# Epigrams on Sentences of Augustine - Author: [Prosper of Aquitaine](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/prosper-of-aquitaine/) - Latin title: *Epigrammata ex sententiis sancti Augustini* - Date: ca. 435-450 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina, vol. 51 (Paris, 1861), digital text of the printed volume (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/ - Passages: 101 ## Preface - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-0 - Source: PL 51:499 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: In his preface Prosper explains that he has gathered sayings from his reading, like flowers, and set each in a short verse epigram, by God's gift. ### Latin text Dum sacris mentem placet exercere loquelis, Cœlestique animum pascere pane juvat: Quosdam, ceu prato, libuit decerpere flores, Distinctisque ipsos texere versiculis. Ut proprias canerent epigrammata singula causas, Et pars quæque suo congrueret titulo. Nec nostræ hoc opis est, sed ab illo sumitur hic ros, Qui siccam rupem fundere jussit aquas. Ut quod in affectum cordis, pietate magistra, Venerit, hoc promat carmine læta fides. ### English translation (Claude) [Preface] While it pleases me to exercise the mind with sacred words, and it delights me to feed the soul with heavenly bread, I have chosen to pluck certain flowers, as from a meadow, and to weave them into separate little verses, so that each epigram might sing its own theme, and each part fit its own title. Nor is this of our own strength; this dew is taken from him who bade the dry rock pour out waters, so that what has come into the heart's affection, with piety as teacher, glad faith may bring out in song. ### Scripture references - Exod 17:6: allusion, medium confidence - Num 20:11: allusion, low confidence ### Translation notes - The sayings (sententiae) are drawn from Augustine's works; each section gives Augustine's sentence in prose, followed by Prosper's verse on it. The rock pouring out water alludes to Exod 17:6 and Num 20:11. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. pref. (PL 51:499; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0). ## Epigram 1: Quæ sit vera innocentia - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-1 - Source: PL 51:499 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: True innocence harms neither oneself nor another, since whoever plots harm against another first wounds himself, even if he never carries it out. ### Latin text Innocentia vera est, quæ nec sibi nec alteri nocet. Quoniam qui diligit iniquitatem, odit animam suam. Et nemo non prius in se, quam in alterum peccat. Perfecte bonus est, et vero dicitur insons. Nec sibi, nec cuiquam quod noceat faciens. Nam quicumque alium molitur lædere, primum Ipsum se jaculo percutiet proprio. Et cum forte animum non sit subitura facultas, Non dubium in cordis viscere vulnus habet. Nec fugit infecti sceleris mens prava reatum, Cui nimis hoc solum quod voluit nocuit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] True innocence is that which harms neither itself nor another. For he who loves iniquity hates his own soul. And no one sins against another without first sinning against himself. [Epigram] He is perfectly good, and truly called innocent, who does nothing that harms himself or anyone. For whoever schemes to hurt another will first strike himself with his own dart. And even if the means to carry out his intent should not come, he surely bears a wound in the depths of his heart. Nor does the depraved mind escape the guilt of a crime not done: this alone, that it willed it, has done it great harm. ### Scripture references - Ps 11:5 (10:5 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul" quotes Ps 11:5 (LXX and Vulgate 10:6). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 1 (PL 51:499; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/1). ## Epigram 2: De hominibus diligendis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-2 - Source: PL 51:499 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: We must love people as God made them while hating their faults, since what God made is good and only what evil adds is to be rejected. ### Latin text Sic diligendi sunt homines, ut eorum non diligantur errores, quia aliud est amare quod facti sunt, et aliud est odisse quod faciunt. Naturæ quisquis propriæ non spernis honorem, In quocumque hominum quæ tua noscis ama. Sic tamen, ut pravos vitet concordia mores, Nullaque sint pacis foedera cum vitiis. Namque quod artificis summi fecit manus, unum est: Quæque auctore bono condita sunt, bona sunt. Divinum in nullo figmentum despiciatur, Sola malis studiis addita non placeant. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Men are to be loved in such a way that their errors are not loved; for it is one thing to love what they were made, and another to hate what they do. [Epigram] You who do not scorn the honor of your own nature, love in every man what you know to be your own; yet so that concord shuns depraved ways, and there are no treaties of peace with vices. For what the hand of the highest craftsman made is one, and whatever was founded by a good author is good. Let God's handiwork be despised in no one; let only what bad pursuits have added displease. ### Scripture references - Gen 1:31: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - What the good creator made is good echoes Gen 1:31. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 2 (PL 51:499; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/2). ## Epigram 3: De vera æternitate - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-3 - Source: PL 51:499 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Only the triune God is truly eternal and unchangeable; creatures, even those given everlasting life, are subject to change and so are not eternal in the same sense. ### Latin text Vera æternitas et vera immortalitas non est nisi in Deitate Trinitatis: cui quod est esse perfectum est; quia natura initio carens, et incremento non indigens, sicut nullum finem, ita nullam recipit mutabilitatem. Creaturæ autem, etiam illæ quibus Deus æternitatem dedit, vel daturus est, non penitus omnis finis alienæ sunt, quia non sunt extra commutationem; dum illis finis est, et temporalis institutio, et localis motio, et ipsa in augmentum sui facta immutatio. Æternus vere est solus Deus omnicreator, Qui in se vivens permanet esse quod est. Hoc Pater, hoc Verbum Patris, hoc est Spiritus almus, Quorum natura est una, eademque simul. Non coeptum, aut auctum, non hic mutabile quidquam est, Quod subeat leges temporis, aut numeri. Virtus, praeteritis prior ulteriorque futuris, Nil recipit varium, nil habet occiduum. Nam rerum, quas ut voluit sapientia fecit, Multis vita quidem est præstita perpetua. Sed quodcumque potest sese amplius aut minus esse Quodam fine ipsi quod fuerat moritur. Sic nihil aeternum quod commutabile factum est. Et quod cuncta super, semper idem Deus est. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] True eternity and true immortality exist only in the Godhead of the Trinity, for whom what it is, is perfect being; because a nature that lacks beginning and needs no increase admits, as no end, so no changeableness. But creatures, even those to whom God has given or will give eternity, are not wholly strangers to every end, because they are not outside change: for they have an end, a beginning in time, motion in place, and the very change that is made for their growth. [Epigram] Truly eternal is God alone, the creator of all, who, living in himself, remains being what he is. This is the Father, this the Word of the Father, this the kindly Spirit, whose nature is one and the same together. Nothing here was begun or increased, nothing is changeable, nothing that would undergo the laws of time or number. A power prior to things past and beyond things to come, it admits nothing varied, has nothing that sets. For of the things which Wisdom made as it willed, to many indeed everlasting life has been granted; but whatever can be more or less itself dies, by some end, to what it had been. So nothing that was made changeable is eternal, and God, who is above all, is always the same. ### Scripture references - Ps 102:27 (101:28 LXX): echo, low confidence - Mal 3:6: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "Always the same" echoes Ps 102:27 and Mal 3:6. "The very change" reads the printed "Imitatio" as immutatio. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 3 (PL 51:499; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/3). ## Epigram 4: De patientia Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-4 - Source: PL 51:499 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's patience spares sinners and gives them time to repent, and even his punishments are fatherly correction meant to save. ### Latin text Patientia Dei vera est, qua parcit contemptus, parcitque negatus; et magis vult vitam peccatoris quam mortem; eruditio est pœnitudinis, et oblatio correctionis. Nec ulla ipsius opera misericordia vacant, quando homini et indulgentia consulit, et flagello. Multa diu summi differt patientia Regis, Suspendens æqui pondera Judicii. Et dum plectendis parcit clementia factis Dat spatium, quo se crimine purget homo, Denique committunt homines mala crimina semper, Dat spatium, ut pereant crimina, non homines. Verbere nonnumquam castigans corde paterno, Ne cito consumant sæva flagella reos. Sic pietate Dei terrarum non vacat orbis, Et nihil est quod nos non trahat ad veniam: Cum Rex salvandis ipsa quoque consulit Ira, Ut curat medicus vulnera vulneribus. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] God's patience is true: by it he spares when he is despised, and spares when he is denied, and wills the life of the sinner rather than his death. It is a schooling in repentance and an offer of correction. Nor are any of his works empty of mercy, since he provides for man both by indulgence and by the scourge. [Epigram] The patience of the highest King long puts off many things, holding back the weights of fair judgment. And while clemency spares deeds that deserve punishment, it gives man space in which to cleanse himself of crime. In short, though men are always committing evil crimes, he gives space so that the crimes may perish, not the men. Sometimes he chastises with the rod, with a father's heart, lest savage scourges quickly consume the guilty. So the world is not empty of God's kindness, and there is nothing that does not draw us toward pardon, since the King makes even his wrath serve those who are to be saved, as the physician heals wounds with wounds. ### Scripture references - Ezek 33:11: allusion, high confidence - Ezek 18:23: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 2:4: allusion, medium confidence - Heb 12:6: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - God's will for the sinner's life rather than his death alludes to Ezek 18:23 and 33:11; patience leading to repentance to Rom 2:4; fatherly chastisement to Heb 12:6. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 4 (PL 51:499; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/4). ## Epigram 5: De ultione Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-5 - Source: PL 51:499–501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God punishes in this life out of mercy, so that sinners may be corrected and not punished eternally. ### Latin text Divina bonitas ideo maxime irascitur in hoc sæculo, ne irascatur in futuro: et misericorditer adhibet temporalem severitatem, ne æternam juste inferat ultionem. Cum Deus exserta peccantes verberat ira, Ut norint homines quid mereantur agit. Nam dum mortalis peraguntur tempora carnis, Auxilium miseris ipsa flagella ferunt. Et vindicta brevis sic noxia crimina finit: Ne sine fine habeat debita pœna reos. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The divine goodness is most angry in this age so as not to be angry in the age to come, and mercifully applies temporal severity so as not to inflict, justly, eternal vengeance. [Epigram] When God strikes sinners with wrath put forth, he acts so that men may know what they deserve. For while the times of mortal flesh are being lived out, the very scourges bring help to the wretched; and a brief punishment thus ends harmful crimes, lest the penalty owed should hold the guilty without end. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 5 (PL 51:499–501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/5). ## Epigram 6: De vera * Dei laudatione - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-6 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Praise of God is true only when heart and mouth agree; to speak well and live badly is to condemn oneself. ### Latin text Vera est confessio benedicentis, cum idem sonus est et oris, et cordis. Bene autem loqui, et male vivere, nihil est aliud quam sua se voce damnare. Laus vera in Dominum depromitur ore precantis, Si quæ voce fluunt, intima cordis habent, Non prodest cuiquam solis bona dicere verbis, Ni pia mens habeat, quod bene lingua sonat. Nam fari recte, miserum est, et vivere prave. Damnat nota malum regula justitiæ. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The confession of one who blesses is true when the sound of the mouth and of the heart is the same. To speak well and live badly is nothing other than to condemn oneself with one's own voice. [Epigram] True praise is brought forth to the Lord from the mouth of one who prays if what flows from the voice holds the depths of the heart. It profits no one to say good things in words alone unless a pious mind holds what the tongue sounds well. For to speak rightly and live wickedly is wretched: the well-known rule of justice condemns the wicked man. ### Scripture references - Matt 15:8: echo, low confidence - Luke 19:22: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Self-condemnation by one's own words echoes Luke 19:22; lips and heart echo Matt 15:8 (Isa 29:13). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 6 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/6). ## Epigram 7: De virtute charitatis, - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-7 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Love of God and neighbor belongs only to the saints, while other virtues can be found in the wicked too; without these two wings no one reaches heaven. ### Latin text Dilectio Dei et proximi propria et specialis virtus est piorum, atque sanctorum, cum cæteræ virtutes et bonis et malis possint esse communes. Plurima sanctorum bona sunt communia multis, Et quiddam recti constat inesse malis, Sed pia pars summæ tendens virtutis ad arcem, Omne operum meritum vincit amore Dei, Quo pariter quemcumque hominum sic diligit, ut se: Hoc optans aliis quod cupit ipse sibi. Unde istis geminis virtutum qui caret alis, Coelorum ad regnum non habet unde volet. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Love of God and of neighbor is the proper and special virtue of the pious and holy, while the other virtues can be common to the good and the wicked. [Epigram] Many goods of the saints are shared by many, and something of right is found to be in the wicked. But the pious part, striving toward the citadel of highest virtue, surpasses all merit of works by the love of God, by which it loves any man alike, as itself, wishing for others what it desires for itself. So he who lacks these twin wings of the virtues has nothing with which to fly to the kingdom of heaven. ### Scripture references - Matt 22:37: allusion, high confidence - Matt 22:39: allusion, high confidence - Matt 7:12: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The two commandments allude to Matt 22:37–39; wishing for others what one wants for oneself to Matt 7:12. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 7 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/7). ## Epigram 8: De doctrina apostolica - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-8 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The apostles' teaching feeds every kind of person according to capacity, milk for the little and bread for the strong, and gives life through the one faith. ### Latin text Doctrina apostolica tam salubris tamque vitalis est, ut pro capacitate utentium neminem sui relinquat exsortem. Quia sive sint parvuli, sive magni, sive infirmi, sive fortes, habent in ea et unde alantur, et unde satientur. Exueret ut Deus tetra caligine mundum, Doctrinæ accendit lumen apostolicæ: Quae nullis animis, nullis non congruit annis, Lacte rigans parvos, pane cibans validos. Non tempus, non sexus huic, non causa resistit, Omnes erudit, alit, justificat, vegetat. Sumite quæ magnae apposuit Sapientia mensae, Et variis pasti discite deliciis. Quarum pars totum est epulum, et quo quisque juvatur, Inde capit vitam, quam parit una fides. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The apostolic teaching is so wholesome and so life-giving that, according to the capacity of those who use it, it leaves no one without a share. For whether they are little or great, weak or strong, they have in it both what nourishes them and what fills them. [Epigram] To strip the world of foul darkness, God lit the light of the apostolic teaching, which suits all minds and all ages, watering the little with milk, feeding the strong with bread. No time, no sex, no condition resists it: it teaches, nourishes, justifies, and quickens all. Take what Wisdom has set out on her great table, and, fed on varied delights, learn. Any part of them is the whole feast; and from what helps each one he takes the life which the one faith brings forth. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 3:2: allusion, high confidence - Heb 5:12: allusion, medium confidence - Prov 9:2: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 3:28: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Milk and solid food allude to 1 Cor 3:2 and Heb 5:12–14; Wisdom's table to Prov 9:1–5. "Teaches" reads the printed "errat" as erudit. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 8 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/8). ## Epigram 9: De quærendo Deo - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-9 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Seeking God is seeking joy, but joy in the Lord, not in oneself, since he gives the understanding and love by which he is known and dwells in those he adorns with his gifts. ### Latin text Deum quaerens, gaudium quærit. Sic ergo quaerat, ut non in se, sed in Domino gaudeat. Accedendo enim ad Deum, illuminatur ignorantia et corroboratur infirmitas, data sibi et intelligentia qua videat, et charitate qua serviat. Scire Deum cupiens, gaudere et vivere quærit, Si verum et summum norit amare Deum. Cui tribuat quidquid recte sapit, optat, agitque, Et sine quo carnis gloria pulvis erit. Non ergo in quoquam sua munera deserit auctor, Perque suum Dominus se manifestat opus, Inque illis habitat dives penetralibus hospes, Qua gaudent hoc se comta quod ipse dedit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] He who seeks God seeks joy. Let him seek, then, so as to rejoice not in himself but in the Lord. For by drawing near to God ignorance is enlightened and weakness strengthened, understanding being given him by which to see, and love by which to serve. [Epigram] He who desires to know God seeks to rejoice and to live, if he knows how to love the true and highest God, to whom he should ascribe whatever he rightly knows, wishes, and does, and without whom the glory of the flesh will be dust. So the author does not abandon his gifts in anyone, and the Lord shows himself through his own work, and dwells, a rich guest, in those inner rooms where they rejoice to be adorned with what he himself gave. ### Scripture references - Phil 4:4: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 1:31: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Rejoicing in the Lord alludes to Phil 4:4 and 1 Cor 1:31. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 9 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/9). ## Epigram 10: De fastidio spiritali - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-10 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: As the body dies without food, so the soul dies if it loathes the spiritual food of God's Word. ### Latin text Sicut corpori noxium est corpoream escam non posse percipere, ita animæ periculosum est spiritales delicias fastidire. Ut perdunt propriam mortalia corpora vitam, Si nequeunt escas sumere corporeas: Sic animae, nisi deliciis rationis alantur. Dum Verbi æterni pane carent, pereunt. Nam quid erit quod dira procul fastidia pellat, Cum se ipso refugit mens saturare Deo? ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] As it is harmful to the body to be unable to take bodily food, so it is dangerous for the soul to loathe spiritual delights. [Epigram] As mortal bodies lose their own life if they cannot take bodily food, so souls, unless they are fed on the delights of reason, perish while they lack the bread of the eternal Word. For what will drive dire loathing far away when the mind shrinks from filling itself with God himself? ### Scripture references - Matt 4:4: allusion, medium confidence - John 6:35: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The bread of the Word alludes to Matt 4:4 and John 6:35. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 10 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/10). ## Epigram 11: P De bonorum et malorum finibus - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-11 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Being belongs to God, so those who turn from him tend toward nothing and are never truly many, while those who cling to him remain forever. ### Latin text Numquam multi sunt qui ad non esse tendunt. Quid enim tam obnoxium paucitati, quam quod est debitum perditioni? Esse Deo verum et proprium est, cui quisquis adhæret, Æterni in regni lumine semper erit. Nam qui justitiam spernunt, non esse laborant, Inque nihil tendunt, et nihil esse queunt. Non ergo illorum poterit pars multa videri, Quorum in sanctorum nullus erit numero. Sed vere magni, et multi sine fine manebunt, In Christo quorum gloria perpes erit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Those who tend toward not-being are never many. For what is so liable to fewness as what is owed to perdition? [Epigram] To be belongs truly and properly to God; whoever clings to him will be forever in the light of the eternal kingdom. For those who spurn justice labor toward not-being, and tend toward nothing, and can be nothing. So their part can never seem many, none of whom will be in the number of the saints. But those truly great and many will remain without end whose glory in Christ will be everlasting. ### Scripture references - Exod 3:14: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "To be belongs... to God" echoes Exod 3:14. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 11 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/11). ## Epigram 12: De tranquillitate utlionis Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-12 - Source: PL 51:501 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God punishes not from a desire for vengeance but calmly, by his just will, so that even the wicked are kept in their due order. ### Latin text Non concupiscit Deus pœnam reorum, tamquam saturari desiderans ultione. Sed quod justum est cum tranquillitate decernit, et recta voluntate disponit, ut etiam mali non sint inordinati. Nulla Deum oblectat miserorum poena reorum, Nec scelerum vindex ira movet placidum. Omnipotentis enim recta et tranquilla voluntas, Quidquid decerni convenit, hoc statuit. Ut nullis pateat Regis censura querelis, Cum juste accipiet debitus ordo malos. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] God does not long for the punishment of the guilty as though he desired to be sated with vengeance. But he decrees what is just with calm, and arranges it by his right will, so that even the wicked are not out of order. [Epigram] No punishment of wretched guilty men delights God, nor does wrath, the avenger of crimes, disturb his calm. For the right and tranquil will of the Almighty establishes whatever it is fitting to decree, so that the King's sentence lies open to no complaints, since the order they deserve will justly take in the wicked. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 12 (PL 51:501; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/12). ## Epigram 13: De bono intellectu - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-13 - Source: PL 51:501–503 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: True understanding of Scripture means doing what one has learned, just as wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. ### Latin text Bonum intellectum habet qui quod faciendum recte intelligit fara. Alioquin talis est sine opere intelligentia, qualis est sine timore sapientia, cum sit scriptum, Initium sapientiæ timor Domini. Scriptorum Domini plene videt omne profundum, Implet qui factis cognita verba piis. Nam nimis a sensu doctrinæ devius errat, Si quæ curavit scire, fugit facere. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] He has good understanding who rightly understands what is to be done and does it. Otherwise he is like understanding without work, as wisdom is without fear, since it is written, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." [Epigram] He sees fully all the depth of the Lord's Scriptures who fulfills in pious deeds the words he has learned. For he strays far from the sense of the teaching if he shuns doing what he took care to know. ### Scripture references - Ps 111:10 (110:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Prov 9:10: quotation, medium confidence - Jas 1:22: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord" quotes Ps 111:10 (LXX 110:10; also Prov 9:10). "And does it" translates the garbled "fara" (probably facit or faciat) by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 13 (PL 51:501–503; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/13). ## Epigram 14: De requie adhuc in carne viventis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-14 - Source: PL 51:503 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The believer already has rest in this life, not from good works but from sin, living to God and dead to the world. ### Latin text Habet jam in hac vita requiem suam anima quæ de morte infidelitatis exempta est, et non ab operibus justitiæ, sed ab iniquitatis se abstinet actione, ut vivens Deo et mundo mortua, in humilitatis et mansuetudinis placida tranquillitate requiescat. Est et in hac vita multis requies data sanctis, Quorum animas mundus non tenet occiduus: Quos desideriis nullis peritura fatigant, Et quibus omne bonum est Christus, et omnis honor. Utuntur terra ut coelo, fugientia temnunt, Quod credunt, quod amant, quod cupiunt, Deus est. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The soul that has been freed from the death of unbelief already has its rest in this life; it rests not from the works of justice but from the doing of iniquity, so that, living to God and dead to the world, it may rest in the calm tranquility of humility and meekness. [Epigram] Even in this life rest is given to many saints, whose souls the setting world does not hold; whom no desires for perishing things weary, and for whom Christ is every good and every honor. They use the earth as heaven, they scorn what passes; what they believe, what they love, what they long for, is God. ### Scripture references - Matt 11:29: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 6:14: echo, low confidence - Rom 6:11: echo, low confidence - Heb 4:10: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Rest in humility and meekness alludes to Matt 11:29; dead to the world to Gal 6:14; living to God to Rom 6:11. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 14 (PL 51:503; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/14). ## Epigram 15: De vovendo Deo - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-15 - Source: PL 51:503 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The vow owed to God is oneself, his image, as the coin with Caesar's image is owed to Caesar; and true sacrifice is offered only within the Catholic Church. ### Latin text Quisquis bene cogitat quid Deo voveat, et quæ vota persolvat, seipsum voveat, et reddat. Hoc exigitur, hoc debetur: imago Cæsaris reddatur Cæsari, imago Dei reddatur Deo. Sed sicut videndum est quid et cui offeras, ita etiam considerandum est ubi offeras. Quia veri sacrificii extra catholicam Ecclesiam locus non est. Quid voveat Domino quisquis bene corde volutat, Ipsum se totum præparet ac voveat, Major enim offerri nequit hostia mentis in ara, Nec Christi ex templo suavior exit odor, Quam cum homo castorum profert libamina morum, Et de virtutum munere sacra litat. Sic tamen, ut norit qui reddit vota Tonanti Unum divinis coitibus esse locum, In toto mundo quem vera Ecclesia praebet, Et sine quo nullum justitiæ est meritum. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Whoever thinks carefully about what he should vow to God and what vows he should pay, let him vow himself and render himself. This is demanded, this is owed: let the image of Caesar be rendered to Caesar, the image of God to God. But just as one must see what and to whom you offer, so one must also consider where you offer. For there is no place of true sacrifice outside the Catholic Church. [Epigram] Whoever turns over carefully in his heart what to vow to the Lord, let him make ready his whole self and vow it. For no greater victim can be offered on the altar of the mind, nor does a sweeter odor go up to Christ from the temple, than when a man brings the libations of chaste conduct and offers holy sacrifice from the gift of the virtues; yet so that he who pays his vows to the Thunderer knows that there is one place for the divine assemblies, which the true Church provides in the whole world, and without which there is no merit of justice. ### Scripture references - Matt 22:21: allusion, high confidence - Ps 76:11 (75:12 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Rom 12:1: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Caesar's image alludes to Matt 22:20–21; vowing and paying vows to Ps 76:11 (LXX 75:12); offering oneself to Rom 12:1. "The Thunderer" (Tonans), a classical title of Jupiter, is used by Christian Latin poets for God. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 15 (PL 51:503; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/15). ## Epigram 16: De justitia et gratia - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-16 - Source: PL 51:503 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Justice repays good for good and evil for evil, but grace returns good for evil, forgiving sins in baptism; without it there would be no good people to reward. ### Latin text Duae sunt retributiones justitiæ, cum aut bona pro bonis, aut mala redduntur pro malis. Tertia est retributio gratiæ, cum per regenerationem remittuntur mala, et retribuuntur bona. Atque ita manifestatur quia universae viae Domini misericordia et veritas. Illam autem impiorum retributionem, qua pro bonis mala restituunt, Deus nescit; qui nisi retribueret bona pro malis, non essent quibus retribueret bona pro bonis. Justitiæ merces gemina est, vel cum bona rectis, Vel pravis digne cum dura restituit. Salvatrix autem cunctorum gratia Christi, Non pensans meritum, diluit omne malum. Credentesque omnes renovans baptismate sacro, Dat bona, quæ propter det meliora bonis. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] There are two retributions of justice: when either good is returned for good, or evil for evil. A third is the retribution of grace, when through regeneration evils are forgiven and goods are given in return. And so it is shown that all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth. But that retribution of the impious by which they return evil for good, God does not know; for unless he returned good for evil, there would be none to whom he could return good for good. [Epigram] The reward of justice is twofold: either when it returns good things to the upright, or, deservedly, evil things to the wicked. But the grace of Christ, savior of all, not weighing merit, washes away all evil; and renewing all believers by holy baptism, it gives good things, for the sake of which it may give better things to the good. ### Scripture references - Ps 25:10 (24:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth" quotes Ps 25:10 (LXX 24:10). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 16 (PL 51:503; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/16). ## Epigram 17: De supernæ patriæ civibus - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-17 - Source: PL 51:503 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The citizen of the heavenly city is a pilgrim in this world, where few know and love God; Christ, his way, keeps him through adversity and prosperity. ### Latin text Omnis qui ad supernam pertinet civitatem, peregrinus est mundi: et dum temporali utitur vita, in patria vivit aliena, ubi inter multa illecebrosa et multa fallacia Deum nosse et amare paucorum est quibus fit præceptum Domini lucidum illuminans oculos, ut nec in Dei, nec in proximi charitate fallantur. Coelestem ad patriam Christo redimente vocatus, Vitam labentis temporis hospes agit. Dumque ad promissam requiem non per sua tendit, Mundanæ patitur multa pericla viæ, Quae nunc obsessa adversis, nunc plena secundis Aut frangit trepidos, obligat aut dubios. Inter quos laqueos currentem ad gaudia vera Non capiet mundus, cui via Christus erit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Everyone who belongs to the heavenly city is a pilgrim in the world; and while he makes use of temporal life, he lives in a foreign country, where, among many allurements and many deceptions, to know and love God belongs to few: to those for whom the commandment of the Lord becomes bright, enlightening the eyes, so that they are deceived neither in the love of God nor in the love of neighbor. [Epigram] Called to the heavenly homeland by Christ's redeeming, the guest lives out a life of gliding time. And while he travels toward the promised rest, not by his own strength, he suffers many dangers on the world's road, which, now beset with adversity, now full of prosperity, either breaks the fearful or snares the wavering. Amid these snares the world will not catch the one running to true joys, whose way will be Christ. ### Scripture references - Ps 19:8 (18:9 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Heb 11:13: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Pet 2:11: echo, low confidence - John 14:6: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "The commandment of the Lord... enlightening the eyes" quotes Ps 19:8 (LXX 18:9). Pilgrims and strangers allude to Heb 11:13 and 1 Pet 2:11; Christ the way to John 14:6. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 17 (PL 51:503; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/17). ## Epigram 18: De carnis cupiditate vincenda - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-18 - Source: PL 51:503–505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Every soul is weighed down by the body, but with God's help the mind must rule the flesh, which it can do only by the love of Christ. ### Latin text Nemo est cujus animam corruptibile corpus et inhabitatio terrena non aggravet. Sed annitendum est ut cupiditates carnis spiritus vigore superentur; et interior homo, qui semper sibi sentit resisti semper se divino exspectet auxilio adjuvari. Nulla anima est, quæ non mortali carne gravetur, Nec de corporea conditione gemat. Sed confirmare invalidam, et frenare rebellem, Legitimum et proprium est mentis opus dominæ. Quæ jus naturæ, ut moderamine temperet aequo, Et subdat sceptris noxia quæque suis, A Domino auxilium, et vires petat, ut valeat se Vincere, nec sensus incitet ipsa suos. Nam nullos famulæ poterit compescere motus, Si fuerit Christi semper amore potens. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] There is no one whose soul the corruptible body and the earthly dwelling do not weigh down. But one must strive that the desires of the flesh be overcome by the vigor of the spirit; and the inner man, who always feels himself resisted, must always expect to be helped by divine aid. [Epigram] There is no soul that is not weighed down by mortal flesh and does not groan over its bodily condition. But to strengthen the weak and curb the rebellious is the lawful and proper work of the mind as mistress. That it may temper the right of nature with fair control and subject every harmful thing to its scepter, let it seek help and strength from the Lord, so that it may be able to conquer itself, and not itself stir up its senses. For it will be able to restrain no motions of its servant unless it is always made strong by the love of Christ. ### Scripture references - Rom 7:22: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 5:17: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Cor 5:4: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 9:15 (Wisdom of Solomon): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - "The corruptible body... the earthly dwelling weighs down" quotes Wis 9:15. The inner man and the resisting flesh allude to Rom 7:22–23 and Gal 5:17; groaning to 2 Cor 5:4. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 18 (PL 51:503–505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/18). ## Epigram 19: De angusta II,. via - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-19 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The way to life is narrow, yet those whose hearts are enlarged by hope run it gladly, since what frightens the worldly is open ground to great souls. ### Latin text Angusta est via quae ducit ad vitam Et tamen per ipsam, nisi dilato corde, non curritur, quia iter virtutum, quo gradiuntur pauperes Christi, amplum est fidelium spei, etiam si arctum sit infidelium vanitati. Arcta via est verae quae ducit ad atria vitæ, Nec recipit carnis gaudia mentis iter. Amplis incedit spatiis terrena voluptas, Angusto virtus limite celsa petit. Et tamen hi calles, quos mundi vana pavescunt, Quædam magnificis æquora sunt animis. Difficilisque nimis per dura, per ardua gressus, Commendat fidei quod tolerare juvat. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Narrow is the way that leads to life; and yet it is not run except with an enlarged heart, because the road of the virtues, on which the poor of Christ walk, is wide for the hope of the faithful, even if it is narrow for the vanity of unbelievers. [Epigram] Narrow is the way that leads to the halls of true life, and the mind's road does not admit the joys of the flesh. Earthly pleasure walks in wide spaces; virtue seeks the heights by a narrow path. And yet these paths, at which the vanities of the world take fright, are as open plains to great souls; and the step, very hard over rough and steep ground, commends to faith what it delights to endure. ### Scripture references - Matt 7:14: quotation, high confidence - Ps 119:32 (118:32 LXX): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - "Narrow is the way that leads to life" quotes Matt 7:14; running with an enlarged heart alludes to Ps 119:32 (LXX 118:32). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 19 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/19). ## Epigram 20: De præemio Christianæ religion - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-20 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God must be worshipped for his own sake, as himself the reward; whoever worships him for some other gain loves the gain, not God. ### Latin text Hoc affectu et hoc desiderio colendus est Deus, ut sui cultus ipse sit merces. Nam qui Deum ideo colit, ut aliud quam ipsum promereatur, non Deum colit, sed id quod assequi concupiscit. Hac desiderii Deus est pietate colendus, Justitiae ut merces tota sit ipse Deus. Nam sperans alio se munere posse beari, Non quem poscit amat, sed quod habere cupit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] God is to be worshipped with this affection and this desire: that he himself is the reward of his worship. For he who worships God in order to earn something other than God himself does not worship God, but what he longs to obtain. [Epigram] God is to be worshipped with this devotion of desire, that God himself be the whole reward of justice. For one who hopes that he can be made blessed by some other gift loves not him whom he asks, but what he wants to have. ### Scripture references - Gen 15:1: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - God as the reward echoes Gen 15:1. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 20 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/20). ## Epigram 21: De occultis non judicandis, - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-21 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: We must not judge the hidden thoughts of others on suspicion, especially when their visible works are good, but leave secrets to God. ### Latin text De occultis cordis alieni temere judicare peccatum est; et eum cujus non videntur opera nisi bona, ex suspicione reprehendere iniquum est. Cum eorum quæ homini sunt incognita solus Deus judex sit justus, qui et inspector est verus. Culpare in quoquam quæ non sunt nota, malignum est, Praesertim si quae cognita sunt bona sunt. Non pateant faciles sævis rumoribus aures. Quae nescire juvat, credere non libeat. Linquantur secreta Deo, qui si quid opertum est Inspicit, et nullis indiget indiciis. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] To judge rashly of the secrets of another's heart is a sin; and to blame on suspicion one whose works are seen to be only good is unjust. For of the things unknown to man God alone is the just judge, who is also the true inspector. [Epigram] To blame in anyone what is not known is malicious, especially if what is known is good. Let ears not lie easily open to savage rumors; what it is good not to know, let it not please us to believe. Let secrets be left to God, who sees whatever is hidden and needs no evidence. ### Scripture references - Matt 7:1: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 4:5: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Not judging alludes to Matt 7:1 and 1 Cor 4:5. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 21 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/21). ## Epigram 22: De adjutorio Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-22 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Right thought and conduct are God's gift, since he works in us that we may work; no one is good without the Good. ### Latin text Divini est muneris, cum et recta cogitamus, et pedes nostros a falsitate et injustitia continemus. Quoties enim bona agimus, Deus in nobis atque nobiscum ut operemur operatur. Non dubie nostri Deus est et rector, et auctor, Cum toto affectu quae bona sunt gerimus. Ex operum specie clarebunt intima cordis, Quisve hominis mentem spiritus intus alit. Sanctus enim sanctos facit, et de lumine lumen Exoritur: nullus fit bonus absque Bono. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] It is of the divine gift when we both think rightly and keep our feet from falsehood and injustice. For whenever we do good, God works in us and with us that we may work. [Epigram] Without doubt God is our ruler and author when we do what is good with our whole affection. From the look of the works the depths of the heart will shine out, and which spirit feeds a man's mind within. For the Holy One makes holy ones, and light rises from light: no one becomes good without the Good. ### Scripture references - Phil 2:13: allusion, high confidence - Ps 119:101 (118:101 LXX): echo, low confidence - Mark 10:18: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - God working in us alludes to Phil 2:13; keeping the feet from evil to Ps 119:101 (LXX 118:101). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 22 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/22). ## Epigram 23: De patsionibus sanctorum - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-23 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God permits the wicked to persecute the saints so that, tested by these trials, they may grow in virtue and glory. ### Latin text Justo judicio Dei datur plerumque peccatoribus optata potestas qua sanctos ipsius persequantur, ut qui Spiritu Dei juvantur et aguntur, fiant per laborum exercitia clariores. Quod plerumque mali in sanctos sævire sinuntur, Quodque bonis pravi sæpe nocere queunt; Absque Dei nutu non fit, qui corda suorum, His etiam bellis glorificanda probat. Crescunt virtutum palmæ, crescuntque coronae, Mutantur mundi praelia pace Dei. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] By God's just judgment the power they desire is often given to sinners, by which they persecute his saints, so that those who are helped and led by the Spirit of God may become more glorious through the exercise of labors. [Epigram] That the wicked are often allowed to rage against the saints, and that the depraved can often harm the good, does not happen without the nod of God, who tests the hearts of his own, to be glorified even by these wars. The palms of the virtues grow, and the crowns grow, and the battles of the world are changed into the peace of God. ### Scripture references - Rom 8:14: allusion, medium confidence - Jas 1:12: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Those led by the Spirit of God allude to Rom 8:14. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 23 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/23). ## Epigram 24: P De scientia boni - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-24 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Knowledge of God's law is true only when it is put into practice. ### Latin text Non est vera scientia boni, nisi ad hoc comprehendatur, ut agatur. Non enim utiliter meditatur legem Dei, qui laborat ut memoria teneat quod actione non implet. Scit legem, docteque tenet jussa Omnipotentis, Qui quod novit agens, diligit id quod agit. Non satis est Domini præceptum volvere lingua: Is meminit legis, qui memor est operis. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] There is no true knowledge of the good unless it is grasped in order to be done. For he does not meditate profitably on the law of God who labors to hold in memory what he does not fulfill in action. [Epigram] He knows the law and holds the commands of the Almighty learnedly who, doing what he knows, loves what he does. It is not enough to roll the Lord's command on the tongue: he remembers the law who is mindful of the work. ### Scripture references - Ps 1:2: echo, low confidence - Jas 1:22: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Meditating on the law echoes Ps 1:2; doing what one knows, Jas 1:22. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 24 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/24). ## Epigram 25: De amore legis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-25 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: A lover of God's law hates the wickedness of the wicked, not the people themselves. ### Latin text Qui legem Dei diligit, probat se in omnibus iniquis id quod contra legem est odisse, non homines. Legem spernentes odit cum legis amator, Non homines odit, sed reprobat quod agunt. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] He who loves the law of God proves that in all the wicked he hates what is against the law, not the men. [Epigram] When the lover of the law hates those who spurn the law, he does not hate the men, but rejects what they do. ### Scripture references - Ps 139:21 (138:21 LXX): echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Hating those who hate the Lord echoes Ps 139:21–22 (LXX 138:21–22), which the sentence interprets. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 25 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/25). ## Epigram 26: De scrutandis mandatis Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-26 - Source: PL 51:505 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's commandments can be searched only by a quiet mind, free of quarrels and the world's noise, as the temple was built in silence. ### Latin text Mandata Dei scrutari nisi quieta mens non potest. Ut ergo religiosum exerceatur studium, abigenda sunt jurgia malignorum. Scrutari legem possunt utcumque quieti, Si mundi a strepitu libera corda vacent. Ut mens ergo piis studiis intenta juvetur, Praelia divinus carnea vincat amor. Nam templum Domini per sacra silentia crescit, Et tacite struitur non ruitura domus. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Only a quiet mind can search the commandments of God. So, that religious study may be practiced, the quarrels of the malicious must be driven off. [Epigram] The quiet can search the law as fully as may be, if their hearts are free and at leisure from the din of the world. So, that the mind intent on pious studies may be helped, let divine love conquer the battles of the flesh. For the temple of the Lord grows through sacred silences, and a house that will not fall is built in quiet. ### Scripture references - 1 Kgs 6:7: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The temple built in silence alludes to 1 Kgs 6:7. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 26 (PL 51:505; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/26). ## Epigram 27: De proficiendo - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-27 - Source: PL 51:505–507 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: No one is so learned as not to need God's light, since in this life there is always more to understand and do, and the very desire to ask rightly is God's gift. ### Latin text Nemo tam eruditus, nemo tam doctus est, qui superna illustratione non egeat. Non enim ita ulla divinorum bonorum augmenta sufficiunt, ut non semper supersit aliquid quod mens rationalis et intelligendum desideret et gerendum. Doctrinæ Domini penetralia, tempore in isto, Ad plenum nulli pervia sunt homini. Semper enim sanctis superest quo crescere possint: Et perfectorum gloria principium est. Virtutem virtus pariat, de lumine lumen Prodeat, atque omnis palma gradum faciat. Nam cur non cupide mens quaerat quæ Deus effert, Cui danda ut recte posceret ipse dedit? ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] No one is so learned, no one so taught, that he does not need illumination from above. For no increases of divine goods are enough that there does not always remain something which the rational mind desires both to understand and to do. [Epigram] The inner rooms of the Lord's teaching, in this time, lie fully open to no man. For the saints always have something left by which they may grow, and even for the perfect, glory is a beginning. Let virtue beget virtue, let light come forth from light, and let every palm become a step. For why should the mind not eagerly seek what God brings forth, when he himself gave it the power to ask rightly for what is to be given? ### Scripture references - Ps 84:7 (83:8 LXX): echo, low confidence - Phil 3:12: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Growth from virtue to virtue echoes Ps 84:7 (LXX 83:8); always pressing on, Phil 3:12–14. "Even for the perfect, glory is a beginning" renders an obscure line ("Et perfectorum gloria principium est"). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 27 (PL 51:505–507; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/27). ## Epigram 28: De duplici opere Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-28 - Source: PL 51:507 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's ways are mercy and truth: in the lost and the saved they appear separately, but in the saints they are joined, since their blessedness is both grace's gift and justice's reward; grace always comes first. ### Latin text Si omnes homines simul consideremus, quorum alii misericordia salvi fiunt, alii veritate damnantur, universae viæ Domini, id est, misericordia et veritas, suo fine distinctæ sunt, Si autem solos sanctos intueamur, non discernuntur hæ viæ Domini. Individua enim ibi est et a misericordia veritas, et a veritate misericordia, quia beatitudo sanctorum et de munere gratiæ est, et de retributione justitiæ. Omnibus in rebus geminum est opus Omnipotentis. Totum aut justitia est quod gerit, aut pietas. Quae simul in terras descendunt lucis ab arce; Ne cuiquam parti desit utrumque bonum. Et quoniam cuncti auxilio miserantis egemus, Præcedit semper gratia justitiam, Damnantem elatos, salvantem justificatos, Quos Deus et donis auxerit et meritis. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] If we consider all men together, of whom some are saved by mercy and others condemned by truth, all the ways of the Lord, that is, mercy and truth, are distinguished by their ends. But if we look at the saints alone, these ways of the Lord are not separated. For there truth is inseparable from mercy, and mercy from truth, because the blessedness of the saints is both of the gift of grace and of the retribution of justice. [Epigram] In all things the work of the Almighty is twofold: all that he does is either justice or kindness. These come down together to earth from the citadel of light, so that neither good is lacking to any part. And since we all need the help of one who has mercy, grace always goes before justice, condemning the proud, saving the justified, whom God has increased both with gifts and with merits. ### Scripture references - Ps 25:10 (24:10 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Jas 4:6: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth" quotes Ps 25:10 (LXX 24:10). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 28 (PL 51:507; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/28). ## Epigram 29: De observantia pacis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-29 - Source: PL 51:507 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christians should keep peace even with those who hate peace, hoping to correct them, without consenting to their wickedness; if they refuse, our own peace remains. ### Latin text Christianae perfectionis est pacificum esse, etiam cum pacis inimicis, spe correctionis, non consensu malignitatis; ut si nec exemplum, nec cohortationem dilectionis sequantur, causas tamen non habeant quibus odisse nos debeant. Monitus in sanctis pulchra est concordia pacis, Cum multis unum convenit, atque placet. Nec tamen hoc cohibenda modo sunt fœdera amoris, Ut solis pax sit tribuenda bonis. Injustis etiam præstetur justa voluntas, Nec quemquam spernant vota benigna hominem. Non ut amicitiæ vitiis socientur iniquis, Adsit sed pravis ut medicina animis. Quæ si pace sua non sedat turbida corda, Nobis non possit nostra perire quies. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] It belongs to Christian perfection to be peaceable even with the enemies of peace, in hope of correcting them, not in consent to their malice; so that if they follow neither the example nor the exhortation of love, they may at least have no grounds for which they ought to hate us. [Epigram] Beautiful among the saints is the concord of peace, when one agrees with many and is pleasing to them. Yet the bonds of love are not to be so confined that peace is given to the good alone. Let a just goodwill be shown even to the unjust, and let kindly wishes spurn no man; not that friendship be joined to wicked vices, but that medicine be at hand for depraved souls. And if it does not calm troubled hearts with its peace, our own quiet cannot be lost to us. ### Scripture references - Ps 120:7 (119:7 LXX): allusion, high confidence - Rom 12:18: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 10:13: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Peaceable with those who hate peace alludes to Ps 120:7 (LXX 119:7); the peace that returns to the giver echoes Matt 10:13; Rom 12:18. "Among the saints" reads the printed "Monitus" by sense (perhaps Moribus). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 29 (PL 51:507; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/29). ## Epigram 30: De custodia Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-30 - Source: PL 51:507 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God keeps his people from evil not by sparing them all trials but by keeping their souls unharmed in them, which is the greater wonder; the crown goes to those who contend. ### Latin text Custodit nos Dominus ab omni malo, non ut nihil patiamur adversi, sed ut ipsis adversitatibus anima non lædatur. Cum enim tentatio adest, fit quidam in id quod nos impugnat introitus; et cum bono fine, id est, sine vulnere animæ, tentatio consummatur, ad aeternam requiem de profundo temporalis laboris exitur. Sæpe quidem Dominus sic cuncta adversa repellit, Ut nullo attingi vulnere possit homo. Sed mirabilior tunc est manus Omnipotentis, Illata afflictum cum mala non superant. Laudetur custos, virtutem dans toleranti, Intima corrumpat ne furor exterior. Nam non certanti nulla est speranda corona, Palmam, qua capitur gloria, finis habet. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The Lord keeps us from all evil, not so that we suffer nothing adverse, but so that the soul is not harmed by the adversities themselves. For when temptation is present, there is a kind of going in to what attacks us; and when the temptation is completed with a good end, that is, without wound to the soul, there is a going out from the depth of temporal labor to eternal rest. [Epigram] Often indeed the Lord so drives back all adversities that man can be touched by no wound. But the hand of the Almighty is more wonderful when the evils brought upon the afflicted do not overcome him. Let the guardian be praised, who gives strength to the one who endures, lest the fury outside corrupt what is within. For no crown is to be hoped for by one who does not contend: the end holds the palm by which glory is won. ### Scripture references - Ps 121:7 (120:7 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Ps 121:8 (120:8 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 10:13: allusion, medium confidence - 2 Tim 2:5: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "The Lord keeps us from all evil" and the going in and going out allude to Ps 121:7–8 (LXX 120:7–8); temptation with its outcome to 1 Cor 10:13; the crown for the one who contends to 2 Tim 2:5. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 30 (PL 51:507; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/30). ## Epigram 31: De ad jutorio Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-31 - Source: PL 51:507 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Only those who confess that their ascent to the heavenly Jerusalem is God's gift, not their own work, will reach it. ### Latin text Ad cœlestis Jerusalem consortium non ascendunt, nisi qui toto corde profitentur non esse proprii operis sed divini muneris quod ascendunt. Coelestem ad patriam tendens, cognosce vocantem, Cujus proveheris, si bene curris, ope. Nam si te virtute tua ad cœlestia credis Scandere, de superis pulsus ad ima cades. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] None ascend to the fellowship of the heavenly Jerusalem except those who profess with their whole heart that it is not of their own work but of divine gift that they ascend. [Epigram] As you make for the heavenly homeland, recognize the one who calls you, by whose help you are carried forward, if you run well. For if you believe you will climb to heaven by your own virtue, you will be thrust from on high and fall to the depths. ### Scripture references - Heb 12:22: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 4:26: echo, low confidence - Gal 5:7: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The heavenly Jerusalem alludes to Gal 4:26 and Heb 12:22; running well to Gal 5:7. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 31 (PL 51:507; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/31). ## Epigram 32: De odiis mundi in Christianos - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-32 - Source: PL 51:507 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The godly will be mocked as fools for giving up present goods in hope of future ones, but the mockery will rebound on the mockers, and the hope is sure because God made the pledge. ### Latin text Omnes qui in Christo volunt pie vivere, necesse est ut ab impiis et dissimilibus patiantur opprobria; et despiciantur tamquam stulti et insani, qui præsentia bona perdant, et invisibilia sibi ac futura promittant. Sed hæc despectio et hæc irrisio in ipsos retorquebitur, cum et abundantia eorum in egestatem, et superbia transierit in confusionem. Impia pars mundi parti est infesta piorum, Nec tolerare potest dissimiles animos: Ridens nolentes opibus praesentibus uti, Sperantesque sibi credita posse dari. Sed spernenda haec sunt populis opprobria sanctis, Quæ stulte jaciunt corda aliena Deo. Nam spes nostra ex hoc visu fit certior omni, Quod spondeus quidquid credimus, hoc Deus est. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] All who will to live piously in Christ must suffer reproaches from the impious and from those unlike them, and be despised as foolish and mad, as people who lose present goods and promise themselves invisible and future ones. But this contempt and this mockery will be turned back on the mockers, when their abundance has passed into want and their pride into confusion. [Epigram] The impious part of the world is hostile to the part of the pious, and cannot bear souls unlike itself: it laughs at those who will not use present wealth and hope that what they believe can be given them. But holy peoples should scorn these reproaches, which hearts estranged from God foolishly hurl. For our hope becomes surer from this whole spectacle, since the one who pledges whatever we believe is God. ### Scripture references - 2 Tim 3:12: quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 4:10: echo, low confidence - 2 Cor 4:18: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "All who will to live piously in Christ" quotes 2 Tim 3:12; fools for Christ alludes to 1 Cor 4:10. "The one who pledges" reads the printed "spondeus" as spondens, by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 32 (PL 51:507; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/32). ## Epigram 33: De patientia fidelium - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-33 - Source: PL 51:507–509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The endurance of the faithful under persecution is God's work in them; whoever credits his steadfastness to himself has already fallen. ### Latin text Tota fidelium salus, tota patientiæ fortitudo ad eum qui in sanctis suis est mirabilis referenda est; quia nisi in illis Deus esset, furori impiorum fragilitas humana succumberet. Cum constans anima adversis non frangitur ullis, Et fidei virtus intemerata manet: Norit inesse sibi Dominum patientia fortis, Inque ejus donum quod steterit referat. Nam quod non cecidit propriis si viribus aptat, Hoc ipso quo se stare putat cecidit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The whole salvation of the faithful, the whole strength of patience, must be referred to him who is wonderful in his saints; because unless God were in them, human frailty would give way to the fury of the impious. [Epigram] When the steadfast soul is broken by no adversities, and the strength of faith remains undefiled, let strong patience know that the Lord is within it, and refer to his gift the fact that it has stood. For if it credits to its own strength that it did not fall, by that very thing by which it thinks it stands, it has fallen. ### Scripture references - Ps 68:35 (67:36 LXX): quotation, high confidence - 1 Cor 10:12: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - "Wonderful in his saints" quotes Ps 68:35 (LXX 67:36, Vulgate); "thinks it stands" alludes to 1 Cor 10:12. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 33 (PL 51:507–509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/33). ## Epigram 34: De obsequiis debitis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-34 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christians should submit to rulers and masters, rendering what the world's order rightly requires, as long as their faith is not violated, loving the good and enduring the bad. ### Latin text Ita et a plebibus principes, et a servis domini sunt ferendi, ut sub exercitatione tolerantiæ sustineantur temporalia, et sperentur æterna. Auget enim merita virtutis, quod propositum non violat religionis. Reddendum est quidquid mundi bene postulat ordo, Propositumque piæ non violat fidei. Mitibus et sanctis nulla est spernenda potestas: Æquum servire est regibus, et dominis. Ut Christi famulis ad verum prosit honorem Dilexisse bonos, et tolerasse malos. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Princes are to be borne by their peoples, and masters by their slaves, in such a way that temporal things are endured in the exercise of patience and eternal things are hoped for. For it increases the merits of virtue that it does not violate the purpose of religion. [Epigram] Whatever the order of the world rightly demands is to be rendered, and it does not violate the purpose of pious faith. No power is to be spurned by the meek and holy: it is right to serve kings and masters, so that it may profit Christ's servants toward true honor to have loved the good and endured the bad. ### Scripture references - Rom 13:1: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Pet 2:18: allusion, medium confidence - Eph 6:5: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Submission to rulers and masters alludes to Rom 13:1–7, 1 Pet 2:13–18, and Eph 6:5–8. The sentence, like the epigram, accepts the social order of its time, including slavery; translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 34 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/34). ## Epigram 35: De toleranda varistate mundana - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-35 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The upright accept with equanimity whatever God wills them to endure, without complaint, trusting his final judgment. ### Latin text Recti corde de præceptis Dei et constitutionibus mundi non queruntur, quia justum est æquanimiter omnia accipi, quæ judicaturus voluit tolerare. Dum mutabilium decurrunt tempora rerum, Dumque suis mundus motibus atteritur; Rectorum est adversa pati, et tolerare modeste Nec querulo in quoquam voce movere Deum. Cujus judicio nulli parcetur iniquo, Et perpes justos gloria suscipiet. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The upright of heart do not complain about the commands of God and the arrangements of the world, because it is just to accept with an even mind everything which he who is to judge has willed to be endured. [Epigram] While the times of changing things run their course, and the world is worn down by its own motions, it belongs to the upright to suffer adversity and endure it modestly, and not to stir up God against anyone with a complaining voice. By his judgment no unjust man will be spared, and everlasting glory will receive the just. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 35 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/35). ## Epigram 36: De ædificatione domus Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-36 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The church, God's building, grows by his cooperation and stands by his protection; even its shepherds need his guarding. ### Latin text Omnis sancti aedificii status, sicut Deo cooperante proficit, ita Deo custodiente consistit. Quoniam utilis præpositorum custodia est, cum Spiritus Dei populo suo præsidet, et non solum greges, sed etiam ipsos dignatur custodire pastores. Cum lapides vivi pacis compage ligantur, Inque pares numeros convenit una domus, Claret opus Domini, qui totam construit aulam. Effectumque piis dat studiis hominum. Quorum perpetui decoris structura manebit, Si perfecte auctor protegat, atque regat. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The whole standing of the holy building, as it advances with God cooperating, so it holds firm with God guarding it. For the watch of those set over others is useful when the Spirit of God presides over his people, and deigns to guard not only the flocks but the shepherds themselves. [Epigram] When living stones are bound by the joint of peace, and one house comes together in equal measures, the work of the Lord shines out, who builds the whole hall and gives effect to the pious efforts of men. Its structure of everlasting beauty will remain if its author perfectly protects and rules it. ### Scripture references - 1 Pet 2:5: allusion, high confidence - Ps 127:1 (126:1 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Eph 2:21: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Living stones allude to 1 Pet 2:5; the Lord guarding the city and building the house to Ps 127:1 (LXX 126:1). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 36 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/36). ## Epigram 37: De æternis gaudiis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-37 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The joys of the heavenly city are eternal and unchanging, since God himself is their cause and all share one light and one love. ### Latin text Æternæ civitatis æterna sunt gaudia, et stantium dierum perpes infinitas nec variabitur nec labetur, quia incommutabili pace potientur, quorum omnium erit bonum, quod fuerit etiam singulorum. Semper erunt quod sunt æternæ gaudia vitæ; Gaudendi quoniam causa erit ipse Deus. Nec varios parit motus diversa voluntas. Unum erit in cunctis lumen, et unus amor, Inque bonis summis posita experientia felix, Nec volet augeri, nec metuet minui. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The joys of the eternal city are eternal, and the everlasting infinity of its standing days will neither vary nor slip away, because they will enjoy an unchangeable peace, in which the good of all will be what is also the good of each. [Epigram] The joys of eternal life will always be what they are, since the cause of rejoicing will be God himself. Nor will differing wills bring forth varied motions: one light will be in all, and one love; and happy experience, set amid the highest goods, will neither wish to be increased nor fear to be lessened. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 37 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/37). ## Epigram 38: De lege charitatis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-38 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The law of Christ is love, and the Lord's Prayer shows that those who forgive others will be forgiven, since God judges us by our own measure. ### Latin text Lex Christi perfectio charitatis est, qua Deus proximusque diligitur: et per quam dicitur Conditori legis, Dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Bene enim exspectat promissionem Dei, qui mandatum ejus exsequitur: nec frustra sperat parcendum peccatis suis, qui ignoscit alienis. Verus amor Christi vera est custodia legis, Et mandata Dei complet amans homines. Quorum ignoscentes culpis sua crimina solvunt, Quodque aliis tribuunt, hoc sibi prospiciunt, Det peccatori veniam peccator, et æqua Conciliet Dominum conditione sibi. Cujus judicium de nostro examine pendet, Quod serimus metimus, quod damus accipimus, ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The law of Christ is the perfection of love, by which God and neighbor are loved, and through which it is said to the founder of the law, "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." For he who carries out God's command rightly expects God's promise, and he who pardons the sins of others does not hope in vain that his own will be spared. [Epigram] True love of Christ is the true keeping of the law, and he who loves men fulfills God's commands. Those who forgive the faults of others loose their own crimes, and what they grant to others they provide for themselves. Let a sinner give pardon to a sinner, and on fair terms win the Lord over to himself, whose judgment hangs on our own weighing: what we sow we reap; what we give we receive. ### Scripture references - Gal 6:2: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 6:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 13:10: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 6:7: allusion, medium confidence - Luke 6:38: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 6:14: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "The law of Christ" alludes to Gal 6:2; love fulfilling the law to Rom 13:10; the petition quotes Matt 6:12; sowing and reaping and the measure given to Gal 6:7 and Luke 6:38. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 38 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/38). ## Epigram 39: De jussionibus Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-39 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's commands benefit not God, who needs nothing, but those who obey them; he receives from us only what he has given. ### Latin text Nihil Deus jubet quod sibi prosit, sed illi cui jubet. Ideo verus est Dominus, qui servo non indiget, et quo servus indiget. Non ideo quidquam mandat Deus, ut sibi prosit, Nec servi officio verus eget Dominus. Cujus præceptis augetur qui famulatur, Fitque minor quisquis negligit imperium. Nam Deus omnipotens, simul omnitenensque potestas, Nil perdit proprium, nil capit occiduum. Numquam non habuit quod habet, dans quidquid haberi Proderit, et sumens non nisi quod dederit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] God commands nothing that profits himself, but only what profits the one he commands. That is why he is the true Lord: he does not need the servant, and the servant needs him. [Epigram] God does not command anything so that it may profit him, nor does the true Lord need the service of a servant. By his precepts the one who serves is increased, and whoever neglects his command becomes less. For God almighty, at once the power that holds all things, loses nothing of his own, takes in nothing that passes away. He never lacked what he has, giving whatever it will profit us to have, and taking only what he has given. ### Scripture references - Acts 17:25: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Chr 29:14: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - God needing nothing from human service alludes to Acts 17:25; receiving only what he has given to 1 Chr 29:14. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 39 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/39). ## Epigram 40: 0 De intemporali scientia Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-40 - Source: PL 51:509 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Nothing that appears new in time is new to God, who holds all times at once and governs everything that happens. ### Latin text Id quod in tempore novum est, non est novum apud Deum qui condidit tempora, et sine tempore habet omnia, quæ suis quibusque temporibus, pro eorum varia ætate, distribuat. Insolitum si quid labentia tempora promunt, Hoc mirum mundus dicit, habetque novum. Sed rerum Auctori nullus non cognitus ordo est; Cernenti quidquid sæcula cuncta ferunt, Quæ non incerto volvunt magna agmina motu. Sed sub judicio stantque fluuntque Dei, Ut nihil existat naturæ in partibus ullis, Quod non ille suo temperet arbitrio, ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] What is new in time is not new with God, who founded the times and holds without time all the things which he distributes in their several times according to their various ages. [Epigram] If the gliding times bring out something unusual, the world calls it a wonder and counts it new. But to the Author of things no order is unknown; he sees whatever all the ages bring, which roll their great hosts in no uncertain motion, but both stand and flow under the judgment of God, so that nothing exists in any part of nature which he does not govern by his own will. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 40 (PL 51:509; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/40). ## Epigram 41: De providentia Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-41 - Source: PL 51:509–511 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's unchangeable reason holds all changing things together in his eternity, so that for him nothing is early or late. ### Latin text Mutabilium dispositionem immutabilis ratio Dei continet, ubi sine tempore simul sunt quae in temporibus non simul fiunt quia tempora non simul currunt. Lex æterna Dei stabili regit omnia nutu, Nec mutat vario tempore consilium. Utque locis praesens simul est Deus omnibus unus, Sic ævi metas secum habet, et numeros. Nec serum aut properum sibi sentit in ordine rerum, Cui cuncta assistant acta, et agenda simul. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The unchangeable reason of God holds the arrangement of changeable things, where, without time, those things are together which in time do not happen together, because times do not run together. [Epigram] The eternal law of God rules all things by a steady nod, and does not change its counsel as the times vary. And as God, being one, is present at once in all places, so he holds with him the bounds and numbers of the ages. Nor does he find anything late or hasty in the order of things, since all things done and to be done stand before him together. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 41 (PL 51:509–511; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/41). ## Epigram 42: De impunitate peccantium - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-42 - Source: PL 51:511 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The success of sinners is their greatest misfortune, since it feeds their evil will; it is better that worldly pleasures fail and the soul be healed. ### Latin text Nihil est infelicius felicitate peccantium qua pœnalis nutritur impunitas, et mala voluntas velut hostis interior, roboratur. Qui se peccatis gaudet feliciter uti, Infelix nimis est prosperitate sua. Dumque capit miseros effectus prava voluntas, A vera semper luce fit exterior. Sumens pestifera de consuetudine robur, Et sua complectens vincula mortis amor. Deficiant potius vana oblectamina mundi, Subdanturque pio colla domanda jugo, Inque putres fibras descendat cura medentis: Ut blandum morbum pellat amica salus. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Nothing is unhappier than the happiness of sinners, by which a penal impunity is fed and the evil will, like an enemy within, is strengthened. [Epigram] He who rejoices to enjoy his sins with good fortune is all too unhappy in his prosperity. And while the depraved will gains its wretched ends, it moves ever further outside the true light, taking strength from a pestilent habit, the love of death embracing its own chains. Rather let the vain delights of the world fail, and let necks that must be tamed be put under the pious yoke, and let the physician's care go down into the rotten flesh, so that kindly health may drive out the flattering disease. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 42 (PL 51:511; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/42). ## Epigram 43: De legis littera - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-43 - Source: PL 51:511 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Without the Spirit the law only makes sin known and increases it; grace alone gives the love by which its commands are willed. ### Latin text Legis littera quæ dicit non esse peccandum, si Spiritus vivificans desit, occidit. Sciri enim peccatum facit potius quam caveri: et ideo magis augeri quam minui, quia malæ concupiscentiæ etiam prævaricatio legis accedit. Inde peccati lex est plectenda vetando, Quæ, nisi cor mundet Spiritus, interimit. Nullus enim est insons sola formidine pœnæ, Qui sanctum et justum non amat imperium, Hunc tamen affectum non lex, sed gratia confert: Quodque jubet legis littera, velle facit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The letter of the law, which says that one must not sin, kills if the life-giving Spirit is absent. For it causes sin to be known rather than avoided, and therefore increased rather than lessened, because to evil desire is added also the transgression of the law. [Epigram] Hence the law, by forbidding, must punish sin, and, unless the Spirit cleanses the heart, it kills. For no one is innocent by fear of punishment alone who does not love the holy and just command. Yet it is not the law but grace that confers this affection, and makes us will what the letter of the law commands. ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 3:6: allusion, high confidence - Rom 7:7: allusion, high confidence - Rom 7:12: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 5:20: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "The letter kills" alludes to 2 Cor 3:6; the law making sin known and increasing it to Rom 7:7–13; "holy and just" to Rom 7:12. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 43 (PL 51:511; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/43). ## Epigram 44: De lege et gratia - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-44 - Source: PL 51:511 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The law shows the weakness of the flesh so that grace may be sought, and grace enables the law to be fulfilled. ### Latin text Lex data est ut gratia quæreretur, et gratia data est ut lex impleretur. Neque enim suo vitio non implebatur, sed vitio prudentiæ carnis, quod vitium per legem demonstrandum, per gratiam sanandum fuit. Non servit jussis legis prudentia carnis, Peccati stimulos nec superare potest. Sed quia mens anceps patitur mala corporis aegri, Quærere divinum cogimur auxilium. Lex igitur facit ut poscatur gratia Christi, Ardua qua legis jussa queant fieri. Nec jam non valeant carnales vincere sensus, Quos justæ legis conditor ipse juvat. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The law was given that grace might be sought, and grace was given that the law might be fulfilled. For it was not by its own fault that the law was not fulfilled, but by the fault of the prudence of the flesh; and this fault had to be shown by the law and healed by grace. [Epigram] The prudence of the flesh does not serve the commands of the law, nor can it overcome the goads of sin. But because the wavering mind suffers the ills of the sick body, we are driven to seek divine help. The law, then, brings it about that the grace of Christ is asked for, by which the hard commands of the law can be done. And those whom the founder of the just law himself helps are no longer unable to conquer their fleshly senses. ### Scripture references - Rom 8:7: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:4: allusion, medium confidence - Gal 3:24: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "The prudence of the flesh" is the Latin of Rom 8:7 ("the mind of the flesh"); the law fulfilled through grace alludes to Rom 8:3–4; the law leading to Christ to Gal 3:24. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 44 (PL 51:511; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/44). ## Epigram 45: De promissione Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-45 - Source: PL 51:511 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God promises what he himself will do, so salvation is not from works but from God's calling; if God merely foresaw human choices, his promises would be predictions, not gifts. ### Latin text Hoc promittit Deus, quod ipse facit. Non enim ipse promittit, et alius facit, quod jam non est promittere, sed prædicere. Ideo non ex operibus, sed ex vocante; ne ipsorum sit, non Dei, et merces non imputetur secundum gratiam, sed secundum debitum, atque ita gratia jam non sit gratia. Quae Deus omnipotens promittit, perficit ipse, Nec proprium externis viribus implet opus. Hinc secura fides sperat quod credit, amatque Auctorem, qui quod spondet, et efficiet. Nam si quae Dominus promittit, non operatur, Sed solum humanum prævidet arbitrium: Non hæc dona ejus, sed sunt prædicta vocanda. Ceu quisquam ex proprio sit bonus, absque Deo. Quod quia non recipit pietas, veroque repugnat, Gratia non reparet, gratia justificet. Quæ sic in cunctis implet sua dona vocatis, Ut quorum dux est, fiat et ipsa comes. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] God promises what he himself does. For he does not promise and another do it; that would no longer be promising but foretelling. Therefore it is "not from works, but from him who calls," lest it be theirs and not God's, and the reward be reckoned not according to grace but according to debt, and so grace be no longer grace. [Epigram] What God almighty promises, he himself accomplishes, and does not fulfill his own work by outside powers. Hence faith, secure, hopes for what it believes, and loves the Author, who will also carry out what he pledges. For if what the Lord promises he does not work, but only foresees human choice, these are not to be called his gifts, but predictions, as though anyone could be good of himself, without God. Since piety does not accept this, and it fights against the truth, let grace restore us, let grace justify us; grace, which so fulfills its gifts in all who are called that it becomes the companion of those whose guide it is. ### Scripture references - Rom 9:12: quotation, high confidence - Rom 4:4: allusion, high confidence - Rom 11:6: allusion, high confidence - Rom 4:21: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "Not from works, but from him who calls" quotes Rom 9:12 (9:11 in the Vulgate); reward reckoned by debt alludes to Rom 4:4; "grace no longer grace" to Rom 11:6; God able to do what he promised to Rom 4:21. "Let grace restore us" reads the printed "non" as nos, by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 45 (PL 51:511; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/45). ## Epigram 46: De fidelium culpis et infide ium bonis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-46 - Source: PL 51:511 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Small daily sins do not shut the just out of eternal life, and the occasional good works of the impious do not save them; only faith, hope, and love make a man just. ### Latin text Sicut non impediunt ab æterna vita justum quædam peccata venialia, sine quibus hæc vita non ducitur, sic ad salutem æternam nihil prosunt impio aliqua bona opera, sine quibus difficilime vita cujuslibet pessimi hominis invenitur. Ut quaedam tenues maculæ in splendore piorum, Major virtutum quas vacuat numerus, Æternæ donis nequeunt obsistere vitae, Nec merita obscurat grandia culpa levis: Sic aliquid plerumque boni pars impia gestat, Magni mole mali quod facile obruitur. Nec prodest quiddam recti sapuisse malignis, Si verum et summum non coluere Deum. Una fides igitur, spes una est, atque amor unus, Qua fiat justus, sitque beatus homo. Nam bona, quae pravis naturæ ex dote supersunt, Augent peccati pondera, non minuunt. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] Just as certain venial sins, without which this life is not lived, do not keep the just man from eternal life, so some good works, without which the life of even the worst man is very rarely found, are of no use to the impious for eternal salvation. [Epigram] As certain slight stains in the splendor of the pious, which the greater number of their virtues cancels out, cannot stand in the way of the gift of eternal life, and a light fault does not obscure great merits, so the impious part often carries something good, which is easily buried by the mass of great evil. Nor does it profit the malicious to have known something right, if they have not worshipped the true and highest God. One faith, then, one hope, and one love is that by which a man becomes just and is blessed. For the goods that remain to the depraved from the dowry of nature increase the weight of their sin, not lessen it. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 13:13: allusion, medium confidence - Eph 4:5: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Faith, hope, and love allude to 1 Cor 13:13; "one faith" to Eph 4:5. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 46 (PL 51:511; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/46). ## Epigram 47: De malæ voluntatis effectu - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-47 - Source: PL 51:511–513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: When God allows the wicked to do what they want, he is already punishing them, hiddenly but justly; it is worse for sinners to be spared than to be thwarted. ### Latin text Cum mala voluntas potestatem accipit efficiendi quod cupit, ex judicio Dei venit, apud quem non est iniquitas. Punit enim etiam isto modo nec ideo injuste quia occulte. Cæterum iniquus puniri se ignorat, nisi cum manifesto supplicio senserit nolens, quantum mali sit, quod perpetravit volens. Cum datur injusto peccandi optata potestas, Ut mala mens prave quod cupit efficiat, Ira Dei magna est, qua multos sic quoque punit, Ut quibus exsultant criminibus pereant. Crescit enim occulte cum longo pœna reatu, Ausibus illicitis si nihil obstiterit. Et magis errantibus ne parcant flagra timendum est, Quam ne non fiat quod voluisse nocet. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] When an evil will receives the power to accomplish what it desires, this comes from the judgment of God, with whom there is no iniquity. For he punishes in this way too, and not unjustly because hiddenly. But the unjust man does not know he is being punished, unless by some open penalty he feels, against his will, how much evil there is in what he did by his will. [Epigram] When the unjust are given the power to sin that they desire, so that the evil mind may perversely accomplish what it wants, great is the wrath of God, by which he punishes many in this way too, so that they perish by the very crimes in which they exult. For the penalty grows hiddenly along with long-standing guilt, if nothing has stood in the way of their lawless daring. And it is more to be feared that the scourges spare the erring than that what it harms to have willed is not carried out. ### Scripture references - Rom 9:14: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 1:24: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "With whom there is no iniquity" alludes to Rom 9:14; God giving people over to their desires to Rom 1:24–28. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 47 (PL 51:511–513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/47). ## Epigram 48: De superbia - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-48 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Other vices work only through evil deeds, but pride can feed even on good ones. ### Latin text Omnia vitia in male factis tantummodo valent; sola superbia etiam in recte factis cavenda est. Omne genus vitii proprio tantum valet actu, Et peccata suam quæque gerunt speciem. Sola est innumeris armata superbia telis, Cui possint vires et bene gesta dare. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] All vices have force only in evil deeds; pride alone must be guarded against even in deeds rightly done. [Epigram] Every kind of vice has force only in its own act, and sins each bear their own form. Pride alone is armed with countless darts, for even good deeds can give it strength. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 48 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/48). ## Epigram 49: De impari usu fortunæ - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/0/#p-49 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Prosperity and adversity are judged by how they are used: the good are neither puffed up nor broken, while the lover of earthly things is wretched either way. ### Latin text Interest plurimum qualis sit usus, vel earum rerum quæ prosperæ dicuntur, vel earum quæ dicuntur adversæ. Nam bonus temporalibus nec bonis extollitur, nec malis frangitur; malus autem ideo hujusmodi infelicitate punitur, quia felicitate corrumpitur. In rebus mundi non idem est omnibus usus, Nec cuncti paribus cuncta ferunt animis. Namque bonos non blanda inflant, non aspera frangunt. Sed fidei invictæ gaudia vera juvant. Terræ autem, et feni breviter florentis amator Seu caret optans, seu fruitur, miser est. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] It matters very much what use is made either of the things called prosperous or of those called adverse. For the good man is neither lifted up by temporal goods nor broken by evils; but the bad man is punished by this kind of unhappiness because he is corrupted by happiness. [Epigram] In the things of the world the use is not the same for all, nor do all bear all things with equal minds. For flattering things do not puff up the good, nor harsh things break them; the true joys of unconquered faith sustain them. But the lover of the earth, and of the grass that blooms for a short while, is wretched whether he lacks it and longs for it, or enjoys it. ### Scripture references - Isa 40:6: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The briefly blooming grass alludes to Isa 40:6–8. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 49 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/49). ## Epigram 50: De morte.auctarum - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-50 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Death is not evil after a good life; what matters is not how one dies but where one goes after death. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Rom 8:28: allusion, medium confidence - Rev 21:4: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - All things working for the good alludes to Rom 8:28; tears wiped away to Rev 21:4. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 50 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50). ## Epigram 51: De puritate quam i non perdit invitus - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-51 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Matt 5:28: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 51 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/51). ## Epigram 52: De fortitudine tolerantiæ - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-52 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 52 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/52). ## Epigram 53: De humilitate justorum - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-53 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - John 8:34: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 6:16: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The sentence comes from Augustine, City of God 4.3. Slavery to sin alludes to John 8:34 and Rom 6:16. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 53 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/53). ## Epigram 54: De oblatione votorum - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-54 - Source: PL 51:513 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: We can rightly vow to God only what we have first received from him. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 1 Chr 29:14: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Compare 1 Chr 29:14. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 54 (PL 51:513; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/54). ## Epigram 55: De essentia Deitatis - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-55 - Source: PL 51:513–515 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Translation notes - "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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 55 (PL 51:513–515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/55). ## Epigram 56: Quales not diligat DeMi - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-56 - Source: PL 51:515 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God loves us for what his grace will make of us, not for our own merits. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 3:6: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 1:6: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Planting and watering allude to 1 Cor 3:6; God completing his work to Phil 1:6. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 56 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/56). ## Epigram 57: De inlemporali opere Dei - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-57 - Source: PL 51:515 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's wisdom holds the whole order of time without time, so that nothing is new to him. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Isa 45:11: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "Who made the things that are to be" echoes Isa 45:11 in the Old Latin and Greek. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 57 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/57). ## Epigram 58: De principali rerum omnium causa - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-58 - Source: PL 51:515 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Acts 17:28: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "By whom we are all moved" echoes Acts 17:28. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 58 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/58). ## Epigram 59: De finibus bonorum et malorum - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-59 - Source: PL 51:515 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God approves innocence that comes from love of justice, not from fear of punishment; one's fears and loves show where one belongs. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 59 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/59). ## Epigram 60: De gaudio Christiani - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-60 - Source: PL 51:515 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 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 ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 60 (PL 51:515; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/60). ## Epigram 61: tAlia, LXI]. De superbia diaboli, et Christi humilitate - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-61 - Source: PL 51:515–517 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Phil 2:8: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 15:47: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 3:5: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 61 (PL 51:515–517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/61). ## Epigram 63: De vera beatitudine - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-63 - Source: PL 51:517 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 63 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/63). ## Epigram 64: Quid sit esse cum Deo - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-64 - Source: PL 51:517 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Everyone exists in God, but only those who remember, understand, and love him are with him; the rest live in exile. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Acts 17:28: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Being in God echoes Acts 17:28. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 64 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/64). ## Epigram 65: De Incarnatione Verbi Dei (Migne also numbers it LXIV) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-65 - Source: PL 51:517 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 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 ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 65 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/65). ## Epigram 66: De eodem - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-66 - Source: PL 51:517 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 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 ### Translation notes - "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). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 66 (PL 51:517; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/66). ## Epigram 67: Quo odio odiendi sunt mali (Migne also numbers it LXV) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-67 - Source: PL 51:517–519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Ps 139:22 (138:22 LXX): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - "Perfect hatred" quotes Ps 139:22 (LXX 138:22). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 67 (PL 51:517–519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/67). ## Epigram 68: De labore fingentium men­ dacia - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-68 - Source: PL 51:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Lying is laborious and troubled, while truthfulness brings peace. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 68 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/68). ## Epigram 69: De eodem. Ad patriam vitæ e noctis de valle vocati, - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-69 - Source: PL 51:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 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 ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 69 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/69). ## Epigram 70: De divinis Scripturis (Migne also numbers it LXVII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-70 - Source: PL 51:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Matt 7:7: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Seeking and finding allude to Matt 7:7. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 70 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/70). ## Epigram 71: De oratione Domini (Migne also numbers it LXVIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-71 - Source: PL 51:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Christ's bloody sweat in Gethsemane foreshadowed the martyrs' sufferings throughout his body, the church, all springing from his one seed. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Luke 22:44: allusion, high confidence - John 12:24: allusion, medium confidence - Col 1:24: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 71 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/71). ## Epigram 72: De aacramentorum perceptione (Migne also numbers it LXIX) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-72 - Source: PL 51:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The sacrament protects those who receive it worthily, but the unworthy receive it to their judgment. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 11:29: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Receiving to one's own judgment alludes to 1 Cor 11:29. "Sacrament of piety" and "holy offering" (sacrum libamen) refer to the Eucharist. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 72 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/72). ## Epigram 73: De laudando Deum (Migne also numbers it LXX) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-73 - Source: PL 51:519 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 73 (PL 51:519; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/73). ## Epigram 74: De acceleranda conversione (Migne also numbers it LXXI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-74 - Source: PL 51:519–521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Conversion must not be delayed, for God promises pardon to the penitent but not tomorrow to the procrastinator. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 6:2: echo, medium confidence - Matt 24:36: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sir 5:7 (Sirach): echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Compare Sir 5:7; today as the day of salvation echoes 2 Cor 6:2; the unknown day, Matt 24:36. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 74 (PL 51:519–521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/74). ## Epigram 75: De timore (Migne also numbers it LXXII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-75 - Source: PL 51:521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Other things we fear we flee, but God, whom no one can escape, must be fled to; he who strikes also heals. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Ps 139:7 (138:7 LXX): allusion, medium confidence - Hos 6:1: allusion, medium confidence - Deut 32:39: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - No escape from God alludes to Ps 139:7–12; the one who strikes and heals to Hos 6:1 and Deut 32:39. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 75 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/75). ## Epigram 76: De virginitate (Migne also numbers it LXXIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-76 - Source: PL 51:521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Bodily virginity profits nothing without the soul's virginity, which is an uncorrupted faith. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 2 Cor 11:2: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The church as a pure virgin in faith echoes 2 Cor 11:2–3. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 76 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/76). ## Epigram 77: De modo habendi (Migne also numbers it LXXIV) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-77 - Source: PL 51:521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Whatever exceeds our needs belongs to the poor; to hoard it is to rob them. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 1 Tim 6:8: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Food and clothing being enough alludes to 1 Tim 6:8. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 77 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/77). ## Epigram 78: De divitiis (Migne also numbers it LXXV) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-78 - Source: PL 51:521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Matt 6:20: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Treasures that cannot be lost allude to Matt 6:19–20. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 78 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/78). ## Epigram 79: De vera bonitate (Migne also numbers it LXXVI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-79 - Source: PL 51:521 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Avoiding evil is not enough; the just must also do good, relieving the hungry, naked, and imprisoned and reconciling enemies. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Ps 34:14 (33:15 LXX): allusion, high confidence - Matt 25:35: allusion, medium confidence - Isa 58:7: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 79 (PL 51:521; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/79). ## Epigram 80: De mali impunitate (Migne also numbers it LXXVII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-80 - Source: PL 51:521–523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's delay in punishing sinners is not blindness; to be left uncorrected is itself the heavier sentence. ### Latin text 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? ### English translation (Claude) [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? ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 80 (PL 51:521–523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/80). ## Epigram 81: De gaudio recto (Migne also numbers it LXXVIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-81 - Source: PL 51:523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Joy in Christ, the eternal good, can never be lost, unlike the brief pleasures of worldly wealth. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - John 4:14: echo, low confidence - Phil 4:4: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The ever-flowing fountain echoes John 4:14. "Truly" reads the printed "fere" as vere. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 81 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/81). ## Epigram 82: Quid hominem Deo jungat (Migne also numbers it LXXIX) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-82 - Source: PL 51:523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God is present everywhere, so we draw near to him or move away not by travel but by likeness or unlikeness of life. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Jer 23:24: allusion, medium confidence - Acts 17:27: echo, medium confidence - Eph 5:8: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 82 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/82). ## Epigram 83: Quod tota infidelium vita peccatum sit (Migne also numbers it LXXX) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-83 - Source: PL 51:523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Rom 14:23: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The thesis that the life of unbelievers is sin rests on Rom 14:23 ("whatever is not from faith is sin"); translated as written. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 83 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/83). ## Epigram 84: II De sabbato (Migne also numbers it LXXXI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-84 - Source: PL 51:523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The true sabbath is rest from sin, which should be perpetual, not idleness from good works. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Matt 12:12: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Doing good on the sabbath alludes to Matt 12:12. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 84 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/84). ## Epigram 85: De vera libertate (Migne also numbers it LXXXII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-85 - Source: PL 51:523 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Serving God out of love is the highest freedom. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Rom 6:22: echo, low confidence - 1 John 4:18: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Compare Rom 6:22 and 1 John 4:18. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 85 (PL 51:523; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/85). ## Epigram 86: De superbia (Migne also numbers it LXXXIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-86 - Source: PL 51:523–525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 1:31: allusion, high confidence - 2 Cor 10:17: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Glorying in the Lord alludes to 1 Cor 1:31 and 2 Cor 10:17. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 86 (PL 51:523–525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/86). ## Epigram 87: Da diligendoDeum (Migne also numbers it LXXXIV) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-87 - Source: PL 51:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Only love for what cannot be lost, God himself, brings rest from the labors and anxieties of earthly desires. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Luke 10:42: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - What cannot be taken away echoes Luke 10:42. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 87 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/87). ## Epigram 88: De adulationis vitio - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-88 - Source: PL 51:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Flattery binds sinners in their sins; a friend should speak freely to correct, as a true physician does. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Prov 27:6: echo, medium confidence - Ps 141:5 (140:5 LXX): echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The faithful wounds of a friend echo Prov 27:6 and Ps 141:5 (LXX 140:5). ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 88 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/88). ## Epigram 89: De martyribus non bapti­ zatis (Migne also numbers it LXXXVI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-89 - Source: PL 51:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Martyrs who die for Christ before baptism receive in their own blood all that baptism gives. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Rom 6:4: allusion, high confidence - Titus 3:5: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 89 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/89). ## Epigram 90: De venia, qua etiam justi in­ digent (Migne also numbers it LXXXVII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-90 - Source: PL 51:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - 1 John 1:8: echo, medium confidence - Gal 5:17: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Compare 1 John 1:8 and Gal 5:17. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 90 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/90). ## Epigram 91: De cauti. incognitis operum Dei (Migne also numbers it LXXXVIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-91 - Source: PL 51:525 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Col 2:3: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 11:33: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Wis 11:20 (Wisdom of Solomon): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - "Measures, numbers, and weights" alludes to Wis 11:20; all things in Christ to Col 2:3. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 91 (PL 51:525; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/91). ## Epigram 92: De non desperandis pecca­ toribus (Migne also numbers it LXXXIX) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-92 - Source: PL 51:525–527 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Eph 6:11: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 92 (PL 51:525–527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/92). ## Epigram 94: De bonis quæ nemo amittit invitus (Migne also numbers it XCI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-94 - Source: PL 51:527 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Temporal goods can be lost against one's will, but eternal goods are lost only by choosing to let them go. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Translation notes - Migne's alternative number for this epigram is XCI. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 94 (PL 51:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/94). ## Epigram 95: De remediis tribulationum (Migne also numbers it XCII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-95 - Source: PL 51:527 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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. ### English translation (Claude) [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. ### Scripture references - Ps 30:5 (29:6 LXX): echo, low confidence - Heb 12:11: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - "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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 95 (PL 51:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/95). ## Epigram 96: De bello intestino (Migne also numbers it XCIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/50/#p-96 - Source: PL 51:527 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 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. ### Latin text 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? ### English translation (Claude) [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? ### Scripture references - Rom 7:23: allusion, high confidence - Rom 8:13: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 2:13: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - 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. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 96 (PL 51:527; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/96). ## Epigram 97: Nullam mali esse naturam (Migne also numbers it XCIV) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97/#p-97 - Source: PL 51:527–529 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Evil is not a nature made by God but a turning of the free will from right order; and (Epigram 98) when God refuses a wrong request, his refusal is mercy. ### Latin text Omnia per Verbum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil. Cum itaque universae natura per Verbum Dei factæ sint, iniquitas per ipsum facta non est. Quia iniquitas nulla substantia est, et peccatum non natura est, sed vitium naturæ, id appetentis quod non est ordinis sui. Per Verbum omnipotens Deus omnia condidit unus, A quo natura est nulla creata mali. Et quod non fecit dives sapientia Verbi, Non habet in rerum conditione locum. Nulla igitur vitiis substantia, nullaque vita est, Quae vegetet corpus, materiamque suam. Sed cum libertas discedit ab ordine recto, Nec servant proprium quæ bona sunt, modulum, In culpa et vitio est vagus in contraria motus, Fitque malum veram deseruisse viam. In quam si toto properet quis corde reverti, Nullus neglecti limitis error erit: Totaque deleti peccati poena peribit, Condita in integrum restituente Deo. Deus cum aliquid male poscitur, dando irascitur, non dando miseretur. Cum Deus effectum precibus non præstat iniquis, Multum concedit, quod nocitura negat. Errantes voto non vult delinquere facto, Iratus sineret, quod prohibet placidus. Discat felici supplex gaudere repulsa, Incipiatque animo pellere quod voluit. Parcentemque Deum noscat sibi, cum ruiturus Non exaudiri, ne rueret, meruit. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] "All things were made through the Word, and without him nothing was made." Since, then, the natures of the universe were made through the Word of God, iniquity was not made through him; for iniquity is no substance, and sin is not a nature but a vice of nature, desiring what is not of its own order. [Epigram] Through the Word the one almighty God founded all things, and by him no nature of evil was created. And what the rich wisdom of the Word did not make has no place in the founding of things. So vices have no substance, and no life that would quicken a body and its matter. But when freedom departs from right order, and good things do not keep their proper measure, there is in guilt and vice a wandering motion toward contraries, and evil consists in having deserted the true way. If anyone hastens to return to it with his whole heart, there will be no error from the boundary he neglected, and the whole penalty of the sin blotted out will perish, as God restores what he created to wholeness. [Epigram 98: On petitions contrary to God] [Sentence] When something is wrongly asked of God, he is angry in giving it, and merciful in not giving it. [Epigram] When God does not grant the prayers of the wicked, he grants much by denying what would harm. He does not want those who err in their wishes to sin in deed: in anger he would allow what in kindness he forbids. Let the suppliant learn to rejoice in a happy refusal, and begin to drive from his mind what he wanted; and let him know that God was sparing him when, about to fall, he deserved not to be heard, so that he would not fall. ### Scripture references - John 1:3: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - This section holds two epigrams: the next one is run into it in the digital text under the heading "XCVIII [alias XCV]. De petitionibus contrariis Deo" (removed from the text and given here as "[Epigram 98]"). Migne's alternative number for this section is XCIV. The opening quotes John 1:3. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 97 (PL 51:527–529; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97). ## Epigram 99: De judiciis Dei (Migne also numbers it XCVI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97/#p-99 - Source: PL 51:529 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: God's judgments are not to be measured by human ones; even when they seem unjust to us, he is just and good, and our ignorance should submit. ### Latin text Nullo modo judiciis hominum comparanda sunt judicia Dei, quem non dubitandum est esse justum, etiam quando facit quod hominibus videtur injustum. Judicium humanum, quod falli saepe necesse est, Non semper recipit regula justitiae. At Domini in cunctis æqua est veraxque potestas, Aspectum cujus nulla remota latent. Talis laudetur judex, timeatur, ametur, Qui vere justus permanet atque bonus: Adversos revocans, conversis cuncta remittens, Atque malis veniam dando bonos faciens. Non ergo audacter mens veri nescia culpet, Quod placuit summi judicis arbitrio. Sed subdat sese justo ignorantia Regi, Qui numquam quae sunt non bona velle potest. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] In no way are the judgments of God to be compared with the judgments of men; we must not doubt that he is just, even when he does what seems unjust to men. [Epigram] Human judgment, which must often be deceived, does not always keep the rule of justice. But the Lord's power is fair and true in all things, and nothing remote is hidden from his sight. Let such a judge be praised, feared, and loved, who remains truly just and good: calling back the hostile, forgiving all to the converted, and making the wicked good by giving them pardon. So let not a mind that does not know the truth boldly blame what has pleased the will of the highest judge; but let ignorance submit itself to the just King, who can never will what is not good. ### Scripture references - Rom 9:20: echo, medium confidence - Rom 11:33: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - Migne's alternative number for this epigram is XCVI. Compare Rom 9:14, 20 and 11:33. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 99 (PL 51:529; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/99). ## Epigram 100: De cohibenda e ira (Migne also numbers it XCVII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97/#p-100 - Source: PL 51:529 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Since anger always seems just to the angry, it must be quickly given up before it hardens into hatred; we all need forgiveness and must give it. ### Latin text Nulli irascenti ira sua videtur injusta: unde ab omni indignatione cito redeundum est ad mansuetudinis lenitatem. Nam pertinax motus facile in ejus odium transit, cui non celeriter ignoscitur. Nemo suae mentis motus non æstimat æquos, Quodque volunt homines, se bene velle putant. Unde animus celeri pace est revocandus ab ira: Ne robur saevis tempora dent odiis. Offensas sibimet parcentia corda remittant, Nam nemo est qui non indigeat venia: Quam nostri memores mundi inter vana vicissim, Omnibus in causis, et damus, et petimus. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] To no angry man does his anger seem unjust; so from all indignation one must quickly return to the gentleness of meekness. For a persistent emotion easily passes into hatred of the one who is not quickly forgiven. [Epigram] No one fails to judge the motions of his own mind fair, and whatever men want, they think they want rightly. So the mind must be called back from anger by a quick peace, lest time give strength to savage hatreds. Let sparing hearts forgive offenses against themselves, for there is no one who does not need pardon; mindful of ourselves amid the vanities of the world, in every cause we both give it and ask for it in turn. ### Scripture references - Eph 4:26: allusion, medium confidence - Matt 6:12: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - Not letting the sun go down on anger alludes to Eph 4:26. Migne's alternative number for this epigram is XCVII. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 100 (PL 51:529; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/100). ## Epigram 101: De fine sanctorum (Migne also numbers it XCVIII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97/#p-101 - Source: PL 51:529–531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Three verse epigrams without their prose sentences: the narrow path to Christ's glory, the mind's rule over the flesh in hope of the kingdom whose firstfruits are in Christ, and the one God and one faith that raises hope and love to heaven. ### Latin text Cultor justitiæ, divinae et pacis amator, Quem vocat ad summum vita beata bonum: Scandere constanter dextros adnitere calles, Despiciens lævæ noxia plana viae. Tutius est duros mundi tolerare labores, Infestique hostis praelia sæva pati, Quam victum officiis animum submittere blandis, Captaque servili subdere colla jugo. Tempore in occiduo non longi est usus honoris, Et celeri lapsu gaudia falsa fluunt. Finem igitur proprii sapiens speculabitur ævi, Et via qua currit, quo ferat aspiciet. Nam mundo innexis pars est cum principe mundi; At servis Christi gloria Christus erit. Corporeos inter sensus, moribundaque membra Multa animus patitur carnis ab hospitio: Quae vitæ, de qua vivit, contraria quaerens, Legem vult mentis solvere lege sua. Sed prudens praesul famulam frenare rebellem Æterni Regis discat ab imperio; Et verum accipiens supero de lumine lumen, Noctem peccati cordis ab aede fuget. Nam quia cuncta Deus bona condidit, ipsaque nostri Exsilii regio est pulchra decore suo; Auditus, visus, gustus, cunIcUlis, odorque, Praeberi gaudent undique quod placeat. Fitque nocens homini praesentis temporis usus, Si captum blandis inferiora ligant. Mens igitur sapiens superas enitere ad arces, Et summis fieri suesce beata bonis, Delicias jam nunc promissi concipe regni, Virtute atque fide quod cupis esse tene. Neve ad spem dubiam frustra te currere credas; Naturae in Christo prospice liba tuae. A quo susceptum si te non ambigis esse, Totus homo in capitis corpore semper eris. Tantum ut jussa velis nutu observare docentis, Quis quod ait verbo, praevenit auxilio. In Deitate gradus, mensura et tempora non sunt: Et, quod idem est, majus non habet atque minus. Corporeae longe moles formaeque recedant, Virtus summa caret finibus et spatiis: Quod Pater, hoc simul est Verbum Patris, hoc utriusque Spiritus. Hic Deus est unus, et una fides: Per quam verorum spes non incerta bonorum Sublimem ignito scandit amore viam. Et prægustata superi dulcedine roris, Doctrinis pasci gaudet apostolicis. Tu qui ergo indignas non vis incurrere curas; Innecti vanis occiduisque cave. Mortalis vim brevitas non multa requirit, Paucorum exigui temporis usus eget. Esse volens, gaudere optans, scire abdita quærens, Ut te non teneant iulia, summa pete. Delectare Deo rege, in coelestibus esto, Et quæ spe sequeris, credita amore tene. Nulla in te maneant hominis vestigia primi, Nec formam veteris gestet imago novi. Exsulta agnoscens te Verbi in carne renatum, Cujus si pars es, pars tua Christus erit. Qui, ne damnandi legeres mala gaudia mundi, Promissum ad regnum se tibi fecit iter. ### English translation (Claude) [Epigram] Tiller of justice and lover of divine peace, whom the blessed life calls to the highest good, strive steadily to climb the paths on the right, scorning the harmful plains of the left-hand road. It is safer to endure the hard labors of the world and suffer the savage battles of the hostile enemy than to submit the conquered mind to flattering favors and put the captive neck under the servile yoke. In this setting time the enjoyment of honor is not long, and false joys flow away in a swift fall. So the wise man will look to the end of his own life, and see where the way on which he runs is carrying him. For those entangled in the world have their part with the prince of the world; but for the servants of Christ, Christ will be their glory. [Epigram 102: On chastising the desires of the flesh] Amid the bodily senses and the dying limbs the soul suffers much from its lodging in the flesh, which, seeking what is contrary to the life by which it lives, wants to undo the law of the mind by its own law. But let the prudent ruler learn from the command of the eternal King to bridle the rebellious handmaid, and, receiving true light from the light above, let it drive the night of sin from the dwelling of the heart. For since God made all things good, and the very region of our exile is fair in its own beauty, hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell are glad to be offered what pleases them on every side; and the use of this present time becomes harmful to man if lower things bind him, captive, with their charms. So, wise mind, strive up to the citadels above, and grow used to being made blessed by the highest goods. Conceive already now the delights of the promised kingdom; hold fast by virtue and faith what you desire to be. And do not think you run in vain toward an uncertain hope: look in Christ at the firstfruits of your own nature. If you do not doubt that you have been taken up by him, you will always be a whole man in the body of the head; only be willing to keep the commands at the nod of the teacher, who forestalls with his help what he says with his word. [Epigram 103: On the height of faith, hope, and love] In the Godhead there are no degrees, measures, or times, and what is the same has no greater and less. Let bodily masses and shapes withdraw far off: the highest power is without bounds and spaces. What the Father is, that at once is the Word of the Father, and that the Spirit of both. Here is one God, and one faith, through which the hope of true goods, not uncertain, climbs the lofty way with fiery love, and, having foretasted the sweetness of the dew from above, rejoices to be fed on the apostles' teaching. You, then, who do not wish to fall into unworthy cares, beware of being entangled in vain and perishing things. Mortal brevity does not require much strength; the use of a short time needs few things. Wishing to be, longing to rejoice, seeking to know hidden things, seek the highest, so that the lowest do not hold you. Delight in God as king; be in heavenly things; and hold fast by love what, believing, you pursue in hope. Let no traces of the first man remain in you, nor let the image of the new man bear the form of the old. Exult, recognizing that you are reborn in the flesh of the Word: if you are part of him, Christ will be your portion. He, lest you choose the evil joys of a damnable world, made himself your way to the promised kingdom. ### Scripture references - John 12:31: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 7:23: allusion, high confidence - 1 Cor 15:20: allusion, medium confidence - Col 3:10: allusion, medium confidence - 1 Cor 15:49: echo, low confidence - John 14:6: allusion, medium confidence - Gen 1:31: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text gives no prose sentence for these epigrams. Epigrams 102 and 103 are run into this section under the headings "CII [alias XCIX]. De desideriis carnis castigandis" and "CIII [alias C]. De altitudine fidei, spei et charitatis" (removed from the text and given here as headings). Migne's alternative number for this section is XCVIII. The prince of the world alludes to John 12:31; the law of the members against the law of the mind to Rom 7:23; firstfruits to 1 Cor 15:20; the old and new man to Col 3:9–10 and 1 Cor 15:49; Christ the way to John 14:6. "Touch" translates the garbled "cunIcUlis" by sense; "the lowest" the garbled "iulia". ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 101 (PL 51:529–531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/101). ## Epigram 104: De confitendo uno Deo (Migne also numbers it CI) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97/#p-104 - Source: PL 51:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Father and the Son act inseparably, and with the Spirit are one God, as Christ says, "I and the Father are one." ### Latin text Quod Pater cum Christo facit, Christus facit; et quod Christus cum Patre facit, Pater facit; nec seorsum aliquid agit inseparabilis charitas, majestas, potestas. Sicut ipse Dominus dicit, Ego et Pater unum sumus. Cum Pater in Verbo sit semper, et in Patre Verbum, Sitque unus Verbi Spiritus atque Patris; Sic de personis tribus est tibi non dubitandum, Unum, ut docta fides, confiteare Deum. Corde Patris genitum creat, et regit omnia Verbum, Nec tamen est aliquid quod sine Patre gerat. Unus enim amborum motus, ratio una volendi est, Par virtus, idem spiritus, unus amor. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] What the Father does with Christ, Christ does; and what Christ does with the Father, the Father does; nor does the inseparable love, majesty, and power do anything separately, as the Lord himself says, "I and the Father are one." [Epigram] Since the Father is always in the Word, and the Word in the Father, and the Spirit of the Word and of the Father is one, you must not be in doubt about the three persons, but, as learned faith does, confess one God. The Word begotten from the Father's heart creates and rules all things, and yet there is nothing he does without the Father. For the two have one motion, one reason for willing, equal power, the same spirit, one love. ### Scripture references - John 10:30: quotation, high confidence - John 14:10: allusion, medium confidence - John 5:19: allusion, medium confidence ### Translation notes - "I and the Father are one" quotes John 10:30; the mutual indwelling alludes to John 14:10; the Son doing nothing apart from the Father to John 5:19. Migne's alternative number for this epigram is CI. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 104 (PL 51:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/104). ## Epigram 105: De eodem (Migne also numbers it CII) - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/97/#p-105 - Source: PL 51:531 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: The Son has life in himself by birth from the Father, sharing one Godhead with the Father and the Spirit; and (Epigram 106) no believer should ever say "it is enough," but keep seeking God to the end. ### Latin text Dei Filius Deus vitam habere in semetipso, sicut habet Pater, non participando adeptus est, sed nascendo. Vitam enim genuit Pater vita; nec differt in aliquo essentia gignentis et geniti, cum sic ex Patre sit Filius, ut consempiternæ æqualitatis, non una quidem persona, sed una sit Deitas. Sic Deus est magnus, de se valet, et manet in se, Cui summum et proprium est, semper id esse quod est. Splendet enim verum vero de lumine lumen, Ut Genitum agnoscens noverit Ingenitum. Una trium Deitas, una est essentia cunctis. Idem est et Verbi Spiritus atque Patris. Nullum opus abjunctum, nulla est non aequa potestas, In cunctis unum, non tria, principium. Nemo fidelium, quamvis multum profecerit, dicat, Sufficit mihi. Qui enim dixerit, remansit, et hæsit in via ante finem, qui non perseverabit usque in finem. Cum pia mens in laude Dei superata laboras, Gaude, quod tantum te bene vincit opus. Teque aliquid superi cognosce hausisse vigoris, Si sibi non satis est, quod cupis atque sapis, Quære bonum sine fine bonum, et persiste reperto: Quærere non habeant talia vota modum. Nam qui se nullo jam munere credit egere, Crescere non cupiens, perdit adepta tepens. ### English translation (Claude) [Sentence] The Son of God, being God, obtained to have life in himself, as the Father has, not by participation but by being born. For the Father, who is Life, begot Life; and the essence of the one who begets and of the one begotten differs in nothing, since the Son is from the Father in such a way that, being of coeternal equality, they are not indeed one person, but one Godhead. [Epigram] So God is great, strong of himself, and abides in himself, whose highest and proper being is always to be what he is. For true light shines from true light, so that one who recognizes the Begotten may know the Unbegotten. The Godhead of the three is one; there is one essence for all; the same is the Spirit of the Word and of the Father. No work is separate, no power is unequal; in all there is one beginning, not three. [Epigram 106: On seeking God with perseverance] [Sentence] Let none of the faithful, however far he has advanced, say, "It is enough for me." For whoever says it has stopped and stuck fast on the road before the end, as one who will not persevere to the end. [Epigram] When the pious mind labors, overwhelmed, in the praise of God, rejoice that so great a work overcomes you so well; and know that you have drawn something of the strength from above if what you desire and know is not enough for itself. Seek the good, the good without end, and when you have found it, hold fast: let such longings set no limit to their seeking. For he who believes he now needs no further gift, not wishing to grow, grows lukewarm and loses what he has gained. ### Scripture references - John 5:26: allusion, high confidence - Matt 24:13: allusion, medium confidence - Phil 3:13: echo, low confidence - Rev 3:16: echo, low confidence ### Translation notes - This section holds two epigrams: the next one is run into it in the digital text under the heading "CVI [alias CIII]. De quærendo perseveranter Deo" (removed from the text and given here as "[Epigram 106]"). Migne's alternative number for this section is CII. "Life in himself, as the Father has" alludes to John 5:26; "light from light" echoes the Nicene Creed; perseverance to the end to Matt 24:13; lukewarmness to Rev 3:16. ### Citation (SBL) Prosper of Aquitaine, Epigr. 105 (PL 51:531; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/prosper-epigrammata-sententiis/105).