Bonaventure

The numbered footnotes below correspond to markers in both the Latin body above and the English translation; Quaracchi restart their numbering on every printed page, so the labels are qualified by page.

COLLATIO VII.

De prima visione tractatio quarta, quae est de triplici defectu virtutum in philosophis, secundo, de fide sanante, rectificante, ordinante.

Summarium

Introductio et repetitio, 1. — Errores Aristotelis et excusatio eiusdem, 2. — De philosophis magis illuminatis, qui ideas virtutum posuerunt in Deo, sed ob defectum fidei defecerunt, 3. 4. — Pars I. Triplex defectus in virtutibus philosophorum fide carentium. Tres operationes virtutum necessariae: primo ordinare animam in finem; hoc isti non potuerunt propter duplicem defectum, 5. 6. — Secundo, rectificare affectus; quod iterum isti non potuerunt, 7. — Tertio, sanare morbidos; ad hoc quatuor necessaria: cognoscere primo quadruplicem morbum, 8. — Secundo, morbi causam, 9. — Tertio, medicum, 10. — Quarto, medicinam, 11. — In his quatuor defecerunt philosophi, 12. — Pars II. Sola fides divisit lucem et tenebras; ipsa sanat, rectificat, ordinat, 13. — Caritas sanat affectum; habet quatuor qualitates, 14. — Vestit virtutes; arma lucis sunt quatuor virtutes formatae; hae figuratae tripliciter, 15. — Primo, per quatuor flumina paradisi, 16. — Secundo, per quatuor ornamenta tabernaculi; tertio, per quatuor latera civitatis, 17. — Unitae tribus virtutibus theologicis sunt septem; figuratae tripliciter, primo ut fulgidae, 18. — Secundo, ut fecundae, 19. — Tertio, ut vigorosae, 20. — Numerus earum duodenarius; tripliciter figuratus, 21. — Adhuc geminatae, sunt viginti quatuor; tripliciter figuratae, 22.

1. Vidit Deus lucem, quod esset bona, et divisit lucem a tenebris¹ etc. Ad explicandam visionem intelligentiae per naturam inditae sumtum est verbum hoc. Et quantum ad hoc, quod esset bona, videre nos fecit et per considerationem scientialem et per contemplationem sapientialem. Per considerationem scientialem, in quantum illustrat ut lux, scilicet ut veritas rerum, ut veritas vocum et ut veritas morum. Per contemplationem sapientialem, in quantum illustrat per influxum radii a luce aeterna in animam, ut videat illam lucem in se ut in speculo; in Intelligentia separata, ut in medio quodam delativo; in luce aeterna, ut in subiecto fontano. — Dictum etiam fuit, quod divisit lucem a tenebris, quod quidam ideas impugnaverunt, ex quo triplex intelligentia veritatis occultatur, scilicet veritas artis aeternae, veritas divinae providentiae, veritas ruinae angelicae; quod sequitur, si Angelus perfectionem suam non haberet nisi per motum. Ex quo sequitur triplex caecitas, scilicet de aeternitate mundi, de unitate intellectus, de poena et gloria.

2. Primam videtur ponere Aristoteles, ultimam etiam, quia non invenitur, quod ponat felicitatem post hanc vitam; de media autem dicit Commentator², quod ipse hoc sensit. — De aeternitate mundi excusari posset, quod intellexit hoc ut philosophus, loquens ut naturalis, scilicet quod per naturam non potuit incipere. Quod Intelligentiae habeant perfectionem per motum, pro tanto hoc potuit dicere, quia non sunt otiosae, quia nihil otiosum in fundamento naturae³. — Item, quod posuit felicitatem in hac vita, quia, licet sentiret aeternam, de illa se non intromisit, quia forte non erat de consideratione sua. — De unitate intellectus posset dici, quod intellexit, quod est unus intellectus ratione lucis influentis, non ratione sui, quia numeratur secundum subiectum⁴.

