Of correction of children. Health is better than wealth. Excessive grief is hurtful.
Chastisment of children is necessarie, and indulgence very dangerous. 14. Health is better then riches. 17. A trublesome life is worse then death. 22. Be not pensiue but chereful in mind.
1He that loveth his son, frequently chastiseth him, that he may rejoice in his latter end, and not grope after the doors of his neighbours.Chi ama il suo figliuolo, adopra sovente con esso la sferza, affin di averne consolazione nel fine, e perché quegli non abbia a picchiare alle porte de' vicini.HE that loueth his soune, doth accustome him to stripes, that he may reioyce in his later end, and not grope after the doores of his neighboures.Qui diligit filium suum assiduat illi flagella, / ut lætetur in novissimo suo, / et non palpet proximorum ostia. 2He that instructeth his son shall be praised in him, and shall glory in him in the midst of them of his household.Chi istruisce il proprio figliuolo, ne ritrarrà onore, e di lui si glorierà colla gente di sua famiglia.He that teacheth his sonne, shal be praised in him, & in the middes of them of his houshold he shal glorie in him.Qui docet filium suum laudabitur in illo, / et in medio domesticorum in illo gloriabitur. 3He that teacheth his son, maketh his enemy jealous, and in the midst of his friends he shall glory in him.Chi istruisce il proprio figliuolo, muoverà ad invidia il suo nemico; e si glorierà di lui co' suoi amici.He that teacheth his sonne, doth cast the enemie into emulation, and in the middes of his freindes he shal glorie in him.Qui docet filium suum in zelum mittit inimicum, / et in medio amicorum gloriabitur in illo. 4His father is dead, and he is as if he were not dead: for he hath left one behind him that is like himself.Il padre di lui si morì, e quasi non morì; perocché ha lasciato dopo di se uno, che lo somiglia.His father is dead, & he is as it were not dead: for he hath left behind him the like to himself.Mortuus est pater ejus, et quasi non est mortuus: / similem enim reliquit sibi post se. 5While he lived he saw and rejoiced in him: and when he died he was not sorrowful, neither was he confounded before his enemies.Egli vivendo lo, vide, e ne ebbe consolazione, e nella morte sua non si attristò, e non ebbe ad arrossire in faccia de' nemici;In his life he sawe and reioyced in him: in his death he was not made sorie, neither was he confounded before the enemies.In vita sua vidit, et lætatus est in illo: / in obitu suo non est contristatus, / nec confusus est coram inimicis: 6For he left behind him a defender of his house against his enemies, and one that will requite kindness to his friends.Perocché egli ha lasciato alla casa un difensore contro i nemici, ed uno, che sarà grato verso gli amici.For he left a defender of his house against the enemies, & one that should render thanck to his freindes.reliquit enim defensorem domus contra inimicos, / et amicis reddentem gratiam.
7For the souls of his sons he shall bind up his wounds, and at every cry his bowels shall be troubled.Per amor delle anime de' figliuoli ei fascerà le loro piaghe, e ad ogni voce si scuoteran le sue viscere.For the soules of his sonnes he wil binde vp his woundes, & at euerie voice his bowels shal be trubled.Pro animabus filiorum colligabit vulnera sua, / et super omnem vocem turbabuntur viscera ejus. 8A horse not broken becometh stubborn, and a child left to himself will become headstrong.Un cavallo non domato diventa intrattabile, e un figliuolo abbandonato a se stesso diventa pervicace.An vntamed horse becometh stubburne, and a dissolute childe wil become headie.Equus indomitus evadit durus, / et filius remissus evadet præceps. 9Give thy son his way, and he shall make thee afraid: play with him, and he shall make thee sorrowful.Piaggia il figliuolo, e ti darà delle angosce; scherza con lui, e ti arrecherà grandi dolori.Pamper thy sonne, and he wil make thee afraid: play with him, and he wil make thee sorowful.Lacta filium, et paventem te faciet: / lude cum eo, et contristabit te. 10Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow, and at the last thy teeth be set on edge.Non gli ridere in bocca, affinchè tu non abbi da ultimo a piangere, e a digrignare i denti.Laugh not with him, lest thou be sorie, and at the last thy teeth shal be on edge.Non corrideas illi, ne doleas, / et in novissimo obstupescent dentes tui. 11Give him not liberty in his youth, and wink not at his devices.Non lo lasciar fare a modo suo nella gioventù, e non far le viste di non vedere quel, ch'egli pensa.Geue him not power in his youth, and contemne not his cogitations.Non des illi potestatem in juventute, / et ne despicias cogitatus illius. 12Bow down his neck while he is young, and beat his sides while he is a child, lest he grow stubborn, and regard thee not, and so be a sorrow of heart to thee.Piega a lui il collo nella giovinezza, e battigli i fianchi mentr'egli è fanciullo, affinchè non si induri, e ti nieghi ubbidienza, io che sarà dolore all'anima tua.Curbe his necke in youth, and knock his sides whiles he is a childe, lest perhaps he be hardned, and beleeue thee not, and he shal be sorow of minde to thee.Curva cervicem ejus in juventute, / et tunde latera ejus dum infans est, / ne forte induret, et non credat tibi, / et erit tibi dolor animæ. 13Instruct thy son, and labour about him, lest his lewd behaviour be an offence to thee.Istruisci il tuo figliuolo, e affaticati intorno a lui per non incorrere ne' suoi disonori.Teach thy sonne, and worke in him, that thou offend not in his dishonestie.Doce filium tuum, et operare in illo, / ne in turpitudinem illius offendas.
14Better is a poor man who is sound, and strong of constitution, than a rich man who is weak and afflicted with evils.Val più un povero sano, e robusta di forze, che un ricco spossato, e fiaccato dalle malattie.Better is a poore man whole, and strong of force, then a rich man weake and scourged with miserie.Melior est pauper sanus, et fortis viribus, / quam dives imbecillis et flagellatus malitia. 15Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver: and a sound body, than immense revenues.La salute dell'anima consistente nella santità della giustizia, vai più di tutto l'oro, e l'argento, e un corpo ben disposto più vale, che le immense ricchezze.The health of the soule in holines of iustice, is better then al gold and siluer: and a sound bodie, then infinite reuenewes.Salus animæ in sanctitate justitiæ / melior est omni auro et argento: / et corpus validum quam census immensus. 16There is no riches above the riches of the health of the body: and there is no pleasure above the joy of the heart.Non v'ha tesoro, che superi il tesoro della sanità del corpo, né piacer maggiore, che il gaudio del cuore.There is no riches aboue the riches of the health of the bodie: and there is noe delight aboue the ioy of the hart.Non est census super censum salutis corporis, / et non est oblectamentum super cordis gaudium. 17Better is death than a bitter life, and everlasting rest, than continual sickness.E preferibile la morte alla vita amara, e il riposo eterno agli ostinati languori.Better is death then a bitter life: and euerlasting rest, then continual sicknes.Melior est mors quam vita amara, / et requies æterna quam languor perseverans. 18Good things that are hidden in a mouth that is shut, are as messes of meat set about a grave.I beni riposti per uno, che ha chiusa la bocca, sono come le molte vivande disposte attorno ad un sepolcro,Good thinges hid in a mouth that is shut, are as messes of meates set about a graue.Bona abscondita in ore clauso, / quasi appositiones epularum circumpositæ sepulchro. 19What good shall an offering do to an idol? for it can neither eat, nor smell:Che giovano all'idolo le libagioni. Perocché egli non mangerà, e non sentirà, odore:What shal sacrifice profite an idol? for neither shal he eate, nor smel:Quid proderit libatio idolo ? / nec enim manducabit, nec odorabit. 20So is he that is persecuted by the Lord, bearing the reward of his iniquity:Così succede a chi è perseguitato dal Signore, e porta la mercede di sua iniquità:so he that is chased away of our Lord, beareth the rewardes of iniquitie:Sic qui effugatur a Domino, / portans mercedes iniquitatis:
21He seeth with his eyes, and groaneth, as an eunuch embracing a virgin, and sighing.Vede cogli occhi suoi, e geme com'un eunuco, che abbraccia una vergine, e da un sospiro.seing with his eies, & groning, as an eunuch embracing a virgin and sighing.videns oculis et ingemiscens, / sicut spado complectens virginem, et suspirans. 22Give not up thy soul to sadness, and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel.Non lasciar l'anima tua in preda alla tristezza, e non affligger te stesso co' tuoi pensieri.Geue not heuines to thy soule, & afflict not thyself in thy counsel.Tristitiam non des animæ tuæ, / et non affligas temetipsum in consilio tuo. 23The joyfulness of the heart, is the life of a man, and a never failing treasure of holiness: and the joy of a man is length of life.La giocondità del cuore è la vita dell'uomo, e tesoro inesausto di santità; e la letizia allunga i giorni dell'uomo.Ioyfulnes of the hart, this is the life of a man, and a treasure without defect of holines: and the ioy of a man is long life.Jucunditas cordis, hæc est vita hominis, / et thesaurus sine defectione sanctitatis: / et exsultatio viri est longævitas. 24Have pity on thy own soul, pleasing God, and contain thyself: gather up thy heart in his holiness: and drive away sadness far from thee.Abbi compassione dell'anima tua per piacere a Dio, e sii continente, e riunisci il cuor tuo nella santità, e manda lungi da te la tristezza.Haue mercie on thine owne soule, pleasing God, and refraine: and comfort thy hart in his holines: and expel sorow far from thee.Miserere animæ tuæ placens Deo, et contine: / congrega cor tuum in sanctitate ejus, / et tristitiam longe repelle a te. 25For sadness hath killed many, and there is no profit in it.Perocché la tristezza ne ha uccisi molti, ed ella non è buona a nulla.For sorow hath killed manie, and there is noe profite in it.Multos enim occidit tristitia, / et non est utilitas in illa. 26Envy and anger shorten a man’s days, and pensiveness will bring old age before the time.L'invidia, e l'ira abbreviano i giorni, e i sopraccapi menano la vecchiaia prima del tempo.Enuie and anger diminish the daies, and thought wil bring old age before the time.Zelus et iracundia minuunt dies, / et ante tempus senectam adducet cogitatus. 27A cheerful and good heart is always feasting: for his banquets are prepared with diligence.Un cuore ilare, e benigno è in banchetti, e i suoi banchetti son preparati con diligenza.A magnifical hart, is good in bankettes: for his bankettes are made diligently.Splendidum cor et bonum in epulis est: / epulæ enim illius diligenter fiunt.
30:1
Haydock
He. Greek prefixes "on children." (Haydock)
Haydock
And not, etc., is omitted in Greek. It may signify, and not beg, (Calmet) or steal. (Haydock)
Fenelon on Educ
The welfare of the country depends on the good education of children, which cannot be performed without correction, (Calmet) though this should never be used till more gentle means have been tried. (Fenelon on Educ.)
Haydock
The neglect of correction proceeds from a misplaced tenderness, (Proverbs 13:24.) which in the end proves most prejudicial both to the child and to the public. (Haydock)
30:2
Haydock
Them. Greek, "his acquaintance." (Haydock)
Calmet
He sees himself re-born in his son, ver. 4. (Calmet)
30:7
Calmet
Wounds. To which he has exposed himself for his child's welfare, (2 Corinthians 12:15.; Raban.) or if he neglect correction, he will have to bewail the wounds which his son's imprudence shall occasion. Syriac, Vatable, Greek, Complutensian, "He who rubs, (Roman edition) cherishes his son," etc. (Calmet)
Worthington
The eldest brother must take care of the rest, so as even to expose himself to danger. (Worthington)
30:8
30:10
St. Gregory
Laugh. "Smiling he must be feared." (St. Gregory, Mor. 20:3.)
30:11
Devices. Greek, "sins of ignorance." Youth is incapable of guiding itself, being destitute of experience, and too confident, Proverbs 29:45.
30:13
Homer
Thee. "Very few excel their father." (Homer, Odyssey E.)
Calmet
This is sometimes to be attributed to the neglect of education. (Calmet)
Haydock
Greek subjoins, "on health." (Haydock)
30:14
Pythagoras
Evils. Health is better than riches. (Pythagoras, etc.)
30:15
Calmet
Justice. This is the first of all advantages. (Calmet)
Laertius
Thales pronounced him happy who was healthy and rich, and "whose soul was well tutored." (Laertius)
Haydock
Greek, "health and a good constitution are preferable to all gold, and a," etc. (Haydock)
30:17
Rest. In the grave. He speaks not of the soul, Job 3:13.
30:18
Haydock
Grave. The dead cannot partake of them, (Calmet) so neither can the sick of their great possessions. (Haydock)
Calmet
It was customary to place meat on the tombs of the dead. (Calmet)
The pagans invited them to eat; (St. Epip. Ancor.) but the faithful intended it for the poor, who might pray (Calmet) for the deceased. (Menochius) (Chap. 7:37., and Tobias 4:18.)
Calmet
The kings of France were served at table till they were placed in the tomb, and in many monasteries the usual portion is assigned the dead for thirty days, and given to the poor. (Calmet)
30:21
Sighing. Thus meat is useless to those whom God visits with sickness. See Ecclesiasticus 20:3.
30:22
Calmet
Sadness. For temporal things, but trusting in Providence, 1 Peter 5:7. Grief for sin is alone of service, 2 Corinthians 7:10. (Calmet)
Worthington
Pusillanimity must be avoided. (Worthington)
30:23
A never. Greek, "the joy," etc., Proverbs 17:22., and 2 Corinthians 9:7.
30:24
Haydock
Have. Greek, "love thy soul, and comfort thy heart, and drive," etc. (Haydock)
30:25
30:26
Calmet
Envy. Or jealousy. These passions banish joy. Envy is like rust. (Calmet)
30:27
Haydock
Always. Greek, "will mind the meats which it shall eat." (Haydock)
Calmet
It will feast and enjoy content. This verse and the following chapters are in a much less natural order in the Greek editions, till Ecclesiasticus 37. (Calmet)
30:1
Concordance Pr••. 1•. &. 2•.
30:4
Concordance Deut. 6.
30:7
The eldest sonne being heire to his father, is to haue special case of the other children, euen to the aduenturing of his owne hurt for their liues.
30:10
Teeth on edge o• gnashing of teeth, is a part of hel paines. •••. 8. & 1• & sometimes beginneth in this life.
30:15
〈…〉 is aboue al riches, and honour.
30:20
Concordance Deut. 14.
30:22
Suffer not vnnecessarie pensiuenes to afflict thy mind, through pusillanimitie.
Concordance Prau. 12. 15. & 17.
30:24
••ut relie wholly •••• Gods ••l and prouidence. resigning thy wil ••to his.
30:4
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Defence Against the Arians (Apologia Contra Arianos) 5
66. I congratulate the most excellent Sarapion, that he is striving so earnestly to adorn himself with holy habits, and is thus advancing to higher praise the memory of his father. For, as the Holy Scripture somewhere says, ‘though his father die, yet he is as though he were not dead
30:7
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 53
… For he who spares his child, ruins it; but he who spares it not, preserves.” To which effect also a certain wise man said, “If thou beat thy son with a rod, he shall not die, but thou shalt deliver his soul from death.” And again, “He that refresheth his son, shall bind up his wounds.”
30:12
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 22.22
… For what mean those multifarious threats which are used to restrain the folly of children? What mean pedagogues, masters, the birch, the strap, the cane, the schooling which Scripture says must be given a child, “beating him on the sides lest he wax stubborn,”
30:23
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4.14
… despair of the conversion of any man, whether situated within or without, so long as "the goodness of God leadeth him to repentance," and "visits their transgressions with the rod, and their inquiry with stripes." For in this way "He does not utterly take from them His loving-kindness," if they will themselves sometimes "love their own soul, pleasing God."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 56.4
… What is, “Do alms”? Do mercy. What is, “Do mercy”? If thou understand, begin with thine own self. For how shouldest thou be merciful to another, if thou art cruel to thyself? “Give alms, and all things are clean unto you.” Do true alms. What is alms? Mercy. Hear the Scripture; “Have mercy on thine own soul, pleasing God.”
30:24
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 10.6
… Thus man himself, consecrated in the name of God, and vowed to God, is a sacrifice in so far as he dies to the world that he may live to God. For this is a part of that mercy which each man shows to himself; as it is written, “Have mercy on thy soul by pleasing God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 21.27
… For it is not reasonable that a man who exercises charity towards his neighbor should not do so towards himself, since he hears the Lord saying, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” and again, “Have compassion on thy soul, and please God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 76
For the man who wishes to give aims as he ought, should begin with himself, and give to himself first. For almsgiving is a work of mercy; and most truly is it said, “To have mercy on thy soul is pleasing to God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 25
… has this end in view, namely, to exercise and confirm the faith and prudence of His elect by means of the perverseness of these others while at the same time He also takes account of the fact that many of their number make an advance, and are converted to the doing of the good pleasure of God with a great impetus, when led to take pity upon their own souls.
