Lessons against revenge and quarrels. The evils of the tongue.
Abstaine from reuenge, 8. and strife, 15. from making debate, 28. from hearing, and speaking euil.
1He that seeketh to revenge himself, shall find vengeance from the Lord, and he will surely keep his sins in remembrance.Chi vuol vendicarsi, proverà le vendette del Signore, il quale terrà esatto conto de' suoi peccati.HE that wil be reuenged, shal finde reuenge of our Lord, and keepeing he wil keepe his sinne.Qui vindicari vult, a Domino inveniet vindictam, / et peccata illius servans servabit. 2Forgive thy neighbour if he hath hurt thee: and then shall thy sins be forgiven to thee when thou prayest.Perdona al prossimo tuo, che ti ha fatto torto, e allora pregando tu ti saran rimessi i peccati tuoi.Forgeue thy neighbour hurting thee: & then shal thy sinnes be loosed to thee when thou prayest.Relinque proximo tuo nocenti te, / et tunc deprecanti tibi peccata solventur. 3Man to man reserveth anger, and doth he seek remedy of God?Un uomo cova lo sdegno contro di un uomo, e domanda a Dio guarigione!Man to man reserueth anger, and doth he seeke remedie of God?Homo homini reservat iram, / et a Deo quærit medelam: 4He hath no mercy on a man like himself, and doth he entreat for his own sins?Egli non usa misericordia verso di un uomo simile a se, e chiede perdono de' suoi peccati?He hath not mercie on a man like vnto himself, and doth he intreate for his owne sinnes?in hominem similem sibi non habet misericordiam, / et de peccatis suis deprecatur. 5He that is but flesh, nourisheth anger, and doth he ask forgiveness of God? who shall obtain pardon for his sins?Egli, che è carne cova l'ira e chiede che Dio gli sia propizio? Chi espierà i suoi peccati?Himself whereas he is flesh, reserueth anger, and doth he aske propitiation of God? Who by prayer shal obteyne for his sinne?Ipse cum caro sit reservat iram, / et propitiationem petit a Deo: / quis exorabit pro delictis illius ? 6Remember thy last things, and let enmity cease:Ricordati delle ultime cose, e deponi le nimicizie.Remember the last thinges, & cease to be at enmitie:Memento novissimorum, et desine inimicari: 7For corruption and death hang over in his commandments.Perocché la corruzione, e la morte sono intimate ne' comandamenti del Signore.for consumption and death are imminent in his commandmentes.tabitudo enim et mors imminent in mandatis ejus. 8Remember the fear of God, and be not angry with thy neighbour.Ricordati di temere Dio, e non adirarti col tuo prossimo.Remember the feare of God, and be not angrie with thy neighbour.Memorare timorem Dei, / et non irascaris proximo. 9Remember the covenant of the most High, and overlook the ignorance of thy neighbour.Ricordati della alleanza dell'Altissimo, e non far caso dell'ignoranza del prossimo.Remember the testament of the High, & contemne the ignorance of thy neigbour.Memorare testamentum Altissimi, / et despice ignorantiam proximi.
10Refrain from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sins.Guardati dalle contese, e diminuirai i peccati;Refraine thyself from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sinnes:Abstine te a lite, / et minues peccata. 11For a passionate man kindleth strife, and a sinful man will trouble his friends, and bring in debate in the midst of them that are at peace.Perocché l'uomo iracondo accende le risse, e l'uom peccatore mette discordia tralli amici, e semina nimicizie tra quelli, che stavano in pace;for an angrie man kindleth strife, and a sinful man wil truble his freindes, and in the middes of them that are at peace he wil cast in enmitie.Homo enim iracundus incendit litem, / et vir peccator turbabit amicos, / et in medio pacem habentium immittet inimicitiam. 12For as the wood of the forest is, so the fire burneth, and as a man’s strength is, so shall his anger be, and according to his riches he shall increase his anger.Perocché proporzionato alle legna del bosco egli è l'incendio, e l'ira dell'uomo è proporzionata al suo potere, e secondo le ricchezze, che egli ha, l'ira di lui sarà più forte.For according to the wood of the forest, so the fire burneth: and according to the power of a man, so shal his anger be, and according to his substance he wil increase his anger.Secundum enim ligna silvæ sic ignis exardescit: / et secundum virtutem hominis sic iracundia illius erit, / et secundum substantiam suam exaltabit iram suam. 13A hasty contention kindleth a fire and a hasty quarrel sheddeth blood and a tongue that beareth witness bringeth death.La contesa precipitosa accende il fuoco, e la rissa temeraria va allo spargimento del sangue, e la lingua minacciosa è causa di morte.Hastie contention kindleth a fire: and hastie strife shedeth bloud: and an il testifying tongue bringeth death.Certamen festinatum incendit ignem, / et lis festinans effundit sanguinem: / et lingua testificans adducit mortem. 14If thou blow the spark, it shall burn as a fire: and if thou spit upon it, it shall be quenched: both come out of the mouth.Se soffierai sopra una scintilla, si alzerà una specie d'incendio, e se vi sputerai sopra, ella si spegnerà: l'una cosa, e l'altra viene dalla bocca.If thou blow vpon a sparck, it wil burne as a fire: and if thou spitte thereon, it shal be quenched: both procede out of the mouth.Si sufflaveris in scintillam, quasi ignis exardebit: / et si exspueris super illam, extinguetur: / utraque ex ore proficiscuntur. 15The whisperer and the double tongue is accursed: for he hath troubled many that were at peace.Il mormoratore, e l'uom di due lingue è maledetto; perocché metterà scompiglio tra molti, che stavano in pace.The whisperer & duble tounged is accurst: for he hath trubled manie that were at peace.Susurro et bilinguis maledictus, / multos enim turbabit pacem habentes.
16The tongue of a third person hath disquieted many, and scattered them from nation to nation.La lingua di un terzo ha turbati molti, e li ha mandati dispersi da un popolo all'altro.A third tongue hath moued manie, and dispersed them from nation into nation.Lingua tertia multos commovit, / et dispersit illos de gente in gentem. 17It hath destroyed the strong cities of the rich, and hath overthrown the houses of great men.Distrusse città forti, e ricche, e ruinò da' fondamenti delle case potenti.It hath destroyed the walled citie of the rich, and hath digged downe the houses of great men.Civitates muratas divitum destruxit, / et domus magnatorum effodit. 18It hath cut in pieces the forces of people, and undone strong nations.Annichilò le forze dei popoli, e dissipò genti valorose.It hath cut the forces of peoples, and vndone strong nations.Virtutes populorum concidit, / et gentes fortes dissolvit. 19The tongue of a third person hath cast out valiant women, and deprived them of their labours.La lingua di un terzo cacciò fuor di casa donne di animo virile, e privolle del frutto di loro fatiche.A third tongue hath cast out manlie wemen, and depriued them of their labours.Lingua tertia mulieres viratas ejecit, / et privavit illas laboribus suis. 20He that hearkeneth to it, shall never have rest, neither shall he have a friend in whom he may repose.Chi le da retta non avrà requie, e non avrà amico, in cui confidare.He that regardeth it, shal not haue rest, neither shal he haue a freind in whom he may repose.Qui respicit illam non habebit requiem, / nec habebit amicum in quo requiescat. 21The stroke of a whip maketh a blue mark: but the stroke of the tongue will break the bones.La percossa di sferza fa lividura, ma i colpi della lingua spezzan le ossa.The stroke of a whippe maketh a blew marke: but the stroke of the tongue wil breake the bones.Flagelli plaga livorem facit: / plaga autem linguæ comminuet ossa. 22Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have perished by their own tongue.Sotto il taglio della spada periron molti, ma non quanti per colpa della loro lingua.Manie haue fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so as they that haue perished by their tongue.Multi ceciderunt in ore gladii: / sed non sic quasi qui interierunt per linguam suam. 23Blessed is he that is defended from a wicked tongue, that hath not passed into the wrath thereof, and that hath not drawn the yoke thereof, and hath not been bound in its bands.Beato chi fu sicuro dalla lingua cattiva, e non si imbattè nel furore di lei, e non fu soggetto al suo giogo, e dalle catene di lei non fu avvinto:Blessed is he that is couered from a wicked tongue, that hath not passed into the anger therof, and that hath not drawen the yoke therof, and hath not bene tyed in the bandes therof:Beatus qui tectus est a lingua nequam, / qui in iracundiam illius non transivit, / et qui non attraxit jugum illius, / et in vinculis ejus non est ligatus:
24For its yoke is a yoke of iron: and its bands are bands of brass.Perocché il suo giogo è giogo di ferro, e la sua catena è catena di bronzo.for the yoke of it, is a yoke of yron: and the band of it is a band of brasse.jugum enim illius jugum ferreum est, / et vinculum illius vinculum æreum est; 25The death thereof is a most evil death: and hell is preferable to it.La morte, che vien da lei, è pessima morte, e men tristo di lei è l'inferno.The death of it, is a most wicked death: and hel is more profitable then it.mors illius mors nequissima: / et utilis potius infernus quam illa. 26Its continuance shall not be for a long time, but it shall possess the ways of the unjust: and the just shall not be burnt with its flame.Ella non avrà lunga durata, ma regnerà nelle vie degli iniqui, e la sua fiamma non abbrugerà i giusti.The continuance of it shal not be permanent, but it shal obteyne the waies of the vniust: and it shal not burne the iust in the flame therof.Perseverantia illius non permanebit, / sed obtinebit vias injustorum, / et in flamma sua non comburet justos. 27They that forsake God shall fall into it, and it shall burn in them, and shall not be quenched, and it shall be sent upon them as a lion, and as a leopard it shall tear them.Quelli, che abbandonano Dio, raderanno in potere di lei, ed ella accenderà sopra di essi il suo fuoco, che non si spegnerà, ed ella sarà spedita contro di essi qual lione, e come pardo li sbranerà.They that forsake God, shal fal into it, and it shal burne in them, and shal not be quenched, and it shal be sent in vpon them as a lion, and as a leopard it shal hurt them.Qui relinquunt Deum incident in illam, / et exardebit in illis, et non extinguetur, / et immittetur in illos quasi leo, / et quasi pardus lædet illos. 28Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue, and make doors and bars to thy mouth.Fa siepe di spine alle tue orecchie, e non ascoltare la mala lingua, e metti una porta, e un chiavistello alla tua bocca.Hedge thine eares with thornes, and heare not a wicked tongue, and make doores to thy mouth, and locks.Sepi aures tuas spinis: / linguam nequam noli audire: / et ori tuo facito ostia et seras. 29Melt down thy gold and silver, and make a balance for thy words, and a just bridle for thy mouth:Fondi il tuo oro, e il tuo argento, e fanne una bilancia per le tue parole, e un freno di giustizia per la tua bocca.Lay together thy siluer, and make balance to thy wordes, and right bridles to thy mouth:Aurum tuum et argentum tuum confla, / et verbis tuis facito stateram, / et frenos ori tuo rectos: 30And take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue, and fall in the sight of thy enemies who lie in wait for thee, and thy fall be incurable unto death.E bada di non peccar colla lingua, onde tu non vada per terra a vista de' nemici, che ti insidiano, e non sia insanabile, e mortale la tua caduta.and take heede lest perhaps thou slippe in thy tongue, & fal in the sight of the enemies, that lie in wayte for thee, and thy fal be vncurable vnto death.et attende ne forte labaris in lingua, / et cadas in conspectu inimicorum insidiantium tibi, / et sit casus tuus insanabilis in mortem.
28:1
Worthington
Sins. To seek revenge out of rancour, or contrary to justice, is a grievous sin. (Worthington)
Retaliation was tolerated, (Exodus 21:24.) but love was not to be laid aside, Deuteronomy 33:35., Leviticus 21:17., Psalm 7:5., and Matthew 7:2.
28:2
Worthington
Forgive. This charity enforces, when the offender is penitent, if the remission of punishment be not contrary to justice and discipline. (Worthington)
28:5
Calmet
And doth. Greek, "who will expiate his sins?" Is God bound to receive his victims or prayers while he entertains such dispositions? (Calmet)
28:7
Calmet
In his commandments. Supply the sentence out of the Greek thus: Remember corruption and death, and abide in the commandments, (Challoner) which condemn revenge, Exodus 23:4. (Calmet)
Haydock
Complutensian, "and do not rage or menace thy neighbour with destruction and death; yea, stick to the commandments. Be mindful of the precepts, and be not angry with thy neighbour; and of the covenant," etc., ver. 9. (Haydock)
28:9
Ignorance. He uses a softer term. In effect, most quarrels proceed from a misunderstanding. "Every sinner is ignorant."
28:12
Burneth. The more fuel, the greater will be the blaze.
28:13
And a, etc., is not in Greek. Proverbs 19:12., and 26:21.
28:16
Calmet
Third. Who carries stories between friends, to set them at variance. (Calmet)
28:18
Haydock
It, etc., is omitted in Greek. (Haydock)
Worthington
Indiscreet reports often cause dissensions. (Worthington)
28:19
Labours. Causing their husbands to suspect them.
28:22
Calmet
Their own. Greek, "the." Detraction separates many friends. (Calmet)
28:25
Hell. Or rather "the grave."
28:26
Haydock
Its. Greek, "it shall not take hold of the pious, and they shall not," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Their virtue shall quickly shine forth. (Calmet)
28:28
Haydock
Hear. Greek, "lo, hedge in thy possessions with thorns: bind up thy silver and gold." (Haydock)
Worthington
To pay attention to detraction is as bad as to utter it. (Worthington)
28:29
Haydock
Just. Greek, "a door and bolt," etc., as [in] ver. 28. If people guard their property with so much care, why do they make light of words? (Haydock)
Calmet
These ought to be weighed with more attention than money, and we ought to spare no pains or expense on this head. (Calmet)
28:30
Haydock
Tongue. Greek, "by them, lest thou fall before him who lays snares," Ecclesiasticus 29. (Haydock)
28:7
In his commandments.... Supply the sentence out of the Greek thus: Remember corruption and death, and abide in the commandments.
28:1
He that seeketh reuenge contrarie to the course of iustice, or of euil intention, or of rancor of mind, sinneth greuously.
28:2
•ut. 6.
R•m. 11.
28:6
Charitie requireth that we remitte iniuries with three conditions, if the offender be truly penitent, if the remission of punishment be not against iustice, nor against necessarie discipline.
28:12
〈◊〉. ••.
28:16
Vndiscrete reporte to one what an other hath saide, is often cause of much discontentment, and of dissention.
28:28
To heare detraction is as bad as to speake it.
28:1
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 19.28
… so shall thy sins also be forgiven when thou prayest. One man beareth hatred against another, and doth he seek pardon of the Lord? He showeth no mercy to a man who is like himself; and doth he ask forgiveness of his own sins? If he that is but flesh nourishes hatred, and asks for favor from the Lord, who will entreat for the pardon of his sins?"
28:3
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 9
Next not being angry with any one, not bearing malice; the forgiving all their trespasses. For, it is said, “Man retaineth wrath against man, and yet seeketh healing from the Lord.” (
28:6
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Thessalonians 2
… or if thou speakest of it, hast thou kindled it? Whether thou speakest of it or not, the fire boils forth. Let it be continually spoken of, that thou mayest never fall into it. It is not possible that a soul anxious about hell should readily sin. For hear the most excellent advice, “Remember,” it says, “thy latter end” (
28:15
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.111
In Ecclesiasticus, in Solomon: “The talebearer and the double-tongued is accursed; for he will disturb many who have peace.”
28:21
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 19.28
… but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones."
28:22
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Instructions to Catechumens 1.4
… For there is no organ so convenient for him for our deception and our destruction as an unchastened tongue and an unchecked utterance. Hence come many slips on our part: hence many serious accusations against us. And the ease of these falls through the tongue a certain one showed, when he said, “Many fell by the sword, but not so many as by the tongue.”
28:24
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 54.21
… knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” And the Holy Spirit speaks by Solomon, saying, “A perverse man carrieth perdition in his mouth; and in his lips he hideth a fire.” Also again, he warneth us, and says, “Hedge in thy ears with thorns, and hearken not to a wicked tongue.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 68.7
… and in not remembering that it is written, “Hedge thine ears with thorns, and hearken not to a wicked tongue;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Unity of the Church 17
… behold, I have told you all things.” Avoid, I beseech you, brethren, men of this kind, and drive away from your side and from your ears, as if it were the contagion of death, their mischievous conversation; as it is written, “Hedge thine ears about with thorns, and refuse to hear a wicked tongue.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.96
… “Be thou far from the man who has the power to slay, and thou shalt not suspect fear.” Also in the same place: “Blessed is he who findeth a true friend, and who speaketh righteousness to the listening ear.” Also in the same place: “Hedge thine ears with thorns, and hear not a wicked tongue.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 1.3
11. But for whom was it written, unless it was for each one of us: “Hedge thy possession about with thorns, and bind up thy silver and gold, and make a door and a bar for thy mouth, and a yoke and a balance for thy words”?
