1A deceitful balance is an abomination before the Lord: and a just weight is his will.E in abbominazione dinanzi al Signore la stadera falsa; la giusta bilancia a lui è accetta.A deceitful balance, is abomination before God: and an equal weight is his wil.Statera dolosa abominatio est apud Dominum, / et pondus æquum voluntas ejus. 2Where pride is, there also shall be reproach: but where humility is, there also is wisdom.Dove sarà la superbia, ivi sarà anche lo scorno: e dove è umiltà, ivi è la saggezza.Where pride shal be, there shal be contumelie also: but where humilitie, there also wisdom.Ubi fuerit superbia, ibi erit et contumelia; / ubi autem est humilitas, ibi et sapientia. 3The simplicity of the just shall guide them: and the deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them.La semplicità de' giusti sarà la loro bussola, la doppiezza de' malvaggj sarà la loro perdizione.The simplicitie of the iust shal direct them: and the supplanting of the peruers shal waste them.Simplicitas justorum diriget eos, / et supplantatio perversorum vastabit illos. 4Riches shall not profit in the day of revenge: but justice shall deliver from death.Non faranno alcun pro le ricchezze al giorno della vendetta; ma la giustizia salverà da morte.Riches shal not profit in the day of reuenge: but iustice shal deliuer from death.Non proderunt divitiæ in die ultionis; / justitia autem liberabit a morte. 5The justice of the upright shall make his way prosperous: and the wicked man shall fall by his own wickedness.La giustizia dell'uomo semplice governerà i suoi passi; e l'empio pella sua empietà darà in precipizi.The iustice of the simple shal direct his way: and the impious shal fal in his impietie.Justitia simplicis diriget viam ejus, / et in impietate sua corruet impius. 6The justice of the righteous shall deliver them: and the unjust shall be caught in their own snares.La giustizia degli uomini dabbene li salverà, e gli iniqui saran presi alle loro trappole.The iustice of the righteous shal deliuer them: and the vniust shal be caught in their deceitful practises.Justitia rectorum liberabit eos, / et in insidiis suis capientur iniqui. 7When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more: and the expectation of the solicitous shall perish.All'empio, morto che è, non riman più speranza, e l'espettazione degli ambiziosi va in fumo.The impious man being dead, there shal be no hope any more: and the expectation of the careful shal perish.Mortuo homine impio, nulla erit ultra spes, / et exspectatio sollicitorum peribit.
8The just is delivered out of distress: and the wicked shall be given up for him.Il giusto è liberato dall'affanno, e vi è messo l'empio in suo luogo.The iust is deliuered from distresse: and the impious shal be geuen for him.Justus de angustia liberatus est, / et tradetur impius pro eo. 9The dissembler with his mouth deceiveth his friend: but the just shall be delivered by knowledge.Il simulatore inganna con sue parole l'amico: ma la scienza de' giusti li libererà.The dissembler with his mouth deceiueth his freind: but the iust shal be deliuered by knowlege.Simulator ore decipit amicum suum; / justi autem liberabuntur scientia. 10When it goeth well with the just, the city shall rejoice: and when the wicked perish, there shall be praise.La città farà festa delle prosperità dei giusti, e inni si canteranno nella perdizione degli empj.In the good thinges of the iust the citie shal reioyce; and in the destruction of the impious there shal be prayse.In bonis justorum exsultabit civitas, / et in perditione impiorum erit laudatio. 11By the blessing of the just the city shall be exalted: and by the mouth of the wicked it shall be overthrown.La benedizione de' giusti ingrandirà la città; ma la bocca dell'empio la rovinerà.With the benediction of the iust the citie shal be exalted: and by the mouth of the impious it shal be subuerted.Benedictione justorum exaltabitur civitas, / et ore impiorum subvertetur. 12He that despiseth his friend, is mean of heart: but the wise man will hold his peace.Chi parla male del suo amico manca di cuore: ma l'uomo prudente si tacerà.He that despiseth his freind, lacketh hart: but the wise man wil hold his peace.Qui despicit amicum suum indigens corde est; / vir autem prudens tacebit. 13He that walketh deceitfully, revealeth secrets: but he that is faithful, concealeth the thing committed to him by his friend.Colui, che cammina con doppiezza, rivela i segreti, ma chi è di animo fedele tiene segreto quel, che l'amico gli ha confidato.He that walketh fraudulently, reueleth secretes: but he that is faithful, concealeth the thing comitted of his freind.Qui ambulat fraudulenter, revelat arcana; / qui autem fidelis est animi, celat amici commissum. 14Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is safety where there is much counsel.Dove non è chi governi, il popolo anderà in rovina; dove i consigli abbondano, ivi è salute.Where there is no gouernour, the people shal fal: but there is health where is much counsel.Ubi non est gubernator, populus corruet; / salus autem, ubi multa consilia.
15He shall be afflicted with evil, that is surety for a stranger: but he that is aware of snares, shall be secure.Patirà disastro chi entra mallevadore per uno straniero; chi sa guardarsi dai lacci sarà senza timori.He shal be afflicted with euil, that is suretie for a stranger: but he that is ware of the snares, shal be secure.Affligetur malo qui fidem facit pro extraneo; / qui autem cavet laqueos securus erit. 16A gracious woman shall find glory: and the strong shall have riches.La donna graziosa farà acquisto di gloria, e gli uomini di valore otterranno ricchezze.A gracious woman shal finde glorie: and the strong shal haue riches.Mulier gratiosa inveniet gloriam, / et robusti habebunt divitias. 17A merciful man doth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel casteth off even his own kindred.L'uomo misericordioso fa del bene all'anima sua; ma colui, che è crudele rigetta anche i parenti prossimi.A merciful man doth good to his kinred also.Benefacit animæ suæ vir misericors; / qui autem crudelis est, etiam propinquos abjicit. 18The wicked maketh an unsteady work: but to him that soweth justice, there is a faithful reward.L'empio fa lavoro, che non sussiste; ma colui, che sparge semenza di giustizia, ha stabile ricompensa.The impious maketh an vnstable worke: but to him that soweth iustice, is a faythful reward.Impius facit opus instabile, / seminanti autem justitiam merces fidelis. 19Clemency prepareth life: and the pursuing of evil things, death.La clemenza è strada alla vita, e l'affetto al male (è strada) alla morte.Clemencie prepareth life: & the pursewing of euil thinges death.Clementia præparat vitam, / et sectatio malorum mortem. 20A perverse heart is abominable to the Lord: and his will is in them that walk sincerely.E in abbominio al Signore il cuore perverso, e si compiace di quelli, che camminano con ischiettezza.A peruers hart is abominable to our Lord: and his wil is in them that walke simply.Abominabile Domino cor pravum, / et voluntas ejus in iis qui simpliciter ambulant. 21Hand in hand the evil man shall not be innocent: but the seed of the just shall be saved.L'uomo malvaggio con tutta la sua sequela non sarà impunito; ma la stirpe de' giusti avrà salute.Hand in hand the euil man shal not be innocent: but the seede of the iust shal be saued.Manus in manu non erit innocens malus; / semen autem justorum salvabitur. 22A golden ring in a swine’s snout, a woman fair and foolish.La bellezza in donna stolta è un cerchio d'oro messo al muso di una troja.A ring of gold in a swines snoute, a fayre woman & a foole.Circulus aureus in naribus suis, / mulier pulchra et fatua.
23The desire of the just is all good, the expectation of the wicked is indignation.La brama de' giusti tende a tutto il bene; gli empj non agognano ad altro, che a infuriare.The desire of the iust is al good: the expectation of the impious furie.Desiderium justorum omne bonum est; / præstolatio impiorum furor. 24Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take away what is not their own, and are always in want.Altri fanno parte di quello, che hanno, e diventan più ricchi; altri rapiscono l'altrui, e son sempre in miseria.Some diuide their owne goodes, and are made richer: others take violently not their owne, and are alwayes in pouertie.Alii dividunt propria, et ditiores fiunt; / alii rapiunt non sua, et semper in egestate sunt. 25The soul that blesseth, shall be made fat: and he that inebriateth, shall be inebriated also himself.L'anima benefica sarà impinguata, e colui, che esilara gli altri, sarà egli pure esilarato.The soule which blesseth, shal be made fatte: and he that inebriateth himself shal also be inebriated.Anima quæ benedicit impinguabitur, / et qui inebriat, ipse quoque inebriabitur. 26He that hideth up corn, shall be cursed among the people: but a blessing upon the head of them that sell.Colui che nasconde il grano sarà maledetto dai popoli; e la benedizione poserà sul capo di quei, che lo vendono.He that hydeth corne, shal be cursed among the peoples: but blessing vpon the head of them that sel.Qui abscondit frumenta maledicetur in populis; / benedictio autem super caput vendentium. 27Well doth he rise early who seeketh good things; but he that seeketh after evil things, shall be oppressed by them.Col buon pro si alza di buon mattino colui che cerca il bene; ma colui che studia di far delle male cose, vi resterà alla stiaccia.Wel riseth he early who seeketh good thinges: but he that is a searcher after euil thinges, shal be oppressed of them.Bene consurgit diluculo qui quærit bona; / qui autem investigator malorum est, opprimetur ab eis. 28He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the just shall spring up as a green leaf.Colui che si affida alle sue ricchezze anderà per terra; ma i giusti fioriranno com'albero di verde foglia.He that trusteth in his riches shal fal but the iust shal spring as a greene leafe.Qui confidit in divitiis suis corruet: / justi autem quasi virens folium germinabunt. 29He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the winds: and the fool shall serve the wise.Colui che mette in iscompiglio la propria casa rederà del vento, e lo stolto servirà all'uomo sapiente.He that trubleth his house, shal possesse the windes: and he that is a foole shal serue the wise.Qui conturbat domum suam possidebit ventos, / et qui stultus est serviet sapienti.
30The fruit of the just man is a tree of life: and he that gaineth souls is wise.Il giusto ne' suoi frutti è l'albero di vita, e colui che fa guadagno di anime è sapiente.The fruite of the iust man a tree of life: and he that gaineth soules, is wise.Fructus justi lignum vitæ, / et qui suscipit animas sapiens est. 31If the just man receive in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner.Se il giusto sulla terra ha sua pena, quanto più l'empio, ed il peccatore?If the iust man receiue in the earth, how much more the impious and sinner?Si justus in terra recipit, / quanto magis impius et peccator !
11:1
Ven. Bede
Balance. Both in commerce, (Deuteronomy 25:13.; Calmet) and in passing sentence on others. (Ven. Bede)
11:2
11:7
Solicitous. Or ambitious. Hebrew, "the potent," or Septuagint, "the impious."
11:8
For him. As comparatively nothing worth to his master, Proverbs 21:18., and Isaias 43:3
11:11
11:12
Haydock
Mean. Literally, "indigent" of sense. (Haydock)
Calmet
We must put up with some faults, as none are without. (Horace 1:Sat. 3.) (Calmet)
11:13
Calmet
Walketh. Septuagint, "the double-tongued," dissembler, or great talker. (Calmet)
11:15
Mont.[Montanus?]
That is. Hebrew, "that hateth those who make agreements is secure." (Mont.[Montanus?])
11:16
Calmet
Gracious. Virtuous and beautiful, as God hath granted beauty also for good purposes. This and virtue tend to the advancement of women, while men can use their strength to acquire riches. (Calmet)
Kennicott
Glory. Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic add, "of her husband. But she that hateth righteousness is a throne of disgrace. The slothful, though rich, shall come to poverty; but the laborious shall retain their riches." Two hemistics seem to be lost in Hebrew. (Kennicott)
Haydock
Most of the additions in the Septuagint are only glosses, or useless repetitions, (Calmet) though they seem not to be so in this place. (Haydock)
11:17
Kindred. Hebrew, "flesh," Genesis 29:14. The miser is cruel even to himself.
11:21
In hand. At rest, or making agreements. God will punish the race of the wicked.
11:22
Menochius
Foolish. Beauty, without prudence, leads to ruin, as ornaments are ill bestowed on swine. The women in the east sometimes wore rings in their noses, (Genesis 24:22.; Calmet) or hanging down upon them, Isaias 3:21. (Menochius)
11:24
Haydock
Others. Moderation is always requisite. Hebrew, "there is one withholding from rectitude, yet for a defect," (Mont.[Montanus?]) being too saving, he is a loser. (Haydock)
Calmet
Avarice does not always increase riches. (Calmet)
11:25
Himself. He shall receive abundantly, 2 Corinthians 9:6. The beneficent shall be amply rewarded both in this world and in the next.
11:26
Corn. In times of scarcity. See Amos 8:7.
11:29
Menochius
House. By his profligacy, or law-suits, shall be impoverished, (ver. 17.; Calmet) or if he act with violence, he will make his house empty, Ecclesiasticus 4:35. (Menochius)
11:30
Life. Producing excellent fruits of virtue and edification.
11:31
Calmet
Receive. Punishment, for almost inevitable faults, or be treated according to his deserts. Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, "if the just be hardly saved, where shall the impious and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:18.) (Calmet)
Menochius
Afflictions attend the just in this life. Shall the wicked escape? (Menochius)
11:1
Equitie
11:2
Humilitie.
11:3
Sinceritie.
11:4
Spiritual riches.
11:5
Pietie.
11:6
Iustice.
11:7
Care of the other life.
11:8
Future ioy.
11:9
Truth in wordes.
11:10
Common good. Publique ioy.
11:12
True freindshipe.
11:13
Fidelitie.
11:14
Good gouernment.
11:15
Prudence in suretishipe.
11:16
Diligence.
11:17
Mercie.
11:18
Iustice.
11:19
Clemencie.
11:20
Sinceritie.
11:21
Iust dealing.
11:22
Internal vertue. Expectation of glorie. Almes dedes.
11:25
Beneuolence.
11:26
Care of the poore.
11:27
Good desires.
11:28
Trust in Gods goodnes.
11:29
Frugalitie.
11:30
Spiritual instruction Straict way of saluation.
11:1
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.9
… Solomon says: “A great and a little weight and divers measures are an abomination before the Lord.” Before that it also says: “A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is acceptable to Him.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Widows 13
78. This, however, is not a commandment given to all, but a wish set before all. For he who commands must always keep to the exact scope of the commandments, and he who distributes tasks must observe equity in looking into them, for: “A false balance is abomination to the Lord.”
11:3
St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Ephesians: Shorter and Longer Versions 7
… For “the righteous man who avoids them is saved for ever; but the destruction of the ungodly is sudden, and a subject of rejoicing.”
11:14
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 2.4
Such is discretion, which is not only the “light of the body,” but also called the sun by the Apostle, as it said “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” It is also called the guidance of our life: as it said “Those who have no guidance, fall like leaves.”
11:15
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 1.20
… Of which kind of illusions it is well said in the Proverbs: “There are ways which seem to be right to a man, but their latter end will come into the depths of hell,” and again “An evil man is harmful when he attaches himself to a good man,”
11:17
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Sermons 16
… For forgiveness of sins is most efficaciously prayed for with almsgiving and fasting, and supplications that are winged by such aids mount swiftly to God’s ears: since as it is written, “the merciful man doeth good to his own soul
11:18
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 39.5
… But when, having guarded our soul with every care, and having appointed goings up in our heart, and broken up our fallow ground, and sown unto righteousness,
11:20
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 20
… He that walketh without blame, and worketh righteousness.’ And in another passage: ‘I shall be blameless with Him.’ And yet again: ‘Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.’ To the same effect it is written in Solomon: ‘The Lord loveth holy hearts, and all they that are blameless are acceptable unto Him.’”
11:22
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 17
… If virginity is believed to be a vastly precious thing and to have a divine look (as indeed is the case, as well as men believe of it), yet, if the whole life does not harmonize with this perfect note, and it be marred by the succeeding discord of the soul, this thing becomes but “the jewel of gold in the swine’s snout
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.16
… Of those then who seem to acquire some show of knowledge or of those who while they devote themselves diligently to reading the sacred volume and to committing the Scriptures to memory, yet forsake not carnal sins, it is well said in Proverbs: “Like as a golden ring in a swine’s snout so is the beauty of an evil-disposed woman.”
11:24
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Works and Alms 17
… and her righteous works and deserts of mercy taking augmentations and increase, the vessels of meal and oil were filled. Nor did the mother take away from her children what she gave to Elias, but rather she conferred upon her children what she did kindly and piously.
11:25
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 7
… To whom those great marvels? Was it not to shepherds that the Gospel was first preached? and to Joseph, being a man of simple mind, insomuch that he did not let a suspicion of adultery frighten him into doing wrong? Did not God elect rustics, those artless men? For it is written, “Blessed is every simple soul.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 29
… For instance, is any passionate? Let him attend to the Scripture-readings, and he will of a surety find such either in history or exhortation. In exhortation, when it is said, “The sway of his fury is his destruction” ( Ecclus. i. 22 ); and, “A passionate man is not seemly” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 48
… For wrath is a wild beast, a wild beast keen and angry. Let us then repeat to ourselves soothing charms drawn from the holy Scripture, and say, “Thou art earth and ashes.” “Why is earth and ashes proud?” ( Ecclus. x. 9 ), and, “The sway of his fury shall be his destruction” ( Ecclus. i. 22 ): and, “The wrathful man is not comely” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 67.3
3. “Every soul that is blessed is simple,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 8.1
… though we are reckoned perfect and holy in the estimation of all men, for “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” Nor can we by any possibility acquire that esteem and honour which is so frequently seen even in worldlings, even though we are thought noble and honourable through the privileges of birth, because “an angry man is dishonoured.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.25
… vi. 5 ). Let them hear how through Solomon the knowledge of preaching is promised to be multiplied to him who is not held back by the vice of torpor in that whereto he has already attained. For he says, The soul which blesseth shall be made fat; and he that inebriates shall be inebriated also himself (
11:26
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.62
In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.” Also in Proverbs: “He who holdeth back the corn is cursed among the people; but blessing is on the head of him that communicateth it.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 3
… For he who gave was not a hard man, had he been so, he would not have given even in the first instance; neither was that which was given unprofitable and vain, for then he had not found fault. But both he who gave was good, and that which was given was capable of bearing fruit. As therefore ‘he who withholdeth corn in seed-time is cursed
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 43.34
… but the hardest part of all such distress is, the insensibility and insatiability of those who possess supplies. For they watch their opportunities, and turn the distress to profit, and thrive upon misfortune: heeding not that he who shows mercy to the poor, lendeth to the Lord, nor that he that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him:
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.6
… By expediency here I mean what is accounted so by people generally. Let love of money be destroyed, let lust die. The holy man says that he has never been engaged in business. For to get an increase in price is a sign not of simplicity but of cunning. Elsewhere it says: “He that seeketh a high price for his corn is cursed among the people.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 39
… Him that was more cruel than any wild beast, the common enemy? What sayest thou, man? Art thou sad because all did not perish, that thou mightest gather gold? Hast thou not heard what Solomon saith, (
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.25
… Let them consider therefore with what punishment they must be visited who, when souls are perishing from famine of the word, supply not the bread of grace which they have themselves received. Whence also it is well said through Solomon, He that hideth corn shall be cursed among the people (
11:30
St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Proverbs 1
… But the souls of the unrighteous meet an untimely expulsion from the presence of God, by whom they shall be left to remain in the flame of torment.
11:31
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 94.18
… “And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” To which he added this testimony: “For if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?” How then shall the wicked be with Thee, if Thou dost not even spare Thy faithful, in order that Thou mayest exercise and teach them?
