On the Governance of God 6.97–7.50
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).
Chapter 6
6.97CSEL 8:153
qui ignorantia ppftMwt errore agnito corriguntur: qui, religionis expertes sunt, cam mutauerunt sectam, mutare incipiunt disciplinam: postremum, ut dixi, qui aut abundantia nimia ant securitate uitiantur, desinunt esse perditi, cum destiterint esse securi. nos nec ignorantia labimur nec religionis expertes sumus nec prosperitate rerum ac securitate corrumpimur: omnia siquidem e diuerso sunt.
Those who … by ignorance are corrected when their error is recognized; those who are without religion, when they have changed their sect, begin to change their discipline; finally, as I said, those who are vitiated by excessive abundance or security cease to be lost when they cease to be secure. We neither fall by ignorance, nor are we without religion, nor are we corrupted by prosperity and security: everything is the opposite.
Notes and citation
Summary: Others reform when their causes of sin are removed; the Romans have no such excuses.
- The first words are garbled in the digital text (“ppftMwt”); translated with “…”.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 6.97 (CSEL 8:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/6-97). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/6-97
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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.
6.98CSEL 8:153
religionem nouimus ignorantia non: excusamur, pacem et diuitias priorum temporum non habemus, omnia, quae fuerunt, ant ablata aut immutata sunt: sola tantum uitia creuerunt. nihil nobis de pace et prosperitate pristina reliquum est nisi sola, omnino crimina, quae prosperitatem non esse fecerunt. ubi namque sunt antiquae Romanorum opes ac dignitates? fortissimi quondam Romani erant nunc sine uiribus: timebantur Romani ueteres, nos timemus: uectigalia illis soluebant populi barbarorum, nos uectigales barbaris sumus. uendunt nobis hostes lucis usuram, tota admodum salus nostra commercium est. o infelicitates nostras! ad quid deuenimus!
We know religion and are not excused by ignorance; we do not have the peace and riches of former times; all that was has been either taken away or changed: only the vices have grown. Nothing of the former peace and prosperity remains to us but the crimes alone that made prosperity cease. For where are the ancient wealth and dignities of the Romans? The Romans were once very strong; now they are without strength. The old Romans were feared; we fear. Barbarian peoples paid them tribute; we are tributaries to the barbarians. The enemy sells us the use of light; our whole safety is a commerce. O our misfortunes! To what have we come!
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome, once feared and paid tribute, now pays tribute to the barbarians.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 6.98 (CSEL 8:153; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/6-98). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/6-98
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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.
6.99CSEL 8:153–155
et pro hoc gratias barbaris agimus, a quibus nos ipsos pretio comparamus. quid potest esse nobis uel abiectius uel miserius? et uiuere nos post ista credimus, quibus uita sic consistat! insuper etiam ridiculos ipsi esse nos facimus: aurum, quod pendimus, munera uocamus. dicimus donum esse quod pretium est et quidem pretium condicionis durissimae ac miserrimae. omnes quippe captiui, cum semel redempti fuerint, libertate potiuntur: nos semper redimimur et numquam liberi sumus. illorum more dominorum nobiscum. barbari agunt,, qui mancipia obsequiis. suis non necessaria mercedibus dependendis locant. similiter enim nos numquam ab hac sumus liberi functione, quam pendemus: ad hoc quippe mercedes iugiter soluimus, ut sine cessatione soluamus. -.
And for this we give thanks to the barbarians, from whom we buy ourselves at a price. What can be more abject or more wretched than we? And we think we live after this, whose life stands thus! Moreover we make ourselves ridiculous: the gold we pay we call gifts. We say it is a gift which is a price, and indeed the price of a most harsh and wretched condition. For all captives, once ransomed, gain their freedom: we are always ransomed and never free. The barbarians deal with us after the manner of those masters who hire out slaves not necessary for their own service to pay wages. For likewise we are never free of this obligation that we pay: for we continually pay wages in order to pay without ceasing.
Notes and citation
Summary: Rome buys peace from the barbarians, always ransomed and never free.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 6.99 (CSEL 8:153–155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/6-99). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/6-99
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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.
Chapter 7
7.1CSEL 8:155
Cum in conclusione libelli huius, qui nunc finitus est, de infirmitate ac miseria Romanorum nonnulla dixerim, contraria forsitan negotio, quod nunc agimus, dixisse uideamus. scio enim posse: hoc loco subici, hinc maxime probari, quod non respiciat res humanas deus, quia, cum Romani quondam pagani et uicerint et regnauerint, nunc Christiani et uincantur et seruiant. sufficere quidem ad confutationem obiectionis istius poterant illa, quae dudum de cunetis fere paganis gentibus dicta sunt, id est, magis peccare eos, qui seientes neglegant legem dei quam qui non faciant nescientes.
Since at the conclusion of this book, which is now finished, I have said some things about the weakness and misery of the Romans, I may seem to have said things contrary to the business we are now pursuing. For I know it can be objected here that it is proved chiefly by this that God does not regard human affairs: since the Romans, once pagans, both conquered and reigned, while now as Christians they are both conquered and serve. What was said earlier about almost all the pagan nations could indeed suffice to refute this objection, that is, that those sin more who neglect the law of God knowingly than those who do not do it unknowingly.
Notes and citation
Summary: Book 7: objection that pagan Rome triumphed while Christian Rome is conquered.
- The chapter numeral “I” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; OCR slips): I. Cum in conolosione libelli huios, qui snnc finitus est → Cum in conclusione libelli huius, qui nunc finitus est.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.1 (CSEL 8:155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-1
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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.
7.2CSEL 8:155
sed tamen, si deus annuit cum ad eam negotii partem accesserimus, ut de ueteribus Romanis aliqua dicantur, euidenter diuino munere adprobabimus,, tam iustum tunc erga illos fuisse domini fauorem quam nunc erga nos iustam seueritatem, et tam dignum illud fuisse, quod Romanos tunc deus auxilio suo extulit, quam nunc dignum esse, quod punimur.
Yet, if God permits, when we come to that part of the business where something is said of the old Romans, we shall prove plainly by God’s gift that the Lord’s favor toward them then was as just as his severity toward us now, and that it was as fitting that God then raised up the Romans with his help as it is fitting now that we are punished.
Notes and citation
Summary: Salvian promises to show that God’s favor to old Rome was as just as his punishment now.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.2 (CSEL 8:155; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-2
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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.
7.3CSEL 8:155–156
atque utinam poena ipsa prodesset! illud grauius multo ac luctuosius, quod post poenam nulla correctio est. curare nos uult castigationibus suis dominus, sed curam remedia non secuntur. quid hoc mali est? iumenta ac pecudes: sectione curantur, et putrefacta mulorum asinorum porcorum uiscera, cam adusta cauteriis fuerint, munus medicae adustionis agnoscunt, statimque, ubi aut cremata aut adusta fuerit uitiatorum corporum labes, in locum demortuae carnis uiua succedit.
And would that punishment itself were of use! What is much graver and more lamentable is that after punishment there is no correction. The Lord wishes to cure us with his chastisements, but the remedies are not followed by cure. What evil is this? Beasts of burden and cattle are cured by cutting, and the rotted innards of mules, asses, and pigs, when burned with cauteries, recognize the service of the healing burn; and at once, when the corruption of the diseased bodies has been burned or seared away, living flesh takes the place of dead.
Notes and citation
Summary: Even animals are healed by cautery, but Romans are not healed by punishment.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips and stray marks): atque utinam pqena ipsa prodesset! illud grauius multo. ac luctuosius,: quod post pee. nam nulla → atque utinam poena ipsa prodesset! illud grauius multo ac luctuosius, quod post poenam nulla.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.3 (CSEL 8:155–156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-3
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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.
7.4CSEL 8:156
nos et urimur et secamur, sed nec ferri desectione nec cauteriorum adustione sanamur, immo, quod est grauius, cura ipsa. deteriores sumus. et ideo non frustra nobis euenit quod euenire pecudibus et iumentis solet, quae inremediabiles? morbos ferunt. nam in omnibus partibus mundi, quia curis medicantibus non corrigimur, morte atque occisione finimur.
