NORMA VIVENDI

1247B341 1. Act, my son, as you ought; act as is fitting; act as is worthy. Set it before yourself not to sin, not to repeat your faults, not to offend again after a fall; bear good things and bad as they come; endure with a free mind whatever comes; give your effort before all else to patience and gentleness; overcome mockery by despising it; break the arrows of insult upon the shield of patience; make ready the shield of patience against every look; against the sword of the tongue hold out the buckler of endurance — for by keeping silent you will conquer the better (Vide Isidoriana, cap. 82).

Learn modesty from Christ, learn moderation too, 1247Cand give heed to the endurance of Christ, and you will not grieve at injuries. It is the greatest virtue if you do not wound the one by whom you have been wounded, or if, even when wounded, you let it pass. It is the greatest virtue if you spare anyone you had the power to harm; for when you are tormented on this account, your own sins are girding you about; when you are threatened, your own evils are making their way. Whatever adversity comes upon you, it comes upon you because of your sins. Temper your grief, therefore, by considering justice; you will carry the grief better if you attend to the things for which it comes upon you.

When, therefore, you are disparaged, pray; when you are cursed, then bless; set a blessing against the curse, and be eager to soothe the angry man by patience; drive off boiling wrath with a gentle word; conquer wickedness by goodness of speech; conquer malice by kindness, appease all your enemies by modesty, overcome the evils of others by your own goodness. Undo with a tranquil mind the insults brought against you; open up your griefs with a quiet heart. A wound in the depth of the heart, however grave it be, evaporates when opened, but eats away the soul terribly when shut in. For the more you cover it, 1247Dthe more you increase it; open it, therefore, with a grateful spirit, and it will not torture you.

If you have made your brother sad in any matter, make it good to him. If you have sinned against him, do penance with him. If you have offended anyone, win him over by entreaty, spare him swiftly, quickly ask pardon in order to be reconciled for your offense; do not sleep unless you have turned back to peace; do not rest unless you have been reconciled to your brother. Call him back with the swiftest affection of love. Call him back to favor by humility; prostrate yourself before him in the affection of humility, and beg pardon in a suppliant manner; and when you yourself are asked for pardon, grant it freely, and, being appeased, release the one who asks for indulgence.

Embrace holy reverence, and receive it at once with kindly charity; do not lightly dismiss the sinner justly, but know the fault, since the judgment is coming upon you; you will not have indulgence unless you have given it. And even if he does not entreat you, and does not humbly ask that it be forgiven him — if by a bad habit his conscience does not 1248Brecognize its own sin — do you nevertheless release it from the heart, and grant pardon of your own will as well; take the brotherly offense, or the taking of offense, away from your heart, and do not be a slave to another's wickedness; for hatred separates a man from God, and is not blotted out even by the shedding of blood.

Love peace, cherish peace, have and hold peace with all men, 342 and embrace all in gentleness and charity; make ready to love more than you are loved yourself; do not be faithless in peace, do not be fickle in friendship, hold always to the bond of constancy; invite those who hate you to peace. 1248C

Judge yourself by your own judgment, not another's; and measure yourself not by another's talk, but by your own mind. No one can know better or more fully what you know than you, since you are conscious of yourself. And to whom is it any profit if you are foretold bad, or good? Or what does the praise of men have to do with you, if you are other than you are praised for being? Wherefore shun pretense, shun hypocrisy, do not counterfeit holiness beneath a drabber garment. Be, in your profession and your habit, such as you wish to be reckoned; and let there be simplicity in your walk and purity in your movement; let nothing unseemly, nothing wanton, nothing impudent, nothing insolent appear in your walk; for the bearing of the body is the sign of the mind. Do not offer yourself to others as a spectacle, nor give others occasion to disparage.

Do not attach yourself to frivolous persons, nor mingle with the empty; shun the bad, beware of the wicked, flee the malicious, spurn the ignorant, drive from yourself the crowds of men, especially of that age which is prone to vices. Join yourself to the good, and be inseparably allied with the holy. If you do so, you will be a companion 1248Dof their manner of life and of their virtues; for it is a peril to be allied with the worst, and their hatred is better than their fellowship.

