put aside, it strains to intelligible things only. And this contemplation indeed seems to take its beginning as well as receive its foundation from those altogether invisible things in us which the human mind obviously knows from experience and comprehends from common insight. But still this contemplation is correctly said to depend on reason also in this sense, that these very invisible things in us are comprehended by reason, and in precisely that respect they surpass not in the least the mode of reasoning. Therefore it proceeds according to reason only, because it gathers some things from invisible things that it knows through experience and

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by reasoning other things which it does not know through experience. In this contemplation the mind for the first time uses pure insight, and, once the entire service of imagination is put aside, for the first time in this matter our very insight seems to understand itself through itself. For although it does not seem to be lacking in those earlier kinds of contemplation, yet it is hardy anywhere unless by mediation of reason or even imagination. There it uses as it were an instrument and looks as through a mirror. Here it operates by itself and contemplates as it were through sight.53 Here therefore it bends itself to the lowest place, as it does not have at all where it could descend lower through itself. The fifth kind of contemplation, we said, is that which is above reason, but not beyond reason. Now in this watchtower of contemplation we ascend by elevation of mind, when from divine revelation we get to know those things which we are not sufficiently able to fully comprehend by any human reason, or to investigate completely with any of our reasonings. Such are the things which we believe and acknowledge on the authority of divine Scripture about the nature of divinity and that simple essence. Our contemplation ascends truly above reason, when the soul through the elevation of mind discerns that which transcends the measures of human capacity. But it is to be rated above reason, but not beyond reason, when human reason cannot go against that which is discerned by the acuity of insight, but indeed rather easily finds rest in it and by its own testimony dashes upon it. The sixth kind of contemplation is called the one which is revolving around the things that are above reason and seem to be beyond reason or even against reason. In this altogether supreme watchtower, and of all contemplations the most worthy, the mind then truly exults and dances, when from the irradiation of divine light it gets to know and reflects upon the things that conflict with all human reason. Such are almost all things that we are commanded to believe about the Trinity of persons. When human reason is consulted about those things, it seems to do nothing but go against it. chapter 7 Which Things Are Common to Which Thus two of these contemplations depend on imagination, because they strain to sensible things only. Two depend on reason, because they pursue intelligible things only. Two however stand in insight, because they strain to intellectible things only. Sensible I call any things that are

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visible and perceptible to corporeal sense. But intelligible I call invisible things that are yet comprehensible by reason. Intellectible I call in this place invisible things that are incomprehensible by human reason.54 Of these six kinds of contemplation therefore the four lower ones dwell especially in created things, but the two highest ones in uncreated and divine things. Again, of these four the two higher ones dwell in invisible things, but the two lower ones in visible and corporeal things. For the lowest two dwell without doubt in visible and created things; the two highest, however, dwell especially in invisible and uncreated things, and the two middle ones especially in invisible and created things. I have said “especially”, because there are some things around invisible and created things which can in no way be comprehended by human reason, and accordingly run into the category of intellectible things, and according to this show themselves to belong rather to the two highest kinds of contemplation. Likewise, around those highest and uncreated things there seem to be some things that are accessible to human reason, and accordingly are indeed to be reckoned among intelligible things and because of this are to be especially fitted among those two middle kinds of contemplation. And so the first two seem to have in common that each of them dwells in visible things. However, in this they seem especially to be different, that the first certainly usually runs hither and thither, urged by wonder, without any service of reason; but in the second a reason is sought and assigned, or, if already intimately known before, adduced into wonder for those things that are turned around in the mind through imagination. The second and the third have this in common—which in comparison with the others is unique—that in each of them imagination and reason, reason and imagination, seem to mix together equally with each other; but they are different in that in the second one, as was said, certainly a reason is sought for and applied to visible things, in the third, however, a reason is drawn from visible things to the investigation of invisible things; and in the second we are often instructed from visible things to invisible things and infer one thing from the other,55 in the third we advance from the consideration of visible things to the knowledge of invisible things. The third and the fourth obviously have in common that they strain towards invisible and intelligible things, but they are altogether different in that in the third surely reason is mixed with imagination; in the

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fourth, however, pure insight is mixed with reason. In the fourth and the fifth reason and insight unite, and in this respect especially come together, but in the fourth insight advances through reason; in the fifth, however, reason never comes before insight, but follows or at the most joins as an attendant, for what is first acknowledged from divine inspiration is afterwards strengthened by the testimony of reason. Both in the fifth and the sixth it happens that each of them pursues intellectible things, but human reason certainly seems pretty well agreeing with the fifth; to the sixth, however, all human reason seems to be opposed if it is not supported by the admixture of faith. chapter 8 What are the characteristic properties of each single one Now it is characteristic of the first contemplation to simply and without any reasoning engage in wonder about visible things. It  is characteristic of the second to pursue the reason of visible things by reasoning. It is characteristic of the third to ascend by reasoning through visible to invisible things. It is characteristic of the fourth to bring together56 by reasoning invisible things from invisible things and, through insight of what one has known by experience, to make progress towards the knowledge of unknown things. It is characteristic of the fifth to allow reason in insight of intellectible things. It is characteristic of the sixth to transcend all human reasoning in insight of intellectible things and, as it were, trample down on it. While the three first kinds of contemplation have in common that they are not without imagination, in the first, imagination stands as it were under reason; in the second, it takes in reason; in the third, imagination ascends to reason. Again, while the three last ones have in common that they are not without pure insight, in the first of them, that is in the fourth, insight itself leans over to reason; in the fifth it lifts reason up to itself; in the sixth, insight transcends reason and abandons it as it were under itself. Again, while the four middle ones have in common that they are not without reasoning, in the second kind of contemplation reason stoops as it were deep down to imagination; in the third it draws imagination with it as it were on high; in the fourth it takes in and employs insight which descends below itself; in the fifth reason ascends as it were above itself to insight and dashes upon it in its own heights. And thus in the first, imagination rests in itself, just as insight also in the sixth gathers itself in itself and remains in itself. In the second,

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reason descends below itself; in the fifth, the very same reason ascends above itself. In the third, imagination ascends above itself. In the fourth, insight descends beneath itself. In the first, imagination holds the lowest place all on its own; in the second, reason descends to its lowest place; in the third, imagination ascends to its highest place; in the fourth, insight descends to its lowest place; in the fifth, reason ascends to its highest place; in the sixth, insight holds, all on its own, the highest place. chapter 9 In What Proportion They Correspond with Each Other and how They Usually Are Mixed with Each Other Of course it should be noted that, just as the two last ones ascend beyond reason, so the two middle ones ascend beyond imagination. And just as the loftier of the last ones usually admits almost no human reason, so the loftier of the middle ones must shut out all imagination from itself. And just as the lower of the two last and supreme ones takes place beyond reason, yet not against reason, so the lower of the two middle ones ascends beyond imagination, while yet it is not against imagination. Further, just as the two middle ones descend beneath pure and simple insight, so the two first and lowest ones descend beneath reasoning. I call “simple insight” that which is without the service of reason, “pure” indeed when it is without imagination presenting itself. But just as that higher of the two middle ones descends beneath simple insight, yet does not remain beneath it—because of the things in which it dwells it comprehends some by simple insight, others it gathers by reasoning—, so the higher of the two lowest ones seems to descend beneath reasoning, yet not to remain beneath it, because usually it represents some things by imagination and others it gathers by reasoning. And likewise, just as the lower of the two middle ones usually descends and remains beneath simple insight, so the lower of the two lowest ones usually finds itself in relation to reason. For the former also usually strains to those things alone which the mind gathers from the imagination by reasoning, and the latter to those things alone which it impresses on the imagination by sensation. However, this first and lowest kind of contemplation is not therefore said to remain beneath reason or rather reasoning, as if it would

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seem to be irrational and altogether against reason, whereas through its straining or even through its disposition it is easily shown to be in agreement with reason, but because in it, as was said, as far as its proper nature is concerned, nothing is gathered by reasoning. These kinds of contemplation that we have distinguished sometimes tend to be mutually interconnected, and the mode of properties which we have pointed out tends to be mingled by one mixture or another. But it was our wish at this place, to make our teaching clear, to teach the characteristics of each single kind, and nevertheless to show what they have in common, what is similar. chapter 10 Only the Perfect, and Then Only Hardly, Succeed in All Six Kinds of Contemplation Whoever desires to attain the summit of knowledge ought to know these six kinds of contemplation intimately. Truly by these six wings of contemplation we are suspended from earthly things and we are lifted up to heavenly things.57 You should not doubt that you are beneath perfection, if until now you lack some of those. For me certainly, and for those like me, it is going well if I am given only one, just one of these three pairs of wings. Who shall give me wings as of a dove and I shall fly and rest?58 Yet I know that with the first pair of such wings it is not granted to fly away from earthly to heavenly things and to seek or penetrate the arduous things of the heavens. For as was said already before, within those six kinds of contemplation the entire reflection of the first two is preoccupied with earthly and corporeal things, nothing in them is about invisible and spiritual things. Therefore, however lofty, however absolutely subtle flights we have around those earthly things in the first two wings of contemplation, it should mean little to us if we suffice only for those things in which we see that the philosophers of this world excel. You prove that you are still an earthly animal and not a heavenly one, as long as you are content with only two wings. You have something with which you can cover your body, with which you can fly. Surely, if until now you are an earthly animal, if until today you have an earthly body and in fact such a body as the apostle describes and as he instructs to mortify, it will certainly be good to have ready that with which, if you would wish, you could cover such a body and conceal it from the eyes of your recollection: Mortify, he says, your members,

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which are on earth, fornication, impurity, wantonness, evil desire and avarice.59 Now what is it to cover such a body under the wings of contemplation that we pointed out, if not to restrain the desire of worldly things on the basis of a reflection on worldly mutability, even to lead it into oblivion? You consider, I reckon, how much such a covering and overshadowing of wings is worth. You have also in these wings something with which, if you would wish, you can fly. It is of course good to fly well and to remove yourself from love of the world as much as you can. Certainly, people fly well with these wings, who daily reflect on the slipperiness of worldly mutability and constantly consider it, and by such reflection or consideration keep desire for it at a distance. Thus although with these twin wings you cannot fly out all the way to heavenly things, yet probably you will be able to find in flapping them a safe and tranquil harbor.60 Rest in them as much as you can, take hold at least of the extreme parts of the sea! If I shall take, he says, my wings at dawn and I shall live in the outer parts of the sea.61 The outer parts of the sea, that is the end of the world and for everyone the disappearance of his own life. To keep to the outer parts of the sea certainly is to expect with ardent desire the end of the world and a way out of worldly life. He already has flown out and taken hold of the outer parts of the sea, I believe, who truly could say: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.62 I reckon that you have not received these two wings of contemplation in vain if you have been able to fly to this point. Yet it should mean little to you to have received these two wings, but in order to prove that you are a celestial animal, do your best and strive to have at least two pairs, and then indeed you shall have something with which you can fly out to heavenly things. Those four animals which the prophet Ezekiel saw and described as he saw them did indeed have four wings, and by that they showed themselves to be heavenly, and not earthly animals: One animal, he said, had four faces, and one animal had four wings.63 With two, as you read there, they covered their body: for with the other two without doubt they were flying. Likewise you too, once you have begun to have four wings, once you reckon that you are already a heavenly animal and that you carry already a heavenly body, nevertheless do your best yet to cover that body under the said wings. For there are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; and the glory of the heavenly bodies is one thing, the glory of earthly bodies is another thing. The clarity of the sun is one thing and the clarity of the moon is another and a star is different from another star in clarity.64 Thus if your whole body is bright, and does not

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have any part of darkness in it, yet it will be useful to conceal it from the eyes of human arrogance and to restrain the clarity of one’s own selfestimation under the uncertainties of human mutability. For a man does not know his end, but as the fishes are caught by the hook, and as the birds are seized by the snare, so men are caught in a bad time when it suddenly comes upon them.65 Therefore it is good for a man to hide his good things and to presume absolutely nothing about his own merits, and to always guard himself in humility. Thus, let man cover his body with the first pair of wings; let him fly to heaven with the second. For why would those two middle kinds of contemplations not lift man to heavenly and invisible things, as they, as was said, have to do solely with invisible things? Thus let every spiritual person strive to always be in heavenly things by zeal and desire, so that he can say with the apostle: But our abode is in heaven.66 However, if you prepare to penetrate, with the same apostle, as far as the third heaven,67 you should never presume to be able to do that with two pairs of wings. Without doubt, he who desires and seeks to fly as far as the secrets of the third heaven and the mysteries of divinity ought to have all the six wings of contemplations that are pointed out before. Certainly, in this life only the perfect can have these six wings of contemplation. In the future life all the elect, among men as well as among angels, shall have all those wings, in such a manner that about both natures truly can be said, that one has six wings, and the other has six wings.68 chapter 11 How the First Four Kinds of Contemplations May Be Described in a Mystical Way Moses, it seems to me, treats these six kinds of contemplation under a mystical description where on the injunction of the Lord he arranges that that material but also mystical ark is made. And so, the first kind is pointed out in the construction of the ark, the second in its gilding, the third in the crown of the ark, by the mercy seat we understand the fourth, and by the two Cherubim the fifth and the sixth. Now if we turn our attention to the form and the material making, of those six handmade works, certainly only the first one is constructed out of wood, all the others consist of gold. So of course all those things on which the first kind of contemplation depends, for them we draw on bodily sensation and we represent them through the imagination

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when we wish. For all other things, from where the other kinds begin, we gather by reasoning or we comprehend by simple insight. Consider therefore what difference there is between wood and gold, and you will probably find how suitably the former are represented in wood, the latter however are pictured figuratively in gold. In wood indeed those things which are subject to the imagination; in gold however the things that are subject only to understanding.69 Gold by itself shines bright through great clarity, wood in itself has no clarity at all unless it kindles a fire and feeds the flame that serves the light. So of course imagination in itself has no light of prudence, nothing very bright, apart from the fact that it usually stimulates reason to do its work of discernment and guides it to the investigation of knowledge. That second kind of contemplation however, in which the reason of visible things is sought, is rightly pictured figuratively by the gilding of wood. For what else is assigning a reason to visible and imaginable things than some gilding, so to speak, of wooden things? Rightly no less in a mystical designation the crown of the ark can represent the third kind of contemplation, in which we usually ascend through visible to invisible things and rise to their knowledge taken by the guiding hand of the imagination.70 For the crown on the top of the ark was certainly fastened to the wood, yet it surmounted the highest piece of wood by a high extension. Just so that kind of contemplation which dwells in reason according to imagination certainly leans on imagination, while it pulls forth a reason from the likeness of imaginable things and erects as it were a ladder through which it can ascend to the speculation of invisible things. The mercy seat is placed over the wood from all sides and everywhere and therefore it rather suitably pictures figuratively the kind of contemplation that, exceeding all imagination, dwells in reason according to reason. And just as the mercy seat, as the covering of the ark, nowhere is lower than the wood nor lets itself be fastened by the wood, so this contemplation surpasses all imagination and does not agree to be intermingled with any imagination. It only pays attention to invisible things, only strains to invisible things. chapter 12 How the Two Last Kinds of Contemplations May Be Designated Mystically But the two last kinds of contemplations are expressed by an angelic figure. Indeed, that part of the work’s manufacturing rightly did not

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have a human but an angelic shape, which ought to represent by its likeness the two kinds of contemplation whose matter surpasses all human reason. It should be noted of course that those four kinds mentioned before are somehow all joined into one. But these two last ones are separate and are put apart. And certainly in the first four kinds of contemplation we grow daily and advance from one to the other by our own diligence, albeit with divine help. But in these last two ones all depends on grace and they are altogether far away and very remote from all human diligence, except to the extent that each person receives from heaven the habit of angelic likeness and puts it on by divine inspiration. And perhaps this last part of the work’s manufacturing and the angelic figure did not receive the name of Cherubim without reason, probably because without the addition of that supreme grace one cannot reach the fullness of knowledge. But as of the two Cherubim one is said to stand on one side, and the other at the other side, in such a manner that one is understood to stand at the right side, the other at the left side. Take note, I pray, how fittingly they are opposed facing each other and they are set up standing opposed as a figure of the things, obviously, of which the former seem to agree with reason, the latter to go against reason. But perhaps one hastens to ask what in which of the two one ought to understand specially. See thus if not perhaps in the Cherub who stood on the right that kind of contemplation must be understood which is beyond reason yet not against reason. In the one who stood on the left, the kind which is beyond reason and seems to be against reason. Now we know that the left hand is more often kept under one’s clothes and as it were hidden, the right hand however is more frequently openly stretched out. Therefore, also by the left hand rightly more hidden things are understood, by the right hand more evident things. More evident things are in agreement with reason, but more hidden things are resisting reason. Thus we rightly understand the fifth kind of contemplation by the Cherub on the right, no less correctly the sixth kind can be understood by the Cherub on the left. Probably these things can suffice for the more learned minds regarding the things which had to be said about the ark of Moses or the grace of contemplation. But because we are people of leisure, and are speaking to people of leisure,71 yet we should not, because of reluctant people, be reluctant ourselves to repeat the same things with a useful,

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and perhaps to some, necessary supplement, and with more time for the same subject matter, to pursue it still somewhat more broadly. And thus let us in the manner of the contemplative, according to the course of contemplation, carry on about contemplation, and let us not look at the study of such delight and the sight of such wonder only in passing. For busy people we have succinctly gathered these things in a brief summary; for people of leisure however, repeating the same things, we unfold them more broadly, at the same time guarding against both detaining travelers in a hurry against their plan, and rushing curious explorers of novelties against their desire. Now thus let us return to the kinds of contemplation one at a time and let us speak first of the first.

BOOK TWO

chapter 1 The First Kind of Contemplation Consists of Reflection and Wonder about Visible Things And so the first kind of contemplation happens in reflection and wonder about corporeal things, in all these things which enter the mind through the five corporeal senses. And this is indeed the lowest of all and it ought to be that of beginners. For from this one those who are yet unskilled must begin, in order to be able to ascend slowly, as by certain advancing steps, to the higher ones. To this kind of contemplation belongs all wonder about the Creator, which rises from the reflection on corporeal things and is represented in this description of the ark by the joining of pieces of wood. And by a rather appropriate distinction the pieces of wood represent the things which belong to the imagination, just as, no less, gold represents the things which seem to belong to reason. However, this ark is not allowed to be made of just any pieces of wood, but only of pieces of acacia wood, which are very much incorruptible.72 Indeed, any inquiries you like, as long as they are totally blameless and useful, pertain to incorruptible pieces of wood. Incorruptible pieces of wood are any reflections on things, any reconsideration of actions which do not introduce any corruption of mind, which guard the wholeness of sincerity and truth. And thus in such an abundance of visible things, among so many kinds of sights, let everyone see what he chooses; let him take care not to bring back before the mind’s eyes something from which he may defile the cleanliness of his heart. Thus he who desires to rejoice in the uninterrupted duration of inner incorruption must remove the incentives of pleasures from the view of his reflection. Whatever arouses greed, whatever provokes gluttony, whatever kindles luxury, let he sunder it apart from the crowd of his recollections. He surely brings the world and the things in the world profitably in his contemplation, who through the view of worldly things comes to look down upon worldly things. That great contemplator of worldly things sought and found this fruit of such a contemplation, and left it in writing: Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiast, vanity of vanities and all is vanity.73 He does not undertake the contemplation of vanity in vain, who from that which he views in what is lowest rises to the praise of the Creator, when he

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finds him marvelous, praiseworthy, worthy of love in all his works: Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name on the whole earth.74 There you have marvelous. From sunrise to sunset, praiseworthy is the Lord.75 There you have praiseworthy. The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works.76 There you have worthy of love. Thus hard pieces of wood, solid pieces of wood, lasting pieces of wood are any reflections that restore the mind’s vigor, that strengthen it to be constant, that confirm it in its perseverance. In short, pieces of wood that contract neither the stain of filthiness nor the wart of falsity do not know any corruption. And so equally whatever true assertion, whatever approved notion about corporeal things pertains to pieces of acacia wood, to pieces of incorruptible wood. And thus this ark of wisdom is to be made of incorruptible pieces of wood, of notions that cannot be opposed, so that we may perceive all the things which are seen in the world made by one God and created from nothing, while defining nothing in all these things that disagrees with truth. chapter 2 How Abundant the Material of This Contemplation Is, and how the Philosophers Have Occupied Themselves in It And so, as has been said already, this contemplation has as its subject matter all things that the corporeal sense can reach, indeed an abundant material and not a small forest.77 Let all run, let each single one enter, nobody is prevented, let everyone choose what he admires most. There is more than plenty material for everyone to make himself an ark. Yet let everyone learn to choose pieces of incorruptible wood, so that he may think nothing against true tradition. From this same forest the philosophers of the Gentiles have been eager and have desired to choose for themselves the material for their construction, and just as much to construct an ark of wisdom for themselves. Accordingly, they started to cut, chip, and join pieces of wood, by defining, dividing, arguing; to find, hold, and transmit many things. And so they made many arks, holding various opinions and establishing innumerable sects. Thus, entering in that shady and dense grove they have thrust themselves in endless questions78 and God has delivered the world to their disputation,79 but they have vanished in their cogitations,80 and have failed, searching, in their search,81 because man could not find what God has worked from the beginning until the

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end.82 But God revealed through his spirit to whom he wished, when he wished, as much as ought to be known about these things. What wonder therefore if they who have been taught through the Spirit of God could bring about a work worthy of admiration, not wishing to follow their own spirit nor wishing to advance after the thoughts of their own inventions? Even in our times some pseudo-philosophers have risen up, fabricating lies; wishing to make a name for themselves, they have been eager to invent new things. They did not worry so much about asserting what is true, as that they would be thought to have invented new things. Presumptuous about their own opinion, they reckoned that they could make themselves an ark of wisdom and going by their inventions they transmitted new notions, believing that wisdom originated with them and would die with them. And behold, the arks of all these highly learned people83 utterly perished, because they were not made of pieces of acacia wood, that is to say not made of incorruptible pieces of wood. And behold, all the princes of Zoan84 were made foolish, because God has made foolish the wisdom of this world.85 For that once glorious worldly philosophy has been made fatuous to such an extent, that every day a countless number of its public teachers become its deriders, and from its defenders they become its attackers, and denouncing it they profess to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.86 And behold, how many people who first used to make their constructions in the workshop of Aristotle, in the end by a wiser council learn to forge things in the workshop of the Savior. And they who first used to fabricate vessels of scorn are now taught to fabricate vessels of glory,87 daily confessing to the Lord in the vessels of the psalm, because they regret that they had made a work worthy of confusion and that they had been fabricators of falsehood. Where are they now, I ask, the sects of the Academics, the Stoics, the Peripatetics; where are their arks? Behold, all of them already sleep the sleep, and they have found nothing, all these men of riches in their hands,88 and they leave their riches to strangers and their tombs are their house for eternity.89 And behold, they have all utterly perished with their arks, vanishing together with their doctrines and their teachings. But the ark of Moses remains right until this day, never firmer, never stronger than today, being confirmed through the authority of Catholic truth, for it has been made of pieces of acacia wood, that is imperishable and incorruptible pieces of wood, and all that it tells and teaches is joined together by true notions and approved assertions.

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Behold, we have seen from what material is has to be made, the next thing is that we should learn about the measure and mode of making it, so that according to Moses’ example in all these things we may follow, not our own idea, but the lesson of divine instruction. And so let us return now to that kind of contemplation which is clearly the lowest and first of all and therefore that of beginners, which, we have said, is figuratively pictured in this description of the ark as the joining together of pieces of wood. chapter 3 The Threefold Distinction of the First Speculation This speculation, then, is considered in a threefold way. The first is about things, the second about works, the third about conduct. That which is about things pertains to the length of the ark, that which is about works pertains to the width, that which is about conduct pertains to the height. For we know that length is naturally prior to width, and likewise, that width with respect to height holds the first place. For length can be understood without width, and width without height, although in the essence of things they cannot in the least be separated from each other. Height without width or width without length cannot exist, nor may one understand it. In fact, simple length is understood when, at least in thinking alone, quantity is drawn forth into a line, running from point to point and through points only. We call it simple width when in our mind we stretch quantity from line to line and only through lines and spread it into a surface. For just as a line is length without width, so surface is width without height. Height is when quantity begins to thicken from surface into surface and makes a solid body, which takes up three dimensions. Therefore, he who rightly reflects upon these things, it will be rather obvious to him, I believe, that length naturally is prior to width, and width to height. So, of course, reflection that is about things is naturally prior to the reflection which is about works and that which is about conduct. For who does not know that things themselves are prior to their workings, sometimes even in time, but always in nature, and that any operations have their existence from them and in them, and could not otherwise exist at all? Likewise, conduct itself, whether good or bad, is normally considered, and should be considered, in respect to works. For at any rate the works of man belong for the most part, as far as they

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are ordered and regulated, to good conduct; however, as far as they are unordered and unregulated, they belong just as much to bad conduct. Therefore, it is rather obvious that, just as reflection on things is prior to that on works, so reflection on works is naturally prior to that on conduct. And so it has been rightly said that reflection on things pertains to the length of our ark, reflection on works to its width, and reflection on conduct to its height. chapter 4 The First Step of this Speculation Is Considered in Matter, Form and Nature Now the first reflection of these three is divided in three. The first reflection of this subdivision is about matter, the second about form, the third about nature. We easily detect matter and form with our bodily sight, for we distinguish without mistake a stone from wood, a triangle from a square. What pertains to its nature, however, lays partly open to sense perception; partly, however, it is hidden deeper, reserved for reason. In the internal quality of things indeed we reflect on their nature, just as their form consists in their external quality. Now for the most part the internal quality is perceived with a corporeal sense, such as flavors with taste, odors with smell. But even if he had never sinned, man could never access with his corporeal sense the inner force that lies hidden inwardly, to the very marrow imprinted in things. Yet he would perceive it easily with the acumen of his natural intelligence,90 if the eye of reason, covered over by the cloud of sin, had not been darkened under the cloudiness of error.91 Now however, as often as we, enveloped in the darkness of ignorance, seek something about this nature, we feel our way through the evidence of experience rather than see it. And so the reason is clear why according to the Lord’s instruction the length of our ark must not be or rather is not capable of being more than two and a half cubits. For human knowledge has one full cubit where it has certainty, where it is capable to comprehend that which ought to be known with some sense perception. Thus, corporeal sense has a cubit in viewing matter, it has another cubit in a reflection on form, and it has half a cubit in the perception of nature, which it only partly penetrates. For partly, as has been said, it lays open to sense perception; partly it is reserved for reason.

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And so these three, that is matter, form and nature, as they are together in a corporeal substance and cannot be separated from each other, stretch themselves out as in a line and show themselves to pertain to the length of the ark. chapter 5 The Second Step Is Considered in the Operation of Nature and of Human Activity And so the mind, once it is well exercised according to this threefold reflection, which occurs in the speculation of things, must transfer itself next to the speculation of works, so that, once it has learned to extend its reflection to works of nature as well as works of human skill,92 the width of our ark can receive the measure of its prescribed size. For the operation of nature is one thing, the operation of human activity another. We can easily detect the operation of nature, as in plants, trees, animals. In plants: how they grow, and become ripe. In trees likewise: that they grow into leaf, flower, and bear fruit. In animals: how they conceive and give birth; that some are born, and others die. In a word, as often as we consider how all things that have begun perish, and all things that have increased grow old, we exercise our mind in the investigation of nature’s operation. Artificial work, that is the work of human activity, is considered for example in engraving, in paintings, in writing, in agriculture, and in other works of human skill, in all of which we find innumerable things for which it befits us to marvel and venerate that we have been deemed worthy of such divine gift. And so the work of nature and the work of human skill, because they cooperate with each other, are as it were joined together from both sides and are coupled together with each other by a mutual connection. Indeed it is certain that the work of human activity takes its beginning, continues, and gains its strength from the operation of nature, and the operation of nature profits from human activity, so that it be better. In the work of human skill human knowledge has a cubit, because, if it were not capable to comprehend that skill, it would certainly not at all have invented it. But in the work of nature it could not have a full cubit, because it only comprehends that work partly. What is normally born from which thing, it easily discerns; for it does not seek an apple on a grapevine, nor a bunch of grapes in a cornfield, nor grain on a tree. Nevertheless, any of these or whatever other thing normally proceeds from another, when would human knowledge suffice to explain how?

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Thus when the acumen of our natural intelligence extends itself on every side in this twin reflection of nature and human skill, and with the marvelous liveliness of insight it runs about, hither and thither, in manifold ways, the width of our ark receives a measure appropriate to it, according to the mode of divine instruction. chapter 6 The Third Step of this Contemplation Consists in Human As Well As Divine Regulations Then, after the first reflection which is about things, and the second, which is about works, the third follows, which is about conduct, and which, as we have already said, pertains to the height of our ark. The training of conduct proceeds partly from divine regulation, partly from human regulation. To divine ordinances pertain divine services and any sacraments of the church. To human ordinances pertain human laws, customs, rules of politeness, communal decrees, civil law, and many other such things. Human regulation is on account of the lower life, divine regulation is on account of the superior life. The former is to obtain welfare and tranquility in temporal life, the latter, to seize salvation and the fullness of eternal bliss. In human regulation human knowledge can be a cubit, because that which it can discover, it can, not surprisingly, comprehend. In divine sacraments there are, we are sure, two things, for it is one thing which we see on the outside in the thing or in the work, but the spiritual power that is hidden inside is something else. Therefore you can believe, but you cannot at all see the thing of the sacrament which is hidden inside. And therefore you cannot extend your knowledge in this part all the way to a full cubit. Now this last speculation, which is about conduct, pertains to the height of our ark, as we have already said before. For indeed when human regulation serves divine regulation, the mind profits from both and stretches out to the heights. For the mind which clings to the things that pertain to the first and the second reflection without doubt still lies at the bottom. But to the extent that it clings more completely to the things which pertain to the third reflection, to that extent it really ascends to higher things. One should note of course that the working of nature and divine regulation have a full cubit in reality, but can have only a half-unit in our cognition. On the contrary, however, the working of human skill and human regulation hardly have half a unit

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in reality, but can have a full cubit in our cognition. When therefore the mind is fully exercised in this triple speculation, on every side the measure of our ark receives its appropriate size. The prophet has clearly exercised himself in this kind of contemplation when he says: I have meditated upon all your works.93 And elsewhere: Because you have delighted me, he says, Lord, in your creatures.94 And elsewhere, in wonder for those things, he cries out: How magnificent are your works, Lord, you have made all in wisdom,95 and he calls to mind and unfolds many of the Lord’s works in the same psalm. And therefore we can rightly distinguish the whole first kind of contemplation in seven steps. For the first consists in the wonder of things that rises from reflection on their matter; the second step consists in the wonder of things that rises from reflection on their form, the third consists in the wonder of things that is born from the reflection on their nature. The fourth step of this contemplation dwells in the reflection and wonder about works in respect to the working of nature; just as much, the fifth dwells in the reflection and wonder about works, but according to the working of human activity. The sixth step consists in reflecting on and marveling at human regulations, and the seventh finally stands in reflecting on and marveling at divine regulations. These seven ascending steps occur first to people who strive to ascend the mountain of the Lord,96 or, following that example of Ezekiel, to enter the temple. By seven steps to the outer gates one enters into the outside court. And in seven steps, he says, is its ascent.97 Thus you have the beginner’s steps you have to set foot on, whoever you are, if you desire to take hold of the ark of contemplation. But the account above has already taught us how this kind of contemplation remains in images and runs about according to imagination, and it will not be necessary to repeat it here. chapter 7 The Second Kind of Contemplation Consists in Reflecting and Marveling About the Reason of Visible Things Now that we have said, as far as we can at the present moment, the things that, it seemed, had to be said about the first kind of contemplation, let us now turn to the second, which, as has already been said, is represented by the gilding of the ark. If, then, the first kind of contemplation is rightly understood as happening in reflecting on the appearance of corporeal things, it follows,

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I think, that the second kind of contemplation ought to be understood as happening in the clear perception of the reason of the same things. Therefore we are occupied in the gilding of our ark every time that we pry into the reason of visible things, and we are resting in wonder of that same reason once it is found and clearly perceived, every time that we attentively understand and understandingly attend to all the things that are seen of this worldly machinery, how they are wonderfully made, how fittingly they are ordered, how wisely arranged. We gild our ark when we reflect on the cause, the mode and the effect, the utility and reason of every thing. Oh how he abounded in the gold of knowledge! How he could suffice for the gilding of his whole ark, he who truly said: But God gave me to speak from judgment.98 For he himself gave me from true knowledge of the things that exist, so that I would know the arrangement of the orbit of the earth and the strengths of the elements, the beginning and the end and the middle of times, the changes of vicissitudes, and the divisions of times, the course of the year and the arrangements of the stars, the nature of animals and the fury of the beasts, the power of the winds and the thoughts of men and the differences of the bushes and the strengths of the roots.99 Listen finally to what he introduces at the end, so that you may understand more fully how he had such ample supply of wealth at his disposal in the work of his gilding: And I have learned whichever things, he says, are hidden and unforeseen.100 Therefore the gilding of our ark consists in contemplating the reason of divine works, judgments, sacraments, and no less of human actions and regulations. In short, let us be prepared, according to the teaching of Peter, to give account to everyone who asks it of the faith and hope that is in us,101 and we have already gilded the top layer or if you will the most outer parts of our ark, as we know to set forth and commend the reason of divine sacraments or even divine judgments. chapter 8 How Abundant the Subject-Matter of This Contemplation Is He who already has advanced to the second sort of this contemplation, he finds in such breadth of subject-matter abundantly enough to spread the sails of his speculation, to employ the vessels of his disputation. For who does not see how widely the waters of this sort of reflection may lie open, in how many ways this sea, great and spacious in its sea arms,102 spreads itself? In wonder about this immensity the prophet

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exclaims: Your judgments, he says, are a multiple abyss.103 The hidden judgments of God are certainly a multiple and a great abyss; multiple in their great number, great in their depth, entirely without end, fully inscrutable. Hence those marvelous sights for those who see wondrous things in the deep.104 For how many wondrous things you think they see in this deep, who go down to the sea in ships, doing business in the many waters?105 There are indeed many who come together at this great and spacious sea, but some to cross over, others to go fishing. Indeed, to cross over, they who desire to go over from one nation to another and from one kingdom to another people.106 But those among them who are fishers of men107 come surely to fish, unloosening their nets for the catch.108 Therefore, putting their net now to the left side, then to the right side of the vessel, according to the Lord’s command,109 they often take in an abundant multitude of fish, that is getting in men’s wandering senses and slippery affections, and draw them on shore. But they don’t always use the same nets nor do they always aim for the same catch. In fact, now they unloose the nets of argumentation, then again those of exhortation, sometimes to approve of something as true, sometimes to disapprove of something as false, sometimes to bring out something hidden, sometimes to persuasively establish something as just, sometimes to resist something as unjust. They surely, who know to do business in many waters,110 they, I say, are the ones who see wondrous things in the deep,111 for by them wisdom about the hidden is drawn.112 Hear what that great contemplator of wisdom says: How magnificent are your works, Lord, you have made all things in wisdom.113 All things, he says, you have made in wisdom. Without doubt, what he saw who cried out like that was marvelous. He had surely seen wondrous things in the deep114 and drew wisdom from what was hidden,115 he who detected that all things have been made in wisdom,116 and without any doubt acknowledged that Wisdom reaches strongly from one end to the other of the world and disposes all things well.117 Behold, how in all divine works the gold of wisdom appeared to this person, the gold of wisdom was shining, how in his eyes the clarity of divine wisdom had covered all things. He certainly knew well, he was easily able to gild his ark, yes indeed he obviously had already covered his ark sufficiently on all sides with gold, he who because of the greatness of his wonder is forced to exclaim: You have made all things in wisdom.118 Let us try as well, as far as we are able, and let us exert ourselves in the gilding of our ark, so that the divine works appear to us as well all

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made in wisdom, so that as far as it is allowed we may understand, and what we are not allowed to understand, let us at least believe without hesitation that all things are made in wisdom, not only those things which he made, but also that any things he allows to happen,119 never take place without a reasonable cause nor are done without divine justice, however hidden. chapter 9 How the Philosophers Have Exercised Themselves in the Matter of this Contemplation But I believe that we should also not pass over in silence how the wise of this world have taken pains to gild their ark, so that even from that perspective we would be ashamed not to labor in the gilding of our ark. Thus, even the philosophers of the Gentiles were busy to draw wisdom from what was hidden,120 investigating the hidden causes of things, and, penetrating all the way into the hidden bosom of nature with the acumen of their natural intelligence, they were digging out gold from the deep. Thus, they began to investigate, find, and bring forward in the open the hidden causes of things, and to demonstrate some uncertain things with no uncertain claims. And so they found many things, by profound investigation, worthy of admiration: “from where comes an earthquake, by which force the deep seas begin to swell”;121 and they found many other things in this way and committed it to writing, careful to transmit it to posterity. In this way they could gild their ark for a great part, but only on the outside, for to gild it on the inside they cared little, and they lacked any possibility. Indeed, quickly their money ran out, and they did not have such an abundance of gold with which they could gild it on the inside, as the money in fact was lacking to gild it completely on the outside. For it was not a matter of the same faculty to find the physical reasons of things, and to judge the hidden causes of justice in the things that happen. It is one thing to investigate and argue the hidden causes of things according to the reason of physics, and something totally different not to be unacquainted with the reason of divine judgments. The investigation of nature pertains to the gilding of our ark on the outside, the assertion of divine justice to the gilding on the inside. For that inner gilding they failed thoroughly, believing that all things happen through chance rather than by divine will. They worshipped at the altar of Fortune and believed that God cares nothing about human

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affairs, because they saw good and bad things happen equally to a good and a bad, a just and an unjust person, to him who offers sacrifices and to him who disdains them,122 and that He, whose eyelids question the sons of men,123 makes the sun go up over good and bad people, and makes it rain over the just and the unjust.124 We, however, who have already gold in abundance, from the gains of our labors as well as from the spoils of the Egyptians,125 we should take care to cover our ark with gold, not only on the outside, but even on the inside. Let us consider how God has made all these things in his wisdom,126 how his wisdom has founded the earth and supported the heavens with prudence,127 and how through his wisdom the abysses have broken through, and the clouds condense in dew,128 and we have gilded our ark, but on the outside. Let us consider just as much that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,129 how the Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works,130 and we have gilded it inside. How, do you think, had he covered over all the beauty of the pieces of wood in his ark with gold, he who had clearly perceived and continuously asserted about the Lord that his mercies are over all his works?131 Let us, too, do our best, according to the example of the prophet, to cover all things with this sort of gold and to conceal them to that degree under such splendor, inasmuch as, in comparison with divine reason and disposition through which they are made and through which the beauty of all outer things has been arranged, it will appear small and of no account in our eyes. chapter 10 The Distinction of the Second Contemplation Earlier, when we talked about the first kind of contemplation, we distinguished seven steps in it. It would take long now to go over each single one of them and to show how the ark ought to be gilded through all the cubits in its length as well its width and its height. But so as not to make this too long, we decided that it would be better to pass over these things for the moment. If someone, however, is busy girding himself in this work and seeks to cover his ark with gold, there is nothing against exchanging gold of knowledge from the sciences of outer things and worldly disciplines, as long as he knows to clear himself from all dross of falsity or vanity and to boil it out thoroughly to full and perfect purity, such as the dignity of this work demands.

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Well, we said that the gilding of our ark consists in assigning the reason of visible things. Now who does not know that worldly philosophy almost entirely labors especially in this: to find, with its keen investigation, the hidden causes of visible things and bring them out into the open? See how great, how many riches of doctrine and treasures of knowledge that brilliant natural intelligence of the philosophers has brought together, stored up, and left for you for similar use. Nevertheless, all these things, as has been said, cannot suffice for even the outside gilding of the ark alone. Now if you wish to gild it on the inside as well, you better ask for the material to use for that gilding from Christian theologians than from the philosophers of the world. Nevertheless, just as the philosophers’ treasures cannot suffice for its outer gilding, so those of the theologians cannot suffice for its inner gilding. For neither the former could fully perceive the nature of things, nor were the latter able to penetrate God’s hidden justice completely. But behold, we show you yet one treasure that we know is very abundant and unfailing in this matter. Surely where the gold of insight has been found wanting, the pure gold of faith cannot be absent. Of course, if you could read through and commit to memory all what the philosophers have said, all the treatises of the Catholic teaching, yet you will find innumerable things on the more remote boundaries of nature, in the secrets of divine judgments, whose reason you would not be capable to penetrate. But what you cannot understand, you can believe. Therefore, although you are not able to perceive the reason of some things, yet nevertheless on the basis of the rule of faith you should not doubt that they are just and well ordered. For that reason, in this sort of things, it is said to you: If you will not believe, you will not understand.132 Therefore, believe with blessed Job, that nothing on earth is without cause;133 believe that the judgments of the Lord are true, just in themselves,134 and you have gilded your ark inside and outside. chapter 11 The Characteristic Property of the Second Contemplation Now we said that this kind of contemplation has in common with the previous one that it depends on the imagination and is concerned with reflecting on things visible and imaginable. Yet in this they are most different, that in the first one nothing indeed is sought by reasoning, but it is entirely led according to imagination. The second one,

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however, is interwoven by reasoning and is formed according to reason. That one is therefore in imagination according to imagination; this one in imagination according to reason. It should be noted that not even in the part in which it leans upon faith, rather than being woven by insight, not even in that part, I say, does it at all go beyond the boundaries of its characteristic property. For when with the liveliness of insight it perceives the innumerable works of God, determined and well ordered, his innumerable just and true judgments, then on the basis of the things which it understands to be right, it considers those as well to be right whose reason it cannot sufficiently penetrate. You see, therefore, that this speculation is not totally led away from the path of its reasoning even there where it follows the traces of faith. So much indeed this speculation, about which we are talking just now, happens according to reason, that in it even imagination itself seems to be disposed and arranged according to reason. For in the first one, indeed, thinking follows only imagination, wherever wonder directs it; in this one, however, imagination itself is formed, disposed, and moderated through reason. For while someone seeks the reason of visible things by silent investigation, he not only lays them out in a different order than he has found them by sense-perception, but he often even portrays them in a different shape. For he sees more quickly the reason why things had to happen or be arranged in the way they are, as he sees the evil that would follow if they were otherwise. And so, just as in the first contemplation imagination draws thought after itself, so in this one reason leads imagination around and sets it in order. But therefore each of them is said to depend on imagination, because each of them, through its intention or investigation, is concerned with the things which we bring into our presence through imagination as often as we wish. For wherever the mind is carried away through various sights in this twin speculation, by the purpose and the endeavor of its intention the gaze of the one who speculates is always fixed in the imagination. chapter 12 The Third Kind of contemplation Now let us see about the third kind of contemplation. To this kind, then, it pertains whenever through the likeness of visible things we detect the quality of invisible things, whenever through

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the visible things of the world we learn the invisible things of God, as obviously we find written, that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world have been seen, being understood through the things which have been made.135 Rightly indeed this contemplation that, in order to ascend to the invisible things, supports itself with the stick of corporeal likeness and raises itself to the heights by a ladder, so to speak, of corporeal properties, rightly, I say, this sort of speculation is represented by the crown of the ark, which is, true enough, attached in its lower part to the wood, but in the higher part exceeds the wood’s measure. The crown of the ark, then, encircles the higher parts and partly descends beneath the wood, yet for the greater part it surpasses the wood’s measure. So, surely, so this speculation bends itself spontaneously to track the properties of corporeal things, so that it may have something from which it can draw the likeness from visible to invisible things. Nevertheless, spreading itself widely, it includes within itself the narrowness of lower things, and, not content with the things which it gathers from likeness, it connects one thing with another through argumentation and gathers them through reasoning, following them through their consequences, and it leaves all corporeal likeness far behind and surpasses the highest parts of our ark by deep reflection. In this way the crown leans upon the ark while it is raised up high, because the mind of the contemplative is assisted not a little to comprehend invisible things on the basis of the likeness of visible things. But then the crown both spreads itself wider and raises itself higher than the ark, when the subtle contemplator clearly discovers that invisible things are far greater in number and far superior in dignity than visible things. For the greatness of invisible goods is far more abundant than that such multitude of corporeal likenesses could represent it. Yet all corporeal things have some likeness with invisible goods, but some have a most base and very distant and almost strange likeness, others however a closer and more manifest one, and the nearer they are, the more obvious; and above these, others have a very near and related likeness, so to speak, and altogether pronounced, to such extent that they seem not just to approach invisible things, but to inhere in them, and to be implanted in them rather than just come near to them.136 Thus, from the things which come nearer to invisible things, and which bear a more obvious image of them, we must certainly draw a likeness, so that our insight can ascend to that which we do not know

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by experience through that which we do know. Hence the crown of the ark does not descend to its lowest parts, although it connects itself to it in its higher parts. chapter 13 How in This Kind of Contemplation Man Begins to Be Spiritual In this state man for the first time unlearns to be just animal, and learns to be made spiritual,137 because he now begins to obtain spiritual things and to be reformed in the renewal of his mind,138 striving daily more and more to taste the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.139 It is certainly a great labor, to forsake what is familiar and to leave the basest of our ingrown thoughts at the bottom, and through deep examination to fly up from earthly to heavenly things. Here for the first time that Wisdom of God, which teaches knowledge to man,140 that Light, which enlightens each man coming into this world,141 begins to pour itself and now to spread the rays of its light to the mind’s eyes, then again to withdraw and hide again. And so, frequently she visits the mind, and now lifts it to the heights, then again puts it down at the bottom and leaves it to itself.142 But again she returns unexpectedly, and runs up where she was not hoped for, and shows herself, full of joy. At last here she starts to form some marvelous vision, as a prelude, before the sight of the onlooker and just as an eagle, inciting its young to fly,143 by the incessant flying away and back again of her revelations, to carry herself in various directions. She first rouses the mind of the contemplative to the desire of flying, and then at some time instructs it perfectly to full flight. Here for the first time the mind recovers its ancient dignity and claims the honor of its own inborn freedom. For what is so alien to a rational spirit, what so shamefully subjects it to servitude, than that that creature which is truly spiritual is ignorant of spiritual things, and that a creature that is made for invisible things and for the highest goods is not even capable of rising up to, let alone remain standing in the contemplation of invisible things? From this, I think, the familiar continuity and the continuous familiarity of this speculation is sufficiently clear. It keeps the third place, and it is rightly represented by a crown, and fittingly it is called a crown, through which the victorious mind is crowned.

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Whoever is able to cross over by his mind’s contemplation from the tribulations of this exile to the freedom of invisible joys, certainly receives this crown of spiritual knowledge. There finally that rational spirit, who had long been sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in beggary and iron,144 once finally the darkness of ignorance is shattered, the chains of concupiscence broken to pieces, by the power of him who leads the prisoners in strength,145 shattering the doors of bronze and breaking the bars of iron,146 overcoming the narrow straits of inveterate custom and obduracy, violently breaks out right through the middle of a battle-array of an endless multitude of the basest desires and carnal thoughts which come running from all sides and resist everywhere, and at last barely gets himself back in the palace that is his by right, when he collects himself on the throne of his heavenly dwelling-place so that for the rest he can confidently sing with his fellow-soldiers and conquerors like himself: Our abode is in heaven.147 chapter 14 The Distinction of the Things Which Pertain to This Speculation Now it should be noted that no measure of our crown is prescribed, but in the very fact that it is called a crown, its measure is for the most part settled. For he would not call it a crown if it did not surround and crown the higher parts of the ark from all sides. Thus the crown must be extended or stretched according to the length and the width of the ark, so that it can surround and crown it. It is clear, therefore, that in accordance with the dimensions of the ark it is two and a half cubits in length, but one and a half in width. But we cannot estimate its height by an equal account, nor should we equate it with the height of the ark. For one would by no means call it a crown if it covered the whole ark and not rather adorned only its highest part. Now as we have already said before, the characteristic property of this speculation is to draw a likeness from visible things to invisible things, and to ascend from the reflection on the former to the knowledge of the latter, by assigning the likeness at hand. Therefore, if there is one measure everywhere, if the ark here and the crown there have exactly the same length as well as width, what else must be understood in these matters than that we learn to extract a reason of likeness from

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all these things with a view to an investigation of invisible things; from all these things, I say, that we have said pertain to the length or width of our ark? And so, as was said, in the speculation on things it pertains to the length of the ark to reflect on matter, form and nature, but to its width belong the work of nature as well as human activity. And so from all these things we can and must elicit a fitting reason of likeness with a view to an investigation of invisible things and, once we are readily used to make that effort, as is fitting or becoming, we have drawn a crown around our ark. But it was said that, in the reflection on conduct, to the height of the ark pertain human as well as divine regulations, so that the ark of our insight seems to have a full cubit from human regulation, but a half cubit from divine regulation. But what does it mean that the said crown seems to touch only the higher parts of the ark, if not because human ordinances obviously have a very remote and altogether foreign likeness to invisible and spiritual things? Who does not know that those things have been invented for the use of temporal things, not as a figure of eternal things? Any visible works of the Creator, however, have been created towards this end, have been arranged thus, that they would serve for the use of the present life as well as bear the shadow of future goods.148 Hence it also happens that the work of human activity, in so far as it imitates nature, carries in itself a shadow of invisible or future things. For the rest, however, human ordinances are foreign to the likeness of invisible things to that extent, that their inventors, in instituting them, did not even think of anything like that. As often as we nevertheless find something of a likeness in them to invisible things, let us see that it does not perhaps fall under one of the considerations which we assigned earlier to the length or the width of the ark. Now about divine institutions, it should be noted that some we must simply understand and not look for anything mystical in them; some, however, must be employed according to the meaning of the letter, yet they have also something mystical to express figuratively. Thus, because a mystical insight is required in the precepts that are more lofty and deeper to understand, the half cubit that is attributed to the height of our ark in divine regulations is as it were decorated in its higher parts by a golden crown. But not even in this part does the fittingness of the likeness wholly depart from the property of those five considerations mentioned above, whence it is that the crown stretches itself here according to the length and the width of the ark, so that it can surround it on all sides.

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chapter 15 This Kind of Contemplation Is Rightly Divided in Five Steps Rightly therefore this third kind of contemplation is distinguished in five steps according to the said five modes of reflection, from which the reason of a likeness is sought or appointed in the investigation of invisible things.149 For when a likeness is assumed of one thing to another, it is formed according to the same modes in a varying order. Therefore, it is the first mode when the likeness is taken from that from where a thing itself is, or rather from that which a thing itself is. The second and third draw a likeness from that which is in a thing itself, the fourth and the fifth from that which is through a thing itself. And the second in fact from that which is in the thing itself, but externally; the third, however, from that which is in the thing itself, but internally. But the fourth from that which through a thing happens by the pressure of necessity, the fifth, however, from that, which happens through the thing itself, but by an intention of the will. Thus the first mode of such a reasoning is drawn into this speculation from the property of matter. The second and the third from the quality of a thing, the second from the external quality, which we have called the form, but the third from the inner quality, which above we called its nature. The fourth mode is obtained from that which in or from a thing itself happens according to a natural motion, the fifth finally from that which happens according to a manmade motion. From the property of matter a likeness is drawn when it is said: His legs are marmor columns, which have been founded on gold bases.150 The external quality consists in color and shape. A likeness is assigned from color when we read: My beloved is radiant and ruddy.151 From the quality of form a likeness is taken, where the quality is recommended in a mystical description of holy Scripture: Their appearance and their work was as if a wheel were in the middle of a wheel.152 Note that the external quality pertains to sight alone, just as the inner quality to any of the other senses. To hearing pertains that attribution of likeness where you hear: And the voice that I heard as the voice of the cither singers playing on their cithers.153 Again, it seems to be in regard to smell, where Wisdom talks about herself: As cinnamon and sweet-smelling balsam I have spread a scent, as selected myrrh I have given a sweet odor.154 A likeness is assumed from the delights of taste when the same Wisdom witnesses about herself: My spirit is sweet more than honey and my

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inheritance more than honey and a honey-comb.155 The delights of touch are evoked with what you have elsewhere: As the ointment on the head that runs down on the beard, the beard of Aaron.156 Let these things be said about the inner quality to the extent, of course, that the corporeal senses can reach it. Natural operation is taken into reflection thanks to a likeness, when the Lord promises through the voice of the prophet: Just as the rain and the snow comes down from heaven and does not return there again, but pours down into the earth and inebriates it and makes it sprout forth and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be, which goes out from my mouth.157 From manmade work comes that fitting likeness that you hear from the Apostle: you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the supreme cornerstone.158 We have taken pains to scatter these things for you, as some seeds of teaching, about the reason of likenesses in the construction of our crown, just as earlier in the gilding of the ark, so that you have something from which you can, if you wish, gather an abundant crop of knowledge. For to explain this place fully and sufficiently requires a treatise of its own. So much does this place want a greater and more careful examination, as the whole principle of this speculation leans upon this reasoning. It is certain that in this and in the following speculation the greatest and almost principal consolation of spiritual men in our times is contained, for certainly very few are the people who can rise to the last two kinds of contemplation. He, however, who wishes to scrutinize these things more fully, let he bear in mind that just as the ark itself its crown has four sides. chapter 16 The Things Which Pertain to This Speculation Can Also Be Distinguished in Another Way Now there is yet something else which we can rightly observe in this crown, if by it we must understand the plenitude of invisible goods. For indeed the crown surrounded the mercy seat from every side and enclosed it wholly within itself. For as far as the structure of the ark is concerned, the mercy seat must be understood as nothing else than the cover of the ark itself, that is some golden panel entirely made from the purest gold, which could be removed from below, from the top of the ark itself, and was surrounded from every side, as has al-

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ready been said, by the crown. By these two, that is, the crown and the mercy seat, we understand two kinds of contemplation, one about invisible goods, the other about invisible substances, as in angelic or human spirits. Thus, what is it that the crown encloses the whole mercy seat within itself, if not that the bliss of the just encompasses all their desire within itself? As long as we live under the beggarly elements of this world,159 we stretch out our desires beyond our joys, because the things that we desire are infinitely more numerous than what we can take hold of in this life. But that blessed multitude of celestial spirits does not stretch its desires beyond the fullness of its joys, that multitude which does not at all suffice to comprehend the infinity or immensity of its happiness, and which the crown of its bliss surrounds from all sides and encloses always in the bosom of its magnitude. Indeed, their joy consists not only in the contemplation of the Creator, but also in contemplating his creatures. For while they find God wonderful in all his works, what wonder if they marveling venerate, and venerating marvel at the great deeds of him whom they love. Not only in incorporeal creatures, but even in corporeal creatures they find things at which they can marvel, for which they can properly venerate their Creator. Some things therefore they see above themselves, others they see among themselves, others under themselves. All these things they contemplate together, contemplating they marvel, marveling they rejoice. They rejoice in contemplation of the divine, they share their pleasure in seeing each other, they delight in the speculation of corporeal things. The lowest part of the crown, which reaches down under the mercy seat and is attached to the wood, represents the delightful sight which they have in the lower creatures; the middle part of the crown, which is joined to the mercy seat, is a figure of that most ardent desire of love which they contract from the delight in their mutual vision; the highest part of the crown, which rises above the mercy seat, expresses that unspeakable joy which they derive from the continuous contemplation of their Creator. Let us also learn to marvel while contemplating and contemplate while marveling, how these citizens of celestial bliss uninterruptedly look upon all things that are under themselves, and comprehend the reason and order of all things that they see from on high, how they endlessly rejoice in their mutual fellowship and indissoluble love, how they burn insatiably in that vision of divine brightness—and we have crowned our ark. Let us think how they go out and come in and find

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pastures160—and we have accomplished the crown of our ark according to the mode that is fitting for it. You surely see that spiritual pastures are found not only in inner things, but also in outer, in corporeal things. Without doubt, corporeal goods, to the extent that they have a likeness to invisible and incorporeal goods, can, not surprisingly, provide spiritual pastures for spirits. For if visible goods would not have any likeness to invisible goods, they would not at all be capable of helping us in the investigation of invisible things, and what one reads about them would not be obvious now, that the invisible things of God, are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made.161 On the other hand, however, if they were not different from invisible things by great unlikeness, beyond doubt they would not be perishable and transitory and inadequate. Yet their unlikeness from invisible things is incomparably greater than their likeness, for indeed, in comparison with them the all exceeding greatness of future fullness is endless. That is why the highest parts of the ark hardly touch the crown and are joined to its lower bits, because even by so many signs of their likeness the highest of these visible things only partly express the lowest of invisible things. chapter 17 In This Speculation We Use the Leading Hand of Corporeal Likeness Now this seems to be different between the second kind of contemplation and this third one, about which we are now talking, that the second one, as we have already said before, depends on imagination, but is moderated according to reason; this third one, however, corresponds with reason, but follows imagination. For in this speculation, through all the things which the mind examines in multiple ways, it strains towards invisible things, and endeavors to apprehend them. In this, therefore, this speculation consists in reason, that it pursues investigating only those things which the corporeal sense cannot grasp at all. But as the investigation of this speculation is not led through to the knowledge of invisible things without the help of corporeal likenesses, reason in this part seems to follow the leading hand162 of imagination and in the course of its seeking is demonstrably having it as the guide of its journey. For while imagination presents reason with the forms of visible things, and instructs it on the basis of the likeness of those very things to the investigation of

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invisible things, somehow it conducts reason there, where it does not know to go by itself. For reason would never rise to the contemplation of invisible things unless imagination would show it, by representing the forms of visible things, where to draw the likeness to those things and to form the mode of its investigation. That is why that inner man of ours calls the outer man its guide, when he says: But you, a man of one mind with me, were my guide and my acquaintance.163 For it is certain that the mind cannot arrive at knowledge of outer things, unless by the corporeal sense. Justly therefore the inner man calls the outer man his guide, without whose service or rather tutorship he does not attain knowledge of visible things, and certainly not of invisible things, as without the knowledge of the first he cannot rise to come to know the second. Thus, as often as our inner man is compelled to grasp the experience of learning things through the corporeal sense, so often our inner man certainly seems to follow its guidance. Without doubt, in coming to know things, the sense of the flesh goes before the sense of the heart, because unless the mind would first grasp sensible things through the corporeal sense, it would not at all find what it could even think about them. But perhaps it is no wonder if the sense of the body leads the sense of the heart there, where it can go itself, but that is very wonderful, how it leads that sense there where it cannot climb itself. The corporeal sense indeed does not grasp incorporeal things, and yet reason cannot climb without its guiding hand, as the reason pointed out above already has shown. Surely, even if man had not sinned at all, the outer sense would help the inner one in knowing things: for who would deny that Adam had received his Eve for his help? But it is one thing to have a companion for one’s course, and another thing to look for a guide for one’s journey. For because Eve drew her man once against God’s counsel and command and turned him to consent with her own counsel, Adam, weakened by the punishment for his transgression, now needs to follow her and until now daily needs her instruction. However, he is not only not disturbed about the guidance of his helper, but even glories in it, when he, through her compliant intervention, is led forth to the contemplation of invisible things through the path of corporeal likenesses: A man, he says, of one mind with me is my guide and my acquaintance.164 Well, how he might be a man of one mind with or acquainted with the inner man is sufficiently clear, I think, and does not need much explanation.

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Consider now how the movement of the body of itself goes to meet the movement of the heart, and you will quickly find how it is of one mind with it. Instantly, as the mind wishes it, the foot or hand is moved. At its nodding the eye moves around. At its decision the tongue is moved, and the lips or any other members of the body are moved. What, I ask, in the nature of things is more dissimilar than spirit and body? Nevertheless, where, I pray, do we find such perfect concord and unanimity, that wishing something to happen and it happening, wishing something to move and it moving, occur almost, even completely at the same time? There is indeed only one member of the body, in the part, that is, where lust reigns, that does not submit to the authority of the inner man. But when he can repress that one member’s contradiction with divine help through regulated affliction, then thereafter he dares to call him of one mind and to address him as the man of his peace. A man, he says, of my peace.165 Behold, how he is of one mind. But how about notice? Indeed, this is clear enough, that whatever happens in whichever part of the body, everywhere where it is hurt, everywhere where it is warmed by whatever pleasure, it arrives at once at the mind’s notice and cannot at all be hidden from it, whichever affliction or pleasure affects the sense of the flesh. And, just as the movement of the heart comes out at once without contradiction through a bodily movement, so every sensation of the body enters without delay in the mind. And just as in its every action the bodily movement obeys the decision of the heart, so every bodily affection enters without rejection into the mind, and how truly no injury or delight of the body is hidden from the mind is demonstrated by the immediate speed of compassion or shared joy. For just as wishing things to move and their moving happen in one and the same time, so suffering in the body and compassion in the heart, outer delight and inner joy, happen in one and the same moment. Choose what you admire more: the body’s so fast obedience to the mind, or the mind’s so intimate knowledge of the body. Marvelous obedience, where a movement of the body almost anticipates every desire of the mind. Wonderful intimacy of knowledge, where whatever the body feels, the mind almost feels in advance. And indeed that inner man of ours has, with this so intimate knowledge of his servant, he has, I say, something about which he should marvel, but nothing to pride himself. It is not a great reason for boasting for the mind to know what things usually delight or hurt his body. But beyond doubt it will be great when after many lessons of experience it will begin to know with what discernment it must at the same time

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comply with the desire of the flesh in necessary things, and contradict it in superfluous things, so that it does not encourage an enemy to itself and nourishes a rebel if it cherishes it too much, nor destroys a citizen and oppresses a helper if it afflicts it too much. Of course, the mind reaches the perfection of such knowledge with difficulty, through many proofs, after many experiences, but once that knowledge is obtained it certainly makes a great deal of progress from there. Without this knowledge, Adam will never be able to make good use of his aid; through it the outer man is taught slowly to despise the pleasures of Egypt, and finally to forget them, and none the less he becomes accustomed to delight in spiritual food. To someone this will seem marvelous or rather incredible, but, if I am not believed in this, let an expert be believed. Let us hear him whom this experience has taught and let us attend to what he says: A man, he says, of my peace in whom I trusted, who ate my bread.166 And again in this place: You who together with me took sweet foods, we have walked in the house of the Lord in agreement.167 Now what is the bread that our inner man sets before the outer, or with which food he restores him, Scripture makes clear, which says: My tears have been my bread day and night, when daily it is said to me: where is your God?168 And elsewhere he says again about such bread: Rise up, after you have sat down, who eat the bread of sorrow.169 And thus the inner man eats such bread sometimes alone, sometimes he compels his servant, with difficulty, in great weariness, to eat with him. The spirit eats its bread alone when the mind indeed feels sorrow for its sins, yet is on no account capable of wrenching out tears. They eat the bread of sorrow together and they take one food in one mind, when the inner man sighs deeply and at his sighs the outer man sheds tears abundantly. Now every man is first pricked by compunction out of fear; later, however, he is pricked by compunction out of love. Compunction of fear has bitterness, compunction of love has sweetness. Therefore, he who as yet is only pricked by compunction out of fear, is fed indeed with spiritual food, yet that food is hardly sweet. He, however, who already sheds tears from a desire for eternal joys, he certainly restores himself with sweet and spiritual food. Therefore, when that inner man begins to restore his servant with such food, he can truthfully sing the psalm about him: Who took sweet foods with me.170 The more ample progress both men make by such endeavors towards purity, surely the more gladly they run.

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But that after such perfect concord of flesh and spirit the troublemaking of evil spirits disturbs their peace, becomes clearly apparent for him who understands it correctly from what is added. For what is it that he who has been created according to God, the inner man, complains about the man of his peace, the man of one mind with him, and soon hurls the dart of his curse not to him, but to others, if not that through his imprecation he vents his rage on those by whose raging he has lost the repose of his peace? But you, he says, a man of one mind with me, my guide and my acquaintance, who together with me took sweet foods, we walked in the house of the Lord in agreement.171 And he adds at once: Let death come upon them.172 He does not say upon you, but upon them. He revenges himself upon those through whose deceit he had lost the comrade of his peace. For often evil spirits, envious of the peace of the spirit, while they weary the flesh by sudden and vehement temptation, disturb the peace of the spirit, and render him an enemy instead of a man of one mind, a seducer instead of a guide, and make an acquaintance into an unknown person, and a house servant into a hostile servant. But behold, while we wish to scrutinize one place of Scripture more fully, we are compelled to wander all through the surrounding places. For while the order of reason required to say something about the guidance of the outer man, the obscurity of the surrounding words urged us to extend our explanation a little further. chapter 18 This Kind of Contemplation Depends on Reason According to Imagination But let us now return to the point from where we digressed, that is, how we are assisted by the imagination of visible things in the investigation of invisible things. For in this the outer man assists the inner man in the course of his investigation, that he presents him with the image of invisible things through the imagination of visible things. And, while he fulfils his duty as a guide, the path of likenesses leads the inner man there where he, the outer man, does not dare to enter. Just so, servants often go ahead in front of their lords on the way as far as the royal gates, and yet while their lords hasten inside as far as the interior of the palace, they remain outside. Therefore it is clear, I think, what we have already said before, how we have to understand how this kind of contemplation is indeed in reason

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and according to imagination, because what we perceive by the mind are invisible things, and yet we fashion them for ourselves on the basis of the likeness of visible things. For what would I call the form of visible things if not as it were some picture of invisible things? Let there just be someone who says that he has never seen a lion, which however he desires to see; if an image of a lion, fittingly expressed in some picture, is shown to him, certainly it is brought to his mind at once how he must imagine the lion from what he sees. Thereafter, according to the lines which he observes as expressed on a surface only, he fashions in his mind for himself solid members and a living animal. Now consider, how much difference there is between that which he sees outside, and that which he inwardly imagines for himself in his thought. Just so, surely, in this kind of contemplation the invisible things which we turn over in our mind, and those which we see through imagination are very different from each other, and yet we draw a likeness from the latter to express the former. As far as we could we have given an account of why this kind of contemplation seems to be in reason and according to imagination. chapter 19 How it Belongs to God’s Permission or Operation, Whatever the Ray of Contemplation Traverses The order of reason requires to say something, even if only briefly, about the rings and the poles,173 so that the same order is kept in the explanation, which the author wished to keep in his description. And so we have to consider first which are the sides of the ark, so we can next recognize which rings we must put in which side. By the ark we understand the grace of contemplation, as we already have said before. Thus, because the ray of contemplation radiates from on high and spreads itself out in every direction, according to the capacity of the mind raised towards it, all things that can fall under contemplation evidently show that they belong to this ark. But it is one consideration by which we direct our attention to the fact that of the things that happen daily some are just, others unjust; and a very different consideration is that by which we observe that for human usage some things are fitting, others unfitting.174 Therefore in our ark two walls are raised that are facing each other mutually from opposite sides, the one on this side by equity, the other on that side by inequity; equally two others walls are produced looking at each other directly in the same way, one on this side by prosperity, the other on that side by adversity.

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Now this is very admirable and worthy of much wonder, how, as God moderates and justly arranges all, either the good will or equally so the evil will now is thrust back by adversity here, then again is fastened by prosperity there, so that neither the one nor the other grows infinitely and exceeds the measure of divine disposition. Consider now, how in our ark the walls that stretch themselves out in length, and determine the length of the ark, are cut off and confined to a certain measure by two other walls running across. In accordance with this likeness, divine dispensation now serves the diverse wills at his wish, so that they find a way to extend themselves, then again resists them, so they don’t exceed the measure that has been pre-ordained and assigned to them. For so as not completely drift away,175 as we have already said, on one side we are fastened by the bond of desire, on the other side, we are barred by the barrier of necessity. For we often abandon many things in order not to lose what we love, many other things just as much in order not to run into what we hate. Thus, where adversity and perversity clash with each other, they produce in some way a corner in our ark. However, where prosperity and perversity run up to each other, they make up another corner. But the meeting of equity and prosperity makes a third corner. And the clash of equity and adversity forms the fourth. At the first corner evil persons are reproached, at the fourth the good are corrected. Likewise, at the second the evil are abandoned, at the third the good are protected. Indeed, through adversity the reprobates are reproved, but not corrected. For if they would correct themselves, they surely would not be reprobates. But through adversity the good are corrected about their evil deeds or even are made to advance to better things. Likewise, through prosperity evil persons are left to themselves and are abandoned by God. The good, however, are both encouraged through prosperity to good things and protected from evil things. Thus the first corner is for reproach, the second for abandonment, the third for protection, the fourth for correction. Now it is clear that those walls are called by Moses the sides of the ark, which make out the length of the ark. Just as in the structure of the ark the quantity of these two walls is greater than of the others, so in the meaning of things and in the contemplation of truth their dignity is higher. For who does not know how the distinction which exists between just and unjust is incomparably greater than that which exist between the fitting and the unfitting? The first belongs to the walls which make out the length of the ark, for the distinction that exists

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between the fitting and the unfitting belongs to the walls that make out the width of the ark. To two sides of the ark, therefore, belongs the reflection on any things you like according to whether they happen justly or unjustly. But who would not know that the things that happen justly happen by God’s working, the things that happen unjustly only by his permission. chapter 20 God’s Wisdom, Although It Is Simple and One, Is Brought into Contemplation in Different Considerations and Is Called Sometimes Knowledge, Sometimes Foreknowledge, Sometimes Disposition, Sometimes Predestination As we therefore have already what are the sides of the ark, as we already hold its four corners by our explanation, let us seek now what are the four golden rings which are ordered to be put one in each corner. As to gold, it is quite clear that it surpasses all other metals by its great brightness. But what is brighter, what fuller of light than divine wisdom? We find nothing indeed comparable to it. From this gold we take as it were the material for diverse operations, when we reflect upon this wisdom in different ways. For indeed God’s wisdom, while it is, as has been said, simple and one, is sometimes said foreknowledge, sometimes named knowledge, now we say predestination, then again, we call it disposition. Thus one thing is distinguished by us in different ways so that it is in some way at least partly grasped by our smallness. Knowledge is that by which he knows all things; foreknowledge by which he foresees all things from eternity; predestination by which from eternity he has pre-ordained all either to life or to death. Disposition by which he arranges all things everywhere incessantly and leaves nothing unordered. We bend these modes of our reflection as it were in a circle when we see that in all ordering of divine wisdom the beginning harmonizes with the end. For divine foreknowledge is never mistaken in its foresight, divine predestination is never deceived in its design, his knowledge never errs in its judgment, his disposition nowhere wavers in its counsel. For while a circle from all sides bends back into itself, without doubt neither beginning nor end is found in it. Just as well to these circles pertains the consideration that in the entire contemplation of divine comprehension our mind is not capable of investigating begin-

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ning, end or measure. The circumference of these rings is from all sides at an equal distance to the one point in the middle, because all divine examination nowhere wanders further from the boundary of the one and simple truth in one thing than in another. These rings comprise in themselves all things and enclose in their inner all things together. These are the four rings, I think, which Moses ordered to be arranged for the four corners of the ark. chapter 21 According to the Different Ways of Contemplation Divine Wisdom Seems More Wonderful in Some Things, More Joyful in Others Now of these rings two are sitting on one side, the two others on the other side. And so each single one of them is assigned a certain place, although they all work together in equal degree for the carrying of the whole ark. For any of such rings must sit there where, compared with the others, each one in its place appears to our reflection more wonderful or more joyful. For each one is as it were more distant from the place where it arouses less the wonder of the contemplative, where it engenders lesser joy in the mind of the admirer. Thus two take a place on one side and in the same way two on the other side. Now it was said earlier how the things that happen by God’s permission belong to one side, and how equally the things that happen through God’s operation seem to belong to the other side. Therefore let the ring of foreknowledge and the ring of knowledge be arranged on the side of permission. Likewise, the ring of predestination and the ring of disposition on the side of divine operation. Do you wish to know how rightly, how well-ordered the rings which are said to be of knowledge or foreknowledge especially sit on the side of the things that happen by God’s permission? Then consider, if you can, how much wonder it deserves that he can know in advance from eternity all things, of such innumerable multitude and such manifold variation. But this foreknowledge of his, while it is wonderful in both sort of things, yet appears more wonderful in evil than in good things. For of things that are evil we know, because they happen unjustly, that they only ever happen by his permission but never through his operation. Consider thus, if you can, how much wonder it deserves that he can even know beforehand the things that he has left to the will of

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another and indeed to a will which was not yet there and which he was never going to make. For he never makes an evil will, although he permits it to be. Surely, we wonder less that he knows those things beforehand from eternity which were to be made by himself, although they are many and almost endless, than those which he put under another’s power and a contrary will. Now what shall we say about his knowledge, which, we know, comprehends under one ray of simple vision the quality, measure, order and place and number of all things that exist? Oh truly wonderful, truly stunning knowledge! Now if you ask where it appears more marvelous to our reflection, while it is truly marvelous everywhere: who would not see that it seems more marvelous in hidden things than in manifest things? How, I ask, is it that it beholds incessantly the hidden secrets of men, the secrets, that is, of their thoughts, affections, desires, and intentions, and that no movement of the heart can be hidden in the sight of divine knowledge? Truly, as often as it attends to the good thoughts and desires of men, what else does it see in the secret place of the heart, in the case of all these things, than what he himself has placed there? For indeed the good movements of the hearts, any you like, without contradiction, he himself performs them and he co-performs them.176 Truly this is marvelous above all, that he is not capable of being ignorant about anything even of the things which he himself does not inspire in the human hearts. This is that truly highest and unique wonder concerning the sharp sight of divine knowledge, that nothing can be hidden from him in the oh so deep and so dark abyss of evil hearts. Behold, why the rings of foreseeing and knowledge take their place on the side of permission, where they, as clear reason teaches, offer themselves to our reflection as the more marvelous. The other side must have the remaining rings, that is of divine predestination and disposition; and why this is so does not need much explanation, I think. For to say nothing about the fact that they appear more marvelous in this part, who would deny that they appear the more joyful in the things that serve the salvation of the elect, which alone have regard to this side? For indeed we embrace the reason of divine predestination and disposition more dearly, venerate it more joyfully, love it more ardently, extol it more honorably in the renewal, the advancement, and the glorification of those to be saved than in the just rejection, ejection, and damnation of evil persons. For to that extent predestination seems to belong especially to this side, that it usually is

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said almost solely about preordination to life and that it refers to the other part only by misapplying it and improperly. But although divine disposition belongs to both sides because it leaves nowhere anything unordered, yet all his ordination only serves the salvation of the elect. Behold, we have now said which rings we must arrange in which side. chapter 22 In Which Speculation Divine Foreknowledge or Knowledge Appears More Marvelous Perhaps the question still disturbs the mind in which corner each must be put. Consider if not perhaps by some singular supereminence the ring of foreknowledge belongs more specially to the first corner, the ring of knowledge to the second corner, the ring of predestination to the third corner, and the ring of disposition to the fourth corner. We have already said before that the clash of adversity and iniquity makes the first corner and we have shown that it pertains to the reproof but not the correction of evil persons. Therefore, if you look at God’s foreknowledge, what will you find in it about which you would be amazed more? Why, I ask, does he reprove the reprobate through the scourge of adversity and misfortune if he knows in advance that they will never desire to come to their senses from their evils? Why does he address them with as it were words of fatherly care, restrains them with his commands, frightens them with his threats, while he foresees that they are abandoned to eternal evils? Therefore, if you do not find what to be more amazed about in divine foreknowledge, there is no reason why you would be amazed that it is connected completely to this corner. Likewise, it has been shown before that the meeting of prosperity and perversity makes the second corner and that it pertains mostly to the abandonment and ejection of the evil. Now, I ask, turn the eyes of insight to consider divine knowledge; I implore you to look carefully, to marvel, to be astounded. It is greatly astounding how God incessantly sees the evil things of men, which he so much detests and hates. Can God’s omnipotence, I ask, not restrain so many and such evils, of which the wisdom of the Omnipotent can nowhere be ignorant, which omnipotent goodness can never love?177 To the heap of this wonder is added this, that he confers even temporal goods on evil persons,

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by which somehow he seems to multiply in them the evils which he detests more than all and above all. For through temporal goods, as was said earlier, evil persons are left to themselves and abandoned by God. For does that sharp sight of divine knowledge not consider how the evil abuse his goods? Or perhaps is it ignorant of what, in which spirit they entertain in their mind?178 But who would dare to say this? Consider, thus, how difficult it is to venerate this veiled and perplexing issue179 with a worthy admiration and you will find how justly the ring of such divine knowledge must be attached more closely, more strongly fitted, to this corner. chapter 23 In Which Speculation Divine Predestination Appears More Joyful Likewise, the third corner, as is held above, is joined by the meeting of probity and prosperity and is proved to pertain to the consolation and protection of the good. From here now, I ask, from this corner, look at the corner diagonally opposite and carefully consider now this one, now that one, so you can find the reason for the setting that you search for more quickly, penetrate it more acutely. In this corner the good are fostered by the prosperity of this world; in that one evil persons are scourged by worldly adversity. Consider more carefully, examine more assiduously, here God’s tenderness, there his severity, his tenderness towards the good, his severity towards the evil. How severe do we think he is, that he does not spare them in the present life, that he does not allow them to pass through the temporal life without punishment, whom he has abandoned to eternal punishments? On the other hand, how tender he is, that he does not cease to foster the good indeed with temporal goods, as far as is profitable for them, yet he has pre-ordained them for true and eternal goods. Examine, if you can, how, how great, how tender it can be indeed to freely predestine them for eternal goods, while the others have been rejected, and yet not to deny them temporal goods for use, even for benefit. What can be found sweeter than this reflection, what more joyful in God’s predestination? Rightly therefore in this corner divine predestination is described to excel, where temporal prosperity serves the elect for their benefit. Rightly also that golden ring holds a fixed place there, where it surely appears so much brighter as it is more joyful.

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chapter 24 In Which Speculation of Things Divine Disposition Usually Appears More Joyful And to come finally to the fourth corner, we explained that that one is far superior, where adversity, meeting it from the adjacent side, exercises probity, for adversity itself, as has been said there, pertains to the correction of the good. For because not even the good pass through this life without stain, and however perfect they may be, always find something in which they can grow and make progress, in this corner they have something with which they can be cleansed, and they have equally something with which they may be exercised. In this corner sits the last of our rings, the more at home, because it does not have anywhere else where it would have its individual place. Here again, if we compare this corner with the corner diagonally opposite, we quickly find the reason that we are looking for. In that one, evil people prosper, in this one the good are scourged; there from the goods that evil persons receive they become more lukewarm towards God, while they ought to be inflamed in love for him more vehemently. Here, on the contrary, in the good it happens, by God’s arrangement, that where it seems that the ardor of love should be extinguished, there it is more vehemently inflamed in them. For the harsher they are pressed by the evils of the world, and the more they are worn out by heavy scourges, the more vehemently they are set on fire towards the love of God. Admire, I pray, admire and be vehemently astounded, both how in evil people the love (amor) of God ceases after his kindness, and how in the good divine love (dilectio) grows out of his scourge.180 Without doubt the love (amor) of God gained more strength in Laurence from the fire, than in Nero from the fact that he was emperor; in Laurence it even warmed through the fire, in Nero it completely disappeared through the power of dominion granted to him. And what is even more, and much more marvelous, the flame of love probably gained more strength in the martyr out of such a harsh punishment, than it could have done from whatever and however great temporal glory. From where, I ask, such counsel, such wonderful artwork? You see how that highest artist shows the skill of his art, he who in his elect produces, fosters and nourishes, out of hurtful things, their contraries. It helps also for this corner now to compare it with the others, and to commend the order of divine disposition on the basis of their com-

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parison. In the first corner, as was said, the evil are punished but not cleansed. In this one, the good are scourged and corrected. What, I ask, is it that the same scourges correct the same faults in the good, but cannot correct them at all in the evil? Nay indeed, a thoroughly similar, small, and yes, temporal flame fully boils out the rust of corruption in the elect, which in the reprobate such harshness of so many torments and the cruel fire of hell does not suffice to burn out in eternity? Why, I ask, does a not dissimilar cause have a dissimilar effect, if not because the reason of divine disposition, while it is marvelous on both parts, appears more just than tender in the reprobate, but in the elect tender rather than stern. Behold, we have already compared this fourth corner, about which we are talking, firstly with the second, and secondly with the first, let it now in the third place be compared with the third. In the third corner the good receive benefits for their consolation; in the fourth, with which we are occupied just now, they feel that they are wearied by scourges. In that one they are fostered, in this one they are exercised. In that one they sweetly halt, in this one they powerfully fight. In that one they take remuneration from their king as those who will be soldiers, in this one by fighting they acquire victory and, by vanquishing, the palm of eternal recompense. And therefore in that corner, from having accepted divine kindness, what happens in them is that they become faithful debtors of God; in this corner, however, by the merit of their patience and their strength, what happens in them is that they become, if it is right to say, just exactors of God: For the rest, says the apostle, there is reserved for me the crown of justice which the just judge shall render me on that day.181 Shall render, he says, not shall give, and just judge, not tender. But in order to later become the rightful debtor of such a reward, he was first voluntarily made the free bestower of such merit. Consider therefore of what nature it is, that God with some great effort as it were thinks out, with much exercise as it were busies himself, with some marvelous skill sometimes achieves in the elect that they from accused become just, from servants free men, from wretched debtors rich in merits and heirs of the celestial kingdom. This is, I think, sufficient reason why that gold ring of divine disposition sits particularly in this corner, where through battles and modest hardships he raises man to eternal rewards. This is the corner in which such a golden ring shines more brightly, glows a more clearly red. This is the corner, I say, in which divine disposition appears more glorious and therefore more joyful to those that rejoice in tribulation and take pleasure in disgrace.

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From these things, therefore, which we have already said about the corners and the sides of the ark, we have shown clearly enough, I think, how on one side the rings of foreknowledge and knowledge appear more marvelous, and how on the other side the rings of predestination and disposition appear more joyful. chapter 25 The Sight of Our Contemplation Always Ought to Be Accompanied by Great Wonder and Vast Exultation I believe that it will not be too difficult now to find what sort of poles this sort of rings ought to have and which pole we ought to put on which side. For indeed, in the things that are more to be marveled at, no wonder also great wonder is needed; in the things, however, which seem more joyful, it will be useful to use great exultation. Therefore, let our wonder be great, let our exultation be ardent, such as contemplation of divine works requires. Let each be great, let each be strong, let both be solid in the manner of a pole, that they can suffice to carry such a load. Let us therefore make from both wonder and exultation a wooden pole, not a stick like a reed. However, it ought to be made not from any sort of wood, but from strong and incorruptible acacia wood, so that they are both inflexible through their strength and incorruptible through their forbearance. Truly, such poles are both good, that is, a great and lasting wonder and a vast and abiding exultation. But so that they have a shape after the manner of a pole, and can fulfil the function of poles, let each of them be solid, and let, moreover, each of them be gilded. Thus let them be made from the hard wood of constancy, let them be set in a straight line according to the standard of justice, let them both be covered by the gold of wisdom, so they both are powerful through strength as well as straight through equity and shining through discernment. Such gilding in these poles is very pleasing in every way, because a prudent and cautious discernment in all things is worth a lot. Therefore, let our wonder be discerning, so that we admire nothing in God’s foreknowledge, nothing in his knowledge which would be unfounded. Let our joy be equally discerning, so that we venerate nothing in divine predestination or disposition which would be unsubstantial. Each of them, in any case, knows to be wonderful, without patronage

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of falsity. Each of these indeed also knows to be sweet without a seasoning of vanity. Thus let us admire nothing in God’s foreknowledge, nothing in his knowledge, which would be false, let us venerate nothing in God’s predestination, nothing in his disposition, which would be unsubstantial: and we have covered our poles with the gold of wisdom with which we ought to cover them. Thus let this sort of poles be put into the golden rings and according to the Lord’s teaching and command let them never be pulled out. Let your wonder always be included in the sight of divine foreknowledge and divine knowledge. Let your delight always be there in the reflection on divine predestination and disposition. In the first you will always find what to marvel at, in the second you will always hit upon things from which to take delight. What need will there be therefore to seek different things again and again, and to run about hither and thither in wandering thoughts. Nowhere is there more abundant matter for admiring, nowhere a more expedient cause for thankfully rejoicing. Surely, in both the first and the second you will find things to marvel at and in which to take delight. For although each of the two poles is connected closer to one side, yet neither is very far from the other. Let therefore your wonder always be in the first, let your delight always be in the second. Let thus such poles always be put in this way in the golden rings and you will rejoice in having fulfilled the Lord’s command. chapter 26 The Manner of Contemplation Varies According to the Manner of Wonder and Exultation By these poles our ark is carried around hither and thither, by these poles it is lifted high, by these it is put down at the bottom again. Indeed, in the reason of divine works and its contemplation, the more you take delight in wonder, and wonder in delight, the more willingly you linger and the more attentively you examine and the deeper you are enlightened. As often as your mind is ravished, from your wonder, by different things and is delightfully affected towards each single thing, so often your ark is carried around, because your contemplation is spread out. If your wonder ravishingly carries you away to higher and deeper things and keeps you delightfully suspended in their investigation, certainly your ark rises high, because your insight grasps more subtle things. When the wonder of speculation and the

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delight of wonder diminishes or even is wanting, the ark is put down at the bottom, because divine revelation halts. In this manner, therefore, according to the nature and extent of our wonder and exultation, our ark now is turned in a circle, then is raised high, then again is put down at the bottom, because according to the desire of the burning mind revelation is fashioned and insight is enlightened in manyfold ways. chapter 27 It Is Necessary in All Contemplation of Changeable Things to Cling to the Reflection on Divine Wisdom Now this seems to be worthy of reflection, how fittingly Moses immediately added something about rings and poles, after he has described, in mystical description, the triple contemplation, which, as has been shown above, arises from visible things. For who does not know that such varying multiplicity and such multiple variety of this visible worldly machinery is subject to so much confusion, when all things together happen equally to a good and a bad, a just and an unjust person, to him who offers sacrifices and to him who disdains them? As is the good, so also the sinner; as he who breaks his oath, also he who speaks the truth.182 What, I ask, is this order of things, or rather such great confusion, that all things happen equally to all, that good and evil things come to the good, that evil and good things befall the evil in an equal lot? For so much the fog of this confusion obscures the look of the inexperienced, that he doubts or utterly despairs that God cares for human affairs. In any case, who would deny that it was for this reason that antiquity built a temple, and dedicated an altar to Fortune? Certainly, if they saw that only good things befall only the good and only evil things befall only the evil, even the inexperienced would not deny that this happened rightly, justly. But if only evil things would occur to the good, and only good things to the evil, they would probably be less troubled in appointing a reason for such an arrangement. It would seem perhaps to correspond with divine justice to promote to eternal rewards none but those who are tested by many hardships. Now, however, when a common event involves all together, how much do you reckon that human reflection vacillates, in such an abyss of divine judgments? For if divine justice is not ignorant of such diversity of conduct, why, I ask, does he not dispense different rewards for such different conducts? If God foresees the end of all evil people,

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and if he has pre-ordained some people certainly to life, what, I ask, is it that he confers the gifts of wisdom and of other spiritual gifts of grace to the reprobate, to some even in abundance, and allows many of the elect, deprived of these riches of virtues, to lie in vices for a long time? But if in all such vacillation we vigorously take hold of the foresaid rings of divine wisdom with the hand of faith, we raise ourselves quickly enough to a firm state of certainty. If we vigorously cling to these rings, if we firmly believe that God not only knows all things, arranges all things, but even has both foreknown all and has pre-ordained all from eternity, we shall easily be able to foresee how he manifests the skill of his wisdom in all these things, that in such a dark fog of such confusion there is nothing that can remain hidden from the view of his foreknowledge and his knowledge, that no obstacle or any stumbling block ever obstructs in the slightest the course of his predestination and disposition in such a forest of so many disturbances, that among so many turns of changeability through the paths of equity and tenderness he runs, without ever wandering off the way, to the intended place.

