Posts Tagged ‘virtue ethics’
Richard of St. Victor: De exterminatione mali et promotione boni
Crossing the Jordan, William Hole (detail)
AWORK of Richard of St. Victor, De exterminatione mali et promotione boni (On the Extermination of Bad the Promotion of Good)*, has received little attention. It’s subject is the process of self-transformation, beginning with such purgative virtues as contempt of the world, self-contempt and contrition, and proceeding to positive moral virtues, culminating in contemplation. Below is a translation of the final chapter — a discussion of contemplation and ecstasy — and the subtitles of all chapters. In the Bibliography is a link to the Latin text.
* Draft English translation is here. Latin version is here.
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CHAPTER XVIII. On Quiet Contemplation.
We can find the twelfth stone, and the last of all, as I think, at the Lord’s tomb.* It has been said, as has been said above, that the stone is the tranquility of contemplation. Of this kind, that Joseph of Arimathea cut a stone for his tomb, but Jesus rested dead in it, because the rest which prudence seeks for itself through meditation, and describes through definition, wisdom through contemplation, he found it, and by experiment he apprehended it. True prudence always seeks, and must always seek that peace which Christ taught, that it may not be troubled or afraid. He always seeks where he can find such peace, he always strives to defend his true security, but he always finds something to grieve over the past, something to attack in the present, something to be wary of and afraid of the future. Therefore, the mind can skillfully seek this peace through prudence, and investigate it with precision through meditation, but it will never be able to find it except through wisdom and the grace of contemplation.
*Treatise 3 discusses twelve virtues that are essential to the soul’s good. Throughout Richard refers allegorically to the 12 stones of the monument of Gilgal that Joshua built to memorialize the miracle of the Israelites’ crossing the Jordan. (Josh 4). The 12th virtue/stone, contemplation, he also associates with the sepulchre in which Jesus’ body rested for 3 days. Richard supplies a comparable moral-allegorical exegesis of the 12 sons of Jacob (and therefore the 12 tribes of Israel, each one of which is associated with a stone in Joshua 4) in his masterpiece, Benjamin Major.
But when the mind began to go beyond itself through pure intelligence, and into that clear, incorporeal light, to enter completely, and to draw from what he sees inwardly a certain taste of inmost sweetness, and from it to build his intelligence, and to turn it into wisdom; meanwhile, in this ecstasy [mentis excessu], that peace which neither disturbs nor frightens, is found and obtained, so that it becomes silence in heaven for half an hour [Rev. 8:1], so that the mind of the beholder is disturbed by no tumult of conflicting thoughts: you will find nothing at all, either to ask for through desire, or to argue with through disgust, or to accuse through hatred. He who is buried in this stone, who is completely collected and concluded within the tranquility of contemplation, is composed for the highest peace. For this stone, like that of Jacob*, is not placed on the head alone, nor, like the latter, is it placed under the feet, but on the whole it is grasped and applied to the body. This stone, therefore, surrounds the whole body, includes the whole, and grasps it from every side, because that peace which surpasses all sense, thoroughly absorbs all human sense, and turns into a certain divine attitude the purer part of the soul by a successful transfiguration. Here lies the body without sense or motion in this Sunday monument [Dominico monumento]; Sensuality does nothing, the imagination does nothing, and all the lower power of the soul is put on its proper duty in the meantime.
For this stone monument (like the stone recumbent of the patriarch Jacob) does not receive a living body, however asleep, nor does it receive a body unless it is mortified. It is one thing to sleep, it is another thing to endure. Another thing is to collect his whole spirit into himself, and it is another thing to rise above oneself and to abandon oneself. It is one thing to have controlled the appetite, and to have cut off the external cares of the heart, and it is another thing to forget oneself. It is necessary, therefore, before it is permitted to enter into that secret of the most intimate repose and the arcanum of the utmost tranquillity; it is necessary, I say, that it should be very serious and truly wonderful, not the dissolution of soul and body, but something else much more wonderful and much more glorious than this, namely, that of which this is the type, namely, the division of soul and spirit. But this is what the Apostle testifies, that he is the living and efficacious word of God, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. [Heb 4:12]
What, I pray thee, is seen anywhere in this division of creatures, where that which is essentially one and an individual is divided into itself, and that which is simple in itself and consists without parts is divided and separated from itself? For in one man there is not one essence of his spirit and another essence of his soul, but one and the same simple substance of nature. For in this twin term a twin substance is not meant; but when the twin forces of the same essence are used for distinction, one superior is designated by spirit, the other inferior by soul. In this division, therefore, the soul and that which is animal remains in the bottom; but the spirit and that which is spiritual flies to the top.
