Dangers of sin from several heads: the fear of God is the best preservative. He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it.
For want, and desire of riches, manie committe sinne. 4. from which the feare of God preserueth. 6. Tentation proueth, who is iust, 12. constant, and modest. 17. Freindes are bond to secresie, 25. and fidelitie.
1Through poverty many have sinned: and he that seeketh to be enriched, turneth away his eye.Molti peccarono per la miseria, e chi cerca di arricchire, non guarda a null'altra cosa.THROVGH pouertie manie haue offended: and he that seeketh to be made rich, turneth away his eie.Propter inopiam multi deliquerunt: / et qui quærit locupletari avertit oculum suum. 2As a stake sticketh fast in the midst of the joining of stones, so also in the midst of selling and buying, sin shall stick fast.Come sta fitto un palo tralle pietre insieme connesse; così il peccato sta ristretto nel mezzo tralla compra, e la vendita.As a stake is fastened in the middes of stones compact together, so also in the middes of selling and buying, sinne shal be straytened.Sicut in medio compaginis lapidum palus figitur, / sic et inter medium venditionis et emptionis angustiabitur peccatum: 3Sin shall be destroyed with the sinner.Ma il delitto, e il delinquente sarà, distrutto.Sinne shal be destroyed with the sinner.conteretur cum delinquente delictum. 4Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown.Se tu non istarai costantemente fisso nel timor del Signore, anderà presto la tua casa in rovina.If thou hold not thyselfinstantly in the feare of our Lord, thy house shal quickly be subuerted.Si non in timore Domini tenueris te instanter, / cito subvertetur domus tua. 5As when one sifteth with a sieve, the dust will remain: so will the perplexity of a man in his thoughts.Come scotendosi il vaglio, vi resta la loppa; così dal pensare viene l'ansietà dell'uomo.As in the shaking of a sieue the dust wil remaine: so the perplexitie of a man in his cogitation.Sicut in percussura cribri remanebit pulvis, / sic aporia hominis in cogitatu illius. 6The furnace trieth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of affliction just men.Nella fornace si provano i vasi di terra, e nella tentazione della tribolazione gli uomini giusti.The fornace tryeth the potters vessels, and the tentation of tribulation iust men.Vasa figuli probat fornax, / et homines justos tentatio tribulationis. 7As the dressing of a tree sheweth the fruit thereof, so a word out of the thought of the heart of man.Come la cultura dell'albero si conosce dal suo frutto; così dalla parola pensata il cuore dell'uomo.As the husbandrie about a tree sheweth the fruite thereof, so a word out of the thought of the hart of man.Sicut rusticatio de ligno ostendit fructum illius, / sic verbum ex cogitatu cordis hominis. 8Praise not a man before he speaketh, for this is the trial of men.Non dar lode a un uomo prima, che egli abbia parlato; perocché con questo si provano gli uomini.Prayse not a man before ful discourse, for this is the trial of men.Ante sermonem non laudes virum: / hæc enim tentatio est hominum.
9If thou followest justice, thou shalt obtain her: and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her: and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find a strong foundation.Se tu seguirai la giustizia, ne farai acquisto, e te ne rivestirai come di veste talare di gloria, e abiterai seco, ed ella sarà tua difesa in eterno, e nel giorno della disamina troverai un sostegno.If thou folow iustice, thou shalt apprehend it: and shalt put it on as a long to be of honour, and thou shalt dwel with it: and it shal protect thee for euer, and in the day of knowleging thou shalt finde stedfastnes.Si sequaris justitiam, apprehendes illam, / et indues quasi poderem honoris: / et inhabitabis cum ea, et proteget te in sempiternum, / et in die agnitionis invenies firmamentum. 10Birds resort unto their like: so truth will return to them that practise her.I volatili si uniscono co' loro simili, e la verità va a trovare quelli, che la mettono in pratica.The foules flocke together to their like: and truth shal returne to them, that worke it.Volatilia ad sibi similia conveniunt: / et veritas ad eos qui operantur illam revertetur. 11The lion always lieth in wait for prey: so do sins for them that work iniquities.Il lione va sempre in traccia della preda, così il peccato tende insidie a quelli, che operano l'iniquità.The lion alwayes lyeth in wayte for a pray: so sinnes for them that worke iniquities.Leo venationi insidiatur semper: / sic peccata operantibus iniquitates. 12A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon.L'uomo santo è stabile nella sapienza come il sole; ma lo stolto si cangia come la luna.A holie man continueth in wisdom as the sunne: for a foole is changed as the moone.Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol: / nam stultus sicut luna mutatur. 13In the midst of the unwise keep in the word till its time: but be continually among men that think.In mezzo agli stolti serba ad altro tempo le parole; ma frequenta di continuo quelli, che pensano.In the middes of the vnwise keepe the word til his time: but in the middes of deepe considerers be continually.In medio insensatorum serva verbum tempori: / in medio autem cogitantium assiduus esto. 14The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin.I ragionamenti de' peccatori sono odiosi, perché essi fanno festa delle delizie del peccato.The narration of sinners is odious, & their laugther is in the deligthes of sinne.Narratio peccantium odiosa, / et risus illorum in deliciis peccati.
15The speech that sweareth much shall make the hair of the head stand upright: and its irreverence shall make one stop his ears.I discorsi di uno, che giura molto fanno arricciare i capelli; e la impudenza di lui fa, che uno abbia a turarsi le orecchie.Speach that sweareth much shal make the heare of the head to stand vpright: and his lacke of reuerence is the stopping of the eares.Loquela multum jurans horripilationem capiti statuet, / et irreverentia ipsius obturatio aurium. 16In the quarrels of the proud is the shedding of blood: and their cursing is a grievous hearing.Le risse de' superbi finiscono in ispargimenti di sangue, e le loro maldicenze sono penose a sentirsi.Sheding of bloud is in the brawling of the proud: and their cursing is a greeuous hearing.Effusio sanguinis in rixa superborum, / et maledictio illorum auditus gravis. 17He that discloseth the secret of a friend loseth his credit, and shall never find a friend to his mind.Chi svela i segreti dell'amico perde il credito, e non troverà un amico secondo il suo desiderio.He that discloseth the secrete of a freind, loseth credite, and he shal not finde a freind to his minde.Qui denudat arcana amici fidem perdit, / et non inveniet amicum ad animum suum. 18Love thy neighbour, and be joined to him with fidelity.Ama l'amico, e mantienti fedele a lui.Loue thy neighhour, and be ioyned with him in fidelitie.Dilige proximum, / et conjungere fide cum illo. 19But if thou discover his secrets, follow no more after him.Che se tu sveli i suoi arcani, noi raggiungerai tu dipoi.But if thou discouer his secrets, thou shalt not pursew after him.Quod si denudaveris absconsa illius, / non persequeris post eum. 20For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so is he that destroyeth the friendship of his neighbour.Perocché l'uomo, che viola l'amicizia, che avea col suo prossimo, è come chi perde (per morte) l'amico.For as a man that loseth his freind, so also he that loseth the freindshipe of his neigbbour.Sicut enim homo qui perdit amicum suum, / sic et qui perdit amicitiam proximi sui. 21And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so hast thou let thy neighbour go, and thou shalt not get him again.E come uno, che si lascia scappar di mano un uccello, così tu hai lasciato andare l'amico tuo, e noi ripiglierai.And as he that letteth a bird goe out of his hand, so hast thou leaft thy neighbour, & shalt not take him.Et sicut qui dimittit avem de manu sua, / sic dereliquisti proximum tuum, et non eum capies.
22Follow after him no more, for he is gone afar off, he is fled, as a roe escaped out of the snare because his soul is wounded.Non gli andar dietro, poiché egli è già molto lontano; essendo fuggito come una capra salvatica dal laccio, perché tu lo hai ferito nell'anima:Folow him not, because he is far absent, for he is fled, as a doe out of the snare: because his soule is wounded.Non illum sequaris, quoniam longe abest: / effugit enim quasi caprea de laqueo, quoniam vulnerata est anima ejus: 23Thou canst no more bind him up. And of a curse there is reconciliation:Tu non potrai più riunirlo a te. E dopo ingiurie di parole v'è luogo alla riconciliazione;Thou canst no more blinde him, and of a curse there is reconciliation:ultra eum non poteris colligare. / Et maledicti est concordatio: 24But to disclose the secrets of a friend, leaveth no hope to an unhappy soul.Ma lo scoprire i segreti dell'amico, toglie ogni speranza all'anima disgraziata.but to disclose the secrets of a freind, is the desperation of an vnhappie soule.denudare autem amici mysteria, desperatio est animæ infelicis. 25He that winketh with the eye forgeth wicked things, and no man will cast him off:Uno adula cogli occhi, e macchina cattive cose, e nissuno lo rigetta da se.He that winketh with the eie, forgeth wicked thinges, and no man wil cast him of:Annuens oculo fabricat iniqua, / et nemo eum abjiciet. 26In the sight of thy eyes he will sweeten his mouth, and will admire thy words: but at the last he will writhe his mouth, and on thy words he will lay a stumblingblock.In faccia a te egli addolcia le sue parole, e ammirerà i tuoi ragionamenti; ma alla fine muterà linguaggio, e dalle tue parole trarrà occasione di rovinarti.in the sight of thyne eyes he wil sweete his mouth, and wil be in admiration vpon thy wordes: but at the last he wil peruert his mouth, and in thy wordes he wil lay a scandal.In conspectu oculorum tuorum condulcabit os suum, / et super sermones tuos admirabitur: / novissime autem pervertet os suum, / et in verbis tuis dabit scandalum. 27I have hated many things but not like him, and the Lord will hate him.Molte cose io ho in odio, ma non al pari di lui, e il Signore lo odierà.I haue heard manie thinges, & haue not esteemed them equal to him, and our Lord wil hate him.Multa odivi, et non coæquavi ei, / et Dominus odiet illum. 28If one cast a stone on high, it will fall upon his own head: and the deceitful stroke will wound the deceitful.Se uno getta in alto una pietra, ella caderà sul capo di lui, e il colpo dato a tradimento aprirà le piaghe del traditore.He that casteth a stone on high, it wil fal vpon his head: and the deceitful stroke wil diuide the woundes of the deceitful.Qui in altum mittit lapidem, super caput ejus cadet: / et plaga dolosa dolosi dividet vulnera.
29He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it.E colui, che aperse la fossa vi caderà drento, e chi ha messo pietra d'inciampo dinanzi al prossimo, vi inciamperà, e chi ad altri prepara il laccio, al laccio perirà.He that diggeth a pit, shal fal into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shal stumble on it: & he that layeth a snare for an other, shal perish in it.Et qui foveam fodit incidet in eam: / et qui statuit lapidem proximo offendet in eo: / et qui laqueum alii ponit, peribit in illo. 30A mischievous counsel shall be rolled back upon the author, and he shall not know from whence it cometh to him.Il perverso disegno si rivolgerà in danno di chi lo ordisce, ed ei non saprà donde il male gli venga.To a man that doth most wicked counsel, it shal be turned vpon himself, and he shal not know from whence it cometh to him.Facienti nequissimum consilium, super ipsum devolvetur, / et non agnoscet unde adveniat illi. 31Mockery and reproach are of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him.Gli scherni, e gli improperj sono de' superbi, e la vendetta qual lione il sorprenderà.Derision & reproch of the proud, and vengeance as a lyon shal lie in waite for him.Illusio et improperium superborum, / et vindicta sicut leo insidiabitur illi. 32They shall perish in a snare that are delighted with the fall of the just: and sorrow shall consume them before they die.Periranno nel laccio quelli, che si rallegrano della caduta de' giusti, e il dolore gli struggerà prima, che muojano.They shal perish in a snare that are delighted with the fal of the iust: and sorow shal consume them before they die.Laqueo peribunt qui oblectantur casu justorum, / dolor autem consumet illos antequam moriantur. 33Anger and fury are both of them abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them.L'ira, e il furore con l'una, e l'altro da aversi in esecrazione, e l'uom peccatore li avrà seco.Anger and furie, both are execrable, and the sinful man shal be subiect to them.Ira et furor utraque execrabilia sunt, / et vir peccator continens erit illorum.
27:1
Poverty. Greek, "the indifferent thing," as the Stoics represented money, Ecclesiasticus 7:20.
27:2
Fast. Anacharsis styled "the market-place the receptacle of mutual cheating." (Laertius 1.)
Calmet
The seller praises his goods to get them off: (Horace) the buyer says it is bad, Proverbs 20:14. The next verse is a gloss omitted in Greek. (Calmet)
27:4
Worthington
Fear. By this the soul is preserved in a good state. (Worthington)
27:5
Calmet
Thoughts. The more he thinks on some things, the more is he perplexed. (Calmet)
Worthington
After sin is purged away, there remains some defects like dust, Psalm 50:4. (Worthington)
27:6
Calmet
Affliction. Greek, "thought," (Haydock) or speech. (Calmet)
27:7
As. Greek, "the fruit shews the dressing," etc.
27:9
Haydock
Honour. The desire of justice is the sure method to obtain it. The rest is not in Greek. (Haydock)
27:11
Calmet
Iniquities. They fall deeper, or sin entails punishment. (Calmet)
27:12
Haydock
A. Greek, "the speech of the wise man is wisdom throughout: but," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
The fool always mixes something improper with what good he speaks. (Calmet)
Worthington
Sun. The wise man preserves his virtue, whether it appear or not. (Worthington)
27:13
Haydock
Keep. Greek, "wait an opportunity." (Haydock)
Calmet
Go but seldom. Their discourse tends to promote iniquity, (ver. 14.) and blasphemous oaths, (ver. 15.) and bloodshed, ver. 16. (Calmet)
27:15
27:17
Mind. In Egypt, those who disclosed a secret to the enemy, were condemned to have their tongues cut out. (Diodorus 2:2.)
27:19
Him. He will never trust thee more, ver. 22.
27:20
Haydock
Friend. Roman and Alexandrian Septuagint, "enemy." (Haydock)
27:22
Because. Greek, "for one may bind up a wound, and an insult may be pardoned. But he who hath revealed secrets, hath lost all hope," (Haydock) or "confidence," ver. 24, Ecclesiasticus 22:27.
27:25
Off. Some Greek copies have, "he who knows him will depart from him." It is difficult to guard against a false friend, who winks as if he desired to please us, (Calmet) while he really seeks our ruin, ver. 26.
27:28
Haydock
Wound. Greek, "deal wounds. He," etc. (Haydock)
Menochius
Traitors, in the dark, often wound their fellows, (Calmet) or themselves. (Menochius)
27:29
Setteth. Greek, "layeth a snare, shall perish in it."
27:30
Calmet
Him. God will punish, when the sinner has perhaps forgotten his offence. (Calmet)
Worthington
Such are often chastised here, and always hereafter. (Worthington)
27:33
Haydock
Them. He shall feel the indignation of God, (Calmet) and shall repine. (Haydock)
27:23
And of a curse there is reconciliation.... That is, it is easier to obtain a reconciliation after a curse, than after disclosing a secret.
27:1
Concordance 1. Tim 6.
27:4
The soule is kept in good state by fearing God.
27:5
After that sinne is purged there remaine reliques in the soule, as dust in a siene, vvhen the chaffe is cast out, til it be more purged or washed Psal. 50. v. 4.
27:6
Concordance Prou. 27.
27:12
VVhether the sunne shineth forth or not, it is alvvayes light: so is a vvisman alvvayes vertuous, vvhetherit appeare outvvardly or no.
27:17
A foole, or vvicked man, hath no light of vertue in himself (like the moone) butsometimes semeth to haue more light, sometimes lesse, sometimes none at al. S. Bernard.
27:25
Concordance Prou. 10.
27:28
He that expresly doth iniurie to an other is iuitly punished also in this vvorld.
Hovv secretly soeuer anie hutteth an other, he vvoundeth his ovvne conscience, and can not escape Gods iudgement.
27:29
Concordance Prou. 26.
Concordance Eccle. 10.
27:5
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Mortality 13
… then our faith, if when tried it shall stand fast, is crowned; as it is written, “The furnace trieth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation just men.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus 9
In Deuteronomy, “The Lord your God proveth you, that He may know if ye love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” And again, Solomon: “The furnace proveth the potter’s vessel, and righteous men the trial of tribulation.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.7
In Solomon: “The furnace proveth the vessels of the potter, and the trial of tribulation righteous men.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 22
… Seest thou that for this end our eye was chiefly given? Again, he made the ear that we should entertain not blasphemous words, but saving doctrines. Wherefore you see, when it receives any thing dissonant, both our soul shudders and our very body also. “For,” saith one, (
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.3
… When he sees that we are building upon the foundation of Christ, hay, wood, stubble, then he applies the match. Let us then build gold, silver, costly stones, and he will not venture to tempt us: although even thus there is not sure and safe possession. For the lion lurks in ambush to slay the innocent.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 21.26
… “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,”—the day, no doubt, of tribulation—“because,” says he, “it shall be revealed by fire.” He calls tribulation fire, just as it is elsewhere said, “The furnace proves the vessels of the potter, and the trial of affliction righteous men.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 68
… If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.” The fire then shall prove, not the work of one of them only, but of both. Now the trial of adversity is a kind of fire which is plainly spoken of in another place: “The furnace proveth the potter’s vessels: and the furnace of adversity just men.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 2.9
… as if, were it necessary that any one should be examined by fire, he should pray, not that he should not be touched by the fire, but that he should not be consumed. For “the furnace proveth the potter’s vessels, and the trial of tribulation righteous men.”
27:6
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Morals of the Catholic Church 23
… and in pain bear it; and in abasement keep thy patience: for in fire are gold and silver tried?" Had she not heard, "The fire tries the vessels of the potter, and for just men is the trial of tribulation?"
27:11
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 13.4
… This interpretation of ours in regard to the lunatic will be supported by him who says in the Book of Wisdom with reference to the even temperament of the just man, “The discourse of a pious man is always wisdom,” but, in regard to what we have said, “The fool changes as the moon.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 6.10
… What Scripture says is very true, “As for a fool he changeth as the moon.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 74.16
… As yet carnal he is, may he not be forsaken, and may he too be made perfect. The sun, as it were a wise man: the moon, as it were an unwise man: Thou hast not however forsaken. For thus it is written, “A wise man endureth as the sun, but a foolish man as the moon is changed.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.9
… For “Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling block.” But of those who shift about according to the character and changes of the several chances which happen to them, we read: “But a fool will change like the moon.”
27:12
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 55.8
8. Now mark what is said in Proverbs: “The wise man is fixed like the sun; but the fool changes like the moon.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 7.7
… vii. 23 ); wherein Even in ourselves we have the answer of death, that we should not trust in ourselves ( 2 Cor. i. 9 ); wherein also the Prophet cries aloud, Fear and trembling are come upon me, and darkness hath covered me ( Ps. liv. 6 ) ? For it is written also, A wise man abideth as the sun; a fool changeth as the moon (
27:17
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Pontianus 2
… Mockery and reproach are from the proud; and vengeance, as a lion, shall be in wait for them. They that rejoice at the fall of the righteous shall perish in the snare, and anguish shall consume them before they die. Anger and wrath are both abominations, and the sinful man shall have them both.”
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Fabian 3.5
… and he shall not know whence it cometh on him. Mockery and reproach are from the proud; and vengeance, as a lion, shall lie in wait for them. They that rejoice at the fall of the righteous shall be taken in the snare; and anguish shall consume them before they die. Wrath and fury are both abominations, and the sinful man shall have them both.”
27:25
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.19
… “whoso casteth a stone on high casteth it on his own head.”
27:26
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 88.9
… yet if they are dead, and through Thy grace have not a second life, “Dost Thou show wonders among the dead, or shall physicians raise them? and shall they” whom they raise “praise Thee”? For this confession declares that they live: not, as it is written elsewhere, “Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from one that is not.”
27:29
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 88.5
… In like manner, your forefathers cast Cæcilianus and his companions to be destroyed by the king’s wrath; and when, by their innocence, they were delivered from this, you yourselves now suffer from these kings what your party wished them to suffer; as it is written: “Whoso diggeth a pit for his neighbour, shall himself fall therein.”
