Thursday, June 25, 2020

THE FIFTY-EIGHTH TREATISE OF ST. PETER DAMIAN: Concerning True Happiness and Wisdom



Peter the sinful monk sends greetings to the most prudent
Boniface, in the indissoluble bond of their true love.

I know very well, brother, that when this letter of mine
falls into the hands of your worldly acquaintances, it will be
scanned diligently to see whether it shines with eloquence;
they will look to see whether it has been set forth in logical
order, whether it gleams with the rich colours of rhetorical art,
whether the opinions it contains are elaborated by arguments
of dialectical subtlety; they will ask whether I use categorical
or hypothetical syllogisms to construct my propositions by
means of irrefutable adductions.

CHAPTER ONE

But those who live by the spirit of God despise these
ornamental frivolities as things utterly vain and worthless, and,
as the Apostle says, count them but as dung. 1 And Paul bears
witness that he himself did not speak to his disciples with
wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of
no effect. 2 What splendid and fruitful and honourable eloquence
is that which, while it puffs up its proud author with the wind
of vainglory, makes of no effect the cross of Christ, which is
the world's salvation!

And so, dearly beloved, do not look to find in my letters

the enticing salt savour of mordant wit or the charm of smooth

sophistication; be content with that sheeplike simplicity which

1 Phil, iii, 8. a i Cor. i, 17.

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leads to God; and shun the cunning of the serpent, which
instils a deadly poison. The Scriptures say: 'Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field.' 1 And the Lord,
who set an irreconcilable enmity between the seed of the
woman and that of the serpent, called Himself a shepherd of
sheep, not of serpents; He did not say c My serpents' but 'My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and I give unto them
eternal life.' 2 And yet the wise men of this world hold in scorn
the simplicity of the servants of God. This is why Moses says:
'The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for
that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.' 3 He gives the
reason for this elsewhere, when he says 'Every shepherd is an
abomination unto the Egyptians.' 4 And Truth Himself has said
that the children of this world are wiser in their generation
than the children of light. 5 That is why they love the cunning
of the serpent and despise the purity and simplicity of the sheep.
Yet the Lord said to Peter: c lf you love Me, feed My sheep,
feed My lambs.' 6 Did He say Teed my foxlings, feed my
dragons' ?

Concerning all this I would say to you, dearly beloved, that
you should beware of the dreadful subtlety of the serpent.
Your holy wisdom should tread the middle way between folly
and cunning. This is what James meant when he dismissed the
wisdom of the serpent, saying: 'This wisdom descendeth not
from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.* 7 A little later he
tells us of that kind of wisdom which we should possess: 'The
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle
and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy.' 8 Paul also tells us not to
think more highly than we ought, but to think soberly. 9 Isaias
says of unbridled wisdom: 'The wisdom of their wise men shall
perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from
the Lord; whose works are in the dark and they say: Who

1 Gen. iii, i. 2 John x, 27-28. 3 Gen. xliii, 32.

4 Gen. xlvi, 34. 5 Luke xvi, 8. 6 John xxi, 15-18.

7 Jas. Hi, 15. 8 Ibid., 17. 9 Rom. xii, 3.

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seeth us, and who knoweth us ?* The prophet mocks at such
wisdom: 'Where Is the scribe? Where is the lawyer? Where is
the teacher of the children ? You shall not see an unwise people,
a people of deep speech, so that you cannot understand the
discourse of their tongue, in which there is no wisdom/ 1

