adorned him with freedom of choice and established c2 57 BOETHII eumque praefixa lege paradisi deliciis constituit, ut, 76 si sine peccato manere uellet, tarn ipsum quam eius progeniem angelicis coetibus sociaret, ut quia superior natura per superbiae malum ima petierat, inferior substantia per humilitatis bonum ad superna conscenderet. Sed ille auctor inuidiae non ferens 80 hominem illuc ascendere ubi ipse non mei'uit permanere, temptatione adhibita fecit etiam ipsum eiusque comparem, quam de eius late re generandi' causa formator produxerat, inoboedientiae suppliciis subiacere, ei quoque diuinitatem affuturam pro- 85 mittens, quam sibi dum arroganter usurpat elisus est. Haec autem reuelante deo Moysi famulo suo comperta sunt, cui etiani humani generis conditionem atque originem uoluit innotescere, sicut ab eo libri prolati testantur. Omnis enim diuina auctoritas his 90 modis constare uidetur, ut aut historialis modus sit, qui nihil aliud nisi res gestas enuntiet, aut allegoricus, ut non illic possit historiae ordo consistere, aut certe ex utrisque compositus, ut et secundum historiam et secundum allegoriam manere uideatur. Haec autem 95 pie intelligentibus et ueraci corde tenentibus satis abundeque relucent. Sed ad ordiiiem redeamus.
Primus itaque homo ante peccatum cum sua con- iuge incola paradisi fuit. At ubi aurem praebuit suasori et conditoris praeceptum neglexit attendere, 100 exul effectus, terram iussus excolere atque a paradisi sinu seclusus in ignotis partibus sui generis posteri- tatem transposuit atque poenam quam ipse primus homo praeuaricationis reus exceperat generando transmisit in posteros. Hinc factum est ut et cor- 105 porum atque animarum corruptio et mortis proueniret 58 DE FIDE CATHOLICA him in the joys of Paradise, making covenant afore- hand that if he would remain without sin He would add him and his offspring to the angelic hosts; so that as the higher nature had fallen low through the curse of pride, the lower substance might ascend on high through the blessing of humility. But the father of envy, loath that man should climb to the place where he himself deserved not to remain, put temptation before him and the consort whom the Creator had brought forth out of his side for the continuance of the race, and laid them open to punishment for disobedience, promising man also the gift of Godhead, the arrogant attempt to seize which had caused his own fall. All this was revealed by God to His servant Moses, whom He vouchsafed to teach the creation and origin of man, as the books written by him declare. For the divine authority is always conveyed in one of the following ways — the historical, which simply announces facts; the alle gorical, whence historical matter is excluded; or else the two combined, history and allegory con spiring to establish it. All this is abundantly evident to pious hearers and steadfast believers.
But to return to the order of our discourse; the first man, before sin came, dwelt with his consort in the Garden. But when he hearkened to the voice of his wife and failed to keep the commandment of his Creator, he was banished, bidden to till the ground, and being shut out from the sheltering garden he carried abroad into unknown regions the children of his loins; by begetting whom he trans mitted to those that came after, the punishment which he, the first man, had incurred by the sin of disobedience. Hence it came to pass that corrup tion both of body and soul ensued, and death; and 59 BOETHI1 interitus primusque mortem in Abel filio suo meruit expend, ut quanta esset poena quam ipse exceperit probaret in subole. Quod si ipse primus moreretur, nesciret quodam modo ac, si dici fas est, nee sentiret 110 poenam suam, sed ideo expertus in altero est, ut quid sibi iure deberetur contemptor agnosceret et dum poenam mortis sustinet, ipsa exspectatione fortius torqueretur. Hoc autem praeuaricationis malum, quod in posteros naturaliter primus homo 116 traiisfuderat, quidam Pelagius non admittens proprii nominis haeresim dedicauit, quam catholica fides a consortio sui mox reppulisse probatur. Ab ipso itaque primo homine procedens humanum genus ac multiplici numerositate succrescens erupit in lites, 120 commouit bella, occupauit terrenam miseriam quia 1 felicitatem paradisi in primo patre perdiderat. Nee tamen ex his defuerunt