Observations on wisdom and folly, ambition and detraction.
Considering the great difference betwen wisdom and follie, 4. it behoueth to resist vehement tentations diligently. 5. As when euil, & ignorant men haue auctoritie ouer the wise. 8. The wicked often fal into their owne snares, 10. are hard, yet not vnpossible to be corrected. 11. Detracters are like serpents. 12. wise graue princes are profitable; childish are hurtful to the commonwealth; 18. which by their negligence tendeth to ruine: 20. yet subiectes ought not to iudge euil of them.
1Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment. Wisdom and glory is more precious than a small and shortlived folly.Le mosche morte nell'unguento ne guastano la soavità. Val più la piccola stoltezza a tempo, che la saggezza e la gloria.FLIES dying marre the sweetnes of ointment. Wisdom and glorie is more precious, then a litle and temporal follie.Muscæ morientes perdunt suavitatem unguenti. / Pretiosior est sapientia et gloria, / parva et ad tempus stultitia. 2The heart of a wise man is in his right hand, and the heart of a fool is in his left hand.Il cuore del saggio va a destra: il cuor dello stolto a sinistra.The hart of a wiseman is in his righthand, and the hart of a foole is in his lefthand.Cor sapientis in dextera ejus, / et cor stulti in sinistra illius. 3Yea, and the fool when he walketh in the way, whereas he himself is a fool, esteemeth all men fools.E di più lo stolto facendo sua strada, sendo egli privo di senno, tutti gli altri giudica stolti.Yea and the foole walking in the way, wheras himself is vnwise, estemeth al men fooles.Sed et in via stultus ambulans, / cum ipse insipiens sit, / omnes stultos æstimat. 4If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease.Se lo spirito del potente si muove contro di te, non abbandonare il tuo posto: perocché la curazione toglierà grandissimi peccati.If the spirite of him that hath powre, ascend vpon thee, leaue not thy place: because carefulnes wil make the greatest sinnes to cease.Si spiritus potestatem habentis ascenderit super te, / locum tuum ne demiseris, / quia curatio faciet cessare peccata maxima. 5There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as it were by an error proceeding from the face of the prince:V'ha un disordine, che io ho veduto sotto del sole come derivante da errore del principe.There is an euil that I haue sene vnder the sunne, as it were by errour proceding from the face of the prince:Est malum quod vidi sub sole, / quasi per errorem egrediens a facie principis: 6A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting beneath.Uno stolto è messo in altissima dignità, e que' che son ricchi, si stanno a basso.a foole set in high dignitie, and the rich to sitte beneth.positum stultum in dignitate sublimi, / et divites sedere deorsum. 7I have seen servants upon horses: and princes walking on the ground as servants.Vidi degli schiavi a cavallo, e de'principi, che camminavano a piedi, come gli schiavi.I haue sene seruants vpon horses: and princes walking on the ground as seruants.Vidi servos in equis, / et principes ambulantes super terram quasi servos.
8He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.Chi scava la fossa, vi caderà dentro; e chi rompe la siepe, sarà morso dalla serpe.He that diggeth a pitte, shal fal into it: and he that breaketh the hedge, a serpent shal bite him.Qui fodit foveam incidet in eam, / et qui dissipat sepem mordebit eum coluber. 9He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them: and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded by them.Chi smuove le pietre ne resterà offeso; e chi fende le legna si farà del male.He that remoueth stones, shal be afflicted in them: and he that cutteth trees, shal be wounded of them.Qui transfert lapides affligetur in eis, / et qui scindit ligna vulnerabitur ab eis. 10If the iron be blunt, and be not as before, but be made blunt, with much labour it shall be sharpened: and after industry shall follow wisdom.Se il ferro è diventato ottuso, e non è come prima, ma ha perduto il taglio, si affila con molta fatica: (così) la sapienza va dietro all'industria.If the iron shal be blunt, and that not as before, but shal be made blunt, it shal be sharpened by great labour, and after industrie shal wisdom solow.Si retusum fuerit ferrum, / et hoc non ut prius, sed hebetatum fuerit, / multo labore exacuetur, / et post industriam sequetur sapientia. 11If a serpent bite in silence, he is nothing better that backbiteth secretly.Il detrattore occulto non è da meno di una serpe, che morde senza romore.If a serpent bite in silence, nothing lesse then it hath he, that detracteth seo•etly.Si mordeat serpens in silentio, / nihil eo minus habet qui occulte detrahit. 12The words of the mouth of a wise man are grace: but the lips of a fool shall throw him down headlong.Le parole della bocca di un sapiente hanno grazia; le labbra dello stolto sono la sua rovina.The wordes of the mouth of a wiseman grace: and the lippes of the vnwise shal throw him downe headlong.Verba oris sapientis gratia, / et labia insipientis præcipitabunt eum; 13The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his talk is a mischievous error.Il principio delle parole di lui è stoltezza, e la fine de' suoi discorsi è gravissimo errore.The beginning of his wordes is follie, and the later end of his mouth is most wicked errour.initium verborum ejus stultitia, / et novissimum oris illius error pessimus. 14A fool multiplieth words. A man cannot tell what hath been before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell him?Lo stolto ciancia molto. Quest'uomo non sa quel, che fu prima di lui; e quello sia per esser dopo di lui, chi potrà mai insegnarlo?A foole multiplieth wordes. A man is ignorant what hath bene before him: and what shal be after him, who can tel him?Stultus verba multiplicat. / Ignorat homo quid ante se fuerit; / et quid post se futurum sit, quis ei poterit indicare ?
15The labour of fools shall afflict them that know not how to go to the city.Le fatiche degli stolti saranno il loro tormento, perch'ei non sanno la strada per andare alla città.The labour of fooles shal afflict them, that know not to goe into the cittie.Labor stultorum affliget eos, / qui nesciunt in urbem pergere. 16Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and when the princes eat in the morning.Guai a te, o terra, che hai per re un fanciullo: ed ove i prìncipi mangiano di buon mattino.Woe to thee ô land, whose king is a childe, and whose princes eate in the morning.Væ tibi, terra, cujus rex puer est, / et cujus principes mane comedunt. 17Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in due season for refreshment, and not for riotousness.Beata la terra, che ha un re nobile, e della quale i prìncipi mangiano al tempo usato per ristorarsi, non per gozzovigliare.Blessed is the land, whose king is noble, & whose princes eate in their time to refection, and not to riotousnes.Beata terra cujus rex nobilis est, / et cujus principes vescuntur in tempore suo, / ad reficiendum, et non ad luxuriam. 18By slothfulness a building shall be brought down, and through the weakness of hands, the house shall drop through.Per la pigrizia, e per la infingardaggine delle mani (del padrone), il palco della casa darà giù, e vi pioverà dentro.In slouthfulnes the roofe of the house shal goe to ruine, & in the infirmitie of the handes the house shal droppe through.In pigritiis humiliabitur contignatio, / et in infirmitate manuum perstillabit domus. 19For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living may feast: and all things obey money.Il pane, e il vino usano per riso vivendo per crapolare: e tutto ubbidisce al denaro.They make bread for laughter, and wine that liuing they may make merie: and to money al thinges obey.In risum faciunt panem et vinum / ut epulentur viventes; / et pecuniæ obediunt omnia. 20Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou hast said.Non parlar male del re col tuo pensiero: e non criticare il ricco nel secreto della tua camera, perché gli uccelli dell'aria porteranno la tua parola, e i volatili riferiranno i tuoi sentimenti.In thy cogitation detract not from the king, and in the secret of thy chamber curse not the richman: because euen the birdes of the ayre wil carie thy voice, and he that hath winges wil declare the sentence.In cogitatione tua regi ne detrahas, / et in secreto cubiculi tui ne maledixeris diviti: / quia et aves cæli portabunt vocem tuam, / et qui habet pennas annuntiabit sententiam.
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Pliny
Ointment. A fly cannot live in it. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 11:19.)
St. Augustine
Hence the smallest faults must be avoided, (Calmet) and superfluous cares, (St. Gregory) as well as the conversation of the wicked, (Thaumat.) particularly of heretics. (St. Augustine, contra Fulg. 14.)
Calmet
Detractors may be compared to flies: they seek corruption, etc. A little leaven corrupteth the whole lump, 1 Corinthians 5:6. (Calmet)
Worthington
The wicked infect their companions, and vice destroys all former virtues. (Worthington)
Horace
Wisdom, or "a small....folly is more precious than wisdom," etc., of the world, 1 Corinthians 1:25., and 3:18. Dulce est desipere in loco. (Horace, 4:ode 12.)
Calmet
Hebrew, "folly spoils things more precious than wisdom." A small fault is often attended with the worst consequences, (chap. 9:18.) as David and Roboam experienced, 2 Kings xxiv., and 3 Kings 12:14. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "a little wisdom is to be honoured above the great glory of foolishness." Protestants, "dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking flavour; so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour." (Haydock)
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Hand, to do well or ill, Deuteronomy 1:39., and Jonas 4:11. (Chaldean)
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Calmet
Fools. People judge others by themselves. (Calmet)
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Place. If the devil tempt or persuade thee to sin, repent and humble thyself; or if thou hast offended the great, shew submission.
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Prince, who seems to have been guilty of any indiscretion.
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Him. Those who disturb the state or the Church, shall be in danger.
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Stones. Landmarks or walls, Proverbs 22:18.
Them. God will punish his injustice, in meddling with another's property.
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Haydock
Made blunt. After being repeatedly sharpened, (Calmet) it will be more difficult to cut with it, and will expose the person to hurt himself, ver. 9. (Haydock)
Man, since original sin, is in a similar condition.
Calmet
Wisdom. The wise perform great things even with bad tools. Hebrew, "wisdom is the best directress." (Calmet)
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Haydock
Silence. Protestants, "without enchantment, and a babbler is no better." (Haydock)
St. Jerome
But he compares the detractor to a serpent, (Calmet) as he infuses the poison into all who pay attention to him. (St. Jerome; St. Bernard)
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Calmet
Grace. Pleasing and instructive. (Calmet)
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Tell him. How foolish, therefore, is it to speak about every thing!
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Calmet
City. Being so stupid, that they know not, or will not take the pains to find what is most obvious. (Calmet)
Calmet
Thus the pagan philosophers knew all but what they ought to have known; (St. Jerome) and many such wise worldlings never strive to discover the paths which lead to the city of eternal peace: like him who contemplated the stars, and fell into a ditch. (Calmet)
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Haydock
When thy. Hebrew literally, "whose," cujus, as [in] ver. 17. (Haydock)
Worthington
St. Jerome give two senses to this passage, the literal and the mystical, according to his usual custom. The dominion of young men and of luxurious judges is reproved, as well as innovations in matters of religion, Isaias 3:4. Those are blessed who have Christ for their head, descending from the patriarchs and saints, (over whom sin ruled not, and who of course were free) and from the blessed Virgin [Mary], who was "more free." They have the apostles for princes, who sought not the pleasures of this world, but will be rewarded, in due time, and eat without confusion. (T. 7.) (Worthington)
Child. Minorities often prove dangerous to the state, while regents cannot agree.
Morning, as children eat at all times. This may relate to the ruler who is a child in age, or in knowledge, though it seems rather to refer to his counsellors, Isaias 5:11.
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Montanus
Noble. Royal extraction, (Esthlon genesthai. Euripides, Hec.) and education, afford many advantages which others, who raise themselves to the throne, do not enjoy. Hebrew, "the son of those in white," (Calmet) or "of heroes." (Montanus)
Calmet
Eurim, (Haydock) or Chorim seems to have given rise to the word Hero. The advantages of birth only make the defects of degenerate children more observable. (Calmet)
Heroum filii noxae. "The sons of heroes are a nuisance," (Haydock) was an ancient proverb.
Season. The time was not fixed; but it was deemed a mark of intemperance to eat before noon, when judges ought to have decided causes, Daniel 13:7., and Acts 2:15.
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Through. If we neglect our own, or other's soul, (Haydock) in the administration of Church, (St. Jerome) or state, all will go to ruin.
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Horace
Feast. As if they were born for this purpose, (Philippians 3:19.; Calmet) fruges consumere nati. (Horace, I. ep. 2.)
Money.
Horace
Scilicet uxorem cum dote fidemque et amicos, Et genus, et formam regina pecunia donet. (Horace, 1:ep. 6.)
Calmet
Hebrew, "money answers all purposes," (Haydock) to procure meat, drink, etc. (Calmet)
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Calmet
Said. Pigeons are taught to carry letters in the east, and Solomon alludes to this custom, or he makes use of this hyperbole to shew, that kings will discover the most secret inclinations by means of spies. We must not speak ill even of those who are worthy of blame, ver. 16. (Calmet)
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Base & vicions me• mixt with the good corrups the whole companie: much more a mortal sinne in a mans soule destroyeth al the vertues, that were there before.
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Euil men aduanced seme to prosper:
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But they fal into their owne trappes
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Such as seke by sense and reason to obtaine true knowlege, enter not into the citie, the Church: They labour in vaine and are afflicted in studie of Scriptures, when they walke in the desert, and can not finde the citie. S. Ierom.
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16 VVoe to thee o land, vvhose king is a childe.] S. Ierom (as in most part of This text, and manie others, haue two senses. his commentaries vpon this booke) expoundeth this passage in two senses: simply according to the first apparance of the letter; and mystically concerning the Church. The wiseman semeth in dede (sayth he) to reproue the principalitie of yongmen, and to condemne luxurious iudges; for that in the 1. In kinges and al superiors are required mature age, & diligent care of the cōmon good. one by want of age is infirme wisdom; in the other, mature age is weakened by delicacies. And contrary wise he approueth a prince of good partes, & liberal education; & commendeth those Iudges, which do not preferre voluptuousnes before publique affayres: but after great labour, and administration of the commonwealth, are constrained as by necessitie to take meate. Yet to me (saith this great Doctor) something more sacred semeth to lye hidde in the letter: that in Scripture they are called yongmen, who forsake old auctoritie, and contemne ancient precepts of forefathers; who neglecting Gods commandment 2. Antiquitie in matter of faith and religion is to be folowed, not noueltie. desire to establish traditions of men. Touching which points, our Lord threatneth Israel by Isaias, for that this people hath refused the water of Siloe, Iya. 8. that runneth with silence, and hath turned away the old fishpond, choosing the streames of Samaria, and gulfes of Damascus, I wil geue yongmen to be their princes, and deluders shal rule ouer them. Read Daniel: Thou shalt finde God ancient of dayes. Read the Apocalips of S. Iosu; Thou shalt finde the head of Dan 7. Apoc. 1. Iere. 1. our Sauiour white as snow, and as white wool. Ieremie also because he was wise and grauitie was reputed in his wisdom, was forbid to cal himself a childe. Also mortification and labour is required in Pastors, not delicacie nor ease. VVoe therfore to the land, whose king is the diuel, who alwayes couering nouelties, rebelled in Absalom against the father. VVoe to that land whose Iudges, and Princes loue the pleasures of this vvorld. VVho, vntil the day of death come, say: Let vs eate and drinke, for to morow we shal dye. Contrarivvise blessed is the land of the Church, vvhose King is Christ, the Sonne of the freeborne, descending from Abraham, Isaac, and Iacob, the stock of Prophetes, and of al Saintes, ouer vvhom sinne ruled not: and for that cause they The B. Virgin Marie more free from sinne then the Patriarches. vvere truly free: of vvhom vvas borne the holie Virgin Marie more free: hauing no shrubbe, nor branch out of the side, but her vvhole fruite sprungforth into a floure: saying in the Canticles: I am the floure of the filde, the lillie of the valles. The princes also of this land are the Apostles, and al Cant. 2. sainctes, vvho haue their king the sonne of the freeborne, the sonne of the freevvoman, not of the bondvvoman Agar, but borne of the freedom of Sara. Neither do they eate in the morning, nor quickly. For they seke not pleasure in this present vvorld; but shal eate in their due time, vvhen the time of revvard shal come, and they shal eate in fortitude, and not in confusion. Al the good of this present vvorld is confusion: but of the future vvorld is perpetual fortitude. Thus farre S. Ierom. VVhose discourse vve haue here cited at large for a taste of his profound exposition of this vvhole booke; that such as haue apportunitie, may read the rest in the auctor himself. To. 7.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 44
… “How bright,” says the psalmist, “is the cup of the Lord, intoxicating them that drink it!” Moreover, when you offer to matrons little fly-flaps to brush away mosquitoes, it is a charming way of hinting that they should at once check voluptuous feelings, for “dying flies,” we are told, “spoil sweet ointment.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 1.14
… from that to the elephant, and at last to man; and persuaded a man that man was not made by God. Thus the miserable man, being troubled with the flies, became himself a fly, and the property of the devil. In fact, Beelzebub, they say, means “Prince of flies;” and of these it is written, “Dying flies deprive the ointment of its sweetness.”
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St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 2
Let us praise Him, Who prevailed and quickened us by His stripes! Praise we Him, Who took away the curse by His thorns! Praise we Him Who put death to death by His dying! Praise we Him, Who held His peace and justified us! Praise we Him, Who rebuked death that had overcome us! Blessed He, Whose helpful graces cleansed out the left side!
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 18.16
… and of these, because they are altogether false, vain is the hope of cure, while the deadly poison which they will not produce is lurking in their veins. Of which the wisest of men has fitly said: “If a serpent bite without hissing, there is no supply for the charmer.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 3.2.1
… In the book of Ecclesiastes, too, Solomon says, “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for soundness will restrain many transgressions.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 3.2.4
… “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for soundness restrains great offences.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 2.3
3. Yet thou art not the sole author of the evil, but there is also another most wicked prompter, the devil. He indeed suggests, but does not get the mastery by force over those who do not consent. Therefore saith the Preacher, If the spirit of him that hath power rise up against thee, quit not thy place
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 2.7
… David also draws the distinction in a few words between the faults due to his own will and the incentives of vice when he says “Cleanse thou me from my secret faults, and keep back thy servant from alien sins.” We read also in Ecclesiastes
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.26
… Otherwise while you linger He may pass on and you may have mournfully to say: “I opened to my beloved, but my beloved was gone.” Why need the doors of your heart be closed to the Bridegroom? Let them be open to Christ but closed to the devil according to the saying: “If the spirit of him who hath power rise up against thee, leave not thy place.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 130.8
8. In speaking thus I do not wish to utter an ill-omened prophecy against you but only to warn you as an apprehensive and prudent monitor who in your case fears even what is safe. What says the scripture? “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 1.19
… and again also “after the sop,” he says, “Satan entered into him.” Peter also says to Ananias: “Why hath Satan tempted thine heart, to lie to the Holy Ghost?” And that which we read in the gospel much earlier as predicted by Ecclesiastes: “If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 7.14
Germanus : In this way, which you describe, those spirits cannot possibly see into our thoughts. But we think it utterly absurd to hold such an opinion, when Scripture says: “If the spirit of him that hath power ascend upon thee;”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.50
… so far are they from being even wise enough to perceive their own ignorance. And we may rightly, in my opinion, apply to them the saying of Solomon: There is an evil which I have seen under the sun,
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 11
… for when they erred concerning the Scriptures, they knew not that ‘he who diggeth a pit for his neighbour falleth therein; and he who destroyeth a hedge, a serpent shall bite him
St Vincent of Lérins † AD 445 The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies 21
… whereas the divine Oracles cry aloud, “Remove not the landmarks, which thy fathers have set,” and “Go not to law with a Judge,” and “Whoso breaketh through a fence a serpent shall bite him,”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.87
In Ecclesiasticus, in Solomon: “He that cleaveth firewood shall be endangered by it if the iron shall fall off.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.19
… thou slanderest thine own mother’s son,” and lest you become as “the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows,” and as the man whose “words were softer than oil yet were they drawn swords.” The Preacher expresses this more clearly still when he says: “Surely the serpent will bite where there is no enchantment, and the slan derer is no better.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 2.11
… And this meaning we see is neatly expressed in a figure in Ecclesiastes. “If” says he “a serpent bite without hissing there is no sufficiency for the charmer,”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 12.6
… And if we ask the cause of the misery of the bad, it occurs to us, and not unreasonably, that they are miserable because they have forsaken Him who supremely is, and have turned to themselves who have no such essence. And this vice, what else is it called than pride? For “pride is the beginning of sin.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 74.13
… “Thou hast broken the head of the dragon.” That is, the beginning of sin. That head is the part which received the curse, to wit that the seed of Eve should mark the head of the serpent. For the Church was admonished to shun the beginning of sin. Which is that beginning of sin, like the head of a serpent? The beginning of all sin is pride.
