1He that loveth correction, loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof, is foolish.Chi ama la disciplina, ama la scienza; ma chi odia la correzione e un insensato.HE that loueth discipline, loueth knowlege: but he that hateth reprehensions is vnwise.Qui diligit disciplinam diligit scientiam; / qui autem odit increpationes insipiens est. 2He that is good, shall draw grace from the Lord: but he that trusteth in his own devices, doth wickedly.L'uomo dabbene si caparrerà la grazia del Signore; ma chi si confida nelle sue invenzioni opera da empio.He that is good, shal draw grace from our Lord: but he that trusteth in his owne cogitation, doth impiously.Qui bonus est hauriet gratiam a Domino; / qui autem confidit in cogitationibus suis impie agit. 3Man shall not be strengthened by wickedness: and the root of the just shall not be moved.Non acquisterà fermezza l'uomo per mezzo della empietà; ma sarà immobile, la radice de' giusti.Man shal not be strengthened by impietie: and the roote of the iust shal not be moued.Non roborabitur homo ex impietate, / et radix justorum non commovebitur. 4A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: and she that doth things worthy of confusion, is as rottenness in his bones.La valorosa donna è la corona di suo marito: quella che fa azioni obbrobriose è un tarlo nelle ossa di lui.A diligent woman is a crowne to her husband: and putrefaction in his bones, she that doth thinges worthie of confusion.Mulier diligens corona est viro suo; / et putredo in ossibus ejus, quæ confusione res dignas gerit. 5The thoughts of the just are judgments: and the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.I pensieri de' giusti sono giustizia: i consiglj degli empj son fraude.The cogitations of the iust are iudgements: & the counsels of the impious are fraudulent.Cogitationes justorum judicia, / et consilia impiorum fraudulenta. 6The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the just shall deliver them.Le parole degli empj sono insidie tese alla vita degli altri: ma a questi porterà salute la bocca de' giusti,The wordes of the impious lie in wayte for bloud: the mouth of the iust shal deliuer them.Verba impiorum insidiantur sanguini; / os justorum liberabit eos. 7Turn the wicked, and they shall not be: but the house of the just shall stand firm.Volgi in giro gli empj, ed ei più non saranno; ma stabile sarà la casa del giusto.Turne the impious, and they shal not be: but the house of the iust shal be permanent.Verte impios, et non erunt; / domus autem justorum permanebit.
8A man shall be known by his learning: but he that is vain and foolish, shall be exposed to contempt.Colla sua dottrina si farà conoscere l'uomo; ma colui che è vano, e privo di cuore, sarà esposto agli spregj.A man shal be knowen by his doctrine: but he that is vaine and foolish, shallye open to contempt.Doctrina sua noscetur vir; / qui autem vanus et excors est patebit contemptui. 9Better is the poor man that provideth for himself, than he that is glorious and wanteth bread.Più stimabile o il povero, che basta a se stesso; che un vanaglorioso a cui manca il pane.Better is the poore and sufficient to himself, then he that is glorious and wanteth bread.Melior est pauper et sufficiens sibi / quam gloriosus et indigens pane. 10The just regardeth the lives of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel.Il giusto ha cura della vita delle sue bestie; ma le viscere degli empj sono crudeli.The iust knoweth the liues of his beastes: but the bowels of the impious are cruel.Novit justus jumentorum suorum animas; / viscera autem impiorum crudelia. 11He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that pursueth idleness is very foolish.Colui che lavora la sua terra, avrà pane da saziarsi; ma chi ama l'ozio, è più che stolto. Chi trova piacere a star dove si sbevazza, lascia vituperi nella ben piantata sua casa.He that tilleth his land, shal be filled with breads: but he that purseweth idlenes is a verie foole. He that is delighted in much quaffing of wine, leaueth contumelie in his munitions.Qui operatur terram suam satiabitur panibus; / qui autem sectatur otium stultissimus est. / Qui suavis est in vini demorationibus, / in suis munitionibus relinquit contumeliam. 12He that is delighted in passing his time over wine, leaveth a reproach in his strong holds.Il desiderio degli empj si è, che si faccian forti i peggiori: ma la radice de' giusti germoglierà.The desire of the impious is the muniment of the most wicked: but the roote of the iust shal prosper.Desiderium impii munimentum est pessimorum; / radix autem justorum proficiet. 12The desire of the wicked is the fortification of evil men: but the root of the just shall prosper.Il desiderio degli empj si è, che si faccian forti i peggiori: ma la radice de' giusti germoglierà. 13For the sins of the lips ruin draweth nigh to the evil man: but the just shall escape out of distress.Co' peccati della lingua si tira addosso la rovina il malvaggio: ma il giusto fuggirà dalle angustie.For the sinnes of the lippes ruine approcheth to the euil man: but the iust escapeth out of distresse.Propter peccata labiorum ruina proximat malo; / effugiet autem justus de angustia.
14By the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things, and according to the works of his hands it shall be repaid him.L'uomo in virtù de' frutti della sua bocca sarà ricolmo di beni: e avrà, guiderdone secondo le opere delle sue mani.Of the fruite of his owne mouth shal euerie man be replenisded with good thinges, and according to the workes of his handes it shal be repayed him.De fructu oris sui unusquisque replebitur bonis, / et juxta opera manuum suarum retribuetur ei. 15The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsels.La via dello stolto è diritta negli occhi di lui: ma colui, che è saggio, da retta ai consigli.The way of a foole is right in his eies: but he that is wise heareth counsels.Via stulti recta in oculis ejus; / qui autem sapiens est audit consilia. 16A fool immediately sheweth his anger: but he that dissembleth injuries is wise.Lo stolto da tosto fuora il suo sdegno; ma chi dissimula l'ingiuria, è uom circospetto.A foole by & by she weth his anger: but he that dissembleth iniuries is wise.Fatuus statim indicat iram suam; / qui autem dissimulat injuriam callidus est. 17He that speaketh that which he knoweth, sheweth forth justice: but he that lieth, is a deceitful witness.Colui che afferma quello, ch'ei sa, da segni di annunziare il giusto: colui che mentisce, attesta la propria fraude.He that speaketh that which he knoweth, is an v•rerer of iustice: but he that lyeth, is a fraudulent witnesse.Qui quod novit loquitur, index justitiæ est; / qui autem mentitur, testis est fraudulentus. 18There is that promiseth, and is pricked as it were with a sword of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health.Taluno fa una promessa, e rimane punto dalla coscienza, come da coltello: ma la lingua dei sapienti è santità.There is that promiseth, and is pricked as it were with the sword of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health.Est qui promittit, et quasi gladio pungitur conscientiæ: / lingua autem sapientium sanitas est. 19The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever: but he that is a hasty witness, frameth a lying tongue.La bocca di verità sarà sempre costante: ma il testimone temerario si forma un linguaggio di menzogne.The lippe of truth shal be stable for euer: but he that is an hastie witnesse, frameth a tongue of lying.Labium veritatis firmum erit in perpetuum; / qui autem testis est repentinus, concinnat linguam mendacii. 20Deceit is in the heart of them that think evil things: but joy followeth them that take counsels of peace.Sta la fraude nel cuore di chi macchina il male: ma a quelli, che ruminano consigli di pace, va dietro il gaudio.Guile is in the hart of them that thinke euil thinges: but ioy foloweth them that geue counsels of peace.Dolus in corde cogitantium mala; / qui autem pacis ineunt consilia, sequitur eos gaudium.
21Whatsoever shall befall the just man, shall not make him sad: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.Non sarà contristato il giusto per qualunque cosa che gli avvenga: ma gli empj saranno sempre in guai.It shal not make the iust sorie what soeuer shal fal to him: but the impious shal be replenished with euil.Non contristabit justum quidquid ei acciderit: / impii autem replebuntur malo. 22Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord: but they that deal faithfully, please him.Il Signore ha in abominazione le labbra menzognere: ma quelli, che operano con schiettezza, son grati a lui.Lying lippes are an abomination to our Lord: but they that doe faithfully please him.Abominatio est Domino labia mendacia; / qui autem fideliter agunt placent ei. 23A cautious man concealeth knowledge: and the heart of fools publisheth folly.L'uomo cauto nasconde quello, che sa: e il cuore degli stolti butta fuora la sua stoltezza.A circumspect man concealeth knowlege: and the hart of the vnwise prouoketh folie.Homo versatus celat scientiam, / et cor insipientium provocat stultitiam. 24The hand of the valiant shall bear rule: but that which is slothful shall be under tribute.La mano dei forti dominerà; ma la mano infingarda pagherà il tributo.The hand of the strong shal rule, but that which is slothful, shal serue vnder tributes.Manus fortium dominabitur; / quæ autem remissa est, tributis serviet. 25Grief in the heart of a man shall bring him low, but with a good word he shall be made glad.L'afflizione del cuore umilia l'uomo, e le buone parole lo rallegrano.Pensifnesse in the hart of a man shal humble him, & with a good word he shal be made glad.Mœror in corde viri humiliabit illum, / et sermone bono lætificabitur. 26He that neglecteth a loss for the sake of a friend, is just: but the way of the wicked shall deceive them.Chi per amor dell'amico non fa caso di patir danno, egli è giusto; ma il fare stesso degli empj li gabberà.He that neglecteth damage for a freind, is iust: but the way of the impious shal deceiue them.Qui negligit damnum propter amicum, justus est; / iter autem impiorum decipiet eos. 27The deceitful man shall not find gain: but the substance of a just man shall be precious gold.Non farà guadagno l'uom fraudolento e le facoltà dell'uomo accurato saranno oro prezioso.The fraudulent man shal not finde gayne: and the substance of a man shal be the price of gold.Non inveniet fraudulentus lucrum, / et substantia hominis erit auri pretium.
28In the path of justice is life: but the bye-way leadeth to death.Ne' sentieri della giustizia sta la vita: ma la strada fuori di mano conduce a morte.In the path of iustice, life: but the by way leadeth to death.In semita justitiæ vita; / iter autem devium ducit ad mortem.
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Menochius
But. Hebrew, "and he will condemn the man of devices," (Mont.[Montanus?]; Haydock) or, "the man of thoughts doth wickedly," (Calmet) as he trusts in them, rather than in God. (Menochius)
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Diligent. Hebrew, "strong or virtuous," (Haydock) including all the perfections of the sex, and in particular those of economy and chastity, Proverbs 14:1., and 31:10.
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Turn. In a moment the wicked is not to be found, Proverbs 10:25., and Psalm 36:35.
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Learning. We apply to those things which we love, and those who study sacred (Calmet) or useful sciences, shall receive praise.
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Menochius
Glorious. Or a boaster, (Haydock) as many noblemen are, who are involved in debt, Ecclesiasticus 10:30. (Menochius)
It is better to have a sufficiency, than to be of noble parentage; and starving through a stupid idea, that work would be disgraceful.
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Idleness. Hebrew, "the idle." Their company is seducing.
Calmet
He that, etc. This occurs in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew or the new edition of St. Jerome. (Calmet)
Wine. Or "in taverns."
Menochius
Holds. Soldiers have thus been often surprised. (Menochius)
St. Ambrose
"Drunkenness is an incitement to lust and madness, the poison of wisdom." (St. Ambrose)
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Men. They wish to supplant one another.
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Lips. Liars often become the victims of their own deceit.
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St. Ambrose
Wise. It is more difficult to repress, than to avoid anger. (St. Ambrose)
To dissemble, so as to seek an opportunity of revenge, is not commended.
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Calmet
That. Hebrew, "the truth announceth justice." We easily give credit to an honest man. (Calmet)
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Menochius
Promiseth. Septuagint, "there are, who speaking, wound with the sword; but," etc. Hebrew bote (Haydock) means also, making a foolish promise, which causes remorse. (Menochius)
Hebrew, "speaketh like the piercings of a sword," (Protestants; Haydock) as detractors, and those who disseminate impious and scandalous maxims do.
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Frameth. He studies how to escape detection. Hebrew, "a lying tongue is but for a moment;" it is presently discovered.
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Calmet
Deceit. Or uneasiness. (Calmet)
Haydock
Honi soit qui mal y pense: "let him be covered with shame who thinks evil in it," seems nearly of the same import. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Sad. Even if he fall into sin, he will not lose all hope. (Calmet)
St. Chrysostom
The accidents accompanying this life will not overwhelm him. (St. Chrysostom)
Hebrew, "no evil shall befall the just." If he be afflicted here, he will be amply rewarded hereafter. Septuagint, "the just will not be pleased with any injustice."
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Calmet
Cautious. Versutus is taken in a good, as well as in a bad sense. The wise are reserved in speaking, Proverbs 16:14. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Grief. Septuagint, "a fearful speech troubleth the heart of a (just) man." (Grabe) (Haydock)
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Calmet
Just. A true friend will make any sacrifice. (Calmet)
Haydock
"I am convinced that friendship can subsist only among the good," says Cicero. Hebrew, "the just hath more, (Calmet; Protestants) or is more excellent than his neighbour." Septuagint, "the intelligent just is his own friend; (but the sentences of the impious are contrary to equity. Evils shall pursue sinners) but the way," etc. (Grabe) (Haydock)
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Haydock
Gain. Hebrew and Septuagint, "his prey," (Calmet) or what "he took in hunting." (Protestants) (Haydock)
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Calmet
Bye-way. Of vice. Hebrew, "and a way which leadeth to death," or "its paths conduct to death." (Calmet)
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Loue of discipline.
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Progresse in vertue.
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Pietie.
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Diligent industrie.
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Desire of iustice.
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Sinceritie in vvordes
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Iustice.
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Sound doctrine.
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Contentment of minde.
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Compassion.
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Diligent trauel.
Temperance.
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defence
Iust punishment of the wicked. Guard of the tongue. Godlie instructions: and good dedes.
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Yelding to good counsel.
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Toleration of iniuries.
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True testimonie.
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Aduised promising.
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Considerate testimonie.
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Pacification.
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Iustice in general.
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Fidelitie.
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Prudent silence.
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Resistance of tentation.
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Alacritie in good workes.
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Freindshipe.
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Honest industrie.
a 〈…〉 man.
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Good life.
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Proverbs 1
Not from men, but with the Lord, will he obtain favour.
