Wisdom praiseth herself: her origin, her dwelling, her dignity, and her fruits.
True and laudable wisdom 5. proceding from God, 6. shineth in his workes: 12. especially in his Church; where she bringeth forth al vertues. 26. She inuiteth al vnto her. 44. and lighteneth her folowers with splendore of doctrine.
1Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,La sapienza si farà il suo elogio, e si darà onore in Dio, e si glorierà in mezzo al popolo di lui.VVISDOM shal praise her soule, & shal be honoured in God, and shal glorie in the middes of her people,Sapientia laudabit animam suam, / et in Deo honorabitur, / et in medio populi sui gloriabitur, 2And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,Ella aprirà la sua bocca nelle adunanze dell'Altissimo, e si glorificherà al cospetto delle schiere di lui.and shal open her mouth in the churches of the Highest, and shal glorie in the sight of his power,et in ecclesiis Altissimi aperiet os suum, / et in conspectu virtutis illius gloriabitur, 3And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly.Ella sarà esaltata in mezzo al suo popolo, e nella piena congregazione de' santi sarà ammirata.and in the middes of her people she shal be exalted, and in the holie assemblie she shal be admired,et in medio populi sui exaltabitur, / et in plenitudine sancta admirabitur, 4And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:E laude riscuoterà dalla moltitudine degli eletti, e trai benedetti sarà ella pur benedetta, e dirà:and in the multitude of the elect she shal haue praise, and among the blessed, she shal be blessed, saying:et in multitudine electorum habebit laudem, / et inter benedictos benedicetur, dicens: 5I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:Io uscii dalla bocca dell'Altissimo primogenita avanti a tutte le creature;I come forth from the mouth of the Highest, the first begotten before al creatures.Ego ex ore Altissimi prodivi, / primogenita ante omnem creaturam. 6I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:Io feci nascer nel cielo una luce, che mai vien meno, e quasi con nebbia ricopersi tutta la terra:I made that in the heauens there should rise light that faileth not, and as a cloud I couered al the earth.Ego feci in cælis ut oriretur lumen indeficiens, / et sicut nebula texi omnem terram. 7I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.Negli altissimi cieli io posi mia stanza, e il mio trono sopra una colonna di nubi.I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in the pillar of a cloude.Ego in altissimis habitavi, / et thronus meus in columna nubis.
8I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,Io sola feci tutto il giro del cielo, e penetrai nell'abisso profondo, camminai su' flutti del mare.I alone haue gone round about the compasse of heauen, and haue penetrated into the bottome of the depth, and haue walked in the waues of the sea,Gyrum cæli circuivi sola, / et profundum abyssi penetravi: / in fluctibus maris ambulavi. 9And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,E in ogni parte della terra posai il mio piede;and stood in al the earth: and in al people,Et in omni terra steti: / et in omni populo, 10And in every nation I have had the chief rule:E di tutti i popoli, e di tutte le genti ebbi l'impero:and in euerie nation I haue had the primacie:et in omni gente primatum habui: 11And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.E de' grandi tutti, e dei piccoli soggiogai i cuori con mia possanza, e tra tutti questi cercai dove posarmi, e fisserò mia dimora nell'eredità del Signore.and I haue by strength troden downe the hartes of al the excellent, and the base; and in al these thinges I sought rest, & I shal abide in the inheritance of our Lord.et omnium excellentium et humilium corda virtute calcavi. / Et in his omnibus requiem quæsivi, / et in hæreditate Domini morabor. 12Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,Allora il Creatore di tutte le cose ordinò, e parlò a me, e quegli, che mi creò stabilì il mio tabernacolo;Then the creatour of al commanded, and said to me: & he that created me, rested in my tabernacle,Tunc præcepit, et dixit mihi Creator omnium: / et qui creavit me, requievit in tabernaculo meo. 13And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.E mi disse: abita con Giacobbe, e tuo retaggio sia Israele, e tue radici getta ne' miei eletti.and he said to me: Inhabite in Iacob, and inherite in Israel, and take roote in myne elect.Et dixit mihi: In Jacob inhabita, / et in Israël hæreditare, / et in electis meis mitte radices. 14From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.Da principio, e prima de' secoli io fui creata, e per tutto il futuro secolo io sarò sempre, e nel tabernacolo santo esercitai il mio ministero dinanzi a lui.From the beginning and before the worlds was I created, and vnto the world to come I shal not cease, and in the holie habitation I haue ministred before him.Ab initio et ante sæcula creata sum, / et usque ad futurum sæculum non desinam: / et in habitatione sancta coram ipso ministravi.
15And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.Così ferma stanza io ebbi in Sionne, ed anche la santa città fu il luogo del mio riposo, e in Gerusalemme fu la mia reggia.And so in Sion was I established, and in the sanctified cittie likewise I rested, and my power was in Ierusalem.Et sic in Sion firmata sum, / et in civitate sanctificata similiter requievi, / et in Jerusalem potestas mea. 16And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.E gettai mie radici in un popolo glorioso, e nella porzione del mio Dio, la quale o il suo retaggio, e la mia abitazione fu nella piena adunanza de' santi.And I tooke roote in an honorable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abiding is in the ful assemblie of saintes.Et radicavi in populo honorificato, / et in parte Dei mei hæreditas illius, / et in plenitudine sanctorum detentio mea. 17I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.Mi alzai qual cedro sul Libano, e qual cipresso sul monte di Sion:I am exalted as a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypres tree in mount Sion.Quasi cedrus exaltata sum in Libano, / et quasi cypressus in monte Sion: 18I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:Stesi i miei rami come una palma di Cades, e come una pianta di rose in Gerico.As a palme tree in Cades am I exalted, and as a rose plant in Iericho:quasi palma exaltata sum in Cades, / et quasi plantatio rosæ in Jericho: 19As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.Mi innalzai come un bell'ulivo ne' campi, e come platano nelle piazze presso delle acque.As a faire oliue tree in the fieldes, and as a plane tree by the water in the streates am I exalted.quasi oliva speciosa in campis, / et quasi platanus exaltata sum juxta aquam in plateis. 20I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:Qual di cinnamomo, e di balsamo aromatico spirai odore, soave odore spirai come di mirra eletta.I gaue an odout as cinnamon, & aromatical balme: as chosen myrrhe haue I geuen the sweetenes of odour:Sicut cinnamomum et balsamum aromatizans odorem dedi; / quasi myrrha electa dedi suavitatem odoris: 21And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.E riempici la mia abitazione di odoriferi vapori come di storace, di galbano, e di oniche, e di lagrima, e di incenso non espresso per incisione, e il mio odore è come il balsamo non misturato.and as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as Libanus not cut, haue I perfumed myne habitation, and myne odour is as baulme non mingled.et quasi storax, et galbanus, et ungula, et gutta, / et quasi Libanus non incisus vaporavi habitationem meam, / et quasi balsamum non mistum odor meus.
22I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.Io distesi i miei rami qual terebinto, e i miei rami son pieni di onore, e di grazia.I haue spred out my boughes as the terebinth, and my boughes are of honour and grace.Ego quasi terebinthus extendi ramos meos, / et rami mei honoris et gratiæ. 23As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.Io come la vite gettai fiori di odor soave, e i miei fiori sono frutti di gloria, e di ricchezza.I as a vine haue fructified sweetenes of odour: and my flowers are fruite of honour and honestie.Ego quasi vitis fructificavi suavitatem odoris: / et flores mei fructus honoris et honestatis. 24I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.Io madre del bell'amore, e del timore, e della scienza, e della santa speranza.I am the mother of beautiful loue, and of feare, and of knowledge, and of holie hope.Ego mater pulchræ dilectionis, et timoris, / et agnitionis, et sanctæ spei. 25In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.In me ogni grazia (per conoscer) la via della verità: in me ogni speranza di vita, e di virtù.In me is al grace of way and truth, in me al hope of life and vertue.In me gratia omnis viæ et veritatis: / in me omnis spes vitæ et virtutis. 26Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.Venite a me voi tutti, voi, che siete presi dall'amore di me; e saziatevi de' miei frutti;Passe to me al ye that desire me, and be filled of my generations.Transite ad me, omnes qui concupiscitis me, / et a generationibus meis implemini: 27For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.Perocché dolce è il mio spirito più del miele, e la mia eredità più del favo del miele:For my spirit is sweete aboue honie, and myne inheritance aboue honie and the honie combe.spiritus enim meus super mel dulcis, / et hæreditas mea super mel et favum. 28My memory is unto everlasting generations.Memoria di me si farà per tutta la serie de' secoli.My memorie is vnto generations of worldes.Memoria mea in generatione sæculorum. 29They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.Color, che mi mangiano, hanno sempre fame, e color che mi bevono han sempre sete.They that eate me, shal yet hunger: and they that drinke me, shal yet thirst.Qui edunt me, adhuc esurient, / et qui bibunt me, adhuc sitient. 30He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.Chi ascolta me, non avrà mai da arrossire, e quelli, che per me operano, non peccheranno.He that heareth me, shal not be confounded: and they that worke in me, shal not sinne.Qui audit me non confundetur, / et qui operantur in me non peccabunt:
31They that explain me shall have life everlasting.Coloro che mi illustrano, avranno la vita eterna.They that explicate me, shal haue life euerlasting.qui elucidant me, vitam æternam habebunt. 32All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth.Tutte queste cose contiene il libro della vita, che è il testamento dell'Altissimo, e dottrina di verità.Al these thinges are the booke of life, and the testament of the Highest, & the knowlege of truth.Hæc omnia liber vitæ, / et testamentum Altissimi, et agnitio veritatis. 33Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.Mosè intimò la legge della giustizia, eredità della casa di Giacobbe colle promesse fatte ad Israele.Moyses commanded a law in the preceptes of iustices, and an inheritance to the house of Iacob, and the promises to Israel.Legem mandavit Moyses in præceptis justitiarum, / et hæreditatem domui Jacob, / et Israël promissiones. 34He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever.Dio promise a Davidde suo servo di far nascere da lui il Re fortissimo, che dee sedere sopra trono di gloria in sempiterno.He appointed to Dauid his seruant for to raise vp a king of him most strong, and sitting in the throne of honour for euer.Posuit David, puero suo, / excitare regem ex ipso fortissimum, / et in throno honoris sedentem in sempiternum. 35Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.Il quale di sapienza ridonda come il Phison, e come il Tigri nella stagione de' nuovi frutti.Who filleth wisdom as Phison, and as Tigris in the daies of new fruites.Qui implet quasi Phison sapientiam, / et sicut Tigris in diebus novorum: 36Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest.Egli spande una piena di intelligenza come l'Eufrate, e più, e più cresce come il Giordano in tempo di mietitura.Who replenisheth vnderstanding as Euphrates, who multiplieth it as Iordan in the time of haruest.qui adimplet quasi Euphrates sensum, / qui multiplicat quasi Jordanis in tempore messis: 37Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage.Egli la scienza sparge come la luce, e allaga come il Gehon nel tempo della vendemmia.Who sendeth discipline as the light, and assisting as Gehon in the day of vintage.qui mittit disciplinam sicut lucem, / et assistens quasi Gehon in die vindemiæ.
38Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out.Egli il primo la ha conosciuta perfettamente; e chi è men forte non la comprende.Who first hath perfect knowledge of it, & a weaker shal not searche it out.Qui perficit primus scire ipsam, / et infirmior non investigabit eam. 39For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean.Imperocché più del mare sono vasti i suoi pensieri, e i suoi consigli son più profondi del grande abisso.For her cogitation shal abound aboue the sea, and her counsels aboue the greate depth.A mari enim abundavit cogitatio ejus, / et consilium illius ab abysso magna. 40I, wisdom, have poured out rivers.Io la sapienza versai de' fiumi.I wisdom haue powred out riuers.Ego sapientiam effudi flumina: 41I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a channel of a river, and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise.Io come canale di acqua immensa derivata dal fiume; e come una diramazione dal fiume, e come un condotto di acque sgorgai dal paradiso:I as a sluse of a mightie water out of the riuer, I as the riuer Dioryx, & as a water coundite I came out of paradise.ego quasi trames aquæ immensæ de fluvio: / ego quasi fluvii dioryx, / et sicut aquæductus exivi de paradiso. 42I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.Io dissi: Innaffierò il giardino delle mie piante, e darò acqua a sazietà ai frutti del mio prato.I said: I wil water my garden of plantes, and wil inebriate the fruite of my medow.Dixi: Rigabo hortum meum plantationum, / et inebriabo prati mei fructum. 43And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea:Ed ecco che il mio canale o divenuto assai gonfio, e il mio fiume sta per essere un mare;Et ecce factus est mihi trames abundans, / et fluvius meus appropinquavit ad mare: 44For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off.Perocché come (fa) la luce del mattino, tal è il lume della dottrina, che io porgo a tutti, e seguiterò ad esporre fino a' tempi rimoti.And hehold my sluse was made aboundant, and my riuer came neere to a sea. Because I illuminated doctrine to al as the morning light, & I wil declare it far.quoniam doctrinam quasi antelucanum illumino omnibus, / et enarrabo illam usque ad longinquum. 45I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.Penetrerò in tutte le ime parti della terra, getterò lo sguardo su tutti i dormienti, e illuminerò tutti quelli, che sperano nel Signore.I wil penetrate al the inferiour partes of the earth, and wil behold al that sleepe, and wil illuminate al that hope in our Lord.Penetrabo omnes inferiores partes terræ, / et inspiciam omnes dormientes, / et illuminabo omnes sperantes in Domino.
46I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age.Io tuttora spanderò dottrina come profezia, e la lascerò a quelli, che cercano la sapienza, e non cesserò di annunziarla a tutta la loro posterità fino al secolo santo.I wil yet powre out doctrine as prophecie, and wil leaue it to them that seeke wisdom, and wil not cease vnto their progenies euen to the holie age.Adhuc doctrinam quasi prophetiam effundam, / et relinquam illam quærentibus sapientiam, / et non desinam in progenies illorum usque in ævum sanctum. 47See ye that I have not laboured myself only, but for all that seek out the truth.Osservate come io non per me solo ho lavorato, ma per tutti quelli, che vano in cerca della verità.See ye that I haue not laboured for myself only, but for al that seeke out the truth.Videte quoniam non soli mihi laboravi, / sed omnibus exquirentibus veritatem.
24:1
Haydock
Wisdom. Greek title, "the praise of wisdom." Here the book of Ecclesiastes is imitated. (Haydock)
See also Proverbs viii., and Wisdom 7:24., and 8:1. The pagans boasted of their philosophy. But it was not to be compared with the true religion, which the Israelites possessed.
Calmet
Own self. Literally, "soul." She alone is capable of this office. (Calmet)
Menochius
In God. Referring all the glory to him. (Menochius)
Haydock
This sentence is not in Greek. (Haydock)
Worthington
The second person of the Trinity proclaims his own praises. (Worthington)
24:2
Calmet
Power. The temple, rather than in the schools of Athens. (Calmet)
24:3
Haydock
And. Greek, (5.) "I came out of the mouth of the Highest, (6.) and as," etc. (Haydock)
He alludes to the darkness which covered the earth, Genesis 1:2., and Job 38:9. Many explain this of the uncreated wisdom, born in the womb of the blessed Virgin [Mary]; and the Church, in her office, applies it to her in a mystical sense. But it seems literally to refer to the wisdom and grace granted to the saints, which enlightens every man, and presides over the creation.
24:7
Calmet
Cloud. Guiding the Israelites (Exodus 13:21.) or near the throne of God, Wisdom 9:4. (Calmet)
24:8
Penetrated. Greek, "walked in."
24:11
Haydock
By. Greek, "with all," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Lord. Israel was chosen gratuitously. (Calmet)
Greek, of whom?
24:12
Haydock
Rested. Greek, "gave rest to my tent." (Haydock)
Menochius
So Virgil says, requierun. flumina cursus. (Menochius)
Worthington
God offers grace, but forces none to accept of it. (Worthington)
24:13
Haydock
And take, etc., is not in Greek. (Haydock)
St. Augustine
This may be explained of the true religion, or (Calmet) of the word of the Father. (St. Augustine, Trin. 1:12.)
Haydock
In the Church only is effectual grace, (Worthington) or none will receive it, who refuses to hear the Church. (Haydock)
24:14
Created. Or engendered, Proverbs 8:22.
Calmet
Him. As his priestess, directing all the ministers of the temple. (Calmet)
Worthington
Christ is begotten by the understanding, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from love. Creation is not here taken strictly. (Worthington)
24:16
Haydock
His. Greek, "of his inheritance, (17.) I," etc. (Haydock)
24:17
Sion. Beyond the Jordan. Greek, "Hermon," Deuteronomy 4:48.
24:18
24:19
Calmet
In the streets, is not in Greek. (Calmet)
Haydock
Grabe inserts, by the waters. (Haydock)
These trees flourish most in such situations, and people delighted to walk under them in hot countries.
24:20
Myrrh. Which distills through the bark, without any incision.
24:21
Onyx. A shell-fish in the Indies, which feeds on the spica nardi, and hence becomes odoriferous.
Aloes, (gutta) the finest myrrh.
Not cut. Greek, "in a tent."
Calmet
And my, etc., is not in Greek. Wisdom is compared to what was most esteemed. (Calmet)
24:22
Haydock
Honour. Rich and pleasant. (Haydock)
24:24
Haydock
I, etc. Grabe restores this verse, and, instead of the next, has, "but I am given to all my children, being born myself for ever, to those who are specified by him. (26.) Come," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
The text seems to be corrupt. (Calmet)
24:25
Life. Christ declares himself to be, the way, the truth, and the life. [John 14:6.]
24:27
Spirit. Greek, "remembrance." It has not the following verse.
24:29
Calmet
Thirst. Without being ever disgusted, John 4:13. (Calmet)
St. Gregory
Experience of carnal delights is quite the reverse. (St. Gregory, hom. xxxvi. Ev.)
Worthington
The more grace a person has, the more he desireth and receiveth from God. (Worthington)
24:30
Calmet
Sin. Or lose their labour. They shall be directed in the paths of life. (Calmet)
24:31
Haydock
They. Greek, "all these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, the law which Moses gave unto us, an inheritance to the synagogues of Jacob." Grabe puts in a different character from the Complutensian, "Lose not strength in the Lord, but stick to him, that he may strengthen you. The Lord Almighty is the only God, and there is no other Saviour." Then follows, (ver. 35.) "who," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Everlasting. Provided his life correspond with his doctrine. No occupation can be more glorious. (Calmet)
Menochius
Let thy Scriptures be my chaste delights: let me not be deceived in them, nor deceive others by them. (St. Augustine, Confessions 11:2.) (Calmet) (Daniel xii.) (Menochius)
24:32
Calmet
Truth. They are equally certain, and no more is required. (Calmet)
Haydock
He that loves has fulfilled the law. (Haydock)
24:34
Challoner
King. Viz., Christ, who by his gospel, like an overflowing river, hath enriched the earth with heavenly wisdom. (Challoner)
Haydock
Ever. The Lord (Haydock) is a king, (Carriers) who, etc., ver. 35. (Haydock)
Calmet
Solomon's wisdom is also praised. (Calmet)
Worthington
The sceptre of David remained till the captivity, and the royal family continued in esteem till Christ. Yet David was only a figure of Christ, the eternal king. (Worthington)
24:35
24:36
24:37
Light. Giving to all the light of reason, and to Israel the law, Psalm 147:20.
24:38
Challoner
Of her. Christ was the first that had perfect knowledge of heavenly wisdom. (Challoner)
This is the privilege of God. Greek, "the first hath not perfect," etc.
24:40
Rivers of saving waters, on all, but particularly (Haydock) on Judea, ver. 42. Greek, "and like a ditch (dioryx. Calmet) from a river, and as an aqueduct, I came into paradise," (Haydock) like the four rivers aforesaid, Genesis ii.
24:44
Off. He alludes to the conversion of the Gentiles.
24:45
Haydock
I will. Many Fathers explain this of Christ's descent into hell. But as it occurs not in the Greek, if may be considered as the tradition of the first Christians, who gave this version, (Calmet) or they found it in their copies. (Haydock)
24:46
Calmet
Prophecy. Of no less authority. The prophets had ceased for some time before Christ. (Calmet)
Haydock
Them. Greek, "to ages of ages. See," etc. (Haydock)
24:47
Calmet
1:Wisdom, or the author of this book, Ecclesiasticus 33:18., and Wisdom 7:13. (Calmet)
24:34
A most mighty king.... Viz., Christ, who by his gospel, like an overflowing river, has enriched the earth with heavenly wisdom.
24:38
Who first hath perfect knowledge of her.... Christ was the first that had perfect knowledge of heavenly wisdom.
24:1
Diuine wisdom the Second Person of the B. Trinitie begotten not created praiseth it self. According to the phrase of speach Iere. 51. v. 14. The Lord of hostes hath svvorne by his soule, that is, by himself.
24:11
God offereth his grace, but forceth not anie to accept it.
24:12
Creation is not here taken in the strict signification, but for diuine production, in that God the Father by vnderstanding begetteth God the Sonne. As likewise the Father and the Sonne by loue produce the Holie Ghost.
24:13
in the Church only is effectual grace.
24:27
Psa. •••
24:29
The more grace any hath the more he desireth and receiueth.
24:34
In Dauids progenie God preserued the kinglie state til the captiuitie: and the estimation of the royal bloud vnto Christ But in al this Dauid was a figure of Christ. VVho sitteth in the Throne of honour absolutly for eu••.
24:36
Concordance Ios•. 3.