3. Sed quidquid senserit, alii philosophi illuminati posuerunt ideas; qui fuerunt cultores unius Dei, qui omnia bona posuerunt in optimo Deo, qui posuerunt virtutes exemplares, a quibus fluunt virtutes cardinales, primo in vim cognitivam et per illam in affectivam, deinde in operativam, secundum illud « scire, velle et impermutabiliter operari », sicut posuit nobilissimus Plotinus⁵ de secta Platonis et Tullius sectae academicae. Et ita isti videbantur illuminati et per se posse habere felicitatem. — Sed adhuc

isti in tenebris fuerunt, quia non habuerunt lumen fidei, nos autem habemus lumen fidei. Unde in prima Petri¹: Vos estis genus electum, regale sacerdotium, gens sancta, populus acquisitionis, ut virtutes annuntietis eius qui vos de tenebris vocavit in admirabile lumen suum.

4. Illi autem praecipui philosophi posuerunt, sic etiam illuminati, tamen sine fide, per defluxum in nostram cognitionem virtutes cardinales. Quae primo dicuntur politicae, in quantum docent conversationem in mundo; secundo, purgatoriae quantum ad solitariam contemplationem; tertio, purgati animi, ut animam quietari faciant in exemplari. Dixerunt ergo, per has virtutes animam modificari, purgari et reformari.

5. Sed adhuc in tenebris sunt, quia necesse est, ut hae virtutes prius habeant tres operationes, scilicet animam ordinare in finem; secundo, rectificare affectus animae; tertio, quod sanentur morbidi. Has autem operationes non habuerunt in ipsis. — Probatio. Dicit Augustinus in libro de Civitate Dei², quod vera virtus non est, quae non dirigit intentionem ad Deum fontem, ut ibi quiescat aeternitate certa et pace perfecta. Certa aeternitas esse non potest, quae amitti potest; perfecta pax non est nisi in reunione corporis et animae; et hoc certum est. Si enim anima essentialiter inclinationem habet ad corpus, nunquam anima plene quietatur, nisi sibi corpus reddatur³. — Philosophi autem ignoraverunt certam aeternitatem. Posuerunt enim et ipsi, quod anima ascendebat per capricornum et descendebat per cancrum, deinde transiens per lacteum circulum, quem nos galaxiam vocamus, obliviscebatur quae superius fiebant, et uniebatur corpori misero sibi aptato, quousque iterum superius rediret⁴. Haec autem est falsa beatitudo, scilicet quod anima esset in beatitudine et postea reverteretur.

6. Pacem etiam perfectam non cognoverunt, quia non cognoverunt, quod mundus haberet finem, et quod corpora pulverizata resurgant. Nec mirum: quia, cum essent investigatores secundum potentiam rationis, ratio nostra non potest ad hoc pervenire, ut corpora resurgant, ut elementa contraria possint sic conciliata in caelo sine reflexione permanere. Non referebant ergo ad illam vitam, sed in abeunte quadam circulatione ponebant animam. Ignoraverunt ergo fidem, sine qua virtutes non valent, ut dicit Augustinus de Trinitate libro decimo tertio, capitulo vigesimo⁵.

7. Secundo oportet affectus ordinatos rectificare per virtutes istas. Affectus autem quatuor sunt: timor, dolor, laetitia, fiducia⁶. Isti autem non rectificantur, nisi sit timor sanctus, dolor iustus, laetitia vera, fiducia certa. Si autem timor superbus, dolor iniustus, laetitia inepta, fiducia praesumtuosa; tunc affectiones sunt obliquae. Virtutes autem istae per se rectificari non possunt. Fiducia enim sive spes est de hoc quod non videtur, ut de beata vita; beata autem vita non datur nisi dignis; dignus autem nullus est, nisi habeat merita sufficientia. Haec per vires liberi arbitrii haberi non possunt nisi per condescensionem Dei, scilicet per gratiam. Non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis ad futuram gloriam⁷.

8. Tertio necesse est, affectus sanari, ut rectificentur. Non sanatur autem aliquis, nisi cognoscat morbum et causam, medicum et medicinam. — Morbus autem est depravatio affectus. Haec autem est quadruplex, quia contrahit ex unione ad corpus anima infirmitatem, ignorantiam, malitiam, concupiscentiam⁸; ex quibus inficitur intellectiva, amativa, potestativa; et tunc infecta est tota anima. Has omnino non ignoraverunt, nec omnino sciverunt. Videbant enim hos defectus, sed credebant, eos esse in phantasia, non in potentiis interioribus. Credebant enim, quod sicut sphaera movetur contra sphaeram, sic phantasia moveret et inclinaret ad exteriora, sed intellectus naturaliter ad superiora; et

tamen decepti fuerunt, quia hae infirmitates in parte intellectuali sunt, non solum in parte sensitiva: intellectiva, amativa, potestativa infectae sunt usque ad medullam.

