§9Et tamen ex illo humani cordis affectu, quo nemo umquam carnem suam odio habet, si cognoscant homines aliquid post mortem suam suis corporibus defuturum, quod in sua cuiusque gente uel patria poscit sollemnitas sepulturae. contristantur ut homines et quod ad eos post mortem non pertinet, ante mortem suis corporibus timent: ita ut inueniatur in Regnorum libris deus per prophetam minari alteri prophetae, qui eius transgressus est uerbum, quod non inferretur cadauer eius in sepulcrum patrum eius.
And yet, from that affection of the human heart, by which no one ever hates his own flesh, if men should know that after their death something will be lacking to their bodies, which the solemnity of burial demands in each one’s own nation or country, they are grieved as men, and before death they fear for their bodies what does not pertain to them after death. So much so, that it is found in the books of Kings that God through a prophet threatened another prophet, who had transgressed His word, that his corpse should not be brought into the sepulcher of his fathers.
quae scriptura sic se habet. haec dicit dominus: quia inoboediens fuisti ori domini et non custodisti mandatum quod tibi praecepit dominus deus tuus, et reuersus es et comedisti panem et bibisti aquam in loco in quo praecepit tibi, ne comederes panem neque biberes aquam, non inferetur cadauer tuum in sepulcrum patrum tuorum. quanti haec poena pendenda sit, si secundum euangelium cogitemus, ubi post corpus occisum nihil metuendum esse didicimus, ne membra exanima patiantur, nec poena dicenda est.
Which scripture is as follows: "Thus says the Lord: Because you have been disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, and have returned, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place in which He commanded you that you should not eat bread nor drink water, your corpse shall not be brought into the sepulcher of your fathers." How highly this punishment is to be estimated, if we think according to the Gospel— where we have learned that after the body is killed there is nothing to be feared, lest the lifeless members should suffer—it is not even to be called a punishment.
si autem humanum erga suam carnem consideremus affectum, potuit inde terreri uel contristari uiuus, quod sensurus non erat mortuus; et haec erat poena, quoniam dolebat animus id de suo corpore futurum, quamuis cum fieret non doleret.
But if we consider the human affection toward one's own flesh, the living man could therefrom be terrified or grieved by that which the dead man was not going to feel; and this was the punishment, since the mind was pained that this was going to happen to its body, although it would not feel pain when it happened.
hactenus enim uoluit dominus seruum suum plectere, qui non sua contumacia spreuerat praeceptum eius inplere, sed aliena decipiente fallacia oboedire se credidit, quando non oboediuit.
For to this extent did the Lord wish to punish His servant, who had not despised to fulfill His commandment out of his own contumacy, but through another's deceiving fallacy believed that he was obeying when he did not obey.
neque enim putandum est ita fuisse interemptum morsu bestiae, ut ad supplicium tartareum eius deinde anima raperetur, quandoquidem ipsum eius corpus idem leo qui occiderat custodiuit iumento etiam, quo uehebatur, inlaeso et simul cum illa inmani fera intrepida praesentia ad sui domini funus adstante.
For indeed it is not to be thought that he was so slain by the bite of the beast that his soul was thereupon snatched away to the punishment of Tartarus, since his body itself was guarded by the very same lion that had killed him, with the beast of burden also upon which he rode being unharmed, and that wild beast standing together with it in intrepid presence at its master's funeral.
quo mirabili signo adparet hominem dei cohercitum potius temporaliter usque ad mortem, quam punitum esse post mortem.
By which wonderful sign it appears that the man of God was rather chastised temporally even unto death than punished after death.
de qua re apostolus, cum propter quasdam offensas commemorasset infirmitates mortesque multorum, si enim nos ipsos, inquit, iudicaremus, a domino non iudicaremur; cum iudicamur autem, a domino corripimur, ne cum mundo damnemur. eum sane ipse qui deceperat in monumento proprio satis honorifice sepeliuit seque sepeliendum iuxta eius ossa curauit, ita sperans parci posse quoque ossibus suis, cum ueniret tempus, quando secundum illius hominis dei prophetiam Iosias rex Iuda in illa terra multorum eruit ossa mortuorum eisdemque ossibus sacrilega altaria, quae sculptilibus constituta fuerant, funestauit.
Concerning which matter the Apostle, when because of certain offenses he had mentioned the infirmities and deaths of many, says: "For if we judged ourselves, we should not be judged by the Lord; but when we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." Indeed, he himself who had deceived him buried him honorably enough in his own monument, and took care to be buried beside his bones, thus hoping that his own bones also could be spared when the time should come when, according to the prophecy of that man of God, Josiah king of Judah would dig up the bones of many dead in that land, and would defile with those same bones the sacrilegious altars which had been established for graven images.
pepercit quippe illi monumento, ubi iacebat propheta, qui ante annos amplius quam trecentos ista praedixerat; et propter ipsum nec illius, qui eum seduxerat, sepultura uiolata est.
For he spared that monument where lay the prophet who more than three hundred years before had foretold these things; and for his sake, the burial place of the one who had seduced him was not violated either.
affectu namque illo, quo nemo umquam carnem suam odio habet, prouiderat cadaueri suo. qui occiderat mendacio animam suam.
For by that affection, by which no one ever hates his own flesh, he had provided for his own corpse, who had slain his own soul with a lie.
ex hoc igitur, quod carnem suam quisque naturaliter diligit, et illi poena fuit addiscere non eum futurum in sepulcro patrum suorum et huic cura prospicere, ut parceretur ossibus suis, si iuxta eum iaceret, cuius sepulcrum nemo uiolaret.
From this, therefore, that everyone naturally loves his own flesh, it was both a punishment for the former to learn that he would not be in the sepulcher of his fathers, and a care for the latter to look forward so that his own bones might be spared, if he should lie next to him whose sepulcher no one would violate.