28:25
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.12
… to Mark, the Saviour said these things “making all meats clean,” manifestly we are not defiled when we eat those things which the Jews who desire to be in bondage to the letter of the law declare to be unclean, but we are then defiled when, whereas our lips ought to be bound with perception and we ought “to make for them what we call a balance and weight,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 21
[8.] Henceforward let us set “a door and a bolt before the mouth.” (
28:28
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.6
47. This monster’s cavern, your sacred Majesty, thick laid, as seafaring men do say it is, with hidden lairs, and all the neighbourhood thereof, where the rocks of unbelief echo to the howling of her black dogs, we must pass by with ears in a manner stopped. For it is written: “Hedge thine ears about with thorns;”
28:1
Namely the Lord. Some expound it thus, that is to say: He who wishes to be avenged, let him not avenge himself, but leave vengeance to the Lord, who said: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," Hebrews X. And: "Revenge is mine, and I will repay," Deuteronomy XXXII. Not that it is permitted to demand vengeance from God, but that it ought to be committed to God himself, with all care laid aside. Yet the Greek texts oppose this sense, which have: He who avenges shall find vengeance from God, who, as follows, keeping the sins of the avenger shall keep them. Therefore "to be avenged," that is to avenge: for thus Sirach sometimes uses words with passive termination for deponents, which have active signification, as is evident from what was said in the preface. Whence the Greek texts have: He who avenges shall find vengeance from the Lord. For "keeping shall keep" in Greek is διατηρῶν διατηρήσει, that is observing shall observe, or preserving shall preserve, that is he shall studiously and constantly both observe and note them in the eyes of his mind, and shall preserve them in memory in order to punish. Some read: διασκρίζων διασκρίζει, that is confirming shall confirm; the Zurich version, the desire of vengeance vengeance awaits from the Lord, who shall carefully preserve all his sins; the Syriac, he shall find retribution from the Lord (hatred and wrath), because all his sins have been observed and noted for him. The reason is the law of retaliation. For the law of retaliation has: "With what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again," Matthew VII, 2. If therefore you do not show mercy to your neighbor sinning against you by forgiving, but prepare vengeance by indignation; it is equal and just that God also not forgive you sinning the most grievous offenses admitted against him through mercy, but punish most severely through vengeance. Wherefore since God with his immense mercy remits sins to the penitent and forgets them; yet to him who avenges, and therefore to him who is impenitent, keeping all his sins shall keep them, that is he shall observe them most diligently, and shall preserve them most constantly in mind, in order to punish and avenge most severely. This is what Christ teaches at length in the parable of the talents, in which he recalled the debt of one hundred thousand talents already remitted and forgiven from the servant unwilling to forgive his fellow servant supplicating for one hundred denarii, exacting all from him strictly even to the last farthing, Matthew XVIII, 32. For this reason he commanded us to pray daily: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors," Matthew VI, 12, so that willing and asking we may become merciful and humble; thus likewise wrath and fury are abominable. "Wrath" differs from fury as genus from species, and as imperfect from perfect. For "wrath" is common excitation of anger and desire for vengeance; "fury" truly is vehement and burning wrath, by which a man, as if driven by a fury, is carried into the most grievous destruction. For, as St. Basil says, in the work on Anthony, in the Melissa, part II, chapter LII: "Wrath stirs up quarrel, quarrel begets insults, insults blows, blows wounds, and often wounds death follows." Furthermore, "and the sinful man shall be continent of them," can be expounded in three ways: first, that is to say, he shall be "continent"; in Greek ἐγκρατής, that is master, partaker, subject to them, namely to wrath and fury, that is, the sinful man shall be prone to wrath and fury, so that on account of some slight pleasure denied to him he becomes wrathful and furious. For sin is as it were a fury which attracts and calls another fury, namely wrath and fury, as if a sister. Whence the Zurich version translates: and wrath and fury are abominable, and the wicked man is subject to them; others, wrath and fury, these themselves are abominable, and the sinful man shall be continent of them. Truly Seneca, in the Proverbs: "Lightning is where wrath dwells with power. He who has conquered wrath has conquered the greatest enemy. Even the angry man thinks a crime a plan." Except vices; for vices ought to be raged against. "Not to be angry when one ought, is the part of a fool," says Aristotle, IV Ethics. To be angry therefore at vices is the part of the holy and wise. Secondly, Rabanus, that is to say: The sinful man "continent," that is tenacious, shall be of wrath and fury, so that namely he retains them in mind and memory for a long time firmly, in order to avenge himself at his own time, whereas on the other hand the just man, when he feels the motion of wrath, represses it through fear and love of God; or, if he said anything while angry, "immediately returns to his heart and is compunctious," Psalm IV, verse 5. Third, the Syrian takes this of the wrath and fury of God, that is to say, The sinner being angry at others and raging against them, in like manner will be "held guilty," that is, guilty and liable to the wrath and fury of God, so that God angered will rage upon him as if furious, and will punish anger with anger, fury with fury. For thus he translates: Hatred and anger are uncleanness, and a man full of deceit will lose his way, and will find retribution from the Lord; because all his sins, being observed, are observed unto him, so that in their time they may be avenged and punished according to his deserts. This sense is favored by what Sirach subjoins: "He that seeketh to revenge shall find revenge from the Lord." And this sense is fuller, and comprehends the two former ones. He continues the discourse begun at the end of the preceding chapter concerning anger and vengeance. Whence by seven reasons he teaches that injury is not to be avenged, but to be forgiven, and plainly to be consigned to oblivion, down to verse 15. Thence to the end of the chapter he shows by many arguments how pestilential is the wicked tongue of detractors and whisperers: whence he compares it and prefers it anew to eight most harmful things, namely, a scourge, a sword, an iron yoke, death, hell, flame, a lion and a leopard. Moreover, the reasons by which he persuades and urges the forgiveness of injuries are these: first, from verse 1 to verse 5; because if thou avenge thy injury, God likewise will avenge his injury inflicted upon him by thee through sins: but if thou remit it to him who injured thee, God will also remit thine to thee; second, verse 5, because it is unworthy that flesh, that is, carnal man, vile and fragile, should keep anger against carnal man for carnal and light offenses, and meanwhile seek pardon from God for most grievous offenses, or that another should beseech for their forgiveness; third, verse 6: Remember, he says, thy last things, and cease to be at enmity; fourth, verse 8: Remember, he says, the fear of God, and be not angry with thy neighbor; for the fear of God restrains anger, as being displeasing and hateful to God; fifth, verse 9, because the law of God, natural, divine and human, forbids vengeance; sixth, verse 10, because avenged injury accumulates many sins, which are all avoided by patience and silence; seventh, verse 11 to 15, because anger disturbs the angry man, and his whole house, nay the whole neighborhood, city, and often the whole commonwealth; but remitted anger and patience bring about and restore peace both among friends and enemies. 1. He that seeketh to be avenged shall find vengeance from the Lord, and He will surely keep his sins in remembrance. 2. Forgive thy neighbour the hurt he hath done thee, and then thy sins shall be forgiven thee when thou prayest. 3. Doth a man bear hatred against another, and doth he seek for healing from God? 4. He hath no mercy on a man like himself, and doth he entreat for his own sins? 5. He himself, being flesh, nourisheth wrath, and who shall make expiation for his sins? 6. Remember thy last things, and cease from enmity: 7. Remember destruction and death, for they are in his commandments. 8. Remember the fear of God, and be not angry with thy neighbour. 9. Remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook the ignorance of thy neighbour. 10. Refrain thyself from strife, and thou shalt diminish thy sins: 11. For a passionate man kindleth strife, and a sinful man will trouble his friends, and bring in discord among them that are at peace. 12. For as the wood of the forest, so fire burneth: and as the strength of a man, so his wrath is, and according to his substance he shall raise up his wrath. 13. A hasty contention kindleth fire: and a hasty quarrel sheddeth blood: and a tongue that beareth witness bringeth death. 14. If thou blow upon a spark, it shall burn as fire: and if thou spit upon it, it shall be extinguished: both proceed out of thy mouth. 15. A backbiter and a double-tongued man is accursed: for he hath troubled many that were at peace. 16. A third tongue hath shaken many, and scattered them from nation to nation. 17. It hath destroyed the strong cities of the rich, and hath overthrown the houses of great men. 18. It hath cut off the strength of peoples, and brought low mighty nations. 19. A third tongue hath cast out valiant women, and deprived them of their labours. 20. Whosoever hearkeneth to it shall never have rest, and shall never dwell in peace. 21. The stroke of a whip maketh a blue mark: but the stroke of the tongue shall break bones. 22. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as they that have been destroyed by their own tongue. 23. Blessed is he that is defended from a wicked tongue, that hath not passed into the wrath thereof, and that hath not drawn its yoke upon him, and hath not been bound with its chains: 24. For the yoke thereof is a yoke of iron, and its chains are chains of brass. 25. The death thereof is a most evil death: and hell is more desirable than it. 26. Its perseverance shall not remain, but shall obtain the ways of the unjust: and they that are just shall not be burnt in its flame. 27. They that forsake God shall fall into it, and it shall burn in them, and shall not be extinguished, and it shall be sent upon them as a lion, and as a leopard it shall wound them. 28. Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue, and make doors and bars to thy mouth: 29. Melt down thy gold and silver, and make a balance for thy words, and a bridle for thy mouth: 30. And take heed lest thou slip by thy tongue, and fall before them that lie in wait for thee, and thy fall be incurable unto death. 1. HE THAT SEEKETH TO BE AVENGED SHALL FIND VENGEANCE FROM THE LORD, AND HE WILL SURELY KEEP HIS SINS IN REMEMBRANCE. — Namely, the Lord. Some expound it thus, that is to say: He that seeketh to be avenged, let him not avenge himself, but let him leave vengeance to the Lord, who said: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," Hebrews X. And: "Revenge is mine, and I will repay," Deuteronomy XXXII. Not that it is permitted to demand vengeance from God, but that it ought to be committed to God himself, with all care laid aside. Yet the Greek text is opposed to this sense, which hath: He that avenges, shall find vengeance from God, who, as follows, keeping the sins of him that avenges shall keep them. Therefore "to be avenged," that is to avenge: for thus Sirach sometimes uses verbs with passive termination for deponent verbs, which have active signification, as is evident from what hath been said in the preface. Whence the Greek hath: He that avenges, shall find vengeance from the Lord. For "keeping shall keep" in Greek is διατηρῶν διατηρήσει, that is observing shall observe, or preserving shall preserve, that is to say studiously and constantly shall both observe them with the eyes of his mind and note them, and shall preserve them in memory in order to punish. Some read: διασκρίζων διασκρίσει, that is confirming shall confirm; the Zurich edition: he that is desirous of vengeance shall have vengeance from the Lord, who shall carefully preserve his sins. Syriac, will find retribution from the Lord (hatred and wrath), because all his sins, being observed, have been observed unto him. The reason is the law of retaliation. For the law of retaliation has it: "With what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again," Matt. VII, 2. If therefore to your neighbor sinning against you, you do not exhibit clemency by forgiving, but prepare vengeance by indignation; it is equal and just that God also to you sinning and admitting most grievous offenses against himself, should not remit them through clemency, but most severely punish them through vengeance. Wherefore since God with his immense clemency remits sins to the penitent and forgets them; yet to the avenging one, and therefore to the impenitent, he will keep all sins, that is, he will most diligently observe them and most constantly preserve them in mind, so that he may most severely chastise and avenge them. This is what Christ teaches at length in the parable of the talents, in which he recalled the debt of one hundred thousand talents already remitted and forgiven to the servant unwilling to forgive his fellow servant the hundred denarii, demanding all from him strictly even to the last farthing, Matt. XVIII, 32. For this reason he commanded us to pray daily: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors," Matt. VI, 12, so that willing and asking that our debts be forgiven us, we may also forgive the debts of others; for God established this condition and exacted it from us. And deservedly, because an offense of man against man, which is nothing but baseness, is light; both because against an equal, small and abject; both because to the small all things are small; wherefore whatever he takes from him or inflicts upon him by injury, is small. But an offense of man against God is infinite; because against God infinite: for by sin infinite majesty is offended, and that divine, indeed the whole holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore if, as great as he is offended, so great is his offense, since God is immense, his offense also will be immense; but man since he is small and as it were nothing, his offense also will be small and as it were nothing. Therefore who would not marvel, says Palacius, if he should see God granting us in Christ all most grievous sins, and blotting out what was against us the handwriting of condemnation? who would dare to keep or avenge his small injuries, knowing that by this reason he provokes God's most grievous vengeance upon himself, namely of most grievous sins? who would not forgive all willingly, so that he may receive from God such forgiveness? if anyone is so obstinate in anger that he is unwilling to forgive the man who has offended him the injury for his sake, let him forgive it at least for his own sake, indeed for the sake of God and Christ, and thus let him forgive God and Christ. For he himself esteems it as given to him, who says: "What you did to one of the least of mine, you did to me," Matt. XXV. Understand all these things concerning private vengeance: for public vengeance which is exercised by the magistrate for punishing the guilty, who disturb the peace of the commonwealth, is holy and commanded by God, Rom. XIII and elsewhere; for it is an act of justice. For justice is one thing commutative, another distributive, another vindicative.
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Excellently St. Augustine, sermon 4 On St. Stephen: "The judge says, he says, kill; and the torturer kills, and you when you say: Kill my enemy, you make yourself judge, and you seek God to be torturer. God answers you: I will not be at all, I will not be torturer of the sinner, but liberator; because I do not will the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live: for if I had your will, I would kill you first, before you came invited: did you not blaspheme me? did you not provoke me in your evil works? did you not wish to blot out my name from the earth? did you not despise me in my precepts or in my servants? If then I had killed you then as an enemy, whom would I make friend now? what therefore do you teach me by praying badly, which I did not do to you? In one thing therefore God says to you: Let me teach you, that you may imitate me: hanging on the cross I said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do; I taught this to my soldiers, I taught the martyrs: first be you also my martyr, my recruit against the devil; otherwise you will fight invincibly in no way, unless you have prayed for your enemies." And sermon 5: "Through love of your enemy you become friend of God, nay son." The same in Psalm XXX, near the end: "You wish to be avenged, Christian, Christ has not yet been avenged." The same, tract. 7 on the epistle 1 of St. John: "Whoever, he says, violates charity (through desire of vengeance), denies that Christ came in the flesh, and this one is Antichrist." Famous is the example of St. Nicephorus, who forgiving an injury obtained the palm of martyrdom, from which Sapricius fell, because he was unwilling to forgive the injury. The history of the deed exists in the Life of St. Nicephorus, in Surius, on the 9th of February. Wherefore excellently St. Gregory Nazianzen, in the Tetrastichs: If, he says, you owe nothing to God as avenger, nor be yourself lenient to your debtor. If you do not deny that you owe, forgive: for God repays forgiveness with clemency. You emulate God by helping your neighbors. And let us concede something, that we may receive what is greater, namely concord. Let us yield, that we may conquer: let us forgive, that we may be forgiven: let us remit, that we may ask remission for ourselves: Forgive you to whom it has been forgiven. Acquire for yourself the benignity of mercy, while it is permitted. These and more things cites Damascenus, lib. I of the Parallels, cap. I.
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This is illustrated by the fable of Gabriel, who preceded Plato and Sirach, concerning a horse and a boar. A horse, he says, was fighting with a most fierce boar. But when the horse could not at all withstand the assault of the beast, he called upon a hunter skilled in slaying the beast. But the latter said: Allow me to mount upon your back, so that, being swiftly carried by you against your wicked enemy, I may dispatch him with my spear. The horse received the man, and from that time forth endures a rider and servitude. The moral: Some men, on account of enmities, surrender themselves into servitude, and while they wish to avenge their injuries, they bring upon themselves new and greater ones. Thus many Christian princes and peoples, while they pursued their mutual enmities more fiercely, and for this reason called the Turk to their aid, came under his yoke, under which they now miserably groan, too late regretting their madness. Thus he who avenges his injury tacitly calls the demon to his aid, and therefore submits and enslaves himself to him. Whence Sophronius, or rather John Moschus, in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter CLXI: A demon appeared to Abbot Isaac, he says, in the form of a youth, saying: "I am he who preside over anger and the memory of injuries, and therefore you are mine." When asked "why?" the demon replied: "Because for three Sundays you communicated, and you are an enemy to your neighbor; for on account of a lentil you were angry with him." Anthony in the Melissa, part II, chapter LIV, cites that saying of Martin the anchorite: "He who remembers the injury of demons does not remember the injury of men; he makes peace with demons, who is angry with his brother." Croesus is said to have granted pardon to the slayer of his son, who offered himself for punishment: hence likewise this same Croesus is reported to have become the friend of that great Cyrus (who conquered and captured him in war) after the victory. Wherefore the Wise Man prudently says: "An injury is to be avenged by oblivion;" for oblivion deletes and abolishes the injury: therefore its highest form is vengeance, inasmuch as it destroys it.
