Of the evils of the tongue. Of the difference between the earthly and heavenly wisdom.
Against proud Maisters and authors of Sectes. 5 Of the manifold sinnes of the vnbrideled tongue. 13 The difference betvvixt proud, cōtentious, and vvorldly vvisedom, and that vvisedom vvhich is heauenly, peaceable, modest, and so forth.
1Be ye not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgment.Vogliate esser molti a far da maestri, fratelli miei, sapendo che vi addossate più severo giudizio.BE yee not many maisters my brethren, knovving that you receiue the greater iudgement,Nolite plures magistri fieri fratres mei, scientes quoniam majus judicium sumitis. 2For in many things we all offend. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body.Imperocché in molte cose tutti inciampiamo. Chi non inciampa nel discorrere: questi è un uomo perfetto, capace eziandio di regger con freno tutto quanto il corpo.For in many things vve offend al. If any man offend not in vvord: this is a perfect man. he is able also vvith bridle to turne about the whole body.In multis enim offendimus omnes. Si quis in verbo non offendit, hic perfectus est vir: potest etiam freno circumducere totum corpus. 3For if we put bits into the mouths of horses, that they may obey us: and we turn about their whole body.E se noi mettiamo a' cavalli il freno in bocca, perché ci siano ubbidienti, raggiriamo ancora tutto il loro corpo.And if vve put bittes into the mouthes of horses that they may obey vs, vve turne about al their body also.Si autem equis frena in ora mittimus ad consentiendum nobis, et omne corpus illorum circumferimus. 4Behold also ships, whereas they are great and are driven by strong winds, yet are they turned about with a small helm, whithersoever the force of the governor willeth.Ecco come le navi, sendo grandi, e spinte da' venti gagliardi, sono voltate qua, e li da un piccolo timone, dovunque ordini il movimento di chi lo governa.And behold, the shippes, vvhereas they be great, and are driuen of strong vvindes: yet are they turned about vvith a litle sterne whither the violēce of the director vvil.Ecce et naves, cum magnæ sint, et a ventis validis minentur, circumferuntur a modico gubernaculo ubi impetus dirigentis voluerit. 5Even so the tongue is indeed a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how small a fire kindleth a great wood.Così pure la lingua è un picciol membro, e di gran cose si vanta. Ecco quanto piccol fuoco quanto gran selva incendia!So the tongue also is certes a litle mē ber, & vaunteth great things. Behold hovv much' fire what a great vvood it kindleth?Ita et lingua modicum quidem membrum est, et magna exaltat. Ecce quantus ignis quam magnam silvam incendit ! 6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.E la lingua è un fuoco, un mondo di iniquità. La lingua è posta tra le nostre membra, e contamina tutto il corpo, ed essendo accesa dall'inferno, la ruota del nostro vivere accende.And the tongue, is fire, a vvhole vvorld of iniquitie. The tongue is set among our members, vvhich defileth the vvhole bodie, & inflameth the vvheele of our natiuitie, inflamed of hel.Et lingua ignis est, universitas iniquitatis. Lingua constituitur in membris nostris, quæ maculat totum corpus, et inflammat rotam nativitatis nostræ inflammata a gehenna.
7For every nature of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of the rest is tamed and hath been tamed, by the nature of man.Imperocché tutte le specie di bestie, e di volatili, e di serpenti, e di altri (animali) si domano, e sono state domate dall'umana virtù:For al nature of beastes & foules and serpents & of the rest is tamed & hath been tamed by the nature of man.Omnis enim natura bestiarum, et volucrum, et serpentium, et ceterorum domantur, et domita sunt a natura humana: 8But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison.Ma la lingua nissun uomo può domarla: male, che non può affrenarsi, piena di mortal veleno.but the tongue no man can tame, an vnquiet euil, ful of deadly poison.linguam autem nullus hominum domare potest: inquietum malum, plena veneno mortifero. 9By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men who are made after the likeness of God.Con essa benediciamo Dio, e Padre: e con essa malediciamo gli uomini, che son fatti ad immagine di Dio.By it vve blesse God & the Father: & by it vve curse men vvhich are made after the similitude of God.In ipsa benedicimus Deum et Patrem: et in ipsa maledicimus homines, qui ad similitudinem Dei facti sunt. 10Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.Dalla stessa bocca esce la benedizione, e la maledizione. Non deve andar così la bisogna, fratelli miei.Out of the self same mouth procedeth blessing & cursing. These things must not be so done my brethrē.Ex ipso ore procedit benedictio et maledictio. Non oportet, fratres mei, hæc ita fieri. 11Doth a fountain send forth, out of the same hole, sweet and bitter water?Forse che la fontana dallo stesso buco getta acqua dolce, ed amara?Doth the fountaine giue forth out of one hole svveete & soure water?Numquid fons de eodem foramine emanat dulcem et amaram aquam ? 12Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear grapes? Or the vine, figs? So neither can the salt water yield sweet.Può forse, fratelli miei, il fico dar uve, o la vite de' fichi? Così nemmen l'acqua salata può farne della dolce.Can, my brethren, the figge tree yeld grapes: or tho vine, figges? So neither can the salt water yeld' sweete.Numquid potest, fratres mei, ficus uvas facere, aut vitis ficus ? Sic neque salsa dulcem potest facere aquam. 13Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge, among you? Let him shew, by a good conversation, his work in the meekness of wisdom.Chi è saggio, e scienziato tra di voi? Faccia egli vedere mediate la buona vita le opere sue fatte con mansuetudine propria della saggezza.Vvho is vvise and hath knowledge among you? Let him shevv by good conuersation his vvorking in mildenesse of vvisedom.Quis sapiens et disciplinatus inter vos ? Ostendat ex bona conversatione operationem suam in mansuetudine sapientiæ.
14But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contentions in your hearts: glory not and be not liars against the truth.Che se avete uno zelo amaro, e delle dissensioni ne' vostri cuori: non vogliate gloriarvi, e mentire contro la verità.But if you haue bitter zeale, and there be contentions in your hartes: glorie not and be not liers against the truth.Quod si zelum amarum habetis, et contentiones sint in cordibus vestris: nolite gloriari, et mendaces esse adversus veritatem: 15For this is not wisdom, descending from above: but earthly, sensual, devilish.Imperocché non è questa una sapienza, che scenda di colassù: ma terrena, animalesca, da demonj.for this is not vvisedom descending from aboue: but earthly, sensual, diuelish.non est enim ista sapientia desursum descendens: sed terrena, animalis, diabolica. 16For where envying and contention is: there is inconstancy and every evil work.Imperocché dove è tale zelo, e dissensione: ivi scompiglio, e ogni opera prava.For vvhere zeale and contention is: there is inconstancie, and euery peruerse vvorke.Ubi enim zelus et contentio, ibi inconstantia et omne opus pravum. 17But the wisdom that is from above, first indeed is chaste, then peaceable, modest, easy to be persuaded, consenting to the good, full of mercy and good fruits, without judging, without dissimulation.Ma la sapienza di lassù primieramente è pura, di poi pacifica, modesta, arrendevole, fa a modo de' buoni, è piena di misericordia, e di buoni frutti, aliena dal criticare, e dalla ipocrisia:But the vvisedom that is from aboue, first certes is chast: then peaceable, modest, suasible, cōsenting to the good, ful of mercie and good fruites, not iudging, vvithout simulation.Quæ autem desursum est sapientia, primum quidem pudica est, deinde pacifica, modesta, suadibilis, bonus consentiens, plena misericordia et fructibus bonis, non judicans, sine simulatione. 18And the fruit of justice is sown in peace, to them that make peace.Or il frutto della giustizia si semina nella pace da coloro, che han cura della pace.And the fruite of iustice, in peace is sovved, to them that make peace.Fructus autem justitiæ, in pace seminatur, facientibus pacem.
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Witham
But not many masters, teachers, and preachers. An admonition to all those who are not called, or not qualified to undertake this high ministry, lest they incur a greater condemnation. (Witham)
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For in many things we all offend,[Ver. 2. Offendimus, ptaiomen, we stumble, rather than fall.] fall into many, at least failings.
If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. He that in all occurrences can govern his tongue, has attained to a great degree of perfection.
Witham
He is able also with a bridle to lead about the whole body. He alludes to the comparison in the following verse; and the sense is, that when he has once perfectly subdued this unruly adversary, it may be presumed he can govern himself as to other passions, and the whole body of his actions. (Witham)
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Witham
If we put bits, etc. By the help of a bridle, a skillful rider can turn and guide horses never so headstrong and unruly. An experienced pilot sitting at the helm, steers the course of the vessel in a storm, turns and guides the ship what way he thinks most proper; so must a man learn, and use his utmost endeavours to bridle and govern his tongue. (Witham)
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Witham
The tongue is indeed a little member, yet doth great things:[Ver. 5. Et magna exaltat, megalauchei; which is not only magnificè loqui et gloriari, but also magna facere.] causeth great evils and mischiefs, when it is not carefully governed; as a little fire,[Ver. 5. Quantus ignis, for quantulus by the Greek, oligon pur.] it kindleth and consumeth a great wood. It is a world of iniquity, the cause of infinite evils, dissensions, quarrels, seditions, wars, etc. It defileth the whole body, even the body politic of kingdoms. This fire, kindled by hell, sets all in a flame during the course of our lives, (literally, the wheel of our nativity ) from our cradle to our grave. (Witham)
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Witham
Is tamed, etc. The wildest beasts may be tamed, lions and tigers, and the rest,[Ver. 7. Et caeterorum, by which the ancient interpreter had read ton allon, though in the present Greek copies we read, kai enalion, et Marinorum.] and so managed as to do no harm. (Witham)
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Witham
But the tongue no man can tame, without the special assistance of God. (Witham)
St. Augustine
Wherefore we are to understand, says St. Augustine, that as no one is able of himself to govern his tongue, we must fly to the Lord for his assistance. (St. Augustine, ser. 4. de verb. Matthew vi.)
Witham
It is an unquiet evil,[Ver. 8. Inquietum malum; so in divers Greek manuscripts, akatastaton, though in others, akatacheton, quod coerceri non potest.] which cannot be stopt[stopped]. It is full of deadly poison, which brings oftentimes death both to men's bodies and souls. (Witham)
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By it we bless God, etc. Such different effects from the same cause, as of blessing God, and cursing men, created to the likeness of God, seem contrary to the ordinary course of nature; for a fountain form the same source doth not send forth both sweet and bitter streams.
Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? etc. This seems to be connected with the admonition given at the beginning of the chapter, be not many masters; let none pretend to this but who have wisdom and knowledge, which also may be known by their prudent and mild conversation.
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But if you have bitter zeal. He hints at that bitter, false zeal, which many teachers among the Jews, even after their conversion, were apt to retain against the converted Gentiles, pretending with lies, and against the truth of the Scriptures, that they are not to be made partakers of the blessings brought to all nations by the Messias.
Witham
Glory not, boast not in this pretended wisdom, which descendeth not from above, from God, but which is earthly, sensual, diabolical, from an evil spirit, which foments these jealousies and divisions; and where there are such emulations and divisions, there is nothing but inconstancy, and all kind of evils. (Witham)
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Witham
But the true wisdom, which is from above,...is chaste, and pure, peaceable, modest, free from such divisions, tractable, easy to be persuaded[Ver. 17. Suadibilis, eupeithes; which may either signify easy to be persuaded or who can easily persuade.] of the truths foretold in the Scriptures, etc. Now the fruit and effect of such justice, piety, and sanctity, is sown in peace, with peaceable dispositions, in those who with sincerity seek true peace, and who hereby shall gain the reward of an eternal peace and happiness. (Witham)
St. Paul gives a similar character of charity. (1 Corinthians 13.) "Charity is patient, is kind,...is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil,...believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
Haydock
Easy to be persuaded. A good lesson for those devotees, who are not few in number, who are so obstinate and so wedded to their own opinions and ways, as to be unwilling to be controlled, even by those whom God has placed over them, for the direction of their souls. (Haydock)
Calmet
Without judging. That is, it does not condemn a neighbour upon light grounds, or think evil of him. It puts the best construction upon every thing he says or does, and never intrudes itself into the concerns of others. (Calmet)
"Judge not, and you shall not be judged," says the Saviour of our souls; "condemn not, and you shall not be condemned." (St. Luke, 6:37.) "No," says the holy apostle, (1 Corinthians 4:5.) "judge not before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart."
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1. Many maisters.] He meaneth principally Sect-maisters that make them selues seueral Ringleaders in sundry sortes of new deuised doctrines: euery one arrogating to him self to be maister, Many maisters are many proud Sectmaisters. and none so humble as to be a scholer, either to Gods Church and true Pastors, or to other guides and authors of the said sectes. So did Zuinglius disdaine to be Luthers scholer, and Caluin to be the folower of Zuinglius.
Concordance Mat. 23, 8.
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Concordance Eccl. 14, 1. 19, 16.
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〈Greek〉.
litle
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can it yeld salt and svveete vvater.
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The difference betwixt the humane vvisedom, specially of heretikes: and the vvisedom of the Catholike Church & her children.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas 4.3
3. “And we went forth, and saw before the entrance Optatus the bishop at the right hand, and Aspasius the presbyter, a teacher,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 57.6
… And who, then, is perfect? Who is there that offendeth not amid such an abounding of iniquity, and such a freezing of charity? “I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” At times I read and hear: “My brethren, be not many masters, seeing that ye shall receive the greater condemnation: for in many things we offend all.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.3
So much, then, have we briefly said, to shew how great is the weight of government, lest whosoever is unequal to sacred offices of government should dare to profane them, and through lust of pre-eminence undertake a leadership of perdition. For hence it is that James affectionately deters us, saying, Be not made many masters, my brethren (
Pseudo-Clement The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle 11
… because they wish to be teachers, and to display themselves as skil ful in speaking; because they traffic in iniquity in the name of Christ—which it is not right for the servants of God to do . And they hearken not to that which the Scripture has said: “Let not many be teachers among you, my brethren, and be not all of you prophets.”
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St Peter of Alexandria † AD 311 The Genuine Acts of Peter 1
… What also can be more sublime than the apostles, who have not removed themselves from our infirmity? For one of them writes, “In many things we offend all;”
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 The Apology of Rufinus. Addressed to Apronianus, in Reply to Jerome's Letter to Pammachius 1.19
… Yet there is something more to be said. What is that you ask. It is this, that those who are guilty should become the judges, that those who plotted the accusation should also pronounce the sentence. It is, indeed, no new thing for a writer to make a mistake or a slip in his words, and in my opinion it is a venial fault, for the Scripture also says,
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.6
… “You, whose accomplishments give you so many watchful eyes, how can you be pardoned if you go wrong? How can you fail to be buried in the silence of a never ending shame?” When I read this, and reflected that I must somewhere or other have made a slip in my words (for
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 50.3
… He may, however, have supposed me to be in error (for “in many things we offend all,” and “if any man offend not in word he is a perfect man”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 57.7
… Or should we not rather pardon the shortcomings of the translators on the score of their human frailty according to the saying of James, “In many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.2
… “He did not sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: when he was reviled, he reviled not again, and as a lamb is dumb before its shearer, so opened he not his mouth.” To Him came the prince of this world, and found nothing in Him: although He had done no sin, God made Him sin for us. But we, according to the Epistle of James,
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
James iii. 2 . In many things we all stumble or err.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 3.6
… and boastfulness in prayer, and confidence in your holiness, like one fool trying to persuade another, you finish with the words “These lips with which I pour out my supplication that Thou mayest have pity on me.” If you are holy, if you are innocent, if you are cleansed from all defilement, if you have sinned neither in word nor deed—although James says,
Sulpicius Severus † AD 420 The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus 2.10
… speaking guile.” And be mindful of the Apostle who says, “Bless, and curse not.” But often call to mind the following words, “See that no one render evil for evil to any man, or cursing for cursing, but on the contrary, do ye bless them, because to this ye have been called, that ye should possess a blessing by inheritance”; and this other passage, “If any
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 73.9
… Let us content ourselves with smaller attainments in that [knowledge] which puffeth up, if we can thereby preserve unharmed that [charity] which edifieth. I feel that I come far short of that perfection of which it is written, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 167.10
… It is not necessary for us to urge this at greater length in writing to you, but I make the statement for the sake of others who perhaps shall read this. For you, indeed, in that same splendid work against Jovinianus, have carefully proved this from the Holy Scriptures; in which work also you have quoted the words, “in many things we all offend,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 167.17
… Nevertheless, even though it be only in one point that he offend, he is guilty of all, because he violates that love on which all hang. If these things be true, an explanation is by this means found, clearing up that saying of the man of apostolic grace, “In many things we offend all.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 78
… It is in view, then, of these sins, and others of the same sort, and of others again more trifling still, which consist of offenses in words and thought (as the Apostle James confesses, “In many things we offend all”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 3.13
… who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth; to whom the prince of this world came, and found nothing in Him; whom, though He had done no sin, God made sin for us. We, however, according to the Epistle of James, all commit many sins;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter 64
… But the man who sets his mind on this truth must also carefully attend to another,—in how many things we all of us offend,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 17
… but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting.” This is the faith to which the commandments drive us, in order that the law may prescribe our duty and faith accomplish it. For through the tongue, which no man can tame, but only the wisdom which comes down from above, “in many things we all of us offend.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness chapter44
… all that it would be needful to say would be, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Nor could the Apostle James say: “In many things we all offend.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 18
… they scarcely recollected what they had never uttered with a fixed purpose, but had poured forth in a sheer volley of casual and unconsidered words. It is, unhappily, almost impossible to be quite clear of such faults. Who is he “that slippeth not in his tongue,” and “offendeth not in word?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 56.10
… in order that they may detain the foot for a fall, or trip up the foot for a stumble; certes that they may find that which they may accuse. And what man so walketh, that nowhere he slippeth? For example, how speedily is a slip made even in tongue? For it is written, “Whosoever in tongue stumbleth not, the same is a perfect man.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 49
But because, as it is written, “in many things we all stumble
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 88
… “For in many things,” as it is written, “we all stumble
Pseudo-Clement The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle 11
… because they traffic in iniquity in the name of Christ—which it is not right for the servants of God to do . And they hearken not to that which the Scripture has said: “Let not many be teachers among you, my brethren, and be not all of you prophets.” For “he who does not transgress in word is a perfect man, able to keep down and subjugate his whole body.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 30
… “Who witnessed,” it is said, “before Pontius Pilate.” ( 1 Tim. vi. 13 .) Then the boldness—“and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” Here he speaks it as concerning their own nation. “And the multitude of the city,” etc. ( v. 4, 5 .) Accordingly they did not wait for it, but saw the intention of attacking them,
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 127.10
10. In the gospel the Saviour commends the unjust steward because, although he defrauded his master, he acted wisely for his own interests. The heretics in this instance pursued the same course; for, seeing how great a matter a little fire had kindled,
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 130.10
… In Job it is written of behemoth that “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.” Our foe uses the heat of youthful passion to tempt young men and maidens and “sets on fire the wheel of our birth.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 51.6
… For, among other wicked things, he has presumed to say this, too, that Adam lost the image of God, although Scripture nowhere declares that he did. Were it so, never would all the creatures in the world be subject to Adam’s seed—that is, to the entire human race; yet, in the words of the apostle, everything “is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 51.6
… For, after a somewhat discursive account of the human tongue, he has gone on to say of it: “It is an unruly evil…therewith bless we God, even the Father and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
8 . The tongue is a deadly poison.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 16
Now that passage, in which the Apostle James says: “But the tongue can no man tame,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 17
… For through the tongue, which no man can tame, but only the wisdom which comes down from above, “in many things we all of us offend.” For this truth also the same apostle pronounced in no other sense than that in which he afterwards declares: “The tongue no man can tame.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 5.1
… Let him then who is leading now that life which has an end, fear, that in that life which is without end, he may have security. Therefore were we alarmed. For who would not fear Him who speaketh the truth, and saith, “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Yet “the tongue can no man tame.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 22
There is nothing which can stay the devil’s wickedness, that “restless evil, full of deadly poison
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.14
… Hence James says, If any man thinketh himself to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain ( James i. 26 ). Hence again he says, Let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak ( Ibid. 19 ). Hence again, defining the power of the tongue, he adds, An unruly evil, full of deadly poison (
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 3.18
… Truly now is the season to proclaim, “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can show forth all His praise?” How many men have not only cast down, but also trodden under foot the images of God! For when thou throttlest a debtor, when thou strippest him, when thou draggest him away,
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St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: The Pearl. Seven Hymns on the Faith 1.4
4. “Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, and whether of the two will prevail? The incense of praise riseth along with the fume of disputation from the tongue, and unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying [come] from one mouth,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 17
Accordingly, after emphatically describing the evil of the tongue—saying, among other things: “My brethren, these things ought not so to be”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 6
… But your prayer is not against him, but against yourself. For you provoke God by uttering those impious words, “Show him the same!” “So do to him!” “Smite him!” “Recompense him!” Far be such words from the disciple of Christ, who should be meek and mild. From the mouth that has been vouchsafed such holy Mysteries, let nothing bitter proceed.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 17
… This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where there is envying and strife, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 46
… . . this is not the wisdom which descendeth from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For wherever there is envying and strife, there is also confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good works, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 2.44
… This is not the wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, animal, devilish; for where envying and contention are, there are inconstancy and every evil work”?
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.22
… To such it is rightly said through James, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable (
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Patience 12
… they may not displease men, or that they may not suffer worse, or in self-pleasing and love of their own presumption, do with most proud will bear up under these same, it is meet that concerning patience this be said unto them, which concerning wisdom the blessed Apostle James saith, “This wisdom cometh not from above, but is earthly, animal, devilish.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Nature and Grace 6
… and in adults, because it is able to suffice for itself in attaining righteousness, if it will. Men no doubt seem to urge acute opinions on these points, but it is only word-wisdom, by which the cross of Christ is made of none effect. This, however, “is not the wisdom which descendeth from above.”
Pseudo-Clement The First Epistle of the Blessed Clement, the Disciple of Peter the Apostle 11
… We teach the truth, and yet go wandering about idly, and exalt themselves, and make their boast” in the mind of the flesh.” These, moreover, are like “the blind man who leads the blind man, and they both fall into the ditch.” And they will receive judgment, because in their talkativeness and their frivolous teaching they teach natural
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 2.44
Now, to say nothing more of continency, and to argue in this place of wisdom alone, certainly the Apostle James above mentioned says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, modest, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, inestimable, without simulation.”
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Do not be many masters. — In Greek, "Do not become many teachers." "Master" is called by the Latins any prefect whatsoever; whence it is called master of morals, master of horse, master of a ship, master of the people, that is, dictator, master of cattle, that is, shepherd. Hence "to master" is to rule, and from this comes the name "magistracy," says Festus. Whence first, some understand by "masters" Bishops: for a Bishop is a teacher of the people, as the Apostle says in I Timothy III, 2, that is to say, Do not become many Bishops of the same place and city: for one city demands one Bishop, and one Bishop one city; just as a bridegroom one bride, and a bride one bridegroom. From this indeed were born heresies and schisms, says St. Cyprian, book I, epistle 3 to Cornelius, because many wished to be Bishops and Pontiffs, and consequently "because obedience is not rendered to one priest of God, nor is one priest in the Church considered for a time as judge in the place of Christ: if the whole brotherhood would obey him according to divine teachings, no one would move anything against the college of priests." And Lactantius, book IV, last chapter: "Heresiarchs," he says, "striving to increase wealth and honors, sought the great priesthood, and being overcome by the more powerful, preferred to depart with their supporters rather than bear those set over them, whom they themselves had desired to be set over before." To this Thomas Aquinas adds, interpreting thus, that is to say, let no one wish to be a master in many Churches, and to obtain great benefices. Secondly, more plainly and more fully, that is to say, Do not seek many the doctoral chair, namely, do not each of you seek from among many the magistracy, and become masters of the faithful. For by "many" he understands each one from among many, by syllepsis, by which one is put for many, as in Aeneid II: "They fill with armed soldier," that is, with armed soldiers; thus conversely many are put for one, as in Aeneid IX: "You, O Calliope, I pray, inspire the singer." But he says "many" not "individuals," because many were competing and seeking the magistracy, as they still do now, that is to say, Many are accustomed to aspire to the magistracy and seek it: I forbid this to be done, because few appointed and authorized by the Prelates of the Church suffice for it: but if many become so, they hinder the few, and this first, because in plurality there is always confusion. Secondly, because among many the unlearned, indiscreet, perverse, scandalous easily creep in. Again, among many from a slight cause easily arise ambition and contention, while one strives to excel or suppress another. Thirdly, because many have many and diverse judgments; whence they will easily teach diverse and contrary things, from which arise lawsuits and scandals. Fourthly, because among many someone of heterodox and proud mind easily inserts himself, who alone will strive to be wise and to draw disciples after him, so that he may be held as the author and prince of a new school, opinion and sect; and thus he will introduce heresy and become a heresiarch. For this ambition impelled Simon, Arius, Pelagius, Calvin, Luther and other Innovators to devise their heresies, as Tertullian teaches, book On the Prescription of Heretics, chapter xli, and St. Justin, Question iv to the Orthodox. Hence St. Augustine in the prologue of book I of the Retractations: "Masters," he says, "are then said to become many, when they feel diverse things and mutually adverse: but when all say the same thing, and say it truly, they do not depart from the magistracy of one true master. But they offend, not when those speak much, but when they add their own: for thus indeed they fall from much speaking into false speaking." The occasion of writing this to James was that which Bede gives: "Many," he says, "there were in the times of the Apostles, who coming down from Judaea to Antioch, not well instructed in the law of faith, taught the believers from the Gentiles that they ought to be circumcised, and introduced other errors, of which Luke speaks in the Acts of the Apostles." Such were Ebion, Cerinthus, Simon and the like, as I said on Acts xv. These therefore St. James teaches to be avoided, equally as St. Paul, Acts xx, 29: "I know," he says, "that after my departure there shall enter in among you ravening wolves, not sparing the flock. And from among yourselves there shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them," namely, so that they may be called their masters. St. James alludes to that saying of Christ in Matthew xxiii, 6, where, censuring the arrogance of the Pharisees: "They love," He says, "the first seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the marketplace, and to be called by men Rabbi: but be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master (Christ), and all you are brethren," that is to say, Do not arrogate to yourselves honor and the title of Rabbi before Christ, nay rather, excluding Christ, as the Pharisees do, but rather, as disciples, follow and call one master, Christ, and preach His, not your doctrines, not so much as masters, but as disciples and heralds of Christ. St. Augustine wrote the book On the Master, in which he teaches that there is no other master who teaches man knowledge than God; for men admonish only outwardly, but Christ teaches truth inwardly. For when we speak and teach, he asserts that we "do nothing other than admonish, since memory, to which words adhere, by turning them over causes the things themselves to come to mind, of which words are signs." Whence he concludes thus: "But I have learned by the admonition of your words, that nothing else is done by words than to admonish a man, so that he may learn, and that it is very little what appears through some utterance of the speaker's thought. Whether, however, those who speak truly teach him only, who dwelt within, when He spoke without, admonished. Him now I shall love all the more ardently with His favor, the more I shall make progress in learning." The same, sermon 122 On Various Matters, chapter II: "It is therefore safer that both we who speak, and you who hear, should know ourselves to be fellow-disciples under one master: it is altogether safer and expedient that you hear us not as masters, but as your fellow-disciples." Hence heretics, wishing to be masters, fell away from the one master Christ. "For when Phrygians, or Novatians, or Valentinians, or Marcionites, or Anthropians, or any others are named, they have ceased to be Christians, who, having lost the name of Christ, have put on human or external names," says Lactantius, book IV, last chapter. Such were those who proudly called themselves Gnostics, that is, those knowing all things, as Clement of Alexandria testifies, book I of the Paedagogus, chapter vi. And so James here forbids only the ambition of teaching, especially in youths and the unlearned, who wish to teach before they learn, and in order to be teachers, disdain to be disciples: against whom St. Jerome inveighs, in his letter to Paulinus, and at the same time teaches that it is safer to learn than to teach, according to that of Psalm l, 15: "To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness." See what I said against ambition at I Timothy III, 1. Wherefore heretics perversely twist this sentence of James against Academies, and against degrees, as if James forbade the creation of Bachelors, Licentiates, and Doctors; for he asserted that these profit the Church no more than the devil, as Wyclif testified by Praetolus; and Andrew Carlstadt, made a baker from a Doctor, inscribed on the chair of Wittenberg, in which those to be made doctors stood: "Be not called masters," which Luther reading said, by this sentence of Christ and James nothing other is sanctioned than that no one should devise and teach a new dogma, as Cochlaeus reports in the Acts of Luther. Perversely, I say. For Paul was a doctor of the Gentiles, and he says that God placed doctors in the Church, Ephesians IV, 11, and such in the school of Alexandria were Clement, Origen, Heraclas, Pantaenus, Dionysius, Theonas, Achillas, etc., and similar ones Charlemagne instituted at Paris, whom Albert the Great, Alexander of Hales, St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure followed, who also received the insignia of the doctorate. See Middendorp, the book On Academies, and the decrees On masters in the Synod of Vienne, Basel, Lateran and Trent. Finally, Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 1 against Julian; St. Augustine, book XVIII of the City of God, chapter v, and throughout the ancients censure Julian the Apostate, because he forbade Christians to teach, so that he might wrest from them the weapons by which they destroyed his paganism. Mystically St. Augustine in Psalm CXLIV: "Brief is the teaching, that you always praise God, and with a true heart, not false, say: I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall be always in my mouth. Brief is the mystery (or teaching), namely that you know Him to give mercifully when He gives, to take away mercifully when He takes: nor should you believe yourself abandoned by His mercy, who either flatters you in giving lest you fail, or corrects you exulting lest you perish. Whether therefore in His gifts, or in His scourges, praise Him. The praise of Him who scourges is the medicine of the wound." Knowing that you shall receive a stricter judgment. — In Greek λήψομεθα, that is, we shall receive, namely we teachers, as if to say: Teaching is a λῆμμα, that is, a burden and weight, which someone unwisely takes upon his shoulders, unless it be imposed by a superior. He gives the reason why teaching ought rather to be avoided than sought after, namely because teachers before Christ the Judge will undergo a graver and more severe judgment and condemnation than disciples, if they arrogantly seek glory, despise others, or teach evil things, or live badly: for teachers ought to shine before disciples not only in word, but also in example. Whence St. Augustine carefully admonishes, in the book On Pastors, chapter x: "Do not be torn by thorns, that is, do not imitate the deeds of the wicked; read the grape hanging among thorns, but born from the vine. Let the nourishment of the cluster reach you, torment by fire is reserved for the thorns." The same, in his 46th treatise on John: "Pluck the grape, beware the thorn: true doctrine through the wicked, the vine-branch in the thorn: read the cluster among thorns carefully, lest while you seek the fruit, you tear your hand, and when you hear one speaking good things, do not imitate one doing evil things." The author of the Imperfect Work cited by St. Chrysostom, homily 43: "Is precious gold despised because of vile earth? No: just as gold is chosen and earth is left behind, so also do you receive the doctrine and leave behind the morals." And after some intervening remarks: "Bees gather flowers, leave herbs; so also do you gather the flowers of doctrine, and leave behind the conduct." Furthermore, it is great, says Hugh, is the judgment, if the teacher be unlearned; greater, if undisciplined; greatest, if deficient in both, which the Wise Man, chapter vi, 6, asserts will be most severe for him who presides. Wherefore it is fearful what St. Chrysostom writes, homily 3 on Acts: "I do not say this rashly, but as I am affected and feel: I do not think that among many priests many are saved, but far more perish. What others sin, is imputed to the priest. If even one alone depart uninitiated, does he not overturn his entire salvation? For if the salvation of one soul is of such worth, that for this the Son of God became man, and suffered so much, consider what perdition will bring about in punishment? But if someone is worthy of death in this life because of one man lost, how much more is he?" Rightly therefore does the Emperor admonish, in the book If Anyone, chapter On Bishops and Clerics: "He ought to be so removed from ambition, that he be sought out compelled, asked he should refuse, invited he should flee. For truly he is unworthy of the priesthood, unless he be ordained unwillingly."
