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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XIV: De resecando amore laudis humanae, quoniam iustorum gloria omnis in deo sit. huic igitur cupiditati melius resistitur sine dubitatione quam ceditur.

Tanto enim quisque est deo similior, quanto et ab hac inmunditia mundior. quae in hac uita etsi non funditus eradicatur ex corde, quia etiam bene proficientes animos tentare non cessat, saltem cupiditas gloriae superetur dilectione iustitiae: ut, si alicubi iacent quae apud quosque inprobantur, si bona, si recta sunt, etiam ipse amor humanae laudis erubescat et cedat amori ueritatis. tam enim est hoc uitium inimicum piae fidei, si maior in corde sit cupiditas gloriae quam dei timor uel amor, ut dominus diceret: quomodo potestis credere gloriam ab inuicem expectantes et gloriam quae a solo deo est non quaerentes? item de quibusdam, qui in eum crediderant et uerebantur palam confiteri, ait euangelista: dilexerunt gloriam hominum magis quam dei. quod sancti apostoli non fecerunt; qui cum in his locis praedicarent Christi nomen, ubi non solum inprobabatur - sicut ille ait: iacentque ea semper, quae apud quosque inprobantur - , uerum etiam summae detestationis habebatur, tenentes quod audierant a bono magistro eodemque medico mentium: si quis me negauerit coram hominibus, negabo eum coram patre meo, qui in caelis est, uel coram angelis dei, inter maledicta et obprobria, inter grauissimas persecutiones crudelesque poenas non sunt deterriti a praedicatione salutis humanae tanto fremitu offensionis humanae. et quod eos diuina facientes atque dicentes diuineque uiuentes debellatis quodammodo cordibus duris atque introducta pace iustitiae ingens in ecclesia Christi gloria consecuta est: non in ea tamquam in suae uirtutis fine quieuerunt, sed eam quoque ipsam ad dei gloriam referentes, cuius gratia tales erant, isto quoque fomite eos, quibus consulebant, ad amorem illius, a quo et ipsi tales fierent, accendebant. namque ne propter humanam gloriam boni essent, docuerat eos magister illorum dicens: cauete facere iustitiam uestram coram hominibus, ut uideamini ab eis; alioquin mercedem non habebitis apud patrem uestrum, qui in caelis est. sed rursus ne hoc peruerse intellegentes hominibus placere metuerent minusque prodessent latendo, quod boni sunt, demonstrans quo fine innotescere deberent: luceant, inquit, opera uestra coram hominibus, ut uideant bona facta uestra et glorificent patrem uestrum, qui in caelis est. non ergo ut uideamini ab eis, id est hac intentione, ut eos ad uos conuerti uelitis, quia non per uos aliquid estis; sed ut glorificent patrem uestrum, qui in caelis est, ad quem conuersi fiant quod estis. hos secuti sunt martyres, qui Scaeuolas et Curtios et Decios non sibi inferendo poenas, sed inlatas ferendo et uirtute uera, quoniam uera pietate, et innumerabili multitudine superarunt. sed cum illi essent in ciuitate terrena, quibus propositus erat omnium pro illa officiorum finis incolumitas eius et regnum non in caelo, sed in terra; non in uita aeterna, sed in decessione morientium et successione moriturorum: quid aliud amarent quam gloriam, qua uolebant etiam post mortem tamquam uiuere in ore laudantium?

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The City of God

Chapter 14.--Concerning the Eradication of the Love of Human Praise, Because All the Glory of the Righteous is in God.

It is, therefore, doubtless far better to resist this desire than to yield to it, for the purer one is from this defilement, the liker is he to God; and, though this vice be not thoroughly eradicated from his heart,--for it does not cease to tempt even the minds of those who are making good progress in virtue,--at any rate, let the desire of glory be surpassed by the love of righteousness, so that, if there be seen anywhere "lying neglected things which are generally discredited," if they are good, if they are right, even the love of human praise may blush and yield to the love of truth. For so hostile is this vice to pious faith, if the love of glory be greater in the heart than the fear or love of God, that the Lord said, "How can ye believe, who look for glory from one another, and do not seek the glory which is from God alone?" ¹ Also, concerning some who had believed on Him, but were afraid to confess Him openly, the evangelist says, "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God;" ² which did not the holy apostles, who, when they proclaimed the name of Christ in those places where it was not only discredited, and therefore neglected,--according as Cicero says, "Those things are always neglected which are generally discredited,"--but was even held in the utmost detestation, holding to what they had heard from the Good Master, who was also the physician of minds, "If any one shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven, and before the angels of God," ³ amidst maledictions and reproaches, and most grievous persecutions and cruel punishments, were not deterred from the preaching of human salvation by the noise of human indignation. And when, as they did and spake divine things, and lived divine lives, conquering, as it were, hard hearts, and introducing into them the peace of righteousness, great glory followed them in the church of Christ, they did not rest in that as in the end of their virtue, but, referring that glory itself to the glory of God, by whose grace they were what they were, they sought to kindle, also by that same flame, the minds of those for whose good they consulted, to the love of Him, by whom they could be made to be what they themselves were. For their Master had taught them not to seek to be good for the sake of human glory, saying, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them, or otherwise ye shall not have a reward from your Father who is in heaven." ⁴ But again, lest, understanding this wrongly, they should, through fear of pleasing men, be less useful through concealing their goodness, showing for what end they ought to make it known, He says, "Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." ⁵ Not, observe, "that ye may be seen by them, that is, in order that their eyes may be directed upon you,"--for of yourselves ye are, nothing,--but "that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven," by fixing their regards on whom they may become such as ye are. These the martyrs followed, who surpassed the Scaevolas, and the Curtiuses, and the Deciuses, both in true virtue, because in true piety, and also in the greatness of their number. But since those Romans were in an earthly city, and had before them, as the end of all the offices undertaken in its behalf, its safety, and a kingdom, not in heaven, but in earth,--not in the sphere of eternal life, but in the sphere of demise and succession, where the dead are succeeded by the dying,--what else but glory should they love, by which they wished even after death to live in the mouths of their admirers?