Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 33

(Admonition 16.) In one way are the slothful to be admonished, and in another the precipitate. For the former are to be persuaded not to lose the good things to be done while they defer them; but the latter are to be admonished not to forfeit the merits of good things while, by incautiously anticipating their time, they run ahead of them. To the slothful, therefore, it must be intimated that often, while we are unwilling to do at the opportune moment the things we can do, a little later, when we are willing, we are not able. For the very sloth of the mind, while it is not kindled with fitting fervor, is stealthily slain, as the torpor gains strength, from the desire of good things utterly. Whence it is openly said through Solomon: 'Sloth sends in slumber' (Proverbs 19:15). For the slothful man, by rightly perceiving,

as it were keeps watch, although he grows torpid by doing nothing; but sloth is said to send in slumber, because gradually even the vigilance of rightly perceiving is lost, while there is a ceasing from the zeal of working well. Where it is rightly subjoined: 'And the dissolute soul shall hunger' (ibid.). For because it does not direct itself by straining to higher things, it spreads itself out, neglected, downward through desires; and while it is not constrained by the vigor of sublime pursuits, it is wounded by the hunger of the lowest cupidity; so that where it declines to bind itself through discipline, there, hungering, it scatters itself through the desires of pleasures. Hence again the same Solomon writes: 'The idle man is ever in desires' (Proverbs 21:26). Hence, with the Truth himself preaching (Matthew 12:

44-45), when one spirit goes out, the house is said to be clean, but with more spirits returning, while it stands empty it is occupied. Very often the slothful, while he neglects to do necessary things, sets before himself certain difficulties, and fears certain things incautiously; and while he as it were finds what he may as it were justly dread, he shows that in his idleness he is as it were not unjustly torpid. To him it is rightly said through Solomon: 'Because of the cold the slothful man would not plow; he shall beg therefore in summer, and it shall not be given him' (Proverbs 20:4). For because of the cold the slothful man does not plow, while, bound by the torpor of sloth, he neglects to do the good things which he ought. Because of the cold the slothful man does not plow, while he fears small evils in his way and omits to work the greatest. But it is well said: 'He shall beg in summer, and it shall not be given him.'

For he who now does not sweat in good works, when the sun of judgment shall appear more fervent, because in vain he asks entrance to the kingdom, receiving nothing he begs in summer. Well again is it said to him through the same Solomon: 'He who observes the wind does not sow; and he who considers the clouds never reaps' (Ecclesiastes 11:4). For what is expressed by the wind, if not the temptation of malignant spirits? And what is designated by the clouds which are moved by the wind, if not the adversities of depraved men? By the winds, namely, the clouds are driven, because by the breath of unclean spirits depraved men are stirred up. He therefore who observes the wind does not sow; and he who considers the clouds never reaps;

because whoever fears the temptation of malignant spirits, whoever fears the persecution of depraved men, neither now sows the grains of good work, nor then reaps the sheaves of holy recompense. But on the contrary, the precipitate, while they anticipate the time of good deeds, pervert the merit, and often fall into evils, while they by no means discern the good. They who by no means examine what they should do and when, but for the most part recognize that they ought not to have acted thus, only after the deeds are done. To them, under the guise of a hearer, it is rightly said in Solomon: 'Son, do nothing without counsel, and after the deed you will not repent' (Ecclesiasticus 32:24). And again: 'Let your eyelids go before your steps' (Proverbs 4:25).

For the eyelids go before the steps, when right counsels precede our working. For he who neglects to foresee by considering what he does, tends his steps while he closes his eyes; by going on he completes the journey, but by foreseeing he does not go before himself, and therefore he falls the sooner, because he does not attend, through the eyelid of counsel, where he ought to set the foot of his work.