27:1
yours surviving, and having confidence of nobility, although by his own prudence he could govern a house, a college, a commonwealth, and therefore deserves to be raised to any grades of honor in it, is despised and neglected, because he does not have friends who might commend and advance him. In Greek it is, ἀνοχὴ σωφρονίας σχυβαλιστίμος, that is prudent men, if they are despised; others, if prudent men are held as refuse; the Zurich version, men of understanding bearing unworthy things; the Syriac, concerning famous men who have been diminished from their honor; for σκύβαλα are sweepings, rubbish, refuse, dung, excrement, which are cast to dogs, as it were σκυσίβαλα, as I said, Philip. III, 8. The third is, a just man falling from justice into sin; for this is the height of foolishness and stupidity, by which a holy man, the supreme good, namely justice, grace, God and heaven, willingly trades away for base pleasure or honor, and hurls himself into the utmost misery, namely into sin, God's wrath, liability to hell and eternal damnation; wherefore I do not so much commiserate with this man as I am angry and indignant, that by his own liberty, and by free will and choice he abandons so great a good, and brings so great an evil upon himself, and willingly as it were from heaven rushes headlong into hell. Wherefore "God prepared" and destined "him for the sword," that is for the sword, that is for punishment and death present and eternal. Thus the Zurich version, two things, it says, have saddened my heart, and a third moves me to indignation: a man of war (Vatable, strong) laboring in poverty, men of understanding bearing unworthy things, and he who transfers himself from justice to sin. The Lord will destine him to be struck; the Syriac, over two things my heart was amazed, and over three (that is over the third) it greatly displeased me: over a noble man who became poor and needy, and over famous men who have been diminished from their honor, and over him who turns from the fear of God to the work of iniquity. Deliver him to the day of slaughter. Justly therefore and deservedly Sirach is angry at the just man declining into sin. But St. Augustine is not angry at the sinner, but takes pity, asserting that he is to be wept for with every fountain of tears. But Jeremiah, cap. XI, vers. 12, commands the heavens to be amazed, because the people, abandoning the fountain of living waters, namely God, sought broken cisterns. God himself, touched by sorrow of heart within, prepares on account of crimes, not one man, but all and the whole world, to be drowned and destroyed by flood, Genesis VI, 6. Therefore it is to be lamented, that so easily you commit those things which God so severely prepares for the sword, says Palacius. Mystically Rabanus: "A man of war," he says, "fails through poverty, when he who endured many labors in the struggle of this world for Christ, finally broken by some adversity, loses his labor through inconstancy of mind." 25, 26 and 27. IN TWO THINGS MY HEART HAS BEEN SADDENED, AND IN A THIRD ANGER HAS COME UPON ME. A MAN OF WAR FAILING THROUGH POVERTY: AND A MAN OF UNDERSTANDING DESPISED. AND HE WHO TRANSGRESSES FROM JUSTICE TO SIN, GOD HAS PREPARED HIM FOR THE SWORD. At this place Sirach passes from women to other doctrines of wisdom. Wherefore hence a new chapter, namely XXVII, begins the Gloss: The sense is, as if to say, Two things are miserable, but a third is unworthy: which two therefore move me to compassion, but the third to anger and indignation; because namely the greatest of all evils is that which a man brings upon himself willingly, when namely he abandons justice and sins. The first is a warrior laboring in poverty; who namely fought for his country, and exposed his life for the goods of citizens, and for these endured grave and continuous labors, hardships, dangers, and therefore is worthy to be supported at public expense, as once old and retired soldiers were supported at Rome by public stipends in a tavern, which from this is called a meritorious house, from which at the time of the nativity of Christ oil flowed forth miraculously; whence afterwards by Callistus I the Pontiff it was converted into a church of the Blessed Virgin Transtiberine. The second is, a man of understanding and prudence, who sci-
27:2
But all these things are not canonical Scripture, because the Latin Vulgate edition omits them, which the Council of Trent, Session IV, defined should be held as authentic Scripture. Indeed the Greek edition corrected by the Romans also omits the same. Add that many of these sentences have been handed down in the preceding chapters either in themselves or in something similar to them; wherefore they appear here as extraneous, as Jansenius rightly observed. A mercenary woman shall be reckoned equal to a pig; but a married woman shall be reckoned a tower of death to those who use her. An impious woman shall be given an iniquitous portion; but a pious woman is given to one who fears the Lord. A shameful woman shall bear infamy; but an honest daughter shall even revere her husband. An immodest woman shall be reckoned like a dog; but she who has shame shall fear the Lord. A woman honouring her own husband shall appear wise to all; but one dishonoring him shall be known as impious in pride to all. Blessed is the man of a good woman; for the number of her years shall be double. A clamorous and talkative woman shall be considered for the putting to flight of enemies. But the soul of any man, accustomed to similar morals, shall pass through life as it were in seditions. The Zurich edition renders the last two verses more clearly thus: a clamorous and talkative woman shall be sought out to put enemies to flight. But the soul of every man similar in these morals (for this is ὁμοιότροπος, for which Vatable reads ὁμότροπος, that is living with him, or using his company) shall be occupied among tumults of war; the Syriac: a talkative and contentious woman like a horn (a horn trumpet, such as they once used in battles) stirring up to combat shall be reckoned. But the soul of every man who has all these things shall be cast into tumult of war (or shall be likened to tumult of war), life shall be spent in tribulation. 28. TWO KINDS OF BUSINESS APPEARED TO ME DIFFICULT AND DANGEROUS; WITH DIFFICULTY IS THE MERCHANT FREED FROM NEGLIGENCE, AND THE INNKEEPER SHALL NOT BE JUSTIFIED FROM THE SINS OF HIS LIPS. That is to say: Two kinds of occupations, although not evil by their nature, indeed necessary to the commonwealth, are nevertheless difficult to avoid sins in, and therefore appear to me dangerous to the soul. The first is business and commerce, for a merchant, that is a trader and businessman, is with difficulty freed from negligence; because easily for the sake of profit he neglects faith given, justice, piety, the worship of God, for example on a feast day the sacred observance, the sermon, confession, communion, etc. For commerce claims the whole man to itself, occupies the whole mind; whence it leaves almost nothing of thought or time for the cultivation of the soul. The second is innkeeping or taverns; for an innkeeper shall not be justified, that is shall not be just, that is, innocent and free from sins of his lips; because in order to attract guests to himself and to gain profit from them, he lies much, for example that his wine is Cretan or Rhenish, when it is Cypriot or Moselle; that his food is of such a kind, when it is of another; that his beds and linens are washed and clean, when they are unwashed and unclean, etc. One can see in Italy innkeepers coming out to meet travellers and marvellously praising their inns to them; which when they have entered, they not rarely experience that the words given to them are false. Note: "of his lips" is not in the Greek; again for negligence the Greek is πλημμέλεια, which our translator rendered in Leviticus as "transgression"; for sins the Greek is ἁμαρτία, which our translator rendered as "sin"; but transgression is a sin of omission; sin however is of commission, according to St. Augustine, Question XX in Leviticus, and St. Gregory, homily 21 in Ezekiel: "This," he says, "is the difference between sin and transgression, that sin is to do evil; but transgression is to abandon good, which must be held most carefully." Thus Sirach takes and distinguishes them here (although Moses takes them otherwise, as I said in Leviticus VII, verse 1), that is to say: Both merchant and innkeeper with difficulty avoid sins of commission and transgressions of omission; because for the sake of profit they commit many frauds, lies, injustices, which they ought to omit; and conversely they omit many divine duties, restitutions, payment of promises and debts, and alms, which they ought to commit and exercise. Whence the Zurich edition translates: two kinds appear to me difficult and dangerous, the merchant shall scarcely avoid transgression, and the innkeeper shall not be free from fault; the Syriac: with great difficulty is the merchant freed from sins; if not in this, but in this he offends: but the innkeeper is not justified from sins. Furthermore, Palacius explains the negligence of the merchant otherwise: although the merchant, he says, be most diligent, nevertheless with difficulty does he avoid some negligence in trading. For sometimes on account of the multitude and variety of goods, he does not remember at what price this or that merchandise cost, and at what price it should be sold. Sometimes he forgets the weight, sometimes the debtors, sometimes the creditors. Furthermore, for the sake of elegance he divides these two occupations, and assigns to each the danger of its own vice. Otherwise, just as the occupation, so also the vice and danger of both are common to each. For the innkeeper is also a merchant, for he sells his wines, foods and meals; and therefore to him there is danger from the vice of negligence, equally as to the merchant from sins of his lips. But, as I said, for the sake of elegance and rhythm he divides these, and attributes to each what is more inclined and familiar to it.
27:4
He says this in order to teach that commerce and retail trading are dangerous arts, and therefore are not to be undertaken easily, but cautiously and with great steadfastness of mind in piety, virtue and truth; whence also the Church has prohibited both to Ecclesiastics. He continues the discourse on commerce begun at the end of the chapter, teaching that the desire for gain is the cause of sins. Soon, in verse 5, he treats various matters, especially concerning speech, proof, and the moderation of the tongue; and from verse 17 to verse 25, he shows in many ways how shameful it is to reveal a secret. From there to the end he teaches how detestable deceit and the deceitful are, and therefore the evil which they prepare for others is to be turned back upon themselves, so that it may rebound and fall upon their own authors. 1. Many have sinned through poverty: and he that seeketh to be rich, turneth away his eye. 2. As a stake is fixed in the midst of the joining of stones, so also sin shall be thrust in between selling and buying. 3. The sin shall be destroyed with the sinner. 4. If thou hold not thyself steadfastly in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown. 5. As in the shaking of a sieve the dust remaineth, so the perplexity of a man in his thought. 6. The furnace trieth the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation just men. 7. As the working of wood showeth the carpenter, so a man is known by his words. 8. Praise not a man before he speaketh: for this is the trial of men. 9. If thou follow justice, thou shalt obtain her; and shalt put her on as a long robe of honour, and thou shalt dwell with her, and she shall protect thee for ever, and in the day of acknowledgment thou shalt find firmament. 10. Fowls resort to their like: and truth will return to them that practise her. 11. The lion lieth in wait for his prey always: so sins for them that work iniquities. 12. A holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun: but a fool is changed as the moon. 13. In the midst of the unwise keep the word in good time: but be continually among men that think. 14. The discourse of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is at the pleasures of sin. 15. Much swearing shall fill the head with iniquity: and irreverence shall not depart from his house. 16. The shedding of blood in the quarrels of the proud: and the curse of them is grievous hearing. 17. He that discovereth the secrets of a friend, loseth his credit, and shall not find a friend to his mind. 18. Love thy neighbour, and join with him in faith. 19. But if thou discover his secrets, follow him no more. 20. For as a man that destroyeth his friend, so also is he that loseth the love of his neighbour. 21. And as one that letteth a bird go out of his hand, so also art thou that hast let thy neighbour go, and shalt not catch him. 22. Follow after him no more, for he is far off: he hath escaped as a roe from the snare: for his soul is wounded. 23. Thou canst no more bind him. And reconciliation is cursed. 24. But to discover the secrets of a friend is the despair of an unhappy soul. 25. He that winketh with his eyes deviseth perverse things, and no one shall cast him off: 26. in the sight of thy eyes he shall overthrow his mouth, and shall wonder at thy words: but at the last he shall pervert his mouth, and shall give scandal in thy words. 27. Many things I have hated, and I have not reckoned them equal to her, and the Lord will hate him. 28. He that casteth a stone on high, casteth it on his own head: and a deceitful stroke woundeth the deceiver. 29. And he that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it: and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it: and he that setteth a snare for another, shall perish in it. 30. The counsel of the wicked shall be turned upon him, and he shall not know whence it cometh upon him. 31. Mockery and reproach are the portion of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him. 32. They shall perish by the snare who are delighted with the fall of the just: and pain shall consume them before they die. 33. Wrath and fury are both abominable, and the sinful man shall be subject to them both.
Second Part of the Chapter,
27:5
1. BECAUSE OF WANT MANY HAVE SINNED: AND HE THAT SEEKETH TO BE RICH, TURNETH AWAY HIS EYE, — from justice and rectitude, from God, and from God's law. He explains what he said at the end of the preceding chapter, that it is difficult for a covetous merchant to escape neglect of eternal things; because he turns his eyes away from them toward gain. The sense therefore is, as if to say: There are two rocks in the sea of this world, upon one or the other of which men commonly dash and strike themselves, and rush into sin and ruin, namely riches and want. For the poor, in order to flee present or impending want, devise many injustices, arts, frauds, lies, etc.; women also on account of poverty prostitute their modesty and their bodies: but the rich, either in fact, or in hope and desire, in order to acquire, preserve, and increase riches, forget God, conscience, justice, piety, and turn their eye away from these: because they turn it toward gain to be seized by any means whatsoever, through right and wrong. Wherefore, foreseeing this, Solomon beseeches God, saying: Give me neither beggary nor riches: give me only the necessaries of life, lest perhaps being full I should be induced to deny, and say: Who is the Lord? or being compelled by want I should steal, and forswear the name of my God, Prov. XXX, 8. Hence Silius, lib. XIII: "Want," says he, "is prone to crime." And Philemon in Stobaeus, serm. 94: "Want," he says, "is ready in perpetrating evils." Wherefore when Sergius Sulpitius Galba and Aurelius were seeking in the senate a mission to Spain against Viriathus, Scipio being asked for his opinion, said: "I am pleased that neither be sent, because one has nothing, and to the other nothing is enough." Thus Valerius Maximus, lib. VI, cap. IV. And Cicero: "There are two things," says he, "which move men to base gain, want and avarice." Suetonius writes that the Emperor Domitian was made rapacious by want. Sallust in Catilinar.: "All," says he, "whom crime, want, and a guilty conscience tormented, these were closest to Catiline and his familiars." Lactantius, lib. De Ira Dei, cap. XX: "There are many things," says he, "which invite to sinning, youth, violence, want." Again Sallust, in Jugurtha: "To the very poor," says he, "all things seem honorable at a price." Our text reads, χαρὶν τυφλώσεως, that is, because of want; others now read, χαρὶν ἀδιαφόρων, that is, because of indifferent things, that is, "because of riches, many have sinned:" for, as follows, "he that seeketh to be rich, turneth away his eye," from law and virtue. For riches are indifferent things, and treasures, that is, goods of fortune, not of virtue, which we can therefore use either well or badly, according to the free choice of our will. Whence from the Greek thus you would translate: because of goods of fortune many sin, and he that seeketh to abound, turneth away his eye; the Zurich version, perverteth his eye (that is, his judgment and thought, says Vatablus); the Syriac, many have sinned, because there is not in them fear of God, but love of gain, and he who wishes to multiply sins, turneth away his eyes from God, heaven and hell. As did those shameless elders lying in wait for Susanna, of whom it is said in Daniel, cap. XIII, vers. 9: "They perverted their sense, and turned away their eyes that they might not see heaven, nor remember the just judgments." For everyone who intends to fornicate, to rob, to kill, or otherwise to sin, turneth away the eyes of his mind from God, heaven, hell, eternity: because if he should consider these attentively, he would be so struck with fear and dread of them, that it would be impossible for him to sin. Both readings come to the same thing, because flight from want is made on account of love of riches: whosoever therefore sin because of want, sin equally because of riches; for they defraud, perjure themselves, practice usury, etc., in order to flee want and to obtain riches. Again, the desire for riches, or great avarice, is poverty of mind. For the avaricious man, even if he be rich, nevertheless thinks himself poor, and therefore always desires more and more. Such was Ahab, king of Israel, who asking Naboth for his vineyard, said: "Give me thy vineyard, and it shall be to me for a garden of herbs." Upon which words St. Ambrose, in the book On Naboth, cap. I: "O rich man," he says, "knowest thou not how poor thou art, and how needy thou seemest to thyself, thou who callest thyself rich? The more thou hast, the more thou requirest; and although thou hast acquired much, yet thou still lackest. Avarice is inflamed by gain, not extinguished." And below he proves this from his very petition: "Give me," he says. What other voice is that of a needy man? what other voice is that of one publicly begging alms, than: Give me? that is, give me, because I am in need. Give me, because I cannot have any other means of livelihood. Give me, because I have not bread for food, money for drink, expense for sustenance, substance for clothing. Give me, because the Lord gave to thee whence thou shouldest give liberally; to me he gave not. Give me, unless thou givest, I shall not be able to have. Give me, because it is written: Give alms. How abject these words, how vile! for they have not the affection of humility, but the burning of cupidity." Whence Aristides to a certain rich man objecting poverty to him: "To me indeed," he says, "poverty brings no evil, but to thee riches bring not a few disturbances." Thus Antonius in the Melissa, part. I, cap. XXXIV. And to Diogenes reproaching himself with poverty: "Wretch," he says, "what sayest thou? but I have never seen anyone exercise tyranny on account of poverty, but all on account of riches." Thus Stobaeus, serm. 95. Hence mystically Rabanus: "Many," he says, "sin through poverty, but more through poverty of heart (of mind and constant will) than of body: because we read of many holy men poor in things of this world, but rich in faith and virtues." 2 and 3. AS A STAKE IS FIXED IN THE MIDST OF THE JOINING OF STONES, SO ALSO IN THE MIDST OF SELLING AND BUYING SHALL SIN BE STRAITENED (thus the Greek and Latin: whence wrongly Rabanus, Lyra and Jansenius read, sins; and others wrongly, for sin, read price). SIN SHALL BE BROKEN WITH THE SINNER (thus the Roman version. Others, as Jansenius, for sin, read transgression). The sense is, as if it said: As a stake, that is a post or rod, fixed between stones joined and fitted together one to another, is pressed and straitened by them on all sides: so also sin is as it were pressed and straitened between the seller and the buyer, when each wishes to deceive the other, and the seller strives to sell his wares for more than they are worth, the buyer for less; and therefore the one values and praises the thing more than justly, the other depresses and disparages it. In which matter many lies, frauds, deceits, perjuries, etc., are committed: wherefore in this way sin and transgression are as it were compressed and broken between these two with the sinner and transgressor himself. Thus the Greek, which as is customary concisely has: between the joining of stones a stake is fixed, and between selling and buying sin is broken; the Syriac: between stone and stone enters a stake, and in the midst of the buyer and seller sins are strengthened, that is to say, As a stake surrounded on all sides by stones, although pressed, is nevertheless strengthened and fortified by them: in like manner sins are strengthened, increased and multiplied between avaricious buyers and sellers. The Zurich version: as a peg fixed between the joining of stones, sin is urged between selling and buying, and transgression shall be consumed with the transgressor. It is signified therefore that among avaricious buyers and sellers contending for their avarice, sin is so straitened, pressed and shut in, that it cannot escape, but is taken, seized and joined by both: just as on the other hand among the same, truth and justice are so pressed, that they are compressed and oppressed: just as a hare surrounded on all sides by dogs is pressed, seized and devoured by them. Wherefore by the just judgment of God "sin shall be broken with the sinner;" either by the judge, who will order the damage inflicted by the wrongdoer to be repaired; or by the buyer or seller himself who is wronged, who when he perceives the fraud and damage, will take care to have it repaired for himself; or by God himself, who is the just avenger of all injustice and transgression. While therefore the merchant strives to insert deceits between buying and selling, God strives equally to break him with his transgressions. That this is so experience teaches. Thus Palacius, and so Lyra. For in death, he says, the sinner is broken, and the act of sinning is ended, because then the time of meriting and demeriting ceases. This is what Ezechiel charges against Tyre, that most celebrated emporium of merchants, in chapter XXVIII, verse 16: "In the multitude of thy merchandise thy heart hath been lifted up with pride, and thou hast sinned;" in Hebrew, the multitudes of thy merchandise have filled thy heart with iniquity. Some probably think that here is alluded to a stake, at which archers, as at a target, aim their arrows and missiles in order to pierce it. For thus formerly Roman soldiers and recruits, when they were exercised for battle, would fix a stake, and against it would hurl spears and javelins with force; thus they learned to hurl directly, to fight and to engage, as Vegetius testifies, book II, chapter XXIII, and book I, chapter XI, and Polybius, book XVII. For just as this stake, being fixed among stones, cannot escape being pierced by many arrows from many archers, so much so that being filled with them it scarcely has a free space to receive more: so likewise buyers and sellers with so many deceitful and fraudulent contracts, promises, assertions, as it were with arrows, pierce the stake of sin, with the zeal of gain, so that scarcely anything can be added to it. Others understand by the stake a peg, from which buckets, cauldrons, pots, and other vessels are suspended, Isaiah chapter XXII, 23, as if to say: The contracts of buyers and sellers, like a stake standing between both, is so burdened with sins, that it appears narrow, inasmuch as from it so many vessels of crimes hang down. Tropologically, the stake is the cupidity of growing rich. For into this, namely into a mind thirsting for gain, demons rush in full force, and pierce it with so many arrows of sins, that they fill and overwhelm it. Thus Anacharsis, in Laertius, says: "The market is a place of impostors, inasmuch as it is destined for deceiving one another." Wherefore the Athenians had provided by law, "that in the market of merchandise all falsehood should be absent," namely that the marketplace should be free from lies, as Theophrastus testifies, in his book On Laws. Hence philosophers and the Fathers so often censure commerce, that is, the vices and frauds of merchants. See St. Ambrose, I Offices chapter XLIX; St. Augustine, in Psalm XVIII and LXX; St. Chrysostom, book II On Compunction; Plato, book On Laws; Aristotle, book III Politics chapter III, and book VII, chapter IX; Valerius Maximus, book III, chapter III; Philostratus, book IV and VIII. Here therefore that saying of Jeremias, Lamentations III, 12, is true: "He hath set me as a mark for the arrow: he hath made me a butt for his arrows." For this reason Christ on the cross was as a target, at which the Jews hurled all their blows and the venom of their words; because sinners, especially merchants, had pierced their souls with so many arrows of crimes: for Christ took upon himself these things to be expiated and atoned for. To this pertains what Hugo of St. Victor says, book II of Didascalicon chapter XXIV: For merchants "eloquence is most necessary. Whence also he who presides over eloquence is called Mercury, as it were the lord of merchants, that is, master;" although others give a different etymology for Mercury. This opinion is illustrated by a deed and saying of a mime of remarkable wit; who when he had promised in the theatre to tell what all had in mind, and what all would wish to say in other games, and on the appointed day a greater multitude had flocked together with great expectation, is reported to have said, with all suspended and silent: "Cheap do you wish to buy, and dear to sell." In which saying all, nevertheless, of the lightest stage, found their own consciences, and to him who spoke with truth set before the eyes of all, and yet unexpected, they applauded with admirable favor. Yet the same author excepts some from this universal judgment: "For I know," he says, "a man, when a book for sale had been offered to him, and seeking its price, and therefore seeing the seller asking something small, gave the just price, which was much greater, without the seller expecting it." Finally, hear this sentence from Sirach treating the Author of the Imperfect Work in St. Chrysostom, hom. 38 on that passage of St. Matthew cap. XXI: He cast out those that sold and bought in the temple. "It signifies," he says, "that a merchant man can scarcely or never please God. And therefore no Christian ought to be a merchant: or if he wishes to be one, let him be cast out of the Church of God, the Prophet saying: Because I knew not business, I will enter into the powers of the Lord. For just as he who walks between two enemies, wishing to please both and commend himself to them, cannot be without evil speaking; for it is necessary that both speak evil of him and he speak evil of both; so he who buys and sells cannot be without lying and perjury: for it is necessary that one of the merchants swear, because the thing is not worth as much as he buys it for; and the other swear, because the thing is worth more than he sells it for. But neither is their substance stable. For the substance of such men either perishes while they live, or is dissipated by wicked heirs, or their inheritance comes to strangers and enemies. That which is gathered from evil cannot profit unto good. Just as if you see wheat or some kind of grain in a sieve, while you toss it hither and thither, all the grains gradually fall downward, and in the end nothing remains in the sieve except filth alone: so also the substance of merchants, while they go and come, between buying and selling is diminished, and in the end nothing remains to them except sin alone."
