Exhortation to works of mercy, while we have time, to diligence in good, and to the remembrance of death and judgment.
Workes of mercie are necessarie, whiles we haue time, 3. because after death none can merite: 4. neither must we differ to beginne, nor cease from good dedes, 8. but stil be mindful of death and iudgement: 10. auoiding wrath and malice.
1Cast thy bread upon the running waters: for after a long time thou shalt find it again.Spargi il tuo pane sopra le acque, che passano; perocché dopo lungo tratto di tempo tel troverai.CAST thy bread vpon the passing waters: because after much time thou shalt finde it.Mitte panem tuum super transeuntes aquas, / quia post tempora multa invenies illum. 2Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.Da la loro porzione ai sette, ed anche agli otto; perocché tu non sai quali sciagure sian per venire sopra la terra.Geue a portion to seuen, and also to eight: because thou knowest not what euil shal be vpon the earth:Da partem septem necnon et octo, / quia ignoras quid futurum sit mali super terram. 3If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the earth. If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in what place soever it shall fall, there shall it be.Quando le nuvole sono piene, elle scarica in pioggia sopra la terra. Se l'albero cade verso il mezzodì, o verso settentrione, dovunque cada, ivi si resta.If the cloudes be ful, they wil powre out raine vpon the earth. If the tree shal fal to the South, or to the North, in what place soeuer it shal fal, there shal it be.Si repletæ fuerint nubes, / imbrem super terram effundent. / Si ceciderit lignum ad austrum aut ad aquilonem, / in quocumque loco ceciderit, ibi erit. 4He that observeth the wind, shall not sow: and he that considereth the clouds, shall never reap.Chi bada ai venti non semina, e chi fa attenzione alle nuvole, non mieterà.He that obserueth the winde, soweth not: and he that considereth the cloudes, shal neuer reape.Qui observat ventum non seminat; / et qui considerat nubes numquam metet. 5As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child: so thou knowest not the works of God, who is the maker of all.Siccome tu non sai donde venga l'anima, e in qual modo si assodino le ossa nell'utero della donna incinta; così non conosci le altre opere di Dio, facitore di tutte le cose.As thou art ignorant which is the way of the spirite, & how the bones are framed together in the wombe of her that conceiueth childe: so thou knowest not the workes of God, who is the maker of al.Quomodo ignoras quæ sit via spiritus, / et qua ratione compingantur ossa in ventre prægnantis, / sic nescis opera Dei, / qui fabricator est omnium. 6In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening let not thy hand cease: for thou knowest not which may rather spring up, this or that: and if both together, it shall be the better.Spargi di buon mattino la tua semenza, e nemmen la sera sia oziosa la tua mano, perché tu non sai se quella, o piuttosto questa semenza germoglierà: e se verrà bene l'una, e l'altra, tanto meglio.In the morning sow thy seede, and in the euening let not thy hand cease: for thou knowest not which may rather spring, this or that: and if both together, it shal be the better,Mane semina semen tuum, / et vespere ne cesset manus tua: / quia nescis quid magis oriatur, hoc aut illud; / et si utrumque simul, melius erit.
7The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun.Dolce cosa è la luce, e dilettevole agli occhi è la vista del sole.The light is sweete: and it is delectable for the eyes to see the sunne.Dulce lumen, / et delectabile est oculis videre solem. 8If a man live many years, and have rejoiced in them all, he must remember the darksome time, and the many days: which when they shall come, the things past shall be accused of vanity.Ma se un uomo vive molti anni, e questi tutti sempre lieti, deve ricordarsi di quel tempo tenebroso, e di que' lunghi giorni, venuti i quali tutte le passate cose saran convinte di vanità.If a man shal liue manie yeares, and shal haue reioyced in them al, he must remember the darkesome time, and manie dayes: which when they shal come, the thinges past shal be reproued of vanitie.Si annis multis vixerit homo, / et in his omnibus lætatus fuerit, / meminisse debet tenebrosi temporis, et dierum multorum, / qui cum venerint, vanitatis arguentur præterita. 9Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart be in that which is good in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes: and know that for all these God will bring thee into judgment.Goditi adunque, o giovine, di tua fresca età, e sia lieto il tuo cuore ne giorni di tua giovinezza, e segui le inclinazioni del tuo cuore, e quel che piace a' tuoi occhi; ma sappi, che per tutte queste cose ti chiamerà Dio in giudizio.Reioyce therfore yongman in thy youth, and let thy hart be in good, in the dayes of thy youth, and walke in the wayes of thy hart, and in the sight of thyne eyes: and know that for al these God wil bring thee into iudgement.Lætare ergo, juvenis, in adolescentia tua, / et in bono sit cor tuum in diebus juventutis tuæ: / et ambula in viis cordis tui, / et in intuitu oculorum tuorum, / et scito quod pro omnibus his adducet te Deus in judicium. 10Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh. For youth and pleasure are vain.Discaccia dal tuo cuore l'ira e il male tien lungi dalla tua carne; perocché e la gioventù, e i piaceri sono vanità.Take away anger from thy hart, and remoue malice from thy flesh. For youth and pleasure are vaine.Aufer iram a corde tuo, / et amove malitiam a carne tua: / adolescentia enim et voluptas vana sunt.
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Calmet
Waters. Sow thy seed where it may produce a good crop. (Calmet)
Tirinus
Assist those in distress, (Calmet) even though they may be ungrateful, or unable to make a return, Luke 14:12. (Tirinus)
Worthington
In this third part we are exhorted to serve God with perseverance. Of all virtues, the works of mercy avail most, Matthew xxv. (Worthington)
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Challoner
If the tree fall, etc. The state of the soul is unchangeable, when once she comes to heaven or hell: and the soul that departs this life in the state of grace, shall never fall from grace; as on the other side, a soul that dies out of the state of grace, shall never come to it. But this does not exclude a place of temporal punishments for such souls as die in the state of grace: yet not so as to be entirely pure; and therefore they shall be saved, indeed, yet so as by fire, 1 Corinthians 3:13, 14, 15. (Challoner)
Worthington
After death, none can merit. (Worthington)
Haydock
"He who shall not have cultivated his field, (the soul) shall after this life experience the fire of purgation, or eternal punishment." (St. Augustine, de Gen. contra Man. 2:20.) (Haydock)
Calmet
The souls in purgatory have their names inscribed in heaven, like the ancient saints, who were detained in the bosom of Abraham. (Calmet)
Calmet
They fall, therefore, to the south. Let people dispense their alms to all, as the clouds rain upon the just and unjust, (Haydock) upon the cultivated and the barren land, and let them do it before death. They know not how soon it may lay them low. (Calmet)
Haydock
By looking at the branches of a tree, we may conclude which way it will fall; so we may form a judgment of our future state, by reflecting on our present dispositions. "Our branches are our desires, by which we stretch ourselves to the south, if they be spiritual," etc. (St. Bernard, ser. xlix.) The liberal are not concerned where they bestow charity. People will gather up the fruit both on the north and south, and they who have given alms will find them (Abenezra; Mercer.) laid up in the heavenly tabernacles. (Haydock)
Calmet
This agrees with the sequel. (Calmet)
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Reap. Those who are too circumspect in their alms-deeds, will often pass over such as stand in need, (St. Jerome) and people who reflect on the difficulties of a virtuous life, will never begin. (St. Gregory 3:Past. xvi., and Mor. 27:5.)
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Spirit. In a man, or of the wind. Why then wouldst thou judge of the merit of thy petitioner? or pretend to determine why God has made thee rich and him poor?
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Calmet
Better. Be kind to all during life, Galatians 6:10. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Do good, both in youth and in old age, (Worthington) lest, if thou shouldst grow remiss, all would be lost. (St. Jerome)
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Montanus
And the. Hebrew, "for they are many. What comes to pass is vanity." (Montanus)
Nothing can more effectually repress the love of this world, Ecclesiasticus 7:40. After Solomon has presented the objections of the wicked, he comes to this conclusion.
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St. Gregory
Eyes. He speaks ironically, (Calmet) or exhorts to spiritual joy and moderation. (St. Gregory, Mor. xxiv.)
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St. Jerome
Anger. All turbulent passions, and evil or carnal pleasures. (St. Jerome)
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If the tree fall, etc.... The state of the soul is unchangeable when once she comes to heaven or hell: and a soul that departs this life in the state of grace, shall never fall from grace: as on the other side, a soul that dies out of the state of grace, shall never come to it. But this does not exclude a place of temporal punishments for such souls as die in the state of grace: yet not so as to be entirely pure: and therefore they shall be saved, indeed, yet so as by fire. 1 Cor. 3.13, 14, 15.
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Of al vertues, the workes of mercie, corporal and spiritual, most auaile for obtaining eternal felicitie: Mat. 25.
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So the same be grounded in true faith, beleuing al that is written in the old and new testament signified by seuen & eight.
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After death none ca〈…〉 either ••erite or demerite.
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Both in youth and old age do good workes.
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 18.20
… they give indeed, but without that readiness, which is a greater and more perfect thing than the mere offering. For he thought it much better to be generous even to the undeserving for the sake of the deserving, than from fear of the undeserving to deprive those who were deserving. And this seems to be the duty of casting our bread upon the waters,
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 18.20
… For he actually treated his own property as if it were another’s, of which he was but the steward, relieving poverty as far as he could, and expending not only his superfluities but his necessities—a manifest proof of love for the poor, giving a portion, not only to seven, according to the injunction of Solomon,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Dialogue Against the Luciferians 1
… As in the one there was the leopard with the kids, the wolf with the lambs, so in the other there are found the righteous and sinners, that is, vessels of gold and silver with those of wood and of earth. The ark had its rooms: the Church has many mansions. Eight souls were saved in Noah’s ark. And
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.23
… and xii.] we find the words “for the eighth,” and infants were circumcised on the eighth day; and in Ecclesiastes it is said, with allusion to the two covenants, “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 3.9
… “Give a portion to these seven and also to these eight.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.23
Further, observe that the number seven denotes all the present time, as the most wise Solomon says, to give a portion to seven and also to eight
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 Against Plato, on the Cause of the Universe 2
… But the unrighteous will receive their bodies unchanged, and unransomed from suffering and disease, and unglorified, and still with all the ills in which they died. And whatever manner of persons they (were when they) lived without faith, as such they shall be faithfully judged.
