Archive for the ‘Discernment’ Category
De septem septenis — Circumspectio
AS previously discussed, De septem septenis (On the Seven Sevens) is an enigmatic 12th Century treatise by an anonymous Christian mystic. It discusses seven topics or domains, each with seven components or varieties. The sets of seven are: the steps to learning; the liberal arts; bodily senses; faculties of mind; virtues; types of contemplation; and principles of Nature.
Our main interest is the sixth section on types of contemplation (meditation, soliloquy circumspection, ascension, revelation, emission and inspiration). This is an abridged version of an earlier work, De contemplatione et eius speciebus (On Contemplation and its Species), by some author possibly associated with the School of St. Victor.
Here we translate the third part of De septem 6, which concerns Circumspectio or circumspection. This follows the section on Soliloquium (soliloquy), next to be translated. These two are related. The purpose of Soliloquium is, by means of introspection, to come to realize ones own sinfulness, insufficiency, mortality, mutability and proneness to folly. It produces a contempt of self — or more specifically, a contempt for relying oneself instead of God.
Circumspectio, in contrast, involves prudence and discretion by which one comes to recognize the emptiness of worldly things. Both these forms of meditation, then, set the stage for the soul to seek its happiness in higher, Eternal goods through the later forms of contempation described.
This section is very short. De contemplatione et eius speciebus also gives Circumspectio a very short trestment; one significant addition is an exegesis of 1 John 2:16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
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12] Tertia species contemplationis. Circumspectio nomen est aequivocatum ad duo. Circumspectio namque, species prudentiae, dicitur provida gerendorum vel sermonum cautela.
Cum vero circumspectio a contemplatione specificatur, animi exploratio dicitur, quia animus intellectu, consilio et delectu inter mundana contemplatur.
12] The third species of contemplation. The word, circumspection means two things. As a species of prudence, it is said to be caution in conduct or speech.
But when circumspection is specified by contemplation, it means the examination of the mind, because the mind is contemplated by intelligence, counsel, and choosing among worldly things.
13] Animus namque intellectu per mundana discurrit; consilio de mundanis deliberat et inquirit, delectu inter ipsa discernit et eligit. Discursus vero animi mundana concipit mutabilia, caduca et transitoria. Inquisitio animi deliberans, mundana percipit esse tam bona quam mala, licet transitoria et tam bonorum quam malorum contraria.
13] For the soul runs through worldly things with the understanding; it deliberates and inquires about worldly things by counsel, it discerns and chooses among itself. But the worldly discourse of the soul conceives changeable, mutable, and transitory things. A deliberating soul inquires, and in the worldly perceives both good and bad, and in the transitory both the good and bad.
14] Electiva consilii discretio a malis dividit bona, inter bona, eligit potioria, inter adversa, si vitari nequeunt, minus nociva, unde Terentius [Ter. Ad. IV,7,21]: Ita vita est hominum quasi cum ludas tesseris; Si illud, quod maxime opus est iactu, non cadit, Illud quod cecidit forte, id arte ut corrigas. His igitur tribus viribus animus utatur, ut circumspectius inter mundana speculetur, ne bonorum multitudine temporalium confundatur, ne eorum varietate seducatur, ne multimoda malorum adversitate depressus decipiatur; in qua patientia patienter tolerantibus coronam aeternam operatur.
14] The elective discretion of counsel divides the good from the bad. It chooses the preferable among the good — and among the adverse, if they cannot be avoided, the less harmful, whence Terence, The life of man is just like playing with dice: if that which you most want to throw does not turn up, what turns up by chance you must correct by art. [Ter. Adelphi, Act 4].
Let the mind, therefore, use these three powers*, so that it may look more circumspectly among worldly things, lest it be confused by the multitude of temporal goods, lest it be seduced by their variety, lest it be deceived, depressed by the manifold adversity of evils; in which patience works out an eternal crown for those who endure patiently.
* In De contemplatione et eius especiebus these are stated more explicitly as prudenter, provide et discrete, (prudence, foresight and discretion)
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Bibliography
Baron, Roger (ed.). De contemplatione et ejus speciebus (La Contemplation et Ses Espèces). Desclée, 1955.
Giles, J. A. (ed.). De septem septenis. In: Joannis Saresberiensis postea episcopi camotensis opera omnia, vol. V: Opuscula. Oxford, 1848; 209−238. Reprinted in Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 199, cols. 945−965. Paris, 1855. [Latin text] [Latin text]
Németh, Csaba. Fabricating philosophical authority in the Twelfth Century: The Liber Egerimion and the De septem septenis. Authorities in the Middle Ages. De Gruyter, 2013; 69−87.
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The Great Psalm
Furtmeyr Bible
THE PURPOSE of this post is to draw attention to the Great Psalm — one of the Bible’s hidden gems — and to encourage its personal study.
At 176 verses, Psalm 119 (118) is the longest psalm, with more verses than any other chapter of the Bible. Arranged in 22 sets of eight verses each, all verses within a set begin with the same consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet — aleph for the first eight verses, beth for the second eight, and so on. This has led some to mistakenly dismiss the psalm as a ancient Hebrew child’s ABC, but in fact the content is far too subtle and sublime for a child.
The principal subject is the greatness of God’s Law — ‘Law’ here understood in a comprehensive sense perhaps better expressed by words like Torah or Way. The psalm is a fervent prayer that ones life — but especially ones mind and heart — be conformed to God’s will.
Eight terms are used to denote specific elements of the Way, each referring to something coming from God: words, law, commandments, judgments, statutes, precepts, way and testimonies. All verses but two contain at least one of one of these eight words. These are not simple synonyms, but elements of a complex moral psychology: considered collectively they present a sophisticated and nuanced picture of how Torah operates as a guiding and organizing force in our spiritual life.
Psalm 119 has been likened to a commentary on Psalm 1:2a (But his delight is in the law of the LORD). There are also strong connections with Psalm 2, Psalm 19 and Psalm 23. The psalmist is one who in earnest seeks first the Reign of God (Matthew 6:33) — that is, the constant, active reigning of God within the soul by means of spiritual gifts, inspiration, discernment, and right thoughts and judgments.
There are three principle characters in the psalm: ourselves, God, and persecutors (that is, inner persecutors: wrong attachments, vain thoughts and the like).
Important themes include: (1) the psalmist’s genuine hunger and thirst for inner righteousness (Matthew 5:6); (2) an acute and painful awareness of the falseness of thoughts of the unregenerate mind; and (3) very importantly, a totality of commitment.
The psalmist’s fervent desire for a mind and heart organized on the principles of God’s guidance and grace as opposed to self-will corresponds to the transformation from carnal- to spiritual-mindedness (Romans 12:2).
Many helpful commentaries exist, including sermons of St. Ambrose. The Palestinian catenae (Harl, 1972) is an important source of commentary by Eastern Church Fathers. Spurgeon’s excellent work excerpts the best of earlier English commentators.
More need not be said here, as deeper understanding will come from prayerful study.
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References
Boulding, Maria (tr.); Ramsey, Boniface (ed.). Expositions of Psalm 118. In: Augustine: Expositions of the Psalms 99−120. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2003; 342.
Bridges, Charles. Exposition of Psalm CXIX: as Illustrative of the Character and Exercises of Christian Experience. New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1861.
Cowper, William (bishop). A Holy Alphabet for Sion’s Scholars. A Commentary upon 119 Psalme. London: John Budge, 1613.
Freedman, David Noel. Psalm 119: The Exaltation of Torah. Eisenbrauns, 1999.
Gori, Franco. Augustine: In Psalmo CXIII. In: Enarrationes in Psalmos 101−150. Pars 2: Enarrationes in Psalmos 110−118. CSEL 95.2. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2001.
Harl, Marguerite; Dorival, Gilles (eds.). La chaîne palestinienne sur le Psaume 118. 2 vols. Sources Chrétiennes 189−190; Paris: Cerf, 1972. (Palestinian catena: Origen, Eusebius, Didymus, Apollinaris, Athanasius, Theodoret). Introduction, critical text, and translation.
Henry, Matthew. Commentary on Psalms 119. In: An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, in Six Volumes. Vol. 3. Edinburgh, 1790; 576−608.
Manton, Thomas. One hundred and Ninety Sermons on One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm. London: 1681.
Migne, Jacques Paul (ed.). Ambrose: In Psalmum David CXVIII Expositio. 22 sermons. Patrologia Latina 15.1197−1526, Paris, 1845.
Migne, Jacques Paul (ed.). Augustine: In Psalmum CXVIII Enarratio. 32 sermons. Patrologia Latina 37.1501−1596, Paris, 1841
Mukasa, Edoth M. “Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.” The Grace of the Law: A Study of Augustine’s Enarratio in Psalmum 118. Diss. University of Notre Dame, 2014.
Neale, John Mason; Littledale, Richard Frederick. A Commentary on the Psalms, Vol. 4. London: Joseph Masters, 1874; 1−161 (Psalm CXIX).
