Letters2 Letter II. To a youth named Fulk, who afterwards was archdeacon of Langres. (Circa A.D. 1120)
Letter II. To a youth named Fulk, who afterwards was archdeacon of Langres. (Circa A.D. 1120)
He gravely warns Fulk, a Canon Regular, whom an uncle had by persuasions and promises drawn back to the world, to obey God and be faithful to Him rather than to his uncle.
To the honourable young man Fulk, Brother Bernard, a sinner, wishes such joy in youth as in old age he will not regret.
1. I do not wonder at your surprise; I should wonder if you were not surprised that I should write to you, a countryman to a citizen, a monk to a scholastic, there being no apparent or pressing reason for so doing. But if you recall what is written—I am debtor both to the wise and to the unwise (Rom. i. 14), and that Charity seeketh not her own (1 Cor. xiii. 5)—perhaps you will understand that what it orders is not mere presumption. For it is Charity which compels me to reprove you; to condole with you, though you do not grieve; to pity you, though you do not think yourself pitiable. Nor shall it be unserviceable to you to hear patiently why you are compassionated. In feeling your pain you may get rid of its cause, and knowing your misery begin to cease to be miserable. O, Charity, good mother who both nourishest the weak, employest the vigorous, and blamest the restless, using various expedients with various people, as loving all her sons! She blames with gentleness, and with simplicity praises. It is she who is the mother of men and angels, and makes the peace not only of earth but of heaven. It is she who, rendering God favourable to man, has reconciled man to God; she, my Fulk, makes those brethren, with whom you once shared pleasant bread, to dwell in one manner of life in a house (Ps.
Ixviii. 6). Such and so honourable a parent complains of being injured, of being wounded by you.
2. But in what have I injured, you reply, or wounded her? In this, without doubt, that you whom she had taken in her maternal bosom and nourished with her milk, have untimely withdrawn yourself, and having known the sweetness of the milk which can train you up for salvation, have rejected and disdained it so quickly and carelessly. O, most foolish boy! boy more in understanding than in age! who has fascinated you to depart so quickly from a course so well begun? My uncle, you will say. So Adam once threw the blame of sin upon his wife, and his wife upon the serpent, to excuse themselves; yet each received the well-deserved sentence of their own fault. I am unwilling to accuse the dean; I am unwilling that you should excuse yourself by this means, for you are inexcusable. His fault does not excuse yours. But what did he do? Did he use violence? Did he take you by force? Nay, he begged, not insisted; attracted you by flatteries, not dragged you by violence. Who forced you to yield to his flatteries? He had not yet given up what was his own. What wonder that he should reclaim you, who wast his! If he demands a lamb from the flock, a calf from the herd, and no one disputes his right, who can wonder that having lost you, who are of more value in his sight than many lambs or calves, he should reclaim you? Probably he does not aim at that degree of perfection of which it is said, If any one has taken away thy goods, seek them not again (S. Luke vi. 30). But you, who had already rejected the world, what had you to do with following a man of the world? The timid sheep flies when the wolf approaches; the gentle dove when she sees the hawk; the mouse, though hungry, dares not leave his hole when the cat is prowling around; and yet you, when thousawesta thief thou consentedst with him (Ps. 1. 18). For what else than a thief shall I call him who has not hesitated to steal that most precious pearl of Christ, your soul?
3. I should wish, if it were possible, to pass over his fault, lest the truth should obtain for me only hatred and no result. But I am not able, I confess, to pass a man untouched, who up to this very day is found to have resisted the Holy Spirit with all his power. For he who does not hinder evil when he can, even although the evil purpose may be frustrated, is not clear of that purpose. Assuredly he tried to damp my fervour when it was new, but, thanks to God, he did not succeed. Another nephew of his, Guarike, your kinsman, he much opposed, but what harm did he do? On the contrary, he was of service. For the old man at length unwillingly desisted from persecution, and as the youth, his nephew, remained unsubdued, he was the more meritorious for his temptation. But, alas! how was he able to overcome you, who was not able to overcome him? Was he stronger or more prudent than you? Assuredly those who knew both before preferred Fulk to Guarike. But the event of the combat showed that men's judgment had erred.
4. But what shall I say concerning the malice of an uncle who withdraws his own nephews from the Christian warfare to drag them with himself to perdition? Is it thus he is accustomed to benefit his friends? Those whom Christ calls to abide with Him for ever this uncle calls back to burn with him for evermore. I wonder if Christ is not reproving him when he says, How often would I have gathered thy nephews as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings and thou wouldest not? Behold thy house is left unto thee desolate (S. Matt, xxiii. 37). Christ says, Suffer the little children to come unto Me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven (S. Matt. xix. 14). This uncle says, Suffer my nephews to burn with me. Christ says, They are Mine; they ought to serve Me. But their uncle says, They ought to perish with me. Christ says, They are mine, I have redeemed them. But I, says the uncle, have brought them up. You, indeed, says Christ, have fed them, but with My bread, not thine; while I have redeemed them not with thy blood, but Mine own. Thus the uncle, according to the flesh, struggles against the Father of spirits for his nephews.
whom he disinherits of heavenly possessions while he desires to load them with earthly. Yet Christ, not considering it robbery to draw to Himself those whom He has made and redeemed with His own blood, has done when they came to Him, what He had before promised, Him who cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out (S. John vi. 37). He opened gladly to Fulk, the first who knocked, and made him glad also. What more? he put off the old man and put on the new, and showed forth in his character and life the canonical function which had existed in name alone. The report of it flies abroad, to Christ, a sweet savour; and the novelty of the thing diffused on all sides brought it to the ears of his uncle.