quos sibi conditor gratiae sequestraret eiusque placitis inseruirent; quos licet merit um naturae damnaret, futuri tamen sacramenti 126 et longe postmodum proferendi faciendo participes perditam uoluit reparare naturam. Impletus est ergo mundus humano genere atque ingressus est homo uias suas qui malitia propriae contumaciae despexerat conditorem. Hinc uolens deus per 130 iustum potius hominem reparare genus humanum quam manere proteruum, poenalem multitudinem efFusa diluuii inundatione excepto Noe iusto homine cum suis liberis atque his quae secum in arcam intro- duxerat interire permisit. Cur autem per arcae 136 lignum uoluerit iustos eripere, notum est diuinaruua 1 qui uel quod codd. 60 DE FIDE CATHOLICA this he was to taste first in his own son Abel, in order that he might learn through his child the greatness of the punishment that was laid upon him. For if he had died first he would in some sense not have known, and if one may so say not have felt, his punishment; but he tasted it in another in order that he might perceive the due reward of his contempt, and, doomed to death him self, might be the more sensibly touched by the apprehension of it. But this curse that came of transgression which the first man had by natural propagation transmitted to posterity, was denied by one Pelagius who so set up the heresy which goes by his name and which the Catholic faith, as is known, at once banished from its bosom. So the human race that sprang from the first man and mightily increased and multiplied, broke into strife, stirred up wars, and became the heir of earthly misery, because it had lost the joys of Paradise in its first parent. Yet were there not a few of mankind whom the Giver of Grace set apart for Himself and who were obedient to His will; and though by desert of nature they were condemned, yet God by making them partakers in the hidden mystery, long afterwards to be revealed, vouchsafed to recover fallen nature. So the earth was filled by the human race and man who by his own wanton wilfulness had despised his Creator began to walk in his own ways. Hence God willing rather to recover mankind through one just man than that it should remain for ever con tumacious, suffered all the guilty multitude to perish by the wide waters of a flood, save only Noah, the just one, with his children and all that he had brought with him into the ark. The reason why He wished to save the just by an ark of wood is known 61 BOETHII scripturarum mentibus eruditis. Et quasi prima quaedam mundi aetas diluuio ultore transacta est.
Reparatur itaque humanum genus atque propriae naturae uitium, quod praeuaricationis primus auctor 140 infuderat, amplecti non destitit. Creuitque con- tumacia quam dudum diluuii unda puniuerat et qui numerosam annorum seriem permissus fuerat uiuere, in breuitate annorum humana aetas addicta est. Maluitque deus non iam diluuio punire genus 145 humanum, sed eodem permanente eligere uiros per quorum seriem aliqua generatio commearet, ex qua nobis filium proprium uestitum humano corpore mundi in fine concederet. Quorum primus est Abraham, qui cum esset aetate confectus eiusque 150 uxor decrepita, in senectute sua repromissionis largitione habere filium meruerunt. Hie uocatus est Isaac atque ipse genuit Jacob. Idem quoque duodecim patriarchas non reputante deo in eorum numero quos more suo natura produxerat. Hie ergo 155 Jacob cum filiis ac domo sua transigendi causa Aegyptum uoluit habitare atque illic per annorum seriem multitudo coiicrescens coeperunt suspicioni esse l Aegyptiacis imperiis eosque Pharao magna ponderum mole premi decreuerat et grauibus oneri- 160 bus affligebat. Tandem deus Aegyptii regis domina- tioiiem despiciens diuiso mari rubro, quod numquam antea natura ulla cognouerat, suum transduxit exer- citum auctore Moyse et Aaron. Postea igitur pro eorum egressione altis Aegyptus plagis uastata est, 1 suspicion es uel suspicione uel suspicio uel subici codd. meliores.
a e.g. Ishmael also Kara ffdpKa yfyewrjrai, Gal. iv. 23.
* Cf. "populus dei mirabiliter crescens.. quia.. erant suspecta.. laboribus premebatur," Aug. De Ciu. Dei, 18. 7. For other coincidences see Rand, op. cit. pp. 423 ff. 62 DE FIDE CATHOLICA to all hearts learned in the Holy Scriptures. Thus what we may call the first age of the world was ended by the avenging flood.
