On the Governance of God 5.1–5.49 (On the Governance of God)

Salvian of Marseilles

On the Governance of God 5.1–5.49

Salvian of Marseilles · On the Governance of God · ca. 439-451 · Marseilles · 49 passages

Latin text: CSEL 8 (Latin text: CSEL, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).

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Chapter 5

5.1CSEL 8:101

Scio infidelissimos quosque et ueritatis diuinae incapaces dicere aduersum haec posse, quae diximus, si tantus sit Christianorum infidelium reatus, ut plus peccent praetermittentes mandata domini quae sciant, quam paganae gentes quae nesciant, salubriorem his fuisse ignorantiam quam agnitionem, et contra eos esse admodum quod agnouerint ueritatem. quibus hoc respondendum est, non ueritatem his obesse sed uitia, nec legem nocere sed mores. denique da mores bonos, et legis scita pro nobis sunt: tolle uitia, lex prodest. scimus enim, inquit apostolus, quia lex bona est, si quis ea legitime utatur. legitime itaque lege utere et legem tibi bonam ipse fecisti. scimus enim, inquit, quia lex bona est, si quis ea legitime utatur, sciens hoc quod iusto lex non est posita.

I know that all the most unbelieving and those incapable of divine truth can say against what we have said that, if the guilt of unfaithful Christians is so great that they sin more by neglecting the Lord’s commands which they know than pagan nations who do not know them, ignorance would have been more wholesome for them than knowledge, and that it is quite against them that they have recognized the truth. To them it must be answered that it is not the truth that harms them but their vices, not the law that injures them but their morals. In short, give good morals, and the decrees of the law are for us; take away vices, and the law profits. “For we know,” says the apostle, “that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.” So use the law lawfully, and you have made the law good for yourself. “For we know,” he says, “that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not laid down for the righteous.”

1 Tim 1:8 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 1:9 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Book 5: the law harms only those who misuse it; it is good to those who use it rightly.

1 Tim 1:8–9. The chapter numeral “I” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip (81 for si); chapter numeral leaked into the text; split word and OCR slip; stray mark): I. Scio infidelissimos → Scio infidelissimos; quam paganae gentes. quae nesciant → quam paganae gentes quae nesciant; lex bona est, 81 quis ea legitime → lex bona est, si quis ea legitime; scimus enim, in-. quit, quia lex bona est, si quis ea legitime utatur, Sciens → scimus enim, inquit, quia lex bona est, si quis ea legitime utatur, sciens.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.1 (CSEL 8:101; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-1

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.2CSEL 8:101–102

ac per hoc iustus esse incipe et eris liber a lege, quia non potest uenire lex contra mores, quae iam habetur in moribus. scimus enim, inquit, quia lex bona est, si quis ea legitime utatur, sciens hoc, quod iusto lex non est posita, sed iniustis; et non subditis, sed sceleratis et impiis et peccatoribus et si quod aliud sanae doctrinae aduersatur. ac per hoc non tam lex tibi, o homo, quam tu legi aduersaris, nec lex contra te bene praecipiendo, sed tu contra legem male uiuendo agis.

And so begin to be righteous, and you will be free from the law, because the law cannot come against morals in which it is already held. “For we know,” he says, “that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not laid down for the righteous but for the unrighteous and insubordinate, for the wicked and impious and sinners, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.” And so it is not so much the law that opposes you, O man, as you the law; the law does not act against you by commanding well, but you act against the law by living badly.

1 Tim 1:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 1:10 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The law is not against the righteous; sinners oppose the law, not the law them.

1 Tim 1:8–10.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray marks): et si quod: aliud sanae doctrinae aduers-atur → et si quod aliud sanae doctrinae aduersatur.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.2 (CSEL 8:101–102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-2

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.3CSEL 8:102

immo illa pro te est, tu contra illam. illa enim tibi consulit sancta dicendo, tu contra illam uenis praua faciendo, nec contra illam tantum sed etiam contra te; hoc ipso enim, quod contra illam, et contra te, quia in illa salus et uita tua est. ac per hoc dum legem diuinam deseris, salutem propriam derelinquis. non aliter ergo nos de dominica lege querimur, quam queri de optimo medico impatiens aegrotus solet: qui cum ingrauescere sibi morbos uitio suo fecerit, imperitiam medentis accusat. quasi uero curare ullam infirmitatem praecepta possint, si eis non oboedierit infirmus, aut sanare quemquam obseruantia ualeat, quam medicus ei imperat, si eam sibi aegrotus ipse non praestat.

Rather it is for you, and you against it. For it counsels you by speaking holy things, and you come against it by doing perverse things; and not only against it but also against yourself; for by the very fact that you are against it, you are also against yourself, because in it is your salvation and life. And so, while you desert the divine law, you abandon your own salvation. We complain of the Lord’s law, then, no differently than an impatient sick man is wont to complain of an excellent physician: when he has made his illness grow worse by his own fault, he accuses the doctor’s lack of skill. As though prescriptions could cure any illness if the sick man does not obey them, or the regimen the physician orders could heal anyone if the patient does not keep it himself.

Notes and citation

Summary: Blaming God’s law is like a sick man blaming his doctor for illness he caused himself.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.3 (CSEL 8:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-3

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.4CSEL 8:102

quid iuuant stomachum absinthia, si statim dulcia subsequantur? quid conferunt frenetico silentia circumstantium, quem suus clamor occidit? aut quid prodesse poterit antidotum, cui superfunditur uenenum? et nobis itaque lex est antidotum sed uitiositas uenenum. sanare nos non potest legis antidotum, quos occidunt uenena uitiorum. sed iam de his et antea satis diximus et, si ita res postulauerit, etiam post haec iuuante domino aliqua dicemus.

What good is wormwood to the stomach if sweets follow at once? What do the silences of bystanders contribute to a frenzied man whom his own shouting kills? Or what good can an antidote be to one over whom poison is poured? So for us too the law is an antidote, but viciousness is poison. The antidote of the law cannot heal us whom the poisons of vices kill. But we have said enough of this before, and, if the matter requires it, we shall say something after this too, with the Lord’s help.

Notes and citation

Summary: The law is an antidote that cannot work while we keep taking the poison of vice.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.4 (CSEL 8:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-4

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.5CSEL 8:102–103

Interim quia duo superius barbarorum genera uel sectas esse memorauimus, paganorum atque haereticorum, quia de paganis iam, ut arbitror, satis fecimus, de haereticis quoque, ut causa poscit, subiciamus. potest enim quispiam dicere: etiamsi a paganis lex diuina non exigat, ut mandata faciant, quae non sciunt, certe ab haereticis exigit, qui sciunt: eadem enim etiam illos legere, quae nos legimus, eosdem apud illos prophetas dei, eosdem apostolos, eosdem euangelistas esse, ac per hoc aut non minus ab illis legem neglegi quam a nobis, aut etiam multo magis, quia cum eadem legant scripta quae nostri, multo faciunt deteriora quam nostri. utrumque ergo uideamus. eadem, inquis, legunt illi, quae leguntur a nobis.

Meanwhile, since we mentioned above that there are two kinds or sects of barbarians, pagans and heretics, and since we have, I think, said enough of the pagans, let us add something of the heretics too, as the case requires. For someone can say: “Even if the divine law does not require pagans to do commands they do not know, it certainly requires it of heretics, who do know: for they read the same things we read; the same prophets of God, the same apostles, the same evangelists are among them; and so either they neglect the law no less than we, or even much more, because, though they read the same writings as ours, they do much worse things than ours.” Let us look at both points, then. “They read,” you say, “the same things that are read by us.”

Notes and citation

Summary: Salvian turns to the heretical barbarians, who have the same Scriptures.

The chapter numeral “II” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text; stray mark): II. Interim quia duo → Interim quia duo; eosdem apud illos. prophetas → eosdem apud illos prophetas.

Topics: Heresy, Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.5 (CSEL 8:102–103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-5

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.6CSEL 8:103

quomodo eadem, quae ab auctoribus quondam malis et male sunt interpolata et male tradita? ac per hoc iam non eadem, quia non possunt penitus dici ipsa, quae sunt in aliqua sui parte uitiata. incolumitatem enim non habent quae plenitudinem perdiderunt, nec statum suum omnino seruant quae sacramentorum uirtute priuata sunt. nos ergo tantum scripturas sacras plenas inuiolatas integras habemus, qui eas uel in fonte suo bibimus uel certe de purissimo fonte haustas per ministerium purae translationis haurimus: nos tantummodo bene legimus.

