The Philobiblon
by Richard de Bury
Chapter V
The complaint of books against the
possessioners
The venerable devotion of the religious orders is wont to
be solicitous in the care of books and to delight in their
society, as if they were the only riches. For some used to
write them with their own hands between the hours of prayer,
and gave to the making of books such intervals as they could
secure and the times appointed for the recreation of the
body. By whose labours there are resplendent to-day in most
monasteries these sacred treasuries full of cherubic
letters, for giving the knowledge of salvation to the
student and a delectable light to the paths of the laity. O
manual toil, happier than any agricultural task! O devout
solicitude, where neither Martha nor Mary deserves to be
rebuked! O joyful house, in which the fruitful Leah does not
envy the beauteous Rachel, but action and contemplation
share each other's joys! O happy charge, destined to benefit
endless generations of posterity, with which no planting of
trees, no sowing of seeds, no pastoral delight in herds, no
building of fortified camps can be compared! Wherefore the
memory of those fathers should be immortal, who delighted
only in the treasures of wisdom, who most laboriously
provided shining lamps against future darkness, and against
hunger of hearing the Word of God, most carefully prepared,
not bread baked in the ashes, nor of barley, nor musty, but
unleavened loaves made of the finest wheat of divine wisdom,
with which hungry souls might be joyfully fed. These men
were the stoutest champions of the Christian army, who
defended our weakness by their most valiant arms; they were
in their time the most cunning takers of foxes, who have
left us their nets, that we might catch the young foxes, who
cease not to devour the growing vines. Of a truth, noble
fathers, worthy of perpetual benediction, ye would have been
deservedly happy, if ye had been allowed to beget offspring
like yourselves, and to leave no degenerate or doubtful
progeny for the benefit of future times.
But, painful to relate, now slothful Thersites handles
the arms of Achilles and the choice trappings of war-horses
are spread upon lazy asses, winking owls lord it in the
eagle's nest, and the cowardly kite sits upon the perch of
the hawk.
Liber Bacchus is ever loved,
And is into their bellies shoved,
By day and by night;
Liber Codex is neglected
And with scornful hand rejected
Far out of their sight.
And as if the simple monastic folk of modern times were
deceived by a confusion of names, while Liber Pater
is preferred to Liber Patrum, the study of the monks
nowadays is in the emptying of cups and not the emending of
books; to which they do not hesitate to add the wanton music
of Timotheus, jealous of chastity, and thus the song of the
merry-maker and not the chant of the mourner is become the
office of the monks. Flocks and fleeces, crops and
granaries, leeks and potherbs, drink and goblets, are
nowadays the reading and study of the monks, except a few
elect ones, in whom lingers not the image but some slight
vestige of the fathers that preceded them. And again, no
materials at all are furnished us to commend the canons
regular for their care or study of us, who though they bear
their name of honour from their twofold rule, yet have
neglected the notable clause of Augustine's rule, in which
we are commended to his clergy in these words: Let books
be asked for each day at a given hour; he who asks for them
after the hour is not to receive them. Scarcely anyone
observes this devout rule of study after saying the prayers
of the Church, but to care for the things of this world and
to look at the plough that has been left is reckoned the
highest wisdom. They take up bow and quiver, embrace arms
and shield, devote the tribute of alms to dogs and not to
the poor, become the slaves of dice and draughts, and of all
such things as we are wont to forbid even to the secular
clergy, so that we need not marvel if they disdain to look
upon us, whom they see so much opposed to their mode of
life.
Come then, reverend fathers, deign to recall your fathers
and devote yourselves more faithfully to the study of holy
books, without which all religion will stagger, without
which the virtue of devotion will dry up like a sherd, and
without which ye can afford no light to the world.
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- The Philobiblon
by Richard de Bury
Chapter IV
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