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 3.30
… But since the phrase is from the heretics and the words of heretics are suspicious, and, as it is written, ‘The wicked are deceitful,’ and ‘The words of the wicked are deceit
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 1.19
… Of which the blessed David speaks: “I thought upon the ancient days, and had in mind the years from of old, and I meditated, by night I exercised myself with my heart, and searched out my spirit.” And again: “the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vain:” and “the thoughts of the righteous are judgments.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 To the Bishops of Egypt 1.9
But when they proceed from those who are hired to advocate the cause of heresy, and since, according to the divine proverb, ‘The words of the wicked are to lie in wait,’ and ‘The mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things,’ and ‘The counsels of the wicked are deceit
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Sententia Dionysii. (Defence of Dionysius.) 21
Of a truth one that hears this is reminded of the divine oracle which says, ‘whithersoever the impious turns, he is destroyed’ (
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution at Alexandria 1
… He perished rejoicing, having obtained the glory of martyrdom. But the miscreants were not even yet ashamed, but in the words of Scripture, ‘having bowels without mercy
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 29
… 33 ). And he seems indeed to be praying for the just, but is doing the whole for them. For the souls of the Saints are very gentle and, loving unto man, both in regard to their own, and to strangers. And even to the unreasoning creatures they extend their gentleness. Wherefore also a certain wise man said, “The righteous pitieth the souls of his cattle.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 11.10
… “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ,” and who has not that virtue of love, which “is not grieved, is not puffed up, thinketh no evil,” which “endureth all things, beareth all things.” For “a righteous man pitieth the life of his beasts: but the heart of the ungodly is without pity.”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.23
So far, indeed, as I in my ignorance know, to begin with inferior and more dense things, God, knowing the denseness of the Israelites and their carnal love and propensity towards matter in everything, made this law: first, in order that the servant and the cattle should rest as it is written, for the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 3
… For he who tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but the paths of the slothful are strewn with thorns;’ so that the Spirit forewarns a man not to fall into them, saying, ‘Break up your fallow ground, sow not among thorns
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St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… He walketh through the dry and desert places, and with his hands he gathereth barrenness. The mouth of the froward is near to destruction, and he who uttereth evil words is the chief of fools. Every simple man is a soul that is blessed; but a violent man is dishonourable.
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St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… He walketh through the dry and desert places, and with his hands he gathereth barrenness. The mouth of the froward is near to destruction, and he who uttereth evil words is the chief of fools. Every simple man is a soul that is blessed; but a violent man is dishonourable. By the fault of his lips the sinner falleth into a snare.
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Zephyrinus 2.1
… who is Lord over us?” For if they kept these things in memory, they would by no means break forth into so great wickedness. For they do not this by laudable and paternal instruction ( probabili et paterna doctrina ), but that they may wreak their vengeful feeling against the servants of God. For it is written, “The way of a fool is right in his eyes;”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.9
In Solomon in the Proverbs: “Better is a patient man than a strong man; for he who restrains his anger is better than he who taketh a city.” Also in the same place: “The imprudent man declareth his anger on the same day, but the crafty man hideth away his dishonour.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… The mouth of the froward is near to destruction, and he who uttereth evil words is the chief of fools. Every simple man is a soul that is blessed; but a violent man is dishonourable. By the fault of his lips the sinner falleth into a snare. All the ways of a fool are right in his own eyes.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 16.27
… “Be not quick to rush into a quarrel, lest thou repent thereof at the last.” For he does not blame a hasty exhibition of quarrelling and anger in such a way as to praise a tardy one. In the same way too must this be taken: “A fool declares his anger in the very same hour, but a prudent man hides his shame.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 De Decretis. (Defence of the Nicene Definition.) 5
… But the Bishops discerning in this too their dissimulation, and whereas it is written, ‘Deceit is in the heart of the irreligious that imagine evil
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.105
“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… The mouth of the froward is near to destruction, and he who uttereth evil words is the chief of fools. Every simple man is a soul that is blessed; but a violent man is dishonourable. By the fault of his lips the sinner falleth into a snare. All the ways of a fool are right in his own eyes. The fool showeth his anger on that very day.
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 97.4
… for from them hath He made Himself a seat, since in them Wisdom sitteth; for the Son of God is the Wisdom of God. But we have heard from another passage of Scripture a strong confirmation of this interpretation. “The soul of the righteous is the seat of Wisdom.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 99.3
… and the Word of God and the Spirit of God hath Itself revealed to the servants of God where God sitteth. Not that God doth sit, as doth man; but thou, if thou dost wish that God sit in thee, if thou wilt be good, shalt be the seat of God; for thus is it written, “The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom.”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 75
Hear even under the Old Testament, how great regard there was for this, “The ways of revengeful men are unto death.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 16
… but to bear a grudge he permits no longer; because the act then is no longer one of passion, nor of boiling rage, but of malice premeditated. Now God forgives those who may be carried away, perhaps upon a sense of outrage, and rush out to resent it. Hence He says, “eye for eye”; and yet again, “the ways of the revengeful lead to death.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 27
… For as a man is equally called a homicide whether he has killed a child or a man, so also is he called overreaching whether he be overreaching in much or in little. Yea and to remember injuries too, is no small matter, but even a great sin. For it is said, “the ways of those who remember injuries [tend] to death.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 12
… because they had not yet believed Christ, and were not fighting against that grace of communion. On the other hand, the apostle Paul does not pray for Alexander, and the reason I suppose, is, that this man was a brother, and had sinned “unto death,” i.e. by opposing the brotherhood in a spirit of hatred.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 8.15
… any more time over evangelic and apostolic precepts, when even the old law, which is thought to be some what slack, guards against the same thing, when it says, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart;” and again, “Be not mindful of the injury of thy citizens;” and again, “The ways of those who preserve the recollection of wrongs are towards death”?
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An Arab, who loves discipline, loves goodness, or benefit. For discipline in Hebrew is מוסר musar, that is, chastisement, correction, reproof. Whence the Zurich Bible: he who loves chastisement loves knowledge; but he who hates chastisement becomes brutish, that is, becomes dull and brutal: for this is in Hebrew בער baar. By knowledge understand the practical kind, namely the conforming of morals, honesty and virtue. The sense therefore is: he who loves discipline, and when he deviates from duty and from what is right, allows himself to be corrected, and receives reproof with a willing mind, he certainly loves knowledge of morals, namely honesty and virtue, and therefore is truly wise, truly a philosopher, that is, a lover of wisdom; but he who hates reproof, and when he acts badly does not suffer himself to be corrected, he is certainly unwise, and that for three reasons. First, because he shows his pride and arrogance, by which he thinks himself wiser than others, and therefore foolishly and proudly defends his vices and defects. Second, because he persists obstinately in error and vices, and does not wish to be instructed and corrected; and therefore is incorrigible and unamendable. I shall add a third reason presently from Antiochus. Wherefore just as a sick man is foolish, who does not acknowledge his sickness, nor allows a cautery or a sharp medicine to be applied to it, and thus remains in sickness and dies; and just as one who wanders from the way is foolish, if he will not be led back into the right way; and just as a disciple who deviates from the truth is foolish, if he will not be corrected and instructed by his master: so truly is he foolish, who, wandering from virtue and the way of salvation, will not be corrected, instructed, directed, and restored to the way of virtue and salvation. Thus St. Chrysostom, vol. III, homily On Bearing Reproof: "He who," says he, "hates reproofs, says Solomon, is unwise. He did not say thus or thus to be reproved, but only to be reproved; for if indeed a friend reproves justly, he acts to correct sin: but if without reason and undeservedly, then his will is to be praised, and the intention of his mind approved, and the benefit of friendship acknowledged and attested. For he would not reprove unless he loved greatly. Therefore let us not be angry, nor take offense, when we are reproved." He adds the reason: "In sins," says he, "reproofs do what remedies do in wounds. Therefore just as he is unwise who rejects medicines, so also is he foolish who does not receive reproofs with a grateful mind." He adds a comparison from the sun: "What is brighter than the sun? And yet its light fails. And indeed just as that bright light is often covered over by supervening darkness, so also our intellect, shining and clear as at midday, is made dark by creeping thoughtlessness; and it sometimes happens that a wise man does not see what he ought, and a lesser and duller person perceives it clearly and acutely." Whence St. Chrysostom concludes: "To bear correction well is the praise and glory not of common, but of the highest philosophy." So also Antiochus explains it, homily 68: "A man," says he, "if indeed he thinks most humbly of himself, and holds himself for abject and vile, desires with much pleasure and benevolence those corrections which fall upon him, or any harsh rebuke whatsoever. Blessed is the monk who thinks himself to be nothing other than the refuse of all." Refuse, says the Scholiast, is the shaving and filing, by which namely the monk subjects himself to the judgments and censures of all, as if by a file to be corrected, scraped in humility and polished in every virtue. Antiochus proves this: "He who hates reproofs is unwise, because there awaits him not a simple tribulation; but he who loves them, it is clear that he is disturbed by no perturbation of mind, but is of a calm spirit. How much therefore will it profit to receive kindly those who exercise us with their mockeries and jeers, however bitter, compared to those who adorn us with their fictitious praises, who according to Scripture scarcely differ from him who curses!" Furthermore St. Augustine wrote a book On Correction and Grace, in which, when the Pelagians objected that no one ought to be corrected, because to correct vices is the work of God's grace, not of free will and human powers, as St. Augustine and the Orthodox did, he answers in chapter v: "Whoever you are who do not wish to be corrected, for this very reason you ought to be corrected, because you do not wish to be corrected. For you do not wish your vices to be shown to you: you do not wish to be struck, and to have useful pain made for you, by which you might seek a physician: you do not wish yourself to be shown to yourself, so that, when you see yourself deformed, you might desire a reformer, and beseech him not to remain in that foulness." And after a few words: "For that pain by which he displeases himself, when he feels the sting of correction, stirs him up to greater fervor of prayer, so that, God having mercy, aided by the increase of charity, he may cease to do shameful and sorrowful things, and do praiseworthy and grateful things." To this add the apophthegms of St. Augustine, from the book On Correction: "It is better to be corrected mercifully by the just than to be praised deceitfully." Thus he himself in Psalm cxl: "No one is corrected and instructed without labor and pain, because virtue is perfected in weakness," in Psalm lxxxix: "Correction pertains to amendment, rebuke of fury, that is, accusation, pertains to condemnation," in Psalm vi: "Those whom words do not correct, experiences will correct," sermon 50 On the Seasons: "We are not corrected except by the gift of God," homily 2 among 50: "Truth even through the wicked corrects sinners," ibid. homily 5. To this pertains the proverb of Sixtus the Philosopher, no. 237: "He who does not obey the wise man will not obey God either."
12:2
In Hebrew it is ירשיע iarscia, which, since it is in the hiphil, signifies first, to act very impiously, as is evident from Daniel ix, 5, and chapter xii, verse 10. Second, it signifies to act as guilty of impiety and to condemn. Whence Pagninus translates it, and he who has evil thoughts shall be condemned; and the Zurich Bible, the wicked man shall be condemned for impiety. Therefore the general and adequate sense is, as if to say: A good man, who applies himself assiduously to goodness and good actions by which he pleases God, he shall draw grace from God, so that he may advance from good to better, according to that: "They shall go from virtue to virtue; God shall be seen of gods in Sion," Psalm lxxxiii, 8. "But he who trusts in thoughts," in Hebrew, a man of thoughts, or of machinations and imaginations, who namely follows his own imaginations and relies entirely upon them, not upon God and God's will and law; he shall act impiously continually, and daily shall progress from one impiety to another, from lesser to greater, until he ascends to the height of impiety, and becomes wholly impious, and from thence with Lucifer shall be cast down by God into the depths. Whence the Chaldean translates it, good is he who receives the will of God, the counsel of the wicked man shall be broken; the Syriac, to the beneficent man who keeps the will of the Lord, the wicked man shall be condemned; Aquila, the good man supereffundeth, that is, shall abundantly and copiously draw the good pleasure and grace from the Lord. Whence Bede aptly and clearly thus explains it: "He who is good does not trust in his own thoughts, but seeks the grace of the Lord, and having sought it finds it; through it truly he receives that he may be able to live piously. But he who trusts in his own thoughts cannot be good; for because he does not care to seek the grace of the help from on high, he deservedly persists in impious action." Furthermore, by good man here is understood any just man, but especially the humble man, says Beda and Hugo, who humbly receives the discipline and correction of which the foregoing spoke: for he directly opposes the proud man, who, trusting in his own thoughts, rejects discipline. For the humble man by his humble submission, by which he subjects himself to the one instructing and correcting him, merits a remarkable grace from God, by which both he effectively corrects the vice for which he is corrected, and advances himself greatly in the opposite virtue and in others. Whence Antiochus, homily 68 already cited: "A humble man," he says, "is filled with incredible joy silently upon private correction and contempt, more than for honor shown, and the celebrity of his own name; whence such a man is also proclaimed blessed by God, according to the testimony of Isaiah: Sanctify him who brings low his soul; but he who hates corrections is foolish." For just as he who draws water draws it purer and more abundantly the greater the depth of the well from which he draws; so also the just man draws greater and more abundant grace of God the greater the humility and lowliness of his mind: from this namely, as from a well, the water of life must be drawn, namely God's grace. Finally, the Septuagint have, better (the Complutensian editors less correctly read, best) is he who finds grace from the Lord; but the man of iniquity shall be silent. Which sense is obscure and gaping; whence the Greek Catena sets it forth more fully and clearly thus: "Better or more excellent is he who finds grace with the Lord than he who is honored among men; but the man of iniquity and transgressor of the law shall be buried in silence." "For indeed, as Didymus says there, some good men are found, intent upon good actions, known to God alone. But he prefers these to those who are honored among men and held in great esteem. For those who are commended among men often turn such praise and commendation into pride: but those who are known and approved by God alone, they preserve virtue uncontaminated unto the end; and not without reason. But among wicked and reprobate men nothing of such a kind takes place: since among them all things are perverse and distorted." This saying of Solomon is parallel to that of Plato in the Theaetetus: "Nothing is more like God than when someone among men is most just. In this indeed both the true excellence of man and his faculty consist, and to the extent that man departs from this, swiftly ἀνανδρία, that is nullity, and certain such cowardice or weakness ensues, so that he loses the name of man." And again: "Philosophy and true wisdom is the return of the soul from this dark life, which ought to be called night rather than day, to that true light of being." And that passage of Pindar in the Isthmian Odes, ode 6: "If anyone delighted in labor exercises the virtues built by God, at the same time God sows for him an amiable glory, now having cast anchor at the uttermost ends of happiness, being honored divinely." And that saying of Sixtus, not the Pontiff, as Rufinus wished, but of the Pythagorean Philosopher, no. 1: "A faithful man is a chosen man; a chosen man is a man of God; he is a man of God who is worthy of God; he is worthy of God who does nothing unworthily." Morally, from this verse and the preceding one learn how faithful students of virtue, especially Religious, ought to be ready in receiving discipline, correction, rebuke and chastisement, indeed to love it, desire it and seek it. For this is the ladder to the amendment of life, to humility, to patience, and to every virtue and perfection. Wherefore Antiochus, Abbot of the Lauræ of St. Sabas, who flourished a thousand years ago at that time when the Emperor Heraclius brought back the holy Cross to Jerusalem in the year of the Lord 614, Antiochus, I say, in homily 68 already cited: "Indeed," he says, "how great and admirable ought he to be esteemed who, when he is rebuked sharply and sprinkled with no light ignominy, nevertheless bears it; just as that honest Canaanite woman, of great merit, who indeed as soon as she had heard from the Lord: It is not good to take the bread of the children and cast it to the dogs; not only was she not indignant, but on the contrary, humbling herself, she answered: Yea, Lord; for the dogs also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. At this response, the Lord, rising up in admiration of such humility and faith in her, said: O woman, great is thy faith, be it done to thee as thou wilt." Blessed Isaiah, Abbot, in discourse 8, among other sayings has this: "If anyone reproves you for something which you did, or did not do, if you are silent, you show yourself like Jesus; but if you answer: What, you say, did I do? you are no longer like him. But if you return like for like, you are altogether unlike him." Blessed Dorotheus, in doctrine 21, teaches that patience under correction is an efficacious remedy against any sins whatsoever. But before all others, John Climacus treats this argument most sublimely and divinely, in step 4 On Obedience. Take a few things from many: "Just as it is cruel," he says, "to snatch bread from the hands of a hungry infant, so also he harms both himself and the workman who undertakes to govern souls, unless he takes care to provide for him with crowns as many as he knows he is able to bear, in every hour, whether through insults, or through ignominies, or through abjections, or through mockeries. For he commits three things especially to be avoided: First, that he himself is deprived of the reward of correction; second, that what he could have done to benefit others from another's virtue, he has omitted to do. Third indeed is the gravest, that those who sometimes appear to be most approved and most patient in labor, if they are neglected for a time, and now lest they be corrected as those advanced in virtues, or be afflicted with reproaches and injuries, are destitute of that modesty and tolerance which were in them. For although good and fruitful and rich soil it is, it is nevertheless accustomed to the lack of water, that is of ignominy, to become unfruitful and wild, and thorns of fornication and harmful security to germinate in it." He then brings forward among other examples that of Abacyrus, whom he saw being corrected daily by all and harassed with reproaches, and asked: "What is it, he said, brother Abacyrus, that I see you expelled from the table daily, and sometimes going to sleep without supper? To which he replied: Believe me, father, my fathers are testing me, whether I wish to be a monk; but they are not truly doing so; since I am not ignorant of the intention of the father and the others, I bear all things most lightly and without any trouble. And behold, for a year now I have been thinking this, just as they themselves, when I entered the monastery, said to me, that they were accustomed to test those renouncing the world up to the thirtieth year. And rightly indeed, father John, for without testing gold is not perfected. This excellent Abacyrus, in the second year after I arrived, departed to the Lord in this monastery, saying to the fathers as he was failing: I give thanks to the Lord and to you, fathers, because you have continually tested me for my salvation; for by this cause I have remained free from the temptation of demons up to now." Whence concluding by exhorting: "Fix upon the wood of the soul (which we call the cross) an anvil, namely the mind, so that struck by the alternating blows and clanging of hammers and assailed by mockeries and curses and derisions, affected by injuries, remaining beneath itself, and in no way harmed or dissolved, it may persist wholly gentle and smooth and immovable. Strip yourself of your own will, as of a garment of confusion; and naked in these things enter the stadium of piety; drink mockeries at each hour as living water." And with several things interjected he adds, sealing the matter with this golden apophthegm: "He who [is] to all of them companion, solace and remedy: whose heroic qualities he therefore describes throughout the whole chapter 31."
