Chapter 6
SIXTH CHAPTER
The Habit of Silence1 Let us do as the prophet says: "I have said: 'I will take heed to my ways, that 1 sin not with my tongue. 1 have set a guard on my mouth ... 1 humbled myself, and kept silence from good things' " (cf. Ps. xxxviii, 2 & 3). Here the prophet shows that if now and then one must from love of silence refrain from speaking of good things, how much more must he, from fear of punishment for sin, shun speaking of evil matters.
Consequently, on account of the seriousness of silence,2 let permission to speak seldom be given even to perfect disciples, though it be for good and holy and edifying talk; for it is written: "In much speaking thou shalt not avoid sin" (Prov. x,
19); and elsewhere: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. xviii, 21). For it is becoming to the master to speak and to teach; to the disciple to be silent and to listen.
And for that reason when anything is to be asked of a supe rior, let it be requested in all humility and reverential submis sion. But upon unbecoming jests and laughter-provoking words3 we place an everlasting ban, condemn them in all places, and will not permit a disciple to open his mouth for such discourse.
Excursus.
Taciturnity.—The habit of silence, like the habit of obedience, is a fruit of the fear of God. The old monachism understood the great significance of silence very clearly. There are some heroic instances on record of the ascetic practice of taciturnity, as St. Benedict called it. Thus, for example. Abbot
Agatho carried a pebble in his mouth constantly for three whole years, until he had acquired a proper control over himself with regard to this virtue.
Silence was also looked upon as a duty by the monks in their communication with one another, that is, between cell and cell. Said Abbot Amum: "When 1 go to the cell of my neighbor, or some urgent business brings him to mine, we
1 (The Latin term taciturnitas (taciturnity), at least in the English language, really signifies a habit of silence. In St. Benedict's meaning of the word, it applied specifically to the matter of speech. When uses the term, silentium (silence) and usually with summum or omne, he obviously had in mind other noises than speech, even muttering more or less audibly. There could have been some ulterior de sign or purpose in that. The translator)
2 In the sense of value or significance.
3 See chapter iv, comment #2, p. 137.