Collation 19 - Collations on the Hexaemeron — Bonaventure
English Latin
A. Seventh and Last Treatise on the Third Vision, Which is Concerned with the Right Way and the Right Reason by Which the Fruit of Scripture is Perceived, That Is, How Wisdom is Attained Through Knowledge and Holiness.
1900 NINETEENTH COLLATION Seventh and Last Treatise on the Third Vision, Which Is Concerned With the Right Way and the Right Reason by Which the Fruit of Scripture Is Perceived, That Is, How Wisdom Is Attained Through Knowledge and Holiness. COLLATIO XIX DE TERTIA VISIONE TRACTATIO SEPTIMA ET ULTIMA, QUAE AGIT DE RECTA VIA ET RATIONE, QUA FRUCTUS SCRIPTURAE PERCIPIANTUR, SIVE QUA PER SCIENTIAM ET SANCTITATEM AD SAPIENTIAM PERVENIATUR
1. How Wisdom is Attained Through Knowledge and Holiness
1. T HE earth brought forth vegetation, etc. We have spoken of the fruits of Holy Scripture. It is to these fruits that Holy Wisdom invites us. I bud forth delights like the vine, My blossoms become fruit fair and rich. Come to Me, all you that yearn for Me, and be filled with My fruits. If we want to come over, we must be the sons of Israel who passed over from Egypt. But the Egyptians did not pass over: they were drowned. Those alone come over who focus their whole attention on how to pass from vanity to the country of truth. Adam passed over from truth to vanity. Hence in the Psalm: A phantom only, man goes his ways; like vapor only are his restless pursuits; he heaps up stores, and knows not who will use them. — The next morning they are like the changing grass, which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades. For as long as vain, transitory, passing good is loved, man is "passing over." And such passing over Wisdom reproves. This passing over is the cause of every evil. In this way Lucifer passed over, to whom it was said: Down to the nether world you go, to the recesses of the pit! He was thrown first by sin, then by the judgment. Adam did the same: after he had given up the tree of life, he hid. Indeed, he saw himself denuded of all good habits. Wherefore he was thrown out of Paradise. 1. Protulit terra herbam virentem etc. Dictum est de fructibus sacrae Scripturae; et ad hos fructus invitat nos Sapientia aeterna; in Ecclesiastico: Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris, et flores mei fructus honoris et gratiae. Transite ad me omnes, qui concupiscitis me, et a generationibus meis implemini . Si volumus transire, oportet, nos esse filios Israel, qui transierunt Aegyptum; sed Aegyptii non transierunt, sed submersi sunt . Illi autem transeunt, qui totum suum studium ponunt, qualiter a vanitatibus transeant in regionem veritatis. A veritate in vanitatem transivit Adam, unde in Psalmo: Verumtamen in imagine pertransit homo, sed et frustra conturbatur. Thesaurizat et ignorat, cui congregabit ea . Mane sicut herba transeat, mane floreat et transeat, vespere decidat, induret et arescat Quando ergo amatur commutabile bonum, transitorium, vanum; tunc homo transit; et hunc transitum reprobat Sapientia. Hic transitus facit omne malum. Sic transivit lucifer, cui dictum est: Verumtamen ad infernum detraheris . Primo proiectus est per culpam, secundo per iudicium. Sic etiam fecit Adam; postquam dimisit lignum vitae, abscondit se. Vidit enim se nudum ab omnibus habitibus bonis; propter quod abiectus est de paradiso .
2. Hence, wisdom and love are the principal fruits. And that which is most opposed to them is vanity. For this reason, the Canticle speaks of a loving wisdom. No one, indeed, can say that the words of the Canticle are without wisdom and love, nor that they are not far removed from vanity. Wherefore before this book there comes Ecclesiastes where vanity is shown in these words: Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! This proposition is true and is proved by the whole book. It is fitting, then, to pass over from all things into truth, so that there be no other pleasure than in God. 2. Sapientia ergo et caritas sunt principales fructus; quibus principaliter est contraria vanitas. Unde in Cantico exprimitur sapientia amorosa. Non enim potest quis dicere verba Cantici sine sapientia et amore, nec nisi elongatus a vanitate. Et ideo Ecclesiastes praecedit hunc librum; ubi ostendit vanitatem cum dicit: Vanitas vanitatum, et omnia vanitas . Haec propositio vera est et probatur in toto libro. Oportet ergo transire ab omnibus ad veritatem, ut non sit delectatio nisi in Deo.
