et ideo petit auxilium, dicens, convertere et cetera. Et tangit tria: scilicet conversionem, ereptionem, et salvationem. And so he asks for help, saying, turn to me. And he touches on three things, namely, conversion, seizing, and salvation. Oculus hominis non illuminatur a sole nisi habeat directam oppositionem ad illum; ita anima si debet recipere lumen divinum, debet habere directum aspectum ad Deum: et hujusmodi directus aspectus semper est paratus a Deo; sed homo avertit se, et oportet quod Deus convertat, in quantum prius convertitur ad nos convertendo nos ad se; et ideo dicit, convertere. Thr. 5: converte nos domine, et convertemur ad te et cetera. The eye of a man is not illuminated by the sun unless he is directly in the path of its light; so also, if the soul is to receive the divine light, it must view God directly. This direct view is always prepared by God, but man turns himself away, and then it must be God who turns him back, inasmuch as he first turns to us by turning us to him. And so he says, turn to me. Turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned to you (Lam 5:21). Si aliquis compeditus traheretur ad suspendium, ac videret aliquem de quo confideret, rogaret attente ac diceret, eripe me. Hoc modo orat iste dicens, eripe animam meam; quasi dicat, eripe me tractum per peccatum, ductum ad mortem. Prov. 24: erue eos qui ducuntur ad mortem. Ps. 68: eripe me de luto ut non infigar et cetera. Coloss. 1: eripuit nos de potestate tenebrarum. If someone, bound and being dragged away to be killed, sees someone he trusts, he calls urgently and says, “Deliver me.” This person prays in this way, saying, deliver my soul, as if to say, “Deliver me, who, dragged away by sin, am lead to my death.” Deliver those who are led to death (Prov 24:11). Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast (Ps 68:15). Who has delivered us from the power of darkness (Col 1:13). Item salvum me fac. Postquam liberaveris me a malis, perduc ad salutem. Ps. 61: in ipso salutare meum: et hoc non per merita mea, sed propter misericordiam tuam, ad Titum 3: non ex operibus justitiae quae fecimus nos, sed secundum suam misericordiam salvos nos fecit. Also, O save me. After you have delivered me from evils lead me to safety, for from him is my salvation (Ps 61:2), and this is not through my merits, but for your mercy’s sake. Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us (Titus 3:5). 37. Deinde cum dicit, quoniam, ostendit periculum imminens. 37. Then when he says, for there is no one, he shows imminent danger. Et primo periculum praesentis mortis, scilicet naturalis. And first, he shows the danger of the immediate death, namely, natural death, Secundo damnationis aeternae a qua non est reditus: but second, of eternal damnation, from which there is no return. unde, quoniam non est in morte, id est post mortem, qui memor sit tui, scilicet cogitando bonitatem tuam, si de ea non fuit memor in vita. Et hoc ideo, quia anima rationalis non habet flexibilitatem arbitrii post mortem. Eccl. 11: sive ceciderit lignum ad Austrum, sive Aquilonem; in quocumque loco ceciderit, ibi erit. Hence, for there is no one in death, that is, after death, who is mindful of you, by thinking about your goodness, if he was not mindful of it during life. And this is so because the rational soul does not have the variability of choice after death. If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in whatever place it shall fall, there shall it be (Eccl 11:3). Secundum periculum est, quia in inferno est obstinatio, et non est ibi confessio, ista scilicet de qua dicit Apostolus. Rom. 10: ore autem fit confessio ad salutem: et ideo dicit: in inferno autem quis confitebitur tibi? A second danger is that in hell there is obstinacy and no confession, that confession about which the Apostle says, but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). And so he says, and who shall confess to you in hell? Vel aliter; in morte, scilicet peccati, qui memor sit tui: quasi dicat: te deprecor, eripe animam meam ne consentiam: quia in peccato meo non ero memor tui: Daniel. 