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.15
… For whoso toils not now in good works will beg in summer and receive nothing, because, when the burning sun of judgment shall appear, he will then sue in vain for entrance into the kingdom. To him it is well said again through the same Solomon, He that observeth the wind doth not sow: and he that regardeth the clouds never reapeth (
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 On the Psalms 12
… And the Scripture also, in Ecclesiastes, adduces this, saying, “As thou knowest not the bones in the womb of her that is with child, so thou shalt not know the works of God.”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Holy Spirit 1
… there is a blurring out of the mark, and a loss of the essential form, and an alteration of the characteristic signs of our complete humanity, when the Holy Spirit is not included in the Belief. For indeed the word of Ecclesiastes says true; your heretic is no living man, but “bones,” he says , “in the womb of her that is with child
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 2
… For being ashamed to allow of faith, and to seem ignorant of heavenly things, they involve themselves in the dust-cloud of countless reasonings. Then oh miserable and painful man, fit object for endless tears, should any one ask thee, how the heaven was made, and how the earth,—and why do I say the heaven and the earth? how thou wert thyself born,
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 1-2.25
… a subsequent event goes to define, by means of the interval which precedes it, the occurrence also of a previous event. If this example does not make our contention plain, we can give others. We say that ‘the Law given by Moses was four hundred and thirty years later than the Promise to Abraham.’ If after traversing, step by step upwards
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.20
20. This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth , and the rest
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.25
… But, when it is said by Paul to his disciple, These things command and teach: let no man despise thy adolescence ( 1 Tim. iv. 11, 12 ), we must understand that in the language of Holy Writ youth is sometimes called adolescence . Which thing is the sooner evident, if we adduce the words of Solomon, who says, Rejoice O young man in thy adolescence (
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St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Three Homilies 2.15
… Make all things as though they were not and God alone were in being. If thou shalt ask of thy neighbour and he shall not give thee according to thy wish, see that thou say not in anger a word that is full of bitterness. Oppose not thou [fit] seasons, for many are the changes. Put sorrow far from thy flesh,
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 15.20
20. This coming of the Lord, and the end of the world, were known to the Preacher; who says, Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth , and the rest ; Therefore remove anger
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"To transient ones" is not in the Hebrew, but is understood, for the waters are true and living waters flowing and passing by their flow. Following Solomon, Ben-Sira, whom the Hebrews wish to have been the grandson of the prophet Jeremiah, in the alphabet, the letter zain: "Scatter, he says, thy bread upon the surface of the waters, and in the dry places, and thou shalt find it in the end of days," that is to say, Just as the farmer casts seed into the earth, having no regard for whether the soil is moist or dry; so also do thou scatter thy alms among the needy, even the dry, that is to say the utterly destitute, or the forgetful and ungrateful, so that they cannot or will not repay thee with gratitude. Now First, Cajetan thus explains it properly: Send thy bread through seas and rivers to distant poor. But he himself restricts this rule of universal almsgiving to the absent, unless thou explain it thus, that is to say, So expand thy heart and thy alms, that thou givest not only to those present, but also sendest them to the absent and remote in every direction, as St. Gregory did. But the Chaldean through transient waters understands poor people navigating in waters: "Offer, he says, thy food to the poor, who walk in ships upon the face of the waters, for after the time of many days thou shalt find its reward in this world and in the world to come." Second, Aben-Ezra translates it differently; for transient he translates standing, or stagnant waters, that is to say, Just as in ponds and fish-ponds masters throw bread, which the fish devour, and thus grow fat, so that made fatter and drawn out they feed their masters: so likewise cast thy bread to the poor, so that being fed by it they in turn may refresh and feed thee with their thanksgiving and good prayer. Akin to this sense is this Arabic proverb: "Do good as thou canst, and cast it into the water; for some fish will draw it out sometime for thy benefit." A literal example is in the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, chapter one hundred thirty-five, where he relates that a certain man gave thirty coins to the poor, and therefore received them sixfold, when in a fish drawn from the waters he found a gem, which he sold for three hundred coins: wherefore for thirty, the fish returned to him three hundred. Third, Olympiodorus understands by waters tears: "With tears, he says, and with the affection of mercy do almsgiving." They can also be understood as the tears of the poor, that is to say, Give alms to the poor man groaning and weeping on account of hunger and affliction, so that thou mayest soothe and wipe away his tears. Fourth and more aptly, others hold it to be a metaphor from merchants, conveying grains and breads by ships into foreign regions, for the sake of profit, that is to say, Just as a merchant conveys breads and grains by ships to other shores, so that he may sell them there at a high price, and thus bring home great profit: so do thou send thy breads and riches to the poor both urban and rural, for from them thou shalt bring home great profit, namely the grace of God and men. To this pertains that passage Prov. xxxi, 14: "The merchant's ship, bringing her bread from afar;" and that Gen. xlix, 20: "Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield delicacies to kings." To this pertains the subtle and sublime exposition of our Sebastian Barradius, book VII of the Prolegomena, chapter xiv: "Send thy bread upon transient waters," that is to say send thy bread into the sea, and let it be carried by ships into the distant region of heaven, and after many times when thou shalt have breathed out thy soul, thou shalt find it: what are these ships? the hands of the poor. To this pertains that saying of Christ, Luke xviii: "All things whatsoever thou hast, sell, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven," that is to say, Load thy riches into ships, that is to say the poor; these shall carry thy worthless riches into heaven, and shall exchange them for the most precious treasure. Moreover these ships never suffer shipwreck, nor plunder, as the ships of merchants do, but with a sure course convey alms into heaven. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 48 on chapter xxiv of Genesis: "Easy, he says, is this conveyance, we transfer it there securely, and we place in an inviolable treasure, whatsoever we send ahead through the hands of the poor." Whoever therefore is wise, fill the hands of the poor with thy breads and riches; they shall carry them into heaven, where for them thou shalt receive a hundredfold, nay a thousandfold. Again, some understand by transient waters souls detained in purgatory, as if he commanded to pour out alms, prayers and suffrages for them; for those souls have passed from the present world into another of a different life, and from earth into purgatory, where they are most grievously tormented by fire. Wherefore he who is merciful and wise, helps them with all effort and art through indulgences, Masses, alms, so that he may free them from such torments; for those souls once freed shall fly into heaven, where grateful to their liberator, they shall obtain abundant gifts from God for him. Fifth and genuinely, that is to say: Just as seed is sown abundantly in earth moistened by water, through which waters have passed, whether of rain or of rivers, so that it may draw juice from it, by which it may germinate and produce an abundant harvest: so you, O faithful one, O Christian, scatter your bread abundantly, that is, your alms, among the poor, so that from it you may gather abundant fruits of temporal and spiritual goods. For by "passing waters," understand by metonymy earth moistened and made damp by passing waters, and therefore apt to receive seed: for seed is sown not in water, but in earth made moist by water. For water is life-giving and the effecter of all fruitfulness, as St. Cyril says in Isaiah xxxii, 20: so also is alms. The sense therefore is, that is to say: After the rains have passed and left the earth moistened and prepared for opportune sowing, make the sowing: so likewise when you see the flocks of the poor, needing from poverty or other affliction, and therefore ready and yearning for alms, bestow it upon them. Thus St. Jerome: "He exhorts to alms," he says, "that it should be given to all who ask and good should be done indiscriminately. For just as he who sows upon irrigated land expects the fruit of his sowing, so he who gives to the needy sows not a grain of seed, but bread itself, awaiting as it were a multiplication of it with interest, and when the day of judgment shall come, he will receive much more than he gave." In Hebrew it is: Send your bread upon the face of the waters, that is, upon the face of earth irrigated with water. Namely, the face of a wretched and calamitous man is most fertile, "with waters," that is, with afflictions and tears; in this sow your bread, and it itself will return the seed with great interest. Finally, "upon waters" could be explained as "beside waters," as Christ "standing beside (that is, near) her, commanded the fever," Luke iv, 39. For seed cast beside waters is more happily sown and comes forth with more abundant fruit. Note, the poor are aptly compared to passing waters. First, because men in this life pass and flow away, like waters and rivers. Whence that saying: "The waters which you saw are peoples and nations," Apocalypse xvii, 15; and that: "We all flow away like water into the earth," II Kings xiv, 14. Second, waters denote the multitude of the poor, their confluence and passage, by which they pass from one door to another, from one city and village to another, begging and seeking their livelihood. For they do not remain in a fixed place, but constantly go about and wander, so that they may obtain food. Thus Olympiodorus, Bonaventure, Lyra. Third, passing waters denote that in alms one should not look for recompense from the poor, because they pass, like waters that do not return, and often are unknown or unable to repay, indeed sometimes unmindful and ungrateful; wherefore recompense should be expected from God, that is to say: Although the poor are, or seem likely to be, ungrateful, so that the benefit cast upon them seems like something cast upon waters and destined to perish; nevertheless do good to them, because if not they themselves, certainly others, and especially God, will return it to you with great interest. Whence Pagninus translates: Send your bread even to the unknown, as if you were casting it upon the face of waters; because in the multitude of days you will find it. And R. Solomon: Do good to a man, whom you think in your heart you will not see again, just as one who casts his food into waters. Thaumaturgus indeed says: It is right to impart bread and other necessities of this life to the needy, although the benefit seems destined to perish, as if one were casting bread into water; yet it will appear as time goes on that alms will not be useless to you. Wisely Seneca, in Book IV of On Benefits, chapter xxv: "Our purpose," he says, "is to live according to the nature of things and to follow the example of the gods: but what do the gods do in whatever they do, except follow the very reason of doing? unless perhaps you think they receive the fruit of their works from the smoke of sacrifices and the odor of incense. See how much they accomplish daily, how much they distribute, how many fruits they fill the lands with, how they move the seas with winds opportune and blowing to all regions, how much they soften the ground with suddenly poured rains, restore the veins of dried-up fountains, and renew them with nourishment infused through hidden channels. All these things they do without reward, or any advantage coming to themselves. This reason of ours also, if it does not depart from its exemplar, should observe, lest it come to be hired for honest things. Let it be shameful for any benefit to be venal: we have gods who are free. If you imitate the Gods, give benefits even to the ungrateful." Fourth, the passing waters signify that alms ought to be given abundantly, because the poor flow forth copiously and in multitude like waters, and the fruit of alms will be copious. For although it may not appear in this way now, and be hidden, just as seed is copiously cast forth and hidden in the earth moistened by waters; nevertheless in the harvest, namely on the day of judgment, it will appear copious and splendid. Thus St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 19: "To this (he says, namely to joyful and generous almsgiving) it seems to pertain what Scripture says, that bread ought also to be cast into water; for it will not be that it is scattered or perishes with him who is a just appraiser of these things, but it will reach that place where all our things will be laid up." In a similar manner the Apostle, II Corinthians ix, 6, compares almsgiving to seed producing a great harvest: "He who sows sparingly, he says, shall also reap sparingly: and he who sows in blessings (that is, beneficially, copiously, generously) shall also reap of blessings." See the remarks there. It alludes to the Nile, which Egypt, neighboring Judaea, by its inundation passing through enriches, fattens, and makes fertile. Almsgiving does the same, which enriches the giver and heaps him with every good. Whence also follows: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight." Where it alludes to the seven sections of the Nile and channels (so that the Nile itself is the eighth) by which it flows into the sea through as many mouths, and this it does so that it may better irrigate and make fertile the whole of Egypt divided into as many parts. Hence by Virgil, VI Aeneid, the Nile is called sevenfold, and by Ovid, XV Metamorphoses: "And through the seven-flowing rivers of the papyrus-bearing Nile." For in Egypt it does not rain, but all the watering of the fields is done by the Nile; whence Claudian, Epigram 6: "Egypt fertile without cloud, and serene rains alone holds, secure of the sky, not needing wind, rejoices in waters which it itself carries, and abounds in the Nile." Finally, cast thy bread upon the passing waters signifies that almsgiving ought to be done, first, liberally; second, not tardily, but quickly; third, with a cheerful spirit, according to that: "God loves a cheerful giver." II Corinthians ix; whence "Fabius called a benefit given harshly by a hard man a stone loaf," says Seneca, book II On Benefits, chapter i and following; fourth, the poor ought to be anticipated, so that before they ask, we may of our own accord send alms into their bosom. Hear Seneca in the place cited: "It is better to anticipate before we are asked: because when a man of integrity has his mouth ready to ask (others read, falls), and is suffused with shame, he who removes this torment multiplies his gift. He did not receive freely, who, when he had asked, received: he gave his benefit late, who gave to one asking. Therefore the will of each ought to be divined, and when it is understood, he ought to be freed from the gravest necessity of asking." Fifth, thy bread signifies that it ought to be given from what is thine, which namely thou hast obtained by thy labor, not from what is stolen or another's; again, thine, that is, necessary, not merely superfluous. To these things, thine, that is, the same as thou eatest, not its crumbs and crusts falling off, not another bread more vile and secondary: "If the orphan has not eaten of the morsel of my bread," Job xxxi, 17: "Eat thy bread with the hungry and the needy," Tobit chapter iv, 17: "Break thy bread to the hungry," Isaiah lviii, 7. Sixth, almsgiving ought to be done to the passing one, that is, secretly and in secret, both so that thou mayest avoid vain ostentation of it, and so that thou mayest not afflict the needy with shame. Whence Isidore of Pelusium, book II, epistle 151, celebrates a certain Timothy, "because although he embraced almsgiving with singular love, he nevertheless studiously sought that this kindness be obscure and unknown. For if it is partaker of ostentation, he does not seem to exhibit kindness, but rather to exaggerate the calamities of those who are benefited, and to weaken the divine work with a most troublesome disease." For which reason he adorns Timothy with these praises: "Truly he was a shrine of modesty and temperance, a seat of prudence, a fortress of fortitude, a metropolis of justice, a storehouse of humanity, a temple of gentleness, and, to embrace it in one word, a treasury of all virtues." Seventh, almsgiving ought to be done not once and twice, but assiduously and continually to any poor, flowing in daily. Most excellently St. Gregory of Nyssa, in the Oration On Loving the Poor: "Do not, he says, allow the zeal of earning merit from those near to thee to be snatched away by another. Beware lest another snatch the treasure laid up for thee. Embrace one afflicted by calamity as gold. Foster the weak health of the poor so that in it thou mayest think thy health, the salvation of thy wife and children, servants, and thy whole household to be placed." Mystically, by bread and bodily almsgiving, understand spiritual almsgiving, such as teaching the ignorant, consoling the afflicted, converting sinners. Thus St. Jerome: "In whosoever man," he says, "thou seest that water of which it is said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, do not hesitate to give the bread of wisdom, the bread of reason, the bread of discourse. For if thou dost this frequently, thou shalt find that thou hast not cast the seed of doctrines in vain. I think something like this is also said in Isaiah: Blessed is he that soweth upon the water, where the ox and the ass tread. That such a master teacher is deemed worthy of blessedness who soweth upon the watered breast of the listener, raining down from the Jews, whom he has gathered from the people of the Gentiles." St. Jerome cites Isaiah, chapter xxxii, 20, according to the Septuagint. See the words there. Because after many days thou shalt find him. — as a lost thing, or rather a hidden thing; but as seed wonderfully multiplied thou shalt find "him," that is, his reward and abundant recompense, and that often in this life, and always in the future. Thus the Chaldean. In Hebrew it is: Because in the multitude of days thou shalt find him. See St. Chrysostom, homily, That almsgiving is the art of all most profitable. He alludes to the origin of the Jordan (which is the most noble river of Judea). For this, as Josephus testifies, lib. III of the Wars, cap. xviii, Hegesippus and others, arises from the Phiale spring in the region of Trachonitis. For this spring of wondrous depth casts forth and transmits copious waters through hidden subterranean passages into Dan, or Paneas, the source of the Jordan. Wherefore at Paneas to those beholding it, the Jordan appears to arise, and thence from the confluence of two streams, Jeor and Dan, the name and river of the Jordan are formed; yet in truth, as I have said, it arises secretly far earlier in the Phiale spring. This was discovered by Philip the tetrarch of Trachonitis. For he, having sent straw into Phiale, found it returned at Paneas in the spring of Dan, whence previously the river Jordan was believed to be born. See Adrichomius in the Description of the Holy Land, on the Jordan. As therefore bread and straw cast into the Phiale spring are returned in the Jordan after long and hidden passages, so bread cast into the bosoms of the poor shall be returned to the giver after many spaces of time. Here therefore, as it were into Phiale, let us scatter bread upon the waters, that is, the poor, that it may be returned to us in the Jordan, that is, in the river of judgment (for this in Hebrew is jordan), that is, in just retribution in heaven, where God shall give drink to those who have sent bread upon the passing waters, and have given a cup of pure water, or made in the vine or grain, namely wine or beer, to the thirsty, from the fountain of life and the torrent of His delights, Psalm xxxv, 9.