9. Morbum nescierunt, quia causam ignoraverunt. Si enim, ut dicunt philosophi, anima naturaliter unitur corpori, non contrahit morbum — aliter Deus res dissiparet, non conservaret — hoc tamen fit per culpam a principio originali, scilicet Adam. Hoc autem, quod Adam comedit lignum vetitum¹, per rationem sciri non potest nisi per auditum; et ideo fides necessaria est. Ad causam ergo morbi non venerunt, quia Prophetis non crediderunt; ut dicit Augustinus de Trinitate libro decimo tertio, capitulo decimo nono²: « Illi gentium philosophi praecipui, qui invisibilia Dei per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspicere potuerunt; tamen, quia sine Mediatore, id est sine homine Christo, philosophati sunt, quem nec venturum Prophetis nec venisse Apostolis crediderunt, veritatem detinuerunt in iniquitate ».

10. Item, medicum non cognoverunt; cum enim morbus fuerit ex crimine laesae maiestatis, punitio debuit esse gravissima. Nullus ergo potuit sanare, nisi esset Deus et homo, qui posset satisfacere; in quo nec fuit concupiscentia, nec natus per legem naturae, sed de Virgine³. Quod autem ille esset medicus, ostendit per exempla virtutis, per documenta veritatis, per incitamenta amoris, per remedia salutis. Iste medicus sanat omnia; etenim neque herba neque malagma sanavit eos, sed tuus, Domine, sermo⁴, Verbum incarnatum, crucifixum, passum; et post misit Spiritum sanctum, qui illabitur cordibus nostris.

11. Haec ergo est medicina, scilicet gratia Spiritus sancti. Hunc medicum et hanc gratiam philosophia non potest attingere. Quid ergo gloriaris, qui nescis per scientiam tuam nec infirmitatem tuam nec eius causam nec medicum nec medicinam?

12. Isti philosophi habuerunt pennas struthionum⁵, quia affectus non erant sanati nec ordinati nec rectificati; quod non fit nisi per fidem. Unde primo posuerunt falsam beatitudinis circulationem; secundo, falsam praesentium meritorum sufficientiam; tertio, internarum virium perpetuam incolumitatem. In has tres tenebras inciderunt.

13. Fides igitur, purgans has tenebras, docet morbum, causam, medicum, medicinam; sanat animam, ponendo meritorum radices in Deo, cui placeat; et sic proficit per fidem in spem certam per meritum Christi, non praesumtuose. Sanat ergo, rectificat et ordinat; hoc modo anima potest modificari, rectificari et ordinari. Has radices ignoraverunt philosophi. Fides ergo sola divisit lucem a tenebris. Unde Apostolus⁶: Eratis enim aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in Domino. Fides enim, habens spem et caritatem cum operibus, sanat animam et ipsam sanatam purificat, elevat et deiformat. Modo sumus in vera luce; non sic illi qui somniant, qui accipiunt falsa pro veris, ut idolum pro Deo.

14. Notandum autem, quod sola caritas sanat affectum. Amor enim, secundum Augustinum, de Civitate Dei⁷, radix est omnium affectionum. Ergo necesse est, ut amor sit sanatus, alioquin omnes affectus sunt obliqui; non sanatur autem nisi per divinum amorem, qui amor divinus est purus, providus, pius et perpetuus: purus respectu temperantiae, providus respectu prudentiae, pius respectu iustitiae et perpetuus respectu fortitudinis. Caritas ergo est finis et forma omnium virtutum et fundatur super spem de corde puro et fide non ficta⁸.

15. Hae ergo virtutes informes et nudae sunt philosophorum, vestitae autem sunt nostrae. Vestiri autem debent auro amoris, quia omnes parietes templi vestiti erant auro⁹; similiter oleo unctionis, quia omnia vasa oleo unctionis sanctificata erant. Et sic non dividuntur. — Nox praecessit, dies autem appropinquavit etc. Induamur ergo arma lucis¹⁰, scilicet quatuor virtutes fide originatas, spe sublevatas et caritate completas. — Hae quatuor virtutes sic vestitae designantur per quatuor flumina paradisi, per quatuor latera civitatis, per quatuor ornamenta tabernaculi, et hoc ut sunt originatae, informatae et stabilitae.

