Epigrams on Sentences of Augustine 50–96
Latin text: Migne, PL 51 (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 50
50PL 51:513
Mala mors putanda non est, quam bona vita præcesserit. Non enim facit malam mortem, nisi quod sequitur mortem. Non itaque multum curandum est necessario morituris, quid accidat ut moriantur, sed moriendo quo ire cogantur. Cuncta bonis prosunt, quos et mors ipsa beatos Efficit, ut sumant praemia principium. Ille igitur finis malus est, quem pœna sequetur, Et qui perpetui porta doloris erit. Non quo absumentur lacrymæ, cunctique labores: Ut veteris pereant omnia signa mali.
[Sentence] A death that a good life has preceded is not to be thought evil. For nothing makes death evil except what follows death. So those who must die need not care much what happens to make them die, but where they will be forced to go by dying.
[Epigram] All things profit the good, whom even death itself makes blessed, so that they take up their rewards as a beginning. That end, then, is evil which punishment will follow, and which will be the gate of everlasting pain; not the end by which tears and all labors will be consumed, so that every sign of the old evil may perish.
Rom 8:28 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 21:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Death is not evil after a good life; what matters is not how one dies but where one goes after death.
- All things working for the good alludes to Rom 8:28; tears wiped away to Rev 21:4.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; OCR slips and split word): non esi, quam hona vita præ cesserit → non est, quam bona vita præcesserit; sequitur rtem. Non itaq e multum curandum esi → sequitur mortem. Non itaque multum curandum est; quo tre cogamur → quo ire cogantur; sumaut → sumant; Nnn quo → Non quo.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 50 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 51
51PL 51:513
Ita non amittitur corporis sanctitas, manente animi sanctitate, etiam corpore oppresso: sicut amittitur sanctitas corporis, violata animi puritate, etiam corpore intacto. Mens illæsa nihil violato corpore perdit: Invitam carnis vulnera non maculant. Nec crimen facti recipit non mixta voluntas: Velle magis facinus, quam tolerare nocet. Sic autem ad cordis penetralia cuncta recurrunt, Ut plerumque animus sit sine carne reus. Dum, quod ab intacto semotum est corpore, sola Concipit, et tectis molibus intus agit.
[Sentence] So holiness of body is not lost while holiness of mind remains, even when the body is overpowered; just as holiness of body is lost when purity of mind is violated, even if the body is untouched.
[Epigram] The unharmed mind loses nothing when the body is violated: the wounds of the flesh do not stain one who is unwilling. Nor does a will that had no part receive the crime of the deed: to will a crime harms more than to suffer it. So all things go back to the inner rooms of the heart, so that the mind is often guilty without the flesh, when it alone conceives what is far removed from the untouched body, and within carries out its hidden schemes.
Matt 5:28 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: A person violated against her will loses nothing of her chastity, which lies in the mind; conversely the mind can be guilty while the body is untouched.
- The sentence comes from Augustine's discussion of Christian women violated in the sack of Rome (City of God 1.16–18). Sin committed in the heart echoes Matt 5:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word): Ila non → Ita non; ani mi → animi; amit titur → amittitur; VI plerumque → Ut plerumque; solu. Concipit → sola Concipit.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 51 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/51). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/51
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 52
52PL 51:513
Major animus merito dicendus est, qui vitam ærumnosam magis eligit ferre quam fugere; et humanum judicium, maximeque vulgare, quod plerumque caligine erroris involvitur, præ conscientiæ luce ac puritate, contemnere. Qui valet adversis oneratam ducere vitam, Et tolerare magis vult mala, quam fugere, Majoris multo est animi, quam ferre pavescens Indocti injustum judicium populi. Mens etenim recta, et puri sibi conscia cordis, Hoc plus splendescit, quo magis atteritur.
[Sentence] He is rightly to be called the greater soul who chooses to bear a life of hardship rather than flee it, and to despise human judgment, especially that of the crowd, which is mostly wrapped in the darkness of error, in comparison with the light and purity of conscience.
[Epigram] He who is able to lead a life burdened with adversities, and would rather endure evils than flee them, is of a far greater soul than one who, in fear, cannot bear the unjust judgment of the untaught crowd. For the upright mind, conscious of a pure heart, shines the more the more it is worn down.
Notes and citation
Summary: It shows a greater soul to endure a hard life than to escape it, and to despise the crowd's judgment for the sake of a clear conscience.
- The sentence comes from Augustine's argument against suicide (City of God 1.22): enduring hardship shows more greatness of soul than escaping it by death.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter and OCR slip; split word and leaked margin letter): magis o eligit ferte → magis eligit ferre; conscien tiæ luce ac P puritate → conscientiæ luce ac puritate; concia → conscia.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 52 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/52). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/52
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 53
53PL 51:513
Justis quidquid malorum ab iniquis dominis irrogatur, non pœna est criminis, sed virtutis examen. Nam bonus, etiam si serviat, liber est. Malus autem, etiam si regnet, servus est; nec unius domini, sed quod est gravius, tot dominorum quot vitiorum. Oppressis quoties justis dominantur iniqui, Non est puniti supplicium meriti; Sed virtus fidei sub tali examine crescit, Nec servile gravat libera corda jugum. Solus peccator servit male; qui licet amplo Utatur regno, sat miser est famulus; Cum mens carnalis, nimium dominante tyranno, Tot servit sceptris dedita quot vitiis.
[Sentence] Whatever evils unjust masters inflict on the just is not punishment for a crime but a testing of virtue. For the good man, even if he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave, and not of one master but, what is heavier, of as many masters as he has vices.
[Epigram] Whenever the unjust lord it over the oppressed just, it is not the punishment of a deserved fault; rather the strength of faith grows under such testing, and the servile yoke does not weigh down free hearts. The sinner alone is a slave in the bad sense; though he may enjoy a wide kingdom, he is a wretched enough servant, since the fleshly mind, with the tyrant ruling all too much, serves as many scepters as the vices it is given to.
John 8:34 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 6:16 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The good man is free even as a slave, while the wicked man is a slave even as a king, serving as many masters as he has vices.
- The sentence comes from Augustine, City of God 4.3. Slavery to sin alludes to John 8:34 and Rom 6:16.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; words joined in the digital text): irro-,atur. non → irrogatur, non; siserviat → si serviat; quod esi gravius → quod est gravius; ini iui → iniqui; pu iti → puniti; suh tali → sub tali; gravai → gravat.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 53 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/53). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/53
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 54
54PL 51:513
Nemo quidquam Domino recte voveret, nisi ab ipso acciperet quod voveret. Optima vota Deo, quorum est dator ipse, voventur. Hoc sursum dignum est ire, quod inde venit.
[Sentence] No one would rightly vow anything to the Lord unless he received from him what he would vow.
[Epigram] The best vows are vowed to God when he himself is their giver: it is fitting that what comes from above should go up there.
1 Chr 29:14 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We can rightly vow to God only what we have first received from him.
- Compare 1 Chr 29:14.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word and OCR slip): voverel → voveret; De o, quoruru → Deo, quorum.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 54 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/54). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/54
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 55
55PL 51:513–515
Omnis substantia quæ Deus non est, creatura est; et quæ creatura non est, Deus est. Nulla igitur differentia est in deitate Trinitatis: quoniam quod Deo minus est. Deus non est. Natura omnipotens una est, quæ cuncta creavit, Et proprie quod sunt, omnibus esse dedit. Quodque Deo minus est, non est Deus. A Patre natum Verbum, et qui amborum Spiritus est, Deus est. Una eademque trium quoniam est essentia, quæ se Numquam vel major, vel minor esse potest.
[Sentence] Every substance that is not God is a creature, and what is not a creature is God. Therefore there is no difference in the Godhead of the Trinity, since what is less than God is not God.
[Epigram] The almighty nature is one, which created all things, and gave to all things to be properly what they are. And what is less than God is not God. The Word born of the Father, and the Spirit who is of both, is God, since the three have one and the same essence, which can never be greater or less than itself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Whatever is not God is a creature, so there can be no inequality within the Trinity: the Son and the Spirit are fully God with the Father.
- "The Spirit who is of both" (amborum Spiritus): the Spirit of the Father and the Son, in the Western way of speaking; translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips; leaked footnote letter; split word): non ea, Deus ebt → non est, Deus est; dif ferentia → differentia; De usnon → Deus non; dedit. a Quodque → dedit. Quodque; A Pate nutum → A Patre natum; Uni cademque → Una eademque.
Topics: Trinity
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 55 (PL 51:513–515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/55). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/55
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 56
56PL 51:515
Tales nos amat Deus, quales futuri sumus ipsius dono, non quales sumus nostro merito. Tales a Domino, quales formamur, amamur; Non quales nostris exstitimus meritis. Sanctificet, doceat, plantet, riget, excolat, ornet: Et sibi perpetuo quod placeat, faciat. Nam nihil est hominis, quod digne possit amari, Perficiat proprium ni bonus auctor opus.
[Sentence] God loves us such as we shall be by his gift, not such as we are by our own merit.
[Epigram] We are loved by the Lord as he is forming us, not as we have stood by our own merits. Let him sanctify, teach, plant, water, cultivate, adorn, and make what will please him forever. For there is nothing in man that can worthily be loved unless the good author completes his own work.
1 Cor 3:6 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 1:6 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God loves us for what his grace will make of us, not for our own merits.
- Planting and watering allude to 1 Cor 3:6; God completing his work to Phil 1:6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): ipsius deno non → ipsius dono, non; a Domito → a Domino; PerOciat → Perficiat.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 56 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/56). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/56
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 57
57PL 51:515
Ordo temporum in æterna Dei sapientia, sine tempore est, nec aliqua sunt apud illum nova, qui fecit quæ futura sunt. Artifice in summo sine tempore temporis ordo est, Inque Deo rerum non variat series. Æterno auctori simul adsunt omnia semper, Cum quo in factorum est ordine, quidquid erit.
