The Ayenbite of Inwyt (Remorse of Conscience) / A Translation of Parts into Modern English

by active 14th century Dan Michel; active 1279 d'Orléans Laurent

THE SECOND HEAD OF THE BEAST OF HELL.

The second head of the wicked beast is envy, which is the adder that poisons all. Envy is mother to death, for by the envy of the devil came death into the world; it is the sin which most immediately makes man like the devil his father. For the devil hates not but others’ good, and loves not but others’ harm, and so does the envious. The envious man cannot see the good of others, any more than the owl or the bat (can see) the brightness of the sun. The same sin divides chiefly into three boughs. For the same sin envenoms first of all the heart of the envious, and afterwards the mouth, and afterwards the works. The heart of the envious is envenomed and goes astray, so that he cannot see other men’s good without repenting within his heart and judging evilly, and what he sees or what he hears takes it in a bad sense, and of all makes (his) harm, so much (so) that to the heart of the envious [come] venomous thoughts of false judgment, that one cannot tell (them). Afterwards, when the envious hears or sees other men’s ill, whatever it be, either ill of body, as death or sickness, or ill of chance (hap), as poverty or adversity, or spiritual ill, as when he hears that some, that one held good men, are blamed for some vice. At such things he rejoices in his heart. Afterwards, when he sees or hears the good of others, be it good of nature, or good of hap, or good of grace, whereof we have spoken above, then there comes a sorrow to his heart, so that he cannot be at rest, nor make gladness, nor fair pretence. Now, thou canst see that the venomous heart of the envious sins generally in three ways: in false judgments, in wicked gladness, in worse sorrows; he sins also by the mouth. For it behoves that such wine as there is in the tun should run by the tap. And because the heart was full of venom, it behoves that it leap out by the mouth. Then from the mouth of the envious come out three kinds of venomous words, whereof David speaks in the Psalter, ‘The mouth of the envious is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of treason.’ Of cursing, for the goods of others he defames, and depreciates them as much as he can. Of bitterness, for the ills of others he exaggerates and increases according to his might. Of treason, for all that he sees or hears, he turns it to ill and judges it falsely. Afterwards, the envious has three kinds of venom indeed, as he hath in mouth and in heart; for the nature of the envious is to withdraw and destroy all good by his might, be it little, be it less, be it perfected. He is then of the nature of the basilisk, for no greenness can last before him, either in grass, or in bush, or in tree. Then, according to the Gospel, corn has three states, for it is first as in grass, afterwards in the ear, afterwards is full of fruit and quite ripe. And so there are some that have a good beginning, in order to live well and to profit, and are as in grass; the same the envious takes pains to quench if he can. Others are as in the ear, which flowers well in goodness and by it is profitable to God or to the world; and the envious rebels in order to confound and to destroy those by his might. The others are perfect and in great state, and do much good to God and to the world. Their good fame to abate and their goodness to depreciate the envious prepares all his devices. For the greater that the goodness is, the more the envious sorrows. This sin is so perilous, that one can scarcely come to right repentance, because it (she) is contrary to the Holy Ghost, who is the well of all good. And God says in His Gospel, that whoever sins against the Holy Ghost (he) shall never have mercy in this world nor in the other, for he sins of his own wickedness, and one must in that wholly understand (it so). For there is no sin so great that God does not forgive in this world, if man repents and prays for mercy for the sin, that wars by its might against the grace of the Holy Ghost, in that it wars against other men’s spiritual good, as the Jews opposed Jesu Christ for the good things that He did.

THE SINS AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.

And thou shalt know that there are six sins that are specially against the Holy Ghost; to wit, overweening, which makes the mercy of our Lord spread too much, and praises His righteousness little, and therefore many people sin in hope. The second is despair, which robs God of His mercy, as overweening (does) of His righteousness. The third is withstanding, that is, hardness of heart, when man is hardened in his wickedness, so that one cannot turn him, and he will not amend. The fourth is contempt of penance; that is, when man ordains in his heart that he shall not repent of his sin. The fifth is to oppose the grace of the Holy Ghost in others. The sixth is to oppose truth wittingly, and especially the truth of the Christian belief. All these sins are against the goodness of the Holy Ghost, and are so great that (they) hardly come to right repentance, and therefore hardly are they forgiven.

THE THIRD HEAD OF THE EVIL BEAST.