Petschenig, Michael (ed.). Ambrose of Milan: Expositio Psalmi CXVIII (22 sermons). CSEL 62. Vienna: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1913 (repr. 1999).
Riain, Íde Nı́ (tr.). Homilies of Saint Ambrose on Psalm 118 (119). Dublin: Halcyon Press, 1998.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Treasury of David. Vol 6. New York, Funk & Wagnalls, 1882; 1−398 (Psalm CXIX).
Wesselschmidt, Quentin F. (ed.). Psalms 51−150. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, OT Volume 8. Intervarsity Press, 2007; 312−338 (Psalm 119).
Psalm 119
Beati inmaculati in via
Psalm 119 (KJV)
ALEPH
Torah is the source of happiness to those who walk by it,
[1] Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.
[2] Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
[3] They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
[4] Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
[5] O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
[6] Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.
[7] I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
[8] I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
II BETH
of holiness to those who give heed to it,
[9] Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
[10] With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
[11] Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
[12] Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
[13] With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
[14] I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
[15] I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
[16] I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
III GIMEL
of truth to those whose eyes the Lord opens by his Spirit,
[17] Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.
[18] Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
[19] I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
[20] My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.
[21] Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
[22] Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
[23] Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.
[24] Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.
IV DALETH
of law to those whose heart he renews
[25] My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.
[26] I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
[27] Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
[28] My soul melteth for
[29] Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
[30] I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
[31] I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.
[32] I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
V HE
begets perseverance by its promises,
[33] Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
[34] Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
[35] Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
[36] Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
[37] Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
[38] Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
[39] Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
[40] Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
VI VAV
reveals the mercy and salvation of the Lord,
[41] Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word.
[42] So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.
[43] And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.
[44] So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
[45] And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
[46] I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
[47] And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
[48] My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
VII ZAIN
awakens the comfort of hope in God,
[49] Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
[50] This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
[51] The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
[52] I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.
[53] Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
[54] Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
[55] I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.
[56] This I had, because I kept thy precepts.
loving way self-reinforcing, keeping – living – sensing — keeping
VIII CHETH
presents the Lord as the portion of the trusting soul,
[57] Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.
[58] I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.
[59] I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.
[60] I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
[61] The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law.
[62] At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
[63] I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
[64] The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.
IX TETH
makes affliction instructive and chastening,
[65] Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.
[66] Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
[67] Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
[68] Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.
[69] The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
[70] Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.
[71] It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
[72] The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.
X JOD
begets a fellowship in the fear of God,
[73] Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
[74] They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.
[75] I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
[76] Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.
[77] Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.
[78] Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.
[79] Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.
[80] Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.
XI CAPH
and a longing for the full peace of salvation,
[81] My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.
[82] Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?
[83] For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.
[84] How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?
[85] The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
[86] All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
[87] They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.
[88] Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.
XII LAMED
is faithful and immutable,
[89] For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
[90] Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
[91] They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.
[92] Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
[93] I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.
[94] I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.
[95] The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.
[96] I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.
XIII MEM
commands the approval of the heart,
[97] O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
[98] Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
[99] I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
[100] I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
[101] I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
[102] I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
[103] How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
[104] Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
XIV NUN
is a light to the path,
[105] Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
[106] I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
[107] I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.
[108] Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.
[109] My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.
[110] The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.
[111] Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
[112] I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.
XV SAMECH
from which to swerve is hateful,
[113] I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
[114] Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.
[115] Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.
[116] Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
[117] Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.
[118] Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.
[119] Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.
[120] My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.
XVI AIN
warrants the plea of innocence,
[121] I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.
[122] Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.
[123] Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.
[124] Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.
[125] I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.
[126] It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
[127] Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
[128] Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
XVII PE
is a testimony to God’s character and will,
[129] Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.
[130] The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
[131] I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.
[132] Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
[133] Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
[134] Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.
[135] Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
[136] Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.
XVIII TZADDI
is a law of rectitude,
[137] Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.
[138] Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.
[139] My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.
[140] Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.
[141] I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.
[142] Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
[143] Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.
[144] The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.
XIX KOPH
warrants the cry for salvation,
[145] I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.
[146] I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.
[147] I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.
[148] Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.
[149] Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.
[150] They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.
[151] Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.
[152] Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.
XX RESH
and prayer for deliverance from affliction,
[153] Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law.
[154] Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word.
[155] Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.
[156] Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.
[157] Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.
[158] I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.
[159] Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness.
[160] Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.
XXI SCHIN
and from persecution without a cause,
[161] Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.
[162] I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.
[163] I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
[164] Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.
[165] Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.
[166] LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
[167] My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.
[168] I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.
XXII TAU
and assures of an answer in due time.
[169] Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.
[170] Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.
[171] My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.
[172] My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.
[173] Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.
[174] I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.
[175] Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.
[176] I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.
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Italicized headings are from: James G. Murphy, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, 1875 (as shown in Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, 1882).
Art: Munich Psalter
St. John Cassian on spiritual discernment: Be ye good money changers
Photo: Ancient counterfeiters and their fake coins
BE YE GOOD MONEY-CHANGERS is one of a few dozen agrapha, or unwritten sayings attributed to Jesus in the patristic literature. This particular saying — one of those most commonly cited — forms the basis of an extended discussion in Cassian’s (c. 410) Conferences. Abba Moses, a desert father whom Cassian interviews, connects it not with the transactional aspect of a money-changer’s profession, but with the need to test coinage: Is it gold or brass? Genuine or counterfeit? Was it legally minted? Is the metal pure or adulterated? Hence the need for careful inspection, a sound eye, a nail to scratch the surface, and a true scale to judge weight.
For Abba Moses, four tests of metal coins have mental counterparts in the process of discernment. He’s mainly concerned with discernment involving an action we propose to undertake — is it truly good, or a mere imitation of goodness? — and secondarily for distinguishing true from false religious doctrines. But the principles he describes apply to discernment generally.
In the preceding chapter, Abba Moses, the speaker leading this conference, has identified three sources of our thoughts: from God, from the devil, and from ourselves, and he now continues:
XX. 1. WE SHOULD, then, be continually aware of this threefold distinction and with a wise discretion examine all the thoughts that emerge in our heart, first tracing their origins and causes and their authors, so that, in accordance with the status of whoever is suggesting them, we may be able to consider how we should approach them. Then we shall … in keeping with the precept of the Lord, [be] approved money-changers. [Resch, Logion 43; pp. 112ff.]
The very high skill and training of such persons exists for the sake of [i] determining whether something is gold of the purest sort — what is popularly called obrizum — or whether it has been less purified by fire. It also exists for the sake of not being deceived by a common brass denarius if it is being passed off as a precious coin under the guise of shining gold; this is assured by a very careful examination. These people [moreover] not only [ii] shrewdly recognize coins displaying the heads of usurpers but also [iii] discern with a still finer skill those which are stamped with the image of the true king but are counterfeits. Finally, [iv] they submit them to careful weighing in case they are lighter than they should be.
2. All of these things we ourselves have to carry out in a spiritual manner, as this gospel saying demonstrates.
First, we should carefully scrutinize whatever enters our hearts, especially if it is a doctrine to which we have been exposed, to see if it has been purified by the divine and heavenly fire of the Holy Spirit or if it is a part of … superstition or if, coming from the pridefulness of worldly philosophy, it has the mere look of piety to it. We shall be able to accomplish this if we fulfill what the Apostle says: ‘Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God.’ [1 John 4:1; cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:21−22 ]
3. This is how some have been deceived who, after their monastic profession, have been seduced by elegant words and by certain teachings of the philosophers which, at first hearing, attracted them superficially at a given moment. These teachings fooled the hearers, much like shining gold, because of a few pious sentiments not inconsistent with religion. But since they were, so to say, counterfeit brass coins, they impoverished those who had been taken in and made them miserable forever, either by reintroducing them into the tumult of the world or by dragging them into heretical errors and bloated presumptions. We read in the Book of Joshua son of Nun that this also happened to Achan: He coveted a gold bar from the camp of the Philistines and stole it, and thus he deserved to be placed under sentence and condemned to eternal death. [cf. Joshua 7]
4. Secondly, we should look closely to see that no wicked interpretation fastened on to the pure gold of Scripture deceives us by the precious appearance of its metal. This was how the crafty devil attempted to deceive even the Lord, the Savior, as if he were a mere man: he tried to make an adaptation, corrupting with a wicked interpretation things that should generally be understood as applying only to the righteous and particularly to him who did not need the protection of angels, when he said: ‘For he will command his angels concerning you, that they may guard you in all your ways, and in their hands they will carry you, lest perchance you strike your foot against a stone.’ [Matthew 4: 5−7; Luke 4:9−12; Psalms 91:11−12] Thus he changed the precious words of Scripture by his clever use of them and gave them a contrary and harmful meaning, like someone who presents us with the image of a usurper’s face under the guise of deceptive gold. He also tries to lead us astray with counterfeits by exhorting us to pursue a certain pious work which, since it is not the legitimate coinage of the elders, leads to vice under the appearance of virtue and brings us to a bad end by deceiving us either with immoderate and inappropriate fasting or severe vigils or inordinate praying or excessive reading.