27:6
Where note that in the Author of the Imperfect Work certain errors are contained. Such is that at the beginning he says a merchant can scarcely or never please God, and therefore no Christian ought to be a merchant, although St. Thomas, II II, Quest. LXXVII, art. 4, excuses him by saying that he speaks of one who places his ultimate end in gain, prepared to perjure himself, to defraud, to practice usury, etc., in order to gain: thus also our Lessius excuses him, lib. II De Justitia, cap. XXI, dub. 1, num. 4. Again note that, because in Psalm LXX, 16, we read: "Because I knew not γραμματείας, that is literature, I will enter into the powers of the Lord," St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine, Arnobius, Cassiodorus and others read πραγματείας, that is business; and in Hebrew ספרות sephorot signifies not only letters, but also numbering and reckoning, such as that of merchants, as if David said: Because I knew not business, or even the affairs of this world, which draw the mind from God and fix it to earth and gain, therefore I will approach to celebrate the power and mercy of God toward me. Wherefore in this place not commerce is condemned, but the vices of commerce, such as those of men who love merchandise more than faith. That is the vice of merchants, not of commerce, as St. Augustine teaches in the same place. Or rather not commerce and business are condemned, but to it is preferred the holy and pious leisure of prayer and praising God. Thus also Cassiodorus, in Psalm LXX: "Those merchants," he says, "are considered abominable, who, giving no heed to the justice of God, pollute their merchandise through immoderate ambition for money more with perjuries than with prices. Such did the Lord cast out of the temple, saying: Make not the house of my Father a house of merchandise." 4. IF THOU KEEP NOT THYSELF EARNESTLY IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THY HOUSE SHALL QUICKLY BE OVERTHROWN. — This sentence is general and holds everywhere; here, however, it applies to the greedy buyers and sellers, as if to say: Those greedy men, if they have not kept the fear of God in their buying and selling, and thereby restrained their greed, will quickly see their house, family and substance, which they have built by their deceits, overthrown. Therefore it is greed which drives the greedy man to ruin and destruction: the remedy for this is the fear of God, which holds back and restrains the greedy man as he rushes toward the precipice.
27:7
Whence the Greek texts have, unless anyone shall keep himself diligently in the fear of the Lord, his house shall quickly be overthrown; the Zurich Bible, unless anyone shall diligently hold the religion of the Lord, his house shall be destroyed in a short time; the Syriac, my son, if you shall have transgressed somewhat against the fear of God, you shall fail in much time. Whence Gabriel Vasquez, I II, tom. II, disp. 196, cap. IV: "By this sentence," he says, "Sirach admonishes merchants that they trade, buy and sell with the fear of God." Tropologically Lyra. If, he says, you shall not have kept yourself diligently in the fear of God, the building of virtues shall quickly be overthrown on account of the proneness to evil, according to that in Genesis VIII: "The sense and thought of the human heart are prone to evil from their youth." For man is like a ship in a river flowing downward; which unless it be pushed strongly upward, or held back, immediately descends by the force of the river: thus man easily slips into vices, unless he strongly holds himself by the fear of God, as by a rope or towline, against the impulse of concupiscence. Thus far Lyra. And St. Bernard, serm. 2 On the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, cap. I: "For indeed," he says, "every building of virtues immediately tends toward a precipice, if it shall have lost the protection of this grace." Moreover also the Comic poet: "The mind," he says, "which knows how to fear, knows how to walk safely." And Pliny, lib. VII, epist. 17: "Fear is the sharpest corrector." And another: "Whom shame does not correct, fear corrects." 5. AS IN THE SHAKING OF A SIEVE (St. Augustine in the Mirror reads, in the perforation, that is in the perforated holes, or in the openings) DUST SHALL REMAIN, SO THE PERPLEXITY OF A MAN IN HIS THOUGHT. — First, Palacius refers this sentence to the preceding one, as if it explains it, in this sense, as if to say: A woman shaking a sieve finds after the shaking bran and refuse: thus a man, if he shall have thought of himself, if he shall have examined himself, after this examination shall find misery and want, nay what evil shall he not find? If you please yourself, if you esteem yourself too much, you do this because you have not examined yourself, you have not tested yourself: examine yourself, and with the flour of your goods falling away, you shall find nothing but bran and misery: for all vanity is every living man, all flesh is hay: it is dust, and shall return to dust. Second, Rabanus: He shows, he says, by a fitting example that the fear of God purges the soul of man. For just as a sieve collects refuse and separates grain from chaff: thus the fear of God through perplexity, that is through care and anguish of mind, expels all filthy thoughts from the heart. Third, others better judge that here there is a disparate and new sentence concerning the troubles which afflict the mind and thought of man, as if to say: Just as when a sieve is struck, agitated, shaken, flour slips through the holes, but dust remains in the sieve, namely bran and filth: thus when the mind of man is agitated and shaken by various thoughts, like a sieve (hence a sieve is called as it were currifugum, because grain runs in it, says St. Isidore, lib. XX of the Origins, cap. VIII), especially when it is in affliction and tribulation; often good and joyful thoughts slip away, and after all agitation of the mind nothing remains in it except perplexity, that is confusion, anxiety and sadness of mind. As if to say: This is the natural weakness of man and of the mind, that it lets go of good and joyful things, retains evil and sad things: when rather, on the contrary, it ought to let go of bran, that is to cast away sad things, and retain flour, that is to occupy the mind with thoughts and things joyful, which have gone before, or shall follow.
27:8
Truly Plutarch, in the book On Tranquility of Mind: "Just as," he says, "medicinal gourds draw out the foulest blood from flesh: so you gather together all the worst things (he speaks to one who is troubled and afflicted) in yourself, no better than that Chian merchant who, while selling the finest wine, prepared sour wine for himself." For melancholic, fainthearted, and sad persons are accustomed to fix their mind on thoughts similar to themselves, namely sorrowful, fearful, dismal, and despairing thoughts, which sadness—by which they are filled—suggests, and to dismiss or rather repel happy thoughts and those full of good hope, as if foreign to themselves, incongruous and hateful. Note: For dust in Greek it is κόπρος, that is dung, excrement, dregs, filth. Again, for aporia the Complutensian edition has σκῦλα, that is spoils: whence they translate, in the shaking of the sieve there remain dregs: thus the spoils of a man in his thought. But the Roman edition reads σκύβαλα, that is refuse, filth, rubbish, as I said in the preceding chapter, verse 26: whence they translate, in the striking of the sieve there remains dung, thus the rubbish of a man in his thought; the Zurich edition, as filth remains in the shaken sieve, so reason or thought discerns the filthiness of a man. Our translator seems to have read inversely, namely in the first place σκῦλα, that is spoils, that is dust and bran, by which wheat and flour are stripped away in the shaking of the sieve: but in the second place for κοπρία (as they now read), he read ἀπορία. Which reading is indeed more convenient and fitting, as is evident to one observing. Now ἀπορία means two things to the Greeks: first, want, scarcity, indigence; second, ambiguity, difficulty, anxiety, diffidence, perplexity, desperation, which is a want of mind, counsel and hope: for ἀπορέω means I am in doubt, I doubt, I am stuck, I am of uncertain mind, I am without counsel, I fail, I am troubled, I am perplexed. Thus the Apostle says, II Corinthians IV, 8: "In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not straitened: ἀπορούμεθα (that is, we are perplexed), but are not destitute." In either way ἀπορία can be taken here, but more in the latter. The Syriac translator, substituting for the dust of the sieve another similitude of smoke and fire, thus translates: as much smoke above fire, so the narratives of men above thought, as if to say: Just as fire agitating and heating a pot placed beneath it excites many vapors and smokes; so the mind of a man, turning over in mind and thought many things heard, seen, and thought, thinks and devises many things; which then narrating to others, it spreads vain narratives and rumors among the people. Our translator, for διαλογισμός, seems to have read θλίψεως, that is tribulation. Thus St. Augustine reads in the Speculum, St. Jerome, in book II Against Jovinian, whose words are cited concerning penance, distinction 2, chapter If indeed, § Of Free Will. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as fire in a furnace cooking and consolidating earthen vessels made by the potter proves them, and shows whether they were made correctly by him or not: for those which are correctly tempered and joined together endure in the fire, and are consolidated by it; but those which are otherwise break and burst: so likewise temptation and tribulation prove and show what sort the just man is. For those who endure constant in temptation show themselves to be founded and established in justice; but those who fall in spirit in it show themselves not to be stable in justice, but light and inconstant; because they believe for a time, and in the time of temptation they fall away, as Christ says, Luke VIII. This meaning signifies that we are clay and as it were clay in the hand of the potter, namely God; and therefore like earthen vessels we are refined by the fire of tribulation, so that we may be both purged by it, proved by it, and solidified in virtue, just as an earthen vessel receives solidity from fire.
27:9
He alludes to Wisdom III, 6: "As gold in the furnace He proved them." And Malachi III: "He is like a refiner's fire, and like the fuller's herb; and He shall sit refining and cleansing silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold." And Psalm XVI, 3: "Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it in the night: Thou hast tried me by fire, and iniquity was not found in me." For, as Paul says, Romans V, 3: "Tribulation worketh patience, and patience worketh probation, and probation worketh hope." Hence learn that tribulation and temptation are nothing other than πειρασμόν, that is, probation and trial, by which God proves, tries and tests the faith, constancy and virtue of each one, according to that saying of Moses: "The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him or not, with all your heart, and with all your soul," Deuteronomy XIII, 3. Hear St. Bernard, tract. On the Degrees of Humility, in the ninth: "The furnace, he says, proves the vessels of the potter, and tribulation truly discerns the truly penitent. For he who truly repents does not abhor the labor of penance; but whatever is enjoined upon him for the fault which he hates, he patiently embraces with a quiet conscience. In obedience itself also, when hard and contrary things arise, whatever injuries are inflicted, enduring them he is not provoked, so that he may judge himself to stand in the fourth degree of humility. But he whose confession is feigned, when questioned about one or slight contumely, or slight punishment, can neither simulate humility nor dissimulate the simulation. He murmurs, he gnashes his teeth, he grows angry, nor does he stand in the fourth degree of humility, but is proved to have fallen into the ninth degree of pride, which according to its description may rightly be called feigned confession. How great, think you, then is the confusion in the heart of the proud man, when fraud is deceived, peace is lost, praise is diminished, and guilt is not washed away? Finally he is noted by all, judged by all, and all the more vehemently do all grow indignant, the more they perceive that false was all that they had previously thought of him. Then it is the duty of the superior, that he think himself the less bound to spare him, the more he would offend all if he spared one." Note: Tribulation, as it is a furnace tormenting, proving and purifying souls chosen by God; so also is it a ring, by which Christ espouses them to himself as brides. By this ring Christ, touching the eye of St. Gertrude, inflicted perpetual sorrow upon her: whence she learned that, as a ring is the sign of marriage, so adversity is the certain sign and earnest of divine election, so that by it the soul enters into marriage, as it were, with Christ, so that anyone afflicted and troubled can say with St. Agnes: "My Lord Jesus Christ has espoused me with His ring, and adorned me as a bride with a crown." This the Life of St. Gertrude has word for word, book III, chapter II. To this doctrine belongs that saying of St. Ephrem, tract. On the Fear of God: "Many have the habit of a monk, but few are wrestlers; but in the time of temptation the probation of monks appears." I have said more about this temptation and probation of tribulation in chapter II, verse 8. Hence gather that the temptation of tribulation is not to be fled, but rather to be sought by the just. Would not the vessels of the potter, well tempered, if they could feel, desire and speak, say that they seek the fire of the furnace, that by it they might be baked and solidified? So also the just, supported by the grace of God, seek the flame of tribulation, which in them burns away whatever is impure, and solidifies and perfects them in virtue. David knew this; hence he prays Psalm XXV: "Prove me, O Lord, and try me: burn my reins and my heart." Excellently St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 23: "The philosophical mind, he says, becomes more noble from what it has suffered, and as glowing iron by cold sprinkling, so it hardens by dangers," so that of him you may rightly use that Horatian verse: Like the ilex hewn by hard axes, With fertile black foliage on Algidus, Through losses, through slaughters from itself It draws wealth and spirit by iron. And St. Basil, oration 11 On Patience and Forbearance: "As the tempest proves the pilot of a ship, the stadium the athlete, the battle the soldier, calamity the magnanimous man, so temptation proves the Christian man. And as the labors of contests attract athletes to themselves by crowns, so also probation, which descends from temptations, leads Christian men to perfection, if only with fitting forbearance and with all thanksgiving we receive those things which are ordained by the Lord." Indeed, Pliny also to the consul Trajan, chapter XXXI: "Adversity, he says, proves great men, prosperity the fortunate." A notable example is found in the Life of St. Litifredus, Bishop of Ticinum, in the year of the Lord 850, who shone forth with singular patience. For, as Philip Ferrarius writes in his Catalogue of Saints of Italy, in his Life, although he could have avenged the injuries inflicted upon him without detriment to charity, he was unwilling to do so, employing that saying of the Apostle: "Patience is necessary for you, that you may obtain the promises." Indeed, he even bore insults from base persons with equanimity, and to his familiar servant, who was indignant at unworthy words spoken against him by someone and urged that the injury be avenged for the dignity of his office, the good Bishop responded that it is better that the good be exercised by the wicked, and that the death of the wicked ought not to be desired by the good. For as gold is proved by fire, so the good become more perfect from the persecution of the wicked. Wherefore he shone forth illustrious with miracles, which the same Ferrarius recounts from the history of Pavia and other sources. St. Augustine gives examples from Holy Scripture, sermon 82 On the Seasons, Jacob and Joseph the patriarchs. For seeking why God permitted Jacob to be tormented for thirty years, during which Joseph was in nearby Egypt, by ignorance of this matter (for he thought him to be dead), he answers: "Because therefore Jacob could not be without these small sins, God, willing to consume those very small sins in him by the fire of tribulation in this age, fulfills in him what he himself said through the Holy Spirit: The furnace proves the vessels of the potter, and tribulation proves just men. And that: God scourges every son whom he receives. And that: Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. Therefore, so that our God might present St. Jacob like purified gold in the future judgment, he first wiped away from him all stains of sins, so that in him that fire, the arbiter, could find nothing to burn." He then adduces Joseph himself, and assigns this cause for his two years' imprisonment: namely, that he hoped more in man than in God, when he asked the chief of the cupbearers that he might obtain his liberation from Pharaoh. "As if God were saying to him, he says: I show you this, so that you should seek help from me rather than from man. For it must be believed without any doubt that for the chastisement of St. Joseph, God did not permit the master of the cupbearers to remember what St. Joseph, when he was released from prison, had begged of him. And because Joseph himself also, although holy then, could not be without sin, therefore he was shut up in prison for so long a time, so that in him might be fulfilled what is written: Those whom I love, I reprove; and those whom I love, I chastise."
