Caution in words. Vows are to be paid. Riches are often pernicious: the moderate use of them is the gift of God.
An exhortation to speake discretly, and reuerently of God; 3. to performe vowes; 6. not to be trubled with imaginations, nor present oppressions of the poore. 9. Auarice is neuer satiate, 11. riches sometimes cause sicknes, ruine of the bodie, 18. and obliuion of God.
1Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.Non parlare temerariamente, e il tuo cuore non corra a furia a far parola di Dio; perocché Dio è nel cielo, e tu sulla terra: per questo siano ristretti i tuoi discorsi.SPEAKE not anie thing rashly, neither let thy hart be swift to vtter a word before God. For God is in heauen, and thou vpon the earth: therfore let thy wordes be few.Ne temere quid loquaris, / neque cor tuum sit velox ad proferendum sermonem coram Deo. / Deus enim in cælo, et tu super terram; / idcirco sint pauci sermones tui. 2Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly.Alle molte cure van dietro i sogni, e nel molto discorrere, si trova stoltezza.Dreames do folow manie cares, and in manie wordes follie wil be found.Multas curas sequuntur somnia, / et in multis sermonibus invenietur stultitia. 3If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it.Se hai fatto a Dio qualche voto, non ritardarne l'adempimento; imperocché dispiace a lui la stolta, e la infedele promessa, ma tu eseguisci quello che hai promesso con voto:If thou hast vowed anie thing to God, differre not to pay it: for an vnfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him. But what soeuer thou hast vowed, pay it:Si quid vovisti Deo, / ne moreris reddere: / displicet enim ei infidelis et stulta promissio, / sed quodcumque voveris redde: 4And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised.E meglio il non far voti, che mancare dopo fatto il voto a quello che s'è promesso.and it is much better not to vow, then after a vow not to performe the thinges promised.multoque melius est non vovere, / quam post votum promissa non reddere. 5Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.Non impiegare la tua parola a far peccare la tua carne, e non dire dinanzi all'Angelo: provvidenza non è, affinchè non avvenga, che Dio sdegnato del tuo parlare, tutte distrugga le opere delle tue mani.Geue not thy mouth to make thy flesh to sinne: neither say thou before the Angel: There is no prouidence: lest perhaps God being wrath against thy wordes, dissipate al the workes of thy handes.Ne dederis os tuum ut peccare facias carnem tuam, / neque dicas coram angelo: / Non est providentia: / ne forte iratus Deus contra sermones tuos / dissipet cuncta opera manuum tuarum. 6Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God.Dove son molti sogni, vi sono moltissime vanità, e chiacchiere inutili: ma tu abbi il timor di Dio.Where manie dreames are, there are manie vanities, and wordes innumerable: but do thou feare God.Ubi multa sunt somnia, / plurimæ sunt vanitates, et sermones innumeri; / tu vero Deum time.
7If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these:Se vedrai oppressi i miserabili, e corrotti i giudizj, e violata la giustizia nel paese, non turbarti per questo; perché colui, che sta in posto sublime ha un altro, che gli soprasta: e questi, pure hanno altri, che sono al di sopra di essi,If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poore, and violent iudgements, and iustice to be subuerted in the prouince, meruel not at this matter: because there is an other higher then the high, and ouer these also there are others more eminent:Si videris calumnias egenorum, et violenta judicia, / et subverti justitiam in provincia, / non mireris super hoc negotio: / quia excelso excelsior est alius, / et super hos quoque eminentiores sunt alii; 8Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him.E di più havvi il re, che comanda a tutta la terra, che a lui è soggetta.and besides the king of al the earth reigneth ouer his seruant.et insuper universæ terræ rex imperat servienti. 9A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity.L'avaro non si sazierà mai di far denaro, e chi ama le ricchezze non ne caverà nessun frutto. Anche questa adunque è vanità.A couetous man shal not be filled with money: and he that loueth riches, shal take no fruite of them: and this therfore is vanitie.Avarus non implebitur pecunia, / et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis; / et hoc ergo vanitas. 10Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?Dove sono molte ricchezze, vi sono anche molti a mangiarne. E che altro ne viene al possessore se non di vedere co' suoi occhi molte ricchezze?Where great riches are, there are also manie that eate them. And what doth it profite the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?Ubi multæ sunt opes, / multi et qui comedunt eas. / Et quid prodest possessori, / nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis ? 11Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.Dolce è il sonno al bracciante, o poco, o molto, ch'ei mangi: ma la ripienezza non lascia dormire il ricco.Sleepe is swete to him that worketh, whether he eate much or litle: but the sarietie of the rich doth not suffer him to sleepe.Dulcis est somnus operanti, / sive parum sive multum comedat; / saturitas autem divitis non sinit eum dormire.
12There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.Havvi anche un'altra dolorosissima miseria, ch'io vidi sotto del sole: le ricchezze accumulate per ruina del loro padrone.There is also an other very il infirmitie, which I haue sene vnder the sunne: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.Est et alia infirmitas pessima quam vidi sub sole: / divitiæ conservatæ in malum domini sui. 13For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.Perocché elle vanno in fumo con afflizione terribile. Egli ha messo al mondo un figliuolo, che sarà in somma miseria.For they perish in very euil affliction: he hath begotten a sonne, which shal be in great pouertie.Pereunt enim in afflictione pessima: / generavit filium qui in summa egestate erit. 14As he came forth naked from his mother’s womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.Egli che nudo usci dal sen della madre, nudo se n'anderà, e nulla porterà seco di sue fatiche.As he came forth naked from his mothers wombe, so shal he returne, and shal take nothing away with him of his labour.Sicut egressus est nudus de utero matris suæ, sic revertetur, / et nihil auferet secum de labore suo. 15A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?Miseria al certo compassionevole. Qual egli venne, tal partirà. Che giova adunque a lui l'essersi affaticato a raccorre del vento?An infirmitie vtterly miserable: as he came, so shal he returne. What doth it then profite him, that he hath labored into the winde?Miserabilis prorsus infirmitas: / quomodo venit, sic revertetur. / Quid ergo prodest ei quod laboravit in ventum ? 16All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.Per tutti i giorni di sua vita egli mangiò il suo pane al buio tra molte sollecitudini, nella meschinità, e malinconia.Al the dayes of his life he eateth in darknes, and in miserie, and in heauines.cunctis diebus vitæ suæ comedit in tenebris, / et in curis multis, et in ærumna atque tristitia. 17This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.Io pertanto ho creduto esser ben fatto, che uno mangi, e beva, e goda il frutto delle fatiche, ch'ei sopporta sotto del sole per tutti i giorni di sua vita assegnatigli da Dio: e questo è tutto quello, che gli tocca.This therfore hath semed good to me, that a man eate, and drinke, and take ioy of his labour, wherwith he hath labored vnder the sunne, the number of the dayes of his life, which God hath geuen him, and this is his portion.Hoc itaque visum est mihi bonum, / ut comedat quis et bibat, / et fruatur lætitia ex labore suo / quo laboravit ipse sub sole, / numero dierum vitæ suæ / quos dedit ei Deus; / et hæc est pars illius.
18And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.E quando Dio di ad un uomo ricchezze, e beni, e gli da facoltà di mangiarne, e di goderne la sua porzione, e di trar questo frutto di sue fatiche, questo è dono di Dio.And to euerie man, vnto whom God hath geuen riches, and substance, and hath geuen him powre to eate of them, and to enioy his portion, and to reioyce of his labour: this is the gift of God.Et omni homini cui dedit Deus divitias atque substantiam, / potestatemque ei tribuit ut comedat ex eis, / et fruatur parte sua, et lætetur de labore suo: / hoc est donum Dei. 19For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight.Perocché egli non molto si accorgerà dei giorni di sua vita, perché Dio gli tiene il cuore contento.For he shal not greatly remember the dayes of his life, because God doth occupie his hart with delightes.Non enim satis recordabitur dierum vitæ suæ, / eo quod Deus occupet deliciis cor ejus.
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Worthington
Few. As none can arrive at the perfect knowledge of God, they should be reserved in speaking of Him. (Worthington)
Cicero
De Deo etiam vera loqui periculosum. (Cicero, de Nat.)
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Calmet
Folly. Under anxiety a person is naturally disturbed with dreams, in which some true ideas may present themselves; in like manner, as a great talker will say some things respecting God, which may not be reprehensible, though the greatest part of his discourse will be nothing to the purpose. This is another abuse. All must speak of God and religion, though few are able to do it, with propriety! (Calmet)
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Worthington
Pay it. Deuteronomy xxiii. Vows must be fulfilled. (Worthington)
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Thaumat
Sin by making a vow, above thy strength, (Chaldean; Pineda) or by speaking what may excite the passions. (Thaumat.; Bossuet)
Calmet
Angel guardian assigned to each one, (Worthington) or the priest, who took cognizance of vows. (Calmet)
Calmet
Providence, or "foresight" in me to avoid the evil. Hebrew and Septuagint, "it is an error," (Haydock) or sin of ignorance, for which certain victims were specified, Leviticus 5:4. The neglect of vows could not be thus expiated. (Calmet)
Menochius
Use no allurements to lust. (Menochius)
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Calmet
Number. Those who observe dreams, are filled with apprehension. The Jews were very subject to this superstition. (Calmet)
Menochius
Such pretences must not be made. (St. Jerome) (Menochius)
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Haydock
These. God will bring the wicked to judgment, (Calmet) and shew for what design he left them in power. (Haydock)
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Horace
Him. An appeal may be made to the king or to God. Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis. (Horace, 3:ode 1.)
Haydock
Hebrew, "the king serves, (Montanus) or is served by the field." (Protestants) (Haydock)
Calmet
All have a mutual dependence on each other, and thus the vanity of men and the order of Providence appear. (Calmet)
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Sallust
Money. Avarice is like a dropsy, (Calmet) or poison, infecting all the person. (Sallust.)
Horace
The miser is the slave, and not the possessor, of his riches, (St. Chrysostom) like Tantalus, who could not drink, though in the midst of waters. (Horace, 1:Sat. 1.)
Nescis quo valeat nummus, quem praebeat usum.
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Them. He shews the vanity of the great.
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Sleep. Is not the health and content of the poor to be preferred?
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Haydock
Owner. When they are taken away, they bring greater sorrow, (Calmet) and even when present, they fill the mind with anxiety. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Affliction. Hebrew, "by an evil affair," or accident. (Calmet)
Haydock
Who. Hebrew, "and there is nothing in his hand." (Haydock)
Worthington
As temporal riches prove detrimental to their owners, so do false philosophy and heresy to those who follow them. (St. Jerome) (Worthington)
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Calmet
Labour. All must die in this manner. But it is most afflicting that he was formerly rich, and must leave his son indigent. (Calmet)
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Sorrow. The person whose riches have been taken away, had made a bad use of them, (Calmet) living like a miser. It would be more rational to indulge in the pleasures which they afford, though this is also vain, Ecclesiastes 3:14.
5:19
Calmet
Delight, while he observes due moderation. His life passes away sweetly. (Calmet)
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Because no man is able to attaine perfect knowlege of God, it behoueth al to speake and thinke so berly of him.
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Vow or promise once made must be fulfilled.
Concordance Deut. 23.
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The proper Angel which associateth euerie man.
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Iob. ••.
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As temporal riches •e often the occasion of their owners ruine: so vaine philosophie, and heresie auaile not heretikes, not their folowers, but as they came naked from their mothers wombe, the peruerse Church, so shal both such masters, and scolars depart without comforth into the wrath which they prepare to themselues. S. Ierom. in •une locum.
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Answer to Eunomius' Second Book 1
… ” nor is that which is sought so small that it can be compassed by the reasonings of human shallowness. Listen to the preacher exhorting not to be hasty to utter anything before God, “for God,” (saith he,) “is in heaven above, and thou upon earth beneath
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 10.30
… But there still exist in my memory—of which I have spoken much—the images of such things as my habits had fixed there; and these rush into my thoughts, though strengthless, when I am awake; but in sleep they do so not only so as to give pleasure, but even to obtain consent, and what very nearly resembles reality.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 9.12
… “I will pay my prayers unto the Lord.” And this which we find in Ecclesiastes: “If thou vowest a vow unto the Lord do not delay to pay it,” is written in Greek likewise: ἐάν ἐύξῃ ἐυχὴν τῶ κυρίῶ, i.e., “If thou prayest a prayer unto the Lord, do not delay to pay it,”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.31
In Solomon: “According as thou hast vowed a vow to God, delay not to pay it.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 4.33
… For “it is better,” as Scripture says, “that a man should not vow rather than that he should vow and not pay;” and “Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord carelessly.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 7.15
… that is, it is better for them not even to take the first step towards renunciation, rather than afterwards following it up coldly, to involve themselves in still greater dangers. For “it is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 9.12
… And if, enervated by sloth and returning to our former sins we fail to do this we shall be guilty as regards our prayers and vows, and these words will apply to us: “It is better not to vow, than to vow and not to pay,” which can be rendered in accordance with the Greek: “It is better for thee not to pray than to pray and not to pay.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Baptism 6
Not that in the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit; but in the water, under (the witness of) the angel, we are cleansed, and prepared for the Holy Spirit. In this case also a type has preceded; for thus was John beforehand the Lord’s forerunner, “preparing His ways.” Thus, too, does the angel, the witness
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 19
… it is manifest that it is not to be received as the Father, but as the Son, God and Angel.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 3
… xviii. 10 .) For each believer hath an Angel; since even from the beginning, every one of those that were approved had his Angel, as Jacob says, “The Angel that feedeth me, and delivereth me from my youth.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 167.15
… but in the absolute fulness which admits of no increase, it exists in no man while living on this earth; so long, however, as it admits of being increased there can be no doubt that, in so far as it is less than it ought to be, the shortcoming proceeds from vice. Because of this vice there is “not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not;”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) 21
… for He that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they: moreover there is the profit of the earth
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 21.22
… For the phrase “like, according to the Scriptures,” was a bait to the simple, concealing the hook of impiety, a figure seeming to look in the direction of all who passed by, a boot fitting either foot, a winnowing with every wind,
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.20
… Those that are joined to you ye keep down, and ever find some against whom ye may have power to stretch yourselves. When they are intent on increasing money, let them hear what is written, The covetous man is not filled with money; and he that loveth riches shall not reap fruit thereof (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.62
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 2.23
… And to this particular the experience of facts, nay, before actual experience, the assertion of the Scriptures bears witness. For Solomon, who had passed his life in luxury, when he wished to make this matter evident, said, “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much?”