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.24
… And this also Ecclesiastes has pretty significantly expressed saying: “The labour of fools wearies those who know not how to go to the city;” viz., that “heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all.”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 61
… I am grieved too that Libya, a neighbouring country, should suffer from our evils, and should have been delivered to the inhumanity of a man whose life is marked at once by cruelty and crime. This however is only in accordance with the wisdom of the Preacher, “Woe to thee O land when thy King is a child;”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.73
… or like the foundation laid upon the sand, which could not even make a slight resistance to the rain and the winds. Woe to thee, O city, whose king is a child,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 17.20
… “Woe to thee, O land,” he says, “when thy king is a youth, and thy princes eat in the morning! Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in season, in fortitude, and not in confusion!”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.17
… for “by slothfulness a building is cast down, and through the weakness of hands the house shall drop through.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) 3
… I am not so mad, Sire, nor have I forgotten that divine utterance which says, ‘Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter
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First, Cajetan thus expounds it, as if to say: Just as a fly defiles ointment, so a fool, namely a detractor and calumniator, defiles the name and reputation of the wise man. For just as flies settle upon unclean things in unclean carcasses, so a detractor occupies himself with nothing but the vices of others, so that he may reveal true things and fabricate false ones. Again, certain flies are venomous, so too is the tongue of a detractor venomous. Finally, the dishonesty and shamelessness of a fly is as well-known as that of a detractor: hence it was called cynomyia, that is, a dog-fly, in Exodus, chapter VIII, verse 24. And Diogenes was called Cynicus, that is, dog-like, because like a dog and a dog-fly he would bark at and bite all with his witticisms, and sprinkle infamy upon them. But truly no mention is made here of a detractor. Add that "dying" does not rightly suit a detractor, who lives and thrives in curses. In a similar way, conversely, parasites and flatterers could be understood by flies, who corrupt the minds of princes by flattery. For these are similar to flies, because they seek out others' tables, as flies do. Whence that Parasite in Athenaeus, book VI, says: When invited to dine, I love to do so; I am a fly. In the same place Hegesander relates that when Alexander said he was being bitten by flies (thus he called parasites), and was already trying to drive them away, Cinesias, one of his retinue, who happened to be present, said: "Truly other flies, more thirsty, will press upon you more, once they have tasted your blood." Second, R. Haccados and John Ferus understand by flies spies and traitors. For a fly curiously invades what is foreign, and goes through and examines all things, so that these might be reported to the war and the besieged city, of which in the preceding chapter, verse 13, as if to say: Just as flies destroy the most precious ointment, so traitors who curiously explore all things, and faithless counselors destroy cities and republics. Hence Plautus in the Merchant thus depicts a curious man: My father is a fly; nothing can be hidden from him, neither sacred nor profane, but he is there immediately. But all these things are removed, foreign, and far-fetched. Third, therefore, and genuinely, as if to say: Just as a fly, immersing itself in oil, destroys itself and defiles the oil: so one foolishness of one sin and of one sinner defiles and destroys both itself and the sweetness of grace and reputation; for this is represented by oil, that is, fragrant ointment. For this maxim pertains to the end of the preceding chapter, namely to the fact that he who has sinned in one thing will lose many good things (thus St. Jerome and Olympiodorus), where I said these things properly regard princes and magistrates, and the like, who govern cities and free them from siege; for their one error not rarely brings ruin or grave damage not only to themselves but also to the city; yet generally it extends to any who from one small imprudence or vice bring grave damages to themselves and their reputation, and indeed to others, according to that saying: "A small error in the beginning, great in the end." Note "dying": for flies, attracted by the fragrance and sweetness of the ointment, fly to it in competition, whence they are immersed in it as in birdlime, suffocated, as the Thaumaturgus says, and die. Thus Galen, in book II of Simple Medicines, chapter XX: "Bees, flies, wasps, and ants," he says, "when moistened with oil, perish." Hence physicists teach that flies excel in smell and memory, in that they fly to sweet and pleasant and fatty things, and although often driven away, they always return to the same place. For "destroy" in Hebrew it is "cause to stink"; the Septuagint, "putrefy the composition of the oil of sweetness"; the Syriac and Arabic, "corrupt"; St. Jerome, "exterminate"; the Thaumaturgus, "render deformed"; others, "cause to wilt"; Campensis, "corrupt, and cover as with scabs or blisters." By "stench" understand the filth, nausea and horror which dying flies in the ointment generate in one who looks upon, smells and tastes it; for properly flies do not stink, as we actually experience. Thus in Exodus V, 21, the Hebrews say to Moses and Aaron: "You have made our name to stink before Pharao," that is, you have made us ungrateful, hateful and odious to Pharao. Yet the filth of flies diminishes the fragrance and flavor of the ointment, so that because of it it is less fragrant and savory than before. In a similar way, says Vatable, a small foolishness makes a man stinking, that is, him who was well-regarded, ill-regarded, that is, as Campensis says, it takes away much of his esteem. Mystically first, a fly denotes wicked, crafty and malicious thoughts suggested by the devil or by the flesh and the world, which flutter around the mind of the wise man like flies and defile it. Thus St. Jerome: "Because," he says, "wisdom is often mixed with cunning, and prudence has malice, he commands that we seek simple wisdom, mixed with the innocence of doves, that we be prudent unto good, but simple unto evil. For it is fitting for the just to have little simplicity, and on account of excessive patience, while he reserves vengeance to God, to appear foolish, rather than immediately avenging himself, under the cloak of prudence to exercise malice." Second, flies spoiling the ointment denote the society of the wicked and depraved examples corrupting others even the good. It signifies, St. Jerome says, "that through one fool many good things are overturned, because thus an evil man mixed with good contaminates many, just as flies if they die in the ointment, lose its odor and flavor." And the Scholiast in the Greek Catena: "For flies," he says, "suffocated in the ointment, render it useless: thus That I am invoked to repent, I am a fly. In the same place Hegesander relates that when Alexander said he was bitten by flies (thus he called parasites) and was already trying to drive them away, Cinesias, one of his circle, who happened to be present, said: "Truly other flies more thirsty will press upon you, once they have tasted your blood." Second, R. Haccados and John Ferus understand by flies scouts and traitors. For a fly curiously invades the affairs of others, and goes through and examines all things, so that these may be reported to the war and the besieged city, of which in the preceding chapter, verse 13, as if to say: Just as flies destroy the most precious ointment, so traitors who curiously explore all things, and faithless counselors destroy cities and republics. Hence Plautus in the Merchant thus depicts a curious man: My father is a fly; nothing can be hidden from him, neither sacred nor profane, but he is present there immediately. But all these things are removed, foreign and far-fetched. Note on dying, for flies are attracted by the fragrance and sweetness of the ointment to it in competition, whence they are immersed in it as in birdlime, suffocated, says the Wonderworker, and die. Thus Galen, book II of Simple Medicines, chapter XX: "Moistened," he says, "with oil, bees, flies, wasps, and ants perish." Hence physicians teach that flies excel in smell and memory, because they fly to sweet and pleasant and fatty things, and although often driven away, they always return to the same place. For destroy in Hebrew is to make stink; the Septuagint, putrefy the composition of the oil of sweetness; the Syriac and Arabic, corrupt; St. Jerome, exterminate; the Wonderworker, render deformed; others, cause to wilt; Campensis, corrupt, and cover as with scabs or blisters. By the stench understand the filth, nausea and horror which dying flies in the ointment generate in one who sees, smells and tastes it; for properly flies do not stink, as we actually experience. Thus in Exodus V, 21, the Hebrews say to Moses and Aaron: "You have made our name to stink before Pharao," that is, you have made us ungrateful, hateful and odious to Pharao. Yet the filth of flies diminishes the fragrance and flavor of the ointment, so that on account of it it is less fragrant and savory than before. In a similar manner, says Vatablus, a little foolishness renders a man stinking, that is, him who was well spoken of, ill spoken of, that is, as Campensis says, it takes away much of his reputation. Mystically first, a fly denotes wicked, crafty and malicious thoughts suggested by the devil or by the flesh and the world, which flutter around the mind of the wise man like flies and defile it. Thus St. Jerome: "Because," he says, "wisdom is often mixed with cunning, and prudence has malice, he commands that we seek simple wisdom, mixed with the innocence of doves, that we be prudent unto good, but simple unto evil. For it is fitting for the just to have little simplicity, and on account of excessive patience, while he reserves vengeance to God, to appear foolish, rather than immediately avenging himself, under the cloak of prudence to exercise malice." Second, flies spoiling the ointment denote the society of the wicked and depraved examples corrupting others even the good. It signifies, St. Jerome says, "that through one fool many good things are overturned, because thus an evil man mixed with good contaminates many, just as flies if they die in the ointment, lose its odor and flavor." And the Scholiast in the Greek Catena: "For flies," he says, "suffocated in the ointment, render it useless: thus ...idleness and curiosity, and is the cause and source of all evil. Finally, the fly is an insolent, shameless, unteachable and untameable animal. For other animals can be tamed by art, but the fly never. So too concupiscence rejects all teaching, reason and discipline; wherefore it must be completely cut out and eradicated, indeed burned with iron and flame like the hydra; otherwise it is reborn and sprouts again, indeed revives like flies. For "flies deprived of life by moisture, if buried in ashes, return to life," says Pliny, lib. XI, cap. XXXVI. Fourth, St. Gregory, lib. XVIII Moral. XVIII, understands by flies light and importunate thoughts, which, although they do not take away the sweetness of the ointment, that is purity, sanctity, dignity, peace (and devotion, says Bonaventura, especially in prayer), yet disquiet, defile and disturb it: "Egypt, he says, which holds the image of this world, is smitten with flies. For the fly is an excessively insolent and restless animal. In which what else is signified than insolent cares of carnal desires; whence it is also said elsewhere: Dying flies lose the sweetness of the ointment, because superfluous thoughts, which are continually born and perish in the mind of one thinking carnally, lose that sweetness by which each one is inwardly anointed by the Spirit, because they do not permit him to enjoy its integrity." "By these flies, says St. Jerome, even the prince of demons was called Beelzebub, which is interpreted either idol of flies (as if to say god of flies, because this idol had the head of a fly, or was filled with flies flying to the flesh sacrificed to it), or man of flies, or having flies:" for the demon sends these flies of restless thoughts flying around our mind. See what I have said concerning the plague of flies in Egypt at Exodus VIII, 7. Moreover the Hebrews in Pirke Avoth, among ten miracles of the Fathers, assign this as the third: "A fly was never seen in the house of the sanctuary," lest flying to the flesh offered and burned to God, it should defile it. Fifth, Lyra, as if to say: Just as a fly loses the ointment, so one mortal sin loses a heap of merits, equally as a good conscience; but St. Ephrem understands by flies demons: "Ecclesiastes says, he says, dying flies lose the sweetness of the ointment, so that the holy may understand the vileness and impurity of sin and demons, but the negligent may overlook the snares and subtleties. For the enemy brings ruin to those who seemed secure to themselves. And Elias called the god of Accaron a fly, Baal. For he sits in the minds of the impious as in roses and glowing pastures, that is withering ones; and he expresses their unclean action, and delights in the ebullition of their drunkenness. He dwells among the wicked like a dragon; but among those flowing in luxury, like a fly. The dragon suffers itself to be transformed into a fly. The sense of the Jews and heretics falling upon the good fragrance of the Scriptures, both kill themselves with death, and appear as putrid ointment to the faithful." So too St. Augustine, lib. Contra Fulgentium Donatistam, art. 14, understands by flies heretics: "Flies, he says, about to die, the Donatists fly around through all the members of the body, if anywhere they find wounds; they sting the healthy, lick the sick, and pour worms of sinners into their ulcers, which spare not even corpses themselves. Dying flies, when they destroy oil, are destroyed by oil; for you do not live, who breathe out the Holy Spirit." In the same place St. Augustine refutes the Donatists, teaching from this passage that the baptism of heretics is invalid, and therefore to be repeated; whence they thus expounded this saying from their own brain: Flies lose the sweetness of the ointment, that is heretics lose the sacrament of baptism, in which the baptized are anointed with oil. But more truly St. Epiphanius, lib. I, cap. III, adapting this saying to the Archontic heretics: "They abhor baptism, he says, like deadly flies, and vitiate the composition of fragrant oil. Just as also concerning these and similar ones the parable is spoken of in Ecclesiastes: they are truly flies killing, mortifying and making putrid the aromatic and unguent oil, that is the very holy mysteries of God." Third, the Chaldean interprets the fly as concupiscence: "Evil concupiscence, he says, which remains near the gates of the heart, is like a fly, because it brings about the cause of death in the world; so much so that it delivers the wise man at the time when he sins, and corrupts the good name, which had been similar before to the ointment of the sweetest anointing with aromatics." Concupiscence is aptly compared to a fly, because like a fly it is vile and thin, biting, unclean, foul, stinging, importunate, troublesome and putrid; for a fly is born from putrefaction, lives in putrefaction and dies in it, and corrupts all things with itself. Concupiscence does the same. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 44 in the Canticles: "These (concupiscences), he says, are altogether foul and stinging flies, which defile in us the beauty of nature, lacerate the mind with cares and anxieties, and destroy the sweetness of social grace." Again, a fly is of brief life, for it lives only a few days, indeed sometimes only a few hours, and it suffocates itself in oil, honey and other sweet things, or flying toward the light of a lamp or candle, it burns itself: concupiscence and the concupiscent man do the same; therefore it itself is the fly of death, that is, a vile and slight thing, but mortal, and soon to die and death-dealing. Besides, a fly is idle, and therefore vagrant and curious, invading what belongs to others. Whence St. Francis: "If he saw anyone idle and vagrant, wishing to eat the labors of others, he judged that brother should be called a fly, because such a one, doing nothing good but infecting good deeds, makes himself vile and abominable to all," says St. Bonaventure in his Life, chapter V. Thus also concupiscence... ...with the filth of impiety delights the wretched. Even in small things the poisoned custom prevails, which brings detriment to the soul for every disposition of the dragon." Sixth, St. Bernard, sermon on Wednesday of the sorrowful week, adapts these things to the Jews crucifying Christ: "God forbid, he says, that dying flies should destroy the sweetness of the ointment, which flows from your body, because at your bosom is mercy, and abundant redemption is with him. Dying flies are miseries, dying flies are blasphemies, dying flies are insults, which a wicked and exasperating generation renders to you. In the very elevation of your hands, etc., for reverence of you, you cry out: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The same sermon, On the Triple Custody of Hand, Tongue and Heart, applies it to the tongue, which is a small thing, but causes great damage: "A fly dying is a vile thing, he says, but it destroys the sweetness of oil. The tongue is a tender member, yet it can scarcely be restrained; it is indeed a weak and slight substance, but in use it is found to be great and powerful; it is a small member, but unless you beware, it is a great evil." Seventh, flies are distractions and anxieties of business occurring in prayer, which lacerate the heart, and are as troublesome to those praying as flies to those feasting. They are aptly called "dying," both because they destroy the grace and devotion of prayer; and because, although useful when they occur, they afterwards appear to be future, yet after prayer they are found to be no more fruitful than dead things. Those images, which in prayer offered great hope of usefulness, after prayer so vanish that they leave behind truncated and useless corpses. Whence they are to be steadily driven away. In the type of which thing, when Abraham at some time offered sacrifice from animals to God: "There descended, the text says, fowls upon the carcasses, and Abraham drove them away," Genesis XV, 11: to which place St. Gregory, book XVI of the Morals, chapter VIII: "Often, he says, in the very sacrifice of prayer troublesome thoughts thrust themselves in, which are able to snatch away or defile what we, weeping before God, immolate in ourselves. Whence Abraham, when he offered sacrifice at the setting of the sun, endured the birds pressing upon him, which he studiously drove away, lest they snatch away the offered sacrifice. Thus therefore we, when in the ark of the heart we offer a holocaust to God, should guard it from these unclean fowls, lest malign spirits and perverse thoughts snatch away what our mind hopes to offer itself to the Lord profitably." Symbolically, St. Eucherius, in his book On Spiritual Forms, chapter V, and Pierius, Hieroglyphics 25, understand by the fly both a demon and an impure and maleficent man. For the fly was to the Egyptians a hieroglyph of importunity and troublesome vexation. For the fly is so impudent and wickedly persistent that, although driven away, it always returns, and troubles equally, and has no regard for any of your occupations, whether you speak, sleep, write, eat, or read—it is always ready to leap upon your face, troublesome, inconvenient, harmful, and fit for nothing except to provoke disgust: such is also the demon and the diabolical man. Hence Plutarch, Symposium 3, asserts that there are only two domestic animals which never become tame through human association, nor admit of touch, familiarity, nor discipline, namely the swallow and the fly: for both always remain untaught and wild. Thus Pierius explains this saying: "Dying flies destroy the sweetness of oil," that is, the fly kind is so malignant, and likewise Beelzebub, namely a demon and a maleficent man, that it chooses and wishes to harm even unto death; for while it corrupts the good morals of someone, or breaks some virtue, it counts itself also perishing as nothing. Wisdom and glory are more precious than small and temporary folly.—Thus it should be read with the Romans: for other Codices vary remarkably here. See Francis Lucas in the Notes to this passage. The sense seems plain, namely that glorious wisdom surpasses folly, which in itself is base, small and inglorious, so that wisdom is in the nominative case, folly in the ablative. But to pass over the fact that this sense is meager and cold: for who does not know this? From the Hebrew it is clear that the contrary is true, namely that wisdom and glory are in the ablative case, and folly in the nominative. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Small folly and folly used at an opportune and fitting time surpasses rigid wisdom and glory, which sometimes in dangers is the occasion of great harm to itself and others; it is sometimes better to feign folly than to display one's wisdom and glory. He alludes to the poor man who by his wisdom freed a besieged city: for he is mocked by worldly men on account of his poverty, and his wisdom, because mixed with poverty, appears to be folly; but this folly of his is superior to all the wisdom and glory of worldly men. Hence that saying of Horace, book IV of the Odes, ode 12: Mix brief folly with your counsels. It is sweet to play the fool in the right place. And that saying: To feign folly in the right place is the highest prudence. Thus David, feigning folly before King Achish, escaped the danger of death, I Kings XXI; indeed Brutus also assumed the appearance of folly in order to obtain power, as the Roman Histories relate. Thus Christ became foolish to this world, when He chose and taught poverty, humility, patience, which the world esteems as foolish; but this folly is the highest wisdom. Whence Paul: "That which is foolish of God is wiser than men." And: "For in the wisdom of God the world knew not God by wisdom: it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe," I Corinthians I, 21 and 25. See the sayings there. Thus likewise the folly by which the saints are esteemed foolish by worldly men is more precious than all the wisdom and glory of the world. Whence Paul also said: "We are fools for Christ: but you are wise in Christ." And our St. Ignatius: "Desire to be held foolish by men, so that you may be held wise by God, so that you may gain Him." Be mad to the people, thus you are wise to God Himself. This is what Paul says, I Corinthians III, 18: "If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." Thus it is necessary that you accommodate yourself to the unwise, to children, to rustics in teaching, so that you play the fool with them and as it were become a child again, according to that saying of Paul: "I became all things to all men, that I might save all," I Corinthians IX, 22; therefore it is great wisdom to deal with rustics rustically, with children childishly, with the unwise unwisely: for he who does not know how to do this labors in vain in instructing them. Thus it is necessary for a prince and magistrate to accommodate himself to the humor, capacity and rudeness of the people. Moreover the Hebrews have it thus: יקר מחכמה מכבוד סכלות מעט iakar mechachma michabod sichluth meat, which is variously translated by various interpreters. First, Pagninus, Vatablus, Clarius, Arias, Cajetan, Campensis and other Hebraists, connecting this hemistich with the preceding one, join and translate this entire verse thus appropriately: just as dying flies lose the sweetness of ointment, so a man precious for wisdom and glory loses it by a little folly; or thus: A man precious for wisdom and glory stinks because of a little folly, that is to say, A little folly destroys all the reputation and glory which a man had acquired through wisdom and wise words and deeds. Hear Cajetan: A little folly will make any man, however eminent, stink and reek, who seemed to himself more precious in wisdom and superior to all honour: just as even a fly, as has been said, corrupts the most noble ointment. For good arises from an entire cause, and evil, though small, has great contagion. Second, Lyra, translating the Hebrew יקר iakar, that is precious, as weighty, thus renders it: More weighty than wisdom and glory is a little folly. Weighty, because it depresses, casts down and destroys a man. But the Hebrew iakar everywhere signifies precious, not weighty. Third, the Septuagint, transposing the words, translates contrarily: a little wisdom is more precious than great glory of folly. Thus Olympiodorus, so that there is an antithesis with the flies, that is to say, Few flies destroy the sweetness of ointment, but many and great fools do not destroy or corrupt the wise man, even though he excel less in wisdom. For little wisdom is more worthy and stronger than great folly and all its glory, that is, all the honour, wealth, pomp and splendour of foolish rich men. Whence the Arabic, following the Septuagint as is its custom, translates: a little of wisdom is more precious than the magnificences of much folly. Fourth, our translator most excellently renders from the Hebrew: wisdom and glory are more precious than a little and temporary folly, in the sense which I assigned at the beginning. For the Chaldean agrees: how much does the prudence of the wise and the wealth of the rich excel him whose folly is moderate and light? And St. Jerome in the old edition: precious is above wisdom and glory a little folly. You will ask, how does this version cohere in the same verse with flies destroying ointment? I answer by antithesis or exception in this sense, that is to say, Dying flies destroy the sweetness of ointment, so likewise foolish and true folly destroys the sweetness of wisdom and fame. I say foolish folly, for wise and little folly, which is wisely assumed at a fitting time, excels rigid wisdom, and thus suffocates, wears away and destroys its glory. Or more directly and as it were equally, that is to say, Just as few and small flies destroy the sweetness of ointment: so little folly, which namely is called folly by worldly men, when in truth it is before God true and pure wisdom, surpasses and destroys all the sweetness of wisdom and worldly glory, inasmuch as it is far more precious and powerful than it, as appeared in Christ and the apostles, according to that: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject," Isa. XXIX, 14, and I Cor. I, 19. For he alludes, as I have said, to the poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered his city, but is despised on account of poverty, and is held as a weak and dying fly, that is a man of no account, when in truth he himself is a most excellent bee, distilling the sweetest honey of wisdom. Tropologically St. Jerome and from him Albinus: Humble glory is more precious and useful than the haughtiness of the proud. It is better to seem foolish for a time, that is simple, than proud and glorious. And Lyra: Wisdom with small honour is more precious than folly with great honour, according to that in chapter IV, 13: "Better is a poor child and wise than a king old and foolish."
