On Jacob and the Happy Life 1.30–2.22

Use, then, your inner good. The greatest testimony to this good is that one who has it does not seek other things. For what would he seek who despises lower things and clings to the most excellent, as it is written: 'Let the stag of friendship and the foal of graces converse with you'? Let friendship go before you and be with you at all times; for good is the friendship of the virtues and the love of the highest good. So the perfect man seeks nothing else but the one and glorious good. Hence he also says: 'One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and see the delight of the Lord.' And do not disdain him as narrow and needy because he is content with the solitary company, as it were, of one good. Surrounded by its friendship he will be very rich. For it is abundant for such a man, for happiness and for the possession of the good, and therefore he desires nothing else. For he who has everything seeks nothing as new. There is no good that he does not have; nor does he delight in superfluities, but in necessities, and in that very necessity which is necessary not for himself but for the flesh that clings to him; and he allows only what does not disagree with the purpose of the inner man, so that he may make both one and reconcile to God both the inner and the outer man together, so that there may be one spirit in both.

A man of this purpose, then, is not diminished by losses, not broken by adversities, not hindered by barriers, not saddened by the loss of his own. For his instruction the apostle says: 'We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, so that you may not be sad, as the others who have no hope.' For he consoles himself with faith in the resurrection and the grace of future reward, and does not admit sadness into the mind with which he clings to God, but rejoices in the delight of the divine presence. But one who is saddened by these things is not saddened according to God, and what is not according to God is full of folly. The sadness of this world, then, which is not according to God, is far from the perfect man, and so is every anxiety over bodily hardship. For with such a disposition of mind and substance the condition of the body and a certain use of outward nature are not counted, since the unconquered soul must keep an even constancy against the delights of the body and the very frailty of nature, against bereavements, losses, insults; so that whoever desires to hold the palm of happiness should, as it were, cut himself off from the body and strip off the senses of the flesh, a happiness whose fruit lies not in the portion of one virtue but in the fellowship of many, and, if possible, of all.

The perfect man, then, does not know the inconveniences of this body or the adversities of the world, nor does he feel them, since he bears a soul free of the fear that they may happen. For a life is not defined as more perfect if it lacks these things, but if it despises them. For if it were defined so that the happy life were one that could be found free and empty of such mishaps, then surely, when these things happened, no one could be defined as happy. These things, then, have been set aside, and this alone has been required in the estimation of the happy life: that its definition be held to lie not in other things but in the possession of the true and the good, since he who has that spits out the rest and does not seek it.

I now ask whether the wise man takes pleasure in health of body. We cannot deny that he takes pleasure in it according to nature and would rather not be in pain than be in pain, except perhaps for Christ, for whom, if the cause demands, he would readily accept even weakness of body and offer his whole body to death. Yet the same man, even apart from the cause of faith and righteousness, if health is lacking, is not afflicted in soul nor broken by pain of body, since he can console himself with the perfection of the virtues.

I also ask whether he takes pleasure in his children. Who would deny it? For it is not a hard and iron man that is sought, but a perfect one. Yet even if he loses his children, he is not on that account less happy, since he is not on that account less perfect; for what is perfect is happy. Indeed such a man is usually thought more perfect if he endures adversity than if he abounds in prosperity, although nothing is usually taken from or added to virtue whether outward advantages or bodily joys are absent or present; but for many it has been as much a praise to have endured adversity bravely as not to have met it. But these things are judged by appearance, not by weight:

the deeper truth is that the just man wills nothing but that one glorious good, intends it alone, counts it alone among goods, desires not something else along with it but always it alone, and delights in it. If something else is added that delights him, such as the sweetness of children, that good is not lost, but this is added. For accidents do not diminish happiness, since they cannot increase it, because that remains full and inviolable which the soul has put on and into which it has inserted and poured itself. Perfect virtue remains always amid adversities and delights; adversities take nothing from its perfection, nor do delights add to it. For how should one who has ascended to the summit feel either loss or gain from perishable things?