[Sentence] The order of times in the eternal wisdom of God is without time, and nothing is new with him who made the things that are to be.
[Epigram] In the highest craftsman the order of time is without time, and in God the series of things does not vary. To the eternal author all things are always present together, and with him whatever will be already stands in the order of things made.
Isa 45:11 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's wisdom holds the whole order of time without time, so that nothing is new to him.
- "Who made the things that are to be" echoes Isa 45:11 in the Old Latin and Greek.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word, OCR slip, and stray letter): tem pore est, nec aliqua sunt dpud illum nova, qui fecit e quæ → tempore est, nec aliqua sunt apud illum nova, qui fecit quæ.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 57 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/57). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/57
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 58
58PL 51:515
Voluntas Dei est prima et summa causa omnium corporalium, spiritaliumque motionum. Nihil enim fit visibiliter ac sensibiliter, quod non de invisibili atque intelligibili summi imperatoris aula aut jubeatur, aut permittatur, secundum ineffabilem justitiam praemiorum atque poenarum, gratiarum et retributionum, in ista totius creaturæ amplissima quadam immensaque republica. Principium mundi Deus est, quo cuncta movemur, Et quae permittit, vel jubet auctor, agunt. Hinc mutabilium rerum immutabilis ordo Æterni servit legibus artificis. Inque suos fines procedit quaeque voluntas, Nec variis meritis Arbiter æquus abest: Corda regens, vires tribuens, peccata remittens, Mitis subjectis, implacidus tumidis. Ut nec pœna malum quemquam, nec gloria justum Suscipiat, nisi tum laude et honore Dei.
[Sentence] The will of God is the first and highest cause of all bodily and spiritual motions. For nothing happens visibly and perceptibly which is not either commanded or permitted from the invisible and intelligible court of the highest emperor, according to the ineffable justice of rewards and punishments, of graces and retributions, in this most ample and immense commonwealth of the whole creation.
[Epigram] God is the beginning of the world, by whom we are all moved, and things do what the author permits or commands. Hence the unchangeable order of changeable things serves the laws of the eternal craftsman. Each will goes on to its own ends, and the fair Arbiter is not absent from their varied merits: ruling hearts, giving strength, forgiving sins, gentle to the submissive, unappeased by the swollen, so that no punishment receives the wicked, no glory the just, except with the praise and honor of God.
Acts 17:28 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God's will is the first cause of every motion in creation; nothing happens that he does not command or permit, and both punishment and glory redound to his praise.
- "By whom we are all moved" echoes Acts 17:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; split word): NihiJ enim fit visibiiiter → Nihil enim fit visibiliter; juben tur → jubeatur; justitium → justitiam; retribu tionum → retributionum; permitit → permittit; ordo,.Eterni → ordo Æterni; Inqut → Inque; regene → regens; melum → malum; ct honore bei → et honore Dei.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 58 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/58). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/58
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 59
59PL 51:515
Eam Deus innocentiam probat, qua homo non metu pœnæ fit innocens, sed amore justitiæ. Nam qui timore non peccat, quamvis non noceat cui vult nocere, sibi tamen plurimum nocet, et abstinens ab iniquo opere, sola tamen reus est voluntate. Scire volens, in qua rerum sis parte locandus, Discute quid timeas, quidve sit id quod amas. Nam cuncti hoc gemino nascuntur fomite motus, Respondentque suis germina principiis. Et quod quisque bonum sibi tempore duxit in ista, Hoc summi Regis judicio capiet.
[Sentence] God approves that innocence by which a man is made innocent not by fear of punishment but by love of justice. For he who does not sin out of fear, though he does not harm the one he wants to harm, yet harms himself very greatly; and though he abstains from the wicked work, he is guilty by his will alone.
[Epigram] If you wish to know in what part of things you are to be placed, examine what you fear, or what it is you love. For all motions are born of this twofold kindling, and the shoots answer to their roots. And whatever good each one has chosen for himself in this time, this he will receive by the judgment of the highest King.
Notes and citation
Summary: God approves innocence that comes from love of justice, not from fear of punishment; one's fears and loves show where one belongs.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): duiit → duxit; caplet → capiet.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 59 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/59). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/59
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 60
60PL 51:515
Christiano recta gaudendi causa non praesens sæculum, sed futurum est. Et ita est utendum temporalibus, ne obsint æternis: ut in via, quo peregrini ambulant, hoc placeat quod ducit ad patriam. Angelicos cives, et Christi in membra renatos, Non trahat ad veterem carnis Origo hominem. Multa quidem in nostros mundus bona procreat usus, Et pleno tellus servit opima sinu. Sed terrae hospitibus, cœli super astra vocatis, Virtutis palma est spernere blanda soli; Et sic præsentis spatium percurrere vitæ, Ipsa peregrinis ne via sit laqueus. Nam declinantes pro summis ferre laborem, Terrenorum avidos infima suscipient. Excedit supereminentia Deitatis non solum usitati eloquii nostri, sed etiam intelligentiæ facultatem. Verius enim cogitatur Deus quam dicitur, et verius est quam cogitatur. Non parva autem notitiae pars est, si ante quam scire possimus quid sit Deus, possumus scire quid non sit, Nulla quidem mens est mortali in corpore vivens, Quae plena videat cognitione Deum. Sed miris operum signis ostenditur auctor, Rectoremque suum condita quæque canunt. Unde licet fandi vires, animique vigorem Vincat, et excedat gloria lausque Dei, Nos tamen officio cordis gaudemus et oris, Et tanto oblectat succubuisse bono. Hinc fidei virtus, hinc flamina oriuntur amoris, Quod latet, exercet; quod superat, reparat.
[Sentence] For the Christian the right cause of rejoicing is not the present age but the age to come. And temporal things are to be used so that they do not hinder eternal ones: as on the road on which pilgrims walk, what pleases is what leads to the homeland.
[Epigram] Citizens with the angels, reborn into the members of Christ, let them not be dragged back by the origin of the flesh to the old man. The world indeed brings forth many goods for our use, and the rich earth serves us from a full bosom. But for guests on earth, who are called above the stars of heaven, the palm of virtue is to scorn the soil's allurements, and so to run through the span of the present life that the road itself is not a snare to the pilgrims. For those who turn away from bearing labor for the highest things, greedy for earthly things, will receive the lowest.
[Epigram 61: On the ineffable excellence of the Godhead]
[Sentence] The surpassing eminence of the Godhead exceeds not only the capacity of our usual speech but even of our understanding. For God is thought of more truly than he is spoken of, and he is more truly than he is thought of. And it is no small part of knowledge if, before we can know what God is, we can know what he is not.
[Epigram] There is indeed no mind living in a mortal body that sees God with full knowledge. But the author is shown by the wonderful signs of his works, and all created things sing of their ruler. So, though the glory and praise of God overcome and exceed the powers of speech and the vigor of the mind, we nevertheless rejoice in the duty of heart and mouth, and it delights us to be overcome by so great a good. Hence the strength of faith, hence the flames of love arise: what is hidden exercises it; what surpasses it restores it.
Eph 4:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Pet 2:11 (echo, low confidence) · Ps 19:1 (18:2 LXX) (echo, medium confidence) · Rom 1:20 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Tim 6:16 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians should rejoice in the age to come and use earthly goods as pilgrims; and (Epigram 61) God surpasses speech and thought, yet his works make him known and stir faith and love.
- This section holds two epigrams: the digital text runs the next one into it under the heading "LXI [alias LX]. De ineffabili excellentia Deitatis" (removed from the text and given here as "[Epigram 61]"). The following section on the site (ref 61) is headed in Migne "alias LXI", so Migne's two numberings differ by one from here. The old man alludes to Eph 4:22; pilgrims to 1 Pet 2:11; creation declaring its maker to Ps 19:1 and Rom 1:20.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's heading of the next epigram removed (shown in the translation as a heading); OCR slip; OCR slips; line-break debris; line-break debris and OCR slip; split word): sæ culum → sæculum; tempo- ralihus → temporalibus; hoc placeo' → hoc placeat; pro creat → procreat; pro summi. ferre → pro summis ferre; LXI [ Alias LX]. De ineffabili excellentiæ Deitutis. → ; usi- tali → usitati; pos sumus → possumus; flamina oriatur ameris → flamina oriuntur amoris.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 60 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/60). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/60
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 61
61PL 51:515–517
Diabolus superbus hominem superbientem seduxit ad mortem; Christus humilis hominem obedientem reduxit ad vitam. Quia sicut ille elatus cecidit, et dejecit consentientem; sic iste humiliatus surrexit, et erexit credentem. Lætifer immodico naturæ elatus honore Angelus, inde hominem subruit, unde ruit. Sed Christus miserans deceptum fraude maligni, In se illi ad vitam posse redire dedit: Si caveat pactis hostis servire superbi Sectari et studeat formam humilis Domini. Qui Patris in deitate manens Deus omnicreator, Verus de sacra Virgine natus homo est. Sic nostrum assumens Matris de corpore corpus, Esset ut assumptæ carnis origo Deus: In quo per lavacrum, fidei virtute renata, Cœleste accipiet gens nova principium. Nil hominis primi retinens, sed plena secundi, Splendore in capitis glorificanda sui.
[Sentence] The proud devil led proud man to death; the humble Christ led obedient man back to life. For as the one, lifted up, fell and threw down the one who consented, so the other, humbled, rose and raised up the one who believes.
