Letters234 Letter CCXXXIV. To Herbert, abbot of s. Stephen of Dijon.
Letter CCXXXIV. To Herbert, abbot of s. Stephen of Dijon.
Bernard begs Jiis forgiveness for a religious named John, who had attacked him in writing.
If brother John has said 01 written anything unbecoming against me, or in an unbecoming way, it is not so much I whom he has injured as himself; for by writing in that way he rather betrays his own hastiness than proves me guilty of wrong; though even if he had in any point injured me it was not my intention to repay him with evil. And so looking to what becomes me rather than what he deserves, I ask and supplicate that you will also forgive the young man this fault, which seems to savour more of boastfulness than malice; on condition, however, that for the future he keep himself from writing or treating of matters which clearly are above him. For as plainly enough appears, in this little thing that he has been presumptuous enough to put forth, there was need of a maturer style and spirit. For you must see, even in this brief pamphlet, that the man either did not write what he thought, or did not think what he ought.
Si frater Joannes dixit in nos vel scripsit quod non decuit, vel quomodo non decuit, non tam nos laesit, quam se ipsum. Magis namque ita scribendo suam prodidit levitatem, quam nostrum deprehendit errorem. Quanquam etsi laesisset in aliquo, nostrum tamen non erat reponere malum. Attendens proinde non quod ille meretur, sed quod me decet, donari juveni etiam a vobis hanc culpam rogo et supplico, quae magis gloriolam quam malitiam redolere videtur: ita tamen, ut manum deinceps inhibeat a scribendis tractandisve quae supra ipsum esse constiterit. Nam, ut liquido satis apparet, in hoc exiguo quod praesumpsit, opus erat stilo et animo maturiori. Certum enim sit vobis, hominem, licet in brevi pagina, aut non scripsisse ut sensit, aut non sensisse ut debuit.