BOOK THREE

chapter 1 The Matter of the Fourth Contemplation and Its Characteristic Property After we have gone through the things that, it seemed, had to be said about the rings and the poles, the order of explanation requires that we must say some things about the fourth kind of contemplation. This kind of contemplation then, as we already have said earlier, consists in incorporeal and invisible essences, namely angelic spirits and human spirits. It is a truly worthy matter, and clearly knowledge of these things is worthy. For this is that noble, indeed most noble creature, created after the image of God, placed before all creatures, made for the highest good and to be blessed in and by the Creator of all goods himself. Indeed, the knowledge of all other creatures looks up at the knowledge of these things as it were from below; and to whatever size it increases, however much it raises itself, it does not reach this one’s full height. Consider how rightly it is represented by the mercy seat, which indeed was not gilded, but entirely golden, made solely from fine and purest gold. It is ordered to be made of pure and fine gold. You are instructed by this that in this reflection you must use a subtle and pure understanding. What does imagination, that creator, director, restorer of corporeal phantasms, do here?183 Let imagination, the fashioner of so many fantasies, which daily creates so many new shapes of corporeal things, repairs ancient ones and arranges and regulates them by so many multiple and diverse modes as it chooses, let it withdraw far from this occupation. Such an abundant multitude of its likenesses are of no benefit, nay indeed are very harmful. Why do you force your poor self on this work, why do you thrust yourself in the workshop of this contemplation with such rudeness? What is your business in this workshop, what do you have to do with pure insight? You don’t know to work with gold, you have nothing to do in such art. You don’t know to purify gold, you who always disturb pure understanding. Your gold is mixed with dross, indeed, you have no supply of gold at all. Our mercy seat is to be made of the purest gold, you have nothing to offer, there is not a thing at all that you could do for and in such business. In this work we have no need of your poor little disorderly works. Neither do you have gold, nor do you know our art. Whatever else it is than

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gold that you prepare to offer, we have no need for it now; take what is yours and go away.184 In this work we have no need of goats’ hairs, neither of rams’ skins or even any pieces of wood.185 Although you are very rich and even inasmuch as you have these things or something more than these, yet you cannot have your own gold nor do you have something with which you could help the goldsmiths. Goats’ hairs, the squalor of desires, full of stink from delight of the flesh, when they are scrupulously inspected, again and again re-examined, can assist those pricked by compunction in prayer. The examples of the martyrs’ stories and any rams’ skins reddened by their own blood can help persons afflicted by whatever distress. The works of piety and any trees of that sort that bear fruit through the works of mercy, cut from the forest of the world and hewn with an axe to the standard of justice, can be of benefit for those busy in government. But the memory of all these things and of any other such things can disturb rather than assist the minds suspended in the sights of this contemplation. For the more completely we forget corporeal phantasms, the deeper and the more freely we pry into the hidden things of superworldly essences. Let therefore he who aspires to make himself a mercy seat purify his gold and let he take pains to cleanse his understanding from the assault of all phantasms. Who would give me a man of riches,186 a man fully instructed,187 a man, in short, who is neither lacking an abundance of gold, nor the diligence and skill to make a mercy seat with which to cover the ark? Who is he, who would know to purify his gold from all slag, who would have learned to cleanse his heart from every fantasy as much as the dignity of the work requires or the authority of the commander urges? Who is he, who would know both to stretch out such a work to the measure defined by divine teaching, and to restrict it to a certain measurement; who, having left behind the thoughts of the lowest things at the bottom, would have learned to fasten his heart solely in the view of superworldly sights and to spread out the rays of his insight on every side, as far as the greatness of this speculation requires? Who, I say, is the man who would find such abundance of gold with himself, who would be so vigorous in the liveliness of his insight, that he has enough material, and has it at hand, with which, knowing in what way, he could extend his mercy seat to such length and expand it in such width that with it he can cover the whole ark; who strains toward the concord of celestial minds, to the harmony of spiritual joys to the point that he both presses down by scorn all worldly glory, all human good

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sense, and conceals it in the meantime from himself by oblivion? The best purifier of gold, the skillful artist of the mercy seat, is he who has learned to cling to celestial things, seeking only to know the things that are above188 with so much straining that he would neither by desire look back upon any of all the lowest things, nor in his thought would turn towards them. How much this kind of contemplation surpasses the three discussed before by the marvelous eminence of its dignity, plain reason will not allow to be hidden from him who looks more attentively, who understands more correctly. chapter 2 How this Kind of Contemplation Is Different From and How Much It Surpasses the First and the Second Do you wish to know how much difference there is between the first and the fourth, the one about which we are talking? Examine, if you can, how much gold and wood are different from each other. For the first work is made from wood, the fourth from gold, and the first sort of reflection is figuratively pictured through the first work, the second through the second. How much do we reckon that spirit and body are different from each other? If two bodily things are so different from each other, how great will be the difference between body and spirit? Compare, if you like, the sun with a flint-stone; and you can easily observe what is the difference between the highest and the lowest bodies. Yet the difference of any body with any spirit is, we believe, far greater than the difference between bodies could be, whichever you like and however dissimilar they are. I reckon that the difference between the knowledge of each will be according to the distance between their essences. Now, how much difference there is between the speculations which we compare here with each other may be suggested to you at least by each one’s instrument. For indeed the first one leans on the imagination, this one however on reason. But how much difference we reckon is there between imagination and reason, if not as much as between a mistress and a maidservant, between a famous and a disgraced, a learned and a foolish woman?189 You have seen how much this kind of contemplation surpasses the first, consider now also how much it is different from the second. Compare the symbolic figure for both with each other. Think about what

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the difference is between the gilding of the ark and the golden mercy seat, that is, the second and the fourth work. And therefore consider the position and place of each of them. And the former, in fact, sticks to the wood, the latter is put on top of it. But also the former rises from the bottom; the latter, however, lies on the top. And each of the two works is indeed made out of gold, for in both of these speculations the reason of existing things is sought, but in the former we explore the reason of visible things, in the latter we explore the dignity of invisible essences when it is hidden, or marvel at it when it is made known. Therefore, we embellish some pieces of wood as it were with the brightness of gold there, where we examine the cause, manner, and disposition of things through the direction of reason. But this artwork of our mercy seat is indeed rightly put over all pieces of wood, because once everywhere the onrush of corporeal phantasms has been trampled upon, the mind is lifted to the highest things by the balance of this sublime investigation and rests suspended in wonder at these things. There indeed the gilding of our ark rises little by little from the bottom and while it advances just perceptibly to higher things sometimes it seizes the highest part of our ark. So surely, so from the knowledge of visible things, from the reflection on their vanity and changeability, the mind is urged to flee the very things at which it marvels in the lowest things,190 and to escape from some flood of vast waves as it were into the breeze of true freedom, thanks to which it has fully come out of danger, scornfully tramples upon all lower things, and in its desire rests in the highest and true goods. Nothing is truer, nothing at all more right. Certainly and without any doubt the more assiduously the changeability of worldly things is observed, the better and the more clearly it is acknowledged that this changeability is both to be fled through strength and to be trampled upon by scorn. For although by divine disposition in visible things there are innumerable things to be marvelled at, yet these very same things are both to be disdained because of their changeability and to be fled for our benefit. What does it mean that the mercy seat, so as not to be connected directly to pieces of wood, is separated by the gilding which is put in between, if not that by knowledge of changeable things and contemplation of changeability we are driven back from loving them? Therefore let everyone of us direct his attention to such a mercy seat and then return to himself. Behold, our mercy seat surpasses the lowest things and lies on the highest things. It surpasses so as to guard; it lies so as to rest. Therefore,

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you too, ascend to the high point of the heart,191 fasten your desire to the highest things, and you have found a couch as joyful as calm. chapter 3 Likewise, How It Differs From and Surpasses the Second We can yet further show the proper and special difference192 of these contemplations, if we wish to direct our attention to their symbolic figure. For the mercy seat, being the cover of the ark, ought to have some thickness, the gilding, however, often seems to have almost, even entirely nothing of, I would not say density, but solidity. For what would I more correctly call gilding than some illusion of external perception? For indeed, that on which the guilding is added on top pretends to the external sight to be wholly golden. So surely, so that knowledge, which puffs up,193 fools more than illuminates the eyes of some who may have a sense of deep things,194 but are carnally void of understanding. For wherefore do you have knowledge of outer things unless it may assist you in the knowledge of inner things? Otherwise, your wisdom is foolishness with God.195 What good will it do you to know all other things and to be ignorant about yourself and your Creator? What do you boast so much, philosopher of the world? If you must boast, boast not about yourself, but about the Lord.196 Indeed, if this insipid wisdom and ignorant learning of yours would carry you along to an acquaintance with yourself or even knowledge of God, it would make you not so much puffed up as fearful. If you know rightly, if you know truly, don’t wish to be wise of deep things, but have fear.197 What do you have that you did not receive?198 You ought to boast about him from whom you received, and glorify him from whom you received. What do you boast as if you did not receive?199 If I would wish to boast, you say, I will not be a fool, for I will speak the truth.200 You surely see that I have the name on the basis of the real thing, I am called philosopher, a lover of wisdom, because I have said of wisdom, you are my sister, and I have called prudence my friend.201 You are mistaken, you are mistaken, philosopher, for appearance deceives you and concupiscence turns your heart upside down.202 What you count as wisdom, what you name wisdom, is foolishness with God.203 What place then, you say, does it have in the ark of wisdom or why does such work need such gilding? If its shine is only superficial, if it does not have anything solid, why does it have any place in such a work? Listen, if you like, what pleases in our work

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or what displeases us in your work. Your ark does not have a cover, you do not know how to make a mercy seat. But satisfied with gilding alone, you boast about completing the work. You perform a work of derision, and you don’t even know it, a work truly worthy of the mockery of all, because you have begun to build and you have not been able to complete it.204 Stupid and fool, you don’t know, or you neglect, that according to divine command a vessel which does not have a cover205 ought to be shattered readily. It is truly a vessel that ought to be shattered because it is always and everywhere open to dirt. You purify, impure philosopher, what is outside of your vessel; inside, however, it is full of all filth; and satisfied solely with your reputation, you show no zeal in cleansing your conscience.206 Your ark shines on the outside, inside it is dirty, as one that does not have a cover. Eager to obtain fame, neglecting your conscience, do you really not consider that you ought to do the one thing, but not disregard the other? Let your ark shine on the outside. Let it shine just as much also inside. Let it shine on the outside because of this: Let your light shine before men, so that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven.207 Inside however let it shine just as much because of this: Blind Pharisee, first clean what is inside of the cup and the plate, so that that which is outside may also become clean.208 Thus our ark needs gilding, but it ought not to be satisfied with only gilding, for without a cover it cannot keep its inner cleanliness. Therefore, take pains to make a mercy seat according to divine teaching: and the ark of wisdom receives such a cover as is fitting for it. Unclean philosopher, if you wish to have an ark of wisdom that is clean inside, if you desire to keep purity of heart, ascend to this fourth step of contemplation, which is represented by the mercy seat of the ark. Earlier we have already said that this is the speculation which is had about invisible substances, that is human or even angelic spirits. Therefore, the first thing in this reflection is that you return to yourself, enter into your heart, learn to determine the value of your spirit. Examine what you are, what you were, what you ought to be, what you can be. What you were through nature, what you are now through guilt, what you ought to be through diligence, what you still can be through grace. Learn therefore to know from your spirit what you ought to value in other spirits. This is the gate, this the ladder, this the entrance, this the ascent. By this one enters into the innermost part, by this we are lifted to the highest point. This is the road to the summit of this speculation, this the skill of making a mercy seat. This is without doubt the art by which the heart’s cleanliness is recovered,

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and once recovered, preserved. You surely see how rightly we call this work the cover of the ark, through which we protect the cleanliness of the most inner parts. In any case, if your ark with its gilding would be under such covering, such a mercy seat, if your philosophy would serve such philosophy, that philosophy itself would in any case also please us. But our theologians know to use that philosophy better than the philosophers of the world. In short, hear what pleases us in our work or what rightly ought to please you in the gilding of our ark. First that it is put over the wood, second that it is put under the mercy seat, third that it is put between both of them. It is put over the wood, so that it stands out and conceals the concupiscence of the eyes for you and serves you as a veil for your eyes,209 so that your eyes are not perchance opened and see vanity.210 It is put under the mercy seat, so that it sustains it in its height, so that the knowledge of inferior things serves superior knowledge, and sharpens the eye of the mind, by much training, to grasp higher things. It is put in between mercy seat and wood, so that it separates them from each other and holds the human mind up away from the love of inferior things, so that it is not perchance thrown down from lofty heights and dragged away from the place of delight by its own concupiscence and goes, seduced, after its concupiscences and becomes a wanderer and fugitive on the earth.211 chapter 4 How It Differs from and How Much It Surpasses the Third We have already compared the fourth step of contemplation with the first and the second; let it now, if you please, also be compared with the third. But this we do perhaps better if we direct our attention to the symbolic figure of each of them. And so, attending to the figure of both, that is the golden mercy seat and the golden crown, I find manyfold differences between them. I don’t mention that the crown is attached to the wood, for the third step of contemplation, as has been shown earlier, leans upon imagination. But the fourth, this one about which we are talking now, exerts itself to trample upon all imagination by the height of its investigation. Therefore, on account of what the likeness expresses, our mercy seat ought not to stick to the wood nor be attached to the wood. I also pass over the fact that the crown stands up and rises up in height, but the mercy seat lies and spreads itself out in a great expanse all around,

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because the mind, in the sweet delight and delightful sweetness of this contemplation, for the first time finds itself a place of great security and a retreat of marvelous tranquility, and such unfamiliar and inexperienced joy concentrates the heart’s desire so it can rest, and brings it to peace. But I consider the greatness of each of them and I do not pass over their difference in this part without an attentive reflection. For behold what I am not able to deny, they are not at all different in the quality of their material, but it is significant by every measure that they are different from each other in the quantity of the material. Each of them is fashioned from gold, because each of them depends on reasoning. But that little bit of gold from which the crown is produced is very insignificant if it is compared with the size of the mercy seat. And then the measure of this mercy seat is defined with great care in length as well in width by divine instruction. But about the size of the crown nothing is said at all, nor is any measure of it written down; as if the divine word without words gives a hint about the making of the crown that let he who can grasp this grasp it,212 and let everyone make as much as he can. I reckon that, if its height could have extended even until half a cubit, that the divine word would not at all have passed this over in silence. But the Lord knows what he has made,213 and it cannot at all remain hidden to him, who teaches knowledge to man,214 how in this work human poverty as yet endures such scarcity of gold and how in the watchtower of this contemplation the littleness of its perception restrains it. For in what way would he have an abundance of the gold of wisdom, there where he lacks any tool for the things that are to be understood, or if he has it, it is blunt? How, I ask, would man find a tool to comprehend that peace, which surpasses all sense?215 With which sense, I ask, would he comprehend what no eye has seen and which has not come up in the heart of man?216 For when Paul or someone like Paul is lifted above himself, is caught up to the third heaven, certainly he does not investigate through his own spirit the mysteries which man is not allowed to speak about,217 but God reveals them to him through his spirit. But whatever human insight touches according to this manner through some ecstasy of mind, the watchtower of this third reflection hardly grasps it because of its utter narrow littleness. In short, it pertains to another kind of contemplation, not to this kind, whatever human experience sees in some ravishment218 by ecstasy of mind. What wonder therefore, if the littleness of its knowledge restrains the human mind above all in that reflection where it labors under the great lack of a sense for those things which are to be investigated? For whatever it

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either gathers about the knowledge of invisible things by reasoning, or finds through the likeness of visible things, it discovers that it is almost nothing in comparison with the truth. That is why for the crown no measure at all is prescribed, a measure which in the description of the mercy seat is so carefully expressed. I reckon that from these things it is possible to understand clearly why in this work there is as yet such scarcity of gold. chapter 5 How Much It Is Worth to Strongly Pursue this Contemplation and How the Mind Advances to It from Much Reflection on and Knowledge About Itself Now he who seeks to have an abundance of the gold of wisdom must pursue this fourth contemplation according to his powers and exert himself vigorously in the construction of the mercy seat. For such a work is very pleasing in every manner and everyone voluntarily offers219 spontaneously in this piece of work—I shall not say as much as is enough, but almost always more than is needed. He who vigorously pursues this work can never be lacking in abundance of gold. If you seek the reason, here it is. For when you begin to pursue spiritual contemplations and to rise through the consideration of your own spirit to the contemplation of spirits and in this manner to obtain spiritual things from spiritual things,220 you also begin to be spiritual. Indeed, without doubt, in this contemplation you are made completely what you began to be in the previous one, that is spiritual.221 And do you know well enough that the spiritual person judges all things,222 and of what nature this knowledge is, and how such great abundance of this gold can judge all things? Do you wish to be shown more clearly where you can obtain this abundance of gold for yourself? Has it then escaped your mind that the kingdom of God is within us?223 Behold, you say, within us is the kingdom of heavens, but is the gold really likewise within us? Why not, I say? Have you forgotten that the kingdom of heavens is like a treasure hidden in a field?224 Behold, where a great supply of gold is amply abundant for you, where you have it at hand: dig it out, if you like. Only go and sell what you have225 and buy that field226 and seek the hidden treasure. Whatever things you desire in the world, whatever you fear to lose in the world, spend it gladly for the freedom of the heart. Once you have bought the field, dig deep, rejoicing without doubt, as they who dig

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out a treasure and are mightily pleased when they have found a burial place.227 One ought to seek this treasure in the deep, because wisdom is drawn from the hidden.228 But wretched me, from where do I get gold for the gilding, the crown, and the mercy seat? I don’t have silver and gold229 and from where or how can these be made? By which skill, I ask, do I obtain gold for myself? I am not capable of digging, I am ashamed of begging. I know what I will do,230 I shall go to my father,231 the Father of mercy,232 from whom is every best donation and every perfect gift233 because he is generous towards all,234 who gives to all abundantly and does not reproach.235 And so I pour forth my prayer in his sight and proclaim my poverty before him236 and my lack of gold and I say to him: Lord, you know my folly,237 and my substance is as nothing before you,238 give me understanding,239 Lord, and then I have gold and am rich. Guard my soul240 because I am weak,241 and then I have such a mercy seat as I desire. Oh how much gold has he who in truth can sing the psalm: I have understanding above all my teachers. Above all elders I have understanding, because I have sought your commands.242 Oh what a mercy seat did he have, who confidently sang before the Lord: You have protected me from the assembly of the wicked, from the multitude of those who commit iniquity.243 Late indeed, but yet in the end at some time Paul had made himself a mercy seat, when he openly declared: I am not aware of anything against myself.244 For without great counsel of his conscience he would not know how to cleanse his ark and without the golden mercy seat he could not keep clean the mysteries of his heart. But in the time when he still persecuted the Church of God, I think that he was without a mercy seat. But it is reckoned to him245 as forgiveness, because he did this unknowingly and did not have gold with which to make himself a mercy seat. In fact, in what way could he make a mercy seat, when with open eyes he did not see anything?246 But after he received the light of his eyes,247 he was made a man who saw his own poverty,248 and for the rest, taking more diligently care of himself,249 he returned into himself and learned by experience that without doubt the kingdom of heaven is within us.250 For indeed, having found the treasure hidden in the field,251 he was very much enriched and, made famous, he began to possess many resources, beyond measure, more than thousands of gold and silver.252 Finally, listen to him priding himself not so much on his gold but on his treasure: But we have, he says, this treasure in clay jars.253 Oh man of riches, oh man truly made famous.

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Was that man not really the richest among all the people of the east,254 who spoke wisdom among the perfect?255 But what shall we say about him who had not made himself a mercy seat late as Paul indeed, but from early age, by which he also had kept the purity of his heart, which is why he also said: For my heart does not reproach me in all my life.256 In short, if you too desire to fulfil the Lord’s command, guard your heart with all care257 and you have begun to make a mercy seat such as the Lord requires of you. Or learn by example what is expedient to do. Listen to David, how he puts himself forth as an example: I meditated at night with my heart and I was exercised and searched my spirit.258 He meditated at night in his heart: you too, meditate in your heart. He searched his spirit: you too, search your spirit. Work at that field, attend to yourself. Without doubt, when you pursue this exercise, you will find that treasure hidden in the field.259 chapter 6 How from The Speculation of Oneself Insight in Spiritual Things Is Obtained or Also, Once It Is Lost, Restored From this exercise the supply of gold increases, knowledge is multiplied, wisdom is augmented. From this exercise the eye of the heart is purified, one’s natural intelligence is sharpened, insight is enlarged. He who does not know himself values nothing correctly. He who does not weigh the dignity of his condition does not know how all worldly fame lies under his feet. He who does not first consider his own spirit, he does not know at all, he does not know what he ought to think about the angelic spirit, about the divine spirit. If you are not yet capable to enter into yourself, how will you be capable to examine the things that are inside or even above yourself? And if you are not yet worthy to enter in the first tabernacle, by what audacity do you presume to go into the second tabernacle, that is in the Holy of Holies? If you cannot yet erect high steps, in order to ascend with the Lord Jesus or at least with Moses to a very high mountain,260 by what presumption do you get ready to fly to heaven? Return to yourself before you presume to examine things that are above you. The sun, once it rises, illumines its own neighborhood before it climbs higher. Therefore it is said even by Solomon: The sun rises and goes down and returns to its place. And there, born again, it goes round through the south and turns to the north.261 Thus the sun returns to its

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place, so that there it is reborn again, and from there, being reborn, it lifts itself higher little by little, so that after a while it touches the summit of heaven: The sun, he says, rises and goes down and returns to its place.262 The sun rises, when insight in the truth is breathed into the heart, and the same sun goes down when the ray of insight is withdrawn. But after going down the sun returns to its place, so that it may be born again. The very place of a sun of this sort is the mind. For from the mind itself insight is born when it is visited by divine grace. Therefore, what is it for the sun to return to its place, if not to turn the look of the mind back to reflect on itself? After going down the sun returns to its own place, because through the withdrawal of grace the eye of the mind rebounds, to reflect on its own failure. For through the fact that divine grace withdraws for a while, man is urged to learn that he is nothing and that by himself he is not capable of anything. But after returning to his place he is born again, because by reflecting on his own weakness, lost insight is recovered. chapter 7 How Insight Received from Speculation of Oneself Is Enlarged to All Things Now the sun, reborn in its place, climbs higher little by little, because through knowledge of itself it rises to the contemplation of heavenly things. But when it is led all the way to the highest point it gladly lingers there, because it is restored there by marvelous joy about the supercelestial sights. And so it eagerly contrives some delay in the place where it bends its course into a circle. For that reason surely it goes round through the south; and it is not carried so much by desire, no indeed, it turns to the north.263 Surely the southern region is wholly joyful from the abundance of light and the heat of the day, because it is very sweet and delightful to see, to contemplate the orders of the blessed spirits happy in the brightness and the love (caritas) of God.264 That northern region, abandoned to darkness and condemned to everlasting cold, has without doubt nothing similar, because in such regions the hearts of the reprobate, cold through malice as well as blind through ignorance, are deservedly tormented. Therefore, the sun does not run all the way to that point, but only turns in its direction, for I reckon that by no desire is it drawn to such an unlovely region. Yet it turns there so that it sees the things that are there as from far away, and recognizes which

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evils it ought to avoid with which caution. In the east we receive knowledge about our conduct, the discernment of virtues and vices. In the south we contemplate the rewards of good merits, the joys of heavenly citizens, the mysteries of divine secrets. In the north we come to know the retribution for evil merits, the end of evil spirits and reprobate men. You see how much it is worth, man’s full cognition of himself? For indeed from this he advances to the knowledge of all things celestial, terrestrial and infernal. chapter 8 The Threefold Sense Through Which Reflection on Oneself Has Something to Run Here and There If therefore you desire to fly all the way to the second or even the third heaven, you should pass through the first. For indeed the spirit searches all things, even the depth of God.265 Therefore, if you too prepare to search the depth of God, first search the depth of your own spirit. For indeed, deep, even perverse and inscrutable is the heart of man.266 Inscrutable surely, unless perhaps for him who is spiritual. For the spiritual man judges all things and himself is judged by nobody,267 because only spiritual men have been found worthy that they see the works of God and his wondrous things in the deep.268 Surely in this deep you will find many things to be stunned about and worthy of wonder, there you may find some other orb, broad indeed and wide, and some other fullness of the orb of the world.269 There somehow some earth of its own has its own heaven, and not only one, but a second after the first and a third after the first and the second. And so that we can divide this threefold heaven by a fitting distinction, let the first be called imaginational,270 the second rational, the third intellectual. Imagination then takes the place of the first heaven, reason of the second, insight the place of the third. And indeed, the first of these, in comparison with the others, has something thick and physical and in its own way palpable and corporeal, because it is image-based and fantastical,271 drawing the forms and likenesses of physical things after itself and retaining them in itself. But the other two heavens are, by such comparison, entirely refined and completely incorporeal and very far from the thickness of the first. So surely the external heaven that we call firmament is obviously without any doubt visible and corporeal, and it is indeed the first and lowest of all. Now what the earth is in relation to this visible heaven, that is the bodily sense to that internal fantastical and image-

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based heaven. For just as this visible heaven comprehends within its great fold the multitude of all the things that the earth brings forth and nourishes, so imagination includes the likenesses of all things which the bodily sense touches, which desire suggests, within its own fold. And so in the first heaven the images and likenesses of all visible things are retained. But to the second belong the reasons, the definitions of all visible things and the investigations of invisible things. And to the third pertain the comprehension and contemplation of spiritual things themselves and of divine things. chapter 9 The Sense of Understanding by Which Alone Invisible Things Can Be Seen Indeed, the eye of insight is that sense with which we see invisible things, not as with the eye of reason, with which through investigation we seek and find things hidden and absent, as often we comprehend causes by their effects or effects by their causes, and again many other things by whatever way of reasoning. But just as we usually see bodily things with our bodily sense as visible, present and bodily, so certainly the sense of understanding grasps invisible things as invisible indeed, but also as present, in their essence. But surely this eye of understanding has a great curtain spread out before it,272 blackened by sinful pleasure and woven from so many diverse and manifold carnal desires, which would shut off the look of the contemplative from the mysteries of divine secrets, unless to the extent that divine consideration has deigned worthy and admitted whom it likes for the person’s own benefit or that of others. The prophet bears witness to this, who cried out to the Lord: Uncover my eyes.273 Indeed he demonstrates himself to have his eyes covered, who asks that they are uncovered by God. Yet the soul sees with that eye the things that are on this side of the curtain, that is his own invisible things, those, that is, that are in the soul itself; yet not all things, because not all things are on this side of the curtain. Indeed, with the eye with which it sees some of its own things, it is not capable to see itself, that is, the essence of the soul itself. But it can be questioned whether with this same eye of insight we shall see the things of which we have pointed out that they are on the other side of the curtain, or whether it is one sense which we shall use to see invisible divine things, and another which we use to see our

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own invisible things. But those who maintain that the seeing of higher things is one sense, and the seeing of lower things is another, let them see how they could prove this. Yet I believe that it results from the fact that they so often confuse the meaning of this word, that is of insight. For now they limit its meaning to only the higher speculation, then to just the lower, then again they comprehend both senses under the meaning of this one word. Nevertheless, this twin seeing of higher and lower things, whether we call it a twin sense as if in one head, or a double instrument but of the same sense, or the twin effect of the same instrument, whichever of these we wish to choose, yet nothing prevents us from saying that each of these belongs to the intellectual heaven. For truly why would this heaven not also be said to have two great lights, just as we ought to believe about the others, so that in this highest heaven the more exalted and subtle speculation is the greater light, and the lower and somewhat more obscure speculation is the lesser light.274 chapter 10 The Watchtower of Understanding and Its Superiority Now this farthest and highest heaven has its day, it has certainly also its night. And if we direct our attention to this heaven, as long as we are in this life, what else do we have or can we have than night, until night in its course275 has completed its journey and the reddish dawn of light has wiped off the darkness of night. Nevertheless, this night shall light up like the day,276 because any day of the lower heavens is surpassed by the brightness of this night. For indeed God made the moon and the stars with power over the night,277 and therefore this night is my illumination in my delights.278 For it has its moon, that lesser light, which we have pointed out earlier. It also has its stars that spread their light in many forms as so many modes of divine revelations. But those who sleep, sleep at night279 and they cannot see the lights of this heaven nor sing psalms in the presence of God with the prophet: Because I shall see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have established.280 Just as they cannot sing this: In the middle of the night I rose to praise you.281 What shall I say about such a man, because in vain he waits for the day and does not even see the light of rising dawn. Indeed, those who are of that sort, they shall be consumed like wax that melts away, fire has come over it and they shall not see the sun.282

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Happy are they who dare to sing confidently about the morning of this day: In the morning I stand near you, and I shall see, because you are not a God who wishes iniquity.283 I reckon this meant the midday of her who said to her beloved: Show me, whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you lie down at noon.284 I reckon that he wished to indicate the morning of this day and that he has long burned with desire for it, who said: I was hoping until the morning.285 Who of you all exulted that he would see that day, saw it and was glad?286 Indeed he is great, whoever he is. Yet I believe that nobody can attain the noon of this day, at least not in this corruptible flesh, although I would not dare to deny that about the morning. Indeed, every one of you who can arrive at the brightness of this day, when the sun has risen from the heaven, will see the truth of that sentence, that without doubt the light is sweet and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun.287 The sun of this day rises, but does not know its time for setting,288 just as the day itself also lacks evening although it begins with dawn. That heaven of heavens does only know one day. But one day in his courts is better than a thousand days of lower heavens.289 For the second heaven indeed has many days and even countless nights, according to the fact that its sun rises and sets and returns to its place.290 Likewise the first heaven also receives the moon in its times and the sun knows the time for its setting.291 But the sun and the moon of the highest heaven stood in their dwelling place.292 For when the lights of this heaven arrive at the summit, they fix their course and never again turn to their setting. If the kingdom of heavens is entirely and without doubt within us,293 if it can be found in ourselves, where, I ask, can it be sought more directly, found more quickly, possessed more safely, than in this highest of heavens? I reckon that all the regions of that kingdom abound with gold, because the kingdom of heavens is like a treasure hidden in a field.294 For if you seek and love the gold of knowledge, the treasure of wisdom, where, I ask, could you find a more abundant supply than in this highest of heavens? Where, I pray, could the brightness of the highest wisdom better shine forth for you, than in its pre-eminent image, than in its most excellent work, that is the creation, restoration, glorification of the soul? Surely from this watchtower one is capable to see and one usually sees, as from nearby, of what nature is that loftiness of the angelic spirit, what is that superior greatness of the divine Spirit. Nowhere appears more nearby, is seen more clearly what is that highest and everlasting bliss of the heavenly citizens, than from the lofty summit of this throne. Nowhere than from this most elevated of heavens

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the spirit who searches all things, even the depths of God295 contemplates more serenely those invisible things of God, which have been seen, having been understood through the things that have been made.296 Nowhere in all his work but in the creation, restoration, glorification of the soul does either his power appear to you more exalted, or his wisdom more marvelous, or his mercy more joyful.297 You certainly see, I think, from where you will have that abundance of gold which I promised you earlier; how, that is, from much reflection on and knowledge of your spirit you will be raised to the knowledge and contemplation of the angelic spirit and the divine Spirit. chapter 11 The Threefold Distinction of the Fourth Contemplation But because through our exposition we already grasp from where we have an abundance of gold for such a great work, let us see what the Lord commands about the length and width of our mercy seat and why he remains wholly silent about its height. If we consult the nature of things, we shall be able to learn indeed in their very bodies how we ought to set foot in the investigation of spiritual contemplations.298 We see of course in external things that every bodily thickness begins with length, increases by width, ends with height. And so the length of the mercy seat, if I am not mistaken, represents the things which in a spiritual nature are related to a beginning, the width the things which are related to progress, and the height the things which seem to be related to completion. According to these three things that we have said, we make a threefold distinction of divine gifts in spiritual essences. Firstly spiritual nature is created in order to be, secondly, it is justified in order to be good, thirdly it is glorified in order to be blessed. And so by creation it is initiated in the good, by justification it is spread out in the good, by glorification it is made perfect in the good. The goods of creation are for the beginning, the goods of justification for progress, the goods of glorification for perfection. The first goods are the gifts of the Creator; the second goods are gifts of the Creator and merits of the creature; the third goods are gifts of the Creator and rewards for the creature, the perfection of gifts and the recompense of merits. And so the first goods belong to the length, the second to the width, the last ones to the height. For in the first, as has been said, the rational creature is initiated in the perfection of future fullness; from the second

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he makes progress, grows and spreads out; in the last he is raised to glory and perfected in glory. chapter 12 The Subdivision of the First Step of this Contemplation Let us then first see about the length of our mercy seat, which we are commanded to extend to two and a half cubits. Now as often as we turn over in our heart the spiritual goods which we have specified earlier, investigate them carefully, distinguish them as is fitting, discuss them sufficiently, so often we extend the work of our mercy seat in its length and stretch it to a certain measure. In this lengthening part of constructing the mercy seat a threefold distinction of divine gifts presents itself to us, around which the frequent and careful reconsideration of our reflection must solely or mostly revolve. From the very condition of its creation it is natural for every rational creature to be, to know, and to will.299 Consider then how necessary, how just and how befitting of divine goodness it was, to give to such a worthy creature, to such an eminent nature, the discernment of good and evil and at the same time to grant the freedom of will, so that its good was welcome as well as voluntary, pleasing as well as free. As often as you exert yourself in an examination of this sort, you labor in the lengthening of your mercy seat. Examine, contemplate, marvel at the freedom of will, the discernment of judgment, the loftiness of being, and you stretch out the length of your mercy seat when you do this according to a congruous order and the measure given for it. I wonder if you don’t notice through yourself, how useful and how necessary is the continual reflection on all these things. For from this the mind is enlightened, is inflamed and made firm in the good. chapter 13 How in the First Step of this Contemplation the Mind Ought to Train Itself and How Much Such a Training Is Worth Therefore think frequently, reflect ardently, find out carefully about the will, not only your own, but also that of another, either good or bad. Get to know your own will, so that you know what you ought to correct or also for what you ought to give thanks. Consider also the minds of the perfect as well as those of the perverse, the minds of good

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spirits and of wicked spirits, so that from the reflection on the opposites it becomes clear what is expedient to imitate, what to avoid. Direct your attention to what you know, direct your attention to how much you don’t know. Recognize how much through natural intelligence you stand out from brute spirits,300 recognize how much you are inferior in understanding to the angelic spirits. If you attend to how much you surpass a brute spirit by your sense, you will sing from your heart: I praise the Lord, who has given me understanding.301 If you consider angelic insight, you will indeed cry out: God, you know my folly.302 Thus, examining my ignorance is very useful and very necessary to me, so that I know what I am lacking and can say with blessed Job: If I have been ignorant of something, my ignorance is with me.303 But as often as I have directed my attention in myself to see in what way or how often he has clearly disclosed to me unknown and obscure things of his wisdom,304 indeed my soul magnifies the Lord,305 who teaches us above the knowledge of birds and beasts, because he himself is the one who enlightens every man who comes into this world.306 You certainly see how great is the benefit of this twin reflection, that is considering the disposition of the rational will and also the sense of reason. But what shall I say about the third of the reflections that we specified, in which we marvelling contemplate and contemplating marvel at the being of the soul, the nature of its being, the eminence of its nature? I think everyone’s own experience can easily teach him how much this speculation is capable of either raising the mind against vice or encouraging it to the good. Get to know, I ask, man, your dignity, consider that eminent nature of your soul, how God has made it in his image and likeness,307 how he has elevated it above every corporeal creature, and you will begin to marvel straight away how the glorious virgin daughter of Sion308 has been thrown out of heaven on earth and likewise you will begin to call out to the Lord: What do I have in heaven and what apart from you do I wish on earth?309 What wonder, I ask, if in recalling my condition, if in seeing my soul, suddenly and immediately shame of my face has covered me?310 For who would not be ashamed to have consecrated the mistress of the world, the citizen of heaven, the beloved of God, to the servitude of the body, to have prostituted her to unclean spirits, to have held her for a long time under the yoke of servitude311 to take care of the flesh in its desires?312 Surely every one will marvel when he considers the dignity of his soul, when he pays good attention to what it is and ought to be, from where and to where it has been thrown out, he will marvel, I say,

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at how the mistress of the nations is made like a widow, the princess of the provinces, she has been made tributary.313 To this reflection, I think, he wishes to recall us, who said: What is it, Israel, that you are in the land of enemies, that you have become old in a strange land, you are defiled with the dead, you are reckoned with those who are in hell?314 And so in this threefold reflection we must, as we have said already, complete the length of our mercy seat. chapter 14 A Designation of the Things Which Cannot Be Comprehended in this Step of Speculation But in the first and second reflection you can extend your knowledge up to a cubit, for in the third you cannot do that at all. For where you have a suitable instrument for that which ought to be known, there you have without doubt a cubit of as it were rare certainty, because you are capable of grasping by experience the acquaintance of the thing to be known. For your knowledge grows as it were to a full cubit when it reaches firm certainty through experience. But who, I ask, is not taught by his own experience what is willing or what is knowing? Does everyone not read this, as often as he wills, in his own heart? Are you really ignorant about how you will endless things, how you don’t will endless things, how you know countless things, how you don’t know countless things? But the way you see your will, the way you know your thought, can you really equally see or know the substance of your soul? Who, I say, still situated in this flesh, sees or even can see his soul or any spiritual substance in its purity? Without doubt human understanding in this respect is blind from birth and must necessarily call out daily to the Lord: Enlighten my eyes.315 Indeed, if someone can can see things of that sort while in this corruptible flesh, he is led through ecstasy of mind above himself and in that which he sees he surpasses the boundaries of human understanding not by his own activity, but through divine revelation. But whatever human experience can attain in this manner, it is certainly true that that belongs not to this, but to another kind of contemplation. However much therefore you exercise your natural intelligence in this reflection, however much you continue your zeal, however much you spread your sense in this part, you cannot extend your knowledge to a full cubit.

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chapter 15 We Must Not Neglect the Things Which We Comprehend Only Partially Yet there are many things, and they should not at all be spurned, which we can either gather from the authority of divine Scriptures or prove by the testimony of reason about the property of spiritual being. Let us therefore do our best to know, in the manner and to the extent we are able to, although we cannot stretch ourselves all the way to the cubit of experience. Modest certainly, but worth much is it that can be known in this reflection. Modest of course as to fullness, but much by any measure as to benefit. Therefore, don’t neglect what you can have of this cubit, although you cannot at all fill it. For to say nothing of the rest that seems to belong to this speculation, how much damage do you incur, we reckon, if you don’t know about the immortality of the soul and don’t at all believe in it. For if there would not be certainty about the soul’s immortality, who, I ask, would prepare himself for future retribution? Who, I pray, would restrain his life, so as not to go after his lusts,316 who would give satisfaction for the evils he has perpetrated; who would gird himself for vigorous works; who would have patience in the midst of such harshness of so many divine scourges if he wholly despaired about a future life? All that is maintained about the redemption of the human race, all that is believed about divine sacraments, whatever is commanded about divine regulations, whatever is expected from divine promises, is completely destroyed if there is no hope about the soul’s everlasting being. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are more miserable than all men.317 Behold, we have forsaken all, and have followed him, what shall we have therefore,318 if the dead rise not at all?319 To what end are we because of him killed all day,320 if there is no hope for any crown of justice321 from him, if one is the death of man and beasts, and the condition of each is the same entirely;322 what will it benefit me if I shall take great pains for wisdom and justice? Do they not do much better, who eat and drink323 and spend their days in good things,324 who daily have splendid feasts,325 than they who are killed all day? Will it not be much better to go to the house of a banquet than a house of mourning,326 if after this life man has nothing more than the beast?327 Why don’t I go and overflow in delights and enjoy the goods328 that are there, if the dead do not rise at all?329 Why would we not gladly listen to that voice that says: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall

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die?330 You see certainly how many evils would follow if there would be doubt about the soul’s immortality. And therefore we must not at all despise what we can accomplish in this cubit, although we are not at all adequately able to bring it to its completion. Therefore, from this threefold reflection on the essence, that is on the spiritual essence, and its discernment and will, the work of our mercy seat takes its beginning and is lengthened to its designated measure. Thus, he who fully trains his mind in the speculation of these things has completed the length of his mercy seat. These things we have now said about the length of the mercy seat, let us now take up the investigation of its width. chapter 16 The Subdivision of the Second Step of this Contemplation As we have said, to the width refer the things that are related to progress, just as to the length refer the things that are related to beginnings. Now justification expands our good, which takes its beginning from the work of creation, and therefore appears to belong to width. This work is not completed without two. For it is never achieved, if the Creator does not work together with his creature.331 And indeed the Creator could, if he wished, complete all by himself without the work of his creature, just as he could, when he wished, create so much and so many things from nothing. We, if we presume to rely on our own powers without his help, labor in vain. He bears witness to this who in his gospel says: Without me you can do nothing,332 because he himself is the one who works in us both to will and to achieve according to his good will.333 For it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who has mercy.334 For what can I do through myself without him, I who cannot even say, Lord Jesus, unless by the Holy Spirit?335 He himself is certainly the one who operates all things in all336 giving a share to each as he wills.337 Yet he requires our voluntary agreement in the work of our justification, he who says: If you will be willing and will be listening to me, you shall eat the good of the land.338 It is attributed to the free will when this work is hindered, where it is said: If my people had listened to Me, if Israel had walked in my ways, I would have perhaps humbled their enemies as nothing and would have put my hand on their oppressors.339 For if in such a work we do nothing at all, we invoke his help in vain and falsely we call him a helper. It is one thing to do, and another thing

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to help. For what is giving help if not working together with him who works? He understood to have him as helper and a as good co-worker, who says: You are my helper and my liberator, Lord, that I won’t die.340 Daily we seek his help, when in our daily prayers we cry out to him: Help us, God of our salvation.341 Thus it is clear that this work, in which the Creator co-works with his creature, is carried out by two. And so in this work there is need of one’s own zeal and of divine grace. For in vain anybody relies on free will unless he is supported by divine help. Our justification is achieved on the basis of our own deliberation and divine inspiration. For only willing the right things is already being righteous.342 Indeed from the will alone we are rightly said to be just or unjust, although we are helped towards both sides through work.343 Now God co-works with us in two ways, that is inwardly and outwardly: inwardly through hidden inspiration, outwardly through the manifest assistance of his works. But the co-working which happens outwardly is not at all related to this kind of contemplation, because our mercy seat ought to be made of pure gold and this speculation must remain in pure insight. And so there are these two things from which the width of our mercy seat is achieved, that is our own deliberation and divine inspiration. chapter 17 How Likewise In The Second Step of this Contemplation There Are Some Things Which Cannot Be Comprehended Now what deliberation is we have learned from daily practice and after so many experiences we cannot hesitate about its reliability, and therefore in this respect we can extend our knowledge up to a full cubit. But while still in this life, who, I ask, would be adequately able to comprehend in which way divine grace usually visits the heart and by its inspiration bends it to all its will? However much we would labor in this reflection, in this respect we do not extend our work to a whole cubit. For how would human insight comprehend the mode of divine inspiration, when the Lord in his gospel reminds us about the incomprehensibility of this very issue? The spirit, he says, blows where it wishes and you hear its voice, and you don’t know whence it comes, or where it goes.344 And so we are taught about the help of divine grace through the authority of Scripture, what we ourselves also experience through the daily failure of our weakness and through the manifest effect of his co-working. Indeed to this end his grace is withdrawn

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from us so often, that from its own failure human weakness is taught that by itself it is not capable of any good. Then again to this end the grace that was withdrawn is restored, that through its effect we may experience what we are from God’s gift. Why indeed at one moment we are capable of one and the same thing, at another we are not, if not because at one moment we have grace as a helper, at another moment we don’t? And so it is clear that we may not at all be uncertain about the help of divine grace, although we are not at all able to comprehend the modes of its co-working. And so we cannot fill out a cubit in the work of this reflection of ourselves, because we do not extend, with our natural intelligence, all the way to the end of comprehension in the width of this investigation. Thus the reason is clear why the width of our mercy seat cannot stretch all the way to two cubits and why it ought to have a cubit and a half, according to divine teaching. Therefore, if you have fully trained your mind in this twin reflection, you have filled out the width of your mercy seat according to a fitting measure. chapter 18 The First and Second Distinction of this Contemplation and Their Difference Let nobody think that the reflection which we have considered earlier as about the will, and this one, about deliberation, which we have just now assigned to the width, are the same. For to the former belongs what is going on in the mind from the sole operation of nature; to the latter, however, what is done in the mind by what diligence works. To the former pertains any power of the soul that is naturally implanted in it, to the latter any virtue of the soul acquired by diligence. Finally, to the former any movement of the soul which happens by some natural impulse, to the latter any nod of the mind which is led in its arrangements by some rational guidance. And indeed, we usually give that power of the soul which is capable and is used to form itself into so many affects and to vary by so manifold manners, that power of the soul, I say, we usually give it the name of will. Likewise, its movement and the act of such an instrument, so to speak, we say is will, and that willing itself we call will. And not only the willing which is produced only by natural movement is called will, but

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also that which is accompanied by the free consent of the mind on the basis of deliberation. But the scarcity of words compels us in any case at one moment to stretch the meaning of words, at another moment to restrict them and to vary them fittingly according to impending necessity.345 But so that we can adequately distinguish what we must include within this reflection, all consent of the soul and whatever happens in the mind on the basis of consent seems to belong to this reflection, just as every sensing or any movement of the soul which goes against or beyond its consent, is rightly included within the reflection of length. For the goods of creation, as has already been said before, are to be appointed to the length of our mercy seat, but the goods of justification are to be included in its width. And we know that whatever in the soul is beyond its consent cannot in any case make man just. Thus it belongs to the first reflection to pay careful attention to see in which goods the mind is naturally strong or is lacking. To the second, however, it pertains to know which goods the mind has already on the basis of virtue and which it is not yet capable of having. It is easy to see and know, I think, how necessary and beneficial it is to be familiar with each of these reflections and to adduce them frequently indeed in contemplation. For from the first reflection man recognizes to which goods he is naturally more ready or to which evils he is more inclined, which endeavors he ought to pursue more ardently, against which evils he must keep watch more immediately, through which exercises he is better capable to make progress, by which vices he is more easily capable of being corrupted. But from the second reflection man understands to which faults he is exposed or by which merits he stands out and what punishment or reward he ought to expect for these, how much he daily advances or falls short, with how much zeal of mind he should strive to erase past evils, turn away from present, prevent future ones, with how much constancy of mind he should do his best to recover goods he has lost, guard or multiply the goods he possesses. How sweet, how fitting, how joyful a sight it is to adduce into speculation, according to the first reflection, so many qualities of the soul, so many of its thoughts, so many of its affections and to keep the mind suspended in wonder about them? Oh, what a marvelous speculation; oh, what an amazing delight to have, according to the second reflection, so many virtues of the mind, so many of its exercises, so many of its endeavors or merits in front of one’s eyes and to cling for a long time to such a contemplation.

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chapter 19 The Things Which Pertain to the Third Distinction Cannot Be Comprehended by Any of Our Senses But this seems now well worth our reflection, why he who so carefully has expressed its length as well as its width, says nothing at all about the height of our mercy seat. But it has been shown earlier that without doubt to this reflection belong the things that are related to glorification, just as to its width belong the things that are related to justification. But the manner of our glorification, which human sense can grasp it, which reason can comprehend it? Who has either seen a proof of it, an evident instance of such a thing in someone else, or has deserved to experience it in himself? Surely man in this life is not sufficiently able to have evidence of this matter nor is he capable of grasping any proof of it. Rightly therefore no measure is prescribed for the height of the work in question, because the manner of our glorification, as has been said, is not comprehended by any of our senses. Indeed, the mercy seat is believed to have some thickness, but in comparison with the other dimensions it is not counted. Surely, we maintain the certainty of our glorification by the testimony of faith, although we cannot yet grasp the extent of its nature or greatness through insight. But human longing holds for very little or almost for nothing whatever it cannot test by experience. We know, however, that after the full cleansing of conscience, after many exercises of justice, finally the human mind sometimes begins to hope what it first hardly could believe, and in this manner the measure of our mercy seat rises higher and grows in firmness. I believe surely that it belongs to the firmness of such a mercy seat when the mind begins to glory in the Lord and to rejoice not a little about the good testimony of conscience, inasmuch that it truly dares to declare, that this is our glory, the testimony of our conscience.346 You, then, if you wish that your mercy seat advances in height and receives a suitable firmness, as far as can happen in this life, never cease, never rest, until you obtain some, so to speak, pledges of that future fullness, until you receive, however small, the firstfruits of eternal bliss, until you begin to have a foretaste of the delightfulness of divine sweetness. Surely, he who said Taste and see, how sweet is the Lord,347 wished to encourage us to the desire of this sweetness. Thus we believe that your mercy seat has already a little bit of thickness if you have already tasted that the Lord is sweet. But however

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much you will have increased in this grace, however much you have made progress in it, you must always count it for little, and compared with the greatness of future bliss reckon it as nothing.348 This is surely what sacred Scripture silently intimates, when it says nothing at all about the height of our mercy seat. As if by its very silence it cries out more clearly and from far away better instils that whatever the human mind, while still in this life, is capable of grasping from the abundance of inner sweetness, it must count as if it is nothing. By being silent it calls out that it holds it as altogether unworthy to instruct us about the measure of this work, to whose beginning human weakness in this life can hardly rise. chapter 20 How this Kind of Contemplation Can Be Divided in Five Steps and Which Things Belong to the First Step But because we have distinguished the first reflection, which pertains to length, in three, and the second, which pertains to width, in two, we can separate this whole kind of contemplation in five parts and divide it by as many steps. And so, in the first step of this contemplation we consider the things which belong to the nature of the soul or the characteristic property of its essence, that it is a certain life, and, continuing throughout, a life which cannot be extinguished ever by any punishments, by any torments, that it can not only live forever, but even quicken the body to life and to perception, that it needs no sustenance at all, that it exists for always without support, how it is spread out through so many members of the body, while it itself is a simple undivided essence without parts, how in its whole body it is as if in some world of itself completely whole and everywhere, just as God is found whole and everywhere in all his creation,349 how in this, its world, it moves and arranges all things solely through its will, just as in this world God governs all things by the sole nod of his will, God, who by the same nod of his will has created all things. In this sight you will also find many other things worthy of reflection, that you cannot observe without admiration nor admire without delight. Yet what wonder if we find in the rational spirit many things to marvel at and to be astounded by, when it is God’s special creature, made after his very image and likeness? For while God is wonderful in his works, great and praiseworthy beyond measure350 in all his

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mighty works, yet where, I pray, will his remarkable strengths appear more marvelous than in his image, than in his likeness? Without doubt the skill of the almighty Artist, which appears marvelous everywhere, stands out particularly in such a work. chapter 21 The Reflection on Things Which Belong to the Second Step In the second step of this contemplation the things are considered which are related to cognition or can serve the study of truth and any things that agree with and are conducive to the increase of knowledge. Truly in this reflection we marvel rightly at the rapidity of thought, the agility of the imagination, the acumen of natural intelligence, the balance of discernment, the capacity of memory, the liveliness of insight and about any other such things that are amazing and worthy of wonder. For who would be capable of properly weighing, of sufficiently appreciating, who would not be greatly frightened in the wonder of this reflection, if he carefully attends what is that so manyfold rapidity of human thinking, what is its so restless and indefatigable swiftness, which runs through so many, so diverse and so endless things, which at no hour, no moment of time keeps quiet, which passes through so many local spaces, so many sequences of time in such haste, to which everywhere such an easy passage lies open, such a prompt running from the highest to the lowest things, from the lowest to the highest things, from the first to the last things, from the last to the first things? But what shall we say about the agility of the imagination and the facility of its skill or what can we properly say about it, the imagination which in such swiftness paints an image of all things which the mind suggests? Whatever the mind draws from outside by hearing, whatever it conceives inside from just thinking, imagination completely fashions it without delay and, having removed any difficulty, by representation it forms it, and it represents the forms of any things you like with marvelous haste. Of what nature is it, I ask, to produce pictures of so many things and of so many different things in an instant, in a blink of the eye, and then again to erase them with the same easiness or to vary them in manifold ways in one way or another? Does not the mind through the imagination daily create when it wishes a new heaven, a new earth, and every hour act out and fashion as it pleases in that fantastical world however many such creatures it likes, as if it were another creator?351

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Just as much, if we attend to the acumen of our natural intelligence, we find quickly what we must marvel at in it. See how many, even almost endless things which cannot ever be touched by any corporeal sense are accessible to human intelligence. See how that acumen of human intelligence is used to investigate deep things, to penetrate into some most inner things, to unroll, unfold, illuminate and bring into light things wrapped up, confused, obscure and placed in darkness. Daily it approaches the most inner folds, so to speak, and the secret recesses of hidden nature with the subtlety of its liveliness, it rushes into them and passes through in a hurry, in its desires always to penetrate further and to climb higher. Direct your attention to how many disciplines of knowledge it has invented, how it has forged so many artful skills, and then you will begin to be astounded and to grow faint from too much wonder. Equally so, truly, if you attend to the capacity of your memory and its breadth, you will find without doubt what you must deservedly admire. How great, I ask, is the fold of that endless breadth, which comprehends, hides, and guards within its wide circumference the substances of so many things, the forms of so many substances, so many kinds of things, so many species within kinds, so many individual things within species, and of these individuals so many properties, so many qualities, so many quantities, actions and passions, conditions, positions, places and times,352 and then, having long guarded them, brings them out again in the open? Consider, if you can, what are those treasure chambers, how many, how wide, how broad, how deep or high, which can gather from everywhere so many hoards of knowledge and treasures of wisdom and guard them without confusion. Memory’s capacity is without doubt marvelous, but no less wonderful is the liveliness of insight. How great it is or how marvelous, it is easy to ponder and to gather from the foresaid. For whatever sense touches, thought brings forth; whatever imagination fashions, natural intelligence investigates, memory retains. Of all these things insight takes notice and, when it pleases, it admits them in its reflection and brings them into contemplation. chapter 22 The Reflection on Things Which Belong to the Third Step In the third step of this contemplation we reflect on the will of the rational mind and its manifold affection.

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For who could properly explain how many alternating ways it assumes, in short changes, how it is used to vary in multiple ways through the movements of changing vicissitudes? Let everyone consider by which disturbances his mind is daily affected, and from there let he gather how it changes in many ways. One moment it raises itself in confidence, another moment it falls in diffidence, now it stands fixed through constancy, then again it is shaken by sudden fear. One moment anger disturbs it, another moment a huge rage torments it. Nor is it so astonishing that it is affected by various qualities and different disturbances through single moments, but it is extraordinary confounding that it is often hit at almost the same moment by opposite affections. Now it is led by hate, then again by love, one moment it is distracted by joy, the next moment by sorrow. How often we see, while in the midst of marvelous leaps of joy, how a cause of sadness arrives and suddenly emerges and vehemently shakes the mind and casts it down and suddenly turns that whole celebration of the exulting mind into sorrow. And yet it is not so astonishing that the mind often and suddenly assumes opposite states353 to different things, but it is much stranger that regarding one and the same thing it brings opposite affects on top of each other.354 For things that for a long time we have much loved we often continue afterwards to hate excessively and what we ardently approved and desired we suddenly execrate. But to be even more astonished, if you will carefully consider one and the same affect of man, you will see it vary in many ways about one and the same thing. For one moment from great it becomes small, another moment from small it becomes great. Sometimes from great it becomes greater, sometimes from small it becomes even smaller. And so the same affect of the mind about the same thing grows and becomes less and one moment it swells up furiously, and another moment hardly, one moment it disappears totally and after completely disappearing it comes to life again. Pay attention also to this in human affect, how it is great in great things and lofty in lofty things, how it is small in small things and base in base things; how it is, I say, great and lofty when it has raised itself in height; how it is small and base when it has prostrated itself to the bottom. When he has raised himself into boldness, you will often see that he even defies death and does not have any trepidation among the greatest dangers. But you will see the same person later in the nightly silence suddenly tremble and lose his constancy of mind at a slight breeze, at the movement of one little branch or even a falling leave.

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But who could recount all the states of human affection? Who could adequately explain all its ways of variation? There are almost as many varieties of affections as there are different things. For just as in our appreciation of things we feel differently about different things, so in our being affected by things we are affected about different things in a different way. For the desire of affection usually varies according to the judgment of appreciation.355 chapter 23 The Reflection on Things Which Belong to the Fourth Step In the fourth step of this contemplation we equally contemplate and admire the power of deliberation,356 how it daily renders so many affections of the mind into virtues, as far as it both sets them in order through discernment and fixes them in a good intention. For as virtue is nothing but an ordered and moderated affection,357 on the basis of a good intention it happens that affection is put in order and through discernment it is brought about that it is moderated. Now we must always ardently apply all the zeal of our deliberation to this business and pursue this exercise strongly as well as frequently, so that all our affection runs away from forbidden earthly things, through what is allowed, and that it everywhere, even in legitimate desires, guards the right moderation. Does it not happen daily on the basis of the power of deliberation that evil affects are contained, reduced, destroyed? Is it not continuously accomplished on the basis of the power of deliberation that good affects are nourished, promoted, strengthened? See how it condemns some affects forever, others however it exalts in eternity, according to the fact that its function is to bring down the mighty from their seat and to exalt the humble.358 Thus he humbles this one and he exalts that one,359 lifting up the needy man from the dust and raising the poor man from the dung.360 Is it not its function to put in order, according to its judgment, that whole crowd of house servants of so many thoughts, so many affections, and as a commander to bring them under the yoke of his laws, daily to make judgment and do justice,361 to reign from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the world?362 Is it not its task to strike carnal desires by strong punishment, to violently restrain the uproar of the waves of thought and to gird itself daily to spiritual battle, to execute vengeance on the nations, punishment on the people?363 Is it not its task to firmly bear down upon all rebellious motions of the mind and their arrogant pride and to courageously

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subdue that hostile army of vices, to bind their kings with shackles and their nobles with iron handcuffs?364 It must however not only restrain vices, but also cultivate the virtues, strike Nebuchadnezzar’s household with strong chastisement, but shrewdly arrange and carefully support the house of David. Therefore he shall judge among the nations, he shall fill the ruins, he shall shatter the heads in the land of many.365 But also he shall sit upon the throne of David and upon its kingdom, to make it firm and strengthen it in judgment and justice.366 Who, however, could properly describe what or how great is that terrible multitude of virtues, as an ordered battle camp,367 to be instructed by deliberation’s discipline, to be arranged by its regulation? What sort, I ask, or how great, should you believe those phalanxes of virtues are, which overturned Pharaoh’s chariots and his army,368 which everywhere surround and protect our Solomon’s chariot? The chariots of God are thousands multiplied by ten thousands of those rejoicing, the Lord among them in Sinai in the Holy place.369 But if any perfect soul even in this life thrives by such virtues, how great, I ask, shall that consummation of virtues be, which it will have in that highest glory of future fullness? Consider, if you can, how great is that abundance of future goods, corporeal as well as spiritual, and what and how manifold their difference. Indeed the differences of affections shall be according to the differences of goods. For we shall not be affected in the same way about smaller or greater goods, where all our affection, just as it will be ordered in all things, will without doubt equally also be moderated in all things. What thus, I pray, will that number of virtues be in so many ordered and moderated affections of the soul? If you are capable of raising yourself in the watchtower of this contemplation, I wonder if you would not believe that thousands of thousands are serving it and ten times hundreds of thousands assist it.370 Ponder therefore what sort of sight it is, and how joyful to bring into your contemplation so many virtues of holy souls, by which they are flourishing even now, or from which they have something with which to flourish in the future, and to suspend the mind in such wonder. chapter 24 The Reflection on the Things that Belong to the Fifth Step In the fifth step of this contemplation, as we have said already before, we wonder with attentiveness and attend with wonder to the nature and manner of inspiring grace.

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Without doubt whatever good is done in the hearts of the good, that sevenfold Spirit effects it through inspiring grace.371 Behold, one and the same Spirit guards so many minds always and everywhere and confers in manyfold ways the gifts of his grace. Behold, he instructs the minds of so many men in so many ways and bends the wills of all to the judgment of his will without any coercion. When he reveals it, truth is recognized, when he inspires it, goodness is loved. For without co-working grace we do not at all suffice either for the knowledge of truth or the love of virtue.372 Nevertheless, how great, how wonderful is it, we believe, that whatever bit of virtue he works in us, it is attributed to us as merit. And in some marvelous and incomprehensible way he inspires us with the pleasure of his will in such a way, that it must justly be attributed to us as merit, whatever of his goodness his grace imprints or transforms in us. For without violation of the judgment of human will and entirely without any coercion any good will is kindled through inspiring grace in harmony with divine goodness and therefore it is accumulated for man, for the glory of rewards, whatever is done in the will from the free consent of the mind by divine influence. That grace now, co-working with our good efforts, works some things in us that contribute to the growth of our debt, some on the other hand that increase our merit, but some which seem to serve as the beginning of our reward. For divine kindness as often augments the debt of our servitude and makes us more subject to itself, as it increases in us the gifts of knowledge and wisdom. And so such gifts, whatever they are, are increasing our debt rather than our merit. But whatever virtue divine goodness inspires in us, accumulates the merits for rewards. However, whatever bit of inner sweetness, whatever bit of divine delight is poured into our minds through divine influence seems to pertain somehow to the beginning of reward. One and the same Spirit works all these things.373 For his anointing teaches us about all things374 and God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us,375 and it is no less certain that from him is any joy in the Holy Spirit.376 Now do you wish to know more clearly for which fruit that Spirit usually makes our spirit fruitful? Now the fruit of the Spirit, the apostle says, is love, joy, peace, patience, forbearance, goodness.377 Oh how many, oh how great are the things that the Spirit works in us, giving a share to each as he wills.378 For there are divisions of gifts, but the same Spirit.379 To some indeed through the Spirit is given the speech of wisdom, to others

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the speech of knowledge, to some faith, to others the grace of healings, to some the work of virtues, to others prophecy, to others the discernment of spirits380 and countless other things in this manner. Ponder, I pray, how admirable, how salutary it is to bring these and such operations of the divine Spirit into one’s speculation and to strengthen one’s mind to humility and love in their contemplation. For the mind makes much progress by every way to the love of God as well as to contempt of itself, when it often attends, when it fully recognizes that through itself it is capable of nothing. How is his grace to be admired, how to be embraced, through which he works all our works in us in such a way that they are his as well as ours, his gifts and our merits. We have already pointed out earlier how manifold and multiform are the affects of the human heart. Truly the Spirit of the Lord daily moderates these affects in his elect little by little and fashions them into one harmony, and with the plectrum of his grace as if playing the cithara he very skillfully stretches some, loosens others, and adjusts them into some concordant accord, until some sweet and immeasurably delightful melody resounds from these in the ears of the Lord Sabaoth,381 as from many people playing their citharas. But if such a marvelous harmony and such a manifold accord rises from one heart in such a great number of so manifold affections, what, I ask, or how great will be that harmonious concord and concordant harmony of supercelestial minds in such a multitude of so many thousands of angels, so many holy souls exulting and praising him who lives forever.382 Truly that multiform grace of the divine Spirit does and arranges all these things, of the Spirit who, as has been said already before, works all things in all.383 If therefore we have our senses exercised in these five steps of this contemplation, if we are ready and willing for this sort of speculations, we have indeed completed our mercy seat according to the design of divine teaching.

BOOK FOUR

chapter 1 On the Fifth and Sixth Kinds of Contemplation It remains still to deal with the fifth and sixth kinds of contemplation, those which Moses seems to denote by a mystical description in these words: You shall also make two Cherubim, he said, wrought of gold, on each side of the oracle. Let one Cherub be on one side, and the other on the other side. Let them cover each side of the mercy seat, spreading out their wings and concealing the oracle; and let them regard each other mutually, with their faces turned to the mercy seat.384 Certainly it is pleasing to focus intensely on this description and to draw a rule for our own teaching from the likeness proposed, and to fashion according to the paradigm of this description the form or style of our work. I think that something great, something distinguished is presented to us in this work, in which it is expressed to us in such form, is assigned such a name, and imitates the form of the angels: You shall make two Cherubim, he said, wrought of gold.385 Indeed, what had to be presented to us in angelic form had to be something great, indeed noble, something certainly beyond the worldly and entirely more than human.386 Certainly Cherubim means “fullness of knowledge,”387 and the connotation of such a term seems to relate or promise something great of very hidden or very holy knowledge. We ought to pay attention to this also, that we are accustomed to call “Cherubim” not any angels, but highest ones immediately connected to God. Therefore, the form of this kind of work prompts us to things beyond the worldly, indeed beyond the heavenly,388 and through this representation invites our intelligence389 to the consideration (speculationem) of the highest and divine things. It is agreed that those things that seem to pertain to these last two kinds of contemplation are beyond humanity and exceed the manner or scope of human reason. Because of this it was right for the expression of a likeness to represent these things with an image not so much human as angelic. Unless the subject matter of these considerations exceeded the narrowness of human reasoning, it would be right to have as an example for shaping the work a form of human rather than of angelic likeness. Therefore it is right for us to rise above ourselves and to ascend by contemplation to those things that are beyond reason, if we desire to pattern the flight of our

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intelligence on the form of angelic likeness. Therefore, let us seek what these things are that are above reason, which transcend the power of human reason and the manner of our reasoning. chapter 2 That those Things Which Look to These Last Examinations Exceed Human Reason Just as it is established that there are certain things that are below reason, so beyond doubt there are certain things that are agreed to be beyond reason. Between these are certain others in the middle that, though they are accessible to reason, are below reason. These we perceive by a bodily sense. Things that are according to reason alone we investigate by reason. Things that are beyond reason we learn through revelation or test by authority alone. White and black, hot and cold, sweet and bitter we learn by a bodily sense, we do not test them by reasoning. True and false, just and unjust, useful and useless we discern by reasoning, not by any bodily sense. That God is in one substance three in person, and in three persons one in substance, no bodily sense teaches, nor does any human reason fully convince. Some learn this through revelation, but others establish and believe it by authority alone. Thus, bodily things are below reason, but divine things above reason. Certainly what neither bodily sense can touch nor human reason penetrate is beyond reason. We say “beyond reason” with reference to what we truly believe exists, although we are able neither to prove it from experience390 nor comprehend it by intellect. Indeed, about the divine there are many things such that human reason easily submits to them, to which it is deeply unwilling to object, but receives as true and agrees that they are certain, although nevertheless it is able neither to prove them through experience nor to understand them fully through intellect. Therefore, rightly, all such things that transcend the feebleness of our comprehension by the greatness of their incomprehensibility must be said to be beyond reason. Yet, in these things that our frailty is not strong enough to comprehend, angelic loftiness exercises free flights of contemplation. Therefore, that we might be able in some way to fashion391 in ourselves a form of angelic likeness, it is right to suspend392 our mind (animum) in wonder at such things with constant celebration and to accustom the wings of our contemplation to sublime and truly angelic flights.

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chapter 3 That Those Things That Are Beyond Reason May Be Distinguished by a Twofold Division, and What Belongs to Each Kind We are divinely ordered to make two Cherubim and so are instructed to seek two kinds of contemplation in things that are beyond reason. Let us turn our attention to these things that are beyond reason, and we will find that we can distinguish a bipartite division. Some of these are beyond reason, but not contrary to reason, but others are both beyond and contrary to reason. We wish to forewarn in the first place that in the highest and divine matters, when we claim something to be contrary to reason or against reason, we want this to be understood with reference to human, not divine reason. Whatever is established to be in that highest and divine essence, subsists by the highest and immutable reason. Nevertheless, how many things there are that we believe without doubt concerning the divine nature about which, if we consult reason, all our reasoning resists and all human reason protests. What human reason understands how the Son is coeternal with the Father and equal in everything to him from whom he has it to be, to live, and to understand?393 Therefore, in these things that are beyond reason, many things can be found in this manner that, if they are pondered by human judgment, seem to be completely against reason. We say that those things are above reason, which we are not capable of testing by experience or fully investigating by any reasoning. On the other hand, those things seem to be contrary to reason that examples usually oppose and arguments contradict. In the former, experience is lacking and arguments fail; the latter are contradicted by both tests and arguments. The former we often test by authorities, confirm by arguments, and are persuaded of by comparisons. However, we fully comprehend with our intelligence none of the things tested and persuaded, because, as was said, by no experience, by no example of evidence from what we know through experience are we strong enough to give sufficient proof of them. The latter are sometimes learned from miracles, sometimes from authorities, sometimes by revelations.394 Often non-believers have been persuaded of them by a multitude of miracles, while to the faithful they are daily commended by the authority of the Scriptures. They have often been displayed to prophetic men in a manifold variety of divine revelations. Even so, things of this kind

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are such that even those men who have learned them through revelation cannot demonstrate them to others at all, except with faith as an intermediary. As testimony to these things, therefore, there is need for miracles rather than examples, authorities rather than proofs, revelation rather than reasoning. The former, though, are such that no human reason could suffice for the investigation of them, unless it were aided by divine revelations or genuine testimonies. Yet to the faithful mind, when it relies on this sort of aid, many reasons occur everywhere, and ultimately many arguments appear which help the mind in its investigation, or strengthen it in its findings, or defend the opinion advanced in its assertion. And so rightly, I judge, such things are said to be above reason, yet not contrary to reason. However, those latter things are such that when they are proven and believed by miracles or authorities, if we consult human reason about them and resolve to submit to its advice, whatever firm faith reason held in these things previously would begin to waver totally. In the investigation, discussion, and assertion of them, human reason does absolutely nothing, unless it relies on faith brought into the mix. Rightly, therefore, to speak according to a human viewpoint, such things are said to be not only beyond reason but even contrary to reason. The former things are rightly assigned to the fifth kind of contemplation, but the latter seem to relate to the sixth kind of contemplation. chapter 4 How those Things that Pertain to these Kinds of Contemplation Are Foreign to All Imagination I consider that now our work does not lack an exposition of why the angelic figures of this work must be made of gold. If those things that reason deals with and comprehends are presented as golden, how much more should those things that surpass reason be golden? If things that exceed imagination are golden, how much more are things that exceed reason? In this double scrutiny (speculatione) nothing imaginary, nothing of phantasy should appear. Whatever sort of spectacle this double inspection of the last work displays to you, it far exceeds every property of bodily likeness. If any sort of bodily imagining always obscures rather than aids that fourth kind of contemplation, how much farther away they should be from these more worthy and far more sublime matters and not appear at all in connection with them.

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So, let the imagination yield for now; let it yield and withdraw. There is certainly nothing in which it can help with this task. What can imagination do, where reason succumbs? What does imagination do there, where there is no change in form and no shadow of alteration;395 where the part is not less than the whole of which it is a part nor the whole more entire than its individual part, where the part is not subtracted from the whole, and the whole is not constituted by parts, because what is posited as universal is simple, and what is presented as particular is universal, where the whole is each, where all are one and one is all.396 Certainly and without doubt, in these matters human reason succumbs. So what may imagination do? Without doubt it can impede in the examination of such things and is entirely unable to help. chapter 5 The Supereminence of these Last Contemplations How supereminent397 the matters of these last scrutinies are can easily be inferred, because every consideration and investigation they make is occupied with the very highest and divine things! Therefore, let the one who can consider how far human knowledge has risen, when it has deserved to be elevated to these levels of contemplation. What is begun toward perfection in the first stages of contemplation is accomplished to its fullness in these last two stages. In the first two we are instructed in the knowledge of outward and bodily things. In the middle two we are advanced to knowledge of matters regarding invisible things and spiritual creatures. In the last two we are elevated to the understanding of things beyond-the-heavenly and divine. Therefore, we ought to begin from the least398 and most familiar things and gradually elevate the advance of our knowledge, and from acquaintance with external things ascend to the knowledge of invisible things. When you have grasped the knowledge of external things and have trained your senses in instruction about them, you ought to ascend to higher things and procure knowledge of spiritual creatures. When, in turn, you have been fully exercised again in such things according to your ability, you now have the means to ascend higher. Those highest and divine things still remain far above. As much as you are able, strive and struggle toward them. Certainly, if you have been raised up to inspection of them, you will surely not be able to find beyond them other things to which you still have to ascend. Beyond God there is nothing399 and therefore knowledge cannot ascend higher or farther.

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If, therefore, the Cherubim are called the “fullness of knowledge,” see how rightly that ultimate product of our work is denominated by “Cherubim.” In it the highest levels of all knowledge are figuratively expressed. Certainly, you can grow daily in the recognition of God, and you can be daily elevated higher and higher in this lofty flight. However, beyond this watchtower of contemplation you are completely unable to find another, higher one. It is one thing to run about here and there in this type of sight and expand one’s own knowledge in acquaintance with God; it is another thing to wish to seek other, higher things beyond these, when there is no way you can find them. There is nothing above God; such cannot be, or be able to be, or be thought.400 There is no way in which knowledge may or can ascend higher. The fullness of knowledge is to know God. The fullness of such knowledge is the fullness of glory, the consummation of grace, permanence of life. This is, he says, eternal life: that they may know you the true God and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.401 So to know him who is the true God is the end of all perfection. These last investigations gradually advance us to the fullness of this knowledge and sometimes indeed they are able to guide us through to it. The perfection of this fullness is begun in this life, but it is completed in the future life. Rightly, therefore, the figure of this work, in which we are admitted to the fullness of all knowledge, is called “Cherubim.” chapter 6 That It Is Challenging and Difficult to Prepare Grace for Oneself in these Last Kinds of Contemplations Now let us consider what is the purpose of commanding us to make these final beaten works.402 Beaten work is produced by hammering, and by frequent blows and much beating it is brought gradually to its determined form. I think, therefore, that there is need in this task for inmost compunction403 rather than deep investigation, deep sighs rather than arguments, frequent groans rather than abundant lines of argument. We know that nothing makes clean the inmost places of the heart and so renews the purity of the mind, nothing wipes away the mists of ambiguity, and nothing induces the heart’s serenity better, and nothing does so faster, than true contrition of mind, than deep and inmost compunction of the soul. What does Scripture say? Blessed are those of pure heart, because they will see God.404 Therefore let him who wishes to see God, who

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hastens to rise to the contemplation of the divine, strive for cleanliness of heart. Oh what great urgency, what great attentiveness is needed in skillful devotion and devoted skill of this kind, before the mind fully wipes away the slag of earthly love and consumes it in the fire of true love, before it melts down the gold of its insight (intelligentiae) to that purity which renders it worthy and suitable for the dignity of this work. Beyond doubt and without contradiction, it is not light or easy for a human mind to put on an angelic form405 and cross over into a certain beyond-worldly and indeed more than human garb,406 to receive spiritual wings and to lift itself to the highest things. Oh, how often it is necessary to send one’s gold into the fire and draw it out again, and to turn it now to this side, now to that, and to beat it on every side with frequent blows, before one forges an angelic form and produces the Cherubim. Oh with how much prudence, oh with how much foresight must that material of our work be formed! It is to be tempered now with respect to divine love, now with respect to divine fear, lest by too much consideration of the divine atonement the relaxed mind softens by too much confidence in itself, or, hardened by immoderate regard of the divine severity, gradually grows cool to the point of despair and is completely distrustful about the anticipated completion of its work. Oh, what prudent consideration, oh, what frequent reproof one needs to stay awake and persevere, lest any ecstasy of the mind407 or straying of thought escape the notice of the keen observation of discernment or pass by without refutation and strong reproof. Who may worthily describe what art or how much concern is needed before the human mind transforms the figure of heavenly winged animals in itself and changes itself into their image? Certainly, before one dares to attempt those angelic departures into the lofty mysteries of divine incomprehensibility, it is necessary to grow accustomed to walking among heavenly things with the heaven-dwellers and never to descend to earthly affairs and care for outward things except because of the duty of obedience and the office of charity. chapter 7 That Man Strives in Vain for these Contemplative (Theoricos) Ecstasies, Unless He Is Aided by Divine Revelations Therefore, in my judgment, it is easy to assess the great prerogative of supereminence by which the worth of this final task exceeds the

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other aforementioned things. By a certain emulation in its striving it imitates the archangelic elevation of that supreme hierarchy among the angels. Think, I beseech you, how excellent it is to draw to oneself by imitation the likeness of that order, which clings immediately408 to the highest splendor and sees face to face without any mirror or enigma.409 What sort of thing, I ask, is that human insight (intelligentia) that daily strives toward those theoretical ecstasies of beyond-heavenly minds and sometimes is even elevated by the good pleasure of divine esteem to contemplate those mighty deeds of the highest majesty? Who is suitable for these things? What craftsman might be found worthy for these tasks, if divine grace does precede and follow him? It is, then, one thing to make an ark and another thing to form Cherubim. We can know and test by daily experience what it is to construct an ark and dress it in gold, to encircle it with a crown, and to put a covering over it; these things are not foreign to our senses. But who sees, or is able to see, Cherubim? And how can I portray that form, which I am not able to see? I think that not even Moses would have been capable of portraying it, if he himself had not learned it beforehand through revelation. Whence comes what was said to him: See to it that you make everything just as it was shown to you on the mountain.410 So Moses was led beforehand to the mountain and it was shown to him beforehand by revelation, before he could know what he needed to prescribe for such a work.411 It is therefore necessary to ascend to a high heart412 and to learn by an ecstasy of the mind through the Lord’s revelation, what one ought to sigh for or strive for, and for what sort of state of sublimity one ought to dispose and familiarize his mind. If once he has been admitted to that light-streaming glory of angelic sublimity and has deserved to enter into that sight (spectaculum) of divine rays, with what inmost desires, with what deep sighs, with what indescribable groans413 do we think such a man perseveres? With what constant recollection, with what joyful admiration do we believe he mulls over the brightness he has beheld and turns it over in his mind by desiring it, by sighing for it, by contemplating it, until at last sometime he is transformed into the very image, from brightness to brightness as if by the Lord’s Spirit?414 By the Spirit, I say, of the Lord, not by his own. Thus, as we have already said, if one wishes to act productively and form Cherubim, the best way of craftsmanship in this business is to persevere with sighs and groans. What else is producing one’s own work by striking,415 other than gaining by much contrition of heart

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many things from the Lord’s loving-kindness, to which no man can measure up by himself? Still, nobody would give equal weight to these things about which we just spoke and to the aforementioned works, or believe that they differ just a little from each other just because they have common material and are both of gold. Certainly, if some other metal more precious than gold could be found, without doubt this angelic form would have to be made from that. The supereminence of its dignity, which cannot be because of the material, is more fully commended because of its form. So we are ordered to produce Cherubim and to fashion images not of human beings or even of just any angels, but of most excellent spirits, so that the dignity of these last considerations might better shine forth by this kind of figurative outline.416 chapter 8 That the Fifth Kind of Contemplation Allows for a Reason of Likenesses, but the Sixth Exceeds the Quality of All Likeness I think, though, that this should not be neglected, nor omitted without diligent consideration, namely, what was ordained by the Lord’s voice concerning these two Cherubim, when it was said: Let one Cherub be on one side, and the other on the other side.417 Accordingly they must be affixed on each side of the oracle, touching either side of the mercy seat. However, we understand the same thing by the oracle as by the mercy seat. Let us ask what those two sides of our atonement are, so that consequently we may discover how one of the Cherubim has to stand on one side, and the other on the other side. Just as we have already shown sufficiently above, by the mercy seat we understand that kind of contemplation that is had of rational spirits. We believe rational creation, angelic as well as human, was created in the image and likeness of God. Indeed it was written about man: God created man in his image and his likeness; in the image of God he created him.418 We think that what we read elsewhere was said about angelic nature: You were a seal of likeness, full of wisdom and beauty in the delights of God’s paradise.419 Notice that angelic nature is called a seal of likeness, even in regard to that faction that did not stand in truth. The prophet David proclaims plainly and says, There is none like you among the gods, Lord,420 and Isaiah announces openly, All nations are before him as though they did not exist, and they are considered as

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nothing and empty.421 How, therefore, are they thought to be as nothing and empty422 if they have some divine likeness? Or perhaps what one says, another contradicts? Far from it! For behold, I read in David: God, who will be like you?423 Again in the same book I find: The light of your face is stamped upon us, Lord.424 So then what else do we obtain from such various thoughts, except that truly and without doubt we exist425 in some ways like and in other ways unlike our Creator? How is man not dissimilar in many things to him, about whom it is truly written, that each living man is a complete vanity.426 See how dissimilar he is! Yet each man passes by in the image.427 See, how similar! What, then, is man that he can follow the king his maker?428 No more does an angel in heaven perfectly emulate that likeness of his Creator. Who is like you in strength, Lord, who is like you, splendid in holiness, fearful and praiseworthy and performing wonders?429 See, then, perhaps those things in which we are similar relate to one side, and those in which we are dissimilar relate to the other side. Therefore, if it is agreeable, let one side of our mercy seat be called the divine likeness in rational substances, and let the other be called the manifold unlikeness of the highest divinity in the same essences. Let us see therefore, how one of the Cherubim stands on one side and the other on the other side, and which ought to stand on which side. We have already stated above that the contemplation of those things which are beyond reason yet not contrary to reason relates to one of the Cherubim, while the contemplation of those things which are beyond reason and seem to be contrary to reason relates to the other. Moreover, it is agreed that the one first mentioned is much easier to understand, and therefore ought to be and usually is earlier in our experience. To the extent that the other is much more difficult, it should certainly be that much later. Therefore, let the former be called the first Cherub, and let the latter of these contemplations be called the second Cherub. In this way then one Cherub ought to stand on one side, and the other on the other side. Indeed, a Cherub seems to stand on one side, when the ray of contemplation is fixed on these things to the investigation and confirmation of which some sort of likeness is easily adapted. It is as if the Cherub stands as if on the other side, when human intelligence lifts itself to the contemplation of those things to which no hint of a likeness is fully adapted. As has been said, the examination of likeness relates to one side, just as also the examination of unlikeness relates

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to the other side. It is agreed, moreover, that the former, which allow some likeness to be applied to them, can be more easily comprehended and are closer, and nearer to, and more consistent with reason. The others withdraw as far from human reason as they transcend the nature (rationem) of any applied likeness. So, the first Cherub stands on the side of likeness and the second on the side of unlikeness, so that those things which are not contrary to reason and admit some likeness touch the side of likeness as if from nearby and are attached to it by consideration. Likewise those things that seem to be contrary to or against reason and surpass every property of an applied likeness are situated as if joined to the side of unlikeness and regard it from nearby.430 However, should one wish to refer one side to the right and the other to the left, surely the likeness of such an examination leads us to the same opinion. Generally, our right hand is most often brought forward for the sake of labor, and thus it is clear that it is more frequently seen. The left hand is more frequently covered by clothing than is the right hand, and so it is seen more rarely. Rightly, therefore, the more hidden things are signified by the left hand, just as those more manifest things are fittingly designated by the right. And so the first Cherub sits as if on the right because it fixes its eye of contemplation on those things that are not entirely alien to reason. The second Cherub is fixed as if on the left, because it chiefly contemplates only those things which all human reason seems to oppose. chapter 9 How Through these Two Kinds of Contemplations Each One’s Love and Approval of Self Is Tempered Greatly and in every way, these two kinds of contemplation either strengthen us against evils or aid us to virtue. Hence, what is added about them when it continues: Let their extended wings cover either side of the mercy seat and cover the oracle.431 When we cover something, we are accustomed to do so mostly in two ways, sometimes as a shelter, sometimes as protection. Often when we put some covering over ourselves to block the sun, we temper for ourselves its heat as well as its brightness. If then we receive grace from heaven in these two kinds of contemplation, if we persevere diligently in them according to the grace received, I believe that they will also be for us a shade from the heat of the day and security and shelter from storm

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and rain. Would that we were seized with such zeal and desire to see them and be led beyond our very selves in wonder at them with such disengagement of mind that meanwhile our mind did not know itself432 while it gazed suspended at the sight of such Cherubim,433 in such a state that with the apostle it dared to say: Whether in the body, or outside the body, I do not know, God knows.434 See how deeply he hides beneath the wings of the described Cherubim, who meanwhile does not know himself. However, if this shadow of the wings is not able to disengage the gaze of the mind for such an ecstasy, it still ought, as it is always accustomed to do, cloud that golden gleam of the mercy seat and temper it for our gazes. The brilliance of our mercy seat is without doubt clouded by a shadow drawing over it, when whatever seems to shine within us is put to shame by comparison to this greater and supereminent brightness. The brightness of our mercy seat designates the dignity of spiritual nature, just as the expanse of wings placed above designates the loftiness of divine supereminence. What wonder therefore, if each side of our mercy seat is covered over by such an overshadowing, when whatever like or unlike the divine is discerned in us is put in the shade in comparison to the divine, as has already been said? As we said, the overshadowing is accustomed to temper not only the brightness, but also the heat, and to render both more tolerable. It often happens, as we all know, that we do not know how to put a limit to our esteem and love of ourselves. Certainly, exaggeration or excess about both is checked in us by constant contemplation of and deep admiration of divine matters. I believe that absolutely nobody, I say nobody, no rational spirit at all can restrain to a true and legitimate measure of fairness that private love and valuation of their own excellence, except one who truly knows how to despise himself in comparison to those things that we have mentioned. Rightly, then, the designated Cherubim are said to cover each side of our mercy seat, because absolutely nothing is found in us that is not either foreign to the highest and divine things in quality or incomparable to them in quantity. Observe that just as the ark is covered by the mercy seat, so it is required that the mercy seat itself be covered by the expanse of the aforesaid wings. Without doubt just as contemplation of the spiritual creature and its eminence cover over the love and approval of the world, so contemplation of the creative essence and its supereminence tempers love and approval of self within each person.

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chapter 10 With How Much Longing of Spirit Spiritual Men Should or Do Yearn for These Final Kinds of Contemplations Without doubt the Cherubim described cover the sides of the mercy seat sufficiently, if they spread out their wings enough and ceaselessly. What is it to stretch out their wings with continuous tension, but to cling to divine contemplation in every place, at every time, and to persist in such zeal or desire everywhere? Certainly, when birds wish to fly, they spread out their wings. So should we spread out the wings of our heart by desire and wait for the hour of divine revelation at every hour, indeed every moment, so that at whatever hour the breeze of divine inspiration wipes away the clouds of our mind and uncovers the rays of the true sun, and when all the clouds of fog have been removed, our mind, with the wings of its contemplation extended, may lift itself to the heights and fly away. With its gaze fixed on that light of eternity that shines from above, it may fly with the impetus of a flying eagle across all the clouds of worldly turmoil (volubilitatis) and transcend them. I would surely say that someone who fulfills this command or lesson of the Lord also stands upright as if with wings outspread, when after receiving grace for these last kinds of contemplations, he always strives as much as he can to prove himself eager and prepared for such flights. Then, when the time of divine good pleasure comes and the air of aspiring grace breathes on him, he can be found suitable for, and ought to be admitted to that display (spectaculum) of divine secrets. Indeed, we ought to suspend our minds not only on that which we can have in this life, but also on that display of divine contemplation which we hope for in our future life; and we ought to long with fervent desire in such expectation. Accordingly, such grace is given to us for this; for this, the understanding of eternal things is, I say, poured in, so that we might know what we ought tirelessly to seek through study or sigh for with desire. Otherwise, the abundance of divine knowledge grows in us in vain, if it does not increase in us the flame of divine love. Thus love should always grow in us through knowledge and no less should knowledge grow through love. They should minister to each other’s growth, and reciprocal increases should be added to reciprocal increases.435 Therefore, the soul made perfect and given continuously to contemplation of the highest things should at every hour wait for the end of its pilgrimage and its departure from this

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prison436 with the greatest desire, by which it may deserve to see face to face what meantime it sees in a mirror and through an enigma.437 Hence it is that Abraham sat in the doorway of his tent,438 and Elijah stood in the doorway of his cave,439 each prepared for departure, each in suspense for the arrival of the Lord. Both certainly waited for one thing, one in his cave, the other in his tent, but both in a doorway, one by standing, and the other by sitting. You notice, I think, that Elijah regards the annoyance of this life as misery, and Abraham regards it as warfare; the former judges this same pilgrimage of time a prison, the latter judges it to be an expedition.440 There are those who see themselves as if in a cave and consider their own flesh a prison, while they sustain the annoyance of this life with annoyance. Others make a sort of tent from their body and gird themselves for the campaign of the Lord and patiently endure that they live in order to devote themselves to the Lord’s gain. The one lives impatiently, and the other patiently. While the one fears for himself, the other exerts himself for the Lord’s gain. The one stands laboring much, the other sits and hardly feels the labor, reckoning it as nothing as he awaits the Lord’s coming. Each is found in his doorway as if at the point of going out.441 Let us be silent for a while about these people, who live willingly in the recesses of their tent—not to say palace—lying pleasantly at rest. Each of them has earned the Lord’s coming, both he who, sitting in the doorway and patiently tolerating the annoyance of his campaign, longs in suspense for the coming of the Lord; and he who, standing in the doorway, awaiting the hour of his visitation, was laboring almost impatiently under the desire of his expectation. Do you wish to hear how unwillingly the one who stood in the doorway of his cave continued to live? He said, Lord, take from me my soul, for I am no better than my fathers.442 I ask, what does it mean that he who stood in suspense for that very thing (in idipsum)443 covered his face when he had the Lord passing by? Perhaps he recognized his own imperfection more perfectly in the Lord’s presence and was ashamed of his imperfection being seen? Nevertheless, you who were afraid to be seen wished to see. Oh, how many there are who believe that they are already prepared and still tremble with fear there in that moment of their visitation although before they had no fear. They dread that their exit, which they anxiously asked for before, is taking place.

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chapter 11 How After Great Exhaustion from Their Desire Some Are, Others Are Not, Accustomed to Be Lifted Above Themselves by the Visiting Grace Behold, one reads that he who was standing in wait—Elijah444— neither left his doorway nor ran to the Lord. Rather, he looked out from the cave,445 but with his face veiled. He heard the voice of the one passing as he went by, and he who had already sighed for rest, recognized by the Lord’s revelation what he still needed to do. The other one—Abraham—leaps up from his tent at the Lord’s arrival and with unveiled face446 runs to the one who is arriving, leads him into his home,447 feeds him448 and receives the Lord’s promise in response to his prayer of desire. He follows him as he is setting out and tarries with him when he stops; he bombards the Lord of Hosts with questions and receiving foreknowledge of future events he enters into that secret place of divine judgments. What is it to give heed from one’s own dwelling to the passing of the Lord, if not to understand deeply from (de) these things that are carried out divinely in regard to (circa) oneself the arrangement of the divine order and the grace of his cooperation?449 When an earthquake follows the strong wind, and fire follows the earthquake, and a light whisper of air450 follows the fire, one perceives the presence of the Lord passing by. When the mind often and suddenly senses itself struck by great and startling disturbances, and at one time is cast down by excessive fear and at another time vexed by excessive sorrow or confused with shame, and then is composed to great peace of mind or even security beyond its hope or worth whether it wills it or not, it ponders the working of the visiting grace and clearly realizes by its light that those things are divinely caused. However, we have God present, but as if passing by, when we are not yet capable of clinging very long to the contemplation of that light. To hear the voice of the Lord warning or even instructing451 is to learn from his inspiration what his good, pleasing and perfect will is.452 This one who goes out as if from his tent to meet the coming Lord—Abraham—and having gone out gazes upon him as if face to face is one who is led outside himself by an ecstasy of the mind and contemplates the light of highest wisdom without any covering or overshadowing of symbols, not in a mirror or through an enigma, but

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just, as I may put it, in simple truth, He draws inward what is seen outwardly when he makes what he saw through ecstasy intelligible or even comprehensible for himself with much reconsideration and strenuous pondering, at one time with the testimony of reasonings,453 at another with the accommodation of likenesses, and leads it to ordinary insight.454 Then indeed455 something is sacrificed by which the Lord might be fed, when the mind of man, strengthened by these steps of advancement, cuts off something from the good pleasure of his own will, which before he freely cherished and guarded, and when he chops this off from his own pursuits or enjoyments and in this way, as it were, hopes he will cling more perfectly to divine contemplation and please divine atonement more deeply. We feed the Lord when with the sacrificial victims of our virtues and our commitment to a stricter life, we nurture and increase the benevolence of his charity toward us. Behold, he says, I am knocking at the door; if someone should open for me, I will enter to him and dine with him.456 Truly we eat with the Lord in our own midst, when we freely expend this in obedience to him. In this we devote ourselves to his good pleasure, whence there is an increase in his benevolence toward us and our own fidelity toward him. From this growth of fidelity it happens that the mind, against hope and beyond expectation, is suddenly revived to a long-desired and much longedfor grace. We follow the Lord as he is setting out when, persevering diligently in the divinely instructed understanding through what we wonder regarding (de) the recognized light of divinity, we are raised to contemplate higher things beyond ourselves and sticking to footsteps of revealing grace, we accompany the Lord as he passes by. However, to stand with the standing Lord after his departure is to cling to the light revealed for a long time through contemplation in that state of loftiness. He stands by the standing Lord, who by the lofty elevation of his mind transcends every slippery state of human mutability and ambiguous uncertainty and, fixed in that light of eternity, draws to himself the likeness of the image at which he gazes. We all, said the apostle, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image, from brightness to brightness, as if by the Spirit of the Lord.457 In this lifting of the mind, human understanding often enters that abyss of divine judgments and even, as has already been said, is educated in the foreknowledge of the future.

