life of john picus earl of mirandola - The Center for Thomas More ...

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Twelve Rules of Spiritual Battle
Our Saviour Christ resemble in some part. Δ1
The Fifth Rule.
Remember well that we in no wise must
Neither in the foresaid espiritual armour, 2
Nor any other ¦remedy put our trust,
But only in the virtue of our Saviour: 3
For He it is by Whose mighty power
The world was vanquished and his° prince cast out
Which reigned before in all the earth about. 4
In Him let us trust to overcome all evil,
In Him let us put our hope and confidence
To subdue the flesh 5 and master the devil,
To Him be all honour and lowly reverence;
Oft should we require° with all our diligence
With prayer, ⌐ with tears, and lamentable plaints° ¬
The aid of His grace 6 and His holy saints. 7
The Sixth Rule.
¦One sin 8 vanquished, ⌐ look thou not tarry, ¬
But lie in await for another very hour, 9
For as a wood° lion, the fiend, our adversary,
10 his its / 17 require request, ask for / 18 plaints expressions of grief or sorrow / 25
wood raging
¦ 7 More omits humano, “human” (CW 1:244). / 23 More omits recordare, “remember that”
(CW 1:374, 375).
Δ1. Thus every . . . part: More’s significant alteration and expansion of the Latin & sic discurrendo
per singula invenias nullam esse passionem quae te Christo aliqua ex parte conformem non efficiat, “and thus,
running over the details one by one, you can discover that there is no suffering which may not
render you conformed to Christ in some way” (CW 1:372, 373).
2. in the foresaid espiritual armour: More’s rendering of the Latin in illis duodecim armis, “in those
twelve weapons” (CW 1:372, 373); likely, the “Twelve Weapons of Spiritual Battle” that follow
Picus’ “Rules.”
3. our Saviour: The Latin is Iesu Christi (CW 1:372).
4. For He . . . earth about: In these three lines, More paraphrases and expands the allusions to
Revelation 12:9 and John 12:31 found in the Latin original (CW 1:372).
5. the flesh: In place of the Latin mundum, “the world” (CW 1: 372, 373).
6. The aid of . . . grace: The Latin is simply auxilium, “help” (CW 1:372, 373).
7. In Him . . . saints: These seven lines of verse are More’s expansion of less than three lines of
Latin prose (CW 1:372).
8. sin: The Latin is tentationem, “temptation” (CW 1:374, 375).
9. But lie. . . hour: In other words, “But be on your guard, always expecting another temptation.”
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