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For a part, in the plural parts read Lyra, Dionysius and St. Jerome in chapter 41 of Ezekiel, verse 1, and St. Gregory, homily 16 on Ezekiel; but it should be read part with the Romans, the Hebrew, the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic, the Chaldean and the others: for part denotes that alms should be distributed according to each one's necessity or merit, and not that one should hunger while another is drunk, 1 Corinthians 11, 21. First, the Chaldean expounds this precept concerning sowing, as if here a householder is instructed to sow the field at a suitable time, just as Columella, Varro, Cato and others writing on agriculture instruct the farmer concerning the same matter, as if to say: Sow seed in the field in the seventh and eighth months: "The best part of seed," he says, "bring in the month of Tisri into your field; yet neither are you to be diverted from sowing in the month of Kisleu, nor can it be ascertained whether the evil impending upon the earth itself will be overcome by the first or second sowing." But this sense is foreign and does not pertain to the matter at hand. For here we are dealing with alms. Second, Rabbi Haccados takes seven to mean seven planets; by eight, the eighth heaven, or the starry heaven; but by planets and fixed stars he thinks are denoted eminent men and princes, as if he here commands that a part of honor due to each be given to them, and that they be honored and revered, so that in turn they may regard us and favor us with the benign aspect of their favor. But this is as remote as heaven is from earth. Third, Rabbi Solomon, Aben-Ezra and Clarius take seven to mean the seven days of the week, and by eight, the eighth day, which is the first of the following week, as if to say: Give alms daily throughout the seven days of the week, and do not stop there, but give on the eighth day, that is the first of the following week, so that you may begin anew a new seven with a new week and finish with it, and do this constantly and continuously, as if to say: Throughout all the days of each week and of your whole life make alms. Fourth, Cajetan takes seven to mean seven poor people properly and precisely: "For perhaps," he says, "at that time it was customary for the Jews to feed seven poor people with alms, out of reverence for the divine works, which are described in seven days by Moses, counting the Sabbath of rest. Give therefore a part of your table to seven poor people, that is to a fixed number of poor, and also to eight, that is, if another should come, give a part to him also." Fifth, Osorio and others take seven and eight to mean the seventh or eighth part of one's wealth and revenues, as if he commands that this be given to the poor, just as Moses commands that a tenth be given to them, Deuteronomy 14, 28. Others take seven and eight to mean sevenfold and eightfold, that is manifold and abundant alms, as if it is commanded that a man seize all occasions of doing good and of deserving well of his neighbor. Thus Osorio and Lyra, who reads in the accusative: "Give parts seven and eight." Sixth, St. Bonaventure thinks that six signifies what suffices for us: whatever is beyond that, that is called seven and eight, as if to say: Alms should be given from what is superfluous, and indeed generously according to our means, so that our abundance may supply the want of others. Seventh and genuinely, as if to say: Give a part of your bread, that is of your food and alms to seven, that is to many poor, indeed even to eight, that is to far more, as if to say: Be most generous in giving, give to as many needy as you encounter, give to very many, indeed to infinite numbers, if you can. Note from St. Jerome on Isaiah chapter 4 and 5, that the number seven is familiar to the Hebrews on account of the Sabbath, equally as the number ten on account of the Decalogue. But the number seven signifies multitude and universality, because all the days of the week, always recurring, are no more than seven: the number three signifies the same; hence that saying of Aristotle: "All things are three," namely first; for not two, but three are first called. Now, if you add a fourth to three, or an eighth to seven, a great and unusual multitude is signified. Hence that: "O thrice and four times (that is in every way) blessed." Thus Amos chapter 1, verses 3 and following, it is repeated so many times: "Upon three crimes of Damascus, and upon four," that is on account of very many and very great crimes of his, "I will not convert him." See the sayings there; and Proverbs 30, 15: "Three things are insatiable, and a fourth never says: It is enough." Similar is Job 5, 19: "In six tribulations he shall deliver you, and in the seventh (that is in very many and very great) evil shall not touch you;"; and Micah chapter 5, verse 5: "We shall raise up against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men," that is very many and very great princes, as I said there. Thus here it is said: "Give a part seven and eight," that is give to many, indeed to far more and innumerable ones. Hence Thaumaturgus translates: "Give liberally and divide to many, yet to each his own," that is to say, Do not be terrified by the multitude of poor children flowing in, so as to deny alms to the last; but rather give to all, so that, as the number of the poor increases, there may increase in you both courage and the number of your alms. Hence Nazianzenus, oration 19, praising his father departed from life by almsgiving: "Truly, he says, as a steward of others' goods he thought of his own goods, relieving the poverty of the poor as much as he could, and taking not merely superfluous things, but also necessary things for that purpose, and giving a portion, not seven only, as Solomon's law prescribes, but if an eighth also should be added; more willingly pouring out his own than others acquire." In which matter he imitated God, who is liberal to all, and leaves none without a dowry. Truly Cicero: "Men, he says, approach the gods by nothing more closely than by giving; fortune has nothing better than what you can give, nor nature anything better than that you should wish to preserve as many as possible." To this belongs an ancient proverb: "All eight," concerning which the Collector of adages, and Bongus in the Mysteries of Numbers, when nothing is signified to be lacking: either on account of the monument of Stesichorus the poet, says our Lorinus, a chain constructed from all eights, with columns, steps and corners; or on account of the Corinthians distributed by the first founder into eight tribes; or on account of as many gods ruling the highest things, by whom Orpheus is said to have been accustomed to swear: fire, water, earth, heaven, moon, sun, Mithras (the Persians confound with the sun), night; or because in an Egyptian column as a sign of justice are inscribed eight names of gods: of Saturn, Rhea, Osiris, spirit, heaven, earth, night, day; and as many Xenocrates, as Cicero relates, although he made them different gods; or on account of eight kinds of contests in the Olympics; or on account of another reason. Therefore seven and eight comprehend all things, and this saying is valid, the same as what Christ prescribes: "But to every one that asketh thee, give," Luke vi, 30. He alludes to the ancient custom of eating and feasting, by which, as Macrobius testifies, lib. I of the Saturnalia, cap. vii, and Gellius, lib. XIII, cap. xi, seven guests were brought to a banquet, and the eighth was the king or president of the banquet. Whence the proverb: "Seven a banquet, nine a brawl." See Sidonius Apollinaris, lib. I, epistle 11, and Rhodiginus, lib. II, cap. viii. Hence Heliogabalus the emperor, as Lampridius testifies, invited to dinner at the same time eight one-eyed men, eight bald men, eight deaf men, eight gouty men, eight black men, eight tall men, eight very fat and obese men, so that he might move laughter in himself and his own. BECAUSE THOU KNOWEST NOT WHAT EVIL SHALL BE UPON THE EARTH. — that is to say, Many calamities, and those unforeseen and as it were unavoidable, threaten the earth; that therefore you may free yourself from them, do many alms: "For alms delivereth from death, and the same is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and life everlasting," says Raphael, Tobias, cap. xii, verse 9. Such calamities are the incursions of thieves, robbers and enemies, sterility of fields, winds, storms, rust, plague, famine, war, diseases, death: these are evils of punishment; evils of guilt are sins and occasions of sinning and temptations: against both is alms an antidote, as I showed in Daniel iv, 24; Deuteronomy xxvi, where I recounted 22 fruits of alms. Truly St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Never, he says, do I remember reading that one who willingly exhibited works of charity died a bad death." Again St. Jerome and St. Gregory, homily 15 on Ezekiel, refer this evil to the examination, sentence, condemnation and hell of the impious on the day of judgment, from which the merciful Christ will exempt, Matthew xxv. Thus also Olympiodorus: "Act modestly, he says, in those things which pertain to the duties of this life, thinking constantly also of the future age: for neither dost thou know how grave are the torments laid up for those who have given neither their portion to the sevens nor to the eights." He then adds another sense, saying: "Or confer alms on all in the simplicity of thy heart; for neither dost thou know which man truly needs, or which one seeks by feigned poverty through avarice." But the first sense, which I have given, is the literal and genuine one. Solomon learned this here from his father David, who Psalm xl, 1, thus sings: "Blessed is the man that understandeth concerning the needy and poor: in the evil day (Symmachus in the day of affliction, Eusebius whenever calamity presses) the Lord will deliver him." Tropologically, St. Ambrose in chapter six of Luke, explaining the eight beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor," etc., applies this passage to them in this way: "You receive a commandment," he says, "to give to those eight a portion, perhaps of blessings," that is, beatitudes, so that namely we give a portion of life to the exercise of poverty, which is the first beatitude proposed by Christ; a portion to meekness, which is the second beatitude; a portion to mourning and compunction, which is the third, and so on with the others. He adds the reason: "For just as the eighth is the perfection of our hope, so the eighth is the sum of virtues," that is to say, Just as our hope, that is, the eternal life which we hope for, will be perfected in the eighth of the resurrection, when we shall actually attain the eternal life hoped for: so the eighth of the beatitudes is the sum of virtues, that is, the eight beatitudes are the supreme perfection and the pinnacle of all virtues. Therefore, given and strive for the beatitudes, so that you may follow them, strive toward the eighth, that is, the perfection of virtues, and through it attain the eighth of glory in the blessed resurrection. The same St. Ambrose, in book II of De Jacob, chapter eleven, alluding to the seven lamps of the candlestick, and to the eighth as it were the womb of all, applies them to the seven Maccabees, whose eighth was the mother: "How good," he says, "is this harbor of faith, how safe is this harbor of piety, how splendid a lamp of the Church shining with sevenfold light, and an eighth vessel supplying oil to all lights! Of which it is beautifully said: Give a portion to those seven and indeed to those eight, because in both numbers they obtain a share of grace, nourished in the law, crowned by grace, seven as on the Sabbath; eight as in the Gospel. A pious mother joined by the supplement of passion, who in such sons both brought forth and gave birth to the complete form of piety." Secondly, St. Gregory, in the Prologue to Psalm six of Penitence, teaches that a portion of seven should be given, that is, of the active life by performing the seven works of mercy; and eight, that is, of the contemplative life. "Give me," he says, "O Lord, portions seven, and also eight. For he desired thus to rule his subjects, that nevertheless he would not be defrauded of the perfection of divine contemplation. For he himself, constrained by the very necessity of administrative duty, was forced to apply himself to temporal action; but the sweet sweetness of divine contemplation refreshed him in his mind. It can also be understood that he ascended those fifteen steps to that temple of divine illumination, who, seized by the love of eternal divine virtue, and temporal things being designated through the number seven, gradually despised, is carried up through the steps of eight beatitudes to sublime things, until God of gods in Sion is seen in mind." Philippus Solitary has similar things, book III of the Dioptra, chapter eight. Again, Olympiodorus understands by the sevenfold the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Hugo however and others understand the three theological virtues, namely faith, hope, charity, and four cardinal virtues, namely prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, as if he commanded them to study these in the sevenfold of this life, so that through them we might attain to the eighth of eternal happiness. Allegorically, the Hebrews, says St. Jerome, understand this passage thus, and keep the Sabbath and circumcision (for this was given on the eighth day to the infant), lest if perchance you do not do this, unexpected evil befall you. Better some Christians explain it thus, that is to say, Keep seven, that is, Passover, and eight, that is, Pentecost. For from Passover to Pentecost seven weeks are numbered, of which as it were the eighth is the fiftieth, namely Pentecost, to which alluding St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 43, which is on St. Pentecost, at the beginning: "Give a portion seven and eight," that is, he says, give a portion to St. Pentecost and to future beatitude. For thus it has: "This excellent sevenfold of Pentecost brought honor. For the sevenfold multiplied into itself produces the fiftyfold, one day excepted which we have taken from the future age, the eighth and the first, or, to speak more correctly, one and eternal. For there the present sabbatism of our souls must necessarily cease, so that a portion may be given seven and indeed eight, as already some of our ancestors have explained this passage of Solomon." Again St. Jerome, in the book Against Lucifer, understands the Old Testament by the number seven, the New by eight: "Ecclesiastes, he says, commands to give portions seven, to give portions eight, that is, to believe in both Testaments." And St. Isidore, book I of the Offices, chapter twenty-four, reading: "Give a portion to him seven and to him eight," thus explains it, as if to say: The Jews celebrate the seventh day, namely the Sabbath, which was the rest of the dead; but Christians celebrate the eighth day, namely the Lord's Day, which is the day of resurrection, and therefore of the living, not of the dead. In the same way St. Augustine explains it, epistle 119, chapter eleven, and Olympiodorus and Salonius: "He commands, he says, that the precepts of both the Old and New Testament be observed." Finally, St. Jerome writing on this passage of Ecclesiastes: "In Ezekiel, he says, seven and eight steps to the temple are read for the ascent. And after that ethical psalm, that is the one hundred and eighth and tenth, there are fifteen psalms of steps, by which we are first instructed in the law, and when the number seven is completed, afterwards by the ogdoad we climb to the Gospel. Therefore it is commanded that in both Testaments, both the Old namely and the New, we believe with equal veneration. The Jews gave the portion seven, believing in the Sabbath; but they did not give eight (not receiving the Gospel and) denying the resurrection of the Lord's Day. On the contrary the heretics Marcion and Manichaeus, and all who tear the old law with rabid mouth, give the portion eight receiving the Gospel, but do not attribute the same to the number seven, rejecting the old law. Let us therefore believe in both Testaments. For we cannot now comprehend in mind worthy torments and worthy punishment, which is laid up for those who dwell on earth, Jews and heretics, denying one or the other of the two." Furthermore Cassian, book II of the Institutes of Renunciation, chapters nine and ten, thus explains it, as if to say: On the Sabbath day, namely the seventh, observe a fast from the ancient custom of the Church: on the eighth day however celebrate a feast, namely the Lord's Day of the resurrection of Christ. Anagogically, St. Gregory, book thirty-five of the Morals, chapter seven, understands by the number seven the present life and its goods, by the number eight the future life, as if to say: So dispense temporal things that you may deserve to receive eternal things. "The number seven indeed, he says, since another follows it, is expressed from its very meaning, in that temporality is to be ended and concluded by eternity. Hence it is that Solomon admonishes saying: Give a portion seven, and also eight. By the number seven indeed, that which is done in seven days, he expressed the present time; by the number eight however he designated eternal life, which our Lord has revealed to us by his resurrection. Namely on the Lord's Day he rose, which, while it follows the seventh day, that is the Sabbath, will be found to be the eighth from the beginning. But it is well said: Give a portion seven, and also eight, because you know not what evil shall be upon the earth, as if it were openly said: So dispense temporal things that you do not forget to desire eternal things. For it is necessary that you provide for the future by acting well, you who know not what great tribulation shall follow from the coming judgment. Hence it is that the temple is ascended by fifteen steps, so