CHAPTER IX The man who is not of a noble spirit is ensnared by vain-glory, and its attendant evils
CHAPTER IX
The man who is not of a noble spirit is ensnared by vain-glory, and its attendant evils
And first of all, there is that most terrible rock of vain-glory, which is more dreadful than that of those (Sirens) of whom the mythologists tell such wonderful stories.
212. For many who have sailed by that have been able to avoid it in safety, but this is so difficult to me that I am not able to get clear of the peril even now, when no necessity at all urges me towards the whirlpool. If any one should commit this oversight to me, it would only be as if he bound my hands behind me, and delivered me to the wild beasts which inhabit that rock, to rend me day by day.
213. And what are these wild beasts? Wrath, dejection, envy, contention, slanders, accusations, falsehood, hypocrisy, plots, ill-will towards such as have done no wrong, pleasure in the indecorous acts of one’s fellow ministers, sorrow over their successes, love of praises, lust of honour, (which most of all casts down the human soul headlong), doctrine which causes delight, sordid flatteries, ignoble time-servings, contempt for the poor, court to the rich, honours without reason, and favours hurtful, bringing perils to those who give and those who take them, servile fear, such as befits only the most worthless of slaves, abandonment of outspokenness, abundance of humility in appearance, but truth nowhere, rebukes and censures absent, or rather, directed against the low beyond measure, while to such as are surrounded with influence one dare not open his lips.
214. All these wild beasts, and more than these that rock supports, and those who are once caught by them are inevitably dragged into such servitude, that oftentimes, and even to please women, they do many things which it is not well to mention.
215. The divine law has excluded these from the ministry, but they strive to force themselves into it; and when they cannot prevail in the least by themselves they accomplish everything by means of others; and they are arrayed in so much power that they can appoint or eject whatever priests they will.
216. Things are upside down; for that may be seen to have happened which agrees with the proverb: “Subjects govern princes,” and I would they were men who do it, but it is also women to whom it is enjoined not to teach. Why do I say to teach?—the blessed Paul has not even permitted them to speak in the Church. But I have heard somebody say, that they enjoyed so much liberty of speech as to rebuke the prelates of the churches, and censure them more sharply than masters their domestics.
217. However, let no one suppose that I subject all to the charges which have been mentioned: for there are some, there are many, who are superior to these entanglements, yea more than are caught in them.