13: declinaverunt oculos suos ut non viderent caelum nec recordarentur judiciorum justorum. In inferno autem, id est in profundo peccatorum, quis confitebitur tibi? Prov. 18: impius cum in profundum venerit peccatorum, contemnet. Or likewise, in death, that is, the death of sin, who is mindful of you? as if to say, “I pray you, snatch my soul away, so that I do not consent, since in my sin, I will not remember you.” They turned away their eyes that they might not look to heaven, nor remember just judgments (Dan 13:9). And in hell, that is, in the depth of sins, who shall confess to you? The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemns (Prov 18:3). 38. Deinde cum dicit, laboravi, ponit gemitum poenitentis: ubi tria videtur tangere. 38. Then when he says, I have labored, he describes the penitent’s groans, where it seems that he touches on three things: Primo tristitiam cordis. first, sadness of heart; Secundo defectum rationis, ibi, turbatus est. second, a defect in reason: my eye is troubled; Tertio infirmitatem virtutis, ibi, inveteravi. third, a diminishment in strength: I have grown old. Tristitia cordis tripliciter indicatur. Sadness of heart is indicated in three ways. Primo per gemitum et suspiria. First, through moans and sighing; Secundo per corporis inquietudinem. second, through restlessness of body; Tertio per lacrymas. and third, through tears. Quantum ad primum dicit, laboravi in gemitu meo, scilicet suspirando: Thren. 1: multi gemitus mei, et cor meum moerens et cetera. Ps. 37: rugiebam a gemitu cordis mei. Dicit autem, laboravi, quia labor est pugnare contra se, et tamen labor iste bonum fructum habet: Sap. 3: bonorum laborum gloriosus est fructus. In regard to the first, he says, I have labored in my groanings, that is, by sighing. For my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful (Lam 1:22). I roared with the groaning of my heart (Ps 37:9). For he says, I have labored, since it is labor to fight against oneself, and yet this labor brings forth good fruit. For the fruit of good labors is glorious (Wis 3:15). Quantum ad secundum dicit, lavabo: ubi duo ponit, scilicet lectum et stratum; et haec duo licet pro eodem accipiantur, tamen proprietatem sequimur. In regard to the second, he says, I will wash. Here he names two things, his bed and his coverlet, and although these can be the same thing, we will nevertheless pursue their proper qualities. Stratum dicuntur panni qui sternuntur in lecto. Lectum, illud quod subtus ponitur, et dicitur lectus ab eligendo, scilicet stramina et similia, unde fit lectus. Per hoc ergo quod dicit: lavabo per singulas noctes lectum meum, dat intelligere quod quaelibet nocte surgebat, et appodiatus juxta lectum plorabat. A coverlet is that which is spread to cover a bed. The bed is what is put underneath, and it is called “chosen,” from choosing the straw and other things from which a bed is made. Therefore, by the expression, every night I will wash my bed, he gives us to understand that every night he rose up and cried, leaning against his bed. Littera Hieronymi est, natare faciam lectum meum: et est parabolica locutio. Vel natare faciam, id est ad modum natantis faciam habere ex inquietudine mea in eo. Dicit autem, lacrymis stratum meum rigabo, quia etiam in lecto jacens plorando perfundebat pannos lecti, quasi irriguum lacrymarum. The text of Jerome says, I will make my bed swim, and this is a figure of speech. Or, I will swim, that is, I will act like a swimmer in my disquietude. For he says, I will water my coverlet with my tears, since, even lying upon my bed, I drenched the covers of the bed by crying, as though watering it with tears. Moraliter, lectus in quo homo quiescit, est conscientia, hanc lavat homo per lacrymas in poenitentia: Hier. 4: lava a malitia cor tuum. Per stratum vero designantur peccata, quae supersternuntur conscientiae: quae quidem abluenda sunt lacrymis: quia lacrymae lavant delictum, quod pudor est confiteri. Glossa: Thren. 2: defecerunt prae lacrymis oculi mei et cetera. Morally, the bed upon which man rests is his conscience, which a man washes through tears in repentance. Wash your heart from wickedness (Jer 4:14). Now the coverlet designates the sins that are stretched over the conscience. Indeed, they must be washed by tears, since tears wash away guilt, because there is shame in confessing, as the gloss says. My eyes have failed with weeping (Lam 2:11). Per singulas ait noctes, id est per singula peccata. De singulis enim peccatis debet homo poenitendo plorare. Datur autem hic intelligi quod poenitens habeat vices interpolatas: quia inter bona quae faciebat aliquando peccabat, et de singulis plorabat: unde non dicit per unam, sed per singulas noctes. He says, every night, that is, for every sin. For a man should cry in repentance for every sin. Now it is given to understand that the one repenting has vices interspersed, since among the good things which he did, he sometimes sinned. And he weeps for each one, so he does not say, “for one night,” but every night. Dicit autem rigabo per inundantiam lacrymarum; Hier. 9: quis dabit capiti meo aquam, et oculis et cetera. Thren. 