On the Duties of the Clergy 2.12–2.21

We notice, then, that in gaining a hearing for counsel much is added by uprightness of life, the pre-eminence of the virtues, the habit of benevolence, and the grace of easiness. For who would look for a spring in the mud? Who would seek a drink from muddy water? So where there is luxury, where there is intemperance, where there is a confusion of vices, who would think anything should be drawn from there for himself? Who would not despise a sewer of morals? Who would judge useful for another’s cause one whom he sees useless for his own life? Who again would not flee a wicked, malevolent, insulting man ready to harm; who would not shun him with all zeal? And who would court one who, though equipped to give the help of counsel, is yet difficult of access, as if someone shut up a spring of water? For what profit is it to have wisdom if you deny counsel? If you shut off the opportunity of consulting, you have closed the spring, so that it neither flows to others nor profits you. It fits well also the man who, having prudence, stains it with the filth of vices, because he pollutes the outflow of the water. Life convicts degenerate minds. For how can you judge him superior in counsel whom you see inferior in character? He to whom I prepare to entrust myself ought to be above me. Or shall I think him fit to give me counsel who does not give it to himself, and believe he has leisure for me who has none for himself, whose mind pleasures occupy, lust conquers, avarice subjugates, desire disturbs, and fear shakes? How is there place for counsel here, where there is none for quiet? Admirable to me and worthy of reverence is the counsellor whom the Lord gave to the fathers when he was gracious and took away when he was offended. He who can give counsel ought to be his imitator and keep his prudence free from vices, since nothing defiled enters into it.

Who, then, would display the appearance of beauty in his face, so to speak, and disgrace the grace of his upper form with the hindquarters of a beast and wild claws, when the form of the virtues is so admirable and splendid, and especially the beauty of wisdom, as the course of Scripture shows? For she is more beautiful than the sun, and, compared with light, she is found to surpass every arrangement of the stars. For night succeeds this light, but malice does not conquer wisdom. We have spoken of her beauty and proved it by the testimony of Scripture; it remains to teach by the authority of Scripture that she has no companionship with vices, but an undivided union with the other virtues: “whose spirit is eloquent, undefiled, sure, holy, loving the good, keen, forbidding nothing in doing good, kind, steadfast, secure, having all virtue, seeing all things.” And below: “She teaches sobriety and justice and virtue.”

We do all things, then, with prudence, since it has fellowship with all good things. For how can one give useful counsel unless he has justice, so as to put on constancy, not to fear death, to be called back by no terror and no fear, to think that he must not be turned from the truth by any flattery; not to flee exile, since he knows that for the wise man the world is his fatherland; not to fear want, since he knows that nothing is lacking to the wise man, to whom the whole world is full of riches? For what is loftier than the man who does not know how to be moved by gold, holds money in contempt, and looks down as from a citadel on the desires of men? Men think that one who does this is above man: “Who is he,” it says, “and we will praise him? For he has done wonderful things in his life.” For how is he not to be admired who spurns riches, which most have preferred to their own salvation? The strictness of frugality, then, and the authority of continence become all, and especially him who is pre-eminent in honour, so that his treasures may not possess the pre-eminent man, and he who is set over free men may not serve money. It is more fitting that he be above treasure in mind and beneath his friend in service. For humility increases grace. This is full of praise and worthy of a leading man: not to share with Tyrian traders and Gileadite merchants the desire for shameful gain, nor to place all good in money, and, as in a hireling’s work, to count daily gains and reckon profits.

