The Dialogue of Creatures

to stand. Thus, a good person should neither associate with nor live with one who is evil and perverse, who is his opposite. For today, justice loses its reputation, its reason, and its good works because of perverse company. Hence the philosopher likely Aristotle, frequently cited as "the philosopher" in medieval scholastic texts says: therefore, choose the good and humble with whom you may live, and you shall be good. The Psalmist King David, the traditional author of the Psalms says: With the holy, you will be holy; and with the perverse, you will be perverted original: "Cum sancto sanctus eris: et cum perverso perverteris"; from Psalm 18:25-26. The Apostle Saint Paul, considering it a danger to lead a life with the wicked, wrote to the Thessalonians Likely referring to 2 Thessalonians 3:6: We command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly. Because Isidore Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636 AD), a scholar whose encyclopedias were foundational to medieval knowledge says: It is a danger to lead a life with the wicked, and it is ruinous for those of pure will to associate with them. Wherefore the sky, washing the earth with the water it sends down, replied to a carrier of charcoal original: "portitori carbonum"; a coal-man. This refers to a fable about a laundryman and a charcoal-burner who cannot live together because one cleans what the other soils when he had lived with him: "Brother, we cannot dwell together; whatever I am able to wash clean throughout the day, you are able to stain and blacken in a single hour." For in this way, everything that a wise or good man acquires over a long time, a fool or an evil man destroys in one hour.

Of the River and the Sea. Chapter 11.

A woodcut illustration within a rectangular border, depicting stylized, curling waves of water with spiral patterns.

A River Latin: "Fluvius" is, according to the philosopher Aristotle, specifically referencing his theories on the water cycle, an unfailing course, a refreshment of the sun, and an irrigation of the earth. It proceeded to the Sea, saying: "You are rightly called the Sea Latin: "mare", which is to say 'bitter' original: "amarum"; a medieval folk etymology linking the Latin words for sea and bitterness; for you always live in bitterness. Is it not a great bitterness and ingratitude on your part when you continually drink of my sweetness the fresh water of the river, yet you always bestow bitterness back upon me?" The Sea replied: "Gold and silver are not mine, but what I have, I give to you. From the inner parts of my body I grant to you abundantly, as to a faithful friend. Therefore, you ought to endure my bitterness peacefully, for if you well..."

Justice, Fellowship, Philosopher, Psalmist, Apostle, Isidore, River, Sea, Bitterness, Sweetness