The misery of the covetous man.
Riches make not men happie, because manie dye shortly: 3. and manie rich men wil not vse their riches. 8. Likewise studie to know al secrete thinges is vanitie, not felicitie.
1There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:Havvi ancora un'altra miseria, ch'io vidi sotto del sole, ed anche usitata tra gli uomini:THERE is also an other euil, which I haue sene vnder the sunne, and that frequent with men:Est et aliud malum quod vidi sub sole, / et quidem frequens apud homines: 2A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.Un uomo, a cui Dio ha date ricchezze, e beni, ed a cui nulla manca di tutto quello che ei può bramare in cuor suo; e Dio non gli da facoltà di mangiarne; ma il tutto sel divorerà un estraneo: questa è vanità, e miseria grande.A man to whom God hath geuen riches, and substance, and honour, and nothing is lacking to his soule of al thinges, which he desireth: neither doth God geue him powre to eate therof: but a strange man shal eate it vp. This is vanitie and great miserie.vir cui dedit Deus divitias, / et substantiam, et honorem, / et nihil deest animæ suæ ex omnibus quæ desiderat; / nec tribuit ei potestatem Deus ut comedat ex eo, / sed homo extraneus vorabit illud: / hoc vanitas et miseria magna est. 3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he.Se uno avrà generati cento figliuoli, e sarà vissuto molti anni, e fino all'età più avanzata, e l'anima di lui non avrà fatto uso dei beni, ch'egli possiede, ed ei resterà privo di sepoltura, riguardo a costui io decido, che val più di lui un aborto.If a man shal begette an hundred children, and shal liue manie yeares, and haue manie dayes of age, and his soule vse not the goods of his substance, and he lacke burial: of this man I pronounce, shat the vntimely borne is better then he.Si genuerit quispiam centum liberos, / et vixerit multos annos, / et plures dies ætatis habuerit, / et anima illius non utatur bonis substantiæ suæ, / sepulturaque careat: / de hoc ergo pronuntio quod melior illo sit abortivus. 4For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.Perocché costui senz'alcun pro viene al mondo e se ne va nelle tenebre e il suo nome è sepolto nell'oblio.For he came in vaine, and passeth to darknes, and his name shal be cleane forgotten.Frustra enim venit, / et pergit ad tenebras, / et oblivione delebitur nomen ejus. 5He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:Ei non ha veduto il sole, e non ha conosciuta la distanza del bene dal male:He hath not sene the sunne, nor knowen the distance of good and euil:Non vidit solem, / neque cognovit distantiam boni et mali.
6Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?Quand'egli avesse vivuto due mila anni; s'ei non lui goduti i beni: tutte le cose non corron elle verso lo stesso luogo?although he liued two thousand yeares, and hath not enioyed good thinges: do not al thinges hasten to one place?Etiam si duobus millibus annis vixerit, / et non fuerit perfruitus bonis, / nonne ad unum locum properant omnia ? 7All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.Tutte le fatiche dell'uomo son perla bocca: mal'anima di lui non si sazierà.Al the labour of man is in his mouth: but his soule shal not be filled.Omnis labor hominis in ore ejus; / sed anima ejus non implebitur. 8What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?Che ha egli il saggio, di più dello stolto! E che ha il povero se non d'incamminarsi verso quel luogo, dove è la vita?What hath the wiseman more then the foole? and what the poore man, but to passe thither, where life is?Quid habet amplius sapiens a stulto ? / et quid pauper, nisi ut pergat illuc ubi est vita ? 9Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.E meglio vedere quel che tu brami, che desiderare quello che tu non sai: ma questo pure è vanità, e presunzione di spirito.Better it is to see that, which thou maist couere, then to desire that, which thou canst not know. But this also is vanitie, and presumption of spirite.Melius est videre quod cupias, / quam desiderare quod nescias. / Sed et hoc vanitas est, et præsumptio spiritus. 10He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is a man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.Colui, che deve essere, fu già chiamato pel suo nome; e si sa, ch'egli è uomo, e non può in giudizio contendere contro chi ne può più di lui.He that shal be, his name is already called: and it is knowne, that he is a man, and can not contend in iudgement against a stronger then himself.Qui futurus est, jam vocatum est nomen ejus; / et scitur quod homo sit, / et non possit contra fortiorem se in judicio contendere. 11There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.Questo è un moltiplicar le parole, nelle quali tralle disputazioni molta vanità si ritrova.There be manie wordes, that haue much vanitie in disputing.Verba sunt plurima, / multamque in disputando habentia vanitatem.
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Horace
Thereof. "Di tibi divitias dederunt artemque fruendi." (Horace, 1:Ep. 4.)
Calmet
The proper use of riches is rare. (Calmet)
Worthington
Misery. Riches do not make people happy. (Worthington)
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Than he, since the latter has injured no one, nor experienced any evil in the world, (Calmet) by his own fault; (Menochius) whereas the miser has both hurt himself and others, and has neglected to make himself friends of the mammon of iniquity.
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Calmet
He. The infant, though some explain it of the miser. (Calmet)
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St. Jerome
Mouth. We are always providing food. (St. Jerome)
The rich are wholly bent on pleasure; or the poor cannot get a sufficiency.
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Haydock
Life. The wise poor shall be blessed. Hebrew, "the poor knowing how to walk before the living," (Haydock) in society (Calmet) among the saints. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Know. Enjoyment has the advantage over hope. Hebrew, "better is the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul," which denotes her desires. (Calmet)
Haydock
Presumption. Hebrew, "vexation." (Haydock)
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He, etc. This is plainly spoken of Christ, whose name was given before he was born; (St. Jerome; Worthington) or men resemble each other in all ages, (chap. 1:9.; Calmet) being proud, fragile, etc.
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Calmet
Disputing. Are we better acquainted with nature than former ages? This is another subject of confusion. (Calmet)
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Al this shevveth euidently ha• 〈…〉e consisteth not in riches.
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It is plainly preached (saith S. Iero.) of the coming of Christ, vvhose name was geuen, and knovven before he vvas borne in flesh.
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Fasting 6
… “Lest, when thou shalt have eaten, and drunken, and built excellent houses, thy sheep and oxen being multiplied, and (thy) silver and gold, thy heart be elated, and thou be forgetful of the Lord thy God.” To the corrupting power of riches He made the enormity of edacity antecedent, for which riches themselves are the procuring agents.
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1. AND ANOTHER EVIL (the Septuagint: wickedness, that is, misery, affliction), WHICH I SAW UNDER THE SUN, AND INDEED FREQUENT AMONG MEN. — The Hebrew: much upon men; the Chaldean: upon the sons of men; Symmachus: among men; the Arabic: under heaven; the Septuagint: under man, because namely men willingly lie upon it, and lie in it, so as to seem to wish to be evil, that is vain and miserable, just as a scabious man delights in scratching his scab and itching, even though by this he fosters and increases his scab. The same evil is upon man, because it dominates him and torments and vexes him. Whence the Zurich version translates: it is an evil obtaining dominion among men. Another: it is a great and much evil among men. The word another is not in the Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, or Arabic, but was added by the Interpreter for the sake of explanation. For it signifies another trouble of avarice, and a vanity distinct from that which he recounted in the preceding chapter, verse 12, namely, that riches are often gathered to the evil of the rich man, and avarice destroys its avaricious master. Here therefore he touched upon another vanity of it, or species of vanity, namely that the avaricious man among his riches is in want, and leaves them to a stranger, who squanders them. For although at the end of the preceding chapter he said it is a great good and a gift of God to use and enjoy one's own, yet he did not recount the contrary vanity of the avaricious man, who dares not use his own, which therefore he does here. Moreover, this avarice is frequent among men, especially among the Jews, to whom Solomon writes this. Whence even now we see Jews think of nothing but gains and riches, and pursue them through usuries, by fair means and foul. Hear St. Jerome on that passage of Isaiah II, 7: The land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end of its treasures: "Both nations," he says, "both of Jews and Romans are rebuked by these words for avarice. Which also both Greek and Latin histories relate, that there is no nation more avaricious than the Jews and Romans," in that age namely.