that from its very ascent it may be learned how by seven and eight both temporal action is carefully dispensed and eternal dwelling is providently sought. Hence also because while the monad rises into the decad, the Prophet sang one hundred and fifty Psalms. Because of this number seven signifying temporal things, and the number eight signifying eternal things, upon one hundred and twenty faithful sitting in the upper room the Holy Spirit was poured out. By seven and eight indeed fifteen are composed, and if from one up to fifteen numbering gradually through increments we rise, we arrive at the number one hundred and twenty. By which outpouring of the Holy Spirit they learned both to endure temporal things passing and to eagerly desire eternal things." Symbolically the same St. Gregory, homily 16 on Ezekiel: "We give portions, he says, seven and eight together, when we so dispose those things which are unfolded in seven days, that through these we come to eternal goods." For the ages of man are changed every seventh year, and through sevens they run to the goal; namely to the eighth of resurrection, says Hugh. "Every seventh year impresses a mark on age," says Seneca. Hear Hippocrates in Philo, book On the Making of the World: "In human life there are seven times, which they call ages: infant, child, adolescent, youth, man, elder, old man. An infant is up to the seventh year, within which he puts forth teeth; a child, up to the second septennium, until the emission of seed is timely. An adolescent, up to the third septennium and the down of the beard. A youth, up to the fourth septennium, and the growth of the whole body. A man, up to the fifty-first year, and the seventh septennium. An elder, up to the fifty-sixth year, and the eighth septennium. An old man, for all the remaining time." And with some things interjected: "Besides what has been said, the ages themselves from infancy to old age, which are measured by the septennium, most clearly represent in the septenary the power designative of perfection; and in the first septennium indeed teeth are born. In the second, there is timeliness for emitting seed. In the third, the growth of the beard. In the fourth, the accession of strength. In the fifth, the time of marriages. In the sixth, the vigor of intelligence. In the seventh, the increase of both, intelligence and eloquence. In the eighth, the perfection of both. In the ninth, equity and gentleness, with the affections for the most part tamed. In the tenth finally, a desirable exit from life, with the instruments of the senses still intact. For otherwise long old age is wont to undermine and afflict." From this it follows that the septennium is the definer of ages and of life: for in it there is a change of blood, humors, spirits, heats and complexion. Wherefore the ninth septennium of years, namely the sixty-third year of life, is climacteric, and brings the end of life to many. Whence in the sixty-third year of age died Aristotle, Cicero, Chrysippus, Boccaccio, Cardinal Cusanus, St. Benedict, St. Bernard and very many others. Whence also Augustus Caesar feared the sixty-third year as if fatal, and when it had passed, as if freed from danger, he congratulated himself. Abraham died in the one hundred seventy-fifth year of his age, which comprises twenty-five septenniums: Jacob in the one hundred forty-seventh year, which is twenty-one: David seventy, which contains ten septenniums in itself: at the same age very many depart. For, as the same one says in Psalm 89, 10: "The days of our years in them are seventy years. But if in powers, eighty years," which comprises eight denaries, according to what is said here: "Give a portion of seven, and also of eight." In a similar way the state of the republic often changes through septenniums. The captivity of the Hebrews in Babylon ended in the year seventy, which is the tenth septennium; the series of all monarchies ended in the seventy weeks of Daniel, chapter 9, in which Christ was born, the monarch of monarchs. Moreover, seventy weeks of years make four hundred ninety years, which is as it were a cube of the septennium and the denary: for seven times ten make seventy: seven times seventy make four hundred ninety. And around the same year four hundred ninety there was frequent change of the state of the Hebrew republic, and also of others, namely first from Moses and judges to Saul and kings, second from kings to Zerubbabel and leaders at the time of the Babylonian captivity, third from leaders to Christ. For in each of these you will find around four hundred ninety years, as it is permitted to gather from the chronological table which I prefixed to the Pentateuch. According to this sense the Wise One admonishes us to be mindful of the septennium, that is, the course and end of age, both our own and that of the republic, and in it to recognize the vanity of both, and to say: "I have seen an end of all perfection: Thy commandment is exceeding broad," Psalm 118, 96. For just as in the septennium of days, namely in seven days at the beginning of the world God created all things, so in the septennium of years He varies and ends the same things. Again, so that to each age (which are in number seven) we give its own part, namely the duty owed to each age, for instance to infancy we give innocence, to childhood obedience, to youth chastity, to adolescence the study of wisdom, to manly age the strength of virtue, to old age maturity, apathy and perfection, to decrepitude meditation on the impending eternal life. Finally, some, as I indicated above, understand by the septennium the poor living, by the octenary the dead dwelling in purgatory, as if to say: Give alms to the poor living in the week of this life, give also to the dead who have passed from this life to purgatory, where they await the eighth of eternal happiness. Again, some thus expound it, give portions of seven, and also of eight, because you know not what evil shall come upon the earth. That is, exclude no one from commerce with the fruits of your labor, since you know not the evils, namely the temptations that will come to men, which if they should perhaps have laid low the rich man, you will have the poor man persevering in good through the industry of your labor, in whom as in a wise son you will glory.
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The sense is, says Olympiodorus, as if he were to say, just as clouds by divine command scatter rain upon all men, so it is fitting that alms be distributed to all men: namely, a heart full just as with riches, so also with charity, ought to give abundant alms, just as clouds swollen with water pour forth abundant rain. Whence that passage in Hosea vi, 4: "Your mercy is as a morning cloud;" and Ecclesiasticus cap. xxxv, 26: "The mercy of God is beautiful in the time of temptation, as a cloud of rain in the time of drought." See the remarks in both places. Furthermore, dense clouds are a certain sign of rain, equally as many other things which natural philosophers assign. For dogs eating grass, and their bellies rumbling, presage rain; flies and wasps stinging horses more sharply; smoke flying more thickly up through the chimney's throat; more frequent and more severe bites of fleas. There are moreover signs of rains: cranes flying silently through the high heavens; oxen smelling the sharp air, and licking themselves against the hair; a swallow flying around a lake, and beating the surface of the water with its wings dipped low; frogs croaking unusually; ants carrying eggs out of their caverns; a rainbow in the sky; ravens and crows cawing; land birds making cries against water, and drenching themselves; lamp oil sparkling, and fungi rising from it; the waxing moon darker; the sun rising hollow and spotted; likewise beneath the rising of the sun black clouds, with red ones intervening. Alms are aptly compared to a cloud, because first, just as a cloud formed from heaven has no other end and purpose than rain, so the riches given by God have no other end than that they be expended on the needy. Second, just as God rains indifferently and equally upon all, whether good or bad, whether friends or enemies: so also the giver of alms should do good to all without exception of persons. Third, just as a cloud expects no thanks from rain, so neither should the rich man expect anything from the poor, according to that saying of Christ: "Lend, hoping for nothing thereby." Fourth, just as rain is pleasing to a cloud, and a cloud repays a cloud, while from the earth moistened by it and warmed by the rays of the sun it excites vapors, which elevated into the air, condense again into clouds: so likewise alms enriches the giver, and so the giver of alms vies in liberality with God; whence the more liberal he is toward the poor, the more liberal he experiences God to be toward himself, as St. John the Almsgiver confessed he experienced, as witnessed by Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, in his Life, who also adds that he was accustomed to say confidently to God: "We shall see who conquers, whether you by sending, or I by distributing." Hence the Chaldean translator renders it: if the clouds be filled with rain, they will pour out their waters upon the earth on account of the merits of the just. And if there be no just man in that generation, they will descend into the sea and into the desert, so that there be no benefit from them to the sons of men. And thus St. Jerome explains it, as if to say: "Keep the commandments which have been prescribed to you above, so that clouds may pour out their rain upon you. For wherever you shall have prepared a place for yourself, and a future dwelling either to the south or to the north, there when you shall have died, you will remain. Otherwise: for this reason we said above: Cast your bread upon the face of the water, and give to all who ask you; because clouds also when they are full distribute their riches to mortals." Therefore the clouds of our mercy toward the poor draw forth and provoke the cloud of divine mercy, so that it may rain upon us and pour out its graces and gifts, according to that saying: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy," Matthew v, 7. Mystically Olympiodorus: "Clouds, he says, are holy men, one of whom was Moses, who says: Let my word be expected as rain, Deuteronomy chapter 32. The saints therefore filled with divine word, such as was made to Hosea and other saints, pour forth a fruitful shower of doctrine not only upon Judea alone, but upon all the earth into which the sound of them went forth." Thus also St. Jerome and St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 19 to Constantius, whom hear: "Whoever gathers water from the mountains and draws it to himself, or draws from fountains, he himself drizzles like a cloud. Fill therefore the bosom of your mind, that your land may be moist and watered by domestic fountains. Therefore he who reads much and understands, is filled; he who shall have been filled, waters others, and therefore Scripture says: If the clouds be filled, they shall pour out rain upon the earth; let your words therefore be flowing, let them be pure, clear, that by moral discourse you may pour sweetness into the ears of peoples, and by the grace of your words soothe the people, that willing they may follow where you lead." See the sayings at Ezekiel 10, 4, where I reviewed the properties of clouds and applied them to apostles and preachers. Therefore fertile and fruitful clouds are holy preachers, says Hugh, whose it is to be elevated from the earth, to rain doctrines, to thunder threats, to flash with miracles and example of life; but clouds without water, and carried about by winds, as St. Jude says, are those who empty of grace seek the applause of hearers, not their lamentation. IF A TREE SHALL FALL TOWARD THE SOUTH, OR TOWARD THE NORTH, IN WHAT PLACE SOEVER IT SHALL FALL, THERE SHALL IT BE. — The Zurich version, in that it shall remain; Campensis, there will be those who gather it. The Hebrew, Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic place the conjunction and before it, and if it shall fall, etc., from which it is clear that this saying is to be joined with the preceding hemistich, if the clouds be filled, and with it to cohere in the same verse, either by similarity or by dissimilarity. Whence First, Thaumaturgus translates, there is no tree which always stands; for although men do not cut it down, yet by wind it will at some time be overturned, as if to say: As a tree by every fall, so also man, who is an inverted tree, is overturned by death: wherefore if he is wise, before he is cut down, let him do good, that being cut down he may receive the reward of good deeds, eternal life. Second, Aben-Ezra, Clarius and Campensis by wood or tree understand the fruit of the tree, which when ripe falls from it, as if to say: The fruit of a tree, for example apples and pears, in whatever part or side of the tree they fall, do not perish, since there are not lacking those who gather them: thus the alms of a liberal man, in whatever place it falls, does not perish, since nowhere are there lacking poor who gather it, and alms everywhere finds its reward with God and men. This sense seems sufficiently apt, to which add also this one akin to it, as if to say: As rain and fruit of a tree falling does not consider where it ought to fall, whether into good ground or bad; whether toward the north or toward the south, but by natural weight falls into whatever part is inclined and obvious to it: thus likewise do liberal men act, in giving alms, namely in whatever part, place and lot they have fallen into, everywhere they are munificent, they nourish these and those and very many others, they exercise their beneficence toward all who come their way; nor do they curiously inquire whether they are worthy or unworthy, whether they will be grateful or ungrateful, whether they will use alms well or badly, whether alms will be useful or harmful to them; because in whatever place it shall have been bestowed, there it shall be, it has not perished for the giver, but there he will find it in his time. It is similar to bread cast into flowing waters, verse 1. To this is added R. Solomon, who takes vi ceciderit not from fall, that is lapse, but from casual lot, as if to say: As a tree, wherever its lot shall have fallen, that it be planted and subsist, whether in a southern region or in a northern, there it brings forth its fruits for the convenience of the inhabitants: thus a liberal man wherever he is placed and wherever lot or chance has carried him, shows himself beneficial to all natives and strangers. Third, R. Haccados, as if to say: As clouds pour down rain into every place, even dry and sterile, where namely trees have dried up and by some chance have fallen: thus likewise a beneficent man distributes his benefits to all, even the unworthy and ungrateful, who by ingratitude have dried up and seem useless for all good. Fourth, the Chaldean refers this to merciless princes, who fall from power on account of their lack of mercy, just as the merciful are elevated to the same, or if they have fallen, are restored to it, as is evident in Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel iv; partly to abundance of things or famine, which God now sends to this region, now to that, on account of virtues and vices, and especially on account of mercy or cruelty. Whence he thus translates: if it shall have been decreed from heaven that the king and his counselors fall from their power, it shall be done by the authority of the said Lord, and also satiety or famine in the south or north, wherever it shall have been decreed, so that that counsel may be confirmed, it is sent there, so that it may be done. Fifth, Our Pineda, as if to say: Give alms to the poor while he lives, because if he should die, you will no longer be able to give it to him. For wherever he shall have fallen and wherever he shall be, your beneficence will no longer recall him to life; therefore alms to the needy must be hastened, and not delayed. By almost this same reasoning Job tried to draw down divine mercy, Job vii, 7, saying: "Remember that my life is wind, and my eye shall not return to see good"; and verse 21: "Behold, now I shall sleep in the dust: and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be." Sixth, some attach this saying to the preceding one, as if it proved and confirmed it, so that first its hemistich corresponds to the first hemistich of the preceding, the latter to the latter, as if to say: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight," that is, give alms to many, indeed to very many; because just as clouds full of water pour forth abundant rain upon the earth, so the liberal, abounding in wealth and liberality and as if swollen, give copious alms, and thus to many, indeed to all whom they can, they do good. He adds the reason: "Because thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth." Therefore strive to prevent all this evil, and to avoid it through alms: because "if the wood shall have fallen to the south or to the north, in whatsoever place it shall have fallen, there it shall be," as if to say: Wherever and into whatsoever region evil shall have fallen, that is, disaster and destruction sent by God, there it shall inflict its damages, so that it be impossible to decline or avert it, unless you turn it away from yourself through alms. Seventh, more plainly, fittingly and properly, St. Jerome: "Therefore," he says, "we said above: Cast thy bread upon the face of the water, and give to all that ask thee, because clouds also when they are full distribute their riches to mortals; and thou, like wood, although thou mayest be long-lived, shalt not be forever, but overthrown by the sudden force of winds, that is, by the tempest of death, wherever thou shalt fall, there thou shalt remain perpetually, whether the final time shall find thee rigid and harsh, or clement and merciful." This sense is required by the antithesis of south and north. For, as St. Jerome notes, the