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chapter 12 That Some of Those Things That Are Customarily Seen by Ecstasy of the Mind Can, and Others Absolutely Cannot, Be Brought Down to Ordinary Insight Thus it should be noted that sometimes we, placed outside, draw the vision of the Lord inward; at other times we, placed inside, go out with him as he goes out. Sometimes, even after a while, what is learned about the Lord’s splendor through ecstasy of the mind is also understood by the sober mind,458 and often we are led away by great wonder into disengagement of mind by what we examine soberly within ourselves. Likewise this too must be noted, that when placed outside we sometimes bring in the Lord we have seen and sometimes we do not. We read that even Abraham did not lead the Lord back for a second departure.459 There are certain such things that exceed human insight and cannot be investigated by human reason, but, nevertheless, as has already been said above, are not contrary to reason. When therefore we learn anything of this sort through ecstasy of the mind, we bring back with us, so to speak, a vision known exteriorly, if we discover after a while that those things which we had learned before through revelation are in agreement with reason. However, when those things which seem to be both beyond reason and contrary to reason are learned through revelation and as if in ecstasy, because when we have returned to ourselves after a while, we are not able to understand or assign their meaning through any human assessment, we, as it were, leave behind on the outside the vision we have known and keep only a certain memory of it. What does Scripture say? The Lord left, it says, after he finished speaking to Abraham, and he returned to his own place.460 The Lord has left and Abraham turns back when, after the grace of revelation has been withdrawn, his intellectual sense is called back to its ordinary state. So, at his first going out, Abraham compelled him, whom he saw was greatly exhausted, to enter his house. However, at his second going out, after a long-lasting vision and a lengthy conversation he did not lead him back. We bring into us what we have seen outwardly when after a while by reasoning we incline somewhat the hurriedly461 perceived vision of God462 to ordinary understanding. What was seen outwardly is not led in when a more contemplative (theorica) revelation is considered according to reason, the more it seems to oppose all human opinion.

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In such a seeing, before the mind returns to accustomed things, the Lord departs and withdraws farther away and shows the greatness of his incomprehensibility by the withdrawal of vision. So these two kinds of things, which are recognized in this twofold vision through the Lord’s revelation, seem to pertain to those two previously described Cherubim. This indeed is that worthy enough material from which the angelic form and the winged creatures should be forged. From this material we form the Cherubim for ourselves, when we grow accustomed to bring to contemplation the secrets of our faith, which we have either learned ourselves through revelation or received from men of theology. We grow accustomed to advance into contemplation and in admiration of them to suspend, to feed, and humble our mind, and to inflame it keenly in desire for the divine. Therefore, according to the example of Abraham and Elijah, we should wait for the coming of the Lord at the very exit of our lodging and, as it were, in the doorway. According to divine instruction, we should spread out our wings of our Cherubim and hasten to meet revealing grace with swift steps of desire.463 chapter 13 That at Every Hour the Holy and Contemplative Soul Should Be Prepared for the Reception of Grace The holy soul and friend of the true Bridegroom should always long with the greatest desire for the coming of her Beloved, and always be prepared to run up to him when he calls and open to him when he knocks. She should, I say, always be anxious in this matter and be found ready, lest coming suddenly and unexpectedly, he should find her less elegant, less adorned; or lest, shut out too long, he should suffer some annoyance at the long wait. The words are troublesome enough and freighted with seething desire. Command, command again, command, command again; wait, wait again, a little there, a little there.464 They are indeed the words of a sluggish soul, a tepid spirit, not well-considered and too ungrateful. What does such a soul say when, discovered in her own baseness, she grieves that she has been forestalled by the unexpected arrival of her lover and blushes that she is found not elegant or adorned enough? Indeed, she says, I should have known of your arrival beforehand so that I could receive you solemnly and run to meet you with that speed required of me. On future occasions, announce your arrival to me beforehand and send a messenger ahead to announce be-

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forehand the hour of your arrival. Let the messenger hasten to inform me what you wish me to do. Let a messenger, I say, run between us with instructions about everything, to teach me not only concerning my situation, but also concerning yours. Let him teach how things are with you and what is your pleasure regarding me. Command then and command again,465 announce and announce again. It is not right that lovers not know mutual concerns and shared desires for one another. Nor is it enough for a seething soul, for burning desire to hear just once. Therefore, I beg you, command, command again, command, command again.466 Perhaps she loves greatly and is very ardent who is so insistent, who keeps asking so persistently for messages between them. Therefore, let us see what he does. Behold, according to your word, when messengers have been sent and resent often, finally sometime he follows his messengers467 so that he may fully enjoy the longed-for embraces and be cherished with shared love. Behold, he already stands before the entrance, behold he already knocks on the door. Behold, the voice of your Beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my friend, my dove, my pure one, for my head is full of dew and my locks with the drops of night.468 What, I ask, what, I say, was the use of sending messengers ahead when they found the door closed? At the voice of your Beloved why do you not even leap forward immediately, open, lead him in and rush into his embraces? I have removed my tunic, she says, how will I be dressed in it? I have washed my feet, how will I soil them?469 “Let him wait a little, if he wants, for me to receive him.” He knocks and asks for entry, and you say: “Wait!” Behold, he waits. Behold he knocks again, and you say, “Wait again.” “And why,” you say, “is it so important, if he waits a little?” Oh how I fear that you will draw out this little while into a long while, until he passes by, turns aside for a while, and departs greatly wearied. Your statement and a tardy complaint reveal this: The bolt of my door I opened for my beloved; but he had wandered off and passed by.470 Behold, returning again and not reflecting on the insult of your earlier scorn, he stands behind the wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice.471 Hear him calling, you who did not want to receive him when he knocked. See, your Beloved speaks to you: Rise, hasten, my friend, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.472 Why do you not immediately jump up, run, receive him and exchange kisses? Why do you still say: Wait?473 Behold he is still waiting, behold he calls again: Rise, my friend, my fair one, and come in the cracks of the rock,

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in the hollows of the walls.474 What do you say? Wait again, still a little.475 O ungrateful soul, O hard heart, how long are you vexing your friend, how long are you wearying your Beloved? He knocks and you do not wish to open; he calls and you do not wish to go out. He knocks once and again and you order him to wait a little, to wait a little again. He calls once, he calls again, but you force him to wait a little and wait a little again, a little in one place and a little in another, a little there, a little there.476 So your Beloved is forced to do it often and much, because you say, a little and a little. For you draw out a little and a little into a long time and a long time and in this way you cheat your friend and you weary your Beloved. Oh how much better, oh how much more right it would be, for you to watch at the entrance, for you to wait with Abraham and Elijah for the coming of your lover, to run out to him when he arrives and to receive him with exultation. Indeed, you ought to watch out for him like your Beloved’s dove in the cracks of the rock, in the hollows of the walls477 with your wings extended and your neck stretched out, and seek and wait for the coming of your one-and-only with some dovelike song and lament. Perhaps our Cherubim do not yet have wings, or if they have them, they do not yet have them spread. Perhaps we have not yet formed our work in full; we have not yet completely brought to perfection that angelic form according to the Lord’s decree. chapter 14 That It Is Characteristic of Few People to Have Their Mind Always Prepared for the Reception of Grace I am silent regarding those who are outside,478 who have not yet been able to know spiritual love, who hear the commands of the Lord daily in the speech or writings of teachers, and yet do not submit, sinning daily, asking daily that occasions of penance be given to them. When some of them gladly hear the words of life, what else do they say in their eagerness, but command, command again? And while they daily pile sins upon sins, what else do they shout in their desire but wait, wait again,479 asking daily for an interval for penitence and daily proposing, daily prolonging a time for recovery? Certainly, to the carnal mind the entire span of this life seems quite small for satisfying its desire. While such a soul squanders much time now in one vice, now in another, and considers the whole time to be as if momentary, what else, I ask, resounds in the ear of divine patience besides a moment there, a moment there?480

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Meanwhile, keeping silence concerning these men, I ask, what will we say about ourselves, we who have taken up the habit481 of religion, who are given over to spiritual exercises, who, as it were, receive continually certain betrothal gifts482 of divine love? What, I ask, will we say, who have no sort of imposed duty but to read, sing the Psalms, and pray, meditate, gaze and contemplate,483 be at leisure484 and see how sweet the Lord is?485 So, then, how will it not shame us to say the same things and weary our Beloved with such words? Command, command again; command, command again; wait, wait again; a little there, a little there.486 Unless I am mistaken, you who persevere in reading or meditation daily receive his messengers and recognize his commands. As often as we have dug up new understandings from the hidden recesses of the Scriptures, what have we received other than certain messengers of our Beloved? Indeed, all sacred reading and keen meditation serves this activity.487 Some intermediaries of the divine secrets run to those who are reading, others to those meditating, to deliver to us the commands of our Beloved and to instruct us regarding each of them. It often happens that one and the same Scripture, when it is set out in many ways, speaks many things to us in one,488 teaching us morally what our Beloved wants us to do, urging on us in allegory what he has done for us, displaying anagogically what he is arranging to do concerning us.489 In this way he often commands and commands us again, and announces many things to us as if through one messenger. Often one and the same command is displayed in various enigmas and figures so that it may be stamped more deeply on our minds. When the same thing is said to us in many modes and many times, what else does it seem like but often commanding again and again the same thing? How many there are who daily receive this sort of messengers, but have little or no desire to correct anything regarding long-standing tepidity or neglect! They thirst for something that would be a source of glory, but not, however, of edification. They aspire to knowledge, not holiness, and wish to be not so much holy as knowledgeable. Therefore, while by their daily exertions they keep seeking new senses, new understandings, what else do they keep shouting in their passion or zeal but command, command again; command, command again?490 We receive such messengers daily, and as often some and then others arrive, we still daily expel rudely some and others, and shout loudly into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, Command, command again, command, command again.491

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The greater the multitude of these messengers abounds, so much the more bitterly, so much the more annoyingly does our own conscience accuse and torment us. Hence, it often happens that we set out to correct our life, but we keep putting it off. When we propose that this will be done in the future, it happens that this future is always in the future, perhaps even will never come to pass. Often something specific is singled out as going to happen fixed by which our life may be corrected. Meanwhile, we tell our Beloved, wait, and when that future turns into the present, it too is postponed to another future and we say, wait again.492 How many men often propose and strongly decide for themselves that if, perhaps, it were once given them to untangle the unsuitable passions (alienis affectibus) in which they are meanwhile involved, they never want to fall back into them again. Meanwhile they tell themselves to wait a little while, and, since, perchance, they have lost rather than cut off those passions, they busily bustle about to restore what they have lost, and they still want and beg to be waited for again for a little while. Indeed, they call all this a little and a little.493 For whatever does not satisfy desire, however much it may be, seems too little for passion. So men like this ask to be waited for and waited for again for a little and a little while, a little there and a little there,494 a little and a little, often in one passion at one time, and in another at another, there and there in one passion and another but at the same time. And in all these things we sing a song hateful to our Beloved: Wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a little there, a little there.495 When do you think a lazy and lukewarm soul of this kind will be able to form that hammered work and forge an angelic form, especially when in this work it needs to spread its wings at the Lord’s command urging the selfsame,496 to such an extent that never in such a pursuit is it permitted to let down the wings of our desires from stretching upward? chapter 15 That It Is Strenuous and Difficult for Any Perfect Soul to Gather Itself Into Itself Totally and Rest Only in the Desire of Divinity A delay, I will not say of a year, I will not say of a month or a day, but even an exceedingly small delay is troublesome enough to impatient desire. Hope delayed afflicts the mind.497 Thus, as has already been said above, the beloved of the true friend and the friend of the

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true beloved498 ought always to be ready and prepared to receive the friend who knocks without any insulting delay and to run to him with all eagerness when he calls. We know that a singular love does not accept a companion, does not let in an associate.499 See therefore that you do not first wish to cast out the crowds of those making tumult only when he himself has already begun to knock at the door. Otherwise, what are you going to say when such a crowd is found at your house? What, I say, are you going to say, except wait, wait again?500 Indeed, there must be waiting and waiting again to cast out the crowd of outsiders, to cast out those of your own household. All thoughts, empty as well as harmful, which serve no useful purpose for us, must be judged outsiders. We have as domestics or members of our household those that we bend toward our uses or advantages. However, because singular love loves solitude and seeks a lonely place, it is fitting to cast out the whole crowd of this sort, not only of thoughts, but indeed even of feelings, so that the more we are free to cling to the embraces of our Beloved, the more we may do so joyfully. How much, I ask, or how often in waiting of this kind must a delay be demanded again: wait, wait again, a little there, a little there?501 A little in one place, a little in another. A little in the garden, a little in the forecourt, a little in the inner room, until at last, sometime, after great anticipation, after great weariness, he enters the bedroom and reaches the inmost and most secret place. A little in the garden, while the crowd of those making a disturbance is dispersed; a little in the forecourt, while the inner room is decorated;502 a little in the inner room, while the bed is being made.503 The Beloved is forced to wait in all these places a little bit and a little bit, a little there and a little there.504 He is heard from the little garden, seen in the forecourt, kissed in the inner room, embraced in the bedroom. He is heard through memory, seen through insight, kissed through affection, embraced with an eager hug.505 He is heard through recollection, seen through wonder, kissed through love, embraced through delight. Or, if this is more pleasing, he is heard through revelation, seen through contemplation, kissed through devotion, clasped at the inpouring of his sweetness. He is heard through revelation, until, as his voice gradually rises, all the disturbance of those making a tumult is put to sleep and only his own voice is heard. At last that whole crowd of those causing commotion disappears, and he alone remains with her alone and she alone gazes at him alone through contemplation. He is seen by contemplation, until gradually the soul grows warm at the appearance of the

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unaccustomed vision and the wonder of its beauty, and burns more and more. At last there comes a time when the whole soul catches fire, until it is completely reformed to true purity and inward beauty,506 and that inner chamber of her interior dwelling is entirely decorated on all sides with purple and sapphire and twice-dyed scarlet linen.507 Then, at last sometime after the bridal chamber has been decorated and the Beloved led in, with faith growing strong and desire urging on, when she is no longer able to hold herself back any further, suddenly she rushes into kisses and with lips pressing lips plants kisses of inmost devotion. Through devotion he is kissed often and in many ways, while in the meantime the bed is being made, until the inmost hidden place of the soul is composed in greatest peace and tranquility, until at last with the Beloved set between her breasts508 at that certain indescribable inpouring of divine sweetness the whole soul melts in desire for him and that spirit that clings to the Lord becomes one spirit.509 I think that soul who has experienced such sweetness and such inmost delight cannot any more devise delays for her Beloved when he knocks or weary him with any waiting, nor is she going to say any more, wait, wait again,510 especially since all delay is too long for her and waiting seems burdensome. Thereafter, as I think, she will gladly watch at the entrance of her dwelling with Abraham the patriarch or even Elijah the prophet, so that she may always be prepared for the reception of her Beloved. From this time, as I think, she begins to accomplish that malleable work of ours very remarkably and to approach its consummation, to the point that those Cherubim of ours might now begin to spread their wings more widely and at every hour hold themselves ready (suspendere) as if for flight.511 chapter 16 That It Is Nearly Impossible for Any Soul to Pour Herself Outside Herself Entirely and Go Beyond Herself However much such a soul may be already prepared at that time to receive the one coming, I do not know if she is equally prepared and ready to run to him who calls. I fear that in this role she will still say to her Beloved: Wait, wait again, a little there and a little there.512 I think that receiving the one coming is easier than following the one calling. It is one thing to go in with him and another to go out to him. In the first instance, the soul turns back to herself and with her Beloved en-

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ters all the way to the deepest sanctuaries of her heart. In the second, she is led outside of herself and elevated to contemplate lofty things. What is it for her to enter, except to gather herself entirely in herself; and what is it for her to go out, except to pour herself entirely outside herself? Thus for a soul to enter into the bedroom, tarry alone with him alone, and enjoy delight is nothing else but to forget about everything without and to delight supremely and intimately in his love. She sees that she is alone with her Beloved, when she forgets everything external, and from considering herself her desire urges her toward love of her Beloved. From these deepest things that she considers within her, she inflames her mind with this feeling and rises up in thanks by consideration of the good things in her as much as of the bad. Then for grace bestowed and pardon granted, she pays in full sacrifices of deepest devotion. The Beloved is led all the way to the inmost place and is set in the best place, when he is loved with the deepest affection and above all things. Think what it is in your life that you have loved ardently and desired anxiously, what has affected you more sweetly and delighted you more deeply than all other things. Then consider if you feel that violence of passion (affectionis violentia) and abundance of delight when you burn in desire for your highest Lover, when you rest in his love. Can anyone doubt that he does not yet occupy the deepest recesses of your affection, if the sting of inmost delight penetrates your soul less in divine passions and stirs it up more lukewarmly than it sometimes was accustomed to penetrate or stir up the soul in feelings for other things? Certainly, if you should observe a powerful violence of love and delight deep within in you concerning the divine that is equal to or greater than what you have ever experienced elsewhere, see if still perhaps there is something else in which you can be delighted or consoled. Certainly as long as we are able to derive consolation or sweetness from any other kind of thing, I do not yet dare to say that our Beloved has hold of our inmost recesses of most ardent love. Whoever you are, O soul still in this state, busy yourself; hurry to bring him even now to the inner, secret sanctuary of your heart. Who would deny that that inmost sanctuary of the human heart has such recesses, or even can obtain them, in which the violence513 of a highest and singular love, when it has latched on to something through passion, cannot in any way be wrenched away by any other delight? Certainly, if you seek or receive other consolation, you do not yet love your God singularly, though perhaps you love him supremely, for he

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is not yet led into your inmost place, not yet placed in the best place. If then you do not strive to lead him into your innermost places, how am I to believe that you wish or are able to follow him to the heights? Let it then be a fixed sign for you, whatever soul you are, that you love your Beloved less or are loved less by him, if you have not yet deserved to be called to those contemplative (theoricos) ecstasies or to follow the one who is calling. How are you perfectly loving and loved, if you are not rapt to the heavenly in desire of the highest things, and if you do not cross over into those anagogical strivings by disengagement of mind? Do you wish to know that the loftiness of divine revelations is clear evidence of divine love? He says, now I do not call you slaves, but friends, because I have made known to you everything that I heard from my Father.514 Pay attention to this: the mode of divine revelation depends on the greatness of divine love. He says, Eat, my friends, and drink, and become drunk, dearest ones.515 Behold those who are friends and dear ones eat; those who are truly dearest drink and not only drink, but also become drunk. Certainly, those who eat chew the food they take and swallow that in which they delight not without delay or some sort of labor. However, those who drink take in what they thirst for with greatest speed and ease. Surely, therefore, do they not seem to you to eat, who with much effort and long meditation are hardly able to reach the delights of truth? However, they drink in some way who draw from divine revelations with highest ease and sweetness what they ardently desire of the inmost sweetness of truth. Therefore, dear ones, eat, but dearest ones, drink, because the measure of manifestation is determined according to the measure of love. However, drunkenness brings about disengagement of the mind, and indeed a pouring-in of lofty revelation leads only those who are dearest into ecstasy of the mind. The Prophet wished to describe such drunkenness, when he said, They will be drunk from the abundance of your house and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your delight.516 If therefore we desire to be soaked in this drunkenness and to frequent these contemplative (theoricos) ecstasies of the mind, let us devote ourselves to loving our God deeply and supremely and to longing for the joy of divine contemplation at every hour with the greatest desire. Thus, our Cherubim will have their wings extended. Behold with how much work we have already sweated, behold how much circumlocution we have employed in the selfsame517 so that our Cherubim may sufficiently spread out their wings and stretch the required shade over our mercy seat.

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chapter 17 Concerning these Things that Pertain Especially to the Fifth Kind of Contemplation It now remains to ask this also: Why should the Cherubim previously described regard each other mutually and in gazing turn their face on the mercy seat? Let them regard each other mutually, it says, with their faces turned on the mercy seat.518 We said above that those things that are beyond reason but not contrary to reason relate to the first of the Cherubim, but those that are beyond reason and seem to be contrary to reason relate to the second of the Cherubim. According to this distinction, see whether perchance those things which are pondered concerning the unity of that divine, supreme, and single essence relate to the first Cherub, while to the second Cherub relate those things which are considered concerning the Trinity of persons. How many things there are which are believed, asserted, and proven by the authority of the Scriptures regarding the Trinity of persons that seem entirely opposed to nature and go against all human reason. Rightly, then, everything of this sort, in which those things that oppose human reason are contemplated, is said to relate to the second Cherub. Let us see how those things that are considered concerning the unity of divinity in one single nature exceed the manner of human insight, but nevertheless are still consistent with reason and consequently related most of all to the first Cherub, that is, to the fifth kind of contemplation.519 Certainly, we believe that this principal520 and highest of all things is truly simple and supremely one, and that all good is in that one and simple good.521 As regards substance nothing is more simple than that, in efficacy (efficaciam) nothing is more multiple than it. In substance, what is simpler than that which is truly and most supremely one; in efficacy what is more manifold than what is truly and without any doubt capable of all things? See how difficult it is for human reason to understand everything that is, and then you will understand how incomprehensible it is that the simple good, also supremely good, is all good. It is beyond reason to comprehend how that truly simple and supremely522 one is all good. Nevertheless, human reason easily submits to this assertion and refers to it with its testimony, considering and affirming and truthfully bringing as evidence that it would not be full and perfect and entirely adequate, if in that highest and everlasting good any sort of good is lacking. How, therefore, can that which is im-

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measurable and boundless be comprehended? The Lord, it says, is great and exceedingly praiseworthy and there is no limit to his greatness.523 What sense can grasp, what reason comprehend, how it is able to be at the same time both truly single, yet immeasurable, and most supremely one yet boundless? Reason testifies with its reasoning that what is truly not composite is truly single; that everything which is composite can naturally be divided; and what is naturally divisible in some respect is changeable. Therefore, reason agrees that it is truly simple, because it is agreed that the best and highest of all ought to be unchangeable, in whom, it says, there is no alteration, nor any shadow of change.524 If therefore the good is supremely unchangeable, the good will be equally simple. Consequently, then, the supremely simple is what is supremely good. If therefore nothing is more simple, nothing more subtle, and nothing more profound than that in comparison to which nothing is more subtle, and nothing is more inscrutable than what is most profound, consequently also nothing is more incomprehensible. Let us see, then, what may emerge from mutual comparison of simplicity and immeasurability, unity and universality. If all good is there, whatever is there is also supremely good; therefore it is the highest power, therefore the highest wisdom, the highest goodness, the highest blessedness.525 Where there is supreme simplicity all that is is itself one and the same. Therefore, it is one and the same for him to be and to live, to understand and to be able, to be good and to be blessed.526 See how incomprehensible this is. It is not powerful in one respect, wise in another, good in one and blessed in another. Think, therefore, what is that power for which it is the same to do as to wish done. Pay attention to what that wisdom is for which it is the same to be able as to know. Ponder what that goodness is—whatever pleases it is suitable by the very fact that it pleases it; whatever displeases it is unsuitable by the very fact that it displeases it. Consider what is that life for which to be is the same as to be blessed. Likewise pay attention to this: if it is truly all-powerful, it is also powerful anywhere. Therefore, it exists powerfully everywhere, both where there is place and where there is no place. If powerfully, also essentially, because its power is not one thing and its essence another. Therefore, it exists essentially within all things and outside of all things, below all things and beyond all things. If it is within all, nothing is more secret than it; if it is outside of all, nothing more distant than it; if it is below all, nothing is more hidden than it; if it is beyond all, nothing is

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more sublime than it. Therefore, what is more incomprehensible than that than which nothing is more secret, nothing more distant, nothing more hidden, nothing more sublime?527 Likewise, if it is in every place, nothing is more present; if it is outside every place, nothing is more absent than it is. Likewise, if what is to be all is not from one place or another, is it not more absent than all because it is more present than all, and is it not more present than all because it is more absent than all? If nothing is more present than the most absent, if nothing is more absent than the most present, what is more remarkable than that, what more incomprehensible than that? Likewise, if its power is not one thing and its happiness another, wherever the highest power is, there also is the highest happiness. Therefore, the highest happiness is everywhere. How, therefore, can there be a place of supreme misery in the netherworld, or how can anyone be wretched, to whom the highest can never be absent, never lacking? All these things are amazing and truly incomprehensible. Reason approves many things, indeed almost countless things concerning the unity of divinity and the consideration of true unity, although it still does not comprehend them. Thus, all such things are beyond reason, yet are not contrary to reason, and by that very fact, according to the conclusion stated above, they show that they relate to the first Cherub. chapter 18 Concerning These Things That Pertain Especially to the Sixth Step of Contemplation Concerning the Trinity of persons and gazing at (speculationem) the Trinity, how many things are firmly believed, truthfully asserted, which nevertheless seem to be not only beyond reason, but also against reason. We believe in one God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit; the Father is from no one, Son from the Father alone, Holy Spirit from the Father and Son; the Son by being born, the Holy Spirit by proceeding.528 So we believe that one and the same is threefold in persons and one in substance. Whence the Father is one person (alius), the Son another, the Holy Spirit another, yet the Father is not another thing (aliud) than the Son, nor the Father or Son other than the Spirit of both, for the person of the Father is one, that of the Son another, that of the Holy Spirit another, though there is one substance for all, the same essence, and a single nature.529 We believe all these things, we profess all these

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things, and they are truthfully established. Nevertheless, in all these things, if they are considered according to human assessment, human reason seems to oppose them strongly. If the Father is unbegotten and the Son the only-begotten, will not the Father’s substance be unbegotten, that of the Son begotten?530 Since there is one and the same substance for both, will that same substance be begotten and unbegotten, that is begotten and not begotten? Is it the case that the same thing begets itself and is begotten by itself? Is the same thing begotten and not begotten, born and not born? If we say the Son is born, what do we say about his birth? Will his birth not be eternal, in whom there is no alteration, nor any overshadowing of change?531 If at some time his birth was not, how was he coeternal or coequal with the Father? And if at some time it will not be, how will that nature be unchangeable, in which something transpires? If he always was, how could he, who never started to be, without whom the Father could never be,532 receive being from another? And how has his birth been completed, if it is yet to be? Or, perhaps is it always repeated, so that it can always be? Or will what needs to be repeated endlessly be not one but manifold and endless? Indeed, see if perhaps we can inquire concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit with the same reasoning as whatever we have said about the birth of the Son. Behold, if these things are considered according to human assessment, they seem to oppose human reason. If the Holy Spirit is of the same power with the Father, can he do whatever the Father can do? Can he then beget a Son such as the Father can? Or perhaps does he not have the power to beget a son who is omnipotent? Or does he not wish to, though he is able? How then will he possess the same likeness of will and fullness of likeness with the Father? You will find many, almost countless things in this mode concerning the Trinity of persons, which are not only incomprehensible to human reason, but also dissonant to it. You will find many such things, I say, concerning the Trinity of persons, many such things in the incarnation of the Word concerning the union of substances. What is there, I ask, in which humanity and divinity are united so that they can be one person? Is it something that is of man or something that is of God or something that is of both? But if it is not of both, how can they be united in what is foreign to one of the two? If it is something that is of man, then it is a creature. If it is something that is of God, it is beyond creation and is not then a creature. If it is something that is of God and man, will it both be and not be a crea-

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ture and not a creature? This inquiry is very deep and thus far, in my reckoning, has not been advanced and therefore perhaps should rightly be suppressed. What do we say about the soul of Christ, which we do not dare to deny has received all fullness of grace? For whatever the Father has from his nature, the soul of Christ receives from grace,533 for in it lives all fullness bodily.534 If he has received all the fullness of grace, he has therefore also received the fullness of wisdom and the fullness of power.535 If therefore he has equal wisdom, equal power with the Father, which cannot be denied, will he not be equal to the Father and so a creature coequal with the Creator, which certainly must not be said? But if without doubt he has equal power, equal wisdom, how can he not be coequal with him?536 However, why do we say this about the soul of Christ, when according to the assertion of faith we believe and hold many things concerning his body which human reason fights against and deems impossible? When Christ distributed his body to his disciples, did he not carry himself in his hands? Was he not the same one who carried and was carried? Was he the same who gave and was given?537 When he was consumed by his disciples and ground by their teeth, was he injured? Or in what was given was he impassible538 just as he was invisible, while in regard to what he gave he was passible just as he was visible? Could it be therefore that one and the same body was at one and the same time visible and invisible, passible and impassible? Notice how incomprehensible this is and how it seems to be impossible. See how in many places the same body of Christ is daily consecrated and held? Is it divided into parts so that it can be held539 in so many places? How, therefore, will it be impassible and incorruptible? Or, although it is divided among so many places, does it remain everywhere whole and uncorrupted and entirely undivided? If therefore you pay note in how many places it is present, in how many places it can be through the same power of sanctification, where does your reflection lead you, I ask, if not to this: that one and the same body seems to you to be able to be in countless places at one time? But see how this very thing is not only against the property of bodies, but even beyond every property of spirits. If, therefore, these things that are truthfully believed about the body of Christ are so incomprehensible, if they seem so unbelievable, how much higher beyond all human reason will be those things considered concerning the soul of Christ? However, incomparably more sublime

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are the things that present themselves for consideration concerning the Trinity of persons. So all such things which seem not only to exceed the narrowness of human reasoning, but also to make a fool of it, are rightly said to pertain to the second Cherub. Therefore, it is rightly said that those things which are considered concerning the unity of the divine substance relate most especially to the first Cherub, but those which are considered concerning the Trinity of persons look especially to the second Cherub. And so the former consideration relates to the fifth kind of contemplation, and the latter consideration to the sixth and the very last kind.540 chapter 19 How the Last Two Gazings Stand in Relation to Each Other Concerning this twin consideration, namely concerning the fifth and the sixth kinds of contemplation, we must observe carefully and take precautions with diligent observation that we assert things which relate to one in such a way as to not destroy those which relate to the other. Let us affirm the unity of substance in supreme and divine matters in such a way that we do not purge the Trinity of persons, and let us confirm the Trinity of persons in such a way that we do not scatter the unity of substance. Thus, the Cherubim we are talking about should look at each other and never by any consideration of their intelligence turn the eyes of their contemplation from the mutual harmony of their gaze to contrary things. How many, because of what they perceive concerning the unity of highest divinity, strive to empty out true faith in the Trinity, and likewise how many, in what they perceive concerning the Trinity, wish to scatter the unity of the divine essence.541 Arius says that the Father is one thing (aliud), the Son is another thing, and the Holy Spirit is another thing. He would have certainly spoken correctly, if he had said another person (alius) and not another thing (aliud). By what he says, he destroys the unity of the divinity. Sabellius says that the same God is the Father when he wants, the Son when he wants, and the Holy Spirit when he wants, but he himself is still one. However, by what he says he actually tries to empty out the faith of the Trinity. In situations like this, our Cherubim turn away their faces from each other’s gaze, because by contrary assertions they turn their attention toward, and acquiesce to things that are very different and mutually opposed. According to the first Cherub, we say that God

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who created all from nothing542 is one and single. According to the second Cherub, we affirm that he who begat is one person (alius), he whom he begot is another person, and the one who proceeds from them both is another. Let these two Cherubim regard each other mutually, and let us say that one and the same God is substantially one and personally threefold. According to the first Cherub, we say that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one in one substance, in one essence, in one nature. According to the second Cherub, we say that the Father is one in person and the Son another in person and the Holy Spirit another in person. Let the Cherubim regard each other mutually, and we profess without doubt that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit are not one thing and another, however much they may be truly one person and another. And so the Father is one person, the Son another, the Holy Spirit another according to the second Cherub; yet according to the first Cherub the Father is not one thing, the Son another, and the Holy Spirit, since we assert truthfully, according to their mutual gaze, that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit are not three gods, but one God.543 According to the second Cherub we confess that the substance of the Son is united to our substance in one person. According to the first Cherub we affirm without doubt that the substance of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is one and indivisible. Yet according to their mutual gaze, we profess that only the Son is truly incarnate. So Cherub regards Cherub, when what one says the other does not contradict. Cherub regards Cherub when the fifth kind of contemplation asserts those things that pertain to its consideration in such a way that it is entirely unwilling to empty out those things that belong to the other. The Cherubim regard each other mutually when the last two kinds of contemplation meet each other and affirm each other in mutual agreement about the truth. Likewise, one Cherub regards the other when, as usually happens, our inquiry begins from the second last kind and finishes in the last, or in the opposite way, starts from the last and descends into the second last. chapter 20 How the Last Three Gazings Are Situated in Relation to Each Other However, the two Cherubim should not only regard each other mutually, but in gazing at one another they should also turn their

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faces to the mercy seat. The Cherubim here discussed turn their faces to the mercy seat when the last two kinds of contemplation, in what they sense together regarding sublime and divine matters, in witness to what they assert draw a likeness of reason from the things subject to the fourth kind of contemplation. Indeed we understand the fourth kind of contemplation through the mercy seat, just as we understand the fifth and sixth in the two Cherubim. As was stated above already, the fourth kind of contemplation moves most of all among those things which are usually considered concerning the rational but created spirit, but the fifth and sixth turn most of all on those things which should be considered concerning the divine and uncreated Spirit. Because we have recognized that the rational creature is made in the image of the Creator, we rightly seek more closely in that nature the reason for the likeness and form the mode of our investigation from that nature, in whose creation, I say, we do not doubt that the marks of the divine image are more emphatically stamped and more clearly expressed.544 Therefore what else is it for the Cherubim to turn their faces to the mercy seat, but that gazing at and investigating about divine things they turn their attention to rational creatures and proceed from the likeness viewed to a deeper understanding (intelligentiam) of divinity? If you wonder how God, the Maker of all things, at the very beginning of the world brought from nothing into actuality545 so many and so varied types of things just as he wished, think how easy it is for a human soul to fashion in its imagination at every hour whatever figures of things it wants, and to form as if from nothing without any preexisting matter certain creatures unique in kind. Then perhaps what earlier seemed unbelievable will begin to be less wondrous. In this you will also find it quite noteworthy that the highest Truth will save for itself the truth of things, but will concede to his image to form images of things at whatever hour. If you wonder how one and the same God can be in all places without being divided into parts, but whole everywhere, pay attention to the fact that one and the same soul can spread out through all the body’s limbs and nevertheless not be itself divided into parts, but be whole and indivisible in each. Therefore, as God is himself in the world that he rules, in the same way the soul in its manner is in its own body,546 that is, in the world under its jurisdiction, which it receives to rule. If you wonder how God inclines to his good pleasure all things that are done in the world, without any contradiction, with one nod of his

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will, consider that the soul also moves, governs, and arranges whatever limbs of its body it wishes just by the decision of its will. So, the mode of acting is one in both cases in regard to likeness, however different and unequal.547 In all these things the first Cherub stretches toward the mercy seat, when it draws a point of similarity from a rational creature for contemplation of its Creator. If we pay close attention, we find in this rational creature, as we believe, some mark of the highest Trinity. There is something from mind itself, that is, wisdom, and there is something as much from the mind as from its wisdom, namely love. Every mind loves its own wisdom548 and consequently the love of its own wisdom proceeds from both.549 Wisdom is therefore from the mind alone, but love is equally from the mind and wisdom. Likewise, the Son, that is, the Wisdom of the Father, is from the Father alone, but the Holy Spirit, that is, the Love of both, is from the Father and the Son. In this manner the second Cherub finds how it can usefully turn the face of its consideration to the mercy seat, if it seeks testimony of likeness in its gaze at divine things. It must be noted, of course, that those three things in the rational soul that present themselves for consideration do not make a trinity of persons, in the way those three in God divide themselves according to their difference of properties into three persons. See, therefore, that in these things in the rational mind that are brought forward because of their similarity to that highest Trinity, the unlikeness to that supreme Trinity is greater than the likeness. No wonder then that in our mercy seat the second Cherub touches more closely the side of unlikeness, and it regards the side of likeness as if from far off. If it is amazing to you how only the Son, namely the Wisdom of the Father, is incarnate, how he came to us in the flesh and yet did not withdraw from the Father, weigh carefully that in the imaginary trinity only the wisdom of the mind is incorporated in the human voice and exits physically through the voice, and having gone out is recognized, and once recognized is held fast, and yet it is not separated at all from that mind from which it was born. There are many such things in the rational mind, on account of which the second Cherub ought to turn its attention toward the mercy seat. Behold, we now grasp through this explanation how according to the Lord’s teaching the two Cherubim regard each other mutually according to the Lord’s teaching. We likewise grasp for what reason or utility they must turn their faces to the mercy seat.

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chapter 21 That Frequency of Divine Revelations Always Accompanies the Repetition of the Last Three Gazings Nor should one neglect or pass over without diligent consideration what is promised by the Lord’s voice when Moses is told: Thence I will speak to you above the mercy seat, and from the midst of the two Cherubim.550 Think how great or what sort of thing it would be to consult with the Lord at every hour, when there was need of it and in any necessity which required it to seek and receive divine counsel. Then you will be able to consider how necessary or useful it is to be familiar with these last three modes of inspection. Thence, he says, I will speak to you.551 From what place, I ask, or whence? From above the mercy seat, he says, and from the midst of the two Cherubim.552 If, therefore, someone wishes to be familiar with the divine oracle, let him ascend to a high heart553 and going beyond in his mind the aforementioned mercy seat let him occupy the space between those two Cherubim, so that he may ascend through the third kind of contemplation to the fifth and sixth.554 It is as if the mind elevated beyond the mercy seat dwells in the middle of the two Cherubim, when the contemplative soul, transcending in sublime consideration not only the physical, but also even the spiritual creature, is suspended in wonder at the supreme Unity and Trinity.555 It is as if we are raised up through the mercy seat onto the watchtower of this wonder, when we move forward from gazing at the rational creature and the consideration of the divine image to the higher recognition of divinity. It is as if we run back and forth in the middle between the mercy seat and the two Cherubim, when by putting the last three in juxtaposition, we advance to a fuller perfection of each of them. Therefore, we should run about freely among these three kinds of sights and through the mirror and image of the highest Trinity and Unity penetrate more deeply to gaze upon the glory of his Trinity and Unity. If we freely reconsider what we acknowledge concerning the dignity of the rational creature and concerning the beneficence and renown of the Creator, and frequently think about them with awe, we will also merit to recognize from divine revelation those things concerning the same kinds of sights which we were formerly in no way able to understand. This is what he promised you, when it was said: Thence I will speak to you.556 Think therefore how useful it would be to reconsider often the sacraments of our faith and frequently hold them in memory,

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since through such an effort we will be able to obtain frequent divine revelations. If, therefore, we are unable to see these things which we believe concerning the Trinity of persons and the Unity of substance in God through ecstasy of the mind or grasp them by pure and penetrating understanding,557 nevertheless insofar as we can let us bring up in frequent consideration those things that we accept from the Catholic tradition and hold by faith, so that from such effort we may be able to merit an abundance of divine revelations. Indeed, I think that the consolation of divine revelations will not be entirely foreign to those who frequently and willingly regard the secrets of the divine sacraments with the eye of faith. How much more familiar will it be to those who are not able to satisfy their desire by constantly contemplating with the eye of understanding and often seeing through ecstasy of the mind? Therefore, the one who carries out the office of Moses, who has taken up pastoral care, to whom it then falls by precept of the Lord to lead the Lord’s people from a house of slavery,558 to lead them through places of solitude, to lead them into the promised land, should certainly move around in free flight among those three kinds of contemplation here discussed, so that whenever there is need he may always be found worthy to be instructed by the Lord’s oracle regarding his own ignorance as much as the people’s, and to be made sure about anything uncertain. If therefore you desire to know through divine inspiration what is the beneficent and perfect will of God,559 be always ready and eager for these last three kinds of sights. By the merit of this practice you will perhaps merit to test the truth of that promise: Thence I will speak to you.560 chapter 22 That in Each Kind of Contemplation It May Happen that the One Contemplating Experiences Ecstasy of Mind Although it is usual and as it were characteristic to these last two kinds of contemplations to see through ecstasy of mind, by contrast it is common and almost as if proper561 to the first four to rise in contemplation without any disengagement of the mind. Nevertheless, all can and regularly do happen in either mode. From those things that belong to the first kinds of contemplation, we are able to recognize certain things from divine revelation and to see through ecstasy of the mind with the eye of contemplation. Likewise, we are accustomed, as we know and are able, to be led according to the ordinary state of

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the mind into consideration of those things that relate to the last two kinds of contemplation and to see them through contemplation. However, because those things which relate to the last two always exceed the sharp-sightedness of the human mind, when it considers them according to the ordinary state of the mind to which all are accustomed, or, on the contrary, in order to be able to discern something in them more observantly and clearly, the human mind withdraws from itself and crosses into disengagement, fittingly indeed the same mind should portray these same things mystically not so much in a human likeness as in an angelic form. Moreover, from the mystic example of Moses we maintain that all six of these kinds of contemplation can be seen through ecstasy, while from the figurative562 work of Bezalel we know that they can be brought into contemplation without any ecstasy of mind. Moses ascended the mountain and entered beneath the cloud563 so that he might be able to see the ark and both Cherubim from divine revelation. One does not read that Bezalel went up the mountain or sought the cloud in order to labor on that mystic work and gaze upon it.564 What is it to ascend the mountain, except to ascend to a high heart565 according to the prophetic utterance? Indeed the cloud covers such a mountain at that time when memory of all external things disappears from the mind. Moses lingers for six days on this mountain,566 and on the seventh day he is called from the middle of the cloud to conversation with the Lord. As is known, for six days we carry out our works and on the seventh we rest. Therefore, it is as if we pass six days on this mountain, when with much labor and great effort of mind we grow accustomed to remaining still longer in such sublimity. Then it is as if one has come to the seventh day, when such great elevation of the mind turns into pleasure for the mind and goes up without any effort. One attains in some way to the seventh day already, when in that state of sublimity finally at some time the mind is composed in highest tranquility so that it not only puts aside all care and worry, but also goes beyond almost all boundaries of human passibility. The Lord is calling and it is admitted to conversation with the Lord, when it is sent into that abyss of divine judgments by divine inspiration and revelation. Moses enters into the midst of the cloud, when the human mind, engulfed by that immensity of divine light, is put to sleep in supreme forgetfulness of itself. Thus, you can be amazed and rightly should be amazed how there the cloud is in harmony with the fire, and the fire with cloud: the cloud of ignorance with the fire of illuminated insight—

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ignorance and forgetfulness of things known and explained combined with revelation and insight about things previously unknown and up to then not experienced. At that one same time human intelligence is both illuminated to divine things and clouded over regarding human things.567 The psalmist comprehended this peace, overshadowing and illumination of the elevated mind in a few words, when he said, I will sleep and rest in peace in the selfsame.568 Truly the soul finds peace when, led beyond itself, it does not perceive at all the troubles of human passibility. It sleeps in this peace when, after it has been lulled into the highest tranquility, whatever it used to think about when it was wide awake passes into oblivion. He who sleeps has no knowledge of what is around him or indeed even of himself. Therefore, sleep is a subtle way to express disengagement of the mind through which the soul, absent from accustomed things and as if overtaken through sleep, journeys from human matters by contemplation of divine matters. Then certainly it falls asleep in the selfsame,569 when through contemplation and in wonder it rests in him for whom it is one and the same to be everything that he is, because he it is who alone can truthfully say: I am who am.570 Therefore, what Moses indicates through the seventh day,571 David more openly calls peace. What for the former is entering the midst of the cloud, for the latter is to fall asleep. That the latter rests in the selfsame572 corresponds to the fact that the former is called, approaches, and lingers in the Lord’s presence. Thus, when someone who has been rapt into the sublime through elevation and disengagement of the mind is advanced by divine inspiration to those six kinds of contemplations which we have described, it is as if in the likeness of Moses, ascending the peak of the mountain, he enters the midst of the cloud and sees and contemplates the previously described ark and Cherubim. So it was said to Moses: “See that you make all the things just as they have been shown to you on the mountain.”573 If all were shown to him by the Lord on the mountain, then not only the Cherubim, but also the ark. That is, as I have already said above, the things that pertain to any kind of contemplation can by the Lord’s revelation be seen through ecstasy of mind. From the work of Bezalel it can no less be determined that any of these can be and regularly is the object of contemplation without any ecstasy of mind. What then, I ask, is it to make the ark, clothe it in gold and encircle it with a crown, cover the mercy seat, and attach Cherubim, if not to gain skill step by step in the aforementioned kinds of

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contemplation, and to learn one thing after another by much effort and labor, and to bring it into use and at last sometime to finish the work and in the end to reach perfection in everything? However, to be silent about the ark, what shall I say about the Cherubim themselves? Does one read that he ascended the mountain or entered the cloud so that he might form them or see them formed? Whence it is plainly given to be understood also that these last two kinds of contemplations, for which it seems to be as if characteristic that they be practiced through ecstasy of the mind, are nevertheless accustomed sometimes to be kept within the bounds of human comprehensibility. Therefore, all six kinds of contemplations can occur in either mode and are accustomed to be practiced sometimes through ecstasy of the mind, sometimes without any ecstasy of the mind. chapter 23 That Some Have the Gift of Ecstasy Incidentally, and Others Possess It as if by Virtue574 Of those who are led beyond themselves by their contemplations and rapt all the way to ecstasy of the mind, some wait for this and receive it only by the calling of grace alone, whereas others, to be capable of this, prepare it for themselves with the co-working of grace by great industry of the mind. The former have this as if an incidental gift, but the latter even now possess it as if through virtue. Something is as if incidental to someone when he is in no way able to have it when he wants or as he wants. Therefore, those who have no ability in this through their own industry, but only wait for the hour of the calling of grace, have this as if incidentally. However, those who now are in great part able to do this at will should be said to have the efficacy of such grace as if through virtue. We have the figure of the one in Moses, but of the other in the priest Aaron. Only by the revealing grace of God did Moses merit to see the ark on the mountain through the cloud, for he certainly did not have it in his own power to see at will. Aaron, however, had it in large part in his power to enter into the Holy of Holies and within the veil itself to see the ark of the Lord, as often as his office or some reason required it. It is established that the Holy of Holies occupied the inmost and most secret place in the tabernacle of the covenant. Therefore, just as we understand the peak of the mountain to refer to the summit of the mind, so we understand the Holy of Holies to refer to the inmost

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part of the human mind. There is no doubt that in the human mind the highest is the same as the inmost, and the inmost the same as the highest.575 Therefore, we understand the same thing through the peak of the mountain and through the oracle of the tabernacle of the covenant. What is it then to go up the peak of the mountain or inside the tabernacle, if not to ascend, embrace, and hold the highest and inmost recesses of the mind? For through that first tabernacle, we understand the ordinary condition of the mind, which we all know, but through the second one we understand what very few know well, which comes about through ecstasy of the mind. To the former the rational sense especially pertains; the intellectual sense relates to the latter. In the former we gaze at (speculamur) invisible things of ourselves; in the latter, we contemplate invisible divine things. A dense veil of forgetfulness divides and separates the two conditions, one known to all, and the other experienced by few. When we are rapt to contemplation of divine things through ecstasy of the mind beyond or within ourselves, we immediately become forgetful of all external things, not only of those which are outside us, but even of those which are within us. Likewise, when we return to ourselves from that sublime state, we are completely incapable of recalling to our memory those things that we formerly saw beyond ourselves, with that truth or clarity in which we formerly observed them. Hence, however much we may hold something in memory and see it, as it were, through the medium of a veil and in the midst of a cloud, we are not capable of comprehending or remembering the mode of seeing or the character of the visions. In an amazing way, recollecting we do not recollect, and not recollecting we do recollect, while seeing we do not actually see, and gazing we do not observe, and paying attention we do not penetrate. Certainly you see that the human mind, whether it enters into that inmost chamber of secrets or goes out from it to external things—you see, I say—that in both cases the veil of oblivion cuts it off. So it is the same to enter the cloud or go within the veil. What Moses did and what Aaron accomplished concerned one and the same thing. They differ in this, however, that the former gazed on this only in the hour of another’s good pleasure, whereas the latter undertook it as if by his office and acted in great part by his own will. However, in order that he could be suitable and ready to enter within the veil when he wished and was required to, Aaron prepared and possessed for himself pontifical adornment and a garment suitable to his office. What is it to have a garment suitable to his office, but to acquire those merits of

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virtues through which he can make use of the office of such a grace? It is right for one who wants to penetrate to the inside of the veil to advance not only in pontifical adornment but also with a cloud of fragrant smoke, according to the Lord’s command, so that the hour of his entrance may boil with such a vapor of heavenly desires and with, as it were, a boiling over of fragrant smoke, that he regards with contempt and regards as nothing, whatever could have been pleasing about the adornment of the inner man. Perhaps it is the same for Moses to leave behind the crowd at the foot of the mountain and for Aaron to put aside his ordinary garment before the entry of the tabernacle; the same for Moses to ascend the mountain with the elders of Israel and for Aaron to enter into the inner part of the tabernacle with the pontifical adornment. Perhaps, too, it is no different for the former in the ascent of the mountain to leave the elders behind and reach its peak with Joshua only,576 while the elders are left behind, and for the latter to hurry into the Holy of Holies with fragrant incense. It is equally the same for the former to enter into the cloud and the latter within the veil, so that as far as the mystical tradition goes the only difference between them regarding what each does is that one entered into the secret speech of divine revelation by the calling of the Lord alone, and the other did so by his own deliberation.

BOOK FIVE

chapter 1 We Advance in the Grace of Contemplation577 by Three Modes578 We advance in the grace of contemplation by three modes: sometimes by grace alone, sometimes with our effort added, and sometimes by another’s teaching. If we consider their actions, we have a type579 or example of these three modes in three people, Moses, Bezalel,580 and Aaron. Moses first saw the ark581 on the mountain in a cloud solely by the Lord’s revelation without any labor or effort. Bezalel formed by his own labor what he had been able to see. Aaron, however, regularly saw the ark that had been formed by another’s work.582 In the manner of Moses, we see the ark of the Lord without any human effort, when we receive the ray of contemplation by God’s revelation alone. We advance by our own effort into Itself583 as though in accord with Bezalel’s example, when by our zeal and labor we obtain skill in584 the same grace. At other times, however, it is as though we receive from another’s action the ability to see the ark of the Lord, when by someone else’s handing on we become accustomed to the use of this same grace. However, we do not want what we are saying about the employment of effort to be taken to mean that we could do anything at all without the coworking of grace, since no effort of ours occurs except from grace.585 Nevertheless, it is one thing to receive the grace of contemplation by divine gift and another to acquire this same gift by our own effort with the co-working of God.586 Thus, we receive this grace in three ways: in one way, from divine inspiration; in another, from our own exertion; and in another from what someone else hands on. Moreover, it should be noted that some advance to this grace by their own effort without any instruction from another’s teaching, but in their contemplation are not in any way (modo) rapt to ecstasy of the mind. Others, however, who advance to the same grace by what others hand on to them more than by their own keenness of the mind, nevertheless often rise to ecstasy of the mind in their contemplations. Thus it is that one reads that Bezalel constructed the ark, but it is not written that he entered it. Aaron, though, doubtlessly was accustomed to enter the ark that was already constructed by another’s making and located within the curtain.587 Behold!588 In this work we have, as it were, taken on the task of Bezalel, as we try to render you more ready for the endeavor of con-

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templation, and, so to speak, exert ourselves in working on the ark. Nevertheless, you are way ahead of me in this grace, if helped by these things you hear, you succeed in entering inside the curtain; that is, if what we, so to speak, work at outside and comprehend and confer according to common usage, you are able to perceive though ecstasy of the mind and, as it were, see within the curtain. It should also be noted that certain ones, once they have come back to themselves, cannot in any way grasp or recollect in the ordinary state of their soul the things they behold through disengagement of the mind. Hence it is that King Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream, but roused from sleep he could not recall the dream he had seen.589 Some can easily recall to memory afterward what they reflected on through ecstasy. Others work hard to be able to do so. So it is that King Pharaoh retained the dream he had seen,590 whereas King Nebuchadnezzar recovered his lost dream with much effort. The ark of the Lord shown to Moses on the mountain by God’s revelation591 was known familiarly in the valley and seen frequently. However, others sometimes begin to have familiarly the ecstasy of the mind that they have rarely and, so to speak, fortuitously in their contemplations. Hence it is that Moses finally went familiarly within the curtain to the ark of the Lord, although previously he was given to see through the cloud only at God’s call and revelation. There are many mysteries592 in all these things, which now cannot and should not be treated one by one. chapter 2 The Modes by Which All Contemplation Usually Occurs: Enlarging of the Mind (Mentis Dilatatione), Raising of the Mind (Mentis Sublevatione), and Disengagement of the Mind (Mentis Alienatione) As it seems to me,593 the quality of contemplation varies in three modes. It occurs sometimes by enlarging of the mind, sometimes by raising of the mind, and sometimes by disengagement of the mind.594 Enlarging of the mind occurs when the acuity of the mind (animi acies) is more widely expanded and greatly sharpened, but without going beyond the measure (modum) of human effort. Raising of the mind occurs when, after the liveliness of the insight (intelligentiae)595 has been divinely irradiated, it transcends the limits of human effort, but does not cross over into disengagement of the mind. This occurs in such a way that it sees what is above itself, but still it does not withdraw completely from familiar things. Disengagement of the mind occurs

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when the memory of present things disappears from the mind and it crosses over by a divinely effected transfiguration596 into a strange state of awareness (animi statum) inaccessible to human effort.597 Those who merit to be raised to the supreme pinnacle of this grace experience these three modes of contemplation. The first arises from human industry, the third from divine grace alone, and the middle one from a mixture of both human industry and divine grace. In the first degree, it is as if we construct the ark by our own labor when we acquire the skill of contemplation by our own zeal and effort. In the second degree the ark is raised up on the shoulders of its bearers and, as it were, follows in the traces of the cloud which goes ahead, when by sufficient effort and with the grace of revelation co-working and preceding, the ray598 of contemplation is enlarged. In the third degree, the ark is carried into the Holy of Holies and, so to speak, placed within the curtain, when the acuteness of contemplation is gathered in the inmost recesses of the mind and secluded from the memory of exterior things by the curtain of forgetting and disengagement. Thus, the first degree pertains to making the ark; the second, to lifting up the ark; the third, to taking it inside and closing the curtain. One rightly understands that what the Lord told Abraham pertains to the first: Raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, to the north and the south, to the east and the west. I will give you all the land you gaze upon.599 One rightly understands that what is written about Moses pertains to the second: From the plains of Moab, Moses went up Mount Nebo to the summit of Pisgah opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan.600 It pertains to the third degree that the Lord overshadowed with a shining cloud the witnesses of his Transfiguration whom he had led onto a high mountain,601 and, just as was already said above, that Moses approached602 the Lord on the mountain through the middle of the cloud. In the first, Abraham is not ordered to ascend the mountain nor does one read that God had showed him anything there, but he ordered him to lift his eyes in the place where he was and gaze over the land he was going to receive. There one reads of no ascent or showing in which there is reference to exaltation of an elevated mind or a manifestation of divine revelation. We raise our eyes from the place where we are or are wont to be when amid the sights we contemplate we do not withdraw from the common603 and customary state of our mind. The mode of our capacity for comprehension is the place where we are in the meantime through insight. We consider the extent of the inheritance we are to

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receive when we foresee long beforehand with the eyes of our contemplation the great extent of perfection we will sometime finally be able to attain by the advances of our devotion. There is no hint in these words of Scripture of anything that seems to be beyond human effort, and so it is rightly referred to as the first degree of contemplation. Notice, however, that when Moses is ordered to ascend the mountain and the Lord is said to have shown him the land of promise, how expressly this seems to point to the second degree of contemplation. What is Moses’ ascent of the mountain if not a raising of the human mind to heavenly things beyond the level of human possibility? What is that showing of the Lord if not an infused illumination of interior inspiration? To look out on the land of promise through a divine showing is to know the fullness of future retribution by a revelation of divine enlightenment and to be intent on this kind of contemplation. It seems to be by human effort that Moses ascends onto the mountain, and by divine grace that the Lord shows him the land of promise, and so this testimony of Scripture also indicates that it is concerned with what we said is the second degree. However, we can gather easily enough from what is written above that Moses’ ascending onto the mountain and approaching the Lord through the middle of the cloud pertains to the third mode or degree of contemplation. What is it to enter the cloud on the occasion of a divine calling except to go beyond the mind in ecstasy604 and through a cloud of forgetting, as it were, to hide from the mind the memory of the things around it?605 The bright cloud that overshadowed the disciples of Christ606 refers to the same thing. One and the same cloud overshadowed by illumining and illumined by overshadowing, because it both illumined regarding divine things and overshadowed human things.607 Thus, all contemplation usually happens by these three modes: enlarging of the mind, raising of the mind, and disengagement of the mind. Behold, lift up your eyes around you and see608 refers to that kind of contemplation that happens by enlarging of the mind. Who are those who can fly like clouds?609 is about the kind of contemplation that happens by raising of the mind. I said in my ecstasy, every man is a liar610 refers to disengagement of the mind. chapter 3 The Modes by Which Enlarging of the Mind Usually Grows The mode of contemplation that occurs by enlarging611 of the mind usually grows by three stages: by skill, by exercise, and by attentive-

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ness. We gain skill at something when through true tradition or by shrewd investigation we learn how something is to be done. Exercise occurs when we put into use a skill we have acquired and in doing the task make ourselves more quick and ready. It is attention when we concentrate with supreme diligence on the endeavor we are pursuing. So, the first thing is to acquire skill in some discipline, second to put it to use, and third to devote supreme energy to that in which we are trained and practiced. Therefore, as was said, by these three stages the inner space of the mind is enlarged612 and its capacity for all learning and discipline is increased. Certainly, the more widely and firmly you have learned something, the more widely you are enlarged to grasp more fully wider and deeper things. However, it also seems to be no less the case that use and experience strengthen, enlarge and perfect any discipline received through instruction. Likewise, why is it that sometimes we see more vaguely613 and sometimes more clearly in one and the same task in which we are instructed and practiced, if not because the enlargement and perspicacity of the mind grow according to the mode of our attention? Thus, the first degree is acquiring a skill, the second is frequent exercise of that skill, and the third is diligent and assiduous attention to its exercise. The human mind is admonished toward the first degree of its enlarging when through the prophet it is told, Set up a watchtower for yourself, put bitterness for yourself, direct your heart along the straight way on which you have walked.614 You hear about the second degree when you read, I will stand on my watch and set my step615 upon a rampart, and I will contemplate what is said to me.616 This statement concerns the third degree: Cross to the Islands of Kittim and see, and send into Kedar, and examine very carefully.617 Now, what is setting up a watchtower, if not acquiring knowledge of contemplation? We erect a watchtower so that we can see into the distance and enlarge our vision in every direction. Rightly, therefore, are these words referred to that enlarging of the mind in which a watchtower of contemplation is raised up and the knowledge of that same enterprise is acquired. What is it to stand on a watch and set one’s step if not to solidify by use the knowledge of observation? What one calls a watchtower, the other calls a watch. We usually erect watchtowers for a public or private watch, so that looking out from them we can foresee threatening dangers early on. Thus, we also raise up the grace of contemplation as a kind of spiritual watchtower so that we can anticipate the plots of the tempter. However, it is one thing to set up and climb a watchtower and another

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thing to stand on it or even set one’s step there. The former is to acquire a discipline; the latter is to exercise a discipline. Who, I ask, does not see how the command to us to consider very deeply pertains to that third mode of our enlarging? He says, Send into Kedar and examine very carefully.618 Indeed, this is rightly said and commanded, because from very careful examination and attention the capacity of the mind grows and is enlarged. If you diligently concentrate on these three advancing degrees, you will be enlarged more and more toward great perfection of sharpsightedness (perspicacia). In these three there is great enlarging of the mind, but no less delight.619 chapter 4 The Degrees by Which Elevation of the Mind Usually Rises However, it is no less the case that the mode of contemplation that occurs through raising of the mind advances through three degrees: human insight, divinely inspired and irradiated by that heavenly light, sometimes is raised above knowledge, sometimes also above effort, and sometimes even above nature.620 The raising of the mind takes it above knowledge when one of us knows by divine revelation something that surpasses the mode of his own knowledge or insight. Raising of the mind ascends above effort when human understanding is divinely illumined to something for which no knowledge of its own is sufficient and that neither its current effort nor any effort on its part can acquire. The inner space of the mind is expanded above nature when human intelligence is divinely inspired so that it goes beyond the mode not only of any human being, but also beyond the limits of all human nature and effort in general. The rational spirit of the one gazing is raised above knowledge when it experiences what is said: Let a human being advance to a high heart, and God will be exalted.621 God is indeed exalted in the sight of an elevated mind when by God’s revelation something is shown it about the loftiness of the divine majesty that seemed to exceed the mode of knowledge that it hitherto possessed. That loftiness of divinity, which in itself has no way in which it can grow or be exalted, can daily grow in our thinking and appear more sublime to the glances of our contemplation. The mind is carried above the effort of the mind when in it the saying is fulfilled: He spread his wings, lifted them up, and bore them on

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his shoulders.622 Certainly it does not belong to human effort to pass through the air, but others’ supporting wings can carry us where we are not able to go. Therefore, it seems to be beyond effort, but not beyond nature, to travel through the air. Therefore, the contemplative soul ascends beyond the limits of its effort when divine graciousness, by the showing of its secrets and, so to speak, by the expansion and elevation of its wings, raises it toward that summit of supereminent knowledge where it could never go by its own effort. That raising of the human mind to which the prophet aspired when he said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and take my rest, seems to completely transcend the mode of nature.623 What the Lord promised through Isaiah relates to the same thing: Those who trust in the Lord will go from strength to strength and acquire wings like an eagle.624 Without doubt it is beyond human nature to have wings and to fly to the heights at will. What, then, is it to receive wings, contrary to nature, as it were, if not to possess from virtue a certain marvelous efficacy of contemplation, so that whenever you want you can penetrate on the wing of your sharpsightedness difficult things of secret knowledge that are inaccessible to all human effort? We truly begin to be winged animals when by the gift of grace divinely received for Itself (in idipsum),625 the flights of our contemplation transcend the limits of the human condition. Every kind of prophecy, if it is without disengagement of the mind, seems to pertain to this third degree of raising up. For is it not beyond human nature to see regarding past things what no longer is; to see in regard to future things what is not yet; to see in regard to present things what is absent to the senses; to see the secrets of another’s heart that are not subject to sense; and to see regarding divine things what is beyond sensation? It still remains to inquire by what causes ecstasy of the human mind usually happens and also by what degrees it usually increases. chapter 5 Ecstasy of the Mind Usually Happens for a Threefold Cause It seems to me that three causes lead us away to disengagement of the mind.626 At one time by great devotion,627 at another time by great wonder, and at still another time by great exultation, it happens that the mind has no grasp on itself but raised beyond itself passes into disengagement of the mind.628

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The human mind is raised beyond itself by great devotion when it is alight with such a great fire629 of heavenly desire that the flame of interior love grows beyond the human mode, so that it completely dissolves the human soul from its earlier state and, when it is liquefied like wax,630 raises it, thinned out like smoke, to the heights and sends it forth to the highest things. The human soul is led beyond itself by great wonder when irradiated by the divine light, and suspended by wonder at the highest beauty, it is so struck by a violent stupor that it is profoundly shaken from its state. In the manner of flashing lightning, the more deeply it is cast down to the depths through contempt of self by its regard for unseen beauty, the more sublimely and quickly it is raised up to sublime things, having been made to rebound631 through the longing of its highest desires, and rapt above itself. The mind of a human being is disengaged from itself by great joy and exultation when, having drunk from that intimate abundance of internal sweetness,632 indeed, having become completely inebriated,633 it completely forgets what it is and was and is carried over into ecstatic disengagement by the intensity of its joyful dancing634 and suddenly635 is transformed into a kind of superworldly feeling in a state of wondrous happiness. Therefore, as long as we have no sense of this kind of ecstasy in ourselves, what else should we feel about ourselves if not that, as we said earlier,636 unless that we are loved less, that we love less?637 Therefore, whoever you are, if you loved fully and perfectly, then perhaps by the intensity of your love and the anxiousness of your burning desire you would be rapt into the kinds of ecstasy that we partially described to you above. Likewise, doubtless, if you were fully worthy of divine love, if you showed yourself suitable for such graciousness, perhaps he would irradiate the eyes of your insight with such brightness of his light and inebriate the desire of your heart with such gentleness of intimate sweetness, that you would be rapt beyond yourself and raised to the heavenly realms by ecstasy of the mind. We find, I think, these three anagogic modes of ecstasy mystically638 described in the Song of Songs in the same order we have placed them here. We correctly understand as applied to the first the passage that says, Who is this who comes up through the desert like a column of smoke from fragrances of myrrh and frankincense and every powder of the perfumer?639 And what we read much later in the same Song we rightly understand as concerning the second: Who is this who advances like the rising dawn?640 And what one reads at the end correctly applies to

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the third one: Who is this who ascends up from the desert, abounding with delights, and leaning upon her beloved?641 chapter 6 The First Mode of Ecstasy Arises from Greatness of Devotion However, do you wish to know better how fittingly we can apply that first passage to the first mode of ecstasy? As you heard above, the first ecstasy of the mind occurs from restless desire and great devotion.642 Now smoke always arises from fire. Who denies that love is a spiritual fire? Unless I am mistaken, that raising of the mind to heavenly things that arises from fervor of love is rightly compared to smoke. What do we understand by this sort of smoke if not the desire of a devout mind? The soul ascends like smoke to heavenly things when by fervent love that urges on its desire for this, it is rapt above itself. As we all know, a column of smoke is thin and straight. Therefore, that your ascent may take on the likeness of a column of smoke, let your desire be solicitous and single, and let is arise from a right intention. If we understand myrrh as contrition of the flesh643 and incense as devotion of heart, and every powder of the perfumer as the accumulation of all virtues,644 pay attention how all these, which can easily be understood in themselves, converge on the same idea.645 It is clear enough that anyone who is full of charity cannot be without other marks of virtues, for, if the apostle is to be believed, charity is the accumulation of the virtues.646 It is surely to be noticed that the holy soul truly ascends like smoke through the desert when from things that she finds in herself, whether good or bad, she enkindles her feeling of desire for the heavenly bridegroom. It seems to me that the raising of the mind which arises with favorable grace from its own intent and effort is greater as regards merit than that which arises from revelation alone or from some divine inspiration. Therefore, so that she may be found worthy of the rest, the soul must begin from this kind of ascent and first ascend through the desert, so to speak. Moreover, although she began to become such through the desert, to become like a column of smoke she must arise above the desert itself. Otherwise, the mind itself is not rapt into ecstasy of the mind if it is not raised beyond itself, if it does not leave itself behind down below and by deserting itself make itself a desert, and when this deserting has occurred go up more and more to the heights as smoke does.647

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chapter 7 The First Mode of Ecstasy Sometimes Occurs Only from The Boiling of Fervent Desire This kind of ecstasy of the mind occurs sometimes only from the boiling up of fervent desire,648 and at other times it arises both from this sort of boiling and from divine revelation added to it. Why should that spiritual and incorporeal fire of divine love not obtain the same force in spiritual things that this corporeal fire usually has in corporeal things? We know well enough how this corporeal fire usually acts in containers into which a little liquid has been poured. First, it begins to stir the liquid from below, then it agitates it back and forth and up and down and gradually lifts it toward the top and fills the whole container right to the brim, although it was just a little amount. Finally, it raises it beyond it649 and with a kind of violence empties what is inside, pours it out, and forcefully ejects it. So, surely, the human mind lit by a divine fire often goes into itself against itself, fervent and raging, boiling and spewing, angry with itself, despising itself, vehemently arguing with itself, vehemently stomping on itself, longing for the heights, throwing itself toward what is above the world. Meanwhile, it is burned for a long time by this heat and thrown about greatly, and it is repelled from the lowest things by contempt for what is below and drawn toward higher things through desire of heavenly things.650 It often happens that in the impetus of the spirit, by the compulsion of desire, it is cast outside itself and beyond itself, and forgetting itself completely and elevated in ecstasy, it is completely rapt to higher things. In this mode, when the ardor of heavenly desire vehemently boils, it raises the human soul that is fervent with divine love above itself. And as we can show by the above example, any aromatic powder of the perfumer cast into a fire, insofar as the voracious flame does not consume it, is sent up by the violence of the heat toward what is above through a slight and smoking exhalation.651 You see, I pray, how when nature is asked and Scripture is consulted, they pronounce one and the same opinion with equal accord. From the heat of fervent desire alone, ecstasy of a divinely inflamed mind can and usually does happen just as we said earlier.

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chapter 8 The First Mode of Ecstasy of the Mind Sometimes Occurs Both by Overflowing Devotion and by Added Divine Revelation Disengagement of the mind of this kind also sometimes happens when the desire of a fervent mind and some wonderful sight (spectaculo) of divine revelation come together. This we can gather from that first going out of Abraham, about which we said some things above.652 What does Scripture say? The Lord appeared to him while he was sitting in the enclosed valley of Mamre at the door of his tent in the very heat of the day. When he raised his eyes, three men appeared standing near him. When he had seen them, he ran from the door of his tent to meet them.653 If we take the tent to be the dwelling of the human mind, what will this going out be if not ecstasy of the human mind? We are led out of ourselves in two modes. Sometimes we go out from ourselves, but descend beneath ourselves; sometimes we go out from ourselves, but are raised above ourselves. In the former we are captive to earthly things; in the latter we are led back to things above the earthly. Moreover, as the going out is twofold, so is the return. From both excursions as it were, we return to the dwelling of our way of life, when after earthly affairs or after the sights of heavenly contemplations we return the eyes of our mind to examination of our moral behavior and, investigating what is deep within us, we give careful consideration to what kind of people we are. One rightly applies to the first return what one reads about the prodigal son in the Gospel, namely that, Having returned to himself, he said: How many workers in my father’s house have plenty of bread, but I am perishing here of famine!654 No less rightly we refer to the second returning what we read in another place about the Apostle Peter: Peter, returning to himself, said: “Now I know truly that the Lord has sent his angel,” etc.655 Behold, one reads that each of them returned to himself. But why is this, if not because first they seemed to have gone out of themselves? One was led from himself into a distant region; the other by the leading of an angel was raised by disengagement of the mind beyond the ordinary state of human possibility. In the first going out there is descent to the lowest depths; in the second one is raised up to the heights.656 In the first we distance ourselves from the Lord; in the second we approach the Lord. What is this going out through which we meet the Lord, if not ecstasy of the human mind, through which, rapt above itself, it is carried up to the secrets of divine contemplation?

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If we are looking for the cause of this going out [of Abraham], we find it very quickly. The vision that appeared exteriorly doubtlessly drew him toward exterior things. The cause of the divine apparition is hinted at in a hidden way, when it is said that the Lord appeared to him in the heat of the day while he was sitting in the door of his tent. You certainly see that the heat of the day was burning hot when the Lord was appearing to him. What do you think this heat of the day is, if not the boiling of ardent desire? That love that loves the darkness, the love that, I say, hates the light, ought not to be called the heat of the day. We know that the one who acts wickedly hates the light; … but the one who does the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be made known, because they are done in God.657 Therefore, what else is the heat of the day but fervent love of the truth, desire for the true and supreme good? The fervor with which the patriarch boiled at that time was such that it caused him finally to withdraw from the members of his family and to sit in his doorway at leisure (in ostio et in otio); it drove him just to pass the time (vacare)658 and look and doubtless perceive the breeze of divine inspiration he was seeking and desiring, and with it to temper the heat of his desire with its breath. You are pondering, I think, how that fervor with which he then boiled drew him to the place from which he could see those three whom, he had no doubt, were rightly to be adored. Perhaps, if at that time he had looked after his servants and kept to the inside of his tent, he would not have seen those persons who were to be adored, and if he had not seen them, perhaps he would not have gone out at that time. Two things, great fervor and a novel vision, which converge into one, presented the occasion for his going out. According to the pattern of this event, it often happens in the human mind that while it burns with a great fire of heavenly desire, it merits seeing something by divine revelation that helps it toward those contemplative ecstasies.659 chapter 9 The Second Mode of Ecstasy Is Wont to Occur from Great Wonder Thus far the topic of discussion has been the ecstasy of the mind that arises from greatness of devotion. Now it seems something is to be said about what customarily arises from great wonder.660 Who does not know that wonder arises when we see something not hoped for and beyond reckoning? When something begins to be seen that can

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scarcely be believed, the novelty of the vision and the hardly credible event usually lead the mind to wonder. Notice how fittingly that ecstasy of the mind that arises from wonder is described in the passage that says, Who is this who advances like the rising dawn?661 What is the dawn except new light mixed with darkness?662 And whence comes wonder if not from an unexpected and incredible sight? In this wonder unexpected light is mixed with darkness, the light of vision with some remnants of disbelief and the darkness of uncertainty, so that in a wondrous way the mind doubtlessly663 sees what it can scarcely believe. However, the more we wonder at the novelty of the event, the more we pay attention to it. The more attentively we gaze on it, the more fully we know it. Thus, attention grows from wonder, and knowledge from attention.664 Therefore, the mind rises like the dawn when it advances little by little from the wonder of vision to increments of knowledge. The dawn arises little by little, as by rising it is enlarged, and by enlarging it grows clearer, but in a wondrous way when finally it passes over into day, and through incremental advances it comes to disappear. Then it goes to the place from which it received its increase and finally fails and is completely gone.665 So, too, does human insight, irradiated by the divine light, when it is suspended in contemplation of things intellectible,666 when it is stretched in wonder at them: the more it is led always to higher and more wondrous things, the more widely and fully is it enlarged. And where it is more removed from the lowest things, the purer it is found in itself and the more insightful667 into sublime things. However, in this kind of raising, while the human mind is always growing toward higher things, by growing for a long time it finally at some time transcends the limits of human capability. Finally, it happens that it completely departs from itself and, transformed into a certain superworldly feeling, it completely goes beyond itself. As the morning light by its growing does not cease to be light, but morning light, with the result that dawn itself is no longer dawn, so human insight by the extent of its enlarging sometimes is no longer itself, not no longer insight, but no longer human.668 In a wondrous way and by an incomprehensible change, it is made more than human, when by contemplating the glory of God it is transformed into the same image … from brightness to brightness, as by the Spirit of the Lord.669 From these things you can ponder, I think, how properly, how expressively, that ecstasy of the mind that arises from great wonder is designated in mystic description where it says, Who is this who advances like the rising dawn?670

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chapter 10 The Second Mode of Ecstasy Sometimes Begins from Wonder Alone and Ends in the Most Fervent Desire of Devotion Notice carefully that the previous mode of ecstasy, which we spoke of above, arises from devotion, while this second mode, about which we are now speaking, does not begin from devotion, but rather ends in it. There, from superabundant desire for truth one arises to contemplation of the truth; here from revelation of and contemplation of truth, the rational spirit (animus) is inflamed to devotion.671 See whether Scripture does not mystically indicate this to us when to the words we cited above, it makes an addition. Having said, Who is this who proceeds like the rising dawn, it immediately adds: Beautiful as the moon, excellent (electa) as the sun.672 Let no one expect or request from me in this place a full explanation of these or other words that we have put down or are going to put down, except insofar as the purpose of the present material demands it as testimony to the truth. The dawn and moon have light, but they do not have heat. The sun, however, is surpassing in both,673 for what is brighter or warmer than the sun? So you see that the outer reaches of the ascent of the mind that is referred to in this verse are compared to the sun. You see, I say, that it ends in not just any devotion, but eventually in the highest devotion, although it begins with only the brightness and enlightenment of truth. Just as in the former instance the mind merited by the superabundant fervor of its devotion to be raised often to the contemplation of highest truth, so in this present case the mind advances little by little from a certain wondrous and stunning contemplation of the truth and finally is inflamed to the highest devotion. Let us then consider the amount of brightness and heat in the orb of the sun and infer from that the ascending advance in this elevation and the consummation of the mind’s advance, which indeed begins as though from the dawn and finally at some point draws to itself the likeness of the sun. chapter 11 The Second Mode of Ecstasy Sometimes Begins from Wonder Alone and Stays on the Same Path However, we are not saying that in this second ecstasy of the mind the mode of advance always and everywhere has the same outcome at its consummation. We see in exterior things what we ought to think

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about interior things. If you put a container of water in a ray of sunlight, you will soon see that water reflect brilliant light upwards from itself and raise up brightness on high, but without heat.674 Thus, certainly, many receive rays of divine revelation, but they do not all equally advance from there to the same intensity of love. In order to commend the gifts of his grace to us, the Author of all good things exhibits different effects of that same grace, sometimes at different times and sometimes in different persons. Whoever you are who reads or hears this, ponder, please, the example proposed: what that ray of divine revelation and eternal light effects in us, how by the enlightening of its infusion it raises human insight above itself. Pay attention how the pattern of this example proposed to you, concerning which we now speak, sets before you the ecstasy of the human mind by its likeness in quality. What is water, if not human thinking (cogitatio), which always slips toward lower things,675 unless it is held back under very tight control? Water collected in a container is thinking intent on meditating and held steady by its intention.676 Collecting water is the meditation of the heart. The ray of the sun pours itself into such water, when divine revelation meets meditation. However, when water receives a ray of heavenly light into it, as was said, it too emits the flash of light upward and in a wondrous way lifts a ray of light up from itself to a place to which on its own it could in no way ascend. Further, although the difference between water and light is so great, water nevertheless impresses something of its own likeness on that ray of light that it emits from itself, so that when it is quivering it makes the light quiver, when it is quiet it makes it quiet, when it is purer it makes it purer, and when it is more diffuse it makes it more diffuse. In line with this comparison, when the revelation of that inaccessible and eternal light irradiates the human heart it raises human insight above itself, even above every human mode, and by the infusion of divine light and the reverberation of wonder, the ray of insight leaps from the lowest to the highest, whither by no innate sharp-sightedness, no exertion of skill, can human reasoning ascend. The more deeply the splendor of divine brightness penetrates the human mind, the more deeply it is struck by the extent of its awe and raised up through ecstasy, and the more sublimely it bounces back into sublimities of the divine secrets. This must be taken as fully established: the more fully and perfectly the human spirit has succeeded in composing itself in interior peace

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and tranquility, the more surely and tenaciously it will cling through contemplation in this elevation to the supreme light. Without doubt, the purer its integrity, the more far-reaching its charity, the more sharpseeing and capable it will be found to be for that contemplation of what is above the world and above the heavens. chapter 12 In the Second Mode of Ecstasy, Divine Revelation Is Sometimes Joined to Our Meditation One should note carefully that the splendor of divine revelation sometimes meets with meditation that has preceded it, while at other times it precedes human meditation; sometimes it comes to the aid of the one seeking, and at other times it arouses the sluggish and awakens the sleeping. Hence, the Queen of the South peppered King Solomon with questions, and by the enigmas she had proposed to him677 she learned from him all the things she had put before him. Hence, too, the angel visiting Peter with light when he was in chains roused him from the drowsiness of his sleep and led him out.678 What does Scripture say of the Queen of the South, who came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, if not that Solomon taught her all the topics (verba) she had proposed?679 Who is this Queen of the South, inhabitant and ruler (domina) of that hot region, who was on fire with desire to see Solomon? Who, I say, is this queen, if not any holy soul firmly in charge of the senses and appetites of her flesh and of the thoughts and feelings of her mind,680 burning with love for the supreme king and true Solomon,681 and ardent with desire to see him? A queen of this sort prods the king of supreme wisdom with the puzzles she proposes and the frequent questions she asks, whenever a devout soul, counting on divine help, is vehemently insistent in her zeal to investigate truth. She hears what she seeks when amid the sighs of her prayers she often knows from divine revelation those things of which she is incapable by her own effort. Let us see what else the divine word proposes about this same queen when it adds, The Queen of Sheba, observing all the wisdom of Solomon and the house that he had built, and the foods on his table, and the dwellings of his servants, and the ordering of his ministers, and their clothes, and the burnt offerings that he offered in the house of the Lord, had no spirit left.682 It says, The Queen of Sheba, seeing. Behold, now she is described as seeing, whereas before she was presented as proposing

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and questioning. See, however, what she saw and understand what she understood. It says, The Queen of Sheba, seeing all the wisdom of Solomon, etc. Behold, how many and of what sort are the things it is given a devout and zealous soul to know by divine revelation! Weigh how great and ponder how wonderful were the things she knew by divinely given seeing. By seeing them for a long time and by great wonder at them, she finally arrived to the point where her spirit fainted in the presence of her great wonder. Behold, by what order she proceeded and the end to which she finally arrived. First, she questions and hears; then she sees and understands; finally, she is astonished and grows faint. She asks to learn; she contemplates to wonder; she is astonished so that she departs from her mind and falls into ecstasy of the mind. The first belongs to meditation, the second to contemplation, and the third to ecstasy.683 Behold by what steps of advance the human mind is elevated. Certainly, it goes up from meditation to contemplation, and from contemplation to wonder, and from wonder into disengagement of the mind. It is clear, I think, that now you have an example of how from great wonder a person enters into ecstasy of the mind. What was it for her not to have spirit, except to go into ecstasy of the mind, and what caused this if not great wonder? How, I ask, was this queen without spirit unless her spirit was disengaged from itself? However, at this juncture there comes to mind what someone else says of himself: I, John, was in the spirit.684 Behold, John attests that he is in the spirit, but it is stated of the Queen of the South that she does not have the spirit. What, therefore, does it mean that he was in the spirit and she was without the spirit? Who is suited for these things? If John was in the spirit, who can explain to me whether he was there according to the flesh or according to the spirit? How could he be in the spirit according to the flesh, since the body certainly cannot exist except in a bodily place? If someone thinks he is there according to the spirit, who would explain how the spirit can be said to be in the spirit? What are we going to say about the Queen of the South? Did her body remain lifeless (exanime), when she began to have spirit no longer? Who would say this? Who but a madman would dare to assert this? At that time the flesh of the queen was not without spirit, because it could not live without spirit. What, then? Was the spirit without spirit? Let him decide who can, and as he can, how the spirit is in the spirit or without the spirit, if it is right to believe the former of John and think the latter of the queen.

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Does to be spirit in the spirit maybe mean to collect oneself completely within oneself and for the time to ignore completely what concerns the flesh or even what is done in the flesh? Or does to be spirit without spirit mean to pour one’s whole self out of oneself and beyond oneself and to ignore completely things that are beneath or within oneself, while one enters completely into that divine mystery? Is not spirit rightly said to be in the spirit when it forgets all exterior things equally and, unaware of all the things that are done corporeally in the body, it concerns itself through memory and understanding only with those things that occur in the spirit or regarding the spirit? Why is it not also rightly said that the spirit does not have itself when it begins to faint away from itself and from its being685 and crosses over into a certain superworldly and truly more than human state, and by a wondrous transfiguration it seems to faint away from the human into the divine, so that it is no longer itself precisely at the times when it begins to cling more deeply to the Lord. Whoever clings to God is one spirit.686 Someone who is in this state can sing out: My soul faints into your salvation.687 Whoever ascends the summit of the mind and, as it were, faints away from his spirit and goes beyond the summit of his mind is in the spirit. But let us leave these things to be more fully discussed by minds that are better informed. chapter 13 In the Second Mode of Ecstasy, Divine Revelation Sometimes Even Comes Before Our Meditation Let us consider now how divine revelation sometimes anticipates the strivings of our meditation and lifts up the human mind not only to its usual stable state, but even to raise it beyond the bounds of human possibility, even when it has been cast down below the ordinary state of human liberty by a sudden onslaught of temptation. Often, after many successes in its endeavors, the human mind is pounded by the insistent urging of temptations and violently knocked down from the sublime citadel of its security and peace, so that, as it were, it will not glory wretchedly and vainly in its own strength amid continuous advances in virtues. Hence it is that after many sublime miracles Blessed Peter, the foremost of the apostles, is held, bound, and imprisoned. Yet when an angel visits him, he is no less wondrously freed than earlier he was cruelly tortured by the servants of cruelty.688

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Do you want to know about chains of this sort, which sometimes are wont to ensnare tightly even minds that are lofty in merits? Who does not know that incitements of pleasures arise sometimes from outside and sometimes from inside; outside from delight, inside from suggestion; through delight in the flesh, through suggestion in the mind? Sometimes the flesh is inflamed by a foul tickling, at other times the rational spirit is dirtied by foul thinking. Therefore, it is as if we enter imprisoning darkness, when, trapped by these tangles of concupiscence, we want to turn away from the darkness of our confusion, but we cannot. However, surely the mind is deserving of the revelations of divine consolation, if it has suffered this darkness of its confusion not so much because of the listlessness of its own laziness as by the wantonness of another’s spite. A holy soul like this is snatched out at the coming of a divine embassy, when by grace of divine inspiration and the light of revelation it is relieved from its oppressive burden. An angel is called a messenger. There is no doubt that an angel is not just any messenger, but a divine messenger through whom we know the good pleasure of the divine will, a messenger through whom we are enlightened to knowledge of eternal things and inflamed to desire for them. Does this messenger know only heavenly things? Does he not know earthly things as well? How can someone who knows greater things not know lesser ones? It is certainly a good embassy that suffices not only to teach all things, but also to urge them, insofar, that is, as the one who sent him wills it. Do you wish to hear what kind of embassy the Apostle John promises us when he says, His anointing will teach you about all things?689 What is this anointing if not divine inspiration? This is that messenger whom we were long seeking. This is the truly powerful embassy, truly capable of leading the human mind to all truth and inclining it to whatever pleases the divine will. Therefore, what wonder if such a messenger, who can immediately infuse in equal measure knowledge and love of heavenly and eternal things, when he wishes and as much as he pleases, frees the burdened soul from the coils of its concupiscence and releases it from the darkness of its ignorance? The one who said, He sent from heaven and freed me,690 had experienced such messengers when he was set free. However, maybe you still want to know what kind of embassy this was, through which he escaped from his soul’s captivity. He said, God sent forth his mercy and truth and snatched my soul away.691 An angel coming with light is the working of divine mercy pouring in truth;

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mercy leading into truth is an anointing that teaches. What is it for God to send mercy and truth and free a person from captivity, if not to inspire truth by the working of his mercy and to give solid strength in virtue by the inspiration of his truth? Would anyone ever fully avoid the dangers to his soul, if he did not merit experiencing the benefits of this embassy? Happy was Peter who deserved not only to be set free by an angel, but also after he was set free to follow that angel. I think that not all who are set free by an angel also follow the angel’s footsteps. I read of apostles who had been put in prison and were led out by an angel, but did not follow him.692 However, the angel who set Peter free commanded him to follow. What shall we say this means? How great do we think this is to track angelic footsteps, to follow after heavenly, winged beings? Consider, if you can, what was that departure or advance of the leading or following angel, whose passage neither prison custody nor an iron gate could block or slow. Which of these things is not new, which of them not wonderful? It is truly angelic and truly more than human to go out of the dark and horror of human vulnerability and pass through the difficult and narrow strait of ordinary impossibility. Think about the way out which the first human had before he sinned and which a human being would still have if he had not sinned in any way. Surely as often as he needed, he could have had an easy passage through that exit from the earthly to the superterrestrial, from the visible to the invisible, from the passing to the eternal.693 It would have been easy for him through contemplation to be each day among the citizens of heaven, to enter lawfully into the divine secrets, and to enter worthily into that interior joy of his Lord. Consider, next, how in the aftermath of sin divine severity blocked and barred with the hinges of dire necessity and the bars of impossibility694 this earlier crossing back and forth. I say, think about this and maybe by thinking about these things you will find what you should think and dare to assert about that iron gate. However, if you are not sufficient for those things, do not ask us, but rather those to whom perhaps this iron door is well known by frequent passage and for whom it is always open, with an angel often going before and leading the way after the pattern of what happened to Peter. In my judgment, I have not said this presumptuously:695 that he was far beyond humankind, that he withdrew from and beyond himself, that he learned all these things through experience. Otherwise, there was no place from which afterwards he might return to himself

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and because of which it might rightly be written about him: And Peter, having returned to himself, said: “Now I know for certain.”696 There are many things that could be said here about this present chapter, if it were necessary to say them here. However, what we have set out to prove adequately by his testimony is enough for us, namely, how sometimes divine revelation is wont to precede the strivings of our meditation and to excite the sluggish human spirit and sometimes even raise it above itself after it has been cast down beneath itself. chapter 14 The Third Mode of Ecstasy Is Wont to Occur from Great Joy In the third place, it remains to show how from great delight and exultation the human mind is wont to fall into ecstasy and go beyond itself.697 It seems clear to me that this mode of ecstasy is suitably expressed by those words from the Song of Songs that we placed in the third position: Who is this, Scripture says, who ascends from the desert, abounding with delights, leaning upon her beloved?698 If it is right to understand the desert as the human heart, what will this ascent from the desert be if not ecstasy of the human mind (mentis)? It is as though the human spirit (animus) ascends from the desert when it passes beyond itself through disengagement of the mind, when deserting itself below and passing over even to heaven, through contemplation and devotion it immerses itself totally in divine things alone. The cause of this kind of ascent is then added when she who ascends is described as abounding with delights. What is it to abound with delights if not to overflow with a fullness of spiritual joys? What is this profusion of delight if not a heaven-given abundance of real internal sweetness and abundantly infused rejoicing? Deceptive riches can never produce an abundance of these delights or true joy. Otherwise, if they truly did exhibit true riches, indeed an abundance of them, they would not be deceptive. Can those who, according to the saying of Blessed Job,699 reckon delights to be under thorns, truly have delights, much less overflow with them? Certainly even wicked people can have these external and deceptive riches. However, they cannot have true joy at all, otherwise we would surely make a liar700 of him whom we heard truly asserting in the prophet: The Lord says, it does not belong to the wicked to rejoice.701 As often as you lack interior and true delights, even if you abound in exterior riches, you can truly sing with the prophet: For I am needy

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and poor.702 Was not the one who said this a powerful and wealthy king and a prince of the peoples? What will be those riches and what kind of delights will they be able to confer, if amid an abundance of them it will be necessary to be in want and to beg elsewhere for true joy? He said, I am needy and poor; the Lord cares about me.703 There is no place from which you should hope for this abundance of delights and bounty of true joy, there is no place from which you can have it, except from that interior delight of the mind and divinely infused sweetness. Who is this, he says, who ascends from the desert, abounding with delights?704 He does not say, “having delights,” but abounding with delights, because it is not just any experience of these delights, but their abundance that gives birth and perfection to this kind of ascent that occurs from the desert. It is clear, moreover, that however much we advance, in this life at least we still cannot continuously have these delights to this extent. At the times when the soul lacks an abundance of this kind, it cannot arise to the ascent about which we are speaking, for it is necessary for her to abound with delights in her ascending. However, I think it is one thing for someone abounding to ascend and another thing for someone ascending to abound, just as it is one thing for abounding to be a cause of ascending and another for the ascent itself to be a cause of abounding. An abundance of delights is the cause of ascension, when because of that infusion of divine sweetness that she feels deep within, the holy soul cannot, because of the joy and exultation, hold on to herself,705 so much so, that the greatness of her exultation and delight pours her out of herself and carries her above herself. Thus, surely, thus does vehement and boundless joyfulness, when it goes beyond human measure, carry a human being above herself and, once she is raised above the human, suspend her on the heights. We can perceive this kind of thing daily even in animals. In their play, they are wont to leap up and suspend their bodies for a moment in the air. Thus, also, while playing in the water, fish often jump above the water and go beyond the limits of the place they naturally inhabit, while they suspend themselves for a moment in the air. Thus, surely, does the holy soul seem to have advanced beyond the limits of her innate possibility when by a certain internal clapping and dancing she is cut off from herself, when she is urged to go beyond herself in disengagement of the mind, when she is completely suspended in heavenly things, and when she is totally immersed in angelic sights. Hence, this which is spoken through the prophet: The mountains exulted like rams and the hills like lambs of sheep.706 Who does not see that it is beyond

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nature or even contrary to nature for mountains and hills to jump up to higher things, leap up and down upon the earth,707 and hang in the air like rams or frolicking lambs? Is it not as if earth is suspended from earth, when a human being is led beyond humanity, to whom the divine voice says in reproach: You are earth and unto earth you will go?708 No matter how much he grows in greatness of virtue, even if he ascends on high in the likeness of hills, or even more of mountains, he is still earth and can rightly be called earth as long as he inhabits mud houses and has an earthen foundation.709 Hence, the saying of the Wise: Why will earth and ash be proud?710 If we are satisfied by a simple explanation, perhaps it is enough to say that for mountains and hills to exult in the likeness of rams and lambs is for human nature in the highest and holiest men to ascend beyond human nature, and because of an exceeding abundance of joyfulness and exaltation to pass beyond itself in disengagement of the mind. Behold, in my judgment, we have taught with a clear example that ecstasy of the human mind sometimes happens because of great exultation. However, if what we have said about the added likeness of sheep is less satisfactory for someone, and he is curiously insistent about each expression, let him recall the ninety-nine sheep that the supreme Shepherd left on the heights, when he sought on the earth the sheep that had been lost.711 Let whoever can think how great it is and what sort of thing it is for the mountainous regions of this earth of ours to jump on high by the impetus of their joy in the likeness of sheep, and for this nature of ours to form its clapping of exultation in accord with the dancing of the angelic pattern. However, if we understand the rams to be those supreme orders of angels and the lambs to be the lower ones, we still recognize also that the ones of this kind called rams, namely the highest orders of angels, when they go beyond themselves with these wonderful games of their joyfulness and ecstasies of contemplation, when they suspend themselves in those above them, gaze beyond themselves on nothing else than the Substance that is creative of all things, nor do they find anything besides himself712 in which they can look and wonder at his power and wisdom. But when these lesser orders of angels, which seem to be designated by the lambs, are carried beyond themselves, they find in their elevation that those spirits whom they see are preeminent over them by a wonderful prerogative of dignity are still, so to speak, a kind of mirror, in which they succeed in beholding the supreme, wondrous majesty, but still seeing as though through a mirror.

