{"slug":"stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1","title":"Regula Monachorum [Altera Editio]","title_source":"Regula Monachorum [Altera Editio]","author":"Hieronymus","genre":"rule","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash:floor","provider":"Baidu","generated":"2026-11-15T19:55:31Z","cost_usd":0.007133},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1","work_id":"stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/stoa0162/stoa059/stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":80,"english_words":20073,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":76860,"commentary_units":0,"commentary_kinds":0,"derived_notes":1,"ambiguities":0,"work_notes":0,"external_links":0,"timeline":0},"summary":{},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/stoa0162/stoa059/stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"stoa0162.stoa059.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":80,"translated":80,"commentary_passages":0,"commentary_units":0,"english_words":20073,"source_letters":76576,"commentary_kinds":0},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Latin; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: rule in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 80 narrative."},{"kind":"caution","severity":"caution","text":"1 passage(s) are fragmentary in the source; the English bridges each break and says so in the note."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":80},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"REGULA MONACHARUM.\n\nIndigna prorsus, quæ Hieronymo affigeretur, doctis probisque hominibus visa est. Sane neque est, in quo consarcinatoris diligentiam laudes. '\n\nPROŒMIUM.\n\nTepescens in membris proclivum corpus ad terram ex qua exiit, jamquc rugosa fronte senem et naturae penc portentum: vester, prædilectæ in Domino filiae, et Dominæ Christi virgines sacratissimæ, Eustochium et reliquæ, ad Agni novas nuptias, sub obedientiæ, pudicitiae, paupertatis, et religionis in domo Domini adunatæ proposito, nimium sollicitat piæ devotionis in charitatis affectu, ut tremulenta mtnus suæ parumper vetustatis oblita, Dco vivendi, non mundo: spiritui, non carni: et quod arduum est, non sibi ipsi, normam ct rcgulam, cx Christi et apostolorum vita collectam: ex sanctorum etiam patrum anachorctarum, quos per septem annos erenorum antra circumiens, non sinc admiratione et inforanatione rcperi, observationis et imitationis digno commendandam præconio, in præsenti libel. lo edoceat officio calami, paratas mentes ad bonum, vcluti lingua jamdudum solehat vocc non mortua. felix affectio, o desiderium in Domino commendandum: ut quie deficiente, per senium ct communem scaLis finem lingua doctoris, de casu timetis, qui promptus est, præsumptuose et non timide ambulantibus in via Dei; in qua lot latent adversa, quot momenta sunt temporum!","english":"THE RULE OF MONKS.\n\nIt seemed altogether unworthy to be attributed to Jerome, in the view of learned and upright men. Indeed, there is no point in which one could praise the diligence of a compiler.\n\nPROLOGUE.\n\nAs the body, prone to the earth from which it came, grows sluggish in its limbs, and already with wrinkled brow is a old man and almost a monster of nature: your own, dearly beloved daughters in the Lord, and most sacred virgins of Christ the Lord, Eustochium and the rest, gathered in the house of the Lord under the purpose of obedience, chastity, poverty, and religion, for the new nuptials of the Lamb—he, too anxious in the affection of pious devotion and charity, so that, forgetting for a little while the trembling hand of his old age, he might teach prepared minds to good by the office of the pen in the present little book, as his tongue was long accustomed to do with a living voice—[he teaches] a norm and rule of living gathered from the life of Christ and the apostles, and also from the holy fathers, the anchorites, whom, going around the caves of the desert for seven years, I found not without admiration and instruction, worthy to be commended with praiseworthy proclamation of observance and imitation: to live to God, not to the world; to the spirit, not to the flesh; and—what is hard—not to oneself. O happy affection, O desire to be commended in the Lord: that those who fear, when the tongue of the teacher fails through old age and the common end of the age, that you may be taught by the ready service of the pen—you who walk presumptuously and not fearfully in the way of God, in which are hidden so many adversities, as many as are the moments of the times!","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"Exposcit vestra pietas, ut depicta sibi pericula, et fomenta remedii proclivus semper ad malum a primordio juventutis rationa1is ct animalis animus cernens gradintur per tuta. prudens consilium, ut pro voce scripturam: et pro facilitcr transeunti, diu mansurum commutet! justa ct sancta exhortatio, et perdigna exauditionis beneficio!\n\nSed, prædilectæ filine, et si justum et sanctum est, quod petitis a patre: patris tamen ncgat actas, prohibet insufficientia, licet ingerat charitas. Stupent oculi palpitantes in tenebris, horret naturæ phrenesi inconstans manus peragere juvcnilia. Hortatur tamen semper charitatis ardor, ne parcatur labori, unde tantus colligitur fructus: quem non putarem in vobis carpere, quæ Scripturis de Domini voluntate melius estis edoctae, ut blandimenti aliquid fatear, licet veritatis, nisi ad alias succedentes per tempora informandum traheretur tantus hic labor. Yincat igitur duellum hoc charitas: quae ipsum invincibilem vicit, ut immortalis moreretur pro nobis. Verum frustra hæc speratur victoria in tanta impossibilitate naturæ, nisi devotae orationes filiarum adsint: quibus Deus paruit in tantum ab antiquo, ut etinm eum poeniteret eorum quae primitus minando spoponderat, quamvis poenitere non possit.","english":"Your piety demands that, as the mind, rational and animal, ever prone to evil from the beginning of youth, beholds the dangers depicted for it and the aids of remedy, it may walk through safe places. It is a prudent counsel that, in place of the voice, it exchange writing, and in place of what passes quickly, what will long remain. It is a just and holy exhortation, and wholly worthy of the benefit of being heard.\n\nBut, dearly beloved daughters, even if what you ask of a father is just and holy, yet the father's age denies it, his insufficiency forbids it, though charity urges it. My eyes, blinking in the darkness, are stunned, and my hand, unstable through the frenzy of nature, shrinks from performing childish things. Yet the ardor of charity always urges that no sparing be given to labor, from which so great a fruit is gathered—a fruit which I would not think to pluck in you, who are better taught from the Scriptures concerning the Lord's will (to admit something of flattery, though it is of truth), were this great labor not drawn forth for the instruction of others succeeding through the ages. Let charity, then, conquer this struggle—charity which conquered even the invincible one, so that the immortal one might die for us. But in vain is this victory hoped for in such great impossibility of nature, unless the devout prayers of the daughters be present, which God obeyed so greatly from of old that he even repented of what he had first promised by threatening, although he cannot repent.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"CAPUT PRIMUM.\n\n'De Charitate et Unitate servanda.\n\nQuis autem in monasterio constitutis sororibus primus sit arripiendos modus Deo vivendi et regula, ipse solus Christus hujus propositi inceptor et doctor, in unius responsione instruit universos: Si vis, inquit idem magisler haec petenti, ad vitam ingredi, serva mandata. Quod si forte quaeratur quoe sint, illico sic percunctanti exposuit: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde, mente, et tiribul tuis, et plus quam teipsum: et proximum tuum sicut teipsum (Matth. v, 43). In his duobus praeceptis pendet quidquid est legis, quidquid etiam prophetae et sancti viri perscrutati sunt.\n\nEt attendite sollicite, quasso, charissimæ, quae ingredi non solum totis affectibus cupitis ad vitam, quae vere vita est (nam viventibus in mundo vita non est, sed mors), sed jam Dei auxilio estis iter ingressae, quod sine praeceptis charitatis non ingreditur quisquam ad Deo vivendum. Propter hoc enim apostolus Paulus non gloriatur in linguis angelorum et hominum, non in cognitione mysteriorum Dei, non in spiritu prophetae, non in asperitatibus carnis, non etiam in eleemosynarum operibus, quamquam ad omnia pietas valeat, dummodo cbarilas non desit.","english":"CHAPTER ONE.\n\nOn Charity and Unity to Be Preserved.\n\nBut for the sisters established in the monastery, what manner of living for God and what rule should first be taken up, Christ himself alone, the founder and teacher of this purpose, instructs all in the answer given to one: If you wish, says the same master to the one asking this, to enter into life, keep the commandments. And if perhaps it be asked what these are, he at once set them forth to the inquirer thus: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your mind, and with all your strength, and more than yourself: and your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 5:43). On these two commandments hang whatever is of the law, whatever also the prophets and holy men have searched out.\n\nAnd attend carefully, I beg, dearest sisters, who desire to enter not only with all your affections into the life which is truly life (for to those living in the world it is not life, but death), but who by God's help have already entered upon the way, which no one enters to live for God without the commandments of charity. For this reason the apostle Paul does not glory in the tongues of angels and of men, not in the knowledge of the mysteries of God, not in the spirit of prophecy, not in the hardships of the flesh, not even in the works of almsgiving, although godliness avails for all things, provided that charity be not lacking.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"Haec itaque sola reddit hominem Deo viventem, haec religiosos, haec monachos facit: sine hac monasteria sunt tartara, habitatores sunt daemones. Cum hac vero sunt. paradisus in terris: et in eis degentes sunt angeli. Ideoque, mihi dilectæ flliæ, licet longa vos macerent jejunia, abjecta et nigra vestis deformet, longa officiorum et operum texatur series: si imus desit charitas, ad infimum nondum religionis gradum perventum est. Propterea, charissimae, hic incipiendum est iter, ad apostolicae perfectionis apicem.\n\nSi vero relativa est charitas, et ad unum non potest proprie dilectio fraterna dici: idcirco est necesse quod plures sint, qui se mutuo ex charitate diligant, ut dicatur juxta prophetam: Bonum et jucundum est habitare fratres in unum ( Psal. CXXXII, 4). Quod satis approbat Sapientia dicens: Frater qui simut juvatur a fratre, quasi civitas firma (Pror. XVIII, 19). Et iterum: Si fuerint duo simul, fovebunt se mutuo: sed si unus gradiatur et cadat, væ soli, quoniam sublevantem non habet (Eccles. IV, 10). Propterea solitariorum vita quam satis expertus sum, periculosissima est et ardua: et si bona et quampluries Deo vicina, non tamen aeque secura est, ut si... mul habitantium in vinculo dilectionis et charitatis affectu. Qui sibi invicem per tentamenta deficientibus auxiliantur, sibi invicem administrant pietatis et charitatis obsequia.","english":"For this alone renders a man living to God; this alone makes people religious, makes them monks. Without it, monasteries are Tartarus and their inhabitants are demons. With it, however, they are a paradise on earth, and those dwelling in them are angels. And therefore, my beloved daughters, although long fasts may waste you away, although a cast-off and black garment may disfigure you, although a long succession of duties and works may be woven together: if true charity is lacking, one has not yet reached even the lowest grade of religion. For this reason, dearest ones, the journey must begin here, [and proceed] to the summit of apostolic perfection.\n\nBut if charity is relational, and brotherly love cannot properly be spoken of in relation to one alone, it is therefore necessary that there be several who love one another out of charity, so that it may be said according to the prophet: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity (Ps. 132:1). Wisdom sufficiently approves this, saying: A brother who is helped by his brother is like a strong city (Prov. 18:19). And again: If two are together, they will warm each other; but if one walks and falls, woe to him who is alone, because he has no one to lift him up (Eccles. 4:10). For this reason the life of solitaries, which I have sufficiently experienced, is most dangerous and arduous; and even if it is good and often near to God, it is not equally safe as [the life] of many dwelling together in the bond of love and in the affection of charity. Those who assist one another when they fail through temptations render one another the services of piety and charity.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":5,"ref":"p5","source":"Sed certe si fratres aut sorores simul in unum non habitent: non jam bonum, sed malum est. Nihil bonum divisum.\n\nOmne etiam secundum philosophos in tantum habet bonitatis, in quantum unitatis attinens suae naturre. Quod si singulum unum in tota mundi machina per se creatum est bonum: non tamen est optimum, nisi caeteris nexum. Propterea in exordio mundi vidit Deus, quod cuncta quae fecerat, crant valde bona. Idcirco, charissimae, in apostolica vita vobis de saeculo adunatis per corpora, sit cor unum, et anima una in Domino, velut de apostolis et de ipsis apostolicis viris in Actibus eorum legitur: Multitudinis enim credentium erat cor unum et anima una in Domino. Nulla vita pro certo est deterior, quam simul degere corpore et non mente. Et vere infelices sunt, quibus non inest una, sed diversa voluntas.\n\nSit itaque vobis semper unus affectus, una voluntas, una fraternitas, una proportio morum, una jucunditas, una tristitia: ne quod alteræ placet, displiceat alterae; quo gaudet altera, tristetur et altera. Et sic habere poteritis religionis propositum, si unanimes in domo Dei habitetis. Haec vera vita Dei, non diaboli: vere monasterium, non infernus: vere vita religiosa, non diabolica.","english":"But certainly if brothers or sisters do not live together in one place, it is no longer good but evil. Nothing good is divided.\n\nMoreover, according to the philosophers, everything has goodness to the extent that it partakes of the unity of its own nature. For if each single thing created by itself in the whole machinery of the world is good, it is nevertheless not the best unless it is bound to the others. Therefore in the beginning of the world God saw that all things he had made were very good. For this reason, dearest ones, for you who have been gathered from the world into the apostolic life by your bodies, let there be one heart and one soul in the Lord, as is read of the apostles and of the apostolic men themselves in their Acts: For the multitude of believers had one heart and one soul in the Lord. No life is certainly worse than to live together in body and not in mind. And truly unhappy are those in whom there is not one will but divergent wills.\n\nSo let there always be for you one affection, one will, one brotherhood, one harmony of conduct, one joy, one sorrow: so that what pleases one may not displease the other; what one rejoices in, the other may not grieve over. And thus you will be able to hold to the purpose of religious life, if you dwell with one mind in the house of God. This is the true life of God, not of the devil: truly a monastery, not a hell: truly a religious life, not a diabolical one.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":6,"ref":"p6","source":"CAPUT IIJ\n\nDe non habendo aliquid proprium.\n\nAnte mentis vestrae oculos semper evangelicum illud appareat stolidissimi viri illius exemplum: qui aedificium suum quod summopere fecerat, ingruentibus fluminibus, flantibus ventis, et imbribus inun. dantibus pluviarum, totum amisit in casura: quoniam aedificatum erat in sabulo. Nec mirum, charissimae; firmum enim quid aut stabile, in mobili diu manere non potest. Ædificat fatuus ille in sabulo, qui in vita apostolica et religionis proposito appetit temporales divitias. Hic attendite, filiae, diligenter: hic periculum omne est, hic interitus, hic mors aeterna.\n\nQui jam renuntiaverunt omnibus quae possident: qui, relictis' omnibus quae habebant in saeculo, ad Christum imitandum pauperculum, qui ubi caput reclinet, non habet, concurrentes ex voto, sub juramenti pollicitatione promiserunt, nihil temporale, nihil terrenum preter Christum solum, non solum poss!dere, sed nec etiam appetere, quæ jam dimiserunt, tenere vel quaerere debent. Hinc Christus apostolis non portare sacculum, neque peram, neque aes in zonis mandat: ut ex hoc intelligant eorum vitae sectatores, quod nihil proprium in monasteriis licet habere. Certe non tunicam, nisi quae ex necessitate portatur: non caligam, nec aliud minimum quodque.","english":"CHAPTER III\n\nOn not having anything of one's own.\n\nLet that example of the most foolish man always appear before the eyes of your mind: he who, when rivers pressed in, winds blew, and the rains of showers flooded in, lost his whole building, which he had built with the greatest care, in its fall, because it had been built on sand. Nor is it surprising, dearest ones; for nothing firm or stable can long remain in something changeable. That fool builds on sand who, in the apostolic life and the purpose of religion, seeks temporal riches. Attend here diligently, daughters: here is every danger, here is destruction, here is eternal death.\n\nThose who have already renounced all that they possess, who, having left behind all that they had in the world, running to imitate Christ the poor one, who has nowhere to lay his head, have promised by vow, under the pledge of an oath, that they ought to possess nothing temporal, nothing earthly except Christ alone—and not only not to possess, but not even to desire, to hold, or to seek the things they have already abandoned. Hence Christ commands the apostles not to carry a purse, nor a bag, nor money in their belts, so that from this the followers of their life may understand that it is not permitted to have anything of one's own in monasteries. Certainly not a tunic, except one that is worn from necessity; not a shoe, nor any other smallest thing.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":7,"ref":"p7","source":"V crum et si Christus et apostoli aliqua quae sibi dabuntur, propter necessitatem tenebant, nulli singulorum licebat aliquid ex his contingere tamquam luum; sed pessimus ille proditor atque Jatro, fcrens loculos, bmnia portabat in eis veluti totius congregationis communia: et tninister communis, slngulorum necessitatibus providebat. Et ex hoc edocti apostoli et fideles post Christi ascensionem nihil omnino suum esse dicebant: sed erant illis omnia communia: et singulis dividebatur prout unicuique opus ertit. Sic et vos, charissimæ filiae, et si liceat habere aliquid temporale, ut victum et tegumentum, quæ duo plene sufficiunt Ohrisiiatio: nihil horum alicujus sit vestrum, sed commune quodcumque etiam minimis puellUlis quibusque distribuatur ut dccet.\n\nCAPUT III.\n\nDe eligendo sorores ad recipiendum et administrandum bona monasterii.","english":"And if Christ and the apostles held certain things that were given to them because of necessity, it was not permitted to any individual to take anything of these as his own; but that worst traitor and thief, carrying the money box, bore all things in it as though they were common to the whole congregation: and as common minister, he provided for the needs of individuals. And taught by this, the apostles and the faithful after Christ's ascension said that nothing at all was their own: but all things were common to them: and it was divided to each one according as each had need. So also you, dearest daughters, even if it is permitted to have something temporal, such as food and clothing, which two things are fully sufficient for a Christian: let none of these be any one of you's own, but whatever there is, let it be common and distributed even to the least little girls, as is fitting.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nOn choosing sisters to receive and administer the goods of the monastery.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":8,"ref":"p8","source":"Itaque obtestor vos omnes et singulas coram Deo et Christo Jesu, qui judicaturus eat omnes, ut aUrum et argentum, atque cito transiens pecunia, nulla cor vestrum ratione seducat: ut nitatur aliqua vestrum cnm Anania et Sapphira mentiri SpiritUi sancto, quem nihil latet: telinendo apud se aliquid quantumcumque minimum temporale, ultra ea quae ex neeessitate portantur: nec tamen hoc, nisi de licentia abbatissæ.\n\nSemper eorum mortis judicium terribile vos terrcat. Nam legitur quod ex eorum morte, factus eat timor magnus in universa Ecclesia: et omnes qui audierunt, timuerunt. Nudus JeSus nudas quaerit amicas et sponsas. QuM si ipsum sequi temporale aliquid appetens seu desiderans forte volueris, onerata gravedine nudum sequi non poteris. Hinc beat panperes dicuntur spiritu; ut ex boc sciatur quod non sufficit cuncta temporalia in mundo relinquendo ad monasterii paupertatem accedere, si mens misera appetit quae reliquit. Magis euim contemplantur oculi Domini affectum quam censum. Melius est enim in saculo cum caeteris divitibus, divitiis insistere, quam in monasterio patper ipsas appetere.","english":"Therefore I adjure you all and each one before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge all things, that gold and silver and money that swiftly passes away seduce none of your hearts by any reasoning; that none of you strive to lie to the Holy Spirit with Ananias and Sapphira, from whom nothing is hidden, by retaining with herself anything temporal, however small, beyond those things which are carried out of necessity—and even this only with the permission of the abbess.\n\nLet the terrible judgment of their death always terrify you. For it is read that from their death a great fear was made in the whole Church, and all who heard it feared. Naked Jesus seeks naked friends and brides. If perhaps you wish to follow him while desiring or longing for something temporal, weighed down by heaviness you will not be able to follow the naked one. Hence the poor in spirit are called blessed, so that from this it may be known that it is not enough to renounce all temporal things in the world and come to the poverty of the monastery, if the wretched mind desires what it has left behind. For the eyes of the Lord regard the affection more than the wealth. For it is better to persist in wealth in the world with the other rich, than to desire those very riches as a poor woman in the monastery.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":9,"ref":"p9","source":"Propter quod volo, hortor, et moneo vos, charissimae, ut haec perpetuo in vestro monasterio observatio maneat: quod nulla scilicet omnino tangere, aut aliqualiter retinere audeat per horam censum, ant obolum, aut aliquid quantumcumque minimum, quamquam a matre aut sorore mittatur. Eligantur aut juxta apostolorum ritum communi voto abbatissæ ct cæterarum singulis annis: aut si decens videbitur et utile, confirmentur duae aut plures ex sororibus, boni testimonii, plenæ Spiritu sancto et sapientia: quibus injungatur hoc opus, ut quoscumque proventus lam domus quam singularum sororum recipiant, ct ex his sororibus necessaria fideliter administrent.\n\nCaveant quoque ne aut ex parcitate murmur, aut ex abundantia tumor in sororibus habeat locum: sed juxta apostolorum vitam, non plus cuiquam aut minus tribuatur: juxta quod exigit necessitas, non voluntas, tribuatur: ut non jam altera sit egens, altera abundans: sed unaquæque ex provisione condccenti moveatur ad Dei laudem. Provideant insuper sic, quibus hit pletatis injunctus est laber, Ut slngulis mensibus, aut hebdomadis sive diebus paratæ sint, tam de his quæ proveniunt, quam de his quae etpehduntui* in capitulo coram abbatissa et conventu sororum sigillatim reddere rationem. Quod fiat saltem semel in mense, ne et ipsae apud sorores furti sint suspectae: et eis ex negligentia, male exsequendi materia detur.","english":"Wherefore I wish, exhort, and admonish you, most beloved, that this observance remain perpetually in your monastery: namely, that no one at all dare to touch, or in any way retain for even an hour, a census, or an obol, or anything however small, even if it be sent by a mother or a sister. But let an abbess be chosen by common vote, according to the custom of the apostles, together with the rest, each year; or if it seems fitting and useful, let two or more of the sisters be confirmed, of good testimony, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, to whom this task is enjoined, that they receive whatever revenues, both of the house and of the individual sisters, and from these faithfully administer what is necessary for the sisters.\n\nLet them also take care that neither from scarcity murmuring nor from abundance swelling have a place among the sisters: but according to the life of the apostles, let no one be given more or less: let it be given according to what necessity requires, not what the will desires: so that no longer is one in need and another abounding: but each one, from fitting provision, be moved to the praise of God. Let them further provide, those to whom this work of piety is enjoined, that each month, or week, or day, they be ready to render an account, both of what comes in and of what is spent, in the chapter before the abbess and the assembly of the sisters, one by one. Which let it be done at least once a month, lest they themselves be suspected of theft among the sisters, and lest from negligence an occasion of administering badly be given to them.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":10,"ref":"p10","source":"CAPUT IV.\n\nDe Communitate et Humanitate servanda.\n\nSic, sic, Dei sponsæ, sponsum Jesum astringite mentibus mundis a terrenorum cOntagione: quoniam secum in habitatione nihil patitur esse terrenum. Sic, sic, apostolicœ feminae, projicite peras et sacculos: ut neque marsupia ex latere pendeant, neque opus sit clavibus: ut jamex ipsis monstretUr exteriorum indiciis, quod nihil hnbetur intrinsecum præter Jesum: quod nihil est claUsum, quod est deditum usibus omnium. Vestimenta duplicte sunt ex Evangelio prohibita vobis: ut discatis ea solum habere, quæ natune tantum subveniant: et non quae nutriant tineas. Si qua verb supersunt, uno tlaudantur in ioco: utex his quaecumque soror egot, Indui possit.