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2. In many things we all offend (in Greek πταίομεν, that is, we fall), — both in word, when we wish to teach others, concerning which this is properly treated here; and in example, as if to say: Since everyone, even living for himself alone and for God, offends in many things, surely someone would unwisely seek the teaching of others, when in it he would offend in far more things, concerning which he must render an exact account in God's judgment. Hear St. Augustine, sermon 122 On Various Matters, chapter II: "See, because a care is imposed upon us, where it is said: Be not many masters, for in many things we all offend. Who would not tremble when the Apostle says, all? etc. You ought therefore to be not only hearers of those speaking, but merciful toward those fearing: so that in that which we speak truly, because the true comes from truth, not us, but itself (the true and the truth, which is God himself) you praise: but where, as men, we offend, pray the same one for us." This is what Ecclesiastes says, chapter vii, 21: "There is no just man upon earth, that doth good and sinneth not"; and Proverbs xxiv, 16: "For a just man shall fall seven times, and shall rise again." Whence Clement of Alexandria, I Paedagogue, chapter ii: "To sin not at all is proper to God." Clearly indeed St. John, epistle I, chapter I, verse 8: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"; and St. Paul, I Corinthians IV, 4: "But I am not thereby justified." Whence St. Gregory, XXIV Morals, chapter xi or xviii: "What then shall the tablets do, if the columns tremble? Or how shall the twigs stand immobile, if by this wind of fear even the heavens are shaken?" Wherefore singularly by the precept of Christ we pray daily: "Forgive us our debts"; and that truly, not from feigned humility, and in our own person, not another's, as against Pelagius the Council of Milevis defines, canon 6. Therefore it is of faith, that a just man cannot, even with special help, which is ordinarily conferred, without a singular privilege of God, avoid all venial sins for a long time. Thus the Council of Trent defines, session VI, canon 23: "If anyone shall say that a man once justified can throughout his whole life avoid all sins, even venial, unless by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds concerning the Blessed Virgin, let him be anathema." Where note first, that a just man can be free from all sin whatsoever for a time, for example when he is baptized, when he grieves for all things from his whole heart and confesses them, when he obtains a plenary indulgence, etc. But he cannot throughout his whole life, as the Pelagians wished, indeed not even for a long time, keep himself from all venial sin. The reason is, because every aid of grace which God ordinarily confers does not take away concupiscence, as is evident in St. Paul, Rom. vii, and II Cor. xii, 7. And therefore it does not prevent all motions that precede reason by which we are drawn into unlawful things. But these motions of concupiscence are various, and almost innumerable, and while we overcome one, another arises and as it were bubbles up, and another and another almost continually. Wherever, however, there are such and so great motions toward illicit sin, it cannot morally happen, considering human weakness, that one does not sometimes sin venially. For if anyone is even slightly negligent in one thing, immediately it is a venial sin, and it is not within human industry to provide this extreme diligence and vigilance in all motions of the mind. Therefore it cannot morally happen that by special ordinary aid, which is also conferred even on the most holy, a man should avoid in his whole life, indeed in a single year, every venial sin. For the slightest negligence suffices for a venial sin, because it does not require perfect deliberation or advertence. Thus it is impossible that someone should write or print some great work, or build a ship, a house, a temple; and commit no error, not even the smallest; because it is impossible that the human mind should keep watch over all things, even the smallest, and remain vigilant. Whence that saying: "Sometimes even good Homer nods." Just as therefore a string on the lyre is easily loosened over a long time and produces discord: so also in man the striving of the mind cannot last long without relaxing and erring in something. Again, just as those who travel through the rough mountains and many rocks of the Alps for many days, it is impossible to be always so cautious that they do not sometimes strike against some rock and stumble: so for man amid so many occasions of falling and scandals, it is morally impossible not sometimes to strike and offend. For although individual acts and falls are free, and therefore it is in man's power to avoid them, yet all taken together are not so in man's power that he can avoid all of them. Freedom therefore is of individuals, but necessity of sinning sometimes is of all taken together and at once. Finally, venial sin does not take away justice or the grace of God, but consists with it, and is as it were a mole on a beautiful face: whence likewise it does not prevent that the just man be considered to fulfill the law according to the possibility of this life. For a magistrate, and much more God, does not care about the smallest errors, so as to be gravely indignant on account of them, and pursue a man with hatred and punish him with death. You will say: If man can only morally not provide this integrity immune from venial sin, yet physically he can, therefore it is not absolutely impossible for him; and therefore it will be able to happen that someone in the whole human race, by the common aid of God, avoids every venial sin. I answer: When we say that man morally cannot do this, we do not understand it thus, as if in some way, rarely however, or not except with the greatest difficulty, it could happen that man avoids every sin altogether; but because he does not lack intrinsic power, namely freedom and physical will, which in itself with God's grace is sufficient to provide this: yet this is so surrounded by so many difficulties and changes, that considering the condition of human fragility it can never be reduced to act; and therefore we say this is morally impossible, yet physically possible, as Andreas Vega rightly teaches, lib. XIV in Concil. Trident. xxv. If you ask whether the just man with special aid cannot at least avoid all venial sins from the genus which are committed with full deliberation? Durandus answers in II, dist. xxviii, Quaest. III, num. 8, that this can happen; and this is not improbable, if we speak of some most holy man, such as St. John the Baptist, who never seems to have spoken an idle word. Whence the Church sings of him, that as a boy he went into the desert, "lest he could even slightly stain his life with famine." The same perhaps could be said of St. Paul the first hermit and Anthony, that they could have avoided these things for some years: although I do not dare to affirm this of the whole life; for very easily in so long a time it happens that someone has a lapse of tongue or imagination and mind, as St. James here teaches. Thus once our Lessius felt and taught in the tract. de Gratia. Morally, this necessity of sinning is matter for profound humility, and it sharpens man's vigilance, zeal and struggle, so that he sins as little as possible, and therefore God permits it in the just, as St. Paul says that a thorn of the flesh was left to him, lest the greatness of revelations should exalt him, and the power of God might be made perfect in his infirmity, II Cor. xii, 9. This Jebusite therefore dwelling in our flesh can be subdued but cannot be rooted out, just as once the same was left by God to the Hebrews, so that He might test Israel in him, Judg. ii, 22. This again admonishes us to have mercy on others, and to give pardon easily to those who have offended us, as being conscious of the fragility both of our own and of others, and likewise to correct sinners in the spirit of gentleness, Gal. vi, 1. Whence St. Augustine, lib. II De serm. Domini in monte, cap. xx, prescribes this manner of correcting, so that he who corrects may consider whether he himself ever had the same vice or not: "If he did not have it, let him think that he is a man, and could have had it; if he had it and does not have it now, let the memory of common fragility touch him, so that rebuke may be preceded not by hatred, but by mercy. If he is in the same vice, let him not rebuke or reprove, but groan together and invite to guarding against it together." Hence we read of St. Francis and many other Saints, that they constantly called themselves sinners, and indeed the greatest ones, and so our Francis Borgia subscribed to his letters with nothing other than "Francis the sinner," as Ribadeneira relates in his Life. Of others we read that they wished to be freed from this exile, and to pass to Christ, so that they might escape this miserable necessity of offending him. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man. — Didymus understands this of the internal word of the heart, not the external word of the mouth; for he who, he says, has the truth of understanding concerning things that are, will have an inoffensive word: and perfection consists in the moderation and restraint not so much of words, as of thoughts and passions. But this is symbolic. For James speaks of the use and vice of the tongue, as is evident from what follows; for perpetual moderation of the tongue is the effect and certain sign of moderation of thoughts and passions. For such as the life is, such is the speech. Whence Hugh of St. Victor, annot. in cap. xii epist. ad Roman., teaches that in the moderation of the tongue perfection does not so much consist, as the accumulation of perfection: just as we call him old who reaches the hundredth year; for although the hundredth year alone does not bring old age, yet it does so if joined with the others that precede it. Such a man was scarcely to be found, as Eccles., cap. xix, vers. 17, required: "Who is there that hath not offended in his tongue?" The reason is, first, because among the vices of corrupted human nature one not insignificant is innate loquacity, so that what it desires and conceives, it is eager to speak forth; as is seen in children and women: but this, because it is innate and as it were natural a propensity, is most difficult to restrain and govern. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," Matt. xii, 34. Second, because the tongue is near to the brain, the mouth of the imagination, so that what it thinks it soon derives into the mouth, and flows forth into words: wherefore unless you govern the imagination (which is very difficult), you will not have governed the tongue; for the word of the mouth is the offspring of the word of the mind; speech is the fruit of thought, the image of the heart, the index of the feelings of the soul. Hence Socrates said: "Speak, young man, that I may see you." Whence the Psalmist, Psalm. xxxviii, 1: "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not in my tongue." Third, because great circumspection of all things and circumstances is necessary in speaking, so that you may speak appropriately to the place, time, and persons listening, lest you offend anyone. But this circumspection is an act of great prudence and perfection, and cannot be furnished by the powers of nature in every long discourse, but singular grace of God is necessary for it. Wherefore truly St. Augustine, epist. 7 Ad Marcellinum: "Although Cicero (as is written) never uttered any word which he would wish to recall, yet this praise is more credible of one excessively foolish, than of a perfectly wise man." Fourth, because man is prone to praise himself and detract from others: likewise to flattering, dissembling, deceiving, lying: again to speaking curious, fabulous, idle and superfluous things, whereas Christ teaches Matt. xii, 36: "But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment." This is what the Wise Man pronounces, Prov. xvi, 1: "It is the part of man to prepare his soul; and of the Lord, to govern the tongue." This the Psalmist prays, Psalm. cxl, verse 3: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips, that I may not decline into words of malice, to make excuses in sins." Wherefore one of the Seraphim with a burning coal touched the lips of Isaiah, that purged they might learn to speak rightly and with fire, Isaiah vi. The Gentiles saw the same thing. When Aristotle was asked by Stobaeus, serm. 33, what thing was most difficult for man? he answered: "To be silent about things that should be silent." The same Aristotle went further in the account given by Antonius in the Melissa, I part., serm. 73, tom. I Bibliotheca SS. Patrum: for when he was asked who could keep a secret entrusted to him, he said: "He who can hold a burning coal in his tongue." Cicero reports in agreement, lib. II De Orat., that Ennius was accustomed to say that a flame is more easily suppressed by a wise man's burning mouth than he keeps good words. And these apophthegms of the Philosophers illustrate that passage Eccli. xix, 12: "An arrow fixed in the flesh of the thigh, so is a word in the heart of a fool," that is, like a bull pierced by a two-edged axe, bearing a wound and a weapon (as Seneca speaks in Hercules Furens), most bitterly wounded fills the sky with horrible bellowing, until the driven and deeply fixed spear is cast out: so the fool, as long as he utters the word entrusted to him like one in travail, or nauseated by swallowed poison (which similitudes the Holy Spirit also uses there), captures no intervals of rest. Therefore such an uncontrollable beast must be given the bridle of reason, Eccli. XXVIII, 30: "Make straight bridles for thy mouth, and take heed lest thou fall by thy tongue." Psalm. XXXVIII, 2: "I set a guard to my mouth," in Hebrew a bridle. Someone seeking a doctrine of salvation and saying: "Tell me, Abba, a word by which I may be saved," hears from him: "If thou wilt be saved, when thou goest to anyone, speak not first before he asks thee." Thus it is found in the Lives of the Fathers, lib. V, cap. X On Discretion, num. 19. The admonition of St. Anthony for salvation was: "Restrain thy tongue and thy belly." Another elder in the Lives of the Fathers called those who do not restrain their tongue "a stable without a door: because whatever ascends into their heart, they speak with their mouth." Ibid. Abba Sisois says: "For thirty years I do not pray to God on account of sins, but praying I say this: Lord Jesus Christ, protect me from my tongue. And even now through each day I fall through it and offend." Ibid. Abba Hyperichius says: "A monk who does not retain his tongue in time of anger, will neither be able to retain the passions of the body at any time." And Abba Lucius said to a certain one wishing to go on pilgrimage: "If thou dost not hold thy tongue, wherever thou goest, thou wilt not be a pilgrim; but restrain thy tongue here, and thou wilt be a pilgrim even here." Abba Agatho carried a stone in his mouth for three years, so that forced he might learn to be silent; and he learned it so well that afterwards, when he wished to speak, he could scarcely do so. The Gentiles saw the same thing. Hesiod in Plutarch in Lacon.: "The best treasure for man is the treasury of the tongue, and great grace which measures all things sparingly with words." Anacharsis, when asked what in man was best and worst? answered: "The tongue," as Laertius testifies, lib. I, cap. IX. The Egyptians, sacrificing to Harpocrates, the god of silence, cried out: "Tongue fortune, tongue demon," as Plutarch testifies, lib. De Iside. For in much speaking there is not wanting sin. Wherefore St. Augustine, in the preface to the book of Retractions, testifies that he writes the books of Retractions, so that having spoken much he might correct badly spoken things. "Nor indeed should I reprove them, if I ought to have spoken them: but he who could not have the first part of wisdom, let him have the second part of modesty: so that he who was not able to say all things without repentance, may at least repent of those things which he knows ought not to have been said." From the same: "For in many things we all offend. If anyone offends not in word, the same is a perfect man." I do not claim this perfection for myself now, when I am already old, much less when I began as a young man to write, or to speak to peoples: and so much has been granted to me, that whenever it was necessary for me to speak in my presence to the people, most rarely was I permitted to be silent, and to hear others, and to be swift to hear, but slow to speak. Among others, the distinguished Abbot Pambo was eminent, who by his silence attained such perfection that at his death he testified that no word had ever escaped him of which he repented. For when he was a beginner, as Socrates says, book IV, chapter XVIII, he went to a master, and hearing from him the first verse of Psalm XXXVIII: "I said: I will keep my ways, that I offend not with my tongue," he was unwilling to hear a second verse, but departing said: "This one verse is enough, if only I could learn it in reality and in deed." And when after six months he was asked by his master why he had not returned to him for so long a time, he answered that he had not yet learned the verse in reality. After many years, being asked if he had learned it, he said that in nineteen full years he had scarcely learned to fulfill it in deed. Wherefore, dying, as Palladius says in the Lausiac History, chapter X, he said: "I do not remember having eaten bread given to me freely by anyone, nor do I repent at this hour of any word which I have spoken; and thus I depart to God, as one who has not even begun to be pious or religious." Palladius adds, "that he never immediately answered when questioned about Holy Scripture or about anything else, but said: I have not yet found what to answer. Three months would pass, and he would not give an answer, saying: I have not yet understood. So carefully did he give answers from God, that all received them from God with all fear; for it was said that he exercised this virtue above the great Anthony and above all the Saints, namely that he was accurate and perfect in speaking." Similar was Arsenius, once the teacher of the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, who, fleeing their anger, went into the desert, and heard from an angel: "Arsenius, flee, be silent, rest; these are the principles of salvation," which, reducing to practice, he became a man of wondrous holiness. Furthermore, the reason and manner of directing the tongue so that it does not offend is silence. Do you wish to learn to speak? Be silent, and in silence think what and how it should be spoken. For this reason in all Religious Orders there is such discipline and care of silence, because it is most useful, indeed necessary, for avoiding offenses and for the purity and innocence of the heart. The Italians prudently sing this proverb to their people: Odi, vedi e taci, se vuoi vivere in pace, that is, Hear, see and be silent, if you wish to live in peace. Read the Lives of the Fathers, and you will discover by innumerable examples that it is so. It can also bridle (the Syriac: subject and reduce into servitude) the whole body. — In Greek δυνατός, that is, powerful; but the sense comes to the same thing, as if to say: Just as he who bridles the mouth of a horse, by it bridles, rules and turns the whole body of the horse, and the entire horse, wherever he wishes: so he who bridles the mouth and tongue can lead, rule, and turn and direct the whole body wherever he pleases. Some understand by "body" the body of sin, namely the collection of vices, which as it were forms and integrates a whole body from various species and acts of sins, as from parts and members, as Cassian teaches, Collation XII, chapters I and II. Others understand by "body" the collection of passions, which is integrated from anger, hatred, hope, fear and other passions: for passions are as it were unbroken horses, which must be tamed and directed by bridles. Thus Origen, homily 45 on Joshua. Thirdly, others understand the body of all actions, as if to say: He who bridles and rules the tongue can likewise bridle and rule the passions and movements of the mind, and all actions. For, as St. Augustine says, sermon 47 On the Words of the Apostle: "A guilty tongue does not make guilty except a guilty mind." Fourthly, genuinely and properly, as if to say: He who knows how to bridle the tongue, he is a perfect man, and therefore can bridle the other members of the body, and moderate and compose all actions and movements according to the laws of modesty and virtue. I gave the reason why he is perfect a little before.
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3. If however. — The Interpreter reads with some manuscripts εἰ δέ; now many read ἰδού, or ἴδε, that is, "behold I saw": for James soon repeats this in another similitude of ships, saying: "Behold (ἰδού) and ships," etc. Some read "as" for "if." It is an anantapodoton, for the other part of the comparison is lacking, which Bede thus supplies and completes, as if to say: If we govern a horse by putting a bridle in its mouth: therefore much more it is fitting that man govern and moderate himself by bridling his mouth and tongue, his whole body, and all his actions. Or, as Gagneius says, if however we put bridles in the mouths of horses, we turn about their whole body; thus he who imposes a bridle on the tongue, drives it wherever he wishes, nor does he allow it to rush headlong. But truly this supplementation is excessive, and supplies and completes far too much. Wherefore James completes the rendering and comparison of this and the following similitude of the ship, when after each he adds: "So also the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things." That this is so is evident from the Greek text. For James declares by a twofold similitude how much importance it is to bridle the tongue; the former is taken from horses, the latter from ships, as if to say: Just as we tame horses, though noble, strong and untamed, by putting a bridle in their mouth, turn them about and bend them whither we will; again, just as we direct a very large ship by a small nail whither we will: so likewise if you put a bridle on the tongue, which is a small member, you will bridle and govern the whole body and mind of man. Or certainly it must be said that δέ "however" is put for "for," as happens also elsewhere. Whence the Syriac version renders it, "behold for"; and Hugo, "because if," so as to give the reason for what he said: "Can also turn about the whole body by a bridle," because namely in a similar way if we put a bridle in the mouths of horses, we turn about their whole body. Thus Francis Lucas in his Notes on this passage. Hence that saying of Theophrastus in Laertius, book V, chapter II: "One should trust more to an unbridled horse than to an uncontrolled word," as if to say: From this there is more danger and more harm than from an unbridled horse. James persists in the similitude of a horse rightly bridled, which because he had hinted at a little before by a word, he here sets forth and explains at length and clearly, and teaches that not only the tongue is to be bridled, but that it itself is also a bridle, by which all members and the whole body are bridled, as if to say: What a bridle is to horses, this is the tongue to men: but horses are governed, directed and bent by a bridle to the will of the rider: therefore the tongue also, restrained and moderated by the laws of the fear of God and love of neighbor, will moderate, direct and lead all human faculties and actions, both of body and mind, to their end. To make them obey (πρὸς τὸ πείθεσθαι, that is to obey, that is, to cause to obey; it is a Hebraism; the simple form is put for the causative, namely a neuter verb for an active one) us. — As if to say: By a bridle we make horses that are unteachable teachable, untamed tamed, inflexible flexible and ductile, so that they obey us in all things, according to that saying of Ovid, IV Tristium, elegy 6: "In time the spirited horse yields to the gentle reins, and the fierce wolf accepts the peaceful bit." Hence Cassiodorus in Psalm XXXI, thinks "bridle" is said from "fero (that is, horse) by restraining: for the ancients indeed called a horse ferum," although others think it derived from breaking, because it breaks the mouths of horses. And we turn about their whole body. — περιάγομεν, that is, we turn about. The reason is, because while the rider governs the horse's mouth by the bridle, he likewise governs the whole of the horse's head and its imagination: but this governs the whole horse's body, and all its affections, movements and steps; for the horse in all things follows its imagination, and is carried whither it leads it. In a similar way by bridling the tongue through continence, we likewise bridle our head, and its imagination, mind and will, which when restrained bridles likewise the whole body, and all its movements and acts: both because all have the same bridle, namely continence, which if it bridles a part most difficult, namely the tongue, will easily bridle the other members less rebellious and difficult; and because the tongue cannot be bridled unless first the proneness and eagerness to speak which is in the imagination and appetite be bridled: but when the imagination and appetite are bridled, all the actions and movements which proceed from them are bridled; and finally because the tongue is near to the brain, in which reside both the imagination and appetite, and also the motive power of the whole body through nerves, muscles and spirits which it derives and transmits from itself into the remaining members. Therefore when the tongue is restrained, the brain is likewise restrained, and its imagination, appetite and motive power, and all the nerves, muscles and motive spirits. Mystically, the horse is the body of man; the rider is Christ, who restrains and governs it by his grace. Thus St. John, Apocalypse VI, 2: "Behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him had a bow, and there was given unto him a crown, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer." Here the horse are the Apostles, the rider is Christ, who through them conquered and subdued the whole world. The horse therefore signifies in the Apostles toward Christ, first, obedience; second, patience in labors; third, alacrity; fourth, fierceness against demons, infidelity and sins; fifth, swiftness in evangelizing; sixth, that they carried Christ and Christ's name and kingdom throughout the whole world. See the sayings there. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily 31 on Matthew, calls our tongue a royal horse, which if you bridle, you will make it docile, and worthy for Christ to sit upon and ride. St. Ambrose, book IX, on chapter XIX of St. Luke, verse 30, seeking why Christ wished to be carried on an ass on Palm Sunday and to enter Jerusalem on it, answers: "It did not please the Lord of the world to be borne in public display on the back of an ass, but so that, with the mystery hidden, he might spread out the inner recesses of our mind, and in the secret places of souls the mystical rider might sit in the inner assembly, as if infused in a certain body of divinity, governing the steps of the mind, restraining the wantonness of the flesh, so that by the guidance of piety he might tame the affection of the Gentile people accustomed to it. Blessed are those who received such a rider in their inmost being. Blessed indeed are those whose mouths the bridle of the heavenly word restrained from much speaking. What is this bridle, brethren? Who will teach me how to restrain or loose the mouths of men? He showed me that bridle who said: That a mouth may be given to me in the opening of my lips. Speech therefore is a bridle, speech is a goad, and therefore it is hard for you to kick against the goad. He taught therefore not to open the mouth, to endure the goad, to bear the yoke. Let another also learn to suffer the reins of the tongue. For the virtue of silence is rarer than that of speaking. Let him indeed teach, who like one dumb against deceit did not open his mouth, prepared for scourges, and not refusing stripes, so that there might be a pious sitting." Note here first: Just as horses, camels, bears, and other wild and untamed animals are tamed by a bridle, according to that saying of Martial, book I, epigram 103: "That a leopard with painted neck bears a gentle yoke, and a wicked tiger submits to the patience of the whip: that golden-mouthed deer bite the bit. That Libyan bears are tamed by bridles and as much as Calydon is said to have borne. The boar obeys purple halters: that ugly chariots are drawn by bison." Thus there is no tongue, imagination and desire so savage and vehement that it is not tamed and made gentle by the grace of Christ and continence, and does not submit to the yoke of reason and the divine spirit. This is what Ecclesiasticus, chapter XXVIII, verse 29, admonishes, saying: "Melt down thy gold and silver, and make a balance for thy words, and a bridle for thy mouth straight." Which words St. Ambrose explains, book I of the Offices, chapter III: "Thy possession is thy mind; thy gold is thy heart; thy silver is thy speech, etc.; let a yoke and balance be to thy words, that is, humility and measure, so that thy tongue may be subject to thy mind. Let it be restrained by the bonds of the bridle: let it have its bridles, by which it can be recalled. Let it speak to the measure of speech, examined by the scales of justice, so that there may be gravity in sense, weight in speech, and moderation in words. If anyone keeps these things, he becomes mild, meek, modest." Furthermore, Philo, in the book "Who is the Heir of Divine Things," at the beginning, asserts that the bridle of the tongue is meditation on divine things. The same elsewhere: "Those who tell what is not fitting do not display eloquence, but impotence in keeping silence." Note secondly: Just as a horse is bridled and restrained by the bridle with pain, and therefore "bridle" is said to be derived from breaking the mouth, as I have already indicated: so also the power of the tongue must be brought under control through silence and continence, with pain. Whence Seneca, lib. IV De Benef., cap. XXXVI: "Behold, that you may grieve, and thereafter speak more carefully, what we are accustomed to say, a linguarium," that is, a bridle and restraint of the tongue, for example a halter (by which the mouths and lips of biting horses are accustomed to be closed and constrained) "I shall give." For pleasure, greed and as it were an itching to speak what we have seen, heard or know, is so innate to us that it cannot be restrained without pain. For in many the tongue itches to speak more than the mind to think, or the hand to work. Wherefore wisely St. Gregory, lib. V Moral., cap. XI, otherwise XII: "Good men restrain the precipitousness of speech by the bridle of counsel, and carefully consider lest, relaxing the wantonness of the tongue, they wound the conscience of hearers by careless speech. Whence it is well said through Solomon: He that letteth out water is the beginning of strife. For water is let out when the flow of the tongue is unbridled: but he who lets out water becomes the beginning of strife, because through the incontinence of the tongue the origin of discord is brought forth. Therefore just as the wicked are light in sense, so are they precipitate in speech, and in keeping silent they neglect to consider what they speak; but what light desire conceives, a lighter tongue forthwith brings forth." Note thirdly: Just as a rider by loosening the bridle and spurring the horse with spurs incites it to run, so likewise Christ commands and urges his preachers and faithful, that in due time they speak, and faithfully and courageously preach, admonish, and reprove the vices of men. Wherefore we must pray that he send upon us the Holy Spirit, who may give us fiery and Seraphic tongues, by which we may both celebrate his great deeds and kindle all with love of him; and both faithfully and boldly invoke God, and with a certain pious liberty and force as it were compel him to grant our petitions, as Moses did, Exodus XXXII, 32. Because, as Philo says, in the place cited: "Freedom of speech is akin to friendship: for rashness belongs to the arrogant, but confidence to a friend." Wherefore St. Bernardine, De Passione Domini, cap. XXVI: "A door is not always open, nor always closed; but in the house of the wise it is open to the wise, but closed to the foolish: so also our mouth, which is the door of our heart, through which words as it were certain messengers go forth, announcing what is being done within in the heart, which is to be opened with prudent and useful words in due time, but is to be kept closed against wicked words which arise from the evil habits of the heart. For there is a time to speak and a time to keep silence, nor does he sin less who withholds a word in due time than he who by speaking wicked things scandalizes others." The same teaches St. Gregory, lib. VII Moral., at the end. To this pertains that saying of Theophrastus to someone who was silent at a perpetual banquet: "If you are unlearned and imprudent, you act prudently; but if learned, imprudently." Thus Laertius, lib. V, cap. II. But Plutarch writes that he spoke thus: "If you are foolish, you do a wise thing: if you are wise, a foolish one. For it is no light part of wisdom to cover foolishness with silence."
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4. Behold also the ships. — This is the second similitude taken from the rudder of ships, and therefore similar to the first taken from the bridle of horses. For a ship in the sea is that which on land is a horse and chariot; and just as a horse is ruled by a bridle, so a ship is ruled by a rudder. Whence a ship is called by Plautus in the Rudent, act I, a wooden horse. And Homer, Odyssey IV: "Swift ships in the sea are in place of horses." Hence also sailors are called by Varro in Nonius equisones; and Seneca in Medea, act I, gives a bridle to a raft or ship, as though like a horse it should be bridled. And Pindar, Pyth. ode 3, says that an anchor is the bridle of a ship; indeed Horace also, lib. IV Carm., ode 4, says that the East wind "rides through the Sicilian waves." Beautifully indeed Catullus in the poem on the nuptials of Peleus calls a ship "a chariot flying on the breeze," because it is driven by the blast of winds. "She herself made it a chariot flying on the light breeze, joining the pine-wood to the curved timbers of the keel." Thus conversely Martianus, lib. II, calls the oars of a ship "the horses of the sun." When they are great. — ΤΗΛΙΚΑΥΤΑ ΟΝΤΑ, that is, when they are so great, namely so large and vast. And by strong winds, — σκληρῶν. Vatablus, "fierce"; Pagninus, "hard"; others, "rough, rigid." Are driven, — ἐλαυνόμενα, that is, are carried; Pagninus, "are borne"; others properly "are impelled." Are turned about by a small (ἐλαχίστου, that is, smallest) rudder, — namely a helm; for what in a horse is a bridle, in a chariot is a pole, this in a ship is a helm. Whence the proverbs, "to sit at the helm," "to hold the helm of the state," that is to preside over the state, and to govern and rule it. Thus Cicero to Paetus, lib. IX, epist. 15: "We were sitting in the stern and holding the helm; but now there is scarcely room in the bilge." Whither the impulse of the one directing wishes. — "Impulse," that is, will; but he says ὁρμή, that is impulse, because the helmsman wishing to direct the ship straight, must often resist the winds and waves; and therefore with force and impulse he must oppose the helm to them, or certainly so adapt and accommodate it to them and the whole ship, that, if not a straight course, certainly a lateral course is maintained, and it is borne to the place destined by him. Add that ὁρμή can be taken for impulse, that is, the impulse, zeal and effort of the will: for in the shipmaster sitting at the helm, so that he may govern it rightly, there is more need of mental attention and dexterity than of the impulse of arms and the exertion of strength. Truly Plato, epistle to Axiochum: "We direct horses with bridles and whips, and we navigate a ship sometimes by spreading sails, sometimes by anchors we restrain or weigh it down: thus the tongue must be governed, Axiochum, sometimes so that we arm it with words, sometimes so that we restrain it with silence."