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By heart, therefore, understand not the heart of the body, but the mind, namely reason, will, affection, and its pious actions and operations. It is a catachresis; for what the heart is in the body, the mind is in the soul. The sense therefore is, first, as if to say: The wise man has his heart on the right, that is, he does all things promptly, expeditiously, agilely, wisely, happily; but the fool has his on the left, that is, he does his things tardily, im- peditely, ineptly, foolishly and unhappily. For in the right part and hand of the body there is more strength and agility than in the left: hence the right is a symbol of strength, promptitude, agility, wisdom, happiness; the left, however, of weakness, tardiness, hesitation, imprudence, unhappiness. Secondly, as if to say: The wise man does all things with reason and judgment, just as if he had his heart, that is his mind, on the right; but the fool operates without reason and judgment, just as if he had his heart on the left. The reason is, that the wise man operates from wisdom, that is from his heart, mind, reason and judgment; but the fool operates from foolishness, that is from concupiscence, as if this were on his right, commanding all things, ordering, directing; while his mind and reason are on his left. Whence in Hebrew it is: the heart of the wise man is on his right, and the heart of the fool is on his left. For, as Aristotle teaches, the right parts are all more powerful; hence the right part gives the beginning to walking. For the right part is apt to move, the left to be moved, and for that reason burdens are not imposed on the moving part, but on the movable part; and therefore porters carry burdens not on the right, but on the left shoulder. Thus he himself, in the book On the Motion of Animals, chapter III. Since therefore in the wise man the mind and wisdom are more powerful, inasmuch as they move other powers and govern concupiscence itself, hence for him the heart, that is the mind, is on the right, and concupiscence on the left. The reverse is true in the fool, that is the vicious man, in whom concupiscence is more powerful, which moves the other powers to pursue the riches, feasts, honours which he desires; hence concupiscence is on his right, and the heart and mind on his left. Thirdly, the heart of the wise man is on the right, that is, it tends toward honest, better, sounder and holier things, namely toward virtues and good works, by which he may attain to happiness and eternal life. Thus the Chaldean: The heart of the wise, he says, applies itself to acquiring the law, which was given by the right hand of God, and the heart of the fool to acquiring the riches of silver and gold; and Thaumaturgus: The wise man, he says, has as his guide things right and honest; but the fool inclines toward things left, and never uses foolishness as a guide to glorious things; and St. Jerome: "The just man, he says, has no left in himself, but all in him is right. And when the Saviour shall come to judge, the lambs shall stand on the right, but the goats shall be on the left. And in Proverbs it is written: The Lord knoweth the ways of the just; but those that are perverse are on the left. Whoever therefore is wise always thinks of the future age which leads to the right; but whoever is unwise thinks of the present, which is placed on the left. Which indeed the same philosopher and poet followed and said: The right which leads beneath the walls of great Dis, This is the path to Elysium for us, but the left Exercises the punishments of the wicked, and sends them to impious Tartarus. Our Firmianus also in the excellent work of his Institutions mentioned the letter, and most fully disputed concerning right and left, that is concerning virtues and vices." See the sayings in Proverbs IV, 27. Fourthly, the heart of the wise man is on the right, because he does his things circumspectly, efficaciously, orderly and perfectly, so that he errs in nothing; but the fool's is on the left, because he performs his things unwarily, languidly, perversely, imperfectly: hence he always mixes some defect into his good work. This sense rightly coheres with what preceded: "He that shall offend in one point, is become guilty of all." Moreover, the wise man has a right, strong, robust and constant heart in good, so that against all the assaults of Satan, the world and the flesh he stands unmoved in it; but the fool has a left heart, that is weak, infirm, inconstant, because when he has begun to do good, soon struck by a light temptation he falls away from it and recoils. Fifthly, the right is a symbol equally of liberty and liberality; the left, of servitude and avarice. For masters, the liberal and magnificent walk on the right; servants, the narrow and avaricious on the left. The fool therefore does his things servilly, narrowly, forcedly and avariously; the wise man freely, amply and liberally. Hence the Egyptians, according to Pierius, used to say that all good things and benefits flowed from the right hand of God, but all evils, all plagues and punishments from the left. Hence again a certain learned man thus expounds it, as if to say: The heart of the just is always struck and raised up by the right and happy hope of good things, but the heart of the wicked is struck and beaten down by the left distrust, suspicion, fear, dread and anguish. Finally, briefly to embrace all these things thus expounding: The heart of the wise man is on the right, that is in wisdom, that is in prudence and virtue, for he applies himself entirely to it, and in it as it were dwells and abides; but the heart of the fool on the left, that is in foolishness, namely in imprudence and concupiscence; for he applies himself entirely to it and is intent upon it. That this is the sense is indicated by what follows.
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This maxim is aptly connected to the preceding one, as if to say: The heart of the fool is so perverse, that is, so foolish, that he esteems all others, even the wise, to be fools; both because from a foolish persuasion and self-love he esteems that he alone is wise, while the rest are foolish, just as one who has a corrupted palate esteems a sweet taste to be bitter, and thinks those who judge otherwise are erring and raving. This is what is said in Proverbs XXVI, 16: "A sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that speak sentences;" and also because he measures others by his own intellect and affection: wherefore what pleases and seems good to himself, he judges to please and seem good to all, so that if he himself be gluttonous, luxurious, proud, etc., he judges all to be gluttonous, luxurious, proud, etc.: for as each one is, so he judges others to be, as Aristotle says, III Polit. VI. Thus Nero, filled with lusts, was certainly persuaded in his mind that no one was chaste, or modest in any part of his body, as Suetonius testifies in his Life, cap. XXIX. Thus heretics think that Catholic priests and religious live impurely and cautiously, not chastely, because they think it impossible for them to keep chastity, as they judge it impossible for themselves. For, as Seneca says: "Every affection has this property, that in that in which it itself raves, it thinks all rave." And, as Cassian says: Whoever is subject to any vice is prone to judge that others are subject to the same vice. Hence Seneca infers that a sign of a good man is that he displease the wicked; it is not yet sufficiently good and happy to be one whom the crowd has not yet mocked. For "esteems all to be fools," the Hebrew has, "says to every one, that he is foolish:" which words, being indefinite, can be variously defined: first, as if to say, The fool says to everyone: "Thou art unwise;" secondly, as if to say, The fool says to all that he himself is unwise, that is, whatever he undertakes and does, he really shows that his heart, that is, his mind, fails him, and therefore he makes his foolishness manifest to all. This second interpretation the Septuagint followed, rendering it: "Even in the way the fool walketh, his heart shall fail him or be retarded," and whatever he shall think or reason about, all is foolishness; Thaumaturgus: "His thoughts are vain and full of foolishness;" Olympiodorus thus explains the Septuagint: "In this life, which thou mayest truly call a way, the fool walking through it, since he has his heart turned to the left, always stops and is found behind: for he goes to no purpose, by no means reaching the prize of his heavenly calling. He does not therefore stretch himself forward, nor hasten to the end; but although he may seem to go in this direction, he shall fail in the midst of his course, thinking and attempting all things imperfectly and without reason. And if he should approach the way itself of justifications, or, to speak more truly, should pretend to approach it, that is, the observance of divine commandments, yet because his mind is turned to the left, he shall altogether cease and fail, so that he neither understands what is commanded, nor acts according to the will of the lawgiver." The Chaldean, however, renders it: "Even in the perplexed way, at the time when the fool walketh, his heart lacks wisdom, so that he does things which ought not to be done, and all say that he is a fool."
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Now first, Campensis translates thus: if the desire of ruling has invaded your mind, do not easily abandon your former place; for he who restrains his mind from such desires will avoid many and grave sins. The Zurich version is added, which translates: whenever the affection of domination (or of the domination of domination, or domination) has arisen in you, do not abandon your station; for he who calms this affection restrains great sins. And Vatablus expounds this in two ways. First, as if to say: If the desire of ruling has crept in, take care of it, that is, restrain and correct it: for thus you will avoid many sins of arrogance, injustice, rapine, etc., into which those fall who rule or desire to dominate. Second, if the power of ruling is offered to you, do not be lifted up in mind, but use it modestly and prudently: thus you will avoid many sins. The Hebrew, St. Jerome, whose words I shall presently recite, equally favor this, as does Pineda. Truly Seneca, epistle 84: "Whatever," he says, "appears to stand out in human affairs, however small it may be, is approached by difficult and arduous paths. The way to the pinnacle of dignity is rough." Second, Cajetan, as if to say: If you have accepted rule and government, you will be a physician, who for your office will make medicine for sins, not all, yet great ones: "For political," he says, "government does not remove all the sins of the people, but great sins; for the magistrate does not concern himself with the least," nor can he care for all things: and if he attempts it, he will hear that: "Fools to a sieve," that is, fools attempt to stop all the least holes of a sieve, but with a foolish and vain attempt. Third and genuinely, as if to say: If the anger, force or impulse of some powerful dynast impels you to some sin, do not abandon the place and office of virtue, which your state and rank require. Because of healing. — In Hebrew, מרפא marpe, that is, medicine, health, gentleness, healing, because you heal the sicknesses and passions of the mind, both your own and of the powerful one assailing you, will turn away many offenses. Whence the Zurich version translates: he who calms this affection restrains great sins. Others translate marpe as remission, lowering, namely a mind lowered, remitted, loose and relaxed, not puffed up, swollen and proud. This healing, therefore, or health, is the stability and constancy of the mind by which you heal your own infirmity, fear and dread, along with the gentleness, patience and meekness by which you heal and mitigate the anger of the powerful one, and thus you cause to cease many offenses which you would commit by yielding and consenting to the wicked will of the powerful one or prince, and which he himself would commit by forcing you to consent, or by unjustly vexing, torturing and at times killing you. Healing, therefore, is the tolerance of an impotent and unjust master: he who retains this turns away many quarrels, hatreds, enmities, damages which would otherwise arise. For "by patience a prince shall be appeased, and a soft tongue shall break hardness," Prov. XV, 1, and XXV, 15. See the sayings there. The word healing signifies that in ruling passions, sicknesses and wounds of the mind intervene: namely in the ruler pride and anger; in him who is ruled, fear and dread; and both are to be healed by the wise man as by a physician, the latter by constancy, the former by gentleness and patience. The sole remedy of temptations and persecutions, therefore, is the stability, peace and constancy of the mind; on the other hand, their encouragement is the levity, faint-heartedness and inconstancy of the mind. Whence Jeremiah, Lamentations I, 8: "Sin," he says, "has sinned Jerusalem, therefore she has become unstable." See the sayings there. And Solomon, Prov. XXVII, 8: "As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is the man that leaveth his place." And Ecclesiasticus cap. XI, 22: "Trust in God, and abide in thy place." And Paul: "So stand ye in the Lord, dearest," Philipp. IV, 1. The philosophers say the same thing from Solomon. Whence Horace, book III Carm. ode 3: The just man and one tenacious of his purpose, Neither the passion of citizens commanding wrong, Nor the face of an impending tyrant Shakes with solid mind. He, therefore, is healthy and strong, nay, healing and curing his own and others' sicknesses of mind. Thus St. Jerome, Titelmannus, Lorinus and others. Tropologically, which however some consider to be literal, St. Jerome, Salonius, Thaumaturgus and others understand by the spirit having power the impulses and temptations of the devil and of concupiscence, which must be resisted through the constancy of mind and purpose in good: for this is the cure and health of the soul, which causes many sins to cease; to which the demon incites the soul through the movements of concupiscence, which he stirs up in it from it. Thus the Chaldean: "If the spirit of evil appetite, he says, dominates you and is strengthened so as to ascend over you, do not abandon your good place, in which you were accustomed to stand: for the words of the law have been created as medicine in the world, to remit sins, and that great sins may be consigned to oblivion before the Lord." Whence St. Ambrose, in Psalm XII: "And if the spirit, he says, having power in you ascends, as you have in Ecclesiastes, do not abandon your place. For Christ has constituted you superior, whom He made to His image. Hold therefore the superior place of faith and piety, which you have received from God, so that, made superior, you may easily repel the wicked spirit ascending from the lower things, that is from earthly and worldly things, and do not receive its signs in your breast; let it not occupy the vestibules of your soul, nor the entrances of your mind, and as if in a forest of wood, with its fires consume what is frail and fragile, or with its axes cut down the doors of your heart. Let there be in us therefore not a forest, but a vineyard; let the gate of our mouth and heart be closed more carefully, lest the enemy enter. He quickly breaks down the gate, if he finds it open." So also Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 2, and Cyril of Alexandria, book XII On Adoration in Spirit, who also adds that if vices are not corrected, they creep forward day by day to greater things, and corrupt the heart and mind, and lead to utter destruction. For, as St. Jerome says, citing this saying in the tract On Preserving Virginity: "As if in readiness and in battle array we always stand for combat. The enemy wishes to move us from our place, and to make us depart from our position, but our footsteps must be made firm, and we must say: He set my feet upon a rock: the rock is a refuge for the hedgehog," Psalm XXXIX, 3, and CIII, 18. Now in particular: First, St. Jerome understands by this spirit the spirit or impulse of lust, which is cured by the love of chastity and constant modesty. Whence for cure Symmachus translates modesty. Hear St. Jerome from Symmachus: "If the spirit of a prince rushes upon you, do not depart from your place, because modesty suppresses great sins, that is, if the devil has tickled your mind, and has incited you to lust, do not follow the wicked thought and the flattering pleasure; but stand firm and rigid; extinguish the flame of pleasure with the cold of chastity." The Hebrew in the place suspected something of this sort. If you have received any dignity in the world, and have been made greater among peoples, do not abandon your former works, and do not begin to forget ancient virtues, and do not lack the former labor, which the remedy of your sins is born from good conversion, and not from swollen and superfluous dignity." So also St. Basil, in the book On Virginity, understands by power the powerful thought of concupiscence, which powerfully invades the mind of the Virgin, and solicits her to shameful things; but if she is wise, let her stand in her place and shake it off: "Let the soul of the virgin, he says, be the mirror of no absent, no present man, except of her holy Spouse; let no other form than that of the Spouse be beheld in it." And the Author of the Greek Catena: "If you, he says, seeking higher things, the evil spirit of fornication, or by chance of avarice, has attacked you, close all those senses to it. But if you have sinned, seek the remedy of penance:" where by cure, or medicine, you see penance is understood. Then therefore the spirit having power ascends over someone, when the disease of the soul assails him, and miserably ...subjects him. And what then is the medicine to be applied? certainly that, so that he who is assailed by the vice does not abandon his place, that is the manner of cure; for if uniform and constant cure is accustomed to heal the greatest sins, how much more will it heal lesser ones, or those not deeply rooted? Secondly, St. Ambrose, book I On Duties, chapter XXI, understands by this spirit the spirit of wrath: "Therefore, he says, if anger should come before and seize your mind, and rise up in you, do not abandon your place; your place is patience, your place is wisdom, your place is reason, your place is the calming of indignation. Or if the contumacy of one answering should move you, and perversity should drive you to indignation: if you cannot soften your mind, restrain your tongue. For thus it is written: Refrain your tongue from evil, and let your lips speak no guile. Then seek peace, and follow it. That peace which St. Jacob sees. How great first the calming of the soul! If you do not prevail, put a bridle on your tongue: then do not neglect the effort of reconciliation." Thirdly, St. Gregory, book III of the Morals, XIII, understands by this spirit the spirit of pride: "For thus, he says, the place of evils is pride, just as on the contrary humility is the place of goods, concerning which place it is said through Solomon: If the spirit of one having power should rise up against you, do not abandon your place; as if he said openly: If you consider the spirit of the tempter to prevail against you in any way, do not abandon the humility of penance. Because he called our place the humility of penance, he shows this in the following words, saying: Because healing will cause the greatest sins to cease. For what else is the humility of lamentation but the medicine of sin?" Fourthly, St. Bernard, sermon On the Fourfold Debt, understands by this spirit the temptation of the demon against your vocation, namely that you abandon your order under the pretext of a greater good: "According to the second impulse, he says, of your spirits, to this lukewarm one he proposed a more remiss life, to that fervent one a stricter life, seeking and expecting only this, that he might somehow remove him from the council of the just and the congregation. Truly that spirit which suggests this to you is a lying spirit, a spirit having power, who envies you your place. Whence the Wise man, not ignorant of this matter: If the spirit of one having power should rise up against you, he says, do not abandon your place. For it is far from the case that the spirit of truth, who brought you here, should wish to lead you back: because there is not in his mouth is and is not, but in him is, as irrefragable authority testifies: No one, says the Apostle, speaking in the Spirit of God, says anathema to Jesus. Jesus savior, or salvation, anathema, separation is interpreted. Whoever therefore whispers to you separation from salvation is neither the Spirit of God nor from God; because the Holy Spirit does not come to scatter, but to gather: who always recalls the scattered of Israel into their land." The same, sermon 48, among the small ones, expounds it in two ways, namely concerning the twofold portion of the soul: "There are, he says, two places of the rational soul, the inferior which it rules and the superior in which God rests. Of both it can be rightly understood what is written: If the spirit of one having power should rise up against you, do not abandon your place, either the inferior namely by ruling, or the superior by resting." And below: "It is therefore said to him that as the spirit of one having power rises up against him he should not abandon his place, that is, that when temptation presses upon him he should not exhibit his members as weapons of iniquity to sin. It should be noted however that it is said: If the spirit of one having power should rise up against you; for the malign spirit can do nothing against us unless sent or permitted. Whence since his will is always evil, he never has power except just power. For will indeed he has from himself, but power he has from nowhere else than from God. Yet the Lord always moderates this power, lest namely from the wickedness of will he punish more than the merits of those who are punished demand. And let these things be said concerning the inferior place. But concerning the superior this is understood, that he should not abandon the quiet of mind which he has in God, the devil tempting; but from wherever he tempts him, being fixed in God himself he should constantly remain in tranquility." And soon after: "This, I say, opinion is fitting for the perfect, who already in their conversation in some way imitate the state of eternity." 