\n\nNulla umquam in vestibus pretiesitas, nulla melioritas, atteram dominam, alteram ancillam ostentet.sed in omnibus æqualitas existat, quæ uni sponso nupta, communi voto professæ sunt. Non quærat, obsecro, filia regis filiæ militis præeminere pompis terrenis, in Christi et apostolorum consortio. Non enim Petro viii piscatori Bartholomænus nobilis anteponitur a Christo: immo piscatori totius mundi monarchiae traditur principatus. Dignitatibus carnis spititualis vita Mn eget: et camts arrhas Christus in suo tion quærit conjugio. In sæculo nubant paribus filiæ regum, filia! militum præemiuentias quoerant et honores.","english":"CHAPTER IV.\n\nOn Preserving Community and Kindness.\n\nThus, thus, brides of God, bind to yourselves your bridegroom Jesus with minds clean from the contagion of earthly things, since he suffers nothing earthly to be with him in his dwelling. Thus, thus, apostolic women, cast away your wallets and purses, so that neither pouches hang at your side nor is there any need of keys, so that it may now be shown by outward signs from the things themselves that nothing is held within except Jesus, that nothing is locked away, that everything is given over to the use of all. Garments of two kinds are forbidden you by the Gospel, so that you may learn to have only those things which merely supply the needs of nature and not those which feed the moths. But if any remain over, let them be kept in one place, so that from these whatever sister is in need may be clothed.\n\nLet there never be any preciousness in your garments, no superiority, showing one as mistress and the other as handmaid, but let equality exist in all things, you who, wed to one bridegroom, have professed this by a common vow. Let not, I beseech you, the daughter of a king seek to surpass the daughter of a soldier in earthly pomp, in the fellowship of Christ and the apostles. For the noble Bartholomew is not preferred by Christ to Peter the fisherman; indeed, to a fisherman is handed the principality over the monarchies of the whole world. The spiritual life has no need of the dignities of the flesh, and Christ does not seek the pledges of the flesh in his marriage. In the world let the daughters of kings marry their equals; let the daughters of soldiers seek pre-eminences and honors.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":11,"ref":"p11","source":"In monasterio vero oblitæ populi sui et domus suæ, in Domino solum gloriam quærant: ei exsultent, quod de majori præcipitio montis sunt ad vitam apostolicam sumptæ.\n\nPropter quod admoneo vos, filiæ, ut quæcumque 4f ficiavobis domus a matre monasterii imposita, libenti animo expleatis: Hilarem enim datorem diligit Deus (II Cor. IX, 7). Nec verecundentur in viBbus nobiles, nec illa reousent, sed audiant sapievtM: Quanto major es, humilia te in omnibus. Audiant et Christum quid apostolis de hujusmodi pompis in attima coena humana mente disceptamibus definiverit: Reges gentium dominantur eorum: et qui potestatem habent super eos, benefici vocantur. Vos autem non sic: sed qui major eat in vobis, fiat sicut minor: el qui præcessor est, sicut ministrator (Luc. XXII, 25). Verum ue doctoris doctrina, ex contraria operatione vilescat: statim subinfert ex similitudine quadam cum interrogatione concludens: Nam quis major esi: qui recumbit, an qui ministrat? Nonne qui recumbit? EQO autem in medio vestri sum, sicut qui ministrat (Ibid., 27). Erubescat siquidem stercus vilissimum, et vapor id modicum parens, humana men. se extollere: et domus officia abnuens, * exteris sororibus sibi velle serviri. Nam Christus, cujus generationem quis enarrare non potest, non venit ministrari, sed ininletrire. Et in ultima cœna discipulorum abluons pedes, hoc suis reliquit humilitatis exemplum.","english":"But in the monastery, having forgotten their own people and their father's house, let them seek glory only in the Lord: let them rejoice in him, because from a higher precipice of the mountain they have been taken up to the apostolic life.\n\nWherefore I admonish you, daughters, that whatever duties of the house have been imposed on you by the mother of the monastery, you fulfill with a willing mind: for God loves a cheerful giver (II Cor. 9:7). Nor let the noble be ashamed in their strength, nor let them murmur at it, but let them hear the wise man: How great soever thou art, humble thyself in all things. Let them hear also what Christ defined to the apostles concerning pomps of this kind, when they were disputing with human minds at the last supper: The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them: and they who have power over them are called benefactors. But you not so: but let him who is greater among you become as the lesser: and he who is the leader, as the servant (Luke 22:25). But lest the doctrine of the teacher be cheapened by contrary practice, he immediately adds, concluding from a certain similitude with a question: For who is greater: he who reclines at table, or he who serves? Is not he who reclines? But I am in the midst of you, as he who serves (Ibid., 27). Let human filth, then, the vilest dung and this little vapor that soon passes, be ashamed to exalt itself: and refusing the duties of the house, to wish to be served by the foreign sisters. For Christ, whose generation no one can declare, did not come to be served, but to serve. And at the last supper, washing the feet of his disciples, he left this example of humility to his own.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":12,"ref":"p12","source":"CAPUT V:\n\nDe Stmonia vitanda in recipiendo sorores.\n\nDetestabilem hæresim simoni., quam communi pravitate diaboli moniales assuetae committunt, etiam in auditu horreat vestra societas. Hiezi prena, et Simonis ves terreat pravitas. Vox Petri Christi vicarii ad Simonem, numquam de vestris exeat auribus: Pecunia tua tecum sit in perditionem. Existimas enim donum Dei haberi pecunia: Donum Dei est Spiritus sanctus (Actor. viii, 20). Communis mercatorum habet usus, ut venditio commutetur iu melius. Asserit quippe simoniacus, pecuniam esse præstantiorem dono Dei, cum idem in ipsam eommulat. Ad vos venientes sorores, ad sanctas Christi suscipite nuptias gjratis: præponatur sanctitas pecuniae: exquiratur bonitas vitæ: non generositas carnis, non utilitas mundi. Nulla omnino pactio, nulla opinio, quæ mentis puritatem perturbat, præveniat. Beatum sapientia clamat, qui excutit manum ab omni munere: et qui post aurum non abiit, neo sperat in pecunia, quæ subvertit judicium.","english":"CHAPTER V:\n\nOn Avoiding Simony in Receiving Sisters.\n\nLet your community shudder even at the hearing of that detestable heresy of simony, which nuns are accustomed to commit through the common depravity of the devil. Let the punishment of Gehazi and the wickedness of Simon terrify you. Let the voice of Peter, the vicar of Christ, spoken to Simon, never depart from your ears: May your money be with you in perdition. For you think that the gift of God is obtained with money: the gift of God is the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:20). It is the common practice of merchants that a sale be exchanged for something better. For the simoniac asserts that money is more valuable than the gift of God, since he accumulates it for that very purpose. Receive the sisters who come to you for the holy marriage of Christ with gratitude: let holiness be preferred to money: let goodness of life be sought: not nobility of flesh, not worldly advantage. Let no agreement at all, no opinion that disturbs purity of mind, come first. Wisdom proclaims him blessed who shakes his hand free from every bribe: and who has not gone after gold, nor hopes in money, which subverts judgment.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":13,"ref":"p13","source":"Si qua sororum inopiam ex sua abundantia supplere desiderat, juxta apostolicum ritum, omnia quae habet in saeculo ante sororum pedes ponat; et cunctis quæ habebat in sæculo, renuntians intratura, fiat sicut una ex minimis: et sublato dominio cum affectu, omnia quæ portantur, electis administratricihus domus præbeantur, ut ex his tribuant prout unienique opus est. Nee murmuret quidem, quae sua monasterio tradidit, si sibi noa maiori sumptu administretur quam caeteris, quae ex paupertate venerunt. Nee extollatur, et cervice erecta more femineo improperet cæteris, se tantum ex suis facultatibus attulisse: flus enim attulit soror paupercula, si iugrediens affectum habendi dimisit, quam quae multa afferens dona, superbiam tulit. Glorietur autem petius, quoniam divitis quae solitæ sunt possessores præcipitare in mortem, non praevaluerant adversus eam: et quæ communiusu sunt malæ, ex subventione sororum sibi factae sunt bonae. Alioquin melius fuisaet sibi cum parva pœna, eum sais divitiis in mundo permanendo damnari quam ipsas relinquendo monasterio, exorta superbia, ad infernum cum majori pœna deduCi.","english":"If any of the sisters desires to supply the need of a poor sister from her own abundance, let her, according to the apostolic custom, lay everything she has in the world at the sisters' feet; and renouncing all that she had in the world as she is about to enter, let her become as one of the least. And with ownership set aside along with attachment, let all that is brought be given over to the chosen administrators of the house, so that from these things they may distribute to each one as she has need. Nor let her murmur, she who has handed her property over to the monastery, if less expense is provided for her than for the others who came from poverty. Nor let her be puffed up and, with head held high in the manner of women, reproach the others that she alone has brought so much from her own means; for that poor little sister has brought more, if in entering she let go the desire to possess, than she who, bringing many gifts, carried in pride. But rather let her glory, because the things that are wont to plunge the possessors of wealth into death have not prevailed against her, and the things that are commonly evil have, through the support shown to her by the sisters, become good for her. Otherwise it would have been better for her to remain in the world with her riches, to be condemned with a small punishment, than, by leaving those very riches to the monastery and having pride arise, to be led down to hell with a greater punishment.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":14,"ref":"p14","source":"Humilientur etiam pauperes: quæ ea paupertate nihil subventioni domes potueruet contribuere, sicut et Ule. £4 gratias ieo in humilitate relribuant: quod quæ prius in mundo vivere non poterant, ex alienis laboribus habent quae sib! sufficiunt, sicut et divites. Mirum quidem de infelici conditione plurium hominum. Sunt eoim nonnulli viles et abjecti in saeculo, qui quotidianis laboribus se ultra vires anngentes pro victu captando vilissimo, et vix ram fabis et rapis cum rudi et hordeaceo pane saturantur. Cum vero ad Christi mensam accedunt, et militiam Christi suscipiunt, suae egestatis obliti, lautiora quaerunt quam milites, qui sunt assueti magnificis. •\n\nHaec igitur omnia in Christi et apostolica vita locum non habeant. Omnes ex ministerio sint contentæ, ne ex murmuratione pereant. Si abundanter sibi tribuant administrantes: recipiant siquidem naturæ necessaria: necessitatum limites non excedant. Si vero modicum, discat cum Apostolo servire Domino in fame et in siti, et in egestate nuditatis ei frigoris: ita ut accepta cruce gradiatur post Christum abnegans seme'ipsam.","english":"Let the poor also be humbled—those who, by reason of their poverty, could contribute nothing to the support of the house—and let them, like that widow, give thanks in humility: that those who previously could not live in the world now have from the labors of others what suffices for them, just as the rich do. It is indeed a wonder concerning the wretched condition of many people. For there are some, vile and abject in the world, who, straining themselves in daily labors beyond their strength to obtain the most meager sustenance, are scarcely satisfied with coarse beans and turnips along with rough barley bread. But when they come to the table of Christ and take up the warfare of Christ, forgetful of their former want, they seek finer fare than soldiers who are accustomed to magnificent things.\n\nTherefore let all these things have no place in the life of Christ and the apostles. Let all be content from their service, lest they perish through murmuring. If those who administer give abundantly to themselves, let them indeed receive what is necessary for nature, but let them not exceed the limits of necessity. If, however, they give little, let them learn with the Apostle to serve the Lord in hunger and thirst, in want of nakedness and cold, so that, having taken up the cross, one may walk after Christ, denying herself.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":15,"ref":"p15","source":"CAPUT VI.\n\nDe Obedientia exhibenda prælatis.\n\nVolo autem vos mortuas saeculo, vitiis et concupiscentiis, carnem crucifigere cum Christo: et quæ jam coeperunt proprio sese voto castrare sub perpetuae virginitatis et castitatis proposito: in monasterio velut in duritia lapidis, fore cum Christo sepultas: atque juxta decretum summi post Christum. pontificis Petri, qui ligandi solvendique tenet principatum aDomino, resuscitandarum in gloria cum Christo sic devotione firmetur vestrum propositum, ut fides et spes sit tota in Deo. Castigent animas in obedientia charitatis et fraternitatis, amore simplici et corde invicem se diligentes attentius.\n\nNihil, ut puto, stultius, nihil intolerabilius. quam peregrinos et advenas praecipere civibus: et in loco non solito se ostendere directorem itineris, et de semitis, et de securitate itineris, et de brevitate tramitis, juxta voluntatis libitum velle docere. Monstraretur quippe portentum navigatoribus: et pro certo numquam veniretur ad portum, si de directione et gubernatione navigii, quicumque remigator ordinaret ad votum. Non civitas, non regnum, nou minima domuncula diu maneret in rure: si cujus voluntati pareretur, deesset.","english":"CHAPTER VI.\n\nOn the Obedience to Be Shown to Superiors.\n\nBut I wish you, dead to the world, to vices and to desires, to crucify the flesh with Christ; and those who have already begun to chastify themselves by their own vow under the purpose of perpetual virginity and chastity: in the monastery as in the hardness of a rock, to be buried with Christ; and according to the decree of the supreme pontiff after Christ, Peter, who holds from the Lord the primacy of binding and loosing, let your purpose be so strengthened in devotion to be raised again in glory with Christ, that faith and hope may be wholly in God. Let them chastise their souls in the obedience of charity and fraternity, loving one another more attentively with simple love and heart.\n\nNothing, as I think, is more foolish, nothing more intolerable, than for strangers and newcomers to give orders to citizens: and in a place not customary to show himself the director of the journey, and concerning the paths, and the safety of the journey, and the shortness of the road, to wish to teach according to the pleasure of his will. For a portent would surely be shown to sailors: and one would never come to port, if concerning the direction and steering of the ship, any rower whatsoever should ordain according to his wish. No city, no kingdom, not the least little house would long remain in the countryside: if anyone's will were obeyed, it would fail.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":16,"ref":"p16","source":"Propter quod ipse papa Petrus, qui religionis apostolicæ vitam volebat instruere, sicut a magistro didicerat: ut magis inlelligatur qualiter anima castigetur in ebedientia charitatis et fraternitatis amore, exponit apertius: Omnes, inquit, honorificate, fraternitatem diligite, Deum timete, regem honorificate (I Petre II, 17). Et ne excusationis arripiatur scutum: sub particulari nomine praeeminenlis dignitatis, generaliter infert omnibus: Serui, subditi, inquit, estote in omni timore dominis (Ibid., 18). Et ne praelati in medium perducatur pravitas, quae plerumque subditis præstat causam magni casus: Non tantum, inquit, 6enis et modestis, sed etiam dyscolis. Verum ne forte videatur grave humanae voluntati se abnegare, et crucem tollere: obedientiae proponit meritum, quo omnis labor dulcescat etiam gravis. Hoec, inquit, est gra. ria. felix et abundans gratia In obedientia summa virtutum clausa est. Nam simplici gressu hominem ducit ad Christum: et non solum mens excusatur ad reddendam Deo rationem de sobditis: sed nec etiam obligatur reddere de se ipsa. summa libertas, qua obtenta vix possit homo peccare.","english":"For this reason the blessed Pope Peter himself, who wished to instruct the life of the apostolic religion as he had learned it from the Master—so that it may be more clearly understood how the soul is chastised in obedience through love of charity and brotherhood—sets it forth more openly: \"Honor all,\" he says, \"love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king\" (1 Peter 2:17). And lest the shield of excuse be seized under the particular name of preeminent dignity, he brings it generally upon all: \"Servants, be subject,\" he says, \"to your masters with all fear\" (ibid., 18). And lest the wickedness of prelates be brought into the matter, which very often gives subjects cause for great ruin: \"Not only,\" he says, \"to the good and gentle, but also to the perverse.\" But lest perhaps it seem grievous to human will to deny itself and take up the cross, he sets before us the merit of obedience, by which every labor becomes sweet even when heavy. \"This,\" he says, \"is grace\"—happy and abundant grace. In obedience the highest of virtues is enclosed. For with a simple step it leads a person to Christ, and not only is the mind excused from rendering an account to God for its subjects, but it is not even bound to render an account for itself. This is the highest liberty, which once obtained, a person can scarcely sin.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":17,"ref":"p17","source":"CAPUT VII.\n\n'[De regimine Abbatissæ.\n\nAttende diligenter, mi domina charissima Eustochium, quam gravis imponitur sarcina humeris tuis: quae de subditarum animabus, de corpore, de verbis, de moribus obligaris apud divinum examen reddere rationem. Cave, quaeso, ne de te etiam levis suspicio in malo possit oriri: ne dispergas, quas conaris educere. Sic ordinata, sic rationi conformia mandata sororibus proferas, ut etiam depravatae superbaeque mentes animentur ad obedientiae semitas. Sic dulcis, sic mitis sit sermo, ut duritiae furorem non suscitet, sed frangat exortum. Sic erga inobedientes, virilis et constans sit animus: ut omnis muliebris mollities discedat e medio.\n\nExcidantur in ortus primordio vepres, ne nimium excrescentes, germina seminum suffocent. Nihil quippe in rectore periculosius est, quam vana humilitas ad correctionem erga superbos protervosque subditos. Singularum sororum voluntates in re difficUi pertractanda semper avide audias: nec tamen cujuscumque voluntati innitaris. Verumtamen si quidquam utile prodatur: non attendatur persona quae protulit. Elegit enim Deus infirma mundi: ut fortia quæque confundat (I Cor. I,!27). Tuam vero in rebus gerendis communibus non tantum voluntatem exquiras et teneas: nisi major pars discretarum filiarum id communi voto collaudet. Superbarum insensatarumque mentium est, suo tantum uti consilio.","english":"CHAPTER VII.\n\nConcerning the governance of an Abbess.\n\nAttend diligently, my dearest lady Eustochium, how heavy a burden is laid upon your shoulders: you are bound to render an account at the divine judgment for the souls of your subjects, for their body, for their words, for their conduct. Take care, I beg you, that not even a light suspicion of evil concerning you can arise: lest you scatter those whom you are striving to rear. So order and so conform to reason the commands you bring to the sisters, that even depraved and proud minds may be encouraged toward the paths of obedience. So sweet and so gentle be your speech, that it may not stir up the fury of harshness, but may break it as it rises. So toward the disobedient let your spirit be manly and constant, that all womanly softness may depart from your midst.\n\nLet briars be cut away in the first beginnings of the garden, lest, growing too great, they choke the sprouts of the seeds. For nothing is more dangerous in a ruler than a vain humility when it comes to correcting proud and insolent subjects. The wishes of each individual sister, in a difficult matter to be handled, you should always hear eagerly: yet you should not lean upon the wish of just anyone. But if anything useful is brought forward, let not the person who brought it forth be regarded. For God has chosen the weak things of the world, that He may confound the things that are mighty (I Cor. 1:27). But in matters to be carried out in common, you should not merely seek out and hold to your own will, unless the greater part of your discerning daughters approves it by common consent. It belongs to proud and foolish minds to use only their own counsel.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":18,"ref":"p18","source":"Non audiatur cujusquam voluntas sub verborum murmure et loco abscondito: sed palam cunctis praesentibus cum omni charitate liceat dicere et audire.\n\nSi conceptui proprio major pars sororum dissidet: non velis sola omnibus contraire. In exercendis furor, odium, invidia, seu derisio sic penitus discedat, iit non nisi pax, charitas, amor, et alterutrum supportatio cognoscatur: quatenus fiendorum solus Spi. ritus sanctus auctor meliora inspiret. Non sit inter vos quas charitas simul unit, feminalis quaedam abuaio: ut undique cachinnis et vocibus aer resonet, et audientium aures prae strepitu terreantur: sed cum omni modestia stantes, una loquente, caetera sileant. Nec altera alteram ex aviditate loquendi interrumpat, et praebeat impedimenta dicenti.\n\nCAPUT VIII.\n\nDe reverentia et subjectione erga abbatissam.\n\nPropter quod hortor, moneo et oro vos, charissimæ et dilectissimae filiæ, quae jam mortuae estis et sepultae cum Christo: quae jam carne contempta cum ejus gloria, cognito quod omnis caro fenum, et ejus gloria flos feni (lsai.","english":"Let no one's will be heard in muttered words and in a hidden place; but openly, with all present, let it be permitted with all charity both to speak and to hear.\n\nIf the greater part of the sisters disagrees with one's own private notion, do not wish to oppose all by yourself alone. In the conduct of affairs, let rage, hatred, envy, or mockery depart so utterly that nothing but peace, charity, love, and mutual forbearance be known among you, so that the Holy Spirit alone, the author of things to be done, may inspire what is better. Let there not be among you, whom charity unites together, a certain womanish babbling, so that on every side the air resounds with laughter and voices, and the ears of those who hear are terrified by the din; but standing with all modesty, when one speaks, let the rest be silent. Nor let one interrupt another out of eagerness to speak, and create hindrances for the one speaking.\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nConcerning reverence and subjection toward the abbess.\n\nFor this reason I exhort, admonish, and entreat you, dearest and most beloved daughters, who are already dead and buried with Christ, who have already despised the flesh together with its glory, knowing that all flesh is grass, and its glory the flower of grass (Isaiah","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":19,"ref":"p19","source":"XL, 9), ad novitatem vitae spiritus estis renatae: non ex corruptibili semine, sed incorruptibili, per verbum Dei viventis et permanentis in aeternum: ut tamquam peregrinæ et advenae abstineatis vos ab omnibus desideriis carnalibus, quae militant adversus animam: subjicientes vos in omni obedientia et timore, et reverentia praepositae matri vestrae: ut jam omnino nihil aliud velle vel nolle alicui liceat, nisi quae abbatissa domus mandaverit facienda: nihil grave, nihil importabile videatur, si jussu propriae non concordet voluntati. Vere obediens, et qui pro Christo caret omni arbitrio voluntatis, nihil novit difficile, nihil injustum.\n\nMementote, charissimae, quoniam Christo in vestrae religionis ingressu, dimisistis omnem volendi et nolendi licentiam, nisi quae ejus vices gerentes ordinarent de vobis. Obeditis enim Christo firmissime, cum praepositae matri vobis parere studetis. Tunc enim sponso Christo, cui desponsatae fidem totam vovistis: praeter quem nullum ultra amatorem admittere in disponsatione jurastis: magis placentes estis, citiusque meremini duci ad thalamum, ut cum omni jucunditate dulcibus amplexibus astringamini: cum ejus studueritis in vicaria parere mandatis. Vicarii enim honor redundat in Deum. Sic jubet lex conjugii, ut sponsa sub lege sit sponsi.","english":"...you are reborn to newness of life in the spirit: not from corruptible seed, but from incorruptible, through the word of the living and abiding God forever: so that, as strangers and pilgrims, you may abstain from all carnal desires, which wage war against the soul: submitting yourselves in all obedience and fear, and reverence, to your mother set over you: so that now absolutely nothing else may be permitted to anyone to will or not will, except what the abbess of the house has commanded to be done: let nothing seem burdensome, nothing unbearable, if by command it does not agree with one's own will. The truly obedient one, who for Christ's sake is devoid of all judgment of the will, knows nothing as difficult, nothing as unjust.\n\nRemember, dearest sisters, that at your entrance into the religious life you surrendered to Christ all license of willing and not willing, except what those acting in his stead should ordain concerning you. For you obey Christ most firmly when you strive to obey the mother set over you. For then you are more pleasing to your spouse Christ, to whom as his brides you have vowed all fidelity: besides whom you have sworn in your betrothal to admit no other lover: and you deserve more swiftly to be led to the bridal chamber, so that you may be bound in sweet embraces with all joy: when you have striven to obey in his stead the one who holds his place. For the honor of a vicar redounds to God. So the law of marriage commands, that the bride be under the law of the bridegroom.