Close your ears, that you may hear nothing shameless; for empty talk quickly pollutes the mind, and the mind is easily injured by base things and by all evils, and what is heard is gladly done. For no one is believed to hate those by the report of whom he is not injured. Let nothing proceed from your mouth by which you may be made base, or which is itself base; but let those things burst forth from your mouth and from your lips which do not pollute the ears of the hearers; for empty speech is the index of an empty conscience. The tongue lays open a man's character, and as his speech is shown to be, such is his mind proved to be. Restrain your tongue from idle talk, and do not speak empty words; for idle speech will not be without judgment. For each man is to render an account of his words; before the face of every man his own words shall stand. He who does not check evil words passes quickly on to harmful ones; and he who does not reject the least things breaks out utterly into 1249Athe greatest; for guilt in lesser matters begets guilt in greater.

Vices grow bit by bit, and while we do not guard against small ones, we slip and fall in great ones; avoid the lesser, therefore, and you will not arrive at the greater. Let the things you say stand out well cultivated by weight and by learning, and let your speech be beyond reproach, useful to the expectation of the hearers; be zealous to speak whatever you speak wholly as you ought; discern what you should say and what you should keep silent. Give heed, and speak, and be skilled in speaking. But deliberate much on what you mean to say, lest you be unable to call back what you have said; flee the slips of the tongue, and let your mouth not lie open to the darts of injury. With a friend always keep silence; watch for the right moment for speaking, and for bringing forth a word, and for weighing it. Let measure remain in your mouth; let there be a balance in your speech; cut away from your tongue also the vice of disparaging, and do not defile your mouth with another's evil; what you disparage in another, this rather fear in yourself.

What men say among themselves, never 1249Bdesire to know, 343 nor seek out anyone to tell you; leave aside the matter that does not pertain to your own soul, and do not, forgetful of your own character, scrutinize the characters of others; correct your own vices with as much spirit as the zeal with which you have looked into another's.

Flee every kind of lie with the utmost care; do not defend anyone's life by the zeal of talkative brethren, nor by any deceit whatever; no lie is just, since it is at variance with truth — and in this matter a double oath is likewise forbidden, for the constant practice of perjury breeds a habit of it. Do the good that you have promised, being not ready with words but slow rather in deeds and works too: never do anything, or presume anything, without consideration; when you will be able to do a thing, do not promise to do it. You will be greatly guilty before God if you do not render what you vow; but in evil promises, break your word. That is no promise which is fulfilled with grief.

If you wish to bring your virtues to completion, do not betray them; 1249Chide your virtues, on account of pride; conceal your good deeds, on account of arrogance; flee to be seen as what you have deserved to be; what by making it known you could lose, keep safe by keeping silent. But reveal the vices of your heart, disclose evil thoughts on the spot — for a sin revealed is quickly cured, while a fault dissembled grows. If the vice lies open, it becomes small from great; if the sin lies hidden, it becomes greatest from least. But it is better that you avoid a vice than that you amend it, lest perchance, when you have run into it, you be unable, through a very bad habit, to call yourself back. The chains of habit are loosed only with difficulty, and things long ingrained are corrected more slowly.

Deliberate long on an opinion at its beginning, and what you intend to do at length, search out at length, test, and do; for in acting, nothing is better than delay, and nothing worse than headlong counsel. But in good matters let slowness be put away; for in good things delay does harm, and to put off what is expedient is to hinder it. In good things let slack sluggishness be absent, let negligence be absent; the vices of the flesh quickly seize the idle; for through torpor strength and talent flow away, and nature is corrupted by sloth; dullness puts out the light of knowledge, while skill 1249Dmakes it better; talent becomes more ardent when zeal is joined to it, and slower talents are sharpened by studies. Industry rouses the torpor of nature; persistence sharpens the slowness of the spirit. Wakefulness perfects the spirit; by wakefulness more is known — for it often overcomes habit, and often what belongs to nature is the effect of habit; for persistence makes character, and continual practice turns itself into nature, and what you now do with difficulty you will accomplish, through practice, without difficulty.