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1. DO NOT SPEAK RASHLY, NOR LET YOUR HEART BE SWIFT TO UTTER A WORD BEFORE GOD. FOR GOD IS IN HEAVEN, AND YOU ARE UPON THE EARTH: THEREFORE LET YOUR WORDS BE FEW. — In Hebrew, אל תבהל al tebahel, that is, do not hasten from anxiety and mental agitation, do not rush headlong, do not be disturbed, do not be struck down, as bold, powerful and shameless men accelerate and rush forth words, as if with hailstones they might strike down and overwhelm the hearer, and compel him to do what they themselves request. In a similar manner certain faithful, but unskilled in prayer, multiply and rush forth words, as if they wished to compel God to give what they ask; and just as stammerers and those with speech impediments do, who because they have swift movements of imagination, cannot keep pace with them in words and speech, because the swiftness of imagination outpaces and flies ahead of the slowness of the tongue, hence they stammer. For they strive and are anxious to match the swiftness of thinking with the swiftness of speaking, and therefore they rush forth words, confuse them, stammer, and the more so the more swiftly they hasten to speak, as Aristotle teaches, section 3, Problem in 30. Therefore rash speech is here noted and censured, arising from a heart burning and seething with desires and passions. Whence the Septuagint translates, do not hasten in your mouth; the Syriac and Arabic, do not be swift in your mouth, and do not let your heart hasten to utter a word; our version, do not speak rashly; Symmachus, do not be headlong, that is rash, precipitate, prone and falling, bold, unbridled, immodest, thoughtless in speaking. The Zurich Bible, do not speak anything precipitately; Costus and the Chaldean translate, do not burst forth with unconsidered speech into a noise of words, nor let your hasty mind be carried away to pour forth the force and stings of speech, when you come to pray to God. Furthermore, George Cedrenus in his Compendium of History, chapter IX, censuring Origen because he produced rather than composed many books rashly, reads differently: "From the composition and multitude of books," he says, "he was called syntacticus, as it were a composer. It appears he did not obey the saying of Solomon thus commanding: My son, beware lest you make many books, nor hasten to speak, nor let your mind hasten to make words before God." But this reading is at variance with the Hebrew, Greek, Latin and other versions. Therefore rash and swift speech before God is precipitate much-speaking, and this is fourfold: first, what is done about any matter in the presence of God; second, what is done about God himself; third, what is done to God by vow; fourth, what is done before God through prayer: hence a fourfold sense arises. First, the Wonderworker, Olympiodorus, Bonaventure, and Cardinal Hugh hold that silence and moderation of the tongue in any speech is here commanded, because before God, that is in God's presence, we act and speak whatever we act and speak. Hear the Wonderworker: "Then also it will be most fitting to use the tongue sparingly, but the heart steadfastly. For although the mind is assailed by certain absurd movements, it would nevertheless be unseemly to utter them immediately, and to be less composed in movements. For although we are far distant from heaven (which must be carefully noted), we nevertheless speak to God present and listening. Therefore to speak gravely is most useful." For, as Aristotle teaches, book IV of the Ethics, chapter III, the magnanimous have slow movement, grave voice, slow and stable speech. "For neither he who studies few things," he says, "is hasty; nor he who thinks nothing great, is contentious and vehement. But acute voice and swiftness are produced by these," which are the marks of the small-souled. Second, more strictly St. Jerome explains before God as concerning God. "He commands," he says, "that we neither speaking nor thinking should hold an opinion of God beyond what we can, but should know our weakness, that as far as heaven is distant from earth, so far is our opinion separated from his nature." Thus also Hugo of St. Victor, Lyra, Titelmanus, Dionysius and others. Excellently Hugo Aetherianus, book II On Heresy: "Just as," he says, "he who tastes an Egyptian palm, his mind is stupefied: so the tongue is retarded when something must be said about God." Lactantius, in the book On the Wrath of God, celebrates that saying of Plato in the Timaeus: "The majesty of God is so great that it can neither be comprehended by the mind nor expressed by the tongue;"; and that of Socrates: "The form of God ought not to be sought out." Similar to this is that of Trismegistus to Tatian: "To find God is difficult; when you have found him, when you have conceived him in your mind, to reveal it to the common people is impious; to relate it in words is impossible, on account of his excessive and inestimable power." Wherefore Cicero in the speech for the Manilian Law: "Concerning the Lord," he says, "one must speak fearfully about the power of the gods and few things must be said." Third, more strictly, others with St. Jerome hold that here the matter is about a vow, and that we are forbidden to vow anything rashly before God, that is, before God himself. But the matter of a vow will be treated in verse 3. Fourth, therefore, and genuinely, the matter here is about prayer: for this is made before God; whence Campensis translates it, be not hasty in thy tongue to pray to God. He commands therefore that in prayer we be not hasty, verbose and talkative, so as to utter before God whatever comes into our mouth, whatever the heart or concupiscence suggests. Again, that in prayer we be not light, unpremeditated and imprudent; but first let us meditate what it is fitting to pray for and to ask, lest we ask God for something unworthy of Him, or harmful to us. Under prayer understand any invocation of God whatsoever, whether it be made by oath, or by vow, or by exorcism, or by another manner and mode, as if to say: Do not rashly swear anything by God, so as to invoke Him and make Him a witness to something vain or false; nor hastily vow anything to God, but first think whether that which thou vowest is pleasing to God, and useful and easy for thee, so that thou mayest not doubt of its fulfillment; do not rashly conjure the devil or created things by the name of God, etc. For all irreverence is forbidden here, which is done to God through a hasty invocation of His most holy name. Whence, explaining this general precept particularly concerning a vow, he adds: "If thou hast vowed anything to God, do not delay to pay it, etc." Thus the Chaldean: "Thou shalt not hasten, he says, over thy word, so as to confound the words of thy mouth; and thy heart shall not hasten to utter speech at the time when thou prayest before the Lord: for the Lord commands over all the world, and sits upon the throne of glory in the highest heavens, and thou sittest upon the earth, therefore let the words of thy mouth be few." He censures the gentiles, who thought God could be moved by fine speeches and prayers, by which Cicero and orators moved judges to mercy or vengeance, against whom Christ says in Matthew, chapter VI, 7: "And when you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens; for they think that in their much speaking they may be heard." Again, the gentiles thought Jupiter and the gods slept, or were absent on some journey, or were drinking at an inn, or were occupied with other business; He never departs or withdraws from heaven, and consequently neither from earth: wherefore there is no reason for hastening and accelerating prayers: for God always stands present and unmoved to hear them. Wherefore, in order to rouse Him and make Him attentive, they prayed with many and great cries, as Elias reproaches the priests of Baal, III Kings XVIII, 27: "Cry, he says, with a loud voice: for he is a god, and perhaps he is speaking, or is in an inn, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, that he may be awaked." Truly Seneca, book II On Benefits, chapter 1: "Men, he says, would make vows more sparingly, if they had to make them openly." And again: "Live with men as if God were watching; speak with God as if men were listening." Most excellently Nyssenus in his commentary on the Lord's Prayer: "He who, he says, at the time of prayer is not intent on those things which profit the soul, but asks God to obey his vicious and disturbed movements of mind, is truly a trifler and a babbler; for he prays so that God may become the helper and minister of his foolishness and vanities." Solomon therefore forbids here that from a vicious desire of mind, lust, petulance, haste, thoughtlessness we pray or babble anything before God, but first prudently according to the dictate of right reason let us weigh what and what kind and how much we ought to ask from God, lest we incur the charge of irreverence, and therefore let us speak soberly and sparingly before God. For God is a knower of hearts, that is, a searcher of hearts, and therefore He attends more to the heart and mind than to the tongue of the one praying. But especially is noted and censured here the hasty one in much speaking, and the speed of prayer. The same is censured in Proverbs XXIX, 20: "Thou hast seen, he says, a man swift to speak? folly is more to be looked for than his correction." And St. James, chapter 1, 19: "Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak." "Haste indicates the judgment which the speaker has of his own wisdom, as if it were to be preferred to that of others, and there is no need to wait long in putting forth his opinion, lest another forestall him. That confusion of words is born from excessive haste in speaking," says our Lorinus rightly. FOR GOD IS IN HEAVEN, AND THOU UPON THE EARTH. — The Septuagint: because God is in heaven above, and thou upon the earth: some add, below; Campensis: God from heaven sees all thy things, thou who dwellest on earth; Olympiodorus: For God who has His seat in the highest watch-tower of the heavens, sees all things that are below. The sense therefore is: First, as if to say: Do not multiply and hurry words in prayer, as if you were about to rouse God to hear and grant what you ask, because God from heaven looks upon the earth from near at hand, and beholds all things that are done on earth. Wherefore He beholds and hears from near all that you ask: "For heaven is My seat, and the earth is My footstool," says He Himself in Isaiah LXVI, 1. Wherefore as the seat is near to the footstool, so heaven is near to the earth; and God dwelling in heaven hears you from near in the earth, as if praying at the footstool of His seat. Thus the Wonderworker. Cajetan adds: Heaven is always present to the earth, nor is the earth removed from heaven, as if to say: God never departs or withdraws from heaven, and consequently neither from the earth: wherefore there is no reason for hastening and accelerating prayers: for God always stands present and unmoved to hear them. Second, and more forcefully, as if to say: God sits glorious in the highest throne of heaven, but you, a suppliant, fall down humbly on the lowly and vile earth to pray. Wherefore it befits you to address God reverently with fear and trembling, and submissively and with few words, and to say with Abraham: "I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes," Genesis XVIII, 27. Since therefore you are vile and lowest, it is fitting that you entreat the supreme majesty of God reigning in heaven with the utmost humility and reverence. Whence Costas and the Chaldean render it, for God holds dominion over the whole world, and sits in the highest heaven, as in a seat of glory: but you, since you lie cast down on the earth, use moderation in speaking. Moreover Vatablus interprets it thus: God is truthful, but you are a liar, ignorant and foolish. For this reason speak few words, and those premeditated, before God, lest He convict you of falsehood, ignorance and foolishness by them. Third, just as heaven embraces, cherishes, rules, illuminates and makes fruitful the earth, so also does God those men who call upon Him: wherefore there is no need of many words in prayer to Him, but of pious affection, resignation and confidence, by which we believe and hope for all things from Him that we ask, if they be salutary for us: in His holy providence therefore, silent and hoping, let us recline, and secure let us rest. THEREFORE LET YOUR WORDS BE FEW (carefully weighed by diligent examination, says Olympiodorus) — Both on account of the reasons already stated, and because God from heaven sees and perceives the whole earth and all things that are done in it, as a small transparent globe, just as St. Benedict, rapt in God, perceived the same whole, as St. Gregory testifies, IV Dialogues, cap. XXXVI; wherefore since God perceives your prayers, your troubles and your desires, there is no need for you to explain them to Him at length, as being already known to Him. Second, because just as before a prince few words must be used, for the sake of reverence, so much more before God. Third, because God from heaven perceives the affection of the heart, and seeks that, not sound and abundance of words. Whence to Moses silent, but supremely desirous, He said: "Why do you cry to Me?" for a cry in God's ears is vehement affection and desire, Exodus XIV, 15. Hence St. Francis, praying all night and lifted up from the earth into heaven, said nothing other than: "Who are You, O Lord? Who am I? My God and my all;" but with these words he poured out the whole affection of his heart into God. Thus Martha and Mary, when Lazarus was sick, announced nothing else to Christ than: "Behold, he whom You love is sick," John XI; for whom you love, you do not abandon: it is enough for one who loves to have indicated the need and the will of the beloved. And David, Psalm CXLI, 3: "My tribulation," he says, "I declare before Him," that is, I utter by word; the Arabic version: I cast my will into His hands, I brought it before Him. Fourth, because God, who from on high perceives all things in one glance of His mind, and speaks and utters all things in one word of His mind, sees and laughs at our much speaking in prayer, our rash requests and foolish judgments: because "as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts," says He Himself in Isaiah, cap. LV, 9. To this pertains the symbol of Pythagoras: "Never point your finger at a star," that is, speak not rashly of heavenly things and great men. And that same one: "Do not carry the image of God in a ring," that is, speak sparingly of divine things. And that of the Syrians: "Do not set your mouth and face against the sun," that is, do not resist God or princes; do not contradict them or curse them.
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2. MANY CARES FOLLOW DREAMS, AND IN MANY WORDS FOLLY SHALL BE FOUND. — "And," that is thus: for he compares cares to many words, and dreams to folly, in that just as dreams follow from cares, so folly follows from many words; the Hebrew voice is that of the inconstant, that is the foolish; the Zurich version, for in much occupation a dream occurs, and in many words the voice of the foolish breaks forth; Campensis, just as daily cares beget a dream, so many words make an oration foolish; the Chaldean, because just as a dream comes on account of the thoughts of the heart in many affairs, so likewise is the voice of the foolish in many idle words; or, as Costus translated it, so also the voice of the foolish is carried toward the variety of empty words. This verse depends on the preceding one, and gives the reason why namely speeches before God ought to be few; hence according to the fourfold multiloquy before God assigned at the beginning of the verse, a fourfold sense arises here. First indeed, absolutely and generally many speeches can signify any multiloquy whatsoever, and any garrulity whatsoever, which occurs before God, that is God observing and hearing, as if to say, I forbade any multiloquy, because that commonly is accompanied by folly, just as many cares are accompanied by dreams. For this is the adequate cause why he forbade multiloquy and precipitation in speaking, namely because in all multiloquy folly is found: for this is partly the cause of that, partly the effect. The cause, because he who chatters much utters much impertinence, trifles, vanities and foolish things, indeed false things, which make him more foolish. The effect, because garrulity proceeds from a wandering, erring, inconstant, delirious mind. Thus Lyra, Cajetan, Titelmanus, Vatable and others. Olympiodorus is added who thus expounds it, just as those who by day are agitated by many temptations and cares, by night are sometimes disturbed by dreams: so also the foolish one sinning in multiloquy is convicted by his own voice. Secondly, multiloquy before God can be taken as garrulity about God and divine things, concerning which St. Jerome thus expounds: "He commands," he says, "that we neither speaking nor thinking should suppose more about God than we are able, but should know our weakness, that as far as heaven is distant from earth, so far our opinion is separated from his nature, and therefore our words ought to be moderate. For just as he who is in many thoughts often dreams of those things about which he thinks: so he who shall wish to discourse more about divinity falls into folly. Or certainly thus: Our words ought to be few for this reason, that even those things which we think we know, we see through a mirror, and in an enigma, and as it were comprehend in a dream, which we think we hold. And when we shall have spoken more (as it seemed to us), the end of our disputation is folly. For from multiloquy we do not escape sin." The Author of the Greek Catena is added, who also subjoins the cause: "For neither," he says, "can it come to pass that a man who consists of a sensible nature, and derives all his thought from the senses, should discourse rightly and without error about God," Prov. X, inasmuch as he is spiritual and incorporeal. Thirdly, multiloquy before God can be taken as precipitation in vowing. For folly is the companion of this, while either he vows foolish or contrary things, or foolishly is unwilling to fulfill so many and such great vows, indeed is unable. Finally these vows proceed from an inconstant, unwise and foolish mind. Fourth and more strictly and properly, by much speaking before God is signified precipitation, and much speaking of prayers, which proceeds from a soul agitated by various desires, and burning and disturbed by cupidities and anxieties: for this is what the Hebrew תבהל tebahel in the preceding verse signifies. For such prayer proceeds from a soul desirous, disturbed and foolish: and therefore it utters and prays many similar things. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Just as a multitude of cares, especially vain and futile ones, proceeds from an empty and futile mind, and burning with various desires, and produces vain, futile and disturbed dreams: so likewise a multitude of words and prayers proceeds from a vague, unstable mind tossed about by various cupidities and passions, and therefore inconstant and foolish, and accordingly utters and requests many contrary, disturbed and foolish things, which make it more foolish: for what it now seeks, it soon refuses; what now pleases, soon displeases; what now it says, soon it denies. Therefore much speaking in prayer proceeds from and increases the foolishness of the one praying, that is the inconstancy of a mind agitated and impelled by various and mutually conflicting cupidities. For this is what the Hebrew kesil signifies. Thus indeed the Hebrew has it word for word, because a dream comes in a multitude of occupation, and the voice of the inconstant, or foolish one in a multitude of words. Moreover, he aptly compares many cares to many words, because many cares produce many words: for what the mind desires and cares for, this it speaks; but a dream is appropriately compared to foolishness. First, because dreams are certain phantasies, mockeries and deliriums, and conversely foolishness and deliriums are as it were dreams of a disturbed and wandering mind. Just as therefore dreams are deliriums of those sleeping: so foolishness is deliriums equally as dreams of those awake. Second, just as dreams proceed from a soul agitated by cares, so foolishness from a soul burning with various cupidities, which it reveals through much speaking. Truly Seneca in the Octavia gives this cause of dreams: "Whatever, he says, the mind troubled by vigor thinks, that through rest the sacred and secret sense reports, and swift." And Claudian, On the Rape of Proserpine: All things which the will revolves in daytime sense, The friendly rest returns in nighttime tense. Third, just as in dreams of a mind disturbed on account of images of various and many things, as Pineda says, and phantasms rushing together, and some order of things and intelligence being preserved, impressed on the tumultuous and confused mind, and delivered to memory, it is necessary that much delirium be present, and a great disturbance and confusion of species and simulacra, such as are the dreams of drunken and raging men, which Hippocrates sometimes called "foreign opinions, which terrify the mind": so indeed many words cannot but produce much foolishness, inconstancy and delirium in narrating, promising, vowing, or treating anything else by words and speech. Fourth, because frequent foolishness and foolish talk produce foolish dreams. Thus Olympiodorus. "Do not, he says, be much-speaking and trifling, nor bring forth the foolishness implanted in you by your speech; for many temptations come to the trifling, which not only disturb them awake during the day, but also terrify them sleeping through rest." Moreover the Septuagint varies here. For the Vatican and Royal Greek render παράσμου, because a dream comes in a multitude of cares, and the voice of a fool in a multiplication of words. Thus also the Syriac; but the Complutensian, since a sleeplessness comes in a multitude of temptations, and the voice of a fool in a multitude of words; and the Arabic, for a dream brings a multitude of temptations, and the voice of a fool brings a multitude of words; which St. Antiochus followed, hom. 85, understanding this passage concerning unclean and obscene dreams. Hear him: Give not credence to dreams; for these are nothing other than the simulacra of an unbalanced and wandering mind, imaginings, and deceptive mockeries of reprobate demons, to impose upon us and so implant in us miserably seduced, that they ensnare us with these blandishments and delights, so that thereafter with no difficulty they draw man to the capture of the allurements of seductive pleasure, according to the word of Jude the Apostle, brother of James, speaking of certain such things: "Likewise these also, following their dreams, defile the flesh indeed, despise dominion, and blaspheme majesty." Ecclesiastes also commands, saying: "A dream in a multitude of temptations and the voice of a fool in a multitude of words," and introduces: "Give not thy mouth, that thou shouldest cause thy flesh to err, that God be not angry at thy voice, and destroy the labours of thy hands; because in a multitude of dreams and vanities, and in many words." Olympiodorus adds: "He who is agitated by many temptations during the day, is thereafter troubled by many dreams, tempting either to avarice or to lust during rest, yet nevertheless useless and soon fleeting: thus the multiloquous and frivolous man, and one who babbles much, seems to say many things, yet nevertheless all are useless and nugatory." But the author of the Greek Catena: "Let thy words concerning God, he says, be few, that is true and circumspect. For those who disdain to embrace this teaching, to them come dreams in a long procession of temptations. For by the name of sleeplessness he calls the demon, when he, with a long retinue of temptations, oppresses and disturbs souls given to sleep. Concerning which Job, speaking with God, thus says: Thou scarest me with dreams, and thou obtundest me with visions. David also, desiring to avoid this enemy, thus calls upon the Lord: Lighten my eyes, that I never sleep in death. And what follows. Another: "Just as those who are tempted during the day are also terrified by sleeplessness when they sleep; in the same way also, his foolish loquacity reproves him, and turns him about with various temptations." Finally Symmachus renders, a dream shall come on account of a multitude of iniquity, which vehement temptation brings forth; for what we covet during the day, we dream of during the night. Whence the quarrelsome dream of their quarrels and beatings, the gluttonous of their gluttony, fornicators of their fornications, the avaricious of their usuries, etc.