Thus the human race was restored, and yet it hastened to make its own the vice of nature with which the first author of transgression had infected it. And the wickedness increased which had once been punished by the waters of the flood, and man who had been suffered to live for a long series of years was reduced to the brief span of ordinary human life. Yet would not God again visit the race by a flood, but rather, letting it continue, He chose from it men of whose line a generation should arise out of which He might in the last days grant us His own Son to come to us, clothed in human form. Of these men Abraham is the first, and although he was stricken in years and his wife past bearing, they had in their old age the reward of a son in fulfilment of promise unconditional. This son was named Isaac and he begat Jacob, who in his turn begat the twelve Patriarchs, God not reckoning in their number those whom nature in its ordinary course produced. a This Jacob, then, together with his sons and his household determined to dwell in Egypt for the purpose of trafficking; and the multitude of them increasing there in the course of many years began to be a cause of suspicion to the Egyptian rulers, and Pharaoh ordered them to be oppressed by exceeding heavy tasks6 and afflicted them with grievous burdens. At length God, minded to set at naught the tyranny of the king of Egypt, divided the Red Sea — a marvel such as nature had never known before — and brought forth His host by the hands of Moses and Aaron. Thereafter on account of their departure Egypt was vexed with sore plagues, because they would not let 63 BOETHII 166 cum nollet dimittere populum. Transmisso itaque ut dictum est mari rubro uenit per deserta eremi ad montem qui uocatur Sinai, ibique uniuersorum conditor deus uolens sacramenti futuri gratia populos erudire per Moysen data lege constituit, quemad- 170 modum et sacrificiorum ritus et populorum mores instruerentur. Et cum multis annis multas quoque gentes per uiam debellassent, uenerunt tandem ad fluuium qui uocatur lordanis duce iam lesu Naue filio atque ad eorum transitum quemadmodum aquae 176 maris rubri ita quoque lordanis fluenta siccata sunt; peruentumque est ad earn ciuitatern quae nunc Hierosolyma uocatur. Atque dum ibi dei populus moraretur, post iudices et prophetas reges instituti leguntur, quorum post Saulem primatum Dauid de 180 tribu luda legitur adeptus fuisse. Descendit itaque ab eo per singulas successiones regium stemma perductumque est usque ad Herodis tempora, qui primus ex gentilibus memoratis populis legitur imperasse. Sub quo exstitit beata uirgo Maria quae 186 de Dauidica stirpe prouenerat, quae humani generis genuit conditorem. Hoc autem ideo quia multis infectus criminibus mundus iacebat in morte, electa est una gens in qua dei mandata clarescerent, ibique missi prophetae sunt et alii sancti uiri per quorum 190 admonitionem ipse certe populus a tumore peruicaciae reuocaretur. Illi uero eosdem occidentes in suae nequitiae peruersitate manere uoluerunt.
Atque iam in ultimis temporibus non prophetas neque alios sibi placitos sed ipsum unigenitum suum 64 DE FIDE CATHOLICA the people go. So, after crossing the Red Sea, as 1 have told, they passed through the desert of the wilderness and came to the mount which is called Sinai, where God the Creator of all, wishing to prepare the nations for the knowledge of the sacrament to come, laid down by a law given through Moses how both the rites of sacrifices and the national customs should be ordered. And after fighting down many tribes in many years amidst their journeyings they came at last to the river called Jordan, with Joshua the son of Nun now as their captain, and, for their crossing, the streams of Jordan were dried up as the waters of the Red Sea had been; so they finished their course to that city which is now called Jeru salem. And while the people of God abode there we read that there were set up first judges and prophets and then kings, of whom we read that after Saul, David of the tribe of Judah ascended the throne. So from him the royal race descended from father to son and lasted till the days of Herod who, we read, was the first taken out of the peoples called Gentile to bear sway. In whose days rose up the blessed Virgin Mary, sprung from the stock of David, she who bore the Maker of the human race. But it was just because the whole world lay dead, stained with its many sins, that God chose out one race in which His commands might shine clear; sending it prophets and other holy men, to the end that by their warnings that people at least might be cured of their swollen pride. But they slew these holy men and chose rather to abide in their wanton wickedness.
