The Rule of Benedict
Page 7
68
The assignment of impossible tasks to a brother
If a brother happens to be given difficult or impossible things to do, he should accept the command in complete humility and obedience, but if he realizes that the burden of the task definitely exceeds the limits of his strength, he should choose the right moment to explain patiently to the person in charge why it is impossible. However, he must not do it in an attitude of arrogance, obstinacy or rebelliousness. But if despite his explanation the superior persists in giving the same command, the junior should consider that it is for his own benefit, and should obey out of love, trusting in God’s support.
69
No one is to defend someone else in the monastery
Within the monastery measures should be taken to prevent there being an opportunity for one monk to defend another or to try to protect him, even if they are related. The monks must in no way venture to do this because it can lead to serious scandal. If anyone breaks this rule, he should be severely punished.
70
No one is to strike someone else without due cause
Every occasion for over-confidence is to be avoided in the monastery, so we insist that no one is allowed to excommunicate or beat any of the brothers unless he has been given permission by the abbot. ‘Those who offend must be reprimanded in front of everyone so that the others will have fear instilled in them’ (1 Tim. 5:20). But boys up to the age of fifteen should be watched over and carefully disciplined by everyone, but always with moderation and in a sensible manner. Anyone who excommunicates or beats the older ones without the abbot’s instruction, or who gets excessively angry with the younger ones, should submit to the punishment of the rule, for it says in Scripture, ‘Do not do to someone else what you do not want done to you’ (Tob. 4:15).
71
Mutual obedience
The virtue of obedience is not only to be practised by all towards the abbot but the brothers must also obey each other, aware that it is by walking along the path of obedience that they will reach God. Above all else they must respect the commands of the abbot or of those appointed by the abbot and must not allow unofficial orders to take precedence over them; for the rest, let all the juniors obey their seniors, showing them love and concern. But if someone is found to be quarrelsome, he must be punished. If one of the brothers, for the slightest reason, is punished in some way by the abbot or one of his superiors, or if he perceives that one of them is angry with him or the slightest bit displeased, he should immediately prostrate himself on the ground at his feet and lie there doing penance until a blessing is given which will heal the upset. If he disdains to do this, he must submit to corporal punishment or, if he is stubborn, he must be expelled from the monastery.
72
Beneficial fervour in a monk
Just as there is a reprehensible kind of fervour driven by bitterness which separates us from God and leads to hell, so there is a beneficial fervour which separates us from sin and leads to God and eternal life. This is the kind of zeal that the monks should practise with loving eagerness, striving to be the first to show each other respect. They must bear with great patience one another’s weaknesses of body and character and compete with each other in being obedient. No one should pursue what he thinks will benefit himself but rather what benefits someone else; the brothers must demonstrate brotherly love in a virtuous manner; they must fear God and love their abbot with a sincere and humble love; and they must put Christ above all else so that he may lead us all alike to eternal life.
73
This rule is only a start on the path to justice
We have written this rule so that by living in accordance with it in monasteries we may demonstrate that we are to some extent living virtuously and have made a start on the religious life. But for someone who is in a hurry to attain perfection in this way of life, there are the teachings of the holy fathers: by observing these a man will be led to the heights of perfection. For is not every page and every word of divine authority in the Old and New Testaments a most reliable guide to human life? Do not all the books of the holy catholic fathers resonate with a desire to show us the direct route to our creator? What are the Conferences, the Institutes and the Lives of the Fathers as well as the Rule of our holy father Basil, if not the tools of virtue for monks who wish to lead a virtuous and obedient life? But we are lazy and live reprehensible and careless lives, and we ought to be ashamed of ourselves. Whoever you are then, who are hurrying towards the heavenly country, observe this little rule for beginners which I have written with Christ’s help, and then with God’s protection you will at last reach the greater heights of wisdom and virtue I mentioned earlier in this work.