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2. A MAN TO WHOM GOD HATH GIVEN RICHES, AND SUBSTANCE, AND HONOUR, AND HIS SOUL WANTETH NOTHING OF ALL THAT HE DESIRETH: YET GOD GIVETH HIM NOT POWER TO EAT THEREOF, BUT A STRANGER SHALL DEVOUR IT; THIS IS VANITY AND A GREAT MISERY. — The Septuagint: this is vanity and a most grievous languor; the Arabic: this is vain and an unclean infirmity; Vatablus: a grave sorrow. AND HONOUR, — he joins honour with riches as a daughter to a mother, and as an effect to its cause. For riches give honours; hence we see the wealthy honoured and revered by all. Whence the Chaldean renders it, the glory of possessions; the Arabic, nobility; others, the splendour of dignity, which riches procure for the rich man. Substance — Cajetan, credulous toward his Jewish source, renders it in a novel way, gems. "And his soul wanteth nothing," that is, in desire and wish, as if to say: He has riches and abundance of things, as much as anyone can justly and honestly wish for. You will say, how then is it said in verse 7: "His soul shall not be filled"? I answer first, because the miser does not dare to use his own possessions. Thus he has riches as to ownership, but not as to use and enjoyment. Whence St. Jerome, in epistle 103 to Paulinus: "To the miser," he says, "what he has is as much lacking as what he does not have." Second, because he is insatiable, and the more he has, the more he desires, like a dog always gaping. Hear Seneca, epistle 72: "You have seen a dog catching morsels of bread or meat thrown by its master with open mouth; whatever it receives, it immediately devours whole, and always gapes in hope of more. The same happens to us: whatever nature has thrown to us in expectation, we let fall without pleasure, immediately stretched out and attentive to seize another's goods. This does not happen to the wise man; he is full: even if something comes his way, he receives it securely and sets it aside; he enjoys the greatest and continuous joy in his own possessions." NOR GIVETH HE HIM POWER TO EAT THEREOF. — In Hebrew: nor made God him master; hence it comes to pass that he is a slave of his riches, not their master. Whence the Zurich Bible: God did not establish him as master; Campensis: but gave him not the will to use them. Note: "nor giveth" can either be taken permissively, and the discourse be concerning the fault of avarice. For God does not compel the miser to this, but permits him the perverse use of free will so that he gives himself to avarice, as Olympiodorus says, just as God is said to have delivered philosophers, on account of pride, unto the passions of dishonour, Rom. I, 26; or positively, so that the discourse be concerning the punishment of avarice: for God inflicts this on the miser, while he despoils him of his goods, or forbids him to use them, either through an inflicted sickness, as Lyra wishes, or in some other way, as the Wonderworker and Cajetan wish. BUT A STRANGER (St. Jerome, an alien; the Zurich Bible, an outsider; Campensis, an unknown man) SHALL DEVOUR IT — that is, as Ecclesiastes chapter XIV explains: "He gathereth, and knoweth not for whom he gathereth," and this happens in various ways; the Chaldean assigns one here, rendering it paraphrastically thus: the Lord gave him not power, on account of his sin, to taste thereof; but he shall die without children, and had no pity on his neighbour, so as to make him his heir; for his wife shall be given to another man, who shall inherit them and devour them. The cause of all this was his sins, in that he did nothing good with them, and his riches were turned to him into vanity and into a grievous sickness. Other ways are when thieves and robbers snatch the miser's riches, or litigants take them from him through lawsuits, or rather when his sons fail or are excluded, a stranger by cunning insinuates himself into his inheritance and enters it. The word "devour" denotes that what was collected avariciously by the master is consumed prodigally by the stranger, as we often see happen. Thus indeed God punishes avarice and the avaricious with a fitting retaliatory penalty. The miser therefore enriches another, not himself; often a stranger, not a son, according to the Italian proverb which Tiraquellus cites: "These four things enrich a man," namely, as the Italians say: The dead man, the pig, the port, and the garden. Tropologically, our Alvarez de Paz, book I On the Spiritual Life, part II, chapter XIII, adapts this saying to lukewarm religious, who, although they abound in all spiritual goods, yet through sloth neglect to use and enjoy them, because they dwell under the sun, that is, they fix their affections on earthly things and do not lift them to heaven; wherefore a stranger, that is the devil, devours these goods of theirs, while he makes them useless in them, nay even pernicious, so that they redound to their greater damnation, as I said a little before. Cyril demonstrates the truth of this matter with an elegant parable of the rich man and fortune, adorned with beautiful examples, in lib. III Apol. moral. cap. IV, whose title is: Against those who are not content, when they have enough: "From prosperous circumstances," he says, "when a man has made himself sufficient and rich, being not at all content, he thirsts for more and seeks further with himself in turmoil, he encountered fortune, which said to him: Why, dearest, do you not rest, when I have already given you enough? But he answered: Surely its sweetness draws the good, and until something is added, it is troublesome. To which she: Rightly," she says, "I see that you have become poor, since you thirst with desire. For if you had enough, you would seek nothing further. For he desires more to whom enough is not. Behold, greedy will has impoverished you, desire has emptied you, thirsty turmoil has despoiled you. Yet if you should find all the gold of Solomon badly stored, you would have nothing more. But that which we use well, this we truly have. For wealth buried in the earth is not a man's, but the earth's. Therefore, when riches serve for use, then they are possessed. But use ought to be extended only to the limit of sufficiency. For if you eat beyond what is enough, nature will soon vomit it forth, and if you clothe yourself with more than necessity requires, burdened you cannot bear it." He proves the same thing by the example of the Hebrews, collecting and eating the same measure of manna: "Do you not know that (Exod. XVI) the sons of Israel living in the desert on manna, great and small, rich and poor, were given the same measure of heavenly food to all, and the greedy one found no more collected, nor less he who had been lazy? Surely because sufficiency is one for all, and the universal provider has granted the same abundance of necessity to men. For the rich man does not have more than the poor man, but only in the quality of titles is there a difference to each." He confirms the same thing by the oracle of Apollo: "Have you not heard that the idol of Apollo, when the king of Lydia became a shepherd, inquired through Achaes, if anyone in that world existed happier than him, refuting his delightful riches, answered: him surely, the proud man, he preferred to an Arcadian old man poor, who had never left the boundaries of his field, and said that a cottage laughing in security was praised and approved more than a sad palace with cares and anxieties; and a few clods free from fear than very wide fields filled with fear; and one yoke of oxen easily guarded than a cavalry burdened with voracious expenses." Finally, the opinion of Epicurus concludes the parable: "In multiplying true riches, nothing ought to be added to money, but subtracted from greed. For by so much is anyone recognized to be richer, by how much cupidity is less in him; which things said, he disappeared from the more learned teacher." On the contrary, concerning Christ the liberal and prodigal of his life for us, Isaiah says, cap. LIII: "His sepulchre shall be glorious." Finally, once those hostile to the republic and fatherland were condemned to deprivation of burial, likewise those who murdered their own and their patricians. Such are the avaricious, who by their avarice destroy themselves, their own, and the fatherland, and as it were kill them. See Durantus Casellius, lib. II Variar. cap. III. THAT THE ABORTIVE IS BETTER THAN HE. — "Better," that is, of better condition, superior, happier. Whence the Thaumaturgus: That condition of the untimely fetus is better; St. Jerome: The abortive is of worse condition.