3. But how is one to pass over? All men want to be wise and knowing. Yet, soon it happens that the woman deceives the man. But wisdom is the higher, being noble, while knowing is the lower: yet she seems beautiful to man, and he seeks to be joined to her, and his spirit tends to the things that can be known and experienced, and he wills to know them, and to experience the things he knows, and consequently to be united to them. And in this way he is weakened like Solomon who sought to know all things, and he treated about trees from the cedar that is in Libanus, unto hyssop. And he forgets about the most important, and thus turns to the vain. Therefore passing from knowing to wisdom is not assured: a means must be placed in between, that is, holiness. But passing over is an endeavor: the endeavor to pass from the study of the sciences to the study of holiness")' and from the study of holiness to that of wisdom. It is said of this in the Psalm: Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge. [The endeavor] begins from the top because it wants to taste and see how good the Lord is. But it is not possible to reach wisdom except through discipline, nor discipline except through knowledge — wherefore the last should not be placed before the first. It would be a poor merchant who would prefer tin to gold. The man who chooses knowledge over holiness will never prosper. 3. Quomodo autem transeundum est? Volunt omnes esse sapientes et scientes. Sed cito accidit, quod mulier decipit virum . Sapientia autem est supra tanquam nobilis; sed scientia infra, at videtur homini pulcra, et ideo vult sibi coniungi, et inclinatur anima ad scibilia et sensibilia et vult ea cognoscere et cognita experiri et per consequens eis uniri. Et ita enervatur, ut Salomon, qui voluit omnia scire et disputavit super lignis a cedro, quae est in Libano, usque ad hyssopum ; et oblitus est principalis, et ideo est factus vanus. Non est ergo securus transitus a scientia ad sapientiam; oportet ergo medium ponere, scilicet sanctitatem. Transitus autem est exercitium: exercitatio a studio scientiae ad studium sanctitatis, et a studio sanctitatis ad studium sapientiae; de quibus in Psalmo: Bonitatem et disciplinam et scientiam doce me . Incipit a summo, quia vellet gustare, quam bonus et suavis est Dominus ; ad sapientiam autem perveniri non potest nisi per disciplinam, nec ad disciplinam nisi per scientiam: non est ergo praeferendum ultimum primo. Malus esset mercator, qui stannum praeeligeret auro. Qui enim praefert scientiam sanctitati nunquam prosperabitur.
4. Augustine writes in "The City of God" that the good angels or spirits bear the name "angel," meaning "messenger," because they enjoy being humble, while the evil spirits are called "demons," meaning "those who know," because they seek to be known for their exalted position.. But one should consider with fear what Job says of Behemoth - Leviathan: He shall strew gold under him like mire. Through knowledge, temptation easily leads to ruin. You will be like God, knowing good and evil. Wherefore some men want to search beyond the way of nature, that is, beyond contingent matters. Concerning the levels of pride, blessed Bernard says that the primary vice is inquisitiveness which brought about the fall of Lucifer. By this, too, Adam fell. The hunger for knowledge must be changed: wisdom and holiness must be preferred to it. 4. Augustinus, De civitate Dei , dicit, quod Angeli boni sive spiritus habent nomen Angeli, scilicet nuntii, quia de humilitate gaudent; spiritus nequam vocantur daemones, scilicet scientes, quia ab illius fastu volunt nominari. Sed verendum est quod dicit Iob de behemoth-leviathan: Sternet sibi aurum quasi lutum . Per scientiam enim est tentatio facilis ad ruinam. Unde: Eritis sicut dii, scientes bonum et malum . Unde quidam super viam naturae volunt perscrutari, sicut de contingentibus. Beatus Bernardus dicit de gradibus superbiae, quod primum vitium est curiositas, per quod lucifer cecidit; per hoc etiam Adam cecidit. Appetitus scientiae modificandus est, et praeferenda est ei sapientia et sanctitas.