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3. IF THOU HAST VOWED ANYTHING TO GOD, DEFER NOT TO PAY IT: FOR AN UNFAITHFUL AND FOOLISH PROMISE DISPLEASETH HIM: BUT WHATSOEVER THOU HAST VOWED, PAY IT. — The Septuagint, as thou hast vowed a vow to God, defer not to pay it. For a vow must be paid in full, in that place, time, manner, and other circumstances in which it was conceived and made. Whence the Interpreter Olympiodorus translates, as thou hast vowed, etc., do not delay to pay it. Most excellently Salvianus, book II: "The profession," he says, "of religion does not take away the debt, but increases it: because the assumption of a religious name is a pledge of devotion, and for this reason anyone ought to do so much more in deed as he has promised more in promise, according to that: It is better not to vow, than after a vow not to pay what was promised." For a vow made to God is a thing wonderfully pleasing to God, so much so that He not only rejoices in the promise of a good and holy thing made to Him, but also demands that thing consecrated to Him by vow without any delay and swiftly, and bears it ill if it is deferred or delay is imposed upon it. Whence St. Ambrose, book I On Cain and Abel, chapter VIII: "The first," he says, "grace of a vow is the swiftness of payment." Whence to defer payment is sometimes the same as to take away, which it seems to me the Wise Man hinted at in this place; for he exhorts to swift payment of vows. "If thou hast vowed," he says, "anything to God, defer not to pay it." And immediately giving the reason for this swiftness: "Much," he says, "better is it not to vow, than after a vow not to pay what was promised," that is, after a vow to delay what was promised: for he had forewarned that these delays ought to be removed; and yet he says "not to pay what was promised," because to delay what was promised is the same as to deny it, as St. Ambrose well observes, book cited, chapter VII: "For when," he says, "thou makest delay, thou dost not pay." For what did it profit Cain to offer late rather than not to offer? Aptly this maxim is connected and drawn from the preceding. For those who are inconsiderate and hasty in speaking, praying, vowing, are after the vow, while they consider its difficulty, slow in paying; wherefore as they sinned by haste in vowing, so they sin far more gravely by slowness in paying. Furthermore, a vow is a promise made to God, which in order to be valid requires five things. First, that it be deliberate; second, that it be free; hence he says: "If thou hast vowed"; third, that the one vowing intend to bind himself; fourth, that it be of a thing pleasing to God; fifth, that the one vowing be able to bind himself. Hence a vow is an act of religion and of latria; for by a vow God is worshipped, as St. Thomas teaches, II II, Question LXXXVIII, article 5. Whence a vow is here subjoined to prayer, especially because those praying often, in order to obtain what they ask, make vows to God, according to that of Isaiah XIX: "They shall worship him with sacrifices and gifts: and they shall vow vows to the Lord, and shall pay them." Hence the Greeks call a vow εὐχή, that is, a prayer. See our Lessius, tract. On Vows. Wherefore in baptism, by which the faithful profess that they will keep the law of Christ, and renounce Satan, it is not properly a vow, because this is not a promise, but merely a purpose and profession of faith and of Christian life. Yet the same is often called a vow by the Fathers, taking the name of vow broadly, for purpose and profession. Whence by them the same is now called a pledge, now a promise, now a security, now an oath, now a renunciation, now a profession, now a protestation, now a vow, as may be seen in St. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, chapter XXVII; Tertullian, On the Crown of the Soldier, chapter III; Gregory, homily 29 on the Gospel; Augustine, on Psalm LXXV; St. Jerome, Apology 1 against Rufinus, and others. DO NOT DELAY TO PAY. — Campensis: pay that without delay. A vow must be fulfilled at the time which the mind of the one vowing intends; if he has not determined any certain time, as soon as he is able, he is bound to fulfill it, according to that in Deuteronomy XXIII, 21: "When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it, because the Lord thy God will require it of thee; and if thou delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin. If thou wilt not promise, thou shalt be without sin. But that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou shalt observe and do, as thou hast promised to the Lord thy God, and hast spoken willingly and of thy own accord." Wherefore "it is a ruin to devour the holy, and after vows to retract," Proverbs XX, 25. See the things said there. The reason is, that by a vow the one vowing binds himself to the thing which he has vowed, to be rendered to God; a vow therefore is a debt, and the one vowing makes himself a debtor to God, and guilty of the vow; wherefore he sins, if he delays to pay this debt to God. For now after the vow, the thing is not so much his as God's: for it has passed into the right of God, to whom it is consecrated by the vow; wherefore he does him injury, if he retains for himself the thing of his, that is, owed and obligated to him. Rightly therefore he says: "Do not delay to pay," that is to say, quickly, eagerly, and cheerfully, pay to God what thou hast vowed. "For God loveth a cheerful giver," II Corinthians IX. For "he gives twice who gives quickly." See St. Bernard, sermon 74 in the Canticles. Olympiodorus gives another reason why a vow should be fulfilled quickly: "Because," he says, "as soon as thou hast become guilty of a vow, a multitude of temptations will surround thee; which will hinder thee from fulfilling thy promise, so that thou shalt not be without trouble even while sleeping." Such a one in a surety Solomon describes, Proverbs VI. 2. Hence for "to pay," in Hebrew it is שלם schallem, which properly signifies to make peace, to reconcile; for he who pays a debt restores and establishes peace with his creditor: thus those who pay vows enter into and establish peace with God. Wherefore David: "I will pay my vows," he says, "in the sight of all them that fear him," Psalm XXI, 26. Hear St. Ambrose, book I On Cain and Abel, chapter VII: "If thou hast vowed a vow, do not delay to pay it. For when thou delayest, thou dost not pay. But a vow is a petition of good things from God with the promise of paying a service. And therefore when thou hast obtained what thou hast asked, it is ungrateful to delay the promised. But sometimes, either forgetfulness creeps in upon the negligent of things obtained, or upon the proud and lifted up it is arrogance to attribute success to themselves, and the good which they do, or which they obtain from God, to vindicate to their own virtues, and not to reckon the grace of the author, but to consider themselves the authors of their own goods, is the mark of a dull and lifted up heart." Hence the Apostle concerning widows, who after a vow of chastity wish to marry, says: "Having damnation, because they have made void the first faith (promise and vow of chastity)," I Timothy V, 12. Ananias also and Sapphira were punished by death from St. Peter, because they delayed to fulfill the vow of poverty. Hence Urban I, Pontiff, as is found in 12, Question I, chapter We know, teaches that all things are common to Clerics, because they vowed it at that time: "Whosoever of you," he says, "has undertaken the common life, and has vowed himself to have nothing of his own, let him see that he does not make his promise void, but let him faithfully keep what he has promised to the Lord, that he may acquire for himself not damnation, but reward; because it is better not to vow, than not to fulfill a vow, as one is able. For more gravely are they punished, who have made a vow, or have received faith, and have not fulfilled the vow, or have ended their life in evils, than those who without a vow, who died by title, and yet did good works: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases God." There is another reason why a vow should be quickly fulfilled, namely that God, since He is most faithful, demands the most faithful worship of Him. For if faith must be kept with man, much more so with God; otherwise indeed you seem to mock God and make a mockery of Him, and to expose His honor to disgrace and ignominy; wherefore God is accustomed to punish severely and avenge those who violate vows, as faithless, vow-breakers and sacrilegious persons, as I have already shown by examples. These same persons are foolish; for it is foolish to bind oneself by vow to a thing which you do not wish, or cannot perform; it is foolish to promise something beyond one's strength. "For he is unwise who knows not his own measure," says Ptolemy in the Preface to the Almagest, namely what strength his shoulders have, what they refuse to bear. Moreover, the promise of a vow is foolish when it is made inconsiderately, precipitously, or when one vows something impossible, indifferent, evil, or less good, which namely impedes a greater good. Thus foolish was the vow of Jephte, by which he vowed to God that he would sacrifice whatever first met him returning after victory; but his daughter met him, wherefore he sacrificed her. "For in vowing he was foolish, because he had no discretion, and in fulfilling it he was impious," says St. Jerome, and from him St. Thomas, II II, Question LXXXVIII, article 2. One must avoid here the error of Angelus in the Summa, under the word vow, who thinks that foolishness of lack of deliberation, or insufficiency, is gathered from this, if someone immediately after a vow repents of the vow. For many have vowed deliberately and are therefore bound by the vow, whom nevertheless shortly after the vow repents, as is evident in apostates from religion: wherefore Theologians teach that for a vow that deliberation is absolutely sufficient which suffices for sinning mortally. In Hebrew it is, because there is no will (of God) backesilim, that is in the inconstant, that is in the foolish, who namely promise, and do not fulfill their promises, or revoke them from the inconstant desire of the mind, according to that saying of the Arabs: "The establishment of faith is abstinence, the weakening of faith is desire." For the cause why many do not fulfill their vows is the inconstancy of mind, which makes them repent of the vow, according to that in Proverbs XXV, 14: "Clouds, and wind, and rains not following, a man glorious, and not fulfilling his promises." The Chaldean here translates, because for this reason it is not well-pleasing in the foolish, that they defer their vows; but Symmachus, that is, there is no work for the unwise, namely to God; or, there is no utility in the unwise, who vow so lightly that they immediately retract them, according to that: "A man who is an apostate, a man unprofitable," Proverbs VI, 12; the Arabic, there is no will of God in the rich, whom riches often make arrogant, inconstant and foolish; the Zurich, for God does not delight in the foolish; Campensis, lest you offend Him after the manner of the foolish, by promising much. There exists on this matter a fable among Aesop: "A poor man," he says, "being sick, vowed to the gods that if he should escape, he would offer a hundred oxen in sacrifice; but the gods, wishing to test him, freed him from the disease. But he, rising up, since he lacked oxen, formed a hundred oxen from paste, and sacrificed them placed on the altar. The gods, wishing to punish him, appeared to him in dreams saying: Go to the shore to that place: for there you will find a thousand Attic drachmas. He, awakened, joyful and eager, went to the demonstrated place, searching for gold; but there he fell in with pirates, and was seized by them. Captured therefore, in order to be released, he begged the pirates, promising them a thousand talents of gold; but, since he was not believed, driven away, he was sold by them for a thousand drachmas. The moral: The fable signifies that God is an enemy to the lies of men."
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4. AND IT IS MUCH BETTER NOT TO VOW, THAN AFTER A VOW NOT TO RENDER WHAT WAS PROMISED. — He says "not to vow" only, because a vow of not vowing is unlawful. For whoever vows that he will not make a vow, vows that he will not do a greater good, which is unlawful, and therefore his vow is void, as our Francis Suarez teaches, volume II On Religion, book II On Vows, chapter XI. "What grave bonds, says St. Ambrose, book IX on Luke, at chapter XX, to promise to God and not to pay! It is better not to vow than to vow and not to render; the contract of faith is greater than that of money. Render what you have promised, while you are in this body, before the creditor comes and casts you into prison." Furthermore, the heretics of our age rave, when from this place they condemn vows of chastity, of religion, of fasting, and absolve those guilty of vows. For Ecclesiastes does not say: It is good not to vow, or it is evil to vow; but: "It is better not to vow than after a vow not to render what was promised," that is to say, It is better not to vow than to make a vow and violate it. It is therefore best to make a vow and to fulfill it. For here is a twofold act of religion and worship of God, first, in that you vow and consecrate a thing to God; secondly, that you exhibit to Him what has been consecrated. For an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases God for this reason, that a faithful and prudent one pleases Him: and for this reason it is better not to vow than after a vow not to render what was promised, because it is good to promise and to perform what you have promised; although the very "not promising" is said to be better not absolutely, but relatively, namely when what is promised is not to be fulfilled. It is therefore better to perform a work from a vow than without a vow. The reason is threefold: First, because a vow is an act of religion and of latria, as I have said, which is the first and noblest virtue among moral virtues, just as charity is among theological virtues. Wherefore an act, for example of fasting, in itself is a simple virtue, namely an act of temperance; but if a vow is added, it becomes twofold, and of twofold value and merit: for there is added the dignity of religion and of vow, which is far more noble than temperance. Wherefore, just as religion is better than irreligion, says Parvianus, book II To the Catholic Church, so it is better to fast with a vow than without a vow. Thus St. Thomas, II II, Question LXXXVIII, article 6. Second, because he who performs a work gives only an act to God; but he who adds a vow gives together with the act also the force and power, namely the will and freedom. For he delivers this to God through a vow, so that it is not lawful for him to will the contrary of what he has vowed. He does therefore as one who gives to a prince not only the fruit, but the whole tree with its fruits, says St. Anselm, book On Similitudes. Hence the Psalmist, Psalm LXXV: "Vow, he says, and render to the Lord our God." Where St. Augustine: "Let each one, he says, vow and render what he can; be not sluggish in vowing: for you will not fulfill it by your own strength." For He will give strength to fulfill, who gives devotion to vow. Third, because a vow strengthens and confirms the will, which is in itself flexible and inconstant, in the act of virtue which it vows, so that the act which proceeds from a vow is firmer, stronger and more constant, and therefore better and more perfect, according to that saying of St. Bernard, On Precepts and Dispensations: "Happy necessity which compels to better things." Hear St. Augustine, On Virginity, chapter VIII: "For virginity itself, he says, not because it is virginity, but because it is dedicated to God, is honored; which although it is preserved in the flesh, is nevertheless preserved by the spirit in religion and devotion, and through this even the virginity of the body is spiritual, which continence of piety vows and preserves." And the same a little below: "That continence is to be numbered more honorably among the goods of the soul, by which the integrity of the flesh is vowed, consecrated and preserved to the Creator Himself of soul and flesh."
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5. GIVE NOT THY MOUTH TO CAUSE THY FLESH (the Arabic, humanity) TO SIN: NEITHER SAY BEFORE THE ANGEL: THERE IS NO PROVIDENCE: LEST GOD BE ANGRY AT THY WORDS, AND DESTROY ALL THE WORKS OF THY HANDS. — First, many understand these things concerning a rash vow and the violation of a vow: for the discourse proceeded concerning a vow. Hence the Zurich version translates, do not allow thy mouth to furnish thy flesh with an occasion of sinning; Vatable, do not loosen the reins to thy mouth, that it may sin; Isidore Clarius, do not involve thyself wholly in sin; clearly the Chaldean, do not violate the word of thy mouth, nor be the cause of hell upon thy flesh, and on the day of great judgment thou wilt not be able to say before the cruel Angel, who will reprove thee, that it is ignorance; let not the wrath of God be angry at all thy words, which have been spoken in shame, and let him dissipate the works of thy hands. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Give not thy mouth to vowing rashly something which thou wilt scarcely be able to perform, so that thou makest thy flesh to sin, while it transgresses the vow of difficult religion, fasting, chastity, penance through gluttony, lust, etc.; or thy flesh, that is thyself, while through the weakness of thy flesh thou wilt violate the vow. Neither say before the Angel, who is present to thee as it were a guardian always, and whom thou ought to revere everywhere: "There is no Providence," that is God does not know, or does not care for human affairs, and therefore neither for my vows. The Hebrew texts have, say not: it is error, that is the world is ruled by chance and fortuitous error, not by certain divine providence: all things, and therefore my vow also, are subject to fortuitous error; therefore in vowing I erred: wherefore this error now acknowledged by me, and troublesome and difficult to me, why should I correct it, and rescind the erroneous vow. Aquila translates, ακούσιον, that is not voluntary, as if to say: I vowed not voluntarily, but the vow escaped me through error and imprudence: therefore I am not bound by it. This is a common error and a grave crime, nay a sacrilege, whose witnesses, accusers, and avengers will be angels, the heavens, the sun, the stars, the earth and the elements, in whose sight thou didst make the vow, and afterwards violated it. Solomon therefore persuades, that he who desires to vow should first prudently consider his strength, inclinations, conditions, whether he can easily fulfill the vow, so that he may be fully confident that he will fulfill it through the grace of God; lest, if he emit the vow rashly, he repent it too late, and violate the vow, and excuse himself, saying: I vowed rashly, I erred in vowing, I did not think the vow would be so difficult for me. For this is a cold and frivolous excuse. It is the part of a wise man to foresee the future, and therefore to cut off, I did not think, and I did not think. For there are some who are more ardent, and therefore of a lighter and more inconstant disposition, who, while they pray fervently, or feel the impulses of divine motion and the heat of heavenly consolation, immediately desire to vow great austerities of life, great alms, the state of strict religion, such as the Carthusian, or the Anchoretic life. But when this fervor and heat has passed, they will feel themselves weak and infirm, and not to have so great strength of nature and grace as the vow requires; wherefore they repent too late, and regret the vow, and finally violate it, and rush into all licentiousness of the flesh. Solomon here admonishes these, that in that heat of devotion they should not vow too hastily, but let that fervor cool, and then prudently and carefully consider whether, what, how much and how long it is fitting to vow, nay they should not emit the vow unless by the prior counsel and consent of a confessor or a prudent man. This exposition plainly adheres to the letter, and connects it most excellently with the preceding things concerning the vow: wherefore it seems altogether genuine and authentic, and it is followed by the Interlinear Gloss, Titelmannus, Pineda, Lorinus, and the Hebrew Doctor of St. Jerome, whom hear: "The Hebrew understood it thus, that thou shouldest not promise what thou canst not do. For words do not pass into the wind, but are immediately carried by the Angel present, who adheres to each one as a companion, to the Lord; and thou, who thinkest God does not know what thou hast promised, provokest him to wrath, so that all thy works may be dissipated." Now hear also other probable expositions of others. Secondly, Olympiodorus, Thaumaturgus and Salonius expound, as if to say: Give not thy mouth to gluttony, or to incautious or libidinous words, especially with women, by which thy flesh may be excited to lust. Thus also Hugo the Cardinal, Lyran and Titelmannus expound these things concerning avoiding gluttony and lust. Third, St. Jerome, Salonius, Alcuin and the Gloss expound it, as if to say: Do not seek bald excuses, by which you give occasion to your flesh to sin, that is, do not say: I did not sin, I did not become drunk, I did not commit fornication, but my weak nature, and corrupted through concupiscence, impelled me to it against my will; for thus you turn your sin back upon God the creator of nature, and make Him the author of sin equally as of nature so fragile, which is a horrible blasphemy, and therefore greatly offends God and provokes Him to vengeance. Hear St. Jerome: "He reproves those who complain of the vice of the flesh, and say that they are compelled by the necessity of the body to do what they do not wish, according to the saying of the Apostle, Rom. VII, and seek vain excuses and say: I do not sin, but sin dwells in my flesh." Fourth, St. Bonaventure refers it to the denial of divine Providence, as if to say: Do not give your mouth to say before the Angel: There is no Providence, there is no Divinity avenging pleasures and crimes; and thus you rush securely into all vices of the flesh. For the denial of the Godhead impels man to all gluttony and lust. Fifth, Dionysius the Carthusian and from him Cajetan: because there is a threefold use of the mouth, namely eating, kissing, and speaking, he wishes to involve the three things that are sinned in these, gluttony, unchaste kisses, and words; and according to the said Hebrew edition, it is to be added: let no one excuse these as if done through error and involuntarily, and let him beware of saying this seriously, because the Angel who is present knows with what mind he himself speaks thus, and how much it turns to the injury of God. Sixth, Moringus takes this maxim more generally, as if said not only against gluttony and lust, but also against all vices of the flesh, which the Apostle recounts, Gal. V, 19: let no one excuse them through the fragility of his flesh and some kind of violence, or necessary concupiscence of the flesh. Seventh, some think that here it is commanded that no one call a vow an error, and that those who vow err, as if either it were not permitted, or the vow ought not to be fulfilled. But the first sense, as I have said, is the genuine one. DO NOT SAY BEFORE THE ANGEL,—a cruel one, says the Chaldean, that is before the devil. Others better understand a good Angel, such as the guardian appointed to each by God. For this one is the minister of Providence: wherefore he who denies it is injurious both to the Angel and to God. Whence some from this place prove the guardianship of angels over men. Again from this place the divine Thomas concludes, I part. Quest. LVII, art. 2, that angels have knowledge and providence of created things. He names the Angel therefore, because he is the executor of divine Providence, equally as protector and avenger; just as if someone should say: Do not say before the praetor: In this city there is no justice, because the praetor, who is the protector and avenger of justice, will repel this injury from himself, and will justly seize and punish you for it. Finally, some, as Pineda, understand these things of a particular Angel, to whom God has committed (whence St. Jerome: "For not, he says, do these words pass into the wind, but are immediately carried by the Angel present, who clings as a companion to each, to the Lord") the care of prayers and vows to be offered to God, such as John saw, Apoc. VIII, 3: "And another Angel came, and stood before the golden altar: and there were given to him many incenses, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the Angel." For it was an old opinion of Origen and others that certain demons preside over certain vices, to instigate men to them. Whence in Scripture and in the Lives of the Fathers there is frequently mentioned a spirit or angel of blasphemy, of lust, of pride, of gluttony, of avarice, of sloth, etc., and on the other hand certain Angels preside over certain virtues, to advance men to them, as one Angel is of prayer, another of humility, another of temperance, another of chastity, etc., concerning which I have spoken elsewhere. In the Life of St. Onuphrius, who lived angelically in the desert for 70 years, which Paphnutius the Abbot, an eyewitness, wrote, we read that God provides through angels for all men; especially for the religious bound by vow, solitaries and hermits: "Almighty God, he says, does not abandon those who hope in Him: He surrounds them with the arms of His power, so that the incursion of Satan is not able to overthrow those whom the height of divine mercy protects. Wherefore to them the angels of God are constantly sent, and through their hands whatever is necessary is more frequently administered to them." And soon after: "Know for certain, O son, that the angels of God daily serve holy and just men, and by supernatural virtue their bodies and souls are constantly illuminated." A short time later, Blessed Onuphrius recounts that he was led by an Angel having the appearance of a most beautiful man into the desert, when the Angel said: "Do not be afraid; for I am God's Angel, appointed by divine Providence from your birth to guard you, so that, at God's command, I might remain with you and lead you into this desert. Be perfect, walk humbly before the Lord, labor with joy, keep your heart in all custody, live without complaint, persevere in good work. And I will not forsake you, until I present your soul before the presence of the highest majesty." And after some time: "The holy Angel offered me bread daily, and ministered water in measure so that my body might be strengthened, lest it fail, and I might continually persevere in the praise of God, etc. Every Lord's Day or Saturday I find the Angel of the Lord prepared, bearing with him the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whose hands most precious gifts are bestowed upon me, and perpetual salvation of my life. But truly all