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2. FORGIVE THY NEIGHBOR WHO HATH WRONGED THEE (thee; by similar syntax it is said: "Nothing hath harmed him (for to him) Luc. IV, 35), AND THEN WHEN HE PRAYETH TO THEE THY SINS SHALL BE FORGIVEN. — "Forgive;" in Greek ἄφες, that is remit the injury to thy neighbor, who hath wronged thee; the Syriac version says, dismiss that which is in thy heart, and pray for thee, and all thy sins shall be taken away from thee. This is what Christ also saith and promiseth: "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." And: "For if you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences," Matt. VI, 14. Note: That solventur signifies sins to be certain spiritual bonds, which bind and constrain the guilty soul, according to that: "His own iniquities shall catch the wicked, and he shall be held fast with the cords of his own sins," Prov. V, 22. These bonds are the guilt of fault, and the guilt of punishment, or the obligation by which the soul that hath sinned is bound to God to make satisfaction to Him for the injury inflicted by that sin, and from this ariseth the obligation to punishment both present and eternal in hell. Finally, that neighbor giveth a stimulus to forgive him the injury. For the neighbor is a friend bound by the closest and most intimate ties: but to friends much must be forgiven on account of friendship. "For charity covereth a multitude of sins," I Pet. IV. If therefore anyone offend thee, think that he is thy neighbor, that is, he is intimate to thee, and in Christ thy brother, a sharer of the same faith, grace and glory. Therefore forgive him slight offences: for all are slight if compared with the sonship of God and the brotherhood of grace and glory. God therefore hath set the measure of forgiveness for us by ourselves. For as we deal with our neighbor, so God dealeth with us: if we forgive our neighbor his debts, God will forgive us ours. Nay, each one setteth this measure for himself, when daily praying he saith: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Wherefore if one be unwilling to forgive his neighbor, by these words he implicitly signifieth and saith: Lord, I beseech thee that thou forgive me not my sins, as I am unwilling to forgive my neighbor his sins. Moreover, the enemy, casting reproach upon us, often casteth what is true: for he revealeth the hidden vice; whereby it cometh to pass that we (who before, blinded by self-love, saw it not) take notice of it and amend it. Which verily is rather a benefit than a harm. Similar is what Pliny writeth, lib. VII, cap. L, concerning Phalæreus, who was restored to health by an enemy cutting an abscess: "Phalæreus," saith he, "despaired of by physicians, suffering from an abscess, when he sought death in battle, found medicine from an enemy by a wound to his breast." Thus many receive a remedy for their vice from the reproach of a rival. An example is in St. Monica, who from an angry maidservant received reproach—another soul receiveth reproach as a medicinal knife from thy hidden providence, and with one stroke thou didst cut away that corruption?" See Plutarch, lib. On the Utility to be gained from Enemies. Furthermore, the desire for vengeance ariseth from pusillanimity of soul, which cannot endure a harsh word or a blow. Hence magnanimous animals dissimulate injuries, as the lion spareth and pardoneth him who prostrateth himself before it. Thus the moon is not moved by the barking of dogs, thus Olympus exceedeth the clouds. See Seneca, in the Wise Man, lib. On Anger, and lib. On Clemency. Wherefore that one may overcome anger and vengeance, it is necessary that he be magnanimous. Such was Julius Caesar, who hearing that Cato had taken his own life, that he might not fall into Caesar's hands: "He envied," said he, "my glory, which I should have gained by sparing him." For, as St. Ambrose saith, lib. IV, epist. 29 to Florianus: "It is great glory, if thou spareth him to whom thou couldst have done harm." And M. Antonius the Emperor, lib. VI Of His Life: "The best way of avenging," saith he, "is not to become like him who did the injury." And lib. I thus he beginneth: "From my grandfather verily I learned to be of mild manners, and to abstain from anger."
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3. A MAN RESERVES WRATH FOR A MAN LIKE HIMSELF (in Greek συντηρεῖ, that is, preserves) AND SEEKS HEALING FROM GOD? — In Greek, ἴασιν, that is, health, as if to say: A man reserves injury against his equal for vengeance: with what face therefore, with what impudence does he seek healing and pardon for the injury inflicted by himself upon God? Again, this gives to man another incentive to forgive him, as if to say: He who offended you is a man, not an angel. What indeed can you expect from a man, who is fragile and deceitful, except lapses, errors and lies? It is a wonder if a man acts well; his frailty should be pardoned if he causes harm. The Zurich version: does a man bear wrath against a man, and seek salvation from the Lord? The Syriac: a man reserves wrath for a man, why does he seek from the Lord health of soul, namely holiness? Hence by contrast you may gather that the way to great grace and holiness is the forgiveness of injuries. This St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, knew, who, when his notary had stolen gold and, fleeing in fear, had fallen in with robbers, compensating the injury with a new benefit, redeemed him for eighty coins. On another occasion, having suffered injury from a deacon, he prostrated himself on the ground and begged pardon from him, saying: "Forgive me, my lord brother," as John Moschus relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter XXXIV. St. Antony, hearing a certain monk praised as holy, asked whether he was patient under injuries; and when they denied it, he said to him: "He is like a house which is indeed adorned on the outside, but on the inside is despoiled by robbers." Thus Rufinus, book III in the Lives of the Fathers, LXXXVIII. Therefore the true and perfect monk is he who bears injuries and prays well for him who injures him, and is like an idol, namely a stone statue, which, when struck by injuries and blows, does not grow angry, indeed does not feel. In a similar way the perfect man is moved neither by praise nor by injury, as is found in the Lives of the Fathers, book II, number 199. 4. HE HAS NO MERCY ON A MAN LIKE HIMSELF, AND YET BEGS PARDON FOR HIS SINS? — He exaggerates the unworthiness of wrath and vengeance, and applies other incentives to move others to forgive. First, as if to say: Consider that he who offended you is like you, and in turn you are like him, not only as to nature, but also as to human frailty and lapses; wherefore if he is a sinner, you too are a sinner: if he offended you, you too have often offended him and others and do offend them. Forgive him therefore, as you wish to be forgiven. Second, he gives another incentive: he has no mercy, as if to say: With what audacity, with what presumption does a merciless man, and cruel to one like himself, demand mercy from God, and that not for one but for many and most grievous sins? But if, says Palacius, the Son of God was moved for this reason to forgive the sins of men, that man was like them, and therefore it seemed to him that he was doing to himself what he was doing to men, why should not you too, O man, forgive harm to a man like yourself? For when you hate one of your own kind and like yourself, you seem to have hated yourself. Wherefore that you may imitate God, that you may imitate Christ, it is necessary that you forgive injury in every way and from the depths of your heart. "For there are some," says St. Bernard, sermon On the Seven Loaves, "who, in forgiving injury so as not to avenge it, nevertheless often reproach. And there are others who are silent indeed, yet the matter remains fixed in their deep mind, and they hold rancor in their heart. Neither of these is full forgiveness. Far more benign to these men is the nature of divinity: it acts willingly, forgives completely; so that on account of the confidence of sinners (but penitent ones) where sin abounded, grace is wont to abound also. Paul is witness, the teacher of the Gentiles, who labored more than all with divine grace. Matthew is witness, chosen from the tax office for an Apostle, to whom it was also granted to be the first writer of the New Testament. Peter is witness, to whom, after his threefold denial, the pastoral care of the whole Church was entrusted. Finally, that most famous sinner is witness, to whom at the very beginning of her conversion such a multitude of love was granted, such grace of familiarity was afterwards bestowed. Who accused Mary, and she had to answer for herself? If the Pharisee murmurs, if Martha complains, if the Apostles are scandalized, Mary is silent, Christ excuses her, and even praises her silence," etc. A remarkable example in this matter was given by St. Leo III, Pontiff, who succeeded Adrian I in the year of the Lord 799, and crowned Charles the Great Emperor Augustus in the basilica of St. Peter. For this Leo had his eyes torn out by the envious, and his tongue cut out by the roots: and indeed the same man was seized in the church, and left half-dead beside the confession, wallowing in his own blood, and they placed him in the strictest custody. But at night St. Peter through a vision restored to him the light of his eyes and his tongue. And when Charles the Great, arriving in Rome a little later, condemned these executioners to capital punishment, St. Leo interceded for them, and obtained life for those who had plotted against him. Thus Platina, Baronius and others. Most excellently Sidonius Apollinaris, book IX, epistle 4 to Gracchus the Pope, that is, the Bishop: "Whether you will or not," he says, "whoever attains the kingdom of the despised Mediator follows his example. However many cups of anxiety the affliction of the present life may offer us, we bear them lightly, if we remember what he drank at the gallows who invites us to the kingdom."
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5. DOES HE HIMSELF, BEING FLESH, RETAIN WRATH, AND SEEK PROPITIATION FROM GOD? WHO WILL INTERCEDE FOR HIS SINS? — That is to say: It is unworthy and intolerable that a man of flesh, that is, vile, fragile, mortal, should retain wrath against a man of flesh, who through the fragility of flesh often stumbles, and is therefore worthy of mercy, not of wrath; and meanwhile seek propitiation from God for his own crimes committed against Him. Who therefore will dare to intercede for his sins? The Zurich version: if a mortal man himself harbors wrath and seeks pardon from God, who will expiate his sins? The Syriac: a man who is unwilling to spare him, who will forgive his sins? For the Syriac and Greek versions no longer have "and seeks propitiation from God?" Most excellently Isidore of Pelusium, book III, epistle 211, says: "Enmity ought to be written in water, so that it may be blotted out as soon as possible; but friendship ought to be engraved in bronze, so that it may be preserved perpetually firm and unmoved." And Bede in Proverbs: "Each one bears his neighbor to the extent that he loves him." Abba Pimenius, in Rufinus, book III in the Lives of the Holy Fathers, number 201, when asked how one could lay down his soul for his brethren, as Christ commanded, John XV, answered: "If someone hears an evil word from his neighbor, and though he is able to respond with similar words, he nevertheless struggles in his heart to bear the burden, and forces himself not to respond with evil, so as not to grieve him. Such a one lays down his soul for his friend." Abba Agathon said: "If you dwell with a neighbor, be like a stone column; which, if it is injured, does not become angry; if it is glorified, does not become proud." Thus in the Lives of the Holy Fathers, book VII, chapter XLII, number 2. See here how faith transcends corrupted nature, and the light of faith corrects the light of reason. For the pagan philosophers, led by the light of nature, judged that good should be done to friends and benefactors, but evil to enemies and malefactors. Again, to tolerate injury is to be pusillanimous, but to avenge it is to be magnanimous: which even today many among Catholics wrongly believe, and therefore engage in duels, avenge injuries inflicted upon them, vindicate dishonor not only by retaliation but also by the sword. All these things are surely pagan, and the dictates of corrupted and proud nature; which therefore Sirach here refutes and corrects, as do Christ in Matthew V, 44, and Paul in Romans XII, 20. Hear among others Seneca in Proverbs, whose sentiments about vengeance are pagan, not Christian, but antichristian: "A strong man can neither commit an insult nor an honorable man endure one. To avenge an enemy is to take on another life. Let your friends feel your strength through benefits, your enemies through injuries." More wisely and more Christianly the same author: "It is the mark of a great soul to be tranquil, always to despise injuries and offenses. How great a strength it is to disregard one who harms! For he who avenges feels the wound. How hostile it is to harm, either because you hate or to injure! It is best always to forgive, as if you yourself sinned daily. If someone becomes angry, he demands punishment from another, exacts it from himself: for we deal most severely with those who sin, and we ourselves commit the same things. As a beautiful painting is one in which no part errs: so a beautiful man is one in whom there is no stain of sin. Therefore let us maintain this at home, this abroad, this in every manner of life, so that we may be inexorable to ourselves, but merciful to those who know only how to give pardon to themselves." More piously and more divinely St. Basil, in his epistle to Canonicas: "Each one ought, he says, to strive so that, if he has someone hostile to him, he may soften his mind as much as possible." And St. Chrysostom, book I On Compunction, teaches that it is not sufficient to do no evil to enemies and those who have harmed us, if we retain within ourselves an incurable wound of offense. For "Christ, he says, not only wishes us to forgive those who have sinned, but also to love them and pray for them. For if you merely do not harm him who has harmed you, but turn away from him and do not willingly see him, there remains without doubt a wound in the breast, and pain increases in the heart. But if this is so, then certainly what Christ commanded is not yet fulfilled. Do you wish God to be thus propitious to you, that He does not indeed harm you, but turns away from you, and keeps the memory of your sins, and does not wish to see you? Therefore, as you wish God to be toward you when you seek forgiveness of your offenses, so you ought to show yourself to those who have sinned against you, as indeed one of the wise men writes, saying: A man holds wrath against a man, and seeks healing from God. And if he does not have mercy toward a man like himself, how does he beseech God for his sins, when he himself is flesh and holds wrath? Who will be propitious to his sins?" See the same St. Chrysostom, homily 27 on the Epistle to the Romans. 6 and 7. REMEMBER THE LAST THINGS, AND CEASE FROM ENMITY: FOR CORRUPTION AND DEATH ARE IMMINENT IN HIS COMMANDMENTS. — Some wrongly read "beatitude" instead of "corruption"; for in Greek it is καταφθορά, that is, corruption, decay, destruction. He gives a third goad, and with it pricks the offended one, so that he may lay down anger and enmity, as if to say: When you are angry, remember the last things, namely death, judgment and hell: from the memory and consideration of these things you will easily lay down anger and enmity, because "corruption," that is, decay, death and destruction are imminent, that is, they are present and set before us in his commandments, namely God's, the universal lawgiver's: for these commandments of God threaten present and eternal death to those who transgress them, such as the angry, who foster hatreds. Therefore, in order that you may escape this vengeance of God, lay down anger and forgive private vengeance. Whence St. Ambrose, book IV, epistle 29 to Florian: "To him who sins against you," he says, "do not repay according to his guilt, knowing that judgment will come upon you. For you will not have forgiveness unless you have forgiven another. For hatred separates a man from the kingdom, withdraws him from heaven, casts him down from paradise." The Greek Complutensian texts have: remember the last things, and cease from enmity, and do not devise destruction and death for your neighbor, and acquiesce in the precepts; but the Greek Roman texts thus: remember the last things, and cease from enmity; of corruption and death (repeat to remember), and remain in the commandments; the Zurich version: remember the extremities, and lay down enmities; do not devise exile or death for another through anger, but persist in the commandments; the Syriac: remember death, and cause enmity to pass away, and hell, and perdition, and restrain yourself from sins. By the name therefore of "last things" are understood chiefly judgment and hell, which God will direct against all the impious on the last day of the world, such as those who desire vengeance: yet any of them can be understood, even death and heavenly glory. Indeed, he who thinks that through vengeance he will lose eternal happiness, through forgiveness will obtain it, will easily grant that forgiveness, and, as is commonly said, will buy a talent with an obol. Certainly he will lay down fury, who knows that the fury of God is to be displayed in death, judgment and hell, and to be poured out on the unforgiving. Certainly death, when considered more attentively, brings death to our affections, however lively and vigorous they may be. He who understands that his life is cut short does not rage like a lion, but cries out like a young swallow, meditates like a dove, as King Hezekiah did when dying, Isaiah XXXVIII. Furthermore, what follows: "For corruption and death are imminent in his commandments," that is, says Palacius, the putrefaction of the body and the death of the soul impend and are imminent upon the violation of God's commandments. He commands thus: "Vengeance is mine," beware lest you violate this commandment. Think thus: divine commandments are like clouds now about to turn to rain, so that they rain upon the good innumerable goods, but upon the wicked corruption of the body and death of the soul. For indeed in hell the body of the damned will be putrid, namely worms will feed upon it, and the soul will suffer the second death (which is the true death). The holy ascetics knew this, and this was their axiom, paradoxical to the world: "The gate of heaven is the endurance of injuries." For this reason they bought injuries with a price, as is evident in book VI of the Lives of the Holy Fathers; book IV, number 12. Another asking of an elder: "Give me, father, the way by which I may be saved;" heard from him: "If you are able to be injured, and to be afflicted with insults, and to bear them, and to be silent." Likewise, book III, number 85: "It is of angels to be angry with no one, but to be in perpetual peace; but of demons, to exercise irrevocable enmities throughout all life: but of wise men, briefly perhaps to be angry, yet quickly to be reconciled," says a certain saint. St. Bernard of Quinta-Valle, the first companion of St. Francis, when dying gloried in this alone, that he had loved his enemies more after the offense than before. For this was the last word and prayer of the dying man: "Dearest brothers, consider what state I had, and you have, and what state I now have, you will have. But I find in my soul that for a thousand worlds equal to this one I would not wish not to have served the Lord Jesus Christ. And immediately prostrate on the ground: "Of all," he said, "the offenses which I committed against my Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and against you, I accuse myself, and I say it is my most grievous fault, because I was not a true brother Minor, except in temptations, in which the Lord always held me. And in one other thing alone do I find myself to have been a brother Minor, namely that I loved my brother more after the offense than before. But I ask that you pray devoutly for me, but rather I ask this, that you love one another mutually, as I have given you an example." Thus it is found in the Annals of the Minors of Father Luke Wadding, in the year of Christ 1241, number 9.
