105 speech “I am ashamed [says Udo] of the title of simpleton; I was ashamed of this, that my companions mocked me on account of my lack of knowledge; now, even more, I am ashamed that I was so learned and that, because of temporal knowledge, I fell into eternal confusion. “As one having to do with divine matters, I besought the Mother of Wisdom for wisdom, but I did not know what I was asking for; I did not realize that temporal knowledge most of all stands in the way of eternal life. “Having attained it — and for what? — having obtained therefore such unheard of knowledge, I lost on its account eternal life. “When this knowledge raised me to the dignity of bishop, there was born to me, like Solomon, lust as its daughter, which like in the dreaded example of the wise [who fell], cast my soul into the abyss of hell.” Oh, understand, youth, the unhappiness of Udo, and having become more circumspect on my account, place eternal life higher than the knowledge that passes like the wind. However, from the fire of Pluto, let us go to the cups of Bacchus, but let us speak of them in such a way as to know the punishment of eternal thirst. Pay attention, dear students, to this, how miserable, how shameful, [that] people die drinking pure, undiluted wine or some sort of other liquor. For either they murder each other on account of the most fiddling arguments, or having been drunk to unconsciousness by liquor, they give away or throw away their soul into the infernal fire. And in this manner, by the excess of knowledge, intoxicated as it were by young wine, they lose immortal life, just as the drunk lose their normal life. Therefore, properly we exhort with the words of the Prince of the Apostles: “For by the grace given to me I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than one ought to think, but to think soberly” (Rom 12:3). I am silent over the thousand other dangers, to which knowledge can expose the salvation of many people.
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