2: deduc quasi torrentem lacrymas per diem et noctem, ne taceant pupillae oculi tui. Now, he says, I will water, with the inundation of tears. Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? (Jer 9:1). Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give yourself no rest, and let not the apple of your eye cease (Lam 2:18). 39. Consequenter cum dicit, turbatus, ponit defectum rationis. Tristitia enim est causa irae; et ideo tristis irascitur de facili. Ira autem semper turbat oculum rationis. Turbati autem minus praevident; et ideo dicit: turbatus est oculus meus, id est ratio mea, sed a furore aliorum: irascebatur enim David et turbabatur, quando videbat insurrexisse contra se Absalon filium suum et consiliarios ejus. 39. Afterwards, when he says, my eye is troubled, he describes a defect in reason. For sadness is a cause of anger, and so a sad person is easily angered. Anger always disturbs the eye of the reason. Now, persons who are disturbed see less, and so he says, my eye, that is, my reason, is troubled, but by the fury of another. For David was made angry and disturbed when he saw his son Absalom and his counselors rise up against him. Vel a furore suo, quia turbabatur contra peccata propria. Recognoscebat enim in statu persecutionis illius, quod propter peccata sua juste affligeretur; et haec ira non caecat, sed turbat. Alia vero ira excaecat. Or he can be troubled by his own fury when he is disturbed by his own sins. For in his state of persecution by Absalom, he recognized that he was justly afflicted on account of his sins, and this kind of anger does not blind but disturbs. But another type of anger blinds. Vel: a furore tuo, domine Deus quo me punis, quasi provocatus a me, quia te turbavi: Isa. 38: attenuati sunt oculi mei, suspicientes in excelsum: Job 16: facies mea intumuit a fletu et planctu et cetera. Or by your fury, Lord God, by which you punish me as if provoked by me, since I have disturbed you. My eyes are weakened looking upward (Isa 38:14). My face is swollen with weeping and lamenting (Job 16:17). Tertio ostendit infirmitatem virtutis, cum ait: inveteravi et cetera. Quando aliquis in juventute victoriosus fuit et fortis, si postmodum patiatur non solum ab extraneo, sed etiam a suis, reputatur senescere. Ita David, qui in juventute sua vicerat omnes, modo autem fugiebat filium suum, dicit inveteravi, scilicet aliorum reputatione: inter omnes inimicos meos, manifestos scilicet et occultos: Hebr. 8: quod autem antiquatur et senescit, prope interitum est. Third, he shows his diminishment in strength when he says, I have grown old. When anyone who was victorious and strong in his youth suffers afterwards, not only from strangers but also from his own, he is said to have aged. So David, who conquered everyone in his youth but was now fleeing from his son, says, I have grown old, namely, in the repute of others: among all my enemies, those manifest and hidden. That which decays and grows old is near its end (Heb 8:13). Vel peccator inveterascit, recedens a novitate Christi: de qua dicit Apostolus Rom. 6: in novitate vitae ambulemus, ut serviamus in novitate spiritus. Or the sinner ages, falling away from the newness of Christ, about which the Apostle speaks: so we also may walk in newness of life . . . so that we should serve in newness of spirit (Rom 6:4; 7:6). Rom. 7, glossa: serviamus operibus novi hominis, id est Christi, quae non nostris viribus vel lege attingimus, sed gratia spiritus sancti. Rom. 6: Scientes quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est ut destruatur corpus peccati, ut ultra non serviamus peccato. Per quam servitutem reducitur quis in vetustatem peccati, membrum factus veteris hominis: propter quod monet Apostolus et suadet, Rom. 12: reformamini in novitate sensus vestri, vel mentis vestrae. Reformamini, dicit glossa, quia in Adam fuistis