The Sayings of the Elders (Verba seniorum, Book VII)
On avoiding curiosity
De curiositate vitanda.
This book is not translated in the edition used; the Latin is given alone.
Senex quidam dixit: Non oportet monachum requirere qualiter sit ille, aut quemadmodum ille: quia per interrogationem hujusmodi abstrahitur ab oratione, et defluit in detractiones et verbositates. Unde nihil est melius quam tacere.
Frater quidam requisivit a sene, dicens: Si venerit frater aliquis, sermones mihi deforis inferens alienos, jubes ut dicam illi quatenus mihi illos non afferat? Ait senex: Nihil dicas, quia nec nos potuimus observare. Cavendum est ergo, ne forte dicentes proximo, Hoc ne facias, nos idem vel pejora postea faciamus. Cui frater: Quid ergo oportet facere? Et senex: Si voluerimus, inquit, tacere, exemplum solum sufficit proximo.
Latin text: Verba seniorum, Book VII of the Vitae Patrum, translated from the Greek by Paschasius of Dumium for Abbot Martin (Martin of Braga), in H. Rosweyde’s edition as reprinted in Migne’s Patrologia Latina, vol. 73 (1879 reprint), cols. 1025–1062, checked against the scans; without the editor’s notes and cross-references, and without the Greek text of chapter XLIV printed in the notes. Public-domain text in France (art. L123-1 of the French Intellectual Property Code). Transcription and revision: Abbatia Sancti Petri de Curte. Report an error