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3. IF ANYONE BEGETS A HUNDRED CHILDREN, AND LIVES MANY YEARS, AND HAS MORE DAYS OF LIFE, AND HIS SOUL DOES NOT ENJOY THE GOODS OF HIS SUBSTANCE, AND LACKS BURIAL: I PRONOUNCE CONCERNING THIS THAT AN ABORTIVE IS BETTER THAN HE. — "A hundred," that is, very many; a definite number is put for an indefinite one. In former times polygamy was lawful and customary; hence from many wives a hundred and more sons could be begotten. Thus Achab begot 70 sons, IV Kings X, 1; and Roboam 88, II Paralipomenon cap. XI, 21. Moreover, children, whom nature gave for the joy of parents, increase trouble for the avaricious man: for he is tormented by the expenses which he incurs in order to feed them; likewise by cares, so that he may provide for them from his inheritance. Does not enjoy the goods. — The Hebrew, Chaldean and Theodoret read, is not satisfied with goods. The Old translation and the Septuagint, is not filled with goodness. In Greek it is agathosynes, which signifies goodness, that is, pleasantness, as well as beneficence. Thaumaturgus says, he neglects to enrich his soul. The Chaldean adds, because he spared his riches, and did not purchase from them a good name, through almsgiving and other works and monuments of beneficence. AND LACKS BURIAL. — Great is the honor, and therefore great is the care of burial among all peoples. But the avaricious man lacks decent and worthy burial, because from avarice he did not provide for it either in life or in death by testament; hence his heirs, who covet his wealth, neglect it. This is a just punishment of God, by which He punishes the avaricious, so that he who buried his money may himself lack burial. Moreover, the avaricious, especially merchants, often die abroad unknown, wretched, unburied. Add to this: the avaricious man, because he was beneficent to no one, is hateful to all; and therefore they deny him the honor of burial. Finally, the avaricious are often killed by robbers on account of their wealth; and so they are cast unburied either into sewers, or into waters, or into ditches. An example is the avaricious king Joakim, concerning whom Jeremiah says in cap. XXII, 17: "But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, etc. Therefore thus saith the Lord, etc.: They shall not mourn for him: Woe brother, and woe sister: they shall not lament for him: Woe lord, and woe noble. With the burial of an ass shall he be buried, rotten and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem." The avaricious man therefore lacks burial, that is, honor and pomp of funeral, to which belong the mourning of parents and friends, the hired mourners and mourning women who lament him, the funeral rites, the monument, the epitaph, etc.; for these are denied to the avaricious, because he is avaricious, and therefore vile and hateful to all. Hear St. Jerome: "It signifies that the rich man does not think of his death, and although he possesses all things, he is avaricious even in the construction of his sepulcher, either because he is often killed by treachery on account of these riches and cast out unburied; or, which I think better, because he has done nothing good and honorable by which he could secure a memory for himself among posterity, and not pass through life in silence, like beasts, when he had the means by which he could have shown that he lived." Mystically St. Ambrose adapts this to Christ, who was buried not in His own, but in another's, namely Joseph of Arimathea's sepulcher. For thus he says in the last chapter of Luke: "Christ did not have His own tomb. For indeed a tomb is prepared for those who are under the law of death; the victor over death does not have His own tomb. For what have a tomb and God in common? Finally, in Ecclesiastes cap. VI, concerning him who meditates on goods: And there is no burial for him. Therefore the death of Christ is special beyond the common death of all, and therefore He is not buried with others, but is laid in a new sepulcher." But this allegory corresponds little with the letter. For what comparison is there between the avaricious man and the abortive with Christ? An abortive is one who comes forth from the womb dead, or having just breathed. In Hebrew it is called nephel, that is, fallen, fallen away, withered, not at all vital, like an unripe fruit which falls from the tree useless; for the root naphal signifies to fall and to drop. The Syriac translator renders abortive as sinner, in which way St. Paul once calls himself, a persecutor of the faithful, an abortive, I Corinthians XV, 8; but this is mystical: for an abortive properly is an imperfect, shapeless, weak, feeble fetus, born by abortion, and cast out before the mature time of birth, such as are either dead or scarcely vital: looking to which St. Job, cap. III, 18, says: "Why didst thou bring me out of the womb? O that I had been consumed, that the eye might not see me. I should have been as if I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave." This is relevant to that saying of Hippocrates in Gellius, lib. III, cap. XVI: "An eight-month birth both is and is not, because it dies immediately and ceases to be, or certainly it lives and draws breath." Hence Campensis translates, I judged him more fortunate who was cast out by his mother's miscarriage. Hence in law an abortive is held as one not born. He compares the avaricious man to an abortive birth, because just as the latter, living, does not live—indeed, does not live unto life, but unto death; for the child conceived in the womb dies immediately and is not born, so that it might see the light and enjoy it, but so that it might depart from it and pass away: so also the avaricious man, living, does not live, because he does not dare to enjoy riches and the good things of life, indeed he does not even rejoice in them, but being as it were dead to them, and bereft of the joys of life, he leads a mournful life like an abortive and dying child, in filth, squalor and grief. However, he prefers the abortive birth to the avaricious man, because the abortive, just as it lacks the goods and joys of this life, so likewise lacks the evils and sorrows of the same; but the avaricious man, lacking goods and joys, abounds in evils, namely in labors, fears, griefs, cares and anguishes, which both riches and avarice produce. This is what he said in chapter IV, 2: "And I praised the dead more than the living: and I judged him happier than both, who is not yet born, nor hath seen the evils that are done under the sun."
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4. FOR IN VAIN HE COMETH, AND GOETH INTO DARKNESS, AND HIS NAME SHALL BE BLOTTED OUT WITH OBLIVION. — For "in vain" in Hebrew is hebel, that is, vanity, concerning which see chapter I, 2. Whence the Septuagint and the Syriac translate, "in vanity indeed he cometh, and in darkness he goeth, and in darkness his name shall be hidden"; Olympiodorus, "it shall be hidden"; others, "in darkness his name shall be covered"; the Arabic, "for he cometh with vanity, and into darkness he departeth, and his name shall be hidden in darkness"; Thaumaturgus, "as an abortive cometh vainly, so also without any satisfaction and fruit he departeth secretly"; the Zurich Bible, "he indeed as a vain thing cometh forth, and into darkness he goeth, and darkness hideth his name"; Vatable, "he indeed into vanity, that is into the world, which is mere vanity, cometh forth, and goeth to death"; Campensis, "he indeed as some trifle, from conception in the womb hath progressed somewhat obscurely, yet so that not even his name was known to any. Finally the Chaldean thus translateth, "because in vanity he cometh to this age, and in vanity he shall go to the age to come, and in darkness his name shall be covered, because he hath no merit, and acquired not a good name, that he might assert the memory of himself from the injury of mortality." According to the letter he speaketh of an abortive, as Thaumaturgus, Lyra, Clarius, Campensis and others think; yet consequently he speaketh of the avaricious man: for he compareth him to an abortive, as Olympiodorus, Bonaventure, both Hugos, Cajetan, Titelmann and others think. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as an abortive cometh in vain into the world, because he is born already dead, or dieth after one or two days, and thus from the light of life he goeth into the darkness of death, and there buried in perpetual oblivion he lieth hid, so that not even his name is known: so likewise the avaricious man cometh in vain into the world, because he enjoyeth not the light of life and the joys of life, but as if he had not seen them, sordid, miserable and hungry he goeth into the darkness of death, and there shall be buried in perpetual oblivion. Each therefore cometh in vain into the world and life, because he is deprived and destitute of the end and fruits of life, namely of the pleasantness and joys of this light and life: the abortive indeed by nature, the avaricious man truly by will and avarice; but the abortive is born only in vain and to no purpose; yet the avaricious man, not only in vain, but to the greatest miseries and afflictions. Goeth into darkness, — that is, to the sepulchre, saith Lyra; to death, saith Bonaventure and Titelmann; to the obscurity and oblivion of his name, saith the Chaldean; to the afflictions and sorrows in which the avaricious man liveth, saith Hugo of St. Victor; to filth and squalor, saith Pineda, because, having perceived none of the comforts of this life, in a corner and in hiding he wasteth away sordid and squalid, no more known than if he had never emerged into the open from darkness, so that even while living he is reckoned as dead. No account is taken of him in human society, born for no good of the commonwealth, neither for his country, nor for his friends, nor for himself. All these things come to the same end. Finally, the avaricious man equally as the abortive goeth into darkness, that is, to limbo and hell, to Orcus and Tartarus, where are Cimmerian and perpetual darknesses, on account of which hell is called in Greek Hades, as if from the privative particle a and idein, that is, to see, because it is deprived of sight, nay, it depriveth all its inhabitants of light and sight. Hear Plutarch in that passage, "Live in obscurity": "Those who believe the sun to be Apollo, from the mysteries of the ancients and the old, call him the Delian and Pythian. But him who is the lord of the adverse part, whether he be a god or a daemon, they call Haden, that is Orcus, because the dead migrate to a dark and obscure place, to the king of dense night and inert sleep." Mystically, the avaricious man equally as the abortive dead in the womb cometh in vain, because he attaineth not his end, to which he was created by God, namely to eternal happiness: in vain therefore he received a rational soul, in vain was he made man. Again, the avaricious man goeth into the darkness of ignorance and imprudence, by which blinded he considereth not himself and his condition, or his end, and therefore goeth into the densest and most burning darknesses of hell. Whence the Chaldean translateth, "he saw not also the light of the law, nor knew the difference between good and evil, that he might discern between this age and the future." This is the common and most grievous error of men, that they discern not this life from the future, that they esteem the moment of time more than all eternity: they live therefore for the present time, and die to eternity; nay, they live to the most wretched and hellish eternity. O error, O stupor! HIS NAME SHALL BE BLOTTED OUT IN OBLIVION. — In Hebrew, his name shall be covered in darkness, that is, his memory shall quickly perish, his name shall be obscure and unknown, indeed no name is given to an abortive child: for the Hebrews did not impose a name before the eighth day, on which the infant was circumcised; and thus the Hebrew became a member of the Synagogue, just as now an infant through baptism becomes a Christian and a member of the Church, and then a name is given to him. Thus the Romans imposed a name on males on the eighth day, on females on the ninth, as Plutarch testifies, Problem. 202. The Greeks, however, on the seventeenth day for both, as Aristotle testifies, lib. VII Hist. animal. cap. XII. Moreover, certain barbarians, such as the Atlantes, gave no names to boys, as Pliny says, lib. V, cap. VIII. Thus the avaricious man's name and memory are immediately given to oblivion, both because his name is hateful and detested, and because he goes to Gehenna, which is the land of oblivion, Psalm LXXXVII, 13. Furthermore, abortive children had no proper sepulcher, and no title as an index of the name, but without title, without pomp, without rite they were cast into the common sepulcher of parents, or into the common earth for all, as Plutarch testifies, lib. Consol. ad uxorem. Whence their sepulcher is called by Fulgentius Placiadus and Rutilius Geminus in Astyanax a subterranean one. Thus likewise the avaricious man often lacks the honor and pomp of funeral and sepulcher, as I said a little before.