5. What then did the carnal guardian, who lost the carnal solace of the flesh which he had brought up and loved after a carnal fashion? Although to others the event was a savour of life unto life (2 Cor. ii. 16), not so to him. Wherefore? Because the carnal man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him (1 Cor. ii. 14). For if he had the spirit of Christ he would not so greatly lament on account of the flesh that which he rejoiced over on account of the spirit. But because he relishes earthly things, not those which are above, he is sad and troubled, and reflects thus within himself: What do I hear? Woe is me! from what hope have I fallen! Ought he to do anything without my advice and permission? What right, what law, what justice, what reason is it, that him, whom I have nourished up from infancy, another person should have the good of when grown up? Now that my head is white, alas! I shall spend the remainder of my life in grief, because the staff of my old age has deserted me. Woe is me! if this night my soul is required of me, whose shall those things be which I have prepared? My store houses are full, disgorging this one into that, my sheep fruitful, abounding in their goings forth; my oxen fat, and for whom shall these remain? My lands, my meadows, my houses, my vases of gold and of silver, for whom have they been amassed? Certain of the richer and more profitable honours of my Church I had acquired for myself; the rest, although I could not have them, I hoped that Fulk should. What then shall I do? Because of him shall I lose so much? For whatever I possess, without him, I reckon as lost. Rather than that I will both retain them, and recall him if I can. What is done cannot be undone; what is heard cannot be concealed. Fulk is a Canon Regular, and if he returns to the world will be remarked and disgraced. But it is better to hear that about him than to live without him. Let integrity yield to convenience, shame to necessity. I prefer not to spare the ingenuousness of a youth, rather than to undergo miserable melancholy.
6. Adopting then this counsel of the flesh, forgetful of reason and law, as it were a lion prepared for prey, and as a lioness robbed of her whelp, raging and roaring, not respecting holy things, he burst into the dwelling of the saints, in which Christ had hidden his young soldier from the strife of tongues, who was one day to be adjoined to the company of Angels. He demands that his nephew be restored to him; he loudly complains that by him he had been wrongly deserted; while Christ resists, saying, Unhappy man, what are you doing? Why do you rob? Why persecute Me? Is it not enough that you have taken away your own soul from Me, and the souls of many others by your example, but you must tear him also from My hand with impious daring? Do you not fear the coming judgment, or do you despise My terrors? Upon whom do you wage war? Upon the terrible One, who takes away the spirit of princes (Ps. Ixxvi. 12). Madman, return to thyself. Remember thy last end and sin not, call to mind with salutary fear what you are. And thou, O youth, He says, if thou dost assent and agree to his wishes thou shalt die the death. Remember that Lot's wife was, indeed, delivered from Sodom because she believed God, but was transformed in the way because she looked back (Gen. xix. 26). Learn in the Gospel that he who has once put his hand to the plough to him it is not permitted to look back (Luke ix. 62). Your uncle, who has already lost his own soul, seeks yours. The words of his mouth are iniquity and guile. Do not learn,, my son, to do evil (Ps. xxxvi. 4). Do not turn aside to vanities and falsehoods (Ps. xl. 4). Behold in the way in which you walk he hides snares—he has stretched nets.. His discourses are smooth as butter, and yet they are sharp spears (Ps. Iv. 21). See, my son, that you are not taken with lying lips and a deceitful tongue. Let divine fear transfix your flesh, that the desire of the flesh may not deceive you. It flatters, but under its tongue is suffering and sorrow; it weeps, but betrays; it betrays to catch the poor when it has attracted him (Ps. x. 9). Beware, I say, My son, that you do not confer with flesh and blood (Gal. i. 16), for My sword shall devour flesh (Deut. xxxii. 42). Despise entreaties and promises. He promises great things, but I greater; he offers more, but I most of all. Will you throw away heavenly things for earthly, eternal for temporal? Otherwise it behoves you to dissolve the vows which your lips have pronounced. He is rightly required to dissolve who was not forced to vow, for, although I did not repulse you when you knocked, I did not oblige you to enter. You cannot, therefore, put aside what you promised of your own accord. Behold each of you I warn, and to each give salutary counsel. Do not you, He says to the uncle, draw back a regular to the world, for in so doing you make him to apostatize. Do not you, a regular,, follow the secular life, for in so doing you persecute Me. If you seduce a soul for which I died you make yourself an enemy of My cross. He who does not gather with Me scatters (S. Matt. xii. 30). How much more he who> scatters what has been gathered? And you, if you consent to him you dissent from Me, for he who is not with Me is against Me (ibid.}. How much more is he who was with Me against Me if he deserts? You, if you lead astray a boy who has come to Me, shall be adjudged a seducer and profaner, but you, if you destroy what you had built, shall make yourself a deceiver. Both of you must stand at My tribunal and by Me be judged—the one for his prevarication, the other for the leading astray; and if the one shall die in his iniquity his blood shall be required at the hand of his seducer (Ezek. iii. 18). These and similar warnings Thou, 0 Christ, didst invisibly thunder to each, I appeal to their conscience as witness. Thou didst knock at the doors of the mind of each with kindly terrors. Who would not fear them and recover wisdom in fearing, unless it were one like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear and refuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely (Ps. Iviii. 4, 5), who either does not hear, or pretends that he hears not?