CHAPTER Two

The Apostle distinguishes clearly the great difference be-
tween worldly prudence and spiritual wisdom in another place,
when he says: Tor after that in the wisdom of God the world
by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe/ 2 And again: 'The
carnal mind is the enemy of God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be/ 3 This is why as we are
told in the book of Genesis, the five kings who did not wish
to submit to Chedorlaomor were overcome by four kings.
This took place in the vale of Siddim, which is now the salt
sea. The four kings represent those four virtues which Holy
Scripture calls the principal virtues; the five kings symbolize
the senses of the body, and thereby outward knowledge. And
just as the former, those virtues which I have mentioned, spring
from their mother-source, the fountain-head of reason, so the
latter remain in the valley of salt which is the vanity of earthly
wisdom, where they are overthrown by their enemies; for it is
fitting that in our souls the wisdom of the spirit should have
the victory and the cunning of fleshly knowledge should perish.
We read of David that 'he gat himself a name when he returned
from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, twelve
thousand being slain/ 4 And Christ, our true David, mighty in
strength and splendid to behold, scattered twelve thousand
men in the valley of salt, for through His apostles He triumphed
over the salt, nay, the false witness of this world. He had twelve
warriors for his spiritual battle, and through each of them
must have slain a thousand men when he converted the fool-

1 Isa. xxxiii, 18-19. 2 * Cor. i s 21.

8 Rom. viii, 7. 4 i Sam. vili, 13.

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ishly wise from the folly of their vain knowledge. One of these
warriors said to the Corinthians: 'Though we walk in the flesh
we do not war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling
down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ.' 1

CHAPTER THREE

Indeed, just as heavenly wisdom makes spiritually-minded
and lawful sons of the Church, so earthly prudence makes them
carnal-minded and bastards. Of these, Baruch says: 'And the
sons of Agar, who sought out diligently that wisdom which is
of this world, the merchants of Merrha and Theman, the
spinners of tales and seekers of knowledge, knew not the way
of wisdom, nor did they remember her paths.' 2 Those who
desire to pursue worldly knowledge and who despise the wis-
dom of the spkit are sons of Agar, not of Sarah; and, being
bastards, are to be judged by the law of Ishmael, not that of
Israel. And, since the name Agar means 'stranger', they are not
the children of wisdom, but strangers and pilgrims, but not of
the number of those to whom the Apostle says: c Now therefore
ye are no more strangers and pilgrims, but fellow-citizens with
the saints, and of the household of God.' 3 Do you too, dearly
beloved (if I may once more use the words of Baruch), learn
where wisdom dwells. For she is to be found in her essence
only in God, and of him you must certainly seek her. But
because the place you hold in the world is not a lowly one,
and because you cannot abandon it, you will find it useful, in
avoiding the cadences of pagan rhetoric in conversation, and
in shunning at all times the sophistication of literary elegance,
to observe a certain discretion. Be almost slothful in worldly
matters; but stretch all the sinews of your mind in the discipline
of the spirit. Be heedless of the former, but eager in the latter.
Because you cannot of yourself hope entirely to avoid the

1 2 Cor. x, 3-5. 2 Baruch iii, 22-24. 3 Eph. ii, 19.

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cunning of the serpent in the transaction of worldly affairs, let
this be enough for you: that the wisdom of the spirit may
devour your earthly prudence, and transform it into the secret
substance of her body. The Scriptures tell us, concerning
Pharaoh's magicians: They cast down every man his rod, and
they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their
rods.' 1 Now, the rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the
sorcerers because the wisdom of Christ, which it signified, has
made void all the wisdom of the world, and has united in the
bowels of His body, the Church, the wise men of this world.

Besides, it is absurd and disgraceful that we should show the
same care and precision in human affairs that we devote to the
things of God and of the spirit. That is why the Lord said to
Moses: 'Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte and onycha and
sweet-smelling galbanum and pure frankincense, and thou
shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the
apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy.' 2

We make a perfume of sweet spices when we diffuse the
odour of a multiplicity of virtues around the altar of good
works. And it is tempered together and pure, because the more
we add to virtue, the more purely does the incense of good
works rise up. And to these words of the Lord were added
others: 'And thou shalt beat it very small, and put of it before
the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation.' 3 We beat
all these spices very small when we pound our good works in
the pestle of our hearts by secret examination of our con-
sciences and carefully consider whether they are truly good.
To reduce the spices to dust is to grind our virtues by means
of reflection and to subject them to the refinement of inner
inquiry.

