As mentioned above, our to-ing and fro-ing from place to place is one of the six kinds of movement listed by Bartholomew as symptomatic of this world’s instability. In the work as a whole, the reader’s attention is constantly drawn to images of rest and refreshment after labour or travel. Secular workers and travellers — the labourer, overseer, household servant, builder, land surveyor, foot-traveller, seaman and so on — populate the text, as well as animal workers such as the bee, ox, ass and dog. Among flying creatures, the dove carries letters for long distances at great personal risk; the crane flies far, calls loudly, watches sleeplessly and is ready for battle; the hen looks after her chicks and the bee works all day at a range of tasks. Work can be painful but rewarding: Bartholomew describes the ox as a good animal but one that suffers a lot from outward and inward causes; it has to look at the ground because of the yoke but it loves its fellow, and is loved and cared for by its master. The companion chapter on the ox-herd fills out the picture of obedient labour. Here, Bartholomew gives the reader a glimpse of the ploughman at work, yoking and driving his oxen to and fro, but coaxing them with whistling and songs and giving them refreshment at the end of the day.^[65] There is a strong narrative feel to these chapters on the patient ox and the whistling ploughman going about their work, inviting the reader to recall experience of pain and weariness, solace and friendship, as well as of actual labour in the fields.^[66] The glosses confirm that clerical readers could understand the imagery of the plough to be about their own work, trials and rewards; glosses on the ox include: ‘Take note concerning the prelate’s piety and compassion; of the work of prelates and scholars; against those who disparage prelates; of the martyrs; of confessors and their office; of preachers; of preaching.’^[67] Glosses on the ox-herd emphasise the disciplinary role of the prelate over subordinates: ‘Take note concerning the office of the prelate; of the correcting guidance of prelates; of the correction of subordinates.’^[68] We can see why Bartholomew could place bubulcus next to bos in Book 18; from the preacher’s point of view, as well as the ploughman’s, they form a team.

In Book 9, evening is described as the time when watchmen take their place on walls and turrets, and when working men and animals are rewarded, paid and allowed to rest. The whole chapter on evening is a naturalistic description of the day’s end — shadows lengthening, nocturnal creatures emerging, plants closing, moisture rising, the chilling of the air on the skin, flocks being gathered in and watches set. The homely phrase ‘In the evening dogs can hardly be told from wolves’ implies both physical and spiritual danger.^[69] Here are opportunities for the reader to meditate on the close of life. In the work as a whole the repeated references to evening, with its properties of obscurity, imminent danger and need for refuge, keep readers aware of the ending of life and of the uncertainty of what comes after: will they have earned salvation and reward in the Lord’s mansions, or a painful and ignominious casting-out?^[70]