south in Scripture when opposed to the north is taken in a good sense, the north in a bad sense, according to that: "The Lord shall come from the south," Habakkuk iii, 3. For the southern region is the right side of the world, bright and warm; the northern region truly is the left side, dark and cold. Add that Babylon, which through Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem and Judea, was to it from the north. Whence that: "From the north (that is, from Babylon) evil shall break forth," Jeremiah i, 14. The south therefore denotes the state of mercy, grace and salvation; the north the state of lack of mercy, sin and damnation, namely that after the fall, that is, death, there is no passage from one state to the other, so that those who depart in the state of grace and salvation cannot pass into the state of sin and damnation; nor these in turn into that: for a great chaos is fixed between both, which is penetrable or passable by none, as Abraham said to the rich man feasting, Luke xvi. To this sense the common exposition of the Fathers and interpreters adheres most aptly, who interpret the falling of the tree as the death of man: for man is an inverted tree, because he sends forth roots, namely his head with hair, upward, and branches, namely his feet, downward. Whence that saying of the blind man illuminated by Christ: "I see men as trees walking," Mark viii, 24. The sense therefore is, as if to say, In whatever place and state a man has fallen in death, whether toward the south, that is toward the state of the elect and the blessed, on account of the works of mercy which he did in life; or toward the north, that is toward the state of the damned, on account of the works of mercilessness, there he will remain eternally, so that he cannot migrate and pass over into another and contrary state of others. Take care therefore that by accumulating alms and merits you fall toward the south, not toward the north, while you must shortly die; see therefore whither your mind inclines, whether toward avarice, or toward virtues, or toward vices; and if you see it leaning toward the north, with all diligence turn it toward the south, so that you fall toward that, not toward the north. Therefore learn throughout your whole life how once to die well; but the discipline of dying well is a holy life; live therefore holily, if you wish to die holily, so that you fall toward the south. The south is fittingly used, as being the right region of the sky and warm, to represent heavenly felicity; the north, however, because it is left and cold, represents infernal damnation. Thus St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Albinus, Salonius and St. Gregory, XII Moral., whom hear: "If the tree shall have fallen toward the south, or toward the north, in whatsoever place it shall have fallen, there it shall be. But on the day of his death the just falls toward the south, the sinner toward the north: because the just through the fervor of the spirit is led to joys, and the sinner with the apostate angel, who said: I will sit in the mount of the covenant in the sides of the north, is reprobated in his cold heart." Hear St. Bernard, sermon 49 among the lesser ones: "Whether the tree has fallen toward the south or toward the north, there it shall be. The heat and lightness of the south in Holy Scripture are wont to have a good signification. From the north, however, every evil spreads forth. Moreover, someone saw men as trees. But the tree is cut down in death, and in whatsoever place it falls, there it shall be, because God will judge you there where He finds you. There, I say, it shall be immutably and irrevocably. Let it see where it is about to fall before it falls, because after it has fallen, it will not add that it may rise again, nor even that it may turn itself. But if you wish to know where the tree is about to fall, attend to its branches. Whence the greater the abundance of branches and the heavier, thence doubt not of its falling, if indeed it shall then be cut down. Our branches are our desires, by which we extend toward the south, if they are spiritual; if carnal, toward the north. But what things the middle body outweighs indicates, for those things prevail which have drawn the body with them." Then he declares the same thing by an appended similitude: "For thus the body is between the spirit, whom it ought to serve, and carnal desires, which war against the soul, or the powers of darkness, as if a cow were placed between a robber and a countryman. Whatever he threatens, whatever he attempts, if he has not led away the cow, the countryman has conquered: thus however much the malignant one rages, however much depraved desires torment, if the soul claims its vessel for itself, it must be believed to have conquered, so that, as the Apostle says: Let not sin reign in our mortal body; but as we have exhibited our members to serve iniquity unto iniquity, so let us exhibit them to serve justice unto sanctification." Tropologically, Galfridus in the tropology to this place: He who makes progress stands in the east, he says; he who falls back, in the west; he who tends toward heaven, in the south; he who tends toward hell, in the north. Finally, the south, as being the right part of the world, represents the right hand of Christ the judge, toward which on the day of judgment all the elect will be placed by Christ, so that they may be blessed; the north, however, as being the left part of the world, represents the left hand of Christ the judge, toward which all the reprobate and damned will be placed. The heretics object: Ecclesiastes here names only two places after the fall, that is death, namely the south and the north, that is heaven and hell: therefore there is no middle place between these two, namely purgatory. I answer: I deny the consequence; for he who names two extremes does not exclude the middle things which run between the extremes, but rather includes them: just as here under the south and north Ecclesiastes includes the east and west, which are middle between the south and north; but he names these two rather than east and west, because these two regard the two poles of the world, namely the north the arctic pole, the south the antarctic pole. Those therefore who are in purgatory pertain to the south; because they are certain that, after purification is completed, they will go to heaven. Thus likewise the fathers, who in the time of Solomon were in limbo, pertained to the south, who were awaiting the opening of heaven through Christ. Again, the south and north signify two ultimate places, into which after death souls go, so that they remain there perpetually; but such are only two, namely heaven and hell. For purgatory is not an ultimate place but an intermediate one, because from it all souls pass into heaven. Thus St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Salonius and others everywhere. Hence Francis Suarez explains this saying, first, of two ultimate places, in which the way of wayfarers is ultimately terminated; second, of the place of consolation and sadness: but purgatory is a place of consolation; or most excellently, as if to say: After this life there is no place of losing or recovering the friendship of God; but if a man departs to the south, that is in divine friendship, he will remain there perpetually: if to the north, that is in God's wrath, enmity, he will be there perpetually. Thus Suarez, III part. tom. IV, disputation 45. Salonius adds: "By wood man is designated, he says, because each one is as it were a tree of the forest of the human race; by the south, which is a warm wind, the rest of paradise is designated; by the north, which is a cold wind, the punishment of hell is designated." See Bellarmine, lib. I On Purgatory, cap. viii. Morally, learn here a great incentive to almsgiving, and that every virtue is consideration of eternity stable and immutable, which will happen most happily to the merciful, most miserably to the unmerciful. Whence Ecclesiastes applies this incentive frequently, as vers. 9 and seq.; cap. ix, vers. 10; cap. xii, vers. 5. Let our ecclesiastics learn from him to frequently urge their hearers with the same incentive in their sermons. For what is greater than eternity, longer, more terrible, happier or more unhappy? Why therefore is he who is not moved by it either a stone or a demon of desperate salvation. Truly Bede in the Collectanies: "God, he says, has established three principal mansions, heaven, earth and hell; and in those three three principal things, in heaven he established peace and eternity; on earth he established faith, penance and remission of sins; in hell he established fear and eternal punishment. But from the earth which is in the middle, heaven and hell will be filled."
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that is to say, He who is terrified by difficulties and spares almsgiving on account of doubtful outcomes, for example because he fears becoming impoverished, or lest the fruit of almsgiving perish, he omits good works that are fruitful and necessary. For prudent farmers are accustomed to observe winds and clouds, as Columella, Varro and Virgil in the Georgics testify, but in moderation: therefore excessive observation of them, anxiety and panic fear alone are here reproved; for otherwise seed now requires a cold wind, so that it may drive deep roots into the earth; now a warm one, so that it may burst forth outward into abundant germination; thus now it requires rain so that it may thicken, now dryness so that it may consolidate itself. There is also a remedy assigned to fear by certain interjected passages: "Here," he says, "let prudence avail, here reject evident fear by strength of mind; if not, drive out vice by vice, temper fear with hope. Nothing is so certain among those things which are feared, as that it is not more certain that feared things subside, and hoped-for things deceive. Therefore examine both hope and fear, and, whenever all things shall be uncertain, favor yourself; believe what you prefer: if you shall have more opinions of fear, nevertheless incline rather to this side, and cease to disturb yourself. And then turn this over in your mind, that the greater part of mortals, when there is nothing evil for them, nor is it certain to be future, are agitated and run about. For no one resists himself, when he has begun to be driven; nor does he reduce his fear to the truth. No one says: The author is vain, it is vain, or he fabricated it, or believed it. We give ourselves to those reporting; we are terrified by doubtful things as if they were certain; we do not observe the measure of things; immediately scrupulosity comes into fear." Otherwise St. Jerome: "He who considers," he says, "to whom he may do good, and does not give himself to every petitioner, often passes by him who deserves to receive." Olympiodorus: "You also do not be so very anxious, curiously inquiring to whom you shall give alms, to whom you shall not give, as for instance whether he be faithful or unfaithful, just or unjust; for if you shall hang in mind inquiring into these things, you will lose the time of sowing, nor will you find at harvest time what you reap. Without any delay of time, therefore, bestow alms in simplicity of heart." Finally Thaumaturgus thinks these things are said against astrologers, who conjecture and divine from the stars concerning future fertility or sterility; whence he thus translates: "Many wish to know beforehand what things are to happen from heaven, nor is there lacking one who, looking into the clouds and waiting for the wind, has abstained from harvest or winnowing, trusting in an empty thing; and knowing nothing of those things which are to happen by divine will." To this is added St. Athanasius in the Synopsis, who from this place thinks that Solomon prostrates "the religion of the Egyptians concerning divination from the nativity of a man." The Chaldean adds: "He who," he says, "observes diviners and soothsayers, will scarcely do any glorious deeds in this life by chance, and he who catches sense from the stars will not increase his reward; for augurs are very much like the wind, which cannot be enclosed in the palm of a man; but the planets are compared to the clouds of heaven, which always go, and never return." But the first sense, which I have given, is the genuine one. Tropologically Albinus understands by winds those who are adverse to us; by clouds, those who flatter us: thus also St. Jerome: "He who," he says, "preaches the word of God only at that time when the people willingly listen, and a favorable breeze blows, is a negligent and lazy farmer sowing tumidity: for in the very prosperous times, while we know not that adversities arise. But the word of God is to be preached opportunely, inopportunely: nor is the tempest of ever-changing clouds ever to be considered in the time of faith; concerning which it is said in Proverbs, Proverbs xxvi, 3 and 4: A proverb signifying in a parabolic manner those who are excessively fearful and anxious about the future success of a matter, designating the idle: as if a farmer, excessively anxiously observing the winds, does not dare to sow, for he thinks to himself: If I sow while the wind is blowing, the wind will blow away my seed and scatter it, so that it is carried outside the field, or into other parts of the field which I do not wish to sow; or the wind now colder will kill the seed, or warmer will cause it to sprout excessively, and thus I shall sow in vain and without hope of harvest; whence it comes to pass that he never sows, and consequently never reaps: for there is always some wind, especially in winter, when it is time for sowing; he therefore who fears the wind will never sow; since the air in winter is never without wind. In a similar manner, he who considers the clouds will never reap: for he anxiously persuades himself and says: If I reap now, the clouds will pour down rain, which will infect the grain reaped by me with its moisture and cause it to rot; I shall therefore wait until there are no clouds, and the time is altogether clear and secure; whence it comes to pass that he never dares to reap, but the grain dries up and is lost in the field. For there are always some clouds in the sky; he therefore who fears them will never sow. Thus precisely he who excessively anxiously fears a public dearth of provisions, or lest something be lacking to him and his at home, saying: If I give bread to the poor, my grain will not suffice to feed my family throughout the whole year; I shall therefore wait for an abundance of things, and security that nothing will be lacking to me, and then I shall distribute the surplus liberally to the poor: this man, I say, will never give alms, because he will always be struck down by some fear of present or future necessity, which will hold him back from giving, and will close his hand; whence it will come to pass that the grain rots in the storehouse, an example of which thing is found in Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. LXXIV. This proverb therefore signifies that dangers and difficulties which occur in the exercise of virtue, especially of almsgiving, are not to be thought upon and feared with excessive anxiety, but are to be committed and resigned to divine providence, and one is to do good liberally and with great courage and great confidence in God to anyone in need; for thus shall we experience God liberal in turn towards us. Truly Seneca, epistle 13: "We are troubled for the most part by suspicions, etc.: we do not refute those things which bring us into fear, nor do we shake them off; but we tremble, and thus we turn our backs, just as those whom the dust stirred up by the flight of cattle has driven from their camp, or whom some rumor spread without an author has terrified. I know not how empty things disturb us more: for true things have their measure; whatever comes from uncertainty is handed over to conjecture and the license of a fearful mind. To no one therefore are there dangers so pernicious, so irrevocable, as frenzied fears: for the others are without reason, these are without mind:" because, as the same author adds, "sometimes, with no signs appearing which announce some evil, the mind fashions false images for itself;" or violent and useless rain, thus those who abandon wisdom and praise impiety. Without consideration therefore of clouds and fear of winds, one must sow in the midst of tempests, nor should one say that this time is suitable, that useless, since we are ignorant what way, and what will is that of the spirit dispensing all things." Moreover St. Gregory, III part. Pastor. cap. xvi, understands by winds the suggestions of demons; by clouds, persecutions of men: "He who observes the wind, he says, does not sow, and he who considers the clouds never reaps. For what is expressed by wind except the temptation of malignant spirits? And what by clouds, which are moved by wind, except the adversities of wicked men are designated? For clouds are driven by winds, because by the breath of unclean spirits wicked men are stirred up. He therefore who observes the wind does not sow, and he who considers the clouds never reaps: because whoever fears the temptation of malignant spirits, whoever fears the persecution of wicked men, neither now sows the grains of good work, nor then cuts the sheaves of holy retribution." He has similar things in XXVII Moral. cap. v. Again our Alvarez de Paz, lib. V, part. II, cap. xx On the Means of Perfection, understands by winds and clouds convenience and self-love, enemy to virtue: "He who observes the wind, he says, does not sow, and he who considers the clouds never reaps;" it is as if he had said: He who in all things seeks what is most convenient for himself, and strives to fulfill what is most pleasant, he assuredly does not sow seed from which he may reap eternal reward. For he sows works infected by the vice of his own will and disordered love, which, while they please only the man working, do not bear the fruit of eternal reward.