5. He [i.e., the devil] also persuades us to give ourselves to acts of meditation and to pious visitations, by which he would pry us away from the spiritual ramparts of the monastery and from our retreat of cherished calm, even suggesting that we worry and be concerned about nuns and destitute women, by snares of this sort inextricably entangling the entrapped monk with baleful preoccupations. And, indeed, he inveigles us into desiring the holy clerical office [priesthood] under the pretext of edifying many and for the love of spiritual gain, thus tearing us away from the humility and severity of our present chosen orientation [as monks].
6. Although all these things are contrary to our salvation and to our profession, they nonetheless easily deceive the unskilled and the unwary since they are covered by a kind of veil of mercy and religion. For they imitate the coins of the true king because they appear very pious at first sight, but they have not been stamped by lawful minters — that is to say, by the approved and Catholic fathers — nor do they come from the central and public workshop of their conferences, but they are clandestinely fabricated by the fraud of demons and, to their detriment, are offered to the unskilled and the ignorant. Although they might seem good and necessary at first sight, yet if afterwards they begin to have a negative effect on the solidity of our profession and in some way weaken the whole body of our chosen orientation, they are rightly cut off and cast away from us just like anything that is necessary and seems to perform the office of a right hand or a foot but that causes scandal.
7. For it is preferable to be without the member of one commandment — that is, without one work and its fruit — and to be healthy and solid in the other members and to enter the kingdom of heaven crippled, than with all the commandments to trip against some stumbling block that through pernicious habit would separate us from our habitual rigor and from the discipline of the orientation that we have chosen and embraced. This would bring such a great loss upon us that we would never be able to compensate for future setbacks, and all our past achievements and the whole body of our activity would be burned up in the fires of Gehenna. [cf. Matthew 18:8]
8. Proverbs also speaks well about these kinds of deceptions: ‘There are paths that seem to be right to a man, but they arrive finally at the depths of hell. [Proverbs 16:25 LXX] And again: ‘An evil person does harm when he involves himself with a righteous one.’ [Proverbs 11:15a LXX] That is to say, the devil is deceptive when he veils himself in the appearance of holiness. ‘But he hates the sound of the watchman’ [Proverbs 11:15b LXX] — namely, the power of discretion that comes from the words and the advice of the elders.
XXI. l. WE HAVE heard how even the Abba John, who used to live at Lycon, was recently deceived in this way. For when he had put off eating because of a two-day fast and his body was worn out and enfeebled, the devil approached him in the form of a black Ethiopian on the following day, just as he was about to eat. Embracing his knees he said: ‘Pardon me, for it was I who inflicted this labor on you.’ Then that man, so great and perfect in the ordering of his discretion, understood that in haring exercised an exaggerated abstinence he had been duped by the devil’s cleverness and been so preoccupied with his fasting that he had considered unnecessary weariness, which would in fact be spiritually harmful, more important, than his exhausted body. He was deceived by a counterfeit coin, and while he was venerating the image of the true king on it he was too little aware of whether it was lawfully minted.
2. The final thing to be observed by this approved money-changer, which we said had to do with examining and weighing, will be accomplished if we reflect meticulously on whatever our thoughts suggest that we should do. This we must place in the scale of our heart and weigh with the most delicate balance to see whether it has the proper weight of common goodness, and whether it is sufficiently heavy with the fear of God and integral in meaning, or whether it is too light because of human ostentation or some novel presumption, or whether the pride of empty vainglory has diminished or eroded the weight of its worth. Hence, let us bring it out immediately in public to weigh by having recourse to the deeds and testimonies of the prophets and apostles, and let us hold on to the things that balance with them as being integral and perfect and very cautiously and carefully reject, as being imperfect and condemnable, whatever does not weigh conformably with them.
XXII. 1. THIS DISCRETION, then, will be necessary for us in the fourfold manner of which I have spoken — that is, in the first place, so that the material itself, whether real gold or false, may not be concealed from us; secondly, so that we may reject thoughts that lie about works of piety as being adulterated and counterfeit coins since they are not lawfully minted and have a false image of the king; then, so that with similar discernment we may be able to turn down those which, because of an evil and heretical interpretation, portray in the precious gold of Scripture the face not of the true king but of a usurper; and finally, so that we may refuse as too light and condemnable and insufficiently heavy those coins whose weight and value have been eaten away by the rust of vanity, which does not let them balance out in the scale of the elders. Otherwise we shall stumble into what we are warned by the Lord’s commandment to be on the watch for with all our strength, and we shall be defrauded of all the deserts and rewards of our labors: ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth destroy and where thieves break in and steal.’ [Matthew 6:19]
2. For whatever we have done with a view to human glory we know that we have stored up for ourselves as a treasure on earth, according to the Lord’s words, and that consequently, having been as it were hidden in the soil and buried in the earth, it will be ravaged by different demons and consumed by the devouring rust of vainglory and so eaten up by the moths of pride that it will be of no use or profit to the person who hid it.
All the secret places of our heart, therefore, must be constantly scrutinized and the prints of whatever enters them must be investigated in the most careful way.
Source: John Cassian, Conferences 1.20-22.2 (PL 49:510−519); tr. Ramsey.
Bibliography
Gazet, Alard (ed.). Joannes Cassianus: Collationes. Migne Patrologia Latina 49:477−1328. Paris, J. P. Migne, 1846. Latin text. [Online version]
Gibson, Edgar Charles Sumner. (tr.). Conferences of John Cassian. In: Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 11 (NPNF2-11), pp. 291−545. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894.
Hutt, Curtis. ‘Be ye approved money changers!’ Reexamining the social contexts of the saying and its interpretation. Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 131, no. 3, 2012, pp. 589–609. doi:10.2307/23488256
Petschenig, Michael (ed.). Iohannis Cassiani: Conlationes XXIIII. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna: Geroldi, 1886. Latin critical edition.
Pichery, E. Jean Cassien: Conférences, SC 42, 54, 64. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1955, 1958, 1959. Latin text with French translation.
Ramsey, Boniface (tr.). John Cassian: The Conferences. ACW 57. New York: Paulist Press, 1997. English translation. [This edition — well translated, with ample notes and excellent introductions (overall and for each book) and remarkably inexpensive — is highly recommended. Amazon and Google ebook versions are available.]
Resch, Alfred (ed.). Agrapha: Ausserkanonische Evangelienfragmente. Leipzig, 1906. Agraphon 87 (Logion 43), pp. 112−128.
Stewart, Columba. Cassian the Monk. Oxford University Press, 1998.
1st draft: 18 Apr 2020
St. Augustine and Intellectual Vision
Gerard Seghers (attr). The Four Doctors of the Western Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo
ST. AUGUSTINE, in several works, but most famously in Book 12 of On the Literal Meaning of Genesis (De Gen ad lit), developed a typology of ‘vision’ that became very influential throughout the Middle Ages, and which still merits our interest today. His main concern is not vision per se, but rather to use vision as a metaphor for knowing or cognition, and especially mental insight and knowledge of divine things. His basic scheme is a tripartite division:
Corporeal vision. The lowest form of vision is ordinary seeing by means of the eye, or bodily vision (visio corporalis). By this vision we see objects in the material world.
Spiritual vision. Above this is the mental vision by which we see images in the mind, either as memories of past sense experience, or products of the imagination. This he calls spiritual vision (visio spiritualis) — but this term requires an explanation. This vision is not spiritual in the sense that we understand that word today. Rather, the connection with ‘spirit’ derives from ancient theories of perception, wherein it was believed that sense experience involved stimulation of a semi-material fluid (pneuma) that permeated the body. Therefore a more apt term might be imaginative vision.
Intellectual vision. This all leads up to what really interests Augustine: the highest level of vision, which he calls intellectual vision (visio intellectualis). Unlike the other two forms of vision, intellectual vision sees things that have no connection with physical objects or their images. It includes what a Platonist or Neoplatonist might call the ‘intellection of Forms’ (noesis): for example, by intellectual vision we can ‘see’ that bisecting a triangle always produces two triangles, and that 5 is greater than 4. But for Augustine, intellectual vision is much more than Platonic or Plotinian noesis, and includes a wider range of cognitive activity, including what today we would call insight or (some kinds of) intuition.
Intellectual vision is, in fact, a pivotal concept in Augustine’s philosophy. It plays an important role for him in contemplative ascent to God, in the relationship of Jesus Christ to the individual soul, and in understanding what faith means. Hence he takes care to supply examples so readers can understand intellectual vision and observe it at work in their own minds. It probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest that Augustine’s notion of intellectual vision is critical to understanding his important role not only in Christian philosophy, but in the history of human consciousness.