5 and 6. There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were proceeding from an error before the face of a prince: a fool placed (repeat I have seen) in a sublime dignity (Hebrew, foolishness placed in excellencies, or heights, that is great things), and the rich sitting down. — Hebrew, and the rich in humility (in a humble place and seat) were sitting; Septuagint, a fool was given in great sublimities; old translation, a fool to be given in great sublimities; Chaldean, he placed an improbable fool so that he might be in felicity, and might serve in prosperity, and in high heaven, and his armies might be sublime and many, and the people subjected to servitude under him; Arabic, a fool was given in higher (places), and the rich shall sit in a contemned state. Aptly is this maxim connected with the preceding one, as if to say: "If the spirit of him that hath power ascend against thee, leave not thy place:" because among other vanities of the world and of kingdoms and of courtiers, this one is not the least, that often through the error of the prince having power, the poor, vile and unwise are exalted, while the rich indeed, honored and wise, are brought down; wherefore if the same should happen to thee, leave not thy place, retain patience, and preserve the constancy of thy mind. Great indeed is this vanity and unworthiness, when the tail rises to the head, the feet exchange place with the head, the foolish command the wise, the blind give leadership to the seeing, according to that: "As he that casteth a stone into the heap of Mercury: so is he that giveth honour to a fool," Prov. XXVI, 8. See also Symmachus, lib. I, epigr. 29, applauding Ausonius: "To whom the gravity of morals and the antiquity of disciplines, have produced the distinction of the curule chair." Error properly is in the intellect, as when a prince from false information thinks that he is wise and upright who is foolish and wicked, and conversely thinks him who is upright and wise to be wicked and foolish, and therefore exalts the former, depresses the latter. Whence Aquila and Theodotion for error render, ignorance. Yet afterwards error is in the will and affection, while from the love by which he loves the foolish one, because he is facetious and a flatterer, or obeys his own cupidity, he exalts him; and from the hatred by which he pursues the wise one, as being opposed to him, he humiliates him. By the error therefore of the prince this unworthy exchange of persons comes about, and the distribution of dignities and offices; but not from the error of God, but from his certain providence, especially by which he wishes to chastise or to test a people, or a prince, or the foolish themselves or the rich; of which matter Anastasius of Nicaea recounts two illustrious examples, Quaest. XV in Scriptur. This is what Job says XXXIV, 30: "Who maketh a man that is a hypocrite to reign for the sins of the people." To these the foolish and impious "are lifted up on high, that they may fall with a heavier fall." The wise and pious slip down from on high to the depths, so that they may despise present honors, as being unstable, and may look up to and desire future ones in the heavens, as being stable and eternal: for who would trust in things and human thrones constant in this one thing alone, that they are constant in nothing to themselves? Yesterday's glory excludes today's disgrace. Yesterday's joy is buried by today's and sudden sorrow and mourning. Yesterday's riches today's want ignores, nay, from them it begs and seeks alms. Yesterday's hope and life today's death and despair strangle and suffocate. O how much emptiness is in things! O how narrow are the bounds of mortals! Furthermore, the reason why God permits the foolish to rule and the wise to be brought down, to be his wrath and the vengeance of crimes, teaches St. Chrysostom, hom. 2 De Poenit.; St. Augustine, lib. XIX Civit. XXI; St. Gregory, XXV Moral. through several chapters; St. Cyprian, lib. I, epist. 3 and 4; St. Bernard, De Convers. Cleric. cap. XXVII, and others. By the fool understand the poor man, and the vile one who lacks; by the rich man, however, whom he opposes to the fool, understand the powerful and prudent man, who by his prudence and diligence has procured for himself wealth and honors, such as are lords and princes. Whence, explaining this, he adds: "I saw servants upon horses, and princes walking upon the earth as servants." It is a catachresis. For the rich man is put for the wise man, because riches often add to minds, and sharpen ingenuity and industry, which depresses and levels the poor. Add: riches are as much spiritual, such as virtue and wisdom, as corporeal. Hence some with St. Jerome understand by the rich man the wise man, who is rich in wisdom, virtue, merits and gifts of mind. Whence Campensis translates, those who are exceedingly fit for conducting affairs, shall sit in humility; Thaumaturgus, those abounding in the riches of prudence; Vatablus, rich in wisdom and virtues; others, great in wisdom and knowledge; but this seems mystical to some. Therefore what I said before is more literal. Whence Aristotle, IV Politics VIII: "The ancients defined nobility as wealth joined with virtue;" and St. Jerome, Against Helvidius, that it is inveterate riches. Examples of this sentence are: the seventy kings who were subject to Adonibezec, sitting under his table like dogs, nay lying down and gathering up crumbs. He himself was forced to do the same, conquered and captured by the Hebrews, Judges cap. I, 6 and 7. Valerian the Emperor, captured by Sapor, offered his back as a footstool to him mounting his horse, as also Bajazet the Emperor of the Turks did to Tamerlane. Thus Diocletian and Maximian, laying down their empire, were humble and subject to Constantine the Great, nay even driven by him to death. The Chaldean gives as an example the Israelites, who when they were masters, were forced to serve the Idumeans and other nations, as is evident from the book of Judges. Thus Heliogabalus the Emperor, says Lampridius, cap. XI of his Life, made freedmen prefects, legates, consuls, dukes, and polluted all dignities with the baseness of wicked men. Excellently Plutarch, oration 2 on the fortune of Alexander: "Who, says he, is great when placed in power, if depravity and folly hold him? Take away virtue from the fortunate man, and you will see him utterly humble in gaining favor, on account of illiberality: in labors, on account of softness: toward the gods, on account of superstition: toward the good, on account of envy: among the living, on account of fear: among women, on account of lust. For just as unskillful craftsmen, when they place small bases under small offerings, thereby prove their smallness: so fortune, when it exalts a base mind with great and splendid things, thereby more demonstrates and exposes it to infamy, since it wavers and stumbles through weakness." Tropologically: The fool is foolish concupiscence, which is exalted when the unwise man subjects himself to it; the wise man, however, is reason and mind, which sits in a humble place, when it is forced to serve concupiscence. Thus Olympiodorus and the Author of the Greek Catena: "Those who serve sin, says he, have become stallion horses; those who, however, have been masters of sin, have a humble sense." Again, the prince is the devil, who endeavors to promote the unworthy and impious to honors, so that through them he may rule over the people, and open the way to all crimes. Thus St. Jerome, who also adds that by the prince he understood the Hebrew to mean God, who permits the impious to be raised to honors.
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When fortune leaps, she insults at the same time. When a slave reigns, true slavery reigns. See the sayings in Prov. XXX, 22. It has been found, says Victor in Diocletian, "that the most humble of all, especially when they have risen to high places, are immoderate in pride and ambition." Hence Felix, from being a slave and freedman of the Emperor Claudius, created by him prefect of Judaea, "exercised royal authority with all cruelty and lust through servile disposition," as Tacitus says lib. V Histor. cap. II; and the Romans, as Suetonius testifies, cap. LIX, cried out against Tiberius: He shall reign with much blood, Whoever comes to the throne from exile. Tropologically St. Gregory, XXXI Moral. X: "By the name of horses," he says, "temporal dignity is understood, Solomon bearing witness, who says: I saw servants on horses, and princes walking upon the earth as servants. For whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin; and servants are on horses, when sinners are lifted up by the dignities of the present life. But princes walk as servants, when many full of dignity in virtues are raised by no honor, but the highest adversity here presses them down as unworthy. Hence again it is said: They slumbered that mounted on horses, that is, in the death of the soul, they closed the eyes of the mind from the light of truth, who trusted in the honor of the present life."
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Aptly therefore these cohere with the preceding, as if to say: Fools often cast down the wise, and servants occupy the seats of their masters through deceit, calumny or violence; but these things at length recoil upon their own head, so that they themselves are likewise cast down and overthrown by rivals or enemies. Otherwise the Wonderworker, who thinks that here are recounted the works of a prince, of whom verse 5 speaks, namely a tyrant or demon. These four proverbs aim at the same end and signify the same thing, namely the vanity and folly of those who attempt great things through difficult, arduous and dangerous matters, especially through fraud or force, or similar injury, from the fact that they accomplish those things only with great labor and danger; whence it comes to pass that they are often harmed and perish by the danger itself, and the evil which they prepare for others, though not always, yet often recoils upon themselves by the just judgment of God, while by reciprocal just vengeance of God or men, the same or similar disaster revolves upon its authors: so that he who has unjustly plotted poverty, despoliation, imprisonment, blows, wounds, death for another, incurs the same law of retaliation; and this often in this life, always in the future. Cajetan subtly distinguishes these four proverbs thus, that the first concerning pits regards those preparing snares for others; the second concerning one who breaks down hedges, regards those invading the property of others; the third concerning one transferring stones, regards those who disturb assemblies; the fourth concerning one splitting wood, regards those who split unity and effect schisms; but, as I have said, all tend to the same end, and all have the same aim in general and the same intention. Thus St. Jerome, the Wonderworker and others. Examples are in Saul, whose snares against David recoiled upon himself; equally as those of Ahithophel, II Kings XVII, 23; likewise of Jezebel, III Kings XXI, 5; of Caiaphas, John XI, 49, and others. Thus Maxentius, building a collapsible bridge over the Tiber insidiously against Constantine pursuing him, was cast into the Tiber and drowned by the same, as Eusebius testifies, lib. IX Hist. cap. VIII, and lib. I De Vita Constantini, cap. XII. Similar are the maxims of philosophers. Hence Plutarch in his Cimon narrates that this oracle was given to Pausanias, leader of the Lacedaemonians: Punishment is owed to you: injury brings disaster. And to Peisistratus: "No man doing injury to some does not pay the penalty." Rhadamanthus in Aristotle, V Ethic., pronounces "it to be just that what anyone has done unjustly, he should also suffer the same." Whence the axiom of the Pythagoreans: "Justice will be right, if it bears equal things in deeds." The Law of the Twelve Tables: "If he has broken a limb, unless he makes peace with him, let there be retaliation." He who digs a pit shall fall into it,—that is, he who prepares deceit for another shall perish by the same. The metaphor is taken from hunters who prepare pits for beasts, and from soldiers who prepare them deceitfully for enemies, and cover them with turf, into which unwary enemies and beasts fall; but the hunters themselves not rarely fall unwittingly into the same. The same proverb word for word has Ecclesiasticus, cap. XXVII, 29, where I explained it. Moreover the Wonderworker clearly translates: he who lays snares for another knows not that he prepares snares for himself first, and alone. Thus often (which is especially what the Wise man regards here, as I said at the beginning of the verse) those who by fraud and calumny cast down honest men from their station and invade and occupy it, are cast down by the same from others, whom God raises up as rivals to them, indeed are sometimes diminished in rank and deprived of life. He who breaks down (Vatable, breaks through; Zurich, demolishes) a hedge, a serpent shall bite him,—which is accustomed to lurk in caverns or in the grasses of hedges. The sense is what I gave a little before, as if to say: He who invades and breaks into the property of another shall incur the same and similar damage. The Wonderworker: he who demolishes the protection of another's security shall everywhere fall into the bite of a serpent. Tropologically, hedges are scattered and stones are transferred, as follows, those who overturn the received and approved laws and rights, both public, both of religion, both of discipline, and therefore are punished either by men, according to that of Proverbs XXII, 28: "Do not transgress the ancient bounds, which thy fathers have set." And that of Isaiah LVIII, 12: "Thou shalt be called the builder of hedges," that is, the reformer of discipline. Thus St. Jerome; and Olympiodorus: The hedge, he says, is the faith of the Church founded on Apostolic preaching, which heretics subvert; whence they themselves shall be subverted. Again the hedge is the holiness of the soul, and the fear of the Lord, which he who scatters shall be bitten by the devil. Whence the Author of the Greek Catena thus translates this whole verse, he who sins punishes his own self: He therefore who despises the precepts, or even rushes into the knowledge of deceptive things, stripped of divine grace shall be bitten by sin. Moreover hedges are the fortifications of the soul, by which it is defended from the dangers of sinning, such as the enclosures of virgins, the presence of parents, of superiors or companions, which he who removes easily falls into the temptations and bites of the devil. He who transfers (removes; Cajetan, moves; Campensis, casts out; Syriac, shall change; Arabic, takes away) stones (that is, some matter of stones, especially if he does this in order to destroy or lay waste another's hedge, or garden or house), shall be afflicted in them,—both by the labor by which he transfers them; and by the fall or collision of some stone, by which he shall be injured or crushed. For "shall be afflicted" in Hebrew it is, shall be affected with pain; Aquila and Symmachus, shall be torn in pieces in them; Complutensians, shall be tormented. The sense is, as if to say, He who undertakes a dangerous matter is not rarely caught and injured by that very danger. Again, he who brings damage to others brings it upon himself. Thus Samson, shaking the pillars of the house to destroy the Philistines, destroyed himself, being crushed by the ruin of the same, Judges XVI, 30. And he who splits (cuts, cleaves) wood, shall be wounded by it.—The Septuagint, shall be in danger in it; Syriac, his destruction shall be made; Arabic, shall be shut in in it; another, shall grow hot in it, that is, shall be burned and tormented. Now first, the Chaldean takes this proverb and the preceding one concerning Manasseh adoring wooden idols, and therefore captured by the Assyrians: "Solomon the prophet said, it is revealed before me that Manasseh the son of Hezekiah shall be such as to sin, and to adore stone images; therefore he shall be delivered into the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and he shall bind him with chains because he made the words of the law cease, which were written from the beginning on tablets of stone; therefore he shall be troubled in them: and Rabsaces his brother shall be such as to adore wooden images, and to abandon the words of the law, which were placed in the ark of acacia wood: therefore he shall be such as to be burned by fire through the hand of the angel of the Lord." But these are symbolic, Jewish and foreign. Second, Vatable and Clarius think that it is signified here that nothing can be done rightly without industry, and that without wisdom every labor is troublesome, so that whether someone transfers stones or splits wood, unless he applies industry, he shall labor much and exhaust himself, and often in vain effort and with no effect. Third and genuinely, the sense is, as if to say, He who undertakes difficult and dangerous things is often caught and overwhelmed by their dangers, according to that of Ecclesiasticus III, 27: "He that loveth danger shall perish in it." Tropologically, he who makes schism in the Church or congregation shall be afflicted by the same, indeed often pe- ...perishes wisdom; Arabic, and wisdom is the strength of power; St. Jerome in the old edition, and the rest of strength wisdom is; Symmachus, he proceeds who applied vigor to wisdom; another, the excellence of correcting is wisdom; Pagninus, the excellence of wisdom over high things is, which makes it right; Vatable, the excellence of correction (Cajetan, of rectitude) is wisdom; Campensis, wisdom makes difficult things otherwise easy; Zurich, an army also requires some who make them stronger; another, excellence directs itself through wisdom. Almost all come down to the same thing, as if to say, Just as he sharpens iron and makes straight the edge which was before bent and blunted: so excellence, industry, and the exercise of wisdom, as it were a whetstone, consists in this, that it makes man straight, and directs him in all actions, and makes those actions straight, equal, just and holy. For it effects that man does not fail from right purpose, but in all things follows the judgment of right reason, and of divine law and will as the most straight rule of works. Finally, the Hebrew כשרון kisron signifies three things, namely industry, rectitude and congruity. Whence thirdly, you translate, and the remainder, or excellence of congruity is wisdom, that is to say, the excellence of wisdom and virtue situated in it is, if all things be done congruously, honestly, decorously, so that in all things that which is fitting be observed; but this is a work, this is the labor of a vigilant mind, and one that carefully examines and considers all the circumstances of place, time, and persons. Now first, the Chaldean by iron understands the iron heaven, which wisdom opens and closes, that is, the prayer of the wise penitent: "When," he says, "the people sinned, the heavens became strong as iron, so that they would not bring down rain; and because that generation did not pray before the Lord, therefore the whole age was condemned to famine; and when they came together, and were gathered in troops, and prevailed against their concupiscences, and appointed rulers, that they might seek mercy from the God of heaven, it is their will on account of the excellent rectitude of their wisdom:" will, that is, favor, benevolence, beneficence; whence Costus translates, to them heaven, on account of the dignity and decorum of their wisdom, grants all things according to their wish. But no one does not see that these are mystical, indeed violent and forced. Secondly, the Septuagint, whom the Thaumaturgus, Olympiodorus, and St. Cyprian follow, book V of the Testimonies to Quirinus, chapter LXXXVI, connect these to the preceding verse: "He who splits wood," they say, "will be in danger from it, if the iron falls from the handle, and he himself will disturb his face," that is to say, he who splits wood enters into danger, lest if the iron with which he cuts fall from the handle, it disturb him, while it strikes and injures him or another. Thirdly, Campensis translates and explains by antithesis of iron and wisdom, that iron fails sometimes, wisdom never: "If the iron," he says, "with which they cut wood be blunted, however much it will cause trouble to the strong; wisdom truly makes difficult things, often easy." Fourthly, the Hebrew חילים chaialim, which our translator renders, with much labor, also signifies strength, resources, armies. Whence the Zurich Bible translates, when the iron has been dull, and its face not polished, exercise is required; armies also require someone who makes them stronger: but it is more fitting to desire wisdom with greater zeal, because, as he said above, wisdom is worth more and effects more than weapons of war. Thus also Pagninus, Clarius and Vatablus. Otherwise also Cajetan, Olympiodorus, Morinus; and there are almost as many versions here as there are interpreters, as many opinions as there are heads.