30:1
1. HE THAT LOVETH HIS SON, CHASTISETH HIM FREQUENTLY, THAT HE MAY REJOICE IN HIS LATTER END, AND NOT GROPE AFTER THE DOORS OF HIS NEIGHBOURS. — The Greek texts omit the last part, and thus have it concisely: He that loveth his son, chastiseth him frequently, that he may rejoice in his end; the Zurich version: He that loveth his son, will— but explains it passively through "will lodge." For it says, "he will lodge, namely in another's house, received ungratefully, he eats and drinks, and always fears adversity, often provoked by another's tongue he hears reproach." To this pertains the saying of Theopompus: "Let him come who will profit as a guest." And that of Ovid: Though thou come attended by the Muses, O Homer, If thou bring nothing, thou shalt go forth, O Homer. Moreover the Syriac translates thus: Thou art a stranger, and thou drinkest reproach, and after these things thou shalt hear bitter things: Thou art a stranger, pass on, prepare the table, and eat what is before thee; go forth from honour: for a traveller comes upon me. He treats first, of the right instruction and chastisement of sons, and its fruit, and, if it be omitted, the damage, up to verse 14. Then secondly, he treats of the good of health up to verse 22; thirdly, up to the end of the chapter, he treats of the good of joy and the evil of sadness. Whence some Greek codices prefix to the first part this title, περὶ τέκνων, that is, concerning children: to the second περὶ ὑγιείας, that is, concerning health. 1. He that loveth his son, chastiseth him frequently, that he may rejoice in his latter end, and not grope after the doors of his neighbours. 2. He that teacheth his son, shall be praised in him, and in the midst of his domestics shall glory in him. 3. He that teacheth his son, shall make his enemy jealous, and in the midst of his friends shall glory in him. 4. His father is dead, and as if he were not dead: for he hath left one behind him like to himself. 5. In his life he saw, and was glad in him: in his death he was not sorrowful, nor was he confounded before his enemies. 6. For he hath left behind him a defender of his house against his enemies, and one that will requite kindness to his friends. 7. For the souls of his sons he shall bind up his wounds, and over every voice his bowels shall be troubled. 8. An unbroken horse becometh stubborn, and a child left to himself shall become headstrong. 9. Cocker thy son, and he shall make thee afraid: play with him, and he shall make thee sorrowful. 10. Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow, and in the end thy teeth shall be set on edge. 11. Give him not liberty in his youth; and wink not at his follies. 12. Bow down his neck in his youth, and beat his sides whilst he is a child, lest he grow stubborn, and regard thee not: and so there shall be heaviness of soul to thee. 13. Teach thy son, and labour about him, that thou be not offended at his shamelessness. 14. Better is a poor man sound and strong of constitution, than a rich man weak and afflicted with sickness. 15. Health of the soul in holiness of justice, is better than all gold and silver; and a sound body, than immense wealth. 16. There is no riches above the riches of the health of the body: and there is no pleasure above the joy of the heart. 17. Better is death than a bitter life; and eternal rest than continual sickness. 18. Good things hidden in the mouth of the grave, are as dainties set round about a tomb. 19. What doth an oblation to an idol profit? for neither shall he eat, nor smell it: 20. so he that is persecuted by the Lord, bearing the reward of his iniquity: 21. seeing with his eyes, and groaning, like a eunuch embracing a virgin, and sighing. He passes from health to joy in a fitting order: because joy chiefly preserves and fosters health both of body and of soul, as sadness destroys it. Thus Lyran. 22. Give not thy soul to sadness, and afflict not thyself in thy own counsel. 23. Joyfulness of heart is the life of a man, and a treasure without defect of holiness: and the exultation of a man is length of days. 24. Have pity on thy soul, pleasing God, and contain thyself: gather thy heart in his holiness, and put sadness far from thee. 25. For sadness hath killed many, and there is no profit in it. 26. Envy and anger shorten the days, and anxious thought shall bring old age before the time. 27. A cheerful and good heart is always feasting: the feasts thereof are prepared with diligence. 1. HE THAT LOVETH HIS SON, CHASTISETH HIM FREQUENTLY, THAT HE MAY REJOICE IN HIS LATTER END, AND NOT GROPE AFTER THE DOORS OF HIS NEIGHBOURS. — The Greek texts omit the last part, and thus have it concisely: He that loveth his son, chastiseth him frequently, that he may rejoice in his end; the Zurich version: He that loveth his son, will— with scourges him he seeks, so that at last it may be joy to him; the Syriac: He who loves his son will repeat scourges upon him, that he may rejoice in his latter end. Parents who love their children carnally and foolishly do not dare to chastise them when they sin, but forgive and indulge them in all things: whereby it comes to pass that sons become bold, disobedient, luxurious, quarrelsome, and finally fall into grave evils, and even into shameful and ignominious death, which brings upon their parents the greatest sorrow equally with dishonor: whom therefore seriously, but late, it repents of this excessive indulgence toward their sons, and they see in reality that it has been not love and benefit, but hatred and harm to their sons. Wherefore parents, who are wise, and who truly and prudently love their children, these chastise them continually, not only by rebuking them with words, but also by beating them with rods and scourges. The reason is, that "foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of discipline shall drive it away," Proverbs XXII, 15. For children, on account of the defect of reason and judgment, and on account of their lively spirits and boiling blood, are full of harmful lusts and desires, and are like animals, for example like wanton kids, frolicking, butting, and confusing and mixing all things. Wherefore as animals, such as oxen and horses, are not driven by word, but are pricked with the spur and goad, that they may go straight at the nod of the rider or charioteer: so likewise wanton children are to be chastised not so much by word as by rod and scourge, that they may learn to restrain their inborn wantonness and lust. He adds a twofold fruit: First, "that he may rejoice," both the parent, and more especially the son himself, "in his latter end," that is to say, The son who has been scourged will grieve at first and weep; but in the end, seeing the fruit of the scourging, namely that through it he has unlearned childish and wicked ways, and has acquired manly and holy ones, will wonderfully rejoice and be glad, and will give thanks to his parents, who chastised him, and thus brought him to fruitfulness and virtue. Second, security from beggary; whence he says: "And shall not strike the doors of his neighbors," that is to say, If you do not chastise him, he will become idle and slothful, and from this becoming poor will be forced to beg: and, because shame will prevent him from doing this by day, he will beg in the evening and night in darkness, lest he be recognized: wherefore then in the gloom he will feel about for the doors of his neighbors, that by knocking on them he may beg for alms. That therefore he may "not strike" them, nor beg, chastise your son, and teach him not to be idle, but to labor, that by the labor of his hands he may provide himself with food. Here note (says Palacius) that it was the law of the Lord, Deuteronomy XV, 4, that there should be no beggar among the Jews: yet nevertheless many compelled by poverty begged: but they begged in our manner, not by singing, as the Germans do, but by feeling about and striking doors, as we Spanish do. Thus Palacius, somewhat lightly. and disturb and overturn the commonwealth. Thus Solomon in Proverbs frequently inculcates the same thing, as in chapter XXIII, verse 13: "Withhold not correction from a child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." See him throughout chapters III, IV and V. Let the father therefore imitate God the Father, who chastises and perfects his faithful ones and children with many tribulations: "For whom the Lord loveth, he rebuketh: and as a father in a son he pleaseth himself," Proverbs III, 12. St. Paul, Ephesians VI, 4: "And you, fathers," he says, "provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord." St. Chrysostom, homily 9 on 1 Timothy II, teaches parents that there ought to be no greater care than that they educate their children rightly, and assign them to good tutors, who may form their character to all honesty. And he gives the reason, saying: "No possession, no estate ought to be equally dear and precious to us; for all these things are sought for the sake of children." The same teaches St. Jerome, epistle to Gaudentius. Plato places the good education of children as the foundation, indeed the seedbed, of a good commonwealth. Whence in book II of the Republic: "The instruction of children," he says, "is of the greatest importance for the right ordering of the whole of life." And in book VII: "The magistrates of that commonwealth which wishes to be happy are to be educated from earliest infancy in the knowledge of the true God and the true good, and all the arts necessary for learning that primary science are to be handed down to him while still a youth. The same, in book VI of the Laws: "The right instruction of youth," he says, "is the most serious matter of all public affairs." Again, in book IV of the Republic: "It is also the duty of the highest magistrate to see that boys and young men are rightly and holily instructed from earliest age and infancy." The same in the first Alcibiades recounts that the sons of the kings of the Persians, when they had reached the fourteenth year of age, were entrusted to the care of royal tutors, who were chosen from all the Persians, and there were four: one most wise, another most just, a third most temperate, a fourth most brave. The first taught the king's son those things which pertained to divine worship; the second instilled that he should be truthful throughout his whole life; the third, that he should not allow himself to be overcome by any desire, but should learn to be master of himself, and to command his appetite and other affections of the soul; the fourth made him fearless and intrepid, lest ever fearing anything he should become a slave. Aristotle, in book VI of the Politics, chapter 1: In a state, he says, the first and greatest care ought to be in educating youth; if this is removed, the commonwealth must necessarily perish. For this reason Aristotle himself was given as tutor to Alexander the Great by his father Philip, who congratulated himself wonderfully on this account, as Gellius testifies, book IX, chapter III.
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Plutarch, the tutor of the emperor Trajan, wrote a golden book On the Education of Children, in Wherefore the wise men of all nations and times have judged that not only for the safety of the household, but also for that of the whole commonwealth, it is necessary that parents educate, correct and chastise their sons well, lest they become thieves, adulterers, murderers, and among other things he says: "Just as the limbs of infants, as soon as they are born, ought to be formed and arranged so that they may be straight and not at all crooked: so too the morals of boys ought to be shaped aptly and fittingly from the beginning. For that tender age is easy to shape and tender, and disciplines are better instilled into their minds while they are still soft; but those things which are hard are more difficult to soften: for just as seals are impressed upon soft wax, so too doctrines are engraved when the boyish mind is tender." According to that saying of Horace: The vessel, once steeped in its youth, will long retain the odor. And that of Phocylides: While your son is tender, instruct him in noble morals. Cicero, in book II of the Duties, teaches: "No greater or better service can be rendered to the commonwealth than if we teach and educate youth, especially in those morals and times in which it has so fallen away that it must be restrained and checked with all our strength." The same is taught by Xenophon in the Education of Cyrus. Illustrous examples are: Heli, because he did not chastise his sons Ophni and Phinees, lost his life and his priesthood, I Kings II. Constantine the Great, having divided the empire among his sons, instructed them most excellently in piety and good morals both by himself and through tutors, as Eusebius recounts, book IV of the Life of Constantine, chapters LI and LII. Charlemagne educated his sons and daughters with the greatest care, as Aemilius relates, book II, chapter x. Theodosius did the same, who gave to his sons Arcadius and Honorius the tutor Arsenius, who on account of the sublimity of his life was numbered among the Saints by the Church. Thus Nicephorus, book XXII, chapter XXXIII, and book XIV, chapter II. St. Blanche made her son St. Louis holy through her instruction, as did St. Monica with St. Augustine.
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On the other hand, the wicked instruction of the boy Julian, who later became emperor, made him an apostate. Thus also Justina imbued her son the emperor Valentinian with Arian impiety. Andronicus the Younger, because his morals were not corrected in boyhood, fell into such licentiousness that he deposed his grandfather Andronicus from the empire, as Gregory testifies in book VIII. A fearful example is that of a five-year-old boy who, having become accustomed to blasphemy and not being corrected by his father, was snatched from his father's bosom by a demon to the infernal regions, as St. Gregory recounts in the fourth book of the Dialogues, chapter XVIII. But no example is more illustrious in showing how much good or bad education by parents can accomplish than that of St. Wenceslaus, whom his pious grandmother Ludmilla, educating him from boyhood, made a holy king, indeed a martyr; and that of his brother Boleslaus, who, impiously educated by his impious mother Drahomira, became a sacrilegious parricide. For he killed his brother Wenceslaus and seized his kingdom, namely Bohemia, and administered it tyrannically, as the Life of St. Wenceslaus, Dubravius, and others relate. Lycurgus represented this same thing to the Lacedaemonians by means of two puppies born of the same mother, one of which he had reared delicately at home, the other he had trained abroad through hunting. He set these delicacies before the people and at the same time released a hare; soon, when each was chased toward what it was accustomed to, one rushed toward the food, the other flew at the hare. Thus Plutarch in the Laconian account. More wisely St. Jerome to Demetrias: "It is best done," he says, "for the formation of morals: for boys are apt; they have in themselves something slow and soft by which they can be formed and drawn according to the will of one who wishes, and in almost all things what is tender becomes accustomed more quickly; young trees still with scarcely firm roots, while they are still pliant to every direction, are easily bent in any direction; indeed the very study of letters is better implanted in tender minds. This also avails much for the manner of living: while the age is still soft and the mind easily led, it must be exercised in good habit and strengthened by constant meditation." To this pertains what St. Gregory of Nazianzus writes in epistle 57 to Eudoxia: "At Athens," he says, "there was an ancient law, and in my judgment most excellently established, that adolescents, when they had reached the years of puberty, should be led to the arts; and they were led in this manner. The instruments of any art were publicly displayed, and adolescents were brought to them: but to whichever one it happened that someone delighted in, he would run to it, and he was also taught that art; because namely those things for the most part succeed rightly which we undertake with nature as our guide; and on the contrary those things which are undertaken against the will of nature are accustomed to frustrate hope." 2. HE THAT TEACHETH HIS SON SHALL BE PRAISED IN HIM, AND IN THE MIDST OF HIS DOMESTICAL FRIENDS SHALL GLORY IN HIM. — This is the third fruit of good education and correction of children, namely that it brings to the parent praise, joy, and glory among neighbors and strangers. "He that teacheth," namely both by blows and by words; for in Greek it is ὁ παιδεύων, that is, he who instructs, corrects, disciplines. For "shall be praised" the Interpreter in the Greek reads αἰνιθήσεται; now the corrected codices at Rome read ἐνιδησεται, that is, shall be benefited, or shall gain profit, that is, shall receive great profit from him; the Complutensian and other editions read ἐπιποθήσεται, that is, shall rejoice. Whence thus you may translate from the Greek: He that correcteth his son shall rejoice in him, and among acquaintances shall glory in him; the Syriac: He that instructeth his son shall rejoice in him, and among his companions shall be praised in him; the Zurich: He that correcteth his son shall enjoy (shall obtain fruit and pleasure from) his son, and among the noble shall glory in him: it reads ἐνιδησεται, which you may translate both as "shall enjoy" and as "shall be benefited" or "shall gain profit." He therefore who teacheth and correcteth his son shall be "praised" in him, that is, shall rejoice in him with praise and shall enjoy him, and shall glory concerning him before others, as follows. For in this sense the word "to be praised" is often taken in Scripture, as: "In the Lord shall my soul be praised," Psalm 33:3. "Praise ye him in his holy name;" Psalm 104:3. "In God we shall be praised all day long," Psalm 43. To this pertains the Arabian proverb, Century II, number 22: "Knowledge is a diadem to a boy, and understanding a golden torque." Wisely Seneca in book II of On Anger: "It will profit greatly," he says, "to instruct boys rightly from the beginning; but the management is difficult, because we must take care lest we either nurture anger in them or dull their natural disposition." And after some remarks: "Thus therefore he must be governed between both, so that now we use the bridle, now the spur." 3. HE WHO TEACHES HIS SON, PUTS HIS ENEMY TO JEALOUSY. — In Greek παραζηλώσει, that is, will provoke to emulation, will set against him a rival and competitor in rivalry, will irritate with envy and grief, will stir up with a certain envious jealousy. Whence the Syriac translator renders it: He seeks jealousy for his enemy. Thus concerning the Jews worshipping idols in place of God, God complains, nay is indignant, as it were a zealot of His honor and divinity through Moses, Deut. XXXII, 16, saying: "They provoked him (in Greek παρεζήλωσαν, that is, they irritated him, provoked him to jealousy and zealous anger) with strange gods, and with abominations moved him to wrath." And Paul, I Corinth. X, 22: "Do we provoke the Lord?" he says, in Greek ἢ παραζηλοῦμεν τὸν Κύριον, that is, do we set up a rival and competitor against the Lord? namely when we join the table of the Lord with the table of demons, that is, the eating of things sacrificed to idols; thus indeed we set up an idol against God, nay the devil, as it were a rival and competitor. Whence the Zurich version renders it: He who teaches his son that he burns his enemy, does so. For the enemy is burned with envy and jealousy, while he sees and envies his rival such great good, namely a son so wise, and so instructed and adorned with good morals; and at the same time he grieves and fears lest the son take vengeance and avenge upon the father the injuries inflicted by him. On the other hand HE SHALL GLORY IN HIM IN THE MIDST OF HIS FRIENDS, — In Greek ἀγαλλιάσεται, that is, shall exult in him. This is the fourth fruit of good education of children, namely that through it enemies are confounded, while the father and friends rejoice and exult. Wherefore it is credible, says Palacius, that Christ glories with pleasure among the angels, when His doctrine makes someone truly holy from among us. For St. Paul throughout glories in the Christians instructed by him, saying: "You are our glory and joy," I Thessal. II, 20; and: "Therefore, my dearest and most desired brethren, my joy and crown: so stand fast in the Lord, dearest," Philip. IV, 1. Moreover, how great praise and glory accrues to parents from the good instruction, integrity, learning and virtue of their children, Seneca depicts graphically, lib. III De Beneficiis cap. XXXI, where he introduces a son who had cultivated himself with virtues and had supported his father to compensate for the benefit of generation, addressing him thus: "It is not good to live, but to live well. But I live well, yet I could have lived badly. Thus this alone is yours, that I live. If you count to me a bare life, lacking counsel, and boast of it as a great good, consider that you count to me the good of flies and worms. Then, to say nothing else, that I have devoted myself to good arts, so that I might direct my course to the right path of life; if I live well, in the very benefit you received something greater than what you gave. For you gave me to myself rude and unskilled, I give you a son such as you would rejoice to have begotten. My father supported me: if I do the same, I repay more, because he not only rejoices to have supported, but to be supported by a son, and perceives greater pleasure from my character than from the thing itself. His support reached only my body." Then he clearly proves the same from the glory which sons bring to parents and family, when by their virtue they become eminent and celebrated, either in wisdom, or in virtue or in power and kingdom: "What if someone," he says, "has advanced so far by himself, that either his eloquence became known among nations, or his justice, or his deeds in war, and shed immense fame also upon his father, and dispelled the darkness of his birth with clear light, has he not conferred an inestimable benefit upon his parents? Would anyone know Ariston and Gryllus except for Xenophon and Plato as sons? Socrates does not allow Sophroniscus to die. It would be long to enumerate the others, who live for no other reason than that the extraordinary virtue of their children has handed them down to posterity. Did the father of M. Agrippa confer a greater benefit, nor was he known even after Agrippa, or did Agrippa confer it upon his father, distinguished with the naval crown, having obtained the sole honor among military gifts, who erected so many works in the greatest city, which both surpassed former magnificence, and were surpassed by none afterward? Did Octavius confer any greater benefit upon his son, or did the divine Augustus upon his father, although the shadow of his adoptive father concealed him? what pleasure would he have received, if you had seen him after the civil wars were subdued presiding over secure peace, not acknowledging his own good, nor sufficiently believing, whenever he looked back upon himself, that such a man could have been born in his own house?" 4. HIS FATHER DIED, AND AS IF HE HAD NOT DIED (The Syrian, and it is the same as if he had not died): FOR HE LEFT BEHIND HIM ONE LIKE HIMSELF. — This is the fifth fruit of good education, that is to say: Man by natural instinct desires immortality and eternity, namely, to exist always and to live forever. But, since this is impossible in itself and in his own person, inasmuch as it is mortal and must die, he at least wishes that after death he may survive in another person similar to him and most closely joined to him, namely in his son, live and perpetuate himself, and his name and memory in his descendants. Wherefore the generation and good education of children is a remedy, indeed a kind and image of resurrection and blessed eternity; for a father dying seems to rise again in his son. Wherefore parents wish to die before their sons, indeed to die for their sons, so that they may leave them surviving, and in them be preserved, live and be perpetuated; for a son well instructed by his parent preserves the parent's life, wisdom and virtue, and makes him as it were immortal. Verse 9. "In God will I praise his words," Psalm LV, 5 and 11. There is a well-known story of a father who with his son had been condemned to death for a crime: and when the prince wished to mitigate the sentence, and ordered that only one be punished, and gave them the option of choosing or casting lots as to which should be punished; there was a wondrous contention between the two, while the son greatly desired to die for the father, and the father for the son. But the father finally prevailed, saying that, although he himself should be punished, he would nevertheless survive in his son: but, if the son should be punished, there would be no offspring or memory of him, since he was an old man soon to die, nor of his son: it was therefore better and he preferred to die, so that his son might remain surviving in life for him. The prince, moved by the piety of both, granted life to both. Siracides therefore says that the father from the good education of his son reaps this fruit, that, although he himself dies, he nevertheless seems not to die, because he leaves behind a son as another self, like himself in virtue, inasmuch as he has communicated and impressed upon him his own good morals through good instruction. It is otherwise with wicked parents, or good ones, but who educate their sons wickedly or negligently. These indeed, as the Poet sings: All the care of the dear parent rests in Ascanius. This is so true in man, that nature has likewise implanted the same in all animals. For, as St. Ambrose says, book VI of the Hexameron, chapter IV: "Nature infuses this into beasts, that they love their own cubs, cherish their offspring." And soon after: "What wild beast does not most readily offer itself to death for its cubs? What wild beast does not cover its own with its own flesh, though surrounded by countless wedges of armed men? Though a hail of weapons pour down, it nevertheless keeps its little ones, enclosed in the wall of its own body, safe from danger." Philostratus demonstrates this same thing by induction and examples of individual wild beasts, book II, chapter VII of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana: "For elephants crossing the river Indus carry their young, embracing them with bonds, lest perchance they fall. Bears, although they surpass other beasts in ferocity, nevertheless do all things for their cubs. Wolves likewise do the same, though intent on plunder; for the female guards the offspring, while the male brings food to her for the safety of the cubs. Panthers likewise do the same, which on account of their heat rejoice in becoming mothers, and then wish to rule over males and preside over the home: but the males patiently endure all things on account of their love for the cubs." And soon after: "The tiger also, an animal of remarkable cruelty, proceeds even to ships for the sake of recovering its cubs, and departs with joy when they are received: but if, when its cubs are taken away, it sees the departing ship, it howls sadly on the shore, and sometimes even dies from the magnitude of its grief. We also see birds doing many things for the sake of their young, such as eagles and storks, which never build nests without placing stones in them. These indeed are called by them aquiline, that one is called lychnites, for the reason that they use a torch, so that they may produce eggs with offspring, and serpents leave nests when they die, leaving behind sons; but either degenerate ones, or like themselves, wicked ones, who will be a reproach and shame to them. Whence in them not their virtue and fame, but their vice and infamy, will live and endure to their perpetual ignominy. The same is more truly understood tropologically in good teachers, pastors, preachers, and superiors. For these leave behind them disciples whom they have begotten to Christ, as it were living testimonies and images of their own virtue; as St. Peter left Linus, Cletus, Clement; St. Paul Titus, Timothy, Onesimus, Luke; St. John Prochorus, Ignatius, Polycarp, etc. "For the succession of holy children," says Rabanus, "who after their fathers have departed from this life, imitate their good zeal in holy religion and good conduct, present their dead parents as it were brought back to life, since by keeping their doctrine and discipline in all their words and deeds they manifestly declare it." Hence a son in Hebrew is called זכר zachar, from zacher, that is, memory; because in the son the name and memory of the father persists after death. Conversely, females in Hebrew נשים are called from נשה nascha, that is, he has forgotten, because in them, especially if they live softly and effeminately, the father's name perishes and his memory is consigned to oblivion. Hence again a son is called by Euripides "the eye of life:" and there are learned men who wish the word son to be derived as if φίλιον, on account of the great love of the father toward him, or from the Greek υἱός through Aeolic digamma. See Tiraquellus, Preface to the law Si unquam, no. 11.