And now at the last days of time, in place of prophets and other men well-pleasing to Him, God willed that His only-begotten Son should be born 65 BOETHII 195 deus per uirginem nasci constituit, ut humana salus quae per primi hominis inoboedientiam depevierat per hominem deum rursus repararetur et quia exstiterat mulier quae causam mortis prima uiro suaserat, esset haec secunda mulier quae uitae 200 causam humanis uisceribus apportaret. Nee uile uideatur quod dei filius ex uirgine natus est, quoniam praeter naturae modum conceptus et editus est. Virgo itaque de spiritu sancto incarnatum dei filium concepit, uirgo peperit, post eius editionem uirgo 205 permansit; atque hominis factus est idemque dei films, ita ut in eo et diuinae naturae radiaret splendor et humanae fragilitatis appareret assumptio. Sed huic tarn sanae atque ueracissimae fidei exstiterant multi qui diuersa garrirent et praeter alios Nestorius 210 et Eutyches repertores haereseos exstiterunt, quorum unus hominem solum, alter deum solum putauit asserere nee humanum corpus quod Christus induerat de humanae substantiae participatione uenisse. Sed haec hactenus.
215 Creuit itaque secundum carnem Christus, baptizatus est, ut qui baptizandi formam erat ceteris tributurus, ipse primus quod docebat exciperet. Post baptismum uero elegit duodecim discipulos, quorum unus traditor eius fuit. Et quia sanam doctrinam ludaeorum 220 populus non ferebat, eum inlata manu crucis sup- plicio peremerunt. Occiditur ergo Christus, iacet tribus diebus ac noctibus in sepulcro, resurgit a mortuis, sicut ante constitutionem mundi ipse cum 66 DE FIDE CATHOLICA DE FIDE CATHOLICA of a Virgin that so the salvation of mankind which had been lost through the disobedience of the first man might be recovered by the God-man, and that inasmuch as it was a woman who had first persuaded man to that which wrought death there should be this second woman who should bring forth from a human womb Him who gives Life. Nor let it be deemed a thing unworthy that the Son of God was born of a Virgin,, for it was out of the course of nature that He was conceived and brought to birth. Virgin then she conceived, by the Holy Spirit, the Son of God made flesh, Virgin she bore Him, Virgin she continued after His birth; and He became the Son of Man and likewise the Son of God that in Him the glory of the divine nature might shine forth and at the same time the human weakness be declared which He took upon Him. Yet against this article of Faith so wholesome and altogether true there rose up many who babbled other doctrine, and especially Nestorius and Eutyches, inventors of heresy, of whom the one thought fit to say that He was man alone, the other that He was God alone and that the human body put on by Christ had not come by participation in human substance. But enough on this point.
So Christ grew after the flesh, and was baptized in order that He who was to give the form of baptism to others should first Himself receive what He taught. But after His baptism He chose twelve disciples, one of whom betrayed Him. And because the people of the Jews would not bear sound doctrine they laid hands upon Him and slew and crucified Him. Christ, then, was slain; He lay three days and three nights in the tomb; He rose again from the dead as He had predetermined with His Father before the founda- 67 BOETHII patre decreuerat, ascendit in caelos ubi, in eo quod 225 dei filius est, numquam defuisse cognoscitur, ut assumptum hominem, quern diabolus non permiserat ad superna conscendere, secum dei filius caelesti habitationi sustolleret. Dat ergo formam discipulis suis baptizandi, docendi salutaria, efficientiam quoque 230 miraculorum atque in uniuersum mundum ad uitam praecipit introire, ut praedicatio salutaris non iam in una tan turn gente sed orbi terrarum praedicaretur. Et quoniam huraanum genus naturae merito, quam ex primo praeuaricatore contraxerat, aeternae poenae 235 iaculis fuerat uulneratum nee salutis suae erat idoneum, quod earn in parente perdiderat, medici- nalia quaedam tribuit sacramenta, ut agnosceret aliud sibi deberi per naturae meritum, aliud per gratiae donum, ut natura nihil aliud nisi poenae 240 summitteret, gratia uero, quae nullis meritis attributa est, quia nee gratia diceretur si meritis tribueretur, totum quod est salutis afferret.