That which is corpulent and stiff as a dead body fails, and falls back on itself and under himself; that which is subtle and exuded as a breathed-out spirit ascends and transcends within and beyond itself. O deep rest, O sublime rest, where everything that is usually moved by human beings loses all movement, where everyone who is then moved becomes divine and passes into God! This Spirit, breathed out, and entrusted to the hands of the Father, does not, like that dreamer Jacob, need a ladder, in order to fly to the third, not to say to the first, heaven. What need, I pray thee, of a ladder, which the Father holds between his hands, to rapture to the secrets of the third heaven, so that he may glory and say: Thy right hand received me. Did you hold my right hand and lead me in your will, and received me with glory? (Psa 18:35; cf. Psa 16:11, 17:7)
Therefore the Spirit has no work; here he is removed from the middle of the duty of the ladder, and does not need to be supported in that ascent of his subtlety by the shadow [adumbratione] of any bodily likeness, where he sees face to face, not through a mirror, and in an enigma. I would be lying if they did not say the same about themselves who are like him: But we all, they say, beholding the glory of the Lord with our face revealed, are transformed into the same image from brightness to brightness, as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3). You certainly see what he is doing, and you understand, as I think, what is the value of that division of soul and spirit, of which we have already spoken above.
The spirit is divided from the lowest in order to rise to the highest. The spirit is separated from the soul in order to unite with the Lord. For he who clings to the Lord is one spirit. A happy division, and an expectable separation, where what is recognized as passible, that which is corruptible, dies in the meantime by its passions, so much so that nothing of passibility, nothing of corruption is felt in the meantime; where also that which is spiritual, that which is subtle, is sublimated even to the contemplation of the divine glory, and is transformed into the same image. Therefore the lower part is composed for the utmost peace and tranquillity, while the upper part is sublimated for glory and delight. Thus we recognized the face of Moses (certainly the upper part of the body) glorified by the company of the Lord, so that the children of Israel could not focus on his face because of his brightness. Who, I pray thee, is worthy to say, who is sufficient to explain what excssive perfection the spirit acquires in its glorification, even though it does not extend the prolongation of its pilgrimage to the third day, even if it does not produce a delay of silence for half an hour, and may go and return in likeness a flash of lightning?
Thus Moses, from the company of the divine conversation, with a glorified countenance also brings back the horns, showing what valor and what courage he has contracted from his company, who gives courage and strength to his people, blessed God. Then at last it returns, and that spirit which had gone far beyond itself, and which it had placed as passible and corruptible, resumes, as it were, impassive and incorruptible, in comparison with its former state, and rises again into newness of life. What do you think of being cheerful at an injury, not blushing at an insult, and rejoicing in trouble? Is not this to walk in the newness of life, and in some way to show oneself impassible and not subject to ones passions? Behold how long those who rest on this stone advance.
Note: The soul acquires durable virtues, useful in the material world, from contemplation.
There are many things that could have been said about this matter, if they had to be said in this place and did not exceed the measure of moderate digression. For I think that this last kind of stone is the most worthy and precious of all. However, we must not reject anything, but at least ask each one about each one, and gather them together.
It must be noted that this is the first work that is commanded to be done in the Promised Land, so that an eternal memorial of the divine works may be established first of all. For without this heaping of stones, that Sunday promise of an eternal inheritance will never be firmly acquired, never securely possessed. For he who forgets the benefits received from God [beneficiorum divinitus] does not deserve to be promoted to obtain greater ones.
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FIRST TREATISE
CHAPTER I. (no subheading)
CHAPTER II. Of the double confession, and the double promotion [advancement].
CHAPTER III. How the confession of a crime is effective for the extermination of evil.
CHAPTER IV. How the confession of praise is useful for the promotion of good.
CHAPTER V. That the first promotion of virtue is in the contempt of the world.
CHAPTER VI The second promotion of virtue is in self-contempt.
CHAPTER VII. How by the contempt of the world is the extermination of evil.
CHAPTER VIII. That a contrite mind is now a helper, now a support of good.
CHAPTER IX Of useful and useless contrition.
CHAPTER X. Of the twin compunction of the heart.
CHAPTER XI. Of vain and true contempt of the world
CHAPTER XII. How difficult it is to reach complete self-contempt.
CHAPTER XIII. By these methods the mind is trained to complete self-contempt.
CHAPTER 14 That superfluous love of self is more difficult to overcome among the successes of the virtues.
CHAPTER XV. How gradually the mind is to be advanced to self-contempt.
