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The First Treatise - CHAPTER XIII
Having said how in the Mother Tongue there are those two things which
have made me its friend, that is, nearness to me and its innate
goodness, I will tell how by kindness and union in study, and through
the benevolence of long use, the friendship is confirmed and grows.
Firstly, I say that I for myself have received from it the greatest
benefits. And, therefore, it is to be known that, amongst all
benefits, that is the greatest which is most precious to him who
receives it; and nothing is so precious as that through which all
other things are wished; and all the other things are wished for the
perfection of him who wishes. Wherefore, inasmuch as a man may have
two perfections, one first and one second (the first causes him to be,
the second causes him to be good), if the Native Language has been to
me the cause of the one and of the other, I have received from it the
greatest benefit. And that it may have been the cause of this
condition in me can be shown briefly. The efficient cause for the
existence of things is not one only, but among many efficient causes
one is the chief of the others, hence the fire and the hammer are the
efficient causes of the sword-blade, although the workman is
especially so. This my Mother Tongue was the bond of union between my
forefathers, who spoke with it, even as the fire is the link between
the iron and the smith who makes the knife; therefore it is evident
that it co-operated in my birth, and so it was in some way the cause
of my being. Again, this my Mother Tongue was my introducer into the
path of knowledge, which is the ultimate perfection, inasmuch as with
it I entered into the Latin Language, and with it I was taught; the
which Latin was then the way of further advancement for me. And so it
is evident and known by me that this my language has been my great
benefactor. Also it has been engaged with me in one self-same study,
and this I can thus prove. Each thing naturally studies its
self-preservation; hence, if the Mother Tongue could seek anything of
itself, it would seek that; and that would be to secure for itself a
position of the greatest stability: but greater stability it could not
secure than by uniting itself with number and with rhyme.
And this self-same study has been mine, as is so evident that it
requires no testimony; therefore its study and mine have been one and
the same, whereby the harmony of friendship is confirmed and
increased. Also between us there has been the benevolence of long use:
for from the beginning of my life I have had with it kind fellowship
and conversation, and have used it, when deliberating, interpreting,
and questioning; wherefore, if friendship increases through long use,
as in all reason appears, it is manifest that in me it has increased
especially, for with this my Mother Tongue I have spent all my time.
And thus one sees that to the shaping of this friendship there have
co-operated all causes of birth and growth. Therefore, let it be
concluded that not only Love, but the most Perfect Love, is that which
I have for it. So it is, and ought to be.
Thus, casting the eyes backwards and gathering up the afore-stated
reasons, one can see that this Bread, with which the Meat of the
under-written Poems ought to be eaten, is made clear enough of
blemishes, and of fault in the nature of its grain. Wherefore, it is
time to attend to and serve up the viands.
This will be that barley-bread with which a thousand will satisfy
themselves; and my full baskets shall overflow with it. This will be
that new Light, that new Sun, which shall rise when the sun of this
our day shall set, and shall give light to those who are in darkness
and in gloom because the sun of this our day gives light to them no
more. _
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