(A collection of various posts on the subject of Augustine).

According to Augustine, body is ruled by the soul: wherefore it is entirely due to his soul that a man make good use of his body: "For instance, if my coachman, through obedience to my orders, guides well the horses which he is driving; this is all due to me." Thus ‘virtue is not in the body but in the soul’, and as the soul perfects the body, so virtue perfects the soul; and virtue “is nothing else than perfect love of God.”

“...temperance is love keeping itself entire and incorrupt for God;fortitude is love bearing everything readily for the sake of God; justice is love serving God only, and therefore ruling well all else, as subject to man;...”


Of Justice and Prudence



44. What of justice that pertains to God? As the Lord says, "You cannot serve two masters," Matthew 6:24 and the apostle denounces those who serve the creature rather than the Creator, Romans 1:25 was it not said before in the Old Testament, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve?" Deuteronomy 6:13 I need say no more on this, for these books are full of such passages. The lover, then, whom we are describing, will get from justice this rule of life, that he must with perfect readiness serve the God whom he loves, the highest good, the highest wisdom, the highest peace; and as regards all other things, must either rule them as subject to himself, or treat them with a view to their subjection. This rule of life, is, as we have shown, confirmed by the authority of both Testaments.

45. With equal brevity we must treat of prudence, to which it belongs to discern between what is to be desired and what to be shunned. Without this, nothing can be done of what we have already spoken of. It is the part of prudence to keep watch with most anxious vigilance, lest any evil influence should stealthily creep in upon us.



Thus the Lord often exclaims, "Watch;" Matthew 24:42 and He says, "Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you." John 12:35 And then it is said, "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" 1 Corinthians 5:6 And no passage can be quoted from the Old Testament more expressly condemning this mental somnolence, which makes us insensible to destruction advancing on us step by step, than those words of the prophet, "He who despises small things shall fall by degrees." Sirach 19:1 On this topic I might discourse at length did our haste allow of it. And did our present task demand it, we might perhaps prove the depth of these mysteries, by making a mock of which profane men in their perfect ignorance fall, not certainly by degrees, but with a headlong overthrow.




Fortitude Comes from the Love of God
40. On fortitude we must be brief. The love, then, of which we speak, which ought with all sanctity to burn in desire for God, is called temperance, in not seeking for earthly things, and fortitude in bearing the loss of them. But among all things which are possessed in this life, the body is, by God's most righteous laws, for the sin of old, man's heaviest bond, which is well known as a fact but most incomprehensible in its mystery. Lest this bond should be shaken and disturbed, the soul is shaken with the fear of toil and pain; lest it should be lost and destroyed, the soul is shaken with the fear of death. For the soul loves it from the force of habit, not knowing that by using it well and wisely its resurrection and reformation will, by the divine help and decree, be without any trouble made subject to its authority. But when the soul turns to God wholly in this love, it knows these things, and so will not only disregard death, but will even desire it.
41. Then there is the great struggle with pain. But there is nothing, though of iron hardness, which the fire of love cannot subdue. And when the mind is carried up to God in this love, it will soar above all torture free and glorious, with wings beauteous and unhurt, on which chaste love rises to the embrace of God. Otherwise God must allow the lovers of gold, the lovers of praise, the lovers of women, to have more fortitude than the lovers of Himself, though love in those cases is rather to be called passion or lust. And yet even here we may see with what force the mind presses on with unflagging energy, in spite of all alarms, towards that it loves; and we learn that we should bear all things rather than forsake God, since those men bear so much in order to forsake Him.