[Epigram] The death-bringing angel, lifted up by an immoderate honor of his nature, undermined man by the very thing by which he fell. But Christ, pitying the one deceived by the fraud of the malicious one, gave him the power to return to life in himself, if he takes care not to serve the pacts of the proud enemy and strives to follow the form of the humble Lord; who, remaining in the Godhead of the Father, God the creator of all, was born true man of the holy Virgin, thus taking our body from his Mother's body, so that God might be the origin of the flesh he assumed; in him, through the washing, reborn by the power of faith, a new people will receive a heavenly beginning, retaining nothing of the first man, but full of the second, to be glorified in the splendor of its head.
Phil 2:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:47 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 3:5 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil's pride brought man to death; Christ's humility, as God born of the Virgin, brings the believer back to life, reborn in baptism.
- Migne heads this epigram "alias LXI" (see the note on section 60). The humble and obedient Christ alludes to Phil 2:6–8; the first and second man to 1 Cor 15:45–49.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; leaked footnote letter; leaked margin letter; line-break debris): superbientem P se duxit → superbientem seduxit; obe. dientem → obedientem; te cidit → cecidit; Dellate → deitate; Veras de → Verus de; Matris d6 → Matris de; lavacrum, a fidei → lavacrum, fidei; Cœleste It acCipiet → Cœleste accipiet.
Topics: Christology, Baptism
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 61 (PL 51:515–517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/61). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/61
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 63
63PL 51:517
Omnes beati habent quod volunt, quamvis non omnes qui habent quod volunt continuo sint beati. Continuo autem sunt miseri, qui vel non habent quod volunt, vel id habent quod non recte volunt. Propior ergo est beatitudini voluntas recta, etiam non adepta quæ cupit, quam prava, etiam si quod concupivit obtinuit. Non semper vere est felix impleta voluntas: Cum sæpe injustis sint mala vota animis. Recta igitur cupiens, etiam si non sit adeptus, Persistendo tamen velle bonum, bonus est. At pravus, quod fert animo, si non habet actu, Tam miser est quam si quod cupit obtineat.
[Sentence] All the blessed have what they want, though not all who have what they want are therefore blessed. But those are at once wretched who either do not have what they want or have what they do not rightly want. So a right will, even if it has not obtained what it desires, is nearer to blessedness than a depraved will, even if it has obtained what it desired.
[Epigram] A will that is satisfied is not always truly happy, since unjust souls often have evil wishes. He who desires right things, then, even if he has not obtained them, is still good by persisting in willing the good. But the depraved man, if he does not have in deed what he holds in mind, is as wretched as if he obtained what he desires.
Notes and citation
Summary: Happiness lies in willing rightly, not in getting what one wants; a right will that fails is nearer blessedness than an evil will that succeeds.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips; split word; stray letter): vel nnh ha bent → vel non habent; vo lunt → volunt; recta, e etiam → recta, etiam; vere est felli impleta Voluntas → vere est felix impleta voluntas.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 63 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/63). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/63
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 64
64PL 51:517
Magna hominis miseria est cum illo non esse, sine quo non potest esse. In quo enim est, sine dubio sine illo non est: et tamen si ejus non meminit, eumque non intelligit, neque diligit, cum illo non est. Majestate Dei concluditur omne quod usquam est: Qua sine nil rerum stare, vel esse potest. Huic homo si recte famulatur, proximus hæret; Si resilit, misero degit in exsilio. Omnia sic Dominus discriminat ordine justo. Quo sint summa bonis, ima parata malis.
[Sentence] It is a great misery for man not to be with him without whom he cannot be. For he in whom man is, man is without doubt not without him; and yet if he does not remember him, nor understand him, nor love him, he is not with him.
[Epigram] Everything that exists anywhere is enclosed by the majesty of God, without which nothing can stand or be. If man serves him rightly, he clings close to him; if he springs away, he lives in wretched exile. So the Lord distinguishes all things in just order, so that the highest are made ready for the good, the lowest for the wicked.
Acts 17:28 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Everyone exists in God, but only those who remember, understand, and love him are with him; the rest live in exile.
- Being in God echoes Acts 17:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): cum iilo → cum illo; Iluic homo → Huic homo.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 64 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/64). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/64
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 65
65PL 51:517
Divinitas Verbi æqualis Patri facta est particeps mortalitatis nostræ, non de suo, sed de nostro, ut et nos efficeremur participes divinitatis ejus, non de nostro, sed de ipsius. Omnipotens Genitor, Natusque, et Spiritus almus, Una in personis par tribus est deitas; Quae genus humanum, prostratum fraude maligni, Ad vitam hac fecit posse redire via: Naturæ ut nostræ Christus causæque Redemptor, Mortalis fieret, non minuens quod erat; Perque habitum servi vacuaret jura tyranni, Et lethum letho vinceret innocuo. Hinc Verbum carni insertum, carnemque receptans, Nec se confundit corpore, nec geminat: Sic naturam hominis virtute augente superna; Esset ut in vero lumine lumen homo. Qui vires mortis cum vitæ absorbuit haustu Factum est æternum quod fuit occiduum.
[Sentence] The divinity of the Word, equal to the Father, was made a partaker of our mortality, not from what was his own but from what was ours, so that we too might be made partakers of his divinity, not from what is ours but from what is his.
[Epigram] The almighty Father, the Son, and the kindly Spirit are one equal Godhead in three persons; which made the human race, laid low by the fraud of the malicious one, able to return to life by this way: that Christ, the redeemer of our nature and our cause, should become mortal without lessening what he was, and through the garb of a servant should make void the tyrant's rights, and conquer death by an innocent death. Hence the Word, grafted into flesh and taking flesh to himself, neither confuses himself with the body nor becomes two; thus the power from above enlarges human nature, so that man might be light in the true light. When he swallowed up the powers of death with the draught of life, what was perishing was made eternal.
2 Pet 1:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 2:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 2:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:54 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 1:9 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Word, equal to the Father, shared our mortality so that we might share his divinity; the triune God redeemed humanity through Christ's innocent death, the Word united to flesh without confusion or division.
- Partakers of the divine nature alludes to 2 Pet 1:4; the servant's form to Phil 2:7; death conquered by death to Heb 2:14; death swallowed up to 1 Cor 15:54.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): non de, hoslro → non de nostro; humahum → humanum; Mortalis Meret → Mortalis fieret.
Topics: Christology, Trinity
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 65 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/65). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/65
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 66
66PL 51:517
Catholica fides Dominum Jesum Christum et verum Deum, et verum hominem credit et prædicat. Utrumque enim scriptum est, et utrumque verum est. Qui Deum tantummodo asserit Christum, medicinam negat qua sanatus est. Qui hominem tantum asserit Christum, potentiam negat qua creatus est, utrumque ergo, anima fidelis ac recta, suscipe. Et Deus Christus est, et homo Christus est. Qualis Deus Christus? Æqualis Patri, unum cum Patre. Qualis homo Christus? Virginis filius, habens de homine mortalitatem, non habens iniquitatem. Quisquis consilio æterno contraria sentis, Et Verbum in nostra carne manere negas, Divinae pietatis opus dissolvere quæris, Speque sua mundum dispoliare cupis. Nam quis ventura quemquam salvabit ab ira? Quisve hominis primi crimine liber erit, Si deitas Verbi non nostræ est insita carni, Aut Christus falsi corporis umbra fuit? Quis genitus puer est intactæ Virginis alvo? Quæ natura annis crevit, et aucta cibis? In qua prole patrem mundi se credidit Abram? Quæve ejus stirps est omnia sanctificans? Quod regale genus simul est et pontificale? Quisve idem David filius et Dominus, Peccati servis, et mortis compede vinctis, Unam est dignatus ferre Redemptor opem? Qui nostri generis carnem cum morte receptans, Nostra hosti, ut nobis vinceret, opposuit, Et carne exuta, dominantem perculit hostem: Ut caperet palmam præda vetusta novam.
[Sentence] The catholic faith believes and preaches the Lord Jesus Christ both true God and true man. For both are written, and both are true. Whoever asserts that Christ is God only denies the medicine by which he was healed. Whoever asserts that Christ is man only denies the power by which he was created. So, faithful and upright soul, accept both. Christ is God, and Christ is man. What kind of God is Christ? Equal to the Father, one with the Father. What kind of man is Christ? The Virgin's son, having mortality from man, not having iniquity.
[Epigram] You who hold views contrary to the eternal counsel, and deny that the Word abides in our flesh, seek to undo the work of divine kindness, and want to strip the world of its hope. For who will save anyone from the wrath to come? Or who will be free from the crime of the first man, if the Godhead of the Word was not implanted in our flesh, or Christ was the shadow of a false body? What child was born from the womb of the untouched Virgin? What nature grew with the years and was increased by food? In what offspring did Abram believe himself the father of the world? Or what is his seed that sanctifies all? What lineage is at once royal and priestly? Or who is at once David's son and Lord, who as Redeemer deigned to bring one help to the slaves of sin and to those bound in the fetter of death? It is he who, taking the flesh of our race together with death, set what is ours against the enemy, that he might conquer for us, and, putting off the flesh, struck down the ruling enemy, so that the old prey might win a new palm.
John 10:30 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Thess 1:10 (allusion, medium confidence) · Luke 2:52 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 4:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 22:18 (echo, low confidence) · Matt 22:45 (allusion, high confidence) · Col 2:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Heb 4:15 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The catholic faith confesses Christ as both true God and true man; Prosper's verse argues against those who deny the incarnation that without it there is no salvation, birth from the Virgin, or fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and David.
