may drink less. But if they perceive a man of whom they think that he might wish to rest (to be buried) with them after death, or of whom they hope that he may give them something, then they draw for him a good pittance,[1] and one pittance follows another, and with them a pittance signifies to drink deeply and to feed well. Thus have these poor people renounced the bodily pleasures of this world that there are no men who have a more delightful dwelling-place for their bodies. Kings, lords, princes have not always food and drink so good, and always ready. The cellars of worldly men are sometimes empty, theirs never. Kings and lords may not find their food cooked and roasted, and may even lack bread, but for them deliciously white bread is always ready.”
In the following two short chapters—VIII. and IX.—Hus discourses on simony among the lower clergy, and among the laity. Chapter IX., one of the most interesting, treats of those who indirectly abet simony, and shows how difficult it was at that time to avoid committing that sin. Among those here accused by Hus we find also the magisters of the university, and this affords to him the opportunity of introducing references to himself that, written with touching humility, appeal to all readers of his works. He writes: “Truly have I in the schools heard the magisters speak of humility, patience, poverty, courage, and other virtues, and very diligently and firmly did they speak, as if nothing could be better, and as if they fulfilled (possessed) all these virtues; but then in their deeds I found naught of these virtues, but a fulness of pride, avarice, impatience, and cowardice. And, as dear Christ states, they lay heavy burdens on the people, issuing their decrees, pressing forward to (obtain) the highest dignities of priesthood; and if men bow not before them like before gods, they wax angry; and if they are not placed at the highest
- ↑ The Bohemian word pitancie is identical with the English word pittance in the ancient monastical sense. Hus has here made a pun on the similarity of this word with the verb “piti” (to drink). It is impossible to render the pun in English.