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If, therefore, it is right to understand by mountains contemplative men, and by hills speculative men, see how rightly mountains are said to exult in the likeness of rams and hills in the likeness of lambs. Thus, although contemplation and speculation are generally used interchangeably and in that way often becloud and obscure the proper sense of the Scriptural statement, we more aptly and exactly say “speculation,” when we gaze through a mirror, and “contemplation,” when we see the truth in its purity without any wrapping or curtain of shadows.713 Therefore, hills exult in the likeness of lambs when that boundless dance of interior solemn celebration raises them all the way beyond themselves, so that they can see the hidden things of the heavenly secrets at least through a mirror and in an enigma.714 However, the mountains exult as though according to the pattern of rams, when those who are greater see in pure and simple truth in the ecstasies of their joyfulness what those who are lesser, as was said already, can scarcely see through a mirror and in an enigma. chapter 15 Any Ecstasy of the Mind Exceeds the Mode of Human Effort and Merit However, let no one presume that such a great exultation or elevation of heart is by his own strength or ascribe it to his own merits. Surely, it is clear that it is not from human merit but from divine gift. For this reason, any soul that is described as having ascended from the desert is presented as leaning on her beloved.715 What is it for a soul to be leaning on her beloved, if not to be advanced by his power and not by her own strength? What is it, I say, for her to rest on her beloved, if not in this, to presume not at all on her own strength? It seems to me that one should rightly presume nothing regarding one’s own effort or wisdom (prudentia), especially when one is ascending from the desert, but even in the desert while one is traveling through it. Her beloved surely knows this, and so he leads her in a cloud by day and by a fiery light all night.716 How could she bear the burden of the day and its heat,717 if not by the shade of him whom her soul loves? Again what place is safe for her from the terror of night,718 especially in a place of horror and vast solitude,719 if he does not send out his light and his truth?720 Further, she would have no way which could temper the fire of her concupiscence, if the power of the Most High did not overshadow her.721 Equally, there would be nothing with which to illumine the darkness of her

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ignorance, if she did not see light in his light.722 Hence, she says this to him: Because you light my lamp, Lord, my God, illumine my darkness.723 Therefore, by the gift of her beloved and the kindness of her Spouse, the beloved receives two remedies against the two principal evils: a cloud of refreshment against the concupiscence of the flesh and the light of revelation against ignorance of the mind.724 How often it happens that someone knows the path of truth, but still does not take it, when he is drawn away and seduced by his concupiscence. For the time being he has the day of thinking,725 but not the cloud of cooling grace. How often there are many who surely have zeal, but not according to knowledge.726 For a time, perhaps, these do not experience the fires of concupiscence, but, as it were, draw their breath under the coolness of night. So, indeed, people of this kind seem to have night, but not the fire of illumining grace. Therefore, it is good to hope in the Lord727 and not to presume concerning oneself. How blessed are those for whom he was a covering in the day, stretching out a cloud for their protection into the light of the stars at night,728 and a fire to light up the night for them.729 For it belongs not to the one willing, nor to the one running, but to the merciful God.730 The beloved knows these things and so leans on her beloved, and so it is rightly written of her, Who is this who ascends from the desert, abounding with delights and leaning upon her beloved.731 chapter 16 Especially in the Third Mode of Ecstasy All Depends on Divine Kindness Although certainly this beloved of her Spouse always and everywhere is so in need of the help of her beloved that she can do nothing without him, in no place does she or must she lean upon co-working grace more than in this place, where she ascends from the desert, especially at a time when she is abounding with delights.732 If, therefore, the desert is rightly understood to be the human heart, what will it be to ascend from the desert if not to go beyond herself? However, what can a human being do where the ascent is above humanity, where a human being goes beyond the limits of human possibility? At no time does the holy soul lean more heavily on her beloved than when she seems to abound with spiritual delights. Let us think of a certain delicate, tender girl, brought up in a great abundance of delights, but now besotted with a great deal of wine, that

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is, having been led into the wine cellar,733 she has drunk a torrent of pleasure. Because of her extremely tender age, she is scarcely able to proceed, and because of her great drunkenness she is totally unable to discern the way she should follow.734 In this figure is there not presented for your consideration this girl who is described as abounding with delights and leaning upon her beloved? What wonder, surely, if an abundance of delights renders her delicate? Do you want to hear how delicate it was wont to make someone? Almost beyond what can be believed, so much so, finally, that no external delight can have any savor for her, nor any glory of this world offer any consolation, so she truly dares to profess and declare: My soul refused to be consoled.735 She really feels and declares for certain that all flesh is grass, and all its glory like a flowering of grass.736 Finally, the soul grows weary of its life, whenever it is not given her to have at will her customary delights. Life itself is weariness for her; indeed it turns hateful, as often as these joys of internal solemn celebration are withdrawn for a while. Consider, therefore what it is like for one accustomed to delights of this kind to have in her own power nothing of the things that delight and without which she cannot receive any consolation, things that she can acquire by no effort or skillfulness (prudentia) of her own. Whatever contributes to her consolation and her joyfulness depends on another’s decision and another’s kindness. Rightly, therefore, she leans on the strength of that one from whose generosity she rightly expects all that she hopes, desires, and loves. O how many times when she is in this state she is addressed, and according to the warning of the prophet, directed to the Word of the Lord: Command, and command again; command and command again; wait and wait again, wait and wait again; a little there, only a little there.737 She is forced to wait and wait again, while her desire is frequently deferred for a very long time, when she cannot have her delights at will nor restrain her mind from such desires. From these things, as I see it, it is clear how whatever is done and felt in this ecstasy of the mind is beyond a human being and exceeds the human mode. chapter 17 How Those Who Have Advanced to the Third Degree of this Grace Can Be Helped in It738 Nevertheless, when one who has advanced to this grace feels that it is now being withdrawn from him more than is usual, there is some-

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thing he should do that can help him in every way to recover it and that can make his mind, insofar as it is in him, more suitable for the endeavor. Therefore, the human spirit that is like this should by meditations in its heart restore exultation in itself. It should call back before the eyes of its memory the valuable gifts of divine kindness that have been granted it. From recollections of this kind it should rouse itself to deep and devout thanksgiving, and finally, from deep feeling open that internal organ of spiritual harmony in divine praises. When, therefore, through efforts of this sort the deep feeling of the heart is released with full devotion in the grandeur of divine praise, what is it if not that, so to speak, a vent is opened through which an overflow of heavenly sweetness and an abundance of delight is poured into the little vessel of the heart. Thus it was that Elisha, the prophet, having sought the word of the Lord,739 when he sensed that at that time he did not have the spirit of prophecy, had a psaltery player brought to him. Once the minstrel was present and playing, he immediately drank in the spirit of prophecy and right away opened his mouth unto words of prophecy.740 Perhaps someone will inquire regarding the historical sense why the prophet of the Lord asked for a musician, unless that he received the spirit of prophecy while he was playing. We know by common knowledge that sweet harmony usually brings joy to the heart and recalls a person’s joys to his memory. Doubtless, just as love deeply affects a person’s mind, thus hearing music deeply touches one’s feeling, and the deeper one’s feelings are touched, the more effectively one’s desires are renewed. So what else is to be thought about this prophet if not that the outer harmony took his memory back to that internal and spiritual harmony, and the melody he heard recalled and raised his mind to its familiar joys? Why, then, do we not feel about spiritual and true pleasure what we know by daily experience about bodily and vain pleasure? Who does not know how just the memory of carnal pleasure rushes the carnal mind into pleasure? Why may spiritual delight not have the same, or even greater effect in superior men? For the holy prophet what was the melody that he heard if not a kind of ladder which raised him to his accustomed joys, so that what is wont to be the cause of downfall for carnal people was for him the occasion of ascending? Let whoever can think how deeply, how intimately, at the sound of the musician the memory of that supercelestial sweetness often touched him741 and snatched him above himself, and restored the prophetic spirit and feeling in the prophet’s mind.

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chapter 18 What Especially Can Usually Renew This Grace You, O soul, whoever you are, accustomed to abound in spiritual delights of this kind, and to ascend from the desert leaning on your beloved and to be raised up to certain contemplative ecstasies by a sudden and unexpected, even inconceivable dance of joys, and to be exalted divinely by certain prophetic understandings and revelations, learn from the prophet’s example what you ought to do, so that under the pressure of necessity, you may, as it were, have at hand how you will be able to return your mind to your accustomed delights.742 Perhaps it will not be useless for you, in the same necessity, to bring in a musician and listen to a singer. In order to conclude briefly what we think about this, what shall we say this musician is but the exultation of the heart into God? The one who said, Rejoice in the Lord, and exult, give glory, you who are just, all those whose hearts are right,743 wanted us to have this sort of musician present. However, what is it to bring in a musician of this kind, but to restore exultation of heart by future-directed meditation and to excite devotion of the heart by recalling divine kindnesses and promises? We surely make this musician sing when with great dancing of heart we jubilantly proclaim divine praise and rising up in thanksgiving resound divine praises from deep within ourselves with great shouting of the heart. When we do these things, what is it but strewing the road by which we receive the Lord as he comes to us and visits us? He says, A sacrifice of praise will honor me, and there is the way by which I will show him the salvation of God.744 Therefore, singing and praising, prepare the way of the Lord, by which he deigns to come to us and be revealed745 by certain wondrous revelations of his mysteries. So, in another place, it says: Sing to God, say a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascends above the west.746 Perhaps you wish to know what it is to ascend above the west. In customary usage the region of the world in which the sun sets (occidit) and daylight fades is called “the west” (occasum). What do we understand more correctly by this setting than the failure of human insight? There, the sun of insight, as it were, sinks down and hides the rays of its knowing, and the light of day in some fashion turns into the obscurity of the earth’s night and withdraws all things from human sight, when the human spirit falls into disengagement, and failing in ordinary perception and rapt outside itself, it has no knowledge of what is happening in or around it.

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However, what is it for the Lord to ascend in the eyes of our consideration if not that he multiplies advances in our knowing by that revelation of his greatness? The more sublime are the things that he reveals to us about the loftiness of his greatness, the more he lifts himself to greater heights in view of our insight. He truly ascends beyond the west when he snatches a person above himself, when he hides from him the memory of all the things he knows by ordinary perception, and through ecstasy of the mind shows him things about the height of his majesty, which he could never in any way comprehend according to the ordinary state of this life and the mode of human capability. Let us strive, then, with great eagerness of the mind to rejoice in the Lord. Let us exert ourselves to sing before him with interior devotion, as is the case for those to whom it is granted to ascend above the west.747 Doing these things we introduce the kind of musician that is needed, and we hear the singer in a way that is useful. At the voice of this kind of musician (psaltis), the spiritual mind is deeply touched and spiritually affected by the spirit rushing inside him, and when his intellectual sense748 is opened to divine inspiration, the prophetic grace is somehow renewed in him. At this kind of psalmody and spiritual harmony, the contemplative soul749 accustomed to spiritual contemplations (theoriis) begins to dance and, because of the greatness of its joy, in some way to throw itself about and to perform spiritual leaps of a kind proper to it, and to suspend itself above the earth and all things earthly, and cross over with complete disengagement to the contemplation of heavenly things. Therefore, as we said, this is what can effect a renewal of the mind; this is what is wont to be most capable of restoring lost grace. chapter 19 By What Degrees Ecstasy of the Human Mind Increases After discussion of the causes by which disengagement of the mind is wont to occur, now the steps by which it ascends should also be added. It ascends sometimes beyond corporeal sense, sometimes beyond imagination, and sometimes even beyond reason. Who would dare to deny the one that is beyond sensation, or the one that is beyond imagination, when apostolic authority clearly attests to one that is beyond reason? He says, I know a man rapt in this way to the third heaven, whether in the body or outside the body, I don’t know, God knows.750 Behold one who was not able to discern all that was completed in his regard751 because he had passed beyond human reason in disengagement of the mind.

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But it is better to leave this matter to be more fully explained by people of better-informed abilities than rashly to presume to say something beyond our strength about so great a subject. It is better for us to be instructed in this by the expertise of those who have advanced to the fullness of this knowledge not so much by another’s teaching as by their own experience. To the summary of our subject that we expounded succinctly in the first book, we have added in the rest of the work a more expansive presentation, where, as we said earlier, we have spoken as a person of leisure to people of leisure.752

NOTES 1

2

3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

See Exod. 25: 10–16. The word mysticus refers to what is hidden and secret, and in Richard’s work has not yet the meaning that we nowadays associate with mysticism, but is used mostly in the context of biblical interpretation, often indicating that some symbolic meaning is hidden in the text. Moraliter: according to the moral sense. In Richard’s exegetical work, this refers not directly to what we call “morals” but to the interpretation of Scripture, also called tropology, which tells the reader “what to do.” It is distinguished from the literal sense and from the allgorical (and sometimes the anagogical sense). Allegory teaches what to believe (anagogy points to heavenly realities). See e.g. Richard’s LE, 1.2.3, Châtillon, 115–16, VTT 3.311–12. Ps. 131:8. Lev. 11: 44; Lev. 19:2; Lev. 20:7; 1 Pet. 1:16. The Vulgate has not, “… sicut et ego …” but: “… quoniam ego sanctus sum.” Richard could have used a different text. Or he has conflated the text from Lev. and 1 Pet. with texts featuring sicut et ego, e.g. John 15:10; 17:14, 16. Cf. Exod. 19:11, 15. Cf. Exod. 29:37; 30:29. Ramathaim: the place of Elkanah and his wives, Peninnah and Hannah, and Hannah’s son Samuel, cf. 1 Sam. 1. Jean Grosfillier, L’œuvre de Richard de Saint-Victor. 1: De contemplatione (Beniamin maior), Sous la règle de saint Augustin, 13 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2013), 131, note 9, refers to Gregory the Great, who explains the ascent of the man from Ramatha as signifying the contemplative ascent. See Gregory the Great, In Librum I Regum, I.61, CCSL 144.87. Rev. 3:7. Cf. Wisd. 7:30. I have kept to Wisdom as personification, and translate pronouns referring to it as “she” and “her.” Wisd. 9:19. Cf. Wisd. 9:6, 19. “Mind” here translates mens, elsewhere animus is also translated as “mind.” Luke 11:22. Wisd. 8:1. See Luke 10:38–42. In the traditional exegesis of this passage Martha represents the active life, Mary the contemplative life (just as Leah and Rachel, see below, note 21). See Giles Constable, “The Interpretation Of Mary and Martha,” in Three Studies in Medieval Religious and Social Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Pres, 1995), 1–141. Cf. Ps. 45:11; 33:9. For vacare (“be free”), see the studies by Jean Leclercq, Études sur le vocabulaire monastique, Studia Anselmiana 48 (Rome: Orbis Catholicus, 1961); Otia monastica: Études sur le vocabulaire de la contemplation au Moyen Âge, Studia Anselmiana 51 (Rome: Herder, 1963). Cf. Luke 10:41. sollicitudinem gerente is perhaps also a resonance of the RB, chapter 21, where deans are chosen who should take care (qui sollicitudinem gerant) of their deaneries. Luke 10:39. The phrase gratia contemplationis refers to a particular kind of grace that induces a mental vision of God, the future, or heavenly realities through dreams, prophecies, and visions. Cf. Erud., 1.2, PL, 196.1233C-D. Num. 10:33; Deut. 10:8; 31:9; 31:25–26. For the translation of intelligentia as “insight” see Book V, n. 19. figuratur: in Richard’s exegesis the biblical persons, events, and objects, contain, as figurae, the mysteries of faith such as, here, the grace of contemplation. Cf. Gen. 29:15–30. In the traditional exegesis of the story about Jacob and his labors to marry Leah and Rachel, Leah and Rachel were interpreted as representing the active

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32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

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R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  and contemplative life. See LE, II.2.12, Châtillon, 241, ll. 38–39. See also above, note 18. Throughout Richard’s Benjamin Minor they also represent affect and reason. Ps. 23:8. See Jerome: Iacob supplantator interpretatur, Heb. nom., 61.27, CCSL 72.136. Cf. Isa. 66:23. Ps. 45:11. Cf. Ps. 24:8. Ps. 72:1. Cf. Lam. 1:7. Cf. Jerome, Heb. nom., 8.6, CCSL 72.68: Laban albus, candidus. I take Laban here to be a type of Christ. Grosfillier, De contemplatione, 134, n. 32 sees Laban as representing God the Father, Jacob as representing Christ. In Richard’s LE, II.2.12, Châtillon, 241.18, Richard explains Laban as designating “God, who is the highest purity” (Laban, qui interpretatur dealbatio, Deum significat, qui summa munditia est, cui spiritus justi, dum carnales illecebras fugit, appropinquare et inherere concupiscit). In the same chapter in the LE, 240.10, Jacob signifies spirit (while Esau signifies the body). Richard often shifts figurative meanings of biblical personae (e.g. in the LE, II.2.15, Châtillon, 243.3–5, Jacob signifies God the Father, Joseph signifies Christ). Given what Richard says about a true Jacob as laboring to serve until he arrives at the goal of his desire seems to fit better with Jacob referring indeed to a reader/hearer aspiring to contemplation. I therefore take decandidatum as referring to Laban, signifying Christ, “whom the Father has glorified.” Cf. John 17:24. Luke 24:26. Cf. Phil. 2:7. Cf. Ps. 50:9. Hebr. 2:7, 9; cf. Ps. 8:6. Ps. 44:3. 1 Pet. 1:12. figurata locutione: see above, n. 22. For the distinction between thought, meditation, and contemplation see also Book V, n. 100. Proprietas, sometimes proprium, can be translated as “the nature proper to (contemplation),” “proper nature” or “property” “characteristic property,” or just “characteristic.” As well as determinare and diffinire (determine and define), they are part of the contemporary logical-philosophical vocabulary, based on the work of Boethius, whose translations of and commentaries on Aristotle and Porphyry were commented upon in the twelfth century by Abelard, among others. See e.g. John Marenbon, Medieval Philosophy. An Historical and Philosophical Introduction, London and New York: Routledge, 2007), 20–22; 35–38. Richard refers to Hugh of Saint Victor’s definition in In Eccl., 1, PL 175.117A. See also Chapter V, n. 100. Richard here uses here many words implying a form of seeing. I have included them in the text. See chapter 5, n. 3, on the importance of “form” in the work of Hugh and Richard. Mark 9:4. consideratio: Most times I have translated it as “reflection,” considerare as “reflect.” major and minor, scientia contrariorum, causa, effectus, modus oppositorum, antecedens, consequens are all part of the logical-philosophical vocabulary of the time. See above, n. 34. Ezek. 1:14. Wisd. 3:7. Ps. 106:26. Isa. 49:18; 60:4. Hab. 3:11. “Determine,” “define,” “divide,” “species,” “genera,” see above n. 34.

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61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87



423

This seems an allusion to the Hugonian triad of divine power or omnipotence, wisdom, and love, especially in his Tribus diebus. See Dominique Poirel, Livre de la nature et débat trinitaire au xiie siècle: Le De tribus diebus de Hugues de Saint-Victor, BV 14 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2002). There seems to be a resonance here of a conflation of 1 Cor. 13:12 (Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate) and 2 Cor. 5:7 (per fidem enim ambulamus et non per speciem). On sensibilia, intelligibilia, intellectibilia see the Introduction. The “invisible things” here could perhaps relate to “the mode, and the effect, the utility and reason of every thing” mentioned in Book II, chapter 7. See also Grosfillier, 140, n. 91. Colligere. See in this context of “bringing together” Dale M. Coulter, Per visibilia ad invisibilia. Theological Method in Richard of St Victor (d. 1173), BV 19 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006), 149–61. The wings of contemplation, apart perhaps from reminding the reader of the comparison with the movements of birds described in chapter 5, also resonate with the text from Isa. 6:2, about the seraphim with six wings. These wings were often interpreted as representing contemplation. Ps. 54:7. Col. 3:5. Richard uses remigium, lit. “rowing” for the “flapping” of the wings, which then apparently brings with it the association of harbor as the place of tranquillity evoked in chapter 5, when birds sometimes remain almost still in one place, “their wings quivering and often beating.” Ps. 138:9. Phil. 1:23. Ezek. 1:6. 1 Cor. 15:41. Eccles. 9:12. Phil. 3:20. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:2. Isa. 6:2. intellectui, translated as “understanding.” Manuductio: Grover Zinn’s translation as “guiding hand” seems the most elegant and to the point. Otiosi: see Book V, chapter 19, n. 176. On otium and otiosus see also the studies by Jean Leclercq mentioned above in note 16. In Latin “setim”. In the Septuagint it is called “incorruptible wood,” e.g. in Exod. 25:10: ἐκ ξύλων ἀσήπτων. Eccles. 1:2. Ps. 8:2. Ps. 112:3. Ps. 144:17. Materia can mean subject matter as well as material. Cf. Eccles. 7:30. Eccles. 3:11. Rom. 1:21. Ps. 63:7. Eccles. 3:11. The Latin has alta sapientes, cf. Rom. 12:16. Cf. Isa. 19:11, 13: principes Thanaos. 1 Cor. 1:20. 1 Cor. 1:23. Cf. Rom. 9:21.

424 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119

120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Ps. 75:6. Ps. 48:11–12. I have translated ingenium as “natural intelligence.” What resonates here is Hugh of Saint-Victor’s similitude of the three eyes, the corporeal eye, the eye of reason, and the eye of contemplation, see Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., 1.10.2, PL 176.329C–330A. Opera artificialia I have translated as “works of human skill” or “artificial works.” Ps. 142:5. Ps. 91:5. Ps. 103:24. Cf. Ps. 23:3; Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2. Ezek. 40:22, 26. Wisd. 7:15. Wisd. 7:17–20. Wisd. 7:21. Cf. 1 Pet. 3:15. Cf. Ps. 103:25. Ps. 35:7. Ps. 106:24. Ps. 106:23–24. 1 Chron. 16:20; Ps. 104:13. Cf. Matt. 4:19; Mark 1:17. Cf. Luke 5:4. Cf. John 21:6. Ps. 107:23. Ps. 107:24. Job 28:18. Ps. 103:24. Ps. 107:24. Job 28:18. Ps. 103:24. Wisd. 8:1. Ps. 103:24. fieri: to happen. It can also mean the passive of facere, to do, but, given the contingere (to happen, take place) in the next phrase, “happen” seems right here. Richard here jumps forward from things made to things happening with God’s will or permission. He will discuss this elaborately in chapters 19–27. Already facere in the last paragraph in the text from Ps. 103:24, seems to slip from “make” to “do”: all things are done in wisdom. Job 28:18. See the reference in Grosfillier, De contemplatione, 174, to Vergil, Georgics 2, v. 479. Eccles. 9:2. Ps. 10:5. Cf. Matt. 5:45. See Exod. 3:22; 12:26. The spolia Aegyptiorum became a symbol for the wisdom and knowledge of the Gentiles which Christians could use. See e.g. Augustine, Doc. Chr., II.40.60, CCSL 32.73. Ps. 103:24. Prov. 3:19. Prov. 3:20. Ps. 24:10. Ps. 144:17. Ps. 144:9.

NOTES 132 133 134 135 136

137

138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170



425

Isa. 7:9, according to the Latin translation of the Septuagint or an older version than the Vulgate, i.e. the Vetus Latina. Job 5:6. Ps. 18:10. Rom. 1:20. Cf. the Pseudo-Dionysian distinction between baser and more elevated likenesses, as followed by Hugh of Saint Victor in his In hier. cael., 2, PL 175.949A, among others. However, Richard does not draw the conclusion here that the baser ones are somehow more effective, as they don’t lead to confusion about their nature as only a likeness, cf. In hier. cael., 3, PL 175.974D–975A; 978BC. Cf. e.g. 1 Cor. 2:14–15, where animalis and spiritualis are contrasted. Perhaps one could translate: corporeal. In slightly different doctrines of spiritual progression going back to Origen, one goes from animalis to spiritualis to rationalis. This doctrine can be found in e.g. William of Saint-Thierry, Epistola Domni Willelmi ad Fratres de Monte Dei, 267, ed. Jean Déchanet, Guillaume de Saint-Thierry. Lettre au frères du Mont-Dieu, SC 223 (­Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1985), 41.176; Expositio super Canticum Canticorum, 13, ed. Jean Déchanet, Guillaume de Saint-Thierry. Exposé sur le Cantique des Cantiques, SC 82 (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1962), 84–86. See the note there by Déchanet, on the Origenian source, 30–31. Rom. 12:2. Col. 3:2. Ps. 93:10. John 1:9. “She” is referring back to “Wisdom of God.” Deut. 32:11. Ps. 106:10, cf. Matt. 4:16. Ps. 67:7. Ps. 106:16; Isa.45:2. Phil. 3:20. Cf. Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1. The five steps pertaining to the length and width of the ark: matter, form, and nature; the works of nature and human activity. See chapters 4 and 5. Song of Songs 5:15. Song of Songs 5:10. Ezek. 1:16. Rev. 14:2. Ecclus. 24:20. Ecclus. 24:27. Ps. 132:2. Isa. 55:10–11. Eph. 2:20. Gal. 4:3, 9. Cf. John 10:9. Rom. 1:20. Manuductio, see Book I, 11, 423, n70. Ps. 54:14. Ps. 54:14. Ps. 40:10. Ps. 40:10. Ps. 54:15. Ps. 41:4. Ps. 126:2. Ps. 54:15.

426 171 172 173 174

175 176 177 178

179

180 181 182 183

184 185

186 187 188 189 190

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Ps. 54:14–15. Ps. 54:16. See Exod. 25:13–14. On the distinction between iusta and iniusta on the one hand and commoda and incommoda on the other, see Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., I.7.11, PL 176.291B–292B. The distinction was already made by Anselm of Canterbury, e.g. in De casu diaboli, 4 and 12, Opera omnia, ed. Franciscus Salesius Schmitt, 6 vols (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 1968, fotomechanical reprint of the first ed., Seckau, Rome, Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1938–1961), I.240–42 and 251–55. pereffluamus, cf. Heb. 2:1. “Drift away” is taken from the NRSV. cooperare: I have translated this as co-performing, or co-working. See also note 6 in Arca Moys. V.1, 441, n585. Omnipotence, Wisdom, and Goodness, again an allusion to the Hugonian triad of divine power or omnipotence, wisdom, and love, see Book I.6, 423, n5. quid quo animo gerant. quo animo is often used in contemporary discussions of intention. See e.g. Abelard, Scito te ipsum, 17.3, CCCM 190.18.471–72: “Non enim, quae fiunt, set quo animo fiant, pensanda sunt, nec in opere, set in intencione meritum operantis uel laus consistit”; God attends to this aspect of quo animo: ibid., 25.3, CCCM 190.26.685–86. Abelard quotes Augustine, De sermone Domini, 2.13.46, CCSL 35.137.1004–5. huius perplexionis involucrum. In medieval literature one often finds involucrum in connection with hidden truths. See Peter Dronke, Fabula: Explorations into the Uses of Myth in Medieval Platonism, Mittellateinische Studien und Texte, 9 (Leiden: Brill, 1974), 56–57, note 2; and Frank Bezner, Vela Veritatis: Hermeneutik, Wissen und Sprache in der Intellectual History des 12. Jahrhunderts, Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters, 85 (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005). See on the vocabulary of love the Introduction by Hugh Feiss in VTT 2, On Love. Although often used interchangeably, as is clear in this passage, if Richard distinguishes the different words, the distinctions sometimes made by Hugh (see Feiss, 63–62) apply to Richard as well. 2 Tim. 4:8. Eccle. 9:2. Cf. Arca Moys., I.9. I have kept to the translation of fantasma and, in the next sentence, fantasia as “phantasm” and “fantasy,” although the words can mean more generally an image, either of something really seen, or made up by imagination. For Augustine, fantasia refers to the first, e.g. an image of one’s father whom one has seen, fantasma to the second, e.g. an image of one’s grandfather whom one has not seen. Augustine, De musica, VI.32, CSEL 102.216. Although our “fantasm” and “fantasy” have a different meaning, that meaning corresponds with the clearly rather negative view of imagination which Richard exposes here. Matt. 20:14. Cf. Exod. 25:4–5; 35:6, 23, 26. In traditional monastic thought goats’ hairs or rams’ skins, or the curtains made out of them to protect the inner part of the tabernacle, are also contrasted with the fine fabric used inside as the vita activa is contrasted with the vita contemplativa, the active and contemplative life, or any preceding stages and the actual contemplative mode. See e.g. Gregory the Great, Mor., XXV.39, CCSL 143B.1263. Cf. Ps. 75:6 (although there used in a negative sense). Cf. 2 Chron. 2:7. Col. 3:1–2. In XII patr. (e.g. 5, Châtillon, 100–104) Richard employs the imagery of reason and its maid-servant as expressed by Rachel and her servant, Bala. Grosfillier’s edition has minus miratur (at wich it marvels less) instead of in imis miratur, as read by Aris, 57, Grosfillier, 274, see also 352, n. 18. The contrast with summis at the end of the sentence (Richard often uses such contrasts), repeated at the end of the chapter, could nevertheless indicate that in imis is correct.

NOTES 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237



427

Cf. Ps. 63:7. differentiam, propriam et specialem: Richard uses the same philosophical vocabulary as in Arca Moys., I.3.5 Cf. 1 Cor. 8:1. Cf. Rom. 12:16. Cf. 1 Cor. 3:19. Cf. 1 Cor. 1:31. Rom. 11:20. Sapere, from which sapientia, literally means: to taste, from there to be sensible, wise, to know. The King James Bible has in Rom. 11:20: “be not high-minded.” 1 Cor. 4:7. 1 Cor. 4:7. 2 Cor. 12:6. Prov. 7:4. Dan. 13:56. 1 Cor. 3:19. Luke 14:30. Cf. Num. 19:15. Fama and conscientia are often contrasted. Richard has written on the relation between fama and conscientia e.g. in Super exit, 3, Châtillon, 58–62: both one’s reputation and one’s conscience should be cleansed. Matt. 5:16. Matt. 23:26. Gen. 20:16. Cf. Ps. 118:37. Gen. 4:12. Matt. 19:12. Cf. Ps. 102:14. Ps. 93:10. Phil. 4:7. I have translated sensum with “sense,” rather than the usual “understanding,” to connect with Quo sensu in the following sentence. 1 Cor. 2:9. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:2–4. raptim also means: “hastily,” “suddenly.” Cf. Exod. 25:2. Cf. 1 Cor. 2:13. See Book II, chapter 13. 1 Cor. 2:15. Luke 17:21. Matt. 13:44. Matt. 19:21. Cf. Matt. 13:44. Job 3:22. Job 28:18. Acts 3:6. Luke 16:3–4. Luke 15:18. 2 Cor. 1:3. Jas. 1:17. Rom. 10:12. Jas. 1:5. Ps. 141:3. Ps. 68:6.

428 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271

272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Ps. 38:6. Ps. 118:73, 125, 169. Ps. 85:2. Ps. 6:3. Ps. 118:99–100. Ps. 63:3. 1 Cor. 4:4. Cf. Gen. 15:6; Ps. 105:31; Rom. 4:22, 23; Gal. 3:6; Jas. 2:23. Acts 9:8. Cf. Acts 9:18. Cf. Lam. 3:1. Cf. Acts 27:3. Luke 17:21. Matt. 13:44. Ps. 118:72. 2 Cor. 4:7. Cf. Job 1:3. 1 Cor. 2:6. Job 27:6. Prov. 4:23. Ps. 76:7. Matt. 13:44. Cf. Matt.17:1; Mark 9:1. Eccles. 1:5–6. Eccles. 1:5. Cf. Eccles. 1:6. Caritas, see Arca Moys., II.24, 426, n180. 1 Cor. 2:10. Jer. 17:9. 1 Cor. 2:15. Ps. 106:24. Cf. Ps. 88:12. imaginale, formed analogous to rationale and intellectuale. See the remarks on fantasia and fantasma, Arca Moys., III.1, 426, n183. Insofar “imagebased” (imaginarium) and “fantastical” suggest the notion of unreal, that would fit in Richard’s Neo-Platonic view, in which the world of the senses is somehow less real than the intelligible world. Cf. Exod. 27:21; 35:12. Ps. 118:18. Cf. Gen. 1:16. Wisd. 18:14. Ps. 138:12. Ps. 135:9. Ps. 138:11. 1 Thess. 5:7. Ps. 8:4. Ps. 118:62. Ps. 57:9. Ps. 5:5. Song of Songs 1:6. Isa. 38:13. John 8:56.

NOTES 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336

 429

Eccles. 11:7. Cf. Ps. 103:19. Ps. 83:11. Eccles. 1:5. Ps. 103:19. Hab. 3:11. Luke 17:21. Matt. 13:44. 1 Cor. 2:10. Rom. 1:20. Power, wisdom and mercy: again an allusion to the Hugonian triad of divine power or omnipotence, wisdom, and love, see Arca Moys., I.6, 423, n52. Richard uses here the Greek word for contemplations: theorias. This is the Augustinian distinction of being, knowing, and willing (esse, nosse, velle), itself a reflection in human beings of the divine Trinity. See e.g. Conf., XIII.11.12, CCSL 27.247. i.e. irrational animals. Ps. 15:7. Ps. 68:6. Job 19:4. Ps. 50:8. Luke 1:46. John 1:9. Gen. 1:26. Cf. 2 Kings 19:21; Isa.37:22; Lam. 2:13. Ps. 72:25. Ps. 43:16. Gal. 5:1. Rom. 13:14. Lam. 1:1. Bar. 3:10–11. Ps. 12:4. Ecclus. 18:30. 1 Cor. 15:19. Matt. 19:27. 1 Cor. 15:29. Ps. 43:22; Rom. 8:36. Cf. 2 Tim. 4:8. Eccles. 3:19. Cf. Isa. 22:13; 1 Cor. 15:32. Job 21:13. Cf. Luke 16:19. Cf. Eccles. 7:3. Eccles. 3:19. Eccles. 2:1. 1 Cor. 15:29. Isa. 22:13. Cf. 1 Cor. 15:32. non cooperetur. See on this co-working Book V, 441, n585. John 15:5. Phil. 2:13. Rom. 9:16. 1 Cor. 12:3. 1 Cor. 12:6.

430 337 338 339 340 341 342 343

344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352

353 354

355 356 357

358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  1 Cor. 12:11. Isa. 1:19. Ps. 80:14–15. Ps. 69:6. Ps. 78:9. Cf. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., I.7.12, PL 176. 292C: … cum justum appetere nihil aliud sit quam justitiam velle … See also the discussion in Anselm of Canterbury, e.g. De veritate, 12, Schmitt, I.191–96, e.g. at 194: iustitia igitur est rectitudo voluntatis propter se servata. Cf. on the need for works to follow good will if possible see Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., II.14.6, PL 176.560D–564A. Although Peter Abelard is famous for his focus on intention, he also emphasises the need for works to follow, see Abelard, Scito te ipsum, I.32, CCCM 190.32. John 3:8. Richard often points to the variation of meaning, cf. above chapter 9; and within a different context (that of the different meanings of words in Scripture) e.g. XII patr., 86, Châtillon, 342. See also Arca Moys., Grosfillier, 368, n. 162. 2 Cor. 1:12. Ps. 33:9. Cf. Rom. 8:18. ubique totus, cf. Augustine, Conf., VI.3.4, CCSL 27.76; Richard uses the same expression and explains the idea in Trin., 2.23, Ribaillier, 130, see the note there for other references by Ribaillier. See also the passages quoted by Grosfillier, 368, note 169. Ps. 47:2. Compare with the passage in Book 4.20, where Richard appeals to this capacity of human imagination to understand something about God’s creative act. Here Richard refers to contemporary philosophical distinctions, of the “Porphyrian tree” (substantiae, genera, species) and the Aristotelian categories (minus relation). See John Marenbon, Medieval Philosophy (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), 20–22 and Book 1, note 34. Qualitates. Affects were seen, according to Aristotelian categories, as qualities of the mind. contrariis affectionibus contrarios affectus superducit. Richard often uses affectus and affectio without much difference, but seems to distinguish here between them. In XII patr., 7, Châtillon, 108–10 Richard says that affectio is the seat from which the different affectus originate. See for this cognitive aspect of emotions, acknowledged in Antiquity, e.g. Martha C. Nussbaum, Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). virtutem deliberationis: virtus is here translated as power, strength. Deliberation is seen here as instrumental in bringing about virtues (but of course is itself also virtuous). See for this definition XII patr., 7, Châtillon, 108. Richard’s definition is very similar to that of Hugh of Saint Victor, see Sacr., I.6.17, PL 176.273BC. See Ineke van ’t Spijker, “Hugh of Saint Victor´s Virtue: Ambivalence and Gratuity,” in Virtue and Ethics in the Twelfth Century, ed. István P. Bejczy and Richard G. Newhauser (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 75–94. Cf. Luke 1:52. Ps. 74:8. Ps. 112:7. Ps. 105:3. Ps. 71:8. Ps. 149:7. Ps. 149:8. Ps. 109:6. Isa. 9:7.

NOTES 367 368 369 370 371 372

373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384

385 386 387 388 389



431

Cf. Song of Songs 6:3, 9. Cf. Exod. 15:4. Ps. 67:18. Cf. Dan. 7:10. “Sevenfold Spirit” is a reference to Isa. 11:2–3, which mentions: spiritus sapientiae et intellectus, spiritus consilii et fortitudinis, spiritus scientiae et pietatis, spiritus timoris. See Hugh of Saint Victor’s little treatise, Septem donis, Baron, 120–33. “Knowledge of truth and love of good”—as expressing man made in the image and likeness of God—are guiding principles in Richard’s as well as in Hugh’s work. See Richard’s LE, I.1.1, Châtillon, 104; in Beniamin minor their pursuit is represented by Rachel and Leah, see e.g. XII patr., 1–4, Châtillon, 90–100. See also Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., Prologue 3, PL 176.184C and 6, PL 176.185D; Arca Moys., III.24; V.15. 1 Cor. 12:11. 1 John 2:27. Rom. 5:5. Rom. 14:17. Gal. 5:22. 1 Cor. 12:11. 1 Cor. 12:4. 1 Cor. 12:8–10. Rom. 9:29. Cf. Rev. 1:18; 4:9,10; 5:14; 15:7. 1 Cor. 12:6. Exod. 25:18–20. As he indicates, Richard will refer to this text throughout Book IV, which is an extended allegorical exposition of it. The NABRE translates the Hebrew not as “mercy seat” or “propitiatory,” but as “cover.” For an outline of Arca Moys., IV.1–23 keyed to Exod. 25:18–20, 22, see Steven Chase, Angelic Wisdom: The Cherubim and the Grace of Contemplation in Richard of St Victor (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995), 75–91. Chase’s book is an extended study of and meditation on Book IV of Arca Moys. The translation and notes for Books IV and V were completed before the appearance of Jean Grosfillier’s excellent edition. Since publication of VTT 5 was delayed, it has been possible to amend them in the light of Grosfillier’s work. See the forthcoming review of his book by Ineke van ’t Spijker to appear in Francia-Recensio. Exod. 25:18. For the role of angels in medieval spirituality, see Steven Chase, Angelic Spirituality: Medieval Perspectives on the Ways of Angels, CWS (New York: Paulist, 2002). Jerome, Hebr. nom., 35.7, CCSL  72. 103; 4.11, CCSL  72.63; 12.20, CCSL  72.74; 17.15–16, CCSL 72.80; Garnerus of Saint Victor, Gregorianum, 1.2, PL 193.26AB; Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 72–73, 77–78. Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., 6.7, PL 175.1035A. intelligentiam: Richard uses this term for the highest activity of the human mind (mens, animus), an activity that goes beyond the scope of reason (ratio). Richard says that ratioarises from imaginatio, meditatio from ratio, and contemplatio from intelligentia Intelligentia apprehends the objects of imaginatio and ratio and other objects that they cannot comprehend. Although contemplatio is said to be specially and properly concerned with sublime objects, lesser things fall under its gaze (Arca Moys., I.3). Referring to the fourth degree of contemplation, which is formed in ratione and secundum rationem, Richard says that in this stage one begins with the invisible elements of our own existence that we know by experience and grasp by intelligentia (Arca Moys., I.6). Pura intelligentia occurs without the aid of imagination, while simplex intelligentia occurs without the aid of reason. Cf. Arca Moys., I.9; V.2 n. 19; XII patr., 18, Châtillon, 136, tr. Zinn, 69–70. See Hideki Nakamura, S.J., “Amor invisibilium”: Die Liebe im Denken Richards von Sankt Viktor († 1173), CV

432

390

391

392

393 394 395 396 397

398 399 400 401 402 403

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Instrumenta 5 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2011), 215–21, 231, 234, 265. Thanks to Ineke van ’t Spijker for clarifying the role of intelligentia for me. See also Grosfillier, Œuvre, Excursus “Intelligentia,” 594–96. Richard distinguishes prima speculatio, in which imagination is governed by reason, where from images of something visible the mind imagines another physical thing, and secunda speculatio, in which imagination is governed by intelligentia, where from images of something visible the mind proceeds to knowledge of something invisible. Richard uses “speculatio” in a wider sense in Arca Moys., IV. On this see Dale Coulter, “Contemplation as ‘Speculation’: A Comparison of Boethius, Hugh of St Victor, and Richard of St Victor,” in From Knowledge to Beatitude: St Victor, Twelfth-Century Scholars, and Beyond. Essays in Honor of Grover A. Zinn, Jr., ed. E. Ann Matter and Lesley Smith (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013), 217–24; Grosfillier, 588–90 (speculare and related nouns). experimento: experimentum means proof, test, trial, experiment, and in post-classical Latin, experience. The word occurs several times in the early chapters of Book IV and is here consistently translated as “experience,” since “experiment” has too many connotations suggesting modern scientific methods. On this term see Mark J. Barker, “Experience and Experimentation: The Meaning of Experimentum in Aquinas,” The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review, 76, no. 1 (2012): 37–71. For the different ways of coming to know the truth, see Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 1.1, Ribaillier, 86–87, VTT 1.213. excudere: to strike, hammer out, forge, hatch out (eggs), make, compose. On this term in Book IV, see Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 116–19. Chase prefers the sense of “hatching”: the reader of Book IV is to forge or hatch the Cherubim in his mind or soul so that God may speak his revealing word between them. suspendere: to hang (up), suspend, prop up, make uncertain. The past participle (suspensus) means raised, hovering, doubtful. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 44–45, 187 n. 83, prefers the translation “hovering,” which he thinks suggest the paradoxical coincidence of opposites (e.g. stillness and motion) that is the nature of the fifth and sixth forms of contemplation. See Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 3:17–18, 22, Ribaillier, 152–53, 156, VTT 1.261‒62, 264–65, and for similar passages in St Augustine, Plato, Plotinus and Proclus, see Grosfillier, 489 n. 170. Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 1.1, Ribaillier, 87, VTT 1.213. Jas. 1:17. Richard returns to the paradoxes in human knowledge of the divine being in Arca Moys., IV.17–21. Cf. Augustine, Trin., 6.10.12, CCSL 50.242–43, Hill, 213–14. supereminentia: This word and supercaelestium (“of things beyond the heavenly”) later in this paragraph are redolent of Pseudo-Dionysius. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 28–58, explores the influence of Pseudo-Dionysius on Richard’s thinking about symbolism, the interweaving of cataphatic (positive) and apophatic (negative) theology, and mystical knowledge. See also the first paragraph of Arca Moys., IV.7, where the following terms occur: super­ excellentiae, supercaelestium, and theoricos excessus. novissimis: Grosfillier, 473 n. 24, takes this to mean those things we come to first in our contemplation, those closest to us. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 44; Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., 4.3, PL 175.998C. See Anselm, Proslogion, 2, Schmitt, I.101–2, tr. M. J. Charlesworth, in Anselm of Canterbury, The Major Works, ed. Brian Davies and G. R. Evans (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 87–88; Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 1.18, 21, Ribaillier, 101–4, VTT 1.224–26. John 17:3. Num. 10:2. See Richard of Saint Victor, Quat. grad., 42, Dumeige, 170, VTT 2.293. compunctione: compunctio, from the verb compingere, to prick, sting, goad. Compunction (of heart) was important in Richard’s understanding of the Christian journey, the first step of which (a step to which one returned regularly) was compunction, a sense of sinfulness, a recognition of God’s bountiful grace, and longing for heaven. See Richard

NOTES

404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412

413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431



433

of Saint Victor, LE, 2.10.15, Châtillon, 405 = Serm. cent., 15, PL 177.929BC; Super exiit, 4, Châtillon, 86.8–88.6; Adnot. Psalm. in Ps 28, PL 196.303–304B; LE, 2.10.16, Châtillon, 406–7 = Serm. cent., 16, PL 177.931A. Gregory the Great was an important source for the theology of compunction: Mor., 23.21.41–42, PL 76.276A, 277A; Mor., 24.6.10, PL 76.291D– 292A; Hom. Ev., 1.17.10, PL 76.1143C; Hom. Ez., 2.10.20–21, CCSL 142.395–96; Olegario Porcel, La doctrina monástica de San Gregorio Magno y la Regula Monachorum, Catholic University of America Studies in Sacred Theology, Second Series, 60 (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1951), 137–38; Bernard McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism: Gregory the Great through the Twelfth Century, The Presence of God, The History of Mysticism 2 (New York: Crossroad, 1994), 48–50. See also, Anonymous of Saint Victor, Sermo, 1.4, Châtillon, 243.88–92. Matt. 5:8. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, chapter 6, “Angelization,” 114–28. habitus: clothing; demeanor; deep disposition. Here “put on” (induere) determines the translation of habitus. See Grosfillier, 391, 475 n. 31. mentis excessus: a quasi-technical term in Arca Moysis for ecstasy, which here may mean simply “mental excess.” Zinn, 266, translates “deviation of the mind.” Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., 6.7, PL 175.1035A. 1 Cor. 13:12. Exod. 25:40. Grosfillier, 475 n. 36, chooses the reading de eiusmodi operatione precipere debeat, which he translates as “what he must prescribe on his subject.” Aris and PL have percipere, which yields the translation “what he needed to know regarding such a work.” Ps. 63:7. In the edition of R. Weber, Biblia sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), the text reads accedet homo et cor altum. Weber gives ad as a variant for et, and S. Edgar and A. Kinney, The Vulgate Bible, vol. III: The Poetical Books, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 8 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011) adopt ad. The DR translates, “man shall come to a deep heart.” For further citations of this verse, see Arca Moys., III.2, IV.21; IV.22. Rom. 8:26; see Grosfillier, 475 n. 39, who situates this reference in the context of Rom. 8:14–27. 2 Cor. 3:18. Grosfillier, 476 nn. 42–43, who refers to Richard of Saint Victor, Nonn. alleg., PL 196.198C. See Grosfillier, 395, “sous le voile de cette figuration,” and 476 n. 44. Exod. 25:19. Gen. 1:27. Exod. 28:12–13. Ps. 85:8. Isa. 40:17. Isa. 40:17. Ps. 82:2. Ps. 4:7. existimus: Grosfillier, 476 n. 49, refers to Richard’s use of this term in Trin., 4.12, Ribaillier, 174–75, VTT 1.277–78. Ps. 38:6. Ps. 38:7. Eccles. 2:2. Exod. 15:11. On the interplay of likeness and unlikeness in the knowledge about God, see Chase, ­Angelic Wisdom, 51–60. Exod. 25:20.

434 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455

456 457 458

459 460 461

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Cassian, Coll., IX.31, SC 54.66, ACW 57.349; Cloud of Unknowing, 43, Hodgson, 45–46; tr. Spearing, 66. Grosfillier, 477 n. 55, suggests “in this Cherubic vision.” 2 Cor. 12:2. See Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 167 n. 79, 241 n. 5; Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 119–27; Grosfillier, 478 n. 63, with reference to Hugh of Saint Victor, Archa Noe, CCCM 176.12 Richard of Saint Victor, LE, 10.27.4, Châtillon, 437, = Serm. cent., 27, PL 177.959C. 1 Cor. 13:12. Gen. 18:1. With this reference Richard introduces a second theme or image, that of Abraham waiting at the door of his tent and Elijah waiting at the entrance to his cave. In chapter 13, Richard will introduce a third motif, that of the bride telling her lover to wait. 1 Kings 19:13. Grosfillier, 407, translates this “crusade.” in ipso exitu: exitus means exit (both the act and the place of egress), going out, departure, death, and result. The same word occurs near the end of the next paragraph, where it is translated as “exit.” 1 Kings 19:4. in idipsum: a phrase that strongly connotes God and can be translated, “in the Selfsame.” See Arca Moys., V.1, 440–41, n583. On this expression see Grosfillier, 598–601. Following Grosfillier, I have inserted the name of Elijah and Abraham for clarity’s sake. 1 Kings 19:9–12. 1 Cor. 3:18. “leads … home”: this clause is omitted in the PL and in Zinn, 275. Gen. 18:5, 9. One could also translate as Zinn does: “from (de) those things which take place round about (circa) us by divine providence, he understands accurately the government of divine order and the grace of its cooperation.” 1 Kings 19:11–12. instruentis: PL has instrumentis, “instruments.” Rom. 12:2. rationum attestatione: On this term and its twelve occurrences in Richard of Saint Victor’s writings, see Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 227. communem intelligentiam: see Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 228. Some of the things seen in contemplation can be remembered and expressed in such a way that they are accessible to the “intelligentia” shared by other humans. The printed version of Richard’s works published at Rouen (1650) and Migne’s PL (Paris, 1855), but not Aris or Grosfillier, read vitulus instead of vero, and so supply “bull-calf ” as the subject. The reference to a calf and feeding the Lord is drawn from Gen. 18:7, where Abraham selected a bull-calf to cook for the three strangers whom he saw from his tent. In the iconographic tradition depicting the hospitality of Abraham, the calf is usually included. Rev. 3:20. 2 Cor. 3:18. sobria mente: “spiritual inebriation,” a term used by Philo to refer to ecstatic rapture (Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century [New York: Crossroad, 1991], 39–40); Plotinus (McGinn, Foundations, 48), Origen (McGinn, Foundations, 128), Ambrose (McGinn, Foundations, 208) and other Christian authors after them. See below, V.5, V.14. ad secundam egressionem: Grosfillier, 413, translates: “à la seconde sortie.” Gen. 18:33. raptim: is a term Gregory the Great used in reference to the fleeting character if contemplation and ecstasy. It is related to “raptus,” “rapt” or “snatched.”

NOTES 462 463

464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484

485 486 487 488 489

490



435

theophania: vision or appearance of God, a term used by Eriugena (see McGinn, Growth, 99–100, 116–18). The term occurs in Hugh of Saint Victor’s In Hier cael. (e.g. PL 175.941CD, 954C) and in his Unione, Piazzoni, 883 and Misc., 1.83, PL 177.518. Exod. 25:20; 37:9. For “walking with the feet of desire” see Pseudo-Richard of Saint Victor, Nahum, 83, PL 96.751A; Anonymous of Saint Victor, Sermo, 8.4, Châtillon, 285, with references to St Augustine; John F. Callahan, Augustine and the Greek Philosophers (Villanova: Villanova University Press, 1967), 47–74. Isa. 28:10,13. In a supplementary note (597–98), Grosfillier writes that he sees in manda remanda an appeal for divine inspiration. He translates it as “avise-moi, avise-moi encore.” In the second clause, modicum ibi, he sees a reference to the repeated modicum of John 16:16. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. In translating “your word” and “his messengers” I follow emendations suggested by Grosfillier, 482 n. 107. Song of Songs 5:2. Grosfillier, 482 n. 110, referring to Pseudo-Richard of Saint Victor, Cant., PL 196.502 and other sources, suggests that here dew stands for divine mercy and the drops of the night divine sadness at the soul’s delay. Song of Songs 5:3. Song of Songs 5:6. Song of Songs, 2:9. Song of Songs 2:10. Isa. 28:10. Song of Songs 2:14. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. Song of Songs 2:14. 1 Tim. 3:7; 1 Cor. 5:12. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. habitus: This could be translated as “the state (or life) of religion.” arrhas: betrothal-gift, earnest money. This term is prominent in Hugh of Saint Victor’s ­Arrha, Sicard, 1:226–300, VTT 2.205–26, with discussion of the term on 192–93; Eulogium, 2, PL 176.987–94 = PL 198.1784–88, VTT 2.125. On this list of exercises in other Victorine texts see VTT 2.308–9 n. 2. vacare: This term for a way of life which emphasizes prayer and contemplation occurred in Arca moys., I.2. Here it occurs midway in the treatise between references to the “otiosi” (people of leisure) near the beginning and end of the treatise: I.12 (Grosfillier, 128) and V.19 (Grosfillier, 572). Ps. 33:9; 45:11. Isa. 28:10. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 248–49, observes how here Richard connects virtue, reading and meditation with contemplation. Heb. 1:1. On these four senses of Scripture see Robert of Melun, Sentences, I.6, VTT 3.454–55 and 49–50; Hugh Feiss, “Learning and the Ascent to God in Richard of St Victor” (STD diss., Rome: Pontificium Athenaeum Anselmianum, 1980), 65–68 (Hugh of Saint Victor), 87–99, which considers many texts; also see Richard of Saint Victor, Serm. cent., 95, PL 177.1196D– 1197B; Adnot. Psalm., 118, PL 196.351D and 134, PL 196.368D–370A; Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 55–80; Franklin T. Harkins, Reading and the Work of Restoration: History and Scripture in the Theology of Hugh of St Victor, Mediaeval Law and Theology 2, Studies and Texts 167 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2009), 137–296. Isa. 28:10.

436 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499

500 501 502 503 504 505

506 507 508 509 510 511

512 513 514 515 516

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. in idipsum: see Arca Moys., V.1, 440–41, n583. Prov. 13:12. Adnot. Psalm., 30 [= Ps. 4.9: see VTT 4.135], PL 196.273C. singularis qui socium non accipit: Here Richard refers to the idea of singular love that is prominent in Hugh of Saint Victor’s Arrha, 20–39, 65, Sicard, 238–56, 276–77; VTT 2.210– 17, 225–26 and also appears elsewhere in Richard of Saint Victor’s writings; for example, Quat. grad., 17, Dumeige, 145, Kraebel, VTT 2.282, with other references at 297 n. 29. Isa. 28:10. Isa. 28:10. thalamum adorantur: On this image see Grosfillier, 484 n. 132. Song of Songs 3:1. Grosfillier interprets lectulus as “bed” and cubiculum as “alcove.” He suggests (484–85 nn. 133–35) that Richard’s lyricism here does not lend itself to sharp distinctions and definitions. Isa. 28:10. per applausum: Grosfillier, 485 n. 137, refers helpfully to XII patr., 87, Châtillon, 346: “in deosculatione Beniamin et Ioseph divinae revelationi humana ratio applaudit.” Zinn (147) translates: “in the affectionate kissing of Benjamin and Joseph human reason gives applause to divine showing.” For similar ideas in Hugh of Saint Victor, see Boyd Taylor Coolman, The Theology of Hugh of St Victor: An Interpretation (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 219. Exod. 25:4; 35:35; 36:8. Song of Songs 1:12. Cf. Bernard, SCC, 43.5, SBO, 2:43–44, tr. Walsh, 3:223–24. 1 Cor. 6:17. Grosfillier, 486 n. 145 observes that the advancing stages of contemplation are expressed in terms of (four of) the five senses. Isa. 28:10. Underpinning Richard of Saint Victor’s tropological interpretation of the wings of the Cherubim is a network of Scriptural images. Isa. 6:2–3 describes two six-winged seraphim (cf. Godfrey of Saint Victor’s portrayal of Charity as a six-winged flying creature in Microcosmus, VTT 2.313); the four animals of Ezekiel’s vision had four wings (Ezek. 1:6, 11; 10:21), which in Rev. 4:8 became six wings (cf. Pseudo-Alan of Lille, On the Six Wings of the Cherubim, PL 210.267A–280C, tr. Chase, Angelic Spirituality, 135–45, with introduction (121–24) explaining that the first part of the treatise is taken from Hugh of Saint Victor’s Archa Noe, and the second part is anonymous. Chase also notes that in spite of the title the treatise is actually about a six-winged seraph). Bonaventure’s Itinerarium, the structure and content of which are much influenced by Richard of Saint Victor’s Arca Moys., uses the six wings of the seraph that St Francis saw on Mount La Verna to lay out the stages of spiritual ascent (see Ewert Cousins, preface to Chase, Angelic Spirituality, xxi–xxiii; Chase, Angelic Spirituality, 28–29, 51–52, 70–71). Isa. 28:10. As Grosfillier, 486–87 nn. 151–52 observes, in the Arca Moys. the term violentia appears only here and in the previous paragraph, although it is a key term in Richard’s Quat. grad, VTT 2.261–300. John 15:15. Song of Songs 5:1. Ps. 35:9. According to Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon, 1955), 1410, this causative use of potare (“to drink”) is a Late Latin usage common in the Vulgate. One could also translate it in a striking metaphor: “you will swallow them in the rushing stream of your pleasure.”

NOTES 517 518 519

520 521 522 523 524 525

526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533

534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541

542

543 544



437

in idipsum: see Arca Moys., V.1, 440–41, n503. Exod. 25:20. The being and attributes of the divine nature are considered in Hugh of Saint Victor, Tribus diebus, 1–20, CCCM 177.3–51, VTT 1.61–85; Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., I.6–II.25, Ribaillier, 86–132, VTT 1.216–46; Achard of Saint Victor, Serm., 13, Châtillon, 134–68, VTT 4.89–118); Unitate, I.1–10, Martineau, 70–79, tr. Feiss, Works, 375–86. principale: that is, the first principle of all things. Exod. 33:19. See Anselm, Mon., 37, Schmitt, 1:55, tr. Harrison, 52). summe unum: this is the textual reading adopted by Grosfillier, 488 n. 166. Ps. 144:3. Jas. 1:17. The first three of these attributes are those appropriated to the Trinity by Abelard, Hugh and Richard of Saint Victor and others after them. On them see, for example, VTT 1.28–35, 55–58; Hugh of Saint Victor, Tribus diebus, passim (CCCM 177, VTT 1); Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., VI.15, Ribaillier, 247–48, VTT 1.335–36 and 379 n. 553, Arca Moys., I.6, 426, n52. Cf. Augustine, Trin., 6.10.11, CCSL 50.241, tr. Hill, 213; Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 2.18, Ribaillier, 125, VTT 1.240; Grosfillier, 489 n. 170. Grosfillier, 489–90 nn. 172–77, documents the antecedents and parallels of the ideas in this paragraph. Quicumque vult. (Denz.-Hün. ET, 39–40 [#75]). Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 4.10, Ribaillier, 172, VTT 1.275–76. Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 6.22–24, Ribaillier, 258–64, VTT 1.345–50. Jas. 1:17. Grosfillier, 443, 492 n. 189, explains that the Father can only be a father if he has a son. On this dictum, see J. Châtillon, “‘Quidquid convenit Filio Dei per naturam convenit filio hominis per gratiam.’ À propos de Jean de Ripa, Determinationes, I. 4, 4,” Miscellanea André Combes, II (Paris: J. Vrin, 1967): 319–31, reprinted in J. Châtillon, D’Isidore de Séville à saint Thomas d’Aquin. Études d’histoire et de théologie (London: Variorum Reprints, 1985). Col. 1:19; 2:9. Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 3.16, Ribaillier, 152, VTT 1.261; Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., 2.1.6, Berndt, 298, tr. Deferrari, 291. Augustine, Trin., 1.4.7, CCSL 50.35, tr. Hill, 69. Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., 2.8.3, Berndt, 401–3, tr. Deferrari, 304–6. impassibilis: pati means to undergo, suffer, endure. Impassibilis then has a somewhat wider meaning than “incapable of suffering,” and can mean something like being incapable of being an object affected by action exerted from the outside. habetur: This could mean held in the hand or kept someplace. Grosfillier opts for the latter (conservé). In this chapter, Richard began with considering what seems contradictory to human reason in the assertions of faith regarding the Trinity, and then considered the person, soul and body of Christ. In this concluding paragraph he reverses the order. Richard here refers to two ancient heretics as examples of those who assign a difference of essence to the three persons (Arius, d. ad 336) or those who conflate the three persons (Sabellius, fl. ad 215). Arius thought that the Son was different and lesser in kind than the Father, whereas Sabellius thought Father and Son were modalities or the same person. ex nihilo: On this idea see Creation and the God of Abraham, ed. D. Burrell, et al. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010). For a summary of recent critiques of this idea see Thomas Jay Oord, Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific and Theological Engagement (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2010), 151–66. Eleventh Council of Toledo (ad 675), 19 (Denz.-Hün. ET, 675 [#526]). Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 6.18, Ribaillier, 253, VTT 1.340.

438 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560

561 562 563 564 565 566 567

568 569 570 571 572 573 574

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 1.7, Ribaillier, 92, VTT 1.217. Augustine, Gn. litt., 8.21.40, CSEL 28.260. PL and Aris have in aequalitatis comparatione diversus. In agreement with Grosfillier (495 n. 218) I have corrected this to inequalitatis comparatione diversus. Augustine, Trin., 9.3.3–4, CCSL 50, 296, tr. Hill, 272–73. Richard of Saint Victor, Trin., 6.15, Ribaillier, 247–48, VTT 1.335–36. Exod. 25:22. Exod. 25:22. Exod. 25:22. Ps. 63:7. See Arca Moys., IV.7; IV.22. Grosfillier translates this less literally as “jusqu’au sommet de son cœur.” Richard is referring to the fourth kind of contemplation, which as IV.20 showed is closely connected with the fifth and sixth. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 80–97, suggests that one think of the soul as hovering in the space above the mercy seat and between the two Cherubim, a space and hovering defined by the coincidence of opposites. Exod. 25:22. See above, n. 4. Exod. 13:14. Rom. 12:2. Exod. 25:22. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 280, maintains that up to IV.21 Richard has been giving instructions about contemplative practice. In IV.22 Richard describes the role of ecstasy in contemplation, and in IV.23 he discusses two ways in which the contemplator is raised to ecstasy. Nakamura believes that this theoretical turn, which will continue throughout Book V, is required because ecstasy is not something one can advance to through effort or practice. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 88–90, sees the guiding thread of Arca Moys., IV.21–23 to be God’s promise to Moses in Exod. 25:22: “Thence I will speak to you” (inde loquor ad te). These last three chapters tell how God may speak to the contemplative: by the eye of understanding (Bezalel), and by revelation in a cloud of forgetting created things and the fire of illumination (Moses). familiare sit et quasi proprium … domesticum et paene velut singulare. typico: see Arca Myst., II.4; V.1. Exod. 2:13,18. Exod. 31:2; 35:30; 37:1. Ps. 63:7. See Arca Moys., V.1; IV.15. Exod. 24:16. This passage about a cloud of forgetting in regard to things other than God and a cloud of unknowing regarding God influenced works such as The Cloud of Unknowing, 4–5, ed.  P.  Hodgson, The  Cloud of Unknowing and Other Treatises, Analecta Cartusiana  3 (Salzburg: Universität Salzburg, Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 1982), 10–14; tr. A. Spearing, The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works (New York: Penguin, 2001), 22–27, although The Cloud speaks of a cloud of unknowing rather than of divine illumination and so is closer to Pseudo-Dionysius than Richard is. Richard’s mystical theology is less apophatic. Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 30–47, may understate this difference. Ps. 4:9. For the expression in idipsum see below, Arca Moys., V.1 n. 7. Ps. 4:9. Exod. 3:14. Exod. 34:21; 35:2,15. Ps. 4:9. Exod. 25:40. ex virtute: virtus means power or virtue. Here the meaning is something like “as a quasipermanent capability.”

NOTES 575 576 577

578



439

Arca Moys., III.2; Hugh of Saint Victor, Vanitate, PL 176.715BC; (Pseudo-)Hugh of Saint Victor, Misc., 5.127, PL 177.809A. Exod. 32:17. Throughout this chapter Richard uses the phrase in gratiam [contemplationis]. The in + the accusative has the connotation of movement into or toward. In Books I–IV of Arca Moys., Richard discussed contemplation in terms of its objects. The modes he will now discuss in Book V are more focused on the subject who experiences contemplation. The modes (in V.2, Grosfillier, 508, they are called degrees or steps [gradus]) overlap but do not coincide with the six steps. Analyzing the interconnection of the six steps and the three modes, Châtillon, “Les trois modes de la contemplation selon Richard de Saint-Victor,” Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique 41 (1940): 23–26, finds that the first four degrees of contemplation correspond rather closely to enlargement of the mind (dilatatio mentis), though ecstasy can occur in any of them. Sometimes and to some degree, the objects of the last two degrees of contemplation can be attained by the soul in its common state, that is, by dilatatio (see Arca Moys., IV.22, Grosfillier, 462–66, tr. Zinn, 302). The third form of raising (sublevatio supra naturam) could not occur in the first four degrees, since their objects are not beyond the attainment of human nature. Nakamura, “Amor visibilium,” 79–80, 280–83, contends that Arca Moys., I–IV.21 provides guidance in contemplative practice, whereas IV.22–V.19 describes ecstatic union that comes about by unmerited grace and so cannot be the object of practical directives. Dominique Poirel and Patrice Sicard, “Figure Vittorine: Riccardo, Acardo e Tommaso,” in La fioritura della dialettica, X–XII secolo, Inos Biffi and Costante Marabelli, eds, Figure del Pensiero Medievale 2 (Milan: Jaca Book, 2008), 475–76, suggest that genus used of contemplation is best translated as “order” and gradus as “degree.” Modus refers to modalities in the exercise of the faculties involved in a specific degree or genus/order, or more especially in different states of consciousness (dilatatio, elevatio, alienatio) in the act of contemplation. In V.1 Richard makes some preliminary distinctions. (1) Grace is essential in all forms of advance into contemplation, but in some of them human effort is also involved. Thus, Moses received his vision of the “ark of the covenant” solely from grace, without any antecedent effort on his part. Bezalel formed the ark by his craftsmanship, and Aaron regularly went behind the curtain to the ark after it was constructed, but both of them could not have done so without the co-working of grace. Richard returns to the question of the interplay of grace and human effort in V.7–8 and V.12–13, V.15–18. (2) Some people have ecstatic contemplative experience, whereas others who may experience contemplation, but not ecstasy (like Bezalel, whose role Richard assumes), guide others toward it. (3) Of those who have ecstatic contemplative experience, some cannot remember what they saw, some can remember but only with great difficulty, others remember easily. (4) Some initially have such experiences rarely, but eventually have them more often. Richard’s treatment of Moses, Aaron and Bezalel is taken up by The Cloud of Unknowing, chapter 73, Hodgson, 71–72, Spearing, 98–99. On the respective roles of grace and human effort in the Arca Moys., Book V, see Châtillon, “Trois modes,” 19–22. Richard’s position on grace and effort in contemplation is summarized neatly in XII patr. 73, Châtillon, 300, tr. Zinn, 131: “The mind never arrives at so great a grace by its own effort. This is a gift, not something a human being merits” (Ad tantam namque gratiam nunquam pertingit mens per propriam industriam. Dei est hoc donum, non hominis meritum). The Middle English digest of Richard of Saint Victor’s XII patr., which has been attributed to the author of the Cloud of Unknowing, expands on this slightly (A Tretyse of the Stodye of Wysdome that Men Clepen Beniamyn, ed. Hodgson, The Cloud, 144): “Nevertheles thit may a man never come to soche a grace by his owne sleight, for whi it is the gift of God withoutyn deseert of man. And thit no man may take soche grace wythoutyn greet study [and] brennyng desires coming before”, tr. James A. Walsh, The Pursuit of Wisdom, 10, in The Pursuit of Wisdom and Other Works by the Author of the Cloud of Unknowing, CWS (New York:

440

579 580 581

582

583

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Paulist Press, 1988), 35: “A man cannot attain to such a grace by his own skill, because it is the gift of God which man can never deserve. Equally, no one is ready to receive such a grace except after deep meditation and ardent desire …”. tipum: the same word occurs in Arca Moys., IV.22. Exod. 35:30, 31–39, e.g. 35:30–33. Some descriptions of the “ark of the covenant” are given in Exod. 25:11–22; 37:1–9. Moses was widely seen as a model or figure of contemplation: Hugh of Saint Victor, Libellus, 4, CCCM 176.147, PL 176.696AB; Achard of Saint Victor, Serm., 14.15, Châtillon 188, tr. Feiss, 280), and 15.36, Châtillon, 241, tr. Feiss, 349. On Bezalel see Exod. 31:1–11; 35:30–36.2; 27:1 ff.; John R. Levison, Filled with the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 58–67. By saying that in this work he is doing the work of Bezalel, Richard is suggesting that at some points he is theorizing beyond his experience but doing so to help others get beyond the curtain where he himself has never gone. On this, see Nakamura, “Amor visibilium,” 286, who argues that Richard aims to guide people to dispose themselves to receive the grace of contemplative ecstasy should God grant it. By contrast to Nakamura, Chase, ­Angelic Wisdom, 137–41, in a brief appendix on Arca Moys., V, claims that this book pertains to Moses, rather than to Aaron or Bezalel, that is, its wisdom is acquired not through another’s instruction, but through one’s own experience. Thus Book V describes Richard’s own experience. Noting the prominence of angels in Book V, Chase concludes that Richard expands the notion of “angelization” to include the Seraphim. They are not mentioned, but their character as love is central. Chase’s interpretation of Arca Moys., V as a description of Richard’s own experience does not mesh with Richard’s own disclaimers (e.g. in Arca Moys., V.1, V.19) about having had such experience. “Form” is a key idea in Victorine thought and in twelfth-century religious writing generally, where it is often connected with the idea that human beings are the “image and likeness of God.” For the broad context, see Robert Javelet, Image et ressemblance au douzième siècle. De saint Anselme à Alain de Lille, 2 vols (Paris: Letouzey, 1967); Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak, “Semiotic Anthropology,” in European Transformations: The Long Twelfth Century, ed. Thomas F. X. Noble and John Van Engen (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2012), 445–50; for “form” in Hugh of St Victor’s writings, see Coolman, The Theology of Hugh of St Victor. in idipsum: Grosfillier, 505, 574 n. 3, takes radium as the antecedent: “vers le rayon lui-même de la contemplation.” St Augustine pondered this expression, in which he saw expressed the inexpressibility of God. He develops his ideas in En. Ps., 121.5, CCSL 40.1805, when explaining “Jerusalem is built as a city, whose participation is in itself ” (DR: “Jerusalem is built as a city, with compact unity”; Vulgate: Ierusalem quae aedificatur ut civitas. Cuius participatio eius in idipsum). Augustine writes: “What is Itself [or as some translators have: “The Selfsame”]? What is always in the same way; what is not now one thing, and then another. So what is Itself, if not What is? What is What is? What is eternal. For what is always one way and then another is not, because it does not remain; it is not wholly not, but it is not supremely. And what is What is, if not him who when he was sending Moses, said to him: ‘I am who I am?’ … You cannot grasp; it is too much to understand, too much to apprehend. Retain the flesh of Christ … That you may be made to participate in Itself [the Selfsame], he first has participated in you. The Word became flesh, so that flesh may participate in the Word” (Quid est idipsum? Quod semper eodem modo est. Nam quod semper aliter atque aliter est, non est, quia non manet; non omnino non est, sed non summe est. Et quid est quod est, nisi ille qui quando mittebat Moysen, dixit illi: Ego sum qui sum? … Non potes capere; multum est intellegere, multum est adprehendere. Retine quod pro te factus est, quem non posses capere. Retine carnem Christi … Ut autem efficiaris tu particeps in idipsum, factus est ipse prior participes tui, Verbum caro factum est, ut caro participet Verbum). See Ps. 4:9: “In peace in itself, I will sleep and rest,” (in pace in id ipsum simul requiescam et dormiam), on which Augustine comments in Conf., 9.4.11, tr. O’Donnell,

NOTES

584 585

586 587 588

589 590 591 592 593 594



441

1:107–8; 2:99–100). O’Donnell gives other references to Augustine’s use of in idipsum; see also James Swetnam, “A Note on ‘in idipsum’ in St Augustine,” Modern Schoolman 30 (1952): 328–31. Although I am persuaded that Richard has this background in mind here, in his Sermo super Psalmum 4.9 (so titled in the forthcoming edition of Christopher Evans, but printed in PL 196.273A–276D as Adnotatio mystica in Psalmum XXX) Richard cites the verse (In pace in idipsum dormiam et requiescam) at the beginning and end of his sermon (PL 196.273A, 276D), but there he does not refer to in idipsum otherwise. This seems to be because his topic there is not the object of contemplation, but the stages of the subjective experience of joy that leads to ecstasy. Jean-Luc Marion, In the Self ’s Place: The Approach of Saint Augustine, tr. Jeffrey L. Kosky (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012), 289–306, discusses Augustine’s use of idipsum. He argues that Augustine’s use of the phrase is quite different from the idea of ipsum esse; Augustine’s emphasis is on immutability and eternity, not being. Marion interprets in idipsum of En. Ps., 121.5, cited above, as primarily apophatic, pointing to the immutability of God. However, Augustine goes on to say that idipsum became flesh in order that we might participate in idipsum. Cf. Grosfillier, 598–601. For further uses of [in] idipsum in Arca Moys., see IV.1, IV.10, IV.15, IV.17, IV.22, V.4, V.17. artem comparamus: comparo can also mean match, or join with, so that the passage can be translated “when we match artfulness with.” Richard here states a fundamental principle of his theology. What he will write should always be interpreted in the light of this principle. I have translated cooperatio as “coworking.” “Cooperation” would be a more obvious translation, but it seems to suggest two agents working side by side, like a team of horses pulling a wagon. “Co-working” is odd, but so is the way in which grace and human effort work together. Cf. XII patr., 77, Châtillon, 315, tr. Zinn, 135. The translation of this sentence follows the text of Grosfillier, 504 and 573n. PL and Aris punctuate differently so that the translation becomes “this same gift of God with the coworking of our own effort.” Exod. 26:33; 40:21; Lev. 16:12–17. Ecce: in Latin a demonstrative adverb. The English word “behold” has a rich penumbra of connotations evident in the idea of holding in one’s vision or heart, sometimes with an obligation to care (“beholden”); on this, see Sarah McNamer, Affective Meditation and the Invention of Medieval Compassion (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 18–19, 134–42. Hence, it may be somewhat misleading to translate Ecce as “Behold.” Perhaps “Notice that …” would be more accurate. Dan. 2:3–11. Gen. 41:1–8. Exod. 19:3, 9, 20; 34:4–5. Richard, like Hugh of St Victor and other predecessors, uses sacramenta to refer to a wide variety of “mysteries” that were made known through physical signs. Here the sacramenta or “mysteries” are the meanings of the things (res) described in the Scriptures. Richard is very diffident in Book Five. He frequently qualifies what he says by videtur [mihi], “it seems [to me],” or solet, “it usually was/is the case that,” and quasi, “as it were.” As explained in the introduction to this work, Richard’s terminology here is difficult to translate. He describes the three modes of contemplation with three parallel Latin expressions: dilatatio mentis, (sub)elevatio mentis, and alienatio mentis. Using the cognate English words, “dilation,” “elevation,” and “alienation” would convey his style, but obscure his meaning. The three terms refer to (1) having one’s awareness stretched or (2) raised to the highest realities, and (3) gazing so intently on the highest realities that one leaves behind awareness of self and the things of the world. V.2–18 are devoted to these three modes of contemplation. Here is an outline of Book V: enlarging the mind: three stages: art, exercise, attention (V.3) raising the mind: three stages: above knowledge, activity, nature (V.4)

442

595

596

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  ecstasy: three causes (V.5–19): devotion (V.6–8)   devotion/desire alone (V.7)   devotion and divine revelation (V.8)   wonder (V.9)   wonder leading to devotion (V.10)   wonder alone (V.11)   meditation and revelation leading to wonder (V.12)   revelation preceding meditation (V.13) Joy (V.14) all ecstasy exceeds human merit (V.15) ecstasy from joy is especially beyond human activity and merit, but it also requires special effort (V.16–18) Steps of growth in ecstasy (V.19). For a very clear exposition of these three modes see Châtillon, “Trois modes,” 3–26; see also Grover Zinn, “Personification Allegory and Visions of Light in Richard of St Victor’s Teaching on Contemplation,” University of Toronto Quarterly 46 (1976–1977): 202–8; Aris, Contemplatio, 120–30; Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 293–327. Intelligentia is here consistently translated here as “insight.” In his writings, Richard gives various lists of the activities of the conscious self (anima, animus, mens). It is not always easy to tell whether he is writing about different levels of activity or different contents or both, an ambiguity that “insight” retains. For example, in Tract. PL 196.276D, Richard writes that in the sleep of ecstasy “all the senses of the mind are overpowered, for at one and the same time it absorbs thinking, imagining, reasoning, memory, and insight” (exuperantur omnes sensus mentis; simul enim absorbet cogitationem, imaginationem, rationem, memoriam, intelligentiam). One could also translate as “it absorbs thinking, the imagination, the reason, the memory, and the power of insight”). Earlier (Arca Moys., III.9, Grosfillier, 298–300, tr. Zinn, 234, PL 196.118D–119A) Richard explains that insight is like sensation, in so far as it is intuitive; reason, on the other hand, acquires knowledge through inquiry and inference. “The eye of insight is that sense by which we see invisible things, whereas with the eye of reason we seek and find hidden, absent things by inquiry that often proceeds from effect to cause or cause to effect; that is, we come to comprehend various objects by different sorts of reasoning. But just as with bodily sensation we see corporeal things as visible, present and bodily, so that intellectual sense grasps invisible things invisibly, but as present and in their essence” (Intelligentiae siquidem oculus est sensus ille, quo invisibilia videmus, non sicut oculo rationis, quo occulta et absentia per investigationem quaerimus et invenimus, sicut saepe causas per effectus, vel effectus per causas, alia atque alia quocumque ratiocinandi modo comprehendimus. Sed, sicut corporalia corporeo sensu videre solemus visibiliter, praesentialiter atque corporaliter, sic utique intellectualis ille sensus invisibilia capit, invisibiliter quidem, sed praesentialiter, sed essentialiter). In particular, intelligentia (“insight”) refers to awareness or knowledge of God, obtained by the highest reaches of the human mind. It is operative in the fifth kind of contemplation, but must be left behind in the sixth regarding those mysteries, like the Trinity, which seem to contradict human reason (XII patr., 86, Châtillon, 342, tr. Zinn, 145). Intelligentia pura (“pure insight”) is “without admixture of imagination” (XII patr., 87, Châtillon, 344, tr. Zinn, 146); intelligentia simplex (“simple insight”) is without admixture of reason also; cf. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 215–19, 231–34, 265; Arca Moys., IV.1, 431, n324. Aris, Contemplatio, 126–28, relates this divinae operationis transfiguratione to Eriugena’s idea of transitus. Not only is the knower’s knowledge extended beyond human limits, the knower is transformed or deified in knowing the divine Knower. See V.9, where in gazing on the glory of God, the ecstatic knower is transformed into the same image.

NOTES 597

598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607

608 609 610 611 612 613 614

 443

Aris, Contemplatio, 121, captures the paradox of ecstatic contemplation: “Das ‘Ich denke,’ begleitet nicht mehr den Akt des Denkens” (“The ‘I think,’ no longer accompanies the act of thinking”). In this paragraph, Richard twice uses the word animus. Although it is possible to translate anima consistently as “soul” and mens as “mind,” animus can mean many things: mind, soul, consciousness, will, character or human spirit (see Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary, 123–24, and Albert Blaise, Dictionnaire latin-français des auteurs chrétiens, rev. Henri Chirat [Turnhout: Brepols, 1954], 83, who cites many examples from Augustine). At the beginning of his Tract. PL 196:273AB, Richard uses anima and animus interchangeably and gives them a decidedly affective cast. In what follows I have translated animus as “human spirit” or “mind.” See below, V.18; Grosfillier, 587. radius: is here translated as “ray,” but it can also mean “radius” which might be intended here with reference to the range or extent revealed in contemplation. Gen. 13:14–15. Deut. 34:1. Matt. 17:1–8. The translation follows Grosfillier’s reading (510–11, 575 n. 13) of accessit rather than the ascendit of PL and Aris. communis: common, in common. In Richard’s usage here the word has the connotation of “communicable to others in words”; see Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 215, 227–28. mente excedere: literally, “to go beyond the mind”; the substantive form of this is mentis excessus, “ecstasy of the mind.” The textual tradition has both in adiacentium memoria mente caligare and in adiacentium memoriam caligare. Opting for the former, Grosfillier (512–13, 575 n. 17) translates: “jeter pour ainsi dire les ténèbres dans l’esprit sur le souvenir de tout ce qui s’y trouve attaché.” This is the only explicit mention of Christ in all of Book V. On this see McGinn, The Growth of Mysticism, 410–11; Chase, Angelic Wisdom, 97–114. Arca Moys., V.2 (Grosfillier, 512; Aris, 126.6–7; tr. Zinn, 312): Una itaque et eadem nubes et lucendo obumbravit et obumbrando illuminavit, que [Aris: quia] et illuminavit ad divina et obnubilavit ad humana. The Cloud of Unknowing distinguishes a cloud of forgetting between the contemplative and all beneath him, and a cloud of unknowing between the contemplative and God (ch. 3–4), for God can be loved, but not thought; the contemplative can only stab at the thick cloud of unknowing with the sharp arrow of longing love (ch. 6). Nakamura argues that in Richard’s theology love reaches beyond knowing to ecstatic union, and ultimately the distinction between knowing and loving dissolves. So, Richard is not far from the opinion of The Cloud. What is most striking is the difference of tone in the two authors’ description of contemplation: whereas the Cloud emphasizes the darkness of the cloud of unknowing (obumbratio), Richard emphasizes its brightness (illuminatio). See The Cloud, Hodgson, 9, 13–14, tr. Spearing, 21–22, 26–28. Isa. 49:18; 60:4. Isa. 60:8. Ps. 115:11. Richard of Saint Victor is almost punning here. The Latin in excessu meo, can mean “in my distress,” “at my wits’ end,” as well as “in my ecstasy.” For these two meanings of excessus, but with the addition of mentis, see Ps. 30:22 and Acts 11:5. See H. Feiss, “Dilation: God and the World in the Visions of Benedict and Julian of Norwich,” American Benedictine Review 55 (2004): 55–73; Grosfillier, 590–91. sinus mentis dilatatur: the same expression occurs in Erud., 1.20, PL 196.1264A; see XII patr., 82, Châtillon, 326.10–11, tr. Zinn, 140: archanum intelligentiae dilatatur. tenuius: from tenuis, thin, fine, weak, slight, poor, subtle. Here it could also mean “subtly,” as Zinn, 313, translates it. Jer. 31:21: pone tibi amaritudinis; Grosfillier interprets this: “donne-toi de la peine.”

444 615 616 617 618 619

620

621 622 623 624 625 626

627 628

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  gradum: step, degree. Richard is discussing the three “steps” or “degrees” (gradus) of enlargement of the mind, and so this Scriptural passage containing the word gradus occurred to him as an illustration. Hab. 2:1. Jer. 2:10. Jer. 2:10. Aris, Contemplatio, 124–25, sums up Richard’s discussion of this first mode of contemplation: “Learnable, methodical skill (ars) forms the first step of dilatatio, upon which the second step, practice, follows, which in the third step passes into the ongoing practice of the well-taught” (“Die erlernbare methodische Fertigkeit (ars) bildet daher die erste Stuffe der dilatatio, auf die als zweite Stufe die Einübung (exercitatio) folgt, die auf der dritten Stufe in die andauernde Praxis des Erlernten (attentio) übergeht”). While this first mode of contemplation (dilatatio) remains within the realm of discursive thought, in the following mode, of raising up (elevatio), the highest form of human cognition (vivacitas intelligentiae) is perfected, as an illumination from above leads the mens above itself. Châtillon, “Trois modes,” 5–7, explains that this second mode of contemplation goes beyond the first mode (enlargement) insofar as in it the mind attains objects that exceed its proper limits. However, it does not fall into ecstasy, the third mode. In the first step of this second mode, the mind of a person attains objects that are within his possible reach, but which in the actual state of his knowledge are beyond him. Raised to the second step, the mind reaches objects that are not beyond the reach of all human knowing, but are beyond this knower’s possibilities. In the third step, the mind attains objects, e.g. mysteries of faith, that exceed the powers of all human beings. Knowledge in this second mode is the result of both human effort (specifically, meditation) and special divine grace. Ps. 63.7; see Arca Moys., IV.7; IV.22. Deut. 32:11. The Vulgate has adsumpsit eum, but Grosfillier, following the manuscripts of the Arca Moys. opts for adsumpsit eos. Ps. 54:7. Isa. 40:31. See Arca Moys., V.1 n. 7. In the course of the next few chapters, Richard will describe ecstasy and its causes in several ways, using a number of metaphors. He set the stage for this discussion at the end of XII patr., when in chapter 73 (Châtillon, 301–2, tr. Zinn, 131), he wrote that for Benjamin to be born, Rachel (reason) must die, but the description he gives there of Benjamin is of contemplation in the mode of ecstasy: “when the mind of a human being is rapt beyond itself the straits of human reasoning are left behind. At what the mind, raised above itself and rapt in ecstasy, beholds of the light of divinity, all human reason dies away” (cum mens hominis supra seipsam rapitur, omnes humanae ratiocinationis angustias supergreditur. Ad illud enim quod, supra se elevata, et in extasi rapta, de divinitatis lumine conspicit, omnis humana ratio succumbit). Aris, Contemplatio, 121, glosses this: “Ecstatic knowledge … must be understood as caused by God and that it involves the consciousness of the knower going from the conditions of knowledge given within space and time” (“Die ekstatische Erkenntnis … muss als durch Gott in der Zeit verursacht verstanden werden und schliesst eine Entgrenzung von den in Raum und Zeit gegebenen Erkenntnis bedingungen im Bewusstsein des Erkennenden ein.”) See Arca Moys., IV.15, above. in abalienationem transeat: Richard uses the term abalienatio four times in the Arca Moys.: here and one more time in this chapter, and in IV.9 and IV.22. In the context of a discussion of ecstasy, alienatio is a synonym of excessus, and suggests a progressive leaving behind of sensation, imagination, reason as one’s consciousness is filled with the contemplation of God. There are two possible interpretations of abalienatio. It may be a synonym of alienatio. However, if alienatio means otherness (from self), abalienatio may mean a canceling

NOTES

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(ab = from) of that otherness. In that case, as Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 294–95, contends, “abalienatio” carries with it the connotation that in contemplative ecstasy a person is freed from his previous bondage to the region of unlikeness and gains restoration to his lost identity. He thus translates abalienatio as “Befreiung von Andersheit” (“freeing from otherness”). The next three sentences (a, b, c) are very long and complex. They anticipate the rest of Book Five, which considers in detail how in these three ways contemplation turns into ecstasy. These three sentences, which concern (a) devotion, (b) wonder, and (c) exultation, illustrate some equivalences in Richard’s vocabulary. The subjects of the three sentences are (a) mens humana, (b) anima humana, and (c) mens hominis, which refer to the conscious self, which (a and b) is led beyond itself (supra semetipsam) or (c) taken out of/made a stranger, or alienated from, or disengaged from itself (a seipsa alienatur). This occurs when because of (a) great desire and love, (b) illumination and wonder, or (c) overflowing sweetness aroused by the God-given [almost all the verbs are passive] experience of God in contemplation (this is presupposed), the conscious self ceases to be aware of anything but God, to whom it (a) rises like smoke and (b) is rapt and raised, and (c) into love of whom it is transformed. It is clear in these definitions and in the following chapters that in divine ecstasy (a) divine grace is primary, though human effort interacts with grace in various ways; (b) cognition, volition and affectivity are inseparably intertwined; and (c) one of the three forms of ecstasy may merge with another. In Tract. PL 196:273AB, Richard writes that the peace of ecstasy “consists of two things, namely, contemplation of the truth and the satiety of internal sweetness” (in duobus consistit: in contemplatione videlicet veritatis et sacietate interne suavitatis). He goes on to say it begins in seeing and ends in a kiss. There Richard gives a description of ecstasy that does not use the usual terms for it (alienatio, excessus, ecstasis): Pax illa, per quam et in qua anima obdormit, per quam exteriorum omnium interim memoriam amittit, per quam ipsa sibi in oblivionem venit, in qua seipsam supergressa tota in Deum transit (“That peace, through which and in which the soul sleeps, through which it loses for the time being memory of all external things, through which it enters into self-forgetfulness, in which having advanced above itself it passes completely into God”). This definition encompasses both the notion of “passing beyond” conveyed by excessus and ecstasis and that of self-forgetfulness contained in alienatio, and it makes clear that ecstasy concerns the anima, which knows, wills, and loves. It does not bring out the role of grace, which is emphasized in the word raptus, snatched or raised (cf. Étienne Gilson, The Mystical Theology of Saint Bernard, tr. A. H. C. Downes [New York: Sheed and Ward, 1955], 107–8, 237 n. 56). Another term for ecstatic contemplation is somnium, which Châtillon, “Trois modes,” 9, says must be translated as both “sleep” and “dream.” It refers both to the numbing of the faculties that occurs in ecstasy and to the visions which accompany it. For these terms see Erud., II.2, PL 196.1300A: somnium, alienatio, mentis excessus; I.2, PL 196.1233C: somnium, mentis excessus; Arca Moys., IV.22, Grosfillier, 464, tr. Zinn, 303–4: “Rightly, therefore, through sleep the disengagement of the mind is expressed, when through elevation and disengagement of the mind someone is rapt … to see through ecstasy of the mind” (“Recte ergo per soporem mentis alienatio exprimitur … quando per mentis sublevationem et alienationem quis in sublimia raptus … per mentis excessum videre”). igne: the word “fire” occurs more than a dozen times in Book V. It is a very commonly used word in the vocabulary of contemplation and ecstasy. Misc., 1.173, PL 177.567B–572A considers “The Natures of Fire and Its Kinds.” The “natures” of fire are three: those by which it is born, fed and extinguished. On the basis of various combinations of these three “natures,” the author distinguishes eleven kinds of fire and then details their allegorical meanings. The internal fire of the eyes, which makes vision possible, is not born, because it is natural; and it is not extinguished, but it is fed by what is green (567C). It can signify created wisdom, which is nurtured interiorly by contemplation of uncreated wisdom, that is, the Word of God, which never becomes decrepit, but is always new and green.