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For by much labour it shall be sharpened, in Hebrew it is וחילים יגבר vachaialim iegabber, which various translators render variously. The Septuagint, and strengthened the strengths; the Syriac, and multiplies the slain; Pagninus, and shall strengthen the forces; others, shall strengthen the forces by cleaving; Zurich, demands an army; Campensis, however strong, exhibits much difficulty; Vatablus, then the forces of the cleaver shall overcome iron; Our translator most excellently renders it, "by much labour it shall be sharpened." St. Jerome, in the old edition, shall be strengthened or comforted by virtues; the Complutensian editors, and shall comfort the powers; Thaumaturgus, through injustice seeks to increase power of brief duration; others, the army shall prevail. "And after industry shall wisdom follow." The Septuagint, and abundance to a man, not wisdom; the Syriac, gain pros- ...to the strong much difficulty shall exhibit; but wisdom indeed difficult things otherwise, often makes easy." But far better and more truly Our translator renders it through similitude, or comparison of iron with wisdom, in that just as iron blunted by labour is sharpened, so also wisdom and virtue, blunted by sluggishness, are sharpened by industry. Whence he says: "If the iron be blunt," namely an iron knife or sword, "and the same not as before," that is, and the same shall not have been polished and sharp as it was before, "but shall have become dull" through rust or excessive cutting, "by much labour it shall be sharpened;" in Hebrew, in strengths, or in much strenuousness, strength and vigour shall strengthen, namely that by the craftsman: "And (that is thus, or in like manner) after industry shall wisdom follow." The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as an iron knife or sword covered with rust (for rust eats away iron), blunted and dulled, by frequent and laborious rubbing with a whetstone or steel, and then also by heating and hammering is sharpened: so likewise the edge of the mind, dulled and blunted by idleness, sloth, gluttony, or another vice, must be sharpened again by great exercise, study and virtue, and recalled to its former rigour. The whetstone therefore, by which blunted and sluggish virtue and wisdom is sharpened, is the excitation, rubbing and exercise of mind and body, just as by disputation and rubbing of arguments the sharpness of wit and truth is sharpened; heating is ardent consideration and meditation, according to that of the Psalmist: "In my meditation a fire shall be kindled" of charity and zeal. Hammering is mortification, penance, tribulation. Thus St. Jerome: "If," he says, "anyone shall see that he has lost knowledge of the Scriptures through negligence, and the sharpness of his wit shall have become dull, and troubled he shall not have remained such as he had begun to be: for it happens sometimes that when anyone has had little knowledge, puffed up in pride, he ceases to learn and read, and gradually from that which nothing is added to him, is taken away, and his breast remains empty of learning, and the iron which had been sharp becomes dull: for idleness and sloth are as it were a certain rust of wisdom. If therefore anyone shall have suffered this, let him not despair of the remedy of health, but let him go to a master, and again be instructed by him, and after labour and industry and excessive sweat he shall be able to receive the wisdom which he had lost. This is what in Hebrew is said more significantly: And shall be strengthened in strengths, that is, by labour and sweat, and industry, and daily reading he shall obtain wisdom; and his strength shall have this end, that he may receive wisdom." There are added Albinus, Titelmann and others, who thus expound, as if to say: Just as if iron should be idle, it becomes dull, blackens, contracts rust, is consumed: so if art, knowledge, virtue is not exercised, it languishes, becomes soiled, is corrupted: which damage cannot be repaired except by great labour and study. Truly Plutarch in the Morals: "As a stalk," he says, "at first rises upward with force, then is intersected by frequent joints, finally at the top labours in the blasts of wind: so certain ones at first are fervent, then by turns stand still and are hindered, in the end fail exhausted." Again, you may apply this similitude to the state, namely to rulers, teachers, parents, as if to say: Just as blunted iron is sharpened not by itself, but by a smith through a whetstone or some other instrument, so subjects, disciples, and children who are dull and sluggish in the study of wisdom and virtue must be aroused, sharpened, polished, and perfected by the great labor and industry of rulers, teachers, and parents. Whence Blessed Dorotheus, Climacus, Cassianus, and other masters of spiritual matters teach that superiors ought to prick and stimulate the virtue of their subjects through various exercises of industry, and thus sharpen it, lest if they allow it to be idle, it becomes sluggish, torpid, and dull. Therefore those who neglect to do this either from fear or from sloth act as if a parent were to withhold bread from his son, with the result that the son does not grow but fails and withers. Conversely, subjects ought not to take this ill, but should give thanks to them because they duly fulfill their office, to which they are bound by God, for the good of their subjects. Just as therefore a knife does not resent the whetstone, but if it could speak, would give it thanks because by its friction, though laborious and rough, it is sharpened, polished, and made to shine, so likewise subjects ought to give thanks to their rulers because by their admonitions, corrections, discipline, penances, etc., they are sharpened and perfected in humility, patience, obedience, and every religious virtue. Furthermore, St. Bonaventure applies this similitude not to subjects, but to Prelates, whose morals have been changed by honors, as if to say: Prelates, who formerly were modest, humble, upright, and sharp for every virtue, having been made proud, dissolute, imperious, and devoted to honor, wealth, and pleasures by their Prelacy, stand in great need of the labor of correction, so that they may be recalled to their original splendor and keen edge of virtue. The reason is that none of their subjects dare to correct them, and if anyone should dare, they themselves do not listen to him. See St. Gregory, homily 18 on Ezekiel, where he teaches that subjects ought to correct their superiors more by prayer and example of holy life than by word. Finally, you may apply this similitude to any persons, whether superiors, inferiors, or equals, according to that passage in Proverbs XXVII, 17: "Iron sharpeneth iron, and a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend," as if to say: Just as iron retains its edge while it is worn by use, and while it is not worn, it is worn away more, for by use itself it is sharpened, not consumed by rust through use, so likewise the force of our mind either in virtues or in the habits of sciences and arts declines unless they are brought into act. Therefore a friend, conversing with a friend, polishes and sharpens the forces of his mind. Moreover, iron denotes the hardness and depression of our nature corrupted through the body and concupiscence, so that like iron it can only be polished and sharpened to virtue and heavenly wisdom through great and long labor. Hence Isidore, book XVI of the Etymologies, chapter XX, gives this etymology of iron: Iron, he says, is called from farre, because farra, that is, seeds of the fruits of the earth, are stored; others say because it is carried into fields for the purpose of tilling; some, from ferendo. And he adds a form of iron turned to reproach, namely that human blood is shed by it, and therefore this blood avenges itself on iron, because iron touched by blood contracts rust more quickly. Hear also Pliny, book XXXIV, chapter XIV: "Iron," he says, "is the best and worst instrument of life. For by this we split the earth, we sow trees, we plant orchards, we force vines to grow young again every year by cutting away their decay. By this we shake off roofs, we hew stones, and we use iron for all other purposes. But by the same iron we wage wars, commit slaughter, robbery, not only hand to hand, but also by missile and winged weapons, now hurled by engines, now by arms, now indeed feathered. This I consider the most wicked fraud of human ingenuity. For in order that death might come more swiftly to man, we made it winged and gave it iron wings. Wherefore let not the blame be laid to its nature, and yet iron can be innocent. In that treaty which Porsenna, after expelling the kings, gave to the Roman people, we find it expressly stated that iron should not be used except in agriculture." Thus he. And after industry (follows) wisdom. — Industry is the readiness and sagacity of the mind, or the ability to do something, namely the art and ingenious skill for accomplishing a matter; hence it is taken for the exercise of art or ingenuity. Whence Festus: The ancients, he says, called industrious "indostruum," as if whatever one did at the beginning one would build up and strive at home. Therefore wisdom and virtue are prepared by industry, that is, first, by labor and exercise; second, by the sagacious skill and ingenuity of the mind. Thus we see that those who study industriously, that is, methodically and skillfully, make more progress with little labor than others with much. For art surpasses nature and strength. Thus craftsmen, who are skilled in the art of sharpening iron knives, do this far better and with less labor than others who are ignorant of that art. Truly Pliny, book IX, chapter IV: "The rhombus," he says, "and the squatina, the ray, and the pastinaca, although they are the slowest of fishes, are nevertheless often found having in their belly the mullet, the swiftest of all, captured by skill and ingenuity. Thus some by art far surpass those more powerful in wealth or strength." Hence industry is depicted by emblematists as a matron clothed in a precious garment, elaborated with skillful Phrygian work; in her right hand she holds a beehive, in the other a machine which raises weights on high; she is depicted with bare feet, on her head she wears a statue of Plutus, because she herself produces riches, over which Plutus presides. The same holds true in virtue, sanctity and perfection. For whoever knows the art of striving toward the apex of virtue, attains it with little labor, which others scarcely reach with great fatigue after many years. Such are those who are wholly devoted to fastings and a life of rigor and austerity; likewise those who are wholly occupied with external matters, such as caring for the sick, the poor, guests, etc. But those who devote themselves to charity and prayer quickly ascend to perfection: for sanctity consists in charity. Again, industry and the practice of accumulating merit, and increasing grace and glory, is if you do all works, even indifferent ones, from charity; to which if you add other acts of other virtues and their ends, each will add a new merit to the same act; wherefore skillful men make their acts under the command of charity, religion, humility, obedience, gratitude, patience and other virtues, for example, while eating, studying, teaching, etc., at the beginning of the work they offer that very thing to God, and say to the Lord: I wish to eat, to study, to teach, and to do a similar work from your love, that I may please you; from your worship, that I may honor you; from humility, that I may despise myself; from obedience, that I may obey your commands or those of my superiors; from gratitude, that I may give you thanks for the benefits bestowed upon me, and praise and celebrate you; from patience, that I may conform myself to your cross and passion; from zeal for souls, that I may convert my neighbors or advance them in virtue: for the more the same act is commanded by better and more virtues, the better it is, and the greater rewards of grace and glory it merits. This is what St. Augustine says: "Not the number of works, not the length of time, but greater charity and better will increases merit." There exist wise books on the practice and industry of accumulating virtues and merits, which it is worthwhile to read and put into effect.
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...will perish in the evildoer; Aquila, without the enchanter; but St. Jerome in the old edition translated, if a serpent bite in silence, there is no longer a remedy for one having a tongue; repeat, if one having a tongue remain in silence, and does not use the tongue: and he explains it concerning the sinner who keeps silent about the sin committed, and is unwilling to confess, to whom therefore no remedy of pardon remains: "If some one," he says, "the serpent the devil has bitten secretly, and, with no one knowing, has infected him with the poison of sin; if he who is struck keeps silent, and does not do penance, nor wishes to confess his wound to his brother and master, the master who has a tongue for healing will not easily be able to help him. For if the sick man is ashamed to confess the wound to the physician, medicine does not cure what it does not know." Thus also Olympiodorus. Hence also Thaumaturgus translated, but the secret bite of the serpent the enchanters will not heal. Therefore the wicked are vain. Cassian adds, Collation II, chapter 1, where Serapion relates that he overcame the habit of stealing bread through public confession of the theft. He confirms this from this passage which he reads thus: "If," he says, "a serpent bite not in hissing, there is no abundance for the enchanter, designating that the bite of a silent serpent is pernicious; that is, if through confession the suggestion or thought of the devil to some enchanter, namely to a spiritual man who is accustomed to heal immediately with the songs of Scripture the wound, and to extract from the heart the noxious poisons of the serpent, have not been laid bare, he will not be able to help the one in danger or about to perish." Therefore the superior and confessor is the enchanter of sins. But St. Jerome translated most excellently in the Vulgate; for baal lascon, that is, lord of the tongue, is the detractor. The sense therefore is as if he said, says St. Jerome: "The serpent and the detractor are equal: For just as that one biting secretly inserts venom, so this one detracting secretly pours the poison of his breast into his brother, and has nothing more from the serpent. For since the tongue of man was created for blessing God and for the edification of the neighbor, he makes it equal to the serpent, while he abuses its virtues to a perverse end. Therefore the detractor is a serpent." First, because just as the serpent secretly infuses venom, and when you notice it, you find yourself struck by it, and wounded by the violence of the pestilent poison: so the detractor being admitted, and hearing the sins or defects of your brother, you will suddenly find the love which you had toward him either wounded or completely exhausted. For detraction differs from contumely in this, that the latter openly and to the face casts reproach upon another who is present; the former however secretly, covertly and hidden detracts from one absent. Second, the bite of a serpent inflicts not one, but many wounds upon a man by its bite, because the venom spreads through all the members, and infects and torments them. So also the detractor with his malevolence and malediction wounds his brother, disturbs peace, dissipates charity, divides unity, scandalizes those who hear; he stirs up hatreds, quarrels, brawls and wars, and thus sometimes overturns assemblies, cities and kingdoms. Thirdly, the serpent's tongue is three-forked, as Pliny says, lib. XI, cap. LVII; and Isidore, lib. I Orig. cap. IV: "The tongue, says Pliny, is most slender in serpents, and three-forked, vibrating, of dark color, and if you draw it out, exceedingly long." Whence by biting it inflicts three wounds: thus also the tongue of the detractor wounding the conscience of the one detracting by mortal sin, wounds the reputation of the neighbor, and infects the ears and mind of the hearers with malevolence. Whence St. Bernard, On the Triple Custody of Hands, Tongue and Heart: "The tongue, he says, accursed, striking the conscience of one and wounding the charity of another, destroys both together. Is not this tongue a viper's? truly most fierce, namely one which so lethally infects three with a single breath. Is not this tongue a lance? indeed and most sharp, which penetrates three with a single blow: Their tongue, he says, is a sharp sword. A two-edged sword indeed, nay a three-edged is the tongue of the detractor." He then adds something great and wonderful: "Nor truly would you fear to say that such a tongue is crueler than the very point by which the side of the Lord was pierced; for this too digs into the body of Christ and member from member, and no longer digs into a lifeless body, but makes it lifeless by digging. It is also more harmful than the thorns which military fury imposed on that most sublime head; or even than the iron nails which the consummation of Jewish iniquity drove into those most holy hands and feet. Unless indeed he had preferred the life of this body which is now pierced and transfixed to the life of that body of his, he would never have delivered it for this to the injury of death, the ignominy of the cross. And we say: A light thing is speech, tender, soft and slight the flesh of the human tongue: who that is wise would regard it as great? Light indeed is speech, because it flies lightly, but wounds gravely; it passes lightly, but burns gravely; it penetrates the mind lightly, but does not exit lightly; it is uttered lightly, but is not recalled lightly; it flies easily, and therefore easily violates charity." Fourthly, Horus Apollo places the hieroglyphic of the detractor as the basilisk, or regulus, which kills men by sight alone: thus also the detractor by voice alone. Again, other serpents can be charmed, but the regulus in no way. Whence that passage of Jeremiah VIII, 17: "I will send upon you serpents, reguli, to which there is no incantation." Thus also the detractor, because he detracts secretly, cannot be hindered by him who detracts, since he himself cannot clear himself, being ignorant that a crime is charged against him, nay even others who have suffered calumny, restore them with a single word to the highest reputation and peace. Finally, for has not more, in Hebrew it is לא יתרון lo iitron, that is, has not more, does not excel the serpent in its bite the bite of the lord of the tongue, that is the detractor, but rather is surpassed by it. It is a meiosis: for less is said and more is signified, as if to say, The tongue of the detractor bites more. The bite of the detractor is more hidden, more deceitful, more harmful than that of the serpent. For this one bites the body, that one bites reputation and conscience, and by biting destroys: wherefore the virulence of the detractor's tongue surpasses all the venom of serpents and asps; nor is it so serpentine as infernal and diabolical, as St. James teaches, cap. III, 7, where I have shown this at greater length. Wherefore "while it infects the ears, it kills the souls," says St. Bernard, serm. 24 in Cantica, from his morals and hypocritical gestures, by which with feigned love he conceals virulent hatred, thus graphically depicts: "Others, he says, with simulated shame and paint concealing the malice conceived, which they cannot retain, endeavor to obscure. You would see deep sighs sent forth first, and thus with a certain gravity and slowness, with sad countenance, lowered brows and plaintive voice, the curse emerges, and indeed so much the more persuasive, as it is believed by those who hear it to be uttered unwillingly by the heart, and with more of a compassionate than malicious affect. I grieve, he says, exceedingly for him whom I love sufficiently, and I was never able to correct him on this matter. And another: It was indeed well known to me about him, but through me it would never have become known; but since through another the matter has been revealed, I cannot deny the truth, and grieving I say: Truly it is so." Fifth, the tongue of the detractor is serpentine; for the serpent has beneath its tongue a bladder full of venom, which when it bites is ruptured. The detractor or whisperer has a similar one. Whence that passage: "The venom of asps is under their lips, with their tongues they dealt deceitfully," Ps. CXXXIX, 4. For this reason, God sent fiery serpents against the serpentine tongues of the Jews murmuring against Moses and detracting from him, Num. XXI, 5; to which the Chaldean here alludes, translating thus aptly: just as fiery serpents are sent to vex and harm the world on account of the sins of the house of Israel, who did not labor in the words of the law in silence: so there shall be no more for the man who is an accuser and whisperer, because he shall be kindled with the fire of Gehenna. Sixth, Vatablus thus expounds it, as if to say: Just as a serpent, not prevented or hindered by incantation, bites those who come upon it: so our nature, destitute of the enchantment of wisdom, detracts from others and devours the reputation of neighbors, gnaws and bites, according to that saying of Horace, I Serm. satyr. 4: He who gnaws an absent friend, etc. This man is wicked; you, Roman, beware of him. Seventh, the bite of an asp is mild, so that it is scarcely felt, like the prick of a needle, without swelling; yet its venom immediately pervades the blood and viscera. Whence Cleopatra killed herself by the bite of an asp, so that she might die most sweetly, lest she be led in triumph by Caesar Augustus after his victory at Actium over her and her husband Anthony. So the words of a detractor are mild, flattering and pleasant: for he simulates and asserts that he recounts the vices of his neighbor not from hatred, but from love and zeal for correction; yet immediately his slander wounds the reputation of the absent and the conscience of the hearer. Again, from the bite of an asp scarcely a drop of clear and red blood distills, but dark and black: so also detraction distills nothing but the blackening of reputation and conscience; for it proceeds from his tongue and its bladder, which, as in the serpent, so also in the detractor is dark and black, and filled with black venom. Eighth, the Syrians, born near the Euphrates, by a natural antipathy of complexion, or, as others wish, by sympathy, are not bitten or harmed by serpents, just as the Psylli in Africa, the Ophiogenes in Cyprus and the Hellespont, the Marsi in Italy: for all these, says Pliny lib. XXVIII, cap. III, "are a terror to serpents, by their very touch they heal those struck (by serpents) by a slight suction." See Delrio, De Magia, Quaest. IX and XIII. So men eminent in wisdom, reputation and sanctity do not fear the tongues of detractors; but are superior to all detraction, indeed
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Hebrew, they swallow, or will devour him. Thus the Septuagint; the Syriac, the words of the mouth of the wise man are glory, and the lips of the fool stain him; the Arabic, they hinder him; another, they destroy him; Cajetan, they will destroy him; Campensis, they will overturn him; Zurich, from the mouth of the wise man proceed things which confer grace, which the lips of the fool as it were by absorbing take away. The pronoun him can be taken in two ways: first, absolutely, so that it refers to the wise man; second, reciprocally, so that it refers to the foolish man. In the first way there is an antithesis of the struggle of foolishness and the fool against the wise man and wisdom, as if to say, The wise man speaks gracious words; but the proud and envious fool contradicts, and with many words and arguments fights against him, so that he may cast him down, trip him up, overcome him, confound him and make him like himself. Thus St. Jerome, who also adds: "And truly the wise man is cast down, when he speaks into the ear of the imprudent, and his words perish in the deep, so to speak, abyss. Whence blessed is he who speaks into the ear of the wise." In the second way, the antithesis of foolishness and the fool, assailing and casting down not the wise man, but himself, is more forceful, as if to say, The wise man speaks with much grace, namely wisely, modestly, benevolently, usefully, lovably, pleasantly: whereby it comes to pass that he gains the favor of his hearers; but the foolish man speaks foolishly, immodestly, arrogantly, imprudently, shamelessly, petulantly: whereby it comes to pass that he draws upon himself the hatred of his hearers, and moreover quarrels and brawls, which cast him into grave losses, and then into death and hell. Whence the Wonderworker, the good man works things beneficial both to himself and to his neighbor: to the fool his garrulity is pernicious; and Olympiodorus, the discourse of the wise man is neither inhuman nor austere, nor soft and dissolute; but seasoned with much grace, so that it likewise restrains, and does not allow hearers to dissolve. Thus St. Bonaventure. The reason a priori is that the words of the mouth of the wise man proceed from a heart fragrant with graces and virtues, which breathes its fragrance into words; but the words of the fool proceed from a foolish, senseless heart destitute of all grace, which instills its foolishness and senselessness into words, according to that saying of Seneca, epistles 114 and 115: "Such was the discourse of men as was their life. The character cannot be one in intellect (in words and deeds), and another in soul: discourse is the countenance of the soul;" wherefore the voice of the wise man proceeds from the affection of the heart, in the grace of the lips, in the magnificence of the work, according to that: "Grace is poured forth in thy lips," Psalm XLV, 3; and that: "The wise man makes himself lovable in words: but the graces of the foolish shall be poured out," Ecclesiasticus XX, 13; and that concerning Christ: "All gave testimony to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth," Luke IV, 22; and that of Paul: "Let your speech be always in grace seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one," Colossians IV, 6, and Ephesians IV, 29; and that of Moses: "Let my speech flow as dew, as rain upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass," Deuteronomy XXXII, 2. Thirdly, the Chaldean takes grace not of men, but of God; whence he translates: "The words of the mouth of the wise man, who at the time when vengeance is impending upon the world, is found in the generation; if he prays, he turns aside punishment, and brings the Lord to mercy." These maxims are disparate, just as those in Proverbs: wherefore it is not necessary to connect one to another. If anyone, however, wishes to connect this to the preceding, let him say that the wise man, whose words are pleasing and acceptable to all, is here opposed to the detractor ungrateful and hateful to all. Furthermore, Cajetan, Arboreus, Hugo and Dionysius attach this maxim to the preceding thus, as if to say, The fool, such as is the detractor, harms not only another, to whom he detracts, but also himself; for he of his own accord casts himself into grave and inextricable evils, which will absorb and devour him, as the whale did Jonah, as the Hebrew has it. Note: The word praecipitabunt denotes first, the precipitousness of the tongue in the fool, by which without consideration whatever comes into his mouth he utters headlong. Whence St. Bonaventure: "The reason for precipitousness," he says, "is indiscretion; and the reason for this is, because he does not consider." Whence it is said in Proverbs XXIX, 20: "Hast thou seen a man hasty to speak? folly is more to be hoped for than his correction." Hence the Wonderworker translates: Fools, on the other hand, with immoderate speaking Secondly, the word praecipitabunt, says Lyra, denotes the talkative man rolling headlong by his own wittiness, and like one who is cast down from a high mountain, rushing down the steep places into ruin both of crimes and of losses and punishments. Whence Olympiodorus, reading, the lips of the fool will submerge him: Submersion, he says, of which Ecclesiastes here speaks, is to be referred to eternal punishments, as if to say, The talkative man casts himself into the deep of the abyss, namely into the stomach and lowest belly of hell, so that there he may be food and nourishment both of fire and of the devil. Otherwise St. Jerome: "Truly," he says, "the wise man is cast down, when he speaks into the ear of the imprudent, and his words perish in the deep, so to speak, abyss."