12:3
For 'shall not be strengthened,' in Hebrew it is לא יכן lo ticcon, that is, 'shall not be directed,' as the Complutensian Septuagint has it, and the Chaldeans likewise, 'shall not be made firm, shall not be established.' Thus Aquila and Symmachus; the Roman Septuagint, 'a man shall not prosper from iniquity; but the roots of the just shall not be taken away'; the Zurich Bible, 'no one with impiety shall be firm; but the root of the just shall not be moved'; Vatable, 'an impious man shall not endure, but shall quickly perish.' The general and adequate sense is, as if to say: Impiety does not prosper, nor does it make the impious stable, but rather causes him to fall into many adversities, to be overthrown and uprooted: but truly justice and uprightness prosper the just, stabilize and strengthen them, so that they appear to be like a tree which has struck firm roots in the earth, and therefore cannot be uprooted by any force of winds, or moved from its place. Now under this general sense it is permitted to descend to particular interpretations. Whence first, Baynus adapts these to heirs and sons, as if to say: The impious man leaves few or no heirs and descendants, and those miserable and unhappy, who therefore cannot propagate and exalt his house and family: but truly the just man, like a tree well rooted, and therefore spreading many branches from itself, will beget a numerous, happy and splendid offspring, through which he will propagate his family and make it abundant and splendid. Thus also Aben-Ezra: 'The root,' he says, 'is a symbol of the posterity which the just, when life departs, leave behind them.' Secondly, our Salazar restricts these in his manner to riches, as if to say: From impiety, that is, from wealth unjustly acquired, no one is strengthened, that is, no one obtains from it a robust, firm and stable fortune. For since ill-gotten gains are ill-spent, with these likewise the fortune of man slips away and falls: 'But the root of the just shall profit,' as if to say: The resources of the just, that is, justly acquired, like a tree which has struck deeper roots, shall not be uprooted or taken away by any force, shall be stable and immovable. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on the Epistle to the Ephesians: 'If you wish to hand down riches to your sons, possess just ones, if any such exist; for these remain, and stand firm and stable: but those which are not of this kind quickly perish and pass away.' Thirdly, Lyra: The root of the just, he says, is their stability in virtue and honor: whence David was established in the kingdom for himself and for his posterity. Fourthly, others refer these to actions: for God prospers these in the just; but renders them inauspicious in the impious. Thus the author of the Greek Catena: 'Although,' he says, 'the just man depart from the midst and die, nevertheless his root remains firm. Nor that alone, but also the good and praiseworthy actions and sound counsels, which produced from him, run to the most peaceful quiet of mind and to God, every day in which he does not sustain curses, he reckons that he has sustained great loss.' For besides other things, this still remains for the just, that they shall return to life again at some time.' Tropologically, the root of the just is justice, grace and charity, which shall never fail, since all other things, even knowledge and prophecy, shall perish, 1 Corinthians xiii, 8. For grace is the root and seed of glory: for as a tree springs from a root, so eternal glory is produced from grace and charity. Whence the Apostle, Ephesians iii, 17: 'Rooted and grounded in charity, that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth.' Allegorically, the root of the just is God and Christ: for because the just are rooted in God and in the cross of Christ, as in a vital and immovable tree, hence they are shaken or moved by no temptation or tribulation, and they say with St. Paul: 'Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or hunger, etc. I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor strength, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the charity of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Hence Christ is called 'the root of David,' Revelation v, 5, and chapter xxii, 16, and 'the root of Jesse,' Isaiah xi, 1. Anagogically, the root of the just is eternity: for they pursue eternal goods, and fix all their mind and hope in these; wherefore they are moved by no temporal goods or evils, as being perishable and fleeting. But the impious, who pursue present goods, pass away and vanish with them: wherefore they cannot be firm and stable. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on Genesis: 'Such a thing,' he says, 'are riches, such a thing is all the prosperity of this life, having nothing firm, nothing subsisting, nothing fixed, nothing rooted; but rather it passes by more than the flowing of rivers. But spiritual things are not such; for they are firm, immovable, admitting no change, but extending themselves to every age. How great therefore is the folly to exchange the wavering with the immovable?'
12:4
In Hebrew, which means she who brings shame; in the Zurich version, a woman who brings shame (Vatable, disgraced) is like decay in his bones. Similar to this is that saying of Sixtus, not the Pontiff, as Rufinus wished, but the Philosopher, in the Proverbs or Sayings, which are found in the Library of the Holy Fathers, no. 228: "A modest woman is the glory of her husband; if you show reverence to your wife, you will have her reverent." Some take to diligens as a participle of the verb diligo, and interpret it as loving her husband; but wrongly: for in Hebrew it is אשת חיל escet chail, that is, a woman of virtue, that is, vigorous, diligent, manly, who vigorously rules, maintains, and advances her children and household; and therefore to her husband she is not only faithful, modest and chaste, but also a companion in all his labors and sorrows, his solace and remedy: whose heroic qualities he describes throughout chapter xxxi. Whence Theodoret translates it, a woman of strength; Symmachus, of abundance; the Septuagint, a strong woman: the Chaldean, honorable; the Syrian, manly; the Zurich version, endowed with virtues; Aben-Ezra: "A woman who gathers riches is the crown of her husband, because her works are valued and honored; just as a royal diadem makes the head worthy of reverence before all others." She is to her husband a crown, that is, like a crown she adorns him, gladdens him, covers him, strengthens him, affects and fills him with holiness, vigor, joy, and every good. For a crown is a symbol of perfection and abundance, and signifies nothing except what is perfect and complete in all its parts, as I have said elsewhere. Again, a crown is called that which is becoming and glorious. He alludes to the nuptial crown, with which bridegroom and bride are accustomed to be crowned as a sign of love and harmony, congratulation and nuptial joy, as Charles Paschalius teaches, book II On Crowns, chapters xvi and xvii, and Alexander ab Alexandro, book II Genial Nights, chapter v. Whence Claudian sings thus at the nuptials of the Emperor Honorius: You festive Hymen kindle the flames, you, Grace, choose the flowers, you, Concord, bind the twin crowns. Again, this crown was a symbol of victory, namely that spouses had conquered through marriage fornication, adultery, suitors and adulterers, and all wandering and shameful lust. Thus St. Chrysostom, homily 9 on I Corinthians, in the moral sense: "For this reason," he says, "crowns are placed on the head, that they may be signs of victory, namely that they have previously been impenetrable to lust. Thus they will enter the bedchamber, because they have not been overcome by pleasure. But if someone overcome by lust has given himself to harlots, for what reason should he walk crowned, he who has so shamefully subjected his neck to lust?" Third, the same was a sign of labor and vigor. Whence it was customary of old that a new bride crown the doorway of her husband's house with wool, as one who would be diligent in wool-working, clothing her husband and children with linen and woolen garments, according to that in chapter xxxi, verse 13: "She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands." And verse 21: "She shall not fear for her household because of the snow; for all her domestics are clothed with double garments." Fourth, this crown is a symbol of kingdom: for the husband is as it were a king, whose kingdom is his wife and family. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily on Psalm iv: "Because," he says, "David a woman (Bethsabee, the wife of Urias), who was in the power of her husband, as if he had occupied an alien kingdom (for to each man his own wife is a kingdom; and not so does a king love purple and diadem as a man loves his wife), for this reason the son born to him from his wife rose up as a tyrant wishing to seize his father's kingdom: he himself violently seized an alien kingdom, and suffered violence concerning his own; and he who had sinned in secret, a triumph was openly celebrated over him." Fifth, this crown is a symbol of integrity, virtue and perfection, according to that in Isaiah lxi, 10: "He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bridegroom adorned with a crown, and as a bride adorned with her jewels." Sixth, this crown is a symbol of many and distinguished children, whom a manly wife bears and raises for her husband. For these are a crown, that is, the honor and glory of their parents, who surround and encircle them at table and abroad like a crown. Whence the Apostle, I Thessalonians chapter ii, verse 19: "For what is our hope," he says, "or joy, or crown of glory? Is it not you," etc. And that in Psalm cxxvii, 3: "Thy children as young olive plants round about thy table," as if to say, God blessing you and you cooperating with God, you will beget from your wife many distinguished children, and will raise them in all virtue, who therefore like a crown will encircle and adorn you. Mystically, the diligent and industrious woman is the Church, and any holy soul, which adorns and delights Christ the Bridegroom like a crown, according to that passage in the Canticle iii, 11: "Go forth, and see, ye daughters of Sion, king Solomon in the diadem wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the joy of his heart," namely on the day of the Incarnation, when Christ betrothed our flesh to himself, and in it the other faithful and holy men, as St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, St. Bernard, Cassiodorus, Philo of Carpathus and others explain there. And Isaiah, cap. lxii, 3: "Thou shalt be, he says, a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of thy God." Moreover in the Incarnation the crown of Christ was the flesh and humanity assumed: for this encircled and crowned the Word; but in the Passion the crown of Christ was thorny, through which he merited to obtain in heaven a rosy and jeweled crown. And the thorny one in this life he communicates to his elect, as he communicated it really to St. Catherine of Siena. For the thorny crown Christ exhibits himself as king of the suffering, the afflicted and the troubled, and he goes before them as a standard-bearer, so that through thorns, sorrows and crosses of his own he may lead them to the unfading crown of glory. "Let it be shameful, says St. Bernard, serm. 5 in the feast of all Saints, for a member to become delicate under a thorny head." The first Christians thought it shameful to be crowned with flowers after the manner of the Gentiles, lest Christ crowned with thorns should seem to be mocked and insulted. Whence Clement of Alexandria, lib. II Pædag. cap. viii: "It is contrary to reason, he says, that we who have heard that the Lord was crowned with thorns, should ourselves, insulting the venerable Passion of the Lord in sport, have our heads bound with flowers." The same teaches Tertullian, lib. De Corona militis. St. Athanasius adds that Christ was crowned with thorns, so that taking upon himself all the thorns of our cares and sorrows, he might bestow upon us his security and joy, and protect and crown us by his patronage. Whence tract. De Passione et Cruce, he thus says: "Christ bore a thorny crown, so that the cares of our life (as it were thorns taken upon himself) he might abolish." Mystically, St. Thomas, serm. De S. Cecilia, proposes this theme of the sermon: "A diligent woman is a crown to her husband." For St. Cecilia was, he says, diligent in five ways: first, in the mortification of the flesh; second, in the love of God; third, in devout prayer; fourth, in the giving of alms; fifth, in the conversion of others. She was the same crown to her husband, because she converted him to Christ and to chastity: whence with him she merited to be given by an angel a crown of lilies. The same jeweled crown is to her husband in eternal life. The same St. Thomas in I Corinth. vii, lect. 2, adorns St. Cecilia with these nine crowns: first, wisdom in the rational part; second, purity in the concupiscible part; third, constancy in the irascible part; fourth, modesty against talkativeness; fifth, truth against lying; sixth, discretion against foolish speech; seventh, holiness in deed; eighth, shame in appearance; ninth, grace in conversation. Furthermore the author of the Greek Catena through a woman of virtue mystically understands virtue; through a thing worthy of confusion, vice and malice: "The sense is, he says, just as virtue adorns the mind, so malice profanes and destroys it; and renders it depraved and insolent in reviling. Again, a manly woman is the soul of the just: for this fights manfully against vices and disturbances of the mind; and so that it may prove superior to any adversity, it labors strenuously. Salonius, Bede, Lyra and Hugh refer it to a woman, as if to say: An immodest woman brings upon herself diseases and decay through her lust, as is evident in venereal disease, by which both her flesh and bones rot and waste away, as experience teaches that harlots and adulteresses putrefy. But from the antithesis, and from the Hebrew masculine pronoun, it is clear that it should be referred to a man, as if to say: Just as a modest and industrious woman adorns, gladdens, strengthens and vivifies a man like a crown, so on the other hand an immodest woman, idle and sluggish (for to this the diligent and careful woman is opposed. Thus R. Levi), quarrelsome, drunken, prodigal, and devoted to other shameful vices, disgraces, afflicts, brings infamy upon a man, wears him down with sorrow and troubles, so that the marrow of his bones flows away and is consumed from sadness, and thus all his strength (which is in the bones) and vigor perish, and he himself even contracts old age and dies. He alludes to that saying of Adam concerning Eve: "This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh," Genesis ii, 23. Where Anastasius of Sinai says: Bone, he says, pertains to strength, flesh to pleasure, because a good wife brings to her husband not only pleasure, but also strength to overcome all labors and family difficulties. And he adds: Conversely, a bad wife eats away and consumes the bone, that is, the strength of her husband. Whence the Septuagint translates: But as a worm in wood, so a wicked woman destroys a man; and the Syriac, following in its manner the footsteps of the Septuagint, as a fungus and worm in wood, so a woman doing evil ruins a man, as if to say: a woodworm and moth gradually eat away, erode and consume wood; thus a bad and perverse woman erodes and consumes the strength of a man. Malefica means malignant, also unchaste and adulterous, and from this properly malefica and poisoner. For adulterous women are accustomed, so that they may enjoy their adulterous lovers, to secretly give their husbands poisons, either natural or magical, by which they either quickly or gradually destroy and kill him, according to that saying of Ausonius: The adulterous wife gave poisons to her jealous husband. And that saying about one bewitched to a poisoner in Athenaeus, book VI: "You have rotted him with your poisons, and like wood corrupted by decay you have ruined him." Since women are timid and weak, what they cannot accomplish by force and strength, they accomplish by fraud and poisoning, so that they attack and destroy their enemies not by open warfare, but from ambush. Diodorus relates, book V, that Hecate, a woman, was the first of all to discover aconite, and devoted the greatest effort to preparing deadly poisons. Medea is well known, Circe and the Thessalian woman, that is, a poisoner. Hence so many witches and poisoners, while there are fewer male sorcerers and magicians. Finally, civil laws join adulterous and poisoning women, as if connected by a certain affinity: for adultery and poisoning are proximate and cognate, so that a woman who is unchaste is not rarely a poisoner. These laws are cited by Tiraquellus, law VIII on Marriage, number 22 and following. To this pertains the saying of the Hebrews at the beginning of the Gemara: "What the caterpillar is to sesame, that is the harlot in the house." For just as the caterpillar eats, dwells in and devastates sesame and vegetables in which it lives, so the harlot consumes the house in which she dwells and devours the wretched husband. Hence she is called by the Comic poet a slug: for slugs eat away vegetables.