How the same, when they were once corrupted and badly handed down by wicked authors? And so they are no longer the same, because things cannot be called wholly the same which are vitiated in some part of themselves. Things that have lost their fullness do not have soundness, nor do things wholly keep their state which have been deprived of the force of the sacraments. We alone, then, have the sacred Scriptures full, inviolate, and whole, who drink them either at their source or at least draw them drawn from the purest source through the ministry of a pure translation: we alone read them well.

Notes and citation

Summary: The heretics’ Scriptures are corrupted; only catholics have them whole.

The barbarians’ Arian Bible (Ulfilas’s Gothic translation) is meant.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray letter): nos tantummodo s bene legimus → nos tantummodo bene legimus.

Topics: Heresy, Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.6 (CSEL 8:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-6

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.7CSEL 8:103

atque utinam quam bene legimus, tam bene adimpleremus. sed uereor, quod qui non bene obseruamus nec bene lectitamus, quia minor reatus est sancta non legere quam lecta uiolare. ceterae quippe nationes aut non habent legem dei aut debilem et conuulneratam habent, ac per hoc, ut diximus, non habent quae sic habent. nam et si qui gentium barbarorum sunt, qui in libris suis minus uideantur scripturam sacram interpolatam habere uel dilaceratam, habent tamen ueterum magistrorum traditione corruptam ac per hoc traditionem potius quam scripturam habent, quia non hoc retinent, quod legis ueritas suadet, sed quod prauitas malae traditionis inseruit.

And would that we fulfilled them as well as we read them! But I fear that we who do not observe them well do not read them well either, because it is a lesser guilt not to read holy things than to violate what has been read. For the other nations either do not have the law of God or have it weak and wounded; and so, as we said, they do not have what they have in this way. For even if there are any of the barbarian nations that seem to have Scripture less corrupted or torn in their books, they still have it corrupted by the tradition of their old teachers, and so they have tradition rather than Scripture, because they hold not what the truth of the law urges but what the depravity of bad tradition has inserted.

Notes and citation

Summary: Even where the barbarians’ Scripture is less corrupt, they follow corrupt tradition.

Topics: Heresy, Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.7 (CSEL 8:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-7

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.8CSEL 8:103–104

barbari quippe homines, Romanae immo potius humanae eruditionis expertes, qui nihil omnino sciunt nisi quod a doctoribus suis audiunt, quod audiunt, hoc sequuntur, ac sic necesse est eos, qui totius litteraturae ac scientiae ignari sacramentum diuinae legis doctrina magis quam lectione cognoscunt, doctrinam potius retinere quam legem. itaque eis traditio magistrorum suorum et doctrina inueterata quasi lex est, quia hoc sciunt tantummodo quod docentur.

For barbarian men, without Roman, or rather human, learning, who know nothing at all except what they hear from their teachers, follow what they hear; and so those who, ignorant of all literature and knowledge, come to know the mystery of the divine law by teaching rather than by reading, must hold the teaching rather than the law. So for them the tradition of their teachers and long-established doctrine is as law, because they know only what they are taught.

Notes and citation

Summary: Illiterate barbarians follow their teachers’ doctrine as law.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slips and stray marks): litteraturae ac scientiae. ignari sacramentum diuinae legis doctrina magis _\\ quam Lectione cognoscunt, dectrinam potius retinere quam legem. itaque eis traditio magistrerum suorum et doctrina inueterata quasi lex est, quia hoc scinut tautummodo → litteraturae ac scientiae ignari sacramentum diuinae legis doctrina magis quam lectione cognoscunt, doctrinam potius retinere quam legem. itaque eis traditio magistrorum suorum et doctrina inueterata quasi lex est, quia hoc sciunt tantummodo.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.8 (CSEL 8:103–104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-8

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.9CSEL 8:104

haeretici ergo sunt sed non scientes. denique apud nos sunt haeretici, apud se non sunt; nam in tantum se catholicos esse iudicant, ut nos ipsos titulo haereticae appellationis infament. quod ergo illi nobis sunt, hoc nos illis. nos eos iniuriam diuinae generationi facere certi sumus, quod minorem patre filium dicant; illi nos iniuriosos patri existimant, quia aequales esse credamus. ueritas apud nos est, sed illi apud se esse praesumunt. honor dei apud nos est, sed illi hoc arbitrantur honorem diuinitatis esse, quod credunt.

They are heretics, then, but unknowingly. In short, they are heretics in our eyes, not in their own; for they judge themselves catholics so much that they defame us with the title of the heretical name. What, then, they are to us, we are to them. We are certain that they do injury to the divine generation in saying that the Son is less than the Father; they think us injurious to the Father because we believe them equal. The truth is with us, but they presume it is with them. The honor of God is with us, but they think that what they believe is the honor of the Godhead.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Arian barbarians are heretics unknowingly, sincerely believing they honor God.

The Goths and Vandals were Arians, holding the Son less than the Father. Salvian’s judgment is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): haerdiioi ergo sunt sed nwi scientes. denique apud nos sunt haeretici, Apud se → haeretici ergo sunt sed non scientes. denique apud nos sunt haeretici, apud se; quod ergo illi uobis sunt → quod ergo illi nobis sunt; quia aequles esse credamus → quia aequales esse credamus.

Topics: Heresy, Trinity

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.9 (CSEL 8:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-9

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.10CSEL 8:104

inofficiosi sunt, sed illis hoc est summum religionis officium: impii sunt, sed hoc putant ueram esse pietatem. errant ergo, sed bono animo errant, non odio sed affectu dei, honorare se dominum atque amare credentes. quamuis non habeant rectam fidem, illi tamen hoc perfectam dei aestimant caritatem. qualiter pro hoc ipso falsae opinionis errore in die iudicii puniendi sint, nullus potest scire nisi iudex.

They are undutiful, but to them this is the highest duty of religion; they are impious, but they think this is true piety. They err, then, but they err with a good intention, not from hatred but from love of God, believing that they honor and love the Lord; although they do not have the right faith, they think this the perfect love of God. How they are to be punished on the day of judgment for this very error of false opinion, no one can know but the Judge.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Arians err from love of God; their judgment is known only to God.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): non edie sed affectu dei → non odio sed affectu dei; amare credentes -quamuis → amare credentes. quamuis.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.10 (CSEL 8:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-10

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.11CSEL 8:104–105

interim idcirco eis, ut reor, patientiam deus commodat, quia uidet eos etsi non recte credere, affectu tamen piae opinionis errare, maxime cum sciat eos ea facere, quae nesciunt, nostros autem neglegere quod credunt, ac per hoc illos magistrorum peccare uitio nostros suo, illos ignorantes nostros scientes, illos id facere, quod putent rectum, nostros quod sciant esse peruersum. et ideo iusto iudicio illos patientia dei sustinet nos animaduersione castigat, quia ignosci aliquatenus ignorantiae potest, contemptus ueniam non meretur. sic enim scriptum est: seruus, qui nescit uoluntatem domini sui, et non facit eam, uapulabit paucis: qui autem scit et non facit eam, uapulabit multis.

Meanwhile God grants them patience, I think, because he sees that, though they do not believe rightly, they err with the affection of a pious opinion; especially since he knows that they do what they do not know, while ours neglect what they believe; and so they sin by the fault of their teachers, ours by their own; they in ignorance, ours knowingly; they doing what they think right, ours what they know to be perverse. And so by a just judgment the patience of God bears with them and punishes us with chastisement, because ignorance can be pardoned to some extent, but contempt does not deserve pardon. For so it is written: “The servant who does not know his master’s will and does not do it will be beaten with few stripes; but he who knows and does not do it will be beaten with many.”

Luke 12:48 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 12:47 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God is patient with ignorant heretics but chastises catholics who knowingly sin.

Luke 12:47–48.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slips and line number): maxime cam sciat eos ea facere, quae nesciunt, nostres autem neglegere quod credunt, 26 per hoc → maxime cum sciat eos ea facere, quae nesciunt, nostros autem neglegere quod credunt, ac per hoc.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.11 (CSEL 8:104–105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-11

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.12CSEL 8:105

Non ergo miremur, quod multis caedimur, quia non inscientia sed rebellione peccamus. scientes enim bona non bene agimus et discretionem recti ac praui intellegentes praua sectamur: legem legimus et legitima calcamus et ad hoc tantum praeceptorum sacrorum scita cognoscimus, ut grauius post inter dicta peccemus: deum colere nos dicimus et diabolo obtemperamus.