11:1
1. A deceitful balance (St. Ambrose, book III On Duties, chapter ix, reads an adulterous one) is an abomination before the Lord: and a just weight is his will. "Will," that is, what is willed, what is pleasing and acceptable to God. It is a metonymy; for the abstract is put for the concrete, the faculty for its object. The Hebrew, Aquila and Symmachus read: a deceitful balance is an abomination of the Lord; and a perfect or complete stone, or weight, is his will or acceptableness; stone, that is, a perfect weight, as Aquila translated it, and full, as Symmachus. For in former times stones were used as weights, as they still do in some places. There exists a law of the Emperor Valens, by which he commanded that public measures and weights be made of bronze or stone, so that they might not easily wear away and diminish; whence now they are commonly made of iron or bronze. For this reason the Septuagint clearly translates: a deceitful balance is an abomination of the Lord; and a just weight is acceptable to him; the Syriac version: he loves just weights. According to the letter, the sense is manifest. For he commands that in buying, selling, and in every exchange, distribution and contract of things, just measure be used; neither let the buyer add anything, nor the seller take away. The reason is that justice consists in precise arithmetical equality; wherefore the mean of justice consists in the indivisible, namely that you give precisely as much as you owe by justice, whereas in other virtues the mean has breadth; for example, temperance dictates that you eat a pound of food more or less; if therefore you take somewhat more or somewhat less, you do not depart from the mean of the virtue of temperance. Whence Aristotle, book V of the Ethics, chapter vii, says that the whole essence of law and justice consists in equilibrium, and therefore justice is the same among all peoples, although laws and statutes are different; just as the method of measuring and weighing is the same among all, although measures (to which laws are likened) are different. Furthermore, God repeatedly commanded the Jews to observe equality in weights and measures, and forbade by grave penalties their diminution and alteration through fraud; as through Moses in Deuteronomy xxv, 14, through Amos chapter viii, 5, through Hosea chapter xii, 7, through Micah chapter vi, 11, through Ezekiel chapter xlv, 10; because fraud in measures and weights disturbs the contracts and commerce of men, and overturns their society, civil life and the commonwealth; for the whole commonwealth rests upon justice, which is therefore the basis and pillar of the state. When therefore you take away justice from the commonwealth, you take away the sun from the world, and blind it, confound it and destroy it. Take away justice, and you have taken away all that is honorable, all that is holy. For this reason at Rome in the Capitol there exists a standard of amphorae, feet, and other measures and weights, so that they cannot be corrupted and diminished by any fraud. Wherefore St. Augustine, sermon 216 On the Seasons: "Truly," he says, "he is not only a Christian, but Christ himself dwells in him, who fears deceitful balances and double measures as the sword of the devil." And the Council of Mainz decrees: "That whoever shall dare to change just weights and measures for the sake of gain, let him do penance for thirty days on bread and water alone." Symbolically, the balance is a symbol of justice. Therefore Solomon here decrees the same thing that Pythagoras did by his hieroglyph. "Do not transgress the balance," says Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Stromata, namely that in all things we observe justice, equity and equality, so that in judgment, in the distribution of goods or burdens, or in any similar matter, we do not adjudge the cause to a friend and deprive an enemy of his right; so that we do not prefer the rich to the poor, the noble to the ignoble, the kinsman or fellow-citizen to the stranger, etc. Thus also Bede brings forth this sense as almost literal: "A deceitful balance," he says, "is understood not only in the measurement of money, but in judicial discretion. For he who hears the cause of the poor differently, the cause of the powerful differently, the cause of a friend differently, and hears the unknown differently, certainly balances with an unjust balance." Indeed in Canon Law 45, Canon x Omnis, from St. Isidore, book III of the Sentences, chapter lii, it is thus decreed: "Whoever judges justly carries a balance in his hand. In both weights (in both pans, namely in absolving and condemning) he carries justice and mercy; but by justice he renders the sentence of sin, by mercy he tempers the punishment of sin, so that by just balance he corrects some things by equity, and some things he pardons by compassion." Hence also justice is depicted as a virgin with veiled eyes, holding a balance in her hand, and balancing the weights of both pans equally. Wherefore Pompey, when the Parthian king Phraates requested that the Euphrates should be the boundary of Roman dominion, replied: "Rather, that which should be requested is that the boundaries of the Romans be separated from the Parthian kingdom by justice," as Plutarch testifies in the Roman Apophthegms. And the Emperor Trajan gave a drawn sword to the prefect of the City in the sight of all, saying: "Take this sword; and if indeed I shall have governed the empire rightly, use it for me; but if otherwise, use it against me." Thus Nicephorus, book III of History, chapter xxiii. But Alphonsus, king of Aragon, compared princes neglecting justice to those falling with the comitial disease: "For since, he says, the matter of the soul is justice alone by which it tends toward life, what remains to princes when justice is taken away, which is as it were the nourishment and food of life?" Thus the Panormitan concerning the sayings of Alphonsus. Tropologically Bede: "But also he, he says, who judges his own good deeds better than those of his neighbors, and his own errors lighter, weighs with a deceitful balance. And not only he who imposes unbearable burdens upon the shoulders of men; but he himself is unwilling to touch them with one finger. He also who acts good and evil things in public in secret, on account of iniquity is abhorred by the Lord with a deceitful balance. But he who acts sincerely in all things, who discerns cause and cause with an equal balance, he truly agrees with the will and action of a just judge." Moreover Hugo, by the balance first, understands the judgment of reason, which is right and sincere, when in it true things outweigh false things, honest things base things, holy things profane things, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus xxi: "The words of the prudent shall be weighed in a balance;" but deceitful and perverted, when he esteems profane things more than holy things, base things than honest things, false things than true things. Thus also the author of the Greek Catena: "The balance, he says, in a more sublime sense is the power of discerning and judging, which, since it exists in us by nature, ought to be free from all perverted affection and disturbance of mind." Secondly, says Hugo, there is the balance of love, in which, if the balance of the love of God be right and sincere, it outweighs the love of the world; but if deceitful and corrupted, the love of the world surpasses the love of God. Thirdly, the balance is the heart of man, in one pan of which is weighed present happiness and eternal punishment; in the other present tribulation and eternal happiness, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus xv: "He hath set before thee water and fire; stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt. Before man is life and death, good and evil; that which he shall choose shall be given him." Fourthly, there is the balance of Holy Scripture, which is right and produces orthodox faith, if thou receive it according to the unanimous sense of the Church and of the holy Fathers; but deceitful, if thou distort it to the errors of heretics or philosophers. Thus St. Augustine, book II, chapter vi, against the Donatists. And it is found in 24, Question I, canon vi: "Let us not bring, he says, deceitful balances, where we may weigh what we will, and how we will according to our own judgment, saying: This is heavy, that is light; but let us bring the divine balance from the holy Scriptures, and in that let us weigh what is heavier, or rather let us not weigh, but let us know what has been weighed by the Lord." And below: "I see, he says, what men detest, what they abhor; nevertheless, recurring to that balance, where all things are weighed not from human sense, but from divine authority," etc. Fifthly, the balance is conscience, which is right when it follows the law of God and eternal reasons; but deceitful, when it pursues the painted reasons of the flesh, pretexts and frauds. Whence the Apostle calls and cites the Gentiles, who lack the law, to this tribunal of right conscience, Romans ii, 15: "Who show, he says, the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them, and their thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men;" then indeed right conscience shall come to light, and shall condemn the deceitful. Whence St. Isidore in Deuteronomy chapter xii: "It is forbidden, he says, that in the house of our conscience we have double measures, that is, that we ourselves, presuming to soften the rule of strictness with more remiss indulgence, burden those to whom we preach the word of God with stricter precepts and heavier burdens than they themselves are able to bear." Sixth, St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 19 to Constantius: "Let each one, he says, weigh his words not with fraud and deceit. A false balance is disapproved by God; I do not speak of that balance which weighs another's merchandise, and in which falsehood is rarely found in trivial matters; but the balance of words itself is execrable before God, which pretends to the weight of sober gravity, and appends little words of fraudulence. God condemns this especially, if anyone deceives his neighbor by the pretense of promised kindness, and oppresses him with crafty iniquity through usury, gaining nothing for himself by the arts of his cunning." Seventh, a balance is the mind of man, in which the scales are reason and sense, will and desire. Likewise man himself, in whom the scales are soul and body. Thus St. Basil in that passage: "Attend to yourself: For as, he says, it happens in balances that if you press down one pan, you raise up the other opposite to it; in a similar way it is accustomed to happen in mind and body: the overflowing abundance of one necessarily diminishes the other." To this pertains that passage from Psalm 61:10: "But verily the children of men are vain, the children of men are liars in balances, that they may deceive from vanity into the same," that is, as St. Jerome translates it, verily the vanity of the son of Adam, the lie of the son of man, in deceitful balances they act fraudulently together. And Theodotion: "The sons of men are vapors, the lie of the son of man, like the weight of a balance, which is now borne upward, now downward. Upon which words St. Basil: "Liars, he says, men having corrupted judgments of soul, whom the Prophet also declares to be wretched, saying: Woe to those who call darkness light, and light darkness, bitter sweet, and sweet bitter. To me, you say, let present things be given, who knows the future? You weigh the balance badly, choosing evils for goods, preferring vain things to true things, esteeming momentary things as better than perpetual things, finally choosing transitory pleasure before joy that never ceases and is perpetual. Liars therefore are men in the balance of iniquity." And soon after: "For neither in that day of judgment will it be permitted you to say: Because I knew not what was good. For to you is given your own balance, which suffices to show the distinction of good and evil. For we prove bodily weights in the pans of the balance, but those things which come to be chosen for the institution of life, we discern through free will; which he also named a balance, because it can bear equal weight toward either pan." And upon the same psalm Rufinus: "There are, he says, liars, the sons of men in balances, that is in the balance of justice, in the deliberation of good and evil, while they outweigh good with evil. This was said from the likeness of those who in balances in which justice seems to be, deceive buyers." And St. Hilary: "Liars, he says, because by the sense of their impiety they are either deceived or deceive; and in this they are liars, so that they deceive in balances, namely performing unjust things under the name of justice." And Theodoret: "Vain indeed, he says, all human things are; yet many trust in fleeting things as if they were perpetual, who despise equity; but they hold the balance of an iniquitous mind, and they despise justice indeed, but rejoice in injustice." And Cassiodorus: "Liars, the sons of men in balances: Whether he touches those, he says, who with unjust weights deceive the simplicity of buyers, or because men pleasing themselves, wish to seem just and immovable, when they are deceitful through deceptive mutability. For in balances this signifies, as if placed in the balance of justice, they are not believed to love falsehood." And St. Ambrose upon the same Psalm 61: "Liars, the sons of men in balances: For the sons of men, he says, seem to themselves to weigh equity, and to examine justice with the weight of a more severe judgment, harsh to others, remiss in unjust works, censors in speech. Whence Solomon says, Proverbs 11: A double weight is abominable to the Lord, and a false balance is not good." Anagogically St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 19 to Constantius: "There hangs, he says, through each of us a balance of merits, and by the small moments of either good work or degenerate wickedness it is often inclined hither and thither; if evils weigh down, alas for me! if goods, pardon is at hand. For no one is immune from sin, but where goods outweigh, sins are lifted up, overshadowed, covered. Therefore on the day of judgment either our works will help us, or they themselves will plunge us into the depths like those pressed down by a millstone. For iniquity is heavy, as being supported by a talent of lead, intolerable avarice, and all pride, foul fraudulence."
11:2
Moreover, this ignominy is twofold, passive and active. Passive, that is to say, pride is hateful to God and to men; therefore the proud are despised by all, reproached, cast down, and afflicted with ignominy and insults; on the other hand, humility is pleasing and honored by God and by men, and therefore the humble man truly is wise: and where humility is, there also is wisdom, because true wisdom is to please God and men through humility. Again, that is to say, the proud man is wounded and afflicted by contempt of himself, by ignominy and contumely, because when he seeks to be honored, he grieves greatly when he is despised, mocked, and assailed with reproaches; but the humble man humbly and wisely bears, or even dissembles, the contempt, mockery and insults directed at him; indeed he rejoices in them: for he rejoices in his own humiliation, and he rejoices also in the tranquility and peace of mind, which is found nowhere save in humility. The proud therefore through pride bring contumely upon themselves; the humble, however, through wise endurance of contumely, procure for themselves honor and glory. As therefore humility is true wisdom, and the humble man is truly wise, and therefore honored: so on the other hand pride is mere folly, and the proud man is truly foolish, and therefore despised. It is a metalepsis, catachresis and metonymy, frequent in these antitheses: for from the antecedent and cause the consequent and effect are understood, and conversely from the effect the cause: for instance from pride folly, from folly contempt; and conversely from humility wisdom, from wisdom dignity and honor. Whence St. Augustine on Psalm 2: "Be," he says, "humble in thy humble God, that thou mayest be exalted in thy glorified Lord God." And below: "You know that He is exalted; if thou makest thyself exalted, He will withdraw far from thee; if thou humblest thyself, He will draw near to thee." The same, tract. 104 on John: "Humility," he says, "is the merit of brightness, brightness is the reward of humility." Active is the ignominy of the proud, that is to say, where there is pride, there is the proud man's contempt, mockery and contumely of others. For the proud, from the arrogance by which they despise others in comparison with themselves, despise them, mock them, and assail them with insults: just as clouds swollen and heavy with vapors burst forth into hail, thunder and lightning. Pride therefore begets contempt and contumely; but the humble do not set themselves above anyone, but place themselves below all: and therefore they are truly esteemed as wise, that is, humble and endowed with virtue, and on account of this humility and wisdom are honored and loved by all. Thus Aben-Ezra. This sense coheres with the former, and is its cause. The full sense therefore will be, if thou join the active ignominy to the passive in this manner, that is to say, the proud man on account of his arrogance is despised by others and afflicted with contumely, and therefore in turn he despises them and afflicts them with contumely, and quarrels and contends with them in reproaches, that he may overcome: thus the author of the Greek Catena. But the humble man, when he is despised and vexed with insults, remains silent humbly, dissembles wisely, and in return for insults offers words of wisdom, by which he makes manifest his patience and charity, and strives to soften, calm and draw into his love those who are angry and hurl insults, and to lead them to the fear of God; wherefore now by modest admonition, now by gentle address, now by mild consolation, he mitigates their anger, turns aside their contumely, and obtains their love and good will. Note here that pride is fittingly punished with ignominy, while humility is crowned with glory, because it is fitting that those who exalt themselves be humbled, and those who humble themselves be exalted, as Christ says. Wherefore God is accustomed to punish the proud either by error in their counsels or by misfortune in their outcomes, as Jansenius says; but He bestows upon the humble wisdom by which they conduct themselves prudently, and from this they obtain the name and glory of wisdom from all, whereas on the contrary the proud man rashly undertakes ambitious things beyond his capacity, and therefore, when he is unable to satisfy them, he is condemned by others for temerity and foolishness. For he begins to build a tower, that is, a great thing, without calculating the necessary expenses, and when he cannot complete it, all who see it mock him, saying: "Because this man began to build, and was not able to finish." Thus concerning kings who proudly wish to decide the matter in battle with Nebuchadnezzar, Habakkuk says, chapter 1, verse 10: "The tyrants thereof shall be a laughing-stock," that is, he will explode proud princes daring to contend with him with laughter and hissing. Whence St. Augustine, on that passage of Psalm 37: "My bruises have become putrid," (for thus he himself reads it, for which we read, my scars) from the face of my foolishness. If you shall be humble, he says, you shall be raised up; if you shall be lifted up, you shall be bent down: for God will not lack the weight by which to bend you. That weight will be the bundle of your sins; this will be returned upon your head, and you shall be bent down. The same, at the beginning of book I of the City of God, teaches that pride constitutes the city of the devil, while humility constitutes the city of God, and therefore it transcends the dignity of all princes. "For I know," he says, "what strength is needed to persuade the proud how great is the virtue of humility, by which it comes to pass that all earthly heights, wavering in temporal instability, transcend not by human arrogance usurped, but by divine grace bestowed, loftiness." And he proves this from that passage: "God resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace," James 4:6, and 1 Peter 5:5. See the sayings there. The same St. Augustine in the Gospel according to Matthew, sermon 10, explaining that saying of Christ, Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart: "You wish to be great," he says, "begin from the least. You think to establish a great structure of loftiness; first think of the foundation of humility." Therefore humility is the foundation of height and glory. He gives the reason in the last homily among 50: "In visible things indeed," he says, "so that anyone might reach the lofty, he is raised on high; but God, since He is the most excellent of all, is reached not by elation but by humility. Whence it is said through the Prophet: The Lord is nigh to them that are of a contrite heart. And again: The Lord is high, and looketh on the low things, and the high things he knoweth afar off. The high things themselves he put in place of the proud. Those therefore he looketh on, that he may lift up; these he knoweth, that he may depress and cast down." The same, sermon 49 On the Seasons: "Better," he says, "is a humble sinner than a proud just man." And sermon 213: "By the steps of humility," he says, "one ascends to the summit of heaven, because God the most high is reached not by pride but by humility, etc. Let us learn humility, by which we shall be able to draw near to God; as He Himself says in the Gospel: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest to your souls, Matthew chapter 11. By pride the wonderful creature of the Angels fell from heaven; by humility the frailty of human nature ascended to heaven. For the practice of humility is honorable among men, as Solomon says: Where pride is, there also shall contumely be; but where humility is, there also is wisdom. Likewise another wise man: The greater you are, he says, the more humble yourself in all things, and before God you shall find grace. Likewise God through the Prophet says: But to whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my words? Whosoever is not humble and quiet cannot have the grace of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. God became humble for the sake of our salvation; let proud man be ashamed to be proud. As much as the heart is inclined downward by humility, so much does it profit in the lofty. For he that shall be humble shall be exalted in glory."
11:3
The sense is plain, namely: The integrity of the just shall direct them, so that in their undertakings they may have prosperous success, and the frauds, deceits and snares of the impious they shall pass through unharmed. But truly the wickedness of the impious, by which they strive to supplant others, shall lay waste to themselves, because they shall fall into the snare which they have set for others, and shall be caught by their own deceits and frauds; the perversity which they have devised against others shall recoil upon their own head; and they shall incur the same or similar destruction, God avenging. This is what St. Jerome says, in his epistle to Pammachius: the simple are safe among deceivers. Deceivers are scourges within whose rods a dagger lies hidden, as Servius says in the seventh book of the Aeneid. Deceivers are so called from deceiving, in that they deceive with iron, while presenting the appearance of wood. And St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 19: "Good," he says, "is the sincerity of pure speech, and rich before God, even if it walk among snares." And St. Macarius, homily 40: "The serpent indeed, being slippery, slips through the very hands, the dove flying above despises the nets; but the simple man easily escapes deceits and frauds, that is to say: As easily as the serpent by its slipperiness escapes from hands, and the dove flying above passes over the nets, so easily shall the just escape the deceits and frauds laid for him, both because he is directed by God, and because he has learned and put into practice that saying of Christ: 'Be ye wise as serpents, and simple as doves,' Matthew x." Finally, Ecclesiasticus chapter xxvii, verse 28: "A deceitful wound," he says, "divideth the wounds of the deceitful, and he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and he that setteth a stone for his neighbour, shall stumble upon it; and he that layeth a snare for another, shall perish in it," as Haman was hanged upon the cross which he had prepared for Mordecai. See the remarks there. Excellently St. Augustine in Psalm cxxiii: "Therefore," he says, "the greater robber seeks thee, because he found a lesser robber; therefore the greater eagle seeks thee, because thou didst first seize the hare; the lesser prey was thine, thou shalt be prey to the greater." Thus Rabbi Solomon, Rabbi Levi and Aben-Ezra. Finally we see God directing and protecting the simple and sincere, and often driving the fraudulent into the snares which they have set for the sincere. The reason is that the sincere draw near to God, who is most simple and most sincere; hence also "the simplicity of things is a vestige of God," as St. Augustine teaches, in the book On True Religion. The same, book XI of the City of God, chapter x: "There is therefore," he says, "only one good that is simple, and for this reason alone immutable, which is God. From this good all things have been created, but not simple, and for this reason mutable. Created indeed, I say, that is made, not begotten. For what is begotten from simple good is likewise simple." And soon after: "The Father who begat is simple, and the Son who was begotten is likewise simple; but he is called simple for this reason, that what he has, that he is, except that each person is spoken of relatively to the other." And St. Bernard, sermon 80 in the Song of Songs, thus describes the simplicity of God: "In it many things are reduced to one, and diverse things to the same, so that it does not take on plurality from the multitude of things, nor feel alteration from variety. It contains all places, and ordains each in its own place, being contained in no place. Times pass under it, not it under times. It does not await the future, does not recall the past, does not experience the present." And sermon 81: "He who gives in simplicity," he says, "is loved by God, and simplicity is brightness; for a blemish is duplicity: what is duplicity but deceit?" And soon after: "The Bridegroom therefore, and though he be virtue, takes pleasure in himself in the virtues; and though he be a lily, dwells among lilies; and though he be brightness, delights in the bright." And sermon 82: "Simplicity remains in the foundation altogether unshaken, but is by no means apparent when covered by the duplicity of human deceitfulness." Mystically, the supplanting of the perverse, namely by which they perversely supplant and subject the mind and reason to concupiscence, shall destroy them, because they make reason, which is mistress, a servant; and concupiscence, which is servant, they make mistress. Thus the head is in the feet, and the feet in the head. To this applies the fable of the fowler and the viper in Aesop: "The fowler," he says, "having taken birdlime and reeds, went out to fowl; but seeing a thrush sitting on a high tree, and having joined the reeds together lengthwise, he looked up to seize it. But being ignorant, he trod upon a sleeping viper. This one, being angered, bit him. He, now giving up the ghost, said: Wretched me, for while seeking to catch another, I myself have been caught by another unto death. The moral. The fable signifies those who lay snares for their neighbours, often suffer the same from others in ignorance."