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Wherefore St. John Gualbert, founder of the Order of Vallombrosa, when armed he fell upon the slayer of his kinsman, and the latter, prostrate on the ground, begged pardon for the love of Christ crucified, forgave him the murder. Then entering Florence into the church of St. Minias, praying before the crucifix, he saw the head of Christ hanging from the cross incline itself toward him, as if giving him thanks, because for love of Him he had spared his mortal enemy. And even to this day, that is after five hundred years, that pious image of Christ's crucifix with head still protruding from the cross is visited and venerated by him. Blessed Juniper, companion of St. Francis, a great despiser of himself, and as eager for reproach as others are for honor and praise, when anyone afflicted him with insults, spreading out the hem of a poor man's cloak: "Friend," said he, "cast hither freely, fill this bosom with these precious stones (for he called reproaches prices and precious stones), fill it, fear not." Whence St. Francis said of him: "Would that we had an entire forest of such Junipers!" Thus the Annals already cited in the year of Christ 1210, no. 35. Elizabeth, daughter of the King of Hungary, praying on a certain occasion to God that He would affect each one who had injured her with some singular benefit, so that benefit might correspond to injury, heard the response of God, that never had His prayers pleased God so much as then, and for that prayer the remission of all sins was granted to her. This among others Avila relates, epistle 6. Morally, learn here an efficacious spur to restrain anger and any concupiscence, to be a living memory of God, who forbade all vice under the threat of death and hell, and appointed to every virtue the prize of a heavenly crown. For He Himself, as it were an agonothete, watches over us struggling in this arena, so that He may crown the victors and punish the vanquished.
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Mystically our Alvarez de Paz, book I On the Extinction of Vices, part II, chapter XIII: "Wasting away and death," he says, "threaten in his commandments." Since neglected commandments bring this death and wasting upon a man, so that he finds himself slow toward all good things, but rather as if powerless. This indeed is a second kind of sleep, not now binding the senses of the body, but the powers of the soul, so that they are unable to perform the actions of virtues. Whence Paul, Romans chapter III, 11, says: "It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep," that is, as St. Gregory interprets it, book V of the Morals, chapter XXII, "from the state of lukewarmness." And Solomon, Proverbs chapter XIX, 15: "Slothfulness brings on sleep, and a dissolute soul shall hunger." And St. David, Psalm CXIX, 28: "My soul hath slumbered through heaviness, strengthen me in thy words." "Quite properly," says Cassian, book X, chapter IV, "he said not the body, but the soul slumbered. For truly the soul slumbers from all contemplation of virtues and intuition of spiritual senses, which soul has been wounded by the dart of this disturbance." Here therefore is the fourth stimulus, and that the noblest and most efficacious, for restraining anger and forgiving injury, namely if you consider that it is pleasing and dear to God that you forgive: that God wills this, and asks it of you that you remit it for love of Him. This stimulus is now far more efficacious when we have the example, instruction and precept of Christ, as well as grace for forgiving: for Christ on the cross forgave His crucifiers, and prayed to the Father for them, saying: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He wished all Christians to imitate this example. 8. REMEMBER THE FEAR OF GOD, AND BE NOT ANGRY WITH THY NEIGHBOR. — The Greeks for fear now have ἐντολάς, that is commandments, because the commandments of God instill in us reverence and fear, while they threaten death and grave punishments to their transgressors. Whence the Zurich version translates: Consider the commandments, and be not angry with another, although our author seems to have read φόβον for ἐντολάς, that is fear. Here therefore the fear of God restrains anger: for he who fears God expels sin, and therefore also anger. He who fears God is continent in justice, and therefore also in gentleness. Finally, he who fears God is cautious of anger against his neighbor, lest by this anger he provoke God to anger, and find God such as he is found by his neighbor: for to God is done what is done to the least: thus Palacius; understand by fear here any kind, even servile, but especially filial. But filial fear includes the love of God, indeed it is itself the love of God. And this is the fourth stimulus. Wherefore Basil, emperor of Constantinople, in his Exhortation to his son Leo, volume V of the Library of the Holy Fathers, thus commends the same to his son, chapter XLII: "If you hold your conscience as a law, and never permit others to suffer what you yourself would not wish to suffer; you will never endure the reproach of any sin, and if you persuade yourself that God is present as inspector and knower in every action, as He truly is, you will never sin either openly or in secret. For even if you see that others are unaware of what you do secretly, yet your conscience certainly, and God Himself, who looks into the hidden depths and recesses of the mind, you will revere: for men see those things which are of the body; but those things which lie hidden in the depths of the mind, the eye of God alone, to whom nothing is hidden, penetrates. For just as when the sun shines, nothing under the open sky can be hidden, so with God inspecting, no actions can be hidden and secret." Add to this that consideration of God most clement, most patient, unperturbed and most tranquil, is a great stimulus to restrain anger; for nothing makes us so like to God as patience. Whence Blessed Aelred, in the Mirror of Charity, chapter VII: "What," he says, "is so near to divine tranquility as not to be harmed by inflicted insults, to be terrified by no punishment or persecution, to have one constancy of mind in both prosperity and adversity, to regard enemy and friend with the same eye?" 9. REMEMBER THE COVENANT OF THE MOST HIGH, AND DESPISE THE IGNORANCE OF THY NEIGHBOR. — "Despise," that is make light of, overlook, spare, forgive "the ignorance," that is the sin and offense, which your neighbor has committed against you. For every sin has mixed with it ignorance, that is some imprudence and lack of consideration. For if the sinner prudently considered how great an evil is what he does, he would certainly not do it. He calls sin "ignorance" by meiosis, so that he might extenuate the gravity of the offense through ignorance, and thus show it worthy of pardon, and rather to be despised than esteemed and avenged.
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By testament first, understand the natural and divine law of God; for this is often called in Scripture in Hebrew berit, in Greek diatheke, in Latin testamentum, that is, a covenant and pact; because the condition of the pact which God made with us, that we should be his people, and he should be our God, is this: that we should keep his law. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Remember the law of God, which forbids vengeance, and commands the forgiveness of injury and the love of enemies, and incorporate that into your mind; thus it will come to pass that through fear of the law, reverence and love you will despise and make light of every offense which your neighbor has committed against you in ignorance. For the law of God ordains thus among other things: "Thou shalt not seek revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy fellow citizens," Leviticus, chapter XIX, 18. Whence the Syrian translates: Remember the precept, and do not hate your neighbor before God, and give him that which he needs. Christ on the contrary ordains a more severe law against anger and vengeance, Matthew V, 22: "Whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." The fear and remembrance of which surely ought to call back all from anger and vengeance. Second, by testament properly understand the pact by which God called and united all men, especially the faithful, into one Church, that all should be his sons, and mutually brothers through grace, and heirs through glory. For by this pact God ordained fraternal love, that all should love one another as brothers: wherefore he forbade them to be angry with one another, to harm and avenge themselves: on the contrary he commanded that, if anyone is offended by someone, he should forgive him as a weak and ignorant brother. Again this pact can be understood as that by which God made a covenant and promised us that he would forgive our sins when we ask, on this condition and law, if we forgive to our neighbor the sins committed against us, as I said verse 1, as if to say, Remember the pact of God, namely that God will remit your offenses if you remit them to your neighbor; but he will retain them and avenge them severely if you retain and preserve them. Wherefore that you may obtain pardon for your own, give pardon to your neighbor in ignorance. Whence Palacius: "The testament," he says, "or covenant which God then made with the Jews, and now with Christians, is that he himself should be to them and to these their God, their lot, their inheritance: but they should be to God a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people of acquisition. Therefore if you nurture enmities with your brothers, understand that you nurture them with kings, priests, and a holy people. Finally, if it pleases you to wage war with a brother, understand that you wage war with God." Wisely St. Basil, Admonition to his spiritual son: "What kind," he says, "do you wish the Lord to be toward you, such be yourself toward your fellow servant. But royally Agapetus the deacon, Admonition to the Emperor Justinian, number 23, thus instructs him: "Show yourself toward your servants such as you hope the Lord to be toward you. For as we hear, we shall be heard; and as we regard, we shall be regarded by the divine and all-seeing eye. Let us therefore first show mercy, that we may receive the same in return." He adds the reason: "Just as a polished mirror shows the appearances of faces such as the archetypes themselves are, namely bright of those shining, but sad of those saddening: in the same way the just judgment of God is assimilated to our actions. For such as are the things which are performed by us, such does he himself exhibit to us in return by the same measure." 10 and 11. REFRAIN THYSELF FROM STRIFE, AND THOU SHALT DIMINISH THY SINS: FOR A MAN GIVEN TO ANGER WILL STIR UP STRIFE, AND A SINFUL MAN WILL TROUBLE HIS FRIENDS, AND WILL SET VARIANCE AMONG THEM THAT ARE AT PEACE. — By strife some understand forensic strife, by which a plaintiff litigates with a defendant before a judge in court. For these forensic litigations are the cause of many frauds, hatreds, detraction, and other sins. Yet it is better that you understand by strife litigation and quarreling with your neighbor; for in Greek it is mache, that is, strife, litigation, contention, quarrel, fight. For this is the cause of many insults, threats, curses, blows and beatings: all of which he avoids who refrains from strife. He joins strife to vengeance as sister to sister, because both are born from the same mother, namely anger and hatred; or as daughter to mother: for vengeance as it were a mother gives birth to strifes and quarrels, and many, in order to avenge their injuries, litigate and quarrel with him who inflicted them. He proves what he said by the contrary, when he adds: "For an angry man kindleth strife," etc., as if to say, Refrain from strife, and contain yourself in meekness, that you may lessen sins. For if you loosen the reins of anger, you will kindle a great pyre of lawsuits, indeed many pyres and fires, and consequently many of their sins. For one lawsuit begets another, as one strawberry plant begets many: for strife grows from two to many of both sides' relatives, friends, neighbors: and thus sometimes divides and inflames an entire city and province into factions and quarrels, as appeared in Italy, in the faction of the Whites and Blacks; likewise of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, which disturbed all Italy, and filled it with quarrels and slaughter. Now it is the devil's work to disturb the peace of cities and the commonwealth, as it is God's to calm the disturbed, says Palacius. Whence the Zurich version translates, refrain from quarrels (others, from wrangling), and you will lessen sins; for an angry man will kindle a fight. A wicked man sets friends at variance, and casts suspicion upon those who are at peace; the Syriac, to withdraw from strife and strife will be withdrawn from you. For an unjust man, who loves strife, makes enmity between brothers. Therefore, as the strength of virtue is to suffer, according to that: "In silence and in hope shall your strength be," Isaiah XXX, 15; so on the other hand the weakness of vice is to be unwilling to suffer, and therefore to litigate and quarrel. Sirach proves the same thing by the appended similitude of fire kindling a forest, saying: "According to the wood of the forest," etc. For, as Lawrence Justinian writes excellently, in the book On the Discipline and Conversion of Monks, chapter XIII: "Contention is the fiery arrow of the devil for destroying souls. O how many quarrels, how much hatred arises from contentious words! O how often is truth hidden, and falsehood defended as truth for fear of shame! For it is a most evil thing to engage in contention, by which the bond of friendships is dissolved, and the sweet bond of hearts is scattered. Whoever is contentious admits into himself the assaults of the ancient enemy, works the ministry of the devil, breaks peace, stirs up quarrels, begets hatred, nourishes fury, blackens honesty, loses wisdom, confounds reason, clouds the eye of the mind, repels the light of grace, breaks fraternal love, and in himself kills even heavenly charity." Wherefore St. Gregory Nazianzen, epistle 62 (otherwise 56) to Eustachius, the sophist, accuses himself of rashness, in that by rebuking him, he had drawn upon himself his insults: "What is that which I did not know?" he says, "how foolish and inept! I undertook to correct a man who was a sophist. O singular boldness, and I was not even instructed by the common proverb, so that, when I was bald, I would not meet a ram with opposing forehead, nor provoke and irritate a wasp, that is, a tongue more ready for cursing." David alone knew this, and was therefore an example of clemency in forgiving injuries both from Absalom invading his kingdom, and from the whole kingdom rebelling, and from Shimei cursing him: "Let him alone," he said, "that he may curse according to the commandment of the Lord: if perhaps the Lord may look upon my affliction; and the Lord may repay me good for this curse of this day," II Kings XVI. Assuredly "he desired to be cursed, because by that curse he sought the divine mercy," says St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter XLVIII. And by this so admirable patience he merited without doubt to easily rout the traitor's army, and to be restored to his royal throne with triumph.
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Therefore the same St. Ambrose draws this lesson of patience: "He taught that times of injuries and dangers, contests of temptations, trials of probations are: and therefore they are not wont to be inflicted without divine judgment. The good athlete is exercised by insults, is exercised by labors and dangers, that he may be worthy to whom the crown of justice may be conferred." Thus he, Apology 1, chapter VI. Admirable indeed as in other things, so in this patience especially David proved himself. And rightly therefore the same Ambrose exclaims: "O depth of prudence! O remarkable patience! O great discovery of devouring contumely! The Lord, he says, commanded that he curse. He does not accuse the Lord as the author of injury, but rather praises that he suffers us to endure lesser things, that we may obtain pardon of greater sins." Memory-worthy is what Pliny writes, book VIII, chapter L, concerning goats: "The cleverness," he says, "of that animal Mutianus reported to have been seen by him on a narrow bridge, with two meeting from opposite directions: when the narrowness did not allow them to turn around, nor did the length allow reciprocal passage in the blind narrowness, with the rapid torrent threateningly flowing beneath, one lay down, and thus the other passed over the prostrate one;" thus by lying down it consulted both its own safety and that of the other meeting it. Learn, O man, from the goat, in a dispute to yield somewhat of your right; thus you will consult both yourself and your neighbor, you will avoid litigation, you will enjoy peace. Wherefore St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, left this doctrine to his followers: Resist no one, not even the least, in any way whatsoever. Let yielding please you rather than overcoming. Pliny adds that goats "breathe through their ears, not through their nostrils, nor are they ever free from fever, Archelaus is the author: and perhaps therefore, because the spirit in them is more ardent than in sheep." Learn, O man, from the goat, to relegate wrathful spirits from the mouth and nostrils to the ears and back, so that when angry you close your mouth, open your ears, that you may receive the gentle admonitions of others, which settle anger and litigation. Finally, "they report," says Pliny, "that goats see no less at night than by day: and therefore if they eat goat liver, evening sight is restored to those whom they call nyctalopos (the light-seeing)." Learn, O man, from the goat, to sharpen the sight of your mind, that you may see how troublesome and harmful litigations are, and thus teach the wisdom of settling litigations to the nyctalopos, that is, to those blinded by avarice and anger, and therefore litigating. This is the seventh stimulus to remit anger and vengeance, namely that through this remission innumerable sins accustomed to be born from anger and quarreling are avoided.
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12. FOR ACCORDING TO THE WOOD OF THE FOREST, SO FIRE BURNS: AND ACCORDING TO THE STRENGTH OF A MAN, SO SHALL HIS ANGER BE, AND ACCORDING TO HIS SUBSTANCE HE SHALL EXALT HIS ANGER. — The word "for," although it is not in the Greek, is nevertheless appropriately added, for it gives the reason for what he said: "For an angry man kindles a quarrel." Where for angry in Greek is θυμώδης, that is, spirited, bold, wrathful; for spiritedness and boldness, which strength and wealth suggest, make men wrathful, as if to say: Just as according to the quantity and quality of wood fire burns more or less (for if there be much wood, and it be dry, a great fire will be kindled: but if little and damp, a small one); so likewise "according to strength," that is according to strength, vigor and power, burns θυμός, that is spiritedness and anger, and thence quarrel and strife. For the weak and infirm, because they are feeble, and therefore timid, are easily angered (for anger without strength is vain); but the robust and powerful, because they are strong and bold, conceive grave angers: for strength adds courage and boldness, and thence anger. Therefore a robust man and θυμώδης, that is spirited, and thence wrathful, kindles a quarrel; especially if to strength and power be added substance, that is wealth and riches: for these add courage, and thence sharpen angers. Strength therefore and wealth are the fuel of anger and quarrel, just as wood is the fuel of fire. Hence the Zurich version clearly translates: In proportion to the forest is fire kindled, that is, in proportion to the strength of man does his fury prevail, and in proportion to his wealth does his anger swell, and the heat increases in proportion to the vehemence of the quarrel; but the Complutensian thus, according to the matter of fire so it is kindled; according to the foundation of the quarrel, fire will be increased; according to the strength of man so shall his anger be, and according to his riches he exalts his anger. This is what Solomon says, Proverbs chapter XIX, 12: "As the roaring of a lion, so also is the anger of a king." Where the Chaldean, the anger of a king, he says, roars like a lion. Such are the strength, wealth and angers of men, but not of God: for God, although he be most strong, most powerful and most wealthy; is nevertheless of anger most easily appeased, and most easily placated. Thanks be to God therefore, says Palacius, whom wealth and power have not made wrathful and turbulent, but most gentle and most tranquil. Let powerful men and princes therefore follow God, not their own bile. For this is true magnanimity, and the true loftiness of a great soul, to rule over anger, to remit offense, to spare: for it is the mark of a small soul to be offended by small things, to keep offense, to be overcome by anger, to submit to vengeance, to make oneself the slave of hatred, nay the bondsman. Whence the Poet: The greater anyone is, the more easily appeased by anger, And a noble mind receives easy movements. It suffices for the magnanimous lion to have prostrated bodies.
