§1Confiteor ad dominum deum satis temere me, si non etiam impudenter, de patientia componere ausum, cui praestandae idoneus omnino non sim, ut homo nullius boni, quando oporteat demonstrationem et commendationem alicuius rei adortos ipsos prius in administratione eius rei deprehendi et constantiam commonendi propriae conuersationis auctoritate dirigere, ne dicta factis deficientibus erubescant.
I confess to the Lord God that I have dared, quite rashly if not even impudently, to compose a work on patience, for the practice of which I am entirely unfit, as a man of no good, since it is fitting that those who attempt the demonstration and commendation of any matter should first themselves be detected in the practice of that matter, and direct the constancy of their admonishing by the authority of their own conduct, lest their words blush when their deeds fail.
atque utinam erubescere istud remedium ferat, uti pudor non exhibendi quod aliis suggestum imus exhibendi fiat magisterium, nisi quod bonorum quorundam sicuti et malorum intolerabilis magnitudo est, ut ad capienda et praestanda ea sola gratia diuinae inspirationis operetur.
And would that this blushing might bring a remedy, so that the shame of not exhibiting what we go about to suggest to others might become a training for exhibiting it, were it not that the magnitude of certain goods, as of evils, is intolerable, so that only the grace of divine inspiration operates to receive and perform them.
nam quod maxime bonum, id maxime penes deum, nec alius id quam qui possidet dispensat, ut cuique dignatur.
For what is the greatest good, that is most in the power of God, nor does any other dispense it than He who possesses it, as He deigns to each.
itaque uelut solacium erit disputare super eo, quod frui non datur, uice languentium, qui, cum uacent a sanita te, de bonisj eius tacere non norunt.
Therefore, it will be like a solace to dispute about that which it is not granted to enjoy, in the manner of sick people, who, when they are devoid of health, know not how to be silent about its benefits.
itaj miserrimus ego, semper aeger caloribus impatientiae quam nLon obtineo patientiae sanitatem eLt suspirem et inuocem et perorem necesse est, cum rejcordor et in meae imbecillitatis contemplatione digerLo bonam, fidei ualitudinem et dominicae disciplinae sanitatem non facile cuiquam, nisi patientia adsideat, prouenire.
Thus, most miserable I, always sick with the heats of impatience, of which I do not possess the health, must both sigh and invoke and declaim patience, when I remember and, in the contemplation of my own weakness, digest the fact that the good strength of faith and the health of the Lord's discipline do not easily come to anyone unless patience sits by.
ita praeposita dei rebus est, ut nullum praeceptum obire quis, nullum opus domino complacitum perpetrare extraneas a patientia possit.
So is patience set over the things of God, that no one, being external to patience, can perform any precept, nor accomplish any work pleasing to the Lord.
bonum eit. us etiamj qui caeca uiuunt summae uirtutis appellatione honorant.
Its good even those who live blindly honor with the name of the highest virtue.
philosophi quidem, qui alicuLius sapientiae animalis deputantur, tantum illi subsignant, ut, cum inter sese uariis sectarum libidinibus et sententiarum aemulationibus discordent, solius taLmen pajtientiae in commune memores huic uni studiorum suorum commiserint pacem.
The philosophers indeed, who are accounted to possess some animal wisdom, so far subscribe to it that, although they disagree among themselves with the various passions of their sects and rivalries of opinions, yet, mindful of patience alone in common, they have committed the peace of their studies to this one virtue.
in eam conspirant, in eam foede rantur, in illam adfectatione uirtutis unanimiter student; omnem sapientiae ostentationem de patientia praeferunt.
Into this they conspire, into this they are allied, to this they eagerly study with one mind in their pursuit of virtue; they put forward every display of wisdom from patience.
grande testimonium eius est, cum etiam uanas saeculi disciplin as ad laudem et gloriam promouet.
Great is the testimony of it, when it promotes even the vain disciplines of the world to praise and glory.
aut numquid potius iniuria, cum diuina res in saecularibus artibus uolutatur? sed uiderint illi, quos mox sapientiae suae cum saeculo destructae ac dedecoratae pudebit.
Or is it not rather an injury, when a divine thing is rolled about in secular arts? But let those look to it, who will soon be ashamed of their own wisdom, destroyed and disgraced together with the world.
§2Nobis exercendae patientiae auctoritatem non adfectatio humana caninae aequanimitatis stupore formata sed uiuae ac caelestis disciplinae diuina dispositio delegat, deum ipsum ostendens patientiae exemplum iam primum, qui florem lucis huius super iustos et iniustos aequaliter spargit, qui temporum officia, elementorum seruitia, totius geniturae tributa dignis simul et indignis patiatur occurrere, sustinens ingratissimas nationes ludibria artium et opera manuum suarum adorantes, nomen familiam ipsius persequentes, luxuriam auaritiam iniquitatem malignitatem cotidie insolescentem, ut sua sibi patientia detrahat.
¦15 To us, the authority for exercising patience is delegated not by human affectation formed by the stupor of canine equanimity, but by the divine arrangement of a living and heavenly discipline, showing God Himself as the very first example of patience, who scatters the flower of this light equally upon the just and the unjust, who allows the duties of the seasons, the services of the elements, and the tributes of the entire creation to meet the worthy and unworthy alike, sustaining the most ungrateful nations that worship the mockeries of arts and the works of their own hands, persecuting His name and family, and daily growing insolent in luxury, avarice, injustice, and malice, so that His own patience detracts from Himself.
plures enim dominum idcirco non credunt, quia saeculo iratum tamdiu nesciunt.
For many do not believe in the Lord for this reason, because they do not know that He has been angry with the world for so long.