We are both burned and cut, but we are healed neither by the cutting of the knife nor by the burning of cauteries; rather, what is graver, we are worse by the very cure. And so it is not for nothing that there befalls us what usually befalls cattle and beasts of burden that bear incurable diseases. For in all parts of the world, because we are not corrected by healing cures, we are ended by death and slaughter.
Notes and citation
Summary: Incurable, the Romans are being destroyed like diseased cattle.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.4 (CSEL 8:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-4
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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.
7.5CSEL 8:156
ecce enim, ut non repetam quae multo ante iam dixi, hoc ipstim quale est, quod paulo, ante: memoraui, scilicet quia: et miseri pariter et luxuriosi sumus? esto. enim sint uitia ista felicium (quamuis nemo idem et probrosus esse. possit felix, quia ubi non est uera honestas non est uera. felioitas)r sed tamen, ut ut dixi, esto sint uitia ista et longae pacis et opulentae securitatis. cur, quaeso, illic sunt, ubi iam nulla pax ubi nulla securitatis? in omni enim ferme orbe Romano et pax et se-,.
For behold, not to repeat what I said long before, what of this very thing I mentioned a little before, namely that we are both wretched and luxurious at once? For granted that these are the vices of the happy (though no one who is shameful can be happy, because where there is no true honor there is no true happiness); yet, as I said, granted that these are the vices of long peace and wealthy security: why, I ask, are they there where there is no longer any peace, no security? For in almost the whole Roman world both peace and security
Notes and citation
Summary: Luxury might belong to times of peace, yet it persists where peace is gone.
- The sentence continues in 7.6.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.5 (CSEL 8:156; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-5
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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.
7.6CSEL 8:156–157
euritas non sunt. cur sola tantum uitia perdurant? quis, rogo, ferre possit in homine egestuoso. esse lasciuiam? criminosior quippe est luxuriosa paupertas., et maioris inuidi ae miser nugas totus Romanus orbis et: miser est et luxur?sus, quis, quaeso, pauper et nugas, quis captiuitatem expectans de circo cogitat, quis mortem metuit et ridet? nos et in metu captiuitatis ludimus et positi in mortis timore ridemus- Sar., donicis quodammodo herbis omnem Romanum populum putea esse saturatum:, moritur et ridet. et ideo in omnibus fere partibus mundi ritas nostros lacrimae consequuntur, ac uenit. etiam- in praesenti super nos illud domini nostri dictum: uae uobis, qui ridetis, quoniam flebi tis.
are gone. Why do the vices alone persist? Who, I ask, could bear wantonness in a needy man? For luxurious poverty is more criminal, and a wretched man’s trifling earns greater odium. The whole Roman world is both wretched and luxurious. Who, I ask, is poor and frivolous, who, awaiting captivity, thinks of the circus, who fears death and laughs? We play in fear of captivity and laugh placed in terror of death. You would think the whole Roman people had been sated, as it were, with the Sardonic herb: it dies and laughs. And so in almost all parts of the world tears follow our laughter, and there comes upon us even in the present that saying of our Lord: “Woe to you who laugh, for you will weep.”
Luke 6:25 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Romans laugh in the face of death, as if poisoned by the Sardonic herb.
- The Sardonic herb was said to make the dying laugh. Luke 6:25.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.6 (CSEL 8:156–157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-6
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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.
7.7CSEL 8:157
Sed forsitan, cum de ludicris ao foeditatifous publicis diutissime dixerimus, in hoc tantum deteriores esse nos putes barbaris, quia illi haec non agant nos agamus, ceterum ipsos carnalis libidinis scelere et fornicationis funestae caeno non ita pollui. comparemus, si placet, ceteris nationibus etiam in hac parte Romanos. et quidem nescio an ullis rectius comparentur quam his, quos deus in medio rei publicae sinu positos possessores fecit ac dominos soli esse Romani. unde. quamuis nihil disputari de iudicio dei possit, tamen cum ablatam nobis iuris nostri optimam partem barbaris dederit, uideamus, an id, quod nobis tulit et illis tradidit, iusto iudicio tradidisse uideatur.
But perhaps, since we have spoken very long about the public shows and foulnesses, you may think we are worse than the barbarians only in this, that they do not do these things and we do, but that we are not otherwise so polluted by the crime of fleshly lust and the mud of deadly sexual immorality. Let us compare the Romans, if you please, with other nations in this respect too. And indeed I do not know with whom they could more rightly be compared than with those whom God, placed in the very bosom of the commonwealth, has made possessors and lords of Roman soil. Hence, though nothing can be disputed about the judgment of God, yet, since he has given to the barbarians the best part of our domain taken from us, let us see whether what he took from us and handed to them he seems to have handed over by just judgment.
Notes and citation
Summary: Salvian will compare the Romans with the Goths now settled in Roman Gaul.
- The Visigoths, settled in Aquitaine in 418. The chapter numeral “II” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; OCR slip; line number and hyphen leaked into the text): If. Sed forsitail → Sed forsitan; nescio an ullis rectius com- 1 parentur → nescio an ullis rectius comparentur.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.7 (CSEL 8:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-7
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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.
7.8CSEL 8:157
nemini dubium est Aquitanos ac Nouempopulos medullam fero omnium Galliarum et uber totius fecunditatis habuisse, nec solum fecunditatis, sed, quae praeponi interdum fecunditati solent, iucunditatis pulchritudinis uoluptatis. adeo illic omnis admodum regio aut intertexta uineis aut florulenta pratis aut distincta culturis aut condita pomis aut amoenata lucis aut inrigua fontibus aut interfusa fluminibus aut crinita messibus fuit, ut uere possessores ac domini terrae illius non tam soli istius portionem quam paradisi imaginem possedisse uideantur. quid ergo post ista omnia?
No one doubts that the Aquitanians and the Novempopulani had almost the marrow of all the Gauls and the breast of all fruitfulness; and not only of fruitfulness, but, what is sometimes put before fruitfulness, of pleasantness, beauty, and delight. So completely was every region there either interwoven with vineyards, or flowery with meadows, or marked out with tillage, or stored with fruit, or charmed with groves, or watered with springs, or crossed by rivers, or crested with harvests, that truly the possessors and lords of that land seemed to possess not so much a portion of this earth as an image of paradise. What then, after all this?
Notes and citation
Summary: Aquitaine was the richest and loveliest part of Gaul, an image of paradise.
- Novempopulana: the province of southwest Gaul.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.8 (CSEL 8:157; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-8
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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.
7.9CSEL 8:158
officiosiores absque dubio deo esse debuerant quos peculiariter deus abundantissima beneficiorum suorum dote ditauerat. quid enim rectius aut quid dignius, quam ut quibus per munera sua dominus quasi specialiter uidebatur placere uoluisse, idem quoque specialius domino cultu ac religione placuissent, praesertim cum a nobis deus nil onerosum nil graue exigat. non enim nos ad aratra aut ad ligones uocat, non ad scindendas terras neque ad uineas pastinandas, non denique illa exigit a seruis suis, quae nos exigimus a nostris.
Those whom God had specially enriched with the most abundant dowry of his benefits ought without doubt to have been more dutiful to God. For what is more right or more fitting than that those whom the Lord seemed by his gifts specially to have wished to please should likewise have pleased the Lord more specially by worship and religion, especially since God demands nothing burdensome, nothing heavy from us? For he does not call us to the plough or the hoe, nor to breaking the soil nor to trenching vineyards; finally, he does not demand of his servants what we demand of ours.
Notes and citation
Summary: Those so blessed owed God special devotion, which he asks without burden.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.9 (CSEL 8:158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-9
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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.
7.10CSEL 8:158
quid namque ait? uenite ad me omnes, qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego uos reficiam: tollite iugum meum super uos et discite a me, quia mitis s.um et humilis corde, et inueni.etis requiem animabus uestris; iugum enim meum suaue est et onus meum leue est. non ergo nos ad laborem uocat dominus sed ad refectionem. quid namque a nobis exigit, quid praestari sibi a nobis iubet, nisi solam tantummodo fidem castitatem humilitatem sobrietatem misericordiam sanctitatem?, quae utique omnia non onerant nos sed ornant.
For what does he say? “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is sweet and my burden light.” So the Lord calls us not to labor but to refreshment. For what does he demand of us, what does he command us to render him, but only faith, chastity, humility, sobriety, mercy, holiness? All of which do not burden us but adorn us.