- "One with the Father" alludes to John 10:30; the wrath to come to Matt 3:7 and 1 Thess 1:10; growth in years to Luke 2:52; Abraham father of the world to Rom 4:13; David's son and Lord to Matt 22:42–45; the priestly and royal race to Heb 7:14–17; putting off the flesh and triumphing to Col 2:15. The verse is aimed at those who deny a real incarnation (docetists, Manichees).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter; line-break debris; split word; split word and OCR slip): Utrum que → Utrumque; ne gat qua sanatUs → negat qua sanatus; utrum- que → utrumque; ho- mine → homine; ab ila → ab ira; liber erit V Si → liber erit, Si; fuit? o Quis → fuit? Quis; Virginis alve → Virginis alvo; ferre Redemptor epem → ferre Redemptor opem; præda vestuta → præda vetusta.
Topics: Christology, Heresy
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 66 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/66). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/66
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 67
67PL 51:517–519
Perfectum odium est, quod nec justitia nec scientia caret; id est, ut nec propter vitia homines oderis, nec vitia propter homines diligas. Recte ergo in malis odimus malitiam, et diligimus creaturam: ut nec propter vitium natura damnetur, nec propter naturam vitium diligatur. Recta volens animus sapiens, et amator honesti, Quosdam odio dignos judicat esse suo. Nec tamen hos toto depellit fœdere, guarus Naturam errantum dividere a vitiis. Sic generi indulgens proprio, ut peccata recidi Optet, et ut damnet crimina, non homines.
[Sentence] Perfect hatred is that which lacks neither justice nor knowledge; that is, you neither hate men because of their vices, nor love vices because of the men. So in the wicked we rightly hate the malice and love the creature, so that neither is the nature condemned because of the vice, nor the vice loved because of the nature.
[Epigram] The wise mind, willing right things and loving the honorable, judges some men worthy of its hatred. Yet it does not drive them from every bond, knowing how to divide the nature of the erring from their vices, so indulging its own kind that it wishes the sins cut away, and condemns crimes, not men.
Ps 139:22 (138:22 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Perfect hatred hates the vice and loves the person, never condemning the nature for the sin or loving the sin for the person's sake.
- "Perfect hatred" quotes Ps 139:22 (LXX 138:22).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips; leaked footnote letter; line-break debris): Perrectum odium esi → Perfectum odium est; scien- tia → scientia; ode- ris → oderis; Ræte ergo in malis odi us malitiam, ei diligimus → Recte ergo in malis odimus malitiam, et diligimus; Naturam a errantum → Naturam errantum.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 67 (PL 51:517–519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/67). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/67
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 68
68PL 51:519
Difficilia et laboriosa sunt figmenta mendacii. Qui autem verum vult dicere non laborat. Quietiores enim sunt boni quam mali; et absolutiora sunt verba veridicorum quam commenta fallacium. Fallaces curis semper torquentur amaris, Et mala mens numquam gaudia pacis habet. Lubrica dum trepido mendacia plasmate fingit, Consumens totum tempus in arte mali. At simplex animus, commenti et liber iniqui, Nil amat injustum, nil gerit implacidum. Sectator veri potietur luce serena, Est quoniam mendax, noxque, dolorque sibi.
[Sentence] The fabrications of a lie are difficult and laborious; but he who wishes to speak the truth does not labor. For the good are quieter than the wicked, and the words of truth-tellers are freer than the inventions of deceivers.
[Epigram] The deceitful are always tormented with bitter cares, and the evil mind never has the joys of peace, while it shapes its slippery lies with trembling art, spending all its time in the craft of evil. But the simple mind, free of wicked invention, loves nothing unjust, does nothing unpeaceful. The follower of truth will enjoy a serene light, since the liar is night and pain to himself.
Notes and citation
Summary: Lying is laborious and troubled, while truthfulness brings peace.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): lahoriosa → laboriosa; absolutiora suul → absolutiora sunt; numquarn gaudia pacis hahet → numquam gaudia pacis habet; lingit → fingit; et liher iniqui → et liber iniqui.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 68 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/68). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/68
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 69
69PL 51:519
Virtutum gradibus scandite lucis iter. Arduus atque arctus fert ad cœlestia callis: Devexa ad mortem ducit, et ampla via: Qua fallax tumidi incedit sapientia mundi Commentisque suis ludificata ruit, Et mala corporei sequitur dum gaudia sensus, Exsulat a vero lumine cæca procul: Nec falsarum habitu virtutum ornata juvatur. Perdit mens veri nescia, quidquid agit. Noverit ergo Deum sapiens, totisque medullis Diligat, inque ipso se quoque amator amet. Sit bonus et justus, sit verax, atque benignus, Sit forma et speculum, lux et imago Dei. In Christo factus novus, et jam carne vetusta Exutus, vilem mente relinquat humum. Ut sacri templi quacumque in parte locetur, Magnum erit, in capitis corpore quidquid erit.
[Sentence] Climb the road of light by the steps of the virtues.
[Epigram] Steep and narrow is the path that carries to heavenly things; the sloping and wide way leads to death. On it walks the deceitful wisdom of the swollen world, which, mocked by its own inventions, falls headlong; and while it follows the evil joys of bodily sense, it is exiled, blind, far from the true light; nor is it helped by being adorned in the dress of false virtues: the mind that does not know the truth loses whatever it does. Let the wise man, then, know God, and love him with all his heart's marrow, and, as a lover, love himself too in him. Let him be good and just, truthful and kind; let him be the form and mirror, the light and image of God. Made new in Christ, and now stripped of the old flesh, let him leave the base ground behind in his mind, so that in whatever part of the holy temple he is placed, whatever is in the body of the head will be great.
Matt 7:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 7:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 6:5 (allusion, medium confidence) · Eph 4:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 3:19 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The narrow way leads to life and the broad way to death; the worldly wise perish, while the one who loves God, renewed in Christ, becomes his image.
- The prose sentence here is only one line in the digital text and may be incomplete. The narrow and wide ways allude to Matt 7:13–14; loving God with all one's heart to Deut 6:5; renewal in Christ to Eph 4:22–24.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): lucis iier → lucis iter; quiquid agit → quidquid agit; corpore quiquid erit → corpore quidquid erit.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 69 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/69). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/69
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 70
70PL 51:519
Bonæ sunt in Scripturis sanctis mysteriorum Dei profunditates, quæ ob hoc teguntur ne vitescant; ob hoc quæruntur, ut exerceant; ob hoc aperiuntur, ut pascant. Quamvis in sacris libris, quos nosce laboras, Plurima sint, lector, clausa et opaca tibi, Invigilare tamen studio ne desine sancto. Exercent animum dona morata tuum. Gratior est fructus quem spes productior edit: Ultro objectorum vilius est pretium. Oblectant adoperta etiam mysteria mentem: Qui dedit ut quæras, addet ut invenias.
[Sentence] Good are the depths of God's mysteries in the holy Scriptures: they are covered so that they may not become cheap; they are sought so that they may exercise us; they are opened so that they may feed us.
[Epigram] Though in the sacred books, reader, which you labor to know, very many things are closed and dark to you, do not cease to keep watch in holy study. Gifts that are delayed exercise your mind. The fruit that a longer hope brings forth is more welcome; the price of what is freely offered is cheaper. Even hidden mysteries delight the mind: he who has given you to seek will add that you find.
Matt 7:7 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The obscurities of Scripture are good: they keep its mysteries precious, exercise the reader, and in the end feed him, for God who gives the seeking gives the finding.
- Seeking and finding allude to Matt 7:7.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): profonditates, quæ oh hoc → profunditates, quæ ob hoc; ob huc aperiuntur → ob hoc aperiuntur; lahoras → laboras; clau<a → clausa; doua morata luum → dona morata tuum; fructusquem spes produclior → fructus quem spes productior; Uhro objectorum vilius est prelium → Ultro objectorum vilius est pretium.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 70 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/70). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/70
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 71
71PL 51:519
Orans cum sudore sanguineo Dominus Jesus Christus, significabat de toto corpore suo, quod est Ecclesia, emanaturas martyrum passiones. Ferre parans Christus poenam, mortemque propinquam, Invictamque suis ingenerare fidem, Cum prece sanguineas fundebat corpore guttas, Et pretium mundi sudor erat Domini. Nec crucis asperitas poterat terrere volentem Quæ regnaturæ gloria carnis erat. Sed cruor ille pares sanctis spondebat honores, Orturis toto corpore martyribus. Nam, cum sacra seges terrarum impleverit orbem, Omnis ab hoc uno semine messis erit.
[Sentence] When the Lord Jesus Christ prayed with a bloody sweat, he signified that the sufferings of the martyrs would flow from his whole body, which is the church.
[Epigram] As Christ prepared to bear punishment and a death now near, and to engender an unconquered faith in his own, when in prayer he poured bloody drops from his body, the Lord's sweat was the price of the world. Nor could the harshness of the cross frighten him who willed it, for it was the glory of the flesh that was to reign. But that blood pledged like honors to the saints, the martyrs who were to arise in the whole body. For when the holy crop has filled the world, the whole harvest will be from this one seed.
Luke 22:44 (allusion, high confidence) · John 12:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · Col 1:24 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ's bloody sweat in Gethsemane foreshadowed the martyrs' sufferings throughout his body, the church, all springing from his one seed.
- The bloody sweat alludes to Luke 22:44; the one seed and the harvest to John 12:24; the church as Christ's body to Col 1:24.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word): propin quam → propinquam; Qu e regnaturæ → Quæ regnaturæ.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 71 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/71). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/71
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 72
72PL 51:519
Sacramentum pietatis in judicium sibi sumit indignus. Bene enim esse non potest male accipienti quod bonum est. Magnum praesidium est sacro libamine pasci, Si cor participis crimina nulla premunt. Nam geminat sibimet peccati pondera quisquis Quæ bona sunt sumit, quæ mala non refugit.
[Sentence] The unworthy man takes the sacrament of piety as judgment on himself. For what is good cannot be good for one who receives it badly.
[Epigram] It is a great protection to be fed by the holy offering, if no crimes weigh on the heart of the one who partakes. For whoever takes what is good and does not flee what is evil doubles for himself the weight of his sin.