7. But how far do I draw out this letter, already too long, before speaking of a thing that is worthy only of silence? In what circuitous paths do I approach the truth, fearing to draw the veil from shame!
1 say with shame. That what is known to many I cannot conceal if I would. But why with shame? Why should I be ashamed to write what it did not shame them to do? If they are ashamed to hear what they shamelessly did, let them not be ashamed to amend what they were reluctant to hear. Alas! neither fear nor reason could keep back the one from seduction, nor shame or his profession the other from prevarication. What more? A deceitful tongue fits hasty words; it conceiveth sorrow, and brings forth iniquity. Your Church received its scholar, whom it had better have been without. So formerly Lyons recovered, without credit, by the zeal and pertinacity of its dean, its canon whom it had well lost, the nephew of the same dean. Just as the one snatched Fulk from S. Augustine, so the other Othbert from S. Benedict. How much more beautiful that a religious youth should draw to himself a worldly old man, and so each should be victorious, than that the worldly should draw back to himself the religious, in which each is vanquished! Oh, unhappy old man! Oh, cruel uncle! who, already decrepit and soon about to die, before dying have slain the soul of your nephew, whom you have deprived of the inheritance of Christ in order that you might have an heir of your sins. But he who is evil to himself, to whom is he good? He preferred to have a successor in his riches rather than an intercessor for his iniquities.
8. But what have I to do with Deans, who are our instructors, and have acquired authority in the Churches. They hold the key of knowledge, and take the highest seats in the synagogues. They judge their subjects at their will, they recall fugitives, and when they are recalled scatter them again as they choose. What have I to do with that? I confess that because of you, my Fulk, I have exceeded somewhat the degree proper to my humility in speaking of these, since I wished to be indulgent to your fault, and make your shame little in comparison. I pass over these that they may not have ground to rail, not at the blame, but at him who blames, for they would rather find fault with my presumption than occupy themselves with their own correction. At all events it is not a prince of the Church that I have undertaken to reprimand, but a young student, gentle and obedient. Unless, perhaps, you show yourself to be a child in sense, not in malice, and object to my boldness, saying, What has he to do with me? Wrhat do the faults which I commit matter to him? Am I a monk? And to this I confess I have nothing to answer, except that I counted, in addressing myself to you, on the sweetness of character with which you are endowed by nature, and that I was actuated by the love of God, to which I appealed in the first words of my letter. It was in zeal for Him that, pitying your error and your unhappiness, I was moved to interfere beyond my custom in order to save you, although you were not mine. Your serious fall and miserable case has moved me thus to presume. For whom of your contemporaries have you seen me reprimand? To whom have I ever addressed even the briefest letter? Not that I regarded them as saints, nor had nothing to blame in them.
9. Why, then, you will say, do you blame me especially, when in others you see what you might, perhaps, more justly find fault with? To which I reply: Because of the excessiveness of your error, of the enormity of your fault, for although many others live loosely, without rule and discipline, yet they have not yet professed obedience to these. They are sinners indeed, but not apostates. But you, however honourably and quietly you may live, although you may conduct yourself chastely, soberly, and religiously, yet your piety is not acceptable to God, because it is rendered valueless by the violation of your vow. Therefore, beloved, do not compare yourself with your contemporaries, from whom the profession which you have made separates you, nor flatter yourself so much because of your self-restraint in comparison with men of the world, since the Lord says to you, would thou wert hot or cold (Apoc. iii. 15, 16). Here is plainly shown that you please God less, being lukewarm, than if you were even such as those are, entirely cold towards Him. For them God waits patiently until their cold shall pass into heat, but you He sees with displeasure to have fallen away to lukewarmness, after having been fervent in warmth. And because I have found thee lukewarm, He says, will vomit thee from My mouth (ibid.}, and deservedly, because you have returned to your vomit and rejected His grace!
10. Alas how have you so soon grown weary of the Saviour, of whom it is written, Honey and milk are under His tongue (Cantic. iv. u). I wonder that nourishment so sweet should be distasteful to you, if you have tasted how sweet the Lord is. Or perhaps you have not yet tasted and do not know how sweet is Christ, so that you do not desire what you have not tried; or if you have, then your taste is surely depraved. He is the Wisdom of God who says: He who eats of Me shall always hunger, and he who drinks of Me shall never cease to desire to drink again (Ecclus. xxiv. 29). But how can he hunger or thirst for Christ who is full of the husks of wine? You cannot drink of the cup of Christ and of the cup of demons (1 Cor. x. 21). The cup of demons is pride, detraction, envy, debauch, and drunkenness, with which when your mind and body are saturated, Christ will find in you no place. Do not wonder at what I say. In the house of your uncle you are not able to drink deep of the fulness of the house of God. Why, you say? Because it is a house of [carnal delights. Now, as fire and water cannot be together, so the delights of the spirit and those of the flesh are incompatible. Christ will not deign to pour His wine, which is more sweet than honey and the honeycomb, into the soul of him whom He finds among his cups breathing forth the fumes of wine. Where there is delicate variety of food, where the richness and splendour of the service of the table delights equally the eyes and the stomach, the food of heaven is wanting to the soul. Rejoice, O, young man, in thy youth! but then, when temporal joy departs in time to come, everlasting sorrow will possess thee! May God preserve you, His child, from this. May He rather destroy the deceiving and perfidious lips of those who give you such advice, who say to you every day, Good, good! and who seek your soul! They are those with whom you are dwelling, and who corrupt the good manners of a young man by their evil communications (colloquia: otherwise counsels, consilia}.