BOCCACCIO · Mrs Rosie and the Priest
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS · As kingfishers catch fire
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-tongue
THOMAS DE QUINCEY · On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE · Aphorisms on Love and Hate
JOHN RUSKIN · Traffic
PU SONGLING · Wailing Ghosts
JONATHAN SWIFT · A Modest Proposal
Three Tang Dynasty Poets
WALT WHITMAN · On the Beach at Night Alone
KENKŌ · A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees
BALTASAR GRACIÁN · How to Use Your Enemies
JOHN KEATS · The Eve of St Agnes
THOMAS HARDY · Woman much missed
GUY DE MAUPASSANT · Femme Fatale
MARCO POLO · Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls
SUETONIUS · Caligula
APOLLONIUS OF RHODES · Jason and Medea
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON · Olalla
KARL MARX AND FRIEDRICH ENGELS · The Communist Manifesto
PETRONIUS · Trimalchio’s Feast
JOHANN PETER HEBEL · How a Ghastly Story Was Brought to Light by a Common or Garden Butcher’s Dog
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN · The Tinder Box
RUDYARD KIPLING · The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows
DANTE · Circles of Hell
HENRY MAYHEW · Of Street Piemen
HAFEZ · The nightingales are drunk
GEOFFREY CHAUCER · The Wife of Bath
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE · How We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing
THOMAS NASHE · The Terrors of the Night
EDGAR ALLAN POE · The Tell-Tale Heart
MARY KINGSLEY · A Hippo Banquet
JANE AUSTEN · The Beautifull Cassandra
ANTON CHEKHOV · Gooseberries
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE · Well, they are gone, and here must I remain
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE · Sketchy, Doubtful, Incomplete Jottings
CHARLES DICKENS · The Great Winglebury Duel
HERMAN MELVILLE · The Maldive Shark
ELIZABETH GASKELL · The Old Nurse’s Story
NIKOLAY LESKOV · The Steel Flea
HONORÉ DE BALZAC · The Atheist’s Mass
CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN · The Yellow Wall-Paper
C. P. CAVAFY · Remember, Body …
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY · The Meek One
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT · A Simple Heart
NIKOLAI GOGOL · The Nose
SAMUEL PEPYS · The Great Fire of London
EDITH WHARTON · The Reckoning
HENRY JAMES · The Figure in the Carpet
WILFRED OWEN · Anthem For Doomed Youth
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART · My Dearest Father
PLATO · Socrates’ Defence
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI · Goblin Market
Sindbad the Sailor
SOPHOCLES · Antigone
RYŪNOSUKE AKUTAGAWA · The Life of a Stupid Man
LEO TOLSTOY · How Much Land Does A Man Need?
GIORGIO VASARI · Leonardo da Vinci
OSCAR WILDE · Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime
SHEN FU · The Old Man of the Moon
AESOP · The Dolphins, the Whales and the Gudgeon
MATSUO BASHŌ · Lips too Chilled
<
br /> EMILY BRONTË · The Night is Darkening Round Me
JOSEPH CONRAD · To-morrow
RICHARD HAKLUYT · The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe
KATE CHOPIN · A Pair of Silk Stockings
CHARLES DARWIN · It was snowing butterflies
BROTHERS GRIMM · The Robber Bridegroom
CATULLUS · I Hate and I Love
HOMER · Circe and the Cyclops
D. H. LAWRENCE · Il Duro
KATHERINE MANSFIELD · Miss Brill
OVID · The Fall of Icarus
SAPPHO · Come Close
IVAN TURGENEV · Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands
VIRGIL · O Cruel Alexis
H. G. WELLS · A Slip under the Microscope
HERODOTUS · The Madness of Cambyses
Speaking of Siva
The Dhammapada
JANE AUSTEN · Lady Susan
JEAN-JACQUES ROSSEAU · The Body Politic
JEAN DE LA FONTAINE · The World is Full of Foolish Men
H. G. WELLS · The Sea Raiders
TITUS LIVY · Hannibal
CHARLES DICKENS · To Be Read at Dusk
LEO TOLSTOY · The Death of Ivan Ilyich
MARK TWAIN · The Stolen White Elephant
WILLIAM BLAKE · Tyger, Tyger
SHERIDAN LE FANU · Green Tea
The Yellow Book
OLAUDAH EQUIANO · Kidnapped
EDGAR ALLAN POE · A Modern Detective
The Suffragettes
MARGERY KEMPE · How To Be a Medieval Woman
JOSEPH CONRAD · Typhoon
GIACOMO CASANOVA · The Nun of Murano
W. B. YEATS · A terrible beauty is born
THOMAS HARDY · The Withered Arm
EDWARD LEAR · Nonsense
ARISTOPHANES · The Frogs
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE · Why I Am so Clever
RAINER MARIA RILKE · Letters to a Young Poet
LEONID ANDREYEV · Seven Hanged
APHRA BEHN · Oroonoko
LEWIS CARROLL · O frabjous day!
JOHN GAY · Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London
E. T. A. HOFFMANN · The Sandman
DANTE · Love that moves the sun and other stars
ALEXANDER PUSHKIN · The Queen of Spades
ANTON CHEKHOV · A Nervous Breakdown
KAKUZO OKAKURA · The Book of Tea
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE · Is this a dagger which I see before me?
EMILY DICKINSON · My life had stood a loaded gun
LONGUS · Daphnis and Chloe
MARY SHELLEY · Matilda
GEORGE ELIOT · The Lifted Veil
FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY · White Nights
OSCAR WILDE · Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast
VIRGINIA WOOLF · Flush
ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE · Lot No. 249
The Rule of Benedict
WASHINGTON IRVING · Rip Van Winkle
Anecdotes of the Cynics
VICTOR HUGO · Waterloo
CHARLOTTE BRONTË · Stancliffe’s Hotel
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THE BEGINNING
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This text-only edition published in Penguin Classics 2016
Translation copyright © Carolinne White, 2008
The moral right of the translator has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-241-25173-7