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And Manilius: "He is nearest to the gods whom reason, not anger, governs. Divine moderation preserves the voice unharmed, and the peaceful man subdues offences." And Ovid, concerning the Emperor Caesar, book V of the Tristia, elegy 2: "The world has nothing milder than Caesar." And elsewhere: "He who always conquers, so that he may be able to spare the conquered." 13. A HASTY QUARREL KINDLETH FIRE: AND A HASTY STRIFE SHEDDETH BLOOD: AND A TONGUE THAT BEARETH WITNESS BRINGETH DEATH. — All these things prove and persuade that which was admonished in verse 10: "Refrain thyself from quarrels, and thou shalt diminish sins." For quarrel in Greek is ἔρις, that is, contention, strife, brawl. For strife is μάχη, that is, fighting, which is wont to follow from brawling: for those who brawl, after sharp words, come to blows and beatings. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Contention and brawl, hastily stirred up by the wrathful, kindle the fire of bile and choler: and from this come fights and beatings, which shed blood, and are the cause of wounds and the slaughter of many. Whence the Zurich version translates, a brawl stirred up kindles fire, and sharp fighting sheds blood; others, a hastened strife kindles fire, and a hastened fight sheds gore; the Syriac, a terebinth and a grain of cypress kindle fire, and many strifes shed blood. For the third part, concerning the tongue that beareth witness, is not in the Greek. Jansenius understands by the tongue that beareth witness the tongue that denounces and threatens someone with destruction, which is wont to be the cause of slaughter. For thus to bear witness in Scripture is sometimes the same as to denounce and profess, as: "I testify to every man that is circumcised," Galatians V. Simplicius, Lyra and Dionysius take "the tongue that beareth witness" as the tongue of a witness, who, when two are litigating with each other, rashly or impudently favours one of them against the other by his testimony. For he thus irritates the one against his companion with whom he is litigating, and also against himself, and thus kindles a brawl, from which follow fights and slaughter. Palacius explains and connects these three things somewhat differently, as if to say, If stirred up by words you have contended against your neighbour, from this the fire of anger will be kindled: and if you have fought with him when stirred up, you will shed his blood: and witnesses will be brought forward, who will testify that it was shed by you, and you will bring death upon yourself, which the judge will justly inflict upon you as a homicide. 14. IF YOU BLOW UPON A SPARK (thus the Roman and Greek: Jansenius and others therefore wrongly omit "upon a spark"), IT WILL BLAZE LIKE FIRE: AND IF YOU SPIT UPON IT, IT WILL BE QUENCHED: BOTH PROCEED FROM THE MOUTH. — The Zurich version, a spark, if you blow upon it, will blaze: but if you spit upon it, it will be quenched; yet both proceed from the mouth; the Syriac, if you blow upon fire, it will be kindled; and if you sprinkle it with water, it will be quenched: and both are from you. He compares strife to a spark, brawl and fighting to fire, both of which are kindled and quenched by the same mouth. For just as if you blow with your mouth upon a spark, you kindle fire; but if you spit upon it with the same mouth, you quench that same fire: so likewise strife is kindled by the mouth, if you continue to litigate, contend, brawl with the same mouth, or by your incitement or testimony stir up the strifes and brawls of others: but it will be quenched by the same mouth, if you answer meekly and humbly, or remain silent and yield, or diminish and soften the cause of the brawl, according to that: "A soft answer breaketh wrath, but a harsh word stirreth up fury," Proverbs XV, 1. "These are the weapons of the just, that by yielding he may conquer, as skilled javelin-throwers are wont to conquer by yielding, and by fleeing to wound the pursuer with heavier blows," says St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter V. Wherefore "both," namely both the kindling and the quenching of fire and strife, proceed from the same "mouth," as if to say, From the same mouth proceeds strife and peace, discord and concord, and thus death and life: for, as St. James says, chapter III, 10: "Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing." See what I have noted there.
SECOND PART OF THE CHAPTER.
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Sirach alludes to Prov. XXVI, 21: "As coals to live coals, and wood to fire, so a man full of wrath stirreth up strife;" the Septuagint, a gridiron with coals, and wood to fire: but a man cursed to the tumult of strife. St. Chrysostom perhaps had regard to the Vulgate, in hom. 3 On Not Attending Spectacles: "Just as, he says, if you blow upon a spark of fire, you stir up a conflagration: but on the other hand if you spit upon it, you extinguish it; and both are in your power: so if you direct inflated and senseless words, you stir up the fire of an angry man; but if you apply mild and moderate words, before he grows hot, you will have extinguished all his wrath." Thus anger is compared to fire by Chrysostom, hom. 30 to the People: "It is, he says, a vehement fire, anger, devouring all things: for it destroys both body and corrupts soul." Wherefore Aristotle, lib. I On the Soul, said anger to be an inflaming of the blood around the heart. To this pertains that common saying: "Poke not fire with a sword," that is, do not provoke or stir up an angry man: which St. Basil uses, epistle to Nepotian. And Plato, lib. On Laws: "Do not, he says, add fire to fire." For Diogenianus relates that, when a charcoal-maker was adding fire to fire in a furnace, he cried out as he was being consumed by his own fire and dying: "Add not fire to fire." Furthermore, kindled anger brings forth fury and madness. Whence that saying: "Anger is a brief madness." And Seneca, epistle 18: "Immoderate anger, he says, begets madness." Indeed, David also, Psal. XXXVI, 8: "Cease, he says, from anger, and forsake wrath." Who therefore would wish to wrangle and quarrel with an angry man, that is, a furious and insane man? surely no one except one equally foolish and mad. "Anger, Aristotle says in Stobaeus, discourse 20, is a bestial disturbance, a hard and violent power, the cause of blows, the companion of calamity, the stirrer up of loss and disgrace; the destruction of money, and the origin of ruin."
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Hear St. Ambrose in Psal. XXXVI: "Anger, he says, is a grave passion; often it inflames even the unwilling, and snatches into fury one who wished to punish more mildly, so that it destroys whom it thought to restrain. Moved by the sword, it often pierces through the innocent, friends and brothers: through indignation many have perished. Therefore the Wise man says: Anger destroys even the wise." St. Basil agrees, hom. 10 On Anger: "Because of anger, he says, the sword is sharpened, death comes to man from man. Neither venerable old age, nor the virtue of life, nor nearness of kinship, nor parents avail: indeed they often cast themselves into the greatest evil, and in their zeal for avenging themselves they neglect themselves; for even upon every poisonous beast they rush more shamelessly, nor do they cease before they have sated their mind with great and intolerable evil." Finally, from the mouth of the demon, who is indeed the parent of anger and audacity, fire proceeds, Job XII, 10: "Out of his mouth go burning lamps, as torches of fire kindled;" in Hebrew, lamps shall go, sparks of fire shall go forth; "out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as a pot heated and boiling;" the Septuagint, "out of his nostrils shall go forth smoke of a furnace kindled with the fire of coals." The angry and audacious man therefore, no less than a demon, burning and raging with fire, rushes into slaughter and ruin. More things could be brought here concerning the harms of strife, but those pertain to others, who patch together collections of commonplaces. I act as an interpreter, not a rhapsodist. 15. THE WHISPERER AND THE DOUBLE-TONGUED BE CURSED: FOR THEY HAVE DESTROYED MANY THAT WERE IN PEACE. — In Greek, curse the whisperer and the double-tongued: for they have destroyed many that were in peace. Thus the Complutensian. But the Greek texts corrected at Rome read for "curse" rather "ought to curse," namely; the Zurich and others, "you curse the informer and the double-tongued: for they have destroyed many that cultivate peace;" the Syriac more forcefully, "a threefold tongue (that is, a detracting one, as I shall explain presently) shall be cursed, because it brings many murders."
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"Whisperer" is one who secretly detracts from another, and thus renders that person an offended friend, and makes enemies out of friends. The same is "double-tongued," because when present he praises the other with flattery; when absent he disparages and slanders out of envy. See the sayings at chapter V, verse 16. Sirach passes from anger and strife to a vice neighboring to it, namely whispering and detraction, as if to say: The whisperer, who secretly gnaws at his neighbor's reputation and whispers evil things about him into another's ears; likewise the double-tongued, who speaks with a double tongue, as it were, in contrary fashion (for he praises to his face, but disparages behind his back); each one, I say, or often one and the same person, is cursed, that is, worthy of curse, whom namely God, angels and men abominate and execrate; because he "troubles many who are at peace" by sowing discord, aversions and hatreds. And therefore he dissolves friendships, and in their place introduces enmities, quarrels, wars, slaughter and destruction of men, peoples, cities and kingdoms. Moreover, the nature and aim of the double-tongued man is graphically depicted by Phaedrus, freedman of the Emperor Augustus, in his Myths which Pithaeus published, by means of an allegory of an eagle, a cat and a boar: An eagle, he says, nesting in a tree had hatched her chicks: at the roots of the tree a boar was nursing her piglets in a den: between the two a cat was feeding her offspring. The cat, fearing for herself and hers from both the eagle and the boar, goes to the eagle and indicates that an enemy, the boar, is beneath, and that he should beware of it for himself and his. Then she goes to the boar, making the same threat about the eagle: Beware, she says, lest the eagle, hanging over your den from above, snatch your piglets. Thus the eagle fearing the boar, and the boar fearing the eagle, each confined itself to its nest: with the result that each perished of hunger along with its offspring. Thus to each of them the cat became a source of food. Thus double-tongued persons set two against each other, so that they destroy one another, while meanwhile they themselves grow rich from the destruction of both. 16. A THIRD TONGUE HATH MOVED MANY, AND SCATTERED THEM FROM NATION TO NATION. — The Arabian, a man of mouth, led many men into captivity, and scattered them from nation to nation. It is Aramaism: for the Syrian and the Arab call a talkative, garrulous, detracting man a "man of mouth," etc. Cyril explains this saying with a notable allegory of a dove and mud, in book II of his Moral Allegories, final chapter, which is titled: Against slanderers: "A dove," he says, "covered with feathered silk, or the shining raiment of Venus throughout, with wings spread upward, with gleaming eyes, with grave gait, with simple foot, and with wings gathered together, went forth. But when muddy mud lying hidden within presented a dry face, she struck against it. Whose filth, immediately splattered about, defiled her shining little body. Then the mud, raising laughter at this outcome, being glad that it had done harm: How, it said, has such beauty been defiled? But she answered: Surely because I struck against you. What are you? To which it said: Mud and slime. Immediately the dove added: Certainly it is true; because if you had not been mud, I would never have contracted a stain from you. Yet my brightness, existing in my substance, has not departed from me; but your stench remains in you. For what indeed now appears foul in my color, that substantively is in yours. Wherefore you have mocked yourself, and by defiling me with your contamination, you have shown me most clearly. " Then with other parables of a dog, an asp, a thorn and a fish he confirms the same thing: "For a dog, tearing, is harmful from its teeth; and the mouth of an asp infects, itself first infected with venom; a thorn pricks, because it has a sting; and a fish darkening the sea, vomits forth its own black into itself. Thus all harm first exists in its author. What more? I certainly, going to the bath, shall be cleansed; but you will always be stained, because you are known to be mud; for foul detraction is scraped away from innocence; but its infection is never purged from the infamy of detraction. Having said these things, she went to the bath." 17 and 18. THE WALLED CITIES OF THE RICH HE HATH DESTROYED, AND HATH DUG DOWN THE HOUSES OF THE GREAT. THE STRENGTH OF THE PEOPLES HE HATH CUT DOWN, AND HATH DISSOLVED STRONG NATIONS. — This third verse is lacking in the Greek. "A third tongue" is the tongue of the whisperer and detractor. It is called "third" because it intervenes between two and separates them, while it sows discord between them, and secretly detracts from and speaks against each to the other. Whence the Chaldean, in Proverbs, is accustomed to render "third tongue" for detractor and whisperer. Whence the Chaldean Lexicon of Elias Germanus teaches in the word תלת telat. The Greek and Roman texts also read here γλῶσσα τρίτη, that is, a third tongue. The Complutensian and others, however, read δίσσος, that is, a double tongue: which amounts to the same thing. For it is called double; because it utters one thing with the mouth, another with the heart. Again, it speaks one thing to the face, another behind the back. Whence in the margin of the Vatican codex, the third tongue is called a perforated tongue. Therefore the same is the "third tongue," which is "double," namely a bilingual and whispering tongue: this has moved and disturbed many, while it not only snatched peace from them, but also their homeland, and forced them to go into exile, and to wander from nation to nation: nor did it destroy only individual private men, but also entire cities and fortified and strong ones: and so thoroughly undermined and overturned the houses and families of magnates, kings and princes, stirring up duels, quarrels and internecine wars among kings and vast and powerful peoples. Indeed it also "cut down the virtues," that is the forces of "great" peoples, "and dissolved strong nations." Wherefore an evil tongue is "the universality of iniquity," which inflames the whole world, James III. See the things said there. The Zurich version translates, a double tongue (Vatablus, triple, because it speaks in a threefold manner, that is in a manifold way, and very contradictorily. Whence it brings threefold, that is manifold, harms and damages) harassed many, and transferred them from one nation to another, destroyed strong cities, and overturned the houses of the powerful. It consumed the forces of peoples, and scattered strong nations; the Syriac, a triple tongue caused many to go into captivity, and dispersed them from people to people, and cast grave men from their houses, and by laying waste devastated the houses of kings.
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Symbolically, the tongue of the detractor is third, that is triple, because with one blow it wounds and destroys three, namely him to whom it detracts, by taking away his reputation; and him before whom it detracts, by imbuing his mind with calumny and hatred of his neighbor; and itself, by wounding itself in the lethal sin of envy and detraction. Thus St. Bernard, sermon On the Triple Custody of hands, tongue and heart: "The cursing tongue," he says, "as far as it is concerned, wounding the conscience of that one, and wounding the charity of this one, destroys both together with itself. Is not this tongue a viper? Truly most fierce, namely one which so lethally infects three with one breath. Is not this tongue a lance? Indeed, and most sharp, which penetrates three with one blow. The tongue," he says, Psalm LVI, "their tongue is a sharp sword. The tongue of the detractor is indeed a two-edged sword, nay rather a three-edged one." For his tongue is serpentine; but serpents have a three-forked tongue, as Pliny testifies, book XI, chapter XXXVII. of adulterers, it cast out married and honorable women, and separated them from their husbands, while it joined them to adulterers, or brought them into suspicion of adultery. This is Lyra's view, but incorrectly, as I have said. St. Chrysostom, however, thinks that not merely three, but very many are destroyed by one blow of the tongue; thus he writes, homily 3 to the People: "You have not fixed teeth in flesh, but a curse in the soul, you have fixed an evil suspicion, you have wounded, you have afflicted with innumerable evils both yourself and many others, etc. Moreover you have harmed the common state of the Church, etc.; besides this you have caused the glory of God to be blasphemed; for just as the name of God is glorified by us living praiseably, so it is blasphemed by sinners. A fourth evil: you have confounded the hearer, and thus made him more shameless, making him an enemy. Fifth, you have made yourself liable to punishment, weaving matters that pertain nothing to you." And St. Gregory of Nazianzus, On the Silence of Fasting: "The tongue," he says, "is near at hand, the archer's arrow is in the bow, the very sinews are most tightly drawn: as soon as the mind has sent forth the dart, immediately they fly forth, and strike all things, heavenly, earthly, living, posterity; no less those who guard themselves from such arrows and carefully observe them, than those who suspect no evil; no less the good than the bad; no less friends than enemies; no less foreigners and those far distant than those near." To this belongs the symbol of Pythagoras: "Do not fix the footprints of a man with iron," that is, do not tear the memory and reputation of a man with a cursing tongue. 19. THE THIRD TONGUE HAS CAST OUT BRAVE WOMEN, AND DEPRIVED THEM OF THEIR LABORS. — What he said of men, he now says of women. The Interpreter uses Greek forms; for just as the Greeks from ἀνήρ call ἀνδρίζω, so the Interpreter from vir calls "viratas," or, as the manuscript codices have it, "viritas," that is manly or virago-like women. Whence on the other hand the unmanned and unmanly are called effeminate, namely eunuchs, to whom virility has been taken away; for to unman, according to Varro, Seneca and others, is to take away virility and to make effeminate. "To assail virtue is the unmanning of good hope," says Seneca, On the Happy Life. The sense therefore is, as if to say, The tongue of the detractor cast out manly and vigorous women from their home, marriage and marriage bed, while it made them hateful to their husbands, so that they would expel them from the home: and consequently "deprived them of their labors," that is of the riches and things which they had acquired by their own labor and industry; the Zurich version, a double tongue (Vatablus, triple) overwhelmed vigorous women, and defrauded them of their labors. Thus the evil tongue accusing the mother of the seven Maccabees of Judaism before Antiochus, deprived her together with her seven sons of goods, homeland and life, II Maccabees chapter VII. The same was done by St. Symphorosa and St. Felicity with as many sons, whom therefore the Church venerates and honors as athletes of faith and heroines, namely as martyrs.