27:10
6. THE FURNACE PROVES THE POTTER'S VESSELS, AND TRIBULATION PROVES JUST MEN. — The word "just" is not in the Greek. Again, for "tribulation" the Greek has διαλογισμός, that is, disputation, discussion, reasoning, discourse, conversation, consultation: likewise thought, conception, sense of mind, purpose, will. Whence the Complutensian edition translates: the furnace proves the potter's vessels, and the trial of a man in his thought, as if to say: Just as the furnace proves the potter's vessels, so thought proves what manner of man he is: for the learned man thinks learned things, the holy man holy things, the chaste man chaste things, the heavenly man heavenly things, the carnal man carnal things, the foolish man foolish things, the unclean man unclean things, the proud man proud things, etc. Do you wish therefore to know what manner of man you are, where your love is, what you love? See what you frequently think: for you love that very thing; for where love is, there also is the mind, just as the eye. The Roman edition translates: the furnace proves the potter's vessels, and the trial (that is, as others translate it, the proof and examination) of a man in his discourse, as if to say: Just as the furnace proves a vessel, so discourse proves, examines and shows what manner of heart the man has. For from the heart discourse proceeds, as a ray from the sun. This version agrees with the following verse. The Zurich edition translates: the furnace exercises the potter's vessels, but reason or thought proves the man, as if to say: Reason proves the rational being, thought proves the thinking being. Do you wish therefore to know what manner of rational soul, what manner of mind is in this man? Examine what his reason, thought, discourse is. For these four verses in the Greek each have λογισμόν or διαλογισμόν, that is, reason and discourse, and they constitute the proof and index of the heart. Tropologically, Lyra says: Just as in a sieve there remain chaff, pebbles, refuse and other useless things: so after the commission of sin there remains in the thought of the sinner aporia, that is, anguish and remorse of sin, which is called the worm of conscience, which continually torments, bites and wrings the sinner. 7. AS THE TENDING OF WOOD SHOWS ITS FRUIT, SO A WORD OUT OF THE THOUGHT OF THE HEART OF MAN. — Thus the Roman and Complutensian Latin editions, although St. Augustine, in the Mirror, reads, "out of the thought of the heart of man," that is, of the prudent man; others read: so a word thought out by man shows the heart, namely. Thus Rabanus. So also the Greek corrected at Rome: the tending of wood, they say, shows its fruit: so a word thought out shows the heart of man; but the Greek of the Complutensian edition: the tending of wood, they say, shows its fruit: so the utterance of thought in the heart of man; others: so the discourse of the thought of the heart of man; that is, discourse flowing from the thought of the heart of man; the Zurich edition: as the culture of a tree indicates its fruit, so the hearts of men (indicate) the meditated reason, or thought of them. For in Greek λόγος is read, that is, reason or discourse, or λογισμός, that is, thought, reasoning; the Syriac: as the culture of a tree produces its fruit, so the thoughts of men upon their meditations. All these readings and versions come to the same thing. For the sense is, as if to say: Just as tending, that is, rustic agriculture and culture of a tree shows the fruit of the tree, and from the fruit consequently what manner of tree it is: so likewise a word uttered from the thought and meditation of the heart of man shows the fruit of the heart, and consequently what manner of heart it is. Moreover, just as fruit not only shows what manner of tree it is, but also how it has been cultivated by the farmer: so likewise word and discourse not only shows what manner of heart it is, but also how it has been cultivated. For this is what the Greek passages already cited signify, and thus Hugo understands the Latin version by hypallage, as if to say: The tending of the wood, that is, of the wood, shows its fruit. This is the same thing that Christ says, Matthew XII, 33: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure (of his heart) bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure (of his heart) bringeth forth evil things." Thus Rabanus and Palacius: Good and diligent culture of a tree, he says, brings forth into the light its good fruit: so good and diligent culture of the thought of our heart brings forth good word: so on the contrary, a neglected tree brings forth barren fruit; and neglected thought brings forth words either evil or foolish: for there is agreement between heart and mouth. By the mouth thou shalt pronounce from the heart. He says: "from thought," because speech uttered from prior thought and premeditation indicates the state and habit of the heart, but not speech unpremeditated, which is brought forth from sudden anger, sadness, or some other passion: for passion extorts that speech, but the heart does not draw it forth from its own treasure as something elicited. Whence some translate from the Greek, just as the fruit of a tree shows its cultivation, so the meditated speech declares the mind of man. And the Latin codex of Liège, cited by Francis Lucas, reads thus: "Just as husbandry of wood shows its fruit, so the word of thought and meditation of the heart of man," namely that very heart itself shows and reveals; although not rarely sudden words, if frequent, indicate the habit of the mind even when dormant, alienated, or sleeping. For thus St. Francis Xavier, even while sleeping or seized by delirium, would utter pious conversations with Christ, saying: "My Jesus, good Jesus, Jesus my love;" because his heart was full, indeed burning with love of Jesus: whence even in sleep he spoke of it, and while delirious he eructated nothing else from heart and mouth. Morally, learn from this that our heart needs cultivation, as a field needs it. Again, the first fruit of the heart is thought, the second speech. That therefore it may speak correctly, chastely and holily, let it frequently think and meditate on the same; that it may frequently think on it, let it thoroughly imbue the heart with chastity and holiness: for just as a body imbued with balsam breathes balsam, so a heart imbued with holiness and full of God breathes nothing but holiness and God: just as vessels filled with wine exhale nothing but the odor of wine, and the stomach eructates the juice of the delicate food with which it is full. Voice therefore is the interpreter of the mind, and the index of the person; whence Isaac knew his son Jacob from his voice alone, and distinguished him from Esau. Christ teaches this very thing in the words cited a little before. Indeed philosophers also. Chrysippus, when asked: "What is the mind of man?" answered: "The source of speech," saying: "For just as streams flow from a fountain, so speech proceeds from the heart and mind of man." Thus Stobaeus, sermon 1. Another: "From the voice we recognize a man not seen in the face; for each has his own voice: thus from speech it is possible to conjecture the mind and life of a man." And: "Just as the painter Protogenes recognized Apelles from a single line, never otherwise seen: so from a single answer he who is himself wise will discern the ingenuity and prudence of a man." I shall recount more in the following verses. 8. PRAISE NOT A MAN BEFORE THOU HAST HEARD HIM: FOR THIS IS THE TRIAL OF MEN. — Trial, in Greek πειρασμός, that is, proof and exploration of men, as if to say: The true way of exploring the mind, ingenuity and nature of a man is speech: before therefore you have heard someone speaking, do not pass judgment about him and his nature. For just as gold is tested by a whetstone, so a man is tested by speech, especially familiar and frequent or constant speech. For many feign or compose speech for an hour, but in vain they simulate something excellent and dissimulate something depraved. For speech in Greek is λογισμός, that is, consideration, thought, reason, understanding: whence the Zurich version translates, praise no one before reason is initiated (Vatablus, before thought is weighed); for this is the trial of men, as if to say: Praise no one before you have considered him, and have carefully weighed his speeches, countenance and manners with yourself: because this consideration is given to man for the examination and balance by which he proves, examines and explores all men and things. But Sirach takes λογισμόν for λόγου, that is, speech, as the Complutensian and Roman versions and others translate: or certainly for διαλογισμοῦ, that is, reasoning, disputation, discourse. For from discourse the mind of each is best known: for the countenance is often deceitful, as much as stature and bodily form. For many are distinguished in countenance, stature and form, who have a dull ingenuity, scanty judgment, a depressed mind. On the other hand, many have small stature, obscure countenance, deformed appearance, who nevertheless have great souls, keen ingenuity, remarkable prudence; such as Socrates is said by Laertius to have been.
27:11
Speech is indeed the index of the mind: for the mouth is the clasp of the heart, nay the gate: for the heart through its mouth utters, brings forth and reveals its affections. The mouth therefore is the image and mirror of the heart: just as the word of the mind is the image and mirror of the mind (whence the Son of God, who is the Word of the mind of the Father, is called "the image of the Father," Colossians I, verse 15): so likewise the word of the mouth is the mirror and image of the word of the mind. In it therefore, as in a mirror, behold the mind, and the sense of the mind of each one. Maximus proves this by many sayings of the ancients, sermon 15. Solon, he says, used to say, "that speech is the likeness of works" (so also Democritus called the word an image of life). Romulus said: "Earthen vessels are to be examined by sound and percussion, but man by speech." Oenopidas asserted that whatever the nature of each person was, such also was his speech. Demonax used to say: "In mirrors the form of the face, but in conversation the nature and image of the mind can be seen. For speech is as it were the potter of man, which shapes and brings forth the form of the soul. For in no mirror is the figure of the body more clearly and expressly reflected than in speech is the image of the breast represented:" thus Maximus. Socrates, as Cicero testifies in the Tusculan Disputations V, had this axiom: "What a man is, such also will be his speech; and speech is most like to deeds, and deeds to life." The same Socrates, when a certain rich man had sent his son to him, that he might examine his character, and the pedagogue said: "Father, to you, O Socrates, he has sent his son, that you might see him;" then Socrates said to the boy: "Speak therefore, young man, that we may see you;" signifying that the ingenuity of man does not so much shine forth in the face, as in speech, because this is the most certain and least deceptive mirror of the soul. 9. IF THOU SHALT FOLLOW JUSTICE, THOU SHALT ATTAIN IT; AND THOU SHALT PUT IT ON AS A LONG ROBE (wrongly in the Mirror of St. Augustine is read shame) OF HONOR AND THOU SHALT DWELL WITH HER, AND SHE SHALL PROTECT THEE FOREVER, AND IN THE DAY OF KNOWLEDGE THOU SHALT FIND FIRMAMENT. — The Greek texts, as is their custom, concisely have only this: if thou shalt follow justice, thou shalt attain it, and thou shalt put it on as a talaris tunic of glory; the Syriac: if thou shalt seek truth, thou shalt find it, and thou shalt put it on as a garment of glory; the Zurich: if thou shalt pursue justice, thou shalt obtain it, and thou shalt put it on as an honorable toga. Then from the Latin Vulgate it adds, with her thou shalt dwell, which shall protect thee in eternity, so that in the time of inquiry thou mayest find firmament. For "thou shalt follow" in Greek is διώκῃς, that is, thou shalt pursue, with that zeal, speed, effort, striving, and constancy with which a dog pursues a hare, and does not cease until it catches and seizes it. In a similar manner we ought to follow and pursue justice, and to say with the Apostle: "One thing indeed, forgetting the things that are behind, reaching forth to those that are before, I press towards the mark, to the prize of the supernal vocation of God in Christ Jesus," Philippians chapter III, 12. For "justice" in Greek is τὸ δίκαιον, that is, the just, namely just and holy works, which make thee just and holy, and clothe and adorn thee with habitual justice. Justice therefore is here understood in a general sense, which is the complex of all virtues, in which the sanctity and perfection of the faithful consists. A poderis is a talaris tunic, so called because from the neck down to the feet, that is the feet and ankles, it is let down, which therefore encompasses, clothes, protects, adorns and decorates the whole body of man. Whence doctors, senators, magistrates, and above all priests are clothed in talaris vestments. For the poderis was the vestment of Aaron and the pontiffs, of which it is said in Wisdom XVIII, verse 24: "In the poderis which he had, the whole world was: and the great deeds of the fathers were carved in the four rows of stones." See what I said in Exodus XXVIII, 6. Therefore it signifies that justice is as it were a sacred poderis adorning the just, and as it were consecrating him a priest, according to that saying of St. Peter, epistle I, chapter II, 9: "You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people." Justice therefore is a poderis, making the just, and creating a doctor, senator, priest and pontiff of the heavenly court. Moreover, justice clothes and adorns us with a twofold power: first, with the power of grace in this life, for grace is a heavenly light making the soul splendid and gracious in the eyes of God and the angels; second, with the power of glory in heaven; for there all our justice and grace is perfected, and there divine glory will be given as a reward for the merits of works of justice and will make us blessed. There therefore justice is properly clothed with the power of glory, as the Greek and Syriac texts have it. He alludes to Isaiah, chapter LXI, verse 10: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom decked with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels." See the remarks there. Hence Sirach subjoins three effects and fruits of this power and garment of justice, saying first: "And thou shalt dwell with her," that is to say, thou shalt dwell with justice as with a garment, nay rather with a heavenly virgin, and thus thou shalt dwell with divine holiness, and with God himself: for justice and holiness created and infused by God into holy minds is a participation of this. Second, "it shall protect thee for ever" against all temptations of concupiscence, against all assaults of demons, against all deceits, allurements, terrors and dangers of the world, nay even against God's own thunderbolts and lightnings, which he will hurl at the wicked, especially on the day of judgment, when he shall thunder forth upon them the dreadful sentence of damnation, saying: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels," Matthew XXV. Whence third: "In the day of knowledge," that is in the day of judgment and divine examination, when Christ shall know of all the deeds of men, "thou shalt find firmament:" for justice shall be to thee as a breastplate strengthening thy breast, so that on that terrible day, when all others shall tremble at the face of an angry Christ, and shall say "to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us," Luke XXIII, 30, thou mayest stand firm and unshaken, nay rather full of good hope, joyful and eager, awaiting that sentence of blessedness: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," Matthew XXV. Allegorically and tropologically Palacius understands by justice Christ, and the graces and virtues of Christ. If thou keepest before thine eyes, he says, the word of Paul: "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ," thou wilt understand that Christ is the justice, which he who seeks it by vows, prayers and good works shall apprehend. Thou wilt also understand that he is the power of honour, that is the embroidered and long robe, with which Joseph, Genesis XXXVII, 3, was clothed. Thou wilt likewise understand that he is the lord of the house, who will make us dwell with him; that he is also an eternal protector: for he will bear us to heaven, where he will hide us in the secret place of his tabernacle. Finally he will be the firmament, on which we lean in the day of judgment. The day of judgment is called the "day of knowledge;" for then each one shall know himself, and shall be known by all. Then Christ will be the firmament, on which we all lean, as many as have sinned, but have been justified through the redemption which is in Christ. Behold a Christian clothed with Christ outwardly, who has Christ as an indweller within; who has Christ as an eternal protector, and a pillar on which he leans especially in the day of judgment. How far distant from these are our morals! for nothing is less perceived in any of us than Christ. Thus far Palacius. Anagogically Rabanus: "The power," he says, "is a tunic reaching to the ankles. What then is an ankle-length tunic, but a completed action? For just as an extended tunic covers the ankle of the body, so a good action covers us before God's eyes even to the term of our life. Whence also through Moses the tail of the victim is commanded to be offered on the altar, so that namely every good which we begin, we also complete with persevering end. Whoever therefore perseveres to the end of life in good action, the Lord will protect him for ever, and in the day of knowledge, that is in the day of judgment, when the Lord coming shall illuminate the hidden things of darkness, and shall make manifest the counsels of hearts, then he shall find firmament: because then he shall perceive the true and firm reward of his justice." 10. BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER (in Greek καταλύσει, that is, they turn aside): AND TRUTH SHALL RETURN TO THOSE WHO WORK IT. — "Truth" both speculative, for this indeed comes to those working, that is, studying, laboring and contemplating; and rather moral and practical, such as is in the practical intellect ethics and prudence, in appetite and will justice and virtue, namely the execution of ethics, and right operation according to the dictate of prudence. The former truth is of the mind and speculation: the latter, of the will and operation. It is called "truth," because it inclines and works moral truth, which is honest good: for this is true, because it is conformable and proportionate to its rule, namely to the law and will of God. On the contrary, vice is called false and falsehood, because it is deformed and discordant from right reason and its law and rule. Whence frequently in the Scriptures the impious are said to follow vanity and falsehood. He explains what he said: "If thou follow justice, thou shalt apprehend her," by an appended similitude of birds. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as birds of the same kind and color gather together, and likewise feed, dwell and fly together, and, if they fly off a little, immediately return to their companions; as we see cranes fly and feed with cranes, geese with geese, magpies with magpies, and, as is commonly said, a jackdaw sit with a jackdaw: so likewise truth, that is, prudence, justice and virtues flee the wicked, and turn their course back to the good as if to those like themselves, at least in wish and affection: because namely the good love them, seek them, work them; and because the good gather with the good, just as the wicked with the wicked, as if with their like. But the good bring with them their own goodness and virtue, which they rub off on others, just as the wicked their own wickedness and vices. To this pertains that passage of Claudian, in the nuptials of the Emperor Honorius and Mary: The palms nod to mutual treaties, the poplar sighs with a poplar blow. And plane trees to plane trees, and alder hisses to alder. As if to say: The palm rejoices with and grieves with the palm, the poplar with the poplar, the plane tree with the plane tree, the alder with the alder, as like with like: how much more should a man rejoice with a man like himself, and grieve with him when afflicted? He signifies therefore that, just as birds of the same kind come together to those like themselves, and mutually refresh, cheer, embrace and help one another: so likewise truth and virtue familiarly deal with those devoted to them, live joyfully with them, refresh them, embrace them, feed them, and advance them in all good, and finally bless them with eternal joy and happiness in heaven. For there indeed to them as if by postliminium "it shall return," which in the troubles of this life, and in the labors of virtue, hides itself and its own joy, as if to be absent from the just, and to withdraw itself.