16. Per quatuor flumina paradisi, in quantum originantur a fide. Flumen est gratia Spiritus sancti diffusi in has quatuor virtutes: Phison respondet temperantiae, Gehon prudentiae, Tigris fortitudini; Euphrates iustitiae¹¹. Phison respondet rationali, Gehon concupiscibili, Tigris irascibili, Euphrates toti animae.

17. Item, in quantum informantur caritate, designantur per quatuor ornamenta tabernaculi, quae erant quatuor cortinae, pelles hyacinthinae, saga cilicina et pelles arietum rubricatae¹. Cortina respondet temperantiae, pelles hyacinthinae caelestis coloris prudentiae, saga cilicina iustitiae, pelles arietum rubricatae fortitudini. — Vel sic: in ornamento templi fuerunt quatuor colores: byssinus, in quo temperantia; hyacinthinus, in quo prudentia; purpureus, indumentum regale, iustitia; coccineus, hoc est flammeus, fortitudo. Ornant ergo domum per quatuor latera. — Item, stabiliunt et introducunt per portam, per quatuor latera civitatis², stabilitae per spem ad normam aequalem.

18. Adiunctis ergo tribus virtutibus, scilicet fide, spe et caritate, consurgunt in septenarium designatum per septem stellas, per septem mulieres et per septem panes evangelicos³; et hoc in quantum sunt fulgidae, fecundae, vigorosae. In quantum sunt fulgidae, per septem stellas. Unde in Iob: Nunquid coniungere valebis micantes stellas pleiadas, aut gyrum arcturi dissipare? Pleiades sunt illae septem stellae coniunctae, quas vulgus gallinam cum pullis vocat. Hae virtutes faciunt gyrum imperturbabilem.

19. Secundo, ut fecundae, per septem mulieres. Isaias⁴: Apprehendent septem mulieres virum unum in die illa, dicentes etc. Virum, quia faciunt hominem virilem; et unum, quia non dividunt eum, sed stabilem faciunt et fecundum.

20. Tertio, in quantum vigorosae designantur per septem panes evangelicos, ex quibus pascitur universitas electorum. In philosophis hae quatuor virtutes fuerunt lapides, sed modo sunt septem panes vitae. Panes Moysi quinque fuerunt hordeacei⁵, sed septem panes frumenti in doctrina evangelica ex adipe frumenti.

21. Item, quatuor cardinales ducas in tres theologicas, et sic sunt duodecim, quia prudentia debet esse fidelis, fidens et amans; et sic de aliis. Et designantur per duodecim fontes, per duodecim lapides pretiosos in vestimento Pontificis, per duodecim portas civitatis⁶: et hoc, in quantum inchoant, promovent et perducunt. — Primo, per duodecim fontes, quia, ut se circumincedunt, faciunt animam mundam. — Secundo, per duodecim lapides, quia ornant animam in omnibus virtutibus in pectore, sicut illi lapides in pectore Pontificis. — Tertio, per duodecim portas, in quantum introducunt: nam ad orientem sinceritas temperantiae, ad meridiem serenitas prudentiae, ad aquilonem stabilitas constantiae, ad occidentem suavitas iustitiae.

22. Ulterius, istae virtutes duodecim, geminatae in prosperis et in adversis, designantur per viginti quatuor horas, duodecim in nocte adversitatis, et duodecim in die prosperitatis. — Item, geminatae per activam et contemplativam; et sic per viginti quatuor seniores⁷, qui modo volvuntur ad actionem, modo ad contemplationem, quia faciunt sensatum et maturum. — Item, per contemplativam practicam et speculativam; et sic per viginti quatuor alas quatuor animalium, quorum quodlibet senas alas habet. — Et in hoc terminatur prima visio et opus primae diei.

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COLLATION VII.

On the first vision, the fourth treatment, which is on the threefold defect of the virtues in the philosophers, and second, on faith healing, rectifying, ordering.

