Living Among The Wicked

Et quia non sufficit fideli quod ordinate conversetur, et vivat cum his cum quibus est colligatus dicitis modis. Sed oportet quod virtuose vivat cum his qui adversantur, propter quod dicitur in laudem Iob: Quod vir erat in terra simplex et rectus. Super quod Gregorius Moralium i: Non multum laudabile et esse bonum cum bonis sed bonum cum malis. Et Ezechielem iii dicitur: frater fui draconum. Unde Gregorius xx ibidem, et Ezechielem iii: Cum scorpionibus habitas. Ibi Gregorius libro i omelia ix idem. Ideo dicitur iustus Loth aspectu et auditur ii Petri i Quia bonus inter malos, Genesis xix. Philippenses ii: In medio nationis prave and perverse. Canticum ii: Sicut lilium inter spinas. Sunt ergo fideles ammonendi, ut licet habitent inter malos iuste tamen vivant declinando a malis eorum, ad Romanos ultimo: Declinate a malos. Et ut etiam diligant orent et benefaciant eis qui sunt inimici et persequentes, Mathei v: Diligite inimicos vestros, et cetera. Inimicus enim diligendus est ratione nature, odeindus ratione cuple, ait Augustinus, Contra Faustum xiii. Et xix De Civitate Dei capitulo vi. Perfecto inquit odio odera illos. Idem Gregorius Pastoralis xxix. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Pars secunda, Distinctio nona, secunde partis, Captiulum primum, De virtuali conversatione cum adversariis. Quod laudabile est bene vivere inter malos Source: here, p124

It is not enough for a faithful man to conduct himself in an orderly fashion and live among those with whom he has attachments in the various ways mentioned, but it is necessary that he should live virtuously with those who are averse to him, because of which it is said in praise of Job that he was an innocent and upright man on the earth, 1 concerning which Gregory says in the first book of his Moralia that there is not much that is praiseworthy in being good with the good, but rather in being good among the wicked. And on the third chapter on Ezekiel 'I was a brother of dragons.' 2 Whence Gregory in the tenth book of the same work and in the third chapter of Ezekiel 'You dwell with scorpions.' 3 And in the ninth homily of the first book on the same. Therefore it is said 'the righteous Lot by sight and hearing...' in the first chapter of the second letter of Peter. 4 And a good man among evil men is found in the nineteenth chapter of Genesis. In the second chapter of the Letter to the Philippians: 'In the midst of a depraved and perverse people.' In the second chapter of the Song of Songs: 'Like a lily among thorns.' 5 Therefore let the faithful be exhorted that it is possible to dwell righteously among the wicked, yet they who do so must live there while rejecting their evils, as in the last chapter of Romans: 'Stand apart from evil folk.' Even so that they love and pray and do good to those who are enemies and persecutors. In the fifth chapter of Mathew: 'Love your enemies,' and the rest. 6 An enemy is loveable because of his rational nature and worthy of hate because of his faults, says Augustine in the third chapter of Against Faustus, and in the sixth chapter of the nineteenth book of the City of God. 'With a perfect hatred I hated them.' 7 Likewise Gregory in the twenty ninth book of his Pastoral Guide. John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Second Part, Second Part of the Ninth Distinction, First Chapter, On living virtuously among enemies, and that it is praiseworthy to live well among evil folk. 1 Job 1.1 2 Job 30.29 3 Ezek 2.6 4 2 Pet 2.7 5 Phil 2.15, Song 2.2 6 Rom 16.17, Mt 5.44 7 Ps 138.22

Fraternal Love

Consimiliter sunt ammonedni homines, ut habeant benivolum affectum ad homines qui sunt sibi colligati naturali colligatione vel affinitate, quia tales dicuntur fratres in scripturis. Quatuor enim modis dicuntur fratres, ut ait papam, scilicet natura, ut Esau et Iacob, gente, ut omnes Iudei, cognatione, ut Abraham et Loth, affectu, et hoc vel speciali quo omnes Christiani dicuntur fratres, vel communi quo omnes homines ex uno patre nati. Ad omnes ergo qui sunt colligati cognatione, amor ordinatus debet extendi. Et si dicat salvator, Luce xviii: Qui non odit patrem aut matrem et cetera, non potest esse meus discipulus. Non prohibet amorem naturalem parentum et cognatorum, sed carnalem quo impeditur amor divinus, prout exponit Augustinus episola xxii. Unde et antiqui erant affectuosi sicut Abraham et Loth quem liberavit ab hostibus, Genesis xiii. Et Laban ad Iacob quando audivit eum advenisse, Genesis xxviii. Et ideo coniugium institutum est fieri inter extraneos inter quos amor et caritas extendatur et dilatetur ubi amor naturalis minus servet secundum Augustinus xv De civitate dei capitulo xvi. ubi loquitor bene de ista materia: Predictos igitur debet predictor ammonere ut habeant se vicissini sicut debent se habere, et de talibus cum eisdem conferre. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Pars secunda, Distinctio tercia, secunde partis, Capitulum tercium, De amore ad consanguineos Source: here, p107