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5. HE DID NOT SEE THE SUN. — This is said properly of an abortive child, metaphorically of the avaricious man; for an abortive child or dead child comes forth from the womb, or half-dead, and therefore like a blind man does not see the sun, or certainly sees it but little and without pleasure, indeed with pain. The avaricious man likewise, although he sees the sun, nevertheless does not enjoy it, because in cares, labor and squalor he leads a dark and sad life. Vivianus beautifully translates On the Abortive: He saw not the golden stars, Nor felt the sun with vivid radiance shining forth. It is a great joy to the living to see the sun, and to the blind a great sorrow not to see it. Whence Tobias, now blind, cap. V, 12: "What," he says, "joy shall be to me who sit in darkness, and see not the light of heaven?" Of this joy the abortive child and the avaricious man are deprived. NOR KNEW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. — Because the abortive child could not perceive this difference even by sense, much less by intellect and judge it; the avaricious man, however, has experienced only evils, namely labors and anxieties, few or no goods; whence he did not perceive the difference of both. Again, he did not esteem the excellence of true good, that is, of virtue, and the magnitude of true happiness, namely how much good differs from evil, virtue from vice, heaven from Gehenna. For difference the Hebrew is נחת nachat, which Our [translator] seems to have derived from the root נחה nacha, that is, he deduced, as if to say, The deduction of good from evil, and the difference. Properly nachat signifies rest from the root נוח nouch, that is, he rested. Whence Noah received his name, the father Lamech saying: "This one shall comfort us from the works and labors of our hands," Genesis cap. V, 29. Noah therefore is the same as rest, consolation. Following this etymology the Septuagint translates, nor knew rest this one over that one; the Syriac and Arabic, rest is better for him than for that one, namely the abortive child rests better than the avaricious man. St. Jerome, rest for this one more than for that one; Campensis, he was free from those by which the avaricious man is continually tormented. The sense is manifest.
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6. EVEN IF HE SHALL HAVE LIVED TWO THOUSAND YEARS, AND SHALL NOT HAVE ENJOYED GOOD THINGS: DO NOT ALL THINGS HASTEN TO ONE PLACE? — In Hebrew it is, if he shall have lived a thousand years פעמים paamim, that is, as the Syriac has it, twice, that is a thousand years doubled or duplicate, as St. Jerome translated it in the Commentary, that is twice a thousand years. The Septuagint wished the same thing when they translated, and if he lived a thousand years' returns, that is a thousand years iterated and returning, namely doubled. Therefore wrongly in the Royal texts the returns is referred to what follows in this manner: Returns and goodness he did not see. The Arabic for paamim in the dual reads peamim in the plural, that is many times. Whence it translates, and if he shall have lived the universality of thousands of years, that is, even if he lived many thousands of years, nay myriads of years. It is a hyperbole, or rather a concession of an impossible thing. For the age of man cannot be extended to twice a thousand years, and no one of the first men who were before all the long-lived reached the thousandth year. Methuselah, who was by far the longest-lived of all, attained only to the year 969; but suppose, he says, the miser lived twice a thousand years, which nevertheless is impossible. This sentence hangs, and could be referred to the preceding verse, as if to say, The miser does not see the difference of good from evil, but only mere continuous things, even if he lived twice a thousand years. But truly from the Hebrew it is clear that it should be referred to do not all things hasten to one place? The sense therefore is, as if to say, The miser is not happier than the abortive one, but unhappier both in life and in death: In life, because even if he lives longer than that, nay suppose by impossibility you give him twice a thousand years of life, you will give him that many years of hardship and as it were of living death: For he spends all his days in cares and anguishes and sorrows. In death, because he dies in greater anguish than the abortive one, because he is forced to abandon riches so beloved and gathered with so much labor; then because he fears the hell prepared for him, because "all things hasten to one place," namely to death: for there all the years end, all the cares, all the riches of the miser. Suppose therefore he lives twice a thousand years, when those are finished what will he have? nothing but greater torment, because the labors and riches gathered cannot protect him from death, nor accompany him after death to another life: wherefore while he is forced to leave them at death, he is wonderfully tortured, especially because, as the Chaldean adds, he brings with him nothing of virtue and merit. Hear the Chaldean: Even if a man shall have lived two thousand years, and has not labored in the law, and bound by oath before the Lord, has not done judgment and justice, on the day of his death his soul shall fall into hell to one place, to which all sinners go. The miser therefore by his avarice corrupts all the good things which in life and death, which in this age and the future he could procure for himself, if he knew how to use his goods conveniently and holily. Wherefore each, the miser namely and the abortive one, go to the same death and to the same hell; but the abortive one to limbo, where children dead in original sin are indeed deprived of the vision of God, but are also deprived of the pain of sense: but the miser goes to hell, where the damned are tortured by fire for all eternity. Therefore the lot of the miser is far worse than that of the abortive one, who by his cares, usuries, gains does nothing but heap up for himself bellows and fuel, by which he may burn more in hell. The miser therefore neither enjoys good things in this life, nor in the future; but in both he is tortured by evils, in this temporal ones, in the future eternal ones. Note hasten, because our life is nothing other than a continuous course toward death, and through it to immortality either most blessed in heaven, or most miserable in hell.