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":20,"ref":"p20","source":"Æmulamini semper inter vos hac Dei aemulatione: certatim adinvicem altera conetur excedere alteram in obedientia. Non igitur est monasterium, non religiosi, non monachi, ubi subditis obedientia deest erga praelatum. Destructioni est corpus expositum, cum membra discordant a capite.\n\nCAPUT IX.\n\nDe correctione facienda et generali accusatione crimi num in sexta feria.\n\nContumax, pra'sumptuosa ac superba mulier, in sancto vestro consortio, quae dedignatur esse subjecta, ac suis litibus et jurgiis scandalum praebet quieti sororum, et eis inobedientiae demonstrat exemplum, arduis crebrisque jejuniis castigetur, cum resistit mandatis impositis. Si jejunia non castigant superbiam, edometur verberibus, contumeliis et gravibus disciplinis: ut jam discat cum Petro, quod nisi prælato, immo Christo in eo obediat, partem cum Christo in regno Christi et Dei non habebit: quamquam imposita videantur extranea, nec consona rationi. Sed si nec indomita superbia studuerit obedire, cum apostatis angelis expellatur: quae partem non habebit in regno.","english":"Always emulate one another with this emulation of God: let each strive in turn to surpass the other in obedience. For it is not a monastery, not religious life, not monastic, where obedience toward the superior is lacking in those subject to him. The body is exposed to destruction when the members disagree with the head.\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nOn the correction to be made and the general accusation of sins on the sixth day.\n\nA contumacious, presumptuous, and proud woman in your holy community, who disdains to be subject and by her disputes and quarrels provides a scandal to the quiet of the sisters and shows them an example of disobedience, is to be chastised with arduous and frequent fasts when she resists the commands imposed on her. If fasts do not chastise her pride, let her be subdued with blows, insults, and severe disciplines: so that she may now learn with Peter that, unless she obeys the superior, or rather Christ in him, she will have no part with Christ in the kingdom of Christ and of God: although the things imposed may seem extraneous and not consonant with reason. But if even then her untamed pride does not strive to obey, let her be expelled with the apostate angels: she who will have no part in the kingdom.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":21,"ref":"p21","source":"infelix superbia vitae, ut pro implendis voluptatibus carnis, renuntiet haereditati coeli, quam fuerat assecutura per Christum. Nondum Deo vivit: nondum religionis semitam Christique nuptias attigit, quæ non efficitur ita simplex et pura, ut quidquid sibi mandatum fuerit per præpositam matrem, angelico putet ore transmissum. Tunc unaquæque caeteris se beatiorem existimet, cum in laboribus praeponitur reliquis.\n\nNon pudeat singulis hebdomadis sexta feria, quo die Salvator opprobria et mortem pro homine ab homine pertulit, unamquamque sororum, suam vitam coram omni cœtu sororum discutere, et de commissis contra praecepta et regulam, se proprio ore criminari ac disciplinam subire: quatenus stipulata mens cogitationis, stimulo accusationis ac verborum, caveat accusanda pudendaque committere. Nec tamen propter hoc occulta cogitamina cordium prodantur, nec occulta peccata, quae solis debent sacerdotibus confiteri: sed solum quae praeceptis obviant poblicis: et exempla peccandi sororibus praebent. Si vero vel tumore vel verecundia seipsam accusare neIlexcrit, liceat unicuique propalare tale crimen alterius: ut nullatenus radices inobedientia et superbia in sancto hortulo vestro arripiant non evellendas de facili.","english":"Unhappy pride of life, that for the fulfilling of the desires of the flesh she renounce the inheritance of heaven, which she was to have obtained through Christ. She does not yet live for God; she has not yet reached the path of religion and the marriage of Christ, who is not made so simple and pure as to think that whatever has been commanded her by the mother set over her was transmitted by an angelic mouth. Then let each one consider herself happier than the rest when she is placed before the others in labors.\n\nLet it not shame each of the sisters, on the sixth day of every week, the day on which the Savior endured reproaches and death for man from man, to discuss her own life before the whole assembly of the sisters, and to accuse herself with her own mouth of offenses against the commandments and the rule, and to undergo discipline: so that the mind, pledged to thought, may beware, by the sting of accusation and words, of committing things deserving of accusation and shame. Yet let not hidden thoughts of the heart be brought forth for this reason, nor hidden sins, which ought to be confessed to priests alone: but only those which oppose the public commandments and provide examples of sinning to the sisters. But if she has been unwilling to accuse herself, whether through pride or through shame, let it be permitted to anyone to disclose such a crime of another: so that in no way may the roots of disobedience and pride take hold in your holy garden, not to be easily uprooted.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":22,"ref":"p22","source":"Verum si quippiam juxta feminarum modum, anae nihil retinere norunt absconditum, immo ante garrulando manifestant, quam sciant, aliquid de his extra cænobii limites prodiderit, subeat gravissimam poenam: ut doctrina tacendi doceatur in paena.\n\nCAPUT X.\n\nDe vi'a mirifica sanctorum Patrum, quos in eremo reperit.\n\nReferam vobis quaedam non minus imitanda per opera, quam audienda de aliquibus sanctissimis viris, ut bonorum exempla, obedientiæ humilitatem: qua carente, in ædificii spiritualis structura, fundamento virtutum quidquid aedificatur, est vanum: vestras mentes doceant, et crebra memoria sanctorum gestorum vitae religionem instruant et virtutem. Dum igitur per eremorum antra septem annis sanctos Patres degentes, ibidem in terris velut in coelis angelos assistentes assiduo labore itineris, arduisque vivendi incommodis, caeterisque innumeris calamitatibus peragrando visitarem: de quorum vita moribusque mirificis, quae luculenter ipse perspexi, libellum compegi, qui vobis sit ut lucerna in candelabro ad meditationem religionis et vitae. Nihil ita carum, ita studiosum appetebatur a monachis, quam quod in eis qui juberet, posset inveniri.","english":"But if any woman, according to the manner of women, who know how to keep nothing hidden in their hearts—indeed, they make it known by chattering before they even know it—should betray anything of these matters beyond the bounds of the monastery, let her undergo the gravest penalty: that she be taught the doctrine of silence in punishment.\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nConcerning the wondrous life of the holy Fathers, whom he found in the desert.\n\nI shall relate to you certain deeds no less to be imitated than to be heard, concerning certain most holy men, so that the examples of the good may teach your minds the humility of obedience—which, when it is lacking, whatever is built in the structure of the spiritual building is vain, for it lacks the foundation of the virtues—and so that the frequent remembrance of the holy deeds may instruct the life of religion and virtue. Therefore, while for seven years I was visiting the holy Fathers dwelling in the caves of the deserts—angels on earth as in heaven, serving with the ceaseless labor of my journey—and was traversing arduous hardships of living and countless other calamities, I compiled a little book concerning their life and wondrous customs, which I myself clearly perceived, that it might be for you as a lamp on a lampstand for the meditation of religion and life. Nothing was so dear, so earnestly desired by the monks, as that which could be found in those who commanded.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":23,"ref":"p23","source":"Profecto non taceam tantam charitatem, tantamque humilitatem, quam sanctae illae mentes habebant: ut haec cernens, omnis laboris et gravedinis oblitus itineris, eremos humanae naturæ tam delestabiles et ingratas, in paradisos putarent pene conversas. Mirum auditu, sed felix obtentu: sic sanctorum hominum corda charitas transformaverat in creaturas deificas, ut caro pene esset nescia carnis. Licet per Joannem dicatur: quod quidquid est in mundo, aut est concupiscentia oculorum, aut concupiscentia carnis, aut superbia vitae. Nam sic simplicia et humilia corda, obedientiæ et humilitatis innitebantur vestigiis, ut quasi quorumdam philosophorum videretur in eis verificari opinio: qui unam ponunt in hominibus universis animam solam. Nam abbates et patres nihil omnino velle sciebant, nisi iilud quod subditi: et subditi antea conabantur jussa implere, quam forent emissa. quibusdam quodammodo indiciis nitebantur prophetare de voluntate mandantis.","english":"Indeed I would not pass over in silence such great charity and such great humility as those holy minds possessed, so that, seeing these things, forgetful of all labor and of the heaviness of the journey, they thought the deserts of human nature, so delightful and so thankless, were almost turned into paradises. A wonder to hear, but a blessed exchange: charity had so transformed the hearts of holy men into deified creatures that the flesh was almost ignorant of the flesh. Although it is said through John: whatever is in the world is either the lust of the eyes, or the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life. For hearts so simple and humble leaned upon the footsteps of obedience and humility, that the opinion of certain philosophers seemed to be verified in them, who posit in all men one soul alone. For the abbots and fathers knew how to will nothing at all except what their subjects willed; and the subjects strove to fulfill commands before they were issued, and by certain indications they endeavored, as it were, to prophesy concerning the will of the one commanding.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":24,"ref":"p24","source":"-CAPUT XI..\n\nDe vanitate scientiæ mundialis., ■\n\nsancta fatuitas, quae natos ad labores homines in mundo, mereris transvehere ad gloriam ereptos de poenis! Non hanc fatuitatem doctissimam Athenis Plato didicit, non Aristoteles, non Anaxagoras, non caeterorum stultorum mundi sapientium turba percepit. Non certe miser ego Hieronymus fatuorum sapientium imitator, antequam sancta verbera lucrem. Quamquam ut meas miserias detegam, me antequam vicesimum annum aetatis attingerem, urbs Roma in summum præelegerat magistrum in omnibus Dene liberalibus artibus. Nondum sancti Spiritus scholas intraveram: nondum caecutiens pervenire ad sanctae veritatis poteram disciplinam. Non Academiæ, non certe Romæ hujus doctae fatuitatis resonavere gymnasia, quae sancta retinet eremus.\n\nVerum non sine labore didicisti tuam sapientiani fatuam, Plato: quem mundus retinere non poterat, mundi sapientiam insequentem, per diversarum nationum, et gentium, regionumque partes, infinitis aerumnis innumerisque peragrando laboribus. Nec tamen fatuissimæ sapientiae finem, qui est summum bonum, ad quod te naturae movebat intentio, in orbe universo reperire scivisti: quem sancti hi rustici hanc fugientes invenerunt in eremis latitantes.","english":"CHAPTER XI.\n\nOn the vanity of worldly knowledge.\n\nO holy foolishness, who deserve to carry men born for labors in the world across to glory, snatched away from punishments! Plato did not learn this most learned foolishness at Athens, nor did Aristotle, nor Anaxagoras, nor did the crowd of the other foolish wise men of the world perceive it. Surely not I, wretched Jerome, an imitator of foolish wise men, before I gained the holy lashes. Although, to lay bare my miseries, before I reached the twentieth year of my age, the city of Rome had chosen me as the foremost teacher in all the liberal arts. I had not yet entered the schools of the Holy Spirit; not yet, being blind, could I arrive at the discipline of holy truth. The gymnasia of the Academy did not resound, nor certainly those of Rome, with this learned foolishness, which the holy desert holds fast.\n\nBut not without labor have you learned your foolish wisdom, Plato: you whom the world could not contain, pursuing the wisdom of the world, through the parts of diverse nations and peoples and regions, wandering with infinite hardships and countless labors. And yet you could not know, in the whole world, the end of that most foolish wisdom, which is the highest good, to which the intent of nature moved you: which these holy rustics, fleeing it, found hiding in the deserts.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":25,"ref":"p25","source":"Attende et tu, fatuorum sapicntium princeps, Aristoteles: etsi fueris, absque dubitatione, prodigium grandeque miraculum in tota natura: cui pene vi, detur infusum, quidquid naturaliter est capax humanum genus: quoniam sapientia mundi, stultitia est apud Deum (I Cor. III), si charitas non informat: si intellectus non caplivatur ad iidem: si cor ad Christi servitutem non inclinatur, qui Judæis est scandalum, paganis stultitia: nobis vero credentibus honor et gloria: in quo solum gloriatur Apostolus: Qui gloriatur, inquiens, in Domino glorietur (I Cor. I).\n\nCAPUT XII.\n\nDe promptitudine adimplendi mandata.\n\nNibil honorabilius, nihilve gloriosius, cbarissimac, quam servitus Christi. Haec sane praeferenda imperatorum fastigio, hæc dignitati regiæ, haec cuicumque saeculi gloriæ. Hujus servitutis Christi, quidam.inter caeteros quos vidi in eremo doctus ex monachis, ex jussu patris senioris, suæ charitatis et humilitatis fructum cupiens augere, et obediendi aliis juvenibus tradere normam, pergrandem lapidem humeris hominum procul dubio gravem, bis quolibet die per tria milliaria gestabat in scapulis: nulla alia necessitate coactus. quod jam per octo annos effeccrat. Sed si forte quaerebatur quid in ejus mente volvebatur: ex hoc quod forte nostrae superbae menti, quæ nondum ad hujus sanctaefaluitatis perfectionem advenit, videtur extraneum puerorumque ludus, et otiositatis opus.","english":"Attend also, you Aristotle, prince of foolish philosophers: although you were, without doubt, a prodigy and a great marvel in all nature, to whom almost by force it is granted that whatever in the human race is naturally capable is poured in, yet since the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God (1 Cor 3), if charity does not inform it, if the understanding is not brought captive to the same, if the heart is not inclined to the servitude of Christ, who is to the Jews a stumbling block and to the pagans foolishness, but to us who believe honor and glory, in whom alone the Apostle glories, saying, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord (1 Cor 1).\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nOn readiness to fulfill the commandments.\n\nNothing is more honorable, nothing more glorious, dearest ones, than the servitude of Christ. This truly is to be preferred to the eminence of emperors, this to royal dignity, this to whatever glory of the world. Of this servitude of Christ, one among others whom I saw in the desert, learned among the monks, by the command of the elder father, desiring to increase the fruit of his charity and humility, and to hand down a rule of obedience to other young men, carried a very large stone, heavy beyond doubt on the shoulders of men, twice each day for three miles on his shoulders, compelled by no other necessity, which he had already done for eight years. But if perhaps it was asked what was being turned over in his mind, it is from this that it seems strange to our proud mind, which has not yet arrived at the perfection of this holy soundness, and a game of boys and a work of idleness.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":26,"ref":"p26","source":"Testor Deum quod mihi ab eo sollicite percunctanti, tanta simplicitas et humilitas est reperta, quod ex tuncincepi ducere monasticam vitam. Nam sic devote, sic affectanter, sic hilariter continuis diebus explebat tam insolitum opus, ut sibi videretur post expletionem captare omnem gloriam. Quinimmo in hujus operis fatigatione, minime contentus, pene molestabat patrem: ut medio tempore novos induceret labores, ei opera perficienda per eum. Quid ego vagor per singula? non est opus exponere, quidquid in similibus continue exercetur a mpnachis. Hoc unum apud omnes observationis præcipuum est, ' et celebre per Ægyptum, ut nullum nisi obedientem et humilem ad omnes labores perficiendos et opera suscipiant. Quatenus domita caro ex gravedine, cogitationibus vanis et voluptatibus non vacet ex otio. Teneatis firmissime, quod omnis concupiscentiae et immunditiæ atque peccati mater est otiositas.","english":"I call God to witness that when I earnestly questioned him about this, I found such great simplicity and humility in him that from that time I began to lead the monastic life. For so devoutly, so eagerly, so cheerfully did he perform such an unusual task on successive days that after completing it he seemed to himself to be grasping at every glory. Indeed, in the weariness of this work he was by no means content, and he almost troubled the father, so that in the meantime he might introduce new labors, with the work to be completed by him through him. Why do I wander through particulars? There is no need to explain whatever is continually practiced by monks in such matters. This one thing is foremost in the observance of all, and famous throughout Egypt: that they receive no one for performing all labors and undertaking works except one who is obedient and humble. To the end that the flesh, tamed by heaviness, may not be free for vain thoughts and pleasures through idleness. Hold most firmly that idleness is the mother of every lust, impurity, and sin.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":27,"ref":"p27","source":"CAPUT XIII.\n\nDe sororum operibus faciendis.\n\nHanc sanctam stultitiam slultamque sapientiam, quotidie in monasteriis discite, filiæ, quam sancti in eremo vos docent rustici. Subtilia et alta nolitesapere: sed superbis et tumidis sæculi ea relinquite, ut post peractum incipiant noscere quod littera occidit, spiritus viviftcat: et quod Deus elegit abjecta et infirma. Hanc saepe scholarn intrate: quocumque die et quacumque nocte ex his novam discite lectionem. Non otium, non torpor, et ignavia vos ad Dei servitia tepidas et frigidas reddat. Semper aut officiis, aut orationibus, aut manuum operibus sanctis, caeterisque laboribus fatigatum corpus, requiem et refocillationem, non voluptatem exquirat. Sed cavete potissime ne quid operis vanitatis vestris versetur in manibus: inmundus reputatur, qui immundum quidquam tetigerit, vel morticinum. Non deaurata marsupia, non cingulos, non etiam chirothecas, quae omnia lascivæ et superbae mentes exoptant. Horreat Deo dicatum cor talia scire: sed aut sacri codices, vel legendo, vel scribendo genua premant: aut hortulorum cultus exerceatur, aut aliud sanctum opus et utile: ut ex relaxatione quadam refocillatus spiritus, ad divinum ardorem fortius accendatur.","english":"CHAPTER XIII.\n\nOn the Works to Be Done by the Sisters.\n\nLearn this holy folly and foolish wisdom daily in the monasteries, daughters, which the holy peasants in the desert teach you. Be unwilling to know subtle and lofty things; but leave them to the proud and swollen of this world, so that after it is accomplished they may begin to know that the letter kills, the spirit gives life, and that God has chosen the abject and weak. Enter this school often: on whatever day and whatever night, learn a new lesson from these things. Let not leisure, not sluggishness and idleness make you tepid and cold toward the service of God. Let the body, always wearied either by duties, or by prayers, or by holy works of the hands and other labors, seek rest and refreshment, not pleasure. But above all beware lest any work of vanity be turned about in your hands: he is reckoned unclean who has touched anything unclean, or a dead thing. Not gilded purses, not belts, not even gloves, all of which lascivious and proud minds desire. Let a heart dedicated to God shudder to know such things: but either let the sacred books press the knees, whether by reading or by writing; or let the cultivation of gardens be practiced, or some other holy and useful work: so that the spirit, refreshed by a certain relaxation, may be kindled more strongly to divine ardor.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":28,"ref":"p28","source":"Sanctorum Resta quæ legitis vestro accommoda proposito imitemini: velitis imitari quod laudatis,. et sequi quod cupitis. Vestram inter gentes conversationem bonam habeatis, ut ex odore famæ vestrae sanctitatis, etiam malorum corda ad sancta desideria movcantur. Et in eo quod depravata: gentes detrectant de vobis tamquam de malefactricibns, ex operibus vestris bonis glorificent Deum. Hæc est enim Dei voluntas, ut imprudentium hominum ignorantiam obmutescere faciatis.\n\nCAPUT XIV.\n\nDe officio et potestate Abbatisse.\n\nCave, quaeso, quecumque sis illa quæ prxemines, ne ex officio regendi eleveris in altum, ut imperes illiciia, et quae sunt importuna vel importabilia, et inquieta subjectis: ne tibi ille propheticus serrno conveniat: Quid est, Israel, quod iii terra inimicorum es? inveterasti in terra aliena: coinquinata es cum mortuis: deputata es cum his qui in inferno sunt I Dereliquisti fontem sapientiæ: nam ei in aia Dei ambulasses, habitasses utique in pace super ter• ram ( Barac. III). Non eniam ambulant iii via Bei, qui in administratione regiminis, honores et utilitates propria exposcunt.","english":"Remain steadfast in the deeds of the saints which you read, and imitate them as suits your purpose: be willing to imitate what you praise, and to follow what you desire. Keep your conduct good among the nations, so that by the fragrance of the good repute of your holiness, even the hearts of the wicked may be stirred to holy desires. And in that very thing wherein the depraved nations speak against you as evildoers, let them glorify God by your good works. For this is the will of God, that you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nOn the Office and Power of the Abbess.\n\nTake care, I beseech you, whoever you are who preside, lest by the office of ruling you be lifted on high, so as to command what is unlawful, and things that are troublesome or unbearable and unsettling to your subjects; lest that prophetic saying be fittingly applied to you: What is this, Israel, that you are in the land of enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land; you are defiled with the dead; you are reckoned among those who are in hell. You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom; for if you had walked in the way of God, you would surely have dwelt in peace upon the earth (Baruch 3). For they do not walk in the way of God who, in the administration of governance, demand honors and advantages for themselves.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":29,"ref":"p29","source":"Revolve sæpius in mentis areano, et stylo ferreo scribe II, silice cordis, quid Dominus, eujus vices geri ad subditas, eontendeutes apostolos quis major esset eorum instruxerit, sequenti die recessurus ab eis: et si in superioribus dictum, tamen iterum narratum tius teneatur in corde: Reges gentium dominantur eorum: et qui potestatem habent super illos, benefici aMantur. Vos autem non sic, sed fiat sicut minor qui est major a vobis: et sit præcessor sicut ministrator (Luc. XXII).\n\nDisce igitur a magistro officium quod tibi injungitur, ne tuo vicariatu, potestatis traditae limites excedas. Non efficieris certe domina, sed ministra: unus est enim Dominus. Et si tibi reliquæ sorores at Christi administratrici et vicariae obediunt: propterea non est tradita tibi potestas, ut inter sorores et filias hanc eleves, bane vero deprimas sieut velis. Sed quid tibi injungatur ab institutore regiminis, diligenter investiga. Rerum enim omnium monasterii, et sororum sollicitudo in administratione et pro. videntia tibi traditur: ut jani cæteris dormientibus, te doceat noctes crebras insomnes ducere: et senem junioris animam sumere, proutilibus et necessariis domui providendis. Itaque non tantum tibl honor, quantum onus imponitur. Et si sie feceris sicut decet, præmium multo majus consequeris.","english":"Revolve this often in the hidden chamber of your mind, and write it with an iron stylus, as it were on the flint of your heart: what the Lord, whose place you are to hold over the sisters, taught the apostles who were striving over which of them was the greater, on the day before he was to depart from them. And even if it was said above, still let it be held in your heart, told again a third time: The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have power over them are called benefactors. But you are not so; rather let the one who is greater among you become as the lesser, and let the one who leads be as one who serves (Luke 22).\n\nLearn, therefore, from the master the office that is imposed on you, so that in your vicariate you do not exceed the limits of the power handed to you. You will certainly not be made a mistress, but a minister: for there is one Lord. And if the rest of the sisters obey you as the administrator and vicar of Christ, still the power handed to you is not for this purpose: that among the sisters and daughters you exalt one and cast down another, just as you wish. But what is imposed on you by the one who established the rule, investigate diligently. For the care of all the things of the monastery and of the sisters is handed over to you in administration and providence: so that, while the others sleep, it may teach you to spend many sleepless nights, and to take upon yourself the soul of the younger as if of an old man, in providing for the useful and necessary things of the house. And so not so much honor is imposed on you as burden. And if you do this as is fitting, you will obtain a much greater reward.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":30,"ref":"p30","source":"CAPUT XV.\n\nDe periculo præeminentiæ et dignitatis.