Chapter 2

Each part its rule of life

Pollard pp. 3.15–5.11

Truth3.15–4.2

3veritas. Correspondenter ad vitas et officia istarum trium parcium ordinavi illis regulas vivendi, ne in suis officiis confundantur. Clerum autem, qui debet esse supremus et celo propinquissimus, ordinavi a causis mundialibus et mundi sollicitudinibus maxime sequestratum, et sic non dominaret seculariter sed deberet esse pauper, similis statui innocencie instar mei. Et sic debuit docere duas partes alias mundum deserere tam opere quam sermone. Et ista vita similis aquiline est ad similitudinem vite angelice contemplativa 4perfeccior quam activa. Et qui est indispositus hanc vitam vivere est indispositus clericari.

Truth. Correspondingly to the lives and offices of these three parts I have ordained rules of living for them, lest they be confounded in their offices. And the clergy, which ought to be highest and nearest to heaven, I ordained to be set apart most of all from worldly affairs and the cares of the world; and so it should not exercise lordship in a secular manner, but ought to be poor, like the state of innocence, after my pattern. And so it was to teach the two other parts to forsake the world, as much by deed as by word. And this life, like the eagle's, is, after the likeness of the angelic life, contemplative, 4more perfect than the active.¹ And whoever is unfit to live this life is unfit to be made a cleric.

Truth4.3–4.7

4Secunda autem pars ecclesie debet dominari seculariter et esse in temporalibus opulenta, quia hoc est instrumentum necessarium suo officio quod isti parti ecclesie limitavi. Sic enim deitas cohercet homines dando illis rerum affluenciam, et immiscet quodammodo potentiam coactivam.

And the second part of the church ought to exercise lordship in a secular manner and be wealthy in temporal goods, because this is the instrument necessary to the office which I have assigned to this part of the church. For in this way the Godhead coerces men, by giving them abundance of things, and in a manner mixes in coactive power.²

Truth4.8–5.11

4Terciam autem partem et infimam volo in labore corporali vivere et circa lucrum temporalium se cum moderamine ocupare; et sic omnes has tres partes ecclesie volo, tam in spirituali quam in temporali quantum racio exigit, ad suum officium habundare. Et sicut in trinitate increata est summa concordia, sic volo in hiis tribus partibus ecclesie esse amoris concordiam, controversia expulsa secundum virtutis regulas, cum ecclesia sit corpus liberi arbitrii quod per Christi capitis influencias reguletur. Disponat ergo se corpus ecclesie, et specialiter suprema pars que secundum augustinum debet esse montes, ut influencie hujus capitis coaptetur, et tunc bene regulabitur secundum graciam jhu Christi. Sicut enim pars bassior in qua vigent terre nascencia recipit influenciam suam a solari lumine, sic pars inferior terrene ecclesie recipit influenciam suam derivatam per clerum a sole justicie. Et nichil sensibilius conturbat ecclesiam vel inducit in eam morbidam discrasiam quam quod una ejus pars accipiat ministeria alterius, et correspondenter officia et per consequens dimittat officia sibimet limitata. Nec est possibile Christum deficere officium et statum parti ecclesie limitare, nisi illi 5parti deficiat influxa gracia ex peccato proprio, que se ad recipiendum dictam graciam indisponit. Nec omnia membra istarum parcium eque perficiunt officium quod statui suo attinet, sed unum magis et aliud minus, secundum quod radius gracie cum ipso homine operatur. Alia autem membra diaboli que seminantur in ecclesia non sunt proprie partes ejus, licet habeant carecterem sensibilem et nomen quoad famas hominum pupplicatum, quia verum officium quod deus requirit de persona status ecclesie est signum evidencius quam signum humanitus introductum. Ideo dicit Christus jo 10 operibus credite.

And the third and lowest part I will to live by bodily labour, and to busy itself with moderation about the gain of temporal goods; and so I will all these three parts of the church to abound for their office, as much in the spiritual as in the temporal, so far as reason requires. And as in the uncreated Trinity there is the highest concord, so I will there to be in these three parts of the church a concord of love, strife being driven out according to the rules of virtue, since the church is a body of free choice, which is to be ruled by the influences of Christ its head. Let the body of the church therefore dispose itself, and especially its highest part, which according to Augustine ought to be mountains, so as to be fitted to the influences of this head; and then it will be well ruled according to the grace of Jesus Christ.³ For as the lower part, in which the growths of the earth flourish, receives its influence from the light of the sun, so the lower part of the earthly church receives its influence, derived through the clergy, from the sun of justice. And nothing more perceptibly disturbs the church, or brings into it a diseased distemper, than that one part of it should take on the ministries of another, and correspondingly its offices, and consequently leave the offices assigned to itself. Nor is it possible for Christ to fail to assign an office and state to a part of the church, unless the inflowing grace fails 5that part through its own sin, [the part] which makes itself unfit to receive the said grace.⁴ Nor do all the members of these parts perform equally the office that belongs to their state, but one more and another less, according as the ray of grace works with the man himself. But the other members, the devil's, which are sown in the church, are not properly parts of it, although they have a perceptible character and a name published as far as men's repute goes; because the true office which God requires of a person of a state of the church is a more evident sign than a sign humanly introduced. Therefore Christ says in John 10, "believe the works."⁵

Notes

1 Similis aquiline: the eagle, believed to look straight at the sun, is the common medieval figure of contemplation, and of John the Evangelist. Contemplativa perfeccior quam activa: we take contemplativa as the predicate and perfeccior quam activa as standing beside it, "contemplative, more perfect than the active [life]": the traditional ranking of the two lives. Indispositus: "unfit", here and throughout.
2 Dando illis rerum affluenciam: illis may be the lords, to whom the Godhead gives abundance as the instrument of coercion (they are its vicars, 2.12–13), or the men coerced. The Latin allows both, and the English keeps the ambiguity.
3 "According to Augustine": Pollard gives no reference. Augustine reads the montes of the Psalms as the great men of the church, apostles and preachers, who receive light first and pass it on, e.g. En. in Ps. 71.5 and 120.4. Sol justicie, just below, is Mal. 4:2, "the Sun of justice".
4 4.25 et correspondenter officia: B, B¹, C read consequenter and omit et officia. Christum deficere … limitare: deficere with an infinitive, "for Christ to fail to assign" (B reads unum for Christum, with Christum by another hand; B, B¹, C omit parti). Que se … indisponit: the relative goes back to the part, not to grace.
5 Carecterem sensibilem: "a perceptible character", the outward mark of orders and office, set below the evidence of the office done. John 10:38, "believe the works" (Pollard's margin reference, John x. 38).

How the Latin of this chapter was established

Plate readings; page · reading · note):
- 3: CAPITULUM 2m.
Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): MS mark B¹. 150 c. (5.1); reference John x. 38 (5.11).
Side-notes read on plates n34–n36 (n35 fetched from archive.org this session). The draft's 3.1–3.10 notes belong to chapter 1 and were dropped.
Apparatus consulted (not affecting the English unless noted): 3.19 dominaret, B, B¹, C dominaretur; 3.19 C adds a rubric ecce sacerdos veritas, id est Christus, de te ordinat ut sis in tuis conversacionibus abstractus a curis mundanis; 3.23 est aquiline, ord. inv. B; 4.18 montes, C marg. innocens; 4.24 instrumenta for ministeria, B, B¹, C; 4.25–27 see n. 4.