Similarly men should be exhorted to be of good will to men who are bound to them by natural bonds or affinity, because such brothers are spoken of in Scripture. Men are brothers in four ways, by a father, as it is according to nature, as with Esau and Jacob, by a people, as with all the Jews, by kinship, as Abraham and Lot, and by love, which is that by which all Christians are especially called brothers, or by that shared commonness of all men who are born from the one Father. Therefore to all those who are bound by family relationship, an orderly love should be extended. And if the Saviour says in the eighteenth chapter of Like, 'He who does not hate father or mother, ' and the rest, 'cannot be my disciple,' 1 this does not prohibit the natural love of parents and relations, but rather anything carnal that would be an obstacle to Divine love, as Augustine explains in his twelfth letter. Whence the men of old were affectionate, as when Abraham freed Lot from his enemies in the thirteenth chapter of Genesis. And as Laban was when he heard Jacob had arrived in the twenty eighth chapter of Genesis. 2 Therefore marriage was instituted among those more distant from us, so that love and charity might increase and expand where natural love is lacking, and should have our care, according to Augustine in the fifteenth book of the city of God, chapter sixteen, where he speaks well about this matter. Therefore let the preacher admonish men to have as much love for their neighbours as they have for themselves, and treat them as they would themselves. 3 John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Second Part, Second Part of the Third Distinction, Third Chapter, On Love of Relations. 1 Lk 14.26 2 Gen 15.8-16, Gen 29.12-14 3 Mk 12.31, Levit 19.18

Birth And Virtue

Econtratrio monendi sunt ignobiles, ut studeant esse nobiles virtutibus, quamvis non sint nobiles nobilitate sanguinis, quia humili loco nati multi clari fuerunt, prout ait Valerius libro iii capitulo viii. Pones exampla de talibus, sicut de Tullio Hostilio quem in cunabulis accepit agreste tugurium. Eiusdem adolescentia in pecora pascendo fuit occupata, validior etas. Imperium Romanum rexit et duplicavit, senectus in altissimo maiestatis fastigio fulsit. Et ibidem de aliis talibus. Similiter narrat qualiter humiliter nati, fulserunt nobilitate philosophie. Socrates inquit, non solum hominum consensu, verum etiam Appollonis oraculo sapientibus, iudicatus phantaice vel phanaretis matre obsistrice, et sophanisto patre marmorareo vel morario genitus ad clarissimum glorie lumine accessit, et si virtus per seipsum existimatur magister vite optimus. Et ibidem quam matrem eripides, aut quem patern Demostenes habuit, ipsorum quoque seculo ignotum fuit, alterius enim matrem cultellos vendidisse, omnium pene doctorum litere loquuntur. Sed quid aut illius tragita, aut huius oratoria vir clarus, natus ergo de humili genere, clarus tamen philosophia, et virtutibus satis magis est commendabilis nobili nato et alto genere, talibus carente. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Tercia part: De informatione hominum quantum ad ea que omnibus sunt communia, Tercia distinctio, Captiulum tercium: De ignobilibus Source: here, p138

On the contrary the ignoble should be encouraged so that they become zealous to be noble by virtue, though they are not noble by nobility of blood, because many who were born in lowly position have become celebrated men, as Valerius says in book 3 chapter 8, giving examples of such men like Tullius Hostilius whom a rustic hut received into its cradle. His youth having been spent in pasturing cattle, he became strong in years, and ruling as king of the Romans, he doubled their territory, and in old age he shone with the most high majesty. 1 And in the some place he speaks of others. And likewise he tells of those who were humbly born and shone with the nobility of philosophy. Socrates, he says, not only by the agreement of men, but by the oracle of Apollo, was adjudged to be truly wise, he who was born of a mother, Phaenarete, who was a midwife, and his father, Sophroniscus, was a marble worker, or a stone cutter, but he came to the brightest light of glory, if virtue is judged to be the best teacher of life. And in the same place the mother of Euripides, and the father of Demosthenes, were also unknown to the world, for the mother of the former sold knives, 2 yet they are celebrated in nearly all of the works of those who are educated, for the first in tragedy and the other in oratory were great men, and both were born in a humble state, yet by philosophy they become famous, for indeed virtue is more commendable than a noble birth or a fine lineage which lacks such things. John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Third Part, On The Fashioning of Men In Things All Have In Common, Third Distinction, Third Chapter, On The Ignoble. 1 Valerius Maximus 3.4.2 2 Valerius Maximus 3.4e.1-2