\n\nNon tibi, obsecro, blandiaris de Domini pietate, qui tam diu peccatores misericorditer sustinet in peccatis. Et si diuturna est exspectatio, non minus formidanda est vindicta, quae lanto durior est, quanto longius tempus ili sustinendo praecessit. Propterea si secus quam debes egeris, periculum expavescas: nec ideo minus, si statim divinum non incurras judicium. Dominus enim tuus qui suis te ovibus admi. nistratricem, et in sua te posuit vinea, a te vult de singulis etiam occultis exigere rationem. Et si quid eum defraudaveris, tunc diabolo venundatam in carcere exterioris inferni poni te jubet: ubi fletus est alternus, et stridor dentium: ut exprimatur iu his quidquid doloris et pœnæ excogitari potest, quousque debitum universum reddideris. Sed si forte de restituendo debitum conlidis, o te fatuam! Nam pro minimo quoque delicto non habent unde restituant simul homines universi, nisi ipse idem velit remittere, cui facienda est restitutio. Felices itaque magisque securae quæ subsunt, illis quae supersunt: et quibus potius ministratur, quam quoe ministrant. Sed tamen superba mens hominum improvida periculi, semper majorum dignitatum ascensum expetit: nec nisi post factum ex descensu terretnr: quia quanto altior est ascensus, tanto durior est descensus. Sed forte descensum rarum aestimas.","english":"CHAPTER XV.\n\nOn the Danger of Pre-eminence and Rank.\n\nDo not, I beg you, flatter yourself on the Lord's mercy, you who for so long have mercifully been borne with by him as a sinner in your sins. And even if the waiting is long, the vengeance is no less to be feared, which is all the harsher the longer the time that has passed in bearing with him. Therefore, if you have acted otherwise than you ought, tremble at the danger; and none the less so if you do not at once incur the divine judgment. For your Lord, who has set you as administrator over his sheep and placed you in his vineyard, will require an account from you for each single thing, even the hidden ones. And if you have defrauded him of anything, he then orders you, sold to the devil, to be cast into the prison of the outer hell, where there is weeping unceasing and gnashing of teeth, so that in these whatever of pain and punishment can be devised may be expressed, until you have paid back the whole debt. But if perhaps you are dashed to pieces over restoring the debt, O you fool! For for even the least offense all men together have not the means to restore, unless he himself wills to remit it, to whom the restitution must be made. Happy therefore, and more secure, are those who are under, than those who are over; and those to whom ministry is done, rather than those who minister. But yet the proud mind of men, heedless of danger, always seeks the ascent to greater dignities; and is not terrified except after the fact, by the descent: because the higher the ascent, the harder the descent. But perhaps you think the descent rare.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":31,"ref":"p31","source":"Sed firmissime doctus experientiis, et non paucis dicam. Raro per gradus dignitatis asecndit homo, quin multo gravius non descendat. Yqrum et si a proposito digrediar, nolo opusculum hoc pertransire exemplum quoddam, quod, sancto quodam mihi referente sene in eremo, ex veritate didici.\n\nCum juvenis quidam sancto proposito et via electus foret ad Episcopale fastigium, quo gravius periculosiusve nequit aliud cogitari: patruum suum quemdam, virum utique sanctum, et prophetiae plenum, eremi in cella ut eum ex hoc consuleret, adiit non incautus. Audita itaque narratione nepotis, vir sanctus non verbis, sed signis potius percunctanti respondit. Et ne contra Apostolum, qui desiderantem episcopatum in bono opere laudat, contrairet dissuadendo: et juvenem periculo exponeret suadendo. Jussit itaque senex quadratum discum a terra vehementer pedibus elevatum ascendere juvenem, et quater per quatuor disci latera supinum revolvere semetipsum usque ad horam casus: sicque casu jmminente, si altera succederet revolutio, mandavit ut extra summitatem disci, adhuc se volverct iterato. Cui cum nepos se non posse ex timore casus responderet, illico eum fecit descendere: et per quamdam latam planitiem diutius volutare. Cumque ex multitudine volutationum utrisque fastidium evenirct: Surge, inquit senex, et perge quo vis: facito quod tibi securius cernitur.","english":"But I have been most firmly taught by experience, and not by a few instances, I would say. Rarely does a man ascend through the degrees of dignity without descending far more grievously. And even if I digress from my purpose, I do not wish this little work to pass over a certain example, which, as a holy old man in the desert related to me, I learned as the truth.\n\nWhen a certain young man, chosen for a holy purpose and the way to the episcopal summit—than which nothing more grievous or perilous can be conceived—approached his uncle, a certain man indeed holy and full of prophecy, in his desert cell, not unwarily, to consult him concerning this matter. And so, when the holy man had heard the account of his nephew, he answered the inquirer not with words but rather with signs. And lest he should contradict the Apostle, who praises the one desiring the episcopate in a good work, by dissuading him; and lest he expose the young man to danger by persuading him. The old man therefore ordered the young man to climb onto a square disk raised violently from the ground by his feet, and to roll himself supine four times around the four sides of the disk until the moment of falling; and thus, with the fall imminent, if another revolution should follow, he commanded him to roll himself yet again beyond the top of the disk. When the nephew answered in fear of falling that he could not, he immediately made him come down, and roll for a long time over a certain broad plain. And when weariness came upon both from the multitude of rollings, the old man said: Rise, and go where you wish; do what seems to you safer.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":32,"ref":"p32","source":"Dedignatus namque juvenis, abscessit: et alteri sancto seni, patrui deliramentum putans, factum retulit; a quo de periculo præeminentiæ edoctus, electioni renuntiavit, ut teneret quod est tutum. Qui post modicum, felici obitu ex saeculo exiens, hilaris et jucundus apparuit patruo. Gratias, inquit, pater, tibi refero ex dissuasione episcopatus. Nam scito quia nunc essem de numero damnatorum, si fuissem de numero episcoporum.\n\nCAPUT XVI.\n\nDe ordine in operibus Abbatissæ.\n\nHaec idcirco, mea domina Eustochium, dixerim, ut advertas quanto sis exposita periculo, et quanta te oporteat in via Dei prudentia ambulare; ne derelictis semitis justitiæ capiaris aL inimicis, quibus plena sunt omnia; et in terram alienam deducta, coinquinata cum mortuis, miserabiliter deputeris cum bis qui sont in inferno. Volo autem te discere, ubi sit sapientia, ubi virtus, ubi sit prudentia, ubi sit longiturnitas vitae et victus, ubi sit lumen oculorum et pax: ut intelligas viam disciplinæ, et deducas subjectas libi per viam pacis et disciplinæ. Te morientem filiæ plangapt, non gaudeant; tibi justa et sancta praecipienti, omnes æquanimiter obedire laetentur. Non propinquæ, non affines, sic exaltentur quod cæteræ invideant. Non carnalis dilectio in multis nociva, in sanctis mentibus habenda est. Omnes itaque amato aequali charitate, et spirituali dilectione ut filias.","english":"For the young man disdained it and went away; and, thinking it the raving of his uncle, he reported the matter to another holy old man, by whom, being instructed about the danger of pre-eminence, he renounced the election, so as to hold to what is safe. And after a little while, departing from this world by a happy death, he appeared to his uncle cheerful and joyful. \"I give thanks to you, father,\" he said, \"for dissuading me from the episcopate. For know that I would now be of the number of the damned, if I had been of the number of the bishops.\"\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nOn order in the works of the Abbess.\n\nI have said these things for this reason, my lady Eustochium, that you may consider how great a danger you are exposed to, and with how great prudence you ought to walk in the way of God; lest, forsaking the paths of justice, you be seized by the enemies with whom all things are full, and, led into a strange land, defiled with the dead, you be miserably reckoned with those who are in hell. But I wish you to learn where wisdom is, where virtue is, where prudence is, where length of life and sustenance are, where the light of the eyes and peace are: that you may understand the way of discipline, and lead those subject to you through the way of peace and discipline. Let not your daughters mourn you when you die, nor rejoice; but let all rejoice to obey you with equal mind as you command just and holy things. Let not kinswomen, let not relatives, be so exalted that the rest envy them. Carnal affection, harmful in many, is to be held in holy minds. Therefore love all with equal charity, and with spiritual love as daughters.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":33,"ref":"p33","source":"Cum tempus exitii correptionem, universas simili modo velut ignotas, ia omissis corrigas.\n\nVerum semper in ira misericordiæ mempr esto: ut nulla movearis ratione ad crudelitatem ex furore vel odio. Nec tamen habeas manus remissas ad puniendum scelera; ne e; impunitate, peccandi Iicentia sororibus concedatur. Non sis ad pertractandum ardua monasterii et sororum, præceps pro Iibito: sed sororum plurium et meliorum voluntas semper accedat: ne rea et dissipatrix bonorum coenobii crimineris. Non omnibus qui loquuntur, sis facilis ad credendum. Levitas enim in credendo levem denotat mentem. Nequaquam effrenis lingua reperiaris, non impudica oculis, nou crapulosa, uon ebria. Sic te exornes virtutibus, sic muniaris moribus, ut universas opere et exemplo sanctitatis et vitae, prompta sis ad docendum: ut jam ab omnibus in exemplum virtutum ducaris: ut secura ex dispensatione ministerii tibi traditi, occurrere valeas Domino, et ei reddere rationem de singulis.","english":"When the time for correction demands it, correct all such matters in like manner as though they were unknown, having set them aside.\n\nBut always in your anger remember mercy, so that you are moved by no reason to cruelty out of fury or hatred. Yet do not keep your hands slack in punishing crimes, lest by impunity license to sin be granted to the sisters. Do not be hasty at will in handling the difficult matters of the monastery and of the sisters, but let the will of the more numerous and better sisters always be brought in, lest you be accused as guilty and a squanderer of the goods of the monastery. Do not be easy to believe everyone who speaks, for levity in believing marks a light mind. By no means be found a tongue unbridled, not shameless in your eyes, not drunken, not given to excess. So adorn yourself with virtues, so fortify yourself with morals, that in deed and example of holiness and life you may be prompt to teach all, so that already by all you may be taken as an example of virtues, so that, secure from the stewardship of the ministry entrusted to you, you may be able to meet the Lord and render him an account for each one.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":34,"ref":"p34","source":"CAPUT XVII.\n\nDe jurisdictione Episcopi in sorores.\n\nDebilis est nlmium sexus quem geritis, ac fragilis, ac mohilis, si suo relinquatur arbitrio: et si virtuosus sit animus, tamen nisi regatur, nisi dirigatur. continue, cito dejicitur a sancto proposito. Huc in Eva scitis expertae: quae suggerenti diabolo, quam facile assensum præbuerit coli Ira divinum præceptum, et Irislilia partus, et conditionis vilitas ipsa perhibent testimonium. Profecto nihil in vobis foret virtutum durabile, nihil sine gravi periculo, si de vobis ipsis vos ipsæ haberetis Curam.\n\nPropterea episcopns vester, cui Ecclesiæ commissum est regimen; quem Deus speculatorem posuit in vinea sua, pastorem ovium, directorem gregis, ac ductorem plebis et populi, civitatis et parochiæ in qua degitis, vos custodia singulari foveat, sanciae doctrinae vos pabulo nutriat: et coram Deo animarum vestrarum curam gerat specialem, cui commissa est civitas universa: huic aequanimiter sicut Deo omnes devote obediant: hunc patrem, hunc zelatorem virtutum, lam Præposita veneretur, quam subditae. Lex ipsa servetur, quam posucrit vobis in via Dei. Si qua sororum effrenis est, et disciplinae prævaricatrix, et incorrigibilis a Praeposita, emendetur, castigetur, et puniatur per ipsum.","english":"CHAPTER XVII.\n\nOn the jurisdiction of the Bishop over the sisters.\n\nThe sex you bear is exceedingly weak, and fragile, and changeable, if it is left to its own judgment: and even if the mind be virtuous, yet unless it is ruled, unless it is guided continually, it is quickly cast down from its holy purpose. You know this to have been tried in Eve: how easily she gave assent to the devil suggesting it against the divine precept, and the pains of childbirth and the very lowliness of her condition bear witness. Indeed, nothing in you would be lasting in virtues, nothing without grave danger, if you had charge of yourselves by your own selves.\n\nTherefore let your bishop, to whom the governance of the Church has been committed, whom God has set as a watchman in his vineyard, a shepherd of the sheep, a director of the flock, and a leader of the people and the populace, of the city and the parish in which you dwell, cherish you with singular care, nourish you with the food of holy doctrine: and before God let him take special care of your souls, to whom the whole city has been entrusted: let all obey him devoutly and with equanimity as God: let the Prioress venerate him as a father, as a zealot for virtues, no less than the subjects do. Let that law itself be observed, which he has set for you in the way of God. If any of the sisters is unruly, and a transgressor of discipline, and incorrigible by the Prioress, let her be corrected, chastised, and punished by him.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":35,"ref":"p35","source":"Hunc directionis baculum, et virgam disciplinæ, cum a semitis justitiae deviat, ipsam et etiam Abbatissa cognoscat cum caeteris. Reddatur eidem bis aut pluries singulis annis patens ratio, de bonis monasterii, de statu sororum, de vita, de moribus, ne jam valeat oves ignorare quas regendas su-cepii. Nihil arduum vendendi, emendi, seu perpetrandi in coenobio sine ejus voluntate liceat. Abbatissa vero domus moriente, quam communis sororum voluntas in matrem elegerit, et Abhatissam monasterii, ipse benedicendo, anulo vice Christi subarrhet in vero conjugio, si ad officium reperiatur idonea. Sororum vero recipiendarum modus, introitus et conditio, omnino nullatenus eum pertranseat. Si quid dubi. tandum in fide, si quid obscurum, si quid periculosum occurrerit in via Dei, ipse declaret: ipse vos instruat in omni pudicitia et Spiritus sancti virtute.","english":"Let the Abbess herself also, together with the others, know this staff of direction and rod of discipline when she deviates from the paths of justice. Let a clear account be rendered to him twice or more times each year concerning the goods of the monastery, the state of the sisters, their life, and their conduct, so that he may no longer be able to be ignorant of the sheep which I have undertaken to govern. Let nothing be permitted to be sold, bought, or perpetrated in the monastery without his will. But when the Abbess of the house dies, her whom the common will of the sisters has chosen as mother and Abbess of the monastery, let him bless and betroth her with a ring in Christ's stead in true marriage, if she be found suitable for the office. But the manner of receiving sisters, their entrance and condition, let him by no means pass over entirely. If anything doubtful in faith, if anything obscure, if anything perilous should occur on the way of God, let him declare it; let him instruct you in all chastity and in the power of the Holy Spirit.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":36,"ref":"p36","source":"CAPUT XVIII.\n\nDe ordine servando inter Episcopum et sorores.\n\nNon nimium sit stricta familiaritas, non suspecta colloquia: etsi spiritualis pater, quamvis episcopus sanctus sit, tamen homo est debile animal. Tam cito perditur, nisi fortiter custodiatur, quod charum habetur et utile. In sancto commercio diabolus minime quidquam inveniat: ne unde regimen, unde ducatus, inde sentiatur interitus. Omnes aequaliter pertractentur: nulla carnalis, sed spiritualis dilectio interveniat, nec stricta sit nimium. Principium enim spiritualis operis, si non sit matura provisio, solet subsequi quoddam carnale. Vere non taceam: ut in pluribus solet contingere, conditionis muliebris infelicem miseriam, sub fervore spiritus, sub charitate nimium stricta, nisi custodia gravitatis ori ponatur, ut nemo delinquat in lingua: si utatur loquendi vivendique copia, statim libido, actu turpissimum, dictu infelicissimum, de spiritu et charitate nascitur.","english":"CHAPTER XVIII.\n\nOn preserving order between the Bishop and the sisters.\n\nLet familiarity not be too strict, nor conversation suspect: even if he is a spiritual father, even if the bishop is holy, nevertheless he is a man, a weak animal. What is held dear and useful is lost so quickly unless it is strongly guarded. In holy commerce let the devil find nothing at all: lest from the very source of rule, from the very source of guidance, destruction be felt. Let all be treated equally: let no carnal love, but spiritual love, intervene, and let it not be too strict. For the beginning of spiritual work, if there is not mature foresight, is wont to be followed by something carnal. Truly I shall not be silent: as in most cases it is wont to happen, the unhappy misery of the female condition, under fervor of spirit, under too strict charity, unless a guard of gravity is placed upon the mouth, so that no one offends in tongue: if she uses an abundance of speaking and living, immediately lust, a most shameful act, a most unhappy thing to say, is born from spirit and charity.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":37,"ref":"p37","source":"Propterea, charissimae, hochortor, hoc moneo, hoc maudo vobis: ut quae Christi desponsatae estis conjugio, cui omnem castitatis vestrae fidem vovistis: cui nullum praeter ipsum amatorem cognoscere sub jurejurando estis pollicitae: viri cujuscumque etiam si eum sanctitas exornet, etiam si Baptistæ aequaretur in meritis, quaeratis effugere faciem: nec liceat secum dilectione ferventi astringi per diem. Creda. tis experto: nihil est periculosius viro, quam muHer: et mulieri, quam vir. Uterque palea, uterque ignis. Dicam audacter, proh dolor! Dei templa, Spiritus sancti vasa, et Deo dicata aedificia, nisi diligenti serventur custodia, prostibula fiunt. Et aufertur tam nobile depositum, tam pretiosus thesaurus, irrecuperabile decus castitatis: si tenui cujusvis dilectionis ineptae rimula continuus insidiator diabolus intuitum valeat infigere. Ideo omni custodia cor servetur. Super muros Jerusalem ponantur custodes tota die, et nocte non dormiant, ne fur introeat: ne spolia auferat, quae penitus recuperari non possunt.","english":"Therefore, dearest sisters, I exhort, I warn, I command you in this: since you are espoused to the marriage of Christ, to whom you have vowed all the fidelity of your chastity, and to whom you have promised under oath to know no lover besides him, seek to avoid the face of any man, even if holiness adorns him, even if he were equal in merits to the Baptist; nor may it be permitted to be bound with him in fervent affection through the day. Believe one who has experience: nothing is more dangerous to a man than a woman, and to a woman than a man. Each is chaff, each is fire. I shall speak boldly, and alas! the temples of God, the vessels of the Holy Spirit, and the buildings dedicated to God, unless they are kept with diligent guard, become brothels. And so noble a deposit is carried off, so precious a treasure, the irrecoverable beauty of chastity, if through the tiny crack of any foolish affection the ever-watchful enemy the devil is able to fix his gaze. Therefore let the heart be kept with all vigilance. Let guards be set upon the walls of Jerusalem, who do not sleep day or night, lest the thief enter, lest he carry off the spoils, which can by no means be recovered.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":38,"ref":"p38","source":"CAPUT XIX.\n\nDe præposito presbytero post Episcopum sororibus ad habendo.\n\nAnimus diffusus ad plurima, circa singula non potest attendere. Curam omnium gerit episcopus: hOe mo est, nec locis singulispotestadesse, nee diverso... rum simul habere scientiam. Ne igitur ex absentia securitas sit in vitio, sacerdotem sanctum, quem sanctitas praedicat, quem subornat scientia, quem talem reddit aetas et vita, quod etiam apud improbos lubricosque sinistra opinio non possit haberi, post episcopum habeatis praepositum. Hic episcopi in vobis teqeat vicem, hic prædicet, hic corrigat universas,huic soli occulta domus pateant,hujus consilio innitatur ab omnibus. Non diversarum opiniones in conventu sororum. diversas sectas ponant' ■ —i non diversos ritus, ut quidquid altera vituperat, al. tera consulat: sic divisae domus pax, quies et charitas ipsa discedit.","english":"CHAPTER XIX.\n\nOn the provost priest to be had after the bishop for the sisters.\n\nA mind spread out over many things cannot attend to each one. The bishop bears the care of all; that is, he cannot be present at every individual place, nor have knowledge of different matters at the same time. Therefore, lest from his absence security become a fault, you should have after the bishop a holy priest as provost—one whom holiness commends, whom knowledge furnishes, whom age and life render such that even among the wicked and the frivolous no sinister opinion can be held of him. Let this man discharge the bishop's role among you; let this man preach, let this man correct all of you; to him alone let the hidden things of the house lie open; on his counsel let all rely. Let not the opinions of different persons set up different sects in the assembly of sisters, nor different rites, so that what one blames another approves; for thus the peace, quiet, and charity itself of a divided house depart.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":39,"ref":"p39","source":"Credite mibi, sacerdotum ac religiosorum circumvenientium turma, ex mulierum consortio omnem sanctitatem expellunt. Intimetur episcopo, qui circa multa divisus, uni soli in omnibus continue non potest adesse: quidquid pro utilitate agendum, quidquid sanctum evenerit ordinandum. Confiteantur singulae singulis mensibus his aut pluries crimina occulta, aut episcopo, aut præposito soli presbytero, vel cui commiserit: et sacra dominici corporis communione munitae, pugnaturæ viriliter daemonum castra subintrent. In hac vita mortalibus nihil est validius: non est quidquam salubrius, quam ut statim, peracto delicto, confessionis non differatur medela. Testantur et medici, uniuscujusque aegritudinis morbos auferri ex corpore, si exorientibus subveniatur in principio.\n\nQuod si memor conditionis humanae, levi etiam opinione ipse etiam sacerdos erga aliquam sororum inepta familiaritate videretur astringi: non sinatur oriri, quod non sine malo, non sine scandalo removeri potest exortum. Emendetur, si opus est, ab episcopo: si vero emendatus minime vult inceptis finem imponere, removeatur: etiam si utilissimus, si necessarius existeret loco. Nulla prævaleat utilitas ex qua formidatur animarum periculum. Adhibeatur vero sanctus successor, quem castitas longa commendet et vita.","english":"Believe me, the crowd of priests and religious who practice deception drives out all holiness from the company of women. Let it be made known to the bishop, who, being divided among many concerns, cannot be continually present for one alone in all things: whatever must be done for the benefit of the community, whatever holy matter arises must be ordered. Let each woman confess her hidden sins each month, or more often, either to the bishop, or to the provost priest alone, or to whomever he has entrusted with this: and, fortified by the sacred communion of the Lord's body, let them enter the camps of the demons to fight manfully. In this mortal life nothing is more powerful; nothing is more salutary than that, as soon as a sin has been committed, the remedy of confession not be delayed. Physicians also testify that the diseases of each illness are removed from the body if help is given at the beginning, when they first arise.\n\nBut if, mindful of human frailty, even the priest himself should seem, by even a slight opinion, to be bound to any of the sisters by unseemly familiarity: let it not be allowed to arise, since what has arisen cannot be removed without harm, without scandal. Let it be corrected, if necessary, by the bishop: but if, once corrected, he is in no way willing to put an end to what he has begun, let him be removed: even if he were the most useful, even if he were necessary to the place. No utility shall prevail from which danger to souls is feared. Let a holy successor truly be appointed, one whom long chastity and a holy life commend.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":40,"ref":"p40","source":"CAPUT. XX.\n\nDe ordine servando per sorores erga mares, et specia liter in loquendo.\n\nImpudici pedes cujusvis numquam monasterii Iimina terant, inordinati animi nuntia voce immunditiae aures vestrae numquam sordescant. Vox omnis mulieris, ignita sagitta diaboli est, et contrario. Propterea congemens Psalmista exorat animam suam liberari a labiis iniquis, et a lingua dolosa. Nam subdens postmodum, quare sic affectanter liberari postulet: Sagittæ potentis acutæ, cum carbonibus, inquit, desolatoriis. Labia viri venena praebent muUeri: si non sit astuta fallaciis linguae dolosae, quam potens diabolus miserum vulnerat cor sagittis tentationum cum ardore libidinis. Hæ fenestræ sunt mortis: quae nisi claudantur, statim mors dira subintrat.\n\nVircujuscumque conditionis existat, aut numquam appareat, aut visus visum terreat vestrum, velut horridum monstrum. Propterea volo, charissimæ, ut si cum viro ex necessitate loqui oporteat, velum in feoestrula tractum, alterutram faciem tegat: ne Iiceat videri, quod concupisci non licet. Excusationem nullam sibi arripiat sanctitas. Sanctus David in videndo capitur. Dina utvideret egressa, visa corrumpitur. Sic infinita forent exempla, quae saepius ruminanda vobis relinquo. Quid per multa vagor? Pene sacrae Scri.","english":"CHAPTER XX.