who lead a spiritual life in the desert as monks partake of such joy. Those holy hermits indeed, who inhabit this solitude, if perchance they ever desire to see a man, are immediately carried up to heaven by an Angel: there are seen the souls of the just shining as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, there they behold a multitude of Angels, and their own souls mingled with the assemblies of the blessed. Wherefore all who contend in the struggle, with all their mind, with all their heart, with all their strength burn in good work, so that they may merit to possess the glory of the heavenly fatherland with Christ and with the saints." Paphnutius adds concerning the death of St. Onuphrius: "After this he rose, and wept as he prayed to the Lord, he bent his knees and suddenly said: Into thy hands, O God, I commend my spirit. And when he had said this, a splendid light overshadowed his body, and in the brightness of that light his holy soul was released from the flesh. Suddenly I heard the voice of many angels praising God, and in the departure of the most holy soul of St. Onuphrius, that is, the aether resounding with angelic canticles, brought ineffable joy to the stars, through which the heavenly hosts conveyed the soul of the renowned soldier to the heavens." Finally, how angels from the beginning of the world have been ministers and executors of divine Providence, especially in the faithful people, having collected all examples from the whole of Holy Scripture, I have shown in Exodus XXIII, 20 and following. This is what the Apostle says: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent in ministry for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" Hebrews, cap. I, 14. Mystically Dionysius understands by the Angel the priest, of whom Malachi says, cap. II, 7: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the Angel of the Lord of hosts." It is therefore the priest's duty to teach the people of God the law and Providence, or the Divinity as avenger of all good and evil. For faith in this Providence restrains man from all crime, and spurs him on to all the glory of virtue. There is no providence. — In God there is no divinity, there is no God who has providence over all things; for providence is so inherent in God that, if you take this away with Epicurus, Democritus and atheists, you take away God as well. For God ignorant and improvident is not God, but a stone or wooden idol. Aquila translates ακούσιον, which if you attribute to God, the sense is, as if to say, God does not act freely, but by compulsion, or by fatal necessity, and therefore without providence; if you assign it to man, the sense is, as if to say, I did not vow willingly, but by compulsion: therefore I am not bound by the vow. In Hebrew it is כי שגגה ki seggaga, that is, because error or inadvertence, improvidence, thoughtlessness is, either of the Divinity, as if to say, There is no providence of the Divinity, but all things happen in the world by error and chance, as Democritus held that the world was made from the chance concourse of atoms: thus planets are said to err in the sky, and sheep and cattle on the mountains; or of man, as if to say, I vowed thoughtlessly and without consideration. The Septuagint, because it is ignorance, as if to say, I did and vowed in ignorance; the Chaldean, I did imprudently: therefore I am not bound by the vow; the Arabic, and lest you say that before God there is corruption of knowledge, so that he does not know our vows and deeds; Campensis, nor think that the Angel, who watches over you, would esteem such a matter so lightly, who amid the multitude of words scarcely knew what you were promising. For, as Olympiodorus says, those who wallow in the very dregs of wickedness so deny and reject God's providence, that they say God disdains to care for and know what crimes are committed here by men. Arias translates elegantly: What you have now vowed, do not call it error, nor excuse yourself before him, who faithfully notes all the words of men with a stylus on tablets, the Angel... Angels therefore have care and providence over our vows; and just as they rejoice in their conception and fulfillment, so they grieve and are indignant at their violation; and they record both in the tablets of memory, so that they may report them to God, who will decree to each rewards or punishments according to merit; whence David sang: "In the sight of the angels I will sing praise to thee: I will adore towards thy holy temple, and I will give glory to thy name," Psalm CXXXVII, 1. Moreover, two extremes contrary to each other are opposed to Providence, namely fate and fortune. For Providence is free, fate is necessary: wherefore he who subjects God to fate removes God and providence from the midst: Let that tragic utterance be far from the faithful: We are driven by the Fates, yield to the Fates. Wherefore those who assert fate, St. Augustine esteems as foolish, tract. 37 in John, and in book V of the City of God, cap. IX. Again, chance and fortune are opposed to Providence: for although with respect to secondary causes concurring, as it were by chance, beyond mutual intention, there is chance and fortune, which causes contingent and fortuitous effects, yet with respect to God there is no chance. For, as the Wise Man says in cap. IV, 3: "But thy providence, O Father, governeth all things." Wherefore to God nothing is fortuitous, because all things are foreknown and provided for. "In the kingdom of Providence nothing is permitted to rashness," says Seneca, because nothing is done rashly, but all things are done deliberately and from certain providence. "Where there is the greatest intellect, there is the least fortune," says Boethius, because the intelligent and wise man does all things with deliberation and counsel; whence to God nothing is fortuitous, no chance, no fortune, but to men, to whom many unforeseen and unexpected things happen. For God foresees, ordains and combines all secondary causes, even contingent ones. LEST PERHAPS GOD BE ANGRY AGAINST THY WORDS, AND SCATTER ALL THE WORKS OF THY HANDS. — For scatter, in Hebrew it is חבל chibbel, that is, as the Septuagint has it, scatter; the Chaldean, Arabic and Syriac, corrupt; Vatablus, curse; the Zurich Bible, destroy; Marinus, lay waste. Properly chibbel means to break asunder with great force and pain. How anger is in God, namely not as a passion, but as an appetite for just vengeance, against Epicurus Lactantius teaches, lib. On the Anger of God, cap. IV. Truly St. Augustine, lib. I of the Confessions, cap. IX, addressing God: "It repents thee, and thou dost not grieve; thou art angry, and thou art tranquil; thou changest thy works, and thou changest not thy counsel." Now the sense is first, as if to say: Lest God, on account of this crime of breaking thy vow and denying Providence, should abolish and mortify all the good works, and their merits, which thou didst formerly perform when thou wast wise. Thus Olympiodorus: "Lest," he says, "thou also lose the fruit of thy works. For God when angry blots out from the book of life, if there is anything which we seem to ourselves to have done piously and laudably." And Clarius: "What thou thinkest so light, God is so offended by, that he will curse not only thy prayer, but on account of it also thy other works." Secondly, as St. Jerome says: "Lest God, perceiving such things in thee, deliver thee to a reprobate sense, so that thou doest things which are not fitting." Thirdly, Olympiodorus adds that God is accustomed to punish those who break vows and those who deny the Divine Power with poverty, misfortunes, death, and thus to corrupt their fortunes and works. Finally the Arabic version renders it, lest God be angry at thy foolishness, and the works of thy hands be corrupted, that is, the refined works which thou hast meditated and labored at with earnest study, art and ingenuity, just as if, content with thy providence, thou didst utterly not acknowledge the divine, and didst say proudly: My hand is exalted, and the Lord hath not done all these things. All things also which anyone has acquired for himself, whether goods of body or mind, even virtues and merits, can be understood, of which he deservedly makes a loss, who denies God's providence, as our Lorinus says. Thus we see Religious, who while they lived observing their vows in religion, and were powerful with wonderful grace of teaching and speaking among men, when they depart from it and become apostates, lose all this grace, and become an abomination and reproach to God, equally as to men. We have seen frequent examples and see them daily. Hence some render it, God shall cause thy works to putrefy. For thus in Isaiah X, 26, our author renders the Hebrew חבל chibbel as shall putrefy. For apostasy is putrefaction, that is corruption and infamy, which makes apostates vile, infamous and putrid, and their works, not only present, but also past, which they had produced in heroic religion, it putrefies, that is, defiles, disgraces, corrupts. The Hebrew word chibbel is of contrary signification; for it signifies both to bind and to loose, and to break asunder with vehemence and pain, as happens in women in travail, by whom the offspring is as it were broken asunder while being brought forth. Whence chibbel often signifies to bring forth, and to have the pains of travail. Both meanings suit this place: for both the breakers of vows and those who deny the divine power seem to have their tongue, mind and hand bound, so that those who were before eloquent, wise, and mighty in every work, through this crime become speechless, foolish, weak and powerless for all good. Again, their works are broken asunder with great confusion and pain such as that of women in travail. Morally learn here how much God is offended by the denial of the divine power and providence, and how gravely He punishes and avenges those who deny it. God threatens the impious who say: "The Lord shall not see us, the Lord hath forsaken the earth," saying: "Therefore I also will do in the future: my eye shall not spare, nor will I have mercy," Ezech. VIII, 18, and cap. X; David, Psal. IX, 13, 14: "Wherefore," he says, "hath the wicked provoked God? for he said in his heart: He will not require it. Thou seest, for thou beholdest labour and sorrow: that thou mayest deliver them into thy hands." Furthermore, that Providence exists is demonstrated by the Fathers from the consonance, order, motion and constancy of the discordant elements, heavens, animals and all things. Hear Lactantius, lib. III, cap. X: "For who does not perceive that this world, perfected by so wonderful a reason, is governed by some providence? since there is nothing that can subsist without any moderator. Thus a house abandoned by its inhabitant falls to ruin. A ship without a helmsman goes to the bottom. And a body left by the soul flows away. Much less should we think that so great a mass, either constructed without an artificer, or able to stand without a ruler for so long a time." Hear John of Damascus in Histor. Barlaam, cap. XVII: "If a ship cannot subsist without a helmsman, but is immediately submerged, and a small house without a provider: how does the world stand for so long a time, a creature so great, so good and wonderful, without some glorious and magnificent and wonderful governance, and most wise providence? Behold, the heaven has existed for so long a time, and has not grown dark; the virtue of the earth has not been wearied by so long a time; fountains have not ceased to flow since they were made; the sea, receiving so many and such great rivers, does not exceed its measure; the course of the sun and moon does not change; the orders of day and night are not perverted." Hear Philo, lib. De Somniis: "It must be believed that just as in a chariot there is a charioteer, or in a ship a helmsman: so in all things He who is presides over bodies, souls, living creatures, minds, angels, all things which the earth, or air, or heaven contains, natures both visible and invisible; for He rules the whole world hanging from Himself." But St. Athanasius depicts the offices of Providence in detail from the offices of individuals in a choir, and of members in a body, and of servants in a court, so graphically, lib. Contra Idola: "As in a choir, which consists of diverse men, men, girls, women, old men, youths, under one leader and moderator, each one as much as he can, sings according to his nature, he indeed as a man, this one as a boy; another as an old man, another as a youth, yet all accomplish one harmony; or as our soul at the same time exercises our senses according to each one's office, and is moved toward one thing presented to it at once, so that the eye sees, the ear hears, the hand touches, the sense of smell receives odours, taste savours, and often meanwhile the other parts of the body are not idle either, so that among these things the feet also walk about; or as in the presence of a king commanding and directing his eyes to all things at once, all are in obedience: there is one who tills the fields, there is one who hastens to the water-conduits of waters, another likewise goes to gather fodder, another goes to the court, another enters the assembly, and others in the same way betake themselves, and all these things are done and established by the presence of one moderator and discipline: so also all things in the whole of nature are done." St. Maximus, serm. 48, cites that saying of Plato: "God governs all things, and according to God, fortune, and human occasion governs all things." And that of Socrates: If anything care can do, care: but if God himself by commanding cares for thee, why art thou anxious for thyself? More beautifully Aristotle, or whoever is the author of De Mundo: "What," he says, "the Commander is in an army, the father of a family in a house, the precentor in a choir, the captain in a ship, the eye in a body, the charioteer in a chariot, this God is in the world." See more things in St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Salvian, Synesius and our Lessius, lib. De Numine et Providentia.
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6. WHERE THERE ARE MANY DREAMS, THERE ARE MANY VANITIES, AND INNUMERABLE WORDS: BUT THOU FEAR GOD. — He passes from Providence to dreams, or from religion to superstition. For just as the worshippers of Providence are worshippers of the true divinity and of true religion: so those who deny Providence are irreligious and atheists, to whom the superstitious are akin and neighboring, such as those who observe dreams. From those therefore to these he fittingly transfers the discourse, because formerly many attributed much to dreams, and whatever they had dreamed they deemed divine and sent by God: hence according to dreams they directed the course and actions of their lives. Against them he here teaches that dreams are dreams, that is mere vanities, trifles, empty phantoms and apparitions. Wherefore he asserts that dreams are not to be observed, nor feared, but God and His providence, watching everywhere, to reward the good and punish the wicked. Hence the Syriac version renders it, because in the multitude of dreams and vanities and words, many errors. Concerning the vanity of dreams I have said much in Ecclesiastes XXXIV, 1 and following. Memorable and terrible is what St. Antiochus writes, in homily 34, of a certain distinguished anchorite deceived by the devil through a dream: for when he had seen in sleep Christ and Christians in darkness, but Moses and the Jews in light, he apostatized from the faith, and becoming a Jew circumcised himself, and gave himself to carnal life: wherefore punished by God, and eaten by worms, he delivered his body to the Jews, his soul to the devil. Add that from vain dreams there often arises vanity and levity in vowing, equally as in violating vows (concerning which the discourse preceded), and in excusing oneself from their obligation. For many are moved to vow something from the fact that they dreamed of it at night, which is frequent among women. Others excuse themselves from the fulfillment of vows, because they dreamed that they ought not to be fulfilled: which are all dreams, vanities, errors and follies. Hence the Septuagint renders it, because in the multitude of dreams and vanities, and of many words, understand that many vows are made, or excused; and St. Jerome from the Hebrews thus expounds it, as if to say: "Nor do the foregoing things, of which it has already been said: Do not easily believe dreams. For when thou shalt see diverse things through the quiet of night, and thy soul shall have been agitated by various terrors, or incited by promises, thou shalt despise those things which are of dreams, and fear God alone. For he who shall have believed in dreams shall deliver himself to vanities and follies. Otherwise: Because I have said and commanded: Give not thy mouth, that thou mayest sin and make thy flesh to sin, and seek various excuses; I now infer this: Because in the dream of this life, and in the image of the shadow of a cloud, in which we live, we can find many things which may seem to us probable, and excuse our sins, therefore I admonish thee that thou shouldest only beware, lest thou think God absent, but fear him, and know that he is present to all thy works, and that thou, being constituted in the condition of free will, art not forced, but willest what thou doest." To this are added others, who here think that a reason is given why one should not rashly vow or speak, namely because, as for the most part dreams, so also for the most part words are vain. Hence the Thaumaturgus renders it, he shall feel that just as of dreams, so of words the greater part is vain. And Olympiodorus: God is angry, he says, with those who dream, that is, with those who labor in vain and are talkative, as if they think themselves to be admonished by dreams to conceive and utter vows. Others, as Morinus, refer these things to those who deny Providence, as if to say: To deny Providence is nothing other than to dream and to chatter, that is to assert nothing true and solid, but something altogether false and erroneous, such as a dream, to fabricate. Tropologically, the Chaldean by dreams understands false oracles and erroneous doctrines, as if here false prophets were opposed to true prophets, and false teachers to truthful ones. For thus he renders it: But to so many dreams of false prophets, and to vain responses of diviners, and to the innumerable words of the impious, give no credence; but cultivate the wise and the just, and seek discipline from them, and fear God. Thus St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Alcuin, Salonius, Bonaventure, Hugh, Lyra, Lorinus and others. And innumerable words, — while dreams are recounted to one and another, and are variously explained by various conjectures. Moreover all these furnish matter for many suspicions, histories, fables, conjectures to be recounted. But thou fear God. — For the fear of God the judge, as the avenger, avails to restrain vain divination by dreams, teaches the providence of God, compels to the fulfillment of vows, chastises the concupiscence of the flesh, restrains the unbridled tongue. Wherefore the fear of God is the beginning, the promotion and the perfection of wisdom and of all virtue, as I have shown in many places in Ecclesiastes I, 11 and following, and frequently in Proverbs.
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7 and 8. IF THOU SEEST CALUMNIES OF THE POOR (Arabic, foolishness against the poor) AND VIOLENT JUDGMENTS, AND JUSTICE SUBVERTED (Septuagint, plunder of judgment and justice; Complutensian, plunder of judgment; St. Jerome, ruin of judgment; Thaumaturgus, judges circumvent laws with crafty stratagems) IN A PROVINCE, MARVEL NOT AT THIS MATTER, BECAUSE THE HIGHEST IS HIGHER THAN ANOTHER, AND THERE ARE OTHERS MORE EMINENT THAN THESE. MARVEL NOT AT THIS MATTER. — Hebrew, do not be astonished at the will, that is at the thing willed, either by the oppressor positively, or by God permissively. Whence Pagninus takes it of the will of God, marvel not, he says, at the divine will permitting so many violences; Zurich, marvel not at the divine will; Vatablus, marvel not at this thing which is done by divine nod: Chaldean, marvel not, he says, in thy heart, how the will of the Lord is over all these things. That the innocent are oppressed by the guilty was marveled at by Jeremiah, chapter XII; Habakkuk, chapter 1; David, Psalm LXXII. But Solomon, taught by his father and more by God, and having experienced it frequently, does not marvel at this same thing, nor does he teach that it should be marveled at, as St. Athanasius says, Apology for His Flight, because nothing is marvelous except what is new: but that the poor are oppressed by the more powerful is not new, or unusual, but worn, frequent and confirmed by the common use of all ages. Add to this that it is permitted by the most wise will of God for the greater virtue and glory of the just, and the ignominy and punishment of the impious. Olympiodorus translates and explains it, as if to say, Do not be indignant, or suspect that the world floats without any providence. BECAUSE THE HIGHEST IS HIGHER THAN ANOTHER, AND THERE ARE OTHERS MORE EMINENT THAN THESE. — In Hebrew and Greek, because the highest keeping watch over the highest is, and the highest over them; Campensis, for that oppressor has a superior, who carefully observes what he does, and above both of them there are others superior. St. Jerome in the old edition, because the highest over the highest (Vatablus observes), and is more exalted than them, namely God, says St. Jerome; others say an Angel, as if to say, Although judges and princes allow justice and the just to be oppressed, yet over them are appointed by God angels, the rulers and guardians of cities and provinces, who admonish them from time to time, chastise them, depose them, as they deposed Nebuchadnezzar, according to that: "Behold a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven, he cried aloud, and said thus: Cut down the tree," Daniel, chapter IV, 10 and 14. "In the sentence of the watchers," that is of the angels presiding over Babylon, "the decree is." Or certainly those same angels, by God's nod, defer the vengeance of the unjust and the reward of the just until the day of judgment. Thus also Albinus, Gloss, Cajetan, Vatablus. Whence the Arabic translates, because the highest will preserve thee over the highest thing, and to those who exalt themselves over it is something more excellent. Hear St. Jerome: "Marvel not, for the highest indeed over the highest, God regards these things, who has placed his angels over judges and kings of the earth, who can certainly prohibit injustice, and can avail more on earth than any human powers; but because he preserves judgment to the end, therefore now he waits and defers sentence." Let impiety therefore rage now, and unjust judges go unpunished, but they will not go unpunished: for they will finally give penalties to the judge now watching, and to his ministers now witnesses of so great iniquity. This interpretation indeed removes the wonder why divine Providence permits violent judgments and calumnies of the poor, or does not punish them immediately. Thus far St. Jerome, and from him Pineda. You will understand all these things more plainly with Lyran, Dionysius and Cardinal Hugh, not of angels, but of men, namely of subordinate princes, of whom the lesser is subject to the greater by degrees up to the highest, who is king or emperor, as if to say, If an inferior judge permits judgment and justice to be perverted, there is appeal and recourse to another superior and another by degrees, each of whom can and ought to correct and punish the injustice of the inferior subordinate and subject to him. Whence the Chaldean translates, because God mighty over the highest heavens observes the works of the sons of men, both good and evil, and from his face are sent forth men magnificent and strong, that they may exercise power over the wicked, and that they may be placed over magistrates. Secondly, you may refer this to the punishment of retaliation and the character of the more powerful, as if to say: If a lower judge oppresses an innocent person, by just judgment of God he will be punished by retaliation, so that in like manner he will be oppressed by his superior, just as we see tyrants, like smaller fish, devoured by greater tyrants, according to that passage in Jeremiah XXX, 16: "All they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thy enemies shall be carried into captivity, and they that waste thee shall be wasted, and all that prey upon thee I will give to be a prey." Which St. Jerome understands to have been fulfilled in that place, when the Babylonians laid waste the Assyrians, and the Medes and Persians laid waste the Babylonians and Chaldaeans. Thus Isaiah XXXIII, 1, threatens the Assyrian: "Woe to thee that spoilest! shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled?" And in general, Proverbs XXII, 16: "He that oppresseth the poor to increase his own riches, shall himself give to one richer and shall be in want." For the more powerful often abuse their power, and thereby unjustly oppress the inferior. For such is the corrupted condition of men, and therefore it is not to be wondered at, but to be pitied and lamented. This exposition is also fitting and favors the Hebrew גבוה gabouh, that is, lofty, proud, swollen, who despises, presses down and depresses the inferior, according to that passage in James II, 6: "Do not the rich oppress you by might, and do they not drag you before the judgment seats?" Who therefore would wonder at this, which is common and as it were naturally implanted in the rich and powerful? For pride is the worm of power and riches, says St. Augustine, arrogance and tyranny. Thirdly, others explain it, as if to say: Do not wonder that among judges some are found to be wicked, because the king cannot judge all things alone, but appoints viceroys, and these appoint governors of cities, and these appoint judges in turn not sufficiently known or unjust, because they offer money. Therefore in such a great and manifold subordination and multitude of judges, it is not surprising that some wicked ones creep in, who corrupt the laws for bribes. It is more surprising that more and greater things are not corrupted; for all aspire to greater things, and over these also ambition has no limit. Hear Seneca to Lucilius, epistle 86: "Abandon ambition: it is insatiable, swollen, vain, windy, having no limit." And elsewhere: "No one gives thanks for a tribunate, but complains that he has not been advanced to a prefecture; and if a consulship be lacking, not even this suffices: for cupidity does not look back to where it came from, but to where it tends." The same, book II On Benefits: "Never," he says, "is what is given sufficient for wicked hope; he thinks he has deserved all things, nor does he esteem it sufficiently valued at any price. For we desire greater things the greater things that have come, and the intention is more keenly aroused: for ambition or cupidity, like flames, has infinite force the more keenly it bursts forth from a greater fire."
