§4Quid? quod etiam pro apertis sceleribus, non ut ea puniant, sed ut perpetrent, multa homines grauissima perferunt? nonne de quodam nobilissimo patriae parricida saecularium litterarum loquuntur auctores, quod famem, sitim, frigus ferre poterat eiusque erat corpus patiens inediae, algoris, uigiliae supra quam cuiquam credibile est? quid de latronibus dicam, quorum omnes cum insidiantur uiatoribus, noctes perpetiuntur insomnes, atque ut transeuntes excipiant innocentes, sub qualibet caeli asperitate nocentem animum corpusque defigunt? quidam uero eorum inuicem torquere perhibentur, ita ut exercitatio contra poenas nihil distet a poenis.
What of the fact that even for open crimes, not that they may punish them, but that they may perpetrate them, men endure many most grievous things? Do not the authors of secular literature speak of a certain most noble parricide of his country, that he was able to bear hunger, thirst, cold, and that his body was patient of fasting, cold, and sleeplessness beyond what is credible to anyone? What shall I say of robbers, all of whom, when they lie in wait for travelers, endure sleepless nights, and in order to catch innocent passers-by, fix their harmful mind and body under any severity of weather? Indeed, some of them are said to torture one another, so that their training against punishments differs in nothing from the punishments themselves.
non enim tantum fortassis excruciantur a iudice, ut a dolentibus ueritas inquiratur, quantum a suis sociis, ut a patientibus non prodatur.
For perhaps they are not tortured as much by a judge, so that the truth may be inquired from them suffering pain, as by their own associates, so that it may not be betrayed by them enduring.
et tamen in his omnibus miranda est potius quam laudanda patientia, immo nec miranda nec laudanda, quae nulla est, sed miranda duritia, neganda patientia;
And yet in all these things patience is to be wondered at rather than praised; or rather, it is neither to be wondered at nor praised, since it is non-existent, but the hardness is to be wondered at, and patience denied.
nihil autem illic iure laudandum, nihil utiliter imitandum, tantoque rectius maiore supplicio dignum iudicaueris animum, quanto magis uitiis subdit instrumenta uirtutum.
But there is nothing there to be rightfully praised, nothing to be usefully imitated, and you will judge the mind worthy of greater punishment so much the more rightly, by how much the more it subjects the instruments of virtues to vices.
patientia comes est sapientiae, non famula concupiscentiae; patientia amica est bonae conscientiae, non inimica innocentiae.
Patience is the companion of wisdom, not the handmaid of concupiscence; patience is the friend of a good conscience, not the enemy of innocence.
§5Cum ergo quemquam uideris patienter aliquid pati, noli continuo laudare patientiam, quam non ostendit nisi causa patiendi.
Therefore, when you see anyone patiently suffering anything, do not immediately praise his patience, which only the cause of suffering displays.
quando illa bona est, tunc ista uera est; quando illa non polluitur cupiditate, tunc a falsitate ista distinguitur.
When the former is good, then the latter is true; when the former is not polluted by desire, then the latter is distinguished from falsehood.
cum uero illa tenetur in crimine, tunc huius multum erratur in nomine.
But when the former is held in crime, then in the name of the latter a great error is made.
non enim sicut omnes qui sciunt sunt participes scientiae, ita omnes qui patiuntur sunt participes patientiae; sed qui passione recte utuntur, hi patientiae ueritate laudantur, hi patientiae munere coronantur.
For just as not all who know are partakers of knowledge, so not all who suffer are partakers of patience; but those who make right use of suffering, these are praised in the truth of patience, these are crowned with the gift of patience.
§6Verum tamen cum pro libidinibus uel etiam sceleribus, cum denique pro ista temporali uita ac salute multa homines horrenda mirabiliter sufferunt, satis nos admonent, quanta sufferenda sint pro uita bona, ut etiam postea possit esse aeterna et sine ullo temporis termino, sine utilitatis ullius detrimento uera felicitate secura.
But yet, when men wonderfully suffer many horrible things for the sake of lusts or even crimes, and finally for this temporal life and safety, they sufficiently admonish us how great things ought to be suffered for the sake of a good life, so that afterwards it may also be eternal and without any end of time, secure in true happiness without any detriment to its utility.
dominus ait: in uestra p atientia possidebitis animas uestras; non ait: uillas uestras, laudes uestras, luxurias uestras, sed: animas uestras. si ergo tanta suffert anima, ut possideat, unde pereat.
The Lord says: "In your patience you shall possess your souls"; He did not say: "your villas, your praises, your luxuries," but: "your souls." If therefore the soul suffers so many things in order to possess that by which it may perish, how many things ought it to suffer lest it perish!
quanta debet sufferre, ne pereat! deinde, ut illud dicam, quod, culpabile non est, si tanta suffert pro salute carnis suae inter manus secantium siue urentium medicorum, quanta debet sufferre pro salute sua inter furores quorumlibet inimicorum! cum medici, ne corpus moriatur, per poenas corpori consulant, inimici autem poenas et mortem corpori comminando, ut anima et corpus in gehenna occidatur, inpellant.
Next, to say that which is not blameworthy: if it suffers so many things for the safety of its flesh between the hands of physicians who cut or burn, how many things ought it to suffer for its salvation amid the furies of any enemies whatsoever! Since physicians, lest the body should die, provide for the body through pain, but enemies, by threatening pain and death to the body, impel so that the soul and body may be destroyed in Gehenna.