11:4
Whence the Chaldean translates, mendacity does not profit (mendacious and deceitful riches, and the hope of the rich placed in them) in the day of wrath; but justice truly liberates from evil death. "Justice therefore shall liberate from death," which the just man awaits coming with equanimity, sustains as it approaches, and admits as the beginning of a better life. He therefore lives when he dies, and though outwardly conquered by death, he conquers and treads upon death itself, and making it as it were a footstool of his feet, grasps immortal life: nor does he liberate only himself, but also others from death. For thus the body of Eliseus, being touched while dead, recalled him from death to life, IV Kings xiii. So living, so efficacious is justice. Similar to this sentence is the maxim cap. x, vers. 2: "The treasures of impiety shall profit nothing." And that one Eccles. cap. v, vers. 10: "Be not anxious in unjust riches; for they shall not profit thee in the day of darkness and vengeance." See the things said there. And that of Tobias cap. xii, vers. 9: "Alms deliver from death, and the same is that which purges sins, and causes mercy and eternal life to be found." The Greek codices here insert another maxim, which is not in the Hebrew, nor in the Latin, namely this: "The just man dying left repentance (the Complutensians wrongly read, the penitent); but easy and pleasant becomes the destruction of the impious." Which you should expound thus, as if to say: The just in this life perform repentance, but at death they bid it farewell, because through it they pass to glory; or, as Didymus in the Catena of the Greeks: The just man dying leaves mourning and lamentation to others, because others grieve and sorrow over his death; but the impious who spend their days in goods, begin late repentance in death, and therefore shall continue it through all eternity; wherefore their repentance and destruction becomes pleasant to the just whom they afflicted, according to that: "The just shall rejoice when he shall see the vengeance of the sinner."
11:5
Secondly and genuinely, as if to say: Justice directs the ways, that is the actions, of the just, that is it makes them fortunate and prosperous, so that they walk unharmed through all dangers, and happy obtain the success of their affairs with God favoring; but truly the impious on account of his impiety shall strike against many adversities and losses, and shall fall into many misfortunes, so that all things seem to rebound against his shins, as is commonly said. Thus to direct is taken for to make fortunate and prosperous in Psalm. cxxxix, 12: "A man of a deceitful tongue shall not be directed," that is shall not prosper, "in the earth." And elsewhere often, especially in the Psalms. Thus R. Levi, Hugo, Jansenius and others. Furthermore, I take justice here again properly and broadly, because impiety is opposed to it; Baynus however and our Salazar through justice understand alms alone, as if you were to say: Alms makes the almsgiver prosper, and directs him by a right way to heaven; but impiety, that is avarice, by which someone is impious toward the poor, causes the impious to fall into evils and into hell itself. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 9 On Repentance, teaches that alms is the straight and royal way to heaven: "Alms, he says, is a royal way, which brings men most swiftly to the axes of the heavens. A great thing is alms (see how straight it goes to heaven), it precedes the air, crosses the moon, exceeds the rays of the sun, comes to the very summit of the heavens, passing through the heavens themselves, and running down through the peoples of Angels, and the choirs of Archangels and all the superior powers, it stands by the royal throne itself." And St. Augustine, serm. 25 On the Words of the Lord: "The way to heaven, he says, is the poor man, through whom one comes to the Father. Begin therefore to distribute, if you do not wish to go astray. Loose the shackle of your patrimony by which you are bound, so that free you may be able to ascend to heaven."
11:6
Whence Cajetan understands liberation from prison and bonds, according to that of St. Chrysostom, homily 7 On Repentance: "Alms breaks chains, loosens darkness, extinguishes fire, opens prison." The same, hom. On Riches and Poverty, teaches that alms liberates from the love of riches, by which as by a bond the avaricious are bound, so that they appear bound to their riches as slaves and chained together. Whence our Salazar expounds "and in their own snares shall the wicked be taken" thus, as if to say: The avaricious and unjust hoarders of money shall be captured in their own snares, that is in their own riches unjustly and wickedly acquired; which indeed is a servitude and captivity of money greater than that of iron bonds. Whence St. Chrysostom, hom. 43 in the epistle I to the Corinthians: "When, he says, we shall be bound by riches, how shall we overcome adversaries? For they are a heavy bond to those who know not how to use them, a savage tyrant and inhuman, commanding all things to the destruction of those who serve him; but if we shall wish it, we shall hurl these bonds and this bitter tyranny from its seat. But how shall this be done? if we distribute riches to all: for when Plutus shall be alone against the alone, as a certain robber in solitude does all evils; but when we shall have brought him into the midst, he shall no longer overcome us, all binding him round about on every side." This sense is subtle and pious, but narrower, and more symbolic than literal: for take literally both whatever justice of the upright, and whatever snares of the impious.
11:7
The conjunction and is either a mark of similitude joining like things, having the same force as thus; or it is exegetical and explanatory, having the same force as that is. In the first acceptation the sense is, as if to say: Just as in death all hope of the wicked man perishes, both of present life, to which he cannot return, and of eternal life, from which he is excluded; so likewise all hope and expectation of anxious men, that is, of those who eagerly and anxiously covet riches and honors, shall perish in death, indeed often before death. In the latter manner the sense is, as if to say: When the wicked man dies, or when he is dead, no hope remains to him, and, that is, this is, the expectation of the anxious, who have greedily and eagerly coveted the goods of the world contrary to or beyond God's law, shall perish. For in death life perishes, and with life all the hope of the wicked, who in this life are anxious to accumulate riches, as if they were to live here forever. It is signified therefore, says Jansenius, that through death the wicked man is cut off and irreparably deprived of what he was accustomed to hope for and desire, namely riches, glory and all the happiness of this life, so that the same thing is signified here as through the Prophet: "They have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands." And: "His glory shall not descend with him." And elsewhere: "There are remnants for the peaceful man. But the unjust shall perish utterly, and the remnants of the wicked shall perish together," because after death nothing remains to him. According to the spiritual understanding it is also rightly understood to be signified here that the wicked man has no hope of pardon after death, because in hell there is no redemption. R. Solomon indeed says: "The expectation of the anxious, in Hebrew אונים onim, that is, of the sons, the hope, which is their strength and riches, shall perish and become vain; for on account of the parents' demerits they shall enjoy no good things. But when the just man shall have finished his life, his offspring shall have something to hope for, on account of the parents' justice." Aben-Ezra: "The expectation of the wicked," he says, "by which they hoped to do wicked things, shall become vain." R. Levi, as if to say: "The wicked man almost wholly dies; the hope also which he had placed in his remarkable strength and power shall vanish. Or as if to say: When the wicked man dies, the hope shall cease by which his friends had promised themselves sure protection from his strength and resources. The expectation also, by which they trusted that he would be able to bring present aid, shall fall to nothing: for when he has finished his life, all strength and power shall perish." He alludes to Benjamin whom his mother Rachel, eagerly straining in childbirth, dying in pain called Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow; but his father Jacob called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right hand, as if to say: Just as Rachel, most desirous of children, paid the price of this desire of hers with death; for she died in giving birth to Benjamin, and therefore called him Benoni; so likewise the expectation of onim, that is, of the anxious, that is, of those who eagerly covet, and therefore grieve and sigh, shall perish, indeed shall destroy them themselves: for what is eagerly sought from love is acquired with pain, and is lost with sorrow, which often so afflicts and torments a man that it takes his life. Furthermore the Septuagint, if indeed an error has not crept into their codices, translate contrarily, so as to express the hidden antithesis here; for thus they have it: where the just man dies, he does not lose hope, but the boasting and glorying of the wicked perishes after death, as if to say: The just man dying does not lose the hope of a better life, but sends it ahead through the good works which he did in life: for these shall receive him after death in heaven and make him blessed; but all the hopes of the wicked which he had placed in riches, friends and his dignity, and of which he boasted and gloried, shall vanish in death along with the very life in which they were founded. Whence the author of the Catena of the Greeks thus expounds through examples: "The just man hoped to receive a comely offspring from a lawful wife, and behold he receives it; he hoped that the offspring received would be endowed with great honors and many riches, and behold it is so endowed. The same may be established of other similar things. Indeed this discourse can also be transferred to the future life and resurrection; for it indicates that the just man, having enjoyed all good things here, shall not be defrauded of the hope of future goods; or after death shall be not only glorious and celebrated in himself, but also in his children. But the glory of the wicked, in which they have often vainly gloried, and in which they have almost placed their end, shall be vain and momentary."
11:8
This sentence can be explained in two ways. First, strictly, that is to say, God often delivers the just man from the evil which the impious man prepares for him, and causes the impious man to suffer the punishment of retaliation, and to incur the evil which he prepared for the just man: as Haman incurred the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai; the enemies of Daniel incurred the jaws of the lions which they had prepared for Daniel; the elders, adulterers, incurred the stoning which they had plotted against Susanna, Daniel xiii. Second, broadly, that is to say, the just man is afflicted and distressed for a short time in this life, but soon God puts an end to his affliction and delivers him; but the impious He permits to rejoice and to rule for a short time, but soon He puts an end to their joy, and causes them to enter into the distresses which succeeded the just. For these things properly belong to and are owed to the impious, so that with him as with a guilty man subject to himself, and his own subject, they always endure. This often happens in life, always in death, when the just, freed from the distresses of this life, fly away into paradise; but the impious enter into those same distresses to be tormented perpetually in hell. The Septuagint translates, the just man ἀπὸ θήρας, that is, from hunting or capture, is delivered; but in his place the iniquitous shall be delivered, that is to say, the rich man hunts the poor just man; but the just man is snatched from his snares and plots by God, and the rich man falls into the same, while another more powerful hunts and devours him, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus xiii, 23: "The hunting of the lion, the wild ass in the desert; so also the pastures of the rich are the poor." Whence the author of the Greek Catena reads: "The just man, lest he become the prey of plunderers, is delivered; but in his place the impious shall be delivered into captivity." Where Didymus says: The just man, he says, always turning over the divine law in his mind, and delighting himself in it, is both snatched from the snares of death and freed from the plots of hunters and demons, and finally is guarded from every seditious and turbulent word. But the impious is delivered and cast into those same troubles. And if the just man as a man should sometimes fall, he immediately rises again and emerges. And further below: Or is this said because the just man as a man was subject to any harms, which the impious man through unjust vexation inflicted upon him, and as it were extinguished; and thus the just man is freed from the punishment which he would have suffered in the other age; but he himself through unjust vexation binds himself to the debt of certain punishment; but the impious is subjected to this punishment by no one other than by himself, and by his own malice, as one who had already before of his own accord cast himself into a reprobate mind.
11:9
The Septuagint translates, in the mouth of the impious there is a snare for the citizens, but the sense of the just proceeds prosperously; or, but the sense of the just is happy and fortunate. They say in reality the same thing as the Vulgate: for the snare of the mouth of the impious is nothing other than simulation, hypocrisy and flattery; but the just, endowed with sense and wisdom, either escape these snares prosperously and happily, or dissipate them.
11:10
Moreover, this is no small commendation of virtue and condemnation of vice, that all applaud virtue and all insult vice: for the voice of the people is the voice of God. Whence Aristotle, in book V of the Morals, chapter 1, teaches that the voice of the people contains firm truth, similar to that which oracles have. For exults, Symmachus translates, ἀγαλλείσονται πόλεις, that is, the cities shall exult; Theodotion, εὐφρανθήσονται, that is, shall rejoice; the Syrian, the city shall be strengthened; the Septuagint, κατώρθωσε, which the Complutensian editors translate, the city conducted itself rightly, namely because it imitated the example of the virtue of the just; the Roman, it conducted itself well; the author of the Greek Catena clearly, in the prosperous success of the just the city flourishes and thrives; but in the destruction of the impious exultation and applause arise. So also the Complutensian and Chaldean; the Zurich, when it is well with the just, the city exults; and when the impious perish, it rejoices. There is therefore an antithesis of the object of joy and exultation, namely that the city exults in the goods of the pious, and grieves at their evils; but grieves at the goods of the impious, and exults at their evils. Cajetan for there shall be praise translates, there shall be song: namely the life of the just is as it were a song, which recreates all, and excites them to similar study of virtue with festive applause; but the wicked man while he lives offends all, and therefore when he dies, thus all his mourning and funeral rites so recreate all, that they celebrate those with songs, often composed for public rejoicings with verses.
11:11
You ask, what is the "blessing of the just"? I answer first: Blessing here, as often elsewhere, can be taken for an abundance and affluence of things; for the just, when they are wealthy, are beneficent toward their fellow citizens, and they adorn and exalt the city with colleges, monasteries, temples, and other magnificent buildings; so that blessing is the same as the goods of the just, in which he said the city exults in the preceding verse. Thus the author of the Catena of the Greeks, as if to say: The wealth of the just exalts the citizens and the city, and makes it splendid and magnificent; but truly the words of the impious subvert it. He sets the mouth against wealth, because the mouth of the impious is so perverse that it is equivalent to, indeed surpasses, the wealth of the just; for it destroys more than that builds. Add that the wealthy are almost always chosen for magistracy, and to preside over and govern the city; wherefore when the just are wealthy, they are chosen for magistracy, and then by their just and sound counsels and laws they exalt the city; but truly the mouth, that is, the rule, of the impious subverts it; because while the impious rule in it, by their impious decrees, exactions, and robberies they subvert it. For mouth often signifies command and rule; as when the Prophets so often repeat: "The mouth of the Lord hath spoken," that is, the Lord hath commanded this which we say. Second, blessing is the same as beneficence; for to speak is the property of God and the Saints, and therefore the same as to do: what they say, this they do. Thus the sense will be, as if to say: The just by their beneficence and alms sustain and magnify the city; but the impious by their mouth, that is, by their curse equally as by their maleficence overturn it. Third, more properly and genuinely, blessing is a good prayer, and to bless is to pray well, as if to say: When the just pray well for the city, God hears their prayers, and does well for the city, and exalts it; but the impious by their mouth cursing both God and the citizens, deserve that God subvert it. Thus the impious citizens of Sodom deserved it to be subverted by fire; but Lot, fleeing from Sodom to Segor, by his prayer and blessing freed it from the fire to which it was likewise destined, Gen. xix, 21. Thus Jacob, Gen. xlix, and Moses, Deuter. xxxiii, dying and blessing Israel, heaped it with goods. Thus God preserved Jerusalem from the destruction of Sennacherib, on account of the prayers of Isaias and Ezechias, Isaias cap. xxxvii; and blessed Solomon and the Jews on account of David, according to that: "For David thy servant's sake turn not away the face of thy Christ," Psal. cxxxi, 10. Thus St. Gregory by his litanies freed the city from a grievous plague. This is what the Wise man says, cap. vi, 26: "The multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world." Fourth, more fully, the blessing of the just are their good counsels, admonitions, words, examples, by which they teach the ignorant, console the sorrowful, correct those in error, and strive to lead all to virtue and to God. By these the city is exalted; while by "the mouth of the impious," that is, by evil counsels, quarrels, brawls, seditions, deceits, etc., it is overturned, according to that saying of Plutarch in his Morals: "By the deceit and treachery of one tongue cities have fallen, kingdoms, republics. This is what Ecclesiasticus says, cap. xxviii, 16: "A third tongue hath disquieted many, and scattered them from nation to nation, destroyed the strong cities of the rich." See the sayings there. Hugo adds that by blessing is understood the eloquence and efficacy of speech, which the Saints have, by which they sometimes free cities and kingdoms from destruction. Thus St. Leo by his eloquence and gravity of speech restrained Attila, lest he lay waste Rome; and persuaded Genseric, already occupying Rome, to refrain from its burning, outrages and slaughter. Thus St. Gregory by his modest and humble suavity of speech reconciled the Emperor Mauritius and other princes offended with him and the City. Thus St. Bernard in the schism of Peter Leonis, by his grace in speaking and acting, bound the King of England and other magnates to Innocent II, the legitimate Pontiff, and his Church, and removed the schism. In a similar manner Religious excelling in wisdom and eloquence celebrated and exalted their Orders and monasteries: as they celebrated the Order of St. Benedict—Gregory VII, Leo IX, Victor II, Urban II, and very many others, who from it were raised to the Pontificate on account of wisdom and virtue. St. Bernard celebrated the Cistercian Order, St. Thomas Aquinas the Dominican, St. Vincent Ferrerius, Peter Tarantasius, who created Pontiff was called Benedict XI, and others; St. Bonaventure the Franciscan, Alexander of Hales, John Duns Scotus, and others.
11:12
The meaning therefore is, as if to say, "He who despises his friend from his heart," that is, as the Hebrew has it, his neighbor, because he notes in him some vice or defect, and therefore speaks of him with contempt in his mouth, disparages, depresses, casts down; "lacks heart," that is, understanding, judgment and wisdom, that is, he is foolish and senseless, as Vatablus translates it; both because he provokes his neighbor and incites him to despise him in turn and speak of him contemptuously; and because wisdom teaches that vices ought to be concealed, but virtues proclaimed; and because by the just judgment of God it comes to pass that by the measure with which we have measured, it shall be measured back to us, according to that saying of Isaiah xxxiii, 1: "Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself be spoiled?" and because this contempt arises from pride, by which he esteems himself wise and another foolish, as Rabbi Levi says; but pride is foolishness. Hugo adds that he lacks heart, that is, the compassion of heart, sympathy and gentleness, which teaches that the vices of others ought to be concealed and cured by secret and gentle correction, Galatians vi, 1. But a wise man shall hold his peace. In Hebrew, a man of understandings or prudences, that is, very understanding and prudent, shall hold his peace; the Septuagint, but a prudent man holds silence; the Syriac, dwells in silence, as if in the chamber of his heart, of his peace and tranquility, as if to say: The senseless man proclaims the vices of his neighbor when he despises, mocks, and assails him with reproaches; but the prudent man dissembles the vices of his neighbor, nay, when he is despised by the senseless man and assailed with reproaches, he does not return reproaches but suffers and is silent. He who does this is truly a man of prudences, that is, of great prudence, and as it were a marvel of wisdom, both because he shows the peace of mind, modesty and magnanimity which despises all reproaches, and because his modesty reproves, confounds and restrains the one who despises him. For he who returns reproaches to one who reproaches him kindles them the more, so that he hears more; he who is silent to them, by his silence extinguishes them: just as he who barks back at a barking dog irritates it so that it barks more; but he who passes by silently stops the barking. Whence St. Basil, in his homily On Anger, compares them to an echo. For just as if you emit a voice, the echo will respond with the same voice, and the more you cry out, the more the echo will cry out: so likewise he who casts reproaches with his voice will hear similar reproaches cast back at him by another, as if by an echo. Wherefore concluding, he offers this sound counsel: "Do not therefore, he says, take offense, nor be a requiter of mutual evil. The angry man has cast insult; overcome and remove the evil by silence. But you do the opposite, who, as if receiving a flowing wave, receive his anger into the depths of your heart, and imitate the winds resisting against adverse blasts. Do not use your adversary as a teacher, nor emulate him whom you pursue with hatred, nor wish to become as a mirror, representing his form in yourself. Is he ruddy with anger? You should not show redness; are his eyes bloodshot? Let yours look quietly and with gravity; is his voice harsh? Let yours be mild and gentle, or rather silent altogether." Hear also Bede in the Collectanea, vol. III: "When indeed, he says, the tongues of those who detract cannot be corrected, they ought to be borne with equanimity in all things. Often indeed when we complain about the lives of our neighbors, we try to change place and choose the solitude of a more remote life; namely, being ignorant that if the spirit be lacking, place will not help. Our neighbors ought therefore to be borne everywhere; because one cannot become Abel, whom the malice of Cain does not exercise." Thus Saul at the beginning of his reign, ruling wisely himself and his people, was silent to the insults of his subjects. Hear the Scripture, I Kings x, 27: "But the children of Belial said: Shall this man be able to save us? and they despised him, and brought him no presents; but he dissembled as if he heard not." For that saying is true: "He who knows not how to dissemble, knows not how to reign." Furthermore, Rabbi Levi takes these things more generally: A prudent man, he says, does not deceive and despise his companion, but is silent while another speaks, and listens attentively to his words; although he may bring forth into the discussion those things which he himself has perceived, yet he listens favoring his dignity, although he perceives no profit from it. Following Solomon, Rabbi Simeon in Pirke Avoth: "Throughout my whole life, he says, I have been educated among the wise, and I have found nothing more wholesome for the body than silence." And Ben-Sira in his Sentences: "Have you seen a black donkey? neither black nor white," that is, as his Scholiast explains: "Teach your tongue always to say: I know not, lest you be caught in an answer." Thus the other Rabbis of the Hebrews commend denial in answering or silence. Whence an Anonymous writer: "Teach your tongue to say: I know not, which is equal in value to gold and silver." To this pertains the maxim of the Arabs, Cent. 2, num. 52: "Often silence is an answer, so that one may answer by omitting a response." Namely, the accusations, complaints and calumnies of many often have manifest falsehood, and do not deserve a response or apology; hence to be silent in the face of their accusations is to respond sufficiently and to clear oneself. And Cent. 1, num. 98: "Taciturnity wins the love of one's own. Repentance over silence is better than repentance over speech;" that is, it is better to repent of taciturnity than of silence. "For no one is harmed by having been silent, but by having spoken," says Cato. The Arabs continue: "Taciturnity is wisdom, but rare is he who practices it." To this pertains the couplet of Cato: Remember to avoid those cast down in spirit and silent: Where the river is calm, perhaps the wave lies deeper beneath. Thus St. Maurilius, Bishop of Angers, "was silent in speech, and speaking in silence," says Fortunatus in his Life.