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8. AND MOREOVER THE KING OF ALL THE EARTH COMMANDS THE SERVANT. — For moreover the Hebrew is יתרון iitron, which Olympiodorus translated as the surplus of the earth; the Complutensians, the abundance of the earth; the Septuagint of the Vatican, and the excellence of the earth in all things is the king of the cultivated field; the Syriac, the inheritance of the earth in all things is the king who cultivates the field; Symmachus, and moreover the earth in all things the king is to the cultivated region. The king here can be understood properly, that is to say, If all judges and princes are unjust and violent, the commonwealth has recourse to the king, so that he may set them in order. But it is better that you understand God by the king; for he alone commands all the earth, that is to say, All judges, princes and kings are subject to and serve God, who, since he is most just, will judge all judges and kings most equitably, and will bestow upon the injured their right, and upon the injurers just punishments. Therefore, appeal the injured to God's tribunal, and patiently await his sentence. Beautifully and wisely Horace, book III, Ode 1, admonishes, saying: Kings to be feared over their own flocks, Kings themselves are under the dominion of Jupiter, Illustrious in gigantic triumph, Moving all things with his brow. Hence the poor injured by judges and princes cry out to heaven, and are heard by God, according to that in Proverbs XXII, 22: "Do not do violence to the poor, because he is poor; neither oppress the needy in the gate, for the Lord will judge his cause, and will impale those who have impaled his soul." Thus St. Jerome, Alcuin, Bonaventure, Hugh, Lyran and many others in various places. For commands, the Interpreter reads לשרה lisro, that is, to command, that is, commands; for שרה sara indeed is to rule, to command. It is an enallage of mood: for the infinitive is put for the indicative. Now substituting for שרה the neighboring שדה, for lisro, that is, commands, they read לשדה lesade, that is, field. Thus they have היתרון ארץ בכול הוא מלך לשדה נעבד veittron erets baccol hu melech lesade nebad, and thus read the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic, which various ones variously translate and explain. First, the Zurich Bible, and after all things of the earth God is always to be awaited as himself, like the king of the field which is cultivated, so that namely he may traverse this world as his field, judge and punish, or reward: the tares, that is, the unjust, by delivering them to the fires of hell; the wheat truly, namely the just, by gathering them into the storehouse of heaven. Second, Vatable, moreover the excellence of the earth above all things is, the king serves the field, that is to say, The reason of agriculture is the most important of all conditions of living; for the king himself cultivates or takes care to cultivate the field, and that necessarily. And Isidore Clarius, the remainder which is gathered from the earth in all things is the king on account of the cultivated field, in this sense: No one cannot live abundantly from the cultivation of the earth, even if he be a king, since all sustenance, which human nature needs, is gathered from the earth, that is to say, What need of so many riches? For what purpose so many lawsuits, when we can be content with little and live royally, that is, abundantly enough and at leisure, without the troubles of the forum? Surely the greatest praise of agriculture. Thus also Arias and many others think that here the study of agriculture is commended; for through this the lawsuits of the forum are avoided, in which not rarely the innocent and just man loses his case. Whence Campensis translates, the greatest thing that the earth can bestow upon man is some small field, which when cultivated can be sufficient for him, so that he may live from it, and to whom it falls to him, and he is content with it, he is truly a king; as were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job and the first kings of the world. To this pertains the ancient oracle: One field serves you; why do you seek so much? Third, Titelmann translates, besides the king is in all the earth to cultivate the field, that is to say, The king commands in his land and region, and protects it from injuries, so that the fields may be cultivated, from whose harvest the subjects may live. Fourth, Cajetan, translating the Hebrew יתרון iitron as superfluity, thus renders and explains it: Just as a field produces superfluous herbs, which are not uprooted before harvest, lest the wheat be uprooted together with them: so God by certain knowledge and providence permits the calumnies and crimes of the violent, for the trial and advancement of the just, that He may vindicate and crown them on the day of judgment. Let princes therefore know that the world is like a field delivered to them by God, that they may be its cultivators, and cultivate it with justice and every virtue, and thus pay to God, the Lord of the world, the fruits of justice as a tribute. But just as a cultivator permits tares for a time, so the right method of governing requires that certain crimes be permitted, until there be an opportunity to uproot them. Thus also St. Jerome, who in the old edition translates, and moreover the earth in all things is a king in a cultivated field. And Olympiodorus, who translates, over all is the lord king of the cultivated field; and he explains this in two ways, both concerning God and concerning man: "God, he says, like a gardener has cultivated and adorned this world for himself, and dominates it as a lord, whose constant providence he exercises. It is not therefore fitting to think that the world lacks the governance of a reigning lord, on account of the iniquities which are done among men; rather it is necessary to recall to mind that, since this world is called a field, according to the evangelical parable, God has constituted man the king and lord of this world, as it is written: Thou hast subjected all things under his feet. Ecclesiastes therefore admonishes us in this place of our dignity, that, exhibiting due veneration to God, who has honored us with a royal crown, we may live piously and dutifully. Otherwise: Since God is the Lord and possessor of this whole world, like a certain field cultivated with the greatest diligence, therefore let us carefully beware lest we demolish the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, either by wicked actions, or by impious doctrines, or by pernicious teachings. For the Lord and possessor of the cultivated field presides over all things, and observes all things." Olympiodorus adds: "Unjust judges and princes, he says, are to be esteemed as nothing other than the superfluity of the earth, that is a useless globe and mass, a clod and ashes, which God will overturn on the day of judgment, and thrust into hell, according to that: Why art thou proud, O earth and ashes? Eccles. X, 9. Fifth, Pagninus translates, and utility, the cultivation of the earth in all things is, and the king on account of the utility of the fields is a servant. Others, the king serves the field, or becomes a servant. Clarius, even the king is obligated to the field, because from it he both nourishes himself and his own, and collects ample tributes. The Chaldean, and the cultivation of the earth is more praiseworthy than all things, because in the time in which the sons of the kingdom, and the king dwells in the country away from their face; if that king does not have grain to eat, he becomes a servant subject to one farmer. Others translate, the king on account of the field has been made, that is to say, Agriculture is so useful, and so exercised by the ancients, that from the field men have been promoted to the throne and scepter, and from farmers have been made kings, whose examples I have recounted many in chapter IV, verse 14. Sixth, thus you may translate and explain it, that is to say, Because disputes and oppressions of the poor arise almost on account of the goods of the earth, namely on account of the riches and fruits which agriculture gives, hence one supreme king is placed over the region, that he himself may prevent, correct, and amend the unjust judgments of inferior judges. But the Vulgate version, as it is clearer, so it is truer and more genuine according to the sense which I assigned at the beginning, to which nevertheless the other six, except the fifth, already assigned, it is easy to adapt. Mystically Richard of St. Victor, in the book On the Interior State, homily chapter VI: "Who, he says, is this king who commands all things? He is, he says, the free will of man, because all the members of the body serve it at its nod, and appetite if it sometimes rebels, he can restrain from action, and strike the restrained with grave punishment; and break and soften their audacity with strong chastisement. Let us therefore investigate by what method this king of our interior commonwealth should be subjected to God, and turned away from all that is not fitting." Tropologically, Solomon here teaches that the true king is he who is ruled not by anger, not by lust, not by avarice, but by reason, continence and justice. For he imitates God, who rules by justice, indeed judges and avenges. He dominates anger, affections, and his own mind as a victor over himself, and therefore is a king of the earth and lord of the world. He is superior to kings, indeed to all created things, and therefore is the King of kings. Hear St. Ambrose on Psalm CXVIII, octon. 14, on those words: My soul is in my hands always: "Whoever has subdued his own body, and has not permitted his soul to be disturbed by anger and other passions, restraining himself with a fitting force as his own ruler, he is rightly called a king by a certain royal power, because he knows how to rule himself, and is master of his own right, nor is he dragged captive into guilt." Read St. Chrysostom, book V On the Comparison of a King and a Monk, where he compares monks, as masters of passions, to kings, indeed prefers them to kings. Hear also Cicero in praise of Caesar, saying these things in congratulation, or flattery, in the oration for Marcellus: "You have subdued barbarous nations of savage character, innumerable in multitude, infinite in extent, abounding in every kind of resources; yet you have conquered those things which had both the nature and condition to be conquered. For there is no such great force, no such great abundance, which cannot be weakened and broken by iron and strength; but to conquer the mind, to restrain anger, etc.: he who does this—I do not compare him with the greatest men, but I judge him most like to God." Hear finally Seneca in the Thyestes: Wealth does not make a king, Nor the color of Tyrian cloth, Nor the mark of a royal brow, Nor beams bright with gold: A king is he who has put away fears, And the dire evils of the breast, Who, placed in a safe position, Sees all things beneath him, And meets his own fate willingly, Nor complains of dying. He is a king who fears nothing: Each man gives himself this kingdom.
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9. THE COVETOUS MAN SHALL NOT BE FILLED WITH MONEY: AND HE THAT LOVETH RICHES SHALL REAP NO FRUIT FROM THEM: AND THIS THEREFORE IS VANITY. He conveniently passes from the oppressions of the poor and the corruption of judgments to avarice, as it were from effect to cause: for because judges are covetous and allow themselves to be corrupted by bribes, hence they pervert judgments: wherefore calumny is the handmaid of the avarice of magistrates, as Cicero says, book I, letter to his brother Quintus. Again, rich men who are covetous, in order to enrich themselves, plunder and oppress the poor. Therefore he here shows the vanity of avarice, equally as its iniquity. The Wonderworker adds: "Just as, he says, riches obtained by rapine and arising from violence are most pernicious and most wicked: so also to a man burning with the desire for money, neither satiety shall ever come, nor the goodwill of neighbors, however great a sum of silver he may have acquired;" because it is written: "He that giveth gifts shall overcome, and shall obtain honor: but he that hearkeneth not to rebukes of poverty, shall be in disgrace," namely he steals their hearts, so that they are forced to love him in return. THE COVETOUS MAN SHALL NOT BE FILLED WITH MONEY. — The Hebrew: he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver. Thus the Septuagint, the Syriac and the Arabic. The reason a priori is that the mind of man is immense, and the desire of the covetous man is greater and more capacious than the whole world, wherefore it cannot be filled with all the gold of the world. Hence avarice is insatiable and inexhaustible; for the more it acquires, the more it grows, and the more it desires. Whence the covetous man is called as it were greedy for gold, as St. Isidore says. Avarice therefore is the accursed hunger for gold, which is therefore similar to the dropsical man, who the more he drinks, the more he thirsts, because the drink putrefying in his body, on account of the heat which the putrefaction generates, becomes salty, and constantly purges the mouth of his stomach, and thus by its saltiness always increases his thirst. Aristotle adds, book I of the Politics, chapter VI, another cause, namely that the covetous man loves riches, not for luxury or anything else, but for their own sake; wherefore since there is no end to his loving, hence there is no end to his avarice. Hence St. Augustine, sermon 40 On the Saints, distinguishes the true riches of virtues from the false riches of gold and silver, in that the former satisfy their hunger, the latter increase it: "Those, he says, are called true riches, because whoever has them shall not be in want, since according to the Apostle, having food and raiment, with these we are content. But these earthly riches it is unjust to think are riches, which do not take away want. For the more anyone loves them, the more will he burn with the want of avarice, the greater he has them. How therefore are they riches by which want grows, which to their lovers, however much they may be increased, bring not satiety, but inflame the rich man with desire? You think that you would be less in want if you had more. Whence one rightly said: The love of money grows as much as money itself grows. For with the increase of money the madness of desire is increased. For all the covetous, or desirous, seem to be afflicted as it were with the disease of dropsy. For just as the dropsical man the more he drinks, the more he thirsts, so the covetous or desirous man is not satisfied by acquiring." Wherefore Galen, in the book On Discerning the Diseases of the Mind, chapter IX, teaches that insatiability is the cause of poverty and want, likewise of sadness and sorrow. Hence the proverb of the Syrians and Arabs: "There is not in the whole world a poor man who is so miserable as is a rich man who is not filled with his money." Hence avarice is called by the Apostle "the service of idols," and the covetous man an idolater, because he adores and worships gold as his idol, Ephesians V, 5. Indeed Ovid even calls gold the greatest of the gods, nay the only and sole one. For thus he sings in Elegy 12: But now the shrines in the deserted groves cease, Gold all, with piety now conquered, they worship. Cardinal Hugo relates eight causes why the covetous man has no profit from his riches to eat. For, as St. Gregory says, III part of the Pastoral, admonition 21, "fruit would come to him from those riches, if loving to scatter them well he had wished; he who truly retaining them by loving them, shall certainly leave them without fruit." He who loves his seed too much does not commit it to the earth, and therefore neither reaps. For money as it were bears fruit to him who sows for God the redemption of sins, the purchase of the kingdom of heaven, the promise of life, which now is and is to come; he that loveth his life, loseth it, so also he that poureth out money, who commits it as seed to the earth. Sow therefore a copious sum, that you may reap a copious harvest; sow riches among the poor, that you may receive far greater ones in the heavens. See what I have said concerning avarice on Ecclesiastes X, 9 and following. AND THIS THEREFORE IS VANITY. — Campensis: whoever is such is notably vain. See what is said at chapter 1, verse 2. Truly therefore, says St. Jerome, "Flaccus said: The greedy man is always in want." Hear St. Bernard treating this passage wisely and piously, in his tract On the Love of God, after the middle: "He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; but those who hunger and thirst for justice, they shall be satisfied. Justice indeed, by the use of the rational spirit, is vital and natural food; but money does not fill in this way, nor does it diminish the hunger of the soul, any more than wind does the hunger of the body. Finally, if you were to see a starving man with open mouth drawing in air with inflated cheeks as if to relieve his hunger, would you not think him mad? So it is no less madness if you think that the rational spirit can be filled by any corporeal things, no more than it can be satisfied by them. For what proportion is there from bodies to spirit? Neither can those be restored by spiritual things, nor can these in turn be restored by corporeal things. Bless the Lord, O my soul, who filleth thy desire with good things. He filleth with good things, he exciteth to good, he holdeth in good, he preventeth, he sustaineth, he fulfilleth." AND HE THAT LOVETH RICHES (in Hebrew המון hamon, that is, abundance, tumult, a multitude both of men and of riches, such as is Mammon), SHALL NOT GATHER FRUIT FROM THEM,—because he does not dare to use them for his own good or that of others, but hoards them avariously in a chest, and there as it were buries and entombs them, so that they see no light. Whence St. Jerome translates it, shall not enjoy them; the Arabic version, he who loves wealth shall not be satisfied with its multitude. He who loves mammon shall not possess it, but rather shall be possessed by it. For the miser is not the master of riches, but their servant and slave. See St. Ambrose, book On Naboth, chapter iv. It is a meiosis; for less is said and more is signified. "Shall not gather fruit," that is, shall receive many and great losses. "For the root of all evils is covetousness," in Greek φιλαργυρία, that is, love of silver, I Tim. VI. Moreover the Chaldean here translates: he who shall have loved to gather riches in abundance, there is no praise for him in the world to come, unless he shall have made alms from them, and therefore he shall not be satisfied with riches, and these are the reasons: because cupidity is infinite; because it exhausts the affection of the miser; because as it grows more, so grow the chests, storerooms, stables, etc.; because as it grows more, so grows the flame of cupidity; because with its increase comes new want, and the fear of keepers, of chests, of locks, of keys, fear of losing, pain from loss, etc.; because it has no proportion with our soul and heart, just as neither wisdom nor grace has proportion with a purse, because it cannot be in two places, in the purse and in the mind; because money in the purse does not satisfy the hunger of the heart, just as bread remaining in a basket does not satisfy a dog. Finally St. Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia, sermon 14 to the Neophytes, vol. II of the Library of the Holy Fathers: "He who loves," he says, "money shall not be satisfied with it. For the rapacity of a plunderer does not restrain avarice, but provokes it." For, as Plutarch acutely says in his Moral Essays: "Desires are joined with pleasure; but avarice, although it excites concupiscence, takes away pleasure, and like a troublesome and tedious mistress compels one to prepare, forbids one to enjoy." From this passage gather that true virtue and happiness do not consist in riches, but in contempt of riches, which poverty of spirit brings, as St. Ambrose beautifully teaches, book III, epistle 10. The philosophers knew the same thing through a shadow. Socrates said he did not marvel at a rich man who was proud and arrogant, unless he should experience that he had distributed his riches and poured them out to others. Hence Seneca, epistle 10: "He who is at peace with poverty is rich. Not he who has little, but he who desires more, is poor;" hence Plutarch: "Just as those who scourge garments do not touch the body: so those who reproach poverty do not touch the man, but calumniate external things;" hence Epictetus: "Just as those born among the Persians do not desire to dwell in Greece: so also the poor, to whom the nature of riches is known, do not strive to become rich." These seem to have read that saying of Solomon: "The covetous man shall not be satisfied with money, and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them." The reason a priori is twofold, namely the immense cupidity of man, and the exiguity and worthlessness of gold and riches, which is so far unequal and inferior to such great cupidity that it cannot satisfy it, according to that: "The rich have wanted and suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good thing," Psalm XXXIII, 11.