On temperance:
"Let us consider temperance, which promises us a kind of integrity and incorruption in the love by which we are united to God. The office of temperance is in restraining and quieting the passions which make us pant for those things which turn us away from the laws of God and from the enjoyment of His goodness, that is, in a word, from the happy life. For there is the abode of truth; and in enjoying its contemplation, and in cleaving closely to it, we are assuredly happy; but departing from this, men become entangled in great errors and sorrows. For, as the apostle says, "The root of all evils is covetousness; which some having followed, have made shipwreck of the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Timothy 6:10 And this sin of the soul is quite plainly, to those rightly understanding, set forth in the Old Testament in the transgression of Adam in Paradise. Thus, as the apostle says, "In Adam we all die, and in Christ we shall all rise again." 1 Corinthians 15:22 Oh, the depth of these mysteries! But I refrain; for I am now engaged not in teaching you the truth, but in making you unlearn your errors, if I can, that is, if God aid my purpose regarding you.
36. Paul then says that covetousness is the root of all evils; and by covetousness the old law also intimates that the first man fell.



Paul tells us to put off the old man and put on the new. Colossians 3:9-10 By the old man he means Adam who sinned, and by the new man him whom the Son of God took to Himself in consecration for our redemption. For he says in another place, "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven, heavenly. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of the heavenly," 1 Corinthians 15:47-49 —that is, put off the old man, and put on the new. The whole duty of temperance, then, is to put off the old man, and to be renewed in God,—that is, to scorn all bodily delights, and the popular applause, and to turn the whole love to things divine and unseen. Hence that following passage which is so admirable:



"Though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day."



St. Augustine Of the Morals of the Catholic Church

(The four passions are used for the four suits of Boiardo's tarot poem/deck).

Recta itaque voluntas est bonus amor et voluntas peruersa malus amor. Amor ergo inhians habere quod amatur, cupiditas est, id autem habens eoque fruens laetitia; fugiens quod ei adversatur, timor est, idque si acciderit sentiens tristitia est. Proinde mala sunt ista, si malus amor est; bona, si bonus.

The right will is, therefore, well-directed love, and the wrong will is ill-directed love. Love, then, yearning to have what is loved, is desire; and having and enjoying it, is joy; fleeing what is opposed to it, it is fear; and feeling what is opposed to it, when it has befallen it, it is sadness. Now these motions are evil if the love is evil; good if the love is good.(City of God* 14.7).

In Petrarch's secretum, in which Petrarch portrays a dialogue between himself and Augustine, Petrarch uses the same biblical and Virgilian quotes as Augustine uses in the City of God:

Fiery energy
is in these seeds, their source is heavenly;
but they are dulled by harmful bodies, blunted
by their own earthly limbs, their mortal members.
Because of these, they fear and long, and sorrow
And joy, they do not see the light of heaven;
Locked in darkness and a blind prison.*
Or as William Draper translates it:

S. Augustine. Do you know what stands in the way of your purpose of heart ?

Petrarch. That is what I want to know; what for so long I have earnestly desired to under- stand.

S. Augustine. Then listen. It was from Heaven your soul came forth: never will I assert a lower origin than that. But in its contact with the flesh, wherein it is imprisoned, it has lost much of its first splendor. Have no doubt of this in your mind. And not only is it so, but by reason of the length of time it has in a manner fallen asleep; and, if one may so express it, forgotten its own beginning and its heavenly Creator.

And these passions that are born in the soul through its connection with the body, and that forgetfulness of its nobler nature, seem to me to have been touched by Virgil with pen almost inspired when he writes--

"The soul of men still shine with heavenly fire,
That tells from whence they come, save that the flesh
And limbs of earth breed dullness, hence spring fears,
Desire, and grief and pleasures of the world,
And so, in darkness prisoned, the no more
Look upward to heaven's face."

Do you not in the poet's words discern that monster with four heads so deadly to the nature of man ?

Petrarch. I discern very clearly the fourfold passion of our nature, which, first of all, we divide in two as it has respect to past and future, and then subdivide again in respect of good and evil so, by these four winds distraught, the rest and quietness of man's soul is perished and gone.

PETRARCH'S SECRET Trans. William H. Draper
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~amtower/SECRET.HTM

Augustine: Scis quid cogitationi tue officiat?

Francesco: Hoc est quod peto, hoc est quod tantopere scire desidero.