Matt 11:28 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:29 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:30 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s yoke is light; he asks only virtues that adorn us.
- Matt 11:28–30.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips): quid Bamqua aitt uenite → quid namque ait? uenite.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.10 (CSEL 8:158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-10
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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.
7.11CSEL 8:158
nec solum hoc, sed ideo uitam praesentem ornant, ut futuram ornare plus possint. o bonum o pium o inaestimabilis misericordiae do;minum! qui ad hoc nobis in praesenti religionis muuera tribuit, ut ipsa in nobis postea quae nunc dat munera muneretur. tales igitur etiam omnes absque dubio Aquitani esse debuerant, et quidem, ut diximus, specialius tales, quia specialia dei munera possidebant.
And not only this, but they adorn the present life so that they may adorn the future more. O good, O kind Lord of incalculable mercy, who grants us in the present the gifts of religion so that he may afterwards reward in us the very gifts he now gives! Such, then, all the Aquitanians ought without doubt to have been, and indeed, as we said, more specially such, because they possessed special gifts of God.
Notes and citation
Summary: God rewards in us the very gifts he gives; the Aquitanians owed special devotion.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.11 (CSEL 8:158; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-11
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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.
7.12CSEL 8:158–159
et quid post haec omnia? quid secnndum estp quid nisi cuncta quae e diuerso sunt? in omnibus quippe Galliis sicut diuitiis primi fuere sic uitiis,; nusquam enim improbior uoluptas nusquam inquinatior uita nusquam - corruptior disciplina. hanc pro; muneribus, saeris dederunt domino retributionem, ut in quantum eos benifieiis suis iste: ad se inlexerat ad propitiaudum. in tantum illi flagitiis suis laborauerint ad exacerbandum.: I
And what after all this? What followed? What but everything that is the opposite? For in all the Gauls, as they were first in riches, so in vices; nowhere was pleasure more wicked, nowhere life more defiled, nowhere discipline more corrupt. This was the return they made to the Lord for his sacred gifts: that as much as he had drawn them to himself by his benefits to be gracious, so much did they labor by their shameful deeds to provoke him.
Notes and citation
Summary: Instead, the Aquitanians were first in vice as in wealth.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.12 (CSEL 8:158–159; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-12
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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.
7.13CSEL 8:159
An forte falsum est et inuidiose potius quam uere ista dicuntur? non utar ea probatione, qua uti alii in causis solent, ut producam quoscumque ad probandum aut paucos aut extraneos aut minus idoneos testes: ipsos interrogemus, a quibus acta sunt. falsum diximus, si negarint. fatentur enim et quidem, quod est grauius, sic fatentur, ut in ipsa confessione non doleant. idem enim nunc est animus in fatentibus qui in agentibus fuit.sicut tunc non puduit flagitia committere, sic nunc omnino non paenitet flagitiosa fecisse.
Or perhaps these things are said falsely and out of spite rather than truly? I will not use the kind of proof others usually use in cases, producing witnesses who are few or strangers or less suitable: let us ask those by whom the things were done. We have spoken falsely if they deny it. For they confess it, and, what is graver, confess it in such a way that they do not grieve in the confession itself. For the same mind is now in those confessing as was in those doing: as then they were not ashamed to commit shameful deeds, so now they do not at all repent of having done them.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Aquitanians themselves admit their vices without repentance.
- The chapter numeral “III” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; OCR slips): • III. An forte falsum estet inuidiose potitis → An forte falsum est et inuidiose potius.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.13 (CSEL 8:159; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-13
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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.
7.14CSEL 8:159
exceptis tamen perpaucis ferme sanctis atque insignibus uiris, qui. ut quidam de numero ipsorum ait, sparsis redemerunt crimina nummis, exceptis, inquam, his loquor, quos utique etiam in illa tunc generali admodum conluuione uitiorum recte minorum criminum reos fuisse credimus, qui corrigi a diuinitate meruerunt non penitus enim dominum suum laedit cui propitiatio reseruatur. et quid plura? puto quod semper deum et in ipso errore respexerit, a quo hoc obtinere potuit, ne diutius erraret.
Except, however, a very few holy and distinguished men, who, as one of their number says, “redeemed their crimes by scattering their money”; excepting these, I say, I speak, whom indeed, even in that then quite general cesspool of vices, we rightly believe to have been guilty of lesser crimes, who deserved to be corrected by the Godhead; for he does not wholly offend his Lord for whom propitiation is reserved. And what more? I think he always looked to God even in his error from whom he could obtain this, that he should not err longer.
Notes and citation
Summary: A few holy men redeemed their sins by almsgiving and were corrected.
- The quoted line is unidentified (perhaps from a Gallic poet of Salvian’s circle).
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.14 (CSEL 8:159; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-14
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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.
7.15CSEL 8:159–160
ceteri autem et plurimi ferme ac nobilissimi prope idem omnes: paene unus gurges omnium gula paene unum lupanar omnium uita. et quid dicam de lupanaribus? minoris quippe esse criminis. etiam lupanar puto. meretrices enim quae illic sunt foedus conubiale non norunt ac per hoc non maculant quod ignorant: impudicitiae quidem piaculo sunt obnoxiae, sed reatu tamen adulterii non tenentur. adde huc quod et pauca ferme sunt lupanaria et paucae, quae in his se uita infelicissimae damnauere meretrices.
But the rest, and almost the most and noblest, were nearly all alike: almost one whirlpool of gluttony for all, almost one brothel the life of all. And why do I speak of brothels? I think even a brothel is of lesser crime. For the prostitutes there do not know the covenant of marriage and so do not stain what they do not know: they are indeed liable to the sin of unchastity, but they are not held by the guilt of adultery. Add to this that there are few brothels and few unhappy prostitutes who have condemned themselves to life in them.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Aquitanian nobles lived like a brothel, worse than prostitutes who at least do not commit adultery.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.15 (CSEL 8:159–160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-15
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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.
7.16CSEL 8:160
apud aquitanicas uero quae ciuitas in locupletissima ac nobilissima sui parte non quasi lupanar fuit? quis potentum ac diuitum non in luto libidinis uixit? quis non se barathro sordidissimae conluuionis inmersit? quis coniugi coniugii fidem reddidit? immo, quantum ad passiuitatem libidinis pertinet, quis non coniugem in numerum ancillarum redegit et ad hoc uenerabilis conubii sacramenta deiecit,, ut nulla in domo eius uilior uideretur maritali despectione quam quae erat princeps matrimonii dignitate?
But among the Aquitanians, what city in its richest and noblest part was not like a brothel? Who of the powerful and rich did not live in the mud of lust? Who did not plunge himself into the abyss of the filthiest cesspool? Who kept faith in marriage with his wife? Rather, as far as the promiscuity of lust is concerned, who did not reduce his wife to the number of his slave women and so cast down the sacraments of venerable marriage that in his house none seemed cheaper in her husband’s contempt than she who was first by the dignity of marriage?
Notes and citation
Summary: Aquitanian nobles broke faith with their wives and treated them as slave women.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.16 (CSEL 8:160; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-16
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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.
7.17CSEL 8:160–161
Cogitat forte aliquis non ita ad plenum esse ut loquor: habuisse enim illic matres, familias ius suum et dominarum honorem potestatemque tenuisse. uerum est. habuerunt quidem multae integrum ius dominii, sed nulla ferme impollutum ius matrimonii. et nos modo non quaerimus quae mulierum potestas, sed quam corrupta uirorum fuerit disciplina. quamuis nec potestatem quidem illic matres familias integram habuisse dicam, quia quaecumque ius conubii inuiclatum ac saluum non habet nec dominii saluum habet. haud multo enim matrona abest a uilitate seruarum, ubi pater familias ancillarum maritus est.
Perhaps someone thinks it is not fully as I say: that the matrons there had their right and held the honor and power of mistresses. That is true. Many indeed had the whole right of mistresses, but almost none an unpolluted right of marriage. And we are not now asking what the power of the women was, but how corrupt the discipline of the men was. Though I would not say the matrons there had even their power whole, because whoever does not have the right of marriage inviolate and safe does not have that of mistress safe either. For the matron is not far from the cheapness of slave women where the master of the house is the husband of the slave women.
