Page:King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care (2).djvu/355

346 ðonne forðæm godan cræfte forleosað ðone þe betra bið ðonne sio forhæfdnes, ðæt is anmodnes. Ac se þe wille ascadan ða forhæfdnesse from ðære anmodnesse, geðence se ðone cwide þe se psalmscop cwæð, he cwæð: Lofiað God mid tympanan & on choro. Se tympana bið [ge]worht of dryggium felle, & ðæt fell hlyt, ðonne hit mon slihð, & on ðæm chore bioð monege men gegadrode anes hwæt to singanne anum wordum & anre stemne. Se ðonne se his lichoman swencð, & ða anmodnesse wið his niebstan forlæt, se hereð Dryhten mid tympanan, & nyle mid choran. Oft eac, ðonne hwane mara wisdom uparærð ðonne offre menn, ðonne wile he hiene asceadan from oðerra monna geferræddenne, & swæ micle swæ he ma wat, & wisra bið ðonne oðre menn, swa he ma dysegað, & swiður winð wið ðone cræft ðære anmodnesse. Ac hie scioldon gehieran ðone cwide þe sio Soðfæstnes self cwæð, he cwæð: Habbað sealt on eow & sibbe betweoxen eow. Đæt sealt he nemde for wisdom, forðæm he wolde ðæt we hæfden ægðer ge sibbe ge wisdom, forðæm hit ne bioð nane cysta ne nan cræft ðæt mon hæbbe wisdom, & nylle wilnian sibbe; forðæm swæ swæ he bet wat, swæ he wiers agylt, & maran demm gedrigð him selfum mid ðæm lote. He mæg hiene ðy læs beladian ðæt he næbbe wite geearnad ðy he meahte mid his wisdome wærlice ða synne forbugan, gif he wolde. Ac him was swiðe ryhte to gecweden ðurh Iacobus ðone apostol, he cwæð: Gif ge hæbben yfelne andan on iow & tionan & geflitu on iowrum mode, ne gilpe ge no, ne ne fægniað ðæs, & ne flitað mid iowrum leagungum wið ðæm soðe; forðæm se wisdom nis ufan cumen of hefonum, ac he is eorðlic & wildeorlic &

that good quality lose that which is better than abstinence, that is concord. Let him who wishes to separate abstinence from concord consider the words of the Psalmist; he said: “Praise God with the timbrel and in the dance.' The timbrel is made of dry hide, which sounds when struck; and in the dance a number of men are assembled to sing something with the same words and voice. He, therefore, who mortifies his body, and neglects to live in concord with his peighbour, praises the Lord with the timbrel, but will not do so with the dance. Often also, when any one is exalted above others by greater wisdom, he wishes to separate himself from the society of others; and the more he knows, and the wiser he is than others, the more foolish he becomes, and the more he opposes the virtue of con-