24:3
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.2
… and in every people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excellent and the humble: in me is all hope of life and virtue: pass over to me, all ye who desire me.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 2.5
42. For although most authorities read “de Spiritu,” yet the Greek from which the Latins translated have “ ἐχ πνεύματος ἁγίου ,” that is, “ ex Spiritu Sancto .” For that which is “of” [ ex ] any one is either of his substance or of his power. Of his substance, as the Son, Who says: “I came forth of the Mouth of the Most High;”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.17
… “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 13.24
But, again, they object that breath is understood to have been emitted from the mouth of God; and if we believe that is the soul, we must consequently acknowledge it to be of the same substance, and equal to that wisdom, which says, “I come out of the mouth of the Most High.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 4.20
… But the Father is not said to be sent, when from time to time He is apprehended by any one, for He has no one of whom to be, or from whom to proceed; since Wisdom says, “I came out of the mouth of the Most High,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Harmony of the Gospels 4.10
… But before this body, which is dead by reason of sin, is quickened, it is without doubt corruptible, and presseth down the soul. And if, in the body, man is ever helped to reach beyond the cloud with which the whole earth is covered,
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.8
88. We say, therefore, that it is the function and exercise of His Authority that He has made us sons of God, whereas the oracles of God discover that His generation is in relation to personal attribute, for the Wisdom of God saith: “I came forth out of the mouth of the Most High,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 1.6
… who only hath immortality;” not even so would it be necessarily understood that the Son is excluded. For neither has the Son separated the Father from Himself, because He Himself, speaking elsewhere with the voice of wisdom (for He Himself is the Wisdom of God), says, “I alone compassed the circuit of heaven.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 14.1.1
1. We must now discourse concerning wisdom; not the wisdom of God, which without doubt is God, for His only-begotten Son is called the wisdom of God;
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 86.23
… What then shall I say, except what can be said, but can hardly be thought? He both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not: for I find both in Scripture. For while He said, “Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled;” it is again said of Wisdom, “Those who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who drink shall thirst again.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.2
… For it is both sought in order that it may be found more sweetly, and found in order that it may be sought more eagerly. The words of Wisdom in the book of Ecclesiasticus may be taken in this meaning: “They who eat me shall still be hungry, and they who drink me shall still be thirsty.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist 1.9
Chapter 9.— 10. Again, when he hears, "He that is washed by one dead, his washing profiteth him nought,"
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6. I MADE IN THE HEAVENS, THAT AN UNFAILING LIGHT SHOULD ARISE. — The Zurich Bible: unfailing. For light, at the beginning of the world, created through the wisdom of God in the heavens, always remained in them and shone, indeed was increased on the fourth day of the world, when from it the sun, moon and stars were made. This is the second praise of wisdom from its effect, namely that it itself is the cause of things, and especially of light, which is as it were the eye, soul and life of the world: since it itself is light, it therefore mentions light made by itself before other created things; and when it calls it unfailing, it also signifies that after the day of judgment light will not be lacking. These words are now lacking in the Greek and Syriac; but St. Maximus read them in homily 2 On the Feast of Easter: "He himself is the Son of God," he says, "to whom the Father eructates the mystery of his divinity (according to that Psalm xviii, 3: 'Day unto day uttereth speech.')" He himself, I say, is the day, who says through Solomon: "I made, that an unfailing light should arise in heaven." as I have declared in Genesis 1, 14. Lyranus notes: Here is described, he says, the generation of wisdom begotten, namely of Christ, first eternal, verse 1; then temporal from the Virgin descending from David, verse 34; next, after the generation of the Word, the creation of the world is described in this verse 6. St. John the Evangelist observes a similar order in chapter 1, where in verse 1 he assigns the emanation of the divine Word from the Father, saying: "In the beginning was the Word;"; secondly, the creation of the world, saying: "All things were made by him;"; thirdly, the incarnation of the Word, when he adds: "And the Word was made flesh." Mystically you may adapt these words: "I made in the heavens, that an unfailing light should arise," to the Blessed Virgin. Whence Blessed Peter Damian, sermon On the Assumption: "Chosen as the sun." "Chosen," he says, "but pre-chosen as the sun; because just as the sun alone illuminates the orb; so she alone illuminates both Angels and men with a more solid light." And after some remarks: "The Spirit had nothing in visible creatures more excellent, to which he might compare the excellence of the Virgin; for indeed the brightness of the sun had something far higher than the moon: because although that one obscures the smaller stars, it does not however entirely conceal them; but this one, shining more brightly incandescent, thus snatches from the stars and moon their position, so that they are as if they were not, and cannot be seen. Similarly also the rod of Jesse, the true herald of light, shining forth in that inaccessible light, thus had the dignity of both spirits, so that in comparison with the Virgin they can neither be able, nor ought to appear." And further below: "Consider," he says, "what a starry and serene overshadowing, what a luminous splendor the circular orb of such a great star St. Bonaventure himself, chapter v, thus speaks: "O how widely, and how far that great tree of the blessed Virgin Mary extends its branches; how wide to men, how far to Angels, how high to God!" Wherefore Blessed Louis Blosius in Aspirations, aptly and piously sighing thus to Wisdom: "O eternal Wisdom, grant me thy light. Shine forth to me, O bright and gracious light, that the darkness of my blindness may be turned into the clearest noon. Adorn, O good Jesus, my soul with that beauty of charity which thou lovest; enrich it with that fat of love in which thou delightest; take from it whatever is less pleasing to thy eyes, and make it wholly pleasing to thee. O sweetest ardor, devour and happily consume the dust of my substance. Transfer me into thee, that I, clinging to thee with the indissoluble glue of love, may live from thee, and like a lily may blossom before thee. O most beautiful and flourishing flower, Jesus; O life eternal; life, by which I live, without which I die; life, by which I rejoice, without which I grieve; sweet and beloved life, grant that I may be joined to thee, embrace thee, and lulled to sleep in thee by sweet charity, thou who art most grateful peace, may I sleep in holiness!" AND AS A CLOUD I COVERED ALL THE EARTH. — The Syriac: as a cloud I covered the earth; the Zurich Bible: after the manner of a cloud I covered all the earth. It signifies the primordial darkness, of which it is said in Genesis 1, 2: "Darkness was upon the face of the abyss," as if to say: I wisdom covered the earth with darkness, as with a cloud, at first, namely as it was rude and deformed, lest its deformity should appear, just as a man covers his nakedness with darkness and hiding places; so that cloud is in the ablative case. The sense therefore is: Just as a cloud is wont to cover the earth; so wisdom through the primordial darkness, as its cloud and mist, covered the earth, according to that in Job xxxviii, 9: "When I made the cloud its garment (of the sea and earth), and wrapped it in darkness as in swaddling clothes," as if to say: Just as a naked infant is wrapped and clothed in swaddling bands; so I clothed and wrapped the primordial nakedness of the earth in darkness, as in swaddling clothes and bands. Our Gregory of Valencia adds, in his work On the Work of Six Days, on the work of the second day: "Like a cloud," he says, "wisdom covered the earth, because the air created at the beginning of the world was not pure, but a cloud was mixed with it, which immediately covered the earth and prevented the sight (even after light arose) of that open space which we now perceive from the earth even to the very celestial bodies, as far as the sight of the eyes can reach. Hence secondly, it can be explained, as if to say: I covered the earth with a cloud, that is, by the continuous succession of darkness and night, after the creation of light and the sun, whose unfailing light he immediately described before; for to that unfailing light he opposes a cloud, that is, the darkness of night, by which, as by a cloud, the earth is covered and enveloped, while the sun, as day departs, sinks beneath the horizon. And this meaning is hinted at by "like a cloud"; for it is a comparison, as if to say: Just as a cloud is accustomed to cover the earth, so I covered it with the darkness of night; but I covered it not only with light, but also with darkness and night, for many most wise reasons: namely, for the rest of men and animals, to temper the force of the sun, to moisten and cool the earth, etc. Blessed Peter Damian, sermon On the Assumption: "Chosen as the sun." "Chosen," he says, "but pre-chosen, as the sun"; because just as the sun alone illuminates the orb, so this one alone illuminates both Angels and men with a more solid light." filled the earth in the manner in which it is said of the divine Spirit: "The Spirit of the Lord was borne over the waters"; because, namely, he cherished them by his presence and power. Mystically, the Blessed Virgin, mother of eternal Wisdom, covers the earth like a cloud: first, because she covers the misery and nakedness of men with her mercy and grace; second, because she dries up their moisture and phlegm, that is, their sloth and torpor, and makes them fervent and fruitful in good works; third, just as a cloud, when the South wind blows, coming dissolves the ice and rigour brought on by the North, and moistens the earth: so by the Virgin's intercession, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the frost and hardness of heart brought on by the devil is dissolved, and the green acts of virtues are produced. Wherefore St. Bernardine, vol. III, sermon 11, article 11, adapts those words of Ecclesiasticus, chapter XLIII: "Medicine of all things in the haste of a cloud," to the Blessed Virgin; for he says that the medicine of all men is in the festive Assumption of the Virgin: "Because all," he says, "who wish, become partakers of her grace"; and he cites St. Bernard saying that the Mother of God by her most abundant charity made herself a debtor to all the wise and unwise; and opens the bosom of mercy, and from her fullness all receive. Thirdly, some with Lyran appropriately take by cloud, by metonymy, the misty and dark waters which in the genesis of the world filled the whole earth, air and aether even to the empyrean heaven: from which God then formed all the heavens, the element of fire and air; and which, in Genesis I, is called the abyss: "Darkness," he says, "was upon the face of the abyss." Wisdom therefore here signifies his power, providence and fruitfulness, namely, that he covered the earth with misty waters, so that he might irrigate and make it fruitful to produce from it herbs, trees and plants; men also and animals, and all other things. To this pertains that passage in Psalm CXLVII, 5: "Who giveth snow like wool; scattereth mists like ashes," as if to say: God alone by his word, that is by his word, gives snow which in whiteness, lightness, softness, as Theodoret says, density and heat is similar to wool: for snow like wool covers the earth to cherish it, warm it and make it fruitful, while it restrains the warm breaths and exhalations of the earth; and drives them within the earth, so that by their heat the seeds cast may put down deeper and wider roots, and thus give an abundant harvest. And "mists," in Hebrew frost, "scattereth like ashes." For frost is similar to ashes in colour, abundance, heat and power; for like ashes it burns up and consumes the excessive moisture of the earth, and thus warms, tempers and makes it fruitful. Whence Sextus Pompeius: "Frost," he says, "is called as if burning through." God therefore, just as in summer he fans and cools the earth with rains and winds, lest it be harmed by heat; so in winter, lest it be harmed by cold, he cherishes it with snow like wool, warms it with frost like fire, nourishes it with crystal or hail like bread and food; for hails like grains of sugar sweeten, moisten and nourish the earth. This is what the Psalmist adds: "He sendeth his crystal (that is hail) like morsels." Fourth, thus you may expound it: As a cloud covers the earth; so I, wisdom, have covered and do cover the earth, not with a cloud, but with my glory and the varied beauty of creatures. Whence the Arabic translator renders it simply: For I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth. Moreover, glory is aptly compared to a cloud, because formerly God was accustomed to break and veil his glory and the splendor of his majesty, which the human eye could not bear, with a cloud. Whence by a cloud the glory of God was represented in the tabernacle of Moses, Exodus XXXIII; and in the temple of Solomon, III Kings VIII, 10, and Isaiah cap. VI, 4. Whence Suarez, lib. II De Opere sex dierum, cap. V, num. 6, joining the third and fourth exposition: Wisdom, he says, covered the earth with water, just as the earth is wont to be covered with a cloud: or rather, "as a cloud," because with his majesty and pre- namely he opposes this cloud to it: for a cloud is a symbol of darkness and night. Whence among the Symposium there exists this riddle of clouds: I am night in appearance; but I am not black in color, And in the middle of day I nevertheless bring darkness with me: Nor do the stars give me light, nor Cynthia brightness. 7. I dwelt in the highest places, — arranging the empyrean heaven, says Lyra, and immediately upon its being created by me, filling it with innumerable myriads of Angels. For although divine Wisdom, namely God and the Son of God, are by essence, presence and power in the whole world, according to that of Jeremiah XXIII: "Heaven and earth I fill;"; nevertheless the habitation, that is, the house and temple in which God is said to dwell, is heaven, especially the empyrean; because in it he shows his power, magnificence, riches and glory to the holy Angels and men. Whence Isaiah says LXVI, "Heaven is my seat; but the earth is the footstool of my feet." Moreover, by heaven, especially the empyrean, yet generally speaking, understand any heaven, not only the sidereal and ethereal, but also the aerial. Whence concerning it he adds: AND MY THRONE IS IN A PILLAR OF A CLOUD. — Note: In Scripture God and the majesty of God are said to dwell in clouds, according to that: "Thou who makest a cloud thy ascent;"; and this for many reasons: first, because clouds are elevated and high from the earth, and a high and lofty seat is due to God the Most High; second, because the majesty and glory of God are veiled and covered with clouds; third, because in clouds he shows his power: for in them and from them he wonderfully vibrates thunder, winds, rain, by which he makes the earth fertile, hail, lightning and thunderbolts; fourth, because it alludes to the pillar of fire and cloud, in which God dwelt and showed his glory to the Hebrews, and leading them on, and giving manna, feeding them for forty years, he led them into the promised land, Exodus XXXI, 21. See the things said there. Whence the Syrian translator renders it: I in the highest places have set my tabernacle (others, fixed), and my seat is in the pillars of clouds, accord- Anagogically Christ, who is the Wisdom of the Father, shall have his throne in a glorious cloud, when he shall come to judge the world on the day of judgment, Matthew XXIV, 30. Allegorically Rabanus: The throne, he says, of the Son of God was in a pillar of cloud, that is, in exalted humanity, endowed with all virtues, which as a glorious cloud veiled and adorned his divinity, according to that of Isaiah XIX: "Behold the Lord shall ascend upon a light cloud." Mystically, Incarnate Wisdom, namely Christ, the Son of God, dwelt for nine months in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, as it were in an animated heaven, and in a pillar of cloud. Wherefore many of the Fathers call the Blessed Virgin a cloud, because she herself tempers the heat of the Sun, that is of divine vengeance, and waters and makes fruitful the soul. Thus Chrysippus in homily 2 On the Mother of God: "Hail," he says, "cloud bringing drink of rain to the souls of the Saints." And Hesychius, homily 2 On the Mother of God, "he calls her a cloud, containing uncorrupted rains." St. Epiphanius, sermon On the Praise of the Virgin: "Hail," he says, "full of grace, cloud like a pillar, who hast God, who led the people through the desert." And again: "O Blessed Virgin, thou art a cloud," he says, "bright, which didst bring forth from heaven the most brilliant lightning, Christ, to illuminate the world; a heavenly cloud, which brought forth into the world the thunder of the Holy Spirit hidden within thyself, and poured forth the rain of the Holy Spirit upon all the earth with force, to produce the fruit of faith." Proclus, Bishop of Constantinople, On the Mother of God: "She," he says, "is truly a light cloud, who bore upon her body Him who sitteth upon the Cherubim." St. Jerome in Psalm LXXVII, 14: "Certainly," he says, "we ought to understand the holy Mary as a light cloud. He spoke well: In a cloud by day; for that cloud was not in darkness; but always in light." Andrew of Crete, oration 2 On the Mother of God: "O pillar," he says, "not leading carnal Israel through light, who fleeth; but spiritual Israel, who is led to the unerring light of knowledge, illuminating with divine torches. O cloud wholly bright, and shadowy mountain, not overshadowing the ungrateful people of the Jews, but the beloved people of God, a holy nation, illuminated by thy maternal torches." St. Bonaventure, in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, cap. III, says: "Mary is to us a pillar of cloud, according to that Symbolically, a cloud, in which as in a throne God resideth, is divine darkness, concerning which St. Dionysius discourseth learnedly, epistle 5; for God "inhabiteth light inaccessible," I Timothy VI, 16. In this darkness resideth the Holy Trinity, namely the three divine Persons, and first in it the Father hath his throne, then the Son, then the Holy Spirit. You will say: The essence, majesty, adoration and throne (as Sirach here saith, and Isaiah cap. VI, and St. John, Apocalypse cap. IV and V) of the Holy Trinity is one; how then dost thou insinuate that the throne of the Son is in the middle between the throne of the Father and the throne of the Holy Spirit? I answer: Thrones are attributed to the Holy Trinity figuratively and anthropopathically; for it is certain that it, being spirit, properly neither needeth nor hath a throne. Thrones therefore signify the very hypostasis or subsistence of the three Persons, and their dignity and excellence: for in this they subsist, and as it were in the throne of their glory do they reside. For, as St. Thomas saith, I part. Question XXIX, art. 3 in the body, person signifieth that which "is most perfect in all nature, subsisting in rational nature, and this same in a more excellent manner befitteth the divine Persons than created ones." And to 2: "Because," he says, "it is of great dignity to subsist in rational nature, therefore every individual of rational nature is called a person; but the dignity of divine nature exceedeth all dignity, and according to this it most fitly belongeth to God to be called a person." If person is dignity; it hath therefore the state of its dignity as it were a throne. The reason is, because paternity in the Father is great, nay infinite dignity, from which, But if finally thou sayest, in the seat of God the majesty and authority of God are for the most part signified, this indeed cannot be denied; yet in no mere creature doth the glory of God and divine majesty shine forth so brightly, likewise the attributes, especially of power, wisdom and goodness, as in the Virgin Mother of God. So that therefore St. Bernardine, tom. I, sermon 61, art. 6, cap. IV, saith that the Mother of God is called, Psalm VIII, the magnificence of God. as the Apostle says: "All fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." Equal dignity is sonship in the Son, and spiration in the Holy Spirit, which we therefore venerate and worship with the worship of latria. This is what Damascene says, book I On the Faith, chapter XI, "The Father and Son are distinguished by personal perfections." And that three relations in the persons are three eminent perfections, Suarez teaches with strong reasons, book III On the Trinity, chapter IX, and Gregory of Valencia, in the cited place of St. Thomas. There is therefore one God, or one Godhead, and one throne of the Godhead, and one likewise essential worship; but the Persons are three, and they are eminent and infinite, and therefore each is to be worshipped with latria: they therefore have a threefold personal subsistence, and, so to speak, a throne, and consequently a worship. For we worship the Father, inasmuch as He is Father, as generating the Son, we worship the Son as begotten of the Father, the Holy Spirit as proceeding from both. Therefore, although the essential worship of God, inasmuch as He is God, is one; yet the personal is threefold, for by the personal worship which is proper to the Father inasmuch as He is Father, it is not lawful to worship the Son inasmuch as He is Son, nor the Holy Spirit inasmuch as He is the Holy Spirit; and vice versa: for this would be to confound with Sabellius the three divine Persons, since they are really distinguished from one another, and are three real hypostases and subsistences. Thus the Church on the feast of Pentecost invokes the Holy Spirit as a person distinct from the Father and Son, on the feast of the Holy Trinity separately the three persons, as they are distinct persons, invokes and worships. Just as therefore of one Godhead there is one essential and common worship to the three persons; so of the Most Holy Trinity the threefold worship of the three Persons, and to each its own proper personal worship, according to what the Church sings in the Preface of the Mass of the Holy Trinity: "That both in the persons propriety, and in the essence unity, and in majesty equality may be adored." Both therefore propriety in the persons is to be adored, and unity in the essence. But this propriety is threefold: therefore it is to be adored with a threefold personal worship. Again in the Office at the Magnificat, in the second Vespers: "Thee God," it says, "Father unbegotten, thee the only-begotten Son, thee the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, etc., we praise and bless." The Father therefore is adored as unbegotten, the Son not as unbegotten, but as only-begotten. These thrones Daniel seems to have noted, chapter VII, saying: "I beheld, till thrones were placed." For that these thrones were of God and the Holy Trinity is evident from the fact that he adds: "And the Ancient of days sat," etc., whose majesty he then describes, making no mention of Angels or Saints. Concerning the first and highest Angels he says: "Ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him (not sat)." For this is fitting and the dignity of divine majesty requires, that those Angels, not sitting to sit, but standing to stand, are said to stand. It is otherwise with Christ the judge, to whom, as to a man, men, namely the Apostles, will sit in judgment, Matthew XIX. Therefore, to draw together in brief what has been said at length in the synopsis, the three divine Persons are three real hypostases; anthropopathically therefore we attribute to them three thrones, because to each his own honor and worship is owed. Whence the Church in the Litanies separately worships and invokes each person, saying: "Father of heaven, God, have mercy on us. Son, Redeemer of the world, God, have mercy on us," etc. Again, three in the three persons are relative properties most excellent, and therefore in their state, as it were on a throne, are to be honored and adored; for to each person its own is proper, namely, paternity, filiation, spiration. For the Father through paternity generates the Son coequal to Himself: the Son through filiation is born, as the image of the Father, the brightness of His glory, and the figure of His substance: the Holy Spirit proceeds as the notional love of the Father and Son immense. The Father therefore is adored as generator, the Son as generated, the Holy Spirit as notional love: of both the Supreme Godhead has one essential throne; but of the Most Holy Trinity, a threefold personal.
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Tigurina, the circle of heaven I have gone around alone, and the depths of the abyss I have traversed. All the waves of the sea, and all the earth, and all peoples and nations I have possessed, and the hearts of the excellent and the humble alike I have trampled; Syriac, in heaven together with him (God) I have dwelt, and in the foundations of the abyss I have walked, in the fountains of waters, and in the foundations of the world, and in all nations and peoples I have ruled. She speaks in the past tense, I dwelt, I went around, I penetrated, I walked, I stood, I held the first place, I trampled, in order to signify her antiquity and eternity, and ancient and eternal right and dominion; otherwise these past tenses, in the Hebrew manner, signify any difference of time, even of the present and future: I went around therefore, that is, I went around, I go around, and I shall go around; I trampled, that is, I trampled, I trample, and I shall trample; and thus of the rest. By all these things Wisdom demonstrates her ample and universal lordly right, dominion and strength, says Rabanus, equally as knowledge and providence concerning all things which are contained within the compass of heaven and earth; that she, namely, perceives all things, foresees all things, provides for all things, orders all things, disposes all things, and that she rules over all things and presides over all things, and contains and embraces all things; secondly, that in the creation of all things she has impressed upon each a law to be perpetually observed, and has made all things obedient to her will and law, which is the proper function of wisdom; thirdly, that she has implanted in all nations the knowledge, fear and worship of God, together with reason. For the reverence, worship and religion of the divine power has always been held as the first and most excellent thing in every commonwealth. Note: When Wisdom says: "The circle of heaven I have gone around alone;" if by Wisdom you understand the uncreated and personal, namely the Son of God, the "alone" does not exclude the Father and the Holy Spirit. For, as Pope Evaristus says, in epistle 1, just as it harms the Son in no way that the Father alone dwells in inaccessible light, so it harms the Father in no way that his wisdom alone has gone around the circle of heaven: for in both cases "alone" excludes other created natures, namely all men and Angels, as the Scholastics teach. Whence Lyra thus expounds these things of the Son of God in particular: "The circle of heaven," that is, the starry heaven, he says, adorned with luminaries and stars, "I have gone around alone," disposing the motion of the spheres. "And I have penetrated the depth of the abyss," preparing the cavities in the earth, so that there the waters being gathered together the dry land might appear, which gathering is called the Ocean or abyss. "And in the waves of the sea I have walked," saving Noah, and those who were with him in the ark amid the waters of the flood. "And I have stood in all the earth," giving it stability everywhere around the center of the world. "And in all people, and in all nations I have held the first place:" for all power of men is from God. "And the hearts of all the exalted and sublime I have trampled by virtue:" for all, both great and small, are subject to the Son of God, because they are subject to the whole Trinity. Thus far Lyra.
AND IN ALL THESE I SOUGHT REST, AND I SHALL DWELL IN THE INHERITANCE OF THE LORD. That is to say, In all peoples and nations, in which I have already said I hold the first place and rule, I sought a place and people, in which I might properly rest through love and grace, and might delight myself as it were in a people that worships me, wise, pious and holy, and I fixed myself: "In the inheritance of the Lord," that is, in the faithful people, which is the peculiar possession, inheritance and Church of the Lord, "I shall dwell," that is, I desire to dwell, I long and am destined to dwell. For I do not wish to dwell in an unfaithful people and in nations of idolaters: for these are the inheritance, that is, the assembly and church of the devil; and therefore these are foolish, incapable, nay enemies of mine: for they themselves are enemies of true wisdom, that is, of true faith and piety. Whence the Greek and Syriac for "of the Lord" have "whose"; and thus they clearly declare, when I sought rest in all these things, and in whose inheritance I might dwell, or fix my dwelling, repeat I sought. Syriac, in which inheritance shall I rest? Anagogically, Wisdom and the wise person seeks rest in the heavenly inheritance of God: for nowhere else is there true rest, according to that passage in the Apocalypse XIV: "Now, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors: for their works follow them." And that passage in Psalm IV: "In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and rest." See St. Bernard, sermon 7 on the feast of all Saints.
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Hitherto Wisdom has described her origin, namely that she proceeded from God, because she is his firstborn; and her operation and efficacy, namely, that she formed heaven and earth, illuminated them, governed them: now she describes her office and legation on earth to instruct men. Therefore she speaks poetically of herself, as of a person distinct from God, although in reality she herself is God. Wherefore properly these things belong first to common wisdom, which is an attribute proper to God. For she here assumes a person, and by prosopopoeia makes herself as it were a minister of God, so that she might execute his commands, and thus might minister in instructing men, and communicate herself to them through wisdom communicated and created by her. By a similar prosopopoeia mercy and justice are said to stand before God, and to be sent by him, as it were legates and judges, to exercise the works of his mercy and vengeance. Psalm LVI, 4: "God hath sent his mercy and his truth." Psalm LXXVII, 49: "He sent upon them the wrath of his indignation, indignation, and wrath, and trouble." Secondly, however, these things can also be adapted to personal Wisdom, namely the Word and Son of God. For to him is appropriated wisdom and doctrine, as to the Father is appropriated power and creation, to the Holy Spirit goodness and the sanctification of men. For although the Son in himself in majesty and dignity, equally as in nature and divinity is equal and coequal with the Father; yet because the office of legation, which he here assumes, from human estimation appears to be less than the Father, and to minister to him: for he is sent here as it were as a legate, so that he might execute the Father's precepts, and promulgate them to men; whence he assumes the person of a legate, which person appears to men to be less than the person of the king and God. He speaks therefore anthropopathically, or in human manner: for thus a king, although he be more worthy than the republic and his kingdom, yet if he himself be sent by the republic to the Emperor, as regards this office of mission and legation, he is considered to be less and inferior to the republic, and a Bishop, if he be sent by his Church to the Pontiff, as St. Athanasius was sent, St. Epiphanius, St. Paulinus, and today many are sent; although he be greater and more worthy than the Church; yet inasmuch as he is sent by it, he is considered to be less than it. So also the Son of God, inasmuch as he is sent here by the Father, and becomes his legate and teacher of men, anthropopathically, or among men, and from the manner and estimation of men, appears to be inferior to the Father; although in himself he is plainly equal and coequal. He is therefore introduced here as the Son before the incarnation, as it were a legate proceeding from the Father to the Jews and Israelites, the posterity of Abraham and Jacob, so that he might teach them through Moses the law, faith and worship of God, and true wisdom by which the faithful, holy and blessed might become. Thus Lyra. The mission, he says, of Wisdom begotten (namely the Word, or Son in the world) is called a precept. Moreover, how the Son is said to be sent by the Father, because he proceeds from him; and the Holy Spirit by the Father and the Son, from whom he proceeds; the Father truly is not said to be sent by the Son and the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as he proceeds from neither, see St. Thomas and the Scholastics discussing this in the First Part, Question XLIII. Otherwise Palacius: He does not say, he says, "Then he commanded me," but only "Then he commanded," that is, he commanded within himself, he decreed, and fixed it in his mind. So also Jansenius. Again and rather the Son accomplished this through the incarnation, when incarnate from the posterity of Abraham, namely from the Blessed Virgin, he taught them by word and example the way of virtue and salvation. For then in truth the Son from his immense condescension and grace emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in habit as a man," as the Apostle says in Philippians II. For the very divinity of the Son humbled itself, and as it were depressed itself to the depths of our flesh and humanity, so that from all it became as it were empty and nothing, namely a creature and created man; for this is what ἐκένωσεν signifies. Moreover the Son made man, as man was less than the Father, and than himself as he is God, as is clear to all. Just as therefore the Son before the incarnation fixed the chair of his wisdom and doctrine among the Jews, teaching them through Moses, the High Priests, the Scribes and Pharisees; so also after the incarnation he himself personally fixed and usurped the same, evangelizing and preaching from his own mouth the mysteries of the Father, and things hidden from the foundation of the world. And all these things are signified here by Sirach, nay by Wisdom herself, who speaks here. He says therefore: "Then he commanded," etc., that is to say, Since I so eagerly and diligently sought the people and the seat, namely the inheritance of the Lord, in which I might rest, behold God complying with my prayers assigned to me a people, a place and a house in Jacob, that is, in the posterity and people of Israel: for he himself chose this as an inheritance, that is, as his own possession, a people and a Church, in which I desired and was destined to set up my tabernacle. Therefore the Creator of all things commanded me and said: "Dwell in Jacob." Therefore: "He who created me rested," that is, caused me to rest, "in my tabernacle," that is, assigned to me by God, namely "in Jacob," that is, in Israel. This sense is required by what precedes and follows, and by the Greek, which has κατέπαυσε τὴν σκηνήν μου, that is, caused to rest, fixed, placed my tabernacle, and consequently me in it. Thus Virgil in the Pharmaceutria says: And the changed rivers rested (that is, caused to rest, placed) their courses. And Plautus in the Mostellaria: "Cause to rest (that is, cause to rest, calm) this tumult, which is before the door." It is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews often use the simple form for the causative, that is, a neuter verb for an active one. Thus Paul says Rom. VIII, 26: "The Spirit himself asketh for us with groanings which cannot be uttered;" "asketh," that is, causes to ask; for the Holy Spirit cannot ask with groanings, because he cannot groan, says St. Augustine. Whence the Zurich Bible connects this entire sentence from verse 11 to verse 14 thus plainly and clearly, and translates it: After all these things I sought rest, and a dwelling in someone's possession. Then the Creator of all things gave me commandments, and my Creator fixed my tabernacle for me, and said: Dwell in Jacob, and among the Israelites take possession. Others more closely and clearly to the Greek: in Jacob set up the tabernacle, and in Israel go to the inheritance. For the Greek κατασκήνωσον means the same as, set up the tabernacle, which corresponds to what preceded: κατέπαυσε τὴν σκηνήν μου, that is, caused to rest, fixed, placed my tabernacle. Thus also the Syriac: in all these things I sought rest for myself, in what inheritance shall I rest? Then the Lord of all things commanded me, and he who made me, and placed my tabernacle, said to me: Dwell in Jacob, and be established in Israel. If anyone, however, prefers to take "and he who created me rested in my tabernacle" properly, as it sounds; thus let him explain and adapt it, that is to say, the Creator of all things, who created me, and who rested in my tabernacle, commanded and said to me: "Dwell in Jacob." For God is said to dwell in the tabernacle of wisdom, that is, first, in wisdom itself: for it is itself his house and tabernacle. By this figure and personification it is signified that wisdom is domestic, familiar and intimate to God, so that God seems to dwell in it. Thus God is said to dwell in the throne of mercy and justice. Ps. LXXXVIII, 15: "Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy seat." Psalm. IX, 9: "He hath prepared his throne in judgment, and he shall judge the world in equity, he shall judge the people in justice." Prov. cap. XX, 28: "Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by clemency." Prov. XXV, 5: "By clemency and truth iniquity is purged away, and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil." Secondly, God the Father dwells in the Son, who is begotten wisdom, by περιχώρησις, that is, divine circumincession, by which one person is in another, namely the Father is in the Son and the Holy Spirit; the Son is in the Father and the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is in the Father and the Son, according to that saying of Christ: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" John XIV, 10. And verse 20: "In him Thirdly, God, especially the Son, is in the flesh and humanity which he assumed, as it were in his tabernacle: for in it "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," Coloss. II, 9. The humanity of Christ, therefore, which is the tabernacle of created and incarnate wisdom, is the same tabernacle of God and of the Son of God: for in it he himself dwells hypostatically, essentially and personally. Fourthly, the tabernacle of wisdom, that is, of true faith, religion, piety and holiness, is the Church, in which as in his tent and temple God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit rest. Tropologically, Nazianzenus in the Distichs: "Let this study be perpetual for you," he says, "that you build your mind as a temple for God. For from this you will obtain that you have him as a spiritual statue in the innermost of your heart. Know yourself, that is, from whence you have drawn your origin, and with what dignity you are endowed: for thus you will easily attain that primary exemplar of beauty." So also St. Bernard, in the Meditations, chapter 1: "Nothing," he says, "is so like that supreme Wisdom as the rational mind, which through memory, understanding and will consists in that ineffable Trinity. But it cannot consist in that unless it remembers it, and understands and loves it. Let it therefore remember its God, to whose image it was made; and let it understand him, love him and worship him, with whom it can always be blessed. Blessed is the soul in which God finds rest, and in whose tabernacle he rests. Blessed is she who can say: And he who created me rested in my tabernacle. For she cannot be denied the rest of heaven. Why therefore do we abandon ourselves, and seek God in these external things, who is with us, if we wish to be with him?" Mystically, the tabernacle in which God has hidden the supreme created wisdom, indeed even the uncreated and incarnate wisdom, is the Blessed Virgin, in whom the Son of God, while being conceived, dwelt and rested for nine months. And from this she herself received all her dignity; for she receives the motherhood of God, which is a dignity so great that it cannot be comprehended by men and angels; but it surpasses all the capacity of all. For, as our Christopher of Castro rightly teaches, On the Mother of God, chapter III, that the Virgin Mary is the mother of God is an excellence almost infinite; because she cannot be the mother of a son more excellent than God, just as, proportion being observed, the human nature of Christ united to the Son of God hypostatically is an infinite dignity: because it cannot be united to a more excellent supposit than the divine. Hence the Blessed Peter Damian, in the sermon On the Nativity of St. Mary, said "God is in creatures in three ways; but in the fourth way through identity in the Virgin, because he is the same as she," in the manner in which a mother From this principle a second is deduced: so that, just as from the union of the humanity of Christ with the Word, we gather by a certain natural consequence, that infinite grace of the head has been given to him, and impeccability, and all the reason for meriting and satisfying for men, as mediator and redeemer; and all knowledge and cognition of them, even to thoughts; finally all charisms, so much more abundantly and excellently than in others, as the name of head is more excellent than members, and the name of son than his ministers the angels or men: so also let us confess by a certain natural consequence, from the dignity of the mother, an immense grace is owed to her, by which she was made impeccable by God's grace, advocate, mediatrix and redemptrix of all men; and there was given to her the knowledge of all of them required, and so copious an abundance of charisms and supernatural gifts, as much as the mother is more excellent than servants, and nearer to the Word than others, both angels and men. According to this, rightly Methodius, in the oration On the Purification: "Well done, well done," he says, "you who have that debtor, who borrows from all: for all owe to God; but he also owes to you. Therefore, he who said: Honor your father and your mother, so that he might observe the decree promulgated by himself, and exceed others, bestows all grace and honor upon the mother." St. Cyprian also, in the sermon On the Nativity of Christ: "To the mother," he says, "the fullness of grace was owed." And for this reason Mary was called, that is, exalted, sublime, eminent, from the root רם ram, that is, he was exalted; or Mary, that is, lady, teacher and princess: מורה more for it is lord, teacher, prince, from the root מורה iara, that is, he taught, he directed, although others wish Mary to be the same as myrrh or the bitterness of passion, from the root מרר marar, that is, he was bitter. It is added that the Blessed Virgin is the mother of God without a father, for she herself supplied the place of father and mother. Wherefore she is more the mother of God than mothers of men are: for these do not give the whole substance to the son, but one part only; for the other, and that the principal one, the father gives. Christ therefore received the whole humanity from the mother, and all things, in that he is man, he owes to the mother. Wherefore Christ God and man through this his conception and nativity from the Virgin, was made a debtor to the Blessed Virgin, and is obliged to her as to a mother and father, and ought to acknowledge his being received from her more than other sons are debtors to their parents, and are bound to acknowledge their being received from them. Jacob and Israel, that is, in the Church and assembly of the faithful and Christians. For these are the children of Abraham and Jacob, not according to the flesh, but according to wisdom, that is, faith, spirit and grace, as the Apostle teaches in Rom. IX, 8. Tropologically, wisdom and Christ dwell in Jacob and Israel, that is, in the supplanter (for this is what Jacob means in Hebrew) of vices and passions. Whence Jacob represents the Saints and the elect; but Esau, the impious and the reprobate, according to that saying of Malachi I, 2, which the Apostle cites in Rom. IX, 13: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." These same dwell in Israel, that is, in the man devoted to prayer and contemplation, who by great confidence in prayer rules as it were over God, and from Him obtains whatever he wishes, as Jacob did when wrestling with the angel representing God, and therefore he was called Israel, that is, "ruling over God," or, as others say, "man seeing God," Genesis XXXII, 26. Truly these two virtues, prayer and mortification, will make one wise and holy. Mystically, the Blessed Virgin, mother of eternal Wisdom, dwelt in Jacob; because born of the Jews she dwelt among the Jews, and there brought forth Christians: in these therefore, as it were chosen by God, she sent the first roots of the Christian Church. For this began in Sion and the Sionites, that is, the Jews converted to Christ, through the work of the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles. Again, the Blessed Virgin is the guide, mother, teacher and guardian of the elect. Whence grave Theologians teach that a sign of predestination and divine election is constant worship and devotion toward the Blessed Virgin, according to that which the Church mystically attributes to her: "Whosoever shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord," Proverbs VIII. Whence Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, prays in his discourse On the Mother of God: "Just as," he says, "continuous breathing is not only a sign of life, but also its cause; so the name of St. Mary, which is continually on the lips of God's servants, is at once a proof that they truly live; and at the same time it both effects and preserves this very life itself, and imparts to them all joy and help in all things."
