Of the choice of friends and counsellors.
Beware of a feaned, & loue à sure freind, 7. consult with the wise, trustie, 15. and vertuous, 19. especially relying vpon God. 21. The tongue is cause of much good, or much euil. 30. Be temperate in diet.
1Every friend will say: I also am his friend: but there is a friend, that is only a friend in name. Is not this a grief even to death?Ogni amico dirà: Anch'io ho con tratta amicizia con lui: ma vi son degli amici solo di nome. Non v'ha egli in ciò un disgusto, che va fino alla morte?EVERIE freind wil say: I also haue ioyned freindshipe: but there is a freind, in name only a freind. Doth there not sorow remaine euen to death?Omnis amicus dicet: Et ego amicitiam copulavi: / sed est amicus solo nomine amicus. / Nonne tristitia inest usque ad mortem ? 2But a companion and a friend shall be turned to an enemy.E un compagno, e un amico si cambiano in nemici.But a companion and freind wil be turned to enmitie.sodalis autem et amicus ad inimicitiam convertentur. 3O wicked presumption, whence camest thou to cover the earth with thy malice, and deceitfulness?O scelleratissima invenzione, donde se' uscita a ricoprire la terra di tal malvagità, e perfidia?O most wicked presumption, whence wast thou created to couer the drie land with malice, and with the deceitfulnes thereof?O præsumptio nequissima, unde create es / cooperire aridam malitia et dolositate illius ? 4There is a companion who rejoiceth with his friend in his joys, but in the time of trouble, he will be against him.Un amico gode insieme coll'amico nell'allegria; ma in tempo di tribolazione farà contro a lui.A companion is pleasant with his freind in delectations, and in the time of tribulation he wil be an aduersarie.Sodalis amico conjucundatur in oblectationibus, / et in tempore tribulationis adversarius erit. 5There is a companion who condoleth with his friend for his belly’s sake, and he will take up a shield against the enemy.Un amico si affligge coll'amico per amore del proprio ventre, e imbraccia lo scudo contro il nemico.A companion is sorie with his freind for his bellies sake, and he wil take a shield against the enemie.Sodalis amico condolet causa ventris, / et contra hostem accipiet scutum. 6Forget not thy friend in thy mind, and be not unmindful of him in thy riches.Non esca dall'animo tuo la memoria del tuo amico, e non ti dimenticare di lui quando tu sii venuto in ricchezze.Forgete not thy freind in thy minde, and be not vnmindeful of him in thy riches.Non obliviscaris amici tui in animo tuo, / et non immemor sis illius in opibus tuis. 7Consult not with him that layeth a snare for thee, and hide thy counsel from them that envy thee.Non prender consiglio da colui, che ti insidia, e nascondi i tuoi disegni a coloro, che ti portano invidia.Consult not with him which betraieth, and hide thy counsel from them that enuie thee.Noli consiliari cum eo qui tibi insidiatur, / et a zelantibus te absconde consilium.
8Every counsellor giveth out counsel, but there is one that is a counsellor for himself.Ognuno, che è consultato, mette fuora il suo consiglio; ma v'ha chi da consiglio in pro suo.Euerie counseler vttereth counsel, but there is a counseler in him selfe.Omnis consiliarius prodit consilium, / sed est consiliarius in semetipso. 9Beware of a counsellor. And know before what need he hath: for he will devise to his own mind:Abbi cura di te stesso nel ricorrere al consigliere: e prima rifletti se abbia bisogno di qualche cosa; perocché anch'egli vi penserà dentro di se;From such a counseler keepe thy soule. First know what his necessitie is: for he wil deuise to his owne minde:A consiliario serva animam tuam: / prius scito quæ sit illius necessitas: / et ipse enim animo suo cogitabit: 10Lest he thrust a stake into the ground, and say to thee:Affinchè egli per disgrazia non ficchi in terra un bastone appuntato, e poi ti dica:lest perhaps he thrust a sharpe stake into the ground and say to thee:ne forte mittat sudem in terram, / et dicat tibi: 11Thy way is good; and then stand on the other side to see what shall befall thee.La tua strada è sicura; ed egli se ne stia dirimpetto a vedere quel, che ti avvenga.Thy way is good; and stand ouer against thee to see what wil befal thee.Bona est via tua: / et stet e contrario videre quid tibi eveniat. 12Treat not with a man without religion concerning holiness, nor with an unjust man concerning justice, nor with a woman touching her of whom she is jealous, nor with a coward concerning war, nor with a merchant about traffic, nor with a buyer of selling, nor with an envious man of giving thanks,Va a discorrere di santità con un uomo senza religione, e di giustizia coll'iniquo, e con la donna va a discorrere di colei, che le da gelosia, di guerra col pauroso, di cose di traffico col negoziante, di vendite con uno, che vuoi comperare, di gratitudine coll'invidioso,With an irreligious man treate not of holines, and with the vniust of iustice, and with a woman of the thing whereof she is ielous: with a feareful man of warre, with a marchant of traficke, with a byer of selling, with an enuious man of geuing thankes,Cum viro irreligioso tracta de sanctitate, / et cum injusto de justitia, / et cum muliere de ea quæ æmulatur, / cum timido de bello, / cum negotiatore de trajectione, / cum emptore de venditione, / cum viro livido de gratiis agendis, 13Nor with the ungodly of piety, nor with the dishonest of honesty, nor with the field laborer of every work,Di pietà coll'empio, di onestà col disonesto, col lavorator di campagna di qualunque lavoro,with the impious of pietie, with the vnhonest of honestie, with the field labourer of al worke,cum impio de pietate, / cum inhonesto de honestate, / cum operario agrario de omni opere, 14Nor with him that worketh by the year of the finishing of the year, nor with an idle servant of much business: give no heed to these in any matter of counsel.Col mercenario prezzolato per un anno di quello, che possa compirsi nell'anno; col servo pigro del molto lavorare: non prender mai consiglio da costoro su tali cose;with him that worketh by the yeare of the ending of the yeare, with a slothful seruant of much working: attend not to these in al counsel.cum operario annuali de consummatione anni, / cum servo pigro de multa operatione. / Non attendas his in omni consilio:
15But be continually with a holy man, whomsoever thou shalt know to observe the fear of God,Ma frequenta l'uomo pio, chiunque sia quegli, cui tu conosca costante nel timore di Dio,But be continual with a holie man, whomsoeuer thou shalt know to obserue the feare of God,sed cum viro sancto assiduus esto, / quemcumque cognoveris observantem timorem Dei: 16Whose soul is according to thy own soul: and who, when thou shalt stumble in the dark, will be sorry for thee.L'anima del quale sia secondo l'anima tua, ed il quale se mai tu vacillassi tralle tenebre, abbia compassione di te.whose soule is according to thine owne soule: and who when thou shalt stumble in the darke, wil be sorie for thee.cujus anima est secundum animam tuam, / et qui, cum titubaveris in tenebris, condolebit tibi. 17And establish within thyself a heart of good counsel: for there is no other thing of more worth to thee than it.Formati dentro di te un cuore di buon consiglio; perocché altro non puoi averne più da stimarsi di questo.And establish with thy self an hart of good counsel: for there is none other thing more worth to thee then it.Cor boni consilii statue tecum: / non est enim tibi aliud pluris illo. 18The soul of a holy man discovereth sometimes true things, more than seven watchmen that sit in a high place to watch.L'anima d'un uomo pio scopre talora la verità meglio, che sette sentinelle, che stanno alle vedette in luogo elevato.The soule of a holie man vttereth sometime true thinges, more then seuen watchmen that sitte in a high place to watch.Anima viri sancti enuntiat aliquando vera, / quam septem circumspectores sedentes in excelso ad speculandum. 19But above all these things pray to the most High, that he may direct thy way in truth.Ma sopra tutto invoca l'Altissimo, affinchè addirizzi i tuoi passi secondo la verità.And in al these beseech the Highest, that he direct thy way in truth.Et in his omnibus deprecare Altissimum, / ut dirigat in veritate viam tuam. 20In all thy works let the true word go before thee, and steady counsel before every action.Avanti a ogni cosa ti preceda la parola di verità, e avanti ad ogni azione uno stabil consiglio.Before al workes let a true word goe before thee, and stable counsel before euerie act.Ante omnia opera verbum verax præcedat te, / et ante omnem actum consilium stabile. 21A wicked word shall change the heart: out of which four manner of things arise, good and evil, life and death: and the tongue is continually the ruler of them. There is a man that is subtle and a teacher of many, and yet is unprofitable to his own soul.Una cattiva parola altera il cuore; or da esso nascono, queste quattro cose; il bene, e il male, la vita, e la morte; le quali cose sono costantemente in potere della lingua. Taluno è abile ad istruire molti, e non è buono a nulla per l'anima sua.A wicked word shal change the hart: out of which rise foure partes, good, and euil, life, and death: and the tongue is a continual ruler of them. There is a subtile man teacher of manie, and to his owne soule he is vnprofitable.Verbum nequam immutabit cor: / ex quo partes quatuor oriuntur: / bonum et malum, vita et mors: / et dominatrix illorum est assidua lingua. / Est vir astutus multorum eruditor, / et animæ suæ inutilis est.
22A skilful man hath taught many, and is sweet to his own soul.Un altro è prudente, e istruisce molti, e da consolazione all'anima propria.A cunning man hath taught manie, and is swete to his owne soule.Vir peritus multos erudivit, / et animæ suæ suavis est. 23He that speaketh sophistically, is hateful: he shall be destitute of every thing.Colui, che discorre da sofista, è odioso, egli resterà colle mani vuota del tutto:He that speaketh sophistically, is odious: in euerie thing he shal be defrauded.Qui sophistice loquitur odibilis est: / in omni re defraudabitur. 24Grace is not given him from the Lord: for he is deprived of all wisdom.Il Signore non ha conceduto a lui di essere gradito, perché è privo d'ogni sapienza.Grace is not geuen him of our Lord: for he is defrauded of al wisdom.Non est illi data a Domino gratia, / omni enim sapientia defraudatus est. 25There is a wise man that is wise to his own soul: and the fruit of his understanding is commendable.E sapiente colui, che è sapiente per l'anima propria, e i frutti dalla, prudenza di lui son degni di laude.There is a wise man, wise to his owne soule: and the fruite of his vnderstanding is laudable.Est sapiens animæ suæ sapiens, / et fructus sensus illius laudabilis. 26A wise man instructeth his own people, and the fruits of his understanding are faithful.L'uomo sapiente istruisce il suo popolo, e i frutti del suo sapere sono fedeli.A wise man teacheth his people, and the fruites of his vnderstanding are faithful.Vir sapiens plebem suam erudit, / et fructus sensus illius fideles sunt. 27A wise man shall be filled with blessings, and they that see shall praise him.L'uomo sapiente sarà ricolmo di benedizioni, e chiunque lo vede, gli darà lode.A wise man shal be filled with blessinges, and they that see wil praise him.Vir sapiens implebitur benedictionibus, / et videntes illum laudabunt. 28The life of a man is in the number of his days: but the days of Israel are innumerable.La vita dell'uomo è un numero di giorni, ma i giorni d'Israele son senza numero.The life of a man is in the number of dayes: but the dayes of Israel are innumerable.Vita viri in numero dierum: / dies autem Israël innumerabiles sunt. 29A wise man shall inherit honour among his people, and his name shall live for ever.L'uomo sapiente sarà in onore presso del popolo, e il nome di lui viverà eternamente.A wise man in the people shal inherite honour, and his name shal liue for euer.Sapiens in populo hæreditabit honorem, / et nomen illius erit vivens in æternum. 30My son, prove thy soul in thy life: and if it be wicked, give it no power:Figliuolo, nel tempo della tua vita tenta l'anima tua, e se ella è cattiva, non le dare potestà;Sonne in thy life proue thy soule: & if it be wicked, geue it not power:Fili, in vita tua tenta animam tuam, / et si fuerit nequam non des illi potestatem:
31For all things are not expedient for all, and every kind pleaseth not every soul.Perocché non tutte le cose sono utili a tutti, e non ogni anima trova in ogni cosa la sua soddisfazione.for al thinges are not expedient for al, and euerie kinde pleaseth not euerie soule.non enim omnia omnibus expediunt, / et non omni animæ omne genus placet. 32Be not greedy in any feasting, and pour not out thyself upon any meat:Guardati dall'essere avido in qualunque convito, e non iscagliarti sopra tutte le vivande;Be not greedie in al feasting, and power not out thy self vpon al meate:Noli avidus esse in omni epulatione, / et non te effundas super omnem escam: 33For in many meats there will be sickness, and greediness will turn to choler.Perocché il molto mangiare cagiona malattìe, e la golosità conduce fino alla colica.for in manie meates there shal be infirmitie, and greedines shal approch euen to choler.in multis enim escis erit infirmitas, / et aviditas appropinquabit usque ad choleram. 34By surfeiting many have perished, but he that is temperate, shall prolong life.Molti ne ha uccisi la crapula: ma l'uom temperante prolungherà la sua vitaBecause of surfet manie haue died: but he that is abstinent, shal adde life.Propter crapulam multi obierunt: / qui autem abstinens est adjiciet vitam.