\n\nOn preserving order among sisters in relation to men, and especially in speaking.\n\nNever let the feet of any shameless man tread the thresholds of the monastery; never let the voice, herald of a disordered mind, defile your ears with uncleanness. Every woman's voice is a fiery arrow of the devil, and so too is every man's. Therefore the Psalmist, groaning, beseeches his soul to be delivered from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. For he adds afterwards why he so earnestly asks to be delivered: Sharp arrows of the mighty, he says, with desolating coals. A man's lips offer poison to a woman; unless she is shrewd against the deceits of a deceitful tongue, how powerfully the devil wounds her wretched heart with the arrows of temptations and the ardor of lust. These are the windows of death: unless they are closed, dire death enters at once.\n\nLet any man, of whatever condition he may be, either never appear, or, if seen, let the sight of him terrify your sight like a hideous monster. Therefore I wish, dearest sisters, that if it is necessary to speak with a man, a veil drawn across the little window cover either face, so that it may not be permitted to see what it is not permitted to desire. Let holiness claim no excuse for itself. Holy David was caught by seeing. Dinah went out to see, and by being seen was corrupted. Thus there would be countless examples, which I leave to you to ponder over frequently. Why do I wander through many things? Almost the sacred Scriptures.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":41,"ref":"p41","source":"pturae clamant syllabaesingulae: pene instruimur corporis proprii singulis motibus, quod victoria non speratur in hoc certamine, nisi ex ruga. Nemo ex fortitudine audeat resistere viribus: quoniam nisi fugiat, cito succumbet. In communi etenim vita nec verbum sit|proprium: secreta verbula non;carent suspicione.\n\nIdeoque præcipio, ut nulla soror alicui exteriorum sine plurium sanctarum sororum et abbatissae, seu alterius praepositae domus potissime praesentia loqui audeat: his dumtaxat cxceptis, quae sacerdoti in confessione dicuntur. Solent profecto talia verba semina multa mala proferre. Inter vos de viro nequaquam, si fieri potest, babealur mentio. Ultra quam creditur, exsultat diabolus ut in corde virgineo virorum memoria vigeat. Nullum venenum nocivius feminae, quam affectio erga virum, quacumque de causa procedat. Proh dolor! infelix conditio sexus vestri. Sanctior mulier ultra quam dici liceat, si viro adhaereat quantumcumque spirituali, instinctu naturali inclinatur tandem ad nefas, si in viro virtus deficiat. Piget quae novi cuncta narrare. Etiam argumenta sunt diaboli, et mortis aeternae indicia, filiationes et maternitates, quibus vocabulis sub velamine spiritus inter se utuntur mares et feminae.","english":"The single syllables of Scripture cry out: we are instructed, as it were, by the individual movements of our own body, that victory is not to be hoped for in this struggle except from flight. Let no one dare to resist the forces out of strength, since unless one flees, one will quickly succumb. For in the common life let there be no word of one's own; secret little words are not free from suspicion.\n\nAnd therefore I command that no sister dare to speak to any outsider without the presence of several holy sisters and the abbess, or especially of another superior of the house: with these exceptions only, which are said to a priest in confession. For such words are accustomed to bring forth many seeds of evil. Among yourselves let mention of a man by no means be made, if it can be avoided. Beyond what is believed, the devil exults when the memory of men flourishes in a virgin's heart. No poison is more harmful to a woman than affection toward a man, from whatever cause it proceeds. Alas! unhappy is the condition of your sex. A woman, however holier than may be spoken, if she clings to a man however spiritual, is inclined by natural instinct at last to wickedness, if virtue fails in the man. It grieves me to tell all that I know. Even the arguments of the devil, and the signs of eternal death, are the filiations and maternities by which men and women, under the veil of the spirit, use these terms among themselves.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":42,"ref":"p42","source":"Munuscula omnia, et suspectas litterulas, haec cuncta luxuriæ nuntia, vobis interdico sab anathemate et aeternae mortis poena. Adhibeatur summa diligentia, ut extra coenobii limites littera qualiscuroque non exeat: nisi abbatissae et sororum accesserint vota. Et si opus est, et gravitas ita rei exigat, adsit episcopalis licentia, seu sacerdotis constlium. Gravissimae poenae subjaceat, quaecumque hujus reperta fuerit rea.\n\nCAPUT XXI.\n\nDe fictitiis et nocivis sermonibus evitandis.\n\nServis Dei frequentiam populi, sancti omnes Patres praedicant inter caetera summe nocivam. In multiloquio nequaquam peccatum deesse potest. Lingua hominum ad judicia praeceps, absentium vitam ut plurimum non cessat hinc corrodere. Pessimum quorumdam spiritualium genus, non attendentes, quod Deus filio suo dedit omne judicium, de universorum hominum vita ac de moribus: et quod plus cst, de conscientia, cujus occulta scire, solius est divinae scientiae, judicare sibi licere putant, proferentes in medium, quod spiritualis homo dijudicat omnia. Heu immundo spiritu pleui, quid conamini de oculo fratris festucam extrahere, qui fertis continue in vestro trabem?","english":"I forbid you, under anathema and the penalty of eternal death, all little gifts and suspect writings—all these are the heralds of luxury. The utmost diligence is to be applied so that no writing of any kind may leave beyond the bounds of the monastery, unless the vows of the abbess and the sisters have been added. And if it is necessary, and the seriousness of the matter so demands, let episcopal permission or the counsel of a priest be present. Whatever woman is found guilty of this shall be subject to the gravest penalty.\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nOn avoiding feigned and harmful speeches.\n\nThe frequent company of the people is proclaimed by all the holy Fathers, among other things, to be supremely harmful to the servants of God. In much speaking, sin can by no means be absent. The tongue of men is precipitate toward judgments, and for the most part does not cease to gnaw away at the life of the absent from this. There is a worst kind of certain spiritual persons, who do not attend to the fact that God gave all judgment to his Son, yet think it is permitted to them to judge concerning the life and morals of all men—and, what is more, concerning conscience, whose hidden things to know belongs to divine knowledge alone—bringing forward that the spiritual man judges all things. Alas, full of the unclean spirit, why do you attempt to take the speck out of your brother's eye, you who continually bear the beam in your own?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":43,"ref":"p43","source":"Hypocritæ tristes exterminant facies suas, ut appareant hominibus jejunantes: et barba prolixa, crine cinere asperso, fracta uudique ac rudi eL deformi veste, colloquio blando, verbis lictitiis, se sanctos ostendunt: et dealbati parietes inter mulierculas seminant sectas errorum.\n\nDenique loquentes cujuscumque vitam simul cum fama denigrant: instrumenta diaboli haec sunt omnia. Infortunatissimum mulierum genus, hamo ca. piuntur ut pisces: ad macellum ducuntur ut bestiae. Protervae nimium feminæ, semper ficta cupiunt: semper subornata verba deposcunt: exquirunt mendacia, fabulas novas numquam fastidiunt, auguriis, veneficiis, et incantationibus daemonum delectantur. Si qui talia proferant, hi prædilecti filii, hi spirituales patres et fratres, hi profecto, ut verius liceat dici, concubinarii, et corruptores mentis et ventris nutriuntur; exquisitis ferculis et delicatis escis, vina pretiosa non desunt. Ex furtivis saepe virorum laboribus, et inter crapulas et ebrietates ructantes fauces, spiritus dulcedinem praedicant. Proponitur iterum atque iterum illud Apostoli: Quod omnia munda mundis. De talibus loqui nefas est, et proh pudor! Sed cupio Dei servitricibus detegere omnes artes diaboli, ut nihil desit quod caveri possit.","english":"Hypocrites with sad faces disfigure their own countenances so that they may appear to men to be fasting; and with a long beard, hair sprinkled with ashes, and a broken and coarse and deformed garment on every side, with flattering speech and fawning words, they show themselves to be holy; and, whitewashed walls, they sow sects of errors among little women.\n\nIn short, as they speak, they defame the life of anyone at all together with his reputation: all these things are the instruments of the devil. That most unfortunate kind of women is caught with a hook as fish are; they are led to the market as beasts are. Women too forward, they always desire things feigned; they always demand words suborned; they search out lies, they never grow tired of new tales, they delight in auguries, sorceries, and incantations of demons. If any bring forth such things, these are the beloved sons, these the spiritual fathers and brothers, these indeed, so that it may be said more truly, the concubinarians, and corrupters of the mind and of the belly, are fed; choice dishes and delicate foods, costly wines are not lacking. Often from the stolen labors of men, and amid carousings and drunkenness, belching with their throats, they preach the sweetness of the spirit. That saying of the Apostle is set forth again and again: That all things are clean to the clean. To speak of such things is a crime, and, for shame! But I desire to uncover all the arts of the devil to the handmaids of God, so that nothing may be lacking that can be guarded against.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":44,"ref":"p44","source":"CAPUT XXII.\n\nDe silentio, et diebus et horis debitis observandis.\n\nHæc itaque omnia, sponsae Dei dilectao, procul expellite: in his diabolum cognoscite principantem. Inter vos numquam de vita disputetur alterius. Maneat divino examini omne judicium. Peccata vestra cognoscite: delicta vestra plorate. Omnium vobis vita, sanctitatis exemplum appareat. Vos universis aestimate pejores: sic puritas mentibus vestris inha:reat, ut cogitare sit indecens, et credere nefas, aliquem propter vos posse peccare.\n\nSi quem alicui detrahentem audieritis, procul fugientes, dimittite ut serpentem: ut verecundia victus, discat de factis aliorum silere. Muliercularum quarumdam solet esse moris, ut plurimum aut semper garrulae, nihil secretum habeant quod audiunt: immo potius quod saepe nesciunt, dicunt, nihilque scandali seminarium norunt tacitum tenere: hinc inde aut proferentes verba nociva, aut seminantes discordiam, aut audientes alios ad detractionem incitant: aut maledicta confirmant, ut duplicis delicti reae habeantur. In hoc conventu ancillarum Dei, muliebris omnis expellatur infirmitas. Illud Jacobi verbum in corde vestro multoties repetatur in die: Si quis putat se religiosum esse, non refrenans linguam suam, aed seducens cor suum: hujus vana eat religio. Religio igitur sancta non potest esse in loquacibus, quae nullo possunt tempore silere, nec abstinere ab inutilibus verbis.","english":"CHAPTER XXII.\n\nOn silence, and the days and hours that must be observed.\n\nAll these things, therefore, beloved bride of God, drive far away: in them recognize the devil as ruling. Let there never be dispute among you about another's life. Let every judgment remain to divine examination. Know your own sins: weep over your own offenses. Let the life of all appear to you as an example of holiness. Esteem yourselves worse than all: so let purity cling to your minds that it be indecent to think, and wicked to believe, that anyone can sin because of you.\n\nIf you hear anyone speaking ill of another, flee far away and let him go like a serpent: so that, overcome by shame, he may learn to be silent about the deeds of others. It is the custom of certain little women, garrulous for the most part or always, to keep nothing they hear secret: nay rather, they speak what they often do not know, and they know not how to keep silent any seed of scandal: from this side and that either uttering harmful words, or sowing discord, or inciting others who listen to detraction: or confirming curses, so that they are held guilty of a double offense. In this assembly of the handmaids of God, let all womanly weakness be driven out. Let that word of James be repeated many times a day in your heart: If anyone thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart: this man's religion is vain. Holy religion, therefore, cannot be in the talkative, who can be silent at no time, nor abstain from useless words.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":45,"ref":"p45","source":"Ex hoc euim in eremo sancti patres edocti, summa cum diligentia observant sancta silentia, tamquam sanctae contemplationis causam.\n\nPlures me reperisse non ambigo, qui per septenium nullum prorsus verbum homini alteri emiserant: scientes quod non in commotione Dominus potest haberi. Propterea volo, charissimae, ut in conventu vestro, ter aut pluries in hebdomada, exceptis festivitatibus, loqui omnino, nisi urgente causa perutili et necessaria, nullatenus liceat, nec simul, nec cum aliis extra. Diebus vero omnibus, quibus et pro remedio, et pro salute loqui conceditur: non singulis horis vacandum est verbis, quae vix proferri sine peccato possunt: sed haec inviolabilis observatio vigeat, quod singulis noctibus post peractam horam Completorii, usque post Missam, et a Tertiis usque ad Nonam, sacra observentur silentia: quatenus et linguae Deum laudandi concedatur Ope portunitas, et inutilia verba penitus abscindantur. In choro vero Ecclesiae ad divinas laudes parato, dormitorio, coenaculo, claustro, ac capitulo, pmni tempore loqui non doceat: nisi ea ad quæ ordinata sunt loca in laudibus Dei: ut jam et tempus et locus religionis vestræ praedicent sanctiiatem, et loquacibus compunctionem ingerant, et intrandi ad societatem vestram, sancta desideria incitent, et affectus ad coelestia moveantur.","english":"For from this the holy fathers in the desert, having been taught, observe holy silence with the utmost diligence, as the cause of holy contemplation. I do not doubt that I have found many who for a period of seven years had uttered no word at all to another person, knowing that the Lord cannot be held in commotion. Therefore I wish, dearest women, that in your assembly it be in no way permitted to speak, three or more times a week, except on feast days, unless an urgent, very useful, and necessary cause demands it—neither together nor with others outside. But on all days on which speaking is granted both for remedy and for salvation, one must not devote oneself at every hour to words which can scarcely be uttered without sin; but let this inviolable observance prevail: that on each night after the hour of Compline has been completed, until after Mass, and from Terce until None, holy silence be observed—so that both opportunity for praising God may be granted to the tongue, and useless words be entirely cut off. In the choir of the church, prepared for the divine praises, in the dormitory, the refectory, the cloister, and the chapter room, let no one teach speaking at any time, except in those places ordained for the praises of God—so that both the time and the place may proclaim the holiness of your religion, instill compunction in the talkative, stir up holy desires to enter your company, and move affections toward heavenly things.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":46,"ref":"p46","source":"CAPUT XXIII.\n\nDe refrenatione linguæ in loquendo.\n\nNequaquam, charissimae, Jacobus apostolus experientiam poneret religionis in refrenatione linguæ, nisi certo sciret indicio, quod mors et vita est in manibus linguae. Nam, ut innuit, cum ipsa benedicimus etmaledicimus Deum. Propterea post multa, qun de lingua pronuntiaverat, quamdam ex omnibus dictis generalem conclusionem infert: Quicumque, inquit, refrenat lingnam suam, hic beatus in facto suo erit. Ecce uod in refrenatione.linguæ beatitudo ponitur: ut detur intelligi quod in multiloquio Deus, qui est beatitudo nostra, haber! et contemplari non potest. Refrenatio linguae est, cum linguae quoe ex sui vitio semper prona est ad mendacia (unde et mendaces appellantur homines, et vani filii hominnm) aut silentium imponitur, ne In displicentiam Dei prorumpere audeat: aut ad bonum exerceatur, ut dhrinas laudes exsolvat.","english":"CHAPTER XXIII.\n\nOn restraining the tongue in speaking.\n\nIn no way, dearest ones, would James the apostle place the proof of religion in the restraint of the tongue, unless he knew by certain evidence that death and life are in the hands of the tongue. For, as he indicates, with it we both bless and curse God. Therefore, after many things which he had pronounced concerning the tongue, he draws a certain general conclusion from all his statements: Whoever, he says, restrains his tongue, this one will be blessed in his deed. Behold, blessedness is placed in the restraint of the tongue, so that it may be understood that in much speaking God, who is our blessedness, cannot be had and contemplated. The restraint of the tongue is when either silence is imposed on the tongue, which by its own fault is always prone to lies (whence also men are called liars, and vain sons of men), lest it dare to burst forth into what is displeasing to God; or it is exercised toward good, that it may pay forth divine praises.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":47,"ref":"p47","source":"Sic igitur, charissimæ et dilectissimæ Alite, temporibus quibas praestatur opportunitas, ut beatae esse possitis, linguas domate, ne convertantur ad lites, ne jurgia, contentiones, rixas, etseandala resonent: ne juramenta, ne blasphemias, ne opprobria, et aliorum displicentiam prodant. Qaod si ex instinctu diaboli, qui semper discordias seminat, inter sorores levis etiam dissensio exerta fuerit, penitus statim per abbatissam, aut per episcopum, sive praepositum domus, nequitia elidatur in semine, ita ut occasus solis in domo Dei non inveniat iracundiam, et ira convertatur in odium, et domus pacis jam ebriosoram efliciatur taberna. Mendacia vero tamquam infernum expellite. Semper autem divina offleia, aut sacrorum oodicum verba, tam inter sorores, quam etiam inter advenientes deducantur in medium.\n\n6i quando mulierculae de viris propriis, de (liiis, de vestibus, de mundi vanitatibus, garrulando loquacitentur, ut moris est: eismoxverba frangantur, mox otiosum verbum et nocivum divino cedat sermoni. Si divinum introduci non poterit tali colloquio: in detestationem criminis fenestra claudatur in faciem: et velox fuga testetur sanctitatem intrinsecam. Nihil itaque per exteriora eorporis intrans, mentem cogitationrbus molestet, cum divinae eontemplationi expenitur. Raro cogitatur in mente, quod exteriorel sensus non mittunt. Hæ sunt fenestræ, haec SUA.","english":"Thus then, dearest and most beloved Alita, in the times when opportunity is granted you to be able to be blessed, tame your tongues, lest they be turned to quarrels, lest they resound with wranglings, contentions, brawls, and scandals; lest they betray oaths, blasphemies, reproaches, and displeasure of others. But if by the instigation of the devil, who always sows discord, even a slight dissension has arisen among the sisters, let the wickedness be immediately struck down in its seed entirely by the abbess, or by the bishop, or by the provost of the house, so that the setting of the sun may not find anger in the house of God, and anger be turned into hatred, and the house of peace be made a drunken tavern. But drive out lies as hell itself. Always, however, let the divine offices, or the words of the sacred books, be brought into the midst, both among the sisters and also among those arriving.\n\nAnd when little women chatter loquaciously about their own husbands, about children, about clothing, about the vanities of the world, as is the custom, let their words be at once broken off, at once let the idle and harmful word give way to the divine sermon. If a divine word cannot be introduced into such conversation, let the window be closed in the face in detestation of the crime, and let swift flight bear witness to the inner holiness. Therefore let nothing entering through the outer parts of the body disturb the mind with thoughts, when it is devoted to divine contemplation. Rarely is that thought in the mind which the outer senses do not send in. These are the windows, this is their...","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":48,"ref":"p48","source":"ostia, quae si clausa non fuerint, morti patet introitus: et non nisi funeste ingreditur.\n\nCAPUT XXIV. v\n\nDe comortio marium fugiendo..\n\nCredite, charissimae, credite seni pene omnia experto: non possunt claudi sensus vestri extrinseci in tumultibus hominum. Si color opponatur oculo, nequaquam potest non videre oculus: sic et auris non audire sonos non potest: ideoque In silentio et quiete, cogitationes perversae vitantur, quae separant nos a Deo. Propterea hortor vos et moneo, ut non nisi sanctarum mentium audire verba velitis: non nisi pudicas et honestas facies quas macerant pancta jejunia, liceat intueri. Sic rarus vir appareat: sic rara de viro mentio habeatur, ut puellulae vestrae pene virilem sexum ignorent. Non animal certe masculum coenobii limites transeat, ut omnis cesset occasio loqucndi de maribus. Sic pudlca, sic casta verba in omni colloquio sancia personent ora, ut generationis modus et ortus juvencularum lateat cordaHaec profecto catena diaboli est, quam sI abstuleritis de medio vestri, non extendendo digitum ad inquirendum omnia per curiositatem: et desieritis loqui quod non prodest: ct per longa silentia non inveniatur vestra voluntas, ut loquamini sermones inutiles: tunc orietur in tenebris lux vestra, et erunt tenebrae sicut meridies: et erit vobis a Domino requies, qualem mundus iste non novit.","english":"the gates, which if they have not been closed, the entrance lies open to death: and it is only by a fatal path that one enters.\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nOn shunning the company of men.\n\nBelieve me, dearest sisters, believe an old man who has experience of almost everything: your outward senses cannot be shut off amid the tumults of men. If a color is set before the eye, the eye can in no way fail to see it: so too the ear cannot fail to hear sounds: and therefore in silence and quiet, perverse thoughts are avoided, which separate us from God. For this reason I exhort and admonish you, that you be willing to hear the words of none but holy minds: that it be permitted you to look upon none but modest and honorable faces, which scant fastings wear thin. So rarely let a man appear: so rarely let mention of a man be made, that your little girls may almost be ignorant of the male sex. Certainly let no male animal cross the bounds of the monastery, so that every occasion of speaking about men may cease. So modest, so chaste let the words from your holy mouths resound in every conversation, that the manner of generation and the origin of young girls may lie hidden from their hearts. This truly is the chain of the devil, which if you take away from your midst, by not stretching out the finger to inquire into all things through curiosity: and if you cease to speak what does not profit: and through long silences your will is not found, so that you speak useless words: then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday: and there shall be to you from the Lord a rest, such as this world does not know.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":49,"ref":"p49","source":"Etimplebitur splendoribus anima vestra: quos obtenebratae mentes caligine saeculi apprehendere neqneunt.\n\nFelix itaque anima quae, spreto turbine saeculi, pertransiens corporis claustra, illius summae et incomprehensibilis lucis potest aliquali illustrari radio. Sic duice, sic jucundum est solatium, quod de, spiciant protinus cuncta terrena. Mors formidabilis universis animantibus terrae optatur pro gloria, ut limpidius liceat intuerl: quod modica hora visum, tam delectabile et jucundum sentitur. Sic itaque agite, charissimae, adimplete quæ estis professae: gaudete, quia potestis. Non vos viri, non fliiorum, non supellectilis cura, non caeterum maritale onus molestat. Hominum consortia sic fugite: sic sæcularia omnia expellite, ut nequaquam perveniat ad vos quidquid agitur in saeculo. Solus sponsus vester Christos, strictis vestris fruatur amplexibus. Solæ eum solo sponso, aut lectionibus sacris, aut sanctis meditationibus secum confabulemini, et ipse vnbiscum.'","english":"And your soul shall be filled with splendors which minds darkened by the gloom of the world cannot grasp. Happy therefore is the soul which, having spurned the turmoil of the world and passed beyond the confines of the body, can be illumined by some ray of that highest and incomprehensible light. So sweet, so pleasant is that consolation that they straightway despise all earthly things. Death, fearsome to all living creatures of the earth, is desired for the sake of glory, that one may behold more clearly what, seen for but a brief hour, is felt to be so delightful and pleasant. So then, dearest sisters, do as you act: fulfill what you have professed; rejoice, because you can. No care for a husband, for children, for household goods, no other marital burden troubles you. Shun the company of men, drive out all worldly things, so that nothing done in the world may reach you. May Christ, your only bridegroom, enjoy your chaste embraces. You who are alone with your only bridegroom, converse with him alone, whether in sacred readings or in holy meditations, and he will be with you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":50,"ref":"p50","source":"CAPUT XXV.\n\nDe obsequiis servitrictim quærentium victum et necessaria sororibus.