lvation of faithful souls. Wherefore,
that the order of Preachers was principally instituted for the study of
the Holy Scriptures and the salvation of their neighbours, is declared
by their constitutions, so that not only from the rule of Bishop
Augustine, which directs books to be asked for every day, but as soon
as they have read the prologue of the said constitutions they may know
from the very title of the same that they are pledged to the love of
books.

But alas! a threefold care of superfluities, viz., of the stomach, of
dress, and of houses, has seduced these men and others following their
example from the paternal care of books, and from their study. For,
forgetting the providence of the Saviour (who is declared by the
Psalmist to think upon the poor and needy), they are occupied with the
wants of the perishing body, that their feasts may be splendid and
their garments luxurious, against the rule, and the fabrics of their
buildings, like the battlements of castles, carried to a height
incompatible with poverty. Because of these three things, we books,
who have ever procured their advancement and have granted them to sit
among the powerful and noble, are put far from their heart's affection
and are reckoned as superfluities; except that they rely upon some
treatises of small value, from which they derive strange heresies and
apocryphal imbecilities, not for the refreshment of souls, but rather
for tickling the ears of the listeners. The Holy Scripture is not
expounded, but is neglected and treated as though it were commonplace
and known to all, though very few have touched its hem, and though its
depth is such, as Holy Augustine declares, that it cannot be understood
by the human intellect, however long it may toil with the utmost
intensity of study. From this he who devotes himself to it
assiduously, if only He will vouchsafe to open the door who has
established the spirit of piety, may unfold a thousand lessons of moral
teaching, which will flourish with the freshest novelty and will
cherish the intelligence of the listeners with the most delightful
savours. Wherefore the first professors of evangelical poverty, after
some slight homage paid to secular science, collecting all their force
of intellect, devoted themselves to labours upon the sacred scripture,
meditating day and night on the law of the Lord. And whatever they
could steal from their famishing belly, or intercept from their
half-covered body