5. How, then, should one strive for knowledge, wisdom and holiness? It is good to know in order to obtain the fruits of wisdom, in order that we may enter through the city doors. As Ecclesiastes writes, the labor of fools shall afflict them that know not how to go to the city, that is, who do not know how to direct their endeavors properly. In Genesis it is said that the Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it. It is fitting to work within sacred Scripture and to train the mind. As Seneca says, "Many have I found who trained their body, but few their mind." Such a training is a spiritual disposition towards devotedness. Hence, in Proverbs: I passed by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man without sense; and behold! it was all overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall broken down. This happens when a man has good intentions but does not fulfill them: then it is that the thistles of malice and the nettles of cupidity come to grow. The stone wall of the virtues is destroyed because of the dissipation of thoughts. Hence, in the same text: complete your outdoor tasks, and arrange your work in the field. 5. Qualiter ergo studendum est scientiae et sanctitati et sapientiae? Oportet scire, ut de fructibus sapientiae habeatur, et per portas civitatis possimus introire; Ecclesiastes: Labor stultorum perdet eos qui nesciunt in urbem pergere , hoc est, qui nesciunt studere in quibus oportet. In Genesi dicitur, quod tulit Dominus Deus hominem et posuit in paradiso, ut operaretur et custodiret illum . -- Oportet operari in sacra Scriptura et exercitare intellectum. Seneca: «Multos inveni exercitantes corpus, paucos ingenium». Haec exercitatio est spiritus ad pietatem; unde in Proverbiis: Per agrum hominis pigri transivi 4 et per vineam viri stulti. Et ecce, totum repleverant urticae, et operuerant superficiem eius spinae, et maceria lapidum destructa erat . Hoc fit, quando homo habet bonam dispositionem et non exercet eam, sed crescunt ibi urticae malignitatis, spinae cupiditatis. Maceria lapidum virtutum destruitur propter dissipationem cogitationum; unde ibidem: Praepara foris opus tuum, et diligenter exerce agrum tuum *.
2. Order
6. Now, the right endeavor must fill four conditions: order, assiduity, satisfaction, and due proportion. Order is proposed in different ways by different authors, and yet it is important to proceed in orderly fashion so as not to put the first thing last. There are indeed four kinds of books in reference to which order must be exercised. The first are Holy Scripture: in the Old Testament, according to Jerome, twenty-two books, and in the New, eight. The second are the original writings of the saints. The third are the opinions of the Masters. The fourth are the worldly teachings, that is, [the doctrines] of the philosophers. 6. Modus studendi debet habere quatuor conditiones: ordinem, assiduitatem, complacentiam, commensurationem. -- Ordo diversimode traditur a diversis: sed oportet ordinate procedere, ne de primo faciant posterius. Sunt ergo quatuor genera Scripturarum, circa quae oportet ordinate exerceri. Primi libri sunt sacrae Scripturae. In testamento veteri secundum Hieronymum viginti duo libri, in novo testamento octo sunt. Secundi libri sunt originalia Sanctorum; tertii, Sententiae magistrorum; quarti, doctrinarum mundialium sive philosophorum.
7. He, therefore, who desires to learn seeks knowledge at the well-spring, that is, in Holy Scripture, for with the philosophers there is no knowledge leading to the remission of sins. Nor is there any in the Summas of the masters, since they drew from the original writings [of the saints], who in turn used Scripture as their source. That is why Augustine says that he and others could be in error, but there [in Scripture] there is so much faith that there cannot be any error. And Dionysius [the Pseudo-Areopagite] says this in his book on the Divine Names: "Nothing is to be taken for granted except what has been expressed to us in divine form by means of sacred sayings." The follower of Christ must concentrate on Sacred Scripture as children first learn their A, B, C, and then make syllables, and learn to read, and finally understand the meaning of the parts [of speech]. Likewise, in reference to Sacred Scripture, one must study the text, and have it at the tip of one's fingers, and then understand "what is said by the words," and this, not as a Jew who always gives attention to the literal meaning. The whole of Scripture is like a single zither, and the lesser string does not produce harmony by itself, but only in combination with the others. Likewise, any single passage of Scripture depends upon some other, or rather, any single passage is related to a thousand others. 7. Qui ergo vult discere quaerat scientiam in fonte, scilicet in sacra Scriptura, quia apud philosophos non est scientia ad dandam remissionem peccatorum; nec apud Summas magistrorum, quia illi ab originalibus traxerunt, originalia autem a sacra Scriptura. Unde dicit Augustinus, quod ipse decipi potest et alii; sed ibi est fides tanta, ubi non potest esse deceptio. Et hoc dicit Dionysius, De divinis Nominibus, quod «nihil assumendum est, nisi quod ex eloquiis sacris divinitus nobis est expressum». -- Studere debet Christi discipulus in sacra Scriptura, sicut pueri primo addiscunt a, b, c, d etc., et postea syllabicare et postea legere et postea quid significet pars. Similiter in sacra Scriptura primo debet quis studere in textu et ipsum habere in promptu et intelligere, «quid dicitur per nomen», non solum sicut Iudaeus, qui semper intendit ad litteralem sensum. Tota Scriptura est quasi una cithara, et inferior chorda per se non facit harmoniam, sed cum aliis; similiter unus locus Scripturae dependet ab alio, immo unum locum respiciunt mille loca.