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This maxim pertains to almsgiving, as is evident from the preceding and following verses. For lest anyone excuse himself from it through timidity or avarice, fearing that he himself might lack all his resources in supporting his family, he meets this objection by saying: "He that observeth the wind shall not sow: and he that regardeth the clouds shall never reap," that is to say, One ought not to be so anxiously fearful of future winds and rains from clouds that on account of them we are diverted from sowing and reaping at the proper time. For God is he who rules the winds and clouds, and makes them serve the uses of men; therefore he moderates and dispenses them so that they do not hinder but help and advance sowing and reaping, even if this does not appear to men at first, but rather the contrary, namely that they will be harmful, not helpful. For God knows the hidden ways and reasons by which he brings it about that they are beneficial, not harmful. He now proves this by an example of the formation of man, saying: "How canst thou know what is the way of the spirit," etc., that is to say, Just as thou knowest not by what reason the soul is inserted by God into the embryo and human body in the womb of the mother, What is the way of the spirit. — First, many probably understand by spirit the wind, as Symmachus translates it, of which discourse has preceded; for in Hebrew the same word ruach is used in both places; for the ways, motions and gyrations of winds are hidden and impenetrable to men, because they proceed from the secret dispensation of God's providence, according to that saying of Christ to Nicodemus, John III, 8: "The Spirit breatheth where he will; and thou hearest his voice, but thou knowest not whence he cometh, or whither he goeth," because, as St. Dionysius explains, Celestial Hierarchy cap. xv, winds have from them an image of divine action, on account of their swift and irresistible departure, and on account of the unknown to us and invisible hiding places of their principles and sources. Thus the Thaumaturgus, Olympiodorus, Hugh, Arias and others. Second and more aptly, by spirit understand the soul which informs the body: for the discourse here is about the composition and formation of man in the womb of the mother, as is evident from what follows. Whence the Chaldean translates: "Just as it cannot be altogether clear to thee by what way the spirited soul, capable of life, is poured into the body of the infant, and into the fetus which is contained in the bowels of the womb of the bearing mother, and thou knowest not at all until it is brought forth into the light, whether it be male or female: so neither canst thou judge the works of the Lord, who accomplishes all things with supreme wisdom." Thus St. Jerome: "Just as thou knowest not," he says, "the way of the spirit and soul entering into the little one, and thou knowest not the varieties of bones and veins in the belly of the pregnant woman, how from a vile element the body of man is varied into different forms and limbs; and from the same seed, one thing becomes soft in the flesh, another becomes hard in the bones, another palpitates in the veins, and another is bound in the sinews: so thou wilt not be able to know the works of God, who is the maker of all things. Thus also Lyran, Hugh, Cajetan, Clarius, Vatablus and others explain it, who interpret the way of the spirit as the way by which the soul enters into the body of man, when it begins to live, and the way by which it departs from the same, when it dies. Moreover, how hidden and obscure is the origin of the human soul, and its entrance into the body and into each of its members, is shown by the various, indeed contrary opinions of philosophers on this matter. For Democritus held that the soul, equally as other things, was formed from the fortuitous concourse of atoms. Plato in the Timaeus, because he made numbers the principles of things, also pronounced the soul to be composed of numbers. Heraclitus, who established fire as the principle of natural things, also thought the soul to be a warm exhalation. Diogenes, and those who composed all things from air, air; Thales, moisture; Critias, blood; Empedocles, a certain harmony and temperament of the elements; Hippocrates said the soul is a thin spirit dispersed throughout the whole body. See more in Theodoret, lib. IX On the Nature of Man; Nyssen, disp. On the Soul; Lactantius, On the Work of God, cap. XVII; Plutarch, lib. IV On the Opinions of Philosophers cap. II and III; Aristotle, lib. On the Soul, cap. II; Cicero, I Tusculan Disputations. Finally, St. Augustine, a man of most keen intellect, doubted even unto death concerning the origin of the soul, namely whether individual souls are created by God for each infant, or whether they are derived from the parents, that is, in such a way that the soul of the son is derived from the soul of the parent, just as the light of one candle is derived and kindled from the light of another, as is evident from Book I On the Origin of the Soul, chapter xv, and Book I of the Retractations, chapter I. For this latter seemed to him to argue for the transmission of original sin, since that sin appears to be transmitted along with the soul into the offspring from the soul of the parent: but the Church has now defined the contrary, namely that the souls of men, at the birth or rather at the conception of each one, are created by God and infused by creation. Hence the mother of the seven Maccabees wisely said to them themselves: "I know not, she says, how you were formed in my womb: for neither did I give you breath and life, nor did I frame the members of your bodies. But the Creator of the world, who formed the nativity of man, and who found out the origin of all things," etc. II Maccabees VII, 22. Thirdly, St. Bonaventure understands by spirit God and the Holy Spirit, as if to say: The winds and clouds, of which the discourse went before, the divine Spirit secretly pervades all things, forms, compels, moves, dispenses. Again, that same Spirit secretly forms, fits, binds, and compacts the bones of the infant in the womb of the mother, as follows. Mystically, that same Spirit thus secretly enters into the soul through grace and operation, so that man does not see Him, indeed often does not recognize Him, according to that passage in Job IX, 11: "If He come to me, I shall not see Him: if He depart, I shall not understand." Whence Blessed Isaiah the Abbot (found in the Library of the Holy Fathers) in oration 19, in the middle, reads thus: "Just as bones are compacted in the womb of her who bears, so is the way of the spirit;" and thus explains it concerning the Holy Spirit: "For just as the holy Virgin bore the Son of God in the flesh, so those who receive the grace of the Holy Spirit conceive and bear Him in their heart." Pregnant in Hebrew is called full, namely heavy with her fetus and embryo. The formation of bones and members of the embryo is the work of nature, or rather of God admirable; whence all philosophers and physicians marvel at this, such as Galen, in the book On the Use of Parts; Lactantius, On the Works of God; Cicero, Book II On the Nature of the Gods; indeed even the Psalmist, Psalm CXXXVIII, 15: "My bones are not hidden from Thee, which Thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth. Thy eyes did see my imperfect being," that is, the compacting of my bones is not hidden from Thee, nor all my inner members in the secret of the womb of my mother (as the Chaldean renders it) as if in the depths of the earth, where I myself am painted as if with the needle in Phrygian work, which pertains to nerves, flesh, bones, skin. For this in Hebrew is רקמתי ruchamti, that is, as if I am painted with the needle by a Phrygian, which the Italians therefore call ricamo. And Job chapter X and following: "Hast Thou not, he says, milked me as milk, and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh: Thou hast put me together with bones and sinews: Thou hast granted me life and mercy." Moreover, beyond all other parts and members, marvelous in man is the compacting of so many and so varied bones, namely the formation, solidification, connection, binding, articulation, structure, as may be seen in the Anatomy of Vesalius and others. This therefore is the work of Elohim, as the Hebrew has it, that is, of the Godhead, all-knowing, most wise and supremely provident, which by its efficacy and power pervades, penetrates, agitates, nourishes, vivifies all things. The emphasis is in the womb of the pregnant woman, as if to say: Tell me, if you can, by what means does one soft and tender womb of a pregnant woman form so many hard and solid bones of the embryo? by what art does that same womb clothe, interweave, and compact them with so many muscles, nerves, tendons, cartilages, veins, arteries, etc.? especially since the pregnant woman herself knows nothing of these things, indeed does not feel them, which nevertheless are so varied and artificial that no Phrygian embroiderer, however keen-eyed and skilled, could not only form them by variegating, but could not even express and represent them by painting with a needle. Finally, by this proverb it signifies that, just as God aptly connects and compacts diverse and sometimes contrary bones in the body, so that they help and strengthen one another, so likewise that same God directs and connects even contrary winds and clouds, so that they do not harm but benefit the seed and the harvest: likewise all adverse and prosperous things, and especially those which threaten dearness of provisions and want, and all difficulties and dangers which strike man with fear and turn him away from almsgiving; which, I say, all these things God directs, disposes, combines, so that they bring not want but rather abundance to the almsgiver. "For to those who love God all things (God directing them) work together unto good," Romans VIII, 28: for God rules, tempers, and connects all secondary causes, so that they serve the advantage of His friends and elect.
11:6
For "let it not cease," Symmachus translated, "do not let your hand rest"; the Hebrew, "do not cause to rest"; the Septuagint, "let not your hand relax." For "what shall arise," in Hebrew it is כשר iichsar, that is, "it shall be directed, it shall come to pass"; Aquila, "it shall prosper"; Symmachus, "it shall find" or "it shall attain," namely your hand; St. Jerome, "it shall be right," or "what shall please"; the Zurich Bible, "what shall be more advantageous in the future"; others, "what shall be more fitting," as if to say: You do not know whether morning almsgiving or evening almsgiving shall be more useful to you as well as to the poor, and more pleasing to God. The Chaldean interpreter takes this saying concerning the generation of children; whence he thus translates: "In your youth, take a wife, that you may beget children: for thus when you are advanced in age, she, as it were a part of yourself, shall not cease from bearing." Yet it cannot be known to you whether one of them shall be chosen for good, whether this one or that one, or even two together shall be righteous in the future. But this sense is carnal and Jewish, and does not pertain to the matter proposed. For this entire passage pertains to almsgiving and beneficence. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as a prudent farmer, when it is time for sowing, at any time (for under morning and evening, as under two extremes, he understands all the intermediate times that occur) sows his seed both in the morning and in the evening, so that if one does not germinate very successfully, the other may germinate and bear fruit more successfully; or if both germinate successfully, he may gather a double and abundant harvest: so you, O faithful one, do good at all times, and cease from no almsgiving or good work, because if one does not succeed, the other will succeed, and will bring forth the fruit you hope for: if both succeed, you shall certainly obtain your desire. Finally, the reward of both is surely prepared for you with God. Thus St. Jerome: "Do not choose," he says, "to whom you shall do good, but even when you have done good, never cease from good works. Let morning justice find the evening, and let the rising sun accumulate evening mercy. For it is uncertain which work more pleases God, and from which the fruit of justice is prepared for you. But it can happen that not one, but both please God." Otherwise: And in youth and in old age let your labor be equal. And do not say: While I was able, I labored; I ought to rest in old age. For you do not know whether in youth or in advanced age you please God. Nor does the frugality of youth profit, if old age is spent in luxury. For on whatever day the just man has erred, the former justice does not free him from death. Olympiodorus adds, who thus expounds it, as if he said: From the beginning of your life strive for virtues until its end, according to that saying of Christ: "I must work, while it is day," John IX, 4: "Having undertaken virtue," he says, "persevere unto the end: for you do not know which of your good works shall please the judge, those which you have performed in the prisons, or those which you have already brought to the finish line. But if both are approved in the same manner, such an operation shall be reckoned full of goodness and perfection. Or otherwise understand it thus: From the beginning of childhood work at virtue, and do not say: Now that I am younger, let me enjoy the delights which life has, but afterwards when I shall have come to old age, I shall turn myself to penance: for you do not at all know what shall happen to you, or when the end of life shall come. It is therefore worth the effort to work at virtue always, and to strive with the greatest effort to attain to this. It is also necessary to pray to God often, that what we ourselves work at may be pleasing to His majesty and goodness." Therefore no respite from work is granted to man in this life; for as Job says, cap. V, 7: "Man is born to labor, and the bird to flight." And the Psalmist, Psalm CIII, 23: "Man shall go forth (when the sun rises in the morning) to his work, and to his labor until evening." Wherefore we ought to grow in virtues equally and in merits daily, until the last breath of life. Whence wisely Damascus, in his oration On the Dormition of the Virgin, says that the just are altogether perfected by death and made holy, which brings it about that in their virtue no change any longer falls. Tropologically St. Jerome understands by morning and evening the Old Testament and the New, which is as it were the latter and former rain. "Whence also now we are admonished," he says, "that we so read the old law, that we do not despise the Gospel; that we so seek the spiritual understanding in the Old Testament, that we do not think in the evangelists and apostles that only this sounds which is read: for we are ignorant in what respect knowledge and grace are more bestowed upon us by God, and blessed is he who has joined both together in common, and as it were made one body. Whoever shall have attained to this, shall see light, shall see Christ the sun of justice." Again, by morning and evening you should understand prosperity and adversity, or the rising and setting of good fortune, that is to say: Neither in prosperous matters nor in adverse ones should you cease from virtue. In adversities exercise humility, patience, fortitude; in prosperous times, modesty, temperance, gratitude; in both, charity and beneficence. Therefore do not let any opportunity for doing good pass by, so that if the former things were less pleasing to God, the latter or the last may be more pleasing. Excellently Seneca, epistle 12: "Therefore," he says, "the whole day should be so ordered as if it compels an army, and consumes and completes life." And below: "Going to sleep let us say joyfully and cheerfully: Our Delrio, adage 300, page 2, understands by morning and evening two times of sowing, namely the timely and the late, just as timely rain is called that which moistens the sown seed so that it germinates; late rain, which ripens the grains already formed. Whence Symmachus translates: Let your early seed not fail, and also your late seed let not your hand remit. But in Scripture there is nowhere mention of timely or late sowing, but only of rain. Properly therefore take morning and evening, that is to say: With the sun, indeed before the sun rises, let your zeal for doing good arise; let it not cease except when the sun sets, so that the rising sun may find those doing good, and the setting sun may leave them doing good. Beneficence should rouse us from bed in the morning, and return us to bed in the evening. Coldly R. Akiba: When in the morning you have given something to a poor man, and he returns in the evening, do not leave him empty. And if both at once, it will be better. — Hebrew, and if both the same, as one good, that is to say: You do not know whether both will be of equal goodness, or one will be as good as the other. But Our author took the good for better; for the Hebrews use the positive for the comparative which they lack; whence he translated more clearly and significantly, and if both at once (arise), it will be better.