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Wherefore both Ethicists and Jurists teach, and indeed experience itself shows, that a father loves his son more than himself. Whence Pacatus, in the Panegyric of the Emperor Theodosius: "Nature," he says, "having ordained it, we love our children almost more than ourselves." Virginius in Livy, book III, steadfastly asserts that the life of his daughter Virginia was dearer to him than his own, if it had been permitted for her to live free and chastely. Aristotle, book VIII of the Ethics, chapter XII: "The life of children," he says, "is equally dear to parents as their own." Wherefore in Quintilian, Declamation VI, that father proclaims: "O how grievous it is to die! how much more grievous that I live surviving my son!" The same, Declamation XI: "When the sons of a poor man were sought for punishment, the father offered himself to save them by vicarious death. Similar is what Tiraquellus relates, in the place cited, no. 8: "A father and son," he says, "were accused of homicide: it was certain that one of them had committed it; but which one had done it was uncertain. Charles II, the emperor, ordered the son to be hanged: when the father learned this, in order to vindicate his son from death and turn the punishment upon himself, he voluntarily confessed the crime, and was therefore hanged, his son being freed." What wonder? King David, that holy man, hearing of the death of his son Absalom, although a persecutor and parricide, weeping inconsolably exclaimed: "My son Absalom, Absalom my son: who will grant me that I might die for thee, Absalom my son, my son Absalom?" II Kings, chapter XVIII, 33, namely, All the care of the parent stands in dear Ascanius. This is so true in man that nature has likewise implanted it equally in all animals. For, as St. Ambrose says, book VI of the Hexameron, chapter IV: "Nature infuses this into beasts, that they love their own cubs, cherish their offspring."
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do not approach. But if we also consider sea beasts, no one will marvel that dolphins are benign by their own nature and love their offspring. But whales and seals and others which bring forth living young, no one will not marvel at. When I myself, he says, saw on the island of Aegis a seal seized by fishermen, so bewail the dead son which she had brought forth in captivity (so to speak), that for three days she abstained from food, although she is the most voracious of all beasts. But a whale hides her sons in her jaws, if ever it happens that she must flee from a larger beast. A viper also has been seen to lick with her tongue the serpents which she brought forth and as it were to polish them." And when Damis, to whom Apollonius had recited these things, said he praised from these that saying of Euripides: "Truly to all men children are the soul," immediately Apollonius added that this seemed to him to be said cleverly and wisely, but much more truly and wisely would Euripides have spoken if he had brought forth the same judgment concerning all animals in this manner: "To all animals children are the soul." Thus Philostratus. The reason is that a son is a portion of the body of the father, as Aristotle says in book V of the Ethics, chapter v. Therefore a father loves his son as his own part, and that better part, and therefore surviving him more than himself. Indeed a father and son are as it were one body and one person: hence what one possesses, the other is considered to possess, as the Jurists say, and among them Tiraquellus in the place cited, number 15. Whence among the Saxons, in the Danish History, book VII, Sinaldus says that his own children are not diverse from himself, and that he and his sons are to be reckoned in the place of one man, to whom as it were one body seems to have been granted by nature. And Paul of Castro, consultation 264, beginning In the present case, column 3, book II, says the flesh of a son is as it were the flesh of the father increased: so indeed that, although a new man is made on account of a new soul, yet the first man is not said to be altogether extinguished after his death. For, as Sirach says, "He left one like himself after him." Hence also St. Paul calls Onesimus, whom he had begotten to Christ in chains, "his bowels," in the epistle to Philemon, verse 12: "You, he says, receive him as my bowels." Where St. Jerome says: "He calls children the bowels of parents." To this pertains what Aristotle writes, in book VI of the History of Animals, chapter XIX, that lambs are similar and of the same color as the vein which is under the tongue of the ram from which they are generated. "Offspring, he says, become white or black if the veins under the tongue of the ram are black or white; for of whatever color the veins are, of the same color also is the fleece; and also variegated, if there are several colors of veins." The same, following Aristotle as is customary, Pliny relates, book VIII, chapter XXVII. By this symbol nature signified, or rather God, the author of nature, that the moral good and evil color (that is, virtue and vice) of children depends on the instruction of the father, which is the tongue. Hence also bears form their shapeless offspring by the tongue, says Pliny, book VIII, chapter XXVI; whence St. Ambrose, book VI of the Hexameron, chapter IV: "The bear, he says, forms her offspring to her own likeness: you cannot form your children similar to yourself!" For this reason Elisha sent bears against badly-educated boys and those mocking him: "Go up, thou bald head;" so that parents, who neglected to imitate bears in the formation of their sons, might be punished by the tearing apart of those same sons by bears, as it were by lictors. Mystically St. Augustine, tract. 9 Against Jews, Pagans and Arians, receives these words concerning Christ, and twists them against the Arians saying: "The Father is greater, the Son is less." "These insults, he says, no wise man whatsoever would willingly accept, who contends that he has a son better than himself or equal. Whence that prophetic saying: The father was glad in a wise son: he saw him in his lifetime, and was not grieved at his death: for the father died, and as if he were not dead. Why is he not dead? because he left one like himself in his place. Behold the Prophet says a wise son of man is like to his father; and you, heretic, dare to say that Wisdom itself, the Son of God, is unlike the Father! The Prophet says a dead man the father, in that he left a son like himself, lives in the son: and you dare to separate that very eternal life, which is the Son of God, from him who never dies, the Father!" 5 and 6. IN HIS LIFETIME HE SAW HIM, AND REJOICED IN HIM: IN HIS DEATH HE WAS NOT MADE SORROWFUL, NOR WAS HE CONFOUNDED BEFORE HIS ENEMIES. FOR HE LEFT A DEFENDER OF HIS HOUSE AGAINST HIS ENEMIES, AND ONE RENDERING THANKS TO HIS FRIENDS. — He inculcates and exaggerates the same thing, namely that honor and joy from a well-instructed son shall be perpetual to the father both in life and after death: because he will be about to defend the house against enemies, and repay gratitude to friends: which two things those about to die are accustomed most to desire. Whence the Psalmist sings of such sons, Psalm CXXVI: "Blessed is the man who hath filled his desire with them: he shall not be confounded, when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate," that is, in judgment: for this was formerly carried out in the gates of cities, so that foreigners might freely approach it. The Zurich version translates: He saw him alive, and rejoiced in him, and in his death was not made sorrowful, nor affected with shame before his enemies. Against his enemies he left an avenger, and one about to render thanks to his friends. These things are more true in spiritual fathers and sons, by as much as parents of souls excel parents of bodies; these in the hour of death and day of judgment shall not be confounded before enemies: namely demons, on account of the neglected education and salvation of their sons; but giving thanks to Christ, the Blessed Virgin and the Saints, they shall exult over their care equally as over their probity. Therefore, says Palacius, if no reason could provoke us to piety, this one alone should, namely that Christ once dead may live in us, and he who shall have seen us may think himself to have seen Christ, according to that word of Paul: "Glorify and bear God in your body," I Corinthians, chapter VI, 20. Moreover the Syriac version translates: In his lifetime he saw him, and rejoiced: in his death (or rather his own) it did not weary him. He renders thanks to his friends, and takes vengeance on his enemies. In his death (or rather his own) it did not weary him. He renders thanks to his friends, and takes vengeance on his enemies. For this reason, the glory of sons in the Scriptures is compared to a lamp, because just as one lamp is kindled from another, so the glory of the son shines forth from the glory of the father. Again, just as a lamp continually burns through parts succeeding one another in turn, so that the same light always appears to be: so the glory of a family endures through sons succeeding one another, so that the same man appears to be the head of a household. Thus Solomon was the lamp of David, III Kings, chapter XI, 36. Moreover, just as a lamp's light is nourished by oil, which is pressed from unripe olives, as Pliny testifies, book XV, chapter III, so the glory of a son flows from the education and discipline administered to him from childhood, before he reaches mature age, when he cannot be bent. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm CXXVII: "Thy sons as plants of the olive tree (tender and unripe, and then to be pressed and pressed by discipline), round about thy table." On the symbol of the lamp I shall say more at Proverbs XX, 20. Meanwhile see our Martin of Roa, book II of Singularities, chapter XVI and following. 7. FOR THE SOULS OF HIS SONS HE SHALL GATHER UP HIS WOUNDS, AND HIS BOWELS SHALL BE TROUBLED ABOVE EVERY VOICE. — There is a threefold reading here in the Greek texts: for the Complutensian editors read ἀπρίζοντα υἱόν, that is, wiping or scraping the son; the Roman editors however read περιψύχων υἱόν, with ω, that is, cooling the son; our text and others read with diaeresis, or rather dialysis, περὶ ψυχῶν υἱοῦ, that is, for the souls of sons. According to the first reading you would translate thus: He who wipes or scrapes his son, just as stains are rubbed and scraped from cloth with lye, and rust is scraped from gold with a file, or just as dandruff is scraped from the head with a comb, or chaff and stubble from flax while being combed, as if to say, He who combs or cards his son, that is, who corrects and chastises him, "shall gather up" and shall care for "his wounds," or "his," that is, shall heal the diseases of the son's soul, equally as his own anguishes and pains; which otherwise he would conceive from the wicked morals and deeds of his son. Whence the Zurich version translates: He who tames his son binds up his wounds and makes it so that at every voice he trembles in his marrow, so that, just as horses neigh and bend themselves to the voice of the charioteer, so the son trembles at every voice of his father or of those admonishing him, and bends himself. According to the second reading you would translate thus: He who refreshes his son shall bind up his wounds, and at every cry his bowels are troubled, as if to say, He who is too lenient and indulgent toward his son, so that he does not dare to chastise him, is afterwards forced to bind up his wounds contracted in a brawl or from elsewhere, and to remain in perpetual care and anxiety, lest something sad and fatal befall his son; so much so that at every cry he is troubled, fearing lest that cry be raised against his son, or concerning his son wounded or slain. The Syriac version favors this exposition: He who, it says, makes his son voluptuous, his wounds shall be multiplied, and at every wailing he shall lift up his heart. 8. AN UNBROKEN HORSE BECOMES STUBBORN, AND AN UNDISCIPLINED SON (in Greek ἀνειμένος, that is, left to himself, lacking the bridle of discipline, dissolute) SHALL BECOME HEADSTRONG. According to the second reading you would translate thus: He who refreshes his son shall bind up his wounds, and at every cry his bowels are troubled, as if to say, He who is too lenient and indulgent toward his son, so that he does not dare to chastise him, is afterwards forced to bind up his wounds contracted in a brawl or from elsewhere, and to remain in perpetual care and anxiety, lest something sad and fatal befall his son; so much so that at every cry he is troubled, fearing lest that cry be raised against his son, or concerning his son wounded or slain. The Syriac version favors this exposition: He who, it says, makes his son voluptuous, his wounds shall be multiplied, and at every wailing he shall lift up his heart.
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According to the third reading, which is that of our Vulgate, thus, first, Rabanus expounds it, and from him the Gloss and Lyra, as if to say: The father will allow himself to be wounded, "and shall gather up his wounds for the soul," that is, the life and safety of his sons. Thus Paul writes to his sons in Christ at Corinth, II Corinthians XII, 15: "But I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your souls: although loving you more, I am loved less." Second, better Palacius, as if to say: The father will fear nothing to wound his sons, and to gather up their wounds, when it shall be necessary that he save their souls, and thus instruct them, so that at the father's voice their bowels may tremble. For "his" in Greek is αὐτοῦ, which signifies both his own and his; our reading has αὐτῶν in the plural, that is, theirs, namely of the sons. Third, the same Palacius, as if to say: Let the father not be harsh and cruel to his son: but if it happen that he scourge and wound him for his soul and life, straightway he shall gather up and heal his wounds, and at every voice of the son's lamentation the father's bowels shall be troubled. Therefore the father is admonished to wound his son, but kindly and mercifully. Fourth, Jansenius, as if to say: The good father "the wounds, which he himself frequently sustains and feels in himself, for the souls of his sons," namely when he is often grieved in his mind, is solicitous for them: these, I say, his own wounds he himself shall strive to gather up and heal, through discipline carefully applied to them; and when it happens that they speak or cry out in an unseemly manner, at "every" "voice" of theirs (in Greek βοήν, that is, cry) "his bowels shall be troubled," that is, he will not dissemble, nor be negligent, but shall be moved with his whole soul, solicitous for their correction. Fifth, plainly and easily thus expound it, as if to say: The good father "for the souls," that is, that he may save the souls of his sons, "shall gather up his wounds," that is, "theirs," namely of the sons, that is, the wounds of the soul, namely the sins and vices of the sons, he shall strive to cure and heal; "and at every voice," that is, rumor of the sons' crime or wickedness spread abroad, shall be moved and "his bowels shall be troubled," and therefore he shall hasten to remedy the evil with all his strength. Symbolically our Pineda, book I On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter XV, expounds this sentence of Sirach concerning the care bestowed upon an infant by parents. For what, he says, is that frequent care of wrapping, unwrapping, binding, loosing the child and daily repetition, but a certain gathering up and as it were a healing of the wounds of nature, that is, of an incredible sort of infirmity and weakness? What else is that disturbance of the bowels at every voice of the child, every cry and little tear of the infant, the emotion, perturbation, pain, confusion of parents? But if you also read the first part of this sentence from the Greek: Refreshing the son, or handling him gently, or wiping away; it rightly applies to infantile filth, and to the care of gently handling infantile limbs: so that it was said opportunely, equally and most truly that Solomon was nurtured with great cares.