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10. WHERE THERE ARE MANY RICHES, MANY ARE THEY THAT EAT THEM. AND WHAT DOTH IT PROFIT THE OWNER... EXCEPT THAT HE SEETH THE RICHES WITH HIS EYES? — The Hebrew: in the multitude of good (when goods are multiplied) many eating it; the Septuagint: in the multitude of goodness, they are multiplied who eat it. For they flock to a good and savory thing, as flies to honey. The Arabic: in the multitude of bread, they are multiplied who eat it. This maxim is received by Interpreters in a twofold and contrary manner: first, so as to signify praise of liberality; second, so as to signify the vanity of riches and avarice. First therefore Olympiodorus expounds it thus concerning liberality: "Those whose riches and wealth increase by the legitimate right of honesty, are multiplied also, those who use them and distribute to the poor. For what profit is there to the shameless miser and stingy man in his base utility, which permits him to use money by the sight of his eyes alone? By sight alone he holds dominion over money. What is better (says the Orator) and what is more excellent than goodness and beneficence?" The Syriac favors this, which for what follows: "And what doth it profit the owner," etc., translates: what justice except, etc.? Cajetan: what rectitude? The Syriac: it became happy for those possessing it, because from my head I saw with my eyes. Thus also Lyran, Cardinal Hugo, the Gloss, Dionysius. To this point tends Thaumaturgus when he translates: but probity (beneficence) delights his household in the greatest degree, and makes them strong, affording the faculty of perceiving each thing. Second and genuinely, it signifies the vanity of riches and of wealthy misers, as if to say: Why, O miser, dost thou heap up riches with such cares, when thou from them shalt fill nothing but thy belly? and for this a little suffices; the remainder which thou heapest up, thou heapest not for thyself, but for others; because as wherever there is a carcass, thither flock vultures and eagles, Matthew xxiv, 28: so where there are riches, thither flock the needy and parasites, that they may devour them. "Carcasses wolves, honey flies, prey, not man, this crowd follows," says Seneca. Wherefore thou, rich miser, art not so much the master and lord of thy riches, as the steward and dispenser, says the same, epistle 4; and epistle 89: "Unhappy, he says, that ye understand not that ye have greater hunger than belly;" and epistle 114: "It is madness that none of us compels himself to be one. Dost thou think one belly, to which food is brought with such tumult? for which wines of so many regions are stored? If each one should count himself and measure his body, let him know that he takes in much, nor can he long endure." Again it torments the miser, that he sees his riches, gathered with so much labor, and so beloved, consumed so prodigally by so many and such great ones, when he himself from them captures no other pleasure than that he sees them and feasts his eyes, not his belly. For as where there are many loaves, there are many mice which gnaw them: so where there are many riches, there are many stewards, servants, relatives, guests, friends, flatterers, cooks, camp-followers, add also thieves who consume them. Thus St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Alcuin, Hugo and others. To this the Gloss adds, which thus expounds, as if to say: He who has gathered many riches, cannot use them for glory and magnificence, if he be alone; but for this it is necessary to convoke many, that through them the riches dispersed may shine more widely, namely servants, handmaids, clients, magnates, soldiers, as happens in the courts of kings and princes. Solomon experienced this very thing in himself, who had such great riches, but likewise so many devouring them, that daily they consumed thirty measures of fine flour, sixty measures of meal, ten fat oxen, twenty pasture oxen, and a hundred rams, besides the hunting of stags, roes, roebucks and fatted fowl, III Kings IV, 23. For to say nothing of others, he fed daily 70,000 burden-bearers, and 80,000 stone-cutters, ibid. cap. v, 15. Thus also today we see wealthy kings to have so many courtiers, officials, soldiers, etc., that the royal riches scarcely suffice to feed all; wherefore they, though kings, are poorer than a merchant, who has few riches, but free and exempt from all debt and burden. Alexander the Great, when he had subdued the world, hearing that there were more worlds, groaned: "And when," he said, "shall I subdue them?" So great is ambition and avarice. Wherefore truly the Satirist Juvenal jested of him, satire 10: One world suffices not the Pellean youth: A sarcophagus will content him. Finally, hear St. Bernard treating this passage, in his De Conversion to the Clerical State, chapter xii: "Hence," he says, "the insatiable love of riches torments the soul far more by desire than it refreshes it by use, inasmuch as the acquisition of riches is found to be full of labor, their possession full of fear, and their loss full of sorrow. Finally, where there are many riches, there are also many who consume them, and the use of riches belongs to others, while to the rich falls only the name and the anxiety. And in all these things, to hold cheap for such meager, or rather not meager but null, glory that which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him, seems to be a matter not so much of foolishness as of infidelity." He admonishes the rich economically by this maxim, that they be frugal stewards of their wealth, as merchants are; because where there are many riches, servants and household members use them more liberally, and thus exhaust them quickly, drawn by their multitude to prodigality, but finally they will feel that saying: "Parsimony comes late to the bottom of the purse." Wherefore princes, who have frugal and provident stewards, although they have modest revenues, become rich; but those who have prodigal or improvident stewards, although they have immense riches, become impoverished. Therefore the reason for becoming rich consists in prudent and frugal stewardship. Indeed, by this reasoning the Dutch have arrived at such riches as we see, because they are attentive to the matter and care for trifles; wherefore they accomplish as much with one gold coin as others do with three or four. "Riches," says he, "are to be measured not by quantity, but by use and frugality." AND WHAT PROFIT IS IT TO THE POSSESSOR? — In Hebrew it is כשרון kisron, that is, what advantage, rectitude, industry, convenience, utility to the master? The Septuagint: what virtue or strength to him who possesses goods? because the beginning, or rather the principality (for this is what ἀρχή means) to see with his own eyes; Olympiodorus: the principality is his, so that he may see with his own eyes, as if to say: What utility from goods acquired with such virtue and strenuousness, when the miser exercises dominion by mere sight alone, and has no other use of ownership than that he contemplates what is set before him? The Arabic: what justice, etc.? The Syriac: and it became happy to those who possess it; Symmachus: what utility is there in having those goods, except only to gaze upon them with one's eyes? Campensis: what has he more, whose are the riches, than that he sees others consume them? others, except the sight of his eyes, as if to say: The rich man feeds only his eyes from so many riches; not his mind, nor his belly. Riches therefore are to him nothing but an empty sight and a vain vision, according to that saying of Horace, book I of Satires, satire 1: I applaud myself at home, as soon as I contemplate the coins in the chest. And soon after: Lying upon heaped sacks everywhere, gaping, and as if forced to spare the sacred things, or to rejoice as in painted pictures. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 2 to the People: "The miser," he says, "is a guardian, not a master; a servant of money, not a possessor. For he would more easily share something from his own flesh than from buried gold. Just as if by some command and order nothing of what is stored away should be touched, so with all diligence he guards and keeps it, abstaining from it as from things belonging to others, because they are indeed alien: for what he would never allow to be distributed to others, nor to be spent even on necessities even if he were to suffer infinite torments, how could he think these to be his own? But how does he have possession of those things of which he has neither the use nor the fruit with freedom?" Moreover, the avaricious man sees his riches in such a way that he is blinded by them, so that he may not see the true riches of wisdom and liberality. Wherefore his symbol is the mole, concerning which there is a beautiful apologue extant in Cyril, book III of the Moral Apology II, which has the title: Those desirous of earthly things are blind. The moles, he says, accused nature, because it had denied them the use and sight of eyes, as if it had given them to the basilisk and hyena. To which nature replied that she had done this justly and wisely: For you dwell in hiding places, he says, and have loved earthly things entirely, and by love of earthly things you have lost heavenly things, and by loving hateful darkness you have been deprived of light. But you know not that monstrous avarice, because it has loved earthly things too much, has lost heavenly things, and has eyes and does not see. For just as it has left true goods blind for false ones, fixed for fluid ones, heavenly for earthly: so also it has exchanged infinite and greatest goods for the smallest, glorious for miserable, secure for doubtful, holy for the worst, and joyful for afflictive ones. It gathers foolish external things, but is impoverished within; it holds itself in fleeting trifles, possesses the earth and is possessed by dire infernal powers. Indeed it devours so as to vomit, loves that by which it may perish, acquires what it may lose, cares for what may cause it pain, and burdens itself so as to descend more swiftly into the abyss. If you have heard (Genesis III), man, blinded by avarice, soon lost the paradise of delights. For when the mind, turned away from God, conceived a desire for mere appearances, immediately it lost the light of mind within, and without, with mole-like eyes opened, sees only the poverty of its own nakedness. Indeed also (I Kings xv, 9) Saul, deprived of the judgment of reason, while he coveted cattle, was deprived of royal glory. And having badly possessed beasts, he lost his peers along with himself. He confirms the same with a new apologue of the chameleon: How well indeed the chameleon answered the crow, which was harassing it with desire for its flesh: O if avarice, with the intervening darkness of vice, had not taken away sight of prudence from you, surely you would attend to the fact that if you possess me, you will lose yourself. You have therefore, O mole, reason why you were thus fashioned, since the principle of your composition is an image of avarice. When these things were heard, together with the words the complaint ceased. Ecclesiastes here shows the vanity of riches and avarice by nine reasons. The first is that the avaricious man is not filled with money; the second, that he reaps no fruit from it; the third, that where there are many riches, there are also many who consume them; the fourth, that he takes no pleasure from them, except that he sees them; the fifth, that the satiety of the rich man does not allow him to sleep; the sixth, that riches are preserved for the evil of their master; the seventh, that the rich man often leaves his son and heir poor; the eighth, that he returns naked to the grave; the ninth, that he spends his whole life in cares, labor, hardship and sadness. Hence he leaves it to be concluded that in riches one seeks in vain, or places the quiet and happiness of the soul, as St. Thomas beautifully teaches from this passage, Question II, article 1, to 3. To this point tend the ten vanities of the avaricious, which I have reviewed in Ecclesiasticus chapter xiv, verse 3.
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11. SWEET IS THE SLEEP OF HIM THAT LABOURETH, WHETHER HE EAT LITTLE OR MUCH: BUT THE FULNESS OF THE RICH WILL NOT SUFFER HIM TO SLEEP. — The Septuagint and the Arabic version: sweet is the sleep of the servant who works and labours the whole day, especially in tilling the field. For the Hebrew עבד obed alludes to the field נעבד nebad, that is, laboured and cultivated, verse 8. Campensis: pleasant is sleep for him who exercises himself by labouring. Vatablus: for him who prepares his food by the labour of his hands. This is the fifth vanity of riches, that riches produce idleness, sloth, gluttony and excess, and likewise cares and anxieties, and from these sleeplessness, so that the rich man on account of his stomach laden with food, indigestion and undigested matter, as well as cares and solicitudes, cannot sleep at night, but is tormented in his mind by anxious cares, in his stomach by flatulence, in his head by dizziness and pains; whereas on the other hand poverty compels one to work and labour, and to frugal food, so that the poor man, wearied by labour during the day and free from cares, rests peacefully and sweetly at night by sleeping. For, as Galen says, lib. I De Symptomat. caus. cap. viii: "Nature demands that those who have exercised themselves more liberally be pressed down by deeper sleep, as if many of their powers have flowed away from the beginning when they labour." Wherefore nothing so much brings on sleep as exercise, labour and weariness, so much so that it supplies the place of food. For the weary man sleeps, "whether he eat little or much." Hear St. Chrysostom, lib. De Virgin. cap. lxx: "Sweet to him is sleep not on account of a soft bed, for he lies on the ground or on straw; not on account of freedom, because not even a moment of time is free to him; not on account of leisure, for he is worn out by labours and hardships continually; but these very labours, and the fact that he has been forced by necessity to give himself to sleep beforehand, are the cause why he sleeps so sweetly." The same, hom. 2 ad Popul.: "Why," he says, "did he add, whether he eat little or much? Both of these," he says, "are wont to bring on wakefulness, want and excess: the former indeed by drying up and making the eyelids horny and not permitting them to close; the latter by distressing the breath and driving it out, and bringing in many pains; but so great is the medicine of labours, that even if both are present, the servant can sleep." WHETHER HE EAT LITTLE OR MUCH. — Not that if there be a notable excess in eating, he cannot also suffer difficulty in sleep, but because on account of fatigue and a stronger stomach, although he eat somewhat more liberally, he falls asleep easily; nor because the food is scantier does he labour in taking sleep, wearied by labours, for "sleep waters the weary limbs." For vigorous labour stirs up heat, moisture is liquefied by heat; the brain, seeking heat, is cooled there, and being condensed brings on sleep; moreover, since excessive labour consumes the spirits, it comes to pass that the body, being cooled, is oppressed by sleep. Thus from Aristotle, Galen, Tertullian, Plato, Plutarch, Pliny and others our Lorinus. BUT THE FULNESS OF THE RICH WILL NOT SUFFER HIM TO SLEEP. — "Fulness" here can be understood both of foods and delicacies, and of an abundance of riches: for these produce in the avaricious rich man a thousand cares and solicitudes which do not allow him to sleep. For care, troubling the mind, agitates the vital spirits in the brain, and thus produces wakefulness; according to that saying of Virgil, lib. Georg.: Care breaks off healthful sleep. Whence the Septuagint translates, and to him who is filled with becoming rich (the Complutensian editors, and to him who is filled to become rich; Olympiodorus, and to him full of riches to sleep), and the Arabic version, greed in riches does not permit him to sleep. For, as St. Augustine says in epist. S. Joannis: "You have filled your house, robbers are feared: you have acquired gold, you have lost sleep;" and Thaumaturgus: "Behold the poor man," he says, "although he be old and have nothing with which to fill his belly, is yet refreshed by peaceful sleep, while meanwhile wakefulness and anguish of mind exclude quiet from the avaricious man." St. Jerome and from him Alcuin and Olympiodorus understand both kinds of satiety, namely abundance both of foods and of cares, as if to say: The rich man distended by feasts, overflowing with indigestion, and belching undigested food in the straits of his stomach, and moreover lacerated by piercing thoughts and cares, is unable to sleep. For just as undigested foods in the stomach, so also cares and anxious solicitudes in the mind stir up troublesome disturbances and tumults, which rob all rest. Hear St. Ambrose on Psalm 1: "How can he sleep who exercises anxious custody of his ear? who fears losses? who thinks of gains? who calculates usuries? who counts mortgages?" The same, in the book On Naboth, chapter vi: "He knows not, he says, the duties of his own nature, nor does he know the turns of sleep: covetousness excites him, anxious care agitates him with the desire of seizing what belongs to another, envy torments him, delay vexes him, sterility of unfruitful harvests disturbs him, abundance solicits him. Not even God himself permits him to sleep; he interrupts him as he thinks, he rouses him as he sleeps. But neither does he himself allow himself to be at rest, he who is troubled in the abundance of fruit and hears the voice of the needy. What shall I do, he says? Is this not the voice of a poor man, one who does not have the means of living?" Moreover the Chaldean mystically understands sleep as death, and the one working as one who worships God: "Sweet, he says, is the sleep of the man who worships the Lord of the world, and there is rest in the house of his sepulchre, whether he has lived few years or many; after he has served the Lord of the world in this age, to the coming age he shall inherit the reward of the works of his hands, and the wisdom of the law of the Lord shall be to the man rich in wisdom. Behold how he has studied in it in this age, and has been diligent in doctrine: thus shall he rest upon him in the house of his sepulchre; and he shall not forsake him alone, just as a wife does not allow her husband to sleep alone." Therefore cares are like a swarm of bees or wasps, which with their murmur and buzzing, and much more with their stinging blows, continually prick, pluck at, and almost kill the miser. Again, just as gnats, though small, flying in formation and attacking a man, are armed with their trumpet and lance: a trumpet by which they resound; a lance by which they strike: so much more both armed, in the night numerous swarms of anxious cares fly at the miser like the gnats of Egypt, Exodus viii, 17. Hence cares are called by poets biting and devouring. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 39 in the Song of Songs, graphically depicting the tumultuous chariot of avarice: "Avarice itself is carried on wheels and by four vices, which are pusillanimity, inhumanity, contempt of God, forgetfulness of death. Moreover the beasts drawing it are tenacity and rapacity, and over both of these one charioteer presides, the ardor of possessing. For avarice alone, since it does not allow itself to hire several, is content with one servant. He himself, being a most prompt and tireless executor of the imposed work, uses most bitter scourges in driving the beasts that draw, by the lust of acquiring and the fear of losing." Hence it is that the avaricious and the rich, even if they feast splendidly, burn all night sleepless; and the poor, fatigued by daily labor and content with a morsel of bread, enjoy peaceful sleep through the winter nights. Morally, learn here how much parsimony, equally as labor, is useful and pleasant: hence the laborious life of farmers makes them robust, cheerful, honest, healthy, holy; wherefore they sleep more sweetly and better. For great is the usefulness and pleasantness of sleep: for sleep restores and nourishes strength, equally as food. For this reason "sleep divides half of life with us," says Philo. Whence St. Basil with Anthony in the Melissa, part I, chapter xlii: "Give thanks, he says, to him who wonderfully refreshes us through sleep from continuous labors, and by the benefit of brief rest brings us back again to vigor of strength." Hence the Sicyonians painted sleep taming lions. Pausanias in Corinth.: "There is, he says, no pain so savage that it is not lulled to sleep by sleep," and he gives the reason, that then the senses are lulled, which feel pains; these same are strengthened by sleep, so that they more easily bear pains and labors in waking. "Sleep," says Cicero in book I of On Divination, "is the refuge of all labors" and "the tamer of hunger," says Menander. "It is rest of the soul, as it were laying down a burden and refreshing itself, and withdrawing into seclusion," says Themistius. "It is the harbor of life," says Seneca in Hercules Furious. "It is a gift of the gods and forgetfulness of labors," says Plutarch in the book On Superstition. "It is a sweet veil of the eyes and mind," says the Poet. "It is a youthful and childlike god," says Euclides in Stobaeus, discourse 6. This good of sleep avarice snatches away from the miser and gluttony from the rich man. "For indeed the satiety of the rich man does not allow him to sleep. For desire excites him, care excites him, the sleepless anxiety of seizing another's property torments him, envy torments him, delay vexes him, the barren sterility of harvests disturbs him, abundance troubles him," says St. Ambrose in On Naboth, chapter vi. In this therefore is fulfilled that saying of Jeremiah xvi, 13: "You shall serve strange gods (mammon and the belly) day and night, which shall not give you rest." The same applies to the proud man, the envious man, the quarrelsome man, the glutton, and any sinner whatsoever. This is what Sirach says, chapter xxxi, 23: "Watching and choler, and torture to a man without understanding; the sleep of the temperate in a man sparing: he shall sleep in the morning, and his soul shall be delighted with him." See the sayings there. Wherefore St. Jerome, or whoever is the author of the Exhortation to Virgins, chapter xxxv: "Let there be," he says, "such sobriety in taking food, such and so great frugality, that the belly rather complain than rejoice. Let not the stomach need medicine in digesting; let evacuation rather bring forth belching than excessive repletion." Whence St. Augustine, in book X of the Confessions, chapter xxxi, says: "You taught me this (O Lord), that just as I approach to take medicines, so I approach to take food;" so that just as medicines are not taken for satiety, but for the health of the body, so food is not taken for satiety, but for the sustenance of the same body. And this St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, observed, to whom (as is read in his Life) it was never a care to feed the body, but to sustain it. He who for the sake of the Lord gave his flesh scanty bread and little water, deserved to be refreshed with the bread of life and understanding, since he was renowned for wisdom and an outstanding teacher of his time. Hence the Fathers teach that in the refreshment of the body the greater part should be given to the refreshment of the mind, in pious reading or meditation. Hear St. Bernard to the Brethren of Mount God: "When you eat, by no means eat entirely, but while your body procures its own refreshment, let your mind not neglect its own, but from the memory of the sweetness of the Lord, or something from the Scriptures which may feed it, meditating or at least remembering, let it chew and digest with itself." And St. Basil: "In feasting it is fitting to take care of this, lest we present the appearance of gluttons, but let us everywhere maintain constancy and gentleness, and in partaking of pleasures an equal continence, nor ought we to be so much at leisure in our minds that we neglect meditations on divine things: indeed, since we have the satiety of foods and the working of the body as an argument for beginning divine praises, especially when it comes to mind how various kinds of food accommodated to the quality of bodies were invented by him who moderates and governs all things." Thus St. Basil, epistle 1. Mystically, sleep is the rest of conscience, which he possesses who works the works of virtue, which the rich man lacks, he who yearns after earthly goods. Hear Cassian, Collation xxiv, chapter v: "And truly if you wish to compare the sweet-smelling flower of virginity and the most tender purity of chastity with the foul and fetid wallowings of lusts, the peace and security of monks with the dangers and hardships with which the men of this world are entangled; the rest of our poverty with the sorrowful greed of the rich and the sleepless cares with which they are consumed day and night not without the greatest peril of life, you will easily approve the most sweet yoke of Christ and his lightest burden." Hence the Seventy translate at this place, sweet is the sleep of the servant, that is, of the obedient one, such as is the religious who has freed himself from all care, indeed following the counsel of the Psalmist has cast his care upon the Lord, Psalm liv, 23; and therefore he sleeps most peacefully on both ears. From this St. Chrysostom draws certain beautiful conclusions, or theorems, or axioms. The first is, that true pleasure, such as the sweetness of sleep, is not purchased with gold, nor with delights, nor with leisure, but with exercise and labor; for that is its reward. The second, that the poor live an equally honest and pleasant life in poverty and labor as the rich do in leisure and luxury: because by day a cheap meal tastes better to a poor man who is hungry than all the delights to a rich man who is satiated and nauseated; by night moreover the poor man sleeps sweetly, while the rich man lies awake, and is tormented by intemperance and a thousand cares. The third, that the poor are healthier and more robust than the rich, who consequently are forced to live miserably, that is, under medical care: "For indeed," he says, "many sicknesses rush upon the rich in their pleasures; but the poor are free from the hands of physicians. But if sometimes they should fall into weakness, they quickly restore themselves, being free from all softness, and having robust bodies. Great wealth is poverty for those who bear it wisely. A treasure that cannot be taken away, a most firm staff, a blameless possession, a lodging safe from snares." See Titelmann here graphically describing the sleepless nights of the rich, and the torments of body and soul.