a. Begin with Capacity to Understand, with Literal Sense of Ss
8. Note that when Christ performed the miracle of changing water into wine, he did not say from the very first: "Let there be wine." Nor did He produce it out of nothing: as Gregory comments, He asked the servants to fill the water jars. It is impossible to explain what He did in a literal sense, but a reason may be given in terms of spiritual understanding: The Holy Spirit does not give spiritual understanding unless man provide the jar, that is, his capacity, and the water, that is, the understanding of the literal sense. Then does God change the water of the literal understanding into the wine of the spiritual. Paul was great because of the fact that he was teaching the Law at the feet of Gamaliel. He, then, who possesses Scripture is powerful in his speech and also in a becoming sermon. Blessed Bernard, for instance, knew little. Yet, because he had studied Scripture intensely, he was able to speak with elegance. 8. Notandum, quod quando Christus fecit miraculum de conversione aquae in vinum, non statim dixit: fiat vinum, nec fecit de nihilo; sed voluit, quod ministri implerent hydrias aqua, ut dicit Gregorius. Ad litteram, quare sic fecit, ratio reddi non potest; sed secundum spiritualem intelligentiam reddi potest ratio: quia Spiritus sanctus non dat spiritualem intelligentiam, nisi homo impleat hydriam, scilicet capacitatem suam, aqua, scilicet notitia litteralis sensus, et post convertit Deus aquam sensus litteralis in vinum spiritualis intelligentiae. -- Propter hoc Paulus fuit altus, quia ipse didicerat Legem ad pedes Gamalielis . Unde qui Scripturam habet potens est in eloquiis et etiam in venusto sermone. Unde beatus Bernardus parum sciebat, sed quia in Scriptura multum studuit; ideo locutus est elegantissime.
9. The first thing, then, is that a man possess Scripture, not like a Jew who is content with the rind. For instance, a certain Jew was reading one day this passage from Isaias: Who would believe what we have heard? He was reading it literally and was quite unable to relate it to anything nor to make any sense of it, and therefore he cast the book on the ground, begging loudly that God confound Isaias, because it seemed to him that what he said could not stand. 9. Primum igitur est, quod homo habeat Scripturam non sicut Iudaeus, qui solum vult corticem. Unde quidam Iudaeus semel legebat illud capitulum Isaiae: Domine, quis credidit auditui nostro etc.; et legebat ad litteram et non potuit habere concordantiam nec sensum, et ideo proiecit librum ad terram, imprecans, ut Deus confunderet Isaiam, quia, ut sibi videbatur, non poterat stare quod dicebat.