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5. So also the tongue is indeed a small member, — Truly Gregory of Nazianzus, in his poem On Silence, among other things says: "The tongue indeed is small, and by its power overcomes all things," especially in a priest, "whose tongue is a musical instrument." St. Bernard, sermon On the Custody of the Tongue, Hands and Heart: "The tongue is a small member, but unless you take care, it is a great evil." The same, On the Interior House, chapter L, derives the tongue from licking, or binding: "Because it licks by flattery, bites by detraction, kills by lying, etc., it binds and cannot be bound; it is slippery and cannot be held; but it slips and deceives: it slips like an eel, penetrates like an arrow; it takes away friends, multiplies enemies; it stirs up quarrels, sows discord, with one blow it strikes and kills many; it is smooth and treacherous, broad and ready to drain goods and mix evils." And great things it exalteth. — This is here the apodosis, or the return of both similitudes, namely the bridle governing the horse and the rudder governing the ship, to which he compared the tongue. For "great things it exalteth" in Greek is μεγαλαυχεῖ, which many, according to the proper signification of the word received in common usage, translate "it boasts greatly"; the Syriac, "it exalts itself," namely, as the Poet says: "It casts forth bombast and words of a foot and a half," that is to say, The tongue is a small member, but boastful, which by the casting, force and weight of its words as it were so many blows, commits whole kingdoms and entire peoples to conflict with one another; and therefore the direction and moderation of it must be most carefully attended to. Hence Bede and others for "exalteth" read "exulteth" (the Author of the Commentary on Psalm CXIX, with St. Jerome, erroneously reads "ulcerates"), that is, it strives impotently, boasts, and by its boasting as it were leaps on high, rages fiercely and savagely, so that it cannot be contained unless you apply the bridle of reason and continence. Thus Cicero, in the fourth book of the Republic, said: "To exult in all cruelty," which Nonius interprets as "to rage." Again Cicero, in the book On Old Age: "Fabius, by his patience, softened Hannibal exulting youthfully," that is, raging fiercely and savagely. Therefore St. James does not take μεγαλαυχεῖ here for empty boasting, ostentation and glorying: for these effect little good or evil; but for impetuous and efficacious boasting, by which the tongue impels and stirs up many and even entire peoples to great things, either good or evil. Hence by metonymy μεγαλαυχεῖ is the same as "great things it exalteth," as our translator renders it, that is, it raises great things, effects, works. Whence Pagninus and Vatablus translate, "it casts great things," namely words and blows; Oecumenius, "it works great things," namely good and evil: so also Mariana and others. Emmanuel Sa, "it stirs up great crowds." It alludes in μεγαλαυχεῖ to αὐχήν, that is neck, that is to say μεγάλα αὐχεῖ, that is, it raises great things to the neck, raises great things on high, exalts great things: whence he alluded to the same in the word κατακαυχᾶται, that is, it superexalts, as I said in chapter II, verse 13. Again αὐχήν is the part of the rudder, or helm, on which the helmsman leans, says Pollux, almost the same as αὐχέν named here by St. James, so that μεγαλαυχεῖ is the same as "it bears and governs the helm of a great ship." The sense therefore is, as if to say, Just as the bridle moves the neck of the horse and the whole horse, and raises it on high; and just as the rudder governs itself and the whole ship and raises it above the waters and waves, so that it is not overwhelmed and sunk by them, but is borne over them and rides upon them: so also the tongue not only by its boasting lifts up the whole man on high, but also entire assemblies and republics, and moves them whither it will, and therefore raises great things, that is, effects, produces, either good or evil; just as drivers with a small iron instrument, like a vertebra turning itself and gradually rising, easily lift and draw out chariots fixed in deep mud. With a similar vertebra and small wheel I have seen in Belgium a boy lift the greatest bridges and ships on high. The tongue does the same; for although it is the smallest member, it can nevertheless effect and work great things. James therefore says: Just as a skilled rider governs a horse by the bridle, so that he may be carried wherever he wishes; but an unskilled or negligent rider, without the bridle, causes both himself and the horse and the chariot, and all who ride in it, to be in danger, so that they may be dashed down in headlong course, thrown off, or plunge over a precipice. Again, just as a skilled helmsman governs a ship by the rudder and all who sail in it, so that having overcome the waves and winds they may be safely brought to port; but an unskilled or negligent helmsman exposes himself, the ship, and all who sail in it to certain danger of shipwreck, so that it may be dashed against rocks and shattered, or be swallowed up by winds, waves and whirlpools: so likewise a prudent man, who moderates his tongue rightly, raises himself and many others to great goods; but an imprudent man, who knows not how to govern it, brings upon himself and many others great evils and draws them upon them: for the unbridled petulance of the tongue stirs up quarrels, brawls, hatreds, wars, the destruction of families, cities and nations; but a bridled and moderate tongue procures salvation for himself, his household, his city and his whole nation. Just as therefore a straight bridle and rudder are salvation to the horse, ship and passengers, while neglect of both brings danger and ruin to both: so likewise the tongue directed prudently by a prudent man will bring peace and all good; but directed imprudently by an imprudent man will bring war and all evil to himself and many others. For he compares the tongue to a bridle and rudder, the man to a rider and helmsman, the household, city and commonwealth to a horse and chariot, and to a ship and passengers. All these things St. James comprehends, and embraces in one word, "exalteth great things," for the sake of brevity. Whence Œcumenius: "The discourse is not so fully explained, because he who writes this is a disciple of the abbreviated Word." Mystically Bede, Hugh, Lyra and Thomas Aquinas say: "The tongue exalteth great things," that is, it brings great rewards or great punishments. Examples of a good tongue bringing great goods are found in Valerius Maximus, book VIII, chapter IX. First, concerning Valerius, who when the people, divided from the senate by a pestilential sedition, had withdrawn to the sacred mount, recalled them by his oration and fair speech "to sounder counsels and subjected them to the senate, that is, he joined the city to the city. By eloquent words therefore anger, consternation and arms ceased." Second, concerning Hegesias the Cyrenaic philosopher, "who so represented the evils of life" by his eloquence "that their pitiful image being impressed upon the hearts of his hearers, he generated in many the desire of seeking voluntary death: and therefore he was forbidden by King Ptolemy to discourse further on this matter." Third, let it be Amphion, who is said by his oration to have drawn stones to build the walls of Thebes. Whence Horace, in the Art of Poetry: "Amphion too, the founder of the Theban city, is said to have moved stones by the sound of the lyre, and by gentle prayer to have drawn them whither he wished." The same, book III of the Carmina, ode 11: "Amphion moved stones by singing." And Statius, book VIII of the Thebaid: "And Amphion animating the hard rocks." So Orpheus and Arion are said by their song and fair speech to have moved trees, forests and wild beasts: not that they truly did so, but that they drew hard, stupid and barbarous men, living like wild beasts in forests, by their oration to civil, human and social life, and to the building and inhabiting of cities for that reason. Fourth, let it be Cicero, who at Rome could do all things, and persuaded the Romans of whatever he wished, and expelled Catiline, Antony and others seeking tyranny from the city. Hear Plutarch in his Life: "Surely this man showed to the Roman people how much seasoning eloquence brings to what is honorable: and that what is just is invincible, if spoken rightly: and that he who is intent on diligently managing the Commonwealth ought always indeed in doing things to prefer the honorable to the flattering, but in speaking to remove the harsh with the expedient." And further down: "Cicero's power at that time in Rome was very great; and when he effected all things which he wished, he oppressed Antony by faction," etc. He adds that Augustus, afterwards Caesar, through Cicero sought and obtained the consulship, by which he paved the way for himself to the triumvirate, then to monarchy. Demosthenes at Athens was similar to Cicero in the sweetness of speaking, but superior in the efficacy of speaking; for thus Plutarch writes of him in his Life: "The power of this orator, which excited minds and inflamed them to glory, shut out all the rest, so that as if maddened by his oration they were seized and cast aside honor, fear, reason and gratitude, so that Philip would send legates to seek peace, all Greece would raise itself up; and not only the praetors of Athens would accommodate themselves to Demosthenes, listening to his word, but also the Boeotarchs, he would preside over all assemblies there, of the Thebans equally as of the Athenians." But all these orators were surpassed by Christian orators, and immeasurably by Christ himself, who bent the crowds whither he willed, so that those sent by the Pharisees to seize him returned astounded and said: "Never did man speak like this man," because namely he was the Word speaking in flesh with a heavenly and divine tongue, John VII, 46; and Peter: "Lord, to whom shall we go (if not to thee)? thou hast the words of eternal life," John VI, 69. Hence he gave to the Apostles fiery tongues, and especially to St. Paul, who drew kings and princes, orators and Jewish and Greek philosophers, and indeed the Gentiles of the whole world to the faith and worship of Christ. His disciple was St. John, Patriarch of Constantinople, who from his golden mouth and persuasive tongue was surnamed Chrysostom. Such in later ages were St. Anthony of Padua, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. Bernardine, who by their sermons bent the stony hearts of men to penance and holiness; so that their tongues were the plectra and organs of the Holy Spirit. Valerius in the place cited recounts examples of evil tongue bringing great evils: "Pisistratus is said to have been so powerful by speaking that the Athenians, captivated by his oration, granted him royal power, especially when on the contrary side Solon, most loving of his country, was striving; but the sermons of one were more salutary, of the other more eloquent. Pericles imposed the yoke of servitude on the free necks of Athens: for he managed and turned that city by his will, and although he spoke against the will of the people, his voice was nevertheless pleasant and popular; whence they confessed that a charm sweeter than honey dwelt on the lips of the man. Wherefore a certain old man exclaimed that this citizen ought to be guarded against, because his oration was most similar to that of Pisistratus. Nor did the man's reputation for eloquence or the augury of his character deceive. For what difference was there between Pisistratus and Pericles? except that the one exercised tyranny armed, the other without arms." C. Gracchus by his eloquence disturbed the republic, says Valerius, lib. VIII, cap. XI. Among the faithful, what is more miserable than Eve and Adam and the whole human race? what cast them into these miseries? the tongue of the serpent, Genesis III. What is more destructive than the tongue of Judas? which betrayed and destroyed Christ, the unique good and joy of men and angels. What is more foolish than the mad tongue of Rehoboam? which by its cruelty turned away the whole kingdom of Israel from him, from Judah, from the temple and from God, III Kings XII. What today stirs up wars between kingdoms and Christian kings, which bring innumerable calamities and disasters to both, but the pestilent tongues of the envious and restless, who esteem their own peace as common war, who esteem the losses of others as their own gains, who hunt after robberies and spoils? See here how many fires, how many violations, how many thefts, how many destructions, how many deaths a small but most harmful tongue heaps up, raises and exalts. Truly the Wise Man, Prov. XVIII, 21: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Behold. — In Greek this is the third ἰδού, that is, see, behold. For this is the third similitude, by which he teaches with how much care the tongue must be moderated. First indeed he compared the tongue to the mouth of a bridled horse, or to the bridle of a horse. Second, to the rudder of a ship. Third, here he compares it to a small fire or spark, which sets on fire a whole house, forest and city. How great, — that is, how small, how tiny: for in Greek it is ὀλίγον, that is, small, little; the interpreter seems to have read ἡλίκον, that is, how great, thus the Greek text of Verona has it, as Gagneius testifies, who also explaining adds: "And in this way it is to be read ironically: See how great and how large a fire is needed to set a forest on fire," as if to say, Not much is needed, but little, indeed only a single spark. Thus, as St. Jerome says, in cap. III to the Galatians, "Arius in Alexandria was a small spark, but because he was not immediately suppressed, his flame devastated the whole world." Thus Faustus the Manichaean by his eloquence, says St. Augustine, lib. V Confess., cap. III, "was a great snare of the devil, and many were entangled in it by the allurement of his sweet speech." Thus Luther's tongue like a spark of fire, because it was not immediately checked, spreading forth set on fire all of Germany, Calvin's France, Wyclif Bohemia, etc. Are not these torches of the world?
3:6
6. And the tongue is a fire. — "And," that is, thus, in like manner, equally. For here begins the apodosis, or the return of the similitude, as if to say: Just as a small fire kindles an entire forest, in like manner the tongue is a fire; the forest is the totality of iniquity, which the tongue kindles: while it fills houses, cities, republics and kingdoms with quarrels, lawsuits, wars and other crimes, according to that passage in Proverbs XVI, 27: "A wicked man diggeth up evil, and in his lips is a burning fire." And Ecclesiasticus XXVIII, 11: "An angry man kindleth strife, etc. According as the wood of the forest, so the fire burneth." He compares the tongue to fire. First, on account of form and appearance: for both have a pyramidal form. Second, on account of similar color: for both are ruddy. Third, on account of similar swiftness, volatility and agility. Fourth, on account of equal efficacy; for biting speech burns and torments the neighbor like fire. Fifth, on account of similar mode of action: whence flame equally as tongue is said to lick the thing which it kindles, according to that passage of Claudian, I Rapt.: "The harmless flame licks the continuous frosts." Sixth, because the tongue reveals the internal fire, that is, love, whether impure and carnal, or pure and divine, which for this reason the Apostles received in fiery tongues. Wherefore wisely and piously St. Augustine, lib. X Confess., cap. xxxvii: "Our daily furnace is the human tongue, commanding us and in this kind continence: give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt. Thou knowest of this matter the groaning of my heart unto thee, and the rivers of my eyes. For I do not easily gather how much cleaner I am from this plague; and I greatly fear my secret things which thine eyes know, but mine do not. For in other kinds of temptations I have some faculty of examining myself, but in this almost none." And further below: "I confess that I am delighted with praises, but more with the truth itself than with praises." Finally, as fire, so the damage of the tongue is often irreparable. For once lost reputation cannot be recovered, Proverbs xxv, 8. Morally: Just as the tongue and talkativeness excite a monstrous fire and conflagration, so silence and moderation of the tongue extinguish and quench the same. Whence the Wise Man, Prov. xxvi, 20: "When the wood faileth, the fire shall go out: and when the tale-bearer is removed, contentions shall cease." And Ecclesiasticus viii, 4: "Strive not with a man that is full of tongue, and heap not wood upon his fire." Wherefore St. Basil, gravely deceived and offended by Eustathius the heretic, whom he had admitted feigning conversion to communion, was silent for three years, and did not even write him a single letter, lest he should seem to expostulate with him rather from grief than from reason, nor stir up new quarrels. Thus his Life relates. St. Gregory Nazianzenus imitated St. Basil as it were a companion and brother. For when certain ones cast reproaches upon him, as if to elicit fire, that is, anger, he relates that he was silent, in his oration On his Sermons: "They deny, as if by striking a pyrite (which is a stone having internal fire within, which when struck it brings forth, says Nicetas), so they will cease to beat me with insults, until from a small spark they have excited a great flame of words." As a symbol of this matter, God extinguished a conflagration by the voice of one silent. He was Ralph, on account of continuous silence surnamed the Silent: for for sixteen years he had uttered no word from his mouth. He dwelt in the monastery of Affligem, which is adjacent to Brussels, known and celebrated among the Belgians. In that case a fire broke out, which when it could not be extinguished by any force, Ralph breaking his silence confidently declared: "Stand, fire; flame, be wholly at rest"; immediately the fire stood, as the sun stood at the command of Joshua. Thus Thomas of Cantimpré, lib. II De Apibus, cap. xiii, § 4. Wherefore St. Ephrem, De Passion. animi, thus teaches us to pray to God before we speak for the moderation of the tongue: "Let the finger of thy grace, O Lord, ever move my tongue, as the string of a harp to thy glory. Grant me, Savior, the petition of my heart, and let my tongue be as a harp to resound continually thy praises." And Esther, xiv, 13: "Give me apt speech in my mouth." And the Psalmist, Psal. 50, 17: "O Lord, thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise." And Psal. LXX, vers. 8: "Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory." A world of iniquity. — "World," that is, a heap, a collection; by a similar proverb we call an ocean of evils, an Iliad of evils; in Greek ὁ κόσμος τῆς ἀδικίας, that is, a world of injustice, namely the tongue, or rather a forest, which the tongue as fire sets ablaze. For just as he compares the tongue to fire, so he compares the wicked world to a forest, into which the fire of the tongue acts; otherwise, what has fire to do with a world of iniquity? Now κόσμος, that is, world, first, can be taken with our Interpreter for the whole, or the totality, as if to say: Just as the world embraces and contains the variety and totality of all things, so the tongue begets and contains all iniquity; or rather, as if to say: The tongue sets ablaze this whole world, which is nothing other than a certain forest of iniquity and injustice, like infernal fire. Again, as if to say: The tongue fills the whole universe with iniquity. For there is no region, no city, no street, indeed often no house which a malicious tongue does not fill with detraction, calumny, quarrels, tumults, wars, lusts, and licentiousness. Besides, the world of iniquity can be taken for the very collection of injuries and crimes: for the tongue is the bellows and cause of these; so much so that it fills even the courts themselves, which are sanctuaries of justice, with false witnesses, unjust advocates, procurators, and judges. Thus an impious and heretical tongue blasphemes God, afflicts all the Saints with reproaches, corrupts the word of the Lord, blinds the minds of hearers, sets their wills on fire to dare anything, destroys faith, turns hope into presumption, extinguishes charity, removes humanity, kindles sedition and the torches of wars; it makes men proud, envious, quarrelsome, avaricious, gluttonous, lustful; it defiles bodies and plunges souls into Tartarus. Is it not therefore itself the world of iniquity? For all iniquities and crimes are either perfected through the tongue, or persuaded by it, or defended by it, or excused by it; "The tongue is a procuress and conciliator of sins," says St. Basil in Psalm XXXIII. Finally, the tongue is a world and totality of iniquity, because it defiles the whole body and the whole life of each man, as St. James adds and explains. Some add: The tongue is a "world," that is, an academy, "of iniquity"; because just as all arts and sciences are taught in academies, so the tongue teaches all kinds of iniquities. But κόσμος does not signify an academy. Second, κόσμος, that is, world, can be translated as ornament and adornment; for thus "world" in the feminine sense is called the adornment of women, as if to say: The tongue is a veil and adornment of iniquities. For just as a harlot covers her shame and filth with silken and golden garments, so many conceal, excuse, indeed adorn their crimes with their garrulity and false speech. Thus Œcumenius and Isidore of Pelusium, book IV, epistle 10. Hence so often in the Scriptures the tongue is said to "arrange," that is, to comb and adorn falsehood or deceit, as in Psalm XLIX, 19; Job vi, 26; Proverbs XII, 19. But the former sense is more apt and more forceful, and plainly the genuine one. Symbolically, first, Thomas the Englishman: The tongue, he says, fills the whole Universe, namely heaven, earth and hell, with iniquity. For in heaven Lucifer, saying: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars, etc., I will be like the Most High," Isaiah cap. xiv, 13; and persuading his followers to the same, filled heaven with sedition and apostasy. Thus also the impious "have set their mouth against heaven," Psalm LXXII, 9, cursing God and the heavenly beings. Again: "Their tongue hath passed into the earth," because they fill the earth with quarrels, wars, perjuries, etc. The damned, moreover, fill hell with their blasphemies, brawlings, mockeries, and curses. Second, the tongue attacks God by blaspheming, the neighbor by calumniating, itself by boasting. Third, our Salmeron and Paës at this place show through the letters of the alphabet that the tongue is an alphabet and collection of all vices: for from the tongue arise adulation, blasphemy, calumny, detraction, excuse in sins, boasting, heresy, hypocrisy, mockery, lamentation, falsehood, trifles, idle words, perjury, complaint, quarrel, whispering, revelation of secrets, scandal, harmful silence, vituperation, bitter zeal. John Pelecyus of our Society writes a book with this title, A World of Iniquity, in which he shows how many and how great are the vices of the tongue. The tongue is set among our members. — The Greeks add οὕτως, that is, "thus." For here the apodosis is concluded: for James here completes the similitude begun of fire and forest with the tongue and the whole body of iniquity. But because he is concise, he leaves much to be understood, as I noted above from Oecumenius. Wherefore his whole meaning seems to be rendered and connected thus: Behold how small a fire kindleth how great a forest: for one spark can kindle the whole Hercynian forest, which, as Caesar says in book VI of his Commentaries, extends in breadth to nine days' journey, and in length beyond sixty days' journey. In like manner the tongue also is fire, the whole body of iniquity is the forest, upon which the tongue acts like fire; just as therefore a small fire set in a forest kindles it wholly, so the tongue, being as it were a small part of the body, like a spark set among our members, defiles the whole body with its foul exhalation and burning, and sets the whole course of life ablaze with the flames of malice. That this is the meaning is evident from the Greek, and this meaning is required by the coherence and connection of this verse with the preceding one, nor can any other suitable reason be given why James should say the tongue is set among our members. Note: The tongue has been placed by God in the mouth of man and animals for four reasons: The first is, that it may be the interpreter of the mind, and may utter its thoughts and affections. For, as St. Augustine says in the preface to Psalm xciii, "What the heart wills, the tongue testifies." And Aristotle, in book I of the Peri Hermeneias, teaches that voices are signs of the conceptions and passions of the soul. The second, that it may serve for food and eating: for the tongue gathers together the food broken and ground by the teeth, and by its force presses it down and transmits it to the belly. Wherefore Varro thinks the tongue is called from "binding," because it binds the food: although others wish it to be called from "licking." The third, by the tongue we perceive and discern flavors, so that we may distinguish foods suitable from unsuitable and harmful ones; the tongue therefore is as it were a foretaster and pregustar of the stomach. The fourth, the tongue aids beasts in drinking: for they draw in water with extended and hollowed tongue, and having caught it, hold it in the cavity of the tongue, lest by slowness and delay it flow away, and with swift necessity press it to the palate, and thus cast it into the belly. But corrupt and vitiated man abuses all these, and turns them to vice and crime, first namely into lies, perjuries, detraction, quarrels, etc., the second, third and fourth into gluttony and drunkenness. Which defileth. — He persists in the metaphor of fire. For fire, while it burns a thing, infects and defiles it with a dark color, and equally with a foul odor: so the tongue, while it burns the whole man, defiles and fouls him with the foul color and odor of lusts, quarrels, wounds and every vice, and equally with infamy. Thus Oecumenius. He proves that the world or the whole body of iniquity is a forest, which the tongue like fire kindles, from the fact that the tongue defiles and sets ablaze the whole body and the whole life and all the actions of each man: for from all men the world is constituted, and from the iniquitous life of each man is constituted the whole body of iniquity. The whole body. — By this some understand all the powers of man, habits, passions, which being subordinated to one another constitute as it were one body. Others understand the whole collection of human actions, and a body. But this is rather a mystical body than a literal one. Others, as if to say, The tongue brings forth the vices of the mind into light, and thus publicly dishonors as it were the whole body of man. I myself understand here the proper defilement and the body of man, which consists of and is made whole by its members: for in these the whole body is received, which is the vehicle of the soul, as if to say, The tongue brings into danger the whole body and soul, that is, the whole man, if it be moved inconsiderately: just as the millstones of mills set the whole mill ablaze, when they have conceived fire from excessive motion. Moreover, by "body" understand synecdochically the soul and the whole man, as if to say: The tongue defiles the body and soul, that is, the whole man and all his actions: for, as St. Chrysostom explains in his homily 22 to the People, when the body is defiled, the soul must necessarily be defiled, according to that: "Evil communications corrupt good manners," I Corinthians, chapter xv, verse 33; for the tongue infects the ears, and through the ears the imagination, the head, the mind and the will with evil desires, lusts, hatreds, enmities, errors, etc., from which follow gluttony, fornications, adulteries, quarrels, beatings, murders, etc., which defile the body. Again, the tongue infects the three appetites of man, and through them the whole man: for it infects the concupiscible appetite with lusts; the irascible with anger and quarreling; the rational with error, hatred, heresy, etc. As a sign and symbol of this matter, God struck Mary, the sister of Moses, who abused her tongue and murmured against Moses, with leprosy in her whole body, Numbers, chapter xii, verse 1. For in a similar manner an impudent, quarrelsome, blasphemous tongue, etc., defiles the whole mind and the whole body, that is, the whole man, and infects him as it were with leprosy. And it inflames the wheel of our nativity. — For γενέσεως, that is, generation, nativity, some in Oecumenius read γεέννης, that is, Gehenna, as if to say: The tongue kindles and stirs up Gehenna in us, as if making a fire rage against us. And it itself is inflamed by Gehenna, as is evident from the rich man, whose tongue was tormented, Luke, chapter xvi, says Oecumenius. To this pertains that saying of Christ, Matthew, chapter v, verse 22: "Whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." But truly others everywhere read γενέσεως, which the Syrian first translated as "genealogy." "It inflames the series of our genealogies, which run in the manner of wheels"; for the tongue, sowing hatred among families, cities and kingdoms, transmits the same to posterity through many generations and ages, so that perpetual, immortal and irreconcilable quarrels and enmities seem to be among them. Secondly, others by τροχὸν γενέσεως understand the whole created world, so that τροχὸς is put for κύκλου, that is, circle and orb; γενέσεως, for κτίσεως, that is, creation and condition: for it respects and explains what he said, that the tongue is a fire by which κόσμος ἀδικίας, that is, the world or the whole of iniquity, is inflamed, as if to say: The tongue inflames the whole orb with Tartarean fire. Thirdly, Vatablus by the wheel of nativity, that is, the wheel born and generated, not made by art by a craftsman, said the tongue is constituted, as if to say: The tongue, small in the members of man, is constituted not so much as a member as a particle and almost a point of the members. For what in a circle is the center, in a wheel is the hub, this in the head is the tongue. Just as therefore, when the center is moved, the whole circle is moved, and when the center is corrupted, the circle is corrupted, so when the tongue is moved and defiled, the whole head and the whole body of man is moved and defiled. Fourthly and genuinely, James calls the "wheel of our nativity" the whole course of our life, which is inflamed by the tongue with anger, lust, pride and other crimes, and is burned with many troubles, diseases, annoyances and evils, says Vatablus. This course is called a wheel, because like a wheel from birth until death it is always revolving with the rotation of the heavens, to which it is subject, and by which it is ruled and rotated. For the Greek τροχόν, if you place a grave accent on the final syllable, signifies both rotation and wheel; but if on the other hand you read it by the accent on the penultimate syllable as τρόχοι, it signifies a chariot. Whence Bede: "The course of human life is contaminated by the tongue, by which we are driven as if by a rotating wheel unto death." Thus Oecumenius: "The wheel is called life, because it is revolved in itself." And Isidore of Pelusium, book I, epistle 158: "The time of our life imitates the form of a wheel, inasmuch as it is twisted and rolled in upon itself. For day succeeds day, month succeeds month, year succeeds year, so that when one ends another begins, and thus day, month and year as it were return to their beginning and are perpetually revolved in themselves, so that they seem to perform an eternal dance." Thus also Lyra, the Gloss, Hugo, Thomas the Englishman, Cajetan, Salmeron, Catharinus, Vatablus and others everywhere. Our age therefore and our life is called a wheel. First, because it never stands still, but is always turned about like a wheel. Hear St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Sentences: "A wheel is uncertainly fixed, this brief and manifold life. It moves upward and is drawn downward: for it is not stable however much it may appear so: fleeing it is held, and remaining it escapes; it leaps often, yet cannot flee: it draws and redraws its station by motion. Wherefore its emptiness can in no way be more rightly described than if it be called either smoke, or a dream, or the flower of grass. And once indeed a certain miser is said to have used these words: I prefer a drop of Fortune to a barrel of mind. But a certain wise man rightly opposed this to him: I esteem a drop of mind more than a barrel of Fortune." St. James alludes to the wheels of chariots and to iron plates, which when heated are fixed round about the wheels by smiths, so that the wheels may be stronger and resist the stones longer as they roll through them. With these heated plates he compares the tongue, as if to say: What the heated plate is in the wheel, this the tongue is in the wheel of life: for just as this plate is heated in a furnace, so the tongue is heated in the furnace of hell; and just as the heated plate, when applied by smiths and fixed with nails to the wheel, vomits flames on all sides and seems to set the whole wooden wheel ablaze round about, so likewise the tongue inflames the whole wheel of our life. Thus concerning the praising tongue St. Augustine said in book X of his Confessions, chapter 37: "Our human tongue is a daily furnace." What would he have said of a petulant, shameless, cursing, envious, quarrelsome one? Secondly, just as a wheel touches the earth only at a point, so the life of men merely tastes earthly things lightly: for these soon roll away and depart. Thirdly, just as a greater wheel carries along a lesser one subject and subordinate to it: so the rotation of heaven carries along and turns the wheel of our life, says Cajetan. Fourthly, because like a wheel it runs most swiftly to the goal and to death. Moreover it is called "the wheel of nativity," because from nativity itself we hasten to death, and like a wheel we run. Whence from Isidore of Pelusium, Œcumenius says: "The tongue inflames the wheel of nativity, contaminates life, while it moves rashly and petulantly; whence it is exacerbated, exasperated, and succumbs to innumerable varieties of things and hardships; or, as others read, our life is accelerated, that is, the time and end of our life." With a similar metaphor Ecclesiastes 12:6 says in death the pitcher is broken over the fountain, and the wheel is broken over the cistern. Where interpreters understand by the pitcher the veins or the gall, by the fountain the liver; or by the pitcher the body, by the fountain the elements, into which the dying man goes and is dissolved; by the wheel the head, by the cistern the heart, from which the head draws all vital spirits. For when the heart is extinguished, the brain also fails and is extinguished. Hence our Serarius here: "The wheel is any native perturbation, by which as by a wheel we are rolled and tossed hither and thither." Fifthly, just as a wheel in turning returns to its beginning, so our life both in acting and in dying returns to its principles. For when one action is finished, another begins: thus labor begets labor, and often when we believe we have finished it, the same must be begun anew, according to that in Ecclesiasticus 18:6: "When a man hath finished, then he shall begin." Thus the Gloss. Hence the ancients depicted the year as a serpent bent in a circle, which bites its tail in its mouth: because where the tail and end of one year ceases, there the mouth and beginning of another begins. Sixthly, just as in a wheel while one part is depressed, the opposite is raised; so in this life, while these are depressed, those are exalted; and vice versa. This is the wheel of fortune. Each one continually undergoes this wheel, so that now he is humbled, now exalted, now again humbled. As a symbol of this matter the Archbishop of Mainz bears a wheel for his coat of arms: whose origin and author was Willigisus, who when he had been raised from a carpenter and maker of wheels to be Archbishop of Mainz, took a wheel for his insignia, so that being perpetually mindful of his former humble fortune, he might keep himself in humility; which his successors afterward retained, as our Serarius relates in Moguntia, book IV, page 723. Similar is what Glycas relates, lib. IV of the Annals, concerning a Sultan captured by the king of the French, who, although he never laughed while in chains, upon seeing the rotation of a chariot burst into laughter; when asked the reason, he said that this rotation had represented to him his own and the vicissitude of human affairs, by which now these, now those, indeed each person is now exalted, now brought low: wherefore, freed from his chains, he was co-opted by the king into the number of his Counsellors. This is what Boethius, having experienced it in himself, says concerning the wheel of fortune, lib. II of the Consolation, prose 1: "This is our power, this game we continually play: we turn the wheel with its revolving orb, we dare to change the lowest with the highest, the highest with the lowest. Ascend, if you please; but on this condition, that you do not think it an injury to descend when the reason of my game demands it." So also Theodore, the physician of Priscus, relates in Nicephorus, lib. XVIII, cap. xxix, a certain king, yoked to the chariot of King Sesostris, observing the continuous revolutions of its wheels, and comparing life to these, freed himself and his people into liberty. For Sesostris had ordered four conquered kings to draw his chariot like horses; but, moved by the wise speech of one of them, he freed them from this yoke. Truly Pythagoras, in Diogenes Laertius, lib. VIII, says that human life is similar to a forum and a market, to which while some come, others depart, some come to sell, others to buy, others to watch. Furthermore, the other vices occupy a certain age and part of life, as gluttony occupies childhood, lust youth, ambition manhood, etc., and nearly all grow old and die with man: the vice of the tongue alone occupies the whole of life, as St. James here says, and endures into old age. For loquacity is proper to the aged, by which they recount everything throughout their whole life done, seen and heard by them; wherefore they think it their part to be wise and to speak, but it is the part of the young to be silent, to listen or to learn. Among all the vices of the tongue, however, detraction is the most harmful, and perpetual, and as it were perennial throughout the whole of life. This inflames the whole wheel and course of our age, and blackens and stains that of another. This is what disturbs homes, cities and kingdoms: this is what stirs up hatreds, lawsuits, endless quarrels, and wars of mutual destruction. This is what rages and rules everywhere: whence someone compares it to the steel tongue of a gun, which by collision with the wheel strikes fire, which, inflaming the sulphurous powder, ejects a leaden ball, by which like a thunderbolt it immediately strikes and kills anyone; but he wrongly thinks that St. James speaks of it: for this is not the wheel of nativity, nor was it known in the age of St. James, but is a very recent invention of an anonymous German, who first showed it to the Venetians in war against the Genoese, in the year of the Lord 1330, as Polydorus Virgilius relates, lib. II of the Inventors of Things, cap. XI. Finally, our Augustine Quiros here explains this wheel in a new, but ingenious and apt manner. "I judge that here the wheel is taken metaphorically for that most bitter and most ancient torture, which the Greeks called τροχὸν, the Latins called a wheel: mention of which punishment is made in Proverbs, chapter xx, verse 26: 'And he shall bend over them a vault'; where in the Hebrew text and in the Septuagint edition we read: 'And he shall send them a wheel,' in Greek τροχόν; and Vatablus observes there that it was a kind of punishment customary among the Hebrews. And truly in that punishment not only were men most atrociously flayed with limbs stretched and loosened, but they were also burned with flames applied, as is plainly evident from Josephus in the book On the Maccabees, whose words are these: 'As he was fixed to the wheel, he is exposed to fire on the rack; and thus with the body stretched by the spokes and contracted by the flames, and the ribs then laid open, the vital organs of the sides are ruptured.' And from Apuleius, book III of The Golden Ass: 'Without delay, fire and wheel: then every kind of scourge is inflicted.' From this kind of punishment Tertullian affirms Christians were called by mockery sarmentitii in the Apology, chapter L: 'Because bound to the stake of half an axle, we are burned with the encirclement of brushwood.' They treat of this punishment Baronius in the Martyrology, on the 23rd of April; Pontanus in book VI of the Aeneid, column 1485; Turnebus, book VII of Adversaria, chapter xvi. All of them, but most recently and most carefully our Cerda in book VI of the Aeneid, verse 616, number 10; Bisciola, tome II of Horae subcisivae, book XII, chapter ix. 