Quia quaesisti a me, in Christo mihi charissime frater Joannes, quomodo oportet incedere in thesauro scientiae acquirendo, tale a me tibi super hoc traditur consilium : ut per rivulos, et non statim in mare, eligas introire; quia per faciha ad difficilia oportet devenire.

Huiusmodi est ergo monitio mea de vita tua :

Tardiloquum te esse iubeo, et tarde ad locutorium acceden- tem;

Conscientiae puritatem am-plecti;

Orationi vacare non desinas;

Cellam frequenter diligas, si vis in cellam vinariam introduci;

Omnibus amabilem te exhibeas, vel exhibere studeas; sed nem-ini familiärem te multum os-tendas; quia nimia familiaritas parit contemptum et retardationis materiam a studio subministrat;

Et de factis et verbis saecularium nullatenus te intromittas;

Discursum super omnia fugias;

Sanctorum et proborum virorum imitari vestigia non omittas.

Brother John, most dear to me in Christ: Since you have asked me how one should set about to acquire the treasure of knowledge, this is my advice to you concerning it: namely, that you should choose to enter, not straightway into the ocean, but by way of the little streams; for difficult things ought to be reached by way of easy ones.

The following, therefore, is my advice to you concerning your way of living:

I urge you to hesitate before speaking, and to hesitate before visiting the common room;

Hold fast to the cleanness of your conscience;

Do not cease from devoting time to prayer;

Love your cell by making constant use of it, if you want to be admitted into the wine-cellar;