1 Cor 11:29 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sacrament protects those who receive it worthily, but the unworthy receive it to their judgment.
- Receiving to one's own judgment alludes to 1 Cor 11:29. "Sacrament of piety" and "holy offering" (sacrum libamen) refer to the Eucharist.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word): in dignus → indignus; pariicipis → participis; sunt suant → sunt sumit.
Topics: Eucharist
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 72 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/72). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/72
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Chapter 73
73PL 51:519
Qui laudat Deum in miraculis beneficiorum, laudet etiam in terroribus ultionum. Nam ei blanditur, et minatur. Si non blandiretur, nulla esset exhortatio; si non minaretur, nulla esset correctio. Qui laudat Dominum de mundi conditione, Et rerum in specie praedicat artificem, Laudet et æternam mortem flammasque minantem, Et justi Regis judicium metuat. Spes de promissis nihil ambigat; omne dabit Rex Quod parat, et meritis gratia major erit; Si properent sontes peccati abrumpere nodos, Ante diem mortis, dum locus est veniæ.
[Sentence] Let him who praises God in the wonders of his benefits praise him also in the terrors of his punishments. For he both coaxes and threatens. If he did not coax, there would be no exhortation; if he did not threaten, there would be no correction.
[Epigram] Let him who praises the Lord for the founding of the world, and proclaims the craftsman in the beauty of things, praise him also when he threatens eternal death and flames, and fear the judgment of the just King. Let hope doubt nothing of the promises: the King will give all that he prepares, and grace will be greater than merits, if the guilty hurry to break the knots of sin before the day of death, while there is room for pardon.
Notes and citation
Summary: God is to be praised both for his kindness and for his threats of judgment, since both serve to correct and save, while there is still time to repent.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter; leaked margin letter; split word; stray mark; stray mark and split word): beneficiorum. lau det → beneficiorum, laudet; exhor tatio → exhortatio; Et rerum o in specie → Et rerum in specie; mortem. flammasque → mortem flammasque; jnsii → justi; mcritis → meritis; erit; P Si → erit; Si; diern → diem.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 73 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/73). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/73
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Chapter 74
74PL 51:519–521
Remedia conversionis ad Deum nullis sunt cunctationibus differenda: ne tempus correctionis pereat tarditate. Qui enim poenitenti indulgentiam promisit, dissimulanti diem crastinum non spopondit. Converti ad mores rectos, et vivere sancte In Christo meditans, quod cupit acceleret. Cedant virtuti vanarum obstacula rerum, Ne perdat voti tempora lenta fides. Quid juvat in longum causas producere morbi? Cur dubium exspectat cras hodierna salus? Scimus correctis veniam non esse negandam, Sed nulli nostrum est ultima nota dies.
[Sentence] The remedies of conversion to God are not to be put off by any delays, lest the time for correction be lost through slowness. For he who promised pardon to the penitent did not promise tomorrow to the one who dissembles.
[Epigram] Let him who thinks of turning to right conduct and living holily in Christ hasten what he desires. Let the obstacles of vain things yield to virtue, lest a slow faith lose the time of its vow. What good is it to prolong the causes of disease? Why should today's salvation wait for a doubtful tomorrow? We know that pardon is not to be denied to those who are corrected, but to none of us is our last day known.
2 Cor 6:2 (echo, medium confidence) · Matt 24:36 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Conversion must not be delayed, for God promises pardon to the penitent but not tomorrow to the procrastinator.
- Compare Sir 5:7; today as the day of salvation echoes 2 Cor 6:2; the unknown day, Matt 24:36.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break debris; split word): cun. ctationibus → cunctationibus; pe reat → pereat; pro. misit → promisit.
Extrabiblical texts: Sir 5:7 (Sirach [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; echo)
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 74 (PL 51:519–521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/74). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/74
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 75
75PL 51:521
Omnia quae timentur rationabiliter declinantur: Deus sic timendus est, ut ab ipso ad ipsum confugiatur. Utile prudenti est mundana adversa cavere, Et quod vitandum prospiciat, fugere. Sed cum peccati merito manus Omnipotentis, Omnia concludens arctat ubique reum: Unum profugium tutum est Deus ipse timenti, A quo discedens, ne pereat, redeat. Converti namque ad Dominum certissima vita est, Et pacem offensi quaerere, sola salus, Qui terret, parcit; qui percutit, ipse medetur. Vivere vis, illi subdere, quem metuis.
[Sentence] All things that are feared are reasonably avoided; but God is to be feared in such a way that one flees from him to him.
[Epigram] It is useful for the prudent man to guard against the world's adversities, and to flee what he foresees must be avoided. But when, because of sin's deserts, the hand of the Almighty, enclosing all things, hems in the guilty everywhere, the one safe refuge for the one who fears is God himself: let him who departs from him return, lest he perish. For to be turned to the Lord is the surest life, and to seek the peace of the one offended the only salvation. He who terrifies, spares; he who strikes, himself heals. You want to live? Submit to him whom you fear.
Ps 139:7 (138:7 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Hos 6:1 (allusion, medium confidence) · Deut 32:39 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Other things we fear we flee, but God, whom no one can escape, must be fled to; he who strikes also heals.
- No escape from God alludes to Ps 139:7–12; the one who strikes and heals to Hos 6:1 and Deut 32:39.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word): Dens sic → Deus sic; con fugiatur → confugiatur; viiandum → vitandum.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 75 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/75). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/75
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 76
76PL 51:521
Virginitas carnis, corpus intactum; virginitas animæ, fides incorrupta. Carnis virginitas intacto corpore habetur; Virginitas animae est intemerata fides, Qua sine corporei nil prodest cura pudoris; Sed mentis pietas auget utrumque bonum.
[Sentence] Virginity of the flesh is an untouched body; virginity of the soul is an uncorrupted faith.
[Epigram] Virginity of the flesh is kept in an untouched body; virginity of the soul is an undefiled faith, without which care for bodily chastity profits nothing; but piety of mind increases both goods.
2 Cor 11:2 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Bodily virginity profits nothing without the soul's virginity, which is an uncorrupted faith.
- The church as a pure virgin in faith echoes 2 Cor 11:2–3.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 76 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/76). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/76
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Chapter 77
77PL 51:521
Multa nos in facultatibus nostris habere superflua probabimur, si necessaria sola retineamus. Nam vana quærentibus nihil sufficit; et alienorum quodam modo retentor est, qui profutura pauperibus inutiliter habet. Magnum peccatum est amor immoderatus habendi, Et plus quam vitæ sufficiat, cupiens. Nam quod nos vestit, quod pascit, cura salutis, Si vanis sit mens libera, non onerat. Si qua igitur superant, quorum non indiget usus, Debilibus prosint, atque juvent inopes. Quisquis enim cupide non expendenda recondit; Quae nulli tribuit, pauperibus rapuit.
[Sentence] We shall be found to have many superfluous things among our possessions if we keep only what is necessary. For to those who seek vain things nothing is enough; and he who uselessly holds what would profit the poor is, in a way, a keeper of what belongs to others.
[Epigram] An immoderate love of having is a great sin, and desiring more than is enough for life. For what clothes us, what feeds us, the care of health, does not burden the mind, if it is free of vain things. If, then, anything is left over that use does not need, let it benefit the weak and help the needy. For whoever greedily stores away what ought to be spent has robbed the poor of what he gave to no one.
1 Tim 6:8 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whatever exceeds our needs belongs to the poor; to hoard it is to rob them.
- Food and clothing being enough alludes to 1 Tim 6:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word): nrcessaria → necessaria; inuti liter → inutiliter; salulis → salutis; SI qua igitur → Si qua igitur.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 77 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/77). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/77
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Chapter 78
78PL 51:521
In magna egestate sunt qui de iniquitate sunt divites: justitiae opes et sapientiae thesauros non habent. Qui autem Domino serviunt, ea bona acquirunt, quae perire non possunt. Terrenis opibus cum dives gaudet iniquus, Veris se miserum nescit egere bonis. Nam quid erit, quod non momento temporis uno Perdere mundana conditione queat? Cui licet, adversis cessantibus, omnia parcant; Lege tamen mortis sit faciendus inops. At bona justorum nullis obnoxia damnis, Hostes, furta, ignes, et mare non metuunt. Indemnis servat proprium sapientia censum, Nec perdunt meritum paxque fidesque suum. Omnis virtutum semper substantia salva est, Invitis Christi munera nemo rapit.
[Sentence] Those who are rich from iniquity are in great want: they do not have the wealth of justice or the treasures of wisdom. But those who serve the Lord acquire goods that cannot perish.
[Epigram] When the unjust rich man rejoices in earthly wealth, he does not know that, wretched, he lacks the true goods. For what will there be that he cannot lose in a single moment of time by the condition of the world? Though, with adversities ceasing, everything should spare him, yet by the law of death he must be made poor. But the goods of the just, liable to no losses, fear neither enemies, nor thefts, nor fires, nor the sea. Wisdom keeps its own wealth unharmed, and peace and faith do not lose their merit. All the substance of the virtues is always safe; no one snatches Christ's gifts from the unwilling.
Matt 6:20 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The wicked rich lack the true wealth, since death strips them of everything, while the virtues of the just can never be lost or stolen.
- Treasures that cannot be lost allude to Matt 6:19–20.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and split word; split word): ha bent → habent; ca bona acqui runt → ea bona acquirunt.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 78 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/78). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/78
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Chapter 79
79PL 51:521
Non sufficit abstinere a malo, nisi fiat quod bonum est. Et parum est nemini nocere, nisi studens, multis prodesse. Dignus laude quidem est, vitam sine crimine ducens, Et quæcumque sibi sunt nocitura, cavens. Sed non hoc pietas contenta est limite claudi, Nec justo, vetitis abstinuisse, sat est. Major cura boni est, fratrum relevare labores, Et ferre optatum tristibus auxilium: Pascere jejunos, nudos vestire, ligatos Solvere, discordes conciliare sibi, Et quaecumque homines miseri solatia quaerunt, Hæc, ut possibile est, promere corde pio. Ut recti vere cupidus, vereque benignus, Quae mala sunt fugiat, quae bona sunt faciat.