12:5
In Hebrew, the counsels of the impious are deceit; the Septuagint renders it, the impious govern deceits. For in Hebrew תחבלות tachbuloth signifies both counsels and steerings or governances. Whence when you translate the Septuagint thus word for word, the steerings of the impious are deceit, that is to say, the steerings by which the impious govern and advance themselves and their affairs are frauds and deceits. It is a metaphor taken from the steering of a ship: for just as by that means the shipmaster directs the ship, and that rudder is hidden within the ship, so the fraudulent accomplish their designs through deceits, and conceal and hide them in their hearts. The Chaldean renders it, the cunning (the Syriac, machinations or conduct) of the impious is fraud; Pagninus, the thoughts of the just are for executing judgment, the counsels of the impious are for executing deceit. You may ask, what are those judgments which the just think upon and turn over in their minds. First, the author of the Greek Catena answers that they are the judgments of God and His precepts: for the just continually turn these over in meditation, heart and mind, and thereby bring upon themselves the fear and worship of the Godhead. Secondly, the same: "They exercise judgments, he says, who continually work according to the dictate of reason. Thus also St. Gregory, book XIX of the Morals, chapter xiii, explaining that passage from Job xxix, And with my judgment as a diadem: "The judgments of the just, he says, are rightly compared to a diadem, because through the glory of great works they lead to the crown of retribution. Which judgments indeed they conduct within themselves daily: they carefully consider what they owe to God, what to their neighbor, and they kindle themselves vehemently to do good deeds, and they strictly reprove themselves for evils perpetrated. Whence also it is well said through Solomon: The thoughts of the just are judgments. For the just withdraw from all the tumult of the world to their own hearts, and there they ascend the tribunal of the mind, and they set before their eyes themselves and their neighbor, and they bring them to the middle rule of the covenant, which says: Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner. They transfer to themselves the person of their neighbor, and they carefully attend to what they themselves, if they were in that condition, would justly have wished to be done to them or not done: and thus with strict right and judgment they examine the cause of themselves and their neighbor according to the tables of the divine law in the forum of the heart. It is well therefore said: The thoughts of the just are judgments, because their very inmost motion of the heart is, as it were, a certain balance of judicial power." St. Bernard aptly represents all the persons of this tribunal of conscience, in his book On the Interior House, chapter xiv: "In my own house, he says, and in my own household I have accusers, witnesses, judges and torturers. Conscience accuses me, memory is witness, reason is judge, pleasure is prison, fear is torturer, delight is torment: for as many as were the evil delights, so many shall be the hard torments in punishment. For we are punished from that source whence we are delighted. Bede adds: "The just, he says, judge their own deeds by careful meditation whether they please the Lord; lest perchance, being less careful themselves, the heavenly arbiter dispose adversities against them invisibly, according to that saying of the Apostle: If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged, I Corinthians xi. But the reprobate, forgetful of the fear of God, make their counsels out of the fraud which they commit." Thirdly, St. Jerome in chapter v of Amos understands by judgment the constancy of mind, that is to say, the just deliberate maturely; but once they have deliberated, they are constant in their purpose: but the impious change their counsels and decrees from hour to hour. "It will be rolled about, he says, like water the judgment of the worst, because it does not stand in one opinion, but is carried about by every wind of doctrine. What they had approved they disapprove, and what they had previously praised, they think to be as nothing." Fourthly and genuinely, Vatablus, Jansenius, Lyra and others understand by judgment right and justice, that is to say, the thoughts of the just are judgments, that is, they are justices, that is, they are just and equitable, so that they do injury to no one, but render to each his due (it is a metonymy: for the abstract is put for the concrete, justice for the just). But truly the thoughts, machinations and "counsels of the impious" are of deceits and frauds. For they think of nothing else than by what means they may deceive others, trick them and defraud them of their possessions, so that through frauds and deceits they may increase and advance their own affairs. Morally, the thoughts of the just ought to be judgments, so that, just as judgment is not carried out inconsiderately, but is exercised by a judge with great attention of mind, so the mind of the just, and one aspiring to perfection, should receive thoughts selected by the judgment of reason, and should not indifferently admit those arising from idleness or curiosity. Let the holy fear of the Lord compress them, which searches out even the hidden things and secrets of our heart; let the hope of heavenly gifts bind them, which is frequently offered not to those who think vain things, but to those who consider pure and holy things. Moreover, the Wise Man here touches upon the root of all good or evil; for this is good or evil thought. Whence Bede in his Collectanea: "By these tinder-like materials, he says, as by steps, all sin grows together. For evil thought begets delight, delight begets consent, consent begets action, action begets habit, habit begets necessity." Conversely, holy thought begets delight in a holy thing, delight begets consent, consent begets action, and so forth.
12:6
This opinion coheres with the preceding one, and is a gradation, as if to say: The impious not only strive to defraud the pious of their goods, but also to despoil them of life: both that they may more easily seize their possessions, and because they hate them and their piety and virtue, which like a stake continually pricks, torments and scourges their impiety in their eyes. Thus Jezabel through false witnesses took away Naboth, that she might occupy his vineyard, III Kings xxi. BUT THE MOUTH OF THE JUST SHALL DELIVER THEM. — Whom? Namely those, whose blood the impious lie in wait for: as Daniel delivered Susanna, whose life the unchaste elders lay in wait for, Daniel xiii: thus Lyra, Bains and Cajetan. Moreover Jansenius extends it also to the impious, as if to say: The impious desire to destroy others; but the just strive to save all, both the pious and the impious. Our Salazar refers it to the impious alone, as if to say: The just do not return like for like, but those very ones by whose fraudulent accusations they are condemned, those, I say, they themselves absolve by their testimony. For virtue not only protects and defends itself, but also guards and saves all others whatsoever. "Indeed the virtue of them is of such strength, that it not only helps and defends itself, but defends others, and brings aid to those destitute of aid," says the author of the Chain of the Greeks. So great and so ample is the charity of the just, that it embraces all even enemies in the arms of love, and conquers evil with good, makes friends out of enemies, according to that: "Love makes enemies as well as friends beloved." Finally the Decree V, Question V, final chapter, understands by the mouth of the just the mouth of the judge punishing the impious, and thus delivering them from impiety: "It is one thing," he says, "to report the crimes of others out of charity, so that those whom we cannot correct by secret admonition, the judge's sentence may correct when convicted; and another to object false things by lying in wait, or to reproach true things readily by insulting. That indeed is the office of charity, this however of impiety. Whence in Proverbs it is said: The words of the impious lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the just shall deliver them."
12:7
In Hebrew, "verte" is הפוך haphoc, which is both infinitive and imperative mood; hence it signifies both "to turn" and "turn." Moreover, the infinitive among the Hebrews is taken for every tense, mood, number and person. Whence Pagninus translates, "God will turn the impious, and they shall not be"; and Vatablus, "the impious shall be overturned, so that they are nowhere"; and the Chaldean, "the impious are subverted, and are not found." For the Hebrews, since they lack compound verbs, use the simple for the compound; whence הפך haphac signifies to convert, overturn, subvert, as well as to turn. But Our [translation] properly and forcefully renders it in the imperative "turn," but with difficult sense. First, Bede expounds it, as if to say: Turn, O God, the impious, especially heretics and infidels, to good fruit, and thus they will cease to be impious, and will be pious; heresy and infidelity will cease, and faith and piety will triumph everywhere. Turn them therefore, so that what they were they may no longer be impious, nor enemies, but may become pious and friends. Thus also St. Gregory, homily 32 in the Gospel: "Let us leave," he says, "ourselves such as we made ourselves by sinning, and let us remain ourselves such as we have been made by grace. Behold, he who was proud, if converted to Christ has become humble, leaves himself. If any luxurious person has changed his life to continence, he has surely denied what he was. If any avaricious person has ceased to seek and has learned to give his own, who previously seized what belonged to others, he has without doubt left himself; he is indeed the same by nature, but is not the same by malice. Hence it is written: Turn the impious, and they shall not be. For the impious converted shall not be, not because they shall not be at all in essence, but namely they shall not be in the guilt of impiety. Then therefore we leave ourselves, then we deny ourselves, when we change what we were by old age, and strive toward that to which we are called by newness. Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, who said: And I live, now not I. For that cruel persecutor had been extinguished, and a pious preacher had begun to live." This sense is moral, not literal, as is evident from the antithesis that follows: "But the house of the just shall remain." Second, Jansenius expounds it: "turn," that is overturn, O God, so that they may no longer be, nor oppress the pious. Third, others, as if to say: Turn away, O man, for a moment yourself and your face from the impious; and when you turn yourself again to them and look, you will see them not to be and to have perished, according to that Psalm 36: "I have seen the impious highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon. I passed by, and behold he was not: I sought him, and his place was not found." But thus it should be said: "Turn yourself from the impious"; now however it is said: "Turn the impious, and they shall not be." Fourth, our Salazar: "Turn," he says, "that is, wheel the impious about, or spin in a circle, so that the sense is: the impious perishes and ceases to be as quickly as he is turned in a circle, that is, he will not remain for a longer space than is that in which a circle is completed. Turn therefore in a circle, and meanwhile he will not be. To this tends the deed of that Philosopher, who, when asked to declare his opinion on the brevity of human life, turned himself in a circle, signifying namely that he measured the span of life by the duration of one revolution. To this alludes the saying of the Greeks: κύκλος τὰ ἀνθρώπινα, that is, a circle or orbit are human things; which therefore I refer not to vicissitude, but rather to duration, that is, human things depart and fail with the velocity with which a circle or orbit is completed by a dancer or by anyone else. Thus he himself." Fifth, simply and properly, "turn," that is, if you turn the impious even slightly, you will see them overturned and not to be, as if to say: The impious have the slightest subsistence, which with the least turning, and, so to speak, with a single breath, is dispersed like a bubble, scattered and vanishes, just as in the game of chess, dice, or knucklebones—turn one piece or die, and you overturn the entire game, the whole fortune and luck of the player and winner. For what is the life and lot of the impious except a game of chance, except a game of dice? Whence the Septuagint: "Whithersoever the impious man turns himself, he is blotted out"; and Cajetan says, "turn the impious," that is, convert, "the wheel of the fortune of the impious, so that when the wheel is turned, the impious who were standing at the summit roll down to the bottom, and you will see them now to be nothing, being depressed and deprived of fortune, honor, status and rank, and finally of life itself and overturned." Again, "turn the impious," that is, roll over the age and century of the impious, roll over the few years of their life, and you will see them consumed by death, according to that passage in Ecclesiastes, chapter 1: "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh." For all these things denote the swift passage, end and destruction of the impious with their offspring, as if to say: Turn not a little the wheel of times and centuries perpetually turning and succeeding one another, and you will see after a few years that the impious have failed. For just as in a book, if you turn one leaf, another succeeds which before covered and buried it; and if you observe the water of a river being turned and rolled, you will see the water that is before you immediately flow and run away, and another succeed and flow in which drives out the preceding: so exactly do the impious and their houses and families behave with a small turning of times; if you inquire after them for a few years, you will plainly see that they have perished, and have left no heirs, but are rooted out from the earth and buried in eternal oblivion; you will see others and often foreigners succeed in their place, house, rank, wealth and lands, indeed those very ones who excluded and cast down the impious: but truly the houses and families of the just, because they are founded in justice and in the patronage of God, remain and endure through many centuries. Finally, the author of the Catena of the Greeks thus translates and explains the Septuagint: "Whithersoever the impious man turns himself in thought, all his effort and thought and every study and counsel is fruitless." But by the houses of the just he expresses good thoughts in this place; since good sentiments and good and salutary thoughts proceed from their mind no less than from some rich storehouse. For these are, as their house too is built upon a rock.