ii. But now how long before you will come out from their midst? What do you in the town who had chosen the cloister, or what have you to do with the world which you had renounced? The lines have fallen to you in pleasant places, and do you sigh after earthly riches? If you wish to have both together, it will be said to you soon, Remember, my son, that you have received your good things when you were in life (S. Luke xvi. 25). You have received, He said, not you have seized; so that you may not shelter yourself under the vain excuse, that you are content with what is your own, and do not seize what belongs to another. And, after all, what are those goods which you call yours? The benefices of the Church? Certainly; you do well in rising to keep vigil, in going to Mass, in assisting at the day and night offices, so you do not take the prsebend of the Church without return. It is just that he who serves the Altar should live from the Altar. It is granted VOL. I. 9 therefore to you that if you serve well at the Altar you should live from it, but not that you should live in luxury and splendour at its expense, that you should take its revenues to provide yourself with gilded reins, ornamented saddles, silver spurs, furs of all kinds, and purple ornaments to cover your hands and adorn your neck. Whatsoever you take from the Altar, in short, beyond necessary food and simple dress, is not yours, and it is rapine and even sacrilege. The Wise man prayed for necessary sustenance, not for things superfluous (Prov. xxx. 8). The Apostle says, having food and clothing (1 Tim. vi. 8), not food and magnificent dress. And a certain other saint says, if the Lord shall give me bread to eat and raiment to cover me (Gen. xxviii. 20). Take notice, to cover me. So then let us too be content with raiment to cover us, not with luxurious and costly clothing which is worn to please women, and makes the wearers like them. But you say: Those with whom I associate do this; if I do not do as others, I shall be remarked for singularity. Wherefore I say, go forth from the midst of them; that you may not either live with singularity in the eyes of the town or perish by the example of others.
12. What do you do in the town at all, O effeminate soldier? Your fellow soldiers whom you have deserted by flight are fighting and overcoming; they knock and they enter in, they seize heaven and reign while you scour the streets and squares, sitting upon your ambling courser, and clad in purple and fine linen. These are the ornaments of peace, not the weapons of war. Or do you say, Peace, and there is no peace (Ezekiel xiii. 10). The purple tunic does not put to flight lust, and pride, and avarice, nor does it protect against other fiery darts of the enemy. Lastly, it does not ward off from you the fever which you more fear, nor secure you from death. Where are your warlike weapons, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the breast-plate of patience? Why do you tremble? there are more with us than with our enemies. Take your arms, recover your strength while yet the combat lasts; Angels are spectators and helpers, the Lord himself is your aid and your support, who will teach your hands to war and your ringers to light (Psalm cxliv. i). Let us come to the help of our brothers, lest if they fight without us they vanquish without us, and without us enter into heaven; lest, last of all, when the door has been shut it be replied from within to us knocking too late, Verily I say unto you, I know you not (S. Matthew xxv. 12). Make yourself known then and seen beforehand, lest you be unknown for glory and known only for punishment. If Christ recognizes you in the strife, He will recognize you in heaven, and as He has promised, will manifest Himself to you (S. John xiv. 21). If only you by repenting and returning will show yourself such as to be able to say with confidence Then shall I know even as also I am known (1 Corinthians xiii. 12). In the meantime I have by these admonitions knocked sufficiently at the heart of a young man modest and docile; and nothing remains for me now than to knock by my prayers also, for him, at the door of the Divine Mercy, that the Lord may finish my work if my remonstrances have found his heart ever so little softened, so that I may speedily rejoice over him with great joy.
Bonae indolis adolescenti FULCONI, frater BERNARDUS peccator, inde laetari in adolescentia, unde in senectute non poeniteat.
1. Non miror si mireris, sed miror si non mireris, unde mihi ut ad te scribere vellem, civem rusticus, scholaticum monachus, cum nulla hinc tibi occasio necessaria occurrat, nulla se ratio patens ostendat. At si attenderis quod scriptum legis, Sapientibus et insipientibus debitor sum; et illud, Charitas non quaerit quae sua sunt: forsitan intelliges quidquid illa jusserit, non esse praesumptum. Charitas enim ad te objurgandum me compulit, quae tibi condolet, quamvis non dolenti: quae tibi miseretur, licet non miserabili. Et inde magis dolet, quod cum sis dolendus, non doles: et inde magis miseretur, quod cum miser sis, miserabilis non es. Nec frustra forsitan tibi compatitur, dummodo patienter tu audias unde compatiatur. Vult te tuum sentire dolorem, ut jam non habeas unde dolere: vult te tuam scire miseriam, ut incipias miser non esse. O bona mater charitas, quae sive foveat infirmos, sive exerceat provectos, sive arguat inquietos; diversis diversa exhibens, sicut filios diligit universos! Cum te arguit, mitis est; cum blanditur simplex est. Pie solet saevire, sine dolo mulcere: patienter novit irasci, humiliter indignari. Ipsa est quae hominum mater et Angelorum, non solum quae in terris, sed etiam quae in coelo sunt, pacificavit. Ipsa est quae Deum homini placans, hominem Deo reconciliavit. Ipsa est, mi Fulco, quae fratres illos, cum quibus olim dulces capiebas cibos, habitare facit unius moris in domo. Haec talis tamque honorabilis mater a te se queritur offensam, expostulat laesam. Laesa tamen non provocat: sed spreta te revocat, ostendens tibi in te de se veraciter scriptum esse, Charitas patiens est, benigna est. Licet laesa, licet offensa, si conversus fueris ad illam, obviabit tibi quasi mater honorificata. Comtemptus oblita sui, ruet in amplexum tui; gaudens quem perdiderat, esse inventum; qui mortuus fuerat, vivum.