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Haydock
Death. Greek explains this: (Calmet) I mean (2.) "a companion and friend turned?" etc. (Haydock)
Worthington
True friendship is most necessary, and false most dangerous. (Worthington)
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Menochius
Will. Grotius suspects that not is wanting. Yet, if such a false friend take up arms, it will only be (Calmet) for his own belly. (Menochius)
Not is ill-omitted in the Complutensian edition in the last part of the following verse.
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Haydock
Snare. Roman and Alexandrian Greek has at the end (Calmet) of ver. 11., "with him that suspecteth thee." (Haydock)
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Calmet
Stake, or stumbling-block. (Calmet)
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Treat not. The negation is omitted in the Vulgate, (Haydock) which speaks ironically in the three following verses. Greek, "consult not with him who suspecteth thee, and hide thy counsel from those who are jealous of thee. With a woman," etc. Consult not, is always understood. Among the Jews, polygamy occasioned much jealousy.
Calmet
Envious miser. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Nor. Greek, "with the merciless concerning kindness, with the sluggard concerning any work. With one hired for the year, concerning coming to an end:" sunteleias. (Haydock)
He will never finish his work, or think he has sufficient wages.
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Calmet
God, and is enlightened, as well as a good friend, ver. 16. (Calmet)
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Haydock
It. Greek, "more faithful than it," the well regulated heart. (Haydock)
It will give the best counsel, if we be not guided by passion.
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Calmet
Holy is not in Greek, but must be understood. (Calmet)
Haydock
The soul or heart, which is attentive to God, (ver. 17.) will be the best guide. (Haydock)
St. Augustine
All good advice proceeds from the Lord. (St. Augustine, Doct. prol. 7.)
Worthington
We must always have recourse to him, though we must use our best endeavours. (Worthington)
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Haydock
In. Greek, "Reason is chief of every work, and counsel must go before every action." (Haydock)
We must distrust our own lights.
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Them. The heart gives birth to good or evil, which the tongue utters, Matthew 12:34., and 15:18.
Soul. What will science, without charity, profit him, if he should even gain the world? (Matthew 16:26., and 1 Corinthians 13:1.)
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Hateful. His sophisms are soon discovered. Greek, "there is one wise, hateful in his discourses: he shall be devoid of all wisdom."
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Calmet
Soul. Being replenished with wisdom, he communicates it to others, and obtains an eternal reward. (Calmet)
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Haydock
But. Greek, "And." The wisest must soon die: Even the race of Israel shall end: But the virtuous shall be for ever remembered, ver. 29. (Haydock)
Worthington
The blessed in heaven live for ever. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Life. Attempt nothing above thy strength: or Greek, try what agrees with thy health or soul, (Calmet) and see thou give it not what is hurtful to it." (Haydock)
Worthington
St. Paul (1 Corinthians xi.) exhorts every one to prove or try himself and his own conscience. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Soul. "We must not dispute about tastes." (Haydock)
They are as various as men's faces. All conditions do not suit every person.
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Calmet
Choler, or indigestion. "Gluttony has slain more than the sword." (Calmet)
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As freindshippe is a most necessarie thing in humane life; so fained frēdshippe is most dangerous.
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Man is bond to vse al pru•lentendeuour & withal most especially to pray for Gods direction.
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The dayes of the Blessed in heauen, who see God, are eternal.
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The same which S. Paul admonisheth (1. Cor 11.) let euerie one proue him self, by examining & rectifying his conscience.
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Concordance 1. Cor. 6.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Continence 3
… guilty by the divine laws, although hidden to human senses; the word having been spoken in the heart, no deed having been committed through the body. But in no case would he have moved the limb without, in a deed, the beginning of which deed had not gone before within in word. For it is no lie that is written, that “the beginning of every work is a word.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 4.27
59. But whatever may be the majesty of the style, the life of the speaker will count for more in securing the hearer’s compliance. The man who speaks wisely and eloquently, but lives wickedly, may, it is true, instruct many who are anxious to learn; though, as it is written, he “is unprofitable to himself.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 2.31
… Then the first speaker adds: “I am a man;” and when the other has given his assent to this also, the first draws his conclusion: “Then you are not a man.” Now of this sort of ensnaring arguments, Scripture, as I judge, expresses detestation in that place where it is said, “There is one that showeth wisdom in words, and is hated;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 15.11
… We must notice in this enigma also another likeness of the word of God; viz . that, as it is said of that Word, “All things were made by Him,” where God is declared to have made the universe by His only-begotten Son, so there are no works of man that are not first spoken in his heart: whence it is written, “A word is the beginning of every work.”
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mine, so that they seem to have the whole world as a friend, when nevertheless they have many enemies, or rivals, or strangers and unknown persons. Moreover the Syrian refers these things to the vagabond, of whom in the preceding chapter, last verse. For thus it has: Thus a man who has not a wife, in the place where he shall be found will die. And to his friend he says: I love; truly he is a friend in name only, who does not persevere unto death. A true friend be to you as your own soul. Most excellently Aristotle, book I of the Great Ethics, chapter XXV, thus distinguishes a true friend from a false one and from an enemy: "Friendship," he says, "between a flatterer and enmity is a mean, which is found in action and speech. For the flatterer is he who attributes to someone more than is fitting and what is present. But the hostile enemy is he who detracts even from what is present, neither of whom rightly approaches with praise. Between whom the middle is the friend, namely he who neither attributes more to anyone than what is present, nor praises what is not at all fitting, nor on the other hand will diminish, nor altogether oppose, except it be thought to be owed. Such therefore is a friend." Thus Aristotle. But Pliny, book VII, chapter II: "The hyena," he says, "like the ichneumon, is now male, now female; thus some, unlike themselves, now speak strong things, now soft; now they are philosophers, now fools; now friends, now enemies." Plutarch, in the Moralia, says that the flatterer is a raven: "Because just as ravens flying about dig out the eyes of corpses; so flatterers with their praises corrupt human reason and mind. The hare ought to regard the dog, the friend the flatterer, as a natural enemy. One should rejoice more in those who reprove than in those who flatter: for the former as with a goad stir up the soul; these however by gratifying dissolve and subvert it." Demosthenes moreover said that the flatterer is worse than the raven, because that one devours the living, this one the dead. Phavorinus: "Just as Actaeon," he says, "was torn by the dogs which he had reared; so flatterers devour those by whom they are fed." Epictetus: "Ravens," he says, "corrupt the eyes of the dead, but flatterers blind the eyes of souls." Is not sorrow present (the Interpreter reads ἔνι, the Complutensian edition reads μένει, that is, remains) even unto death? 2. And a companion and friend shall be turned to enmity. — The Greek, omitting τὸ but, and for "shall be turned" reading "are turned," thus clearly have: Is not sorrow unto death, when a companion and friend is turned unto enmity? Complutensian: Is not sorrow remaining unto death, a companion and friend, turning (or converting) himself into enmity? Zurich: Does not sorrow bring it unto death remaining, a companion, or friend converted into an enemy? This reading is full and clear. Whence two manuscript Latin codices likewise read thus in the Latin Vulgate. Hence also Rabanus thus explains: "For it is the greatest evil," he says, "and to be lamented with continual sorrow, that where fidelity is hoped for, there malignity is found; and where charity is made similar to friendship, there perversity is found in enmity." But because the other Latin codices, even those corrected at Rome, constantly have τὸ but and "shall be turned"; hence the sense here is more pathetic, as if to say: Is not a friend in name only, that is, false and hypocritical, creating sorrow for another, so that he brings death to him, or it lasts unto death? For when he sees himself deceived by him to whom he entrusted himself and his secrets, namely, that he did not entrust them to a friend, as he thought, but to a hypocrite and enemy, who lay hidden under the name of friend, then truly he grieves inconsolably and laments unto death. Meanwhile however this nominal and false companion and friend, leaving his sorrow to his friend, openly and plainly shall be turned to enmity, which will more increase the sorrow of his friend, and bring him a swifter death; because, as Lyra says: "There is no more effective plague for causing harm than a familiar enemy and companion, that is, a table-mate. For it is called from seat, as it were a companion: because he sits with another at table; for it frequently happens that those sitting together at table, before they depart from one another, quarrel and fight." Thus Lyra. So also the Lexicographers: A companion, they say, is called in lighter matters; and companions are almost always spoken of in feasts, as it were those eating together: or, as it pleases some, because they sit together, and are together at table. Whence Quintilian in the Gladiator: "And timely feasts, he says, and all-night jests, with a crowd of companions summoned, I would conduct myself loosely and abundantly." And Cicero in Pro Plancio: "If you call these companions, you stain an obliging friendship with a criminal name." And Plautus in the Merchant: "I found six companions, life, friendship, citizenship, joy, play, jest." Hence also Sodality is called a college of many, or a feast. Whence Gaius the Jurist: "Companions, he says, are those who are of the same college." Hence it is clear that a companion is different from a friend: for companions are often enemies. So also the Greeks call ἑταιρίας, that is, sodalities, societies of dining and feasting together. Whence Aristotle, in book II of the Politics, calls ἑταιριῶν τὰ συσσίτια the feasts of sodalities: indeed they even call ἑταιρίας, that is, companions or female associates and friends, harlots, with whom the dissolute carouse and fornicate. Secondly, Jansenius, taking τὸ for enim, thus expounds it, as if to say: Does not sadness sometimes arise from the occasion of friendship, lasting even unto death? For it happens that friends are converted into enmity. For in Hebrew the vau is a general conjunction, signifying and, but, for, etc. Whence also Homer and the Greeks use δέ, that is, but, for γάρ, that is, for: indeed even the ancient Latins. Whence Plautus, in the Pseudolus: But for for, he says, "you wish not at all," that is, you truly do not wish. So here τὸ but can be taken for truly. Truly but placed after in response is suited to indignation: as I deny truly, I am truly. The sense therefore will be, as if to say: Is there not in a friend in name only, that is, feigned, sadness unto death? Truly such a companion and friend will be converted into enmity. But this produces grave and lethal sadness. Thirdly, Palacius thus explains it, as if to say: Sadness is an enemy to us, he says, and we are opposed to it: if therefore a thing so adverse to us remains with us unto death, why will not friendship, a thing so dear to us, endure thus? why will it be converted into enmity? Jacob, having lost his son Joseph, wishes to retain sadness unto death, a thing so harmful, and so contrary to nature: why therefore will Saul not retain the friendship of David, a thing so useful to him? But this sense seems far-fetched and impertinent. The a priori reason for this opinion is the dignity, utility and necessity of friendship, which when a fraudulent and faithless friend subverts, you take away the sun from the world. Hear Cicero, in the book On Friendship: "How can life be worth living, as Ennius says, if one does not rest in the mutual goodwill of a friend? What is sweeter than to have someone with whom you dare speak of all things as with yourself? What would be so great a fruit in prosperous affairs, unless you had someone who would rejoice in them as much as you yourself?" Thus the Roman; but Atticus is Cicero. St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on I Thessalonians: "A friend is truly, he says, more pleasant than light itself, I mean a true one. And do not marvel. For it is more pleasant to us to extinguish this sun than to be deprived of the company of friends: more pleasant to live in darkness than to be without friends. And how shall I say it? because many seeing this sun are in darkness: but those who have obtained an abundance of friends, not even in afflictions do they have sadness." To this pertains that saying of Bias: "Love as if you were going to hate, hate as if you were going to love;" although Cicero, in the book On Friendship, approves the latter, disapproves the former, and rightly: "For in what way, he says, can anyone be a friend of him whose enemy he thought he could become? Indeed it will be necessary to wish and desire that your friend sin as often as possible, so that he might give you as many occasions for reproach. Again, even in the right actions and advantages of friends it will be necessary to be troubled, to grieve and to envy. Wherefore this precept, whoever's it is, tends to the destruction of friendship. Rather this should have been prescribed, that we should exercise such diligence in acquiring friendships, that we never begin to love him whom we might sometime hate." And Aristotle in the books of Rhetoric: "One should not love, he says, as if you were going to hate, as they say, but thus should exercise hatred, as if you were sometime going to love."