'The wheel of nativity therefore' I explain through metaphor as the torture of our nature: for Plautus also used metaphorically both the word and the torture of the wheel, in the Cistellaria, act II, scene 1, 'I am tossed, I am tormented, I am driven, I am goaded, I am turned in the wheel of love, wretched.' James used the same sense of generation, chapter 1, verse 23, when he called the native face 'the face of nativity.' But what torture more atrocious, what executioner of our nature more savage could be conceived than the powerless perturbations of the mind? Since these are native, that is, innate from nature itself, when they exceed the measure intemperately, they torment man most miserably and most bitterly: so that by right they are called the wheel of nativity, that is, native torture. This explanation pleased the most sagacious genius of our Serarius, when he says in the Commentary of this place: 'Or the wheel is any native perturbation, by which as by a wheel we are rolled hither and thither and agitated.'" Thus he himself. Our life therefore is a wheel, not any wheel, but one that torments and racks, and so it is itself the torture of the wheel, because it is nothing other than a continuous rotation of labors, diseases, pains, anxieties, perturbations, cares, fears, desires, miseries and all evils, which continuously, but variously, roll, lacerate, tear apart, and drive mad the man: to this torture of the wheel moreover another is added, namely fire, that is, the petulant tongue, while it burns, torments, consumes the man rotated by so many evils like fire: just as the torture of the wheel was; by which torture the body, in order to be fitted to the wheel, had necessarily to be broken, disjointed, dislocated. Then the body thus bound to the wheel and hanging was rotated in a circle, and that most swiftly and conversely, so that now it was turned in one direction, now in the contrary with a nodding motion: by which it came to pass that all the viscera and limbs were most miserably cast about and torn asunder, according to that saying of Seneca in Hercules Furens: "Ixion is snatched by the swift-turning wheel." And Statius, VIII Thebaid: "I break Ixion in the whirlwinds." Finally, not rarely was fire subjected to a man thus fixed to the wheel, as Josephus testifies happened to the Maccabees in their Life. Such is also the wheel of our life, kindled by the fire of the tongue. Ecclesiasticus, chapter twenty-eight, verse sixteen, calls this the "third tongue," because it sows discord between two, and because it detracts from a third who is absent. Others explain the third tongue as three-pronged, because like a trident and a three-headed sword, and a three-pronged thunderbolt, it strikes and destroys three with one blow, namely the detractor, the hearer, and the absent one from whom detraction is made, as St. Bernard notes, sermon On the Triple Custody of Hand, Tongue and Heart. But let us hear both: "The third tongue," says Ecclesiasticus, "hath moved many, and scattered them from nation to nation: it hath destroyed the strong cities of the rich, and overthrown the houses of great men. It hath cut off the forces of peoples, and dissolved strong nations. The third tongue hath cast out valiant women (in Greek ἀνδρείας, that is, manly, virago women), and deprived them of the fruit of their labours. Whosoever hearkeneth to it shall never have rest, nor shall he have a friend in whom he may repose. It hath struck many with the stroke of a scourge, and made a livid mark: but the stroke of the tongue breaketh the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as they that have been wounded by their own tongue. Blessed is he that is defended from a wicked tongue, that hath not passed into the wrath thereof, and that hath not drawn its yoke upon him, and hath not been bound with its chains: for its yoke is a yoke of iron, and its chains are chains of brass. The death thereof is a most evil death: and better is hell than it," that is to say, It is better to die and go to hell and the state of the dead, namely to limbo, than to suffer the vexations of the third tongue, namely of the detractor. The words of St. Bernard are: "Is not this tongue a viper? Truly most fierce, namely one which so lethally infects three with one breath. Is not this tongue a lance? Indeed, and most sharp, which pierces three with one blow. Their tongue is a sharp sword, saith the Psalmist. Truly a two-edged sword, nay a three-edged tongue of the detractor. Nor would you hesitate to say that such a tongue is crueller than the very point by which the side of the Lord was pierced. For this also digs into the body of Christ, and member from member, and no longer digs into a lifeless body, but makes it lifeless by digging: it is even more harmful than the thorns which military fury placed upon that most sublime head: even more than the six iron nails which the consummation of Jewish iniquity drove into those most holy hands and feet. For unless he had preferred the life of this body which is now pierced and transfixed to the life of that body, he would never have delivered it to the injury of death, the ignominy of the cross for this one. And we say: A light thing is speech, tender, soft and slight is the flesh, the tongue of man: who is wise that would make much of it? Light indeed is speech, because it flies lightly, but it wounds gravely; it passes lightly, but it burns gravely; it penetrates the mind lightly, but does not exit lightly; it is uttered lightly, but is not recalled lightly; it flies easily, and therefore easily violates charity. A vile thing is a dying fly, but it destroys the ointment of sweetness. The tongue is a tender member, yet it can scarcely be held: a substance indeed weak and slight, but in use it is found great and strong. It is a small member; but unless you beware, it is a great evil." Inflamed from hell. — Cajetan translates actively "inflames under hell," that is to say, The tongue inflames the wheel of our nativity, that is, the present life as to guilt, but the future as to punishment: for in hell and under hell, namely subjected and subject to the fire of hell, the burning and sulphurous wheel will inflame the man who hath abused his tongue all his life, throughout all eternity. Thus the rich man in hell was tormented in his tongue, by which living delicately he had despised Lazarus: whence he asked that he be sent to him, that cold water poured in might mitigate the fires of his tongue, Luke sixteen. But it must be translated passively "inflamed," as our translator and others commonly translate it: for the Hebrew is passive φλογιζομένη, set beside the active φλογιζούσα, which he said of the wheel of nativity, that is to say, The tongue is so deadly, so burns all things, so inflames the wheel of all our life, that it seems to be forged in the furnace of hell, and there inflamed with Tartarean fire to inflame the wheel and course of all the life of each, and consequently of the whole Universe: just as the Poets feigned the Furies, with torches kindled from Erebus, exhale them upon the land lying next above them, by catachresis, by which we assign things to their places, in which they abound. Thus all rivers are said to arise from the sea, Ecclesiastes one, seven, because the sea abounds in waters. Therefore just as a carpenter or woodworker, preparing a hammer by striking and cutting wood and stones, first sends it to a glowing anvil, that it may be fitted and sharpened there: so a man given to cursing, by infernal and diabolical impulse, kindles his tongue in the furnace of hell, that he may then kindle others. Add that the tongue is said to be inflamed by Gehenna by metonymy, namely because it is inflamed by the devil, who is the king and ruler of Gehenna. Just as therefore the Saints, especially doctors and preachers, speak with the tongue of angels, indeed angels speak through their tongue: so on the other hand the perverse, especially doctors, such as heretics, schismatics, whisperers, sowing quarrels and wars, teaching obscenities, biting the reputation of others, etc., speak with the tongue of demons, indeed demons speak through their mouths and tongues. Whence St. Augustine teaches that all heresiarchs learned their heresies from the teacher the devil, lib. II On Genesis against the Manichaeans, cap. xxv and xxvi; Irenaeus, lib. V, cap. xxiii; St. Athanasius, oration against the Arians. Indeed Irenaeus relates that they themselves had demons as assessors and familiars, lib. I, cap. ix, and lib. II, cap. lvii. That the same had Berengar, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, I have shown in I Timothy IV, 1. This is what Job says, cap. xli, vers. 12, concerning Behemoth, that is the elephant, which is a type of the devil: "His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh out of his mouth." And St. John, Apocalypse cap. IX, vers. 17: "I saw horses in the vision, and they that sat upon them had breastplates of fire, and of hyacinth, and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone." See the sayings there. Let St. Chrysostom conclude, homil. To those to be baptized, tome V: "On all sides the demon is accustomed to prepare snares for us; but more easily through the tongue and sinning mouth: for no organ is equally suited to him for the ministry of destruction and sin." Finally, Gehenna is the proper place of fire and conflagrations, and as it were their source, indeed an ocean and abyss: for the damned burn with all guilt and crime, so also with all punishment and fire; wherefore just as Aetna, Vesuvius, Hecla and similar mountains which vomit forth fires, are said by many to be inflamed by the fire of Hell, and to be as it were its mouth, chimneys and vents: so also the tongue which kindles the heats of quarrels, wars, conflagrations, and all crimes and evils both of guilt and of punishment, is said to be inflamed by Gehenna, as if to inflame the whole world; it is a catachresis: for the cursing tongue is not truly and properly inflamed by Gehenna, but by similitude; namely because it is so cursing and so pestilent and burning that it appears to be kindled not by earthly but by infernal fire. For in Hell the damned from desperation with a burning and furious tongue curse God, the Saints and all creatures. By a similar trope we say: This tyranny of the tyrant, this anger, this envy is so great that it does not appear human, but infernal and diabolical. Gehenna. — Thus by crasis it is said in Hebrew "ge-ben Ennom," that is, the valley of the son of Ennom, which was near Jerusalem, in which parents burned their sons to the idol Moloch, and lest they hear them wailing, they beat the toph, that is, the drum; whence the place was called Tophet. There 185,000 soldiers of Sennacherib were slain by the angel with hidden burning and fire: whence on account of similar cruelty, slaughter and conflagrations Hell is called Gehenna and Tophet, as I have said on Isaiah xxxii, 33, and Jeremiah vii, 31, and xix, 2. Finally, Gilbert the Abbot treats this entire opinion of James most excellently in the Appendix to the Canticles of St. Bernard, sermon 24, and says: "James says: The tongue is a little member and inflammeth the wheel of our nativity, itself also inflamed by hell. How can the tongue inflame well when it is inflamed so wickedly? The mobile corruption of vitiated nativity turns itself excessively toward evil by its own nature, and is borne by its own volubility headlong. And what need is there to inflame this wheel, which cannot be made firm, but of itself is borne toward evil? Finally, it is carefully noted that the heart of man is inclined toward evil from his youth. Impelled from the first nativity, it knows not how to turn its course, and do you drive it forward with a perverse tongue and inflame it further? The perverse tongue seeks occasions of wrath and indignation, either feigns injuries or exaggerates true ones, which it ought to have concealed; it even interprets kindnesses as offenses, and applies the sparks of poisoned speech to stir up its own heart. What, wicked tongue, do you apply such a flame to your heart? Let the flame that is its own suffice for it, let the ardor of carnal concupiscence suffice for it, and the heat of innate levity, by which your heart is driven as if by a rolling wheel. Then he recounts its origin and end. This flame your first nativity begot for you, but the grace of being born again restrains it. Do not apply fire to fire, and add malice to concupiscence: this fire which you vomit forth, you draw from hell: thence it begins, and thither it sweeps: The tongue, he says, inflamed by hell. This evil tongue is scarlet, but it is not a ribbon. For it does not bind, but scatters. It inflames wickedly, because it cuts down the united, because it sparkles words of discord, and such a flame is from the lower regions: for the flame which is from above is modest, peaceful, consenting to the good, and making good. For a sweet word multiplies friends and softens enemies. As flame consumes flame, the superior the inferior, the heavenly the infernal; while the wise and sweet word overcomes the malign, and the sweet softens the hard, and therefore he says: Thy lips are as a scarlet ribbon, and thy speech is sweet."
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7. For every nature of beasts. — St. James, in order to show what great force and efficacy the tongue possesses, and therefore what great care must be applied to it, first compared it to the bridle of a horse; secondly, to the rudder of a ship; thirdly, to a small fire kindling a forest. Whence fourthly, here he compares the same to the most ferocious beasts, and to those more wild and untamed: and this fittingly accords with the etymology of tongue in Hebrew; for tongue in Hebrew is called לשון lascon, which appears to be a diminutive from ליש lais, that is, lion (just as from איש is, that is, man, is called ישרון iscon, that is, a little man and pupil, as it is used: for in it appears a little man). Whence lascon, that is, tongue, is the same as a little lion, a small lion; because just as the lion is fierce and the strongest of animals, and the king of all beasts: so also the tongue is most fierce and most strong, and the prince and mistress of all things. Again, just as the lion lies hidden in a cave, and from it leaps upon prey seen by it unexpectedly: so the tongue lies hidden in the mouth as in an ambush, and from it assails any and all who come in its way and are unaware. Moreover, lais, that is, lion, is said to be derived from לוש lus, that is, subdued, because it subdues its prey, and subjects all beasts to itself. Whence others derive lascon, that is, tongue, by metathesis from נשל nascal, that is, stripped away, cast down: for in both cases the letters are precisely the same, but transposed: for lascon is nascal, that is, the tongue strips away, casts down, subdues and levels all things like a lion. Moreover, from the Hebrew lascon some derive the Greek glosson, that is, tongue, by adding g, and from glosson they derive the Latin gloria, as if glosia: for the tongue is that which glories, and it itself is the sole instrument of glorying and boasting. In a similar manner some wish «tongue» to be said in Latin from «binding,» because it itself, like an untamed beast and lion, is fortified and bound as it were by walls, by the barriers of teeth and lips. Hence concerning the evil-speaking tongue it is said in Ecclesiasticus, chapter 28, verse 27: «It shall be sent upon them (the unjust and impious) as a lion, as a leopard it shall wound them.» It is therefore as it were a leopard, more fierce than a lion and a leopard, inasmuch as it has drawn out and united in itself the savagery of both. Hence also that passage in Proverbs 20, 2: «As the roaring of a lion, so also is the terror,» namely of the tongue, and the terrifying voice, «of a king: whosoever provokes it, sins against his own soul,» that is to say, creates danger to his soul, that is, his life. And in Isaiah 5, 29, concerning Nebuchadnezzar: «His roaring as a lion, he shall roar as the whelps of lions.» Similar passages are in Ezekiel 32, 7; Zechariah 11, 3. Note: In the state of innocence and of integral nature, in which Adam was created and placed in paradise, all animals, even wild beasts, obeyed man at his nod. Whence each came to Adam, as servants to a master, and from him each received its name, Genesis 2, 19. This was done through an instinct of obedience to man, which God imparted to them through angels: through such an instinct dogs, horses, asses, mules and oxen obey man, and the whelps of wild beasts obey their wild mothers. The beasts lost this instinct when Adam sinned, and he therefore lost the right of dominion and mastery over them through sin. Yet the saints excelling, who came nearest to the primeval innocence, recovered this dominion, as St. Paul, St. Anthony, St. Francis. Other men, through long use, art and industry, impart a similar instinct to beasts, and thus tame and domesticate them in some manner. First therefore that wild beasts of any kind are tamed by man is taught by many examples. Experience confirms it, and Pliny teaches, book 8, chapter 16, that by this art lions are tamed and overcome, even when raging and rushing, if one throws a garment or cloth over their head, by which their eyes are covered, "because all their force and ferocity consists in their eyes." Pliny adds: "He subjected them to the yoke, and M. Antonius was the first at Rome to harness them to a chariot, and indeed in a civil war, when battle was fought in the Pharsalian fields. But Hanno, of the most illustrious of the Carthaginians, is reported to be the first of men who dared to handle a lion with his hand, and to show it tamed, and was condemned on that account, because a man of such ingenious skill seemed likely to persuade anything; and freedom was ill-believed to him, to whom even ferocity had yielded so much. Mentor of Syracuse, when a lion met him in Syria, rolling in supplication, struck with fear, when the beast, fleeing on all sides, opposed itself to him, and licked his footsteps as if fawning, noticed a swelling and wound in its foot, and by extracting a splinter freed it from torment." It is similar to what I recounted concerning the lion obedient to Androclus, on account of the thorn removed from his foot by him, in Isaiah i, 3. And Pliny adds such a thing concerning Elpis of Samos, and in chapter lviii, concerning Democritus the Physicist, who, removing the cubs of a fawning panther from their den, "was led by her, joyful and exulting, even beyond the wilderness, so that it would easily appear that he was returning gratitude." He adds concerning infants of wild beasts nourished with milk, when they had been exposed, such as Romulus and Remus by the she-wolf. Aelian, book XV, chapter xiv, recounts that the Indians offer tame tigers, leopards and four-horned oryxes to their king. Paul the Venetian in the History of the Tartars recounts that their great Khan had tame lions, tigers, leopards, bears, etc., with which he delights himself in hunting, and hunts beasts of the same species. Suetonius and others recount that rhinoceroses tamed were brought to Rome under the Emperor Domitian. Concerning the stupendous docility of elephants, which seems to exceed belief, Lipsius, century 1, epistle 50, reviews from Aelian, Pliny, Oppian, Aristotle and others. Finally, the beast-fighters, or prefects of beasts at Rome, fed and controlled lions, tigers, leopards, bears and all wild beasts, which they led out from cages into the amphitheater for combats and spectacles and led back. James therefore, comparing the tongue with beasts, hints that in it there is something irrational, foolish and bestial, and therefore untamed. Thus Philosophers hold that loquaciousness is a sign of small brain and judgment, and therefore of foolishness. Whence Solon, to someone saying that he did not speak because he was insane, replied: "No fool can be silent." Theocritus, hearing the beginning of the oration of Anaximenes: "A river of words begins, a drop of mind"; signifying that he was very talkative, but little wise. Thus Stobaeus, sermon 34. Alphonsus, king of Aragon, according to the testimony of Panormitanus in his Deeds, book IV, called men swollen to speaking and as if distended "skins and bladders": for they swell, until they belch them out. Wherefore prudently Aeneas Silvius, book I On the Deeds of the same Alphonsus, says: "It is wiser to act than to speak": for the wise man never speaks except when necessity demands it; nor does he utter vain things, but weighed ones. But for the fool there is no time closed to speech, but in any place and time whatever comes into his mouth, he belches out. Secondly, that any birds whatsoever can be tamed by man, namely falcons, eagles, hawks, blackbirds, jackdaws, nightingales, etc., is evident from experience; indeed many of them learn human speech both Greek and Latin: as Pliny recounts concerning the starling and nightingales of the Caesars, book X, chapter xlii. Plutarch affirms the same concerning the partridge in the Symposia. Concerning parrots the matter is clear. Pliny asserts the same concerning certain kinds of woodpeckers, in the place cited: "They love the words which they speak; nor do they only learn, but love them, and meditating within themselves with care and thought do not conceal their intention. It is established that they die overcome by the difficulty of a word, and unless they hear the same repeatedly, memory fails those seeking; they are gladdened in a wonderful way, if meanwhile they have heard that word." Charming are the things which Macrobius recounts, book II of the Saturnalia, chapter x, at the end, concerning the ravens saluting Augustus: "Hail, Caesar, victor, emperor," which he bought for twenty thousand coins. "Seeking similar profit, a shoemaker trained a raven to a like salutation. When Augustus passed by hearing this, he replied: I have enough such saluters at home. The raven's memory remained, so that it also wove in those words which it was accustomed to hear from its seeking master: Labor and expense were lost. At which Caesar laughed, and ordered the bird to be bought, at a price than which he had never bought any." He adds concerning the jackdaw, which was accustomed to present an honorific epigram to Caesar, and a similar one submitted by Caesar, reading it, he praised, marveling both in voice and countenance, and gave Caesar a few denarii, adding this speech: "Not according to your fortune, Augustus; if I had more, I would give more." Wherefore Augustus ordered one hundred thousand sesterces to be paid to the jackdaw. But for "jackdaw" should be read "Greek," namely a Greek man, as is evident from the series of the narrative, and from the emended manuscripts of Macrobius. Thirdly, that serpents are tamed is evident from Pliny, lib. VIII, cap. VII, who relates that "Thoantes in Arcadia was preserved by a dragon. A boy had reared it, whom he loved greatly, and fearing the nature and size of the serpent, he had taken it into solitudes; in which, when surrounded by the snares of robbers, and recognized by its voice, it came to his aid." The same author, lib. X, cap. LXXIV, relates a wonderful thing concerning an asp: "When it came to the table of a certain person in Egypt and was fed continually, it brought forth young, and by one of them the son of the host was killed: it returned to its accustomed food, understood its guilt, and inflicted death upon the young one, nor did it return to that house afterwards." Pliny and others relate that the Psylli and Marsi tame serpents, although some wise men judge them to be enchanters. Aelianus relates that crocodiles become tame, lib. VIII, cap. IV: others add that the Tondyrites ride upon them; and he adds that the murena fish recognized the voice of Crassus the Roman, and was fed and loved by him so greatly that it mourned at his death. Pliny relates wonderful things concerning the love and obedience of dolphins toward men, lib. IX, cap. VIII, namely that the dolphin itself, received upon its back by the boy who fed it, "carried him to Puteoli across the great sea for play: in like manner bringing him back for many years, until the boy was destroyed by disease, then coming repeatedly to the accustomed place sad and sorrowful in appearance, it itself also died of longing." And below: "Which causes it to be believed that Arion also, skilled in the art of the cithara, when the sailors were preparing to kill him at sea to intercept his gains, entreated that he might first sing on the cithara; when dolphins were gathered by the song, having cast himself into the sea, he was received by one and carried to the shore at Taenarum." He adds that dolphins called by fishermen run up, and drive mullets into their nets. What of men, unlearned, talkative and untamed? Surely dolphins and beasts are more docile to them, and allow themselves to be tamed and ruled more readily. And of the rest — of animals. Thus the Roman: the Interpreter reads τῶν ἄλλων, that is "of others"; or ἐναλίων, that is "of various ones": now they read ἐναλίων, that is "of marine ones": thus the Syriac. Whence some think that for "of the rest" should be read "of whales." Thus Cajetan, Clarius, Salmerón, Gagneius, Catharinus and others. For whales are of various species, which Rondeletius and Aldrovandus review, lib. De Piscibus. The greatest is the whale, which is tamed, indeed ruled by a small fish, to which the name "musculus" is given. For this one leads it and goes before it, and is as it were its eye, guide and monitor, indicating the shallows and dangers which it ought to avoid, showing food, and foreseeing and forewarning all other things: whence when it dies the whale dies likewise, according to Aelianus, lib. II, cap. XIII, and others. But the word "whales" does not correspond to the Greek ἐναλίων, that is "of marine ones": for there are innumerable kinds of marine animals, of which one alone is a whale. Are tamed — he does not say "are tamed," because some beasts are so wild that they cannot be tamed at all; but "are tamed," so that their wildness is checked and restrained. But many are tamed by food: for they obey him by whom they are fed; others by bridles and halters; others by whips and blows; others by things which they fear, as lions are terrified by flames, wheels and the voice of a rooster; others by hunger and starvation. Whence that saying: "Who taught your parrot χαῖρε? hunger." Others by animals hostile to them. Thus, says Pliny, lib. X, cap. LXXIV: "Swans and eagles disagree, the raven and the kite, crows and owls, the weasel and the crow, the dove and the pyralis, ducks and the gaviæ, shrews and the ardeolæ, the aegithus the smallest bird with the ass, the fox and the serpents of the Nile, weasels and swine: the thoes and lions disagree, and the smallest equally as the greatest."
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8. But no man can tame the tongue. — Œcumenius reads this interrogatively, as if to say: Beasts are tamed, why cannot the tongue be tamed by man? It certainly can be: for it is more civilized and docile than beasts. The Pelagians abused this reading and exposition to prove that the grace of God is not necessary, but that man by his own strength and the powers of nature can restrain all the passions and concupiscences both of the tongue and of the soul. But this is wrong: for the other Greek and Latin texts read it assertively, not interrogatively. For it follows: "An unquiet evil, full of deadly poison." Thus St. Augustine, On Nature and Grace, chapter XV. The same, sermon 4 On the Words of the Lord according to Matthew: "Man tames a beast, he does not tame the tongue; he tames a lion, and he does not restrain speech; he tames it, and he does not tame himself; he tames what he feared, and in order that he might tame himself, he does not fear what he ought to have feared." And soon after: "Therefore let us understand, dearest ones, that if no man can tame the tongue, we must flee to God, who tames our tongue. For if you wish to tame it, you cannot, because you are a man: no man can tame the tongue." Thus Christ, Matthew XIX, 24, says it is as impossible for a rich man to be saved as it is impossible for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. When the disciples marveled and said: "Who then can be saved?" Christ answered and explained himself, saying: "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible," as if to say: Not by man's power, but by God's power and grace can a rich man be saved, just as a camel can pass through the eye of a needle. St. Augustine continues: "Consider the likeness from the very beasts which we tame. A horse does not tame itself, a camel does not tame itself, an elephant does not tame itself, a serpent does not tame itself, a lion does not tame itself, and so man does not tame himself. But in order that a horse, ox, camel, elephant, lion, serpent be tamed, a man is sought. Therefore let God be sought that man be tamed: therefore, O Lord, thou hast been made a refuge for us, etc. Why then, my brethren, should we doubt that the Lord will make us tame, if we present ourselves to him to be tamed? Thou hast tamed the lion whom thou didst not make; shall not he who made thee tame thee? etc. The image of God tames a beast, and shall not God tame his own image." He adds the manner of God's taming, namely tribulations. "Let us place our hope in that, and while we are being tamed and thoroughly tamed, that is perfected, let us bear with our tamer. For often indeed our tamer brings forth even scourges. For if you, in order to tame your beasts (that is, the aids of your infirmity), bring forth a rod, bring forth a scourge: does not God, in order to tame his beasts, which we are, make them his sons?" And a little later he gives the incentive of reward: "When you are tamed, God keeps an inheritance for you, which is God himself; and he will set you with the angels forever, where you will no longer need to be tamed, but only to be possessed by the most loving one. For then God will be all in all: nor will there be any unhappiness to exercise us, but happiness alone to nourish us." He adds the example of a son whom a father chastises and instructs, so that he may leave him heir to all his goods: "But your God, your redeemer, your chastiser, your father instructs you. To what end? That you may receive an inheritance, where you will not bear your father, but will have the father himself as your inheritance. For this hope you are instructed and murmur, and if anything sad happens, perhaps you blaspheme? Is it not better that he scourge you and receive you, than spare you and abandon you?" Whence he concludes: "Let us therefore say: We will not depart from you, when you have freed us from all our evils, and filled us with your goods. You give good things, you caress us, lest we grow weary on the way. You correct, you strike, you smite, you direct us, lest we stray from the way: whether therefore you caress us, lest we grow weary on the way, or you chastise us, lest we stray from the way; O Lord, thou hast been made a refuge for us." This is what the Wise man says, Proverbs XVI, 1: "It is the part of man to prepare his soul, and of the Lord to govern the tongue." For, as Ecclesiasticus says, chapter XIX, verse 17: "Who is there that hath not offended in his tongue?" so much so that even St. Job, thus praised by God, says, chapter XLII, verse 3: "I have spoken unwisely, and things that exceed my knowledge." For so great is the tongue's desire and itching to speak, as great as that of one who has drunk poison to vomit it forth, as great as that of fermenting must bursting the vessels, as great as that of a pregnant woman to give birth, as great as that of a wounded man to have the arrow drawn out. Hear Ecclesiasticus, chapter XIX, verse 10: "Thou hast heard a word against thy neighbor? let it die in thee, trusting that it will not burst thee. Before the word a fool travails, as the pangs of a woman in labor. An arrow sticking in the thigh of the flesh, so is a word in the heart of a fool." Whence Elihu, Job XXXII, 18: "Full am I of words, and the spirit of my belly straitens me. Behold my belly is as new wine without a vent, which bursts the new bottles." Hence the tongue is called by the Nazianzen, tract. On Silence, ἀδάμαστος, that is, untameable; ἀχάλινος, that is, unbridled; ἄλεκτος, that is, lawless, because namely it cannot be restrained by nature, but by grace; not by man, but by God. Again, because with common and ordinary grace no one, that is, few and scarcely any, can so restrain it, that it does not sometimes break loose, and shaking off the bridle like an unbridled horse run hither and thither, and rage to the harm of others. Whence the Nazianzen, in the place cited, says that he tamed gluttony, lust, anger, etc. by fastings, vigils, haircloth, and lying on the ground, but not the tongue. "For to me the tongue is unbridled and talkative, through which envy afflicts me with countless evils." But he seems to speak of the tongue not his own, but of the envious detracting from him and harassing him. Most excellently does Blessed Peter Damian treat this sentence of James, lib. II, epist. 18 to the Cardinal; and he adds that Religious, secure in almost all other respects, have danger of damnation from the tongue alone (which other wise men also asserted formerly, and still assert). "I confess, my brethren, that scarcely anything is done in monasteries, from which my mind suspects the judgment of God to hang more terribly over monks: for continually, driven by impulse, as a torrent proceeding down slopes, their tongue runs; and when the bell rings, it is with them as if from a sudden blow their head were dashed. Yet this I say of some, but God forbid that I say of all, etc. Some, neglecting the study of labor and reading at all hours, abuse themselves in fables, and whatever they owe to labors and readings, they give wholly to vain speeches." And soon, citing Proverbs XVIII: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: How shameful is it, that in this office, by which man is set over all creatures, the giver himself is more frequently offended by man! And when man presides over other natures and subjects them to the laws of his dominion, how great is the shame, that he cannot tame a thin cartilage which he encloses within his jaws! Whence also James says: Every nature of beasts and of fowls is tameable, but the tongue no man can tame. For no bridles of any teacher can restrain the tongue unwilling to restrain itself (this is his new and third exposition of this place of St. James); otherwise if it strikes and strives, it will doubtless obtain what it desires." And below: "They are serpents of which it is said: The poison of asps is under their lips. Where therefore vacant time is spent on superfluous inanities, and as it were symbols are heaped together with idle words, with the listener within, not the speeches of men, but as it were a multifarious clamor of beasts is discerned. He himself truly is, of whom in the Canticles, cap. II, it is said: My beloved looks through the window, looks through the lattices. And he himself through the Prophet (Jeremiah VIII): I attended and hearkened; no one speaks that which is good. But that our discourse may not depart from the matter which it once began, and may pursue the vices of speakers through the examples of non-speaking animals, never does the hydra enter the jaws unless when the crocodile is found yawning: for if it keeps its mouth closed, it fears not the assault of the one lying in wait. The antelope when it cries out, ignorant of its own destruction, invites the swords of the hunters; which so long as it was silent, by the opinion of fleeing speed deluded the industry of the pursuer. And to bring this forward, what the crab does to the oyster, the devil often does to the monk, etc. He carefully explores, if ever the oyster opens itself against the rays of the sun: then the secret intruder puts in a stone, and thus finding the open fastness, he tears out the inner parts of the oyster. The oyster signifies the monk who truly lives, while he is shut under the censure of silence: but he perishes when he opens himself to speak immoderately. For what does the stone signify, which is put into the oyster that it may not close again, but the hardness of habit, by which each one hardens himself that he may not soften himself to penance. For as it were a certain pebble of evil habit stands in the way, that he who is vacant to the inanities of fables may not shut himself off from his vanity. The crab which naturally walks backward is the apostate spirit, who after he once departed from his creator, has never ceased to relapse backward." A restless evil, — ἀκατάσχετον, that is, as Pagninus and Vatablus say, uncontrollable; St. Jerome, lib. II Against Pelagius, "incontinent," namely passively, which cannot be contained and restrained; others, "uncontainable"; the Syriac, "unimpedible," "irremovable"; others, intolerable. Some read ἀκατάστατον, that is, inconstant, unstable, unable to remain stable, just as the heart and lungs, to which the tongue corresponds, and in form is assimilated, cannot remain stable, but are perpetually agitated: the heart, so that it may supply vital spirits to the whole body; the lungs, so that it may cool the heart. Whence the Poet: "The heart is wise, and the lungs speak, the gall stirs up anger, the spleen causes laughter, the liver compels love." Likewise ἀκατάστατος is seditious and tumultuous: for ἀκαταστασία is sedition, inconstancy, tumult, confusion, a disordered state of things. Hence also follows: "Full of deadly poison." Moreover, St. Augustine gives the reason why the tongue is restless, Sermon 31 On the Words of the Apostles: "The tongue has facility of motion, it is placed in a moist place, it easily slips on the slippery lips. The more quickly and easily it is moved, the more fixed you should be against it. You will tame it, if you will be watchful; you will be watchful, if you will fear; you will love, if you will think that you are a Christian." Full of deadly poison, by which it kills the reputation of neighbors, one's own reputation and the soul of the hearer, and often the bodies of many through hatreds, quarrels and wars which it stirs up; whence Psalm 139, 4: "They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips." And Psalm 5, 11: "Their throat is an open sepulchre, they dealt deceitfully with their tongues, judge them, O God." It is a sepulchre, first, because the throat of the accursed is deadly, and those whom it touches it kills, and brings into the sepulchre, according to that of Jeremiah 5, 16: "His quiver is as an open sepulchre," that is to say, the arrows of Nebuchadnezzar are deadly, and all whom he shall pierce, he will kill and bury. Secondly, because like a sepulchre it exhales a gloomy and deadly breath and the virulence of calumnies, sorrows and impious machinations. Thirdly, those who speak obscene things, says St. Chrysostom in the same place, have mouths like sepulchres, because that spiritual stench, which arises from the putrefaction of the soul, is greater and more grave than sensible stench. The tongue therefore is similar to quicksilver, or mercury, which cannot remain stable, but is perpetually agitated, and if touched, bursts into a thousand and most minute parts; and it is a deadly poison, so that if even the smallest amount of it be swallowed, it immediately kills: as once at Louvain I saw a young man, who out of curiosity tasted it, immediately perish. Moreover, James alludes to the tongue of the asp and serpents; which is venomous, and pours forth venom by its bite. For animals which harm by poison have poison enclosed in a bladder under the tongue; which, when they bite, is ruptured, and they pour forth poison by the bite, says Mercurialis, in the book On Poisons, according to that of Job, chapter 20, verse 12: "For when evil shall be sweet in his mouth, he will hide it under his tongue."
