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1 Postulas ut ex ebdomadibus nostris eius questionis obscuritatem que continet modum quo substantie in eo quod sint bone sint cum non sint substantialia bona digeram et paulo euidentius monstrem. Idque eo dicis esse faciendum quod non sit omnibus notum iter huiusmodi scriptionum. Tuus uero testis ipse sum quam hec uiuaciter fueris ante complexus. Ebdomadas uero ego michi ipse commentor, potius que ad memoriam meam speculata conseruo quam {10} cuiquam participo quorum lasciuia ac petulancia nichil a ioco risuque patitur esse coniunctum. Pro hinc tu ne sis obscuritatibus breuitatis aduersus que cum sint archani fida custodia tum id habent commodi quod cum hiis solis qui digni sunt colloquntur. Vt igitur in mathematica fieri solet ceterisque etiam disciplinis preposui terminos regulasque quibus cuncta que sequntur efficiam. Communis animi conceptio est enuntiatio quam quisque probat auditam. {20} Harum duplex est modus. Nam una ita communis est ut omnium sit hominum ueluti si hanc proponas: si duobus equalibus equalia auferas que relinquntur equalia esse, nullus id intelligens neget. Alia uero est doctorum tantum, que tamen ex talibus communis animi conceptionibus uenit ut est: que incorporalia sunt in loco non esse; et cetera que non uulgus set docti comprobant. EXPOSITIO Precurre prior in domum tuam, et illic aduocare, et illic lude et age conceptiones tuas, Ecclesiastici XXXII. Habet hoc priuilegium sapiencie studium quod operi suo prosequendo magis ipsa sibi sufficiat. In exterioribus enim operibus Indiget homo plurimorum auxilio, set in contemplatione sapiencie tanto aliquis efficacius operatur quanto magis solitarius secum commoratur. Et ideo 2 3 CHAPTER 1 You request of me that I set out in order from my hebdomads the obscure question which deals with the way in which substances are good insofar as they are,1 although they are not substantial goods, and that I show this in a fairly clear way. You also say that this ought to be done so that the method of writings of this sort not be familiar to all.2 I myself am your witness to how eagerly you have already wrestled with these matters. Still, I myself have the hebdomads in my mind and prefer to keep those speculations in my memory rather than {10} share them with anyone whose wantonness and petulance tolerate nothing that has not been linked to joke and laughter ! In accord with this, may you not be adverse to the obscurities of brevity, since those obscurities are the faithful defense of secret teaching, and they have the advantage that they speak only to those who are worthy. Therefore, as customarily happens in mathematics and in other disciplines as well, I have set out first the terms and rules by which I shall develop all that follows : A common conception of the mind is a statement that everyone approves on hearing. {20} There are two sorts of these. One sort is common in that it belongs to all humans, so that should you propose this, ‘If from two equals you subtract equals, what remain are equals,’ no one understanding this would deny it. The other sort, however, belongs only to the learned, even though it comes from such conceptions of our common mind, as in this case: ‘Things that are incorporeal are not in a place,’ and others, which the learned but not the common crowd approve. EXPOSITION First run into your own house, and there call them in, and there play and work out your conceptions, Ecclesiasticus XXXII . Striving for Wisdom possesses this peculiar advantage: In doing her work she is more than sufficient to herself. For in exterior works a human being needs much help, but in the contemplation of Wisdom the more one remains solitary and alone with oneself, the more efficacious- sapiens in uerbis propositis hominem ad se ipsum reuocat {10} dicens: Precurre prior in domum tuam, id est ad mentem tuam ab exterioribus sollicite redeas antequam ab alio occupetur per cuius sollicitudinem distrahatur ; unde dicitur Sap. VIII: “Intrans in domum meam conquiescam cum illa”, scilicet cum sapiencia. Sicut autem requiritur ad contemplationem sapiencie quod mentem suam aliquis preoccupet ut totam domum suam contemplatione sapiencie impleat, ita etiam requiritur quod ipse totus per intentionem interius assit, ne scilicet {20} eius intentio ad diuersa trahatur, et ideo subdit: et illic aduocare, id est totam intentionem tuam ibi congrega. Sic igitur interiori domo totaliter uacuata et homine totaliter per intentionem in ea existente, quid agendum sit exponit, subdens : et illic lude. Vbi considerandum est quod sapiencie contemplatio conuenienter ludo comparatur propter duo que est in ludo inuenire. Primo quidem...

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