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Hence it is clear that Lyra wrongly reads veritas for viratas, that is, honesty, modesty; for veritus is said to be derived from vereor, vereris, as if meaning one who fears shame. Other books, he says, read "viratas," that is, having men, as if to say: A third tongue, namely the tongue of an old woman as intermediary, saying: "And make doors and bars for thy mouth, etc., and straight bridles for thy mouth, and take heed lest thou perhaps slip with thy tongue."
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Wisely St. Ambrose, book I of Duties, chapter IV: "Our speech," he says, "is a snare of the adversary; but it is also no less an adversary to us; we speak for the most part what the enemy may seize, and as it were wounds us with our own sword." The same, chapter II: "We are beaten," he says, "by the silent reproach of our thought and the judgment of conscience; we are beaten by the stroke of our voice, when we speak those things by whose sound our spirit and mind are wounded." This is what Solomon says, Proverbs chapter XIV, 3: "In the mouth of the fool is the rod of pride: but the lips of the wise keep them." Where I shall say more about this matter. The tongue of the malicious not only strikes the neighbor, but also consumes itself: for just as the body is strengthened and held together by bones, so the soul is by virtues. Whence Blessed Peter Damian, sermon On the Vice of the Tongue: "Behold the tongue," he says, "has no bones, and it breaks bones: because, when through those hollow words it flows out lightly, it corrupts the strong and robust deeds of our virtue." Whence exhorting his monks: "You carry with you," he says, "the key of your cell, carry the key of your tongue: you bolt the door, apply restraints to your mouth."
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20. HE THAT HATH RESPECT TO HER SHALL NOT HAVE REST, NOR SHALL HE HAVE A FRIEND IN WHOM HE MAY REPOSE. — Thus the Roman version. In Greek it is, he who attends to her shall not have rest, nor shall he dwell in peace. The Syriac omits this verse, as it does many others; the Zurich version, he who is devoted to her shall not obtain tranquility, nor shall he dwell quiet, as if to say: He who lends open ears to the tongue of the detractor, and gives credence to her whisperings, shall be filled with suspicions, fears, distrust, hatred and other passions, which shall disturb the peace and quiet of his soul, and consequently of his house: wherefore no one will wish to have him as a friend, familiar or household member, nor shall he himself entrust himself and his affairs to any of his friends, so that he may rest with him and in him. 21. THE STROKE OF A WHIP MAKES A BRUISE: BUT THE STROKE OF THE TONGUE WILL BREAK BONES. — "Stroke," in Greek πληγή, properly signifies not a wound, but a blow and a beating, from πλήττω, that is, I strike, I beat: consequently, however, it signifies a wound, a bruise and pain inflicted by a beating. He compares, nay opposes and prefers, the beating of the tongue to the beating of a whip, as if to say: The beating of a whip is light, and only grazes the skin, making it black and blue: but the beating of the tongue is as it were the beating of a rod, which itself crushes and breaks bones; that is, it wounds far more powerfully and deeply, and robs a man of his strength, vigor and spirit, according to that in Proverbs XVII: "The words of a whisperer are as simple, and they reach to the innermost parts of the belly;" both because the beating of the tongue deprives a man of his good name and reputation, which is more excellent than riches, and covers him with infamy, which is the foulest of marks; and because it brings the gravest disasters, and despoils men of their wealth, liberty and life. Whence the Zurich version, the stroke of a whip raises welts, but the stroke of the tongue breaks (others say, fractures) bones; the Syriac, the blow of a rod makes a wound, and the stroke of the tongue breaks bones. It is a catachresis: for by the breaking of bones is signified the deepest pain and torment, which robs a man of his strength (for bones are the seat and symbol of this). A similar catachresis is in Proverbs III, 8: "Fear," it says, "God, etc. For it shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." And Ecclesiasticus XXX, 10: "Laugh not at him (thy son), lest thou be grieved, and in the end thy teeth shall be set on edge." And often elsewhere. Wherefore Abbot Hyperichius, in Rufinus, book III of the Lives of the Holy Fathers, number 154: "It is better," he says, "to eat flesh and drink wine, than to eat the flesh of brothers in detraction. For just as the hissing serpent cast Eve out of paradise, so he who detracts from his brother loses not only his own soul, but also that of the hearer."
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Mystically and tropologically "bones" signify virtues, says St. Gregory, in Psalm I of Penance, which
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22. MANY FELL BY THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, BUT NOT SO AS THEY THAT PERISHED BY THEIR OWN TONGUE. — Thus the Roman version. "By the edge," that is, by the blade: for what the mouth is to a man, the blade is to the sword. For just as a man devours food by his mouth, so the sword by its blade kills and consumes men. Whence the Zurich version, many fell by the edge of the sword; yet not so as those who perished by the tongue; the Syrian, many were slain by the sword, but not as many as were slain by the tongue: for the tongue kills more than the sword; just as gluttony (which is a vice of the same tongue) kills more than the sword. It kills, I say, both by bodily death and by spiritual death, as is evident in those who disseminate heresies, and who incite others to lusts, usuries, murders and other crimes. Thus Rabanus. For the "as" hints that any kind of death is here understood, both natural through death, both civil through slavery, infamy, poverty; both mystical through sin. Our version adds "their own," which is lacking in the Greek, in Latin manuscripts, in Rabanus and in the Syrian. Yet it can be understood in the sense already stated, as if to say: Fewer perished by the sword, more by their own tongue: "their own," I say, that is, their tongue assailing them, detracting from them, laying snares for them and plotting their death, their rival and antagonist, namely envious, slanderous and maleficent. Properly, however, "their own" signifies that more perished by their own incautious, garrulous, precipitate, proud, wrathful speech than by the sword. Which, although it may seem paradoxical, is nevertheless true in fact both by reason and by experience. For, as St. James says, cap. III, 8: "No man can tame the tongue: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison." See the sayings there. And Ecclesiasticus, cap. XIV, 1: "Blessed is the man that hath not offended by a word out of his mouth." The Arabic in Proverbs, Centur. 1, num. 75, agrees with Sirach: "Beware," it says, "lest thy tongue wound thy neck," as if to say: Beware lest on account of the intemperance of thy tongue thou be deprived of life and punished with death; for this has befallen many, and still befalls them. Adapt the Latin version to the Greek, if thou sayest that "their own" fell away from them, or is understood in them; for "their own" here is understood to be gathered from what follows: for Sirach here generally touches upon the disasters and calamities which an evil tongue brings, both one's own and that of others: whence, having enumerated these, he concludes that the tongue of another is to be avoided, saying, vers. 28: "Hedge in thy ears with thorns, hear not a wicked tongue:" but one's own is to be restrained,
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23. BLESSED IS HE WHO IS PROTECTED FROM AN EVIL TONGUE, WHO HAS NOT PASSED INTO ITS WRATH. — Many refer this to "his own tongue," which preceded, meaning: Blessed is he whose tongue is protected by God so that he is "protected," that is, safe through God's protection, free and immune from wickedness, namely lest he speak perverse and wrathful things, which internal anger or concupiscence suggests. But the Greek texts, which omit τὸ (his own), seem to indicate here the tongue of another, the detractor, concerning which the discourse preceded, meaning: Blessed is the man whom God protects from the evil tongue of a detractor or slanderer, and who has not fallen into his wrath, that is, indignation and violence, namely malicious speech and harm, so that either he does not feel it, or, if he feels it, by defending himself he shakes it off and frees himself from it. Whence Sirach glories in being freed from it by God, chapter LI, verse 3; and David begs to be freed from it, saying: "O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips and from a deceitful tongue." Thus Jansenius. Whence the Zurich version translates: blessed is he who was safe from it, and did not incur its fury (others, its outburst); the Syriac: blessed is the man who escaped from it, and was not partaker of its wrath. 24. AND WHO HAS NOT DRAWN (Syriac, drawn) ITS YOKE, AND IS NOT BOUND IN ITS CHAINS: FOR ITS YOKE IS AN IRON YOKE: AND ITS CHAIN IS A BRAZEN CHAIN (Syriac, iron). — Many again refer this to "his own tongue," meaning: Blessed is he who has not subjected himself to the vice and wickedness of his own tongue, as to a tyrant's yoke, nor permitted it to dominate him, and to bind him with it; because its yoke is iron, and its chain brazen, that is, most hard and untamable, as St. James says, chapter III, verse 8. Whence Palacius: He who sees, he says, that he has an evil tongue, let him understand that the devil has imposed an iron yoke upon him, and bound him with brazen chains. The yoke denotes servitude; the brazen chains that it will be perpetual, namely that he will never be freed from it, unless singular and extraordinary grace of God frees him. But, because the Greek texts, verse 22, omit τὸ (his own), and the discourse concerning the alien tongue of the detractor preceded, and the following things suit it better; hence take these of the same, meaning: Blessed is he who has not fallen into a cursing tongue, nor subjected himself to its yoke and dominion, nor been overcome and conquered by it: because its yoke and dominion is iron and brazen, that is, tyrannical, most bitter, most strong, so that it cannot be broken, shaken off or overcome. Whence the Zurich version translates: blessed is he who did not submit to its yoke, nor was bound with its chains: for its yoke is an iron yoke, and its chains are brazen chains. "An iron yoke" signifies a yoke, first, strong; second, hard and tormenting; third, unbreakable and insuperable; fourth, tyrannical; fifth, deadly. For a yoke is usually wooden, and not rarely supported with wool or hide, or anointed with oil, so that it may be lighter and less afflict and torment the oxen: but, when it is iron, it quickly wounds the oxen and breaks their necks. Thus St. Jerome, or whoever is the Author of the Commentary on St. Mark, chapter IV, notes that it is said "iron" because we wish to understand it as hard and strong; or because it brings severe anguish or affliction. And St. Augustine, book V of Locutions: "Iron," he says, "signifies hard tribulation," as in Psalm CIV: "They humbled his feet in fetters, iron passed through his soul." And Jeremiah XXVIII, 14: "I have put an iron yoke upon the neck of all these nations." 25. ITS DEATH (of the evil tongue) IS A MOST EVIL DEATH. — Zurich version: its death is a dire death, meaning: The death which the perverse tongue of the detractor, slanderer and curser brings is worse than any natural death: first, because this is natural and common, that one is peculiar and violent; second, this is owed to nature, that one is owed to crime, and falsely imposed upon one through accusation with the greatest injury; third, this death, even if also violent, which is inflicted by an enemy, is brief: but that which comes through accusation is slow and long: for a false crime imputed to someone makes him waste away through his whole life with prolonged sorrow and anguish; fourth, because it is often infamous and bitter, as when through false accusation someone innocent is tortured on the rack, killed by hanging, burned by fire; fifth, because it often kills not only the body but also the soul, as when someone is taught by the tongue of a heretic, impure, impious person and imbibes heresy, lust, impiety, by which they kill the soul and drag it to the eternal and most bitter fires of hell. With a similar scheme Solomon says, Ecclesiastes VII, 27: "I found the woman more bitter than death, who is the hunter's snare, and her heart is a net, her hands are bonds."
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AND HELL IS MORE USEFUL THAN THAT ONE. — Not death, for in Greek it is feminine αὐτῆς, but θάνατος, that is, death, is of masculine gender; but γλώσσα, that is, an evil tongue. The Zurich Bible, and the underworld than that one more serviceable; the Syriac, rest is among the infernal regions rather than with her. You will say: Is it not better to suffer calumnies from an evil tongue than to burn eternally in hell? I answer, certainly it is better. Therefore Jansenius understands by hell death, Palacius burial; but because mention and comparison of death preceded, and beyond death by gradation he compares an evil tongue to hell; hence it is better and more simply that you take hell properly for the state and place of the dead. But because in it there are various parts, bosoms and receptacles, namely the limbo of infants, the limbo of the fathers, the gehenna of the damned; hence aptly here by hell you take the limbo of the fathers, as if to say, It is better to die and descend to the infernal regions, namely to the place of the deceased and the limbo of the fathers, than to live and suffer calumny, infamy and vexations of a perverse tongue. Thus Jacob says: "I shall go down to my son mourning into hell," Genesis XXXVII, 35. Finally, Palacius, taking these things concerning the vice of one's own tongue, not another's, thus explains it, as if to say, Better is punishment, even tartarean, than fault, especially of an evil tongue, which is the cause of so many evils: for fault is of a higher order, and therefore graver and worse than any punishment, even of gehenna. Thus also Rabanus: "It is better," he says, "to lose bodily life than with an evil tongue (namely with heresy and heretics, for he takes these things concerning them) to have perpetual fellowship in gehenna." Thus also our Delrio explaining these things concerning the tongue of detractors, adage 197, digression 2, place 81, hear him: The sense, he says, is, as if to say, An evil tongue inflicts worse wounds than the torments of hell, and moreover is to itself a greater destruction. The reason is, first, because the wounds of the tongue are joined with sin, than which nothing is worse, nothing more destructive: but the torments of hell themselves are free from guilt, and are ministries of divine justice. Thus nearly Lyra. Second, because the torment of hell only harms the sufferer; an evil tongue kills three, the hearer, the speaker, and often him whom it curses. Likewise the tongue kills the soul; the flame of hell only torments. Third, as the Carensis writes, hell harms none except the wicked and the deserving; an evil tongue wounds even the undeserving and the just. Fourth, just as in a state prisons and punishments are useful for restraining the wicked, and for defending the good, they also profit by example: thus in the universal world of men to the same end gehenna conduces; wherefore it is more useful than an evil tongue, which at most provides occasion for patience, and that others may conduct themselves more cautiously. These things Delrio. From which learn how perverse is an evil tongue, since it is worse than sulphurous gehenna itself of the damned. And therefore, first, verse 21, he compared it to a scourge and a rod breaking bones; second, verse 22, to a most sharp sword; third, verse 24, to an iron yoke and a brazen bond; fourth, this verse, to death; fifth, to hell; sixth, verse 27, to flame and fire devastating all things; seventh, likewise to a lion and a leopard.