11:13
For he that walketh fraudulently in Hebrew is רכיל rachil, that is, a merchant or trader, and from this a delator, detractor, calumniator. It is a beautiful metaphor. For the detractor is called rachil, that is, a merchant or trader, because just as he buys merchandise not for himself but in order to distribute and sell it, so the delator seeks out and inquires into the words and deeds of others, so that he may carry them to others, and as it were peddle them about in circles for gain, so that he may derive some profit from it. Hence rachil by letters and by signification alludes to רגל ragal, that is, to go, to walk, to carry. Thus Pagninus in his Lexicon: As a merchant, he says, has many kinds of wares which he buys from some and sells to others: likewise the detractor reports words collected and heard here and there to others. This agrees with R. Abraham, who writes thus: Just as a merchant sells to another what he buys from one, so the detractor reveals to another what he heard from someone. Rachil therefore is he who explores the secrets, or vices, or counsels of others, and then announces them to others. Hence Cajetan translates it, the explorer reveals the secret, and the faithful spirit conceals it; St. Jerome in Isaiah chapter 39: he who is faithful in spirit hides business. The sense therefore is, as if he said: The explorer who falsely and fraudulently, feigning himself a friend with his friend, converses with him, and thus fishes out the mind of his friend and his secret counsels and secrets, he soon reveals these same things to others; but he who is faithful in mind and spirit, he conceals the commission of his friend, that is, the secret which he entrusted and committed to him. Again, commission, that is, some crime admitted or perpetrated. Thus Delilah, fishing out the secret of her husband Samson, namely that his strength consisted in his hair, betrayed it to the Philistines, and destroyed Samson, Judges 16:17. To this pertains the proverb of the Arabs Cent. 2, num. 54: "Your secret is of your blood; you have often opened it, and it is the cause of your death." And Cent. 2, num. 61: "A secret is a trust, that is, something committed to the faith of another," as if to say, He who keeps a secret is held to be faithful; he who divulges it, unfaithful. Ibid. num. 65: "Your secret is your captive, if you guard it; but you are captive, if it be revealed." And num. 59: "Expand your breast with your secret, that is, do not uncover it to anyone. A man possesses his own soul (or himself), he who hides his secret from his friend." And num. 36: "Do not open your secret to apes, that is, do not uncover your secret to mockers." For apes imitate and repeat all things which they see, and thus acting they seem to mock. And Cent. 1, num. 74: "The mouth is a prison of the tongue. Beware lest your tongue strike your neck." To this pertains the maxim of the Hebrews: "When wine enters, the secret exits." For what lies hidden in the mind of the sober man, this swims on the tongue of the drunk man. Similar is the maxim of the Poet: It is an excellent virtue to prefer silence to things; But on the contrary it is a grave fault to speak what should be silent. And that of Thales: "See that a word spoken against those joined to you and your associates does not bring you to court," as if to say, Do not trust friends so as to commit secrets to them, so that they may then blurt them out, to your great infamy and ignominy. Thus Laertius, lib. I, cap. I. And that of Ariston: "The winds are most troublesome to us, which tear away our cloaks; for against these winds we fortify ourselves: thus friends most grievously harm us, who fish out secrets." And that of the Emperor Tiberius in Dio: "The mind of a prince ought to be known to none or to few." And that of Metellus Macedonicus who, when asked what he would do after subduing the Arbachos, replied: "I would burn my tunic, if I thought my counsel knew it." And that of Bede in his Collection: "The ignorant, just as they do not know how to speak, so they cannot be silent. Admonish your friend in secret, but praise him in public." I have said more about the revelation of secrets at Ecclesiasticus 27:17. For 'faithful of spirit,' Aquila and Theodotion translate, נאמן רוח neemar ruach, which when you render it with the Romans, 'faithful in spirit,' so that the assigned words correspond to the Hebrew ablative, which the Greeks lack; our Salazar, however, taking it properly in the dative, translates 'faithful to the spirit,' and thus expounds it: 'Faithful to the spirit,' that is to one's own mind, is said of him who keeps secrets, because those things which lie hidden in a safe mind, to learn openly and to scatter among the common people, is a kind of betrayal against the mind; for the mind is no less betrayed by an open mouth than some city by an opened gate. Or otherwise: He who does not violate secrets is said to be faithful to the spirit, that is to the Holy Spirit; as if on the contrary he who makes the secrets of friends public were unfaithful to the Holy Spirit. He adds two reasons: The first is, because to the Holy Spirit, who is the first and notional love, is attributed all honest benevolence, and all friendship is coupled with his works. But nothing so much tears apart the concord of friends as the revelation of secrets and confidences. The latter, that the revelation of secrets proceeds from love; most justly therefore the revelation of secrets is attributed to him to whom love is also accommodated, namely to the Holy Spirit, who is formal and causal love: for everywhere he binds and couples love and friendship. But these are mystical or accommodated; for the true translation is 'faithful in spirit,' as the Septuagint, the Chaldean, our version and others have it throughout. Thus St. Ambrose kept the secret of friends silently with himself, so that he did not even communicate it to his most beloved brother Satyro. Whence in the 'On the Death of Satyro': 'When all things,' he says, 'were common to us, an undivided spirit, an undivided affection, yet one thing was not common—the secret of friends; not that we feared the danger of sharing it, but that we might keep faith in keeping it, etc. For it was a faithful testimony that what was not shared with the brother was not betrayed to a stranger.'
11:14
Thus also Cassian, Collation II On Discretion, chapter iv, reads, to whom there is no governance, that is counsel and discretion, he says, they fall like leaves. It is a metalepsis: for from counsels is understood good governance, deliberated and prudent; from governance the governor himself, as Our Author translates it. The sense is, as if to say, Where there is no governor endowed with wisdom and prudence of governing, there the people will fall into many perils and losses; but where he is present, and either excels in his own counsel, or makes use of another's, there the people stands safe, and immune from all evils and secure. The word therefore תחבלות tachbuloth in the plural signifies first, that it is necessary for the ruler of the commonwealth to employ many and great counsels and modes of governing, inasmuch as he ought to adapt himself to the various conditions, dispositions, and appetites of different men and peoples, so that he may govern each in conformity with his own nature. The poets give an apology or example of this in Proteus, who transformed himself into a thousand forms, so that he might assimilate himself to each, and conform himself to his disposition and customs. It is added that Sallust says in the Jugurthine War: "The common people are by nature seditious and discordant, desirous of new things, adverse to quiet and leisure." And, as the same author says in the oration of Marcius: "Tongues that are active, minds that are sluggish." And Livy, book xxiii: "This, he says, is the nature of the multitude: either it serves humbly, or it dominates proudly. Liberty, which is the middle course, they neither know how to despise moderately, nor how to possess." Philo, in the book On Joseph: "Just as, he says, the governor according to the nature of the winds changes the aids of navigation, not directing the ship in one way: so the moderator of the commonwealth ought to be multiform and manifold, one way in peace, another in war; presenting himself differently to few, differently to many adversaries," etc. St. Gregory of Nazianzus assents to this in Oration 1 Apology: "For indeed, he says, it seems to me to be a certain art of arts and sciences, to govern a man, an animal most various and manifold; that is, one art is that which restrains many arts." And after a few words: "Just as, he says, if someone should undertake to tame and lead a beast various and manifold, composed of many great beasts alongside small and fierce and mild beasts, in governing a nature so various and prodigious, the greatest labor must be undertaken everywhere, and great struggle: for indeed it is not delighted by the same voices, nor by the same foods, nor by the same hand touches and hisses, nor by other things; but some are pleased by some things, others by others, according to each one's own nature and custom, or are offended; so that he who has undertaken the care of such a beast, it is necessary that he be adorned with science altogether various and manifold. In a not dissimilar manner also to this common body of the Church, like a certain composite and unequal beast, compacted from many and various customs and languages, it is likewise most necessary, namely that the Prelate be at once both simple, insofar as concerns that integrity of mind which he ought to apply to all things; and as much as possible various and manifold, insofar as it concerns that he may conciliate to himself the good will of each one." Second, tachbuloth signifies that the governor of the commonwealth ought to imitate the governor of a ship, concerning which Plato says much in the dialogue On the Kingdom, and in book VIII of the Republic, and Plutarch in the Morals, where among other things he says: "Just as in great storms the strongest rudder, the best governor, and many supports are needed: so in administering great and turbulent affairs, the highest wisdom is needed; which when the governor does not have from himself, he ought to borrow from and learn from worthy counselors." Whence Vegetius, book III: "It should be done, he says, when many are consulted; what you will do, when very few, or rather with yourself alone." See the sayings at chapter i, verse 5. Wherefore Pius II, a wise and generous Pontiff, in book I, epistle 387 to Louis, King of France: "Scripture, he says, which declares: Where there is much counsel, there is safety, does not require a multitude of counsels, but maturity and digestion; which thing is found more easily in few than in many; for honesty or justice is not easily persuaded by multitude, which, agitated by various affections, frequently inclines to confusion; the multitude of those taking counsel is hasty, nor does the matter go well where votes are numbered, not weighed; for it often happens that the greater part overcomes the better." Justinian also decreed in this manner: "But neither from the multitude of authors should you judge what is better and more equitable, since perhaps the opinion of one man and even an inferior one might in some respect surpass many and greater ones." Cicero is a witness, "that Q. Scaevola, most learned in law, when consulted about the law of lands, sometimes rejected his own consultors and sent them to Furius and Casellius, the renowned teachers." And it is established that Bartolus elaborated many of his works for the judgment of merchants and craftsmen. For, as the same M. Tullius relates: "Constant practice devoted to one thing often overcomes both talent and art." Thus the Emperor Severus never established anything without a gathering of many jurists and other experts; Augustus admitted even to his private council Maecenas and Agrippa, just as Julius Caesar admitted Q. Pedicus and Cornelius Balbus. And Augustus, after their death, if anything happened of which he repented, would exclaim: "None of this would have happened to me, if either Agrippa or Maecenas had lived." Thirdly, tachbuloth denotes that the safety of the commonwealth consists both in the wisdom of governors and in the obedience of citizens, just as the safety of a ship depends on the shipmaster, of a chorus on the choragus, of the world on the sun. For what the sun is in the world, the choragus in the chorus, the shipmaster in the ship, that is a wise king or prince in the commonwealth. Hence again the Hebrews call counsel סוד sod from יסד iasad, that is, he founded; for what the foundation is in a house, that counsel is in a matter to be done, so that when it stands, it stands, when it falls, it falls. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 34 on the epistle to the Hebrews: "To be without a magistrate, leader and ruler is evil, and is a sign of many calamities and the beginning of the defect of order, and of disturbance and confusion. For just as if you remove the coryphaeus of the chorus from the chorus and the leader, there will no longer be a chorus properly arranged and ordered; and if you remove the commander from the phalanx of an army, there will no longer be a numerous and ordered battle line; and if you remove the helmsman from a ship, you will sink the ship: so also, if you remove the ruler from the people, you have overturned and destroyed all things." Then concerning those who have a prince, yet do not obey him, he adds this: "And indeed the defect of magistrate and ruler is evil, namely an occasion of overthrow; but the disobedience of subjects is no less evil. For a people not obeying the ruler and magistrate is like one that does not have one, and perhaps even worse: for those who lack a ruler are excused, if order and moderation are not observed; but for these it is not so, but they are worthy of punishment." The same was the sense of the Philosophers. Of Aristotle, in the Rhetoric to Alexander: "To take counsel, he says, about things among men is most divine;" of Plato: "Consultation is surely something sacred;" for by counsel kingdoms, cities, houses stand. Sallust to Caesar: "I, he says, have found it thus, that all kingdoms, states, nations have had prosperous rule only so long as true counsels prevailed among them. Wherever favor, fear, pleasure corrupted these, shortly after their resources were diminished, then their rule was taken away, finally servitude was imposed." By the vote of all, Julius Caesar himself is condemned, because, neither in his dictatorship nor in his consulship did he use the counsel of the senate, says Suetonius, whence he lost both himself and the commonwealth. Nero did the same, who mortally hated the senate, says Suetonius. Similar was Hieronymus, king of Sicily, who on no matter convoked or consulted the public council, as Livy testifies, in book IV of the Second Punic War. This argument is treated at length by Cardinal Paleotus, in the book On the Consultations of the Sacred Consistory, and by Martin of Lodi, in the treatise On Counselors, and by Boethius, On the Authority of the Great Council. To this pertains that all kings and princes have their counselors, senators, parliament, etc. Moreover, "let divine law be the helm of counsels," says St. Cyprian. Tropologically, St. Dorotheos teaches from this place that a faithful person devoted to virtue has need of a leader and governor. "He warns us," he says, "to beware lest we form ourselves, lest we hold ourselves to be wise, lest we be persuaded that we are sufficient unto ourselves for our own governance. For we have need of help beyond God, we have need of helpers. Nothing is more miserable, nothing that can be more quickly overcome than those who have no leaders, no authorities for the way of God. For he says: To whom there is no guidance, they shall fall as leaves. A leaf from the beginning is always green, always sprouting, always delightful: not long after it withers and languishes, and falling is worn away and trampled. Such is the man who is ruled by no one. From the beginning most fervent in fastings, in vigils, in rest, in obedience, and in all other good things. A little later, that fervor being extinguished, if he shall have had no governor or protector of his own, who might stir up and kindle the extinguished fire, he dries up and falls, and finally, abandoned by his enemies, is led away captive, and they rage against him as they will." Thus he speaks, and most excellently. Cyril adorns this teaching with an illustrious apologue of the fox and the ant, embroidered with festive parables like silk threads in Phrygian needlework, in book I of his Moral Apologies, chapter x, whose title is: Where there are many counsels, there is safety. "A little fox," he says, "gathering material to build herself a home upon the earth, met an ant, and after greeting, inquired what she was doing. But she answered: In dark lairs of the earth I have dwelt until now, but now my inclination is to build a nest in the light, most pleasing to me. To which the ant soon said: Was that first dwelling ever troublesome to you? To which she: Never certainly, but it was most safe and quiet; yet I am inclined to this desire by the sweetness of light. Then the ant added: Surely light is sweet, and it is delightful to the eyes to see the sun, but life is far more wise, and secure rest is more delightful. Wherefore, sister, although I am not of such account as to be a counselor to your prudence, yet this I bring to your remembrance, and in this novelty it is true that you are not a little hateful to poultry keepers and furriers; to the former indeed, on account of the zeal of hens, to the latter, on account of their desire for your furs. I advise therefore that in this new undertaking you seek the counsel of the ancients: for counsel shall keep you, and prudence shall preserve you. To these things the fox answered inconsiderately: I pay little heed to this, sister; for I do not think I have need of your counsel. To which the ant answered prudently: The beginnings of things are indeed of smallest bulk, but of greatest virtue. For from a small seed a great palm is born. Wherefore in the smallest beginnings the greatest counsels must be taken. Because a small error in the beginning is greatest in the end. Thus a small corruption of the root spreads throughout the whole body of the tree. For in this the whole reality is contained. Add that, if you neglect the smallest things, you gradually slip into greater ones, Ecclesiasticus xix, 4. For which reason Solomon said in the Proverb: Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end, Proverbs xix, 20. For the thoughts of counsel are strengthened. To these things the fox, overcome by reason, answered: Although in this very thing which I am preparing, it be necessary to use counsel, yet I have counsel enough at home from nature. To which the ant prudently: It is written, she says, Proverbs iii, 7: Be not wise in thine own eyes, and lean not upon thy own prudence, because they that say they are wise have become fools. Confirming the same thing afterwards by a similitude of eyes, rays and sailors, she adds: Do not four eyes see more than two? and multiplied rays illuminate more? Greater certainly is the faculty of many, and a ship is more securely governed by many sailors. Yet whose is counsel? Is it not of wisdom? Surely this which she hides from one, she reveals to another: and the lover of humility, for the most part, teaches right counsel concerning what is to be done through another. But if you have judged well, with a counselor added as witness, you will be more certain, and will be rightly directed for the better. The more therefore counsel is from many, the more healthful it proves to be. Because where there are many counsels, there is safety. Thus a wise man hearing shall be wiser, and he that understandeth shall possess governments, Proverbs i, 5. To these things the little fox said: I know that you are provident; teach, I pray, whose counsel should be heard. Then she: Of the wise, she said, the prudent, the knowing, the experienced, the faithful friend, the magnanimous, and he that feareth God. With these things said, the provident ant, having instructed the cunning one, dismissed her with a farewell."
11:15
The Septuagint, however, translates thus: the wicked man does evil when mixed (for the Hebrew ערב arab properly means to mix, and from this to stipulate and to pledge), with the just man; but he hates the sound of security. For in Hebrew תקע taka means both to drive in and to sound, and to make a trumpet blast. This Septuagint version can be adapted to the Vulgate, as if to say: The wicked man, that is, the avaricious creditor, afflicts the just man, who out of charity has pledged himself for the debtor. Hence the just man hates the sound which he is accustomed to make in the stipulation of surety or assurance with joined hand, as if to say: He hates the clapping of his hand with the hand of the creditor, that is, he hates the surety. If, however, you take those words as they sound more broadly, they signify that all commerce with the wicked or impious is dangerous for the just man: for there is danger lest he be defrauded by him, entangled, or seduced. Whence the author of the Greek Catena thus clearly translates and explains the Septuagint: the wicked mixed among the just act wickedly, and they reject the discourse concerning salvation and security (the doctrine of salvation). And the Syrian, following the Septuagint as is his custom, says: the wicked man, he says, acts wickedly when he encounters the just man, because he hates those full of hope; but the Chaldean says: the wicked man, he says, acts wickedly against the just man, because the surety stood for the stranger, and he hates those who place their hope in God. Finally, Cassian in Collation I, chapter xx: "The malicious one," he says, "harms when he has mixed himself with the just, that is, the devil deceives when he is covered with the color of holiness; but he hates the sound of protection, that is, the force of discretion, which proceeds from the words and admonition of the elders."
