Considering The Wretched

Aiunt igitur a Deo omnia praetermitti, quia nec coerceat malos nec tueatur bonos, et ideo in hoc saeculo deteriorem admodum statum esse meliorum; bonos quippe esse in paupertate, malos in abundantia; bonos in infirmitate, malos in fortitudine; bonos semper in luctu, malos semper in gaudio, bonos in miseria et abjectione, malos in prosperitate et dignitate. Primum igitur ab iis qui hoc ita esse vel dolent vel accusant, illud requiro, de sanctis hoc, id est, de veris ac fidelibus Christianis, an de falsis et impostoribus doleant. Si de falsis; superfluus dolor, qui malos doleat non beatos esse; cum utique quicumque mali sunt, successu rerum deteriores fiant, gaudentes sibi nequitiae studium bene cedere; et ideo vel ob hoc ipsum miserrimi esse debent ut mali esse desistant, vindicantes improbissimus quaestionibus nomen religionis, et praeferentes ad sordidissimas negotiationes titulum sanctitatis: quorum scilicet nequitiis si miseriae comparentur, minus sunt miseri quam merentur: quai in quibuslibet miseriis constituti, non sunt tamen tam miseri quam sunt mali. Nequaquam ergo pro his dolendum quod non sunt divites ac beati; multo autem pro sanctis minus: quia quamlibet videantur ignorantibus esse miseri, non possunt tamen esse aliud quam beati. Superfluum autem est ut eos quispiam vel infirmitate vel paupertate vel aliis istiusmodi rebus existimet esse miseros, quibus se illi confidunt esse felices. Nemo enim aliorum sensu miser est, sed suo. Et ideo non possunt cujusquam falso judicio esse miseri, qui sunt vere sua conscientia beati. Nulli enim, ut opinor, beatiores sunt quam qui ex sententia sua atque ex voto agunt. Humiles sunt religiosi, hoc volunt: pauperes sunt, pauperie delectantur: sine ambitone sunt, ambitum respuunt, inhonori sunt, honorem fugiunt, lugent lugere gestiunt, infirmitate laetantur. Cum enim, inquit Apostolus, infirmor, tunc potens sum. Nec immeriot sic arbitratur, ad quem Deus ipse sic loquitur: Sufficit tibi gratia mea: nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur. Nequaquam ergo nobis dolenda est haec afflictio infirmitatum, quam intelligimus matrem esse virtutum. Itaque quidquid illud fuerit, quicumque vere religiosi sunt, beati esse dicendi sunt: quia inter quamlibet dura, quamlibet aspera, nulli beatiores sunt quam qui hoc sunt quod volunt. Soleant quamvis esse nonulli ui turpia atque obscena sectantes, etsi juxta opinionem suum beati sunt, quia adipiscuntur quod volunt; re tamen ipsa beati non sunt, quia quod volunt, nolle debuerant. Religiosi autem hunc cunctis beatiores sunt, quia et habent quae volant, et meliora quam quae habent omnino habere non possunt. Labor itaque, et jejunium, et paupertas, et humilitas, et infirmitas non omnibus sunt onerosa tolerantibus, sed tolerare nolentibus. Sive enim gravia haec, sive levia, animus tolerantis facit. Nam sicut nihil est tam leve quod ei non grave sit qui invitus facit, sic nihil est tam grave quod non ei qui id libenter exsequitur, leve esse videatur. Nisi forte antiquis illis priscae virtutis viris, Fabiis, Fabriciis, Cincinnatis, grave fuisse existimamus quod pauperes erant, qui divites esse nolebant; cum omnia scilicet studia, omnes conatus suos ad communia emolumenta conferrent, et crescentes reipublicae vires privata paupertate ditarent. Numquid parcam illam tunc agrestemque vitam cum gemitu et dolore tolerabant, cum viles ac rusticos cibos ante ipsos quibus coxerant focos sumerent, eosque ipsos capere nisi ad vesperam non liceret? Numquid aegre ferebant quod avara ac divite conscientia auri talenta non premerent, cum etiam argenti usum legibus coercerent? Numquid illecebrae et cupiditatis poenam putabant quod distenta aureis nummis marsupia non haberent, cum patricium hominem, quod usque ad decem argenti libras dives esse voluisset, indignum curia judicarent? Non despiciebant tunc, puto, pauperes cultus, cum vestem hirtam ac brevem sumerent, cum ab aratro arcesserentur ad fasces, et illustrandi habitu consulari, illis fortasse ipsis quas assumpturi erant imperialibus togis madidum sudore pulverem detergerent. Itaque tunc illi pauperes magistratus opulentam rempublicam habebant; nunc autem dives potestas pauperem facit esse rempublicam. Et quae, rogo, insania est, aut quae caecitas, ut egestuosa et mendicante republica divitias posse cedant stare privatas? Tales ergo tunc veteres Romani erant; et sic illi tunc contemnebant divitias, nescientes Deum sicut nunc spernunt sequentes Dominum. Slavian De Gubernatione Dei Source:  Migne PL 53.30c-33b

