§1.1Dignum duxi, dilectissima mihi in domino conserva, quid tibi sectandum sit post discessum de saeculo meum, si prior te fuero vocatus, iam hine providere, ut provisum observes, mandare fidei tuae.
I have deemed it worthy, my dearest fellow-servant in the Lord, to provide even from now what you should pursue after my departure from this world, if I should be called before you, so that, observing what has been provided, you may commit it to your faith.
Nam saecularibus satis agentes sumus, et utrique nostrum consultum volumus.
For we are active enough in worldly matters, and we wish for the welfare of both of us.
Si talibus tabulas ordinamus, cur non magis de divinis atque caelestibus posteritati nostrae prospicere debeamus, et legatum quodammodo praelegare, admonitionem et demonstrationem eorum quae ex bonis immortalibus et de haereditate caelorum deputantur? Tu modo ut solidum capere possis hoc meae admonitionis fideicommissum deus faciat, cui sit honor, gloria, claritas, dignitas et potestas nunc et in saecula saeculorum.
If we arrange testaments for such things, why should we not much more look out for our posterity concerning divine and heavenly things, and in a way pre-bequeath a legacy, an admonition and demonstration of those things which are allotted from immortal goods and from the inheritance of heaven? May God grant that you may be able to receive this trust of my admonition in its entirety, to whom be honor, glory, brilliance, dignity, and power, now and for ever and ever.
Praecipio igitur tibi, quanta continentia potes, post excessum nostrum renunties nuptiis, nihil mihi isto nomine collatura nisi quod tibi proderis.
Therefore, I charge you that, with as much continence as you can, you renounce marriage after our departure, bringing nothing to me under that name except that you will profit yourself.
Ceterum Christianis saeculo digressis nulla restitutio nuptiarum in die resurrectionis repromittitur, translatis scilicet in angelicam qualitatem et sanctitatem.
Furthermore, for Christians departed from this world, no restoration of marriage is promised on the day of resurrection, being translated, of course, into an angelic quality and holiness.
Proinde sollicitudo nulla quae de carnis zelo venit etiam in illa, quam septem fratribus per successionem nupsisse voluerunt, neminem tot maritorum resurrectionis die offendet, nec quisquam illam confusurus expectat.
Accordingly, no anxiety arising from the zeal of the flesh—even in that woman whom they wished to have married seven brothers in succession—will offend anyone of so many husbands on the day of resurrection, nor does anyone wait to confuse her.
Quaestio Sadducaeorum cessit sententiae domini.
The question of the Sadducees yielded to the decision of the Lord.
Ne me putes propter carnis tuae integritatem mihi perservandam de contumeliae dolore suspectum insinuare iam hinc tibi consilium viduitatis.
Lest you think that I, suspected of the pain of insult because your fleshly integrity should be preserved for me, am even from now insinuating to you the counsel of widowhood.
Nihil tunc inter nos dedecoris voluptuosi resumetur.
No voluptuous disgrace will then be resumed between us.
Non enim tam frivola, tam spurca deus suis pollicetur.
For God does not promise such frivolous, such filthy things to His own.
Sed an tibi vel cuicumque alii feminae ad deum pertinenti proficiet quod suademus licet pertractare.
But it is permitted to examine whether what we advise will benefit you or any other woman belonging to God.
§1.2Non quidem abnuimus coniunctionem viri et feminae benedictam dictam a deo ut seminarium generis humani, et replendo orbi et instruendo saeculo excogitatam atque exinde permissam, unam tamen.
We do not indeed deny that the union of man and woman was said to be blessed by God as the seminary of the human race, devised for filling the world and arranging the age, and thence permitted, but only one.
Nam et Adam unus Evae maritus, et Eva una uxor illius, una mulier, una costa.
For Adam also was the one husband of Eve, and Eve his one wife, one woman, one rib.
Sane apud veteres nostros ipsosque patriarchas non modo nubere, sed etiam plurifariam matrimoniis uti fas fuit.
To be sure, among our ancestors and the patriarchs themselves, it was lawful not only to marry, but even to use marriages multifariously.
Erant et concubinae.
There were also concubines.
Sed licet figuraliter in synagoga ecclesia intercesserit, ut tamen simpliciter interpretemur, necessarium fuit instituere quae postea aut amputari aut temperari mererentur.
But although figuratively the church intervened in the synagogue, yet to interpret simply, it was necessary to institute things which later deserved either to be amputated or tempered.
Superventura enim lex erat.
For the law was to come upon them.
Oportebat enim legis adimplendae causas praecucurrisse.
Indeed, it was necessary that the causes of fulfilling the law should have run ahead.
Item mox legi succedere habebat dei sermo circumcisionem inducens spiritalem.
Likewise, soon the word of God, introducing spiritual circumcision, had to succeed the law.
Igitur per licentiam tunc passivam materiae subsequentium emendationum praeministrabantur, quas dominus evangelio suo, dehinc apostolus in extremitatibus saeculi aut excidit redundantes aut composuit inconditas.
