Preface to the

bird its feathers, the fish its scales, the sheep its wool, to many other animals their hair, and to some their horns or hooves, or to the snail its house, etc. But of man he says: Solus homo inermis nascitur & nudus. Man alone is born defenseless and naked. Man is born without any advantage of the body, or without protection, and entirely naked. Furthermore, Innocentius writes as follows regarding human misery: Formatus est homo de luto, de pulvere & de cinere, quodcunq; est, vilissimo, & spurcissimo spermate, conceptus in fatore luxuriae, quodq; deterius est, in labe peccati, natus ad laborem, timorem, dolorem, miserrimus ad mortem. Man is formed of mud, of dust, and of ashes, of the most vile and filthy seed, conceived in the stench of lust, and what is worse, in the stain of sin, born to labor, fear, and pain, most miserable unto death. Thus says Augustinus in his sermon on the words of the Lord, Sermon 17: Quid est diu vivere, nisi diu torqueri? What is long life, if not long torture? He complains similarly of the brevity of human life in the preceding sermon, and likewise over Psalm 36. Regarding the saying of James 4, Quae est enim vita nostra &c. What is our life, etc., he writes: Vita haec est vita dubia, vita caeca, vita erumnosa, quam humores tumidant, dolores extenuant, ardores exiccant, aer morbidat, esca inflant, ieiunia macerant, ioci dissoluunt, tristitia consumunt, solicitudo coarctat, securitas hebetat, diuitiae inflant, paupertas dejicit, iuuentus extollit, senectus incurvat, infirmitas frangit, meror deprimit, & post haec omnia mors interimit, vniuersis gaudijs finem imponit, ita ut cum esse desierit, nec fuisse putetur. This life is a dubious life, a blind life, a wretched life, which humors swell, pains thin, heats dry, air makes sickly, food bloats, fasts wither, jokes dissolve, sadness consumes, anxiety constricts, security dulls, riches puff up, poverty casts down, youth elevates, old age stoops, infirmity breaks, grief depresses, and after all this, death kills, putting an end to all joys, so that when it ceases to be, it is as if it had never been. Ambrosius in his sermon on Lent: Tantis malis haec vita repleta est, ut comparatione eius mors remedium putetur esse, non pœna &c. This life is filled with so many evils that, by comparison, death is thought to be a remedy, not a punishment, etc. What Gregorius and others among the ancient fathers and teachers write to this effect must also be set aside here, for we only wish to set forth a few testimonies.