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12. AND THERE IS ANOTHER MOST GRIEVOUS INFIRMITY, WHICH I SAW UNDER THE SUN: RICHES KEPT TO THE EVIL OF THE OWNER THEREOF. — "Infirmity," that is misery, affliction, hardship: St. Jerome, a most grievous languor; Symmachus, a bad disease; Olympiodorus, a grave and intense disease; St. Ambrose, in Psalm. 1: a bad languor; the Syriac, a bad infirmity; the Arabic, it is greed; Vatable, it is a grievous evil; others, it is a bad sickness; Campensis, I found another most sorrowful kind of evil. KEPT TO THE EVIL. — Evil here can be understood both as fault. Whence Aquila translates, to his malice. For riches are to the rich an occasion of pride, gluttony, luxury, rapine and all crimes; then rather as punishment. Whence Olympiodorus translates, to their ruin; the Zurich Bible, by their possessors to their own destruction. This is the sixth vanity of riches and avarice, that they are treacherous, and afflict the rich man himself, and then strangle and kill him, in that they are the cause or occasion of his death: for the rich are often vexed by lawsuits, mulcted of their wealth, and even killed, that they may be despoiled of their riches, whether by robbers, or by unjust judges and princes, or by partners, etc., as Naboth was killed by Ahab, that he might possess his vineyard, III Kings XXI. Plutarch relates in his Parallels that Brennus, king of the Gauls, asked his soldiers to pour the gold they carried into the bosom of a most avaricious maiden, whom he loved, yet who loved gold more than the king: whereby it came to pass that she was overwhelmed with a great weight of gold while living. Thus the wealthy are suffocated by their own gold. Wherefore the Wonderworker translates that to keep riches hidden is to keep for oneself the occasions of six hundred evils. The Greek lyric poet Timocreon wrote a song against Plutus the god of riches, in which he thus sings: "Would that, O blind Plutus, thou didst appear neither on earth, nor on sea, nor on the continent; but didst dwell in Tartarus and the Acheron! For through thee all evils among men." Hear St. Ambrose, in Psalm. 1: "The languor of avarice, the languor of insatiable desire. These riches are, as Ecclesiastes says: There is a bad languor, which I saw under the sun: riches are kept to the evil of him that possesseth them. Tell me, O Ecclesiastes, for what reason is this bad languor? He will answer: Because a greedy hope devours many. The insatiable greediness of desire is, it knows not how to be satisfied with silver, he who covets silver. Riches distend, they do not fill, and if anyone should be satisfied with riches, there is not, he says, one who allows him to sleep. And indeed all his days are in darkness and mourning, and much anger, and languor, and wrath." Whence he concludes: "Therefore a bad languor, which takes away the good peace of mind." Wherefore by "the evil of the owner" can also be understood the care, solicitude, affliction, which riches bring to the master, while, as St. Ambrose says, lib. I On Cain and Abel, the avaricious man "shakes the elements, furrows the sea, and digs the earth, wearies heaven with his prayers, is grateful neither in fair weather nor in foul, condemns the annual harvests, and angry, reproaches the lands." Finally the Chaldean by this evil understands the punishment of the avaricious in the future age: "It is," he says, "a pernicious evil, which I saw under the sun, to which there is no remedy: a man who gathers riches, and does not apply them to piety, seeing but little the end of his days. For this substance is kept for him to his ruin in the age to come." For in the future life the avaricious will be tormented with extreme poverty, want, hunger, thirst in the fire of hell, as the rich man is tormented at the feast; which the poets represented through Tantalus, who, thirsting in the midst of waters reaching to his mouth, is yet never allowed to draw them into his mouth, and to quench his thirst. Hear Salvian, lib. I To the Catholic Church: "To the avaricious," says Holy Scripture, "nothing is more wicked, and the worst and most fatal kind of disease: Riches kept to the evil of the owner thereof: it is true; for what is worse, or what more miserable, than if someone converts present goods into future evils, and those things which were given by God for this purpose, that from them might be prepared perpetual happiness of life, through these very things seeks death and eternal damnation." Tropologically, Hugh understands by riches the abundance of sciences and virtues, which are kept to the evil of the owner, when he himself abuses them to vanity or glory, or gain. Our Alvarez de Paz, lib. I On Spiritual Life part II, cap. xiii, understands by riches the abundance of graces and all means to perfection, with which religious abound; but while they neglect to use them through sloth, they turn to their greater damnation, Eccles. v, 12: "Riches kept to the evil of the owner thereof." St. Cyril represents this maxim with an illustrious fable of the peacock and the raven, interspersed with golden maxims like gems, in Book III of his Moral Apology, chapter xvi: "When the raven beheld the peacock stripped of his golden feathers on all sides, mocking the pompous and once wealthy bird, he said: Where is thy desirable plumage painted with wondrous lights? Whither hath the glory of thy gleaming wings departed? And whither hath fled the marvellous adornment of thy glittering feathers? But he, mild and patient, indignant at the mocking words, replied: Although the insatiable gulf of human cupidity hath swallowed up the riches of feathers, yet by the benefit of nature the reparative art shall not be wanting, truly liberal. Wherefore, although I am now deprived of feathers, yet I have not lost the hope of recovering them; but thou art always wretched. To which the other said: In adversities, as I see, thy calamity is not instructed by calamities." Then, exaggerating the folly of the peacock, he adds: "Now thou art bereft of thy tail, and thou hast not seen whence it came to pass; thou art impoverished, and thou hast not felt whence the loss befell thee. Evil hath not taught thee at all: wherefore it groweth without restraint. In truth, thy beloved feather hath made thee hateful, and thy fair tail hath brought thee to dishonour, and so what was thy wealth to thee but poverty? For because thou hadst this, thou hast lost it, and again thou desirest that from which thou art unhappily stripped with sorrows." Whence he gathers this epimythium, as it were the aim and fruit of the fable: "Wherefore it is better not to have than to lose a desired thing; I certainly render glad and worthy thanks to nature, because she gave me a poor feather, and by such nature I think myself rich. For in this way I am my own, and beloved as a prey by no one. My black feather doth illuminate me, and my poor plume doth enrich me, and my despised little tail doth protect me. But thy riches make thee poor, thy desirables hateful, thy delights sorrowful, thy glories dishonourable, thy felicities wretched and thy excrescences diminished. Accursed therefore are such riches, which impoverish, bereave of tail and bring shame upon their possessor. For their possession is turned into nakedness, their sweetness into sorrow, their boasting into confusion, and their beauty into deformity. Rejoice therefore, if thou art prudent, that thou hast lost hostile riches, and seek them no further, but judge thyself opulent if thou lackest them. With which the master, having instructed, hath enriched the impoverished."
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13. THEY PERISH IN MOST GRIEVOUS AFFLICTION. — The word "they" cannot refer to "his lord"; for thus it would have to be said: "the lord perishes"; wherefore it must be referred to "riches." Whence the Hebrew texts have, "that wealth perished in evil occupation"; and the old edition of St. Jerome has, "those riches perished in most grievous distension." The sense is, as if you were to say: Riches are often preserved to the evil of their master, because they perish to him, that is, are taken from him by force, or fraud, or shipwreck, or some other misfortune, and leave him poor, afflict and torment him, and subsequently cause him to perish and destroy him, while on account of them life is stripped away. Whence that saying of St. Augustine: "What Christ does not take, the treasury snatches"; and: "The miser, while gathering, is gathered; while he wishes to be a plunderer, he becomes plunder," says the same St. Augustine in Psalm xxxviii. Aptly Plutarch, in his work On the Love of Riches, calls the cupidity of misers asinine and whorish: "because just as an ass carrying wood to the baths, always filled with smoke and ash, comes into no part of the bath's warmth and cleanliness: so avarice eviscerates a man with labor, so that he may become rich, and yet is never satisfied with his riches. He compares it moreover with mice, which devour gold in the mines, and do not yield it except when dead and dissected; likewise with pottery channels, which retain nothing in themselves: for thus misers heap up much, so that they may leave it to heirs; and these to others, and so on thereafter." Most excellently St. Chrysostom, homily 10 on the epistle to the Hebrews: "Behold," he says, "what great evils are done on account of money, in that we are held by a certain affection and passion concerning it: for example, if someone loses money, he leads a life worse than any death. Why do you grieve, O man? Why do you weep, because God has freed you from the care of guarding superfluous things? Why do you not sit trembling and fearful? Tell me, if someone were to bind you to a treasure, commanding that you always sit by it, expend watchful care on things not your own, would you not grieve and bear it with difficulty? You had bound yourself with the worst chains, and because you have been freed from that servitude, you grieve." The same, homily 33: "For this reason God took away riches from you, so that he might free you from the worst servitude. For even the best father, when he sees his son perishing from love of some harlot, if he neglects to hear his admonitions, removes that harlot from his midst and thrusts him into distant exile. Such is also the abundance of riches. Therefore, caring for us as a true father and most good Lord, wishing to free us from this harm, he takes away from us money, by love of which our mind is corrupted." For "most grievous affliction" the Hebrew has "in evil occupation," which some understand of vice and sin, as if to say: Riches often perish to the rich man, because they were obtained through wickedness, namely through usury, fraud, robbery, unjust contract, according to that saying of St. Jerome, epistle 160 to Hedib., Question I: "A rich man is either wicked, or the heir of a wicked man"; and that of Plato, book V of the Laws: "The true discourse to us is, that indeed the rich are not good"; and Menander: "A just man never became rich quickly." Whence the Chaldean renders it, "because indeed he had obtained it through evil arts, it shall not be confirmed in his son, nor shall anything remain to him." Better, however, does our author understand by "evil occupation" "most grievous affliction"; and the Septuagint, "most grievous distension"; Campensis, "riches perish after they have grievously afflicted their masters." For the miser is afflicted by anxiety in preserving and increasing his wealth, and by sorrow and grief in losing it, when he sees it taken from him by thieves, or princes, or friends, or rivals, or adverse fortune. HE BEGAT A SON WHO SHALL BE IN EXTREME WANT. — In Hebrew, Greek, Syriac and Arabic, "and there is nothing in his hand"; Zurich, "who shall have absolutely nothing"; Campensis, "nor indeed to them, nor to their children was anything left"; Chaldean, "and the inheritance left to his children after death shall utterly perish." This is a new affliction of the rich miser, that he sees his riches perish not only to himself, but also to his son, so that he leaves him in extreme want: either because the riches perished, whether by theft or by some misfortune, to the father; or because the son squandered them prodigally; or because, following his father in this, he sordidly covets wealth, and does not dare to use it, but wastes away with hunger and hardship, so that he may preserve the riches untouched. Moreover, commonly the poverty and loss of children afflicts parents more than their own. Hence in England we have seen certain Catholics who stood firm under torments, fall away from the faith, lest they be despoiled of goods and nobility, and be forced to leave their sons poor and ignoble. For it is hard for a parent to hear continually from his sons and grandsons: On your account we are wretched, needy, exiles, ignoble: you have lost and destroyed the honor of our family. Through you the nobility of our whole lineage has perished; whereas on the other hand, if a man be alone and without children, it is easy and glorious for him, for the love of God, faith and orthodox religion, to lose fortunes, nobility and life. For this is the praise and glory of martyrdom. This is the seventh vanity of wealth and avarice; the eighth follows.
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14. AS HE CAME FORTH NAKED FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB, SO SHALL HE RETURN, AND SHALL TAKE NOTHING OF HIS LABOUR WITH HIM. — The Arabic version: and he found nothing from his labour, that he might go carrying it in his hand; thus also nearly the Hebrew, the Septuagint and the Syriac. Whence St. Jerome: he takes nothing to hold in his hand; Vatable: that he depart as he came; Campensis: thus naked shall they return to the earth dying, as naked they came forth from it being born, nor shall they carry away with them anything of those things which they gathered together with so much labour, according to that: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither," Job i, 21. St. Cyprian, in the tract On Death, reads: "Naked came I forth from my mother's womb, naked also shall I return under the earth." And that: "We brought nothing into this world: it is certain that neither can we carry anything out," I Timothy vi, 7; and that: The rich man "when he shall be dead, shall take nothing with him (nothing, that is, means all, which is a Hebraism): neither shall his glory descend with him," Psalm xlviii, 18. All riches therefore, all pomp, all the good things of this world are garments to be stripped off by each one at death. The same philosophers saw: Seneca, in the book On Morals: "All infants, he says, the earth receives naked." Pliny, at the beginning of book VII, comparing man with other animals, in that nature has generated him alone naked and unarmed among all things: "Man, he says, alone naked, and on bare ground, on the day of his birth is cast forth to crying." Note: Here sicut has the force of comparison and inference, as if to say: From the fact that we are born naked, it is clear that clothes, riches and other good things, which this world furnishes to us, are not our own, but lent to us, and granted for use, so long as we live here: wherefore it is not permitted to us, when we depart and die, to carry them away with us, just as a servant who enters the house of a prince receives a sword, cloak and garments worthy of the prince; but when he leaves the house, he puts back the same things in it and returns them, as if lent for the time of service, and belonging to another, not to himself. Furthermore the Chaldean interpreter explains that the rich man goes forth from life naked, because he goes forth without the merits of good works, which he neglected through avarice, sloth, gluttony, etc.
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15. A MISERABLE INFIRMITY INDEED! — In Hebrew, mala, that is, worst infirmity, concerning which see verse 12. Another translates it, this also painful evil; Zurich, that disease is bad; Vatablus, this also a punishment full of toil; Campensis, but this also is a sad evil; Chaldean, a bad disease, for which there is no medicine, or which we cannot cure. It is an exclamation upon human misery, which he exaggerates in what follows; for although all mortals experience it, yet the rich and avaricious feel it most keenly, to whom at death it is a grave torment to leave riches so greatly loved and gathered with such labor, and to be able to carry nothing of them with them, or to take anything as provision for the journey. The Septuagint: and indeed all his days in darkness, and in mourning, and in much anger, and in languor, and in madness; Syriac, and also all his days he eats in darkness, and in great fury, and in anger, and sadness and infirmity; Arabic, and therefore all his days in darkness, and lamentation, and in much anger, and infirmity, and bitterness. AS HE CAME, SO SHALL HE RETURN. — For "as" in Hebrew it is כל עמת col ummath, which Cajetan translates, all against, or in the manner; whence he translates, all against, or just as he came, so he goes, that is to say, every man in the manner in which he comes being born without wealth, so he goes dying; he comes meeting nakedness, naked he goes meeting likewise nakedness, which receives him naked at birth, naked likewise at death. It is a prosopopoeia, for nakedness is feigned as a person and mother, sending all men naked into life when they are born, and receiving them naked when they die. Another translates it, in every way, or in all respects as he came, so he goes; Zurich, in every respect, without opposition in which he came, that is most fully, in precisely the manner in which each one comes into the world, so he will depart; Campensis, all in the manner in which they entered the world, so also they will leave the world; Campensis, there is a vicissitude of all things: עמת ummat indeed signifies conjunction, consequence, necessity, society, likeness. Whence עמית amith is called a companion. Therefore to the letter you would properly translate thus: in all congruity and likeness as he came, so he shall return. Perhaps also the Masoretes wrongly by diastole wrote it in two words col ummat, when it should be written by systole in one word כלעמות kilummat, that is to the letter, according to congruity, or likeness, that is as, similarly, as Our translation renders it, the Septuagint, Chaldean, Syrian, Arabic and all others. The sum: kilummat signifies the complete congruity, agreement, likeness in the nakedness of being born and dying, that man, as he was born completely naked, so completely naked he should die and depart from the world. Hence the pagans of old when someone was dying inserted only an obol in his mouth, so that he might pay it as passage to Charon, who carries the souls of the dead through the Styx and Acheron to the underworld, as Lucian relates in his Dialogue on Mourning, by which they signified that he was completely naked, alone, abandoned by all, and destitute of all things, groaning and weeping, and exposed to all injuries, as he had been born, so to die and return to the earth, the common mother of all, equally as to the grave. The Chaldean adds that he returns as he came, deprived of merits: As, he says, man comes into the world deprived of merits, so he goes into another age. WHAT PROFIT THEN IS IT TO HIM THAT HE LABORED IN THE WIND? — For "profit" in Hebrew it is יתרון iitron, which the Septuagint translate, what abundance, by which he labors in the wind? Syriac, in spirit; Symmachus, what then more to him who labored? The old edition of St. Jerome, what abundance of him who labors in the wind? Arabic, what excellence to him who labors with the winds? Zurich, what profit of labor befell him who vainly expended toils? others, what utility, or what will remain to him? Campensis, what will it profit that his mind has flowed away here in various cares? Chaldean, what increase can come to him because he labored to catch the wind? Olympiodorus, why do you labor in the wind, since riches are altogether unstable, and like a water bubble when it deflates? Thus in Zechariah vi, splendid kingdoms and their riches and glory are compared to the wind, because like winds they are fleeting, contrary, and mutually conflicting against each other, impetuous, and they go away immediately into smoke and wind. Titelmannus adds: Because the wind scatters what is gathered, so that there is no use of them; and Thaumaturgus: The wind, he says, denotes the impulse and ardor by which the avaricious man gathered riches, immediately to pass away with the riches, and to vanish thin into the breezes. Now consider how great is the misery, affliction and mental anguish of the laborer, who after asinine labors of many years, without wages, without clothing, naked is thrust from his home! How great is that of the farmer, who after assiduous and greatest labors of winter naked, infirm and famished is expelled from his field and his harvest, and know that he is similar to the rich avaricious man in death.