2. Sed in quo, inquis, laesi? in quo contempsi? Audi. In eo, procul dubio, quod te quem sinu suo lacte nutriendum materno susceperat, ante tempus ablactasti; quod expertam lactis dulcedinem, in quo posses crescere in salutem, tam leviter, tam celeriter exsufflasti. O puer insensate! o puer magis sensu quam aetate! quis te fascinavit a bene incoepto itinere tam cito discedere? Avunculus, inquies. Sic Adam quondam uxorem, uxor serpentem ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis (Psal. CXL, 4), praetendebant, uterque tamen suae culpae dignam excepit sententiam. Nolo decanum accuses, nolo te per illum excuses: inexcusabilis enim es. Illius culpa tuam non excusat. Quidnam ille fecit? Nunquid te rapuit? nunquid vim intulit? Rogavit, non ligavit; blandiendo attraxit, non violenter traxit. Quis te cogebat credere blandienti, assentire attrahenti? Ille sua nondum reliquerat; quid mirum si te qui suus eras, requirebat? Si agnum de grege, vitulum de armento cum perdit, requirit, et nemo causatur; te quoque, qui multis ovibus vel vitulis apud eum pluris es, ademptum si repetit, quis inde miretur? Siquidem non usurpat illam sibi perfectionem, de qua dicitur: Si quis abstulerit tua, ne repetas. Repetebat ergo suum, qui sua adhuc tenebat. At tu qui jam saeculum spreveras, saecularem sequi debebas? Fugit ovis tremebunda, veniente lupo; abscondit se columba tremens, accipitre viso; de cavernula sua mus esuriens exire non audet, ambiente cato: et tu cum videbas furem, currebas cum eo? Nam quid aliud quam furem dixerim, qui pretiosam Christi margaritam, id est animam tuam, furari non dubitaverit?
3. Volebam, si possem, illius errorem dissimulare, ne odium et nullum fructum consequerer ex veritate. Sed non potui, fateor, intactum transire, quem usque ad hanc diem comperi Spiritui sancto pro viribus restitisse. Nam qui manum non retinet a malo quo, potest, licet quandoque frustretur effectus, non minus culpatur affectus. In me certe fervorem novitium exstinguere voluit; sed, Deo gratias, non valuit. Alteri quoque nepoti suo Guirrico, cognato tuo, multum restitit: sed quid nocuit? Imo plurimum praestitit. Destitit invitus tandem senex avunculus a perseeutione; exstitit invictus puer nepos, gloriosior de tentatione. Sed heu! quomodo te vicit, qui illum vincere non potuit? Aut quomodo qui te vicit, ab illo superatus est? Nunquid te fortior ille? nunquid prudentior? Certe qui antea utrumque noverant, Guirrico Fulconem praeferebant. At postquam ventum est ad bellum, exitus indicavit hominum errasse judicium. Ibi, proh pudor! fugit qui praeferebatur, ubi fortiter vicit qui inferior credebatur.
4. Sed quid de avunculi dicam malitia, qui a Christi militia retrahit nepotes suos, ut secum trahat ad inferos? Itane solet beare amicos? Quos Christus vocat secum in aeternum mansuros, avunculus revocat secum in aeternum arsuros. Miror si jam Christus ei non irascatur, et dicat: Quoties volui congregare nepotes tuos, quemadmodum gallina congregat pullos suos sub alas, et noluisti? Ecce relinquetur tibi domus tua deserta. Christus dicit, Sinite parvulos venire ad me; talium enim est regnum caelorum: avunculus ait. Sinite nepotes meos ut ardeant mecum. Christus dicit, Mei sunt, mihi debent servire: Sed oportet, inquit avunculus, eos mecum perire. Christus dicit: Mei sunt, ego illos redemi: Sed ego, inquit avunculus, eos nutrivi. Tu quidem, ait Christus, illos nutristi, sed pane meo, non tuo; ego vero redemi non sanguine tuo, sed meo. Sic carnalis avunculus contra Patrem spirituum pro nepotibus certat, quos dum bonis cupit onerare terrenis, coelestibus exhaeredat. Christus tamen non rapinam arbitratus, si suos quos fecit et redemit sanguine proprio, ad se venientes collegerit, juxta quod ante promiserat, Et eum qui venit ad me, non ejiciam foras, Fulconi primo pulsanti laetus aperuit, laetis amplexibus laetum excepit. Quid plura? veterem hominem exuitur, et novum induitur; quodque solo nomine exstiterat, moribus et vita canonicum profitetur. Fama volat, bonus odor Christo; rei novitas circumquaque diffusa pervenit ad aures avunculi.
