e, save the good work. Wherefore Augustine says
(De Civ. Dei xix, 19) that when the Apostle said, "'Whoever desireth
the office of bishop, desireth a good work,' he wished to explain
what the episcopacy is: for it denotes work and not honor: since
_skopos_ signifies 'watching.' Wherefore if we like we may render
_episkopein_ by the Latin _superintendere_ (to watch over): thus a
man may know himself to be no bishop if he loves to precede rather
than to profit others." For, as he observed shortly before, "in our
actions we should seek, not honor nor power in this life, since all
things beneath the sun are vanity, but the work itself which that
honor or power enables us to do." Nevertheless, as Gregory says
(Pastor. i, 8), "while praising the desire" (namely of the good work)
"he forthwith turns this object of praise into one of fear, when he
adds: It behooveth . . . a bishop to be blameless," as though to say:
"I praise what you seek, but learn first what it is you seek."

Reply Obj. 2: There is no parity between the religious and the
episcopal state, for two reasons. First, because perfection of life
is a prerequisite of the episcopal state, as appears from our Lord
asking Peter if he loved Him more than the others, before committing
the pastoral office to him, whereas perfection is not a prerequisite
of the religious state, since the latter is the way to perfection.
Hence our Lord did not say (Matt. 19:21): "If thou art perfect, go,
sell all [Vulg.: 'what'] thou hast," but "If thou wilt be perfect."
The reason for this difference is because, according to Dionysius
(Eccl. Hier. vi), perfection pertains actively to the bishop, as the
"perfecter," but to the monk passively as one who is "perfected": and
one needs to be perfect in order to bring others to perfection, but
not in order to be brought to perfection. Now it is presumptuous to
think oneself perfect, but it is not presumptuous to tend to
perfection. Secondly, because he who enters the religious state
subjects himself to others for the sake of a spiritual profit, and
anyone may lawfully do this. Wherefore Augustine says (De Civ. Dei
xix, 19): "No man is debarred from striving for the knowledge of
truth, since this pertains to a praiseworthy ease." On the other
hand, he who enters the episcopal state is raised up in order to
watch over others, and no man should seek to be raised thus,
according to Heb. 5:4, "Neither doth any man take the honor to
himself, but he th