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9. In the same (that is, in it, by means of it) we bless God both by singing psalms, by teaching, by preaching, etc. For this is the purpose of the tongue for which it has been given to us by God, namely that we might glorify God with it, and teach others to glorify Him. Thus did St. Anthony of Padua, who by his burning heart and tongue, preaching, converted innumerable persons to God. Whence 32 years after his death, his tongue was found incorrupt, fresh and ruddy by St. Bonaventure, who weeping kissed it: "O blessed tongue, which hast always blessed the Lord, and hast taught others to bless Him, now it is clear how pleasing thou wast to Him, and how great thy merit with Him." Thus it is recorded in his Life and in the Chronicle of the Order of St. Francis: which also add that the tongue of the same St. Bonaventure itself was found whole and fresh 160 years after his death, namely in the year of the Lord 1434, as also his heart and head in the translation of the same. Thus the Psalmist, Psalm XXXIII, verse 1: "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be always in my mouth." Thus the Saints in heaven sing nothing else with their tongue but the praises and mighty deeds of God, Apocalypse IV, 8, and chapter V, verse 8, and chapter VII, verse 12: see the words there. Wherefore St. Paul, as it were an earthly angel, striving to make the faithful become heavenly dwellers and angels: "Be ye filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the Father," Ephesians V, 18. Thus St. Gregory of Nazianzus in his poem On Silence, sings of the tongue: "I am the lyre of the supreme king, and with melodious strains I sing Him who shakes all things with trembling fear." Thus St. Augustine, throughout all thirteen books of his Confessions, continually blesses and praises the Lord; whence he thus begins: "Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and of Thy wisdom there is no number. And man desires to praise Thee, a part of Thy creation, and man bearing about his mortality, bearing about the testimony of his sin, because Thou resistest the proud: and yet man desires to praise Thee, a part of Thy creation. For Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee." And book IX, chapter I: "Let my heart and my tongue praise Thee, and let all my bones say: Who is like unto Thee?" Wherefore the impious Nestorius, abusing his tongue and cursing Christ and His mother, saying and teaching that Christ is not God, and consequently that His mother is not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ, was punished by God in the same: for his tongue was gnawed and eaten away by worms, as witnessed by Cedrenus and Evagrius, book I, chapter VII. On the other hand, many Martyrs, whose tongues had been cut out on account of their confession, praised God just as if those tongues had not been cut out, as did the African Martyrs, as witnessed by Victor of Utica in the Persecution of the Vandals. The whole life therefore of the faithful, especially of Clerics, Religious, and Preachers, ought to be nothing else than continual praise and preaching of God. James says this to show the proper end and use of the tongue, which is to bless and praise God, so that from this he might show the gravity of the abuse, by which men everywhere impiously and as it were sacrilegiously abuse it for cursing. For, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 14 on the epistle to the Ephesians, "Thou hast a mouth sealed by the Holy Ghost: consider what is the dignity of thy mouth. Thou callest God Father, and presently dost thou revile thy brother? Consider at what table thy mouth hath been deemed worthy, what it toucheth, what it tasteth, what food it enjoyeth. Weigh with whom thou standest at the time of the mysteries, namely with Cherubim and Seraphim. The Seraphim revile no one, but one and the same use filleth their mouths, namely blessing and glorifying God. How then canst thou with them say: Holy, holy, holy, when thou abusest thy mouth for reviling?" It is therefore a portent that one preaches the goodness of God with his tongue, and hath sharpened the same against his companions and neighbors. He is unworthy of the title of man who hath peace in his mouth, but in his works soweth strife and wars; who promiseth the seed of heavenly doctrine, and soweth mere aconite. The same Chrysostom, homily 21 on the epistle to the Romans: "How dost thou take the sacred oblation, thou who hast stained thy tongue with human blood? How dost thou give peace with thy mouth, so full of wars?" God and Father, God who is the Father of all. See the words at chapter I, verse 27. And in the same we curse men, καταρώμεθα, that is we execrate, we imprecate evils, we devote to dire curses; again, we slander, we revile, we mock, we jeer, etc.: for all these things are signified by the word "curse" by catachresis. The Gentiles saw this very thing through a shadow: Anacharsis, being asked what was best in man, what worst, answered: the tongue; Laertius is witness, lib. I, cap. IX. Bias, to King Amasis of Egypt demanding the best and worst from a victim, sent back the tongue, perceiving that the tongue, if governed by reason, is the best member of man; but if instigated by anger or another passion, is the worst. Thus Plutarch relates it, lib. De Garrulitate. See Pierius, lib. XXXIII, titul. De lingua. Who were made to the likeness (that is image: see what is said Gen. I, 26) of God, as if to say, By cursing men, we curse God, because men are the work, creature and image of God. Most excellently St. Ambrose, lib. De Dignitate humanae conditionis, cap. III: "What greater honour could be given to man than that he be created to the likeness of his maker?" And St. Leo, serm. 1 De Ieiunio X mensis: "If we faithfully and wisely understand the beginning of our creation, we shall find that man was created to the image of God, that he might be an imitator of his maker, and that this is the natural dignity of our kind, if in us as in a certain mirror, the form of divine benignity shines forth." He explains the deadly poison of the tongue, and reproves properly those who appear pious, and bless God by singing, praying, preaching, and meanwhile prone to cursing continually curse their neighbours with the same tongue petulantly, all the more harmfully because from the appearance of piety which they display, they seem to do it justly and piously. Such are not a few who are frequent in divine offices, and returning home fill it with quarrels, brawls, slanders, curses, so that in the temple they appear to be angels, in the home demons. Against whom great patience must be contended, and that saying of Seneca De Remediis fortuitis must be considered: "They know not how to speak well; they do not what I deserve, but what they are accustomed to: for in certain dogs it is so innate that they bark not from ferocity, but from habit." The sense therefore is, as if to say, Behold the tongue is so full of deadly poison, that even when it praises God, it does not cease from curses against neighbours, and thus is an injury to God, and so God is both cursed and blessed at the same time. For he who violates or curses the image, nay the friend and son of a king, violates or curses the king; much more he who violates God's image. For this one passes into the nature of God, as if he himself were God. This one despises in himself a part of human nature, trusting in the divinity of the other part: joined with divinity cognate to the gods, he despises the part of himself by which he is earthly: all other things by which he knows himself to be necessary by heavenly disposition, he binds to himself by the bond of charity, and thus looks up to heaven. Thus therefore he is placed in a more fortunate position of the mean, so that he loves those things below him, and is himself loved by those above. He mingles with the elements in swiftness. By the acuteness of mind he descends into the depths of the sea: all things shine for him. Not even the highest heaven appears high; for as it were with proximate sagacity of mind he beholds it. The darkness of the air does not confound the intention of his mind, the depth of water does not dull his sight: all things are the same to him, and everywhere the same. For, as the Theologians say: "Man was made that he might understand God, by understanding love him, by loving possess him, by possessing enjoy him."
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10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. — He exaggerates the unworthiness of the evil, and by insisting upon and repeating it, he presses it home, as if to say: Out of the same mouth therefore proceedeth blessing and cursing, which in itself is so unjust and unworthy that it is evident it cannot be exaggerated in other words, indeed it cannot be; whence Œcumenius again reads and understands these words interrogatively: "Is it just that out of the same mouth both blessing and cursing should proceed? Certainly not." Hence with mild and pious, but efficacious correction, St. James carefully admonishes this very thing, saying: "These things, my brethren, ought not so to be done"; but the mouth ought to be used for blessing only (for to this end it has been given to us by God), not for cursing, as is fitting for us. St. Maximus, sermon 43, and others aptly expound this sentence of James concerning flatterers who praise openly, disparage secretly, and breathe forth from the same mouth what is hot and cold, as the saying goes. But the former sense seems to be the genuine one: for he speaks of the same blessing and cursing of which he spoke immediately before. Learn here gentleness in correcting from St. James, which he himself learned from Christ, to whom he was in all things similar, and therefore was called the brother of the Lord: whence also he calls his subjects "brethren." Most excellently does St. Chrysostom, homily 52 to the People, say that our tongue becomes the tongue of Christ, if in speaking, teaching and correcting we imitate the gentleness of Christ. Thus David concerning himself: "Remember, O Lord, David, and all his meekness," Psalm CXXXI, 1. And Paul, II Corinthians X, 1: "I myself Paul beseech you by the meekness and modesty of Christ." And Ephesians IV, 1: "I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, with all humility and meekness." And I Timothy VI, 11: "But thou, O man of God, fly these things, and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, meekness." And to Titus, III, 2: "Showing all meekness towards all men." Golden is the voice of the Wise Man: "My son, accomplish thy works in meekness, and thou shalt be beloved above the glory of men," Ecclesiasticus III, 19. Œcumenius reads these words interrogatively: "In it do we bless God, and in it do we curse men?" as if to say: Can it be that with the same mouth and tongue we praise God and disparage men, who are the peculiar possession and image of God? Can it be that we simultaneously praise and disparage God? praise him in himself, disparage him in his image? Whence James adds: "These things, my brethren, ought not so to be done"; but if thou praisest God, praise also man, who is a great portion of God. This is what the Wise Man says, Proverbs chapter XIV, verse 31: "He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker; but he that hath mercy on the poor, honoureth him." And the Psalmist, Psalm XLIX, 16: "But to the sinner God said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth? etc. Thy mouth hath abounded with evil, and thy tongue framed deceits, sitting against thy brother thou didst speak." Such men are like panthers, which when they cannot harm a man, they tear his image, as St. Basil testifies, oration 10 On Envy: so also these men, when they cannot harm God in himself, harm him in his image, namely in man. Note: Although man by nature is inferior to an angel, and thus a lesser image of God, yet in certain respects he surpasses the angel, and is more than he the image of God. First, because this visible world was created for man, not for an angel, inasmuch as the latter is an invisible spirit. Man therefore in the world is as it were a prince, a king and a certain earthly god; in him therefore God is more reflected than in an angel. Second, because all beasts, birds, fishes, elements, stars, heavens, and even angels serve man just as they serve God. Third, because man through so many inventions of things, through so many structures and machines, through so much sowing and production of fruits, through so many mechanical arts by which he effects all things, seems to imitate the omnipotence of God, his omniscience and the creation of all things. Fourth, because the production of man reflects the Holy Trinity: Adam, namely, unbegotten, represents the unbegotten Father: Eve produced from Adam, the begotten Son; Seth, the Holy Spirit proceeding from both, as the Nazianzen hints, oration 39. Fifth, because just as in God are all the species and degrees of things either formally or eminently: so also are they in man. For man has being in common with inanimate things, life with plants, sensation with animals, understanding with angels. Finally, man is akin, of the same blood and brother of God through the incarnate Word, not an angel: for Christ in being born did not "lay hold on angels, but on the seed of Abraham," Hebrews II, 16. Do not therefore, O man, abase thyself and be degenerate of such a race, but as a partaker of the divine nature, despise these vile and exiled things, look up to those great and divine things, imitate thy God. "Be as it were a god walking about on earth, and a holy angel in the flesh." Trismegistus saw these things through a shadow; whence writing to Asclepius he exclaims: "O Asclepius, man is a great miracle, an animal to be adored."
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11. Can a fountain from the same opening send forth both sweet and bitter water? — i.e., No. Therefore neither should a man from the same mouth bring forth blessing, which is as it were sweet water; and cursing, which is as it were bitter water embittering God and men, but only blessing. Again, just as bitter water mixed with sweet makes it bitter, so the bitterness of cursing in the same mouth consumes the sweetness of blessing, says Bede; just as a little leaven corrupts the whole mass, I Corinthians V, 6. Yet this does not prevent a preacher from now flattering the people, now threatening and rebuking them; now setting forth the sweet promises of God, now His bitter threats and punishments: because all these things lead the people to serving and blessing God, and therefore they are God's blessing, not cursing. Note: Some fountains send forth both sweet and bitter water, but at different times or places. Hear Pliny, lib. II, cap. CIII: "In Troglodytis a fountain called the Sun's Fountain is sweet, and especially very cold around midday; soon gradually growing warm, it becomes troublesome with heat and bitterness at the middle of the night." And soon after: "In Lyncestis the water called Acidula makes men drunk like wine. In the island of Andros in the temple of Father Liber, Mutianus believes a fountain always flows with the taste of wine on the ninth of January." Our Conimbricenses add, tract. 9 in Meteora, cap. IX, "in Troglodytis there is a lake which becomes bitter and salty three times a day and then sweet, and as many times also at night." Similar fountains are in Ardenna, not far from Liège, the acidulous springs of Sphadanus, which have the taste of iron, niter, sulphur and vitriol; because their water flows through veins of iron, niter, sulphur and vitriol, and imbibes their force and taste, as I learned from three years' experience of frequenting them: wherefore neighboring fountains in turn have different tastes, on account of the different veins through which they pass: indeed the same fountain, if it flows through another vein, will change its taste. Such also is Arethusa, a fountain and river of Syracuse, which is said to have different taste in different places, because other fountains flow into it; and because it flows under the sea, if anything is drawn from it, it will emerge with sea water and salt mixed with the sweet, concerning which Virgil, eclogue X: "Grant me this last labor, Arethusa, so that when you flow beneath the Sicanian waves, may bitter Doris not mingle her wave with yours." But hear Thomas Fazellus, an eyewitness, who writes thus concerning Arethusa, lib. IV De Reb. Siculis, pag. 89: "It has waters that are thick and more salty and unpleasant to drink; the use of which, since they are hard and unboiled, contributes less to human health, as Athenaeus teaches in lib. II. Not far from Arethusa, in the midst of the sea's waves, a fountain of sweet water wonderfully gushes forth, and raises its head among the salt waters, commonly called the eye of Cilicia." And soon after: "But if this is not one of the fountains of Arethusa, it must certainly be born from some neighboring mountain, and emerging upward from the shallows of the sea, expelled by an interior wind." And earlier he opens the cause, namely that the water of Arethusa does not originate in Sicily, but in Achaia and the Peloponnese. For the Alpheus, he says, a river of the Achaean region, absorbed by the earth, flows beneath the sea into Sicily for almost five hundred miles, and from this fountain Arethusa emerges again—which Pindar first, then Timaeus, whom the Greeks and Latins followed, reported. Thus Pliny writes concerning Lake Ascanius and the fountains of Chalcis, lib. XXXI, cap. X, that their surface is sweet and drinkable, but the lower parts are nitrous and bitter. But St. James speaks of common and ordinary fountains: for these do not at the same time yield sweet and bitter water; the few already named are extraordinary, and as it were portents and monsters of nature, and therefore are types and symbols of the tongue, which at the same time pours forth cursing and blessing, and therefore it itself is likewise a portent and monster of nature. Add that, although in the aforesaid fountains the external fountain, namely the opening of the fountain, is the same, which emanates sweet and bitter water; yet the internal fountain, that is, the very first vein and source, which is as it were the heart or liver of the fountain, is different, as is evident from what has been said concerning the fountain Arethusa, to which the name eye of Cilicia is given. But in man the matter is otherwise. For just as in him there is one external fountain, namely one mouth, bringing forth good and evil: so also there is one internal fountain, namely one heart and one soul, from which both flow. This therefore is in the manner of a portent and prodigy, that namely the same heart through the same tongue brings forth injury and praise, piety and impiety, death and life, truth and falsehood.
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12. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear grapes? — The Greek and Syriac texts read for "grapes" ἐλαίας, that is "olives," and then the antithesis is greater: for figs are sweet, but olives are bitter; but the following words indicate that grapes are meant. For he adds: "Or can the vine bear figs?" as if to say, By no means: for neither does the vine by itself produce anything other than grapes, nor can the fig tree be grafted into the vine so that it produces figs in it, just as a pear tree is grafted into a plum tree, and in the plum tree it bears pears. So neither can salt water produce sweet water. — "Salt," that is a salt spring: whence in Greek it is, "so no salt spring can produce salt and sweet water." Thus the Zurich translation, Pagninus and others. For he proves the former similitude, namely that from the same spring does not flow both sweet and bitter water (from which he proves and concludes morally that it cannot, that is ought not, proceed from the same mouth both blessing and cursing), by another similitude of the vine and fig tree, of which that produces not figs but only grapes, this produces not grapes but only figs. Furthermore he brings forward an apt similitude: the first he takes from a spring, the second from the vine and fig tree, the third here from salt water, which from itself cannot spread forth sweet water. But truly if it spreads forth, therefore it is a spring and has the nature of a spring: wherefore this similitude is the same as the first. From these similitudes James shows that it is unnatural and contrary to the order of things, and as it were to fight against nature itself, that from a mouth destined by God and nature for blessing should proceed cursing: just as it fights against nature that from a sweet spring bitter water should proceed, from a vine figs, from a fig tree grapes; and therefore that same thing cannot happen. Again, just as bitter water mixed with sweet makes it bitter, so cursing mixed with blessing in the same mouth corrupts it, and as it were converts it into cursing; because namely the mouth is cursed which, since it is destined solely for blessing, from itself emits cursing: for good comes from an integral cause, evil from individual defects, as St. Dionysius says. Moreover, just as the fig tree does not bear grapes, nor the vine figs: so the curser, although he may seem to speak something good for a time, can in no way have the fruit of blessing. Thus Bede. Furthermore Thomas Aquinas assigns eight differences and as it were species of evil tongue: namely "the third tongue," he says, of which in Ecclesiasticus xxviii, 16, is that of detractors, and only detracts; that of flatterers is false, Ecclesiasticus xx, 18; that of the proud is boastful, Psalm xi, 4; that of heretics is viperous, Job xx, 16; that of cursers is blasphemous, Job xv, 5; that of hypocrites is deceitful, Psalm cxix, 2; that of the lustful is defiled, Ecclesiasticus li, 3; that of advocates is iniquitous, Proverbs chapter xvii, verse 4. Note: St. James demonstrates the harm and damages of the tongue from twelve partly arguments, partly attributes. The first is verse 3, that it is like an unbridled horse. The second, verse 5, that although small, it nevertheless exalts great things. The third, in the same place, that it is like a spark which burns down an entire forest. The fourth, verse 6, that it is a world of iniquity. The fifth, in the same place, that it defiles the whole body. The sixth, that it sets on fire the whole wheel of our nativity and life. The seventh, that it is set on fire by hell. The eighth, that it is more untamed than all beasts, and therefore can be tamed by no one. The ninth, that it is a restless evil. The tenth, that it is full of deadly poison. The eleventh, that although it is given and dedicated to the blessing of God, yet at the same time it curses neighbors. The twelfth, that it is as it were a monstrous spring, belching forth at once both sweet and bitter water.
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13. Who is wise (σοφός, that is, learned, namely in divine things) and disciplined, — ἐπιστήμων, that is, knowing those things which pertain to practice and morals, not only speculatively, but also practically, that is, zealous for discipline. Moreover, the same person is wise and disciplined; but to this one is added to that, so that it may be signified that the wise man ought to be not merely speculative, but also practical, namely disciplined and well instructed: whence in the last verse he expressly asserts that wisdom is chaste, peaceful, modest, persuadable, etc. "For discipline is the ordered correction of morals, and the zealous observance of rules handed down by elders." Thus Cicero, Tusculan Disputations IV: "He is wise who is endowed with knowledge of divine and human things (to which the discipline of morals pertains).". Let him show forth his works in the meekness of wisdom from good conversation. — The Syriac version, "let him show his works in good conversations." St. James returns to the teachers and masters, of whom he treated in verse 1, on whose account he has hitherto digressed to the vices of the tongue. To them therefore he earnestly commends meekness and modesty, so that they may teach more by example than by word; more by modest and mild conversation than by great display of wisdom. For works teach and move more than sermons, life more than voice. Thus Christ first began to do, then to teach, Acts I, 1. Imitating Christ, St. Peter prescribed this law to pastors in his first epistle, chapter v, verse 3: "Being made a pattern of the flock from the heart"; and he assigns a reward: "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory." And St. Paul, Philippians III, 17: "Be ye followers of me, brethren, and observe them who so walk as you have our pattern." Hence the Aaronic pontiff wore upon his breast in the Rational "the urim and the thummim," that is, doctrine and truth, so that it might be signified that in the Pontiff there is required both truth, that is, integrity of life and example, and doctrine of the law and Scripture, Exodus xxviii, 30. Origens was notable in this matter, of whom Eusebius writes, book VI of the History, chapter III, "that such as his discourse was, such also were his morals; and such as his morals were, such was his discourse," and therefore he was held to be the oracle of the Church, and the wonder of the world, and converted very many to faith and holiness. On the other hand, it was a disgrace to him who heard: "Thy words are the words of God, but thy deeds are the deeds of the devil." More illustrious was St. Lucian the Martyr, who was so composed in morals, pious, cheerful and holy, that he seemed an angel, and drew all to the love of himself and Christ: wherefore the Emperor Maximian dared to look upon and address him only from a distance and through a veil, fearing lest he himself also be bewitched by him as it were by a philter of virtue, and should wish to become a Christian. See the sayings at Philippians IV, 5. Similar was St. Bonaventure, at whose funeral, speaking in the Council of Lyons in the year of the Lord 1274, Peter Tarantasius, Cardinal of the Order of St. Dominic, who was afterwards created Pontiff and called Innocent V, among other praises of him said: As many as beheld or heard St. Bonaventure were captivated by his love, yielded to him, embraced his opinion and counsel; because he was benign, affable, humble, dear to all, pious, prudent, chaste, peaceful and adorned with every virtue. Wisely did St. Jerome, in epistle 3, to Heliodorus the Bishop, prescribe this rule of living: "In thee the eyes of all are directed: thy house and thy conversation, as if placed in a mirror, is the teacher of public discipline. Whatever thou shalt do, all think they ought to do the same. Beware lest thou commit what those who wish to find fault might justly tear to pieces; or what those who wish to imitate might be forced to do wrong." Such was Gregory the Elder, Bishop of Nazianzus, father of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. For, as he himself says of him in oration 19: "He softened the savage morals of men without great difficulty, both by the discourses of pastoral art, and also because he set forth, as it were, a spiritual statue polished to the beauty of the best action, for imitation." The same in the Praises of St. Basil: "The oration of Basil was thunder, because his life was lightning." On the other hand, St. Bernard, book II On Consideration, to Pope Eugenius: "It is a monstrous thing, the highest place and the lowest mind; the first seat and the lowest life; a boastful tongue and an idle hand; much speech and no fruit." The same thing the Gentile Philosophers saw from afar. Aristides in Plato's Theaetetus professes that he learned nothing from conversation with Socrates, but very much from his conduct and character. Agesilaus, when asked by what means one might be most approved among men, replied: "If he speak the best things, and do the most honorable." Seneca speaks excellently, book I, epistle 6: "The living voice and intercourse will profit you more than discourse. You ought to come to the matter itself. First, because men believe their eyes more than their ears. Second, because the path through precepts is long, but through examples short and effective. Cleanthes would not have so perfectly expressed Zeno, if he had merely heard him: he shared in his life, he observed his secrets, he watched whether he lived according to his own formula. Plato and Aristotle, and the whole crowd of philosophers going in different directions, drew more from the conduct than from the words of Socrates. It was not the school of Epicurus, but living together with him, that made Metrodorus, Hermarchus, and Polyaenus great men." The same author elsewhere: "Choose as your teacher one whom you admire more when you see him than when you hear him." That saying of Democritus, found in Laertius, book IX, chapter various, is well-known: λόγος ἔργου σκιά, that is, discourse is the shadow of deed. Just as shadow relates to body, so discourse relates to deed: therefore deed is as it were a solid body, discourse and speech as shadowy and evanescent, namely the shadow of body and virtue, not the body and solid virtue itself. In meekness of wisdom.—In meek wisdom, which hears meekly, answers, admonishes, corrects and teaches. For such is the wisdom of Christ and of his disciples, according to his own words: "Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart," Matthew XI. This is a Hebraism. Thus "charity of brotherhood" is called fraternal charity, "son of love" is called a beloved son, "sons of disobedience and distrust" are called disobedient and distrustful sons. Note: Meekness is the proper gift and as it were the flower of true wisdom. See the sayings at chapter I, 21. Peter Damian asks in his book On Contempt of the World, chapter xxviii, why, in IV Kings IV, 31, Elisha was unable to raise the boy through the staff applied to him, but by lying upon him himself brought him back to life? And he answers: "He whom the rod of terror could not raise, returns to life through the spirit of love, and while he accommodated and composed himself to the little one, he easily lifted him up and restored him." Thus subjects are often moved more by the love of their Prelate than by fear, if he gently accommodates himself to them, and adapts his conduct and composes himself benignly. St. Augustine, sermon 6 On the Words of the Lord, calls a harsh Prelate a tempter of subjects. See St. Dionysius, epistle 8 to Demophilus, and St. Bernard, sermon On St. Mary Magdalene.