27:12
Thus the Zurich Bible: birds, it says, join themselves to their like, and likewise truth comes to those who themselves give attention to it; the Syriac: for a bird dwells among its kind, and truth goes to those who do it. Aptly, truth and virtues are compared to birds; because both are light, agile, elevated from the earth, melodious, bright, heavenly: for they sing eternal praises to God, and on swift wings fly to heaven. Thus wisdom and chastity, as Rufinus testifies, like birds and heavenly virgins, flew to St. Gregory of Nazianzus in dreams, and said to him: "We are your friends, because you have prepared a pleasant dwelling for us in your soul." Thus almsgiving, like a divine bird, flew to St. John the Almsgiver, and invited him to love it, as Leontius testifies in his Life. Thus three virgins, namely poverty, chastity, obedience, flew to St. Francis, as St. Bonaventure testifies in his Life. Whence mystically Rabanus understands by birds "the holy souls of the elect, which lift themselves up by the wings of virtues from the society of earthly and carnal things, and desire to be associated with the holy angels in heavenly joy, with whom they are also joined in the future life." Again, just as birds repelled by those unlike and differently colored to them return to their like and same-colored: so truth and holiness, repelled by the impious and finding no place among them where it may set its foot, like Noah's dove, returns to the pious who are devoted to it. I gave the reason a priori in chapter XIII, verse 19. Secondly, with Jansenius, "truth" here can be understood as uncreated, namely equity and justice, which is in God. For those devoted to justice approach that, and it in turn rewards them: wherefore it is said to return to them, when it renders to them the rewards of justice, which those working it have merited in this life, according to that saying of Christ: "If you abide in my word, you shall be my disciples indeed: and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," John VIII. For God and Christ is the very truth of things, namely true wisdom, true delights, true riches, true honor, true joy, true happiness: all other things are vanity and falsehood, nay, as Ecclesiastes says, chapter I: "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." Morally Palacius notes that truth and holiness are said to return to the pious when it offers them the occasion of exercising true works, that is, pious and holy deeds. For sometimes the occasion of exercising them is not given, and then truth seems to flee from its devotee; but soon it presents itself to him again, when it suggests a new opportunity of acting well. By which it signifies that the opportunity of acting well should be seized while God offers it: for, as the Poet says, Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald. 11. THE LION ALWAYS LIES IN WAIT FOR PREY: SO SINS FOR THOSE WORKING INIQUITIES. — He proves what he said, that truth returns to its devotees and workers, by the antithesis of the contrary, namely sin and iniquity. "For prey," that is for animals and beasts, which it hunts. Thus therefore from the Greek you may clearly translate with Vatablus, as the lion lies in wait for the beast, so sin for those committing injustice; the Syriac: the lion lies in wait for breaking (that is for beasts which it breaks, tears and devours): so iniquity for those doing sins. Aptly, just as he compared truth and virtues to birds, so here he compares falsehood and sin to the fierce and cruel lion, and sinners to beasts for which the lion lies in wait. This therefore is the antithesis between virtue and sin, and not a single one, but manifold: namely first, that virtue is a gracious bird, which with its like, namely those endowed with virtue, dwells pleasantly and gladdens, refreshes and blesses them; but sin is like a most savage lion, which admits the friendship or familiar company of none, but rages against all beasts which it hunts with slaughter and tearing. For even if it itself is a beast, it devours other beasts: so sin is destructive to the sinner, and creates nothing good, but all evil, just as if it were not congenial and similar to him, but wholly degenerate and dissimilar, nay directly opposite and contrary. Secondly, just as the lion lies in wait, and from ambush attacks beasts and men, so also sin lies in wait for the sinner. For it offers him the bait of pleasure, so that it may catch and kill him, just as the fisherman catches and kills the fish with bait, according to that saying in Proverbs V: "His own iniquities shall catch the wicked, and he shall be held fast with the cords of his own sins." Thirdly, just as the lion kills and devours the beasts which it hunts: so sin kills the sinner, and makes him food for present and eternal death, so that he always burns in hell. Morally, Palacius says: As the lion, he says, which lies in ambush for hunting, offers itself even to one who fears nothing of the sort: so sin offers itself to the sinner, even to one not thinking of sin. For everywhere it presents to the sinner the matter of sinning. Thus in turn to the man working truth, truth itself offers itself to be exercised everywhere; and if sometimes the occasion of exercising truth escapes, it straightway returns. So much does God prepare good things everywhere for the good, and the devil ceaselessly prepares evil things for the evil. But with this difference, that sin is a lion, devouring the sinner: truth is all good, blessing the worker of truth. It is a prosopopoeia. For sin is here introduced as a person, indeed as a wild beast and lion lying in ambush for the sinner. Take "sin" here broadly and generally: whence you may descend into it particularly, so that first, by sin you understand habitual sin, namely the habit of sinning: for this lies in ambush for man, while secretly and clandestinely it inclines him to repeat acts of sin. For the drunkard, for example, from frequent drunkenness has contracted a habit, by which he is very much inclined always to drink: this habit therefore inclines him insidiously, even while not thinking and as if unknowing, so that he goes to taverns and drinks. Second, by sin you understand actual sin, namely the act of sin: for this inclines man to its repetition. For the experience of pleasure, which is present in sin, leads him to repeat it, so that through it the pleasure may be repeated, which he experiences in the present, and has experienced in the past. Third, by sin you understand concupiscence. For this is called "sin" metonymically by the Apostle, Romans VII, and by St. Augustine and the Doctors often, because it is the effect equally as the cause of sin. For concupiscence secretly tickles man, and furtively solicits him, so that he may fulfill it in deed. Hence it comes about that man, setting aside the judgment of reason, follows it, and feeds and delights himself with it, even unknowing and as if unaware: because concupiscence as it were steals away man's mind, and thus as it were by ambush captures and maddens him. Fourth, by sin you understand the object of sin, namely the allurements and alluring forms of delightful things, which entice man to sin. Such are the forms of women, which snatch away those beholding them to lust; the gleam of wine and rich tables, which snatch away the glutton, so that he may satisfy his gluttony with them; the splendor of gold, which snatches away the avaricious man, so that he may pursue it by fair means and foul; the pomp of honor, which snatches away the proud man, so that he may seek it. This is fraud, these are ambushes, while companions or concupiscence suggest to man and say: See how beautiful is this and that, I do not wish you to sin, but only to look upon its beauty; taste this wine, so that you may see how sweet it is, I do not wish you to drink, taste only; and thus of the rest: for from the taste of one cup, with gluttony drawing, one comes to a second, third, fourth, and finally to full drinking. The same happens in the gazing upon women and other alluring objects. Fifth, by sin you understand the punishment of sin: for this stands by the sinner as it were from ambush, just as the magistrate stands secretly by the thief, so that he may catch him stealing and punish him, according to that word of God to Cain, to which Sirach here alludes: "Nay, if thou dost well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door," as a dog and Cerberus barking at you and tearing you apart, Genesis IV, 7. See the things said there. Thus in chapter XXVII, 31, Sirach says: "The mockery and reproach of the proud, and vengeance as a lion shall lie in wait for him." Finally, by sin can be understood the demon, the author of sin: for he lies in ambush for the sinner, so that he may draw him into sin, and through it into hell; whence "as a roaring lion he goeth about seeking whom he may devour," I Peter V, 8. In a similar way by sin you may understand sinners, as wicked companions, who lie in ambush for a companion even penitent, so that they may draw him back to sin and their society, and therefore they set a thousand tricks and ambushes for him, as daily experience makes clear. From them therefore, as from most cruel lions, he who wishes to save his soul must beware. In a similar way procuresses and harlots lie in ambush for young men. Note here: Just as the whole strength of lions is in their eyes, so the whole strength of sin is in sight, namely in seeing and being seen. For this is the occasion and door of all sin; close this, and you have escaped the snares of sin. Hear Pliny, book VIII, chapter XVI, teaching in what manner a lion can be overcome, captured and tamed. "In the reign of Claudius," he says, "chance taught a shameful method concerning such a beast by name, a Getulian shepherd's cloak being thrown against the onrush of its attack; which spectacle was straightway transferred to the arena, with that great ferocity becoming sluggish in scarcely credible fashion, although by a light covering of the head, so that it is bound without resistance, namely all its strength consists in the eyes." And earlier: "When she fights for her cubs, she is said to fix the keenness of her eyes upon the ground, lest she fear the hunting spears." And a little before he hints at the manner of hunting the lion, saying: "While it pursues, it leaps with a bound;" thus sin and the demon rush upon a man with sudden leap, so as to strike him down and lay him low. Again Aristotle, book IX of the History of Animals, chapter XLIV, and from him Pliny: "In hunting," he says, "when the lion is seen, it never flees or fears; but even if forced to yield by the multitude of hunters, it descends slowly and step by step, frequently stopping and looking back: but having found shaded places, it withdraws itself with the swiftest flight it can manage, until it comes into open ground; then again it proceeds slowly." The demon and wicked companions do precisely the same. 12. THE HOLY MAN REMAINS IN WISDOM LIKE THE SUN (shining constantly with the same brightness): FOR THE FOOL IS CHANGED LIKE THE MOON. — For holy, as the Roman and Greek texts read, some read prudent: for this is opposed to the fool; but in this book, equally as in Proverbs, prudent and holy are the same: for true prudence and true wisdom is nothing other than virtue and holiness; "like the sun," is now not in the Greek, nor in the Syriac, yet St. Augustine read the same thing, epistle 119, chapter V; whence you may gather that it once existed in the Greek. Thus the Greek texts corrected at Rome have it, the discourse of the pious is always wisdom, but the fool like the moon is changed, that is, is altered; the Zurich edition, the discourse of the pious is like the perpetual sun in wisdom, but the fool is changed after the manner of the moon; the Syriac, the discourses of the wise are always in wisdom, and the fool like the moon is changed. Thus also St. Ambrose read it, in the passages to be cited shortly: from which it is clear that both the Greek and the Syriac restrict these to the discourses of the wise and the foolish, as if to say: The wise man always speaks wisdom, namely what is honest and holy; but the fool now eructates wisdom and holiness, now folly, that is, what is dishonest and impious. For he accommodates himself to the occasion and to his companions: wherefore with the chaste he speaks chastely, with the unchaste unchastely, with the humble humbly, with the proud proudly, with the cursing ones cursing. But the wise man, just as he always has a holy mind, so also a holy tongue: wherefore he speaks only chastely, humbly, benevolently, praising and blessing both God and his neighbor. Our author, however, makes this sentence more ample, as if to say: The wise man, that is, the holy man, so long as he is such, remains in wisdom, that is, in holiness, like the sun, so that he abandons not his internal wisdom and holiness through any fear, any enticements, any rewards proposed, and professes it constantly in external words and deeds: but the fool, that is, the inconstant and impious man, like the polyp and the moon, changes his mind, and with his mind his tongue, so that now he thinks, proposes, does and speaks what is wise and holy; but now he schemes, does, says and teaches what is foolish and impious. Palacius gives the reason: Among many things, he says, which befit the Lord God, this is almost the chief, that He is immutable, and perseveres altogether without any change. The Lord grants this greatest prerogative (in His own manner) to His holy ones, so that they are scarcely changed. "For the just man will not be saddened, whatever happens to him," etc., Proverbs XII: "They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion, which shall not be moved forever," etc., Psalm CXXIV. "Great peace have they that love thy law," etc., Psalm CXVIII. For as St. John says: "Whosoever is born of God cannot sin," I John III, 9. But he who does not sin is not changed; that is, as the Author says, the holy man is immovable, he does not sin in the least, he does not in the least put a stain upon his holiness. You will say: Did not Samson, David and Solomon sin? Indeed; therefore the Author added: "Holy in his wisdom," that is, while he remains in wisdom, "he remains like the sun;" if he should fall from wisdom and charity, certainly Lucifer fell from heaven, Isaiah XIV, 12. Thus also St. John is to be understood, namely that he who is "born of God," while he preserves the seed of God, "cannot sin." Now indeed, as God communicates to a holy man his (in his own way) immutability: so to the foolish, this immobility not being communicated, it is necessary that they be changed from time to time like the moon. It is evident from this that the just man can not only persevere without mortal sin for a year, as Scotus said, but also for many years: for he remains like the sun. Moreover, "wisdom" is called in this place the holiness of life, because true wisdom is that to which Christ, the true sun of justice, is always present. Such a dweller then grants such immobility to his guest: he grants also to him, that he be a certain sun, as we have here; for elsewhere he said: "You are the light of the world;" but it is clear that the light of the world is the sun. The sun therefore represents God and the justice of God communicated by him to the just. Wherefore St. Dionysius, On the Divine Names, chapter IV, asserts the sun to be "a significant, expressed and evident image of divine goodness." And Christ hinted that the sun is a symbol of divinity, when he says Matthew V, 45: "Who maketh his sun to rise;" "his," because his image. The moon, however, because it borrows its light from the sun, and because it is nearest to the earth, in its small orbit runs through it more quickly, and therefore regards the sun variously; hence it varies its phases of light, so that now it appears horned, now half-full, now full. Hence the moon is called, "because it shines with light not its own," as the etymologists say. Such also does the fool appear. To this pertains that saying of Cleobulus in Plutarch, in the Symposium: "Law," he says, "prescribes a measure to the wise. To the foolish I will tell a fable, which my mother brought up against my brother. For she said that the moon asked her mother to weave for her a tunic fitting her; and the mother answered: How can I do this, when I see you now full, soon attenuated into horns, again in a half-circle? Thus also, my Chersia, to a foolish and vicious man there is no measure of wealth." Thus the lunatic, that is the epileptic, and variable and inconstant was Mahomet the false prophet, who therefore in the Alcoran fabulizes that he restored a part of the moon fallen from heaven to the moon and heaven. Again the moon, when it shines for us, does not shine for the heaven and the heavenly beings; because it is not illuminated from the upper part, but from the lower. And, as St. Gregory of Nyssa says, in the book On the Soul and Resurrection, and from him our Pineda, in Job XXV, verse 5, number 4, the moon now receives the rays of the sun from behind, now from the front and face turned toward us. Thus indeed those things which appear most beautiful to us, in the sight of the supreme light are dark and not illuminated; and those who are held most holy by the judgment of men, are sometimes unclean before God. Wherefore also when the Wise man compares the fool to the moon, he who is changed like the moon. For when the fool seeks to shine and gleam before men, he loses light from the upper part before the sight of God. And also that, which then the moon shines most brightly for us, when it is most distant from the sun; but it is darkened when it approaches it, as philosophers and astrologers relate: thus indeed, the more one has approached the divine light, the less bright will he appear, and so, if he has receded from it, he will have less light, although he may appear to shine much before men. Thirdly, the moon is a sign of love, and is invoked by lovers, because it presides over night and darkness, and those pleasures which the foolish and carnal seek and exercise in darkness. Fourthly, the moon appears to our eyes to increase when it recedes from the sun; but it is seen to diminish when it approaches the sun from another part: thus also the fool and the carnal man then shines and is celebrated on earth, when like the moon with face turned toward the earth, receding from God, he pursues earthly honors and pomp; but when he despises those, he approaches God. Thus St. Augustine, epistle 119, whose words I will shortly recite. Fifth, the moon, according to Hippocrates in his book On the Signs of Diseases, and Galen at the beginning of his work on critical days, because it suffers frequent changes and eclipses, makes men unstable, inconstant in purpose, delighting in various pursuits, variable in their faculties and corrupted, or cross-eyed, swift in motion and change: thus also those in whom it dominates, the moon makes light, fickle, inconstant, lunatic in their foolishness and carnal love. Those therefore are similar to the gem which is called selenite from σελήνη, as it were lunar from the moon; which, as Pliny says in book XXXVI, chapter X: "From white it shines through with a honey-coloured brightness, containing the image of the moon, and renders it in each day according to the number of its waxing and waning." In a similar manner the lunatic imitates and takes on the varieties of the moon. Wherefore human joys and feasts of the flesh are nothing other than feasts of the New Moon, namely of the new moon, waxing swiftly, but shortly thereafter waning. That the most noble and wisest of the Romans might keep this before their eyes, they wore the image of the moon on their shoes, so that by that symbol of nobility and excellence—inconstant and always hastening toward the end with a worse change—it might make them mindful, as Plutarch testifies in Questions on Roman Matters LXXVI, and Rhodiginus in book XX, chapter XXVIII. Wherefore St. Ambrose, in the Fourth Hexameron VIII: "The fool, he says, is changed like the moon; and therefore the wise man is not changed with one, but will remain with the sun. Whence the moon is not a partaker of foolishness, because the moon is not changed as the fool is (lightly, rashly and without cause), but the fool is changed as the moon," that is to say, the moon is not similar to the fool, nor foolish, but wise; because it is changed with reason and cause: but the fool foolishly imitates the moon; because without cause, lightly and foolishly it is changed as the moon, which nevertheless is changed only by great reason and prudently, according to the motions and laws prescribed to it by God and nature. Hence explaining further he adds: "Finally the seed of the just, like the perfect moon, remains forever, and a faithful witness in heaven," Psalm LXXXVIII. "For it is one thing to perform a ministry, another to be carried about by inclination, and by weakness of sense not to have a fixed judgment" (as the fool does not have). "The moon labours for thee, and is subject to the will of God. For the creature is made subject to vanity not willingly, but on account of him who subjected it in hope," Romans VIII. "It therefore is not changed willingly; thou art changed willingly. It groans and travails in its change: thou dost not understand, and thou rejoicest frequently. It awaits thy redemption, that it may be freed from the common servitude of all creation: thou bringest impediment both to thy redemption and to its freedom. It is therefore thy foolishness, not its, that while thou art awaited for and dost not turn back even late, it is still changed. Do not therefore estimate the moon by the eye of thy body, but by the liveliness of thy mind. The moon is diminished, that it may fill the elements." Then applying mystically the change of the moon to Christ, the Church and the Saints, who are most wise: "This, he says, is truly a great mystery. He gave this to her who gave grace to all. He emptied her that she might be filled, he who also emptied himself, that he might fill all. For he emptied himself, that he might descend to us: he descended to us, that he might ascend to all. For he ascended, he says, above all the heavens, that he might fill all things," Ephesians IV. "And so he who came emptied, filled the Apostles from his fullness. Whence one of them says: For of his fullness we all have received, John I. "Therefore the moon announced the mystery of Christ. Not a small one; in which he placed his sign: not a small one, which has the type of the beloved Church, which the Prophet signifies saying: In his days shall justice spring up and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away," Psalm LXXI. "And in the Canticles, the Lord says of his spouse: Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun?" Canticles VI. "And deservedly the Church is beautiful as the moon, which has shone forth throughout the whole world, and illuminating the darkness of this age says: The night is passed, and the day is at hand, Rom. XIII. 'He speaks well: Looking forth, as if looking down upon his own from on high, as you have it, The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men. The Church therefore looking forth as the moon has frequent defects and risings: but by her defects she grew, and by these merited to be enlarged, while she is diminished by persecutions, and is crowned by the martyrdoms of confessors. This is the true moon, which borrows from the perpetual light of her brother the light of immortality and grace for herself. For the Church shines not by her own, but by the light of Christ, and draws splendor for herself from the Sun of justice, so that she may say: And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. Blessed indeed are you who have merited such a distinction. Whence I would call you blessed not by your new moons, but by the type of the Church: in those you serve, in this you are loved.' The same St. Ambrose in Psalm. XXXVI, on that passage: The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom: 'The narrative of the just, he says, is always in wisdom; but the fool is changed like the moon, that is, because he is often varied, and does not persevere in his own opinion, and as if in darkness he seems to pour forth light and not to hold it.' The same, serm. 4, rebuking the superstition of the people by which they believed the moon when deficient to labor and be in danger, lest it fall from heaven, and therefore by shouting they strove to animate and help it: 'Among you, he says, it has been accustomed to labor only in the evening hours, when a copious supper distends the belly, when the head is moved by larger cups. Then therefore among you the moon labors, when wine also labors. Then, I say, among you the sphere of the moon is disturbed by incantations, when eyes are disturbed by cups. How therefore, drunk, can you see what is happening around the moon in heaven, you who do not see around you what is happening on earth? This is plainly what St. Solomon says, saying: The fool is changed like the moon. — For you are changed like the moon, while you, who were a Christian, begin to be a sacrilegist at the motion of him: for sacrilege is committed against the Creator, when weakness is ascribed to the creature. You are changed therefore like the moon, but you who a little before shone with devotion of faith afterwards fail with the weakness of perfidy. You are changed like the moon, while your brain is so emptied of wisdom, as the obscurity of the moon: but you are invaded by the foulest darkness of mind.' 