Augustine: Audi ergo. Animam quidem tuam, sicut celitus bene institutam esse non negaverim, sic ex contagio corporis huius, ubi circumsepta est, multum a primeva nobilitate sua degenerasse ne dubites; nec degenerasse duntaxat, sed longo iam tractu temporis obtorpuisse, factam velut proprie originis ac superni Conditoris immemorem. Nempe passiones ex corporea commistione subortas oblivionemque nature melioris, divinitus videtur attigisse Virgilius, ubi ait:

igneus est illis visor et celestis origo seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant terrenique hebetant artus, moribundaque membra. Hinc metuunt cupiuntque dolent gaudentque, neque auras respiciunt, clause tenebris et carcere ceco.

Discernis ne in verbis poeticis quadriceps illud monstrum nature hominum tam adversum?

Francesco: Discerno clarissime quadripartitam animi passionem, que primum quidem, ex presentis futurique temporis respectu, in duas scinditur partes; rursus quelibet in duas alias, ex boni malique opinione, subdistinguitur; ita quattuor velut flatibus aversis humanarum mentium tranquillitas perit.

DE SECRETO CONFLICTU CURARUM MEARUM by F. Petrarch I, 64
http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/read_secretum.html?s=1

The association of the traitor with the number 12 is (IMO) with the betrayal through Judas:

In the gospels Judas, the traitor is always the "12th" disciple, in every list.

St. Ireanius Against Heresies II.20:
For that Judas the traitor is the twelfth in order, is agreed upon by all, there being twelve apostles mentioned by name in the Gospel.

In Christendom Judas is archtypal traitor, and the exemplar under which all traitors were associated:

In France, to degrade a Knight two Scaffolds were erected, the one for the Judges the other for the condemn'd Knight, and the Kings Heralds, and Pursuivants of Arms. On this Scaffold stood the Knight, arm'd at all Points, one of the Heralds with a loud Voice read the Crime, and Sentence pronounc'd upon it, and that done, twelve Priests, plac'd there for that purpose, sung the Vespers for the Dead, then the Heralds strip'd the Knight of his Armour, beginning with his Helmet, holding up the Piece so taken on, and crying, This is the Helmet, &c. of such a Knight, convicted and condemn'd for such a Crime. After which a Pursuivant took the Shield and revers'd it, saying, "this is the Shield of this Traitor, &c. and then a Herald broke it in Pieces with a Hammer. All this being perform'd, the Priests encompassing the Criminal laid their Hands on his Head, singing Psalm 109, in which are contain'd the Curses' and Execrations againft the Traitor Judas, and there apply'd to the Offender."

"A New Dictionary of Heraldry" by James Coats, 1747, p.288.


"The imprecations, contained in the thirty verses of this psalm, are opposed to the thirty pieces of silver for which Judas betrayed our Lord; and are to be taken as prophetic denunciations of the evils that should befall the traitor and his accomplices the Jews; and not properly as curses."

http://www.newadvent.org/bible/psa108.htm#verse1

Augustine's exposition on Psalm 109:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801109.htm

In Christian terms: those that die in Christ are 'without end':

"Therefore does St. Paul say of himself, If I be offered upon the sacrifice, and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all", that is, it is a just occasion of our common joy, on your part, and on mine too; and therefore does St. Augustine say in his behalf, whatsoever can be threatened him, Si potest vivere, tolerabile eat, Whatsoever does not take away life, may be endured; for, if it could not be endured, it would take away life ; and, Si non potest vivere, says he, If it do take away life, what shall he feel, when he is dead ? He adds the reason of all, Opus cum fine, merces sine fine; Death hath an end, but their reward that die for Christ, and their peace, that die in Christ, hath no end. Therefore was not St. Paul afraid of melancholy apprehensions, by drawing his death into contemplation, and into discourse; he was- not afraid to think, nor to talk of his death ; but then St. Paul had another end in doing so here, (which is our last consideration) to make the deeper impression in them, to whom he preached then, by telling them, that he knew they should see his face no more."