CHAPTER XVI How the mind, exhausted by vain love, expands in the love of God.
CHAPTER XVII. Of the failure of vain love, and the beginning of true love.
CHAPTER XVIII. How through the want of vain love the disorders of the mind fail.
CHAPTER XIX With what caution we ought to remove disorders of the heart.
SECOND TREATISE
From this point on the subject is the study of contemplation, and how or how much it is worth for the reformation of true love.
CHAPTER I (no subheading)
CHAPTER II. How the investigation and revision of salubrious things is valid for correcting the mind.
CHAPTER III. It is easier to correct the mind than to penetrate into its inmost parts.
CHAPTER IV. It may be worth while to linger longer in the contemplation of our weakness with profound wonder.
CHAPTER V. How, after full self-correction, the soul is introduced to the contemplation of the eternal.
CHAPTER VI That in the future life, after the contemplation of the eternal, the mind is relaxed to all the satisfaction of its desire.
CHAPTER VII. How some, even in this life, are lifted up to the contemplation of the eternal.
CHAPTER VIII. It is always necessary to anticipate by the study of contemplation where we should aim by desire.
CHAPTER IX Of the twin imperfections which must always be kept in mind.
CHAPTER X. An example or form of a proposed consideration.
CHAPTER XI. Of those things which pertain to meditation or contemplation, and how much they are capable of promoting the virtue of such captives.
CHAPTER XII. On the double premeditation, that is, of rewards and merits.
CHAPTER XIII. How we must insist more strongly on the prospect of prizes.
CHAPTER XIV. The merits of this speculation consist in two things.
CHAPTER XV. What is meditation, and what is contemplation.
THE THIRD TREATISE
Hitherto the promotion of good, formerly of the confirmation of the same.
CHAPTER I. (no subheading)
CHAPTER II. On the confirmation of the mind in good and the hardening of the mind in evil.
CHAPTER III. Of the evil of presumption or despair.
CHAPTER IV. How, from the remembrance of our evils, we ought to check our presumption.
CHAPTER V. How we ought to repel despair from the remembrance of our goods.
CHAPTER VI Of the twelve principal virtues in which the mind is to be strengthened.
CHAPTER VII. On the solidity of fear.
CHAPTER VIII. On the severity of compunction.
CHAPTER IX On long-suffering hope.
CHAPTER X. On the integrity of charity.
CHAPTER XI. On mature pleasure.
CHAPTER XII. On rugged severity.
CHAPTER XIII. On austere abstinence.
CHAPTER XIV. On the strength of patience.
CHAPTER XV. The concern of the circumspection.
CHAPTER XVI On assiduous speculation.
CHAPTER XVII. Of the certainty of discretion.
CHAPTER XVIII. On quiet contemplation.
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Bibliography
Richard of St. Victor, De exterminatione mali et promotione boni (On the Extermination of Bad the Promotion of Good), J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina vol. 196 1073C−1116C. Paris, 1855. [Latin text]
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De septem septenis — Soliloquium
HERE we continue translation of the section on contemplation in De septem septenis (On the Seven Sevens) that considers seven forms of contemplation (meditatio, soliloquium, circumspectio, ascensio, revelatio, emissio and inspiratio, which we’re taking out of order. Below is translated the section on the activity the unknown author calls soliloquium (soliloquy). St. Augustine was the first to use this word in his work Soliloquies. Soliloquy, or, literally, solitary conversation, was especially associated with the Augustinian tradition in the Middle Ages, but this tradition influenced not only Augustinians (e.g., the School of St. Victor) but virtually all theological literature.
The author of De septem understands soliloquium as an inner dialogue that involves gaining self-knowledge (he explicitly alludes to the Delphic maxim, Know Thyself.) This self-knowledge is a humble recognition of ones limitations, frailty, capacity for sin and self-delusion — leading to awareness of ones utter dependence on salvation from God. This, along with meditatio and circumspectio, helps prepare the soul for higher forms of contemplation.
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6] Soliloquium sequitur, quod est alicuius ad se et de se solum eloquium, ipsius hominis generans contemptum. Soliloquium dicitur, quia vir se solum alloquitur, id est cum homo interior ab exteriori non turbetur, sed cordis secreta rimatur, mentem et conscientiam ob sui contemptum considerat et speculatur. Soliloquium vero tribus fit modis, ex gratia inspirante, ex meditatione, ex oratione.
6] Soliloquy follows, which is someone’s speaking only to himself and about himself, generating contempt [or criticism?] for the person himself. It is called a soliloquy, because a man addresses himself alone, that is, when the inner man is not disturbed by the outer, but searches the secrets of the heart, considers and watches the mind and conscience because of self-contempt. But this soliloquy is done in three ways, by inspiring grace, by meditation, and by prayer.
