Book of Gomorrah: An Eleventh-Century Treatise against Clerical Homosexual Practices

XXII. All Four of the Modes Enumerated Above Are Against Nature

XXII ALL FOUR OF THE MODESENUMERATED ABOVE ARE AGAINST NATURE No one should flatter himself that he does not fall together with another, if he fell by himself into the contamination of lustful attraction , since the unhappy hermit who was given over to the demons at the moment ofdeath did not pollute anyone else but was instructed to ruin himself through impurity. For just as different shoots emerge from one clump of vine, so the four offshoots which we listed above arise from one sodomite impurity, as from a most poisoned root. Consequently, when a person plucks a plagued cluster of grapes from any of them he perishes instantly, infected indifferently with poison. "They are a branch of Sodom's vine-stock, and from the vineyardsof Gomorrah. Poisonous are the grapes and bitter their clusters."102 The serpent which we tried to crush with the stake of our disputation is four-headed; it bites with the fangs of any one of its heads and immediately injects its whole evil poison. Therefore, whether one pollutes himself or another in any manner whatsoever, even if discretion is observed, nevertheless he is undoubtedly to be convicted of having committed the crime of Sodom. Nor do we read that the inhabitants of Sodom corrupted others only by the consummated act. We should rather believe that under the impulse ofunbridled lust they acted shamefully alone and with others in different ways. Clearly, if any room for forgiveness wereoffered for the ruin caused by this vice, to whom would indulgent forgivenessbe more readily fitting than to that 102 Deut. 32:32. 78 All Four Modes Are Against Nature 79 hermit, for instance, who sinned without knowing—the hermit who fell through simple inexperience, who thought that this was permitted him as a right arising from a natural function? Learn miserable ones, learn to restrain yourselves from the plague of such detestable vice, to tame manfully the lascivious pimping of lust, to repress the petulant incentive of the flesh, to fear to the marrow the terrible judgment of divine severity. Always recall the judgment of divine warning which says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the handsof the living God."103 Recall also the fearsome, menacing cry of the prophet when he says, "Because in the fire of the jealousy of the Lord the whole earth shall be consumed and all flesh on his sword."104 For if carnal men are to be destroyed by the divine sword, why do they now culpably love this flesh? Indeed, this is the sword which the Lord directs against sinners through Moses, saying, "I will sharpen, as lightning, my sword."105 And again, "My sword shall gorge itself with flesh."106 That is: my fury will swallow up those living in the pleasure of the flesh. Just as those who fight against the monsters of vice are aided by the help of heavenly strength, so, on the contrary, those dedicated to the impurity of the flesh are given over to the sole judgment of divine vengeance. As Peter says, "The Lord knows how to rescue devout men from trial, and how to continue the punishment of the wicked up to the day of judgment. He knows, especially, how to treat those who live for the flesh in their desire for whatever corrupts ."107 And exclaiming elsewhere against these he says, "Thinking daytime revelry a delight, they are stain and defilement as they share your feasts in a spirit of seduction. They have eyes set on adultery and turned unceasingly towards sin."108 Nor should those who are placed in sacred orders boast if they live in a detestable way, since the higher they stand in eminence, the deeper they are cast down when they fall. Just as they ought now to precede others in a holy way of life, so afterwards they will be compelled to undergo more atrocious sufferings, since, according to the voice of Peter, "God did not spare the angels who sinned. He held them captive 103 Heb. 10:31. 104 Zeph. 1:18. 105 Deut. 32:41. 10fi Deut. 32:42. 107 2 Pet. 2:9-10. 108 2 Pet. 2:13-14. 80 Book of Gomorrah in Tartarus—consigned them to pits of darkness, to be guarded until judgment. And he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, making them an example to those who...