LatineEnglish
PREFACE.1
PRAEFATIO.
Vera est illa Aristotelis, quotidiano pene omnium sermone trita, sententia: Opposita iuxta se posita magis elucescunt. Namque descripta primum a Mose incredibili eorum hominum qui fuere ante diluvium improbitate et malitia, tum exposita singulari et eximia probitate ac sanctimonia Noë, factum est ut ex comparatione notabilior utraque atque illustrior exsisteret. Clarissimum profecto excellentis iustitiae et innocentiae Noë fuit argumentum, in tanta hominum sui temporis et corruptela animorum et studiorum morumque perversitate tantaque omnium scelerum colluvione atque immanitate, fuisse eum ab omni flagitio purissimum, sanctissimum ac Deo carissimum. Aptissime ad laudem Noë quadrat quod de Iob in exordio suorum Moralium scripsit B. Gregorius: Dicatur, inquit, ubi habitaverit Iob, ut hoc ad eius laudes proficiat, quod bonus inter malos fuit. Neque enim valde laudabile est bonum esse cum bonis, sed bonum esse cum malis. Sicut enim gravioris culpae est inter bonos bonum non esse, ita immensi est praeconii bonum etiam inter malos exstitisse. Hinc est quod beatus Iob sibimet attestatur dicens: Frater fui draconum, et socius struthionum. Hinc Petrus magnis laudibus extulit Lot, quia bonum inter reprobos invenit. Hinc Paulus discipulis dixit: In medio nationis pravae ac perversae, inter quos lucetis sicut luminaria in mundo. Hinc Pergami Ecclesiae dicitur: Scio ubi habitas, ubi sedes est Satanas, et tenes nomen meum ibi, et non negasti fidem meam. Hinc sancta Ecclesia Sponsi voce laudatur, cum ei in amoris Cantico dicitur: Sicut lilium inter spinas, sic amica mea inter filias. Sic Gregorius. Recte igitur Moses exposuit virtutem Noë, memorata prius hominum illius temporis malitia, ut eum inter iniquos bonum vixisse ostenderet, et ut, iuxta Sponsi praeconium, inter spinas lilium crevisse monstretur.
True is that saying of Aristotle, worn by the almost daily talk of all: “Opposites placed beside each other shine forth the more.” For, when there had first been described by Moses the incredible wickedness and malice of those men who lived before the Flood, and then set forth the singular and extraordinary probity and holiness of Noah, it came about that, by the comparison, each was rendered the more notable and the more illustrious. Indeed it was a most brilliant proof of Noah’s excellent justice and innocence that, amid so great a corruption of the souls of the men of his time, and so great a perversity of pursuits and morals, and so great a confluence and savagery of all crimes, he was of all crime most pure, most holy, and most dear to God. Most aptly to the praise of Noah fits what the blessed Gregory wrote of Job at the beginning of his Morals: “Let it be told,” he says, “where Job dwelt, that this may profit his praises — that he was good among the wicked. For it is not greatly praiseworthy to be good among the good, but to be good among the wicked. For as it is a graver fault not to be good among the good, so it is of immense renown to have been good even among the wicked. Hence it is that blessed Job bears witness to himself, saying: ‘I was the brother of dragons, and the companion of ostriches.’ Hence Peter extolled Lot with great praises, because he found him good among the reprobate. Hence Paul said to his disciples: ‘In the midst of a depraved and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.’ Hence it is said to the Church of Pergamum: ‘I know where thou dwellest, where the seat of Satan is, and thou holdest my name there, and hast not denied my faith.’ Hence the holy Church is praised by the voice of the Bridegroom, when it is said to her in the Canticle of love: ‘As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.’” Thus Gregory. Rightly, then, did Moses set forth the virtue of Noah, having first recalled the malice of the men of that time, in order to show that he lived good among the wicked, and that, according to the Bridegroom’s commendation, he might be displayed as a lily grown among thorns.2