CHAPTER FOUR

Remember what was said of this dust: 'Thou shalt put of it
before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation';
for our good works are truly pleasing in the sight of the
Eternal Judge when our mind mills them by careful considera-

1 Exod. vii, 12. a Exod. xxx, 34-35. 3 Ibid., 36.

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tion, and as it were reduces the spices to dust. Let not the good
which we do contain anything harsh or coarse, lest, the severe
hand of examination having failed to crush it, it should not
send forth its most delicate fragrance. Such diligence, such
pressing attention, is not, of course, to be shown to worldly
things; its purpose is this that we may be found pleasing in
the sight of the Creator; not that we may appear glorious in
this world, but that we may be wise in God's sight in our
judgement. That is why the Lord continued: c You shall not
make for yourselves according to the composition thereof; it
shall be unto you holy for the Lord*; 1 and afterwards: 'Whoso-
ever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be
cut off from his people/ 2 Whoever, then, devotes to the study
of pagan letters, or to any earthly thing, that care which is
chiefly due to that punctilious inner examination of ourselves
whereby we may please God, deserves to perish, for he is
devoting that incense which should be offered to God alone
to transitory and vain things. And that which we say concern-
ing knowledge must be admitted to apply to all the pleasures
of this life. For it is fitting that worldly prudence should wither
up in us straightway, and that the wisdom of the spirit alone
should blossom again in our souls; as the Apostle tells us
when he says: Tf ye then be risen with Christ, seek the things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth/ 3 It would be none the less fitting that this present
existence should have no life in our hearts; that, being utterly
dead to us, it should by no means delight us who are dead, as
the same Apostle says: Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.' 4 Yet since these things are impossible
especially for those who live in the world, who cannot alto-
gether attain the summit of this other perfection, they must be
reminded that they should endeavour to give at all events only

1 Exod. xxx, 37. 2 !&<!., ?8>

3 CoL iii, i~2. 4 Rom. vi, 4.

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a secondary place to those things which they cannot completely
despise.

CHAPTER FIVE

And because this present existence is as delightful to many
men of the world as a coy wife, we must repeat at greater
length that even if they cannot, because of the weakness of the
spirit, hate it as they should, they must not begin to love it
excessively; so that even if they have not as yet sufficient
strength to give it a writ of separation they may be ashamed,
nevertheless, to show it preference in comparison with their
love of everlasting life. That is why the law declares: "If a man
have two wives, one beloved and another hated, and they have
borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the
first-born son be hers that was hated, then it shall be, when he
maketh his sons to inherit that which is indeed the first-born,
by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; for he is the
beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his/ 1
Now, these two wives of man are virtue and pleasure, at
variance with each other, feeling jealousy, malice and hatred.
And pleasure belongs to this life, but virtue to everlasting
glory. The former is beloved because she allures her husband
(the feeble soul) with seductive delights; the other is described
as hated because she causes men to travel a narrow and painful
road and always sets before them hard and bitter things. But
the son of the hated wife is our first-born, for our Creator in
the beginning gave virtue to us, but pleasure, and all the allure-
ments of the flesh, proceed from the defects of our fallen nature.
But, since there is not time to set forth word by word all the
essence of the nature of this precept, let it suffice, for brevity's
sake, to say that if we cannot drive out the beloved wife, who
is certainly harmful to us, from sharing our bridal couch, let
us at any rate strive to exalt the hated wife, who is upright and
chaste, to the position of the first-born; so that even if it is
difficult for us, in however small a degree, not to be aware of
the sweetness of this life, the glory of mastery shall be granted

1 Deut. xxi, 15-17.

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to virtue, the place of servitude to pleasure. The son of virtue
shall rule in the dignity of the first-born; the son of pleasure
shall remain a servant, always under the restraint of discipline.
Do you by any chance wish to know who are the sons of the
beloved wife ? Paul will give you the answer: 'Now the works
of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, vari-
ance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings and suchlike, of the which I
tell you before, as I have also told you in times past, that they
which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' 1
And would you like to hear now who are the offspring of the
hated wife? Listen to what he says next: 'But the fruit of the
spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuflering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance.* 2 The first-born son should there-
fore receive his double portion in this way: the fruit of the
spirit should rule both body and soul, and should have rights
over both the inner and the outer man.