Nor will he think himself wretched — what most people regard as the gravest thing — if he himself or his children fall into captivity; for he will not find intolerable what nature holds or what seems good to the Lord. Indeed the just man said: 'Good is the word which the Lord has spoken,' and he said: 'Let there be peace and faithfulness in my days.' Certainly that just man Hezekiah did not rejoice that the hardship of captivity had been turned onto his sons, but he could not oppose the will of the Lord, and therefore he received his commands calmly, like a humble servant. Add to this that he could reckon that the merit of virtue can stand out even in captivity. For Jeremiah was not less happy in captivity, nor Daniel, nor Ezra, nor were Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael less happy than if they had not fallen into captivity, since they were led into captivity in order to bring the people both present comfort in captivity and the hope of escaping captivity. For it belongs to the perfect man to bear the common lot of nature with strength of soul and lead it toward better things, and not to succumb to what seems terrible and fearful to most, but, like a brave soldier, to sustain the assaults of the gravest misfortunes and undergo the conflicts, and, like a provident helmsman, to steer the ship in a storm and, by meeting the rising waves, to avoid shipwreck by cutting through the waves rather than by turning aside. Such a man is not fearful in persecution, not softer under torture so as not to provoke the torturer, but like a strong athlete who strikes back at the one beating him, if not with the scourge of a blow, at least with the scourge of speech, who despises the tortures many fear, saying: 'Their wounds have become the arrows of children'; who, though he wrestles with the gravest pain, does not show himself pitiable, but shows, like a light in a lantern, that even amid harsh storms and the fiercest blasts the virtue of his soul shines and cannot be extinguished. He is not soft when his own are wronged, nor anxious about the burial of his body, knowing that heaven is owed him; nor more downcast in the captivity of his fellow citizens, but like a stern judge condemning the faithlessness and errors of unbelievers, like Daniel, who exposed the thefts of the priests and refuted their superstitions, showing that they rested on no truth but were disguised by frauds. Such, finally, is the perfect man: he wishes all to do well and nothing evil to happen to anyone; and if something happens against his will, he himself still loses nothing of his own happiness.

But perhaps someone may think that sickness and weakness of body are a hindrance to fulfilling the task of perfection, because no works of the hands or deeds can go forward. But the just man will not feel these things as a hindrance; rather he will rebuke the one who weeps over them pitiably, and reproach him as cowardly, because he places more in the use of the body than in the virtue of the soul; because he longs for things he serves, when he has what he could rather command others; because he groans in poverty, when he could be above the wealth of the world — for to the faithful the whole world is full of riches; because he weeps over low birth, when he ought to despise royal powers and command the rich and powerful. For this is the life of the just man: he ought to regard even the resources he has as common, indeed to divide them with the needy, distribute them to the poor, cut back his own pleasures, reduce expense, practice the thrift of temperance, keep sobriety in prosperity, patience in adversity, endurance in pain, greatness of soul in dangers; not to know prayers for perpetual health; not to be shaken by the terror of impending death; nor to think that man more excellent who abounds, according to nature, in children, kin, health, joy, and plenty than one who lacks them, nor to weigh merits by the outward things of the world but by the inward things of virtue.

Who would deny that this too is the pattern of the just man: that he fears nothing, dreads nothing except the loss of virtue, and quells the vain fears of others that they have from anxiety over dangers, fear of death, and weakness of body; that he teaches that to be dissolved from the body and to be with Christ is far better; that he shows that activities are not hindered by weaknesses of body but increased? He is commended not by the splendor of his family or the support of kin or by wealth, but by good disposition. For Elijah was not less happy than Moses, though the one, needy of food, in a cheap sheepskin, without sons, without means, without companion, and the other, leader of peoples, glad in offspring, girded with power, founded equal merit in different ways, as was declared in the gospel when they shone with the Lord Jesus in the glory of the resurrection; for he seems to have given them an equal reward, as equal witnesses of his glory. Nor was Elisha less happy than David, though the one was subject to kings and the other endowed with royal power; they obtained no unequal grace of prophetic holiness. For what is lacking to one who possesses that good and has virtue always as his companion and partner? In what state is he not most powerful? In what poverty not rich? In what lowness of birth not illustrious? In what leisure not laboring? In what weakness not vigorous? In what infirmity not strong? In what quiet of sleep not on holiday, he whom his own virtue does not leave even at rest? In what solitude not surrounded, he whom the happy life encircles, whom grace clothes, whom the garment of glory illumines? For he is no less happy at leisure than when working, and no less glorious asleep than awake, because he is no less safe and sound asleep than when he is awake. When can he seem to be on holiday whose mind is always working? When alone, who is always with that good of which the prophet says: 'We shall be filled with the good things of your house'? When downcast, whose citizenship is in heaven? When not comely, who conforms himself to the likeness of that beauty and of the only good, who, even if he is loosened in his limbs, raises himself up in mind? And just as one accustomed to play the cithara, if he sees it broken, its strings loosened, smashed, and its use interrupted, throws it away and does not seek its measures but soothes himself with his own voice, so this man will let the cithara of his body lie idle, will delight himself in his heart, soothe himself with the memory of a good conscience, lift himself up with the divine oracles and the prophetic writings, holding in his soul and embracing in his mind that sweet and pleasant good, to which nothing sad can happen, since the grace of the divine presence always breathes upon him and he is present to himself, filled with the highest tranquillity of soul.