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The pronoun "his" is not in the Greek, but is understood: "his," namely of the false friend, about whom the discourse went before. Sirach, indignant at the wickedness of the false and deceitful friend, exclaims, and wondering asks whence such great wickedness crept into the world, as if to say: O most wicked thought of mortals! O execrable perfidy, by which someone, feigning himself a friend, deceitfully supplants a friend, and shows himself his greatest enemy! O simulated, says Hugh, and concealed hypocrisy, which feigns friendship where it is not! whence then did you come forth? how were you able to cover the earth with your malice and deceitfulness? namely, you have no origin from heaven, nor from earth. For God created human nature upright, sincere and faithful; but from the underworld you crept forth into the earth: assuredly your father is Lucifer, who, being the friend of God and the angels, by his perversity became their enemy: whence among the friends of men, who are images of God, he began to stir up enmities from the beginning of the world, when he caused Cain to kill his brother Abel, and ceases not daily to stir them up everywhere and among all nations: for this evil of perfidy invades, occupies and overturns all provinces, all nations, all cities, all marketplaces, tribunals, all assemblies, all colleges, and not rarely even the congregations of the Saints and monasteries. Moreover, the origin and author of this perfidy externally is the devil: internally, however, it is self-love, namely the desire for honor, riches, delights: on account of this indeed a friend becomes an enemy. For in order that he might obtain these from the ruin of his friend, he devises destruction for him. "The wise man therefore wonders," says Rabanus, "at the origin of wickedness: which nevertheless is known to have been brought forth from the evil will of the creature, and he greatly detests hypocrisy; because it is the worst vice, for anyone to wish to feign himself to be what he is not at all; when the wicked man simulates himself good, the unjust just, the iniquitous equitable, the enemy a friend, concealing deceitfulness, and dry deceitfulness, where there is not the richness of love and mercy: for he truly deceives himself, when he thinks himself an honest deceiver of others." The experienced author, says Palacius, was saying these things with groaning; for Ptolemy, son of Lagus, at first a friend to the Jews, soon showed himself their most cruel enemy. The same experienced David said in Psalm 54, 14: "But thou, a man of my own rank, my guide, and my familiar," etc. And indeed Christ, when he was betrayed by Judas, turning to him said: "Judas, dost thou betray the Son of man with a kiss?" Luke 22, 48. Truly Bede, in Proverbs: "When the wicked man simulates himself good, there he is worst. Do not live otherwise in solitude, otherwise in the forum. They can be called scorpions, who indeed do not resist the good in appearance, but soon when they have withdrawn they detract." Moreover Cicero, in book II of On Duties: "Nor can anything simulated," he says, "be lasting."
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pleasant and prosperous: for this is opposed to the time of tribulation, sad and adverse. The Complutensian edition reads, συνδιαιτᾶ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, that is, he feasts together in gladness; the Zurich: A friend makes familiar use of his friend in happy matters, who in time of calamity rises from the feast; namely, how great is this indignity! how wicked this presumption! how wicked this thought! The Syriac: He is a bad friend who is near at table, and in time of distress rises from the feast. To this alludes the Arabic proverb, Century I, no. 97: "When you have heard a man speaking good of you which is not in you, do not believe: for he will speak also evil which is not in you."
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For pities in Greek is συμπονεῖ, that is, labors with. Whence from the Greek you may thus translate: A companion helps a laboring friend and labors with him for the sake of his belly, and against an enemy takes up a shield; the Zurich version: It is when for the sake of his belly a friend helps a friend, and against an enemy (our text reads πολεμίου; some read πολέμου, that is, against war) takes up a shield. Thus Lyra, Jansenius and Rabanus, whom hear: False friends rejoice in the enjoyment of pleasure, and in time of adversity depart. They take up arms against an enemy for the sake of their belly, but they will not be faithful defenders of their friend: because they love not their neighbor, but delights. Otherwise Palacius: It seems, he says, to be a reproof, that is to say: If a companion hired for the sake of his belly, that is, for food, pities his employer, and takes up a shield against his enemy: why will a friend for the sake of friendship likewise disdain to do the same? And it is manifest that we are accustomed to hire auxiliaries against our enemies, who on account of the food which we give them, provide their favor to us. Furthermore the Syriac, omitting the for the sake of his belly, seems to take this contrarily concerning a true friend: A good friend is, he says, one who fights against an enemy and holds a shield. Do not praise your friend in his neighborhood, and do not give him power in your house.
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While you are fortunate, you will number many friends: If times become cloudy, you will be alone. And that same passage: Ants never direct their granaries to empty places. No friend will go to lost wealth. Wherefore Plutarch, in his book On Friendship, diffused among many, thus judges: Therefore, as Zeuxis the painter, when asked why he painted more slowly and over a long time, answered: I paint for a long time, doubtless, that is, for eternity; so perpetual friendship cannot be established except by long familiarity of life and by tested judgment. St. Augustine says most excellently (or whoever is the author) in the book On Friendship, chapter XVI: To friendship, he says, four things seem to pertain especially, namely, affection and feeling, security and pleasantness. To affection pertains the exhibition of benefits with benevolence. To feeling, a certain interior proceeding delight. To security, the revelation of all counsels and secrets without fear and suspicion. To pleasantness, concerning all things that happen, whether they be joyful or sad; concerning all things that are thought, whether they be harmful or useful; concerning all things that are taught or learned, a certain sweet and friendly discussion. He who dissolves friendship betrays these. He then adds: Four things are to be proved in a friend: fidelity, intention, discretion, patience; fidelity, so that you may commit yourself to him securely; intention, so that you expect nothing from friendship except God and his natural good; discretion, so that he does not ignore what is to be done for a friend, what is to be asked of him, in what things he is to be saddened for him, in what things to rejoice with a friend, for what things he is to be corrected, the measure, time and place; patience indeed, so that when corrected he may not grieve, so that he may not despise or hate the one correcting him, so that he may not be reluctant to bear any adversity for him as for a friend.
THE SECOND PART OF THE CHAPTER. WHAT KIND OF COUNSEL SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN AND WITH WHOM. in adversities, than in prosperities. St. Cyprian brings forth a most illustrious similitude of eyes, in his book On the Duty of Clerics, for he compares friends to eyes, nor can one be turned in any direction without the other also being turned; and if this one looks straight or obliquely, that one will look in the same manner or obliquely, or straight. Friends ought to be no otherwise; for in the same manner always, by the same way, they ought to be borne unanimously toward the same goal. To this pertains also the similitude of stags, which alternately supporting one another, swim across rivers, concerning which I have spoken in Galatians VI, 2. Finally, St. Ambrose, above: "The consolation of this life," he says, "is that you have someone to whom you may open your breast, with whom you may share secrets, to whom you may entrust the secret of your heart; so that you may place before yourself a faithful man, who may rejoice with you in prosperities, suffer with you in sorrows, exhort you in persecutions. An easy and common voice: I am wholly yours, but the effect is of fewer." Thus he, and truly: few are they who accomplish this. And St. Ambrose, in book III of the Duties, chapter XVI: "Often," he says, "enmities must be undertaken on account of a friend's innocence, often reproaches, if you resist or respond, when a friend is argued against and accused: nor should you repent of such offense. For it is the voice of the just: Even if evils have come to me on account of friends, I endure." The same concerning Basil accomplishing this St. Chrysostom teaches, in book II On the Priesthood, where after many things he introduces him speaking thus: "Otherwise," he says, "I have not learned to love, except so that I also bring my own soul into danger, while it is necessary to save some friend in peril." The same: "Christ the Lord taught his disciples:" John XV, 13: "Greater," he says, "love than this no one has, that one lay down his soul for his friends." The reason is, that friendship, "as Cicero said most holily and truly," says St. Augustine, in book III Against the Academics, chapter VI, "is the highest agreement of human and divine things with benevolence and charity:" therefore so
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Neither is a son-in-law safe from a father-in-law, nor a guest from a host. And Rabanus, mystically: "In the father-in-law," he says, "because he is joined by the feminine part to kinship, he shows a womanly and changeable mind. From which faithful trust is never to be hoped for. So also zeal, which prevails especially in the feminine sex, signifies instability of mind, to which trust is never to be given (because, as someone says): Just as a shore without a harbor is an unsafe anchorage for ships; so also a mind without faith is dangerous in the fellowship of friends." And Hugh: "Morally your father-in-law," he says, "is carnal affection, the father of your wife, that is, of your concupiscence. His counsel is not to be trusted, nor is counsel to be discussed with him concerning penance, or concerning doing any good. Which Jacob clearly taught, Genesis 31, who, unknown to Laban his father-in-law, withdrew with his sons and wives and flocks from Mesopotamia into the land of Canaan. It is read in Judges 19, that a certain Levite trusted his father-in-law, so as to remain with him for three days; he lost his wife on the way, oppressed by the Gibeonites, whence afterward a great slaughter of the people followed. Therefore the Author says: Do not take counsel with your father-in-law, that is, seek counsel from him, nor reveal your counsel to him." But it must be corrected with the Roman and manuscript texts: Do not take counsel with him who lays snares for you, and hide your counsel from those who envy you. Thus also the Greek texts have it: Μή βουλεύου μετά τοῦ ὑποβλεπομένου σε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ζηλούντων σε κρύψον βουλήν; which the Complutensian edition translates: Do not take counsel with him who regards you with suspicion (for from fear and reverence of you he will counsel and say not what he feels, but what he knows will please you and be agreeable to you), and hide your counsel from those who envy you; the Roman: Do not take counsel with him who holds you suspect, and hide your counsel from those who envy you. For the suspect will give suspect counsel to the suspect. The Zurich: Do not consult with him of whom you are suspect, nor open your counsel to those who begrudge you; others: Do not consult with him who looks at you with a sidelong glance, and hide your counsel from those who rival you; for ὑποβλέπειν in its proper sense is the same as to look askance, to gaze with sidelong and downcast eyes, and to regard thus, as those who turn away and disdain regard something, to despise or be despised, to turn away, to scorn, and also to suspect, that is to hold suspect, to suspect. Thus Virgil speaks of Dido, Aeneid IV: While she speaks such things, adverse fate regards her long, Rolling her eyes hither and thither, that is, ὑποβλέπουσα or παραβλέψασα. Therefore our Author translates most aptly: "Do not take counsel with him who lays snares for you;" whence also follows, "and from those who envy," that is those who rival and begrudge you, "hide your counsel." For the rival and the envious will lay snares for you, and will betray your counsel, or overturn it, and turn it to their own uses and advantages. The Syriac adds: Do not take counsel, he says, with your enemy, and hide your secret from him. To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Century I, number 17: "When you have ridden a lion, beware of his claw; that is, when you have become a leader or prefect, beware of evil counselors." Finally Palacius, and in part Jansenius, reconcile this latter reading with the former thus: it appears that the Author, when he wrote these things, had Jacob before his eyes, who, Genesis 31, in the matter of his departure and his wives, did not accept counsel from Laban his father-in-law, but rather hid his counsel from him and from his sons who envied and begrudged Jacob. Whence the sense of this passage is to be taken, so that it is here: If you have a father-in-law suspect and envious to you, likewise if you have kinsmen envious to you, and any others suspect to you, do not take counsel from these: "For he who seems to have the cloak of the one consulting, and has the poison of the one killing, has a deceitful tongue," says St. Augustine, Preface to Psalm 119, at the end. Tropologically, do not take counsel with those who lay snares for you, that is with your concupiscences, passions and vices, for example with anger, hatred, envy; for these lay snares for you, and strive to drag you into sin and into hell. These also envy, that is begrudge us peace of mind, grace and glory; and although they simulate themselves to be friends to us, they truly in fact conspire and plot with the devil our enemy for our destruction. Therefore their counsel is not to be heard: for anger counsels vengeance, insult, blows, and a thousand evils. But because it is difficult not to hear it, since they suggest it unwillingly, indeed they cry out continually; the safest course is to mortify these very things, and to root them out completely from the mind, so that we may no longer hear their voices and whispers.