A Warning Regarding Books

Scolastici vero tam docentes quam addiscentes, ammonendi sunt de artificioso studio in libris, prout ait Seneca epistola ii. Distrahit librorum multitudo, itaque cum legere non possis quantum habueris, satis est habere quantum legas. Sed meo inquis: hunc librum evoluere volo, meo illum, fastidientis stomachi est multum degustare, que vero varia sunt et diversa, inquinant non alunt probatos itaque semper lege, et siquando ad alteros diveretere libuerit, ad priores redi. Moneat ergo ut fiat diligens inspectio, et inspectorum impressa rememoratio, unde idem epistola xlvi: Non refert quam multos sed quam bonos habeas libros, lectio certa prodest, varia delectat, multitudo enim librorum onerat, non instruit, et satius est, paucis auctoribus te tradere, quam errare per multos xl. enim milia librorum Allexandriae arserunt et cetera. Cum ergo innumerabiles sunt libro, non potest homo pervenire ad ominum inspectionem. Studeas igitur in autenticis et utilibus, non enim est finis faciendi libros, Ecclesiastici xxi. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Quinta Pars, Distinctio Secunda, Capitulum secundum: Qulaes libros habere debent studentes Source: here, p202

However scholars, who are as much teachers as learners, have been warned against a false study of books, as Seneca says in his second letter, 'A multitude of books distracts, so if you cannot read all the books you have, you have enough when you have the books you can read. But if you should say to me, 'I wish to open this book at one time and another at another time.' I say that it is a fussy stomach that tastes many dishes, and when they are quite various and diverse they upset rather than nourish. Always read proven authors, and if at some time it pleases you to turn to different ones, go back to what you have read before.' 1 Therefore he admonishes that there should be a diligent inspection and the impressing of remembrance on those who read, whence he says in his forty sixth letter: 'It matters not if you have many books but rather if they are good ones. Sure reading improves, variety merely amuses.' 1 A multitude of books oppresses, it does not instruct. It is better to make use of a few authors than to err with many. In the fortieth letter: 'A thousand books of Alexandria burnt, etc.' 3 Therefore, when there are countless books, no man is able to give them all his full attention. So study what is true and profitable, for 'of making books there is no end.' 4 John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Fifth Part, Second Distinction, Second Chapter, What Books One Should Have For Study 1 Seneca Epis 2.3-4 2 Seneca Epis 45.1 3 Seneca Tranq Anim 9 4 Eccles 21.12

Fear And Death

Primam mortem scilicet corporis, debet peccator timere ob ablationem omnium delectabilium, et ob eternitatem omnium mediarum, et ob multitudinem penarum, et ob desperationem remediorum et suffragiorum post hanc vitam, Iob xxvii: Dives cum dormierit nihil secum aufert, aperiet oculos suos et nihil inveniet, ubi Gregorius sufficienter de hoc Marolaium xviii. Exemplificans de divite epulone sepulto in inferno Luce xvi. et Luce xii de stulto proponente dilatare horrea sua. Cui dictum est, hac nocte repetent animam tuam, que autem parasti cuius erunt. Sapienta v: Quid vobis profuit superbia, et ad pene exaggerationem predicta erunt, et evenient impio tempore quo non estimat, Iob xxxiiii: Subito morientur et media nocte et cetera. Et de hoc Gregoris Moralium xxv: Quod subitum est quod ante non cogitatur, et ideo dicuntur mori subito quia non procogitant, vere ergo mors peccatorum pessima et ideo timenda, Ecclesiastici xliii: O mors quam amara est memoria tua homini iniusto, unde ad maiorem pene aggravationem quibusdam impiis antequam exeant de vita ostendit Deus penas infernales, prout ait Beda De gestis angelorum de quidam insolente, qui cum infirmaretur monuit eum rex Sandereus vel Geuredus ut confiteretur, qui respondit quod tunc non faceret ne sodales ei insultarent, sed cum surgeret ab infirmitate aggravante hoc faceret. Iterato visitavit enim rex, cui ait ille: quod tunc nulla fuit utilitas eum visitare, eo quod duo iuvenes pulci intraverunt, quorum unus portabat librum in quo scripta erant bona que feci, sed pauca postea intravit exercitus malignorum spirituum quorum maior protulit librum horrende visionis, enormis magnitudinis, et ponderis importabilis in iuvenes, quid vos hic, iste noster est, quibus illi, verum est, ducite eum in tumulum damnationis, duo quoque percutiant unus in caput alius in pedes, et cum ad se pervenient ictus moritur, et portatus a demonibus in infernum protrehatur, et sic factum est. Non pro se vidit cui ista non pro fuere, sed pro aliis qui differunt penitere, ait Beda. Ibidem etiam narrat de quodam fabro vivente ignobiliter, et sustentabatur in monasterio a fratribus propter operum necessitatem, serviebat quoque ebrietati, et aliis magisque nocte residere in officina sua consuevit quam ad psallendum ire, qui infirmatus et ad extrema perductus vocavit fratres eisque narravit videre se inferos aprtos, et Sathanam in profundum dimersum cum Caypha et ceteris qui Christum occiderunt, sibi quod locum preparatum iuxta, et cum hortaretur ad penitentiam, ait desperans quod non erat ei locis mutandi vitam, ex quo vidit iudicium suum iam esse impletum, et sine viatico obiit extraque monasterium sepultus est, nec aliquis pro eo oravit hec vidit ut desparata salute miserabilius periret, sicut beatus Stephanus vidit celos apetos ut letius ascenderet. Omni ergo impio est timenda mors prima, et multo etiam magis alle mortes, quia mors carnis non est nisi umbra mortis prout ait Gregorius Moralium xi. super illud Iob xiii producat in lucem umbram mortis. Et somnus est ut ait idem Moralium xii. super Iob xiiii: Nec consurget de somno suo, mors enim peccati sive anime per peccatum magis timenda est quod mors corporis, quia mors anime est cum eam deserit Deus, mors corporis cum ipsum deserit anima, ait Augustinus xiii. De civitate dei capitulo primo: Quanto ergo melior Deus anima tanto peius deseria Deo quam ab anima. Ideo sancti sustinuerunt mortem corporis ut vitarent peccatum prout ait Susanna Danielis xiii: Melius est mihi absque opere incidere in manus vestras quam peccare in conspectu Dei. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Pars Sexta, Distinctio secunda, Capitulum secundum, Pars Secunda Source: here, p232