In the previous book we discussed the precepts of the virtues; in the following one let us use the examples of famous men who, placed in the greatest dangers, did not lose the happiness of life but rather gained it. Was not Jacob happy even when he left his homeland? Indeed plainly happy, for he took on the hardships of exile to soften his brother's anger. For if he is happy who avoids sin, surely he cannot be denied to be happy who relieves another's guilt and turns aside a crime. So by voluntary exile he avoided the fratricide that had been prepared, and by this act he sought safety for himself and gave innocence to his brother. Rightly, then, divine grace accompanied him everywhere, so that even while he slept he gained the gift of the happy life. For he saw the mysteries of things to come and heard divine oracles. A good worker in his sleep and rich in poverty, by the service of a hired man's life he obtained both an estate and a marriage by the same labor. He also, an excellent reconciler of brotherly affection, strove with gifts and deference to shut out all indignation and turn aside the pain of offense, showing that he had not been made less by exile, since he could bestow what he had not received.

But I am hurrying too fast to later things and passing over useful ones, since I must first define what a happy man is. For it is written: 'Happy is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.' By this Scripture signifies that he is happy who has kept away from the company of the faithless — for it is ungodliness not to acknowledge the author of life and, as it were, the parent of salvation — or has not remained in sin, or has not persisted in luxury and wantonness. And that he, meditating on the law of the Lord day and night, will be like a tree that will give its fruit in its season. The former are merits deserving reward; this is the reward of merits.

Which of the things that pertain to the merits of happiness was lacking to holy Jacob? He was so far from the company of the ungodly that the faithful people took its name from him and was called Israel, because he beheld God with the eyes of the inner mind, abstaining from sin, sober from every drunkenness of luxury, so that he drank in the hardships of labors and disregarded the security of ease. Is it not finely and truly said of him that he too will give fruit in his season, of whom it is written: 'Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field'? For he was perfect in every flower of the virtues and was fragrant with the grace of the sacred blessing and of heavenly happiness. For he is the field which the Lord has blessed — not this earthly field, bristling with woods or roaring with torrents, or marshy with sluggish waters, or barren of grain, or useless for vines, still stony with unfruitful gravel, or cracked and dry with drought, or soaked with blood, or untilled with brambles and thorns — but that field of which the church speaks in the Song: 'I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and strengths of the field.' For this is the field of which the Lord also says: 'And the beauty of the field is with me.' In this field is found that grape which, pressed, poured out blood and washed the world; in this field is that fig tree under which the saints will rest, refreshed by the sweetness of spiritual grace; in this field is that fruitful olive, flowing with the ointment of the Lord's peace; in this field bloom the pomegranates, which cover very many fruits with one protection of faith and warm them, as it were, with the embrace of love.

These fruits, then, Jacob breathed forth, who followed God through dangers and believed himself safe everywhere under his guidance. For though the smell of a field is sweet and pleasant, because it is the smell of nature, yet in the holy patriarch the grace of the virtues breathed. How continent he was in frugality, who did not demand the food prepared for himself, but gave it without delay to his brother when he asked, and received from him the primacy of the blessing! How dutiful toward his parents, so that he deserved to be preferred to his older brother by his mother's affection and to be consecrated by the gift of his father's blessing! How scrupulous, that he refused to harm his brother! How modest, that he feared to deceive his father! How respectful, that he could not refuse his mother what he was told!