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14. But if you have bitter zeal. — "Bitter zeal" is envy; sweet zeal is fervent charity, from which Simon the Canaanite was surnamed Zelotes. He opposes to the meekness of wisdom bitter zeal, that is, a sour emulation and envy, which born from pride and love of excellence begets contentions and schisms, and therefore passes into errors, heresies and lies, from which a glorious but vain teacher's name is sought after, so that namely he may vainly glory in a new sect invented by himself, in a new school, and new disciples, and boast of himself. Isidore of Pelusium notes, book II, epistle 90, that there have been and are more sects, contentions, schisms and heresies in Christianity than there were in Judaism and paganism, because the devil, the author of sects, envying and indignant at the utility and excellence of Christ and Christianity, in order to overthrow it, now sows and kindles those things more than before, especially because all paganism was of the devil, and also a far greater part of the Jews. There is added, first, that among Christians there is greater wisdom and greater study of wisdom: but among the studious of wisdom various opinions and sects are wont to arise. Second, that in Christianity all errors clothe themselves in the most holy name of Christ, under the pretext of true faith and piety, which the devil holds out to proud masters and those eager for new opinions, and thus blinds them, so that they think they are acting truly, rightly and piously. Note "bitter": for envy is bitter, both to those whom it envies, and more to itself. For the envious man is wonderfully tortured by the torture of his envy, by which he torments and afflicts himself on account of the excellence of another, whom he grieves to see preferred to himself or equal to himself in wisdom, virtue and glory: then indeed, as Statius says, Thebaid II: "he secretly broods over fierce envy." Hence note the conditions of envy. The first is, envy is a sign of a small and abject mind: for by envying he acknowledges another to be superior to himself, or equal. And those who envy are almost always idle, fainthearted, depressed, according to that saying of Ovid, book V of Epistles from Pontus: "Envy, an idle vice, does not go forth into lofty characters, and like a hidden viper creeps along the ground." Whence Pliny, book VI, epistle 17: "Are you more eloquent? all the more do not be envied. For he who envies is the lesser." Second, that which excels and stands out strikes the eyes of the envious, and is the object of envy. Whence Ovid, book I of the Remedy of Love: "Envy seeks the highest, the highest places are swept by winds, the highest places are sought by the thunderbolt sent from Jupiter's right hand." Wherefore Themistocles as a youth grieved that he was not envied: "for this is a sign that I have as yet done nothing glorious." "For just as beetles attack roses, so envy is born upon virtue." Thus Antonius in the Melissa, discourse 62, where he also adds that Aristotle, being asked what envy was, answered that it is the antagonist of the fortunate. Third, envy often impedes and overthrows the greatest things, as we sometimes experience in cities, wars, and even gatherings of good men. The voice of Belisarius, the general of the Emperor Justinian, renowned for so many victories, but reduced to extremity by rivals, is trite and pitiable: "Give an obol to Belisarius, whom virtue exalted, whom envy blinded." Yet many, although some learned men from Zonaras and others refute this, assert that Belisarius lived honored always and died honored. Truly Silius, book I: "O dire destruction to mortals, O envy, never permitting anything to grow, nor enduring great praises to arise!" Thus one house, nay the whole world, could not contain the first two brothers Cain and Abel. Fourth, it is clear that envy is bitter and bilious: for it stirs up bile and both biles, namely both yellow and black, that is, both choler and melancholy; so that the envious man bears before him a dark, bilious and livid color in his face. Whence Martial, book I: "Behold again the livid one gnaws his black nails. You envy all, livid one, no one envies you." And Silius, book XI: "— Dark with the poison of envy, and breasts undulating with black bile." Fifth, there are two acts of envy, namely: "To insult the wretched, and to sicken at prosperous things," as Statius says, book II. Sixth, envy is the supreme torment of the envious, and it consumes and destroys him with a slow and lingering wasting disease, whence envy is called "devouring." Hence Claudian, book III of the Rape of Proserpine: "The envious man wastes away at another's rich possessions." And Horace, book I of the Epistles: "The tyrants of Sicily never invented a greater torment than envy." From this Socrates said that envy is an ulcer, indeed a saw of the soul, as Stobaeus testifies, discourse 36, and Anthony in the Melissa, discourse 62; and Martial, book IX: "Envy bursts forth because we are loved and approved; let whoever is burst by envy burst forth." And Ovid, II Metamorphoses, depicts it graphically: "And with a slow most wretched wasting he melts away, as ice wounded by the uncertain sun, and Herse is burned by the good things of the happy one no less than when fire is placed beneath thorny plants, which neither give forth flames, but are consumed by a gentle warmth." Hence the Poets imagined the envious in the underworld feeding on serpents and being refreshed by hydras. Indeed, Cassian, Conferences XVIII, chapter xvii, mystically interprets that passage of Jeremiah VIII, "Behold I will send among you serpents, basilisks, against which there is no charm, and they shall bite you," concerning envy. See him. Agis, king of the Lacedaemonians, hearing that he was envied by rivals, said: "They will therefore have a twofold trouble: for they will be tormented both by themselves and by their own evils, and moreover they will be tortured by my goods and those of mine." A magnificent utterance, signifying that those held by envy are more worthy of compassion than of anger; and that the envious person himself provides sufficient punishment, even if no other avenger exists. Thus Plutarch in the Laconian Sayings; for, as Antisthenes says in Laertius, book VI, chapter 1: "Just as rust, born from iron itself, consumes iron, so the envious man wastes away from his own vice." But more elegantly Peter Chrysologus, discourse 172: "Envy has always been the executioner of its own: it extends the senses, torments the minds, racks the thoughts, corrupts the hearts. What more? Whoever receives this suffers endless punishments in himself, because he always loves to have a domestic torturer within himself. Where is there an end to evils, where another's good is a penalty? where another's happiness is torture?" For this reason Nazianzen acutely said, oration 27: "Envy alone among all the affections is at once most unjust and most just: most unjust, because it is opposed to all goods; most just, because it eats away and destroys its masters." Seventh, the remedy for envy is humility, modesty and contempt of glory. Hence Cato used to say that those who used fortune moderately and soberly were least sought out by envy. "For men do not envy us, but the good things that surround us." External goods are outside man; but he who uses them insolently has the vice within himself, and by this he brings envy upon himself and makes himself envious and hateful. Thus Plutarch in the Apophthegms of the Romans: no one envied Diogenes the Cynic, as the despiser of all things. Crates of Thebes used to say that he held contempt of glory and poverty as his fatherland, over which fortune exercised no right. He also used to say that he was a disciple of Diogenes, who was open to no snares of envy. For riches and honors generally bring envy, especially if sudden and if they far exceed one's lot and station. Thus Laertius, book VI, chapter v. Most excellently St. Ambrose, book II On Abraham, chapter IV: "A great mystery of virtue, which is quickly envied. And therefore in order to suppress envy, he ought to show himself more humble. Let him not claim dominion over all for himself; let him not arrogate to himself alone preeminent wisdom." The same, in the conflict of vices and virtues: "Envy says: In what way are you less than that one or this one? Why therefore are you not equal to them or superior? How much can you do that they cannot? Therefore they ought not to be superior to you, or even equal to you. But fraternal charity responds: If you think yourself, O man, to excel others in virtues, you will keep yourself more safely in the lowest place than in the highest. For ruin from on high is always worse. But if, as you assert, some are superior to you and others equal to you, what harms you? what injures you? Beware entirely lest, while you envy others the place of eminence, you imitate him of whom it is written: By the envy of the devil death entered into the world. But they imitate him who are of his part." Eighth, finally, envy is usually ended by the death of him who is envied, and is turned into compassion, indeed even into admiration. "Malice feeds on the living, after death it rests." And: "We hate virtue unharmed; once removed from sight, we envious seek it." Thus Julius Caesar, hearing of the tragic death of Pompey his rival, wept. And let there be contentions in your hearts. — Contentions are wont to be in the mouth and tongues, not in hearts: by "contentions" therefore understand here the studies and purposes of contending: whence in Greek it is ἐρίθεια, that is "contention," in the singular, that is the will and desire of contending, which bitter zeal, that is envy, produces. For he who carries the gall of envy in the stomach of his mind, he strives to exhale it by his mouth, and to contradict all men, and to contend with all men. Most excellently the Wise Man, Proverbs xx, 3: "It is an honor for a man to separate himself from contentions: but all fools are mingled with reproaches," that is contentions, which produce and cast back reproaches in turn. "For it is the mark of childish petulance to contend," says St. Augustine, epistle 174, and to strive that one overcome another, when among Christians truth, peace and humility ought to prevail. And Seneca, book II On Anger, chapter xxxiv: "To contend with an equal is uncertain, with a superior is mad, with an inferior is base; it is the mark of a small and wretched man to return the bite. Weak men think themselves injured if they are touched, like mice and ants; if you remove them with your hand, they turn their mouths." What do you seek, O Christian, while you contend with your brother against the laws of Christ? Surely the display of knowledge and the praise of victory among your like, the proud and the foolish. A fine reputation indeed you gain, that you should be heard as contentious, arrogant, ostentatious, a sophist: how much more glorious it would be for you to abstain from quarreling; that among the prudent you should be heard as wise, peaceful, religious, master and lord of your mind and tongue? Wisely Papias, disciple of St. John the Apostle and companion of St. Polycarp, hearing the truth of God torn to pieces by the clamors of many: "We must listen not to those who say many things, but to those who hand down true things." Thus Eusebius, book III, chapter LIX. Religiously St. Ignatius, founder of our Society, gave this instruction to his followers: "Do not resist anyone, however insignificant, in any way: let it please you to yield rather than to overcome." And St. Bernard, book On the Manner of Living Well, chapter xvii: "Meek men always despise quarrels." And soon after: "If detraction and quarrels are in the cloister, where is the silence of the Rule, where is the holiness of religion, where is the silence of the Order, where is the religiosity of the monastery, where is the bond of charity, where is the peace of unity, where is the concord of brotherhood, where is social love? Alas, woe is me! the silence of the Rule has perished, the holiness of religion has been taken away, the silence of the Order has failed, the religiosity of the monastery has come to nothing, the charity of brotherhood has been annulled; but if those who ought to live in peace begin to contend, to litigate, to detract, where is the tranquil life, where is the quiet life, where is the peaceful life, where is the honest life, where is the modest life, where is the chaste life, where is the contemplative life, where is the angelic life?" And below: "Contention begets quarrels; contention extinguishes the peace of the heart; contention produces brawls; contention sows quarrels; contention kindles the torches of hatreds; contention breaks concord; contention troubles the eye of the mind." He adds the manner of excluding it, if anyone everywhere chooses the baser things; and concluding he says: "In no cause strive to contend, except that you alone please God." Do not glory and be liars against the truth. — That is to say, if you feel in your mind the heat of contending, do not follow it, and do not bring it forth and exercise it by your mouth and words, that you may gloriously and falsely assail the truth; but rather suppress this heat by silence and restrain it by reason. Whence the Greek texts have: Do not glory, and lie against the truth; the Syriac: Do not swell up against the truth, and lie. For he who is driven by the lust of contending from the study of contradicting, namely that he may appear to be more prudent or more learned than all others, contradicts both true and false things, and assails all things and everything; and therefore it is necessary that he often vainly glory and lie against the truth, as is clearly seen in sophists and heretics, who assail the truth they have recognized. James signifies that zeal, or envy, is the mother and fountain of contention, boasting and lies. Moreover, just as it is the highest honor to defend the truth, so it is the highest disgrace to assail it and to uphold falsehood: which the envious and contentious do. Wherefore when it was asked what was the strongest thing, and one answered that it was the king, another wine or women, Zerubbabel, hitting the mark, answered that it was the truth, concerning which speaking before King Darius, he obtained from him the complete release of his nation from Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of the temple. See III Esdras, chapter iii, verse 12 and following up to verse 47, chapter IV. Excellently St. Augustine, epistle 9 to St. Jerome: "The truth of Christians is incomparably more beautiful than Helen of the Greeks: for our martyrs fought more fiercely against this Sodom for the former than those heroes fought against Troy for the latter." The same, epistle 7 to Marcellinus: "He loves himself most perversely, who wishes others also to err, so that his error may be hidden." Demosthenes, when asked "what things men had in common with God," replied: "To act kindly, and to love truth." Thus Maximus, sermon 8. Pythagoras asserted that these two things were given to men by divine gift as far the most beautiful, to embrace truth and to apply oneself to benefactions: for both can be compared with the works of the immortal gods. Thus Aelian, book XII of Miscellaneous History. Finally, truth and charity are sisters. And so God by his essence is both truth and charity: whoever therefore attacks truth, attacks likewise charity, and God himself, who is the first truth and uncreated charity. The remedy therefore of contention and the shield of truth is charity. For, as the Apostle says, I Corinthians xiii, 4: "Charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth." And St. Bernard, treatise On the Twelve Degrees of Humility: "Good is the way of humility, by which truth is sought, charity is acquired, generations of wisdom are shared. Finally, just as Christ is the end of the law, so the perfection of humility is knowledge of truth. When Christ came, he brought grace: truth, when made known to whom, gives charity; but it is made known to the humble: therefore to the humble he gives grace." Three therefore are the companions and inseparable associates, and as it were three Christian Graces: humility, truth and charity. The same shortly after assigns three degrees of truth: First, by which we know God and Christ and ourselves, and therefore we revere him supremely, and humble ourselves supremely under him. Second, by which we perceive the faults and miseries of our neighbors, and have compassion for them. Third, by which we contemplate God, partly here in a riddle, partly in heaven face to face through the beatific vision, according to that: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." To the first, he says, we ascend through the labor of humility, to the second through the drink of compassion, to the third through the excess of contemplation. In the first truth is found severe, in the second merciful, in the third pure. To the first reason leads, by which we examine ourselves; to the second affection brings us, by which we have mercy on others; to the third purity snatches us up, by which we are lifted to invisible things. Tropologically Bede explains, as if James said: Do not, O Christians, lie to God, to whom in baptism you promised to renounce Satan and his pomps: for you do not renounce these, if you boast your goods more insolently, and proclaim them more gloriously above, nay rather against truth falsely. More in keeping with the mind of St. James you would say that those lie to God, who, although they profess themselves to be his worshippers, are nevertheless angry with their neighbors, whom God commands to be loved as themselves, are indignant, envy, contend and quarrel with them, and glory in this as if in a matter splendidly and courageously done.
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15. For this is not that wisdom (of one having bitter zeal and contentiousness, who seeks after glory, and therefore falsely attacks the truth, that he may appear wiser than others) descending from above (sent down from heaven by God the Father of lights, as he said in chapter I, verse 17, infused), but earthly (on account of avarice, by which he seeks earthly riches), sensual (on account of gluttony and lust, by which he desires the sensible pleasures of the belly and of lust, and therefore his god is his belly, as the Apostle says, Philip. III, 19), devilish,—on account of pride, by which he strives to excel and be honored above others; and to this end he devises subtle ways, deceits and cunning, whose author and standard-bearer is the devil. On the other hand, the true wisdom of the humble, peaceful and holy man and teacher is heavenly, spiritual, divine. A counterpart to this sentence of James is that of St. John, First Epistle, chapter II, verse 16, who, attributing to the world what James attributes to earthly and worldly wisdom, says: "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world, etc. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh," namely gluttony and lust; and "the concupiscence of the eyes," avarice; "and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world." A counterpart also, and more so, is that of St. Paul, I Cor. III, 3: "For whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man?" Where Theodoret says: "He is carnal, who is content with his own thoughts, and does not admit the teaching of the Spirit." Ambrosiaster however says: "He who is like beasts, depresses his sense into the earth, and therefore attains only to those things which he sees, nor does he think that anything can be done except what he knows; therefore whatever else he hears than what he knows, he judges to be foolish." Such is heresy and the heretic, who grasps only earthly things, grasps only what he feels and what his senses touch, knows only belly and lust, seeks only the first seats, and therefore is full of envy, hatred, contention, arrogance, ostentation, and falsehood. Note: First, "sensual," in Greek ψυχικός, is he who desires and grasps and knows nothing other than what is familiar and pleasing to the soul and to the animal, namely to sense, taste and touch, like a beast, such as the gluttonous and the lustful: and, as St. Bernard says, or whoever is the author, in the book On the Solitary Life, he who serves the bodily senses and the desires of the sensitive soul, and feeds and nourishes his sensuality, and therefore knows how to think of nothing except bodily pleasures by imagining: where he also adds that there are three degrees of the faithful, namely the first of beginners; the second, of those making progress; the third, of the perfect: the first is sensual, the second rational, the third spiritual. Thus Tertullian, already become a Montanist, called the orthodox by way of mockery "psychics" (Rhenanus wrongly read "Physicos"), that is sensual; but himself and the Montanists "spiritual," because they fasted three Lents, condemned second marriages, etc., which the orthodox admitted. Whence he wrote a book On Fastings against the Psychics. Again, the heretics are sensual, who believe nothing except what they see and understand. For, as St. Augustine says, sermon 151 On the Seasons: "In the carnal man the whole rule of understanding is the habit of perceiving." Second, this worldly wisdom is called by James "devilish," both because it imitates the devil: for the devil first in heaven envied God his throne of glory, and when he wished to seize it, and contended and fought against him and his angels, but was overcome and cast down into tartarus; and because it is suggested and inspired by the devil, whence "by the envy of the devil death entered into the world," Wisdom II, 24. "And he himself is Prince over all the children of pride," Job XLI, 25. Moreover he is a liar and the father of lies, John viii, 44. Thus Paul called Elymas, resisting him and Christ, "a child of the devil," Acts xiii, 10. St. Polycarp called Marcion "the firstborn of Satan," as Eusebius testifies, lib. IV Hist., cap. xiv. Irenaeus, lib. III, cap. III, calls him "the mouth of the devil." Furthermore James alludes to the etymology of "demons": for demons are called as it were δαήμονες, that is "knowing ones"; and the ancients attributed to them the invention of human sciences and arts; but properly they themselves are the first authors and inventors of worldly wisdom, which teaches one to exalt oneself and one's own, to depress others, and therefore to stir up quarrels, contentions and wars. Therefore heavenly wisdom is "theodora," that is, a gift of God; but earthly wisdom is "daemonodora," that is, a gift of the devil. Thus Theodora, the wise wife of the Emperor Justinian, became "daemonodora," when she bent Justinian to the heresy of Eutyches, proscribed the Council of Chalcedon, seized Pope Silverius and forced him to die, and perpetrated other wicked deeds. Thus Theophilus in the Life of Justinian. Wherefore, struck from heaven, she miserably perished. Hear Victor of Tunnena, Bishop in Africa, in his Chronicle: "Theodora Augusta, enemy of the Synod of Chalcedon, covered with the plague of cancer throughout her whole body, ended her life in a prodigious manner."
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16. Where there is zeal and contention. — "To contend," says St. Augustine, lib. IV De Doctr. Christ., cap. xxviii, "is not to care how error is overcome by truth, but how your speech may be preferred to another's." There inconstancy. — In Greek ἀκαταστασία, that is "inconstancy," disquiet, disorder, turbulence, disturbance, agitation, tumult, sedition, as I said at verse 8. James proves that the proud wisdom of the envious and contentious is earthly, animal, and especially diabolical, from the fact that it is inconstant and turbulent, and produces tumults and seditions: which has been seen in heresy and heretics in every age, who have everywhere stirred up internecine wars and seditions. Whence here is true that saying of Tertullian, lib. De Pallio, cap. v: "The toga has harmed the Republic more than the breastplate"; namely, in peace the heresiarchs have harmed the Church more than tyrants in persecution: for from the former came invincible and glorious Martyrs, from the latter perfidious and seditious apostates, who tore asunder the Republic and the Church. Furthermore, how inconstant heretics are in heresy is evident from the fact that they forge new dogmas daily contrary to the former ones. Whence St. Hilary, lib. ad Constantium et Constantem Imperatorem, asserts that "the Arians have annual and monthly faith"; for they are carried about by every wind of doctrine, as the Apostle says, Ephes. IV, 14. This Cochlaeus clearly showed in Luther in the book entitled: Lutherus septiceps. The first reason is that heretics are driven by a spirit of dizziness; the second, that heresy is mendacious: but every lie has weak feet; for soon its falsity is discovered, and then it invents another by which to veil and sustain itself. The third, that the devil, its author, is a liar and the father of lies, and impels his followers to ever new and greater crimes and blasphemies out of the immense hatred with which he burns against God, and the envy with which he burns against men, lest they succeed to those heavenly thrones from which he himself fell. And every evil work. — For from envy and contention arise quarrels, insults, blasphemies, fights, murders, robberies, schisms, heresies, sacrileges and all crimes: for, as St. Cyprian says, serm. De Zelo et Livore: "Other evils have a limit, and whatever is done amiss is ended by the completion of the offense: envy has no limit, remaining perpetually an evil, and sin without end." See what great crimes and disasters followed from the heresy of the Donatists in Optatus against Parmenianus, and of the Arians in Athanasius, Apolog. II, and Victor of Utica in Wandalica. What a conflagration Luther and Calvin brought upon Gaul, Germany, England, etc., we have recently witnessed, and still witness and mourn.
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17. But the wisdom that is from above is first indeed chaste. — He opposes to the false wisdom of the envious, the proud and the contentious, which is earthly, animal and diabolical, the true and holy wisdom of the faithful and doctors, studying humility, peace, charity and edification, and assigns to it nine characteristics, partly signs, partly effects and gifts. By wisdom he understands a savory knowledge (namely joined with affection, love and practice) of divine things, which lead the faithful to salvation and blessedness. This wisdom therefore embraces all the mysteries of faith, the whole doctrine of Christianity, Theology, Holy Scripture, Ethics, and other things which conduce to living Christianly and holily. This is "from above," because it was handed down by Christ, who for this reason descended from heaven, that he might teach it to us. Again, because it cannot be understood and grasped without the supernatural light and grace of God; yet it requires the cooperation and study of man himself: for although the Apostles received it infused, nevertheless their successors ought to acquire and increase it by their own study and labor: whence those who apply themselves more to it become wiser than those who study it less: as is seen in Theology and Theologians. For these, following the light and dogmas of faith, by speculating on them search out other truths, and as it were draw forth and gather theological conclusions from their principles. Finally, it is "from above," because the taste and love and practice of these things cannot be had without the grace of God. Moreover, it is fitting to compare these nine antitheses of true and false wisdom, which St. James here assigns, and to set them before the reader as in a synopsis. The first is, true wisdom is chaste; false is animal and unchaste. The second, true is peaceful; false is contentious. The third, true is modest; false is petulant and proud. The fourth, true is persuadable; false is unpersuadable, because it neither allows anything to be persuaded to it from the true, nor can it persuade itself to the prudent. The fifth, true consents to good things; false envies good things, opposes and quarrels. The sixth, true is full of mercy; false is merciless, cruel and impious. The seventh, true is full of fruits and good works; false is full of evil works and all crimes. The eighth, true judges no one rashly; false precipitates judgment, because it censures and carps at all things. The ninth, true is sincere; false is simulated and hypocritical. In a similar way the Apostle says, I Cor. xiii: "Charity (which this practical wisdom includes) is patient, is kind, envieth not, rejoiceth with the truth," etc. Now if wisdom is chaste, peaceful, modest, persuadable, etc., therefore also the wise man is chaste, peaceful, modest, persuadable, etc. It is an argument from cognates: the "wise" man, I say, both disciple and doctor; for it is on account of doctors and masters that James speaks thus, as is evident from verse 1. It is chaste, — ἁγνή, that is, pure, chaste, undefiled, like a lamb, both from lust and from any impurity of false doctrine, crime and vice, so that it can be depicted in the likeness of St. Agnes, who was an exemplar and living image equally of chastity and of Christian wisdom, so that she is rightly called and is Agnes. For no religion or sect teaches and commands such purity both of chastity and of morals, and of truth and dogmas, as the Christian. For this teaches all things about God as august, divine and worthy of Him. This sanctifies all that is honorable. This commands spouses to live chastely in marriage, to keep faith with each other, and not to use it for pleasure, but for receiving and educating offspring for God. This counsels virginity, celibacy and continence, and prescribes and enjoins it severely on all priests and Religious. Therefore this purity of doctrine, chastity and life is one of the marks of true faith, religion and the Church. For the Gentiles, Mahometans, and heretics have departed far from it and do depart: for they teach that celibacy and continence are impossible for man; the Gentiles deemed fornication to be lawful, as is gathered from Acts xv, 29. To the Mahometans are permitted in the Alcoran as many concubines as they are able to support. These same teach many things about God and Christ that are insipid, ridiculous, and blasphemous, equally as the Jews in the Talmud. That all heresiarchs had their mistresses, St. Jerome teaches in his epistle to Ctesiphon: namely, he says, Simon Magus had Helen the harlot; Nicolaus of Antioch led choirs of women; Apelles had Philumena; Montanus, Prisca and Maximilla; Elpidius, Agape; Priscillian, Galla, etc. The Gnostics taught that fornication ought to be frequented as it were a glorious vice, and that conception in them ought to be destroyed through abortion, and the fetus killed, as Epiphanius testifies, in heresy 26; who also in heresy 27, relates that the Carpocratians taught that each one ought to strive to defile himself with all crimes before death, otherwise he would have to be recalled to life as many times, until he should accomplish and perpetrate it. How impious and impure Luther and Calvin teach, is clear to all, such as that God is the author of works as evil as good; that Christ on the cross suffered the punishments of hell, and therefore despaired; that vows of chastity ought to be violated by religious and priests; that there is no free will, but that the elect are chosen by God for heaven, the reprobate for hell by one decree of God, as if driven and impelled by fate; if a wife is unwilling for the conjugal act, a maidservant is to be called; that all works of the faithful, even pious and holy ones, are sins; that there are no merits of theirs; that each is saved by faith alone; that each faithful person is certain of his faith, grace and salvation, and ought to believe with divine faith that he will go to heaven to eternal glory. Finally, Dionysius the Carthusian says that true wisdom, namely faith and the profession of Christianity, is chaste, in that it perceives how great is the foulness of each sin, and therefore flees and abhors it worse than a dog and a serpent; and in that, contemplating the beauty and purity of the highest truth and first light, it begets in the mind a chaste shame and fear, by which man fears and blushes to conduct himself basely and shamefully in the presence and sight of divine Majesty, or to think, say, or do anything that offends the eyes of God. Moreover, in that it instills a salutary shame concerning past faults, so that he may blot them out with contrition and tears. Thirdly, because it causes one to approach the contemplation of God reverently, purely and modestly, not presumptuously, shamelessly and rashly thrusting himself into the investigation of divine and incomprehensible things. The reason is, that wisdom is a participation of heavenly and most pure divine wisdom, and the daughter of God, as Alfonso, king of Aragon, said, according to Panormitanus, lib. III. It therefore requires a pure and heavenly heart, not a foul and lustful one: for this one, submerged in the mire of lust, is unable to behold this heavenly light. Whence the Wise Man, depicting wisdom in cap. vii, vers. 25: "She is the vapor of the power of God, and a certain emanation of the brightness of the almighty God sincere, and therefore nothing defiled falls into her; for she is the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror without spot of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness." On the other hand Osee cap. iv, vers. 11, says: "Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the heart." Thus Bathsheba maddened David, a man after God's own heart, and women maddened Solomon, the wisest of mortals: for blindness of mind is the offspring of lust, says St. Gregory, lib. XXXI Moral. Namely "when the fire of concupiscence has fallen upon anyone, the sun of intelligence cannot be seen by him," as St. Augustine teaches in Psal. lvii, vers. 9. Thus Delilah blinded Samson, Judg. xvi; and lust the Sodomites, Gen. xix, 11. The same thing was seen by the Gentile Philosophers. Seneca, in the preface to the Controversies, asserts that nothing is so deadly to talents as luxury. Plato was always continent on account of his study of wisdom, says St. Augustine, in the book On True Religion. The same Plato chose the Academy, a place unhealthy and therefore suited to the repression of lust, as his school. Hence Plato's admonition to the Muses was, according to Laertius: "Shun Venus, O Nymphs." To which the Muses replied: "That winged boy does not fly hither to us." Hence also they called the Muses Camenae, as if chaste-minded. The Sibyls, most wise, were virgins, indeed on account of their virginity they obtained the gift of prophecy, says St. Jerome against Jovinian and Lactantius, book I of the Divine Institutes. Averroes, in book VII of the Physics, says that chastity and other virtues, by which the concupiscence of the flesh is restrained, are of great value for acquiring speculative sciences. Hippocrates called carnal union a small epilepsy: because in it man is so seized by base pleasure that he seems to be epileptic and bereft of reason and mind: for lust, says Nyssen, in the book On Virginity, chapter iv and following, makes men like pigs, whose eyes sunk in mud cannot behold heaven and heavenly things. Cicero in the Hortensius asserts that the motion of luxury, being the greatest, is thus the most hostile to wisdom. Hence Venus, according to some, was called from "ve," which is a privative particle, signifying without, and νοῦς, that is mind, as if without mind, senseless; or rather, as Varro says, from "viendo," that is, binding and fettering, because it binds the reason, mind and will of the lover. For Venus makes man a brute; on the contrary chastity makes man an angel. Morally: Learn here that modesty is the inseparable companion and as it were sister of wisdom. Hence both appeared in a dream to St. Gregory of Nazianzus, and embracing him said: "Do not take it ill, young man; we are known to you and familiar: for one of us is called wisdom, the other chastity; and we are sent by the Lord to dwell with you, because we have prepared in your heart a pleasant and pure dwelling place." As Rufinus relates in the prologue to the Apology. St. John the Apostle, because a virgin, merited to draw from the breast of the eternal wisdom of Christ the Lord the heavenly mysteries. Whence like an eagle he lifted himself to the throne of the Holy Trinity, and expounded the generation of the eternal Word. There too he learned the Apocalypse, which has as many mysteries as words; hence he himself alone among the Apostles was surnamed the Theologian. Similar to him was John the Baptist, equally with Elias, each a virgin, each a Prophet: for, as Clement of Alexandria says, in book III of the Pedagogue, chapter v: "At home, abroad, modesty is always the companion of the wise." St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, had both angelic chastity and wisdom, and so by angels in ecstasy was girded with a girdle of chastity (which is religiously preserved at Vercelli in the temple of the Fathers Dominicans) and thereafter lacked all sense of lust. Illustrous is what we read in the Life of St. Lawrence Justinian: for when he was in his nineteenth year, which is a slippery age of life, Wisdom appeared to him, namely Christ the Lord, in the form of a virgin, whose splendor surpassed the splendor of the sun, and said to him: "Why, young man, do you pour out your heart, and seeking peace scatter yourself through many things? I, if you decree to take me as your spouse, certainly promise you this peace." He, delighted by so magnificent a form and promise, asked what was her name, what her lineage? Then she said: "I am the Wisdom of God, who assumed human form to reform men." Wherefore when Lawrence most willingly answered that he would truly receive her, she, giving a kiss, departed joyful and glad: but he not long after betook himself to a monastery to the espoused nuptials of wisdom and chastity, in which he abundantly experienced what he had received by promise. By a similar vision and form wisdom espoused to herself Henry Suso, who therefore among other things composed an office of eternal Wisdom, to be recited daily by all his students and disciples, and hence was called Minister of eternal Wisdom, as his Life has it, chapter IV. By a similar, but real and visible form, incarnate Wisdom, namely Christ Jesus, espoused to herself St. Catherine of Siena, a most chaste virgin, who although unlearned in letters, was thence made most wise, and indeed received the spirit of prophecy. The ring of this her espousal is religiously preserved at Rome on the hill which is commonly called Magnanapoli, where it was shown to me. Peaceable,—εἰρηνική, that is, loving peace, cultivating peace in itself, and consequently communicating and reconciling the same to others; the Syriac version, "full of peace." By contrast, false wisdom, such as heresy, ἐριθεία, that is, contentious, loving quarrels, brawls and wars; as we have seen in every age, but especially in our own time in France, Scotland, Germany, Holland, etc. The causes are: First, because true wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the author of concord and peace; for false wisdom is indeed a gift of the devil, who is the prince of discord, war and seditions. Second, because this wisdom is supported by faith and charity, which is one and the same in all the faithful: whence "the multitude of them that believed had but one heart and one soul," says St. Luke, Acts iv, 32. Thus the wisest of mortals was king Solomon, that