They say, then, that everything is neglected by God, since He neither restrains the wicked nor protects the good, and therefore in this world the state of better men is much worse, certainly with the good in poverty and the wicked in abundance, the good weak and the wicked strong, the good ever in grief and the wicked always joyful, the good in misery and abjection and the wicked prosperous and honoured. Firstly I wish to ask this of those who lament or denounce these things: do they grieve for the saints, that is, the true and faithful Christians, or for the false impostors? If for the false, needless is the grief that bewails the unhappiness of the wicked, since all evil folk are made worse by success in their affairs, who rejoice at some fortunate outcome of their iniquity; yet they should be the most wretched in order that they may cease to be wicked, that they stop vindicating their evil advances under the name of religion and giving the title of sanctity to their most sordid deeds; indeed, if one were to compare their crimes with the misfortunes of sinners they would be shown to be less wretched than they deserve, for in whatever misfortunes they are placed they are not so wretched as they are wicked. Thus one must never grieve because they are not rich and happy, and much less so for the saints, for however wretched they may seem to be to those who are ignorant, they are not able to be anything else but happy. Indeed it is superfluous to think them wretched because of sickness, or poverty, or some similar thing, in which they confess themselves happy. No one is wretched because of the opinion of another, but only in his own mind. And therefore they are not able to be wretched by the incorrect judgement of another who are in their own consciences truly happy. For none, I think, are happier than those who live and act according to their own resolution and vows. The religious are lowly and they choose to be so; they are poor and they delight in poverty; they lack ambition, reviling ambition; they are without honour, fleeing honour; they weep and exult in weeping; they rejoice in weakness. 'For when,' says the Apostle,' I am weak, I am strong.' 1 And not without reason is it so judged by him to whom God Himself said: 'Let my grace suffice for you; virtue is perfected in weakness.' 2 Never then should this affliction of weakness be a cause of sorrow to us, for we understand it to be the mother of the virtues. Therefore, whatever may have befallen, those who are truly religious should be called happy, since amid any hardships or difficulties none are happier than those who are what they wish. Although it is usual that a few pursue things vile and obscene, even if according to their own opinion they are happy when they gain what they wish, yet in truth they are not happy, because what they want they should not. And in this the religious are happier than all others, because they have what they wish and indeed cannot have anything better than they have. So toil, fasting, poverty, humility and infirmity are not burdens to all who bear them, but to those who are unwilling to bear them. Whether something is heavy or light the mind of the one who bears it makes it so. For just as no task is so light that it is not a burden to the one who performs it unwillingly, so none is so heavy that to the one who it does it glady it does not seem light. Unless perhaps to those ancient men of old virtue, the Fabii, Fabricii and Cincinnati, we think that it was a burden that they were poor who did not wish to be rich, when all their cares, all their efforts, were for the common good, and by their private poverty they enriched the growth of the state. Was it, then, with groans and grief that they bore that lean and rustic life, when they ate cheap country foods before the very fire on which they had cooked it, and did not permit themselves to take of it it until evening? Was it that they bore it ill that they were not driven to talents of gold by an avarious and grasping mind, when their laws restricted the use even of silver? Was it that they thought it a punishment according to enticing desire that they did not have purses stuffed with gold, when they judged a patrician unworthy of the senate because he had wished to increase his wealth to the sum of ten pounds? Then, I think, they did not despise the way of the poor who wore only one short and shaggy garment, who from the plow were summoned to the fasces, and, about to be made illustrious in consular robes, perhaps wiped off the dusty mositure of sweat with the imperial togas that they were about to put on. Then the magistrates were poor, but the nation rich; now the wealth of those in power makes the state poor. And what madness is it, I ask, or what blindness, to think that amid the poverty and beggary of the state private fortunes will stand fast? Such, then, were the ancient Romans; so they in their day scorned riches, not knowing God, just as now the followers of the Lord scorn them. Salvian, On The Providence of God 1 1 2 Cor 12.10 2 2 Cor 12.9