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8. AN UNBROKEN HORSE BECOMES HARD, AND A NEGLECTED SON (in Greek ἀνειμένος, that is left to himself, lacking the bridle of discipline, dissolute) WILL BECOME HEADSTRONG. — In Greek ἀπρόκοπος, that is apokopros, that is rushing forward, wanton, unbridled, swift, precipitous, reckless, headstrong, unrestrained, wicked, petulant, insolent, bold, shameless, stubborn, depraved. Whence the Zurich version translates: An unbroken horse will become intractable, and a neglected son will become obstinate; others: A horse that is not tamed becomes savage (as we see at Rome horses which they call barbarous, before they are tamed, so impatient of the bridle and rider that they throw him off, or hurl him into ditches, and trample upon anyone in their way): and a son left to himself becomes wicked; the Syriac: As an unbridled young horse, so a wicked son who does not obey his father. For, as Rabanus explains: "Just as the pride of an unbroken horse tends toward a precipice, so the wantonness of an undisciplined son is near to the ruin of sin." Palacius: If, he says, you do not tame the petulance of young cattle with the bridle, you will find him hard and intractable: so if you leave your son to his own will, he will hurl himself into all vices. Most excellently Jansenius: Just as, he says, a horse which is not tamed in youth by bridles and spurs becomes hard and intractable from its natural ferocity and petulance: so a son who in youth is released from discipline and chastisement, and is left to his natural petulance, becomes headstrong, reckless and bold toward all vices, so that he cannot easily be recalled from them afterward. It signifies therefore that, just as horses are tamed by bridles and spurs and made tractable; so boys and adolescents must be conformed to modesty and obedience by the best and most serious institutions, customs, studies, and even by beatings, according to the doctrine of Aristotle, lib. III Ethic. cap. XII: "That which desires shameful things," he says, "and receives great increase, must be chastised and moderated: and such especially is desire and the boy." Hence mystically St. Thomas, II II, Quest. CXLII, art. 2: "Concupiscence," he says, "is likened to a boy in three respects. First indeed, as to that which each desires: for just as a boy, so also concupiscence desires something shameful: the reason for which is that the beautiful in human things is observed insofar as something is ordered according to reason. Whence Cicero, De Offic. lib. I, cap. On Temperance, somewhat from the beginning: That is beautiful which is consonant with man's excellence in that in which his nature differs from other animals. But a boy does not attend to the order of reason, and similarly concupiscence does not heed reason, as is said in lib. VII Ethic. cap. VI, near the beginning. Second, they agree as to the outcome. For a boy, if left to his own will, grows in his own will. Whence in Eccles. XXX it is said: An unbroken horse becomes hard, and a neglected son will become headstrong: so also concupiscence, if it is satisfied, acquires greater strength. Whence Augustine says in VII Confess.: While service is rendered to lust, habit is formed; and while resistance is not made to habit, necessity is formed. Third, as to the remedy which is provided to each. For a boy is corrected by being restrained; hence it is said in Prov. cap. XXIII: Withhold not correction from a child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. And similarly while concupiscence is resisted, it is reduced to the proper measure of honesty. And this is what Augustine says in lib. VII Music, cap. XI: That when the mind is suspended toward spiritual things, and there fixed and remaining, the impulse of habit, namely of carnal concupiscence, is broken, and gradually repressed is extinguished. It was greater when we followed it; not entirely nothing, but certainly less when we restrain it. And therefore the Philosopher says in III Ethic. cap. ult. in fin., that just as a boy ought to live according to the precept of his pedagogue, so also the concupiscible part ought to be consonant with reason. Hence this is a hieroglyphic of a youth and of youth, and of its unbridled concupiscence and rashness: a young man is depicted sitting upon an untamed horse, by which he is snatched and tossed about in all directions. Someone meets him, asking where he goes so headlong? The rider answers, pointing to the horse: "Wherever it pleases him." Certainly the horse is unbridled concupiscence, the rider is the youth desiring, who is snatched away by his concupiscence into various crimes and dangers. If you ask him: Where are you going? he will answer: "Wherever my concupiscence drags me." For this is indeed an untamed horse, or a wild ass, according to that passage in Jeremiah II, 24: "A wild ass accustomed in the wilderness, in the desire of her soul drew in the wind of her love (the Septuagint: in the desires of her soul was borne by the spirit, as if beside herself), no one shall turn him away." Most excellently St. Chrysostom in Psalm VI, near the end: "If one does not quickly restrain a raging horse," he says, "it will quickly perish. Physicians stop a poison, a serpent and flowing forth, with the greatest speed, lest it progress further, by cutting off its defect. We too ought to do this, and what is in us, the defect we ought to repress with the greatest speed, lest progressing further it increase the disease." And after some remarks: "If Judas had restrained the love of money, he would not have come to sacrilege; if he had suppressed it, he would not have leapt forth to the climax of evils. And therefore Christ represses not only fornication and adultery, but even an immodest glance, tearing out the root from the depths, so that the vice might be more easily overcome." I shall say more concerning the discipline of children in the next volume on Proverbs, chapter XXII, verse 15, and chapter XXIII, verse 13.
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An example is found in Themistocles, who, since as a young man he appeared to have a fierce and changeable nature, when people marveled at his changed character, used to say: "Wild and untamed colts become the finest horses, if someone applies to them discipline and right training." Thus Plutarch in the Laconian Lives. 9. FONDLE THY SON, AND HE SHALL MAKE THEE AFRAID: PLAY WITH HIM, AND HE SHALL MAKE THEE SORROWFUL. — For fondle in Greek is τιθηνοῦ, that is, to nurse, fondle, feed, offer the breast like a nurse: for τιτθοί are breasts, and τιθήνη is a nurse. Again for he shall make thee afraid, in Greek it is, ἐκθαμβήσει σε, that is, it shall stupefy thee, cause thee to be amazed. Whence the Zurich version translates: Fondle thy son, he shall terrify thee; play with him, he shall make thee sorrowful; the Syriac: Instruct thy son, lest thou be mocked: and if thou jest with him, he shall vex thee; others more literally and forcefully: Nurse thy son, and he shall strike thee with stupefied amazement: play with him, and he shall afflict thee with sorrow. It is irony, as if he said: O father, O mother, who love thy son now weaned and growing too much with excessive tenderness, feed and treat him as if he were still an infant, continue, if you please, to nurse him softly like an infant, and indulge him in all that he asks: but know that soon, with fear of thee cast off, he will make thee afraid, indeed his boldness and contumacy will stupefy thee, will render thee amazed, so that thou mayest justly fear that some great evil will befall both thee and him. Play with him, flatter him, and caress him with him, as before, when he was an infant: but know that, having become impudent, he will despise thee, will mock thee, will afflict and sadden thee. For just as tender and innocent infancy, lacking guile and evil, needs nursing and gentle upbringing: so in turn childhood succeeding infancy, now capable of, indeed prone to, guile, pride and wantonness, demands grave and serious education, and correction of childish wantonness: wherefore it is necessary that parents deal with them gravely and severely, so that they may instill in them reverence and fear of themselves. 10. LAUGH NOT WITH HIM, LEST THOU HAVE SORROW (the Complutensian edition: lest thou grieve), AND IN THE END THY TEETH SHALL BE SET ON EDGE. — That is to say: Do not laugh with thy son who laughs, but show a grave countenance, lest thy laughter and his turn into sorrow, when thou shalt see him, from thy laughter and indulgence, neglect thee, and do whatever he pleases, and create for thee and himself the danger of grave evil: wherefore in the end "thy teeth shall be set on edge," so that, just as teeth become dull from food, feeling not pleasure but pain, so likewise thou from an insolent and rebellious son shalt conceive great sorrow, so much so that from sorrow thou shalt become mute, and become as it were dull; thus thy laughter shall turn into gnashing and sorrow. In Greek it is, γομφιάσεις τοὺς ὁδόντας σου: which secondly, thus thou shalt translate with the Zurich version: And at length thou shalt gnash thy teeth, that is to say: Do not be indignant and rage at the wickedness of thy son, and at thy excessive indulgence toward him. Our translator renders it better, "thy teeth shall be set on edge"; for it alludes to the dulling of teeth from eating something delightful, that is to say: Just as one who eagerly eats something sour, which by its sourness irritates and sharpens the palate, then indeed rejoices, but afterward feels a dulling of the teeth: so if thou laugh with thy son, then indeed thou wilt laugh, but thou shalt pay for that laughter with sorrow: thou shalt be stupefied at such wantonness and obstinacy of thy son: and just as to him whose teeth are dulled nothing is savory; so to thee, O father, nothing in life shall be savory, nothing sweet, nothing pleasant and joyful shall befall, but infinite troubles, pains and sorrows shall occur, if thou shalt have brought up thy son with excessive indulgence, although the Syriac translates: Do not walk with him according to his will, lest he provoke thee to anger, and in the end make thy teeth be set on edge. Thus Palacius. Similar is the maxim of Solomon: "Laugh not with thy children, that thou mayest not weep afterward." To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Collection II, number 4: "Playing or jesting takes away reverence." Which the Italians say: The boldness of the master, the hat of the fool. And number 5: "Do not play with a nobleman, lest he be angry with thee; nor with a man of low station, lest he abuse thee, or dare to presume upon thee." Let St. Job be an example of paternal gravity, who dealt so seriously and gravely with his children that even when he laughed sometimes, he was not believed to be laughing: "If at any time," he says in chapter XXIX, "I laughed upon them, they believed not." Where St. Gregory, in book XX of the Morals, chapter III: "He who presides," he says, "ought to be feared even while smiling, and to be loved even while angry; so that excessive cheerfulness may not render him contemptible, nor immoderate severity make him hateful." And in chapter VIII: "Severity must therefore be mixed with gentleness, and a certain temperament made from both, so that subjects may neither be exulcerated by much harshness, nor dissolved by excessive kindness. This indeed is signified by that ark of the tabernacle, in which along with the tablets the rod and the manna are together, because when the knowledge of sacred Scripture is in the breast of a good ruler, if there is the rod of strictness, let there also be the manna of sweetness. Hence also David says: Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. For by the rod we are struck, and by the staff we are sustained. If therefore there is the strictness of the rod which strikes, let there also be the consolation of the staff which sustains: let there be love, but not enervating; let there be rigor, but not exasperating; let there be zeal, not raging immoderately; let there be piety, but not sparing more than is expedient." 11. GIVE HIM NOT POWER IN HIS YOUTH, AND OVERLOOK NOT HIS THOUGHTS. — For power in Greek is ἐξουσίαν, that is, freedom, license, power of acting and speaking whatever he wishes and whatever pleases him. For thoughts our text reads ἔννοιαν, that is, thoughts, notions, intentions, senses, concepts, which namely he turns over in his mind, thinks, intends, destines, wishes, wills, attempts. Now some read the nearby word ἀγνοίας, that is, ignorances, that is, errors, vices and sins, with which childhood abounds. Whence the Zurich version translates: Do not indulge the youth with license, nor connive at his foolish deeds; the Syriac: Do not pardon him all his vices. The sense is, as if to say, Do not permit the youth power to do whatever he pleases, so that he lives by his own right, acts by his own strength, as if a master and lord depending on no one, subject to no one, bound to no one's direction and correction: "and overlook not," that is, do not neglect to correct and direct "his thoughts," as if to say, Search and explore diligently what he thinks, so that from this you may perceive his nature and the senses and inclinations of his mind, and these, if they are depraved, cut off and correct; but if good, second and direct. For unless you bend them in youth, they will grow, harden, and become inflexible and incorrigible: just as a tender tree, while it is tender, must be bent and directed: for if it grows up, it will not allow itself to be bent or directed. 12. BOW DOWN HIS NECK IN HIS YOUTH, AND BEAT (in Greek πάταξον, that is, break: thus the Complutensian, strike, beat) HIS SIDES WHILE HE IS A CHILD (in Greek νήπιος, that is, an infant or child, who does not yet have sense: whence the Complutensian translates, while he is small) LEST PERHAPS HE GROW HARDENED, AND BELIEVE THEE NOT, AND IT SHALL BE A SORROW TO THY SOUL. — The Zurich version: Bend down the neck (others, the nape) of the youth while still young, and beat his sides while he is a child, lest perhaps growing hardened he be unwilling to obey thee, and thy soul suffer sorrow. For for "believe thee not," in Greek it is ἀπειθήσῃ, which in the second sense you may translate as "disobey thee with difficulty"; in the third sense, you may translate as "become disobedient to thee" or "rebellious against thee"; the Syriac: Bow his neck while he is an adolescent; and break his loins while he is small, lest he become strong and act insolently against thee. He admonishes (as Jansenius rightly notes) to bow the neck and beat the sides, because in these two parts of the body pride and petulance are more vigorous: in the neck, namely pride, in the sides petulance. Nor does he wish the head to be burdened with cudgels or blows, lest the intellect be harmed; but he wishes those parts to be pressed, the repression of which will not harm the intellect. And the neck indeed he wishes to be bowed as if by burdens imposed: but the sides to be beaten and struck, as if with rods and scourges, with which the sides of children are usually struck: signifying that pride is to be repressed by chastisements and rebukes, and petulance and foolishness are to be driven out by the rod of discipline, according to that saying: "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of discipline shall drive it away." IN YOUTH,—namely in tender age and still flexible, he wishes the neck to be bent; because afterwards the neck, already hardened, would rather be broken than bent: just as a young branch is flexible, but an old one inflexible, so that if you wish to bend it, you break it. Which the Belgians express significantly by this proverb: "Sons, while they are boys, bring headache to their parents; when they have grown up, heartache." Palacius somewhat differently: for he refers these things to the flight of idleness and the embrace of labor, meaning: He who indulges in idleness walks with upright neck: do you therefore devote your son to work and labor, so that he may have his neck bent to work. Then truly strike his nostrils from infancy (that is from the second and third year of age), lest perhaps from that age he become hard for you, and bring sorrow to your soul. Thus Palacius. Ben-Sira agrees with Sirach, in the alphabetical arrangement, letter daleth: "Gold," he says, "must be beaten, and a boy beaten; or, Gold needs striking, and a boy beating," meaning: If you spare the rod, the boy becomes wicked and useless, just as gold exists less useful unless by hammering it receives a form suitable to it. The Scholiast explains thus: "Just as gold, if you beat it, shines more brightly: so a boy, if you beat him, becomes better. For as clay, so tender age follows in whatever direction you lead it: but when the mind has hardened, it is not easily refashioned into another form. This therefore is correction of love, not of hatred. Whence Solomon, Proverbs XIII, 24: "He that spareth the rod," he says, "hateth his son: but he that loveth him, chasteneth him betimes;" in Hebrew, seeketh him out correction at dawn; the Scholiast, applies discipline to him. Moreover the first effect of correction is wisdom. Hear Solomon, Proverbs XXIX, 15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but the child that is left to his own will bringeth his mother to shame." The second is joy. Hear him likewise in verse 17: "Instruct thy son, and he shall delight thee, and shall give joy to thy soul." The third is deliverance from hell, and eternal salvation. Hear him likewise cap. XXIII, 14: "Thou shalt beat him with the rod: and shalt deliver his soul from hell." 13. TEACH (in Greek παίδευσον, that is correct, instruct, educate, chastise) THY SON, AND LABOR IN HIM, LEST THOU BE OFFENDED IN HIS SHAME.—meaning: Apply all effort in instructing him rightly, lest thou be "offended," struck, confounded and grieved "in his shame," that is in his disgrace, which otherwise, left to himself, he will commit, and thence the infamy and contumely which he will incur both himself and thou, O father. The Syriac: Teach thy son contrition of heart, and burden him, lest perhaps in his follies he cause thee to be offended; the Zurich: Instruct thy son, and labor in this, that his shame be not an offense to thee; others: Chastise thy son, and exercise him in doing work, lest thou be struck by his shame. The Greek codices corrected at Rome read, lest in thy shame, that is to thy disgrace, he offend, or strike against some dishonor, vice or crime. Hear Palacius: Just as he who places diligent effort in his field or vineyard escapes poverty: so, if thou shalt apply vigorous effort in thy son, thou freest thy son from shame, and shalt rescue thyself, lest thou be offended by it. Reader, understand that these are moral precepts, which for the most part are true. For there are sons, for the most part of a more wanton nature, and thus requiring harsher discipline: we do not deny however that some sons are born who require no such exaction. Moreover let the father teach his son both by word, and by the rod, and especially by example. For that Hebrew proverb is true: "A sheep follows a sheep, and a son pursuing imitates his father." Note: To labor signifies the great care, study and labor to be applied by the father in the education of sons: for this is a work of the highest importance, inasmuch as the salvation of the family and subsequently of the commonwealth depends upon it. Wherefore Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, proposing to each of the Seventy Interpreters individual ethical or political questions, proposed this as the forty-first: "What is the greatest negligence?" To which he answered: "If anyone," he said, "shall have been negligent of his sons, and shall not instruct them in anything. For we always form vows to God not so much for ourselves as we pray that all good things may be present to our children, and that he impart to them education and prudence. For this comes to pass by the power of God." Thus Aristeas relates in the History of the Seventy Interpreters (which is found in vol. VII of the Library of the Holy Fathers), to whom our Sirach was contemporary, nay one of them, if we believe Jansenius.
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For this reason we see that the sons of great men often degenerate from the character and virtue of their parents, according to that saying: "The sons of heroes are a curse;" namely because great men, occupied with great matters concerning the commonwealth, neglect the education of their sons and commit it to others; and the sons, proud of their parent's virtue and glory, do not admit discipline and correction. Whence Carneades used to say: "The sons of the rich and of kings learn nothing rightly except to ride," as Laertius testifies, book IV, chapter IX. Hear Spartianus in the Life of the Emperor Severus: "It is established that scarcely anyone of great men left an excellent and useful son:" and he cites examples of Cicero, Augustus, Scipio, Cato, Trajan and others; indeed it is commonly said: "From the wisest parents the most foolish children are propagated, but from the foolish, wise ones." Alexander of Aphrodisias gives another physical cause of this matter, book I, Problems, chapter XXVI, and from him Tiraquellus, law XV on Marriage, number 154, namely that the foolish devote themselves entirely to procreation, and therefore pour forth the best and most perfect spirits into their offspring: but the wise, occupied and distracted by wise thoughts, give themselves only half to procreation, and therefore communicate to their offspring only the earthly part of spirits.
