(Admonition 15.) In one way are the too silent to be admonished, and in another those given to much speaking. For it must be intimated to the too silent that, while they incautiously flee certain vices, they are secretly entangled in worse ones. For often, because they bridle their tongue too immoderately, they endure in the heart a graver garrulity; so that thoughts seethe in the mind all the more, the more the violent guard of indiscreet silence confines them. And these very often flow abroad the more widely, the more securely they esteem themselves to be, because they are not seen by reprovers of the tongue. Whence sometimes the mind is exalted into pride, and despises as weak those whom it hears speaking. And while it closes the mouth of the body, it does not recognize how much it opens itself to vices by growing proud.
For it presses down the tongue and lifts up the mind; and while it by no means considers its own wickedness, it accuses all men before itself the more freely, the more secretly. The too silent, therefore, are to be admonished to study earnestly to know not only what they ought to show themselves outwardly, but also what they ought to exhibit themselves inwardly, so that they may fear the hidden judgment of their thoughts more than the reproof of their neighbors from their words. For it is written: 'My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline your ear to my prudence, that you may guard your thoughts' (Proverbs 5:1-2). Nothing indeed is more fleeting in us than the heart, which departs from us as often as it slips away through depraved thoughts. For hence the Psalmist says: 'My heart has forsaken me' (Psalm 40:12).
Hence, returning to himself, he says: 'Your servant has found his heart, that he might pray to you' (2 Samuel 7:27). When therefore thought is restrained by guarding, the heart which was wont to flee is found. But for the most part the too silent, when they suffer certain unjust things, advance into sharper grief the more they do not speak of what they endure. For if the tongue calmly told the afflictions brought upon it, the grief would flow forth from the conscience. For closed wounds torment more. For when the corruption that seethes within is cast out, the pain is opened toward health. Those, therefore, who keep silent more than is expedient, ought to know, lest amid the troubles they endure, while they hold their tongue, they aggravate the force of their grief.
For they are to be admonished that, if they love their neighbors as themselves, they should by no means be silent about that for which they justly reprehend them. For by the medicine of the voice the welfare of both is served, since both the depraved action is restrained in him who inflicts it, and the fervor of grief is tempered by the opened wound in him who endures it. For those who look upon the evils of their neighbors, and yet in silence press down their tongue, as it were, at the sight of wounds withdraw the use of the medicine, and become authors of death, in that they were unwilling to cure the poison which they could have cured. The tongue, therefore, is to be discreetly bridled, not indissolubly bound. For it is written: 'The wise man will be silent until a time' (Ecclesiasticus
20:7), namely that when he considers it opportune, laying aside the censure of silence, by speaking what is fitting he may spend himself for the use of profit. And again it is written: 'A time to keep silence, and a time to speak' (Ecclesiastes 3:7). For the times of vicissitudes are to be discreetly weighed, lest either, when the tongue ought to be restrained, it flow forth uselessly through words; or, when it can profitably speak, it slothfully restrain itself. Well considering this, the Psalmist says: 'Set a guard, O Lord, to my mouth, and a door of enclosure about my lips' (Psalm 141:3). For he asks not a wall to be set to his mouth, but a door, which namely is opened and closed. Whence we too must learn cautiously,
so that the discreet mouth may both open the voice at a fitting time, and again taciturnity may close it at a fitting time. But on the contrary, those given to much speaking are to be admonished to attend vigilantly from how great a state of rectitude they fall away, while they slip down through manifold words. For the human mind, after the manner of water, when enclosed round about is collected to the heights, because it seeks again that whence it descended; and when let loose it perishes, because it uselessly scatters itself through the lowest things. For with as many superfluous words as it is dissipated from the censure of silence, with so many streams, as it were, it is drawn outside itself. Whence it is not sufficient to return inward to knowledge of itself, because, scattered through much speaking, it excludes itself from the secret of innermost consideration.
It lays its whole self open to the wounds of the lurking enemy, because it encloses itself with no fortification of guard. Whence it is written: 'As a city lying open and without the enclosure of walls, so is the man who cannot restrain his spirit in speaking' (Proverbs 25:28). For because it has not the wall of silence, the city of the mind lies open to the darts of the enemy; and when it casts itself outside itself through words, it shows itself open to the adversary. And he overcomes it with the less labor, the more it, which is being conquered, fights against itself through much speaking. But very often, because through certain steps the slothful mind is driven into the fall of ruin, while we neglect to beware of idle words, we come to hurtful ones;
so that first it pleases to speak of others' affairs, afterward the tongue bites with detractions the life of those of whom it speaks, and at the last it bursts forth even into open insults. Hence goads are sown, quarrels arise, torches of hatred are kindled, the peace of hearts is extinguished. Whence it is well said through Solomon: 'He who lets out water is the head of strife' (Proverbs 17:14). For to let out water is to relax the tongue into the flow of eloquence. On the contrary, in a good sense too it is again said: 'Deep water, the words from the mouth of a man' (ibid. 18:4). He therefore who lets out water is the head of strifes, because he who does not restrain his tongue dissipates concord. Whence, on the other hand, it is written: 'He who imposes silence on a fool assuages angers' (ibid. 26:10).
But that whoever serves much speaking can by no means keep the rectitude of righteousness, the Prophet testifies, who says: 'A man full of tongue shall not be directed upon the earth' (Psalm 140:11). Hence too Solomon again says: 'In much speaking sin shall not be lacking' (Proverbs 10:19). Hence Isaiah says: 'The cultivation of righteousness is silence' (Isaiah 32:17), indicating namely that the righteousness of the mind is laid waste when there is no sparing from immoderate speech. Hence James says: 'If anyone thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is vain' (James 1:26). Hence again he says: 'Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak' (ibid. 1:19). Hence again, defining the power of the tongue, he adds:
'A restless evil, full of deadly poison' (James 3:8). Hence through himself the Truth admonishes us, saying: 'Every idle word that men shall have spoken, they shall render an account of it in the day of judgment' (Matthew 12:36). For an idle word is that which lacks either the reason of just necessity or the intention of pious usefulness. If therefore an account is exacted concerning an idle word, let us weigh what penalty awaits much speaking, in which sin is committed even through hurtful words.