Summarium

Introduction and recapitulation, 1. — The errors of Aristotle and his excuse, 2. — On the philosophers more enlightened, who placed the ideas of the virtues in God, but failed for lack of faith, 3. 4. — Part I. The threefold defect in the virtues of the philosophers who lacked faith. Three operations of the virtues are necessary: first, to order the soul to its end; this they could not do, on account of a twofold defect, 5. 6. — Second, to rectify the affections; which again they could not do, 7. — Third, to heal the diseased; for which four things are necessary: to know, first, the fourfold disease, 8. — Second, the cause of the disease, 9. — Third, the physician, 10. — Fourth, the medicine, 11. — In these four the philosophers failed, 12. — Part II. Faith alone divided the light and the darkness; it heals, rectifies, orders, 13. — Charity heals the affection; it has four qualities, 14. — It clothes the virtues; the armour of light is the four virtues formed; these are figured in three ways, 15. — First, by the four rivers of paradise, 16. — Second, by the four ornaments of the tabernacle; third, by the four sides of the city, 17. — United to the three theological virtues they are seven; figured in three ways, first as shining, 18. — Second, as fruitful, 19. — Third, as vigorous, 20. — Their number is twelvefold; figured in three ways, 21. — Doubled again, they are twenty-four; figured in three ways, 22.

1. God saw the light, that it was good, and he divided the light from the darkness¹, etc. This word was taken up for the explaining of the vision of the understanding implanted by nature. And as regards this, that it was good, he made us see both by the scientific consideration and by the sapiential contemplation. By the scientific consideration, inasmuch as it gives light as light, namely as the truth of things, as the truth of words, and as the truth of morals. By the sapiential contemplation, inasmuch as it gives light through the influx of a ray from the eternal light into the soul, that it may see that light in itself as in a mirror; in a separate Intelligence, as in a certain conveying medium; in the eternal light, as in the fontal subject. — It was also said that he divided the light from the darkness, in that certain men attacked the ideas, whence a threefold understanding of the truth is hidden, namely the truth of the eternal art, the truth of divine providence, the truth of the angelic fall; which follows, if an Angel had its perfection only through motion. Whence there follows a threefold blindness, namely concerning the eternity of the world, the unity of the intellect, punishment and glory.

2. The first Aristotle seems to lay down, and the last too, since it is not found that he places happiness after this life; but about the middle one the Commentator says² that he held it. — Concerning the eternity of the world he might be excused, in that he understood this as a philosopher, speaking as a natural philosopher — namely that by nature it could not begin. That the Intelligences have their perfection through motion, he could say for this much, that they are not idle, since nothing is idle in the foundation of nature³. — Likewise, that he placed happiness in this life, because, although he was aware of the eternal one, he did not engage himself with it, since perhaps it did not belong to his consideration. — Concerning the unity of the intellect it might be said that he understood the intellect to be one by reason of the light flowing in, not by reason of itself, since it is numbered according to its subject⁴.

3. But whatever he held, other enlightened philosophers laid down the ideas; men who were worshippers of one God, who placed all good things in the best God, who laid down the exemplary virtues, from which flow the cardinal virtues, first into the cognitive power and through it into the affective, then into the operative, according to that saying « to know, to will and unchangeably to work » — as the most noble Plotinus of Plato's school laid down⁵, and Tullius of the academic school. And thus these men seemed enlightened and able of themselves to have happiness. — But still

these men were in darkness, because they did not have the light of faith, whereas we have the light of faith. Hence in the first epistle of Peter¹: You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people, that you may declare his virtues who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

4. Now those chief philosophers laid down the cardinal virtues, enlightened as they were, yet without faith, as flowing down into our knowledge. These are called, first, political, inasmuch as they teach converse in the world; second, purgatorial, as regards solitary contemplation; third, those of the purged soul, in that they make the soul rest in the exemplar. They said, therefore, that by these virtues the soul is modified, purged and reformed.

5. But they are still in darkness, because it is necessary that these virtues first have three operations, namely to order the soul to its end; second, to rectify the affections of the soul; third, that the diseased be healed. But these operations they did not have in them. — The proof. Augustine says in the book On the City of God² that there is no true virtue which does not direct its intention to God the fountain, that it may rest there in certain eternity and perfect peace. Certain eternity cannot be that which can be lost; perfect peace is not save in the reunion of body and soul; and this is certain. For if the soul has essentially an inclination toward the body, the soul is never fully at rest unless the body be restored to it³. — But the philosophers were ignorant of certain eternity. For they themselves laid down that the soul ascended by Capricorn and descended by Cancer, then, passing through the milky circle which we call the galaxy, forgot what had been done above, and was united to a wretched body fitted to it, until it should return above again⁴. But this is a false beatitude, namely that the soul should be in beatitude and afterwards turn back.

6. Perfect peace also they did not know, because they did not know that the world would have an end, and that bodies reduced to dust rise again. Nor is it a wonder: since, being investigators according to the power of reason, our reason cannot arrive at this, that bodies rise again, that contrary elements can, thus reconciled, remain in heaven without reflex change. They did not, therefore, refer things to that life, but placed the soul in a certain circulation that passes away. They were ignorant, then, of faith, without which the virtues are of no avail, as Augustine says On the Trinity, book thirteen, chapter twenty⁵.

7. Second, the ordered affections must be rectified by these virtues. Now the affections are four: fear, sorrow, gladness, confidence⁶. But these are not rectified unless the fear be holy, the sorrow just, the gladness true, the confidence certain. But if the fear be proud, the sorrow unjust, the gladness foolish, the confidence presumptuous, then the affections are oblique. But these virtues cannot of themselves be rectified. For confidence or hope is of that which is not seen, as of the blessed life; but the blessed life is not given save to the worthy; and no one is worthy unless he have sufficient merits. These cannot be had by the powers of free choice, but only through God's condescension, that is, through grace. The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come⁷.

8. Third, it is necessary that the affections be healed, that they may be rectified. But no one is healed unless he know the disease and the cause, the physician and the medicine. — Now disease is the depravity of the affection. And this is fourfold, because from its union with the body the soul contracts infirmity, ignorance, malice, concupiscence⁸; by which the intellective, amative and potestative powers are infected; and then the whole soul is infected. These they did not altogether ignore, nor did they altogether know them. For they saw these defects, but believed them to be in the phantasy, not in the interior powers. For they believed that, as sphere is moved against sphere, so the phantasy moved and inclined toward outward things, but the intellect naturally toward higher things; and

yet they were deceived, because these infirmities are in the intellectual part, not only in the sensitive: the intellective, amative and potestative powers are infected to the marrow.

9. The disease they did not know, because they were ignorant of the cause. For if, as the philosophers say, the soul is naturally united to the body, it does not contract disease — otherwise God would be dissipating things, not conserving them — yet this comes about through fault from the original beginning, namely Adam. But this, that Adam ate of the forbidden tree¹, cannot be known by reason but only by hearing; and therefore faith is necessary. To the cause of the disease, then, they did not come, because they did not believe the Prophets; as Augustine says On the Trinity, book thirteen, chapter nineteen²: « Those chief philosophers of the nations, who were able to behold the invisible things of God, understood by the things that are made; yet because they philosophized without the Mediator, that is, without the man Christ, whom they believed neither to be coming, on the Prophets' word, nor to have come, on the Apostles', they held the truth in iniquity ».

10. Likewise, the physician they did not know; for since the disease came from a crime of treason, the punishment had to be most grave. No one, therefore, could heal, save one who was God and man, who could make satisfaction; in whom there was no concupiscence, nor was he born by the law of nature, but of a Virgin³. And that he was the physician he showed by the examples of virtue, by the documents of truth, by the incitements of love, by the remedies of salvation. This physician heals all things; for neither herb nor poultice healed them, but thy word, O Lord⁴ — the Word incarnate, crucified, having suffered; and afterwards he sent the Holy Spirit, who glides into our hearts.

11. This, then, is the medicine, namely the grace of the Holy Spirit. This physician and this grace philosophy cannot attain. Why then do you glory, you who by your knowledge know neither your infirmity, nor its cause, nor the physician, nor the medicine?

12. These philosophers had the wings of ostriches⁵, because their affections were neither healed nor ordered nor rectified; which does not come about save through faith. Hence they laid down, first, a false circulation of beatitude; second, a false sufficiency of present merits; third, a perpetual soundness of the inward powers. Into these three darknesses they fell.

13. Faith, therefore, purging these darknesses, teaches the disease, the cause, the physician, the medicine; it heals the soul, placing the roots of merits in God, that it may please him; and thus it advances through faith into a certain hope by the merit of Christ, not presumptuously. It heals, therefore, and rectifies and orders; and in this way the soul can be modified, rectified and ordered. These roots the philosophers did not know. Faith alone, therefore, divided the light from the darkness. Hence the Apostle⁶: For you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord. For faith, having hope and charity with works, heals the soul, and having healed it, purifies, elevates and makes it deiform. Now we are in the true light; not so those who dream, who take false things for true, as an idol for God.