12:8
"It shall be known," that is, it shall be publicly known, praised and celebrated; for this is what the Hebrew יהלל iehulal signifies: for this is what the antithesis requires. In Hebrew, according to the measure and proportion of his understanding a man shall be praised, and the perverse of heart shall be in contempt; the Septuagint, the mouth of the intelligent is praised by a man: but the foolish is mocked; or, as the author of the Greek Catena translates and explains it: "The mouth of the prudent man is praised by the people: but he who is of a dull and sluggish heart is mocked by all; a man industrious and devoted to good actions by practice, even if he be rude and unlearned, is better and more honored than an idle man using eloquent and polished speech;"; the Syriac, a wise mouth mortals praise, but the senseless shall be despised as a fool; Symmachus, according to his prudence a man shall be praised; but he who is divided in heart shall be ashamed. Some understand speculative doctrine here, as if to say, From his doctrine a man shall be known, namely whether he be a philosopher, a grammarian, a physician, a jurist, etc. For he who teaches or discourses learnedly about philosophical matters is known to be a philosopher; he who about medical matters, to be a physician; he who about legal matters, to be a jurist: but this sense is impertinent in this place. Others understand by doctrine truth, as if to say, He who speaks truth shall be known to be truthful and prudent: but the vain and senseless, who utters lies, shall be known to be a liar, and therefore shall be exposed to contempt. But I say: Doctrine here, as also throughout this whole book, is understood not speculatively, but practically, and is the same as prudence both in speaking and in acting. The sense therefore is, as if to say, By doctrine, that is prudence, shall a man be known, in Hebrew, shall be praised, because in so far as he shall show prudence in speaking and acting, so far likewise shall he obtain fame and praise: on the other hand, he who is vain and senseless, in Hebrew, he who is crooked, or oblique, that is, depraved and perverse of heart, who namely speaks or acts perversely, he shall be in contempt, because he shall be held imprudent, unwise, depraved and perverse. Furthermore, this prudence requires that what we say and do be, first, true and free from all falsehood and lying; secondly, that it be sincere and free from simulation and hypocrisy; thirdly, that it be grave and serious and free from levity and the ridicule of jests and trifles; fourthly, that it be just and free from injury to others; fifthly, that it be useful and free from harm and damage; sixthly, that it be mature and opportune, namely suited to persons, place and time: for those things which are said or done in an inopportune place or time savor of imprudence, and therefore expose the speaker and doer to contempt and mockery as imprudent. Let Joseph be an example, who both in prison and in the house of Potiphar conducted himself so prudently that, celebrated by the mouth of all, he was made prefect of Egypt by Pharaoh, and by his prudence relieved the famine which had seized Egypt and the neighboring provinces, according to that in Psalm civ, 21: "He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance, that he might instruct his princes as himself, and teach his ancients wisdom." And David, of whom it is said in I Kings xviii, 5: "And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself prudently." And in the last verse: "And David behaved himself more prudently than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very famous." And Daniel, who on account of his extraordinary prudence was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar over the whole monarchy of the Babylonians, Daniel ii, 48, and v, 12. Furthermore, prudence or imprudence is immediately discerned in speech. Whence Socrates used to say: "Speak, young man, that I may see you;"; for in speech, as in a mirror, the character of the heart and mind is seen. The same used to say: "What a man is, such also shall his speech be; and speech is most like to deeds, and deeds to life." Cicero is a witness, Tusculan Disputations V; and concerning Scipio, cautious in words and deeds, Cato used to say: He alone is wise, others flit about like shadows. Maximus, sermon 15, cites Romulus as saying, "earthen vessels are tested by sound and percussion, but a man by speech;"; and Demonax as asserting, "in mirrors the form of the face, but in conversation the nature and image of the soul can be seen: for speech, like a potter, shapes and brings forth the form of the soul;"; and Solon as saying, "speech is the image of deeds:"; for those things which burst forth into action are first conceived in the mind and indicated by words. This is the saying of Democritus in Stobaeus: "In a mirror the form of the face; but in words the quality of each man's soul is discovered." Mystically Bede: "By his doctrine," he says, "each man is known, because if he teaches rightly, and fulfills these things by works, he is concluded to be holy."
12:9
In Hebrew, it is better to be vile or ignoble and a servant to oneself, than to be glorifying oneself and failing in bread. For "and a servant to oneself," others translate "and a servant to himself." Whence the Chaldean: it is better to be abject who has servants; Pagninus: it is better to be one who esteems himself little, and is a servant to himself, than one who glorifies himself and lacks bread; and Vatablus: it is preferable to be abject who has servants, that is, is rich, etc., as if to say: He is valued more, is cultivated by more people, who abject in plebeian dress without the pomp of servants and horses walks about, and meanwhile has at home servants who till fields and vineyards, or purchase merchandise, by which they increase his property, than the glorious one who clothed in silken and golden garments, attended by many servants walks about pompously, and yet has not at home the food by which to nourish himself and his own. For there are some who display their splendor outwardly, and spend all their means on external ornaments, so that they lack at home; for they prefer to hunger at home and shine abroad, rather than to abound at home and be sordid abroad, against whom St. Chrysostom inveighs at length, homily 22 on Matthew. But Our [translation] better renders it: it is better to be poor and serving, that is, sufficient to oneself; for he who serves himself by laboring, and does not shrink from servile works, easily procures for himself sufficient food and clothing. This one is better, that is, is judged more excellent and wiser, and is valued more, and is cultivated by more people, than the glorious one, who walks about as if noble magnificently, and therefore does not wish to labor, but glories in the nobility of ancestors and forefathers, and in the splendor of garments and servants, and meanwhile has scarcely bread at home to eat. Whence Symmachus translates: it is better to be a man in lowliness serving himself; the Syriac: one who is useful to himself and serves himself; and the Zurich [Bible]: an obscure man who labors for himself is preferable to the glorious one who lacks bread. Thus also R. Solomon, Aben-Ezra and R. Levi: "It is preferable," he says, "to be one who is abject and serves himself, and tills fields, and thus becomes rich, than one who is cultivated in honor and wishes to have service exhibited to him by others, while he labors under want of bread." Most clearly indeed the Septuagint in the Catena of the Greeks has it thus, and is explained in this way by Basil and Chrysostom: "A man who, despising honor, serves his own interests, is preferable to a man seeking glory, and yet not having bread by which to eat." Basil: "It is better," he says, "to attend to one's own interests, even if for that reason one is held in contempt by some, than to act in reality and yet wish to be counted among the rich." Chrysostom: "Since many shrink from labor, not only as troublesome, but also as somewhat dishonorable, he first indeed sought to remove this suspicion by an example taken from the industry and labor of the ant (for to these he was sending all the lazy above); but here he strives to remove that other suspicion from the way, by which someone imbued with it might perhaps be able to say: Hey you, why do you preach about labor? to labor is a vile and shameful thing, as being the property of slaves. To these things he answers: And how much better is it to endure this whatever disgrace it is, and to live well, than to waste away from hunger! For what reason, I ask, do you consider labor dishonorable? for you do not serve another so as to avoid disgrace, but yourself, and that willingly. For unless you wished to free yourself from the discomfort of hunger, you would have no regard for others at all: for that reason you yourself are the one who reaps the fruit from such service, and so you serve yourself rather than another. Consider soldiers, does not each one of them serve himself? Do not those who sustain life by manual labor serve themselves in the same way? Do not therefore be angry at labor; for you are your own master, and no one else. Do you not see the poor who seek their food from door to door, serving no one? Therefore they too serve themselves. What, I ask, honor is it to them to lack bread by which to be fed?" Thus far St. Chrysostom. Moreover the Septuagint elegantly oppose ἀτιμίαν [dishonor] of one sufficient to himself to τιμῇ [honor] of one lacking bread, as if to say: It is preferable to be sufficient to oneself inglorious, than to be glorious and lacking bread: it is preferable to be ignoble and satisfied than noble and famished. Hence learn that riches are preferable to nobility, according to that saying: And both lineage and form does the queen money bestow. And hence labor is preferable to idleness, and the poor man laboring for himself and content with his few possessions is superior to the glorious man to whom nothing suffices for boasting, when all things are lacking for life. Whence the Apostle: "There is, he says, great gain in godliness with sufficiency," in Greek αὐταρκεία, that is, a mind content with its own, I Timothy vi, 6. Sirach agrees with Solomon: "Better, he says, is he that laboreth and aboundeth in all things, than he that glorieth and wanteth bread," Ecclesiasticus x, 30. See the sayings there. The maxims of the Philosophers also agree. Antonius in the Melissa, chapter xxxviii, cites Socrates saying that it is better for him to live contentedly in few resources and cheerfully than in great ones unhappily. Wherefore he is richest who is content with the fewest things. Epictetus, when asked "who was rich," answered: "He to whom what he has suffices." Maximus, sermon 12, cites Democritus who, when asked "how anyone could become rich," answered: "If he shall be poor in desires, if he shall be needy in longing. Wherefore those who are content with natural riches are richer than those who, although they possess much, yet desire more: for to the former nothing is lacking, to the latter more than they possess." Plato, when asked "what wealth it would be fitting to have," said: "As much as neither brings snares to the possessor nor causes want of necessities." Cleanthes, preferring his laborious life to the idle life of the nobles: "While they, he says, play at ball, I exercise myself by digging hard ground." The wise man perceived that man was created by God not for idleness but for labor, so that by it he might prepare his sustenance. Maximus, sermon 32, cites Democritus who, when asked "how the industrious and diligent differed from the idle:" "As, he says, the impious from the pious, namely in good hope. For those who exercise their body in labors hope for rich rewards of their labors; but the idle behold present want." The Emperor Probus did not permit a soldier to be idle, but accomplished many works by military hand, saying "a soldier ought not to eat free rations." Thus Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Probus. Alfonso, king of Aragon, when reproved by someone because he had labored with his own hands: "Did not, he said, God and nature give hands to kings in vain?" Again: "The food of kings is honor, he said, which the immortal gods sell to men not through idleness or luxury, but through hard labors and much sweat." Thus Panormitanus in the Fourth Book of the Deeds of Alfonso. True nobility therefore is situated in labor, not in idleness, not in pomp, but in virtue; in deeds and virtues of one's own stem, not of ancestors: for by labor we are sustained and live, by virtue we glory, by deeds we are celebrated. Cicero speaks excellently, in the Oration Against Sallust, when the latter objected to him his ignoble birth: "It is better, he says, to flourish by my own deeds than to rely on the opinion of my ancestors; and to live in such a way that I am to my descendants the beginning of nobility and an example of virtue." And the Poet: And lineage and forefathers, and what we ourselves have not done, Scarcely do I call these ours. And Cassian, Conferences II, chapter x: "Nothing, he says, is ours except this alone, what is possessed in the heart and cleaves to our soul, which can be taken from us by no one whatsoever." Therefore: "Nobility alone and unique is virtue. He is most noble to God, most illustrious in virtues. He praises another's, who praises his own lineage." And Solon in Ausonius: "Much more beautiful is nobility prepared than created." Urban III, the Pontiff, when someone objected to him his humble birth: "Great men, he said, are not born but made by virtue." Maximilian the Emperor, to someone offering gold and wishing to buy nobility: "I can indeed enrich you, he said, but only your own virtue can ennoble you." Truly: "An ape shall not become a lioness by royal decree." St. Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 19 On Gregory his Father: "He believed that there was one nobility situated in piety, he said, and in this, that we understand whence we have sprung and whither we shall finally come." But hear from Prudentius, in the Peri Stephanon, or On the Crowns, Romanus the Martyr, noble by birth but nobler by faith and shed blood: After he sang a hymn amid leaden blows, Standing upright he begins: Far be it that the blood of my parents should make me noble, or the law of the Curia: The generous sect of Christ ennobles men. And St. Agatha to Quintianus the Prefect: "Much more excellent, she said, is Christian humility and servitude than the riches and pride of kings." Mystically Salonius: "Truly, he says, better is the simple and unlearned brother who does the good things he knows, whence he merits to have eternal life in heaven, than the glorious one, that is, illustrious in learning or adorned with the office of doctor, who lacks the bread of charity, because he neither loves the Lord nor his neighbor. Or certainly for this reason he lacks bread, because he does not do what he understands or teaches," for example, St. Francis is better than Aristotle and any philosopher and empty theologian. Cyril adorns this teaching with a beautiful fable of the ape and the fox, in book III of his Moral Apologies, chapter x, whose title is: That it is better to need less than to have more. When the playful ape, clothed in garments and ensnared by a vain chain, was exulting and boasting of its wealth and happiness, the fox rebuked it, saying that these things were not so much abundance as want, because the garment is a sign of indigence and the chain of captivity. "For poverty," it says, "is to lack; but fortune is to have, whence you may supply your want, and avarice is always to desire more. If you have more, either you need it or you do not need it; and if you have it, either you use it or you do not use it. If you use it in luxury, you are foolish; if you do not use it, you are miserly in keeping it. But if you are needy, how much more are you poor by nature than rich by artifice. See therefore that no one can have more without either vice or some poverty: vainly therefore, because you have more, do you glory. I certainly now glory that I need less, and that I am naturally naked; because I neither need nor desire clothing, and I think myself richer. Surely, he who needs less is rich by nature, since he is self-sufficient. This alone, if I am not mistaken, I would esteem to be true wealth, not begged from elsewhere, but renounced from desire, born from having sufficiency. Diogenes, conqueror of desire, thought himself richer by needing the least. Hence when he saw a certain man drawing drink in a natural vessel of his hands, he himself became rich by his example, and broke his drinking cup. Wherefore such riches are either a solace helping natural poverty, or a burdensome yoke of anxious desire. Learn therefore that it is better not to need than to have want."