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7. ALL THE LABOR OF MAN IS IN HIS MOUTH (in the Hebrew and Arabic, to the mouth; the Complutensian: in the mouth) OF HIM: BUT HIS SOUL SHALL NOT BE FILLED. — The Chaldean: all the labor of man is for the sake of the food of his mouth, for which he himself labors, and by the word of the Lord is nourished: yet nevertheless the mind cannot be satisfied with food and drink; Campensis: there is no other fruit of human labor than to supply food to the mouth: yet the appetite of the mind cannot be satisfied at all; Vatablus: and yet the desire of having is not satisfied. Arias: All labor is undertaken by man for the sake of belly and mouth; Yet the mouth is never filled, however narrow it be: But the belly's greed and desire to have more. Another: By no price of gold, no food is satisfiable. This maxim can be expounded in three ways: first, concerning labor; second, concerning speech; third and genuinely, concerning food. First therefore concerning labor, various ones expound variously. First, as if he were to say: "All the labor of man," all misery and calamity is in the mouth of man, that is, it is esteemed grave or light, according as it tastes to his mouth and palate, according as it is exalted and exaggerated by his mouth, or diminished and held cheap; according as his mouth and heart, that is his mind, shall have been affected; and as if, if he be ill-affected, as commonly happens, it is not filled, but turns for the worse what befalls him; but if he be well-affected, as is the case in the saints, he gathers a salutary fruit from all things. Thus Moringus. Similar to this is that maxim, Psalm 147, 16: "Who giveth snow like wool," which some explain thus, as if to say: God makes snow and winter cold to be felt, according as one is more or less clothed, as for example the poor, being less clothed, feel the rigor of winter less, the rich however perceive it more. Second, others expound, as if to say: God measures out to each one labor not beyond his strength, but according to each one's mouth, that is his measure and condition, so that namely he does not impose upon him more than he himself can sustain, and as it were devour with his mouth. Third, others, as if to say: Each one has his labor in his mouth, that is, each one speaks frequently of his occupation and labor, for example the ploughman of agriculture, the craftsman of his crafts, the shoemaker of his stitching of shoes, the physician of his cures; but no one is ever satisfied either by labor, or by his art, or by the gain of the same. To this pertains the sense of St. Bonaventure: The mouth, he says, gaping signifies desire, as if to say: Every man labors, so that he might fill his mouth, that is so that he might satisfy his desire; but in vain, because this is insatiable and cannot be satisfied. Furthermore concerning speech and discourse, various ones likewise expound variously. First, Olympiodorus: "All the labor," he says, of man, namely of an animal infected by sin, is in his mouth, because his mouth always labors, so that it might utter something wicked, namely insults, quarrels, blasphemies, frauds. Second, Hugh of St. Victor, as if to say: Every man, because he is man, excels other animals in two things, namely in reason and in mouth, that is in speech; wherefore he strives to polish his mouth, that is his speech, so that he might speak fittingly, politely, ornately, so that he might excel in eloquence; but however great that force be, it never satisfies his desire. Only the grace and charity of God fills the heart of man. In a similar way St. Jerome expounds concerning him who has learned much, and yet always desires to learn. Third, Cassian, Collation XIV, IX, asserts that all the labor of man is in his mouth itself, that is in restraining it through silence, and so that we might receive the institutions and sayings of all the elders with attentive heart, and as it were with a silent mouth, and carefully store them in our breast, and hasten rather to perfecting them than to teaching them; because from this the presumption of vainglory, from that the fruit of spiritual knowledge will sprout. Fourth, Cardinal Hugh: All, he says, the labor of man is in verifying, sanctifying, guarding his mouth. But all these expositions are ingenious rather than sincere and genuine explanations of Solomon's mind; wherefore they are rather exercises of wit than senses of Scripture. Therefore Solomon's meaning is to treat not of labor nor of speech, but of food, as the Chaldean, Campensis and others explain. The sense therefore, first, can be concerning food and drink, so that he may show their vanity, and therefore that happiness does not consist in them, as animals and epicureans think; indeed Solomon himself, chapter II, verse 9 and 25, saying: "Who will so devour and abound in delights as I?" sought happiness in them, but did not find it. Therefore he seems to look to this here, equally as to chapter V, which immediately preceded, verse 17, where he said: "This therefore seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink," etc. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The greater part of men constitutes happiness in food and drink, namely in delicate eating and drinking, and therefore all their labor is in the mouth, in Hebrew, toward the mouth, so that namely the mouth and palate may delight themselves with these delights of theirs; but "their soul shall not be filled," both because gluttony is insatiable and cannot be filled: whence gluttons the more they drink, the more they desire to drink, and the more they glut themselves, so that they seem always to gape with the mouth for drink; and because bodily delights cannot satisfy and fill the spiritual soul and one capable of God. Thus Olympiodorus, Titelmann, Cajetan. And thus Solomon himself explains it, Proverbs chapter XVI, verse 26, saying: "The soul of him that laboreth, laboreth for himself, because his mouth hath compelled him;" in Hebrew, because he hath bowed himself to his own mouth. Secondly, more pressingly and genuinely these things pertain to the avaricious man, concerning whom the whole discourse has gone before, as if to say: The avaricious man labors assiduously, so that he may gather riches, with which he may satisfy his mouth and belly; but in vain, because the belly and gluttony are insatiable. Thus St. Jerome: "All, he says, that men labor for in this world, is consumed by the mouth, and worn away by the teeth, is delivered to the belly to be digested; and when it has delighted the gullet a little, it seems to afford pleasure only so long as it is held in the throat; but when it has passed into the belly, there ceases to be any distinction among foods. And after all these things the soul of him that eateth is not filled, either because he again desires what he may eat, or because the soul gains no utility from the refreshment of the little body." Again and rather it is an occupation. For it meets tacitly the objection of the avaricious man saying: I labor perpetually, so that I may acquire necessaries for filling my mouth and that of mine, so that I may prepare food and clothing; but Solomon refutes this, and says: Out of thy own mouth I condemn thee, O wicked avaricious man. For thou defraudest thy mouth, so that thou mayest heap up riches. Whence the Syrian translates, he prohibited all that man laboreth for in his mouth, and his soul is not filled. Again, so that thou mayest fill thy mouth and belly, little is needed, but so that thou mayest fill thy soul, that is thy desire and thy avarice, thou laborest perpetually like an ass; and that in vain, because thy avarice is restrained by no limits, but extends itself immensely, and therefore is insatiable, and cannot be filled. Thus the Wonderworker. Thou wishest therefore to fill thy desire, but thou canst not; thou laborest therefore in vain and attemptst an impossible thing. For thou doest just as if someone should attempt to fill the whole basin of the sea with one drop of water. Why therefore, wretched man, dost thou endure so many labors? Why dost thou in vain fatigue and torment thyself with so many cares? Why dost thou in vain wear away and consume thyself with so many hardships? Why art thou the torturer and executioner of thyself? Finally, so that I may embrace the sense in summary, this is the vanity and folly of the avaricious man, that while he labors on account of his mouth, he nevertheless defrauds it even of necessary things, and while he wishes to fill his desire of having, he cannot. Mystically, by the mouth understand ingenuity and the desire gaping to know, but by the soul understand the mind, which cannot be filled by any abundance of sciences. Thus St. Gregory, homily 40 in the Gospel: "Well, he says, it is said of the learned and negligent through Solomon: All the labor of man is in his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled; because whoever labors only so that he may know what he ought to speak, fasts with an empty mind from the very refreshment of his knowledge." To this same point, homily 18 in Ezekiel, he cites that passage from Proverbs XVI, 26: "The soul of him that laboreth, laboreth for himself, because his mouth hath compelled him. For our mouth, he says, compels us to labor, when through that which we say to others, we are restrained from vices: because it is too shameful for us to fall in negligence there, whence by preaching we establish others to be lifted up." 8. WHAT HATH THE WISE MORE THAN THE FOOL? AND WHAT THE POOR (Zurich: humble; others: afflicted: all these denote עני ani), EXCEPT THAT HE GOETH THITHER, WHERE LIFE IS? — In the Hebrew there is no "except," but only, and what hath the poor knowing to go before life, or against life, or before the living, or against the living? Olympiodorus, in the sight of life; another, the poor man is he who knows how to go to meet the living; Zurich, he knows how to live life among the living; Campensis, he knows by his industry to procure for himself sustenance among those with whom he lives. For the Hebrew chaiim is plural, and signifies both lives and life and the living. Hence from the Hebrew broad and ambiguous meaning various men translate variously (see them in Lorinus if you please), but perplexedly, ambiguously and insipidly, whereas Our Author has translated clearly, certainly and wisely by understanding the "except"; whence the Septuagint agrees with him when they translate, because there is abundance to the wise over the