69. THE SICK BROTHERS.
[  RB 36  ]

LXVIIII. De fratribus aegrotis.

BROTHERS who say they are ill and do not rise for the Work of God and stay lying down should not be called to task, ^2 but for their meal let them receive only liquids and eggs or warm water, which the really sick can hardly get down, ^3 so that if they are pretending, hunger at least will force them to get up.

¹ Fratres aegroti qui se dixerint esse et ad opus Dei se non leuauerint et continue iacuerint, ad culpam non uocentur, ² sed in refectione solummodo sucusa uel ou aut caldam aquam accipiant, quod uix possunt ueri tediosi accipere, ³ ut si fingunt, uel fame conpellantur leuari.

^{4 }But if they rise after the [Work] of God let them be excommunicated ^5and not go to the body’s meal because they were not present for that of the spirit in the oratory ^6 and because they shirked the labor and despised the Work of God. ^{7 }For in such as these it is evident that the devil is catering to the sloth of sleep under the pretext of sickness. ^{8 }Let this therefore be the recompense they receive.

⁴ Si uero post <opus> Dei dictum surrexerint, excommunicentur ⁵ et ad mensam carnalem non accedant, quia ad spiritalem oratorii non adfuerunt, ⁶ quia et laborem fugerunt et opus Dei contempserunt. ⁷ Nam in his talibus agnoscitur diabolum per excusationem tedii somni pigritiam ministrare. ⁸ Ideoque talem mercedem recipiant.

^9 Now, if a brother who is very tired, with aching limbs but no fever, does not want to incur the punishment of excommunication mentioned above, let him at least go into the oratory with the brothers at the usual time. ^{10 }And if he cannot stand, let him chant the psalms lying on a mat as if at prayer. ^11 But let the brother standing next to him keep an eye on him so he does not go to sleep.

⁹ Qui uero frater sine febre membrorum dolore lassatur, si poenam supradictae excommunicationis sustinere non uult, intret tamen in oratorio consueta cum fratribus hora, ¹⁰ et si stare non potest, iacens in matta uelut in oratione psallat. ¹¹ Cui a uicino fratre stante insidietur tamen, ne dormiat.

^{12 }If afterwards he does no work at all, moreover, let him receive one piece of bread less in his allowance and let two of the drinks be withheld, ^13 and only this much because he got up at least for the Work of God. ^{14 } For it is an injustice to equate an idle brother with a working brother, to whom recompense commensurate with his labor is due, (I Tim. 5, 18; Deut. 24, 14–15; cf. Lc. 10, 7) ^{15  }and ‘the ox treading out the grain is not to be muzzled’ (I Tim. 5, 18; cf. I Cor. 9, 9; Deut. 25, 4). ^{16 }And so if one does not work, even if his sense of justice does not eliminate eating altogether, he should at least, because of the very nature of sickness, not eat as much as one who works and is healthy. ^17 Hence one who is weak and declares that he is unable to work should be considered likewise unable to eat—^{18  }because it is in accord with justice that the one impossibility includes the other and this shows that the distress is genuine; ^{19 }for if we are incapable of working, we should consequently also be incapable of eating, ^{20 }for it is evident that the laziness of an idle glutton makes him feign such sickness—^{21 }so when he himself declares that he cannot work and says nothing about not being able to eat, if he does not want to state this inability with his own tongue, let him very quickly hear from someone else that whether he likes it or not he is incapable of eating. ^{22 }Now, it stands to reason that if, in an individual the soul, the stomach and the limbs are in a balanced relationship, ^23 then one and the same distress ought to be felt alike in all three, in such a way that what these three are capable of together in health they should, on the other hand, manifestly be incapable of simultaneously in distress. ^{24 }Why then should distress sanction impossibility in the one case and admit of possibility in the other, ^25 when in one and the same body of an individual the soul, the stomach, and the limbs cannot feel and suffer this distress disjunctively, ^26 because in us it is still the soul that feels all pains and, once this has departed, the dead body cannot feel what happens to it? ^{27 }Oh, the wickedness of dishonesty! The head is tortured with pains when work is concerned and the stomach is not tortured when eating is concerned, as if the stomach were located in another body.

¹² Si uero post ex toto nihil laborauerit, unam quadram panis minus in annona sua accipiat et potiones duas subductas, ¹³ et hoc tantum quia uel ad opus Dei surrexit, ¹⁴ quia nec iustum est ut otiosus frater contra laborantem fratrem, cui digne laboris merces debetur, aequaliter iudicetur ( I Tim. 5, 18; Deut. 24, 14–15; cf. Lc. 10, 7) ¹⁵ et quia bobi trituranti non alligatur os. ¹⁶ Sic et qui non laborat, si propter iustitiam iam si ex toto non manducat, uel pro tedii qualitate tantum non manducet, quantum laborans aut sanus, ¹⁷ quia inpotens qui ad laborem proclamat se non posse, item ad manducandum iudicetur non posse; — ¹⁸ quia utrumque non posse iustitiae conuenit et ueram necessitatem ostendit; ¹⁹ si uero ad laborandum non possumus, et ad manducandum iuste non posse debemus; ²⁰ per pigritiam enim otiosi gluttonis talis agnoscitur acgritudo mentiri; — ²¹ ut cum ad laborandum suo ore proclamat se non posse et ad manducandum tacet, ipsud non posse si sua non uult dicere, aliena mox incipiat lingua audire se ad manducandum uelle nolle non posse, ²² quia iustitia hoc ostendit, ut si in uno homine anima, uenter et membra aequaliter conueniunt, sic et una necessitas in his tribus communiter debet sentiri, ²³ ut quod in sanitate tres istae res supradictae communiter possunt, in necessitate uero agnoscatur simul non posse. ²⁴ Nam quare uni rei non posse permittat necessitas et aliae posse permittat, ²⁵ cum in uno hominis corpore anima, uenter et membra separatim ipsam necessitatem sentire et sufferre non possunt, ²⁶ quia adhuc anima in nobis omnes sentit dolores, qua abscedente quid passum fuerit mortuum corpus nescit sentire? ²⁷ O iniustitiae nefas! Caput torquetur doloribus propter laborem et uenter non torquetur propter manducare, quasi in alieno corpore ipse uenter sit positus.

70. CHARITY of the BRETHREN TOWARDS the INFIRM.

LXX. De caritate fratrvm circa tediosos.

^{1 }Brothers who would show that they are filled with charity should vie with one another in visiting, comforting and serving the sick brethren, ^2 so that they may give proof of fraternal charity where there is distress, ^{3 }and put into practice the word of the Lord saying: ‘I was sick and you visited me.’ (Mt. 25, 36)

¹ Fratres, qui se uoluerint ostendere, quod pleni sint caritate, ad certamen aegrotos fratres uisitent, consolentur et seruiant, ² ut caritas fraterna in necessitate probetur ³ et dominicam uocem factis adinpleant dicentis: Infirmus fui et uisitastis me.