'And would that, O fool, you were changed like the moon! For it quickly returns to its fullness, you do not even late convert to wisdom. It swiftly gathers the light it lost; you do not even tardily receive the faith which you denied. Your change therefore is graver than the moon's. The moon suffers a defect of light, you of salvation. How well therefore it is written of the wise man: And he shall remain with the sun! For the wise man remains with the sun, since indeed by the constancy of faith he remains with the Savior.' And below: 'Therefore the moon is not changed from its state by its own will, you are changed from your sense by your own will. It is led into diminution by its condition, you are drawn into detriment by your will. I do not wish therefore, brother, that you be like the moon when it is deficient; but be like when it is full and perfect. For it is written of the just: As the moon perfect forever, and a faithful witness in heaven.' On the other hand, the wise and holy man shines and stands firm as the sun. Take the analogies of the sun and the wise man, of the sun and holiness, of the sun and charity. First, the sun is always the same in face, light, motion, color, course: so also the just man. Second, the sun is not obscured by smoke, clouds: so neither is the just man by fear, cupidity and other passions. Third, the sun stands far above the earth: so also the just man despises earthly things, his mind fixed in heaven. Fourth, the sun equally spreads its rays upon all good and bad: so also the just man does good to all, friends and enemies. Fifth, the sun moves, turns and returns at every nod of God; so also the just man. Sixth, the sun is a hundred and sixty times greater and larger than the whole earth: so the just man is vast in charity, so that his bosom embraces the whole world. Seventh, the sun is greater than the stars: so the holy man excels others in the splendor of his holiness. Eighth, the sun is swiftest, because in any hour it accomplishes one million one hundred and forty thousand miles, as I showed in Gen. I, 14. So also the just man is swift and agile in every obedience to God." Thus St. Antony in St. Athanasius shone with his countenance as the sun, so that from this serenity and light of his face he was recognized by all, even by those who did not know him: and this countenance was the same for him, and remained constant both in adversities and in prosperities, both before enemies and friends. Let the wise and holy man be such: whatever others may clamor against him, detract from him, praise him, mock him, etc. Let him be constant to himself, and persist like the sun: and let him show this countenance of the sun to all, even to those who calumniate him, and let him sprinkle them with the rays of his light and charity, so that he may make friends out of enemies. Do you wish prototypal examples of the wise man shining constantly like the sun? Receive them. First, St. Augustine assigns them, epistle 119, chapter V, where he says the sun is Christ, but the moon is Adam and his followers: "The wise man, he says, remains like the sun; but the fool is changed like the moon. And who is the wise man who remains, except that Sun of Justice of whom it is said: The Sun of Justice has risen upon me; and whom the impious, weeping, shall say in the last day has not risen upon them: And the light of justice has not shone upon us, and The Sun of Justice has not risen upon us? Wisdom V. For God causes this sun visible to the eyes of flesh to rise upon the good and the bad, who also rains upon the just and the unjust. Moreover, likenesses of invisible things are always fittingly drawn from visible things. Who then is that fool who is changed like the moon, except Adam, in whom all have sinned? For the human soul, receding from the Sun of Justice, that is to say from that internal contemplation of unchangeable truth, converts all its powers to earthly things, and becomes more and more darkened in its interior and superior parts; but when it begins to return to that unchangeable wisdom, the more it approaches it with the affection of piety, the more the outer man is corrupted; but the inner man is renewed day by day, and all that light of the intellect, which was directed to lower things, is converted to higher things, and is in a certain way taken away from earthly things, so that it may die more and more to this world, and its life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians III. "It is changed therefore for the worse, proceeding to external things, and casting away its inward things in its life; and this seems better to the earth, that is to those who savor earthly things, when the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and he who acts unjustly is blessed. Psalm IX: But it is changed for the better, when it turns its intention and glory away from earthly things, which appear in this world, little by little, and converts itself from lower to higher things; and this seems worse to the earth, that is to those who savor earthly things." The second example of the wise man shining like the sun is the Blessed Virgin, of whom hear St. Bernard, sermon on that passage of Revelation chapter XII: A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. "Assuredly, he says, she is the one who has put on herself, as it were, another sun." And shortly after: "The moon is wont to designate not only the defect of corruption, but also the foolishness of mind, and sometimes moreover the Church of this time; the former indeed on account of its mutability, the latter certainly on account of the splendor received from elsewhere. Both moreover (so to speak) the moon under Mary's feet is placed quite fittingly, yet in one way and another. For the fool is changed like the moon, but the wise man remains like the sun. In the sun indeed there is both stable heat and splendor, in the moon splendor alone, and that altogether mutable and uncertain, which never remains in the same state. Justly therefore Mary is said to be clothed with the sun, she who has penetrated the abyss of the most profound divine Wisdom beyond what could be believed: so that, as far as the condition of a creature without personal union permits, she may be seen immersed in that inaccessible light, by that fire indeed the lips of the prophet are purged, by that fire the Seraphim are kindled. But Mary merited far otherwise, not as if to be touched summarily, but rather to be covered on all sides and surrounded, and as if to be enclosed in the very fire itself. Most pure indeed, but also most ardent is this woman's garment: whose all things are known to be so excellently irradiated, that nothing in her—I do not say dark, but obscure at least, or less bright—but not even tepid, or not most fervent, may be suspected." But all foolishness is far under her feet, so that she is wholly absent from the number of foolish women, and from the company of virgins who shall be foolish. Nay, rather that unique fool, and the very prince of all foolishness, who truly changed like the moon, lost wisdom in his beauty, trampled and crushed under Mary's feet, suffers miserable servitude. A third example of one shining like the sun in sanctity is St. John the Baptist, concerning whom hear the same St. Bernard, in his sermon on his Nativity: "He was a burning and shining lamp. A great testimony, my brethren: for he is great to whom it is borne, but greater is he himself who bears it. He (he says) was a burning and shining lamp. For it is vain to shine only, to burn only is little: to burn and to shine, that is perfect. Hear what Scripture says: The wise man remains as the sun, but the fool is changed as the moon. For the moon shines without heat; now full, now small, now not seen at all. For borrowed light never remains in the same state; but it grows, fails, diminishes, is annihilated, and wholly disappears: thus those who have placed their consciences in the lips of others, are now great, now small, are now nothing, according as the tongues of flatterers have pleased to vituperate or to praise. But truly the splendor of the sun is fiery, and when it burns more keenly, it is also shown more bright to the eyes; thus the internal ardor of the wise man shines forth outwardly, and, if he is not given both, he always takes care to burn more; that his Father, who sees in secret, may reward him. Woe to us, brethren, if we have shone only!" Furthermore, physically and medically these words: "The fool is changed as the moon," thus explains Francis Valesius, On Sacred Philosophy, chapter LXXI, as if to say: The senseless and foolish, who are not sound in mind and brain, are worse affected by the vicissitudes and changes of the moon, and hence are called "lunatics," that is melancholics, maniacs, epileptics. Whence these are more agitated in the full moon, others in the new moon, and rave and are delirious. For the moon, by its power of moistening, greatly alters and changes the brain of such persons: wherefore the evil of the brain grows together with the growing moon. To this Sirach alludes: but by this he intends to signify another thing literally, namely that the fool is various and inconstant in willing, acting and speaking, like the moon. For the moon is never the same in appearance, because now it appears horned, now gibbous, now divided, now full: hence in Greek it is called μήνη by antiphrasis, from μένειν, that is from remaining, because it never remains like itself. Thus also the fool. On the contrary, the holy man remains in wisdom like the sun. Hence Aristotle, book VII of the Morals: The good man, he says, is always like himself, nor does he change his character; but the vicious and unwise man does not seem to be the same in the morning as in the evening. And Seneca, epistle 47: "Good morals please themselves and remain, malice is light, often changes, not for the better, but into something else. St. Ambrose, chapter XII of the Ark of Noah: "The judgment of the wise man is strong and fixed, he says: that of the unwise wavers with uncertain counsel, now bent by hatred, now varied by gain, and deformed by variety of humors, like a leprous body staining the soul, and often mixing wholesome thoughts with harmful ones." I have compressed the words of St. Ambrose into a few. Symbolically and anagogically St. Caesarius, brother of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in Dialogue I, at the end, beautifully shows that the moon is a mirror and image of man, who now grows, now decreases, now lives, now dies, now rises again. "The moon," he says, "is a clear image of our nature being born, growing, full, decreasing, diminished, setting, yet not wholly disappearing. Similarly we are born, we grow to fullness, we come to old age: thus then we fail in the vigor of the face, we decrease in the elegance of color, and the grace of bloom in the countenance, bringing paleness to the blush. We are diminished in the strength of the body, beginning to walk bent, and to lean on a staff, inclined to the earth, and by our very bearing beseeching it: Behold I am here. We die, and in it we end in body; yet not ceasing in spirit, but shortly after laying aside the garment of flesh, the soul is clothed again. For I am not the body, but I am indeed the soul, and this body is mine, and whatever is born from the earth; whence this too after destruction is born again, like the moon, which as if reviving comes again into the sight of all. Since we too perishing in the sepulcher shall rise again, as if born anew according to that divine word: When the Son of Man shall come in the regeneration, which signifies the time of our resurrection." Tropologically, by this sentence we are admonished to persevere in wisdom and virtue, and to be constant; for this is the sign of true and solid virtue, just as conversely to fail from holiness when temptation presses in is a sign that it was not true, that is, solid and founded. The saint therefore constant in holiness is as it were the sun, nay rather as an angel, and a certain earthly god; and, as that one says, "as it were a god walking about on earth, and a holy angel in the flesh." For God is the uncreated sun and father of lights, "with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration," James I. See therefore that angels in assumed flesh conduct themselves, nor are they changed by the flesh, but as angels in angelic purity, wisdom, constancy remain; and imitate them, for as to the soul thou art indeed an angel. See that God incarnate, namely Christ, conducted himself among men, so that from men he contracted nothing of vice, nothing of mutability; but remained in his substance God of incorruptible nature, immutable in quality; and imitate him. Again, just as the sun constantly rises up to the full and midday light; so also the just man in wisdom and truth, according to that of Proverbs XVIII: "The path of the just as a shining light goeth forward, and increaseth even to perfect day." The reason is, both because virtue by daily exercise becomes easier and more pleasant to him; and because one act of virtue invites and draws forth another and another; and because the powers both of the soul and of the body are increased and grow by exercise. Thus Milo of Croton increased the powers of his body by exercising them; for in order that he might bear the palm of strength in public contest, he first carried a calf; then by carrying it daily, as the calf grew, his powers also grew; so much so that when the calf had grown into an ox, he then bore the same ox. Thus St. Dominic Loricatus wonderfully lived an austere life in fastings, in an iron breastplate, which he continually wore next to his naked flesh, and in sharp and prolonged disciplines. When asked how he could bear so much, he answered: "I began from small things, and constantly proceeded step by step to greater things; which are now as easy for me as small things once were; for labour begets labour," he says, "vigils beget vigils, and the body, in which it is gradually nourished, is also strengthened in it." Thus Simeon Stylites gradually ascended, so that at length he stood upon a pillar in the open air day and night for 50 years, or, as Baronius says, 80, perpetually praying, or instructing and exhorting others to virtue, scarcely eating, scarcely sleeping. For this constancy of standing and making progress in wisdom and virtue, the stimulus is, first, to fix the mind upon God. For this is the first act of constancy and perseverance, from which other good things follow. For he who has his mind fixed upon God is bent by no enticements, is shaken by no threats and terrors: "He who cleaves to God is one spirit; he who to the rock, is one stone," says St. Bernard, sermon 8 on the Psalm "He that dwelleth." The second is great love of God. For this stirs up the lover to labour and suffer constantly whatever for his service. For Paul, armed with charity, exclaimed confidently: "Who shall separate us from the charity of God? Shall tribulation, or distress, or hunger? etc. I am sure that neither death, nor life," etc., Rom. VIII. The third is great desire of making progress in virtue. "Beware," says the Nazianzen in the Distichs, "lest thou ever stand still on the way of virtue. For thee, who hast departed from a vicious life, I think it is the same to stand still as if thou wert sliding into the lowest abyss of vice." The fourth is to consider how great and how mighty works have been done, and are still being done, through constancy. Consider Paul, who taught and converted almost all nations, and for this reason is called the doctor of the Gentiles. By what means did he do this? By labour and constancy. Whence when arrested in Jerusalem he heard from God: "Be constant; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome," Acts XXIII, 11. And preaching at Corinth he heard from the same: "Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; because I am with thee, and no man shall lay hands on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in this city," Acts XVIII, 10. Consider St. Athanasius, who bore the weight of the Church and the furies of the Arians, and indeed the assaults of almost the whole world for 46 years, and by that means preserved both the faith of the Homoousios and the integrity of the Church. By what means? By adamantine constancy. Consider Simeon Stylites already mentioned, who standing upon a pillar continually was a type and image of constancy; what did not this man accomplish by his prayers, miracles, counsels, example? Read his Life in Theodoret and others, and thou shalt be amazed. Fifth is to consider that all our labour and pain is brief: "For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory," II Corinthians IV. By this consideration St. Antony exhorted his followers to constancy in the rigour of so austere a life, as St. Athanasius testifies in his Life. The same Barlaam in the History of Damascenus exhorts Josaphat to constancy in religious life, and arms him against the temptation of the length of the way and penance, saying: "Think that thou hast begun to serve God today, that thou shalt finish today." St. Athanasius, when Julian the Apostate seized the empire, and therefore all Christians were struck down, exclaimed: "Be of good courage, it is but a little cloud, which shall soon vanish when the sun shines forth." Thus Sozomenus, lib. VI, cap. XXVI. St. Polycarp, to Herod the proconsul threatening fire unless he should fall away from Christ: "Thou threatenest, said he, this fire which is kindled for a moment and presently extinguished; but thou knowest not of the eternal fire of the future judgment, which is prepared for perpetual torments." Thus Eusebius, lib. XIV Hist. cap. V. Sixth is to invoke the angel of constancy, namely St. Gabriel, who is interpreted the strength of God, or mighty God; both because he himself is most constant; whence Daniel thus depicts him cap. X, 5: "And behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with gold of Ophir: And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms and all downward even to the feet, as the appearance of burnished brass;" and because he is given to us by God as the guardian of fortitude and constancy, to confirm our weakness and inconstancy, as he confirmed Daniel's, saying vers. 19: "Fear not, O man of desires; peace be to thee, take courage and be strong." The same, as it appears, confirmed Judas Maccabeus with few companions, that they should fight and prevail against the camp of Lysias, namely against eighty thousand foot soldiers and a great cavalry. "There appeared, he says, going before them a horseman in white raiment, brandishing a sword of gold. Then all together blessed the merciful Lord, and were strengthened in mind; not only men, but also the most fierce beasts, and walls of iron they were prepared to penetrate. They went therefore readily from heaven having a helper, and the Lord pitying them. But rushing upon the enemies in the manner of lions, they slew of them eleven thousand foot soldiers and sixteen hundred horsemen. And all the rest they put to flight," what more dost thou wish, my body is in thy power; my soul thou shalt not find subject to thee." Thus Aeneas Sylvius, lib. III De Rebus Alfonsi. Victor, proconsul of Carthage, solicited to Arianism: "Tell, said he, your king that he subject me to fires, drive me to beasts, torture me with every kind of torment; if I consent, I am vainly baptized in the Catholic Church. For if this one present alone had been, and we did not hope for another which is truly eternal, I would not have done this for a little while and gloried temporally." Thus Victor: lib. III Wandalic. St. Basil to the prefect of the Emperor Valens threatening death unless he should obey Valens the Arian, answered calmly and fearlessly: "And would that I had something worthy of a gift to offer to him who would sooner free Basil from the knot of this bag." And when the following night was given him to deliberate: "I, said he, shall be tomorrow the same as I am now; thou, would that thou didst not change thyself!" Thus Eccles. Histor. lib. XI, cap. IX.
27:13
St. Basil's companion St. Gregory Nazianzen in Distichae: "Whoever," he says, "trusts in things coming and going in turn, he surely trusts in a perennial flowing river. Day transmits you to day, and it rolls most lightly; but the opinion of a steadfast man has an eternal day." And soon after: "That alone pleases me which has struck the deepest roots in the mind." Those truly are heroes, worthy of heaven as a city of the strong; concerning whom Isaiah, chapter LXI: "They shall be called," he says, "the mighty ones of justice, a plantation of the Lord for glorification." Cyril honors this parable, similar to an apologue, with a festive apologue of galaxy, asbestos, synochite and carbuncle, lib. I Apolog. moral. cap. xxvi, whose title is: Let constancy in goods confirm you: "Galaxy," he says, "asbestos and synochite, three gems gathered together, began to dispute about their virtues, and galaxy spoke first: I indeed, although I do not possess adamantine strength, yet I exceed it by the vigor of the most tenacious property, being not heated by fire. Soon asbestos, preferring itself to it, alleged: Surely I am endowed with a nobler quality, in that by containing an inseparable oily moisture, once kindled I am scarcely or never extinguished. To which synochite added: You yourselves, as I see, boast of your contrary immutability; yet I think myself no less admirable, since by wonderful variety I grow and decrease daily with the moon. But since he who commends himself is not approved; therefore it pleased them not undeservedly to hear the judgment of the shining carbuncle, who, instructed beforehand concerning the cause, with the balance of reason, soon judicially defined the dispute of the contenders, and said: Since it is the nature of contraries that the habitual is more excellent than the privative, surely to be heated is to be changed for the better, but to be cooled is to be converted for the worse; but to be in continual flux is nothing
27:14
to be; for according to this, it is not to be. Whence everything insofar as it has change, insofar has it non-being. I say therefore: Never to be promoted to better is hard wickedness; just as neither ever to be converted to worse is constancy; but always to be changed is weakness and clemency." Then confirming the same by the example of reed, chameleon, heaven and melody, he adds: "A hollow reed is indeed always moved hither and thither by the influx of exhalation, and conflicting with the wind, is continually scattered by the fluid wave of the sea. Have you not heard what the shrewd fox once answered to the chameleon, glorying in the acquisition of golden color? For where there is no stability, the entity is shadowy, and glory is not true. Do not all things hold as much nobility as they hold of stability; and in each kind those firmly established are the first principles? Moreover, nature which is governed by the order of wisdom, in necessary conditions a lover of stability, is not changed without the firmament of uniformity. For heaven always revolves regularly, and the vicissitudes of times and ages follow uniformly. Nay, and the harmony of melody and the flow of eloquence, although they soothe, yet without the correspondence of decent stability, do not delight the sense of a steadfast soul. As therefore nothing is more mobile than the wise in evils, so nothing is more stable than in goods. Which being said, the dispute was ended."
27:15
Some read, of those thinking on the law of God; but the Roman and Greek editions delete the law of God. Now "thinking," that is meditating, that is prudent; for thinking and meditation beget prudence. He said, in the preceding verse, that the discourse of the holy is always in wisdom: now, lest anyone infer from this that the holy ought everywhere to put forth his wisdom, he limits it here, and teaches where he ought to put it forth, and where to keep silent, as if to say: While you are among the senseless and unwise, do not put forth words of wisdom; and, as Christ says: Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine; but keep them for the time, that you may put them forth opportunely, namely when it will profit to have said them. Meanwhile take care to seek the company and familiarity of prudent and grave men, who speak nothing but serious matters, long and much considered beforehand and well weighed; for these will eagerly receive the doctrine of your wisdom, and you in turn will hear and learn many profitable things from them. This is what Solomon says, Ecclesiastes III: "A time to speak, and a time to keep silence;" what that time is, Sirach here explains, namely, that the time to keep silence is when you are among the foolish; but the time to speak is when you are among the wise. Whence the Zurich version translates: when you are about to intervene with the unwise, observe opportunity (by which namely, a suitable occasion being given, you may aptly and gracefully show them and correct their foolishness), but frequently approach the prudent; Vatable, among the unwise serve the time, but among the wise speak often; the Syriac, among the foolish it is necessary to observe the time, and among the wise always to speak.
27:16
"Sinners," that is, those devoted to sins, who are accustomed to sin frequently, who practice sins and delight in them and exult in them. In Greek it is μωρῶν, that is, of fools. For the sinner, while he sins, is most foolish, and sin is supreme foolishness; because he prefers and chooses the creature before the Creator, the earth before heaven, hell before paradise. For "hateful" in Greek it is προσόχθισμα, that is, offense, stumbling block, trouble, weariness, hatred, execration. Whence the Complutensian translators render it, "the talk of fools, burden, and their laughter in the food of sin"; the Zurich version, "the talk of fools has offense, and their laughter wicked pleasure"; the Syriac, "the talks of fools are hateful, and their laughter is bitterness (or shamelessness)." The sense is, as if to say to the wise, namely the just, "the talk of sinners is hateful," and troublesome, "and," that is because, "their laughter" is "in the delights of sin"; because namely with laughter and joy they recount their lusts and other wicked delights of sins, and exult in them, which the just abhor. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, according to that in Proverbs II: "They are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things." Now what is more grievous to a chaste and holy man than to hear incestuous, blasphemous, impious things, and indeed nothing but offenses against God? Whence David, Psalm CXVIII: "I saw," he says, "transgressors, and I pined away"; and: "My zeal has made me waste away." For the impious are moved by the spirit not of God, but of the devil, of lust, of pride, etc.: for he rules over them; he speaks through their mouth things proud, lustful, diabolical; he exercises and works similar things through their hands and members.
27:17
By example he teaches how hateful the narrative of sinners is; because namely among other sins which they commit, one is that they frequently, indeed almost every third word, swear and curse, and that often by the wounds of Christ and the most holy things. Which oaths and curses and other similar things, which they utter irreverently and impudently, strike horror into just listeners: so much so that they sometimes from shame and horror stop up their ears, lest they be struck and polluted by such unspeakable utterances. For irreverence, St. Augustine by diaeresis reads, "in reverence," that is from shame and modesty; for this often signifies "reverence" in the Scriptures. In Greek it is μάχη, that is quarrel, brawl, contention, fight. Whence the Complutensian translators render it, the speech of one who swears much will raise the hair, and the brawl (Roman, quarrel) of theirs is a stopping of ears; the Zurich, the speech of one who swears frequently strikes horror, and contention of such things stops the ears. He alludes to the custom of the Jews, who, having heard blasphemy, whether true or supposed, stopped up their ears, to show that they execrated it, as is evident from Acts VII, 56. Whence Palacius understands irreverence as blasphemy. For the Jews so abhorred blasphemy, that they did not even dare to utter its name, but designated it by another more honest term, or circumscribed it by periphrasis. By another example he shows how hateful the narrative of sinners is, as if to say, Fools by speaking stir up brawls and quarrels, from which follow fights, duels and slaughter, "and cursing;" in Greek διωλοιδόρησις, that is reviling, "of theirs, grievous to hear," that is, it is grievous and troublesome to hear; in Greek μοχθηρά, that is wicked, perverse, shameful, disreputable, troublesome, dark, laborious, troublesome, wretched. The Zurich version: the quarrel of the proud is the shedding of blood, and their revilings are grievous to hear. The Syriac for this verse and the preceding substitutes these: The gift of the wicked makes the hair of the head stand up, and he who sheds blood will hear the words of the wicked. Sit not among the wicked, and with one who laughs stop up your ears. "Faith," that is fidelity, both real in itself, and esteemed in a friend and others, as if to say, He who reveals the secrets of a friend loses fidelity, because he ceases to be faithful to a friend, and begins to be unfaithful and treacherous; wherefore in turn "faith," that is opinion, credit, and the name of fidelity he will lose with the friend, so that he thereafter has no faith in him, nor believes him; but despises him as treacherous and a traitor, and therefore breaks off his friendship, and from a friend becomes an enemy and foe. For the foundation of friendship is faith, or fidelity; if you overturn that, you overturn all friendship: "And you will not find a friend to your mind," that is according to your wish and desire, according to your heart's sentiment. For no prudent man will wish him as a friend whom he has at some time experienced or heard to have been unfaithful to a friend, and to have revealed his secrets. Thus the Zurich version: the revealer, it says, of secrets loses faith, nor will he find a friend according to his mind; the Syriac, he who reveals a secret will lose his faith, and will not find himself a friend according to his heart; indeed by the just judgment of God such things will be rendered to him, that, as he himself did not keep faith with a friend, so neither will any friend keep it with him. He alludes to Proverbs XI, 13: "He that walketh deceitfully revealeth secrets: but he that is faithful concealeth the matter of a friend." And chapter XXV, verse 9: "Treat thy cause with thy neighbor, and discover not the secret to a stranger." For, as St. Augustine says, or whoever is the author of the book On Friendship chapter VII: "In the revelation of secrets among friends there is nothing more shameful, nothing more execrable, nothing leaving any love or favor among friends; but filling all with bitterness of indignation, and hatred and the gall of sorrow sprinkling all things. Whence Solomon: He that layeth bare the secrets of a friend loseth faith. For what is more wretched than he who loses faith, and languishes in despair? Whence to lay bare the secrets of a friend is the despair of an unhappy soul." Indeed Isocrates also to Demonicus: "The deposits of words," he says, "are to be guarded more carefully than those of money."
27:18
The reason a priori is, that to conceal the secrets of neighbors is a thing necessary for this, that men may live in peace and tranquility, and that the mutual conversation of men may be kept safe. If indeed men Which sentiment Anaxander, a Greek comic poet, thus expresses: To whom words are entrusted, to whom a deposit; If he reveals it, he is unjust, or he is a gossip, If in hope of gain, he is unjust, whether a gossip. But each should be judged equally as wicked. Hence the Egyptians, as Diodorus Siculus writes, lib. II, cap. II, ordered the tongue to be cut off from him who had revealed secrets; but the Romans thought such a man should either be burned alive, or hanged on the gallows. Thus Paul, in the book If anyone, § On bread.