\n\nZelotypus nimium est sponsus vester, charissimæ, nullatenus patitur sponsas proferri in publicum: ne concupiscantur ab amatoribus sæculi. Semper vult solus ludere, semper solus cum solis sponsis morari desiderat: neminem vult admittere ad solatium: de cunctis dubitat: de nullo confidit. Sic arrogans, sic superbus est sponsus, quod si alium quaeritis amatorem, protinus recedit: sic protervus, quod protinus dissolvit omne conjugiUm. Idcirco, dominae meae, quia sponse Domini mei estis, vos ipsae omni custodia sibi servate, ne SponsUs tam dulcis separetur a vobis. Semper Dina egressa videre filial regionis illius, vos cautas faciat de periculo iIlius. In monasLerio vestro velut in thalamo maneatis cum sponso.\n\nExtra monasterii limites nulli omnino vestrum fas sit pertransire. Hæc lex, becc norma, hæc summa professio omnibus vobis: ut quae semel intraverit ex sororibus, numquam, si fieri potest, exire permittatur. Non eliam mulieres illae quae religionis habitum gestant, et voto obligatæ noscuntur coenobio, per civitatem et vicos, victus et necessaria quærant. Hc siquidem extra manentes in aliqua parte locelli, cum omni sanctitate et modestia administrent quae opus sunt vobis, recepturae cum Martha sortem mercedis.","english":"CHAPTER XXV.\n\nOn the Services of Sisters Seeking Food and Necessities for the Sisters.\n\nYour bridegroom is exceedingly jealous, dearest ones, and in no way suffers his brides to be brought forth in public, lest they be desired by the lovers of the world. He always wishes to play alone, always desires to dwell alone with brides who are alone; he wishes to admit no one to comfort; he distrusts all, trusts none. So arrogant, so proud is the bridegroom that if you seek another lover, he at once withdraws; so wanton that he at once dissolves every marriage bond. Therefore, my ladies, because you are the brides of my Lord, keep yourselves for him with all vigilance, lest a bridegroom so sweet be separated from you. Let Dinah, who went out to see the daughters of that region, always make you cautious about her peril. Remain in your monastery as in a bridal chamber with the bridegroom.\n\nLet it be lawful for none of you at all to pass beyond the bounds of the monastery. This is the law, this the norm, this the highest profession for all of you: that any of the sisters who has once entered is never, if it can be done, permitted to leave. Nor let even those women who wear the habit of religion and are known to be bound by vow to the monastery seek food and necessities through the city and villages. For they, remaining outside in some part of the cell, should administer with all holiness and modesty the things that are needful for you, to receive with Martha the portion of their reward.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":51,"ref":"p51","source":"Has autem volo tales servitrices adesse, quod ex couversatione vitæ et habitu, interior sanctitas monasterii prædicetur. Quod si eb necessaria domus captanda exeunt, non circumeant vicus in fabulis, non matronarum domos in potibus: sed omne opus bonum exerceant, ut non vituperetur ministerium suum. Cum his non liceat sororibus intra degentibus, secretis colloqui fabulationibus, ne aliquid possit intrare extrinsecus, quod possit obesse. Ilarum omnium abbatissa domus curam gerat assiduam: ne et ipsae operentur quod non deceat sanctitatem. Hæ observantiarum et jejuniorum sint astrictae legibus: et prævaricatrices, disciplinæ subjaceant ferulae. Quae si emendari ex pravitate contempserint, in sanctitatis consortio pravitas locum non habeat: et membrum putridum de sancto corpore excidatur.\n\nCAPUT XXVI.\n\nDe dulcedine. contemplationi. erga divina.","english":"But I wish such handmaids to be present that from their manner of life and dress the inner holiness of the monastery may be proclaimed. But if they go out to obtain the necessities of the house, let them not wander through the villages in gossip, nor into the houses of matrons for drinks; but let them practice every good work, so that their ministry not be blamed. It shall not be permitted for the sisters living within to converse with these in secret, whispered talk, lest something be able to enter from outside that could do harm. The abbess of the house shall take assiduous care of all these, lest they themselves do what does not befit holiness. These shall be bound by the laws of observances and fastings; and if they transgress, they shall be subject to the rod of discipline. But if they despise to be corrected from their wickedness, let wickedness have no place in the fellowship of holiness: and let the rotten member be cut off from the holy body.\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nOn sweetness of contemplation toward divine things.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":52,"ref":"p52","source":"Solae idcirco filiae et dominæ meae, sponsae Domini mei intus manentes nihil sentiant, nisi pium Jesum: hunc paradisum solæ possidcant, ubi dulci et jucunda quiete ineffabilem Trinitatem intueantur in sacris litteris: choris intersint angelicis: dulcibus eurum melodiis misceantur, divina in Ecclesia concinendo mysteria. Informet mentem sanctorum patriarcharum et patrum antiquorum obedientia. Prophetarum oracula dulci meditatione cor accendant ad promissa felicia. Apostolica documenta fidei cuncta detegant sacramenta.\n\nEvangeliorumque codex semper ut speculum tencatur in manibus. Martyres sancti, cuncta sæculi adversa, et tempestates hujus maris procellosi cum omnibus diabolicis versutiis, et infestationes daemonum doceant conculcare. Confessorum pretiosa de. votio, ad divinorum contemplationem assiduam affectus astringat. Regularem vitam instruat sanctorum monachorum mira conversatio. Frangere omnem sexus mollitiem et sanctæ virginitatis servare propositum, pretiosissima Virgo virginum cum caeteris virginibus sacris semper edoceat.","english":"Therefore let these, my daughters and ladies, brides of my Lord, remaining within, feel nothing except loving Jesus; let them alone possess this paradise, where in sweet and pleasant quiet they may gaze upon the ineffable Trinity in the sacred Scriptures; let them join the angelic choirs; let them mingle with their sweet melodies, singing the divine mysteries in the Church. Let the obedience of the holy patriarchs and ancient fathers inform the mind. Let the oracles of the prophets, through sweet meditation, enkindle the heart toward the blessed promises. Let the apostolic teachings lay open all the sacraments of faith.\n\nAnd let the book of the Gospels always be held in their hands as a mirror. Let the holy martyrs teach them to trample underfoot all the adversities of the world and the storms of this tempestuous sea, together with all the wiles of the devil and the assaults of demons. Let the precious devotion of the confessors bind their affections to constant contemplation of divine things. Let the wondrous way of life of the holy monks instruct them in the regular life. Let the most precious Virgin of virgins, together with the other holy virgins, always teach them to break every softness of their sex and to keep the purpose of holy virginity.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":53,"ref":"p53","source":"felix societas! o felices vos! si talis ac tanti muneris non sitis ingratae. Felicissimae nimirum si dignitatem vestram ipsae cognoscitis: quae omnium regi et Domino, reginae speciosae matrimonio copulatae, ipsum, dummodo velitis, babere meremini: quem angelici spiritus videre concupiscunt. ineffabilis gloria! In fragili siquidem corpore Deum in. tueri potestis. Hic, quæso, mens vestra vigeat. Hæc dies diei eructet verbum: et scientiam banc nox indicet nocti. Angelicis choris, sanctorum societatibus, hic;studeatis interesse: ut postmodum in corporis exitu, vobis gaudentes et læti tamqaam notis occurrant. Si sic feoeritis, nihil vobis dulcius: nihil jueundius quam his interesse conviviis, his pabulis saturari: quibus semel degustatis, terrena omnia amara cernuntur. Vere tunc clausura cænobii, cujus tædet menies vagabundas et devias, vobis pro summa deputabitur gloria: et reputabitur exire limites mo. nasterii elle necesse potius mori.","english":"O happy fellowship! O happy you, if you are not ungrateful for such and so great a gift. Most happy indeed, if you yourselves recognize your dignity: you who, joined in marriage to the King and Lord of all, a beautiful bride, deserve to possess him himself, provided you are willing—him whom the angelic spirits long to see. Ineffable glory! For in a fragile body you can behold God. Here, I pray, let your mind flourish. Let this day utter a word to the day, and let this night show this knowledge to the night. Strive here to be present among the angelic choirs and the fellowships of the saints, so that afterward, at the departure of the body, they may run to meet you rejoicing and glad, as to those they know. If you do so, nothing will be sweeter to you, nothing more delightful than to be present at these banquets, to be filled with these pastures; once these have been tasted, all earthly things are seen as bitter. Truly then the enclosure of the monastery, which is distasteful to wandering and straying minds, will be reckoned to you as the highest glory; and to go beyond the bounds of the monastery will be judged a necessity rather than life itself.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":54,"ref":"p54","source":"Experto itaque seni devote consulenti credite, filiae. Si semel gustastis quam dulcis est Dominus: ad quem accedentes poteritis ab eo illud audire: Vevite, et ostendam vobis omne bonum; et tunc osiendet vobis talia qualia non Misi mentes assuetæ no. runt. Scio quid loquor, charissimae. Nam ut meam insipientiam loquar, ego homunculus sic abjectus, sic vilis in domo Domini, adhuc vivens in corpore angelorum sæpe choris interfui: de corporeis per hebdomadas nihil sentiens, divinae visionis intuitu, post multorum forte dierum spatia, praescius futurorum, redditus corpori flebam. Quid ibi manens felicitatis habebam? quid inenarrabilis delectationis sentiebam? testis est ipsa Trinitas quant cernebam, nescio quo intuitu. Testes sunt et ipsi beati spiritus, qui aderant. Testis est enim conscientia mea: qui tantis bonis ipse fruebar, quot et qualia nescit proferre mollities corporis mei.","english":"Trust therefore, daughters, an experienced old man who gives devoted counsel. If once you have tasted how sweet the Lord is, then drawing near to him you will be able to hear from him: Come, and I will show you every good thing; and then he will show you such things as minds accustomed to them do not know. I know what I am saying, dearest ones. For, to speak of my own foolishness, I, a mere little man, so abject, so worthless in the house of the Lord, while still living in the body, have often been present among the choirs of angels: for whole weeks feeling nothing of bodily things, through the contemplation of the divine vision, and after the span of perhaps many days, foreknowing the future, I was restored to the body and wept. What happiness did I have while remaining there? What ineffable delight did I feel? The Trinity itself is witness of what I beheld, I know not by what kind of vision. The blessed spirits themselves who were present are witnesses too. For my own conscience is a witness: I myself enjoyed such great goods, how many and of what kind the weakness of my body does not know how to express.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":55,"ref":"p55","source":"CAPUT XXVII.\n\nDe clausura domus\n\nNon potest ad tantae contemplationis dulcedinem cur saecularibus plenum negotiis aspirare: sed oportet ut sæculo moriatur, et soli Deo per tantas meditationes et dcsideria superius inhaereat. Unae granum frumenti cadens in terram, nisi mortuum ruerit, semper, sic solum manet ut cecidit: quod si moriatur, fructum plurimum affert. Sic et, charissimae, domum paternam et saeculares vestes relinquere, et monachi nomen assumere, modicum prodest homini, si mens ipsa roisera quae in mundo habentur, affectibus optet: et quae reliquerat, desideriis repetat. Exeunti etenim Lot cum filiabus et uxore de Sodomis mandatur ab angelis ne retrospiciant quae jam perambulando reliquerant. Cujus uxor more feminarum, quæ semper petunt contraria, obvians mandato, statim est conversa in statuam salis.\n\nHæc itaque vos doceat, qua pœna sunt puniendae, qua mundi vanitates affectant in monasteriis. Nam efficiuntur insensibiles statuae salis, ut jam nihil de supernae contemplationis dulcedine sentire valeant: sed maneant in amaritudine saeculi, quae sacculo virunt. Propterea, charissimae, monasterium vestrum vobis sepulcrum eligite: ubi morluae cum Christo ibidem maneatis sepultae, quousque resurgentes cum eo apparebitis in gloria ejus. Demum timendum est plurimum, ne quis ingrediatur nocte ad furandum pretiosum thesaurum, qui latet in tumulo.","english":"CHAPTER XXVII.\n\nOn the enclosure of the house\n\nShe cannot aspire to the sweetness of such great contemplation while she is full of secular business; but it is necessary that she die to the world, and cleave to God alone through such great meditations and desires from above. A grain of wheat falling into the earth, unless it has died, remains alone just as it fell; but if it dies, it brings forth very much fruit. So too, dearest daughters, to leave the paternal home and secular garments, and to assume the name of a monk, profits a person little if the mind itself desires with its affections the things that are held in the world, and seeks again by desires the things it had left behind. For to Lot, going out from Sodom with his daughters and wife, it is commanded by the angels that they not look back at the things they had already left behind in their journeying. His wife, after the manner of women, who always seek the contrary, opposing the command, was immediately turned into a statue of salt.\n\nLet this therefore teach you by what punishment those are to be punished who affect the vanities of the world in monasteries. For they are made into insensible statues of salt, so that they can no longer perceive anything of the sweetness of heavenly contemplation; but they remain in the bitterness of the world, who live for the world. Therefore, dearest daughters, choose your monastery as a tomb for yourselves: where, dead with Christ, you may remain buried there, until, rising with him, you appear in his glory. Finally, it is greatly to be feared lest someone enter by night to steal the precious treasure that lies hidden in the tomb.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":56,"ref":"p56","source":"Ilinc inde fures fodiunt, ut furentur infinitis astutiis, quod intus habetur. Custodiatur ergo sepulcrum per episcopum: quem Deus in vinea sua primum custodem præposuit. Custodiatur et per praepositum presbyterum, qui vicem ejus tenet in loco: ne quis incaute introeat: ne quis ad minuendum pergat.\n\nMurorum munitionibus sic undique circumcingatur locellus, quod vix avibus praebeatur aditus. Sic tendantur muri in altum, quod non solum non Iiceat pedibus; sed nec oculis, quae intus geruntur agnoscere. Ostia serentur fortiter clavibus. Claves vero disponat episcopus: ne quis nisi habens vestes nuptiales introeat vel exeat sine ejus consensu.; Sit autem una vel plures fenestrulae juxta dispositionem episcopi: sic ferreis virgis arctatæ undique, ut vix digito pateat aditus. Per has horis debitis, aut necessitatis, aut aedificationis, siverecreationiscausa, sanctis sermonibus cum sanctis viduis, et aliis mulieribus, quas vestium habitus et facies tenues et pudicaa reddunt venerabiles, sororibus liceat simul loqui. Prohibitis et suspectis horis fenestrulae clausae maneant. Et claves abbatissa domus,vel sancta alia soror custodiat: ne corvus egrediatur per fenestram ex arca. Credite, hic timendum est thesauro a timore nocturno. A sagitta volante in die, a negotio perambulante in tenebris: ab incursu et dæmonio meridiano. Semper horae hae suspectae sint mentibus castis.","english":"From here and there thieves dig through, so that with infinite cunning they may steal what is kept inside. Therefore let the tomb be guarded by the bishop, whom God appointed as the first guardian in his vineyard. Let it also be guarded by the provost presbyter, who holds his place in the locality: lest anyone enter carelessly, lest anyone proceed to diminish it.\n\nLet the little place be so surrounded on every side by the fortifications of walls that access is scarcely offered to birds. Let the walls be raised so high that it is permitted not only not to the feet, but not even to the eyes, to know what is carried on within. Let the doors be strongly fastened with keys. But let the bishop arrange the keys, so that no one may enter unless having the wedding garments, or go out without his consent. Let there be one or more small windows according to the bishop's arrangement, so constrained on every side by iron bars that access scarcely lies open to a finger. Through these, at due hours, for the sake of necessity, or edification, or recreation, let the sisters be permitted to speak together with holy widows and other women, whom the manner of their dress and their modest and chaste faces render venerable. At forbidden and suspect hours let the windows remain closed. And let the abbess of the house, or some other holy sister, keep the keys, lest the raven go out through the window from the ark. Believe me, here the treasure is to be feared from the terror of the night, from the arrow flying by day, from the business walking about in darkness, from the incursion and the noonday demon. Let these hours always be suspect to chaste minds.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":57,"ref":"p57","source":"CAPUT XXVIII.\n\nDe detestatione pretiosarum vettium.\n\nPropheticus ille sermo nequaquam proferatur de vobis: Filiae eorum compositæ, circumornatæ ut similitudo templi: et dealbatae ab extra ut monumenta, quae extra auro relucent: intus autem sunt turpissima et immunda, plena cadaveribus mortuorum: hujusmodi non filiae regis Christi, sed Tyri. Hae semper in muneribus, bac vultus impudicitia per divites plebis capiuntur et capiunt. Imperfectissimus muHerum affectus. Semper in vestibus. semper in auro, lapidibus pretiosis et ornamentis extrinsecis, gloriam ponunt. Non sufficit eis libido innata naturae: sed occasiones quaerunt explendae libidinis. Affectant proculdubio, ut oculi virorum aurum contemplantes et gemmas, tandem figantur in faciem; ut oculorum suorum nutibus facilius incitent ad Iibidinosum incendium. Quid, meretrix communis, gloriaris in margaritis et gemmis? Quid ad te attinet argentum et aurum? Quid exaltaris in pulchritudine panni? Nonne est omnis caro cinis et fenum, et ut verius dicam, massa putredinis, cibus vermium et fetidissimum stercus? Quid in te mirandum, quid laudandum puerorum spectaculum? Nonne et si lau. detur gemmarum et metallorum pretiositas, quam sibi natura tradidit: semper tamen cognosceris einis, fenum, et stercus immundum ex immundo productum semine?","english":"CHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nOn the Detestation of Precious Garments.\n\nLet that prophetic utterance never be spoken of you: Their daughters are adorned, decked out like the likeness of a temple; and whitened on the outside like tombs, which gleam with gold without, but within are most foul and unclean, full of the corpses of the dead. Such women are not daughters of Christ the king, but of Tyre. These are always at their gifts, and by this shamelessness of countenance they are caught by the rich among the people and catch them. Most imperfect is the affection of women. Always in their clothing, always in gold, precious stones, and outward ornaments, they place their glory. The lust innate to their nature does not suffice them; they seek occasions to satisfy their lust. They strive, without doubt, that the eyes of men, gazing upon gold and gems, may at last be fixed upon their face, so that by the nods of their eyes they may more easily incite them to the fire of lust. Why, common harlot, do you glory in pearls and gems? What have silver and gold to do with you? Why are you exalted in the beauty of your cloth? Is not all flesh ashes and grass, and, to speak more truly, a mass of rottenness, food for worms and the foulest dung? What in you is to be wondered at, what to be praised, a spectacle for boys? Even if the preciousness of gems and metals, which nature has handed over to itself, is praised, you are nonetheless always known as ashes, grass, and unclean dung produced from unclean seed?","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":58,"ref":"p58","source":"si te velles intueri, vilissima muHerum: quam verecundareris de corpore, quod tanto cultu excolis? Ipsa etenim jumento et bestiis terrae, aut es aequalis aut deterior: intus est unde glorieris, non extra. In vase isto tam turpi tbesaurum tenes, quem summa cum diligentia colere debes et servare summa custodia. Nihil ad te de vase fictili, si turpis forma sit extra: dummodo intus sit nobile, intus sit pulchrum quod latet, intus sit iotegrum quod servatur.\n\nCAPUT XXIX.\n\nDe periculo ambitionis vestium.\n\nPropterea vos, charissimae, quae estis sponsae et uliae regis aeterni: cujus regnum non corrumpetur, nec auferetur ab eo: sit ab intus omnis gloria vestra. Sedete ad dexteram sponsi in vestitu non exteriori, sed interiori: deaurato auro charitatis in fimbriis aureis, id est, charitatis praeceptis: sit nndique vestis circumdata varietatibus: ut jam nihil in ornamentis de virtutibus desit. Sint myrrha, gutta et casia a vestimentis: ut in odorem virtutum et vitae, cæteræ ad sanctitatem vestram adolescentulae currant de saeculo. In hoc honore vestro delectemini, filiae regis aeterni. Hunc vestrum decorem concupiscet rex vester et sponsus. Sic secum manebitis in thalamo in laetitia et exsultatione. Tunc nascentur ex vobis filii, qui non jam terram, sed caelum replebunt: quos Pater constituet principes super omnem terram.","english":"If you wished to look at yourself, you most vile of women, how ashamed would you be of the body that you adorn with such elaborate care? For you are either equal to the beasts of burden and the animals of the earth, or worse than they. It is within that you have grounds for boasting, not without. In that vessel, so base, you hold a treasure that you must tend with the utmost diligence and guard with the utmost vigilance. The vessel of clay is nothing to you, if its outward form is base, provided that what lies within is noble, what lies hidden within is beautiful, what is kept within is whole.\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\nOn the danger of ambition in dress.\n\nTherefore, you dearest women, who are the brides and daughters of the eternal King, whose kingdom shall not be corrupted nor taken from him: let all your glory be from within. Sit at the right hand of the bridegroom in clothing not outward but inward, gilded with the gold of charity in golden fringes, that is, in the precepts of charity; let your garment be everywhere encircled with varied colors, so that nothing of the virtues may now be lacking in your adornments. Let there be myrrh, drops, and cassia from your garments, so that at the fragrance of your virtues and your life, the other young women may run from the world to your holiness. Delight in this honor of yours, daughters of the eternal King. Your King and bridegroom will desire this beauty of yours. Thus you will remain with him in the bridal chamber in joy and exultation. Then sons will be born from you, who will fill not the earth but heaven, whom the Father will appoint as princes over all the earth.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":59,"ref":"p59","source":"Quod si vos exteriorum vestium delectaret ambilio, si egressae de saeculi pompa, de domo diaboli, et de congregatione malorum, populi vestri et do. mus patris non essetis oblitae totaliter, extollentes vos aut de parentum dignitatibus, aut de carnis prosapia, sive de hujusmodi vanitatibus caducissimis, terrae vaporibus, uti solitum est incolis terrae: prolinus assurgens rex potentissimus accinctus super femur suum gladio bis acuto, expellet vos undique vulneratas dextera sua de tabernaculo suo. Tunc acutissimae ejus sagittae perforabunt corda vestra in amaritudine: quoniam virga directionis virga regni sui. Et postmodum abjectas de domo Domini vestri, omnes deridebunt vos: et dicent de singulis vestrum: Filia Babylonis misera: quæ non posuisti Deum adjutorem tibi, sed sperasti in vanitate tua: sede jam super flumina Babylonis: plange et suspende in salicibus organa, dum recordaris unde expulsa es. Nam quae solebas cantare canticum laudis et laetitiae: modo ploras ad terram alienam deducta.","english":"But if the vainglory of outward garments delighted you, if, having gone forth from the pomp of the world, from the house of the devil, and from the congregation of the wicked, you were not wholly forgetful of your people and of your father's house, exalting yourselves either on account of the dignities of your parents, or on account of the lineage of the flesh, or on account of vanities of this kind, most fleeting, the vapors of the earth, as is customary among the inhabitants of the earth: immediately the most powerful king, rising up, girded upon his thigh with a two-edged sword, will drive you out, wounded on every side, by his right hand from his tabernacle. Then his sharpest arrows will pierce your hearts in bitterness: for the rod of direction is the rod of his kingdom. And afterward, cast out from the house of your Lord, all will mock you: and they will say of each one of you: Wretched daughter of Babylon, who did not set God as a helper for yourself, but hoped in your vanity: sit now by the rivers of Babylon: weep and hang up your instruments on the willows, while you remember from where you were driven out. For what you were once accustomed to sing, the song of praise and joy, now you weep, led away to a foreign land.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":60,"ref":"p60","source":"CAPUT XXX.\n\nDe consideratione extremi diei judicii.\n\nItaque, charissimae dominae, cum Apostolo arbitremini vos in boc saeculo stercora, et mundi purgamenta: ut sponso vestro placere possitis. Nihil ad vos de pompis saeculi attinet: quae abrenuntiavisUs iu baptismate mundo, diabolo, et pompis eo. rum: quod et 'postmodum confirmastis sub pollicitatione juramenti, in vestrae religionis ingressu. Nullus umquam inter vos sermo habeatur de nobilitatibus generis, de prosapia carnis. Sit aequalis in Dei obsequio, filia regis, sive rustici. Omnes simul nobilitatem, et dignitatem unam habetis ex sponso. Exeatis continue extra castra cum Christo: ut cum Christo cruci6gamini mundo et vitiis, portantes cum ipso improperia: et amore ejus, officiorum domus labor dulcis appareat.