the mystical temple of god 614 It preserves the deposit which it had received for keeping, to the living, and restored it to the dead. If I do evil, it is present; but if I appear to do good, and then am praised, it is present. It is present to the living, it follows the dead. Everywhere it is my inseparable glory, or confusion, in accordance with the quality of the deposit. Thus, thus in my own home and from my own household I have accusers, witnesses, judges and tormentors. Conscience accuses me, memory is the witness, reason is the judge, pleasure is the prison, fear the torturer, delight my torture” (Med. Ch. 13).106 No Cicero accuses his Verres107 as effectively as does conscience, and at the same time it convicts, condemns, and tortures the sinner with his bad deed itself. Now this accuser is bound to us; even the Roman Sage108 acknowledged it when he said: “There is never any security in being hidden; even for those who are hidden, conscience proves them to be guilty and shows them who they are” (Ep. 97).109 Let us therefore follow conscience and we shall be saved. We have none closer to admonish us, and none more faithful, provided only that we do not corrupt it by choosing for ourselves teachers who tickle our ears.110 There is a fable that a lion with his damaged stomach began to breathe out an offensive breath. He asked a bear if he could smell it, and when he gave a frank answer, the lion, unable to endure the truth, ripped him apart. He then asked a wolf; who, having seen the violent death of the previous animal, denied smelling it; 106 Bernard, Meditations, Ch. XIII: “On the presence of the conscience everywhere,” n. 1, in: AMS., p. 351, and also in: PL 184, 503 (n. 332). 107 Verres (in Italian, Verre) discharged the office of proprietor in Sicily in the years 73-71 B.C. In the year 70, when he had already laid down this office, Verres was denounced by the Sicilians and accused of extortion, depredations, violence, and the immoderate exercise of his authority. He was taken to trial, which became very famous on account of the role that Cicero played in it. He demonstrated “such clear evidence, that Verres went voluntarily into exile without waiting for the second stage of the trial.” Cf. Arnaldi, Francesco, Cicerone: EL X, 200; Levi Narui Attilio, Verre, Gaio, in: ibid., XXXV, 189-190. 108 Seneca. See Ch. III, footnote 30 (p. 582). 109 Seneca, Books of Moral Epistles to Lucilius, IV, 194: Book XVI, epistle 2 (97) (Of Roman Writers…). 110 Cf. 2 Tim 4:3
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