The works of John Donne: with a memoir of his life by John Donne

In Augustine's sermon on the Apostle Paul opposites become their opposites through conversion, as Saul became Paul. Through conversion, Christ lives in one, triumphing over death. From death, through conversion, we are led to its opposite, eternal life.

The dressing of the skeleton in cardinals clothing here may represent one who has died in Christ, who thus 'hath no end'?

Question:
But why is Christ's history written by four Penmen?

Answer:
Ancient writers (who much please themselves with their fancies, about the mysteries of numbers) have excogitated divers Reasons thereof:
...

Augustine saith; "These four Evangelists, well known in the whole World, because there are four parts of the Earth, throughout all of which they have declared, by the mystery of their number, that the Church of Christ shall be enlarged, are said to have written in this Order. First by Matthew. Then Mark. Thirdly Luke. Lastly John.

Thus the number of the four Evangelists fetched from the four Cardinal winds; from the four Regions or Corners of the Earth; from the four Rivers' of Paradise; and from the four Corners and four Rings of the Ark of the Covenant.

But most of them accommodate that the four living creature wbich four had the face of a man, and the face of a Lyon on the right side': and the face of an Oxe on the left side: they four also had the face of an Eagle: to the number of the four Evangelists, though severally fitting them and interpreting them.

SteveM wrote: Ancient writers (who much please themselves with their fancies, about the mysteries of numbers) have excogitated divers Reasons thereof:
...

Petrarch did use number symbolism, and was very much influenced by Augustine's use of such. The number 6 was of particular significance in Petrarch's symbolic system - there being 6 triumphs, and it being the number of his beloved Laura - to which the sum of 6 (21) is also related:

“A significant part of Petrarch’s number symbolism appear to have derived from St. Augustine. In the De Civitate Dei [The City of God - in 22 books] ...the Saint wrote a chapter on the perfection of the figure 6, and this, as we know, was destined to become Laura’s symbolic number...”*

According to the symbolic chronology Petrarch developed for Laura he met her on the 6 April 1327 at the first canonical hour and she died at the first canonical hour on 6 April exactly 21 years later.

SteveM
*http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DmG1 ... sm&f=false

Judgment begins with the house of God

The arrow of Judgment/divine Caritas - begins at the House of God, and ends with the final Judgement - between these two (the birth of death, and the death of death) is the Bow of Time (represented by star, moon, sun).

1 Peter 4:

12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory [1] and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

The oldest recorded name for this card is Sagitta; in keeping with the theme of Judgment I suggest it is in reference to the 'burning arrows' or 'Arrows for those that will burn' as Augustine calls them:

quote:
"Augustine’s discourse on Ps.7: “This bow, then, I would readily assume to be the Holy Scriptures, in which the strength of the NT, like a bowstring, has bent and overcome the rigidity of the Old. This bow has shot forth the apostles like arrows (Hinc tamquam sagittaie emittuntur apostoli’)’. Augustine notes that the ‘burning arrows per se are not found in the Greek text of the psalm but rather ‘arrows for those who will burn’ (‘Sed siue ipsae sagittae ardeant, siue ardere faciant’), and he goes on to connect these burning arrows with the Last Judgment... as does Ps. 59:6....

Augustine further discusses the arrow in relation to the House of God:
“In his discourse on Ps. 59 Augustine cites 1 Peter. 4: 17-18: ‘Tempus est ut iudicium incipiat domo Dei’, and goes on to say that he farther the string of the bow is drawn back the more impetus is given to the arrow; thus the longer God withholds his Judgement, the more severe his punishment. For the faithful, however, the longer the time allowed for repentance the more deserving they will be.”

SteveM
Quotes from Dives and pauper by Priscilla Heath Barnum p.292/3[/quote]

Augustine considered the question of happiness as a matter of two different loves, he used the words "Cupiditas" and "Caritas" to distinguish between these two loves.