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But Frederick the Emperor, having called his counsellors into his court: "Would that," said he, "my counsellors would lay down two things in the vestibule of my palace! For thus both would they themselves counsel rightly, and for me also it would be most easy to judge among the counsels." Being asked moreover "what those two things were:" "Simulation and dissimulation," he answered. He taught that princes cannot rightly consult for the public good on account of the private affections of counsellors. Thus Æneas Silvius, lib. III Of the Deeds of Alfonso. Certainly how much harm and ruin counsellors of princes, studying their own, not the commonwealth's advantage, bring upon princes and provinces, we have seen in this age groaning in many places. Therefore in a counsellor there is required great integrity, rectitude, prudence and diligence. Hear St. Ambrose, lib. II Of Duties, cap. XII: "In seeking counsels," said he, "the probity of life avails much, the prerogative of virtues, the use of benevolence, the grace of frugality. For who seeks a fountain in mud? who seeks drink from turbid water? And so where there is luxury, where there is intemperance, where there is confusion of vices, who would think that he should draw anything thence for himself? Who would judge him useful for another's cause, whom he sees useless for his own life? For how shall I judge him superior in counsel, whom I see inferior in morals? Shall I think him fit, who gives me counsel which he did not give himself? and shall I believe him free for me who is not free for himself? whose mind is occupied by pleasures, bound by lust, subjugated by avarice, disturbed by desire." For rightly Sallust, in Catiline: "All men," said he, "who deliberate about doubtful matters, ought to be free from hatred, friendship, anger, and pity. The mind hardly perceives the truth where these hinder, nor has anyone obeyed both his lust and his advantage at the same time: where thou directest thy talent, it avails; if lust possesses, it dominates, the mind avails nothing."
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Four-pronged stakes and pales of sharp wood. Where Servius: "A pale and a stake are the same thing." The Greek codices read κλῆρον, that is a lot, for stake. Thus they have it: Lest perhaps he cast a lot upon you, and say to you: Beautiful is your institution; and let him stand opposite, that he may see what shall happen to you; Zurich: Lest he should foretell some chance to you and say that your institution is right, and meanwhile position himself opposite as a spectator of your outcome; Vatablus: Lest he commit you to lot and chance, or lest he cast a lot upon you, etc. The sense is, that is to say, Before you trust a counselor, first explore whether he himself hopes for some gain from the matter about which you consult him, lest perhaps on account of that he give you counsel dangerous to you, but useful to himself, saying that your institution is right, which namely you yourself have proposed, or he himself has suggested to you; and meanwhile let him stand opposite, awaiting the outcome of his counsel: so that, if it turn out well, he may praise it and demand a reward; but if badly, he may mock you, and cast the blame of the bad outcome upon you or another. Such perfidy indeed, says Jansenius, obtains too much in the world, and it can be seen in inexperienced advocates and physicians, who administer to the sick medicines that are doubtful and dangerous, so that they might test their powers, and learn to heal others by the experience of the danger and death of others. Whence that one used to say— that he did not wish for a physician unless one who had first killed a hundred. Such are the counsels of bold and precipitate men; concerning which there is the Phoebean voice of Livy, in Book XXXV: "Counsels that are hot and bold are pleasant in their first appearance, hard in their handling, sad in their outcome." Furthermore the Syriac version translates the three verses already explained thus: Guard your soul from an unjust counselor, and know first what he seeks; for he himself meditates in himself; lest perhaps he cast upon you an evil deceit, and say: How good is your way! and he shall stand opposite, and shall see your shame, or shall rejoice in your shame. He shall see namely, and shall laugh at your disgrace. Attached to this maxim there exists a fable of the crow and the fox, in Gabriel Faernus: "A crow," he says, "had taken cheese from elsewhere, and with it had flown up into a high tree. The little fox, who had desired the cheese, is said to have approached him thus cunningly, when first she had praised the form and brightness of his feathers, and the praises of his augury: "Truly," she said, "I shall say that you are the bird of highest Jupiter, if I shall also hear your voice and song worthy of your other virtues. The crow, puffed up by the fox's praises, uttered a cry as loud as he could. Thus the cheese having fallen from his open beak, the fox enjoyed it, mocking him: "Nothing," she said, "is lacking to you, crow, except a heart." The moral: Whoever praises you to your face while counseling, sets snares: Whoever is led by false praise, has no heart.
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But that this sense is forced is evident from what follows, especially when he says: "Do not attend to these in all counsel." Secondly, Rabanus and Jansenius read: With a religious man discuss holiness, and with an unjust man do not take counsel concerning justice, and with a woman, etc. But this is incongruous; for, as Francis Lucas well observes, it is not fitting that the first member be dissimilar to the following ones, and that to that one "discuss" be added, while to the following ones "do not take counsel" is added, when the Wise Man manifestly wishes first to teach with whom counsel should not be taken; and afterwards finally with whom it should be taken. Thirdly, the Greek codices here repeat the sentence placed in verse 7: Do not take counsel with him of whom you are suspicious, and hide your counsel from those who envy you. Then they subjoin: With a woman concerning his concubine, with a coward concerning war, etc., repeat do not take counsel. Which Francis Lucas also judges should be repeated in the Latin Vulgate; so that all the following antitheses depend on the "do not take counsel." Thus also the Zurich Bible: Do not consult with him of whom you are suspicious, do not share your counsel with those who envy you; concerning religion with the irreligious, concerning justice with the unjust, etc. But the authority of almost all the Latin Vulgate codices should be followed, which the Roman correctors in the Bibles published at Rome judged should be retained, which has: With an irreligious man discuss holiness, and with an unjust man concerning justice. It is continuous irony up to verse 14, as if to say: If you discuss and take counsel with the irreligious concerning religion and holiness, with the unjust concerning justice, etc., you act without counsel and foolishly; because the irreligious will counsel nothing but irreligious things, the unjust nothing but unjust things, which he tastes, understands, and constantly practices. For each one suggests those things which he grasps and understands, and in which he delights, and which he constantly turns over and practices. Nor is it new or unworthy that irony be used by Holy Scripture, as Jansenius and Francis Lucas object. For God speaks ironically to Adam, mocking his pride and fall, saying: "Behold, Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil," Genesis III, 22. And Solomon says ironically to the youth following his desires: "Rejoice therefore, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart be merry in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thy eyes." Whence, detecting this irony, he subjoins: "And know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment," Ecclesiastes XI, 9; and Isaiah, chapter XXVIII, verse 10, ironically hurls back at the Jews that saying of theirs: "Command, recommand, expect, reexpect; a little there, a little there." There are many similar instances in Holy Scripture. Finally, if anyone absolutely refuses to admit irony in this place, let him understand with Palacio "and it will harm you," or something similar, as if to say: If you discuss with the irreligious concerning religion, with the unjust concerning justice, you will harm yourself, or you will receive evil counsel; for on this account he subjoins: "Do not attend to these in all counsel." Furthermore, Sirach here enumerates twelve kinds of men with whom he teaches that counsel should not be taken; because they are held by some vice, and that a vehement one, which prevents them from being able to bring a sincere, right and honest judgment concerning the matter proposed. For as each one is affected, so he judges, and pronounces his opinion to one seeking advice about things in the way he himself feels. Whence it is left to be concluded that everyone who is to be taken as a counselor must be free from all vicious love, cupidity, anger, envy, and similar affection. The first kind is the irreligious, who namely do not worship or revere God as they ought, and consequently despise and deny all divinity, such as atheists. For who prudent would consult these concerning holiness, that is, concerning the holy worship of divinity? The second is the unjust, such as the rapacious, thieves, usurers, fraudulent men, violent men, etc. For who would consult those concerning justice who know nothing but the arts of stealing, robbing, defrauding, etc.? For, as Sirach said, chapter VIII, verse 20: "Have no counsel with fools; for they cannot speak but what pleaseth them." Hence the old adage which Zenodotus recites from Epicharmus: "A counselor is a sacred thing," as if to say: A counselor can and ought to bring very great utility, and to give counsel religiously and purely to those who have need of it. Whence Plato, in the Theages: "Why, that also, says he, is said, Demodorus, that a counselor is a sacred thing." The same, in his letter to Perdiccas: "It is fitting that both hospitality and counsel, as is said, be sacred." There exists among the Greek sayings this Senarius: "Consultation is truly a sacred thing: from sacred and religious men therefore it should be sought. For these truly are wise; but counsel should be sought from the wise, according to that saying of the Comic poet:" Let that counselor be a man to you who is wise, for a wise man becomes wiser by the counsel of the wise. And that saying of Wisdom, Prov. VIII, 12: "I wisdom dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts." That saying is celebrated: "Neither a blind guide, nor a foolish counselor," supply, employ: learn, but from the learned; seek counsel, but from those experienced in counsel. And that of St. Basil, oration 21 On Happiness and Prudence: "Truly counsel is a certain divine thing." Against this precept of Sirach and prudence sin those who, called by God to His service, for example to the Religious state, seek counsel about it from seculars, parents and relatives; both because "the sensual man perceiveth not those things that are of the Spirit of God," I Corinth. II, 14. "For many see our crosses, but do not see our anointings," says St. Bernard; and because (as St. Thomas says, Opuscule XVII, cap. IX) he does injury to Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God, who, having heard His counsel, seeks the counsel of a mortal man still. For rightly the same St. Thomas, III, Question LXVIII, art. 1, inquiring from Aristotle, lib. VII Moral. Eudem. cap. XVIII, what is first and principal in the soul to move it; he says that of the other parts indeed reason is first, but of reason itself there is something which is better than itself, not knowledge or learning (for these are not better); but God: and a little later he adds that those who are moved by God have no need of deliberation: indeed they are governed by a better principle than reason or counsel. Most excellently and clearly St. Bernard, in the sermon Behold we have left all things: "How many," he says, "does the accursed wisdom of the world overthrow, and extinguish in them the spirit which the Lord wished to be kindled vehemently! Do not," he says, "act hastily, consider long, look more carefully. What you propose is great, and you have need of much deliberation. Try what you can do, consult friends, lest it happen that you repent after the deed. Is this the wisdom of the world, earthly, sensual, diabolical, hostile to salvation, suffocating life, mother of lukewarmness? which is wont to provoke vomiting in God. Beware," he says. Why then? Since you do not doubt that the word is from God, what need is there of deliberation? The Angel calls you the Angel of great counsel, why do you wait for alien counsels? For who is more faithful, or who wiser than He? Lead me, O Lord, and I shall be led; be Thou stronger and prevail. I know what things ought to be done quickly. I am snatched from the mouth of the pit of hell, and shall I ask for delay, and be slow, and hesitate to go forth, if perhaps something might happen meanwhile? I have hidden fire in my bosom, and with my side already burned, my bowels already laid bare, already flowing with corruption, must I deliberate long whether I should shake it off or cast it away?" And a little below: "Let him consult friends who has not read: the enemies of a man are they of his own household. Why does he frequent the Gospel, who does not obey the Gospel? But in it indeed we read, when someone promised to follow the Lord, but wished first to bury his father, the answer was given to him, to let the dead bury their dead. To another also who wished only to say farewell to those who were in his house: No one, He says, putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Thus far Bernard. "And with a woman concerning her that is jealous of her." The third kind of person unfit for counsel is a woman; she ought not to be consulted concerning her (Palacius and others read less correctly, concerning these, namely women, whom she herself is jealous of and envies) "that is jealous," namely of herself, which is namely a rival of herself, for example a concubine, who before her, indeed against her seeks the husband, so as to draw him from her to herself, as Rachel and Leah sought Jacob, Gen. XXX, 15; Anna and Phenenna sought Elcana, I Reg. I, 6. For this is what the Greek περὶ ἀντιζήλου αὐτῆς means; whence the Complutensian edition translates: With a woman concerning his concubine; the Roman: With a woman concerning her