| Keywords |
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| ID |
5889 |
| Text |
De gubernatione dei (439 - 451) Salvian of Marseilles |
| Quotation |
Excessi paulisper coeptum sermonis ordinem, rerum indignitate compulsus. Nunc ad superiora redeamus. Diximus quippe plenas fuisse impuritatibus monstruosis Africae civitates, et praecipue illic reginam et quasi dominam, Wandalos autem iis omnibus non fuisse pollutos. Non tales ergo isti de quibus loquimur, Barbari ad emendandam nostrarum turpitudinum labem exstiterunt. Abstulerunt enim de omni Africa sordes virorum mollium, contagiones etiam horruere meretricum; nec horruerunt tantum aut temporarie summoverunt, sed penitus jam non esse fecerunt. O pie Domine, o Salvator bone, quantum efficiunt per te studia disciplinae, per quae mutari possunt vitia naturae, sicut ab illis scilicet immutata sunt. At quomodo immutata? Interest enim non solum effectus rerum, sed etiam effectuum causas dicere.
Difficile est quippe impudicitiam verbo aut jussione tolli, nisi fuerit ablata; et difficile est pudicitiam verbo exigi, nisi fuerit exacta. Quod isti utique scientes, sic impudicitiam summoverunt quod impudicas conservaverunt, non interficientes mulierculas infelices, ne vitiorum curam crudelitate respergerent, et dum peccata auferre cuperent, ipsi in peccatorum resecatione peccarent. Sed ita errantes emendaverunt ut factum eorum medicina esset, poena non esset. Jusserunt siquidem et compulerunt omnes ad maritalem torum transire meretrices, scorta in connubia verterunt; implentes scilicet Apostoli dictum atque mandatum, ut et unaquaeque mulier virum haberet suum, et unusquisque vir conjugem suam; ut quia cohiberi incontinentia sine hac carnalis usus permixtione non posset, ita legitimum usum calor corporalis acciperet ut peccatum incontinentia non haberet. In quo quidem non id tantummodo provisum est ut viros feminae haberent quae sine viris esse non possent, sed etiam ut per conservatores domesticos salvae essent quae seipsas servare nescirent; et adhaerentes jugiter gubernaculo maritali, etiam si ad improbum eas facinus consuetudo anteactae impuritatis inliceret, conjugalis tamen custodia ab improbitate prohiberet. Addiderunt quoque hoc ad libidinem comprimendam, severas pudicitiae sanctiones decretorum gladio impudicitiam coercentes; ut puritatem scilicet utriusque sexus et domi connubii reservaret affectus, et in publico metus legum; ac sic duplici praesidio castimonia niteretur, cum et intus esset quod amaretur, et foris quod timeretur. Leges autem ipsae nequaquam illis sunt legibus consentaneae quae ita partem improbitatis removent ut partem obscenitatis admittant; aut ut Romana illa decreta, quae scortatores quidem ab alienis uxoribus removerunt, ad omnes autem solitarias passim admiserunt, adulteria vetantes, lupanaria aedificantes. Timuerunt videlicet ne nimis casti homines ac puri essent, si ab omni eos penitus impuritate prohiberent. At non ita isti de quibus loquimur, qui sic inhibuerunt scorta ut adulteria, qui et feminas nullis volunt esse feminas nisi maritis suis, et viros nullis volunt mulieribus esse masculos nisi uxoribus suis; qui evagari obscenas libidines extra legitimum torum non sinunt, leges suas scilicet ad divinae legis regulam dirigentes, ut nihil sibi in hac re crederent licere quod Deus voluit non licere. Et ideo non putaverunt a se ulli homini permittendum, nisi quod fuisset omnibus a Divinitate permissum. |
| Translation |
Being driven by indignation, I have exceeded somewhat
the intended order of my talk. Let me now return to the
topic I was discussing before. I have stated that the cities of
Africa were filled with monstrous impurities, especially with
the queen and mistress as it were of other vices, but the
Vandals were not stained by all this. The barbarians were
unlike the Romans about whom I have spoken; the barbarians
set themselves to correct the stain of our baseness. They removed
from every place in Africa that lowly vice of effeminate
men. They even abstained from contacts with prostitutes
and, not only have they abstained from or removed prostitution
for the time being, but they have made it completely
cease to exist.
o holy Lord! 0 good Saviour! How much the desire for
good living accomplishes through You: desire through which
the vices of nature can be changed, just as they have been
changed by the Vandals! And how were they changed? It
is of interest to talk, not only about the effects, but also the
causes of the effects. It is difficult to take away impurity
by a word or command unless it has been actually removed,
and it is difficult to exact purity by a command unless it had
been exacted in the past.
The Vandals, knowing this, removed impurity, while they
preserved unchaste women. They did not kill these unfortunate
women, lest they defile with cruelty their healing of vices and
lest, while they sought to take away sin, they themselves sin
in lopping off the sinners. They corrected the sinners in this manner so that the accomplishment was curative, not punitive.
They ordered and compelled all prostitutes to enter the
married state. They turned harlots into wives, fulfilling that
saying and command of the Apostle, that every woman should
have her own husband and every man his own wife; that
since incontinence cannot be restrained without this yielding to
carnal usage, in this way natural desire should receive a legitimate
outlet, so that there would not be sin by incontinence.
In this way they not only provided that women who could
not live without men should have them, but that these women
who did not know how to protect themselves would be safe,
as it were, through their domestic guardians. By constantly
adhering to the marital course, even if the habit of their
previous impurity would entice them to depraved acts, their
husband's supervision would nevertheless prevent them from
straying.
For the suppression of lust the Vandals also added severe
ordinances for chastity. They repressed impurity with the
sword of the law, so that the affection of marriage at home
and the fear of the law in public preserved the purity of both
sexes. Thus, morality rested upon a double defense, since it
had love indoors and fear outdoors. The Vandal laws never
were in accord with those Roman laws which so removed a
portion of the wrong that they could commit the obscene
portion, or those Roman laws which forbade adultery with
other men's wives, but freely permitted the act with all single
women. They thus forbade adultery, but set up brothels.
It seems the Romans feared men would be too chaste and
pure if they completely prevented them from all impurity.
But not so the Vandals about whom I am speaking, who
thus forbade prostitution as well as adultery; who wished women to be wives to none but their husbands and men to
be husbands to none but their wives; who did not permit
intercourse to stray outside the legitimate marriage bed. They
directed their laws according to the rule of divine Law, so
that they believe nothing is lawful in this matter which God
does not wish to be lawful. They thought that no man
should permit himself anything unless it is permitted to all
by God. |
| Quotation source |
Lib. 7, Cap. 22 (pp. 101-2, trans. O'Sullivan, pp. 218-20) |
| Temporal Coverage |
439 - 451 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
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