Notes and citation
Summary: Wives kept the rank of mistress but not the integrity of marriage, since husbands took slave women.
- The chapter numeral “IIII” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): IIII. Cogitat forte aliquis → Cogitat forte aliquis.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.17 (CSEL 8:160–161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-17). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-17
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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.
7.18CSEL 8:161
quis autem Aquitanorum diuitum non hoc fuit? quem non sibi ancillae impudicissimae aut adulterum aut maritum iure duxerunt? equi enim emissarii, ut propheta ait, in feminas facti erant: unusquisque ad uxorem proximi sui hinniebat. atque illi, de quibus haec scripta legimus, et minore fortasse crimine et minore, ut reor, numero criminum ac passiuitate peccabant. hi autem uere ut emissarii equi non ad paucas tantum, sed paene ad omnes uernulas suas, id est quasi ad greges proprios hinniebant et in morem eorum pecudum, qui mariti gregum appellantur, feruidae libidinis debacchatione grassantes. in quamcumque eos primum feminam ardens impudicissimae furor traxerat inruebant.
And which of the rich Aquitanians was not this? Whom did the most unchaste slave women not rightly take as adulterer or husband? For “they had become,” as the prophet says, “stallions for the females: each neighed after his neighbor’s wife.” And those of whom we read this written sinned perhaps with lesser crime and, I think, with a smaller number of crimes and less promiscuity. But these, truly like stallions, neighed not after a few only but after almost all their household slave women, that is, as it were after their own herds, and, rampaging like those beasts called the husbands of the herds in the frenzy of burning lust, they rushed upon whatever woman the burning madness of most shameless lust first drew them to.
Jer 5:8 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Rich Aquitanians used all their slave women like stallions in a herd.
- Jer 5:8.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.18 (CSEL 8:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-18). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-18
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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.
7.19CSEL 8:161
hic iam quaero a sapientibus, cum haec ita essent, quales putent fuisse illic familias, ubi tales erant patres familias? quantam seruorum illic corruptelam, ubi dominorum tanta corruptio? morbido enim capite nil sanum est, neque ullum omnino membrum officio suo fungitur, ubi quod est principale non constat. in domo autem sua dominus quasi corporis sui caput est et uita eius cunctis norma uiuendi. pessimumque hoc est m hoc negotio, quod libentius omnes deteriora sectantur, et facilius mala institutio deprauat bonos quam bona emendat malos.
Here now I ask the wise: since this was so, what kind of households do they think there were where such were the heads of the households? How great the corruption of the slaves there, where such the corruption of the masters? For when the head is diseased nothing is sound, nor does any member at all perform its function where what is principal is not sound. In his house the master is as the head of his body, and his life is the rule of living for all. And the worst of it in this matter is that all more gladly follow the worse, and bad instruction more easily corrupts the good than good instruction amends the bad.
Isa 1:5 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The masters’ corruption corrupted their whole households.
- Isa 1:5 is echoed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): quaero a sapientibos → quaero a sapientibus.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.19 (CSEL 8:161; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-19). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-19
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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.
7.20CSEL 8:161–162
porro autem cum etiam boni atque honesti patres familias famulos bonos facere non possint, quantam illic putamus fuisse labem familiarum, ubi domini erant impuritatis exemplum? quamuis non exemplum illic tantummodo malum fuerit, sed uis ac necessitas quaedam, quia parere impudicissimis dominis famulae cogebantur inuitae et libido dominantium necessitas subiectarum erat. ex quo intellegi potest quantum caenum impudicarum sordium fuerit, ubi sub impurissimis dominis castas esse, etiamsi uoluissent, feminas non licebat.
Moreover, since even good and honorable masters cannot make their servants good, how great do we think the stain of the households was there where the masters were an example of impurity? Though there was there not only a bad example but a kind of force and necessity, because the slave women were compelled against their will to obey their most unchaste masters, and the lust of the rulers was the necessity of the subjects. From this it can be understood how great the cesspool of unchaste filth was where women were not allowed to be chaste under most impure masters, even if they had wished.
Notes and citation
Summary: Slave women were forced into unchastity by their masters.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line number leaked into the text): dominis famulae 30 cogebantur → dominis famulae cogebantur.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.20 (CSEL 8:161–162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-20). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-20
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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.
7.21CSEL 8:162
Sed uidelicet difficile hoc probari potest et nulla omnino extant praeteritarum turpitudinum flagitiorumque uestigia. ecce etiam nunc multi ex eis, licet patria careant et in comparatione praeteritarum opum pauperes uiuant, peiores ferme sunt quam fuerunt. peiores autem non uno modo, quia etsi eadem faciunt quae ante faciebant, hoc ipso tamen deteriores sunt, quia a scelere non cessant. siquidem facinora eorum, etsi genere ipso maiora non sint, attamen plura sunt, ac per hoc etsi criminum nouitate non crescant, pluralitate cumulantur.
But no doubt this is hard to prove, and no traces at all survive of past baseness and shameful deeds. Behold, even now many of them, though they lack a homeland and live poor in comparison with their past wealth, are almost worse than they were. Worse not in one way only: for even if they do the same things they did before, they are worse by the very fact that they do not cease from crime. For their deeds, even if not greater in kind, are more numerous; and so, even if they do not grow by novelty of crimes, they are heaped up by number.
Notes and citation
Summary: The exiled Aquitanian nobles are now even worse than before.
- The chapter numeral “V” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): V. Sed uidelicet difficile → Sed uidelicet difficile.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.21 (CSEL 8:162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-21). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-21
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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.
7.22CSEL 8:162
adde autem quod haec, ut dixi, faciunt iam senes adde quod pauperes; utrumque enim sceleris augmentum est. minus siquidem prodigiosum est peccare iuuenes peccare locupletes. quae autem in his spes aut remedium est, qui ab usitata impuritate nec miseriarum egestate nec uitae extremitate reuocantur? esto enim quosdam aut stulta praesumptio longae uitae aut spes quandoque agendae paenitentiae consoletur: nonne nouum hoc monstri genus est esse aliquos etiam in morte uitiosos? quae cum ita sint, numquid est aliquid, quod dici amplius possit? sed adhuc tamen addimus, scilicet quod multi haec agunt hodie etiam inter hostes siti et cotidiano discrimine ac timore captiui, cumque ob impurissimam uitam traditi a deo barbaris fuerint, impuritates tamen ipsas etiam inter barbaros non relinquunt.
Add, too, that they do these things, as I said, now as old men; add that they are poor; for both increase the crime. For it is less monstrous for the young to sin, for the rich to sin. But what hope or remedy is there in those who are not called back from their usual impurity either by the want of their miseries or by the end of their life? For granted that a foolish presumption of long life or a hope of doing penance someday consoles some: is it not a new kind of monster that some are vicious even in death? Since this is so, can anything more be said? Yet we add still more: that many do these things today even placed among the enemy and captives in daily danger and fear, and, though they have been handed over by God to the barbarians for their most impure life, they do not leave these impurities even among the barbarians.
Notes and citation
Summary: Old, poor, and captive, they persist in impurity even among the barbarians.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.22 (CSEL 8:162; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-22). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-22
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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.
7.23CSEL 8:162–163
Sed tales forte hostes sunt, inter quos agunt, ut eos ista delectent et offendantur grauissime, si, cum ipsi impudici sint, uideant castos esse Romanos. quod si ita esset, nequaquam tamen facere nos improbos improbitas deberet aliena, quia quemlibet hominum magis sibi praestare conuenit ut sit bonus, quam alteri ut sit malus, et plus id laborandum est, ut placeamus deo per honestatem quam ut hominibus per impuritatem: ac perinde, etiamsi inter impudicos quis barbaros uiuat, magis tamen pudicitiam sequi debet, quae sibi expedit, quam impudicitiam, quae impuris hostibus placet. sed quid accedit insuper ad mala nostra?
But perhaps the enemy among whom they live are such that these things delight them, and they would be gravely offended if, being unchaste themselves, they saw the Romans chaste. Even if that were so, another’s wickedness should in no way make us wicked, because it befits any man more to see to it that he himself is good than that another is bad, and we must labor more to please God by honor than men by impurity; and so, even if someone lives among unchaste barbarians, he should rather pursue chastity, which is good for him, than unchastity, which pleases impure enemies. But what is added besides to our evils?