446

630 631

632

633 634

635 636 637 638

639 640 641

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  It is nurtured exteriorly by reading Sacred Scripture. Both of these cause the insight of our heart (intelligentia cordis nostri) to shine (568D). Later, the author speaks of how the Holy Spirit burns away the rust on the sinful soul through compunction and then ignites a desire for eternal things, so that finally, liquefied by the fire of love, it begins to run by desire, and is poured through a tube into a mold and receives the image of the divine likeness (572A). This image of the liquefying fire and mold is developed by Hugh of Saint Victor, Libellus, 5, CCCM 176.148–49, and this volume, p. 106–107, and Richard of Saint Victor, Quat. grad. 42, Dumeige, 171, tr. Kraebel, 293. See also Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., 6.7, PL 175.1036D–1039D, and In Eccl., 1, PL 175.117B–118B; Richard of Saint Victor, Quat. grad., 39, Dumeige, 167, tr. Kraebel, 292; McGinn, Growth, 392–94. Cf. Song of Songs 5:6; Arca Moys., IV.15, above; Dumeige, Quat. grad., 199–200. reverberata: Richard’s idea seems to be that the soul’s desires for the highest things cause it to bounce back up when it has fallen down into contempt of self. The term is used by Augustine, Conf., 7.10.16, O’Donnell, 1:82; tr. Chadwick, 123: et reverberasti infirmitatem aspectus mei, radians in me vehementer (“and you beat back” [Chadwick: “gave a shock to the weakness of my gaze, shining on me intensely”]), and often by Gregory the Great (see texts in McGinn, Growth, 449 n. 245) to describe how the soul having attained contemplation of God is quickly beaten back or falls back when it gazes on the overpowering brightness of infinite Being. See also Achard of Saint Victor, Serm., 15.33, Châtillon, 236, tr. Feiss, 343): luce Dei reverberata. suavitatis: Mary Carruthers, “Sweetness,” Speculum 81 (2006): 1001, observes: “Of all the items in the mixed lexical bag of Latin bequeathed to medieval Europe, ‘sweetness’—dulcedo, suavitas—is among the most mixed and the trickiest of concepts.” Carruthers shows how “sweetness,” a term with very sensate connotations, had positive associations with knowledge (sapere/sapientia), persuasion (suavis/suadeo), and medicine (whose goal is the suavitas or balance in the body). However, sweetness is not always for the good nor is it always pleasant (e.g. the seductive sweetness of the fruit in Eden or of misleading or cloying rhetoric). Achard of Saint Victor, Discretione, 69–70, Häring, 190–91, tr. Feiss, 373 refers to sweetness, dancing and exultation of spirit (the level of imagination) and joy (the level of the rational mind, which functions as intellect and will). Intellect can leave itself behind to some extent to contemplate God, and will can in some way forget itself and all other things because of joy in God. On spiritual inebriation, see, for example, Richard of Saint Victor, Quat. grad., 28, 30, Dumeige, 155‒57, tr. Kraebel, VTT 2.287–88; Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 154–58. See above, Arca Moys., IV.12, 434, n458. tripudii: tripudium is derived from tres + pedes = “three step.” On the term, see Constant Mews, “Liturgists and Dance in the Twelfth Century: The Witness of John Beleth and Sicard of Cremona,” The Free Library 01 September 2009: www.thefreelibrary.com. Accessed 02 February 2012. See Walter of Saint Victor, Serm. ined., 6.7, CCCM 30.54.235–36: “prae gaudio tripudiat” [“he dances for joy”]). raptim: from rapere, to snatch, the same verb from which “rapt” (raptus) and “rapture” derive. See above, Arca Moys., IV. 14. nisi quia minus diligimur, nisi quod minus diligimus: Zinn, 317, translates: “except because we are loved less, save only that we love less.” The Latin may be corrupt here. mystice: that is, allegorical and spiritually. See Arca Moys., I.1, 421, n1. The titles most often given the present work, traditionally called Benjamin major, are De arca Moysis (VTT), De arca mystica (Zinn), and De contemplatione (Grosfiller, Aris). There is something to be said for all of them. See Grosfillier, 22–24. Song of Songs 3:6. Song of Songs 6:9. Song of Songs 8:5.

NOTES 642

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magnitudine devotionis: devotio was a central idea in Hugh of Saint Victor’s De virtute orandi; see H. Feiss, “Introduction,” The Power of Prayer, VTT 4. Richard draws on Hugh’s teaching, especially in the Instruction of the Interior Person (De eruditione interioris hominis). Devotion, which brings insight, is associated with compunction, which is a foundation of the Christian life: Erud., 1.18, PL 196.1259AB; Adnot. Psalm., 136, PL 196.375A; Pot. lig., Ribaillier, 110; it is a fruit of reading: LE, 2, prol., Châtillon, 213.5–6; 2.10.22(2), Châtillon, 417.25 = Serm. cent., 22, PL 177.940BC, and of meditation: Erud., 1.7, PL 196.1243A; 1.12, PL 196.1248B–1249B; as Hugh taught, devotion is the very heart of prayer: Erud., 1.42, PL 196.1296D–1297B. Without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit devotion cannot be genuine: Erud., 2.34, PL 196.1332D–1333A; in prayer devotion offers to God confession of sin, petition (postulatio) for mercy, and glorification of the one granting mercy: Erud., 1.14, PL 196.1251A. Châtillon, “Trois modes,” 11–12, construes Richard’s understanding of devotion from these and other passages, concluding that it is an ardent love for God, by which as children, believers abandon themselves into the hands of their Father. This love is rooted in the soul but exceeds the soul’s powers. It can conduct the soul to God either by burning desire alone (like boiling water), or by desire accompanied by interior revelation (like Abraham receiving the three guests). Other Victorines do not use the term devotio so often. Walter, Serm. ined., 4.4, 6, CCCM 30.35.66, 36.101 and Achard, Serm., 8.4, Châtillon, 97, tr. Feiss, 183 note that incense (“thus”) symbolizes devotion or prayer of devotion. Walter says that the preacher’s task is to stir up devotion: Serm. ined., 10.3, CCCM 30.86.48, 87.72, Serm. ined., 14.1, CCCM 30.122.7. According to Walter, Serm. ined., 9.4, CCCM 30.77.99–104, from consideration of divine love toward us devotion is born in us; what humility cleanses, devotion fills. Richard of Saint Victor, Serm. cent., 47, PL 177.1029A. consummationem: Grosfillier, 525 translates this as “perfection,” and refers to Rom 3:10; 1 Cor. 12; Col. 3:14. For love in relation to the virtues see VTT 2.54–55, 69, 78, 89, 106. The structure of the XII patr. indicates that in the usual progression, growth in virtue precedes contemplation and ecstatic union with God. Achard of Saint Victor comments on Song of Songs 3.6 in Serm., 8.4, Châtillon, 96–97 where he applies it to Mary. Incense (thus) stands for the loving devotion of prayer and all the powder of the perfumer signifies the totality of all the other virtues, especially contemplation. In Misc., 1.111, PL 177.539–C540B Hugh (or another author), says that a column is graceful, transparent and rises straight up, as desire rises from love. Christ is the perfumer, the aromatic ointments are the virtues, myrrh is mortification, and incense (thus) the mind’s devotion. Cf. Gregory the Great, Hom. Ev., X.6, PL 76.1113B; Glossa ordinaria, In Canticum canticorum, 3.6, CCCM 170.206–9; Pseudo-Richard, Cant., 9, PL 196.429B434B. Cf. 1 Cor. 13:1–13; Rom. 13:10. seipsam deserendo desertum faciat: “she makes herself a desert by deserting herself.” Desert imagery was much invoked by medieval authors. One of the most sustained developments of the theme is Achard of Saint Victor’s Sermon 15, a Lenten sermon, which in one manuscript is entitled “On the seven deserts,” Serm., 15, Châtillon, 199–243, tr. Feiss, 291–351. See also Hugh of Saint Victor, Misc., 1.111, “On the desert which is the human heart; On the column of smoke and the perfumer and his scents,” PL 177:539B–540B: De deserto quod est cor hominis; de virgula fumi et de pigmentario et aromatibus. See Bernard McGinn, “Ocean and Desert as Symbols of Mystical Absorption in the Western Tradition,” Journal of Religion 74 (1994): 155–84. On this metaphor, see Richard of Saint Victor, Quat. grad., 6, Dumeige, 131, VTT 2.277); Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., 6, PL 175:1039CD. ipsum: Zinn, 319, translates “raises the liquid above itself.” I refer ipsum to the container, and not to the liquid. Grosfillier, 525 translates: “au-dessus du récipient lui-même.” Aris’ edition (131) connects this clause to the previous sentence, whereas Zinn attaches it to the sentence that follows. I have made it a separate sentence.

448 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660

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R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Wisd. 10:7. Arca Moys., IV.10–15, Grosfillier, 404–30, tr. Zinn, 274–86. Gen. 18:1–2; see Arca Moys., IV.10, Grosfillier, 404–8, tr. Zinn, 274–75. Luke 15:17. Acts 12:11. On these impersonal verbs, see Grosfillier, 578 n. 54. John 3:20–21. On otium and vacare see Richard of Saint Victor, Arca Moys., I.2; V.19. theoricos excessus: theoria is a Greek word used for contemplation. See Cassian, Coll., I.8, SC 42.85, ACW 57.47; Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 2.18, Buttimer, 37, tr. Harkins, 107. Wonder was part of the definition of contemplation in I.4 (Grosfillier, 96–98; tr. Zinn, 157), and Richard mentions it in connection with almost all the stages of contemplation. The wonder that leads to ecstasy includes intense love, but it is always accompanied by a manifestation or revelation, which may come to the soul either after intense meditation or suddenly without prior effort. Song of Songs 6:9. Grosfillier, 579 n. 64, refers to the use of this metaphor in John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 14; see Kieran Kavanagh and Otilio Rodriguez, tr., Collected Works of St John of the Cross (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1991) 534–35. absque dubio: Grosfillier, 579 n. 64, notes that this could also be interpreted to mean “without any trace of doubt.” As this paragraph advances, Richard use “dawn” in three ways: (a) dawn is an example of a wondrous sight that captures attention; (b) as dawn is a mixture of light and darkness, so wonder is a mixture of seeing and incredulity; (c) as dawn moves from morning light to (full day-) light, so in ecstatic contemplation caused by great wonder, human knowledge advances until it is (beyond human) knowledge. Cf. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 303. Richard uses the image of the dawning day in a slightly different way in Arca Moys., III.6 (Grosfillier, 290–92; tr. Zinn, 231–32) when he is describing the role of self-knowledge in contemplation. Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 2.2 and 2.18, Buttimer, 25 and 37, VTT 3.97 and 107, with 187 nn. 70–71 defines the “intellectibilia” as the divine objects of “theoria.” See Coulter, “Contemplation as ‘Speculation,’” 206–10; Grosfillier, 591–93; Arca Moys., I.8, 4233, n54. subtilior: cf. Richard of Saint Victor, Arca Moys., IV.17 (subtilius); V.3 (tenuius). Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 304–6, observes that here Richard says that when (1) the highest human form of cognition, intelligentia (insight) is raised to a superhuman functioning, (2) it is transformed into a kind of supermundane affectus, so that the usual distinctions between knowing and affectivity no longer pertain, and (3) this transformation occurs when intelligentia, beholding the Glory of the Lord, is (sometimes: see V.11) transformed into its image (i.e. into the image of God who is love), as though by the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18. Song of Songs 6:9. Chapters 10 to 13 discuss different trajectories that the second mode of ecstasy from wonder can take. Chapter 10 is about an experience of intense wonder that leads to devotion. Chapter 11 then discusses intense wonder that does not change into devotion or another mental state. Chapters 12 and 13 treat the interplay of human meditation and divine revelation in the experience of ecstatic wonder. Chapter 10 is reminiscent of that section of Hugh of Saint Victor’s On the Power of Prayer (De virtute orandi) that deals with the way a psalm may begin with one sentiment (affectus) and then move to another sentiment. See Virtute, ed. Feiss, Œuvres 1:156–60, VTT 4.342–43, where this section is numbered 14.5–8. It is noteworthy that in discussing the sentiments of loving-kindness (affectus pietatis) from which the power of prayer derives, Hugh singles out love (dilectio), wonder (admiratio), and (shared) joy (congratulatio) as the three that pertain to parts of Scripture

NOTES

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devoted to praise of God. Love arises from remembering the divine goodness, wonder from remembering the divine power, and joy from calling to mind happy occurrences. For this, see Virtute 14.24, Feiss, Œuvres 1:152–54, VTT 4.341–42. It is probably not a coincidence that these three sentiments are those that Richard of St Victor singles out as the causes of ecstasy. In XII patr., 85, Châtillon, 338, tr. Zinn, 144, Richard anticipates these three causes of ecstasy (cf. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 212). Songs of Songs 6:9. Grosfillier, 535, translates electa as “chosen,” a choice he defends at 579 n. 70. This could also mean that the sun surpasses both dawn and moon. Hugh of Saint Victor, In hier. cael., PL 175.1117BC. The tendency of human awareness and desire to slip or flow downward is noted in various places in Victorine writings. For example, in Subst. dilect., 1, Baron, 82, VTT 2.143, Hugh of Saint Victor says that from the single impulse of love flow two streams: cupidity and charity. Cupidity is love that “cascades down through passion (affectum) to exterior things.” In Archa Noe, 1.1, CCCM 176.3, Hugh reports that the occasion for writing the work was a question regarding the reason for the instability of the human heart (de humani potissimum cordis instabilitate et inquietudine). Meditation fixes the attention on something and thus provides a stable focus for thinking and desire. In medieval writers, meditatio has a wide range of meaning: to take something to heart, make it one’s own, think about it, pay attention to it, mull it over, or memorize it. Richard and other Victorines use the word with various nuances, depending on context. Earlier in Arca Moys., I.3–4, Grosfillier, 92–98, Richard contrasts contemplation, meditation and thinking (cogitatio). Richard describes cogitatio as effortless wandering of the mind, unrestrained by method or intentional purpose. It therefore is unstable. By contrast, meditation is a directed investigation of a definite object or question, that is, a conscious act of concentration on the part of the knowing subject (cf. Aris, 48–49). Hence, whereas Richard associates cogitatio with evagatio (wandering), he connects meditatio with investigatio (searching, inquiry, from investigare to track, search for). In his discussion of the same three terms in In Eccl., 1, PL 175:116D–117A, Hugh of Saint Victor says cogitatio occurs “when the mind is touched in a passing way by awareness of things, when a thing is suddenly presented to the mind by its image, either entering through the senses or arising from memory. Meditation is assiduous and keen reconsideration of thinking, either trying to unfold something complicated or carefully inquiring to penetrate something hidden” (Cogitatio est, cum mens notione rerum transitorie tangitur cum ipsa res sua imagine animo subito praesentatur, vel per sensum ingrediens vel a memoria exsurgens. Meditatio est assidua et sagax retractatio cogitationis, aliquid, vel involutum explicare nitens, vel scrutans penetrare occultum). Elsewhere, in his short work, Meditatione, 1, Baron, 44, Hugh describes meditation “as frequent thinking, investigating the mode, cause and reason of any thing” (frequens cogitatio modum et causam et rationem uniuscuiusque rei investigans). See Arca Moys., I.3, 422, n40. 1 Kings 10:1. Acts 12:6–7. 1 Kings 10:3. In this passage, the parallel drawn between senses and desires of the flesh and thoughts and feelings of the mind (mens) indicates that the mind includes both thinking and affect. Richard of Saint Victor, LE, 2.7.1, Châtillon, 314. 1 Kings 10:4–5. It is tempting to translate, “When the Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon … it took her breath away.” However, I chose a woodenly literal rendering because Richard is going to comment on the words. This is one of the few occasions in Book Five where Richard of St Victor uses the term ecstasis, a word that Latin borrowed from Greek. Most often, Richard uses the Latin terms for ecstasy, mentis excessus, as in the previous sentence, or alienatio mentis as in the following sentence. Here Richard summarizes what the experience of the Queen of the South

450

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R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  signifies. She kept asking questions; she understood; she fainted away; that is, sometimes a human being, meditating deeply, is led to contemplate God, and the wonder of that contemplation leads to ecstasy. Rev. 1.9. Richard of Saint Victor does not elaborate on this verse in his commentary Apoc., 1.4, PL 196.772D. In what follows it is difficult to know how to translate spiritus: spirit, the spirit, one’s spirit, the [Holy] Spirit. et a suo esse: Grosfillier, 544, translates “et a être loin de lui-même.” 1 Cor. 6:17. Ps. 118:81. Cf. Acts 12:1–11. 1 John 2:27; John 14:26. Ps. 56:4. Ps. 56:4–5. See Acts 5:10–20. exitus: way out, exit. Richard of Saint Victor’s reference to a way out of the confines of earthly life and of access to heavenly contemplation is not unrelated to Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit (Huis Clos) and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s seach for an issue from the evolutionary dead end of entropy. In all three cases, the question concerns human transcendence toward something beyond the here and now of life in the physical world. valvis … repagulis: “hinges … bars”: cf. Cicero, In C. Verreum, Act. 2, liber 4 (ed. George Long, M. Tulli Ciceronis, Orationes 1: Verinarum libri septem [London: Whittaker, 1851], 459: “convulsis repagulis effractisque valvis”). Impudenter: PL and Aris have imprudenter. Acts 12:11. In this sentence Richard of Saint Victor uses the synonyms in exstasim cadere and semetipsam excedere. There is something paradoxical about this combination of “falling” and “going beyond.” Châtillon, “Trois modes,” 16–18, observes that Richard mentions joy in relation to most of the degrees of contemplation. Here there is question of an abundant excess of spiritual joy that irresistibly leads the soul into ecstasy. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 310–11, writes that Richard specifies several things about this joy that brings ecstasy. (1) It is true spiritual joy that is experienced as an inner sweetness. (2) No finite, created thing can bring it about. Hence, it is quite different from the virtue of joy, with which it nevertheless has some similarity. See below, Arca Moys., V.16, n. 125. (3) This joy is experienced as a fullness, overflowing or abundance that causes and finally perfects ecstasy; it has no continuity with mundane existence. (4) Human effort cannot attain it; the soul can only lean upon her beloved. Richard, Sermo in Psalmum 4.9 (see above, Arca Moys. V.1, n. 5) is concerned about the connection between exultation and ecstasy. There, yielding to his proclivity to distinguish stages or degrees, Richard writes that the peace of ecstasy grows through five stages: expectation (expectatio: arising from internal inspiratio—Richard cites Isa. 28:10, 13), looking around or scanning one’s surrounding looking for the one to come (circumspectio), contemplation, wonder (admiratio), and ineffable, exultant joy (congratulatio, exultatio). Then, Richard distinguishes six stages in the growth of this joy. One tastes an internal sweetness (suavitas), which makes one avid to enjoy it fully (perfruenda aviditas). Then, one imbibes it to satiety (satietas), which in carnal desires leads to aversion (fastidium), but in this context not just to aversion to worldly delights, but to spiritual inebriation (ebrietas), which, analogous to physical drunkenness, makes one spiritually fearless and so brings security (securitas), which finally results in “real and complete tranquility of the mind” (vera et plena mentis tranquillitas). Richard concludes with another description (PL 196.276BC; cf. n. 45) of this “peace,” which comes to the one who, traversing all these stages, experiences ecstasy: “This is that peace in which the soul sleeps; the peace by which the mind is rapt to more interior things; the peace which blocks memory of all external things, which overpowers mental acuteness (ingenii acumen, which

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451

seems to be a synonym of acies mentis), which beats back the light of reason; which fills the desire of the heart, which absorbs all understanding” (Hec est illa pax in qua anima obdormit; pax que mentem ad interiora rapit; pax que exteriorum omnium memoriam intercipit, que ingenii acumen exuperat, queve rationis lumen reverberat, que desiderium cordis replet, que omnem intellectum absorbet). The Victorine De contemplatione et eius speciebus (Baron, 87, tr. and commentary, McGinn, Growth, 389) makes a similar connection between exultation and ecstatic contemplation: Felicissima visio est qua perpauci in presenti felices fruuntur in qua, nimia divini gustus dulcedine rapti, Deum tantum contemplantur … Animus splendore lucis eterne totus illustratur … totus, solus, nudus, et purus, in Deum tendit, totus nunquam digrediens, sed uni Deo se totum uniens, solus a materia, nudus a forma, purus a omnimoda [circumscriptione or circumspectione] (“Most happy is the vision which a very few fortunate people enjoy in the present life, in which, rapt by the overwhelming sweetness of the divine taste, they contemplate God alone … The mind is completely illumined by the splendor of eternal light … wholly, solely, nakedly and purely it stretches out toward God; wholly, never wandering off but uniting itself wholly to the one God; solely, apart from matter, naked of form, pure from all kind of distraction” [or in Baron’s emendation, “limit”]). Song of Songs 8:5. Cf. Job 30:7. 1 John 1:10. Cf. Isa. 48:22; 57:21. Ps. 85:1. Ps. 39:18. Song of Songs 8:5. One could also translate: “the soul does not hold on to what it feels within itself.” Ps. 113:4; Richard of Saint Victor, Adnot. Psalm., 113.4, PL 196.335C, VTT 4.184–93. In this sentence and the next, “earth” translates terra. Cf. Gen. 3:19. This passage was and is recalled in the liturgy for Ash Wednesday; e.g. Sicard of Cremona, De mitrali seu Tratactus de officiis ecclesiasticis summa, 6.5, PL 213:255BC: Hodie namque capitibus nostris cineres imponimus, ad memoriam reducentes quod dictum est Adae: “Pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.” Hoc etiam habitu confitentes, quia non sumus dii neque de coelo, … sed homines de terra principium habemus (“Today we put ashes on our heads, remembering what was said to Adam: ‘You are dust and to dust you shall return,’ By this custom we confess that we are not gods nor are we from heaven, … rather we are human beings who have our origin from the earth”). Note the reference to “ash” that Richard makes next by quoting Sir. 10:9. Job 4:19. Sir. 10:9. Luke 15:1–7; Matt. 18:12–14. Zinn, 335, translates this “beyond themselves,” which gives a reasonable sense, especially since se(ipsum) usually refers to the subject of the sentence. However, the word here is deliberately singular, and medieval Latin is not always consistent regarding the antecedent of se(ipsum). Grosfillier discusses this in 583 n. 112. See Richard of Saint Victor, Adnot. Psalm., 113:4, PL 196.337BD, VTT 4.190–93; Coulter, “Contemplation as ‘Speculation,’” 217–24. 1 Cor. 13:12. Song of Songs 8:5. The rest of this paragraph is an example of how familiar Richard of Saint Victor was with the Latin Bible and how effortlessly he could evoke its phrasing. Cf. Exod. 13:21; 40:36. Matt. 20:12. Ps. 90:5. Deut. 32:10.

452 720 721 722 723 724

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735 736 737 738 739

740 741

742

R IC HA R D O F ST V IC T O R –  Ps. 42:3. Luke 1:35. Cf. Ps. 35:10. Ps. 17:29. Richard here follows Hugh of Saint Victor, who distinguishes three evils that result from original sin: ignorance and concupiscence, which are primary because they touch immediately on one’s relationship with God, and physical need. See Hugh of Saint Victor, Didasc., 6.14, Buttimer, 130, tr. Harkins, “Appendix A,” 178–79; Hugh of Saint Victor, Sacr., 1.8.1, PL 176:305C; Richard of Saint Victor, LE, 1.1.3, Châtillon, 205, VTT 3.300–301. cogitationis: Grosfillier, 583–84 n. 121, argues against correcting this to cognitionis. For the Victorines cogitatio can mean something akin to letting one’s mind wander. See Arca Moys., V, n. 100. Rom. 10:2. Ps. 117:9. Wisd. 10:17. Ps. 104:39. Rom. 9:16. Song of Songs 8:5. One has the impression that from here to the end Richard’s Latin becomes more difficult and less polished. Partially because of this, the translation of Book V will vary more from Zinn’s than hitherto. Song of Songs 2:4; cf. Bernard, SCC, 49.4, SBO 3.75, tr. Walsh, 224–25. Richard spoke of spiritual drunkenness in XII patr., 37–39 Châtillon, 194–99, tr. Zinn, 91–95; see above, n. 95. When the first four affectus of fear, sorrow, hope and love, have been ordered, imagination considers the evils that await the sinner and the rewards destined for the just. Then abstinence and patience bring sensualitas into order, and the soul experiences joy and sweetness over interior goods, which involves the fifth affectus, symbolized by Issachar. One experiences only a taste (gustus) of what heavenly joy will be, but it is intoxicating (ebrietas). When compared to the glory that is to come, the delights of the world and one’s own life in it become vile in one’s own eyes. One becomes a boundary dweller, not at home in this world, not yet able to enter the Promised Land to come; nevertheless, one is stable, at peace, one’s affectus reaching up toward the highest good. Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 301 (see also 149–59), suggests this experience of inebriating joy at the level of affectus is a betrothal gift (arrha) of the joy to come when, formed in all the virtues, one contemplates God and is rapt by joy into ecstasy. Ps. 76:3. Isa. 40:6. Isa. 28:10:13. See Arca Moys., IV.13. in idipsum: “in” (but also “unto”) [God who is what is] Itself. See above, n. 7. verbum Domini requisitus: Grosfillier, 556, translates “requis de dire la parole du Seigneur,” and explains (585 n. 134) that he takes requisitus as analogous to the use of “rogare” in the passive followed by the object in the accusative sense. I take “requisitus” to have the force of a deponent perfect participle. Neither explanation is completely convincing. 2 Kings 3:15; cited also in Arca Moys., IV.13–14, Grosfillier, 416–24, tr. Zinn, 279–81. See Gregory, Hom. Ez., 1.1.15, Morel, 70; Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 319–27. sepius ex parte illius supercelestis dulcedinis memoria ad vocem psallentis tetigit: ex parte is puzzling. My translation interprets it thus: “often, at the voice of the singer, memory arising from (ex parte, “from the place of ”) that supercelestial sweetness.” Grosfillier (585 n. 136) is also puzzled. This chapter illustrates a characteristic of Richard’s thought singled out by Ineke van ’t ­Spijker, Fictions of the Inner Life: Religious Literature and Formation of the Self in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, Disputatio 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), 183–84: “Richard

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is aware, and makes his reader aware, of the ambivalence of every moment of monastic existence. Descending and ascending are possible at any moment … As far as man composes his self with the help of exegesis, the ultimate failure of exegesis to achieve lasting comprehension corresponds with a failure of man’s composition. However, Richard takes loss and absence, failure and incomprehension, into the contours of the self.” Ps. 31:11. Ps. 29:43. revelari: Grosfillier, 569, 585 n. 137, opts for the reading “revelare.” Ps. 67:5. Occasus (from occido [obcado] “to fall down,” “set [of a heavenly body],” “perish”) means “a going down,” “downfall,” “death,” “occasion,” “setting,” (and therefore) “the west.” Richard invokes this variety of meanings in what follows. ut sit quibus dignatur super occasum ascendere: Grosfillier, 571, translates “pour qu’il advienne que par ces actions il daigne monter au-dessus du couchant.” He explains (586 n. 144) that the image is that of the light of day transforming the dawn. He supplies “God” as the subject of dignetur. Thus, God deigns to show himself in response to prayers and chants. intellectualis sensus: Grosfillier, 586 n. 149, equates this with intelligentia. anima contemplativa: the whole spiritual component of a person, rather than his spiritual faculty (animus). 2 Cor. 12:2. As Nakamura, “Amor invisibilium,” 296 nn. 2–3 observes, here and elsewhere Richard explains this and other Pauline texts (1 Cor. 1:10, 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:18) ad litteram, because their primary meaning is spiritual. circa se: This might also be translated, “in his regard.” otiosi otiosis: “leisured to people of leisure.” This phrase forms an inclusion with 1.12. otiosus: being at leisure, unoccupied, calm, quiet, idle. Otiosus and related terms could be used in a negative way, as in the phrases, otiositas inimica est animae (RB, 48.1, ed. and tr. Kardong, 381–84: “idleness is the enemy of the soul”) and the proverb, Otiositas parit omne malum (“Idleness gives birth to everything bad”). The closely related term, otium, could also be used in good and bad senses, but it also became a quasi-technical term for contemplative repose, and in that context tended to be a synonym of quies. See Jean Leclercq, Otia monasica: Études sur le vocabulaire de la contemplation au moyen âge, Studia Anselmiana 51 (Rome: Herder, 1963).

RICHARD OF SAINT VICTOR TRACT ON PSALM 28:1–11 INTRODUCTION AND TRANSLATION BY CHRISTOPHER P. EVANS

INTRODUCTION The Tract on Psalm 28 belongs in a collection of twenty-eight tracts titled Tractates on Certain Psalms.1 Like the other tracts in the collection, Richard of St Victor offers a verse-by-verse commentary that provides instructions on the spiritual life. Unlike other tracts, he comments on every verse in Psalm 28, and thus the tract’s length consists of thirty-five percent of the entire Tractates. In the manuscript tradition, it has an extensive dissemination apart from the Tractates, and in many of them the rubricated inscription regards it as a tract for the instruction of novices. The tract thus offers us intimate and sometimes candid insights and instruction of one of the great contemplative theologians for those starting their spiritual journey at the Abbey of St Victor. The tract can be divided into nine sections with each commenting on a single verse (except for section three). Most of the sections are fairly short tropological interpretations of the individual verse (around 1200 Latin words each). The first two sections are the shortest and read like the notes found in the Miscellanea (PL 177.469–900). Section eight on Ps. 28:10 is the longest (4113 words) and reads like a well-polished commentary on the spiritual life set within a martial imagery of besieging and looting a fortified city on the top of a mountain. But section three on Ps. 28:2b–5 is the second longest (3067 words) and reports to be a “sermon” directed toward a particular audience, the novices. Here Richard moves away from the verse-by-verse exposition and interweaves the biblical text in a dialogue with a novice expressing doubts and concerns before the profession of vows.2 At the end of this section, Richard refers to the “end of our sermon.” Another conclusion is found at the end of section 9: “… let this lengthy sermon make peace its end. For, it is good that we are here, and it is not expedient for us to exceed the limits of peace. Therefore, let us end our sermon in the contemplation of this peace …” The announcement of two conclusions, the different style of section three, and the lack of oral features in other sections suggest a compila1 2

For an introduction on the Tract., see VTT 4.133–46. See n. 26 in translation.

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tion of originally independent writings from various occasions and sources (i.e. sermons, notes, etc.) and perhaps for different audiences.3 However, at least in its final form the internal referencing within the tract presumes to be a unified work for novices.4 As is well-known today, the head librarian (armarius) at the Abbey of St Victor was not only in charge of the distribution of books to the brothers, but also their preservation and production. Commentaries and sermon collections were important for the daily use of the brothers whether in their private readings or the public readings in the refectory.5 Perhaps, at the request of the librarian, Richard gathered and prepared the Tractates on Certain Psalms, including the tract on Ps. 28, for the instruction and edification of the community. Richard’s own designation of the work as a “sermon” and the personal address at the beginning (“This is spoken to you, novices”) could suggest an original oral event, but it is difficult to discern to what extent the written text has preserved the oral preaching from which it may be derived.6 In the medieval manuscripts the rubricated inscriptions do 3

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Undeveloped and sparse notes on Ps. 28:1–2a, 2b, 5, 7–8, and 9 can be found in Misc., IV.43–47 (PL 177.721A–725B). These notes correspond to selected passages in sections 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7 of the Tract on Ps. 28. Based on internal evidence alone J. Châtillon notes the connection between the Misc. and Tract. (and other writings of Richard) and suggests two possibilities: these Misc. are the work of an anonymous abbreviator after the fact (which he thinks is unlikely with regard to some of the Misc.), or they are rough drafts or notes, composed by Richard himself or a stenographer, that Richard later expanded and polished (which he thinks is more probable and even suggests and original oral event of them). Of course, as Châtillon is well aware, the original occasion for these fragments in the Misc. remain uncertain without a study of the manuscript tradition. See J. Châtillon, “Autour des Miscellanea attribués à Hugues de Saint-Victor: note sur la rédaction brève de quelques ouvrages ou opuscules spirituels du prieur Richard,” Revue d’ascétique et de mystique 25 (1949): 301–4; D. Coulter, “Introduction,” VTT 3.292–93. For example, in section three Richard references the “above” command discussed in the first two sections. In section nine Richard states, “… what we read above in this same Psalm: The voice of the Lord [thundered] in power,” a verse discussed in section three. In section eight Richard mentions a distinction between an evil and good fire developed in section five and an evil and good desert developed in section six. See e.g. Liber ordinis 19, 31, 48 (CCCM 61.82, 145–46, 211). J. Longère, La prédication médiévale, Paris: Études Augustiniennes, 1983, 64; J. Longère, “La fonction pastorale de Saint-Victor à la fin du xiie et au debut du xiiie siècle,” in L’abbaye parisienne de Saint-Victor au moyen âge, ed. Jean Longère, BV 1 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1991), 295; J. Châtillon, Théologie, spiritualité et métaphysique dans l’œuvre oratoire d’Achard de Saint-Victor. Études de philosophie médiévale 58 (Paris: J. Vrin, 1969), 138–41; H. Feiss, “Preaching by Word and Example,” in: From Knowledge to Beatitude. St Victor, Twelfth-Century Scholars, and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Grover A. Zinn, Jr. Edited by E. Ann Matter and Lesley Smith. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013, 157. See e.g. Châtillon, Théologie, spiritualité et métaphysique, 138–39; B. M. Kienzle, “The Typology of the Medieval Sermon and Its Development in the Middle Ages: Report on Work in

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not label it a “sermon” (sermo). A widely attested inscription calls it a “Tractate on the Psalm Afferte Domino for novices” (Tractatus super psalmum Afferte Domino ad nouicios).7 Of course, no scholar today presumes the authenticity of such inscriptions.8 Consider under the generic description of a commentary or sermon, the tract serves as a means of instruction and edification, and, as the external and internal evidence makes clear, the audience is quite specific: ad novicios or de nouiciis, according to a marginal inscription in a manuscript at the Abbey of St Victor,9 which is no doubt inspired by the personal address found in section one.10 The tract, whether preserved with the Tractates or independently of it, disseminated mostly in monastic libraries throughout Europe (Benedictine and Cistercian) with over half dating in the late Middle Ages (fourteenth and fifteenth centuries). It is found in 83 total manuscripts: 19 of these are preserved among the larger collection of tracts, the Tractates on Certain Psalms; 59 of these manuscripts preserve it separately from the Tractates; and the remaining manuscripts are contained in a miscellany of Richard’s writings and fragments. The tract is thus comparable in popularity with writings like On the Trinity and Ark of Moses (each in the range of 70 to 100 manuscripts). The authenticity of all or parts of the Tract on Psalm 28 has been questioned recently because some manuscripts attribute the work

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Progress,” in De l’homélie au sermon: Histoire de la prédicatione médiévale. Actes du Colloque international de Louvain-la-Neuve (9-11 juillet 1992), ed. J. Hamesse and X. Hermand, Publications de l’Institut d’études médiévales, Textes, Études, Congrès 14 (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1993), 81–101; B. M. Kienzle, “Introduction,” ibid., 170–72; B. M. Kienzle, “The Twelfth-Century Monastic Sermon,” ibid., 291–98; M. Zier, “Sermons of the Twelfth Century Schoolmasters and Canons,” ibid., 333–35. Needless to say, the title in Migne’s edition Adnotatio in Psalmum XXVII derives from the printed edition of Richard’s Opera omnia in 1650 (Rouen) and has no basis in the manuscript tradition. See discussion in VTT 4.135–37. The title that I provide was done in order to distinguish the Tract on Ps. 28 from the title of the collection of tracts, Tractates on Certain Psalms. See N. Häring, “Commentary and Hermeneutics,” in Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century, ed. R. Benson and G. Constable (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982), 174–75; B. M. Kienzle, “Introduction,” in The Sermon, ed. B. M. Kienzle. Typologie des sources du Moyen Âge occidental, 81–83 (Brepols: Turnhout, 2000), 160–61. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine 769, fol. 212rb (sec. xii/xiii). See J.  Châtillon, “Autour des Miscellanea,” 305 and especially “Richard de Saint-Victor,” DS 13.596, where he suggests that Richard was a Novice Master based on the evidence of this tract. The external evidence suggests a date before 1159 when Richard while he was a teacher at St Victor. Because “magister” (“teacher”) is the only title attested in the rubricated attribution of the manuscripts, this could indicate that this tract was compiled before 1159 while Richard flourished as a teacher at St Victor. The Protogothic minuscule of several manuscripts could also suggest a date closer to mid-century.

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to Bernard of Clairvaux.11 When the external evidence is weighted, however, no doubts of its authenticity remain. All the manuscripts preserving the Tractates, including the Tract on Psalm 28, both at the Abbey of St Victor and at Clairvaux either attribute it to Richard or include it among the corpus of his writings.12 In fact, no manuscript preserving the entire Tractates is attributed to Bernard. Nevertheless, the manuscripts circulated in German-speaking countries (particularly Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) must be distinguished from those in, for example, France, England, and Spain. Whatever the route from St Victor to these German-speaking countries, the evidence suggests an archetype for all the manuscripts in this region. This late twelfth-century, Germanic archetype would have been included in a collection of Richard’s writings ordered as follows:13 Ark of Moses, The Twelve Patriarchs, Extermination of Evil and Promotion of Good, On the State of the Interior Man, Instruction of the Interior Person I–II, and the Tractates on Certain Psalms.14 For unknown reasons, the Tractates preserved in this Germanic collection and used as the ultimate archetype for all other manuscripts in this region separate the Tract on Psalm 28 from the Tractates and disseminate it as an independent work. The Tractates in this Germanic collection has strong textual affinities with a Parisian textual family which does include the Tract on Psalm 28 with an attribution to Richard;15 therefore, its separation from the Tractates seems to have been deliberate. 11 12 13

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See e.g. R. Goy, Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der Werke Richards von Sankt Viktor im Mittelalter, BV 18 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2005), 324. e.g. Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine 769 (St Victor; sec. xii); Paris, BnF, lat. 14517 (St Victor; sec. xii); Troyes, Bibliothèque municipale 302 (Clairvaux; sec. xii). The On the State of the Interior Man was composed in the 1160s (see D. Coulter, VTT 4.243– 44), and the Germanic/Austrian manuscripts written in a Pregothic script must be dated sometime in the late twelfth century. The complete collection of these writings is found in three independent manuscripts: Admont, Stiftsbibliothek 82 (Benedictine Abbey of Admont; sec. xii); Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek Msc. Patr. 130.1 and 130.2, a two volume collection (Benedictine Abbey of Michelsberg; sec. xii); and Vienna, Schottenkloster 294 (Benedictine Abbey of St Mary of the Scots in Vienna; sec. xiv). Admont, Stiftsbibliothek 82 was the ultimate exemplar for Zwettl, Zisterzienserstift 266 (Cistercian Monastery in Zwettl; sec. xii) and Göttweig, Stiftsbibliothek 285 (Benedictine Abbey in Göttweig; sec. xv). The other independent manuscripts preserve one or more of the writings found in this collection: Erlangen, Universitätsbibliothek ErlangenNürnberg 236 (Cistercian Abbey of Heilsbronn; sec. xii); and Prag, Národní Knihovna České Republiky 258 (sec. xv). The most important manuscripts are Troyes, Bibliothèque municipale  302 (Clairvaux; sec. xii); Paris, BnF, lat. 15732 (Sorbonne; sec. xii); Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale 42 (Cîteaux; sec. xii).

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Of the fifty-nine manuscripts preserving the Tract on Psalm 28 as an independent work, thirty-five belong to the same Germanic textual family. They all, for example, share the same characteristic variants16 and conclude the same at the end of section seven, that is, they only preserve about 40% of the entire work. Among these thirty-five manuscripts confusion of attribution is evident:17 twenty-two of them are attributed to Bernard,18 eight to Richard, three to Hugh of St Victor, and two are anonymous. The variant attribution of a single textual family originating in German-speaking countries couple with the correct attribution of diverse independent textual families throughout the rest of Europe should leave no doubts regarding the authenticity of the Tract on Psalms 28.19 Published here for the first time is an English translation of the Tract on Psalms 28. The translation is based on my critical edition that will be published in CCCM (Brepols). The Latin edition published by Migne (PL 196.285C–322B) was a reproduction of a printed edition of Richard’s Opera omnia in 1650 (Rouen), which is ultimately based on a single manuscript, Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine 769 (Abbey of St Victor; sec. xii/xiii). Only very significant variants will be mentioned in the endnotes, which also provide references to direct citations and allusions. And naturally, I have added the section numbers and paragraph divisions to aid reading.

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e.g. the manuscripts in this textual family witness two unique additions: (1) “like a plebeian soul, a poor soul of feeble substance, tepid obedience” (“utpote anima plebeia, anima paupercula, tenuis substantie, tepide obedientie”) after “turtle dove or dove” (“turturem siue columbam”) (section 1, [PL 196.285D]); and (2) “whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock” (“quarum patres dedignabar ponere cum canibus gregum”) after “not appearing at all upon the earth” (“in terra penitus non parentes”) (section 3, [PL 196.291C]). For example, in Admont, Stiftsbibliothek 146 (Benedictine Abbey of Admont), written in a similar late-twelfth century hand as Admont 82 (see n. 9 above), the Tract is preserved without attribution and appended before the incipit of a collection of Bernard’s writings (a blank folio separates the two). But of the two manuscripts copied from Admont 146 one attributes the tract to Bernard (Admont, Stiftsbibliothek 446) and the other copies it among the writings of Hugh of St Victor (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek 1078). Some of these manuscripts were corrected by a later hand to its proper attribution. For example, in Erlangen, Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg 226, fol. 110a (Cistercian Monastery in Heilsbronn; sec. xii) the inscription reads: “Tractatus beati super psalmo afferte ad nouitios.” “Bernhardi” was expunged and in a later hand the following marginal note is found: “this tract is attributed to Richard is another book” (“in alio libro attribuitur iste tractatus Richardo”). The internal evidence is also clear. See e.g. VTT 4.143–44.

TRACT ON PSALM 28:1–11 1. Bring to the Lord, you sons of God, bring to the Lord the sons of rams.1 This is spoken to you, novices. If you desire to be sons of God, then pay attention. You are given an option; it is left to your choice whether to cross over into the liberation of sons, or to remain in the subjugation of hirelings, or rather to serve under the condition of a serf. His sacrifice reveals what any person chooses to be. In the Law it is ordered or taught that the ruler should offer one kind of sacrifice, the priest another kind, and the poor ought to offer another kind of sacrifice. In this sense, unless I am mistaken, one sacrifice is suitable for a son, another for a hireling, and another for serfs. Just as there are different conditions, so there should be different offerings. Therefore, bring to the Lord, you sons of God, bring to the Lord the sons of rams.2 If you are a son, then work freely. If you want to be a son, then it is necessary for you to do this act freely, lest you appear empty in the sight of the Lord. Bring, not just anything or anyone; but bring, you sons of God, the sons of rams.3 If someone is led like a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb before his shearer makes himself mute without opening his mouth,4 rightly that person will be reckoned among the sons who offer to the Lord sons of rams. He, who is still a serf, is not qualified to make such a sacrifice. In fact it is a great matter if he can offer a turtle dove or dove.5 This seems to suffice for the serf who still serves under fear and does not so much love God as fear him, provided that he can mourn and groan and make satisfaction for past sins with mourning and groans like the cooing of a dove. As for the hireling, although he sacrifices the former goat of impudent and depraved delights on the Lord’s altar in order to avoid losing his payment, it does not easily happen that his hand finds an unblemished yearling lamb for a holocaust of the Lord.6 If someone could take off the fleeces of earthly works without any objection, sustain freely any tribulation without hating his persecutors and retain internal peace and tranquility of heart during any torments, then rightly such a person offered a lamb for the Lord’s sacrifice and revealed himself to be a son in his oblation. Blessed are the peace makers, because they will be called sons of God.7

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Unless I am mistaken, then, we may assess the dignity of people from their sacrifices. Indeed it is enough for a serf to do penance for sins out of a fear of hell, and for a hireling to abstain from sins for the sake of payment, but it is not enough for a son to deliver his soul unto death for the Lord’s sake. Thus, penance pertains to serfs, abstinence is suitable for hirelings, and patience corresponds to sons. Therefore, you who hope and long for the adoption of sons,8 bring with you lambs of patience and gentleness. Bring, you sons of God, bring to the Lord the sons of rams.9 But why did he prefer to say “sons of rams,” when he could have concisely said “lambs,” given that rams cannot beget other offspring? Perhaps he wanted us, whenever we desire to have perfect works, to look to the leaders and princes of the Lord’s flock—that is, the prophets and apostles and others like them—, and to know what we should do and desire from their deeds and words. They begot from themselves those sorts of desires, and they strove to have those sorts of works that we should strive to bear and foster in ourselves. And then we undoubtedly sacrifice sons of rams to the Lord. Bring to the Lord, you sons of God, bring to the Lord the sons of rams.10 “Bring,” “bring,” “to the Lord,” “to the Lord”—both are used twice; both are repeated. If you want to have two stoles, then double here your sacrifice. A person, who refuses to double his sacrifice here, is crushed with a double contrition. A double stola will be given for the sake of a double sacrifice. Offer the sacrifice of good work for the stole of the body. Offer the sacrifice of pious devotion for the stola of the mind. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot do anything to the soul.11 And these people are able to rule over their body, but cannot do anything to the spirit, and for that reason they are only lords, not “lords” “lords.” Therefore, fear him and offer gifts to him, who, after withdrawing life, can send even a soul to hell.12 Therefore, bring to the Lord, to the Lord— to the Lord of bodies, to the Lord of spirits. Bring to the Lord one time, because he rules in time; bring to the Lord a second time, because he rules in eternity. Bring to the Lord, because he gives temporal goods or evils to whom he wills. Bring to the Lord a second time, because he will give eternal rewards or torments to whom he willed. Bring to the Lord, you sons of God, bring to the Lord the sons of rams.13 Note the fitting distinction of words: sons of God, bring to the Lord. If “God” denotes goodness, then “Lord” designates power. By this distinction the Prophet sufficiently insinuates that it is a grace not merit that we are sons, and it is a debt not benefice that we render service.

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2. Bring to the Lord glory and honor. Bring to the Lord glory to his name.14 In the previous verse the verb “bring” is used twice, and in the second verse we discover the same verb also being used twice. In the first verse “bring, bring” is used for our own sake; in the second verse it is used for our neighbor’s sake. In the first verse “bring sons of rams” is used with respect to merit; in the second verse “bring glory and honor” is used with respect to an example. Bring to the Lord glory and honor. Bring to the Lord glory to his name.15 Some neighbors are good, but some are evil. Bring to the Lord glory and honor for the sake of good neighbors; bring to the Lord glory to his name for the sake of evil neighbors.16 Thus let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.17 If you offer sons of rams, if you offer works of goodness, if you have the desires of piety, then you can easily lift up your heart from such a sacrifice. That is why this is said to you: Bring to the Lord glory and honor,18 as if the Prophet is clearly saying: “In the sacrifices of your virtues seek not your own glory but the glory of the Lord. In everything that you do well, desire not your own praise but the praise of the Lord. Work toward this and be diligent in it, that God may be glorified and honored.” Bring to the Lord glory and honor.19 God is glorified with praises; he is honored with works. If those seeing your works praise God and strive to work the same, then you have offered to the Lord glory and honor. If those seeing your works are amazed, and if those amazed imitate your works, then without a doubt you have offered to the Lord glory and honor. Bring glory and honor for the sake of good neighbors, but bring to the Lord glory to his name for the sake of evil neighbors.20 Although evil people refuse to imitate your good works, let them at least not find something truly blameworthy among your works, lest perhaps, contrary to the Lord’s command, God’s name through you is blasphemed among the Gentiles.21 Therefore, let them see in you something that they can rightly praise, even if they do not want to imitate your good works. If the Lord’s instructions are praised through you even by those among whom he is not received with a good will, then you have offered to the Lord glory to his name. Therefore, among the good neighbors you have offered to the Lord not only glory but also honor, because they glorify him by praising him, and they honor him by doing good works. But among the evil neighbors you have at least offered glory to his name, because they praise his instruction, although they do not want to follow it.

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3. Worship the Lord in his holy court.22 Above we are commanded to offer sacrifices; here we are ordered to worship inside. The first command is given lest we enter empty-handed; the second is given lest we stand around idly. Lest you enter empty-handed, bring to the Lord glory to his name.23 Lest you are idle inside, worship the Lord in his holy court.24 What else does “worship” mean except to prostrate our whole body at his feet and to bend our top to the bottom? Therefore, the Prophet wants you not only to be subject to the Lord’s highest members (i.e. the prelates), but also to humble yourself willingly toward the Lord’s least significant members. Be subject to every human being for God’s sake, and you have certainly worshiped the Lord. Enter then with sacrifices, and, after entering, worship. Take the difficult road, and enter the narrow gate into religious life, into the vow of profession.25 Stay in the house of discipline, and uphold the decrees of the rule. If you are restricted within monastic discipline, then without a doubt you have entered into the court of the Lord. If you make a vow of profession, and if you are serving the decrees of the rule, then you have offered very pleasing sacrifices to the Lord. If, while living in a monastery, you are humbly obeying everyone in every respect, then you have truly worshipped God in his holy court. But someone says: “Behold, of the other congregations I chose this one and intend to promise the stability of my body, but I am very afraid of the great instability of my heart. Behold, I promise the correction of my moral life, but the decrees of the canons are hard. And yet, if grace is not lacking, I intend to correct my behavior especially in chastity, in common life, and in obedience.26 But when I promise chastity, how do I extinguish my lust? I am no less afraid of common life because of my weakness and obedience because of my pride.” Well done indeed to trust not in yourself, but if you do not stop hoping in the Lord. Make known your way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.27 Even I myself know the fluctuations of the human mind and wondering thoughts, but the voice of the Lord [thunders] upon the waters.28 If you are afraid of your weakness and timid heart, then know that the voice of the Lord [thunders] in power; the voice of the Lord [thunders] in magnificence.29 You are afraid of elation of mind and swollen haughtiness, but the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.30 If you are afraid of the instigation of lust and especially the spirit of fornication, then know that the voice of the Lord divides the flame of fire.31 Think about these verses, and study them well.

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But now let us return to each concern. You say that your wavering and flighty mind, which is very fickle and unstable, extends itself everywhere and fluctuates in every direction. And you say that it desires and does not desire to be lazy; it changes its decisions and alters its will like waves of the sea, which are moved and carried about by the wind.32 But the one who changes the sea into dry land can easily command that the waters, which are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place and the dry land to appear.33 This happens because often the waters of such carnal desires, which flow out and return, are turned back at the voice of the Lord giving orders until the whole face of the earth is dried,34 since the voice of the Lord [thunders] upon the waters however many, however great they may be.35 At the command of his will he gathers together the waters into one place and restricts them within the limits of necessity, so that dry land may appear, and the intention of a good will may be strengthened, because the voice of the Lord [thunders] upon the waters.36 But if you do not believe those words, then believe these examples. How many people, for instance, do you see excelling in religion and strictly upholding the rigor of a religious order. Indeed earlier they were unstable and fickle very much like you, but now they are stable in their intention and steadfast in the good. Earlier they had wavering minds and vain pursuits, but now they are rigorous in discipline and established in religion. But how, I ask, could this happen, if not because the God of majesty has thundered, the Lord [thundered] upon the many waters?37 What does “thundered upon the many waters” mean, except the Lord terrified minds wavering in many directions and widely fluctuating? Therefore, the Lord dried the great water in them,38 and He turned the sea into dry land.39 Can he, who dried the great waters in others, not also dry them in you? Could he, who thundered upon those waters as he willed, not also terrify you with the thunder of his magnitude? Indeed, the God of majesty thundered in them:40 He made a terrible noise, terrified their hearts, and changed their will. The change of mind at the thunder of the divine voice was so great and so sudden that they, immediately forsaking the world and following Christ, did not hesitate to cross the lake of Genesareth with him,41 even though the remarkably high waves of the sea surged and raged against them.42 The wind was indeed against them,43 that is, the inspiration of a diabolical suggestion, but Jesus stood up and commanded the winds and the sea, and there came a great calm.44 Look how, as you can see, they are not wavering now and how they fear nothing now, but rather each one

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of them, fervent in spirit and rejoicing in hope, rejoiced as a giant to run the way of the Lord’s commands. The God of majesty thundered, the Lord [thundered] upon the many waters.45 Sometimes he thunders as God, but sometimes he thunders as the Lord. When he threatens with eternal evils, he thunders as God. When he imposes temporal evils, he thunders as the Lord. Only God can give eternal goods or evils; the temporal Lord can also afflict the body. Therefore, when you see anyone with a healthy body and a contrite heart forsaking the world and taking up religious life, know that the Lord of majesty thundered, the God of majesty terrified their hearts. When someone, compelled by an unhealthy body or the loss of possessions, is forced to forsake his depraved ways, then know that the Lord thundered upon the many waters. Thus, if you have seen many times some people with a contrite heart and others with an afflicted body forsaking their slippery life,46 running to a religious order, living a religious life, and not looking back at the debauchery of their old life, then what is it that you fear more about yourself, you who see that many people like yourself have advanced in the Lord’s way? He, who thundered upon them, who terrified them and made them firm in the good, will be able to stabilize the fluctuations of your mind and repress your wavering thoughts no less than he did in their hearts. As he willed, the God of majesty thundered upon the many waters. You say: At last, having been just now roused by these words and examples, I am doing what you are encouraging me to do. But if I promise the stability of my body, then I must certainly also uphold common life.47 But I am afraid of the weakness of my body and fear the timidity of my heart. Indeed, I, being weak and petty, am an immature and wanton person, inasmuch as I have been brought up in the land of those living in delights,48 who are clothed in soft garments49 and feast sumptuously every day.50 A weak person scorns all things. A child always desires new things. Thus, how will I be able to uphold common life, given that I always scorn what others have and greedily desire what others cannot have? I consider the roots of herbs and any other worthless plant as supreme delights, only [if] others do not have them. I become nauseous at any royal banquet, if everyone participates together with me. And, so that I may explain to you more fully everything that disturbs my mind, my heart fails me more than my body, and my mind wastes away in meager strength and scanty understanding.51 I agree that you have little or no strength and little prudence, but the voice of the Lord [thundered] in power, the voice of the Lord [thundered]

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in magnificence.52 Rightly a weak person despairs of his strength, and yet he should hope in the Lord, because the voice of the Lord [thundered] in power.53 A person with limited understanding should not take his prudence for granted, but he should pray that the Lord broaden his understanding, because the voice of the Lord [thundered] in magnificence.54 He who lacks wisdom should ask for it from him who gives abundantly to everyone and taunts not.55 Fear not little flock!56 The Lord will give strength to his people,57 because the voice of the Lord [thundered] in power.58 Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength,59 because the voice of the Lord [thundered] in power.60 Even if perhaps you have already received strength, and even if perhaps the Lord girded you in strength for battle and adorned strength to your beauty,61 but you still have little sense and little understanding of judgment and laws,62 then know that at your request my Lord will increase you like the sand of the sea,63 and he will give you abundance from the dew of heaven and the fat of the land,64 so that you may grasp some things through understanding and may learn other things through experience—in the first drawing from the dew of contemplation,65 and in the second having learned from constant practice of perfect work. At that time, growing in such great abundance of things, you should become great, inasmuch as you have become fattened, thickened, and enlarged among the wealth of pleasures.66 You will be enlarged to the east and west, to the north and south,67 so that you may recognize fully and know perfectly what you should hope for, what you must fear, what you must hate, and what you must love. And the Lord will give to you breadth of heart like the sand, which lies on the sea shore,68 so that the abundance of your good thoughts may be as great as the multitude of your useless and vain thoughts were when your heart still used to rest near the great sea of this world through its desire and adhere to it too much with excessive love. But after your heart was enlarged, good thoughts and holy desires of your heart will be multiplied above the sand of the sea,69 and good thoughts will come spontaneously, just as before evil thoughts used to arise by themselves without your effort. And at that time a hair on your head will not perish,70 because God does not forget even one good thought, yet if it is from the head and descends from reason or proceeds from the right intention. Moreover, I believe that then those, who are astonished at this wonderful change of the right hand of the Most High and are astounded at you and those like you,71 will say among the nations: The Lord has done great things with them.72 Truly indeed the Lord has done great things

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with us, and we are glad,73 because the voice of the Lord [thundered] in power, the voice of the Lord [thundered] in magnificence.74 But you still say: “In a religious order indeed not only are hardships observed but unworthy things are commanded. It happens that vile and completely contemptible people, who are foolish and base individuals not appearing at all upon the earth,75 are often appointed as a prelate. Would it suffice for evil that the unworthy would at least not give unworthy commands, or that those giving abject orders would at least not be abject themselves? But now at the summit of evil vile prelates give vile commands with authority, and, while commanding, they have regard not for reason but for their own pleasure. When do you think that I will be able endure these things, given that I am a noble and learned person who is vigorously active in the arts and renowed in natural ability? When will I bend my heart from such [lofty] things to such [vile] things, or when will I be able to bend my heart? Indeed I bear a hard heart like an upright beam and like cedar, and I bear a wicked mind highly exalted and elevated like the cedars of Lebanon.”76 In response this we say briefly: The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,77 and he easily represses arrogant minds and is able to bend quickly your haughtiness. Indeed I admit that it is very difficult, or rather impossible, for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle,78 and for a heart swollen with arrogance to penetrate willingly the narrow path of obedience. But what is impossible for men is possible, or rather easy, for God.79 God has done whatever he wanted in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the abysses.80 Wherever he finds a heart lucid with understanding like the heaven, wherever he discovers a mind stable like the earth, if he sees a heart bitter and unstable like the sea, and if he sees the mind dark like the abyss, then always and everywhere indeed God has done whatever he wanted in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the abysses.81 And not only at the thunder of his voice but also often at his sight and at his entrance God crushed the mountains of arrogance, casted down the hills of pride, and, whenever he willed, disposed rulers from their thrones.82 I say “at his sight,” because he beheld and melted the nations and the worldly mountains were crushed to pieces.83 And I also say “at his entrance,” because at the entrance of my God, my King, who is in his sanctuary,84 the hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.85 Moreover, at the voice of the Lord the cedars of self-exaltations are broken often, because the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon.86

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It is one thing to break cedars, but another to break the cedars of Lebanon. Indeed, not all cedars grow or can grow on the mountain of Lebanon. Therefore, some cedars grow on [the mountain of] Lebanon, and others grow on some other mountain. Lebanon is interpreted as “whiteness” (decandidatio).87 Do you want to know what that whiteness is? The very justification of saints is their whitening. This is not my opinion but the opinion of the apostle John. The justifications of saints, he says, are fine linen.88 Teach me, Lord, your justifications,89 and I will be white as snow.90 That garments of my Lord Jesus were covered with such color and radiance; these garments were white as snow, such as no fuller upon the earth can whiten them.91 But the celestial fuller can do this, because his departure is from the height of heaven.92 I am lying if [I say that] the Lord does not promise the same to you, when, admonishing sinners, he says: If your sins be as scarlet, they will be made as white as snow; and if they be red as crimson, then they will be white as wool.93 Such a fuller is very profitable, and his whiteness is pleasing, because his justification is good. When such whiteness grew on the mountain and began to be raised above the height of other mountains, when a certain person has reckoned himself to be exceptionally great now and has believed himself to be holier than everyone else, he easily brings forth from himself great cedars of great self-exaltations because he thinks that he surmounts others by a certain prerogative of virtues. But the Lord is able not only to crush the worldly mountains,94 but also, when he wills, the Lord will easily break the cedars of Lebanon.95 Pride, which rises from worldly vanity, is different from that pride that seems to arise as if from an acquired sanctity. The cedars designate the first pride, and the cedars of Lebanon the second. You have recently come from the world. Perhaps you still have pride on account of your education or perhaps your money. Perhaps you boast about yourself on account of your noble birth. Perhaps you are distinguished on account of the dignity of honor that you have. Such examples of such pride are certainly the self-exaltations of cedar, but they are not the cedars of Lebanon, because they arise from the blackness of vanity not from the whiteness of sanctity. But immediately at the beginnings of your good lifestyle the Lord will break the cedars of worldly pomp, because the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.96 And if perhaps afterwards, as is usually the case, some cedars of great self-exaltations should arise as if from perfected justification after the works of virtues, then the Lord will in addition break those cedars as well, since the Lord will break

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the cedars of Lebanon.97 And that is why [the Prophet] speaks of those cedars in the present tense not the future, but he speaks of the cedars of Lebanon in the future tense not the past. The voice of the Lord, he says, breaks the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon.98 Do you still want a better understanding of what the cedars of Lebanon are, which the voice of the Lord alone is capable of breaking? A person, who perhaps has been fasting a little, has became a little more vigilant than others and shed a tear in prayer. He immediately begins to believe that he is holy, to look down on others in comparison to himself, and to prefer his own inventions to the decrees of preceding fathers. Often he wonders to himself why he does not perform miracles. He is angry at others for not receiving preferment among them, and he blames their jealously, not his own negligence, for not being esteemed with greater reverence. He gives heed to how he bears a pale face, not how he bears a polluted mind; or rather, although often he deeply felt himself troubled with filthy titillations and defiled with unclean delight, he pretends that he endures these things not because of his negligence but as if to preserve humility. Thus it happens that he is not vigilant against lust, as if [it is] a guardian of humility. He thinks it humility that he does not fear being shamefully defiled; and he does not know how detestable pride is, because in such great putridness he regards himself not as a sinner but as a second Paul, as if the sting of his flesh, the angel of Satan, was given to him to batter him, lest the multitude of virtues and magnitude of revelations exalt him.99 And in a remarkable, or rather miserable, way, he is so proud that he still does not stop indulging himself, and he so indulges himself that he still does stop being proud. In your opinion who else is capable of breaking such cedars except the Lord, at whose voice the cedars are broken and who, when he wills, will even break the cedars of Lebanon?100 So that you may be more amazed, he will break them to pieces as a calf of Lebanon.101 Truly this is the change of the right hand of the Most High102 to crush to pieces the hardness of cedar like a calf of Lebanon and to bend any hearts puffed up with pride toward the image of Christ’s humility. How do you think that unique calf was bruised for our wickedness, not for his own sins?103 He comes from Lebanon down from a shadowy and dense mountain, because his departure is from the height of heaven, and his coming is even to the height thereof,104 where the radiance of eternal light shines.105 Coming from there he brings with himself the splendor of justice; returning there he puts on the splendor of glory after putting off death.106 How, I ask, do you think

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that calf was broken to pieces, unless as it was written: Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant and in habit being found as a man,107 he handed himself over for our sake, becoming obedient to the Father unto death, even death on the cross?108 Notice the magnitude of humility, the immensity of his bruising. Nothing is harsher than the torture of the cross; nothing is more disgraceful than death on the cross. Add to this the fact that he suffers on his own accord, and add to this still the fact that he dies without personal guilt. Let him, who desires to be broken to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, hear how he should be bent: he should endure the severest and vilest things on his own accord and even without guilt. No one should ever presume that he can do this with his own power, but let him put his trust in the kindness of the Lord, who, when he wills, is capable of breaking to pieces any cedars of Lebanon. Therefore, you can know that the Lord breaks them to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, whenever you see them first raging over their own correction and afterwards rejoicing in tribulation;109 first rejoicing in the satisfaction of their desires and afterwards glorifying in their weakness;110 and first becoming puffed up through their praises and afterwards freely suffering reproach for the name of Jesus.111 It is also necessary for you to show yourself such, if you want to bend the stiffness of cedar, and if you want to be humbled according to the form of Christ’s humility. But he teaches you better than I. Listen to what he teaches and remember to imitate him: Because I came down from heaven, he says, not to do my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.112 He does not want to do his own will, and do you strive to fulfill your own will? Your father, your prelate, Christ, strove to fulfill the will of his Father, and you must strive to do the will of your prelate. At last we have found a calf that we must sacrifice in an offering to the Lord. Nothing so blazes for the Lord in a sweet savor113 than if the calf of one’s own will is sacrificed to the Lord. However, it makes a difference whether this calf comes from Lebanon or from Carmel. There are some calves that are grazed at the top of Lebanon, and there are others that are fed in the pastures of Carmel.114 People who do not forsake their will even in carnal things feed the calf of Carmel. People who direct their will in spiritual pursuits feed the calves of Lebanon. The former seek foods more sumptuous than what the others eat; he fattens his calf on the grass of Carmel. The latter, desiring abstinence, refuses to eat what the others eat; he feeds his calf in

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the pastures of Lebanon. The former perhaps desires a softer garment, while the latter obtains a rougher garment for himself than for the others. Both seek a pasture for their calf, but the former from Carmel, the latter from Mount Lebanon. Indeed whatever is done on account of the softness of mind or tenderness of flesh seems to pertain to Carmel, because Carmel is interpreted as “soft” or “tender.” But whatever is arrogantly presumed, as if for the sake of sanctity, beyond the instituted order or contrary to the prelate’s decision is rightly numbered among the herd of Lebanon. Woe to you, who have confidence in the calf of Samaria, you who serve you own will with such great zeal. You have come to Judea, so why do you descend to Samaria, that is, guard and make excuses for your own will? Can it be that you do not know that Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans?115 Earlier, when you came from the world, confessed and condemned your own will. Now you have abandoned your previous zeal and are seeking, protecting, and defending your own will. Thus you have been changed from a Jew into a Samaritan. In Judea the calf of your personal freedom is sacrificed to the Lord; in Samaria it is worshipped instead of God. If you are in Judea, you kill the calf in the Lord’s sacrifice. If you are in Samaria, you serve your calf with all your strength.116 If you make provisions for the flesh in its lusts,117 then you are feeding your calf with grass, because all flesh is grass, and all its glory is like the flower of grass.118 You glory in this, if you accomplish your desires. Your boasting is not good. Surely it is much better, surely it is more correct that he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord?119 Or do you not know that this is our glory: the testimony of our conscience?120 But, O Lord, they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eats grass.121 What will happen, I ask, regarding these carnal calves, when the calf of Lebanon cannot even be pleased, unless perhaps it is diligently broken to pieces, as is fitting for the victim of a sacrifice? But how, you ask, should it be broken to pieces? Moses teaches you this better than I. He ordered that we divide the calf into pieces and then, having put it over the flames, reduce it to ashes.122 How, I ask, do we ever break it into thinner pieces than when we first break it into pieces and then with fire reduce it into fine dust? Our calf is fed in Lebanon, if we follow our will only in honest things. We sacrifice our calf, when we renounce all singularity through the love of obedience. To cut up our calf is the censuring of our mind from presumptuous freedom. And someone divides that calf into pieces, when he carefully distinguishes each work of his singularity and in each work blames himself for his

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rash presumption. After that there is nothing more to do except cremate it with the fire of compunction or the flames of divine love until every arrogant will is put to sleep. From that sacrifice there remains, as it were, the ashes of our thoughts. They should not perish from our memory, because the memory of one’s presumptions is quite beneficial, when a conscience is humbled and troubled at remembering them. But notice here that as long as we desire to handle our calf diligently and break it to pieces according to the precept of the law, then gradually we become further removed from it. It still remains at the end of our sermon to learn the difference between the cedars of Lebanon and the calves of Lebanon. By the calves of Lebanon we understand the presumptions of arrogance, and by the cedars we understand the haughtiness of pride. Arrogance is to presume something above oneself. Pride is to become puffed up over one’s own presumption. Thus, we feed our calves in Lebanon as often as we presume, even with a good intention, something beyond the limits of our capacity. The cedars arise as if from Lebanon at that moment when the haughtiness of self-exultation raises itself on high from our good works. Under the shadow of such cedars the calves feeds themselves with delight, provided that they do not wear themselves out in such great labors for the sake of acquiring a nominal holiness. 4. And he will break them to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, and the beloved like the son of unicorns.123 Not only does the Lord break the cedars to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, but so does the beloved like the son of unicorns. But who is the beloved, or of whom is he the beloved? [The Prophet] does not say “[the beloved] of them” or “[the beloved] of those,” perhaps so that we should regard him as the beloved of all, just as when he is called “the Lord,” this is interpreted to mean that he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.124 Therefore who is the one uniquely beloved and the beloved of each one? Who else will this be except he who is beautiful above the sons of men,125 who, on account of his incomparable beauty, reveals himself to everyone as wonderful and makes himself lovable?126 Do you want to see how he is the beloved of all? Listen to what his Father says about him; notice what his bride declares on his behalf. The voice of the Father says to the beloved: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.127 The voice of the bride says to the beloved: I entreat you, o daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love.128 And about the angels it is written: On him the angels desire to look.129 And one reads the

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same about men: The one desired by all nations will come.130 Therefore, the beloved is the beloved of his Father, the beloved of his bride, the beloved of men, the beloved of angels, the beloved of everyone, and the beloved of each one. Thus, it is clear that he, who is not inflamed with the love of this beloved, does not have true love. We have heard of whom he is the beloved; now let us hear how or how much he is beloved. And, the Prophets says, beloved like the son of unicorns.131 But what does “like the son of unicorns” mean? Can it be that perhaps of the animals this kind loves its offspring more than all the rest, so that a unicorn is more prepared to die for its offspring than to lose its offspring, and so that a unicorn prefers to suffer death on behalf of its offspring rather than lose its living offspring? But who does not recognize this in the lovers of Christ, that is, how they take pleasure in giving their lives for the name of Christ?132 May the shed blood of martyrs be such a great witness of how Christ is the beloved as the son of unicorns. They are indeed the lovers of Christ; they are certainly the unicorns; and the beloved of them is indeed the Son of them. For  that reason he is truly beloved, because the Son is truly loved by them as the son of unicorns, and because they love him as it is proper for them to love their son. Now a clear explanation comes to mind as to why the sacred Scriptures call them unicorns. Man before sin received a double fortitude like two horns, because one horn was for fending off sin, and the second was for removing something detrimental. He was safeguarded by a twofold power. One was the integrity of the flesh; the other was integrity of mind. Man received integrity of body as opposed to misery, and the integrity of mind as opposed to malice. Man received the integrity of body as opposed to mortality, and the integrity of mind as opposed to iniquity. Because, after contending with the Devil, man fell through negligence,133 in this fall the Devil plucked out man’s first horn and bent his other horn. Indeed because man cannot avoid death for any reason,134 he was completely stripped, as it were, of the first horn. But because man could not be completely deprived of free choice, he did not lose the right horn, as it were, but yet man bears that horn weakened to the extent that it is bent. And this is why if there was any after the first fall who wanted to resist sin, their adversary easily triumphed over them. But at last, having compassion on men, the Orient came and visited us from on high.135 Therefore, he has visited and brought about the redemption of his people, and he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his servant.136 And so, because these people

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thereafter bear only one horn, but one that is erect, they patiently bear the penalty of death. But they bravely fight sins as if certain enemies of the soul, so that sin does not reign in their mortal body.137 And this is why they sing with confidence and say to him who gave to them this horn: In you we will brandish our enemies with a horn, and in your name we will spurn those rising up against us.138 In the meantime then they are going to receive the horn of salvation, and at some time they will receive the horn of security. As a result, at that time they, who with one horn are now fighting boldly and gloriously triumphing over the enemy, will prevail with two horns, and at that time they will have [two horns] through which they will be both free from sin and secure from all punishment, when he, who now raised up a horn of salvation for them, will have fulfilled his promise to them: I will break all the horns of sinners, and the horns of the just will be exalted.139 Therefore, you see how, insofar as [the Prophet] is reflecting upon the present time, he is discussing throughout only one horn, and, for that reason, every just person is called a unicorn. And yet at some time their horns will not only be raised but also exalted. Therefore, not only will the horns be raised to that height, which a person still to be tested has received, but they will also be exalted to the sublime, which a person to be glorified should have. So the first fortitude or power of man was the ability not to die and the ability not to sin, but the last fortitude or power will be the inability to die and the inability to sin, when death will be swallowed up in victory,140 and humanity itself, which will henceforth be raised in glory,141 will be fixed in the good and consummated in joy. You now see in what sense they are unicorns, but how could they have such a son? How, I say, do they have such a son, so that he is truly said to be the son of unicorns?142 Let us ask their son: Whoever, he says, will do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, sister, and mother.143 What else is the Son of the Father except the Power and Wisdom of the Father?144 He is the Word of the Father, the Son of the Father, and the Will of the Father. Similarly, what else is the will of men but a kind of offspring of the mind? If then your will and the will of the Father is the same, then your son and the Son of the Father is the same. Truth, wisdom, and will are conceived in the heart and begotten from the heart. If then you have the same will and the same wisdom as the Father, then you have the same Son as the Father. You are surprised at this. Here is something that may surprise you even more. One of two things is in you: you may be a father or mother,

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or rather you are both father and mother. You can beget Him in your heart and in the heart of another, and you can conceive Him from your heart and from the mouth of another. He is begotten in our intellect and conceived in our consent; He is born in our will (affectu) and reared in our action (effectu). When you understand the truth or cause another to understand, you beget Christ. When you convince yourself of the truth, or when someone else convinces you, then Christ is truly conceived. Therefore, when you beget, you are a father; when you conceive, you are a mother. You know the will of God. Consent to it, and you have conceived. You may give birth by loving, and you may rear by working. Note that it is left to each one’s power whether he becomes a mother of such a great child. Rightly, therefore, “a cursed barren women who begets not,”145 which could have at will such a great child. Why do you think that similarly there is a non-cursed man who does not beget as if “a cursed barren women who begets not,”146 unless because it does not pertain equally to our power to understand the truth and to consent to it? Indeed, I do not always understand the truth, when I want; but know that I always consent to what I understand, if I want. Happy is the one who is prepared, when he wills, to have a son, and not just any son but God. O how great is the dignity of man to have the God of majesty147 as a son! Pay attention, O man! Listen up, O man! Take courage at last! Make your face cheerful!148 If you have doubts about your father, then have confidence in your son. If you are embarrassed about your parent, then exult in the child. If you have been saddened in the first Adam, then rejoice in the second Adam. Greater is the second Adam at encouraging than is the first Adam at discouraging. Through the first Adam mankind was thrown out of paradise, but through the second Adam mankind will be glorified in heaven. Consider how glorious He is.149 He is a man, and who will recognize him? He is a man, I say, and the Son of Man,150 but yet who will recognize him? What do you think he is whom men call the Son of Man? Let Peter answer one for all: You are Christ, the Son of the living God.151 Christ calls himself the Son of man, and Peter calls him the Son of God the Father.152 It is a wonderful thing and worthy of admiration that one and the same is both the Son of the living God and the Son of dying man, or should I say the Son of dead man? If we deny the “dead,” then how will that which we read stand: In whatever day you will eat of it, you will die the death?153 But perhaps man begins to live only when he begins to have such a son.154 O how great is the humility of the Almighty! O how won-

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derful is the sublimity of man! What incomparable humility that God has a father who is human! What inestimable sublimity that a man has a son who is God!155 O how right it is for him, who is so humble and so profound, to be loved! Truly our beloved is worthy of a unique love. He is the beloved of men, the beloved of angels, the beloved of all, and beloved like the son of unicorns.156 Now it remains to ask the following question: After the Prophet said: The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon,157 why did he add afterwards: And beloved like the son of unicorns?158 Indeed the Lord and the beloved like the son of unicorns is the same, as if the Prophet had said the Lord and his Christ.159 But, after saying the Lord will break,160 why is it necessary that “and his Christ” be added,161 since one and the same Lord is not only Father and Son but also the Holy Spirit? Whatever the Father does, does the Son not do it in like manner? And yet in several passages of the Scripture you will be able to find such a distinction, as in this passage: The kings of the earth have assisted, and the princes met together against the Lord and against his Christ.162 What then will we say? We know that Christ, insofar as he is one and the same as the Father, works the same and in the same way as the Father. But why should we be amazed if with regard to that which is other than the Father Christ has a mode of operation that is different from the Father? If Christ acts in like manner as the Father in his divinity, in which he is like the Father, then what wonder is it if with regard to that which he is unlike the Father he does something in a manner different from the Father? That Christ clearly, in my opinion, works in a different manner in some respect is suggested from the following distinction in this passage: The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon, and he will break them to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, and the beloved like the son of unicorns.163 Not only the Lord, as we have said, but also his or our beloved will break the cedars and break them to pieces. What does it mean to break and to break to pieces the cedars, except to crush the hardness of a proud mind and to bend down its loftiness? Undoubtedly the Lord and no less the beloved humbles all arrogance when he wants and bends it down as much as he wants. But the Lord accomplishes this with the terror of his majesty, and the beloved accomplishes it with the example of his humility. The Lord as Lord accomplishes it in severity, the beloved as sweet and charming accomplishes it in sweetness. And yet each is one and the same sweet and righteous Lord,164 who is charming and gentle to everyone who calls upon him.165 Therefore, when someone, after reflecting on the Lord’s power, becomes ashamed

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of thinking lofty thoughts166 in the presence of such great majesty and becomes very afraid of presuming something contrary to the Lord’s will, the Lord undoubtedly breaks the cedars of self-exultation in his heart. Another, after looking at the wonderful humility of our beloved, is ashamed of appearing proud, when he sees Lord of majesty taking the form of a servant,167 fulfilling the law,168 submitting to men, and patiently enduring the insults of men169 and the shame of the cross.170 Therefore, when someone, after seeing the example of the Lord’s humility, becomes disturbed at his own presumption and deflated of every loftiness of former pride, it is undoubtedly clear that the beloved broke the cedars of a mind hardened with evil and broke it to pieces like a calf of Lebanon (that is, according to the likeness of it). Rightly, therefore, it is written: The Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon, and he will break them to pieces like a calf of Lebanon, and the beloved like the son of unicorns.171 5. The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire.172 The fire, which Jesus came to cast on the earth,173 is different from the fire, which Jesus came to extinguish on the earth. Coming from heaven, Jesus brought with him the celestial fire. Coming to the earth, he found an earthly fire. Every love is a fire, but not every love is good. There is licit love, and there is illicit love. Licit love is good, and a love that is not licit is not a good love. And so, a good love is a good fire, and an evil love is an evil fire. A good fire is the fire of love, and an evil fire is the fire of lust. This was a good fire, about which Jesus said: I have come to cast fire on the earth, and what do I desire except that it burn?174 Therefore, he came to kindle a good fire, but he came to extinguish an evil fire. For that reason, he prohibits through Moses offering a foreign fire upon his altar.175 Moreover, he commands that his own fire burn always on his altar.176 Therefore, he loves his own fire, but he hates a foreign fire. They burned with the fire, who said: Was not our heart burning within us, while he was speaking to us on the way?177 With such a fire they burned, who received the Holy Spirit in tongues of fire,178 because the Holy Spirit is a fire, although not a consuming fire but an illuminating one.179 For that reason, the bush that Moses beheld was burning without being consumed.180 But, on the contrary, an evil and foreign fire consumes but does not illuminate. As Job said: It is a fire that devours even to destruction and wipes out all progeny,181 burning even to the lowest hell and consuming with fire the foundations of the mountains.182 And yet the Lord, whenever he wants, divides the flame of such fire,183 and he, as he pleases, completely extinguishes it.