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as if to say, God assigned to the people, place and house of the posterity of Jacob the Patriarch, who was called by another name Israel, namely, the Israelites. For these were the Church, that is, the faithful people chosen by God, so that He might imbue them with His wisdom, that is, faith, worship, religion, beyond all other nations. In him therefore it is said that wisdom dwelt as it were in his inheritance, and sent forth roots, that is, the wisdom of God was firmly rooted. First, because He imbued him alone with true and pure knowledge of God, according to that: "God is known in Judaea: in Israel his name is great," Psalm LXXV, 1. Secondly, because to him alone He gave the law, rites and ceremonies, by which he might worship God purely, according to that: "He hath not done in like manner to every nation: and his judgments he hath not made manifest to them," Psalm CXLVII, 9. Thirdly, because He gave him Priests, Scribes and Pharisees, succeeding one another through individual ages, who would preserve and propagate this knowledge of God, law and worship among posterity. Fourthly, because to the Jews alone He gave oracles and responses familiarly from the mercy seat; likewise through Urim and Thummim, which were in the Rational of the priest. Fifthly, because to these alone He gave in turn Prophets, and finally Christ predicted by the Prophets, who wished to be incarnate and dwell in Judaea, so that He might teach them true wisdom. Finally, God pursued the Jews with so many miracles and benefits, and with such great and so peculiar providence continually, that He seemed properly to be their God, father, guardian, tutor, provider, according to that: "I am... the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," Exodus cap. III, 16. AND IN MY CHOSEN ONES (that is in the Israelites, whom I chose for myself as a people), SEND FORTH ROOTS, — that is to take root, and establish thy seat. Otherwise Lyra: Roots, he says, are the precepts of the Decalogue, and other ceremonial and judicial laws, which God gave to the Hebrews, so that through their observance they might be rooted in divine wisdom. Allegorically, Wisdom and Christ dwell in "From the beginning" therefore, that is from eternity: whence it follows: "And before the ages." For Scripture calls beginning that which was before times; but this was eternity. Whence in Proverbs VIII, the same wisdom says of herself: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing." And Micah, cap. V: "His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity." Thus Gabriel Vasquez, I part., Quaest. XXXIII, disp. 139, cap. 1, at the end. Therefore by these words Wisdom signifies: first, that she is timeless, and therefore uncreated and divine, indeed God; for eternity separates her, equally as God, from all human and created things. For, as Nazianzen says, oration 5 On Theology: "By the interval of time we are separated and divided from God." For God is eternal; but we are subject to time, equally as other created things. Whence of Jesus the Son of God blessed Peter Damian says, lib. II, epist. 5: "He is to us both timeless time, and placeless place." Secondly, Wisdom signifies that she is free from vicissitude, and superior to all cases which the variation of time produces, as if to say, I transcend temporal changes, I am constant, and unconquered against all cases, just as if I were contending with God concerning eternity and immutability. Note: Sirach alludes to that passage of Solomon in Proverbs, chapter VIII, verse 22: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways;" where for "in the beginning" the Hebrew is rescit, which Our author takes for berescit, that is, in the beginning. The Septuagint, however, took rescit simply for beginning; whence they translated, the Lord created me the beginning or principle of his ways in his works. Wherefore it is likely that Sirach the Elder, who wrote this book in Hebrew, imitated Solomon, and in the Hebrew at this place wrote rescit, that is, beginning; but Sirach the Younger, who translated the Elder into Greek, took rescit for berescit, that is, from the beginning, from the principle, as Our author took it in Proverbs VIII. Wherefore, if with the Septuagint you take rescit simply for arche, that is, beginning, you should also translate at this place with them, I was created the beginning; and this in the first sense, as if to say, the Lord made me the beginning of his works, so that I, Wisdom, should be first, and first conceived before all the works of God; secondly, as if to say, God made it so that I should be the beginning and cause of all his works: because through me, as through an idea, he fashioned all things; thirdly, ἀρχὴ signifies not only beginning, but also principality; whence that passage of Psalm 109: "With thee is the beginning," that is, principality (for in Greek it is nedabot in Hebrew, that is, principality) "in the day of thy strength:" thus the sense will be, as if to say, I, Wisdom, was created so that I should be the principality of God, I was made the prince of all the works of God; fourthly, ἀρχὴ signifies the first things and first fruits, as if to say, I, Wisdom, was created ἀρχὴ, that is, so that I should be the first fruits of the works of God, so that I should hold the first place among the works of God. Mystically, you can easily adapt all these things to the Blessed Virgin, as I shall show more fully in Proverbs VIII, 22; meanwhile see there our Salazar treating these matters learnedly and piously. For the Blessed Virgin was predestined from eternity to be the beginning of the works of God, namely of all pure creatures. Secondly, to be the idea of holiness, according to which God formed the holy Angels, Apostles, Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors, and Religious. When therefore God conceived the Blessed Virgin in his mind and predestined her, he predestined all these, and indeed all the faithful. Thirdly, he decreed for her the principality of grace and glory, he assigned to her the principality of holiness, as well as of dominion: for he destined her to be the prince, queen and lady of all creatures. Fourthly, God made her the first fruits of his works. First fruits of the harvest were wont to be offered to God, so that through them the other fruits might be reckoned as offered to God and sanctified; thus the world offered to God the Blessed Virgin, as it were the first fruits of human nature, through whom all men and all nature might be reckoned as offered to him, purified and sanctified. Wherefore Rupertus beautifully introduces the Blessed Virgin speaking thus of herself in chapter II of the Canticles: "Before I was born, I was present to God; before I was made, I was well known to him. He chose me before the constitution of the world, that I should be holy and immaculate in his sight in charity. And if his delights were to be with the sons of men, how much more did he delight in this handmaid of the Lord, the miracle of all the sons of men?" Thus Rupertus. For which reason Damascene, in sermon 1 On the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, calls her "an abyss of miracles, a workshop of miracles." Anagogically, adapt these things to the inheritance of heavenly Jerusalem, in which the Blessed Virgin reigns and triumphs as queen. Whence the Church applies these things to her in the feast of her Assumption.
AND UNTO THE FUTURE AGE I SHALL NOT CEASE, as if to say, As I am eternal on the part before, so also on the part after, because, unto the ages, as the Greek texts have it, that is, through all future ages, I shall persist eternally. Thus Lyra. The Syriac: before the ages I was created, and unto the ages of ages my memory shall not cease.
AND IN THE HOLY DWELLING I MINISTERED BEFORE HIM, as if to say, In the tabernacle and temple of the Jews in which I dwelt, I performed sacred ministries through my ministers the Levites and priests, and offered true sacrifices to God: for this is what the Greek ἐλειτούργησα signifies: whence the Greek and Syriac texts have it thus clearly, in the holy tabernacle before him I performed sacred ministry. Hence Wisdom is called μύστης, that is, priest and mystes, who keeps the mysteries of God and offers him holy sacrificial victims, as I said above. Mystically, the Blessed Virgin ministered to God in the temple, when she was presented in it at the age of three, indeed she even presented herself of her own accord. Whence the Church reads this as the Epistle in the feast of her Presentation. From the age of three years until fourteen, when she was espoused to Joseph, and, the Angel announcing it, she conceived Christ, she continually ministered to God in the temple, devoting herself to perpetual prayers, meditations, pious readings, sermons, and manual work for the ministries of the temple, so that she might prepare and dispose herself for the conception of the Word. See our Canisius in the Mariale and Christopher of Castro On the Life of the Mother of God.
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Wisdom praised herself, verse 5, from her divine origin, namely that she was born from God as it were the firstborn daughter of God: now she praises herself from her antiquity and eternity. For since she said a little before that she dwelt in Jacob, lest anyone think that she began in the time of Jacob or Moses, she adds: "From the beginning, and before the ages I was created," that is to say, From eternity, before all ages and times, both real and imaginary, I was created, that is, produced or conceived. Conceive and imagine in your mind before the world a hundred thousand years, millions of years, a thousand myriads of myriads of years, before these, and any others whatsoever that you can conceive in your mind, I existed, and I preceded all of them infinitely, because I existed from eternity, and I was coeternal with God. But eternity precedes all real and imaginary times infinitely. Whence the Greek texts have, before the age (that is, before Which indeed is great dignity of the Mother of God, great condescension of the Son of God. Furthermore, that Wisdom says she was created, saying: "And he who created me," understand it appropriately: "created," that is, made in whatever manner, as the Syrian translator renders it. For the Hebrew ברא baru, that is, created, is of the broadest signification. Wherefore first, concerning uncreated and essential Wisdom, thus expound it, that is to say, The Creator of all created me, that is, drew me forth, conceived me, for she herself is the conception of the divine mind, and the essential Word of God; second, concerning personal Wisdom, namely concerning the Son, that is to say, "The Creator created me," that is, the Begetter begot me; third, concerning incarnate Wisdom, namely concerning Christ as man, and concerning created wisdom, which God communicates to Angels, men and other creatures properly, that is to say, The Creator created, that is, brought me forth from nothing. See what is said at chapter XIV.
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That is to say, I Wisdom through my tabernacle and temple, which I built on Mount Sion through David and Solomon, and placed there firmly, since previously through a movable tabernacle I was moved about and wandered through various cities of Judea, I was established in Sion and firmly placed there. Whence in the city through the temple and my worship, namely in Sion and Jerusalem, I rested firmly: for God was said to dwell and rest in the ark and the mercy seat of the temple, especially because he spoke from it and gave oracles. Whence I placed not only ecclesiastical dignity, but also secular and royal power in the same place: for David fixed the royal throne in Sion and Jerusalem, and all his descendants followed him. Whence the Greek texts, corrected at Rome, have, I was established in Sion, in the beloved city (they read ἡγαπημένη, that is, beloved, while the Complutensian and our texts read ἡγιασμένη, that is, sanctified) he made me rest likewise, and my power is in Jerusalem; the Zurich version, and I was confirmed in Sion; then also in the dear city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem I obtained power; the Syrian, and again I stood in Sion, in the city which is beloved to him, as I rested, and in Jerusalem my empire was, namely the royal seat and throne of kings. Mystically, adapt all these things to the Blessed Virgin. Therefore to her more truly do you cry out what the Israelites cried out to the victorious Judith on account of the slaying of Holofernes: "Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people," Judith, XV, 10.
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What he said of the place, he now says of the people, as if to say: As I dwell in Sion and am rooted there, so likewise I dwell and am rooted in the Sionites, that is, among the Israelites: for these alone know and worship the true God. Wherefore these alone are the people honored, and the portion of God and his inheritance, or, as the Greek has it, the portion of the Lord his inheritance, that is, the hereditary portion and inheritance of the Lord, namely the peculiar possession and lot of the Lord. Wherefore "his" refers not so much to the honored people, as Palacius wishes, as if to say, The portion of God is the inheritance of the honored people; but to God, as if to say, The portion of my God, in which I have been rooted, is his inheritance, namely of God. Finally, he calls these Israel, and the fullness thereof the Saints, that is, the full and complete assembly of the faithful and Saints, or the Church. "I have been rooted" therefore in Israel as "in the honored people," and as "in the portion" and lot "of my God," which portion and lot is "his inheritance," namely of God. Finally, in the full assembly of Saints of this people is "my" "dwelling" and "habitation." Whence the Zurich Bible clearly translates: I am rooted in the illustrious people, and in that possession which has fallen to the Lord: the Syriac: I was brought up in the honored people, in the portion of the Lord, and in the midst of the inheritance of Israel. For the word "I have been rooted" signifies education and nourishment: whence "the root in plants is similar to the mouth in animals," says Aristotle, in book II of the De Anima: because just as the latter take food through the mouth, so plants through the root draw sap for nourishment. Wherefore symbolically, "I have been rooted in the honored people" denotes the incarnation, conversation, and passion of Wisdom begotten, namely of Christ the Lord, by which he bound the whole faithful people to himself with an indissoluble debt of love. Of which St. Bernard speaks beautifully, in the sermon On the Fourfold Debt: From Christ Jesus, he says, you owe your whole life, because he himself laid down his life for your life, and endured bitter torments, lest you too should endure perpetual ones. What can be harsh or hard for you, when you have remembered that he, in the form of God, in the day of his eternity, born in the splendors of the saints before Lucifer, the splendor and figure of the substance of God, came to your prison, to your mud, fixed (as it is said) up to the elbows in the mud of the deep? What will not be sweet to you, when you have gathered together all the bitternesses of your Lord, and remembered first indeed the necessities of infancy, then the labors which he endured in preaching, the fatigues in going about, the temptations in fasting, the snares in conversation; finally the dangers from false brethren, the revilings, the spittings, the blows, the scourges, the mockeries, the jeers, the reproaches, the nails and things like these, which, for the salvation of our race, he worked and suffered for thirty-three years in the midst of the earth? O what undeserved compassion, what gratuitous and thus proven love, what unexpected condescension, what stupendous sweetness, what unconquered gentleness, the King of glory crucified for the most despised slave, nay, for a worm! Who ever heard such a thing, or who ever saw anything like this?" And soon after: "When therefore I shall have given to him whatever I am, whatever I can, is not this as a star to the sun, a drop to a river, a stone to a mountain, a grain to a heap? I have nothing but two mites, nay, the tiniest mites, body and soul; or rather one mite, my will; and shall I not give it to his will, he who is so great, so small a thing, anticipated with so many benefits, who compared his whole self to my whole self? Otherwise, if I retain it, with what face, with what eyes, with what mind, with what conscience do I go to the bowels of the mercy of our God; and do I dare to turn these things from five parts of the body to my own price?" Allegorically, Wisdom and Christ dwell constantly and perpetually, and shall dwell forever, in the Christian Church and in the assembly of Christians. For these are more truly Sion, that is, a watchtower, than the Jews: because they behold God here through faith, and shall behold Him in heaven through glory; and Jerusalem, that is, the vision of peace, because they enjoy present and eternal peace. These also are the honored people, the portion and inheritance of God, and the fullness and complete gathering of the Saints. Thus Rabanus: "In the honored people, he says, that is, in the Christian people, who merited to be honored by the distinguished proclamation of His name (so that they are called Christians by Christ), who are said to be His portion and inheritance, because to His lot, among all the nations of the world, it alone pertains: and in the fullness of the Saints is his possession, because they are members of His body: He becomes all in all." For Christ honored the Christian people, when for its sake He deigned to become man like others, to suffer death and the cross for it, and to feed it with Himself in the Eucharist, so that He might raise it to heaven, indeed exalt it to the noble palms and crowns of Martyrs, Virgins, Doctors, etc. Whence Palacius, reading: "In the portions of my God is his inheritance," thus explains it, as if to say: I have struck the roots of love in the honored people, for it loves me. Nor is this in vain: for therefore the people that loves me has its inheritance in the portions and riches of God. Or more clearly: the inheritance of that honored people is in the portions and inheritance of God. O honored and fortunate people! Mystically, the Blessed Virgin rightly says of herself: "In the fullness of the Saints is my possession." First, because, as St. Bernard says on these very words of Ecclesiasticus: "Deservedly in the fullness of the Saints is her possession, she to whom there was lacking neither the faith of the Patriarchs, nor the spirit of the Prophets, nor the zeal of the Apostles, nor the constancy of the Martyrs, nor the sobriety of the Confessors, nor the chastity of the Virgins, nor the fruitfulness of the married, nor the purity of the Angels," as if to say: All the gifts and graces of all and each of the Saints, collected as in a sea, the Blessed Virgin received infused by God. Whence theologians teach everywhere: "Whatever was granted by God to any of the Saints, that was not denied to the Blessed Virgin, as the Mother of God, but rather granted to her more fully than to any other:" for to others grace was given in parts, but to Mary the fullness of grace infused itself entirely, as testified by Sophronius, sermon on the Assumption, and Chrysologus, sermon 143, according to that passage in Proverbs, chapter XXXI: "Many daughters have gathered together riches, thou hast surpassed them all." Whence St. Bernard, sermon 174: "What therefore, he says, is known to have been granted to few mortals, it is certainly not right to suspect was denied to so great a Virgin, through whom mortality emerged into life." And St. Thomas, III part, Question XXVII, article 5 in the body: "The Blessed, he says, Virgin Mary most nearly Second, because the Blessed Virgin, as she had the fullness of grace, so also had the fullness of the glory of all the Saints. Thus St. Bernardine, volume III, sermon 11, article 2: "In this Assumption of the Virgin was fulfilled, he says, what is said in II Kings vi concerning David, that he brought the ark of the Lord, and there were with David seven choirs, namely of the blessed Spirits, of the Patriarchs, of the Prophets, of the Apostles, who had already passed, of the Martyrs, of the Confessors and of the Virgins, so that what is written in Ecclesiasticus xxiv might be fulfilled in the Virgin: In the fullness of the Saints is my possession." And soon after he wishes this glory of the Virgin to be prefigured in III Kings II, when Solomon placed his mother's throne at his right hand: "Where contemplate, he says, the most exalted exaltation of the mother, and the most immediate conjunction, because the throne was placed for the mother, and she sat at the right hand of the son." Third, because, as St. Bonaventure says in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, chapter VII: "The Blessed Virgin is not only possessed in the fullness of the Saints, but also possesses the Saints in their fullness, lest their fullness be diminished: she holds fast, namely, the virtues, lest they flee; she holds fast the merits, lest they perish; she holds fast the demons, lest they harm; she holds fast the Son, lest He strike sinners. Before Mary there was none who dared thus to hold fast the Lord, as testified by Isaiah, chapter LXIV, 7, who said: There is none that calleth upon thy name, and that holdeth thee." And below, for this same purpose he cites St. Anselm. "And therefore, he says, Anselm rightly speaks thus: To thee alone I speak, lady, the world is full of thy benefits, they have penetrated the infernal regions, they have surpassed the heavens; through the fullness of thy grace, those which were in hell rejoice that they are freed; and those which are above the world rejoice that they are restored." Wherefore in this mystical body of Holy Church, whose head is Christ, she herself is called the neck, which stands out above the other members, and through which all virtue is derived from the head into the members: so that most justly in the Apocalypse XII, as St. Bernard says, under her feet as a mediatrix the moon, which sometimes, on account of the splendor received from the sun, signifies the Church of this time illuminated by Christ, the Sun of Justice, with his rays, is read to be established. The same thing St. Antoninus observed, IV part. tit. V, cap. XX, § 2, where concerning the Virgin he explains that passage from Ecclesiasticus XXIV: "In Jerusalem is my power," that is, in the Church: "For the Church, he says, is justly under the feet of the Virgin, because not only under her patronage, but also under her dominion and power. Therefore, since she is the most noble part according to Christ, through whom God exercises his providence and his mercy toward men in a special manner, she seemed worthy to be commemorated especially." Wherefore Peter Damian, serm. De Assumpt., calls her the Holy of Holies; and Andrew of Crete, De Dorm. Virg.: "O Holy One, he says, holier than the holy, and most holy treasury of all holiness." Damascene, orat. 2 De Dorm.: "It seems to me, he says, that I behold her holier than the holy, and more sacred than the sacred, and more pious than the pious," etc. St. Bernard, serm. De Aquæductu, in order to prove the great power and efficacy of the Virgin's prayers, cites that passage: "The prayer of the just penetrates the heavens;" and adds: "And who is just, if not Mary just, from whom the Sun of Justice has risen for us?" St. Bernardine, tom. III, serm. 11, art. 3, cap. 1: "Just as, he says, the Son of Mary is the Holy of Holies; so it is established that the mother, who bore him, is the Holy of Holies, in whom was that precious treasure, the tabernacle of God, the throne of God and the bridal chamber of God. Where therefore is the supreme fullness of human and angelic holiness, there the ever-Virgin Mother of God always laid the foundation of her holiness, there she maintained her station, and fixed her virgin footstep." Finally our Sebastian Barradius in Cant. Mosis, lib. III, sect. 8, annot. 16, num. 243: "The praise of the Blessed Virgin, he says, has no fullness in which to fix her station, unless we say that immunity from original sin was granted to her beyond the merits of all the Saints. In this assertion is situated the fullness of the Saints, in which she is held: In the fullness of the Saints is my dwelling."
THE FOURTH PART OF THE CHAPTER, IN WHICH WISDOM COMPARES ITSELF TO THE CEDAR AND OTHER TREES. Note: Wisdom has hitherto praised itself from intrinsic gifts; now it praises itself from extrinsic analogies and comparisons. For in order to show forth its beauty, excellence and usefulness, it compares itself to trees, aromatics and rivers which excel others; and to sacred ones, so as to signify that it is sacred, and therefore is itself uncreated sanctity, which instructs, directs and leads men to created sanctity. Wherefore Isidore, book IV, epistle 228: "Solomon," he says, "representing Wisdom as a person, when he could not find how by any single example or single plant to exhibit its beauty, sublimity and sweetness, wandered through all things that are generated, and gathering from each that which was most fitting and seemly for representing it, thus shadowed it forth to men, so that from this plant he borrowed beauty, from another sublimity, from another the sweetness and fragrance of odor, thus providing occasion for thinking something worthy of Wisdom." Therefore first, in the first verses, it compares itself to four excellent trees equally as sacred, namely cedar, cypress, palm and olive. Sacred, I say, because from these the temple was built, and its vessels, as appears in III Kings v, 6; Canticles I, 16; III Kings vi, 18, 29, 32. Whence also from these joined together the cross of Christ is said to have been made, as I shall show below, which therefore Sirach here enigmatically shadows forth. Secondly, verse 21, Wisdom compares itself to four sacred aromatics, namely galbanum, myrrh, stacte and frankincense, from which the sacred incense was made, which was burned daily both morning and evening to God upon the altar of incense, and which represented the fervor of devotion and charity with which Christ offered himself to God on the cross, as incense and perfume in a sweet odor. Thirdly, verse 35, it compares itself to four rivers as it were sacred, namely the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Phison and the Geon; sacred, I say, both because these four rivers are near the Holy Land, namely Palestine, and are its boundaries and limits; whence also they are frequently named in Holy Scripture; and because these were the four rivers of Paradise, which was a place of innocence and sanctity, in which namely Adam lived so long as he remained holy; but when he sinned, he was immediately cast out from it: because this place was destined by God for innocence, for the innocent and the holy; for it was itself a symbol and beginning of Paradise and heavenly happiness. Wisdom therefore in this verse and the following ones, in order to declare its elegance, gifts and wonderful virtues, and to teach that it perfectly possesses all the perfections of the most perfect things, compares itself to the most beautiful, most excellent and most precious trees, which in Israel, namely in Judea, and especially in Mount Lebanon near Judea, stood out. For, as St. Jerome says in chapter XIV of Hosea: "The trees of Lebanon rise into the air with their tops as much as they plunge their roots into the depths below; Because therefore the trees of Judea and Lebanon excel others, hence Wisdom compares itself to them, and especially to cedar, cypress, palm, plane tree, olive and rose, which excel and stand out there. To cedar belongs immortality, says Palatius, to cypress rectitude, to palm victory, to plane tree the pleasantness of shade, to olive the value of oil, to rose the grace of odor. All these therefore Wisdom ascribed to itself, namely that, since it is the most exalted of all things, there belongs to it better immortality than to cedar, better rectitude than to cypress, better power of conquering than to palm, better shade (that is, protection, favor and aid) than to plane tree, more pleasant odor than to rose, greater value of its mercy than to olive. And because Christ gives what he has, therefore he gives immortality to his own, rectitude to the just, victory to those fighting, to the afflicted by the sun of temptations, the shade of his protection, to the devout the odor of eternity (for it was said: "In the odor of thy ointments we will run"); finally to all he bestows the oil of his mercy; therefore Christ, that is, the anointed one, is so called, namely with the oil of exultation above his companions.