12:10
The Syriac version says the impious shut up their bowels; the Chaldean says, the mercies of the impious are cruelty. For the Hebrew word רחמים (rachamim) signifies both mercies and bowels, which are the seat of mercy, and are moved by compassion. The sense of the Chaldean is therefore, as if to say, The mercies of the impious are cruel, and therefore are not mercy but cruelty. For whenever they bestow some mercy, they drag along so much misery, and with such harshness of words and arrogance bring their benefits into hatred, and finally burden and sell them with so many conditions and usuries, that they seem to exercise not so much mercy as savagery and cruelty. The sense of the Vulgate version is, as if to say, The just man knows what labors and pains the souls of his beasts of burden suffer: and therefore he moderates, mitigates, consoles and heals them. Again, he knows what the soul of the beast desires, and provides it for it. Whence Pagninus translates, the just man knew the appetite of his beast. For the soul is the seat and symbol of appetite. He knows therefore not speculatively only, but also practically: he knows, that is, he attends to and cares for his beasts. Thus it is said in II Timothy ii, 19: "The Lord knoweth who are his," that is, God loves, cares for, protects and advances His elect. And Psalm i, 6: "The Lord knoweth the way of the just;" he knows, that is, he loves, directs, favors and prospers them. Whence the Septuagint translates, the just man has mercy on the souls of his beasts; but the bowels of the impious are without mercy. Now by beasts, first, Lyra understands servants and handmaids: for beasts are called as it were helps; but servants help their master. Second, Bede by beasts understands neighbors who are rude and dull like beasts: for we ought to help these, and in turn be helped by them by the law of nature and charity. "The just man, he says, has compassion and pity for the dullness and frailty of his neighbors committed to him." For whatever care the cowherd has for his oxen and beasts, and the shepherd for his sheep, the same care ought the ruler to have for his subjects. Third, properly and genuinely Aben-Ezra: The just man knows, he says, what his cattle need, and mercifully provides it for them, because the just man has mercy not only on men but also on brutes; especially because this mercy redounds to his own advantage. For he who feeds and fattens his ox feeds and fattens himself: for the ox will plow the land for its master, and produce crops, and then become food for him. And so although friendship and charity properly do not exist between us and brutes, as St. Thomas and Aristotle teach, yet it extends to them as it were by way of addition and a certain increase; and this love is not so much of friendship as of desire, because the master loves the ox not for the good of the ox, but because the ox is a beast of burden, property and his own good. Thus St. Chrysostom, homily 29 on the epistle to the Romans: "For the souls of the Saints are exceedingly gentle and lovers of men, not only toward their own but also toward strangers, so that they extend this gentleness of theirs even to brute animals. Therefore a certain wise man said: The just man has mercy on the souls of his beasts. If therefore on beasts, much more on men." The same Chrysostom more fully in the Greek Catena explains this passage thus: "What, he says, do I hear? Does the just man have mercy on the souls of his beasts? Certainly we ought to show great humanity and clemency toward them also, and this both for other reasons and especially for this reason, that by reason and occasion of them we may learn to have compassion and condole with those who are of the same kind as ourselves. For God did not command in the law without cause that we raise up a fallen beast, and lead back a wandering sheep to the way, nor muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads. He wishes therefore that we exercise great mercy even toward brute animals. First indeed for our own sake, then so that they may be more fit for performing their necessary services; finally so that, being accustomed to exercise care and humanity toward them which provide their services to us, we may gradually become kind and merciful toward our neighbors. defects." He then relates that he cursed his own pig, which had killed a lamb, and the sow soon began to sicken, and within three days died; similarly that he gave liberty to captured birds and fish: wherefore they applauded him, and invited by him praised God with their song. Marvelous are the things he adds concerning the cicada, the pheasant, the falcon, and the wolves loved and protected by the holy man, and invited to the praise of God. Mystically, according to R. Levi: The just man, he says, knows the soul of his beast, that is, he cares for and protects the life of his body (for the body is as it were a beast of burden to the soul), and therefore he takes care lest he afflict his body too much with labor, lest by excessive austerity of vigils, fasting, hair shirts, and disciplines he wear it out. "But the bowels of the wicked are cruel," because while they indulge intemperately in gluttony, lust and vices, they rage cruelly against themselves: for they harm both health and strength, and indeed not rarely take away their own life, or at least shorten it. Finally, to be noted here is the collection and secret doctrine of Cassian, Collation xi, chapter x: "The just man," he says, "has mercy on the souls of his beasts; but the bowels of the wicked are without mercy. And therefore it is most certain that a monk is subject to the same vices which he condemns in another with harsh and inhuman severity. For a rigid king will fall into evils," Prov. xiii, according to the Septuagint. For this reason God had commanded the Jews to have mercy on beasts, so that they might learn to have mercy on their neighbors, lest, if they were cruel to beasts, they might learn to become savage toward men. Thus he ordained: "Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together," Deut. xxii, 10, because the ass is unequal to the ox: wherefore if it were to draw the same yoke with the ox, it would be burdened more than is right. And: "Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of its mother," Exod. xxv, 19, because it is cruel that the milk of the mother, which is nourishment of life to the kid, should become to it a torment of death. And: "If thou find as thou walkest by the way a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take her with her young: But shalt let her go," Deut. xxii, 6. Thus he ordained the Sabbath day, so that rest might be given on it to beasts as well as to men, from all work and labor, by which they toil throughout the week, Deut. v, 14. God ordained this mercy not only by his word, but also by example. For he himself takes care of beasts. Whence that passage, Ps. xxxv, 7: "Men and beasts thou wilt save, O Lord." And Christ, says St. Bernard, was placed in a manger between an ox and an ass, so that he might save men and beasts. And Ps. ciii, 14: "Bringing forth grass for cattle." And Ps. cxlvi, 9: "Who gives to beasts their food, and to the young ravens that call upon him." Those therefore imitate God and the piety of God who are merciful toward beasts. Thus St. Anselm, as his Life relates, was moved by a feeling of compassion toward beasts, and wept for them when he saw them caught in the snares of hunters. Gordian the Elder, the Emperor, as Capitolinus testifies, was of such goodness that in schools, if any of the boys were beaten, he could not hold back his tears. Before all others, St. Francis showed this sense of piety toward beasts, of whom St. Bonaventure writes thus, book I of his Life, chapter viii: "Being filled with more abundant piety by consideration of the first origin of all things, he called creatures, however small, by the names of brother or sister, because he knew they had one principle with him. Yet he embraced them more tenderly and sweetly those which presented the gentle meekness of Christ by natural likeness, and were figured by the signification of Scripture. He frequently redeemed Lambs which were being led to death; mindful of that most gentle lamb, which wished to be led to slaughter for the redemption of sinners." Whoever therefore becomes merciful toward the external creatures. For whoever has mercy on the external, will much more have mercy on the familiar and domestic, and whoever exercises mercy toward a beast will exercise it much more toward a brother of his blood. But perhaps you will say: A beast brings the use of service, but a brother brings none at all. On the contrary, it brings great service: for it procures for you eternal reward with God. Behold what care and service we bestow on beasts, so that it may be well with them: and we do not consider this base or shameful, yet we consider it shameful to serve men? But tropically, by beasts he signifies here the undisciplined and those almost destitute of the light of reason, disciples."
12:11
In Hebrew, it needs the heart. For idleness, in Hebrew it is רקים rekim, which Aquila, Theodotion and the Septuagint translate as κενά, that is, vain things; the Syriac [version], he who hastens after vanity; the Chaldean, empty things; Pagninus, empty men; Baynus, empty things; Zurich [Bible], lost men. For rekim signifies idle, lazy, empty, lost men, such as are buffoons and able-bodied beggars; likewise empty, vain, lost things. For he who associates with idle and lazy buffoons pursues idle, vain, base and wicked idleness, and becomes a buffoon, a curser, a thief, etc. To this pertains the proverb of the Syrians and Arabs, Century 2, number 27: "Acquire diligence: for it is a great treasure;" and number 28: "Depart from sloth, because it is full of loss." St. Chrysostom, in the Catena of the Greeks, connects these things thus with the preceding verses 9 and 10, as if to say: "Not because I said that one must work and labor, did I also unjustly say that one must become rich. Work is indeed good and honorable, but that which is joined with justice, such as is agriculture. For idleness begets and fosters wickedness, and does not also increase one's property." St. Jerome adds to this: he understands by vain things commerce, as being dangerous and uncertain, as if the Wise Man were turning men away from it to agriculture. For explaining that passage of Isaiah 23, concerning Tyre: "Work thy land; for ships do not come at all from Carthage. It profited Tyre," says Jerome, "that foreign ships perish, so that it might be forced to work its own land, of which it is said in Proverbs: He that worketh his land shall be filled with bread." But under agriculture here he understands any honest work, and any art of becoming rich honestly: for this is opposed to idle sloth; yet he proposes agriculture, both because it is most necessary, and because it is "the most innocent art" (says St. Augustine, writing against Faustus the Manichean, who condemned it as homicide, because by pulling up plants he takes away their soul and life), and therefore it was the precept of Adam in paradise, and again after expulsion from paradise, which therefore the first Patriarchs, and afterwards even kings and princes, such as Job, Abraham, Moses, Esau, etc., practiced. Indeed, Diocletian, as Eutropius testifies, having left the empire, grew old in rural pursuits, and when Herculius and Galerius invited him to resume the empire: "Would that," he said, "you could see at Salona the vegetables established by our hands! truly you would never judge that to be attempted." Farantes, king of the Indians, when asked by Apollonius about his food, said: "I am nourished by the fruits of the cultivated land, or by vegetables, or by what the trees provide for me, which I cultivate with these hands." Lysander the Lacedaemonian, when he had come to Cyrus the Younger, king of the Persians, was led into a garden, and admiring both the height of the trees and the rows arranged in quincunx order, and the tilled soil, asked Cyrus by whom the trees had been planted, and by whose skill they were so aptly measured? To which Cyrus answering said: "But I myself have measured these things, the rows are mine, the arrangement is mine; they have been planted by my own hand." Then Lysander, observing the purple and Persian ornament shining with much gold, is said to have spoken thus: "Rightly, Cyrus, do men call you blessed, because fortune is joined with your virtue." Thus Cicero in Cato. You will ask, why is he who pursues idleness called most foolish? I answer first, because idleness brings poverty, and reduces a man to hunger and death. But what is more foolish than by idle sloth to bring upon oneself hunger and death, and what else is idleness "than the burial of a living man?" as the Philosopher says. Second, because idleness causes the mind to become idle and dull and brutish, just as iron becomes dull and covered with rust when idle, like a sword or knife which no one uses. Whence Cassiodorus: "Human nature," he says, "just as it is trained by hard labors, so through idle torpor it becomes foolish." Plutarch agrees in his Moral Essays: "The mind of man," he says, "contracts as it were decay and old age in idleness, on account of obscurity, and rest and sedentary life bring not only to bodies, but also to souls, decay." And St. Chrysostom, homily 5 on I Corinthians: "The souls of those who labor," he says, "are purer, their minds are stronger and firmer. For he who is idle speaks much rashly, and does much rashly, and works nothing all day, has his mind filled with torpor and lethargy." Thirdly, because idleness begets detraction, calumny, mockery, theft, and is the cause of all evil; for the idle become gamblers, drunkards, fornicators, robbers, etc. Wherefore Diogenes, as Laertius testifies in book VI, used to say that the business of the idle was love, since this affection chiefly occupies those devoted to idleness. Thus it comes to pass that, while they are idle, they fall into a most busy matter. And Appius Claudius, as Valerius Maximus testifies, used to say to the Roman people that business is far better entrusted to them than idleness: for the people are stirred up by wars to virtue, but in peace they flow into pleasures and luxury, from which arise the destruction of republics and kingdoms. Mystically, Polychronius in the Greek Catena says: "The earth here, he says, he calls the soul, in which good and evil thoughts are generated; good, if you exercise it with holy thoughts and works; evil, if you allow it to be idle. Bread he calls the nourishment of the divine word; but he calls foolish those who occupy themselves with vain doctrine." Thus also Bede: "He here, he says, diligently works his own earth, who instructs the soul of his heart through daily exercises, through meditation on the law, through watchfulness of mind, as one who practices agriculture, earnestly and constantly, and does not cease to refresh the sense of his inner man with spiritual food as with bread, lest he perish from the hunger of ignorance. He who exercises his soul in spiritual studies and now in virtues, will then be satisfied with the feasts of rewards; but he who now shrinks from laboring for the salvation of his soul, will then be reproved among the foolish: although now he may appear glorious either in divine or worldly wisdom." Again, Blessed Peter Damian understands by earth the body, which must be subdued by labors and penances, so that it may bear the fruits of continence and charity. For thus he says in his epistle to the Brethren who transgressed the commandments: "Whoever desires to become rich in the abundance of spiritual harvests, let him now toil, let him continually furrow the field of his body with the plow of discipline and continence, and as it were break up the clods of his fallow land with a wise hoe; and whatever hard thing, whatever unfruitful thing he finds in himself, let him crush with the constant blows of penance. Nor let him cease to root out by the roots the nettles that itch for gluttony, and the thorns bristling with carnal desires, so that the richer harvests of spiritual crops may be able to produce their fruits in the fields of his body. Whence Solomon says: He that worketh his land shall be filled with bread. See what I have said concerning literal and mystical agriculture at Genesis ii, 15. Fourthly, that by drinking he may squander his patrimony, and thus reduce himself, his children and his wife to want and poverty. For, as St. Ambrose says in the book On Elias and Fasting, chapter xii: "The drunk in one day drink the labors of many days." This verse is wanting in the Hebrew, but the Roman and Greek versions have it, which read thus: he who is pleasant in wine conversations (symposia) remains, leaves shame in his fortifications. The sense is, as if to say: He who delights to remain in symposia and wine drinking, he "in his fortifications," that is in houses, citadels, cities and other places however fortified, leaves infamy and shame, because drunkenness brings with it many reproaches, disgraces and losses, among which the first is that the drunk, bereft of mind, utters whatever he has in his heart, and betrays all his secrets, on account of which he incurs hatreds, brings upon himself plots, is deprived of fortune and often of life. Again, the drunk, heated by the warmth of wine, bares his body and its parts, which he covers as shameful. Thus Noah, drunk, uncovered his shameful parts, which is indeed a great shame, and therefore he was mocked by his son Ham, Genesis ix, 22. Secondly, that where wine has heated him, he says and does many ridiculous, insipid, delirious things. Whence St. Basil, in the Oration On Drunkenness: "When much wine, he says, has been poured in, as if some tyrant seeking a citadel, it brings great tumults of the soul from the very top of the head, sparing nothing, not even the principal faculty; but first it brings reason itself into captivity as a slave; then it confuses and disturbs that disposition and ornament which is the product of doctrine with unseemly laughter, horrible voice, hasty anger, unbridled lust, frenzy and madness into every shameful pleasure." Thirdly, that it fills the dining room and bedroom with vomit, surfeit, filth, according to that of Isaiah chapter xxviii, verse 8: "All tables are full of vomit." And Jeremiah xlviii, 26: "Moab shall clap his hands in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision." And that of Habakkuk ii, 16: "Thou art filled with shame instead of glory; drink thou also, and fall asleep; the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall come round to thee, and shame upon thy glory." Fourth, that by drinking he squanders his patrimony, and thus reduces himself, his children and his wife to want and poverty. For, as St. Ambrose says, in the book On Elias and Fasting, chapter xii: "The drunk consume in one day the labors of many days." Fifth, that the drunkenness of citizens and soldiers gives occasion to the enemy to invade, capture and lay waste to fortresses and cities: thus the author of the Greek Catena. So Belshazzar by his carousal lost his life, Babylon and the monarchy of the Babylonians, Daniel chapter v, verse 30. So Holofernes by his drunkenness lost himself and the entire camp of the Assyrians, Judith xiii. Wherefore, as St. Ambrose says, in the book On Elias and Fasting, chapter ix: "The fasting of one woman (Judith) laid low innumerable armies of the drunk." So Troy, indulging its desires, was captured by the Greeks, according to that passage of Virgil, II Aeneid: They invade the city buried in wine and sleep. Truly Plato in Stobaeus, discourse 18: "A drunken helmsman, he says, and anyone placed in charge of anything whatsoever overturns all things, whether a ship, or a chariot, or an army, or a city, or whatever thing is entrusted to his care." Wherefore the same Plato, dialogue 3 On the Republic, thus ordains: "It is not permitted to a guardian, weighed down by drunkenness, not to know where on earth he is, for it would be ridiculous for a guardian to need a guardian." Finally, St. Ambrose describes the shameful acts and harms of drunkenness, in the book On Elias and Fasting, chapter xvi: "Drunkenness, he says, is the fuel of lust, drunkenness is the incentive to madness, drunkenness is the poison of wisdom. By this the senses of men are changed and their forms, through this men become neighing horses. Indeed, by the natural vapor of a hot body, and by the heat of wine inflamed beyond nature, they cannot restrain themselves, and are stirred up to bestial lusts, so that they have no prescribed time which teaches them to refrain from intercourse; they lose their voice, their color varies, their eyes burn, they pant with their mouth, they snort with their nostrils, they burn in fury, they lose their senses. Hence dangerous delirium, hence the grave punishment of stones, hence deadly indigestion, hence frequent vomiting of half-eaten food with the blood of their internal organs pouring forth." And with some passages interjected: "Hence also vain images, uncertain sight, unsteady gait; they often leap over shadows as if over ditches. The earth seems to nod with their face, suddenly to rise up and incline, and as if to turn, and fearing they fall on their face and grasp the ground with their hands, or they seem to themselves to be enclosed by mountains coming together. A murmur in their ears like the roar and resonance of the sea's waves upon the shore. If they see dogs, they think them lions and flee. Some are dissolved in unseemly laughter, others bewail themselves in inconsolable grief, others perceive irrational terrors. While awake they dream, while sleeping they quarrel. Life to them is a dream, sleep to them is death; they cannot be awakened by any voices, however much they are urged and driven; unless they come to their senses, they cannot wake up. Whence Jeremiah rightly considers such a man as a superfluous creature to be lamented. What is a drunken man but a superfluous creature?"