The sinner should fear the first death, which is obviously of the body, because of the loss of every delight, and the eternity of being amid a multitude of punishments, and the hopelessness of any remedy and support after this life. 'The rich man when he sleeps takes nothing with him, he opens his eyes and he finds nothing,' 1 which Gregory sufficiently speaks of in the eighteenth book of the Moralia. 2 This is exemplified by the feasting rich man who was buried for hell in the sixteenth chapter of Luke, 3 and in the twelfth chapter concerning the foolish man who proposed to expand his barns, to whom it was said, 'This night your soul is demanded of you; and these things you prepare, who are they for?' 4 In the fifth chapter of Wisdom: 'How did your pride profit you?' 5 Such great gain foretold and in time there comes upon the impious man what he does not expect. 'Suddenly they perish in the middle of the night', 6 And Gregory says in the twenty fifth book of the Moralia: 'That which is sudden is not thought of before and therefore they say that to die suddenly is because it is unforeseen, truly therefore the death of the sinner is the worst,' 7 and so must be feared. Ecclesiasticus chapter forty three: 'O death, how bitter the thought of you to the unrighteous man,' 8 whence it is gravely troublesome to impious folk before they pass away from this life if God should reveal infernal punishment. Which Bede relates in his history of the English, concerning a certain insolent fellow who when he sickened was warned by the king Sandereus or Geuredus that he should confess, 9 and he answered that he would not, lest the warriors mock him, but that when he had recovered from his grave infirmity he would do so. Again the king came to him, and the man said to him that now there was no point in him visiting because two fair youths had come in, one who was carrying a book in which was written all the good things he had done, but a little after, there came in a host of wicked spirits, the greatest of whom brought before them a book hideous to see, of much larger size, and they pressed on the youths most terribly, saying 'Why are you here? This man is ours.' To which they said, 'It is true. Lead him off to the heap of the damned. And also one of two of you strike him on the head and the other on the feet. And when the blow of death comes to him, he shall be borne off by the demons and taken to hell.' And so it was. This man did not see what was to come for his own sake, but for others who defer penitence, says Bede. In the same place he tells the story of a certain smith who lived shamefully, being supported by the brothers of a monastery for his needful works, who was also a slave of drunkenness and was much more accustomed to spend his time with others in his workshop than to go and sing Psalms. Now when he sickened and was reaching his last hours, he called the brothers and told them that he had seen hell opened, and Satan sunk in the depths of it, along with Caiaphas and the others who killed Christ, and that a place had been prepared for him next to them. Then when he was exhorted to penance, he said despairingly that he had no scope to change his own life, and so he saw his own judgement fulfilled, and he died without viaticum and was buried outside the monastery, lest someone pray for him who saw that he must perish wretchedly despairing of his salvation. 10 So saint Stephen saw the heavens opened so that he would ascend joyfully. 11 Thus every wicked man must fear the first death, yet the other deaths are more fearful, because the death of the flesh is nothing but the shadow of death, as Gregory says in the eleventh book of the Moralia on the twelfth chapter of Job 'He brings into light the shadow of death.' 12 And a sleep is the same, he says in the twelfth book of the Moralia on the fourteenth chapter of Job, 'He shall not rise from his sleep,' 13 for the death of the soul by sin should be feared more than the death of the body, since the death of the soul is when it is abandoned by God, and the death of the body is when it is abandoned by the soul, as Augustine says in the thirteenth book On The City of God, in the first chapter: 'By how much better God is to the soul, so much worse is the loss of God from the soul.' 14 Therefore the saints endure the death of the body that they might avoid sin, as Susanna says in the thirteenth chapter of Daniel: 'Better for me to do nothing and fall into your hands than sin in the sight of the Lord.' 15 John of Wales, The Communiloquium, The Sixth Part, Second Distinction, Second Chapter, of The Second Part 1 Job 27.19 2 Gregory Moral 18.28-29 3 Lk 16.22 4 Lk 12.16 5 Wisdom 5.8 6 Job 34.20 7 Greg Moral, Ps 33.22 8 Sirach 41.1 9 Actually Coenred of Mercia, Bede Eccl His 5.13 10 Bede Eccl His 5.14 11 Acts 7.55 12 Greg Moral 11.26, Job 12.22 13 Greg Moral 12.10, Job 14.12 14 Aug Civ De 13.2 15 Dan 13.23