But if it is praiseworthy to keep a sober mind with respect to these things, how much more excellent if you win the love of the multitude by liberality, neither lavish towards the importunate nor restricted towards the needy! There are very many kinds of liberality: not only to arrange and dispense nourishment by daily outlay to the needy, so that they can sustain their life, but also to consult for and help those who are ashamed to be in want publicly, so far as the common nourishment of the needy is not exhausted. For I am speaking of one who is in charge of some office, as when he holds the office of priest or of steward, that he should report such people to the bishop, and not keep silent if he knows of anyone placed in some need, or cast down from wealth and reduced to the necessity of want; especially if he has fallen into this hardship not through the extravagance of youth but through someone’s plunder and the loss of his patrimony, so that he cannot meet his daily expenses. The highest liberality, too, is to redeem captives, to snatch men from the hands of enemies, to rescue men from death and especially women from shame, to restore children to parents and parents to children, and citizens to their fatherland. These things are only too well known from the devastation of Illyricum and Thrace: how many captives were for sale everywhere throughout the world! If you called them back, they could not make up the number of a single province. Yet there were some who wished to bring back into slavery those whom the churches had redeemed, men harsher than captivity itself, who envied another’s mercy. If they themselves had fallen into captivity, they would serve, though freeborn; if they had been sold, they would not refuse the service of slavery; and they want to rescind another’s freedom, who could not rescind their own slavery, unless perhaps it pleased the buyer to receive his price back; and in that case slavery is not rescinded but redeemed. The chief liberality, then, is to redeem captives, especially from a barbarian enemy, who shows no humanity for mercy except what avarice has reserved for ransom; to take on another’s debt, if the debtor cannot pay and is pressed for a payment that is lawfully owed and he is destitute through want; to bring up little children and to protect orphans. There are also those who give in marriage virgins bereaved of their parents, to protect their chastity, and help not only with zeal but also with expense. There is also that kind of liberality which the Apostle teaches: “If any believer has widows, let him provide for them, so that the Church may not be burdened, that it may suffice for those who are truly widows.” Such liberality, then, is useful, but not open to all. For there are very many, even good men, who are of slender means, content with little for their own use but not able to help relieve another’s poverty; yet another kind of beneficence is available by which they can help someone lower. For liberality is twofold: one that helps by means of property, that is, by the use of money; the other that is spent in the contribution of works, often far more splendid and distinguished. How much more illustrious it was that Abraham recovered his captured nephew by victorious arms than if he had ransomed him! How much more usefully did holy Joseph help King Pharaoh by the counsel of providence than if he had given money! For money did not buy back the plenty of a single city; foresight kept the famine from all Egypt for five years. Money is easily used up; counsels do not know how to be exhausted. These grow with use; money is lessened and quickly fails and abandons kindness itself, so that the more people you wish to give to, the fewer you help, and often you lack what you thought you should give to others. But the contribution of counsel and work, the more widely it is spread among many, the more abundant it remains, and it runs back to its own source. For the abundance of prudence flows back into itself, and the more it has flowed out to many, the more exercised is all that remains.

It is clear, then, that there must be a measure in liberality, lest largess become useless. Sobriety must be kept, especially by priests, so that they dispense not for display but for justice. For nowhere is there greater greed in begging. Strong men come, men come who have no reason but their wandering, and they want to drain the help of the poor and empty the funds; not content with little, they seek more, angling for support for their request by their dress, and bidding up their gains by pretending to noble birth. If anyone readily believes them, he quickly exhausts the resources meant for the nourishment of the poor. Let there be a measure in giving, so that neither do these go away empty, nor is the living of the poor turned into the spoils of the fraudulent. Let the measure, then, be such that humanity is not deserted, nor necessity left destitute. Many pretend debts: let the truth be examined. They lament that they have been stripped by robbers: let the injury itself, or knowledge of the person, give credence, so that they may be helped the more readily. Those banished from the Church should be given support if they lack means of subsistence. So he who keeps measure is mean to none but generous to all; for we ought to offer not only our ears to hear the voices of those who beg, but also our eyes to consider their needs. Weakness cries louder to a good worker than the voice of the poor man. It cannot be that the importunity of those who shout does not extort more; but there should not always be room for impudence. He must be seen who does not see you; he must be sought who blushes to be