rival; others: With a woman concerning her who is jealous of her. For she will certainly discolor and blacken this one before her husband out of envy and hatred; so that she may commend herself before her to the husband, and snatch him to herself, her (though adorned with more gifts, which would therefore have made her more useful to the husband) excluded. Otherwise the Syriac: Do not take counsel, it says, with a woman, lest you commit adultery with her; for the secrets of the mind lead to the secrets of the belly. The fourth is: "With the fearful concerning war," because the fearful and timid man, fearing for his family, fortune and life in every way, will dissuade from war, otherwise useful or necessary; and will advise peace even on unjust and ignominious terms. For this the Syriac has: And with an enemy, so that you do not fight. Fifth is: "With a merchant concerning passage," that is, as in Greek: With a merchant concerning exchange; the Syriac: With a merchant concerning his merchandise. For a merchant will advise and will say not what is useful to you, but what is useful to himself to exchange. Again, passage here can be understood not as an exchange of goods, but of place or residence; for the Greek περαχωρία also signifies this, as if, for example, you consult a merchant whether it is expedient for you to transfer your goods or your person for the sake of business to Spain, or to India: the merchant will advise not so much what is fitting for you, as what is fitting for himself; for he will fear lest you turn away or diminish his profits; or certainly he will desire that you transfer yourself to where you bring him more advantage and profit. To such a counselor apply that saying of St. Augustine, in Psalm CXIX: "Because it seems to have the cloak of a counselor, and has the poison of one who destroys, it is called a deceitful tongue." Sixth is: "With a buyer concerning sale," for a buyer will advise and will say not what is fitting for you the seller, but what is useful for himself to buy; and he will persuade you to sell cheaply that which he himself desires. Again, he will indicate the lowest price of goods. The Syriac substituted a seller for a buyer: With a seller, he says, concerning the thing which he himself sells. For he himself will persuade you to buy his goods dearly, although they are worthless, and those which he himself desires to unload. Moreover, the counsel of that paradoxical merchant was wise, and therefore to be followed, who, as a grave man related to me at Rome, when asked by what art he had become wealthy, answered: "By going the opposite way from others. For others wish to buy cheaply and sell dearly" (as the Mime said in St. Augustine, XIII On the Trinity, III): "But I," he said, "buy dearly and sell cheaply. For by buying dearly, I select and obtain the best goods; by selling cheaply, I attract all buyers to myself, who bring me far more profit than if I sold dearly to a few." Seventh is: "With an envious man concerning giving of thanks;" in Greek: With an envious man concerning gratitude or giving of thanks; the Zurich version: Concerning congratulation with an envious man; because the envious man envies the giving of thanks, both to him who received the benefit, lest namely through the giving of thanks he conciliate the grace of the giver to himself and obtain more from him and snatch it away for himself; and to him who gave the benefit, because he envies his honor and praise.
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The ninth is: "With a dishonorable man concerning honor;" for the dishonorable man, ignorant and devoid of honor, will counsel nothing but things like himself, namely dishonorable things. This clause is already lacking in the Greek texts. Dishonorable means base, infamous, uncivil, shameful. The tenth is: "With a laboring farmer concerning all work," because a laboring farmer, hired to cultivate your field, will excuse many works as useless, so that he might lighten his labor and shirk it. Whence the Greek texts have: With a lazy man concerning all (that is, any) work. The master therefore will not ask the laborer whether the field ought to be dug, manured, hoed: but he will command him to dig, manure, and hoe. The eleventh is: "With an annual laborer concerning the completion of the year," that is to say, With a laborer or hired man whom you have hired for a year to cultivate your field or vineyard, or to complete some other work; you will not consult concerning the completion of the year, namely whether something remains to be done this year; for he himself will wish to finish the year more quickly, as if nothing remains to be done this year, but what is left over ought to be completed in the following years; or as if he himself by laboring has satisfied his year, saying that he has completed his year of labor, of which he had made agreement, and therefore nothing remains for him to labor, but the full wage of annual labor is owed to him. For in Greek there is only περὶ συντελείας, that is, concerning completion, namely both of work and of year. For annual, as also the Complutensian Greek texts have, namely ἐνιαύσιον, the Romans read οἰκείῳ, that is, domestic, whom namely you feed at home; for this man least of all would wish the work to be finished, so that he might always have work in which to hire out his labor to you for profit. Whence the Syriac translates: With a hired man who deceives in his work. The twelfth is: "With a lazy servant concerning much work;" for a lazy servant, on account of laziness, so that he might consult his own idleness, will dissuade from many works that are truly useful, indeed necessary, as if they were useless, troublesome, or harmful. The master therefore will not consult the lazy servant about work, but will command him to work and to toil; the Syriac: With a servant who seeks to defraud his masters.
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Thus Lyra, who also adds: "With the impediments to discretion removed, here consequently are set forth its promotives; and there are four of them, namely the soundness of counsel (when he says, be constant with a holy man), the truth of the word, the clarity of wisdom, and restrained sensuality." Note, first, the phrase be constant; in Greek ἐνδελέχιζε, that is, be continuous, not interrupted, constant, perpetual: for here is ἐνδελεχής; and ἐνδελέχεια is constancy, perpetuity, perennity. For in a grave matter it is not enough to consult once, but one must discuss it constantly with an upright man. Again, so that a wise and holy man may rub off and breathe his wisdom and holiness upon you, a long time and constant conversation with him is necessary; just as one who is cold and wishes to be warmed by warm air must constantly remain in it. Note, second, the phrase whose soul is according to thy soul, that is, first, as the Zurich Bible has it: who is of the same disposition, inclination, talent, judgment, and spirit as you; or certainly who knows how to adapt and conform his own and his counsels to your talent and disposition. For in counsel, just as in prudence, one must especially follow the disposition and spirit of the one being consulted. For many give counsel that is good in itself, but not suited to the disposition and spirit of the one consulting, which he therefore disdains, or executes violently, and so does not persevere in it, according to that saying: You will do nothing against the will of Minerva. Wherefore in counsels sympathy is of the greatest value, so that the one giving counsel has, or assumes and puts on, affections similar to the one seeking it. Ben-Sira agrees with Sirach, alphabet 1, letter sch: "If sixty counselors be with you, yet do not forsake the counsel of your own soul." Where the Scholiast says: "Whoever, he says, undertakes some business, although he may have many counselors to whom he reveals his secrets, should never despise or reject his own counsel. For, as Solomon says: The heart knows the bitterness of its own soul, but rather let him weigh his own, even if it please him, together with the opinions of others. If these should outweigh it, let him follow them; let him reject the others. For it is foolish to depend so much on others that you leave no place for your own opinion. Seneca wisely says: Let your counsel be such with others that it receives authority from you; but let it receive authority from you in such a way that you do not appear to be the only one approving it. For rashness in assenting is most pernicious." Second, Lyra: "Whose soul is according to thy soul," that is, he says, who loves you as himself, so that with you he is as one heart and one soul. And Palacius: Who, he says, is a friend to you; or whom your soul loves: for his soul in turn will love you. For the soul of one is similar to the soul of another in affection, especially of love or hatred. Wherefore if you wish to know whether someone loves you or not, test and explore your own spirit, and see how your affection is toward him; if you feel yourself affected with love toward him, know that he too will pursue you with reciprocal love; but if you hate him, he will also hate you. For, as in water the reflected face is similar to the face of the one looking; so the heart of one man responds to the heart of another. Whence in Proverbs XXVII, 19, it is said: "As in waters faces answer to faces, so the hearts of men to men." The Hebrews translate from the Hebrew: As in the very water face answers to face, so the heart of man answers to the heart of man.
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Or properly, that is to say, establish in yourself a heart as it were a tribunal, indeed an oracle of good counsel; so that when any doubt about what is to be done occurs to you, you may consult your heart what ought to be done: and therefore in your heart, as in a tribunal, you may weigh the matter carefully and prudently on every side. For if you do this, your heart will certainly be to you a dictator of the best counsel; for it will dictate that which is supremely fitting for you, and most useful to you, and to your advantage. For God gave to man a heart for this purpose, that is, reason, mind and prudence; that he might follow it, according to that of Psalm IV, 7: "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." For human reason is as it were a light derived from eternal reason, which is in the mind of God. For this reason God created man "to His image and likeness," Genesis I, 26; namely, that he might have this domestic oracle, which he might consult and follow in all doubts. Whence the Greek texts have: Counsel of the heart, σταῦρ, that is, establish, or make stable, and make it stable (others, it is stable: for nothing is more faithful to you; Zurich: Establish counsel in your mind; for nothing is more faithful to you than it. Moreover, how efficacious counsel is in accomplishing things, and how it surpasses the strength and vigor of the body, Homer teaches by many examples, in the Iliad 4: By counsel indeed much more, he says, than by strength does he prevail, Whoever prepares to cut down the shaggy forest. By counsel again the shipmaster on the dark sea Directs his wandering ship when the South winds are snatching it, By counsel the charioteer defeats and passes the charioteer. Wherefore Aristotle, in book IV of the Politics, chapter IV, asserts that counselors are a necessary part of the state. Antonius, in the Melissa, part 1, sermons 10, 11 and 12, cites these sayings of the wise about the power of counsel. Of Isocrates: "A good counselor is the most useful and powerful thing of all." Of Diodorus: "Prudent counsel surpasses the hands of many. The wise man surpasses the strong." Of Choriceus: "Without good counsel strength accomplishes nothing; but prudence, even though it has not assumed strength, often devises many things. For prudent deliberation overcomes a multitude of hands; but lack of skill with a crowd of men is worse. Just as a wolf, though alone, does not fear many sheep, but slaughters them all; so also one wise man does not fear many imprudent men, but overcomes them." Of St. Basil: "Strength is helped by prudence, but without it harms those who possess it." Of St. Gregory of Nazianzus: "Deliberate slowness is better than rash speed. Counsel, the lamp of life, should go before everywhere." Of St. Chrysostom: "In each matter observe what precedes it and what follows it, and thus approach it." Finally Solomon, Proverbs XI, 14: Where there is no governor, he says, the people shall fall: but safety is where there are many counsels; and chapter XXIV, verses 3 and 5: "By wisdom a house shall be built, and by prudence it shall be strengthened. A wise man is strong; and a man of knowledge is mighty and of great strength." Now because the mind of the timid distrusts itself and trembles in its own affairs, let it strengthen itself by the foregoing prayer with this threefold norm and practice. First, what would a prudent man judge ought to be done in this case? certainly this and that. Let me therefore undertake that, and apply it to myself. For by this reasoning I shall not follow my own judgment, but the counsel of a wise and prudent man. This should be suggested to the scrupulous, who do not dare to resist their scruples, so that they might do intrepidly that which a prudent man would judge ought to be done in such a case. Second, if my friend, placed in my situation and case, should ask counsel of me, what would I give him? certainly this and that. Therefore I shall give the same to myself. Thus conversely Livius Salinator, a distinguished warrior, asserted "that no one can give counsel more faithfully than he who would advise another to do that which he himself, if he were in the same place, would do;" as Livius relates in book VII, decade 4. Third, what in the hour of death, what on the day of judgment, when I shall stand before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of this work, shall I wish to have done in this matter? certainly that and that. Therefore let me now choose and perform the same. Thus I shall be able to give an account to Christ the judge of my deeds that is fitting, and from Him I shall confidently await praise and the joyful sentence of eternal happiness. Finally, because now ignorance, now self-love and cupidity often blind a man, it is safer, as far as it can be done, to employ the sincere counsel of other prudent men, according to that of Proverbs III, 5: "Lean not upon thy own prudence;" for, as Plutarch says in his Morals: "As lamiae, being blind at home, see everything abroad; so some, being more than sufficiently keen-sighted in the affairs of others, see little in their own."