is, the peacemaker. Hence Christ, Mark ix, last verse: "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace among you." Salt is a symbol of wisdom, peace is its companion. "For salt without peace is not a gift of virtue, but an increase of damnation," says St. Gregory. Whence also salt was to the ancients a symbol of friendship, and therefore was wont to be set before guests before other foods, as Pierius testifies, Hieroglyph. xiii. Hence the proverb: "One ought not to transgress salt and table," that is, the law of friendship. But hear St. Gregory, II part of the Pastoral, cap. iv: "By salt wisdom is designated. Whoever therefore strives to speak wisely ought greatly to fear lest his eloquence confound the unity of his hearers. Hence Paul says: Not to be wise above that which is meet, but to be wise unto sobriety. Hence in the priest's garment, according to the divine voice, pomegranates are joined with bells. For what is designated by pomegranates, except the unity of faith? For just as in a pomegranate many seeds are enclosed within one outer rind: so the unity of faith covers innumerable peoples of the Church, whom the diversity of merits holds within." Third, because peace is nothing other than the tranquility of order: but to order is the work of the wise, says Aristotle, lib. I Metaphysic. Fourth, because uncreated Wisdom, from which our created wisdom is derived, is Christ, who is our peace, Ephes. ii, 14, and the prince of peace, Isaiah ix, 6. Hence bidding farewell to his own, John xiv, 27: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Hence of the Cherubim (who are the first living exemplar of created wisdom) it is said Ezech. cap. i, 9: "And their wings were joined one to another," as a sign of peace and concord. Fifth, because wisdom is humble; but humility is the mother of peace: whence the humble are ever in peace, while among the proud there are always quarrels. Sixth, because the wise man knows that all good things consist in peace, but all evil things are brought about by dissension, strife and war; therefore with all effort he pursues peace and flees quarrels. Hence the Apostle, Philip. iv, 7: "And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds." See the things said there. And St. Augustine, XIX Civit., xiii: "The peace of the body is the ordered temperament of its parts. The peace of the rational soul, the ordered rest of its appetites. The peace of the rational soul, the ordered agreement of knowledge and action. The peace of body and soul, the ordered life and health of the living being. The peace of mortal man and immortal God, ordered obedience in faith under eternal law. The peace of men, ordered concord. The peace of a household, the ordered concord of those ruling and obeying who dwell together. The peace of a city, the ordered concord of citizens ruling and obeying. The peace of the heavenly city, the most ordered and most harmonious society of enjoying God and one another in God. The peace of all things, the tranquility of order. Order is the arrangement assigning to each thing its proper place among things equal and unequal." Modest,—ἐπιεικής; the Syrian version, "gentle," "humble," "lowly"; the Zurich Bible, "fair"; Vatablus and Pagninus, "obedient"; others, "moderate," "humane," "easy," "civil": for the wisdom of the world makes men supercilious, morose, difficult; others, "moderate," "sedate," "honest," "praiseworthy": for τὸ ἐπιεικής signifies all these things. Humility is the mother of modesty, shame is its daughter, patience is its sister, and it is to be exercised by practice: for, as Cicero says in his oration for Roscius the comedian, the more clever and ingenious a man is, the more irritably and laboriously does he teach; and when he sees what he himself grasped quickly being perceived slowly by his disciples, he is tormented. Moreover, modesty is necessary in school and in disputation, so that it may restrain the petulance and boldness of youths: hence modesty is called by orators "the Flower and ornament of youth"; by Euripides, "the most beautiful gift of the gods"; by St. Ambrose, "the purple of virtues." Its precept is this: "So compose your bearing, voice, countenance, and gait, that it may be fitting for God, that it may adorn you, that it may edify your neighbor; otherwise beauty lies hidden in the soul, while disgrace is evident in voice, countenance, and bearing." See the passages in Philippians iv, 5, and St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 26, which concerns the observance of moderation in disputation. Truly St. Bernard, Sermon 36 on the Canticles: "Much knowledge poured into the stomach of the soul, if it has not been digested by charity, is converted into depraved and harmful humors, and causes swelling and torment of the mind." Persuadable,—that is, easy to persuade. In Greek εὐπειθής; the Syrian version, "obedient," "compliant"; Pagninus, "obedient"; the Zurich Bible, "tractable"; others, "easily yielding and believing." On the contrary, false wisdom, such as heresy, is ἀπειθής, that is, "unpersuadable," "intractable," "stubborn," "hard," "stiff-necked," "pertinacious," "obstinate" in its own opinion and error. It is therefore the part of the wise to yield to reason, to open the heart to truth, to acknowledge error, to change one's opinion. Hence the Apostle wishes the Bishop, who is a teacher of the people, to be teachable, II Timothy, chapter ii, verse 24. And Solomon, asking wisdom from God, asked for a teachable heart, in Hebrew "hearing," III Kings, chapter iii. For docility is a part of prudence, as Plato says in Macrobius, book I on the Dream of Scipio. Because, as St. Cyprian says in his letter to Stephen, the Bishop and teacher "ought not only to teach, but also to learn: for he teaches better who daily makes progress and grows by learning better things." Thus St. Augustine, St. Damasus, and other doctors consulted St. Jerome on difficulties in Holy Scripture. See St. Augustine in his letters, of which he sent many to him. The same Augustine to Dulcitius, Question III: "I love to learn more than to teach." Furthermore: "persuadable" can be understood in two ways. First, passively, so that it means "which allows itself to be easily persuaded." Second, actively, "which easily persuades others," because wisdom itself easily persuades itself and its teachings to them: for wisdom has such an appearance of truth and honesty that it immediately persuades the hearer of itself and its doctrines. Thus the Christian religion teaches nothing absurd, nothing base, nothing unexpected; but all things conformable to nature and to right reason, as Eusebius teaches against the Gentiles in his book On Demonstration, Augustine in his book On the City of God, and others. On the other hand, philosophers and heretics teach many absurd, shameful, and incredible things. Lycurgus granted impunity for adulteries. The Persians contracted marriages with sisters and brothers. Plato, who is called by his followers a star of wisdom, wished wives to be held in common, and commends depraved lust, book III of the Republic. In the Timaeus alone he holds these paradoxes, indeed contradictions: First, that the world was created not from nothing, but from atoms. Second, that God made the world an intelligent eternal animal, because the most beautiful creature, such as the world is, cannot exist without intellect. Third, that this animal was created by God according to the idea of another animal. For he himself feigns another universal, eternal, separable and ideal animal, whose example God followed in creating. Again, that God is the soul of the world. Fourth, that he thinks fire and earth were first made, then air and water were bound together as if by bonds. Fifth, that he makes the earth the most ancient of the gods contained in heaven. Sixth, he says the world is nourished by old age and consumption of itself, and yet is eternal. Seventh, he calls the world a blessed God. Eighth, he places the soul of the world in its middle, namely the most abject part. Ninth, he thinks the stars are animals, indeed gods. Tenth, he places the sun in the second circle from the earth immediately after the moon, which astronomers and reason itself refute. Eleventh, that the stars are made from fire, and therefore are fiery. Twelfth, that the earth is suspended about the pole, the most ancient and first of the gods (that is, of the stars) who were born within heaven. Thirteenth, that the fabulous generation of demons from earth and heaven, and their lineage produced through Oceanus and Tethys, is trustworthy. The same in the Apology: "Demons are the spurious sons of gods," whence he makes gods adulterers. Fourteenth, he establishes that every soul is eternal and unbegotten. Fifteenth, that the wicked are transformed in a second birth into women, birds and beasts according to each one's transgression. Sixteenth, that transgressions are expiated through fire and the other elements. Seventeenth, that younger gods made the human body from four elements according to atoms. Eighteenth, he says the generation of the world is mixed from necessity and mind coming together, as if God had been forced to generate or make the world. This pertains to what he writes about the daughters of necessity, namely the Fates, in book X of the Republic, and what he has elsewhere about fortune likewise governing the world: and that God does not resist necessity. Whence Marsilio, the interpreter of Plato, brings forward a twofold opinion of the Platonists. The first of Proclus, that the world was made; the second, that the world was not made, but always was and flowed from God, as if it is always being made and flowing. Nineteenth, that before the world the elements were in their seats moved in disorder, God brought order and adornment. Twentieth, that the world is God sufficient unto himself. Twenty-first, he gives man several souls, one made by God, two others mortal, subject to disturbance and lust, made by the sons of God, that is by the stars and demons, one of which they placed in the liver, the other in the heart. Twenty-second, in the liver, he says, the gods determined that prophecies be fulfilled, namely in a member lacking reason, so that no one be wise and a prophet at the same time. Wherefore no one prophesies while of sound mind, but when the power of prudence is oppressed by sleep, or disease, or is moved from its state by some divine rapture; for prophecies are the utterance of a raging mind. Twenty-third, that man acquires immortality from the most intent contemplation of truth: whence you may gather that the soul is not immortal in itself. Twenty-fourth, he says the soul, when it always reveres the divine and has within itself its own guardian demon most beautifully adorned, becomes blessed. The Platonists greatly delight in this guardian demon, on account of which they are suspected of magic, as also Socrates. Twenty-fifth, the same teaches elsewhere that the soul existed before the body, and therefore our knowledge is not science, or rather learning, so to speak, but recollection, etc. Twenty-sixth, he posits παλιγγενεσία, or the return of all things, namely after twelve thousand years (which span he himself calls the great year: for this precisely contains 12554 years, says Cicero, book II of On the Nature of the Gods), all past things are to be recalled in their entirety, so that they may happen again in the manner in which they were made. Aristotle's, whom St. Jerome and others call a miracle of nature and genius, paradoxes are: First, that the world has been eternal. Second, he fixes the first mover in the East. Third, he asserts that it is moved by fate and natural necessity. Fourth, that there is no determined truth of future contingents, nor does God know them determinately. Fifth, concerning the mortality of the soul he speaks in such a way that some assert he thought the soul to be mortal: although others more truly hold the contrary opinion. Sixth, he thinks it is permissible to procure abortion and to bring death upon children. Seventh, he teaches that God's providence does not extend to particulars. Eighth, in the book On Good Fortune, he denies that God cares for fortuitous things. Ninth, he denied that God's providence extends below the moon, and that God cares for sublunary things, if we believe Clement, book V of the Stromata, Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 1 On Theology, Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter xiii. Tenth, he thought motion and time to be perpetual, and therefore infinite. Eleventh, that nothing comes from nothing: whence they infer that God did not create the world, but made all things from pre-existing matter. See more things of this sort in St. Justin, book On the Errors of Aristotle, the Stoics and Epicureans, whose absurd doctrines I have reviewed in Acts xvii, 18. Truly the Psalmist, Psalm cxviii, 85: "The wicked have told me fables, but not according to thy law"; for in true wisdom, both uncreated and created and derived, there is "the Spirit of understanding, holy," says the Wise Man, chapter vii, verse 22, "unique, manifold, subtle, eloquent, mobile, undefiled, certain, sweet, loving good, keen, whom nothing hinders, human, benign, stable, secure, etc., intelligible, pure, subtle: for wisdom is more mobile than all mobile things, and reaches everywhere on account of her purity." Consenting to good things. — This epithet is not in the Greek and Syriac, and Prosper expunges it, book On Free Will; Dionysius, Cajetan, Catharinus, Gagneius and others: nevertheless the Roman codices read it. It seems therefore to have been added to explain and determine the "persuadable," namely that wisdom allows good things to persuade itself, not evil things, so that it may be consenting to good things both in matters and in men, not to evil things, namely by believing in them, approving, imitating, loving and promoting their good counsels and works, envying or resisting no one, blaming no one, and hindering no one from holy work. On the contrary, heresies and heretics dissent from good things, consent to evil things. Thus Luther in his Table Talk rejects Chrysostom as talkative, Basil as abject, Cyprian as a weak theologian, Jerome as erring and suspected of heresy, and prefers to all the Apology of his Melanchthon: who also elsewhere thunders with satanic pride, saying he cares nothing if a thousand Cyprians, a thousand Augustines, a thousand of the Church stood against him. Morally: St. Augustine, sermon 12 On the Words of the Apostles: "Is there nothing in you that resists another? See lest perhaps there is no war because the peace is perverted, perhaps entirely consenting to the flesh, and there is no quarrel." Full of mercy. — The Syriac "in rachame," that is, in mercies flowing from the innermost bowels. For wisdom knows and has learned that saying of Christ: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," Matthew chapter v, verse 7. Thus St. Cyprian, sermon On the Lapsed: "I grieve, brothers, with you. I join my heart with each one, with those lying down I believe myself to lie down, with brothers cast down and my affection has cast me down." Such also was St. Job, as is evident chapter xxxi, and St. Paul, II Corinthians chapter xi, verse 29: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" and St. Leo, sermon 10 of Lent: "It is very beautiful and to be compared to divine benevolence, that each one remember himself in another." Moreover Pliny, book II, chapter vii, places all divinity in beneficence: for as an atheist he doubts about God and the divine power, but thinks the gods were made by men, and were no others than brave and beneficent men. "It is God to help a mortal: and this is the way to eternal glory. By this way the Roman leaders went: by this now with heavenly step goes with his children the greatest ruler of all ages Vespasian Augustus, coming to the aid of weary things. This is the most ancient custom of rendering gratitude to the deserving, that such be ascribed to the divine powers. For indeed the names of all the other gods, and which I mentioned above of the stars and men, were born from merits." Merciful therefore and beneficent to his clients is Apollo, Aesculapius and Jupiter, that is, "the helping father." Cicero holds the same view concerning the beneficent who are made gods, book II On the Laws, and from him Lactantius, book I of the Institutes. And with good fruits, — namely with good works; for these are the effects, offspring and fruits of wisdom. Not judging. — Many codices and interpreters delete the "not," and connect "judging" with what follows, reading "judging without simulation," that is to say, judging sincerely, not falsely and hypocritically; but the Roman, Louvain, Lyons, and Royal codices, as well as the Syriac and Greek, read "not judging"; Pagninus and the Zurich version, "judging nothing," namely rashly, not usurping for himself the office of judging, not making himself a judge of others by censuring them, condemning them, despising them, according to that saying of Christ: "Judge not, that you may not be judged," Matthew vii, 1, that is to say, Do not curiously inquire into, censure, condemn the deeds and morals of others: thus it will come to pass, God justly disposing, that in turn you may not be judged, condemned and damned by others. Secondly, the Greek ἀδιάκριτος, as if passive, our Turrian, in book IV of On Dogmatic Characters, translates passively, "which is not judged" because namely it is certain and indubitable, so that it ought rather to judge others than to be judged; as the Apostle says the spiritual man is judged by no one, I Corinthians ii, 15. Hence St. Augustine, in the book On Grace and Free Will to Valentinus, in the final chapter, translates ἀδιάκριτος, "inestimable," that is to say, Wisdom so sublime and precious that it surpasses all human judgment and estimation; concerning which matter see Baruch, chapter iii, 16 and following, and Job xxviii, 13 and seq. Thirdly, some translate ἀδιάκριτος, "hesitating in nothing, not doubting, not wavering, but resolved, certain and secure in the truth." Without simulation, — ἀνυπόκριτος, "without hypocrisy"; Pagninus, "simulating nothing." On the other hand, false wisdom, such as heresy and heretics, simulate truth, sincerity, chastity, peace, holiness, while they contrive and teach falsehood, hypocrisy, lust, war and every crime: they are therefore wolves clothed in sheep's clothing, as Christ says, Matthew vii, 17. Truly Wisdom, chapter i, verse 5: "The Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and will remove himself from thoughts that are without understanding"; and chapter vii, 13: "Which I learned without fiction, and communicate without envy, and her honesty I hide not." See St. Gregory graphically depicting the acts and morals of hypocrites, X Morals xvi, otherwise xxvii.
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18. And the fruit of justice is sown in peace, to those who make peace. — The Syriac [version reads], "to those who are peaceful." "Of justice," that is, of wisdom; for practical wisdom, which is here treated, is justice, that is, the sum of all virtues. James concludes the discourse of the whole chapter concerning wisdom and teachers with this statement as it were an epiphoneme, by which he assigns and embraces the use, fruit and reward of wisdom, as if to say: I have said that wisdom is full of mercy and good fruits, because wisdom and the wise man certainly knows these fruits of justice, that is, of virtue and good works, to be as it were a seed of eternal happiness and glory, which he will reap as a copious harvest and reward in heaven; he knows likewise that he ought to sow this seed in peace, diligently cultivating peace and mutual concord, and reconciling those who are at variance; this is a precious harvest and a reward proposed and promised to the cultivators of peace alone, not to the proud, not to the contentious, not to those who make schisms, not to those who boast of themselves and their doctrines and deeds, who despise others so that they alone may seem wise: for St. James has censured these throughout the whole chapter. For, as Origen says, homily 13 on Leviticus, our works, however good in themselves, cannot be pleasing to God unless they are performed in peace, so much so that even the sacrifice of one who is at variance with his brother does not please Him, according to that saying of Christ, Matthew v, 23: "If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath something against thee, go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift." The counterpart to this sentence of James is that of St. Paul, issued at the same time to the same people, Hebrews xii, 11, when speaking of discipline he says that it "yieldeth the most peaceable fruit of justice to them that are exercised by it"; and: "For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption; but he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting," Galatians vi, 8; and that saying of the Psalmist concerning the Apostles and teachers: "Going they went and wept, casting their seeds: but coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves," Psalm cxxv, 6. Note: The phrase "to those who make peace," that is, works of peace, which namely will make for reconciling and increasing peace, those namely who are peaceful both to themselves and to others, as the Syriac translates it: for thus in the Scriptures we are commanded to do mercy, justice, judgment, piety, etc., that is, works of mercy, justice, judgment, piety, etc. Morally: Note how great are the advantages of peace. First, that it is most pleasing to God, whence He Himself is called the God of peace and love, II Corinthians xiii, 11. Second, that peace is the way to heaven, and thus the beginning of heavenly life. For in heaven one of the supreme joys of the Saints is the supreme and eternal peace of all. Third, that peace is the very likeness of God and of the Holy Trinity: for in God, although there are three persons, there is yet one will, one love, one sense and consent of all. Hear the Nazianzene, oration 2 On Peace: "No less than the divinity itself (unless this seem to be said too magnificently) do we among ourselves agree and are in concord, and are one lip and one voice: but in the opposite manner from those who once built a tower; with mind and mouth we celebrate the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and this is proclaimed of us, that truly in us is God, uniting those by whom He is united." Fourth, that Christ descended from heaven for this very reason, to bring peace to men with God and with one another. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 18 on I Corinthians: "That we may be united in Christ, many things ought to move us, because He is the head, we the body; He the foundation, we the building; He the vine, we the branches; He the shepherd, we the sheep," etc. Fifth, that peace makes life most sweet. See St. Bernard, sermon V On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin: "The unity of the Saints is one thing which justifies, another which glorifies; one is merit, the other reward; the unity which is had in this life is the ornament of sweetness, concerning which it is written: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. For when the Prophet had described the beauty, he did not pass over the usefulness: because there the Lord commanded blessing and life: here blessing, there eternal life." I have said more concerning peace on Isaiah ii, 4, and Philippians i, and following chapters, Ephesians iv, 3, Colossians iii, 15. Furthermore, in order that this peace with God, with ourselves and with our neighbors may be had, war must be waged against us, that is, against our concupiscences. Whence St. Augustine, sermon 6 On the Words of the Apostle: "And if the spirit lusteth against the flesh, and if now there is strife in this house, the husband contending, seeks not destruction, but concord."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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1. Nolite plures magislri fieri^ fra" tres mei. Plures, Graece: multi. Potestque etiam sic verti: Ne sitis multi magistri. Qaae primo capite breviter Apostolus praeceperat de refrenanda lingua, dicens: Sit omnis homo tardus ad lo^ quendum, et iterum: Si quis putat, se religiosum esse, non refrenans linguam auam, hujus vana est religio: nunc aliis verbis repetit cum amplificatione quadam, qua linguae intemperantis noxam vehementius exagitat. Et quia maxime periculosus est linguae casus in magistris, incipit ab hoc praecepto: Nolite plures magistri fieri. Quod a nonnuUis in hunc sensum accipitur: Nolite diversa docere; ne sitis opinionum ac sectarum auctores, suos quisque post se discipulos trahentes. Quod in haereticos maxime q^adrat; tametsi reperiantur et alii ab hoc studio non alieni. Sic intellexit Augustinus, in prologo suarum retract. ita scribens: Magistros autem plures tunc fieri existimo, cum diversa atque inter se adversa sentiunt. Cum vero id ipsum dicunt omnes, et verum dicunt, ab unius veri magistri magisterio non recedunt. Huic sensui etiam Bedae commentarius alludit, etfavere putant illud Domini praeceptum: Nec vocemini magistri, quia magister vester unus est Christus, Matth. 28. contentionibus et aemulationibus; animalis et Alii vero sic exponunt: Ne per ambitionem crescat in vobis numerus magistrorum, et, ut Erasmus breviter in paraphrasi: Ne passim ambiatis esse magi^ sin. Solet enim ambitio creare multos magistros, qui cathedram appetant, aliosque docere velint, ipsi parum aut male docti. Peculiariter autem Judaei (nam ad Judaeos ba^^-c scribuntur) gaudebant salatari Rahhi, Matth. 23., facileque sese ingerebant ad docendum alios. Unde Judaeo dicitur Rom. 2.: Confidis, te ipsum esse ducem caecorum, lumen eorum, qui in tenebris sunt, eruditorem insipientium, magistrum infantium etc. Hic sensus simplicior et probabilior est; nec ab eo diversum postulat locus ex Evangelio citatus, prout eum doctissimi interpretes exponunt. Ex hac tamen ambitione plerumque etiam illud consequitur, ut ad cathedram evecti non amplius discipulos se cogitent, sed magistros; nec jam majorum doctrinam, sed propria placita studeant auditoribus instillare; nec eos Christi, sed suos facere discipulos. Hinc itaque plures ac inter se divisi magistri sectarumque auctores exsistunt. Ut in sententia Apostoli metalepsis quaedam sit, qua ex posteriori id, quod prius est, velit intelligi. Nam, ut dixi, multitudinem magistroram creat ambitio.
Scientes, quoniam majus judicium mmitis. Graece: Ar^?j^6|isOa ^ sumemus, accepturi sumus. Consonat editio Sjriaca. Juxta quam lectionem (quam veram arbitror) Apostolus sese conjungit illis, quos admonet, ita suadente mode- Btia, quo magis persuadeat, sicut et infra, de lingaa loquens, cum ait: In ipsa maledicimus hotnines. Sumere sive accipere judiciumy pro quo PauJus Gal. 5. portare judicium, est: puniri, poenas luere. Et legitur apud tres Evangelistas Matth. 23., Marc. 12. et Luc. 20.: Xtj^^ovxat TtsptoooTspov xpiua, accipiant amplius judicium^ sive, ut interpres apud Lucam vertit: accipient majorem damnationem, id est, gravius punientur. Igitur Apostolus proposito periculo deterret, ne magistri munus a£Pectent, neve ad do cendum temere prosiliant; ac si dicat: Si id facimus, scire debemus, nec dubitare, quin poenas nobis accumulemus in Dei judicio; cum alioqui satis multa sint, in quibus peccemus. Id esfc, quod sequitur:
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2. In multis enim offendimus omnes. Offendimus, praesentis temporis est. Vult enim assiduitatem quandam et frequen tiam significare. Graece: iiTaioiiev, labimur, impingimus. Est enim HTatetv minus, quam cadere. Unde est illud Rom. 11.: Numquid sic offenderunt, ut caderent? Significantur ergo minora seu leviora peccata, quae venialia vocamus; et sensus est, in actionibus nostris saepe nos labi, impingere, peccare per ignorantiam, imprudentiam, affectiones varias et intentiones non puras, et per haec obnoxios reddi judicio Dei. Cavendum proinde, ne reatum hunc nostrum augeamus, dum magistri esse volumus, quod in eo munere exercendo gravius ac periculofiius labi contingat. Haec Apostoli sententia una est ex iis, quas opposuerunt Patres errori Pelagianorum, affirmantium, posse hominem vivere sine peccatis. Eadem valet adversus haereticos nostri temporis, eos, qui dicunt, borainem etiam justificatum in omni opere peccare. Non enim dicit Jacobus, in omnibus nos offendere, sed in multis.
Si quis in verbo non offendit, hic perfectus est vir. Hic jam, occasione praecedentis admonitionis, agere incipit de commodis et incommodis linguae. Cum in multis, inquit, offendamus omnes, tamen in verbis facillimus est lapsus, adeo ut, qui verborum offensas vitare potest, perfectus sit pronuntiandus. Innuit, doctoris officium neminem suscipere debere, nisi perfectum se agnoscat. Nam si usquam alibi, maxime in doctiina religionis (de qua hic sermo) periculum habet lapsus verborum. Videri potest hanc sententiam Jacobue accepisse ex Eccles. 14., ubi sic legitur: Beatus vir, qui non est lapsus verbo ex ore suo. Si quaeras, sitne quispiam talis, affirmative respondeo. Nam id et Apostolus hoc loco, et Ecclesiasticus satis significant. Nec enim sentit Apostolus, eum demum verbo non offendercj cujas lingua numquam labitur. Talis enim, opinor, nullus est eorum, qui sermone utuntur. Nam quod de Joanne Baptista canit Ecclesia: Ne levi saltem maculare vitam famine posses, conatum potius ac profectum significat, quam plenarium effectum. Sed sensus Apostoli est, eum esse perfectum in conversatione, id est, etiam reliquas suas actiones bene disponere, qui linguam cohibere noverit, ita scilicet, ut loquendo nusquam gravius impingat, raro levius. Nam minimas verborum offensas et culpas omnino vitare, homini inter homines versanti impossibile est. Hic sensus manifeste patet ex sequentibus. Itaque non perfectwn vocat a sola linguae continentia; sed ex ea docet optimam sumi conjecturam, quod quis etiam reliquum corpus suarum actionum bene gubernet, et hac ratione peifectum esse; nimirum perfectione totius comparati ad partes, quemadmodum Paulus 2 Tim. 3. partium enumeratione perfectum hominem Dei describif.
Potest etiam freno circumducere totum corpus. Graeca sic habent: Potens freno ducere, seu moderari, etiam totum corpus. In nonnullis item Latinis legilur: potenSj quod Graece est: SuvaTog Sermo metaphoricus est, quo significatur, hominem linguae temperantem posse etiam caeteras actiones suas moderari. Nam qui potest, quod est difficillimum, potest et alia faciliora. Corpus igitur actionum hic intelligitur. Quamquam sint, qui corpus proprie accipiant, ut sensus sit, eum, qui linguam regere norit, posse etiam caetera corporis membra regere, ut oculos, aures, manus. Verum Apostolus nondum linguam nominavit, sed de locutionibus locutus est.
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3. Si autem equis frena in ora mittimus ad consentiendum nobis, et omne corpus illorum circumferimus. Graece: circumagimus. Duas deinceps adfert comparationes: alteram a freno, quo reguntur equi, cujus jam meminerat in verbo composito Graeco: xocAivayajyijoai; alteram a gubernaculo, quo naves diriguntur; quibus ostendat dominatum linguae super reliquum corpus, ideoque magoam habendam curam linguae moderandae, si volumus, ut totum corpus actionum nostrarum bene se habeat. In hac parte variant codices. Ac primum refert Beda in comment., quosdam pro: si autem, legere: sicut autem, ut pendeat sermo usque ad illud: ita et lingua etc. Sed Iiuic lectioni nec Graeca suffragantur, nec ulla Latina, quae nunc sunt in manibus. Caeterum in Graecis plerisque legitur: tSs sive t5oi>, ecce. Quod et Syrus interpres reddidit. Huic autem proxime accedit: £i b\, si autem, quod nos habemus, ut dubium non sit, interpretem nostrum ita in Graeco legisse. Nam et hodie ea lectio quorundam est exemplarium. IUud tamen, quod in pluribus est Graecis, congruit cum parte sequenti: Ecce et naves etc. Sed et sensum habet commodiorem, ut satis verisimile sit, hoc ab Apostolo scriptum esse. Quod autem in Latinis vetustioribus legitur: Si autem equorum frenos in ora mittimus, exhibet quidem ad verbum, quod in Graeco est: xdiv t7c- Gall. Estil Comm. Tom. III. menius, ea verba sic ordinanda (quemadmodum et Syrus ordinavit): In ora equorum miftimus frena. Qaod quidem sensu idem est cum nostra lectione. Denique conjunctio: et, non est commutanda cum: etiam, sicut in multis codicibus factum est; licet per etiam exponi debeat a legentibus. Porro sensus planus est, nos immittere solere equis frenum in ora, ut nobis obediant, eoque exiguo ferro totum belluae corpus pro nostro arbitratu circumagere.
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4. Ecce et naves, cum magnae sint, et a ventis validis minentur. Haec altera comparatio est. Bene autem restituta lectio, tam Graecis, quam nostris antiquis, ipsique Bedae consentanea; cum prius in multis codicibus inverso ordine legeretur: Et ecce. Sic autem habent Graeca: Ecce etnaves, cum tantae sint, et a duris ventis impellantur. Duros ventos vocat saevos et validos. Mifiare autem pro eo, quod est, agere seu ducere huc illuc, vix est privscae Latinitatis, vulgato interpreti usitata.
Circumferuntur a modico gubernaculo, ubi impetus dirigentis voluerit. Alii plenius ex Graeco: Circumoguntur a minimo gubernaculo, quocumque impetus etc. Quod autem addita conjunctione legebatur passim in Latinis codicibus: circumferuntur autem vel tamen, merito correctum habemus ex melioribus in editione Romana. Nam nec Graeca, nec Syriaca tale quid addunt.
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5. Ita et lingua modicum quidem membrum est, et magna exaltat. Voculam quidem. interpres addidit de suo. Magna exaJtat, Graece composito verbo: |ji£YaXau;(sT^ id est, magna gloriatur sive jacfat, ut alii verterunt. Verisimile est, ab interprete scriptum fuisse: exsultat, pro quo apud Hieronymum in exposit. 2. Psalm. 119. corrupte legitur: exulcerat. Certe Venerabilis Beda testatur, in quibusdam codicibus inveniri: et magna exsuUat, eamque lectionem etiam interpretatar. Eandem et hodie libri quidam exhibent, diverso tempore Parisiis excusi, et nonnulli MSS. visi Erasmo et Isidoro Clario. Itaque jactantiae vitium hac parte notari plerique existimant; ut sensus sit, linguam, etsi pusillum in corpore membrum, magna tamen loqui, multumque praesumere. Verum hic sensus parum respondet ad eimilitudines allatas fi-eni et gubernaculi, quibus ostendere vult Apostolus, quanta sit linguae pote&tas in corpus reliquum; quae non ostenditur ex vitio inanis jactantiae, sed exeo, quodmagnarumrerum sit effectrix; ut Graeco verbo videatur abusus pro eo, quod est: magna vi pol- Lere, plurimum posse in utramque partem, malam et bonam. Id sensit Graecus Oecumenius, itaApostolum exponens: Etsi lingua pusillum sit memhrunif inquit, magna tamen operatur, bona videlicet et mala. Quamquam fatetur, non adeo explicitum esse sermonem hunc Apostoli. Porro hinc collige, si tanta linguae poteetas est, summa cura frenandam eam esse ac moderandam, ne se effundat extra limites recti et boni. Quo pertinet comparatio sequens.
Ecce quantus ignis quam magnam silvam incendit! Quantus ignis, Graece: bXi^^ov TTup, exiguus ignis. Textus quidem Veronensis habet: '^Atxov TiDp, quantus ignis; sed mutatione, quod suspicor, ex Latino facta. Nam '^Acxov nusquam parvitatem indicat, ut verti possit: quantulum; sed semper magnitudinem. Sed et Beda testatur, codices sic habere: Ecce modicus ignis. Et Hieronymus, Jesaiae caput ultimum exponens, ad hunc modum citat: Parvus ignis quam grandem succendis materiam? Dicit: materiam, quia Graeca vox uXtj et silvam, et materiam. significat; et utrumque quadrat sententiae, tametsi neoterici interpreles, Erasmus et alii, materiam malint.
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6. Et lingua ignis est. Intellige per comparationem jam dictam. Sicut enim exiguus ignis, nisi caute servetur, magnum facit incendium: ita lingua, pusillum membrom, nisi bene coerceatur, ingentes excitat turbas, et magnorum multorumque maloram causa est. Unde sequitur forma appositionis: Universitasiniquitatis, Graece: Mundus iniquitatis, Syriace: Mundus peccati. Sed noster interpres sensum attendit. Mundus enim universum et universitas vocatur, quod in eo sit rerum omnis generis coUectio. Sic igitur et lingua vitiorum ac scelerum mundus et universitas quaedam est; causative nimirum, quia nullum est peccati genus, quod lingua non pariat; aut perpetrando, ut detractiones, maledicta, perjuria; aut praecipiendo, suadendo, provocando, concinnando, denique occasiones et fomenta ministrando, ut sunt ebrietates, adulteria, stupra, rixae, caedes, schismata et haereses. Arius in Alexandria una scintiUa fuit, ait Hieronymus super Epistolam ad Gal. 5.; sed quia non statim oppressa est, totum orbem ejus flamma populata est. Quod de Luthero, qui in Germania una scintilla fuit, totidem verbis dicere nobis liceat. Sciendum, in Sjriaco textu sic legi: Et mundus peccati veluti ramus est. Vult enim Syrus interpres duplicem hic esse comparationem: alteram linguae cam exiguo igne; alteram mundi peccati cum ramis, id est, silva seu materia; ut, quemadmodum igniculus corripit lignorum materiam et consumit, ita lingua mundum peccati, id est, corruptum hoc saeculum et ad omne genus vitiorum proclive, velat aridam materiam, et huic igni concipiendo aptissimam, comprehendat atque incendat. Quem sensum etiam ex recentioribus quidrtm huc adfert. Sed de eo suum cuique sit judicium.
Lingua constituitur in membris nostris, quae maculat totum corpus. Graece: Ita lingua constituitur etc. Illud, quod dixerat, linguam esse universitatem iniquitatum, videtur hac parte explicare. Est autem metallage quaedam in verbis Apostoli. Sic, inquit, lingua, quae constituta est inter alia membra, atque eorum paene minimum est, male custodita, totum undequaque vitiis inficit et commaculat hominem.
Et inflammat rotam nativitatis nostrae. Haec ad metaphoram ignis pertinent. Nostrae, non est in Graeco; tametsi Syrus paraphrastes adscripsit tam hic, quam in membro praecedenti. Sic enim habet: Et ipsa lingua, exsistens in membris nostris, maculat totum corpus nostrum, et inflammat proventus generationum nostrarum, quae currunt veluti rotae. Sensum autem hunc redduntBeda et alii: Lingua, tamquam ignis, incendio vastat totum vitae nostrae cursum, quo a die nativitatis usque ad mortem, velut semper currente rota, continuo volvimur. Notandum tamen, in Graeco non haberi: Ysvvigaswg, nativitatis, sed: Y£V£oetoc, generationis, quomcdo vertit Syrus. Atqui generatio saepe in Scripturis accipitur pro saeculo, quod transit. Unde est illa phrasis in Psalmis et alibi: A saeculo in saeculum. Quoniam vero saeculum et mundus pro eodem accipiuntur interdum, praesertim in Scriptura novi testamenti, videri potest Apostolus hoc loco generationem vocare, quam prius mundum iniquitatis, juxta sensum ab interprete Syro indicatum, id est, saeculum hoc nequam; ac si clarius dixisset: Et inflammat cursum saeculi, ut eadem sint, inflammare rotam generationis, et incendere mundum iniquitatis. Huc spectat illa cujusdam versio: Et inflammat orbem conditum. Hic sensus, si verus est, confiimat supplementum Syriacae versionis, de quo supra. Sed quoniam in sacris literis generatio interdum significat ea, quae homines facere solent, negotia, acticnes, mores, vitae modum; ut cum dicitur Luc. 16.: Filii hujus saeculi prudentiores filiis lucis in generatione sua sunt, seu, ut Graece legitur: in generationem suam, id est in his, quae gerunt, seu ad negotia sua: idcirco et hic locus ad illum modum recte potest accipi; ut sensus sit: Inflammat totum veluti orbem totumque circulum atque cursum actionum nostrarum. Qui intellectus a£5nis est ei, quem dat Beda cum suis, etiamsi ex diversa lectione Graeca, ut dictum est.