27:20
Thus the Roman texts read, "you pursue," not "you would pursue," as others; be it so, the meaning of either reading is the same, that is to say: If you love your neighbor, in Greek φίλον, that is a friend, join yourself to him through faith, so that namely you keep faith with him, and faithfully conceal his secrets, and keep them with you; for if you reveal and disclose them, he will flee from you and your friendship certainly and irrevocably; wherefore you pursue him in vain, to recall him to friendship; for he will remain turned away from you and inexorable. The Zurich version: Make yourself love a friend, and show yourself faithful to him (others, confirm faith with him); but if you babble out his secrets, you will not catch him afterward. The Syriac version inverts the meaning thus: Test your companion, and trust him; but if he reveals the secret of faith, do not walk after him. He alludes to that passage in Proverbs XX, 19: "To him who reveals mysteries (secrets), and walks deceitfully, and spreads his lips, do not associate yourself." Concerning which words, St. Jerome, or whoever is the author of the second book on Proverbs, chapter X: "If anyone," he says, "wishes to mingle in your friendships, and you see this one disclosing the secrets of your former friend, beware of him as a traitor." These things in general concerning the faith of secrecy. For in particular there are certain revelations of secrets in which, beyond infidelity, the circumstances of other sins accumulate. As to disclose to robbers where the treasure of your neighbor lies hidden is, beyond infidelity, a kind of theft; and to betray a man in hiding to enemies to be killed is a kind of murder. Thus Socrates used to say that faith ought to be cultivated rather in secrets than in money entrusted. And Cato is celebrated chiefly for this reason, that he would sacredly conceal the secrets of friends. And Simonides considered men of the lowest sort those who could not keep secrets, and similar to that slave in the comic poet, who, full of cracks, poured out secrets.
27:21
Among Christians, however, the faith of secrecy is more sacred, so much so that a priest ought to minister the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist to a penitent in secret, lest he manifest his crime, even if he knows it outside of confession in secret, as St. Augustine teaches, homily 50 On Penance, and it is cited in II, Question I, chapter Many. But the faith of sacramental confession is so religious concerning secrecy, that a confessor ought to undergo a thousand deaths rather than reveal even the least sin of a penitent; if he acts otherwise, he commits a grave sacrilege. And in this secrecy neither the Supreme Pontiff nor the whole Church can dispense. These and many other things are taught by Dominicus Soto, Lecture on Concealing Secrecy. Thus the Roman text and St. Augustine in the Mirror, that is to say: Just as you lose a friend through death; for when he himself dies, the friendship which you had with him dies likewise; and that irreparably, because from death there is no return to life, nor can the dead return to life; so also you lose a friend and his friendship through the revelation of secrecy, when you divulge his secrets; and that irrevocably, because you take away faith, which is as it were the soul and life of friendship. Second, Palacius: A friend, he says, and friendship run on an equal course, and therefore if you lightly violated friendship, you lightly violated the friend also; but if you wounded friendship with a lethal blow (such as the revelation of secrecy), believe absolutely that you have lost the friend, just as a bird is lost when it has flown from the hand, and a doe when it has fled from the snare. The Greek texts, reading contrarily for friend ἐχθρόν, that is enemy, have it thus: For just as someone has lost his enemy, so you have lost the friendship of your neighbor, that is, as the Zurich version translates it, just as anyone has killed his enemy, so you have lost the goodwill of a friend. For to lose is taken actively here for to kill, that is to say: Just as one killing an enemy loses his life; so one revealing the secret of a friend loses and as it were kills his friendship. The Syriac version: For just as one who loses his portion, so you have lost the friendship of your friend. Otherwise the Greek text is explained by Jansenius, that is to say: Just as without hope of obtaining friendship a man loses his enemy, namely as to his friendship; for a true enemy will never be a true friend; so also it is with a man who by his perfidy, or by a futile disclosure of secrets committed to him, loses the friendship of his neighbor, that is of his friend; namely he loses it irrecoverably, nor will he feel him more benevolent to him than his enemy.
27:23
men's secrets were to be disclosed, the greatest perturbation would follow, indeed the overthrow of human society itself. Therefore it is a natural precept that men mutually guard men's secrets. Therefore the faith of secrets is of natural, divine, and human law. Therefore whoever receives a secret of a friend with given faith is bound to keep it secret by justice, just as he is bound to keep a deposit; for a secret is of greater value than a deposit of money. And so much so that whoever by injury extorted his secret from another is bound to keep it secret, just as a thief is bound to restore a theft; so that, if anyone opened letters of another, besides that he sinned gravely, he is liable to keeping the secret.
27:24
He proves by two similitudes, of a bird and a doe, that the friendship of one who treacherously revealed the secret of a friend is irrevocable, as if to say: Just as a bird released from the hand of a fowler immediately flies away into trees and forests, and rejoices that it is freed from the hands of the fowler, and rejoicing in its freedom, flees far from him, so that, although the fowler pursues it to recapture it, he can never catch it; so likewise a friend, injured by a friend who treacherously reveals his secrets, flees from him, and rejoices that he is freed from his treachery, and never returns to his friendship, even if he is begged and entreated by him. Again, just as a doe extricating itself from a snare rejoices that it is freed from the snare, and flees into rocks and cliffs, and is entirely wary of the snare; so also a friend, betrayed by a friend, turns completely away from him, and withdraws very far, and rejoices that he is freed from the snare of his treacherous friend, and always guards himself against him as against a snare. The Zurich edition: As one who releases a bird from his hand, so you lose a friend, whom you will recover by no hunting, do not pursue him, because he has departed far, and like a doe (in Greek, dorcas) will flee from him; the Syriac, as you have caused a bird to fly away from your hands, so you have lost him, and you will not hunt him, and you will not pursue him; because he has fled like that doe from the net, and like a bird from the snare. For the recovery of both is to be despaired of. Thanks be to Christ, who, though so gravely injured by us, and so gravely wounded for us, does not reject our friendship, indeed there is certain hope that he will be a friend to us repenting, just as if we had not sinned.
A similar and notable fable exists in John of Damascus, in the History of Barlaam, chapter X, which, because it explains this passage of Sirach, I shall append: The nightingale, he says, captured by a fowler and destined by him for death, used this art and speech to escape from him: "What utility, O man, will return to you from my death? For you will not be able to fill your belly through me. But if you release me from bonds, I will teach you three precepts— He alludes to a doe, or roe-deer, captured by a snare and hunting spear and pierced by arrows, as if to say: Just as a doe, pierced by arrows and wounded by hunters, flees very far from them into rocks: so also a friend, treacherously betrayed by a friend who reveals his secrets, will flee very far from him; because his soul, intimately wounded by this arrow of treachery, is so sore with pain that you cannot bind up this wound of his, but it is plainly incurable and beyond remedy, because it penetrates to the depths of the soul and heart. The Greek texts join this verse concisely with the following, as will soon be evident.
27:25
Hence it is evident that in friendship it is a most grave crime to betray the secrets of friends (especially if they be of great importance and dear to the friend's heart); for it makes the soul unhappy, it violates friendship mortally, it loses the friend (who is half of one's soul) irreconcilably. Thus Palacius, who also brings him to whom he revealed it into suspicion of fraud and danger. Whence St. Jerome, as Maximus says, serm. 20, used to say that those who divulge secrets do injury even to those to whom they divulge them. For we hate not only those who have offended us, but also those who have heard what we did not wish to be heard. For which reason St. Ambrose was so tenacious of the secrets of friends, that he did not even reveal it to Satyrus his brother, most intimate to him, as he himself relates in his work On the Death of the Same.
27:26
dam, which if you obey, you will be blessed with great advantages throughout your whole life. But he, moved with admiration at her speech, promised that he would do this: if he heard anything new from her, he would immediately grant her liberty and let her go. The nightingale, therefore, turned to the man and said: Never attempt a thing which you cannot obtain: Never repent of a thing past: Never give credence to an incredible thing. Keep these three commandments; and it will go well with you. But he, admiring the sagacity and prudence of these words, released her from her bonds. The nightingale, therefore, wishing to test whether he had understood the force of those words which he had heard, and had gained some benefit from them, flying through the air said to him: Oh, how little counsel is in you, O man! what a treasure have you lost today! For there is indeed in my bowels a pearl, exceeding in size the egg of an ostrich. When he heard this, he was troubled with sorrow, and repented that the nightingale had escaped from his hands. And attempting to seize her again, he said: Come, I beseech you, into my house, and when you have been received by me in a fine and humane manner, I will dismiss you with honor. But the nightingale said to him: Now I plainly know that you are foolish and senseless. For after you received with ready mind those things which were said to you, and heard them willingly, you have gained no benefit from them. For I admonished you not to be led by repentance on account of a thing past, and behold you are troubled with sorrow, because flight has taken me from your hands, being affected, that is, with repentance on account of a thing past. I commanded you not to attempt things which you cannot obtain, and yet you try to seize me, when you cannot reach my path. Moreover, I also said to you not to give credence to an incredible story; and yet you believed that in my bowels there is a pearl exceeding the measure of my stature, nor had you so much prudence as to understand that I do not at all come up to the size of an ostrich's egg; how therefore could this small body hold so great a pearl? Which he then adapts to unfaithful idolaters; we can apply to faithless friends who reveal secrets. For these, indeed, will not actually obtain the thing which they desire to obtain through the revelation of a secret, namely the friendship of a third party, to whom they reveal it, who are esteemed by him and shunned as faithless, whence they repent of the past revelation; and when they think and attempt to return to their former friend and reconcile themselves to him, they believe and attempt an incredible and impossible thing. For he himself, once deceived by an unfaithful friend, will no longer believe him, nor will he allow himself to be deceived a second time by him: whence he will no longer expose himself to this danger of deception; and therefore he will not reveal his secrets to him.
27:27
words St. Ambrose: "An apt," he says, "verse against those who betray a secret," and he gives the example of Judas: "Judas," he says, "went about, seeking to betray the Savior, that he might see what he did, or what he said, that he might take him in his speech, and announce him to the Jews." And below: "He went out from the banquet of Christ to the robbery of the devil, he went out from the grace of sanctification to the snare of death." Similar things are seen in the courts of princes, where ambitious courtiers strive to deceive and supplant their rivals by flattery, and deceive the prince, and often bring about the ruin of themselves and the commonwealth. It appears, therefore, that Sirach was versed in the court of Ptolemy or a similar king or prince, where the prince was the plague of the commonwealth on account of flatterers, as Palacius says. How detestable this is, he shows by adding:
27:28
Wrongly in the Mirror of St. Augustine printed at Paris, one reads, he shall add. He passes from the perfidious friend to the feigned and hypocrite, who simulates himself to be a friend, when he is an enemy, and secretly plots evil and ruin for him, that is to say, A feigned friend, or flatterer and hypocrite, nods to his friend with his eye, as if flattering, and simulating secret friendship with him, while he harbors hatred in his heart: "And no one shall cast him out;" because, seeing his benevolent nods, he will reckon him to be a true friend, in that he does not see his deceitful heart. The Interpreter reads, οὐδείς, that is, no one; now they read, εἰδώς, that is, knowing, whence they translate: He who knows him (his hypocrisy) shall depart from him. Thus the Complutensian; but the Roman version, no one shall remove him from himself, that is to say, No one of men shall make him cease from his hypocrisy, so that he might put off his wickedness and the hatred which he bears in his heart. The Zurich version, he devises evil winking with his eyes; he who knows him shall send him away; the Syriac version, he who is washed with his eyebrow (by a small marking of one letter it signifies, he who nods with his eye), but to him contrition. Note: In Scripture to nod with the eye is to feign or devise deceit; because this gesture is that of the feigned, cunning and fraudulent. Whence Prov. VI, 13, the perverse man is thus depicted: "An apostate man, a man of iniquity, walketh with a perverse mouth, winketh with his eyes, speaketh with his feet, pointeth with his fingers, with a wicked heart deviseth evil, and at all times soweth discord." Similar passages are found in cap. X and Psalm. XXXIV, 13. These are the gestures and acts of the feigned and fraudulent friend, that is to say, In thy presence and before thine eyes he shall compose his face and countenance to flatteries, and shall prepare sweet words, by which he shall ensnare thee and draw thee into his love, and therefore he shall also feign that he admires thy discourses, as if learned and prudent: but at length, in thy absence, "he shall pervert," that is, shall change, "his mouth," so that from sweet he shall make it harsh, depraved and perverse, thee reviling, censuring and calumniating, so much so that in thy words he shall give scandal, that is to say, from thy words he shall construct thy ruin, for by changing them and interpreting them perversely, he shall make thee to be laughed at, to be hated, and to incur danger to thy goods, reputation or life. The Zurich version, in thy sight he shall speak sweetly, and shall admire thy sayings: but afterwards he shall pervert his mouth, and shall call thy sayings into envy. Of such a one it is said Psalm. XL, 7: "He came in that he might see, he spoke vain things, his heart gathered iniquity to itself." In which that is to say, I have hated many crimes, but nothing have I so abominated as the perfidy of friendship, and the betrayal of a friend; wherefore God shall pursue such a one with hatred, and shall punish him severely. Whence the Zurich version, I pursue many things with hatred, but nothing equally as such a one, and the Lord also hates him; the Syriac version, I have hated many things, and not as such a man, and God also shall hate him, and shall curse him. He has shown hitherto how great is the perversity of the perfidious and deceitful friend; now he assigns a fitting punishment for him, namely that the deceits which he has devised against others shall, by the just judgment of God, recoil upon himself. He shows this by four proverbial similitudes. The first is this, that is to say, As a stone cast on high often falls back upon the head of him who cast it, especially if he be a neighbor, nay even one placed below; so the deceitful blow shall divide and wound the deceitful one himself, that is, the evil which thou devisest against another shall recoil upon thee. The Greek versions more significantly have it thus, he who casts a stone on high casts it upon his own head, and (that is) the deceitful blow shall divide wounds; the Syriac version, he who casts a stone shall have it turned against him; and he who strikes in secret shall be delivered to destruction; the Zurich version, he who casts a stone on high shall cast it upon his own head; and the secret blow inflicts a wound. For he who endeavors to strike another secretly, so that he might hide his hand and blow, must keep a sword or weapon at his side; whence it comes to pass that he easily wounds himself unwarily in the arm, thigh, or some other part. Moreover St. Augustine, or the author of the book On Friendship, cap. XIII: "The deceitful blow," he says, "is secret detraction, the blow of a serpent and asp is deadly, of which Solomon speaks, Eccles. cap. X: If a serpent bite in silence, he is no less who detracts secretly." To this pertains that saying of Plutarch, in the Moralia: "If a javelin strikes upon something solid, sometimes it is turned back upon the one who threw it; thus insult turned back upon a strong and steadfast man falls back as insult upon him who made it." 29. There follows the second similitude, or proverb, signifying the same thing: And he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it. (Third): AND HE THAT SETTETH A STONE FOR HIS NEIGHBOUR, SHALL STUMBLE AGAINST IT. (Fourth): AND HE THAT LAYETH A SNARE FOR ANOTHER, SHALL PERISH IN IT. - The physical reason is, because he who digs a pit, once it is dug, walks about near its edge and labours to make it neat or to cover it: whence it comes to pass that with his foot slipping, or the earth giving way, from the edge or from the lowest margin where he stands, he easily falls suddenly into the depth of the pit. The same applies to the stone and the snare. He alludes to hunters, who dig pits and trenches in the paths of wild beasts, which they then skilfully cover, so that the beasts walking incautiously fall into them and are caught; as if to say, He who like hunters prepares a pit and deceit for another, shall himself fall into a similar one, indeed into the very same; he shall be caught by his own deceit, he brings upon himself the evil which he prepared for others. He alludes to, indeed cites, Proverbs XXVI, 27: "He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it; and he that rolleth a stone, it shall return upon him;" where the Chaldean paraphrase says: He that rolleth, says he, a stone, rolleth it upon himself. And Psalm IX: "In this snare which they hid, their foot is caught; the Lord is known to execute judgments." Therefore when evil befalls him who craftily and wickedly plots evil for another, from an unexpected quarter, from that side which he did not expect, let him know that the cause is God, who as a just Judge executes judgments, and with fitting punishment afflicts and overthrows him who lays snares from his own snares. And Ecclesiastes X, 8: "He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it; and he that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them; and he that cutteth wood, shall be in danger from it." And Psalm VII, 16: "He hath opened a pit, and dug it; and he is fallen into the hole he made. His labour shall be turned on his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown." And Job, chapter XVIII, 7: "His own counsel shall cast him down." And verse 9: "His foot shall be held in a snare, etc. A gin is hid for him in the ground, and a snare for him in the way." An example is in Herod, who, wishing to deceive the three Magi seeking Christ, was deceived by them. The same man, wishing to kill Christ, killed all the infants, and among them his own son; Christ therefore being unharmed, he wounded himself in his son. When Augustus Caesar heard this, he said, as Macrobius testifies in the Saturnalia: "I would rather be Herod's pig than his son;" because the Jews did not slaughter pigs, since the eating of pork was forbidden them by law. Whence the Blessed Peter Chrysologus, sermon 152: "Craftiness rages," says he, "that it is deceived, and fraud turned back upon itself collides. Herod gnashes his teeth, falling himself into the snare which he had set." And after some further remarks: "Reaching toward the heights, he falls from on high; striking at heaven, he enters the depths; he goes into himself, who goes against God." Some more strictly understand by pit the grave, as if to say, He who prepares death and a grave for another, prepares it for himself. The Greek texts, omitting the second proverb about the stone, have only the first about the pit and the third about the snare, in this manner: "He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into the same; and he that layeth a snare, shall be caught by it." Then they apply them to the crafty man, adding: He who plots evil, that evil shall be turned back upon him; nor shall he know whence it comes to him; but the Syriac version says: He who digs a pit, by his own stature (standing in the pit while digging it) shall fill it; and he who sets snares shall be caught by them: and he who plots evil shall fall into it, and shall not know whence evil comes upon him. Wherefore what our author adds: "To him that deviseth evil counsel against himself, it shall be turned, and he shall not know whence it cometh upon him," is not a new and disparate meaning; but it is the apodosis or conclusion of the proverbs already stated, and their application to the crafty and perverse man; as if to say, Just as he who digs a pit falls into it, and he who sets a snare is caught by it; so "to him that deviseth" (that is, to the detriment and harm of the deviser: for it is a dative of disadvantage, as grammarians call it) "evil counsel" (in Greek, evils, namely those counselled, which namely he himself, or others counselled to him) "it shall be turned," namely, "evil counsel," that is, the deceit and ruin which he machined against others. Whence clearly the Zurich edition: he that plots evil shall be wrapped in evils (it reads with the Romans κυλισθήσεται, for which the Complutensian edition reads αὐλισθήσεται, that is, shall remain upon him), nor shall he know whence they come upon him. Wherefore to devise evil counsel in this place is not to give or suggest wicked counsel to another; but it is to form a wicked counsel against someone, to plot evil for another, and to carry it out: for such a man often brings upon himself, beyond his expectation, the evil which he prepares for another; as Haman was hanged upon the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. Moreover these maxims signify not what always happens, but what often happens, as I warned at the beginning in the Canons. turns back upon him;" where the Chaldean paraphrase says: "He who rolls the stone, rolls it back upon himself." And Psalm IX: "In this snare which they have hidden, their foot is caught; the Lord is known to execute judgments." Therefore when one who craftily and wickedly plots evil for another meets with evil from an unexpected quarter, from that side which he did not expect, let him know that the cause is God, who as a just Judge executes judgments, and with a punishment suited to the schemer, strikes down and prostrates him from his own snares. And Ecclesiastes X, 8: "He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it; and he that setteth up a hedge, a serpent shall bite him. He that removeth stones, shall be hurt by them; and he that cutteth wood, shall be in danger from it." And Psalm VII, 16: "He hath opened a pit, and dug it; and he is fallen into the hole he made. His labour shall be turned on his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown." And Job, chapter XVIII, 7: "His own counsel shall cast him down." And verse 9: "His foot shall be held in a snare, etc. A gin is hidden for him in the ground, and a snare for him in the way." An example is Herod, who, wishing to deceive the three Magi seeking Christ, was deceived by them. The same