[Sentence] It is not enough to abstain from evil unless what is good is done. And it is little to harm no one unless one is eager to benefit many.
[Epigram] He is indeed worthy of praise who leads a life without crime and guards against whatever would harm him. But piety is not content to be shut within this limit, nor is it enough for the just man to have kept from forbidden things. The greater care of the good is to relieve the labors of their brothers and bring to the sorrowful the help they long for: to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, set the bound free, reconcile the quarreling to one another, and whatever comforts wretched men seek, to bring these out, as far as possible, with a pious heart; so that, truly eager for the right and truly kind, he may flee what is evil and do what is good.
Ps 34:14 (33:15 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 25:35 (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 58:7 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Avoiding evil is not enough; the just must also do good, relieving the hungry, naked, and imprisoned and reconciling enemies.
- Turning from evil and doing good alludes to Ps 34:14 (LXX 33:15); the works of mercy to Matt 25:35–36 and Isa 58:6–7.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter and split word; split word): nisi o fiat quod bo num → nisi fiat quod bonum; nemini Docere → nemini nocere; du cens → ducens; abslinuisse → abstinuisse; Hæc, nt possibile → Hæc, ut possibile.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 79 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/79). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/79
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Chapter 80
80PL 51:521–523
Peccator cum peccat, non ideo a Domino non videtur, quia male agentis poena differtur: gravius autem in eum decernitur, cui etiam ipsa correctio denegatur. Gaudet transgressor peccato impune potitus, Si non infertur debita poena reo. Ceu nulla offendant hominum commissa Tonantem, Aut aliqua Excelsi notitiam lateant. Sed vetitorum avidis gravior tunc ira timenda est, Cum sese removent verbera justitiae. Nam quid erit morbi, quod non dominabitur illi, Cui supera auxilium jam medicina negat?
[Sentence] When the sinner sins, he is not therefore unseen by the Lord because the punishment of the evildoer is put off; rather, a heavier sentence is decreed against the one to whom even correction itself is denied.
[Epigram] The transgressor rejoices in enjoying his sin unpunished, if the penalty owed is not brought upon the guilty, as though the deeds of men did not offend the Thunderer, or anything lay hidden from the knowledge of the Most High. But those greedy for forbidden things must fear a heavier wrath precisely when the scourges of justice withdraw. For what disease will there be that will not master him to whom heavenly medicine now denies its help?
Notes and citation
Summary: God's delay in punishing sinners is not blindness; to be left uncorrected is itself the heavier sentence.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter; line-break debris; split word): gra. vius → gravius; corre ctio → correctio; politus → potitus; illi, a Cui → illi, Cui.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 80 (PL 51:521–523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/80). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/80
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 81
81PL 51:523
Non potest umquam fraudari delectationibus suis, cui Christus est gaudium. Æterna enim exsultatio est quæ bono lætatur æterno. Felices fere faciunt, semperque beatos, De vero et summo gaudia nata bono. Nam mundi ex opibus brevis ac peritura voluptas, Edita perpetuæ semina mortis habet. Non placeat vanis animum submittere rebus, Pestiferisque avidam mentem onerare cibis. Cor mundum et sapiens fructu virtutis alatur, Et Christi in nostro pectore regnet amor, Quo semel impletus, numquam vacuabitur illo. Æterna æterni flumina fontis erunt.
[Sentence] He whose joy is Christ can never be cheated of his delights. For that exultation is eternal which rejoices in the eternal good.
[Epigram] Joys born of the true and highest good make men truly happy, and blessed forever. For the brief and perishing pleasure that comes from the world's wealth holds within it the seeds of everlasting death. Let it not please us to subject the soul to vain things, and to load the greedy mind with poisonous foods. Let the pure and wise heart be fed with the fruit of virtue, and let the love of Christ reign in our breast; once filled with it, the heart will never be emptied of it: the streams of the eternal fountain will be eternal.
John 4:14 (echo, low confidence) · Phil 4:4 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Joy in Christ, the eternal good, can never be lost, unlike the brief pleasures of worldly wealth.
- The ever-flowing fountain echoes John 4:14. "Truly" reads the printed "fere" as vere.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray letter): peritaM. voluptas → peritura voluptas; mentem e onerare → mentem onerare; fruclu → fructu.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 81 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/81). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/81
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 82
82PL 51:523
Deo, qui ubique est, non locis, sed actionibus, aut longinqui, aut proximi sumus, quia sicut separat dissimilitudo, ita nos illi conjungit imitatio. Ambitum mundi totum Deus implet et ambit, Nec praesens ulli desinit esse loco. A quo longinquus multum est, nimiumque remotus, Quisquis sinceræ luce caret fidei: Cujus si radiis depulsa nocte nitescat, Divino impletus lumine lumen erit. Non igitur terrarum orbis, non aequora ponti Invia circuitu sunt obeunda vago, Ut possit rerum dominator et auctor adiri, Quem templo in cordis mens pia semper habet. A quo ut dissimilis tetra in deserta recedit, Sic vitæ merito proximus est similis.
[Sentence] To God, who is everywhere, we are far or near not by places but by actions; for as unlikeness separates us from him, so imitation joins us to him.
[Epigram] God fills and encircles the whole compass of the world, and never ceases to be present in any place. Very far from him, and all too remote, is whoever lacks the light of sincere faith; if, the night driven off, he shines with its rays, filled with divine light he will be light. So we need not travel over the earth, or the trackless expanses of the sea, in a wandering circuit, to be able to approach the ruler and author of things, whom the pious mind always holds in the temple of the heart. As the one unlike him withdraws into foul deserts, so the one like him is near by the merit of his life.
Jer 23:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · Acts 17:27 (echo, medium confidence) · Eph 5:8 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God is present everywhere, so we draw near to him or move away not by travel but by likeness or unlikeness of life.
- God filling heaven and earth alludes to Jer 23:24; "not far from each of us" to Acts 17:27; becoming light to Eph 5:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): nen locis → non locis; dissimilitudo. ita → dissimilitudo, ita; radiis. depulsa → radiis depulsa; Diviuo → Divino.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 82 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/82). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/82
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 83
83PL 51:523
Omnis infidelium vita peccatum est et nihil est bonum sine summo bono. Ubi enim deest agnitio æternæ et incommutabilis veritatis, falsa virtus est, etiam in optimis moribus. Quamvis multa homini post vulnera prima super sint, Quae vitam hanc faciant laudis habere decus: Si tamen ingenio claro et probitatis amori Fons desit Dei, subdita corda rigans; Cunctarum frugum marcescit inutile germen, Nec fruitur vero lumine falsus honor. Ignoratus enim Deus, et non credita virtus, Quæ vera ad summum provehit arte bonum, Non sinit eniti regna ad coelestia mentem, Obstructam vanis, occiduisque gravem. Perque omnes calles errat sapientia mundi, Et tenebris addit, quae sine luce gerit.
[Sentence] The whole life of unbelievers is sin, and nothing is good without the highest good. For where the knowledge of the eternal and unchangeable truth is lacking, virtue is false, even in the best of morals.
[Epigram] Though after the first wounds many things remain to man which give this life the beauty of praise, yet if a bright talent and the love of uprightness lack the fountain of God, which waters submissive hearts, the useless shoot of every crop withers, and false honor does not enjoy the true light. For God unknown, and a virtue not believed that leads by true art to the highest good, do not let the mind strive up to the heavenly kingdom, obstructed by vain things and weighed down by what perishes; and the wisdom of the world wanders along every path, and adds to the darkness what it does without light.
Rom 14:23 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Without faith in God even the best morals are false virtue, since nothing is good without the highest good; the wisdom of the world only adds to its darkness.
- The thesis that the life of unbelievers is sin rests on Rom 14:23 ("whatever is not from faith is sin"); translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; words joined in the digital text): Ubi enim deca, agnitio → Ubi enim deest agnitio; laudia habere docus → laudis habere decus; Fons desit Mei → Fons desit Dei; Nec truitur → Nec fruitur; noncredita → non credita.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 83 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/83). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/83
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 84
84PL 51:523
Male celebrat sabbatum, qui ab operibus bonis vacat. Otium autem ab iniquitate debet esse perpetuum, quia bona conscientia non inquietum, sed tranquillum facit. Non recto servat legalia sabbata cultu, Qui pietatis opus credit in his vetitum. Nulla dies actus hominum non damnat iniquos Omnia conveniunt tempora justitiæ. Nec corrumpuntur virtutibus otia sancta; Tantum a peccatis libera corda vacent.
[Sentence] He keeps the sabbath badly who is idle from good works. But rest from iniquity ought to be perpetual, because a good conscience makes one not restless but calm.
[Epigram] He does not keep the sabbaths of the law with right worship who believes that the work of piety is forbidden on them. There is no day that does not condemn the wicked acts of men; all times are fit for justice. Nor is holy leisure spoiled by virtues; only let hearts be free and at rest from sins.
Matt 12:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The true sabbath is rest from sin, which should be perpetual, not idleness from good works.
- Doing good on the sabbath alludes to Matt 12:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and stray mark): per,. tuum → perpetuum; Med tranquillum facit °. → sed tranquillum facit..
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 84 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/84). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/84
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 85
85PL 51:523
Libera semper est servitus apud Deum; cui non necessitas servit, sed charitas. Libertas nulla est melior, majorve potestas, Quam servire Deo, cui bene servit amor. Absque jugo posita est ditionis amica voluntas: Quæ viget affectu, non gemit imperio.