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Tigurina, I grew up like a cedar in Lebanon; the Syriac, I was nourished. And so these, "in Lebanon," refer to "I" as if to a cedar: and it can also be referred to "I was exalted," that is to say, I Wisdom was exalted in Lebanon, that is in Jerusalem and the temple, which was built from the woods of Lebanon (and therefore is called Lebanon, Ezech. XVII, 3) just as a cedar is exalted among the trees of Lebanon. Before all else Wisdom compares herself to a cedar, because the cedar stands out among trees: first in height, which is so great that Pliny, lib. XVI, cap. XL, says: "In Cyprus it is reported that a cedar of Demetrius, when cut down (was) one hundred thirty feet, and in thickness (was) to the embrace of three men." Add that the cedar loves mountains; in like manner Wisdom is most high, because it reaches to the heavens and to God; for it teaches heavenly and divine doctrine, which makes men into Angels and certain earthly gods, indeed raises them to heaven, and there makes them kings and heirs of the kingdom of God. Moreover, thus was she exalted in Lebanon, that is in Judea, and in the Church and people of God: for this is Lebanon, that is white in purity, and fragrant in holiness and the fame of virtues. Secondly, in straightness: for the cedar is without knots and most straight. Wisdom likewise is most straight; because it gives nothing to favor, to grace, to fear, to human respect; but most straightforwardly adapts and conforms itself to eternal truth, to the law, to the will of God, which is the form of all rectitude. Thirdly, in solidity; for the cedar is most solid and as it were bony; so also Wisdom is solid, because it teaches to follow stable and eternal reasons, not temporal and fleeting ones. Moreover, the cedar does not shed its leaves, but remains perpetually green in foliage, its heartwood is red and fragrant; thus Wisdom flourishes perpetually, and is most sweetly fragrant; and the heart of the wise and holy man, because sprinkled with the blood of Christ, is red and burns. Fourthly, in incorruptibility; for the cedar does not suffer decay, woodworm, or age; indeed other things, anointed with cedar oil, do not suffer decay or woodworm, as Pliny says. The same, lib. XXIV, cap. V: "Dead bodies, he says, it preserves uncorrupted through the ages, living things it corrupts: a marvelous difference, since it takes away life from the living, and serves as life for the dead." Fifthly, in durability; for the cedar lasts very long; hence it is called eternal: and therefore things worthy of the cedar are called those which merit eternity. Hear Pliny, lib. XIII, cap. V: "To the material itself eternity. And so they made statues of the gods from it. The Apollo Sosianus in Rome is of cedar." And lib. XVI, cap. XLI: "It is memorable, he says, the temple of Apollo at Utica, where the beams of Numidian cedars last from the first origin of that city, for 1188 years." And he adds that the roof of the temple of Diana at Ephesus was made of cedar beams. Moreover Solomon built not only his own palace, but also the temple, which was the marvel of the world, from cedar wood, III Kings, cap. VII, 2, and seq., and cap. IX, 11. Wisdom likewise is eternal, and makes her students eternal, indeed grants them glory and eternal kingdom. Sixthly, in fruit. "The cedars bear fruit, says Pliny, lib. XIII, cap. V, of the size of myrtle, of sweet taste. And of the larger cedar there are two kinds: that which flowers bears no fruit; the fruit-bearing does not flower, and in it the new fruit takes the place of the preceding." I saw in Rome the fruit of a cedar: it was a huge nut like a pine nut. The fruit likewise of wisdom and discipline, although at first it may seem bitter and harsh, soon becomes sweet, and finally becomes most sweet: "All discipline, says the Apostle Hebr. XII, 11, in the present indeed seems not to be of joy, but of sorrow: but afterwards it yields to those exercised by it the most peaceful fruit of justice." Seventhly, in odor; for the cedar is fragrant, and therefore incorruptible and eternal. Hence the cedar by its odor drives away and kills serpents, and for this reason it was accustomed to be burned in houses and villas: thus Rabanus, who proves this from that passage of Virgil, III Georg.: Learn also to burn the fragrant cedar in the stalls, And to drive away with the heavy odor of galbanum the fierce water-snakes. Where Servius: "Chelydri, he says, are serpents, so called, as it were chersydri, because they dwell in waters and on land. For we call χέρσον earth, and ὕδωρ water." Thus also Pliny, lib. XXIV, cap. V: "Cedri Seventh, by odor; for cedar is fragrant, and therefore incorruptible and eternal. Hence cedar by its odor drives away and kills serpents, and for this reason it was accustomed to be burned in houses and villas: thus Rabanus, who approves this from that passage of Virgil, III Georgics: "Learn also to kindle the fragrant cedar in the stalls, and to drive away the heavy chelydri with the odor of galbanum." Where Servius says: "Chelydri, he says, are serpents, so called, as it were chersydri, because they dwell in waters and lands. For we call χέρσον earth, and ὕδωρ water." Thus also Pliny, lib. XXIV, cap. V: "Cedar Eighth, by medicine and medicinal power; for cedar has a most praised resin, which heals various kinds of diseases. "Cedar, says Pliny, lib. XXIV, cap. V, yields great pitch, which is called cedria, most useful for toothaches." And below: "Cedrides, that is the fruit of cedar, heal cough, promote urine, check the bowels, are useful for ruptures, convulsions, spastics, strangury, applied to the vulva." In like manner wisdom heals all ailments of the soul, either curing them or alleviating them. Tropologically and mystically, Wisdom communicates all these her gifts to the wise who study her, namely to the blessed Virgin, and to the Saints, especially to doctors. For she makes them first, lofty and exalted, so that with Paul they may say: "Our conversation is in heaven," Philippians III, 20; second, just and upright, so that they do not deviate from the line of justice and honesty by any fear or favor, not even by a point; third, solid, so that they are not broken by any adversity; fourth, incorrupt, so that they are not weakened by any pleasure, flattery, or blandishments; fifth, eternal, and "sowers of eternity, conferring incorruption upon all to whom their discourse is sprinkled, who dispense the word of life as food for the eternal nourishment of Christ's family," as St. Hilarius says, canon. 27 in Matthew; sixth, sweet in speech and consolation, according to that passage cap. XX, vers. 13: "The wise man makes himself lovable by his words;"; seventh, fragrant, on account of the fame of virtue and wisdom; eighth, physicians, because they heal the errors, passions and vices of men, drive out the infernal serpents, and protect those who invoke them from the putrefaction of sin. Hear Rabanus: "The doctors of wisdom, he says, by the power of the heavenly word, are accustomed to repel the poisoned dogmas of heretics, and to drive them away from the seduction of the simple. Moreover, because its resin, which is called cedria, is so useful in preserving books, that when coated with it, they suffer neither bookworms nor decay with time: who does not see how much this befits the same holy preachers: by whose spiritual sense Holy Scripture is composed, which cannot be corrupted by any cunning of heretics, cannot be consumed by any age of the passing world: so that as long as heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law until all things be fulfilled: which when the Lord said concerning the law, how much more is it to be understood concerning the Gospel?" Thus St. Ildefonsus, sermon On the Assumption, speaking of the Mother of God: "This is she who, like the cedar of Lebanon, shall daily be multiplied upon the earth, and shall be spread out in branches, and in heaven by roots, so that she may grow more, and be strengthened."
AND AS A CYPRESS TREE UPON MOUNT SION. The Greek has, upon mount Hermon. Therefore "Sion" is Hermon. For there were two mounts called Sion: one in Jerusalem; this is written in Hebrew at the beginning with the letter tsade; the other, which was called by another name Hermon; this is written with shin; this is evident from Deuteronomy IV, 48: "As far as mount Sion, he says, which is Hermon;" and Psalm CXXXII: "As the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon mount Sion," as if Sion were the lower part of Hermon; and Deuteronomy cap. III, vers. 8: "As far as mount Hermon, which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorites Sanir." Whence the Syriac translator renders it in this place, and as an olive tree upon mount Sanir of snow. Hear Adrichomius in the Theatre of the Holy Land, p. 89: "Hermon, a mountain which by the Hebrews is called Chermon, by St. Jerome Aermon, by the Amorites Sanir and Sinir, by the Sidonians Sarion and Sirion, by the Phoenicians Sanior, in Deuteronomy also Sion, otherwise Seon, is called by Strabo Irachon, by others Irachonus, by Ptolemy Alsadamus, is situated beyond the Jordan opposite the city of Paneadis, etc. This mountain is of exceeding height, and therefore perpetual snows are found upon it, which St. Jerome in the Hebrew Places writes were accustomed in his time to be brought to Tyre for delights, namely that in the summer season they might cool summer drinks." Wisdom here compares herself to the cypress, which is called both cypressus and cyparissus: first, in beauty; for the cypress is a tree most beautifully leafed; for its foliage is round, rising highest in a cone; whence it is called conifera. For this reason in Rome, and throughout all Italy, cypresses are the ornament and beauty of gardens and vineyards. Thus Wisdom is most beautiful, and most highly exalted upon Sion, that is in the Church and people of God, which directs the cone, that is the point and intention of the mind, on high, that is to heaven toward God. Again, the cypress instead of leaves has fronds that are hairy, equally as the pine, and these dense, and rising in the manner of foliage in a cone, which brings great elegance to it; thus Wisdom does not luxuriate in broad leaves of words as it were phylacteries, but instructs the hearer with a strict and as it were hairy abundance of things, and makes him wise in all things. Second, in usefulness; for from cypress were made beams and precious planks, concerning which Pliny, lib. XVI, cap. XXXIII: "Both (cypress namely, male and female) are put to use in beams and planks by the cutting off of branches, which in the thirteenth year are sold for single denarii. A most profitable forest in the matter of planting; and commonly the ancients called the plantations the dowry of daughters." In like manner, what is more useful, what more profitable than wisdom? See its riches and gains described in Wisdom VII, vers. 8 and seq.; Proverbs VIII, 15; Job XXVIII, vers. 15 and seq. Third, in durability; for the cypress always remains green. Fourth, in medicinal power. Pliny, lib. XXIV, cap. V: "The cypress, he says, leaves bruised are applied to the bites of serpents, and to the head, with barley meal, if it aches from the sun; likewise twigs, for which reason they are also drunk. The same bruised, etc., allay the pains of feet and nerves. Pills against the bites of serpents are drunk." Thus wisdom heals all diseases of soul and body. Fifth, the cypress when cut down does not grow again. For this reason it was to the ancients a symbol of death and funeral, and from this is called funereal; whence Horace says no tree follows men to the underworld except the cypress. Hence the Gentiles dedicated it to Dis the god of the underworld. For this reason Suetonius in Vespasian, cap. V, relates that this omen presaging empire befell him: "A cypress tree, he says, in an ancestral field without any force of storm was torn up by the roots and laid low, and on the following day rose up greener and firmer." "For this, says Tacitus, was a great and prosperous omen by the assent of the soothsayers, and the greatest glory was promised to the young Vespasian." On the contrary, the Emperor Severus, as Pierius testifies, Hieroglyph. 52, cap. V, received an indication of death, when a certain Ethiopian with a crown made of cypress met him and declared: "Thou hast been all things, thou hast conquered all things: now be God the victor." A few days later Severus departed from life. Thus Wisdom teaches man to be mindful of death, and that after death there is no return to life, but a passage into eternity. Wherefore she continually cries out to each one: "Remember thy last things, and thou shalt never sin," Ecclesiasticus VII, 40, so that the wise and the Saints do not leave this arena of mortality without a laurel wreath, but death itself turns the cypress into a laurel for them, that is, closing a most worthy and most holy death crowns them with the most dignified crown of life. Sixth, the simulacra of gods and the sarcophagi of heroes were made of cypress, on account of its perpetuity and fragrance. Thus the simulacrum of Juno the queen was made of cypress, as Pliny testifies, lib. XII, cap. VII. Again, Thucydides, lib. II, relates that the Spartans who had fallen in the Peloponnesian war for their fatherland, as heroes, were laid to rest in a cypress chest. Thus divine Wisdom is, nay God Himself, and the Son of God, who makes His strong followers athletes and heavenly heroes. Hence also the cross of Christ is said to have been made of cypress, cedar, palm, and olive. Whence the verse: The woods of the cross are palm, cedar, cypress, olive: Which the Gloss cites in Clement. 1 On the Sum of the Trinity. And: "The lofty cypress holds the body." And: "The olive is the highest part." See our Gretser, lib. I On the Cross, cap. V, from St. Chrysostom. For on the cross Christ, as it were, was exalted as a cedar, was beautified as a leafy cypress, poured forth the oil of grace as an olive, triumphed as a palm victor over death. The woods of the cross are palm, cedar, cypress, olive. Sixth, the simulacra of gods and the sarcophagi of heroes were made of cypress, on account of its perpetuity and fragrance. Thus the simulacrum of Juno the queen was made of cypress, as Pliny testifies, lib. XII, cap. VII. Again, Thucydides, lib. II, relates that the Spartans who had fallen in the Peloponnesian war for their fatherland, as heroes, were laid to rest in a cypress chest. Thus divine Wisdom is, nay God Himself, and the Son of God, who makes His strong followers athletes and heavenly heroes. Hence also the cross of Christ is said to have been made of cypress, cedar, palm, and olive. Whence the verse: The woods of the cross are palm, cedar, cypress, olive: Which the Gloss cites in Clement. 1 On the Sum of the Trinity. And: "The lofty cypress holds the body." And: "The olive is the highest part." See our Gretser, lib. I On the Cross, cap. V, from St. Chrysostom. For on the cross Christ, as it were, was exalted as a cedar, was beautified as a leafy cypress, poured forth the oil of grace as an olive, triumphed as a palm victor over death. Seventh, cypress, being bitter, drives away cockroaches and moths; thus Wisdom is severe, and drives away and puts to flight flatterers, whom Seneca rightly judges should be called not laughers, but gnawers. Hear the Severe Cato (depicting cypress severely) in Pliny lib. XVI, cap. XXXIII. Cypress is "morose by nature, superfluous in fruit, grim in berries, bitter in foliage, violent in odor, and not even gracious in its shade, rare in timber, so as to be almost of a shrubby kind, sacred to Dis, and therefore placed at houses as a sign of death."
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Judaea abounds in palms and palm groves: whence Vespasian, triumphing over it when conquered, struck a coin on which Judaea, captured and sitting, mourning and clapping her hands, was depicted; he himself standing near a palm was portrayed. Hence also Palmyra, a city built by Solomon in the tribe of Manasseh, is called in Hebrew Thamar, that is, palm; whence Palmyra, as St. Jerome testifies in chapters XLVII and XLVIII of Ezekiel. So also another city of Judaea, namely Engaddi, from the abundance of palms was formerly called Asasonthamar, that is, city of palms, because it flourished with palms and balsam, which formerly was found almost only near it and scarcely in any other place of Judaea or the whole world. In the desert of Sin, however, which by another name was called Cades, palm groves and palms excelled, and in it one palm more distinguished and celebrated than the rest was found, which gave its name to the place, so that it was called Palm of Cades, as Sirach here calls it. Witness is Adrichomius in the Theatre of the Holy Land, p. 118, and in the chorographical table annexed to it. Furthermore, St. Isidore, book XVII of the Origins, chapter VII: "The palm," he says, "is so called because it is the ornament of the victorious hand (palms); or because it is spread out with branches in the manner of a human palm. For it is indeed a tree remarkable for victory, with a tall and comely trunk, clothed with long-lasting foliage, and preserving its leaves without any succession. The Greeks call this phoenix, because it lasts long, from the name of that bird of Arabia (phoenices) which is said to live long." For Cades in Greek, the Complutensians have in Gaddi, or Engaddi: because Engaddi is situated near Cades, and palms and balsam abound there, as I said a little before from Adrichomius: but it is more true that Gaddi is read corruptly in the Greek texts for Cades; whence the Greek texts vary. For those which are corrected at Rome And he who gave long names to lands, the phoenix. Furthermore, the palm excels in strength, foliage, durability, striving upward, equality, and fruit: whence long-lived anchorites lived on dates, which are the fruit of the palm, and even now some Africans live on nothing but dates: for dates, as they are sweet to the taste, so they are healthy and wholesome in use. Such also is Wisdom, namely robust, leafy, eternal, tending upward, and striving and struggling against all adversities toward heaven, just, and fruitful. Wherefore mystically the palm (equally as the phoenix, for the Blessed Virgin was the phoenix of women, indeed of men, and even of Angels) represents the Blessed Virgin, the Church, and the Saints, as through many analogies and parallels an anonymous author shows in Hieroglyphics, book III, p. 89. First, he says, Judaea is renowned for palms, as Pliny testifies, book XIII, chapter IV. So the Catholic Church is the most pleasant palm grove of Jesus Christ, which is planted throughout the world by His hand. Second, the palm to the Hebrews is Thamar, to the Greeks φοῖνιξ, loves salty soil: therefore where such is not, they sprinkle salt, not at the roots, but at some distance away, as Ruellius noted from Theophrastus in On the Nature of Plants, book I, chapter CVIII. But the just man sprinkled with the salt of wisdom professes this in his words and deeds, because he wished this to be said of himself: for "every man shall be salted with fire, and every oblation shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt become unsavoury, wherewith will you season it? Have salt in you, and have peace among you one with another," Mark IX, 49, 50; likewise Colossians IV, 6: "Let your speech be always in grace seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Third, some report that the palm greatly abhors dung. The spiritual palm in like manner, namely holy Church, is most gravely offended by the filth of sinners, as by the foulest dung. For it knows the precept given to itself: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God," II Corinthians VII, 1. Likewise Apocalypse XXII, 11: "He that hurteth, let him hurt still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is just, let him be justified still: and he that is holy, let him be sanctified still." Fourth, the palm has foliage gathered at its summit, branches extended in the manner of fingers, and its fruit, because they are similar to fingers, are called palmulae or dates. The just man, holding pure and suppliant palms toward God, conceives prayers through faith, and worships God the Father in spirit and truth, not ignorant of the saying of the couplet of Gregory of Nazianzus: There is no better work of the hands than to stretch chaste ones to heaven and to join prayers with the whole heart, namely, to apply them promptly and dexterously to the performance of divine laws. There is no better work of the hands than to stretch chaste ones to heaven and to join prayers with the whole heart, namely, to apply them promptly and dexterously to the performance of divine laws. Fifth, from the urban class (says Ruellius, repeating the opinions of the ancient natural philosophers) the olive, palm, laurel, myrtle, etc. are clothed with perpetual foliage. The same is also said of just men, who flourish in constant honor, as these sayings testify: "But I, as a fruitful olive (St. Jerome, green: for this is what the Hebrew raanan signifies) in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, and in the ages of ages," Psalm 51, 10. Sixth, the palm delights in watering, and though it loves to drink the whole year, in a dry and parched year it is more joyful. The just man likewise rejoices in that watering of which it is said: "I have planted, Apollo watered: but God gave the increase," 1 Corinthians 3, 6, and Isaiah 58, 11: "And the Lord will give thee rest always, and will fill thy soul with splendors, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of waters whose waters shall not fail." Others translate it: The Lord will lead thee always, and will satisfy thy soul in droughts, and will make thy bones fat: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not. The same man in the midst of the heat of afflictions rejoices in hope, and glories in tribulations, Romans 5, 3, and with the Apostle says in 2 Corinthians 4, 8: "In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute: we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken: we are cast down, but we perish not." Seventh, the palm bears its leaves and the buds of its fruits almost at its summit, since all its generative power resides in its top: wherefore when decapitated it dies, and does not sprout (as if it were burned). The pious man likewise in Christ Jesus, his head, obtains the highest glory, and brings forth the fruit of good works: without Christ he can do nothing, John 15, 2. It is indeed well that, being made one with Christ Jesus, he can never (unless he wishes) be separated from him, Romans 8, verses 38 and 39. Eighth, as Aristotle and Theophrastus attest, the palm is a symbol of victory, and does not yield to a burden, however great, nor is it bent, but rises up against the weight: moreover the leaves of the palm are hard and sharp like a sword: wherefore it is armed with as many swords as it has leaves: and therefore in almost all coronary contests no other prize than the palm is given. "As the palm grows green pressed under a great weight, So hearts dedicated to God flourish under the cross." Ninth, palms delight in transplanting; although in Greece they become sterile through change of place. The just likewise rejoice that they have been transplanted from death to life, 1 John 3, 14; they are never anywhere among the nations unfruitful: because made partners of Christ they are ruled by his Spirit, and are instructed for every good work. Tenth: "The palm," says Pliny, "is most fond of the sun." Thus he himself in book 17, chapter 44, book 13, chapter 4, asserts "that no palm is fruitful except in hot land and soil:" hence it always thirsts, and rejoices more in springing waters than in rains, says Theophrastus, book 2 On Plants, chapter 4. And Palladius, writing on agriculture in October, tract. 12: "The palm," he says, "should be dug around constantly, so that by continuous irrigation it may overcome the heats of summer." So also the just man is most fond of the Sun of Justice, namely Christ; hence he perpetually thirsts for his living waters of grace springing up unto eternal life, John 4, 14. Eleventh, the palm rises up on high, but bends its dates toward the ground. So the Blessed Virgin raised the summit of her merits in heaven to the throne of Divinity, says St. Gregory; yet she bends the fruit of her mercy toward the earth, while as a mother she helps and succors those who invoke her. The Holy Spirit signified this, praising the bride in Canticles 7, who was a type of the Blessed Virgin: "How fair art thou, and how comely, my dearest in delights! Thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters." Theodoret reads: How comely, and how pleasant is charity in thy delights! He explains this beauty, these delights of charity, in this manner: "For although thou art so exalted that thou reachest the height of heaven, yet thou dost humble thyself to the weak, to whom thou givest the breasts of thy doctrine. For the palm has its fruits hanging downward." Truly the palm is an excellent symbol of charity, rising up on high, yet burdened with dates hanging downward; so that she who intimately embraces God nevertheless humbles herself for the benefit of her neighbors. This the Blessed Virgin has done and does before all the Saints: because before all Angels and men she excels and burns with charity. Cyril represents this parable, or apologue, similar to that of the palm, olive, laurel, golden apple and fig tree, adorned with beautiful maxims from Ethics, as if interwoven like a crown with roses, in his Moral Apology, final chapter: "Among the laurel, olive, golden apple, and palm, the fig tree arose, and when winter came on, while those flourished with solid verdure, it itself was stripped bare as if by its own leaves, no less confused than livid, and with a gloomy countenance proposed a querulous question to its neighbors: Why do you always retain green leaves, and after bearing fruit do you still cherish useless foliage? Does perhaps a shadowy appearance please you? and is the bark soothed when substance is despised? But they, feeling the sting of envy, broke the thorn of the word with the laughter of patience. Thus, when those trees spoke so much to virtue, the laurel first replied: I indeed grew warm by natural temperament, and therefore, with cold repelled, in me the leaf always lives. Then the olive added: Surely in me the moisture of fatness grows abundantly, and overflowing from the root, it nourishes its fronds perpetually. Soon the golden apple said: A more solid substance composes me; whence in me constant verdure never perishes. Thus the palm also finally added: In me the leaf never withered, because I generated it in moderation. Finally the laurel, speaking on behalf of all, said: Have you not heard why the wise man never loses the beauty of a renowned name? Surely because by the brightness of prudence, the fatness of justice, the solidity of constancy, the purity of modesty, he always flourishes. For he directs himself through prudence, harms no one through justice, does not fail in adversities through constancy, and does not grow soft in prosperity through temperance. Therefore with these four anchors of virtues he fixes his vessel in the harbor of wisdom. For which reason the worldly wave of tempest never eludes him. When this was said, they became quiet."