But we must not leave the parents without excuse for preferring the younger son to the elder. At the same time we must take care lest anyone, looking to their example, judge unfairly among his sons, thinking one should be loved and the other set aside. For from this are stirred up brotherly hatreds, and fratricide is plotted for the sake of a petty increase of money. Let the same measure of affection nurture the offspring. Granted that affection may seize somewhat more toward a more winning or more similar child, the pattern of justice ought to be equal toward all. More is given to the beloved child when his brothers' love is sought for him; but more is taken from him if he is burdened with resentment at an unjust preference. Esau threatened that he would kill his brother; neither brotherhood nor reverence for his parents called him back from fratricidal fury, and he grieved that the blessing had been snatched from him, of which he ought to have proved himself worthy by gentleness, not by crime.

But Rebecca too preferred not a son to a son, but a just son to an unjust one. Indeed with that devout mother the mystery outweighed her offspring: she did not so much prefer him to his brother as offer him to the Lord, knowing that he could keep the gift bestowed on him. In this she also took counsel for the other, whom she withdrew from God's displeasure, lest he be entangled in graver guilt if he lost the grace of a blessing once received. But note the good contest between the parents: let the mother contribute affection, the father judgment.

Let the mother lean toward the younger with tender affection; let the father keep the honor of nature toward the elder. Let him honor more, her love more. While each cherishes one, let them not both conspire in favor of one and cheat the other. Let there be equality amid different contests, and by unequal pursuits let equal favor be bestowed on both with equal parental love. Let one make up what the other has lessened. So with loving affection the patriarch Isaac and holy Rebecca strove, so as to make neither inferior, but both equal.

Yet he prevailed who was preferred by the oracle: energy overcame slowness, gentleness harshness. While the one sought wild prey in the rough hunt, the other served his devoted father with the food of mild manners, with homely grace, with sweet dishes of tender gentleness and piety. In souls, whatever is at hand pleases more than whatever you thought should be brought with effort. Jacob went to the sheep and brought the offspring of innocence, or the gifts of sacred prophecy, because he believed that no food was sweeter to the patriarch than Christ, who was led like a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb to the sacrifice. He judged this food useful both for his own parent and for the people whose type he bore, since through it there was to be the remission of sins.

Therefore he received his brother's robe, because he excelled in the wisdom of age; therefore the younger brother stripped the elder, because he shone with the dignity of faith. Rebecca brought out this robe as a type of the church and gave the younger son the robe of the Old Testament, the prophetic and priestly robe, that royal robe of David, the robe of Solomon, of the kings Hezekiah and Josiah; and she gave it to the Christian people, who would know how to use the garment they received, since the people of the Jews had it without using it and did not know its proper adornments. This robe lay in shadow, cast aside and neglected; for it was darkened by the gloomy mist of impiety and could not be unfolded more widely in the narrow heart of that people. The Christian people put it on, and it shone. They lit it up with the brightness of their faith and the light of devout deeds. Isaac recognized the familiar smell of his race, he recognized the robe of the old Scripture, but he did not recognize the voice of the old people, and therefore he knew it had been changed. For the same robe remains even today, but the confession of a more devoted people has begun to ring out; and rightly he said: 'The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.' 'And he smelled the smell of his garments.' And perhaps this is because we are justified not by works but by faith, since the weakness of the flesh is a hindrance to works, but the brightness of faith, which merits pardon for offenses, overshadows the error of deeds.

After the blessing had been given, the elder brother arrived. By this it is declared that the kingdom was bestowed on the church before the synagogue in predestination, but that the synagogue came in alongside, so that sin might abound and, when sin had abounded, grace might abound too; and at the same time it would be clear that a candidate for the kingdom of heaven must be energetic, to snatch the blessing beforehand and lay claim to the prerogative of his commendation. Hence the younger son was not blamed by his father but praised, for Isaac says: 'Your brother came with guile and received your blessing.' For guile is good where the seizing is blameless; and the seizing of piety is blameless, because from the days of John the kingdom of heaven is taken by force and those who use force seize it. For the fathers celebrated the Passover in haste; they ate the lamb in haste, not delaying; and holy Joseph summoned his brother Benjamin and kept him by the device of a pious deceit.