In De Gen ad lit 12 Augustine supplies many examples of intellectual vision. These include the ability to see and understand virtues (12.24.50; 12.31.59), truth (12.26.54), love and (within limits) God (12.28.56; 12.31.59). He also suggests that it’s by means of intellectual vision that we can recognize allegorical meanings of Scripture, and distinguish valid from spurious spiritual visions and understand the meanings of the latter.
De videndo Deo
We also learn more about intellectual vision in a book-length letter Augustine wrote to Paulina, known as On seeing God (De videndo Deo). He is trying to help Paulina understand what it means to ‘see God,’ with particular reference to certain verses of Scripture, such as Matthew 5:8 (Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.) More specifically, he wishes to help her see God herself.
The letter reveals in a most remarkable way his humanism and pastoral concern. Having ‘seen’ God himself, he has an intense, earnest desire to help others do the same. (This humanistic and personal view of Augustine stands in contrast with the common modern perception of him shaped by later appropriation and narrow interpretation of his teachings by later Scholastic and academic theologians.)
His concern is to show that God is seen by intellectual, not bodily vision. But first he must help Paulina understand what intellectual vision is, or, rather, to witness its operation in her own mind. For this purpose in chapters 38 to 41 he employs a novel and effective device: he has her reflect on her inner response to the various arguments and propositions advanced in his letter up to this point. He asks her to review his preceding discussion, noting which points ones she’s found credible and which she’s doubted; and then to notice the inner ‘vision’ by which the recognizes her varying degrees of belief:
But examine in this whole discussion of ours what you have seen, what you have believed, what you still do not know, either because I have not spoken of it, or you have not understood, or you have not judged it credible. Among the points which you have seen to be true, distinguish further how you saw them: whether it was by recalling that you had seen them through the body, such as heavenly or earthly bodies, or whether you never perceived them by corporeal sight, but, by looking upon them with your mind only, observed that they are true and certain, such as your own will, about which I believe you when you speak, for it is true I cannot see it myself as it is seen by you. And when you have distinguished between these two, notice, too, how you make your distinction. (De videndo Deo 38; italics added)
Whether we believe or doubt, we see that we do so. We also see that we we find some sources more credible than others. Paulina does not place equal credence in the opinions of Augustine and Ambrose. And she instinctively believes Scripture even more:
Note this, therefore, after you have carefully and faithfully examined and distinguished what you see; in making your distinction assess the actual weight of evidence on what you believe in this whole speech which I have been making to you, since I began to speak to you in this letter, and in it note to what extent you lend your faith to what you do not see. You do not put the same faith in me as you do in Ambrose … ; or if you do think that we are both to be weighed in the same balance, of course you will not compare us in any way with the Gospel, or put our writings on the same footing with the canonical Scriptures. …
Therefore, you yield faith to these words [of Ambrose and myself] in one way, but to the divine words in quite a different way. Perhaps some little doubt has crept into your mind about us; that we may be somewhat less than clear about some of the divine words, and that they are interpreted by us, not as they were said, but as we imagine them. … About the divine Scriptures, however, even when they are not clearly understood, you have no doubt that they are to be believed. But you surely observe and see this weighing of belief or non-belief, and the difficulty of knowing, and the storms of doubt, and the devout faith which is owed to the divine utterances; all these you see in your mind as they are, and you do not doubt in the least that they are in your mind in this way, either as I said them, or, preferably, as you knew them yourself. Therefore, you see your faith, you see your doubt, you see your desire and will to learn, and when you are led by divine authority to believe what you do not see, you see at once that you believe these things; you analyze and distinguish all this. (Ibid. 39f.; italics added)
Importantly, he is not equating intellectual vision with her actual beliefs or doubts, but rather with her ability to perceive differences in her degrees of belief. He then has her note the difference between this faculty and corporeal vision.
Of course, you will not make any sort of comparison between your bodily eyes and these eyes of your heart, with which you perceive that all this is true and certain, with which you observe and distinguish what is invisibly present to you. (Ibid. 41)
Augustine is turning what might otherwise be an abstruse and sterile technical discussion about ‘seeing’ God into a spiritual exercise and practical demonstration. He is helping Paulina integrate her intellectual vision more fully into her rational consciousness. Before, she, like all of us, engaged in intellectual vision, but somewhat subliminally, as something not fully in awareness. But by drawing her attention to it, the faculty now becomes more consciously accessible and more acute, even enlarged. By this means she will be able to eventually exercise it in subtle perceptions of God’s presence and activity in her mind.
As we investigate the meaning of intellectual vision — and especially by observing our own mental operations — it gradually becomes clear that this is no mere abstract epistemological category, but an entire dimension or plane of psychological experience. We begin to appreciate the reality, vastness and importance of an entire inner reality, a realm perhaps as as vast as the entire universe of sense experience.
Yet despite its importance, intellectual vision operates for most people only subliminally, in the sub- or pre-conscious mind. We constantly apply these subtle mental operations of inner vision, discernment and judgment and could not adaptively function otherwise. But by becoming more conscious of them, we may better integrate this dimension of our being into our rational mental life and social activity, so that both our outer and inner life becomes more holy, virtuous and spiritually authentic
Richard of Saint-Victor
Augustine’s concept of intellectual vision became a staple of medieval Latin Christina thought, and is especially prominent in the writings of Hugh and Richard of Saint-Victor, 12th century writers. To give but one example, Richard’s Adnotationes mysticae in Psalmos 143 distinguishes several distinct aspects of discretion [discretio]:
(1) diiudicatio is the right judgment that directs virtues toward their ends; it is the light that leads us to truth (lucerna cordis iudicium discretionis);
(2) deliberatio makes the distinction between what should and should not be done in a specific situation, taking into account the particular circumstances;
(3) dispositio considers the proper ordering of means for attaining an end;
(4) dispensatio distinguishes what’s appropriate and inappropriate, and reexamines a first judgment when required;
(5) moderatio determines the right measure of the action.
Considering that discretion is only one part of intellectual vision, we can begin to get an idea of the complexity and richness of our subtle mental life.
By the end of the 12th century, the Augustinian tradition had achieved a remarkable synthesis of rationalism and mysticism (and also, though we have not discussed this aspect here, charity as an organizing principle of social life). This progress halted as Scholasticism and rationalistic dogmatism became a dominating force in the 13th century and beyond, even to present times. As the rational separated itself from the mystical element of Christianity, so the mystical separated itself from the rational: Pseudo-Dionysian and ‘apophatic’ mysticism submerged the intellectual mystical tradition of Augustine. This split between rationalism and mysticism remains today. Augustinian intellectual mysticism may potentially supply a more integral form of Christianity for present times.
Bibliography
Augustine of Hippo. Epistolae 147. De videndo deo. Patrologia Latina 33:596−622. J. P. Migne. Paris, 1841.
Augustine of Hippo. De Genesi ad litteram. Patrologia Latina 34:245−486. J. P. Migne. Paris, 1841.
Cary, Phillip. Augustine’s Invention of the Inner Self: The Legacy of a Christian Platonist. Oxford University Press, 2000.
Clark, Mary T. (tr.). On Seeing God (De videndo Deo; Letter 147. In: Augustine of Hippo, Selected Writings. Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press, 1984; pp. 361−402.
Fraeters, Veerle. Visio/Vision. In: Amy Hollywood & Patricia Z. Beckman (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism, Cambridge University Press 2012; pp. 178−188.
Hill, Edmund (tr.). The Literal Meaning of Genesis. In: Augustine, On Genesis, New City Press, 2002; ch. 12, pp. 464–475.
Meagher, Robert E. Augustine: On the Inner Life of the Mind. Hackett, 1998.
Parsons, Wilfrid (tr.). Letter 147: Augustine to Paulina (De videndo Deo). Saint Augustine: Letters Vol. 3. Fathers of the Church 20. New York, 1953; pp. 170−224.
Ragazzi, Grazia Mangano. Obeying the Truth: Discretion in the Spiritual Writings of Saint Catherine of Siena. Oxford University Press, 2013; p. 126.
Richard of Saint-Victor. Adnotationes mysticae in Psalmos. Patrologia Latina 196:265−402. J. P. Migne. Paris, 1855. (196:381d−382a)
Schlapbach, Karin. Intellectual vision in Augustine, De Genesi ad litteram 12, or: seeing the hidden meaning of images. Studia Patristica 43, 2006, 239−244.
Taylor, John H. (tr.). Saint Augustine: The Literal Meaning of Genesis. Ancient Christian Writers 41 and 42. Paulist Press, 1982.
Zycha, Joseph (ed.). De Genesi ad Litteram libri duodecimo. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) 28.1. Critical text. Vienna, 1894.
1st draft, 23 Feb 2020
The Seven Virtues and Fifty Subvirtues of Medieval Christianity
Tree of Virtues from Speculum Virginum, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.72, fol. 26r.
