XVI
HOW AVARICE TOOK THE NAME OF PRUDENCE
That cruel Enemy of mine, Avarice, seeing this, began to grow exceeding angry, and to gnash her teeth, and in vexation of Spirit said to herself: What shall I do? For all the World is going ♦John xii. 19.♦ after her! I will take, said she, the Name of Prudence, and will speak in their Hearts, and perchance they shall hear and consent. And she did as she had said, speaking unto them humble words, and saying: What do you here all ♦Matt, xx. 6.♦ the Day idle and making no Provision for the Morrow? In what could it hurt you to have the necessaries of Life, so long as you lack all Superfluities? For in Peace and Quietness could you work out your Salvation and the Salvation of Mankind, if you were supplied with all Things Needful to you. Therefore, while you have Time, provide for yourselves and those who shall come after you, for Men may not always be so generous to you, nor give you the customary Gifts. It would be good for you to be always as you are, but that is impossible, for God causes you daily to increase and multiply. Would God reject you because you had Wherewith to give to the Needy, and could remember the Poor, when He Himself has said: It is more blessed to ♦Acts xx. 35.♦ give than to receive? Why, therefore, do you not receive the Goods which are offered you, and not defraud the Givers of their Eternal Reward? You need fear no harm from the possession of Riches, so long as you account them as Nought. There is no Evil in Things themselves, but only in the Soul of Man, for God ♦Gen. i. 31.♦ saw All Things and they were good. To the Good, all Things are good, all Things serviceable, for them All Things were made. O how many having possessions use them evilly, which had they been yours, would have been put to a good use, for holy is your Purpose, holy your Desire. You do not wish to enrich your Relations who are already rich enough, but simply to have All Things necessary, so that your Conversation may be the more honest and orderly. These, and similar things, she said unto them, and some having already a corrupt Conscience, gave a ready Assent. But others turned a deaf ear to her Sayings, and by shrewd Answers refuted her Reasoning, alleging, as did also their opponents, Arguments from Holy Writ.
XVII
HOW AVARICE CALLED IN THE AID OF SLOTH
But Avarice, seeing that she could not, unaided, attain her ends upon my Disciples, changed her plan, that she might better fulfil her Purpose. So she called in Sloth, who neglects to begin good Works, or to finish those begun. And Avarice made a Treaty with Sloth, and entered into a Compact with her against the Religious. They were not intimate, these two, nor closely affined, but they readily made Common Cause in Evil-doing, as formerly did Pilate with Herod against the Messiah. And when their Plan was laid, Sloth began her Ravages, and having given Assault with her Satellites, she entered the Domain of the Religious, and by sheer Force carried off their Arms and extinguished their Charity, reducing them to Tepidity and Sluggishness. And so, a little also by Pusillanimity of Spirit, they became altogether dead of Heart.
XVIII
OF THE RELIGIOUS WHO WERE CONQUERED BY SLOTH[25]