Let us not wonder, then, that we are beaten with many stripes, because we sin not by ignorance but by rebellion. For knowing good things we do not act well, and understanding the distinction of right and wrong we pursue the wrong; we read the law and trample on what is lawful, and we know the decrees of the sacred precepts only to sin more gravely after the prohibitions; we say we worship God and we obey the devil.

Notes and citation

Summary: Christians sin by rebellion, not ignorance.

The chapter numeral “III” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; chapter numeral leaked; OCR slip): III. Noti ergo miremur → Non ergo miremur; deum colere nos dioimus → deum colere nos dicimus.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.12 (CSEL 8:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-12

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.13CSEL 8:105

et post haec uolumus ut bona a deo accipiamus, cum malis mala semper addamus: fieri uoluntatem nostram a deo cupimus, cum dei nos facere nolimus quasi superiores nos deo agimus. uolumus ut uoluntati nostrae deus iugiter pareat, cum omnes nos uoluntati eius iugiter repugnemus. sed ille iustus est, licet nos simus iniusti; castigat enim quos castigandos putat, patitur quos putat esse patiendos. utrumque ad unam rem uult proficere, ut et castigatio in catholicis peccandi refrenet libidinem, et quandoque haereticos patientia dei faciat plenam fidei noscere ueritatem, maxime cum sciat eos forsitan catholica non indignos fide, quos uideat catholicis tutae comparatione praestare.

And after this we want to receive good things from God while we always add evils to evils; we desire our will to be done by God while we will not do God’s; we act as if superior to God. We want God continually to obey our will, while all of us continually resist his. But he is just, though we are unjust; for he chastises those he thinks should be chastised, he bears with those he thinks should be borne. He wants both to serve one end: that chastisement may restrain the lust of sinning in catholics, and that God’s patience may at some time bring the heretics to know the full truth of faith; especially since he knows that those are perhaps not unworthy of the catholic faith whom he sees surpass catholics by comparison of life.

Notes and citation

Summary: God chastises catholics to restrain their sin and bears with heretics to bring them to the true faith.

“Tutae” is read as uitae; translated by sense.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): et poet haec uolumus ut bona a deo aceipiamus → et post haec uolumus ut bona a deo accipiamus; uoluntati nostrae deus iugiter pereat → uoluntati nostrae deus iugiter pareat.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.13 (CSEL 8:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-13

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.14CSEL 8:105–106

omnes autem isti, de quibus loquimur, aut Wandali sunt aut Gothi; nam de Romanis haereticis, quorum innumera multitudo est, nihil dicimus, neque aut Romanis eos aut barbaris comparamus, quia et infidelitate Romanis sunt deteriores et foeditate uitae barbaris turpiores. sed hoc nos non solum non iuuat sed etiam supra id, quod a nobis ipsis grauamur, grauat, quia et ii, quos tales causamur esse, Romani sunt. unde intellegere possumus, quid mereatur omnis Romana respublica, cum pars Romanorum offendat deum uita, pars et infidelitate pariter et uita, saluo eo, quod etiam ipsae quondam haereses barbarorum de Romani magisterii prauitate fluxerunt, ac perinde etiam hoc nostrum crimen est, quod populi barbarorum haeretici esse coeperunt.

All those of whom we speak are either Vandals or Goths; for of the Roman heretics, of whom there is an innumerable multitude, we say nothing, and we compare them neither to Romans nor to barbarians, because they are both worse than the Romans in unbelief and fouler than the barbarians in the baseness of their life. But this not only does not help us but burdens us even beyond what we are burdened by ourselves, because those whom we accuse of being such are Romans too. From this we can understand what the whole Roman commonwealth deserves, when part of the Romans offends God by life, part by unbelief and life alike; not to mention that even the heresies of the barbarians once flowed from the depravity of Roman teaching, and so it is also our crime that the barbarian peoples began to be heretics.

Notes and citation

Summary: The heretical barbarians are Vandals and Goths; Roman heretics are worse, and Roman teaching made the barbarians heretics.

The Goths received Arian Christianity from teachers of the Roman empire in the fourth century.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): sed hoc nos BOU solum → sed hoc nos non solum; haeretici esse coeperunt., → haeretici esse coeperunt..

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.14 (CSEL 8:105–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-14

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.15CSEL 8:106

Porro autem quantum ad conuersationem Gothorum aut Wandalorum pertinet, quid est in quo eis aut praeponere nos aut etiam comparare possimus? ac primum ut de affectu et caritate dicam, quam praecipuam dominus docet esse uirtutem et quam non solum per omnes scripturas sacras, sed etiam per se ipse commendat dicens: in hoc scietur, quod discipuli mei estis, si uos inuicem diligatis: omnes se fere barbari, qui modo sunt unius gentis et regis, mutuo amant, omnes paene Romani se mutuo persequuntur.

Moreover, as to the way of life of the Goths or Vandals, in what can we either prefer ourselves to them or even compare ourselves? And first, to speak of affection and love, which the Lord teaches is the chief virtue and which he commends not only through all the sacred Scriptures but also by himself, saying, “By this it will be known that you are my disciples, if you love one another”: almost all the barbarians, provided they are of one nation and king, love one another; almost all the Romans persecute one another.

John 13:35 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Barbarians love one another; Romans persecute one another.

John 13:35. The chapter numeral “IIII” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): IIII. Porro autem quantum → Porro autem quantum.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.15 (CSEL 8:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-15

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.16CSEL 8:106–107

quis enim ciuis non inuidet ciui? quis plenam uicino exhibet caritatem? omnes quippe a se, etsi loco non absunt, affectu absunt, etsi habitatione iunguntur, mente disiuncti sunt. atque utinam hoc, licet sit pessimum malum, utinam ciues tantum atque uicini: illud est grauius, quod nec propinqui quidem propinquitatis iura conseruant. quis enim se proximis suis proximum reddit? quis soluit caritati quod se agnoscit debere uel nomini? quis est hoc animo, quod uocatur? quis tam propinquus corde quam sanguine, in quo non luridus maliuolentiae zelus ardet, cuius non sensum liuor inuasit, cui non prosperitas aliena supplicium est? quis non bonum alterius malum suum credit? cui ita sufficit felicitas sua, ut etiam alium uelit esse felicem? Bonum et inaestimabile nunc in plurimis malum est: parum alicui est si ipse sit felix, nisi alter fuerit infelix.

For what citizen does not envy a citizen? Who shows full love to his neighbor? All are apart from one another in affection, even if not apart in place; though joined in dwelling, they are disjoined in mind. And would that this, though it is the worst evil, were only among citizens and neighbors: what is graver is that not even relatives keep the rights of kinship. For who makes himself a neighbor to his nearest? Who pays to love what he knows he owes even to the name? Who is in mind what he is called? Who is as near in heart as in blood, in whom the livid zeal of ill will does not burn, whose mind envy has not invaded, to whom another’s prosperity is not a torture? Who does not think another’s good his own evil? To whom is his own happiness so sufficient that he wishes another also to be happy? A good, and incalculable, is now in very many an evil: it is too little for someone that he himself be happy unless another is unhappy.

Notes and citation

Summary: Among Romans, even kin envy one another and rejoice in others’ misfortune.

The last sentence is garbled in the digital text; translated by sense.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; question mark read as P): quis enim cinis non inuidet → quis enim ciuis non inuidet; quod uocatur P quis tam → quod uocatur? quis tam; supplicium est P quis non → supplicium est? quis non.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.16 (CSEL 8:106–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-16

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.17CSEL 8:107

iam uero illud quale, quam saeuum quam ex hac ipsa impietate descendens, quam alienum a barbaris quam familiare Romanis, quod se inuicem exactione proscribunt: immo non inuicem: nam hoc tolerabilius ferme esset, si pateretur quisque quod fecerat: illud est grauius, quod plurimi proscribuntur a paucis, quibus exactio publica peculiaris est praeda, qui fiscalis debiti titulos faciunt quaestus esse priuatos, et hoc non summi tantum, sed paene infimi, non iudices solum, sed etiam iudicibus obsequentes.

And now what of this, how savage, how descended from this very impiety, how foreign to the barbarians and familiar to the Romans: that they proscribe one another by tax exaction? Or rather not one another; for this would be almost more tolerable, if each suffered what he had done to others: what is graver is that very many are proscribed by a few, to whom public exaction is private plunder, who make the titles of fiscal debt into private gains; and this not only the highest but almost the lowest, not only the judges but also those who serve the judges.