7] Ex gratia oritur in compunctionem, ex meditatione excitatur in devotionem, ex oratione formatur in bonam voluntatem. Compunctio in fletum miserabilem erumpit, devotio mentem ad coelestia erigit, bona voluntas ad opus celeriter tendit; fletus vero miserabilis misericordem Dominum expetit. Mens erecta cordis ima praecurrit, bonae voluntatis opus ipsius hominis contemptum ostendit.
7] From grace soliloquy rises into compunction; from meditation it is awakened into devotion; from prayer it is formed into good will. Compunction bursts into pitiful weeping, devotion raises the mind to heavenly things, good will tends quickly to work. But the pitiful one cries out for the merciful Lord. An erect mind (mens erecta) runs through the depths of the heart, and shows contempt for the work of the good will of man himself.
8] De fletu vero miserabili Propheta dicit: Exaudivit Dominus vocem fletus mei. [Psal. VI.] Hic fletus, id est lacrymarum pro peccatis emissio, non nobis, sed vocem habent Deo. Et hic fletus est utilis et pius; pius vero fletus et inutilis fit pro morte parentum, nec pius nec utilis, pro amissione temporalium bonorum.
De mente autem erecta, quae conscientiae ima disquirit, sapientia in tripode Apollinis sic describit: Verbum de coelo descendit; notis elytos, (gnothi seauton,) id est nosce te ipsum.
8] Concerning weeping, the prophet says: The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. [Ps. 6:8] This weeping, that is the shedding of tears for sins, is not for us, but they have a voice for God. And this weeping is useful and pious; but weeping is not pious and useful for loss of temporal things, not even for the death of parents.
Now of ones erect mind, which penetrates the bottom of conscience, the wisdom on the tripod of Apollo describes said words that descended from heaven, gnothi seauton, that is, Know Thyself.*
* To know one is mortal and morally weak, but capable of improvement with God’s help.
9] Tripos Apollinis: triplex sapientiae intellectus, historialis, mysticus et moralis. Per historialem homo exterior interiori condescendit; per mysticum homo interior secreta cordis, id est mentem et conscientiam scrutatur et discutit; per moralem, unde sit, quid, et ad quid, agnoscit; unde sit, ex materia figuli, id est ex limo terrae; quid sit, vas scilicet fictile, sed timendum ne fiat vas contumeliae; ad quid, ut revertatur in pulverem terrae.
9] The Tripod of Apollo: the triple wisdom of the intellect, historical, mystical and moral. Through history* man descends from the exterior to the interior; through mysticism the inner man examines and discusses the secrets of the heart, that is, the mind and conscience; through morality, he recognizes where he is from, what he is, and for what purpose; whence it is, from the material of the potter, that is from the silt of the earth; what it is, an earthen vessel, of course, but to be feared lest it become a vessel of insult; to what end, that he should return to the dust of the earth.
* The course of ones material life. It might be apt here to consider St. Paul’s words, the fruit of his own self-examination: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? [Rom.7: 23−24]
10] Hinc Iob se in pulvere sedere et dormire dicit [Iob. XLII]. In pulvere sedet et dormit qui in mutabilium levitate sopitus, nisi magno labore surgere nequit. Hinc David mane floreat [Psal. LXXXIX], et tunc mane, id est, in pueritia et in iuventute floret, sed in vespere, id est in morte decidit, indurat in cadavere, arescit in pulvere, quia post hominem cadaver, post cadaver vermis, post vermem efficitur cinis.
10] Hence Job says that he sits and sleeps in the dust [Job. 42:6; Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes; KJV]. One sits and sleeps in the dust, who is asleep in the lightness of changeable things, unless he is able to get up with great effort. Hence David may flourish in the morning [Ps. 90:6; In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth; KJV] — that is, flourishes in childhood and youth, but in the evening, that is, in death, it falls, turns into a corpse, dries up in the dust, because after a man a corpse, after a corpse a worm, after a worm it becomes ashes.
11] Sic igitur sapientia in tripode hominis conditionem, mutabilitatem innotescit, et sui contemptum evidentius exprimit.
11] Thus wisdom on the tripod of Apollo recognizes man’s condition, changeability, and expresses his self-contempt more clearly.
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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.
Starbuck, C.C. (tr.). St. Augustine of Hippo: Soliloquies. From: Philip Schaff (ed.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 7, Buffalo, NY. Online editor: Kevin Knight.
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