The third head of the beast is hate. But thou shalt know that there is one hate, which is virtue, which the good man hath against evil; another, which is very great sin, that is fierceness of heart, wherefrom come many boughs, and chiefly four, (which) are the four wars that the felon hath. The first is with himself, for when man bears (him) hate to the torment (read of) soul and body, so that man cannot sleep nor have any rest, sometimes it deprives him of meat and drink and makes him fall into a fever, or into such sorrow that he receives death. That is a fire that wastes all the goods of the house. The second war that the felon hath is with God. For wrath and felony so support and seize sometimes the heart of the fierce one, because of some temporal adversity, or sickness, or death of friends, or some misfortune, when his will is not done, that he murmurs against our Lord, and thanks God ill and His saints, and swears and blasphemes against God and His saints. The third war that the wrathful hath is with those that are under him, that is, with his wife and with his household; for the man is sometimes so out of his wits that he beats and smites both wife and children and household, and breaks pots and cups as if he were out of his wits; and so he is. The fourth is war outside with his neighbours and with his nearest, that are all about him. And from this bough grow seven small boughs. For when wrath arises between two men there is first chiding, and then wrath that remains in the heart, afterwards wrath, afterwards strife often comes, afterwards desire of vengeance, afterwards sometimes manslaughter, and afterwards sometimes deadly war between the friends, whereof often comes too much evil, and perils that cannot be amended. For when there is war between two men, it often befalls that there are many people dead who have no guilt, churches broken down, towns burnt up, abbeys, priories, barns destroyed, and men and women and children disinherited and exiled, and lands destroyed, and too much other harm, which is done by reason of those who are bound to amend what this brings, both the lord and all those that are helping him (them), and (concerned) in such a business, and therefore they are in great peril of their health of soul, for they may not be able to amend or give up the harm that they have done, and it behoves them to give it up or to be hanged.

THE FOURTH HEAD OF THE EVIL BEAST OF HELL.

The fourth head of the wicked beast is sloth, that is, idleness and disinclination to do well. This sin is too evil a root, that casts many evil boughs. This idleness, which is sloth, makes a man have evil beginning, and more evil amending, and worse ending. Evil beginning has the slothful through six sins. The first is thinness, when the man loves our Lord little and lukewarmly, whom he should love ardently, and therefrom it comes that he is feeble and lukewarm to do all good things. The second is timidity, that is, disinclination of heart, which is the devil’s bed, wherein he rests himself, and says to the man and to the woman: ‘Thou hast been too softly drawn forth, thou art too feeble in constitution, thou canst not do the great penances, thou art too tender, thou wouldst very soon be dead;’ and therefore the wretch lets himself fall to do the lusts of his flesh. The third is idleness, which is a sin that causes much evil, as says the Scripture. For when the devil finds the man idle he puts him to work, and causes him first to think evil, and afterwards to desire villainies, ribaldries, lecheries, and to lose his time and many good things that he might do, whereby he might win paradise. The fourth is heaviness, when the man is so heavy that he loveth not but to lie and rest and sleep: sometimes they are necessarily so long (enough) awake, that they had rather lose four masses than a sweat or a sleep. The fifth is wickedness, that is when the man lies in sin, and feels the temptations of the devil and of his flesh that assail him, and through downright wickedness will not raise the head to God in sorrow, nor cry ‘Harou!’ (Norman cry for assistance) in shrift, nor raise the hands in satisfaction (amends). The same is like the wretch that would rather rot in a foul and stinking prison than have the torment of steps to climb for his outgoing. The sixth is little will (inertness). In this sin are those that have dread for naught, that dare not begin to do well because they have dread that God will fail them, which is the dread of the dreamers who have dread of their dreams. They are like him that dare not go in the path because of the snail which shows him his horns, and like the child that dare not go his way because of the goose that blows.

These are the six vices that rob the man of good beginning. Because of six other vices the slothful cannot have good beginning or amendment. They are the bad habits of an evil servant, who causes that no good man shall receive him (them) into his service when he is so slothful, untrue, careless, forgetful, slack, and failing. The first vice is untruth. For when God sets in the heart of man goodwill to do well, then comes the devil and says to him: ‘Thou shalt easily recover it; thou art young and strong; thou shalt live long,’ and so the devil makes him to cease from doing well. Afterwards comes sloth; for he that does well and does it delayingly, it is no wonder if he does it slothfully. That is a vice whereby all the world is besmutted, (as) whoever takes good heed [may see]. For few folk there are that are diligent in what they are bound to do as regards God and their neighbour.

After sloth is forgetting. For whoever is slothful often forgets. Because of these two sins of forgetting it often befalls that he cannot be shriven; he forgets his shortcomings and his sins, which is great peril. For none can have forgiveness without true shrift, which produces repentance of heart, confession of mouth, obedience in deed; that is, amending and reparation. There is no man so good that, if he saw well his own shortcomings, would not find enough to say each day in his shrift. But sloth and forgetting make the sinners blind, so that they see not in the book of their conscience.