Augustine
PL 34, col. 226
English
'And the Spirit of God was borne above the water.' He was not borne above it as oil is above water, or water above earth, that is, as though he were contained; but, if examples are to be taken from visible things for this, as the light of the sun or moon is borne above the bodies it illuminates on earth: for it is not contained in them, but, while it is contained by the sky, it is borne above them. Likewise we must take care not to think the Spirit of God is borne above matter as though across spaces of place, but by a certain effecting and fashioning force, so that what he is borne above is effected and fashioned; as the will of a craftsman is borne above the wood, or above whatever thing is set under him to be worked, or even above the very limbs of his own body, which he moves in order to work.
Fresh draft (Claude), approved by Wilson Pruitt · cc-by
Latin
Et Spiritus Dei superferebatur super aquam. Non ita superferebatur sicut oleum aquae, vel aqua terrae, id est, quasi contineretur; sed, si ad hoc de visibilibus exempla capienda sunt, sicut superfertur lux ista solis aut lunae his corporibus, quae illuminat in terra: non enim continetur illis; sed cum coelo contineatur, istis superfertur. Item cavendum est ne quasi locorum spatiis Dei Spiritum superferri materiae putemus, sed vi quadam effectoria et fabricatoria, ut illud cui superfertur efficiatur, et fabricetur; sicut superfertur voluntas artificis ligno, vel cuique rei subjectae ad operandum, vel etiam ipsis membris corporis sui, quae ad operandum movet.
PL 34, col. 226 · pd
Notes
The craftsman image sharpened: will over wood, will over one's own limbs. Remigius, Bruno and Hugh's 'artifex' all come from here.
The craftsman's willPower, not place
Threads
- ← echoes · Angelomus of Luxeuil
'non localiter sed potentialiter … sicut superfertur rebus fabricandis voluntas artificis' is Augustine's craftsman (Gnl imp. §16 / Gnm I.5). - ← echoes · Rabanus Maurus
'in similitudinem fabri, cujus voluntas his quae fabricandae sunt rebus solet superferri' restates Augustine's voluntas artificis; 'positione loci' = 'spatia locorum'. - ← echoes · Remigius of Auxerre
'mens vel sapientia alicujus artificis superfertur operi' = voluntas artificis, with 'sapientia' added. - ← echoes · Bruno of Segni
'ut bonus artifex … disponebat' with the house-builder sorting timber elaborating Augustine's 'voluntas artificis ligno'. - ← echoes · Hugh of St Victor
'quasi artifex operi formando praeerat'; Hugh keeps the craftsman but replaces will with 'intentio'. - ← echoes · Nicholas of Lyra
Augustine's as the will of a craftsman is borne above the wood, reproduced almost word for word seven hundred years later without attribution, in a commentary that names its authorities constantly. That is the ordinary end state of a successful reading on this bench: it stops being anyone's.