Excerpt 4

I have not forgotten that, some months ago, with the exacting rigour of your rich mind, you explained to me the three syllables of the city in three ways. Cestria has three syllables. , Having been sent with the monastery's answer and about to visit the earl’s residence, after hearing masses in the church of the Archangel Michael, and having obtained confidence to conduct my earthly business, I thought it also worth visiting the church of our venerable predecessor ¹ , where that virtuous and most piously devoted man can obtain the mercy of the eternal king for everyone who requests it. After I had left the holy church, when I briefly came to a stop in the precinct, because of its appearance, familiar since as a boy I had once learnt my letters there, ² I then compared present circumstances with those past, knowing human affairs to be fickle; you came over from nearby, and did not labour to conceal the sweetness of literary illumination with the darknesses of dissimulation, ³ but, proving yourself to be a man of learning, ⁴ by making things clearer, and having been greeted, you approached me eagerly, gladly stood by me , and amiably instructed me. From your breast came something which smacked of integrity, savoured of humility, and bore the odour of goodwill. What readily flows forth from one, ⁵ completely intoxicates another,What is known to one is new to another. because often a stranger ponders what a citizen does not even consider. One person has often valued highly what another has offered as if it were little, because nothing soothes the spirit as much as an unexpectedly generous offering of affection made with integrity.

I must admit that time passed that day in a variety of ways: the castle was a nuisance, but the church was a consolation; the pride and pomposity of the age confounded me in the settlement of my business, butA very noble saying of a learned man: be proud on earth, then be afraid hereafter! ⁶ the integrity and affection of the community revived me; and whatever wounds the Earl’s palace inflicted, the precinct of the Forerunner of God fully soothed. There the throat of my mind tasted how much the salt sea and maternal love can differ; we are buffetted by one, consoled by the other. A storm teaches what calm weather can grant; whatever the harsh roaring of the ocean inflicted, the mercy of my kin softened and soothed.

Meanwhile, while we were standing and talking, quickly and without warning, a proof of your manners pleasingly burst forth: you disregarded the praises and commendations of a loquacious layman with a certain holy pride ⁷ (or, as I might more mildly say, with unrestrained scorn),Unimportant praise pains modest people; worldly praise dupes the stupid. and shunning the annoying crow by your departure, lest the reward from the Highest One were taken from you, you let the approval and empty praises of this windbag blow away. That which beneficially resounded from the trumpet of the apostles came to mind and refreshed the memory: for our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience (2Cor 1:12); and elsewhere, if we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater (1Jn 5:9). And Jesus did not trust himself unto the Jews, for that he knew all men, and because he needed not that any should give testimony of man, for he knew what was in man (Jn 2:24-5). ⁸ By its nature, the smoke of human praise hurts the eye and deceives the soul, yet what soothes the fool does not stir the steadfast man - both the poet and the prophet clearly show this, ⁹ your patron will praise your game and give the thumbs up (Horace, Epistulae I. 18. 66.); and from our book, heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise (Jer 17:14) Jeremias. be not thou a terror unto me, thou art my hopePraise the Lord! In the Lord shall your soul be praised (cf. Ps 33:3). God sees he who serves Him. in the day of affliction (Jer 17:17); and I am not troubled, following thee for my pastor, and I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest (Jer 17:16).

Following this reasoning you duly spurned this premature tribute to your virtue, knowing how terrible the true judgement will be for men. There and then, it became shiningly clear just how little frivolity pleased you. And perhaps one does not err if one says that, with the intimacy of comradeship, the Baptist (not the reed in the mud, but the friend of the bridegroom) seasoned the vitals of his priest with this flavour. ¹⁰ In his time, John weighed the ups and downs of worldly people with an unbiased scale, and valued the fortunes and misfortunes of men as he would cobwebs. John made his priest like unto him. ¹¹ John, who anticipated the Lord in his humility, made you his servant on the path of holiness. You are his servant in the cathedral; he is your teacher in the Lord. Therefore to you praise is like the mud clinging to your feet.