§7Quamquam et ipsi corpori tunc prouidentius consulatur, si temporalis salus eius pro iustitia contemnatur et poena uel mors eius patientissime pro iustitia sufferatur.
Although even the body itself is then more providently provided for, if its temporal safety is despised for the sake of justice and its pain or death is most patiently endured for the sake of justice.
de corporis quippe redemptione, quae in fine futura est, loquitur apostolus, ubi ait: et ipsi in nobismet ipsis ingemescimus adoptionem expectantes redemptionem corporis nostri. deinde subiunxit: spe enim salui facti sumus;
Indeed, the Apostle speaks of the redemption of the body, which is to be in the end, where he says: "And we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." Then he added: "For in hope we are saved; but hope that is seen is not hope.
spes autem, quae uidetur, non est spes.
For what a man sees, why does he also hope for?
quod enim uidet quis, quid et sperat? si autem quod non uidemus speramus, per patientiam expectamus. Cum ergo torquent aliqua mala, sed non extorquent opera mala, non solum anima per patientiam possidetur, uerum etiam, cum per patientiam corpus ipsum ad tempus affligitur uel amittitur, in aeternam stabilitatem salutemque resumitur, et ei per dolorem et mortem inuiolabilis sanitas et felix inmortalitas comparatur.
But if we hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it through patience." Therefore, when some evils torture but do not extort evil deeds, not only is the soul possessed through patience, but also, when through patience the body itself is for a time afflicted or lost, it is recovered into eternal stability and safety, and inviolable health and a happy immortality are procured for it through pain and death.
unde dominus Iesus ad patientiam exhortans martyres suos etiam ipsius corporis integritatem futuram sine cuiusquam, non dicam, membri, sed capilli amissione promisit.
Wherefore the Lord Jesus, exhorting His martyrs to patience, promised even the future integrity of the body itself without the loss of any, I do not say limb, but hair.
amen dico uobis, inquit, capillus capitis uestri non peribit, ut quoniam nemo umquam, sicut apostolus dicit, carnem suam odio habuit, magis homo fidelis per patientiam quam per inpatientiam pro stratu suae carnis inuigilet et futurae incorruptionis inaestimabili lucro quantalibet eius praesentia damna conpenset.
He said: "Amen I say to you, a hair of your head shall not perish," so that, since no one ever, as the Apostle says, hated his own flesh, a faithful man might watch over the condition of his flesh through patience rather than through impatience, and by the inestimable gain of future incorruption compensate for any present losses of it whatsoever.
§8Quamuis autem patientia uirtus sit animi, partim tamen ea utitur animus in se ipso, partim uero in corpore suo.
Moreover, although patience is a virtue of the mind, yet the mind uses it partly in itself, and partly in its own body.
in se ipso utitur patientia, quando inlaeso et intacto corpore aliquid, quod non expediat uel non deceat, facere aut dicere quibuslibet aduersitatibus aut foeditatibus rerum seu uerborum stimulis incitatur et patienter mala omnia tolerat, ne ipse mali aliquid opere uel ore committat.
It uses patience in itself when, with the body uninjured and untouched, it is incited by any adversities or foulness of things or by the stimuli of words to do or say something that is not expedient or not becoming, and patiently tolerates all evils, lest it should commit some evil by deed or by mouth.
Per hanc patientiam sustinemus, etiam cum corpore sani sumus, quod inter huius saeculi scandala beatitudo nostra differtur.
Through this patience we endure, even when we are healthy in body, that our happiness is deferred amid the scandals of this world.
unde dictum est, quod paulo ante commemoraui: ei quod non uidemus speramus, per patientiam expectamus. hac patientia sanctus Dauid conuiciantis obprobria tolerauit et, cum facile posset ulcisci, non solum non fecit, uerum etiam alium pro se dolentem commotumque conpescuit et potestatem regiam magis adhibuit prohibendo quam exercendo uindictam.
Wherefore it was said, which I mentioned a little before: "For that which we do not see we hope, through patience we wait." By this patience holy David tolerated the insults of the reviler, and when he could easily have avenged himself, not only did he not do so, but he even restrained another who was grieving and moved on his behalf, and used his royal power more in forbidding vengeance than in exercising it.
neque tunc eius corpus aliquo morbo affligebatur aut uulnere, sed humilitatis tempus agnoscebatur ac ferebatur uoluntas dei, propter quam patientissimo animo amaritudo contumeliae bibebatur.
Nor was his body afflicted at that time with any disease or wound, but it was recognized as a time of humility, and the will of God was borne, for the sake of which the bitterness of the insult was drunk with a most patient mind.
hanc patientiam dominus docuit, quando commotis zizaniorum permixtione semis et uolentibus ea colligere dixit respondisse patrem familias: sinite utraque crescere usque ad messem. oportet enim patienter ferri, quod festinanter non oportet auferri.
The Lord taught this patience when, to the servants who were disturbed by the mixture of tares and wanted to gather them, He said that the householder replied: "Let both grow until the harvest." For it behoves that to be patiently borne, which it is not right to be hastily removed.
huius et ipse patientiae praebuit et demonstrauit exemplum, quando ante passionem corporis sui diabolum ludam, priusquam ostenderet traditorem, pertulit furem et ante experimentum uinculorum et crucis et mortis labiis eius dolosis non negauit osculum pacis.
He Himself also offered and demonstrated an example of this patience when, before the passion of His body, He bore Judas the devil as a thief before He showed him as a betrayer, and before the experience of bonds, the cross, and death, did not deny the kiss of peace to his deceitful lips.
haec omnia et si qua alia sunt, quae commemorare longum est, ad eum patientiae modum pertinent, quo animus non sua peccata, sed quaecumque extrinsecus mala patienter sustinet in se ipso suo prorsus corpore inlaeso.
All these things, and if there are any others which it would be long to mention, belong to that mode of patience by which the mind patiently sustains in itself, with its body entirely uninjured, not its own sins, but whatever evils come from without.
Alius est autem patientiae modus, quo idem ipse animus quaecumque molesta et grauia in sui corporis passionibus perfert non sicut stulti uel maligni homines propter adipiscenda uana uel scelera perpetranda, sed, sicut a domino definitum est, propter iustitiam.
But there is another mode of patience, by which the same mind endures whatever troublesome and grievous things in the sufferings of its body, not like foolish or wicked men for the sake of obtaining vain things or perpetrating crimes, but, as is defined by the Lord, for the sake of justice.
utroque modo sancti martyres certauerunt — nam et inpiorum obprobriis saturati sunt, ubi animus corpore intacto quasdam ueluti plagas suas integer sustinet, et in corporibus uincti sunt, inclusi sunt, fame ac siti affecti sunt, torti sunt, secti sunt, dilaniati sunt, incensi sunt, trucidati sunt — et pietate inmobili subdiderunt deo mentem, cum paterentur in carne quidquid exquirenti crudelitati uenit in mentem.
In both modes the holy martyrs strived—for they were both filled with the insults of the impious, where the mind, with the body untouched, sustains whole, as it were, certain wounds of its own, and in their bodies they were bound, shut up, afflicted with hunger and thirst, tortured, cut, torn, burned, slaughtered—and with immovable piety they subjected their mind to God, while they suffered in the flesh whatever came into the mind of searching cruelty.