Yet he too, by pressing, drew out and obtained a blessing, but one that agreed and was consistent with the earlier one, that he should serve his brother. For one who could not command and rule another had to serve, so as to be ruled by the more prudent. For it was not the holy patriarch's purpose to consign his own son to the ignoble condition of slavery; but as a good father with two sons, one intemperate, the other prudent and sober, to provide for both he set the sober over the intemperate and appointed that the foolish obey the prudent, because the foolish man cannot be a willing disciple of virtue or persevere in his pursuit, since the fool changes like the moon; and rightly he denied him the freedom of his own choice, lest he drift like a ship on the waves without a helmsman. But he subjected him to his brother, according to what is written: 'The imprudent serves the prudent.' Rightly, then, he subjected him, so that he might improve his disposition under the rule of one governing him. And therefore he says: 'By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother'; for piety is mistress of cruelty, and gentleness is superior to harsh impulses.

Everyone is a slave who lacks the authority of a pure conscience; whoever is broken by fear, or ensnared by pleasure, or led by desires, or provoked by indignation, or cast down by grief is a slave. For every passion is servile, since 'whoever commits sin is a slave of sin,' and, what is worse, one who is subject to vices is the slave of many. He has made himself over to many masters, so that he is scarcely allowed to go out from slavery. But he who is judge of his own will, arbiter of his counsel, interpreter of his decision, who restrains the appetite of bodily passion, who does well what he does — and doing well he acts rightly, and acting rightly he acts blamelessly and irreproachably, having power over his acts — he is truly free. For he alone is free who does everything prudently and as he wills. It is not the condition of fortune that makes a slave, but shameful folly. Indeed, a prudent servant rules foolish masters, and slaves will lend to their own masters. What will they lend? Not money, surely, but wisdom, as the law too says: 'You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.' For the Jew lent the oracles of the divine law to the proselyte; but since he himself could not see the mysteries of the law and did not know the oracles he had, he who lent the letter to the nations now borrows from them the grace of spiritual teaching, and rightly he has been made subject to slavery, since the borrower is a slave, consigned as it were to the creditor's interest; but he who imparts the interest of pious teaching is a ruler, as the law says: 'You shall be ruler of many nations, but rulers shall not be over you from among them.' For he is a ruler who governs and holds the rule of wisdom. The people of the Jews had it; but since it could not keep what it taught, it must learn what it did not know how to teach.

This, then, is what the patriarch Isaac says: 'You shall serve your brother; but it will be that when you put off and loosen his yoke from your neck,' signifying that there would be two peoples, one the son of the slave woman, the other of the free — for the letter is a slave, grace is free — and that the people which attends to the letter will be a slave so long as it must follow the interpreter of spiritual teaching. Then too there will come to pass what the apostle says: 'that a remnant may be saved according to the election of grace.' 'You shall serve your brother,' then, but you will feel the benefit of servitude when you begin to obey your brother willingly rather than under compulsion.

From this arose envy, and Esau threatened that after his father's death he would kill his brother. But if this happens, let us learn from Rebecca how we must take precautions so that envy does not arouse anger and anger rush into fratricide. Let Rebecca come, that is, let patience be put on, the good guardian of innocence; let her persuade us to give place to wrath. Let us go away somewhat farther, until indignation is softened by time and forgetfulness of the offense steals in. So patience does not dread even exile but takes it up readily, not so much to avoid a danger to one's life as to avoid an incitement to crime. The devoted mother too endures the absence of her most beloved son, in order to do more for the one who had been harmed, yet taking counsel for both, so as to keep the one free from fratricide and the other safe from crime.

