On the Twelve Abuses of the World

For as long as we are temporal, let temporal things serve temporal needs, and when we have passed from here, eternal things will provide eternal solace. For this reason, we ought not to love those things which we will not always have, especially since the nature of these things shows that even an irrational man, the rich man, is devoid of his own treasure, fields, and all that he has, because with his whole heart's intent he loves those things that never love him back. For if anyone has loved gold and silver and fields and garments and foods and metals and brute animals, nature itself shows that all these things cannot return love in turn. Why, therefore, go further from reason than to love what cannot love you, and to neglect Him who provides all things to your jurisdiction with love?

Therefore, we should not love the world, but the neighbor is commanded to be loved by God, because the neighbor can return the favor of his own love, which the world, as it is not alive, cannot do. For the Lord commanded that an enemy be loved so that that love might make that friend out of an enemy. Whoever, therefore, is a greedy rich man who wishes to have eternal riches, let him provide to the needy, by distributing, things that will not last in the meantime. For if he who loves does not sell, no one can buy what he desires. The greedy are called "cursed" in judgment by the most righteous Judge, because those who were passing by them did not say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we have blessed you in the name of the Lord." The greedy rich are therefore wretched, because they slide down into eternal damnation for the sake of transitory things, and conversely, the merciful are blessed, because they shall obtain mercy themselves. The merciful man is therefore happy, as he does not revel in this truth, but God directs him with affection.

The Fifth Degree of Abuse

A Woman without Modesty

For just as prudence guards and fosters all good morals in men, so too modesty nourishes, fosters, and guards all honest acts in women. For modesty guards chastity, restrains avarice, avoids quarrels, mitigates anger, occupies lust, tempers desire, chastises lasciviousness, avoids drunkenness, does not multiply words, opposes the concupiscence of gluttony, and condemns theft entirely. Why more? It restricts all vices and nourishes all virtues and whatever is praiseworthy before God and good men. For an immodest life expects neither praise from men in the present age nor remuneration from God in the future. A modest life, however, possesses a good reputation among men, rejoices in the hope of future beatitude, makes itself imitable to the present, leaves an amiable memory to those who follow, always delights in and consents to good morals, and fixes the mind on the meditations and eloquence of the scripture of reason, and with the examples of good predecessors...

tills, and connects inseparable fellowships to those who are perfect. Therefore, the excitation of true modesty consists in two ways: namely, in the habit of the body on the surface and in the internal affection of the mind; by the exterior mode, according to the Apostle, we provide examples before men; by the interior mode, we provide good works before God. The modesty of the body is not to covet others' things, to avoid all uncleanness, to not wish to taste [food] before the appropriate hour, not to excite laughter, not to speak vain and false words, to have a habit ordered in all things and with a becoming composition of both hair and garments as is fitting, not to enter into fellowship with the unworthy, to look at no one with an arrogant gaze, not to permit the eyes to wander, not to walk with a pompous and alluring gait, not to appear inferior to anyone in starting a good work, to strike no one with insult or blushing, to blaspheme no one, not to envy the good, not to mock the old, not to contend with a superior. Not to discuss things of which you are ignorant, and not to put forward all the things you know. These things make a man lovable to his peers and acceptable to God. Truly, the modesty of the soul is to do good things more for the eyes of God than of men. To restrain the appetites of foul thoughts, to consider everyone else better, to envy no one, to trust nothing of oneself, to always commit all things to God, to place oneself before the eyes of God, not to stain the sense with heretical depravity, to consent to Catholics in all things, to adhere to God alone, to offer the chastity of the inner mind to the Lord God, to finish all started good works only at the term of death, to treat present tribulations as nothing with the fortitude of the mind, to love nothing on earth except the first [things], to treasure all love in heaven, and in every good act to hope for the reward from God in the celestial realms. Modesty is the ornament of the noble. It is the exaltation of the humble. The mobility of the ignoble. The beauty of the weak. The solace of the weary. The solace of the sad. The increase of all beauty. The grace of religion. The defense of crimes. The multiplication of merits. To be a friend of the Creator of all and of God.

The Sixth Degree of Abuse: A Lord without Virtue.

The sixth degree of abuse is a lord without virtue, who does not profit to rule with power if the lord himself does not have the rigor of virtue. But this rigor of virtue does not require so much the exterior strength—which is also necessary for secular lords—as it requires the interior strength of the soul to be exercised in good morals. Often it is proved that lordly power was lost through the negligence of the soul, just as it was done to the priest Eli, who, because he did not coerce his sinning sons with the severity of a judge, the Lord did not spare their vengeance, as if truly feeling [their sins].