First question. Again, the same religious appeared on his rung as before, and said: "O Judge, I ask you. Why are ugliness and beauty spoken of in the world?"

Second question. "Item. Why must I hate the world's beauty when I myself am beautiful and of noble descent?"

Third question. "Item. Why may I not extol myself above others although I am rich?"

Fourth question. "Item. Why may I not prefer myself to others although I am more honorable than they?"

Fifth question. "Item. Why may I not seek my own praise although I am good and praiseworthy?"

Sixth question. "Item. Why am I not to demand remuneration if I do convenient things for others?"

Response to the first question. The Judge replied: "Friend, the ugliness and the beauty of this world are like bitterness and sweetness. The ugliness of the world - which is its contempt and its adversity - is a profitable sort of bitterness that heals the just. The world's beauty is its prosperity; and this is a flattering sort of sweetness, but false and seductive. Therefore he who flees the beauty of the world and spits out its sweetness will not come to the ugliness of hell or taste its bitterness, but will ascend to my joy. Therefore, in order to escape the ugliness of hell and to acquire the sweetness of heaven, it is necessary to go after the world's ugliness rather than its beauty. For even though all things were well created by me and are all very good, nevertheless one must beware especially of those things which can furnish an occasion for the loss of the souls of those who use my gifts irrationally."

Response to the second question. "Item. As to why you must not glory in your descent, I answer that what you received from your father was worthless, putrid, and dirty; and that in your mother's womb you were as if dead and totally unclean. It was not in your power to be of born of noble or ignoble parents, but it was my pity and my goodness that brought you into this light. Therefore, you who call yourself noble, humble yourself under me, your God, who arranged for you to be born of nobles. Conform yourself to your neighbor; for he is of the same matter as you - although by my providence you have come from what is, in the eyes of the world, a lofty lineage and he from a lowly one. O you noble! Fear even more than he who is not noble, for the nobler and richer you are, the stricter will your accounting be and the greater your judgment because you have received more."

Response to the third question. "Item. As to why you must not take pride in riches, I answer: The world's riches are yours only for your necessary nourishment and clothing. The world was made in order that man - having sustenance for his body - might return, by means of labor and humility, to me, his God, whom he disobediently despised and for whom, in his pride, he had no care. Moreover, if you say that temporal goods are yours, I tell you for very certain that you, as it were, violently usurp for yourself all those things that you have beyond your necessities.

For all temporal goods ought to be common and, out of charity, equal for those in need. But you superfluously usurp for yourself things that should be given to others out of compassion. And yet, it is reasonable that many people have much more than others; they own it rationally and they distribute it with discretion. Therefore, lest you be reproved more gravely at the judgment because you have received greater things than others, you are advised not to put yourself above others by boasting and by hoarding. For delightful as it is in this world to have more temporal things than others and to enjoy an abundance, at the judgment it will be a fearsome and exceedingly grave matter if one has managed even licit things unreasonably."

Response to the fourth and fifth questions. "Item. As to why one must not seek personal praise, I answer: No one is good of himself except me, God alone; and everyone who is good has received that goodness from me. If then you, who are nothing, seek your own praise and not the praise of me, to whom belongs every perfect gift, false is your praise and you do an injustice to me, your Creator. Since all the goods that you have are from me, you should give to me all praise. And since I, your God, bestow upon you all temporal things - strength and health, conscience and discretion to think of what is more beneficial to yourself, and time and life - it is I who should be honored for all these things that have been given to you, if you manage them well and reasonably. But if you manage them badly, the fault and the ingratitude are yours alone."

Response to the sixth question. "Item. As to why one must not seek a temporal reward for good deeds in the present, I answer you: If anyone does good to others with the intention of caring not for a recompense from man but only for such as I, God, choose to give him, such a person shall have much in return for little, the eternal in place of the temporal. But he who seeks something earthly in exchange for something temporal will have what he desires but will lose what is everlasting. Therefore, in order to obtain the eternal in exchange for what is transitory, it is better to seek recompense not from man but from me."