[Donatus moralisatus]

Of what figure? First, of the simple, so that we may not be dissociated from the faith by living badly here, and that we may not be divided from those being saved above by judging.

Second, the opposite was, and therefore this participle takes two: namely, number and figure from the noun and verb. Let us run through what has been said, for it is plain that we descend from sinners, and we are begotten, and by sinning daily we fall.

What is our beauty or purity, by which we may please God as a bride pleases her husband? What is also our strength, by which we may resist the devil’s suggestion, if we do not know how to resist the enticements of the flesh? If we are also earth, and it is necessary to return to earth, what is our nobility or height or power, in which we vainly confiding in ourselves, harm our own souls? And if the present life is short and the hour uncertain, what is this foolishness of our heart, that we are so solicitous for the acquisition of riches, faculties, dignities, and the like, which all depart from us in a moment and never return? It says