CHAPTER Six

If, then, you find it hard to be content with one wife, and
have not the strength to give to the beloved wife whom you
should hate a writ of separation, at least be sure that the hated
wife, whom you should embrace with all your might, is given
the highest place in the household of your heart. But she who
is now wrongly beloved shall have the lowest place until such
time as she shall gradually, by reason of her hideousness, be-
come an object of aversion, and aversion be irrevocably turned
into hatred. Let the son of the hated wife be your first-born,
and let the multitude of your other children do him reverence.
That is why we read that Joshua called down a curse upon
Jericho after she had fallen, saying: 'Cursed be the man before
the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall
lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest
son shall he set up the gates of it/ 3 For by Jericho which in
1 Gal v, 19-21. 8 Ibid., 22. 3 Joshua vi, 26.

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our language means 'moon 5 , is signified our present life; so
that he who builds the city of Jericho on his firstborn is he
who loves the good things of this life above all else. And
because Truth Himself has commanded, in the gospel: 'Seek
ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all
these things shall be added unto you', 1 anyone who is proved
to have erred from this commandment is deservedly con-
demned by a curse, as the prophet bears witness when he says:
They are cursed who do err from thy commandments.' 2 On
the other hand, he may be said to set up the gates of Jericho
in his youngest son who so uses this world's goods that he
does not possess them with desire but yearns with all his heart
for the reward of heavenly glory. He who sets earthly things
below heavenly ones in his love cares not a straw for perish-
able things. In doing this, he makes the son of the hated wife
the first-born, according to the commandment of the law, and
as Joshua says, raises the gates of Jericho on the youngest of
his children. Cain, on the other hand, built a city upon his
first-born son Enoch because he did not hope for an inheritance
to come; and because he destined himself over-hastily for the
Jericho of this world, he incurred the sentence of everlasting
damnation. Hence it is written: 'An inheritance may be gotten
hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be
blessed.' 3

And so, beloved, if you cannot yet be content with the life
of the spirit alone as your only bride, but are held bound by
the evil caresses and allurements of life in the world, at least
let the love of everlasting life hold first place in the household
of your heart, as befits the first-born; and let concern for earthly
things be in a place of subjection, as an inferior to be kept in
check. In the Song of Songs it is said: 'His left hand is under
my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.' 4 Now the left
hand is said to be under the head when this life is scorned and
despised by the mind, which is the head and source of our
thoughts. He is held in the embrace of the right hand who at

1 Matt, vi, 33. 2 Ps. odx, 21.

8 Prov. xx, 21. 4 Song of Sol. ii, 6.

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all times takes pleasure in longing for eternal life alone. And
because Solomon also says: 'Give a portion to seven and also
to eight', 1 hasten forward in this life, which is signified by the
number seven, in suchwise that you may now strive with all
your powers to abide in the love of life everlasting, which
through the number eight signifies the glory of the resurrec-
tion. Show only a careless and fleeting concern for this world;
fix your unwavering and enduring purpose of unfailing love
on the world to come, which is everlasting. Moreover, I would
like to remind you that what I have said of this mortal life
applies also to the wisdom of the world, so that in your soul
mortal life and earthly wisdom may yield, trodden down, as it
were by the heel of the mind. But may the love of eternal life
and zeal for spiritual wisdom surpass all other things, set on
the highest pinnacle of your heart, so that when you spurn this
life and its wisdom, you may deserve by happy exchange to be
filled with the divine Spirit, who will urge you on to eternal
glory.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.



1 Eccles. xl, 2.

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