seen. Let him too who is shut up in prison come before you; let him who is afflicted with sickness sound in your mind, since he cannot sound in your ears. The more the people sees you working, the more it will love you. I know many priests who, the more they gave, the more they abounded; for whoever sees a good worker gives him what he may dispense in his office, secure that his own mercy will reach the poor man; for no one wants his contribution to benefit anyone but a poor man. For if he sees a dispenser either immoderate or too tight-fisted, he will despise both: if he squanders the fruits of another’s labour by superfluous outlays, or if he hoards them in bags. As, then, measure must be kept in liberality, so often a spur seems needed. Measure for this reason, that what you do well you may be able to do every day, lest you take from necessity what you have granted to extravagance; a spur, because money does better work in the poor man’s food than in the rich man’s purse. Beware lest you shut up the salvation of the needy in your coffers and bury the life of the poor as in tombs. Joseph could have given away all the wealth of Egypt and poured out the royal treasures; yet he did not wish to seem lavish with another’s property; he preferred to sell the grain rather than give it to the hungry; because if he had given it to a few, it would have failed the many. He approved that liberality by which there would be enough for all. He opened the granaries so that all might buy their supply of grain, lest by receiving it free they abandon the cultivation of their lands; for he who uses another’s neglects his own. So first of all he gathered money, then the other means, and finally acquired the rights to the lands for the king, not to strip all of their own, but to support them; he established a public tribute, by which they could hold their own more securely. This was so pleasing to all whose lands he had taken that they thought it not the sale of their right but the redemption of their safety. Indeed they said: “You have saved us; we have found favour in the sight of our lord.” For those who received the right back had lost nothing of their property, and those who had acquired permanence had lost nothing of advantage. O great man, who did not seek the temporary glory of superfluous largess, but established the perpetual benefit of providence! For he brought it about that the people helped themselves by their own tributes, and in a time of need did not want for help. For it was better to contribute something from the produce than to lose the whole right. He fixed a fifth part as the contribution, and was both more far-sighted in providing and more liberal in the tribute. Indeed Egypt never afterwards suffered such a famine. How splendidly he gathered the future! First, how acutely, as interpreter of the king’s dream, he expressed its truth! The king’s first dream was this: “Seven heifers came up from the river, fine to look at and fat in body, and they fed on the bank of the river. Other calves too, ugly to look at and lean in body, came up from the river after those heifers, and fed beside them on the very couch of the banks; and these thin and lean calves were seen to devour those that excelled in form and grace.” And the second dream was this: “Seven ears of grain, fat, choice and good, rose from the ground; and after them seven ears, thin, blighted by the wind and withered, tried to come up after them; and it was seen that the barren and thin ears devoured the fruitful and rich ears.” This dream holy Joseph explained thus: the seven heifers were seven years, and the seven ears likewise seven years, interpreting times from offspring and fruit. For the offspring of heifers marks a year, and the fruit of the crop completes a whole year. And they came up from the river because days, years, and times pass by like rivers and glide swiftly. So he declares that the first seven years of rich land will be fertile and fruitful, but the other seven years after them barren and unfruitful, and their barrenness would consume the plenty of the former. For this reason he advised providing that in the richer years a supply of grain be gathered which could sustain the want of the coming barrenness. What shall I admire first? The insight by which he descended into the very chamber of truth? Or the counsel by which he provided for so grave and long a need? Or the vigilance and justice, of which the one, when so great an office was laid on him, gathered such manifold supplies, and the other kept equality for all? And what shall I say of his magnanimity, that, sold into slavery by his brothers, he did not return the injury but drove away their famine? What of his sweetness, by which he sought the presence of his beloved brother by a loving deceit, making him guilty of robbery by a cleverly feigned theft, so that he might keep him as a hostage of affection? Hence rightly it is said to him by his father: “My son Joseph is increased, my son is increased, my zealous younger son… My God has helped you and blessed you with the blessing of heaven above and the blessing of the earth, of the earth that has all things, for the blessings of your father and mother. It has prevailed over the blessings of the abiding mountains and the desires of the eternal hills.” And in Deuteronomy: “You who were seen in the bush,” it says, “come upon the head of Joseph and upon his crown. Honourable among his brothers; the firstborn of the bull is his glory, his horns are the horns of the unicorn. With his horn he will toss the nations together to the end of the earth. His are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and his the thousands of Manasseh.”