11:7
For light is the most noble, most pleasant, heavenly, most useful and life-giving quality; the sun also is the eye of the world, and "a wonderful vessel of the Most High," Eccles. cap. XLIII, 2. See what is said there. See also Dracontius, lib. I Hexam., where he celebrates light among other things (it is found in tom. VIII of the Library of the Holy Fathers): Hence also Varro, lib. V De Ling. Latina, thinks that the day, which carries light, is named from God; or as Festus says, because it is the work of the divine; or from Jupiter, whom they call Δία. Hence also the sun is called by Cicero, lib. II De Natura Deor., the "prince of the stars"; by Heraclitus, as testified by Macrobius, lib. I in Somnium Scipionis, cap. xx: "The fountain of light and the heart of heaven;"; by Chalcidius in Timæum Platonis, and by Pliny, lib. II, cap. vi: "The soul of the world, the ruler of the stars and heaven, the governance of nature and divinity." Divinity, that is, the nod and power, says Festus, from nuo, nuis, which the ancients used for volo. Hence finally some, as testified by Macrobius, lib. De occulte vivendo, thought that the soul is a certain light, because it itself greatly delights in light, and turns away from ignorance and darkness. Wherefore Anaxagoras, as testified by Laertius, said that man was born for this, that he might see the sun and its light; and the Greeks called man φῶτα, that is, light, because man alone, illuminated by the light of the Sun and the divine Word in his mind, illuminates others by the same. Thus Nazianzenus. Hear Lactantius, lib. III De Falsa relig. cap. XII: "So great is (as it seemed to Anaxagoras) the contemplation of heaven and of light itself, that one would be willing to endure whatever miseries." St. Jerome and his followers refer this saying to the preceding words, as if to say: Morning and evening, that is, constantly and always, sow the seed of almsgiving and good works, because, if you do this, you will obtain the reward, namely the most sweet light of glory, in which you will see the sun of justice, Christ the Lord, in heavenly glory. But this sense is mystical and symbolic, as much as that of R. Haccados, who understands by light sons: for these are as it were lights of their parents, as if to say: Beget, that is, generate sons; for these will be light and splendor to you and your family. I say therefore that this saying depends upon and pertains to what follows: for there it is fulfilled, as if to say: Sweet indeed is this life and the use of light, in which we pleasantly behold the most brilliant sun; but nevertheless to this brief life will succeed death, which will envelop us in horrible darkness on all sides. Mindful therefore of impending death, do not abuse the sweetness of life in excessive pleasures; but use it moderately for all virtue and beneficence. Thus while we live, life is to be enjoyed, or rather to be used modestly and honestly, so that we may help as many as possible by our services and benefits, mindful of impending death and judgment. Note, from this place to the end of the book, Ecclesiastes, or Solomon, removes from himself every suspicion of Epicureanism and a life of pleasure, which he had previously, by frequently recommending that one use one's things joyfully while living, instilled into some. Whence here he seriously admonishes us of our end, namely that we pass in mind and affection from vanity to truth, from time to eternity, which is likewise the end and scope of the whole book, as is evident from its beginning and end. To this is added Thaumaturgus, who, connecting this saying with what follows, thus aptly weaves all together from verse 10 in one connection: "But if anyone reasons with himself how beautiful the sun is, how pleasant this life is, how delightful it is to become long-lived in the highest felicity, and how horrible and perpetual an evil death is, bringing nothing at all of benefit, whence he might feel that we ought to enjoy all present things, however they may appear pleasant. Moreover Anagogically, the Chaldean explains this saying of the light of glory, by which the Saints are blessed in heaven: And sweet, he says, is the light of the law, and most fitting certainly, which brings light to darkening eyes, so that at some time they may behold the dignity of the face of your Lord, whom a certain divine splendor is about to illuminate the face of the just, so that they may be compared in beauty with the sun. Symbolically, it is sweet to see light and the sun, that is, to contemplate God, who, as He is the giver of gifts, so also is the Father of "lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration," James cap. I, 17. Hence God is said to be "clothed with light as with a garment," Psalm. CII, 2; and light is said properly to be His "possession," Job XXXVI, 33. Whence St. Dionysius, cap. IV De Divin. nom., says the sun is a living image of God. Wherefore Christ says: "I, he says, am the light of the world," John VIII, 12. Nay, even Plato, lib. VI De Republ., calls light and the sun the offspring and son of the good. Hear St. Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 40: "And indeed God is the highest and inaccessible light, which can neither be perceived by the mind nor explained by words, illuminating all nature endowed with reason, being in intelligible things what the sun is in sensible things; presenting himself to be contemplated by us the more, the more carefully we have purified our souls; and again to be loved the more, the more we have contemplated him; and finally to be known the more, the more we have loved him; contemplating and comprehending himself, and diffusing himself very sparingly to external things. Moreover, I call this light that which is considered in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, whose natures have identity of richness, and one and the same outpouring of splendor. The second light is an angel, as it were a stream of that first light, or a participation through inclination toward it, and having the ministry of illumination, concerning which I cannot determine whether splendor is imparted to it according to the rank and order of its class, or rather according to the mode of divine illumination it receives this or that place. The third light is man, which is also evident and manifest to external things; for they call man φῶτα, that is, light, on account of the power and faculty of reason implanted in us. By this name also those among us are called who are more like to God and approach nearer to God." Tropologically, Olympiodorus: He who, he says, receives in his mind the illumination of the sun of justice, namely of Christ, plainly sees what things ought to be done according to the will of that same sun, and what things ought to be left undone: and he is likewise filled with great pleasure and joy on this account, because he knows not only what things ought to be done, but also, illuminated by that same sun, he contemplates with a most peaceful mind those most beautiful forms which, separated from matter, are perceived by the intellect alone. Moreover, he comprehends in his soul the days of perpetual darkness, which in the future age are about to seize the impious; and therefore he declines from evil with all zeal and works good. Thus Olympiodorus.
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This maxim coheres with the preceding one, and suggests a salutary antithesis to it, as if to say: It is indeed sweet to enjoy the use of light and to contemplate the sun. It is sweet to live and to taste the pleasures of life; but do not delight yourself too much in them; do not rest secure in them, nor offend God through them; do not think them perpetual or long-lasting, because soon there will succeed to them the dark and sad days of old age and death, which when they come will truly show how vain, that is brief, few, fleeting, and evanescent, the days of past life and pleasures have been: for then all light will turn into darkness, pleasure into hardships, joy into sadness, life into death. For just as the sun, when it rises in the morning, is splendid and bright, and grows toward noon, soon after a few hours it decreases, declines, and sets: so too our life, when we are born, shines and grows into manhood; but after a few years it decreases, grows old, and sets. Therefore, as you daily behold the sun rising and setting, take it as a living image of your own life, and in it measure and behold your own rising and setting. Even if you had lived as many years as Methuselah, when those years are completed, they will be as if they had not been, according to that: "A thousand years before thy eyes are as yesterday, which is past," Psalm 89:4. Hebrew, let him remember the days of darkness, which will be many. By these, first, may be understood the days of old age, which, although few in number, because nevertheless filled with many hardships, seem to the aging many and long and dark, that is miserable and sad, just as to the infirm a night otherwise brief seems long. Add that in the aged the eyes grow dim, so that the sun seems to darken for them, as will be said in chapter 12, verse 2: for there he describes at length these dark days of old age. Second, the days of death and burial, for these are many, because they will last until the day of judgment, when we shall rise from death. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, because many are the days in which he will sleep in the house of the sepulcher, and it pertains to him to receive judgment from heaven for all and to counsel youths to abuse their age, to permit their souls every pleasure, to indulge their desires, to live as they please, to look upon delightful things, but to turn away from what is not of this kind. To which I would say only this: You act foolishly, O whoever you are, not awaiting the future judgment of God in all these things." The Author of the Greek Catena has similar passages. time, which will come upon him as evil, on account of the vanity which he has done. Third, the many and dark days are the days of eternity, which the impious spend most miserably and perpetually in the darkness of hell. Thus Olympiodorus: "He thinks," he says, "of the days of darkness, which in the future age will seize upon the impious, and sinners after the vanity of all things will come to eternal torments." Hebrew, all that comes is vanity; St. Jerome, all that is about to come is vanity; others, all that follows will be vain; Vatablus, all who are born is vanity, as if to say: Whatever comes and happens in this world is vain: for just as past things have vanished, so present things immediately pass away and vanish, and future things will pass away and vanish. From the vanity of past things, it is possible to conjecture and measure with certainty the present and the future; which in order to indicate, Our Author wisely translated it, when they come, the past things are convicted of vanity. Wisely therefore St. Remaclius, Bishop of Maastricht, when about to die, gave this final admonition to his people: "The whole life of a wise man ought to be a kind of meditation on death." Indeed Plato also says: "Philosophy (ethics) is nothing other than a meditation on death." The life of St. Remaclius was written by Notgerus his successor. It is extant in Surius, on the 3rd of September.