Labours Of Old

Ideo et sancti antiqui et martires laboraveunt, et se morti exposuerunt pro salute fratrum, et animas posuernt ut dictum est, et etiam se vendiderunt infidelibus, ut eos converterent et decuerent ad devotionem et unionem caritatis. Sicut narratur de Serapione, qui et Sindonius dicebatur in libro qui dicitur paradisus patrum: Quod se vendidit paganis precio xx. solidorum, et eis servivit donec Cristianos eos fecit. Cunque recederet pecuniam dedis eis, et cum dicerent ut eam pauperibus daret, respondit: vos eam dater quia vestra vestra est, ego alienas peccunias non do pauperibus. Ibidem legitur: Quod alius vendidit se uni de primatibus civitatis, quem cognovit Manicheum esse, servivitque ei donec eum convertit. Sic et alii sancti laboraverunt et sustinuerunt pro salute fratris. Sicut et Paulus qui ait ii Corinthios ultimo: Ego libentissime impendam et superimpendar pro animibus vestris. Mirum ergo est, qui se dicunt habere caritatem perfectam, qui nec fratribus mala patientibus compatiuntur, nec proficientibus gaudent, nec egenis subministrant de suis superfluitatibus necessari, de quibus verificatur quod ait apostolus. Habentes quidem spem caritatis virtutem autem abnegantes, ii. Thimoteum iii: De his et pertinentibus ad predicat debet predicator diumus conferre cum fidelibus et cetera. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Quinta Distinctio, Captitulum Tercium, Secunde Partis Source: here, p115

So the saints and martyrs of old laboured, even exposing themselves to death for the salvation of their brothers, and laying down their souls, as it is said, and even selling themselves to the faithless, that they might convert them and lead them to the devotion and piety of love. So it is told of Serapion, who was called Sindonius, in the book which is called the Paradise of the Fathers. He sold himself to pagans for the price of twenty solidii and he was their slave until he made them Christians. And when he left, he refused the money paid by them, and when they said that he should give it to the poor, he replied: 'You give what is yours, I do not give another's money to the poor.' In the same place it may be read that another fellow sold himself to a certain great man of a city whom he knew to be a Manichee, and he was his slave until he converted him. So even the saints laboured and suffered for the salvation of their brothers. So even Paul says in the last chapter of the second letter to the Corinthians: 'I will most glady spend and be spent for your souls.' 1 It is a wonder, then, that they say they have perfect love who neither suffer evils with their brothers who suffer, nor take joy in their improvement, nor attend to the needs of the poor from their abundance, which things the Apostle confirms when he says. 'Having the hope of love but denying the power of it.' 2 Concerning these things and things related to them the preacher should spend much time in speech with the faithful. John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Fifth Distinction, Third Chapter, of the Second Part 1 2 Cor 12.15 2 cf 2 Tim 3.5

Prudence And Association

Tamen societas malorum vitanda est. Proverbiorum xxii: Noli esse homini iracundo, neque ambules cum viro furioso ne forte discas semitas eius, et sumas scandalum anime tue. Unde Gregorius super Ezechielem libro i. omelia ox: Infirmi debent vitare societatem pravorum, ne mala que frequentur aspiciunt et corrigere non valent delectentur imitari. Et ponit exemplum, sicut aer malus assisduo afflactu tratus inficit corpus, ita perversa locutio assidua aduita inficit animum, corrumpunt enim bonos mores colloquia prava. ii Corinthios xiii. Unde Seneca epistola vii: Unum exemplum luxurie, unum exemplum avaricie, multum mali facit. Convictor delicatus enumerat et emollit, vicinus dives cupiditatem irritat, malignus comes rubigniem suam affricuit. Et sequitur: necesse est ut aut imiteris tales aut odieris, et utrumque duitandum, ne vel simils malis fias, qui multi sunt, ne vel inimicus multis, quia dissimiles sunt. Et epistola cvii: Herebit tibi avaricia quamdiu avaro sordido te coniunxeris, herebit tibi tumor quamdiu cum superbis convesraberis, incendunt libidines adulterorum sodalia. Cum sancto enim inquit Psalmos, sanctus eris, et cum perverso perverteris. Et i. Corinthios vii. et x. Nolo vos socios esse demoniorum id est grifonicorum. Et ii ad Cornithios vi: Que societas lucis ad tenebras et cetera. Nolite commisceri cum fornicariis, societas vero est cum bonis ineunda. Unde Seneca ubi supra: Ad meliores transi cum Socrate vive, cum Zenone, cum Crispo, vel Crisippo, cum Possidoni, o, qui tradent divinorum humanorumque noticiam, hi iuvebunt in opere esse ut non tantum scias eloqui et in oblectatione audientium verba iactare sed et animum indurare, et adversus minas te erigere, et ibi bene de hoc. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Octavia Distinctio, Capitulum Secundum, Secunde Partis Source: here