Such, then, ought he to be who gives counsel to another: that he offers himself to others as a pattern of good works, in teaching, in integrity, in gravity; that his speech may be sound and irreproachable, his counsel useful, his life honourable, his judgment seemly. Such was Paul, who gave counsel to virgins and instruction to priests, so as first to offer himself as a pattern for us to imitate. So he knew how to be humbled, as Joseph too knew, who, born of the highest race of patriarchs, did not disdain a degrading slavery but adorned it with obedience and made it illustrious with virtues. He knew how to be humbled, who suffered both a seller and a buyer and called the latter master. Hear him humbling himself: “If my master, because of me, knows nothing in his house, and has given into my hands all that he has, and nothing has been withheld from me except you, because you are his wife, how shall I do this evil thing and sin before the Lord?” A voice full of humility, full of chastity: of humility, because he deferred to his master; of honour, because he returned gratitude; full of chastity too, because he thought it a grave sin to be defiled by a shameful crime. Such, then, ought the counsellor to be: having nothing cloudy, nothing deceitful, nothing feigned to refute his life and character; nothing wicked and malevolent to turn away those who consult him. For some things are fled, others despised. We flee those things that can harm, that can creep maliciously into hurt; as when he who is consulted is of doubtful faith and greedy for money, so that he can be changed by a price; if he is injurious, he is fled and shunned. But he who is a lover of pleasure and intemperate, even if free from fraud, yet avaricious and greedy for shameful gain, is despised. For what proof of industry, what fruit of labour can he show, how can he take on care and anxiety in his mind, who has given himself to torpor and sloth? So the man of good counsel says: “For I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.” For he knew that avarice is the root of all evils, and so he was content with his own and did not seek another’s. It is enough for me, he says, what I have; whether I have little or much, to me it is very much. It seems something should be said more expressly. He used a marked word: “I am sufficient,” he says, “in what I am”; that is, there is neither lack nor excess. No lack, because I seek nothing more; no excess, because I have not for myself alone but for many. This concerning money. But of all things it can be said that present things sufficed him; that is, he did not desire greater honour or richer service; he was not immoderately greedy for glory, nor did he seek favour undeservedly; but, patient of labour and secure of his merit, he awaited the end of the contest that was due. “I know,” he says, “how to be humbled.” So it is not untaught humility that is praised, but humility that has its modesty and knowledge. For there is a humility of fear, and there is one of inexperience and ignorance; and so Scripture says: “And he will save the humble in spirit.” Excellently, then, he said: “I know how to be humbled”; that is, in what place, with what moderation, to what end, in what duty, in what office. The Pharisee did not know how to be humbled, and so he was cast down; the tax collector knew, and so he was justified. Paul knew also how to abound, because he had a rich mind, though he did not have a rich man’s treasure. He knew how to abound, who did not seek a gift in money but sought fruit in grace. We can also understand it thus, that he knew how to abound who could say: “Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.” In all things he was instructed, both to be filled and to hunger. Blessed is he who knew how to be filled in Christ. That is not a bodily but a spiritual fullness, which knowledge brings about. And rightly knowledge is needed; for man does not live by bread alone but by every word of God. So he who knew thus how to be filled and thus to hunger knew how always to seek new things, to hunger for God, to thirst for the Lord. He knew how to hunger who knew that the hungry will eat; he knew and was able to abound, who had nothing and possessed all things.