Notes and citation
Summary: Even among unchaste barbarians a Christian should be chaste.
- The chapter numeral “VI” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text; split word with stray marks): VI. Sed tales forte hostes → Sed tales forte hostes; inter impudicos quis bar-,. baros → inter impudicos quis barbaros.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.23 (CSEL 8:162–163; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-23). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-23
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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.
7.24CSEL 8:163
inter pudicos barbaros impudici sumus. plus adhuc dico: offenduntur barbari ipsi impuritatibus nostris. esse inter Gothos non licet scortatorem Gothum: soli inter eos praeiudicio nationis ac nominis permittuntur impuri esse Romani. et quae nobis, rogo, spes ante deum est? impudicitiam nos diligimus Gothi execrantur: puritatem nos fugimus illi amant: fornicatio apud illos crimen atque discrimen est apud nos decus.
We are unchaste among chaste barbarians. I say still more: the barbarians themselves are offended by our impurities. Among the Goths a Goth may not be a fornicator; among them only the Romans are allowed, by the presumption of nation and name, to be impure. And what hope, I ask, have we before God? We love unchastity, the Goths curse it; we flee purity, they love it; sexual immorality among them is a crime and a danger, among us an honor.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Goths punish fornication; only Romans among them are allowed it.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.24 (CSEL 8:163; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-24). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-24
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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.
7.25CSEL 8:163
et putamus nos ante deum posse consistere, putamus posse nos saluos esse, quando omne impuritatis scelus omnis impudicitiae turpitudo a Romanis admittitur et a barbaris uindicatur? hic nunc illos requiro, qui meliores nos putant esse quam barbaros: dicant quid horum uel paucissimi Gothi faciant, uel quid non horum Romani omnes uel paene omnes? et miramur, si terrae uel Aquitanorum uel nostrorum omnium a deo barbaris datae sunt, cum eas, quas Romani polluerunt fornicatione, nunc mundent barbari castitate?
And do we think we can stand before God, do we think we can be saved, when every crime of impurity and every baseness of unchastity is committed by the Romans and punished by the barbarians? Here now I ask those who think us better than the barbarians: let them say which of these things even a very few Goths do, or which of them all or almost all Romans do not do. And do we wonder if the lands of the Aquitanians, or of all of us, have been given by God to the barbarians, when the barbarians now cleanse by chastity the lands the Romans polluted by sexual immorality?
Notes and citation
Summary: The barbarians now purify by chastity the lands Romans polluted.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.25 (CSEL 8:163; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-25). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-25
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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.
7.26CSEL 8:163–164
Sed forte hoc in Aquitanis tantum. transeamus etiam ad alias mundi partes, ne de solis tantummodo Galliis dixisse uideamur. quid? Hispanias nonne uel eadem uel maiora forsitan uitia perdiderunt? quas quidem caelestis ira etiamsi aliis quibuslibet barbaris tradidisset, digna flagitiorum tormenta tolerauerant puritatis inimici. sed accessit huc ad manifestandam illic impudicitiae damnationem, ut Wandalis potissimum id est pudicis barbaris traderentur.
But perhaps this was so only among the Aquitanians. Let us pass to other parts of the world too, lest we seem to have spoken only of the Gauls. What? Did not the same or perhaps greater vices destroy the Spains? Even if the heavenly wrath had handed them over to any other barbarians, the enemies of purity would have suffered torments worthy of their shameful deeds. But this was added there to make plain the condemnation of unchastity: that they were handed over specifically to the Vandals, that is, to chaste barbarians.
Notes and citation
Summary: Spain too was handed over for its vices, and to the chaste Vandals.
- The chapter numeral “VII” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): VII. Sed forte hoc in Aquitanis → Sed forte hoc in Aquitanis.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.26 (CSEL 8:163–164; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-26). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-26
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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.
7.27CSEL 8:164
dupliciter in illa Hispanorum captiuitate ostendere deus uoluit quantum et odisset carnis libidinem et diligeret castitatem, cum et Wandalos ob solam maxime pudicitiam superponeret et Hispanos ob solam uel maxime impudicitiam subiugaret. quid enim? numquid non erant in omni orbe terrarum barbari fortiores, quibus Hispanorum traderentur?
In that captivity of the Spaniards God wished to show doubly how much he both hated the lust of the flesh and loved chastity, since he set the Vandals over them chiefly for their chastity alone and subjected the Spaniards chiefly for their unchastity alone. For what? Were there not stronger barbarians in all the world to whom the Spaniards could be handed over?
Notes and citation
Summary: God gave Spain to the Vandals to show his hatred of lust and love of chastity.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.27 (CSEL 8:164; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-27). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-27
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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.
7.28CSEL 8:164
multi absque dubio, immo, ni fallor, omnes. sed ideo ille infirmissimis hostibus cuncta tradidit, ut ostenderet scilicet non uires ualere sed causam, neque nos tunc ignauissimorum quondam hostium fortitudine obrui sed sola uitiorum nostrorum impuritate superari: ut uere in nos uenerit dictum illud, quo ait dominus ad Iudaeos: secundum inmunditias suas et secundum iniquitates suas feci illis, et auerti faciem meam ab eis, et alibi ad gentem ipsam: adducet dominus super te gentem de longinquo, et ungulis, inquit, equorum suorum omnes plateas tuas conculcabunt et populum tuum gladio interficient. completa ergo in nos sunt omnia, quae dixit sermo diuinus, et uim uerborum caelestium luit poena cunctorum.
Many without doubt, indeed, if I am not mistaken, all. But he handed everything to the weakest enemies so as to show that it is not strength that prevails but the cause, and that we were not then overwhelmed by the strength of once most cowardly enemies but overcome by the impurity of our vices alone: so that there truly came upon us that saying in which the Lord says to the Jews: “According to their uncleanness and according to their iniquities I did to them, and I turned my face from them”; and elsewhere to the nation itself: “The Lord will bring upon you a nation from afar, and with the hoofs of their horses,” he says, “they will trample all your streets and kill your people with the sword.” So all that the divine word said has been fulfilled in us, and the punishment of all has paid the force of the heavenly words.
Ezek 39:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 28:49 (quotation, medium confidence) · Ezek 26:11 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God gave Spain to the weakest enemy to show that sin, not strength, decides.
- Ezek 39:24; Deut 28:49 with Ezek 26:11.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): dictum ilud, quo ait dominus ad ludaeos → dictum illud, quo ait dominus ad Iudaeos; uim uerborum eaelestium → uim uerborum caelestium.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.28 (CSEL 8:164; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-28). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-28
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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.
7.29CSEL 8:164–165
Sed tamen cum omnes fere barbarae gentes Romanum sanguinem biberint omnes uiscera nostra lacerauerint, quid est quod deus noster maximas rei publicae opes et locupletissimos Romani nominis populos in ius potissimum ignauissimorum quondam hostium dedit? quid? nisi ut agnosceremus scilicet, quod supra dixi, meritorum hoc fuisse non uirium, atque ipsum quoque hoc nobis in confusionem caderet ac poenam, quod ignauissimis traderemur et uel sic plagam caelestis manus agnosceremus, quia nos non fortissimi hostium sed ignauissimi subiugarent.
But yet, since almost all the barbarian nations have drunk Roman blood, all have torn our innards, why is it that our God gave the greatest wealth of the commonwealth and the richest peoples of the Roman name into the power above all of once most cowardly enemies? Why? Unless that we might recognize, as I said above, that this was of merits, not of strength, and that this very thing might fall on us for confusion and punishment, that we were handed over to the most cowardly, and that so at least we might recognize the blow of the heavenly hand, because not the strongest of enemies but the most cowardly subdued us.
Notes and citation
Summary: Being conquered by the weakest enemies shows God’s hand in it.
- The chapter numeral “VIII” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): VIII. Sed tamen cum omnes → Sed tamen cum omnes.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.29 (CSEL 8:164–165; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-29). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-29
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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.
7.30CSEL 8:165
sic enim legimus quod, si quando euidenter intellegi deus uoluit magna opera a se patrari, aut per paucos aut per infimos acta res est, ne opus caelestis dexterae uirtuti adsignaretur humanae. ideo siquidem et dux Sisara, quem Hebraeus tremebat exercitus, a muliere prostratus est, et Abimelech ciuitatum expugnatorem feminea manus perculit et ferratae Assyriorum acies uidua opitulante ceciderunt.
For so we read that, whenever God wished it plainly understood that great works were done by him, the thing was done either through few or through the lowest, so that the work of the heavenly right hand might not be ascribed to human strength. So the general Sisera, before whom the Hebrew army trembled, was laid low by a woman; and a woman’s hand struck down Abimelech, the stormer of cities; and the iron-clad ranks of the Assyrians fell with a widow’s help.
Judg 4:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Judg 9:53 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God works through the weak: Jael, the woman of Thebez, Judith.
- Judg 4:21; Judg 9:53; Judith 13 (the “Assyrians” of Holofernes).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): uidua opitulante cecideruut → uidua opitulante ceciderunt.
Extrabiblical texts: Jdt 13:8 (Judith [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.30 (CSEL 8:165; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-30). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-30
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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.
7.31CSEL 8:165
et ne de solis tantum feminis loquar, Benedad regem Syriae, cui praeter innumera populi sui milia triginta et duo reges exercitusque eiusdem numeri seruiebant, nonne ideo a paucis principum pedissequis dominus uinci uoluit, ut qui esset auctor talis uictoriae nosceretur?
And not to speak only of women: did not the Lord will that Ben-hadad, king of Syria, whom besides countless thousands of his own people thirty-two kings and armies of the same number served, be conquered by a few, the attendants of the princes, so that the author of such a victory might be known?
1 Kgs 20:1 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 20:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ben-hadad was defeated by a few young men so that God’s hand would be known.
- 1 Kgs 20:1, 14–21 (Vulgate 3 Kgs 20).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark): a paucis, principum pedissequis → a paucis principum pedissequis.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.31 (CSEL 8:165; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-31). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-31
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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.
7.32CSEL 8:165
contra Madianitas quoque, qui, ut liber Iudicum refert, instar locustarum cuncta compleuerant, Gedeon iubetur pugnare cum paucis, non quia plures in exercitu non haberet, sed uetatur multos ad bellum ducere, ne multitudo sibi possit aliquid de uictoria uindicare. unde cum triginta armatorum milia congregasset, sic ad eum dominus locutus est: multus est tecum populus, nec tradetur Madian in manus eius. et quid postea?
Against the Midianites too, who, as the book of Judges reports, had filled everything like locusts, Gideon is ordered to fight with few; not because he did not have more in the army, but he is forbidden to lead many to war, lest the multitude claim something of the victory for itself. So when he had gathered thirty thousand armed men, the Lord spoke to him thus: “The people with you are many, and Midian will not be delivered into its hands.” And what then?
Judg 6:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Judg 7:2 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God told Gideon his army was too large.
- Judg 6:5; 7:2.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.32 (CSEL 8:165; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-32). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-32
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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.
7.33CSEL 8:165–166
homini aduersum innumera barbarorum milia pugnaturo trecentos tantum uiros reliquit. in eam quippe exiguitatem redigi agmen militum iussit, ut sibi de patrato diuinitus belli opere paucitas usurpare nil posset. denique cur hoc dominus ita faceret, ipse euidentissime declarauit dicens: ne glorietur contra me Israhel et dicat: meis uiribus liberatus sum. audiant, inquam, hoc omnes improbi audiant omnes praesumptuosi, audiant praepotentes audiant cuncti quid deus dicit: ne glorietur inquit contra me Israhel et dicat: meis uiribus liberatus sum.
To a man about to fight against countless thousands of barbarians he left only three hundred men. For he ordered the army of soldiers reduced to such smallness that the few could claim nothing for themselves from the work of war accomplished by God. Finally, why the Lord did this he himself declared most plainly, saying: “Lest Israel boast against me and say: I was freed by my own strength.” Let all the wicked hear this, I say, let all the presumptuous hear, let the very powerful hear, let all hear what God says: “Lest Israel boast against me,” he says, “and say: I was freed by my own strength.”
Judg 7:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Judg 7:2 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God reduced Gideon’s army to 300 so Israel could not boast of its own strength.
- Judg 7:2, 7.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.33 (CSEL 8:165–166; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-33). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-33
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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.
7.34CSEL 8:166
Audiant, inquam, omnes contraria et blasphema iactantes, audiant haec spem suam in homine ponentes. loqui uniuersos aduersum se deus dicit, qui liberari se uiribus suis posse praesumunt. quis autem est Romanorum non ita dicens? quis est non ita sentiens? quis nostrae partis non prope iugiter in hac parte blasphemat? nullas esse iam rei publicae uires omnium conscientia est, et ne sic quidem agnoscimus, cuius hoc beneficiis, quod adhuc uiuimus, debeamus.
Let all hear, I say, who utter contrary and blasphemous things; let those who put their hope in man hear this. God says that all speak against him who presume they can be freed by their own strength. And who among the Romans does not speak thus? Who does not think thus? Who of our side does not blaspheme almost continually in this respect? It is everyone’s conscious knowledge that the commonwealth no longer has any strength, and not even so do we recognize to whose benefits we owe it that we still live.
Notes and citation
Summary: Romans trust in their own strength though they have none, and do not thank God.
- The chapter numeral “VIIII” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): VIIII. Audiant, inquam → Audiant, inquam.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.34 (CSEL 8:166; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-34). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-34
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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.
7.35CSEL 8:166
si quando enim nobis prosperi aliquid praeter spem nostram et meritum deus tribuit, alius hoc adscribit fortunae alius euentui, alius ordinationi ducum alius consilio, alius magisterio alius patrocinio, nullus deo. et miramur, si nobis caelestis manus aliqua non praestet, cui quicquid praestiterit derogamus. quid enim aliud facimus, cum bona, quae praestat, nos uel euentibus casuum uel uirtutibus ducum uel quibuscumque aliis rebus friuulis deputamus?
For if ever God grants us something prosperous beyond our hope and merit, one ascribes it to fortune, another to chance, another to the arrangements of the generals, another to counsel, another to command, another to patronage, none to God. And we wonder if the heavenly hand does not give us something, when we detract from it whatever it has given. For what else do we do when we assign the good things he gives either to the accidents of chance or to the valor of the generals or to any other frivolous things?
Notes and citation
Summary: Romans credit fortune or generals for victories, never God.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.35 (CSEL 8:166; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-35). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-35
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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.
7.36CSEL 8:166–167
hoc enim modo et terris nos oporteret gratias agere quod fruges annuas metimus et uineis quod uindemiamus, et mari quod pisces capimus et siluis quod ligna caedimus, et ouibus quod ueste tegimur et pecudibus ceteris quod carne saturamur. nam quae ratio est, ut ei pro muneribus aliis grati esse uelimus, cui maximorum beneficiorum suorum gratiam derogamus? aut quis contentus est homo nostrae condicionis, ut ei quis in acceptum quippiam referat, cui de donis suis summa detraxerit?
In this way we ought to give thanks to the lands that we reap the yearly crops, and to the vineyards that we gather the vintage, and to the sea that we catch fish, and to the forests that we cut wood, and to the sheep that we are covered with clothing, and to the other cattle that we are filled with meat. For what reason is there to wish to be grateful for other gifts to one from whom we take away the thanks for his greatest benefits? Or what man of our condition is content that someone credits him with some small thing, when he has detracted from his gifts the greatest?
Notes and citation
Summary: Thanking chance rather than God is like thanking fields and sheep.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark): beneficiorum suorum gratiam. derogamus → beneficiorum suorum gratiam derogamus; de donis suis summa. detraxerit → de donis suis summa detraxerit.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.36 (CSEL 8:166–167; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-36). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-36
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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.
7.37CSEL 8:167
ita et nos licet deo in nullo digne gratias agamus, parum tamen erat si pro his tantummodo grati esse uellemus, quae nobis ad usum uiuendi dedit, cui hanc gratiam tollimus, quod nos et in angustiis iuuat et in periculis liberat et in medio barbararum gentium sitos iugi protectione conseruat.