The society of the wicked must be avoided. In the twenty second chapter of Proverbs: 'Do not be a friend of an irascible man, nor walk with him who gives himself over to wrath, lest perhaps you learn his ways, and you bring scandal upon your soul.' 1 Whence Gregory says in his ninth homily on the first book on Ezekiel: 'They who are weak should avoid depraved society, lest frequently looking on evils and unable to correct them, they take joy in imitating them.' And he gives an example of bad air which being drawn in by repeated breathing infects the body, for thus the continuous hearing perverse speech infects the soul. 'Wicked speech corrupts good manners.' 2 Whence Seneca says in his seventh letter: 'One example of luxury, one example of avarice, makes much evil. A friend lives luxuriously and enervates, a rich neighbour pricks with desires, a wicked associate rubs off his disease on you.' And it follows; 'It is necessary that you will either imitate such men or hate them, but neither should be trusted, you should neither becomes like the wicked, who are many, nor be an enemy of many because they are unlike you.' 3 And in his one hundred and seventh letter: 'Avarice will stick to you if you join yourself with a filthy miser, a tumour attach while you consort with the proud, lust is incited by association with adulterers.' 4 The Psalms say: 'With the holy man you shall be holy, and with the perverse you shall be perverted.' 5 And in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapters seven and ten, 'Do not associate with demons,' 6 that is, monsters. And in the second letter to the Corinthians, chapter six: 'What assocation does light have with darkness, etc...' 7 Do not mix with fornicators. One should enter into the society of the good. Whence Seneca says in the same letter: 'Pass on to better things, live with Socrates, with Zeno, with Crispus, or Chrysippus, with Possidonius, who shall give awareness of divine and human things. These shall aid in your work and not only shall you know how to be eloquent and cast forth words for the pleasure of listeners, but you shall strengthen the soul, and against threats that rise up against you, you will do well.' 8 John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Eighth Distinction, Second Chapter, of the Second Part 1 Prov 22.24-25 2 1 Cor 15.33 3 Seneca ad Luc Epis 7.7 4 Seneca ad Luc Epis 104.20 5 Ps 17.26 6 1 Cor 7,10.20 7 2 Cor 6.14 8 Seneca ad Luc Epis 104.21

Love's Union

Debent etiam cavere ne dyabolus dissipet fraternam unionem ut sint terribles hostibus, Canticum v: Terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata. Super quod Gregorius libro i. Super ezechielem omelia viii: Castrorum tunc est acies hostibus horribilis, quando ita constipata et condensata fuerit, ut in nullo interrupta videatur. Nam si ita disponitur quod lacus vacuus dimittatur, profecto hostibus terribilis non est. Sed nos contra malignos spiritus acies ponimus, ideo semper per caritatem uniti, et nunquam per discordiam interrupti esse debemus, quia si quelibet in nobis bona fuerint, caritas si defuerit per malum discordie locus aperitur in acie unde ad feriendos nos valeat hostis intrare, unde ut vehementius commendaretur societatis humane unitas, vinculoque concordie scilicet non solum nature similitudine verum cognationis affectu omnes necterentur, voluit Deus ut ex uno homine diffunderetur genus humanum, ait Augustinus xii. De civitate dei capitulo xii. Caritas multos animos unum et multa corda unum facit, ait Augustinus super iohanem omelia viii. Mutuo ergo fideles debent sibi compati in malis sicut membra unius corporis i Corinthios xii: Si patitur unum membrum compatiuntur et cetera. Et similiter se iuvare mutuo, prout exemplificiat ibidem, et subsidia indigentibus ministrare, in Iohanis iii: Qui habuit substantiam huius mundi, et videat fratrem summ necesse habere, et clauserit viscera ab eo quo, caritas Dei in eo. Et se mutuo supportare sicut lapides in edificio prime Petri secundo. Ipsi quoque tanquam lapides vivi coedificamini. Lapis enim in edificio alium supportat, ait Gregorius super Ezechielem libero ii. omelia i. Sic et fideles facere debent, ut ait ibidem Ezechielem iii, supportantes invicem in caritate. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Quinta Distinctio, Captitulum Tercium, Secunde Partis Source: here