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When the Scripture says: The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire,184 it clearly demonstrates that the Lord sometimes divides the flame of fire with one part burning and the other part dying out. However, when the Scripture reads elsewhere: But the angel descended into the furnace and drove out the flame of the fire and made the midst of the furnace like the blowing of wind bringing dew,185 it clearly declares that the Lord sometimes extinguishes the flame of this fire. Do you not see how the latter passage speaks of casting out the flame of the fire, while the former passage promises to divide it? But why is the flame not extinguished in the former passage as it is in the latter passage? Perhaps because they were young boys for whom the funeral pyre was prepared, but they were not young boys about whom David was speaking. They were not yet converted and become like little children,186 but were still great in their own eyes and still ashamed of appearing humble. But, in order to deflate that which is swelling in them through pride, the flame of fire is retained in some part, but for the most part it is quenched and extinguished, lest it engulf them to the point of consenting to perversity and to some extent reduce them, as it were, to ashes. Therefore, this flame usefully burns in part for the protection of humility, and it is nevertheless beneficially extinguished for the most part as a precaution against turpitude. In this sense, Paul was given a sting of his flesh to batter him, lest the magnitude of revelations might exalt him.187 Do you not see how the very fact that this flame is temporarily retained in part works for our benefit? But when someone is fully converted and becomes like a little child188 and obtains perfect purity, then perhaps the time will come to extinguish [that flame] just like in those three young boys. Because they were young boys, and because they were pure, we read and believe that the flame had been extinguished. Indeed, someone is called a young boy with respect to his purity, and he, who is pure, is rightly called a young boy. One kind of purity is the purity of mind, another is the purity of mouth, and another is the purity of deed. Simplicity is in the heart, truth in the mouth, and sincerity in deed. We are believed to have those three young boys, when we mediate on what is holy, speak what is true, and do what is just. O very happy and pleasing to our God is that fellowship of these three young boys because of a single harmony of purity equally in will, word, and deed! The King of Babylon sees this and is envious. At first he forces them to worship his golden statue, but then, because they refused to worship it, he commands that the fire of the furnace be prepared for them.189

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Indeed, the king would readily mock and despise their holiness, if he could lift them from their holiness into pride. What else does it mean to worship a golden statue except to devote oneself with such great efforts to pride and vain glory?190 He freely accepts them in his kingdom only when he regards their efforts in the service of exaltation. But when he sees that they despise the height and gold of his statue and, among the wonders that they bear, mock those things that bear all glory of exaltation, he commands that the furnace be heated and pyre of fire be prepared for them.191 Indeed, he is not able to overcome them through the glory of pride, so he hopes that he can do so through the flame of lust. The King of Babylon is the king who rules over all the sons of pride. The ministers,192 whom the king guides toward such a work, are those deceitful spirits whom the sacred Scripture usually called the spirit of fornication.193 The furnace is heated by them, when our flesh is inflamed with the fire of lust. After the furnace is heated, the ministers tie up the young boys and throw them into the furnace.194 The young boys find themselves beyond the furnace, because, after they fixed their attention on spiritual devotions and contemplation of heavenly things,195 they nearly forget that they are in the body.196 Indeed, in some way these young boys are outside the body, which is to treat nothing carnal with the heart, with the tongue, and with the hand. But they are, as it were, bound when, after being pressed down with temptations, they are impeded from their devotions. Then they are, as it were, in the midst of the furnace when, after becoming fatigued by the stings of the flesh,197 they can think, mourn, or weep about nothing else. The Angel of God comes to their aid,198 because divine protection never forsakes his faithful ones in battle. The flames are driven from them,199 when divine power extinguishes the fire of lust. The angel makes the midst of the furnace like the blowing of wind bringing dew200 and unbinds the tongue of the young boys for praising the Creator.201 The midst of the furnace is the inmost place of the heart. As the Holy Spirit blows, the heart is imbued with the heavenly dew, and the whole conscience is cooled from divine inspiration. After the young boys have been freed, the flame burns the Chaldeans,202 because, when they cannot prevail over the good, the flame of envy consumes malignant people as they lie in ambush. See how the testimonies of the prophets harmonize with one another. In Daniel pride is first trampled upon in the contempt for the golden statue,203 afterwards the flame of lust is extinguished in the cooling of the furnace.204 Thus also in this passage the cedars are first

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broken,205 afterwards the flame of fire is divided.206 If the hardness of pride is not first bent, then the flame of lust is undoubtedly not extinguished. This seems to be supported in the two readings: the casting out of all the flames is narrated in Daniel,207 while the promise that the flames will be divided is described by David.208 But because this Psalm is instructing beginners and the imperfect, its promise should be appropriated especially to those to whom David is speaking. However, we can still interpret the letter in such a way that it can correspond equally to beginners, the advanced, and those perfected. Indeed, the flame is divided in two ways, when either some part of it is separated from the flame, or the whole flame is separated from its tinder. And we certainly know that a flame, separated from its tinder, does not last even for an hour. And so, let us first see how this flame is augmented, and then we will discern more easily how it is divided into parts. We most note that what is promised is not to extinguish the fire but to divide its flame.209 Indeed, as long as we live, we have within ourselves that fire (that is, the kindling of sin), but we do not always sustain its flame to the same degree. This fire burst forth into flames when it burns us with the ardor of a carnal fire. It first titillates the flesh, then it defiles the mind with immoral delight, and finally it subjects reason to itself by consent to perversity. And so, the sulfurous flame of lust grows in these three steps, but at the voice of the Lord’s command it also decreases in the same steps (although in the opposite order). First, that voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire in beginners and the newly converted divides whatever could bend the consent of reason.210 But in the advanced that voice often removes the illicit delight of the mind. Moreover, in the very few who have been perfected that voice removes even the titillation of the flesh. However, many who have advanced toward supreme perfection still have not been able to extinguish the sting of their flesh.211 This happens to them by divine dispensation which always sees when something very beneficial happens to anyone. In some people this was occurring to demonstrate their extraordinary fortitude, because they were the sort of people who were capable of fighting continually and constantly conquering. In other people it was occurring to protect humility, because they had received some unparalleled good in comparison with every other person. Thus, because that voice destroys an act of wickedness in penitents, destroys the consent to lust in converts, destroys the contagion of a vile delight in the advanced, and destroys the movement of titillation in the perfect, this passage rightly says: The voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire.212

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However, one must know that just as no one is completely free from this fire in this life, so there is no one who always feels its flames. After all, who could completely destroy the kindling of sin in this life, or who has ever suffered the ardor of lust without end? To calm this fire and extinguish its flame is a great thing, but by no means does this lie within the power of men. Only the voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire can accomplish this.213 6. The voice of the Lord shaking the desert, and the Lord will shake the desert of Cades.214 Thus far the Lord was fortifying against the kinds of temptations, henceforth he enumerates and promises the gifts of grace like a crown after the victory, a reward after merit, the triumph after the victory. Therefore, the Prophet says: The voice of the Lord shaking the desert, and the Lord will shake the desert of Cades.215 It seems that this passage is presenting one thing and promising another as an expectation. Shaking the desert pertains to presenting; and when will shake the desert of Cades is added, this indeed pertains to a promising.216 Therefore, the first is given immediately, the second is expected. Such was the case with the above passage: The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon.217 But one must also know that just as in that passage the cedars are first broken, but afterwards the cedars of Lebanon are broken,218 so also in this passage the desert is first shaken, but afterwards the desert of Cades is shaken.219 Notice how what pertains to the beginning is stated first in both passages, and something else is promised that consummates perfection. But now let us see what occurs here about what must be said about the desert. One kind of desert is good, another kind is evil. An evil desert is found where the buds of virtues are lacking. A good desert is found where chaos of vices is far removed. A desert is also an evil desert, where there is no human cultivation, where there is no zeal for holiness and religious. Likewise, there is a desert, but a good desert, where there is no chaotic din, but where the voice of the turtle is heard in silence,220 and where the sighing is endless because of a longing for divine love.221 And so, an evil desert is found where heavenly desires and spiritual desires are lacking, and a good desert is found where secular desires and carnal desires are far removed. The desert of Edom is an evil desert,222 but the desert of Cades is a good desert.223 Nevertheless both are shaken, and both feel remorse to the point of tears because of the divine voice. But the desert of Edom feels remorse out of fear, and the desert of Cades feels remorse out of

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love. Edom means “earthly,” and Cades means “changed” or “sacred.”224 Thus, because Edom knows nothing except what is earthly and transitory, it makes an evil desert. But because Cades loves nothing except what is just and desires nothing except what is sacred, it makes a good desert. Bareness of holiness lies in Edom; the bareness of earthly lust lies in Cades. Edom (i.e. earthly) is correctly called an evil desert, and Cades (i.e. sacred) is correctly called a good desert, because in Edom holiness is lacking and earthly lust reigns, and in Cades lust is lacking and sanctity remains. The sacred Scripture is designating that meaning from a proper name, namely, it is commending and approving what it knows. While speaking about evil, it does not refer to it by name but only uses the word “desert,” so that you may understand whatever else that is not holy and utterly unworthy of the name Cades. Nevertheless, as we have said, both deserts are shaken and both are moved, so that both may be changed. An evil desert is shaken for the purpose of being transformed into a good desert, and a good desert is moved for the purpose of being improved into the best desert. To be changed from evil to good is a good change; and to be changed from good to the best is a sacred changed. Therefore, the desert, which is changed from a good desert to the best, is rightly called Cades, because Cades, as I have said, means “changed” or “sacred.” Therefore, a desert, which is still evil and thereby cannot be called Cades, is not surprisingly shaken and also remorseful on account of its regard for and fear of its own iniquity. Because the desert of Cades is already good and is burning to be better, it is shaken and remorseful on account of a desire for greater holiness. Therefore, the former becomes frightened over the evil that it committed, and the latter groans for the good that it did not yet receive. The former trembles at the recollection of divine majesty, and the latter is liquefied at the contemplation of heavenly goodness. Therefore, the former trembles out of much fear, and the latter sighs out of very intense love. The latter trembles, lest it is snatched away to torment; the latter sighs, because it is not yet raptured to joy. Therefore, to be shaken with fear is characteristic of beginners, but to be struck with love is characteristic of the perfect. And, for that reason, one desert is immediately given at the beginning, and the other desert is promised at perfection. Therefore, shaking and will shake is rightly said about them.225 The voice of the Lord shaking the desert, and the Lord will shake the desert of Cades.226 The Prophet says this because the compunction of fear is given to everyone at the beginning, but the compunction

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of love is postponed until perfect love drives out fear.227 These two kinds of compunction are a higher watered ground and a lower watered ground.228 Hence, the same Psalmist says elsewhere: Who divided the Red Sea into parts.229 The waters of the sea are indeed very bitter. What then is the Red Sea except the bitterness of penance? Therefore, the Red Sea still remains, as it were, undivided for him who only knows how to groan only out of a fear of damnation. But the sea is divided when compunction is doubled. Compunction indeed doubles the bitterness of the heart only when someone alternates the tear of compunction, so that at one moment he bewails the evil that he fears, and at another moment he sighs for the good that he desires. Sorrow arising from a regard for and fear of evil is the sea on the left, and sorrow arising from the contemplation and expectation of the good is the sea on the right. And the waters were to them as a wall on the right and on the left,230 because we prevent lust on the one side and avoid negligence on the other side, and because a person, who hopes for a reward, exerts himself toward merit, and a person, who fears punishment, anxiously avoids guilt. Nevertheless, we must know that the compunction of fear is certainly first with respect to time but last with respect to dignity. After many tears of penance we are finally lead back to the hope of forgiveness; and sometimes we are transformed to the certitude of salvation only with many sighs, tears, and unspeakable groans.231 However, at once after we obtain the confidence of eternity, we, on account of an insatiable desire for the good, begin to groan and weep even more anxiously and more abundantly than we did before out of the fear of evil. When we desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ,232 then we are certain about the crown of righteousness that is laid aside for us.233 And indeed the tears of love affect us more bitterly and flow more abundantly. This is why someone said: Behold in peace my bitterness is most bitter.234 The bitterness is great, when someone renounces the world and is converted to the religious life (religionem). This bitterness is greater, when someone denies himself and is fatigued with innumerable temptations of the enemy. But this bitterness is the greatest, when someone has tasted in part that peace which surpasses every understanding,235 and yet he is not permitted to partake fully of it. Thus bitterness is bitter in conversion, bitterer in temptation, and most bitter in the expectation of internal and eternal sweetness and in the delay of an insatiable desire, because the hope, which is delayed, afflicts the mind. This is why David himself proclaims elsewhere, saying: Woe is

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me that my sojourning is prolonged;236 and this: My soul refused to be comforted.237 In your opinion what was and how great was the intensity of bitterness that had transfixed a soul which did not even want to receive comfort for the solace of sorrow? Indeed there is much that troubles a man, when the love of the world is forsaken.238 And yet, there is even more that torments a man, when the love of self is trampled upon. But above all the love of God transfixes and penetrates the heart of man and melts it with the ardor of desire. This is why that voice [of David] is tearful: My soul has thirsted after God the living fount. When will I come and appear before the face of God? My tears have been for me bread day and night, while it is said to me daily: Where is your God?239 And that passage in the Canticle: Prop me up with flowers, surround me with apples, because I languish with love;240 and that passage that we mentioned above: Behold in peace my bitterness is most bitter.241 In this way one attains at some time the desire and sighs of love after the tears and groans of fear. Therefore, because the heart of man is first shaken with fear and afterwards has the compunction of love, David rightly said: The voice of the Lord shaking the desert, and the Lord will shake the desert of Cades.242 7. The voice of the Lord preparing the deer, and he will reveal the thick woods.243 Just as the grace of compunction is found in the shaking of the desert, so the grace of administration is found in the preparation of the deer. Indeed, it is not enough to lament our evils, unless afterwards we prepare ourselves also for good works. For this purpose the desert of our heart is shaken, that we may be devoted to prayer. For this purpose deer-like swiftness is given to us, that we may be ready for work. A deer is a swift and timid animal but hostile to snakes. An expeditious and ready velocity of action is rightly understood in the agility of feet. Do you want to hear a deer running briskly? I have run the way of your commandments, when you have enlarged my heart.244 Do you want to hear the voice of the one preparing for deer-like swiftness? So run that you may obtain [the prize].245 Do you want to hear the voice of one preparing for deer-like fear? Blessed is the man who is always fearful,246 and in his mind thinks of God’s circumspection.247 Do you want to hear the voice of one preparing the deer for the attack of snakes? Mortify your members, which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, and so on.248 These three things seem to pertain to a deer: running swiftly the way of the commandments, always suspicious of the ambushes of de-

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mons, and boldly destroying the poisons of vices. Thus an expeditious, cautious and just act makes people deer, because such an act gives them speed insofar as the act is expeditious, and it beneficially makes them fearful insofar as the act is cautious because it makes them careful, and it destroys the poisons of vices insofar as the act is just. Because many people run swiftly, they do not kill the snakes but nourish them, because other such snakes thrive whenever these people fearlessly act with pride, vain glory, or with other such vices. But others have good intention in their good works and, insofar as they are able, they strive to mortify snake-like poisons of vices; but, as long as they do not know how to maintain the mode and time in their pursuits, they fall into the ambushes of demons as snares of hunters; and, for that reason, they rashly believed themselves to be safe. And, although those people have deer-like swiftness, they are still ashamed of having deer-like fear, because they are as swift as they are hasty, and they do not know how, or rather they refuse, to have circumspection. That is why the voice preparing the deer shouts out to them:249 Son, when you come to the service of God, stand in fear and prepare your soul for temptation;250 and elsewhere: Serve the Lord in fear.251 Therefore, in order for those who desire to be reckoned among such deer to pertain to the number of deer, they must both run swiftly and fear cautiously. Therefore, to such deer and to those who have been prepared in such a way the Lord will reveal the thick woods,252 and he will disclose the deep places of the Scriptures, the dark places of allegories, the mysteries of the sacraments, and the secrets of mysteries. Indeed, such deer love to dash around in different directions and search everywhere for every hidden place among the thickets of the forest of Lebanon, to penetrate secret places, to frequent obscure places, and to rest in the thickets and shadows. In that forest deer find lairs hidden from the ambushes of hunters, and they receive relief from the heat of the sun. The more deeply they have perceived the understanding of the Scriptures, the more perfectly they have penetrated the deep places of them, and the more securely and the quieter they are hidden, as it were, in the thickets and are resting in the shadows. Here they deride the ambushes of demons; there they disdain the ardor of lust and carnal allurements. For, we learn more fully the tricks of demons from reading the Scriptures, and we hardly remember the carnal allurements among the so many delights of wisdom. Therefore, what wonder is it if after such great grace all will speak his glory in his temple?253 What wonder is it, I ask, if in the edification

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of their neighbors they seek glory of God from whom they have freely received so many gifts of graces? The temple of God is the congregation of believers. And so, in this temple they speak praise to God and seek his glory, when they strive to edify their neighbors through the word of preaching and to magnify his glory in them. And, rightly indeed, they first receive the understanding of Scripture for their own instruction, and afterwards they receive the gift of preaching for the benefit and edification of their neighbor. Understanding is first given, so that they may believe what is true and understand what is right; afterwards eloquence is added, so that they may teach what is beneficial and persuade what is salvific. We can also appropriately interpret this word “temple” not as the present Church but as the assembly of the heavenly citizens. Oftentimes, with regarding to the distinction of both, sacred Scripture usually designates the present Church with the tabernacle and the [glorified Church] with the temple. Indeed, this present Church, which is still set in motion and prepared for battle, is rightly described as the tabernacle; but the [glorified Church], which is established in eternal stability, is better described as the temple. For that reason, even if they are raptured [to the temple] through contemplation, they can by no means enter it. But, even if they are permitted inside, they cannot cease from praising their Creator because of the intensity of their admiration, and it is fulfilled what is said: And in his temple all will speak his glory?254 Because everyone rises to the temple by contemplating themselves, as long as they are inside, they cannot cease from divine praise. This is why those returning from the temple shout out: How great is the intensity of your sweetness, Lord, which you have hidden from them that fear you!255 Again he says: The remainders of thought will keep the festive day to you.256 Let him, who is able, think about how excellent and how great is the celebration of that solemnity that those placed on inside accomplished, even when the remainders of thoughts, which those returning to themselves took with them from their memory or recollection of the tasted sweetness, keep the feast day to the Lord God?257 But if we interpret the temple of God as the heart of man, then we [will] discover more quickly who it is who may speak glory to God in this temple. Who else are the inhabitants of that temple other than the thoughts of the mind and the affections of the heart? Because the thought, it says, of man will praise you.258 And yet, rarely does it happen that all the inhabitants of this temple assemble in one place, so that everyone, congregating together in God’s temple, simultaneously

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speak his glory in such a way that no foreign thought comes between them that disturbs or diminishes that joy of divine solemnity. And yet, that person who is instructed by experience more than reading knows better that this can sometimes happen. Indeed it sometimes happens that the mind, which is faithful over few things and is entering into the joy of his Lord,259 is intoxicated with the torrents of pleasure; and, with the whole mind engaged in joyful shouting, it forgets not only all external things but even itself; and, with the whole mind gathered in itself, or rather elevated above itself, it is totally submerged by the sea of spiritual joy. Through that happy experience the mind is already confirming how true that statement is by which it is said: Blessed is the people who knows jubilation.260 And at that moment it is fulfilled what is said: And in his temple all will speak his glory?261 According to the first interpretation the gift of preaching is understood, according to the second the grace of contemplation is understood, but according to the third interpretation the joyful shout of the mind is expressed. Which of these interpretations is more correct? I confess that I do not know where the whole truth is that is spoken there. Many often receive the word of preaching after the understanding of the Scriptures, and often while reading the mind is imbued with the light of contemplation, or, after being engaged in joyful shouting, it dances with a voice of exultation and confession,262 because after the voice of the Lord preparing the deer will have revealed the thick woods, all will soon speak his glory in his temple.263 See what great and admirable things that voice of the Lord accomplishes: the voice of the Lord breaking cedars, the voice of the Lord dividing the flame of fire, the voice of the Lord shaking the desert, the voice of the Lord preparing deer!264 And in that way the Lord still brings about many other things which the Psalmist could not enumerate or which he did not need to describe. Nevertheless, often there are many differences between a voice (vocem) and a word (sermonem). After all, even animals have a voice. Although the voice can be heard without a word, a word is still not formed without the voice. Therefore, [the Lord] sometimes utters a word without the voice, and sometimes a voice without a word, and sometimes even a sound without the voice. As the Lord says about himself, at one moment he squeaks like a wagon weighed down with hey,265 sometimes he whistles for the bee that is in the uttermost parts of Egypt,266 sometimes he roars like a lion,267 and, whenever he wants, he sends forth his word to the earth; his word runs swiftly.268 Therefore,

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he squeaks with a noise, he allures with a whistle, he frightens with a roar, and he instructs with a word. Whenever and to whomever he speaks, he clearly reveals his gracious purpose. But he signifies more than speaks his will in his voice alone, because he conceals more deeply and hides more profoundly the meaning through his squeaking. And indeed listening to the sound of his squeaking is more frustrating, or rather more indignant, than instructive, because what people hear is displeasing to them, and they often criticize it rashly. This is the reason why some people openly criticize God’s providence in temporal things. It seems to them that in some way the Lord is squeaking in the oversight of his work, when he indifferently bestows good and evil things both to good and evil people—He who causes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad and causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust.269 But others turn inward in all these matters and consult reason about them. As they rationally collate the rewards in store for the good and the torments in store for the depraved, they perceive the Lord’s voice to a certain extent. And those who prepare themselves for the promise of reward become alert, so to speak, to the whistle of persuasion. And those who become afraid of the threats of terror tremble, as it were, at the roar of the lion. Indeed the former person is awakened, so to speak, by a certain whistling, and he is prompted to do something because of his temporal benefit or eternal reward. And the latter person is upset at the roar, and he is cast down by his own presumption as a result of considering any kind of loss or eternal damnation. And yet, in a far more excellent manner the Lord makes himself known as if through speech to those in whom he inspires his will, because it is one thing to discern what is right and another thing to understand perfectly the gracious purpose of the Lord and to cling to it with love. Therefore, to some extent the Lord has a sound in the administration of his work, a voice in the revelation of truth, and a word in the inspiration of his will. 8. The Lord makes the flood to dwell, and the Lord will sit as king forever.270 Although the water of salvific wisdom is one and the same,271 it is still not poured out equally throughout the land of the living,272 but it divides itself into many parts and in many ways through its breadth. It makes some waters a well and cistern, and it makes others a torrent and fount flowing out into eternal life.273 In some places it is drawn into streams, and in other places it is collected into rivers. Sometimes it grows into a lake or pool, sometimes it surges into an abyss or flood. If we pay careful attention to these ten different waters in the sacred

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Scripture, then we will be able to prove easily that the distinct waters are the different gifts of the divine Wisdom. It would be too long to examine carefully here each of these waters, or rather it would be beyond our capabilities to say something suitable about this great subject matter. Therefore, let us say something about what occurs in the meantime. Perhaps this can be sufficient for this context according to what is said: The Lord makes the flood to dwell.274 This water of salvific wisdom,275 if we believe the sacred Scripture, or rather because we must believe it without any hesitation; this water of wisdom, I say, sometimes bursts forth in such great abundance and extends itself in such great excesses that it not only fills the valleys and covers the plains, but it also totally engulfs all the hills and mountains.276 This occurs in such a way that it completely submerges the assault of every carnal thought and every earthly affection; or indeed the mind even forgets itself when it contemplates whatever is high to men,277 the very peaks of virtues, and what is greater than all of these. In fact, when the mind of the contemplative is raised above itself, when the whole mind is suspended in the heavens, it undoubtedly forgets itself and the things beneath it; and in the great flood of wisdom it contemplates nothing but heaven and wades all throughout that water of wisdom, by which it is raised on high. But who do you think will be fit for this work? And who will be found worthy for inhabiting such a flood? No one should hope for this based on one’s own virtue; no one should presume this based on one’s own effort. This activity is not based on human merit but on a divine gift. The Lord is the only one who can give it. Indeed, only the Lord makes the flood to dwell.278 Unless I am mistaken, that ark of a good conscience is built for inhabiting such a flood at the Lord’s instigation and instruction, yet only if that man, Noah, should live and thrive in us, because he alone can suffice for such a great activity with divine help.279 Noah is interpreted as rest, and it is sufficiently clear that without the love of rest the building of the ark is in no way complete. Therefore, let the love of rest ferment in us, and let us delight in that internal restful activity or active rest of investigating the truth and ardently fulfill what is written in the Psalm: Be still and see that I am God.280 Yet if we determine to erect the structure of this Ark in us, then we are worthy and fit for it when the Lord deigns to make us predetermined inhabitants of the flood. Indeed, as we have already said above, the Lord alone makes the flood to dwell.281

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Unless I am mistaken, we are warned of two things in this one verse: not to despair of our ability to fulfill such a wonderful work and not to presume the ability to complete such a unique activity by some human effort. But let us see now what follows the inundation of such a flood, or rather what usually follows the inhabitation of such a flood. And the Lord will sit as king forever.282 As sacred Scripture teaches, we learn that the soul of the just is the seat of wisdom.283 And so, why is it that the King of kings and Lord of lords,284 who is the power of God285 and the wisdom of God,286 is said to sit on this seat of his only after the flood? Why was the king not also sitting forever before the flood? Can it be perhaps that because the giants were upon the earth before the flood,287 Wisdom was not allowed to inhabit its kingdom in peace, and for that reason this was not the time or place for him to sit but to fight? Therefore, [the Lord] as a man of war, Almighty is his name,288 was forced daily to take up his arms and shield and to rise up to their aid,289 and the Lord as one who is strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle,290 was forced to overthrow them who fight against his army,291 because those, who were his own, were crying out to him daily: Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for the sake of your name.292 Without a doubt as long as the giants are living upon the earth,293 as long as that horrible immensity of vices still thrives in the carnal flesh or heart, the Lord of hosts,294 the Lord of armies,295 is not allowed to inhabit his kingdom in peace. But because wisdom conquers wickedness, when it began to pour itself out very extensively, or rather to occupy the whole land, it swiftly and without delay submerges whatever was previously living an evil life upon it. Indeed, at the Lord’s first command the founts of the abyss bursts and the floodgates of the heaven opened,296 and the inundation of the flood happens suddenly and so severe that without delay every foe of wisdom is subverted. All the founts, it says, of the abyss were broken, and the floodgates of heaven were opened.297 If you want to know what this great abyss is, recall what the Prophet says about it: Your judgments are a great abyss.298 And so that you may also know what sort of free rain there can be that God set aside for his inheritance,299 recall what is read elsewhere in the words of the same Prophet: And your truth reaches even to the clouds.300 You certainly see such clouds that bears the truth and able to rain down such water. The founts of the abyss are broken, and the floodgates of heaven are opened,301 when the time for causing the flood approaches, so that the water of salvific wisdom302 pours itself out partly from the hidden stream of divine inspiration and partly from angelic revelation.

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The founts of the abyss were broken, when the Prophet said: And the founts of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were revealed.303 The floodgates of heaven were opened, when the Apostle said: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice.304 Moreover, the flood inundated [the earth] perhaps at the time when the Apostle proclaimed elsewhere in admiration of wisdom: O the depth of riches of wisdom and of the knowledge of God!305 Therefore, how do you think the carnal desires become weakened, or rather how quickly do you think they sink, when that vast abyss of divine judgment poured itself out for the sake of revealing, and the sea of divine wisdom seizes the whole land of the human heart and its inhabitants and completely submerges the vast number of thoughts and affections? Those desires alone survive this flood that live enclosed in the bosom of the ark,306 that do not exceed the measure of a good conscience, and that do not forsake the limits of modesty. Therefore, there are some desires that are abandoned outside the ark for destruction, and there are others that are preserved inside the ark for life. Moreover, not only are rational desires preserved but so are irrational desires; but of these irrational desires not only are the clean preserved but so are the unclean,307 that is, to the extent that cares of necessity or precaution of preserving humility requires. Those desires that rise from the deliberation of reason seem to pertain to men as much as to rational animals, just as those desires that emerge without the judgment of discretion seem to pertain to irrational animals. And indeed these desires consists of each kind, some good and some bad, because there are just men and there are unjust men, and some animals are clean and other unclean. Do you want to know more clearly the different kinds of clean and unclean animals and just and unjust men? Perhaps we can demonstrate this better with an example rather than a definition. A certain person passes by someone and sees that he is afflicted with hunger and cold or oppressed with any other kind of starvation. At once and without any deliberation of the mind he is touched inwardly by the affection of piety, and with a sudden compassion of the mind he feels pity for the one whom he saw afflicted. His thought solicits him to temper the poverty of that man with his own abundance.308 But perhaps he closes the ear of piety on account of the excessive tenacity of his avarice.309 And so, he decides to give nothing of his own to him, lest he seems to sustain any losses of the diminution of his goods. Here is a clean animal but an unjust man. The clean animal is, as it were, that affection of piety

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preceding the judgment of the mind, but the unjust man is, as it were, that impious deliberation of subsequent obduracy. Another person feels in himself the depraved motion at the sight of a woman, and afterwards he can consult the decree of reason. But after he consulted reason, he rises up and vigorously drives the evil away. Here is an unclean animal but a just man. Indeed, what do we call a depraved motion except an unclean animal, and how should we judge the just decree of subsequent deliberation except a virtuous man? Thus the unclean desires surging from the faculty of desire (appetitu) and preceding the judgment of reason are irrational and unclean animals. But clean animals are those desires that suggest nothing wicked. It is very astonishing and quite remarkable that clean animals often impede the good and impel toward evil, just as unclean animals often aid toward the good and strengthen against evil. Who denies that pious affections are directed toward parents? And yet the fact they loved their own tenderly whom they did not want to forsake for the sake of God has caused harm to many and detracted from the love of God. What sort of person, unless he is perverse, was never ashamed of the sting of his flesh,310 and yet how many times did it aid against pride and preserved in humility. Often we are diverted away from something good by something better, and we are driven from something evil to best. That is why a countless number of clean animals are submerged in the flood, and many of the unclean animals were spared after the flood. Rightly indeed whether those affections are shameful or virtuous, they are destroyed in the flood of wisdom, if they impede the pursuit of perfection. Rightly whether those affections alone are regarded among the virtuous or among the impure, they are spared after the flood if they cooperate in the good.311 But if it is unprofitable or impossible to abandon every unclean animal to death, then let us at least be careful not to bring any perverse men inside the ark of our conscience. The inability to kill completely every carnal desire is one thing, but it is something else entirely to receive into oneself a depraved consent out of deliberation. What do we say about the giants now? Surely we do not believe that even one of them can survive after the predetermined flood? Far be it that we believe this! Indeed, after such a flood the mind cannot easily commit a mortal sin even if it is not within its power to wipe out completely every venial sin. Let no temptation, the Apostles says, take hold of you unless a human temptation.312 See how the Apostle strove to remove all the giants from the land. Indeed, what better interpretation do we offer for the giants,

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who have a monstrous form and distorted form, what better interpretation, I say, except a temptation that is more than human? How perfectly do you think that he, who strove very ardently to eradicate such giants even from hearts of others, had removed them all from his own heart? But now let us consider how afterward the Lord made Paul, whom we are discussing, to inhabit the flood.313 Can it be perhaps that some unclean animal survived that flood and grew in his heart on account of the divine revelations that were beyond the measure of human understanding? But lest, he says, the greatness of the revelations should exalt me, there was given to me a sting of my flesh.314 One cannot deny that the flood overflowed at the moment when he heard secret words that no man was allowed to utter.315 And yet after such a flood he still felt the sting of his flesh that must be regarded as an unclean animal. There is no one who questions this. But even so, because the giants and whatever else that could bring disorder into the kingdom of wisdom are completely destroyed in the flood, there is now nothing to hinder it from establishing its throne and to sit as king eternally.316 After all, what else do Paul’s words seem to mean where he openly testifies and says: For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.317 See how secure Paul was after such a flood that Christ, who dwelled in his heart by faith, sat as king forever.318 You certainly see how immediately after it was written: The Lord makes the flood to dwell, it was correctly added: And the Lord will sit as king forever.319 After all, for this purpose, unless I am mistaken, this flood is poured out upon the earth, where that king cleanses his kingdom, and the Lord sits as king forever.320 But we believe that these things that are said about the flood are to be understood about him only when it is interpreted as a good flood. It is sometimes interpreted as an evil flood, but this is another reading in a completely different context. If there is a good fire and evil fire, if there is a good desert and evil desert, as we have previously demonstrated, if there is good water and evil water, then why should we not believe for the same reason that there is a good flood and an evil flood? Certainly and without any hesitation we must believe that that flood is good which the Lord caused to inhabit, so that he may sit as king forever. Now after such a flood occurred and the kingdom cleansed, the Lord begins thereafter and successively, namely with his seat having

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been prepared; he begins thereafter, I say, to sit on his throne and rule over his people, advancing and increasing day to day until he reaches from end to end mightily and orders all things sweetly,321 and until he rules from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth.322 Wisdom wanted to confine its kingdom within these boundaries, and it decreed not to extend it beyond those limits. From one end it expels the eastern sea, [namely], the bitterness of open wickedness; and from the other end it removes the western sea, namely, the abyss of dark ignorance. From another side the kingdom of Wisdom begins from the river and extends up to the ends of the earth.323 Therefore, it begins from the river, yet it leaves behind the entire river externally; after all, wisdom detests every flow of lust. It extends itself through the nearly infinite spaces of obedience of many kinds, and it reaches up to the limits of impossibility. You certainly see how correctly Wisdom arranged the boarders of its kingdom within these limits, or why it regarded it unworthy to broaden it any further, namely, so that it may not include the sea of bitterness, the abyss of ignorance, or even the debauchery of concupiscence within the boundaries of its kingdom. But it excluded these altogether, extends [its kingdom] up to the ends of the earth, and expands the boundaries of its people up to the extremes of impossibilities. These four boundaries are what constitute the limit for the kingdom of this king: Wickedness, ignorance, lust, and impossibility. Within these boundaries blessed people expand themselves, about which we find written: Blessed are the people who know jubilation,324 and blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.325 And about this it is written here: The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.326 And yet what sort of people do we think that king possesses who sits as king forever and of his kingdom there will be no end?327 Recall now that verse and understand what sort of people the power of God and the wisdom of God rightfully possess:328 I, Wisdom, dwell in counsel and am present in learned thoughts.329 Therefore, that king inhabits, possesses, rules and governs counsels and learned thoughts. Such a people are indeed ruled by Wisdom, instructed by Wisdom, and watched over by Wisdom. To the people of this king pertains every good will, every pure thought, every holy desire, every right counsel, every true understanding, and every ordered affection. The king greatly delights in such people and is pleased with them, because the Lord is well pleased with his people.330 Such people are praiseworthy whom the Lord of host has blessed,331 saying: My inheritance is Israel.332 In admira-

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tion of such praiseworthy people the Prophet cried out when he said: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for his inheritance.333 O how foreign were those people, how dissimilar to this people were those people of the nations who walked in darkness until they saw a great light,334 began to know their king, and have as their commander wisdom! O people of the nations, the perversity of will and the vanity of thoughts, how long will you not know your king? How long will you sit in the region of the shadow of death?335 How long will you dwell in the region of dissimilitude?336 Now at last come out of the midst of Babylon,337 come out of darkness, and hasten to the native land of light and to the region of light. Now at last come to the light and give heed to the true light, which illumines every man that comes into this world.338 For the righteous of heart a light is risen up in darkness: he is merciful, compassionate and just,339 a light to the revelation of the Gentiles.340 O people of the nations, who walked in darkness,341 run while you have the light, lest the darkness overtakes you.342 They will walk, o Lord, in the light of your countenance, and in your name they shall rejoice all the day, and in your justice they will be exalted.343 Moreover, they will go from virtue to virtue, until the God of gods will be seen in Zion.344 But because it is vain for them to rise before the light,345 how much more will you run? Send forth your light and your truth,346 a light to the revelation of the Gentiles,347 so that they may see the light in your light,348 where they can run in the light of the living.349 Therefore, send forth, Lord, send forth your light and your truth,350 until your people, o Lord, pass by, until your people pass by, whom you have possessed.351 But let them pass from nation to nation and from one kingdom to another people,352 from the region of the shadow of death to the native land of light.353 With such people running and in such a way, the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength to his people; blessed be God,354 that that prophetic promise may be fulfilled in them: The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.355 See and consider the order of the divine gift. The Lord, who will give strength and peace to his people,356 first gives strength and afterward peace. After all, the people of God have innumerable adversaries, and, what is even more serious, their enemies are most valiant. Therefore, they have the need of great strength and fortitude against whom the very unjust steadfastness of so many enemies is vigilant with continual solicitude. But do you want to hear what sort of power and how much power their leader promised them, provided that they observe his pre-

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cepts and commandment? You will pursue, he says, your enemies, and they will fall before you. Five of yours will pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand. Your enemies will fall before you by the sword.357 But this is a small thing. Hear something greater still about this king’s soldiers. Indeed one must not doubt that even one of the king’s soldiers pursued a thousand, and two chased away ten thousand. This power is wonderful and wholly astonishing, namely, that one prevailed against a thousand and two against ten thousand. And yet who does not know how much the Lord brings about the slaughter of the enemies, when that eminent soldier of this king, that is, the fear of the Lord, fights against the army of vices under the protection of his commander? What [does he bring about] when he adds that soldier of God, the chief and foremost solder of his army, that is, the love of God? How, I ask, will the multitude of enemies be able to bear their attacks? The Scripture says: He who fears God neglects nothing.358 See what sort of warrior the fear of God is, who usually puts to flight before him not only wickedness but also all negligence. And yet that soldier of God, chosen out of thousands,359 who believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,360 goes before him with the prerogative of a singular fortitude. If therefore only one or two prevail so that ten thousand cannot withstand them, then how great is it, I ask, what the whole army of that king can accomplish when assembled into one? Wonderful is the king who could so magnify his own; absolutely lovely is the king who wanted to magnify his own. I  think that he served as a soldier of this king, who said: I will not fear the thousands of people surrounding me.361 O if only he should deign to ascribe me among his own, he who raises up the needy from the dust and lifts up the poor from the dunghill that he may sit with princes,362 and he who gives power and strength to his people; blessed be God.363 May he be my strength, my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer,364 and then I also sing with confidence: I will not fear what man will do to me.365 May he teach my hands to fight and my fingers to war,366 and then without doubt if armies should stand together against me, my heart will not fear; if a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident.367 Also if you desire to serve as a solider of that king, then you will not fear the thousands of people,368 but truly a thousand will fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand,369 and then you will be able to demonstrate in yourself how it is rightly written: The Lord will give power to his people.370

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So that you may better recognize how much power these soldiers receive as a gift of their Lord, consider what sort of enemies they have and how powerfully they march against them. Is it not the case that the soldiers of this king are the ones against whom the world is angry and the devil rages? But their king strengthens them, saying: Work with vigor and let your heart be strengthened.371 In the world you will have distress; but be confident, I have overcome the world.372 Are not these the ones against whom this world, which is seated in wickedness,373 produces the formidable battle line of a threefold band in the lust of eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life? These are those who likewise destroy the kingdom of sin, so that sin may not reign in their mortal body.374 That second war is far more dangerous than the first war—“civil and more than civil”—,375 where the reign of the spirit is divided against itself, where the spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit,376 where the desires of the flesh rebel against the decrees of reason. But after conquering the first and second battle, there remains still a third most brutal and harsh battle against the aerial powers, the rulers of this darkness and against the spirits of wickedness in the air.377 These enemies of the soul are the cruelest of all against the catechumens of Christ. The more severely they rage, the more they see that the catechumens have triumphed more gloriously in both victories. But far be it that someone believes that these enemies can prevail against the soldiers of Christ! After having now stationed his troops and assembled them for battle, their king enjoins to them a certain motto about the uncertain outcome of the war through James, one of his great commanders: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.378 This is why that great champion of this king gives praise, when he says: You have made my enemies turn their back upon me, and you have destroyed those who hate me.379 This is why that other prince among the princes of the people who are gathered together with the God of Abraham, that chosen and special combatant testified with confidence, when he says: I am certain that neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor death, nor life, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.380 See what sort of conquerors they are who march confidently and despise the kingdom of the world, destroy the kingdom of sin, and drive away the kingdom of the devil. But this is not enough for them, unless they also invade the kingdom of heaven. Indeed from such violent warriors and glorious conquerors the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seized it.381 I think that they need great strength and

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marvelous virtue, before they invade that most firm habitation, which you have made, o Lord, your sanctuary that your hands have established. For it is a firmament on the tops of mountains,382 and mountains are round about it.383 And it cannot be approached except on two roads, one on each side. For all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.384 Moreover, each of the two roads is very narrow. After all, narrow is the road that leads to life, and there are few who travel on it.385 And yet, there are many differences between these two roads. The road of truth is not only narrow but also very steep. But the other road [of mercy] is more level but much longer: it takes only an entire lifetime to travel on it, but in some it is not completed before the end of the world. Accordingly, the first is the road of the strong, but the second is the road of the weak. Obviously men who are the greatest experts in war386 ascend up the first road, but only the poor, weak, and beggars ascend up the second road. The former ascend to bring forth violence, the latter to beg for alms. The [road of truth] only admits those alone who are already made into a perfect man, into the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ.387 The [road of mercy] receives the poor and the feeble, the blind and the lame,388 and the mixed multitude of them.389 They alone make for themselves friends of the mammon of iniquity so that they may be received into the eternal tabernacle,390 and so that, inasmuch as they keep on the road of mercy, they may be the blessed merciful, for they will obtain mercy.391 But that terrible army set in array392 consists of powerful men and those who are able to go forth into war393 and chose the way of truth.394 In order to bring forth violence, they seize with haste that narrow and steep road that leads to life,395 and with utmost swiftness they ascend through the path of [God’s] commands396 from the valley of tears,397 from virtue to virtue.398 They have forgotten the things that are behind and are stretching out to the things that are ahead;399 they are always striving more and more to taste the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth,400 until only after much labor they finally seize the top of the mountain and advanced to the fortified city. With all the multitudes assembled on the top of the mountains and, according to military standards, with the army set in array401 marvelously on the eternal mountains,402 they surround the city and initiate the siege. And in the first engagement they try to soften courage of the citizens by projectile weapons: the archers take their position on one side, and the slingers on the other. Some shoot arrows of sighs plucked from the inmost place of the heart, and others shoot them inflamed

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by the torch of fiery prayer. The arrows of power sharpened with the coals that lay waste fly in every direction.403 On the one side there are those with a sling and a stone,404 on the other side there are others with the brightness of their sparkling spears,405 and they give frequent blows with unspeakable groans,406 with everyone roaring with the groaning of their heart.407 In such a fierce battle and in such a great shower of projectiles there is no doubt that the celestial infantry of angelic powers sustain repeated wounds of compassion, to such an extent that the band of those wounded are compelled to shout out in dire necessity: “I have been wounded by love, namely, the affection of piety has pierced me to the bone and stabbed me everywhere.” Moreover, the siege towers of meditation, speculation, and contemplation are erected, and now the interior parts of the city are exposed. From the high siege tower of contemplation they easily see what things are within or what is going on. And after the siege towers are finally connected to the wall and after those chosen from among all the ranks of mighty warriors are arranged inside, the defenders of the city immediately attack. But lest they sustain wounds of errors from the arrows coming in different directions, they put on the breastplate of faith,408 protect themselves with the helmet of hope409 and hold in their hand the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.410 And so, with these fighting bravely from the siege towers and those from the bulwark, they strike and in turn are struck, on both sides they inflict wounds and are inflicted with wounds, with these inflicting the wounds of compunction and those with the wounds of piety. While these warriors are fighting in this way, others erect the ballistae to hurl stones, and they dig up established opinions of an indisputable authority from the canon of Scriptures. Huge mounds of stones are thus carried to the walls, and these stones strike against stones, so that they may reveal the secrets of the very secret knowledge from the abundant collations of Scriptures. But these things are not enough. In addition battering rams are brought to the wall. After the incursion of direct reasoning and the blows of valid arguments the strength of the walls are finally compromised, and interior of the city is exposed as the cracks of revelations spread all around. Finally after some time the city walls are brought down by the various impacts of the devices, and the high depth and deep height of divine mysteries are penetrated, and that dense and high wall, constructed in figures and enigmas, is broken apart. After the wall has been broken, the mighty warriors rush in from every direction, and those investigating with scrutiny penetrate right

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into the inner part of the south. These and the others, who are obviously the more courageous among them, rush into the inmost chambers of the divine palace, where they hear secret words that no man is allowed to utter.411 The others are divided through the streets and lanes of the city,412 and they investigate all things and penetrate the secrets of places and also the more lofty secrets of abodes. They leave nothing untouched; they leave nothing without examination. Finally they enter without hindrance into the eternal treasuries of the heavenly vaults, in which lies hidden depth of the riches of wisdom and of the knowledge of God.413 Each one carries off what he can. Some claim the word of wisdom, other the word of knowledge.414 The discernment of spirits is granted to one, and different kinds of tongues to another.415 And so, in this way those various treasures of spiritual gifts are seized forcefully by different people, so that it clear what the Truth testifies: The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent seized it.416 With the heavenly treasure pillaged by the robbers of virtues, all laden with spoils and laden with loots return with haste and through another road go back to their own region. Those who ascended on the road of truth descend on the road of mercy, so that all their ways may be mercy and truth.417 The fact that they ascended was a mark of fortitude; that they descend is a work of piety. Indeed, it is for God’s sake that they are raptured in mind; it is for our sake that they are sober.418 They condescended to us who are weak. The love of God raptures them above, and the love of neighbor draws them back down. And so, it is for God’s sake that they ascend up to the heavens and descend to the abysses,419 and it is for the sake of their neighbor that they visit them who are seated in darkness and in the shadows of death,420 and that they stretch out with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm421 to those bound in want and in iron.422 When they come, they come with exultation and carry their loots on their shoulders.423 They rejoice very much as one who delights in the harvest, as conquerors exult after seizing loots,424 and as one who found great spoils.425 And the voice of joy and confession is heard everywhere in the tabernacles of the just.426 Unless I am mistaken, those spoils from this loot of victory are what Benjamin, a ravenous wolf, seizes in the morning and divides in the evening.427 Likewise those violent robbers and pillagers of the celestial kingdom obviously stoop to this. Following Benjamin’s example, they divide the spoils of their wars among those who are not able to go out to battle; and, following the decree of our David,428 an equal portion occurs for those going out to war and those

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remaining with baggage, that is, those occupied with the supervision of secular things due to fraternal duty, not personal ambition. See how much they accomplish, see how powerful they become who receive the gift of strength from God’s grace and who can sing with the Prophet: God is my strength and my praise.429 From these examples I think that we can easily notice what or what kind of power it is that the Lord usually gives to his people. The Lord will give strength to his people, the Lord will bless his people with peace.430 9. The Lord will bless his people with peace.431 He bestows peace after strength. If then they have merited to receive strength as a gift of God, then let them hope for peace if they have not yet received it. God does give strength to his own for this purpose: they may reach toward peace with hard work. The Lord is certainly able to bestow full peace to them without their effort, but he thinks it more glorious to lead his own to the security of peace through many victories. This is the reason why he gives the following command to his people, saying: Seek peace and pursue it.432 Sometimes they receive peace on all sides,433 but they are the ones who serve Solomon and have decided to serve as his soldiers and obey his command in all things; otherwise, he would in vain appropriate to himself the name Solomon, that is, peaceable,434 because he would not be the prince of peace.435 It is necessary for everyone to note carefully what kind of peace their commander orders them to seek and to pursue,436 because the peace to be sought from God is different from the peace to be sought from the world, from the flesh, and even from the devil. One ought to obtain humbly that peace of the spirit to God, to present powerfully that peace of the spirit to the world, and to demand violently that peace of the spirit from the flesh, and to obtain that peace of the spirit from the devil with prayers to God. The first peace must be established by both parties, that is, by the spirit and God. The fourth peace, which is of the spirit from the devil, must be established by neither but only by God, so that it could be good. But the second peace, which is of spirit to the world, ought to be established only by the spirit, and it must not be demanded from the world. With regard to the third peace which is of the spirit from the flesh, the spirit ought to demand it forcefully only from the flesh, but it must not present it to his flesh. It is surely necessary for the first peace to be established by each party, because the spirit cannot obtain it by force, nor will God want to establish it without the voluntary consent of the spirit. So that this peace can be established by each party, it is necessary for the spirit to

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subject itself humbly to God in accordance with all that he wills. But it is also necessary for God to stoop mercifully to our weakness and have regard for our common good. For the spirit can never pay God all that it owes; it is enough for it if it humbly bestows what it is able. But that peace, which the spirit must demand by fighting the devil, can never be established at all by either party, because the spirit should never consent to whatever sort of peace the devil will want to be established, and certainly the devil will never consent to whatever the spirit rightly commends. However, as it was said, the spirit must present peace to the world, but it must not demand it from the world, or rather it must even voluntarily despise the offered peace. The spirit must never seek and must never desire that the world be subject to it in its pleasures and that the world soften it with its compliance. Thus the spirit must reject all things that are of the world by despising it, and afterwards it must expose itself with joy to every insult of the world. It has full peace in this regard: it craves none of the prosperities of the world, and it dreads none of its adversities.437 Conversely, the spirit must never subject itself to the insults of his flesh and never serve its will, but rather the flesh must be overcome with constant labor and subdued with continuous abstinence, until it, as a submissive beggar, asks for peace, promises peace, and defends peace. Only then may the flesh stop lusting against the spirit,438 and after some time it may begin to recognize its Lord and continue to obey him according to all of his command. After this twofold peace, which cannot be disturbed by the world or corrupted by its body, the devil turns to cunning ploys and seeks to trick the spirit with trickery and snares, because he is not allowed to inflict any more violence on it. But against such temptation the spirit must be vigilant through discretion and fight through prayer. The first peace, which is made to God, must be obtained through obedience. The second peace, which is to the world, must be preserved through patience. The third peace, which is from the flesh, must be acquired through abstinence. And the fourth peace, which is from the devil, must be obtained through prudence and especially through the earnestness of prayer. Prayer is especially found to be necessary for every peace, because without it no peace is acquired and no peace is held. About the first peace it is chanted: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all men of good will.439 About the second peace it is promised: Peace I leave with you.440 What sort of peace this ought to be is explained next, when it says: Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.441 About the third and fourth peace it is read in Job:

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And the beasts of the earth will be at peace with you, and you will know that your tabernacle has peace.442 Indeed, the habitation of our body is interpreted here as the tabernacle and the wicked spirit as the beasts of the earth. And so, after acquiring these many kinds of peace in this way, the Lord will bless his people with peace.443 But what do we think that that blessing is that the Lord will give to his people, unless perhaps it is that peace that, as we know, he usually gives to his people? Increase, he says, and multiply.444 Yes, indeed, this blessing is good and greatly to be desired. Through it, a good will happens to be made better daily, and the number of virtues is made more abundant day to day. Accordingly, one had discovered that the Lord’s people increase because of his blessing, when he had confidently sung what we read above in this same Psalm: The voice of the Lord [thundered] in power, the voice of the Lord [thundered] in magnificence.445 One desired to multiply in himself, or rather one had hoped for that people who are exceedingly pleasing to the Lord, when he said: You will multiply strength in my soul.446 We have certainly read that there were six hundred thousand and even more of them,447 who went out of Egypt and whom the Lord brought out from the workhouse of the Egyptians with a mighty hand and high arm.448 Thus if so great a multitude of God’s people could be in the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people,449 then how much do you think that they can be multiplied, when they came to the Promised Land and began to take possession of the promised inheritance as a people freed from every servitude of a foreign domination? If the Lord arouses so many holy desires, if he inspires so many good wills, if he so multiplies the number of pure and useful thoughts in some even at the beginning of conversion, then how innumerable and nearly infinite must one believe the multitude of divine people to be, whom the Lord of Hosts possesses among the perfect, that is, among those who are already established in a perfect conversion? The chariot of God, he says, is numerous with ten thousands.450 There is an abundant multitude, where the number is extended not only up to a thousand but also up to ten thousand. But how many will this be at the moment when it is now increased to ten thousand? The chariot of God is numerous with ten thousands.451 How many will be in the whole army of this king, if so many thousands of such great fighters assist the chariot of God? O how great will they be at the moment when they will have begun to be multiplied in their own land, if they have been able to be so many, as it was already said, when they endured in a foreign land or labored

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on the way! I think that they were multiplied more than the sand of the sea,452 so that they may be of such a great number who cannot hereafter be number either a little or even at all. And yet, they were especially multiplied, when Jerusalem began to be built, which is built as a city, whose sharing is in the selfsame,453 whose citizens sleep and rest peacefully in the selfsame.454 These citizens are surely worthy, because they ought to receive a blessing from him who usually gives a blessing to his people with peace.455 You know well enough that Jerusalem denotes the vision of peace. In such a city the king and Lord of this people gladly stays, because his place is established in peace.456 Undoubtedly those, who receive a blessing from the hand of their Lord, ascend to this city. To that place the tribes, even the tribes of the Lord, ascend, the testimony of Israel to confess the name of the Lord.457 Therefore, they ascend to make confession and to receive a blessing. Accordingly, the Lord will bless his people with peace, that is, in Jerusalem. This is the Jerusalem whose squared measure we already described above in that fourfold peace, about which we previously made several remarks. And yet, there is one heavenly Jerusalem that is built in heaven, and another Jerusalem that is built as a city but on the earth. In fact, the Lord alone builds the [heavenly] Jerusalem, but his people build the [earthly] Jerusalem, yet not without his assistance. I do not know how that peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,458 could be established through human understanding. Surely this is the kind of peace that surpasses all understanding. This is the city that excludes all human understanding and whose gate every human understanding does not enter. Surely that Jerusalem is not built except above heaven. And yet, it descends from heaven to the earth for the sake of those who are found worthy to enter into it even a little, even though they cannot ascend to it, because they are not yet fit to ascend up to heaven and to descend down to the abyss.459 I saw, John says, the new Jerusalem descend from heaven.460 Those entering into this Jerusalem have the following experience: how great is the multitude of your sweetness, Lord.461 Indeed, those entering into the joy of their Lord462 will be inebriated with the abundance of your house,463 and those, who have drunk from the torrent of your pleasure,464 sleep and rest peacefully in the selfsame.465 But here I am now placing my hand over my mouth and restraining my lip with my finger, lest I may seem to contaminate the holy things of this secret with unclean lips.466 It is better to learn these things by experience than by explanation. Therefore, let those who have experi-

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enced it speak of this secret instead. But it is certainly not prudent to make those things public that ought to have been stored together and protected with great reverence under the enclosure of silence. Therefore, such people should shout out with the Prophet and say: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, lest perhaps they may be convicted by the Truth to have scattered pearls before swine or to have given what is holy to dogs.467 However, I dare say one thing, because whatever that blessing may be that the Lord will give to his people in peace,468 it will be increased beyond measure in anyone who could reach however much to the excellence of the highest peace. But at last let this lengthy sermon make peace its end. For it is good that we are here, and it is not expedient for us to exceed the limits of peace. Therefore, let us end our sermon in the contemplation of this peace and the peace that will have no end.469 May he, who is our peace,470 deign to give to us this peace through the endless ages. Amen.

NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

Ps. 28:1. All references to chapter and verse of the Psalms are based on the Vulgate. Ps. 28:1. Ps. 28:1. Cf. Isa. 53:7; Acts 8:32. Cf. Lev. 12:6, 14. Cf. Lev. 12:6; Num. 6:14. Matt. 5:9. Cf. Rom. 8:23; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5. Ps. 28:1. Ps. 28:1. Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4. Cf. Matt. 10:28. Ps. 28:1. Ps. 28:2a. Ps. 28:2a. Ps. 28:2a. Matt. 5:16. Ps. 28:2a. Ps. 28:2a. Ps. 28:2a. Rom. 2:24; cf. Isa. 52:5. Ps. 28:2b. Ps. 28:2b. Ps. 28:2b. Cf. Matt. 7:14; Luke 13:24. In this discourse Richard is clearly depending on the form of the profession recorded in the Liber ordinis, 76 (CCCM 61:282–83): “I, brother N., cleric [or if he were of another rank, let him speak similarly] promise the stability of my body to the Church of Blessed Victor before God and the holy relics of this same church, in the presence of Dom N., superior, and the other brothers, and the correction of my manners, especially in chastity, in common life, in obedience, according to the grace given me by God and the extent of my powers” (“Ego, frater N., clericus [uel, si alterius fuerit ordinis, similiter dicet] stabilitatem corporis mei ecclesiae Beati Victoris promitto coram Deo et sanctis reliquiis eiusdem ecclesiae, in praesentia domni N. praelati et ceterorum fratrum, et emendationem morum meorum, praecipue in castitate, in communione, in oboedientia, secundum gratiam michi collatam a Deo et facultatem uirium mearum”). See also Richard of Saint Victor, Serm. cent., 49 (PL 177.1036C). Ps. 36:5. Ps. 28:3. Ps. 28:4. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 28:7. James 1:6. Ps. 65:6; Gen. 1:9. Cf. Gen. 8:13. Ps. 28:3. Ps. 28:3. Ps. 28:3. Cf. Gen. 8:13. Ps. 65:6.

510 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88

R IC HA R D O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Ps. 28:3. Cf. Mark 6:53; Luke 5:1. Cf. Matt. 14:24; Mark 6:48; John 6:18. Mark. 6:48. Matt. 8:26. Ps. 28:3. Cf. Ps. 34:6; Jer. 23:12. See n. 26 above. Job 28:13. Matt. 11:8; cf. Luke 7:25. Luke 16:19. Cf. Ecclus. 3:15. Ps. 28:4. Ps. 28:4. Ps. 28:4. Richard is obviously playing on the etymology of “magnificentia” or “making greater.” James 1:5. Luke 12:32. Ps. 28:11. Ps. 28:4. Isa. 40:31. Ps. 28:4. Cf. Ps. 17:40; Ps. 29:8. Wisd. 9:5. Cf. Gen. 32:12. Cf. Gen. 27:28. Cf. Gregory the Great, Mor., I.33.46 (Adriaen, CCSL 143.50:**); Mor. XXX.19.64 (Adriaen, CCSL 143B.1534:**). Cf. Deut. 32:15. Gen. 28:14. Cf. 1 Kings 4:29. Cf. Jer. 15:8. Luke 21:18; cf. Acts 27:34. Cf. Ps. 76:11. Ps. 125:2. Ps. 125:3. Ps. 28:4. Cf. Job 30:8. Ps. 36:35. Ps. 28:5. Matt. 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25. Cf. Matt. 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27. Ps. 134:6; cf. Ps. 113:11. Ps. 134:6; cf. Ps. 113:11. Luke. 1:52. Hab. 3:6. Ps. 67:25. Hab. 3:6. Ps. 28:5. Cf. Isidore of Seville, Etym., XIV.8.2 (Lindsay; tr. Barney, 297–98); Hugh of Saint Victor, Eulogium, 4 (PL 176.988C; tr. Feiss, VTT 2.126). Rev. 19:8.

NOTES 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140

Ps. 118:12. Ps. 50:9. Mark 9:2. Ps. 18:7. Isa. 1:18. Cf. Hab. 3:6. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 28:5. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:7. Cf. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 28:6. Ps. 76:11. Isa. 53:5. Ps. 18:7. Wisd. 7:26. Cf. Rom. 6:9; 1 Cor. 15:54; 2 Tim. 1:10. Phil. 2:6–7. Cf. Phil. 2:8. Rom. 12:12. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:5, 9. Acts 5:41. John 6:38. Lev. 2:9; 4:31; 17:6. Cf. 2 Kings 19:23; Jer. 50:19; Amos 1:3; Mic. 7:14. John. 4:9. Cf. Luke. 10:27. Cf. Rom. 13:14. Isa. 40:6. 1 Cor. 1:31; 2 Cor. 10:17. 2 Cor. 1:12. Ps. 105:20. Cf. Deut. 9:21. Ps. 28:6. 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16. Ps. 44:3. Cf. 1 Thess. 1:10; Ps. 8:2, 10; Isa. 9:6. Matt. 3:17; 17:5; 2 Pet. 1:17; cf. Luke. 3:22; Mark. 1:11. Song of Songs 5:8. 1 Pet. 1:12. Hag. 2:8. Ps. 28:6. Cf. Acts 15:26. Cf. Gen. 3:1–7. Cf. Rom. 5:12. Luke 1:78. Luke 1:67–68. Cf. Rom. 6:12. Ps. 43:6. Ps. 74:11. Cf. 1 Cor. 15:54.



511

512 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154

155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187

R IC HA R D O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Cf. 1 Cor. 15:53. Ps. 28:6. Matt. 12:50. Cf. 1 Cor. 1:24. Cf. Job 24:21; Exod. 23:26; Deut. 7:14. Cf. Job 24:21; Exod. 23:26; Deut. 7:14. Ps. 28:3. Cf. Ps. 103:15; Prov. 15:13; Ecclus. 36:24. Cf. Heb. 7:4. Matt. 8:20 et al. Matt. 16:16. Cf. Matt. 16:13, 16. Gen. 2:17. Richard regards the genitive in the title “Son of Man” as a genitive of possession, so that a human being begins to live once he or she takes possess of the Son. Hence, Christ is regarded as Son in two ways. He is the Father’s Son, and He is our Son, that is, when Christ is appropriated in our intellect, will, and actions. Without the Son, mankind has only a dead existence. That is, when we beget and conceive Christ in our heart, then we become, so to speak, his father and mother, as Richard argued above. Ps. 28:6. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 28:6. Cf. Ps. 2:2. Ps. 28:5. Ps. 2:2. Ps. 2:2. Ps. 28:5–6. Ps. 24:8. Cf. Ps. 85:5. Cf. Rom. 11:20; 12:16. Cf. Phil. 2:7. Cf. Matt. 5:17. Cf. Matt. 27:36–43; Mark 15:26–32. Cf. Gal. 5:11. Ps. 28:5–6. Ps. 28:7. Cf. Luke 12:49. Luke 12:49. Cf. Lev. 10:1; 16:1; Num. 3:4; 26:61. Cf. Lev. 6:12–13. Luke 24:32. Cf. Acts. 2:3. Cf. Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29. Cf. Exod. 3:2. Job 31:12. Cf. Deut. 32:22. Cf. Ps. 28:7. Ps. 28:7. Dan. 3:49–50. Cf. Matt. 18:3. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:7.

NOTES 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239

Cf. Matt. 18:3. Cf. Dan. 3:12–19. Cf. Gal. 2:26; Phil. 2:3. Cf. Dan. 3:12–20. Cf. Dan. 3:46. Cf. Hos. 4:12; 5:4. Cf. Dan. 3:21. Cf. Dan. 3:22–45. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:2. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:7. Cf. Dan. 3:49. Cf. Dan. 3:49. Cf. Dan. 3:50. Cf. Dan. 3:51–90. Cf. Dan. 3:48. Cf. Dan. 3:12, 18. Cf. Dan. 3:49. Cf. Ps. 28:6. Cf. Ps. 28:7. Cf. Dan. 3:49. Cf. Ps. 28:7. Cf. Ps. 28:7. Ps. 28:7. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:7. Ps. 28:7. Ps. 28:7. Ps. 28:8. Ps. 28:8. Ps. 28:8. Ps. 28:5. Cf. Ps. 28:5. Cf. Ps. 28:8. Cf. Song of Songs 2:12. Cf. Ps. 37:10. Cf. Num. 24:18; 2 Kings 3:8; Isa. 34:5; Ezek. 35:15. Cf. Ps. 28:8. Jerome, Heb. nom. (Lagarde, CCSL 72.63). Ps. 28:8. Ps. 28:8. Cf. 1 John. 4:18. Jos. 15:19; Judg. 1:15. Ps. 135:13. Exod. 14:29. Rom. 8:26. Cf. Phil. 1:23. Cf. 2 Tim. 4:8. Isa. 38:17. Cf. Phil. 4:7. Ps. 119:5. Ps. 76:3. Cf. 1 John 2:15. Ps. 41:3–4.



513

514 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291

R IC HA R D O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Song of Songs 2:5. Isa. 38:17. Ps. 28:8. Ps. 28:9. Ps. 118:32. 1 Cor. 9:24. Prov. 28:14. Ecclus. 14:22. Col. 3:5. Cf. Ps. 28:9. Ecclus. 2:1. Ps. 2:11. Ps. 28:9. Ps. 28:9. Ps. 28:9. Ps. 30:20. Ps. 75:11b. Cf. Ps. 75:11b; Deut. 16:10. Ps. 75:11a. Cf. Matt.25:21, 23. Ps. 88:16. Ps. 28:9. Cf. Ps. 41:5; 46:2; 117:15. Cf. Ps. 28:9. Ps. 28:5–9. Cf. Amos 2:13. Cf. Isa. 7:18. Cf. Rev. 10:3. Ps. 147:15. Matt. 5:45. Ps. 28:10. Cf. Ecclus. 15:3. Cf. Ps. 26:13 et al. Cf. John 4:14. Ps. 28:10. Cf. Ecclus. 15:3. Cf. Gen. 7:19–20. Cf. Luke 16:5. Ps. 28:10. Cf. Gen. 6:13–22. Ps. 45:11. Ps. 28:10. Ps. 28:10. Prov. 12:23. 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16. Acts. 8:10. 1 Kings 3:28; Ecclus. 1:3; 15:10, 19; Lk. 11:49; et al. Cf. Gen. 6:4. Exod. 15:3. Cf. Ps. 34:2. Ps. 23:8. Cf. Ps. 34:1.

NOTES 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336

337 338 339



515

Ps. 43:26. Gen. 6:4. 1 Sam. 15:2 et al. Ps. 23:18 et al. Cf. Gen. 7:11. Gen. 7:11. Ps. 35:7. Cf. Ps. 67:10. Ps. 35:6. Cf. Gen. 7:11. Cf. Ecclus. 15:3. Ps. 17:6. Rom. 1:18. Rom. 11:33. Cf. Gen. 7:15–16. Cf. Gen. 7:2–3. Cf. 2 Cor. 8:14. Cf. Prov. 21:13. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:7. Cf. Rom. 8:28. Cf. 1 Cor. 10:13. Cf. Ps. 28:10. 2 Cor. 12:7. Cf. 2 Cor. 12:4. Cf. Ps. 28:10. Rom. 8:38–39. Cf. Ps. 28:10. Ps. 28:10. Cf. Ps. 28:10. Wisd. 8:1. Ps. 71:8. Cf. Ps. 71:8. Ps. 88:16. Ps. 143:15. Ps. 28:11. Luke 1:33. Cf. 1 Cor. 1:24. Prov. 8:12. Ps. 149:4. Isa. 19:25. Isa. 19:25. Ps. 32:12. Cf. Isa. 9:2. Cf. Isa. 9:2; Matt. 4:16. The phrase “region of dissimilitude” is found in Augustine, Conf., VII.10.16 (Verheijen, CCSL 27.103). The canons at the Abbey of Saint Victor would have chanted the following first response in the first nocturn of Matins for the Feast of St Augustine: “Augustine found himself far from God in the region of dissimilitude” (“Inuenit se Augustinus longe esse a Deo in regione dissimilitudines” [Paris, BnF, lat. 14506, fol. 314r]). Cf. Jer. 50:8; 51:6. John 1:9. Ps. 111:4.

516 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391

R IC HA R D O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Luke. 2:32. Cf. Isa. 9:2. John. 12:35. Ps. 88:16–17. Ps. 83:8. Ps. 126:2. Ps. 42:3. Luke. 2:32. Cf. Ps. 35:19. Cf. Ps. 55:13. Ps. 42:3. Exod. 15:16. Ps. 104:13; cf. 1 Chron. 16:20. Cf. Isa. 9:2. Ps. 67:36. Ps. 28:11. Cf. Ps. 28:11. Lev. 26:7–8. Eccles. 7:19. Song of Songs 5:10. 1 Cor. 13:7. Ps. 3:7. 1 Sam. 2:8. Ps. 67:36. Ps. 17:2–3. Ps. 55:11; 117:6; Heb. 13:6. Ps. 143:1. Ps. 26:3. Cf. Ps. 3:7. Ps. 90:7. Ps. 28:11. Ps. 30:25. John. 16:33. 1 John. 5:19. Cf. Rom. 6:12. Isidore of Seville, Etym., XVIII.1.2 (Lindsay; tr. Barney, 359). Cf. Gal. 5:17. Eph. 5:12. Jas. 4:7. Ps. 17:41. Rom. 8:38–39. Matt. 11:12. Ps. 71:16. Ps. 124:2. Ps. 24:10; cf. Tob. 3:2. Cf. Matt. 7:14. Song of Songs 3:8. Eph. 4:3. Luke 14:21; cf. Luke 14:13. Cf. Exod. 12:38; Num. 11:4. Cf. Luke 16:9. Matt. 5:7; cf. Rom. 11:31.

NOTES 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443



Cf. Song of Songs 6:3, 9. Cf. Num. 26:2; cf. Num. 1:26, etc. Cf. Ps. 118:30. Cf. Matt. 7:14. Cf. Bar. 4:13. Ps. 83:7. Ps. 83:8. Cf. Phil. 3:13. Cf. Col. 1:2. Cf. Song of Songs 6:3, 9. Cf. Ps. 75:5. Ps. 119:4. 1 Sam. 17:50. Hab. 3:11. Cf. Rom. 8:26. Cf. Ps. 37:9. Cf. Eph. 6:14. Cf. Eph. 6:17. Eph. 6:17. 2 Cor. 12:4. Cf. Luke 14:21. Rom. 11:33; cf. Col. 2:3. Cf. 1 Cor. 12:8. Cf. 1 Cor. 12:10. Matt. 11:12. Ps. 24:10; cf. Tob. 3:2. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:13. Ps. 106:26. Luke 1:79; cf. Ps. 106:10. Ps. 135:12. Ps. 106:10. Cf. Ps. 125:6. Cf. Isa. 9:3. Ps. 118:162. Cf. Ps. 117:15; Ps. 41:5. Cf. Gen. 49:27. Cf. 1 Sam. 30:24–25. Isa. 12:2; cf. Exod. 15:2; Ps. 117:14. Ps. 28:11. Ps. 28:11. Ps. 33:15. 2 Chron. 20:30; cf. 1 Chron. 22:9, 18. Cf. 1 Chron. 22:9. Cf. Isa. 9:6. Cf. Ps. 33:15. Richard of Saint Victor, Exterm., 7 (PL 196.1077C); cf. XII patr., 26 (Châtillon, 158). Cf. Gal. 5:17. Luke 2:14. John 14:27. John 14:27. Job 5:23–24. Ps. 28:11.

517

518 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470

R IC HA R D O F S A I N T V IC T O R –  Gen. 1:22 et al. Ps. 28:4. Ps. 137:3. Cf. Exod. 12:37. Ps. 135:12; cf. Exod. 6:6; Bar. 2:11; Acts 13:17. Ps. 113:1. Ps. 67:18. Ps. 67:18. Cf. Ps. 138:18; Jer. 15:8; Gen. 32:12. Ps. 121:3. Cf. Ps. 4:9. Cf. Ps. 28:11. Ps. 75:3. Ps. 121:4. Phil. 4:7. Cf. Ps. 106:26. Rev. 21:2. Ps. 30:20. Cf. Matt. 25:21 and 23. Ps. 35:9. Cf. Ps. 35:9. Cf. Ps. 4:9. Cf. Isa. 6:5. Cf. Matt. 7:6. Cf. Ps. 28:11. Cf. Isa. 9:7. Eph. 2:14.

THOMAS GALLUS COMMENTARIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS SELECTIONS INTRODUCTION BY CRAIG TICHELKAMP TRANSLATION BY JAMES ARINELLO AND CRAIG TICHELKAMP

INTRODUCTION These selections from two commentaries on the Song of Songs are evidence that Victorine spiritual formation and mystical symbolism continued well into the thirteenth century. Their author, Thomas Gallus (d. 1246), lived at the Abbey of St Victor before being sent to Vercelli in northern Italy, where he quickly became prior and then abbot of a community of Augustinian canons.1 There he wrote three Song commentaries (the first of which is lost to us).2 Though Gallus’s extant corpus tells little about his life, it reveals that he was particularly drawn to writing commentaries. He had a special devotion to two texts, the Song and the corpus of Pseudo-Dionysius, on which he composed numerous exegetical works over a couple of decades.3 Though Gallus, like most medieval commentators, was concerned with making these difficult works accessible for readers like his brothers, he did not write his commentaries simply as a pedagogical practicality. Rather, like the other Victorines represented in this volume, Gallus’s commentarial writings exhibit an intertwining of theology, Scripture-reading, and spiritual devotion. They reveal a program of mystical theology, training their reader (and perhaps their writer) in a spiritual exercise, which Gallus calls “the wisdom of the Christians,” which involves a “super-intellectual union.” To Gallus the Song and the Dionysian corpus were the premier pieces of sacred literature and the keys to perfection in the contemplative 1

2 3

For a brief summary of Gallus’s biography in English, see “Historical Background” to “Qua­ liter Vita Prelatorum Conformari Debet Vite Angelice: A Sermon (1244–46?) Attributed to Thomas Gallus,” ed. Declan Lawell, Recherches de théologie et philosophie médiévale 75.2 (2008): 303–6. Lawell derives his account primarily from Gabriel Théry, “Thomas Gallus: Aperçu biographique,” AHDLMA 12 (1939): 141–208. The second Song commentary (SS2) was written in 1237/8, while the third (SS3) in 1243. With the publication of Gallus’s massive Explanatio on the Dionysian corpus in 2011, we can now analyze his thought fully: Explanatio in Libros Dionysii (ed. Lawell, CCCM 223). Theological syntheses of Gallus’s corpus have been written in an article by Bernard McGinn, “Thomas Gallus and Dionysian Mysticism,” Studies in Spirituality 8 (1994): 81–96; in an abbreviated version of the same in The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism — 1200–1350 (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1998), 78–87; and most recently in a full-length monograph by Boyd Taylor Coolman, Eternally Spiraling into God: Knowledge, Love, and Ecstasy in the Theology of Thomas Gallus, Changing Paradigms in Historical and Systematic Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).

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life. Though modern scholars understand the Song and the theological treatises of Pseudo-Dionysius as entirely different literary endeavors (written in different places, languages, and genres), to Gallus they were providentially arranged by the eternal Word to be read by Christians in light of one another.4 In his view, while Dionysius’s treatise covers the theoretical part of mystical theology, Solomon’s Song performs its practical piece.5 The dramatic or poetic performance of mystical union in the Song complements its more analytical or speculative treatment in Dionysius. Put simply, what Dionysius describes, Solomon depicts. As a result, the present commentaries on the Song are conceptually inseparable from the Dionysian corpus, as is clear from Gallus’s frequent citation of Dionysius.6 Gallus imbues the Song with Dionysian themes like hierarchy, divine incomprehensibility, intellectual abstraction, the fecundity and attractiveness of divine love, and mystical union. This introduction focuses on the mystical theology Gallus encounters in these two texts and his Victorine method of interpretation. THEOLOGY: THE BRIDEGROOM

What Pseudo-Dionysius describes and Solomon depicts is mystical union between the Word of God and the soul. In reading the Song as an allegory for mystical union or contemplation, Gallus participated in a long tradition of symbolic interpretation of the Song’s bride and 4

5 6

Though its compositional history is unclear, contemporary scholars agree that the Song of Songs is a dialogically-structured, erotic love poem, written in Hebrew in ancient Israel, though not likely by Solomon, as Gallus thought and tradition had long held. J. Cheryl Exum, Song of Songs: A Commentary (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005). The story of the composition of the Dionysian corpus is more complicated. Written pseudonymously under the name of Dionysius, the Athenian convert of Paul mentioned in the book of Acts (17:34), for most of the medieval period, Christian scholars believed it to be an authentic text handing down wisdom received by Dionysius from the Apostle. In actuality PseudoDionysius betrays his late fifth or early sixth-century context by drawing on the philosophy of the pagan Neoplatonist Proclus (d. 485). The extent of the influence of the Dionysian corpus upon the theology of the twelfth-century Victorines has been debated, but a new translation of the corpus by the Victorine John Sarracen around 1167 made the corpus more accessible to later readers like Gallus, and Dionysian theology flourished in the thirteenth century. SS3.Prlg.B, 107. See below, p. 532. Gallus repeats the idea at SS3.1.F, 128. The Dionysian corpus contains five parts—four treatises and a collection of letters. The treatises are Divine Names (DN), Mystical Theology (MT), Celestial Hierarchy, called in the medieval period Angelic Hierarchy (AH), and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy (EH). The most widely available English translation is by Colm Luibheid, Trans. Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete Works, CWS (New York: Paulist Press, 1987).

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bridegroom.7 Yet he puts a unique spin on the Song, influenced by Dionysian theology and Victorine spirituality. The bridegroom represents the eternal Word containing the archetypes of creation. The bride represents the soul containing its own special orders and powers. The powers of the soul, the intellect (intellectus) and the affect (affectus), are drawn by the Word beyond the sensible things of creation, even into ecstasy beyond the mind itself, and begin to intermingle with the archetypes of creation in the eternal Word. In turn, the soul is transformed and united to the Word, who nevertheless incessantly and enticingly withdraws from her grasp. In the commentaries, the Song’s bridegroom represents the eternal Word of God. This “cosmic” christology, with its emphasis on the Word containing the archetypes of creation, is closer to the Christian Neoplatonism of the twelfth century than the radically “incarnationist” christologies developing in the new religious movements at the time.8 The goal of Gallus’s mystical program, following Pseudo-Dionysius, was to be “assimilated and united” to the eternal Word.9 This is not to say that the ultimate enfleshment of the Word in the human being Jesus of Nazareth was unimportant to Gallus, but, again following Pseudo-Dionysius, Jesus was primarily the “hierarch” or leader of every hierarchy, and the supremely divine principle of all creation, the one whom Pseudo-Dionysius called the “light and love of God.”10 Though Gallus’s christological emphasis is more “cosmic” than “incarnationist,” the Word’s depiction 7 8

9 10

See the study by E. Ann Matter, The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990). For instance, the Beguines, the early Franciscans, and heretical groups like the Waldensians emphasized imitation of the suffering and saving Jesus, and lived an apostolic life of action, voluntary poverty, and preaching, especially on the Gospels. While Gallus was intellectually a Victorine, he had close connections with the early Franciscans. Later, he was an important influence on Bonaventure (who himself tried to sythensize the “cosmic” and “incarnationist” christologies of his time), and before his death in 1246, Vercelli had become the home to the Franciscans’ studium generale, their primary study-house. McGinn, in his multi-volume history of mystical theology, introduces Gallus, not among the Victorines, but among the Franciscans and the “new mysticism,” because of these connections. See Flowering of Mysticism, 78–89. See 165A, Luibheid, 154 and 373D, Luibheid, 198. In his Explanatio on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Gallus makes some of his most explicit christological claims. There Jesus is “the principal and universal hierarch, from whose plenitude all hierarchies receive” (Expl-EH, 4, 916), “one in the highest manner, simple in the highest manner, hidden in the highest manner” (Expl-EH, 3, 853), and “the beginning and end of every angelic and human hierarchy” (Expl-EH, Preface, 738). Jesus is also the principal source of mystical knowledge: “I understand this theology of Jesus to be the wisdom of the mystical theology of the Christians, which Paul speaks about among the perfect” (Expl-EH, 3, 816).

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as a bridegroom in the Song personifies the cosmic Word to a great degree. Though Gallus is clearly imbued in Christian Neoplatonism, the commentaries exhibit no evidence of an impersonal or un-relatable Word—only sometimes an absent, complex, and elusive Word. Thanks to the voice of the bridegroom, the cosmic Word is highly personified. The most surprising aspect of Gallus’s theology of the Word in the Song commentaries is his frequent reference to the Word’s theoriae— a transliteration of a Greek term, which is most closely approximated by the English word “spectacles.” The theoriae, Gallus explains, have also been called “exemplars (exemplaria),” “eternal reasons (rationes eternae),” “ideas (ideae),” “archetypes (archetypa),” and “powers (efficaciae).”11 Drawing primarily from an Augustinian tradition that reconfigured the Platonic Forms into archetypal reasons in the divine mind, Gallus says the theoriae exist “in the eternal Word by nature.”12 In turn, they are “the truths of all sensible signs gathered from the investigation of reason.”13 That is, in line with a Victorine spirituality that drew heavily on Romans 1:20 (“the invisible things of God are perceived from the creation of the world”), the theoriae are “the invisible things,” the “spectacles” or “wonders,” which the mind encounters when it has been drawn away from consideration of the sensible things of creation to their divine archetypes in the eternal Word of God. Gallus finds that the Song abounds in images of the Word’s theoriae. For instance, verses 1:3 (“the king led me into his storerooms”) and 3:4 (“he led me into the wine storeroom”) represented the Word’s drawing the soul, first into the multiple theoriae, then to the eternal Word itself “containing all theoriae.”14 The theoriae are also symbolized in the Song with images of vineyards, golden bases, pomegranates, and stones.15 The soul wanders among these theoriae, ascending higher and higher by following the paths set by the eternal Word, like the bride seeking out her bridegroom, walking the streets of the city in the Song (3:1–4). However, the Song’s poetic structure (without any narrative or argumentative resolution) suggests this journey will not be consummated 11 12 13 14 15

For passages where Gallus lays out the multiple possible designations for the theoriae, see SS3.4.D, 182, and Expl-DN 5, 337. Expl-DN, 4, 185. SS3.8.A, 223. See below, p. 560. SS3.2.C, 147. On vineyards, SS3.1.G, 131; on golden bases, SS3.5.I, 203; on pomegranates, SS3.4.G, 186. Stones represent “the indissoluble spectacles of the eternal Word, from which special things ought to be chosen according to the experience of the contemplative soul, by which the mind may be exercised and carried up more efficaciously,” SS3.5.G, 199.

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in this life, as the eternal Word is ultimately incomprehensible. Gallus treats the closing (consummatio) of the Song by saying that “nothing from God is happier in us … than to be exercised incessantly in the fervor of ecstatic desires, stretching into the divine ray by striving always higher.”16 THEOLOGY: THE BRIDE

If the Word of God is represented by the voice of the bridegroom, the soul is represented by the bride, the other primary voice of the Song. As is clear from the other writings in this volume, Victorine psychology—or reasoning about the soul—could be highly technical, especially as it related to contemplation or mystical union.17 Gallus is no exception. A standout feature of Gallus’s thought is his “hierarchization” of the mind treated in the prologue below.18 This innovation in psychology was inspired by a short, enigmatic statement in the tenth chapter of the Angelic Hierarchy. In it, Pseudo-Dionysius writes, “And I may well add this, that every mind, both celestial and human, has its own first, middle, and last orders and strengths agreeing with each of the hierarchic illuminations.”19 With this encouragement from Pseudo-­Dionysius, Gallus divides the mind into three hierarchies of three orders each and applies to each order one of the names of the nine orders of angels treated by Pseudo-Dionysius in the Angelic Hierarchy. These orders are not faculties of the mind, nor are they checkpoints left behind as an aspiring mind ascends upward. Rather, they provide something like a superstructure, mapping, or landscape for the powers and activities of the mind, and especially the powers of the intellect and affect. In gen16

17

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SS3.8.G, 231. Below p. 564. Not even “the most blessed soul united to the Word” escapes this universal situation, in which union gives way to more striving for “He who is beyond all substance.” SS3.3.A, 167. This is the Dionysian “supremely divine Word, Jesus,” who though providentially present to all creation, always remains beyond being and beyond understanding, Letter to Gaius, 1069B (p. 264). For an account of how Gallus fits into a Victorine “arc of increasingly complex theological anthropologies,” see Boyd Taylor Coolman, “The Victorines,” in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Christian Mysticism. Ed. Julia A. Lamm (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013): 251–66. Below, p. 532–324. The mind, we can assume following Augustine, is the highest part of the soul, though Gallus tends to use the terms interchangeably. SS3.Prlg.C, 107–8. See below, p. 532.

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eral, they are arranged on a scale of the extent to which the activity that takes place in each order is attributable, on the lower end, to human effort, or, on the higher end, to divine grace. Gallus says that the lowest hierarchy of three orders is entirely of nature; the middle, of the cooperation of human effort and grace; and the highest, of grace alone. In this highest order, the mind has suspended itself, and the powers of intellect and affect are drawn beyond the mind into the theoriae of the eternal Word. That is, Gallus’s psychology makes space, as it were, for mental activities that exceed or go beyond one’s own mind. Because Gallus describes them in the prologue, it is not necessary to rehearse the orders of the angelic hierarchy of the mind here, but two things should be noted. First, Gallus seldom finds the lowest orders of the mind (Angels, Archangels, Principalities) represented in the Song. This is because the Song primarily depicts the soul engaged in operations or exercises in which the mind is being drawn by, transformed, and united to the Word through grace. For instance, the sixth order, the Dominions, is where the mind stops its own effortful action, suspending itself in order that its intellect and affect may be completely drawn by the Word. Though the powers of sensation, imagination, reason, intellect, or affect may operate in any of the lower or middle orders of the mind, only the intellect and affect can be drawn beyond the mind and exercised in the highest hierarchy of grace alone, which contains the Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Second, Gallus is perhaps most well-known for distinguishing between the operation of intellect and affect, and in turn begetting a tradition of “affective” Dionysian mysticism that extends at least through the late medieval period.20 While both intellect and affect may be drawn beyond the mind into these higher orders, in the highest order of the Seraphim, only affect may be exercised in “super-intellectual union.”21 That is, beyond intellection of the Word, there is affection, or love, of the Word, which is more like taste than sight. The intermingling of 20

21

See Boyd Taylor Coolman, “The Medieval Affective Dionysian Tradition,” in Re-Thinking Dionysius the Areopagite, eds Sarah Coakley and Charles M. Stang (Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell, 2009): 85–102. That is, building upon Hugh’s claim that God ought to be loved more than known, Gallus posits that the power of affect, and only affect, may advance further beyond the mind, and beyond the theoriae, to the bridegroom, or eternal Word, itself. It should be noted however that Gallus characterizes affective or “super-intellectual” union as a kind of knowing (cognitio), although not a kind of intellectual knowing. Pseudo-Dionysius, too, had held that “unknowing” or intellectual abstraction is itself a kind of “knowing” (gnōsis) beyond the mind in Mystical Theology. See 1001A (p. 137).

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bodies within space in the Song represents the coming together of the soul and the Word, especially where the the soul’s intellect and affect meet the Word’s theoriae beyond the mind. The culmination of this journey is in unification, which results in the loving knowledge or experience (experientia) of the Word. METHOD: THE LETTER AND SEQUENCE OF THE SONG

That Gallus is able to discern such an intricate mystical program within an erotic love poem that makes no mention of God or religious practice is due at least in part to his training in the Victorine method of scriptural interpretation. Gallus frequently cites “our venerable teacher Master Hugh” and “prior Richard.” Though his interpretation is far from literal, he shows a typical Victorine reverence for the letter (littera).22 Even in Gallus’s mystical commentaries, the letter is the foundation of spiritual meaning, not only in particular words, but also in both the sequence (series) of the entire text and the text’s place in the sequence (series) of sacred literature. Gallus frequently clarifies the literal meaning of a term, before going on to expound its spiritual significance. For example, the voice of the bride says at 1:2, “your name is an oil poured out.” Since Gallus has already explained that oil is a symbol of the Word, here he identifies the four characteristics of oil: “In oil four things are noted, namely pure fatness, sweet refreshment, medicinal soothing, and the illumination of the night.”23 By enumerating these characteristics of oil, Gallus acquaints the reader with the thing represented by the word “oil,” expounding its literal meaning in detail. This literal interpretation is the foundation for a spiritual one. He goes on to say that oil’s pure fatness and sweet refreshment represent the Word’s nourishment, which gives a direct experience of divine sweetness. The Word is medicinal in the sense that it restores human nature wounded in Adam. Finally, oil’s illumination represents how the Word is the ray or light which is passed through every hierarchy. Gallus frequently uses this method of introducing a word with a brief literal exposition of three or four characteristics before advancing to the spiritual meaning. Given how 22 23

By littera Gallus and the Victorines mean everything from the smallest orthographical marking, to the complete text, to the entirety of literature itself. SS3.1.C, 124. Below, p. 539.

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unfamiliar some of the terminology of the Song would have been to an average regular canon in Vercelli, as the Song abounds in images of the culture, flora, and fauna of the eastern ancient Mediterranean, it was especially important to have a literal foundation for spiritually interpreting the Song. Gallus was also concerned with the form and structure of the text, or what he calls the text’s “sequence” (translated from the Latin series). In the prologue to the third commentary, he writes that the practice or exercise of mystical theology can be discerned “throughout the sequence of the entire book (per totius libri seriem).”24 Elsewhere, “The entire course of love consists in the kind of constant and continual summoning that appears in the sequence of the book.”25 In turn, moments of repetition (geminatio, duplicatio) in the text, interjections (interpositiones), and how the text ends (consummatio) without resolution all have spiritual significance in dramatizing the union between Word and soul. If what distinguishes allegory from simple metaphor is that each element in a text has an alternative significance, the Song is without question an allegory, as Gallus deeply and thoroughly expounds each element of the Song’s letter, often by pointing to other passages in the text. Finally, Gallus uses the term series to refer to the entire sequence of sacred writings as well, displaying a typical Victorine confidence in the integrity of all sacred literature. “Solomon’s wisdom of the Christians is touched on throughout the entire sequence of the Scriptures and the books of the great Dionysius.”26 The result of this conviction is that Gallus makes meaning intertextually, allowing other sacred texts to draw his understanding beyond the letter of the Song, even as he is anchored in it. The most significant feature of Gallus’s method of interpretation and composition is the citation of passages from sacred literature—especially the Scriptures and the Dionysian corpus. For Gallus, such a never-ending movement from one part of sacred literature to another is akin to wandering the paths of the theoriae.27 In the prologue to the third commentary, Gallus says that his previous wanderings among the theoriae give him confidence that, though he does not have his previous 24

25 26 27

SS3.Prlg.B, 107. Below, p. 532. Elsewhere, “the bride seizes these paths [of eternity] throughout the entire sequence of this book, with the bridegroom calling, illuminating, helping, supporting, embracing …” SS3.2.H, 155. SS3.5.A, 190. SS3.1.A, 122. Below, p. 537. SS3.Prlg.P, 109. Below, p. 534.

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commentaries before him, he will not write anything that is opposed to them. Following Pseudo-Dionysius and the Song, mystical theology is rooted in sacred literature, but it always transfers and transforms the mind, leaving it wandering in the Word’s higher theoriae, experiencing the bridegroom. THE PRESENT TRANSLATION

These translations of selections from Gallus’s second and third commentary are based on the critical edition of Barbet.28 James has translated the selections from the second commentary (SS2). Craig has written this introduction and translated the prologue and the selections from the third commentary (SS3). We have sought to balance attention to Gallus’s theology and method with the broadest possible sample of the Song. As such, passages are drawn from separate sections of both commentaries to cover as much of the Song’s eight chapters as possible. Gallus’s interpretations of the same passages in the two extant commentaries, written just five years apart, vary as often as they converge, so the reader may wish to compare Gallus’s interpretation of 1:1–3 in the third commentary translated here with that in the second commentary translated by Turner. A word should be said about the format. Barbet’s critical edition carefully reproduces the mise-en-page of the earliest manuscripts, which creates difficulties for the untrained reader, because the manuscripts evidence developing technologies for sacred reading in the thirteenth century. One striking feature is Gallus’s use of a chapter-letter citation system. Though the chapter divisions of scriptural texts were largely in place by Gallus’s time, versification was just beginning to occur and not yet standardized. Gallus chose to break up chapters with letters, a method that did not win the day. In consideration of accessibility, we have substituted these for their corresponding numbers throughout. 28

Thomas Gallus, Commentaires du cantique des Cantique, ed. Jeanne Barbet, TPMA 14 (Paris: Vrin, 1967). These selections expand upon the existing translations of the prologue made by Steven Chase, Angelic Spirituality, 241–51, and Denys Turner, Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1995), 319–39. Turner translates only the shorter prologue (which Barbet thinks was extracted from SS3 and appended to SS2 later) but also includes a translation of the first few verses of chapter 1 from SS2. The prologue is critical, but not sufficient, for understanding Gallus’s mystical interpretation of the Song, so we have reproduced the fuller version here alongside selections from the second and the third commentaries.

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Also, while Gallus sometimes directs the reader’s attention to a passage of Scripture with just the citation, often he includes a few words, or the first and last words of an extended citation (less frequently the citation is simply incorporated syntactically into the text). Though this may have allowed Scripture-imbued canons to recall passages from memory, it more likely shows that Gallus is taking advantage of careful textual division and even the new tool of the concordance, which we know Gallus and his community produced and worked with. We have expanded these partial citations where practical, so that the reader does not have to hunt down the citation. In expanding the citations, we worked from the Vulgate and the Latin translation of the Dionysian corpus made by Gallus’s Victorine confrère John Sarracen, the primary translation of the Greek text from which Gallus worked. Finally, we have added citations to both the critical edition of the Greek Dionysian corpus and the most readily available English translation (though it should be noted that translations of citations of PseudoDionysius are made directly from the Latin corpus). The commentaries reward careful reading and tracing out Gallus’s attempts to come upon meaning intertextually, so our editorial principle has been to facilitate this as much as possible.

COMMENTARIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS: SELECTIONS PROLOGUE

Jer. 9:24: Let those who boast, boast in this, that they understand and know me. This means that there are two kinds of knowledge of God. One is intellectual and composed from the consideration of created things (as in Ecclesiastes), according to the exposition of our venerable teacher Master Hugh, once a canon of our church of Saint Victor in Paris. About this kind of knowledge, Rom. 1:20: his invisible things are perceived from the creation of the world; Wisd. 13:1: all are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God, and who by these good things that are seen, could not understand him that is …; and 13:13: the author of beauty made all those things … their creator could be seen; Dionysius’s Letter to Titus: the operation of the entire visible world is a representation of the invisible things of God;1 and DN 7: it is true to say that we know God, not from his own nature, for this is unknown and surpasses all reasoning and thinking, but from the ordering of every single thing … we ascend by way and order, according to our power.2 This kind of knowledge of God is speculative and obscure. It is spoken and taught among people by hearing or reading, but also by careful reflection. Pagan philosophers learn to touch this kind of knowledge alone. For this reason the Apostle in Rom. 1:19 says: what is known of God is manifest to them. For what can be gathered from the preexisting knowledge of sensible things, is indeed known. But the other kind of knowledge of God incomparably surpasses that one. The great Dionysius describes it in DN 7: the knowledge of God is most divine which is known through unknowing, in accordance with a union beyond the mind, when the mind, withdrawing from all other things, and then leaving even itself, is united to the super-luminous3 rays, then and there illuminated by the unsearchable depth of wisdom;4 this is the wisdom of Christians which is from above, Jas. 3:17; descending from the Father of lights, Jas. 1:17. For this wisdom is higher than the human heart, from which 1 Cor. 2:9: it does not ascend into the heart. But the aforementioned intellectual wisdom does ascend, as it were, from sensation

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into the intellect. Therefore, this super-intellectual wisdom is the attendant at the throne of God, Wis. 9:4. The Apostle used to speak about this among the perfect, 1 Cor. 2:6. And from the teaching of the Apostle, the great Dionysius the Areopagite wrote down the theoretical part of this super-intellectual wisdom, insofar as it can be written, in his little book on Mystical Theology, which I expounded carefully ten years ago. But in this present book, Solomon hands down the practical part of the same mystical theology, which is clear in the sequence (seriem) of the entire book. But in order to understand this exposition, I must give an explanation of the following sentence from AH 10: And I may well add this, that every mind, both celestial and human, has its own first, middle, and last orders and strengths agreeing with each of the hierarchic illuminations.5 Moreover, Dionysius says this in repeating and recapitulating the order of the angels, after he treated the three hierarchies and their threefold orders sequentially in the seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters. But twenty-seven years ago, in the cloister of Saint Victor of Paris, when commenting upon the passage Isa. 6:1: I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne …, I discussed how three hierarchies are arranged in individual hierarchic minds and how three orders are arranged in each hierarchy, just as the angels are arranged.6 Namely, in the lowest hierarchy are Angels, Archangels, and Principalities. In the middle hierarchy are Powers, Virtues, and Dominions. In the highest hierarchy are Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. I repeated this in great part in treating the tenth chapter of Angelic Hierarchy, at the end.7 But at the moment, I will repeat briefly what seems important for this treatise, because the bride speaks sometimes in one hierarchy of the mind, sometimes in another, sometimes in one order, sometimes in another. The lowest hierarchy of the mind consists in the mind’s very nature; the middle in its diligent effort, which incomparably surpasses nature; the highest in excess8 of the mind. In the first hierarchy, only nature works; in the highest, only grace; in the middle, grace and diligent effort work at the same time. The lowest order of the lowest hierarchy, which is called “angelic,” contains initial and simple natural observations, belonging as much to the intellect as the affect,9 without any judgment as to whether they are agreeable or not. This is exactly how the “Angels” (angeli), that is “messengers” (nuntii), announce something to the soul in a simple manner. The middle order contains the natural judgments of the observations, whether they seem agreeable or disagreeable, and in these judgments is an announcement which is more perfect than the first.10

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The third contains the longings for and fleeings from the observations according to whether they are judged agreeable or disagreeable. Moreover, a fleeing is from evil and a longing is for the good, and in this way this order offers guidance to the lower ones in divine things. This is why it is called by the name “Principalities.” The fourth order, which is the lowest in the second hierarchy of the mind, contains the voluntary movements of the intellect and the affect, which have already been drawn out by the free will. These movements examine the difference between good and evil with the deliberation of reason. With as decisive a sentence as they can give, they arrange the mind so that it longs for and seeks the highest good with all the powers of the affect and the intellect and repels all obstacles. Moreover, the name “Powers” means “arranging,” according to Dionysius. The fifth, which is the middle of the middle hierarchy, contains the strong forces of the virtues, both natural and freely given, which cause the mind to seek forcefully what was rightly decreed by the Powers. This is noted by the name “Virtues.” The sixth, which is the highest in the middle hierarchy, contains the principal commands of the free will, by which the affect and the intellect are suspended in all virtue in order to receive divine interventions (superadventus), as much as is possible for the free will aided by grace. The loftiness of this suspension, command, and freedom is noted by the name “Dominions.” Moreover, in this order the mind, still sober, is exercised and stretched to the higher ray, to the highest limits of its nature. The seventh order receives divine interventions through the excess of the mind. This is why it is known by the name “Thrones,” and there are as many Thrones as there are recesses of the mind, or capacities for that super-substantial ray, which is super-simple in essence and multiple in efficacy. The eighth order contains every kind of knowledge of the intellect attracted by divine graciousness, where it cannot ascend further. It also contains every kind of knowledge of the attracted affect, not going beyond the attraction and highest point of the attracted intellect. For the affect and the intellect are attracted together and, as it were, walk together up to the point where the intellect finally fails, which is at the highest point of this order of Cherubim. Even the attracted intellect does not go beyond this highest point, but there it has the consummation of its knowledge and its light. For this reason, that order is called “Cherubim.”