So too we, though we give God worthy thanks in nothing, it would still be too little if we wished to be grateful only for what he has given us for the use of living, while we take from him this thanks: that he helps us in straits, frees us in dangers, and preserves us with continual protection when placed amid barbarian nations.
Notes and citation
Summary: Romans deny God thanks for his protection amid the barbarians.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.37 (CSEL 8:167; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-37). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-37
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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.
7.38CSEL 8:167
at non ita Gothi non ita Wandali, malis licet doctoribus instituti, meliores tamen etiam in hac parte quam nostri. offendi quamuis quosdam suspicer his quae dicimus. sed quia ueritas magis quam offensio cogi-. tanda est, dicam et saepe dicam: non ita Gothi non ita Wandali: qui et in discrimine positi opem a deo postulant et prosperitates suas munus diuinitatis appellant.
But not so the Goths, not so the Vandals, though taught by bad teachers, better nevertheless even in this respect than ours. I suspect that some are offended by what we say. But since truth must be considered more than offense, I will say it and say it often: not so the Goths, not so the Vandals, who, placed in danger, ask help from God and call their prosperity a gift of the Godhead.
Notes and citation
Summary: Goths and Vandals, though heretics, pray to God in danger and thank him for success.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.38 (CSEL 8:167; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-38). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-38
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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.
7.39CSEL 8:167–168
denique probauit hoc bello proximo infelicitas nostra. cum enim Gothi metuerent praesumeremus nos in Chunis spem ponere illi in deo, cum pax ab illis postularetur a nobis negaretur, illi episcopos mitterent nos reppelleremus, illi etiam in alienis sacerdotibus deum honorarent nos etiam in nostris contemneremus, prout actus utriusque partis ita et rerum terminus fuit. illis data est in summo timore palma nobis in summa elatione confusio: ut uere et in nobis tunc et in illis euidenter probatum sit illud domini nostri dictum: quoniam qui se exaltat humiliabitur, et qui se humiliat exaltabitur; illis enim exaltatio data est pro humilitate, nobis pro elatione deiectio.
In short, our misfortune proved this in the last war. For while the Goths were afraid, we presumed to place our hope in the Huns, they in God; while peace was asked by them, it was refused by us; they sent bishops, we repulsed them; they honored God even in priests not their own, we despised him even in our own. As were the acts of each side, so was the outcome. To them in the greatest fear the palm was given; to us in the greatest pride, confusion: so that the saying of our Lord was truly and plainly proved then in us and in them: “For he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” For to them exaltation was given for humility, to us downfall for pride.
Luke 14:11 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In the war of 439 the humble Goths, who trusted God and sent bishops to ask peace, defeated the proud Romans who trusted the Huns.
- The war near Toulouse (439), in which the Roman general Litorius used Hun auxiliaries. The Goths sent catholic bishops (“priests not their own”) to negotiate. Luke 14:11.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): et quis humiliat exaltabitur → et qui se humiliat exaltabitur.
Topics: Church office, Prayer
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.39 (CSEL 8:167–168; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-39). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-39
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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.
7.40CSEL 8:168
Itaque agnouit hoc ille dux nostrae partis, qui eandem urbem hostium, quam eodem die uictorem se intraturum esse praesumpsit, captiuus intrauit. probauit scilicet, quod propheta dixit: quia non est hominis uia eius, nec uiri est ut ambulet et dirigat gressus suos. nam quia uiam suam iuris sui esse existimauit, nec gressum directionis habuit nec uiam salutis inuenit. effusa est, ut legimus, abiectio super principem, seductus est in inuio et non in uia, et ad nihilum deductus est uelut aqua decurrens.
So that general of our side recognized it, who entered as a captive the very enemy city which he had presumed he would enter that same day as victor. He proved, of course, what the prophet said: “that a man’s way is not his own, nor is it in a man to walk and direct his steps.” For because he thought his way was in his own power, he neither had a directed step nor found the way of salvation. “Contempt was poured out,” as we read, “upon the prince; he was led astray in a pathless place and not on the way,” and was brought to nothing “like water running off.”
Jer 10:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 107:40 (106:40 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 58:7 (57:8 Vulg.) (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Roman general Litorius entered Toulouse as a captive, not a victor.
- Litorius, captured at Toulouse in 439. Jer 10:23; Ps 107:40 (Vulgate 106:40); Ps 58:7 (Vulgate 57:8). The chapter numeral “X” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): X. Itaque agnouit hoc ille dux → Itaque agnouit hoc ille dux.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.40 (CSEL 8:168; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-40). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-40
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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.
7.41CSEL 8:168
in quo quidem praeter ipsam rerum infelicitatem praesens iudicium dei patuit, ut quicquid facturum se usurparat ipse pateretur. nam quia sine diuinitatis auxilio ac dei nutu capiendum a se hostem credidit, ipse captus est: consilii ac sapientiae summam usurpauit ignominiam temeritatis incurrit uincla, quae aliis parauit, ipse sustinuit.
In this, besides the misfortune of the event itself, the present judgment of God was manifest, so that whatever he had claimed he would do he himself suffered. For because he believed the enemy would be taken by him without the help of the Godhead and the nod of God, he himself was taken; he claimed the height of counsel and wisdom and incurred the disgrace of rashness; the chains he prepared for others he himself bore.
Notes and citation
Summary: Litorius suffered what he had planned for the enemy.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): praeter ipsam rerum mielicitatem → praeter ipsam rerum infelicitatem.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.41 (CSEL 8:168; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-41). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-41
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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.
7.42CSEL 8:168
et quod, rogo, euidentius dei iudicium esse potuit, quam ut habens praedatoris fiduciam praeda fieret triumphum praesumens triumphus esset, circumdaretur corriperetur alligaretur, retorta tergo brachia gereret manus, quas bellicosas putabat, uinctas uideret, puerorum ac mulierum spectaculum fieret inludentes sibi barbaros cerneret, inrisionem sexus promiscui sustineret et qui maximum habuerat supercilium fortis uiri, mortem subiret ignaui?
And what, I ask, could be a plainer judgment of God than that one with a plunderer’s confidence should become plunder, presuming a triumph should be a triumph; that he should be surrounded, seized, bound, bear his arms twisted behind his back, see bound the hands he thought warlike, become a spectacle to boys and women, see the barbarians mocking him, endure the derision of both sexes, and, who had had the greatest haughtiness of a brave man, suffer the death of a coward?
Notes and citation
Summary: Litorius was led in triumph, mocked, and died ignominiously.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.42 (CSEL 8:168; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-42). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-42
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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.
7.43CSEL 8:168–169
atque utinam hoc ipsum breue remedium malorum esset non diuturna toleratio. ille autem, quantum ad poenarum magnitudinem pertinet, longo tempore et diuturna in ergastulo barbarorum tabe consumptus in hanc miseriam redactus est, ut, quod plerumque homines etiam poenis ipsis grauius atque acerbius putant, in miserationem hostium deueniret. et hoc cur?
And would that this very thing had been a brief remedy of evils, not a long endurance! But he, as far as the greatness of his punishments goes, was consumed for a long time by lingering wasting in the barbarians’ prison, and reduced to such misery that he came to be pitied by the enemy, which most men think graver and more bitter than punishments themselves. And why this?
Notes and citation
Summary: Litorius wasted long in prison until even his enemies pitied him.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.43 (CSEL 8:168–169; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-43). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-43
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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.
7.44CSEL 8:169
cur absque dubio nisi quia, ut iam dixi, illi deo humiles nos rebelles, illi crediderunt in manu dei esse uictoriam nos in manu nostra immo in sacrilega atque impia, quod est peius nocentiusque quam nostra? denique ipse rex hostium, quantum res prodidit ac probauit, usque ad diem pugnae stratus cilicio preces fudit, ante bellum in oratione iacuit ad bellum de oratione surrexit. priusquam pugnam manu capesseret, supplicatione pugnauit et ideo fidens processit ad pugnam, quia iam meruerat in oratione uictoriam.