Justice, then, excellently commends men who preside over any office; iniquity, on the contrary, abandons and assails them. Scripture gives us an example, which says that when the people of Israel, after Solomon’s death, had asked his son Rehoboam to relieve their necks from hard servitude and to temper the severity of his father’s rule, he, despising the counsel of the elders, at the suggestion of the young men gave an answer of this kind: that he would add a burden to his father’s yoke and change light punishments for heavier ones. Exasperated by this answer, the people replied: “We have no portion in David, nor inheritance in the sons of Jesse. Return each to your tents, Israel”; for this man will be to us neither prince nor leader. So, deserted and abandoned by the people, he could scarcely keep the fellowship of two tribes, for David’s sake.

It is clear, then, that equity strengthens rule and injustice dissolves it. For how can wickedness possess a kingdom, when it cannot rule even one private household? The greatest kindness, then, is needed, so that we may protect not only the public helm but also private rights. Benevolence helps very much, which strives to embrace all with benefits, to bind them with services, and to pledge them with gratitude. We said too that affability of speech is very effective for winning favour. But we want this to be sincere and sober, without any flattery, lest flattery in speech mar the simplicity and purity of address; for we ought to be a pattern to others not only in work but also in speech, in chastity and in faith. Let us be such as we wish to be thought, and let us show such affection as we have. Nor let us say in our heart a wicked word which we think hidden by silence; for he hears words spoken in secret who made secret things, and he knows the secrets of the inward parts who poured feeling into the inward parts. So, as if set under the eyes of the judge, let us think that whatever we do is placed in the light, to be made manifest to all.

It is very profitable, then, for everyone to be joined to good men. It is useful for young men too to follow distinguished and wise men; for he who keeps company with the wise is wise, but he who clings to the imprudent is recognized as imprudent. So it helps very much both for instruction and as a testimony to integrity. For young men show that they are imitators of those to whom they cling; and the opinion grows strong that they have received a likeness of life from those with whom they have drunk in the desire of conversing. Hence the greatness of Joshua son of Nun: his union with Moses not only educated him in knowledge of the Law but also sanctified him for grace. Indeed, when in his tabernacle the majesty of the Lord was seen to shine with divine presence, Joshua son of Nun alone was in the tabernacle. When Moses spoke with God, Joshua likewise was covered with the sacred cloud. The elders and the people stood below; Joshua went up with Moses to receive the Law. All the people were within the camp; Joshua was outside the camp in the tabernacle of witness. When the pillar of cloud came down and spoke with Moses, he stood by as a faithful minister; nor did the young man go out of the tabernacle, while the elders, placed far off, trembled at the divine wonders. Everywhere, then, among admirable works and venerable secrets, he clung inseparably to holy Moses. Hence it came about that he who had been the companion of his life became the successor of his power. Rightly such a man came to stop the course of rivers, to say, “Let the sun stand still,” and the sun stood still, as if, a spectator of his victory, it put off the night and prolonged the day; why, he alone was chosen (what was denied to Moses) to lead the people into the land of promise. A great man in the miracles of faith, great in triumphs. The works of the one were more august, those of the other more prosperous. Both, then, supported by divine grace, went beyond the human condition: the one commanded the sea, the other the sky. Fine, then, is the union of elders and young men: the one gives testimony, the other comfort; the one teaching, the other delight. I pass over that the young Lot clung to Abraham even as he set out, lest this perhaps be thought rather a matter of kinship, of a necessary rather than a voluntary association. What shall we say of Elijah and Elisha? Though Scripture did not expressly indicate that Elisha was young, yet we notice and gather that he was the younger. In the Acts of the Apostles Barnabas took Mark, Paul took Silas, Paul Timothy, Paul Titus. But in those just mentioned we see the duties divided, so that the elders excelled in counsel, the younger in service. Often too men equal in virtues but unequal in age delight in union with each other, as Peter and John delighted. For we read in the Gospel, and in his own words, that John was a young man, though in merits and wisdom he was second to none of the elders; for there was in him a venerable old age of character and a hoary prudence. For a spotless life is the wage of a good old age.