5. Quid ergo faceret carnalis nutritius, qui carnis, quam nutrierat, quam carnaliter amabat, solatium perdebat? Etsi aliis fuit res illa odor vitae ad vitam, sed non illi. Qnare? Quia animalis homo non percipit ea quae sunt spiritus Dei. Stultitia enim illi videtur. Nam si spiritum Christi haberet, non tam de carne doleret, quam gauderet de spiritu. Sed quia terrena, non quae sursum sunt, sapiebat, turbatus et tristis tale aliquid secum volvebat: Quid audio? vae mihi! a quanta spe cecidi! Sed quid? debetne stare quidquid absque meo consilio, absque mea licentia fecerit? Quod jus, quae lex, quae justitia, quae ratio, ut quem ex utero nutriendum suscepi, alius fruatur adulto? Jam caput aspersum canis, heu! vitae meae reliquum expendam cum moerore, quia me deseruit baculus senectutis meae. Heu mihi! si hac nocte expetitur a me anima mea, quae paravi, cujus erunt? Promptuaria mea plena, eructantia ex hoc in illud: oves meae fetosae, abundantes in egressibus suis; boves meae crassae cui remanebunt? Praedia, prata, domus, argentea vasa et aurea, cui congregata sunt? Ditiores quosque ac quaestuosiores ecclesiae meae honores acquisieram mihi; reliquos, etsi non licebat habere, spe tamen in Fulcone tenebam. Quid igitur faciam? Propter illum unum tot et tanta perdam? Nam quidquid sine illo possederim, amisisse me judico. Quin potius et ista retinebo, et illum revocabo si potero. Sed quomodo? Factum est, auditum est. Quod factum est, non potest non fieri: quod auditum est, celatum esse non poterit. Fulco canonicus est regularis; si revertitur ad saeculum, notabilis erit et infamis. Sed tolerabilius est hoc audire de illo, quam vivere sine illo. Cedat ergo nunc honestas utilitati, pudor necessitati. Malo non parcere verecundiae pueri, quam miserabili subjacere tristitiae.
6. Acquiescens itaque consilio carnis, rationis oblitus et legis, tanquam leo paratus ad praedam, et sicut leaena rapto catulo rapiens et rugiens, sacra non veritus, sanctorum irrupit habitaculum, in quo tirunculum suum Christus absconderat a contradictione linguarum, postmodum admisturus consortio Angelorum. Quaerit ac flagitat reddi sibi nepotem suum; queritur et clamat injuste se ab illo relictum, Christo reclamante et dicente: Quid agis, miser? quid furis? quid me persequeris? Non sufficit tibi, quod tuam, tuoque exemplo multorum mihi animas tuleris, si non etiam hunc ausu sacrilego rapias de manu mea? Non times tu futurum judicium? an contemnis terrorem meum? Cui hoc facis? cui bellum indicis? Terribili utique, et ei qui aufert spiritum principum. Insane, redi ad cor tuum; memorare novissima tua, et non peccabis: memorare quae tua substantia, et utiliter timebis. Et tu puer, inquit, si assenseris, si acquieveris, morte morieris. Memento uxoris Lot de Sodoma quidem creptae, quia Deo credidit; sed in via mutatae, quia retro aspexit. Disce in Evangelio quod non liceat retro aspicere ei, qui semel manum ad aratrum misit. Avunculus tuus quaerit animam tuam, qui jam perdidit suam. Verba oris ejus, iniquitas et dolus. Noli intelligere, fili mi, ut male agas; noli intendere in vanitates et insanias falsas. Ecce in via qua ambules, abscondit laqueos, tetendit retia. Molliti sunt sormones ejus super oleum, et ipsi sunt jacula. Vide, fili mi, ne capiaris a labiis iniquis, et a lingua dolosa. Configat carnes tuas divinus timor, ne te decipiat carnalis amor. Blanditur, sed sub lingua ejus labor et dolor; lacrymatur, sed insidiatur; insidiatur ut rapiat pauperem, rapere pauperem dum attrahit eum. Cave, inquam, fili mi, ne acquiescas carni et sanguini; nam gladius meus devorabit carnes. Sperne blandimenta, contemne promissiones. Promittit magna, sed ego majora; offert plura, sed ego plurima. Dimittes ergo pro terrenis coelestia, pro temporalibus aeterna? Alioquin oportet te solvere vota tua, quae distinxerunt labia tua. Juste exigitur ad solvendum, qui non cogitur ad vovendum: nam etsi cum pulsares, non repuli; tamen ut intrares, non compuli. Non licet ergo dimittere quod sponte promisisti: non est fas requirere quae per te dimisisti. En utrumque vestrum praemoneo, utrique salubriter consulo. Tu, inquit ad avunculum, regularem ne reducas ad saeculum; quia si reducis, seducis quem apostatare facis. Tu, regularis, saecularem ne sequaris; quia si illum sequeris, me persequeris, cui de te ipso injuriam facis. Tu si seduxeris animam pro qua mortuus sum, crucis meae te constituis inimicum. Qui enim non colligit mecum, dispergit; quanto magis qui collectos dispergit? Tu vero si ei consentis, a me dissentis; quia qui non est mecum, contra me est (Ibid). Quanto magis qui mecum fuit, si me deserit, contra me est? Tu si circumvenis parvulum qui ad me venit, seductor ac sacrilegus judicaberis: tu vero si quod aedificaveras, iterum destruis; praevaricatorem te constituis. Ambos vos necesse est meo judicio praesentari, ambos assistere meo tribunali: alter de propria praevaricatione, alter de alterius seductione judicabitur; et unde alteri in iniquitate sua morietur, inde morientis sanguis de manu alterius requiretur. Haec et his similia, utriusque teste conscientia, utrique, Christe, invisibiliter, sed terribiliter intonabas; his sacris monitis amborum mentes pie terrendo pulsabas. Quis ad haec non timeret, timendo recipisceret, nisi qui more aspidis surdae et obturantis aures suas, vocem venefici incantantis sapienter, aut non audiret, aut se audire dissimularet?
