A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

144 kienzle and stevens
problems occurring there, but no specifijics are given. In Letter 83, dated
to 1165–1166, the abbot asked for the magistra’s counsel, and she in reply
(83R) cautioned against the workings of the devil, while alluding four
times to boldness (temeritas).37
The magistra juxtaposes these harsh words on lay brothers with the
striking vision of a hybrid creature with the body parts of a bear, an ox, an
ass, and a mountain goat.38 This creature serves as the point of departure
for a digression conveying rather bold moral instruction, as she explains
that each body part represents a moral type. The bearlike face and rear
feet stand for people who secretly have a bestial moral character and who
display the boldness (temeritas) that Hildegard criticitzes in Letter 83R.39
The tail of the beast indicates people who begin to live in humility and
poverty but fail to bring that to perfection.40 The three horns of the beast
represent occupations pursued in the world, the third constituting men
who claim to be spiritual but who engage in secular matters and strive
for wealth.41 Evidence indicates that lay brothers conducted the business
of the monastery, and therefore delved into the secular matters Hildegard
decries.42 The visionary lesson that Hildegard places within the larger
tropological interpretation of the scriptural passage serves to admonish
the prior about the perils the magistra sees in the mixed status of the lay
brothers.
Following the vision of the hybrid creature, the magistra returns to the
interpretation of the four animals. She asserts that the third animal with
the human face represents
. . . secular people who act with concern for both body and soul, and thus
through their good intentions, rise up to God, almost as if flying on wings,
because the righteous emit good desires from their hearts like rays of the
sun, whence they are seen to be just like angels.43
37 Letters, 1, 83, 83R, pp. 180–81; Epistolarium, I, 83, 83R, pp. 186–88.
38 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 187; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 196, ll. 225–26. “Et ego paupercula et
indocta feminea forma quandam bestia uidi.” The description continues on p. 196, ll.
226–33.
39 Letters, 1, 84R, pp. 187–88; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 196, ll. 234–35, 238–39: “Bestia
hec, cuius facies et anteriores pedes similes urso sunt, bestiales mores latenter
habentes . . . temeritatem et duritiam peruersitatis demonstrant.” See above, note 35 on
83R and the critique of boldness (temeritas).
40 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 188; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 197, ll. 246–47.
41 Letters, 1, 84R, p. 188; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 197, ll. 248–74.
42 Again, see Noell, “Expectation and Unrest,” pp. 253–74.
43 Letters, 1, 84R, pp. 188–89; Epistolarium, I, 84R, p. 198, ll. 285–89: “Et tertium animal,
habens faciem quasi hominis, seculares homines istos signifijicat qui opera sua cum
sollicitudine corporis et anime faciunt, et tamen bona intentione ad Deum ascendunt,