b. Danger in Original Writings [of the Saints]: a Beauty Which Scripture Does Not Have
10. Man cannot attain the understanding of such things by his own power, but only through those men to whom God revealed [them], that is, through the original writings of the saints such as Augustine, Jerome and others. It is fitting, then, to have recourse to those original writings: but they are difficult. Therefore there is need for the summas of the masters in which the difficulties are elucidated. But one must beware of an over-abundance of writings. Yet, since the philosophers quote these same writings, it is necessary for a man to know them or to take them into consideration. There is, then, a danger in coming down to the original writings [of the saints], for they are marked by the beauty of their expression: a beauty which Scripture does not have. That is why Augustine says it is not good to abandon Scripture for the study of the books concerned with it. Nor is it good [to come down to] Paul, in reference to those who were baptized in the name of Paul. Sacred Scriptures are to be held in great reverence. 10. Ad hanc autem intelligentiam non potest homo pervenire per se, nisi per illos quibus Deus revelavit, scilicet per originalia Sanctorum, ut Augustini, Hieronymi et aliorum. Oportet ergo recurrere ad originalia Sanctorum; sed ista sunt difficilia; ideo necessariae sunt Summae magistrorum, in quibus elucidantur illae difficultates. Sed cavendum est de multitudine scriptorum. Sed quia ista scripta adducunt philosophorum verba, necesse est, quod homo sciat vel supponat ipsa. -- Est ergo periculum descendere ad originalia, quia pulcher sermo est originatum; Scriptura autem non habet sermonem ita pulcrum. Unde Augustinus, si tu dimittas Scripturam et in libris suis studeas, pro bono non habet; sicut nec Paulus de illis qui in nomine Pauli baptizabantur . Sacra Scriptura in magna reverentia habenda est.
c. Still Greater Danger in Going Down to the Summas of the Masters
11. But there is still greater danger in going down to the summas of the masters, because error is sometimes found in them. They believe they understand the original [writings of the saints], but they do not understand them: they even contradict them. Hence, as a man would be foolish always to deal with commentaries without ever going up to an [original] text, so would he be also in dealing with the summas of masters. Yet, in these matters he should be careful always to follow the more common opinion. 11. Maius autem periculum est descendere ad Summas magistrorum, quia aliquando est in eis error; et credunt, se intelligere originalia, et non intelligunt, immo eis contradicunt. Unde sicut fatuus esset qui vellet semper immorari circa tractatus et nunquam ascendere ad textum; sic est de Summis magistrorum. In his autem homo debet cavere, ut semper adhaereat viae magis communi.
d. Philosophy Implies the Greatest Danger
12. But going down to philosophy implies the greatest danger. Isaias says: Because this people has refected the waters of Siloe that flow gently, and melts with fear before the loftiness of Rasin and Romelia's son, therefore the Lord raises against them the waters of the River, great and mighty [the king of Assyria,] etc. We should no longer return to Egypt. Note that Jerome, after studying Cicero, no longer had any taste for the Prophetical Books. Wherefore he was chastised before the tribunal. Now this happened for our sake. Let the masters beware, then, not to commend or appreciate too highly the sayings of the philosophers, lest the people take it as a pretext to return to Egypt, or dismiss because of their example the waters of Siloe in which is supreme perfection, and go to the waters of the philosophers in which there is eternal deceit. 12. Descendere autem ad philosophiam est maximum periculum; unde Isaias: Pro eo, quod abiecit populus ille aquas Siloe, quae currunt cum silentio, et assumpsit magis Rasin et filium Romeliae; propter hoc, ecce, Dominus adducet super eos aquas fluminis fortes et multas, regem Assyriorum etc. Non amplius revertendum est in Aegyptum. -- Notandum de Hieronymo, qui post studium Ciceronis non habebat saporem in propheticis libris; ideo flagellatus fuit ante tribunal. Hoc autem propter nos factum est; unde magistri cavere debent, ne nimis commendent et appretientur dicta philosophorum, ne hac occasione populus revertatur in Aegyptum, vel exemplo eorum dimittat aquas Siloe, in quibus est summa perfectio, et vadant ad aquas philosophorum, in quibus est aeterna deceptio.