Men should beware lest the devil disrupt fraternal union, and so let them be fearful to enemies. In the Song of Songs, chapter five: 'Fearsome like an army ordered for battle.' 1 Concerning which Gregory says in his first book on Ezekiel, in the eighth homily, 'So this array of the army is fearful to the enemy when it is close set and dense and it seems not to be penetrable at all. For if it is arranged so that some gap is allowed, it is not terrible to the enemy. But we having spirits ordered for battle against wicked things are thus always united by love, and never should we allow disharmony to interrupt this, because if there are good things between us and then love declines by the evil of discord, a place is opened in the order so that the enemy is able to enter in and strike us,' 2 whence the unity of human society should be commended most vehemently and the bond of harmony join together in affection, and not only because of the likeness of nature of related folk, because God wished that the human race spread forth from one man, as Augustine says in the twelfth book of his City Of God. And 'Love makes many souls and many hearts one,' he says in his eighth Homily on John. Therefore the faithful should suffer for one another amid evils as members of one body. In the First Letter to the Corinthians chapter twelve: 'If one member suffers the rest also suffer.' 3 And likewise they should help one another, as it is exhorted in the same place, and provide assistance to those in need. In the first letter of John, chapter three: 'He who has the substance of the world and sees his brother in need and closes his heart to him, how is God's love in him?' 4 And they should support one another like stones in building, as in one Peter, chapter two: 'Like living stones built up.' 5 For one stone in a building supports the other, as Gregory says in his first homily in the second book on Ezekiel. So even the faithful should do, as he says in the same place on Ezekiel chapter three. 'Supporting one another in love.' 6 John of Wales, The Communiloquium, Fifth Distinction, Third Chapter, of the Second Part 1 Song 6.10 2 Greg Ezek 1.8.5 3 1 Cor 12.26 4 1 Jn 3.17 5 1 Pet 2.5 6 Ephes 4.2

The Time Of Speaking

Et sicut providus explorator debet considerare status eorum et mores et consuetudines cum quibus confert, et prout viderit expedire saluti eorum sermones utiles proponere, et eos efficaciter exhortari. Quia ut ait quidam sapiens cum orator non aliter nisi orando probetur, philosophus non minus tacendo pro tempore quam loquendo pro tempore philosophatur. Est enim tempus tacendi et tempus loquendi, et ideo ait prius tacendi et postea loquendi , eo quod ille veraciter loqui novit qui prius bene tacere didicit, et quasi quoddam nutrimentum verbi est censura silentii ait Gregorius super Ezechielem libro primo omelia xi. Ubi enim non est auditus non effunda sermonem. Et nolite santum dare canibus, et primo libro saturnalium dicitur quod socrates grecus orator cum in convivio a sodalibus hortaretur ut aliquid in medio proponeret de fonte eloquentie inquit, Que presens locus et tempus exigit ego non calleo, quae ego calleo nec loco presenti sunt apta, nec tempori, ideo ibidem sequitur. Nihil tam cognatum philosophie quam locis temporibus aptare sermones, personas que aderunt in estimatione inviolata moderari in medium vocatas. Alios enim revocant exempla virtutum, alios beneficiorum, nonnullos modestie, et qui aliter agebant saepe auditis talibus ad emendationem venient. Hec ille. Regula ergo discretionis moderante prout viderit expedire pro loco et tempore proponat predicator divinus verba edificatoria implens illud. Verba prudentie statera ponderantur. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum Source: here

And as a provident explorer should consider the state of the manners and customs of those with whom he encounters, even so let a man look to the words that will be useful to expedite salvation, and to effectively exhort men. Because as an orator is not judged capable unless he speaks, yet a philosopher not less by his silence than his speaking is a philosopher. 'There is a time for silence and a time for speaking.' 1 And he first says silence and then speaking because he knows truly what it is to speak who first teaches to be silent, a period of silence being as a certain nourishment of the word, as Gregory says in his eleventh homily in his first book on Ezekiel. 2 'When he is not heard, he must no pour forth words.' 3 'Do not give what is holy to dogs.' 4 And in the first book of the Saturnalia 5 it is said that the Greek orator Isocrates at a feast with friends was exhorted to propound something in their midst from his fount of eloquence and he replied that the present place and time pressed him not to speak, and what he would speak of was not apt for the present place, nor the time, therefore the same follows. Nothing so befits a philosopher as to speak aptly according to time and place, so that the persons addressed in untroubled appraisement come to be moderated before him. For some are inspired by examples of virtue, others by benefits, not a few by modesty, and they who are accustomed to act otherwise, hearing such things come to improvement. Thus moderated by the rule of discretion, in as much as he see it profits the place and time, let the holy preacher full of words of edification speak. 'Let words be weighed in the balance of prudence.' 6 John of Wales, The Communiloquium 1 Eccl 3.7 2 Greg Hom Ez 1.11.3 3 Sirach 32.4 4 Mt 7.6 5 Marcobius Saturnalia 7.1 5 Sirach 21.25