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The reason is that God illuminates, governs and directs holy souls in a particular manner. Indeed, Aristotle, in book VII of the Eudemian Ethics, chapter XVIII, asserts that the principle of motion in the soul is God: "Therefore," he says, "those who are prudent and wise have swift and lasting divination;" not that there is in the soul, especially of an epileptic or dying person, something prophetic, or a power of divining secrets and future things, as Plato wished; but that there is in it shrewdness and the power of consulting and conjecturing wisely. For if (as is said by the Philosophers) brute animals are directed by an unerring intelligence, such as spiders, swallows, etc., how much more are holy souls directed by it! But if it is directed by God, will it not see the truth more truly than seven watchers? It is customary to say that the heart is faithful, namely that it is accustomed to counsel a man what is expedient. But note meanwhile, says Palacius, that although a holy soul is accustomed to speak truth, and the heart is accustomed to offer counsel faithfully; nevertheless God wills that beyond holiness, reading, experience and observation be employed, so that you may counsel well. For this reason youths, although good, are less fit to give counsel. Moreover, God especially wills that inferiors consult their Superiors; for these, as it were vicars of God, illuminate and direct them, especially Religious, who have bound themselves to Superiors by the vow of obedience. For obedience merits this direction, namely that the obedient one, who delivers himself to be ruled by the Superior out of love of God, is directed by him, God directing, by right counsels and precepts unto salvation and eternal life. Mystically Rabanus: "The seven," he says, "watchers, philosophers, the transmitters of the liberal arts (which are comprehended by them in the number seven); but it is more clearly evident in all things that the modest doctrine of a Catholic man, which consists in divine books, is more true than all the manifold shrewdness of philosophers in disputing and arguing. For in this, in few and pure words, irreprehensible truth shines forth in all respects; in that, however, wandering in the investigation of recondite things, opinion appears with garrulous loquacity, indeed manifest falsehood appears. But because all wisdom is from the Lord God, and no one can have it without His gift, therefore he adds, saying: And in all these things beseech the Most High, that He may direct thy way in truth." A notable example of this doctrine was St. Francis, who, as Bonaventure says in his Life, being so illuminated by God, that although he was lacking in scholastic theology, yet when consulted about difficult theological questions, he would unravel them better and more divinely than the greatest Theologians. The same man, when Christians were besieging Damietta and preparing for conflict with the Saracens, forbade them, and predicted their slaughter if they should fight; which, not believing him, the Christians, since Francis was in appearance cast off and poor, did not obey, and it happened: for the whole army was turned to flight— by oblique and tortuous answers, was called. The Ascetics were therefore divine hearers and interpreters of God, because they were familiar with God and most closely joined to Him. Truly indeed St. Bernard, in the book On the Interior House, chapter LXIX: "Let it be," he says, "a certain sign to you, whatever soul you are, that you love your beloved less, or are loved by him less, if you have not yet been called to those theoretical excesses, or have not merited to follow the one calling. Do you wish to know that the sublimity of divine revelations is a manifest sign of divine love? Now I do not say to you, servants, but friends; because all things that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you." Strive therefore to love your God intimately and supremely, and at every hour to pant with the greatest desire for the joy of divine contemplation. Gather yourself, O soul, to yourself, and rest in the desire of divinity alone. tian wisdom, and six thousand were slain or captured: "In which," says St. Bonaventura, chapter XII, "it was evidently made known that the wisdom of the poor was not to be despised; since the soul of a just man sometimes utters truth, which seven watchers sitting on high to observe do not." Similar things are written by St. Athanasius in the Life of St. Anthony, and by St. Jerome concerning St. Hilarion, and similar things are narrated of other Saints in the Lives of the Fathers; so that many of them not only conjectured wisely, but also truly divined, and prophesying future things, announced true things, and were true and properly called seers and Prophets. Whose gift the source and origin was that they themselves constantly day and night conversed with God in prayer, there they perceived His secrets and glory. For lifting their mind from all earthly things to heaven, they pressed the earth beneath their feet, and higher than mortals, fixed in God, they heard His mysteries as it were as secretaries, and truly beheld them. St. Basil assigns this mode and way of obtaining the gift of prophecy, in the Proem to Isaiah: "They prophesied," he says, "pure and pellucid souls, made as it were mirrors of divine operation, which represented an entire and unconfused image, troubled in no part by the affections of the flesh. For when the soul, dedicated to the study of all virtue, preserves in itself the perpetual memory of God impressed by vehement love toward God, and by this is first made manifest to itself, so that it has God as dwelling within, from most vehement intention toward God and secret love, breathed upon by the divine power, is made worthy of the gift of prophecy, God imparting divine virtue, and opening the eyes of the soul to understand what contemplations He wills." And St. Maximus, Centur. I On Charity cap. XCXV: "Just as," he says, "the sun rising and illuminating the world, demonstrates both itself and the things illuminated by itself: so also the sun of justice rising upon a purified soul, exhibits itself to be seen, and demonstrates the reasons of things which have been made by it, and hereafter shall be." This illustrious gift of prophecy, therefore, as the ancient Ascetics obtained it through purity and prayer: so in turn it was the mark of their remarkable sanctity and conjunction with God, namely that they were men of surpassing excellence and divine, indeed earthly angels, and heavenly men. For, as Tertullian says, Apolog. cap. XX: "The testimony of divinity is the truth of divination." Nay, God Himself, contending concerning His divinity with idols and idolaters, as it were in a forensic judgment, Isaiah XLI, 23, in order to derogate it from them and arrogate it to Himself, accomplishes the matter and conducts His case by no other demonstration than this: "Announce what things are to come in the future, and we shall know that you are gods," as if to say, I foretell the future, and those things as I foretold them come to pass plainly: you, O idols, nay demons, foretell the future, which do not come to pass, therefore I am God true and truthful, you are gods false and mendacious; as was Apollo Pythius, who thence was called Loxias. By this reasoning in the later centuries after Christ many Religious, Anchorites and Saints obtained the prophetic spirit. Hear Rufinus, an eyewitness, in the Preface to the Lives of the Fathers, lib. II: "We saw," he says, "among them many Fathers living a heavenly life on earth, and certain new Prophets, raised up both by virtues of the soul and by the office of prophesying, to whom for testimony of their merits, there was not lacking even the efficacy of signs and prodigies. For so great is the faith in them, that it can even command mountains to be transferred. They are therefore adorned in morals, quiet, gentle, tranquil, and bound together by the bond of charity as it were by a certain kinship." In this manner St. Benedict, as St. Gregory relates, lib. II Dialog. cap. XXXV, was so elevated in mind to God in prayer, that under him he saw the whole world, as a small globe gathered in the rays of the sun. When Peter asked how this could have happened, St. Gregory answers and assigns the cause and mode, saying: "Because to him who sees God all creation is narrow," and the mind of St. Benedict dilated in God, saw the world under him as a small globe; namely from that lofty watchtower of divinity he beheld from afar those things through an enigma, which he now beholds face to face in that same face. Thus Enoch, the parent of us all, seventh from Adam, prophesied; because he walked with God. Thus Moses became an incomparable Prophet; because he conversed with God on Sinai. Thus St. Martin drew forth the illustrious spirit of prophecy from converse with God; with whom he constantly conversed, as Sulpitius testifies in his Life.
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truth, so that they may be free from error, imprudence and vice, and so that they may be entrusted to holy execution and obtain a happy and holy outcome. For this reason Christ besought the Father in agony, saying: "Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me, yet not as I will, but as thou wilt," Matt. XXVI, 39. Therefore, says Palacius, God is as it were bound to grant what we ask, if we ask not our own will, but divine truth. Thus Tobias admonishes his son, cap. IV, 20: "At all times bless God: and desire of him that thy ways may be directed, and that all thy paths and counsels may prosper in him." Hence the Zurich version translates here: Moreover above all these things beseech the Most High, that he may direct thy institutions faithfully; the Greek Complutensian texts have: And in all these things beseech the Most High, that truth may direct thy way: truth, both uncreated, namely God; and created and infused into the mind by God, namely wisdom and prudence. It alludes to the prayer of David, Psalm XXIV, 5: "Guide me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art God my Saviour, and on thee have I hoped all the day long." Whence the Syriac version translates here: And with all these things be thou beseeching the Lord, that he himself may direct thy way in truth before men, and before all things. Siracides therefore teaches that all actions, and especially counsels to be undertaken, should begin from God. Thus Moses governing Israel in all doubts, before he resolved them, consulted the Lord. The same thing Joshua, the successor of Moses, did by the command of God; and when he omitted to do this, he was deceived by the Gabaonites, Joshua IX, 14. Wherefore Isaiah, cap. XXX, 2, threatens ignominy and destruction to the Jews fleeing into Egypt without consulting God. Hence in former times in many places among Christians, senators about to go to the senate first attended the sacrifice of Mass; whence even now we observe sacristies near or attached to the senate house, and benefices and the burden of offering sacrifice daily imposed upon them, in some cities. The same thing the Gentiles saw and did. Whence Pliny, at the beginning of the Panegyric: "Well and wisely," he says, "our ancestors established that, just as the beginning of things to be done, so also the beginning of speaking should be taken from prayers, because men would undertake nothing rightly or prudently without the aid, counsel, and favor of the immortal gods." Horace, lib. III, ode 6: Hence (namely from God) every beginning, to this he refers the end. Gellius, lib. XIV, VII, teaches from Varro: "For we ought first to sacrifice and take auspices, those who were about to hold the senate; and matters divine ought to be referred to the senate before human matters." And concerning Scipio, lib. XXVI, Livy: "Already from the beginning preparing his mind, from the time he assumed the toga of manhood, he did no public or private matter before he went to the Capitol, and entering the temple sat down, and often spent time alone there." All these things are considered, lib. III Of the City of God, cap. XXI, by St. Augustine, when he said: "The youth and life of Scipio, who was the liberator of Rome and Italy, the conqueror of Hannibal, and the subduer of Carthage, is described as dedicated to the gods and nurtured in temples."
