Folio 43v - the ostrich, continued.
trample on them.
The ostrich also forgets that the beast of the field will destroy its eggs, just as the hypocrite does not care at all if the Devil, raging in this world, snatches the young who are the product of edifying association. True teachers, therefore, by virtue of the love with which they are endowed, have the deepest fears for their pupils; hypocrites are as unconcerned for their charges as they are unable to grasp for themselves what indeed there is to be feared.
Because hypocrites are hard of heart, they do not recognise their children in a dutiful fashion with love. Again, this is illustrated by the image of the ostrich: 'She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers' (Job, 39:16). For the man who is not imbued with the grace of charity, sees his neighbour, even though he is born of God, as a stranger, exactly as all hypocrites do.
As hypocrites continually seek external things, their minds inwardly lose all capacity for feeling, and in everything they do, as they strive on their own behalf, their hearts are unmoved by any loving compassion towards their neighbour. Because they do not know love at its deepest level, their mind is hardened by their self-love on the inside to the same extent that it is opened up, through their worldly longing, on the outside. Their mind grows cold and insensitive on the inside, because it grows soft with the love that brings condemnation on the outside.
The mind of the hypocrite lacks the capacity to examine itself, because it has not the least desire to do so. It cannot reflect upon itself because it is not in full control of itself; nor indeed has it the power so to be, because it is fragmented by as many imaginings as the desires which seize it. The hypocrite's mind lies scattered in the depths; yet it could, if it were it whole and if it so wished, rise to the heights.
That is why the mind of the righteous, because it is restrained by the observance of discipline from desiring transient, visible things, is renewed and kept inwardly whole. It sees clearly what its attitude should be towards God or a neighbour, because it leaves nothing of itself outwith its control. The more it is restrained from external things, the more its capacity is increased to burn with a deep fire. The more it burns, the more it illuminates the vices that are to be detected. The result is that holy men, when they are whole within, with marvellously keen sight
- Commentary
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Commentary
Text
The ostrich and its eggs.
Comment
in margin, 'dampnabili '[correcting ‘dominabili’], 'damnable love'.
Folio Attributes
- Transcription and Translation
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Transcription
calcaret. Obliviscitur etiam quod bestia agri conterat quia nimirum\ si diabolus in hoc mundo seviens editos in bona conversatione\ filios rapiat, ypocrita omnino non curat. Habent ergo veraces magistri\ super discipulos suos timoris viscera, ex virtute caritatis, ypocrite\ tanto minus commissis sibi metuunt, quanto nec sibimetipsis quod timere\ debeant reprehendunt. Et quia obduratis cordibus vivunt, ipsos etiam\ quos generant filios nulla pietate amoris agnoscunt. Unde adhuc\ sub strucionis specie subditur: Ducatur [Duratur] ad filios qui quasi non sunt sui.\ Que enim caritatis gratia non infundit, proximum suum etiam si ipse\ hunc deo genuit extraneum respicit, ut profecto sunt omnes ypocrite.\ Quorum videlicet mentes dum semper exteriora appetunt, intus\ insensibiles fiunt, et in cunctis que agunt dum sua semper expe\ tunt, erga affectum proximi nulla caritatis compassione molles\ cunt. Et quia caritas viscera nesciunt, eorum mens quanto per mundi\concupiscentiam in exteriora resolvitur, tanto per affectionem suam\ interius obduratur. Et torpore insensibili frigescit intrinsecus quia\ amore dominabili [PL, damnabili] mollescit foris. Sed [PL, seque] ipsam considerare non\ valet, quia cogitare sese minime studet. Cogitare vero se non po\ test quia tota[m expuncted] apud semetipsam non est, tota vero esse apud semet\ ipsam non sufficit, quia per quot concupiscentias rapitur, per tot\ a semetipsa species dissipatur. Et sparsa in infimis iacet, que\ collecta si vellet ad summa consurgeret. Unde iustorum mens quando\ per custodiam discipline a cunctorum visibilium fluxus ap\ petitu constringitur, collecta apud semetipsam intrinsecus integratur.\ Qualisque deo vel proximo esse debeat plene conspicit, quia nichil su\ um exterius derelinquit. Et quanto ab exterioribus abstracta compes\ citur, tanto aucta in infimis inflammatur. Et quo magis ardet,\ eo ad deprehendenda vicia amplius lucet. Hinc est enim quod sancti\ viri dum se intra semetipsos colligunt, mira ac penetrabili acie\Translation
trample on them. The ostrich also forgets that the beast of the field will destroy its eggs, just as the hypocrite does not care at all if the Devil, raging in this world, snatches the young who are the product of edifying association. True teachers, therefore, by virtue of the love with which they are endowed, have the deepest fears for their pupils; hypocrites are as unconcerned for their charges as they are unable to grasp for themselves what indeed there is to be feared. Because hypocrites are hard of heart, they do not recognise their children in a dutiful fashion with love. Again, this is illustrated by the image of the ostrich: 'She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers' (Job, 39:16). For the man who is not imbued with the grace of charity, sees his neighbour, even though he is born of God, as a stranger, exactly as all hypocrites do. As hypocrites continually seek external things, their minds inwardly lose all capacity for feeling, and in everything they do, as they strive on their own behalf, their hearts are unmoved by any loving compassion towards their neighbour. Because they do not know love at its deepest level, their mind is hardened by their self-love on the inside to the same extent that it is opened up, through their worldly longing, on the outside. Their mind grows cold and insensitive on the inside, because it grows soft with the love that brings condemnation on the outside. The mind of the hypocrite lacks the capacity to examine itself, because it has not the least desire to do so. It cannot reflect upon itself because it is not in full control of itself; nor indeed has it the power so to be, because it is fragmented by as many imaginings as the desires which seize it. The hypocrite's mind lies scattered in the depths; yet it could, if it were it whole and if it so wished, rise to the heights. That is why the mind of the righteous, because it is restrained by the observance of discipline from desiring transient, visible things, is renewed and kept inwardly whole. It sees clearly what its attitude should be towards God or a neighbour, because it leaves nothing of itself outwith its control. The more it is restrained from external things, the more its capacity is increased to burn with a deep fire. The more it burns, the more it illuminates the vices that are to be detected. The result is that holy men, when they are whole within, with marvellously keen sight