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Pagninus, great madness; Zurich, pernicious insanity; Cajetan, bad trickery; Campensis, fury which carries no small danger; Septuagint, worst circumlocution; Syriac, shameful evils; Arabic, inconvenient perversion. "Symmachus," says St. Jerome, "translated: Tumult and a certain inconsistency of words, while he does not remain in the meaning, but thinks he can escape sin by the multiplication of words. For since he neither remembers the past nor knows the future, and is wrapped in the darkness of ignorance, promising himself false knowledge, in this he thinks himself learned and wise, if he multiplies words. This can also be understood of heretics, who do not grasp the sayings of prudent men, but preparing themselves for contrary disputations, they wrap up both the beginning and end of their speech in vanity with much error, and while they know nothing, they speak more than they know." Thus St. Jerome. Under the beginning and the end, or under the principle and conclusion, as under the extremes understand the intermediate things, that is to say: The fool, while he speaks, begins to belch forth the foolishness with which he is full; and the more he speaks, the more foolish things he utters; whence it comes to pass that finally he pours forth the worst errors, because what he once said foolishly, he strives to defend and pursue pertinaciously, according to that saying of the Philosopher: "A small error in the beginning becomes great in the end." The fool therefore raves throughout his entire discourse, nor is any part of it free from foolishness: nay rather, as his discourse grows, so grow his desires, to such a degree that they end in the worst errors, for example in heresies, blasphemy, atheism. To this applies that saying of Cleomenes to the ambassadors of the Samians: "What you said first I do not remember, the middle parts I do not even understand, the last I do not approve." Thus Plutarch, in the Apophthegms. Otherwise the Thaumaturgus: The fool, he says, while he opens his mouth, begins foolishly, about to make an end immediately: because from madness he does not know how to continue and connect his discourse. Wherefore he begins from rashness, from vain glory, from desire of pleasures, and ends in obstinacy, pride, imprudence, blasphemy. Thus Hugo. Again others, that is to say: Wise orators take the greatest care with the exordium so that they win the favor of their hearers, and with the epilogue so that they persuade them of what they intend; but the fool neglects both; for in the exordium by his dull witticism he turns his hearers away from him, and in the epilogue he proposes nothing but foolishness to be hissed at by all, especially while by foolish inconsistency of mind he makes it so that the epilogue does not correspond to the exordium, nay rather contradicts it. Whence the Chaldean translated it, the peroration abounds in perverse movements.
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because he lacks both substance and wisdom: hence he heaps up trivial words, and the same man repeats them inopportunely and noisily without judgment to the annoyance of his hearers a thousand times over, according to that saying of Apuleius in the Apology, book 1: "Speech, which lacks substance, thrives by noise." And that saying of Theocritus concerning Anaximenes speaking at length: "A river of words begins, a drop of mind." Thus Stobaeus, sermon 34. On the contrary, the wise man is brief in words, abundant in sense, for he signifies much in few words. Thus the Author of the Greek Catena: "And saying few things to many," he says, "appears obstreperous and a babbler. The wise man therefore is sparing of speech, but the fool is talkative." Again, the fool multiplies words, because even when he speaks of virtues, he utters many vain things about them which he himself does not have in his heart, nor does he feel: wherefore he is like a chattering magpie or swallow, or a talkative jackdaw, who although he chatters constantly with his lips, his heart is nevertheless empty of sense, and he understands nothing of the things he chatters about. This is what Ecclesiasticus says in chapter XX, 21: "A man without grace (that is, without grace, whose speech is not seasoned with grace) like a vain fable shall be always in the mouth of the undisciplined:" wherefore "from the mouth of the fool a parable shall be rejected: for he doth not say it in its due time." A MAN KNOWETH NOT WHAT SHALL BE BEFORE HIM: AND WHO CAN TELL HIM WHAT SHALL BE AFTER HIM? — This saying is aptly connected with the preceding one, as if to say: Fools multiply words, because they are accustomed to chatter much about things that are past, and they also inquire too anxiously with curious investigation into future things, and dare to predict them, when there are very few things which man knows for certain about the past, and concerning the future scarcely any certain knowledge is possessed: on which account it seems altogether vain to multiply discourse upon such uncertain and unknown matters (which the unwise do). We have heard this saying in chapter III, 22, and VII, 1, where I explained it. Furthermore, first, the Chaldean translates: the fool is wholly occupied in the empty noise of words, which were not necessary, nor can anyone know what shall happen in his days, and what shall come to pass at his end. For who shall report it to him? Second, the Zurich Bible translates: the fool uses many words, and this man knows not whither he goes; but who would tell him what shall follow? And Campensis: the fool thus multiplies words, so that no one can understand what he wishes, and much less can anything about the future be gathered from them. Third, Aben-Ezra thinks the final words are spoken from the person of the fool, as if to say: The fool multiplies words about his pleasures, and those things which he desires, because he is touched by no fear of future things, namely of judgment and hell. For he says: These things are uncertain, indeed vain and empty, according to that saying of Epicurus: Eat, drink, play; after death there is no pleasure. For the voluptuous, in order that they may freely and securely indulge their desires, deny the immortality of the soul, deny heaven, deny hell, deny finally all divinity. But the first sense is most fitting and genuine.
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This is a difficult passage, because it is hard to define what this proverb signifies: "To go into the city." First, Cajetan thinks that here is rebuked a prince who makes the way to his own city obscure, winding and difficult, when it ought to be straight, open and passable. And in this one labor of the foolish, all similar labors of the foolish that are unseemly and harmful are understood. But this is far-fetched and alien from the Vulgate. Second, Mercerus, and from him Delrio in the Adages, think that by city is signified proverbially the culmination and end of a matter, as if to say: The foolish begin a thing, and know not how to finish it, and to bring it to perfection. Third, Isidore Clarius and Campensis translate it: the foolish man is ignorant of the manner of living civilly, he is barbarous and rustic, whereas the wise and just man is courteous and urbane. Moringus agrees, who thinks it is alluded to rustics whose labor is vain, if they do not timely convey the fruits into the city, when there is a market, so that they may sell them; or, as if to say: The labor of foolish men multiplying words is vain, because they know not how to speak in a composed and urbane manner, as do the inhabitants of the city. Fourth, Aben-Ezra and Vatablus, as if to say: The foolish are occupied and weary themselves about difficult questions; yet they are ignorant of common and obvious things, which is said proverbially: "He knows not the way into the city;" for what is more well-known than the royal and beaten way into the city? Whence Emmanuel Sa: They know not how to go into the city, that is, he says, they are ignorant of the most well-known things. Fifth, our Pineda takes going into the city, or as the Arabic version renders it, walking through the city, for perambulating the city, that is, ruling the city, so that here are rebuked foolish princes, counselors and magistrates, who do not visit the cities subject and committed to them, so that they may remove abuses, administer justice and arrange all things rightly. For to perambulate in Scripture is a word denoting rule and governance, as I have shown in Zechariah I, 11. To this exposition aptly coheres what follows: "Woe to thee, O land, whose king is a child!" Sixth, you might say more simply that it is a metaphor from slaves condemned to labor, either in workhouses, or in fields, or in mines for digging out metals of iron, bronze, silver, etc., who, since they lead a laborious life there, know not the way into the city, so that in it they might lead a civil, easy and comfortable life (for in the city there is convenience and abundance of all things); or from travelers and pilgrims, who, since they know not the straight and direct way into the city to which they are heading, through circuits, windings and wasteful routes either late or never reach the destined city, as if to say: In like manner the foolish man labors so that he might live wisely and happily; but in vain, because he knows not the way into the city, that is, the reason and method of wisdom, he knows not how to execute his affairs wisely, he knows not wherein wisdom consists: for he seeks it in liberty, gluttony, luxury, etc., when it is situated in prudence and virtue. There is a well-known example in Italy of a certain noble from beyond the Alps, who, heading toward the city of Rome, since he inquired after delicate wines in inns, and therefore sent servants ahead to explore the wines of the inns, and where they found better ones, they would inscribe on the doors, "est, est"; when at last they found the best they inscribed, "est est est"; wherefore the noble drank so much there from excess that he died from gluttony, and did not reach the city. Whence the servants inscribed on his tomb: "Per est est est our lord died." Hence St. Jerome takes by city truth and the city of wisdom, and this interpretation first he expounds concerning philosophers: "Read Plato, he says, go through the subtleties of Aristotle, look more carefully upon Zeno and Carneades, and you will prove that it is true what is said: The labor of the foolish shall afflict them. They indeed sought truth with all zeal, but because they did not have a guide and leader of the way, and trusted that they could comprehend wisdom by human senses, they did not reach the city at all. Of which it is said in Psalm LXXII, 20: O Lord, in thy city thou shalt bring their image to nothing. For the Lord shall scatter in his city all the shadows and various images and persons which they put on themselves in various doctrines. Of which it is written elsewhere: The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful, Psalm XLV, 5. And in the Gospel: A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid, Matthew V, 14. And in Isaiah: A fortified city, Isaiah XXVII, 10, which is assailed; indeed this city of truth and wisdom, since it is firm and strong, all the wise men of the age and heretics strive to attack it." Secondly, concerning heretics: "And what we have said of philosophers," he says, "the same thing must be thought of heretics, that they labor and are afflicted in vain in the study of the Scriptures, since they walk in a desert, and are not able to find the city, of whose error the Psalmist also makes mention, saying: They went astray in the wilderness in a place without water: they found not the way to the city of habitation," Ps. CVI, 4. Thus far St. Jerome. For he alludes to the city of Jerusalem, which was to the Jews the city of wisdom, of doctrine, of law, of faith, of religion, of the temple, and of all good things. Whence by the law the Hebrews went to it three times a year from all Judaea, that they might worship God in the temple and hear the law; Jerusalem therefore was to them the city of wisdom, the mother of the Church, the earthly paradise and an image of heaven: wherefore those who wished to live a wise, holy and happy life went to Jerusalem; but those who did not know this journey, or were occupied with rural and other troublesome affairs outside of it, lived an ignorant or foolish, earthly, troublesome and unhappy life. To these therefore the Ecclesiastes here compares the foolish, in that they, occupied with their troublesome affairs, yet vain and empty, live laboriously as it were in fields, and do not arrive at the rest and the holy way of wisdom and virtue, of which Jerusalem was the type (which in Hebrew means the same as vision of peace). Hence the Chaldean renders it, the weariness of the fool, by which he is wearied in foolishness, this itself exhausts him, so that he does not learn to go into the city, in which the wise man dwells, to seek discipline from him. For this reason Christ commanded Saul and said: "Go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what thou must do," Acts IX, 7. Allegorically and anagogically the foolish do not know the way into the city, that is into the Church both militant and triumphant, because they cling to the way, that is to the earth and its desires and trifles. They do not know therefore the way into the city, that is into heaven to eternal happiness. Thus St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Thaumaturgus and others. This maxim therefore teaches us that in this life we are not citizens, but strangers and pilgrims, whose business it is to go to our fatherland, namely to the heavenly city, "whose builder and maker is God," Heb. XI, 10. "For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come," Heb. XIII, 14. Hence Thaumaturgus renders it, but a man who does not know how to go into a good city, expects the affliction of his eyes and of his face.
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"Boy," both in age, and rather in foolishness, inexperience and concupiscence, namely one who has boyish manners, affections, and thoughts, such as Rehoboam had when he was forty years old, III Kings XII, 4. For we read that some very distinguished kings were chosen as boys, such as Joash, who was made king at seven years old, IV Kings XI, 22; and Josiah who was eight years old, II Paralipomenon XXXIII, 1; and Solomon, who was twelve years old, as St. Ignatius writes to the Magnesians, although it is more true that Solomon was about twenty years old when he entered upon the kingdom. Therefore youthful age contributes little to the matter, just as royal lineage does. Hence Plato in the Theaetetus says that all kings are descended from slaves, and slaves are descended from kings. Wherefore St. Jerome, when he had interpreted the boy as a boy in age, adds: "But to me something more sacred seems to lie hidden in the letter, that youths are called in Scripture those who depart from the old authority, and despise the grey precepts of their parents: who, neglecting the commandment of God, desire to establish the traditions of men. Concerning whom the Lord also threatens Israel in Isaiah, because it would not have the water of Siloe, which goes with silence, and turned away from the old pool, choosing for itself the streams of Samaria and the whirlpools of Damascus: And I will give, He says, youths as princes to them, and mockers shall rule over them." Hence in Hebrew for boy is נער naar, that is, boy, youth, fool; wherefore from naar the Germans took their nar, that is, fool: for the vices of boyhood are thoughtlessness, inexperience, lack of learning, ignorance, concupiscence, foolishness, levity, inconstancy. Wherefore Seneca, epistle 4: "Still, he says, not boyhood but, which is more serious, boyishness remains; and this indeed is worse, because we have the authority of old men, the vices of boys; and not only of boys, but of infants: those fear light things, these false things, we both." Hence that threat in Isaiah, III, 4: "I will give boys as princes to them." Where St. Basil: "Youth, he says, is most fickle, and most prone to every shameful deed, as are unbridled and unrestrained concupiscences, bestial and savage angers, incontinence of tongue, insults, arrogance, pride from exaltation of mind; likewise other affections native and congenital to youth, envies on account of another's surpassing eminence, suspicions on account of contracted familiarity: for swarms of innumerable vices gather themselves together and attach themselves to youth." And St. Ambrose, book I On Intercession, chapter VII: "Youth, he says, alone and weak in strength, infirm in counsels, burning with vice, fastidious toward admonishers, allured by delights, and inflamed by the heat of boiling blood." There is added Xenophon: "Just as, he says, young lyre-players often destroy many lyres, so desirous youths often overturn the commonwealth." On the occasion of fools, concerning whose foolishness and harm he has said much, Ecclesiastes passes on to foolish and stupid kings and princes, whose harm is the greater, the greater is their dignity and power. For their foolishness flows into the whole kingdom and destroys it utterly, especially because, as Claudian says, "To the example of the king the whole world is fashioned." Wisely Gerbodus, Bishop of Rheims, in a letter (it is the 80th among the letters of St. Hildebert, vol. III of the Library of the Holy Fathers) to the Bishop of Angers, a youth, unfit for his office: "Not through a long age, he says, have you begun to gain experience, nor has your mind yet been matured by the variety of events, namely: The boy exults in levity, old age in gravity." Woe therefore to the family, house, city, commonwealth, whose king or ruler is immature in age and knowledge. Moreover the Chaldean restricts this saying to Jeroboam: "Woe to you, he says, land of Israel, at the time when Jeroboam the impious shall reign over you, and shall cause the morning sacrifice to cease from you, and your princes, before they offer the continual morning sacrifice, eat bread." To this belongs the symbol of Pythagoras: "A boy or woman wandering about with a drawn sword, an evil omen, that is, evil will not be lacking if the government is entrusted to imprudent, inept and fickle men." Tropologically Olympiodorus: The city, he says, is the soul, whose king is the mind and intellect, which if it be fickle, and desirous of gluttony and pleasures, will destroy the soul; but if it be nourished by sacred disciplines, it will make it blessed. Again St. Jerome: The city, he says, is the Church, whose king, that is, the prelate or bishop, is a boy in weakness, foolishness, and life. Symbolically St. Jerome and St. Augustine, book XVII On the City of God, XX, understand by the boy king the devil, foolish and impious. I will recite the words of St. Augustine in the following verse. Tropologically St. Gregory, book XVI of the Morals, chapter XXV: "Again by morning," he says, "the prosperity of the present life is signified, as is said through Solomon: Woe to thee, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning. For since morning is the first time of the day, and evening the last, we ought not to be refreshed by the prosperity of this life which comes first, but by those things which follow at the end of the day, that is, at the end of the world. Therefore they eat in the morning, who are exalted by the prosperities of this world, and while they care vehemently for present things, they do not think of future things." AND WHOSE PRINCES EAT IN THE MORNING,—that is, they feast unseasonably with the child king; for children in the morning before sunrise, as soon as they awake from sleep, on account of the heat of the stomach are hungry and demand food. For all their wisdom is in the palate and taste, whereas the wisdom of kings and princes is situated in the brain and in the care of wisely administering the commonwealth; wherefore they ought to be temperate and sober: for nothing is so contrary to wisdom and counsel as intemperance and drunkenness. Therefore in the morning, while the mind is vigorous and the light of reason is clear, and the spirits are lively from nocturnal sleep, let princes devote themselves to consultations and the handling of business; let them reserve midday or evening for the refreshment of the body, as Augustus Caesar did, as testified by Suetonius. For the morning time is most suitable for counsel and business, because it is the light of the mind equally as of the body. Hence morning is said to be the beginning of the day and of light, which remains from it throughout the rest of the day, says Varro, book V of On the Latin Language. Servius and Festus add that manus in the ancients signified good: whence immane is the same as evil; but nothing is so good as light. Hence the Greeks, when light is brought, say: φῶς ἀγαθόν. Some, however, derive mane from manes, because from the lower places, where are the manes, that is, the souls and spirits of the dead, the light with the sun is seen to emerge and rise. Wherefore Jeremiah, chapter XXI, verse 12: "Judge," he says, "judgment in the morning;" in the morning, that is, sober, says Vatablus, lest through drunkenness you corrupt judgments. Hence Isaiah, chapter V, verse 11: "Woe," he says, "to you that rise in the morning to follow drunkenness." The reason a priori is that the king and princes ought to be the rule of the whole commonwealth. Wherefore in governing they ought to follow right reason: but this is obscured, indeed perverted, by gluttony and drunkenness, whereas it is fostered by temperance and sobriety, especially in the morning. Hence Solomon, Proverbs XXXI, 4: "Give not," he says, "O Lamuel, give not wine to kings: because there is no secret where drunkenness reigneth, lest perhaps they drink, and forget judgments, and change the cause of the children of the poor." Again, magistrates who hold banquets consume in them the taxes and wealth of the state, and offend and scandalize the people. Examples of intemperate kings are: Sardanapalus wholly given to feasts and debaucheries, invaded by Arbaces the prefect, was forced to burn himself with the royal palace, and lost his life with the monarchy of the Assyrians (for Arbaces transferred this to the Medes). Thus excessive gluttony destroyed Alcibiades, Lucullus, Caligula, Ptolemy Philopator, Antiochus the Great, who on account of drunkenness was accustomed to sleep whole days, as testified by Plutarch in his Life of Flaminius, Demetrius Poliorcetes, Mark Antony the Triumvir, whose timely drinking bouts Cicero mentions in the Philippics. Tiberius Caesar sometimes feasted and drank for two days continuously; whence by the soldiers, instead of Claudius Tiberius Nero, by way of mockery he was called Caldius Biberius Mero, says Suetonius in his Life, chapter XIII and XXII. Vitellius by his habit of vomiting showed himself fit for every kind of food, and used breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and carousing, and therefore after a few months was deprived of life and empire. Nero was a monster of nature, and a slave to pleasure and gluttony; hence cruel to others, condemned by the senate, he raged against himself, and was forced to pierce himself with a dagger. The Emperor Commodus, with excessive debauchery having lost his taste, mixed human excrement with foods, mocking those who shuddered at this mixture, as Herodian and Lampridius say. The Emperor Elagabalus, constant in banquets, prepared feasts from the tongues of peacocks, nightingales, flamingos, pheasants and parrots, and the heels of camels; what was left over from the birds he gave to dogs: thus Herodotus and Lampridius. Hence oppressed miserably he perished. For, as Aristotle wisely says, book V of the Politics, chapter X: Those who give themselves to pleasures easily fall into contempt, and provide themselves with many occasions of being oppressed. Whence Alexander the Great obscured the glory of his deeds by his drunkenness, so much so that Antigonus said to him that he was unworthy to rule; whence life itself and empire deprived him of it. He inherited this vice from his father Philip, concerning whom a woman said: "I appeal," she said, "from Philip to Philip, but from the drunk to the sober."