AND AS A PLANTING OF ROSES IN JERICHO. In Greek φυτά, that is, plants of roses, as the Zurich Bible translates it; others say, shoots of roses. The rose is the queen of flowers and the purple of spring; for it shines white as a diamond, and glows red as a ruby. Moreover, it is of the sweetest odor, and in foods and medicines is both wholesome and pleasant, surpassing all other flowers both in taste and in vigor: whence from roses is distilled rose water, which clarifies the sight of the eyes and mitigates pains. For this reason the rose kills the scarab beetle, which is filthy and foul from the dung upon which it lies, by its odor. Hence also the rose is called in Greek ῥόδον from ῥεῖν, that is, to flow, because it flows forth in abundance of odor, as Plutarch says. Such also is wisdom, namely most pure, most fragrant and most pleasant. Furthermore, Eucherius in his Allegorical Forms says that roses are a hieroglyphic of martyrdom, and that Martyrs are crowned with roses on account of the redness of blood shed for Christ. Again, the rose is a symbol and crown of virginity and of virgins, as I have said in the Acts, chapter XII, verse 13. Hear the praises of the rose from Josephus Stephanus in his Defense of the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin, chapter III. The rose among the ancients was a sign of joy and beauty, since among all flowers it alone shines resplendent with a purple color, and spreads itself with a whole circle of ruddy and glittering leaves. Sappho (in Achilles Tatius) called it the queen of flowers, the ornament of the earth, the glory of plants, the eye of flowers, the blush of the meadow, the gleaming beauty, the smile of the earth. And Sappho sang that the Muses were accustomed to be crowned with the rose, as Clement of Alexandria is the author in book II of the Pedagogue, chapter VIII. Anacreon, the ancient poet, who devoted the greatest effort and study to the praises of the rose, thus praised it: "Rose adorned with leaves, singular rose, and flower, rose first care of spring, rose delight of the heavenly ones, frequenting the choirs of the Graces." But a little later: "When spring, father of flowers, is to be joined in praise of roses. Rose, flower and fragrance of the gods: rose, pleasure of men, glory of the Graces." St. Basil relates that the rose was originally without thorns, but afterwards thorns were added to the beauty of the flower, so that what pleasure and delight we might receive from it, we might immediately lose through the pain close at hand, which arises from the memory of sin. A monument of which thing the earth itself shows us everywhere in thorns and thistles. Moreover, just as the thorn protects the rose, so mortification preserves chastity. For which reason St. Benedict, feeling the temptation of the flesh, rolled himself in thorns, and by that pain extinguished the harmful pleasure. St. Francis, visiting this thicket of thorns in the year of the Lord 1222, and kissing the thorns and impressing upon them the sign of the cross, by a miracle converted the thicket into a rose garden bearing most beautiful roses, which endure even to this day and have brought health to many sick; concerning which a Poet acutely wrote: "Benedict enclosed the virginal flower with sharp brambles, and nourished it with the dew of his own blood. Hence the thickets, fertile with such abundant moisture, and cultivated by the hand of Francis, brought forth roses. Truly the Poets sang falsely from the rosy stem, but true faith lay hidden in the salty song. Do you wish to know whence the flower of rosy modesty comes forth? Only the wounds of Venus could produce roses." Thus Wadding in the Annals of the Minors, in the year of Christ 1222, number 5. Now, in that he compares wisdom to a rose in Jericho, it signifies that the roses of Jericho were more excellent than others, either in form and redness, or in odor (for Jericho in Hebrew denotes odor, or rather the exhalation of odor; whence the city Jericho seems to be named from it), or in size, or in height; namely that rose gardens grew there into trees, or certainly into shrubs. For Sirach here places the rose among the cedar, cypress, palm and olive, which are all trees. Perhaps also the roses of Jericho were of a different species and kind from others. Certainly Saligniacus, in volume IX, chapter VI, writes that near the fountain of Jericho, which Elisha made sweet from salt in IV Kings, chapter II, the most beautiful flowers grow on thorny trees, which they call Jericho roses, and these have such grace that on the night of the Nativity of the Lord they open themselves, afterwards they close, although they are dry and withered, in testimony of the Virgin Birth, as it is permissible to believe, says Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land, in the Fountain of Elisha. Thus the Chinese rose is a tree, or rather a shrub, with leaves similar to the fig, lacking thorns, which produces a rose similar to ours in color; but in such a way that it first becomes white, then gradually turns entirely red. For the rose was once sacred to the Graces, on account of the remarkable elegance of the flower, as Pausanias testifies in book VI; since its beauty and kallipullos (as Anacreon speaks), that is, the grace and ornament of its petals, express the very living image of beauty itself. Moreover Aurora, who brings back the face of the sun shining with golden splendor, who paints the world anew with light, and scatters all things with the glowing flower of radiance, is called by ancient authors the rosy Goddess, and by Anacreon rhododactylos, that is, adorned with rosy fingers. Furthermore, the ancient Poets, as soon as they feign Minerva to have proceeded from the head of Jupiter, immediately relate that a noble race of roses was brought forth and received in the bosom of its mother. Constantine Caesar in book XI On Agriculture, chapter XVIII, in order to express the sweetness of the rose, testifies that it flowed forth from divine nectar poured upon the earth. Thus Josephus Stephanus. But Pierius in Hieroglyphics 58, chapter 1: This flower, he says, so lovely, so fragrant, so beautiful to behold, so delightful in sweet odor, is the hieroglyphic of human weakness, and the sign of a momentary good; so brief is its life, so fleeting its beauty, that on the very day it flourishes and thrives in splendor, on that same day it withers and languishes. Hence that most elegant poet, whoever he was, who celebrated, or rather lamented, the rose which is ascribed to Maro, thus laments this sudden plunder of joy: I marveled at the swift rapine of fleeting age, And while they are being born, roses have grown old. How much envy and bitter complaint against the nature of things does that contain! How long one day, so long is the age of roses, Which pubescent old age presses together. And below: That also is worthy of remembrance, that the image of the rose signifies a good which is surrounded on all sides by evils, and therefore our pleasures are full of bitterness and harshness. For, as St. Ambrose philosophizes in the Hexaemeron, the rose is enclosed by a thorn, as if to show a mirror of human life, and what could have been sweetness, often pricked by neighboring cares of sorrow, appears to become bitter; for the elegance of our life is fortified, and enclosed by certain anxieties, so that Moreover those err who think the rose of Jericho to be a species of amomum, whom Matthiolus reviews and refutes in Dioscorides book I, chapter XIX: "Certainly," he says, "those are to be rejected who do not fear to assert for certain that the plant which they call Jerichunta, from Jericho a city of Palestine, is amomum. This plant is usually brought to us from Jericho by those who journey as pilgrims to the most holy Sepulcher of our Redeemer. It is indeed that which our countrywomen call the rose of the divine Mary. It is established that this is not amomum, because it does not produce the leaves of white vine, nor does it breathe any odor. For the legitimate amomum is very fragrant, so much so that it strikes the nostrils at the very first encounter, and affects the sense of smell. Cordus, in his little work On the Preparation of Medicines, has discussed amomum rather inconsistently; for in the composition of the golden Alexandria he asserts for certain that true amomum is the rose of Jericho; but in the composition of his own theriac, forgetting himself, he denies that we have amomum. Our countrywomen use Jericho at the time of childbirth to discover the hour of delivery; since (as they themselves confess) when immersed in water, it does not split open before the fetus begins to be born. Such superstition has crept in among Christians!" On the rose of Jericho, the learned John Sturm, doctor of philosophy and medicine in the Academy of Louvain, wrote a notable book. For the planting of the rose the Syrian translated ערבת ורדא arbat vardo; which word if you divide it, is the same as the plant or planting of the rose, as our text and the Greek have it; but if you read it conjointly, and take it as one word, it signifies buphthalmum; thus the Syrians read, whence they translate, and just as buphthal- Mystically, the rose in Jericho is the Blessed Virgin in this sublunary world (for Jericho in Hebrew denotes the moon or fragrance): for all the praises of the rose, already given, apply much more aptly to the Blessed Virgin, who by her most beautiful beauty and dignity surpasses all the splendor of the world. She herself is the rosy dawn, by the grace of virtues at once most beautiful and most abundant, equally as most splendid and most radiant, who, having dispelled the shadows, brought forth new light to the world, Song of Songs, chapter VI, 9. She is the one who, having been born after the long winter of the sadness and desolation of sin, brought forth to the world a new spring of grace, light and consolation. Wherefore on the Sunday Laetare, which is accustomed to occur under the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, a rose is blessed by the Roman Pontiff, as a herald of joy and gladness (as Innocent III says in a sermon published on this matter), so that from this all may recognize the new offspring and the fruit of spiritual propagation brought forth in the Church, namely when that most pure Virgin conceived and embodied in herself the flower of joy and exultation, the ornament of the human race, and the author of the whole world. Moreover, the rose is the sign of modesty and virginity; what does it denote if not the Virgin of virgins? Indeed Columella, book X, the rose Wherefore St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his Oration Against Nestorius: "This is the Virgin," he says, "through whom the holy Trinity is glorified and adored throughout the whole world, through whom heaven exults, through whom Angels and Archangels rejoice, through whom demons are put to flight, through whom the devil the tempter fell from heaven, through whom the fallen creature is raised to heaven And as a tender rose arises among sharp thorns, Having nothing that harms, and obscures the mother with honor; So from the sacred stock of Eve, Mary coming, The new virgin atoned for the deed of the ancient virgin: As the thorn the rose, Judaea brought forth Mary. Hence the Blessed Hermann Joseph, wonderfully devoted and familiar to the Blessed Virgin, was accustomed to call her his rose, and not without reason. For on a certain occasion, being visited by her and filled with heavenly consolation, he saw her scatter through his chamber very many roses of most fragrant odor, which he himself reverently gathered and placed in a precious chalice. Whence she, visiting him frequently, consoling him, and conversing familiarly with him, was accustomed to call him her faithful friend, her chaplain, indeed even her spouse: For on a certain night appearing to him in most beautiful form, accompanied by Angels, one of the Angels taking Hermann's right hand and joining it to the hand of the Blessed Virgin, betrothed her to him with these words: "I give this Virgin to you as a spouse, as she was once betrothed to Joseph, so that you may receive the name of spouse together with the spouse, and henceforth be called Joseph." This and more things are found in his Life in Surius, on the 7th of April, which his familiar friend, a grave man, wrote. The rose therefore of the Blessed Virgin exhibits to us her beauty, likewise the sweetness of dignity and grace, joined with purity of life, ardor of charity and sweetness of manners. Whence Damascus, Oration 1 On the Nativity: "O rose," he says, "who were born from thorns, that is from the Jews, and have filled all things with divine fragrance." And for this reason the Blessed Virgin, as it were a heavenly rose, the faithful honor with the rosary (whose author and propagator was St. Dominic), or crown, repeating one hundred and fifty times the Angelic Salutation. Similar mystical roses are virgins burning with the love of God, who, followers of the great Mother of God, crown her with rosaries of their salutations and praises. Such a rose of Jericho in Sicily shone forth the Blessed Rosalia, a virgin, whose sacred bodily relics God the best and greatest has in these days, in which I write, And lies hidden and shines, enclosed in a Phaethontian drop, So that the bee may be seen closed in its nectar. She bore a worthy price for such great labors; It is credible that she herself wished to die thus.
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A Syrian, as an olive nourished in the field; Vatablus, as a fair olive, and as a plane tree I excelled by waters. The olive is beautiful both in its trunk and in its foliage always green, and especially in its fruit, from which oil is expressed, which, as St. Bernard says in that passage from the Song of Songs I: "Oil poured out is thy name; it shines, it nourishes and it anoints. It fosters fire, nourishes flesh, soothes pain; light, food, medicine. See the same now concerning the name of the Bridegroom (Christ). Proclaimed it shines, pondered it nourishes, invoked it soothes and anoints." Which he then explains severally and pursues at length in sermon 15 on the Song of Songs. Rightly therefore is wisdom compared to the olive and to oil, because the olive is a symbol first, of mercy; second, of peace; third, of victory; fourth, of gentleness; for nothing is softer and more tranquil than oil; whence John, a monk of Siena: "Like a skin filled with oil, he changed the rage of the waves into the tranquility of serenity;" fifth, of cheerfulness and joy; From laurel, oak, and olive as guide worthy crown, The prudent, strong and peacemaker befit. All these things you may adapt mystically to the Blessed Virgin, who is rightly called a fair olive, and that in fields, both because at all times and places, and for every kind of disease, as a mother of mercy, she is exposed to all who wish to invoke her, to bring aid; both because to us wayfarers afflicted by the heat of temptations, as by the burning of the sun, in open fields, where similar trees are lacking, she provides the desired refreshment by her shelter; both because she is the Mother of God as it were a field without a husbandman, because without the work of man she bore Christ, and exposed him to all who came; whence he himself says in the Song of Songs II: "I am the flower of the field." Finally, because the Blessed Virgin herself is a field of virginity, open and exposed to all who run to her on account of their necessities, equally fruitful and salutary. Finally, the olive is a symbol of wisdom and chastity; whence the olive was sacred to Pallas or Minerva; but the true Pallas is the Blessed Virgin. Hear Pierius, Hieroglyphics 53, chapter XVI: "Inasmuch as it pertains to Minerva, who is said to be unmarried, who is a virgin, she rightly takes to herself the olive, since she delights in purity and modesty no less than the olive, than Minerva. For the Greeks, as Rutilius Taurus says, command that the olive, when it is planted and gathered, be worked by clean boys and virgins; I believe, he says, they remembered that this tree has chastity as its guardian. Florentinus also, in his book On Agriculture, reports the olive to be so pure that the gatherers love only the pure, who when they come to the olive harvest, swear that they come from nowhere but from their own wife; thus it happens that in the following year they exhibit a more abundant yield. They say especially that the olives of Anaxarbus, which is a city of Cilicia, are most fruitful, because they are cultivated by chaste boys only." Thus Pierius; which however must be received with a grain of salt, so that we may beware of the superstition of the Gentiles. It is memorable what the author of the History of Plants writes concerning the olive, that glycyrrhiza (commonly called licorice, or sweet wood), if it adheres to the olive and sends roots around its stem, the olive gradually dies and is killed; thus if chastity dwells in delights, it is killed and suffocated by them. Again, the olive from itself insipid and wild, becomes savory and edible, if it is steeped in salt and vinegar; thus savory and stable becomes chastity, which is rubbed and steeped with the salt and vinegar of mortification. Finally, olives, so that they may yield oil, must be crushed by many blows of the pestle; thus the flesh—
AND AS A PLANE TREE I WAS EXALTED BESIDE THE WATERS IN THE STREETS. The Syriac: I was nourished as a plane tree over waters; the Greek: as a plane tree lifted up by water, or I was exalted. "Plane tree" is derived from πλάτος, that is, breadth, because it spreads its branches and leaves widely, by which it provides most pleasant shade to travelers and strangers in the heat of the sun; so much so that "nations pay tribute for the shade," says Pliny, book XII, chapter 1; hence it loves waters, because to nourish so many and such great branches and leaves, it needs much moisture. Again, the leaves of the plane tree keep away bats, says Pierius in Hieroglyphics 25. Moreover, with nests placed in those same leaves, storks keep away owls from both eggs and chicks, which are harmful and deadly to them, namely the tree, being generative, opposes itself to the lethal bird; for owls do not bear the contact of plane tree leaves, but from it immediately fall into torpor and become as if stupefied, says Pierius from Aelian in Hieroglyphics 17, chapter VII. See what I said concerning the plane tree at Ezekiel XXXI, 8. Similar shade, refuge and refreshment in every heat of persecution, tribulation, temptation, and likewise of divine wrath and vengeance, Wisdom and Christ provide to those fleeing to him, according to that: "Under his shadow whom I desired I sat," Canticles II, 3. And: "Under the shadow of thy wings protect me," Psalm XVI, 8. And: "He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge; my God, I will hope in him. For he hath overshadowed thee with his shoulders," Psalm XC, verse 1. And he does this in the streets, that is, in the broad ways of this world, namely, in conversation with so varied and so dissolute and difficult a race of men, where the necessity of shade and refreshment is greater. Again, the plane tree represents the Blessed Virgin. For the plane tree spreads out with spreading branches, has leaves like shields and bucklers; thus the Blessed Virgin is as it were a plane tree, spread out with spreading branches, by which she hides and protects all men; she is a refuge, protection, shield and asylum for all who flee to her. There is no temptation, no calamity, no labor, no danger, no enemy, against which the Blessed Virgin, most strong with shields and bucklers, does not furnish and supply aid to those imploring her help. Furthermore, some wrongly divide these otherwise, and refer in the streets to what follows, cinnamon and balsam, while they thus read, in the streets as cinnamon and balsam aromatic I gave odor. For neither cinnamon nor balsams are born in the streets, but in gardens.
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For balsamum aromatizans, the Complutensian editors read ὡς παλάθη, that is, like a ball or mass of aromatics; others read ὡς παλάθη, that is, like a mass of carobs or dried figs. Thus Vatable. Better, the Roman and other Greek texts read ἀσπάλαθος ἀρωμάτων, that is aspalathus of aromatics, that is aromatic, because for ὡς παλάθος, by diastole of two words, they read by systole, a single word, ἀσπάλαθος. Whence the Zurich Bible: "in the manner of cinnamon and aspalathus I breathed forth an aromatic odor"; the Syriac: "like cinnamon and frankincense and choice myrrh I rendered my odor sweet." Wherefore some think that for balsamum here in the Latin text aspalathus or aspalathum should be read, both because thus the Greek texts and some Latin Bibles written by hand read it, and expressly Rabanus, Jansenius and Lyranus, who reads aspalthum: which those who formerly copied Bibles not understanding, seem to have written balsamum for aspalthum; and also because Sirach will soon make mention of balsam in the following verse. Furthermore, aspalathus is a small tree, or rather a shrub, fragrant, especially when the rainbow appears, as Pliny relates in book XII, chapter XXIV (whose words I shall soon cite from Rabanus), and Aristotle in Problems, section 12, number 3, where he also investigates the cause of this matter. Which aptly agrees with the letter of Wisdom, and mystically with the Blessed Virgin and the Saints. For the rainbow is a symbol of the mercy and grace of God, from which all the beauty and fragrance of wisdom flows forth. Again, the rainbow is a symbol of the incarnation of Christ; for it is as it were a celestial arc having two horns, that is, two natures, namely divinity and humanity, as I have shown by seven analogies in Genesis IX, 13. From the incarnation of Christ, moreover, all the wisdom and holiness of the Blessed Virgin and ours are derived. Wherefore, although she was full of grace before the conception and incarnation of the Word, as she was greeted by the Angel, yet as soon as the Word conceived itself in her and became incarnate, she as it were full of God scattered marvelous odors and ardors of wisdom and holiness throughout Judaea, and then throughout the whole world. Secondly, Dioscorides gives aspalathus these virtues in book I, chapter XIX: "Aspalathus," he says, "bristling with many thorns, possesses a power of heating with astringency. Whence a decoction with wine is suitable for rinsing foul sores of the mouth, it is poured into gangrenous sores of the genitals and filthy ulcers; placed in a pessary, it draws out the fetus. Its decoction stops the bowels, and drinking it restrains the rejection of blood, it disperses difficulty of urination and flatulence." Galen, in book VI of Simple Medicines: "Aspalathus," he says, "is to the taste indeed acrid, and at the same time astringent; but in faculty it consists of dissimilar parts, namely certain parts of itself But hear Rabanus, who explains this passage excellently, both literally and tropologically: "Like cinnamon," he says, "and aspalathus aromatizing I gave forth odor: Cinnamon and aspalathus are aromatic trees. For cinnamon is so called because its bark is round and slender in the manner of a reed, it is produced in the regions of India and Ethiopia, a short shrub, of only two cubits, of a somewhat dark or ashen color with very slender twigs. For what extends into thickness is despised; but what grows more slender is excellent: which when it breaks, emits a visible exhalation in the image of mist or dust." Concerning aspalathus, however, Pliny the Elder reports thus: "In the same region aspalathus is born, a white thorn, in size a modest tree, with a rosy flower, its root is sought for unguents. They relate that in whatever shrub the celestial arc curves, the same fragrance of odor exists as in aspalathus, but in aspalathus an inexpressible kind: some call it Erysisceptrum, others sceptrum. Its proof is in a reddish or fiery color, and in a thick touch, and in the odor of castor. It is exchanged at fifteen pounds." Rabanus adds the tropological interpretation, saying: "These two shrubs, therefore, on account of their smallness are by some reckoned among fragrant herbs; which rightly on account of this very smallness signify the humble in spirit, whose is the kingdom of heaven: who, as if clothed in purple color, are always mindful of the Lord's passion, always themselves prepared to suffer for the Lord, such as was he who says: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. For this too is the virtue which is accustomed chiefly among us to chastise and remove the motions of souls and wantonness, as it were the pains of the bowels. When, reflecting on what God suffered for us, we know that we suffer less than we deserve. Well therefore are cinnamon and aspalathus joined together; because by the sacrament of the Lord's passion, the state of our conversation ought to be conformed; so that according to the judgment of John, as he laid down his life for us, so also we should learn to lay down our lives for the brethren. For because cinnamon is said to be of a blackish or ashen color, it suits the souls of the humble, who, conscious of their own frailty, are accustomed daily in prayers to say to God: I will speak to my Lord, whereas I am dust and ashes. And again: I reprove myself, and do penance in sackcloth and ashes. But because aspalathus has the likeness of white thorns with a rosy flower, it signifies that we ought daily to imitate the pain of the Lord's passion in the straitness of our conversation, according to that Gospel saying: Whosoever will (he says) come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. But because its root is sought for unguents, it signifies the humility of Christ, commending the fragrance of all virtues, and redounding to the sweetness of eternal sweetness for the elect of God." Furthermore, modern physicians and natural philosophers disagree concerning aspalathus. For some think aspalathus to be red sandalwood, whom Matthiolus refutes in the cited passage of Dioscorides. There Amatus and Ruellius think aspalathus to be Rhodian wood, from which prayer beads are made: to Matthiolus and Cornarius the plant is unknown. But because all printed Bibles, even those corrected by the Romans, constantly read, like cinnamon and balsam, not aspalathus, and thus the Church likewise reads in the Ecclesiastical Office of the Blessed Virgin, and all other Doctors and Interpreters; hence I judge this reading also to be explained, indeed to be retained. Therefore, after Sirach compared wisdom to three larger trees, fragrant and excellent, namely cedar, cypress, and palm, he now compares the same to three smaller shrubs, but more fragrant and excellent, each of which is aromatizing, that is, diffusing aromatic fragrance, indeed diffusing aroma itself from itself. For the shrub of cinnamon diffuses the aroma of cinnamon, the shrub of balsam diffuses opobalsamum (since aspalathus yields no resin or aroma), the shrub of myrrh distills myrrh. Furthermore, cinnamon is numbered among the most delicate aromatics, so much so that the ancients feigned that it is born in the nest of the phoenix, as Pliny testifies, lib. XII, cap. XIX. It has a sweet odor, but likewise delicate and subtle: wherefore it was accustomed to be mixed with other aromatics, such as nard, myrrh, etc. Hence Martial, lib. IV, epigram 15: Now rare cinnamons are mixed with its nard. And Ovid, Metamorph. XV: And scattered with tawny myrrh cinnamon was strewn. Moreover Galen, lib. De Antidotis: "The best cinnamon," he says, "you will recognize if it be most fragrant, and if it bear some ineffable grace of odor above other aromatics." Cinnamon is called as it were the cane of amomum: for it has the form of canes, or reeds: hence in Hebrew it is called קנמון kinnamon, from קנה cane, that is reed. From the Hebrew kinnamon the Greeks, Latins and others called it cinnamomum. Wherefore less truly does Garcias ab Horto, lib. I Aromatum historia cap. XV, think cinnamon is called as it were the amomum of the Chinese, because Chinese merchants from the island of Zeilan (for that island produces the best cinnamon) conveyed it to other shores and sold it: hence the Persians call it Darchini, that is, Chinese wood. Balsam truly excels among aromatics: hence it is called aromatizing; in the Zurich version, aromatic, that is fragrant, not only in odor, but also in aroma from Hear also Brocard, Saligniac, Bredenbach, and from these Adrichomius, in the entry on Engaddi, where balsam is produced: "There are," he says, "balsam shrubs, granted to Judaea alone of all lands, which vines of Engaddi Solomon names in the Canticles; the branches of which, if cut with sharp glass, stone, or bone knives, drip a most precious juice, of exquisite sweetness, which they call opobalsamum, and it is preferred to all perfumes. This garden, or vines of balsam, in the time of Herod the Great, Cleopatra queen of Egypt, with Anthony's consent, whether as lover or husband, envying such great fortune to Herod, transferred into Egypt, where it is irrigated by a small fountain, yet flowing most abundantly, in which it is said that the Blessed Virgin often bathed the boy Jesus, and thus prepared from it drink for herself and her spouse the holy Joseph, when he was in Egypt; and therefore it is held in the greatest veneration and worship by the inhabitants. Yet there are still indeed shoots of balsams on Mount Engaddi, but of no cultivation, no yield: namely, this is the most just judgment of God's justice, who avenges himself on sinners and persecutors of his name, so that because Herod once the possessor of balsam persecuted the boy Jesus, Jesus fleeing into Egypt drew the balsam garden after him." And below: "The harvest of balsam is thus: a leaf is plucked from the stem against the sun, and immediately a bright drop, wonderfully fragrant, gushes forth from the break; and this most precious liquid of balsam is gathered in glass vessels, not flowing at all unless the break be made at sunrise. But the little fountain of Jesus is small, not sufficient for the irrigation of the whole garden: wherefore the Saracens dug another well beside it, from which four oxen draw water by a wheel, hoping that from the proximity of the fountain of Jesus the water would be wholesome; but the matter turned out far otherwise, until by means of channels they led the water of the well into the fountain of Jesus. Which done, the balsam garden is abundantly and wholesomely watered from the mixed waters. Wonderful to tell! Yet from the middle of Saturday's sabbath until the dawn of Monday's day, the oxen cannot be driven by any whip to labor in drawing water: which is a celebrated testimony of our faith. And the Saracens also wash themselves and their children here, not that they may be baptized, but that they may escape the natural stench of their bodies." Thus Adrichomius. From this it is clear how rightly wisdom, the wise and the holy, and especially the Blessed Virgin, are compared to cinnamon and balsam. For first, balsam was proper to Judaea, but thence carried and celebrated throughout the whole world; thus also the Blessed Virgin, born, educated, living and dying in Judaea, spread her fragrance and fame throughout the whole world. She, just as fleeing from Herod out of Judaea, carried balsam with her into Egypt; so also true knowledge of God and his worship, namely Christianity, she herself transferred from the faithless Jews to the Egyptians and other nations. Second, the odor of balsam has a masculine and strong virtue: wherefore balsam, as it were manly and generous, and excelling other ointments, was wont to be applied to men, while to women was given Assyrian amomum and other such delicate ointments, according to that of Martial, book XIV, epigram 54: Balsams captivate me, these are the ointments of men; May you, brides of Ninus, exhale delights. Balsams captivate me, these are the ointments of men; May you, brides of Ninus, exhale delights. Hence the matter of the sacrament of Confirmation, by which we are made perfect Christians and are anointed as it were soldiers and athletes of Christ for combat against the devil, flesh and world, is chrism, which is made from oil and balsam: so that Christians confirmed, mindful of the pleasant odor which flows forth from balsam, by the holiness of life and sweetness of morals may strive to entice all others to Christian life and the pursuit of virtue. Again, the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist is as it were balsam, balming (so to speak) our bodies, that they may rise to immortal life: concerning which matter see St. John, chapter VI, verses 50, 55, 58. In like manner the fragrance of the virtue of the Mother of God had nothing soft or effeminate, but was manly and masculine. For she was a virgin, indeed a virago, who drew not only women but also faithful men into admiration and imitation of herself, so that they would say: "In the odor of thy ointments we will run," Canticles I. Thirdly, that the balsam tree (as our Spinellus rightly noted in De Deipara, cap. XXI) is not to be cut with an iron knife, but with a bone, stone, and glass one, and (as some say) on that part which faces the sun; from there flows white balsam, which then becomes reddish and hardens. This also can be applied to the Mother of God, who, beholding Christ, the sun of justice, and receiving him entirely within herself, was not pierced by material iron, but by the compassion of her Son, who is the cornerstone and a spotless mirror of glass, and was composed of true bones; she was transfixed, and poured forth not blood, but tears and affections burning with purity, yet reddened with charity: the merit of which, most brilliant, will never fade away at any time through weakness, but will stand hard and firm. Fourthly, the balsam of the Mother of God is not corrupted by any admixture of oil or honey. This is said in this chapter v. 21 from her person, in those words: "And as balsam not mixed is my odour." St. Bonaventure, however, in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, cap. V, explains this elegantly: "Balsam," he says, "is accustomed to be mixed and corrupted with honey or oil; but certainly the balsam of the Holy Spirit in Mary was not mixed, because neither with the honey of carnality and worldly consolation, nor Fifthly, Pausanias in the Boeotian history, lib. IX, writes that in Arabia many vipers lurk beneath balsam trees, and that those dwelling under them lose their venom by feeding on balsam, and their bite is therefore harmless. But truly, by the protection of the Mother of God, who is mystically the balsam tree, venom is taken from demons signified by serpents, so that their bite and the wicked suggestions which they inject may not harm the devotees of the Mother of God. Wherefore St. Bonaventure in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, cap. VII: "The odour," he says, "of Mary was like cinnamon in the bark of her conduct, like balsam inwardly in the anointing of devotion, like myrrh in the bitterness of chastisement; the odour of Mary was also like cinnamon in action, like balsam in contemplation, like myrrh in passion. O truly rich one, who was so full of the fragrant balsam of the Holy Spirit! as St. Bernard says upon that word: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee." The same in the same place, cap. V: "The balsam," he says, "of Mary is the anointing of grace, which was poured most abundantly into Mary; whence St. Bernard, speaking of that word: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, says: That precious balsam shall flow to thee in such abundance and such fullness, that it shall flow most copiously all around."