11:16
"A gracious woman," or, as it is in Hebrew, of grace, is first a woman beautiful and comely; secondly, gracious in words and deeds; thirdly, honest, modest, obedient to her husband, diligent and endowed with every virtue. Whence some translate, a virtuous woman sustaineth honor, and the mighty obtain riches; the Chaldean, a benign woman divideth glory, and the strong run after riches; Symmachus, a good woman shall obtain glory; Vatablus, a modest woman shall obtain glory, that is a woman who shall be obedient to her husband shall be commended: but the severe or rigid shall obtain riches. Now first, Baynus thus expounds it, as if to say, A woman of grace, that is a wife beautiful, bringeth the glory of her beauty to her husband as a dowry: whence also women very beautiful marry without a dowry, because their dowry is form and beauty. But עריצים aritsim, that is strong men, solicitous and attentive to affairs, take away riches from beauty, and with a spouse seek an opulent dowry, finding more glory in riches than in beauty. But this exposition adds much, and seemeth more alien and twisted elsewhere. Secondly, better our Salazar, as if to say, As beauty bringeth glory to a woman, that is a rich and noble marriage, namely a splendid and abundant husband: so labor bringeth wealth to a man, as if to say, To women indeed riches and a great dowry beauty and form bring forth; to a man however fortunes and faculties his industry alone bringeth forth: and so women perhaps may lead a sedentary, slothful and soft life; to a man however not so, but hard work and diligent care are necessary. Thus glory is taken for riches in Genesis cap. xxxi, 1, in the Hebrew. So Aben-Ezra. Thirdly, Cajetan, as if to say, As strong and vigorous men support their riches and families by their strength and vigor, so a gracious wife, that is chaste and well-behaved, sustaineth and beareth the honor and glory both of herself and of her husband: for the honor and glory of a man consisteth in the chastity and probity of his wife. There is added R. Levi: Grace, saith he, supporteth and preserveth the dignity of a woman, just as if it were a column and support, upon which glory might rest: as the strong preserve riches, and are as it were certain columns, which defend them from robbers and devastators. For the Hebrew תמך tamach, which our translator rendereth, shall find and shall have, properly signifieth to support, to sustain, as columns support a house. Fourthly, simply and genuinely Jansenius: In Hebrew, saith he, word for word it is had, a woman of grace shall apprehend glory, and the strong shall apprehend riches. Now a woman of grace is a woman of pleasing comeliness and probity of morals. Whence our translator rendereth, a gracious woman; others, a comely woman; and it is signified that, just as a woman by her beauty and grace and probity of morals obtaineth glory among men: so men by their strength ought to obtain riches; that we may understand that, just as the glory of a man is a comely woman, so the riches of a family depend upon the strength and diligence of a man. He teacheth therefore that in women form and grace of morals are chiefly required, in men industry and labor. Moreover, how much beauty (of the soul rather than of the body) concileth glory to a woman, St. Basil beautifully teacheth, tract. De Virg.: "Such shall she, saith he, exhibit herself in dress, gait and all the bearing of her body, that those who by chance meet her, beholding as it were a living image of God, shall incline their face to reverence and admiration of holiness and shall venerate, I say, her appearance, and, as I have said, as to a divine image shall reverently give way from the path." Such was Judith, whose glory was her form, but more her chastity, virtue and strength, by which she slew Holofernes and delivered Israel. Whence the people acclaimed her as victress: "Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honor of our people," Judith xv, 10. Such was Esther, who by her form and grace obtained the glory of the kingdom and the bed of Ahasuerus, hanged Haman, and saved the Hebrews. Moreover the Septuagint, by interposing one sentence, uttereth this saying otherwise through a two-membered antithesis: "A gracious woman, say they, raiseth up glory to a man; but the throne of ignominy is a woman hating the just," that is, to an unworthy, immodest, perverse woman ignominy sitteth as her throne: for nowhere is disgrace and ignominy seen more than in an unworthy, wanton and perverse woman. The Septuagint continueth, the needy are destitute of riches, but the strong strive for riches. The Septuagint in its manner is followed by the Syriac, a pious woman, saith it, obtaineth praise for a man; but the seat of ignominy is a woman who hateth justice. The idle also are destitute in riches. But the strong obtain knowledge. Symbolically and mystically, the author of the Catena of the Greeks says: "A benign and gracious woman," he says, in a more sublime sense is a mild and pleasing sentiment to the ears, whose husband is the mind or soul: but the throne of ignominy is the force or power of infamy. For just as a man in whom sin reigns, and as it were sits like a king upon his throne, is called a seat of iniquity: so a man covered with reproach and ignominy is called "a seat of ignominy." But ignominy is born from malice, and this from sin. Now that which is born from something is a part of it, as a stone from rock, and turf from earth, and other similar things: and therefore ignominy is a species or offspring of sin. "The slothful shall be poor, but the industrious and strong shall be enriched with riches." A strong and courageous man subdues and subjugates his body, but the lustful and intemperate man corrupts and destroys both his soul and his body together. Otherwise: A good and strong man manfully despises the allurements of the body; his whole concern is that it may be well with his soul: but he who is affected otherwise, not only does he not spare his own soul, but also corrupts and destroys his own body. Thus he.
11:17
First therefore Vatablus thus translates and explains it: he weans his soul, that is, a pious man defrauds his own inclination and desire, so that he may be merciful to others: but the unmerciful man devours and consumes everything, and is therefore also cruel even to his relatives. Others, that is to say: Mercy weans the merciful man from wicked desires, and from excessive love of his own, so that he may be merciful to the truly poor, and pour out his riches. Second, the Septuagint translates: a merciful man does good to his own soul; but the unmerciful man also destroys his own body. Which Jansenius thus explains, that is to say: A merciful man, to his own soul, that is, to himself, does good: but the cruel man harms not only others, but also his own flesh, that is, himself. Others, that is to say: A beneficent man uses his goods, and does good to himself from them: but the miser defrauds himself and wastes away from hunger. For thus God justly punishes the avaricious, so that, because they do not expend their riches on others, they also deny and withhold from themselves the necessities of life through avarice. But the author of the Greek Catena thus, that is to say: A man benign and liberal is devoted to his soul by design; but the miser and stingy man spares neither soul nor body, indeed because he does not nourish it, nor treat it as he ought; or certainly he is immoderately cruel and sparing: for by immoderately satiating himself, he falls into adverse health and poverty, and finally perishes altogether. Thus he. Third, our author better understands by flesh his relatives, as both Vatablus and others do. Whence thus Lyran, Hugo and Dionysius explain it, that is to say: A merciful man, while he does good to others, does good to his own soul: but the cruel man is unmerciful even to his relatives, and consequently to his own flesh and soul. The reason is first, because the merciful man, in doing good to others, counts before God as many patrons as he relieves with his aid. Second, because he makes God his debtor; for God promised: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," Matthew v. Third, because mercy alone accompanies the dead after death, so that it may plead their cause in the tribunal of Christ, as St. Augustine says through Lyran. Whence for does good, Aquila and Theodotion translate, he repays to his own soul; the Syrian, a pious man, he says, makes good pledges for himself. To this is added the exposition of Cajetan: A merciful man, he says, not only does good to others, but also to his own soul, because he repays to it what he owes, namely the act of virtue: for virtue is owed to the soul, from the fact that the soul is impelled to virtue by its own instinct, and seeks and desires it. Fourth, our Salazar thus more deeply constructs the antithesis, that is to say: He who is truly and sincerely merciful, he indeed does good to his own soul, that is, he does not place his benefits and alms from the affection of the flesh, but so expends them that they profit his soul, that is, not to neighbors and relatives alone, whom we are accustomed to cherish mostly from human affection; but also distributes his goods to strangers. On the contrary, "he who is cruel also rejects his relatives:" namely he who, on account of avarice, has put off mercy and put on cruelty, not only does not help strangers, but is also impious toward his relatives and those joined by the bond of flesh. Fifth, plainly and simply, that is to say: A merciful man liberally expends his goods, and therefore first of all does good to his own soul, that is, to himself; then distributes the surplus to others in need by doing good: but the cruel man, that is, the miser and unmerciful, first defrauds the external, then his relatives, third, finally himself of the necessities of life. For Solomon passes over in silence many things by aposiopesis, which he leaves for the reader to understand. For these maxims, by their brevity, are elegant and acute, and exercise and sharpen the reader's wit. Or more clearly, that is to say: A merciful man does good to his own soul, that is, to himself, and to his family and relatives: but the unmerciful man is cruel not only to strangers, but also to his relatives and his own family, and consequently to himself and his own soul. Whence Symmachus translates, he disturbs his own houses; the Chaldean, a benign man repays good; he who destroys his body is cruel. R. Solomon: The merciful, he says, and pious man to his own soul, that is, bestows benefits on his relatives (whom he loves as his own soul); but the cruel man disturbs and rejects his own relatives. For by homoeosis, the like is understood from the like, the neighbor from the neighbor, the joined from him to whom it is joined, for example, the friend from the friend, the relative from the soul of the relative. Mystically, it signifies that the work first and proper to a pious man is to consult for his own soul and its eternal salvation through the study of virtues and good works: for he knows that nothing is nearer and dearer to him than his soul, and if he loses it, he loses all things: for he has only one soul, not two, not three. If therefore he loses this one, he loses all things and everything, and that irreparably for all eternity. Whence the Wise Man admonishes: "If thou lose all things, remember to save thy soul." This is what is inculcated in Ecclesiasticus xxx, 24: "Have mercy on thy own soul, pleasing God." See the sayings there. Finally, St. Thomas notes in II II, Question clix, article 1, to 3, that cruelty is here taken for mercilessness, which withholds benefits from relatives: for otherwise cruelty, he says, properly opposes clemency, and is a harshness of mind in exacting punishments, just as clemency is a gentleness of mind in readily remitting and pardoning them. For cruelty is said to derive from rawness: for just as those things which are cooked and digested have a pleasant taste, so conversely those things which are raw and undigested have a rough and raw taste. In a similar way clemency is gentleness and pleasantness, but cruelty is harshness in exacting punishments: that one pleasant and savory, this one austere and harsh. Thus St. Thomas. Cyril illustrates this maxim beautifully with an allegory of the silkworm and the spider, flowery with the roses of the gnomes' wars, in book III of the Moral Apologies, chapter xviii, whose title is: What difference there is between the avaricious and the liberal man. "To the silkworm, said the spider: Why, my brother, do you thus torment yourself and disembowel yourself for what is not yours? And he: But you, why do you? Then she: I, she said, labor for my own. Soon he: What is yours? to which the spider said: My good is the prey which I catch falling into this net. To these things he: What kind of prey? then she: My prey is the fly. Having heard these things, the worm spoke saying: Certainly, sister, the art of fraud seems detestable to me, the vain labor of madness, and the prey of misery to be rejected. You do not yet know, as I see, what true proper good is, that is, intrinsic, not extrinsic. For only that is true proper good which, unless its possessor willingly abandons it, is unconquerable: for he is truly conquered who is despoiled of his proper good. But extrinsic good is that which is snatched away even against the will of its possessor. For thus proper good is recognized in virtue alone, which indeed will not leave you unless you leave it." The silkworm, applying this to itself, adds: "Therefore my good is the truest virtue of liberality, by which when I share my own things, these very things become more mine than when I possess things of others; and when I distribute, I gather; and while I spend, I store up. For this reason indeed, so that it may benefit all, the sky revolves in most rapid course, and the stars diffuse light, the dewy air condenses into rain, and everywhere the earth germinates such conveniences. Thus also nature does not for itself but for others produce gems, and generates liberal metals; fountains gush forth, trees bear fruit, bees make honey, and sheep bear precious fleeces. Therefore the whole art, labor and study of nature concur in exhibiting benefit from the virtue of liberality. Therefore in doing this I follow her, and I strive to bestow benefits from my dearer innermost parts. Having heard these things, the illiberal spider, confounded by the teacher of liberality, was struck silent."
11:18
There is an antithesis between the impious man doing impious things, and the pious or just man doing pious and just things, in that the work of the pious man, that is the reward and fruit of his work, is true, that is certain, stable, faithful: but the reward and fruit of the work of the impious man is false, that is evanescent, because it will not endure, nor will he obtain the fruit and reward which he hoped for. The impious man is therefore similar to the spider, which disembowels itself in order to weave a web, which has no use or fruit except to catch flies. For what else are the riches, honors, and pleasures for which the impious man labors and sweats, except tickling and troublesome flies? according to that passage in Isaiah 59:5: "They have woven the webs of spiders." And Hosea 8:6: "The calf of Samaria shall be in the webs of spiders." But the just man is similar to the bee, which makes wax and honey as if a heavenly nectar. This is what St. Paul says in Galatians 6:7: "For he that soweth in the flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption; but he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting." And David: "Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves," Psalm 125:6. I take justice here, as also above, in a general sense for any just work, and impiety for any impious and unjust work. But R. Solomon and our Salazar restrict justice to almsgiving, and impiety to avarice, as if to say: The impious man, that is the avaricious man, does an unstable work, that is he gathers and acquires unstable and false riches: which indeed never remain long with anyone, but quickly departing pass to another, which are deceptive and empty. "But to him that soweth justice a faithful reward." I have observed elsewhere that by the name of justice almsgiving is sometimes understood. Therefore he says: He who scatters his faculties and riches like seed among the poor will reap a faithful, constant and not at all false reward. That almsgiving is customarily compared to seed no one is ignorant of. This sense is fitting, but more restricted: the former therefore is fuller and more adequate. Whence Vatablus clearly translates: the impious man does a false work (vain, lying); but he who sows justice will receive a solid reward.
11:19
Our translator however renders justice as clemency, both because he puts a species for the genus, and an example for the general rule; and because among the works of justice clemency and almsgiving excel; whence in Scripture almsgiving is often signified by justice, as in Psalm 111:9: "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his justice (that is almsgiving) remaineth for ever and ever." For which reason our Salazar likewise takes justice here as it is in the Hebrew, for almsgiving, and therefore thinks our translator rendered it clemency. Whence thus he expounds it, as if to say: "Clemency prepareth life and blessedness, and the pursuit of evils," that is, avaricious seeking of riches and sordid hoarding, "prepareth death." Perhaps also our translator in the Hebrew for צדקה tsedaka, that is justice, read חסד chesed, that is piety, clemency; whence חסידה chasida is the stork, a pious bird toward its parents. Be that as it may, it seems truer what Jansenius says, that by clemency is understood synecdochically any justice whatsoever (for it is opposed to the pursuit of evils, that is to iniquity and injustice), because from clemency all goodness, justice and holiness, like a stream from a fountain, flows forth. For, as St. Ambrose says, in his work On the Death of Satyrus his brother: "If lust and anger are the educators of the other vices, I shall rightly have said that chastity and clemency are certain parent virtues; although piety too, as the principle of all goods, is also the seedbed of the other virtues." Hence he is called clement who does not grow angry, as if cultivating the mind, and not vexing or disturbing it by anger, as Donatus says. For a clement mind, gentle, quiet, peaceful and benign, just as it excludes the disturbances of the passions, so it renders itself capable of all virtues. Whence the Poet: "The greater anyone is, the more easily is he appeased from anger, and a generous mind receives easy dispositions." And the Comic poet: "He approaches nearest to God, who uses clemency. Clemency separates us from beasts. Clemency becomes all, but more kings. Clemency alone makes men equal to gods." Finally, Christ placed the apex of justice and Christian virtue in clemency and meekness: "Learn," he says, "of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest to your souls," Matthew 11. And the first gift of God, and the proper name which he gave to himself, is "clement and merciful," as appears in Exodus 33:19, and chapter 34:6, Jonah 4:2.
11:20
Such was Satyrus, the brother of St. Ambrose, concerning whom he himself writes in his funeral oration On His Death: "How I congratulated myself that the Lord had blessed me with such a brother—so modest, so effective, so innocent, so simple! that when I considered your innocence, I despaired of your effectiveness; when I considered your effectiveness, your innocence. But you joined both by a certain wonderful virtue." And further on: "He was of such simplicity that, having become as a child, by the innocent simplicity of that age, he shone forth in a perfect image of virtue, and as a certain mirror of innocent morals. He entered therefore into the kingdom of heaven, because he believed in the word of God, because like a child he rejected the art of flattery, he gently absorbed the pain of injury, which he avenged more gently, he was more ready for complaint than for deceit, easy to satisfaction, difficult to ambition, holy in modesty, so that you would frequently proclaim in him excessive rather than necessary shame." And after a few words: "For indeed he preserved the unviolated gifts of sacred baptism, pure in body, purer in heart; abhorring no less the reproach of adulterous speech than of the body, considering no less reverence owed to chastity through the integrity of words than through the chastity of the body."
11:21
Seventh sense: Even if the wicked conspire together, and render mutual aid to one another, and give their hands to one another as a sign of this conspiracy, they will not escape punishment, although many are sharers in the crime. For to such a faction of evildoers is opposed the congregation of the just, concerning which Solomon says: "But the seed of the just shall be saved." Thus Jansenius expounds it. And so in Psalm XIX, concerning the wicked it is said: "They have enclosed their fat," that is, they have united all their strength to perpetrate evils, and thus David adds: "Their mouth hath spoken pride." Eighth sense, which is Bayn's: Where the hand of the son is added to the hand of the father for evil, when the son and posterity follow the sins of their ancestors, they will not be unpunished, and thus it follows: "But the seed of the just shall be saved." The piety of parents, which the just follow, avails much for the reward of the just. Ninth sense: If the hand of God approaches the hand of man, that is, if the precepts of God are compared with the works which the wicked man does, he will be manifestly known as guilty of punishment, nor will he be able to escape punishment. The Chaldean paraphrast supplies certain things, saying that he who extends or sends his hand against his companion is not innocent of evil. Our Salazar brings forward two other expositions concerning avarice and almsgiving and prefers them to the others. The first is: Hand to hand, namely added, signifies many hands; just as day to day, year to year, namely added, signifies many days and years. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The miser who has many hands for plundering the goods of others, and is like Briareus the hundred-handed giant, will not be innocent, that is, unpunished, but will pay the penalties of his crimes and robberies: "But the seed of the just shall be saved," that is, but the children of the merciful, who do not plunder the goods of others, but liberally distribute their own to the poor, will escape all punishments. The latter: Once, he says, among the Romans there was a custom of laying hand to hand, or joining hands, when a suit was brought against someone concerning fortunes or family property. Whence that saying of Cicero in his letter to Trebatius: Not by right of hand joined, but rather by iron / Do they recover the thing. Wherefore according to the Septuagint he thus expounds it: he who joins hand to hand unjustly will not be unpunished, that is, he who brings unjust suits against the poor, and calls those who have joined hands in court, so that he may despoil them of their goods by injury, will pay the deserved penalties of his crime. But he who sows justice will receive a faithful reward; justice is taken for almsgiving, as if to say: He who on the other hand does not despoil the poor, but succors them with liberal gifts, and relieves their poverty, will receive a faithful, that is, a certain and constant reward. But truly this custom of joining hand in suit was that of the Romans, not of the Hebrews. Therefore by this proverb: Hand to hand, the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic and the Chaldean think it signifies violence; others think it signifies idleness and sloth, as Salonius; others kinship; others multitude; others secrecy; others fraud; others effort; others swiftness. Whence Pagninus translates it: Soon, soon the wicked man will not be unpunished; but the seed of the pious has escaped. It is more probable that this proverb: Hand to hand, signifies conspiracy, partnership, offspring, posterity, as if to say: Although the wicked or impious man has many sharers in crime, successors and posterity as auxiliary hands, he will not nevertheless be innocent, that is, unpunished. Even if he leads forth the hand of his sons and grandsons, friends and companions like an army into battle, yet he will not be able to protect himself by this, so as to escape the more powerful hand of God the avenger. Thus Jansenius: The sense, he says, is, as if to say: Even if the wicked have conspired among themselves, they will not nevertheless be unpunished; but the just and their posterity will escape both the conspiracy of the wicked and their punishment. Thus the antithesis aptly stands; for the seed of the just is opposed to the seed and posterity of the wicked, as if congregation to congregation, partnership to partnership, succession to succession, posterity to posterity. These indeed are rewarded in themselves and in their posterity, and are happy; but the wicked are punished both in themselves and in their posterity, and are unhappy. This sense is confirmed by the repetition of this sentence in chapter XVI, verse 5, where concerning the proud man, who, surrounded by his sons and companions, walks about gloriously, it is said: "Every proud man is an abomination to the Lord, even if hand shall be joined to hand; he shall not be innocent." Again, the same sense is confirmed by the fact that hand is a symbol of partnership, and thence of power and strength, according to that saying: Dost thou not know that kings have long hands? And that saying: "Many hands make light work." For, as Heraclides says: "The fight of a single hand alone is weak, because one man is no man." And that saying of Virgil: "The band of youths shines forth burning;" for this is a numerous band of soldiers, and therefore strong. Morally, St. Gregory, book XXV of the Morals, chapter III: "The mind, he says, approaches God by as many steps as it makes progress through good movements. And again, it recedes by as many steps as it decreases through evil thoughts. Whence it often happens that the motion of the mind has not yet proceeded into action, and yet perfect guilt is already present from the very guilt of the thought itself, as it is written: The wicked man shall not be innocent hand in hand. For a hand is wont to be joined to a hand when it rests in idleness, and no use of labor exercises it. Therefore the wicked man shall not be innocent hand in hand, as if to say: And when the hand ceases from iniquitous work, the wicked man is nevertheless not innocent through thought."