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Some translate it pathetically, O blessed land, etc. For "not to luxury," in Hebrew it is לא בשתי lo basthi, which some among Kimchi translate as "not in the warp," that is not in mixture, so that namely wisdom is not mixed with wine, just as the warp is mixed and woven into the woof by weaving; or lest individual cups be mixed with individual mouthfuls of food, as drinkers do, when one ought to drink far more sparingly than eat. But truly this exposition is new and forced. For "noble" in Hebrew it is בן חורים ben chorim, or as others pronounce it, horim (as if to say "of Heroes"), that is son of candidates, that is of the freeborn, of the noble, of princes (for formerly the noble and princes, being candidates, that is clothed in white garments, went about, as I showed in chapters VIII and IX), namely freeborn, noble prince (for as the father is, so is the son, and the sons of the noble and princes are noble and princes). Whence the Septuagint translates it, sons of the freeborn; the Syriac, sons of liberty; the Arabic, a free son; another, son of heroes: חרים horim indeed are heroes; the Zurich Bible, he is noble; Campensis, a strenuous man. Such were the ancient heroes. "A hero," says Servius from Hesiod, "is a strong man, a demigod, having more of the divine than of man." Whence Cicero, in book I to Atticus: "That hero of ours, Cato." Noble. — Understand nobility not so much of birth as of wisdom and virtue, which alone is true and solid nobility, namely generosity of spirit to dare and accomplish great and glorious things, which makes him a worthy descendant of his own kind and of his fathers and ancestors. For, as Euripides says: A noble man seems to me blessed. But he who is not just, even if he derives his lineage from a father better than Jupiter, seems to me ignoble. It is an antithesis of the preceding verse, as if to say: Just as miserable and unhappy is the land whose king is a child, that is childish and abject in gluttony, and cast into pleasures of the mind: so blessed and happy is the land whose king is noble and generous in spirit, who with his princes contemplates and pursues generous things, and therefore despises pleasures, and eats only after public business is completed, at his proper time, not for luxury and gluttony, but for necessary restoration and sustenance of strength. Furthermore the Chaldean restricts this saying to Hezekiah, whom he opposes to Jeroboam: "The land will be blessed," he says, "in the time when Hezekiah son of Ahaz shall have reigned over you, who will be of the lineage of the house of David king of Israel; who will be a strong man in the law, and will do what he is obliged to do from the precepts of the law; and your princes, after they offer the continual sacrifice, eat bread after the fourth hour of the day, from the labor of their own hands, in the strength of the law and precepts, and not in weakness and blindness of eyes, in weakness of study and precepts." Noble. — From this place Bartholus in the law Honor. § De Honor. ff. De muner. et honor., teaches that the privilege of nobility, so that from it rather than from plebeian families men are chosen for honors, dignities and magistracies, is conformable to natural and divine law. The same teaches Tiraquellus, tract. De Nobilit. cap. XX, num. 1 et seq. Indeed even Plato in the Alcibiades: "It is fitting," he says, "that better natures be in noble birth than in ignoble; and it is necessary that the well-born, if well educated, thus at length arrive at virtue." And St. Thomas, in cap. I to the Hebrews, lect. 3, so that anyone may easily administer some dignity, besides wisdom he requires that he not err in governing, and the power of virtue in executing, and also the lineage of birth lest it be despised in commanding. For nobility of birth gives to a noble son great authority among the people; hence the German nobles honor it wonderfully. Again the same is a stimulus to the son that he live nobly, and perform deeds worthy of his nobility and of his ancestors. Moreover, since sons succeed to a king or prince in the principate by hereditary right, not outsiders even if more apt by the right of election, all ambition of those to be chosen, envy, quarrels, disputes, schisms and wars which are wont to follow from election are removed. Moreover, in ecclesiastical prelacy, although in the Old Law the sons and grandsons of Aaron succeeded him in the Pontificate by God's command, in the new law Christ willed that Pontiffs, Bishops and other Prelates should not be born, nor succeed by hereditary right, but that those should be elected who excelled in wisdom, virtue and other gifts. For this was required by the dignity, utility and majesty of the Pontiffs and Priests of Christ, inasmuch as they ought, as it were heavenly men, to show others the way to heaven, and therefore "to live as divine beings, to speak as oracles." Whence when in the election of a certain Pontiff one was commended for the nobility of his lineage, another replied: "We seek a successor to the fisherman Peter, not to Augustus," as the Gloss relates, cap. Quoniam, Quaest. I, verb. Invidia. WHOSE PRINCES SHALL EAT IN DUE SEASON, FOR REFRESHMENT, AND NOT FOR LUXURY. The Hebrew: in strength and not in drinking, that is, they eat so as to strengthen the powers of body and soul for laboring for the commonwealth, not for carousing, gluttony and excess. Hence the Zurich version translates: they eat to restore their strength, not to compete in drinking; Campensis: they eat as much as is sufficient to preserve their strength, not devoted to feasting; another: for necessity, not for luxury and drunkenness. Whence St. Jerome says that here they are proclaimed as judges who by no means prefer pleasure to the affairs of citizens, but after much labor and administration of the commonwealth, take food as though compelled by necessity. The same thing Plato learned from Solomon and enacted, lib. II De Legibus, where he does not permit the use of wine to magistrates, except for refreshing the body or on account of illness. Symmachus translates: with manly integrity, that is, so that they may acquire for themselves manly strength and firm health, says Olympiodorus: for he who takes food at the proper time, namely at fixed hours, and does so moderately, is healthier and stronger, as the Thaumaturge testifies. Furthermore the Septuagint translates: thy princes shall eat in due season in strength, and shall not be confounded; the Syriac: with prosperity and not in confusion. For the Hebrew בשתי basthi, if marked with a point of cateph camets, so that the beth is initial, not radical, but servile and a note of preposition, signifies in drinking; but the sense comes to the same thing: for drinking is called confusion, because it induces excess, vomiting, drunkenness, etc., which make the drinker worthy of confusion, so that he blushes before all, and is exposed to the ridicule and mockery of all. "How many things the drunk do, which the sober blush at!" says Seneca, epist. 83. Wherefore Dionysius the tyrant said that he and his like were very similar to capons and calves, which are fattened not for health, but for destruction, namely so that when fattened they may be slaughtered and eaten, as Eusebius relates, lib. I De Praepar. cap. V. Such men St. Peter, II epist., cap. II, 12, calls "irrational beasts, luxuriating in their feasts;" and St. James, cap. V, 5: "Nourishing your hearts in luxury." Examples of temperate princes are: Julius Caesar, wakeful and sober, occupied with nothing but the counsels of war, obtained and indeed founded the Roman empire. Whence Cato said that Caesar was the only one of all men who approached the overthrow of the commonwealth while sober. Thus Suetonius in Vita Caesaris, cap. LIII. By sobriety and vigilance Cyrus obtained and established the Persian monarchy. Augustus Caesar abstained from food until evening, occupied with the constant administration of justice even into the night. Whence he himself in a letter says: "We, he says, tasted bread and dates in the carriage." And in a letter to Tiberius he says he took an ounce of bread returning home from a journey. See Suetonius in Vita ejus, cap. LXXIII, LXXIV, LXXVI and following. The kings of Egypt ate simple food, so that nothing but wine and goose was brought to their tables. There was a fixed measure for drinking wine, by which neither could the belly be stuffed nor could they become drunk. Finally they were so sober that their life seemed to be composed by a most skilled physician for health, says Diodorus, lib. I, cap. VI. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, ate and drank whatever was set before him, even if insipid, says Xenophon. Hannibal was sober and vigilant, and therefore victorious, until the luxuries of Capua enervated and destroyed him. P. Scipio Aemilianus ate only bread. M. Cato ate and drank what sailors used: thus Valerius, lib. IV, cap. III. Trajan was most frugal in eating, as testified by Alexander, lib. V, cap. XXI. Charlemagne was very sparing in food and drink, as testified by Grantz, lib. II, cap. VIII Saxon. Alphonsus, king of Aragon, abstained almost entirely from wine. When asked why: "Because," he said, "wisdom is obscured by wine, and therefore it is not fitting for a king to extinguish this by immoderate drinking, without which the name and authority of emperor and king cannot be properly maintained." Again, when asked why he so condemned drunkenness: "For this reason," he said, "because I am not ignorant that fury and lust are the offspring of drunkenness." Thus Panormitanus, book II of His Deeds. Selim, emperor of the Turks, was so sober that he ate from only one dish; hence amid so many labors of war he always enjoyed good health. Thus Jovius in his Life. Emmanuel, king of Portugal, always abstained from wine, as Osorio testifies, book XII of His Deeds. Allegorically, the noble king, or son of the free-born, is Christ, whose princes the apostles were remarkably sober. Thus St. Jerome: "Blessed," he says, "is the land of the Church, whose king is Christ the son of the free-born, descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and also from the line of all the prophets and saints: sin did not have dominion over them; and for this reason they were truly free, from whom was born the Virgin more free, St. Mary, having no thorns, no tares on her side, but all her fruit burst forth into flower, speaking in the Song of Songs, Song II: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. Her princes also are the apostles and all the saints who have as king the son of the free-born, the son of the free woman, not of the handmaid Hagar, but generated from the freedom of Sarah. Nor do they eat in the morning, nor hastily. For they do not seek pleasure in the present age, but in their time they shall eat, when the time of retribution shall have come; and they shall eat in strength, and not in confusion. All good of the present age is confusion, but of the future age it is perpetual strength. Something like this is also said in Isaiah: Behold, they that serve me shall eat good things, but you shall be hungry, Isaiah LXIII. And again: Behold, they that serve me shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed." St. Augustine supports St. Jerome, book XVII of the City of God, XX, who from this place establishes two cities, one of the devil, the other of Christ, and their kings the devil and Christ: "Woe to you, land," he says, "whose king is a youth, and your princes eat in the morning. Blessed are you, land, whose king is the son of the free-born, and your princes eat in due time in strength, and not in confusion. He called the youth the devil, on account of foolishness, and pride, and rashness, and wantonness and other vices, which are wont to abound in that age; but Christ the son of the free-born, of the holy patriarchs, belonging to the free city, from whom he was born in the flesh. The princes of that city eating in the morning, that is before the proper hour, because they do not await the fitting time, which is the true happiness in the future age, hastening to be blessed by the celebration of this age. But the princes of the city of Christ patiently await the time of true happiness. This he says in strength, and not in confusion, because hope does not deceive them, of which the Apostle says: But hope confoundeth not."
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Campensis, it will come to pass that rain cannot be shut out. In Hebrew it is עצלתים atsalthaim, a dual noun, as if to say, Lameness in both feet, that is, twofold sloth, of soul and body; or negligence of present and future things; or the carelessness both of subjects and of superiors and princes; or of father and mother: for these are the two guardians of a house, whose twofold negligence destroys it. Thus the Chaldean; or, as Pineda holds, one sloth is that of the king, another of the princes and magistrates. For the discourse has gone before concerning both. Or the king's sloth is twofold, one by which the king is a private person, another by which he is public, so as to signify that sloth which in a commoner would be simple, in a king and prince is twofold, indeed manifold. Whence the Arabic translator renders it, on account of the modes of negligence the roof will be inclined; Thaumaturgus, the idle and lazy make their house smaller. For "humiliabitur" in Hebrew it is ימך iimmach, that is, it will be inclined, depressed, will subside, will fall; Vatablus, it will lean; the Zurich Bible, it will become worse; Campensis, it will be loosened; others, it will wither, it will rot: for thus the Hebrew iimmach is rendered by the Septuagint, Leviticus XXVII, 8; another, it will be oppressed; another, it will be bent. Appositely from gluttony he passes to sloth and its damages, because sloth is the daughter of gluttony, as St. Gregory says; for when the stomach is burdened with food and the brain with wine, the whole man becomes heavy, torpid, slothful, drowsy, inert, sluggish. This proverb therefore signifies any house whatsoever, both private and public, namely a kingdom and commonwealth, to be dissolved, to fall and be overturned through the sloth of princes born from gluttony and drinking, through which they are slothful and negligent in turning away small harms and damages (for as many are the cracks and drops, so many are the instances of sloth in turning them away); for these neglected grow, and at length destroy the commonwealth, just as a house is gradually weakened and at length falls, if the master be slothful in repairing it. "In slothfulness" therefore, that is, on account of sloth and negligence at first small, but lasting and manifold in repairing tiles, beams, rafters, etc., and in keeping the roof in good repair; "it will be humbled," that is, it will be weakened, will wither, will gape, will fall, will crumble and the framework will be lost, that is, the joining of beams and the roof of the house, whose ruin will shake the walls beneath it and overturn the whole house; "and in infirmity," that is, through remissness, idleness, and as the Septuagint has it, sluggishness; the Syrian, the depression of slothful and slow hands, not repairing small cracks and holes, will let through, will receive the drops of rain falling down, which continually falling will rot the beams, so that as they fall the whole house falls, both private and public, namely the commonwealth and kingdom. For he goes on to describe perverse kings and princes, by whose sloth and vice the commonwealth falls. Whence concerning the same he adds: "In laughter they make bread and wine, that the living may feast." For when they are wholly given up, nay, plunge themselves into delights and pleasures, they forget the commonwealth: for care of the belly begets carelessness and sloth of mind. To this pertains that saying of the Comic poet in the Pot of Gold: "Comes the rain, washes the walls, the beams leak through, the air rots the work of the builder." Aptly the structure of a house is set up here as a type of the structure of man and family, or of the commonwealth. For as Vitruvius says: "Buildings cannot have symmetry and proportional reason of composition, unless they have had in themselves the exact reason of the members of a well-formed man." Less aptly some connect this saying with the preceding one, as if to say, Care of moderate food preserves the strength of the body, which carelessness destroys, just as carelessness in keeping the roof in repair destroys the house; and others who connect it with the following one, as if to say, Those who feast in laughter gradually weaken in body and mind, just as a house weakens from the master's madness. For both are incongruous and cold. Similar to this saying is that one: "He that is slack and remiss in his work, is brother to him that wasteth," Proverbs XVIII, 9. And that of Hosea VII, 9: "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not," not feeling, as St. Bernard says, On the Interior House, chapter XI, the inner worm (of sloth and concupiscence) which gnaws at the interior; and he adds: "And therefore going wholly into those things which are without, and ignorant of my interior things, I am poured out like water, forgetting the past, neglecting the present, not foreseeing the future. I am ungrateful for benefits, prone to evils and slow to good." Wherefore when thou hearest of the grave fall of a great and holy man, do not think it was sudden, but that small things neglected became great; and at length cast him down from the summit into the abyss. Mystically therefore this saying is most true in the building of the spiritual house and the perfection of the soul: for a small defect, if neglected, begets a greater and greater one, so that at length a man falls into grave sins and exchanges virtue for vice. Thus Olympiodorus and St. Jerome. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it: in the study of the law and commandments a man broken in spirit is deprived of his children; but a woman if she shall not have kept more negligently the precepts which were commanded to her, that she should beware of the blood of menstrual pollution, shall be afflicted with the greatest sorrow of mind. But hear St. Jerome: "Our house, which is erected with the state of man, and the dwelling which we have in the heavens, if we are sluggish and slower to good works, shall be humbled. And every framework, which ought to bear the summit on high, falling to the earth crushes its inhabitant. And when the aid of hands and virtues shall have grown torpid, all the storms from above and the whirlwind of clouds burst forth upon us." He adds thereafter, and applies it to the Church: "Moreover, what we have interpreted in one man, can be better understood concerning the Church, that through the negligence of rulers all its height may fall, and there may be the allurements of vices where the covering of virtues was thought to be." Thus far St. Jerome. Slothfulness therefore is the negligence of the just, by which they are unwilling to bring remedy to the smallest sins, and weakness of hands is their vain security, by which they wish to admit even lesser things willingly and not to fall into greater ones: but this slothfulness and weakness shall be followed first by a dripping of the house, then by the wretched and manifest ruin of the house itself, because by vain security the building of virtue grows soft and falls, and at length by the repetition of lighter defects it collapses; not because those alone destroy virtue and cast down the soul, but because they open the wall of fortitude, so that the troublesome enemy may break in. That this was the mind of the Wise Man, Cassian, treating another passage of the same place at the same time, clearly expressed: "Elegantly," he says, "he compared the negligence of the mind to a house, and with the roof neglected, through which first indeed, as it were, very tiny drops of passions penetrate to the soul: which if, as small and light things, they are neglected, corrupt the beams of virtues; and after this flow the most abundant rains of vices, through which in the winter day, that is in the time of temptation, with the assault of the devil pressing in, the mind shall be driven from the dwelling of virtues, in which indeed, retaining circumspect diligence at some time, as in the possession of its own house it had rested." Thus far Cassian, Collation VI, chapter XVII. Moreover, the framework, which is nothing other than "the covering of beams and wood," as Budaeus says, first denotes the more sublime state of the Church of clerics and regulars, says Hugh; secondly, the ultimate end, to which all things are to be raised and aptly joined together, says Olympiodorus; thirdly, the connection of virtues, which seem contrary to one another, such as hope and fear, humility and magnanimity, poverty and beneficence, action and contemplation; fourthly, the sublimity and solidity of virtues, and especially the loftiness of charity, says Dionysius. It signifies therefore "to us in the riddle of a parable the Ecclesiastes, through the strength and firmness of virtues not to yield to the fluxes of temptations flowing outwardly into the heart, through which those things which are laid up for us may perish," says Nyssen, homily 4. When therefore you feel even the smallest crack in the soul, through which the devil pours in a drop of temptation, immediately seal it; otherwise from a crack it will become a window, and from a drop it will become rain, indeed a torrent and river, to which resistance cannot be made. Fifthly, the framework or floor signifies princes and nobles, who protect and defend the other lower parts of the commonwealth subject to them. For these are compared to beams of cedar and cypress, Canticles I, as St. Gregory, Bernard, Rupert, Anselm, and others explain there. Sixthly, the framework are the counselors and officials of princes: for these, while they are connected by concord as it were by a framework, preserve the house of the commonwealth; but while they are divided from one another by envy, they overturn both themselves and the commonwealth. Finally, St. Hilary, Canticles VI in Matthew: "In rains," he says, "he signifies the allurements of soft and gradually flowing pleasures, by which first faith is moistened by open cracks; after the rush of torrents, that is the motion of graver desires comes upon it, and thence all the force of surrounding winds rages, namely the whole spirit of diabolic power is brought in." A drop therefore is a small pleasure, indeed a small love of a forbidden thing, which unless it is shut out penetrates the mind, subjugates and destroys it, according to that of Ecclesiasticus XIX, 1: "He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little." See the things said there. Moreover Rabbi Solomon understands by the house the temple of Jerusalem, as if to say: Because the Jews were too negligent in observing the laws of God, hence it came to pass that their house, city and temple were desolated by the Chaldeans and Romans, although they could have met this destruction in time and averted it by their diligence and piety.