[Sentence] Service is always free with God, whom not necessity but love serves.
[Epigram] There is no better liberty, no greater power, than to serve God, whom love serves well. The willing heart is set free of the yoke of dominion: it thrives by affection and does not groan under command.
Rom 6:22 (echo, low confidence) · 1 John 4:18 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Serving God out of love is the highest freedom.
- Compare Rom 6:22 and 1 John 4:18.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 85 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/85). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/85
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 86
86PL 51:523–525
Quo primum vitio superatus est homo, hoc ultimum vincit. Cum enim omnia peccata superaverit, manet periculum ne mens bene sibi conscia in se potius quam in Domino glorietur. Qua primum in mortem est homo pulsus fraude maligni, Hanc illi extremam bella peracta movent. Sublimes ut eum palmas clarasque coronas Sumpserit, atque hostem subdiderit pedibus, Virtuti propriae velit assignare triumphum, Non Domino, cujus munus opusque fuit. In quo uno semper superat qui non superatur; Quo dignante manum subdere, nemo cadit.
[Sentence] The vice by which man was first overcome is the last he overcomes. For when he has overcome all sins, there remains the danger that the mind, well aware of its own goodness, may glory in itself rather than in the Lord.
[Epigram] The fraud of the malicious one by which man was first driven into death is the last that the finished wars stir up against him: that when he has taken lofty palms and bright crowns, and put the enemy beneath his feet, he should want to ascribe the triumph to his own virtue, not to the Lord, whose gift and work it was. In him alone the one who is not overcome always overcomes; when he deigns to lend his hand, no one falls.
1 Cor 1:31 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 10:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Pride, the first sin, is the last to be overcome: even after defeating every other sin, man is tempted to glory in himself rather than in God.
- Glorying in the Lord alludes to 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and split word; split word): Que primum vitio superatus est homo, hoc ulti mum → Quo primum vitio superatus est homo, hoc ultimum; supervaverit → superaverit; in so potius → in se potius; ma ligni → maligni; caronas → coronas; nemo cadi. → nemo cadit..
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 86 (PL 51:523–525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/86). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/86
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 87
87PL 51:525
Non poterit hominis labor finiri, nisi hoc diligat quod ei non possit auferri. Ancipitis vitae qui vis superare labores, Dilige quod semper verus amator habet. Instant terrenis infesta pericula rebus, Fervent pro damnis praelia, proque lucris. Et nihil est inter carnalia vota quietum, Nec pax sollicitis, nec modus est cupidis. In solo est mens tuta Deo, quem linquere nolens, Numquam erit aeterno non opulenta bono.
[Sentence] Man's labor cannot end unless he loves what cannot be taken from him.
[Epigram] You who wish to overcome the labors of an uncertain life, love what the true lover always has. Hostile dangers press upon earthly things; battles rage over losses and gains; and nothing is at rest among fleshly wishes, no peace for the anxious, no limit for the greedy. In God alone is the mind safe; unwilling to leave him, it will never lack eternal good.
Luke 10:42 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Only love for what cannot be lost, God himself, brings rest from the labors and anxieties of earthly desires.
- What cannot be taken away echoes Luke 10:42.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 87 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/87). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/87
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 88
88PL 51:525
Adulantium linguæ alligant animas in peccatis. Delectat enim ea facere, in quibus non solum non metuitur reprehensor, sed etiam laudator auditur. Lingua assentatrix vitium peccantis acervat, Et delectatum crimine laude ligat. Nulla sit ut lapso reparandæ cura salutis, Blanditur sonti dum malesuasus honor. Libera sit potius vox correcturis amici, Serpere nec fibris caeca venena sinat. Nec credens medici verbis fallacibus æger, Noxia laudatæ vulnera pestis amet.
[Sentence] The tongues of flatterers bind souls in their sins. For it is delightful to do those things for which one not only does not fear a reprover but even hears a praiser.
[Epigram] The assenting tongue heaps up the sinner's vice, and binds with praise the one who delights in crime, so that the fallen has no care to restore his salvation, while ill-advised honor flatters the guilty. Rather let a friend's voice be free to correct, and not let blind poisons creep through the vitals; nor let the sick man, believing the deceitful words of a physician, love the harmful wounds of a plague that is praised.
Prov 27:6 (echo, medium confidence) · Ps 141:5 (140:5 LXX) (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Flattery binds sinners in their sins; a friend should speak freely to correct, as a true physician does.
- The faithful wounds of a friend echo Prov 27:6 and Ps 141:5 (LXX 140:5).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nec libris → nec fibris.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 88 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/88). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/88
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 89
89PL 51:525
Qui etiam non percepto regenerationis lavacro, pro Christi confessione moriuntur, tantum eis valet ad abolenda peccata, quantum si abluerentur fonte baptismatis. Si mundo moritur divino fonte renascens, Fitque novus vita, qui sepelitur aqua: Fraudati non sunt sacro baptismate Christi, Fons quibus ipsa sui sanguinis unda fuit. Et quidquid leri fert mystica forma lavacri, Id totum implevit gloria martyrii.
[Sentence] Those who die for the confession of Christ without having received the washing of regeneration are helped by it toward the abolishing of their sins as much as if they had been washed in the font of baptism.
[Epigram] If one who is reborn in the divine font dies to the world, and one who is buried in the water becomes new in life, those are not cheated of the holy baptism of Christ for whom the wave of their own blood was the font. And whatever the mystical form of the washing confers, the glory of martyrdom has wholly fulfilled.
Rom 6:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Titus 3:5 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Martyrs who die for Christ before baptism receive in their own blood all that baptism gives.
- Burial and new life in baptism allude to Rom 6:4; the washing of regeneration to Titus 3:5. "Confers" translates the garbled "leri fert" by sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; split word and stray mark; stray letter): va let ' ad → valet ad; renaseens → renascens; aqua: I Fraudati → aqua: Fraudati; sanguinis uuda → sanguinis unda.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 89 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/89). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/89
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 90
90PL 51:525
Justitia nostra, quamvis vera sit, propter verum boni finem ad quem refertur, tamen tanta est in hac vita, ut potius remissione peccatorum constet quam perfectione virtutum. Magna quidem in multis est excellentia sanctis, Quorum animos superi gratia roris alit. Sed dum mens quædam patitur mala corporis ægri, Et pugnam interius exteriora movent; Numquam ita perfecto capitur victoria bello, Vera ut securus pace fruatur homo. Inter discordes motus contagia serpunt, Ipsaque virtutum gaudia vulnus habent. Ut faciat cunctis longa experientia notum, Non esse hoc plenam tempore justitiam: Ni Dominus miserando lavet delicta suorum; Et dans virtutum munera, det veniam.
[Sentence] Our justice, though it is true because of the true end of the good to which it is referred, is yet such in this life that it consists rather in the forgiveness of sins than in the perfection of virtues.
[Epigram] Great indeed is the excellence of many saints, whose souls the grace of heavenly dew nourishes. But while the mind suffers certain ills of the sick body, and outward things stir up battle within, the victory is never won in a war so completed that man may enjoy true peace in safety. Amid discordant motions contagions creep in, and even the joys of the virtues have a wound; so that long experience makes it known to all that there is no full justice in this time, unless the Lord in mercy washes away the faults of his own, and, giving them the gifts of the virtues, gives them pardon.
1 John 1:8 (echo, medium confidence) · Gal 5:17 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In this life even the saints' righteousness consists more in the forgiveness of sins than in perfect virtue, since the struggle with the flesh never ends.
- Compare 1 John 1:8 and Gal 5:17.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): pugnam Interius → pugnam interius; noturo → notum; delicia suorum → delicta suorum.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 90 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/90). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/90
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 91
91PL 51:525
Incognitis causis operum divinorum, non nihil novimus, cum scimus non sine ratione Omnipotentem facere, unde infirmus humanus animus rationem non potest reddere. Divinorum operum secretas noscere causas Humanis non est possibile ingeniis. Nec nullo tamen intuitu speculatur operta, Qui multa ut lateant scit placuisse Deo. In quo mens imbuta fide simul omnia discit, Perque operum speciem suspicit artificem, Fingentem rebus formas, loca, tempora, motus, Mensuris, numeris, ponderibusque suis. Scrutari ne cura procax abstrusa laboret, Cui cuncta in Christo nosse, et habere datur.
[Sentence] When the causes of divine works are unknown, we do know something, since we know that the Almighty does not act without reason in matters for which the weak human mind cannot give a reason.
[Epigram] To know the secret causes of divine works is not possible for human minds. Yet he does not contemplate hidden things with no insight at all who knows that it has pleased God that many things be hidden. In him the mind steeped in faith learns all things at once, and through the beauty of the works looks up to the craftsman, who shapes for things their forms, places, times, and motions by his own measures, numbers, and weights. Let no impudent care labor to search out what is concealed, for to the mind it is given to know and to have all things in Christ.
Col 2:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 11:33 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even when we cannot know the reasons for God's works, we know he does nothing without reason; faith is content to know all things in Christ.