Inflammata a gehenna. Ex Graeco consequonter cum duobus membris superioribus vertendum esset: Et inflammatur a gehenna. Docet, linguam in hoc incendio esse instrumentum diaboli. Unde pars haec causaliter accipienda est, quasi dicat: Utpote quae inflammatur a gehenna, id est a diabolo, qui gehenna vocatur per metonymiam qua locus pro locato sumitur: vel quia gehenna sedes et aula est Satanae; vel quod gehennam, id est, poenam gehennalem semper circumferat, quocumque se movet. Quem sensum pluribus cc docte explicatum vide apud Venerabilem Bedam. Sic autem et angeli saucti, ubicumque sunt, in coelo esse dicuntur, eo quod a Dei visione nusquam recedant, Domino testante Matth. 18.: Angeli eorum in coelis semper vident faciem Patris mei, qui in coelis est. Potius autem dicit Jacobus; a gehenna, quam a diabolo, quia de igne loquebatur ac de incendio, cujus causam et originem pulchre in gehennam refert, id est, ad ioncm usque tartareum. Et hinc disce, non ita unumquemque tenfcari a sua concupiscentia, sicut dixit cap. 1., quin etiam assidue sua fomenta per so suosque ministros suggerat diabolus.
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7. Omnis enim natura bestiarum, et volucrum et serpentium, et caeterorum domantur, et domita sunt a natura humana. Graece: domatur et domita est. Item pro: caeterorum, in Graeco est: ivaXtcDV^ id est marinorum. Quidam suspicantur, interpretem legisse: aXXwv^ aliorum. Mihi verisimilius est, eum scripsisse: cetorum, quod ipsum adhuc in nonnullis exstarecodicibus, testaturErasmus; et ipse codices vidi, qui sic haberent; ut cetorum nomine, velut a specie praecipua, significare voluerit interpres totum genus marinarum belluarum. Additiuncula B. P. Correctio Clementina dat: caeterorum, quod ipsum ex vetustis libris sumptum esse credas. Interpretem hoc vertentem 28 * est manifesinm rem dedisse, non vocabulum. Postquam enim commemorata sunt animalia irrationalia, quae gradiantur, quae volent, quae repant, qui caetera dicit, quaenam alia significat, quam marina? Igitur exaggerat Apostolus hac parte malitiam humanae linguae collatione aliomm animalium, quorum nullum natura tam ferum est aut saevum, quod non hominum ars et industria domare possit; sive terrestre sit animal, sive volatile, sive reptile, sive marinum. Hac enim distributione utitur Apostolus. Nam 'Oirjpta, pro quo bestias interpres vertit, ea proprie sunt inter terrestria, quae feritate aut veneno nocent. Quod autem ait: domantur et domita sunt, praesens quidem tempus posuit ad potentiam significandam; praeteritum vero refert ad rei factae experientiam; ac si dicat: Nullum est genus animalium, quod domari non possit ab homine; siquidem experientia docet, multa saepe, etiam quae ferocissimi sunt generis, domita ab hominibus ac cicurata fuisse, ut leones, ursos, pardos, tigrides, aquilas, vultures, dracones, aspides, delphines. Exempla suppeditant historiae.
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8. Linguam autem nullus hominum domare potest. Hanc Apostoli sententiam olim Pelagius, addita interrogationis nota, torquebat in sensum alienum; tamquam diceret Apostolus: Si, quod majus est, faciunt homines; quod minus est, facere non poterunt? Si domare possunt omne genus bestiarum, quanto magis linguam quisque suam? Referunt hoc de Pelagio Augustinus lib. de nat. et grat. cap. 15. et Paulus Orosius in apologia, quam adversus Pelagium scripsit. Quamquam hic sensus etiam apud Oecumenium legitur. Respondent autem Augustinus et Orosius, Apostcium non dicere: linguam nullus domare potest, sed: nullus hominum; ut, quum domatur, id Dei gratia fieri fateamur. Recte etiajn ex ipso contextu hujus loci sensum Pelagii refellit Augustinus, ostendens, sequentia cum eo non cohaerere. Sententiam vero Apostoli sic intelligit: |Lingu.am suam nullus hominum per se, suisque viribus, domare potest; sed Deus id potest, et per gratiam suam homini praestat, ut faciat. Alii quidam id ipsum accipiunt absolute, neminem posse suam ipsius linguam domare, id est ita refrenare, ut non aliquando prorumpat in verbum otiosum. At revera probabilius est, Apostolum hic non agere de propria lingua domanda, aed de aliena; ut sensus sit: Cum possint homines omne genus animalium domare, neminem tamen esse, qui frenum alienae linguae possit injicere, prohibendo eam a detractionibus, contumeliis, rizis, mendaciis, fraudulentiis, susurrationibus et aliis id genus. Est enim sermo de lingua mala, quae non solum indomabilis est, verum etiam inevitabilem et insanabilem plagam infert; quemadmodum pluribus et pulchre docet Ecclesiasticus cap. 28. Tale est et illud Psalm. 119.: Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponatur tibi ad linguam dolosam? Sagittae potentis acutae cum carbonibus desolatoviis. Hunc sensum arguit comparatio ferarum jam adducta, quae ab aliis domantur. Item confirmantea, quae sequuntur:
Inquietum malum. Potest haec pars appositive jungi cum praecedenti accusa- Hyo linguafn j huc sensu: Nemo potest linguam domare, utpote malum inquietum et indomitum. Potest etiam seorsim accipi, casu nominandi, sicut membrum sequens: plena veneno etc. Et ita supplenda erit sententia; Est enim lingua malum inquietum, Graece: axa-ao}(£TOV, id est incoercihiJe j ut alii verterunt. Hieronymus lib. 2. dial. cont. Pelag. legit: incontinens malum, quod intellige passive, pro eo, quod contineri non potest. Sentit ergo B. Jacobus, linguam, quamvis ei natura duplex septum opposuerit labiorum et dentium, coerceri tamen non posse, quin solutis repagulis erumpat, et grassetur in hominum perniciem. Allusio est ad feras, quae dentibus et ungulis infestae sunt, et, ne noceant, cancellis inclusae tenentur; quemadmodum membro sequente alluditur ad ea animalia, quae venenum fundendo noxia sunt.
Plena vene?io mortifero. Id est parata semper ad noxas, etiam gravissimas et lethales, aliis inferendas, ac si mortifero veneno plena sit, quod retinere nequeat. Huc pertinet illud Psalm. 139.: Acuerunt linguam suam sicut serpentis, venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum.
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9. In ipsa benedicimus Deum et Patrem; et in ipsa maledicimus homines, qui ad similitudinem Dei facti sunt. In ipsa, et in ipsa, id est in eadem, per eandem linguam. Quantum lingua sit malum, deinceps ostendit ex ejus absurda ac prodigiosa deformitate. Quasi dicat: Lingua monstrum quoddam est, cui simile non facile reperias. Sed nos hujus monstri sumus auctores, dum linguam nostram facimus organum contrariarum actionum, inter quas nulla consensio est; dum, inquam, lingua Deum benedicimus, id est laudamus, Patrem eum appellantes, et eandem linguam mox convertimus ad maledicendum hominibus, ad Dei imaginem factis; sive mala imprecando, quod proprie est maledicere, Graece: xazapdto^ai, sive conviciis aut obtrectationibus (quae etiam maledicta vocantur) honorem et famam aliorum laedendo. Sic enim efficitur lingua portento similis, habenti duo capita, alterum humanum, alterum ferinum; aut duas manus, quarum una sit in digitos formata, altera unguibus armata. Porro taxatur insignis hominum hypocrisis, quum eandem linguam vertunt in Dei laudem et proximorum exsecrationem; simulque innuitur, benedictiones et laudes Dei, profectas a lingua in proximum maledica, Deo placere non posse, juxta illud Psalm. 49.: Peccatori dixit Deus: Quare tu enarras justitias meas, et assumis testamentum meum per os tuum? Et infra: Os tuum abundavit 7nalitia, et lingua tua concinnabat dolos. Sedens adversus fratrem tuum loquebaris. Et Eccles. 15.: Non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris. Rationem indicat Apostolus, addita illa parte: qui ad similitudinem Dei facti, seu conditi sunt. Nam si laudandus est Deus in omnibus operibus suis, ad quod hortatur Scriptura Psalm. 145., Dan. 3., maxime in eo opere laudandus est, in quo peculiariter ejus imago relucet, id est in homine. Nec sane inultam sinet injuriam imagini suae irrogatam, ut quae in ipsum maxime redundet. Sicut enim imaginis honoratio, sic et ignominia ad prototypum utique refertur. Dei simiJitudinem interpretamur ejus imaginem, quae consistit in facultatibus animae, intellectu et voluntate, et, quod ex his consequitur, rerum dominio, quod initio datum est homini. Sic enim accipitur etiam Genes. 1. et alibi, quoties Scriptura, velut eandem rem significare volens, nunc imaginem Dei nominat, nunc similitudinem; alias vero utrumque conjungit. Patet igitur exhocloco, imaginem et similitudinem Dei, secus quam Origenes docuit, in homine per peccatum non periisse. Nisi enim similitudo, ad quam factus est homo, usque hodie in eo permansisset, otiose adderet Apostolus: qui ad similitudinem Dei facti sunt; cum responderi posset, imaginem, quae jam olim periit, nostra nunc hominum maledictione deformari non posse.
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10. Ex ipso ore procedit benedictio et maledictio. Id est, ex eodem ore haec duo tam contraria et pugnantia proficiscuntur. Verba sunt exaggerantis absurditatem rei.
Non oportetj fratres mei, haec ita fieri. Haec, inquam quae proxime dixi de usu linguae ad contraria. Porro minus dicens, plus intelligi vult, quum de re summopere fugienda dicit: Non oportet, aut non convenit ita fieri. Sic Paulus 1 Tim. 5.: Loquentes, quae non oportet, et Tit. 1.: Docentes, quae non oportet.
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11. Numquid fons de eodem foramine emanat dulcem et amaram aquam? Exemplis aliquot a natura petitis ostendit, quam non oporteat, imo quam sit absurdum, ex eodem ore procedere pugnantia, Argumentatur enim sih eo, quod est impossibile secundum naturam, ad absurdum in moribus; ac si dicat: Quomodo natura non patitur, ut ex eodem fontis foramine emanet dulcis aqua et amara, sic ratio non sinit, ut ex eodem ore procedat benedictio et maledictio, pietas et iniquitas, veritas et mendacium. Et ita in exemplis reliquis. Notandum, pro 00, quod nos habemus: Emanat dulcem et amaram aquam, Graece legi: Scaturit sive ebuJlit dulce et amarum, vel dulcem et amaram, subaudi: agnam, ut udoip, quod neutri generis est. in Graeco subintelligatur. Id enim paulo post exprimitur. Sentit autem ApostoJus, ex eadem fontis scaturigine dulcem et amaram aquam profluere non posse, ne quidem diverso tempore; hoc enim ad comparatiocem sufficit. Nam lingua non simul, sed diversis temporibus profert benedictionem et maledictionem.
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12. Numquid potest, fratres mei, ficus uvag facere, aut vitis ficus? En alia duo exempla, quibus idem docet, quod supra. Neque enim ficus uvas gignere naturaliter potest, sed solum ficug; neque vitis ficus gignere, sed uvas solummodo. Quamquam in Graeco et Syriaco non uvas legimus, sed olivas, adstipulante etiam Beda, et antiquis quibusdam etiam manuscriptis exemplaribus. Verum res eodem recidit. Significat enim Apostolus hac parte, nec ea, quae diversi sunt generis, etsi non contraria, ex eodem gigni solere; ut nos doceat, imitatione naturae in loquendo simplicitatem amare, nec diversa, quae non consislunt, expromere; multo rainus contraria, cujusmodi sunt benedictio et maledictio.
Sic neque salsa dulcem potest facere aquam. Graeca, quae hodie exstant, non parum hic a nostris dissident. In illis enim ita legitur: Sic nullus fons salsam et dulcem facere aquam. Quae si vera est lectio, dicendum erit, id, quod prae cessit, nempe fontem ex eodem foramine non emittere dulcem et amaram aquam, hic jam concludendo repeti-, atque ad eiuB probationem interpositum esse ficus et vitis exemplum. Sic enim ex neotericis quidam tractant hanc partem. Nam Oecumenius Graecus omnino non attingit, Verum cum illa parum concinna probatio sit, et non necessaria (quorsum enim exemplum tam evidenter notum aliorum rursus exemplorum sustentaculis Apostolus confirmare vellet?) vulgatam nobis lectionem retinendam censeo. Primum, quod eam constanter habeant Latini codices, et exponant Latini tractatores; nisi quod in uno aut altero exemplaii non salsa, sed salsam legatur, mutatione casus inducta, quod suspicamur, ex Graeco. Deinde, quod Syriaca versio Latinae lectioni patrocinetur. Verba sunt: Sic nec aquae salsae possunt effici dulces. Quod idem est sensu cum Latino, Atque hinc probabile fit, etiam Graecos codices aliquando hunc sensum dedisse. Neque enim Syriacam interpretationem aliunde habemus, ut arbitror, quam ex Graeca Scriptura. Quocirca libenter assentior viro doctissimo Francisco Lucae (qui locum hunc in suis notationibus egregie ilhistravit), existimanti, Graeca hic aucta esse tribus vocnh*s: fJiia, '^f^tP^} "^^- j quibus ablatis eadem prorsus erit Graecorum lectio, quae Latinorum; nisi quod Latinus interpres, supplendae sententiae causa, verbum: p otest, adscripsit, ex superioribus repetitum. Hoc pacto sane pars ista pulchre convenit Apostoli instituto. Quatuor ei»im exemplis, sive, ut ila dicam, parabolis, suam doctrinam declarat, quorum primum a fontibus desnmptnm est, quartum a mari; secundum et tertium a plantis fructiferis, ficu et vite. Et quidem tria priora jam exposita sunt, et difficultatem non habent; quartum vero, quamvis idem paene cum primo videatur, ideoque praelerraittatnr a quibusdam ejus expositio, difi*ert tamen, ut dixi, quia nun a fonte, sed a mari petitum est, cujus aquae salsae esse solent; tamquam diceret, idem mare non posse praebere salsam et dulcem aquam; quemadmodum, inverso ordine, de fnnte dixit, per scaturiginem unam et eandem non posse emittere dulcem et amaram aquam. Unde et eo distiDguuntur, quod primum exemplum magis proprie bonis hominibus accommodatur, quartum vero malis. Fontes enim dulcem aquam fundere solent, non amaram aut salsam; maria vero salsam dare, non dulcem. His porro consonant aliae Scripturae, ut Matth. 7.: Non potest arbor bona malos fructus facere, neque arbor mala bonos fructus facere; et cap. 12.: Aut facite arborem bonam, et fructum ejus bonum; aut facite ar^ borem malatn, et fructum ejus malum; item: Quomodo poteftis bona loqui, cum sitis mali? Ex abundantia enim cordis os loquitur; et iterum: Bonus homo de bono thesauro profert bona, et malus homo de malo thesauro profert mala.
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13. Quis sapiens et disciplinatus inter vos? Disciplinatus, Graece Ini^Trnxoiv, id est sciens, scientia praeditus. Egit hujus capitis initio B. Jacobus adversus ambitiosos doctores, quorum occasione multa de linguae vitiis disseruit. Redit nunc ad institutum, et eum, cui scientia magistro necessaria non deest, informat, docens, quibus moribus esse debeat, si bene et cura fructu suo velit munere fungi. Et quia magistralis illa scientia paucorum est, ideo quaerit: Quis sapiens etc. Nominat autem duo, sapientiam et scientiam, tamquam Christiano doctori ad officium docendi necessaiia; quae ita differunt, quod sapientia sit rerum ad religionem pertinentium per causas superiores accepta notitia; scientia vero earundem rerum notitia per ea, quae sunt humanae scientiae vel experientiae. De utraque Paulus 1 Cor. 12. dicens: Alii quidem per Spiritum datur sermo sapientiae; alii autem sermo scientiae, secundum eundem Spiritum. Nec enim magistro ad officium satis est, sapientia et scientia instructum esse, nisi et sermomonem utriusque habeat, id est ea, quae sapienter et scienter intelligit, etiam verbis convenientibus noverit ad auditores proferre. Pleniorem utriusque descriptionem pete ex comm. loci jam dicti.
Ostendat ex bona conversatione ope' rationem suam in mansuetudine «apientiae. Docet, ut sine sapientia et scientia magister quis esse non potest, ita non posse munus illud obire in Eclesia Dei cum aedificatione ot fructu, si non etiam haeo duo praestet atque ostendat, exercitium bonorum operum, et mansuetudinem. Ubi bona opera (nam opera, non operationem in Graeco et Syriaco legimus) ea potissimum significat, quae sunt beneficentiae erga proximos. Nam mansuetudinis est, adversantium vel obloquentium injuriis haud facile commoveri. Moderatur enim mansuetudo passionem irae. Quam virtutem etiam Paulus in Episcopo, id est Ecclesiae magistro, singulariter requirit, dum praeter alia vult eum mansuetum esse ad omnes, et cum modestia corripientem eos, qui resistunt, 2 Tim. 2. Dicitur autem quis ostendere ex bona conversatione operationem suam sive opera sua, dum bene conversando facit opera sua lucere coram hominibus; juxta praeceptum Domini, vel maxime pertinens ad magistros: Sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus, ut videant opera ve" sira bona, et glorificent Patrem vestrum, qui in coelis est. Porro quod dicit: In mansuetudine sapientiae, Syras ita reddit: In sapientia mansueta. Nobis videtur ita potius exponendum: cum mansuetudine sapientiae conjuncta. Haec enim virtus, ut dixi, sapientem, id est doctorem, mirifice commendat. Unde, sicut in superioribus repetitio fuit praecepti illius: Sit omnis tardus ad loquendum, sed cum amplificatione: ita hic repetit, quod illic adjunxerat: Et tardus ad iram. Hoc enim est, esse mansuetum. Id vero etiam latius diducit, annectens reprehensionem illius contrarii, irae videlicet, dum subjunxit:
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14. Quod si zelum amarum habetis, et contentiones sint in cordibus vestris. Verbum: sint, in multis manuscriptis non legitur; Graeca qaoque et Syriaca non habent. Graece est: Et contentionem in corde vestro, ut hic, OLTzb xotvou repetendum sit verbum: habetis. Et ita quidem Venerabilem Bedam legisse, commentarius ejus haud obscure significat. Sed et hic paulo post utrumque, zelus scilicet et contentio, repetuntur numero singulari. Zelus aemulatio est. Zelum autem amarum invidiam vocat, qaam Paulus Eph. 4. amaritudinem appellat; quam videlicet animus, invidia velut felle tinctus, amarescit adveraus proximum. Contentio est verborum pugna studio vincendi suscepta. Sed hic videtur accipi pro ipso vincendi studio, quod latet in animo. Dicit enim: in cordibus vestris. Exprimit Apostolus haec vitia, zelum amarum ct contentionem, quod ex ambitione et cenodoxia soleant oriri.
Nolite gloriari, et mendaces esse ad^ versus veritntem. Graeca sic sonant: Ne contragloriemini et mentiamini contra veritatem. Ex quo liquet, illam partem: adiersus veritatem, referri debere ad utrumque verbum praecedens: ne gloriemini contra veritatem; et: ne mentiamini contra eam. Porro sensus Apostoli talis est: Quod si in animo geritis invidiam et contentiones, alius adversus alium, nolite vos jactare et dicere sapientes. Id enim esset, gloriari et mentiri adversus veritatem. Nam qui animum habent istiusmodi vitiis affectum, sapientes esse non possunt, nisi falso nomine. Sensus hic clarior fiet ex sequentibus:
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15. Non est enim ista sapientia desursum descendens. Voculam: enim, quae in Graeco non est, interpres addidit, ut connexionem ostenderet hujus partis cum praecedente. Probat enim, sapientiam, quam venditabant improbi magistri, non esse veram sapientiam, sed falsam, quia non est desursum descendens, id est a Deo profecta; quum, ut dictum est supra cap. 1., omne donum perfectum desursum sit, descendens a Patre luminum; et sapientia, si quis ea indigeat, non aliunde postulanda sit, quam a Dec. Cura autem hic jam consequenter discrimen statuat Apostolus inter sapientiam veram et^falsam, notis propriis suis utramqu3 pingens epithetis ceu coloribusj, et laudabilem, et vituperabilem: quaeritur, quid utriusque sapientiae nomine significatum velit. Nam multi non explicant. Qui vero explicant, plerique per veram sapientiam intelligi putant eam, quae omnibus bonis fidelibus communis est, id est justitiam Christianam, quae omnes virtutes complectitur. Sic enim concludit hanc de sapientia disputationem Apostulus: Fructus autem juetitiae in pace «eminatur etc., tamquam videlicet sapientia sit ipsa justitia. Quo praeterea facit, quod hoc modo sapientiam videtur aceeplsse primo capite, dicens: Si quis vestrum indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo. Vel certe (quod fere eodem recidit) sapientiam intelligunt judicium rectum et practicum de omnibus agendis. Nec vero ab his admodum dissentit S. Thomas 2. 2. quaest. 45. art. 6., ubi sapientiam hanc interpretatur eam, quae prima est inter dona Spiritus sancti, quo etiam loco ejus epitheta singulatim explicat. Et ejusdem quaest. art. 1. de falsa sapientia, quam hujus saeculi sapientiam vocat, ejusque notis ab Apostolo designatis conformiter disserit. Sed hic an verus ac germanus sit hujus loci sensus, merito dubitatur. Agit enim Apostolus, ut jam dixi de sapientia magistrorum, quae ad intellectum pertinet, et vuluntatem non necessario afiicit; ita tamen, ut, sapientiam nominans, etiam scientiam comprehendat. Hanc sapientiam facit duplicem: quae a Deo est, et quae non est a Deo, id est veram et falsam, quae secundum Deum est, et quae secundum saeculum. Non quidem significare volens, aliquam esse rerum divinarum notitiam, quae Deum non habeat auctorem; sed eam, quam possident aut sibi vendicant homines ambitiosi ac moribus corrupti, utentes ea ad contentionem et ostentationem, aliosve malos fines, indicans, non esse dignam sapientiae nomine, dum servire cogitur vitiosis ac perversis hominum cupiditatibus. Quomodo virtutes philosophorum falsae dicuntur, et vitia a Patribus interdum appellantur, quatenus ab illis ad fines indebitos referebantur; quod et de malorum Christianorum virtutibus dici potest. Non igitur Apostolus negat, malos habere posse veram et a Deo datam sapientiam et scientiam, abstractive consideratam, quam certe in malis et caritate destitutis hominibus agnoscit Paulus 1 Corinth. 13., imo et beatus Jacobus in fine capitis sequentis, dicens: Scienti bonum facere f et non facienti, peccatum est illi; sed sapientiam, ut in malis est, et vitiis servit, id est concretive consideratam, sapientiam esse, ac desursum descendere negat. Ut si dicam, scientiam inflantem aut voluntatem peccantem non esse a Deo, sed a diabolo, vel a vitio hominis. Hunc sensum, etsi verbis obscurioribus, tradit Cajetanus; nec dissenlit Hasselanus, et in sua paraphrasi Titelmannus. Illud tamen addendum, sapientiam ac scientiam, quae in hominibus est ambitiosis aut avaris, aut alia quavis cupiditate corruptis, plerumque multis esse permixtam et infectam erroribus ac pravis opinionibus, ad carnalem sensum accommodatis; etiamsi fundamentum, quod est Christus, retineri videatur. Unde tales magistri dicuntur super fundamentum aedificare ligna, foenum, stipulam, 1 Cor. 3.
Sed terrena, animalis, diabolica. Animalis, Graece ^oxixtj^ ab anima, non ab animali. Quomodo Paulus animalem vocat hominem, dicens: Animalis homo non percipit ea, quae sunt spiritus Dei, 1 Cor. 2. Et quomodo Judas (quod cum hoc loco magis convenit) in sua Epistola quosdam insectatur hoc nomine, quod essent animales. Solet enim Scriptura in homine animam a spiritu distinguere; ut animae tribuantur, quae sensitivae sunt partis, spiritui vero, quae spectant ad partem intellectivam. Unde animules dicuntur, qui carnis ac sensuum voluptates sequuntur. Diabolica, Graece daiixovim- Srjg, id est daemoniaca, vel potius daemoniosa, daemone plena. Dicit ergo, sapientiam malorum magistrorum esse terrmamy quia servit avaritiae, quae circa res terrenas versatur: dicit, esBQ animalem, quia servit voluptatibus carnis; dicit, esse diabolicam, quia servit ambitioni et superbiae, quod proprie diabolicum est vitium. Itaque hic observare est tripartitam divisionem mundanae sapientiae, sicut apud Joannem, 1 Epist. 2., omne, quod in mundo est, trifariam dividitur in concupiscentiam carnis, et concupiscentiam oculorum, et superbiam vitae. Nam concupiscentiam oculorum spectat sapientia terrena; concupiscentiam carnis sapientia animalis; etsuperbiam vitae sapientia diabolica.
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16. Ubi enim zelus et contentio, ibi inconstantia, et omne opus pravum. Cum supra tantum de invidia et contentione, quae superborum vitia sunt, malos magistros incusaverit, nunc rationem addit, cur eorum sapientiam omni genere vitiorum oneret, vocando eam non solum diabolicam, sed etiam terrenam et animalem. Quoniam, inquit, ubi zelus, id est invidia, est, et contentio, facile etiam caetera vitia subnascuntur. Inconstantia, Graece: dxaxaoTaota, quod etiam verti potest: seditio, tumultus. Nam gravius aliquod vitium hoc vocabulo significare voluit. Erasmus periurhationem reddit, hoc est, turbatum rerum ordinem, qui invidiam et contentionem consequitur, dum per ambitionem quisque majora praeoccupat. Legitur apud Paulum namero plurali pro seditionibus non semel. Vide, quae diximus ad illud 2 Corinth. 6.: In seditionibus. Omnino namque apparet, hic significari tumultuationem seditioni sirailera, qualis esse solet hominum vehementer ac superbe inter se contendentium.
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17. Quae autem desursum est sapientia, primum quidem pudica est. Nunc e diverso veram ac coelestem sapientiam, quae videlicet bonorum est magistrorum, suis proprietatibus explicat, iisque septem namero. Nam sapientia, id est rerum divinarum cognitio, si non solum intellectum format, sed etiam voluntatem afficit, omne.i virtutes comites secum adducit. Primum, inquit, pudica est; seu casta; Graece ayvTj, id est pura ab illecebris carnis ac sensuuiD. Qua proprietate opponitur sapientiae animali.
Deinde pacifica y modesta, suadibilis. Pacifica, id est abhorrens a contentionibus. Modesta, Graece STrisixTjg^ quod verti etiam potest: aequa, humana, moderata. Suadibilis, Graece sutisi^tjc, id est, persuasu facilis, ac cedens rationi. Tractabilem alii vertunt. Per has tres proprietates opponitur haec sapientia sapientiae diabolicae.
Bonis consentiens. Haec pars nec in Graeco est, nec in Sjriaco; quidam etiam vetusti codices Latini noa habent. Verisimile est, huc adscriptam esse ex alia translatione, in qua pro vocabulo: suadibilis, legebatur: bonis consentiens. Nam Graeca vox suTTStO^Tjc: etiam hanc interpretationem non respuit, ut bonis consentire sit, acquiescere bonorum monitis et consiliis.
Plena misericordia et fructibus bonis. Hac proprietate sapientia coelestis a falsa sapientia, quatenus ea terrena est, clisf*ernitur. Miserico rdia Virixx?, Q^\, ona inclinamur ad succurrendum egenis et miseris. Fructus autem bonos dicitopera exteriora, quae a misericordia procedunt, velut boni fructus a bona radice. Cujusmodi sunt, pascere famelicos, vestire nudos, visitare pupillos et viduas in ipsorum tribulatione. Quae omnia commendata habemus in superioribus hujus Epistolae.
Nonjudicans, sine simulatione. Tn Graeco nomina composita sunt: aStaxpi- Toc xal avuTioxpiTGg, quod ita verti poteet: Nihil dijudicans, et nihil simulans. Vel! sine dijudicatione, et sine simulatione. Et quidem hoc posterius, nempe sapientiam, quae e supernis est, expertem esse simulationis, difficultatem non habet. Atque hac nota rursus vera sapientia pugnat cum sapientia diabolica; nam hypocrisis cen jdoxiae filia est. Caeterum piior dictio varie exponitur. Oecumenius hunc dat sensum: Non discernens observationes ciborum etvariarum lotionum ', de quibus scilicet Paulus agit in Epistola ad Colose. 2. Cajetanus putat, eignificari constaDtiam in jadicando, oppositam illi inconstantiae, quae ponebatur inter effectus falsae sapiectiae, ad quam pertinet, inquit, contraria judicia efficere. Posset etiam sic intelligi: Non discernens inter personas, id est non habens respectum personarum; in quo vitio reprehendendo versatus est cap. 2. Quem sensum probabilem facit, quod illic dicitur: Nonne judicatis apud vosmet ipsos, et facti eHis judices cogitationum iniquarum? Nam ibi pro verbo: judicatis, in Graeco ejt: disy,p'.^r^TS, id est dijudicastis, discretionem fecistis, scilicet personas, honorando divitem et contemnendo pauperem; sicut ibi expositum est. At vero plerique sic accipiunt hanc partem. ut compositum stet loco simplicis: non dijudicans, id est non judicans, quemadmodam vertit noster interpres; ac proinde significetur, sapientiam coelestem alienam esse a sinistris et temerariis judiciis proximorum; juxta praeceptum Salvatoris: Nolite judicare, nolite condemnare, Luc. 6. Quamvis autem hic sensus multis arrideat, idemque ex Latinn lectione maxime sitobvius: sciendum tamen, Graecam dictionem multo magis invitare ad sensum, quem tertio loco attuli; hunc autem postremum aegre posse ex ea accipi.
3:18
18. Fructus autem justitiae in pace seminatur facientibus pacem. Concludit hac sententia admonitionem eorum, qui sapientiam profitebantur, in quibus id specialiter reprehenderat, quod zelum habereni amarum, et contentiones inter se, id est iis vitiis laborarent, quae paci sunt quam maxime contraria. Igitur hoc epiphonemate pacem commendat, simulque viam facit ad increpationem continuo sequentem illam: Unde bella etc. Potest autem fructus justitiae duobus modis intelligi: vel fructus, qui ex justitia colligitur, id est vita aeterna; vel fructus, qui est ipsa justitia; ut sensus sit, ex pace, tamquam semine, provenire vitam aeternam, quae est fructus ac merces justitiae, vel ipsam justitiam, tamquam fructum, colentibus pacem. Quod postestum, et Hebr. 11.: Fructum pacatissirins videttir esse magis ex mente Apomum reddet justitiae. Cujus loci nostrum stoli, sed ut justifAam accipiamus secunvide commentarium. Ratio hujus doctridum incrementa suaetperfectionem. Hac nae est, quia pax caritatem fovet, quam enim transitiva locutiono fructus jusficontentiones et dissidia minuunt aut extiae etiam alibi sumitur, ut Phil. 1.: Repleti fructu justitiae per Jesum Christinguunt.
3:16
… Leaving aside the question debated among theologians, whether such infallibility of prayer holds only for the one who prays and not in favor of others for whom one may pray, it is certain that prayer for others is always most useful (cf. 1 Tim. 2:1-5; James 3:16).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), 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.