man, wishing to kill Christ, killed all the infants, and among them his own son; Christ therefore being unharmed, he wounded himself in his son. When Augustus Caesar heard this, he said, as Macrobius testifies in the Saturnalia: "I would rather be Herod's pig than his son;" because the Jews did not slaughter pigs, since the eating of pork was forbidden to them by law. Whence Blessed Peter Chrysologus, sermon 152: "Deceit," he says, "rages at being deceived, and fraud turned back upon itself collides with itself. Herod gnashes his teeth, falling himself into the snare which he had set." And after some remarks: "Reaching toward the heights, he falls from on high; striking at heaven, he enters the depths; he goes into himself, who goes against God." Antistrophes to these proverbs are similar ones of the Hebrews: "The archer was slain by that very arrow which he himself made with his hand. The craftsman sits upon the block which he himself fabricated with his hand. Upon the spoon which the artificer carved, he burns his mouth with mustard. The axe enters the very forest and against itself." And those of the Greeks: "This trick you devised against yourself; this scheme you found for your own destruction." Which Lucian uses of a legacy-hunter, who, having written a rich man as his sole heir, and having produced a will by which he provoked the rich man to do the same, was suddenly crushed by the collapse of a roof, and left his property to him whose wealth he had wickedly coveted. Likewise: "The thrush itself creates evil for itself;" because it produces birdlime, by which not only other birds, but also itself is caught. For birdlime, as Pliny testifies, does not come forth except when matured in the belly and discharged through the bowels of birds, especially wood-pigeons and thrushes. Likewise: "You hurl weapons taken from us against us." Plutarch relates that Brasidas the general, having drawn the weapon from his body, pierced with it the one who had sent the weapon. Likewise: "He himself has found a source of evil for himself;" which Aeschylus uses in the Persians. For there are very many springs whose water, when tasted, brings death or madness, which it would have been better not to have found. And those of the Latins: "With his own sword he cuts his own throat, with his own" snare. Ovid rendered this thus in his epistle of the Heroines: I gave you oars by which you would flee: Alas! I suffer wounds made by my own weapons. And Cicero: "You yourself," he says, "must necessarily run upon your own sword." And Livy, book I of the Punic War: "Hannibal felt that he was being attacked by his own stratagems." Trebellius Pollio recounts that Marius, one of the thirty tyrants, was run through with a sword by a soldier saying: "This is the sword which you yourself made." For Marius before his rule had been a blacksmith, and the soldier had used his work in the smithy. Likewise: "The sheep provides the knife, the goat finds the sword," by which namely it is slaughtered. For once when the Corinthians wished to sacrifice a goat to Juno Acræa, having forgotten the knife, the goat itself, scraping with its feet a knife buried in the earth, dug it up, and was slaughtered by it. Likewise: "The crow and the scorpion," supply, the crow seized it; for the crow, having seized the scorpion, received a lethal wound from its curved tail, and perished. Likewise: "Do not provoke hornets. Do not stir up hidden evil. Do not kindle sleeping fire. Do not rouse the eight-footed creature (the scorpion; for it has eight feet). Do not disturb Camarina." Likewise: "The goat against itself its horns." For the fable has a goat wounded by a javelin, looking about to see whence this evil had come upon it, contemplating the bow fitted together with goat horns, saying: "I have produced horns for my own destruction." Likewise: "You send a lion: You goad a lion." Aristophanes recounts in the Frogs, and Valerius Maximus, book VII, chapter On Things Wisely Said, that the Megarians, when they were being captured by Caleno, having broken open cages released lions against the enemy, thinking they would place a barrier against the sword already raging against the heads of their citizens; but miserably by those same lions, and a pitiful spectacle even to the enemy themselves, they were torn to pieces and devoured. Thus indeed snares are turned back upon the head of their author; and, as Attalus says: "Malice drinks the greatest part of itself;" and, as St. Augustine says, sermon 13 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew: "To each his own desire is a tempest." An example is Busiris the tyrant, who, as the same St. Augustine says, book XVIII of the City of God, chapter XII, sacrificed his own guests to his gods; and when he wished also to sacrifice Hercules, he was slain and sacrificed by him. Likewise Phalaris, whom the same St. Augustine mentions, epistle 52 to Macedonius; for Phalaris, tyrant of the Agrigentines in Sicily, was shut up in a bronze bull, by which he was accustomed to burn others, and was burned by his own people. Moreover the inventor of the bull and this torture was Perillus, so that he might delight Phalaris, most cruel, with the voices of condemned men shut up in the bull, while instead of the voice of men the bull would emit the bellowing of a bull; but he himself, when the tyrant wished to experience this torture and bellowing in the very author, was shut up in the same bull and burned, and delighted Phalaris with his bellowing, concerning which Ovid, in the Art of Love: And Phalaris in the bull of violent Perillus Burned the limbs: unhappy the author stained his work. Therefore indeed deceitful stratagems are happily followed by deceitful stratagems, and the wicked prosper in this life, and dominate and insult the pious; but they will pay for this prosperity and deceit all the more sharply in purgatory or hell, the more fortunate, or rather more unfortunate, they have been in their deceit in this life. Add that, although deceit may remain sometimes unpunished in this life for a time, yet finally it will pay the deserved penalties, especially at death, as is evident in Jeroboam, Shallum, Pekah, Zimri, Hoshea and the other kings of Israel, who seized the kingdom by force or fraud, and in turn became executioners to one another, as is evident from the fourth book of Kings, especially chapter XV and following. Finally note: A pit is dug with labor, but he who digs without labor slips into it; and he who casts a stone upward casts it with violence; but the stone, cast by its own weight, falls back upon the head of the one who cast it: thus likewise injuries and frauds are inflicted with difficulty, but without difficulty they fall back and turn upon the head of the one who inflicted them. The theological reason is that God hates and abhors those who devise destruction for others through deceit, as enemies of His truth, sincerity, faith, justice and goodness. Wherefore, indignant against them, He rises up, ensnares and destroys them, as David frequently sings in the Psalms. Again, because God seizes the guilty in his guilt, namely the deceitful in deceit, and punishes him, so that in that in which he sinned, in that also he may be punished. Wherefore God shows Himself to the deceitful as it were deceitful, according to that: "With the elect you will be elect, and with the perverse you will be perverted;" that is, you will act not candidly and benignly, but wickedly and perversely, that is, severely and craftily: because he himself has become inverted and perverted from what he ought to be, namely candid and faithful, Psalm XVII, 27. The ethical and political reason is that the deceitful man deserves to be caught by his own deceit. For the law of retaliation holds: "He who made deceit, let him suffer deceit." And: "To him who breaks faith, let faith be broken." Wherefore men are accustomed to contend with the deceitful by deceit, and to pursue them as violators of the rights of simplicity and human intercourse unto destruction, as will appear from the proverbs and examples to be cited presently. To this pertains the fable of the crab and the serpent in Aesop: "The serpent," he says, "lived together with the crab, having entered into partnership with him. And so the crab, simple in his ways, admonished him that he too should change his cunning. But he did not obey at all. When therefore the crab observed him sleeping and had crushed him with all his strength, he killed him. But when the serpent lay stretched out after death, the crab said: Thus you ought to have been just and simple beforehand, for you would not have suffered this punishment. The fable signifies that those who approach friends with deceit can themselves be harmed." A more divine example is in Eugenius the tyrant, whose arrows and weapons against Theodosius the pious Emperor God repelled by the wind, and turned back upon him who cast them and upon his soldiers, concerning which Claudian in the Panegyric of Theodosius: O thou too much beloved of God, to whom Aeolus pours forth from his caves armed storms, and turned back missiles Turns upon their senders, and with a whirlwind repelled spears? In like manner an arrow, if it be cast at a rock or steel, rebounds and returns upon him who cast it, and wounds the one who wounds. Thus not rarely does detraction, calumny, false accusation rebound upon the detractor, calumniator and accuser, and itself brings him into disrepute, and sometimes destroys him. Tropologically St. Chrysostom, On the Incomprehensible Nature of God, homily 3, adapts these things to blasphemy and blasphemers: "Those who blaspheme," he says, "and make light of it, themselves harm their salvation and perish. And most true is the saying of him who says to blasphemous men: The stone which they cast upward on high, they cast upon their own head. For just as he who casts a stone with that stone cannot touch a heavenly body, much less lacerate it, but receives the blow upon his own head, when the stone cast in the same manner returns: so he who blasphemes that blessed substance, as he can never offend it, since it is far more powerful and exalted than to be affected by any harm; thus he casts iron and prepares it against his own soul, when he shows himself ungrateful to the Lord who has done him good." St. Jerome, however, in Zephaniah, toward the end, adapts this proverb to those who mock and scoff at religious men and contemners of the world; for these shall be mocked by God, nay, they shall mock themselves on the day of judgment, Wisdom 5:4. St. Augustine, however, in epistle 68 to Januarius, adapts the same to the Circumcellion heretics, who, wishing to stir up the emperor against Catholics, stirred him up against themselves.
27:31
Thus the Roman [interpretation]. Now first Jansenius explains it thus: Since, he says, the books consistently have the pronoun in the singular to him, as also the Greek, German exemplar has it; therefore this sentence is to be referred to him of whom the preceding sentence treats, so that those three nominatives, mockery, and reproach, and vengeance are referred to the verb shall lie in wait, and the sense is: Mockery and reproach of the proud, that is what is inflicted by the proud upon the humble, and vengeance, which such a one strives to inflict upon others; those very same evils, I say, shall lie in wait for him, as a lion, that is unexpectedly, suddenly, and powerfully they shall seize him when opportunity is offered, nor shall he be able to escape or overcome them; just as the beasts which a lurking lion captures cannot overcome the force of the lion. Secondly and genuinely, as if to say: Mockery and reproach is the condition and vice proper to the proud; for the proud, because they despise and depress others in order to exalt themselves; hence they mock them, expose them to ridicule, detract from them, and hurl many reproaches at them: wherefore retaliation and vengeance shall be given to them, as a lion shall lie in wait for him; that is for each of them, so that he may seize and destroy him suddenly and violently from ambush. For the Hebrews are accustomed to use enallage of number, and to pass from the plural to the singular by syllepsis, so as to signify that what they threaten or promise to many, they threaten or promise to each individually: whence the Greek Complutensian and most other [texts] have for him in the plural them. From which you may thus translate: Mockery and contumely of the proud is, and vengeance as a lion lies in wait for them. Thus Palacius: The proud are accustomed, he says, to affect others with mockery and reproach; but to that mockery and reproach vengeance is prepared, as a lion is prepared in ambush for the hunt, and as a lion comes forth whence the beast which he hunts knew not: thus also vengeance from God shall come forth whence the mocker knew not. Let the mockery and reproach of the Jews against Christ be an example, from whose ambush Titus and Vespasian came forth, all as a lion crushing. Where the wonderful portion and proportion of God's vengeance upon the Jews is to be noted: for by those very same mockeries and insults by which they themselves mocked Christ, a little later their king Agrippa was affected by the Alexandrians, as Philo relates at length in [his work] Against Flaccus, and from him Baronius, in the year of Christ 40, chapters II and III. Note, as a lion. For it seems to allude to the fable of Aesop concerning the lion, the ass and the fox, which was common in that age: for Aesop preceded Sirach by more than two hundred years; for he flourished under Cyrus and Croesus, whereas Sirach flourished under Ptolemy Lagus and Philadelphus, who succeeded Alexander the Great. The fable is thus: "An ass and a fox, having made an alliance with each other, went out to hunt. But when a lion met them, the fox, seeing the danger impending, went to the lion and promised to deliver the ass to him, if he would promise her impunity. When he said he would let her go, she led the ass into certain nets so that he would fall in. But the lion, seeing that he could not escape, seized the fox first, and then thus turned to the ass." The moral: "The fable signifies that those who lay snares for their allies often destroy themselves unknowingly." Similar is the fable of the lion, the wolf and the fox, which I shall recount presently. Do you want examples? Take them. In like manner the proud princes of Babylon laying snares and mocking Daniel; and reproaching to him the worship of the one God, and craftily forcing Darius to cast him into the lion's den; he being unharmed, they themselves were cast into the same by the command of Darius, and were immediately devoured by the lions, Daniel, chapter VI, 24. Thus the brothers of Joseph afflicting him, were in turn afflicted by him, although unknown to them; whence mindful of the injury inflicted upon him 22 years before, they immediately said: "We deserve to suffer these things, because we sinned against our brother." Thus also the unchaste elders laying snares for the chastity and life of Susanna, the stoning of the people, which they themselves had prepared, they themselves [suffered], God vengeance upon them while pressing hard, they submitted, Daniel XIII. A more recent and wonderful example is found in the Life of St. Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, whom Urban VIII in this year 1625 by jubilee brought into the catalogue of Saints. For when she had been accused by a certain courtier, envying another's favor with the queen, before her husband King Dionysius of adultery; the king, burning with rage, immediately commanded that the other accused of adultery committed with the queen be killed. For he gave orders to the bakers who were heating the furnace, that they should cast into it the one whom he himself would send to them the next day at first light. He therefore sent another suspected of adultery. He, sent on his way, hears the bell struck for the Sacred: according to his custom therefore he hears it, and some following parts. Meanwhile the king, thinking him already cast into the furnace and burned, sent the accuser to the bakers, asking whether they had fulfilled his commands. They therefore cast him, as if the first sent by the king to them, into the furnace and burned him, as the king had commanded. Thus the mocker was mocked. Thirdly, one may also expound it thus, that is to say: Mockery and reproach are of proud men, that is they are justly due to them, and accompany them, so that, just as they themselves arrogantly despise others before them, and mock them and afflict them with insults; so also others in turn despise them, mock them and afflict them with insults. For this is the just vengeance of God, which lies in wait for them, as a lion lies in wait for its prey, namely wild asses and other beasts. The Zurich version favors this sense: "Mockery," it says, "and reproach accompany the proud, and vengeance will lie in wait for them like a lion." Mystically Lyra: "Mockery," he says, "and reproach of the proud," that is which are inflicted by the proud upon the humble and poor in words, "and vengeance" in deeds, "as a lion will lie in wait for him," unto the punishment of hell, so that secretly as if from ambush he may draw him into it. To this applies the fable of the wolf and the fox: A lion, they say, lay sick; the other animals visited him out of duty, except the fox. The wolf therefore accused her before the lion. To whom the fox: I, said she, O lion, have run about alone for you on all sides, that I might seek a remedy from physicians for your affliction, and I have found it. And when the lion immediately ordered that the remedy be revealed: If you flay alive, said she, a wolf, and put on his skin. The credulous lion straightway attacked the wolf and killed him. When he was destroyed, the cunning fox laughed that the calumniator's calumny had fallen back upon his own head. Whence the verse of Plutarch: A parent prepares damages to the liver by his own stylus damages.
27:32
By snare, understand synecdochically a sudden and unforeseen fall and ruin into which the impious rush, who have fabricated it for the just. In Greek, the snares will be seized, those who delight in the fall of the pious, and sorrow will consume them before death; in the Zurich Bible, before death they will be consumed by sorrow, that is to say, they will waste away by long sorrow before death, so that life is hard for them and a long death, to which will then succeed present and eternal death in hell. The Syriac version: snares and nets themselves known to them, and these themselves will accompany them until the day of their death. An example is in Antiochus, who, when he had harassed the faithful people, namely the Jews, was struck by God with dreadful pain of the bowels and grave stench, so that worms poured forth from his body, nor could he himself bear his own stench, hated by his own and by himself, slain by long torment, he breathed out his wretched soul, II Maccabees IX; and in Herod, who killed infants to destroy Christ, who, in the fifth year after the perpetration of the infanticide, tormented by fever, cough, dysentery, gout, phthiriasis or the louse disease, putrefaction of the genitals, asthma and stench for a long time, so that he attempted to kill himself, breathed out his wicked soul, as Josephus relates, XVII Antiquities, cap. X, and lib. I of the Wars, cap. XXI; and in the Emperor Hadrian, who succeeding Trajan, striving to abolish the name of Christ and Christians, on the mount of Calvary, where Christ was crucified, consecrated a statue of Jupiter; and Bethlehem, where he was born, he profaned with a temple to Adonis, the lover of Venus; finally struck by God, afflicted by a flux of blood, phthisis and dropsy, wearied of living, attempting to kill himself, when the dagger was taken away, he became more savage and sought poison from a physician; who killed himself rather than give it. Finally abstaining from food and drink, he consumed himself by starvation, in the year of Christ 140, the twenty-first of his reign, as Dio and Spartianus relate in the life of Hadrian. To this pertains the fable of the panther, which Phaedrus, freedman of Caesar Augustus, recounts, lib. III of the Fables, cap. XLI. For panthers having fallen into a pit, the shepherds insulted them, these by throwing stones, those by throwing filth, others by shooting arrows: but others more cautious showed compassion and supplied food to it. When all were returning home as if the beast were already lost and buried, the panther leaped out of the pit, and bringing its companions with it invaded those who had insulted it. I, it said, have known and noted those who have harmed me, I will spare those who have helped me and nourished me: those therefore it tore to pieces, to these, as if giving thanks, it applauded. Thus the just in this life, as in a pit, are humiliated, indeed they humble themselves: the impious afflict and trample upon them: but the pious have compassion on them. Wherefore, when on the day of judgment the just are led out of this pit and exalted to thrones, that they may judge with Christ the world, they will condemn the impious, who exulted in their fall; they will glorify the pious who had compassion on them, according to that: "The just shall rejoice when he shall see the vengeance, he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner," Psalm LVII, 11.
27:33
He passes from perfidy, illusion and pride to neighboring anger and fury; and thus he prepares the way for what he says in the following chapter concerning injury and vengeance to be forgiven, as if to say: Just as I have said that perfidy and pride are abominable; so likewise anger and fury are abominable. "Anger" differs from fury as genus differs from species, and as the imperfect from the perfect. For "anger" is a common flaring up and desire for vengeance; "fury" truly is vehement and burning anger, by which a man, as if driven by a fury, is swept into the gravest destruction. For, as St. Basil says, in the Melissa, part II, chapter LII: "Anger stirs up quarreling, quarreling begets insults, insults blows, blows wounds, and often death follows wounds." Furthermore, "and the sinful man will be continent of them" can be explained in three ways: first, as if to say: He will be "continent," that is in Greek ἐγκρατής, that is, master, partaker, subject to them, namely to anger and fury, that is, the sinful man will be prone to anger and fury, so that on account of some slight pleasure denied to him he becomes angry and furious. For sin is as it were a fury which attracts and calls another fury, namely anger and fury, as if a sister. Whence the Zurich version translates: "and anger and fury are abominable, and the wicked man is subject to them"; others: "anger and fury, these are abominable, and let the sinful man be continent of them." Truly Seneca, in the Proverbs: "Lightning is where anger dwells with power. He who has conquered anger has conquered the greatest enemy. Even the angry man thinks a crime is counsel." Except for vices; for we ought to be angry at vices. "Not to be angry at things at which one ought to be angry is the mark of a fool," says Aristotle in the fourth book of the Ethics. Therefore to be angry at vices is the mark of the holy and the wise. Second, Rabanus, as if to say: The sinful man "continent," that is, tenacious, will be of anger and fury, so that namely he retains them in mind and memory for a long time and firmly, in order to avenge himself at his own time, whereas on the other hand the just man, when he feels the motion of anger, restrains it through fear and love of God; or, if he said something while angry, "immediately it returns to his heart and he is smitten with compunction," Psalm IV, verse 5. Third, the Syriac takes these things concerning the anger and fury of God, as if to say: The sinner being angry at others and raging against them, by the same reasoning will be "continent," that is, guilty and subject to divine anger and fury, so that God, being angry, rages against him as if furious, and punishes anger with anger, fury with fury. For thus it translates: "Hatred and anger are defilements, and the fraudulent man will lose his way, and will find retribution from the Lord"; because all his sins, being observed, are observed for him, so that at his own time they may be avenged and punished according to his merits. This sense is favored by what Sirach adds: "He who wishes to take vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord." And this sense is fuller, and embraces the former two.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
27:12
… For this reason Sacred Scripture insists on the necessity, especially in the spiritual life, of constancy (Eccli. 2, 16; 27, 12; Ps. 17, 38; Mt. 10, 22; Io. 4, 34; 17, 4; I Cor. 9, 24; 15, 58; II Io. 8, 9, etc.); which in the end comes down to the maxim of popular common sense: "he who perseveres wins."
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.