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26. HIS PERSEVERANCE SHALL NOT REMAIN (among the just): BUT HE SHALL OBTAIN THE WAYS OF THE UNJUST, AND HIS FLAME SHALL NOT BURN THE JUST. — As if to say: A perverse tongue, even if it calumniate and vex the pious, shall not nevertheless persevere or endure in this vexation; because God will at length be a witness, protector and avenger of their innocence; and will cause it to be made plain to the whole world, and they themselves to be celebrated; but their accusers and calumniators shall be confounded: "but he shall obtain the ways," that is the acts and customs, "of the unjust:" for these, as a punishment, shall justly suffer this penalty of the tongue and its virulence on account of their crimes. These therefore shall the flame burn, that is harm, and subsequently kill and consume, that is the harm like a flame spreading from the malevolent tongue, which burns with envy and hatred: but the just, although it touch and lightly blow upon them, shall not nevertheless burn them, but rather, as gold proven and purified by the fire of tribulation and calumny, shall make them brighter and more splendid: just as the three youths, sent through calumny into the furnace and the Babylonian flame, came forth from it unharmed and glorious, while their accusers and torturers were themselves burned up, Daniel III. To them indeed does Sirach here allude. The Greek texts, as is their custom, concise and in two members, have it thus: shall not hold, shall occupy, shall rule (for these all mean κατισχύσει): the pious, nor shall his flame burn them; the Zurich edition: it shall not endure with any duration, but shall hold the ways of the unjust. It shall not seize the pious, nor shall his flame consume them. The same thing concerning a wicked woman, whose harm is chiefly wrought through a malevolent tongue, Ecclesiastes saith, cap. VII, vers. 27: "He that pleaseth God shall escape from her: but he that is a sinner shall be caught by her." Aptly doth he compare the tongue to a flame, both because the tongue is ruddy in appearance and form like a flame; and because it spreads forth and corrupts all things, inflames and lays waste like a flame: "For it inflameth the wheel of our nativity, inflamed by hell," as St. James saith, cap. III. See what I said there. The destruction therefore which the tongue brings is like a conflagration caused by a flame; wherefore the just suffering calumny are like the bush which Moses saw burning and not consumed, but remaining green and unharmed, Exodus III. For God removes the harm of the tongue from the just and transfers it to the unjust, so that what harmed the just may harm the unjust, especially the calumniators. Thus the infamy and stoning prepared for chaste and innocent Susanna by the unchaste elders, God turned back upon the elders themselves, nay, delivered them to the flames of the Chaldeans, if we believe the Hebrews, as I said at Jeremiah XXIX, 22. Thus much more did God turn back upon the Jews themselves the reproach and death prepared for Christ the Lord, when He raised Christ glorious from the dead on the third day, and destroyed them through Titus and Vespasian, and made them wretched, infamous and wanderers throughout the whole world. If at any time it happen otherwise, and God permit some of the just to suffer calumny their whole life, certainly on the day of judgment He will show their innocence to the whole world, their calumniators being confounded, and will crown their patience with eternal glory. 27. THEY THAT FORSAKE GOD (the Syriac, the fear of God) SHALL FALL INTO IT, AND IT SHALL BURN IN THEM, AND SHALL NOT BE EXTINGUISHED: AND IT SHALL BE SENT UPON THEM AS A LION, AND AS A LEOPARD SHALL WOUND (Greek λυμανεῖται, that is shall devastate) THEM. — The Zurich edition: it brings calamity upon them; the Syriac: and it shall rule over them as a lion; and as a leopard shall tear them. First, many understand these, as also the preceding verses, of the vice of one's own tongue, as if to say: God by just judgment permits the wicked, as a punishment for their preceding sins, to fall into malevolence, so that their tongue burns, and by it they burn both themselves and others, which therefore shall spread upon the malevolent speakers themselves as a lion and leopard: for both in the present and in eternal punishments of fire in hell He shall afflict them, and shall deliver them to demons, who like lions and leopards shall tear them; but the just He will keep untouched from so great a tongue evil. Whence learn that no one can avoid malevolence and tame the tongue except God and God's grace, which He Himself gives to the just, but denies to the unjust, because He forsakes those who forsake themselves. Secondly and rather, understand these of the tongue of another detractor. For as he compared it before to a scourge, sword, yoke, death and hell: so here he compares it to fire, lion and leopard, to show how great is its harm and destruction, as if to say: God permits the wicked, nay delivers them to malevolent tongues, so that they may vex, defame, afflict and harm them. Therefore in the wicked this harm of the malevolent tongue shall burn and grow like an inextinguishable fire: wherefore it shall itself torture and tear them, as a lion and leopard is wont to torture and tear beasts and men which it hunts to devour. Moreover, God delivers the wicked to malevolent tongues in various ways, as Jansenius rightly notes: For first, those who forsake God, living without fear, fall into great sins, on account of which they become liable to the calumniating tongue, by which they are perpetually burned with infamy, and subjected to just punishments. Then also God permits wicked and false tongues to rise up against the wicked, through which, as a punishment for the forsaking of God, they are grievously tormented here; and they are not freed even by death, since they are thrust down to the underworld to be punished eternally.
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Finally, this is especially true in the impious, who by the just judgment of God are allowed to be drawn by a depraved tongue into errors and heresies, through which they eventually obtain eternal damnation. Concerning whom Paul says: "Because they received not the love of the truth, therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity," II Thessalonians II, 10. Finally, he aptly compares the harm of a cursing tongue to the harm of a lion and leopard, because both are most savage and cruel, as Pliny testifies, book X, chapter LXXIII. Again, lions and leopards have serrated teeth, says Aristotle, book II of the History of Animals, chapter 1, and he adds the reason: "For they are, he says, with serrated teeth, whose series of sharp teeth by mutual insertion are compacted together in a comb-like manner." Thus likewise the cursing tongue has teeth like very sharp saws, with which it saws and cuts a man comb-like down to his innermost parts. Third, lions and leopards have many-cleft feet. Hear Aristotle in the same place: "There are, he says, which are distinguished by multiple clefts of feet, such as the dog, lion, and panther." Thus the tongue of the detractor is cleft in two, three, or indeed many ways, with which it tramples and strikes the rival. Fourth, lions and leopards are carnivorous. "For all animals with serrated teeth are carnivorous," says Pliny, book X, chapter LXXIII. Thus the cursing tongue devours the flesh of a man, indeed his marrow and bones. Fifth, leopards are most swift, and leap upon men from on high, indeed they swoop down. Thus Pliny, in the place cited: "They lie in wait, he says, in the same Africa, leopards in dense trees, and hidden by their branches, they leap down upon those passing by, and they attack from the seat of birds." The same thing leopards do in Brazil, which the Fathers of our Society, eyewitnesses returning thence, related to me in Rome. What is swifter, what more winged than a cursing tongue? For the irrevocable word flies, and often flies through an entire city, indeed the whole world, and that immediately like lightning. Sixth, "Lions and leopards, says Pliny, book XI, chapter XXXVII, have a tongue of imbricated roughness, and similar to a file, which by licking wears away the skin of a man. Which cause, even when tamed, when the saliva reaches nearby blood, invites to madness." Thus the tongue of the detractor is a very rough file, wearing away the whole man, and often driving him into fury and madness. Seventh, leopards and panthers are captured by aconite applied to their throat and tongue: thus also the slanderer is captured by the slander of his own tongue. Hear Pliny, book VIII, chapter XXVII: "Barbarians hunt panthers with flesh rubbed with aconite (which is a poison). Anguish immediately seizes their throat: wherefore they called that poison pardalianches. But the beast against these things is healed by human excrement." Finally, a leopard is so wild that it cannot be tamed by any art. Thus also a lion scarcely and rarely becomes tame. Whence Aristotle, book I of the History of Animals, chapter 1, divides living things and says "Some are tame, others wild; and some are perpetually tame, such as man, such as the mule; others perpetually wild, such as the panther, such as the wolf; some also can easily become tame, such as elephants." Thus "no man can tame the cursing tongue: an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison," says St. James, chapter III, verse 8. 28. HEDGE IN THY EARS WITH THORNS, AND HEAR NOT A WICKED TONGUE, AND MAKE DOORS AND BARS TO THY MOUTH. — Jansenius and others add, "to thy ears"; but the Roman, Greek, and Rabanus delete it. After the invective against the cursing tongue, Sirach concludes by exhorting us to avoid it in every way, namely that we neither hear it, nor assent to it, nor associate with it in conversation, and become defiled. For ears, the Greek has τὸ κτῆμα, that is, possession, and thus reads St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter III, and St. Hilary, in Psalm CXL. Both readings are fitting: the latter contains a metaphor, the former an explanation of the metaphor, and therefore the latter is more apt and clearer, and it is followed by St. Cyprian, book I, epistle 3, and St. Ambrose, in Psalm CXVIII, sermon 22. And the declension is easy and near by affinity of characters, so that for τὰ ὦτα, that is, ears, someone might write τὸ κτῆμα, that is, possession. The Greek therefore thus have it: see, hedge in thy possession with thorns, and make doors and bars to thy mouth; the Zurich version, hedged about with thorns thy possession, that is, oppose doors and bolts to thy mouth: this version orders the hedge to be placed not on the ears, but on the mouth. Thus also the Syriac: As, it says, thou hedgest thy vineyard, so make doors and bars to thy mouth; St. Hilary, in Psalm CXL, reads: "Behold, fence about (for this is what the Greek περίφραξον signifies) thy possession with thorns." St. Clement, in his first epistle, alluding to other sentences of Holy Scripture and mixing them with this one, reads thus: "Set, O man, a door and a bolt to your tongue: cease lifting up your horn on high, and speaking iniquity against God and your neighbor." Therefore, to hedge your ears with thorns is a parable, and spoken parabolically (for it does not properly mean that ears are to be hedged with thorns; for this would be incongruous and impossible), which he explains when he adds: "And do not listen to a wicked tongue." The sense is, as if to say, In order that you may avoid the poison and harm of a cursing tongue, first close your ears lest you hear it, and your mouth lest you converse with it. Surely, just as you are accustomed to hedge your possession, for example a field, garden, or vineyard, with thorns, lest cattle and wild beasts enter it and consume the fruits and crops: so much more hedge, that is, close, your ears and your soul, lest you hear detraction and a cursing tongue, which may infect and consume your charity, purity, and other virtues. The hedge, therefore, by which the ear is to be hedged against detraction and detractors, is the fear of God, which strengthens the mind, turns away and closes the ears from them, and shows a sad and severe countenance, indeed rebukes the detractor and drives him away. For, as Solomon says: "The north wind drives away rain, and a sad countenance a backbiting tongue," Proverbs XXV, 23. For this sadness and moroseness of countenance is, as it were, a thorn urging the detractor to cease from detraction. Hedge your ears with thorns, therefore, when you close and turn them away, when you show a grave and stern face, which indicates that you are unwilling and reluctant to hear, and that the detractor is a burden and annoyance to you. If Eve had thus hedged her ears lest she hear the serpent, and Adam lest he hear Eve, how many evils would they have freed themselves and all their descendants from! Christ hedged his ears when he said to the demon: "Begone, Satan," Matthew, chapter IV. From what has been said, gather that our ears are here compared to a choice vineyard, but wicked words to beasts, and silence and discretion to a hedge. And this is fitly done: for from our ears into the winepress of our heart, as it were, the must of holy utterances is pressed out, which, cooked and digested by meditation, strengthens and gladdens the soul: but wicked discourses in this vineyard of our ears consume holy utterances, and leave us empty of the wine of wisdom. Let us therefore hedge our ears with thorns of careful circumspection and grave severity, which do not allow the beasts of wicked discourses to enter: just as Ulysses stopped up his ears lest he hear the song of the Sirens, those who heard which were ensnared by them and torn to pieces by the Sirens. Hear St. Augustine, tract. On the Good it comes to pass that those who blame others for some vice labor under the same more than those whom they blame, or certainly by God's just judgment fall into that very vice. A memorable example of this St. Cassian recounts in the case of Abbot Machetes, lib. V On the Institutes of Renunciation, cap. XXX. Let the hearer therefore say to the detractor with Christ: "Why do you see the mote in your brother's eye, and do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite, first cast out the beam from your own eye, and then you will see to cast out the mote from your brother's eye," Matthew VII, 3. Sixth, let the detractor inquire into and cut down the root of detraction. For the origin, source, and root of rash judgment and detraction is self-love, by which, in order that we may conceal or diminish our own vices, we judge and accuse those of others. Wherefore every detractor, not seeing his own evils, reproves those of others. On the contrary, he who is an inspector of himself is a praiser of his neighbor. discipline, cap. 1, tom. IX: "O you who receive a sound word in the house of discipline, hedge your ears with thorns, so that he who dares to enter importunately may not only be repelled, but also be pricked. Drive him away from you, say: You are a Christian, I am a Christian; we did not receive this in the house of discipline, we did not learn this under that Master, whose chair is in heaven; do not tell me these things, or do not come near me." St. Paulinus, epistle 27 to Aprus, in the middle: "Let us hedge our ears with thorns, that is," he says, "with the word of God and faith in the word, which defend most firmly the harvest of our life with innocence and patience as a hedge, and resist the devil as he seeks access to our hearts through his deceits, like thorns to thieves." Moreover, there are various thorns, practices and ways by which ears may be hedged against detraction, and it may be cut down. The first is, if one openly resists it, and rebukes the detractor, as when hearing one uses that saying of Christ: "Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you," Matt. VII, 1. Or that of Paul, 1 Corinth. IV: "Judge not before the time." The second is, if one feigns sleep or actually falls asleep. Thus Machetes, if anyone had uttered a word of detraction, would immediately fall asleep, as Cassian says, lib. V De Instit. renunt. cap. XXIX. The third is, if one introduces another conversation. Thus did Thomas More, Chancellor of England, a man celebrated in wisdom and virtue, who hearing detraction, taking occasion from elsewhere, would divert the conversation to another topic. For example, he would say: Let anyone say what they will, I will say that house is most beautifully constructed, and that he who built it is excellent in his art as an architect. Thus Stapleton in his Life. Hence the pagans painted Jupiter in Crete without ears, so that by this image all, especially princes, might be admonished that they ought not to lend their ears to informers. But King Midas was deformed with the ears of an ass, because he also had around him informers and counselors, whom today they call auditors, differing little from asses. The fourth is, if a Superior restrains and punishes subjects who detract. Thus St. Francis, as St. Bonaventure says in his Life, cap. VIII, § 1, would punish his own, and indeed considered them worthy of being stripped of the monastic habit: "For the vice of detraction, an enemy to the font of piety and grace, he abhorred as a serpentine bite, and as a most atrocious plague, and affirmed it to be abominable to the most pious God, because the detractor feeds on the blood of souls, whom he kills with the sword of the tongue." And further below: "So much greater, he would say, is the impiety of detractors than that of robbers, as the law of Christ, which is fulfilled in the observance of piety, desires us to love the salvation of souls more than that of bodies." The fifth is, if the hearer casts back at the detractor, as at a dog, his own mouth, which he gnaws, namely the public vice from which he suffers. Thus Christ did to the accusers of the adulteress: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her, John VIII, 7. For He knew that they themselves were adulterers. Often Thus Pimenius the Abbot, in Rufinus, book III Vit. SS. Patrum, num. 133, when asked: "How can a man avoid speaking evil of his neighbor?" Answered: "I and my neighbor are two images; when therefore I have examined and reproved mine, I find the image of my brother in me venerable: but when I have praised mine, then I regard the image of my brother as depraved. Therefore I do not detract from another, if I always reprove myself." And John the Abbot: "We have left, he said, a small burden, that is, to reprove ourselves: and we have chosen to bear a heavy one, that is, to justify ourselves, and to condemn others." Prior the Abbot also, hearing those who detracted, went out in silence and filled a sack with sand, and carried it on his back, and in another small cloth he put a little sand, and carried that before him. When asked what he meant to signify by this, he answered: "The sack having much sand signifies me and my many sins, which I have cast behind my back, being unwilling to see them so that I might grieve and weep for them. And behold, these few faults of my brother I have placed before my eyes, and I am tormented in condemning my brother. But one ought not to judge thus; rather one should bring them before oneself, and think about them, and ask God to forgive me. Which when the Fathers heard, they said: In truth this is the way of salvation." Thus Rufinus, lib. III, num. 136. Wherefore St. Jerome (or rather Paulinus) teaches Celantia the matron to hedge her ears against detractors thus, epist. 14: "Neither give authority to detractors by consent, nor nourish their vice by assenting. Do not, says Scripture, be consenting with those who derogate against your neighbor, and you shall not receive sin upon him." And Ecclesiasticus cap. XXVIII, 28: "Hedge in your ears with thorns, and hear not a wicked tongue." And after a few intervening remarks: "This vice is indeed such that it ought to be extinguished above all, and wholly excluded by those who wish to conduct themselves holily. For nothing so disturbs the mind, nothing makes the mind so fickle and light as easily to believe all things, and to follow the words of the detractor with rash assent of mind: and blessed is he who has so armed himself against this vice, that no one dares to detract in his presence." Indeed, St. Jerome most excellently, in his epistle 2 to Rusticus, excludes the excuses of those who claim they cannot close their ears to detractors: "Nor truly, he says, is that a just excuse: I cannot help being injured by the reports of others. No one willingly reports an injury to an unwilling listener: an arrow never sticks in a stone, but sometimes rebounds and strikes the one who aimed it. Let the detractor learn, when he sees that you do not willingly listen, not to detract easily. Do not associate with detractors, as Solomon says; because their destruction will come suddenly, and who knows the ruin of both—namely of him who detracts and of him who lends his ear to the detractor?" Finally, St. Ambrose, book IV, epistle 29, prescribing a rule of life to Florian: "Do not defile your mouth with the evil of another; never detract from the sinner, but rather sympathize: what you detract in others, fear rather for yourself. You will never detract if you despise yourself well. Care to correct your own life as much as you perceive another's." Secondly, in order that you may beware of the poison of a wicked tongue, close your mouth, lest you mix discourse with it, flatter it, consent to it, laugh at it, applaud it, and thus yourself detract and curse. Wherefore make "to your mouth" not one, but many "doors and bolts." For just as a city, house, garden and vineyard is not only enclosed with a wall or hedge against the incursions of beasts and enemies, but is also secured with many doors and bolts, both that beasts and enemies may be excluded and that the household may not go out except at the nod of the master or keeper who holds the keys: so likewise, in order that you may keep your soul untouched by a cursing tongue, not only must your ears be closed, but your mouth must be stopped by the closure of your lips and teeth, namely by a firmness of mind to keep silent, lest meanwhile your senses and thoughts itching to speak and to recount the faults of your neighbor break forth through your mouth and admit enemies, namely cursing words. Thus David closed his mouth, saying: "I said, I will keep my mouth as with a bridle, whilst the wicked is in my sight. I was dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence," Psalm 38:2. But because this guard cannot be provided by us and by the powers of nature, but is the work of God's grace, hence he earnestly invokes it, saying, Psalm 140:3: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips," namely a door surrounding, closing, guarding my lips. In Hebrew, Set a guard over the door of my lips; St. Augustine reads: "Set a door of continence to my lips;" Theodoret, make it so that my mouth is guarded, both through teeth and lips, as Theodoret explains; then rather through constancy of mind and firm resolution to keep silent; then especially through the strength of your grace, lest I utter anything through anger, hatred, impatience, levity, by which I might offend you or my neighbor. Just as therefore a house is guarded by surrounding doors, so that nothing harmful may go out or come in: so you, O Lord, guard my mouth and lips with your grace, lest through them anything cursing, lying, detracting, or otherwise impure and vicious may go forth. St. Augustine notes, in Psalm CXL, that it is said, "set a door, not a lock:" because the mouth, he says, like a door ought not always to be shut, but sometimes to be opened: for it ought to be opened for the confession of sin, for the praise of God, for the instruction, consolation and aid of one's neighbor: but it ought to be shut against the excuse and practice of sin, so that it may not speak angry words, infamy, calumnies, lies, etc. Wherefore before you speak, invoke the aid of God, that He may direct your tongue to speak fittingly. The same thing is noted by St. Gregory, VII Moral. cap. XVII: "A door," he says, "is opened and closed. He therefore who sought that no obstacle be placed upon his mouth, but a door, openly taught that the tongue ought both to be restrained by discipline and to be loosened by necessity: so that the mouth, being discreet, may open its voice at a fitting time, and again at a fitting time silence may close it. Thus also St. Chrysostom, in Psalm CXL, where he sets two guardians of the mouth, namely the invocation of God and grace, and the reason and care of the speaker in rightly being silent or speaking: "Our mouth therefore," he says, "let us guard perpetually, applying to it prayer as a key, not that it may be perpetually closed, but that it may be opened at a fitting time. For sometimes silence is more useful than speech, just as speech also is more useful than silence. And therefore that very wise man said: A time to keep silence, and a time to speak, Eccles. III. For if it were necessary to press mouths shut perpetually, doors would not have been made: but if they were perpetually closed, there would be no need of a guard. For what is closed, why would anyone guard it? but for this reason there are doors and a guard, that we may do all things at a fitting time." And a little above: "Just as a house, a city, walls, gates, doors are of no use unless there be those who guard them and know when indeed they ought to be closed, when however to be opened: so also the mouth and tongue have no utility unless there be reason, which is permitted to close and open them knowingly, carefully and circumspectly, and knows what things ought to be uttered, what things however to be left unsaid." Note: Fittingly he joins a fence for the ears and places it before the locks of the mouth, because, in order that you may close the mouth, lest it speak anything wrongly, the ears must first be closed lest they hear anything wrongly. For the mind itches, when it has heard something new, to utter it and pour it into the bosom of friends. Wherefore wisely Abbot John of Cyzicus: "He who wishes," he says, "to restrain the tongue, let him stop up his ears lest he hear many things: he who wishes to be without distraction, let him remain solitary." Thus John Moschus relates in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. CLXXXVII.