12:12
Bede, Lyra, and the Complutensian editors wrongly read "monument" for "fortification," and thus explain it, as if to say: The wicked desire and rejoice while the wicked like them flourish in the memory of men, and while splendid tombs and monuments are erected for them. Wrongly, I say: for the Hebrew מצוד metsod signifies a fortress and fortification, not a monument; it also signifies a net and hunting. Hence R. Solomon, translating "hunting," thus explains it, as if to say: "The wicked chiefly desire this, that they may feed on and sustain themselves by what the wicked have hunted through fraud and rapine." Better the Chaldean translator renders: "the wicked desires nets of evil"; the Syriac, "to accomplish evil"; Cajetan, "the desire of the wicked is a snare of evils," as if to say: The wicked wishes and seeks ways, arts and deceits, by which, as it were by nets, he may ensnare and destroy the just; but truly the just, God protecting them, shall escape them. "For the root of the just shall prosper"; the Syriac, "shall sprout"; the Chaldean, "shall remain"; the Zurich Bible translates, "he who desires impiety hunts evil; but the root of the just is firm and fruitful"; Vatable, "the wicked desires a net of evils, that is, desires to be given the arts of evils or the fortification and protection of evils, by which namely he may be able safely to harm others." This version is plain and easy, and to it the Vulgate can be accommodated. Yet the sense of the Vulgate version is plainer, as if to say: The wicked desire to fortify and strengthen the worst, so that by their society and strength they may share and establish their impiety against pious and good men and princes. Thus heretics of one city or kingdom desire heretics of other cities and kingdoms to be strengthened and to gain victories against orthodox princes, so that through them they may establish themselves and their heresy, and may destroy and overturn orthodox faith together with the princes defending it. But they labor in vain. For God, the avenger of impiety, protecting faith and the faithful, "the root of the just shall prosper," so that namely justice and the just may strike deeper roots, that is, may be more confirmed, strengthened, and may grow and prosper more and more; on the other hand impiety together with the impious is gradually weakened, decreases and vanishes, as now we see heresy decreasing and we rejoice. Wherefore the author of the Greek Catena from the Septuagint thus translates and explains: "The desires of the wicked are base, but the roots of the pious are as if encircled by a rampart, firm." And Paul the Apostle also calls piety and charity a root and foundation: "Founded and rooted in charity," he writes. Such are indeed placed in safety, since piety frees from all adversity. Or certainly for this reason it is said, because their opinions and thoughts are founded upon a rock, which is Christ: thus far the author. Again our Salazar, from the Septuagint according to the Complutensian and Roman editions, thus translates word for word: "The desires of the wicked are evil; but the root of the just is in fortifications." And he explains this in three ways: First, as if to say: The desires and pursuits of the wicked are fixed on evil things, that is, on things perishable and earthly, they think nothing sublime and heavenly; on the contrary the roots of the just, that is, their affections and pursuits, are in fortifications, as if to say: The just aspire to higher and more sublime things, they meditate on heavenly things, and fix their desires in these. Or otherwise: The will and mind of the wicked is indeed disarmed and unwarlike, and so innumerable desires and depraved affections assail it. But truly "the root of the just," that is, their will and spirit, "is in fortifications," that is, is fortified and protected on all sides, lest namely depraved desires assail and overcome it. Or finally, which I think better, the name of root in the familiar manner of Scripture speech signifies riches and fortunes. And so the sense is: The desires of the wicked are evil, that is, prone to inflicting harm; for they most eagerly desire to circumvent the just and good, and to despoil them of their goods. But the root of the pious, that is, their resources, is in fortifications, that is, are safe and secure from their snares, as if they were enclosed and surrounded by walls. This he himself elegantly and ingeniously explains in his manner.
12:13
To is of the masculine gender, not neuter, that is to say, to an evil man, not to an evil thing, or to an evil matter. For ruin in Hebrew is מוקש mokes, that is, a snare, which leads men and birds to ruin and death. Whence from the Hebrew you may translate, in the transgression of lips a snare to an evil man, that is to an impious man, supply, draws near. Others translate, an evil snare, that is to say, the impious man by fraud which he contrives with his lips, prepares an evil snare for others. But the former version is more apt. Whence the Septuagint translates, on account of the falling of lips the sinner falls into snares (the Chaldean, the evil man falls; the Syrian, he shall be taken), but the just man easily avoids such snares; Vatablus, by his speech the evil man is ensnared, but the just man escapes from straits. The sense is, that is to say, the impious man is intemperate of tongue, and by his garrulity and talkativeness imprudently prepares for himself a snare and ruin, because on account of it he falls into many quarrels and calamities. But the just man shall escape from straits, both because he guards against garrulity, which begets snares and straits; and because the just man is so wise and cautious, that if ever he should fall into some straits, by his prudence in speaking and acting and by his sagacity, he knows how to extricate himself from it, and to escape the snare. Thus David, accused before Achis king of Palestine, that he was a traitor sent by Saul to destroy him, escaped this calumny, prudently feigning himself foolish and mad, I Kings xxi, 13. Thus Abigail averted from her house the destruction threatening it on account of the hardness of her husband Nabal by David, by prudent and humble speech, appeasing the wrath of David and escaped it, I Kings xxv, 23 and seq. Mystically St. Thomas, in a sermon On the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, adapts this sentence to him, and proposes it as it were as the theme of the sermon: The Baptist, he says, today beheaded by Herod was freed from a threefold straits, namely of prison, of body and then virtue consists; for very often also it consists in words. Wherefore he adds: The retribution of his lips shall be given to him. And to this also pertains that saying of the Lord: Out of thy own mouth I judge thee, wicked servant. Another there: The speech of a manly soul tends to virtue; and indeed a good one generates good fruits, just as conversely a bad one generates bad ones. But the Lord as a benign and liberal giver pays a liberal reward to the good, but punishments he does not inflict by decree, but the evil ones bring them upon themselves. Most truly indeed does this wise man signify those who by bland words equally as by alms console, gladden and cheer the sad, the sick and the afflicted, in a similar manner, and in equal, nay greater measure (as the Septuagint hints), to be gladdened and cheered by God and by others, according to that saying of St. Gregory: And giving joys, whence thou art to be gladdened, thou shalt receive. And that: With what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you. And that of Christ: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, Matt. V. After this verse the Septuagint in the Roman edition inserted this saying, which is found neither in the Hebrew, nor in the Greek, nor in the Latin Vulgate: He that seeth light things, shall be held worthy of mercy; but he that runneth in at the gates, shall vex souls, that is, says the Scholiast: He that seeth light things, that is, a good man, modest and not curious, is worthy of mercy. But he that runneth in at the gates, that is, curious, and he who thrusts himself into affairs, shall vex many. But the author of the Greek Catena thus enunciates this verse, and thus explains it: He that shall behold with a placid and merciful eye, and he himself shall obtain mercy; but he that runneth in at the gates, shall wear out souls. He seems to call placidly discerning him who labors under neither envy nor avarice, nor is ignorant of what discretion requires; but by him who runneth in at the gates, he designates the avaricious man, or certainly him who prepares snares for his neighbor, or opposes him; or a man of such a kind who throws himself in the way of those who enter the tribunal for the sake of controversy, at the very entrance itself; or finally him who tries to lead them away from the ways which lead to life, to evil paths, to whom he contrives evils. And Olympiodorus: He who does not see harshly, that is, he who is adorned with a right and placid mind, he (as having no harshness remaining from sin) shall see God. But he that runneth in at the gates, is the avaricious man; for seeking whom he may wear out and consume, as it were in the gates, where once judgment was rendered, he is said to run in and lay snares.
12:14
So also St. Chrysostom, in the Catena of the Greeks: "Do not suppose," he says, "that it is only in the works of the world, etc., because namely it passes into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God; for he went to the limbo of the fathers, announcing to them that Christ had come. Whence also Christ, crucified and dead in the following year, descending to limbo, conferred upon him together with the other fathers the glory of blessedness, and leading him glorious to heaven with himself in triumph."
12:15
Pagninus renders it as "obeys counsel"; Symmachus rightly inverts it, for whoever hears counsels, he says, shall be wise, because from the counsel which he has received, he will make progress in wisdom. The sense is, as if to say: The fool, that is, the unwise and imprudent man, whatever he has conceived and judged, or covets and loves, he deems to be right and equitable in the eyes of his mind: whence, trusting in himself, he neglects to consult others; but the wise man, distrusting his own judgment, consults others, and willingly embraces and follows their counsels. The first reason is that fools are proud, and think themselves wiser than others, indeed that they alone are wise. Again: "While the learned and wise desire to be thought rather than to be wise, for this reason they refuse to hear others," says St. Augustine, epistle 174. But the wise are humble, and they know that in their own affairs anyone can easily be deceived, nor do they desire to be thought wise, but to be wise; for this reason they willingly hear others, indeed they consult them. For others judge more sincerely of us and our affairs than we ourselves do. For in our own affairs self-love blinds us. The second reason is that fools love their desires, and are so attached to them that they are unwilling to be torn away from them; wherefore they beware of consulting others, lest their perverse desires and judgments be reproved, and they be forced to abandon and change them by the force of truth. But the wise follow the judgment of reason, of virtue, and of divine law, which counsels that in our own affairs we consult others, lest hidden love of some desire obscure judgment, and substitute desire for reason. The third reason is that fools are dull of wit, stubborn and obstinate in what they have once persuaded themselves of; and the wise allow themselves to be led and bent whithersoever reason and the truth of the counsels, which are suggested by others, lead them. Thus Moses, although he was constantly conversing with God, nevertheless willingly admitted the counsel of his father-in-law Jethro concerning the division of the burden of rule among others, to the great advantage of himself and the whole people, Exodus XVIII. Thus St. Peter, although he was the head of the Church, humbly heard and received the counsel, indeed the correction, of Paul, though his inferior, concerning not judaizing, Galatians II. St. Augustine excelled in this matter, for although he was of the keenest intellect and eminent in learning, nevertheless he was accustomed to consult others, and especially St. Jerome, concerning doubtful matters of Holy Scripture, as is evident from his epistle 8 to St. Jerome, at the end of which he says: "Indeed the same brother carries with him some of our writings, and if you will deign to read them, I beseech you also to employ sincere and brotherly severity. For I understand in no other way what is written: The just shall reprove me in mercy, and shall reprove me; but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint my head; except that the reprover who heals loves more than the flatterer who anoints the head. But I myself read with great difficulty what I have written as a good judge, but either more timid than is right, or more desirous. I also sometimes see my faults, but I prefer to hear these from better men, lest when I perhaps reprove myself rightly, I again flatter myself, and seem to myself to have passed a timid rather than a just sentence upon myself." Likewise St. Ambrose, who, writing to Sabinus, submits his writings to the censure of one whom he considers inferior to himself in learning, and adds the reason: "For I know not how, besides the darkness of imprudence which surrounds me, each one is deceived by his own writings, and as even deformed children delight their parents, so also unseemly discourse delights even the writer." Finally, parallel to Solomon is that saying of Sirach: "My son, do nothing without counsel, and thou shalt not repent when thou hast done," Ecclesiasticus XXXII, 24. And that of Tobias to his son, chapter IV, verse 19: "Always seek counsel from a wise man."