AS CHOICE MYRRH I HAVE GIVEN A SWEET ODOUR. The Zurich Bible, as most excellent myrrh I have smelled sweetly; the Syriac, as choice myrrh I have given forth a sweet odour of mine. Pliny, book XII, chapter XV, writes that myrrh is a tree, that is a shrub five cubits high, thorny, with a hard and twisted trunk, thicker than that of frankincense, with smooth bark, leaves like the olive but more curled and prickly, with a mane of oluaster, which is cut twice a year so that the resin, namely the liquid of myrrh, may flow down. It sweats, he says, of its own accord before it is cut, which is called stacte, or the tear of myrrh, and this is the most excellent myrrh: just as among the resins of other trees, the tear which flows of its own accord is the best; and among wines, the tear which distils of its own accord from the ripest grapes is the most flavourful. Myrrh denotes the mortification of the wise, which produces in the soul a wonderful consolation and sweetness of God, as it were the aroma of myrrh of most sweet odour: this keeps the soul uncorrupted from the putrefaction of vices, just as myrrh keeps the bodies of the dead uncorrupted. Thus Rabanus. Again, myrrh is compunction sweet-smelling to God, and the tears of a contrite heart; whence myrrh has this riddle and hieroglyphic: From tears, and in place of tears my origin began; I flowed from eyes, but now I am born from a tree: Happy the honour of foliage, yet sad the image of sorrow. Myrrh in this excellence was possessed by the Blessed Virgin; whence of her it is said in the Canticle III: "Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke, of the perfume of myrrh and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?" For in frankincense prayer ascends upward, as in myrrh the bitter mortification of the flesh, that unpleasant Thus Sophronius, sermon On the Assumption: "She is called indeed, he says, as a pillar of smoke, because slender and delicate; because refined by divine disciplines, and consumed within as a holocaust in the fire of pious love, and in the desire of charity. As a pillar of smoke from aromatics, namely, because filled with many odours of virtues; flowing from her breathed forth a most sweet odour, even to the Angelic spirits." So also Peter Damian, sermon On the Assumption: "In myrrh, he says, understand continence, in frankincense devotion." And soon after: "These are the two things which surrounded the entire virginal substance with virtue, namely continence and devotion; of which the one possessed the flesh, the other the mind, so that the most pure flesh and the most pure mind consecrated the Mother of the Lord more singularly." And below: "All the powder of the perfumer was heaped upon the Virgin, because in her the assembly of virtues consecrated to itself a venerable bridal chamber; and, if to others the spirit was present in parts, to Mary nevertheless all the beauty of grace came upon her. These entire species were in her, namely of the aromatics of perfumers, but ground into the finest powder: because she it is who, pressed down by the stronger hammers of those afflicting, saw her son and the Son of God affixed to the cross, pierced by a soldier's lance, placed between two thieves breathing out his last." Furthermore, that the Blessed Virgin was devoted to myrrh, that is to mortification, is evident both from the fact that she wished to stand by Christ her son affixed to the cross, so that she might be a companion and sharer in his death and mortification; and from the name: for Mary, as many wish, was called from marar, that is bitter; and from the fact that St. Bonaventure writes in the Meditations on the Life of Christ, chapter III, that the Blessed Virgin spoke these words to a certain person devoted to her (whom he himself thinks was St. Elizabeth): "Daughter, I tell you that I had no gift, grace or virtue from God without great labour, continual prayer, ardent desire, profound devotion, many tears, and much affliction; always saying and thinking what pleased him, as I knew and was able, except the grace of sanctification, by which I was sanctified in the womb of my mother." And she added: "Know for certain that no grace descends into a soul except through prayer and affliction of the body." The same St. Brigid asserts was revealed to her in her Revelations. and from this our Serarius in Joshua, chapter I, Question VII, although Francis Ribera in chapter II of Habakkuk thinks Lebanon was named from the whiteness of snows: לבן laben indeed signifies white to the Hebrews: for, as Tacitus says, book V of the Histories: "This region raises the principal mountain Lebanon, wonderful to say, so shaded and secure with snows amid such heat." Some join both notions: because indeed white frankincense is born there, therefore St. Jerome thinks Lebanon was so named. Moreover, the most praised frankincense is produced by Arabia alone: whence Virgil, Georgics II: The frankincense rod is the Sabaeans' alone. He adds "not incised": which word is now no longer in the Greek, but plainly appears to have fallen out from it through the carelessness of scribes, because "vapor" (ἀτμίς) follows, which word is near to "not incised" (ἄτομος): when scribes did not understand this, they thought it repeated by error and the same as ἀτμίς, and therefore omitted it. For there is a twofold frankincense, that is, incense: the first is called ἄτομος or ἄτρητος, that is, not cut, not incised, but undivided and whole: this holds the first place, and therefore is called masculine. The second is called ἔτομος and τμητός, that is, incised and cut, or divided and comminuted, and often mixed with another substance. Furthermore, some think that incised incense is that which drips from a cut tree: not incised, that which flows from it as if pregnant and with child, of its own accord as it were by a destined and fertile birth of nature, which is most mature and best digested, and therefore most perfect and most fragrant. For thus other resinous trees, such as myrrh, pine, storax, and balsam, of their own accord sweat gum or resin, which is better than that which by incision, as if by force from the tree undigested and imperfect, is drawn out and wrung forth: just as an infant born of its mother of its own accord is more perfect than one drawn forth from the womb by incision by force. But because Pliny makes no mention of any other incense than that which by incision, which is done twice a year, is drawn forth, hence Jansenius, Palacius and others think that incense called ἄτομος, that is, not incised, or uncut and undivided, is called that which from a cut tree flows of its own accord whole into a mass, when the following tear mixed itself with the preceding one adhering: to which the chief excellence belongs, as Pliny testifies, both because it is a sign of well-digested, mature and fertile incense; we call manna the crumbs beaten out and crushed." And below: "It is approved by whiteness, size, brittleness, charcoal, so that it burns immediately, also, so that it does not stick to the tooth but rather crumbles into crumbs." So also Dioscorides, lib. I, cap. LXX: "Incense," he says, "is produced in Arabia. The male holds the first place, called stacte, round by its own nature: such a thing is undivided, white when broken, oily within, burning immediately in fumigation. The Indian variety yellows and is livid in color, but they make it round by art, etc., which they call atom or syagrum. The second place has the Arabian, which some call copiscum, much smaller and more tawny." Wisdom therefore says of herself: "I as frankincense not incised gave forth vapor in my dwelling," that is to say, Just as masculine incense, placed on coals, with the best odor which it gives forth, fills a house, by which it dries up and consumes all noxious humors and corruptions of the air: so likewise I, Wisdom, imbued the Hebrew people, in whom I chose a dwelling for myself, with my most sweet doctrine and law, by which I consumed all errors of infidelity, impiety and all vices, and imbued them with the most sweet odor of heavenly grace and virtues, and refreshed them with consolation. Just as therefore incense cures the soreness of eyes, flux of blood, tenesmus, cough, impetigo, inflammations, arthritis, dysentery, hemicranium, ulcers; increases memory, puts to flight sadness, gladdens the heart, etc., as Dioscorides teaches, lib. I, cap. LXX and following, and there Matthiolus from Galen: so likewise wisdom cures and heals all sicknesses of the soul, especially by the virtue of prayer, of which incense is the symbol, as I said a little before. Whence incense is said to be from θυόω, that is, I make odor; or rather from θύω, that is, I sacrifice, because those who sacrificed used incense. All nations, in all ages, gave incense to God alone, and burned it to Him. Whence the honors of incense are called divine honors, which are owed and rendered to God alone. Much more Christ, who is the Wisdom of the Father, has provided all these things and provides them daily to Christians. He therefore gave forth vapor and gives forth vapor to His Church, in which He dwells, by miracles, doctrines, laws, evangelical counsels, divine examples of all virtues, whose vapor and most sweet odor breathes forth His divinity, refreshes the faithful, heals the infirm, gladdens the sorrowful, strengthens the weak, exhilarates the Angels and God Himself, especially the odor and vapor of His admirable passion and death on the cross. AND AS BALSAM NOT MIXED MY ODOR. — These words some delete, because they are not in the Greek, and balsam was spoken of in verse 20. But here that balsam is explained and determined, and it is said to be not mixed, that is, pure and unmixed. For balsam is adulterated in many ways by the mixture of other things. Hear Dioscorides, lib. I, cap. XVIII: "In the summer heats," he says, "under the rising of the dog star, the tree is cut with iron nails, and from the wound flows a juice, which they call opobalsamum; but so small 22. I have stretched out my branches like the terebinth tree, AND MY BRANCHES ARE OF HONOR AND GRACE. — Concerning the terebinth tree, hear Pliny, lib. XIII, cap. VI: "Syria has the terebinth. Of these the male is without fruit. Of the females there are two kinds. In one the fruit is red, the size of a lentil, in the other pale. When it ripens with the vine, not larger than a bean, more pleasant in odor, to the touch Rabanus adapts all these things particularly to wisdom, to the preaching of the Gospel, and to the Church, which spreads its branches throughout the whole world. Now the branches of wisdom, that is, the offshoots, are of honor, in Greek δόξης, that is of glory; and of grace, because they and their followers procure grace, honor and glory, both among men and with God and the Angels. For just as the honor and beauty of a tree are its leaves, and much more its flowers and fruits, according to that saying of Virgil, Georg. II: And now long since he set forth late leaves with the vine, And the cold North wind has stripped honor from the forests, that is, leaves; so the honor and beauty of wisdom are its branches, that is, the offshoots, by which it extends and propagates itself through all the faithful, teachers and Churches: by which it is adorned with as many graces and honors as branches are crowned and adorned with leaves in any green and leafy tree, especially the terebinth. A similar passage is in Ezech. XXXI, 3. The Syriac version renders terebinth as rhododaphne: "I, it says, like the rhododaphne have extended my roots, and my branches are branches of praise and honor." Rhododaphne is a shrub, so called from its rosy flower and laurel leaf: for ῥόδον is rose, δάφνη is laurel: it is also called rhododendros, as it were a rose becoming a tree, or nerium, "eternal in foliage, it says Pliny, lib. XVI, cap. XX, in the likeness of a rose, shrubby in its stems, a poison to beasts of burden and to goats and sheep. The same is a remedy to man against the poison of serpents." Just as therefore rhododaphne is harmful to beasts of burden, beneficial to men; so what brings danger to the foolish, such as adversity, abundance of things, knowledge, this very thing wisdom and the wise man turns to his own good and salvation. But the Greek and Latin texts consistently have terebinth. It alludes to the terebinth tree under which Jacob buried and hid idols, Genesis XXXV, which prefigured Christ: for Christ buried and removed idols and idolatry; from his body terebinthine resin, most precious, flowed forth: when from him the Sacraments of the new law were instituted, and abundant grace was poured into them, which ceases not to flow to us those things which are necessary for salvation. 23. I have brought forth fruit like the vine (that is, I have sprouted, as the Greek texts have it) SWEETNESS OF ODOR: AND MY FLOWERS ARE THE FRUIT OF HONOR AND HONESTY. — For honesty the Greek has πλούτου, that is riches: thus throughout this book it calls honesty riches, just as we commonly call the honest the rich and the wealthy. The Greek and Roman texts thus have it, I am like a vine sprouting grace, and my flowers are the fruit of glory and riches; the Complutensian editors for χάριν, that is grace, read εὐωδίαν, that is sweet odor, as our Latin version reads. The Zurich version, I like a vine have sent forth fragrant grace, and my flowers are the fruit of glory and riches; the Syriac, I like a vine adorned with beauty, and my leaves are leaves of splendor and beauty. Wisdom compares itself to a vine, first, in εὐωδίᾳ, that is in the flower and sweetness of odor. For the vine while it flowers breathes forth a sweet odor: so also wisdom shows itself pleasant, lovable, delightful and agreeable to all; and by this means it delights, refreshes and draws all to itself. Second, in fruit, namely that just as the flowers of the vine soon produce fruit, namely grapes, which is more honored and most noble of fruits, equally as most honest and richest: for from grapes is pressed wine sweet, abundant and generous, which is of great price. Whence that saying of Alcaeus: "You sow no other tree before the vine," which Athenaeus cites; and that of the Poet: The vine the best part of the earth, the eye of the countryside, You are the first glory of autumn, the first honor. Thus also wisdom brings forth the most noble fruits, namely honor, glory and riches, both spiritual and corporeal, which he explains when he adds: "I am the mother of fair love," etc. Moreover, the fruits and flowers of wisdom are the same, because in her the same thing is both savory and flowering, useful and beautiful. Hear Rabanus: "What," he says, "is expressed by this vine, except him who in the Gospel says to his disciples: I am the true vine, and you the branches? The juice of whose vine gladdens the heart of men, when drinking his blood, rejoicing they praise the venerable Sacrament of their redemption: this vine bears fruit in the sweetness of odor, when throughout the whole world the fame of evangelical preaching is spread; and its flowers are fruits of honor and honesty, because the pleasantness and beauty of all virtues daily flourish and shine by his gift in the multitude of believers." See what I have said concerning the vine and its analogies with wisdom and holiness, Ezech. XV, 2. For this reason St. Ephrem the Syrian, a contemporary of St. Basil, appeared to him in a vision as a fruitful vine, denoting his wisdom, abundance and sweetness of speaking and writing, as his Life has at the beginning of his works. Mystically, the vine is the Mother of God, who brought forth the most precious grape, namely Christ, from which, pressed in the winepress of the cross, red wine was expressed, which inebriates all the faithful. Thus John of Damascus, oration 1 On the Nativity: "The vine," he says, "most abundant (the Mother of God) sprouted from Anna, and brought forth the sweetest grape, pouring forth nectar to mortals unto eternal life." And St. Ildefonsus, sermon 1 On the Assumption: "The Mother of the Lord," he says, "like a vine bore fruit in the sweetness of odor, and brought forth to all nations the fruit of honesty and grace." She herself therefore, like a vine, brought forth a grape and wine, namely Christ, which gladdens God and men, Judges IX. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 4 on the Hail Holy Queen, thus addresses the Mother of God: "Wine has failed in our vessels, namely the wine that gladdens the heart of man, of which the Prophet says, that it germinates virgins; you are the steward of this wine, you are the standard-bearer: the standards of the King go forth in us, you acting for us: the chalice in your hand of pure wine, in your hand, in your power, of pure wine of divine love. How glorious is the chalice of this wine that inebriates! It inebriates unto contempt of the world; it warms, because it makes them fervent; it sharpens, because it instructs; it makes them bold against adversities, strong and invincible from flesh, world and demons; forgetful, namely of those things that are behind, and stretched forth to future things; discreet, because it instructs unto justice; drowsy to temporal things and wearisome, but prone and ready to contemplate invisible things. Through you we hope for bread, which strengthens the heart of man, of which Scripture says: Man ate the bread of angels. Hitherto St. Bernard, speaking of the wine of divine love, which the mother of fair love obtains for her children. The flowers of this vine are "fruits of honor and honesty;" because the blessed Mary's virginity and humility, like flowers, brought forth fruit of infinite honor, namely God made man, who in the Eucharist is "the wheat of the elect, and wine germinating virgins," Zach. cap. IX. Again, when it is said of this vine: "And my flowers are fruits of honor and honesty," by these words is signified the Mother of God's spotless and at the same time fruitful virginity. For she so delights in honesty, that she not only averts the pleasures of the flesh, which are discordant with reason, which it is the duty of chastity to reject; but does not even admit the lawful ones in the use of marriage. Wherefore this supreme honesty of virginity is rightly joined to honor, which makes men so worthy of honor that it renders them very similar to the angels themselves. Then, because a flower is a symbol of virginity, and as a fruit can be a symbol of fruitfulness. When therefore the "flowers (of the Mother of God) are fruits of honor," and "honesty," by these words her fruitful virginity, and virginal fruitfulness worthy of all honor, conspicuous in all honesty is shown. For in trees flowers cannot exist at the same time with fruits, which emanate from them, and into which the flowers themselves are transformed; but when the fruit bursts forth, the flower falls; as long as the flowers flourish, the fruits have not yet come: thus also in other women virginity cannot exist with fruitfulness at the same time. But in the Mother of God alone, beyond all the course of nature, these two are found joined together. Wherefore she alone deservedly can say, her flowers are at the same time fruits: for someone has elegantly sung: Birth and integrity, discordant for long in time, In the Virgin's bosom have the covenant of peace. This is what St. Bernard, marveling, intones in his homily 2 on Missus est: "It was fitting for God to have such a nativity, by which He would be born of none but a virgin: such a birth was becoming to a virgin, that she would bear none but God." Wherefore St. Augustine exclaims, sermon 9 On the Nativity of the Lord, which is 13 On the Temporal: "O miracles, O prodigies! the laws of nature are changed, God is born in man: a virgin becomes pregnant without a man, the word of God marries her who knew not man; she became at once mother and virgin; made a mother, yet incorrupt: a virgin having a son, knowing not a man: always closed, yet not barren. For He alone was born without sin, whom not the concupiscence of the flesh, but the obedience of the mind, brought forth without the embrace of man."
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24. I AM THE MOTHER OF FAIR LOVE, AND OF FEAR, AND OF KNOWLEDGE, AND OF HOLY HOPE. — For "knowledge" a manuscript codex of Mount Amiata reads "greatness"; and thus it is read in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, in the chapter at Compline. Perhaps some scribe, for "knowledge," wrote it abbreviated as "known"; which another copyist, not understanding, thinking a letter had been omitted by error, wrote "greatness": for indeed many such corruptions have been introduced by ignorant persons. For the true reading is "knowledge": thus indeed all other Greek and Latin codices, both manuscript and printed, read it constantly, and also Rabanus, Lyra, Hugh, Dionysius, Jansenius and other interpreters. The Zurich version translates: I am the mother of fair charity, of religion, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. Wisdom here explains her fruits, which she produces in her disciples, and assigns them as four. The first is fair love: for there is a base and alluring love contrary to this, such as is the love of fornicators and lovers of the world: whence in Greek it is καλῆς, which signifies both good and fair. The second is fear, that is, the fear of God, reverence and worship. The third is knowledge, in Greek γνῶσις, that is, cognition, science, understanding, namely, that by which we fully know God and heavenly and divine things. The fourth is holy hope, by which we certainly hope from God all good things, namely all grace and glory. Moreover, these four are rightly subordinated to one another. For from the love of God is born reverence and worship of the same, from reverence follows fuller knowledge of the same, from knowledge is born greater hope and confidence. Wherefore, when the blessed Henry Suso, minister of eternal Wisdom, heard these words of Ecclesiasticus read, burning with love for her union with her, he was rapt and saw her in the form as it were of a girl, soon in the form of an elegant youth, shining in a column of cloud upon an ivory throne, radiant with the brightness of the sun. "Her crown was eternity, her garment happiness, her speech sweetness, her embrace all satisfaction." And she said to him: "Give me, my son, thy heart." Thus the author of his Life has it, chapter IV. Hear Rabanus: "The Wisdom of God," he says, "(which is Christ), is the mother of fair love, and the origin of all virtues; because by her grace Mystically, the Blessed Virgin is the mother of fair love. For, as St. Bonaventure says in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, chapter VI, looking to that passage of Isaiah XI: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, etc. "Whosoever," he says, "desires to obtain the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, let him seek that flower of the Holy Spirit in the rod: for through the rod to the flower, through the flower to the spirit resting in it we come; through Mary we approach Christ, and through Christ we find the grace of the Holy Spirit. For this reason St. Bernard, addressing Mary, says: Through thee may we have access to thy Son, O blessed finder of grace, mother of life, mother of salvation, that through thee he may receive us, who through thee was given to us." Thus Bonaventura. Hence in the Litanies the Blessed Virgin is called and invoked City of Refuge. Thus to her in any tribulation the Saints have fled. The Church certainly calls her, in the Salve Regina, our hope: "And our hope, hail." Thus St. Bernard, in the sermon On the Aqueduct: "My children," he says, "this is the ladder of sinners, this is my greatest confidence, this is my whole reason for hope." Of St. Francis, St. Bonaventura in his Life, chapter IX: "In the mother," he says, "of the Lord, trusting chiefly after Christ, he made her the advocate of himself and his." St. Ephrem, pouring forth prayers to the Virgin, adds much to the same effect. St. John of Damascus, oration 1 On the Dormition: "To thee," he says, "we also on this day draw near, O Lady, lady, and again I will say, lady, Mother of God and Virgin, binding our souls to thy hope as to a most firm anchor, dedicating and consecrating to thee our mind, soul, body, and all of ourselves, honoring thee as much as we can with psalms and spiritual hymns." Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople, oration On the Offering of the Mother of God, at the end: "Surely," he says, "lady and mother of God, surely my refuge, life and defense, arms and glory, hope and strength of mine: grant to me, that I too may enjoy thy unspeakable and incomprehensible blessings in heavenly perseverance. For thou hast, I know well, power concurrent with thy will, so that since thou art the mother of the Most High, and therefore I dare. Do not therefore deprive me of my expectation, O immaculate lady, who didst bring forth beyond all expectation the expectation of all, our Lord Jesus Christ." 25. IN ME IS ALL THE GRACE OF THE WAY AND OF TRUTH, IN ME IS ALL HOPE OF LIFE AND OF VIRTUE. — The Zurich Bible translates for virtue, protection; others, vigor and strength: for this is what the Hebrew חיל chail signifies, which our translator is accustomed to render as virtue. Whence Emmanuel Sa: "Virtue," he says, that is, fortitude: for virtue is said from man, because it is manly and masculine. Rabanus, Jansenius and others, for way read life, and understand the life of grace; then, when what follows is life, they understand the life of glory, as if to say: Through me all grace is obtained, both that which consists in a good life and that which is situated in the knowledge of truth. Through me all hope is had, both that which is of obtaining eternal life and that which is of having virtue, which is necessary for attaining eternal life. But the Bible corrected at Rome in the former place for life read way; and it is a hendiadys: ways of truth, that is, ways to truth, as if to say: In me is the grace of showing and teaching every way and manner by which to truth and true life both of grace and of glory one goes and arrives, according to that saying of Christ, who alluded to this: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," John XIV. Otherwise Palacius, as if to say: I within myself have all the graces of the way, of truth and of life, so that no one can have them except through me. Therefore wisdom has all good pertaining to this age, which is the way; and the future, which is truth: so that no one may hope for the life of grace or of glory, nor even for virtue (which may have the perfect name of virtue) except from the gift of wisdom. Furthermore, hear concerning this all grace of wisdom from the blessed Henry Suso, minister of eternal wisdom, in the Dialogue, chapter VII: "In you," he says, "there is beauty infinitely lovable, grace wonderfully beautiful, speech with good morals, nobility with virtue, riches with power, internal freedom joined with external splendor: and besides these, which in the whole world I have never found anywhere, full virtue and faculty of perfectly fulfilling every vow, every desire, and however thirsty the heart of one who loves you well may be. The more perfectly you are known, the more fervently are you loved: the more familiar anyone becomes with you, the more lovable does he feel you to be. O Father, how you are altogether an immense, inexhaustible, most pure good! I beseech you, take note, all mortals, how miserably it is imposed upon those who direct their love to anything else. Depart far from me, most foolish and vain lovers: never draw near to me. This one alone I have chosen as a friend to my heart, she who alone fills and satisfies my heart, soul, desires, affection, and all my strength with intimate love, and never perishes." Then, breathing toward her with all affection and addressing her: "O that, Lord Jesus, you would inscribe yourself in my heart, O that you would melt yourself into the very marrow of my heart and soul with letters of gold Mystically, these things are fitting for the Blessed Virgin; for, as St. Augustine says, or whoever is the author (for it is not St. Augustine), sermon 20 On the Nativity of the Lord to the Brethren in the Desert: "For this reason Mary, the mother, was chosen, and pre-elected above all creatures, fecundated with all graces, filled in the womb with all virtue and holiness, so that from a most pure mother the most pure Son would be born: and, just as in heaven the Son has an immortal and eternal Father; so also on earth He would have a mother lacking all corruption." St. Gregory, book I on I Kings, chapter I: "It is possible," he says, "that by the name of this mountain the most blessed ever-virgin Mary, Mother of God, is designated: for she was a mountain, who by the dignity of her election transcended the height of every chosen creature. Is not Mary a sublime mountain, who, in order to attain to the conception of the eternal Word, raised the summit of her merits above all the choirs of Angels even to the throne of divinity? Of this mountain's most excellent dignity Isaiah prophesying says: In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, Isaiah II. A mountain on the top of mountains was she, because the height of Mary shone forth above all the Saints." To this Albert the Great adds, homily on Missus est: "Congregations," he says, "of waters God called seas, but the place of all graces is called Mary." And St. Bonaventure in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin, chapter III and following: "Mary," he says, "is called sea on account of the abundance and plenty of graces; whence it is written Ecclesiastes I: All rivers enter into the sea, while all the charisms of the saints enter into Mary." And soon after: "Whence she herself can most aptly say that from Ecclesiastes XXIV: In me is all the hope of the way and of the truth, in me is all the hope of life and of virtue." St. Thomas, Opuscule VIII, proving the Blessed Virgin full of grace, which she pours forth by helping others: "In every," he says, "work of virtue you can have her as your help, and therefore she herself says" Ecclesiastes chapter XXIV: In me is all the hope of life and of virtue." Again St. Bonaventure in the Mirror, chapter VI, proving the fullness of grace of the Mother of God, especially of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: "Mary," he says, "rejoicing can say that from Ecclesiasticus: In me is all the grace of life and of truth, who is the mother of Him whom we read full of grace and truth. And what wonder, if in that rod there is such abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in whose flower the Holy Spirit rested, with such abundance of gifts. For Mary is that rod, and the son of Mary is that flower of which it is said in Isaiah: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the spirit of wisdom and understanding shall rest upon him, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and shall fill The Blessed Virgin therefore is our Pandora, that is, the nourishing parent of every gift, of whom Tertullian in the book On the Crown of the Soldier: "If there be," he says, "any Pandora (whom Hesiod mentions as the first of women) this first head was crowned by the Graces, when she is endowed by all, whence Pandora." St. Irenaeus also mentions Pandora in Against the Heresies: "That which," he says, "they say the Savior was made from all the Aeons, all depositing their flower in him, they bring forth nothing new beyond Hesiod's Pandora." Fulgentius also mentions this in the Mythology. This crown of all graces, therefore, is by every right due to the Christian Pandora, namely, the Blessed Virgin. Wherefore by St. Ephrem, oration On the Praises of the Virgin, she herself is called "the hope of the despairing, the helper of sinners, the consolation of the world, the gate of heaven." The Greek and Syrian omit this verse, but in its place the Complutensian and some others have this one: I give, with all my offspring, eternal (praises) to those things which are said by him; the Zurich Bible: I give eternal (or eternal fruits) to my children, to whom God commanded together all.