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An apposite, but dreadful, example is that which the Author relates in a sermon to the Brethren in the Desert, which is found in volume X of St. Augustine, sermon 33 concerning Cyril, a citizen of Hippo: "Cyril, he says, had a son, as you know, and he possessed him as an only child: and because he was an only child, he loved him excessively and above God. Therefore, intoxicated with excessive love, he neglected to correct his son, and even gave him power to do all things that pleased him." And soon after: "The son, living luxuriously, consumed part of his goods: but behold, today, having suffered drunkenness, he wickedly oppressed his mother while pregnant, wished to violate his sister, killed his father, and wounded two sisters unto death." To this pertains that saying of an anonymous man, who, accused of having struck his father, defended this impious deed in this manner: "And he, he says, beat his father, and this one (pointing to his son) will beat me, after he has grown up: so customary is this among us." Thus we see those badly educated by parents educating their children badly, and therefore being impious toward their parents, and on account of this experiencing impious sons toward themselves. Aelian, in book XII of his Miscellaneous History, relates that he blamed the idleness of the Megarians and said: "I would rather be the ram of some Megarian than his son;" implying that the Megarians care more for the welfare of their livestock and educate it better than their sons. Furthermore, what and what sort of things parents ought to teach their sons and daughters, St. Jerome teaches wisely and piously, in epistle 7 to Laeta, concerning the Education of a Daughter: "Thus, he says, should the soul be instructed, which is to become the temple of God: let her learn to hear nothing, to speak nothing, except what pertains to the fear of God: let her not understand shameful words, let her be ignorant of the songs of the world, while her tender tongue is still imbued with sweet psalms; let the wanton age of children be far away: let the girls themselves and their attendants be kept away from worldly associations; lest what they have learned badly, they teach worse." And a little later: "With difficulty is eradicated what unformed minds have thoroughly imbibed. Greek history relates that Alexander, the most powerful king and conqueror of the world, could not be free from the vices in his manners and in his gait of Leonidas his tutor, with which he had been infected while still a small child." Finally, St. Ambrose proposes examples of severe education of children from animals. First, hawks, which, he says in book V of the Hexameron, chapter XVIII, when their young begin to fly, cast them out from their nests, and if they linger, they drive them away with their wings and hurl them down, they beat them with their wings, they compel them to dare what they fear, and afterward they show them no service of nourishment. He adds the reason: "They seem to instruct their young from tender age for prey;" because they must live by preying. "They take care lest in tender age they become sluggish, lest they be softened by delights, lest they waste away in idleness, lest they learn to expect food rather than to seek it: they cease their duties of nourishing, but compel them to dare in the practice of seizing." Second, in chapter XVII, he assigns swallows, which, when their young are blind, know how to open their eyes with their own chelidonium, as Tertullian says. Third, in book VI, chapter VI, he assigns bears, which lick their shapeless offspring for so long, and by licking shape them, until they form them to their own likeness: "Do you not marvel, he says, in a wild beast such offices of affection, whose mature piety expresses? The bear therefore forms her offspring to her own likeness: can you not instruct your sons to be like yourself?" Fourth, the eagle beats its fledgling young with its wings, and by its own example provokes them to fly: thus parents should teach their sons good morals by example rather than by word. Thus God does, whom Moses therefore compares to an eagle, Deuteronomy XXXII, 11: "As an eagle, he says, enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, spreads her wings, and takes him, and carries him on her shoulders." Fifth, hinds "exercise their offspring born by running, and teach them to meditate flight, they lead them to precipices, they demonstrate leaping," says Pliny, book VIII, chapter XXXII. Sixth, nightingales, according to Aristotle, book IV of the History of Animals, chapter IX, sing beforehand to their young, and teach them the melodies which they may imitate: the young listen attentively. In the teacher there appears a certain reproof, and in the young pupil a correction of error. 14. BETTER IS A POOR MAN THAT IS SOUND AND STRONG IN CONSTITUTION, THAN A RICH MAN THAT IS WEAK AND AFFLICTED WITH WICKEDNESS. — "Better," that is preferable, more desirable, more excellent, is a poor man sound and strong in constitution," in Greek ἰσχύων τῇ ἕξει, that is, strong in habit, namely in bodily strength, by which he might be able to procure his sustenance by labor, "than a rich man weak and afflicted with wickedness," that is, struck by God with misery and evil habit or bodily infirmity. For he lives a sorrowful life in pains, and cannot delight in or enjoy his riches, since to the poor man all things, though common and vile, are most savory. Whence the Greek texts have: Better is a poor man sound and of firm constitution, than a rich man whose body is affected with blows; Zurich: Better is a poor man sound and well-strong, than a rich man with an afflicted body; Syriac: Better is a poor man alive and strong in his body, than a rich man struck in his flesh. Sirach says this to teach that the happiness of man is not situated in riches, nor can the rich boast in them, because to them, being in poor health and delicate (as often happens), a poor man abounding in health and strength is more excellent and happier. Which theme he pursues at length thereafter. Whence Palacius: He compares, he says, bodily health, which is esteemed so vile by many, with riches, which the world so greatly admires and seeks. He says therefore that health with poverty is far more preferable than riches with languor, especially if the languor is inflicted like a scourge by God on account of wickedness. Otherwise Job would have been better without his wickedness when scourged, than other poor men, however strong in constitution they were: but the Author looked to what is regular; for the rich are not usually without some wickedness. "Wickedness" therefore here properly signifies misery, affliction, infirmity: but because that is often inflicted as punishment for fault and wickedness properly so called, hence both can be understood here: so that "a rich man afflicted with wickedness" is a rich man who is scourged with diseases and other miseries on account of wickedness. Thus Christ says: "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," that is, affliction, "thereof," Matt. VI. 15. THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL IN THE HOLINESS OF JUSTICE IS BETTER THAN ALL GOLD AND SILVER; AND A SOUND BODY, THAN IMMENSE WEALTH. — As if to say: Just as "the salvation of the soul (which consists in the holiness of justice) is better than all gold:" so "a sound body" is better than immense riches; as if to say: Health is one thing of the soul, another of the body: each surpasses the greatest riches, because health is an intrinsic good, and thus of a higher order than riches, which are good to man only extrinsically and are adjacent to him. He calls it the holiness of justice; because there is also holiness of the body, namely chastity and of the flesh, namely flesh pure from all irregularity and legal uncleanness, Hebr. cap. IX, 13. And there is holiness of things, namely of victims, tithes, firstfruits, and other things dedicated to God. To all these is opposed the holiness of justice, which namely consists in justice and the observance of God's commandments. The words "of justice" are not in the Greek; for thus it has: Health and good constitution (Zurich, soundness) surpasses all gold; and a strong body, immense riches; Syriac: A vigorous life is more lovable than gold; and a good spirit (that is, joyful, cheerful, pleasant) before pearls. Note: Three great goods of man are health, holiness and wisdom; but it is difficult that these three are heaped together, so that in one and the same person these three excellent things are found. For many injure their health on account of holiness, which they seek through mortification of the flesh; others injure it on account of wisdom, namely while they consume themselves with excessive study of the spirit, and weaken the stomach and head. Wherefore although the first good be holiness, the second wisdom, the third health; yet as regards use and the aid of others, it is better to have moderate wisdom with firm health, than great wisdom with infirmity. For the latter cannot use it, nor teach it to others. But holiness can be retained with health, and is retained by the prudent and discerning: for these moderate their fasts and other mortifications of the body, and devote themselves more to internal virtue; namely to charity, humility, prayer, peace, patience, in which the holiness of the soul consists. Hence Thales, being asked: "Who would be happy?" answered: "He who is healthy in body, but learned in mind." Thus Laertius, lib. I, cap. 1. Such was Moses, concerning whom St. Chrysostom discoursing says: "He applied a bridle to his body, so that by not excessively constraining the horse he might not render it useless to himself for service, nor by becoming too fat would it again raise itself against the reins of reason; but he had care both of that health of his, and of right reason." Maximus, serm. 27, cites Democritus saying: "Men pray to God for health, whose strength however they know not in themselves. For while they live inordinately, they themselves are betrayers of their own health." Thus also Diogenes was indignant at those who would sacrifice for good health, and in the very sacred rites would gorge themselves with immoderate feasting, doing things contrary to good health. Thus Laertius lib. VI. Finally Pythagoras said that three things should be sought from the gods, beauty, riches and good health. For health is to man the most intimate thing, and the basis and subject of other goods and joys; for it touches and affects the very essence of man most closely. For miserable is the life which is destitute of health, and is pressed down by diseases, and so is to be called not so much life, as slow death, says St. Gregory. For the sick feel no pleasure in wine, delicacies, riches, honors, etc.; because pain and sickness intercept this, which seizes the mind to itself, and afflicts it with sorrow, so that it cannot attend to other goods and joys, nor be nourished and delighted by them. Whence Plato, lib. I De Legibus: "The first place, he says, is held by good health, the second by beauty, the third by strength, the fourth by riches, not blind, but seeing keenly." But Stobaeus, from Selerius: "To have good health, he says, is the best thing for mortal man; next, to be endowed with honest appearance; third, to have riches without fraud; fourth, to flourish in age with friends." That common saying: "Than to be well, nothing better in life." And that: "To be well and to be wise, two goods of life," namely, "that there be a sound mind in a sound body." Aristotle of Sicyon wrote a paean in praise of health, as Athenaeus relates, lib. XV: "Health, he says, most ancient of goddesses, with you I shall live what remains of life: but you be to me my own table-companion." And soon after: "With you, goddess health, all things flourish, and the spring of the Graces shines forth: without you truly no one is happy." Aristotle, lib. II Rhetoric.: "To man, he says, to be well is the best thing." The same, lib. I Moral. ad Eudemum, relates that someone in the vestibule of the temple, which is in Delos of Apollo, wrote this sentence: "To the same person not to lack all things, honesty, goodness, and pleasantness: the most honest is, what is most just; the best, to be well; the most pleasant, to obtain what one loves."
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Understand these things concerning the goods of nature; for virtue, grace and charity are more powerful than all of these. Hence for the sake of these, so many millions of Martyrs poured out their health, blood and life, and every Christian, when it is necessary, ought to pour them out. For grace is of a higher order, namely supernatural and divine, to which all natural things must necessarily yield. And virtue is the health of the soul, which far surpasses the health of the body. St. Augustine adds, in Psalm XXXVII, that the health of this life is rather a disease, if it be compared with the health of immortality: "For whence," he says, "did he say: There is no health in my flesh, except because this which is called the health of this life, to those who understand well and remember the sabbath (of eternal rest), is certainly not health. For if you do not eat, hunger troubles you. This hunger is a certain natural disease." And further down: "Remove these medicines (food and drink), see if they do not kill those who exist. If these are set aside there are no diseases, there is health. But if you have something that could kill you unless you eat, do not glory in health, but groaning await the redemption of your body." Whence the words of the Psalm: "There is no health in my flesh," he thus expounds, as if to say: "When I compare this health with that health which I shall have in eternal rest, where this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, I see that in comparison with that health, this health is a disease." Perfect health therefore is immortality. Moreover Levinus Lemnius the physician, in his Exhortation to a Life Most Excellently Ordered, chapter XXIX: "Three things," he says, "are commonly reported to be most healthful," which it is fitting for everyone to observe: "To eat without satiety: Not to avoid labor: To preserve the seed of nature. To which are opposed three equally unhealthful things," which besides diseases, hasten premature old age and bring men to a speedy death: "To be distended with gluttony: To grow sluggish with idleness: To be enervated with immoderate lust." For since frugality, having overcome gluttony, establishes a healthy body; exercise, having cast off idleness and sloth, renders it likewise agile and ready; then if it be permitted to take lessons from the equine race: But no industry more firmly strengthens strength than to turn away from Venus and the blind goads of love, says Virgil, in book III of the Georgics. Indeed intemperate and libidinous youth delivers an exhausted body to old age. The Gentiles, by way of symbol of this matter, said that to the goddess Venus, who shortens life, there are three goddesses opposed who prolong life: namely Minerva, who is the goddess of wisdom and temperance; Diana, who is the goddess of exercise; Vesta, who is the goddess of chastity and virginity. Some report that Galen, the prince of physicians, as Cælius Rhodiginus says, in book XXX, chapter XX, lived one hundred and forty years, and was so abstemious in food and drink that he never ate or drank to satiety, nor ever tasted anything raw; whence it came to pass that he always breathed a fragrant breath and without any affliction, failed only from old age. Hence the proverb: "The health of Galen," for that which is so prosperous beyond human comprehension, and so untroubled. Thus he, with whom the credibility rests; for Suidas gives Galen only seventy years. Certainly Galen himself in his book to Thrasybulus, On the Art of Preserving Health, writes that he found himself stronger than many athletes, who seemed to be most excellent, and who had earned crowns in many contests. Cyril illustrates this maxim with a famous allegory of a youth and griffins, in book III of his Moral Allegories, chapter XIX, which has the title: What Are True Riches. A certain youth desirous of advancement, he says, went to India to the gold mines: when he approached them, he was warned by the inhabitants to withdraw, because those places were inhabited by terrible and rapacious griffins. He was grieved that he had made so long a journey in vain; but a wise man approaching said: I will show you, he said, gold, but not the counterfeit which you desire, but true and pure, which is nothing other than God himself, and his love, charity and holiness: "Hence also the Brahmans," he says, "in order to possess free tranquility, completely banished gold from their borders, lest by its use they be polluted with avarice and corrupt equity, and betray salutary peace. Nature also hides this kind of metal in the bowels of the earth, whence those zealous for virtue have perceived that gold is more of an evil than a good to human affairs. For if the highest good of man were to consist in bodily riches, why would careful providence have granted them more to beasts than to men? For griffins possess emerald gems and golden murex shells and golden mountains, and the earth rejoices in veins of metals most rich and in many precious stones hidden from us. Does it not appear from this that nature has refuted the cunning of avarice, since she has given far greater abundance of desirable riches either to brutes to possess, or has hidden them in the elements themselves? Whence, teaching that true riches are not covetousness, but the cutting off of covetousness: "Flee gold," he says, "spurn riches, extinguish the flames of covetousness; for they do not enrich the soul, but impoverish it, while they captivate it in vice. Love and seek only the good of virtue, because what you seek, you have within. For the treasure of supreme goodness consists nowhere else than in those who love it. When these things had been carefully heard, soon with covetousness put to flight, he rejoiced to have found in himself a rich vein of virtue."
