§18Iam uero de solo suggestu et apparatu honoris retractandum.
Now indeed we must reconsider the mere display and apparatus of office.
proprius habitus uniuscuiusque est tam ad usum quotidianum quam ad honorem et dignitatem.
Each person's proper attire is as much for daily use as for honor and dignity.
igitur purpura illa et aurum ceruicis ornamentum eodem more apud Aegyptios et Babylonios insignia erant dignitatis, quo more nunc praetextae uel trabeae uel palmatae et coronae aureae sacerdotum prouincialium, sed non eadem condicione.
Therefore, that purple and the gold ornament of the neck were insignia of dignity among the Egyptians and Babylonians in the same manner as now the praetextae, or trabeae, or palmatae, and the golden crowns of provincial priests, but not under the same condition.
tantum enim honoris nomine conferebantur iis, qui familiaritatem regum merebantur.
For they were conferred only under the name of honor on those who merited the familiarity of kings.
unde et purpurati regum uocabantur a purpura, sicut apud nos a toga candida candidati, sed non ut suggestus ille sacerdotiis quoque aut aliquibus idolorum officiis adstringeretur.
Whence also the "purple-clad" of kings were so called from the purple, just as among us candidates are named from the white toga (toga candida), but not so that that display was bound to priesthoods or to any offices of idols.
nam si ita esset, utique tantae sanctitatis et constantiae uiri statim habitus inquinatos recusassent, statimque apparuisset Danielem idolis non deseruisse nec Belem nec draconem colere, quod multo postea apparuit.
For if it were so, men of such great holiness and constancy would immediately have refused the defiled garments, and it would immediately have appeared that Daniel had not served idols, nor worshiped Bel nor the dragon, which appeared much later.
simplex igitur purpura illa nec iam dignitatis erat, sed ingenuitatis apud barbaros insigne.
Therefore, that simple purple was not then an insignia of dignity, but of free birth (ingenuitas) among the barbarians.
quemadmodum enim et Ioseph, qui seruus fuerat, et Daniel, qui per captivitatem statum uerterat, ciuitatem Babyloniam et Aegyptiam sunt consecuti per habitum barbaricae ingenuitatis, sic penes nos quoque fideles, si necesse fuerit, poterit et pueris praetexta concedi et puellis stola, nativitatis insignia, non potestatis, generis, non honoris, ordinis, non superstitionis.
For just as both Joseph, who had been a slave, and Daniel, who had changed his status through captivity, obtained Babylonian and Egyptian citizenship through the attire of barbarian free birth, so among us also, if it should be necessary, the praetexta may be conceded to boys and the stola to girls, as insignia of birth, not of power; of family, not of honor; of order, not of superstition.
ceterum purpura uel cetera insignia dignitatum et potestatum insertae dignitati et potestatibus idololatriae ab initio dicata habent profanationis suae maculam, cum praeterea ipsis etiam idolis induantur praetextae et trabeae et laticlaui, fasces quoque et virgae praeferantur, et merito.
But purple or other insignia of dignities and powers, being from the beginning dedicated to the dignity and powers in which idolatry is inserted, bear the stain of their own profanation, since besides, even the idols themselves are dressed in praetextae, trabeae, and laticlavi, and fasces and rods are carried before them, and deservedly so.
nam daemonia magistratus sunt saeculi huius; unius collegii insignia fasces et purpuras gestant.
For demons are the magistrates of this world; they bear the fasces and purples as insignia of one college.
quid ergo proficies, si suggestu quidem utaris, opera eius uero non administres? nemo in inmundis mundus uideri potest.
What then will you profit, if you indeed use the display, but do not administer its works? No one can appear clean among unclean things.
tunicam si induas inquinatam per se, poterit forsitan illa non inquinari per te, sed tu per illam mundus esse non poteris.
If you put on a tunic defiled in itself, perhaps it cannot be defiled by you, but you cannot be clean through it.
iam nunc qui de Ioseph et Daniel argumentaris, scito, non semper comparanda esse uetera et nova, rudia et polita, coepta et explicita, seruilia et liberalia.
Now then, you who argue from Joseph and Daniel, know that ancient and new, rude and polished, begun and completed, servile and free, are not always to be compared.
nam illi etiam condicione serui erant: tu uero nullius seruus, in quantum solius Christi, qui te etiam captiuitate saeculi liberauit, ex forma dominica agere debebis.
For they were slaves even by condition; but you, who are the slave of no one, insofar as you are of Christ alone, who also freed you from the captivity of the world, must act according to the master's pattern.
ille dominus in humilitate et ignobilitate incessit domicilio incertus: nam filius, inquit, hominis non habet ubi caput collocet; uestitu incultus, neque enim dixisset, ecce qui teneris uestiuntur, in domibus regum sunt; uultu denique et aspectu inglorius, sicut et Esaias pronuntiauerat.
That Master walked in humility and ignobility, uncertain of his home; for "the Son of Man," he says, "has not where to lay his head"; unkempt in dress, for otherwise he would not have said, "Behold, those who are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings"; finally, inglorious in countenance and aspect, as Isaiah also had proclaimed.
si potestatis ius quoque nullum ne in suos quidem exercuit, quibus sordido ministerio functus est, si regem denique fieri conscius sui regni refugit, plenissime dedit formam suis derigendo omni fastigio et suggestu quam dignitatis quam potestatis.
If he exercised no right of power even over his own, whom he served in a humble ministry, if finally he refused to be made a king, conscious of his own kingdom, he most fully gave a pattern to his own by bringing down all height and display of both dignity and power.
quis enim magis iis usus fuisset, quam dei filius? quales et quanti eum fasces producerent, qualis purpura de umeris eius floreret, quale aurum de capite radiaret, nisi gloriam saeculi alienam et sibi et suis iudicasset? igitur quam noluit, reiecit, quam reiecit, damnauit, quam damnauit, in pompa diaboli deputauit.
For who would have used them more than the Son of God? What kind of and how many fasces would have escorted him, what kind of purple would have flourished from his shoulders, what kind of gold would have radiated from his head, if he had not judged the glory of the world foreign both to himself and to his own? Therefore, what he did not want, he rejected; what he rejected, he condemned; what he condemned, he assigned to the pomp of the devil.
non enim damnasset, nisi non sua: alterius autem esse non possunt, nisi diaboli, quae dei non sunt.
For he would not have condemned it unless it were not his; but those things cannot belong to another than the devil, which are not of God.
tu si diaboli pompam eierasti, quicquid ex ea attigeris, id scias esse idololatrian.
If you have abjured the devil's pomp, whatever you touch of it, know that it is idolatry.
uel hoc te commonefaciat omnes huius saeculi potestates et dignitates non solum alienas, verum et inimicas dei esse, quod per illas aduersus dei seruos supplicia consulta sunt, per illas et poenae ad impios paratae ignorantur.
Or let this remind you that all powers and dignities of this world are not only foreign but also hostile to God, because through them punishments have been decreed against God's servants, and through them the punishments prepared for the impious are ignored.
sed et natiuitas et substantia tua molestae tibi sunt aduersus idololatrian.
But both your birth and your substance are troublesome to you against idolatry.
ad euitandum remedia deesse non possunt, cum et, si defuerint, supersit unicum illud, quo felicior factus non in terris magistratus, sed in caelis.
Remedies for avoiding it cannot be lacking, since even if they should fail, there remains that unique one, by which you are made happier, not as a magistrate on earth, but in heaven.