\n\nNon disputetur de majoritate officiorum, sed de devotione et affectu implorandorum. Numquam murmur, numquam verborum turpium, numquam litium sonitus, inter mortuas sæculi sonent. Sepulta cadavera numquam inter se jurgia peragunt in sepulcris, numquam blasphemant, numquam con tendunt: sic et vos, charissimae, sopitæ somno quietis et pacis exspectetis sponsum et judicem vestrum: exspectetis magnum et terribilem diem judicii, diem videlicet iræ.","english":"CHAPTER XXX.\n\nOn the Consideration of the Last Day of Judgment.\n\nTherefore, dearest ladies, reckon yourselves with the Apostle to be refuse in this world and the offscourings of the world, so that you may be able to please your bridegroom. The pomps of the world have nothing to do with you, which you renounced in baptism—the world, the devil, and his pomps—which you also afterward confirmed under the pledge of an oath at your entrance into religion. Let no word ever be spoken among you of the nobility of lineage, of the stock of the flesh. Let the daughter of a king or of a peasant be equal in the service of God. Together you all have one nobility and one dignity from your bridegroom. Go out continually with Christ beyond the camp, so that with Christ you may be crucified to the world and to vices, bearing reproaches with him; and for love of him, let the labor of the duties of the house appear sweet.\n\nLet there be no disputing about the precedence of offices, but about devotion and the affection of those imploring them. Never let murmuring, never shameful words, never the sound of quarrels ring out among the dead of the world. Buried corpses never carry on disputes among themselves in their tombs, never blaspheme, never contend; so too you, dearest ones, lulled in the sleep of quiet and peace, await your bridegroom and judge; await the great and terrible day of judgment, that is, the day of wrath.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":61,"ref":"p61","source":"diem calamitatis: ubi coelum simul cum terra pavebit, coelorum omnes movebnntur virtutes, trementes erunt angeli simul cum sanctis omnibus: tunc singulorum vitae discutientur discrimina, et merita apparebunt. Semper tuba illa terribilis vestris perstrepat auribus: Surgite, mortui, venite ad judicium. Ecce rex in manu potenti venit: a cunctis vult exigere rationem, certe de cogitationibus minimis, certe de levibus et otiosis verbis. Si reddere de singulis rationem paratæ non eritis, projiciemini in carcerem exteriorem: audietis a judice: Ite, maledictæ, in ignem æternum paratum diabolo et angeli: ejus.\n\nCAPUT XXXI.\n\nDe abjectione exquirenda in vestibus.\n\nHeu cor inlelicissimum, mens infortunatissima, quæ diem judicii tam horrendam non meditatur quotidie: et si meditatur, fatuissimum, si appetit quidquam de saeculo et pompis ejus. Nullo vos die, nulla vos hora transeant haec omnia. Quilibet paries domus, quilibet angulus, vestris demonstretur in oculis, ista die depictus. Si hæc non praetermittatur lectio: tunc abjectio vestium, cujus taedet mulierculas fatuas, vos delectabit. Tunc rusticanus et abjectus pannus, purpurae præponetur et bysso. Tunc crassa et rudis velamina capitis æstimabuntur ex sericis.","english":"the day of calamity: when heaven together with earth will tremble, all the powers of the heavens will be shaken, the angels will tremble together with all the saints: then the perils of each one's life will be examined, and merits will appear. Let that terrible trumpet always resound in your ears: Rise, you dead, come to judgment. Behold, the king comes with a mighty hand: he wishes to exact an account from all, certainly even for the least thoughts, certainly even for light and idle words. If you are not ready to render an account for each single thing, you will be cast into the outer prison: you will hear from the judge: Go, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angel.\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\nOn the abjection to be sought in clothing.\n\nAlas, most unhappy heart, most unfortunate mind, which does not meditate daily on that day of judgment so horrible: and if it does meditate on it, it is most foolish if it desires anything of the world and its pomp. Let no day, no hour pass you by without all these things. Let any wall of the house, any corner, be shown before your eyes, depicted on that day. If this reading is not neglected: then the abjection of clothing, which foolish little women are disgusted by, will delight you. Then coarse and abject cloth will be preferred to purple and fine linen. Then thick and rough coverings of the head will be esteemed above silken ones.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":62,"ref":"p62","source":"Certe tanta erit deformitas in melotis, tanta grossities in cucullis, caputia tam rudi artificio praeparata, quod si hic forent saeculariumj indumenta, artiflcum panni brevi tempore periret omnis industria.\n\nIsta, charissimae, decent monachas: non strictis manicis, pretiosis et compositis pannis, subtili velamine velatis superciliis, cor meretricum non tam praetendere quam habere. Non tales exisiimo monachas, sed pessimas meretrices, et scortum vilissimum. Non est enim opus cadaveribus mortuorum pretiosis et compositis ornamentis in sepulcris. Monumenta non indigent talibus, monasterii lapides non appetunt gloriam vestium, quae sine peccato grandi minime possunt haberi. Histrionibus et lusoribus regum et principum saeculi, mollia sunt relinquenda. Joannis de pilis camelorum interest vestiri. Pudeat igitur religionis nomen habere, et se cultu vestium histrionem ostendere. Ideoque, charissimae, volo vos mortuas saeculo, quae totaliter mundum calcastis, procedere sic deformi et incomposita veste: quod si impudicis oculis liceret intueri vos, risus potius provocaretur quam cogitatio mala. Fateor quidem illos mentiri, qui gloriantur se servare castitatem: et in vestibus lubricitatem sectantur. Pannus itaque vester, et si albus et candidus, tamen grossus et vilis sit: ut et color candorem castitatis intrinsecum, et unitas contemptum terrenorum exhibeant.","english":"Certainly there will be such deformity in the melotes, such coarseness in the cowls, hoods prepared with such rude workmanship, that if these were the garments of secular persons, all the skill of the craftsmen of cloth would perish in a short time.\n\nThese things, dearest women, befit nuns: not tight sleeves, not precious and elaborate cloths, not brows veiled with a fine covering, not so much displaying as possessing the heart of harlots. I do not consider such women nuns, but the worst of harlots and the vilest of prostitutes. For there is no need for the corpses of the dead to have precious and elaborate ornaments in tombs. Monuments do not require such things, the stones of the monastery do not desire the glory of garments, which can scarcely be possessed without great sin. Soft things are to be left to the actors and players of kings and princes of this world. It belongs to John to be clothed in the hairs of camels. Let her therefore be ashamed to have the name of religion and to show herself an actor by the adornment of her garments. And therefore, dearest women, I wish you, who are dead to the world and have wholly trampled the world underfoot, to go forth in such deformed and unadorned clothing that if it were permitted to look upon you with shameless eyes, laughter would be provoked rather than an evil thought. Indeed I confess that those women lie who boast that they preserve chastity and yet pursue lewdness in their garments. Therefore let your cloth, even if white and bright, be nevertheless coarse and cheap, so that both the color may show the inner whiteness of chastity and its plainness may show contempt for earthly things.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":63,"ref":"p63","source":"Haec gloria monacharum: hoc stadium religiosarum mentium: hoc indicium sponsarum Dei æterni: hoc signum mortuarum saeculo et sepultarum cum Christo.\n\nCAPUT XXXII.\n\nDe austeritate exquirenda in stratu.\n\nConjugatae et viduae quae manent in sæculo, circa plurima, circa laboriosa sollicitae sint: quotidie circa frequens ministerium occupatae cum Martha saU ventur per opera pietatis, Jesu ministrantes in paupere, frangant esurientibus panem suum: egenos et vagos domum inducant: cooperiant nudos, inststant misericordiarum operibus: proculdubio tam fructuosis et bonis, quod impossibile est quod Deum non placent iratum. Colligationes impietatis dissolvant: et fasciculos dissolventes, et omne onus dirumpant.\n\nVos autem, charissimae, quae meliorem partem, immo optimam elegistis cum Maria, sedete continue secus pedes Jesu, sacrarum Scripturarum volumina sacris revolvendo lectionibus. Lava te ejus pedes assiduis compunctionis et gaudii, charitatis ac devotionis lacrymis, contemplationis intenta; dulcedini. Capillis extergatis, terrenorum omnium superfluitatem per eam expellentes de corde. Audiatis de ore Jesu verbum quasi gladium anceps pertransiens corda: scindens compagem membrorum usque ad divisionem spiritus. Hor. verbum dulce erit faucibus vestris super mel et favum. Hoc verbum per quod facta sunt omnia: hoc verbum quod centurionis poscebat devotio, ut sanaretur puer ejus.","english":"This is the glory of nuns, this the pursuit of religious minds, this the mark of the brides of the eternal God, this the sign of those dead to the world and buried with Christ.\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n\nOn the austerity to be sought in bedding.\n\nMarried women and widows who remain in the world should be anxious about many things, about burdensome things: occupied daily with abundant service, they will be saved with Martha through works of piety, ministering to Jesus in the poor man, let them break their bread for the hungry, bring the needy and the wandering into their home, cover the naked, press on in works of mercy: without doubt so fruitful and good are these that it is impossible that they do not please God, who is angry. Let them loose the bonds of impiety, and breaking the bundles, let them burst every burden.\n\nBut you, dearest women, who have chosen the better part, indeed the best, with Mary, sit continually at the feet of Jesus, unrolling the volumes of the sacred Scriptures in sacred readings. Wash his feet with the constant tears of compunction and joy, of charity and devotion, intent on contemplation; dry them with your hair, driving out from your heart through it the superfluity of all earthly things. May you hear from the mouth of Jesus the word like a two-edged sword piercing hearts, dividing the frame of the members even to the division of the spirit. This word will be sweet to your throats beyond honey and the honeycomb. This word through which all things were made, this word which the devotion of the centurion sought, that his servant be healed.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":64,"ref":"p64","source":"Hujus verbi dulcedinem solum norunt, qni audiunt. Hoc verbum audire non possunt somnolenti et ignaviae dediti.\n\nQuapropter, charissimæ, volo vos singulis noctibus brevi et duro stratu jacere in cellulis vestris: non in plumis et mollibus, sed aut in paleis aut stra. minibus, sive in ligneis potius capsis quam lectulis: ut et membra domata, potius stratum horreant quam affectent: potius somni imminentis quietem magis compellat necessitas quam voluntas. Sic ob duritiem brevis et levis occupet sopor, quod non sit fas solitis illusionibus noctium, mentem sopitam torqueri.,\n\nCAPUT XXXIII.\n\nDe matulino et modo dicendi divinum officium.\n\nAd matutinae excubias media nox vos praeparet. Nullam ex vobis dormientem reperiat campanilis Monitus. Non ignorelur an fuerit ob soporem: sed potius ob contemplationis extasim. De cellulis oratitne præmissa, mediæ noctis summa quiete ad ecr clesiam singul. sorores advonientes, sponsum dilectum matutinis excitent laudibus, ut exsurgat in earum lusilium. Sic distincte alternatim psalmi leationesque sacræ proferantur, ut ob collisiones et hiatus ac barbarismos, ad risum non provocentur angelici spiritus. Sic semper moderatus, attentus, quietus, et suavis sonus in vocibus, ut nulla pompa, nullaque carnalis delectatio habeat locum in divinis præconiis: samma devotio. crebra suspiria et lacrymes fundat.","english":"The sweetness of this word only those who hear it know. The sleepy and those given to sloth cannot hear this word.\n\nWherefore, dearest women, I wish you to lie each night on a short and hard bed in your cells: not on feathers and soft things, but either on straw or rushes, or rather on wooden chests than on couches: so that the body, kept in subjection, may rather shrink from its bed than desire it: and that the need of impending sleep may constrain it more than the will. Thus, because of the hardness, a brief and light slumber may take hold, so that it is not permitted for the sleeping mind to be tormented by the usual illusions of the night.\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\nOn Matins and the Manner of Reciting the Divine Office.\n\nLet midnight prepare you for the watches of Matins. Let no one of you be found sleeping when the bell's warning comes. Let it not be unknown whether it was from drowsiness: but rather from an ecstasy of contemplation. Having first sent up prayer from your cells, let the sisters come singly to the church in the deep quiet of midnight, and awaken the beloved Bridegroom with morning praises, that he may arise in their midst. Let the psalms and sacred readings be brought forth so distinctly and in turn, that by clashes and gaps and barbarisms they may not provoke the angelic spirits to laughter. Let the sound in your voices be always moderate, attentive, quiet, and sweet, so that no pomp and no carnal delight may have a place in the divine praises: let the highest devotion pour forth frequent sighs and tears.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":65,"ref":"p65","source":"Sic morositas, sic velocitas teneatur in modo: quod nec fastidium, nec impeditio linguae possit oriri. Nulla umquam verba quantum cumque utilissima proferantur inter psallentes: sed illud in mentis arcano, summa cum diligentia ruminetur intrinsecus, quod pertractatur extrinsecus. Nullius est meriti orare divina officia verbositate: et misera mente quæ extrinsecus imminent, vagando circumire. Expletis vero laudibus matutinalibus, nec tunc somnus arripiat: ne digeratur quid sponsus petitionibus sponsarum respondeat. ID capitulo uiox attentis et devotis sororibus, sanctorum librorum devota lectio de voluntate Domini sui pandat quidquid agendum sit. Et sic cedant illusiones: et dæmonum phantasmata, quae dormientes illuderent. Illico lectioni alia succedat brevissima lectio, de bis quae ad apostolicæ vitæ instructionem pertinent, qualicumquc stylo praesenti opusculo pertractato: ut sic singulis diebus quasi quodam bolo pia mens depasta, dulcedinem appetat: nec retardetur fastidio, et de modicis eximia cogitet. Sequantur lectionea, confessiones criminum in regularibus disciflinis coraM abbatissa domus et cacteris sororibus.","english":"Thus let a measured manner be maintained in both mood and pace, so that neither weariness nor any impediment of the tongue can arise. Let no words ever be spoken among those singing the psalms, however useful they may be; but let that which is handled outwardly be ruminated inwardly in the secret of the mind with the greatest diligence. It is to no one's merit to pray the divine offices with wordiness, and it is the mark of a wretched mind to wander about, roaming after things that lie outside. Moreover, when the morning praises are finished, let not sleep then seize you, lest what the bridegroom answers to the petitions of his brides be lost. In this chapter, let the devout reading of the holy books, by the will of their Lord, unfold to attentive and devout sisters whatever must be done. And so let illusions give way, and the phantasms of demons which would mock them as they sleep. Immediately let another very brief reading follow the reading, concerning those things which pertain to the instruction of the apostolic life, treated in the present little work in whatever style it may be, so that the pious mind, fed each day as if with a morsel, may desire sweetness, and not be slowed by weariness, and may think on exalted things from small ones. Let the readings be followed by confessions of sins, according to the regular discipline, before the abbess of the house and the other sisters.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":66,"ref":"p66","source":"Prodantur in publicum quæcumque gesta sunt contra regulares observantias et obedientias, ut jam nullatenus quidquam inemendatum et impune pertranseat, nec lateat matrem et sorores uniuscujusque conditio: quatenus et verecundia et discipliaa quam mater imponit circa futurum tempus unaquaeque reddatur astuta. Extra vero capitulum aliquid de bis umquarn qualicumque verbo vei nutu proferre, sit anathema. Hoc itaque fine nor sancta clausa discedat.\n\nCAPUT XXXIV.\n\nDe ordius dicendarum horarum primæ, tertiæ, 'extæ et nonne.\n\nCum laudibus Primae dies salutaris incipiat: quibus expletis, sacrae Missas mysteria ob sponsi præ. sentiam, sponsarum corda laetificent, charitatis inebrient populo, |devotionis et fidei satient pabulo in Convivio salutari. Sit postmodum unicuique commodum, aut orandi, aut legendi sacra volumina, sive aliter operandi quae sancta sunt. Deinde doctae puellulas novitias de evangelica vita, de sanctismoribus, de officiis domus, de regularibus disciplinis usque ad refectionis horam instruant. Præparentur et interim cibi, quibus corpora refocillentur adpoenitentiæ jugum.","english":"Let whatever has been done contrary to the regular observances and acts of obedience be made public, so that nothing at all may henceforth pass by unamended and unpunished, and the condition of each one may not lie hidden from the mother and the sisters; so that, through both shame and the discipline which the mother imposes, each one may be made cautious for the time to come. But to utter anything outside the chapter, concerning these matters, by any word or nod whatsoever, let it be anathema. And with this end, let the holy enclosed one depart.\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\n\nOn the order of saying the hours of Prime, Terce, Sext, and None.\n\nLet the day of salvation begin with the praises of Prime; and when these are completed, let the mysteries of the sacred Mass, in view of the Bridegroom's presence, gladden the hearts of the brides, inebriate them with love for the people, and satisfy them with the food of devotion and faith at the saving Banquet. Afterwards let it be convenient for each one either to pray, or to read the sacred volumes, or otherwise to do the works that are holy. Then let the learned maidens instruct the novice girls in the gospel life, in holy manners, in the duties of the house, and in the regular disciplines, until the hour of refreshment. And meanwhile let the foods be prepared by which their bodies may be refreshed for the yoke of penance.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":67,"ref":"p67","source":"Nullo umquam detur otio animus, ne quando cogitationes et motus, mentibus titillent illicita: quod si aliqualiter insurgere inceperint, statim elidar tur in semine, ne crescant zizania cum tritico: aut laboribus aut operibus manuum quidquid male concipitur, evanescat. Adeat sanctam sororem ut locutionibus sacris projiciatur immundum. Tutissimum valde est fidelem et justum habere amicum: cui quidquid arcano cordis sinu latet, protinus reseretur. Non enim in suis sæpe potest homo negotiis rectum habere judicium.\n\nAdveniente vero refectionis hora, qua reddere corpori debitum natura compellit: diebus comniunibus laudes Tertiae et Sextæ horarum prius Deo devote solvantur. Postmodum cum omni modestia, benedictione ab abbatissa pracmissa, cibum sumant, parsque ministret. Postquam vero caeterae comederint, et ipsae quae ministraverant, comedant, et sibi ministretur ab aliis. Cum vero jejunii tempus refectionem tardiorem effecerit, sacra mysteria Missae, Tertia et Sexta et Nona praeveniantur: caeteris diebus post refectionem Nona dicatur hora statuta, cum jam sol in medio gyro diem exhibet medium.","english":"Let the mind never be given over to idleness, lest at some time unlawful thoughts and impulses titillate the minds; but if they begin in any way to rise up, let them be crushed at once in the seed, lest the tares grow together with the wheat: whatever is wrongly conceived, let it vanish away through labors or works of the hands. Let her approach a holy sister, so that by sacred conversation the unclean thing may be cast out. It is very safe indeed to have a faithful and just friend, to whom whatever lies hidden in the secret recess of the heart is at once disclosed. For often a person cannot have right judgment in their own affairs.\n\nBut when the hour of refreshment arrives, at which nature compels us to render to the body its due, on ordinary days let the praises of the Third and Sixth hours first be devoutly paid to God. Afterwards, with all modesty, after the blessing has first been given by the abbess, let them take food, and let one portion serve. But after the others have eaten, let those who have served also eat, and let them be served by others. But when the time of fasting has made the refreshment later, let the sacred mysteries of the Mass, the Third, Sixth, and Ninth hours be preceded: on other days, after the refreshment, let the Ninth hour be said at the appointed time, when the sun already in mid-course shows the middle of the day.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":68,"ref":"p68","source":"CAPUt XXXV.\n\nDe cibis et ordine comedendi.\n\nQuando enim vos ad refeelionem hora debita adunaverit, in cibis vestris minime refulgeat cocorum industria. Non ciborum nobilitas appetitum moveat, sed fames: non apponantur incitativa libidinum, sed quae possint famem exstinguere: aut legumina, aut olera condiantur in oleo. Carnes vero solum sint ex licentia abbatissae indultæ debilibus et infirmis: alioquin cujus sint saporis, ignoret coenobium. Ova et lactentia post jejunia debilitatis sororibus et praecipuis festivitatibus permittantur ex gratia.\n\nRaro sciantur quae in aquis oriantur et vivant, nisi parvi pisciculi. Gulae horridum scelus, genitrix lusurae, et castitatis carnifex, cum Dei ancillis nullam habeat sortem. Ideoque tanta sat in sumendo sobrietas, 'apta talisque parcitas: ut venter potius coAqueratur quam gaudeat. Non egeat in digerendo stomachus medicinis: ructus potius vacuatio quam nimia repletio inducat. Nec cinguli ampliatione sit epus: ut et sic mens a Dei meditationibus minime retardetur per crapulam, et corpus non egeat medicinis. Sit semper ordinata et composita in suo modo comestio. Noa sit in sumendo ferculo talis velocius faucium, et lam velox masticatio bol!, quod merito de ingluvie aliqua possit oriri suspicio. Non tam in comestione cibus, quam turpis modus reprehendendus est. Sæpe etenim.","english":"CHAPTER XXXV.\n\nOn food and the order of eating.\n\nFor when the appointed hour has gathered you for refreshment, let not the industry of cooks shine forth in your foods. Let not the nobility of foods stir the appetite, but hunger; let not things that provoke lust be set before you, but things that can extinguish hunger: either legumes, or vegetables seasoned in oil. But let meats be granted only by the permission of the abbess to the weak and infirm; otherwise, of what savor they are, let the monastery not know. Let eggs and milk-products after fasts be permitted to weak sisters and on principal feast days by grace.\n\nLet those things which arise and live in the waters be known but rarely, except small fish. Let the horrid crime of gluttony, the mother of luxury and the executioner of chastity, have no portion at all with the handmaids of God. And therefore let there be so great sobriety in taking food, and such fitting parsimony, that the belly may rather be constrained than rejoice. Let not the stomach need medicines in digesting: let belching rather bring relief than excessive repletion. Nor let there be need of loosening the belt: so that in this way the mind may be hindered as little as possible from meditations on God by drunkenness, and the body may not need medicines. Let eating always be ordered and composed in its own measure. Let there not be in taking food such haste of the jaws, and such swift chewing of the morsel, that a suspicion of some gluttony may rightly arise. In eating, it is not so much the food as the shameful manner that is to be reproved. For often.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":69,"ref":"p69","source":"in fabis et panibus hordeaceis nimia aviditas grande peccatum causat. Nequaquam avidi et vagabundi oculi perdiscumbentes huc illucque vagando, hanc vel illam magis vel minus denotent comedentem. Nou prandentium numerus animum occupet uniuscujusque.\n\nCAPUT XXXVI.\n\nDe sobrietate et jejunio.\n\nVinum quoque, in quo est luxuria, sponsis Christi tamquam venenum suspectum sit. Potius stomachi languor, et afflictæ naturae debilitas consulat, quam delectatio aut ingluvies. Quod si sumere cogit pene ipsa necessitas: tunc aut sic debile vinum, aut sic aqua permixtum præbeatur in polum, quod nequaquam ex fumositatibus repletum caput, ridiculosa aut puerilia verba depromat. Sacrilegium reputatur ebrietas, in femina praecipue, sed infinito plus in Domini sponsa. Noe denudatio verendorum, et Lot incestus ob ebrietatem, tos cautas instituat, vos semper reddat timidas semperque suspectas. Verb credatis quod ignem portat in gremio, qui assiduo utitur vino.","english":"In beans and barley bread, excessive greed causes great sin. By no means let greedy and wandering eyes, reclining here and there and roaming about, mark out this person or that as eating more or less. Nor let the number of those dining occupy the mind of each one.\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\n\nOn sobriety and fasting.\n\nWine also, in which is luxury, should be suspect to the brides of Christ as though it were poison. Rather let the weakness of the stomach and the frailty of an afflicted nature take counsel, than delight or gluttony. But if almost necessity itself compels one to take it, then let wine so weak, or so mixed with water, be provided for drinking that the head, by no means filled with fumes, may not bring forth ridiculous or childish words. Drunkenness is reckoned a sacrilege, especially in a woman, but infinitely more in the bride of the Lord. The exposure of Noah's shameful parts, and Lot's incest because of drunkenness, should instruct the cautious, make you always fearful and always suspicious. Truly, believe that he carries fire in his bosom who makes constant use of wine.