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29. YOUR GOLD AND YOUR SILVER MELT DOWN, AND BY YOUR WORDS MAKE A BALANCE, AND MAKE STRAIGHT BRIDLES FOR YOUR MOUTH. — It is a parable, that is to say, Melt down your gold and silver, so that from them you may make a balance, by which you may weigh and measure your words, and so that from them you may make bridles for your mouth, by which you may bridle it: that is, expend all your riches and all your efforts to this end, that you may acquire wisdom and prudence (for these are the symbol of gold and silver), which may teach you to compose your mouth for speaking rightly or for keeping silent. For melt down in Greek is κατάδησου, that is, bind together, so that from them you may fashion a balance; or bind, be bound and expend, so that you may buy and acquire the aforesaid balance. To the same sense therefore it comes. The Greek therefore you should translate thus: bind your silver and your gold, and make a balance and scale for your words, and make a door and bolt for your mouth; the Zurich version, bind your silver and gold, that is, apply a lintel and threshold to your words, in Greek, ζυγὸν καὶ σταθμόν: which Vatable more correctly translates as yoke and balance. The Complutensian and others read in a single word ζυγοστάθμον, that is, yoke-balance, that is, equal yoke, namely an evenly balanced scale, which namely consists in equilibrium, and does not incline or lean to one side. For ζυγοστατεῖν is to balance and equalize, and ζυγοστάται are those in charge of scales with weights: whence zygostatica faith, that is, full and examined equity; for zygostatica is a scale publicly tempered and established. See Budaeus in his Commentary. The Syrian translates, with your silver and gold you make a seal, and with your word you make (make) a firmament (another reading has, make a balance), that is to say, Just as you seal and close your gold and silver, so also seal and make firm your tongue, lest it lie open to the plunder of enemies: for words are the treasures of the mind, more precious than gold. Again, just as gold in a coin is sealed with the image of the king, who stamps it: so also you seal your words with the image of God, who gave you mouth and tongue, to this end that you may speak those things which are God's, according to that passage in the Song of Songs VIII, 6: "Set me as a seal upon your heart," and consequently upon your mouth. St. Gregory, in Psalm IV of Penance, at those words: O Lord, you will open my lips, reads: "Make a door and bolt for your mouth, and a yoke and balance for your words; so that everything which we speak, he says, may be seasoned with humility, and may be weighed with measure. Nor should we open our mouth to speak before it is fitting; but let us examine our words, whether this should be kept silent, whether this should be said against this person, whether it is the time for this speech, finally whether it does not dissent from the virtue of modesty. Let nothing sounding envious burst forth." St. Hilary in Psalm CXL reads: "Establish your silver and gold, and make a door and bolt for your mouth, and a yoke and measure for your words. He commanded a door and bolt to be placed on the mouth, lest there be easy exit for words: but in the same words he established a yoke and measure, so that, subject to the yoke of reason, they might be balanced by measure in moderation." For the Greeks, and from them St. Hilary, have nothing about bridles, which the Latin version wishes to be made for the mouth "straight," because many apply bridles to the mouth, but not straight ones: for they bridle the petulance of the mouth with excessive silence; for they are silent, when sinners ought to be rebuked, the rude instructed, the afflicted consoled. Therefore he applies straight bridles to the mouth, who loosens it for speaking, or bridles it for keeping silent, when right reason dictates that it should speak or be silent. St. Jerome, in book XIV on Ezekiel, at the beginning, reads: "You will make a balance and a weight for your words: so that, he says, in words, and in deed, and in thoughts we may do all things with weight and reason." St. Chrysostom, in Psalm CXL: "Make a balance and scales for thy tongue," and he explains it thus: "It demands greater diligence, that we not only utter the words which we ought, but also with that caution which is fitting, and with careful consideration, weigh them out as it were diligently. For if we do this in gold and matter which perishes, this must be done much more in words, so that nothing be lacking nor superfluous. Wherefore Ecclesiasticus saith: Forbid not a word in the time of salvation. And Paul: Let your speech be always in grace seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one, Colossians IV. Consider with thyself that this is a member by which we converse with God. This is the member by which we first receive with highest veneration the worthy sacrifice (the Eucharist). And therefore it ought to be free from all accusation, calumny, obscene word, and curse." Therefore let this counsel of St. Augustine hold good and be observed: "Let every word come to the file before it comes to the tongue." Moreover, nay rather twofold, St. Bernard demands in the Mirror of Monks: "Before, saith he, thou utter words, let them come twice to the file before once to the tongue." Thus did the spouse, of whom it is said, Canticles IV: "Thy lips are as a scarlet lace," that is to say, Thy lips are bound and adorned as it were with a fair lace by silence and discretion. Whence Rupert there attributing this to the Blessed Virgin: "In the lips of Mary, saith he, is confession and beauty; in the lips of Mary is holiness and magnificence. Eve was silent to God, but Mary magnified God with most sweet voice, and humbled herself." Hear this sentence of Sirach treated most excellently and clearly before all others by St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter III: "Hedge in thy possession with thorns, and bind up thy gold and silver, and make a door and bar for thy mouth, and a yoke and scales for thy words. Thy possession is thy mind; thy gold is thy heart; thy silver is thy speech. The words of the Lord are chaste words, silver tried in the fire. A good mind is also a good possession. Finally, a clean man is a precious possession. Hedge in therefore this possession and fortify it with thoughts, strengthen it with pious solicitudes, lest irrational passions of the body rush upon it and lead it captive, lest grave movements assail it, lest they plunder its vintage as they pass by the way. Guard thy inner man, do not neglect and despise him as if he were vile, because he is a precious possession. And deservedly precious, whose fruit is not fleeting and temporal, but stable and of eternal salvation. Cultivate therefore thy possession, that thou mayest have lambs. Bind up thy speech, lest it run wild, lest it wanton and gather sins to itself through much speaking. Let it be more restrained, and be confined within its banks. A swollen river quickly gathers mud. Bind up thy sense; let it not be slack and flowing, lest it be said of thee: There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor binding. Sobriety of mind has its reins, by which it is ruled and governed. Let there be a door to thy mouth, that it may be shut where it ought; and let it be barred more carefully, lest anyone stir up thy voice to anger, and thou return insult for insult. Thou hast heard read today: Be ye angry, and sin not. Therefore even if we are angry because it is an affection of nature, not of power; let us not utter an evil word from our mouth, lest we fall into guilt. But let there be a yoke and scales for thy words, that is humility and measure, so that thy tongue be subject to thy mind; let it be restrained by the reins of bonds, let it have its bridles by which it may be recalled. Let it utter words to the measure, weighed out by the scales of justice, so that there be gravity in sense, weight in speech, and moderation in words." The same St. Ambrose, in Psalm CXVIII, octave 22, on those words: My tongue shall speak thy word: "Hedge in, saith he, thy ears with thorns. Would that thou wouldst also hedge in thy tongue, that thou speakest not the things of the world, hearest the things of the world. But what is worse, thy tongue is hedged about with thorns, which prick and wound him who speaks the things of the world. Therefore the adversary also frequently pours worldly thoughts upon those who pray. If therefore we ought not to hear things alien or superfluous, how much more ought we not to speak against, since Scripture venerable saith to each of us: Bind up thy silver and gold, and make a yoke and weight for thy mouth. Bind up thy sense with faith, bind up thy words with taciturnity, impose a yoke upon thy mouth, lest with unbridled neck it boast of words; impose weight, that cautiously we weigh all that we speak by examination. With what thorns however shalt thou hedge in thy ears, as Scripture saith to thee, except with a contrite heart and fear of judgment? These prick us healthfully, these goad us, they do not wound, although even wounds be useful from a friend. Mystically Rabanus: "He, he says, who melts his own gold and silver, that is, who examines and purifies the sense and treatment of his heart, and the speech of his mouth by the fire of the Holy Spirit, so that he may be in complete harmony with the truth of the Catholic faith and the rule of Holy Scripture. But he who does not take care for the caution of his words, it follows that he falls in the sight of his enemies, that is, of malignant spirits lying in wait for him: indeed his fall in death is incurable." The mystical sense of the Palace is also this: The author commands, he says, that gold and silver be melted, so that coins may be made from them, which are expended for pious uses; by which thing God, inclined by the bridle, may restrain our tongue, and cause us to speak nothing without the balance of reason. Moreover, a golden balance is when whatever the tongue speaks is referred to the glory of God; a silver one will be when what it speaks, it speaks for the utility of neighbors. We fall in the sight of enemies when in the particular judgment, by which each one is examined at death, demons leap forth as victors. We do not fall if we are not confounded, when we shall speak to demons at the gate (namely of death), that is when accused by them in the hour of death, and freed by Christ the judge, we shall insult the demons. Wherefore the Apostle wisely admonishes, Colossians, chapter IV, saying: "Let all your speech be always seasoned with salt," namely with gentleness, sweetness, candor, truth, wisdom, choice, grace, beauty, and indeed, where it shall be necessary, with sharpness and severity. For salt displays all these things. Cyrillus adorns this parable or apologue with the notable apologue of the raven and the frog, lib. I Apolog. moral. cap. XV, whose title is: Learned to speak, and avaricious: "When the raven, he says, after much labor and study had scarcely at last learned to speak, and heard the frog speaking much, he descended and said: Who, sister, taught you to speak? But she answered: No one certainly, but nature, generous in compensation for my lost tail, gave me speech. Then the raven: A happy exchange indeed, for the tail of bestiality you received the speech of reason. To which the frog added: But you, brother, how did it come about that you know how to speak? Then he: By long labors and studies indeed I bought and learned speech. Having heard these things, the puffed-up frog replied: Behold you are learned to speak, and I not learned; if you please therefore let us compete in loquacity, so that it may appear which of us speaks more abundantly. To this the raven, having considered the matter, said: I know only those few things which I learned; but that you have not learned to speak, nor bought speech is sufficiently evident from this, because if you had bought it and been educated, you would not pour forth words so, but would either sell them with prudence, or give them as a gift with beneficence. But she, the chatterbox: Now, she says, you speak, and to whom do you sell your speech? Soon he answered: To the wise. For indeed to him nothing done in disorder is lost, and whatever is said aptly is dear. Have you not heard, Proverbs X, 20, that the tongue of the just is choice silver, because it is most dear?" He brings forth the reason a priori, and confirms it by physical reason from the position of the tongue, saying: "For a closure which is rarely opened is stronger, and a tongue less frequently used is more solid. For what is held straight for a long time is bent with difficulty. But while the tongue does not speak, it holds itself straight. The trumpet of Divine truth was brief-spoken on Mount Sinai, and spoke only the Decalogue. At least the mouth is closed for speaking little; the gate of the lips, and the windpipe on account of this is surrounded by a little door." Then assigning another reason drawn from the nature of the word, he adds: "For indeed if voice is indeed a word, and not a sound, it must be conceived by meditation, formed by counsel, arranged by judgment, and this arranged in its own place and time, let it be set forth with open ears. Five vowels were given to man, so that we might speak sparingly to the sense. And on account of this the tongue is one instrument of speech and of taste, so that namely we say few things, and first tasted by reason. For the loquacious person troubles others with undigested words, or is troubled."
28:30
30. AND TAKE HEED LEST THOU PERHAPS SLIP WITH THY TONGUE (through the precipitation of choler and words), AND FALL IN THE SIGHT OF THINE ENEMIES LYING IN WAIT FOR THEE, AND LET THY FALL BE INCURABLE UNTO DEATH. — For many through words rashly uttered incur both present and eternal death. Most excellently St. Gregory, lib. VII Moral. cap. XVII: "It is to be known also that they perish from every state of righteousness who are dissolved by harmful words. For the human mind, like water, when enclosed, is gathered upward; because it returns to that from which it descended; and when relaxed it perishes, because it scatters itself uselessly through the lowest things. For as many superfluous words as it is scattered by, departing from the censure of its silence, by so many rivulets is it led outside itself. Whence it does not suffice to return inwardly to knowledge of itself, because scattered outwardly by much speaking, it loses the force of intimate consideration. It therefore exposes itself wholly to the wounds of the lurking enemy, because it does not enclose itself with any fortification of guard. Whence it is written: As a city that is open and without walls round about, so is the man that cannot refrain his spirit in speaking. Because indeed it has no wall of silence, the city of the mind lies open to the enemy's darts, and when it casts itself outside itself through words, it shows itself open to the adversary, whom he overcomes so much the more easily, as this very thing which is conquered fights against itself through much speaking." And St. Bernard, De Interiori domo, cap. V: "The tongue," he says, "is so called because it licks. It licks by flattering, bites by detracting, kills by lying. It binds, and cannot be bound; it is slippery, and cannot be held, but slips and deceives; it slips like an eel, penetrates like an arrow: it takes away friends, multiplies enemies; it stirs up quarrels, sows discord. With one blow it strikes and kills many. It is smooth and treacherous, broad and ready to drain goods, and to mix evils." Wherefore God often punishes slanderers with present death, always with eternal. Paulinus, in the Life of St. Ambrose, records that Donatus a priest, detracting from St. Ambrose already dead, was suddenly struck with a grave wound, carried to a bed, and there breathed out his slanderous soul. And the same author adds that the same thing happened to Mauranus a bishop detracting from him. And St. Gregory, lib. IV Dialog. cap. LI, relates that a nun of a forward tongue appeared after death half-burned, and cremated on one side. Indeed God struck Mary, the sister of Moses, with leprosy for detracting from Moses, Num. XII. Finally, God often sent demons upon slanderers, so that those who bore a demon in their slanderous tongue, carried the same throughout their whole body as their possessor and master. Imitating Siracides, Cato thus ordains concerning the restraining of the tongue: Deem it the first virtue to restrain thy tongue: He is nearest to God who knows how to be silent by reason. Flee rumors, lest thou begin to be held a new author: For to no one has silence done harm, but speaking has done harm.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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.