Ways Of Instruction

Cum doctor sive predicator evangelicus sapientibus et insipientibus debitor sit, salvatore demandante eidem predicare evangelicum omni creature; sedula diligentia studere debet ut sciat omnes instruere doctrinaliter et ammonere efficaciter, non solum in predicatione declamatoria, sed collatione familiari et mutua, prout hortatur Ecclesiasticus hortatur. Cum viro irreligioso tracta de sanctitate, et cum iniusto de iusticia, et sic de aliis que ibi enumerat. Et hoc exemplo Salvatoris, qui non solum predicabat publice in civitatibus et synagogis sed etiam in mensis, parabolas et verba vite frequenter auditoribus proponebat. Symon habeo aliquid tibi dicere. Similiter exemplo beati Pauli prime Corinth primo. Sermo meus et predicatio mea non impersuasibilibus humane sapientie verbis, predictio scilicet publica et sermo privatus ait glossa. Et Actuum primo ait idem: Docerem vos per domos et publice id est privatim et communiter testificans et cetera. Frequenter enim collatio familiaris et mutua efficacior est ad instruendum quam predictio publica vel lectio, prout ait Gregorius super evangeliis libero secundo omelia secunda: Collationis inquit vox corda torpentia excitat plusquam lectionis, et quasi quadam manu solicitudinis ut evigilent scilicet audientes pulsat. Et ideo predicator evangelicus etiam in privata collatione verba vite iugiter proponat pro loco et tempore etiam in mensa, it alimenta corporis ministrantibus, ipse alimenta etiam vite dispenset. Civilie enim est et sacris consentaneum litteris aut omnino silere in mensa ut audiant ad profectum aut unde proficiant alii, aut sine culpa letentur,aut doctum proferre sermonem. Siquidem et inter comedentes Dominus parabolas miscuit. Prout dicitur in policrato libro 8. capitulo ix: Si enim Dyogenes et alii cinici hoc est alii philosophi peritissimi, et dicuntur cinimici a cines cinis qui est animal velocissimum, multum obvios monuerunt, prout ait Seneca xxx. epistola et Ieronimus contra Iovinianum loquens de Dyogene inquit: Quod habitavit in portarum vestibulis et in portubus civitatum usque proficiens, imo et transeuntium aut abigens, id est fugans vel seperans aut notans vicia que mores fedabant. Multomagis divinus predictor debet singulos monere et utiliter cum illis conferre ut quilibet ex usa collatione amplius illumineter et melioretur. Quia ut ait Seneca epistola x: Qui ad philosophum venit quotidie aliquid boni secum defert, aut sanior domi redit aut sanabilior. Et ponit exempla, qui in solem venerit colorabit, qui in taberna unguentaria resederit, odorem secum ferunt, sic qui ad philosophum venerit secum aliquid necesse est. Predictor ergo celestis verba sapientiae effundat, unde audientes illuminentur sicut a sole, et exempla vite ostendat aspicientibus ut odore virtutum reficiantur. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum Source: here

When the teacher or preacher of the Gospel is obliged to the wise and the unwise, since the Saviour demanded that he preach the Gospel to all, 1 he should with zealous diligence concern himself that he know how to instruct reasonably and to be pleasant effectively, not only in the declamation of preaching but also in familiar and mutual conversation, inasmuch as Ecclesiasticus exhorts, 'With an irreligious man treating about holiness, and with unjust man about justice,' 2 and so with those others enumerated there. And by the example of the Saviour, who not only preached publicly in the cities and synagogues, but even at table frequently set forth before His hearers the parables and the words of life. 'Simon, I have something to say to you.' 3 Likewise by the example of the blessed Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians: 'My word and my preaching was not in the plausible words of wisdom.' 4 of which the gloss says that preaching pertains both to public and private speech. And in Acts: 'I taught you in houses and in public,' 5 that is, giving witness privately and in public. For frequently familiar and mutual conversation is more effective for instruction than public preaching or reading, whence Gregory says in the second homily in his second book on the Gospels: 'The voice of conversation stimulates the torpid heart more than reading, and as a certain caring touch, it moves hearers to be watchful.' 6 And so the preacher of the Gospel, even in private conversation proposes the words of life in their place and time, even at table, so that just as food administers to the body, so he dispenses the food of life. For it is fitting even for sacred letters that one not be utterly silent at table, that they might hear something to profit, or what can profit others, or without fault they take joy, or to offer a learned word. For so the Lord mixed His parables among diners. According to which it is said in the eighth book of the Policratus, chapter 9: 'For if Diogenes and other Cynics, that is, other knowledgeable philosophers, and the Cynics are called dogs from their likeness to dogs, which is a swift animal, gave much admonishment to passers by...' of which Seneca speaks in his thirtieth letter, 7 and Jerome in Against Jovianianus, speaking about Diogenes, says, 'He dwelt in gateways and in porticoes of cities,' for improvement, even indeed of those passing by, whether they went away, that is, fled or distanced themselves, or took note what conduct they approved. 8 Much more should the holy preacher warn all and talk usefully, so that by the experience of his company they be enlightened and improved. For as Seneca says in his letter: 'He who studies with a philosopher should take away with him one good thing every day: he should daily return home a healthier man, or be on the way to becoming healthier.' And he gives the example: 'He that walks in the sun will be tanned; he who frequents the perfumer's shop will carry with him the scent of the place,' 9 and so he who has came to a philosopher must take something with him. Therefore the heavenly preacher should pour forth the words of wisdom, by which hearers are enlightened as by the sun, and reveal the examples of life to spectators so that they be refreshed with the fragrance of virtue John of Wales, The Communiloquium 1 Mt 28.19-20 2 Sirach 37.12 3 Lk 7.40 4 1 Cor 2.4 5 Acts 20.20 6 Greg Hom In Evan 2.21.1 7 Seneca Epis 29.1 8 Jerome Ag Jov 2.14 9 Seneca Epis 108.4