Moralia in Job 1381

62. With how great a zeal they shall then be inflamed. What the devil, by the smoke of pestilential breath, works in human hearts. God cannot be known save by a tranquil heart. — For like a boiling pot is each soul then, sustaining the assaults of its thoughts like the foam of burning waves, which both the fire of zeal stirs up, and the temporal oppression itself keeps shut within after the manner of a pot. Whence John also, when he narrated the signs of this beast, added: 'So that he maketh fire to come down from heaven' (Apocalypse XIII, 13). For fire to come down from heaven is for the flames of holy zeal to emanate from the heavenly minds of the elect. [Or,

chapter 38.] But because this Leviathan is called elsewhere not only a serpent but also a basilisk, in that he rules over the unclean spirits or the reprobate men, as Isaiah says: 'Out of the root of the serpent shall come forth a basilisk' (Isaiah XIV, 29), it must be most diligently considered by us in what manner the basilisk destroys, so that, from the working of the basilisk, his malice may be more openly made known to us. For the basilisk destroys not by a bite, but consumes by a blast. Often too it affects the air with its blast, and whatever it has touched, even placed far off, it corrupts by the mere breathing of its nostrils. 63.

Hence, therefore, hence we are compelled to weigh, by this—that smoke is said to proceed from his nostrils—what even before he appears openly he daily works in human hearts by the smoke of his pestilential exhalation. For because, as we have also said above, the keenness of the eyes is weakened by smoke, not undeservedly is smoke said to proceed from his nostrils, by whose noxious inspirations a depraved thought is born in human hearts, through which the keenness of the mind is blunted, lest the inner light be seen. For as it were by the blast of his nostrils he emits a mist, because in the hearts of the reprobate, by the aspirations of his snares, out of love of the temporal life he heaps up a heat of manifold thoughts.

And as it were he multiplies globes of smoke, because he heaps up the emptiest cares of the present life in the mind of earthly men. This smoke going forth from his nostrils sometimes for a time touches even the eyes of the elect. For this inward smoke the Prophet suffered when he said: 'My eye is troubled because of wrath' (Psalm VI, 8). By its inundation he was pressed, saying: 'My heart is troubled within me, and the light of my eyes is not with me' (Psalm XXXVII, 11). For this smoke blunts the keenness of the heart, because by the cloud of its darkness it disturbs the serenity of inner quiet. But God cannot be known save by a tranquil heart. Whence by the same prophet it is again said: 'Be still, and see that I am God' (Psalm

XLV, 11 [i.e. Ps. XLVI, 10]). But the mind cannot be at leisure which is pressed by the inundations of this smoke, because in it the volumes of earthly thoughts are heaped together out of love of the present life. The light therefore of inner quiet is lost by this smoke, because while the eye of the heart is confounded by the itch of cares, it is darkened. 64. This smoke troubles the minds of the elect in one way, blinds the eyes of the reprobate in another. — But this smoke troubles the souls of the elect in one way, blinds the eyes of the reprobate in another. For from the eyes of the good it is scattered by the blast of spiritual desires, lest, the wretched thought prevailing, it grow dense. But in the minds of the reprobate, the more freely it gathers itself through foul thoughts, so much the more does it utterly take away from them the light of truth.

This smoke stirs into the hearts of the reprobate as many unlawful desires as it were the number of globes by which it swells before them. [Old text, chapter 39.] 65. In the carnal soul, some globes of concupiscence's smoke vanish above, others rise below. Vices succeed to vices. — And certainly we know that smoke swells in globes, because while some vanish above, others rise below; so also in carnal thought, even though some desires of depravity pass away, others succeed. But often the wretched mind sees what has now passed, yet sees not where it is still held. It rejoices over certain vices in that it is now not subject to them, and neglects to beware and to lament, because in their place others have succeeded, to which perhaps it more wickedly succumbs;

and so it comes to pass that, while some vices pass away and others always succeed, the heart of the reprobate is held without intermission by this serpent. Whence well is it said by the prophet Joel: 'That which the palmer-worm hath left the locust hath eaten, and that which the locust hath left the cankerworm hath eaten, and that which the cankerworm hath left the mildew hath consumed. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep' (Joel I, 4, 5). For what is designated by the palmer-worm, which creeps upon the earth with its whole body, but lust? which so pollutes the heart it holds, that it cannot rise into love of a higher cleanness. What is expressed by the locust, which flies away by leaps, but empty glory, which exalts itself by vain presumptions? What is figured by the cankerworm, whose almost whole body is gathered into the belly, but the gluttony of eating?

What by the mildew, which burns while it touches, but anger is signified? That which the palmer-worm has left, therefore, the locust eats, because often when the vice of lust has withdrawn from the mind, empty glory succeeds. For because it is now not laid low by the love of the heart, it as it were glories that it is holy through chastity. And that which the locust has left, the cankerworm eats, because often when empty glory, which came as it were from holiness, is resisted, immoderate indulgence is given either to the belly or to any desires of ambition. For the mind ignorant of God is drawn the more fiercely to any ambition, the more it is restrained by no love even of human praise. That which the cankerworm has left, the mildew consumes, because often while the gluttony of the belly is restrained by abstinence, the impatience of anger domineers the more sharply;

which after the manner of mildew consumes as it were by burning up the harvest, because the flame of impatience wastes the fruit of virtues. When therefore vices succeed to vices, another pestilence devours the field of the mind while it leaves another. [Old text, chapter 40.] 66. They are drunkards who, disturbed by the love of this world, feel not the evils they suffer. — But well is it subjoined there: 'Awake, ye drunkards, and weep' (Ibid.). For they are called drunkards who, confounded by the love of this world, feel not the evils they suffer. What then is it to say: 'Awake, ye drunkards, and weep' (Joel I, 5), but 'shake off the sleep of your insensibility, and, in the devastation of the heart by so many pests of vices succeeding one another, meet them with watchful lamentations'?

By so many globes, therefore, does the smoke rise from the nostrils of Leviathan, as by the many pests with which it consumes the crop of the reprobate heart by a hidden breathing. Whose force of smoke the Lord still anxiously expresses, when He at once subjoins: 'As of a kindled and boiling pot' (Job XLI, 20). For the pot is kindled when the human mind is instigated by the persuasions of the malignant enemy. But the pot boils when now even through consent it is inflamed in the desires of the depraved persuasion. And it casts forth as many waves as it were by boiling, as it extends its wickednesses even to outward works. For this fervour of carnal conscience, that is, of the pot, coming from the smoke of Leviathan, the prophet had beheld, when he said: 'I see a boiling pot, and the face thereof from the face of the North' (Jeremiah I, 13).

For from the face of the North the pot of the human heart is kindled, while by the instigation of the adversary spirit it is inflamed with unlawful desires. For he who said: 'I will sit in the mount of the testament, in the sides of the North' (Isaiah XIV, 13), kindles the mind which he has once taken with the malignant blasts of his persuasion, as it were with fires set beneath, so that, not content with present things, it may unceasingly seethe through desires, to covet other things that are to be despised, and to despise other things once obtained:

so that now it gapes after its own gains, now even with its own loss opposes the advantages of others; now satisfies the enticements of the flesh, now, as though snatched up to a certain summit by pride of thought, its carnal care set aside, lifts its whole self up in the swelling of elation. Since therefore the heart, which is inflamed by the instigations of this Leviathan, is led away through divers desires, rightly is his smoke declared to be like a kindled and boiling pot, because his conscience, blown upon by his temptations, rises up through as many fervours as it swells with thoughts within itself. Which Truth still more openly follows out in other words, while it is subjoined: