Documents of wisdom on several subjects.
Concord betwen bretheren, neighboures, and man and wife, much pleaseth God. 3. A poore man proud, a richman a lier, and an old man doting in carnal, or worldlie thinges, are very hateful. 9. He that seeth his children good; and his enemies ouerthrowne; hath a good wife; offendeth not in speach; consenteth not to sinne; hath a true freind; teacheth good doctrine; hath sacred; and humane knowlege: hath vndoubtedly nine happie thinges: but to feare God conteyneth 14. and excelleth al. 17. A wicked woman (heresie) is very detestable, 30. and most vntolerable, if she haue supreme dominion.
1With three things my spirit is pleased, which are approved before God and men:Tre cose son secondo il mio cuore, le quali sono approvate da Dio, e dagli uomini.IN three thinges my spirit is pleased, which are approued before God, and men:In tribus placitum est spiritui meo, / quæ sunt probata coram Deo et hominibus: 2The concord of brethren, and the love of neighbours, and man and wife that agree well together.La concordia de' fratelli, e l'amore de' prossimi, e un marito, e una moglie ben uniti tra loro.The concord of bretheren, and the loue of neighboures, and man and wife wel agreeing together.concordia fratrum, / et amor proximorum, / et vir et mulier bene sibi consentientes. 3Three sorts my soul hateth, and I am greatly grieved at their life:Tre specie di persone sono in odio all'anima mia, e mi stomacano i loro costumi.Three sortes my soule hateth, and I am greatly greeued at their life;Tres species odivit anima mea, / et aggravor valde animæ illorum: 4A poor man that is proud: a rich man that is a liar: an old man that is a fool, and doting.Il povero superbo, il ricco mendace, e il vecchio stolto, e senza prudenza.A poore man proud: & a rich man a lyer: an old man a foole, and doting.pauperem superbum, divitem mendacem, / senem fatuum et insensatum. 5The things that thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt thou find them in thy old age?Quello, che tu non raunasti nella tua gioventù, come tel troverai nella tua vecchiezza?The thinges that thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt thou find them in thy old age?Quæ in juventute tua non congregasti, / quomodo in senectute tua invenies ? 6O how comely is judgment for a grey head, and for ancients to know counsel!Quanto bell'ornamento per la canizie è il saper giudicare, e pe' vecchi il saper dare consigli!How beautiful is iudgement for a grey head, and for ancientes to know counsel!Quam speciosum canitiei judicium, / et presbyteris cognoscere consilium ! 7O how comely is wisdom for the aged, and understanding and counsel to men of honour!Quanto bene sta la sapienza all'età avanzata, ed a que', che sono in dignità, l'intelligenza, e il consiglio!How beautiful is wisdom for the aged, & vnderstanding glorious, and counsel!Quam speciosa veteranis sapientia, / et gloriosus intellectus et consilium ! 8Much experience is the crown of old men, and the fear of God is their glory.Corona de' vecchi è la molta sperienza, e la loro gloria il timore di Dio.Much cunning is the croune of old men, and the feare of God is their glorie.Corona senum multa peritia, / et gloria illorum timor Dei.
9Nine things that are not to be imagined by the heart have I magnified, and the tenth I will utter to men with my tongue.Nove cose ho io stimato assai, e di esse nissuno avrà cattivo concetto in cuor suo, e la decima la annunzierò agli uomini colla mia lingua.Nine thinges not to be imagined of the hart haue I magnified, and the tenth I wil tel vnto men with my tongue:Novem insuspicabilia cordis magnificavi: / et decimum dicam in lingua hominibus: 10A man that hath joy of his children: and he that liveth and seeth the fall of his enemies.Un uomo, il quale ha consolazione da' figliuoli, e uno che vive, e vede la ruina de' suoi nemici.A man that hath ioy in his children; liuing and seeing the subuersion of his enemies.homo qui jucundatur in filiis, / vivens et videns subversionem inimicorum suorum. 11Blessed is he that dwelleth with a wise woman, and that hath not slipped with his tongue, and that hath not served such as are unworthy of him.Beato colui, che convive con una donna assennata, e quegli, che non ha peccato colla sua lingua, e quegli, che non è stato servo di persone indegne di lui.Blessed is he that dwelleth with a wise woman; & that hath not offended with his tongue; and that hath not serued such as are vnworthie of him.Beatus qui habitat cum muliere sensata, / et qui lingua sua non est lapsus, / et qui non servivit indignis se. 12Blessed is he that findeth a true friend, and that declareth justice to an ear that heareth.Beato chi trova un vero amico, e chi espone la giustizia a un orecchio, che ascolta.Blessed is he that findeth a true freind; and that declareth iustice to an eare that heareth:Beatus qui invenit amicum verum, / et qui enarrat justitiam auri audienti. 13How great is he that findeth wisdom and knowledge! but there is none above him that feareth the Lord.Quanto è beato chi trova la sapienza, e la scienza! ma nissuno supera colui, che teme Dio:How great is he, that findeth wisdom; and knowlege; but he is not aboue him that feareth our Lord.Quam magnus qui invenit sapientiam et scientiam ! / sed non est super timentem Dominum. 14The fear of God hath set itself above all things:Il timore di Dio si alza sopra tutte le cose.The feare of God hath set it self aboue al thinges:Timor Dei super omnia se superposuit. 15Blessed is the man, to whom it is given to have the fear of God: he that holdeth it, to whom shall he be likened?Beato l'uomo, a cui è stata dato il dono del timore di Dio: chi n'ha il possesso a qual cosa mai lo paragoneremo!blessed is the man, to whom is geuen to haue the feare of God: he that holdeth it, to whom shal he be resembled?Beatus homo cui donatum est habere timorem Dei: / qui tenet illum, cui assimilabitur ?
16The fear of God is the beginning of his love: and the beginning of faith is to be fast joined unto it.Il timore di Dio è il principio dell'amore di lui, ma a lui dee congiungersi il principio della fede.The feare of God is the beginning of his loue: and the beginning of faith is to be fast ioyned vnto it.Timor Dei initium dilectionis ejus: / fidei autem initium agglutinandum est ei. 17The sadness of the heart is every plague: and the wickedness of a woman is all evil.La tristezza del cuore è piaga somma; e la malvagità della donna è la somma malizia.The heauines of the hart is al plague: & al malice, the wickednes of a woman.Omnis plaga tristitia cordis est, / et omnis malitia nequitia mulieris. 18And a man will choose any plague, but the plague of the heart:L'uomo tollererà qualunque piaga, ma non la piaga del cuore.And he wil see al plague, and not the plague of the hart:Et omnem plagam, et non plagam videbit cordis: 19And any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman:E qualunque malvagità, ma non la malvagità della donna:& al wickednes, & not the wickednes of a woman:et omnem nequitiam, et non nequitiam mulieris: 20And any affliction, but the affliction from them that hate him:E qualunque afflizione, ma non quella, che viene da quelli, che odiano:and al obduction, and not the obduction of them that hate him:et omnem obductum, et non obductum odientium: 21And any revenge, but the revenge of enemies.E qualunque pena, ma non quella, che danno i nemici.and al reuenge, and not the reuenge of the enemies.et omnem vindictam, et non vindictam inimicorum. 22There is no head worse than the head of a serpent:Non v'ha testa peggiore della testa del serpente:There is no head worse then the head of a serpent:Non est caput nequius super caput colubri, 23And there is no anger above the anger of a woman. It will be more agreeable to abide with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman.E non è sdegno peggiore di quel della donna. Vorrei piuttosto coabitare con un lione, e con un dragone, che con una donna malvagia.and there is no anger aboue the anger of woman. It shal be more pleasant to abide with a lyon and dragon, then to dwel with a wicked woman.et non est ira super iram mulieris. / Commorari leoni et draconi placebit, / quam habitare cum muliere nequam. 24The wickedness of a woman changeth her face: and she darkeneth her countenance as a bear: and sheweth it like sackcloth. In the midst of her neighbours,La malignità della donna cangia il suo volto, e rende fosco il suo visaggio come di un orso, ed ella diventa del colore di un sacco da duolo.The wickednes of a woman changeth her face: and darkeneth her countenace as a beare: and wil shew it as a sacke. In the middes of her neighbours,Nequitia mulieris immutat faciem ejus: / et obcæcat vultum suum tamquam ursus, / et quasi saccum ostendit. / In medio proximorum ejus 25Her husband groaned, and hearing he sighed a little.Il marito di lei in mezzo a' suoi vicini geme, e ascolta, e sospira pian piano.her husband groned, and hearing he sighed a litle.ingemuit vir ejus, / et audiens suspiravit modicum.
26All malice is short to the malice of a woman, let the lot of sinners fall upon her.Leggera è qualunque malizia in paragone della malizia della donna, tocchi ella in sorte a un peccatore.Al malice is short to the malice of a woman, the lot of sinners fal vpon her. As the goeing vp a grauelieBrevis omnis malitia super malitiam mulieris: / sors peccatorum cadat super illam. 27As the climbing of a sandy way is to the feet of the aged, so is a wife full of tongue to a quiet man.Quello, che è ai piedi di un vecchio il salire un monte di sabbia, lo è all'uomo tranquillo una donna linguacciuta.way in the feete of the aged, so a woman ful of tongue to a quiet man.Sicut ascensus arenosus in pedibus veterani, / sic mulier linguata homini quieto. 28Look not upon a woman’s beauty, and desire not a woman for beauty.Non badare alla beltà della donna, e non desiderare la donna per la sua bellezza.Looke not vpon a womans beautie, and desire not a woman for beautie.Ne respicias in mulieris speciem, / et non concupiscas mulierem in specie. 29A woman’s anger, and impudence, and confusion is great.Grande è l'ira della donna, e l'inverecondia, e la ignominia.A womans anger, and impudencie, and confusion is great.Mulieris ira, et irreverentia, / et confusio magna. 30A woman, if she have superiority, is contrary to her husband.Se la donna ha il comando, è ribelle al marito.A woman if she haue superioritie, is contrarie to her husband.Mulier si primatum habeat, / contraria est viro suo. 31A wicked woman abateth the courage, and maketh a heavy countenance, and a wounded heart.La mala donna affligge il cuore, attrista il volto, e impiaga il cuor del marito.An humbled hart, and heauie countenance, and plague of hart, is a wicked woman.Cor humile, et facies tristis, / et plaga cordis, mulier nequam. 32Feeble hands, and disjointed knees, a woman that doth not make her husband happy.La donna, che non fa il marito felice, gli snerva le braccia, e gli indebolisce le ginocchia.Feeble handes, and disiointed knees, a woman that doth not make her husband happie.Manus debiles et genua dissoluta, / mulier quæ non beatificat virum suum. 33From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die.Dalla donna ebbe principio il peccato, e per lei muojamo tutti.From woman came the beginning of sinne, and by her we doe al die.A muliere initium factum est peccati, / et per illam omnes morimur. 34Give no issue to thy water, no, not a little: nor to a wicked woman liberty to gad abroad.Non lasciare un foro nemmen piccolo alla tua acqua, né alla donna malvagia la permissione di andar fuori.Geue not issue to thy water, no not a litle: nor to a wicked woman leaue, to goe forth.Non des aquæ tuæ exitum, nec modicum: / nec mulieri nequam veniam prodeundi.
35If she walk not at thy hand, she will confound thee in the sight of thy enemies.Se ella non cammina sotto la tua direzione, ella ti svergognerà in faccia a' tuoi nemici.If she walke not at thine hand, she wil confound thee in the sight of thyn enemies.Si non ambulaverit ad manum tuam, / confundet te in conspectu inimicorum. 36Cut her off from thy flesh, lest she always abuse thee.Separala dal tuo convitto, affinchè non si prenda sempre giuoco di te.Cut her of from thy flesh, lest she alwaies abuse thee.A carnibus tuis abscinde illam, / ne semper te abutatur.
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Cicero
Luxuria....senectuti foedissima. (Cicero, off. i.)
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Laertius
Age? Wisdom, says Bias, "is more durable than other possessions." (Laertius)
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Things. Greek, "nine suppositions I have blessed in my heart," (Haydock) or thought that they may confer felicity. B\but the tenth will certainly do it, Ecclesiasticus 14.
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Enemies. Not out of revenge, but for the glory of God. See Matthew 5:43.
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Calmet
A true. Greek, "prudence." (Calmet)
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Haydock
Things. Greek adds, "for light (15.) he that," etc. (Haydock)
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Calmet
It. This is not in the edition of Rome, or of Aldus: but it is in the rest. Fear commonly begins the work of salvation, and love perfects it, 1 Timothy 1:5. (Calmet)
Worthington
All happiness in this life is grounded on the fear of God. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Evil. Greek reads not this; but the Syriac does, omitting the two next verses. (Calmet)
Worthington
Heresy is described under the idea of a wicked woman, concealing her malice. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Choose. Literally, "see." (Haydock)
Some supply "send any plague," etc.
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Calmet
Enemies. Which they wish, or may behold, Ecclesiasticus 18:31. (Calmet)
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Rondet
Head. Or poison, as the Hebrew rosh signifies both. (Rondet.)
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Calmet
Woman. Greek, "enemy." (Calmet)
Juvenal xiii
Revenge is the passion of little souls, and of women. (Juvenal xiii.)
Calmet
Dragon. This is not exaggerated, if we reflect on the evils occasioned by Eve, Dalila, Athalia, etc. (Calmet)
Menander
"A woman is the greatest wild-beast." (Menander)
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Sackcloth. And is black when passion bursts forth, though women too frequently conceal their anger to take deeper vengeance.
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Groaned. Greek, "shall fall."
Haydock
Little. Greek, "bitterly." He cannot avoid hearing of his wife's misconduct. (Haydock)
She will raise him enemies on all sides.
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Her. I could wish no greater evil to the worst of enemies, Ecclesiastes 7:27.
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Calmet
Man. He cannot advance. (Calmet)
Juvenal vi
Semper habet lites. (Juvenal vi.)
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Haydock
Beauty. Other qualifications of more importance must be regarded. (Haydock)
Grotius
He should choose one who may be a companion and assistant in domestic concerns. (Grotius)
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Calmet
A. Greek, "If she bring a fortune to her husband," (Haydock) she will continually upbraid him with it, and cover him with confusion, ver. 29. (Calmet)
Worthington
Lay-leadership in spiritual things is so unreasonable, that few heretics will endure it. (Worthington)
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Happy. A lazy wife will give no content.
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Die. Eve tempted her husband, and thus we are all involved in sin, 1 Timothy 2:14.
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Calmet
Water. Incontinency, Ecclesiasticus 26:15., and Proverbs 5:15. If water find a hole, it will presently flow away. Women were kept much at home in the East, as they are in many parts of Europe. (Calmet)
Aeschylus
Retirement and silence are the characteristics of a wise woman. (Aeschylus, Thebas.)
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Calmet
She will. Greek, "cut her off from thy flesh." Grabe and Complutensian add, (Haydock) "give a bill of divorce or her dowry, and send her away." (Calmet)
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Three very commendable thinges.
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Other three detestable.
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Nine happie thinges in this life.
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Concordance Iac. 3.
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Al happines in this life is grounded in the feare of God.
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The description of heresie vnder the figure of a wicked woman: whose malice is secretly couered vnder pretence of truth and ••• •••.
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Prou. ••.
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Layheadshi•e in spiritual causes is so vnreasonab le and absurde, that ••w heretikes 〈…〉ure it.
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.26
26. Let those also who marry but once not reprobate those who have consented to a second marriage
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 49
… 15 .) So that this became the means of riveting their love to him. After this he had in them not merely wives, but (devoted) slaves; he was beloved by them: a thing that no possession can equal: for nothing, nothing whatever, is more precious than to be thus loved by a wife and to love her. “And a wife,” Scripture says, “that agrees with her husband.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 20
A certain wise man, setting down a number of things in the rank of blessings, set down this also in the rank of a blessing, “A wife agreeing with her husband.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 4
This is the chief point of all that is good in a household, “A man and his wife that agree together.” (
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 2.13
… “For,” says one, “the things that thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt thou find them in thy old age?” “For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs, and a spotless life is old age.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.96
… “Let righteous men be thy guests.” And again: “The faithful friend is a medicine of life and of immortality.” Also in the same place: “Be thou far from the man who has the power to slay, and thou shalt not suspect fear.” Also in the same place: “Blessed is he who findeth a true friend, and who speaketh righteousness to the listening ear.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.50
… we to suppose that it is a matter of such slight consequence, and so accessible, that we need but wish, and we would be wise?” “It would be utter folly to do so.” If we, or any learned and prudent man, were to say this to them, and try by degrees to cleanse them from their error, it would be sowing upon rocks, and speaking to ears of men who will not hear:
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 27
… let them bear with us so far as not to give a savage reception to our discourse upon this subject; and let them, if indeed they can, restrain their tongues for a short while and lend us their ears. However that may be, you shall at any rate suffer no loss. For either we shall have spoken in the ears of them that will hear,
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 57.1
… “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused by the Jews: especially because thou art expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews.” He had read the saying of Jesus: “Well is him that speaketh in the ears of them that will hear;”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 3
… “The Lord,” saith one, “is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” ( Ps. xxiii. 4 .) This is great wealth, this is treasure. If we have the fear of God, we want nothing; if we have not this, though we have royalty itself, we are the poorest of all men. Nothing is like the man that feareth the Lord. For “the fear of the Lord,” it is said, “surpasseth all things.” (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 29
… whereas amongst us some do not even understand these things, but have their very judgment corrupted: and this while the Scripture is ever and anon sounding in our ears, and saying, “In his sight the vile person is contemned, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord: ( Ps. xv. 4 .) the fear of the Lord excelleth every thing
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 1.21
… Hence men are on the one hand born in the flesh liable to sin and death from the first Adam, and on the other hand are born again in baptism associated with the righteousness and eternal life of the second Adam; even as it is written in the book of Ecclesiasticus: “Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die.”
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Wisdom itself speaks, or certainly Sirach the wise man, from the person and mind of wisdom: which amounts to the same thing. For Rabanus teaches that Wisdom speaks here, and the Greek texts prove it, which read thus: ἐν τρισίν ὡραίσθην, καὶ ἀνέστην ὡραῖα ἔναντι Κυρίου καὶ ἀνθρώπων, that is, in three things I have been made beautiful, and I have risen fair before God and men. Our text reads ἐστὶν ὡραῖα for ἀνέστην, that is, they are beautiful, pleasing, approved. Note: Sirach here sets forth ternaries of virtues and vices, after the manner of the ancients who reduced their precepts to numbers, so that they might be more easily grasped and retained in memory. In this he imitates Solomon, who does the same in Proverbs, chapter XXX, verses 18 and following. The first precept of wisdom, therefore, is concerning concord and charity: for this is the first and principal virtue, which reconciles the grace of God and men. But it is especially required in a threefold kind of men. First, among brothers, or siblings, or cousins, or in any way kinsmen and blood relations; for all these are called brothers by the Hebrews. He alludes to Psalm CXXXII, verse 1: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Second, among neighbors, that is, those who are bound together in the same house, college, neighborhood, office, trade, business, or in any other way mutually connected and as it were linked: for the bond of all these is love and concord. Third, between man and woman: for these are so joined by dwelling, bed, table and all things, that they are reckoned as one flesh, that is one civil man, and one political person; whence also they are called spouses. Wherefore if they live in concord with one another, they lead a most pleasant and holy life; but if they are discordant, a most troublesome and diabolical one. For which reason, for those well consenting to one another, in Greek it is συμπεριφερόμενοι, that is, mutually bearing one another, or mutually borne together; for this Greek word has great emphasis, and signifies the highest consent between spouses, when one tolerates the habits, infirmities and vices of the other, and accommodates himself to him in all things, just as happens in a wheel: for when one part of it revolves and turns, the other part connected to it must revolve and turn in the same way: for such is marriage. Or, as two oxen or horses equally bear the same yoke and draw: hence indeed the word marriage is derived. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Man and wife ought so to consent that whithersoever one is borne, either by his own will, or by infirmity, or by pressing necessity, the other should likewise incline and be borne there willingly: the husband wishes to pursue this art, let the wife pursue the same, or yield to him pursuing it: sickness seizes the husband, poverty, loss, persecution, imprisonment; let the wife follow him in the same, nay rather willingly accompany him, that she may comfort him, suffer with him and serve him, and help him with all offices and ways. Finally, whithersoever the blast of fortune drives the husband, let the wife allow herself to be driven there: and conversely, whithersoever the wife is driven, let the husband follow and accompany her. Moreover, the root and cause of this consent is mutual love. Whence St. Augustine in Sentences, number 163: "Domestic peace," he says, "is the orderly concord of those dwelling together in commanding and obeying. For those who consult command, as the husband the wife, parents their children, masters their servants. But those to whom consultation is made obey, as women their husbands, children their parents, servants their masters. But those living justly in the Lord from faith, and still pilgrims from that city, even those who command serve those whom they seem to command: for they do not command from a desire to dominate, but from the duty of consulting, nor from the pride of ruling, but from the kindness of providing." Note secondly: For it is pleasing to my spirit, in Greek it is ὡραίσθην, that is, I have been made fair or beautiful, as if to say, These three things so please me, that I am beautified by them, that by them I seem to myself fair and beautiful, that by them I feel myself adorned, and I desire and rejoice in them. Whence the Zurich version translates, three things delight me, and adorn me together before the Lord and men; others, I am adorned with three things, and I rise fair before God and men; the Syriac, three things my soul has desired, and they become her before God and men, the brotherhood of brothers, the friendship of friends, and a man and his wife, when they are in concord. With a similar phrase the Apostle speaks in Hebrews, chapter XIII, 16: "Do not forget beneficence and sharing of goods, for by such sacrifices God is pleased; in Greek, εὐαρεστεῖται, that is, is reconciled, is appeased, is pleased with himself; the Syriac, is beautified, becomes cheerful and glorious. He does the same concerning our concord: because in this is situated the salvation of houses, cities and kingdoms. The reason a priori is, that God is himself the first, uncreated, supreme and most perfect concord: wherefore He supremely loves the concordant, as being most like to Himself, indeed as His own work and perfect. For the Holy Trinity itself, namely the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are supremely concordant, not accidentally, but essentially; because they possess one and the same essence in number and individuality, and consequently one mind and will and concord: wherefore what one, for example the Father, wills, this the other two essentially will, namely the Son and the Holy Ghost; for which reason the Holy Trinity itself communicated and impressed this concord of itself upon the heavens, elements, and all things. And this is the harmony of the heavens in the discordant consonance of so many orbs, motions, stars, etc., and discordant concord, which Baldad admiring says in Job cap. XXV, 2: "He that maketh, saith he, concord in his high places." And Job himself cap. XXXVIII, 37: "Who, saith he, shall tell the order of the heavens, and who shall make the harmony of heaven to sleep?" Hence God imparted His Triad together with unity participatively to all things created by Him. For He disposed all things "in measure, and number, and weight," Wisdom XI, 21. He imparted the same in His own manner to matrimony, to the household and to every family, in which the father as it were represents God the Father, the son God the Son, the wife the Holy Ghost. This was especially true in the heavenly and divine family of the Word incarnate, which consisted of three most holy persons, namely Joseph the father, the Blessed Virgin the mother, and the Son Jesus: in which therefore there was supreme concord, supreme love, supreme mutual reverence toward each other, supreme holiness: which indeed all spouses and families ought continually to behold and imitate. This is what the Psalmist says Psalm LXVII, 7: "God in His holy place, God who maketh men of one manner to dwell in a house." Yea, and Christ Matthew XVIII, 19: "If two of you, saith He, shall consent upon earth concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven: for where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Where therefore concord is, there Christ is, there God is, there the whole Holy Trinity is; making a triad and a monad, namely, a holy union and concord of minds, souls and actions. What is more wonderful in heaven, what more divine, than that three should be one, and one should be three, namely that three persons should be one God, and one God should be three persons? yet this the supreme concord and union of the three effects. Hear this sentence explaining and setting forth the good things of peace and concord St. Augustine, serm. 169 De Tempore: "Peace, saith he, concord of brethren, as it is written: In three things I was pleased, which are approved before God and men: concord of brethren, and love of neighbours, and a man and woman consenting to each other. Concord therefore of brethren is the will of God, the joy of Christ, the perfection of holiness, the rule of justice, the matter of doctrine, the guardian of morals, and in all things a praiseworthy discipline. Peace by the suffrage of prayers and supplications, easy and obtainable; because it is the fulness of all desires competent, as it is written in the Apostle. Peace of assembly maketh it beloved of God in brethren, which showeth the testimony of charity. Peace therefore is the mother of love, the bond of concord, and a manifest sign of a pure mind; because it requireth of God for itself what it willeth, asketh whatever it willeth, and taketh whatever it willeth. Peace is to be preserved by royal precepts, the Lord Christ saying: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you. In peace I leave you, in peace I have left you, in peace I shall find you. Going away He wished to give what He desired, returning to find in all things, which He shall severely exact and demand from each one on the day of judgment. Most excellently St. Gregory Nazianzen, orat. 12 De Pace, teacheth that the state and beauty of the universe consisteth in the concord of elements, although discordant and warring among themselves with contrary qualities; of the heavens, and of all mixed things: "The world, saith he, the celebrated element of God, so long as it is at peace and tranquil with itself, and restraineth itself within the bounds of its nature, and nothing riseth up against another, nor exceedeth those bonds of benevolence by which the universe of things is bound together by the Word the artificer; the world truly is, as it is called (for in Greek the world is called κόσμος, that is, ornament) and incomparable beauty. But as soon as it ceaseth to be at peace and quiet, the world also ceaseth to be." The same thou mayest say of the microcosm, or little world, which is man, and his marriage and family, namely, that all his beauty and good consisteth in peace and concord; and conversely, all his shame and evil standeth in discord. Moreover, rightly in the same oration Nazianzen addeth: "Better is contention undertaken for the sake of piety, than vicious concord." What is more wonderful on earth than that in one house, family, college, city, kingdom, there should be ten, a hundred, a thousand, indeed millions of men; yet all these conspire together in one commonwealth, in one Church, in one common good? Yet love and concord accomplish this, which makes it so that they have one heart and one soul. For concord is named from a congruent heart. That thing therefore must be heavenly and divine, as flowing intimately from God. On the contrary, discord, which even dissociates, tears apart, and scatters a few, so that they fight and clash with one another even unto death, is infernal and diabolical, as flowing from Lucifer, who first made discord among the angels in heaven, and therefore like lightning was cast down into the depths. Discord therefore made hell, concord made heaven and paradise: discord made demons, concord made angels: discord made reprobate men, concord made saints and the elect. Finally, that saying of Sallust in the Catiline is well-worn: "By concord small things grow, by discord the greatest things fall apart." Furthermore, the source and origin of discord is cupidity and avarice, namely these two pronouns, mine and thine: which, as St. Chrysostom says, tear apart and disturb the whole world; but the mother of concord is charity, courtesy and liberality. Whence St. Ambrose, Hexameron, chapter XIV, teaches that rapacious birds do not come together, but tame ones: "There is also," he says, "a diversity of pairs; those which are devoted to rapine lack it. For on account of greed for prey, or on account of exploring snares, they do not even agree among themselves, and therefore they avoid their pairing. For avarice shuns the company of many. Then if joined together, it would easily betray itself. Therefore for these birds there is nothing that brings them together except marital union. Therefore this practice was used for eagles and hawks. On the contrary, doves, cranes, starlings, crows and ravens, and also thrushes, delight in connection."
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Soul, that is to the animal desire, nature and life, that is to the customs and manner of living of those, as if to say I am grieved, that is I bear heavily the nature and customs of those. Whence the Greek texts have: προσώχθισα σφοδρά τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν, that is, I am offended, I am indignant, I am displeased at their very life; the Zurich version, and I bear their life most unjustly. Because just as monsters of nature are commonly short-lived, so these monsters, in the kind of custom, ought to be of brief life, says Palacius. The Syriac, I am greatly afflicted over their life; over life, that is over the manner of living and the incongruous customs of those. He recounted three kinds of men which he said pleased him, for the reason that they live decently and suitably to their state, namely that they are concordant in the same family, congregation or marriage. For nothing is so suited to a congregation as concord; for the very nature of congregation demands this for itself, which consists in union and concord; and this is the reason a priori why concord is so pleasing to God and to men, and so strictly and seriously sanctioned by him. Now he recounts as many kinds of men which, namely to wisdom and to the wise Sirach, are remarkably displeasing, for the reason that they live unsuitably and deformedly to their rank and state, and thus fight against the nature of their condition and vocation. He names these three, adding:
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For the state and condition of a poor man, as being abject, naturally as it were demands lowliness and humility of spirit: for the poor man does not have riches by which to be proud; if therefore he is proud, he truly as it were fights against the humble state of his poverty. So also the condition of a rich man fights against lying, both because a rich man does not have the necessity of lying, which the poor have, so that they might relieve their want; and because the rich are honored in the commonwealth and are senators, whom lying truly ill-befits, for the reason that it is very harmful to the commonwealth. Finally the condition of old age is repugnant to foolishness; for old age, both on account of calmed passions and on account of experience, brings wisdom; wherefore it is a shameful and monstrous thing for an old man to be unwise and foolish, according to that passage of Isaiah LXV, 20: "The child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed." For by the foolish and senseless child is understood the sinner; for he, although old in age, is nevertheless in customs and vices a foolish child. Whence the Greek texts for an old man foolish and without understanding have, an old man adulterous and lacking in understanding, that is, prudence; the Zurich version an old man adulterous, as being without mental capacity. For in youths, on account of the exuberance of heat and blood, lust can in some way be tolerated and excused; but not in old men, in whom blood and desire grow cold, and mind and reason are vigorous. Whence that saying of Ovid: It is shameful for an old man to be a soldier, shameful is the love of an old man. Our text for μοιχόν, that is an adulterer, reads μωρόν, that is foolish, or stupid; thus also the Syriac reads it, whence it translates, a poor man that is proud, and a rich man that is a liar, and an old man that is foolish and senseless. Mystically, first, Rabanus, and from him the Gloss explains, as if to say: I hate the devil for three reasons, namely: first, because he himself, though poorest in grace, is nevertheless most proud; second, because though he is richest in gifts of nature, he is nevertheless most mendacious, and thus the father of lies, as Christ says in John VIII. Again, he is rich in promise, but a liar in payment, says Hugh; third, because though he is old, and thus coeval with the world, he is nevertheless most foolish and imprudent, because he is the enemy of all honesty and virtue. Second, more aptly the same Rabanus and Jansenius: "A poor proud man," he says, "is one who, though destitute of virtue and wisdom, nevertheless glories in virtues and knowledge. A rich liar is one who, though much versed in Holy Scripture, becomes a teacher of errors. A foolish old man is one who, though he lived well for a long time previously, in old age nevertheless pursues the vanities of the flesh and the world, as Solomon did." Third, a learned man explains these most ingeniously and aptly of three enemies of wisdom and the wise, that is of the saints, which are the demon, the flesh and the world, which we are commanded to hate, and to resist continually when they tempt us. A poor proud man therefore is the devil; for he is poor, because miserable and weak, being deprived of all gifts of grace, and stripped of his power and strength by Christ; yet he is most proud. A rich liar is the flesh, because it lies that it cannot endure the labors of virtue, when it can undertake them if it wishes; for example, when it says it cannot fast due to lack of strength, it lies; for it has strength to fornicate: why therefore does it not have strength to fast? It has strength to serve the world, and to endure many and great labors for it; why does it not have strength to serve God? A foolish old man is the world. For it is old, because it has stood for nearly six thousand years; but foolish, because it dictates things contrary to God, who is the first truth and wisdom. For it dictates, for example, that injury should be avenged, that enemies should be hated, that the rich are blessed, that the poor are miserable, that strength should be displayed, that one should yield to no one, that equals should be suppressed, etc., all of which in the school of Christ are false and foolish. Thus in Religion foolish old men are those who on account of old age relax religious discipline, are unwilling to obey, are unwilling to keep the rules, seek exemptions everywhere, and thus live as seculars and libertines. Which is indeed great foolishness, and all the greater because they are a great scandal to the younger, and invite them to similar things by word and example. Otherwise Hugh: "A poor proud man," he says, "is the wanton flesh, lacking food, clothing, elements; a rich liar is the world; a foolish old man is the devil." Fourth, adapt these three to the threefold concupiscence, which St. John explains in his first epistle, chapter II, 13: "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world, etc. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life." For the pride of life agrees with the poor proud man; for the proud man is proud when he is poor; for to be proud is to go beyond oneself, namely, to aspire to more than one's strength and wealth allow. The concupiscence of the eyes, namely avarice, agrees with the rich liar; for the miser is rich, but a liar: for when he does not dare to use his riches, he is truly not rich, but falsely esteems himself rich, when in reality he is poor; for he does not rejoice in riches more than the poor man who lacks them: hence his wealth is to him as if he did not have it. Wherefore to him applies that passage from the Apocalypse III, 17: "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." The concupiscence of the flesh, namely gluttony and lust, agrees with the foolish old man; for lust is old, because it was conceived from Adam sinning, and is inborn in all his descendants: it is the same foolish, and, as the Greek has it, adulterous, both because it kills and corrupts the flesh itself; and because it prefers a small and base pleasure to the heavenly and eternal, and thus prefers a harlot to God Himself and Christ, who is the true spouse of the soul. Which is indeed spiritual, but an enormous adultery.
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He pursues the third of the three things which he said he hated, namely a foolish old man; hence he here indicates the cause of foolishness in the elderly, namely that they did not study in youth, nor gather wisdom; for how will you learn in old age what you did not learn as a young man, or indeed find it? This saying properly pertains to wisdom, although it can also be extended to any other things, even temporal riches. Hence in what follows he teaches how fitting wisdom is for the elderly, so that by this reasoning he may stir the young to acquire it; as those who will enjoy it in old age, and be adorned by it equally. The Greeks, omitting τῷ, thus naturally and pathetically express the thought: In thy youth thou didst not gather, and how wilt thou be able to find in thy old age? The Zurich version: if thou hast gathered nothing in thy youth, how wilt thou do the thing in thy old age? The Syriac clearly: in thy adolescence thou didst not gather wisdom, and how wilt thou find it in thy old age? As therefore the ants gather grain in summer, which they eat in winter; so thou, O young man, gather wisdom, merits and virtues in the flower of thy age, by which thou mayest enjoy, be honored and exult in old age. For youth transmits and transcribes its customs, whether good or bad, into old age. Hence that just reproach to a wicked old man among the Greeks, which St. Isidore recites, lib. II of the Origins, cap. XXI: "Thy childhood was a disgrace to thy adolescence, thy adolescence an ornament to thy old age, thy old age a scandal to the commonwealth." Most excellently Cassian, Collation II, cap. XIII: "The riches of the elderly," he says, "are not the hoariness of the head, but the industry of youth, and are to be measured by the wages of past labors. For what thou didst not gather in youth, how wilt thou find in old age?" Thus the error and sense of many young men is tacitly reproved here, who say: I will give my youth to pleasure, my old age to penance; my youth to idleness and vice, my old age to labor and virtue; my youth to the devil, my old age to God. What is more shameful than to give the flower of age to the devil, the dregs to God? What is more foolish than to give youth apt for labor to idleness, and to compel old age born for rest to unaccustomed labor? What is more dangerous than to give oneself to vices under a vain and uncertain hope of a long life and late penance? But more on this below. Finally, St. Augustine wisely says in Psalm CXII: "Virtue," he says, "requires that our old age be childlike, and our childhood be aged."
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Two things, says Jansenius, he says are beautiful and becoming for the hoary-headed and for the elders, that is for the aged, namely both to be able to judge well, and to be able to offer sound counsel; both of which require prudence and authority. Which are most proper to the elderly, to whom experience and years bring prudence, and hoariness brings authority. For strength belongs to youth; but prudence, counsel, judgment and authority to old age. Thus among the Lacedaemonians the supreme council, γερουσία, the assembly and gathering of the elderly was called; just as at Rome the Senate was named, because it consisted of the elderly. By judgment therefore here understand both private and domestic, and public and civil; for judges are accustomed to be chosen from the aged and elderly, both on account of authority, both on account of prudence, both on account of settled passions of mind. Hence the Zurich version translates: how much an ornament to hoariness is jurisdiction, and the knowledge of counsel to the elderly! The Syriac: how becoming to the elderly is judgment, and to those advanced in age understanding! To this pertains that celebrated and wise saying of the Greeks: ἔργα νέων, πόλεμοι ἀνδρῶν, βουλαὶ δὲ γερόντων, that is, the works are of the young, the wars of men, but the counsels are of the elderly.
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"Aged men," in Greek γερόντων, that is, old men; "glorious," in Greek δεδοξασμένοις, that is, honored. Likewise he almost says what he said in the preceding verse: so that he may inculcate and urge young men to acquire wisdom, old men to preserve and advance it. For he now calls it understanding, now counsel, now judgment, because wisdom understands things best, gives the best counsel in doubtful matters, judges best in a difficult situation. Whence the Syrian translator renders it, as befits great men wisdom, and grave senses and counsel! The Zurich Bible, how becoming wisdom is to the aged, and understanding and counsel to the honored! For understanding the Greek is διανόημα, which others translate as thought. For it is the part of honored men and magnates to think much, to speak little; for this mature and preceding thought is the mother and parent of counsel and judgment. Whence men who are thoughtful and taciturn are wont to be prudent and wise. Most excellently St. Jerome, in his second letter to Nepotian: "Old age," he says, "of those who instructed their youth in honorable arts, and meditated in the law of the Lord day and night, becomes more learned with years, more worn by use, wiser by the progress of time, and reaps the sweetest fruits of former studies. Whence also that wise man of Greece, Themistocles, when he saw himself dying after one hundred and seven years completed, is said to have expressed sorrow that he was then departing from life, when he had begun to be wise. Plato, writing in his eighty-first year, died: Isocrates completed ninety-nine years in the labor of teaching and writing." Cicero, in his book On Old Age, celebrates Solon, who alone resisted Pisistratus invading the republic through tyranny, and when the latter asked "by what confidence he dared this," he replied, "By old age." Old age makes others more fearful; it brought him boldness, because little life remained, even if no one killed him. Hence that passage from Homer's Odyssey, book 2, concerning a certain Egyptian hero, "who was already bent with old age, and wise from much experience of things." Aristotle gives the reason in his Problems, section 30, number 4: "Because nature," he says, "has inserted two instruments into us, I mean the hand to the body, the mind to the soul. Just as therefore with advancing age the hand is able to accomplish its work most effectively, so also the mind not immediately, but in old age does it most befall us, and then especially is it consummated and perfected." Plato agrees in the Timaeus: The soul, he says, becomes mindless from the beginning; but after the stream of nourishment and growth flows more gently and less abundantly, and the circuits of the soul complete their course with a more tranquil motion, and by the progress of time become more settled, and are restored to a form congruent with their own nature; then the direct revolutions of each circuit of the same and other nature they discern well, and thus make a man so constituted prudent. Hence formerly by God's command, seventy elders were judges of Israel, as appears in Numbers 11, 16. See also Deuteronomy 21, and Daniel 13, 5. Thus also among the Romans no one became a senator except an old man: whence Senate is named, as it were the council of old men. Thus Cicero in On Old Age; Livy, book 7; Justin, book 43. Hear Ovid, book 5 of the Fasti: Nor was the senate house open except after years to the aged, And the name and mild quality of age the Senate has. The elder gave laws to the people, and the age was bounded by fixed Laws from which honor is sought. The Spartans did the same, as Livy testifies in book 4 of the Macedonian War, and the Persians, as Xenophon testifies in the Cyropaedia. In the island of Taprobane no one was chosen as king except an old man both in years and in morals, as Pliny testifies, book 6, chapter 22. The same was done in Arabia, as Diodorus testifies, book 2.
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It is a hendiadys, "crown and glory," that is, a glorious crown, or crowned glory, as if to say πολυπειρία, that is, experience and knowledge of many things, adorns the aged like a crown; but this glorious crown is made, and is decorated with new and wonderful glory, if to πολυπειρία there be added the fear of God, on which occasion in what follows Sirach, after his manner, pours forth himself into praises and commendations of the fear of God, and prefers and sets it before all other things which seem to make man blessed and happy. But you would better understand glory here as glorying; for this is what the Greek καύχημα signifies, as if to say, There is no thing in which the aged can glory more than in the fear of the Lord, if they are endowed with it. Whence the Zurich version: manifold knowledge is the crown of the aged, and the glorying of the same is the religion of the Lord; the Syriac: the honor of the aged is a multitude of counsel, and the fear of God is their praise. For where counsel lacks the fear of God, and impiety is present, there is great evil and shame: for impiety, armed with counsel, is often insuperable. Such was the impious counsel which Achitophel gave to Absalom rebelling against David his father, II Kings XV. Such also was the counsel which Balaam gave to Balac king of Moab to destroy the Hebrews, Numbers XXIV. Wherefore the Nazianzen wisely admonishes the aged in his Tetrastichs: Always indeed do you strive for your salvation, But especially under the last day of life. Old age comes: the herald proclaims the end; We all prepare: God the judge impends. Finally, Synesius, in the tract On the Praise of Baldness, calls a bald head "the dwelling-place of prudence, the temple of divinity." He alludes to Proverbs XVI, 31: "The hoary head is a crown of dignity," where I shall give the aged a sevenfold crown. Moreover, the wise Seneca in book I On the Tranquility of Life, chapter III: "Nothing, he says, is more shameful than an old man of advanced age, who has no other proof by which to show that he has lived long, except his age;" with other much clearer utterances: "We choose a soldier when young; we make a general when old." In the type of this matter David, after he had grown old, took a wife Abishag the Shunamite, III Kings 1, 3; which represents the wisdom proper to old age. For Abishag, according to the interpretation of St. Jerome cited above, is the same as abounding, and as roaring. "In the aged, he says, there dwells most abundantly and beyond human voice the thunder of divine discourse." he ought to have, namely experience and wisdom, which are gathered from advancing years. For as St. Jerome says, epistle 2 To Nepotian: "Almost all the virtues of the body are changed in the aged; and with wisdom alone growing, the other virtues decrease." To which that saying of Socrates in Plato's Symposium pertains: "Then, he says, the eye of the mind begins to see keenly, when first the eye of the body begins to fade." Wherefore Cicero in the Cato: "Rashness, he says, belongs to flourishing age, prudence to old age." On account of which prudence Quintilian, in a certain declamation: I shall say more about this matter shortly at Proverbs xx, 25, to that passage: "The hoary head is the dignity of the aged."
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Note: ὑπονοήματα are called thoughts, suspicions and things conceived in the mind: for the theme is ὑπονοέω, that is, I think, I conceive in the mind, I suspect. Whence it might first seem that for unsuspectable, in the Latin Vulgate, suspectable should be read; or certainly the interpreter, less skilled in Latin, took insuspicari for suspicari, and insuspicabilia for suspicabilia, as if insuspicabile were the same as that which comes into suspicion, that is suspicabile, just as investigabile is the same as that which is searched out in a trace, that is vestigabile; and insuccare is the same as to imbue with juice, that is succare; insufflare is to blow upon someone; inebriare is to make drunk. But secondly Jansenius holds the opinion that our Interpreter, for ὑπονοήματα, that is suspectable things, read ἀνυπονόητα, that is unsuspectable things: "unsuspectable" therefore "of the heart" are called those things, concerning which no one suspects or thinks ill in his heart. Thus Rabanus, the Gloss, Jansenius, Dionysius, Palacius, and Hugo: "Unsuspectable," he says, "are those things which are alien from all suspicion of falsehood." Thirdly, you may very aptly explain unsuspectable as those things concerning which no one easily suspects that they are so great and so mighty, that they ought to be so magnified, and beatitude constituted in them, as Sirach here constitutes it, as if to say: These nine beatitudes are suspectable and probable to my mind, and to others they are unsuspectable and scarcely probable: especially if these nine are taken not individually, but collectively. For if anyone should ask, what are the nine beatitudes? it will occur to no one's mind what it occurs to mine; no one will conceive in his mind these nine beatitudes which I conceive; no one will assign them precisely as I assign them. They are therefore both suspectable and unsuspectable. For to Sirach they were suspectable, to others unsuspectable, for thus suspicions and probable opinions appear, and are proper to certain persons, when they do not fall into the minds of others, and are often improbable to them; whence he calls them unsuspectable of the heart, which namely no one easily suspects to be so great that they make a man blessed, and he opposes them to the tenth, which he says he will speak in the tongue of men, as if to say: I have suspected nine things in my heart, and I have esteemed them to be so great that they make blessed, that is civilly happy, him who possesses them. I say: I have suspected, because others will not easily suspect or conjecture the same: but the tenth (namely the fear of God) is such that no one will not be thinking and conceding that it makes a man blessed: wherefore that "I will speak in the tongue of men," that is I will openly proclaim that to all with full voice, and as much as I can I will commend and celebrate it. The Zurich version favors this interpretation, when it translates, nine conjectures I judge blessed in my mind, and in my tongue I will pronounce the tenth; and others who translate, nine things conceived in the heart I proclaim blessed, and the tenth I will speak with my tongue. Moreover the Syriac takes unsuspectable even for Sirach himself: for thus it translates, nine things which do not enter into my heart (which namely I do not sufficiently grasp, do not sufficiently understand) I have praised, and the tenth which I have not spoken. Whence also Hugo: "Unsuspectable of the heart," he says, "he calls those things which the heart cannot suspect:" for this, nothing else, is what these Latin words properly signify. The Greek word also favors this; for ὑπονόημα, or ὑπόνοια signifies the proper suspicion and opinion of each one, which often differs and disagrees from the sentiment of others. Whence someone is said to speak παρ᾽ ἐπόνοιαν, when he speaks otherwise than the hearer expected; which our Author here rightly calls unsuspectable. Thus Demosthenes, a bitter word which was directly aimed at the Athenians, he himself twisted toward his adversary: "Who," he says, "would not have spat upon your head? For it is far from me that I should be permitted to omen that to the state, or to myself." Hence again ὑπόνοια is called a hidden sense, concerning which no one easily suspects, as Budaeus proves from Plato and Plutarch in Comment. linguae Graecae, p. 913. In this sense our Latin Interpreter wisely took τὸ ὑπονόημα, and therefore translated unsuspectable, because he saw τὸ cordis added, as if to say: I have suspected and opined in my heart that these nine make a man blessed; but I was unwilling hitherto to speak and assert those things in tongue, because to others perhaps it will seem otherwise, who will suspect and opine other nine, which they will prefer to these nine of mine, as if those make a man more blessed. Moreover, these nine ὑπονοήματα or unsuspectable things, which make a man blessed, namely nine beatitudes, he recounts, adding, the first: "A man who rejoiceth in his children;"; the second: "Living and seeing the subversion of his enemies;"; the third: "Blessed is he that dwelleth with a sensible woman;"; the fourth: "He that hath not offended with his tongue;"; the fifth: "Who did not serve the unworthy;" sixth: "Blessed is he who found a true friend;" seventh: "Who declares justice to the listening ear;" eighth: "How great is he who found wisdom!" ninth: "And knowledge." But for knowledge the Greek texts have φρόνησιν, that is, prudence. And for that which our text has: Blessed is he who found a true friend, the Greek texts have, blessed is he who found prudence. For and knowledge, the Syriac translator rendered, blessed is the man whom poverty did not break, and want did not break him. For this is great knowledge and prudence, to bear poverty patiently and bravely, which often befalls wise and holy men; and those who tolerate it with equanimity are great and blessed. Thus these nine Rabanus, Palacius and Hugo count: Through wisdom, he says, he received knowledge and contemplation of divine things; through knowledge truly, knowledge of acting rightly, namely, prudence of conducting oneself rightly in this world, that is, in the midst of a perverse nation. The eighth and ninth therefore are wisdom of contemplation and knowledge of action: thus Hugo. Tenth: "The fear of God above all things has placed itself above: blessed is the man to whom it has been given to have the fear of God." Mystically Hugo: "First unsuspectable, he says, is piety, which makes one work good gladly." For good works are as it were the offspring of piety and pious will. Whence Psalm cxi, it is said: "Joyful is the man who shows mercy and lends." Second, is zeal, by which the victory over vices is achieved. Third, is the chastisement of the flesh, which makes peace between reason and sensuality, which have perpetual discord. Galatians v: "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." But the flesh ought to be chastised, so that it may be subject to the spirit, and peace may be made. Whence Genesis 17, the Lord says to the woman: "You shall be under the power of your husband, and he shall rule over you." Fourth, is modesty of speech. Fifth, is magnanimity, by which one dares to do or suffer great things, so as not to serve the devil or sin. Sixth, is faithful friendship, which consists in love alone. Seventh, is prudence, or discretion of doctrine, by which one considers and attends to what and to whom one speaks. Eighth, is wisdom of contemplating. Ninth, is knowledge of acting. These are nine unsuspectable things, that is, free from all evil suspicion. But the tenth, which shall be in the tongue, is the fear of God, which is called the tenth, that is, the perfection of the others. For the number nine is imperfect, until it comes to ten; whence, just as unity added to nine perfects it, so that it becomes ten, so fear added to the aforesaid nine unsuspectable things, perfects them, and guards them, and promotes them. Now let us explain each one individually.
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10. A MAN WHO REJOICES IN HIS CHILDREN, LIVING AND SEEING THE OVERTHROW OF HIS ENEMIES. — From nine beatitudes and blessed ones, he assigns two here. The first therefore is great, and, as it is in Greek, happy and blessed is the man who rejoices in his children, who namely has excellent children, and these obedient and well-behaved: for these bring great honor to the father equally as joy; just as on the other hand disobedient and ill-behaved children bring dishonor and sadness to the father, and indeed often bring sickness and death. Whence the Zurich version translates, blessed is the man to whom living children bring joy; others, a man taking pleasure from his children. For children are as it were a part and flesh of their parents: wherefore from their good or evil, as from their own, parents rejoice or grieve, especially because they leave them surviving after them. Whence after death they seem to live in their children, and in them to be happy and honored, or unhappy and infamous; whence the Syriac translates, a man who rejoices in his latter end. David held the same view, Psalm 127:3, where among other rewards of him who fears God, and therefore is blessed, he first recounts this: "Thy wife as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house: thy children as olive plants round about thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord; etc. And mayest thou see thy children's children, peace upon Israel." And Psalm 126:4: "When he shall have given sleep to his beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord, children are a reward, the fruit of the womb. As arrows in the hand of the mighty, so the children of them that have been excused," that is of young men strong and mighty. Whence Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translate, as the children of youth: for young men are called in Hebrew excused, because freed from every impediment, and girded for battle, says St. Jerome, epistle to Marcella; whence concerning these excused children, that is strong young men, the Psalmist adds: "Blessed is the man who hath filled his desire with them." The second great and blessed one is, "living and seeing the overthrow of his enemies;" the Zurich version, who sees the fall of his enemies. There is innate in man an appetite for vengeance, so that he grieves at the prosperity, and rejoices at the adversity of enemies. Whence Aristotle, book IV of the Ethics, chapter v, philosophers held it to be a great good and joy for man, if he could satisfy his just anger and vengeance. But this sense is of nature corrupted and vitiated by sin, not sound and whole, which therefore Christ corrected, when he commands enemies to be loved equally as friends, and therefore forbids doing them harm, but commands doing them good, Matthew 5:44. For the charity of God and Christ embraces in the broad bosom of its benevolence both enemies and friends. It is therefore Jewish and heathen to hate enemies, and to rejoice at their ruin. For the hard-hearted Jews it was said: "Thou shalt hate thy enemy;" which Christ corrects, Matthew 5. Wherefore this place and similar ones ought to be understood of enemies who are infidels or impious, and therefore enemies of God, the Church and the faithful, such as to the Jews, in the time of Sirach, were almost all nations. For it is permitted to rejoice at the ruin of these, both from zeal for justice and just vengeance, so that their infidelity and impiety may be punished with just punishment; and from zeal for charity, namely so that they, being injurious to God, the Church and the faithful, and persecuting and vexing them, may cease. For which reason now the faithful rejoice, when they hear of the victories of Catholic princes, which they report against the enemies of the Church, with great slaughter and ruin of heretics and Turks. Thus the Prophets rejoiced at the slaughter of the Babylonians, Philistines, Moabites and other enemies of the Synagogue, as Isaiah, chapter 14:4; Jeremiah 51:48; Ezekiel, chapter 25:17. Whence that of David exulting over Babylon to be destroyed: "O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed is he that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock," Psalm 136:9. For the faithful and just man esteems no one his enemy, except him who is likewise an enemy of God and the Church: for whoever is a friend of God and the Church, he is likewise a friend of the faithful and just man, and is loved by him as a friend. This beatitude could however be extended to private vengeance: for the faithful and holy man can rejoice with holy joy at the ruin of enemies, who strive to turn him from faith and holiness, or to hinder and disturb it, insofar namely as he rejoices that they, as impediments to his holiness, are taken away and perish; but he does not rejoice because this evil befalls them as private men and his enemies. From which joy, however, on account of the danger of private vengeance, to which corrupted nature is inclined, one must abstain, unless one has completely mortified the affections, and is holy, such as Jeremiah was, who therefore prays securely, chapter 11:20: "Let me see thy vengeance on them," namely on enemies. Mystically Rabanus and Hugh: Blessed is he, they say, first, "who rejoiceth in his children," that is, in good works: for these, as was said above, are as it were offspring which good will brings forth, as a mother through the grace of God, as it were through the heavenly seed of the eternal Father. Again, "in his children," that is in neighbours, whom we convert to God: for these are spiritual children, who gladden their parents. Secondly: "Who seeth the subversion of his enemies," namely of demons and vices. For indeed the holy soul rejoices wonderfully, while it beholds the ruin of vices in itself equally as in others. Thirdly: "Who dwelleth with a sensible woman." This third beatitude is the chastisement of the flesh, which maketh peace between reason and sensuality, between which there is continual discord, according to that in Galatians, chapter v: "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." The flesh therefore ought to be chastised, that it may be subject to the spirit, so that in this way it may become sensible, and cultivate peace with reason, to which as to a husband it ought to be subject, just as God said and ordained to Eve the wife of Adam, Genesis iii: "Thou shalt be under the power of thy husband, and he shall have dominion over thee."