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The ninth contains the principal deep sighings for God, superintellectual stretchings and infusions, boiling brightnesses and bright boilings. The  understanding cannot be drawn to their sublime excesses and exceeding sublimities, but only the principal affect, which can be united to God. In this order most chaste prayers are offered, by which we are present with God, DN 3.11 This order embraces God and is wrapped up in the embraces of the bridegroom. It does not know in a mirror, and it receives the portion of Mary, which will not be taken away, Luke 10:42. In this order a little bed is set up for the bridegroom and the bride. From this a flood of divine light flows into the lower orders sequentially. Moreover we have presented the names of the nine aforementioned orders according to the exposition of Dionysius, for example: the Seraphim in AH 7, then the Cherubim in 7, then the Thrones in 7, then the Dominions in 8, then the Virtues in 8, then the Powers in 8, then the Principalities in 9, then the Archangels in 9, then the Angels in 9, just as we showed in our careful treatment of the Angelic Hierarchy.12 Therefore whoever is about to read these glosses can easily peruse the aforementioned orders when the thing at hand requires it, but especially the higher orders.13 However it is entirely useful to frequently and reflect carefully on these orders, because the nine-fold orders (of both the angelic and the ecclesiastical hierarchies) are led through themselves into the divine monad. The orders have come forth from this envelopment of the holy and singular Trinity into itself, as DN 4: just as an eternal circle … whirling around because of the Good, from the Good, and in the Good.14 Now expounding the Song for a third time in writing, and not having the earlier expositions at hand, I follow (as I am accustomed) the courses of the theoriae,15 which super-illumine the soul with understandings, stretching to the higher ray, according to EH 7: there will shine forth to you, I think, more luminous and divine beauties by using the aforementioned stepping-stones to the higher ray; DN 1, 3; EH 2, 4.16 For this reason, I believe that I will say nothing in this exposition that opposes the aforementioned ones. Therefore, after the six steps of contemplation have been passed through sequentially, the contemplative mind, fixing its eye on the high point of the sixth step in the order of the Dominions of the mind, advances into the speculative excesses, desiring to be taken up into the order of the Thrones of the mind, in order that it might be present immediately with the Deity, who is present to all, according to the teaching of the great Dionysius in DN 3.17 He makes use of three skills

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in this book, namely most chaste prayers, unveiling of the mind, and adaptation for union. Chaste prayer asks to obtain agreeable temporal things or to be removed from disagreeable ones, as 1 Tim. 2:1; Jer. 29:7: pray for these things. More chaste prayer asks for spiritual things, as Ps. 50:11–12: blot out my iniquity, create a pure heart in me. Most chaste prayer, which no longer asks for the gifts of the bridegroom, asks for the bridegroom himself. This book is packed with such prayers, for instance: let him kiss me (1:1); draw me after you (1:3); he will abide between my breasts (1:12); my beloved to me (2:16, 6:2); who will give you to me (8:1). Unveiling of the mind consists in the removal of exterior things and any stumbling blocks, as MT 1: with a strong contrition,18 leave behind intellectual operations, all sensible things, and all things existing and not existing … you will be carried upwards. For which reason, below at 5:3: I have taken off my garment; and AH 15: but the naked and unshod one … [is] assimilated to the divine simplicity.19 Moreover, adaptation for union is obtained through an overflowing devotion and dissolution of the mind, because fluids are willingly united; as below at 5:6: my soul has melted. Therefore, the mind, after it has surveyed all things, Eccle. 7:26, desiring to be separated from the entirety of existing things and to be happily united to the super-substantial bridegroom, according to MT 3: going up from lower things to the highest … it will be united to the unutterable,20 asks for a kiss, that is, a joining or union beyond the mind, although still separable. About this see DN 7; and MT 1.21 This is what Job 7:15 says: my soul chooses suspension for itself, and my bones choose death. Suspension is the stretching of the mind into the super-shining theoriae at the highest point of the order of the Dominions of the mind. See DN 1: holy minds … are stretched strongly and unfailingly to the ray … simple and single.22 The soul chooses this grace for itself before the other graces, because it cannot lead itself higher at all, but can only be led by the Spirit, Rom. 8. And this is what he adds: and my bones choose death. Bones are the strongest powers of the mind, namely the speculative intellect and the principal affect. The mind has nothing stronger than these when it comes to divine things. In “death” two things are noted, namely failure and separation. Those final and highest bones have their exercises in the Dominions of the mind. But when the mind is taken up into the order of Thrones for the kiss of the bridegroom, all efficacy and operation of intellect and affect

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fails, Dan. 10:16: Lord, at the sight of you my joints are loosened, and no strength remains in me. Moreover they are separated from the mind itself through excess in the Thrones, as DN 7 says: when the mind, withdrawing from all other things, then leaving even itself;23 and 4: not living his own life, but truly the beloved’s;24 Hebr. 4:12: touching even to the division of soul and spirit; and it is said in EH 2, that death is in us not as a complete destruction of substance, as it seems in other things, but as a separation of things united.25 For indeed the spark at the apex of the affect, which is the principal and pure participation of divine goodness, which flows from truth into an image, has been separated from all inferiority ineffably, and passes, as it were, into the divine life in whatever ineffable way it is deified, as EH 1: this cannot occur in any other way, except when those who are being saved are deified. Moreover deification is the assimilation to and union with God, as far as is possible.26 For this reason, Origen, when treating John, says that John had been deified, when he said: in the beginning was the Word (1:1). Therefore, the bride, panting for this deifying union, suspended in the order of the Dominions of the mind, and constituted still in a mirror, says as if about one absent: let him kiss me. THIRD COMMENTARY, ON SONG OF SONGS 1:1–3 1:1

Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. 2 Cor. 5:6: while we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord. With the kiss of his mouth, that is, with the union to the Word of the Father. But because the bridegroom willingly places himself before most chaste prayers, presently the bride, having been taken up gratuitously into the order of the Thrones of the mind, speaks to the bridegroom, as it were, through the kiss of super-intellectual union, giving the reason for her petition and her principal desire: because your breasts are better than wine. By wine, which is gathered from one’s own estate, understand the intellectual wisdom, which is gathered from the knowledge of existing things: Rom. 1:20: the invisible things of God are perceived from the creation of the world; Wis. 13:1–9; Ps. 143:5: I have meditated on all your works; Dionysius Letter to Titus: the operation of the entire world is the representation of the invisible things of God.27 Your breasts are better than wine. By breasts (ubera), which are fixed upon the chest,

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understand the most fecund (uberrimam) and super-full plenitude of divine wisdom; Ecclus. 1:5: the Word of God in the highest is a fountain of wisdom. This twofold wisdom or knowledge of God is hinted at briefly in Jer. 9:24: Let those who boast, boast in this, that they understand and know me; see DN: we must ask how we know a God who is neither intelligible nor sensible … God is known both in all things and apart from all things through unknowing;28 and in the same: on the contrary, there is a most divine knowledge of God … which is illuminated by the unsearchable depth of wisdom.29 The pagan philosophers were perfected in this first knowledge fairly well, and were content with it because they did not think there was anything higher, Ps. 104:13: the earth will be filled sufficiently with the fruit of your works, because, although they know celestial and eternal things, nevertheless they have an earthly way of life, Bar. 3:20 the youth have seen the light, and have dwelled upon the earth. They are called youth who cling to the shortness and brevity of this present time, just as they are called ancients who cling tirelessly to eternity, DN 10; Job 12:12: wisdom is in the ancient; Phil. 3:20: our way of life is in heaven. Those ancients, stretched above continually and sublimely into eternity, are called mountains, Ps. 103:13: watering the mountains from your higher places, that is, from the super-splendent rays, of DN 7;30 Jas. 3:17: wisdom which is from above; Bar. 3:29: who has gone up into heaven and led her from the clouds. Therefore, this wisdom flows from breasts, that is, from the breasts of the chest of the bridegroom. This is the wisdom which is commended in the Scriptures with such abounding praise, that the very plenitude of the Word often deigns to be expressed by the name of this future participation. Therefore, the bride had drunk wine, as it were, in meditations and speculations, in Ecclesiastes and in the other books of both testaments; but in this book she seeks the breasts from the chest of the Word. Although Solomon’s wisdom of Christians is touched on through the entire sequence of the Scriptures and the books of the great Dionysius, nevertheless in Mystical Theology its theoretical part is treated especially and clearly, but in this book its practical part is touched on. Therefore she says: your breasts are better than wine, because the theoretical part of the wisdom of Christians is incomparably more worthy, more profound, more true than the intellective wisdom of the philosophers, and the practical part of this wisdom is incomparably more sweet and more fruitful than that wisdom, Job 28:13: the human being does not know its price; 28:15: gold will not be given for it, etc.;

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Prov. 3:14–18: its acquisition is better than silver … and the one who will have it is blessed. 1:2 Smelling sweet with the best ointments. The best ointments are the super-intellectual theoriae, which anoint the minds united to them. They are potent with a certain effusion of universal sweetness, beauty, clarity, and every desirable appearance, and renew, as it were, from the fecundity of the Word, Ecclus. 38:7: the seller will make sweet ointments; AH 15: and the discriminating powers of smell, the sweetsmelling distribution beyond the mind;31 EH 2: but the perfecting anointing of the ointment makes the perfect one sweet-smelling, namely corporeally, and this designates the spiritual odor of his light, for the holy birth of God, namely the baptismal birth, unites the perfect one to the hierarchic Spirit, that is, baptized in the Holy Spirit;32 also in the same book, 4: the hidden charms of God, both those sweet-smelling beyond the mind and those intelligibly hidden, are spotless.33 For this is the anointing which teaches about all things, John 14:26; the anointing of these ointments teaches all things, 1 John 2:27. By this anointing Christ was anointed, Ps. 44:8: God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of happiness before your companions. For “ointments” had been said in the plural because of the multifaceted theoriae; now she speaks of “oil” in the singular because of the simplicity of the Spirit, adding: your name is an oil poured out, just as the ray is said in the singular in AH 1,34 and rays in the plural in DN 7.35 But I have touched on divine names a bit in my preface to the Divine Names as was suitable to that place. For what is said about the more profound name must be understood here, that no one is able to communicate it to another because it is neither felt, nor understood, nor thought, but it is imprinted on the highest summit of the principal affect most secretly, and it does not descend lower: Ps. 4:7: The light of your face has been marked upon us; from which, no one knows this, except the one who receives it, Rev. 2:17. But it is said to be written on a dazzling white stone, by which it is understood to be established in excited or ecstatic love at the Seraphim of the mind and poured out in the brightness of eternal light, Wis. 7:26. For this reason one of the Seraphim is said to have carried the stone from the altar for the purification of the prophet, that is, the firm participation in the Word, which is called a rock and a stone, Isa. 6:6; 1 Cor. 10:4; Dan. 2:34 and 2:45; and Matt. 21:24. For this reason, immediately below the same passage, the bride expressly describes the bridegroom as unnamable, as it were, saying

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at 1:6: have you seen him whom my soul loves? With no words could she express that ineffable and incommunicable name more intimately. Moreover, in vain would she have named him whom she loved intimately to one who did not know him, but she speaks all things clearly to one who knows him. No one knows this name, except those who have been united. For this reason, to Moses, who had been united and was asking, he said this name for himself: I am who I am, that is, Being (esse) turned back to itself, or Being-ness (entitas). In this way the name is not received, except by the apex of the principal affect, which is united to eternity. But to the Israelite people an intelligible name is entrusted, namely Who is, or being (ens), which is the first emanation of existence (existentie) from the most causal cause. Names of this sort are treated in the book Divine Names, which are Good, Light, Beauty, Being (existens), Living, Wise, etc. Therefore, this most profound name which is beyond all names, Phil. 2:9; incommunicable, Wis. 14:21, which is known by love alone, below at 3:1: whom my soul loves, and at 1:12 and 15: my beloved. Your name is an oil poured out. In oil four things are noted, namely pure fatness, sweet refreshment, medicinal soothing, illumination of the night. The fatness is the exuberant devotion which nourishes minds greatly, with which no dissimilarity is mixed in the Seraphim of the mind. For there is nothing that may offer the refreshment which is pleasing to minds so much as the substantial bread, Matt. 7:9; this is invisible food, Tob. 12:19; the bread of angels, Ps. 77:25; bread from heaven having every delight and every taste of sweetness, Wis. 16:20; the divine nourishment and life-giving unity of the thearchic36 banquet, AH 7.37 This refreshment does not occur through a mirror, but through the experience of divine sweetness, since taste and touch are not exercised in a mirror, Deut. 33:24: let him dip his foot in oil, but sight, 1 Cor. 13:12: we see now through a mirror. Therefore, John 1:18: No one has ever seen God; Exod. 33:20: the human being will not see me and live, and it does not say “he will not taste” or “we will not taste.” But often in the Scriptures we are invited to the taste of God. In this participation in God the portion of Mary is established, which is not taken away from her. Also, this is the principal medicine of our nature for the restoration from ancient ruin, when in the first Adam we were robbed of the things freely given to us and wounded in the things we have by nature, Ps. 102:3: who heals all your sicknesses. But the light drawn out from the super-lucent darkness, MT 2,38 is carried through the Seraphim into the lower orders sequentially.

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Therefore, from the communication of special and multifaceted graces of this kind, carried through the Seraphim of the mind to the lower orders, the natural affect and intellect are incited powerfully to rise and be stretched always into participations of the Good and the Beautiful, which they receive. And this is what she adds: Therefore the young women have loved you. The new, pure, and fecund motions of the natural powers, excited by the taste of divine sweetness, are called “young women.” For this reason, Zach. 9:17: For what are good and beautiful to him, if not the grain of the chosen and wine bringing forth virgins? This is understood to refer to the wine of the vineyards of Engeddi, that is, of divine exemplars or patterns, as will be said below (1:13). Therefore, these motions of the natural virtues are fervently taken up in longing for the Good and the Beautiful, namely in the grain of the chosen, which is truly good, and in the wine bringing forth virgins, which is truly beautiful. About the joining of the Good and the Beautiful, see DN 4: for the Beautiful is the cause of all things … because all things are determined according to it.39 But because this is in the higher hierarchy, where now the bride is stationed in order to be led and not to lead, according to Rom. 8:14: who are led by the Spirit of God, she asks that she be drawn again, adding: 1:3 Draw me after you. To that inaccessible light no one comes, unless the Father has sent him, John 6:44; and whomever the Father draws, the bridegroom also draws, and this is signified in Ezek. 8:3: and the likeness of a hand was sent; Dan. 14:35; Hos. 11:11: I will draw them with the cords of Adam, that is, with the unifying attractions of the fatherland, or of the paternal love. For this reason, he adds: with the cords of love. Since indeed he moves and leads minds to his own participations, in which alone he is known, DN 2,40 and his love leads himself to minds and minds to him, from which DN 4: He himself leads and moves himself; and immediately after: just as a power leading upwards … as he is an eternal circle whirling around, because of the Good, from the Good, and to the Good in a rotation that does not deviate.41 Therefore, she says: draw me after you, that is, pour your rays into me, which lead me into you, which guide me upward as if by drawing me to where I desire to go but do not know. Because this has been done, we will run to the odor of your ointments. We will run, I and the young women, with fervent desires, will run to you to be led up, to the odor, that is, through the most sweet and superintellectual fragrance exciting us, of your ointments, as above (1:1). But that the bride is said “to run” in the highest hierarchy of the mind

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is not contrary to that which was said above, because there the mind does not lead, but is led. For in this case “to run” is not anything other than to offer oneself into the ray by a certain violent fervor of desire, by desiring to be suspended through grace where no power enables her to ascend through nature, DN 1: we, after every union of godlike things, as far as possible, cutting off our intellectual operations, we send ourselves toward the super-substantial ray, as far as permitted.42 It follows: He led. Wis. 6:13–15: Wisdom is seen easily by those who seek her … she will be found; Jas. 1:5: if anyone needs wisdom, let him ask; 3 Kings 3:11: because you have asked. For it is proper that the plenitude of bountifulness give this principal gift, since he always seems provoked to anger whenever he is asked for the dung of this world with special striving. Therefore, whoever readily desires to be heard with most chaste prayers, DN 3,43 let him ask for the Wisdom attending the throne of God, Wis. 9:4. Therefore, the joyful bride, when she asks to be led in, adds: the king, a storekeeper, led me into his storerooms. She becomes accustomed to being ministered to abundantly out of the storeroom in a great number of ways; Dionysius Letter to Titus: the operation of the entire visible world is a representation of the invisible things of God.44 Therefore understand by the term “storerooms” the exemplars or patterns of the eternal Word which are the eternal theoriae and are called “the invisible things of God” in the plural, although in the highest Word itself they are one, DN 5.45 Into these storerooms, that is, the examples or patterns of the eternal Word, the bride is led in the highest hierarchy of the mind deeply and profoundly through unifying contemplation, as if into the inner parts of the desert, Exod. 3:1, through the paths of eternity, Hab. 3:6 and by the eternal way, Ps. 138:24. But in these storerooms is the true and highest happiness. For this reason, she adds: We will exult and be glad. “Simple indeed in essence and multiple in the hierarchies of the mind and the hierarchical orders and motions, from the twofold knowledge of affect and intellect, which have been drawn outside and beyond the powers of free will, I will grow in spiritual and super-intellectual praise,” since she will drink, when she is allowed to persevere in blessed drunkenness, Ps. 22:5: my chalice makes me drunk, how very beautiful it is, and 35:9: they will be drunk from the fecundity of your house; Letter to Titus: but according to that holy reception, namely of nourishment, even he himself, the best of all, is said to be drunk, because of the super-full, super-intellectual, perfect and ineffable extent of the nourishment or, to say it more correctly, the good

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blessedness of God.46 Since indeed the bride receives this drunkenness according to her own capacity in the aforementioned storerooms of the bridegroom. In you, in the fruition of your person, not gifts. Mindful of your breasts beyond wine: mindful through continual rumination, for the memory loses nothing, except what is not often repeated; of your breasts, as above at 1:1: your breasts are better than wine. Since indeed continual rumination on spiritual unveilings offers continual increase of the knowledges and exultations of the mind. Beyond wine the righteous love you. The bride, desiring for a long time to say how she may be moved more effectively to divine union, and at last thoroughly taught by the use of her inward exercise, remembers him and teaches other minds saying: The righteous love you. Since the love (dilectio) of God is a bond of perfection, Col. 3:14, because it perfects by uniting to plenitude. Therefore, minds which desire to love God and to be united to God, are raised up rightly and vertically, just as MT 1 says: rise unknowingly to union with the one … you will be led from below.47 For the theoretical part of the wisdom of Christians is taught there, which is the portion of Mary, the practice of which is discussed here through the entire book. Because of this rising and uprightness of the mind both celestial angels and spiritual men are said to stand, Gen. 18:2; Josh. 5:13; 1 Kings 19:13; Rev. 7:9 and 7:1. On the other hand, those who are bent cannot look up from below, Luke 13:1, but the demons carry them and tread them under foot, 2 Chron. 25:18. Therefore, the best way of rightly seeking God is to be stretched super-intellectually from below, until the apex of the mind, separated from all being (ens), understands the super-substantial God beyond everything existing and knows the super-unknown God through complete unknowing, according to that passage of Dionysius’s Letter to Gaius: perfect unknowing is the knowledge of him who is beyond everything which is known,48 that is, when Moses enters into the cloud or darkness, Exod. 24:11; MT 1.49 SECOND COMMENTARY, ON SONG OF SONGS 2:1–3:11 2:1

I am the flower of the field, etc. The bride, attending to her own smallness, according to what was said, a small upper room, called herself a bridal bed. But the bridegroom calmly lingering on the same

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bridal-bed and pouring in the more fertile fervors and splendors of lights, expands the bed itself into a field, as it were, and he speaks to bring it about: I am the flower of the field. That is I, expanding plentifully out of myself, a flower individual and unique, by your capacity for my magnitude, fill you again with the multiplex fragrance of sweetness, Gen. 27:27: behold the smell, etc., because splendor and aroma are in the flower on account of the filling of intellect and affect. Lily of the valleys. A valley has a projection from one place and another, thus a double projection and not a double vale. One is the sublime projection of understanding into the knowledge of eternal truth, the other is of affect more sublimely raised into the love of eternal goodness. The valley is the humiliation, especially of contemplation. Between such great heights of divine compassion in such minds, the bridegroom in fact says that he is the lily by the constant growth of the splendors of the understanding, which is signified by the shining leaves of the lily whenever blooming. Certainly, they bloom again in the order of the Cherubim in the highest hierarchy. And he is the lily by growth of the desire of eternal goodness, which is signified by the stretching of the stamen becoming red at the top, according to what Prov. 11:2 states: where there is humility, there also is wisdom. 2:2 As a lily among thorns. As if: I am a flower to you and specifically a lily. Thus he specifies, and out of my being a lily, you will be made like a lily, in as much as you are my love, united and taken up to me, and this a lily among thorns, that is, daughters. Here, understand the angels pricking the bride with spurs of love. That is: having the prickings of affect provided from every side, if she moves herself. If she rests, not touching the thorns, she persists in pleasant rest. Note that the lily cannot move itself without being pricked by thorns. Therefore, the resting bride speaks experientially: 2:3 Like the apple tree, that is, a tree bearing sweetly refreshing and fragrant apples, among the unfruitful trees of the woods, so is my beloved, the fullness of sweetness and refreshment, among the sons, the attendants or heavenly spirits. Although they are handsome, noble and sublime, and suitable for the heavenly edifice, nevertheless their true refreshment and mine is not in themselves, but above them. Therefore, Luke 2:15: and the shepherds, intellect and affect, said: let us go over; these are the guards, concerning which Song 5:7 and Dan. 4:10, 20 speak, up to Bethlehem, that is, into the house, the first and principal fullness of refreshment, from which it is ministered in other single workshops, to see, that is, to contemplate, the people of God, the Word

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itself. Thus, because understanding is in a mirror, 1 Cor. 13:12, affect bringing about union is above the mirror and above the mind, DN 7, and it is on the contrary the most divine knowledge.50 An apple tree, therefore, has shade and fruit, and she tells herself to eat the fruit and to rest under the shade, and this is: under the shade. She pursues the comparison of love to the tree, which has shade and sweet refreshment from its fruit. The super-splendent darkness is understood by the word “shade,” while the sweetest and most pleasant refreshment of its substance is understood by “fruit,” Wis. 16:21: sweetness from manna. To my palate. The palate, through which all refreshment moves from the head into the body, signifies the order of the Seraphim, by which every true refreshment of the mind is transmitted unto the lower orders from the bridegroom, Christ the head, 1 Cor. 11:3. Therefore, the bride says experientially: I sat, that is, according to the exhortation of the beckoning bridegroom that I should not be moved, I rest lingeringly (morose) under the shade, that is, in his incomprehensibility, which I desire. For he is unnamable, but also wholly desirable. Therefore, I can only describe him as desirable in my present state. And fruit, that is, his most perfect refreshment, Ecclus. 24:29: They that eat me, shall yet hunger, not my own, and Augustine:51 grow and you will feed on me, is incomparably sweet to my palate, as it is said in Ps. 30:20: how great is the multitude of your sweetness. That sweetness, although it is supremely simple in essence and indivisible in omnipotent wisdom, is nevertheless called his multitude, which is so great, that is, inestimably great, because it fills and refreshes every cavity of every celestial and mortal mind stretched out in themselves to the innumerable communications of himself, DN 2.52 She is set on fire with desire from the multiplicity of that simplicity and from the taste of the divine sweetness. 2:4 The King led me into the wine cellar, that is, more interior than I was before. He led me into the plenitude of sweetness, DN 4,53 and greatest numbing, because wine is sweet and numbing, and it is particularly called the wine cellar, and not a storeroom as before because of the special taste of divine sweetness, which exceeds the common measure that is noted in cellars. And therefore, by a special privilege of greater knowledge after the long-lasting embrace of the bridegroom, she is illuminated by means of the aforementioned taste, 1 Sam. 14:29; Ps. 33:9: taste and see; Prov. 31:18: she has tasted and seen. The bridegroom ordered charity in me from the abundance of this type of drink. He distributed step-by-step through each of my lower

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orders, according to the capacity of each. This is, to order charity in me, that is, to distribute step-by-step in my orders. Even you, O attendants, you then, lower orders, are comforted by this distribution, so that you are able to persevere more firmly in this my rest and pleasantness. 2:5 Sustain me with flowers, surround me with apples. “Flowers” designates the spiritual brilliances of knowledge, and “apples” signifies the sweet refreshments of the virtues. Therefore, the bride is supported by flowers, when the soul is filled with splendors, Isa. 58:11, and lest someone recall the bride to the bottommost things of temporal curiosity, behold, she is surrounded by apples when the bridal-bed of Solomon, that is, the contemplative soul, is encircled by the strongest men of Israel and protected by the aromatic guards of the cardinal virtues when approached by all the carnal vices. The support and surrounding are necessary to me, because I languish with love of the bridegroom or I gasp incessantly for the death of separation. Languor is sickness lasting until death. The bride, therefore, languishes with love from this stretching which does not stop until she is dead to herself and everything and until she is separated from everything and from herself in order to be united more tightly to the bridegroom, just as it says later: love is as strong as death, Song 8:7; EH 2: death is not destruction but separation.54 She begs two things: to be supported and to be surrounded by the lower orders. And the bridegroom himself, by his esteem, fills these up by his special working: for support, by his 2:6 left hand, that is, he sustains me by the cooperation of grace with diligent effort supporting underneath, uplifting me, and by his right hand, that is, by his own and more efficacious working which is of grace alone without diligent effort, for surrounding he embraces me, enveloping and absorbing me. Therefore, the bridegroom is delighted by the embraces in so devoted a bride, and to prolong her rest, under the hope of a spiritual promise, enjoins the lower orders to avoid obstacles which produce the fall of untimely sliding, saying: 2:7 O daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the hierarchies or lower orders begotten and fed by the peaceful contemplations of the bridegroom, or of my peace,55 I urge you by the roes and stags of the fields, that is, I  enjoin you under the promise of clear vision and the unencumbered uplifting progress, that you do not stir her up from the sleep of contemplation, about which Gen. 28:12 and 16, and Job 33:15–16 speak, nor cause her to be wakeful, that is, to persevere in sobriety, which may happen from this stirring, because, if she is stirred, she awakens from ecstasy, until she pleases, by my exciting

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this desire for myself. This entreaty of the bridegroom is what is called her operation or execution. 2:8 But the bride, recognizing this entreaty itself from the tender love of the bridegroom proceeding toward her, adds: this is the voice of my beloved, proceeding from tender love, henceforth I am accustomed to be carried off into more sublime contemplations. And then she adds: behold he comes, as if to say: although he is joined to me in a union and is present by a joining in union, nevertheless by drawing me to what is higher through new theoriae, it is as if he comes to me anew. An example of this is the chain which pulls while it is pulled, DN 3.56 She calls the very super-eminent theoriae mountains to herself, on which she says the bridegroom leaps while he quickly casts himself down to her. She calls the lower theoriae hills, by which, as it were, passing over them, she sublimely unites herself to him. Indeed, she called these lesser theoriae mountains before, but now that she’s been lifted higher she calls them hills. For this reason, when these theoriae were super-eminent and she was, as it were, below them, they were mountains. But, when the bridegroom casts himself down to her as if from the peak of the mountain and draws her to himself and thus leaps on the mountains and skips on the hills, because she is now raised, what was a mountain to her before is made a hill on which he skips when he joins himself to her. 2:9 And my beloved, whom I become like by union, is like a roe and young stag, etc. because he effectively makes me a roe and young stag. For by making me like himself he brings about clear sight in contemplations, in as much as the roe sees clearly, and makes me renewed in virtue, which is observed in a little stag, and regarding the swift uplifting, this is designated by a deer, in which unencumbered running is noted. See Isa. 40:31; CH 4.57 Moreover, notice that she perceives according to participation, which is from the bridegroom, and it describes the bridegroom himself. For those things that are divine are known only by participation, DN 2.58 And, note that for as long as she perseveres with the bridegroom, she always ascends. Behold, he stands behind our wall. The wall is the division which the first sin established between our mind and the divine face, excluding us from clear and pure contemplation of it, Isa. 59:2; Ex. 33:20–23; 1 Cor. 14:12: through a mirror; Num. 24:17: I will see him but not properly; Job 36:25: he regarded at a distance, that is, enigmatically and obscurely. It is as if the beloved stands behind this wall when, in so far as this division permits, he approaches us courteously, because

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to the contemplative minds, he, as it were, grants to a disposed mind some openings through the middle of that dark wall, carriers of his internal light. The bride adds by experience: behold he, more present to me now than usual, stands, ready and persevering, behind, that is, near, our wall. Indeed, understand the wall as the barrier of our nature, because Adam, even before he sinned, did not see God through sight but through a mirror or enigma, that is, according to the interposed clay of our race. Looking, that is, radiating from his high place unto me, through the windows, that is, the more universal contemplations, which are simpler in him, and seeing far off, that is, from a more distant profundity through the lattices, as it were both subtler and privileged rays received through deeper holes. The distinction between this more universal inpouring, which is through the windows, and the subtler, which is through the lattices, is noted in the distinction between rain and dew, Deut. 32:2; Job 38:28: of rain; Dan. 3:64: bless the rain and dew; 1 Kings 17:1 neither the dew nor rain. For not only the dew but also the more common rain is denied to sinful land. Dew is mystical theology. 2:10 And by beaming forth so subtly to me, my beloved spoke to me by effect: arise, that is, make me rise by unknowing higher than before by fervent affect, arise quickly, Acts 12:7. And note that he repeats it. Lo and behold, it signifies that she approaches constantly by those ascents to a more familiar presence. My beloved, simplifying you in a dove of my beauty, also beautifying you in a beautiful one; about simplicity CH 1, 7;59 about beautified beauty DN 4.60 And I come always unto the things that are before me, to join them to myself more tightly. For however far you come you still will not reach the end, Ecclus. 43:32–36. 2:11 For already winter [is past]. Indeed, before he invites her to higher places than before, and because she shows that she is able to come on her own because she removed every torpor, that is, diminution of fervor which she suffered before, according to which the Angels are said to be purged not from stains but from the lessening of purity, CH 7.61 For what is hastening and fervor in the lower order, would be slowness in the higher orders. Therefore, in whichever considered step of the higher order, it is as if she suffers the torpor of subtler and fervent ascent. This is what she says: For already winter is past. She adds also shower, the same shower that a little earlier we called rain, which the dew of the subtler inpouring follows, is over and gone, not only over but gone, that is, even

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2:12 far gone, which the dew follows, by which the mountains are watered

from above. The flowers, that is, the celestial splendors of wisdom sprouting new splendors and scents from the power of that dew, appeared, in a pleasing spiritual way, in the land, that is, in the stable mind made solid by contemplation, of ours, that is, common to you and me because he reclines there. This is the good rest in the best land, Gen. 49:15. The time of pruning is coming. Think of a vine: its substantial branches are trimmed so that those remaining may sprout more plentifully. Thus, when the contemplative soul ascending to the higher theoriae abides quietly in contemplation of them, it necessarily still has to suspend its substantial lower active powers and speculative movements at the same time by cutting them off, as it were, so that freer movements leading to union may climb up to the more sublime (or subtle) theoriae and rest there. Accordingly, the rest is to be moved unto everlasting stability and because it is moved more quickly and fervently unto it, it rests more fixedly and stably. Therefore, in Wis. 7:23 the spirit is called both mobile and stable; CH 7: mobile and incessant.62 The voice of the turtle dove. Most chaste prayer, DN 3,63 is signified by the voice of the turtle dove, which is a chaste bird. This prayer begs for the unique and most pure embraces of the bridegroom, desiring not his gifts but only him, and this voice is loudly audible in the ears of the bridegroom. Therefore, she adds: the voice of the turtle dove is heard. The turtle dove is solitary and especially chaste, builds a nest in hollow and fortified places, and keeps its chicks warm at night, and this signifies the super-intellectual and uniting power of the mind, about which DN 7,64 which is thoroughly solitary, MT 1: removing all.65 She is embraced most chastely by the bridegroom and pours out to him most chaste prayers, DN 3,66 and because of all the powers of the mind imitates angelic love, about which CH 2.67 That most chaste love is of such strength that it calls forth God to ecstatic love, Prov. 8:17: I love them that love me. This power stations its nest in the high places, Job 39:27, and feeds its chicks at night, that is, in the super-splendent darkness, MT 2;68 Ps. 138:11: Night shall be my light. The voice of this turtle dove is, as it were, without a voice while it is ineffably united, MT 3.69 In our land, that is, in the Seraphim of the mind, that order which we share together, we inhabit and cultivate by union beyond the mind, DN 7 and MT 3.70 Likewise, John Chrysostom in On the Song says that the turtle dove, having dismissed bodily partnership, advances without a companion, and does not have bodily intercourse

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beyond what is required.71 The voice of the turtle dove was heard and heeded by me, for she implores me and gains me in our land, as before. 2:13 A fig tree has fruit that is black on the outside and red on the inside when they mature. This rightly signifies the highest order of the contemplative mind, the Seraphim, in which the bride says above in 1:4: I am black like the cedar tents, in which blackness and redness are designated at the same time, as is clear there. The fig tree has put forth, that is, thrown down, green figs, which are its first fruits and are called flowers. Other vigorous fruits spring from these having been thrown down to the earth. Therefore, the first fruits designate the first, initial, and earthly contemplations of the aforementioned order. By these, when they are completed (which is said because their frailties pass away but not them), the firmer fruits of contemplation follow when the disciplined mind becomes accustomed to fixing its gaze (aciem figere) unto the subtler spectacles of wisdom. This does not usually happen except after frequent speculative excesses because nothing is subtler, more difficult, and more useful in this life than that fixing. Whence, Augustine makes reference in his Soliloquies.72 Vines are the higher theoriae, which carry in and pour the wine of the wine cellar into the contemplative mind, which was already stated above, Song 2:3. These are said to flower when they pour in new and not yet tested sweetness to the same mind, and this is: flowering vines gave their fragrance, and they always flower because they always pour in new things. For nature always seeks new things because natural desire draws itself to the desire of the highest good, in which there are always new things. By the constant ascents of contemplation from the side of the lights, new things continue unto infinity, however much the lights themselves may be most ancient and eternal. Therefore, Augustine in the Confessions exclaims: O beauty so ancient, and so new, late have I known you, late have I loved you.73 Arise, hurry, higher than you have arisen, beloved, that is, by the reaching in of my ecstatic love. Therefore, she is called “beloved” anew, by the new growth of love. Beautiful, as if finely formed, because of the renewal of fine-formedness. For beautifying love renews beauty. And come to the higher places, because you have not yet reached them. 2:14 My dove in the clefts. In what follows he says what was done because he does by saying and he renews simplification by uplifting. Therefore, she is called a “dove” anew.74 By the words of the steep and difficult rock one should understand the penetrable theoriae, which

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are penetrated only by the most acute, strengthened minds and by much exercise, just as if by a hard and sharp iron tool, Ecclus. 48:19: he dug out a rock with iron. Therefore, the clefts are the contemplative penetrations of these theoriae; and therefore, below in 4:9 it says: you wounded me in one eye. The apex of affect alone ascends into those. Of the wall, that is, the previous wall.75 Therefore, the sharpened point digs out the rock and carves the wall. By the rock, understand the secret profundity of theoriae impenetrable by rational investigations and intellectual contemplations, MT 1,76 by the wall, the contemplation of theoriae. Your face. With the aforementioned, the bridegroom says effectively: Show your face to me; that is, he presents me to himself and makes himself near by most chaste prayers, unveiling of the mind, adaption for union, DN 3.77 The face, the higher, more distinguished, and more beautiful part of man, signifies the order of Seraphim in which I am manifested to the bridegroom. Let your voice resound, always renewed, arising and louder. Let your voice resound more audibly and clearly in my ears so that I may hear you clearly, and for constant progress, David always proceeding, 2 Sam. 3:1; EH 3.78 The bridegroom says this wholly effectively, just as if very pleasing to him. Therefore he adds, your voice is sweet and your face comely, that is, you are pleasing to me in this, and the effective request of your progress, which is a cry, is pleasing to my hearing. That is, on account of my goodness it is pleasing to me, not because of your merit. CH 4.79 Indeed, the voice pertains to the word of the mind, and the face to affect. The voice, therefore, is sweet because of the admixture of affective sweetness, the face comely on account of the admixture of the brightness of wisdom. 2:15 Catch, etc. The bridegroom knows that the more tightly and fervently the bride clings to his embraces, subtle spiritual adversaries more bitterly envy her quiet and more cleverly watch out for her falling. She also avoids these crafty assailants for the same reason, and she speaks effectively: O attendants, catch, that is, humble the little foxes, that is, deceitful and hidden treacheries, because what is small is less seen. Indeed, by foxes, understand the insidious movements and disordered desires of sensuality. Whatever of these are put to sleep in spiritual men are not yet dead. If she is approached by these, the flying soul, Ezek. 13:20, is quickly smothered, just as foxes play dead in order to devour birds. That demolish (demoliuntur) the vines. To demolish (demoliri) is “to build downward (deorsum moliri).” For example, when diggers are positioned at the foot of a tower,80 that is,

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downward in the exterior man. Or they spread a crafty treachery under some appearance of good in rational and intellectual strength, so that in whatever way they can they drag the suspended heavenly mind downward, Isa. 7:6: let us awaken Judah from the sleep of contemplation, let us pluck her from the embraces of the bridegroom. Isa. 51:23: bow down that we may cross over; Neh. 6:3: descend. Against these: Exod. 24:12: ascend into the mountain and be there; John 1:39: they remained with him, and: if you would remain and if the branches do not remain in the life; Eccle. 8:3: do not be hasty to withdraw from the face of God; Ps. 18:15: my meditation in my sight always. Thus they may demolish the aforementioned vines sprouting forth virgins, Zach. 9:17, of the soul itself, and it is the wine from the mountain, not from the plain, just as the first from that mountain, and by that the most dear are inebriated, Zach. 9:15. And injury to the vine must be avoided, lest it is injured in the first flower, Job 15:33, and therefore it follows: For our vineyard flourished. The  new and tender growths of spiritual sweetnesses to be poured into the mind are understood by both the vineyard and the vines, on account of the multiplicity of simplicity and the simplicity of the multitude, as above.81 The bride, understanding how anxiously and mercifully the bridegroom provides for her, avoids lapsing according to his promise, Exod. 34:24: by making yourself visible; Augustine: For you, according to the unity of substance and to the Trinity of persons, that is, by the contemplation of the one Trinity, no one’s treacheries will be efficacious.82 For rivers rush on and winds blow, but the house stands, Matt. 7:24–25; 16:18: the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; Gen. 19:11: they were not able to find the door of Lot. Rejoicing with the graces of the bridegroom, she rejoices with him 2:16 experientially and says: My beloved freely empties himself to me and I to him, and the subdued stumbling blocks are taken away in return, which is to catch the foxes. who feeds among the lilies, he who, by flowing from my order of Seraphim into the 2:17 Cherubim, feeds by love among the lilies of the Cherubim and Thrones, until the daybreak, that is, the light of radiating wisdom breathes down to those same orders, and the shadows, that is, the super-splendent darknesses without intellectual knowledge, retire, that is, descend by pouring from the Seraphim unto the lower orders. And note that it is not a contemplative man’s concern to strain for the care of other souls, but only for his own lower orders. For example, see the Epistle to Demophilus.83 Moreover, this distribution in the lower

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orders happening, again the bride soon turns to the drinking of higher theoriae, saying: O my beloved, turn back by new and higher pourings of theoriae, and be like, effectively in me, as was said above, a roe or a young stag, assimilating me to yourself according to this, upon the mountains of Bethel, that is, in the high theoriae which are still intangibly super-eminent to me. 3:1 In my bridal-bed. She already has asked the bridegroom to return, but the bridegroom neither allows her to slip, nor soon takes her higher, but puts off sending in new rays to her, so that the very delay may direct her desires more fervently. Therefore, the bride says experientially: I sought him whom my soul loves. The word “love” signifies him who alone is truly known by love, according to what Jesus says in John 14:21: And he who loves me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him, and 1 John 4:20 says: If one says he knows God and does not love, he is a liar. My soul, the spirit, animated by heat, is what causes movement, and movement from affect. Therefore, spiritual heat is affective. Therefore, the soul is the purity of affect, boiling, heat, and vital spirit. I sought, remaining in desire, I sought on my bridal-bed, that is, in the order of the Seraphim, about which Job 7:13–14 says: If I say: My bed shall comfort me, and I shall be relieved speaking with myself on my bridal-bed: You will frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions. She sleeps when she undergoes active and affective ecstasy, as in Dan. 10:16: At the sight of you my joints are loosened, and no strength has remained in me. And this is the man of desires,84 which is properly the Seraphim. For in the Seraphim there is no understanding, but growing desire because the wholly desirable always and everywhere penetrates desire. Moreover, she calls it a “bridal-bed” when the active flame of new visitation enlarging the soul is not present. Ps. 118:32: I ran in the way of your mandates when you enlarged my heart. About this enlarging, Isa. 54:2, Isa. 28:20: narrowed and spread, above 1:15: our bridal3:2 bed, and below 3:7: bridal bed. By night, that is, super-intellectual stretchings, I sought persevering anew, and I did not find him. He did not appear to me in the flame of fire, Ex. 3:2. Therefore what is the plan? I will not cease to advance after him, Jer. 3:19, and this is: I will always seek his face, Ps. 104:4. How will I seek it? I will rise by unknowing to imitation of him and I will go about, because I cannot penetrate, the city, universal plenitude. Ecclus. 24:8 states: I alone have encompassed the circuit of heaven, that is, to whatever degree I can, I will contemplate the spectacles of wisdom, and this is: through the

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streets and broad ways, that is, through theoriae more difficult and easier to contemplate. I will search for him whom my soul loves, as before. I  searched for him and did not find him, neither did he thus appear up to this point in flames, as before. Nothing is sought from the attendants in seeking the bridegroom, neither guidance nor anything of such a kind. The bridegroom nevertheless wills that he may be sought through these and that they may help. Because, therefore, I did not ask for the guidance of the attendants to find him kindled in that desire, since the heavenly decree is that our hierarchy is uplifted by the angelic, as Dionysius reveals, therefore he is not found, CH 4.85 There is an example about someone hastening too much on the journey who strays because he does not ask for directions. CH 9.86 Therefore, let no one neglect the angelic guidance of those contemplating, who desire to find God in the flame of fire, because when the bride, not from contempt but from the theft of fervent desire, disregards asking for the guidance of the celestial attendants, these very assistants mercifully and voluntarily offer their help with pious desire for him. An example can be found in Matt. 24:5 in which angels instruct the women. But, sometimes the bridegroom himself appears, as in John 20:15 where the gardener appears to Mary, who signifies the contemplative soul. 3:3 These attendants are called watchmen here and in Dan. 4:10 because without any interruption or turning back, they most fervently and continuously keep watch over the divine praises and contemplations and protect our hierarchy with continual wakefulness; See Isa. 6:3, they cry “Holy,” etc.; Rev. 4:8; and Isa. 62:6: above your walls I have appointed watchmen. It says: watchmen who keep watch, that is, celestial minds continuously and most vigilantly contemplating the plenitude of the divine majesty according to the capacity of each, 1 Pt. 1:12: in whom the angels desire, etc.; CH 7: mobile and incessant;87 over the city, the divine plenitude, where there is found the abundance of all necessary and delightful things, as in a city. Therefore, the bride, turning towards the angelic guidance most kindly offered to her, most graciously accepts it and wishes to be led by them to the Beloved. But, attending to the inestimable incomprehensibility of the Beloved himself, which even incomparably exceeds the most sublime contemplations of celestial spirits, though she does not doubt that they contemplate him continually by sight, she still asks somewhat doubtfully and respectfully: whom my soul loves, as if she were to say: knowledge of so excellent majesty is very admirable. Whom my soul

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loves, as above. However, the angels do not respond, because the guidance that she was seeking does not need intellectual teaching, but only fire, according to which the Seraphim are called fiery ones, CH 7.88 3:4 Therefore, having been enkindled by their ministry, passing them and all things, whenever she had desired the bridegroom, she finds him coming about in the flame of fire, and this is: When I had passed by them a little, I found him whom my soul loves. A little, that is, as quickly as possible. Whom my soul loves. She always points him out in this way, in which is noted a more ample and fervent kindling of love. The longer I searched, the more fervently I desired, the more dependently, firmly, and tightly I held him, that is, I clung to him more tightly. I will not let go, that is, I will not cease from his embraces, until my house is provided for from the plenitude. However much I drink from the same fountain, I pour into my lower orders rather copiously, and this is until I bring him, that is, participations of him according to the capacity of each order, into my mother’s house, and especially into the chamber of her who bore me. One is called the mother of the generation of someone from whom that generation proceeds by propagation, just as Eve is called mother of all the living, Gen. 3:20. However, one is properly a bearer (genitrix) who begets immediately from herself. Therefore, by the word “mother,” understand nature with the two lower orders of the second hierarchy, or diligent effort; by the word “bearer,” understand the order of Dominions from which immediately the excess of the mind is begotten. Or, by “the mother’s house” understand nature which is properly a mother and understand her house as all diligent effort, by “bearer” understand the Cherubim and Thrones. The chamber within the chamber, in the Cherubim itself, is her affect, which is more interior than her understanding, and those two are mingled in every order, except in the Seraphim, and the inpouring is from the chamber of the Seraphim into the chamber of the Cherubim, although nevertheless the order of the Seraphim first pours into the Cherubim and Thrones, and consequently to the lower orders. It first leads into the chamber of the bearer and then into the house of the mother. Still, the bride first remembers the house of the mother and after the room of the bearer, because the divine light, descending step-by-step through those orders unto the lowest order from its own power, and filling and kindling the lowest and all the others step-by-step, leads back to the divine, according to what CH 1 states: It is the good given to all and the perfect gift descending

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downward from the Father of lights, every procession of appearing light from the Father coming by a gift of goodness to us; in return, like a unifying power, by awakening us it fills us up and returns us to the unity and deific simplicity of the Father’s gathering.89 Ps. 18:7: his going out from the highest heaven. For the water of saving wisdom springing up unto eternal life can ascend as much as it descends, just as material water descends as much as it can ascend through springs. And clearly, the order of the Seraphim ends its return in the chamber of the Cherubim and not in itself, because the order of the Seraphim itself does not return itself back to God, but the bridegroom himself, or the attendants of the bridegroom do. Because of this, The Angelic Hierarchy says that the substances of the Seraphim are purged, illuminated, and perfected by the divine nature itself, and that is what is called there by the Supreme End (teletarchia).90 But the bridegroom, attending to the long-lasting labor and anxiety of the bride seeking him, and arousing her desire by holding back, provides rest for her in his sublime embraces, in the same way as above.91 3:5 I adjure you … who is she, etc. With the bridegroom providing for the tranquil and long-lasting repose of the bride seeking rest in all things, as Naomi said to Ruth: I will provide rest for you;92 Isa. 66:12: I will bring upon her, and: Sabbath after Sabbath; John 14:27 my peace I give to you; Phil. 4:7: peace which surpasses every sense, the bride, most actively exercising her tranquility, is wholly set on fire, like burning frankincense, Ecclus. 50:9, and she blazes with fragrant desires just as pure incense burns, and she is wholly made a burnt offering full of marrow, Ps. 65:15. And in these desires, just as in burning and sharpened arrows (Ps. 119:4) that penetrate very violently, she strongly, acutely, and marvelously ascends into sublime theoriae and rushes into the kingdom of heaven by force and violence, Matt. 11:12. She does this to such a degree that the attendants commending and rejoicing and, as it were, admiring such grace in the mind 3:6 of the wayfaring bride, say: who is she, so praiseworthy, so favored, so powerfully acting and so delicately acted upon, who ascends unto divine things through the desert of herself and of all things, MT 1,93 arriving from the outer reaches of the desert through the middle to the interior and through the inmost of the desert up to the interior and through the inmost desert up into Mount Horeb of God, where the Lord appears in a flame of fire.94 The exterior is deformities; the middle is the cardinal virtues and all active works and all intellectual things and she herself and all things.

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Like a column of smoke, delicate, gentle and stretching straight upwards from the fragrant heat. The contemplative mind is compared to a column, because a column receives an increase of the smoke of most chaste prayer from the kindness of heavenly heat and moisture, and evaporates from the fervor of devotion, and therefore, she says: from the sweet aromas of myrrh, which is whole and full mortification of herself, as above: a bundle of myrrh,95 of frankincense, that is, of devotion set on fire. This is on the part of the bride. And of all the powders of the perfumer. The perfumer is the bridegroom who is the author, lover, maker, and bountiful giver of every spiritual aroma. The abundance of his sweetness is called powder, as above.96 It is so great an abundance because the word powder singularly represents the infinite abundance of the sweetest, infinite divine aromas of the highest simple essence. Ecclus. 38:7 states: the ointment maker shall make pigments of sweetness. This is the bridegroom who sends the Spirit, which is the anointing. 3:7 Behold the bed of Solomon, etc. The announcing attendants describe the progress of the bride according to such great glory, beginning with the diligence of the lower guard, without which just as without a foundation the height of a roof topples, Ecclus. 27:4: unless you hold yourself in fear, your house shall be quickly overthrown. Therefore, they say: behold, in our gaze is that which is carried off by worldly considerations: sixty strong men. The strength is double. One against the adversaries of the flesh, the world, and demons, Jer. 6:25: in the sword of the enemy. The other is against friends, Jer. 46:16: the sword of the dove; Gen. 32:28: if you were strong against God; DN 4: strong in divine things.97 The first strength pertains to the infantry of the mind, the second to the cavalry. In groups of six, which is a perfect number,98 perfection is seen; in groups of ten, activity because of the Decalogue, since it is called the law of works, Rom. 3:27. Sixty strong men, the four cardinal virtues, circle the bed of Solomon, that is, the tranquil mind of the bride, by guarding it because just as on account of the sin of Solomon his kingdom was divided into two kingdoms opposed to each other, thus, on account of the sin of the first man, the kingdom of the mind is divided into two kingdoms opposed to each other, namely the spirit and the flesh. Sixty strong men circle. A group of six signifies perfection, a group of ten, activity on account of the Decalogue, which is the law of works, Rom. 3:27. Therefore, the cardinal virtues which bring about the active life are understood by the word sixty, about which see Wis. 8:7.

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Spiritually, those sixty men are called strong in the contemplative man because by the inpouring of contemplative and theological virtues they are constantly strengthened. Therefore, it is added: from the strongest men of Israel. For there is no other way than that, which to a greater or equal extent strengthens those virtues, and therefore they are called the strongest of Israel because of the excellent strength which they gain from contemplative virtue. Therefore these strong men circle, that is, guard outside and everywhere, and fortify by the virtues the interior and higher bed of Solomon. Therefore it says they circle among spiritual things. It is the same to be interior as to be above. The bed is the upper hierarchy. From the Concordance in Ps. 74:4 it says: the earth is melted and I established the pillars.99 The earth is, as above, the mind solid in contemplation, which at the utterance of the bridegroom melts and is prepared for union, from which union the mind gains an abundance of light. Therefore, by the pillars, that is, the designated strong men and strongest men of Israel, he strengthens and solidifies. Therefore, it follows: I established the pillars in order to distinguish the strong men of Israel, as was said, the virtues which work with reason, from the stronger men, the Dominions which withdraw from the world by understanding. By the strongest men, the orders of the upper hierarchy are understood. Therefore in the sobriety of the mind the strong men are strengthened by the stronger men alone. But, in an ecstatic contemplative mind, the stronger men as much as the strong men gain strength from the strongest men. 3:8 All holding swords with the hand of operation. A sword, of course, is the testimonies, counsels, and the precepts of God, Eph. 6:7: sword; Hebr. 4:12: the word of God is living, etc. In fact, every virtue, in subduing vices, has this sword in hand, as is clear in the The Shield of Bede.100 In this, one monk inquired of another: How will I be saved? The other answered, In every work of yours, consult the testimony of the Scriptures. And they are strengthened by their power, and the infantry is made most learned in war by their wisdom, not so that they have strength for fighting in heaven, but against the three enemies, for the Lord chooses wars for them, Judg. 5:8, that is, war of the old enemy, the world, and the flesh: the hostile war of the demon, the civil war of the world, and the internal war of the flesh. Every man’s sword upon his thigh. There is an infirmity of vice opposed to a given virtue, like injustice to justice, folly to prudence, excessive pleasure to temperance, weakened faintheartedness to fortitude. Therefore there is a sword for any of these. Upon his thigh, that is,

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his own self, because each should primarily strike the vices which are directly opposed to it. The more it strikes directly, the more efficaciously and violently, and that caution for wars is exercised by these strong men. Because of fears in the night, that is, the attacks of vices are feared through the whole night of this world. Already, therefore, the attendants are mentioned concerning the protection of the bed. Behold how diligently the most secure angels even now teach mortals, even contemplative men, to avoid vices while they are wayfarers. For unless protection and caution be sent ahead to such men, no mortals on the bed of contemplation rest safe. Therefore, after having been sent, that is, from the security of the lower [orders] and the beginning of the bed, they unite from progress, and this is signified by the fact that first Leah bore four sons by Jacob before the others from Rachel, or from Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, which is intellectual knowledge, and understand by these four the preceding virtues, which are in the order of the Virtues itself and labor with reason.101 3:9 Pursuing, therefore, the ascent of the bridegroom, they say: He made a litter, as if to say: after the bride diligently trains herself in diligent effort by cooperating with the bridegroom, and stopping in the Dominions, she was not able to go beyond. King Solomon, that is, the bridegroom, by his own operation made a litter for himself, from her herself, raising her into the Thrones, from the wood of Lebanon, which is interpreted as brightness. Therefore, in as much as Lebanon is a mountain, it signifies the contemplative mind flooded copiously with the radiance of eternal light, Wis. 7:26. The woods of this mountain, that is, the trees, are the sublime movements of contemplation by which Solomon himself is received and carried from the abundance of this light and radiance. 3:10 He made the pillars thereof, that is, her Dominions which are immediately underneath the Thrones, from silver, which is glittering and resounding, by teaching, which is to poor forth received splendor. For, from the abundance of the heart, behold splendor. The mouth speaks, behold eloquence and melodiousness. The seat of gold, that is, the order of Cherubim, gold because of the redness of fiery affect and the brightness of luminous understanding. Moreover, it is called a seat after it is called a litter because, as it were, by ascending from the Thrones into it, she reclines resting in each. But the highest seatback of it in the contemplative mind, that is, the order of the Seraphim, is purple of pure redness by the flame of the highest and pure affect without admixture. Nevertheless, many times it is mixed for ornament, because

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it does not have brightness like gold, and because purple clothing is royal, and that order before others pertains to the ornament of the king. The middle he covered with charity, that is, from the fruitfulness of that seatback, seat, and litter, he covered, that is, he ornamented and sprinkled the middle, that is, the middle hierarchy, with charity, that is, by the inpouring of charity according to the capacity of each, because of the daughters of Jerusalem, strengthening and perfecting the lower orders. 3:11 Therefore the attendants pursue her: O daughters of Jerusalem, strengthened by the pouring of this charity by the new speculative ecstasies, depart, stretch yourself by complete exertion for departure, because it is not in our power to go beyond, but to endeavor for it, and that departure is in the Dominions. For, the departure occurs as often as they receive a new inpouring, and from that inpouring they go beyond to the more ample drink. And note that the eyes of the lower orders are the same as those of the Dominions and the higher orders. Therefore, it follows: and see, so that, taken up into the Thrones, the eyes, which you exercise soberly, having been attracted, may see. For the eyes of the lower orders are sober and twisted away (extorti), but the eyes of the higher orders are drawn. Solomon is seen in a diadem, by which word the order of Thrones is understood, which, as it were, surrounds our head, that is, the bridegroom, according to its ability to envelop. His mother is said to crown, that is, surround him, with this diadem because the stretchings and operations of the lower orders uniformly strive for this, so that, in as much as they are sublimely able, the bridegroom is received in the bosom of intellect and affect on the day of his espousals. And see, by contemplating him on the day of his espousals, that is, to the bride, in the order of Cherubim, there is, as it were, a last preparation so that she is led to the inmost bed of the bridegroom, and finally on the day of joy of his heart, that is, in the super-intellectual light of the Seraphim, where she enjoys a pure and special inward joy of the heart in the embraces of the bridegroom, inseparable in the future. SECOND COMMENTARY, ON SONG OF SONGS 8:1–6, 13–14 8:1

Who will give you to me. As the bride is refreshed in new theoriae, she always stretches herself, as it were, toward those ahead, having

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forgotten the ones behind. For this reason, considering once again that the bridegroom is joined to her, as it were, yet unveiled in the higher theoriae that she is unable to touch because of the difficulty of sublime ascent, she says: who will give you to me, although she knows that the bridegroom is the one who gives of his very self, Rev. 2:10: I will give you the crown of life; 22:16–17: I Jesus have sent my angel to testify …; a chosen people, 1 Pet. 2:9; AH 1,102 because she desires to be made into what she cannot make herself. My brother, that is, joined to me in chaste love, Matt. 12:46–50, sucking the breasts of my mother, that is, may you draw me into you more deeply, to those deeper theoriae, which are the truths of all sensible signs gathered from the investigation of reason in the first step of contemplation, by a certain endeavor of the spirit, as it were. By the name “mother,” understand the investigation of reason in the abundance of all sensible signs. In the sucking, understand the attraction from those signs to more inward and pure truths. And with the variety, mutability, and unlikeness of all things so removed, may I come to you alone, MT 1,103 Col. 1:19 and 2:9: in whom is every plentitude of every desirable form, outside, outside myself and all things, MT 1: in excess of yourself and all things,104 and kiss you, that is, unite more tightly than at first. The bride always pants for the exertion of this union. And upon me united to you in praiseworthy and inseparable fashion, may none look down, that is, may nothing appear in me by my fall from such loftiness, which exists as long as the bride remains united, because it has nothing blameworthy. And she asks this because above she fell entirely back to herself and thus to the difference of mutable things, and because of that she looked down on herself. 8:2 I will grasp you, that is, by clinging eagerly and steadfastly, and remaining with you, I will lead you, that is, I will pass on what you pour in, your knowledge and praise, into the house of my mother, that is, into all the lower orders, in which the exercise of reason offers a certain beginning of its own foundation through the first and lowest step of contemplation, and into the chamber of her who bore me (3:4). Or by “house” understand the hierarchy of diligent effort, which is open and common.105 But by “chamber” understand the exclusive hierarchy, in which the stretching of the Dominions can come to rest.106 And for this reason, it is called “the chamber of her who bore me.” And there you will teach me, that is, persisting with you, you will continually pour in new theoriae, and I will give you a cup.

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To give the bride a little cup is the same as what was said before, that her breasts are sucked by the bridegroom. Therefore, the sense is: I will give you an unfermented wine of pomegranates, myself, melted by devotion and adapted for union, made delicious, which is wellknown in “wine,” as if from the cooking of spiritual spices, which is noted in “spicing,” by an incomparable assimilating of myself to you, both bringing me to inner places and being taken up anew more inwardly; that is, I will draw myself more inwardly to you, melted by new fervors, I will display myself. Newness is understood in the unfermented wine. Fervor is understood in the pomegranates. 8:3 Therefore, the bride, delighted by the perseverance and increase of these spiritual delights, speaks experientially: his left hand, that is, the cooperation of the lower orders, under my head, that is, supports the high point of the higher hierarchy, allowing no obstacles which may result in a fall. And his right hand, that is, the principal operation which he exercises in me and which absorbs me, which is to be embraced, above at 2:6: his right hand will embrace me. And, in order that the repose of the same bride may be steadfast and persevering in delights, the bridegroom adds a charge to his attendants, saying effectively: 8:4 O daughters of Sion, that is, you attendants, as above at 2:7, I adjure, that is, I enjoin from the zeal of the bride and your office, as above at 2:7, that you not rouse, that is, that you dispel occasions for disturbing the sleep of contemplation. To present an occasion of disturbance, or to not put it away, is to rouse, but to draw away from disturbance is to keep watch. Until she wishes, as above at 2:7. 8:5 Who is this: in the mind weighed down by the millstone of the body, Wis. 9:15, the voice of the attendants amazed at such great loftiness, agility, and purity, out of their duty to the bridegroom. How pure, how luminous, how perfect, estranged from things of the lower world, and purified of her difference from the first form, is this woman, present to and mixed with us, who ascends upon the ladder of Jacob, Gen. 28:13, from theoriae into higher theoriae, from the desert, as was said above 3:6, through the desert, namely by deserting all things, and deserting, namely by an act of desertion. MT 1: with a strong contrition, leave behind intellectual operations, all sensible things, and all things existing and not existing … you will be carried upwards.107 And when she is in the desert, deserting all things, she thus perseveres in the contemplation of pure theoriae. But when she ascends from the desert, after persevering in the contemplation and exercise of pure theoriae,

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she is drawn to the interior places, or the inner places of the desert, Exod. 3:1–2, and she is a fire and a flame in the desert. Overflowing with delights, above at 4:12 she was “Gan-Eden,” that is, a garden of delights, but she overflowed abundantly with these spiritual delights from a repeated and copious super-addition. For this reason, the cause of such abundance is added: resting upon the beloved, for in the mind she certainly rests in unity and reclines upon him who is full of grace and truth, John 1:16: from whose plenitude we have received for a vow; DN 7: not only is God super-full of wisdom, and there is no reckoning his prudence, but he is stationed beyond every reason, mind, and wisdom.108 Under an apple tree. The bridegroom, approving and affirming the praises of the attendants, lest the magnitude of unveilings exalt the bride, 2 Cor. 12:7, to the same bride, to whom both the attendants and himself have recommended the way of life of humility and grace, he calls to mind both his grace and the bride’s weakness, saying, under an apple tree. Since indeed where there is humility, there will also be wisdom, Prov. 11:12. Note that the apple bears apple seeds and signifies affective perfection or progress. But before this affective progress there precedes the rational investigation and intellectual speculation, both lower than this perfection and closer to vain emptiness, Rom. 1:21: they have become empty in their thoughts; Ps. 11:5: we will engorge our tongues, our lips are our own. He speaks in this way: because you were in a mirror by the intellectual gathering from creatures to the creator, you thought that there was nothing existing super-substantially beyond existing things, MT 1,109 and you thought that you knew, by that knowledge which is according to yourself, him who makes the darkness his hiding place, which is totally incomparably lower than my affective, super-intellectual, and ecstatic love and knowledge, DN 4.110 Therefore, because you were without the life of the beloved there, DN 4,111 I have roused you, you, dead as it were, that is, lacking this ecstatic life, in order that you may be living with not your, but my truly lovable life, DN 4.112 There, that is, in the exercise pertaining to the intellectual mirror, your mother, that is, investigating reason, was corrupted. The corruption of reason is when meditations are exercised with the perverse purpose of vainglory. But it is a violation of intellective knowledge to ascribe the knowledge of eternal things to men’s own faculties and to assert that there is nothing higher. The one who bore you is the apex of the understanding, which is in the Dominions. But your mother is the investigation of reason, the searcher and the mediator.

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Place me. By the term “heart” the intellectual sense is designated, 1 Kings 3:12: I have given you a wise and understanding heart. In the arm is noted the affective power. For just as the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart, so also is an operation exercised from the abundance of love, John 14 throughout, and as was said at 8:5: I have roused you. “I have impressed a perpetual and unchangeable memorial of your graces, both spiritual and sublime, on both the understanding and the affect, in order that you may henceforth uniformly and continually be delivered to the obedience and knowledge of it.” And this is: as a sign upon your heart and upon your arms, because love is strong as death, EH 2: death is in us not as a complete destruction of substance, as it seems in other things, but as a separation of things united.113 Therefore love is strong as death, when the mind has been separated from all the things by which it had been united through affect and even from itself, DN 7: withdrawing from all other things, and then leaving even itself,114 so that it may be joined to the inseparable love of the bridegroom alone, Rom. 8:11–16. Jealousy is harsh as hell. Love is compared to fire, jealousy to a flame of fire, Isa. 10:17: the light of Israel will be as a fire and its holy one as a flame. Its lamps as a flame of fire and of flame. Therefore, the separation from all things because of union with the bridegroom is ascribed to love. But an inseparable joining is ascribed to jealousy, as if a flame of love. For just as the hell which receives does not release, so also the love of the bride, kindled and strengthened by so many increases, embraces the bridegroom irrevocably, AH 2: but when we ascribe jealousy … it is right to understand that that love of divine things is … an inflexible and determined desire for super-substantially pure and impassible contemplation.115 For this reason rightly she adds: its lamps, that is, its luminous acts of stretching, that is, its loves, lamps of fire, so far as concerns love, and of flame, so far as concerns jealousy. 18:13 You who dwell in the gardens. After the bridegroom has elevated the bride frequently and, in many ways, always heaping gifts upon gifts, lights upon lights, always raising her upward through speculative excesses into new theoriae not yet experienced, in a multifaceted guardianship, as was said above, by bestowing protection cautiously and carefully, he, universally and entirely desirable, is known more fully, as long as he is desired more ardently. But the attendants desire these advancements of the bride, and this is what the bridegroom says effectively to the bride: to you who daily and steadfastly dwell, not only in the enclosed higher garden, as above at 4:12, but also in gardens, 18:6

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that is, in the super-substantial theoriae of every desirable appearance, the refreshments and fragrances beyond the mind, AH 15,116 saying: the friends of me and you, that is, the attendants, listen, that is, they await with desire for you to disturb me always with your fragrances. Make me hear your voice. Here the bridegroom speaks, drawing himself to the inner places of the celestial theoriae, so that it may be necessary that he, as if at a far distance, be disturbed by a great clamor, and through this, kindling the bride herself more sharply, may raise more fervent desires in her; and this is the fact that he says: make me hear your voice. For the voice of the bridegroom is no more audible than is the fervor of her desire, Isa. 26:9: my soul has desired you in the night; Jer. 14:6: the wild asses stationed themselves upon the rocks, they drew the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass. About these wild asses, Isa. 32:14; about the rocks, Job 39:28; about the wind, Acts 2:2; Job [39:26]: to the south wind; about their station, 2 Kings 23:11; AH 7;117 Ps. 118:131: I opened my mouth and I drew the spirit, because I desired your commandments; Dan. 9:23: From the beginning of your prayers the word came forth: I have come to show to you, because you are a man of desires, therefore attend to the word and understand the vision; 2 Chron. 20:3: he gathered himself entirely to pray to the Lord. It is truly notable and worthy of continually remembering that, after so many and such sweet exhortations, discourses, and flatteries, in this exhortation the bridegroom has led each of his treatments to completion with the bride, showing that nothing is more saving for us, nothing from God is happier in us, nothing in the portion of Mary is more perfect, than to be exercised incessantly in the fervor of ecstatic desires stretching into the divine ray by striving always higher, as David prospering and always stronger, 2 Kings 3:1; Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and fine to behold, Gen. 49:22; Ecclus. 18:6: when the human being is perfected …; Job 11:17: when you consider yourself perfected, you will rise as the daystar; Phil. 3:13: forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching myself to things before; Jer. 3:19: you will not cease to go in after me; Ps. 104:4: seek his face always. Therefore, this is the completion of the words of the bridegroom. 18:14 Flee. The bride, kindled strongly by this exhortation and stretched into the higher theoriae of the bridegroom with all effort, experiences that the bridegroom has drawn her higher, as it were, in order that he might kindle her to seek him more strongly, and she feels from such a withdrawal that she is invited and moved to continual advancements. For this reason, she says: O my beloved, of whom now I have no other

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knowledge, except through love, flee, as if she says: I consent to your drawing yourself so, as long as you, being present to me, unify by drawing me after you and by returning to me quickly. To be like a roe and a young stag upon the mountains of spices. Mountains of spices are the theoriae, which are more sublime to the bride but still inaccessible. They are fragrant with a multifaceted and infinite sweetness. Upon them she begs the bridegroom to become like a roe and a young stag with agility in running. She begs this in order that the bridegroom, standing firmly in the aforementioned theoriae, and drawing the bride from that place to himself, as if meeting with her quickly from his loftiness, may pour in through his ray both a sharp-sightedness of contemplation and an agility of desires more efficacious than usual. And with this word the bride completes the course of her petitions, in which she persists continually. Amen. Here ends the exposition of Thomas, Abbot of Vercelli, on the Song of Songs.

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NOTES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17 18

19 20 21 22 23

1108B (p. 284). 869C–869D (p. 108). Gallus follows Pseudo-Dionysius in frequently using the Latin prefix super- (Greek: hyper-) to modify adjectives. I have retained the prefix where possible in order to reproduce the lexical peculiarity of the Latin. 872A–872B (p. 109). 273C (p. 174). Gallus’s earliest known work, written before his move to Vercelli. It laid out his teaching on the hierarchized mind summarized here. It must have been received well given his reference to this early formulation in multiple works. Gallus incorporated verbatim his treatise on Isaiah 6 into Expl-EH. The Latin excessus, like its English cognate, has two possible meanings: (1) a “projecting beyond a certain limit,” suggesting continuity between what comes before and after that limit; or, (2) a “departure” or “leaving,” which suggests a more definite break (Lewis and Short). For Gallus the excessus mentis (“excess of the mind”) implies both. In its highest hierarchy, the mind both is continuous with and breaks with itself. In order to maintain this ambiguity, and to distinguish when Gallus uses excessus and exstasis, I translate excessus with “excess” and exstasis with “ecstasy” throughout. Gallus understood the intellect (intellectus) and affect (affectus) to be twin powers of the mind. Therefore, “affect” is a more proper translation than “disposition,” “affection,” or “love.” This is the order of the archangels. 680B (p. 68). This likely refers to Gallus’s shorter Glosses on the Angelic Hierarchy written almost twenty years earlier, not his more extended Explanation of the Angelic Hierarchy. Here the term res (“thing”) suggests the Augustinian sign theory adopted and adapted by the Victorines. See Hugh of St Victor, Didasc., PL 176.790C, VTT 3.151–52. Gallus advises that, as the reader moves through the Song, they should return to the prologue’s list of hierarchic orders to determine whether any “thing” in the Song might refer spiritually to any of the hierarchic orders. 712D (p. 83). The Latin theoriae is a transliteration of a Greek term. The closest English approximation is “spectacles.” See Introduction, p. 524–25. 568D–569A (p. 259); 588D–589B (pp. 50–51); 680C (p. 68); 400B–400C (pp. 205–6); 473B (p. 225). These passages from the Dionysian corpus all emphasize the handing on of sacred symbols after participation in divine things. The fact that Gallus writes without the help of his earlier commentaries may reflect the fact that he was in exile during this period and did not have access to them. Whatever the practical circumstances, he is clear that writing this commentary on the Song reflects his own encounter with the Word’s theoriae. 680B (p. 68). 997B–1000A (p. 135). The Latin term contritio literally means “grinding,” to depict the way the mind “pulverizes” its earlier concerns with intellectual and sensible things, can also carry the meaning of its English cognate “contrition.” For Gallus, the Dionysian activity of mentally clearing away images and symbols is indistinguishable from a moral realization that places one in right relation to the Word. 332D (p. 186). 1033C (p. 139). 685C (p. 105); 872A–872B (p. 109); 997B–1000A (p. 135). 589A–589C (pp. 50–51). 872A–872B (p. 109).

NOTES 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

42 43 44 45

46 47 48 49



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712A (p. 82). 404B (p. 207). 373D (p. 198). 1108B (p. 284). 869C–872B (pp. 108–9). Ibid. Ibid. 332A (p. 185). 404C (p. 208). 473B (p. 225). 121B (p. 146). 872B (p. 109). Another transliteration of a Greek term. Thearchicus roughly means “supremely divine.” 212A (p. 165). 1025A (p. 138). 704B (p. 77). 645A (p. 63). 712C-D (pp. 82–83). Here a paragraph is inserted drawn from Gallus’s digest of the Dionysian corpus called Extractio ex libris Dionysii. This is his summary of a section on the divine name “Love” in Chapter Four of Pseudo-Dionysius’s Divine Names. Because we do not have Gallus’s original autograph, we do not know whether it was inserted by Gallus himself or a later editor. It reads as follows: “Therefore the theologians call God ‘loveable’ because he truly is, because he is desirable to all. And in as much as he gives birth to love in others, he is said ‘to be moved’ by his super-substantial and universal desirability. But in as much as he is desirable through the infinity of the beauty and goodness which draws all, just as a resting diamond makes a sword move, he is said ‘to move.’ Or, he is said ‘to be moved’ in as much as he leads his very self through goodness to existing things. But he is said ‘to move’ in as much as he moves and leads existing things to his very self. Therefore, he is called ‘loveable’ in as much as he is the very plenitude of goodness and beauty in all things desirable. And he is called ‘love’ in as much as he is both a power moving and leading all things upward, as it were, to long for him in everything, and a loving good having proceeded extremely simply or appearing from the true unity separated from all things and to all things. Moving through himself, working through himself, preexisting super-substantially in the Good and from the Good, he emanates to existence and turns back toward the Good. In this movement divine love is shown to be like a certain eternal circle, never ending and directed to its origin, which circles because of the Good, from the Good, and to the Good, not deviating from its circular course. And this love proceeding in the same and according to the same always remains in itself and is restored to itself.” 592D (p. 53). Here is added a shorter citation from the Extractio: “When we know the theoriae with all virtue … it is fixed universally beyond the mind and beyond substance.” 680B (p. 68). 1108B (p. 284). Yet again, Gallus quotes from his own Extractio on Divine Names: “for because that sun … produces the substances of all things according to an excess from substance. But we call the examples or patterns in God the substance-making reasons of things existing simply and individually and preexisting eternally in the simple Word of God. The Apostle, Rom. 8:30, calls these reasons predestinations or predeterminations: those whom he predestined, he also called them; also divine wills, Exod. 33:19.” 1112B–1112C (p. 287). 997B–1000A (p. 135). 1065A–1065B (p. 263). 1001A (p. 137).

568 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65

66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92

T HOM A S G A L LU S –  872A (p. 109). Augustine, Conf., VII.10. 640D–641A (p. 61). 712A (p. 82). 404B (pp. 207–8). The name Jerusalem means “city of peace.” 680C (p. 68). Barbet notes that this reference is unclear and should perhaps be DN 4 704D (p. 78). 645A (p. 63). 120B–121A (p. 145), 212A (p. 165). 701C (p. 76). 208B (p. 163). 205C (p. 162). 680B (p. 68). 865C (p. 106). 1000A (p. 135). The connection between doves and devoted love derives in part from a zoological observation of Pliny the Elder that doves tend to form strong pair-bonds. Pliny notes, “Much chastity is present in them, and adultery is unknown. They do not violate conjugal fidelity, and they watch over a common dwelling place.” See Naturalis historia, 52, 104. Thomas modifies Pliny’s conception of the conjugal habits of the bird by noting their solitude. 680B (p. 68). 144A (p. 151). 1025A (p. 138). 1033C (p. 139). 872A–872B (p. 109), 1033A (p. 138). The attribution of this work to St John Chrysostom, customarily entitled “Sermon on the Turtle Dove,” is spurious. PG 55.599. Augustine, Conf., VII.17. Augustine, Conf., X.27.38. In the first chapter of the second commentary (not included), doves were linked with simplicity and chastity. See above, p. 546–47. 997A–997B (p. 135). 680B (p. 68). 425C (p. 210). 177C (p. 156). moliri deorsum—Gallus is referring to the technique of ancient and medieval siege warfare known as “undermining” or “sapping,” in which miners attempted to collapse walls by digging beneath them. Song of Songs 2:3. It is unclear from where Gallus takes this quote, or if it is even meant to be a direct quote. 1084A–1100D (pp. 269–80). Dan. 10:11. 180B–181A (pp. 157–58). 260A–260B (pp. 170–71). 205C (p. 162). 205B (p. 161). 120B–121A (p. 145). 200C. See above, 2:9. Ruth 3:1.

NOTES 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117

 569

997B (p. 135). Exod. 3:1–2. Song of Songs 1:12. Song of Songs 1:2. 712B (p. 82). Six being the sum of its factors. This is a reference to Gallus’s now-lost Biblical concordance. A collection of grammatical, historical, and moral treatises spuriously attributed to Bede the Venerable, and likely written by Geoffrey of Ufford (late twelfth century). Note the allusion to Richard of Saint Victor’s XII patr. 120B–121A (p. 145). 997A–1000A (p. 135). Ibid. That is, the middle hierarchy with the orders of Powers, Virtues, and Dominions. That is, the higher hierarchy with the orders of Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. In the higher hierarchy, all human effort is suspended, as the powers of the mind are drawn beyond it. Ibid. 865B (p. 105). 1000A (p. 136). 712A (p. 82). Ibid. Ibid. 404B (p. 207). 872A–872B (p. 109). 144A (p. 151). 332A–332B (p. 185). 212A (p. 165).

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Marenbon, John. Medieval Philosophy. An Historical and Philosophical Introduction. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. Marion, Jean-Luc. In the Self ’s Place: The Approach of Saint Augustine. Translated by Jeffrey  L. Kosky. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2012. Marrou, Henri-Irénée. “‘Doctrina’ et ‘disciplina’ dan la langue des pères de l’église’,” Bulletin du Cange 9 (1934): 5–25. Matter, E. Ann. The Voice of My Beloved: The Song of Songs in Western Medieval Christianity Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990. McGinn, Bernard. The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century. New York: Crossroad, 1991. —————. The Growth of Mysticism: Gregory the Great through the Twelfth Century. The  Presence of God, The History of Mysticism 2. New York: Crossroad, 1994. —————. “Ocean and Desert as Symbols of Mystical Absorption in the Western Tradition,” Journal of Religion 74 (1994): 155–84. —————. “Thomas Gallus and Dionysian Mysticism,” Studies in Spirituality 8 (1994): 81–96. —————. The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism, 1200–1350. New York: Crossroad, 1998. McNamer, Sarah. Affective Meditation and the Invention of Medieval Compassion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. Mews, Constant. “Liturgists and Dance in the Twelfth Century: The Witness of John Beleth and Sicard of Cremona,” The Free Library. 01  September  2009: www.thefreelibrary.com. Accessed 02 February 2012. Nakamura, S.J., Hideki. “Amor invisibilium”: Die Liebe im Denken Richards von Sankt Viktor († 1173). CV Instrumenta  5. Münster: Aschendorff, 2011. Nussbaum, Martha  C. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Oord, Thomas Jay. Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific and Theological Engagement. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2010. Ouy, Gilbert. Les manuscrits de l’abbaye de Saint-Victor: Catalogue établi sur la base du répertoire de Claude de Grandrue (1514). 2 vols. BV 10. Turnhout: Brepols, 1999.

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Poirel, Dominique. Livre de la nature et débat trinitaire au xiie siécle: Le De tribus diebus de Hugues de Saint-Victor. BV 14. Turnhout: Brepols, 2002. —————. Des symboles et des anges. Hugues de Saint-Victor et le réveil dionysien du xiie siecle. BV 23. Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. Poirel, Dominique and Patrice Sicard. “Figure Vittorine: Riccardo, Acardo e Tommaso,” in Inos Biffi and Costante Marabelli, eds. La fioritura della dialettica, X–XII secolo. Figure del Pensiero Medievale 2. Milan: Jaca Book, 2008, 459–537. Porcel, Olegario. La doctrina monástica de San Gregorio Magno y la Regula Monachorum. Catholic University of America Studies in Sacred Theology, Second Series,  60. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1951. Ribaillier, Jean. Richard de Saint-Victor: opuscules théologiques. TPMA  15. Paris: Vrin, 1967. Rorem, Paul. “Bonaventure’s Ideal and Hugh of St Victor’s Comprehensive Biblical Theology,” Franciscan Studies 70 (2012): 385–97. Rudolph, Conrad. “First, I Find the Center Point”: Reading the Text of Hugh of Saint Victor’s The Mystic Ark. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 94.4. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2004. —————. Mystic Ark: Hugh of Saint Victor, Art, and Thought in the Twelfth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Scafi, Alessandro. Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Sicard, Patrice. Diagrammes médiévaux et exégèse visuelle: Le Libellus de formatione arche de Hugues de Saint-Victor, BV 4. Turn­ hout: Brepols, 1993. —————. Iter Victorinum: La tradition manuscrite des œuvres de Hugues et de Richard de Saint-Victor, BV  24. Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. Smalley, Beryl. The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 1952. Swetnam, James. “A Note on ‘in idipsum’ in St Augustine,” Modern Schoolman 30 (1952): 328–31. Taylor, Jerome. The Origin and Early Life of Hugh of St  Victor, Texts and Studies in the History of Medieval Education,  5. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press, 1957. Théry, Gabriel. “Thomas Gallus: Aperçu biographique,” AHDLMA 12 (1939): 141–208.

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Turner, Denys. Eros and Allegory: Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1995. van  ’t Spijker, Ineke. Fictions of the Inner Life: Religious Literature and Formation of the Self in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004. —————. “Hugh of Saint-Victor´s Virtue: Ambivalence and Gratuity,” in Virtue and Ethics in the Twelfth Century. Edited by István P. Bejczy and Richard G. Newhauser. Leiden: Brill, 2005, 75–94. Van den Eynde, Damien. Essai sur la succession et la date des écrits de Hugues de Saint-Victor, Spicilegium Pontificii Athenaei Antoniani, 13. Rome: Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum, 1960. Wetherbee, Winthrop. The Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvestris. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973. Zier, Mark. “Sermons of the Twelfth Century Schoolmasters and Canons,” in De l’homélie au sermon: Histoire de la prédication médiévale. Actes du Colloque international de Louvainla-Neuve (9–11 juillet 1992), ed. Jacqueline Hamesse and Xavier Hermand, Publications de l’Institut d’études médiévales, Textes, Études, Congrès 14. Louvain-laNeuve; Institut d’études médiévales, 1993, 325–62. Zinn, Grover A. History and Contemplation: The Dimensions of the Restoration of Man in Two Treatises on Noah’s Ark by Hugh of SaintVictor. PhD diss., Duke University, 1969. —————. “De gradibus ascensionum: The Stages of Contemplative Ascent in Two Treatises on Noah’s Ark by Hugh of St  Victor,” Studies in Medieval Culture, 5 (1971): 61–79. —————. “Mandala Symbolism and Use in the Mysticism of Hugh of St Victor,” History of Religions 12.4 (1973): 317–41. —————. “Hugh of St Victor and the Art of Memory,” Viator 5 (1974): 211–34. —————. “Historia fundamentum est: The Role of History in the Contemplative Life according to Hugh of Saint Victor,” in Contemporary Reflections on the Medieval Christian Tradition: Essays in Honor of Ray  C. Petry. Edited by George H. Shriver. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1974, 135–58. —————. “Personification Allegory and Visions of Light in Richard of St  Victor’s Teaching on Contemplation,” University of Toronto Quarterly 46 (1976–1977): 190–214.