"Cupiditas is human love looking for happiness in the field of mortal and transitory things. As these things are likely to disappear, they leave us vulnerable to loss and our love for them inevitably tinged with fear.

"Of course, that love is imperfect, morally" the root of all evil, "but it is understood, all the same, as nothing less than love: love loving the wrong thing and, therefore, love caught in the web of misfortune it has spun for itself. " (Neuhas)

But it is love nonetheless and love is the essence our soul shares with the divine. Being the essence of God, it can not be satisfied with the mortal and transitory, the insatiable need of its eternal appetite can only be met by the infinite. The consequence is the desire of transitional things alone brings sorrow and pain.

It is not the love of Cupiditas which is in error, but its object. It is a love for creation that is blind to the creator. Creation placed on a pedestal like an idol, love for the shell of the thing and not its essence.

Caritas is divine love, of man for the divine, of the divine for man. In Augustine the final judgement, the resurrection, is the ultimate expression of divine caritas; Caritas is the motivating force of providence acting through history to lead man from his fall (XV) to his restoration in the world to come (XXI).

"The love represented by the term caritas seeks fulfillment where it can be found. Its object is not subject to loss and love, therefore, is not affected by fear. This is clearly the man with ability to think, reason, knowledge is the way in which this love reaches its object."(Neuhas)

The challenge is not to choose between two, but to unite by knowledge and reason, to restore creation with its creator, to restore ourselves in paradise. Love, human and divine, in a sacred marriage, hierogamy.
The object of our poet lover (the juggler_I) is beauty (that is the good _XXI); to become a worthy groom (VII) of beauty (XXI) he must transform himself from unregenerate man (that is, Old Adam) to a new Adam (VII), from a fallen man of vice to triumphal man of virtue; transformation is affected via love; from love of the wrong things to the right things; from being a citizen (I) of the City of Man (XV) to a Citizen (VII) of the City of God (XXI - new Jerusalem, the bride).

According to Augustine, body is ruled by the soul: wherefore it is entirely due to his soul that a man make good use of his body: "For instance, if my coachman, through obedience to my orders, guides well the horses which he is driving; this is all due to me." Thus 'virtue is not in the body but in the soul', and as the soul perfects the body, so virtue perfects the soul; and virtue "is nothing else than perfect love of God."

Wonderful, Steve, thanks for posting.

SteveM wrote:

SteveM wrote: Ancient writers (who much please themselves with their fancies, about the mysteries of numbers) have excogitated divers Reasons thereof:
...

Petrarch did use number symbolism, and was very much influenced by Augustine's use of such. The number 6 was of particular significance in Petrarch's symbolic system - there being 6 triumphs, and it being the number of his beloved Laura - to which the sum of 6 (21) is also related:

“A significant part of Petrarch’s number symbolism appear to have derived from St. Augustine. In the De Civitate Dei [The City of God - in 22 books] ...the Saint wrote a chapter on the perfection of the figure 6, and this, as we know, was destined to become Laura’s symbolic number...”*

According to the symbolic chronology Petrarch developed for Laura he met her on the 6 April 1327 at the first canonical hour and she died at the first canonical hour on 6 April exactly 21 years later.

SteveM
*http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DmG1 ... sm&f=false

Interesting book, Steve. It's pretty new, relative to Petrarch studies, but it seems to be being well-received in the field (e.g. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1 ... 6194312583 )

Too bad we can't get a better look at it - in particular, his proofs that Petrarch himself gave Laura the symbolic number 6, or 21, rather than Jones inferring it through Petrarch's early attachment to Augustine. (Why do you always have to find such expensive books? (Hankins is the worst))

For me to be satisfied that it is a fruitful avenue for trump sequence speculation, I'd have to see Petrarch himself making a few of those associations, so that I can at least be sure that some 15th century people might have thought the same way. The best way forward might be to compare the proofs Jones offers with the 15th century commentaries on the Trionfi and Canzoniere.

The "Conclusion" part is particularly interesting, with the apotheosis of Laura analysis (pp. 286-287 for instance).