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Mystically, in like manner the Blessed Virgin revealed to St. Bridget, as she herself reports in book VI of her Revelations, chapter X, and said: "I am the queen of heaven, I am the mother of mercy, I am the joy of the just and the access of sinners to God: nor is there any punishment in the fire of purgatory which on account of me will not be more remitted and lighter to bear than it would otherwise be. There is no one so accursed who, as long as he lives, lacks my mercy, because on account of me he is tempted more lightly by demons than he would otherwise be tempted: there is no one so alienated from God, unless he be altogether accursed, who, if he shall have invoked me, does not return to God and obtain mercy." God revealed the same thing to St. Catherine of Siena: "To Mary," He said, "the glorious mother of my only-begotten Son, it has been granted by my goodness, on account of the reverence due to the incarnate Word, that whosoever, even a sinner, has recourse to her with devout veneration, shall in no way be deceived by the infernal demon: for she is chosen by me, prepared and placed as the sweetest bait for capturing men, and especially the souls of sinners." Whence St. Ephrem, in his Praises of the Blessed Virgin, greets her thus: "Hope of the despairing, through you we have been reconciled to Christ, my God, your Son: you are the sole advocate and helper of sinners and those destitute of aid; you are the safest harbor of the shipwrecked, the consolation of the world, the most celebrated liberatrix of those shut in prison; you are the refuge of orphans; you are the redemption of captives; you are the exultation of the sick, and the salvation of all; you are the stability of monks and solitaries, and the hope of those living in the world; you are the glory, crown and joy of virgins; you are the joy of the world." And again: "For you are our harbor and protectress, our merciful helper." And further: "Hail, helper of those in peril, and joyful freedom, fountain of grace and consolation; hail, refuge and lodging of sinners; hail, propitiation of the laboring; hail, hope of all the good afflicted by adverse circumstances, sweet solace and protection of the converted; hail, queen and patroness alike of men and women; hail, our consolatrix, who have calmed sorrows and eased the troubles of the oppressed, and have removed all oppressions; hail, key of the heavenly kingdom; hail, safest harbor for those sailing in this life; hail, firm salvation of all Christians who have recourse to you sincerely and truly; hail, our outstanding protection and glory." Wisely St. Augustine, in his book On Instructing the Unlearned: "So much," he says, "does a mind well-disposed toward the hearer avail, that while we speak and they learn, we dwell together; and thus they and Furthermore, St. Chrysostom, homily 3 on Genesis: "Divine utterances are like a fountain flowing with abundant and perennial streams; even those who came before us drew waters from it according to their strength, and likewise those who will come after us will attempt the same, nor will they be able to drain it completely, but rather meanwhile the streams increase and grow. For this is the nature of spiritual streams, that spiritual grace flows forth more abundantly the more it is drawn from." Again, the same St. Chrysostom, homily 55 to the People: "These riches, and the saints themselves imitating them, fly about the flowery meadows of sacred volumes, and from there pluck whatever is sweet and honeyed. And if you wish to experience their mouths, you will see them indeed uttering such things, all mild and pleasant, and full of the sweetness of spiritual fragrance. Those mouths cannot emit any base word, nothing scurrilous, nothing harsh and bitter, but all things worthy of the heavens themselves." Finally, Peter of Celle, in his tract On Conscience, beautifully teaches that wisdom is like a vein of blood, which must be opened from time to time so that blood may flow out and flow in: "By the lancet," he says, "of the urgency of those who ask me and wish to be taught by me, the vein of the heart being opened, from wherever I have called the living blood of the veins of all my meditation, so that from the blood of purified learning the heart might furnish or emit what would suffice for the speaker, and retain for itself whence it might live. For then indeed it is usefully either spoken or written, when from his own treatment and his own life he is amended, and another's conscience is instructed in nothing less. Nor should it be believed that the vein of the heart is always evacuated harmfully whenever it is opened, but rather from the outpouring of charity it flows more beneficially and more freely."
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Secondly, Jansenius understands the law as dictated by wisdom: for μνημόσυνον signifies a memorial and a pledge left for the preservation of memory. Such a memorial is the law, left by the wisdom of God to the faithful as an inheritance, that is, as a perpetual possession. Therefore the same thing is said here as in Psalm CXVIII, 103: "How sweet are thy words to my palate, more than honey to my mouth!" And Psalm XVIII, 11: "More to be desired than gold and much precious stone: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb." Thirdly, more plainly and sublimely, Rabanus, and from him the Gloss: "The memory of the wisdom of God," he says, "shall remain unto all generations; because the Angels praise it, the Archangels join in praising it, the Prophets foretell it, the Apostles preach it, and all the host of heavenly virtues, and an infinite multitude of holy souls adore and glorify it eternally." And Wisdom communicates this eternal memory to her followers, while she bestows upon them the eternity of name and fame, according to that: "The just shall be in everlasting remembrance," Psalm CXI, 7. Whence Palacius thus explains it, as if to say: There shall be no age in which the memory of me shall not exist among pious men. From Adam even to the end of the world, divine Wisdom has had and shall have her lovers, who say: "Thy name and thy memorial are the desire of my soul." For to those holy fathers Wisdom appeared in human form, to Christians she appeared in true flesh; therefore both these and those have the memory of Christ in the desire of their soul. Furthermore, the "spirit" of Wisdom is understood, first, by Rabanus as the Holy Spirit, who, proceeding from Wisdom begotten, namely from the Son, equally as from the Father, as if to say: The Holy Spirit, whom Christ will send into the world, is sweeter than honey; because the charity of God which through him is poured into the hearts of the elect is of incomparable sweetness. Secondly, the Gloss: "Spirit," it says, "that is, a tasting of my goodness, is sweeter than honey, because no bodily pleasure equals it." Thirdly, others, as if to say: The spirit which Wisdom breathes into her followers is not austere and harsh, but benign, pleasant and sweet beyond honey; whence the wise, that is the saints, are meek, benign, affable, pleasant in words and in all their conduct. Fourthly, and genuinely, Jansenius: "Wisdom," he says, "attributes to herself a spirit, just as above a soul was attributed to her. But by the name of spirit, she signifies her own nature, breathing forth through the doctrine of the law and wonderful works a sweet odor among men. Just as also in Wisdom XII, it is said: O how good and sweet is, O Lord, thy spirit! which is not only to be understood of the Holy Spirit, but could also be said to the Holy Spirit itself: O Lord, how sweet is thy spirit!" This is what Christ, who is incarnate Wisdom, alludes to here, saying in Matthew XI, 29: "Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light." Christ therefore and God by his own nature is honey; but we, embittering him by our sins, force him to be poison and gall to us, according to that in Hosea XIV, 1: "Samaria shall perish, because she hath rebelled against her God." Where St. Jerome from Symmachus: "She shall repent," he says, "that she hath turned the sweetest God into bitterness;" namely, from a father into a judge, from a benefactor into a scourger. Finally, "inheritance," that is the possession and peculium of Wisdom, which she herself communicates to her followers, is grace and glory, or holiness and happiness; this is sweeter than the honeycomb, because holiness totally quiets the appetite, says the Gloss; but eternal happiness is most sweet: "For the heavenly inheritance," says Rabanus, "which is given to the saints in the knowledge and love of God, when they shall see him face to face, and shall be delighted in his right hand even to the end, is unspeakable and inestimable, because it is written: Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him," I Corinthians, chapter II. Therefore Wisdom gives the causes and allurements of her invitation, in that her spirit is most sweet, her inheritance and possession likewise most sweet, and her memory eternal. St. Bernard, sermon 2 On St. Andrew, set him forth as an example, to whom this spirit of Jesus "made the cross and death, he says, not only not troublesome, but also desirable and altogether delightful. My spirit, says the Lord, is sweeter than honey; so that not even by its own sweetness can the bitterest bitterness of death prevail. What harshness will not that sweetness temper, which makes even death itself most sweet? What roughness can resist that anointing, which makes death itself most pleasant? When he gave, he says, sleep to his beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord. What trouble does not that joy expel, which makes death itself most joyful? Let us seek this spirit, brethren, let us apply ourselves with all diligence, that we may deserve to have this spirit, nay, that we who already have it may have it more abundantly. For whosoever hath not the spirit of Christ, he is not his." A symbol of this matter was the riddle of Samson: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness," when, namely, he himself found honey in the mouth of the lion slain by him, Judges XIV, 14. The Greeks have, from sadness, or sadness and labour, "came forth sweetness." Thus thorns bring forth roses, briars grapes, thistles figs. Assuredly: "To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna; and what was hard to suffer, to remember is sweet." Most sweet therefore is the spirit, most sweet also is the name of Jesus, who is our wisdom, and these three things he bestows upon us. Hear St. Bernard, in the Sentences: "And what is so much the life of hearts, as my God Jesus? He truly is both lover and lovable, and all that is of him is truly, when he himself is nothing else truly, than himself truth. Who is a faithful and true friend Whence the Church invokes her: "Hail, Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope, hail." Hear St. Bernard, sermon 4 On the Assumption: "Who, he says, can investigate the length and breadth, the height and depth of thy mercy, O Blessed One? For its length reaches unto the last day, coming to the aid of all who invoke her. Its breadth fills the whole earth, so that thy mercy also fills all the earth. Thus also its height found the restoration of the heavenly city, and its depth obtained redemption for those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death." And above the same St. Bernard had said: "Let thy mercy be silent, O Blessed Virgin, if there is anyone who remembers that when he invoked thee in his necessities, thou didst fail him. We indeed, thy servants, rejoice with thee in other virtues, but in this rather for ourselves; we praise virginity, we marvel at humility; but mercy tastes sweeter to the wretched, mercy we embrace more clearly, we remember more often, we invoke more frequently." The same St. Bernard, in the sermon on that passage: "A great sign," says he, a sinner can fear to approach God, who is a consuming fire; lest, as wax flows from the face of fire, so he himself perish from the face of God. And soon after: "What, he says, does human frailty tremble to approach Mary? nothing austere in her, nothing terrible; she is all sweetness, offering milk and wool to all." And below: "All things that pertain to her are full of piety and grace; they are full of gentleness and mercy. Finally she became all things to all, with most abundant charity she made herself a debtor to the wise and the foolish; to all she opens the bosom of mercy, that from her fullness all may receive." Again Damascus, oration 2 On the Assumption of the Virgin: Mother of God, he says, "is an inexhaustible sea of joy, the sole obliteration of sorrow, a remedy driving pain from every breast." If therefore thou art sad, invoke the Blessed Virgin, she herself will communicate her joys to thee. Wherefore St. Agnes appearing to St. Bridget (as is found in book IV of the Revelations, chapter xi) and narrating to her the praises of the Mother of God, left this conclusion to be drawn: "As the heavenly and earthly things are illuminated and inflamed by the sun, so from the sweetness of Mary there is no one who, if he asks through her, does not feel her piety." In her therefore is fulfilled that of Proverbs xxxi: "The law of clemency is on her tongue." Whence St. Ambrose calls St. Mary manna; for thus he says in Psalm XXI, at the end: "Nay rather, he says, I would call Mary herself manna, because she is subtle and splendid, sweet and virgin, who as coming from heaven, flowed forth sweeter than honey as food to all the peoples of the Churches; he who neglects to eat or consume it will not have life in himself, as the Lord himself says: Unless you eat the flesh of my," etc. Finally the memory of the Blessed Virgin is unto generations of ages, because it endures through all ages, not only among Christians, but also among infidels and Anagogically, St. Bernard, in his treatise On the Love of God, after the beginning: "My memory," he says, "in the generation of ages; he says this because as long as the present age in which generation comes and generation passes away is seen to stand, consolation from memory shall not be lacking to the elect, to whom the fullness of presence has not yet been granted. Whence it is written: They shall utter the memory of the abundance of thy sweetness, without doubt those whom he had said a little before: Generation and generation shall praise thy works. Memory therefore in the generation of ages, presence in the kingdom of heaven. From this the already assumed election is glorified, from that meanwhile the pilgrim generation is consoled." Then he adds who are capable of this good, who are not. "But it matters," he says, "what generation receives consolation from the memory of God. For not the perverse and exasperating generation, to which it is said: Woe to you that are rich, you have your consolation; but that which can truly say: My soul refused to be comforted. Hence plainly we also believe, if what follows is added: I remembered God, and was delighted. For it is just that those whom presence does not delight should have the memory of future things at hand; and those who disdain to be consoled by any abundance of flowing things, let the remembrance of eternity delight them. And this is the generation of those seeking the Lord, seeking not what is theirs, but the face of God Jacob. To those seeking and sighing for the presence of God, therefore, the memory is at hand and sweet in the meantime, yet not such that they are satisfied, but that they hunger more for that by which they shall be satisfied. The food itself testifies this of itself, thus saying: He that eateth me, the same also shall hunger, and he that was fed by it: I shall be satisfied, he says, when thy glory shall appear. Blessed are they now, however, who hunger and thirst after justice, because they themselves, and no others, shall be satisfied. Woe to thee, perverse and wicked generation; woe to thee, foolish and unwise people, who both loathe memory and fear presence." Mystically, the spirit of the Blessed Virgin is most sweet.
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Wisdom shows itself to be sweeter than honey and honeycomb, because the sweetness of honey, if eaten in great quantity, produces disgust and nausea. But truly the sweetness of wisdom, the more it is tasted, the more it is desired and hungered for; and, what is remarkable, it satisfies and fills the mind, and yet the satisfied mind desires to be further satisfied and filled by it. Whence the Zurich translation renders it, those who have eaten me shall hunger for more; and those who have drunk me shall thirst still; the Syriac, they shall thirst for me. Note first: Wisdom, says Palacius, calls itself food and drink. Indeed, because it is eminently all things; and let the pious man believe at this place that Wisdom remembered itself, as it was to be in the Eucharist, in which it is truly food, truly drink. Note second: If it is truly food and drink, there is no reason to seek anything beyond it, for in these things our life is contained. Note third a remarkable thing: Wisdom itself is food, itself is hunger; for he who eats it hungers for it. For just as God is at once one and three, merciful and just; so wisdom at once satisfies the soul, so that it seeks nothing beyond it; yet it satisfies in such a way that it at the same time kindles desire for itself and hunger. There will not therefore ever be disgust in heaven. Most clearly and piously does Blessed Macarius of Egypt, disciple of St. Anthony, who flourished in the year of Christ 370, explain this sentiment in his entire homily 10, speaking of men of outstanding holiness: "Souls," he says, "loving God and truth, which desire perfectly to put on Christ in faith and highest hope, do not greatly need the admonition of others, nor do they patiently bear any diminishment in heavenly desire or in love toward the Lord, in which they are in some measure; but wholly and entirely fixed to the cross of Christ, they feel and recognize in themselves daily spiritual advancement toward their spiritual spouse. And since they are wounded by heavenly desire, and hunger for the justice of virtues, they seek with supreme and insatiable eagerness the illumination of the Holy Spirit." He then adds that the origin of this eagerness is heavenly light: "For if perhaps by the benefit of their faith they merit to obtain knowledge of divine mysteries, or become partakers of the joy of heavenly grace, they do not trust in themselves, thinking themselves to be something; but the more they abound in spiritual gifts, the more vehemently and without satiety of heavenly desire do they inquire; and the more they have felt spiritual progress in themselves, the more do they hunger and thirst for participation and increase of grace; and the more spiritually wealthy they are, the more poor do they esteem themselves; and without spiritual satiety they are borne by desire toward their heavenly spouse, as Scripture says: Those who eat me shall hunger still; and those who drink me shall thirst still." Finally he adds their great gains and rewards: "Such The cause is the excellence of wisdom, which is so full of flavor and sweetness, that it can never be fully tasted without desiring to be tasted further. Hear St. Gregory, homily 36 in the Gospel: "This is wont to differ, dearest brethren," he says, "between the delights of the body and of the heart, that bodily delights, when not possessed, kindle grave desire in themselves; but when eagerly eaten, they turn the eater forthwith into disgust through satiety. But on the contrary, spiritual delights, when not possessed, are in disgust; when possessed, are in desire; and the more they are hungered for by the eater, the more they are eaten by the hungerer. In the former, appetite pleases, experience displeases; in the latter, appetite is base, and experience pleases more. In the former, appetite generates satiety, satiety generates disgust; in the latter, appetite generates satiety, satiety generates appetite. For spiritual delights increase appetite in the mind while they satisfy, because the more their flavor is perceived, the more it is known that they are loved more eagerly. And therefore when not possessed, they cannot be loved, because their flavor is unknown. Wherefore the Psalmist admonishes us, saying Psalm XXXIII: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet, as if to say, You do not know his sweetness unless you taste it; but touch the food of life from the palate of your heart, so that by proving his sweetness you may be able to love it." Hunger therefore is the best disposition and preparation for acquiring wisdom. Wisdom herself taught this to St. Henry Suso, as he himself relates in his Dialogue, chapter XXIII: "Spiritual hunger," he says, "and present or actual (as they call it) devotion will move you to perceive me more than custom alone. A soul dwelling in the heavenly abode of abstract life or enclosure, desiring to feel me intimately and to enjoy me sweetly, must first be stripped and despoiled of vices, adorned with virtues, free from superfluous occupations, planted with the most fragrant crimson roses of charity, and furnished with the sweetly fragrant violets of humble abjection and the white lilies of inviolate purity and chastity. Let her make for me a bed or chamber in true peace of heart, since in peace my place has been made: let her embrace me with her arms, excluding all alien and foreign love; for I myself am accustomed to flee from it just as small birds are wont to avoid the kite. Let her sing to me the songs of Zion, that is, of most ardent love, with the most attentive and devout praise. Then indeed I myself in turn will embrace her, and, resting upon my breast, will make her experience tranquil rest, clear Tropologically, learn here a certain sign and effect of wisdom, virtue and progress: to hunger and thirst for it ever more; because wisdom and virtue sharpen their own desire, and the more so the more they grow. Faustus, Bishop of Riez, applies sharp spurs to this very thing from these words of Ecclesiastes, in his Instruction to Monks, at the end, which is found in the Appendix of the Library of the Holy Fathers, p. 1566: "Let us be," he says, "unfailing in the work of God on account of eternal reward, and let us tend daily toward better things. The very eagerness of acquiring, the very habit of making progress, always provokes us to greater things; and when God sees the devotion of the soul, he will instill a more ardent affection; and the more we burn with zeal, the more he will add to glory. To him that hath, it shall be given, and he shall abound. And in another place he says: I have set help upon the mighty. For grace is born of grace, and progress serves progress, gains serve gains, and merits make room for merits, so that the more one begins to acquire, the more one strives to acquire; and the more eagerly one has drawn from the goods of wisdom, the more one desires to draw; just as Wisdom herself speaks of herself: They that eat me shall yet hunger. Let us urge on our course, that our life may grow in the end. Let us seek even to the end, that we may deserve to rejoice without end. But even if we cannot exercise bodily labors, let us apply ourselves to the desire of spiritual goods, to the increase of compunction and charity. If daily we arrange ascents in our hearts, minds cannot be wearied by any infirmity, any age, so that we may deserve to ascend by certain spiritual steps to the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ." See more in our Alvarez de Paz, On the Nature of Perfection, book III, part II, chapters xiv and xv, fruit 6. Furthermore, St. Augustine, book XV On the Trinity, chapter II: "They that eat me," he says, "shall yet hunger; and they that drink me shall yet thirst. They eat and drink, because they find: and because they hunger and thirst, they still seek. Faith seeks, understanding finds; for which reason the Prophet Isaiah says in chapter VII: Unless you believe, you shall not understand. And again: Understanding, which it has found, still seeks. For God hath looked down upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand or seek God." Mystically, the Blessed Virgin, the more she is loved, desired and honored by the faithful, the greater hunger and thirst for her love, desire and honor does she excite in them, because the more she manifests her charity, power, Finally, piously and authentically, the same St. Bernard in his Jubilus attributes these words to Jesus Christ: Those who taste Thee hunger; those who drink still thirst; they know not how to desire anything except Jesus, whom they love. He explains this in detail when he adds: Jesus, glory of the angels, in the ear a sweet song, in the mouth a wonderful honey, in the heart a heavenly nectar. Hence, yearning for Him, he concludes: I desire Thee a thousand times, my Jesus, when wilt Thou come? When wilt Thou make me glad? When wilt Thou satisfy me with Thee?
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Tigurina, he that heareth me shall fall into no shame whatsoever; and they that labour, shall not sin; Syriac, he that heareth me shall not fall; and all his works shall not suffer corruption. Here Wisdom promises a twofold fruit to her students, namely that they shall escape a twofold evil, to wit confusion and sin. "He that," saith she, "heareth me," that is, who listeneth to me, who obeyeth me, shall never be covered with shame; because he shall do nothing of which he could be ashamed; but shall accomplish all things wisely, so that he may rejoice and glory in them: wherefore he shall escape the eternal confusion of the reprobate, nor shall he be defrauded of the hope of obtaining heavenly glory, but shall certainly attain it. "And they that work in me," that is, saith Jansenius, they who conduct their affairs through me, "shall not sin" in them: but shall accomplish all their business both prudently and happily. In the former member therefore he promiseth good fortune; in the latter, good action. Mystically, both of these the Blessed Virgin bestoweth upon her worshippers and those devoted to her, as is evident from the whole history of all ages: wherefore if any one wish to live free from sin and shame, if he wish to secure grace and salvation for himself, if any one desire to obtain the great gift of perseverance, let him earnestly beseech this of God through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. For he cannot perish and be damned who hath so great a patroness with God; unless one of his own accord precipitate himself into crimes and hell, as do certain foolish persons, who rush headlong into their lusts with impunity, presumptuously relying on the aid of the Blessed Virgin, whom they call themselves devoted to, because they fast on Saturday in her honour, recite the Rosary, or exhibit some like worship to her. Those indeed who Tropologically St. Bernard, in his sermon On the Seven Gifts: "Let us work," saith he, "in Wisdom which saith: They that work in me shall not sin; for the world is a field, saith Truth. Let us dig in it, a hidden treasure lieth hid, let us dig it up; for she herself is the wisdom that is drawn from hidden things. All of us seek her, all of us desire her; but he seeketh in vain who seeketh her in his bed, neither is she found in the land of those living sweetly. It is a bed, and there thou seekest a giant; it is thine, and there thou hopest to find him who always ignoreth lodgings. If ye seek, saith he, seek, be converted, and come. Thou seekest, whence? from thy bed. Thou seekest, whence thou mayest be converted? turn away, saith he, from thy pleasures."
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Zurich, my interpreters will attain eternal life, unless they obscure by depraved deeds the wisdom which they elucidate by words. Indeed it seems difficult and rare that a St. Scripture interpreter would be so rebellious in mind as to resist the truth which he continually interprets, especially since Wisdom is so benign that she almost constantly calls her elucidators to herself, says Palacius. This sentence is now lacking in the Greek and Syriac. Wisdom reviewed and promised rewards to the disciple who hears wisdom, in the preceding verse; now she assigns the reward to the teacher and interpreter, who namely seeks and celebrates not himself and his own glory, but the praise and glory of Wisdom and of God. The reward is eternal life and glory, because, as Daniel says in chapter XII: "Those who are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity." For, as St. Bernard says, sermon 39 in the Canticles: "The spirit of Wisdom is benign, and the benign and diligent teacher pleases her, who so desires to satisfy the studious that he does not refuse to accommodate the slower ones. Finally, those who elucidate me shall have eternal life, says Wisdom herself. By this reward indeed I would not wish to be defrauded."
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Jansenius judges these and the following to be words not of Wisdom, but of Sirach who here interjects, and explains and confirms the words of Wisdom, but nothing prevents us from receiving them as words of Wisdom, which she here continues to speak, and shows where and in which books she herself is transmitted, and therefore in the same Others however supply the word "are not," but "contains," in much the same sense. Whence the Syriac: all these things, it says, are written in the book of the testament of the Lord, the law which Moses commanded me, it is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. Whence that of the royal Psalmist, Psalm CXVIII: "My portion (hereditary), O Lord, I said, to keep thy law." After this verse the Greek, the Complutensian and Zurich editions add this: be not faint, that you may be strong in the Lord (Zurich, be not weakened when dealing strongly with the Lord), that he in turn may confirm you. Cleave to him, the Lord Almighty alone is God, and there is no other savior besides him. But the Greek corrected at Rome, the Syriac and all the Latin versions omit these.
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From Moses as a type, there is a transition to Christ as an antitype. For since he said that wisdom contained in the law of Moses and the Prophets is to be found therein, lest anyone should think that in these as in an end and terminus, and complete wisdom, one should rest, he subjoins that through Moses and the Prophets one must tend toward Christ, who is the end of the law and the Prophets; for Christ alone brought and taught to the world the full and perfect wisdom, which was only foreshadowed through Moses and the Prophets, according to that passage in John I, verse 17: "The law was given by Moses, grace and truth was made by Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God: the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The prior verse is now lacking in the Greek and Syriac; but that it formerly existed in the Greek is evident from our Interpreter, who read it in his exemplar, as Jansenius confesses at this place. For it is not probable, he says, that he added so many things from his own resources, to which nothing of the sort corresponded in his exemplar. "He appointed" therefore, namely God, who made David "king," and promised him a son more powerful than he, namely the Messiah or Christ. For the Hebrews often leave the subject understood from the circumstances or from what precedes, as if known and obvious to everyone. Thus here Wisdom, because it is most familiar and intimate to God, passes over and leaves understood its God, as if known to all; especially because in this chapter she named him more often, and a little before in verse 32, by the name of the Most High; just as St. Mary Magdalene says to the gardener: "Lord, if thou hast taken him away, tell me where thou hast laid him: and I will take him away;" whom? certainly Christ, with whom St. Mary Magdalene was so full, drunk with love of him, and she thought the gardener and others were thinking of the same one whom she herself was thinking of and burning for, John XX, 15. The sense is, as if to say, God most high, who gave the Old Testament and the law through Moses, "appointed," that is established and ordained, to raise up from the seed of David the Messiah "a most mighty king," and eternal legislator of the New Testament, and of the new law, and teacher of new wisdom; "who," namely Christ, "filleth," in Greek it is filling, that is will fill, that is will fully pour forth, will cause to abound "wisdom," just as "the Phison" and "the Tigris" abound with waters "in the days of the new," that is of new fruits coming forth and ripening, namely in the time of spring (in the time of summer also the Jordan is shown to have overflowed in Joshua III, 15 and the following verses here), and he will deliver it full and perfect to the Church and to Christians, through which he will make most excellent Doctors, Theologians, Confessors, Pontiffs, Martyrs, Virgins and the faithful distinguished and perfect in all wisdom, that is in virtue and holiness. Whence the Zurich version translates, He appointed himself to David a most mighty king, a creature coming forth from him, who sits on the throne of majesty in eternity. Who like the Phison fills all things with his wisdom, and like the Tigris in the times of new fruits; the Syriac, because it is full like the river Phison with wisdom, and like the Tigris in the days of its fruits. Thus Lyra. Hence it is clear that these words do not apply to Solomon, but to Christ; for although Solomon was the wisest of mortals, yet compared to Christ he was foolish. Whence also his kingdom was not eternal, but of short duration and perishable; but the kingdom of Christ is eternal, as is said here. Thus Rabanus and Lyra. Palacius notes that these things properly apply to Pentecost; for in it Christ sent the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, so that he might pour forth his wisdom and spirit abundantly into them like a river, indeed he made them as it were rivers of wisdom, which would inundate the whole world. Whence it appeared to them in the form of fiery tongues, Acts cap. II. He alludes to the etymology of Phison; for Phison in Hebrew is the same as multitude, abundance, exuberance, from the root pus, that is to luxuriate, to multiply, to abound. Thus Josephus, lib. I Antiquities cap. II, and Isidore, lib. XIII Etymologies cap. XXI. Note first: Wisdom hitherto has compared itself to the most beautiful trees, resins, aromatics and flowers: now it compares itself in the Word incarnate, namely Christ, who is the Wisdom of the Father, both begotten and incarnate, to the most excellent and sacred rivers, namely the four rivers of Paradise, by which it was mystically represented: for just as those abound in water, so Christ abounds in grace; and just as those irrigate and make fertile Paradise, so Christ irrigates and makes fertile the Church. Again, just as those tend toward the four parts of the world, so the wisdom of Christ has pervaded and watered the four regions of the world. Third, the four rivers, says Ambrose, in the book On Paradise, and St. Augustine, book XIII On the City of God, chapter XXI, and Rabanus and Lyra represent the four Gospels, by which the wisdom of Christ is written, which have occupied the four regions of the world. Therefore uncreated and begotten Wisdom here descends to incarnate Wisdom, namely to Christ, who was not only the redeemer of men, but also the teacher of wisdom; and from it verse 40 descends to created wisdom and communicated to creatures. Note second: To fill wisdom is to contain full wisdom; likewise to give full, to teach and to pour out like the Phison, which is so full of waters that by its fullness it overflows and pours them out into the neighboring fields. It is a Hebraism; for כול is mixed with hiphil, that is, a neutral signification with an active one: for to fill is to contain full, and to pour out full. Third, the Tigris is filled with waters "in the days of the new," that is, while new crops grow, that is in March and spring: because then the snows constrained by winter melt, and flow into the Tigris. For the same reason many other rivers grow and swell in March: and this is done by the wisdom and wise counsel of God, so that crops growing and ripening may draw greater nourishment from the growing and overflowing river. Hear Pliny, book X, chapter XVIII: "The grain is more excellent in the Thebaid region, because Egypt is marshy: a similar reason, but greater prosperity to Babylon and Seleucia, the Euphrates and Tigris backing up (overflowing), because there the mode of irrigation is controlled by hand." Fourth, what the Tigris and Euphrates are is clear; concerning the Phison and Gehon there is doubt. St. Jerome, Josephus, Epiphanius, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, Isidore, Rabanus, the Gloss and many others everywhere hold that the Phison is the Ganges "which circles the land of Havilah," as it is said in Genesis II, 11, that is India, which is within the Ganges, "where the best gold is born"; indeed the Ganges itself, according to Pliny, is gold-bearing and gem-bearing; and that the Ganges overflows equally as the Nile teaches Pliny in the place already cited. The Ganges is also rightly called Phison, that is multitude, because into the Ganges ten great rivers pour out their waters.
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As if to say: Christ fills up, that is produces and brings forth full and perfect understanding, in Greek σύνεσιν, that is intelligence, just as the Euphrates produces and pours out full waters. Whence the Zurich Bible, in the manner of the Euphrates Christ makes fertile the mind. The same "multiplies," that is by much teaching pours out understanding and wisdom, just as "the Jordan in the time of harvest" overflows with waters. He adds the Jordan to the four sacred rivers of Paradise, because it too is sacred from the holy land which it flows through, and from the miraculous crossing of the Hebrews through it with dry feet, under the leadership of Joshua, Joshua, chapter III. Likewise from the dwelling of Elijah, Elisha and the Prophets, and St. John the Baptist, who baptized the Jews in the Jordan, and thus Christ himself. Moreover the Jordan, for the same reason as the Tigris, overflows at the time of harvest, namely because Symbolically, the Jordan is a type of Baptism, by which we are illuminated, and are gifted with faith and the wisdom of Christ. Thus Rabanus.
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Tigurina, brings forth discipline into the light, overflows like Gehon at the time of vintage; the Syriac, pours forth doctrine like a river, and like Gehon in the days of vintage. He mixes with rivers the sun and light, because what the sun is in heaven, this is the river on earth, namely the eye of the earth: for just as the sun scatters light which illuminates, warms and makes fertile the earth; so also the river scatters streams of waters which irrigate, drench and make fertile the earth. Whence the Hebrews signify these two things by one and the same word: nahar indeed signifies both to illuminate and to flow together; hence ner is a lamp, nahar is a river into which waters flow together: nahar again alludes to ner, that is a lamp, and to or, that is light, because a river is as it were a lamp and light of the earth. Furthermore, most aptly is the wisdom of Christ compared to light and sun: because He Himself is the sun of wisdom, grace and justice, who sends forth His rays upon all men. See the words of James I, verse 17, and Malachi IV, 2. AND STANDING AS GEHON. — The word standing is no longer in the Greek and Syriac; Jansenius takes it actively, as if to say Wisdom stands the light, that is exhibits it present: but truly in Latin no one is said to stand light, for to exhibit it present. "Standing" therefore properly signifies, that Christ stands by us with an abundance of His wisdom and grace, ready to pour it forth into us, if we exhibit a vessel capable, namely a heart empty of other things to Him; just as Gehon swelling, with an abundance of waters stands by the fields, so as to pour it forth into them, unless some wall or other obstacle blocks it. Mystically, Wisdom incarnate, namely Christ, the Son of God, dwelt nine months in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, as it were in an animated heaven, and in a pillar of cloud. Wherefore many of the Fathers call the Blessed Virgin a cloud, because she herself tempers the heat of the Sun, that is of divine vengeance, and waters and makes fertile the soul. Thus Chrysippus in homily 2 On the Mother of God: "Hail," he says, "cloud bringing drink of rain to the souls of the Saints." And Hesychius, homily 2 On the Mother of God, "he calls her a cloud, containing uncorrupted rains." St. Epiphanius, sermon On the Praise of the Virgin: "Hail," he says, "full of grace, cloud like a pillar, who hast God, who led the people through the desert." And again: "O Blessed Virgin, thou art a cloud," he says, "bright, which didst bring forth from heaven the most bright lightning, Christ, to illuminate the world; a heavenly cloud, which didst bring forth into the world the thunder of the Holy Spirit hidden in thyself, and didst send forth the rain of the Holy Spirit upon all the earth, with force, to produce the fruit of faith." Proclus Bishop of Constantinople On the Mother of God: "This," he says, "is truly a light cloud, which bore upon her body Him sitting above the Cherubim." St. Jerome in Psalm LXXVII, 14: "Certainly," he says, "we ought to understand the holy Mary as a light cloud. He spoke well: In the cloud of the day; for that cloud was not in darkness; but always in light." Andrew of Crete oration 2 On the Mother of God: "O pillar," he says, "not leading carnal Israel through light, who flees; but spiritual, who is led to the unerring light of knowledge, illuminating with divine torches. O cloud all bright, and shadowy mountain, not overshadowing the ungrateful people of the Jews, but the beloved people of God, a holy nation, illuminated by thy maternal torches." St. Bonaventure, in the Mirror of the Blessed Virgin cap. III, says: "Mary is to us a pillar of cloud, according to that Tropologically, the Paradise of delights is a wise and holy soul, which is watered by four rivers: the Ganges, that is prudence; the Nile, that is temperance; the Tigris, that is fortitude: the Euphrates, that is
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Perfects to know, that is, knows perfectly: it is a Grecism. The sense is: Christ alone knows wisdom perfectly; and whoever is lesser and weaker than Christ will never fully investigate it. Whence the Greeks, reading for ὅς, that is, who, now read οὐ, that is, not, thus have it: neither did the first know it perfectly, nor likewise will the last investigate it, as if to say: Neither the first of men who studied wisdom, nor the last who studied or will study it, fully penetrated or will penetrate the same. Whence the Zurich Bible: the first did not know it exactly, nor likewise will the last investigate it; clearly the Syriac: the ancients did not complete wisdom, nor will the posterity comprehend it. This is what Baruch says in chapter III, verse 31: "There is none that can know his ways (of wisdom), nor who can search out his paths; but he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, etc. After this she was seen upon earth, and conversed with men," made man, that he might teach men wisdom. Hear Rabanus. "Truly indeed our Lord Jesus is the author of spiritual knowledge and wholesome doctrine: because he himself first through Moses established the law, he himself inspired the Prophets, he himself taught the Apostles, he himself ordained the Evangelists and preachers of the New Testament: nor is there any other who is the full and perfect investigator and knower of the wisdom of God, except he who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God, of whom it is written: No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and to whomever the Son wills to reveal. But in that it is said: From the sea his thought abounded, and his counsel from the great abyss, it shows the profundity of divine wisdom to be inestimable and incomprehensible: because no one can penetrate his secrets through all things, except God alone himself, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who knows himself through all things, and is the true knower of his counsel. He gives to his creature to know of himself only as much as he knows to be expedient for him; and to the faithful of his doctrine according to the manner of his dispensation he grants understanding."
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He gives the reason why no one, except Christ, can fully know wisdom: namely because "from the sea," that is, more than the sea, abounds and is deep the "thought" of wisdom, and "his counsel" more than the "abyss," that is the chasm and abundance of waters, which lacks a bottom, that is, seems to lack it to men, is deep and unsearchable, according to that in Romans XI: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!" It is a Hebraism: for the Hebrew מן min, that is, from, out of, of, often signifies more than, exceeds. The Latin interpreter imitates this at times, whence he takes a or e for more than. Examples are Ezekiel chapter XVI, verse 3; Kings chapter XIV, verse 21, and elsewhere. Wherefore the Zurich Bible translates: for his understanding is more abundant than the sea, and his counsel deeper than the immense deep; the Syriac: because more than the great sea is multiplied wisdom, and thought more than the great abyss; others: above the sea much is his thought, and his counsel above a vast abyss. Otherwise Palacius: From the sea of divinity, he says, the Evangelical wisdom has its origin, and therefore his counsel is in (for thus he himself reads for from) the same abyss of divinity. Who therefore except God will know it?
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The Zurich Bible: I wisdom pour out all things over rivers. Lest anyone wonder and say: Why have you, O Wisdom, compared yourself with the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Jordan, etc., what have you to do, you who are spiritual light, with rivers in common or in reality? She answers that she has great kinship with them; for she is the mother of rivers, she has poured forth rivers as it were from her own womb. Add that there is great analogy between a river and water with wisdom: for both refresh, water, make fruitful, quench thirst; finally, as is the flow of a river from a spring, so is the flow of light from the sun, namely wisdom from God: indeed this is far swifter, more sublime, more divine than that. See the Hydragiology of M. Antonius Marsili of the Column, Archbishop of Salerno, in which he shows the excellence of water and rivers, and therefore the frequent use of water in the Sacraments and sacred things. Whence Thales and the philosophers, "water the first principle in creating things," said, says Ausonius in the Game of the Wise. She says therefore: I Wisdom have compared myself in Christ (who is the eternal Wisdom of the Father) to rivers: because I as a fountain poured forth rivers both corporeal and properly so called (for God through me as an idea and wisdom created all things in an orderly and wise manner, and therefore both rivers and heaven and earth, according to that in Proverbs chapter VIII, verse 27: "When he prepared the heavens, I was present, when with a certain law and circle he enclosed the abysses, etc. I was with him composing all things"); then rather spiritual and metaphorical: for I poured forth rivers, that is, an abundance of wisdom and graces into the faithful and the Church in every age of the world. Whence of these she subjoins: "I will water my garden,"
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He gives the reason for what he said: "I have poured out rivers," namely because I myself am the primordial river, and the channel of immense water from the river; through me therefore all other things, both rivers and whatever else has been created by God the creator, have flowed forth. Secondly, this opinion can be understood of the uncreated notional Wisdom, which is proper to the Son: for the Son proceeds from the Father as a word from the mouth, as he said in verse 6, as light from light, as a river from a fountain, which receives and contains all the water of the fountain in itself, and therefore is equal to it. For thus the Son receives from the Father his entire essence and wisdom, and is in all things equal and like to him. Thus Rabanus: "He himself," he says, "is the channel of immense water from the river: because just as God from God, light from light, so he himself immense water from the Father the fountain, or river, can be said tropically; since the Father is the origin of divinity, when just as the Son is begotten from the Father, so also the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father; whom in the Gospel the Lord called by the name of water, saying: Whosoever shall drink of the water that I will give him, it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto life everlasting, John IV. Again: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, John VII. And again: The water of wholesome wisdom shall he drink, Eccles. XV. Hear also St. Bernard, sermon on the Nativity of the Blessed Mary, which he entitles On the Aqueduct, explaining how the Blessed Virgin became to us a channel and aqueduct of graces: "Look more deeply at how much devotion he wished Mary to be honored by us, he who placed the fullness of all good in Mary: so that if there is any hope in us, if there is any grace, if there is any salvation, we should know it to flow from her, who ascends abounding in delights. Truly a garden of delights, which not only has been blown upon by the coming, but also has been blown through by that south wind the Lord coming upon it, so that from every side his perfumes flow forth and overflow, namely the charisms of graces. Take away this solar body, which illuminates the world, where is the day? Take away Mary this star of the sea, of the sea truly great and spacious, what but darkness enveloping, and shadow of death, and the densest darkness remain? Therefore with all the marrow of our hearts, with all the affections of our breasts, and with all our vows let us venerate this Mary: because such is the will of him, who wished to have all of us through Mary." And a little earlier: "Full indeed," he says, "is the aqueduct, so that others may receive from the fullness, but not the fullness itself. For you know to whom it was said: Hail, full of grace." And below: "She ascends truly above all human
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That is to say, I Wisdom through my tabernacle and temple, which I built on Mount Sion through David and Solomon, and firmly placed there, when previously through a movable tabernacle I was moved about and wandered through various cities of Judea, being firmly established and fixed in Sion. Whence in the city through the temple and my holy worship, namely in Sion and Jerusalem, I firmly rested: for God was said to dwell and rest in the ark and the mercy seat of the temple, especially because from it he spoke and gave oracles. Whence I placed not only ecclesiastical dignity, but also secular and royal power in the same place: for David fixed the royal throne in Sion and Jerusalem, and all his descendants followed him. Whence the Greek, corrected at Rome, have, I was established in Sion, in the beloved city (they read ἡγαπημένη, that is beloved, while the Complutensian and Our edition read ἡγιασμένη that is sanctified) similarly he made me rest, and in Jerusalem is my power; the Zurich edition, and I was confirmed in Sion; then also in the dear city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem I obtained power; the Syriac, and again I stood in Sion, in the city which is beloved to him, as I rested, and in Jerusalem my empire was, namely the royal seat and throne of kings. Mystically, you may apply this to the Blessed Virgin; whence Rupertus the Abbot, book IV on the Canticles: "A garden enclosed," he says, "my sister, my spouse, Mother of God. Behold a new Paradise, new plantations, which the one and same planter of the ancient Paradise, the Lord God, has planted. That is the ancient Paradise, the earthly Paradise: this is the new Paradise, the heavenly Paradise: the planter of both is one and the same Lord God: in that one he placed the man whom he had formed, in this one he formed the man who was with him in the beginning. From that soil he brought forth every tree fair to behold and good to eat, also the tree of life in the midst of Paradise: this soil, this land of his he blessed, and from it brought forth all the seeds of graces, and all the exemplars of virtues, also the very tree of life Christ God and man, Lord of the heavenly Paradise. From that place of pleasure a river went forth to water the Paradise, which is divided thence into four heads: from this Paradise that river, or this stream went forth, of which the Psalmist says: The impetus of the river maketh the city of God joyful, which is divided thence into four Gospels." Deservedly therefore the Blessed Virgin, by St. Jerome, Peter Damian and others, indeed by the Church, is called and invoked "Paradise of pleasure, which God has enriched with all the riches of grace, and a garden"
24:43
For channel in Greek is διώρυξ, that is to say, That ditch, or aqueduct, of which I spoke in verse 39, which when it was at first narrow and small, gradually grew in such a way that it became a ditch a flowing river, indeed it seemed to be a sea. This happened especially when the wisdom of God, that is the law, faith and religion, which at first was confined to Judaea alone, in the time of Christ through the preaching of the Apostles poured itself forth into all nations, and made them Christian. Whence the Zurich version, behold my aqueduct became a river, and my river grew into a sea; the Syriac, and behold also there was to me a torrent, and my river reaches even to the sea; the Arabic, and I had a ford, and it reached to the sea; I cause my river to inundate into the sea in the morning, and I shall make it also for many generations; others, and behold that ditch became a river, and my river burst forth into a sea. O ineffable thing! exclaims Palacius, the doctrine of the Gospel flowed, and in it in a certain way the Spirit and Christ: all the forces of demons, emperors, soldiers and the whole world extended themselves against this flow; but, all these being unwilling, just as the sea encompasses and surrounds the whole earth: so Christian life and Christ himself surrounded the whole world; indeed "their sound went forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world," Psalm XVIII. Mystically, the grace which the Blessed Virgin received in the first instant of her conception, through 72 years, during which she increased it continually through continuous acts equal to grace, and constantly doubled it, grew as it were immensely, so that truly Mary could be called and was a sea of graces: whence by Damascus, oration 2 On the Assumption, she is called an abyss of grace. And St. Epiphanius, oration On the Praise of the Virgin: "The grace," he says, "of the Blessed Virgin is immense." And below he calls her, "a spiritual sea, to which in preaching, neither the tongue of men nor of angels suffices." St. Ildefonsus, sermon On the Assumption: "Just as," he says, "what she accomplished is incomparable, and what she received is ineffable; so the incomprehensible reward of glory which she merited is incomprehensible." St. Anselm, On the Excellence of the Virgin cap. VIII: "What more," he says, "can I say, Lady? For when I begin to consider the immensity of your grace and glory, and happiness, both sense fails and tongue grows weary." And to pass over all others, Andrew of Crete, sermon On the Dormition of the Mother of God, thus addresses her: "O holy, and holier than the holy, and most holy treasure of all holiness." In the same way the holiness of the Apostles, Martyrs, Virgins, Confessors and all the Saints grew and grows daily, which the Blessed Virgin, as devoted to herself and her clients, breathes into them.
24:44
For dawn in Greek is ὄρθρον, that is to say, daybreak, as if to say, Just as the light of daybreak, or dawn, after the darkness of night is at first small, but gradually grows until noon and the brightest light; so also I wisdom gradually "illuminate" all, that is, I bring forth my light, and spread myself more and more, until I also pour myself forth even into the distant, that is the most remote nations, and illuminate them; as we see this happen in this age, and daily in China, Japan and all the East and West Indies. Whence the Greek texts have, for I illustrate discipline as daybreak, and show it even to the distant; the Zurich version, because I illuminate discipline as daybreak, and illustrate it for a long time; the Syriac, again I speak my doctrine in the morning, and I shall leave it for many generations, or I shall water many generations with it. Palacius notes that the evangelical doctrine is called dawn, not noon, both because it is obscure; for it is believed by faith, not seen with the eyes; and because darkness of persecutions and tribulations is mixed with it; and because it grows gradually like the dawn.
24:45
Tigurina, I penetrate all the lower parts of the earth, I see all those sleeping, and I illuminate all those placing their hope in the Lord. This verse is now lacking in the Greek and Syriac. These are the words of Wisdom, that is to say: So greatly have my channel and aqueduct grown into a river, indeed into a sea; so greatly has the light of my dawn grown toward midday, that I not only illuminate all nations dwelling on the surface of the earth, but also penetrate the lower parts of the earth; and there I inspect and visit all those sleeping, that is the dead; and indeed the damned I inspect with a terrible countenance, and I strike them with fear, and I confirm their damnation; but the pious hoping in the Lord I illuminate, that is, with my light of knowledge, namely the revelation of Christ born, suffering and rising, and from this I suffuse them with the consolation of redemption and salvation made through him. Therefore I shall console and make blessed all the Fathers dwelling in limbo, hoping in the Lord, and most eagerly awaiting Christ the redeemer. And so indeed God frequently illuminated the fathers in limbo through angels; but this saying was fulfilled most perfectly when Christ, who is the Wisdom of the Father incarnate, dying on the cross, descended to limbo, and granted the fathers knowledge of himself, indeed the sight both of his humanity and of his divinity; and thus he consoled them, indeed made them blessed, and on the third day leading them forth into the earth, and on the fortieth day, ascending into heaven, he led them in triumph. Thus St. Isidore interprets this passage concerning the descent of Christ to the infernal regions, in the book On the Resurrection of the Lord, chapter. Again, from the fact that he says: "I shall illuminate all those hoping in the Lord," many reasonably hold that Christ gave to all souls existing in Purgatory by his descent to them the first and complete jubilee, and freed all from punishments, and led them with him to heaven in triumph. Thus St. Bonaventure in dist. 22, Question V; Thomas Argentinus, same dist., Question unique, art. 4; Gabriel, same dist., Question unique, art. 3, doubt 3; Soto in IV, dist. 45, Question 1, art. 3, at the end. This is certain, that Christ then fully illuminated the souls of the fathers with the light of glory, and offered to them the sight of his divinity, and thus made them blessed, and granted them eternal felicity. Tropologically, Rabanus: Wisdom, namely Christ, "inspects the lower parts of the earth," he says, "because he searches the hearts and thoughts of the carnal; he inspects all those sleeping, who slumber either in the sleep of ignorance or in the torpor of negligence; and he illuminates those hoping in God with right faith and knowledge; because he who hopes in God is blessed. For the good pleasure of the Lord is upon those fearing him, and upon those who hope in his mercy," Psalm CXLVI.
24:46
This verse can be taken as spoken both by Wisdom and by Sirach. By Wisdom, because she continues to speak here and explains that verse 44: "I will declare her into a far distance;" to which the Greek texts immediately subjoin this verse. The Complutensian editors favor this, who for eti, that is still, read oti, that is because, as if to say: I will declare wisdom into a far distance, because I will pour forth doctrine even unto the holy age. And the Syriac, which had translated it for verse 44, again: I speak my doctrine in the morning, and I will leave it in many generations; which is clearly the words of Wisdom, as if explaining it, adds this verse again: I speak my doctrine in prophecy, and its end reaches into a far distance. Since therefore the prior verse is Wisdom's, the posterior also seems to be hers, as corresponding to it and explaining it. Whence Rabanus thus explains: "Holy Scripture, he says, does not cease from age to age to teach the human race, so that it may understand from the precepts of God what it ought to avoid and what to do; so that there is no one who can rightly excuse himself, as if not knowing what is commanded in the divine law, since wisdom plainly demonstrates to all the way of truth and the norm of justice." And Palacius: "It seems to me, he says, that I hear Christ saying: I am with you even to the consummation of the world. Therefore the preaching of the Gospel shall never cease outwardly, and the preaching of Christ inwardly, even unto the holy age, that is eternity. Note that evangelical doctrine is of equal authority with prophecy; therefore he says doctrine as if prophetic; for both the holy men of God spoke, inspired by the Holy Spirit," II Peter 1, 21. Note that the holy age is called the future age: for the present age is not holy, because "the whole world is placed in evil," I John V. But blessed eternity, into which nothing defiled enters, is the holy age. Let teachers and writers therefore remember that they teach and write not for a time, but for eternity; and let them console themselves in their labors, that their writings bring to their disciples and readers, who will read them even to the end of the world, the holy age, namely blessed eternity: for to this they form and direct themselves and their readers. Whence he subjoins and concludes:
24:47
as if to say: See from these things which I have hitherto spoken and written at such length, and shall hereafter speak and write, that I have not labored and devoted myself to myself alone, but have also worked and taken thought for others, so that by my example other wise men might do the same, nor should they think it enough if they themselves are wise, but should also communicate their wisdom to others by teaching and writing. Whence Rabanus: "The ecclesiastical doctor," he says, "labors in writing and teaching the words of God not only for himself, but also for others; because he labors for himself for eternal reward and rest; but for others for true salvation and perpetual repose; whence in Daniel, chapter XII, it is written: They that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity. Hence also James says: He who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. Concerning which Paul also writing to Timothy says: Attend unto thyself, and unto doctrine; be earnest in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. Hence Truth itself in the Gospel says: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And again: You are the light of the world; so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Moreover Palacius, taking these as words spoken by wisdom, namely Christ, thus explains: "Scarcely could any grander epiphonema have been uttered by wisdom: O mortals, I came into the world; O how I labored in it! I labored indeed for the glory of the Father, and for your benefit, if you seek the truth; do not therefore allow it to happen that I be frustrated in my purpose, and you be deprived of so great a benefit to you."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
24:1
… personification of wisdom is much more accentuated, described as the idea that guided God in His work; while insisting on wisdom as a divine attribute, the hagiographer presents it as something distinct, invested with its own personality (ibid. 8:27-31). In Ecclus. 24:1-47 the same concepts are given in a somewhat different form: wisdom is something eternal and intrinsically divine; and its personification is accentuated even more (cf. ibid. 24:3-4). …
24:3
… distinct, invested with its own personality (ibid. 8:27-31). In Ecclus. 24:1-47 the same concepts are given in a somewhat different form: wisdom is something eternal and intrinsically divine; and its personification is accentuated even more (cf. ibid. 24:3-4). This concept takes a new step in Wis. 7:22-8:1, where wisdom is described as "intelligent (νεξός), holy, unique, manifold, immaterial, noble, perspicacious, immaculate, diaphanous, …
24:17
… (Zech. 11:1; Ezek. 31:2; 17:3, 22; Amos 2:9). With reference to the cedar of Lebanon the prevalence of the just is wished for (Ps. 91:13) or the pride of the wicked is condemned (Ps. 28:5; 36:35). The bridegroom in Cant. 5:15 and even divine wisdom (Ecclus. 24:17) are described with the image of the cedar.
24:21
Gelbanus (Heb. Bēbēdhēn, Gr. Chalbánē)
… odor, as a mordant, a quality recognized in it by Pliny (op. cit., XIII, 2). G. was very widespread as a medicine (cf. Celsus, De medicina, III, 20-21; IV, 8), or as a means of keeping animals away (Pliny, op. cit., XII, 56; Columella, VIII, 5, 18). In Eccli. 24, 21 (Greek 15) g. is presented as a figure of divine wisdom.
24:35
… Old Persian the Aramaic name phonetically became Tigrā, whence the Greco-Latin Tīyquc) is remembered as one of the four rivers of Paradise (Gen. 2:14) and as a river of Mesopotamia it is mentioned in the later histories (Dan. 10:4; Tob. 6:1; Jdt. 1:6; Sir. 24:35 [25]).
24:38
In the sense of first-last (cf. Sir. 24:38), later Jews used alef-tau, the first and last letter of the (Hebrew) alphabet, to indicate totality. …
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.