§2.1.1In quadam uero homilia de libro sancti lob attende, quid dicat, quemadmodum ipsius diaboli aduersus nos indesinens bellum ex hoc fieri asserat, cum ea mala, quae in nobis sunt, excitat contra nos, quod in nostram fieri utilitatem uult docere, conuertente scilicet diuina misericordia malitiam diaboli ad purgationem nostram:
Tanta enim et tam admirabilis, inquit, in nos misericordiae dei bonitas est, ut, per quem in Adae offensa generositatem primae et beatae illius creationis amisimus, pereum rursum inquit amisimus, obtinere mereamur.
But pay attention, in a certain homily on the book of holy Job, to what he says, how he asserts that the ceaseless war of the devil himself against us arises from this, when he excites against us those evils which are in us, which he wishes to teach happens for our benefit, with divine mercy of course turning the malice of the devil into our purification: For so great, he says, and so admirable is the goodness of God's mercy toward us, that, through whom we lost in Adam's transgression the nobility of that first and blessed creation, through him again, he says we lost, we may deserve to obtain.
tunc enim diabolus inuidens nocuit, nunc autem, cum nocere nititur, uincitur.
For then the devil harmed us out of envy, but now, when he strives to harm, he is conquered.
mouet enim per infirmitatem carnis nostrae omnia potestatis suae tela, cum ad lasciuiam accendit, cum ad ebrietatem illicit, cum ad odia stimulat, cum ad auaritiam prouocat, cum ad caedes instruit, cum ad maledicta exacerbat.
For he moves all the weapons of his power through the weakness of our flesh, when he inflames to luxury, when he entices to drunkenness, when he stimulates to hatred, when he provokes to avarice, when he equips for slaughter, when he exasperates to evil words.
§2.1.2sed cum per firmitatem animi horum omnium subrepentia incentiua reprimuntur, emundamur a peccato per huius uictoriae gloriam; dictum enim ita est: aut quomodo se emundabit natus ex muliere? quia non extante hoste non erit bellum, cessante deinde bello uictoria deerit.
But when by the firmness of the mind the creeping incentives of all these things are repressed, we are cleansed from sin through the glory of this victory; for it is said thus: "Or how shall he cleanse himself who is born of a woman?" Because if the enemy is not present, there will be no war, and then, if the war ceases, victory will be lacking.
collidentium autem adutrsus nos uitiorum uictoria non adepta non erit emundatio ulla uitiorum, quia his insidiis corporis nostri pirata uicto conluctantium aduersus nos passionum concertatione purgamur.
And if victory over the vices clashing against us is not obtained, there will not be any purification of vices, because we are purified by the conflict of passions struggling against us, with the pirate of our body conquered in these ambushes.
§2.1.3memores igitur, inquit, et conscii illa ipsa corpora nostra omnium uitiorum esse materiem, per quam polluti et sordidi nihil in nobis mundum, nihil innocens obtinemus, gaudeamus nobis esse hostem, in cuius concertatione quodam concertationis nostrae bello dimicemus.
Therefore, mindful, he says, and conscious that those very bodies of ours are the material of all vices, through which, polluted and filthy, we possess nothing clean, nothing innocent in ourselves, let us rejoice that we have an enemy, in whose conflict we may fight in a certain war of our struggle.