This too helps towards the growth of a good reputation, if you snatch the needy from the hands of the powerful and rescue the condemned from death, so far as it can be done without disturbance; lest we seem to do it for display rather than for mercy, and inflict graver wounds while we wish to heal lighter ones. Again, if you free one oppressed by the wealth and faction of a powerful man rather than weighed down by the price of his own crime, the testimony of a good opinion grows remarkably strong. Hospitality too commends many. For it is a public mark of humanity that the stranger should not lack hospitality, should be received dutifully, and that the door should be open to the newcomer. It is very becoming in the estimation of the whole world that strangers be received with honour, that the grace of hospitality not be lacking at the table, that one go to meet guests with the services of liberality and watch for their coming. This was counted to Abraham’s praise, who watched before his door lest perhaps some stranger pass by; and he diligently kept watch, to go to meet, to anticipate, to ask that the guest not pass by, saying: “Lord, if I have found favour before you, do not pass by your servant.” And so, as the reward of hospitality, he received the fruit of posterity. Lot too, his nephew, near to him not only in kin but also in virtue, turned aside the punishments of Sodom from himself and his own because of his love of hospitality. It is fitting, then, to be hospitable, kind, just, not covetous of another’s; rather to yield something of one’s own right, if provoked, than to attack the rights of others; to shun lawsuits, to abhor quarrels, to buy concord and the grace of tranquillity. For a good man’s relaxing something of his own right belongs not only to liberality but often also to advantage. First, it is no small gain to be free of the cost of a lawsuit; then it adds to the fruit that friendship is increased, from which arise very many advantages, which will afterwards bear fruit for one who despises some things for a time. In the duties of hospitality, humanity is to be shown to all; but more abundant honour is to be paid to the just; for “whoever receives a just man in the name of a just man will receive a just man’s reward,” as the Lord declared. So great is the grace of hospitality with God that not even a drink of cold water is left without the rewards of recompense. You see that Abraham received God as his guest while he looked for guests? You see that Lot received angels? How do you know that you too, when you receive a man, do not receive Christ? Christ may be in the guest; for Christ is in the poor man, as he himself says: “I was in prison and you came to me; I was naked and you covered me.” It is sweet, then, to be eager not for money but for grace. But this evil has long since flowed into human minds, that money is held in honour and the minds of men are captured by admiration of riches. Hence avarice has sunk in, like a kind of drought of good duties, so that men think whatever is spent beyond custom a loss. But in this too venerable Scripture has provided against avarice, lest it bring any hindrance, saying: “Better is hospitality with herbs.” And below: “Better is bread in sweetness with peace.” For Scripture teaches us to be not prodigal but liberal. For there are two kinds of largess: one of liberality, the other of prodigal pouring out. It is liberal to receive in hospitality, to clothe the naked, to redeem captives, to help those without means; it is prodigal to overflow with costly banquets and much wine; whence you have read: “Wine is prodigal, and drunkenness insolent.” It is prodigal to empty one’s own wealth for the sake of popular favour, as those do who squander their patrimony on games, on theatrical shows and gladiatorial displays, or even on wild-beast hunts, in order to outdo the celebrity of their predecessors, when all that they do is empty. Indeed it is not fitting to be immoderate even in the expense of good works. It is fine liberality, even towards the poor themselves, to keep measure, so that you may have enough for more, and not to overflow beyond measure for the sake of winning favour. Whatever is brought forth from a pure and sincere disposition, this is seemly: not to undertake superfluous buildings, nor to neglect necessary ones. And this especially befits a priest: to adorn God’s temple with fitting beauty, so that by this care too the Lord’s court may shine; to make frequent the expenses fitting for mercy; to give strangers as much as is right: not superfluous things but suitable ones, not overflowing but fitting to humanity; lest he seek for himself another’s favour at the expense of the poor; and not to show himself either too restricted or too indulgent towards the clergy. For the one is inhuman, the other prodigal: if either the means are lacking for the needs of those whom you ought to draw back from the sordid pursuits of trade, or they overflow for pleasure.