11:22
First, Jansenius expounds it thus, as if to say: Just as a golden ring does not befit swine in their nostrils, nor does it adorn them: so neither does beauty, which in itself is a splendid thing, befit a foolish woman, but it appears badly placed there by nature, as is said afterwards: "Composed words do not befit a fool." And: "Delicacies do not befit a fool." For just as a swine with a golden ring fixed in its nostrils does not know how to use it well, so neither does a foolish woman use her beauty well. Then, because just as a swine with a golden ring is not restrained from rooting in the earth, but nevertheless immerses itself in mud and defiles the ring: so also a senseless woman, although she ought to acquire glory for herself through her beauty, is nevertheless not deterred from the allurements of pleasures, but immerses herself in the mud of pleasures, and thus defiles and obscures her beauty through her folly. Wherefore to a man having a beautiful and foolish wife, that should be done which the saying of the Syrians and Arabs advises: "If you have a net, draw it lest perchance you be drawn by it," that is, if you have a wife, subject her to yourself, lest she subject you to herself and destroy you along with her. Second and more forcefully, he compares a woman beautiful but foolish and unchaste to an unclean swine, or pig, and her beauty to a golden ring in the nostrils, as if to say: Just as a swine, turning mud up and down in its nostrils, corrupts that golden ornament of the ring and plainly deforms it: so a beautiful and unchaste woman stains and disfigures her beauty through filthiness, indeed she abuses it for lust, according to that saying of the Poet: There is strife when great beauty meets with chastity. Thus the author of the Greek Catena applies it, as do Bede, Lyra, Baynus, indeed Clement of Alexandria, III Paedagogus cap. XI: "Just as," he says, "gold is polluted by its own filthiness, mud being disturbed by its snout: so those women who are devoted somewhat more to luxury, if they are invited by excessive abundance to lust and unchastity, bring shame and disgrace upon true beauty, polluting it with the defilements of Venus." So also St. Chrysostom, whom the Scholiast of Clement cites there: "Just as a sow," he says, "turning mud and filth especially with that part of its body (that is, its snout), vitiates and pollutes clean gold: so also a woman defiles her own good form. Third, our Salazar, as if to say: Just as a swine with a golden ring driven into its nostrils is drawn by anyone wherever he pleases: so a woman is drawn by gold and gifts by anyone to satisfy his lust. A similar phrase is in Job XL, 21: "Will you put a ring in his nostrils?" The Septuagint: will you put a halter around his nose? But because mention is not made here of gifts, but only of foolishness and beauty, which are compared to a golden ring, as the Septuagint translates it, hence, fourth, most aptly and most forcefully an unchaste woman is compared to a swine, foolishness to a ring of the nostrils, beauty to gold; for the foolishness of a woman, that is, the facility by which she smiles at men, converses with them, consents to them, namely senseless wantonness and unchastity, is like a ring by which lustful men seize her and turn her about to their respective lusts; but beauty is like shining gold which strikes and captivates the eyes of men, so that they seize this golden ring, that is, this wanton beauty, and through it subject the woman to their own desire. He alludes to and notes the earrings and ornaments with which women adorn themselves to attract men. For beauty here is understood both as natural and as acquired, by which women paint themselves with cosmetics and adorn themselves with ornaments. For in Hebrew nezem signifies an ornament or piece of jewelry, which is displayed publicly either on the forehead, or in the nostrils, or in the ears for the sake of earning favor; whence some lexicographers derive nezem through metathesis of the first two letters, with the addition of the letter mem, from zana, that is, to fornicate, to earn, to prostitute oneself. He says therefore that this beauty of women, both natural and acquired from cosmetics and ornaments, is similar to a golden ring of swine, or pigs. First, because just as this ornament does not befit swine, nor does it adorn them, but rather disgraces them: so also this beauty does not adorn foolish and wanton women, but disfigures and disgraces them. Second, because, just as swine with a golden ring in their nostrils, while they turn mud in their nostrils, soil it with mud: so also wanton women defile their form, while they pollute it with lust. Third, just as swine are drawn and turned about by a golden ring by swineherds: so women are drawn and snatched by their form by the unchaste to crime. Fourth, to their nostrils mud smells more pleasantly and sweetly than ointment, as Lucretius says in book VI: so to a harlot the filth of fornication smells more sweetly than the perfumes and lilies of chastity. Moreover, foolish and impure women are rightly compared to swine. First, because the swine is an animal altogether stupid; whence St. Augustine, book VI Against Faustus, chapter VII: "What the swine is in the figures of things," he says, "this the fool is in the class of things." And Horus Apollo in the Hieroglyphics teaches that the Egyptians represented the wise man by the elephant, the foolish and stupid by the swine. What therefore the sword is in the hand of a madman, this is beauty in a foolish and wanton woman; for just as he wields the sword impotently and wounds many, so also the wanton woman with her form strikes and wounds the eyes and minds of many. Second, swine wallow in mud all day long, and delight in it: so also wanton women delight in nothing but wantonness and impurity. "It is the property of swine," says the author of the Imperfect Commentary in Matthew, homily 17, "to wallow in mud, never to look up to heaven, nor to seek their master:" so also the unchaste, cast into the mud of pleasures, never look up to heaven, never think of God their Lord and avenger. Third, swine are exceedingly prone to lust, as Aristotle testifies, book VI of the History of Animals, chapter XVIII: so also wanton women. Again, the swine is a foul, gluttonous and unclean animal. Whence Cicero, book II On the Nature of the Gods: "The swine," he says, "what has it besides food? for which indeed lest it putrefy, Chrysippus says a soul was given in place of salt." For this reason the eating of swine's flesh was forbidden to the Jews, Leviticus XI, verse 7. See the remarks there. Fourth, the swine is an animal equally shameless and unteachable: such is also an immodest woman or harlot. Whence Aristophanes said that the sons of Hippocrates were swine, because they were ignorant and not very refined in manners. And Pierius, Hieroglyphics, chapter XI: "The swine," he says, "is a hieroglyphic of unteachability; for among the Physiognomists, the swine's brow, being short indeed and bristly with hairs standing upright, is the most manifest sign of unteachability. For the swine is the most brutish of animals, and no animal is more unteachable, since all other cattle have something in which, while they live, use, or industry, or frugality is beneficial. Hence the proverb: 'A Boeotian swine,' for one very slow and stupid. Hence also the swine was to the ancients an expiation for madness, as Pierius shows there, chapter XIX. Finally, St. Chrysostom, in the Catena of the Greeks, proposes a question: "Why does God, the author of nature, fashion a woman destitute of mind with comely appearance? Or why, when she was created comely, was she made foolish?" And he answers: "God sometimes grants to women naturally dull of mind the grace of fair form, lest those endowed with prudence and keen intellect should admire the grace of liberal beauty more than is fitting; but let them prefer prudence and understanding to the beauty of form, and pursue that which is truly good and beautiful: so also to foolish men he sometimes grants great wealth and resources, so that the prudent, considering and admiring the gift of intellect, which is lacking to the foolish, on account of the scarcity of wealth may not lose heart, but may earnestly pursue that which is truly good." Wherefore the author of the Imperfect Commentary, homily 45 in Matthew, gives this sound advice to young men: "You therefore, young man," he says, "when you wish to take a wife, do not seek a rich woman, but one well-behaved, because good morals frequently acquire riches, but riches have never made morals. And the poverty of the faithful is more glorious than the riches of sinners. Do not seek beauty, because it is written: As a golden earring in the snout of a swine, so is the beauty of a woman of evil behavior. For in beauty harlots please, but in morals matrons." St. Cyril explains this saying elegantly through an apologue of the peacock and the raven, in book II of his Moral Apologies, chapter XXV, which has the title: Against those who glory in the beauty of the flesh. "The peacock," he says, "adorned with golden feathers and pompous in feathered light, was displaying himself vainly before the raven for glory, and was confounding him on account of the blackness of his feathers. The raven, soon deriding his madness, said: I see well that the rule of physiognomy does not deceive in you. For because you have a small head for so large a body, you are therefore of lesser sense. Whence I do not wonder if in a feather that flies, which is snatched and carried away by the wind, you have placed your glory lightly as something light; for all flesh is grass (Isaiah XL, 6), and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field; for the beauty of the flower is the beauty of the flesh. By the comeliness of matter it shines, by solidity it does not endure, and by lightness it flies away most quickly. You are therefore foolish to glory in a shadow; but as a golden ring is in the nostrils of swine, so also is the brightness of flesh with cowardice of mind. If therefore you glory in the beauty of the body, now your brightness will blacken you, and your appearance will deform you. For the form of flesh has taken away the beauty of the mind, and the light of the body has put to flight the splendor of the soul." He then shows that this is obscured and overwhelmed by greater deformity. "I would praise you, if I did not see deformity in the substance of your form. For you have a serpentine head, a howling sound of the breast, a malevolent heart, a foul foot. Is the vain appearance of flesh to be praised, when by the defect of substantial form the mind itself is deformed? God forbid: for the soul, the more beautiful it is than the flesh, the more deformed it becomes itself. True appearance therefore is virtue of the mind, and glorious beauty is the clarity of reason. Having said these things, he left the peacock confuted and sad from his appearance. Tropologically, Abba Nesteros in Cassian, Collation XIV, chapter XVI, understands these things concerning learned men but living shamefully: "Concerning those therefore," he says, "who seem to acquire some image of knowledge, or concerning those who, while they apply themselves diligently to the reading of sacred volumes and the memorizing of Scripture, nevertheless do not abandon carnal vices, it is elegantly expressed in Proverbs: As a golden ring in the nostrils of swine, so is beauty to a woman of evil behavior. For what does it profit anyone to obtain the ornament of heavenly eloquence and that most precious appearance of Scripture, if by adhering to it with the mud of base works or senses, as if working over most unclean earth, he defiles it, or pollutes it in the muddy wallows of his lusts?" So also St. Jerome in Ezekiel, chapter XVI, on those words: And I put a ring upon thy nostrils. "When we live," he says, "and it can be said of us: The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord, but we who live; then God smells the odor of the sacrifice of our good fragrance, and we have a golden ring of senses and divine doctrines in our nostrils. But when we are dead, and we are conversant in mud and in the filth of turpitudes, we have that ring in our nostrils, of which Solomon wrote: As a golden ring in the nostrils of a swine, so is beauty to a woman of evil behavior." So also Salonius: "The golden ring," he says, "is the ornament of knowledge, which he immerses in the mud of swine, who defiles it by an unclean action. For his soul is beautiful through knowledge, but foolish through action." Again, the foolish and beautiful woman is the faithful soul, washed and whitened from sins in baptism or penance, which afterwards, enticed by former desires, returns to them, and commits fornication with them as with lovers, as washed swine return to mud, according to that of St. Peter, epistle II, chapter II, verse 22: "For it has happened to them according to the true proverb: The dog is returned to his vomit; and: The sow that was washed, to wallowing in the mire." Where I have said much about this matter. For in these things the golden ring by which the devil seizes them, turns them about, and brings them back to their accustomed crimes, is the remembrance of former loves, the vivid representation of past pleasures, and the memory of alluring sweetness. For the demon excites and sharpens this, especially in the agony of death; by which it comes to pass that many then sin and are damned through lingering delights. Whoever is wise therefore, while he lives and is vigorous, let him abolish these appearances and allurements from his mind through contrary imaginings, prayers, meditations on virtues and divine things, especially the Passion of Christ, than which nothing is more efficacious. To this pertains the saying of Rabbi Jose in Pirke Avoth, that is in the Chapters of the Fathers: "Every day a certain voice went forth from Mount Horeb, not obscurely threatening woe to those men through whom damage is brought to the law, or injury; because truly whoever applies himself negligently to the study of the law is altogether reprobate and unhappy, as Scripture says: A golden ring in the nostrils of swine, a beautiful and foolish woman." Finally, Salvian, at the beginning of book IV of On the Governance of God: "What else is it," he says, "to have authority without the sublimity of merits except a title of honor without a man? or what is dignity in the unworthy except an ornament in mud? what else is a holy name without merit except an ornament in mud? A golden ring, says the Wise Man, in the nostrils of swine, a beautiful and foolish woman. And in us therefore the Christian name, as it were a golden adornment: if we use it unworthily, it comes to pass that we appear to be swine with an ornament."
11:23
The Chaldean: the desire of the just is unto good, the expectation of the wicked unto fury; in Hebrew, the desire of the just is only good; but the expectation of the wicked is fury, or wrath penetrating; the Septuagint, for ebra, that is fury, reading with other punctuation abera, that is it passed, translate, but the hope of the wicked shall pass away, that is shall perish; the Scholiast, shall depart. It is a metonymy: for desire is called the thing desired, or that which the just desire; the waiting of the wicked is that which the wicked wait for and expect. The sense is, as if to say, The desire of the just is directed toward all good, that is toward all that is honest, toward all virtue; the just desire nothing other than to work good. Thus Polychronius in the Greek Catena. But the wicked wait for and expect to conduct themselves furiously, to pour out their wrath and fury upon others; for wrath, by which one exceeds measure, is called ebra, that is fury, because it transgresses the limits of reason abar, that is it transgresses, says Aben-Ezra. Or, as others say, because it pervades all things, inflames and lays waste like fire. Whence Baynus, and from him our Salazar, translate, the desire of the just is all good, and thus explain it: The just covet nothing except to do good, and where power is lacking, the desire of doing good is present and is sharpened; on the contrary the waiting of the wicked, that is the expectation and desire, is fury, that is the aim of the wicked is far different; for their waiting is fury. Waiting here is also taken for desire, namely the vows of the wicked, sprung from fury and wrath, most eagerly desire the ruin of others. And so just as pious and just men desire to confer more goods than they expend, and what is lacking to their ability they make up for with their wishes: so also the wicked desire to inflict more evils than they inflict, and their desire for the faculty of doing harm far exceeds their ability; and therefore they subject themselves to greater punishments than those which correspond to the harms inflicted. Hence that saying: "The whole life of the just is the desire of good," because they desire to do nothing but good, they hunger and thirst for nothing but good, according to that: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice," Matthew V. Such was Daniel, who therefore is called a man of desires; and therefore he merited to understand the seventy weeks of the coming of Christ, Daniel cap. IX, 23, and cap. X, 19. See St. Bernard, epistle 10, where among other things he says: "The desire of pilgrimage shall be changed into the fullness of love, etc. For as faith leads to full knowledge, so desire leads to perfect love." Tropologically, learn from this maxim an easy practice of growing in every virtue and merit, namely that you conceive frequent and ardent desires for them. For through these we conceive, strengthen, and increase any virtue inwardly in the soul, even one which we cannot exercise outwardly on account of poverty, infirmity, or some other defect. For example, a poor man having an efficacious and great desire of giving alms, if he had wealth, would acquire the virtue of almsgiving, and through that desire alone merits as much or more than a rich man who gives alms from habit. An infirm man, who cannot fast or wear haircloth, should desire to do this. A religious bound to a certain office by obedience should desire to fulfill all the other duties which others perform; should desire efficaciously to preach, to teach, to hear confessions, to visit the sick, to preach to the Indians, etc., if it were permitted, and should offer these to God: for God will hold these desires as pleasing as if he completed those works. That this is so St. Paul teaches, II Corinthians VIII, 12: "For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not;" by these words signifying to us that God regards the willing mind more than the gift itself. The reason for this is that the perfection and merit of almsgiving and of any other virtue consists in the readiness of the will, not in the multitude of works and their magnitude. Whence St. Augustine in Psalm CV: "God, he says, crowns a good will, when he does not find the ability." And St. Bernard, epistle 77: "God, he says, undoubtedly grants to a good will what was lacking to ability." St. Thomas gives the reason a priori, I-II, Question XX, article 2: "Because, he says, the whole formal goodness of an external work depends on the goodness of the internal act, because it is elicited by the will." Whence it follows, if we wish to please God and merit much, let us frequently conceive pious desires of performing good works, and also apply good intentions, not only to works which we intend to do, but also to those which we shall not do, not indeed from lack of good will, but from lack of ability. The more prompt this good will is, the more abundant a harvest of spiritual fruits will it produce, as St. Bernard testifies. You merit as much as you will; and as good will increases, merit increases likewise. Symbolically, Lyra: The desire of the just is for the end of all good, namely God Himself, in whom all good is eminently present, and who is good and goodness by essence. Whence Christ, when asked by someone saying, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have life everlasting?" answers: "Why askest thou me concerning good? One is good, God." And David: "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?" Psalm XLI, 2. St. Bernard, sermon 84, explaining that passage from the Canticle III: In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth. "It is a great good, he says, to seek God. I consider this second to none of the goods of the soul. It is first among gifts, last among progress; it is approached by no virtue, yielded to by none. To what does it approach? than which nothing precedes. What precedes it? which is the consummation of all things; for what virtue can be ascribed to one not seeking God, or what end to one seeking God? Seek, he says, his face evermore. I think that even when he is found, seeking will not cease. God is sought not by the steps of feet, but by desires. And surely the blessed finding does not extinguish holy desire, but extends it. Is the consummation of joy the consumption of desire? It is oil rather to it: already it is flame. So it is. Joy will be fulfilled, but desire will have no end, and through this neither will seeking." The same, in the tract On Loving God, treating of the embrace of bridegroom and bride, namely Christ and the holy soul: "Hence, he says, that satiety without disgust. Hence that insatiable curiosity without restlessness. Hence that eternal and inexplicable desire knowing no want. Hence finally that sober and true drunkenness, not guzzling with wine; not wet with wine, but burning with God." Anagogically, the desire of the just tends toward good, namely toward heavenly beatitude, which is the embrace of all good. "The expectation of the wicked is fury," that is, that which the wicked expect, the lot which will come to them and is to be awaited, is fury, that is the wrath of God and vengeance in hell, penetrating even to the innermost parts not only of the body but also of the soul, burning and tormenting. Thus R. Solomon, Hugh, Dionysius and others. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 5 in the Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord: "Our desires, he says, seem to be constituted chiefly in three things, that which is fitting, that which is expedient, that which delights," namely a threefold desire is of the honest good, of the useful good, of the delightful good. And he teaches that this is to be fulfilled only in heaven; for there is "the highest good, he says, the highest utility, the highest glory, the highest pleasure. And these indeed meanwhile our expectation is, and the vision of majesty is promised to us, so that God may be all in all, all that is pleasant, all that is useful, all that is honest." The same in the Sentences: "Threefold, he says, is the desire of the elect. To dwell together unanimously in a house. Whence it is: One thing have I asked of the Lord. To obtain victory over the world. Whence it is: Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? To enjoy God in His presence. Whence also that: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ."
11:24
In Hebrew, it is a scatterer, and it shall be added still; it is one prohibiting from rectitude, yet unto deficiency; Vatable, it is one who scatters a thing, and the thing of his is increased more; and one who spares his own thing more than is fitting, but unto want, that is, but he is oppressed by poverty and destitution. Our translator: one prohibiting from rectitude he takes for one who departs from justice, and does unjust things, that he may accumulate wealth; whence he translates, others seize what is not theirs; the Septuagint, they are who sowing their own (Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, scattering) make more; but they are who gathering (others', adds the Author of the Greek Catena) are diminished; the Chaldean, it is one who scatters, and again it shall be added to him; want shall be to him who departs from rectitude; the Syriac, it is one who sows his own, and shall bring in much; it is one who gathers what is not his, and little is to him. The Syriac therefore agrees with our translator. The sense is clear. For he opposes the liberal man to the avaricious: that the liberal man distributes his own, is beneficent to all, and does many alms, and yet from this he does not become poorer, but richer; the avaricious man, however, hoarding his wealth, and increasing and accumulating it by fair means and foul, by frauds, usuries and unjust contracts, by which he seizes what belongs to others, from this nevertheless does not become richer, but poorer. He gives the reason by comparison with one who sows, as the Septuagint translates. For almsgiving and beneficence is as it were a sowing. For just as the farmer, who casts seed, receives for one grain or measure twenty, thirty, indeed sometimes sixty and a hundred, while he gathers a copious harvest: so likewise the beneficent man scattering his wealth upon the needy, casts as it were seeds, from which multiplied he receives from God a great abundance of goods with great increase, both temporal and spiritual. The avaricious man, however, is like a granary, which stores grain in a storehouse, where it contracts mold, rots, is eaten by mice, and thus gradually diminishes, and yields no fruit: for so also the wealth of the avaricious, hoarded with God's curse, gradually perishes, diminishes and is consumed. This is what St. Paul teaches, II Corinthians IX, 6: "He that soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and he that soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings," etc., where I have said more on this matter. See also St. Chrysostom, homily That almsgiving is the art of all most profitable. You will find more examples of this matter in Leontius in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria. Therefore this is a paradox of the faithful, but divine and most true: "Almsgiving enriches, stinginess impoverishes; what you give, you acquire; what you retain, you lose; by spending wealth you accumulate, by hoarding you diminish." This opinion, as also others, signifies not what always, but what often happens; for sometimes we see the contrary occur, namely that the avaricious become rich, the liberal become poor: but then God compensates the poverty of temporal things with the abundance of spiritual gifts. Thus Basil in the Catena of the Greeks. Cyril graphically represents this mad misery of the rapacious by this fable of the wolf and the ox, lib. III Apolog. mor. cap. XV: "A wandering wolf, idle and rapacious, when he saw an ox after the yoke of labor and convenience, mowing herbs with the sickle of his tongue for food, soon coming to him, said: What is this, that so strong an animal and armed with sharp horns, not only do you endure from man the yoke of most grievous servitude, but, what is worse, after the burden of so great labor, do you live on the food of baseness? Certainly if nature had given me such strength above the art of deceit and the vigor of teeth, even without labor, I would feed on flesh so abundantly, that I would even disdain the food of asses. But this ox, having pondered the matter, is said to have answered: O if you would weigh the good of innocence, the fruit of gentleness, the advantage of equity, the honor of peace in the balance of reason, and would weigh with more careful consideration the guilt of hostile rapacity; you would surely see how great a calamity it is to rage hostilely, and to live rapaciously, since the most wicked life is the plague of miserable youth. For when one lives badly, the nobler true life of virtue is destroyed; and that life which remains, since in it dwells the calamity of living, becomes a worse death, and thus true life is condemned by itself. Why therefore do you glory, that you live in the idleness of rapacious malice?" Whence concluding he adds: "For every thief's mind is most unclean, a friend of discord, a bitter will, a rival of civility, a most fierce life. To bear therefore the sweetest burden of virtue is to me, and tempestuous freedom to the prejudice of others, and servitude of vice be to you. Thus indeed it is dearer to me to eat hay from the labor of justice, than a kid from the crime of avarice violent. Hearing which, the wolf confuted departed."