7. Sed usquequo jam satis vel nimis longam protrahimus epistolam, dum inviti loquimur rem silentio dignam? Cur tantis circuitionibus ad veritatem ambimus, dum pudenda revelare timemus? Dicam tamen, dicam cum pudore, quod multis cognitum, occultare etsi volo, non valeo. Sed quare cum pudore? Utquid me scribere pudeat, quod illos non puduit facere? Si pudeat audire quod impudenter egerunt; non pudeat emendare quod libenter non audiunt. Proh dolor! neutrum illorum revocare potuit, aut illum a seductione timor et ratio; aut hunc a praevaricatione pudor et professio. Quid plura? verba praecipitationis concinnat lingua dolosa: concepit dolorem, et persuasit iniquitatem. Subvertit perversus conversum: revertitur canis ad vomitum. Ecclesia vestra suum recepit alumnum, quem melius habebat amissum. Sic Lugdunum olim, studio similiter et industria sui decani, ejusdem decani nepotem, suum canonicum, quem bene perdiderat, male recuperavit. Sicut ille Fulconem beato Augustino, sic Othbertum iste sancto Benedicto subripuit. O quam ordinatius ipse cum sancto sanctus efficeretur, quam cum perverso sanctus perverteretur! o quam pulchrius senem saecularem puer religiosus ad se traheret, et sic vinceret uterque, quam religiosum saecularis ad se retraheret, in quo victus est uterque! O senem infelicem! o avunculum crudelem! qui jam decrepitus, statim moriturus, nepotis animam prius interfecit; quem ut peccatorum suorum haberet haeredem, a Christi sorte privavit! Sed qui sibi nequam est, cui bonus? Maluit in suis facultatibus habere successorem, quam pro iniquitatibus intercessorem.
8. Sed quid ad me de decanis magistris nostris, qui principatum meruerunt in ecclesiis? Clavem scientiae tenent, et primas cathedras in conventibus possident. Viderint ipsi qualiter subditos judicent, fugitivos revocent, revocatos, si ita voluerint, iterum effugent, dispersos colligant, collectos dispergant: quid ad me? Fateor, aliquantum in illos propter te, mi Fulco, modum nostrae parvitatis excessi; dum tuam de illis cupio palliare verecundiam, temperare culpam. Omitto ergo illos, ne non tam reprehensioni, quam reprehensori juste indignentur; nec tam de sua correctione cogitent, quam mihi de praesumptione calumnientur. Non Ecclesiae principem, sed puerum scholarem objurgare suscepi, qui nesciat indignari, non norit irasci. Nisi forte et tu sensu, non malitia parvulus, idipsum mihi calumnieris, et dicas: Imo quid mihi et ipsi? quid ad illum de peccato meo? Nunquid ego sum monachus? Et ad hoc, fateor, quod respondeam non habeo; nisi quod confisus sum tum de tua, quam in te credidi, ingenita mansuetudine, tum de Dei charitate, qua et in principio epistolae excusasse me memini. Ejus zelo tantum tui erroris misertus, tantum tuae miseriae compassus sum, quatenus supra modum et morem meum de te non meo me intromiserim. Gravis lapsus tuus ac miserabilis casus provocavit me ut hoc praesumpserim. Quem enim coaetaneorum tuorum me vidisti arguere? cui vel brevissimas aliquando litteras direxisse? Non tamen quod omnes caeteros sanctos putaverim, aut nihil in eis reprehensione dignum invenerim.
9. Cur ergo, inquis, singulariter me reprehendis, cum et in aliis videas quod justius forsitan reprehendere possis? Ad quod ego: Propter singularitem erroris tui, propter immanitatem peccati tui. Nam etsi plerique alii perdite vivunt, etsi inordinati et indisciplinati sunt; nondum tamen ordinem aut disciplinam professi sunt. Sunt quidem peccatores, sed non praevaricatores. Tu vero quantumlibet modeste et honeste vivas; si caste, si sobrie, si omnino religiose te habeas: Deo tamen minus accepta est tua religio, quam deturpat voti praevaricatio. Idcirco, charissime, ne te tuis coaetaneis compares, a quibus professio te separat; nec respectu saecularium de tua tibi forte paulo graviori continentia blandiaris, cum tibi Dominus dicat: Utinam te calidum aut frigidum invenissem. Hic ostenditur aperte, quia minus Deo tepidus places, quam si vel quales illi sunt, frigidus esses. Illos utique Deus patienter exspectat de frigore quandoque ad calorem proficere, te vero indignans advertit de calore jam in teporem defecisse. Et quia tepidum te inveni, incipiam, inquit, te evomere ex ore meo. Et merito, quia tu ad tuum vomitum redisti, quia tu ejus gratiam evomuisti.