Diffunditur ergo per mundum caelestis ilia doctrina, adunantur populi, instituuntur ecclesiae, 245 fit unum corpus quod mundi latitudinem occuparet, cuius caput Christus ascendit in caelos, ut necessario caput suum membra sequerentur. Haec itaque doctrina et praesentem uitam bonis informat operibus et post consummationem saeculi resurrectura corpora 250 nostra praeter corruptionem ad regna caelestia pollicetur, ita ut qui hie bene ipso donante uixerit, esset in ilia resurrectione beatissimus, qui uero male, 68 DE FIDE CATHOLICA DE FIDE CATHOLICA tion of the world; He ascended into heaven whence we know that He was never absent, because He is Son of God, in order that as Son of God He might raise together with Him to the heavenly habitation man whose flesh He had assumed, whom the devil had hindered from ascending to the places on high.' Therefore He bestowed on His disciples the form of baptizing, the saving truth of the teaching, and the mighty power of miracles, and bade them go through out the whole world to give it life, in order that the message of salvation might be preached no longer in one nation only but among all the dwellers upon earth. And because the human race was wounded by the weapon of eternal punishment by reason of the nature which they had inherited from the first transgressor and could not win a full meed of salva tion because they had lost it in its first parent, God instituted certain health-giving sacraments to teach the difference between what grace bestowed and human nature deserved, nature simply subjecting to punishment, but grace, which is won by no merit, since it would not be grace if it were due to merit, conferring all that belongs to salvation.
Therefore is that heavenly instruction spread throughout the world, the peoples are knit together, churches are founded, and, filling the broad earth, one body formed, whose head, even Christ, ascended into heaven in order that the members might of necessity follow where the Head was gone. Thus this teaching both inspires this present life unto good works, and promises that in the end of the age our bodies shall rise incorruptible to the kingdom of heaven, to the end that he who has lived well on earth by God's gift should be altogether blessed in that resurrection, but he who has lived amiss should, 69 BOETHII miser post munus resurrectionis adesset. Et hoc est principale religionis nostrae, ut credat non solum 255 animas non perire, sed ipsa quoque corpora, quae mortis aduentus resoluerat, in statum pristinum futura de beatitudine reparari. Haec ergo ecclesia catholica per orbem difFusa tribus modis probatur exsistere: quidquid in ea tenetur, aut auctoritas est 260 scripturarum aut traditio uniuersalis aut certe pro- pria et particularis instructio. Sed auctoritate tota constringitur, uniuersali traditione maiorum nihilo- minus tota, priuatis uero constitutionibus et propriis informationibus unaquaeque uel pro locorum uarietate 265 uel prout cuique bene uisum est subsistit et regitur. Sola ergo nunc est fidelium exspectatio qua credimus affuturum finem mundi, omnia corruptibilia trans- itura, resurrecturos homines ad examen futuri iudicii, recepturos pro meritis singulos et in perpetuum atque 270 in aeternum debitis finibus permansuros; solumque est l praemium beatitudinis contemplatio condi- toris — tanta dumtaxat, quanta a creatura ad crea- torem fieri potest, — ut ex eis reparato angelico numero superna ilia ciuitas impleatur, ubi rex est 275 uirginis filius eritque gaudium sernpiternum, delec- tatio, cibus, opus, laus perpetua creatoris.
1 esse cudd.