BEGINNING in the 11th century we find in Western medieval manuscripts frequent portrayal of virtues and vices as tree diagrams. These vary in details, but always include the four cardinal virtues of the Greek ethical tradition (Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence and Justice) and the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity) of Christianity. Each virtue is shown as a branch of the tree accompanied by seven sub-virtues (Charity may have up to ten sub-virtues, so we’ll say roughly fifty subvirtues in total) as leaves. Often a parallel tree of the seven deadly vices and their sub-vices accompanies the Tree of Virtues. Pride (superbia) is considered the common root of all vices, and Humility (humilitas) of all virtues.
The best-known of these figures appear in a 12th century work called the Speculum virginum (Mirror of Virgins), a devotional work intended for the spiritual formation of nuns and attributed to Conrad of Hirsau. (Mews, 2001 supplies a wealth of information on the Speculum virginum.)
The Speculum virginum shows the Tree of Virtue and Tree of Vices side by side on facing pages, as below:
Tree of Vices (left) and Tree of Virtues (right), Walters MS W.72, fols. 25v-26r
The trees in the Speculum virginum are based on an earlier work, De fructibus carnis et spiritus (On the Fruits of the Flesh and Spirit), sometimes attributed to Hugh of St. Victor, but possibly written by Conrad of Hirsau. The Prologue of De fructibus introduces the two trees as follows:
SINCE every word of Divine Scripture aims to convince one of the good of humility, and to advise more attentively to decline the evil of pride, especially since on the one hand it is the beginning of salvation and life, and on the other of ruin, it seems necessary that the fruit and efficacy of humility and pride itself should be seen as a form visible to the devotee of virtues, to show … in so far one is the imitator of either species, of pride, or of humility, the quality of the fruits, and what reward one obtains from the execution of either. Therefore, we present two trees, different in fruit and growth, both rough and young, to each of the opposites, with vices or virtues attached to them; with a few definitions, from whose root the fruits proceed, and which tree is to be chosen from the two, attracted by the fruit, one can discern. Indeed pride is the root of the fruit of the flesh, humility the fruit of the spirit. This diversity, looking at the roots, shows the appetite of those who seek their fruits in moderation. Old Adam places himself in the castle of the wicked tree. The new Adam obtains the guidance of the spiritual results. If, therefore, the more excellent is the worse, that is, you have joined the good to the evil from the other side, which stands out in these, and which you have strongly understood to predominate. For when the qualities of the opposites are compared, a better estimation will soon be evident. Therefore, having looked at our roots, branches, and fruits, it is up to you to choose what you will.
(Source: De fructibus carnis et spiritus; Prologue; my translation)
At issue is a fundamental distinction between a soul organized by (in St. Paul’s terms; e.g., Romans 8) carnal mindedness or by spiritual mindedness. St. Augustine’s elaboration of the distinction — love of the world and love of God — respectively came to virtually define ethical psychology in the Middle Ages.
The evil tree on the left appears under the rubric Vetus Adam (Old Adam), or man unredeemed. Rooted in superbia (Pride), its crowning fruit is luxuria (Sensory Pleasure) and it is prominently labeled Babylonia, or a city of confusion.
The good tree on the right appears under the rubric Novus Adam (New Adam), or a regenerated person in a state of grace. Rooted in Humilitas (Humility), its crowning fruit is Caritas (Charity) and it is labeled Hierosolyma (Jerusalem; city of peace). For more discussion on the significance of these trees, and especially how they relate to medieval Christianity’s central empahsis on Charity, see Robertson (1951).
Humility, we should note, is meant in the Christian sense as (1) an accurate recognition of one’s own sinfulness, frailty, ignorance and utter dependence on God, and (2) a subordination of one’s own will to God’s. Pride does not mean arrogance, conceit, or self-aggrandizement so much as self-will.
More than a simple device to assist in the memorization of ethical doctrine, these and the several other figures in the Speculum are conceptual tools. They supply an interiorly retained image, with which one may visualize internal psychological processes and form productive associational structures, promoting integration of spiritual mindendess into ones personality.
The seven Virtues and their sub-virtues are listed below. The selection of sub-virtues and their definitions appears influenced by a variety of patristic and biblical sources. The vices and subvices are described in a separate post here.
Update: Since posting this I’ve added a related article, The Thirty Seraphic Virtues of the Middle Ages.
❧
PRUDENCE (prudentia)
- Fear of God (timor Domini)
- Promptness (alacritas)
- Counsel (consilium)
- Memory (memoria)
- Intelligence (intelligentia)
- Foresight (providentia)
- Deliberation (deliberatio)
JUSTICE (justitia )
- Law (lex)
- Strictness (severitas)
- Equity (aequitas)
- Correction (correctio; Correctio est erroris innati vel consuetudine introducti freno rationis inhibitio.)
- Honoring a pledge (jurisjurandi observatio; Jurisjurandi observatio est quae, plebescito civibus promulgato, transgressionem ejus temerariam arcet praestito juramento de conservatione illius perpetua.)
- Judgment (judicium)
- Truth (veritas)
COURAGE (fortitudo)
- Magnanimity (magnanimitas)
- Fidelity (fiducia)
- Tolerance (tolerantia)
- Rest (requies)
- Stability (stabilitas)
- Constancy (constantia)
- Perseverance (perseverantia)
TEMPERANCE (temperantia)
- Discernment (discretio)
- Obedience; acquiescence (morigeratio)
- Silence (taciturnitas)
- Fasting (jejunium)
- Sobriety (sobrietas)
- Physical penance; mortification of flesh (afflictio carnis; Afflictio carnis est per quem lascivae mentis seminaria castigatione discreta comprimuntur.)
- Contempt of the world (contemptus saeculi)
FAITH (fides)
- Pratice of religion (religio)
- Decorum (munditia; Munditia est consummata integritas utriusque hominis intuitu divini vel amoris vel timoris.)
- Obedience (obedientia)
- Chastity (castitas)
- Reverence (reverentia)
- Continence (continentia)
- Good desire (affectus)
HOPE (spes)
- Heavenly contemplation (contemplatio supernorum; Contemplatio supernorum est per sublevatae mentis jubilum mors carnalium affectuum).
- Joy (gaudium)
- Modesty (modestia)
- Confession (confessio)
- Patience (patientia)
- Sorrow for faults (compunctio)
- Longsuffering (longanimitas)
CHARITY (caritas)
- Forgiveness (gratia)
- Peace (pax)
- Piety (pietas)
- Mildness; leniency(mansuetudo)
- Liberality (liberalitas)
- Mercy (misericordia)
- Indulgence (indulgentia)
- Compassion (compassio)
- Benignity (benignitas)
- Concord (concordia)
❧
Bibliography
Goggin, Cheryl Gohdes. Copying manuscript illuminations: The Trees of Vices and Virtues. Visual Resources, 2004, 20:2-3, 179−198. https://doi.org/10.1080/0197376042000207552
Hugo de S. Victore (attr.). De fructibus carnis et spiritus. J. P. Migne. Patrologia Latina, Paris, 1854; cols. 997−1010 (rough diagrams of the Tree of Vices and Tree of Virtues appear at the end of the work). Latin text is online: http://mlat.uzh.ch/?c=2&w=HuDeSVi.DeFrCaE
Katzenellenbogen, Adolf. Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Medieval Art from Christian Times to the Thirteenth Century. Alan J. P. Crick (tr.). London: Warburg Institute, 1939.
Mews, Constant J. (ed.). Listen, Daughter: The “Speculum virginum” and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages. The New Middle Ages Series. Palgrave, 2001. Pages 15−40.
Powell, Morgan. Gender, Reading, and Truth in the Twelfth Century: The Woman in the Mirror. Arc Humanities Press, 2020.
Robertson, D. W. The Doctrine of Charity in Mediaeval Literary Gardens: A Topical Approach through Symbolism and Allegory. Speculum, vol. 26, no. 1, 1951, pp. 24–49. Reprinted in: Robertson, Durant Waite. Essays in Medieval Culture. Princeton University Press, 1980 (repr. 2014); pp. 21−50.
Tucker, Shawn R. The Virtues and Vices in the Arts: A Sourcebook. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2015.
Watson, Arthur. The Speculum Virginum with special reference to the Tree of Jesse. Speculum, vol. 3, no. 4, 1928, pp. 445–69.
Art: “Tree of Virtues” from Speculum Virginum, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.72, fol. 26r; early 13th century manuscript from the Cistercian abbey of Himmerode, Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Virtues_Speculum_Virginum_W72_26r.jpg
Richard of St. Victor: Allegorical Meaning of Jacob’s Wives and Children
GENESIS 29ff tells of the wives and children of Jacob, grandson of the patriarch Abraham. Jacob had 12 sons, from whom descended the 12 tribes of Israel. The story’s details suggest that, like the rest of Genesis, it has an allegorical meaning. Richard of Saint-Victor’s (fl. 1165) analysis of this, a work titled the Twelve Patriarchs (Benjamin Minor), is a masterpiece of psychological allegoresis, rivaling the even seminal contributions of Philo of Alexandria to this genre.