Notes and citation

Summary: A few officials turn public taxation into private plunder of the many.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.17 (CSEL 8:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-17). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-17

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.18CSEL 8:107

quae enim sunt non modo urbes sed etiam municipia atque uici, ubi non quot curiales fuerint, tot tyranni sunt? quamquam forte hoc nomine gratulentur, quia potens et honoratum esse uideatur. nam et latrones ferme omnes gaudent et gloriantur, si atrociores admodum quam sunt esse dicantur. quis ergo, ut dixi, locus est, ubi non a principalibus ciuitatum uiduarum et pupillorum uiscera deuorentur et cum his ferme sanctorum omnium? nam et hos quasi uiduas ac pupillos habent, quia tueri se aut pro studio professionis suae nolunt aut pro innocentia atque humilitate non possunt. nemo itaque horum tutus est neque ulli admodum praeter summos uastatione latrocinii populantis immunes, nisi qui ipsis latronibus pares. in hanc condicionem immo in hoc scelus res deuoluta est, ut nisi quis malus fuerit, saluus esse non possit.

For what are there, not only cities but even towns and villages, where there are not as many tyrants as there are curials? Though perhaps they rejoice in this name, because it seems powerful and honored. For almost all robbers too rejoice and boast if they are said to be far more atrocious than they are. What place is there, then, as I said, where the bowels of widows and orphans are not devoured by the leading men of the cities, and with them those of almost all the saints? For they treat these too like widows and orphans, because they either will not defend themselves out of zeal for their profession or cannot out of innocence and humility. So none of these is safe, nor is anyone at all, apart from the highest, free from the devastation of plundering robbery, except those equal to the robbers themselves. Things have come to this condition, or rather this crime, that unless one is wicked he cannot be safe.

Notes and citation

Summary: Every town’s curials are tyrants who devour widows, orphans, and the religious.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): ciuitatum uiduarum et pupillorum. uiscera → ciuitatum uiduarum et pupillorum uiscera.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.18 (CSEL 8:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-18). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-18

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.19CSEL 8:107–108

Sed uidelicet cum tot sint, qui bonos uastant, sunt fortasse aliqui, qui in hac uastatione succurrant, qui, ut scriptum est, eripiant egenum et pauperem de manu peccatoris. non est, qui faciat bonum, non est paene usque ad unum. ideo dixit paene usque ad unum, quia tanta est raritas bonorum, ut paene unus esse uideatur. quis enim uexatis ac laborantibus opem tribuat, cum improborum hominum uiolentiae etiam sacerdotes domini non resistant?

But no doubt, since there are so many who devastate the good, there are perhaps some who come to the rescue in this devastation, who, as it is written, “rescue the needy and the poor from the hand of the sinner.” “There is none who does good, there is not, almost, even one.” He said “almost even one” because the rarity of the good is so great that there seems to be almost one. For who gives help to the harassed and suffering, when even the priests of the Lord do not resist the violence of wicked men?

Ps 82:4 (81:4 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 14:3 (13:3 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Almost no one protects the oppressed, not even the bishops.

Ps 82:4 (Vulgate 81:4); Ps 14:3 (Vulgate 13:3). “Priests of the Lord” (sacerdotes) here means chiefly the bishops. The chapter numeral “V” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and stray mark; chapter numeral leaked; OCR slips; stray marks): .V. Sed uidelicet cum tot sint, qui bonos uastant, sunt for-: tasse aliqui, qui in hac uastatione saeeurrant → Sed uidelicet cum tot sint, qui bonos uastant, sunt fortasse aliqui, qui in hac uastatione succurrant; de manu peceatoris. non; est → de manu peccatoris. non est; paene usque ad unum'>, quia → paene usque ad unum, quia; sacerdotes demini non resistant → sacerdotes domini non resistant.

Topics: Church office, Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.19 (CSEL 8:107–108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-19). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-19

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.20CSEL 8:108

nam aut tacent plurimi eorum aut similes sunt tacentibus, etiamsi loquantur, et hoc multi non inconstantia sed consilio, ut putant, atque ratione. exertam enim ueritatem proferre nolunt, quia. eam aures improborum hominum sustinere non possunt, nec solum refugiunt sed etiam oderunt et execrantur, et non modo auditam non reuerentur aut metuunt sed maiore etiam superbientis peruicaciae perduellione contemnunt. et ideo tacent etiam qui loqui possunt, dum ipsis interdum malis parcunt, nec uolunt eis uim apertae promere ueritatis, ne faciant eos ingesta acrius ueritate peiores.

For most of them either keep silent or are like those who keep silent even if they speak, and many do this not from inconstancy but by design, as they think, and reason. For they do not wish to bring forward the naked truth, because the ears of wicked men cannot bear it; they not only shun it but hate and curse it, and, having heard it, they not only do not revere or fear it but despise it with the greater rebellion of proud obstinacy. And so even those who could speak keep silent, sparing at times the wicked themselves, and do not wish to bring forth to them the force of open truth, lest they make them worse by pressing the truth too sharply.

Notes and citation

Summary: Bishops keep silent before the powerful, fearing to make them worse.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray marks): malis u parcunt,; nec → malis parcunt, nec.

Topics: Church office

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.20 (CSEL 8:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-20). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-20

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.21CSEL 8:108

inter haec uastantur pauperes, uiduae gemunt, orfani proculcantur, in tantum ut multi eorum, et non obscuris natalibus editi et liberaliter instituti, ad hostes fugiant, ne persecutionis publicae adflictione moriantur. quaerentes scilicet apud barbaros Romanam humanitatem, quia apud Romanos barbaram inhumanitatem ferre non possunt, et quamuis ab his, ad quos confugiunt, discrepent ritu discrepent lingua, ipso etiam, ut ita dicam, corporum atque induuiarum barbaricarum foetore dissentiant, malunt tamen in barbaris pati cultum dissimilem quam in Romanis iniustitiam saeuientem.

Meanwhile the poor are plundered, widows groan, orphans are trampled, so much so that many of them, born of no obscure family and liberally educated, flee to the enemy so as not to die from the affliction of public persecution: seeking among the barbarians Roman humanity, since they cannot bear barbarian inhumanity among the Romans. And though they differ from those to whom they flee in customs, differ in language, and are repelled even, so to speak, by the stench of barbarian bodies and clothing, they prefer to endure among the barbarians a different way of life than raging injustice among the Romans.

Notes and citation

Summary: Oppressed Romans, even of good family, flee to the barbarians for humane treatment.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): -inter haec uastantur → inter haec uastantur; persecutionis publicae. adflictione → persecutionis publicae adflictione.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.21 (CSEL 8:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-21). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-21

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.22CSEL 8:108–109

itaque passim uel ad Gothos uel ad Bacaudas uel ad alios ubique dominantes barbaros migrant, et commigrasse non paenitet; malunt enim sub specie captiuitatis uiuere liberi quam sub specie libertatis esse captiui. itaque nomen ciuium Romanorum aliquando non solum magno aestimatum sed magno emptum nunc ultro repudiatur ac fugitur, nec uile tantum sed etiam abominabile paene habetur.

So everywhere they migrate either to the Goths or to the Bacaudae or to other barbarians ruling everywhere, and they do not regret having moved; for they prefer to live free under the appearance of captivity than to be captives under the appearance of freedom. So the name of Roman citizens, once not only highly valued but bought at a high price, is now repudiated and fled of their own accord, and is held not only cheap but almost abominable.

Notes and citation

Summary: Romans prefer freedom under the barbarians to slavery under Rome; Roman citizenship is now shunned.

The Bacaudae were peasant rebels in fifth-century Gaul and Spain.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): nec uile tantum sed. etiam → nec uile tantum sed etiam.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.22 (CSEL 8:108–109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-22). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-22

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.23CSEL 8:109

et quod esse maius testimonium Romanae iniquitatis potest, quam quod plerique et honesti et nobiles et quibus Romanus status summo et splendori esse debuit et honori, ad hoc tamen Romanae iniquitatis crudelitate compulsi sunt, ut nolint esse Romani? et hinc est, quod etiam hi, qui ad barbaros non confugiunt, barbari tamen esse coguntur, scilicet ut est pars magna Hispanorum et non minima Gallorum, omnes denique, quos per uniuersum Romanum orbem fecit Romana iniquitas iam non esse Romanos.

And what greater testimony of Roman iniquity can there be than that very many, honorable and noble, for whom Roman status ought to have been the highest splendor and honor, have been driven by the cruelty of Roman iniquity to the point that they do not wish to be Romans? And hence even those who do not flee to the barbarians are nevertheless forced to be barbarians, as is a great part of the Spaniards and not the least of the Gauls; in short, all whom Roman iniquity throughout the Roman world has made no longer Romans.