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INDICES

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 1:1

103 (n. 74), 106 (n. 100), 107 (n. 107) 1:3–31 115 (n. 142) 1:9 467 (n. 33) 1:16 329 (n. 274) 1:22 506 (n. 444) 1:26 177 (n. 227), 333 (n. 307) 1:27 357 (n. 418) 2:2 191 (n. 275) 2:2–3 104 (n. 92) 2:7–8 169 (n. 202) 2:8–9 167 (n. 191) 2:9 159 (n. 149), 167 (n. 193) 2:17 478 (n. 153) 2:19 169 (n. 202) 2:21 149 (n. 94) 3:1–7 476 (n. 133) 3:1–5 200 (n. 311) 3:3 162 (n. 162) 3:6 159 (n. 149), 177 (n. 229) 3:19 413 (n. 708) 3:20554 3:22–24 167 (n. 192) 3:23 167 (n. 194) 4:12 134 (n. 5, 6), 321 (n. 211) 4:14 134 (n. 5, 6) 6 68, 69 6:1–40 194 (n. 283) 6:4 493 (n. 287, 293) 6:13–22 492 (n. 279) 6:14 155 (n. 127) 6:15 58, 88 (n. 12), 89 (n. 18), 100 (n. 54, 57), 145 (n. 68), 155 (n. 132)

6:16 94 (n. 36), 145 (n. 65) 6:20 104 (89, 90, 91) 7:2–3 494 (n. 307) 7:11 493 (n. 296, 297, 301) 7:15–16 494 (n. 306) 7:18 205 (n. 328) 7:19–20 492 (n. 276) 8:6 159 (n. 150) 8:8–9 209 (n. 346) 8:8–11 159 (n. 151) 8:13 144 (n. 63, 64), 467 (n. 34, 38) 8:20 157 (n. 142) 9:21–22 157 (n. 143) 12:1 179 (n. 240) 13:14–15 393 (n. 599) 15:6 324 (n. 245) 18:1 362 (n. 438) 18:1–2 401 (n. 653) 18:2542 18:5 363 (n. 448) 18:7 364 (n. 455) 18:9 363 (n. 448) 18:33 365 (n. 460) 19:11551 20:16 321 (n. 209) 26:15 178 (n. 235) 26:18–19 178 (n. 235) 27:27543 27:28 469 (n. 64) 28:12545 28:13561 28:14 469 (n. 67) 28:16545 29:15–30 258 (n. 23) 29:32–35 93 (n. 32)

592

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

30:4–24 93 (n. 32) 32:12 469 (n. 63), 507 (n. 452) 32:28556 34:1–2 160 (n. 155) 34:3 160 (n. 156) 35:23–26 93 (n. 32) 41:1–8 392 (n. 590) 49:15548 49:22564 49:27 503 (n. 427) Exodus 1:1–14 213 (n. 357) 2:13 386 (n. 563) 2:18 386 (n. 563) 3:1541 3:1–2 555 (n. 94), 562 3:2 480 (n. 180), 552 3:6 198 (n. 301) 3:14 387 (n. 570) 3:22 287 (n. 125) 6:6 506 (n. 448) 12:26 287 (n. 125) 12:37 506 (n. 447) 12:38 501 (n. 389) 13:14 385 (n. 558) 13:21 88 (n. 8), 414 (n. 716) 14:29 486 (n. 230) 15:2 504 (n. 429) 15:3 493 (n. 288) 15:4 346 (n. 368) 15:11 358 (n. 429) 15:16 498 (n. 351) 17:1 136 (n. 15) 19:1–20:26 200 (n. 309) 19:3 392 (n. 591) 19:9 392 (n. 591) 19:11 255 (n. 5) 19:15 255 (n. 5) 19:17 104 (n. 89) 19:20 200 (n. 310), 392 (n. 591) 23:26 478 (n. 145, 146) 24:1–2 104 (n. 89, 90, 91) 24:9 104 (n. 90) 24:11 104 (n. 89), 542

24:12551 24:12–18 104 (n. 91) 24:16 386 (n. 566) 25:2 323 (n. 219) 25:4 372 (n. 507) 25:4–5 316 (n. 185) 25:10 276 (n. 72) 25:10–16 194 (n. 284), 255 (n. 1) 25:11–22 391 (n. 581) 25:13–14 302 (n. 173) 25:18 349 (n. 385) 25:18–20 349 (n. 384) 25:19 357 (n. 417) 25:20  359 (n. 431), 366 (n. 463), 375 (n. 518) 25:22  384 (n. 550, 551, 552, 556), 385 (n. 560) 25:40 356 (n. 410), 387 (n. 573) 26:33 391 (n. 587) 27:1 391 (n. 581) 27:9 193 (n. 281) 27:21 328 (n. 272) 28:12–13 357 (n. 419) 29:37 255 (n. 6) 30:29 255 (n. 6) 31:1–11 194 (n. 285), 391 (n. 581) 31:2 386 (n. 564) 32:17 390 (n. 576) 33:11 141 (n. 49) 33:19 375 (n. 521) 33:20 141 (n. 48), 539 33:20–23546 34:4–5 392 (n. 591) 34:21 387 (n. 571) 34:24551 35:2 387 (n. 571) 35:6 316 (n. 185) 35:12 328 (n. 272) 35:15 387 (n. 571) 35:23 316 (n. 185) 35:26 316 (n. 185) 35:30 386 (n. 564), 391 (n. 580) 35:30–33 391 (n. 580) 35:30–36:2 391 (n. 581) 35:30–39:31 194 (n. 285)

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

35:31–39 35:35 36:8 37:1 37:1–9 37:9 40:21 40:36

391 (n. 580) 372 (n. 507) 372 (n. 507) 386 (n. 564) 391 (n. 581) 366 (n. 463) 391 (n. 587) 136 (n. 15), 414 (n. 716)

Leviticus 2:9 4:31 6:12–13 10:1 11:44 12:6 12:14 16:1 16:12–17 17:6 19:2 20:7 26:7–8

473 (n. 113) 473 (n. 113) 480 (n. 176) 480 (n. 175) 255 (n. 4) 463 (n. 5, 6) 463 (n. 5) 480 (n. 175) 391 (n. 587) 473 (n. 113) 255 (n. 4) 255 (n. 4) 499 (n. 357)

Numbers 1:26 501 (n. 393) 3:4 480 (n. 175) 6:14 463 (n. 6) 10:2 354 (n. 402) 10:33 257 (n. 20) 11:4 501 (n. 389) 19:15 320 (n. 205) 24:17546 24:18 484 (n. 222) 26:2 501 (n. 393) 26:61 480 (n. 175) 33:1 136 (n. 15) 33:1–49 111 (n. 121) 35:6 110 (n. 115) 35:14 110 (n. 116) 35:15 110 (n. 115) Deuteronomy 4:24 7:14

480 (n. 179) 478 (n. 145, 146)



593

9:21 474 (n. 122) 10:8 257 (n. 20) 16:10 489 (n. 257) 31:9 257 (n. 20) 31:25–26 257 (n. 20) 32:2547 32:8 156 (n. 137) 32:10 414 (n. 719) 32:11 291 (n. 143), 397 (n. 622) 32:15 469 (n. 66) 32:22 480 (n. 182) 32:33 189 (n. 262) 33:24539 34:1 393 (n. 600) Joshua 5:13542 15:19 486 (n. 228) Judges 1:15 486 (n. 228) 5:8557 Ruth 3:1

555 (n. 92)

1 Samuel 1 256 (n. 7) 2:8 499 (n. 362) 14:29544 15:2 493 (n. 294) 17:50 502 (n. 404) 30:24–25 503 (n. 428) 2 Samuel 3:1550 11:1–27 189 (n. 267) 12:1–10 189 (n. 266) 1 Kings 3:11541 3:12563 3:28 493 (n. 286) 4:29 469 (n. 68) 5:1–6:38 194 (n. 286)

594

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

8:10–11 177 (n. 230) 10:1 406 (n. 677) 10:3 406 (n. 679) 10:4–5 406 (n. 682) 17:1547 19:4 362 (n. 442) 19:9–12 363 (n. 445) 19:11–12 363 (n. 450) 19:13 362 (n. 439), 542 2 Kings 3:1564 3:8 484 (n. 222) 3:15 417 (n. 740) 19:21 333 (n. 308) 19:23 473 (n. 114) 19:30 176 (n. 225) 23:11564 23:34 94 (n. 34) 24:8–17 106 (n. 102) 24:10–16 213 (n. 357) 28:34 94 (n. 34) 1 Chronicles 2:3–5 93 (n. 32) 3:1–13 93 (n. 32) 9:18–20 213 (n. 357) 16:20 285 (n. 106), 498 (n. 352) 22:9 504 (n. 433, 434) 22:18 504 (n. 433) 2 Chronicles 2:7 316 (n. 187) 20:3564 20:30 504 (n. 433) 25:18542 36:17–20 213 (n. 357) 36:18 102 (n. 69) Ezra 1:1–3 1:11

103 (n. 78) 103 (n. 78)

Nehemiah 6:3551

Tobit 3:2 501 (n. 384), 503 (n. 417) 12:19539 Job

1:3 325 (n. 254) 3:22 324 (n. 227) 4:19 413 (n. 709) 5:3 174 (n. 214) 5:6 288 (n. 133) 5:7 157 (n. 140) 5:23–24 506 (n. 442) 7:13–14552 7:15535 7:20 183 (n. 253) 11:17564 12:12537 15:33551 15:34 155 (n. 126) 19:4 333 (n. 303) 21:13 335 (n. 324) 24:21 478 (n. 145, 146) 27:6 325 (n. 256) 28:12 172 (n. 209) 28:13 468 (n. 48), 537 28:14 172 (n. 209) 28:15537 28:18  285 (n. 112, 115), 286 (n. 120), 324 (n. 228) 30:7 411 (n. 699) 30:8 470 (n. 75) 31:12 480 (n. 181) 33:15–16545 36:25546 38:28547 39:26564 39:27548 39:28564

Psalms 1:2 2:2 2:11 3:7 4:7

208 (n. 341) 479 (n. 159, 161, 162) 488 (n. 251) 499 (n. 361, 368) 358 (n. 424), 538

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

4:9  387 (n. 568, 569), 387 (n. 572), 507 (n. 454, 465) 5:5 330 (n. 283) 6:3 324 (n. 241) 8:2 277 (n. 74), 475 (n. 126) 8:4 329 (n. 280) 8:6 258 (n. 36) 8:10 475 (n. 126) 10:5 287 (n. 123) 11:5562 12:4 334 (n. 315) 13:1 174 (n. 215) 13:3 174 (n. 216) 15:7 333 (n. 301) 15:11 191 (n. 271) 16:15 191 (n. 270) 17:2–3 499 (n. 364) 17:6 494 (n. 303) 17:29 415 (n. 723) 17:40 469 (n. 61) 17:41 500 (n. 379) 18:4 213 (n. 361) 18:6 136 (n. 11) 18:7 471 (n. 92), 472 (n. 104), 555 18:10 288 (n. 134) 18:15551 22:5 189 (n. 261), 541 23:3 283 (n. 96) 23:8 258 (n. 24), 493 (n. 290) 23:18 493 (n. 295) 24:8 258 (n. 28), 479 (n. 164) 24:10  287 (n. 129), 501 (n. 384), 503 (n. 417) 26:3 499 (n. 367) 26:13 170 (n. 203), 491 (n. 272) 28 10, 458 (n. 3) 28:1  463 (n. 1, 2, 3), 464 (n. 9, 10, 13) 28:2 465 (n. 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20), 466 (n. 22, 23, 24) 28:2–5457 28:3 466 (n. 28), 467 (n. 35, 36, 37, 40), 468 (n. 45), 478 (n. 147)

28:4



595

466 (n. 29), 469 (n. 52, 53, 54, 58, 60), 470 (n. 74), 506 (n. 445) 28:5 466 (n. 30), 470 (n. 77, 86), 471 (n. 95, 96), 472 (n. 97, 98, 100), 479 (n. 157, 160), 484 (n. 217, 218) 28:5–6 479 (n. 163), 480 (n. 171) 28:5–9 490 (n. 264) 28:6 472 (n. 101), 475 (n. 123), 476 (n.  131), 477 (n.  142), 479 (n. 156, 158), 483 (n. 205) 28:7  466 (n. 31), 480 (n. 172, 183), 481 (n. 184), 483 (n. 206, 208, 209, 210, 212), 484 (n. 213) 28:8484 (n. 214, 215, 216, 219, 223), 485 (n. 225, 226), 487 (n. 242) 28:9 487 (n. 243), 488 (n. 249, 252, 253), 489 (n. 254), 490 (n. 261, 263) 28:10  457, 491 (n. 270), 492 (n. 274, 278, 281), 493 (n.  282), 496 (n.  313, 316, 318, 319, 320) 28:11 469 (n. 57), 497 (n. 326), 498 (n. 355, 356), 499 (n.  370), 504 (n.  430, 431), 506 (n.  443), 507 (n. 455), 508 (n. 468) 29:8 469 (n. 61) 29:43 418 (n. 744) 30:20  489 (n. 255), 507 (n. 461), 544 30:22 394 (n. 610) 30:25 500 (n. 371) 31:11 418 (n. 743) 32:12 498 (n. 333) 33:9 171 (n. 207), 256 (n. 16), 340 (n. 347), 369 (n. 485), 544 33:15 504 (n. 432, 436) 34:1 493 (n. 291) 34:2 493 (n. 289) 34:6 468 (n. 46) 35:2 174 (n. 216) 35:6 493 (n. 300)

596

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

35:7 285 (n. 103), 493 (n. 298) 35:9  374 (n. 516), 507 (n. 463, 464), 541 35:10 415 (n. 722) 35:19 498 (n. 348) 36:3 156 (n. 138) 36:5 466 (n. 27) 36:27 103 (n. 77) 36:31 208 (n. 340) 36:35 470 (n. 76) 37:9 502 (n. 407) 37:10 484 (n. 221) 38:4 210 (n. 349) 38:6 168 (n. 197), 324 (n. 238), 358 (n. 426) 38:7 358 (n. 427) 39:18 412 (n. 703) 40:10 299 (n. 165), 300 (n. 166) 41:3–4 487 (n. 239) 41:4 300 (n. 168) 41:5 136 (n. 17), 490 (n. 262), 503 (n. 426) 42:3  414 (n. 720), 498 (n. 346, 350) 43:6 477 (n. 138) 43:16 333 (n. 310) 43:22 335 (n. 320) 43:26 493 (n. 292) 44:3 258 (n. 37), 475 (n. 125) 44:8538 44:12 136 (n. 18) 45:11 256 (n. 16), 258 (n. 27), 369 (n. 485), 492 (n. 280) 46:2 136 (n. 17), 490 (n. 262) 47:2 341 (n. 350) 48:11–12 278 (n. 89) 50:8 333 (n. 304) 50:9 258 (n. 35), 471 (n. 90) 50:11–12535 50:19 104 (n. 86) 52:1 174 (n. 215) 54:7 270 (n. 58), 397 (n. 623) 54:14 298 (n. 163, 164) 54:14–15 301 (n. 171) 54:15 300 (n. 167, 170)

54:16 301 (n. 172) 55:11 499 (n. 365) 55:13 498 (n. 349) 56:4 409 (n. 690) 56:4–5 409 (n. 691) 57:9 329 (n. 282) 63:3 324 (n. 243) 63:7 277 (n. 81), 319 (n. 191), 356 (n.  412), 384 (n.  553), 386 (n. 565), 396 (n. 621) 65:6 467 (n. 33, 39) 65:15555 67:5 418 (n. 746) 67:7 292 (n. 145) 67:10 493 (n. 299) 67:18  346 (n. 369), 506 (n. 450, 451) 67:25 470 (n. 84) 67:36 498 (n. 354), 499 (n. 363) 68:6 324 (n. 237), 333 (n. 302) 69:6 337 (n. 340) 71:8  345 (n. 362), 497 (n. 322, 323) 71:16 501 (n. 382) 72:1 258 (n. 29) 72:2–3 175 (n. 219) 72:3 175 (n. 218) 72:11–12 175 (n. 220) 72:25 333 (n. 309) 72:28 176 (n. 224) 73:7 155 (n. 126) 74:4557 74:8 345 (n. 359) 74:9 188 (n. 259) 74:11 477 (n. 139) 75:3 137 (n. 19), 507 (n. 456) 75:3–4 215 (n. 369) 75:5 501 (n. 402) 75:6 278 (n. 88), 316 (n. 186) 75:11 489 (n. 256, 257, 258) 76:3 416 (n. 735), 487 (n. 237) 76:7 325 (n. 258) 76:11 469 (n. 71), 472 (n. 102) 77:25539 78:9 337 (n. 341)

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

79:9 176 (n. 222) 80:14–15 336 (n. 339) 82:2 358 (n. 423) 83:3 193 (n. 281) 83:7 501 (n. 397) 83:8 498 (n. 344), 501 (n. 398) 83:11 193 (n. 281), 330 (n. 289) 85:1 412 (n. 702) 85:2 324 (n. 240) 85:5 479 (n. 165) 85:8 357 (n. 420) 88:12 327 (n. 269) 88:16 490 (n. 260), 497 (n. 324) 88:16–17 498 (n. 343) 90:5 414 (n. 718) 90:7 499 (n. 369) 91:5 283 (n. 94) 93:10 291 (n. 140), 322 (n. 214) 102:3539 102:14 322 (n. 213) 103:9 156 (n. 137) 103:13537 103:15 189 (n. 260), 478 (n. 148) 103:19 330 (n. 288, 291) 103:24 283 (n. 95), 285 (n. 113, 116, 118), 286 (119), 287 (n. 126) 103:25 284 (n. 102) 103:25–26 208 (n. 343) 104:4 552, 564 104:13  285 (n. 106), 498 (n. 352), 537 104:39 415 (n. 729) 105:3 345 (n. 361) 105:20 474 (n. 121) 105:31 324 (n. 245) 106:10 292 (n. 144), 503 (n. 420, 422) 106:16 292 (n. 146) 106:23–24 285 (n. 105) 106:24 285 (n. 104), 327 (n. 268) 106:26  263 (n. 48), 503 (n. 419), 507 (n. 459) 107:23 285 (n. 110) 107:24 285 (n. 111, 114) 109:6 346 (n. 365)



597

111:4 498 (n. 339) 112:3 277 (n. 75) 112:7 345 (n. 360) 113:1 506 (n. 449) 113:4 412 (n. 706) 113:11 470 (n. 80, 81) 115:11 394 (n. 610) 117:6 499 (n. 365) 117:9 415 (n. 727) 117:14 504 (n. 429) 117:15 136 (n. 16, 17), 490 (n. 262), 503 (n. 426) 118:12 471 (n. 89) 118:18 328 (n. 273) 118:30 501 (n. 394) 118:32193 (n. 282), 487 (n. 244), 552 118:37 321 (n. 210) 118:62 329 (n. 281), 503 (n. 425) 118:66 161 (n. 160, 161), 72 118:72 324 (n. 252) 118:73 324 (n. 239) 118:81 408 (n. 687) 118:99–100 324 (n. 242) 118:115 164 (n. 182) 118:125 324 (n. 239) 118:131564 118:169 324 (n. 239) 119:4 502 (n. 403), 555 119:5 487 (n. 236) 121:1 163 (n. 173) 121:1–7 163 (n. 175) 121:3 507 (n. 453) 121:4 213 (n. 362), 507 (n. 457) 124:2 501 (n. 383) 125:2 469 (n. 72) 125:3 470 (n. 73) 125:6 503 (n. 423) 126:1 88 (n. 11) 126:2 300 (n. 169), 498 (n. 345) 131:8 255 (n. 3) 132:2 295 (n. 156) 134:6 470 (n. 80, 81) 135:9 329 (n. 277) 135:12 503 (n. 421), 506 (n. 448) 135:13 486 (n. 229)

598

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

137:3 506 (n. 446) 138:9 271 (n. 61) 138:11 329 (n. 278), 548 138:12 329 (n. 276) 138:18 507 (n. 452) 138:24541 141:3 324 (n. 236) 142:5 283 (n. 93) 143:1 499 (n. 366) 143:5536 143:15 497 (n. 325) 144:3 376 (n. 523) 144:9 287 (n. 131) 144:17 277 (n. 76), 287 (n. 130) 145:4 151 (n. 113) 147:15 490 (n. 268) 149:4 497 (n. 330) 149:7 345 (n. 363) 149:8 346 (n. 364) Proverbs 1:7 84 (n. 4), 171 (n. 206) 3:14–18538 3:19 287 (n. 127) 3:20 287 (n. 128) 4:23 325 (n. 257) 7:4 319 (n. 201) 8:12 194 (n. 293), 497 (n. 329) 8:17548 8:31 178 (n. 232) 9:1 194 (n. 292) 11:2543 11:12562 12:23 194 (n. 294), 493 (n. 283) 13:12 370 (n. 497) 14:11 136 (n. 16) 15:13 478 (n. 148) 18:1 181 (n. 242) 21:13 494 (n. 309) 28:1 159 (n. 147) 28:14 487 (n. 246) 31:18544 Ecclesiastes 1:2

168 (n. 196), 276 (n. 73)

1:2–3 168 (n. 195) 1:5 326 (n. 262), 330 (n. 290) 1:5–6 325 (n. 261) 1:6 326 (n. 263) 1:18 173 (n. 211) 2:1 335 (n. 328) 2:2 358 (n. 428) 3:11 277 (n. 79), 278 (n. 82) 3:14–15 168 (n. 198) 3:19 335 (n. 322, 327) 7:3 335 (n. 326) 7:19 499 (n. 358) 7:30 277 (n. 78) 9:2 287 (n. 122) 9:12 272 (n. 65) 11:7 330 (n. 287) 20:32 161 (n. 159) Song of Songs 1:1536–38 1:2 538–40, 556 (n. 96) 1:3540–42 1:6 330 (n. 284) 1:12 372 (n. 508), 556 (n. 95) 2:1542–43 2:2543 2:3 551 (n. 81), 543–44 2:4 416 (n. 733), 544–45 2:5 487 (n. 240), 545 2:6545 2:7545–46 2:8546 2:9 150 (n. 109), 151 (n. 110), 200 (n.  312), 367 (n.  471), 546–47 2:10 367 (n. 472), 547 2:10–12 200 (n. 314) 2:11547 2:12 201 (n. 318), 202 (n. 319), 484 (n. 220), 548–49 2:12–13 201 (n. 317) 2:13549 2:14 368 (n. 474, 477), 549–50 2:15550–51 2:16551

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

2:17551–52 3:1 371 (n. 503), 552 3:2552–53 3:3553–54 3:4554–55 3:5555 3:6 398 (n. 639), 555–56 3:7 101 (n. 62), 556–57 3:8 501 (n. 386), 557–58 3:9558 3:10558–59 3:11559 5:1 190 (n. 268, 269), 374 (n. 515) 5:2 367 (n. 468) 5:3 367 (n. 469) 5:4 200 (n. 313) 5:6 200 (n. 315), 367 (n. 470), 398 (n. 630) 5:7 201 (n. 316) 5:8 475 (n. 128) 5:10 294 (n. 151), 499 (n. 359) 5:15 294 (n. 150) 6:3 346 (n. 367), 501 (n. 392, 401) 6:7 101 (n. 63) 6:9 346 (n. 367), 398 (n. 640), 403 (n. 661), 403 (n. 670), 501 (n. 392, 401) 8:1559–60 8:2560–61 8:3561 8:4561 8:5 91 (n. 23), 399 (n.  641), 411 (n.  698), 412 (n.  704), 414 (n.  715), 415 (n. 731), 561–562 18:6563 18:13563–64 18:14564–65 Wisdom 6:13–15541 7:23548 7:26 538, 558 8:7556 9:4 532, 541



599

9:15561 13:1–9536 14:21539 16:20539 16:21544 Sirach 10:9

413 (n. 708, 710)

Isaiah 1:18 471 (n. 93) 1:19 336 (n. 338) 2:2 162 (n. 164) 2:3 358 (n. 424) 5:2 175 (n. 221) 6 114 (n. 139) 6:1  60, 61, 138 (n. 29, 30, 33, 34), 139 (n. 35, 37, 38, 40, 41), 532 6:1–268 6:1–3 138 (n. 27) 6:2 139 (n. 42), 140 (n. 45, 46), 141 (n. 47), 142 (n. 54), 270 (n. 57), 272 (n. 68) 6:2–3 372 (n. 511) 6:3 142 (n. 55, 56), 553 6:5 507 (n. 466) 6:6538 7:6551 7:9 288 (n. 132) 7:18 490 (n. 266) 9:2 165 (n. 190), 498 (n. 334, 335, 341, 353) 9:3 503 (n. 424) 9:6 475 (n. 126), 504 (n. 435) 9:7 346 (n. 366), 508 (n. 469) 10:17563 11:2–3 347 (n. 371) 12:2 504 (n. 429) 14:12–13 162 (n. 167) 14:12–15 213 (n. 358) 14:13–14 105 (n. 94) 19:11 278 (n. 84) 19:13 278 (n. 84) 19:25 497 (n. 331, 332) 22:13 335 (n. 323), 336 (n. 330)

600

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

26:9564 28:10 366 (n. 464), 367 (n. 465, 466, 473), 368 (n. 475, 476, 479, 480), 369 (n.  486, 490, 491), 370 (n. 492, 493, 494, 495), 371 (n. 500, 501, 504), 372 (n. 510, 512), 416 (n. 737) 28:13 366 (n. 464), 416 (n. 737) 28:20552 32:14564 33:17 163 (n. 178) 34:5 484 (n. 222) 37:22 333 (n. 308) 37:31 176 (n. 225) 38:13 330 (n. 285) 38:17 486 (n. 234), 487 (n. 241) 40:6 416 (n. 736), 474 (n. 118) 40:17 358 (n. 421, 422) 40:31 397 (n. 624), 469 (n. 59), 546 43:5–6 197 (n. 298) 43:6 163 (n. 170) 43:16 143 (n. 58) 45:2 292 (n. 146) 48:20 136 (n. 17) 48:22 411 (n. 701) 49:18 263 (n. 49), 394 (n. 608) 51:23551 52:5 465 (n. 21) 53:5 472 (n. 103) 53:7 463 (n. 4) 54:2552 55:10–11 295 (n. 157) 57:15 139 (n. 36) 57:21 411 (n. 701) 58:11545 59:2546 60:4 263 (n. 49), 394 (n. 608) 60:8 394 (n. 609) 62:6553 66:12555 66:23 191 (n. 276), 258 (n. 26) 66:24 102 (n. 66) Jeremiah 1:10

103 (n. 76)

2:10 395 (n. 617), 396 (n. 618) 3:19 552, 564 6:25556 9:24 531, 537 14:6564 15:8 469 (n. 69), 507 (n. 452) 17:9 327 (n. 266) 23:12 468 (n. 46) 23:24 138 (n. 31) 24:6 176 (n. 223) 29:7535 31:21 395 (n. 614) 42:10 176 (n. 223) 46:16556 50:8 498 (n. 337) 50:19 473 (n. 114) 51:6 498 (n. 337) 51:7 189 (n. 263) Lamentations 1:1 1:7 2:13 3:1 4:5

334 (n. 313) 258 (n. 30) 333 (n. 308) 324 (n. 248) 99 (n. 50)

Baruch 2:11 506 (n. 448) 3:10–11 334 (n. 314) 3:20537 3:29537 4:13 501 (n. 396) Ezekiel 1:6 271 (n. 63), 372 (n. 511) 1:11 372 (n. 511) 1:14 263 (n. 46) 1:16 294 (n. 152) 2:9 102 (n. 68) 8:3540 10:21 372 (n. 511) 13:20550 35:15 484 (n. 222) 40:14 193 (n. 281) 40:17 193 (n. 281) 40:22 283 (n. 97)

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

40:23 40:26 40:31–32

193 (n. 281) 283 (n. 97) 193 (n. 281)

Daniel 1:1074 2:3–11 392 (n. 589) 2:34538 2:45538 3:12 482 (n. 203) 3:12–19 481 (n. 189) 3:12–20 482 (n. 191) 3:18 482 (n. 203) 3:21 482 (n. 194) 3:22–45 482 (n. 195) 3:46 482 (n. 192) 3:48 482 (n. 202) 3:49 482 (n. 198, 199, 204), 483 (n. 207) 3:49–50 481 (n. 185) 3:50 482 (n. 200) 3:51–90 482 (n. 201) 3:64547 4:10 543, 553 4:20543 4:24 104 (n. 84) 7:10 346 (n. 370) 9:23564 9:24 148 (n. 91) 10:11 552 (n. 84) 10:16 536, 552



601

13:56 319 (n. 202) 14:35540 Hosea 4:12 482 (n. 193) 5:4 482 (n. 193) 7:11 160 (n. 154) 11:11540 Amos 1:3 2:13 9:15

473 (n. 114) 490 (n. 265) 176 (n. 223)

Micah 4:1 4:2 7:14

162 (n. 164) 283 (n. 96) 473 (n. 114)

Habakkuk 2:1 395 (n. 616) 3:6 470 (n. 83, 85), 471 (n. 94), 541 3:11 263 (n. 50), 330 (n. 292), 502 (n. 405) Haggai 2:8

476 (n. 130)

Zachariah 9:15551 9:17 540, 551

NEW TESTAMENT Matthew 1:10–16 94 (n. 34) 1:12–16 94 (n. 34) 3:17 475 (n. 127) 4:1–11 103 (n. 83) 4:16 165 (n. 190), 292 (n. 144), 498 (n. 335) 4:19 285 (n. 107) 5:3 171 (n. 208), 181 (n. 243) 5:4 181 (n. 244) 5:5 181 (n. 245)

5:6 5:7 5:8

163 (n. 172), 181 (n. 246) 181 (n. 247), 501 (n. 391) 169 (n. 201), 181 (n. 248), 216 (n. 373), 354 (n. 404) 5:9 181 (n. 249), 463 (n. 7) 5:10 181 (n. 250), 192 (n. 278) 5:16 320 (n. 207), 465 (n. 17) 5:17 480 (n. 168) 5:45 287 (n. 124), 491 (n. 269) 7:6 508 (n. 467) 7:9539

602 7:14

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

466 (n. 25), 501 (n. 385), 501 (n. 395) 7:24–25551 8:11 163 (n. 170) 8:20 478 (n. 150) 8:26 467 (n. 44) 9:22 208 (n. 344) 10:27 200 (n. 308) 10:28 464 (n. 11, 12) 11:8 468 (n. 49) 11:12 500 (n. 381), 503 (n. 416), 555 11:28–29 214 (n. 368) 12:46–50560 12:50 477 (n. 143) 13:3–9 104 (n. 88) 13:44 177 (n. 226), 179 (n. 237), 323 (n. 224, 226), 324 (n. 251), 325 (n. 259), 330 (n. 294) 14:24 467 (n. 42) 16:13 478 (n. 152) 16:16 478 (n. 151, 152) 16:17 206 (n. 331) 16:18551 17:1 325 (n. 260) 17:1–8 393 (n. 601) 17:1–9 200 (n. 306) 17:5 475 (n. 127) 18:3 481 (n. 186, 188) 18:10 141 (n. 51, 52) 18:10–14 149 (n. 98) 18:12–14 413 (n. 711) 18:20 91 (n. 24) 18:22 103 (n. 80) 19:12 322 (n. 212) 19:21 323 (n. 225) 19:24 470 (n. 78) 19:26 470 (n. 79) 19:27 335 (n. 318) 20:1 213 (n. 359) 20:3–7 213 (n. 360) 20:12 414 (n. 717) 20:14 316 (n. 184) 21:24538 22:32 198 (n. 301) 23:26 320 (n. 208)

24:5553 25:1–13 102 (n. 71), 107 (n. 104) 25:21 490 (n. 259), 507 (n. 462) 25:23 490 (n. 259), 507 (n. 462) 25:34 115 (n. 140) 25:41 115 (n. 141) 26:15 179 (n. 238) 27:36–43 480 (n. 169) Mark 1:11 1:17 4:1–20 4:20 5:34 6:48 6:53 9:1 9:1–8 9:2 9:4 10:25 10:27 12:14 12:26 15:26–32

475 (n. 127) 285 (n. 107) 104 (n. 88) 104 (n. 88) 208 (n. 344) 467 (n. 42, 43) 467 (n. 41) 325 (n. 260) 200 (n. 306) 471 (n. 91) 262 (n. 43) 470 (n. 78) 470 (n. 79) 188 (n. 256) 198 (n. 301) 480 (n. 169)

Luke 1:33 497 (n. 327) 1:35 414 (n. 721) 1:46 333 (n. 305) 1:52 345 (n. 358), 470 (n. 82) 1:67–68 476 (n. 136) 1:78 476 (n. 135) 1:79 503 (n. 420) 2:14 505 (n. 439) 2:15543 2:32 498 (n. 340, 347) 3:22 475 (n. 127) 3:23 191 (n. 273) 3:34–38 93 (n. 31) 5:1 467 (n. 41) 5:4 285 (n. 108) 6:16 179 (n. 238) 6:18 187 (n. 255)

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

7:25 468 (n. 49) 7:50 208 (n. 344) 8:5–8 104 (n. 88) 8:10 200 (n. 307) 10:27 474 (n. 116) 10:38–42 256 (n. 15) 10:39 256 (n. 18) 10:41 256 (n. 17) 10:42534 11:22 256 (n. 13) 11:49 493 (n. 286) 12:4 464 (n. 11) 12:32 469 (n. 56) 12:34 207 (n. 339) 12:49 480 (n. 173, 174) 13:1542 13:24 466 (n. 25) 14:13 501 (n. 388) 14:21 501 (n. 388), 503 (n. 412) 14:30 320 (n. 204) 15:1–7 413 (n. 711), 131 (n. 148) 15:17 401 (n. 654) 15:18 324 (n. 231) 16:3–4 324 (n. 230) 16:5 492 (n. 277) 16:9 501 (n. 390) 16:19 335 (n. 325), 468 (n. 50) 17:19 208 (n. 344) 17:21  323 (n. 223), 324 (n. 250), 330 (n. 293) 18:24–25 171 (n. 208) 18:25 470 (n. 78) 18:27 470 (n. 79) 18:42 208 (n. 344) 20:22 188 (n. 256) 21:18 469 (n. 70) 23:2 188 (n. 256) 24:1 179 (n. 239) 24:26 258 (n. 33) 24:32 480 (n. 177) John 1:1536 1:9 291 (n. 141), 333 (n. 306), 498 (n. 338)

 603

1:14 137 (n. 20) 1:16 150 (n. 105), 562 1:18539 1:39551 2:10 135 (n. 8), 189 (n. 264, 265) 2:11 135 (n. 10) 3:8 337 (n. 344) 3:20–21 402 (n. 657) 4:5–6 178 (n. 235) 4:9 474 (n. 115) 4:14 491 (n. 273) 4:18 486 (n. 227) 6:18 467 (n. 42) 6:38 473 (n. 112) 6:44540 6:47–58 170 (n. 204) 6:64 170 (n. 205) 8:56 330 (n. 286) 10:9 108 (n. 110), 297 (n. 160) 12:24 173 (n. 210) 12:35 498 (n. 342) 14563 14:2 136 (n. 15) 14:21 246, 552 14:23 136 (n. 15), 194 (n. 290, 291) 14:26 409 (n. 689), 538 14:27 505 (n. 440, 441), 555 15:5 336 (n. 332) 15:10 255 (n. 4) 15:15 374 (n. 514) 16:16 366 (n. 464) 16:33 500 (n. 372) 17:3 354 (n. 401) 17:14 255 (n. 4) 17:16 255 (n. 4) 17:24 258 (n. 32) 19:34 148 (n. 92) 20:15553 21:6 285 (n. 109) Acts of the Apostles 2:2564 2:3 480 (n. 178) 3:6 324 (n. 229) 5:10–20 410 (n. 692)

604

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

5:41 473 (n. 111) 7:3 179 (n. 240) 7:22 145 (n. 70) 7:49 138 (n. 32) 8:10 493 (n. 285) 8:32 464 (n. 4) 9:8 324 (n. 246) 9:18 324 (n. 247) 11:5 394 (n. 610) 12:1–11 408 (n. 688) 12:6–7 406 (n. 678) 12:7547 12:11 401 (n. 655), 411 (n. 696) 13:17 506 (n. 448) 15:26 476 (n. 132) 17:34 522 (n. 4) 27:3 324 (n. 249) 27:34 469 (n. 70) Romans 1:18 494 (n. 304) 1:19531 1:20 247, 290 (n. 135), 297 (n. 161), 331 (n. 296), 524, 531, 536 1:21 205 (n. 325), 277 (n. 80), 562 2:14 97 (n. 41) 2:24 465 (n. 21) 3:10 399 (n. 644) 3:20 98 (n. 47) 3:24–28 98 (n. 48) 3:27556 4:22 324 (n. 245) 4:23 324 (n. 245) 5:5 347 (n. 375), 97 (n. 43) 5:12 476 (n. 134) 6:7 151 (n. 112) 6:9 472 (n. 106) 6:12 206 (n. 338), 477 (n. 137), 500 (n. 374) 7:13 162 (n. 168) 7:17 206 (n. 332) 7:18 206 (n. 333) 8535 8:11–16563 8:14540 8:14–27 356 (n. 413)

8:18 341 (n. 348) 8:23 464 (n. 8) 8:26 356 (n. 413), 486 (n. 231), 502 (n. 406) 8:28 495 (n. 311) 8:30 136 (n. 13), 541 (n. 45) 8:36 335 (n. 320) 8:38–39 496 (n. 317), 500 (n. 380) 9:16 336 (n. 334), 415 (n. 730) 9:21 278 (n. 87) 9:29 348 (n. 381) 10:2 415 (n. 726) 10:12 324 (n. 234) 10:18 213 (n. 361) 11:20 319 (n. 197), 480 (n. 166) 11:31 501 (n. 391) 11:33 494 (n. 305), 503 (n. 413) 12:2 291 (n. 138), 363 (n. 452), 385 (n. 559) 12:12 473 (n. 109) 12:16 278 (n. 83), 319 (n. 194), 480 (n. 166) 13:10 399 (n. 646) 13:14 333 (n. 312), 474 (n. 117) 14:17 347 (n. 376) 1 Corinthians 1:10 419 (n. 750) 1:20 278 (n. 85) 1:23 278 (n. 86) 1:24 477 (n. 144), 497 (n. 328) 1:31 319 (n. 196), 474 (n. 119) 2:6 325 (n. 255), 532 2:9 322 (n. 216), 531 2:10 327 (n. 265), 331 (n. 295) 2:13 323 (n. 220) 2:14 150 (n. 107) 2:14–15 291 (n. 137) 2:15 150 (n. 108), 323 (n. 222), 327 (n. 267) 3:1–2 150 (n. 106) 3:10 194 (n. 287) 3:18 363 (n. 446) 3:19 319 (n. 195, 203) 4:4 324 (n. 244)

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

4:7 319 (n. 198, 199) 5:12 368 (n. 478) 6:13 188 (n. 257) 6:17  372 (n. 509), 408 (n. 686), 419 (n. 750) 7:31 215 (n. 372) 8:1 319 (n. 193) 9:24 487 (n. 245) 10:4538 10:13 495 (n. 312) 11:3544 12 399 (n. 644) 12:3 336 (n. 335) 12:4 347 (n. 379) 12:6 336 (n. 336), 348 (n. 383) 12:8 503 (n. 414) 12:8–10 348 (n. 380) 12:10 503 (n. 415) 12:11 336 (n. 337), 347 (n. 373, 378) 13:1–13 399 (n. 646) 13:7 499 (n. 360) 13:12  141 (n. 49, 50), 266 (n. 53), 356 (n.  409), 362 (n.  437), 414 (n. 714), 539, 544 14:12546 15:19 335 (n. 317) 15:29 335 (n. 319, 329) 15:32 335 (n. 323), 336 (n. 330) 15:41 271 (n. 64) 15:53 477 (n. 141) 15:53–54 152 (n. 114) 15:54 472 (n. 106), 477 (n. 140) 2 Corinthians 1:3 324 (n. 232) 1:12 340 (n. 346), 474 (n. 120) 3:18  356 (n. 414), 364 (n. 457), 403 (n. 669), 419 (n. 750) 4:7 324 (n. 253) 5:6536 5:7 198 (n. 303), 266 (n. 53) 5:13 503 (n. 418) 6:1 194 (n. 287) 8:14 494 (n. 308) 10:17 474 (n. 119)

 605

12:2 272 (n. 67), 360 (n. 434), 419 (n. 750), 482 (n. 196) 12:2–4 322 (n. 217) 12:4 496 (n. 315), 503 (n. 411) 12:5 473 (n. 110) 12:6 319 (n. 200) 12:7 472 (n. 99), 481 (n. 187), 482 (n.  197), 483 (n.  211), 495 (n. 310), 496 (n. 314), 562 12:9 473 (n. 110) Galatians 2:16 98 (n. 47) 2:26 482 (n. 190) 3:6 324 (n. 245) 4:3 296 (n. 159) 4:5 464 (n. 8) 4:9 296 (n. 159) 5:1 333 (n. 311) 5:6 99 (n. 52), 208 (n. 342) 5:11 480 (n. 170) 5:16 206 (n. 334, 336) 5:16–17 154 (n. 119) 5:17  209 (n. 345), 500 (n. 376), 505 (n. 438) 5:22 347 (n. 377) Ephesians 1:5 464 (n. 8) 2:3 96 (n. 40) 2:14 508 (n. 470) 2:20 295 (n. 158) 4:3 501 (n. 387) 4:13 150 (n. 105), 165 (n. 184), 191 (n. 273) 5:12 500 (n. 377) 6:7557 6:14 502 (n. 408) 6:17 502 (n. 409, 410) Philippians 1:23 2:3 2:6–7 2:7

271 (n. 62), 486 (n. 232) 482 (n. 190) 473 (n. 107) 258 (n. 34), 480 (n. 167)

606

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

2:8 473 (n. 108) 2:9539 2:13 336 (n. 333) 3:13 501 (n. 399), 564 3:20 272 (n. 66), 292 (n. 147), 537 4:7 322 (n. 215), 486 (n. 235), 507 (n. 458), 555 Colossians 1:2 501 (n. 400) 1:19 379 (n. 534), 560 2:3 503 (n. 413) 2:9 379 (n. 534), 560 2:17 293 (n. 148) 3:1–2 317 (n. 188) 3:2 291 (n. 139) 3:5 103 (n. 82), 164 (n. 179), 271 (n. 59), 487 (n. 248) 3:14 399 (n. 644), 542 1 Thessalonians 5:7 1:10

330 (n. 279) 475 (n. 126)

1 Timothy 2:1535 3:7 368 (n. 478) 6:15 475 (n. 124), 493 (n. 284) 2 Timothy 1:10 472 (n. 106) 4:8 310 (n. 181), 335 (n. 321), 484 (n. 233) Hebrews 1:1 2:1 7:4 10:1 12:29 13:6 James 1:5 1:6

369 (n. 488) 303 (n. 175) 478 (n. 149) 293 (n. 148) 480 (n. 179) 499 (n. 365) 324 (n. 235), 469 (n. 55), 541 467 (n. 32)

1:17 324 (n. 233), 353 (n. 395), 376 (n. 524), 378 (n. 531), 531 2:23 324 (n. 245) 3:17 531, 537 4:4 210 (n. 348) 4:7 500 (n. 378) 1 Peter 1:12 258 (n. 38), 475 (n. 129) 1:16 255 (n. 4) 2:9560 3:15 284 (n. 101) 2 Peter 1:17 1:19

475 (n. 127) 140 (n. 44)

1 John 1:10 411 (n. 700) 2:15 487 (n. 238) 2:16 206 (n. 330) 2:27  347 (n. 374), 409 (n. 689), 538 4:20552 5:4 208 (n. 342) 5:19 500 (n. 373) Jude 1:16 1:18

164 (n. 179) 164 (n. 179)

Revelation 1:8 87 (n. 2), 88 (n. 6) 1:9 407 (n. 684) 1:18 348 (n. 382) 2:10560 2:17538 3:7 256 (n. 8) 3:14–16 154 (n. 118) 3:20 364 (n. 456) 4:4 94 (n. 37) 4:774 4:8 372 (n. 511), 553 4:9 348 (n. 382) 4:10 348 (n. 382)

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

5:6 87 (n. 5) 5:12 87 (n. 5) 5:14 348 (n. 382) 7:1542 7:9542 8:13 62, 284 (n. 99) 10:3 490 (n. 267) 13:8 149 (n. 96, 97) 14:1 87 (n. 5)

 607

14:2 293 (n. 153) 14:8 189 (n. 263) 15:7 348 (n. 382) 19:8 471 (n. 88) 19:16 475 (n. 124), 493 (n. 284) 21:2 507 (n. 460) 21:9 149 (n. 93) 22:16–17560 22:20 102 (n. 71)

INDEX OF ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL AUTHORS

CLASSICAL AUTHORS

Cicero In Verrem

450 (n. 694)

PATRISTIC AND MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN AUTHORS

Abelard Scito te ipsum

Anselm of Canterbury 426 (n. 178), 430 (n. 343)

Ps.-Alan of Lille On the Six Wings of the Cherubim 436 (n. 511)

Alcuin Interrogationes in Genesin221 (n. 61, 67)

Angelome of Luxeuil In Genesim

221 (n. 61, 67)

Anonymus Cloud of Unknowing433 (n. 432), 438 (n. 567), 439 (n. 578), 443 (n. 607)

De casu diaboli De veritate Mon. Proslogion

426 (n. 174) 430 (n. 342) 437 (n.521) 432 (n. 400)

Augustine Civ. Dei 223 (n. 102) Conf. 446 (n. 631), 515 (n. 336), 568 (n. 51), 568 (n. 72, 73) Doc. Chr. 424 (n. 125) En. Ps. 120 (n. 29, 30), 223 (n. 95), 232 (n. 231), 235 (n. 294), 238 (n. 355), 440 (n. 583), 441 (n. 583) Gn. litt. 438 (n. 546) Jo. ev. tr. 120 (n. 29, 30) Quaest. 222 (n. 69) Trin. 432 (n. 396), 437 (n. 526, 536), 438 (n. 548)

 609

I N D E X O F A N C I E N T A N D M E D I EVA L AU T HO R S

Bede

Honorius Augustodunsis

Homiliae In Lucam In Pentateuchum In Genesim

227 (n. 159) 227 (n. 159) 221 (n. 61), 223 (n. 84) 117 (n. 4)

Benedict RB

421 (n. 17), 453 (n. 752)

Bernard of Clairvaux SCC

438 (n. 508), 452 (n. 733)

Boethius Cons.

36 (n. 50), 40 (n. 58)

Ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite De Coelesti Hierarchia130 (n. 146), 522 (n. 6)

Glossa Ordinaria 219 (n. 30), 447 (n. 645)

Gregory the Great Mor.

68 (n. 34), 117 (n.  4), 218 (n.  14), 235 (n.  294), 426 (n.  185), 433 (n. 403), 510 (n. 65) Hom. Ev. 433 (n. 401), 447 (n. 645) Hom. Ez. 433 (n. 401), 452 (n. 740) Cant. 232 (n. 231)

Hincmar of Reims Explanatio in ferculum Salomonis  223 (n. 95), 229 (n. 174)

Gemma Animae

229 (n. 176)

Jerome Comm. in Isa. 238 (n. 356) Heb. nom. 422 (n. 25, 31), 513 (n. 224) Ep. 219 (n. 30), 220 (n. 43, 57) Praef. in Reg. 226 (n. 135)

John Cassian Coll.

27 (n. 17), 433 (n. 432), 448 (n. 659)

Origen Comm. in Cant. (21 n. 2) Hom. in Gen. 221 (n. 61), 223 (n. 90), 235 (n. 296)

Rabanus Maurus De universo 235 (n. 294) In Genesim 221 (n. 61) In honorem Sanctae Crucis120 (n. 29)

Remigius of Auxerre In Genesim 221 (n. 67), 222 (n. 69)

Sicard of Cremona De mitrali

451 (n. 708)

Thomas Aquinas Super Evangelium S. Ioannis219 (n. 30)

William of Saint-Thierry Lettre au frères du Mont-Dieu425 (n. 137)

610

I N D E X O F A N C I E N T A N D M E D I EVA L AU T HO R S

VICTORINE AUTHORS

Achard of Saint Victor Discretione 446 (n. 632) Serm. 437 (n. 519), 440 (n.  581), 446 (n.  631), 447 (n. 642, 645, 647 Unitate 437 (n. 519)

Garnerus of Saint Victor Gregorianum

431 (n. 387)

Godfrey of Saint Victor Microcosmus   34 (n. 37), 436 (n. 511)

Hugh of Saint Victor Adnot. in Pent. 24 (n. 9), 55 Archa Noe 25–28, 33, 35–37, 40, 43, 48, 55–59, 63, 66–84, 86 (n. 5), 117–239 passim, 434 (n.  435), 436 (n.  511), 449 (n. 676) Arrha 435 (n. 482), 436 (n. 499) Chronicon 27, 43, 55, 120 (n. 31), 121 (n. 34), 122 (n. 38), 128 (n. 125), 130 (n.  143), 233 (n.  274), 234 (n. 274) Didasc. 21 (n. 2), 24, 25 (n. 10–12), 32 (n. 28), 33 (n. 31, 32), 34 (n.  36, 39), 35 (n.  44), 36 (n. 48), 37 (n. 53), 38 (n. 57), 40 (n.  59), 43 (n.  69), 47 (n.  77, 78), 55, 68 (n.  37), 123 (n.  65), 129 (n.  132), 217 (n. 2), 222 (n. 72), 223 (n.  88), 125 (n.  135), 226 (n.  135, 145), 227 (n.  148), 227 (n. 152), 236 (n. 321), 238 (n. 363), 448 (n. 659, 666), 452 (n. 724), 566 (n. 13)

Eulogium 435 (n. 482), 510 (n. 87) In Eccl. 28 (n. 20), 48 (n. 83), 63 (n. 23), 225 (n. 123), 250 (n.  9), 422 (n.  41), 446 (n. 629), 449 (n. 676) In hier. cael. 26 (n. 14), 45 (n. 73), 63 (n. 23), 64 (n. 29), 425 (n. 136) Inst. nov. 21 (n. 1), 27 (n. 18), 32 (n. 27, 29), 33 (n. 32), 51, 55 (n. 4), 68, 72 (n. 45, 46), 75, 123 (n. 59), 219 (n. 25), 228 (n. 161) Libellus 27, 55–131, 218 (n. 15), 219 (n. 24, 26), 221 (n. 60), 223 (n. 87), 224 (n. 115), 225 (n.  125), 226 (n.  144), 228 (n. 165, 166), 230 (n. 199), 232 (n.  251), 234 (n.  288), 235 (n.  296), 237 (n.  327, 351–2), 238 (n.  354, 356, 358), 440 (n.  581), 446 (n. 629) Meditatione 227 (n. 158), 449 (n. 676) *Misc. 117 (n. 8), 435 (n. 462), 439 (n. 575), 445 (n. 629), 447 (n. 645, 647) Practica 70 (n. 39), 118 (n. 15), 222 (n. 72), 223 (n. 83) Sacr. 23, 27, 35 (n. 43), 36 (n. 50, 51), 43 (n. 68), 117 (n. 8–10), 126 (n.  117), 218 (n.  12), 225 (n.  135), 234 (n.  289), 235 (n.  300), 236 (n.  321–2), 238 (n. 363), 248 (n. 7), 424 (n.  91), 426 (n.  174), 430 (n. 342, 343), 430 (n. 357), 431 (n.  372), 437 (n.  535, 537), 452 (n. 724) Sapientia 42 (n. 67)

I N D E X O F A N C I E N T A N D M E D I EVA L AU T HO R S

Script.

25 (n. 11), 37 (n. 53), 43 (n. 68), 55, 76, 120 (n. 31), 121 (n. 34), 123 (n. 65), 223 (n.  88), 225 (n.  135), 234 (n. 280), 235 (n. 300, 302), 236 (n. 324), 238 (n. 366) Sent. div. 25 (n. 11), 34 (n. 35, 40), 35 (n.  42–43), 36 (n.  50), 37 (n.  53), 43 (n.  68), 44 (n. 70–71), 218 (n. 12), 236 (n. 325) Septem donis 431 (n. 371) Subst. dilect.46 (n. 76), 449 (n. 675) Tribus diebus 24 (n. 8), 25, 35 (n. 47), 36 (n. 49), 37 (n. 56), 71 (n. 42), 103, 124 (n.  75), 226 (n.  146), 227 (n.  152), 230 (n.  200), 235 (n.  295), 423 (n.  52), 437 (n. 519, 525) Unione 435 (n. 462) Vanitate 24, 55, 117 (n. 8), 439 (n. 575) Virtute orandi 447 (n. 642), 448 (n. 671)

Liber ordinis 27 (n. 17, 19), 217 (n. 1), 219 (n. 25), 458 (n. 5), 509 (n. 26)

Richard of Saint Victor Adnot. Psalm. 433 (n. 403), 435 (n. 489), 436 (n. 498), 447 (n. 642), 451 (n. 706, 713) Apoc. 46 (n. 75), 47 (n. 80), 450 (n. 684) Arca Moys.30, 31, 41 (n. 63, 65), 45, 48, 50 (n. 84), 68, 243–453, 460 *Cant. 435 (n. 468), 447 (n. 645) Erud. 421 (n. 19), 443 (n. 612), 445 (n. 628), 447 (n. 642), 460



611

Exterm.21 (n. 1), 30, 245 (n. 4), 246 (n. 5), 460, 517 (n. 437) LE 421 (n. 2), 422 (n. 23, 31), 431 (n. 372), 432–3 (n. 403), 434 (n. 436), 447 (642), 449 (n. 681), 452 (n. 724) *Misc. 458 (n. 3) *Nahum 435 (n. 463) Nonn. alleg. 433 (n. 415) Pot. lig. 447 (n. 642) Quat. grad. 432 (n. 402), 436 (n. 499, 513), 446 (n.  629–30, 633), 447 (n. 648) Serm. cent. 84 (n. 3), 432–3 (n. 403), 434 (n. 436), 435 (n. 489), 447 (n. 642–3), 509 (n. 26) Statu 34 (n. 37), 250 (n. 10), 460 Super exiit 432 (n. 403) Tract. 28–29, 30 (n. 24), 442 (n. 595), 442 (n. 597), 443 (n. 597), 445 (n. 628), 457–510 Trin. 430 (n. 349), 432 (n. 390, 393, 400), 433 (n. 425), 437 (n. 519, 525–26, 529–30, 535, 544), 538 (n. 545, 549) XII patr. 30, 41 (n. 62), 246 (n. 6), 245–46, 250 (n. 10), 253 (n. 15), 426 (n.  189), 430 (n.  345, 354, 357), 431 (n. 372, 389), 436 (n. 505), 439 (n. 578), 442 (n. 595), 443 (n. 612), 444 (n. 626), 447 (n. 644), 449 (n. 671), 452 (n. 734), 460, 517 (n. 437), 569 (n. 101)

Thomas Gallus SS2 SS3

21 (n. 3), 521 (n. 2), 521–29, 559–65 21 (n. 3), 31 (n. 26), 521–42, 522 (n. 5)

612

I N D E X O F A N C I E N T A N D M E D I EVA L AU T HO R S

Expl-AH 521 (n. 3), 523 (n. 10) Expl-DN 521 (n. 3), 524 (n. 11–12) Expl-EH 521 (n. 3), 566 (n. 7, 12)

Walter of Saint Victor Serm. ined.

446 (n. 634), 447 (n. 642)

SUBJECT INDEX Aaron, 104, 389–91; mind’s elevation, 249, 252, 388 Abelard, Peter, 23, 39, 259 (n. 40), 337 (n. 343), 376 (n. 525) Abraham, 95, 163, 178, 362–63, 366, 368, 372; bosom of, 113; journey of, 179, 365, 401–2; God speaking to, 199, 393 abstinence, 157, 464, 473, 505; on the ark, 75, 103–4, 164 Academics, sect, 278 Achard of Saint Victor, 10, 244 Achilles, 207 Adam, 300, 478, 539, 547; fall of, 66–67, 527; name of, 74, 92; line of, 92–95, 115; creation of Eve, 149, 298; sons of, 156; heavenly, 169 Adam of Saint Victor, 10 aether, 61, 113–14 affection/affectio, 50, 85–86, 154, 185, 343, 345–46, 371, 373; of piety, 494–95, 502, 526 affections, 29–30, 43, 249, 252, 285, 306, 339, 344, 348, 489, 492, 494–95; properly order, 46, 246, 497; transformation of, 47, 51; crowd of, 246; bodily, 299 Andrew of Saint Victor, 10, 244 angel, 69, 141, 167, 187, 272, 358, 401, 475–76, 479, 482, 493, 502, 542–43, 547–48, 554, 558; between divine and human, 26, 204, 214; nature, 46, 104; understanding, 139; fallen, 213; spirit, 248, 258, 296, 315, 320, 325, 330–31, 333, 138; form, 273–74, 348–50, 352, 355, 357, 366, 368, 370, 386; messenger, 406, 408–10; of Satan, 472; orders of, 115–16, 140,

356, 413, 525–26, 532, 534, 553; see also other orders of angels animal, 166, 281, 291, 302, 412, 476, 490; on the Ark, 70, 111, 144–46, 151; amphibious, 63; clean/unclean, 109, 157, 494–96; earthly, 270; celestial, 271; winged, 355, 397; rational, 494; see also individual animals animus/anima, 48, 138 (n. 23), 182, 349 (n. 389), 392 (n. 595), 393 (n. 597), 404, 411 Anselm of Canterbury, 57 archangel, 356, 526, 532, 534; see also other orders of angels Arius, 380 Aris, Mark-Aeilko, 253 Aristotle, 207, 259 (n. 40), 278 ark, passim; five-decked 58, 69–70, 144–54; pyramid-shaped, 57–60, 69–70, 74, 78, 88–91, 152; decks, 58–59, 69, 74–75, 101, 147–48, 151, 160–61, 213–14; ladders, 61–62, 73–74, 101–8; four corners of, 59, 73–74, 106, 144, 162, 304–5; see also Noah, Moses Assyrians, 212 Augustine, 9, 25, 33, 46, 57, 69–70, 249; on memory, understanding, and will, 35; on time, 155 (n. 122) Austria, 460 awakening, step of contemplation, 62 awe, 252, 384, 405; see also marveling, wonder Babylon, 498; on the Ark, 64, 102–3, 106, 111, 115, 212–13; wine of, 189; king of, 481–82; see also exile baptism, 9, 88, 110, 214

614

SU B J E C T I N D E X

Barbet, Jeanne, 529 Bathsheba, 189 Bede, 69 Benedictine, 22, 459 Benjamin, 93, 246, 503 Bernard of Clairvaux, 24, 57, 138 (n. 30), 460–61 Bernardus Silvestris, 26, 35 Bezalel, 194, 249, 386–87, 391 Bible, 70–71, 451 (n. 715); see also Scripture Bicchieri, Guala, see Guala Bicchieri Bilhah, 558; sons of, 93 Boethius, 21 (n. 2), 25–26, 28, 34, 36–38, 40, 251, 259 (n. 40); vox-intellectus-ratio-res, 25, 37, 49 Bonaventure, 57, 86, 523 (n. 8) Book of Life, 166; as Christ, 35–36, 73, 163; as the column, 59, 62, 75, 90 (n. 19), 91, 102, 106, 108–9, 165 Bride, 138, 150, 200, 525–27, 531–65 passim; love dialogue, 78; of the lamb, 137, 149; speaking to the Beloved, 190, 475, 532 Bridegroom, 200, 522–25, 531–65 passim; fullness of, 51; in the marriage chamber, 67, 136, 149; love dialogue, 78; return of, 102, 107; wedding of, 135; fleeing of, 201; true, 366; heavenly, 399; embrace of, 534 Cades, desert of, 484–85 Caesar, 188 calf, 73, 106, 364 (n. 455); of Lebanon, 472–75, 480 Carmel, 473–74 Castor, 207 Chaldeans, 212, 482 charity (caritas), 25, 29, 46–47, 52, 83, 85, 99, 101, 154–55, 161, 171, 181, 214, 326, 399; see also animals, eagle, lion, love Chenu, M.-D., 42 cherub, 551, 554–55, 558–59; beauty of, 42; symbolizing divine ideas,

50; symbolizing contemplation, 248–49, 272, 274, 351, 359, 366, 375, 377, 380–84, 386–88; as fullness of knowledge, 349, 354; forming the, 355–59; wings of, 360–61, 366, 368, 372, 374; hierarchy of, 526, 532–34, 543; see also other orders of angels, mercy-seat Christ, 27, 84, 154, 198, 394, 467, 478–79, 486, 496, 500, 538; dying and rising of, 9, 86; as Scripture, 35, 165; incarnate, 59; humanity of, 60, 62, 73, 90, 109, 167; divinity of, 60, 62, 73, 90; genealogy of, 61, 92–95; square on the Ark, 64; body of, 69, 137–38, 142, 150, 379; hiddenness of, 78; name of, 87, 476; as column, 91, 108, 162, 164; as Head, 100, 544; side of, 110, 148; as the Ark, 143, 161, 206, 255; as pilot and port, 148; as mediator, 152, 163; humility of, 153, 472–73; as Second Adam, 169; gospel of, 173; as wisdom, 177, 179; resting with, 192; sacraments of, 207; Advent of, 214; soul of, 379; see also Book of Life, Tree of Life Jesus, 325, 467, 523; as Tree and Book, 73; historical, 86; miracles, 135; garments of, 471; name of, 473; fire of, 480 Eternal King, 190–91 Redeemer, 152 Savior, 165, 170, 204, 278 Son, 42, 198, 478; Person of, 35–36; incarnation of, 149; relationship to the Trinity, 351, 377, 380–81, 383, 479; birth of, 378; Wisdom of the Father, 36, 383, 477; of man, 478 Word, 37, 115, 167–70, 416, 477, 537–38; humanity of, 26; incarnation of, 92, 95, 138, 197, 243, 378; eternal, 243, 522–26, 541; union with, 522–24,

SU B J E C T I N D E X

526–29, 536; oil as, 527 Church, 156–57, 162, 207, 215, 324, 489; penance in, 63; as the Ark, 66, 70–71, 91–92, 105, 111, 138, 143, 148–54; as head of family, 67; as body of Christ, 69, 138, 142–43; Tree of Life in, 75, 90, 167; faithful in, 77, 104, 169; understanding of, 84; in/outside of, 99; as City of God, 100; entering the, 109; sacraments of, 110, 214, 282; as House of God, 136 circumspection, 488; leafing out, 83, 85, 170 Cistercian, 22, 459 Clarembald of Arras, 28 cloud, 360, 387, 390, 415, 493; as symbol, 46; leading the Hebrews, 60, 88, 393, 414; of ignorance, 66, 177, 361, 389; of God’s presence, 75, 104, 177–78, 252, 386, 388, 391–92, 394, 542; on the Ark, 87; on the ladder of Fortitude, 108; of sin, 180, 280; see also fire cognition, 97, 137, 342; on the Ark, 62–63, 72, 101, 105, 107–8, 110, 161; see also thinking collatio, 27, 41, 46, 49, 64, hora locutionis, 27, 56 color, 61, 68, 91 (n. 22), 95–96, 103, 105, 107, 137–38, 160, 294, 471; green, 59–60, 87–88, 91, 99, 105; yellow, 99, 105; red, 60, 87; sapphire, 59–60, 87, 91, 372; purple, 60, 87–88, 99, 372, 559; blue, 105 compunction, 104, 300, 316, 354, 485–87, 502; as result of discipline, 29; on the Ark, 62–63, 69, 101, 105, 107–9; sprouting, 83, 170, 177, 179, 181; as result of tribulation, 135; as fire, 178, 180, 475 concupiscence, 110, 112, 210–11, 213, 292, 321, 409, 414, 497; overcoming, 37; as disordered will, 55, 71, 134; carnal, 62, 75, 101, 105, 159,



615

162, 172–73, 180, 184, 189, 203, 209, 212, 415; journey into the Ark, 63; Adam, 67; tree, 85; born in, 97; natural, 98; Inciter of Vices, 107; ascending from, 108; as Flood, 111, 206–8; two kinds of, 153 conscience, 155, 160, 183–84, 209, 211, 370, 475, 482; guilty, 67, 134–35; good, 85, 494; Ark of, 159, 492, 495; cleansing, 181, 320, 324, 340 contemplation, 41–42, 52, 103, 156, 178, 182–84, 198, 203, 245, 250–52, 259–61, 264–419 passim, 469, 482, 486, 543, 545–49, 557–58, 561, 565; as stage of spiritual development, 9–10, 21, 30, 502; creation to, 24–25, 159; as ascent, 26, 549; grace of, 29, 243–44, 246, 257, 490; as seraphim, 31; eye of, 39–40, 50–51; levels of, 45; six kinds, 39, 48–50, 160, 247–49; on the Ark, 62–63, 66, 69, 75, 105, 107–8, 110, 214; feeding, 83–86, 101, 170, 191; presence of, 134, 150–52; raising up the soul, 157, 180; going out, 157–58; of God’s face, 177; of truth, 216, 257–58; mystical union, 522, 525; steps of, 534, 560; see also meditation, thinking Coolman, Boyd, 50–51, 81 corners, of the earth, 74, 102, 105 Creator, see God Creation, 27, 32, 34–37, 39, 41–46, 49–52, 61, 69, 197, 243, 246–49, 336, 341; book of, 253; contemplation of, 21, 24–26, 31; wisdom from, 22; multiplicity of, 40; six days of, 70, 115 (n. 143), 136 (n. 12), 168 (n. 199); see also Nature crown, 138, 321–24, 356, 387, 484; order of angels, 115; as the column, 162; God’s elect, 186; of the Ark, 272–73, 290–93, 295–97; of righteousness, 486 cupidity, see lust

616

SU B J E C T I N D E X

Daniel, 245, 482–83 David, 95, 189, 199, 257, 325, 357–58, 387, 481, 483, 486–87, 503; house of, 346 dawn, 137, 329–30, 403–4 death, 535, 545, 563; as bridal embrace, 51; water, 76; harvesting, 83, 170, 190; suffering of, 140; due to our foundation, 140; book of, 166; fear of, 187–88, 344; predestination, 304; for the Lord’s sake, 464, 476; of Christ, 472–73; penalty of, 477 delight, 160, 210–11, 215, 249, 258, 371, 396, 475; of different stages of life, 113; false, 135, 186; sensual/ worldly, 152, 154, 177, 179, 205–7, 215, 294–95, 299; spiritual, 152, 173, 191, 300, 347, 372–73, 411–12, 415–18, 488, 561–62; carnal, 155, 172–73, 187, 316, 321, 409, 463, 472, 483; contemplation, 261, 263, 275, 296, 312–13, 322, 339–41, 374; see also lust desert, stopping places in the, 111–12 desire, 296; sinful, 29, 46, 67, 70–71, 157, 246, 292, 495, 550, 553; for God, 52, 85, 135, 148, 151, 202, 283, 340, 366, 370, 373, 390, 398, 465, 484, 542; sexual, 62, 159–60, 189, 207, 300, 328, 345, 368, 467, 494– 95, 500; as distractions, 76–78; for uprightness, 113, 486; of the mind, 261, 299, 399; of knowledge, 270; of the world, 271, 323; of eternal joys, 300, 543; for highest things, 318, 374, 398, 549; of the heart, 322, 469; in ecstasy, 400–404, 525, 541; for perfect works, 464; see also lust Devil, 184, 476, 500, 504–5; company of, 105, 136; our father, 180; envy, 185–86 devotion, 249, 355, 371–74, 397–98, 402, 411, 417–19, 464, 521, 535, 539, 556, 561; germinating, 83–84,

170, 177, 179, 181; of the mind, 176; leading to ecstasy, 399, 401, 404 Dinah, 160 Dionysius, 26, 34, 51, 521–23, 526, 528– 30, 533; super-intellectual wisdom, 21, 532; Celestial Hierarchy, 26, 525, 534; Hugh’s commentaries on, 31; Mystical Theology, 32, 537; angelic hierarchy, 50, 553; Letter to Titus, 531, 536, 541; Letter to Gaius, 542 discipline (disciplina), 27, 33, 72–73, 138, 395, 467; leading to happiness, 21; of the abbey, 29–30, 466; school of, 32, 51; of body and soul, 51; ascetic, 67; of reading, 68; training in, 75, 161, 164; flowering, 83, 170, 189; moral, 97; deck, 101, 214 disengagement, mode of contemplation, 50, 252, 360, 365, 374, 385–87, 392–94, 407, 418–19; in ecstasy, 397–98, 401, 411–13, 419; see also elevation, expansion dove, 138, 160, 368, 549; on the Ark, 109–10; sent from the Ark, 159, 209; sacrificial, 463; see also olive branch dominions (angels), 526, 532–36, 554, 557–60, 562; see also other orders of angels eagle, 73, 106, 361; see also animals, calf, lion ecstasy, 30, 249, 414, 523, 525, 545, 562; contemplative, 29, 32, 52, 252, 355–57, 374, 418, 557, 559; vision, 50, 52, 247; experience, 51; of mind, 141, 322, 334, 355, 360, 363, 365, 374, 385–89, 391–92, 394, 397–98, 419; embrace, 50, 244–45; first mode of, 399–401; second mode of, 402–11; third mode of, 411–16; love, 538, 548–49, 552, 564 Edom, 484–85 education, 471; at Saint Victor, 23, 55, 243, 246

SU B J E C T I N D E X

Egypt, 107 (n. 103), 115, 212 (n. 355), 213, 490; Exodus from, 21, 64, 111, 112, 136 (n. 15), 145 (n. 66), 200, 212 (n. 354), 213, 245, 506; spoils of, 287; pleasures of, 300 elevation, mode of contemplation, 50, 252, 266, 364, 386–87, 392, 396–97, 404, 406; of heart, 413–14; see also disengagement, expansion Elijah, 362–63, 366, 368, 372 Elisha, 417 Engeddi, 540 England, 31, 80, 460 eternal life, 169–70, 187, 197, 491, 555; full knowledge in, 141; Christ as, 177; number eight as, 191 eternal present, 36, 48, 52; see also Boethius eternity, 69, 215, 361, 364, 486, 537, 539; of God, 34, 40–42, 62, 139–41, 166, 168, 196, 304–6, 314, 464; rest in, 143, 192; see also simplicity eucharist, 167 (n. 194), 170 Eve, 159, 298; formation of, 149 exegesis, three-fold, 68–69; moral; 9–10, 66; spiritual/mystical, 9, 25, 42, 44, 60; tropological, 29–30, 49, 63, 68–71, 102, 105, 141–42, 154, 213, 248, 457; literal/historical, 25, 43–44, 49, 58–59, 70, 76, 527; allegorical, 58, 66, 70; “visual”, 60, 80; Hugh’s, 69, 71; symbolic, 522; Thomas Gallus’, 527–29; see also Scripture exemplar, 68, 79–80, 138, 138 (n. 24), 156 (n. 134), 524 exile, 173, 201, 292; of Thomas Gallus, 31; Babylonian, 64, 95, 106; of Adam, 67; see also Babylon expansion, mode of contemplation, 50, 249, 252, 392–96, 397; see also Bezalel, disengagement, elevation Ezekiel, 47, 102, 245, 283; vision of, 9, 271 Ezra, 103



617

Father, see God fear, 85, 185–88, 300, 485–86; of judgement, 29, 155, 175, 182; on the Ark, 62, 69, 101–2, 105–6, 108; planting, 83, 170–72, 179, 181; to love, 84; of the Lord, 83–84, 160, 174, 176, 355, 463, 499 fervor, see spiritual fervor finger, 114, 146, 507; of God, 24 fire, 71, 159, 273, 309, 363, 372, 406, 398 (n. 629), 474, 480–82, 496, 563; leading the Hebrews, 60, 386; of divine love, 62–63, 97, 107, 141, 153, 205; of love for God, 178, 201, 309, 355, 398–400, 402, 544, 555–56; on the Ark, 87–88, 155; at the ladder of Fear, 106; of sexual desire, 160, 414–15, 482; as compunction, 180, 475; for vices, 185–86, 188, 210, 483–84; to follow goodness, 190, 200; of hell, 310; as the Seraphim, 554; see also cloud; desire flood, 43, 209, 211–12, 318, 491, 493–96, 534; of wisdom, 29, 492; around the Ark, 56, 67–68, 71, 77, 137, 143, 156, 205–8; of grace, 173; see also concupiscence foreknowledge, 36, 304–5, 307, 311–12, 363; see also predestination. fortitude, 149, 258, 476–77, 483, 498–99, 503, 557; on the Ark, 62, 101, 105, 108 fortune, 155, 184; altar of, 286, 313 four living beings, see calf, eagle, lion France, 31, 460 Garden of Eden, 212; on the Ark, 162 Gehenna, 102, 187 Genesareth, lake of, 467 Germany, 106 (n. 97), 460 God, Creation leading to, 22, 24, 31, 34, 42; purpose, 29; love of, 30, 67, 71, 134–35, 141, 160, 176, 191, 194, 205, 257, 309, 326, 348, 463, 487, 495, 499, 503, 523, 542; ascent

618

SU B J E C T I N D E X

to, 32, 39, 46, 48, 101; vision of, 40, 50, 243, 253, 365; mirror of, 48; indwelling of, 68, 70, 137, 170, 194–95; presence of, 73, 75, 77–78, 329; elect of, 105, 111, 186; inspiration of, 133; union with, 161, 249, 542; on three books, 168; on three words, 168–69; fear of, 171, 174, 463, 499; anger of, 185; speaking, 199–204; judgements of, 285; will of, 385, 478; as goodness, 464 Almighty, 169, 189, 196, 478 Father, relationship to Trinity, 35, 351, 377–81, 478–79, 540; glory of, 142, 258; obedience to, 152, 473; Word of, 170, 477, 536; wisdom of, 178, 383, 477; voice of, 475–76 Creator, 142, 158, 159, 247 (n. 7), 293, 315, 319, 331, 384, 482, 489; contemplation of, 21, 24, 34, 37, 39, 51, 134, 140, 150–51, 160, 178, 198, 202–3, 205, 276, 296, 336–37, 383; favor of, 109; adoration of, 137; likeness of, 155, 177, 358, 382 Omnipotent, 307 One, 134, 159–61 Godfrey of Saint Victor, 10, 34 Gospels, 86, 104, 141, 173, 192, 202; writers, 73, 106; doctrine, 102 grace, 134, 320, 348, 464, 532, 562; of baptism, 9; of contemplation, 26, 29, 243–46, 247, 249, 252, 257–58, 274, 302, 359, 361, 391–93, 395, 416, 490; of knowing the Creator, 34; of creation and salvation, 36; period of, 61, 94–96, 98, 100, 110–11, 148, 214; of transformation, 72, 249, 341, 466, 533; cooperation with God, 76, 154, 190, 244, 347, 363–64, 388, 415, 545; watering, 83–84, 170, 172–73, 179, 181; number one hundred, 87; through the Church, 91; people of, 96–99;

on the Ark, 101, 111, 214; as the Promised Land, 112; divine, 133, 140, 173, 184, 186, 197–99, 206–7, 326, 337–38, 356, 394, 397, 504, 526; Mother, 143; spiritual gifts of, 314, 405, 484, 489, 535, 540; inspiring, 346–47, 409, 419; consummation of, 354; reception of, 366, 368, 373, 379, 399; of compunction, 487 Greek letters, 60, 74, 93; see also Tau Greeks, 93, 212 Gregory the Great, 9, 57, 67, 137 (n. 21) grief, 135, 180; on the Ark, 101–2, 105–6, 108; dies through, 170, 173, 179, 181 Guala Bicchieri, 31 Halberstadt, 23 Ham, son of Noah, 109, 157 Harkins, Franklin, 81 Hebrews, 60, 212 Hector, 207 hell, 159, 212–13, 464, 563; on the Ark, 113; punishments of, 171, 175, 310, 480 Hercules, 207 Hildebert of Lavardin, 24 history, Hugh’s views on, 27–28, 38, 43–44, 71 Holy of Holies, 256, 325, 388, 390, 393 Holy Spirit, 85, 180, 182, 480; as artisan, 36; protection from vices, 73, 163; pouring charity, 97; consolation of, 104, 135; inspiration of, 133, 176, 482; in baptism, 214, 538; procession of, 377–78, 380–81, 383, 479 Artist, 36, 342 hope, 91, 191, 335, 340, 361, 363, 370, 412, 468, 492, 504, 545; greening, 83, 85, 170, 181–82; on the Ark, 101, 214; resting in, 152; in Christ, 154, 469; flower, 189; of forgiveness, 486; helmet of, 502 horn, 114, 476–77

SU B J E C T I N D E X

House of God, 137; individual as, 34, 136; world as, 43, 136; in Jerusalem, 64; Ark as, 66, 74; building the, 193, 195, 216; see also Ark, Temple Hugh of Saint Victor, 23–28; thought, 23, 26, 35–36, 38–40, 43–45, 48, 84–85; teaching, 24–25, 28, 32–34, 51, 55, 62, 243–44, 246; reading of texts, 68–69; see also education, history humanism, 22, 32 humility, 73, 163, 562; of Christ, 153, 472–73, 478–80; necessary for contemplation, 182, 348; as guard, 272, 472, 481, 483, 494–95 ignorance, 62, 66, 107, 177, 213, 333, 385–86; of the mind, 22; overcoming, 37, 55; personification of, 63; of truth, 71; ascent from, 75, 101, 103, 108; blindness of, 62, 105, 134, 162, 199, 203, 326; veil of, 178; darkness of, 180, 212, 280, 292, 409, 415, 497; see also cloud illumination, by grace, 26; step of contemplation, 62, 252, 394; of the mind, 141, 152, 387; oil, 527, 539 image, of God, 34, 73, 177, 315, 341–42, 357, 364, 382, 384, 472; in the mind, 49; of the Ark, 63, 68, 71, 78, 80 imagination, from senses to understanding, 39, 48; shaping the soul, 47; pure understanding, 49, 251; operations in the mind, 250, 526; knowledge from material world, 251, 327–28; basis of thinking, 259; kinds of contemplation, 264–69, 272–73, 283, 288–89, 297–98, 301–2, 315, 317, 321, 352–53; on the Ark, 276; agility, 342; fashioning, 343, 382; ecstasy, 419 intellectible things (intellectibilia), 26, 38–40, 48, 251, 266–68, 403; see



619

also Boethius, intelligible things, sensible things intelligible things (intelligibilia), 26, 38–40, 48, 52, 251, 266–67, 264; see also Boethius, intellectible things, sensible things intelligentia, see understanding Intentions, 29, 405; evil, 77; good, 140, 190, 198, 345, 399, 467, 469, 475, 488; of the soul, 179, 210; of the heart, 196, 306; of reason, 202, 289; of the will, 294 interpretation, scriptural, see exegesis Isaac, 93, 163, 178, 199 Isaiah, 68, 74, 102, 138, 245 Israel, 245; people of, 74, 88, 104, 108, 156, 163, 390, 539, 545, 557 Italy, 521 Jacob, 93–94, 163, 178, 199, 258, 558, 561 Jaeger, Stephen, 22 James, 500 Jericho, 112, 393 Jerome, 69, 138 (n. 30) Jerusalem, 163, 507; heavenly, 30; on the Ark, 64, 74, 103, 111, 212 Jesus, see Christ John Chrysostom, 548 John Sarracen, 530 Jordan River, 110–12 Joshua, 390 Judas, 179 Judea, 474 judgment, 29, 85, 98, 174–75, 182, 284, 304, 332, 345, 347; last, 61; divine, 77, 109, 155, 158, 160, 285–86, 288–89, 313, 363–64, 386, 494; of the universal resurrection, 113; future, 171; of reason, 184, 495; human, 351; see also hell Jupiter, god, 207 justice, 97–98, 109–10, 198, 257, 311, 316, 335, 340, 472, 557; on the Ark, 105; love of, 177, 183; divine, 286, 288, 313

620

SU B J E C T I N D E X

King, Eternal, see Christ Kingdom of God, 169 Kingdom of Heaven, 30, 149, 163, 171, 177, 323, 500, 555 Kirchberger, Clare, 253 knowledge, 36, 73, 161, 304; of creation, 21, 31; of God, 21, 32, 69, 71, 141, 199, 203, 531, 537; storehouse of, 22; of truth, 24, 30, 36, 165, 543; affect to, 30; path to discipline, 33; order of, 37; divine, 40, 361; from study, 47, 261; body of, 52, 246; acquiring by education, 55, 68; internal, 66; and love, 67; about behavior and goodness, 72; salvific, 76; on the Ark, 101, 143, 214, 247; God dwelling, 137; rule by, 138; from Scripture, 139, 156; approach to, 213; from material things, 251; reception of, 252; key of, 255–56; of invisible things, 267, 268, 273, 297, 323, 353; in contemplation, 270, 284, 287–88, 304–8, 311–12, 315, 317–19, 323, 325–26, 331, 334, 337, 395; fullness of, 274, 349, 354; human, 280, 282, 353; spiritual, 292; of the body, 299; above, 396; secret, 397, 502 Laban, 258 ladder, 103–8, 320, 417; twelve, 61–63, 101–2; of ascent, 70, 73–74, 273, 290; of Jacob, 561; see also Ark lamb, 189, 413–14, 463–64; on the Ark, 60, 87; as Christ, 88, 148; bride of, 137, 149 language, 37–38, 44, 248, 253; study of, 22; theory of, 25; interpretation as analysis of, 43 Laurence, St., 309 Law, 153, 162, 345, 556; natural, 61, 95–101, 111–12, 148, 214; written, 61, 87, 94–102, 111–12, 148, 200, 202, 214, 463, 475; old, 88; new, 94; divine, 103, 143, 151, 248; fulfillment of, 110, 480; human, 282

Lawrence of Westminster, 28 Leah, 246; sons of, 93, 558 Lebanon, 193, 470–75, 480, 484, 488, 558 Leclercq, Jean, 22 lion, 73, 106, 302, 490–91, see also animals, calf, eagle longing, 154–55, 162, 170–71, 185–86, 200, 202, 210, 340, 374, 398, 400, 484, 533, 540; of the mind, 40; growing larger, 83, 180–81; of the flesh, 97, 151, 153, 164, 187–89, 207; earthly, 134, 172, 205; evil, 135, 209; spiritual, 361 love, 36, 67–68, 201, 476, 480, 552, 563; and contemplation, 26, 348, 360; wounds of, 30, 502; amor, 46, 171, 309; dilectio, 171, 185, 309, 542; into charity, 46, 52; divine, 62–63, 97, 107, 134, 205, 257, 309, 361, 369, 374, 400, 475, 484, 522; ladder of, 62, 101, 105, 107–8; human, 66; of the world, 67, 77, 134–35, 152, 156, 174, 180, 203, 206–8, 257, 271, 321, 355, 409, 487; dialogue, 78; from fear to, 84; works based on, 99; from Scripture, 139, 160; of justice, 177, 183; of eternal life, 187, 543; leading to vision, 245–46, 249, 296; compunction of, 300, 486–87; of knowledge, 330; of virtue, 347; spiritual, 368; singular, 371, 373; of wisdom, 383; in ecstasy, 398–400, 402, 538; of truth, 402; erotic, 527; paternal, 540; ecstatic, 548–49, 562; see also charity, God lust/cupidity (cupiditas), 25, 27, 29, 46, 72, 109, 160, 176, 208, 299, 405 (n. 675), 466; fire of, 480, 482–83 manuscripts Admont Stiftsbibliothek 82, 460 (n. 14) Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek Msc. Patr. 130.1–2, 460 (n. 14)

SU B J E C T I N D E X

Dijon, Bibl. municipale 42, 460 (n. 15) Erlangen, Universitatsbibliothek 236, 460 (n. 14) Göttweig, Stiftsbibliothek 285, 460 (n. 14) Oxford, Merton College 49, 55 Paris, Bibl. Mazarine 769, 459 (n. 9), 460 (n. 12), 461 Paris, BnF lat. 14285, 21, 221 (n. 61); lat. 15009, 121 (n. 34– 35); lat. 14506, 515 (n. 336), lat. 14517, 460 (n. 12), lat. 15732, 460 (n. 15) Prag Národní Kninovna České Republiky 258, 460 (n. 14) Troyes, Bibl. municipale 302, 460 (n. 12, 15) Vienna, Schottenkloster 294, 460 (n. 14) mappa mundi, 61, 92 (n. 27), 99 (n. 49), 106 (n. 96), 107 (n. 103), 110 (n. 116), 113 (n. 126), 115 (n. 143), 212 (n. 351–4) marriage/bridal chamber, 137, 554–55, 560; Bridegroom in, 67, 136, 149, 372 Mars, god, 207 marveling, 283, 296, 333; see also awe, wonder Mary and Martha, 243, 256, 539, 542, 564 Mary Magdalene, 553 Mary, Virgin, 27 Max, cocker spaniel, 81 Medes, 212 meditation, 250, 259–61; from thinking to contemplation, 21, 31, 39, 248, 250; on creation, 24–25, 42–43, 246; and reading, 25–26, 31–33, 38, 41, 164, 369; siege tower of, 30, 502; becoming speculation, 47; constructing the Ark, 50, 72, 77, 209; on the Ark, 62–63, 75, 101, 105, 107–8, 110, 214; on God’s law, 143; practice of, 155; on Scripture,



621

160, 164, 246; leading to charity, 210; of the heart, 405, 417–18; in ecstasy, 406–8, 411; see also education, contemplation, thinking Mediterranean, 528 mens, 138 (n. 23), 256 (n. 12) mercy, on the Ark, 62–63, 101, 105, 107–8; over the Law, 98; works of, 104, 316; of God, 135–36, 158, 187, 196–98, 205, 331, 409; leading to truth, 409–10; road of, 501, 503 mercy seat, 248, 387; cherubim over, 249, 357–58, 360–61, 374–75, 382–84; as kind of contemplation, 272–73, 295–96, 315–25, 357; steps of contemplation, 331–41; see also cherub mile, Roman, 70, 146 months, 113, 370; labors of, 61; twelve, 114; month for month, 191–92 Moses, 75, 145, 244, 249, 325, 385, 388, 389, 391, 480; tabernacle of, 9; ark of, 47–50, 274, 278; God speaking to, 194, 199, 256, 279; contemplation, 272, 349, 386–87; on the mountain, 74, 104, 200, 388, 390, 392–94 mutability/mutable, 24, 27, 75, 271–72, 364, 560 Nature, 35–36, 96–97; on the Ark, 100–101, 214; see also Creation Nebuchadnezzar, 346, 392 Neoplatonism, 10, 522 (n. 4), 523–24 Noah, 109, 143, 157, 199, 205, 492; ark of, 9, 22, 29, 33, 43–44, 47, 49, 52, 55–56, 66, 69–71, 76, 84, 138, 144, 148, 194 novices, 10, 23, 27–29, 72, 138 (n. 25), 161 (n. 161), 244, 457–58, 463; as knight, 30 obedience, 563; to superiors, 85, 185, 188, 355; of Adam, 134; of Christ, 152, 164; of Noah, 157; body to mind,

622

SU B J E C T I N D E X

299; to Christ, 364; monastic vows, 466; path of, 470; love of, 474; part of wisdom, 497; peace, 505 oil, 527, 538–89; virgins, 107 olive tree, 159–60 Origen, 21, 59, 69–70, 111 (n. 121), 144 (n. 62), 147 (n. 87), 196 (n. 296), 291 (n. 137), 536 Paradise, 137; Fall in, 55–56, 478; positioning in the Ark, 61, 64 (n. 27), 113; life in, 71; Tree of Life in, 75, 90, 162, 167; God speaking in, 78; three Paradises, 169–70 patience, 310, 335, 464, 505; on the Ark, 62, 101, 105, 107–8; ripening, 83, 85, 170, 190; divine, 368 patriarchs, 93, 245, 372, 402; twelve, 22, 94–5 Paul, Apostle, 194, 206, 322, 324–25, 481, 496; second, 472 penance, 197, 368, 464, 486; on the Ark, 63, 111 Peripatetics, sect, 278 Peter Abelard, see Abelard, Peter Peter, Apostle, 92, 94, 140, 206, 284, 401, 406, 408, 410, 478 Peter Lombard, 245 Peter of Poitiers, 10 philosophy, 24, 32, 55, 263, 278, 288, 321; division of, 21 (n. 2), 33 Plato, 207, 351 (n. 393); forms, 251, 524; hierarchy of being, 252 Platonism, 26, 38; see also Neoplatonism poets, 26, 77, 207 Pollux, 207 Popes, list of, 61, 92, 94–95 Porphyry, 38, 259 (n. 40); “Porphyrian tree”, 343 (n. 352) poverty, 188, 322, 324, 494; of spirit, 84, 171–72 powers (angels), 532–34 prayer, 487, 504–5; Hugh’s works on, 27; cleansing, 111; goats’ hairs, 316;

daily, 337; prayer of desire, 363; of Queen of the South, 406; tears in, 472; fiery, 502; chaste, 535, 548, 556 preaching, 197; sharing fruits of contemplation, 9; of Richard, 28, 458; “school of discipline”, 51; goal of theology, 57; gift of, 489–90 predestination, 84, 166, 304–8, 311–12, 314, 363–64; see also providence pride, 183–84, 471–72, 475, 481–83; as vice, 29, 66, 488; on the Ark, 62, 101, 105–6, 108; as cold, 162–64 principalities (angels), 526, 532–34; see also other orders of angels Proclus, 10, 351 (n. 393), 522 (n. 4) Promised Land, 21, 30, 111, 137, 179, 245–46, 416 (n. 734), 506; of grace, 111–12 prophets, 482; established by Christ, 91, 464; God speaking to, 199; of the Bible, 202 providence, 35–36; divine, 110, 166, 175, 212, 491; see also predestination prudence, 187–88, 273, 355, 468–69, 505, 557; on the Ark, 62, 101, 105, 108 Pseudo-Dionysius, 9–11, 57, 290 (n. 136), 353 (n. 397), 521 purification, 111, 538; step of contemplation, 62; see also contemplation purity, 29, 334, 548, 552, 561; of the mind, 29, 354, 481; of understanding, 40; of truth, 50, 414; of heart, 153, 320, 325; of conscience, 181; perfect, 287, 372, 481; progress towards, 300; of intelligence, 355; young boy, 481 Queen of the South, 406–7 Rachel, 246, 258, 558; sons of, 93 Ratio similitudinis, 45, 49, 248; see also reason reading, 24–26, 31–33, 38, 41, 43, 68, 142, 164, 244, 252–53, 369, 458, 521, 529; of wisdom literature, 27, 522

SU B J E C T I N D E X

reason, 34, 248, 250–51; of Solomon, 24; training, 33, 38; uncreated, 35, 39; divine, 37, 158, 287; eye of, 39, 280, 328; kinds of contemplation, 48–49, 202, 264–70, 273–74, 276, 280, 283–84, 288–90, 297–98, 301–2, 317–18, 323, 357, 526; goal of theology, 57; natural, 96–98; on the Ark, 152; Rachel as, 246; leading to knowledge, 247; to inspiration, 252; meditation based on, 259; beyond, 350–52, 358–59, 365, 375, 377, 379, 419; consulting, 495, 500; eternal, 524; investigation of, 560, 562 Red Sea, 214, 486 Redeemer, see Christ restoration, 64; of the soul, 21–22, 25, 33, 37, 41, 51; of contemplative vision, 23; divine work of, 26–27, 43, 48, 76–77, 79, 197–98, 204–5, 209, 211, 213–15, 249, 330–31; of the human person, 32, 76, 203, 527; love of God, 67; of the world, 146; by divine grace, 184 Richard of Saint Victor, 28–31, 244–45; use of Hugh, 48–49, 243–44, 246; on contemplation, 50–51, 250–52 Robert of Flamborough, 10 Robert of Melun, 28, 244 Romans, 212 Rudolph, Conrad, 56, 59, 80, 118 (n. 16), 120 (n. 31), 121 (n. 34, 36), 125 (n. 96), 127 (n. 122, 124), 220 (n. 30), 229 (n. 169) Sabbath, everlasting, 95; Sabbath for Sabbath, 191–92 Sabellius, 380 sacraments, 214, 282, 335, 488; beginning of contemplation, 26, 48, 79, 215, 284, 384–85; vision, 42; participation in, 136, 207, 213; from Christ on the Cross, 148; bringing



623

salvation, 203; see also individual sacraments Saint Victor, abbey of, 23, 56, 138 (n. 25), 144 (n. 61), 498 (n. 336) Samaria, 474 Samuel, 199 Saturn, 207 Savior, see Christ Scripture, 30–31, 35, 138–40, 164–65, 213, 247, 266, 369, 488–90, 502; book of, 36, 243, 252–53, 530; canon of, 235–36 (n. 88); interpretation of, 24–25, 42, 44, 76, 122 (n. 39), 141, 218 (n. 21), 224 (n. 120), 237 (n. 326), 238, 421 (n. 2), 435 (n. 489); Hebrew, 68; study of, 30, 55, 142, 446 (n. 629), 521; see also Bible, exegesis seasons, 139, 158; harmony of, 35; on the Ark, 61, 113–14; spring, 78, 113, 158; summer, 27, 113, 158; autumn, 113, 158; winter, 113, 158, 182 sensation, 39, 526; and imagination, 269, 272, 299; beyond, 397, 419 sensible things, 26, 38–39, 251, 265–66, 298, 523–24, 531 seraph, wings of, 31, 115, 141–42; beauty of, 42; symbolizing Scripture, 139–40; hierarchy, 526, 532, 534; of the mind, 538–40, 544, 548–52, 558–59; chamber of, 554–55; see also other orders of angels Sheba, Queen of, see Queen of the South shepherd, 138; good, 115 (n. 146), 116 (n. 148), 413; see also Christ Sicard, Patrice, 56, 80, 85 siege tower, 30, 502 simplicity, 376, 481, 538, 544, 547, 551, 555; of the soul, 40, 47, 49; divine, 40, 42, 535; true, 41, 62, 78, 196, 204 sin, 40, 206; from God to creation, 39; punishment of, 88, 164, 410; original, 96–97, 180, 213, 546, 556; on

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the Ark, 162; shutting out wisdom, 134, 177, 199, 280; in thought, 210; defense against, 476–77, 484, 500; mortal, 495 Sinai, Mount, 74 smoke, 180, 390, 398–99, 556 Socrates, 207 Solomon (Salomon), 24, 93, 101, 168, 177, 194, 406, 504, 522, 528, 532, 558; Temple of, 9, 177; bed of, 101, 545, 556–57; see also wisdom Son, see Christ sorrow, 186, 197, 300, 344, 363, 486–87; on the Ark, 62; decaying, 83–84 Southern, Richard William, 22 Spain, 460 speculation (speculatio), 32, 38, 47, 50, 263, 289, 307–9, 316, 325–26, 329, 333–34, 337, 339, 348, 349, 352, 377, 562; siege towers, 30, 502; as related to contemplation, 251, 414; to invisible things, 265, 273, 297, 320; threefold, 279–83; as crown of the ark, 290–93, 295–97; wonder of, 312 spiritual fervor, 153; on the Ark, 62, 101, 105, 162 Stoics, 278 study, 29–30, 33, 47, 51, 55, 252, 260–61, 342, 361 Switzerland, 460 sweetness, 480, 544, 550, 556, 565; divine, 30, 84, 135, 340, 372–73, 527, 539–40, 543, 549; of contemplation, 51, 151, 322, 371, 489; on the Ark, 104, 165, 170; of supernal things, 134, 184; inner, 172, 181, 341, 347, 374, 398, 411–12, 486; of spiritual goods, 173, 551; compunction of love, 300; heavenly, 417; universal, 538; fullness of, 543 Syros, 150 Tabernacle, of Moses, 9, 256, 388–89, 390; God’s indwelling, 68; dwelling of salvation, 136; inner, 137,

155, 257, 506; first and second, 325, 389; as present Church, 489; eternal, 501; of the just, 503; see also Holy of Holies Tau, letter, 150 temperance, 557; on the Ark, 62–63, 101, 105, 108 Temple, 283, 313, 490; of Solomon, 9, 177–78, 194; God’s indwelling, 68, 137; as cycle of seasons, 139; as believers, 489; see also House of God Ten Commandments, 87, 556 theoria, 38, 50, 251, 524, 526–29, 534–35, 538, 541, 546, 548–50, 552–53, 555, 559–61, 563–65 Thierry of Chartres, 24, 26 thinking, 250, 259–61, 405; to meditation and contemplation, 31, 39, 41, 43, 72, 248, 250, 342; and acting, 72; on the Ark, 108, 156; see also cognition, contemplation, meditation Thomas Gallus, 10, 21, 31, 34, 50–51, 521–30 three modes of contemplation, see expansion, elevation, disengagement thrones (angels), 554; hierarchy, 526, 532, 534; of the mind, 533, 534–36, 558–59; see also other orders of angels time of speaking, see collatio Tree of Life, 66, 83–86; as the column, 59, 75, 103–4, 106, 108–9, 162, 165; as Christ, 62, 73, 90–91, 163; in Paradise, 167, 170 Trinity, 31, 150, 154, 380, 383–84, 534; of persons, 375, 377–78, 380, 385 understanding (intelligentia), 39–40, 48–49, 152, 244, 247, 251, 256, 315–16, 328–29, 334, 353, 355–56, 382, 385, 392, 349 (n. 389) union, step of contemplation, 26, 50, 52, 62, 249; mystical, 522, 525 Uriah, 189

SU B J E C T I N D E X

Van Liere, Frans, 81 Vercelli, 22 (n. 5), 31, 521, 523 (n. 8), 528, 532 (n. 6), 565 virgin, 540; on the Ark, 101, 104, 107; Dinah, 160; see also oil virtue, 33–34, 40–41, 55, 63, 68, 71–73, 83, 85–86, 91, 98–99, 113, 136–38, 143, 161, 165, 171, 185, 190, 314, 327, 338, 347, 388, 484, 532–34, 557; moral, 23, 28, 246; intellectual, 29, 246, 250; formation of, 30, 186, 245, 346, 399; life of, 43; ladder of, 61–62, 106–8; ascents, 75, 105; pursuit, 77, 153–54; nature, 540; cardinal, 545, 555–56; see also individual virtues virtues (angels), 532–34; see also other orders of angels watchtower, of contemplation, 41, 85, 178, 180, 266, 322, 346, 354, 384, 395; soul as, 48, 50; of understanding, 329–30 water, 110, 115, 144–45, 158–59, 178, 209, 405, 412, 467–68, 491–92, 555; of the Flood, 56, 67, 71, 77, 111, 205–6; of chaos, 70, 76; as element, 71–72, 76; of baptism, 88, 214; from Christ, 148 Weiss, Jessica, 80 wilderness, 21, 112, 199 (n. 305), 200; Christ’s 40 days in, 103 (n. 83) William of Champeaux, 24, 39 William of Conches, 23, 26, 88 (n. 13)



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winds, 156, 363, 482, 551, 564; twelve, 61, 113–14; of self-esteem, 182; of evil passions, 209; south, 212 wisdom, 34–36, 179, 243, 256; “super-intellectual”, 21, 532; of Creation, 22, 26, 52; divine, 25, 34, 36–37, 40, 43, 160, 167–68, 170–72, 291, 304–5, 314, 492–94, 497, 537; acquiring, 29–30; internal, 33–34; of the Creator, 36, 166, 169, 379; ascent to, 38; education leading to, 42, 51, 68, 138, 243–44, 246, 261; ark of, 44, 47, 66, 84, 143, 155, 192, 277–78, 319–20; uncreated, 51; Egyptian, 145; Tree of, 170, 182, 185, 191–92; sprouting, 177–78; of Solomon, 194, 406, 537; Seat of, 194; contemplation, 260; gold of, 285, 311–12, 322–23, 330; highest, 363, 376; love of, 383 wonder, spiritual encounter of, 50; in contemplation, 52, 249–50, 252, 259–61, 263–64, 268, 276, 283–84, 289, 305, 307, 311–13, 387, 402–4, 407; see also awe, marveling Word, see Christ works of foundation, 77, 209, 211; days of, 204–5; see also restoration Works of God, 103, 139, 161, 168, 197, 214, 289 works of restoration, see restoration Zilpah, sons of, 93 Zion, Mount, 100 Zodiac, signs of, 61, 114