foolish, in that the poor knows how to go to the face of life; the Syriac, because there is gain to the wise beyond that which is to the fool, because the poor knows how to go to life; the Arabic, what hath the wise more excellent than the fool? because the poor has known the course before life, that is, that he may know how to live here, that he may know how he ought to live life here well and happily. Another, as if to say, The poor goes about to beg from door to door to procure for himself the necessary sustenance for life. But this is cold, and equally insipid. There is an antithesis of the foolish rich man and the wise poor man. For Scripture often by the poor indicates the wise and just, but by the rich the foolish, avaricious and unjust; because, as St. Jerome says: "Every rich man is either unjust, or the heir of the unjust;" but the poor man, because content with little, despises riches, and transfers his heart to the true riches of God in heaven; hence he is wise and just. The sense therefore is, as if to say, The wise and the poor in life and death, and in the labour of procuring sustenance, so as to satisfy mouth and belly, are equal; yet in this respect the wise poor man excels the rich avaricious and foolish man, that the poor man goes to life, but the rich man to death, and that threefold. For the Hebrew chaiim is plural, and therefore signifies threefold life, namely natural of the soul, spiritual of grace, heavenly of glory. First therefore concerning natural life thus expound it, as if to say, The poor man content with moderate food and clothing goes to true life, which is situated in a mind content with itself, quiet, cheerful. For such a one lives and leads a life sweet, pleasant and long-lived. But the rich avaricious man, bending his eyes to the earth, and therein like a serpent both creeping and crawling, so as to gather gold and silver, that is (as Habacuc says) the dense mud of the earth, wretched and unhappy, consumes himself in continual labour, nor dares to enjoy his portion, but always strives to heap upon his old stores: wherefore he lives a life full of hardship, which is rather to be called death than life, and soon tends naked and destitute to the common death of all, which is foolish vanity. Thus St. Jerome, Cardinal Hugo and the Gloss; somewhat differently Vatablus: for he thinks that the poor man is here admonished, that content with his poverty tranquil, wise and holy, he should renounce all cupidity: "For what, he says, does it profit the poor man learned among men to walk prudently before men themselves in this world, if he labour in the desire of having?" This comes to the same thing as before; yet the former is simpler and more genuine. Second, concerning spiritual life expound it, as if to say, The poor man despising earthly riches seeks spiritual things, and strives to gather virtues and merits, according to that of James II: "Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?" The poor man therefore lives the life of grace. But the rich avaricious man is wholly bent upon riches; hence he becomes poor and needy in grace and virtues, and through usuries, frauds, unjust contracts commits mortal sins: by which he incurs the death of the soul. Thus St. Bonaventure, Lyran, the Carthusian. Whence Olympiodorus by life understands Christ, to whom the poor man, who is proclaimed blessed by Him, goes forth by the paths of virtues; whilst the rich fool enslaves himself to pleasures after the manner of beasts. Wherefore by life here you may mystically understand the Eucharist, by which the poor deliciously feed their mind, far more than the rich their body by their feasts. For concerning the Eucharist Christ says: "He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever," John VI, 59; and verse 48: "I am the bread of life," etc. But Thaumaturgus says the poor man tends to life, because he tends to poverty and contempt of riches, in which the integrity and rectitude of life consists: "It is proper to the foolish, he says, to indulge excessively in concupiscences, and therefore is reproved. The wise man temperately restrains himself from them of his own accord. But almost the rectitude of life is to the upright man a guide of the journey to want." Thirdly, the poor man through the life of grace tends toward the life of glory, and the avaricious man through the first death of sin and avarice tends toward the second death of hell; just as Lazarus the beggar was led by angels into heaven, but the rich man feasting was buried in hell, Luke XVI. Thus the Chaldean: "For indeed," he says, "what more is there for the wise in this age than for the foolish, and what is there for the poor except that he study in the discipline of the law of the Lord, that he may know how it will be that he go entirely before the just in paradise Eden," namely of pleasure, in which Adam was placed by God, who was a type and prelude of paradise and heavenly glory. Tropologically, from the fact that he says the poor man goes toward life, learn that poverty is the way to life, under which understand humility. Whence the Hebrew עני ani signifies both the humble and the poor; for poverty is the mother of humility; whence we experience the poor to be humble, but the rich to be proud. For, as Phocylides says: Pride follows wealth, and wantonness follows the great. For this reason St. Francis founded himself and his order in poverty, that he might found it in humility. Both therefore are guide and way to true life; whence Christ first hinted at it, that he might teach it to us: "But I," he says, "am a beggar and poor;" and: "Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls." Thus God ordained with wonderful congruity and wisdom. For it is fitting that those who despise earthly things should occupy heavenly things. Hear St. Ambrose, sermon 74 On the Nativity of Martyrs: "We too," he says, "can say to the Lord: Thou hast made known to us the ways of life. For he himself made known to us the ways of life, when he taught me faith, mercy, justice, chastity;" add humility, poverty, patience: "for by these paths one arrives at life." Thus to St. Benedict, as St. Gregory writes, II Dialogues cap. XXXVII, after his life ended, two monks from his flock saw a certain broad and straight way strewn with vestments and gleaming with innumerable lights, and a certain old man standing who said: "This is the way by which the beloved of God Benedict ascended to heaven." This way St. Bernard, in the homily Behold we have left all things, judges to be nothing other than the formula of poverty and religious life instituted by him, so that just as he keeping it ascended to heaven, so all who would follow him should.
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9. IT IS BETTER TO SEE WHAT YOU DESIRE THAN TO DESIRE WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW. — The Hebrew reads, good is the vision of the eyes, going before the soul, that is, it is better to see with the eyes a certain thing than for the soul to wander and err through many uncertain things with various thoughts, desires, and longings. The Complutensian Septuagint reads, Good is the vision of the eyes surpassing the soul, that is, which surpasses the soul's desire, as if to say, It is good to perceive and to have present the object which, while absent, the soul desires and longs for: for the presence of a thing surpasses its absence, just as the vision of a thing seen surpasses the hope and desire of seeing it. But the better and more conformable reading to the Hebrew Vatican Codices is, for the word with systole, they read with diastole. Whence they translate, good is the sight of the eyes surpassing the soul. St. Jerome, in the soul; Olympiodorus, than to walk according to the will of the soul; the Zurich version, than that anyone should follow desire; Vatable, than what the soul burns for. Thaumaturgus, however, following the former version of the Complutensians, explains surpassing, that is prevailing over the soul, and drawing it into desire for the thing seen, which is great and foolish vanity. Whence he thus translates, the spectacles of certain dishes irritate the eyes; but since this manner of living is empty, pernicious enticements draw the soul into sterile occupations. The Syriac, better is the vision of the eyes than the walking of the soul; the Arabic, the eye is a good essence more excellent than the clear mind; Pagninus, better is the vision of the eyes than that the soul should go in the way of fools; the Chaldean, it is better to see what you desire than to desire what you do not know, but this too is vanity and presumption of spirit. Or, as Costus translates, it is better for a man to rejoice toward the future age, to cultivate justice, and on the supreme day of judgment to receive the good reward of his works, than to enter this life in calamities and perturbations of mind: for this is to the wicked man vanity and affliction of spirit. Omitting the various and scarcely probable explanations of various authors, I set forth five more probable ones. For to see with the eyes, as the Hebrew has it, signifies five things: first, to look upon and contemplate a thing present; second, to foresee future things; third, to judge concerning things, for the eye judges of colors and things seen; fourth, to experience, for experience is grasped by sight; fifth, to enjoy, to taste, to hold and to possess: for the eye enjoys the thing seen, and by its sight as it were holds it and makes it its own, possesses and comprehends it. According to these five meanings a fivefold sense arises. First, Isidorus Clarius and Campensis following the first signification of seeing translate: "It is better to contemplate with the eyes riches present than, relying on industry alone, to live day by day in the manner of the poor: certainly you are deceived if you think this: for the sight of riches brings nothing other than foolish cares and torments of the mind." On the contrary, Christ commands us not to be anxious about tomorrow, but to resign the care of tomorrow to God, Matthew VI. These authors therefore think that this saying is uttered from the mind of the rich, not of Solomon; whence he himself corrects it saying: "But this too is vanity and affliction of spirit." Second, Symmachus following the second signification of seeing translates: Better to foresee than to walk as one pleases, as St. Jerome translates, who thus explains it, as if to say, It is better by reason (for this is the eye of the soul) to