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16. THERE IS NO WEALTH ABOVE THE WEALTH OF THE HEALTH OF THE BODY: AND THERE IS NO PLEASURE ABOVE THE JOY OF THE HEART. — In Greek: There are no riches better than the health of the body, nor is there joy better than the pleasure of the mind; Zurich: Nor is there any pleasure greater than the joy of the mind, which namely proceeds from the health of the body, and surpasses immeasurably the joy arising from riches or honors; Syriac: There is no wealth like the health of the body, and there is no joy like a good heart, that is, a joyful one. He proves what he said in the preceding verse, that health of both soul and body surpasses all gold, from the fact that the health of the body is in itself a "wealth" and the greatest treasure, which far transcends and surpasses all treasures of gold; but the health of the soul produces peace of conscience and joy of mind, which surpasses every other pleasure that worldly people have in delights, riches and other earthly things, because the joy of a holy mind is in God, with God, and from God; wherefore it is divine, heavenly, most pure, most noble and eternal, whereas carnal joy is earthly, impure, base, momentary. Moreover the Greeks, since they have nothing in the preceding verse about the holiness of justice, but only about the health of the body, understand this verse only of that, as if to say: There is no wealth more excellent than the wealth of health; because a healthy man, even if poor, has true joy of heart, and therefore surpasses every pleasure that unhealthy rich men have in their gold, wife, children, family, honor, etc. Thus Palacius: "The health of the body," he says, "is greater wealth than other riches. Which is shown from this, namely that prolonged infirmity consumes all the riches which a healthy body acquired. Then because although gold, silver, family and other things bring joy to a man, they do not bring such joy as the health of the body; for this makes the heart glad; those, however, if a man is sick, cannot make it glad. Therefore a poor man is rich by his health, as a rich man is miserable by his infirmity. Again, a poor man rejoices in his heart by his health, a rich man is cast down by his sickness. Therefore health has more power even in a poor man than riches in a rich man. For, as Quintilian wisely says, Declamation 1, for the blind: 'All rashness is broken by the calamity of the body; and the impulses of minds grow cold, which the services of the limbs do not unfold.' However you take it, this is a general saying: 'There is no pleasure above the joy of the heart,' which holds everywhere and in every matter. Moreover that true joy of heart is from virtue alone, Seneca teaches, epistle 23: "The foundation of a good mind," he says, "is not to rejoice in vain things. I have said this foundation is also the summit: he reaches the highest things, who knows wherefore he rejoices, who has not placed his happiness in another's power. He is anxious and uncertain of himself, whom some hope provokes; although it be at hand, although it be not sought with difficulty, although he has never been deceived by hoped-for things. Do this before all else, my Lucilius, learn to rejoice. Do you think I am now taking away many pleasures from you, I who remove chance things, who think hopes, the sweetest pleasures, are to be avoided? On the contrary. I do not wish joy ever to be lacking to you; I wish it to be born to you at home; it is born, if only it be within yourself. Other cheerfulness does not fill the breast, but relaxes the brow, they are light; unless perhaps you judge that one rejoices who laughs. The mind ought to be cheerful and confident, and raised above all things. Believe me, true joy is a serious matter." And more thereafter. But elsewhere he says: "Virtue alone provides perpetual, secure joy; even if something hinders, it intervenes like clouds, which are borne below, and never overcome the day." Thus he himself, epistle 27. More divinely St. Paul teaches that true joy is to rejoice in the Lord, when he says: "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice," Philip. IV, 4. But what it is to rejoice in the Lord, St. Basil beautifully explains in the Shorter Rules, Rule 194: "In those things," he says, "which are done according to the commandment of the Lord, to rejoice is to rejoice in the Lord. Wherefore whenever we execute the commandments of God, or suffer anything for the name of the Lord, we ought to rejoice and congratulate one another." It is, moreover, as the same Basil says, homily 4 On Thanksgiving: "Joy, a certain exultation as it were of the soul leaping up and spreading itself, which happens from some favorable circumstance. Wherefore Paul, Philipp. IV, 4, admonished that one should rejoice in the Lord." On which place Anselm: "Rejoice," he says, "not in the world, but in the Lord; for as no one can serve two masters, so no one can rejoice both in the Lord and in the world." And St. Chrysostom, homily 18 to the People: "He did not simply say: Rejoice always; but adds, setting forth the cause of continuous pleasure: Rejoice in the Lord always." But in what manner one can always rejoice in the Lord, he explains immediately by adding: "Rejoicing in the Lord from no accident can fall away from this pleasure; for all other things in which we rejoice are changeable, nor do they bring us such pleasure that they expel and overshadow the sadness born from other things. But the fear of God has both of these; for it is stable and unmoved, and emits such great joy that no sense of other evils can seize us. For he who fears God as he ought, and trusts in Him, has gained the root of pleasure, and has every fountain of joy. And just as a spark falling into an immense sea is easily extinguished in a short time; so whatever strikes him who fears God, falling as it were into a vast sea of joy, is extinguished and lost. And truly this is most wonderful, that when those things which are wont to sadden are present, he himself remains rejoicing." Which he then pursues in a long discourse, running through almost every kind of evils, and showing that true joy from this is not only not extinguished, but is not even lightly affected or diminished. Which also St. Basil shows most clearly, homily 4 On Thanksgiving: "A soul, he says, which once has bound itself in every way with desire for its Creator, and has now grown accustomed to delight itself in the contemplation of such great beauty of His, does not at all allow that vehement joy and the most pleasant diffusion of its spirit to be interrupted or changed by the manifold and successive changes of carnal affections; but rather those things which bring sorrow to others, it will turn to an increase and accession of joy for itself. Such was the Apostle, while he was almost pleased with himself in infirmities, in tribulations, in persecutions, in necessities, changing his poverty into glory and exultation." Whence Rabanus understands all these things of the health of the soul: "Because, he says, he who is sound in mind, it does not harm him to be vexed in bodily tribulation. Whence Paul says of himself, II Corinthians XII: When I am weak, then am I powerful. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore then the body is well healthy, when it labors vigorously in divine work: to which health is not compared great wealth of riches; there is no pleasure like the joy of the heart: because to the pleasure of true wisdom, which consists in true charity, and to the contemplation of truth itself, which is certain knowledge of God, no earthly joy can be compared." Furthermore, the invocation of the Holy Angels wonderfully contributes to joy: for since they are blessed, and therefore most joyful, hence they inspire their joy in their own. Whence a good Angel is distinguished from a bad one, in that the former inspires joy, the latter sorrow. Thus Raphael, curing Tobias of blindness, and leading his son away and bringing him back with a rich wife and dowry, brought joy to the whole family. So the Angel announcing to Sarah and Abraham the birth of Isaac, drove away the sorrow of barrenness, Genesis XVIII, 10. The other angels did the same, who appeared to the Patriarchs and Prophets in Scripture. Thus to St. Magnus, Bishop of Anagni, and martyr under Decius, an angel appearing to him as he grieved: "Why, he said, Magnus, are you sad? Put away sadness; for I am sent to you to drive away all sorrow from you," as his Acts relate. 17. DEATH IS BETTER THAN A BITTER LIFE; AND ETERNAL REST THAN LASTING LANGUOR. — In Greek: Death is preferable to a bitter life, or a disease lasting long; in Syriac: It is better to die than a wicked life, and to descend into hell rather than lasting pain. Here he precisely compares and prefers death to a bitter life, such as that of a rich man afflicted with diseases; because death brings quiet, and frees from diseases and evils of this life; but a bitter life in diseases is not so much life as perpetual and long death. For, as the Poet says: "To live is not merely to exist, but to be well." And Pliny the Younger, book IV, epistle 23: "If, he says, you count the years, it is a short time; if you count the changes of things, you will think it an age." And Ovid, book I Of Pontus, elegy 1: For if anyone should recount my evils through long years, Believe me, I shall be greater than Nestor of Pylos. He abstracts therefore from the state of grace, and considers only nature and the gifts or evils of nature, and compares them among themselves. For if you consider the state of grace, the bitter life which the Apostles and all the Saints have lived and live in mortification, labors, persecutions, is by far superior to death, according to that saying of Christ: "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted," Matt. v. Again, for the impious rich it is better to live here and enjoy their riches, even with languor and sickness, than to die; for after death they will suffer the eternal torments of hell. In a similar way, Job, abstracting from the state of grace and considering only his sorrows according to nature, desires death, that he might be freed from them. Whence he says, cap. III, vers. 3: "Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived." Thus also Jeremiah, cap. XX, vers. 14: "Cursed, he says, be the day wherein I was born: the day in which my mother bore me, let it not be blessed." See the sayings there. Wherefore by eternal rest (which nevertheless is not in the Greek) understand not that which the Blessed possess in heaven, and which we pray for the faithful departed saying: "Grant them eternal rest, O Lord;" but such as a man constituted in the pure powers of nature desires and expects after this life; namely, that being free from all the troubles of this life, dwelling in the state of souls and silent, he may rest, concerning which Job, cap. III, 13: "Now if I were sleeping, he says, I should rest, and repose in my sleep." Hence the Gentiles believed that souls after death were silent, at rest, and as it were sleeping, just as bodies sleep in the sepulcher. Hence also the place of the dead, namely hell or limbo, in Hebrew is called— composed of the sepulchers of the dead, who do not eat, nor drink, nor perceive any fruit from them." Note: The Gentiles formerly made offerings to the Manes of their dead, that is to their souls, by placing food and drink (especially beans, because they dull the senses and cause sleeplessness) at their sepulchers; as if the souls were pleased to be nourished and refreshed by them, as Pliny expressly teaches, lib. XVIII, cap. XII: "Because, he says, the souls of the dead are in it (namely, the bean), for which reason it is certainly used in making offerings." And Lucretius, lib. III: They make offerings. And they sacrifice black cattle, which they send as offerings to the dark Manes.
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For they believed souls to be corporeal, or at least to have thin and airy bodies, which would need to be restored by food. This custom crept in from the Gentiles to the Christians, which St. Augustine therefore rebuking, serm. 15 De Sanctis: "I wonder, he says, why among some unbelievers today such a pernicious error has crept in, that they bring food and wines to the tombs of the dead, as if souls departed from bodies required carnal food." The same, De Moribus Eccles. XXXIV: "I know many to be worshippers of sepulchers, who, when they drink most luxuriously over the dead and exhibit feasts to corpses, bury themselves over the buried." St. Ambrose recounts and rebukes the same custom, De Elia et Jejunio, cap. XVII, and St. Cyprian, tract. De Duplici Martyrio. And St. Paulinus, on the birthday of St. Felix, 9th, rebuked his rustics in Italy, because through simplicity they brought feasts in the old manner of the Gentiles to the very sepulcher of St. Felix: Because error, he says, has settled in rude minds; nor does such unconscious simplicity lack piety, though credulous, believing that Saints rejoice in sepulchers sprinkled with wine. The Gentiles followed this custom, or rather the Jews preceded them, but with a higher and holier purpose and faith. For they indeed prepared a funeral feast near the sepulchers of the dead for friends and the poor, so that by their prayer, as well as by this almsgiving of theirs, they might free the souls of their dead from the pains of purgatory. This is indeed what Tobias admonishes his son, cap. IV, 18: "Lay out thy bread and thy wine upon the burial of the just, and do not eat and drink of it with the wicked." Following the Jews, Christians, especially in Rome and in Africa, brought feasts to the sepulchers or memorials of martyrs, which through the martyrs, as it were by this contact sanctified, they themselves and their friends tasted beforehand; then they distributed them to the poor, who were called together to the church for the agape on the Birthdays of Martyrs, and they did this in honor of the martyrs. They did the same at the burial of their own dead, whose salvation or glory was uncertain, namely, they prepared alms, or this banquet or agape in the cemeteries or temples, so that— called דומה duma, that is, silence. Thus Virgil, lib. VI Aeneid, concerning the infernal regions sings: O gods, to whom the empire of souls belongs, and silent shades, and Chaos, and Phlegethon, places silent in the night far and wide. And Seneca in Hippolytus: He went to the silent house in perpetual night. And Ovid, IV Metamorph., thus describes the infernal regions and souls descending there: There is a downward path, gloomy with deadly yew: It leads to the infernal seats through mute silences. Styx exhales sluggish mists; and the recent shades Descend there, and phantoms released from sepulchers. Pallor and winter hold far and wide the slow places.
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Tropologically, Rabanus: "Death is better," he says, "concerning which it is written Psalm 115: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints, than a bitter life, which sinners lead while devoted to wicked works. And eternal rest, which the just hold in the sight of the Lord, is better than persistent languor, by which those versing in sins daily waste away, whose end is destruction, and glory in the confusion of those who are wise in earthly things," Philip. III. 18. GOOD THINGS HIDDEN IN A CLOSED MOUTH, AS IF FOODS SET AROUND A TOMB. — He continues to show how useless riches and delights are to the wealthy afflicted with disease, through three similitudes. The first is that of a tomb, that is to say, riches and foods stored and hidden away in chests and cellars by the rich man, but one who is infirm, who on account of sickness and nausea of the stomach cannot enjoy them, and therefore has his mouth, as it were, closed to them, are useless, just as foods set around the tomb of the dead are useless, since the dead cannot eat and taste them. By which it is indicated that the rich man who is sick is as if dead; inasmuch as he can be refreshed and recreated by his delights no more than a dead man can be. For although he may have many good things hidden away in his cellars, if nevertheless his languor closes his mouth to him, so that he cannot eat them, or cannot except with pain and nausea; surely those things will be similar to foods which were accustomed to be set before the dead. Note: For "hidden" our text reads κεκρυμμένα, the Complutensian edition reads κεκλεισμένα, that is, closed. Whence they translate: Good things closed to a closed mouth, etc. But closed is the same as hidden. The codices corrected at Rome read ἐκκεχυμένα, whence they translate: Good things poured out to a closed mouth, or poured out to a closed mouth, are dishes of food set upon a tomb. The Syriac: Good things, which are hidden in the mouth of the one hiding them, just as foods, which are placed upon tombs. Mystically Lyra: "Good things hidden in a closed mouth," that is, he says, knowledge hidden away in the mind of a man lazy in teaching, is useless; just as foods set before the dead are useless. So also Rabanus: "This testimony," he says, "avails against those who neglect to preach to others the talent of the word of God, which they themselves have perceived by understanding; whose knowledge is thus useless to the living, just as foods set
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the soul of the deceased, if it were held in the pains of purgatory, then by the prayers of the poor and by almsgiving they would expiate and free it. Whence St. Augustine, book IX of the City of God, final chapter: "Whoever," he says, "brings foods there (to the tombs of Martyrs); which indeed is not done by better Christians, and in most lands there is no such custom; nevertheless whoever does this, when they have set them down, pray and take them away, so that they may eat, or even distribute some of them to the needy, they wish them to be sanctified there by the merits of the martyrs in the name of the Lord of the martyrs." The same, book VI of the Confessions, chapter II, concerning his mother: "When she had brought," he says, "to the memorials of the saints, as is the custom in Africa, pottages and bread and wine." But because this rite recalled the parentalia of the Gentiles, and because many abused it for feasting and carousing; hence St. Ambrose removed it from the temples, as St. Augustine relates, book VI of the Confessions, chapter II, whose example, as St. Augustine later taught, the African Church followed; wherefore in its place almsgiving for the deceased began to be distributed at home everywhere, as is still done. All these things are clear from St. Augustine, epistle 64, and from St. Paulinus, epistle to Alethius, and from St. Chrysostom, homily 32 on Matthew. 19 and 20. WHAT WILL A LIBATION TO AN IDOL PROFIT? FOR NEITHER WILL IT EAT, NOR SMELL: SO HE WHO FLEES FROM THE LORD, BEARING THE WAGES OF INIQUITY. — This is the second similitude taken from idols and their victims, showing the misery of the rich man, but one who is sick. For formerly sacrifice was instituted as a kind of banquet and feast of God, or of an idol, deigning to converse with men and as if to feast with them, as I said in Leviticus I. Hence in every sacrifice there was a victim as food and flesh to be eaten by God, and at the same time wine was poured out, that is, was poured forth, as a drink to be drunk by God or the idol.
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The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as a victim is offered in vain, and wine is poured out with it to an idol, when that stone or golden image has no taste of food or drink, no smell and no sense: so likewise a rich man, "who is driven away," in Greek ὁ ἐκδιωκόμενος, that is, one who suffers persecution from the Lord, or whom God pursues on account of his crimes and pride, and harasses with diseases and calamities, so that he appears as another Cain, proscribed and overthrown by the Lord, and bears sickness as if "the reward of his iniquity": this rich man, I say, but sick, will have riches in vain, with which he might prepare splendid feasts, since he cannot taste them and enjoy them. Whence from the Greek you may translate more clearly thus: What profit is an offering to an idol? Does it not eat, nor does it smell: such is he whom the Lord pursues; Zurich: To what purpose libations to an image? For it will not eat from them, nor will it perceive the odor: so it is with him who is overthrown by the Lord, and bears the reward of his iniquity; Syriac: What utility is there in the idols of the peoples, which do not eat and do not smell? So it is with him who has riches, and does not use them. Where note that rich men are rightly compared here to idols. First, because they themselves have riches and worship them as their own idols. Whence avarice is called by the Apostle "the service of idols," Ephesians V. Rich men therefore are adorned with their riches as if with idols adorned with gold and gems. Second, because rich men are worshipped by the world as if they were idols and certain deities. Third, because just as the most precious wines and herds are poured out and sacrificed to idols: so to rich men are sumptuous tables set up, abounding in every kind of delicacy. Fourth, just as an idol from the offering made to it receives no fruit, because it neither tastes nor feels: so also a rich man, if he be sick, from all his riches and delicacies perceives little or no fruit and pleasure. 21. SEEING WITH HIS EYES AND GROANING, AS A EUNUCH EMBRACING A VIRGIN, AND SIGHING. — This is the third similitude of the eunuch, as if to say: A rich man, but sick as already mentioned, sees the feasts and groans, because he cannot devour them and enjoy them: just as a eunuch seeing a beautiful virgin groans and sighs, because he cannot enjoy her on account of his coldness and impotence. Wherefore riches and delicacies bring him not comfort and joy, but sorrow and torment. Such a one therefore is like Tantalus, who in hell, though immersed in the midst of waters, is nevertheless destroyed by thirst. Of whom the Poet says: Tantalus grasps at fleeing apples: this his garrulous tongue gave him. And Horace: Tantalus thirsting from his lips grasps at fleeing rivers.... with the name changed, of you the fable is told, lying asleep over heaps gathered on all sides, and as if forced to spare sacred things, or as if to rejoice in painted tablets. Tantalus therefore immersed in a river, but up to his lips, and not permitted to drink from it, and therefore always thirsting, is a symbol and figure of a rich and avaricious man, or a sick one, who immersed in riches does not dare to enjoy them, or cannot. 22. GIVE NOT SORROW TO THY SOUL, AND AFFLICT NOT THYSELF IN THY COUNSEL. — In Greek: Give not thy soul into sorrow; Zurich: Do not plunge thy mind into sadness, nor afflict thyself with thy counsels; others: Give not thy soul to grief, and afflict not thyself on account of thy counsel AND AFFLICT NOT THYSELF IN THY COUNSEL. — thy; Syriac: Give not thy soul to sadness, and do not offend in the counsel of thy soul. Where Jansenius rightly notes: He does not say, he says: Never have sadness in thy soul (for this is impossible to human weakness), but: "Give not sorrow to thy soul," or, as it is in the Greek: Give not thy soul into sorrow: that is, do not allow sadness to rule thy mind, or do not of thy own accord bring it upon thyself, and give cause for being sad. For when something sad happens, by thinking upon and weighing the good things that are present, the matter of sadness must be overcome, so that it is not permitted to rule our mind. And especially must we beware lest, when we have much occasion for joy, we ourselves suggest to ourselves matter for sadness, exaggerating certain slight evils. This therefore is signified when it is said: "Give not sorrow to thy soul." And it is a discourse concerning sadness, which Paul calls "the sadness of the world," which he says works death, which is namely concerning the things of this world. For "the sadness that is according to God works penance unto salvation firm": and therefore it ought to be assumed willingly, and given to our soul. Thus Palacius. That sadness therefore is to be avoided which does not produce joy: just as a potion is avoided which does not produce health. But that sadness is to be procured which generates joy, and which works stable salvation and blessedness. Concerning the harm and damages of sadness, see St. Ambrose discoursing, oration 2 On Satyro; St. Gregory, XXXI Morals, chapter CCXVII; St. Augustine, book XII On Genesis according to the letter, chapter XXXIII; Cassian, Collation IX, chapter III; St. Bernard, On the Interior House, chapter LII. Furthermore, the remedy of sadness is either to remove the evil which saddens us, or, if it cannot be removed, to diminish it by premeditation and to bear it with great courage; for the cause of sadness is not so much the evil itself which presses upon us, as our opinion, apprehension and estimation of it, namely that we judge it to be hard and grave. Which estimation, since it lies in our power, can be mitigated, indeed can be set aside: and thus sadness likewise will be mitigated, or entirely set aside. For truly Epictetus, Enchiridion, chapter I: "In our power, he says, is opinion, appetite, desire, aversion and any of our actions." And that this opinion of evil rather than the evil itself is the cause of sadness, the same man wisely affirms in chapter X: "Men, he says, are disturbed not by things, but by the opinions which they have about things." And Plutarch, book On Exile: "Exile, he says, disgrace, loss of goods, just as on the other hand crowns, magistracies, and first seats, have by their own nature, but by our judgment of them, the mode of afflicting or delighting." And Cicero, Tusculan Disputations III: "Prolonged reflection, he says, that there is nothing evil in the matter, heals pain, not the prolongation itself." See St. Chrysostom, homily That no one is harmed except by himself. See also our Gregory of Valencia, I II, disputation 3, Question VI, point III, where he assigns eight remedies of sadness, and pursues them at length. Furthermore, the remedy of sadness is a good conscience, trusted and fixed in God. For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 25 to the People: "Nothing else is sad except to offend God. Which when they have, not tribulations, First, Palacius holds that here the same thing, or nearly the same thing, is said as in the former hemistich, as if this counsel were sadness, or sadness itself, as if to say: Do not afflict yourself with sadness: wherefore neither pursue those counsels which are sad, or which bring sadness to you or increase it. For the sad, the melancholic and the scrupulous are accustomed to be thoughtful, to turn over a thousand thoughts, to agitate a thousand counsels, and the tumults of the mind, to which therefore it should be said with the Psalmist: "How long shall I take counsels in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day?" Psalm XII, 2. Thus also Lyra, who gives an example: "As those do, he says, who despair, who kill themselves."