Why, without doubt, unless because, as I have said, they were humble before God and we rebellious; they believed that victory is in the hand of God, we in our own hand, or rather in a sacrilegious and impious one, which is worse and more harmful than ours? In short, the king of the enemy himself, as the event revealed and proved, lay prostrate in sackcloth pouring out prayers until the day of battle; before the war he lay in prayer, he rose from prayer to the war. Before he took up the fight with his hand, he fought by supplication, and so he went forth confident to the fight, because he had already earned victory in prayer.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Gothic king prayed in sackcloth before battle and won.
- Theodoric I, king of the Visigoths. Litorius relied on pagan Hun auxiliaries and their rites (“sacrilegious hand”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line number leaked into the text): quia iam 10 meruerat → quia iam meruerat.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.44 (CSEL 8:169; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-44). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-44
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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.
7.45CSEL 8:169
Non dissimiliter autem illud etiam apud Wandalos: ad quos cum in Hispania sitos nostra pars pergeret tantamque ad debellandos eos praesumptionis fiduciam ferret quantum etiam proxime ad Gothos, pari superbiae fastu pari exitu conruerunt. uenitque super exercitum nostrum illud prophetae dictum: obruet dominus confidentiam tuam et nihil habebis prosperum. confidebamus enim in sapientia nostra et fortitudine contra dei mandata dicentis: non glorietur sapiens in sapientia sua nec fortis in fortitudine sua, sed in hoc glorietur qui gloriatur, scire et nosse me, quia ego sum dominus.
Not unlike this was what happened among the Vandals too: when our side marched against them while they were in Spain, and brought as much confidence of presumption to defeating them as lately against the Goths, they fell with equal haughtiness of pride and equal outcome. And there came upon our army that saying of the prophet: “The Lord will overthrow your confidence, and you will have nothing prosperous.” For we trusted in our wisdom and strength, against the commands of God, who says: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength, but let him who glories glory in this, to know and understand me, that I am the Lord.”
Jer 2:37 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 9:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 9:24 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Roman army in Spain, trusting in itself, was defeated by the Vandals.
- Probably the defeat of Castinus by the Vandals in Spain (422). Jer 2:37; Jer 9:23–24. The chapter numeral “XI” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked into the text): XI. Non dissimiliter → Non dissimiliter.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.45 (CSEL 8:169; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-45). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-45
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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.
7.46CSEL 8:169–170
non inmerito itaque uicti sumus; ad meliora enim se illi subsidia contulere quam nostri. nam cum armis nos atque auxiliis superbiremus, a parte hostium nobis liber diuinae legis occurrit. ad hanc enim praecipue opem timor et perturbatio tunc Wandalica confugit, ut seriem nobis eloquii caelestis opponeret et aduersum uenientes aemulos suos sacri uoluminis scripta quasi ipsa quodammodo diuinitatis ora reseraret.
Not undeservedly, then, were we conquered; for they betook themselves to better aids than ours. For while we were proud in arms and auxiliaries, on the side of the enemy the book of the divine law met us. For the fear and alarm of the Vandals then fled chiefly to this help: to set against us the sequence of the heavenly word, and, against their advancing rivals, to open the writings of the sacred volume as if in a way the very mouth of the Godhead.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Vandals met the Romans with the book of Scripture, and won.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.46 (CSEL 8:169–170; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-46). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-46
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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.
7.47CSEL 8:170
hic nunc requiro, quis hoc umquam a nostris partibus fecerit, aut quis non inrisus fuerat, si putasset esse faciendum? inrisus utique, sicut a nostris omnia ferme religiosa ridentur. et ideo quid prodesse nobis praerogatiua illa religiosi nominis potest, quod nos catholicos esse dicimus quod fideles esse iactamus quod Gothos ac Wandalos haeretici nominis exprobratione despicimus, cum ipsi haeretica prauitate uiuamus?
Here now I ask who on our side ever did this, or who would not have been laughed at if he had thought it should be done? Laughed at certainly, as almost all religious things are laughed at by our people. And so what can that privilege of the religious name profit us, that we say we are catholics, that we boast we are faithful, that we despise Goths and Vandals with the reproach of a heretical name, when we ourselves live in heretical depravity?
Notes and citation
Summary: Catholics despise the heretical barbarians but live in a heretical way.
Topics: Heresy
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.47 (CSEL 8:170; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-47). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-47
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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.
7.48CSEL 8:170
itaque rectissime nobis dicitur illud, quod Iudaeis in lege fidentibus dixit sermo diuinus: quomodo dicitis, sapientes sumus et lex domini nobiscum est? nolite, inquit, confidere in uerbis mendacii dicentes: templum domini, templum domini, templum domini est. quoniam si bene direxeritis uias uestras et studia uestra, aduenae et pupillo et uiduae non feceritis calumniam, nec sanguinem innocentem effuderitis in loco hoc, habitabo uobiscum in loco isto a saeculo usque in saeculum. quo utique ostenditur quod, si ista non facimus, superflue nobis catholici nominis praesumptione plaudamus.
So that is most rightly said to us which the divine word said to the Jews trusting in the law: “How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?” “Do not trust,” he says, “in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is this. For if you direct your ways and your pursuits well, do not oppress the stranger and the orphan and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place, I will dwell with you in this place from age to age.” By this it is shown that, if we do not do these things, we applaud ourselves in vain on the presumption of the catholic name.
Jer 8:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 7:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 7:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 7:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 7:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Like Israel trusting in the temple, catholics trust vainly in their name.
- Jer 8:8; Jer 7:4–7.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.48 (CSEL 8:170; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-48). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-48
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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.
7.49CSEL 8:170–171
sed hinc iam et superius satis dictum est et adhuc forte dicetur, nec opus est ut de hoc amplius disseramus, ubi dei iuge iudicium est. quid enim uel de nobis uel de Gothis ac Wandalis deus iudicet res probat: illi crescunt cotidie nos decrescimus, illi proficiunt nos humiliamur, illi florent et nos arescimus. ut uere in nos ueniat dictum illud, quod de Saul ac Dauid ait sermo diuinus: quia Dauid erat proficiens et semper se ipso robustior, domus autem Saul decrescens cotidie. iustus est enim, ut propheta ait, iustus est dominus et rectum iudicium suum.
But enough has been said on this above, and perhaps more will be said, nor is there need to discuss it further where there is God’s continual judgment. For what God judges of us or of the Goths and Vandals the fact proves: they grow daily, we decrease; they advance, we are humbled; they flourish and we wither. So that truly there comes upon us that saying which the divine word says of Saul and David: “that David was advancing and always stronger than himself, but the house of Saul decreasing daily.” For just, as the prophet says, “just is the Lord, and his judgment right.”
2 Sam 3:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 119:137 (118:137 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The barbarians grow and Rome declines, like David and Saul; God’s judgment is just.
- 2 Sam 3:1; Ps 119:137 (Vulgate 118:137).
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.49 (CSEL 8:170–171; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-49). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-49
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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.
7.50CSEL 8:171
Iudicamur itaque etiam praesente iudicio a deo, et ideo excitata est in perniciem ac dedecus nostrum gens ignauissima, quae de loco ad locum pergens de urbe in urbem transiens uniuersa uastaret. ac primum a solo patrio effusa est in Germaniam proximam, nomine barbaram dicione Romanam: post cuius primum exitium arsit regio Belgarum deinde opes Aquitanorum luxuriantium et post haec corpus omnium Galliarum, sed paulatim id ipsum tamen, ut, dum pars clade caeditur, pars exemplo emendaretur.
So we are judged by God even by present judgment, and therefore a most cowardly nation was roused for our ruin and disgrace, to go from place to place and pass from city to city and lay everything waste. And first it poured out from its native soil into the nearest Germany, barbarian in name, Roman in rule; after its first destruction the region of the Belgae burned, then the wealth of the luxurious Aquitanians, and after these the body of all the Gauls; yet this gradually, so that, while one part was struck by disaster, another might be amended by the example.
Notes and citation
Summary: The Vandals ravaged Germany, Belgium, Aquitaine, and all Gaul step by step.
- The Vandal crossing of the Rhine (406) and march through Gaul. The chapter numeral “XII” is removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (chapter numeral leaked; OCR slip): XII. Iudicamnr itaque → Iudicamur itaque.
Cite (SBL): Salvian, Gub. 7.50 (CSEL 8:171; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-50). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/salvian-gubernatione/7-50
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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.