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St. Jerome begins from this point chapter XII. For "in thy youth" in Hebrew is bechuroteca, that is, of thy elections, that is in an age altogether elect and flourishing; for youth is spring, the beauty and flower of all ages: wherefore then ought each one to choose his state and the best manner of life, so that he may spend the best age in the best way, and dedicate it to God most good. The Septuagint add ἄμωμος, that is, irreproachable, immaculate, blameless. Whence they translate, Walk in the ways of thy heart immaculate. Thus also the Arabic version translates. Again, for "And in the sight of thine eyes," the Septuagint in the Roman copies read contrarily, and not in the sight of thine eyes. But St. Ambrose in the Exhortation to Virgins reads thus: Walk in the ways of thy heart without blemish, and in the sight of thine eyes, and not in the boldness of thine eyes, that is, he says, "in spiritual sight, not in worldly boldness." But the Complutensian edition reads in the same manner as the Hebrew, Latin and Syriac, namely, in the sight of thine eyes. Wherefore St. Ambrose, Albinus, Olympiodorus, and St. Gregory in the XXIV Morals, chapter IV, think that young men are here invited to spiritual joy, to which the Apostle invites in Philippians IV, 4, saying: "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: the Lord is nigh." Hence also the Chaldean translates, Rejoice, young man, in the days of thy youth, and let thy heart be merry in the days of thy adolescence, and walk in humility in the ways of thy heart, and stand warned in the sight of thine eyes, and look not upon evil; and let it be known to thee, that for all things God will bring thee into judgment. But to walk in the ways of the heart and in the sight of the eyes signifies joy not spiritual, but sensual and carnal, according to that in chapter II, 10: "And all things that my eyes desired, I denied them not: neither did I restrain my heart from enjoying pleasure, and delighting itself in those things which I had prepared; and I esteemed this my portion, if I should use my labour." And that the Septuagint intended nothing else is evident from the interpretation of the Thaumaturgus, which I recited in the preceding verse, from which it is clear that he did not read in the Septuagint τὸ ἄμωμος, that is, irreproachable; or if he read it, he interpreted it thus, as if to say, Walk in the ways of thy heart irreproachable, that is, live as thou pleasest, so that no one dare reprove thee, and so that thou fearest no reproof of anyone, or hearest it not and admittest it not to thy heart. It is therefore a permission, as if to say, Rejoice and enjoy pleasantly, O youth, in the pleasures of adolescence, yet so that thou rememberest that thou shalt give account of them to God in judgment; which that thou mayest do rightly, use them modestly and honestly. To this tends the proverb of the Arabs, Century I, number 69: "Live, little ass, while fodder flourishes;" enjoy the fodder while thou obtainest it: for soon it will fail, and thou shalt not obtain it. For to live is ἡδυπαθεῖν, that is to rejoice and enjoy, which the French call se donner bon temps. Or rather it is irony, as if to say, O youth, who through adolescence art burning with blood, spirits and desires, come, let thy heart be good, that is, let thy heart be gladdened (for good is taken for merry and pleasant); whence St. Ambrose in the Exhortation to Virgins translates, let thy heart delight thee, walk in the ways of thy heart, that is, follow the desires of thy appetite, and in the sight of thine eyes, so that what thy eyes covet, that pursue thou, indulge thy desires, satisfy thyself with thy cravings; but "know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." Break the couches, seek wines, take roses, anoint with nard: God himself bids thee remember death. Wherefore if thou art wise, restrain thy pleasures by fear of death and divine judgment, resist thy desires, mortify vain loves, so that to the Judge, who permitted their use but forbade their abuse, thou mayest render a fitting account. Thus the Thaumaturgus, St. Bonaventure, Hugh, Cajetan, Titelmann and others. For adolescence, as St. Ambrose teaches in the Interpretation of Job, chapter VII, and Aristotle in the VIII Ethics, chapter VI: "With the heat of the body burning, and the fervor of the blood kindling fires, as it is weak in strength, so is it infirm in counsel, vicious in heat, fastidious to admonishers, allured by delights." Wherefore it must be restrained and curbed from its desires by the sharp goads of fear of judgment and hell. Wherefore St. Anysia the Martyr was wont to complain of youth, saying: "O insidious age, which either harms or is harmed! A beautiful thing is old age. Alas for me! the length of time afflicts me with sadness, which separates me so long from heavenly things." She used the same very brief sleep, saying: "It is evil for me to sleep, while my enemy watches." Thus it is found in her Life in Surius' latest edition, December 29. Moreover, irony and sarcasm, that is, hostile mockery, is frequent in Scripture, especially in the Prophets, as in Lamentations IV, 21: "Rejoice, and be glad, O daughter of Edom," to whom destruction by Nabuchodonosor is soon to be inflicted: "The cup shall come to thee also (of the wrath and vengeance of God), and thou shalt be made drunk, and shalt be stripped naked." Similar passages are Daniel V, 18, where he insults Baltassar; and Ezekiel XXVIII, 12, where he insults Tyre, as also Pharao, cap. XXXI, 18, and cap. XXXII, 19. "Whose judgment," says Tertullian, in the book On Patience, "is not turned upon fetters or the cap" (for wicked slaves were condemned to fetters, but good ones were granted freedom, whose badge was the cap), "but upon eternity, either of punishment or of salvation." Now the judgment of God embraces, first, a strict examination of youth spent in pleasures; second, the sentence of the judge; third, punishment, namely hell. Similar to this maxim is the proverb of the Arabs, Cent. I, num. 20: "Every sheep is hung by its heel in the slaughterhouse," that is, each one shall be judged and punished according to his deeds, especially the last and final ones of life, according to that passage in Galatians VI: "Each one shall bear his own burden." To this pertains the golden maxim of R. Achabia, son of Mahaleel, in Pirke Avoth, cap. III: "Three things," he says, "are to be considered by thee, by which thou mayest be restrained from sin: what is the origin of thy condition, what is thy end, and before whom thou must render account as judge. Whence is thy origin? from foul seed. Whither dost thou tend? to worms and maggots. Before what judge must thou stand to receive sentence? Before the King of kings, the terrible, who takes away the spirit of princes, terrible among the kings of the earth, the holy and blessed God." In the same place R. Eleazar says: "Those who are born must die once; those who are dead must rise again to life; and those who have risen must be judged, and know that the Lord himself is God, the maker of men, and the creator of the world, and its supreme governor and ruler. He himself is both the one who brings the suit, and the witness against us, and the judge. Blessed be that holy and just one, in whom there is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons, nor acceptance of gifts or persons, because all things are his, and know that all things shall come to pass according to the measure of those to whom thou must render account. But beware lest thou ascend into vain and foolish hope, by which thou vainly presumest that thy grave shall be a place of refuge, and falsely promisest thyself; for thou wast created without thy counsel, without thy counsel thou wast born again, and thou livest and shalt die, and thou must render account to the King of kings, the holy and blessed." Moreover, the exact and terrible examination of divine judgment St. Cyril depicts graphically and represents vividly, in his oration On the Departure of the Soul and the Second Coming, tom. IV, where he recounts five toll-booths, as it were tribunals, in which the soul is accused by demons, or most savage tax-collectors, of individual sins committed through the five senses: "The mind," he says, "is held by holy angels, passing through the sublime air, and finds certain ones like tax-collectors guarding the ascent, and seizing and preventing ascending souls. For each of the tax-collectors has his own sins, which he may object to them; one has wrongly spoken words, whatever has been committed by mouth and tongue, in lying, swearing and perjuring; both superfluous, frivolous and vain words, then gluttony, abuse of wine and luxury, and immoderate and unseemly laughter, light and dishonest kisses, and impudent songs. But the holy angels, leading the soul, also bring forth whatever good things we have spoken by mouth and tongue, supplications, thanksgivings, psalms, songs, praises, divine canticles, and readings of the scriptures, and whatever good things we have promised to God by mouth and tongue. The second toll-booth is the sight of the eyes, whatever is committed by unseemly aspect, curious and unbridled gaze and deceptive nod. The third toll-booth is that of hearing, and whatever impure spirits receive through this sense. The fourth is that of smell, of fragrant ointments and sweet odors, which befit actresses and immodest women. The fifth is that of those things which have been done perversely and improperly by the touch of hands, and the other dens of vices, of envy and emulation; of vain glory and pride, of harshness and anger; of wrath and fury; of fornication and adultery and effeminacy; of homicide and poisoning, and of other impious and perverse deeds, which it is not permitted to pursue in detail in the presence, so that they may be deferred to another time. Briefly in the same way thereafter each soul's own disease and sin has its tax-collectors and tribute-gatherers. The soul, therefore, which sees these and greater and more things, how much dost thou think it is in fear and trembling, until sentence is passed, and its freedom comes? That is an hour full of pain, danger and lamentation, and inconsolable, until it sees what is to come."
11:10
Hebrew, cause to pass; Syriac, cause to depart; Arabic, spoils of malice thy humanity. From this verse the Complutensians and the Royal Bible, the Chaldean, Olympiodorus, Albinus begin chapter XII. It is a conclusion drawn from the preceding verse, as if to say: Because God will bring thee into judgment, that he may judge thee concerning the concupiscences of thy heart and eyes, take away and cut them off from thee, especially anger and lust. For voluptas, wrongly, some read voluntas. In Hebrew it is שחרות sacharut, that is, blackness, twilight, dawn, and thence youth; for this is as it were the rosy dawn of age and life. Whence Clarius, Vatablus, Cajetan translate at this place, youth; Pagninus, puberty; the Chaldean, the days of blackness of hair: for in youths the hair blackens, in old men it whitens; much more is the mind of youths black, that is, dark, ignorant, blind, confused. The Septuagint translates, ἄγνοια, that is, madness, folly. Our translator better renders voluptas, for these are two vices of youth, namely folly and voluptuousness: folly is born from inexperience and lack of skill, voluptuousness from the fervor of blood and the flower of age. It is a catachresis: for youth is called voluptuousness, whose proper characteristic is voluptuousness, with which like the dawn it passes and vanishes according to that of Hosea XI, 1: "As the morning passed, so passed the king of Israel." Hence to Varro adolescentiari is the same as to luxuriate, as Nonius testifies, cap. I; and Terence in the Adelphi: "Believe me," he says, "it is no crime of youths to consort with harlots." Furthermore, here he censures two primary vices of youth, namely anger in the heart, and malice, or, as Ambrose reads it, wickedness, the Arabic iniquity, that is, lust in the flesh. For the chief malignity of the flesh is lust, says Olympiodorus and Thaumaturgus, under which he comprehends all other things: for anger is the daughter of pride and the mother of envy; lust is the daughter of gluttony, and the mother of sloth; both arise from the heat and ardor of youthful age: for this heat blinds the youth, and drives him headlong into pleasures and vices, and especially into anger and the appetite for vengeance, and lust. Hear St. Jerome: "In anger he comprehends all perturbations of the soul, in the malice of the flesh he signifies all the pleasures of the body. Thus therefore," he says, "enjoy the good things of this world, lest thou offend either by desire or by the flesh. Leave behind the old vices, which in thy youth thou didst serve in vanity and folly, because youth is coupled with foolishness." Similar things are found in Olympiodorus, Hugh, the Gloss and Ferus, whom hear: "Let him not be vexed with sorrows, nor be broken by adversities, but let him accustom himself not to be angry and to be overcome by indignation, when he sees all things going badly; if he sees anything sad, let him know it pertains to the world, let others envy, let him himself not wish to lose a pleasant life." For all passions are in the irascible appetite, where anger presides; or in the concupiscible, where love and lust preside, and love stirs up anger, that it may scatter the obstacles which prevent it from enjoying the beloved good. Hence that saying of Lucian in Dialogues of the Dead and of Maia: "Those who love are wrathful;" and that of Aristotle, II Rhetoric, cap. XII: "Youths," he says, "love all things excessively, hate excessively; they are apt to anger, and their angers are sharp, and they follow strong appetites." Wherefore, in emblems youth is depicted as a spirited youth, clothed in various colors, crowned with flowers, scattering coins with his hand; at his left side stands a hunting dog, at his right a caparisoned horse. For, as Horace says in the Art of Poetry: Finally, adolescence and vain pleasure are vain, because both like a flower quickly wither, fade, are corrupted, vanish; whence poets call adolescence a fading flower, especially while one lives wickedly, that is, luxuriously, according to that: Truly Cicero, lib. I On Laws: "From that," he says, "which is deeply implanted in every sense, voluptuousness, the imitator of good but the mother of all evils." And in the book On Old Age: "In the kingdom of pleasure virtue cannot subsist." St. Chrysostom in the Melissa of Antonius, part. II, cap. xx: "Anger," he says, "and cupidity easily lead youths and overcome them; wherefore they require a greater kind of custody, and a harder bridle." In the same place Nazianzenus: "Youth," he says, "is the heat of time." And St. Basil: "Youth is light, and inclined to wickedness; unbridled cupidity, the anger of beasts, rashness, injury and inflations, and great-spiritedness, are congenital and coalesced evils of youth; envy against excellent things, suspicions of familiars. Finally, evils as it were a swarm are connected and coupled with youth, the fruit of all which must necessarily overflow upon subjects, because the vices of magistrates bring calamity upon subjects." Moreover, concerning the allurement of youthful pleasure, St. Ambrose holds thus, book IV on Luke: "As if a key is driven in, the soul is fastened to bodily pleasures, and when once it has adhered to desires, submerged in earthly things it can with difficulty fly upward again." More forcefully St. Augustine, book XIV of The City of God, chapter XVI: "This (lust) claims for itself not only the whole body, nor only externally, but also internally, and stirs up the whole man, with the affection of the mind joined together and mingled with the appetite of the flesh." This is signified by that passage in Genesis VI, 3: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh." Writing on which words St. Chrysostom, homily 22 on Genesis: "Concerning those," he says, "it was said that they themselves are flesh, for although they had the rational soul as the superior part of themselves, nevertheless they lived without reason just as if they consisted of flesh alone." See St. Gregory, book VI on I Kings, where concerning Agag he says: "Man becomes flesh when reason is subjected to the sense of the flesh." And Cyprian, On the Good of Chastity: "Impurity makes an obscene mockery of its servants, sparing neither bodies nor souls, and makes the whole man his own subject under the triumph of lust." And Lactantius, book VI, chapter 23: "The mind is defiled by the contagion of an unchaste body." The ancients represented this struggle of reason with youthful appetite, or of spirit and flesh, or of mind and concupiscence, through Hercules wrestling with Antaeus, that is, with his opposite or adversary. The ancients represented this struggle of reason with youthful appetite, or of spirit and flesh, or of mind and concupiscence, through Hercules wrestling with Antaeus, that is, with his opposite or adversary. For Hercules is the symbol of reason, mind and spirit; Antaeus truly of the body. The breast of Hercules is the seat of wisdom and prudence, with which there is perpetual struggle against appetite and pleasures: for appetite always resists reason, and reason cannot overcome unless it has lifted the body so high and far from the contemplation of earthly things that the feet, that is the affections, receive no further nourishment from the earth, indeed it utterly kills the desires and affections, which are the children of the earth. Concerning which kind of death St. Paul speaks, Colossians III, when he says: "You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." And David, Psalm 116: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." And the Savior himself: "Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remains alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit," John XII, 24. And this is the most excellent of all victories. Whence in the tomb of Scipio Africanus is read this most elegant verse: Moreover Fulgentius in the Mythology and Boccaccio in the Genealogy of the Gods, book I, chapter V, relate that Antaeus was the son of the earth, whom Hercules, seeing him rise up more robust each time he was thrown down by him, observing that he recovered his strength from contact with the earth, now lifted him up exhausted in his arms, and held him there until he expired. Fulgentius understands by Antaeus lust, which is born from flesh alone, which touched, even if weary, rises again. But it is overcome by the virtuous and chaste man, denying the act of the flesh. Antaeus is mentioned by St. Augustine in the book of The City of God, and he relates that he lived while Danaus reigned over Argos, and Eusebius in the book of the Preparation for the Gospel.
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.