10. Heu! quomodo Christum tam cito fastidis de quo scriptum est: Mel et lac sub lingua ejus? Miror, quod ad gustum cibi dulcissimi nausearis; si tamen gustasti quam dulcis est Dominus. Aut certe nondum gustasti, et nescis quid sapit Christus; ideoque non appetis inexpertum: aut si gustasti, et dulce non sapuit, sanum non habes palatum. Ipse quippe Dei est sapientia, quae ait: Qui comedit me, adhuc esuriet; et qui bibit me, adhuc sitiet. Sed quomodo potest esurire vel sitire Christum, plenus quotidie siliquis porcorum? Non potes bibere simul calicem Christi, et calicem daemoniorum. Calix daemoniorum superbia est, calix daemoniorum detractio et invidia est, calix daemoniorum crapula et ebrietas est; quae cum impleverint vel mentem vel ventrem tuum, Christus in te non invenit locum. Non mireris quod dico. In domo avunculi tui non potes inebriari ab ubertate domus Dei. Cur, inquis? Quia domus deliciarum est. Quomodo ignis et aqua simul esse non possunt, sic spirituales et carnales deliciae in eodem se non patiuntur. Ubi crapulam ructantis inter pocula senserit Christus, vina sua, dulciora super mel et favum, menti propinare non dignatur. Ubi curiosa ciborum diversitas, ubi divitis supellectilis discolor varietas oculos pariter pascit et ventrem, coelestis panis jejunam deserit mentem. Eia laetare, juvenis, in adolescentia tua, ut decedente pariter cum aetate temporali laetitia, succedat quae te absorbeat aeterna tristitia. Sed absit hoc ab adolescentulo nostro, avertat hoc Deus a puero suo. Quin potius disperdat Dominus universa labia dolosa eorum qui tibi tale concilium donant, qui dicunt tibi quotidie, Euge, euge; et quaerunt animam tuam. Hi sunt cum quibus habitas, quorum prava colloquia adolescentis bonos mores corrumpunt.
11. Sed quamdiu jam non exis de medio eorum? Quid facis in urbe, qui claustrum elegeras? quid tibi cum saeculo, qui saeculum spreveras? Funes ceciderunt tibi in praeclaris, et tu opibus inhias terrenis? Si vis habere simul et haec et illa, breviter tibi respondebitur: Memento, fili, quia recepisti bona in vita tua. Recepisti dixit; non, Rapuisti: ne etiam de hoc tibi frustra blandiaris, quod tuis contentus, aliena non rapias. Verumtamen quae sunt illa tua? Beneficia Ecclesiae? Recte. Quia surgis ad vigilias, vadis ad missas, horis chorum nocturnis diurnisque frequentas; bene facis. Sic Ecclesiae praebendam gratis non accipis. Dignum est ut qui altario deservit, de altario vivat. Conceditur ergo tibi, ut si bene deservis, de altario vivas; non autem ut de altario luxurieris, ut de altario superbias, ut inde compares tibi frena aurea, sellas depictas, calcaria deargentata, varia griseaque pellicea a collo et manibus ornatu purpureo diversificata. Denique quidquid praeter necessarium victum ac simplicem vestitum de altario retines, tuum non est; rapina est, sacrilegium est. Orabat quidem sapiens tantum victui suo tribui necessaria non superflua. Habentes, ait Apostolus, victum et vestitum; non, Victum et ornatum. Et quidam alius sanctus: Si dederit, inquit, mihi Dominus panem ad manducandum, et vestimentum quo operiar. Nota, quo operiar. Sic ergo et nos contenti simus vestimentis quibus operiamur, non quibus lasciviamus, non quibus superbiamus, non quibus mulierculis vel simulari, vel placere studeamus. Sed hoc faciunt, inquis, cum quibus habito; si non facio quod caeteri, de singularitate notabor. Propterea, inquam, exi de medio eorum. ne aut in urbe notabiliter vivas, aut exemplo pereas aliorum.
12. Quid agis in urbe, delicate miles? Commilitones tui quos fugiens deseruisti, pugnant et vincunt; pulsant et intrant; coelum rapiunt et regnant - et tu sedens super ambulatorem tuum, indutus purpura et bysso, circuis plateas, vicos perambulas? Haec sunt pacis ornamenta, non belli munimenta. An dicis, Pax et non est pax?. Purpura non propulsat libidinem, non superbiam, non avaritiam repellit; et si qua sunt alia ignea inimici jacula, non exstinguit. Denique, quod magis metuis, febrem non prohibet, mortem non arcet. Ubi sunt arma bellica? ubi scutum fidei? ubi galea salutis? ubi patientiae lorica? Quid trepidas? Plures sunt nobiscum, quam cum illis. Sume arma, resume vires, dum adhuc praelium durat. Adsunt Angeli spectatores et protectores: adest ipse Dominus adjutor et susceptor, qui doceat manus tuas ad praelium, et digitos tuos ad bellum. Procedamus in adjutorium fratrum, ne si forte sine nobis pugnent, sine nobis vincant, sine nobis ingrediantur; novissime cum clausa fuerit janua, sero pulsantibus, nobis de intus respondeatur: Amen dico vobis, nescio vos. Fac, quaeso, te prius sciri, fac te prius videri: ne tunc nesciaris ad gloriam, sciaris autem ad poenam. Si te Christus agnoscit in bello, recognoscet in coelo; et sicut promisit, manifestabit tibi se ipsum; si tamen, et tu poenitendo et resipiscendo talem te exhibueris, ut cum fiducia dicere possis: Tunc cognoscam, sicut et cognitus sum. His interim admonitionibus verecundum adolescentis animum pulsatum esse sufficiat. Jam enim nostris etiam precibus pro eo divina pulsanda est pietas; quae si ad ictus nostrarum invectionum ejus mentem vel parum mollitam invenerit, confido de ipsa, quod citius nos de ipso laetificabit.