As Genesis explains, Jacob married Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel, and also their respective handmaids, Zilpah and Bilhah These four mothers bore 12 sons and one daughter. For Richard — following the long tradition established by Philo (and mediated through Origen, Ambrose and Jerome; see Sheridan, 2012) Jacob symbolizes the ‘practicer’ of moral reformation and spiritual growth. That is, practice here is understood in the sense of askesis, namely the practical effort one makes to mature into a self-realized holy and spiritual person.
Each of Jacob’s wives and children, according to Richard, symbolizes a distinct psychological disposition relevant to this journey. Leah and Rachel represent the affective and intellectual sides of our psyche or soul, and Zilpah and Bilah are sensation and imagination, which, according to Richard, serve affection and reason, respectively.
Each son and daughter is a virtuous disposition originating in our psychological nature (in effect, they are very much like Jungian archetypes, but all concerned with our moral and spiritual development). They emerge in a particular order and supply some necessary function as we proceed towards higher levels of moral integration and spiritual consciousness. This is a cyclical process, something we repeat often, perhaps even daily in our constant struggle to rise from worldly-mindedness and egoism to spiritual mindedness.
Two give two examples, Naphtali, a son of Bilah, is the disposition to uplift our soul from consideration of material things to the eternal goods these things suggest or symbolize; and Gad, a son of Zilpha, represents abstinence, or the intentional putting aside of sensual pleasures. Ultimately we arrive at the births of Joseph (discriminative self-knowledge) and Benjamin (religious contemplation).
Whether this is the original intended meaning of Genesis here or not, merely taken on its own terms Richard’s exegesis supplies an insightful and valuable analysis of the psychology of the spiritual journey. It’s also landmark in the history of Old Testament interpretation and deserves wider attention today.
The following excerpt concerning Joseph exemplifies quality of the entire work.
Richard of Saint-Victor. The Twelve Patriarchs (Benjamin Minor), Chs. 71−72
Chapter LXXI. Concerning the two offspring of reason, viz., grace of discretion and grace of contemplation.
By this Joseph the soul is continually instructed and at times is led to full knowledge of itself, just as by his [full] brother Benjamin it is at times lifted up to the contemplation of God. For just as we understand grace of discretion by Joseph, so we understand grace of contemplation by Benjamin. Both are born from [Rachel] because knowledge of God and of self are learned from Reason. Benjamin is born long after Joseph because the soul that has not been practiced over a long time and educated fully in knowledge of self is not raised up to knowledge of God. In vain he raises the eye of the heart to see God when he is not yet prepared to see himself. Let a person first learn to know his own invisible things before he presumes that he is able to grasp at invisible divine things. You must know the invisible things of your own spirit before you can be capable of knowing the invisible things of God. If you are not able to know yourself, how do you have the boldness to grasp at those things which are above you?
Chapter LXXII. How the soul is lifted up to contemplation of God by means of full knowledge of self.
The rational soul discovers without doubt that it is the foremost and principal mirror for seeing God. For if the invisible things of God are seen, being understood by the intellect by means of those things which have been made (cf. Rom. 1:20), where, I ask, have the traces of knowledge been found more clearly imprinted than in His image? … Whoever thirsts to see his God — let him wipe his mirror, let him cleanse his spirit. And so the true Joseph does not cease to hold, wipe and gaze into this mirror incessantly: to hold it so that it does not adhere to the earth, after it has fallen down by means of love; to wipe it so that it does not become dirty from the dust of useless thoughts; to gaze into it so that the eye of his intention does not turn toward empty pursuits. When the mirror has been wiped and gazed into for a long time, a kind of splendor of divine light begins to shine in it and a great beam of unexpected vision appears to his eyes. This light illumined the eyes of him who said: “The light of your face has been sealed upon us, Lord; you have put joy in my heart” (Ps. 4:7). Therefore, from the vision of this light that it wonders at within itself, the soul is kindled from above in a marvelous way and is animated to see the living light that is above it. I say, from this vision the soul conceives the flame of longing for the sight of God, and it lays hold of a pledge. And so the mind that now bums with longing for this vision should know that if it already hopes for what it longs for, it already has conceived Benjamin himself. By hoping the mind conceives; by longing it goes into labor; and the more longing increases, the closer it comes to giving birth. (Zinn, pp. 129−130)
Richard’s sequel to this work, The Mystical Ark (Benjamin Major), treats of the fruits of the ascetical process, that is, contemplation: its nature, ascending levels, and culmination in mystical union with God. That work is important both for its own sake and for its influence on St. Bonaventure’s Journey of the Mind to God.
Bibliography
Chase, Steven. Angelic Wisdom: The Cherubim and the Grace of Contemplation in Richard of St. Victor. Notre Dame University Press, 1995.
Châtillon, Jean; Duchet-Suchaux, Monique. Les douze Patriarches ou Benjamin Minor. Texte critique et traduction; introduction, notes et index par Jean Longère. Sources chrétiennes 419. Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1997.
Palmén, Ritva. Richard of St. Victor’s Theory of Imagination. Brill, 2014. Dissertation, University of Helsinki, 2013.
Richard of Saint-Victor, De praeparatione animi ad contemplationem, liber dictus Benjamin Minor. Omnia opera. Patrologia Latina, vol. 196, ed. J. P. Migne. Paris, 1855, col. 1−64.
Sheridan, Mark. Jacob and Israel: A contribution to the history of an interpretation. In: Mark Sheridan, From the Nile to the Rhone and Beyond: Studies in Early Monastic Literature and Scriptural Interpretation. Rome, 2012; pp. 315−334. Originally published in: Studia Anselmo, 116, 1995, 219−241.
Zinn, Grover A. (tr.). Richard of St. Victor: The Twelve Patriarchs, The Mystical Ark and Book Three of The Trinity. Paulist Press, 1979.
Meditation on Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd
The psalm is a spiritual meditation on ones relationship with God and on the gifts God bestows. As its themes are of universal interest, it is suitable for people of any religious denomination, not only Christians and Jews.
The purposes of psalm are to ingrain in faithful souls a firm conviction of God’s unremitting providence and to help one, in all things, to seek God’s guidance at all times, rather than to follow ones own fallible will and pursue ones egoistic thoughts. That is the leading project of the Old and New Testament — a renovation of mind and will — and is most directly expressed in Matthew 6:33: But seek ye first the reign of God and his righteousness. The word translated as reign or kingdom (βασιλείαν, basileia) can be interpreted here to mean reigning or shepherding — that is, a condition, not a place — of ones mind and soul.
1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Like a shepherd, God constantly and faithfully guides our thoughts and affections, protects us, and takes care of our needs.
Many important Old Testament figures — including Abel, Joseph, Moses and David — were shepherds. These righteous and holy persons serve as exemplars for us in shepherding our thoughts away from vanities and towards goodness and integrity. God, though, is the supreme shepherd. While we ourselves are expected to direct our own thoughts in a holy way as we are able, ultimately we depend on the divine Good Shepherd to direct and transform our interior life.
A shepherd is stronger and wiser than his sheep. He looks after them, protects them, oversees all that is necessary for their welfare and flourishing. As God, who is infinitely wise and good is our shepherd, he will anticipate and supply all our needs, inner and outer.
In understanding God as the Good Shepherd we are freed from the burden of having to direct our own life, and the myriad errors that is bound to produce. Therefore we should be confident, not fear about the future, not think unduly to prepare for our own needs, and develop the habit of expecting and discerning the presence and meaning of God’s guidances.
2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
The image of green pastures suggests three things: repose, beauty and nourishment. All of these apply to the pastures to which God leads ones soul. Repose, because arrival at green pastures means a potentially difficult and demanding journey to them is completed; beauty, because these pastures are themselves delightful to behold; nourishment, because food of the best kind is supplied for the soul.
Once we have ceased the vain, grasping, ego thoughts of self-will and humbly turn to God, we may receive the spiritual gifts he is eager and ready to supply. These include noble thoughts, desires and insights that nourish and build our soul. We are nourished when our mind’s eye is opened to receive spiritual insights and inspirations, and to recognize the deeper meanings of Scripture and of external experiences. Besides nourishing us, the mere act of eating such food is delightful.
In the Bible, water images such as wells and fountains are often used to mean springs rising from the depths of ones soul that bring deep forms of knowledge, including self-knowledge. The verse refers not simply to waters, but still waters. Still water has two attributes, both of which apply here. In a well or deep pool, stillness allows one to see clearly beneath the surface. Still water also produces accurate and beautiful reflections. When our mind is stilled, so that we arrive at the condition the ancient Greeks called ataraxia (ἀταραξία), meaning undisturbedness, we may discern the subtle thoughts that come from the depths of our soul with greater skill and also perform self-reflection with greater skill.