Therefore, through a then passive license, the materials of subsequent emendations were pre-administered, which the Lord by His gospel, and then the apostle in the extremities of the age, either cut away as redundant or composed as disordered.
§1.3Sed non ideo praemiserim de libertate vetustatis et posteritatis castigatione, ut praestruam Christum separandis matrimoniis, abolendis coniunctionibus advenisse, quasi iam hinc finem nubendi praescribam.
But I would not have premised concerning the freedom of antiquity and the chastisement of posterity, so as to build a premise that Christ came to separate marriages and abolish unions, as if I were now prescribing an end to marrying.
Viderint qui inter cetera perversitatum suarum disiungere docent carnem in duobus unam, negantes eum qui feminam de masculo mutuatus duo corpora ex eiusdem materiae consortio sumpta rursus in se matrimonii computatione compegit.
Let them see to it, who among the other things of their perversities teach to separate the flesh which is one in two, denying Him who, having borrowed the female from the male, combined again in itself, by the calculation of marriage, two bodies taken from the association of the same material.
Denique prohiberi nuptias nusquam omnino legimus, ut bonum scilicet.
In short, we read nowhere at all that marriages are forbidden, obviously as a good thing.
Quid tamen bono isto melius sit accipimus ab apostolo, permittente quidem nubere, sed abstinentiam praeferente, illud propter insidias temptationum, hoc propter angustias temporum.
Yet what is better than that good thing we receive from the apostle, who indeed permits to marry, but prefers abstinence, the former on account of the snares of temptations, the latter on account of the anxieties of the times.
Qua ratione utriusque pronuntiationis inspecta facile dinoscitur necessitate nobis concessam esse nubendi potestatem; quod autem necessitas praestat, depretiat ipsa.
By which reason, having inspected both declarations, it is easily discerned that the power of marrying is granted to us by necessity; but what necessity provides, it itself depreciates.
Quod denique scriptum est, Melius est nubere quam uri, quale hoc bonum est, oro te, quod mali comparatio commendat, ut ideo melius sit nubere, quia deterius est uri? At enim quanto melius est neque nubere neque uri? Sed etiam in persecutionibus melius est ex permissu fugere de oppido in oppidum quam comprehensum et distortum negare.
What finally is written, "It is better to marry than to burn," what kind of good is this, I ask you, which the comparison of evil commends, so that it is better to marry because it is worse to burn? But indeed how much better is it neither to marry nor to burn? But even in persecutions it is better by permission to flee from town to town than, having been seized and distorted, to deny.
Atque isto beatiores qui valent beata testimonii confessione excedere.
And more blessed than this are those who are able to depart by the blessed confession of testimony.
Possum dicere: Quod permittitur, bonum non est.
I can say: What is permitted is not good.
Quid enim? necesse est mori mihi.
For what? it is necessary for me to die.
Si ploro, bonum est.
If I wail, is it good?
Quod si timeo quod permittitur, suspectam habet permissionis suae causam.
But if I fear what is permitted, it holds the cause of its permission suspect.
Quod autem melius est, nemo permisit, ut indubitatum et sua sinceritate manifestum.
But what is better, no one has permitted, as being indubitable and manifest in its own sincerity.
Non propterea appetenda sunt quaedam, quia non vetantur: etsi quodammodo vetantur, cum alia illis praeferuntur.
Certain things are not to be sought after because they are not forbidden: even if they are in a way forbidden, when other things are preferred to them.
Praelatio enim superiorum dissuasio est infimorum.
For the preference of the higher is the dissuasion of the lower.
Non ideo quid bonum est, quia malum non est, nec ideo malum non est, quia non obest.
A thing is not good because it is not evil, nor is it not evil because it does not hurt.
Porro plene bonum hoc antecedit, quod non modo non obest, sed insuper prodest.
Furthermore, the fully good precedes this, which not only does not hurt, but moreover profits.
Namque malle debes quod prodest quam quod non obest.
For you ought to prefer what profits to what does not hurt.
Ad primum enim locum certamen omne contendit; secundus solatium habet, victoriam non habet.
For all struggle contends for the first place; the second has consolation, it does not have victory.
Quod si apostolo auscultamus, obliti posteriorum et extendamur in priora et meliorum donativorum sectatores simus.
But if we listen to the apostle, "forgetting the things behind and stretching forward to the things before," let us be followers of better gifts.
Sic nobis etsi laqueum non imponit, quid utilitatis sit ostendit dicens, Innupta de dominicis cogitat, uti et corpore et spiritu sancta sit: nupta vero sollicita est quomodo coniugi suo placeat. Ceterum nusquam ita nuptias permittit, ut non potius ad suum exemplum nos eniti malit.
Thus, though he does not impose a snare on us, he shows what is of utility, saying, "The unmarried woman thinks about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but the married woman is anxious how she may please her husband." For the rest, he nowhere so permits marriages as not to prefer that we strive toward his own example.
Felicem illum, qui Pauli similis extiterit.
Happy is that man who shall have turned out like Paul.