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":70,"ref":"p70","source":"Nequaquam, quæso, Inter mortuas corpori, quæ omnibns voluptatibus se abdicarunt pro Christo, de gulæ horrendo facinore, et ebrietatis immunditia sermo etiam minimus habeatur. Ventris ingluvies et ebrietas, tam animae infirmitatis, quam corporis, causam et mMeriam tribuunt. Ideoque medicinaie jejunam omnem auferat languorem, omnem tribuatvirtutem et gratiam. Hoc vos legislator edoceat: cui lex nou datur priusquam jejunium quadragesimale perficitur. Elias in fortitudine subeinericii panis, jejunus per quadraginta dies perrexit ad Montem Dei Oreb. Quid vero virtutis contineat sacrum jqjuninm, a vestro investigemini sponso qui quadragenario peracto jejunio, tentationem diaboii,.it. Viri Ninivitæ non sileant, qui jejuniis commune evaserunt exitium, et irrevocabilem Dei mutaverunt sententiam. Нæc vos, charissimae, imitamini: sed assequamini sapienter, ne dicatur a Domino: Non est hoc jejumium quod elegi.","english":"By no means, I ask, let even the slightest word be spoken among you, dead to the body, who have renounced all pleasures for Christ, concerning the horrendous crime of gluttony and the uncleanness of drunkenness. The belly's greed and drunkenness furnish the cause and matter of infirmity both of soul and of body. And therefore let the medicine of fasting take away all languor, bestow all virtue and grace. Let the Lawgiver teach you this: to whom the law is not given before the Lenten fast is completed. Elijah, in the strength of a single cake, went fasting for forty days to the Mountain of God, Horeb. But what virtue the sacred fast contains, let it be investigated by you from your Bridegroom, who, when the forty-day fast was completed, endured the temptation of the devil. Let not the men of Nineveh be silent, who by fastings escaped the common destruction and changed the irrevocable sentence of God. These things, dearest ones, do you imitate: but follow them wisely, lest it be said by the Lord: This is not the fast which I have chosen.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":71,"ref":"p71","source":"Castigate membra vestra, sed nolite interficere. Non causet jejunium verecundiam, ut scandalum sit caeteris; non dolore eapitis et debilitate corporis sacrae omittantur lectiones. nec orationes deliciant, ne necesse sit. contemplationes deserere. Unaquaeque suae salutis per jejunium sibi medeiam adhibeat. Frangatur corpus jejuniis: castigetur in ulla verberibus. Si quidqoam concupiscit illicitum, luuhiplicentur abstinentiæ, adhibeantur gravissimae disciplinæ: donec sic humile, sic benignum flat, quod nihil sibi vendicet noxium, nihil exigat quod non vultis. Erigatur domina, principetur in omnibus: subjiciatur, suppeditetur et conculcetur.dalla. Quod si iterum atque iterum erigit se contra domi.nam, ejiciatur ancilia, denudetur, fatigetur et humilietur ad votum. Si vero quietum corpus ultra vires, ultra condecentiam velitis exasperare, indignatum vos in foveam dejiciet indiscretas. Nil quippe potest babere virtutis, quod indiscretio facit, quod imprudentia injiciat, et improvisio doceat.","english":"Castigate your members, but do not kill them. Let fasting not cause shame, so that it becomes a scandal to others; let not the sacred readings be omitted through headache and bodily weakness, nor prayers be abandoned through delicacies, lest one be compelled to desert contemplation. Let each one apply to himself the remedy for his own salvation through fasting. Let the body be broken by fasts; let it be chastised, if need be, with blows. If it desires anything unlawful, let abstinences be doubled, let the severest disciplines be applied, until it becomes so humble, so benign that it claims nothing harmful for itself, demands nothing that you do not wish. Let the mistress be raised up and rule over all; let it be subjected, subdued, and trampled down. But if again and again it rises up against its mistress, let the handmaid be cast out, stripped bare, wearied, and humbled according to your vow. If, however, you wish to exasperate a quiet body beyond its strength, beyond what is fitting, it will be provoked and cast you into a pit through your indiscretion. For that can have no virtue which indiscretion does, which imprudence injects, and which thoughtlessness teaches.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":72,"ref":"p72","source":"CAPUT XXXVII.\n\nDe lectionibus ad mensam.\n\nSir dolcia sano palato eloquia Domini sunt, qnod numquam degustata fastidiunt. Semper novos generant prae suavitate et dulcedine appetitos. Vos semper ea degustare decet. Nullo umquam tempore vobis est ab oratione cessandum. Semper Vos orare Apostolus instruit, quae hon pro carnis iHeeebrisvatare ad tempus obligamini velut conjugatæ. ideoque semper pro posse oretis: at dum corpus saginatur cibo, saturetur anima lectione. Non est fas etiam sæcularibus simul cibum cerere, et inania verba ructare.\n\nSaeram de veteri Testamento, et de novo, sanctorum gesus et dictis, singulis hebdomadibuS deputata soror comedentibus leetfonem legat. Tunc aniuscujusque mens sobria intenta sit dulcedini verbi Dei, suspiret anxia, eum propheticus ant historicus serinO Dei saevitiam monstrat in pravos. Gaudio reple*tur immenso, cum benignitas Dei annuntiatur in bonos. Respiret spes, cum erga pœnitentes induigenUam posse exhiberi monstratur promisso vel facto. Erigatur fides, eum in promissis Dens fidelis ostenditur. Cbaritas accendatur, cam tot privilegiis et muneribus ei Christi nativitate, ei ejus vita et passione ac resurrectione, nostra dotatur humanitas, atque nostra vilitas sublimatur. Non resenent verba, sed gemitus: non risus et cachinnus, aed lacrymæ. NoA occupentur manas incisonibus inutilibus: aed ex recordatione criminum tundantur pectora.","english":"CHAPTER XXXVII.\n\nOn the readings at table.\n\nIf the words of the Lord are sweet to a healthy palate, those who have never tasted them find them distasteful. They ever bring forth new things, desired for their sweetness and pleasantness. It is fitting that you always taste them. At no time must you cease from prayer. The Apostle instructs you to pray always, you who are not bound for a time to the drunkenness of the flesh as though you were married women. And therefore pray always as far as you are able; but while the body is fattened with food, let the soul be sated with reading. It is not right even for worldly people to take food together and belch forth idle words.\n\nLet a sister appointed for each week read the sacred reading from the Old Testament and the New, and the deeds and sayings of the saints, to those eating. Then let each one's mind be sober and intent upon the sweetness of the word of God; let it sigh anxiously when the prophetic or historical narrative shows God's severity against the wicked. Let it be filled with immense joy when God's kindness is announced to the good. Let hope breathe again when it is shown, by promise or deed, that forgiveness can be extended toward the penitent. Let faith be raised up when God is shown to be faithful in his promises. Let charity be kindled when our humanity is endowed with so many privileges and gifts in the birth of Christ, in his life and passion and resurrection, and our lowliness is exalted. Let there be not words but groans; not laughter and guffawing, but tears. Let not the hands be occupied with useless cuttings, but let the breasts be beaten from the remembrance of sins.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":73,"ref":"p73","source":"His enim frenis agitata sæva pie rapacilas sobrietaUs non excedit limites: foribus ventris non aderit crapula: demum æstuans libido non necebit quidquam. i\n\nCAPUT XXXVIII.,\n\nDe operibus sororum post prandium\n\nSumpto denique cibo, nec tunc adeundam eat fabulas, sed Christi exemplo, eum Dei laudibus ad gratiarum actiones consurgant, Deoque in ecclesia hymnos persolvant. Deinde cum omni silentio, ut sacra lectio lecta proficiat, ut meDii inscribantur narrata: unaquæque sigiUatim retegat et confirmet, aut in eeclesia de his quae didicit meditetur: quousque simui diebus communibus, pest prandium borse Nonæ, in Ecclesia celebraverint dignas laudes: ant si forte prandium prævenerit hora Nona diebus jejuniorum, quousque campanella in claustro pulsahitur: interim si brevitas noctium et temporum conditio et naturæ necessitas exegerit: post aliquam horulam in qua legendum est post prandium, vel orandum, liceat pauliaper volentibus quiete potius quam somno corpus refocillare, ul forti. reddatur laboribus.","english":"For by these reins the fierce greed of plunder, when checked, does not overstep the bounds of sobriety; gluttony will not be present at the doors of the belly; finally, seething lust will harm nothing.\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\nOn the works of the sisters after the meal\n\nThen, when food has been taken, they must not even then resort to idle tales, but following the example of Christ, they should rise to give thanks with the praises of God, and sing hymns to God in the church. Then with all silence, so that the sacred reading read may profit them, so that the things narrated may be inscribed in memory: let each one individually uncover and confirm, or meditate in the church on the things she has learned; until together on common days, after the meal, at the hour of None, they have celebrated worthy praises in the church; or if perhaps the meal has come before the hour of None on fasting days, until the little bell is rung in the cloister: in the meantime, if the shortness of the nights and the condition of the seasons and the necessity of nature require it: after some little hour in which there is to be reading after the meal, or prayer, let it be permitted to those who wish to refresh the body for a little while with rest rather than with sleep, so that it may be restored for labors.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":74,"ref":"p74","source":"Post quietem quidem hora Nona decursa vel putsata campanella, nee quidquam otiosum possit diabolus invenire; ne vanis desideriis pateat cordis aditus: altera sororum libros scribat, ut et manus labore, et mens divino repleatur pabulo. Suat altera cucullas sororum, et tunicas et melotas. Plantas olerum plantet altera in hortulo, ut crescentes vobis praebeant escas. Altera semina jactet. Irrigentur areolæ, ut seminibus aptae fiant. Inserantur fructiferae arbores infructuosis: ut ars vim repellat natu. rae. Ex liis resurgat mens propter visibilium horum inspectionem ad meditandum de invisibilibus Dei: oriatur admiratio divinae potentiae in semine, quod ex sic parvo, sic arido, tantæ magnitudinis et viriditatis, et pulchritudinis creatura formetur. Ex admiratione crescat devotio, ex devotione elevatio mentis; ita ut jam ipse hortulus fiat oratorium, et creaturae insensibiles creatoris magnitudinem praedicent. Sed cavendum est potissime, ne manus vestrae quidquam contingere audeant, quod vanis usibus possit aptari.","english":"After the rest, indeed, when the ninth hour has passed or the little bell has been rung, lest the devil find anything idle, lest the entrance of the heart lie open to vain desires: let one of the sisters write books, so that both her hand may be filled with labor and her mind with divine nourishment. Let another sew the sisters' cowls, tunics, and cloaks. Let another plant the shoots of vegetables in the little garden, so that growing they may provide food for you. Let another cast the seeds. Let the little beds be watered, so that they may become fit for the seeds. Let fruitful trees be grafted onto unfruitful ones, so that art may repel the force of nature. From these things let the mind rise up, through the inspection of these visible things, to meditating on the invisible things of God: let admiration of the divine power arise in the seed, which from so small, so dry a thing is formed into a creature of such great size and greenness and beauty. From admiration let devotion grow, from devotion the elevation of the mind; so that now the little garden itself becomes a place of prayer, and insensible creatures proclaim the greatness of the Creator. But it must especially be guarded against, that your hands dare to touch anything that can be adapted to vain uses.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":75,"ref":"p75","source":"I CAPUT XXXIX.\n\nDe horis vespertinis, et Completorio.\n\nSerpens morum, omnis otiosus sermo expellatur de medio vestri. Numquam risus, numquam cachinnus cor vanum pronuntiet. Sic sancti, sic pudici sint actus corporis cuncti, ut mentis sanctitatem exponant. Homo nempe exterior, interioris index est. Sancto vos in labore, sancto vos in opere debellantes diabolum, vespertina hora reperiat; qua in Ecclesia sanctis Deus laudetur officiis.\n\nSi festivitatis celebritas, si nimia debilitas communem cænulam brevemque refocillationem corporis potiusquam ad delectationem paratam indulserit: vespertine laudes Deo tempestivius persolvantur quam caeteris jejuniorum diebus: ut nec etiam debite laudes in ultima hora diei, vel omittantur, vel in aliquo detruncentur ob coenam. Post peractam coenam, vel si omittitur post aliquam horulam, juxta exigentiam temporis ad ecclesiam sorores campanella vocet: ubi vel de sanctorum gestis vel de aliis mirabilibus Dei lectio devota dicatur. Cui succedant Completorii laudes: ut ex his roboratae mentes divino pabulo, nocturnis phantasiis occultisque fallaciis diaboli occurrere non formident, nec timeant dimicare: et sic a divinis obsequiis exortus dies, divinis flniatur in laudibus.","english":"CHAPTER XXXIX.\n\nOn the evening hours, and Compline.\n\nThe serpent of habits, every idle word, let it be driven out from the midst of you. Never laughter, never guffawing, let it declare the heart vain. So holy, so modest let all the acts of the body be, that they may set forth the sanctity of the mind. The outer man, surely, is the index of the inner. Let the evening hour find you holy in labor, holy in work, warring down the devil; at which hour God is to be praised in the church with holy offices.\n\nIf the celebration of a feast, if excessive weakness, has granted a common and brief supper and a brief refreshment of the body prepared rather than for delight: let the evening praises be paid to God earlier than on the other days of fasting: so that even the praises due at the last hour of the day may not be omitted, nor in any respect cut short on account of the supper. After the supper is finished, or if it is omitted, after some little hour, according to the exigency of the time, let the little bell call the sisters to the church: where either from the deeds of the saints or from other wondrous works of God a devout reading is to be recited. To this let the praises of Compline succeed: so that minds strengthened by this divine nourishment may not fear to meet the nocturnal phantasms and the hidden deceits of the devil, nor be afraid to fight: and thus the day, having arisen from divine services, may be finished in divine praises.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":76,"ref":"p76","source":"Post Completorium vero nihil aliud quam silentium sentiatur, ut sorores quietae semotae totaliter corporeis sensibus quae in praeterito tempore divinis audierunt lectionis, ruminent mente, et restringant in corde. Hæc meditans unaquæque suam cellulam adeat, benedictione matris suscepta, et religionis habitum gestans, ut si natura exegerit se in stratu ad quiescendum componat. Si vero dormientem daemon insequi coeperit quam vigilantem metuerat, si illusiones immiserit, si turpia cogitatui opposuerit, mox ut Dei sponsa persenserit, exsurgat, cedatque ignaviae et sopori velox excubitus. Inde protinus horrendum et tremendum diabolo signum crucis opponat, sponsi dilecti invocet auxilium, et sponsIs zelotypus, qui nimio zelo sponsam custodit, exsurget protinus in auxilium sponsse suae. Scuto circumdabit eam, ne jam timeat a timore nocturno. Et cadent statim a latere ejus mille, et decem millia a dextris ejus: nec; appropinquabunt ad eam. Postremo angelis suis mandabit, ut custodiant eam in omnibus viis ejus, ne forte offendat ad lapidem pedem suum.","english":"After Compline, however, let nothing else be perceived but silence, so that the sisters, quiet and wholly withdrawn from bodily senses, may ruminate in mind and confine within the heart the divine readings they heard in the time past. Meditating on these things, let each one go to her cell, having received the blessing of the mother, and wearing the habit of religion, so that, if nature demands it, she may compose herself on her bed to rest. But if the demon begins to pursue her sleeping whom he feared while she was awake, if he has sent in illusions, if he has set shameful things before her thought, as soon as the bride of God perceives it, let her rise up, and let swift watchfulness yield to sloth and sleep. Then straightway let her oppose the dreadful and awe-inspiring sign of the cross to the devil, let her invoke the aid of her beloved spouse, and the jealous spouse, who guards his bride with exceeding zeal, will rise up at once to the aid of his bride. With a shield he will surround her, so that she may no longer fear the terror of the night. And immediately a thousand shall fall at her side, and ten thousand at her right hand: nor shall they approach her. Finally, he will command his angels to guard her in all her ways, lest perhaps she strike her foot against a stone.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":77,"ref":"p77","source":"CAPUT XL.\n\nDe charitate servanda erga infirmas sorores.\n\nBalnearum mollitiem, caro sponsae Dei non sustipiat. Harum usus castis corporibus non competit. Satis nos ipsi experti quotidie quantus in membris nostris libidinis ignis exurat, sentimus, etiam si ignis fomenta auferantur pro posse. Nimis est demens et fatuus, qui materiam preparans igni ad incendiuin, non vult ut ardeat. Ista decent miserrimas mulierculas, cum periclitantur naufragio partus. Tamen si extrema necessitas inOrmanti consuluerit, servato omnis pudicitiae honore, cum omni modestia fiat. Alias in servis Dei talia cogitare sit nefas. Summopere servetur in vobis, ut erga infirmantes sorores, cum omni sollicitudine, omnis exhibeatur cura hospitalitatis, et praebeantur integrae et totius pietatis obsequia. Si periculum exegerit, medicum sobrium et pudicum, et oni suspicione carentem, protinus consulant: et quae mandaverit sanitati congrua, omni domus necessitate postposita, benigne fiant. Si vero desunt necessaria: vendantur quae monasterii sunt, ne temporale aliquod misericordiarum impediat opera.","english":"CHAPTER XL.\n\nOn charity to be shown toward infirm sisters.\n\nThe flesh of the bride of God must not endure the softness of baths. Their use is not fitting for chaste bodies. We ourselves have sufficiently learned by daily experience, and we feel, how great a fire of lust burns in our members, even if the kindling of the fire is removed as far as possible. He is altogether mad and foolish who, preparing material for the fire for burning, does not wish it to burn. These things are fitting for the most wretched little women, when they are in danger of the shipwreck of childbirth. Yet if extreme necessity has consulted for them, with all honor of modesty preserved, let it be done with all modesty. Otherwise, to think of such things in the servants of God should be a sacrilege. Let it be preserved above all in you, that toward ailing sisters, with all solicitude, all care of hospitality be shown, and the services of whole and entire piety be provided. If danger demands it, let them consult at once a sober and modest physician, and one free from all suspicion: and the things he has ordered as suitable for health, with every necessity of the house set aside, let them be done kindly. But if the necessities are lacking, let the things that belong to the monastery be sold, lest any temporal thing hinder the works of mercy.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":78,"ref":"p78","source":"Nulla lex escae, vel potus aut stratus astringat infirmam vel debilem. Tamen sollicite cavendum est ne ingluvies gulositatis sub infirmitatis velamine, sua commoda quaerat, et ne infirmitas sub specie sanctitatis, corpus abstinentiis conterat ultra vires, ne corpus duplici fractum stimulo, apud justum judicem deficiens, impium criminetur coenobium et homicidam. Deputentur custodes infirmantibus discretae et sanctae sorores, quae sollicitae praecaveant pericula, quae imminere possunt infirmis: ne quid aliqualiter contingat adversi. Onera, quaeso, non aggravent servitrices. Semper Christum cogitent in infirma sorore latentem: semper se cogitent posse in futurum talibus indigere. Semper lex illa naturae astricta teneatur sinu mentis, hominem debere aliis id exhibere, quod ab ipsis Ipse deposceret. Non inliciat, quaeso, hospitalitatis opera murmur, sed quod fieri decet, cum omni mansuetudine fiat, juxta Apostolum dicentem: Hospitalitatem sectantes, invicem in charitate sine murmuratione.","english":"No law of food, or drink, or bedding should constrain one who is infirm or weak. Yet careful heed must be taken lest the gluttony of greed, under the veil of infirmity, seek its own comforts, and lest infirmity, under the appearance of sanctity, wear out the body with abstinences beyond its strength, so that the body, broken by a double goad, failing before the just judge, may accuse the monastery as impious and murderous. Let discreet and holy sisters be appointed as guardians for the infirm, who with solicitude may guard against the dangers that can threaten the infirm, lest anything adverse befall them in any way. Let them not, I beg, aggravate the burdens of those who serve. Let them always think on Christ hidden in the infirm sister; let them always think that they themselves may in the future need such care. Let that law of nature always be held bound in the recess of the mind, that a person ought to show to others what he himself would ask of them. Let not, I beg, the murmuring of complaint entice away the works of hospitality, but let what is fitting to be done be done with all gentleness, according to the Apostle who says: Pursuing hospitality, in charity toward one another without murmuring.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":79,"ref":"p79","source":"CAPUT XLI.'\n\nDe auctoritate Episcopi et præpositi, circa observa tiones ordinis.\n\nEcce vobis, mea domina Eustochium, et cæteræ dileclissimse filiae Christi, apostolicam vitam rudi ei crasso stylo his chartulis scriptam, senex pater et propinquus jam morti, utpote centenarius in aetate, devoto affectu transmisit. Hoc speculum æternum, per hoc ænigmate in praesenti vita, felicitatis viam unaquæque filiarum, assidua meditatione cernat. Non causet grossi'ies corticis, medullam requirendi contemptum. Non imperitus et rusticanus sermo fastidium generet. Talia decent poeticas fabulas. Non est opus pietatis et totius veritatis legi rhetorum pompis. Haec omnia juvenum intersunt. Ex bac singulis diebus velut ex delectabili ferculo, singulorum vobis sumite bolum. Hunc non transglutiendo, sed magna morositate masticando, hinc inde transferte per ora, ut sentire valeatis dulcedinem. Fateor enim vobis quod ex his quae scribuntur, si sedula sit medilatio, exsurgent vobis talia, qualia lingua humana non novit, quamquam et hoc imperfectum sit opus. Nulla enim tam sancta, tam justa, et diu provisa est constitutio, quae in futurum plurimos non patiatur defectus, quae aliquando correctione non egeat.","english":"CHAPTER XLI.\n\nOn the authority of the Bishop and the superior, concerning the observances of order.\n\nBehold, my lady Eustochium, and the rest of you, most beloved daughters of Christ, an old father and kinsman already near to death, being a hundred years in age, has sent to you in devoted affection the apostolic life written in these pages in a rough and crude style. Let each one of my daughters behold in this eternal mirror, through this enigma in the present life, the way of blessedness by assiduous meditation. Let not the coarseness of the bark cause contempt for seeking the marrow. Let not the unskilled and rustic speech produce disdain. Such things befit poetic fables. The law of piety and of all truth has no need of the pomp of rhetoricians. All these things are for the young. From this, each day, as from a delightful dish, take for yourselves a morsel of each portion. Do not swallow this down, but chewing it with great care, pass it about from one side to the other through your mouths, so that you may be able to taste its sweetness. For I confess to you that from these things which are written, if meditation be diligent, such things will arise for you as the human tongue has not known, although this work also is imperfect. For no constitution is so holy, so just, and so long foreseen, that it does not allow many defects in the future, and that it does not at some time need correction.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":80,"ref":"p80","source":"Propterea si quid in hac normula apostolicae vitae et religionis, dispensatione, correctione, vel immulatione indiget, episcopo vestro, aut præposito vestro presbytero sancto committo, ut secundum pleni tudinem Spiritus ancti ispenset, mutet et corrigat. Sic itaque, charissimæ filiae, sanctos vivite dies. Sic Christo nuptiali foedere copulatae, ut non vacua larapade paratas vos semper media in nocte cum venerit sponsus vocaturus ad nuptias inveniat, nequaquam vobis per exteriora quaerentibus oleum, ne tamquam fatuis ex tarditate, thalami negetur introitus. Senectutem vestri devoti Hieronymi sanctis vestris juvate orationibus.","english":"Therefore, if anything in this little rule of the apostolic life and religion needs dispensation, correction, or emulation, I entrust it to your bishop, or to your holy superior, the presbyter, that according to the fullness of the Holy Spirit he may dispense, change, and correct it. So then, dearest daughters, live holy days. So, joined to Christ in the marriage covenant, that he may find you always prepared with lamps not empty, when the bridegroom comes at midnight to call you to the wedding, lest, seeking oil outside yourselves, you be refused entrance to the bridal chamber as foolish virgins through your delay. Aid the old age of your devoted Jerome with your holy prayers.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]}]}