3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Our soul dies in varying degrees when it goes astray to dwell on worldly concerns, anxieties, thoughts of the future, ambitions, worries and the like. Much of the time our mind is either in acute distress, or else in a state of confusion, unrest, distraction, idleness or undirected attention, flitting from one thought to another.
All such conditions produce a degradation in the clarity, depth and integrity of consciousness.
To the extent our consciousness is not clear and constant, but instead chaotic and disturbed, it may legitimately said we are not fully alive.
In one sense, then, the restoration referred to here is that of the mind from it’s fallen and fragmented condition. It is of great significance that we have a Good Shepherd on whom we can continually rely to restore us. This is an ongoing process. We must prepared to be restored 100 times a day, or as many times as our mind goes astray.
Restoration here has a second sense as well. In the Septuagint version, the Greek word for “restoreth” is epestrepsen (ἐπέστρεψεν), from the verb epistréphō (ἐπιστρέφω), which means to return, convert, or turn back. This is same term the Neoplatonist Plotinus uses in the Enneads to describe the return of ones soul to God after it has fallen into worldly-mindedness. So the restoring of which the psalmist speaks includes how God graciously calls the soul back to the path of return. That act of choosing to seek God again is itself a restoration. While this is our choice, it is also inspired by God, a grace. This sense of restoration is much better for us than a mere feeling of tranquility or refreshment.
A recurring and important theme in Psalms is God’s Name. A great discovery we make following the road of sincere repentance is what it means to call upon God’s Name. By God’s Name here we mean his reputation. We are absolutely certain of one thing: God, the all-loving Creator of the universe, wishes to save sinners, and to rescue the lost from the dreadful suffering which accompanies alienation from his grace.
We cannot even comprehend a God who lacks this merciful and loving quality. It is essential both to the definition of a Supreme Being, and to our instinctive, unalterable sense of moral rightness.
Since God, then, wishes to save sinners, it must follow that he values his reputation, for his reputation is of incalculable value in attracting sinners back to the way of righteousness. If God were to do anything that calls into question his reputation as fair, just and saving, it would oppose the very salvific interest which is part of God’s defining essence. People would not seek him, and would not be saved. A supremely benevolent, just, loving and powerful God would not permit this.
Hence, when pleading for God to raise us from our fallen condition, with its unhappiness, suffering, and painful alienation, we say with the psalmist, Let my fate not put to shame those who trust in you (Ps. 69:6). We are certain that as long as we do not actively oppose God’s plan of salvation for us, he will faithfully act.
But if we invoke God’s Name here — if we say to God, “Save me, answer my desperate pleas for your Name’s sake! — this requires something from us as well. For we would be absurd and hypocritical to suppose that God would preserve his reputation were he to rescue us when we are insincere and undeserving. God will not be made a fool. Were he to save an insincere repentant, that would harm his reputation as much, if not more, than were he to ignore sincere pleas. If we invoke God’s Name, then, we must search our conscience, and know we are sincerely trying to reform. We must not plead with our lips but remain reprobate in our heart.
4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
We may understand the valley here as referring to this life, in which all is passing away, and where what things appear to be real are mere shadows of reality. We have no fear, because it is also a mere illusion to believe God is not immediately and actively concerned with our welfare.
Note carefully the shift here, whereby before God was referred to in the third person (“he”), and now in the second person (“thou”). We are now addressing God himself, and communing with him. More than a prayer, then, the psalm becomes an actual experience of drawing closer to God.
God’s staff pulls us out of the thorns of temptations and back to the right path. When necessary, God’s rod rebukes us; for that we should not feel resentful, but grateful: its presence is proof of God’s active interest and loving care.
5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou annointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
God prepares a banquet of spiritual goods. Enemies here — as throughout Psalms — means the inner enemies within our soul. Compared to the exalted nature of these goods, the presence of enemies is no concern. Nothing is more suitable for dispelling the power of enemies than that one such receive, even in their presence, such wonderful gifts.
Anointing the head with oil is a universal symbol for the opening of the eye of the mind that sees spiritual things and receives divine illuminations. Speaking of this verse, St. Ambrose tells us, “At this banquet there is the oil of sanctification, poured richly over the head of the just. This oil strengthens the inner senses. It does away with the oil of the sinner that fattens the head.” (Commentary on Twelve Psalms 35.19).
The cup is filled with spiritual wine, referring to a divine stimulation of holy emotions. The usual English translation loses the explicit sense of inebriation implied. The Septuagint Greek retains this, saying, τὸ ποτήριόν σου μεθύσκον ὡς κράτιστον, which means, your cup gladdens like the best wine, or your cup bestows the most exalted form of inebriation. Our spiritual yearnings are fulfilled in their entirety.
6. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
The psalm closes on a strong note of optimism, hope and confidence — these words being so clear that no interpretation is needed. We emerge from our meditation renewed and strengthened.
Philo on Heavenly Inspirations
Manna, Maciejowski Bible (13th C.)
PHILO here, in one of his most famous passages, gives us insight into the personal experiential basis of his exegesis of the patriarchs. First he presents Abraham as the type of man who directs his mind away from thoughts associated with worldly and carnal concerns (Egypt) to the “father’s land” of Wisdom from which heavenly inspirations flow. This orientation gives birth to a new disposition of mind, Isaac — whom, Philo elsewhere explains, symbolizes spiritual Joy. He then describes the nature of his own experiences, noting with regret intervening periods of aridity. (FIRST DRAFT)
(28) … Nay, thou must change thine abode and betake thee to thy father’s land, the land of the Word that is holy and in some sense father of those who submit to training: and that land is Wisdom, abode most choice of virtue-loving souls.
(29) In this country there awaiteth thee the nature which is its own pupil, its own teacher, that needs not to be fed on milk as children are fed, that has been stayed by a Divine oracle from going down into Egypt (Gen. 26:2) and from meeting with the ensnaring pleasures of the flesh. That nature is entitled Isaac.
(30) When thou hast entered upon his inheritance, thou canst not but lay aside thy toil; for the perpetual abundance of good things ever ready to the hand gives freedom from toil. And the fountain from which the good things are poured forth is the companionship of the bountiful God. He shews this to be so when to set His seal upon the flow of His kindnesses, He says “I will be with thee.”
VII. (31) What fair thing, then, could fail when there was present God the Perfecter, with gifts of grace, His virgin daughters, whom the Father that begat them rears up uncorrupted and undefiled? Then are all forms of studying, toiling, practising at rest; and without come forth all things in one outburst charged with benefit for all.
(32) And the harvest of spontaneous good things is called “Release,” [άφεσις; aphesis] inasmuch as the Mind [νους; nous] is released from the working out of its own projects, and is, we may say, emancipated from self-chosen tasks, by reason of the abundance of the rain and ceaseless shower of blessings.
(33) And these are of a most marvellous nature and passing fair. For the offspring of the soul’s own travail are for the most part poor abortions, things untimely born; but those which God waters with the snows of heaven come to the birth perfect, complete and peerless.
(34) I feel no shame in recording my own experience, a thing I know from its having happened to me a thousand times. On some occasions, after making up my mind to follow the usual course of writing on philosophical tenets, and knowing definitely the substance of what I was to set down, I have found my understanding (διάνοιαν; dianoia) incapable of giving birth to a single idea, and have given it up without accomplishing anything, reviling my understanding for its self-conceit, and filled with amazement at the might of Him that is to Whom is due the opening and closing of the soul-wombs.
(35) On other occasions, I have approached my work empty and suddenly become full, the ideas falling in a shower from above and being sown invisibly, so that under the influence of the Divine possession I have been filled with corybantic frenzy and been unconscious of anything, place, persons present, myself, words spoken, lines written. For I obtained language, ideas, an enjoyment of light, keenest vision, pellucid distinctness of objects, such as might be received through the eyes as the result of clearest shewing.
Source: Philo, On the Migration of Abraham 6.28−7.35 (tr. Colson & Whitaker, pp. 149−153)
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Christian Platonism 
Psuedo-Procopius of Gaza’s Platonic Commentary on Proverbs
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THE BIBLE not only has important psychological meanings, but contains a blueprint for ethical renovation of the personality. Philo of Alexandria (fl. c. 20 AD), the master allegorical exegesis, makes a compelling case for the interpretation of the Pentateuch according to Platonic ethics and moral psychology. Philo wrote very little about other books of the Old Testament, but nothing prevents us from applying his Platonic interpretive model more generally. Indeed, the Wisdom Books would seem like prime candidates for this. Their principal subject is, after all, Wisdom; and this was also the central concern of Plato, who understood philosophy (philosophia) as literally the love of Wisdom. Indeed, the Wisdom of Solomon has long been suspected of being written by a Jewish Alexandrian Platonist (or even Philo himself) — and this book seems fully consistent with the themes, message, language and imagery of the other Wisdom Books.