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Third, the Zurich version translates: Let the beginning of a work be reason, and let counsel precede every undertaking. Thus both Rabanus and Jansenius understand by the word, both vocal and mental, which is reason; so that the same thing is said here as what he said in chapter XXXII: "My son, do nothing without counsel. For a true word" is right counsel, and the practical judgment of prudence, or the prudent man. The sense therefore is: Before all your works and every act, let a true word precede you, by which you may learn with certain reasons, either in yourself or from the counsel of others, the reason for your deed. He calls the same thing "stable counsel," which namely rests on firm reasons, and is to be carried out with a stable mind. For not every word and counsel is to be followed, but that which is supported by truth and firm reasons. Conformable to this opinion was the maxim of St. Thomas Aquinas, who when dying was asked by the monks of Cisterciensibus of Fossae Novae: "How could this life be lived without error and falling?" he answered: "If in any action someone acts in such a way that he is able to give a reason why he does it: for thus he will not allow himself to be led astray by desire, passion, chance, or anything else that might lead him into error." This reason for individual actions, and that exact reason, Christ will demand from each one on that terrible and decisive day of the last judgment.
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exist kinds, good and evil, life and death, of which the tongue is the constant governor. For the tongue teaching and counseling good instills good affections into the heart of the hearer, from which it produces good works, which bring forth to him life of grace and glory: but the tongue teaching and counseling evil, engenders evil affections in the heart of the hearer, from which he produces evil works, which create for him death of sin and hell. See therefore that an evil word does not change your heart. For since these four things arise from the heart, namely good and evil, life and death, just as four rivers arose from paradise; and since the tongue governs the heart, it follows that from the tongue as from a first source these four things arise, namely good and evil, life and death, and so the tongue is the governor and mistress of these four. So closely is reason joined to speech, and the heart to the mouth. Whence it leaves this conclusion: Beware therefore lest you draw in an evil word, much less instill it into others, because the effect of this will be an evil action, and the reward will be death: but strive that you draw in a good word, and that you set it forth and instill it into others, because its effect and as it were its offspring will be a good action, and the reward will be life, both yours and that of those into whom you have instilled the good word. Note: Good and evil acts arise from the heart physically and effectively; but life and death arise from the same heart ethically or meritoriously. The heart therefore, just as in man it is the first living and the last dying, so likewise it is the same the source, origin and cause of all vital actions, both natural, both moral, both supernatural. By heart understand the soul. To this pertains that passage from Proverbs XVIII, 21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: they that love it shall eat the fruits thereof." And that saying of the Greeks, which is related by Suida and Zenodorus: "Tongue, where are you going? You will overturn an upright city, and the same you will overturn again." Hence Bias, when commanded by Amasides king of the Egyptians to send back to him what in the victim which he had sent to him was the best and worst, sent back the tongue cut out, signifying that the tongue is the cause of all good equally as of evil. Thus Plutarch, in the tract On Talkativeness. There is a crafty man (in Greek πανοῦργος, that is, cunning, wily) the teacher of many, and useless to his own soul. — This verse is read in the Roman and Greek texts; but is wanting in Jansenius, Lyran, and others in various places. The sense is, as if to say: A crafty man, who teaches others to act well, when he himself acts badly, is useful to others, useless to himself, and therefore is unwise; for he does not have wisdom who does not have wisdom for himself. The Zurich version: There is one who instructs many in prudence, who is the same useless to his own soul. He is good to others, wicked to himself. For true knowledge and prudence consists not in speculation and doctrine, but in practice and operation. And as St. Francis used to say: "A man has as much knowledge as he practices; and a Religious is as good a speaker as he is a doer," as Wadding relates in the Annals of the Minors, in the year of Christ 1220, number 25. Moreover the Syriac for the verse already explained now has: Everyone who seems wise to himself, he himself is foolish.
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Note: Sirach, verses 15 and 16 and following, required two conditions and qualities in a counselor: first, that he be a holy man; second, that he have sympathy with him to whom he gives counsel; here third he requires that what he counsels by word, he demonstrate by deed. For men believe deeds more than words; and because if he acts otherwise, he counsels others, he does not counsel himself, wherefore he is a counselor to others, he is not to himself, which is perverse and of great imprudence. He adds a fourth, that he not be a sophist. Whence he says:
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Moreover St. Augustine, in the place already cited, requiring that the student of sacred Letters be a dialectician, not a sophist: "Only," he says, "must one beware there of the desire to quarrel and a certain childish display of deceiving one's opponent. For there are many things which are called sophisms, false conclusions of reasoning, and for the most part so imitating true ones, that they deceive not only the slow-witted, but even the clever who are not attentive. For someone proposed to a certain person (to Diogenes the Cynic) with whom he was speaking: What I am, you are not. And he assented. For it was true in part, or for this very reason that the one was insidious, the other simple. Then the insidious one added: But I am a man. When he had also received this from him, he concludes saying: You therefore are not a man. Which kind of captious conclusions Scripture, as I think, detests in that place where it is said: He that speaketh sophistically is hateful. Although also a discourse not captious, but nevertheless pursuing ornaments of words more abundantly than gravity befits, is called sophistical." Thus far St. Augustine. To sophistry pertain horned arguments and syllogisms, such as that one of Chrysippus in Seneca, epistle 49: "What you have not lost, you have: but you have not lost horns; therefore you have horns." And inextricable captious arguments, such as those of the crocodile, which they say, having seized a girl, wished to devour her, having promised to her mother on this condition that he would return her if the woman spoke truly, whatever he himself should decide concerning returning the girl: ἄπορος, an utterly captious argument. For if the woman had answered: "You will return her," because he himself would not have decided to return her, she would not have spoken truly: on the other hand if she had said, "You will not return her," he ought not to have returned her, otherwise the response would not have been true; whatever therefore she said, the crocodile would not have returned her. Quintilian, book I, chapter X, called this kind of ambiguities Crocodilian; some advise that it be named also πρίονα. Similar is that of Protagoras about which Agellius, book IV of Attic Nights, chapter X, writes similar things concerning Corax, who was demanding payment from a young man, Sextus Empiricus against the Mathematicians. The demon uses such things, who strives to deceive and capture Eve and all men by his sophisms. Whence St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 14, calls the demon "the chief sophist of constructing malice." And St. Basil, homily 22: "The first and greatest and invisible sophist of human wisdom." And Rupertus, book III on Genesis: "The greatest of hateful sophists." "Similar to this," says Lactantius, book VI On False Wisdom, chapter VI, "is that which is wont to be proposed in schools as an example of an unsystematic genus, that someone dreamed that he should not believe dreams. For if he believed, then it follows that he should not believe. Thus if nothing can be known, it is necessary that this very thing be known, that nothing is known. But if it is known that nothing can be known, it is therefore false what is said, that nothing can be known. Thus a dogma is induced that contradicts itself, and dissolves itself." These are Gordian knots, captious and as it were insoluble. Similar is that in Cicero, book IV of the Academics: "If you say you are lying, and you speak truly, you are lying: but you say you are lying, and you speak truly; therefore you are lying." But in what way can you by lying speak truly, or lie and at the same time speak truly? To this pertains that of David, Psalm CXV, 11: "I said in my excess: Every man is a liar." To which it can be answered" (says St. Gregory, book XXII of Morals, chapter X, according to the mind of the Sophists): "If every man, therefore also you; and the opinion which you yourself, a liar, have put forth will now be false. But if you yourself are not a liar, the opinion will now not be true, because while you are truthful, not every man is known to be a liar." And speaking of the Cretans, St. Paul thus writes to Titus I, 12: "One of them, their own prophet, said: The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies; this testimony is true." But here the prophet was Epimenides, a Cretan poet; therefore he himself was a liar. If a liar, how is his testimony true? Scotus and the Dialecticians recount more things, tract. On Insolubilia. Yet those from Holy Scripture are soluble, as they are resolved in their proper places. profit." Namely by a biting allegory Socrates names one of the sophist brothers a hydra, another a crab, but himself Hercules. And hence the proverb: "Not even Hercules against two." The same Socrates to Euclid, who was very devoted to contentious questions: "You will be able to use sophists," he says, "O Euclid, you will not be able to use men," just as if sophists were foxes or apes, not men. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: A counselor, doctor or anyone else who speaks "sophistically," that is, captiously, ambiguously, insidiously, deceptively, is "hateful" to God, angels and men to whom truth, simplicity and fidelity are dear, and therefore is rejected by them "in all things," that is, in all honor and gain and consequently in sustenance, as the Greek and Roman versions have it, which through his sophistry he sought, he will be defrauded of. For an impostor and sophist, when his fraud, hypocrisy and deception are recognized, obtains ignominy instead of honor, hissing instead of gain. "There is not" indeed "given to him grace from the Lord," that is, it is not given to him by God that he find grace in the eyes of men, and that he be pleasing and gracious to them: because he is "defrauded of all true wisdom," that is, he is deprived and devoid of it. It signifies that sophists, although at first by displaying their wisdom and eloquence they win the favor of men, yet soon when their sophisms and sophistical frauds are uncovered, they lose it, and instead of favor incur the hatred of all: whereas on the other hand the wise, at first being less known, are held in small regard: but when their wisdom is perceived, they are held in great esteem by all: and just as their wisdom, so also their honor is solid and lasting. For they are like pepper, which the more it is ground, the greater heat, odor and fire it exhales. Morally learn here that for a doctor and counselor two things are necessary, that he may become honored and wealthy, namely true wisdom and the grace of God; and to reconcile wisdom with the grace of God for himself. For God advances the wise to honors and riches. Finally, heretics especially are sophists, who through sophistical quibbles strive to overturn the faith, and to deceive and pervert the faithful: whence they themselves are deprived of all grace and wisdom of God, and therefore are hateful to God, angels and men. Thus Rabanus.
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and is praiseworthy to men, equally as to God and angels. Whence the Greek Complutensian version has: He is wise in his own soul, and the fruit of his understanding in his mouth (while speaking he communicates it to others) is praiseworthy; the Zurich version: He is wise in his own mind, whose fruits of prudence in his mouth are praiseworthy: it reads with ours and the Complutensian αἰνετοί, that is, praiseworthy, for which the Roman version reads πιστοί, that is, faithful; others: He is wise in his own mind, and the fruit of his understanding in his mouth is praiseworthy. "For," says Rabanus, "he handles in his mind those things which are pleasing to God, utters them with his tongue, and exercises them in useful action." The Syriac: The fruit of the wise is to their souls, and he is wise who is wise to his own soul (or to himself), and the fruit of his works is from the appearance of his face.
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lates: He who is wise in his soul shall be filled with delights, and all who see him shall praise him.
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You ask who this Israel is? It is certain that by Israel here is not understood Jacob the patriarch, who wrestling with an angel and overcoming him, was named by the same Israel, that is, ruling over God, that is, over the angel, who represented God, Genesis XXXII, 28. For the days of Jacob were "few," that is, scanty, and "evil," that is, full of hardship, as he himself says, Genesis XLVII, 9. For Jacob lived only 147 years, Genesis XLVII, 28. First therefore, properly by Israel you should understand the people of Israel, descended from Jacob, who was called by another name Israel: so that the sense is, as if to say, Every man lives few days of life, but the wise man lives innumerable days: for although he dies in body, yet his fame will live perpetually among the people of Israel, that is, the faithful: for the people endures perpetually; even if this or that man in the people dies. He names the people of Israel before others; because that people alone in the time of Sirach possessed true wisdom, that is, faith, worship and religion of God, according to that saying of Moses, Deuteronomy IV, 6: "This is your wisdom and understanding before the peoples, so that when they hear all these precepts of the law of God, they may say: Behold, a wise and understanding people." Thus Dionysius, Palacius and Lyra: "The days," he says, "of the people of Israel are innumerable, that is, long-lasting: for although individual persons die and are succeeded by others, yet the unity of the people remains. As in a river the waters are in continual flux, yet the identity of the river remains: but the praise of the wise man not only lasts in his own time, but passes to posterity: for which reason it is long-lasting, and especially in his own people, who better know his works: therefore it is added: The wise man in the people shall inherit honour." Secondly, Jansenius and Hugo understand by Israel an Israelite, that is, any wise man, that is, faithful and holy, as if to say, "The days of Israel," that is, of the Israelite, are innumerable: because infinite and lasting perpetually, that is, the Israelites because of their works in this present life always possessed the wisdom of the Lord, and true knowledge of God, which they cultivated, after the end of the present labour, endowed with a pure mind beyond others, will live eternally, not merely seeing the serene face of God in the heavenly kingdom perpetually. Of which good, as there is no blemish, not only among men through the memory of his name, but also with God through eternal glory. Whence thus also there is no end of joy." To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Century II, number 42: "The Syriac world translates: The wise man of the people shall inherit glory, and his name shall remain unto eternal life. To this applies that saying, Ecclesiastes VII, 13: "This is the more that learning and wisdom have, that they give life to their possessor." Thus every saint is called Israel by the Apostle, Galatians VI, 16: "Whosoever shall follow this rule, peace upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." See what I have said concerning Israel there, and Genesis chapter XXXII, 28 and XXXV, 10. He alludes to Jacob the patriarch, who, as Jacob, lived few days and years; but made and called Israel, he lives both personally in heaven eternal life, and in his descendants, namely in the people of Israel through many centuries. Jacob therefore, that is, the wrestler and supplanter of vices for a short time, merited to become Israel, that is, ruling over God, or, as St. Augustine and others say, a man seeing God, eternally, as if Hugo says: "The days of Jacob struggling have an end, but the days of Israel contemplating face to face will be endless." passes as erasable writing, wisdom is stable as sculpture."