- "Measures, numbers, and weights" alludes to Wis 11:20; all things in Christ to Col 2:3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter and OCR slip; split word and OCR slip): Omnipoten tem iacere → Omnipotentem facere; ratio nem noe potest → rationem non potest; snis → suis; Scrutari o ne cura procax obstrusa → Scrutari ne cura procax abstrusa.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 11:20 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 91 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/91). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/91
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 92
92PL 51:525–527
Non est desperandum de malis, sed pro ipsis, studiosius supplicandum. Quia numerus sanctorum de numero semper est auctus impiorum. Ut morbo oppressis præstanda est cura medendi, Donec in ægroto corpore vita manet; Sic pravis, multa et vitiorum mole gravatis, Sanctarum pietas est adhibenda precum. Ut dum possibile est mutari corda malorum, Horrescat noctis devia lucis amor, Conversisque novam mentem det gratia Christi, Qua fiunt homines justificante boni. In tranquillitate pacis comprehendenda est doctrina sapientiae, quæ inter tribulationum turbines difficulter agnoscitur. Nec facile inveniuntur in adversitate præsidia, quae non fuerint in pace quæsita. Dum non perturbant animum discrimina mundi, Dumque diem pacis praelia nulla premunt; Exercere fidem divinis convenit armis, Consilioque omnes anticipare minas. Tranquillam et curis vacuam sapientia mentem Imbuet, et placidi pectoris hospes erit. Nam quod non fuerit conceptum corde quieto, Acquiri in sævo turbine non poterit.
[Sentence] We must not despair of the wicked, but pray for them all the more zealously, because the number of the saints has always been increased from the number of the impious.
[Epigram] As the care of healing must be given to those oppressed by disease as long as life remains in the sick body, so the devotion of holy prayers must be applied to the depraved, weighed down by the great mass of their vices, so that, while it is possible for the hearts of the wicked to be changed, the love of light may shudder at the byways of night, and the grace of Christ may give the converted a new mind, by which, as he justifies them, men become good.
[Epigram 93: On seeking defenses in peace]
[Sentence] The teaching of wisdom must be grasped in the tranquility of peace, for it is recognized only with difficulty amid the whirlwinds of tribulations. Nor are defenses easily found in adversity that were not sought in peace.
[Epigram] While the dangers of the world do not disturb the mind, and no battles press upon the day of peace, it is fitting to exercise faith with divine arms and forestall all threats by counsel. Wisdom will fill the tranquil mind, free of cares, and will be the guest of a calm breast. For what was not conceived in a quiet heart cannot be acquired in a savage whirlwind.
Eph 6:11 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We must not despair of the wicked but pray for their conversion; and (Epigram 93) wisdom and spiritual defenses must be gained in times of peace, since they are hard to acquire in trouble.
- This section holds two epigrams: the next one is run into it in the digital text under the heading "XCIII [alias XC]. De quærendis præsidiis in pace" (removed from the text and given here as "[Epigram 93]"). Migne's alternative numbering for this section is LXXXIX. Divine arms allude to Eph 6:11–17.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's heading of the next epigram removed (shown in the translation as a heading); OCR slip; OCR slip and leaked footnote letter; line-break debris; split word): ut onistudiosius → studiosius; nume rus → numerus; auctus im. → auctus impiorum.; XCIII [Alias XC]. De quærendis præsidiis in pace. → ; doctri na → doctrina; tribulalionum → tribulationum; diffi- culter → difficulter; adver sitate → adversitate; Duroque diem pacis praelia nulla a premunt → Dumque diem pacis praelia nulla premunt; savo turbine → sævo turbine.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 92 (PL 51:525–527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/92). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/92
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 94
94PL 51:527
Potest homo invitus amittere temporalia bona; numquam vero, nisi volens, perdit æterna. Omne bonum mundo concretum, et tempore partum Quacumque amitti conditione potest. Et quamvis damnis vigilanter cura resistat, Sæpe tamen propriis dispoliatur homo. At bona, quæ vere bona sunt, nec fine tenentur, Semper habet, quisquis semper habere cupit. Nec vim ferre potest Christo subnixa voluntas, In quo persistens omnia vincit amor.
[Sentence] A man can lose temporal goods against his will; but he never loses eternal ones unless he wills it.
[Epigram] Every good put together in the world and gotten in time can be lost under any circumstance. And though care resists losses watchfully, yet a man is often stripped of what is his. But the goods that are truly good and are bounded by no end are always had by whoever always desires to have them. Nor can a will that rests on Christ suffer violence, for in him love, persevering, conquers all.
Notes and citation
Summary: Temporal goods can be lost against one's will, but eternal goods are lost only by choosing to let them go.
- Migne's alternative number for this epigram is XCI.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked footnote letter; stray letter): amitiere → amittere; amitii → amitti; potest. a Et → potest. Et; resislat → resistat; potest e Christo → potest Christo.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 94 (PL 51:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/94). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/94
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 95
95PL 51:527
Fideliter supplicans Deo pro necessitatibus hujus vitæ et misericorditer auditur, et misericorditer non auditur. Quid enim infirmo sit utile, magis novit medicus quam ægrotus. Si autem id postulat quod Deus præcipit et promittit, fiet omnino quod poscit. Quia accipit charitas, quod parat veritas. Inter mundanae mala conflictantia vitæ, Sæpe quibus Domini corripitur populus, Qui tempestatum varia sub clade laborant, Noscant se justi ferre flagella Dei: Atque ipsum toto gemitu planctuque precentur, Ut, qua scit, miseris auxilietur ope. Non etenim proprio arbitrio curabitur aeger. Nec vero leges ipse dabit medico. Morbida rimetur penetralia dextra salutis, Et depressa gravi viscera peste levet. Absque dolore quidem nequeunt mala sueta repelli: Sed quod læserunt dulcia, amara novant. Pæniteat morum, et vitiis virtute fugatis, Regnum peccati respuat aula Dei. Ad veniam tendunt justi pia verbera Regis. Ira brevis rectis gaudia longa dabit.
[Sentence] One who prays faithfully to God for the needs of this life is both mercifully heard and mercifully not heard. For what is useful to the sick the physician knows better than the patient. But if he asks for what God commands and promises, what he asks will certainly be done, because love receives what truth prepares.
[Epigram] Amid the conflicting evils of worldly life, with which the Lord's people is often chastised, let those who labor under the varied disasters of the storms know that they bear the just scourges of God; and let them pray to him with all their groaning and lament to help the wretched with the help he knows best. For the sick man will not be cured by his own choice, nor will he himself lay down laws for the physician. Let the right hand of salvation probe the diseased inner parts, and relieve the bowels weighed down by heavy plague. Without pain, indeed, accustomed evils cannot be driven off; but what sweet things have harmed, bitter things renew. Let there be repentance of our ways, and, with vices put to flight by virtue, let God's court cast out the reign of sin. The kindly blows of the just King tend toward pardon; a brief anger will give long joys to the upright.
Ps 30:5 (29:6 LXX) (echo, low confidence) · Heb 12:11 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God sometimes mercifully refuses prayers for earthly needs, as a physician knows better than the patient; in calamities the faithful should accept his chastisement and pray, and repent.
- "Truth" reads the printed "vernas" as veritas. Brief anger and lasting favor echo Ps 30:5 (LXX 29:6). Migne's alternative number for this epigram is XCII.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; stray letter): vitæet misericorditer auditur, et misericorditer non auditur.Quid enim infirmo bit utile, ungis → vitæ et misericorditer auditur, et misericorditer non auditur. Quid enim infirmo sit utile, magis; præcipitfet → præcipit et; quod parat vernas → quod parat veritas; Dei: J Atque → Dei: Atque; novant..'eniteat → novant. Pæniteat.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 95 (PL 51:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/95). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/95
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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.
Chapter 96
96PL 51:527
Actio in hac vita pia est, Deum colere et in ejus gratia contra vitia interna pugnare, eisque usque ad illicita instigantibus cogentibusve non cedere: et ubi ceditur indulgentiam, atque ut non cedatur adjutorium Dei, affectu religiosae pietatis exposcere. In paradiso autem, si nemo peccasset, non esset actio pietatis expugnare vitia, quia felicitatis esset per mansio vitia non habere. Numquam bella bonis, numquam discrimina desunt, Et cum quo certet, mens pia semper habet. Quae carnem oblectant, sancto sunt noxia cordi, Contra animi legem prælia corpus habet. Pulsant exterius diversis motibus hostes, Intus civile est et sociale malum. Ut possit mundi illecebris vitiisque resisti, Vis est corporei mortificanda hominis. Sed quae mens recto famulam sub jure tenebit, Edomitæ ut regnet carnis in officiis; Excelso nisi quae servit, bene subdita Regi, Unde est facta volens, fiat et inde valens?
[Sentence] The work of piety in this life is to worship God and, in his grace, to fight against the vices within, and not to yield to them when they urge or drive toward what is unlawful; and, where one yields, to ask pardon, and, that one may not yield, to ask God's help with the affection of religious devotion. But in paradise, if no one had sinned, the work of piety would not be to fight down vices, because it would belong to the happiness of that dwelling not to have vices.
[Epigram] Wars are never lacking to the good, nor dangers, and the pious mind always has someone to fight. What delights the flesh is harmful to the holy heart; the body wages war against the law of the mind. Enemies knock outside with various motions; within is a civil and a social evil. That the world's allurements and vices may be resisted, the force of the bodily man must be put to death. But what mind will hold its handmaid under right law, and reign over the services of the tamed flesh, unless it serves the lofty King, well subjected to him, so that from the source by which it was made willing it may also be made able?
Rom 7:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · Phil 2:13 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The life of piety on earth is a constant fight against inner vices, asking pardon when one yields and help not to yield; the mind can rule the flesh only if it serves God, who gives both the will and the power.
- The war against the law of the mind alludes to Rom 7:23; putting the body's deeds to death to Rom 8:13 and Col 3:5. "That dwelling" reads the printed "per mansio" as permansio, by sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; leaked margin letter; split word): adjuto rium → adjutorium; farnulam sub → famulam sub; beue subdita → bene subdita; fiat P et inde → fiat et inde.
Cite (SBL): Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 96 (PL 51:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/96). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/96
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-prosper-epigrammata-sententiis-96) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 51 (Corpus Corporum digital text, CC BY-SA; corrections logged); no public-domain English translation exists, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.