Let each therefore skilfully measure himself, lest he dare to assume the place of governance while a vice still damnably reigns in himself, lest he whom his own crime depraves should desire to become an intercessor for the faults of others. For hence it is said by the supernal voice to Moses: Speak to Aaron: Whosoever of thy seed throughout their families hath a blemish, he shall not offer bread to the Lord his God, nor shall he approach to His ministry (Lev. 21:17). Where it is at once subjoined: If he be blind, if lame, if he have a little, or a great, or a crooked nose, if his foot be broken, or his hand, if he be crookbacked, or blear-eyed, or have a white speck in his eye, or a continual scab, or a tetter in his body, or a rupture (ibid. 18).
For blind is he who is ignorant of the light of supernal contemplation; who, pressed by the darkness of the present life, while he by no means beholds the coming light by loving it, knows not whither he should extend the step of his work. For hence it is said in Anna's prophecy: He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness (1 Kings 2:9). But lame is he who indeed sees whither he ought to go, but through infirmity of mind cannot perfectly hold the way of life which he sees; because, while a fluid habit is not raised up to the state of virtue, the steps of his work do not effectually follow thither whither his desire leans. For hence Paul says:
Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight steps with your feet, that no one, halting, may go astray, but rather be healed (Heb. 12:12, 13). But he with a little nose is he who is not fit to keep the measure of discretion. For by the nose we discern odours and stenches. Rightly therefore by the nose is expressed discretion, through which we choose the virtues and reprove faults. Whence also in praise of the Bride it is said: Thy nose is as the tower which is in Lebanon (Cant. 7:4), because holy Church, doubtless, perceives through discretion what temptations arise from each several cause, and detects from afar the coming wars of the vices.
But there are some who, while they are unwilling to be esteemed dull, often, exercising themselves in certain inquiries more than is necessary, are deceived by excessive subtlety. Whence here too it is added: Or a great and crooked nose. For a great and crooked nose is the immoderate subtlety of discretion, which, when it has grown more than is fitting, confounds by itself the rectitude of its own action. But he with a broken foot or hand is he who is utterly unable to walk the way of God, and, cut off from good acts, is wholly void of them, so far that he does not even hold these, as the lame man does, at least with infirmity, but exists altogether estranged from them.
Crookbacked, however, is he whom the weight of earthly solicitude presses down, so that he never looks up to the things above, but attends only to those which are trodden underfoot in the lowest places. Who, even if at any time he hears something of the good of the heavenly homeland, weighed down by the burden of a perverse habit toward this, does not lift up the face of his heart, because he cannot raise the posture of his thought, which the use of earthly solicitude holds bent. Of the likeness of these the Psalmist says: I am bowed down and humbled exceedingly (Ps. 38:8, according to the LXX). Whose fault also the Truth, reproving by Himself, says:
But the seed which fell among thorns, these are they who have heard the word, and going forth are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and bring forth no fruit (Luke 8:14). But blear-eyed is he whose talent indeed shines toward the knowledge of truth, yet carnal works obscure this. For in blear eyes the pupils are sound, but the eyelids, weakened by the flowing humour, grow thick; and because these are frequently worn by the discharge, even the keenness of the pupil is impaired. And there are some whose sense the operation of a carnal life wounds, who could see right things subtly through their talent, but who are darkened by the practice of depraved acts. Blear-eyed therefore is he whose sense nature has sharpened;
but the depravity of his conversation confounds it. To whom it is well said by the angel: Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see (Apoc. 3:18). For we anoint our eyes with eyesalve that we may see, when we aid the keenness of our understanding with the medicine of good operation unto knowing the brightness of the true light. But he has a white speck in his eye who is not suffered to see the light of truth, because he is blinded by the arrogance of wisdom or of righteousness. For the black pupil of the eye sees, while, bearing a white speck, it sees nothing; because, namely, if the sense of human thought understands itself to be foolish and a sinner, it apprehends the knowledge of inward brightness. But if it attributes to itself the whiteness of righteousness or of wisdom, it excludes itself from the light of supernal knowledge;
and by so much does it in no way penetrate the brightness of the true light, by how much it exalts itself in its own eyes through arrogance; as is said of certain ones: For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools (Rom. 1:22). But he has a continual scab to whom the wantonness of the flesh incessantly holds dominion. For in a scab the heat of the inward parts is drawn to the skin, by which luxury is rightly designated, because if the temptation of the heart leaps forth even to operation, doubtless the inward heat breaks out even to the scab of the skin; and now it wounds the body outwardly, because while pleasure is not repressed in thought, it also holds dominion in action. For Paul was, as it were, striving to wipe away the itching of the skin, when he said: Let no temptation take hold of you but such as is human (1 Cor. 10:13);
as if he plainly said: It is indeed human to suffer temptation in the heart, but it is devilish to be overcome in the contest of temptation and in operation. He also has a tetter in his body, whoever is laid waste by avarice in his mind: which, if it be not checked in small things, is doubtless dilated without measure. For the tetter occupies the body without pain, and, growing without any trouble to the one occupied, disfigures the comeliness of the members; because avarice also, while it as it were delights the mind of the one seized, ulcerates it; while it sets before the thought things to be acquired, it kindles unto enmities, and makes no pain in the wound, because to the seething mind it promises abundance out of guilt.
But the comeliness of the members is lost, because through this the beauty of the other virtues also is depraved; and it, as it were, exasperates the whole body, because through it the mind is supplanted by all the vices, as Paul attests, who says: Covetousness is the root of all evils (1 Tim. 6:10). But he is ruptured who does not exercise turpitude in deed, but yet is burdened in mind by continual thought of it without restraint; who is by no means indeed hurried even to a nefarious deed, but whose mind is delighted by the pleasure of luxury without any goad of resistance. For it is a fault of rupture when the humour of the inward parts glides down to the genitals, which then swell with the annoyance of disgrace.
Ruptured therefore is he who, flowing down with all his thoughts to wantonness, carries the weight of turpitude in his heart; and although he does not exercise depraved things in deed, yet he is not plucked away from them in mind. Nor can he in the open rise up to the use of good work, because a base weight burdens him in hidden places. Whoever therefore is subjected to any of these vices is forbidden to offer bread to the Lord, lest indeed he who is still devastated by his own faults be unable to wash away those of others. Since therefore we have shown by what qualities the worthy man may come to the pastoral mastery, and how the unworthy should dread it, let us now demonstrate how he who has worthily attained to it ought to live therein.