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11. BLESSED IS HE THAT DWELLETH WITH A WISE WOMAN, AND WHOSE TONGUE HATH NOT OFFENDED, AND WHO HATH NOT SERVED UNWORTHY OF HIMSELF. — This verse contains three beatitudes. Therefore the third blessed is he "that dwelleth with a wise woman;" the Zurich version, blessed is he that hath a prudent wife; others, blessed is he that liveth with a wife of understanding, that is, prudent; for this is what the Greek συνετῇ signifies: for a prudent wife healeth all the ills of her husband, either by her foresight preventing and dispelling them, or drawing them away, and bringeth all good things: wherefore Solomon asserteth that a prudent wife is a peculiar gift of God, Proverbs xix, 14, such as Abigail was to David. The Syriac version, blessed is the man of a good wife, because he doth not plough with an ox and an ass together, that is, he doth not draw an unequal, but an equal yoke of matrimony: for a good man and a good woman are as it were two matched yoke-fellows, who bear the yoke with equal mind, and easily carry the burden of matrimony; but when a good man is with a bad wife, or a good wife with a bad man, then the yoke-fellows are unmatched; whence they draw the chariot of matrimony unevenly, and almost the whole burden of it falleth upon him who is good, who is burdened more than is right, just as when an ox and an ass draw the plough, the yoke-fellows are unmatched, and the ass is burdened more than is right, inasmuch as it is unequal in strength to the ox. Again, the ass, being lustful and licentious, is a symbol of lust and adultery, from the suspicion of which the man of a good and chaste wife is free and secure. It alludeth symbolically to the law in Deuteronomy xxii, 10: "Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together." See the things said there. The fourth blessed is he "whose tongue hath not offended" in sin, or in some peril and harm; the Syriac version, blessed is he whom his tongue doth not pervert. For easy, manifold and perilous is the offence of the tongue, which maketh many unhappy and miserable, and which few, and none save by singular help and grace of God, escape. Whence St. James, chapter iii, verse 2: "If any man, saith he, offend not in word, the same is a perfect man," etc. See the things said there. The fifth blessed is he "who hath not served unworthy of himself;" the Syriac version, who serveth not one viler than himself. For great is the unworthiness, and therefore the unhappiness, when an honest or noble man and a prince is forced to serve a vile man, for example his subject or servant, who often lacketh discretion and judgment, and is driven by passion and wickedness, and who, becoming proudly insolent through power, ruleth his masters imperiously, presumptuously and tyrannically, and men of free and honourable birth; according to that saying of Solomon, Proverbs xxx, 21: "For three things the earth is troubled," that is, is disturbed and shaken, "and the fourth it cannot bear: for a servant when he reigneth: for a fool when he is filled with meat: for an odious woman when she is married: and for a handmaid when she is heir to her mistress." How proud and intolerable is the rule of exalted servants, Baronius showeth by the example of Eutropius in the year of Christ 399, at the beginning. For Eutropius, a slave by condition, a eunuch by sex, a pagan by faith, lost in morals, tutor of the emperor Arcadius, shone with such splendour of power, that all eyes, together with the eyes of the mind desirous of honours, were turned rather upon him than upon Arcadius. The same man, mixing power with cruelty, utterly ruined the whole eastern empire. Whence Claudian, indignant at him now made Roman consul, thus exclaims in book I against Eutropius: All monsters have yielded to the eunuch consul. Alas, shame of heaven and earth! A hag is displayed through the cities in the consul's robe, and scattereth the title of the year: for the year of Christ 399 was inscribed with the title of the consulship of Eutropius the eunuch. And further below, showing his powerless and insolent rule: Nothing is more harsh than the humble when he riseth on high; He smiteth all things, while he feareth all things: he rageth against all, That they may think him able, nor is there any beast more terrible Than the rage of a slave against the free necks raging. Wherefore Eutropius, demanded by Gainas and the raging people unto death, was forced to flee to the church, as to an asylum (which he himself a little before had taken away by law), where he was defended from the fury of the people by the golden oration of St. Chrysostom, whose exordium is equally its title: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. Thus the emperor Maximian, wishing to punish severely the holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus, his primicers, sent them to be judged and punished to Antiochus, duke of the Orient, who had been the servant of St. Sergius, and by his intercession had obtained this dukedom. Which was indeed a great ignominy, and equally a cruelty. For Antiochus, a most cruel and ungrateful man, raged most savagely against them, although they were his heroes, as their Acts have it in Surius, on the 7th of October. Hence to most wretched servitude is condemned Ham, when it is said of him by his parent: "A servant of servants shall he be to his brethren," Genesis ix, verse 25. Where Rupertus, book IV on Genesis, chapter xxxvii: "He did not say merely, he shall be a servant (by which name sometimes even good or voluntary servitude is accustomed to be signified), but, a servant of servants: by which addition extreme servitude, indeed servile wickedness, is accustomed to be expressed, unless when through outstanding humility someone professes himself a servant of servants of God." The same happened to Joseph, of whom it is said: "Joseph was sold for a servant," Psalm civ, verse 17. Concerning which matter St. Ambrose, sermon 12 on Psalm cxviii: "What could have been," he says, "a heavier trial for a boy of noble lineage than to be cast down from the splendor of so great a family and to serve among the Egyptians? It is a consolable servitude to serve even the just: the injustice of servitude is lightened by the fairness of the master." Mystically, it is most wretched to serve sin and the devil, because this one is as vile and cruel a tyrant and executioner of those subject to him. Thus Rabanus and Palacius. Hence likewise it is most wretched and most dangerous to serve the unworthy, that is the wicked: for these command things similar to themselves, that is plainly unworthy and impious things; for they are driven by the devil as his sons, indeed as his slaves.
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12. BLESSED IS HE THAT FINDETH A TRUE FRIEND,—namely, one who faithfully standeth by and helpeth his friend both in adversity and prosperity. For a faithful friend is a strong protection, and a medicine of life and immortality, as he said in chapter vi, 13 and seq. See the things said there. This is the sixth beatitude. The Greeks have for friend φρόνησιν, that is prudence. Whence the Zurich version, blessed is he who hath obtained prudence; the Syriac, blessed is he who findeth mercy. It can also be read as friend, for both meanings the Syriac word רחמא signifies. For if thou readest it with the patach point רַחְמָא rachma, it signifies mercy; but if with the chateph-camets point רָחְמָא rochma, it signifies a beloved friend. The cause of this beatitude, which Solomon giveth in Proverbs xviii, 24, is: "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Piety therefore and friendship are fraternal, because they are connected as it were by kinship. Whence St. Jerome, writing to St. Augustine, saith: "With a friend, one ought to speak as with another self." And St. Thomas, disputing concerning the order of charity, II II, Question xxvii, asserteth that those joined by blood are to be preferred before friends only in those things which concern themselves, but to be put after them in other things. The same, in his opuscule On the Love of God and Neighbour, simply asserteth that friendship outweigheth consanguinity. The same philosophers held, such as Solon, as Plutarch testifieth in his Life; Cicero, in his book On Friendship, where he also giveth the cause: "Because," saith he, "from kinship benevolence can be taken away (for, as the Poet saith, 'even the grace of brothers is rare'), from friendship it cannot; for when benevolence is taken away, the name of friendship is taken away, but that of kinship remaineth." And Valerius Maximus, book IV, chapter vii: "Let us now contemplate," saith he, "the bond of friendship, powerful and most strong, and in no way inferior to the strength of blood: this moreover is more certain and proven, because that is the fortuitous work of the lot of birth, this the unforced will of each one contracteth by solid judgment. And so it is more notorious without reproach to turn away a kinsman than a friend: because the one severance is subject to the crime of injustice, the other certainly to that of levity. For since the life of man would be desolate unless surrounded by the protection of friendship, so necessary a support ought not to be rashly undertaken; but once rightly grasped, it ought not to be spurned: and truly the friends of sincere faith are especially known in adversities, in which whatever is rendered, all proceedeth from constant benevolence." AND HE THAT UTTERETH JUSTICE IN THE EAR OF HIM THAT HEARETH,—that is, of one docile, intelligent and obedient. Rabanus readeth, "in the ear of him that heareth," that is, saith he, "of one devoutly receiving the word of God, rightly understanding it, and acting well." This is the seventh beatitude, namely of him who, when he teacheth, findeth docile and obedient hearers and disciples. For their docility, obedience, fruit and progress bringeth great pleasure, consolation and utility to the teacher: on the contrary, a master is greatly afflicted if he undertaketh the labour of teaching and findeth it fruitless, nay harmful to himself, because the disciples neglect it, despise it, resist it. Wherefore glorious was the martyrdom of St. Cassian, who, as we have in the Roman Breviary, on the 13th of August, with his hands bound behind his back, was delivered to be pierced and flayed by the iron styles of the perverse boys whom he was teaching, and underwent a death shameful and bitter to the world, but glorious to God and the Church. Moreover, St. Jerome in Ecclesiastes chapter x, readeth thus: "Blessed is he that speaketh in the ear of the wise." For, as he saith there: "The wise man is cast down when he speaketh in the ear of the foolish, and his words perish in a deep gulf (so to speak)." The same in Micah chapter vii: "If," saith he, "blessed is he that speaketh in the ears of him that heareth, but the ear of the hearer is the desire of the wise, and the joy of him that speaketh is an intelligent hearer: on the contrary the sorrow of the teacher is a bad disciple: and also with words of Jeremiah agreeing with this complaint: I have laboured to no purpose, neither hath any one profited me. There are some who think this is said from the person of the Saviour, complaining that in so great a multitude of believers and in the whole world of mankind, he findeth scarcely works worthy of his blood: who also in Psalm 24 saith: What profit is there in my blood, whilst I go down into corruption?
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13. HOW GREAT IS HE THAT HATH FOUND WISDOM, AND HE THAT HATH KNOWLEDGE! BUT THERE IS NONE ABOVE HIM THAT FEARETH THE LORD. — The three last great and blessed ones are explained in this verse. The eighth therefore great and blessed is he "who hath found wisdom;" the ninth, "who hath found knowledge;" the tenth, surpassing all, is he who feareth the Lord. For here he distinguishes wisdom from knowledge; and he calls wisdom the distinguished knowledge of God and divine things; knowledge truly the knowledge of natural things, such as physics; or rather of moral things, such as ethics. Whence the Greeks for knowledge, verse 12, have φρόνησιν, that is prudence. Thus Palacius. Paul otherwise Rabanus: "Wisdom," he says, "is to do good, knowledge truly to beware of evil, according to that: 'Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil is understanding,' Job xxviii." In like manner the Apostle distinguishes wisdom from knowledge, saying: "To one by the Spirit is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge," 1 Cor. xii, 8. Where various ones variously distinguish these. Ambrosiaster: "Wisdom," he says, "signifies a prudent heart, so that it may discern what things are to be avoided; but knowledge imports only the knowledge of divine things." St. Jerome: "Wisdom can speak, learn and teach; knowledge explains the mysteries of the law." Anselm: "Wisdom," he says, "pertains to life, knowledge to doctrine." St. Thomas, II II, Question clxxvii: "Wisdom teaches and persuades, knowledge delights and moves." St. Augustine, book XII On the Trinity, chapter xiv: "To contemplation wisdom, to action knowledge pertains," he asserts: but book XIII On the Trinity, chapter xix: "Wisdom," he says, "is attributed to divine things, knowledge to human things." He repeats the same, book XIV, chapter i. The sense is therefore, as if to say, Great and in his own way blessed is he who hath obtained wisdom, by which he may penetrate and contemplate God and divine things and Holy Scripture; so that he may also teach the same to others, and make them wise. Great likewise is he who hath knowledge, that is prudence in doing things, so that he may prudently direct both himself and others in all things, and in perplexing and difficult matters be able to give prudent counsel: but neither surpasses him who feareth the Lord. For he is greater and more blessed than all, both because by grace he is God's friend and son, and because he certainly expects glory from God promised to friends and sons. Whence in what follows Sirach, as is his custom, runs into praises and commendations of the fear of God. Wherefore the Syrian translates, blessed is the man whom poverty hath not broken, and want hath not broken him (for he is wise and knowing, that is prudent): the fear of God is exalted above all these things. Whence Rabanus: "Nine," he says, "species of virtues are surpassed by the fear of God, because as the number nine is imperfect until it is completed by ten: so all operation of virtues is mediocre without the perfection of the fear of God. For the fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever, it is the foundation of faith, it is the origin of charity, through it we work good, through it we attain to reward." The fear of God therefore is as it were an eagle, the other gifts as birds flying higher, and approaching nearest to God.
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14. THE FEAR OF GOD HATH PLACED ITSELF ABOVE ALL THINGS. — Thus the Roman, Latin and Greek texts; some less correctly delete the se; which Dionysius followed, and the Carthusian thus expounds it, as if to say, The fear of God hath placed above all things the man who fears God. But it is better to add the se: for he compares the fear of God with nine things which make a man great and happy, and asserts that it transcends all these. Whence St. Jerome in chapter 50 of Isaiah reads, "the fear of God surpasseth all things." Moreover, "the fear of God" is understood not as servile, but as filial, which includes the love and worship of God. Whence the Complutensian editors for fear of God read ἀγάπησις δὲ Κυρίου, that is, but the love of the Lord hath surpassed all things in glory, as if to say, The love of God is clearer and more glorious than all other gifts. The Zurich Bible, the religion of the Lord surpasseth all things in clarity; the Syriac, the fear of God is exalted above all things. Hence also follows immediately: "The fear of God is the beginning of love." Morally, "the fear of God" places itself above wisdom, knowledge and the other nine beatitudes already reviewed, and thus above all virtues and gifts of God: because, resting upon these, it itself, as it were a certain heavy weight, presseth all things downward, lest namely they be lifted up, swell and become proud. For nothing more presseth down arrogance than fear. Whence Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Stromata, for that which we read in Proverbs iii, 7, φοβοῦ τὸν Θεόν, that is, fear God, reads ἐπιφοβοῦ, that is, superfear, as if to say, Receive fear over thyself, says our Salazar there: first, as a horse its rider. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 5, On the Words of Isaiah: "Such," saith he, "is the soul lifted up into pride: for once despair of salvation hath seized it, it ceaseth not to rage: but loosening the reins, it is borne away by irrational desires whithersoever, and no otherwise than a fierce horse, which when it hath cast off the bridle from its mouth and the rider from its back, is borne swifter than any wind, intolerable to all others, all fleeing, and none daring to restrain it. Thus the soul which hath cast off the fear of God that refraineth it, runneth to every place of wickedness, until being brought to the abyss of destruction, it precipitateth its own salvation." What could be more illustrious? Secondly, as a ship its helmsman, who sitting at the stern governeth it and directeth it into port. The same Chrysostom, in the homily On the Faith of Anna, weighing the strength and greatness of soul of that woman, or rather heroine, who endured for so long the reproaches and insults of her rival, thus addeth: "For indeed the fear of God, as a helmsman sitting at the helm, persuaded her to bear the tempest with equanimity, and ceased not to govern her mind until it brought her into a tranquil port laden with cargo, that is, a womb laden with a precious treasure." Thirdly, as a lofty tower its watchman, vigilant and guardian, who foreseeing evils before they come to pass, stirreth up all the powers of the soul to resist. Thus St. Augustine, sermon 18 On the Words of the Apostle, calleth the fear of God the watch, guardian and sentinel of the soul. And indeed, just as a sentinel from afar signifieth by fire or smoke that enemies are at hand and that the time of battle is at hand: so the fear of God, setting before the mind the fires or eternal burnings and the dark fumes of Avernus, prepareth all the powers of the soul for battle. Therefore to superfear God is the same as to receive the fear of God over thyself, namely as a horse its rider, as a ship its helmsman, as a tower its watchman. "And depart from evil," that is, this fear shall cause thee to depart from all evil, namely, as the rider turneth the horse from the precipice, as the helmsman turneth the ship from quicksands or rocks in another direction, as the watchman defendeth the city from every hostile eruption. The gentiles represented this same thing through Chiron the hippocentaur, whom, as Hyginus and other mythologists testify, they deemed to be the best tutor of the son, and thus of Achilles. But this tutor is the fear of God: for they painted Chiron as terrible and holding a bow in his hand, because boys are to be restrained from evil by fear, dread and threats. Again, they said that Chiron nourished those committed to him with the marrow of lions as well as of stags. Finally, they said that Chiron was a physician, and thus an inventor of herbalism and medicine: likewise an astrologer, a musician, immortal, translated to heaven, placed in the zodiac, and called Sagittarius. Thus Pliny, book xvii, chapter 56; Hyginus, book On the Stars; Natalis Comes, book IV of Mythology, chapter 12. Moreover, they gave Chiron the form of a hippocentaur, so that namely he should be like a horse below and like a man above: for the double form of horse and man representeth the likeness of that fear which, superinduced with charity which is twofold in form: by which the horse, the ignoble affection of fear; by which the man, the generous form of charity shadoweth forth. Again, fear, as it were a terrible pedagogue, nourishes in the marrow of lions, that is, it adds to them a certain strength similar to that of lions: and in order to temper that boldness of lions cast forth to daring, it also provides the marrow of deer, which are timid and a symbol of fear: so that there may be fortitude, yet fear may not be lacking; so that there may be the audacity of a lion, the fear of a deer; the latter toward God, the former indeed toward avoiding all evils. These things our Salazar [expounds], which greatly illuminate this passage of Sirach. Therefore, the fear of God is a most precious gem, because it itself is the beauty and comeliness, equally as the summit of wisdom, knowledge and all virtues. For it is placed above all these, as a cover upon a vessel, as a crown upon the head, and as the head upon the body, as it were the completion of all things, the ornament, the support, nay the charioteer of all, the navigator, the director, the king and prince, without which it is necessary that they err, become foolish, and decline into vices. 15. BLESSED IS THE MAN TO WHOM IT IS GIVEN TO HAVE THE FEAR OF GOD. — The Zurich [Bible], blessed is the man to whom the religion of the Lord has fallen. St. Ambrose, or rather St. Prosper, gives the reason, in book II On the Calling of the Gentiles, chapter x, namely that for conversion, salvation and happiness two things are required, to wit grace as it were a mistress subjugating the will to itself, and the will as it were a handmaid obeying grace; and grace begins from fear. "Indeed," he says, "the grace of God principally excels in all justifications, persuading by exhortations, admonishing by examples, terrifying by dangers, inciting by miracles, giving understanding, inspiring counsel, and illuminating the heart itself, and imbuing it with the affections of faith. But also the will of man is subjected to it and joined with it, which is stirred up by the aforesaid aids to these things, so that it may cooperate with the divine work infused in it, and may begin to exercise to merit what it conceived from heavenly seed unto zeal: having from its own mutability, if it fails; from the aid of grace, if it advances. Which aid is administered to all in innumerable ways, whether hidden or manifest. And what is rejected by many, is of their own wickedness; but what is received by many, is both of grace and of human will. For the virtue of the unwilling is nothing, nor can it be asserted that faith, hope, or charity are in those whose good consent is alien from these." Then he teaches that grace works this consent by instilling fear, thus: "But this consent is produced not only by the exhortation of preachers and the incentives of doctrine, but also by fear, on account of which it is written: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Which, however much it may be brought about by terrors, does nothing other than to make him who was made fearful also willing, and not only willing, but also wise. Whence also that is written: Blessed is he to whom it is given to have the fear of God. For what is so beatific as this fear, which is the parent and teacher of wisdom? In whose devotion indeed the will is devoted, which by the author of grace advances by the same fear by which it began. Since therefore this fear is also instilled by a certain force of great terror, reason is not extinguished there, nor is understanding taken away, but rather that darkness which was pressing upon the mind is dispelled, so that the will, depraved before and captive, may be made upright and free." HE WHO HOLDS IT (the fear of God), TO WHOM SHALL HE BE COMPARED? — As if to say, He who fears God appears not so much an earthly man as a certain heavenly angel, and one fallen from heaven to earth. The Zurich [Bible], he who is endowed with that (religion, that is, reverence, fear and worship of the Lord), to whom can he be compared? 16. THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE BEGINNING OF HIS LOVE: BUT THE BEGINNING OF FAITH MUST BE GLUED TO HIM. — Thus the Roman [edition]. Some read, it has been glued to him. The Greek Roman [editions] omit this verse; yet it is read in the Complutensian and Zurich [editions], which translates thus, the religion of the Lord is the beginning of his love; but faith is the origin of union with him; others, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of his love; but faith is the principle of his adherence; the Syriac, the beginning of fearing the Lord is to love him; and the beginning of faith is to go after him. Lay hold on him, my son, and do not let him go, for he is not like him. The sense is, as if to say, From the fear and with the fear of God begins the love of God, and it is also increased and perfected: for as much as filial fear of God grows, so much also grows the love of God; and so perfect fear of God is perfect love of God. In the same sense he said in chapter 1, verse 16: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." For he understands practical wisdom, which includes the love of God. See what is said there. Palacius asks how fear causes love, when love causes fear: for is not love the first of all affections? And he responds that fear causes love, and conversely is caused and produced by it. "As vapor," he says, "is the cause of rain, and conversely rain is the cause of vapor: so the love of God causes fear of offending Him, and conversely fear and reverence of God causes love of the same." For this fear is understood as filial, which begets love in all and is conversely begotten by it: for these two affections are conjoined, for whom we love, the same we fear to offend and revere, and vice versa. Whence Cajetan in II II, Question xxii, article 2, asserts that filial fear in itself embraces love and reverence. He himself therefore is the "beginning," Hebrew ראשית reschit, that is the sum comprehending love. See the sayings at chapter i, verse 11 and following. Secondly, Jansenius explains this passage concerning not our love, but God's, namely that God loves those who fear Him, as if to say God begins to love them as His friends, whom He sees to fear Him and to trust in Him, according to that: "If any one love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him," John xiv. Furthermore, what follows: "But the beginning of faith must be glued to it," understand thus: faith, as it were the beginning, is to be joined to fear, so that it may be able to be the beginning of love, as if to say: The beginning of all gifts and goods is first faith: for from this fear is conceived, which is the cause of love: because without the light of faith God cannot be known, and consequently feared and loved as it ought. Whence the Greek texts have, but faith is the beginning of adhesion to it, so that namely through fear and love we may adhere and be most tightly glued to God: "for he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit with him," I Corinthians vi, 17. To this pertains that of the Apostle, Hebrews xi, 1: "Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for (and to be feared), the evidence of things that appear not," as if to say: Faith effects that things absent, which we hope for and fear, are presented to the mind as if present, and move it to fear and love of itself. See the sayings there. And for this reason Sirach here makes mention of faith, because living faith draws forth and sharpens living fear and love of God. Do you wish therefore to fear and love God more and more each day, consider more vividly each day through faith, how great is God's majesty, wrath, mercy, vengeance; how great the punishments which He will inflict on the impious; how great the glory which He has prepared for those who fear and love Him; how long is the eternity of both: and you will feel great spurs added to you for fearing and loving God. On the other hand, the reason that many do not sufficiently fear, nor love God, is weak faith, and as it were dormant and dead; because they do not apprehend vividly enough God's justice and mercy, hell, paradise, etc. These ought to pray continually with the Apostles: "Lord, increase our faith," Luke xvii, 5. Most excellently St. Chrysostom, homily 72 To the People: "That," he says, "sleepless eye of God, nothing that is done by us is such that it escapes. And thinking this we ought so to manage our life with diligence, as if shortly after words and actions, we were also about to give account of thoughts themselves." Whence he infers: "It is virtue for a human being to despise all things, and through all hours to think of the future, to cling to nothing of present things; but to know that all human things are shadow and dream: virtue, as it were makes one dead to the things of this life; but to live and work toward spiritual things alone. Just as Paul also said: And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me." THE THIRD PART OF THE CHAPTER. CONCERNING THE MALICE OF WICKED WOMEN.
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On the occasion of the third beatitude already mentioned in verse 11, where he said: "Blessed is he that dwelleth with a sensible woman," in order to illustrate it and demonstrate it by the contrary, he passes to the malice of a senseless woman, and from this leaves it to be gathered how unhappy is the husband of a bad and senseless woman, but happy the husband of a good and sensible one: although the connection of sentences and subjects is not to be curiously sought here: for Sirach passes from one to another at will, after the manner of the ancient ethicists and gnomic writers, as I said in the preface. 17. EVERY PLAGUE IS THE SADNESS OF THE HEART: AND ALL THE WICKEDNESS OF A WOMAN IS THE WICKEDNESS OF A WOMAN. — This verse is already wanting in the Greek; but that it once existed in it is clear from what follows, and from our text, as well as from the Syriac, which translates thus: every plague is not as the plague of the heart, and all wickednesses are not as the wickedness of a woman. The "and" is the same as if it said: it is indeed a note of comparison, and combines two similar things. He does this frequently in Proverbs. "Every," that is, the greatest, the most severe, the most bitter. It is an enallage and catachresis: for the whole universal is put for the whole perfect, or superlative: for this degree, since it is the highest, contains in itself either formally or virtually the other degrees of comparison. Thus the greatest pain contains the other lesser pains, and the greatest wickedness contains the other lesser wickednesses. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as the greatest plague, the greatest wound, the greatest pain is sadness of heart: so likewise the greatest wickedness is the wickedness of a woman. Or, just as you would bear any plague more easily than sadness of heart: so also you would bear any evil rather than the wickedness of a woman. Sadness of the heart is a plague and universal misery, enclosing in itself and surpassing all sadness: thus also the wickedness of a woman encloses and surpasses all wickedness. For if once a woman has given herself over to wickedness and cast herself down, she commits no wickedness that she does not commit; as for example, if she is an adulteress, from her one may expect poisonings, thefts, murders. Thus it is said, Proverbs iv, 23: "With all watchfulness keep thy heart:" "with all," that is, principal, exact, supreme; for otherwise also to the eyes and senses their own watchfulness must be applied. And 1 Esdras v, 7: "All peace to king Darius," that is, full and abundant. That this is the sense is clear from what follows. He rightly compares the wickedness of a woman with sadness, both because each is supreme, and because the wickedness of a woman brings supreme sadness and pain to the husband. Whence the Zurich Bible clearly translates: the greatest plague is sadness of soul: and the greatest wickedness is the wickedness of a woman. The reason for the former is: first, that sadness is immediately wholly in the soul, which is most sensitive: for the other pains, such as blows, wounds, burnings, etc., are in the body; and through the body, which in itself has no power of feeling, as it were refracted, blunted and diminished, they pass to the soul, where is the seat of pain and sensation. Wherefore the torment of the soul, such as sadness and sorrow, is far more bitter than any torment of the body, as is evident in the damned and demons: for their punishment is most severe; but that is sadness of soul: for since they lack a body, they cannot feel bodily pains. Second, that the noblest part of man and of the soul is the will: for this, as it were a queen, presides over and commands the other powers, members and senses. But sadness immediately afflicts the will, eats it away, torments it, and subjects it to itself, and through the will all the other powers of man, as being subject to the will, it afflicts and subjects to itself. Wherefore it exerts its force upon the body itself, and torments it, eats it away and consumes it, according to that: "A joyful mind maketh age flourishing: a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones," Proverbs xvii, 22. The reason for the latter is, that a woman has less reason and judgment than a man, who is restrained from crime as it were by reason as a bridle; hence she is often wholly moved by passion and concupiscence, namely by lust, pride, anger, shamelessness, fraud, so that she appears to be an infernal fury. I speak of a woman who is corrupted and perverted either by nature or by her own will and wickedness: for she who is pious and holy by nature or by practice often surpasses men, both on account of the more tender affections which a woman has than a man, and on account of her proneness to devotion and piety; and because God chooses the weak of the world to confound the strong. For which reason St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Catherine, and the other virgins surpassed men, both in chastity, and in fortitude, and in charity, and in martyrdom. Learn morally here how great an evil a wicked woman is, and how much she is to be avoided by men. Tertullian, in the book On the Dress of Women, after the beginning, speaking of woman: "Thou art," he says, "the devil's gateway, thou art the unsealer of that tree, thou art the first deserter of the divine law, thou art she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack." Origen in that homily which he wrote on the gospel of the Canaanite woman: "Woman," he says, "is the head of sin, the weapons of the devil, the expulsion from paradise, the mother of transgression, the corruption of the law." The same, in the second treatise of his Commentaries on Job, while explaining how the devil tempts man through woman, thus writes: "Rarely is the devil strong against men, unless he be armed with woman. He himself does not dare to tempt man by himself, but, having assumed woman as it were as a bow, through her he directs his arrows, and pierces the hearts of men. His weapons are woman, his arrows are blandishments and womanly words, by which he pierces the hearts of men, and works their deception through woman." The same, in the homily on 1 Kings xxviii: "Woman," he says, "is the foundation of the devil's armor; through her Adam was expelled from paradise: through her Esau sold his birthright: through her Samson perished: through her Elias was beheaded: through her Naboth was destroyed: through her Saul lost the light of prophecy, through her David fell into sin." Furthermore, what follows: "his arrows are blandishments and womanly words, by which he pierces the hearts of men": alludes to the myths or fables of the gentiles concerning Cupid, the god of Love. Cupid, as Alciatus, imitating Lucian, depicted him in Emblem 113, the mythographers thus paint. First, as an infant and boy, because he makes one act foolishly like a child; second, naked, because a lover, in order to please his beloved, squanders all things, and is stripped of wealth, wife, children, friends; third, winged, because he flies most swiftly into the hearts of men and women; fourth, bearing a bow and quiver of arrows, because with the arrows of eyes and words he pierces the hearts of men; fifth, they make him blind, because a lover loves blindly and thoughtlessly, and afterwards always regrets his desire. To him thus similar in this respect to Cupid, Sirach describes a wicked woman, from whose eyes and words as it were fiery arrows proceed, by which she pierces and burns the hearts of men with the burning love of lust. Thus I have spoken of similar things at length on Canticles iv, 9, to that passage: "Thou hast wounded my heart in one of thine eyes." To this pertains what Curtius relates in book v, chapter 5: "Three hundred and fifty concubines of the king (namely of Darius) follow; and these too are adorned and equipped with royal adornment. After these a great sum of silver and gold: as if the price which the love of women constitutes for men were thereby measured." Most prudently therefore Numa Pompilius, the second king of the Romans, as Plutarch testifies in the Life of Numa, ordained that virgins and maidens should not have a dowry, nor should a dowry be promised, nor should there be any dowry except virtue, so that namely they might be led not from avarice but from love: for by this means the frauds of women, adultery and profligacy would cease. Palacius asks how a wicked woman is the greatest evil, when even a demon is worse than a wicked woman? And he responds that this is true absolutely; but with respect to man in this world, a wicked woman is a greater evil, because he dwells together with a wicked woman, but does not enjoy the sight of the devil. Second, because a demon tempting is easily repelled; but a wicked woman with difficulty, because she is bound by marriage. Third, because a demon fights against man only through suggestion; but a wicked woman fights against him through speech, through blandishments, through appearance, through conjugal love, by which she often moves him more than a demon. Fourth, because a demon does not always tempt us; but a wicked woman always, because we always dwell together with her. Fifth, because a demon cannot compel the will; but a wicked woman can compel it as it were, for example through her annoyance, and her incessant clamor and noise, according to that in Proverbs xxvii, 15: "A roof continually dropping through in a rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike," See the things said there. Learn morally here how great an evil is wicked concupiscence, which woman represents: for this often harms men more than the devil. For the first and sharpest stimulus of concupiscence is sex. St. Chrysostom or rather the author of the Imperfect Commentary, homily 32 on Matthew: "Just as," he says, "water if poured upon fire, however much fire there be, extinguishes it; but if oil be poured in, it is more kindled: similarly concupiscence if it exist outside the body is easily overcome; but if it be in the body, or near the body, it is more kindled." Then he adds: "Because if woman did not exist, all obedience of the world toward God would be secure; and even if the devil tempted, he would not harm thus. For woman tempts man in three ways: in one way, through her appearance; in another way, through her words; in a third way, through her touch. But the devil cannot tempt man except through suggestion alone. Therefore the temptation of woman is more efficacious than that of the devil." Thus Rabanus: "As there is no greater grace, he says, than true charity in the joy of a good mind: so there is no greater plague than the sadness of a deceitful heart in idolatry, or in the error of heretical depravity. For in its wickedness is all malice." Wherefore whatsoever things have been said of a wicked woman, and are to be said even to the end of this chapter; all these things, with only the name changed, attribute to heresy, to concupiscence, and especially to one's own will, of which mystically Esdras in book I, chapter x, 2: "If there is repentance, he says, in Israel concerning this, let us make a covenant with the Lord our God, that we may put away all the wives, and those that are born of them, according to the will of the Lord." For the Lord has ordained that we do not our own wills in the holy day of the Lord, that is, in the time granted to us to live holily in this world. Let each one therefore put away his own wife, that is his own will, which he took in marriage acting against the law; and let him abandon the sons born of her, that is vain and useless desires, not that he may remain alone or barren, but that he may be joined to the divine will, from which he may receive most beloved sons, namely the merits of eternal life. Thus our Alvarez, in book II On the Mortification of the Inner Man, part 3, chapter VII. 18. AND EVERY PLAGUE, AND NOT A PLAGUE OF THE HEART SHALL HE SEE: 19. AND EVERY WICKEDNESS, AND NOT THE WICKEDNESS OF A WOMAN: 20. AND EVERY AFFLICTION, AND NOT THE AFFLICTION OF THOSE WHO HATE: 21. AND EVERY VENGEANCE, AND NOT THE VENGEANCE OF ENEMIES. — He compares the malice of a woman with any plague. "Shall see," that is, shall feel, shall endure, shall suffer. It is a catachresis: for sight, being the noblest sense, is hence taken for any sense whatsoever; to see therefore is the same as to feel and to endure. For affliction the Greek is ἐπαγωγή, that is, an affliction, a calamity, by which a man is wholly as it were covered, that is, veiled, darkened, enveloped, as I said in chapter II, 2. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Although a man shall see and endure a plague; yet a plague of the heart, namely sadness, he shall not see, that is, shall by no means endure: thus likewise although wickedness, yet not the wickedness of women; and although affliction, yet not the affliction of those who hate; and although vengeance, yet not the vengeance of enemies. For the other plagues are external, and since they do not penetrate to the heart, they can be borne; but the wickedness of a wife, equally as sadness, and the affliction of those who hate, and the vengeance of enemies, is an internal evil, and penetrates to the heart, and therefore appears as it were excessive and intolerable. Who could bear the wife of the Emperor Claudius, Messalina? Certainly Caesar did not bear his Pompeia, says Palacius. Whence the Zurich version clearly translates, I will yield to any plague, provided it be not a plague of the mind: and although to any wickedness, provided it be not the wickedness of a woman: I will yield to any assault, provided it be not an assault of those burning with hatred: and vengeance from anywhere, provided it be not from enemies; and the Syriac, every plague is not as a plague of the heart, and all wickedness is not as the wickedness of a woman, and all tribulations are not as the tribulation of one who hates, and all vengeances are not as the vengeance of an enemy. Because when those who hate and enemies afflict and take vengeance without mercy, says Jansenius, and set no limit to the harm inflicted or the vengeance, the calamity and vengeance which is inflicted by them is intolerable, and is to be deprecated in every way. But between the calamity or affliction of those who hate, and the vengeance of enemies, there is this difference, that the former is inflicted beyond desert, the latter beyond desert. For those who hate someone, even if not injured, labor to harm him: and those who are enemies, if slightly injured, seek to avenge themselves more severely than is fitting. This sentence therefore contains a comparison of certain evil and inconvenient things, and shows what in each kind of evils is extreme and most to be detested. It is said by Sirach that his purpose was to assail the female sex, and to weave an invective against it, although that sex was instituted by God, and therefore is good and praiseworthy, as St. Jerome shows in book I Against Jovinian. But he wished to censure with keen speech the depraved nature of wicked women and their vices, in order to instruct and warn young men, first, with how much discretion and judgment a wife should be loved; second, with how much prudence one should act with women, lest they be rashly provoked; third, that one must beware lest anyone indulge too much in their love even in marriage, and love them desperately, lest he be ruined by them, much more outside of marriage. That song of Simonides is famous concerning the disparagement of women, asserting that some women are formed from a fox, namely cunning and deceitful; others from a dog, namely snappish and quarrelsome, barking at their husbands; others from an ass, idle and slothful; others from a mare, wanton and lascivious; others from a monkey, lovers of finery and cosmetics; and also the best from the bee, industrious, diligent, laborious, prudent, and these are given by Jupiter to husbands who please him. Furthermore, fittingly a wicked woman is compared to a serpent, on account of the great affinity of both in contriving deceits, lies, quarrels, brawls, murders; so much so that a wicked woman seems to be serpentine, indeed a serpent: whence Pliny in book VII, chapter III, writes that women have sometimes given birth to serpents. This is relevant to what St. Epiphanius, in book III Against the Heretics, near the end, in a brief exposition of the Catholic faith, number 10, teaches, that Eva signifies a woman, but Heva with aspiration signifies a serpent. "There are," he says, "Dionysians, who are accustomed to send Caretus to sacred rites and the division of meats, crowned with serpents, raving, and shouting eva eva; that is, invoking that Eve whom the serpent deceived, or with aspirated voice calling the serpent in the Hebrew language to fraud and error. For Eva, if pronounced with a light breath, signifies a woman: but if aspirated, the Hebrews understand by this word Heva a serpent." Understand this from the appropriation and usage of speech of the later Hebrews, who perhaps called Heva a serpent, because Eve, seduced by the serpent and as if breathed upon by its breath, put on serpentine manners (which we see in many Eves, that is women, today). Hence also the Syrians call the serpent chevia, perhaps from the root חוה chavi, that is, showed, judged, because the serpent showed the forbidden fruit to Eve, Eve to Adam. Otherwise Heva, or, as the Hebrews say, Chaffa, from the original Hebrew etymology is the same as mother of the living, or viviparous, as I showed in Genesis III, 20. The same is handed down by Eusebius in book II of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter V: "What shall I say," he says, "of Dionysius, whom the Greeks call Menolem, that is in Latin wholly frenzied, to whom the Bacchae celebrate orgies, and eating raw flesh are initiated in sacred frenzy, shouting Evan, Evan? Which word with aspiration according to the refined Hebrew language signifies a serpent of the feminine sex (namely a female serpent)." From Eusebius therefore Epiphanius received and transcribed the same thing. Understand the Hebrew language as the later one, namely Syriac: for in Syriac a serpent is called חויא cheviia, or chevia, for the reason stated a little before; or rather from the root חיה chaia, that is, lived, because the serpent is agile and lively. Whence חיה chaia is called a wild animal, which above all is a serpent. Thus the Syriac Lexicons. Moreover, the anger of a woman is bitter, so also is serpentine envy; whence that saying: "A woman's malice sets every house on fire." And that of Homer, Odyssey XI: "Nothing is heavier and more canine than a woman;" for the dog is a symbol and mirror of anger and envy. 22 and 23. THERE IS NO HEAD MORE WICKED THAN THE HEAD OF A SERPENT, AND THERE IS NO ANGER ABOVE THE ANGER OF A WOMAN. — Because just as a serpent (for this is what the Greek ὄφις signifies) carries venom in its head, which, cunningly and virulently vomiting and breathing it forth upon a man, harms and kills him: so a wicked woman carries in her head venomous anger, which when occasion is given, she vomits upon him with whom she is angry, nor does she cease until she harms and kills him, and this cunningly through a thousand arts and deceits. The Greeks for the anger of a woman have ἐχθροῦ, that is, of an enemy, as if it followed what he said a little before: "All vengeance, and not the vengeance of enemies." Whence the Zurich version, as there is no head more harmful than the head of a serpent, so there is no anger more pestilential than the anger of an enemy. But the wickedness of a woman is treated here, not of an enemy; whence the Syrian translates thus, there is no head more venomous than the head of a serpent, and there is no enmity more bitter than that which is a woman's. Thus St. Chrysostom in the place about to be cited. Palacius understands by the serpent the serpent which deceived Eve, and through her Adam, and cast them out of paradise; or certainly the head of the basilisk, which kills by looking. Hugo however: "The serpent," he says, "is the devil, as it were dwelling in shadows," that is, sinners. Job chapter XL: "Under shadow it sleeps." The head of the serpent is the wicked suggestion of the demon, Genesis III: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman; she shall crush thy head." The woman here is sensuality or the flesh; the anger of the woman, the concupiscence of the flesh. Wicked is the suggestion of the demon; but more wicked is the concupiscence of the flesh, because it pollutes body and soul. I Corinthians VI: "Every sin whatsoever a man shall commit, is without the body; but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body."
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Again, by anger understand not sudden anger, but the continuous anger of a woman who has given herself to malice: such was Athaliah, Jezabel, Herodias. For these and the following statements, as Jansenius rightly observes, are not said by Sirach for the purpose of attacking the female sex and weaving an invective against it... 23. TO DWELL WITH A LION AND A DRAGON SHALL PLEASE (supply, rather, or more, me: for this is εὐδοκῶ, that is, I approve, I wish, I prefer), THAN TO DWELL WITH A WICKED WOMAN. — The Zurich Bible: I would prefer to dwell with a lion and a dragon rather than to dwell with a wicked woman; the Syriac: it is better to dwell with a lion and with a dragon than to dwell with a wicked woman in a house; then because a lion and a dragon are tamed by art and are softened by humility and kindnesses, as is evident from the lion of Androcles, who, because a thorn was removed from his paw by him, freed him from death, as Gellius testifies in book V, chapter XIV. Likewise they are overcome by innocence and holiness; as is evident in St. Saba, to whom a lion willingly granted his cave, and departing yielded it; and concerning the lion of St. Jerome, or rather of Gerasimus, who served him like a donkey, and dying from grief died with him, as John Moschus relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter CVII. But the wickedness of a wicked woman is incurable, and so if you humble yourself before her, she will become more insolent, and if you are benevolent and kind to her, she becomes more exasperated: then because lions and dragons can be enclosed in cages or enclosures so that they cannot harm; but a wicked woman does not allow herself to be enclosed: then because it is better to be suddenly killed by a lion or dragon than to be tortured and consumed by a slow and long death through the wickedness of a perverse wife. He alludes to Proverbs, chapter XXI, 19: "It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and angry woman." Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 15 from various places in Matthew, and from him Damascene, Parallels I, chapter LXXVI: "There is, he says, no beast in this world like a wicked woman; what among four-footed animals is more savage than a lion? but nothing compared to this; or among serpents what more atrocious than a dragon? but not even this can be compared to a wicked and talkative woman; for both the lion and the dragon are inferior in evil. The wisest Solomon testifies to this saying of mine, saying: To dwell with a lion and a dragon is better than with a wicked and talkative woman. And lest you think the Prophet said this in irony, learn more clearly from the facts themselves. Lions in the lake feared Daniel; but the just Naboth was killed by Jezabel. A whale kept Jonah in its belly: but Delilah, having ensnared Samson with allurements, and even having shaved his head and disfigured him, delivered him to foreigners. Dragons and horned serpents trembled before John the Baptist living in the desert with subdued ferocity: but Herodias cut off his head, and received the death of such a great man as the price of a dance. Ravens feared Elijah in death, and Jezabel pursued him after that, on account of the grace of rain restored to the earth through him, so as to render him the penalty of death, by whose prayers the human race, freed from famine, and she herself, though unworthy, lived." Whence after much he concludes: "A woman is a bad beast, a creeping worm, and has its dwelling in Momus, a daughter of falsehood, the guardian of Paradise, the expeller of Adam, a pernicious enemy, an enemy of peace." All these things recited in this verse and the preceding one almost word for word from St. Chrysostom are found in St. Ephrem, tract. Against Wicked Women, volume I. From this place St. Gregory of Nazianzus took his couplet in Sentences: Evil is a thing and dragons, evil is a thing and serpents: Double wickedness of a woman among beasts. And the same more clearly in Couplets: "Dreadful are dragons, treacherous serpents, the woman has embraced the force of both beasts;" and the Greeks have their saying: "Poison is naturally the serpent's, a wicked woman is more cruel than all beasts." Whence Diogenes, observing two women conferring secretly with each other: "She takes, he says, poison from a viper serpent in exchange," as Anthony the Monk relates in the Melissa, book II, chapter XXXIV. Finally Hugo embraces all the harms of a woman in this couplet: A woman pollutes body, wealth, soul, force, eyes, voice, Annihilates, kills, snatches, deprives, darkens, embitters. The same mystically: A lion, he says, is a cruel prince, who harms openly; a dragon is a heretic, who acts secretly: more harmful than either is the wickedness of a woman. In Pirke Avoth, that is, in the Chapters or Proverbs of the Hebrew Fathers, chapter 1, it is said: "The wise have pronounced that a man, whenever he converses longer with a woman, first, harms himself; second, departs from the word of the law; third, devotes himself from then on to the prisons of hell." 24. THE WICKEDNESS OF A WOMAN CHANGETH HER FACE: AND OBSCURETH HER COUNTENANCE AS A BEAR: AND LIKE A SACK SHEWETH IT. — The Greek Complutensian edition alone has, ὡς ἄρκος, that is, as a bear; the Roman edition alone has ὡς σάκκον, that is, as a sack. Our text reads both. The sense is, as if to say, A wicked woman by her malice and wickedness changes and blinds herself; in Greek σκοτάζει, that is, darkens and blackens her face, otherwise cheerful and bright, so that namely like a grim bear, and a blackish and horrible sack, she appears grim, gloomy, blackish and horrible to her husband and others, and saddens and dismays him; so that she seems to be one of the Furies, or Alecto. Whence the Zurich translation renders it, the malice of a woman deforms her face, and like a bear blackens her countenance; for bears are dark and grim in face. Others, reading ὅρασιν, that is, appearance, instead of πρόσωπον, that is, face, translate it, the wickedness of a woman changes her appearance, and darkens her face, as her sack, namely of the woman: for in Greek it is feminine αὐτῆς: the Syriac version, however, takes these things concerning the husband; whence it seems to have read masculine αὐτοῦ, for it translates, the malice of a wicked woman will discolor the very face of her husband, and will make it black, like the color of haircloth. Both are true: for the anger and sadness of a woman's face likewise makes the husband angry or melancholic, so that his face grows pale, and he displays anger and sadness in a pale, livid and blackish face.
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Note the blinds: for, as Pliny says in book VIII, chapter XXXVI: "The eyes of bears are often dulled; for which reason chiefly they seek honeycombs, so that the blood may relieve that heaviness from their mouth wounded by bees." He adds the cause: "The head is most weak in a bear, which is strongest in a lion; therefore when force presses, about to hurl themselves from some cliff, they are thrown down with their hands covering it: and often in the arena they are killed by a blow breaking the skull." Lyra adds that a bear, if it sees a shining plate, is blinded. Thus envy, whose symbol is a wicked woman, is pained in the eyes by the brightness of a man's prosperity, is dulled and blinded; hence envy is said to be, as if not seeing, and is depicted blind, and indeed sometimes blinds others, according to that common saying: "Give an obol to Belisarius, whom virtue exalted, envy blinded." Therefore the blinding of the bear symbolically denotes the blinding of the envious and of envy. Otherwise Hugo, as if to say, From wickedness a woman knows how to change her face with ointments, paint and vain adornment, so that she appears beautiful, when she is most ugly. Whence Ovid in the Remedies of Love: We are carried away by adornment, all things are covered with gems and gold, the girl herself is the smallest part of herself. 25. In the midst of her neighbors (that is, her own: for the Hebrews have the same pronoun both absolute and reciprocal, which signifies both his and his own) HER HUSBAND GROANED, AND HEARING SIGHED A LITTLE. — as if to say, The husband, hearing others complain of his wife's moroseness and grim face, and harsh words and gestures, groans and sighs, but a little and silently: because for shame and ignominy, that he has so wicked a wife, he does not dare to groan much, nor fully to open his heartfelt sorrow, according to that: He feigns hope in his face, he presses deep sorrow in his heart. Whence for a little, that is, a little, as our text reads, the Greek texts now read, πικρά, that is, bitterly, sharply. Hence the Zurich translation renders it, sitting among his neighbors his wife's husband, because of her unwillingly also groans heavily; others, among his neighbors reclines (in Greek ἀναπέσειται) his husband, and hearing (this) groans sharply; the Syriac, in the midst of his neighbors sits the husband of the foolish woman, and against his will groans.
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26. ALL WICKEDNESS IS BUT LITTLE TO THE WICKEDNESS OF A WOMAN, LET THE PORTION OF SINNERS FALL UPON HER. — "All," in Greek μικρά, that is, small. Thus in chapter XI, 3, it said: "Small, that is, little, among flying things the bee, above wickedness," in Greek πρὸς κακίαν, that is, in comparison with wickedness, toward wickedness. Whence the Syriac: much is the wickedness, and there is not like the depravity of the wickedness of a woman. LET THE PORTION OF SINNERS FALL UPON HER. — First, Palacius and Jansenius explain this thus, as if to say: Let this evil lot befall, namely a wicked woman, to a sinful man, not to a holy one; let sinners by their lot and punishment draw her, let they alone be forced to endure the wickedness of a wicked wife. For this is a fitting marriage, when the wicked is joined with the wicked. Far be such a miserable lot from the just, let it befall sinners: because nothing worse can happen to them in life than a wicked and quarrelsome woman. Thus Charles V used to say he could not curse his enemy with anything worse than an imperious wife. To this pertains that saying of St. Chrysostom in Anthony in the Melissa, book II, chapter XXXIV: "He who has a wicked wife, let him understand that he has received the reward of his sins." Second, "the portion of sinners" is punishment and hell, as if to say: Let the wicked woman be punished with a fitting penalty either here or in hell. Whence the Zurich Bible translates, let the portion of the wicked oppress her; and the Syriac, let the portion of transgressions fall upon her. Third and genuinely, as if to say: Let the wicked woman draw a husband who will chastise her for her deserts, afflict her, beat her: for this lot is introduced here as a punishment of the wicked woman, to chastise and tame her wickedness, or rather to beat it down. Whence in Greek it is, the portion of the sinner falling upon her, that is, let it fall to her, press upon her, oppress her, as the Zurich Bible translates. Solomon teaches the same in Proverbs chapter V, 4, and Ecclesiastes VII, 27. From Solomon and Sirach, Plato and the Philosophers learned the same. Whence Menander: "A wicked woman," he says, "is a treasure of evils. Fire, and sea, and woman are three evils. Wherever women are, there all evils are." Homer in the Odyssey XI: Nothing is graver than woman, nothing worse. Terence in the Hecyra: In the same game they all seem to me taught to wickedness. Philemon in Stobaeus, Sermon 66: An evil necessary is immortal, a wife. Euripides, book I of the Epigrams of the Greeks: With much fury the angry sea rages, And the rivers flowing downward, and the sharp force of fire, Bitter want, and many other bitter things: But nothing so bitter and harmful as a wicked woman. Antonius the Monk (not that great one, the contemporary of St. Athanasius, as Trithemius wishes in On Ecclesiastical Writers; but another inferior to him and later: for he cites Chrysostom, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Photius, Nilus and John of Damascus) in the Melissa, book II, chapter XXXIII, cites Aristippus, who, beholding a small woman but beautiful, said: μικρόν μέν καλόν, μέγα δε κακόν, that is, small indeed beautiful, but great evil. And in chapter XXXIV he cites Protagoras, who, when asked why he had given his daughter in marriage to an enemy, answered: "Because I could give him nothing worse."