14. But it must be noted that charity alone heals the affection. For love, according to Augustine On the City of God⁷, is the root of all the affections. It is necessary, therefore, that love be healed, otherwise all the affections are oblique; and it is not healed save by the divine love, which divine love is pure, provident, pious and perpetual: pure in respect of temperance, provident in respect of prudence, pious in respect of justice, and perpetual in respect of fortitude. Charity, therefore, is the end and the form of all the virtues, and is founded upon hope out of a pure heart and an unfeigned faith⁸.

15. These virtues, then, unformed and naked, are the philosophers'; but clothed, they are ours. And they ought to be clothed with the gold of love, because all the walls of the temple were clothed with gold⁹; likewise with the oil of unction, because all the vessels were sanctified with the oil of unction. And thus they are not divided. — The night is passed, and the day is at hand, etc. Let us therefore put on the armour of light¹⁰, namely the four virtues originated by faith, uplifted by hope and completed by charity. — These four virtues, so clothed, are designated by the four rivers of paradise, by the four sides of the city, by the four ornaments of the tabernacle — and this as they are originated, informed and stabilized.

16. By the four rivers of paradise, inasmuch as they are originated by faith. The river is the grace of the Holy Spirit poured out into these four virtues: Phison answers to temperance, Gehon to prudence, Tigris to fortitude, Euphrates to justice¹¹. Phison answers to the rational part, Gehon to the concupiscible, Tigris to the irascible, Euphrates to the whole soul.

17. Likewise, inasmuch as they are informed by charity, they are designated by the four ornaments of the tabernacle, which were the four curtains, the violet skins, the haircloth coverings, and the rams' skins dyed red¹. The curtain answers to temperance, the violet skins of heavenly colour to prudence, the haircloth coverings to justice, the rams' skins dyed red to fortitude. — Or thus: in the ornament of the temple there were four colours: fine linen, in which is temperance; violet, in which is prudence; purple, the royal garment, justice; scarlet, that is flame-coloured, fortitude. They adorn the house, therefore, on four sides. — Likewise, they stabilize and lead in through the gate, by the four sides of the city², stabilized by hope to an even norm.

18. When the three virtues are added, namely faith, hope and charity, they rise to the sevenfold number designated by the seven stars, by the seven women, and by the seven evangelical loaves³; and this inasmuch as they are shining, fruitful, vigorous. Inasmuch as they are shining, by the seven stars. Hence in Job: Shalt thou be able to join together the shining stars the Pleiades, or canst thou stop the turning about of Arcturus? The Pleiades are those seven joined stars which the common people call the hen with her chicks. These virtues make the turning imperturbable.

19. Second, as fruitful, by the seven women. Isaias⁴: And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, etc. One man, because they make a man manly; and one, because they do not divide him, but make him stable and fruitful.

20. Third, inasmuch as they are vigorous, they are designated by the seven evangelical loaves, by which the whole company of the elect is fed. In the philosophers these four virtues were stones, but now they are seven loaves of life. The loaves of Moses were five and of barley⁵, but there are seven loaves of wheat in the evangelical doctrine, of the fat of wheat.

21. Likewise, multiply the four cardinal virtues into the three theological ones, and so they are twelve, since prudence ought to be faithful, trusting and loving; and so of the rest. And they are designated by the twelve fountains, by the twelve precious stones in the vestment of the High Priest, by the twelve gates of the city⁶: and this inasmuch as they begin, advance and bring through. — First, by the twelve fountains, because, as they mutually interpenetrate one another, they make the soul clean. — Second, by the twelve stones, because they adorn the soul in all the virtues in the breast, as those stones in the breast of the High Priest. — Third, by the twelve gates, inasmuch as they lead in: for to the east is the sincerity of temperance, to the south the serenity of prudence, to the north the stability of constancy, to the west the sweetness of justice.

22. Further, these twelve virtues, doubled in prosperity and in adversity, are designated by the twenty-four hours, twelve in the night of adversity and twelve in the day of prosperity. — Likewise, doubled by the active and the contemplative life; and so by the twenty-four elders⁷, who are turned now to action, now to contemplation, because they make a man sensible and mature. — Likewise, by the contemplative life as practical and speculative; and so by the twenty-four wings of the four living creatures, each of which has six wings. — And in this the first vision and the work of the first day is brought to an end.

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