Notes and citation

Summary: Roman injustice has made many, even nobles, unwilling to be Romans.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.23 (CSEL 8:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-23). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-23

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.24CSEL 8:109

De Bacaudis nunc mihi sermo est, qui per malos iudices et cruentos spoliati afflicti necati, postquam ius Romanae libertatis amiserant, etiam honorem Romani nominis perdiderunt. et imputatur his infelicitas sua, imputamus his nomen calamitatis suae, imputamus nomen, quod ipsi fecimus: uocamus rebelles uocamus perditos quos esse compulimus criminosos.

My discourse now is of the Bacaudae, who, despoiled, afflicted, and killed by wicked and bloody judges, after they had lost the right of Roman liberty, lost also the honor of the Roman name. And their misfortune is imputed to them; we impute to them the name of their calamity; we impute a name we ourselves made: we call them rebels, we call them lost men, whom we have forced to be criminals.

Notes and citation

Summary: The Bacaudae were made rebels by Roman oppression.

The chapter numeral “VI” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; OCR slip and repeated word): VI. De Bacaudis nunc mihi sermo est, qui per malos idices|idices et cruentos → De Bacaudis nunc mihi sermo est, qui per malos iudices et cruentos.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.24 (CSEL 8:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-24). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-24

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.25CSEL 8:109–110

quibus enim aliis rebus Bacaudae facti sunt nisi iniquitatibus nostris nisi improbitatibus iudicum, nisi eorum proscriptionibus et rapinis, qui exactionis publicae nomen in quaestus proprii emolumenta uerterunt et indictiones tributarias praedas suas esse fecerunt? qui in similitudinem immanium bestiarum non rexerunt traditos sibi sed deuorarunt, nec spoliis tantum hominum, ut plerique latrones solent, sed laceratione etiam et, ut ita dicam, sanguine pascebantur.

For by what other things were they made Bacaudae but by our iniquities, by the wickedness of judges, by the proscriptions and plunderings of those who turned the name of public exaction into the profits of private gain and made the tax assessments their own spoils? Who, like savage beasts, did not rule those handed over to them but devoured them, and fed not only on men’s spoils, as most robbers do, but on their mangling and, so to speak, their blood.

Notes and citation

Summary: Corrupt judges and tax collectors created the Bacaudae.

Indictiones: the periodic tax assessments.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.25 (CSEL 8:109–110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-25). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-25

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.26CSEL 8:110

ac sic actum est, ut latrociniis iudicum strangulati homines et necati inciperent esse quasi barbari, quia non permittebantur esse Romani. adquieuerunt enim esse quod non erant, quia non permittebantur esse quod fuerant, coactique sunt uitam saltim defendere, quia se iam libertatem uidebant penitus perdidisse. aut quid aliud etiam nunc agitur, quam tunc actum est, id est, ut qui adhuc Bacaudae non sunt esse cogantur? quantum enim ad uim atque iniurias pertinet, compelluntur ut uelint esse, sed inbecillitate impediuntur ut non sint. sic sunt ergo quasi captiui iugo hostium pressi: tolerant supplicium necessitate non uoto: animo desiderant libertatem sed summam sustinent seruitutem.

And so it came about that men strangled and killed by the robberies of judges began to be as it were barbarians, because they were not allowed to be Romans. They consented to be what they were not, because they were not allowed to be what they had been, and they were forced at least to defend their lives, because they saw that they had already wholly lost their liberty. Or what else is being done even now than was done then, that is, that those who are not yet Bacaudae are forced to be? For as far as violence and injuries go, they are driven to want to be, but are prevented by weakness from being. So they are like captives pressed by the yoke of enemies: they endure punishment by necessity, not by choice; in mind they long for freedom, but they bear the utmost slavery.

Notes and citation

Summary: Oppression is still driving people toward rebellion.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.26 (CSEL 8:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-26). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-26

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.27CSEL 8:110

Ita ergo et cum omnibus ferme humilioribus agitur: una enim re ad duas diuersissimas coartantur. uis summa exigit ut adspirare in libertatem uelint, sed eadem uis posse non sinit quae uelle compellit. sed imputari his potest forsitan, quod hoc uelint homines, qui nihil magis cuperent, quam ne cogerentur hoc uelle; summa enim infelicitas est quod uolunt. nam cum his multo melius agebatur, si non compellerentur hoc uelle.

So, then, is it done with almost all the humbler people: by one thing they are pressed toward two most contrary ones. The utmost violence makes them want to aspire to freedom, but the same violence that compels them to want it does not allow them to be able. But perhaps it may be laid against these men that they want this, men who would want nothing more than not to be forced to want it; for the greatest misfortune is that they want it. For it would be much better for them if they were not driven to want this.

Notes and citation

Summary: The poor are driven to want rebellion yet are too weak to achieve it.

The chapter numeral “VII” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; stray mark): VII. Ita ergo et cum omnibus ferme humilioribus agitur: una. enim re → Ita ergo et cum omnibus ferme humilioribus agitur: una enim re.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.27 (CSEL 8:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-27). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-27

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.28CSEL 8:110–111

sed quid possunt aliud uelle miseri, qui adsiduum, immo continuum exactionis publicae patiuntur excidium, quibus imminet semper grauis et indefessa proscriptio, qui domus suas deserunt, ne in ipsis domibus torqueantur, exilia petunt, ne supplicia sustineant? leniores his hostes quam exactores sunt. et res ipsa hoc indicat: ad hostes fugiunt, ut uim exactionis euadant. et quidem ipsum hoc, quamuis durum et inhumanum, minus tamen graue atque acerbum erat, si omnes aequaliter atque in commune tolerarent. illud indignius ac poenalius, quod omnium onus non omnes sustinent, immo quod pauperculos homines tributa diuitum premunt, et infirmiores ferunt sarcinas fortiorum. nec alia causa est, quod sustinere non possunt, nisi quia maior est miserorum sarcina quam facultas.

But what else can the wretched want, who suffer the constant, rather continuous, destruction of public exaction, over whom grievous and tireless proscription always hangs, who abandon their houses so as not to be tortured in their very houses, and seek exile so as not to suffer punishments? Enemies are gentler to them than tax collectors. And the fact itself shows it: they flee to the enemy to escape the violence of exaction. And indeed this very thing, though harsh and inhuman, would be less grievous and bitter if all bore it equally and in common. What is more unworthy and penal is that not all bear the burden of all; rather, the taxes of the rich press on poor men, and the weaker carry the loads of the stronger. Nor is there any other reason why they cannot bear it, except that the burden of the wretched is greater than their means.

Notes and citation

Summary: The poor flee taxes that fall on them while the rich escape.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.28 (CSEL 8:110–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-28). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-28

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.29CSEL 8:111

res diuersissimas dissimillimasque patiuntur, inuidiam et egestatem. inuidia enim est in solutione, egestas in facultate. si respicias quod dependunt, abundare arbitreris: si respicias quod habent, egere reperies. quis aestimare rem huius iniquitatis potest? solutionem sustinent diuitum et indigentiam mendicorum. plus multo est quod dicturus sum. adiectiones tributarias ipsi interdum diuites faciunt, pro quibus pauperes soluunt.

They suffer the most different and unlike things: odium and want. For the odium is in the payment, the want in the means. If you look at what they pay, you would think them abounding; if you look at what they have, you would find them in want. Who can estimate this iniquity? They bear the payments of the rich and the want of beggars. What I am about to say is much more. The rich themselves sometimes make tax increases for which the poor pay.

Notes and citation

Summary: The poor pay like the rich but live like beggars; the rich even raise taxes the poor must pay.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.29 (CSEL 8:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-29). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-29

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.30CSEL 8:111

sed dicis: cum ipsorum maximus census sit et ipsorum maximae pensiones, quomodo fieri id potest, ut ipsi sibi augere debitum uelint? neque ego id dico, quod sibi augeant; nam et ideo augent, quia non sibi augent. dicam quomodo. ueniunt plerumque noui nuntii noui epistolarii a summis sublimitatibus missi, qui commendantur inlustribus paucis ad exitia plurimorum. decernuntur his noua munera decernuntur nouae indictiones. decernunt potentes quod soluant pauperes, decernit gratia diuitum quod perdat turba miserorum; ipsi enim in nullo sentiunt quod decernunt.

But you say: “Since their assessment is the largest and their payments the largest, how can it be that they wish to increase their own debt?” Nor do I say that they increase it for themselves; for they increase it precisely because they do not increase it for themselves. I will say how. New envoys, new letter-bearers often come, sent from the highest authorities, who are commended to a few illustrious men for the ruin of very many. New levies are decreed for them, new assessments are decreed. The powerful decree what the poor pay; the favor of the rich decrees what the crowd of the wretched loses; for they themselves feel nothing of what they decree.

Notes and citation

Summary: The rich decree new levies that only the poor pay.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.30 (CSEL 8:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-30). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-30

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.31CSEL 8:111–112

sed non possunt, inquis, non honorari et liberalius accipi, qui fuerint a maioribus missi. estote ergo, diuites, primi in conferendo, qui estis primi in decernendo: estote primi in largitate rerum, qui primi estis in liberalitate uerborum. qui das de meo da et de tuo. tametsi rectissime, quisquis ille es, qui solus capere uis gratiam, solus patereris expensam. sed adquiescimus pauperes uestrae, diuites, uoluntati. quod pauci iubetis soluamus omnes: quid tam iustum quid tam humanum? grauant nos nouis debitis decreta uestra: facite saltim debitum ipsum uobis nobiscum esse commune. quid enim iniquius esse aut quid indignius potest, quam ut soli sitis immunes a debito, qui cunctos facitis debitores?

“But those sent by the great,” you say, “cannot fail to be honored and received rather liberally.” Then be first in contributing, you rich, who are first in decreeing; be first in generosity of goods, who are first in liberality of words. You who give from mine, give from yours too. Though most rightly, whoever you are, you who alone want to win favor, you alone should bear the expense. But we poor consent to your will, you rich. What you few order, let us all pay: what is so just, what so humane? Your decrees burden us with new debts: at least make the debt itself common to you with us. For what can be more unjust or more unworthy than that you alone be free from the debt, who make all debtors?

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who decree new levies should at least share in paying them.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip and split word; stray mark): qui solus capeare uis gra- a tiam → qui solus capere uis gratiam; quod pauci iubetis soluamus. omnes: → quod pauci iubetis soluamus omnes:; immunes a debito,. qui → immunes a debito, qui.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.31 (CSEL 8:111–112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-31). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-31

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.32CSEL 8:112

et quidem miserrimi pauperes sic totum hoc, quod diximus, soluunt, quod qua re uel qua ratione soluant penitus ignorant. cui enim licet discutere cur soluat, aut cui permittitur explorare quid debeat? sed tunc id euidentissime proditur, cum inuicem sibi diuites irascuntur, cum indignantur aliqui eorum, quod sine consilio ac tractatu suo aliqua decreta sint.

And indeed the most wretched poor pay all this that we have described in such a way that they are wholly ignorant why or by what reckoning they pay. For who may discuss why he pays, or who is permitted to inquire what he owes? But it is then most plainly revealed when the rich are angry with one another, when some of them are indignant that some things have been decreed without their counsel and discussion.

Notes and citation

Summary: The poor do not know why they pay; the truth comes out only when the rich quarrel.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; line number and hyphen leaked into the text): miserrimi paupeces sic → miserrimi pauperes sic; id euiden-15 tissime → id euidentissime.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.32 (CSEL 8:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-32). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-32

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.33CSEL 8:112

tunc a quibusdam eorum audias dici: o facinus indignum! duo aut tres statuunt quod multos necet, a paucis potentibus decernitur quod a multis miseris dependatur. honori enim suo unusquisque diuitum praestat, ut nolit aliquid se absente decerni, non iustitiae, ut iniqua nolit se praesente constitui. denique quod in aliis reprehenderent ipsi postea aut pro contemptus praeteriti ultione aut pro potestatis praesumptione constituunt. ac per hoc infelicissimi pauperes sic sunt quasi inter concertantes procellas in medio mari positi: nunc istorum scilicet nunc illorum fluctibus obruuntur.

Then you may hear some of them say: “O unworthy deed! Two or three decide what kills many; what is paid by many wretched people is decreed by a few powerful ones.” For each of the rich grants to his own honor that he does not want anything decreed in his absence, not to justice, that he does not want unjust things established in his presence. In short, what they would blame in others they themselves afterwards establish, either in revenge for past contempt or in presumption of power. And so the most unhappy poor are like men placed in mid-sea between warring storms: they are overwhelmed now by the waves of these, now of those.

Notes and citation

Summary: The rich object only when left out, not to injustice; the poor are tossed between them.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (exclamation mark read as I; line number and hyphen leaked into the text): o facinus indignum I duo aut tres → o facinus indignum! duo aut tres; a multis miseris depen-20 datur → a multis miseris dependatur.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.33 (CSEL 8:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-33). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-33

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.34CSEL 8:112–113

Sed uidelicet qui in hac parte iniqui sunt in alia moderati inueniuntur et iusti ac prauitatem unius rei alterius probitate conpensant. nam sicut in onere nouarum indictionum pauperes grauant, ita in nouorum remediorum opitulatione sustentant: sicut tributis nouis minores maxime deprimuntur, sic remediis nouis maxime subleuantur. immo par est iniquitas in utroque. nam sicut sunt in adgrauatione pauperes primi, ita in releuatione postremi.

But no doubt those who are unjust in this part are found moderate and just in another, and compensate for the wickedness of one thing by the uprightness of another. For as they burden the poor with the load of new assessments, so they sustain them with the help of new relief measures; as the lesser people are most pressed down by new taxes, so they are most relieved by new remedies. On the contrary, the iniquity is equal in both. For as the poor are first in the burdening, so they are last in the relief.

Notes and citation

Summary: In tax relief, as in tax burden, the poor are treated unjustly.

Ironic. The chapter numeral “VIII” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; chapter numeral leaked into the text): VIII. Sed uidelicet qui in hac parte → Sed uidelicet qui in hac parte; sic remediis nonis maxime → sic remediis nouis maxime; in adgrauatioue pauperes → in adgrauatione pauperes.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.34 (CSEL 8:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-34). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-34

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.35CSEL 8:113

si quando enim, ut nuper factum est, consulendum defectis urbibus aut minuendas in aliquo tributarias functiones potestates summae existimauerint, ilico remedium cunctis datum soli inter se diuites partiuntur. quis tunc pauperum meminit? quis ad communionem beneficii humiles et egestuosos uocat? quis eum, qui primus est semper in sarcina, uel ultimo esse loco patitur in medela? et quid plura? tributarii omnino pauperes non putantur; nisi cum iis tributi cumulus imponitur: extra numerum autem tributariorum sunt, cum remedia diuiduntur.

For if at any time, as was done recently, the highest authorities have thought fit to provide for exhausted cities or to reduce tax obligations in some respect, at once the rich alone divide among themselves the remedy given to all. Who then remembers the poor? Who calls the humble and needy to share in the benefit? Who allows him who is always first in the burden to be even in the last place in the healing? And what more? The poor are not thought taxpayers at all, except when a heap of tax is imposed on them; but they are outside the number of taxpayers when remedies are divided.

Notes and citation

Summary: The rich take all the tax relief for themselves.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): semper in sarcina., uel ultimo → semper in sarcina, uel ultimo.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.35 (CSEL 8:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-35). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-35

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.36CSEL 8:113

et putamus, quod poena diuinae seueritatis indigni simus, cum sic nos semper pauperes puniamus, aut credimus, cum iniqui nos iugiter simus, quod deus iustus in nos omnino esse non debeat? ubi enim aut in quibus sunt nisi in Romanis tantum haec mala? quorum iniustitia tanta nisi nostra? Franci enim hoc scelus nesciunt: Chuni ab his sceleribus immunes sunt: nihil horum est apud Wandalos, nihil horum apud Gothos. tam longe enim est, ut haec inter Gothos barbari tolerent, ut ne Romani quidem, qui inter eos uiuunt, ista patiantur.

And do we think we are unworthy of the punishment of divine severity, when we always punish the poor thus? Or do we believe, while we are continually unjust, that God ought not to be just toward us at all? For where, or among whom, are these evils except among the Romans alone? Whose injustice is so great but ours? For the Franks do not know this crime; the Huns are free from these crimes; there is nothing of this among the Vandals, nothing of this among the Goths. For the barbarians are so far from tolerating these things among the Goths that not even the Romans who live among them suffer them.

