Wyclif’s Latin works

Dialogus, chapter 5

The third law: Ezekiel 44

Pollard pp. 9.12–11.3

Truth9.12–11.3

9veritas. Tercia autem lex veteris testamenti sequitur Ezekiel 44° cap° in hiis verbis. Ait dominus deus, non erit sacerdotibus hereditas; ego hereditas eorum. Et possessionem non dabitis eis in israel; ego enim possessio eorum. Victimam et pro peccato et pro delicto ipsi comedent et omne votum in israel ipsorum erit, et primitiva omnium pecorum progenitorum et omnia libamenta ex omnibus que offeruntur sacerdotum erunt et primitiva ciborum vestrorum dabitis sacerdoti, ut reponat benediccionem domui sue. Omne morticinum et captum a bestia de avibus et de pecoribus non comedent sacerdotes. Talia sunt multa mandata domini, ut patet illi qui in hiis tribus voluerit fideliter quietari. In istis autem tanguntur multe ceremonie, sed omnes ipse sunt cum basali prevaricancia ad sensum alium duplicate. Et cum Christus ex fide sit optimus legis interpres, 10patet quod sicut ipse qui non venit legem solvere sed implere docuit ipsam debere servari tam opere quam sermone, sic servanda est a sacerdotibus legis gracie, nec capit dictum istud excusacionem, nisi istam nephariam, quod sacerdotes isti quos vides in mandatum istud dei offendere non sunt sacerdotes Christi vel pars ejus; ideo ipsis non attinent iste leges, qui pocius sunt sacerdotes baal vel belial; ideo debent sequi antichristum et per consequens in vita adversari domino jhu Christo. Et sic, si lex domini debet credi, patet quod tales prevaricatores cum suis fautoribus sunt heretici manifesti. Nec credimus [quod] antichristus dispensavit cum istis legibus vel suspendit ipsas quamdiu sibi libuerat. Patet quod ista verba sunt frivola et in die finalis judicii condempnanda. Cum enim tanta sit racio vel major observancie harum legum, modo invalescente cupidine sicut fuit tempore veteris testamenti, patet quod necesse foret sacerdotes modo servare has leges contra avariciam tam sui quam populi, sicut fuit tempore quo non tantum candebat cupiditas. Et videtur peccatum istud invalescere ex cautela speciali diaboli invidentis Christo, qui in temptacione tercia renuit taliter dominari. Ex hoc enim symonia forcius est intrata, parsimonia est suspensa, et evangelizacio cum aliis ministeriis injunctis a Christo est a diabolo istis sacerdotibus interdicta. Per hoc autem inhabiles aspirant ad superiores gradus sacerdocii et impediunt verbum dei predicari in populo; et anelantes ad illud tanquam hereticos persecuntur, et ista persecucio est heresis sue manifestum indicium; 11nec sufficiunt pauperes et pauci fideles sacerdotes resistere, nisi deus per seculare brachium vel aliunde cicius manus apposuerit adjutrices.

Truth. And the third law of the Old Testament follows, in Ezekiel, chapter 44, in these words: "Saith the Lord God: The priestssacerdos / presbiter: priest / presbyter shall have no inheritance; I am their inheritance. Neither shall you give them any possession in Israel, for I am their possession. They shall eat the victim both for sin and for trespass: and every vowed thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the firstfruits of all the firstborn of the cattle, and all the libations of all things that are offered, shall be the priests’: and you shall give the firstfruits of your meats to the priest, that he may return a blessing upon his house. The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself or caught by a beast, whether it be fowl or cattle."1 There are many such commandments of the Lord, as is clear to him who will rest faithfully in these three. And in these many ceremonies are touched on; but all of them, their base being passed beyond, are doubled into another sense.2 And since Christ, as faith teachesex fide: as faith teaches; with a genitive, from the faith of [scripture], is the best interpreter of the law, 10it is clear that, as he who came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it taught that it ought to be kept as much in deed as in word, so it is to be kept by the priests of the law of gracelex gracie: the law of grace;3 nor does this saying admit any excuse but this wicked one: that these priests whom you see offend against this commandment of God are not priests of Christ or part of him; therefore these laws do not concern them, since they are rather priests of Baal or Belial; therefore they are bound to follow Antichrist, and consequently to oppose the Lord Jesus Christ in their life.4 And so, if the Lord’s law is to be believed, it is clear that such transgressors, with their abettors, are manifest heretics. Nor do we believe that Antichrist has dispensed from these laws, or suspendedsuspendere; suspencio: to suspend; suspension them for as long as it pleased him.5 It is clear that these words are frivolous, and to be condemned on the day of the final judgement. For since there is as great a reason, or a greater, for the observance of these laws now, while greed grows strong, as there was in the time of the Old Testament, it is clear that it would be necessary for priests now to keep these laws against the avarice both of themselves and of the people, as it was in the time when greed did not burn so hot. And this sin seems to grow strong from a special wile of the devil, who envies Christ, who in the third temptation refused to exercise lordshipdominus; dominari: lord; to exercise lordship / to lord it in this way.6 For by this simonysimonia: simony has entered the more strongly, frugality is suspended, and the preaching of the gospel, with the other ministries enjoined by Christ, is forbidden to these priests by the devil. And by this the unqualified aspire to the higher grades of the priesthood and hinder the word of God from being preached among the people; and those who long for it they persecute as heretics, and this persecution is a manifest token of their own heresy; 11nor are the poor and few faithful priests sufficient to resist, unless God quickly lays helping hands to it, through the secular armbrachium seculare: the secular arm or from elsewhere.7