foresee what is to be done than to follow the will and desires of the heart, as do those who walk in the will of their heart, as Ezekiel says in chapter XI, 21, in the Hebrew. Thus also Olympiodorus: "It is far better," he says, "to have keen eyes of the soul and reason, illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit, than to proceed according to the will of the animal man, who walks in darkness" according to that saying in Matthew VI, 22: "If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome, that is," he says, "if the rational power of the soul shall be illuminated by light, it will bring the license of the sensitive appetite into its proper order." And that saying in Proverbs chapter XIX, 2: "Where there is no knowledge of the soul, there is no good: and he that is hasty in his steps shall stumble." Thus Olympiodorus. Thus also Salonius, Alcuin, Hugh of St. Victor and others explain it, as if to say: It is better to do all things through reason with deliberation, than rashly to follow the foolish desires of the mind and the surges of wandering and harmful longings. To this pertains the Zurich version, providence is better than that anyone should follow desire. Cardinal Hugh adds, who thinks that here is signified that providence or the knowledge of foreknowledge, by which it is known what ought to be desired and what not, is better than the rash and precipitate concupiscence of those things which cannot be desired except by those ignorant of them, such as temporal goods, which like rotten wood and fish scales, shine only in darkness, and are unworthy of knowledge. Lyra does not depart far from this, except that he properly wishes to reprove the superstitious and vain foreknowledge of future things. Nor does Dionysius dissent, expressing superstitious, magical, frivolous, false things, which it is more expedient not to know than to know, since on the contrary one ought to study more the knowledge of that which ought to be sought, namely the ultimate end and its means. Thirdly, according to the third meaning of seeing, so that it signifies to judge, define and measure, the sense is, as if to say: It is better to fix for oneself a certain value and limit of wealth, which is accommodated to one's own ability and condition and as it were measured out, and to live content with it, than to allow the soul to wander to other and other things always to be thought of and desired, and to set no limit to one's cupidity. Fourthly, according to the fourth meaning of seeing, so that it is the same as to experience, the sense is, as if to say: It is better to see, that is to experience, what labor, what occupation, what condition, what and how great riches suit you and your nature and condition and suffice, and to rest in them with a tranquil mind, than to give free rein to cupidity, and to desire always more and more without measure, which you know not what they are like and whether they suit you and are salutary. Note that what you know not, that is, whose nature, condition, advantages and disadvantages you ignore, do not feel, do not taste, do not experience, and do not have sufficiently perceived; for if you perceived them, you would certainly not desire nor covet them. For this is what the antithesis requires: "It is better to see what you desire, than to desire what you know not," that is, what you do not desire: for if you knew its vanity and worthlessness, you would certainly not desire it, but would flee it. Mystically, it is better to see what you desire, that is to aspire to heavenly glory, in which you will see God, and by his vision, which you desire, you will be satisfied and will be blessed, than to desire what you know not, that is to aspire to earthly riches, pomp and feasts, whose worthlessness, dangers and harms you ignore and know not, that is, do not heed, do not consider, do not perceive, especially since they will draw you into ruin and hell. Whence the Author of the Greek Catena thus expounds this saying, as if to say: "The knowledge of God is better than fleeting and corruptible pleasure, or than to indulge the cupidities of the soul." Or according to the version of Symmachus, it is better to look ahead to things that are to come, than to seek pleasure from these present things. BUT THIS ALSO IS VANITY AND PRESUMPTION OF SPIRIT. — The Syriac: this is vanity and disturbance of mind; the Arabic: this is vain and affliction of spirit; the Chaldean: contraction of spirit; Cajetan: breaking of spirit; others: thought of spirit; Aquila and Theodotion: feeding of wind; the Zurich version: trouble of mind; Campensis: certainly you are deceived who think this: for this is nothing other than foolish care and torment of mind. See the sayings at chapter 1, verse 2. Fifth, and more aptly and genuinely, according to the fifth meaning, to see is the same as to use, to enjoy, to taste, to hold, to occupy, to possess; the sense is, as if to say: It is better to see, that is to use and enjoy things present and certain, which you discern with your eyes and touch with your hand, than to desire things absent and uncertain, which you know not whether you can obtain them, and whether they will bring you satiety and happiness. For he continues to oppose and to prefer the poor wise man to the rich fool, in that the former sees those things which he desires, that is, possesses and enjoys the riches he desires, although modest, yet present, and being content with them lives quietly, cheerfully and happily: but the latter desires that which he knows not, that is, is inflamed with an insatiable desire of acquiring riches absent and often impossible to obtain, whose use and enjoyment he ignores by experience and knows not, that is, does not feel, does not taste, does not rejoice, does not enjoy, but they are to him as if he knew them not, and they themselves were unknown and unseen to him; which is nothing other than foolish vanity and presumption? For in hope of uncertain things he deprives himself of the enjoyment of certain things; he vainly presumes that which he foolishly aspires to, when often he cannot attain it; wherefore he labours in vain, and exhausts himself concerning riches, whose advantages and pleasantness he does not experience, nor ever will experience. For avarice fashions for itself riches and vain hopes, which it will never obtain, certainly it will never use and enjoy them. To this pertains the version and exposition of Pagninus: it is better that the sight of the eyes, than that the soul walk (that is, it is better to enjoy things present, which you have before your eyes, than for the soul to wander hither and thither, and never to be satisfied). Cajetan: it is better the aspect of the eyes than the walking of the soul, that is, it is better to have a present good, and that which is seen with the eyes, than that which is had by desire alone for the future: for the walking of the soul, he says, is made by the steps of desire and hope. Vatable: it is better the aspect of the eyes than that which the soul seethes with, that is, it is better to be content with present fortune, although modest, than to desire many things, although the greatest, and now to have this, now that in one's prayers. "It is better a dove present on the table, than a goose flying in the air." It is better to occupy few things quietly, than being desirous and anxious always to seek and pursue new things.
6:10
10. HE WHO IS TO BE, IS ALREADY CALLED (The Arabic version: named; others: nominated; Cajetan: is already called by his name, that is, he is known: for things are known by their name. It is a catachresis) IS HIS NAME, AND IT IS KNOWN THAT HE IS A MAN, AND CANNOT CONTEND AGAINST ONE STRONGER THAN HIMSELF IN JUDGMENT. — The Hebrew: what has been, is already called by its name, but "has been" is the same as "will be." For the Hebrews often interchange tenses, and take the past for the future: otherwise there would be here an inept tautology. For who does not know that what has been is named and known? But that what will be has been pre-named and pre-known, this is wonderful, excellent, and worthy of God; whence Campensis clearly translates it thus: in what manner each thing was once known and understood by its name before it existed, which means that the man who will be could not help but be thus, nor will he be able to contend except in vain with God, who is stronger than he, for which reason he was thus created. First, the Chaldean takes this saying concerning created things, that nothing new comes from them, but all things have long since been decreed by God, and therefore man cannot contend with God concerning them. For the Hebrew has in the neuter gender, what is it that has been, is already called by its name. So also the Septuagint. The Chaldean therefore translates thus: what has been in the world, behold it is already called by its name, and it is known to the sons of men from the day when the first man was made, and all things are decreed by the word of the Lord, and there is no power in a man to stand in judgment with the ruler of the world, who is stronger than he. But the Hebrew, Ours, the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic restrict this saying to man, and do not extend it to other created things. Whence they say, and it is known that he is a man. Second, therefore, others think these things are said against the ambitious, as if to say: What, O ambitious one, do you boast of nobility, riches, knowledge, dignity, when before you from the beginning of the world until now many have been made and called by God more noble, more wealthy, more learned, more dignified than you, with whom, as being stronger and more excellent than you, you will not be able to contend in judgment, so as to prefer yourself to them, but you ought to submit yourself to them and acknowledge yourself inferior. Whence some, with Aben-Ezra, interpret it, as if to say: The striving of the greedy, the wicked and the foolish is iniquitous, who always attempt and strive for greater things, so as to equal the most wealthy in riches, indeed to surpass them, when this is impossible to do. Third, others think these things are said against the curious, who arrogate to themselves foreknowledge of future things as if they wish to equal themselves to God in his prescience, and to contend with him in judgment, as if they arrogate this to themselves—judicial astrologers and similar conjecturers and diviners. Thus Lyran and from him Titelmannus: Fittingly, he says, it passes from the avarice