Notes and citation

Summary: Such injustice exists only among the Romans, not among the barbarians.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.36 (CSEL 8:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-36). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-36

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.37CSEL 8:113–114

itaque unum illic Romanorum omnium uotum est, ne umquam eos necesse sit in ius transire Romanum. una et consentiens illic Romanae plebis oratio, ut liceat eis uitam quam agunt agere cum barbaris. et miramur, si non uincuntur a nostris partibus Gothi, cum malint apud hos esse quam apud nos Romani. itaque non solum transfugere ab eis ad nos fratres nostri omnino nolunt, sed ut ad eos confugiant, nos relinquunt.

So the one wish of all the Romans there is that they may never need to pass into Roman jurisdiction. The one unanimous prayer of the Roman people there is that they may be allowed to lead the life they lead with the barbarians. And we wonder if the Goths are not conquered by our side, when the Romans would rather be with them than with us. So not only do our brothers wholly refuse to flee from them to us, but they leave us to take refuge with them.

Notes and citation

Summary: Romans under Gothic rule pray never to return to Roman rule.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.37 (CSEL 8:113–114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-37). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-37

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.38CSEL 8:114

et quidem mirari possim, quod hoc non omnes omnino facerent tributarii pauperes et egestuosi, nisi quod una tantum causa est, qua non faciunt, quia transferre illuc resculas atque habitatiunculas suas familiasque non possunt. nam cum plerique eorum agellos ac tabernacula sua deserant, ut uim exactionis euadant, quomodo non quae compelluntur deserere uellent [sed] secum, si possibilitas pateretur, auferre? ergo quia hoc non ualent, quod forte mallent, faciunt quod unum ualent. tradunt se ad tuendum protegendumque maioribus, dediticios se diuitum faciunt et quasi in ius eorum dicionemque transcendunt.

And indeed I might wonder that not absolutely all the taxpaying poor and needy do this, except that there is one reason only why they do not: that they cannot transfer there their little goods and little dwellings and families. For since many of them abandon their small fields and huts to escape the violence of exaction, how would they not wish to take with them, if possibility allowed, what they are forced to abandon? So, since they cannot do what they would perhaps prefer, they do the one thing they can. They hand themselves over to the great for guarding and protection, they make themselves the surrendered dependants of the rich and pass, as it were, into their right and dominion.

Notes and citation

Summary: Unable to emigrate, the poor surrender themselves to the protection of the rich.

Dediticii: those who surrender themselves into another’s power. The editor’s square brackets around “sed” mark it for deletion; left out.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): dicionemque trascendunt → dicionemque transcendunt.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.38 (CSEL 8:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-38). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-38

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.39CSEL 8:114

nec tamen graue hoc aut indignum arbitrarer, immo potius gratularer hanc potentium magnitudinem, quibus se pauperes dedunt, si patrocinia ista non uenderent, si quod se dicunt humiles defensare, humanitati tribuerent non cupiditati. illud graue ac peracerbum est, quod hac lege tueri pauperes uidentur, ut spolient, hac lege defendunt miseros, ut miseriores faciant defendendo. omnes enim hi, qui defendi uidentur, defensoribus suis omnem fere substantiam suam prius quam defendantur addicunt, ac sic, ut patres habeant defensionem, perdunt filii hereditatem. tuitio parentum mendicitate pignorum comparatur.

Nor would I think this grievous or unworthy; rather I would rejoice at this greatness of the powerful to whom the poor surrender themselves, if they did not sell these patronages, if what they say is defending the humble they gave to humanity, not to greed. What is grievous and very bitter is that they seem to protect the poor on these terms: that they may despoil them; they defend the wretched on these terms: that they make them more wretched by defending them. For all these who seem to be defended assign almost all their substance to their defenders before they are defended; and so, that the fathers may have defense, the sons lose their inheritance. The protection of parents is bought by the beggary of the children.

Notes and citation

Summary: Patrons sell their protection for the property of the poor, impoverishing their children.

Patrocinium: rural patronage, condemned in imperial laws.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.39 (CSEL 8:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-39). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-39

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.40CSEL 8:114–115

ecce quae sunt auxilia ac patrocinia maiorum: nihil susceptis tribuunt sed sibi. hoc enim pacto aliquid parentibus temporarie attribuitur, ut in futuro totum filiis auferatur. uendunt itaque, et quidem grauissimo pretio uendunt maiores quidam cuncta quae praestant. et quod dixi uendunt, utinam uenderent usitato more atque communi: aliquid forsitan remaneret emptoribus. nouum quippe hoc genus uenditionis et emptionis est.

Behold what the help and patronage of the great are: they give nothing to those they take under their care, but to themselves. For by this compact something is given temporarily to the parents so that in the future everything may be taken from the children. So some of the great sell, and indeed sell at the heaviest price, everything they provide. And as to my saying they sell, would that they sold in the usual and common way: something might perhaps remain to the buyers. For this is a new kind of selling and buying.

Notes and citation

Summary: Patrons sell protection at the price of everything.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nonum quippe hoc genus → nouum quippe hoc genus.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.40 (CSEL 8:114–115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-40). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-40

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.41CSEL 8:115

uenditor nihil tradit et totum accipit: emptor nihil accipit et totum penitus amittit. cumque omnis ferme contractus hoc in se habeat, ut inuidia penes emptorem, inopia penes uenditorem esse uideatur, quia emptor ad hoc emit, ut substantiam suam augeat, uenditor ad hoc uendit, ut minuat, inauditum hoc commercii genus est: uenditoribus crescit facultas, emptoribus nihil remanet nisi sola mendicitas. nam illud quale quam non ferendum atque monstriferum, et quod non dicam pati humanae mentes sed.

The seller hands over nothing and receives everything; the buyer receives nothing and loses everything entirely. And though almost every contract has this in it, that the odium seems to lie with the buyer and the want with the seller, because the buyer buys to increase his substance and the seller sells to reduce his, this is an unheard-of kind of commerce: the sellers’ means grow, and nothing remains to the buyers but beggary alone. For what of this, how unbearable and monstrous, which I will not say human minds can endure, but

Notes and citation

Summary: In this “sale” the patron gains all and the poor lose all.

The sentence continues in 5.42.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): ut minuat., inauditum → ut minuat, inauditum.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.41 (CSEL 8:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-41). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-41

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.42CSEL 8:115

quod audire uix possint, quod plerique pauperculorum atque miserorum spoliati resculis suis et exterminati agellis suis, cum rem amiserint, amissarum tamen rerum tributa patiuntur; cum possessio ab his recesserit, capitatio non recedit: proprietatibus carent et uectigalibus obruuntur!

can scarcely hear: that very many of the poor and wretched, stripped of their little goods and driven from their small fields, though they have lost their property, still bear the taxes of the property lost; though possession has left them, the poll tax has not; they lack ownership and are crushed by taxes!

Notes and citation

Summary: The dispossessed poor still pay taxes on land they no longer own.

Capitatio: the head tax tied to land.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): spoliati resculis, suis et → spoliati resculis suis et.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.42 (CSEL 8:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-42). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-42

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.43CSEL 8:115–116

quis aestimare hoc malum possit? rebus eorum incubant peruasores et tributa miseri pro peruasoribus soluunt. post mortem patris nati obsequiis iuris sui agellos non habent et agrorum muniis enecantur. ac per hoc quid aliud sceleribus tantis agitur, nisi ut qui priuata peruasione nudati sunt publica adflictione moriantur, et quibus rem depraedatio tulit uitam tollat exactio? itaque nonnulli eorum, de quibus loquimur, qui aut consultiores sunt aut quos consultos necessitas fecit, cum domicilia atque agellos suos aut peruasionibus perdunt aut fugati ab exactoribus deserunt, quia tenere non possunt, fundos

Who could estimate this evil? Usurpers brood over their goods, and the wretched pay taxes for the usurpers. After the father’s death the sons do not have the small fields of their right because of these obligations, and are killed by the dues of the fields. And so what else is done by such great crimes but that those stripped by private seizure die by public affliction, and that exaction takes the life of those whose goods plunder has taken? So some of those of whom we speak, who are more prudent or whom necessity has made prudent, when they lose their houses and small fields through seizures, or abandon them, driven out by the tax collectors because they cannot hold them, seek the estates

Notes and citation

Summary: The dispossessed pay taxes for the usurpers and are ruined; some seek refuge on great estates.

