§5Maior efficitur ratio Christianarum observationum, cum illas etiam natura defendit, quae prima omnium disciplina est.
The reasoning for Christian observations becomes greater when nature also defends them, which is the first discipline of all.
Ideoque haec prima praescribit coronam capiti non convenire.
And therefore this nature first prescribes that a crown does not fit the head.
Puto autem naturae deus noster est, qui figuravit hominem et fructibus rerum appetendis, iudicandis, consequendis certos in eo sensus ordinavit per propria membrorum quodammodo organa.
Now, I think that the God of nature is our God, who fashioned man and, for the purpose of desiring, judging, and obtaining the fruits of things, ordained certain senses in him through what may be called the proper organs of his limbs.
Auditum in auribus fodit, visum in oculis accendit, gustum in ore conclusit, odoratum in naribus ventilavit, contactum in manibus extimavit.
He dug hearing in the ears, lit sight in the eyes, enclosed taste in the mouth, ventilated smell in the nostrils, and evaluated touch in the hands.
Per haec exterioris hominis ministeria interiori homini administrantia fructus munerum divinorum ad animam deducuntur a sensibus.
Through these services of the outer man administering to the inner man, the fruits of the divine gifts are led to the soul from the senses.
Quis igitur fructus ex floribus? Substantia enim propria, certe praecipua, coronarum flores agri.
What fruit, then, is there from flowers? For the proper substance, or certainly the chief substance, of crowns is the flowers of the field.
Aut odor, inquis, aut color, aut pariter utrumque.
"Either smell," you say, "or color, or both alike." What will be the senses of color and smell?
Qui erunt sensus coloris, odoris? visus, opinor, et odoratus.
Sight, I think, and smell.
Istos sensus quae membra sortita sunt? oculi, nisi fallor, et nares.
Which limbs have obtained these senses? The eyes, if I mistake not, and the nostrils.
Utere itaque floribus visu et odoratu, quorum sensuum fructus est, utere per oculos et nares, quorum sensuum membra sunt.
Use flowers, therefore, with sight and smell, of which senses they are the fruit; use them through the eyes and nostrils, of which senses they are the limbs.
Substantia tibi a deo tradita est, habitus a saeculo.
The substance was handed down to you by God, the fashion by the world.
Quamquam nec habitus extraordinarius ordinario usui obstrepit.
Although even an extraordinary fashion does not conflict with ordinary use.
Hoc sint tibi flores et inserti et innexi et in filo et in scirpo, quod liberi, quod soluti, spectaculi scilicet et spiraculi res.
Let flowers, whether inserted or interwoven, on a thread or on a rush, be to you what they are when free and loose, namely, things for sight and breath.
Coronam, si forte, fascem existimas florum per seriem conprehensorum, ut plures semel portes, ut omnibus pariter utaris.
If perchance you deem a crown to be a bundle of flowers grasped in a row, so that you may carry many at once, so that you may use all alike.
Iam vero et in sinum conde, si tanta munditia est, et in lectulum sparge, si tanta mollitia est, et in poculum crede, si tanta innocentia est.
Now indeed, both hide them in your bosom, if there is such neatness, and scatter them on your couch, if there is such softness, and commit them to your cup, if there is such innocence.
Tot modis fruere, quot et sentis.
Enjoy them in as many ways as you also sense them.
Ceterum in capite quis sapor floris, quis coronae sensus, nisi vinculi tantum, quo neque color cernitur, neque odor ducitur, nec teneritas commendatur? Tam contra naturam est florem capite sectari, quam cibum aure, quam sonum nare.
But on the head, what taste of a flower is there, what sense of a crown, except only that of a bond, by which neither color is seen, nor smell drawn in, nor tenderness commended? It is as much against nature to seek after a flower with the head, as food with the ear, or sound with the nostril.
Omne autem, quod contra naturam est, monstri meretur notam penes omnes, penes nos vero etiam elogium sacrilegii in deum, naturae dominum et auctorem.
But everything that is against nature deserves the mark of a monster among all, but among us indeed even the charge of sacrilege against God, the Lord and author of nature.
§6Quaerens igitur dei legem habes communem istam in publico mundi, in naturalibus tabulis, ad quas et Apostolus solet provocare, ut cum in velamine feminae, Nec natura vos, inquit, docet? ut cum ad Romanos natura facere dicens nationes ea, quae sunt legis, et legem naturalem suggerit et naturam legalem.
Seeking, therefore, the law of God, you have that common one in the public of the world, on the natural tablets, to which the Apostle also is accustomed to appeal; as when, in the matter of the veil of a woman, he says, "Does not even nature teach you?" as when, to the Romans, saying that the Gentiles do by nature the things of the law, he suggests both a natural law and a legal nature.
Sed et in prime epistolae naturalem usum conditionis in non naturalem masculos et feminas inter se demutasse affirmans ex retributione erroris in vicem poenae utique naturalibus patrocinatur.
But also in the first part of the epistle, affirming that males and females changed among themselves the natural use of the creation into that which is against nature, in return for the recompense of their error as a punishment, he certainly patronizes natural things.
Ipsum deum secundum naturam prius novimus scilicet deum appellantes deorum, bonum praesumentes et iudicem invocantes.
We know God Himself first according to nature, namely, calling Him God of gods, presuming Him to be good, and invoking Him as judge.
Quaeris, an conditioni eius fruendae natura nobis debeat praeire, (??) rapiamur qua dei aemulus universam conditionem certis (??) (??)bomini mancipatam cum ipso homine corrupit, unde eam et apostolus invitam ait vanitati succidisse, vanis primum usibus, tum turpibus et iniustis et impiis subversam? Sic itaque et circa voluptates spectaculorum infamata conditio est ab eis qui natura quidem omnia dei sentiunt ex quibus spectacula instruuntur, scientia autem deficiunt illud quoque intellegere, omnia esse a diabolo mutata.
Do you ask whether nature ought to go before us in enjoying His creation, lest we be carried away by that path by which the rival of God corrupted the entire creation, made subject to man for certain uses, along with man himself, whence also the apostle says that it was made subject to vanity unwillingly, subverted first to vain uses, then to base, unjust, and impious ones? Thus, then, also concerning the pleasures of the spectacles, the creation is defamed by those who indeed by nature perceive all the things of God from which spectacles are prepared, but in knowledge fail to understand this also, that all things have been changed by the devil.
Sed et huic materiae propter suaviludios nostros Graeco quoque stilo satisfecimus.
But on this subject also, for the sake of our play-lovers, we have given satisfaction also in the Greek style.