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27. AS A SANDY ASCENT IN THE FEET OF THE AGED, SO IS A TALKATIVE WOMAN TO A QUIET MAN. — The Zurich Bible: to a sedate man, as if to say: As an ascent in sand, namely because it is fluid, unstable and stony, says Rabanus, a heap, or a sandy hill, is troublesome to the feet of an old man weak and infirm; so likewise a talkative, garrulous and loquacious wife is troublesome to a man tranquil, silent and peaceful: for she cries out at him, makes noise, murmurs, yelps; and thus she disturbs his peace, and provokes him to quarrels, disputes, wrangling and fights. Again, as an old man will ascend with the greatest difficulty through a sandy slope (for because he is old, he cannot fix his feet in sand), so a quiet man will bear a talkative wife with the greatest difficulty: for how will he hear so many complaints of those whom the wife's tongue has wounded? The Syriac translates, as the ascent of sand in the feet of an old man, so is a woman whose tongue is long against a gentle man. Concerning the ascent of sand I spoke in chapter XVIII, 8. To this pertains that saying of Menander: A tempest in houses is a woman to men. And that of Ovid in book II of the Art of Love: A wife's dowry is quarrels. And Juvenal, Satire 6: There is scarcely any cause in which a woman has not stirred up a dispute, etc. The bed always has quarrels and alternating wrangling, In which a married woman lies. St. Jerome in book I Against Jovinian: "He who does not quarrel," he says, "is unmarried." Xystus the Pythagorean in the Enchiridion cited by St. Jerome: "To marry," he says, "and to beget children I can do; know that both. But if, as one knowing battle, you still wish to fight, then take a wife and beget children." Finally Solomon: "A house with a dripping roof," he says, "is a quarrelsome woman," Proverbs XIX, 13.
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28. DO NOT LOOK UPON (some read "thou mayest fall upon", that is, thou mayest stumble, thou mayest strike against) A WOMAN'S FORM, AND DO NOT COVET A WOMAN IN HER FORM, — that is, on account of her form, namely on account of beauty and comeliness: "For through the beauty of a woman many have perished," as I said in chapter IX, 9. First, this sentence can be understood of a woman outside of marriage, as if to say: Do not look upon a beautiful woman, lest by her beauty thou shouldest unlawfully covet her and commit fornication with her: for the eyes are leaders in love. Whence the Zurich version translates it, do not stumble upon the beauty of a woman, nor covet a woman lustfully. Beauty and comeliness: because beautiful women are wont to be proud of their beauty, to be imperious, and to dominate their husbands. Finally, beautiful women are sought after by many, and therefore they incur either the crime of adultery or suspicion of it, according to that saying: There is strife when there is great beauty and modesty: and thus they are to their husbands the occasion of jealousy, infamy, hatreds, and often of death. Hence Maximus, sermon 39: Solon, he says, being asked whether it would be expedient to marry, denied it: "Because," he said, "if thou shalt marry a beautiful woman, thou shalt have κοινήν, that is, a common one; but if thou shalt marry an ugly one, thou shalt have ποινήν, that is, a punishment." The same thing Antonius attributes to Aristippus in the Melissa, book II, chapter XXXIV. For this reason prudent men seek brides of moderate rather than of exceptional and excessive beauty. This sense is followed by the Syriac version, whose words I shall presently recite. Second, it can be understood of a woman who is sought for marriage, so that she may be taken as a wife, as if to say: When thou seekest a wife, do not look primarily to her beauty, but to her character: because beauty quickly fades; whence it will then be a source of weariness and torment to thee: and because beautiful women are wont to be proud of their beauty... Third, it can be understood of a woman who has already become a wife, as if to say: If thou hast a wife, do not continually look upon her beauty, so that on that account thou shouldest use her immoderately to satisfy lust rather than for the purpose of offspring; for this is disordered, and therefore sinful. Whence the Greek Complutensian edition has: "Do not fall upon the beauty of a woman, and do not covet a woman for delights," which thou mayest thus translate, do not fall upon the beauty of thy wife, and do not covet thy wife for luxuries: for γυνή signifies both wife and woman. Morally, learn here how alluring, vain and deceptive, and therefore to be avoided, is the beauty of women. "What is beauty?" Socrates answers: "It is the tyranny of a short time;"; Theophrastus: "It is a silent deception;"; Euripides in Helen: "It is an unhappy thing;"; Petrarch, book I of the Remedies of Both Fortunes: "It is a veil to the eyes, a snare to the feet, birdlime to the wings, so that one does not easily discern the truth, nor follow virtue, nor fly up into the high air: it is a domestic enemy, a robber of peace, a matter of labor, a torment of lust;"; St. Jerome: "It is the oblivion of reason;"; Proclus, in the book On the Soul: "Souls," he says, "deceived through ignorance of true beauty, admire and are enamored of bodily forms;"; St. Chrysostom in his work To Theodore the Fallen: "It is plaster applied to a sepulchre, it is phlegm mixed with blood, shining beautifully through the skin;"; remove the skin, see how putrid the flesh, what a dunghill in the belly, what phlegm drips through the mouth and nostrils. For this reason that old man among John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter CCXVII, used to say: "Salt, when it is made from water, if it touch water, is dissolved into water; thus a monk, when he is born of a woman, if he draw near to a woman, is dissolved, and comes to this, that he is no longer a monk." But Maximus in homily 39: "Pythagoras," he says, "used to say that to fall into fire and into a woman was an equal thing." For just as fire burns a man with its heat, so a woman burns a man with her form and color, according to that saying: "And a woman burns by being seen." Whoever therefore wishes to consult the welfare of his soul and chastity, let him restrain his eyes and turn them away from women, nay, let him flee from them as from basilisks, which kill by their look, according to that word of the Apostle: "Flee fornication." More excellently St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in his oration Against Women Adorning Themselves: "They say," he says, "that Pandora, when fire had been stolen by Prometheus, was sent by the gods to mortals as a vengeance for this crime, in place of the good and useful fire, another fire, evil and pestilential: and in order that it might inflame the minds of men more ardently, it was furnished and adorned by the gods with every kind of beauty. Thus when each of the gods had contributed his own kind of allurement and fraud into one, she was sent to mortals full and heaped up with deception; a cunning little woman, shameless, endowed with sweetness of speech, a pernicious pleasure, a torch perpetually burning. All forward little women and those of brazen countenance are the daughters of Pandora. But thou, image of Christ, strive that thou mayest shine forth in modesty and prudence." And below: "From that time, O my daughter, it has been established by paternal law for you that you should never trust in your beauty. Every elegance of form brings me only a brief spring, and the harshness of winter soon extinguishes it. For either disease breaks it prematurely and weakens it, or old age itself certainly destroys and obliterates it. But this is even more ridiculous: for you would see a woman so insolent in the consciousness of her own deformity that she glories in her ugliness and despises Danae." Solomon depicts this Pandora graphically in Proverbs VII. And shortly after, declaring how great is the power of form and beauty for allurement: "Certain ones once, as the Poets feign," he says, "the empty and formless Echo, captivated by love, wandered through mountains and cliffs. Another, losing his form, leaped into a fountain to embrace the destructive simulacrum of beauty. Another again burned with a certain lost and mad love for some river, and never withdrew his foot from the beloved shore, lapped the water, drew it up in his hands, seized the foam, and yet the ardor of love could not be extinguished by any waves. So blind and perverse a thing is love!" St. Basil agrees with St. Gregory of Nazianzus in his custom, in the book On Virginity: "The guide and leader," he says, "and the bridesman of the eyes, is he whose hands are servants, namely touch." Hence by St. Peter in the Second Epistle, chapter II, verse 14, eyes are called "full of adultery and unceasing sin;" and by St. Bernard: "Occasion of sin, indication of committed guilt, cause of sin to be committed." Indeed, Seneca also, in the book On Remedies of Fortune: "Eyes," he says, "are incitements to vices and leaders of crimes," especially of lust. Virgil, Eclogue VIII: As soon as I saw, so I perished, so did evil error carry me away. Propertius: If you know not, eyes are leaders in love. The same, book I, elegy 1: Cynthia first captured wretched me with her eyes, touched by no desires before. He explains that passage: "But after a long time had passed, his wife said to him," etc.; and at the beginning of the third treatise he describes many vices of women in a charming manner, as also does St. Cyprian in the book On the Singularity of Clerics. St. Chrysostom also in Matthew, chapter XIX, homily 32, in the explanation of that passage, It is not expedient to marry: "What," he says, "is a woman other than an enemy of friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable calamity, a domestic danger, a delightful detriment (or, as others read, a detestable one), an evil nature painted with the color of good?" The second philosopher likewise, when asked what a woman was, replied: "A man's shipwreck, a house's tempest, an impediment to peace, a captivity of life, a daily loss, a voluntary battle, a costly war, a wild guest, a solicitous care, a lioness embracing, an adorned Scylla, a malicious animal, a necessary evil." I omit, as false and erroneous, and therefore unworthy of this place, the Severians and Archontic heretics who so abhorred women that they said they were the work of Satan, as St. Epiphanius testifies, book I of Heresies, volume III, section 45 in their heresy. See St. Chrysostom, homily on the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, where, on the occasion of Herodias, he wonderfully attacks women. Wherefore the same rightly teaches that a badly behaved wife should be corrected in three ways: first, by teaching according to God; but if she does not feel the fear of God, by reproaching, or so that she may blush as a human being; if she does not feel shame, frequently confused, let her do what Solomon prescribes, strike her hard with a rod. Therefore first admonish, because teaching of justice profits much; then confound, because shame is frequently a bridle of vices; third, it is just that she be corrected as a maidservant, who does not know how to blush as a free woman. Tiraquellus, however, in law 9 on Marriage, thinks that bad women should rather be corrected by their husbands, by the example of the virtue of prudence: for often "the sins of women are contracted by the ignorance of men," says Sextus the Pythagorean, and by gentleness, to which severity should be mixed: just as lions, which men wish to tame, should not be beaten with blows: for they grow worse from blows; nor again should they be excessively indulged with caresses, lest they become too proud, as Philostratus testifies in book VII, but caresses mixed with threats more easily lead them to the desired behavior. Whence Anthony the Monk in the Melissa, book II, chapter XXXIV, says from St. Chrysostom: "It is easier to forge iron than to correct a woman." Mystically, a good woman is faith, a bad woman is heresy and infidelity. Again, a good woman is charity, a bad woman is concupiscence, and especially one's own will: for by this no woman is worse; for this is the cause of all sin, as St. James says in chapter 1, verse 14, and therefore nothing is worse than this. Whence just as a bad woman is proud, talkative, shameless, drunken, quarrelsome, idle, etc.; so indeed it is also with lust. Moreover, the vice of woman is anger, and from this comes impatience, precipitousness and fury. For the angry are borne headlong into quarrels, words and blows, and steel and death, both their own and that of their loved ones. Whence Juvenal, Satire 6: "Whenever," he says, "anger makes this sex guilty, with liver inflamed by rage, they are borne headlong like rocks broken from mountain ridges." Whence also St. Chrysostom, homily On the Beheading of St. John: "A woman," he says, "when injured, goes mad." Rabbi Moses the Egyptian in his book Perplexed III, chapter XLIX, says the same thing, and attributes it to the weakness of the female sense. And Plutarch transmits nearly the same thing in his book Περὶ ἀοργησίας, that is, On Restraining Anger: "Just as," he says, "swelling occurs from a great wound in the flesh, so in the softest minds if anyone gives himself over to pain, by this very fact that the weakness is greater, it elicits greater anger, and for this reason women are more angry than men, the sick than the healthy, the old than the young, the unhappy than the happy." That deposed physician also, in Lucian's Dialogue, to which he himself gave a title, asserts that women more easily than men fall into madness, and receive the cure of this disease with greater difficulty; chiefly for the reason that they have much anger and levity, and are easily moved, and their bodily strength is slight. Seneca, book I On Anger, calls anger "a womanly vice." That saying from Telemachus, book II of Epigrams, is well-worn: "Every woman is anger: but she has two good hours, one in the bedchamber, one in death." Menander: "There is more danger," he says, "in provoking an old woman than a dog." The opinion of the Hebrews is that no anger is more atrocious than the anger of a woman: "for the female race is irritable and vengeful;" partly on account of lack of reason, partly on account of lowliness of spirit. For true greatness consists in disregarding injuries, and not deigning to honor any men with one's anger, according to that saying: "Caesar's anger is not worthy." Finally, truly St. Clement, book II of the Constitutions, chapter XXXVII: "Where there is anger," he says, "there the Lord is not, but the friend of Satan." The physician Lævinus Lemnius assigns the physical cause of the anger and fury of women, in book IV On the Hidden Marvels of Nature, chapter XIII, to be their menstruation. "I," he says, "can see no more proper cause for this matter than the virus and filth of humors, which a woman gathers and purges each month from the course of the moon. For when it happens that she is irritated, as most lightly is wont to occur, that whole cesspool of humors is stirred up and smokes, and is diffused through the body, so that the heart and brain happen to be affected by this smoke and ashes, and the spirits both vital and animal, which serve those parts, are inflamed; and thus it comes about that angry women, especially the younger ones (for worn-out old women are more peaceful on account of their remaining menses) bark and cry out rabidly, and with clapping hands produce indecorous gestures and growlings; and, since reason is less vigorous in them, judgment is weak and meager, the mind infirm, they are carried away more sharply, and cannot at all restrain the impulse of the mind. And the baser each one in that sex is, the more does anger tumult and effervesce implacably. Hence in plebeian and prostituted women (for patrician women sometimes serve decorum, although for the most part they remain silent with wrinkled noses, and do not deign to answer men, which the Belgians call pzancken), since they hold a body almost contaminated with vicious humors, the utmost shamelessness is joined with equal malice, so that, as if driven by furies, they cannot be restrained by counsel, reason, shame, warnings, blandishments, by which even wild beasts are tamed, from growling, and from ceasing their insane clamors, so much so that "Neither law, nor good, nor equity do they know, Better, worse; profit, harm; they see nothing, Except what lust suggests," says Terence in the Self-Tormentor, scene I, act IV. Thus forgetful of themselves, they hold faith, honor, shame, reputation, probity, chastity, esteem as vile, and do not suffer it to be endangered. This is Lemnius."
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29. THE ANGER OF A WOMAN, AND DISRESPECT, AND GREAT CONFUSION. — Various readings here give various meanings: First, Rabanus joins these with the species mentioned before, as if to say, "From the species," that is, from the appearance and form, of a woman arises anger, disrespect and great confusion. Second, others delete the second "and," and thus read and understand: "The anger of a woman and disrespect (is) great confusion," that is, it brings great shame to her husband, to herself and to her family. Third, others, deleting the first "and," thus explain: "The anger of a woman (is) disrespect and great confusion." Fourth, the Greek and Latin Roman texts read both "and's": "The anger of a woman and disrespect and great confusion," so that "great" refers to the three things that precede, as if to say: The anger of a woman, equally as disrespect, that is, shamelessness, and confusion, that is, the ignominy which she brings to her husband, to herself and to her family, is not slight and small, but great and serious. For if a woman be wrathful and quarrelsome, she will speak disrespectfully and act with her husband in a disrespectful manner, and will treat him unworthily, and will afflict him with great shame: for she will treat her husband as a servant, when he is her master and lord, according to that commandment of God given to Eve and to women: "Thou shalt be under the power of thy husband," Genesis chapter III. Wherefore the Greek Complutensian and Roman texts connect this verse with the following, as I shall show presently. The Syriac, however, connects it with the preceding: for thus it reads, Be not moved by the appearance of an evil woman, and even if she have riches, do not desire her: because a hard servitude and wicked shame is a woman who is puffed up (or rebellious) against her husband. 30. A WOMAN, IF SHE HAVE THE FIRST PLACE, IS CONTRARY TO HER HUSBAND. — The Syriac: is puffed up against her husband, and hides the heart that is with her (or of her people, or of her grace). The meaning is, as if to say: If a wife, on account of wealth and nobility, namely because she is richer and more noble than her husband, or for some other reason, usurps and obtains the first place and dominion over her husband, she will not be conformable to her husband, but adverse and rebellious, and will wish to be contrary to him and to command him, both to show her excellence and first place, because she is proud; and also because the appetite of man and woman are diverse and contrary, just as the appetite of the animal is often contrary to the rational, according to that saying of the Comic poet: "I know the nature of women. They will not when you wish; when you do not wish, they desire of their own accord." For a woman is moved by passion, a man by reason and judgment; but passion is contrary to reason and the dictate of prudence. Whoever therefore is wise, let him seek a wife equal to him in wealth and nobility, or inferior, not superior; lest he take for a wife a mistress and one imperious. Hence that saying: "If you wish to marry, marry an equal." The Greek texts join these to the preceding verse, and conflate it with the present one in this way: anger and disrespect and great confusion is a woman, if she supply to her husband; that is, as the Zurich Bible has it, a wrathful, shameless, and most disgraceful woman is she who furnishes expense to her husband; Vatable, she who goes before her husband, or claims dominion for herself; which our author translates, if she have the first place; for both meanings are signified by the Greek ἐπιχορηγῇ: for χορηγέω means, I supply expenses, I suggest, I expend, I contribute, I provide, properly I provide expense for choruses, I exhibit public games, I produce games, and therefore in these I lead the chorus, I am first and chief; hence χορηγός is a choragus or chief of a chorus, who presides over choruses, a supplier of expenses and of theatrical apparatus; and χορηγοί or choragi are called leaders of choruses and societies, and those holding the first place, of which Aristotle speaks in book IV of the Politics. To this pertains that saying of Philo in the second book of Melissa, chapter XXXIV, cited by Antonius: "To obey a woman is the supreme contumely;" for he who subjects himself to a woman becomes effeminate, and worships the moon, and becomes lunatic from her. Hence Spartianus in his life of Caracalla relates that once in Carrhae (which in Scripture is called Haran), a city of Mesopotamia, there was a single image of the moon both masculine and feminine: those who worshipped the masculine moon obtained dominion over their wives; but those who adored the feminine moon wished to be subject to their wives. Thus once women ruled among the Egyptians and Lycians, as Herodotus testifies: the Sauromatae in general obey women. Rich women claim dominion in the house for themselves. Hence the Satirist: Nothing is more intolerable than a rich woman. I prefer the Venusian, than you, Cornelia mother of the Gracchi, if with great virtues you bring A great haughtiness, and count triumphs in your dowry. Moreover, Rabanus gives the reason why it is unworthy and contrary to the ordinance of God that a woman should preside over a man: "Because," he says, "the weaker sex ought to be subject to the stronger sex, not placed before it. Hence in the beginning, when the woman sinned and seduced the man, the Lord said to her: I will multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions;" in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and under thy husband's power thou shalt be, and he shall have dominion over thee. Hence also the Apostle writing to Timothy says: Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection; but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over the man, but to be in silence. And why he commanded this, he immediately gave the reason, saying: For Adam was first formed, then Eve: and Adam was not seduced, but the woman being seduced was in the transgression. Now occasion and stimulus to primacy for the wife is nobility and wealth, if namely she herself be nobler or richer than her husband. For a poor man marrying a rich woman "gives himself, does not marry her," says Menander. "And he has not a wife, but a mistress, of whom he is a servant and slave," says Anaxandrites in Stobaeus, discourse 66; whence Martial, book VIII to Priscus: Why do you ask why I am unwilling to marry a wealthy wife? I am unwilling to marry my own wife. Clearly Aristotle, book VIII of the Ethics, X: "Wives rule," he says, "on account of the extent of their patrimony." And the Comic poet: "I received silver as a dowry, I sold my authority." Whence the Emperor Antoninus suffered the adulteries of his wife Faustina: "Because," he says, "if I dismiss her, the dowry must be returned;" for he had received authority in place of a dowry. Wherefore wisely St. Ambrose, book I On Abraham, chapter II: "He who seeks the sweetness of marriage," he says, "should not seek one superior in wealth, not adorned with jewels, but with virtue: a wife often offends her husband if she knows herself to be nobler. This is next to pride. Sara was not richer in resources, not more splendid in birth; therefore she did not think her husband unequal, therefore she loved him as an equal by grace, therefore she was not retained by wealth, not by parents, not by relatives, but she followed her own husband, wherever he went: she went to foreign lands, she asserted herself to be his sister." Therefore the counsel of all the wise is that one should marry an equal, not a superior. Tiraquellus cites them, law V On Marriage, number 16, 31. A HUMBLE HEART, AND A SAD COUNTENANCE, AND A WOUND OF THE HEART (Jansenius and others wrongly read death) IS A WICKED WOMAN. — That is to say, these three evils a wicked woman brings upon her husband, namely she makes his heart humble, that is, she casts it down, prostrates it, afflicts it; she makes his countenance sad, so that he walks with a dejected and sorrowful face: for as the heart is, so also is the face, for the heart reveals and expresses its affections through the face. Finally she inflicts a wound and as it were a lethal blow upon his heart, while she wounds it with such great sorrow and sadness, that not rarely she is the cause of death to her husband. Whence the Zurich Bible: an afflicted heart and a gloomy countenance and a torment of the soul a wicked woman creates; the Syriac: darkness and a wound of the heart a woman. COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTICUS, CHAPTER XXV.
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32. WEAK HANDS AND DISSOLVED KNEES—A WOMAN WHO DOES NOT MAKE HER HUSBAND BLESSED. — That is to say, a wicked woman who does not make her husband blessed by her modesty and probity, but renders him miserable by her insolence and wickedness, and does not merely weaken the strength of her husband, but strips from him all manly vigor, both of heart and of body, so that he has no desire either to work with his hands or to walk on his knees; but becomes despondent in spirit, afflicted with gout in his hands and feet, indeed stupid and as if struck with apoplexy: for the strength of working is in the hands, of walking is in the knees; whence Isaiah says in chapter xxxv: "Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees;" and from this Paul in Hebrews xii: "Lift up the drooping hands and the weak knees." See the passages in both places. The Zurich Bible reads somewhat differently, that a wicked woman creates slack hands and loosened knees, and shall not make her husband blessed. Again, "shall make blessed" can be interpreted as "shall honor," "shall proclaim blessed." Whence the Syriac translator renders it, "weakness of hands and breaking of knees—a woman who does not show honor and reverence to her husband." Finally, for "shall not make blessed," that is, shall not bless, some read instead "shall not comfort her husband in distress." St. Chrysostom wisely, in homily 27 from various places in St. Matthew, and the Author of the Imperfect Work, homily 22 in Matthew, say: "A wife ought to regard no one as wiser, stronger, or more beautiful than her husband; even if another be wiser, stronger, or more beautiful, yet he ought not to appear so in her eyes. For perfect hatred and perfect love do not know judgment of things;" but she who loves judges all things as best; she who hates, as worst. "So too every Christian soul, which is the bride of Christ, ought to love God in such a way that there is nothing in the world which she loves more than Him, or to such a degree. But in whatever measure she has loved something more, in that measure she loves God less." Mystically, the wife of each man is his profession, religion, art, state, or office. Wherefore to each Religious, his religion ought to appear better than all others and most suited to him; to the grammarian his grammar, to the rhetorician his rhetoric, to the philosopher his philosophy, to the craftsman his craft, to the farmer his agriculture, etc., ought to appear best and most suited to his nature and character, according to that saying in chapter xl, 18: "The life of the self-sufficient worker shall be made sweet, and in it thou shalt find treasure." And that saying of St. Paul in I Corinthians vii, 20: "Let each one remain in the calling in which he was called." Isocrates, according to Maximus, sermon 13, when asked "who among men is rich?" answered: "He who is content with his lot." For, as St. Chrysostom says in the Melissa of Antonius, part I, sermon 36: "He who looks to those above him can never see how rich he is. But it is necessary to be content with one's lot and to give thanks to God." Thus let Martha be content with her lot, and Magdalene with hers.
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33. FROM A WOMAN THE BEGINNING OF SIN WAS MADE, AND THROUGH HER ALL DIE: — because Eve, seduced by the serpent, sinned first, and then seduced Adam: and thus she defiled all her posterity with the same sin, and that sin, and consequently its punishment, namely present and eternal death, she truly transmitted to her descendants through propagation and generation. Sirach, in order to show how ancient and great an evil woman is, brings forth Eve the mother of all, as if to say, This evil of woman is as old as the world and was born with the world: for the daughters of Eve follow their mother. See what is said in Genesis iii. Secondly, as if to say, From Eve's sin, namely from original sin and concupiscence, whose beginning and cause was Eve, all other sins have sprung forth, are springing forth, and will spring forth until the end of the world, indeed all that are committed throughout all eternity by the damned in hell. Thus the Syriac version: From a woman, it says, sins began, and through her all of us die. Thirdly, the phrase "through her all die," if you take it formally and precisely, as it sounds, signifies that on account of Eve's sin precisely, all her descendants contract original sin, and from this become liable to death. Wherefore some Theologians probably gather from this that even if Eve alone had sinned, even if Adam had not sinned, all her descendants would nevertheless have contracted original sin: although others hold the contrary opinion with St. Thomas, III, Question lxxxi, article 5. See the Scholastics there. For this reason St. Augustine, book I On the Merit of Sins, chapter xvi, and others from this passage against the Pelagians prove the transmission of original sin. "In Ecclesiasticus," he says, "it is written: From a woman the beginning of sin was made, and through her all die. Whether it be said from a woman or from Adam, both pertain to the first man: because woman is from man, and the flesh of both is one; whence it is written: And they shall be two in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two, says the Lord, but one flesh," Matthew xix, verses 5 and 6. Morally, Sirach here teaches how much one must beware of woman, inasmuch as she has been the ruin of so many millions of men and of the whole human race. Whence St. Cyprian in On the Singularity of Clerics: "Separate yourselves," he says, "from the pestilential contagion, etc. The feminine form has become the sting of sin, and the condition of death, which arose from no other source than from the substance of woman. Which Solomon mentions for our caution, saying: From a woman was made the beginning of sin, and on account of her all die. From this we mortals are held, nor do we fear to be held."
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34. GIVE NOT THY WATER AN OUTLET, NOR EVEN A LITTLE. NOR TO A WICKED WOMAN PERMISSION TO GO OUT. — This sentence, and many similar ones in Proverbs, are to be understood proverbially by comparison, that is to say: Just as it is not expedient to give or permit even a little outlet to water enclosed in a vessel, or to allow it to escape through some crack; because otherwise it gradually flows out entirely; so likewise it is not expedient to indulge a wicked woman, namely a wife, daughter, maidservant, etc., even in a small way, or to give her permission to go out wherever she pleases: for in this way she will gradually shake off all thy marital, paternal, or master's right and dominion, so as to claim herself in freedom, and thereafter will not suffer herself to be restrained and brought back to her duty. For women rejoice in scarcely anything more than in freedom; and, as Cato the Censor says in Livy, book xxxiv: "They desire freedom, nay rather license, in all things." Indeed, St. Chrysostom, book III On the Priesthood, asserts that widows, on account of poverty, age, and sex, usurp for themselves immoderate freedom. The Greek texts briefly and generally have: give not water an outlet, nor a woman power; the Complutensian edition has, μὴ δῷς διέξοδον ὕδατι, μηδὲ γυναικὶ πονηρᾷ παρρησίας ἐξουσίαν, that is, give not passage to water, nor to a wicked woman freedom of exit. It is a proverb with its own explanation. Whence the Zurich edition: beware lest thou allow water to burst forth even minimally, that is, do not open a way of license to a wicked woman; the Syriac: give not water an outlet, nor to a woman a face and dominion, or power and rule (to give a face, in Syriac, is to smile, to show oneself cheerful and flattering to someone); for just as a small crack in water which goes forth and multiplies, so a wicked woman proceeds and sins. Moreover, Palacius rightly connects this sentence with the preceding one, that is to say: If Eve was the seedbed of evils in the whole world, because she was not restrained by man, so likewise thy wife will be in thy house the cause of all evils: so much can a woman do in evil. Restrain therefore and keep thy wife in her duty: and if she be wicked, in no way permit her to go out of the house. For just as a cistern full of water, if thou makest even a small hole in it, all of it flows out and is lost to thee: so likewise a wicked woman will be lost to thee, if thou hast granted her the faculty of going out. For it is the nature of unchaste women to wander and run about, according to that which is said of a harlot: "Talkative and wandering, impatient of rest, and not able to keep her feet at home, now without, now in the streets," Prov. vii, 11. But of a chaste woman David says, Psalm cxxvii, 3: "Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house." Galen, book XI On the Use of Parts, teaches that nature gave hair to man against cold, but denied it to woman, because she ought to keep herself at home. Most excellently does St. Gregory of Nazianzus address a woman in that Admonition of his: Do not put thy foot far beyond the threshold, neither for pleasure, nor for an immodest crowd of people: for these things take away shame even from the prudent, and mingle eyes with eyes: for shame departing, is the parent of all evils. And in the Elegies which he composed against adorned women: It is the custom of women (a precious thing) to remain at home for the most part, and to converse with divine discourse. This same thing St. Chrysostom ordains for women, homily 60 on John and homily 10 on the Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, and in the book On the Priesthood, chapter III: "A virgin," he says, "ought to be surrounded on all sides as by a wall, and to go out of the house very rarely throughout the whole year, and then only when unavoidable and necessary causes compel."
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35. IF SHE WILL NOT WALK AT THY HAND (that is, if she will not follow the guidance of thy hand, that is, thy direction, command and rule: for the hand signifies power, leadership, authority), SHE SHALL CONFOUND THEE IN THE SIGHT OF THY ENEMIES — by her clamorous disobedience, audacity, rebellion and wicked manners, by which she will make thee a mockery to thy enemies and rivals; especially when, without thy knowledge, she will turn aside to others, and will commit fornication and adultery with them: for liberty, fickleness of mind and curiosity will lead her to this. For, as Plutarch says in the book On Curiosity: "Adultery is curiosity about another's pleasure." The Greeks, truncating this sentence with the following one, contract them into one in this manner: If she does not proceed at thy hand, cut her off from thy flesh. For honest and obedient wives are accustomed to proceed alongside their husbands at hand: those who do not do this are proud, disobedient or dishonorable. The Complutensian editors add, give and dismiss, that is, give her a bill of divorce. Thus also the Syriac version: unless she herself comes after thee, cut off thy flesh (thy wife, who is thy flesh) from thee, give and dismiss her from thy house. Hence also Rabanus, adding the conjunction and, combines this verse with the following in this manner: "If she will not walk at thy hand, and shall confound thee in the sight of thy enemies, cut her off from thy flesh," etc. This reading pleases Jansenius more than ours. But our reading is confirmed by the other Bibles, and is established by the Corrected edition at Rome. Most excellently St. Ambrose, in book III, epistle 25, To the Church of Vercelli: "A woman," he says, "ought to defer to her husband, not serve him; she ought to present herself as one to be guided, not to be coerced. She is unworthy of marriage who is worthy of quarreling. A husband also ought to direct his wife as a helmsman, honor her as a partner in life, share with her as a co-heir of grace." Indeed, Plutarch also in the Moralia: "As philosophers," he says, "honoring a prince, make themselves more noble, not him: so wives, submitting themselves to their husbands, will obtain praise; but those attempting to rule are heard worse than those who are subject." And again: "As geometers deny that lines and surfaces move without a body, but move together with bodies; so a wife, in serious matters and in jesting, in weeping and laughter, in joys and sorrows, ought to accommodate herself to her husband." And Stobaeus, sermon 70: "Just as," he says, "mirrors constructed from gold and gems will have no usefulness unless they represent the form presented to them; so neither is there any fruit of a rich wife unless she exhibit a life similar to her husband's, and a harmonious disposition."
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36. CUT HER OFF FROM THY FLESH, LEST SHE ALWAYS ABUSE THEE. — That is to say, if a wife be clamorous, disobedient, wandering at her pleasure, cut her off "from thy flesh," that is, from thy body, namely from the marriage bed, cast her away, lest she always abuse thy affection, modesty, permission and patience. Whence the Complutensian editors and the Syriac version have: Give and dismiss her, that is to say, Give her a bill of divorce, so that thou mayest send her away. The Zurich and Vatable versions: Make thyself cut her off from thy body; give (a bill of divorce), and repudiate her. Note: Formerly among the Jews it was lawful for husbands to give a bill of divorce to wives and to take another; for by the bill of divorce the bond of marriage was dissolved (whence the Greek versions have διάλυσον, that is, dissolve), as I have shown in Deuteronomy xxiv, 1; but they could give this bill on account of the wicked manners of the wife, if namely she were rebellious, contumacious, incorrigible: Christ, however, abolished this bill, Matthew xix, at the beginning, and permits to men only divorce of bed (namely, to send wives away from the house), and that only on account of fornication, so that, she being dismissed, it is not lawful to take another. Furthermore, Ben-Sira seems to have given contrary counsel to Sirach; for when asked about dismissing a bad wife, he answered: "The bone that fell to thy lot, gnaw it;" wherefore Ben-Sira is different from Sirach, as I have shown in the Prologue. Although in this matter they can be reconciled, so that they are not contrary, namely: "Gnaw the bone of thy lot," if thou canst gnaw it; but if not, cast it away: namely, if thy wife can be corrected or tolerated, keep her; but if she become incorrigible and intolerable, dismiss her.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
25:7
… 16-19), with prior mention of three (note the exception of 30, 24); but in the other books, especially the prophetic ones, the complete number is also two (Job 40, 5; Ps. 62, 13), five, sometimes seven (Job 5, 19) and even eight (Matt. 5, 5) and ten (Ecclus. 25, 7).
25:23
… who rise because he is the principle of life (in opposition to Adam, who was the principle of death), the same can be said of Mary, since she too was a principle of life (in opposition to Eve, who was a principle of death, according to that saying of Eccli. 25:23: "Because of the woman all die").
… uses the flesh as an instrument (often in Rom. 6-7), made its entrance into the world (= into the consciences of men), through Adam's rebellion; and through sin, death, which is its penalty; death not merely physical, but complete separation from God (Ecclus. 25, 23; Wis. 2, 23 ff.), with
25:24
… Adam is considered "the προτόπλαστος, the πατέρα κόσμου, the only one created, the one who came forth from the earth, the seed from which all mankind descends" (Wis. 10, 1; 7, 1; Tob. 8, 8). From a single woman sin has its beginning (Sir. 25, 24). Mankind is a conglomerate of "bènè 'Adhâm" (Deut. 32, 8; Eccl. 3, 21 etc.). …
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.