A new translation by Justin Gohl (2019) of a little-studied work sheds important light on this subject. The work is a commentary on Proverbs attributed to Procopius of Gaza (c. 465–528), leader of the so-called School of Gaza. Procopius’ authorship is now disputed, and the author is now referred to as Pseudo-Procopius. The date of composition is similarly unknown, and could be anywhere between the 5th and 10th centuries. The work shows the influence of Philo and Christian Platonists like Origen, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Evagrius of Pontus, and perhaps Maximus Confessor.
What matters more for us, though, is not the author or age of the work, but the relevance and plausibility of its interpretations. On that basis, we would have to consider this a work of some importance and one that merits serious study. It stands as (in my opinion, at least) as one of the best examples of a fully Platonic commentary on any Book of the Bible.
Proverbs, traditionally attributed to Solomon, is actually a compilation of several smaller compilations. The first (Proverbs 1−9) is the most recent, thought to have reached its present form in Persian or Hellenistic times. Gohl’s translation covers only this part of the Commentary. However consultation of the Greek text (with Latin translation) in Migne PG 87 suggests that this is representative of the whole Commentary.
A basic premise of the Commentary is the Platonic tripartite model of the human soul, which we outline below.
Plato’s Model of Soul
According to Plato — and he explains in Phaedrus, Republic and Timaeus — the human soul consists of appetitive, irascible (spirited, angry, ambitious) and rational elements. Sometimes Plato refers to the first two combined as the irrational soul; their activity is called passions.
Proper function of the soul involves moderation of appetitive and irascible passions by the rational element. The rational element should act as a wise governor or guide, neither giving full reign to passions nor denying them completely. Rather it limits their expression according to just or right measure, producing harmonious operation of the psyche. This balanced, harmonious mental milieu, in turn, helps the rational part judge rightly: tranquility (ataraxia) and mental clarity allow us to maintain a vision of the Good, along with accurate perceptions and sound beliefs.
Our mental apparatus fails, however, when the rational element doesn’t properly exercise its moderating role, either overindulging, or over- suppressing an impulse, creating discord and conflict.
Importantly, for Plato there’s an integral connection between epistemology and ethics: virtue begets wisdom and wisdom, virtue — and, similarly, vice begets folly and folly begets vice.
Implicit in Plato’s system is a cognitive model of moral error. Wrong actions are not always or even usually a simple matter of caving into a temptation. There’s an intermediate step. When first presented with an impulse to over-indulge an appetite or passion, we frequently hesitate. At that point opposing arguments — rationalizations — attempting to justify the action may emerge. Overindulgence, then, is associated with following these wrong inner counsels. Moreover, this characteristically involves a faulty or biased judgment of what’s good: we don’t simply intentionally sin, but often do so after having first convinced ourselves that the action is actually good. A similar — but sometimes overlooked — process applies to injudicious suppression of appetitive or irascible urges.
This, then, in broad terms outlines our ethical fall for Plato. This model has very real and practical implications. The moral lapse, which affects attention, right belief and right judgment, is responsible for all manner of harmful and addictive behaviors, as well as myriad negative mental states like anxiety, worry, hatred, jealousy and the like. Hence it’s of central importance to our mental and emotional well-being.
Little wonder, then, that both Plato and the Bible would be vitally concerned with helping us remedy this chronic problem in our nature. Since both sources are universally accepted as insightful and authoritative, and the problem they are trying to solve is the same, we’d expect their remedies to be fundamentally similar. In Plato and the Bible (and perhaps especially with the Wisdom Books) we have, as it were, two reciprocally illuminating maps for the same journey.
The Strange Woman
The ‘strange woman’ —a prostitute or harlot — is a central figure who recurs throughout Proverbs (Prv 2:16−19; 5:3−8; 5:15−19; 5:20; 6:24−26; 7:5−27; 9:13−18; 20:16; 22:14; 23:27−35; 27:13, 15). Ps.-Procopius interprets her as a personification of sensual pleasure. St. Ambrose of Milan (fl. 390 AD) similarly interpreted the strange woman as voluptas in Cain and Abel 4.13−5.15, a paraphrase and expansion of Philo’s discussion of the two wives of the soul (On the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel 1.5.21−34), itself a reworking of Prodicus moral fable, Hercules at the Crossroads. There are obvious close connections between this interpretation and Philo’s discussion of pleasure’s role in the fall of Adam and Eve in his Allegorical Interpretation. Indeed, what we might call Ps.-Procopius ‘orthodox Philonism’ (unlike, say, Origen, who typically elaborates on Philo, introducing new doctrinal elements) is very noticeable.
The strange woman is not merely synonymous with sensual pleasure, but represents a complex of psychological processes associated with excessive interest in sensual pleasure. She also distorts judgment and misleads with false reasoning. Importantly, she has ulterior motivation, connected with opposition to the life of virtue. Her ways lead to death and destruction. According to this view, serious moral error originates not merely in our natural interest in maximizing pleasure, but in a self-destructive energy present in the psyche (cf. the thanatos of Freud’s theories, and pthoras in Philo.)
Opposed to the strange woman is the ‘wife of thy youth’ (Prv 5:15−19) and the good woman of Proverbs 31:10−31, a personification of virtue and Wisdom.
My principal interest here is to alert readers to the existence of Ps-Procopius’ Commentary, argue for it’s importance — both for its own sake and in the history of Platonic and psychological Bible exegesis —and to encourage people to read Gohl’s translation. However a few excerpts will suffice to illustrate the themes of the work.
Using a familar Platonic and Stoic trope, Ps.-Procopius connects Wisdom with guidance of the mind amidst storms of passions; cf. St. Basil, Homily on the Beginning of Proverbs (Gohl, 2017, 26−29):
Here he asserts the principle of the golden mean, a concept we most often associate with Aristotle (i.e., virtue is a right mean between exctremes of excess and deficiency), but which is found in Plato, too:
The strange woman:
The strange woman represents not only sensual pleasure, but, by extension, also the folly that inordinate interest in pleasure produces:
Inordinate interest in sensual pleasure also produces distorted judgments of what’s good:
Bibliography
Colson, F. H.; Whitaker, G. H. (trs.). Philo: On the Sacrifices of Abel and Cain. In: Philo, Volume 2. Loeb Classical Library L227. Harvard University Press, 1929.
DelCogliano, Mark. St. Basil the Great: On Christian Doctrine and Practice. Popular Patristics Series 47. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2012; pp. 39-78.
Delitzsch, Franz. Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon. Vol. 1. M. G. Easton (tr.). T&T Clark, 1874.
Devreesse, Robert. Chaînes exégétiques grecques. In: Dictionnaire de la Bible. Supplément 1. Paris, 1928, pp. 1083−1234.
Gohl, Justin M. St. Basil the Great, Homily 12: On the Beginning of Proverbs (PG 31.385−424). Translation & Notes. 2017.
Gohl, Justin M. Pseudo-Procopius of Gaza, Commentary on Proverbs 1-9 (Ἑρμηνεία εἰς τὰς Παροιμίας). 2019.
Procopius of Gaza (attr.). Interpretation of Proverbs (Ἑρμηνεία εἰς τὰς Παροιμίας). J. P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca 87.1 1219−1544. Paris, 1865.
Procopius of Gaza. Commentaria in Proverbia et in Canticum canticorum. In: Nicetas David (ed.), Catena in libros Sapientiales. Parchment, 1050−1150 AD. MS. Parisinus gr. 153, f. 59-117v.
Savage, John J. (tr.). Saint Ambrose: Hexameron, Paradise, and Cain And Abel. Fathers of the Church 42. Catholic University of America, 1961.
Uebersax, John S. The strange woman of Proverbs. 2009. Christian Platonism website. https://catholicgnosis.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/the-strange-woman-of-proverbs/
Uebersax, John S. Philo on the two wives of the soul. 2010. Christian Platonism website. https://catholicgnosis.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/philo-on-the-two-wives-of-the-soul/
Uebersax, John S. The archetypal meaning of Hercules at the Crossroads. 2020. Christian Platonism website. https://catholicgnosis.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/crossroads-archetype/
Westberg, David. Rhetorical exegesis in Procopius of Gaza’s Commentary on Genesis. In: S. Rubenson (ed.), Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia. Studia Patristica LV, Peeters, 2013, pp. 95−108.
1st draft, 8 Mar 2020
Written by John Uebersax
March 8, 2020 at 9:14 pm
Posted in Adam and Eve, Allegorical interpretation, Allegorical interpretation, ascetical psychology, Bible, carnal-mindedness, Christian Platonism, Church Fathers, Cognitive psychology, Commentary, Consciousness, Discernment, ethics, Exegesis, Moral psychology, Old Testament, Philo, philosophy, Platonism, Proverbs, Sapiential exegesis, Stoicism, Strange woman, Temptation, the Fall, Wisdom, Wisdom Literature
Tagged with apatheia, Commentary, Dame Folly, Lady Folly, pleasure, Procopius of Gaza, ps.-Procopius, pseudo-Procopius