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Anagogically, Hugo: The name of the wise man, that is, of the just man, he says, shall live forever; because it is written in the book of life, according to that saying of Christ: "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven," Luke X. Allegorically, Israel is the Church, or the assembly of the faithful, and the people of God, which shall also endure in this world until the consummation of the age: so that by this interpretation it may be confirmed, says Jansenius, that which he said, that the fruit of wisdom is stable and firm. For on account of the word of God, which follows, His Church shall be perpetual. Anagogically, Israel is blessed: for he lives in heaven innumerable days, namely happy and eternal ones. Thus Rabanus: "What is it," he says, "that when he spoke of the life of a man comprehended in a number of days, he added that the days of Israel are innumerable, except that he shows the life of the Saints in heavenly blessedness to be eternal and infinite? But that the present life of men is established in a certain number in the foreknowledge of God and His disposition, Job shows, saying in chapter XIV: The days of man are short; the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed. But truly the days of Israel, that is, of the holy man, who by right faith and good
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turn aside and force, for example if you see it inclined toward pride, bend it with all your strength toward humility, and occupy it with base and humble thoughts and duties; if you see it inclined toward avarice, bend it toward liberality: if toward gluttony, bend it toward abstinence and fasting; if toward anger, bend it toward gentleness. For thus a crooked tree must be bent in the opposite direction entirely, so that it may become straight. Thus Rabanus, Lyra, Palacius and others: "Wisdom," says Rabanus, "commands a man to carefully guard his life, lest perhaps through carelessness he be scattered in various desires, and fall into the death of sin: therefore he says to test his soul, that is to prove the will of his soul, and if it shall be perverse, do not grant it the power to fulfill it." To this pertains the Arabic proverb, Cent. I, no. 22: "Prune your vine with your own hand, not another's," that is reprove yourself for your vice, before another reproves you for the same." And no. 14: "File the thorns:" file, that is overcome the affection of the flesh and evil desires, and cut them away with the file of reason. For desires like thorns prick a man, incite him to crime, and drive him to destruction. Therefore it is necessary that we dull their sharpness with the file of reason as with something harder, if our salvation is dear to us. The Greek texts now have it differently, namely: Son, in your life test your soul, and see what evil is in it, and do not give it to yourself; Zurich: Son, prove your soul in your life, explore what is harmful to it, and do not indulge it; Syriac: My son, in your life test your soul, and see that which is evil to it, do not give it to it, that is to say, diligently investigate and explore the inclinations, affections and powers of your soul, so that you may know what is fitting and good for it, what is unfitting and evil: which being done, grant it what is fitting and good, but deny what you have discovered to be unfitting and evil to it. Whence it follows: "For not all things are expedient for all, and not every kind pleases every soul;" for example, the soul of some is inclined toward theological studies, of others toward mathematics, of others toward mechanical arts, of others toward war: let each therefore give to his soul what is fitting and suitable to its inclination and powers. For if he force it to something else, for example if he force one loving studies to war, he will do it great violence, and therefore the soul detained violently in war will groan continually, nor will it be able to persist in it, as one living a life troublesome, ungrateful and miserable to itself. This is more evident in choosing a state of life. For to some the state of matrimony is fitting and pleasing, to others priesthood, to others Religious life: wherefore if parents, as often happens, force younger sons to Religious life, when they themselves abhor it, and desire to live a life in the world, certainly the sons will live a sad and dangerous life in Religion, and given the opportunity will shake off the yoke of Religion; for which reason we have seen and see so many apostates. Indeed many are damned, because they undertake a state unfitting to them, and so many are damned in the world who would be saved in Religion: and vice versa. To this exposition our version can be adapted, as Jansenius adapts it, in this way: In your life test your soul, that is search out and investigate what is most fitting for your soul, and if there be something "wicked," that is harmful and unfitting to it, do not give it the power, nor allow it to undertake it, or to use and enjoy it: so that all these things pertain to the choice in matters to be used, of which he said much at the beginning of the chapter; but the former sense, as simpler and clearer, is also truer and more fitting.
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You will do nothing against the will of Minerva. Whence in Greek it is said more clearly the same thing: For not all things are beneficial for all, and not every soul is pleased with every matter; Zurich: For not all things benefit all, nor is every mind happy with any matter. For what one does unwilling and unwillingly, in that he is miserable and unhappy. Syriac: Because not all food is good, and every soul delights in few things. The poet Juvenal wisely says, satire 14: No divine power is absent, if prudence be present. And: Nature never dictates one thing, wisdom another. And Persius: A thousand kinds of men, and things of varied use. Each has his own will, nor does one live by a single wish. According to the Greek reading of the preceding verse, the connection of this verse with that is clear, as appears from what was said there.
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(Roman, do not pour yourself out) over feasts; Syriac: Do not multiply for it (your soul) food of delights, and do not let your eye become evil (covetous and envious) over much food; Zurich: Do not gorge yourself with any delights, nor pour yourself out into foods, that is to say: When the delights of various dishes are offered to you, and many feasts are set before you, as happens at banquets; do not pour yourself out into them with excessive greediness and avidity of gluttony, so that you appear to want to devour everything, and to be insatiable like a wolf: but restrain this avidity and master your appetite, and use food soberly, both that you may consult your honor, and that you may consult your health, and that you may consult your conscience. Whence the precept of physicians: "Eat short of satiety: rise from the table not with disgust, but with hunger. All satiety is harmful." Let St. Augustine be an example to you, who in book X of the Confessions, chapter XXXI, addressing God says: "You taught me this, that just as medicines, so I should approach to take food." See there more from St. Ambrose, epistle 25: "Let us use," he says, "the natural food of temperance sparingly as a remedy, not abundantly for delights on account of weakness, not on account of pleasure." Whence God, granting to Noah the eating of flesh: "As green herbs," he says, "I have given you all things," Gen. IX, 3, because we eat herbs sparingly for necessity. Wherefore St. Ambrose, in the book On Noah, chapter XXV: "Let those who use flesh," he says, "use it as herbs, not for distension, nor for the fattening of the body, which feasts are accustomed to do." And soon after: "Perhaps in this also temperance in eating flesh like herbs is commended, not so much to capture pleasure, as for the health of life." Furthermore, Sirach repeatedly commends to the Jews the restraint of gluttony, because they themselves were inclined to it from the beginning of their nation. Hear Tertullian, in the book On Fasting, chapter V: "The first people had engraved upon themselves the crime of the first man, found more prone to belly than to God, when, snatched from the hardship of Egyptian servitude by the strong hand of God, destined for a land flowing with honey and milk, immediately sighing for the detriments of Egyptian satiety: When we sat over the pots of flesh, it says, etc., Exodus XVI, preferred rather garlic and onion than that heaven should smell." On account of this danger of gluttony, God, Gen. IX, granting to Noah the use of flesh, commanded that they be first sacrificed to him: so that safely, says St. Chrysostom there, man could use them, namely because they had already been offered to God, sacrificed and sanctified. Hence also prayer and blessing are prefixed to the table, so that foods may be sanctified, and gluttony may be restrained in eating. See the sayings at I Timothy IV, 4 and 5. Mystically, apply these to study, meditation, prayer, which are the delights of the soul, that is to say: Do not indulge excessively in the desire for studying, meditating, praying: because this excess enervates the body, dulls the head, blunts the keenness of the mind, suffocates the spirit. Whence that saying: "Satiety of bread is bad, but of studies worst of all."
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For infirmity our text reads with the Complutensians νόσος, for which the Roman edition reads πόνος, that is labor. Whence they have it thus: For in many meats there shall be labor (of the stomach that it may digest them, and its torture and wakefulness, as he said at chapter XXXI, verse 23) and ἀπληστία, that is insatiability, shall approach even to choler; Zurich: For disease shall accompany gluttony of foods, and insatiable greediness shall turn into bile.
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Finally, it is an axiom of a wise man, though it may seem paradoxical to some: "Nearly all men die from gluttony." For almost all people frequently exceed in food and drink, especially at banquets, feasts and recreations; and by this excess they shorten their life and hasten death upon themselves, some more, others less, according to the quantity and quality of the excess. Gluttony and greediness therefore burdens the body, creates diseases, and shortens life. The Greek texts have, on account of ἀπληστίαν, that is, as the Complutensian edition has it, insatiability; the Roman: Many have perished from gluttony; and he who is attentive (taking care not to exceed in foods and drinks) will add to his life; the Zurich: Many perish through intemperance: but he who is temperate prolongs his life; the Syriac: For many who have died through much food: and he who takes care of himself prolongs his life. See what I have said concerning abstinence on Daniel I, 15 and following. Wisely St. Athanasius, in the account of Anthony in the Melissa, part I, chapter LVII: "Diseased bodies," he says, "are restored by the benefit of treatment and abstinence: but once restored, through negligence and repletion they gradually relapse, and fall back into the same diseases." Excellently St. Ambrose, On Elijah and Fasting, chapter VIII: "Fasting," he says, "is the school of continence, the discipline of chastity, humility of mind, mortification of the flesh, the form of sobriety, the norm of virtue, purification of the soul, the expenditure of mercy (what you subtract from yourself by fasting, expend on the wretched), the institution of gentleness, the allurement of charity, the grace of old age, the guard of youth. Fasting is the relief of infirmity, the nourishment of salvation. No one falls into indigestion through fasting, no one has felt a blow of blood through continence, indeed no one has not repressed and driven it away. A good provision for the journey, a good thing for the whole of life." See St. Basil, homily On Fasting. It agrees with Sirach, Rabbi Hillel, that ancient man and celebrated for the name of wisdom, whose elegant and manifold saying exists in Pirke Avoth, that is in the Apophthegms of the Fathers, chapter II: "He who multiplies flesh multiplies worms: he who multiplies riches multiplies sorrows: he who multiplies women multiplies bewitchments: he who multiplies maidservants multiplies fornication: he who multiplies servants multiplies thieves: he who multiplies law multiplies life: he who multiplies study likewise multiplies wisdom: he who multiplies counsel multiplies prudence: he who multiplies justice multiplies peace: he who acquires a good name acquires it for himself: he who acquires the word of the law lends himself eternal life in the world to come." Furthermore, ἀπληστία, that is excessive greed and insatiability, has a place not only in foods and drinks, but also in any other things whatsoever. And in whatever matter it is engaged, it is harmful both to soul and body. Whence a certain Wise man said: "Nearly all men are consumed and die through insatiability of some thing, and excessive greed," whether it be of honors, or of riches, or of sciences, or of other things.
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.