of riches to the avarice of knowledge, namely to curiosity and immoderate desire of knowing, by which man attempts to know secrets and future things, so as to be like God, and another quasi-god, as Adam wished to be by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So also St. Bonaventure, both Hugos, Dionysius and others. Fourth, others better think these things are said of those who, not content with their lot, murmur against divine Providence, because they have not obtained from it another better lot, who therefore, as Olympiodorus says, more inconsiderately ask, why God has oppressed this man with poverty, but has poured out great riches upon that one? Against these therefore he teaches that all things, and especially man in all respects, are subject to divine ordinance, so that he be poor or rich, noble or ignoble, healthy or sick, happy or unhappy, etc., and therefore in no condition of things, chance or state can he murmur against God, inasmuch as God, as the supreme Lord of all and the wisest and best governor of all, distributes to each as he pleases. Whence the Wonderworker translates this verse and the following thus: the things which now are made are already known, and it is clear that man cannot struggle against and resist those things which are above him. Moreover, trifles and absurdities are circulating among men, increasing the madness of those who use them, namely murmurings and curiosities, concerning which see the following chapter, verse 4. And the Author of the Greek Catena says: "All things, he says, are from God, and all things were foreknown by Him, and names were assigned aptly to each, corresponding to each one, and they received from God that institution of life which He foresaw would be most beneficial to each. Who therefore is he who would resist His will? so that it would be vain and futile thereafter to investigate why this man abounds in riches, that one is pressed down by poverty, and other things of the same kind." And further below: "Therefore no one, he says, would dare to say, as Ecclesiastes says, why am I attached to such a body, or why did I not become an angel? Unless perhaps there is acceptance of persons with God. For such discourses abound in much vanity." Therefore under substance, he understands accidents; under thing, all attributes and affections of the thing, for example under man, all the conditions and qualities of man, such as poverty, wealth, misery, happiness, infirmity, health, and all the various fortunes in this life, lots and chances, which God foreknew and predetermined what they would be and to whom they would fall. Fifth, you should most fittingly and genuinely refer these things to the avaricious man, whose vanity he shows throughout this chapter, and who desires things he does not know whether he will obtain and enjoy them, as was said just before; for he reproves the foolishness of those who, not content with present things, always yearn for future things, so as to increase their possessions, as if to say: Avaricious men are accustomed to heap up vast riches, so that they might provide for themselves and their posterity, fame and glory in the future through long stretches of time; trusting in their own industry, they think they can establish their riches, palaces, and estates for many centuries, and immortalize their name, as if they were not subject to God, nor in need of Him, but could accomplish by their own diligence all that they think; in which they err gravely, and show their vanity, equally as foolish presumption, as was said before. Because whatever is to come is known to God alone, and is foreseen and ordained by Him; whoever also is to be, is already known to God, and decreed to be not an angel, nor a god foreknowing and omniscient of future things, but Adam from adama, that is man from humus, that is earthly, wretched, fragile, unstable, subject to many chances of fortune, and soon to die, who therefore cannot contend with God stronger than himself, neither in foreknowledge and foresight of future things, nor in stability and constancy, nor in exemption, so as to be exempt from God's right and rule, but in all things ought to subject himself to His providence and ordination, so that he be content with that measure of riches, that lot of things, that span of life, that posterity and fame which God has determined and predestined to allot to him. For God often ordains that a rich man's son or grandson be born poor, indeed that the rich man himself immediately become poor, wretched, afflicted, and die. The whole force is in the word futurus, and in the Hebrew word Adam, which signifies man subject to all miseries, chances and afflictions. Whence Vatablus translates: in what manner it was, once his name was called, that is, he says, in what manner he was once made from matter, his name shows. For Adam signifies that he was made from adama, that is, that he is earthly from earth. And Isidore Clarius: "When man, he says, for a long time through right and wrong has yearned for perishable things or honors, and his name has been spread throughout all the earth, yet in death it will be known that he was a mortal man, nor could he enter into judgment with God stronger than himself." That this is the meaning is clear from what immediately precedes, and from the following chapter, verse 1. For all these things pertain to future times, which the avaricious wish to secure for themselves. But let them know "that men are," says David, Psalm IX, 21; and Isaiah, chapter XXXI, 3: "Egypt is man and not God." St. Augustine relates from Varro, book XII of the City of God, chapter V, that it was a capital crime among the Egyptians to say that Serapis was a man, although nevertheless his tomb and bones existed in Egypt: because they worshipped him as a god, they therefore denied he had been a man. Such is the vanity and madness of proud men! Such therefore contend with God, indeed they attempt to equal man to God, and sacrilegiously arrogate to him divinity, and foreknowledge of future and secret things proper to God. The avaricious are similar, who ascribe their riches to their own labor, indeed they dare to assert a wealthy posterity of children owed to them, and then shamelessly allege it before God without fear. Mystically, St. Jerome proceeds to understand these things of Christ, and thus explains: "When man knows nothing of his state, and whatever he seems to know and perceive, he does not see it as truth really is, but through a mirror and shadow and image, nor does he know future things, and through much speaking he does not escape sin, let him put silence upon his mouth, and believe that He has come who is written, how, and how great, and what kind He came, not inquiring. The Hebrews at this place establish the midpoint of the book; whence from the beginning up to here they count 112 verses, and they compute as many from this place to the end of the book." "Openly," he says, "the coming of the Saviour is proclaimed, in that He who was to be, before He was seen in the body, His name was already called in the Scriptures, and known to the prophets and saints of God, because He is man, and according to that which He is man, He cannot compare Himself with the Father, and in the Gospel He says: He that sent me is greater than me, John XIV; whence also in what follows it is commanded: Let us not seek beyond what is written to us concerning Him, lest man wish to know more than Scripture has testified."
6:11
11. WORDS ARE MANY, AND HAVING MUCH VANITY IN DISPUTING. — Hebrew, multiplying vanity. So also the Septuagint, Syriac and Arabic. Thaumaturgus, because men pursue trifles; the Chaldean Costi, there are certainly in this age innumerable things most full of vanity, to which to apply oneself, what profit can happen to man, we certainly experience this to be most true. Zurich, many are the things which increase emptiness. Some refer this saying to philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, etc., who arrogated to themselves knowledge of all things, scrutinizing all the secrets of nature, disputing verbosely about all things, as if they wished to contend with the omniscience of God, and to subject it to themselves, and therefore they became vain in their thoughts, Romans I. Whence Vatablus translates, many words of philosophers can be brought forth, but which increase nothing but vanity. Thus Dionysius. Others understand words of those murmuring against divine providence, in that it has made them poor, miserable, unfortunate. Thus Hugh. Others refer it to the curious, who wish to discourse and speak about all things, indeed to dispute and contend. More aptly, as I have said, you should refer these to the avaricious, who think, speak, and dispute much about their riches and the ways of increasing, preserving, and perpetuating them. Again, the avaricious are wont to be, especially the rich and powerful, anxious about future things, and future opulence and posterity, and therefore, in order that they might foreknow them, not rarely do they consult augurs, mathematicians, genethliacists, magicians and diviners, who fill them with vain hopes through their feigned divinations, more truly flatteries, as we still see done at Rome by astrologers. The vaticinations, conjectures and divinations of these, therefore, he calls here "words many having much vanity." The same was frequent among the Hebrews, who, dwelling in Egypt, where astrology flourished, learned this art and vanity of divining from the stars, equally as from the Canaanites and Philistines their neighbors. Therefore Solomon reproves them here, equally as Jeremiah, chapter X, verse 2, and Isaiah, chapter II, verse 2: "Augurs," he says, "had as the Philistines."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
6:13
It consisted in the practice of a vow (Heb. nedher, from the Proto-Semitic root ndr, from which nāzīr also derives) of abstinence, for a religious reason (cf. the full expression "nazirite of [consecrated to] God": Judg. 13:5, 7; 16:17; Eccl. 6:13 [Heb.]) and from alcoholic drink (including grapes themselves: Num. 6:3); from the cutting of the hair, considered a refinement; moreover the nazirite had to avoid with particular …
6:18
… Holy Scripture (Prov. 3, 13-14; 4, 5-9; Sap. 6, 9; Eccl. 6, 18-37) exalts the prudent man and identifies p. with wisdom, since it is proper to the wise man to order his whole life in relation to the ultimate end, as indeed the prudent man does. …
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.