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Hebrew, they make bread for laughter, and wine (the Septuagint and Syriac add and oil gladdens the living); Campensis, they prepare food for pleasure; Zurich, they prepare magnificent feasts with foods; another, they celebrate joy with wine and banquets, so that the living may feast, that is so that they may feast joyfully, cheerfully and rejoicing; for to live truly is to rejoice, and life is joy. Thus Nonius: "The ancients, he says, called those who rejoice 'living' from the good comfort of life, just as we now say that one who is in the greatest joy is living." Thus in chapter IX, 9, for what Our translation renders, enjoy life with your wife, in Hebrew it is, see life, that is live. Thus Psalm LXXI, 15, concerning Solomon and his antitype Christ it is said: "And he shall live," namely joyfully, cheerfully, richly, honored, glorious. Whence explaining it adds: "And there shall be given him of the gold of Arabia, and they shall always adore him all the day long blessing." Thus also Ezekiel XVI, 6: "Live; I said, I say to thee: in thy blood live." See the things said there. Now first, Cajetan refers this saying to verse 17: "Blessed is the land whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in due season," etc., that is to say, To the blessedness of the land pertains abundance of bread, wine and money, which all the king and sober and prudent princes procure, so that from the abundance of things they may provide for the commonwealth. Secondly, the Chaldean refers these things to the alms of the just, whence he translates, the just make bread joyfully for feeding the poor and those worn out by hunger; the wine also which they mix for the thirsty will bring them delight in the future age; the price also of redemption, testimony of justice in the future age for them in the light of all will render. Thirdly, the Thaumaturgus thinks that here are noted lazy men, concerning whom in the preceding verse, and therefore vile, jesters and gluttonous: "The lazy man, he says, and the sluggard diminish the house. They mock others, they abuse all things with their gluttony, they are drawn by any money, prepared for nothing base and vile at a cheap price." And the Author of the Greek Catena: "The lazy man, he says, devote themselves to the belly, and gape for money, looking only to pleasure and joy." Conversely, R. Solomon and Aben-Ezra think that here a goad is given to the lazy to shake off laziness, that is to say, Setting aside laziness, work eagerly, thus indeed by your labor you will prepare for yourselves splendid feasts and riches. Fourth and genuinely, these things are to be referred to verse 16: "Woe to thee, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning:" for he exaggerates here this eating and carousing, that is to say, The king and voluptuous princes for laughter, that is for the sake of laughter and pleasure, for luxury and licentiousness, as I said in verse 17, take care to have made for themselves, and delicate things prepared, bread and wine, that is any food and drink "so that the living may feast," that is while life lasts, throughout the whole of life; for after death they hope for nothing good, indeed they do not believe that the soul survives. Therefore as long as they live, they hold banquets, they furnish tables sumptuously with feasts and wine, and for these things they do not spare expenses, but whatever is delicious, rare and magnificent in the city, they procure at great cost. "Money" indeed "obeys" and "all things are procured;" or, as you may translate more elegantly and forcefully from the Hebrew, money hears all things, responds to all and assents to all. It is a prosopopoeia. Money is introduced here as if a queen, whom all and everything pursue, seek and demand, and soon present and offer themselves where the mistress money has intervened. One could also refer the laughter to parasites, flatterers, actors and jesters, who haunt the tables of the rich, and as it were buy them, while they season them with their ridiculous witticisms, jests, mockeries, gestures, acts, by which they excite the guests to laughter and hilarity: in which thing the Palestinians, Syrians and Alexandrians abounded, as witness Capitolinus in Aelius Verus. Mystically, St. Jerome refers these things to Prelates who seek the applause of the people, so that they may acquire wealth and feasts. "He accuses them," he says, "who indeed speak in the Church and teach peoples, but teach those things which the people delight to hear, because they flatter sinners in their vice, and create a noise of listeners. Do you not see, when an orator luxuriates in the Church, and promises beatitude and the kingdoms of heaven to the multitude, that he seems to make bread in laughter, and to mix wine for the joy of the living? Either because those themselves who teach acquire riches and food and wealth through delightful promises; or because they make the bread of the Church, which is the bread of those mourning and not laughing (for blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves shall laugh), into joy and gladness." He then continues: "But what follows: All things obey money or silver, is to be understood in two ways, either that the teachers themselves, after being enriched by flattery, exercise dominion over peoples; or certainly because silver is always received for speech: for the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried in the fire, proved to the earth, purified sevenfold; he asserts this, that eloquence and oration, which is composed of the foliage of words, easily yields to the ignoble multitude." The same St. Jerome again takes these things in the contrary sense concerning evangelical teachers, who joyfully announce the gospel, that is, the joyful message, and the good things which Christ the Bridegroom brought to it, among which is money, that is, talents distributed to each by him, Luke XIX, 15. Thus also Olympiodorus opposes these same teachers to the voluptuous, because, strengthened by mystical bread and wine, they easily laugh at the snares of the devil, knowing that the whole world is subject to silver, that is, to the Word of God incarnate for us. AND ALL THINGS OBEY MONEY. — For obey, in Hebrew it is יענה iaanah, that is, it humbles and subjects all things to itself, or it hears all things, or it answers all things. Hence first, the Septuagint translates, and by silver with humiliation all things obey, as if to say: By silver all and everything humble themselves, submit and obey. Whence the Arabic, and all things are humbled and obey silver; the Syriac, silver humbles and seduces them in all things; another, by silver all humble themselves, as if adoring mammon. Second, Symmachus translates, silver will be useful for all things; Thaumaturgus, all things are drawn by silver. Third, the Zurich Bible, money subdues all things; another, silver obtains all things; Vatable, money accomplishes all things; Campensis, money supplies all things; Marinus, silver will help all things. Fourth, others, money answers all things, or all, as if to say: If you desire anything, consult money; if this be yours, it will satisfy all your desires and all your wishes. Fifth, another, money hears all things, so that by prosopopoeia here it is introduced, as it were a most powerful queen, nay as a divinity of mortals, which, when invoked, commands and provides all things whatsoever are sought, that is, whatsoever are desired. Whence the Poet: Whatever you wish with present coins, And it will come; a closed chest possesses Jupiter. A similar phrase is in Hosea, chapter II, verse 21: "And it shall be in that day: I will hear the heavens, saith the Lord, and they shall hear the earth. And the earth shall hear the wheat, and the wine, and the oil: and these shall hear Jezrael," as if to say: I will grant to the heavens the prayer which they desire, by giving them abundance of rain; the heavens will impart this to the earth, which asks for it; the earth will assent to the desire of wheat, wine and oil, so that they may come forth abundantly; these will satisfy Jezrael with abundance of fruits and produce, so that there may be great increase of all things there, as well as of animals and men; therefore there is nothing which is not accomplished by money; there is no crime which money does not command. Hence the Apostle, I Timothy VI, 10: "The root," he says, "of all evils is covetousness;" in Greek φιλαργυρία, that is, the desire of silver. There is nothing so hidden which riches do not unearth, nothing so dear which they do not buy, nothing so sublime and inaccessible which they do not obtain. They themselves are the firm protection of this life; they themselves, by which we obey kings and princes of this age according to their will; they themselves, by which we purchase tranquility, freedom and the most ample honors; they themselves finally sometimes make the most abject men like noble men, and raise them to supreme power. Sixth, Our translator, embracing all these things, significantly translates, all things obey money. For it itself is as it were a queen, to whom calling and commanding all and everything present themselves, obey and do what is commanded. Whence Thuanus translates: And everywhere the queen money holds sway over things. Hence Aristophanes in Plutus, act., scene 2, borrowed the same thing: If anything, he says, excellent, or beautiful or pleasing indeed among men exists, through Plutus (the god of wealth) it exists especially: for all things obey money. And Horace, lib. I, epist. 6: Namely a wife with dowry, and faith, and friends, And lineage and form the queen money grants, And well-moneyed Persuasion adorns, and Venus. Hence also that saying of Sallust in Jugurtha: "At Rome all things are for sale, even the city itself, if it could find a buyer." See Seneca, lib. III On Anger, cap. XXXIII and XXXIII, Cicero in Verrem, act. II, complains that the wealthy man, so that he be most guilty, cannot be condemned. Epicharmus says gold opens all things, even the very gates of hell. Hesiod in Works calls money man's second soul; the Philosopher, blood and life. Hence the Jurists whom Tiraquellus cites, On Nobility, cap. III, num. 5, think all the rich can be called princes; for from this wealth is named faculties, because they provide faculty, and thus facility, for all things. Indeed Plutus and Mammon were held and worshipped as gods. Nay, Judas for thirty pieces of silver sold, betrayed and lost Christ God himself. Finally the pagans called money itself Jupiter, the highest of gods. St. Augustine cites and refutes them, lib. VII On the City of God, cap. XII, whose words I recited at Eccles. X, 9 at the beginning. The same, lib. IV, cap. XXI, teaches that they worshipped the god Argentinus, and called Aesculanus from bronze; and Tertullian, lib. IV Against Marcion, cap. XXXIII: "The author of injustice, he says, and dominion of the whole age, we all know to be money." Whence avarice is called by Paul the servitude of idols; for many worship gold as a divinity and as it were adore it, Ephes. V, 5. Wisely Seneca and from him Dionysius: "Money, he says, one ought to command, not obey;" and Cicero, I On Duties: "Nothing, he says, is so narrow-minded and so depraved, as to love money": "for such is a golden slave," says Socrates; and the Poet: Money collected commands or serves each one, Worthy to follow a twisted rope rather than to lead one. Finally Julius Caesar thought power was prepared, preserved and increased by two things, namely money and soldiers, and that these followed each other mutually. Thus Xiphilinus in Caesar. Hence Flaminius, aptly jesting at Philopoemen abounding in soldiers, but empty of wealth, says: "Philopoemen indeed has hands and legs, but has no belly;" by hands and legs signifying commanders and soldiers, by belly money, which nourishes soldiers, and is therefore the sinew of war. Thus Plutarch in Roman Apophthegms. Furthermore St. Thomas, I II, Question II, art. 1, ad 1, asks whether human happiness consists in wealth, from the fact that all things obey money, and answers: "All corporeal things, he says, obey money as far as the multitude of fools is concerned, who know only corporeal goods, which money can acquire. But judgment concerning human goods ought not to be taken from fools, but from the wise, just as judgment concerning tastes is from those who have well-moderated taste." Whence aptly the poets gave Jupiter the empire of heaven, Neptune of the sea, Pluto of the underworld, because πλοῦτος, that is wealth, is dug out from the deepest bowels of the earth, and leads the avaricious to hell to Proserpina the wife of Pluto. Hence Pluto was called Orcus and Uragus from urging, and Dis. Cicero gives the reason, lib. II On the Nature of the Gods: All earthly force, he says, and nature is dedicated to Father Dis; who Dis, as among the Greeks Πλούτων (that is rich) because all things both fall back into the earth, and arise from the earth.
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This maxim is aptly connected to the preceding one, as if to say: Although kings and princes may devote themselves to banquets, neglect the commonwealth, vex and oppress citizens, nevertheless let the subject beware of detracting from them: for easily his detraction will come to the ears of the prince, who will punish and chastise him. He commands, says St. Jerome, "that we not, overcome by anger and fury, break forth into cursing and detraction of kings and princes: because contrary to expectation it sometimes happens that those whom we have cursed are informed of it and we incur danger from immoderation of the tongue. But what he says: The birds of the air shall carry thy voice, and he that hath wings shall tell the matter, is to be understood hyperbolically, as we are accustomed to say that even the very walls themselves, which are conscious of what we speak, will not conceal what they have heard." IN THY THOUGHT. — The Hebrew: in thy knowledge; the Septuagint: in thy conscience; St. Jerome: in thy mind; the Syriac: in thy understanding; the Chaldean: do not even silently curse the king in the intimate and hidden places of thy heart. Therefore "in thy thought," that is, not even most secretly, or with thyself alone as witness, as the Thaumaturgus translated it. Whence the Arabic version renders it: in thy bed; Cajetan: in thy separation. It is a catachresis, for thought is taken for what is most hidden. Thus Lyra, Cajetan and Vatablus. Add that it is proper not to curse the king even in thought and mind, because what we often think and turn over in our mind, this breaks forth through the mouth, that is, through words and gestures, so that it can be perceived and reported by hearers to the king. Thus Lyra. Whence Campensis translates: do not dare even to think once of such things as to reprove in the king or prince. And the Thaumaturgus: He commands, he says, that all things be obeyed by the rulers and magistrates of the kingdom, so that no one should even speak against them, or murmur at some sad word. DETRACT NOT FROM THE KING. — In Hebrew, al tehallel, that is, do not despise, do not diminish, do not speak lightly, as of something vile and abject, do not revile; the Septuagint: do not curse, do not execrate; Symmachus: do not assail with insults. It alludes to the precept of Moses: "Thou shalt not speak ill of the gods (that is, of judges and magistrates), and thou shalt not curse the prince of thy people," Exodus XXII, 28. TO THE RICH, — that is, to the powerful, the prince, the ruler. Thus Vatablus, Cajetan, Titelmann and others, indeed even St. Jerome. For in Scripture the rich often denotes the powerful and the prince; indeed even among the poets. For riches make the powerful and princes, and as it were gods; whence God and Divus is said, as it were rich, because he abounds and gives to all, just as all things obey money. Hear Horace, II Satires, satire 2: For all things obey riches, and he who shall have built them up, he shall be renowned, strong, just, wise, and even a king. "We call the eternal gods divine, but those who are made divine by men we call divi," says Servius. For divus is said as it were dius, that is, ἀπὸ Διός, that is, deriving its origin from Jupiter, or divus, as it were divine. Hence ditio, which is of the rich and the richer, is called power and dominion. Whence Cicero: "Almost all discourse, he says, flows to public reputation from domestic sources." Concerning which St. Eucherius wisely prescribes in his letter to Valerius: "Even in thy secrets, what thou wishest men not to know, do not do; what thou wishest God not to know, do not think." BECAUSE THE BIRDS OF THE AIR SHALL CARRY THY VOICE, AND THAT WHICH HATH WINGS (THE EAGLE, THE WINGED ONE) SHALL TELL THE MATTER. — The Hebrew: word; the Zurich Bible: thy curse; he says the same thing in the latter hemistich by elegance as he said in the former: for birds and flying creatures have wings. It is a common proverb: "Unless some bird saw it," signifying that a thing is very secret. Whence Aristophanes in the Birds: No one saw my treasure, unless some bird somewhere; and Suidas from Aristophanes: No one beholds me, except a bird flying past; it is therefore this paroemia hyperbolical, signifying a most secret matter, namely secret detraction and slander, to be conveyed in some hidden way to the king, who has many eyes and ears, namely many informers and spies. Whence that saying: Dost thou not know that kings have long hands? In a similar way and by proverb we say that forests and hedges have ears, because what is said there, as it were in a deserted and secret place, is often seen, heard and known by someone lurking there or watching from a distance. Again, when we say "crime can be hidden by no walls," and "If they shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out." A literal example is found in Ibycus the musician, and therefore a rich man, who when he was killed by robbers for his wealth, called upon cranes flying past as witnesses and avengers of his death, and through them the authors of his death were discovered and paid the penalty. Whence that saying of Ausonius in the Monosyllables: "As Ibycus perished, the high-flying crane was his avenger." Whence the Proverb: "The cranes of Ibycus," applied to those who by an unusual chance are betrayed and pay the penalty for their crime. Thus Plutarch, in the book On the Delayed Vengeance of God, who adds a similar story of Bessus, whose parricide was revealed by swallows. Concerning the porphyrion bird, some report that it itself reveals the adultery of a wife to her husband. Thus magpies, taught to speak, have often been heard in homes to have revealed by their voice and gesture the curses and deeds of children or servants to the master of the house in his absence. It is known from Porphyry, Philostratus and others that Melampius, Tiresias and Apollonius of Tyana boasted that they understood the voices and chatter of swallows and other birds, and from them learned secret words and deeds. To this pertains that passage of Juvenal in Satire 9: "O Corydon, Corydon! Do you think any secret of a rich man exists? If servants are silent, beasts will speak. And the dog, and the door-posts, and the marble. Close the windows. Let veils cover the cracks, join the doors, remove the light from the middle, all things cry out: let no one recline nearby. Yet as to the song of the second cock, the innkeeper nearby will know before daybreak." By the birds of the air, therefore, he denotes informers, as Vatablus translates it, and spies; for birds are keen-sighted, swift, talkative, light, inconstant: such are informers and curious busybodies, who explore all the most secret things; and as the Comic poet says in the Trinummus: "What the king whispered in the ear of the queen they know; what Juno spoke with Jupiter." Moreover, Olympiodorus and from him Pineda understand by birds fame: "Curses," he says, "spreading fame will carry to the ears of him against whom you have imprecated evil." For fame is painted by the poets as winged, watchful, talkative, swift. Hear Virgil, in the fourth book of the Aeneid, proposing this riddle or hieroglyphic of fame: "To whom as many feathers as are on her body, so many watchful eyes beneath—a marvel to tell!—so many tongues, so many mouths sound, so many ears she raises. By night she flies through the middle of the sky and through the shadow of the earth, hissing, nor does she decline her eyes in sweet sleep. By day she sits as a guardian, either on the highest peak of a roof, or on high towers, and terrifies great cities, as tenacious of falsehood and wrong as she is a messenger of truth." Add (to return to birds) that letters are accustomed to be sent by birds, when something must be announced secretly and swiftly to one absent and remote. Concerning doves Pliny asserts, in book X, XXXVII: "They were intermediaries in great matters, letters attached to their feet being sent to the camps of the consuls by D. Brutus during the siege of Mutina. What did the rampart and watchful siege, and even nets spread across the river, avail against Antony, when the messenger went through the sky?" On which matter I have said more in Hosea. Finally, the ancients sought auguries and divinations of secret things from birds. Moreover, it is expedient for a prince and magistrate to have truthful and trustworthy spies, who investigate what is done everywhere, especially secret matters: but one must beware of light and deceitful ones, who fabricate crimes out of flattery, hatred or gain, and impute them to the innocent. Whence Maecenas wisely writes thus to Augustus Caesar concerning them in Dio, book LII: "Since you ought to have listeners and spies, by whose aid you may know all the affairs of your empire, lest anything needing custody and correction escape you, remember that not all things reported by them are to be believed immediately, but careful consideration is to be applied. For very many of them, either from hatred of others, as coveting their goods, or to please some, or angered at money demanded and not received, falsely charge them with the crime of sedition, or burden them with some improper deed or word against the emperor. But if you give credence more slowly, it will cause you no great loss: but by hastening it is possible that you commit some irreparable sin." Mystically, the birds of the air are angels (whence the Zurich Bible, swift and winged angels) good or evil, who carry our affairs to God and then to men; the evil ones to accuse, the good ones to excuse and to obtain grace. For angels know thoughts, and sometimes even secret ones, not from themselves, but from signs and conjectures, or from the revelation of God. Hugo less truly holds that angels know indeed those thoughts which are sent to us by themselves, whether we consent to them or not, but do not know those which the flesh or the world suggests to us: less truly, I say, for they know or are ignorant of both equally: for the reason of both is the same, and the mode of investigation is the same. Thus Olympiodorus, Thaumaturgus, Hugo and others. Moreover, Olympiodorus by birds also understands one's own conscience, which, as is commonly said, is like a thousand witnesses, and the Holy Spirit. But these things are incongruous to this place. Furthermore, St. Jerome, taking mystically by the prince Christ and the saints, by the birds the angels, thus expounds: He commands, he says, "not only that nothing rash be spoken against Christ, but also in the secrets of the heart, although we are constrained by various tribulations, nothing blasphemous, nothing impious should be felt. And because the love which we exhibit to Christ, we owe also to our neighbor: for thou shalt love the Lord thy God, but also thy neighbor as thyself; even now we are commanded, lest after the king we easily detract from the saints also; and those whom we have seen enriched in wisdom, knowledge, and virtues, we gnaw with a biting tongue, because the angels, who go about the earth, and are ministering spirits, and speak in Zechariah: (We have gone about the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited and is quiet) like birds carry our words and thoughts to heaven, and what we think in secret does not escape the knowledge of God." Moreover, the Chaldean by birds understands the angel Razael and Elijah. Whence thus he translates: "But thou, not silently within thyself, in the inmost and hidden places of the heart, shalt thou curse the king wickedly, nor in the secret chamber of thy bedroom shalt thou curse the wise man: for Razael the angel cries out every day upon Mount Horeb, and his voice spreads throughout the whole world. Elijah also, the great priest, like an eagle furnished with highest wings, flying through the air and heavens, surveys them, and what has been done secretly he carries and announces to all who dwell on the earth." But these are Jewish and cabalistic fictions.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.