deformati in novitate et cetera. The gloss says, let us serve the works of the new man, that is, of Christ, which we can accomplish neither by our own strength, nor by the law, but by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Romans 6:6 says: knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. Through this servitude, someone is reduced to the old age of sin, made a member of the old man, on account of which the Apostle warns and urges, be reformed in the newness of your senses, or of your mind (Rom 12:2). Be reformed in newness, says the gloss, imitating the new man (namely, Christ), since in Adam you were deformed. Novum hominem, scilicet Christum; videlicet, imitantes hanc vetustatem et deformitatis miseriam, propheta sub interrogatione deplorat dicens, Baruch 3: quid est, Israel, quod in terra inimicorum es? Inveterasti in terra aliena et cetera. Et consonat ei quod hic dicitur, inveteravi inter omnes inimicos meos: vel daemones, vel omnia peccata quibus omnibus consensi; et sic hoc quod dicit: inveteravi, secundum hunc sensum est materia gemitus; quasi dicat, ideo lavabo et cetera quia inveteravi veterem hominem imitatus, vitiis omnibus me subjiciens; et tunc hoc quod dictum est turbatus est, et cetera, refertur ad statum poenitentis. The prophet interrogatively laments those imitating this oldness and the misery of deformity, saying, How did it happen, O Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land? You have grown old in a strange country (Bar 3:10–11). And this fits with what is said here: I have grown old among all my enemies—either the demons or all the sins to which I consented. And then I have grown old indicates the matter for groaning, as if to say, “I have labored in my groanings . . . every night I will wash my bed, because I have grown old imitating the old man, subjecting myself to all the vices.” And then my eye is troubled refers to the state of repentance. Vel potest referri ad materiam justitiae, et hoc quantum ad statum peccati; quasi dicat: ideo inveteravi, id est peccavi, quia oculus meus, id est caro mea, turbata est a furore, id est ab impetu passionis: Ps. 57: supercecidit ignis, scilicet concupiscentiae secundum glossam Augustini: et non viderunt solem, scilicet justitiae: Daniel. 13: concupiscentia subvertit cor tuum. Item idem: exarserunt in concupiscentiam ejus et cetera ut neque recordarentur judiciorum justorum. Or it can refer to the matter for justice, and this in relation to the state of sin, as if to say, “I have grown old, that is, I have sinned, since my eye, that is, my flesh, is troubled through indignation, that is, through the force of passion.” Fire has fallen on them (Ps 57:9), namely that of concupiscence, according to Augustine’s gloss, and they have not seen the sun, namely, of justice. Lust has perverted your heart (Dan 13:56). Again, they were inflamed with lust . . . that they might not . . . remember just judgments (Dan 13:8–9). Ab impetu ergo passionis dicit David in eo forte turbatum oculum rationis ut non videret caelum, et hoc fuit concupiscentia Bersabee, 2 Reg. 2, quam ad se vocatam cognovit. Et postmodum cognito quod esset gravida, ad crimen adulterii addidit crimen homicidii. Unde Uriam virum Bersabee proditorie jussit occidi: pro quibus peccatis gravissimis justo Dei judicio passus est a filio persecutionem. Therefore, it is from the force of this passion that David says that the eye of his reason is so disturbed that he does not see heaven, and this was desire for Bathsheba, whom he knew carnally after having called her to himself (2 Kgs 11). And after a little while, when he recognized the gravity of what he had done, he added the crime of murder to the crime of adultery. So he ordered Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, to be killed by being thrust forward, for which very serious sins he suffered persecution from his son by the just judgment of God. 40. Discedite. Haec est tertia pars principalis, in qua fructus poenitentiae ponitur: unde hic se exauditum ostendit, et exinde gratulatur: et circa hoc tria facit. 40. Depart from me. This is the third principal part, in which the fruit of penance is described. So here he shows that he has been heard, and therefore is grateful, and he makes three points concerning this. Primo enim repellit a se inimicos. First, he thrusts his enemies away from himself.