Learn what you do not know, lest you be found a useless teacher; and teach the good you have learned. When you share wisdom with others, you increase it for yourself; wisdom thereby grows longer; by holding it back it grows less, and while it is bestowed more widely, it abounds. When your words go before your work — what you utter with the mouth, what you promise with the mouth, fulfill in deed; what you teach in words, display and show in execution. Be not only a master of the virtues but an imitator of them. If you teach and also do, then you will be glorious. For it is not enough to commend what you have said, unless you mingle deeds with your words. 1250AIn the teaching of your own self, hold yourself back from human praise; so instruct others that you may keep guard over yourself; so teach that you may not lose the grace of humility.

Beware lest, while you lift others up by teaching them, you be yourself disparaged through an appetite for praise. 344 And when you instruct them, do not use obscurity, but speak so as to be understood, lest by your speech you displease the simple or offend the prudent; the discourse of teachers will be according to the spirit of the hearers. Teaching must be begun according to men's characters; the remedies must be applied according to the wound, for different wills call for different discipline. Each man, therefore, is to be taught according to his own profession. The profit of the persons must be looked to, and you must handle each one accordingly in instructing him. Entrust to all the secrets of your profession; speak openly.

Announce to all what is hidden from a few; do not blush to speak what you know how to defend; and what you feel to be lacking to your knowledge, seek from others; for by seeking, covered things become clear, and hard things are opened up by comparing. 1250BLet there be in you no curiosity to know hidden things, nor seek knowledge beyond what shall have been written. Do not desire what it is not permitted to know. In debate do not speak against justice; do not strive to make void what is right; in every debate hold to what is right, and love to hear more than to speak. At the beginning, listen; at the end, speak. In every matter let the end be attended to, let the last things be sought out — and the last word is better than the first.

Reverence all who are better in knowledge and in life, and to each one render the reverence befitting a higher rank according to his own merit of holiness, and do not present yourself as the equal of a holier man. Render obedience to your elders, and obey their old age with deference. Comply with all in their precepts in such a way that by complying with men's wishes you do not offend God. Do not grow accustomed to doing the evil of sight, nor, even if punishments hang over you, do not give consent to anyone who is sinning; for it is better to suffer death than to carry out ruinous evils. For a man is held liable not only as a doer of deeds, but as one privy to the sin; 1250Cnor is he free from the crime who obeyed in order that evil be done. He who complies with evil is like the one who does evil; bind the doer and the compliant under an equal penalty.

Be zealous to be revered by those under you rather than feared, so that they may cleave to you more by the service of love than by the necessity of opposition. Let your subjects revere you more than they fear you; for love proceeds from reverence, and trembling brings hatred; fear takes away trust, affection restores it; fear does not preserve a lasting fidelity; where fear grows bold, strength follows it; where there is fear, boldness follows; and where there is dread, despair comes on. Wherefore temper the sowing of your mouth; and it is fitting to rule your subjects with the utmost goodness; do not be terrible toward those set under you, but so rule that they delight to serve you.

Keep measure at every season, so that you do nothing immoderate, neither less nor more than you ought — nor ought you to be anything but moderate even in good things. For all medicines are useful, and with the right occasion all things become useful; for right things are spoiled by immoderate use, 1250Dand every excess lies in vice; look forward, therefore, to what is fitting for you and for the occasion, and where, when, why, and how long a thing ought to be done; examine the causes and the occasions of things, and carefully distinguish the discriminations proper to each work.

Discern all that you do — why you begin a good thing, why you carry it through; in every operation hold to discretion, and be indiscreet in nothing. 345 When you have well discerned your work, you will find that many things have been corrupted by custom, many presumed upon through bad practice, and many usurped against chaste morals; then keep custom and the law least of all — let practice yield to authority, let law and reason conquer bad practice. Harm no one by your testimony, nor lend the voice of witness to anyone's peril. Let your speech obstruct neither anyone's soul nor his goods; defend no one against the truth.

When you judge, do not be turned aside by partiality toward any person, whether from a poor man or from a rich; look to the case, not the person. Spurn a gift, lest through it justice 1251Abe corrupted; for gifts always play the traitor to truth, and justice is quickly violated by a man. Do not seek temporal gains from a just judgment; seek no reward for yourself for justice while you are judging; keep your wage for the future, and do not seek to be repaid on earth what is owed you in the world to come. Shake your hands free of every gift, if you wish to dwell in heaven; in judgment, too, sit without mercy. Keep the justice of discretion, and do not be more just than you ought. For everything that is excessive is a vice.