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Secondly, that is to say, Do not be afflicted because your counsels do not have a happy outcome or are denied, or are overturned by others, especially by your rivals; but consider that as many as are the heads of men, so likewise are the senses and counsels. Wherefore tolerate this peacefully, and say with the Apostle: "Let each one abound in his own sense" and counsel, Rom. XIV. Thirdly, Jansenius, that is to say, Do not deliberate and take counsel too anxiously and scrupulously; do not afflict and torment yourself with various counsels and deliberations, namely while you anxiously turn over in your mind how you might free yourself from certain evils, or how you might attain some good which you desire; and especially do not anxiously think and deliberate about future events, duties, labors, tribulations, and other things which may befall you: because in reality perhaps they will never befall you. Wherefore consider that saying of Christ: "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," Matth. VI. And so just as in the former member he admonished to lay aside sadness, so in this he admonishes to lay aside anxious cares and solicitudes, which afflict no less than sadness, and which partly follow upon sadness, partly precede and cause it. Just as therefore in the former he admonished that for sadness and sad thoughts joyful ones should be sought, by which the mind may be stirred to joy, so in this he admonishes that anxious cares and solicitudes should be converted into freedom and cheerfulness of mind, and that they should be resigned to divine providence, and that one should say with the Psalmist: "The Lord is solicitous for me," Psal. XXXIX, 18. And Psal. XXII, 1: "The Lord ruleth me (St. Jerome, The Lord is my shepherd; the Hebrew and Septuagint, The Lord feedeth me, as a shepherd feedeth sheep), and I shall want nothing: in a place of pasture there he hath placed me." And with St. Paul: "Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God," Philip. IV, 6. And with St. Peter, epist. I, cap. V, vers. 7: "Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you." See the passages cited in both places. neither snares, nor anything else will be able to sadden a wise soul; but just as, if you cast a small spark into a deep place, you immediately extinguish it: so likewise all superabundance of sadness cast into a good conscience is extinguished. For this reason indeed Paul always rejoiced, because inwardly he trusted according to God, nor did he take in the sense of so many evils, but he grieved indeed as a man, yet he did not fall. So also the patriarch Abraham, although he suffered sad things in great delight: yet none of these things cast him down." B. Caesarius of Arles, homil. 2: "True joy," he says, "is not possessed unless peace and justice are held. For justice is the first and as it were the root; the second is peace, the third is joy. From justice is born peace, from peace joy is generated. Justice and peace seem to be as it were good works: but joy is understood to be the fruit of good works." And St. Bernard, in the books On Consideration: "What is richer, what is sweeter in the heart, what is quieter and more secure on earth than a good conscience? It fears not the loss of things, not the insults of words, not the tortures of the body, which indeed it is raised up by more than it is cast down by." The pagan writers agree with our authorities. Cicero to Torquatus, in a familiar letter: "Conscience," he says, "of a right will is the greatest consolation in the inconveniences of things." And Seneca to Lucilius: "I do not wish joy ever to be lacking to you: I wish it to be born to you at home. It is born, if only it be within yourself." And a little later: "The desire for true good is safe. What is this you ask, or whence it arises, I will tell you: From a good conscience, from honest counsels, from right actions, from contempt of chance things, from a calm life and a continuous course pressing one path." To this pertains the symbol of Pythagoras: "Do not wear a tight ring, that is, do not do those things which constrain and afflict you." And: "Do not eat the heart, that is, do not torture yourself with cares and anxieties;" which especially the conscience of crime conscious to itself is wont to produce. Thus Plutarch, tract. On Liberal Education. Again St. Bernard, in the treatise On the Interior House, chapter LIV, says: "Do you wish never to be sad? Live well. A good life always has joy: the conscience of a bad deed is always in punishment." And in chapters XX and XXII: "The conscience is pure when it is neither justly accused concerning the past nor unjustly delighted concerning the present. A good conscience is the title of religion, the temple of Solomon, a field of blessing, a garden of delights, a golden resting place, the joy of Angels, the ark of the covenant, the treasure of the king, the hall of God, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, a sealed and closed book, and to be opened on the day of judgment. Nothing is more pleasant, nothing safer, nothing richer than a good conscience: let the body be pressed, let the world drag, let the devil terrify, and it will be secure. A good conscience will be secure when the body dies; secure when the soul is presented before God; secure when both in the day of judgment stand before the terrible tribunal of the just judge." Finally, St. Basil, in homily 4 On Giving Thanks, says: "Thus you will obtain that you always rejoice: namely, if the institution and order of your whole life aims at and looks to God, and the hope of retribution makes those things which are sad in this life lighter. Has someone afflicted you with dishonor? Rather look upon the glory which is laid up in heaven and prepared for you by the merit of patience. Have you suffered the loss of your things? Fix your eyes more firmly on the heavenly riches and the incomparable treasure which you have set aside for yourself by the price of good works. Are you excluded from your native land? Yet you have that heavenly Jerusalem as your country. In this manner, if you set against those things which now cause you trouble the good things which are hoped for, you will keep your soul from all anxiety. To which the sanction of the Apostolic law invites us: Rejoice always, Philip. IV. This is what the wisest king proclaims to all, Eccles. III, 12: And I knew, he says, that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in one's life—that is to say, these two are connected, to rejoice and to act well: so that you may always rejoice, always act well. 23. JOY OF HEART THIS IS THE LIFE OF MAN, AND A TREASURE WITHOUT DEFECT OF HOLINESS; AND THE EXULTATION OF A MAN IS LONG-LIVEDNESS.—The Greek, as is customary, omits the middle sentence in a bipartite form, and thus has: Joy of heart is the life of man, and the exultation of a man is long-livedness; the Zurich version: Joy of mind indeed is life to man, and a treasure of holiness inexhaustible, and the gladness of each age is length of days; the Syriac: Joy of heart itself is the life of man, and the conscience (pure and therefore joyful) of man itself increases his life. He assigns three fruits and effects of joy and gladness. The first is that it itself is as it were the life of man, both because man always needs some pleasure as a kind of recreation on account of the many labors and troubles which befall him in this life, as Aristotle teaches in book VII of the Ethics; and because life in sadness is not so much life as death, as was said in verse 17; and because gladness makes all vital actions flourish: for he performs them with joy, and therefore eagerly, exultantly, fully and perfectly, according to that in Proverbs XVII, 12: "A joyful mind makes a flourishing age: a sad spirit dries up the bones." The second fruit of gladness is that it is "a treasure without defect," that is, unfailing, "of holiness," that is to say, Joy of heart pure and true is not only the life of man, but also an unfailing treasure of holiness; because, namely, it fosters and preserves holiness. By which he signifies, first, that gladness destitute of holiness, which is conceived from the abundance of riches, honors and delights, is not pure and true, but mixed with many sorrows and sadnesses, and therefore will fail and not last long; second, that pure, true and genuine gladness consists in holiness: for a good and holy conscience is always joyful, because it knows itself to be in the grace of God, indeed to be a child of God, from whom it therefore confidently expects an inheritance and eternal glory; third, that gladness fosters and increases holiness: for it causes man to perform the holy works of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, religion, etc. joyfully and eagerly, and therefore to persevere constantly in them; for those things which are done with sadness are done remissly and with tedium, and therefore man cannot endure in them. Great is this praise of gladness, namely that it itself is an inexhaustible treasure of holiness: because it itself continually stirs man to perform and accumulate more and greater holy works, and because it itself eagerly and courageously overcomes all difficulties and temptations which the demon, the world and the flesh suggest, in order to turn man away from holy exercises. Wherefore St. Antony to his religious living strenuously and austerely uniquely commended spiritual joy, as it were a singular shield and remedy for overcoming all temptations: "There is one way," he says, "of conquering the enemy: spiritual joy, and the constant remembrance of the Lord by a soul always thinking of Him, which, driving away the games of demons as smoke, will pursue adversaries rather than fear them." Thus St. Athanasius, in the Life of St. Antony. Whence Palladius, in the Lausiac History, chapter LII, speaking of the holy Anchorites and companions of St. Apollo the Abbot: "It was permitted," he says, "to see them exulting in the wilderness, so much so that one could see no other such exultation on earth, nor bodily joy: for there was not among them anyone sad or sorrowful. But if anyone appeared to show forth sadness, immediately Abbot Apollo asked him the reason, and he would reveal what was hidden in the heart of each; and he would say: It is not fitting to be sad on account of salvation, since we are to be heirs of the kingdom of heaven: but the Gentiles will be sad, the Jews will weep, sinners will mourn; but the just will rejoice: and those who indeed ponder earthly things will be merry in earthly things; but we, who have been deemed worthy of such great hope, how do we not rejoice perpetually, since the Apostle persuades us, I Thessalonians V, to rejoice always, and to pray without ceasing?"
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On the other hand, nothing is so exposed to the temptations of the demon as a sorrowful spirit. For sadness puts to flight the Holy Spirit, as being the spirit of joy, and brings in the dark spirit, namely the demon, who is the spirit of acedia and sadness. Hear St. Chrysostom, book III On Providence: "For all," he says, "diabolical operation is more pernicious than immoderate magnitude of grief and acedia: for those whom the demon overcomes, he overcomes through grief. But if you remove grief, nothing at all of evil and inconvenience shall befall you from him." And further down: "Then indeed ought we to be sad, not when we are afflicted with evil, but when we ourselves perpetrate some evil." See Cassian, book X On the Institutes of Renunciation, chapter II and following, where he graphically depicts the spirit of acedia and sadness, and recounts its suggestions, effects and harms. Wherefore Hermas, disciple of St. Paul, in the book which is entitled The Shepherd (it exists in volume V of the Library of the Holy Fathers), whom the ancients cite and celebrate everywhere: "Just as," he says in book II, chapter X, "wine mixed with vinegar does not have the same sweetness: so also sadness, joined to the Holy Spirit, does not have the same pure prayer;" nay, sadness puts to flight the Holy Spirit. For "the fruit of the Holy Spirit is charity, joy, peace," etc. Galatians V, 22. But hear Hermas again, book II, commandment 10, from the person of God: "Sadness of all spirits is the most wicked, and the worst for the servants of God, and every spirit exterminates it, and torments the Holy Spirit." And further down: "Put on therefore cheerfulness, which always has grace before the Lord. You shall delight in it. For every cheerful man works well, and thinks good things, and despises injustice. But a sad man does evil; because he makes the Holy Spirit sad, who was given to man for cheerfulness." And again: "He does evil, in that a sad man prays to the Lord, and does not first make confession, and does not obtain from God what he asks. For always the prayer of a sad man does not have the power to ascend to the altar of the Lord." To this pertains that saying of Aaron, Leviticus X: "How could I please the Lord in ceremonies, with a mournful mind?" for a mind overwhelmed and oppressed with grief cannot lift itself up to God. It is added, that "God loves a cheerful giver," II Corinthians IX. The third fruit of joy is: "And the exultation of a man is long life," not formally, but causally, that is to say, joy and exultation makes a man long-lived, but sadness makes him short-lived. For joy cheers, vivifies, dilates, multiplies, and strengthens the vital spirits, which preserve and increase the heart and life of man; sadness does the contrary. Hear St. Gregory of Nazianzus in his Distichs: "Griefs bring premature old age to mortals. For time shall never restore those things which have been destroyed and laid low by griefs. A solicitous mind gnaws the bones like a worm: but a body commanding all cares to be well flourishes exceedingly." The same doctrine is taught by Hippocrates, Galen and other physicians. Whence the School of Salerno gives these remedies for a healthy life: If physicians fail you, let these three be physicians to you: a cheerful mind, easy rest, a moderate diet. Wherefore for a faithful man, that he may always be cheerful, cheerful and joyful thoughts are to be sought out concerning heaven, concerning Christ, concerning the benefits of God, and His presence, indwelling and operation in us; concerning the Blessed Virgin, concerning the Saints, and other similar ones, which our Alvarez de Paz recounts at length, On the Attainment of Virtues, book III, part II, chapter IV. Whence Rabanus: "True," he says, "joy of heart consists nowhere else than in true charity, where also the life of man with the treasure of virtues remains without defect of holiness: because no virtue can subsist without its aid. For this is the more excellent way, which the Apostle preferred to all tongues, martyrdom, and almsdeeds, saying: Now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity," I Corinthians XIII. Anagogically the same Rabanus: "The exultation of a man is long life," that is, the blessed eternity of the Saints: because there is true exultation where there is true beatitude: for the present life is full of miseries, and unhappy with continual sorrows. 24. HAVE MERCY ON THY SOUL, PLEASING TO GOD, AND RESTRAIN THYSELF: GATHER THY HEART IN HIS HOLINESS, AND PUT SADNESS FAR FROM THEE. — Thus the Roman edition reads and divides, although Jansenius and others read and divide otherwise. The Greek texts have it more briefly thus: Love thyself, and speak to thyself, or: Console thy heart, and remove sorrow far from thee; the Syriac: Flatter thy soul, and refresh thy heart, and put sadness far from thee. Where note, first: He who loves his soul has mercy on it; but he who does not love it, but hates it, becomes unmerciful toward it, indeed cruel; such is he who loves iniquity, and therefore brings upon himself present and eternal sadness and pain. Secondly, "pleasing to God" can be taken in two ways, namely, first, so as to signify the cause and end of having mercy on the soul; secondly, so as to signify its effect, or rather its manner. According to the first sense the meaning will be, as if to say: "Have mercy on thy soul," to this end and fruit, namely that through this mercy thou mayest please God, who has commanded it to thee, when he has entrusted to thee the care and salvation of thy soul, and commended it to thee above all things. According to the second sense the meaning will be, as if to say: "Have mercy on thy soul," striving that thou mayest please God: which will happen if thou restrainest thyself in holiness. For mercy toward the soul consists in this, that he who wishes to have mercy on it should strive to make it pleasing to God: which he will do if he makes it holy. Excellently Origen, homily 4 on chapter VI of Luke: "God," he says, "has entrusted to thy soul his image and likeness: this deposit therefore, so distinguished, must be restored by thee, as whole as it is clear it was received by thee." Otherwise Jansenius, who takes "pleasing to God" antecedently as a supposition of the verb have mercy, as if to say: Thou who pleasest God, and hast a good conscience before God, so that thou art not conscious of any great evil, thou deservest rightly to have mercy on thy soul, namely that thou mayest console it in sorrows through the good testimony of thy conscience, by which thou art confident that thou pleasest God. Thirdly, "and restrain thyself" signifies the manner in which thou ought to have mercy on thy soul and please God, as if to say: If thou wishest to have mercy on thy soul and please God, be continent, exercise continence, restrain thyself from all desires of flesh and concupiscence. For continence is a virtue which restrains all the surging motions of concupiscence. Whence, explaining this, he adds: "Gather thy heart in his holiness." Fourthly, for "gather thy heart in holiness," the Greek is: console thy heart. Whence Jansenius, wishing to adapt the Latin Vulgate to the Greek, explains all these things concerning sadness, as if to say: "Restrain," that is hold back, "thy heart" from immoderate sadness, "and gather" it, not allowing, namely, it to be poured out into mourning, but by thy consolation compressing it and keeping it collected with thee: "Gather," I say, it "in holiness" of God, that is, console it when it is sad, for this reason that thou art holy before God, and that thou pleasest God from his gift. Or "gather" it "in holiness" of the heart itself, that is console thy heart for this reason, that it be holy through true knowledge and love of God. But, since the Latin Vulgate was approved and confirmed by the Council of Trent, session IV, and since here and elsewhere it is more abundant and fuller than the Greek; we ought rather to adapt the Greek to the Latin than the Latin to the Greek. Wherefore: "gather thy heart in holiness," is an explanation of restrain, as if to say: Thou wilt restrain thyself and be continent if thou "gatherest thy heart" "in holiness." For the suggestions of concupiscence, which are many, distract the heart, and solicit and scatter it toward various enticements of the flesh: wherefore that thou mayest flee and drive them out, call thy heart away from them, and wholly summon and gather it, that it may adhere to holiness, that is, to God and his will and law: in this indeed all holiness consists. Which if thou shalt do, thou wilt dispel all sadness. This is indeed what he adds: "And put sadness far from thee." Which is the end and scope of the whole sentence. For he exhorts to driving out sadness, and suggests and prescribes its manner. Palacius notes that a wicked heart is scattered like ashes, and dispersed like sand: but a holy heart, he says, is gathered and becomes one; because it is united to God, who is supremely one: therefore "It is good for me to adhere to God," Psalm LXXII. Because "he who adheres to the Lord, is one spirit," I Corinthians VI, 17. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Do you wish to drive sadness away from yourself and to bring upon yourself constant joy? Have mercy on your soul, taking care that it please God, and therefore refrain from all its wicked desires. You will do this if you turn your heart away from them and gather it together and unite it to holiness: for if you do this, you will drive all sadness from yourself: for holiness is the mother of joy and the expeller of sadness. Therefore, in order that you may drive this misery, namely sadness, from your soul, have mercy on your soul, and take care of its greater misery, namely concupiscence and iniquity: for from that sadness arises, as if to say: He is merciless and cruel, and as it were a torturer and executioner of his own soul, who delivers it to concupiscences, that it may be torn by them, and be torn asunder into a thousand desires, and serve them foully and miserably as if a slave to every command; and from this he sustains a thousand anguishes and sorrows of conscience, and is tormented and lacerated by them. Whoever therefore is wise and wishes to flee these things, he has mercy on his soul, and strives to please God, and therefore restrains and abstains himself from concupiscences, and gathers and delivers his whole heart to God and to His holiness; and by this means he drives away all sadness and brings upon himself all joy. For, as Bede says in Proverbs: "Those easily grow sad whose hope is set in low things." Thus on the other hand: "Those easily rejoice whose hope is set in high things." Thus they explain and eternal, but blessed life in heaven, not miserable life in hell. Thus Pope Stephen V, as is found in 33, Question II, chapter VIII Admonere, § Idcirco. He admonishes Aistulph, who had killed his wife: "Have mercy," he says, "on your soul, that you may not be a murderer to yourself. Wherefore we beseech you, abandon this evil age, which has drawn you to so savage a deed of sin, enter a monastery, humble yourself under the hand of an Abbot, and aided by the prayers of better brothers, observe with simple mind all things that shall be commanded to you, if perhaps the infinite mercy of God may forgive your sins, and refresh your soul, before you are tormented with perpetual flames." Rabanus, Lyra and Palacius, indeed St. Augustine, Enchiridion chapter LXXVI, and it is found in On Penance, distinction 3, chapter He who wishes: "He," he says, "who wishes to give alms in an orderly manner, ought to begin from himself, and give it to himself first. For almsgiving is a work of mercy, and it is most truly said: Have mercy on your soul pleasing God. For this reason we are born again, that we may please God, to whom it is rightly displeasing what we contracted by being born. This is the first alms which we give to ourselves: because we have sought ourselves as wretched through the mercy of the merciful God, confessing His just judgment, by which we have become wretched, of which the Apostle speaks in Romans V: For judgment indeed from one unto condemnation. And giving great thanks to His charity, of which the same preacher of grace speaks: But God commendeth His charity towards us, because when as yet we were sinners, Christ died for us: that we also, truly judging of our misery, and loving the charity of God which He Himself gave, may live piously and rightly." Thus far St. Augustine. The same, sermon 102 On the Seasons: "Now," he says, "by His ineffable piety God not only admonishes us, but also begs us, that we revoke ourselves from mortal sins. Let us hear Him while He begs, lest He afterwards not hear us while He judges. Let us hear Him through the Prophet saying: My son, he says, have mercy on your soul pleasing God. What will human frailty answer to these things? God begs you to have mercy on yourself, and you will not! He pleads your cause before you, and cannot obtain it from you! And how will He hear you on the day of judgment supplicating, when you yourself were unwilling to hear Him begging for yourself." So also St. Bernard in the Sentences: "The Spirit of wisdom," he says, "present everywhere, knows what is in heaven and what is done in hell. And when He has filled the human mind, He instills fear of the pains of hell, and infuses love of heavenly things, and thus makes man have mercy on his soul, and says to him: Have mercy on your soul pleasing God." The same, sermon 8 to the Knights of the Temple: "It is truly great malice," he says, "that you do not have mercy on yourself, and only after sin reject the remedy of confession from yourself, and rather wrap fire in your bosom than shake it off, nor give ear to the counsel of the Wise One, who says: Have mercy on your soul pleasing God. Therefore he who is wicked to himself, to whom will he be good?" The same, letter 8 to Bruno: "The first," he says, "degree of piety is that of which it is written: Have mercy on your soul pleasing God. From this, however, charity proceeds in the right path to have mercy on one's neighbor, since each is commanded to love him according to his own measure." See him urging Eustathius, occupier of the See of Valencia, to penance with these pathetic words, Epistle 183. With the same words you may urge any sinner, saying: Have mercy on your soul, O wretched one, so that when your body must shortly perish and die and be given to worms, at least you may take thought for your soul, so that it, since it is immortal and eternal, may be immortal 25. For SADNESS hath killed many (Some Greeks read: It hath destroyed and killed; thus also the Syriac: For sadness hath killed many, and hath destroyed them), AND THERE IS NO UTILITY IN IT. — because although you grieve over an evil, you will not thereby remove it, but rather will increase and double it. Moreover, melancholy, sadness and acedia have slain many and slay them daily, both as to body and as to soul, and destroy them by death both present and eternal. Sadness therefore is an executioner. If you shudder to be an executioner of others, why do you not shudder to be through sadness an executioner of yourself? Physicians give the cause and manner, and among them Francis Valesius, in Sacred Philosophy, chapter LXXII. Great sadness, he says, always harms, and can sometimes kill, not indeed suddenly, like fear and joy (Galen is the author), but gradually and over a long time. For through joy abundantly and without any restraint all heat is poured forth: wherefore in the faint-hearted it all exhales: in great fear it rushes abundantly to the heart and is suffocated. A motion similar to fear is sadness, yet not as vehement as that, but by its nature slow, and therefore gradually causes the vital heat to wither, and the nourishment of the parts to diminish, and thus leads to consumption. Which those words of Proverbs XVII plainly signify: "A sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones." And so sadness perhaps kills no one suddenly, like fear and joy, but slowly and gradually very many. Those words: "And there is no utility in it," bear a twofold sense, natural and moral. By the natural sense they signify that sadness contributes nothing: for it neither drives away diseases nor preserves health (this indeed must be understood from what has been said concerning great sadness, and that which excludes all cheerfulness). By the moral sense, they contain a certain exhortation to drive sadness from the mind. As if it were said: Avoid sadness because it kills many, and contributes nothing to recovering that for which you grieve: for you will not raise up your dead husband by tears, nor your son, nor will you find lost money, nor will you restore a house consumed by fire. Wherefore Blessed Antiochus, homily 25: "Sadness," he says, "is a worm of the heart, devouring its own mother like a viper." And St. Athanasius cited by St. Bernard, On the Manner of Living Well, chapter XI: "A sad man," he says, "always acts wickedly, and grieves the Holy Spirit given to him by God." St. Chrysostom, homily 7 to the People: "Sadness," he says, "God has given us for no other reason than for sin alone, and he has made this manifest through the very experience of things. For in the loss of money, and death, and sickness, and other troubles pressing upon us, grieving and sorrowing, we not only receive no consolation, but even increase our troubles. But if we grieve and sorrow over sins, we diminish the magnitude of sin, and what was great we make small, and often indeed we utterly destroy it altogether." The same, epistle 8 to Olympias: "Sadness," he says, "is a cruel torment of souls, a certain inexplicable pain, and a judgment worse than all judgment and vengeance. For it is like a poisoned worm, destroying not only flesh but the very soul itself; tearing the soul apart, but consuming the powers of the soul; and it is perpetual night, and deep darkness, and tempest, and whirlwind; a fever not apparent, burning more powerfully than all fire, and a struggle having no rest." Cassian, book IX On the Institutes of the Renunciants, chapters II and III, citing and explaining that passage of Proverbs XXV: As a moth to a garment, and a worm to wood, so sadness hurteth the heart of a man. "For a garment," he says, "touched by the eating of moths can have no further use of any value or honor: and likewise wood eaten by worms will merit to be appointed not for the ornament or moderate building, but for burning by fire. So a soul, which is devoured by the most voracious bites of sadness, will be useless for that priestly garment, which the ointment of the Holy Spirit descending from heaven, first upon the beard of Aaron, then upon the hem of his garment, is accustomed to receive, as is related by the prophecy of St. David: As the ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard of Aaron, that ran down to the skirt of his garment, Psalm CXXXII."
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The natural but efficacious remedy for sadness is great and vehement occupation, especially in an honest and pleasant matter: for this draws the imagination away from sad things to itself, occupies it and cheers it. Try it, and you will feel that the matter stands thus. Moreover, our Alvarez de Paz suggests eight remedies for driving away sadness, in his De Exterminatione mali, book II, part V, XII, near the end. Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, proposing to each of the seventy Interpreters individual ethical questions, proposed this as the twenty-ninth: "How would one live without sadness?" To which he replied: "If you harm no one, and help all, pursuing justice toward everyone; from that such fruit of joy is gathered. But God must be implored, lest those things harm us which happen contrary to our expectation, such as deaths, diseases, afflictions," etc. But as the fifty-sixth he proposed this: "In what things ought one to be sad?" To which he replied: "In the adversity of friends, since we see it to be long-lasting and unavoidable, and such as destroys those covered with calamities. For in these matters no reason alleviates sadness. But concerning those things in which we despair, and find nothing useful in them, all mortals are saddened, yet to avoid evil altogether is the province of divine power." Thus he, a contemporary and perhaps a companion of the author of Sirach, as Aristaeus reports in his History of the Seventy Interpreters, which is found in volume VII of the Library of the Holy Fathers. More clearly and more excellently the Psalmist, in Psalm XLI, assigns prayer and hope in God as the remedy for sadness: "Why, he says, art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God." And St. James, chapter V, verse 13: "Is any one of you sad? he says, let him pray. Is he of good cheer? let him sing psalms." To this pertains the proverb of the Hebrews in the More nebuchim, book II, chapter XXXVII: "Prophecy does not rest upon the sad, nor upon the slothful." Wherefore Elisha, that he might prepare himself for prophecy, sought out a Psalmist, who would cheer his mind by his psalmody and lift it to divine things, IV Kings III, 15. Finally, sadness in many arises from sad events of the past which have befallen them, to which as an antidote should be suggested that saying of Seneca, De Regim. princip.: "Do not repent of a thing past, because that is the property of the weak." For a thing past is impossible to recall. But no wise man repents, grieves or afflicts himself over an impossible thing. Antonius in the Melissa, book I, chapter LXXII, On sadness, suggests other remedies for it. The first from St. Gregory Nazianzen, who says: "Communion and sharing of grief is a consolation to the grieving." And from St. Chrysostom, who says: "Sadness divided among many torments the sufferer less." And from Photius, who says: "Only the conversation of those experienced in like affections are consolations to the mourning." The second from Plutarch saying: "The plainest way should be chosen, and the most tranquil life. A tunic should be put on the chest, but reason and mind should be put on sadness." The third from Theopompus saying: "Time frees the foolish, but reason frees the wise from grief. He is wise who is not sad on account of absences, but rejoices in present things." The fourth from Photius saying: "Flee temptation by patience and prayer: but if without these defenses you oppose it, it attacks more vehemently." 26. ENVY AND ANGER DIMINISH DAYS, AND ANXIOUS THOUGHT BRINGS OLD AGE BEFORE ITS TIME. — To sadness he adjoins three things, partly offspring, partly allied and companion vices, namely envy, anger and anxiety, which, equally as sadness, gradually consume and kill a man. For "envy" is that vice whose companion and associate is anger. Whence Jansenius understands by envy anger; others, any envy; Palacius, jealousy, by which a man is jealous of his wife, or conversely. For "anxious thought" the Greek is μέριμνα, that is, care and solicitude, as if to say: Envy and anger corrode and consume the days of a man's life, and they are as it were the rust and moth of it: similarly care and solicitude bring old age swiftly and before its time to a man. Whence the Zurich version translates: Envy and anger diminish days, anxiety— and brings on premature old age. Thus also Bias in Laertius, lib. I, cap. VI: "As iron, he says, is consumed by rust, so the envious man wastes away by his own vice," that is to say, Just as iron generates rust from itself, which eats it away: so the envious man conceives envy, which eats away and consumes him. And Periander: "As verdigris corrodes iron, so envy wears away the soul of him in whom it dwells." And St. Basil, hom. in aliquot Script. locos: "This is another disease peculiar to the life of men, and implanted in our souls by nature, and more apt to consume hearts than rust consumes iron." Others translate: Zeal and anger diminish days, and care brings on old age before its time; the Syriac: Zeal and wrath consume days, and care causes gray hair to appear before its time. The physicians teach the same thing; whence the School of Salerno thus begins: If you wish to be sound, if you wish to make yourself healthy, Put away grave cares, believe anger to be profane. An example so illustrious is found in Alexander the Great, who obscured all the glory of his deeds by anger, by which he himself, conqueror of all, was conquered, while through it he brought death to his friends and ruin upon himself. "For Alexander, says Valerius Maximus, lib. IX, cap. III, by his own anger almost snatched himself from heaven; for what prevented him from rising there, except that Lysimachus was thrown to a lion, Clitus was pierced with a spear, and Callisthenes was ordered to die? And as for Callisthenes, weeping for his death, Seneca, angered at Alexander's anger, speaks most eloquently, lib. VI Nat. Quaest. cap. XXIII: "This is, he says, Alexander's eternal crime, which no virtue, no prosperity of affairs will redeem. For whenever anyone shall say: He killed many thousands of Persians; it will be objected: And Callisthenes. Whenever it shall be said: He killed Darius, who then held a great kingdom; it will be objected: And Callisthenes. Whenever it shall be said: He conquered all things as far as the Ocean, and even attempted it with new fleets, and extended his empire from the corner of Thrace to the boundaries of the East, it will be said: But he killed Callisthenes. Although he surpassed all the ancient examples of leaders and kings in what he did, nothing from these deeds will be so great as the crime of Callisthenes." Truly therefore Heraclitus said: "It is hard to fight against anger, which takes away life."
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That saying from the Physics is celebrated: τὰ ἄχολα μακρόβια, that is, animals lacking bile, such as the deer, are long-lived. Moreover, Ausonius describes the longevity of man and animals thus gradually, whether truly or rather fabulously, in Idyll. 18: "It exceeded by three times two and ten and nine years the just span which fills the life of aging men: The garrulous crow surpasses these nine times by living; and the deer goes beyond the crow's centuries four times; the raven thrice conquers the winged deer...." Franciscus Valesius gives the cause in Sacred Philosophy, cap. LXXII: "These three things seem to me," he says, "namely zeal, anger and thought, to be signified by the single name of solicitude. For we call those solicitous who care more than enough about what is being done, what will be. For such are zealots, and therefore angry and thoughtful: which all exclude cheerfulness from the mind. Wherefore if it is truly said in cap. XVII of Proverbs: 'A joyful mind makes a flourishing age;' it rightly comes to pass that what joy excludes, solicitude brings, namely ingrained old age. But that this is true is established, since it was indicated before that a sad spirit dries the bones: therefore that passion also dries them, of which sadness is a companion, namely solicitude and excessive care. But as it dries, so it cools: because (as we just said) it dries by diminished nourishment through the consumption of vital heat and spirits. But natural cooling together with dryness is itself old age. Whence it comes about that to be solicitous, and therefore angry and thoughtful, brings on old age before its time. Nor is anything more known by experience. Nor is anything more advisable for those who lead a private life than to be solicitous about nothing: but for those who hold the helm of the commonwealth, who cannot do this, yet to interpose joys with cares, and frequently to relax the mind freed from such cares, and to give place to food and exercise, lest with the mind always turned to thought, the body waste away. To this pertains that saying of St. Gregory of Nazianzus in the Distichs: 'Sorrows bring premature old age to mortals. A solicitous mind gnaws the bones like a worm; but the body, commanding cares to depart, flourishes exceedingly.' Whence Sirach adds: 'A good and splendid heart is in feasting.' It is memorable what Hermas, a disciple of St. Paul, writes from the mouth of God in book II of the Pastoral, mandate 3; namely, that anger and impatience obscure and extinguish in us the Holy Spirit, while equanimity and patience awaken and exhibit the same. 'Be equanimous,' he says, 'and patient, and you will master all the works of wickedness, and will work all justice. But if you are patient, the Holy Spirit who dwells in you will be pure, and will not be obscured by any wicked spirit, but rejoicing will be enlarged and will feast in the vessel in which he dwells, and will appear to the Lord cheerful in great peace. But if any anger supervenes, immediately the Holy Spirit who is in you will be straitened, and will seek to depart. For he is suffocated by the wicked appearance, and does not have a place to appear to the Lord as he wishes; for he is troubled by anger. If therefore both spirits dwell together equally, it is pernicious to man.' He proves by a similar case: 'For if anyone takes a little wormwood and puts it into a jar of honey, does not all the honey perish! And so much honey is destroyed by a little wormwood, and loses the sweetness of the honey, and now has no favor with its master; because all the honey has become bitter, and has lost its use. But if wormwood is not put into the honey, it will be sweet and in use to its master. See therefore how much sweeter equanimity is than honey,'
remedy and antidote he opposes a splendid heart, cheering itself with feasts, and thus dispelling cares and prolonging life. He calls a splendid heart a cheerful and liberal one, not a sad or avaricious one. For sadness and avarice contract the heart, obscure and cloud it; whereas cheerfulness and liberality dilate it, cheer it, and make it magnificent and as it were splendid. Hence light and splendor are symbols of joy and beneficence; darkness and shadows, of sadness and avarice. Whence the Psalmist often prays: Lighten thy countenance upon thy servant, O Lord, that is to say, Show me thy countenance bright, that is, cheerful, benevolent and beneficent. The sense therefore is, that is to say, A cheerful and liberal and good heart, that is, a broad and pleasant one, is at its feasts, and enjoys them honestly and liberally, and prepares them diligently for itself and others: wherefore it also lives more joyfully, and longer, and more honorably. Whence the Zurich version translates: A splendid and benign heart will procure food for itself to eat; but it will not avariously gather much, which it does not dare to enjoy, says Vatablus. Others: A splendid and good heart takes care of its food and nourishment. Joyful and splendid, and neither through sadness neglects the care of food, nor through stinginess sordidly furnishes the table, but joyfully and liberally, yet moderately and temperately feasts with its own. The Syriac: A good (joyful) heart has many foods, and all that he eats shows upon his body, that is to say, All that a joyful man eats, he digests and converts into his own substance, fattens his body; and thus he shows that he has eaten well and digested what he ate: the sad and sorrowful man does the contrary. To this pertains that saying of the Nazianzen in the Distichs: It is the mark of a temperate mind to show forth some cheerfulness. Palacius shrewdly observes that these are doctrines of natural ethics. Ecclesiasticus, he says,
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.