TO DE FIDE CATHOLICA with the gift of resurrection, enter upon misery. And this is a firm principle of our religion, to believe not only that men's souls do not perish, but that their very bodies, which the coming of death had destroyed, recover their first state by the bliss that is to be. This Catholic church, then, spread throughout the world, is known by three particular marks: whatever is believed and taught in it has the authority of the Scriptures, or of universal tradition, or at least of its own and proper usage. And this authority is binding on the whole Church as is also the universal tradition of the Fathers, while each separate church exists and is governed by its private constitution and its proper rites according to differ ence of locality and the good judgment of each. All, therefore, that the faithful now expect is that the end of the world will come, that all corruptible things shall pass away, that men shall rise for future judge ment, that each shall receive reward according to his deserts and abide in the lot assigned to him for ever and for aye; and the sole reward of bliss will be the contemplation of the Almighty, so far, that is, as the creature may look on the Creator, to the end that the number of the angels may be made up from these and the heavenly city filled where the Virgin's Son is King and where will be everlasting joy, delight, food, labour, and unending praise of the Creator.
71 ANICII MANLII SEVERINI BOETHII V.C. ET INL. EXCONS. ORD. PATRICII INCIPIT LIBER CONTKA EVTYCHEN ET NESTORIVM DOMINO SANCTO AC VENERABILI PATRI IOHANNI DIACONO BOETHIVS FILIVS ANXIE te quidem diuque sustinui, ut de ea quae in conuentu mota est quaestione loqueremur. Sed quoniam et tu quominus uenires occupatione dis- tractus es et ego in crastinum constitutis negotiis 5 implicabor, mando litteris quae coram loquenda seruaueram. Meministi enim, cum in concilio legeretur epistola, recitatum Eutychianos ex duabus naturis Christum consistere confiteri, in duabus negare: catholicos uero utrique dicto fidem prae- 1° bere, nam et ex duabus eum naturis consistere et in duabus apud uerae fidei sectatores aequaliter credi. Cuius dicti nouitate percussus harum coniunca Evidently the letter addressed to Pope Symmachus by the Oriental bishops (vide Mansi, Condi, viii. 221 ff.), in which they inquire concerning the safe middle way between the heresies of Eutyches and Nestorius. The date of the 72 A TREATISE AGAINST EUTYCHES AND NESTORIUS BY ANICIUS MANLIUS SEVERINUS BOETHIUS MOST HONOURABLE, OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER OF EX-CONSULS, PATRICIAN TO HIS SAINTLY M AST K II AND REVEREND FATHER JOHN THE DEACON HIS SON BOETHIUS I HAVE been long and anxiously waiting for you to discuss with me the problem which was raised at the meeting. But since your duties have prevented your coming and I shall be for some time involved in my business engagements, I am setting down in writing what I had been keeping to say by word of mouth.
You no doubt remember how,, when the letter0 was read in the assembly, it was asserted that the Eutychians confess that Christ is formed from two natures but does not consist of them — whereas Catholics admit both propositions, for among followers of the true Faith He is equally believed to be of two natures and in two natures. Struck by the novelty of bishops' letter, and consequently, in all probability, of Boethius's tractate was 512.
73 BOETHII tionum quae ex duabus naturis uel in duabus consis- terent differentias inquirebam^ niultum scilicet referre 15 ratus nee inerti neglegeiitia praetereundum, quod episcopus scriptor epistolae tamquam ualde neces- sarium praeterire noluisset. Hie omnes apertam esse differential!! nee quicquam in eo esse caliginis inconditum confusumque strepere nee ullus in tanto 20 tuinultu qui leuiter attingeret quaestionem, nedum qui expediret inuentus est.
Adsederam ego ab eo quern maxime intueri cupie- barn longius atque adeo, si situm sedentium recorderis, auersus pluribusque oppositis, ne si aegerrime quidem 25 cuperem, uultum nutumque eius aspicere poteram ex quo mihi aliqua eius darentur signa iudicii. Atqui ego quidem nihil ceteris amplius afferebam, immo uero aliquid etiam minus. Nam de re proposita aeque nihil ceteris sentiebam; minus uero quam ceteri ipse 30 afferebam, falsae scilicet scientiae praesumptionem. Tuli aegerrime^ fateor, compressusque indoctorum grege conticui metuens ne hire uiderer insanus, si sanus inter furiosos haberi contenderem. Meditabar igitur dehinc omnes animo quaestiones nee deglutie-