We have heard what intemperance, drunk with bodily desires, has said; let us consider what true virtue does. It seeks nothing but the grace of God; it follows that one and highest good alone; it is content with him alone, from whom we receive everything, while we confer nothing on him, because he needs nothing. As David says: 'I said to my Lord: You are my Lord, since you have no need of my goods.' For what does he need who abounds in all things and bestows everything on us, supplying all things without failing? 'And Jacob set out and slept' — a sign of a quiet mind — 'and

he saw the angels of God ascending and descending'; that is, he foresaw Christ on earth, to whom the band of angels descended and ascended to render to their own Lord the homage of devoted service.

And he came to a well, to drink from his own vessels and from the springs of his own wells, and that the waters from his own fountain might overflow for him; for the fountain of life is in the hands of the just.

And he came to Laban and pastured his sheep. Iniquity sits idle and unaccompanied; wisdom does not neglect its duty of governing. It does not know how to be idle even among strangers; it does not know how to be an exile among foreigners. For how could it be, which keeps its own right everywhere and has within itself what it possesses?

The just man enters as a hired man and is the ruler; he gathered for himself, by the ministry of gospel preaching, a flock shining with the splendor of many excellent virtues, so that he set before the sheep that were about to drink rods of storax, walnut, and plane, peeled in streaks, so that, desiring the foreshadowed mysteries of the most blessed Trinity, they might form by the conception of a devout mind offspring in no way discolored. Good sheep, which brought forth offspring of good works not unworthy of the sacred faith. By the storax is signified the incense and evening sacrifice which is offered to God the Father in the psalm. By the walnut rod the priestly office is offered to Christ; for this is the rod of Aaron, which, laid up, blossomed, by which the grace of priestly sanctification shone forth. By the plane is signified the richness of spiritual fruit, because the vine is joined to this tree, so that, glad in its company, it pours itself out into rich offspring; for the grace of the Spirit joined to them is wont to foster the gifts of the Lord's passion and the remission of all sins.

By these things, as Scripture says, he became very rich, nourishing a good flock for Christ, which he ennobled with the title of faith and the variety of virtues, the marks of a glorious name. And so he did not seem to himself narrow in means, being rich in the wealth of faith, and he was called in envy by Laban's sons a most wealthy man, who had increased his flock by adding another's flock. And God said to him: 'Return to the land of your father and to your kindred, and I will be with you,' showing that nothing was lacking to him who had the fullness of all things present; that to the perfect man this alone is abundant, in this all things consist and all things are referred to it, nothing is new to him, nothing superfluous is necessary, since he had a faithful peace at hand, by which he might reconcile what had at first been at variance. Nor is it any wonder if he had peace who had set up a pillar and anointed it for God, which is the church. For it is called the pillar and foundation of the truth. He anoints it who pours out the ointment of faith on Christ and of mercy on the poor.

Now let us consider what the just man ought to be like if envy has arisen. First, that he avoid it; for it is better to go away without a quarrel than to sit on with strife. Then, that he possess such things as he can take with him, so that he can be held liable to his adversary in nothing, but may say: 'See if anything of yours is with me.' And Laban searched and found nothing of his with Jacob. A great man and truly happy, who could lose nothing of his own and have nothing of another's, that is, have nothing too little and nothing superfluous. So he is perfect who lacks nothing, just who has nothing in excess; for this is to keep the measure of justice. How great a virtue, whose fellowship brought gain and inflicted no loss! This is to be perfect: to give very much advantage to those who cling to one, and to bring them no disadvantage.

Indeed, he who wished to harm him could not send him away empty. For the wise man is never empty, always having within himself the garment of prudence, who can say: 'I put on righteousness and clothed myself with judgment,' as Job said. For these are the inner coverings of the mind, which no one else can take away, unless someone strips himself by his own fault. Indeed Adam, stripped in this way, was found naked; but Joseph, even when his outer garment had been thrown off, was not naked, since he kept the garments of virtue intact. The wise man, then, is never empty. For how is he empty who has received from the fullness of Christ and keeps what he received? How empty, whose soul is filled, which guards the garments of the grace received? What must be feared is that someone lose the covering of innocence, and that the ungodly, by the attack of sacrilegious persecution, overstep the bounds of justice and snatch away the garment of soul and mind. This does not easily happen unless the voice of his own iniquity has first stripped a man. Hence David too says: 'If there is iniquity in my hands, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies; let the enemy pursue my soul and seize it.'