11:25
In Hebrew, the soul of blessing shall be made fat; and he that watereth, he also himself shall be watered, that is, with rain, that is, he himself by doing good to others brings rain upon his fruits, so that they become most joyful and most abundant. For by his beneficence he merits that God may water his fruits with rain, and may make fortunate, prosper and multiply all his goods. The reason is, that God gives riches to the worthy; but he is worthy of riches who knows how to use them; and those know how to use them well who are beneficent, and distribute them to the needy. Our commentator, equally as others with Pagninus in the Lexicon, take iore by metathesis for iirue, that is, shall be watered and shall be inebriated; for this corresponds equally to marue, that is, he who waters and inebriates. "Inebriates," that is, abundantly bestows alms; thus inebriation is taken for satiety, abundance and affluence. Psalm XXXV, 9; Canticles V, 1; Proverbs V, 19. It is a metonymy: for the effect is put for the cause; for from abundance of things inebriation follows. Whence he translates: "And he that satisfies the poor, he himself shall be satisfied," because, as it is said in chapter XIX, verse 17: "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord, and He will repay him his reward." Some take to benedicit properly for to bless well, that is, he who wishes good things to others, to him in turn others wish well, and God Himself blesses. But this is too narrow: "Blesses" therefore, that is, does good either by blessing, or by distributing his wealth, or by suggesting counsel, or by teaching, or in whatever other way. He gives the reason for what he said in the preceding verse: "Some distribute their own, and become richer," namely because he who blesses others, that is, does good to them, is made fat by God and enriched with goods, both spiritual and temporal; and he who satisfies others with his riches and as it were inebriates them, he in turn shall be inebriated by God, that is, shall be abundantly enriched. He alludes to fountains and rivers; for as much water as flows down from fountains below, so much flows into them from above; and as much as rivers pour down with open cataracts, so much flows into them from above. For the beneficent and almsgiving man is like a fountain and a well, which continually gushes forth, bubbles up and pours out benefits, as St. Basil teaches in that passage of Luke XII: "I will pull down my barns." Whence Chrysostom, homily 23 in Acts: "Fountains," he says, "from which water is drawn for irrigation, ought to arise in high places. Therefore let us also be sublime in mind, and immediately mercy will flow forth. For it cannot be that a lofty soul and one that despises riches should not also be merciful," according to that: "On high are the fountains of divine rivers." Clement of Alexandria employs another rich similitude, book III of the Paedagogus, chapter VII: Just as, he says, milk is wont to flow to breasts that are sucked or milked, so riches will flow to those who distribute them. Wherefore Blessed Peter Chrysologus, sermon 104: "Be," he says, "rich in mercy; if you wish always to be rich. And then your barns shall be greater, then full, if they shall not be empty by liberality, shut up by covetousness." Furthermore this maxim has place more in spiritual than in temporal goods, as experience teaches. Whence the Chaldean for he that inebriates, he himself shall be inebriated, translates, he that teaches, he himself also shall learn. Thus we see teachers, preachers, confessors, etc., who liberally pour forth their charisms of the Holy Spirit into others, are more abundantly watered and inebriated by the Holy Spirit; and the more liberal they are toward their neighbour in the love of God, the more liberal they experience God to be in themselves. Whence St. Gregory, III Pastoral, chapter XXVI, the soul that blesses, itself shall be made fat, thus explains: "For he who by preaching blesses outwardly, inwardly receives the fatness of increase; and while he ceases not to inebriate the mind of his hearers with the wine of eloquence, he grows inebriated with the drink of multiplied gift." To this pertains Bede in the Collectanea, who among three riddles proposes this first: "What is that woman who offers her breasts to innumerable children, and as much as she is sucked, so much does she overflow?" and answers: "That woman is wisdom." The second: "Where is the soul of man when men sleep? In three places, either in the heart, or in the blood, or in the brain." The third: "Who are the three friends and enemies, without whom no one can live? Fire, water and iron." Mystically, to benedicit hints that the almsgiving man is a mystical priest, who blesses the needy with his mouth, and more with his hand. Thus Paul teaches, II Corinthians, chapter IX, verse 12, that almsgiving is a sacrifice, of which the victim is the riches distributed, the altar is the poor, the priest is the almsgiving man, the immolation is the distribution, he who distributes them, for example Paul, is the Deacon. More fully the same doctrine is taught by St. Chrysostom, homily 20 in the epistle II to the Corinthians. Moreover the Septuagint departs entirely in another direction and plainly disagrees with the Hebrew, Chaldean and Latin; for thus they have it, Blessed is every simple soul; but the man who is passionate is not comely; or, as the Author of the Catena of the Greeks, the man who is wrathful is uncomposed; others say, unbecoming, or dishonourable; for this is the Greek ouk euschemon, which St. Chrysostom, hom. 17 in John, thus expounds, as if to say, A soul sincere and devoid of guile and dissimulation, equally as modest and meek, is blessed and dear to God; but the man who is passionate, or wrathful, is not comely, nor becoming: because he puts on an unbecoming and ugly countenance, unbecoming cries, unbecoming actions and gestures of anger. This ugliness of countenance in anger St. Basil beautifully represents, hom. De Ira. Finally the Syriac by antithesis renders it, the soul which blesses shall be blessed: which curses shall be cursed.
11:26
In Hebrew, "he who prohibits grain, the people will curse him"; St. Ambrose, book III of the Duties, chapter VI, "he who seeks to raise the price of grain (St. Cyprian, he who seeks to raise the price of provisions) is cursed among the people"; Aquila, "the peoples will curse him"; Symmachus and Theodotion, "cursed by the people"; St. Chrysostom, homily 39 on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "he who raises the price of grain is to be execrated by the people"; the Septuagint indeed, "he who withholds grain, let him leave it to the nations"; and the Chaldean, "he who prohibits grain in time of need will leave it to his heirs." Misers are accustomed in time of famine to hide grain, or even to buy it up, so that as famine increases they may sell it at a higher price: whereby it comes to pass that the price of grain increases, and the poor suffer hunger, and thereupon are destroyed by famine. Which indeed is inhuman, and a grave sin against charity and legal justice. This therefore Solomon here attacks. Those who do this are called flagellators of provisions, and Dardanarii, from a certain Dardanus who suppressed provisions so that he might sell them at a higher price, against whom Ulpian speaks in the law Annonam, on Extraordinary Crimes. And St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 15: "What shall we say to these things," he says, "we who buy and sell grain, and observe the difficulties of the times, so that we may gather riches for ourselves, and take delight in the calamities of others, and not as Joseph did for the greater dispensation of the Egyptians' resources (for he knew both things, namely both how to gather rightly, and how to distribute provisions rightly; just as he also knew how to foresee famine, and to resist it from afar); but so that we might acquire the riches of our fellow citizens unjustly and wickedly?" And Isidore of Pelusium, book I, epistle 81: "Some say that you are an insatiable and savage and cruel Dardanarius, that is, a grain merchant; so that you observe the times, and seize the occasion of profit from the destitution of others, and gather a harvest from calamities. Wherefore, considering this with yourself, that others have need not so much of your aid as of God's aid, let kinship move you." And Apollonius the grain merchant, epistle 85: "The earth," he says, "is the mother of all; for she is just. But you, since you are unjust, have made her your mother only, and unless you cease, I will bring it about that you are not permitted to remain in her." More fully and more forcefully St. Ambrose, book III of the Duties, chapter VI, exaggerates the enormity of this vice: "Why," he says, "do you turn the indulgence of nature to fraud? Why do you begrudge the public produce to the uses of men? Why do you diminish abundance for the peoples? Why do you seek to create scarcity? Why do you cause the poor to wish for sterility? For when they do not feel the benefits of fertility, you raising the price, you hoarding grain, they prefer that nothing be born rather than that you traffic in public famine. You covet the scarcity of grains, the dearth of food, you groan over the abundant produce of the soil, you weep over public fertility, you lament full granaries of grain, you search out when the harvest might be more meager, when the produce more scanty, you rejoice that your wishes have been answered by a curse, so that nothing anywhere might be born. Then you rejoice that your harvest has turned out well, then you gather riches for yourself from the misery of all; and do you call this industry, do you name this diligence, which is the cunning of craftiness, which is the astuteness of fraud? And do you call this a remedy, which is the invention of wickedness? Shall I call this robbery or usury? The times are seized upon as if they were times of robbery, in which you, a harsh schemer, creep into the very vitals of men." And further below: "Rightly therefore Solomon: He who withholds," he says, "grain, will leave it to the nations, not to his heirs, because the gain of avarice does not pass to the rights of successors. What is not legitimately acquired is thus scattered as if by certain foreign winds. And he added: He who seeks to raise the price of provisions is cursed among the people; but blessing is upon the head of him who shares it. Do you see therefore that it is fitting to be a distributor of grain, not a seeker after the price of it. This is not therefore that utility, in which more is taken away from honesty than is added to utility." It is noteworthy what Trithemius, Cochlaeus, Genebrardus, Munsterus, Demochares and others whom our Serarius cites (lib. IV Moguntiac. Rerum, cap. I) relate concerning Hatto, Archbishop of Mainz, in the year of the Lord 970, namely that he greedily hoarded grain and called the poor mice, and allowed them to perish of hunger like mice; and therefore by just vengeance of God, he was invaded by mice, fled to a tower which still stands in the middle of the Rhine and is called the Tower of Mice by many, and there was killed and devoured by the pursuing mice. Although Serarius contends in that place that this history is a fable. Blessed Charles, Count of Flanders, son of St. Cnut, king of Denmark and martyr, was killed by the dardanarii of Strata in the year of Christ 1127, because he resisted their avarice and compelled them to sell grain in time of famine; the place of his death was shown to him at Bruges in Flanders, where he is venerated as a martyr; for God declared his sanctity by many miracles, and punished his murderers with severe vengeance. Thus Molanus in Natalibus Sanctorum Belgii, on the 2nd of March, and Aimonius, lib. V De Gestis Francor. cap. V. His Life exists recently printed at Paris in the year of the Lord 1615. Moreover, the dardanarii, because by monopolizing the common food they bring about famine, the people execrate them as pests of citizens and curse them with dire imprecations, and not rarely, a tumult being raised, they plunder them, indeed kill and tear them to pieces. The version of the Septuagint and the Chaldean is to be noted, which contains: let him leave the grain (the Chaldean and the author of the Catena of the Greeks, shall leave, in the future) to the nations. By which words Solomon wishes, or predicts, that grain greedily hoarded by the avaricious man shall be distributed to peoples: for this is what the avarice of the avaricious deserves, this likewise the condition of grain demands: for God created it for this purpose, that peoples and the poor might be nourished by it. The author of the Catena of the Greeks reads: he who withholds grain is compelled to leave it to the gentiles and infidels; and by gentiles he understands demons, who are the heirs of the avaricious, and who invade and scatter their goods. And he expounds it mystically thus: "Grain is the word of God, which, while the Jews strive to hide it, has been given to the Gentiles doing his justice." And truly this often happens by just vengeance of God, as St. Chrysostom teaches, hom. 39 in I ad Corinth.: "Many, he says, have even emptied whole casks and gave not even vinegar to the gentiles; vinegar, which is made from wine, they poured entirely on the ground, and destroyed their casks together with the wine. Others again, when they did not even give a morsel to the hungry, threw whole chests of grain into the river; and because they did not hear God commanding them to give to the needy, at the command of the weevil they unwillingly poured out whatever was inside, to their ruin and utter destruction." BUT A BLESSING UPON THE HEAD OF THOSE WHO SELL. — The Septuagint, upon the head of him who shares; St. Cyprian, upon the head of him who participates, that is upon the head of him who makes others partakers of his goods; the author of the Catena of the Greeks, favor and blessing upon the head of him who distributes, as if to say: In time of famine, he who distributes grain obtains the grace, favor and blessing of God and men; for all bless him and applaud him, all praise and celebrate him. Mystically St. Gregory, III part. Pastor. cap. XXVI: "To hide grain, he says, is to retain the words of holy preaching within oneself; but such a man is cursed among peoples, because through the fault of his silence alone he shall be condemned for the punishment of many whom he could have corrected." St. Gregory's very words are transcribed by Salonius, and he adds: "Those sell grain who announce the words of life to their hearers. What price do they receive from them? The price of faith and holy confession. How shall blessing come upon their heads? Because the Lord shall say to each of them: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Thus Salonius. Bede has the same word for word; whence from Bede it appears that Salonius copied these and some other things. For Bede is more extensive, and these things have the flavor of Bede's style. Wherefore Salonius does not appear here to be that ancient disciple of Salvian and son of St. Eucherius, who was afterwards made Bishop of Lyons in the year of the Lord 440; for Bede was far later than St. Eucherius; for he flourished in the year of the Lord 730. Therefore this Salonius must be another. Drawing many curses at the same time along with this loss upon his head. But they themselves do not go unpunished." For Chrysostom adds: "For just as these men cast into rivers the grain eaten by the weevil and rendered useless: so God shall cast those who did this, for this very reason, made useless into the river of fire. For just as the weevil and worm eat the grain, so cruelty and inhumanity eat away the souls of the just." The weevil is a small animal that gnaws grain and eats out its marrow: it is called weevil (curculio) as if from gullet (gurgulio), because in it scarcely anything else is seen but the throat, as Varro says.
11:27
For "he riseth early" in Hebrew is schocher, that is, dawning, growing light, becoming morning, that is, rising in the morning, seeking in the morning, doing something in the morning; for in the morning men are accustomed to seek out their affairs and to conduct their business. For "well" in Hebrew is tob, that is, good in the neuter, or good in the masculine, as Aquila, Aben-Ezra, R. Solomon and R. Levi translated it. But Our [translator] took tob adverbially for latob, that is, for good, that is, well; or more simply took tob in the masculine, as if to say: "He that is good and dawning, that is, he riseth well in the morning, who seeketh good things." The sense therefore is, as if to say, He who in the morning, when he riseth, conceives, traces, seeks and determines good works which he may perform throughout the course of the whole day, he surely riseth well, because he procures and prepares for himself great merits, by which he conciliates to himself the grace of God and men; whence the Hebrew texts have, seeking good in the morning, seeketh favour, or good grace, as Aquila and the Septuagint translated it; but he who is an investigator of evils, that is, he who in the morning thinks, contrives, traces evils which he may work during the day, he surely riseth ill, because for his own evil: for the evils which he contrives shall fall back upon his head and shall oppress him: as Saul, seeking the Pythoness, received from her a message of disaster and death, as Lyran says. Whence Aquila clearly translated, the morning rising of the good seeketh good grace, as if to say, When a good man riseth in the morning, he seeketh to work good things, by which he may deserve the grace of God and men; and the Chaldean [paraphrase], he who riseth early for good, seeketh favour; he who seeketh evil, it shall come upon him; the Syriac, he who seeketh good, seeketh favour; the Septuagint, he who maketh good things seeketh good grace, of God and men; him that seeketh evil, it shall seize. Which the author of the Catena of the Greeks explaining: "By those," he says, "who make good things in their heart, he designates those who suggest those things which lead to good; and again those who, lacking discipline, he incites to undertake it; for such receive grace from the Lord." Furthermore, our Salazar restricts these things, as also many others in this chapter, to almsgiving and beneficence. Whence thus he explains: "He riseth well early, who seeketh grace," namely he who strives to gain the favour of others through benefits and liberal gifts; "well," that is, not in vain, not to no purpose, not freely, or without reward, he riseth early to bestow benefits. But to rise in the morning to give is to be referred to opportunity. For opportunity greatly increases benefits and gifts; for a gift bestowed quickly and seasonably is in a certain way twofold (as we have said elsewhere). On the contrary: "He that is an investigator of evils, shall be oppressed by them." This part is to be joined with the former thus: namely, he who prepares not benefits, but evils for others, the opposite shall happen; for the evils which he intends for others shall return upon him more abundantly. This exposition is apt, but more restricted, and does not reach the mind of Solomon; for Solomon speaks of any good and of any virtue. For many are poor, who cannot give alms, and yet these can and ought to determine some other good in the morning and to work it throughout the day. Again, it is the part of the wise man to be occupied in the morning not so much with almsgiving, as with wisdom and God through prayer, meditation and study, as Solomon admonished in chapter VIII, verse 34, and Moses in Deuteronomy VI, 7, and David saying: "O God, my God, to thee do I watch from the dawn," Psalm LXII, 2. Whence the Doctors teach in the morning, and the disciples learn arts and sciences; for in the morning the mind and talent are most vigorous. Wherefore Pagninus translated, he who seeketh good, seeketh that which is pleasing to God; and he who seeketh evil, it shall come to him. So also Vatablus. Hence also R. Solomon thus translated and explained, the good watchman, who strives to lead mortals into the right path and reproves and instructs them, he seeketh good things, that is, he desires to deserve the divine benevolence for himself; the Zurich [Bible] thus translated, he who diligently pursueth good, findeth what he desireth; but he who seeketh evil, it shall come to him. R. Levi explains it thus: He riseth well, etc., that is, he who is good and zealously pursueth good, is acceptable to God, that he may enjoy good; for since man is thus constituted by God, that he eagerly desires good things, therefore without doubt he shall obtain the desired end; but he who is an investigator of evils, etc., that is, shall be oppressed by evil, he who desires evils. For otherwise than he had decreed things shall turn out badly; for the things which he had contrived against others shall fall back upon him, and he shall be entangled in the nets which he had secretly prepared for others." To this Jansenius adds, who for 'seeks good,' reading from the Hebrew 'seeks what is pleasing,' accepts the same thing with the Zurich Bible concerning that which is pleasing, agreeable and delightful to the one working; as if to say: Whoever rises in the morning to pursue good, certainly seeks that which, when he obtains it, will be most pleasing and agreeable to him; otherwise he who from eagerness for wrongdoing traces out new schemes of crimes; for this man, because of the evil which he pursues so eagerly, when it comes to pass, will grieve most greatly. A good and upright man, therefore, from the good purposes which he conceives in the morning, is always peaceful and joyful, because he spends the day in good and holy, and therefore joyful and happy, works; but the impious man from his evil machinations spends the whole day in evil and base, and therefore sad and anxious, works. Solomon therefore signifies that when we rise at dawn, the mind ought immediately to be elevated to God, so that He may suggest and inspire to it what is pleasing to Him, and the mind ought to be formed from these into good purposes of virtues, as Lyra says, for example, of beneficence, humility, mortification, patience, etc., which he may carry out through the day; and to seek the ways and means by which he may more please God, and therefore to set aside some heroic works of his own victory and perfection, which he may exercise to the glory of God on that day, by which he may greatly honor and delight God, sanctify himself, and edify his neighbors. For from the morning purposes, if they are efficacious and fervent, depends the happy and holy course of the whole day. Whence the wise and those devoted to virtue are accustomed in the morning to arrange the works of the whole day, namely what they are to do in each hour, and to prescribe for themselves the manner of doing it, and then to offer all things to God, so that they may be pleasing to Him, and He Himself may direct and prosper them. On the other hand, the impious, instigated by the devil, in the morning devise and set aside frauds and crimes which they are to work through the day, by which the devil may be fed, they themselves become more wicked, and they draw others into the same crimes by word and example; but the end of these is hell, of those beatitude. Whence the Gloss expounds anagogically thus: "He rises well at dawn who seeks good things, etc., that is, he will rise to life at the time of resurrection, because now he does good things in the time of action; but he who seeks evil things which he may say or do, by their weight is held back from higher things." Wherefore Abba Silvanus in the Lives of the Fathers, book VII, chapter XLIII (I follow the edition of our Heribert Rosweyde), taught that in the morning one ought to think of every virtue: "Rising in the morning," he says, "let him take the beginning of wisdom in every virtue, and in every commandment of God, in great patience and longsuffering, and in the charity of God, with humility of soul and body, in prayer and supplication, with groaning, with purity of heart and eyes, and guarding of the tongue, etc. Think every day that death is near, and as if already shut up in a tomb care nothing for this world. Fasting from food, humility and mourning do not depart from you. The fear of the Lord remain in you every hour. These things, therefore, and if there be any other virtue in these, take heed to." And in book V, booklet 1, number 8, Abba John: "On each day," he says, "rising in the morning take the beginning of every virtue, and keep the commandment of God in great patience with fear and longsuffering, in tribulation of heart and observance, in much prayer and supplications, with groanings, in purity and cleanness of tongue, and guarding of eyes, bearing injury and not being angry, peaceful and not rendering evil for evil, not attending to the vices of others, nor exalting yourself; but be subject and more humble than every creature; renouncing all bodily matter, and those things which are according to the flesh, in torment, in struggle, in humility of spirit, in fasting, in weeping, in labors, enclosing yourself in a sepulcher as if already dead, so that death may seem to you to be near every day.