It is an impious justice not to pardon human frailty; do not, therefore, love to condemn, but rather to amend than to correct. Keep rigor in the discretion of justice; let mercy follow upon the scrutiny of judgment; let indulgence temper the rigor of discipline; be as merciful in others' offenses as in your own, and judge no one more strictly than you would yourself. So judge others as you desire to be judged; for while you pardon another's sins, you have mercy on yourself; the judgment you lay upon others you will yourself carry. For in 1251Bthat in which you judge, you are to be judged; in what measure you shall have measured, it will be measured back to you.

Determine with justice all the things you have inquired into; never judge by the verdict of suspicion; first prove, then judge; for it is not the one accused, but the accuser, who is guilty; it is a peril to judge anything presumptuously. In doubtful matters, hold back your sentence in judging. You who know your own affairs, when you do not know, leave the matter to the divine judgment; do not lean upon a human judgment to condemn what God keeps for his own scrutiny; let us not judge uncertain things, until at the last the Lord shall come, who will bring hidden things into the light. For although they are not to be believed, yet on that account they will be dismissed — except such as are proved by sure evidences, and not such as are committed to open scrutiny, and not such as are established by the order of judicial process.

Let the highest truth be held by you in the highest honor; however lofty the power you hold, press down loftiness in yourself; let honor not exalt you, but let humility preside over the summit of your high station. Be conspicuous by so much greater humility as you are illustrious with great dignity. 1251CFulfill humbly the cares laid upon you, and take up with a submissive mind the ministry handed over to you. Be obedient to the divine dispensation, and do not dare to go against his will. Exercise with moderation the rights of the power you have obtained, and set all things in order with a tranquil, not a turbulent, heart. Beware of honors which you will not be able to hold without guilt. 1252AFor loftiness of honors is a greatness of crimes, and in a higher rank the punishment is without doubt greater.

If you wish to be at rest, desire nothing of the world. You will always have rest of mind if you cast the care of the world away from you, and you will always enjoy eternal quiet 346 if you withdraw yourself from the din of earthly things. Cast away from you whatever will be able to hinder a good purpose, and hate with your whole soul the losses which the world loves. Whatever you have, have it for mercy's sake. Your virtue lends its support in works. Do not pick out the one on whom you will have mercy, lest perchance you pass by the one who deserves to receive. Give to all, lest perchance the one to whom you have not given be Christ himself; and to whomever you give generously, give with cheerfulness; and whatever you bestow, bestow with affection; bestow mercy without murmuring, offer alms without weariness.

But let the good will be greater than what is given. Let the favor be greater than what is laid out; for your work will be such as your intention has been. For what is dispensed with a good affection, this God receives; but he who 1252Bgives with weariness loses his reward. He who stretches out his hand with sadness forfeits the fruit of the recompense; there is no mercy where there is no good will. Minister to the poor out of your own just labors. Do not take from one in order to bestow on another. It is of no profit if you refresh one from that whereby you leave another empty. Such compassion condemns; it does not win favor. The good that you do, do for mercy's sake, not for boasting; nothing for the sake of temporal reputation, nothing for the sake of fame, but for the sake of eternal life and the charity of God. Whatever you do, do for the reward to come; let the expectation of eternal recompense hold you fast. Beyond that, whatever you have done for the sake of glory — this is the whole of your deed.

If you give so that it becomes known to men, you have given not to a man but to your own person, and not to what profits toward eternal glory, but toward the glory of this [ Forte, hujus vitae]. Behold, you have received small things; a rule of living is given you; no ignorance excuses you; you are no longer unacquainted with life, not imprudent or unknowing: I have described the law 1252Cyou ought to follow, and what manner of ordering you ought to have. You have knowledge of the commandments. Now you know what it is to live rightly; see that you offend no further; see that you do not despise in living what you receive in reading. It is good to know; keep what you have received, and fulfill in work what you learned by precept. See henceforth that you do not despise the good you have received. Amen.