13. This was marked in the case of Gedeon where those who were tested by the water, that is, those who lapped it like dogs, fought the battle and won, while those who bent their knee to drink were turned away. And those who had won [the test] were given trumpets and pitchers and lanterns, and they obtained the victory by means of blaring horns and clanging vessels. These are the preachers of the Church who in their preaching make a blaring of horns. The vessels are the bodies, the lanterns are the miracles. Indeed, every time they died for the sake of truth, they repelled and overcame the enemy by means of miracles. But those who drink by lapping with their tongues like dogs, who draw only a little water with their tongues, are those who take little from philosophy; while those who bent their knee to drink are those who inclined themselves totally to it: and the same are inclined to an infinite number of errors, and that is how the leaven of error is warmed. As Osee writes, the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened. They warm the eggs of asps, so that what has been warmed breaks out into a serpent. 13. Signatum fuit hoc in Gedeone, ubi illi qui probati fuerunt ad aquas, qui scilicet lambuerunt sicut canes, pugnaverunt et vicerunt; et illi qui flexo poplite incurvati biberunt, reversi sunt; et vincentibus datae sunt tubae, lagenae et laternae, et per clangorem buccinae et complosionem lagenarum vicerunt . Isti sunt Ecclesiae praedicatores, qui clangunt in praedicatione buccina. Lagenae sunt corpora, lampades sunt miracula. Quando enim pro veritate mortui sunt, miraculis coru- scaverunt et superaverunt hostes. Isti autem, qui bibunt lingua attrahendo sicut canes, qui parum aquae lingua hauriunt, sunt qui de philosophia parum sumunt; sed illi qui flexo poplite bibunt, sunt qui totaliter se ibi incusant; et illi curvantur ad errores infinitos, et inde fovetur fermentum erroris; Osee: Quievit paululum civitas a commixtione fermenti, donec fermentaretur totum ; et fovent ova aspidum, ut quod confotum fuerit erumpat in regulum .
14. Consider blessed Francis when he was preaching to the Sultan. The Sultan said to him that he (Francis) should engage in a disputation with his (the Sultan's) priests. But Francis answered that according to reason it was impossible to argue about faith, since it was above reason. Nor [was it possible to argue] by means of Scripture, since they did not accept it. But he asked that a fire be prepared, and that he and they go into it. Indeed, not so much of the water of philosophy should be mixed with the wine of Sacred Scripture that it turn from wine into water. This would be the worst of miracles. We read that Christ turned water into wine, not the reverse. From this it is evident that for believers faith cannot be proved by means of reason, but by means of Scripture and miracles. Furthermore, in the primitive Church, [the faithful] burned philosophy books. For it is not fitting that loaves of bread be turned into stones. 14. Nota de beato Francisco, qui praedicabat Soldano. Cui dixit Soldanus, quod disputaret cum sacerdotibus suis. Et ille dixit, quod secundum rationem de fide disputari non poterat, quia supra rationem est, nec per Scripturam, quia ipsam non reciperent illi; sed rogabat, ut fieret ignis, et ipse et illi intrarent. -- Non igitur tantum miscendum est de aqua philosophiae in vinum sacrae Scripturae, quod de vino fiat aqua; hoc pessimum miraculum esset; et legimus, quod Christus de aqua fecit vinum , non e converso. -- Ex hoc patet, quod credentibus fides non per rationem, sed per Scripturam et miracula probari potest. In Ecclesia etiam primitiva libros philosophiae comburebant . Non enim panes mutari debent in lapides .
15. There is therefore a [right] order; man should study first Sacred Scripture, in the letter and the spirit; then the original [writings of the saints], giving priority to Sacred Scripture over them. It is the same with the writings of the masters and those of the philosophers: one should scan them stealthily as if it were not good to tarry. How much was Rachel enriched for having stolen her father's household idols? The only thing she gained was to have lied and to have simulated weakness after having put them in the camel's saddle and sat on them. The same thing happens when the notebooks of the philosophers are concealed. Our waters should not go down to the Dead Sea, but [up] to their first point of origin. 15. Est ergo ordo, ut prius Studeat homo in sacra Scriptura quantum ad litteram et spiritum, post in originalibus, et illa subiiciat sacrae Scripturae; similiter in scriptis magistrorum et in scriptis philosophorum, sed transeundo et furando, quasi ibi non sit permanendum. Quid lucrata fuit Rachel, quod furata fuit idola patris sui ? Tantum fuit lucrata, quod mentita fuit et simulavit infirmitatem et abscondit ea subter stramenta cameli, et sedit desuper ; sic, quando quaterni philosophorum absconduntur. Aquae nostrae non debent descendere ad mare mortuum , sed in suam primam originem .