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16. ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE HE ATE IN DARKNESS, AND IN MANY CARES, AND IN TROUBLE AND SADNESS. — The Septuagint: and indeed all his days in darkness, and in mourning, and in much anger, and in languor, and in madness. Lyranus refers this passage to the rich man who lost his riches, verses 12 and 13. For from there the discourse is drawn in a continuous thread up to this point, as if to say: The avaricious rich man, who lost his wealth, dwells in darkness and mourning, that is in constant sorrow, and wastes away in filth. Others, however, take it generally and indiscriminately of the avaricious man who, having gathered wealth, greedily covets it; as if you were to say: The avaricious man not only when he dies, or when he loses his wealth, but even when he lives and abounds in riches, lives miserably and sordidly. But why does he "eat in darkness"? The Chaldean responds first that he dwells in darkness so that he may eat his bread alone. The Interlinear Gloss adds, secretly and in sorrow, as if to say: He eats alone in secret darkness, lest in public he be forced to live more splendidly with others. Second, because he is so occupied during the day with business, commerce and gain, that he does not dine except in passing, but only takes supper at night, as I know many merchants in Belgium do. Thus Cajetan. Third, Hugo offers three causes: the first, because he defers eating until supper on account of guests; the second, from shame, because he eats so basely that he is ashamed to eat in daylight and light; the third, from avarice, lest he eat twice a day: thus the ancients from temperance ate only once a day, as Plato testifies, and that in the evening, so that they might give the whole day to action or study and contemplation, as the Essenes did, or the first Christians of Alexandria under St. Mark, as testified by Josephus, Eusebius, St. Jerome and others. St. Anthony did the same, St. Hilarion and many anchorites, who were ashamed to eat during the day like animals, because they nourished their minds with the delights of angels; therefore they took food in the evening. Some very studious and religious men still do the same. Fourth, he notes the avarice of light. For the avaricious, in order to spare oil, have little light at night, by which they work and eat. Whence Lucian in the Timon graphically depicts them, "who would spare and hoard for a smoky and narrow-mouthed little lamp and a thin rush, watching over usuries." We know very wealthy merchants who rebuked their servants with great outcries because they made the wick denser for greater light, complaining that it consumed more oil. And when asked the reason, they replied that by attending to and guarding these small things they had come to such great wealth. Fifth and genuinely, darkness denotes the filth and squalor of the avaricious and their dark, black, sad and mournful life. Whence, explaining these, he adds: "And in many cares, and in trouble and sadness:" for darkness is the symbol and cause of these, just as conversely light is the symbol and cause of freedom, cheerfulness and joy. Whence the Septuagint has, all his days in darkness and mourning; the Arabic, in darkness and lamentation; Thaumaturgus, for such a man days are darkness, and life is mourning; Campensis, he lives sordidly. Mystically, the avaricious man lives in darkness, that is in ignorance, says Olympiodorus; in the evils of guilt and punishment, says Dionysius. St. Ambrose, in the book On Naboth, chapter viii, notes that St. Luke rightly says to the avaricious man: "Fool, this night they will demand thy soul of thee. For the soul of the avaricious is demanded at night, which begins in darkness and persists in darkness. For the avaricious it is always night, who like the moon is changed, whereas for the just it is day, to whom it is said: This day thou shalt be with me in paradise;" and: "The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father." AND IN MANY CARES. — Hebrew, in much anger; Septuagint, in much indignation, for cares produce this. Whence care is said to be named from eating the heart, or burning the heart, says Festus; hence care is called devouring and biting. "Care," says Donatus, "is in the hope of goods, anxiety in the fear of evils." Truly St. Bernard says: "Human life," he says, "is full of the sorrow of things past, the labor of things present, the fear of things future." AND IN TROUBLE. — Hebrew, and in infirmity, or languor, or pain; Chaldean, in sicknesses; Septuagint, in anger; Olympiodorus, in sad anger: for the principal sicknesses of the soul are in sadness and anger; Vatablus, because on account of perishing wealth he is tormented in thought, and in sadness, in groaning, in indignation, in quarrels, seeking in vain labor." Whence St. Jerome: "Languor is worst; on account of indignation and anger he frequently falls into sickness;" Campensis, tormenting himself. Trouble is annoyance, misery, lasting affliction. "The troubled man is so called from rumination, because through want he becomes miserable and hungers and thirsts," says Isidore, book X of the Origins, that is to say, the troubled man is one who has nothing to eat and to chew; but Festus says: "Aerumnulas, Plautus reports, are little forks by which travelers carried their bundles tied up; because C. Marius revived their use, mules were afterwards called Marian mules. Thus aerumnae signify burdensome labors, whether they are derived from the Greek language; for αἴρειν in Greek, in Latin to carry, is said." Thus Festus. Cicero, in the fourth book of the Tusculan Disputations, chapter twenty-nine: "Trouble, he says, is laborious sorrow." The same, in book II of On Ends, chapter one hundred eighty-seven: "Or I would demand from you to endure the troubles of Hercules (for thus our ancestors, not fleeing unavoidable labors, named them with a most sorrowful word, troubles, even in God), I would demand this from you." Plautus, in the Amphitryon: "That by one labor he might resolve two troubles." Thus the poets call troubles labors. Plautus in the Persian: "He surpassed the troubles of Hercules with troubles." The troubles of the avaricious man are many: one not insignificant is that which R. Haccados reports, namely that in poverty and want of all things he wishes to live, so that he might die in opulence and abundance and plenty of things which he is forced to leave behind: wherefore "avarice is diminished neither by plenty nor by want," says St. Jerome. AND SADNESS. — Thus also the Syriac; the Arabic, in bitterness; the Hebrew, in indignation, or fury, which is anger boiling, fervent and foaming like a raging sea. Whence the Septuagint translates it as insanity; Campensis, they exercise enmities. Anger and sadness are cognate and companion passions: for anger begets sadness, while the angry man cannot drive away the evil on account of which he is angry. Conversely sadness begets anger; for the sad man is angered by the evil which brings him sadness. Whence Olympiodorus: "The sad man, he says, is spurred on by irascibility, and on slight occasion rises into contention, and grows hot, his mind occupied with grave sorrow." Add that black bile is naturally mixed with yellow; wherefore where one abounds, the other also shines forth; but black bile in the body causes melancholy and sadness in the soul, yellow bile however causes anger and indignation. The avaricious man is troubled by cares, says Cardinal Hugh, in order to acquire; by trouble, in order to preserve; by sadness, if he loses; and often on account of indignation he falls into sickness. Or in many cares, says Bonaventure, on account of solicitude, as also solitude in darkness; in trouble, on account of the meagerness of expenditure; in sadness, on account of the necessity of spending. Elegantly Vivianus translates: A life covered in darkness / Scarcely bore anything sweet, / All things full of complaints, all things / Filled with anguish, and with miserable / Waves of contention. And St. Jerome: "Languor is worst for indignation and anger; he frequently falls into sickness;" Campensis, torturing himself. Trouble is annoyance, misery, lasting affliction. Whence Lucian in the Dream, or the Cock, exclaims: "O wretch, what sort of life does he live! He grows pale and is entirely dried up, and wasted away by cares: for it has not been heard that he otherwise fares badly. May it befall his enemies to be rich in this manner." Hence riches are called thorns by Christ, Matthew xiii, 22, because just as thorns most sharp and keen, they inflict and fix the sharp stings of sorrows equally on the soul and on the body, by which they continually goad and prick man, as St. Gregory beautifully teaches, homily 15 in the Gospel. Hear also St. Chrysostom, homily 3 on the second epistle to the Thessalonians: "Thorns are the food of irrational camels, they are nourishment and fuel of fire useful for nothing: such are riches, they are of use to no one except for the burning of a furnace; for the burning of that day, which will burn like an oven; for the nourishment of irrational affections, such as the memory of injuries and anger. Such also is the camel feeding on thorns: it is also reported by those who have seen such things, that there is no beast among all beasts of burden which so tenaciously holds a received injury, which is so difficult to appease in anger, which so remembers an inflicted evil, as the camel. Such are riches, they feed irrational affections of the mind: but they prick and wound rational ones, just as thorns do." The same, homily On Avarice, volume V: "Riches, he says, while they are shut up and buried, roar more fiercely than lions, and disturb all things. But if you should draw them forth from darkness, and scatter them into the bellies of the poor, from wild beasts they become sheep, which had been treacherous leaders; instead of rocks, they become harbors; instead of shipwreck, tranquility." This maxim, which is stated literally concerning the avaricious, you may adapt equally to the proud, the gluttonous, the slothful, the envious, the wrathful, and indeed to those vainly devoted to the study of sciences. For these keep vigil night and day in order to attain honors, delights, leisure, eminence, vengeance, and vain knowledge, and thus waste their entire lifetime in vain, and miserably spend it "in darkness and in many cares, and in trouble and sadness, he who feeds himself in the darkness of cares with his riches, and compares perishable things with great desire, there is only the magnitude of anxieties." And Olympiodorus: "It behooves you, O avaricious man," he says, "to consider also this, that God has given you but few and countable days for living." NUMBER OF DAYS. — Symmachus, ψήφῳ, that is, by calculation, as though by calculation and the suffrage of God each man's day stands for a long time. Again, because by the calculation of divine decree the days of life are numbered and defined for each person, according to that: "The days of man are short, the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed," Job xiv, 5. AND THIS IS HIS PORTION. — "Portion," that is, lot, as I said above. Allegorically and anagogically Olympiodorus: The portion is the liberal inheritance of glory in heaven decreed for him, and enduring stable forever: "It is," he says, "to distribute one's riches to the poor, and from such dispensation to receive solid joy."
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17. THIS THEREFORE SEEMED GOOD TO ME, THAT A MAN SHOULD EAT AND DRINK, AND ENJOY JOY FROM HIS LABOR, WHICH HE LABORED FOR HIMSELF UNDER THE SUN, IN THE NUMBER OF THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE, WHICH GOD GAVE TO HIM: AND THIS IS HIS PORTION. — This maxim and the following are explained in chapters ii and iii, wherefore I shall dispatch them briefly. For it is a conclusion repeatedly returned to, by which from the vanity of wealth and avarice he concludes that he has learned by experience that it is better to use moderately and honestly the riches obtained by his labor, than to hoard them avariciously for no use or the uncertain use of an uncertain heir. The Hebrew: behold what I have seen to be good, which is beautiful to eat and drink and to see good. St. Jerome: to see joy, that is to enjoy joyfully and happily things obtained by his labor. The Arabic: this is good, which is the best, to eat, etc. The Syriac: it will be good which is also fitting; Vatable: good is the honest; Campensis: in my judgment therefore it is more pleasant to eat, drink and enjoy good things amid these miseries by which we are afflicted under the sun, in those few days of our life which God has granted us; because man will receive nothing more from all things. But the Chaldean through seeing good or goodness understands both to do good and to enjoy good things; whence he translates: behold what seemed good to me: to the sons of men, and what is beautiful to them, that they do in this age, that they eat and drink from their labors, and do not extend their hand to violence and rapine; and that they keep the words of the law, and that they have mercy on the poor and strangers, that they may see good in all their labors, which they have labored in this age under the sun in the number of the days of their life, which God gave them with a good star, because this is his portion, and there is no other besides him. And the Thaumaturgus: by the benefit of God it befalls man that he enjoys his labors with the delight of mind, possessing riches divinely received, and not extorted by force. For neither is he afflicted with sorrows, nor for the most part does he measure his life with evil and lost thoughts, enjoying tranquility of mind in all things, and exulting in joy on account of God's gift.
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18. AND TO EVERY MAN TO WHOM GOD HATH GIVEN RICHES AND SUBSTANCE, AND HATH GIVEN HIM POWER (by removing from him avarice, and giving him a cheerful and liberal heart, so that he may dare to use and enjoy his own frugally and liberally) TO EAT OF THEM, AND TO ENJOY HIS PORTION, AND TO REJOICE IN HIS LABOUR: THIS IS THE GIFT OF GOD. — For "hath given him power," the Hebrew is השליטו hislito, that is, he made him to have dominion over his riches; the Zurich version, "and he sets him as master, so that he may eat of it"; Campensis, "hath given him a mind." For man ought first to have dominion over his own mind, that is over his cupidity, so that he may have dominion over his riches. It signifies that the avaricious are not masters of riches, but slaves; the liberal, however, are masters. For, as Seneca says: "The avaricious ought not so much to be said to have riches, as to be had by them: riches are in servitude with the wise man, in dominion with the fool." The Chaldean: "And to every man also to whom God hath given riches and substance, God hath given him power, so that he may eat of it in this world, and so that he may make alms of it, and so that he may receive the perfect reward of his Father in the world to come, and may rejoice in his labour with the just: behold this is the gift which was given to him under his good star from the face of the Lord. THIS IS THE GIFT OF GOD. — Campensis, "this is an immense gift of God, far greater than the riches themselves." Hence St. Prosper proves that the good use of riches is a gift of God; for thus he says in book I of On the Calling of the Gentiles, chapter xxiv: "But in the book of Ecclesiastes it is said that both to have necessaries and to use them well is a gift of God's grace. It is not, he says, good for man, except that he eat and drink, and show his soul good in his labour. And indeed I have seen this, because it is from the hand of God. For who shall eat or be filled without him? Likewise in the same book it is read that the hearts and works of the just are in the hand of God, and they profit in their studies only as much as he hath given. However much man shall have laboured to seek, he shall not find; and whatever the wise man shall have said to know, he shall not be able to find: because I have given all this into my heart, and my heart hath seen all this, because both the just and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. But in the book of Wisdom concerning the same work of grace it is said, that he is both the guide of wisdom and the corrector of the wise. For in his hand are both we and our words, and all wisdom and the knowledge of works and discipline. Concerning continence also, that it is had from God's gift, the same Scripture thus speaks: That I knew that otherwise I could not be continent, unless God should give it: and this itself was of wisdom, to know whose gift this was." Now if the good use of riches is a gift of God's grace: therefore likewise the good use of sciences, honours, offices, stations, prefectures, etc., is a gift of God, and the greater, the greater the good is of science, honour, office, station, prefecture, etc., than riches are: especially because we can use or abuse these same things for the greater good or evil of the commonwealth; for they are more suited to either use than riches are.
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19. FOR HE SHALL NOT MUCH REMEMBER THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE, BECAUSE GOD OCCUPIETH HIS HEART WITH DELIGHTS. — That is to say, Such a man will not much occupy himself with remembering the days, namely the troubles of this life, so as to afflict himself, because God gives him joy, so that he may enjoy his things cheerfully. The Syrian: because God occupies him in the joy of his heart; the Arabic: because God draws him to the joys of his heart; the Chaldean: truly no one advances so far in age that he can make a reckoning of his days, how many of them will shine forth as happy and how many as calamitous: for they were not given according to the wish and judgment of men, but a decree prescribed by the Lord has been established, how many of those days he will pass in sorrow, and how many in tranquility of mind; Campensis: he who is such will remember little of the inconveniences of his life: for God exercises his heart with cheerfulness; Vatablus: because God hears him in the joy of his heart; others: because God repays in the joy of his heart, or answers in the joy of his heart. For the Hebrew ענה ana (whence מענה maane) properly signifies to answer, to repay, that is to say, The rich man, who uses his wealth liberally for his own and others' benefit, labors indeed in gathering riches and spending them honorably; but God in turn answers his labor, and repays him with joy equal, nay greater, than his labor. For just as in musical harmony the treble answers the bass, and as much as that depresses and lowers the voice, so much does this raise, exalt and exult: so likewise God the liberal one tempers sorrows and joys, and sadness and gladness of this life, so that the latter answers the former equally, nay outweighs it; therefore as much as sadness depresses him, so much and more does gladness exalt him, so that he exults, and thus from both together a fitting music and harmony is made, which delights both the just liberal man, and God and the angels. Now: First, you may refer this saying to the brevity of life. Whence Vatablus translates, he is little concerned how long he has lived or will live, who is always happy. Second, you may refer the same genuinely with Campensis to the troubles of life, labors, sorrows, which the liberal man does not think of, does not esteem, and as it were does not feel; because using his wealth conveniently he is more cheerful, and thus he rejoices, nor does he admit sad thoughts in his mind about the length of sorrows and labors. Third, you may refer the same partly to past, partly to future days of life, that is to say, The miser grieves over the past, is anxious about the future, for he fears lest his riches fail; but the liberal man passes the past days of life joyfully, and hopes for joyful future ones. Wherefore to the miser and unhappy man life seems long; but to the liberal and happy man it seems short. Fourth, the Chaldean refers it to the counting and comparison of happy and sad days, that is to say, The misers count more sad days than happy ones, but the liberal man counts more happy than sad. Fifth, Olympiodorus, making the sentence bipartite, thinks that here two reasons are brought forward, which persuade the miser to the good use of riches: the former is, that this life is brief and full of troubles; the second, that good use of riches is most pleasing to God, and wonderfully gladdens the mind of him who uses and does good, according to that: "The merciful man is joyful and he that giveth," Psalm cxi, 5. Finally, R. Solomon and from him Cajetan translate, he shall not remember the days of his life, because God provides testimony of the happiness of that rich man, continually gladdening his mind. But truly the Hebrew maane properly signifies answers, not provides testimony. Tropologically, Olympiodorus understands this name from spiritual riches, such as the works of virtues, especially of prayer and contemplation, and frequent and worthy reception of the Eucharist. For these delight the soul with angelic pleasures, and lull to sleep all sorrows and griefs. Thus indeed, as St. Jerome testifies, a spiritual man suffused with the delights of purest contemplation forgets the days of his life, which because heavenly consolations constrain, he complains pass not so much as fly away. Hence the great Anthony, praying and experiencing these divine pleasures, when the rising of the sun began to pour forth, was accustomed to proclaim: "Why do you hinder me, sun, who for this very reason are rising, that you might draw me away from the brightness of this true light?" With these complaints indeed accusing the night, which he had spent in contemplation, of brevity, and compelling the sun, which draws him from prayer and calls him to some necessary occupation. Truly a joyful life, which shortens mortal life, not by taking away something from its span, but by baiting our mind with the highest pleasures: a joyful life, by which we cleave to God, and are easily immersed in immense sweetness. For what prevents you, O man, although you dwell amid the miseries of this world, from saying that word of Ambrose: "You can both be here and be present to the Lord." Vivianus strictly, but acutely: I have called this man blessed, who with a shining hearth tempers his life with modest labor and joy. For, as St. Jerome says and Alcuin from him: "Although there be small pleasure in enjoying, yet if your soul cleave to it, if you walk after it in your thoughts, if you follow its ways in faith not in appearance, if you flee to it. For it is a refuge and a virtue, to which David says: I have fled to you, and I was not deceived." Thus St. Ambrose, On Flight from the World, chapter viii. Anagogically, the Blessed in heaven do not remember the sorrows and labors of the present life, so as to feel and grieve over them, because God fills and heaps their hearts with immense joy, which excludes all sorrow, fear, sadness, care, etc., according to that: "Blessed are they that dwell in your house, O Lord, they shall praise you for ever and ever."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
5:3
… This is evident from Sacred Scripture (cf., e.g., Eccl. 5:3-4) and from theological tradition. …
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.