Notes

  1. 1 Ezek. 44:28–31. Ait dominus deus is taken from the end of v. 27; non erit sacerdotibus hereditas stands for the Vulgate’s non erit autem eis hereditas; domui sue for domui tuae ("upon thy house"). At 9.17 Pollard prints omnium pecorum progenitorum, which does not construe ("of all the cattle of the forebears"). B reads primogenitorum, "the firstborn of all the cattle", close to the Vulgate’s primitiva omnium primogenitorum, and we translate B’s reading. The rest follows DR.
  2. 2 Omnes ipse sunt cum basali prevaricancia ad sensum alium duplicate: obscure. We take prevaricancia in its root sense, "going beyond" (below, prevaricatores are "transgressors"), and basalis of the literal base: the ceremonies are doubled into a second, spiritual sense and are no longer kept in the letter. B, B¹, C read in for cum. The construal is doubtful.
  3. 3 Matt. 5:17, paraphrased: "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil". Legis gracie: "of the law of grace", the new law.
  4. 4 The wicked "excuse" runs to domino jhu Christo: its own premiss, that these are not Christ’s priests, convicts them. At 10.7 B, B¹, C read quin for qui: "nay rather, they are priests of Baal or Belial". The print’s qui is kept.
  5. 5 [quod]: Pollard’s brackets, supplied from B, B¹, C. The same MSS read Numquid for Nec ("Do we believe…?") and the futures dispensabit … suspendet. Dispensare cum: "to dispense from", the term for a papal dispensation.
  6. 6 Matt. 4:8–10, the third temptation in Matthew’s order: the devil shows Christ "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them", and Christ refuses.
  7. 7 Pauperes et pauci fideles sacerdotes: Pollard reads this as a reference to Wyclif’s "poor priests", already at work and already resisted when the Dialogus was written (pp. xiv–xv; his index enters the passage under "Poor Priests"). Per seculare brachium: the secular arm, which in canon law carried out the church’s sentences on heretics, is here asked to help the faithful priests.
How the Latin of this chapter was established
  • Plate readings; page · reading · note):
    • 9: CAPITULUM 5m.
    • 9: 44° (degree sign)
    • 9: dabitis (italic t vs l: full-res zoom shows short ascender with crossbar = t)
    • 9: et
    • 9: a (print: captum a bestia)
  • Omitted per §3.5 / kept in the English (margin matter): reference Ezekiel xliv. 28 (9.13). The draft also listed John x. 37 (9.2) and Matt. xx. (11.17), which fall outside this chunk.
  • Side-notes read on plates n40–n42 (n41 fetched from archive.org this session). The draft keyed the Ezekiel note to 9.14; it begins at 9.13. The draft’s "10.0" note begins at 10.1 and ends "to fulfil" on the plate, with no stop. The draft’s 9.8 belongs to chapter 4, and 11.5–11.13 to chapter 6.
  • Plate check, 9.20 domuisue and 10.4 nisiistam nephariam,quod: the plate prints domui sue and nisi istam nephariam, quod. Word-division artefacts of the working transcription; the Latin block is left as frozen and the doubt reported in _batch-A.md.
  • Apparatus consulted (by the apparatus’s own line numbers; on pp. 9–10 these often run one line ahead of the text’s numbering, e.g. primogenitorum is keyed 16 but the word stands at 9.17): 9.12 cap° om. B; 9.15 et before pro om. B, B¹, C; 9.16 primogenitorum, B (n. 1); 9.17 libamina, B, B¹, C; 9.19 morticinium, B, B¹, C; 9.23 in for cum, B, B¹, C (n. 2); 10.2 adimplere, B, C; 10.7 quin (n. 4); 10.10–11 (n. 5); 10.16 necessario, B, B¹; 10.24 hos for ad, B, B¹, C; 10.26 sive for sue, B; 11.1 pauci paup. et fid., C.