The second sentence is garbled in the digital text; translated by sense. The sentence continues in 5.44.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): agellos non habent et: agrorum → agellos non habent et agrorum; tantis agitur,. nisi → tantis agitur, nisi; rem depraedatio. tulit → rem depraedatio tulit; qui aut eonsultiores sunt → qui aut consultiores sunt.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.43 (CSEL 8:115–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-43). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-43

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.44CSEL 8:116

maiorum expetunt et coloni diuitum fiunt. ac sicut solent aut hi, qui hostium terrore compulsi ad castella se conferunt, aut hi, qui perdito ingenuae incolumitatis statu ad asylum aliquod desperatione confugiunt, ita et isti, quia tueri amplius uel sedem uel dignitatem suorum natalium non queunt, iugo se inquilinae abiectionis addicunt. in hanc necessitatem redacti, ut extorres non facultatis tantum, sed etiam condicionis suae atque exulantes non a rebus tantum suis, sed etiam a se ipsis ac perdentes secum omnia sua et rerum proprietate careant et ius libertatis amittant.

of the great and become the coloni of the rich. And as those usually do who, driven by terror of the enemy, betake themselves to fortresses, or those who, having lost the status of freeborn safety, flee in despair to some asylum, so these too, because they can no longer protect either the home or the dignity of their birth, submit themselves to the yoke of the abject state of tenant-dependants. Reduced to this necessity, exiles not only from their means but also from their condition, banished not only from their goods but also from themselves, losing with themselves all that is theirs, they both lack ownership of property and lose the right of freedom.

Notes and citation

Summary: The dispossessed become coloni on the estates of the rich and lose their freedom.

Coloni and inquilini: tenant farmers bound to the land.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): coloni diuitum flunt → coloni diuitum fiunt; desperatione confugiunt, ita. et isti → desperatione confugiunt, ita et isti.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.44 (CSEL 8:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-44). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-44

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.45CSEL 8:116

Et quidem, quia ita infelix necessitas cogit, ferenda utcumque erat extrema haec sors eorum, si non esset aliquid extremius. illud grauius et acerbius, quod additur huic malo saeuius malum. nam suscipiuntur ut aduenae, fiunt praeiudicio habitationis indigenae, et exemplo quondam illius maleficae praepotentis, quae transferre homines in bestias dicebatur, ita et isti omnes, qui intra fundos diuitum recipiuntur, quasi Circaei poculi, transfiguratione mutantur. nam quos suscipiunt ut extraneos et alienos incipiunt habere quasi proprios: quos esse constat ingenuos uertuntur in seruos.

And indeed, since unhappy necessity compels it, this extreme lot of theirs might somehow be borne, if there were not something more extreme. What is graver and more bitter is that a more savage evil is added to this evil. For they are received as newcomers, and by the presumption of residence they become natives; and after the example of that powerful sorceress who was said to turn men into beasts, so all these who are received within the estates of the rich are changed by a transformation as if by Circe’s cup. For those whom they receive as strangers and outsiders they begin to hold as their own; those who are known to be freeborn are turned into slaves.

Notes and citation

Summary: Like Circe’s victims, free men taken onto estates are turned into slaves.

Circe (Homer, Odyssey 10). The chapter numeral “VIIII” is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; OCR slip): VIIII. Et quidem, quia ita infelix neceBsitas → Et quidem, quia ita infelix necessitas.

Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Od. 10.233–243 (Homer, Odyssey; allusion)

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.45 (CSEL 8:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-45). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-45

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.46CSEL 8:116–117

et miramur, si nos barbari capiunt, cum fratres nostros faciamus esse captiuos? nil ergo mirum est, quod uastationes sunt atque excidia ciuitatum. diu id plurimorum oppressione elaborauimus, ut captiuando alios etiam ipsi inciperemus esse captiui. sentimus enim, etsi tardius multo quam merebamur, sentimus tandem illa, quae fecimus, et iuxta sermonem sacrum labores manuum nostrarum manducamus ac iusto iudice deo soluimus quae debemus. miserti quippe exulum non sumus.

And do we wonder that the barbarians capture us, when we make our brothers captives? It is no wonder, then, that there are devastations and destructions of cities. We have long labored by the oppression of very many to bring it about that by making others captives we ourselves began to be captives. For we feel, though much later than we deserved, we feel at last what we have done, and, according to the sacred word, we eat the labors of our hands and pay to God, the just judge, what we owe. For we did not pity the exiles.

Ps 128:2 (127:2 Vulg.) (quotation, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Romans who enslaved their brothers are now themselves captured; they eat the fruit of their deeds.

Ps 128:2 (Vulgate 127:2).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark): atque excidia. ciuitatum → atque excidia ciuitatum.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.46 (CSEL 8:116–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-46). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-46

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.47CSEL 8:117

ecce ipsi exules sumus: peregrinos fraude cepimus, ecce ipsi peregrinamur atque fraudamur: praeiudiciis temporum ingenui status homines circumuenimus, ecce ipsi nuper quidem in alieno solo uiuere coepimus, sed praeiudicia iam timemus. et o quanta est infidelis malarum mentium caecitas! damnationem perferimus iudicantis dei et necdum nos agnoscimus iudicari.

Behold, we ourselves are exiles; we took strangers by fraud: behold, we ourselves are strangers and defrauded; we circumvented men of free status by the presumptions of time: behold, we ourselves have lately begun to live on foreign soil, and already fear those presumptions. And O how great is the unbelieving blindness of wicked minds! We bear the condemnation of God the judge and do not yet recognize that we are judged.

Notes and citation

Summary: Romans now suffer what they did to others, yet do not see God’s judgment.

Praeiudicia temporum: claims based on length of residence (prescription).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray mark): ecoe ipsi exules → ecce ipsi exules; sed praeiudicia iam. timemus → sed praeiudicia iam timemus.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.47 (CSEL 8:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-47). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-47

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.48CSEL 8:117

et mirantur sanctorum aliqui, quod exemplo nostro ceteri non emendentur, qui nihil adhuc tale tolerarunt, cum tormentis nostrarum iniquitatum ne ipsi quidem, qui iam a deo plectimur, corrigamur. o superbiam non ferendam: plurimi poenas peccatorum suorum perferunt, et intellegere causas poenarum nemo dignatur.

And some of the saints wonder that others who have not yet suffered anything like this are not amended by our example, when not even we, who are already being struck by God, are corrected by the torments of our iniquities. O unbearable pride: very many bear the punishments of their sins, and no one deigns to understand the causes of the punishments.

Notes and citation

Summary: No one is corrected, though many suffer for their sins.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip and stray mark; stray marks): , et mirantur sanctorum aliqui, quod exemplo nostro ceteri non emendentur,, qui → et mirantur sanctorum aliqui, quod exemplo nostro ceteri non emendentur, qui; causas, poenarum emo dignatur → causas poenarum nemo dignatur.

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.48 (CSEL 8:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-48). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-48

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.

5.49CSEL 8:117–118

sed est causa euidens, quae hanc superbiam facit, scilicet quia, etsi aliqua iam patimur, nondum tamen patimur quae meremur. tanta est enim misericordia dei, ut, etsi nos pati uult aliqua de piaculis nostris, nolit tamen cuncta tolerare: quia castigat malos, non reddit mala et agnoscere nos peccata nostra uult quam sustinere, scilicet ut piis ac salubribus flagellis ostendat nobis quae ferre mereamur, sed tamen non inferat quae meremur, iuxta illud scilicet beati apostoli dictum, quo ait: ignoras quoniam bonitas dei ad paenitentiam te adducit? secundum duritiam autem tuam et cor inpaenitens thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae.

But there is a plain cause that produces this pride: namely, that, though we already suffer some things, we do not yet suffer what we deserve. For so great is the mercy of God that, though he wills us to suffer something for our sins, he does not will us to bear all: because he chastises the wicked, he does not repay them evil, and he wills us to recognize our sins rather than to bear them; that is, that by kind and wholesome scourges he may show us what we deserve to bear, but still not inflict what we deserve; according, that is, to that saying of the blessed apostle in which he says: “Do you not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you store up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath.”

Rom 2:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 2:5 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God punishes less than we deserve so that we may repent.

Rom 2:4–5.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; stray mark; stray marks): quae hanc snperbiam facit, scilieet quia → quae hanc superbiam facit, scilicet quia; nondum tamen, patimur → nondum tamen patimur; quia castigat, malos, non reddit mala et. agnoscere → quia castigat malos, non reddit mala et agnoscere; non inferat %uae meremur → non inferat quae meremur.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 5.49 (CSEL 8:117–118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-49). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/5-49

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of the staged edition (corrections logged). No public-domain English translation is available to us and no FOTC volume covers Salvian, so each batch was re-read against the Latin.