11:28
The word "verdant" is not in the Hebrew, but our author understands it. The Septuagint translates, "he who cleaves to the just shall be anathematized." Which the Complutensian editors translate as "shall arise"; the Roman editors, "shall germinate"; Vatable, "the just like a tree adorned with foliage shall flourish." The sense is clear, namely: He who places his hopes confidently and arrogantly in his own riches rather than in God, and on account of them is secure and proud, presuming all things, shall fall; in Hebrew, shall fall, namely as a dry leaf falls from a tree: both because riches are unstable, they fall and perish, so that he who today is rich, tomorrow is poor; he who today is Cyrus, tomorrow is Irus, and poorer than Irus; and because riches cannot resist the many hardships and tribulations, and especially the wrath and vengeance of God, according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus, chapter V, verse 10: "Be not anxious in unjust riches; for they shall not profit thee in the day of visitation and vengeance." BUT THE JUST SHALL GERMINATE LIKE A VERDANT LEAF,—because they place their hopes in God, who causes their works, like a verdant leaf, to germinate and produce fruits of grace and glory, which endure forever; for a leaf always verdant, such as that of the cedar, laurel, and palm, represents the appearance of immortal and eternal life, as St. Ambrose says in the Psalm I. Whence Lyran: The just, he says, like a verdant leaf shall germinate, that is, shall advance from good to better, as from the stem of a leaf a small calyx germinates, from the calyx a flower, from the flower a fruit, for example an apple, a nut, a pear. Whence Rabbi Levi: "As, he says, a sprout is born beneath a leaf, so the just shall put on a sprout, that they may produce fruits which they have hoped for from God." And Cajetan: The just, he says, shall imitate a tree producing leaves, because as a tree produces verdant leaves, so he himself begets innumerable sons, imitators and followers of his justice. I take "just" in general for any just and holy person; although our Salazar, in his manner, restricts "just" to the almsgiving person, whose verdant leaf is the hope of blessed immortality; so that the sense is, namely: As a tree warmed by the heat of spring germinates verdant leaves: so the liberal and merciful one (for by the name of just he is designated, as I have often observed elsewhere), warmed by the heat of charity and the warmth of mercy, shall sprout hope with verdant leaves as if in spring. St. Chrysostom, on that passage of the Apostle, "There must be heresies": "As a root, he says, planted in rich soil brings forth timely fruits and leaves each year, so also money planted in the hands of the poor produces not only in each year, but also in each day spiritual fruits and leaves for us; namely confidence in God, the abscess of sins, a good conscience, spiritual joy, pleasant hope, and the good things which God has prepared for those who love him." This is what Paul says, I Timothy, chapter VI, verse 17: "Charge the rich of this world not to be high-minded, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God (who furnishes us all things abundantly to enjoy) to do good, to be rich in good works, etc., to lay up for themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold on eternal life." See what I have noted there. Solomon alludes to that passage of his father David: "The just shall flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus," Psalm XCI, 13. And that passage concerning the just: "And he shall be like a tree which is planted by the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in due season; and his leaf shall not fall off, and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper," Psalm I, 3. In turn, Isaiah alluded to this, chapter XXXV, verse 1: "The desert shall rejoice, etc., and shall blossom as the lily. Budding it shall bud, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon." Note here first. Man is as it were an inverted tree, whose root, that is the head, turns upward toward heaven, from which he received reason and mind; the branches, that is the feet, are in the earth; secondly, the impious are barren trees without leaves, flowers, fruit; but the just are fruitful trees, and always green like the palm and the olive; thirdly, the leaves are the word of God, says St. Augustine, in Psalm. I, or, as St. Ambrose there, they are the moral virtues of the Gentiles; the fruit are Christian and divine virtues. Or, as Origen, the fruit are justice and love of wisdom; but the leaves are riches and other things which pertain to the use of life. Or, as Theodoret in Psalm. I, flowers and leaves are the hope of blessedness; but the fruit is blessedness itself. More simply, the fruit are good works of charity and virtues in this life, and of praise, glory and confession to God in the other, namely in heaven. The just therefore like palms are always green with leaves and foliage, that is with vigor and strength of mind and action, and with modesty, grace and beauty of external conduct, by which as leaves they adorn, cover, cherish, protect the fruit, that is internal virtues, and daily draw forth and produce new ones. Fourthly, the just man has all these things, because like a tree he is planted beside waters and streams of grace, law and the word of God, by which he is watered, and draws perpetual vital sap. Thus Theodoret and St. Athanasius there. Hence fifthly, he always prospers, because he is ruled and governed by God. Thus Eusebius there. Symbolically, the tree of life is Christ erected on the cross, whose branches are the Apostles and apostolic men, indeed all the faithful; the husbandman is God the Father, the root is faith and wisdom; the leaves are hope and manifold prayer; the fruit are the elect who are saved, or the fruit is the blood and water flowing from the side of Christ, so that by blood he represented martyrdom, by water the baptism instituted by him. The fruit of the cross flourished in the Patriarchs, germinated in the Prophets, gave forth fragrance in the Incarnation, ripened in the Passion, is eaten after the Resurrection. Thus St. Chrysostom in Psalm. I: "For the death of Christ has been turned into the gain of immortality." Wherefore Bede explains this verse of Solomon thus, as if to say: "He who trusts in riches, etc., that is, he who grasping at present goods does not think of future ones, will lack both in the end; but he who does good in the present in hope of future rewards, justly receives what he hopes for. For the green leaf on a tree signifies the fruit which it does not yet show, the fruit that is to come; and the just like a green leaf germinate, because saved by hope, they cease not to make progress in the grace of faith and virtues."
11:29
In Hebrew, and a foolish servant to a wise-hearted one; the Septuagint, he who does not dwell at home shall inherit the wind; and the foolish shall serve the prudent; in Greek, me symperiferomenos, which others more aptly translate for the present matter, he who does not show himself easy and obliging at home; concerning which presently. For symperiferesthai means both to dwell and to show oneself easy. The latter meaning is required in this place by the Hebrew ocher, that is, disturbing his own house. Now first, the Syriac translator thus renders and explains it: he who builds his house in oppression leaves sighs to his sons; he who does not gather in his house divides winds to his sons, that is to say, A father who collects wealth through usuries, frauds and robberies, or squanders it, his patrimony shall go into the wind, nor shall he leave to his sons any other inheritance than wind, that is, nothing. Secondly, the Zurich Bible renders it: he who disturbs his house shall inherit the wind; and the servant of the fool passes to the wise of heart, that is to say, A master who vexes, rebukes, beats his servants and handmaids, starves them, shall make them fugitive, so that like the wind they flee from him and pass to a master who is prudent, who treats them with clemency and humanity. Thirdly, Vatable; that is to say, He who disturbs his house, that is, he who squanders his family property, shall finally have nothing, and the foolish servant shall be to the wise of heart, that is, whatever the fool possesses, the wise man shall have: the goods of the fool shall fly away from an unworthy possessor as it were to the wise man, as to his just master and lord. There is added Rabbi Levi: The voice of the servant, he says, signifies fortuitous events, that is to say, The work and labour of the senseless shall redound to the utility of the wise man, according to that: "The unjust prepareth, but the just shall be clothed." Fourthly, Cajetan, that is to say, A cruel father, raging against his sons, deprives himself of paternal power over his sons, either because his sons flee from him, or because the prince removes them from the tyrannical power of the father: conversely, a wise father brings back an unwise and perverse son to his own power through his humanity. Fifthly, the author of the Greek Catena from the Septuagint thus renders it: he who does not show himself easy, accommodating and obliging to his household shall possess winds; he who lacks understanding shall serve the prudent, and thus explains it: "He who is inflamed by any domestic inconvenience (his anger flares up, he quarrels, he shouts, etc.), shall finally become an exile from his country and shall be humbled by the inclemency of the air; but the comfortable and frugal father of a family ought to accommodate himself to all, as far as he is able; he ought, for example, to indulge his wife as a weaker vessel in some things, and to gratify her in those things in which he lawfully can; he ought to take great care lest he cast his sons into anger or sadness of mind for a light cause; he ought to relieve brothers pressed by poverty with aid and assistance; he ought to administer justice and equality to servants; he ought finally to render to all what is equitable and just, and to strive earnestly that he do all these things. By wind, however, it is permissible to understand the sadness of mind born from untimely anger. But the fool shall serve the prudent, for prudence, being strong, takes care to draw the unwise to itself and to convert them to its own use." Sixthly and genuinely, that is to say, The unwise and foolish man, who disturbs his house, that is, his family, either by vexing and dissipating it through quarrels and brawls and bad administration, or by squandering the family property through gluttony and luxury, shall inherit the wind, that is, shall be reduced to nothing and extreme poverty, and therefore he himself, like a fool, shall be forced to serve the wise man, who administers his affairs and revenues and estates, so that he may repair his poverty; or certainly the fool himself shall employ the wise man as a servile minister to himself, so that he may repair his poverty; or certainly the fool himself shall employ the wise man as a servile minister, who may prudently administer his affairs, lest they slip away more and more each day. This meaning thus explained is adequate and contains, as I judge, the genuine sense of Solomon. For the whole verse he comprehends in these few words: The affairs of fools pass through fools to the wise.
11:30
The Chaldean paraphrase says, and the receiver of souls is wisdom; Cajetan says, and he who captures souls is wisdom. "The tree of life" is the tree of life, or vital tree, such as was created in paradise to prolong life for man, Genesis II, 9. Now the tree or tree of life is put for the fruit of the tree of life. For thus the words are to be aptly arranged, as if to say: The fruit of the just man is like the fruit of the tree of life, which namely the tree of life bore. For the tree of life mystically is wisdom and justice itself, and consequently the wise man and the just man himself: but its fruit are just and holy works. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The just man is like the tree of life: for just as this tree, situated in the midst of paradise, bore sweet and pleasant fruits, which would have prolonged life for man and procured immortality, from which it was permitted for anyone to take as much as he wished. For the tree itself was exposed to all, and by the abundance and sweetness of its fruits it invited and allured all to itself. So likewise the just man by his wisdom and virtue produces sweet and pleasant fruits of justice, by which he procures for both himself and others, whom he teaches justice by word and example, eternal life and blessed immortality, and offers them to all, and allures and invites all to himself. Wherefore the just man who "receives souls," in Hebrew lokeach, that is, captures, that is, as Vatable says, baits, allures and draws to himself, and to God, he is surely wise: for he is wise not only for himself, but also for others, whom he instructs, justifies, and leads by the right path to blessed eternity. Whence Pagninus translates, he who teaches souls is wise; for lacach sometimes means to teach: whence lecach is called doctrine, because the disciple receives and takes it from the mouth of the teacher. This is what Daniel says, chapter XII: "They that instruct many to justice, shall shine as stars for all eternity." Again, to receive in Scripture is to help, to direct, to cherish, to protect, as is evident throughout the Psalms. To receive souls therefore is to help them, and to direct them by every aid and work to virtue and salvation. Furthermore, in that the Septuagint, having added after its custom an antithesis of the wicked, translates: from the fruit of justice is born the tree of life; but the souls of the wicked shall be taken away untimely; and the Syriac, the souls of the wicked shall be destroyed; and the Arabic, from the fruits of justice the tree of life shall be modified; and the souls of those declining from the law shall be removed before their time, it has a similar sense, as if to say: From justice, as from a seed, springs forth the tree of life, that is, the longevity and happiness of the present life, and the blessed eternity of the future, similar to that which the eating of the fruit of the tree of life conferred: conversely, the wicked quickly and prematurely before old age, indeed before the age of manhood, shall be taken from this life. For since life is given by God and prolonged to do justice, he who does not do it, but lives wickedly, he surely deserves to be deprived of life by God. A similar saying was in chapter III, 18, where of wisdom, that is, justice, it is said: "It is a tree of life to them that lay hold on it; and he that shall hold it fast, is blessed." See what is said there. Our Salazar again restricts this to almsgiving, as if to say: The just man, that is, the merciful man, shall receive in place of reward the tree of life, that is, shall produce life no differently than if he fed on the fruit of the tree of life, daily redeeming the losses of age as it declines. And he who receives souls is wise, as if to say: Wherefore he who receives souls, that is, he who relieves many poor, who receives strangers, and bestows on them necessary benefits, etc., he truly and sincerely is wise. This exposition is apt, but more restricted, and not adequate, as is evident from what has been said. Mystically, the author of the Greek Catena understands by the tree of life the perfect knowledge of God which is born from justice: From the produce of justice is born the tree of life, that is, he says, "the end of virtues is the fruit of justice; but their perfection is the knowledge of God, which is sometimes called the tree of life." See what I said concerning the tree of life in chapter III, 18, Genesis II, 9, Revelation II, 7, and chapter XXII, 2. Morally, learn here that it is the part of the wise and holy to receive souls even burdened with sins, afflicted with miseries, oppressed by temptations, blinded by ignorance, entangled in anguish and scruples, etc., and to relieve them, console them, strengthen them, illuminate them, free them, and restore them to God's salvation and heaven. For even a single soul of the vilest peasant, Indian, or barbarian is of greater worth and price than heaven and earth and the whole universe. For it is a living image of God and the Holy Trinity, created for His glory, that it might praise and celebrate Him eternally: whereas a soul which is lost through sin will curse God and the Saints perpetually and blaspheme in hell. Thus Christ received any and all souls, as their true shepherd. Whence He Himself says in John XVIII, 10: "I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd giveth His life for His sheep." And St. Paul in Romans XV, 7: "Wherefore, receive one another, saith he, as Christ also hath received you unto the honour of God." Thus St. Ambrose received all in this manner, as his Life relates: "Access to him was most easy, even for the lowest; the holy man was openly set before all who desired to speak with him; no one was prevented by doorkeepers from entering, nay, he did not even wish to be informed of anyone's arrival: he was accustomed to receive all who came to him with kindness; to hear the business of each; to serve all with conveniences and opportunities; to relieve the troubles of individuals, and to bear the miseries and infirmities of all." And further on: "Whenever anyone confessed his lapses to him to obtain penance, he was so moved with compassion that, weeping over others' sins as his own, he moved the penitent to tears as well, and spoke of the causes of the crimes which they confessed to him to none save the Lord, to whom he interceded." Thus Paulinus in the Life of St. Ambrose. Thus he received St. Augustine when he was a young Manichaean and fornicator, converting him to faith and chastity. Thus he received the Emperor Theodosius after the slaughter of Thessalonica, saying: "As thou hast followed the erring David, follow the penitent." Wonderful in this matter was Vitalius, who daily laboring with his hands spent the price of his labor on harlots, that he might redeem their fornication thereby, as Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, relates in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver: "Entering the city, he writes, he noted down all the harlots who were known, and began to do small works, and to receive each day one siliqua. When therefore the sun was setting, he ate lupines of one coin. And he entered to one of the harlots, and gave her coins, and said: Give me this night, and do not fornicate. And he remained beside her that night, watching her lest she fornicate. He stood therefore from evening in one corner of the cell where the woman slept, singing psalms and praying for her, and making genuflections until dawn, and going out he received a word from her, which he would tell to no one of her deed." Thus also St. Simeon, surnamed Salus, redeemed the fornication of harlots by giving them a price, as the same Leontius relates in his Life: and he adds that he received from God so eminent a gift of chastity that even conversing with harlots, he was altogether devoid of any sense of lust.
11:31
Some expound this sentence concerning the rewards of the just, as though they were opposed to the punishments of the unjust, that is to say: If God not only rewards the just in the future life, but also heaps many gifts upon them in the present; how much more will He not only punish the impious in hell, but also afflict them with many tribulations in the present life? Whence some Hebrews thus translate, the just shall have peace in the land. For the Hebrew word signifies both to scale and to make peace and to recompense; the Chaldean, behold the just is strengthened in the land: but the impious and sinners shall be destroyed from the earth. Others more aptly understand these things universally concerning the tribulations of the just, that is to say: If the just are so chastened with afflictions in this life on account of light and venial faults: how shall the impious be chastened on account of the gravest crimes, not so much in this life as in hell? Whence the Septuagint, whom St. Peter follows, Epistle II, chapter IV, 18, translate, if the just man is scarcely saved, where shall the impious and sinner appear? The Arabic, the sinner where shall he appear; Cajetan, behold the just shall be amended in the land; the Syriac, if the just man scarcely lives, where shall the impious and sinner be found? that is to say: If the just man with great labour through many tribulations scarcely reaches salvation by struggling, what punishments shall the impious endure in hell for so many enormous crimes? Hence that voice of St. Hilarion trembling at death to his soul: "For seventy years thou hast served Christ, and dost thou fear death?" Thus St. Ambrose, book II of the Apology of David, chapter III: "If the just," he says, "have received a sentence of more atrocious punishment, how dost thou propose to thyself hope of impunity, when Scripture says: If the just man is scarcely saved, where shall the sinner and impious appear?" And St. Augustine, book XX Against Faustus: "What indeed is more just than the only Son of God, to whom nevertheless God did not spare? And what is more evident than that He spares not even the just, correcting them by a variety of tribulations? since concerning this matter it is openly said: And if the just man shall scarcely be saved." And St. Gregory, XXVI Morals, chapter XVII: "Sins," he says, "the divine severity in no way permits to remain unavenged, but begins the wrath of judgment from the correction of us (the just) here, that in the condemnation of the damned as in the end of motion it may rest:" just as a stone is moved through the air, but rests in the earth as in the centre. I have explained this sentence fully and exactly in I Peter IV, 18; wherefore I shall not repeat it here, nor do the same thing twice. Furthermore Lyra explains it thus by examples: "If Martyrs," he says, "suffer so much unjustly, what torments await their torturers? If Job, Tobias and other elect of God suffered so much in this life, why do we wonder if we, far inferior, are touched by some affliction? for although we are not impious, certainly if we deny ourselves to be sinners, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," I John I. To this pertains that saying of Cato: What thou sufferest justly, remember to bear patiently: / And since thou art guilty, condemn thyself as judge. Tropologically, St. Gregory, XX Morals, chapter XIX: "While the unjust rage," he says, "the just are purified, and the life of the wicked serves the advantage of the innocent, while by pressing it humbles them, and by humbling always forms them to better things. Whence also rightly through Solomon it is said: The fool shall serve the wise man. Yet we often see the wise subjected, and the foolish holding the citadel of dominion: the wise obeying servilely, the foolish ruling with tyrannical pride. How therefore by the definition of divine sentence does the fool serve the wise man, when he often by right of temporal dominion crushes him? But it must be known that against the life of the wise man, while the fool excelling exercises the terror of power, while he fatigues him with labours, tears him with insults, he certainly purges him by burning away from all the rust of vices. The fool therefore serves the wise man even by ruling, whom by pressing he advances to a better state. Thus sometimes servants preside over young masters for the office of discipline, terrify, press, strike them; and yet they cease in no way to be servants: because they are ordained for this very purpose, that even by striking they serve those masters who are making progress. Since therefore the evils of the reprobate purge the good while tormenting them, the power of the wicked serves also the advantage of the just." Thus also Bede, who moreover adds that he who troubles the house of his soul feeds the winds, that is to say delights the demons. "The fool," he says, "is any sinner, who while he envies the life of the wise man, that is of the just, and by envying persecutes him, serves for the proof of him as fire serves gold. He who does not fear to trouble his mind with tumults of harmful thoughts, this he certainly opens to the waves of malignant spirits, by which it may be overwhelmed. And he who is foolish persecutes the wise man. By this he also serves him even by ruling: because by pressing his patience, he renders it more approved, so that, he himself being condemned, the wise man may receive the prize for which he strove."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
11:4
… (Pentateuch, Judges, Kings), and is slightly modified in the moral books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes), in which, from the anguished spectacle of the injustices of this earth, one rises to the concept of a sanction in the beyond (Prov. 11, 4; Eccl. 12, 13-14). The accent takes on precise contours in the Prophets, who describe in strong colors the otherworldly punishment of the wicked: Is. 66, 23-24: "All shall come …
11:30
The whole teaching of the Old and New Testaments echoes it (Apoc. 2:7; Prov. 3:18; 11:30; etc.; Wis. 2:23 ff.; Io. 8:44; Rom. 5:12, 14; I Cor. 15:21 ff., etc.). …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.