Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1996, Qupperneq 166

156
and CTV V.xiii. 162B, 22-30:
... quia opera quæ fiunt extra charitatem, mortua sunt, sicut carbo exstinctus.
Secundo, quod fiat ex charitate: multa enim fiunt in charitate, quae tamen
non sunt meritoria, ex eo quod non fiunt ex charitate, id est, quia non refe-
runtur ad finem debitum. Tertio, quod idem opus sit referibile ad bonum.
It is interesting that in rendering Hugh Ripelin’s remarks on the third
condition for a work to be deemed pleasing to God, that it must be ‘con-
ducive to good’ (referibile ad bonum), the Icelandic author simply reit-
erates the rare Latin adjective referibile, a term with which he seems to
have had some difficulty, since he repeats the adjective on its own,
without the rest of the Latin phrase which is dependent on it, and ren-
ders referibile rather vaguely as tilbæriligt, ‘suitable, proper’ (Spec.
Pen. 389), evidently a simple calque of the Latin word.45 There is no
parallel in C7Y for the Icelandic author’s comments on this last condi-
tion, that a genuinely good work should represent a suitable offering
to God, for it is inappropriate to offer unto the Lord anything which
has been stolen, extorted, pillaged or obtained by any other evil means,
because this angers God and does not mollify Him (Spec. Pen. 390-
393).
I have been able to find Latin parallels only for random details in the
remainder of the discussion of charity which preoccupies the author for
the rest of the treatise (Spec. Pen. 393-424). The author’s observation
that those who love one another greatly have one heart and one soul
(Spec. Pen. 397-399) echoes Act 4:32: multitudinis autem credentium
erat cor et anima una. The remark that the soul of a good man is called
‘the bride of Christ’ (Spec. Pen. 401-402) is paralleled in thirteenth-
century preaching manuals. Compare, for example, the same observa-
tion made by Thomas Chobham: sponsa Christi est quelibet fidelis ani-
ma.46 The Icelandic author draws on C7Y once again in noting that God
resides in the faithful soul like a bridegroom in the bridal bed, a master
451 have found the adjective referibile recorded in only one Latin dictionary: Laurentius
Diefenbach, Glossarium Latino-Germanicum Mediae et infimae aetatis (Frankfurt a.M.,
1857), p. 489. The word is defined: ‘das da mag gelait 1 gefurt werden’, although no cor-
roborative citations are provided.
46 F. Morenzoni, ed., Thomas de Chobham. Svmma de arte praedicandi, Corpvs Chris-
tianorvm Continuatio Mediaeualis (CCCM) 82 (Turnhout, 1988), vi, line 224; cf. vii, line
643: anima ... que est sponsa Christi.