12:16
In Hebrew, a fool on that day his anger shall be known, that is, as the Septuagint and the Syriac have it, the imprudent man on the same day declares his anger; St. Cyprian, he reveals his fury; the Chaldean, the fool inopportunely shows his anger. BUT HE THAT DISSEMBLES AN INJURY IS CRAFTY. In Hebrew, he that covers shame is crafty; Vatablus, he is cautious; the Septuagint, but a prudent man hides (Bede, conceals) shame. Crafty therefore here is the same as prudent and astute: thus the author of the Greek Catena. It signifies that in offense and anger especially the wise man is distinguished from the fool, in that the fool immediately betrays his anger, while the wise man covers it, conceals it and dissembles it. Hence that elegant proverb of the Hebrews: בכים בכום בכנם, that is, in the purse, in the cup, in anger, the character and disposition of a man is especially known: for in the purse his avarice or liberality is known; in the cup his sobriety or drunkenness; in his anger his prudence in dissembling, or his imprudence in becoming indignant or taking revenge. Threefold therefore is the distinction here indicated, by which the wise man is separated from the fool in anger. The first is: If the fool is pricked by a harsh word, much more if by a blow, he is immediately seized by anger and becomes inflamed, because he is moved by passion, not by reason. But the wise man, although he is attacked by mockery or another harsh word or deed, restrains his mind from becoming angry, because he has it calm, in that he has mortified anger and is master and lord of it. Wherefore in the wise man "anger obeys reason like a dog his shepherd," as St. Basil says, in his homily On Anger, namely so that like a dog it is now sent into the flock, now recalled from reason at its pleasure. Second: The fool seized by anger indulges it inwardly in his mind. For while he continually recalls and exaggerates the injury done to him, he kindles and inflames his mind heavy with anger more and more: for he has not striven for mortification, but like a brute follows his angers and appetites, and indulges them; whereby it comes to pass that from anger he falls into indignation and fury. But the wise man, even if he is sometimes suddenly seized by anger, nevertheless immediately restrains and checks it in his mind. For he immediately calls upon the judgment of his mind, which suggests to him many reasons for restraining anger. Again the wise man knows that saying of the philosopher Sixtus, no. 273: "Know that it is great wisdom, by which you are able to bear the foolishness of the uneducated." And no. 283: "It is the part of the wise man to bear the indignations of those in his household." Excellently St. Ambrose in chapter VI of St. Luke, on that passage, Blessed are the poor: "Mitigate," he says, "your affection, so that you do not become angry, or at least if you are angry do not sin, according to what is written: Be angry, and sin not. For it is excellent to temper a motion by counsel, nor is it accounted of less virtue to restrain anger than not to be angry at all, since the former is often esteemed more slowly, the latter more strongly." Third: The fool conceived in his mind betrays his anger outwardly through an angry countenance, through words full of indignation, through threatening gestures, etc. For he shouts, cries out, threatens, claps his hands, stamps his feet on the ground, hurls insults, etc. For just as a spark of fire thrown into straw, unless it is extinguished, creeps and spreads, and does not cease until it has pervaded the whole house within; and when it has done so, it bursts forth outside through windows and roofs: so precisely is it with anger, which the fool does not resist, but follows, favors and increases. But the wise man even justly conceived anger presses down and covers, lest it burst forth outside. For he wisely thinks that if he reveals it, he will kindle both others and himself more with anger, will stir up quarrels and disputes, and will effect nothing good, but much evil, according to that saying of the Apostle: "Be angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger," Ephesians IV, 26: see what is said there. "For he who avenges injuries exaggerates them," says Aristotle. Prudently therefore he restrains anger like a wild beast in his mind, lest, if this raging lion should leap forth outside, it rush into the harm and slaughter of many; wherefore he waits until, anger being calmed, he may act in his matter by reason, and either by correcting the offender, or by pursuing his case juridically, or rather by forgiving and blotting out the injury done to him. Thus Cassian, Conference XVI, chapter XXVII: "The fool pronounces his anger in that very same hour; but the prudent man conceals his shame. For he does not, he says, decree that the shameful passion of anger ought to be concealed by the wise in such a way that, while blaming the swiftness of anger, he does not prohibit the delay, which surely, if it should rush upon us by necessity of human weakness, he thought ought to be concealed, so that, while it is wisely covered for the present, it may be destroyed forever. For this is the nature of anger, that when delayed it grows weak and perishes, but when brought forth it burns more and more. Therefore our breasts ought to be enlarged and expanded, lest, constrained by the narrowness of pusillanimity, they be filled with the turbulent surges of anger, and we be unable to receive according to the Prophet that exceedingly broad commandment of God with a narrow heart, nor say with the Prophet: I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart." Therefore the wise man judges it better to conceal and forgive the shame inflicted upon him, than by recalling it to renew and increase it; for he knows that by this means more virtue and glory will accrue to him than if he should display anger by threatening or avenging. For, as St. Basil says, in his homily On Anger: "If you are moved by nothing, you are whole in mind and sound; but if you suffer something in your mind, at least hide the sadness within yourself. My heart is troubled within me (says the Prophet), that is, I did not display the perturbation of my mind outwardly, but as it were retained a wave broken upon the shore within." And soon after: "You will therefore calm the barking and exacerbated mind." He suggests the manner: "In the retreat of your own heart, fear the tribunal of reason, as children acting immoderately are accustomed to fear the presence of a venerable man." Thus Saul, already made king, dissembled the mockeries and reproaches of his people, and restrained his anger and vengeance, 1 Kings X, 27: "For he who knows not how to dissemble, knows not how to reign." I have reviewed various modes of calming anger in Ephesians IV, verses 26 and 31; but scarcely any is more efficacious than the consideration of Christ crucified, if you gaze upon and meditate upon both his sufferings and his patience. For, as St. Ambrose says, in his tract On the Conflict of Virtues and Vices: "If the passion of the Redeemer be brought to mind, there is nothing so hard that it is not borne with equanimity." Thus St. Elzear, Count of Ariano, subdued his anger by meditation on the passion of Christ, so much so that he seemed now free from anger and ἀπαθής. For whenever he felt that something insulting was said or done to him, he immediately had recourse to the passion of Christ, nor did he cease from its consideration until, moved by the example of such great patience, the impulse of anger subsided, and his former peaceful tranquility of mind returned. To this pertain the axioms of prudence, or the doctrine of St. Severinus the bishop in the Library of the Holy Fathers, vol. XIV, or in the Supplement recently published by the Cologne Theologians: "Say reproach to no one; despise no one; speak evil of no one; hate quarrels; do not exasperate enemies: for it is more useful to make them friends than to have them as enemies; litigate with no one; dissolve enmities; pursue silence, because it is without repentance: tumult is followed by repentance; overcome the desires of your mind. The works of justice are: always to give thanks to God, to love the worshippers of God, to harm no one, nor to sadden anyone, to live chastely, to be merciful, to love your neighbor as yourself, to feed the hungry, etc. Be as a burning lamp, and you will be called an Angel of God. Do not condemn the absent, receive the present justly. Do not condemn from arguments, lest you too be condemned. Do not reproach the wretched, lest you too become reproachable; for the judgment of God is upon all, and he judges as is just. Always seek the face of the elders, that you may be instructed by their words: for the minds of the wise are full of the fruits of life. Have as the guide of your life God himself: for he has been sent to you by God that you may be saved." Whoever keeps these things easily restrains anger, and dissembles and forgives an offense. Such ought a priest to be, says St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 25 to the Church of Vercelli: "That he be ready for mercy, that a promise not bite him with remorse, that he recall the fallen, that he sympathize with sorrow, that he maintain gentleness, that he love piety, that he drive away or cook down anger; let him be a certain trumpet for stirring up the people to devotion, for softening them to tranquility. It was well said: Accustom yourself to be one, so that your life may express a certain picture, always preserving the same image that it has received. How can one be one, who now is inflamed by anger, now rages with grave indignation, now flushes in countenance, now is changed by paleness, varying and discolored from moment to moment? But even if it be the nature to be angry, or often the cause, it is nevertheless the part of a man to temper anger, not to be swept away by leonine fury; let him not know how to accustom himself to shouting, not to sow or embitter familiar quarreling. For it is written: A man full of anger shall dig up sin, Proverbs XV.
12:17
The Complutensians, Hugo and others read incorrectly, judge. In Hebrew, he who breathes forth truth shall announce justice; a false witness deceit, repeat, shall announce or breathe forth; the Septuagint, the just man shall announce full faith, but a false witness is deceitful; Symmachus, he who makes manifest faith (that is, a true and certain thing) announces justice; a false witness deceit; the Chaldean, fidelity shall speak and shall announce justice; false testimony is deceitful; or, he who attests truth narrates justice, etc. The Syriac, the just man speaks the truth of those things which are seen; a false witness is fraudulent; Vatablus, he who speaks truth announces justice, and a witness of lies is fraudulent, that is, as he himself says: "He who is truthful speaks what is just; but he who is a liar is fraudulent." The plain and genuine sense of the Vulgate version is, as if it should say: He who speaks that which he has certainly known, as for instance because he has seen it, or has heard it from men worthy of faith, whether in judgment or outside of it, he indicates that which is equitable and just; for what is true and spoken in good faith is likewise equitable and just; for truth is just, indeed truth and justice are one. "But he who lies is a false witness," both in judgment and outside of it, because he commits fraud, and in deceiving judges and others leads them to believe a lie; and therefore he commits injustice, both because in lying he deceives, and because by affixing a false and spurious crime to another, he is the cause that the other is unjustly condemned for a crime which he did not commit. To this R. Solomon adds, who thus explains: In judgment the truthful man deposits true things, so as to demonstrate the innocent as just. And Aben-Ezra: He who, says he, brings forth in his speech just and true things, and has rightly accustomed himself, when he is called to be a witness, will without doubt be an entire assertor of truth, nor will he depart from the norm of equity; but the defrauder accustomed to lying, when he is required to bear witness, inflamed with the love of iniquity and falsehood, will testify to false things. Baynus also agrees, who thus explains, as if to say: He who is accustomed to speak what he knows, that is, he who is accustomed to speak truth, he is "a judge of justice," that is, he is accustomed to be taken as a witness of truth, so that in judgment he may testify to that which is true and just. "But he who lies," that is, he who is accustomed to lie, he as a liar and fraudulent person is repelled from bearing witness in judgment. For the judge rightly presumes or fears that he who is accustomed to lie outside of judgment will also lie in judgment. Furthermore, the Hebrew, he who breathes forth truth shall announce justice; and the Septuagint, the just man shall announce full faith, thus appropriately explains our Salazar: "He who breathes forth truth," that is, he who confidently, who with full spirit utters the matter, who, when he gives testimony, does not produce a trembling voice, and as if strangled with a stifled breath (as is the manner of liars), he indeed "is a judge of justice;"; by the very manner of speaking and uttering he sufficiently indicates that he speaks true things and with constancy to himself. "But he who lies is a false witness," that is, he who hesitates, stumbles, as those do who bring forth lies, he reveals himself to be a false-speaking witness. This is what the Hebrew reading wishes to convey: "A false witness deceit," supply, he brings forth in his very utterance. St. Chrysostom, however, in the Catena of the Greeks, thus explains the Septuagint, so that the sense is: "Whatever a just and faithful man asserts, that is immediately received as true; or the just man narrates only those things which he has certainly explored; but the deceitful man, who strives to weave a lie or to persuade injustice, does not readily find faith, and by the name of the unjust he designates in this place heretics; for although these rise up armed against truth and urge falsehood, yet they obtain no faith among the wise. They are also called deceitful because they carry nothing right or sound in their breast." Thus St. Chrysostom.
12:18
The Syrian, heals. For he who promises in Hebrew is בוטה bote, that is, he who rashly utters something or swears, promises and vows. Whence from the Hebrew thus you may translate, he is one uttering rashly, as it were piercings or compunctions of the sword. Less correctly Theodotion and Symmachus, reading בוטה bote as בוטה botech or boteach, that is trusting, confiding, translate, he is one trusting in the piercing of the sword; Symmachus, as the piercing of the sword. Therefore the Hebrew, first, thus aptly the Septuagint renders, there are those speaking who wound like swords; or, as the author of the Catena of the Greeks has it, there are those who by their speech wound no differently than by a sword; but the tongue of the wise brings health, and thus he explains it, that is to say, The imprudent, while they censure someone, do so so harshly, imprudently and barbarously, that their words seem to be swords piercing the soul: but truly the reproof of the prudent heals rather than wounds; for although it seems to strike more sharply than a sword, nevertheless that mystical cutting brings life rather than death. To this is added the version of the Zurich Bible, to utter rashly is the same as to pierce with a sword; but the tongue of the wise is healthful. Secondly, Aben-Ezra refers these things to perjury, that is to say, The perjurer, swearing rashly by his false testimony, thus wounds his neighbor as if he were piercing him with a sword: but the tongue of the wise, who examine these testimonies with precision, and discover and convict their falsity, heal this wound which the perjured witness had inflicted. Thirdly, R. Levi, Cajetan and Jansenius refer these things to false accusations and calumnies, that is to say, The calumniator who imposes a false crime upon another, is the same as if he were piercing him with a sword, because not rarely on account of a crime falsely imputed an innocent person is condemned to death. Whence the Chaldean translates, there are those who speak as it were tumultuous swords; but the tongue of the wise speaks nothing but what is honest, just, honorable, which soothes and heals even exacerbated minds. Fourthly, Our author aptly referred the force of bote to a vow and promise, as also Aben-Ezra: "These things pertain," he says, "to those who vow grave and difficult things." Again, by the sword of conscience is the same as by knowledge as it were a sword. It is a hypallage similar to that in Psalm V: "O Lord, with the shield of thy good will (that is, with thy good will as a shield) thou hast crowned us." Whence Bede reads, conscience, in the nominative. The sense therefore is, that is to say, He who rashly promises or vows something, of which he afterwards repents, either because he promised something illicit or unbecoming, as Jephte vowed that he would sacrifice whatever first met him from his house if he returned victorious; but his daughter met him first: wherefore he repented of the vow, Judges XI, 35; or because the promise or vow is difficult and arduous, and therefore he cannot or will not fulfill it; he is perpetually pierced by sorrow of mind and remorse of conscience, as it were by a sword, and says to himself: Why have I bound myself by so difficult a vow or promise? Why have I rashly obliged myself to perform so arduous a thing? How shall I shake off this burden of the vow so hard for me? Thus Bede: "Some promise," he says, "to obey the divine will, but when a terrifying or alluring temptation presents an obstacle, they indeed abandon what they have begun, but nevertheless are pierced by the conscience of the promise as it were by a sword." To this pertain the vows and oaths of the angry, as when angry parents vow or swear that they will beat their petulant son, mutilate him, disinherit him, of which they afterwards repent, when anger has cooled. But the tongue of the wise, which promises and vows nothing except what is well considered and premeditated, heals all the pains and sicknesses of mind which can arise from a promise and vow. For the wise man foresees all these before the promise, and conceives them in his mind beforehand, and likewise looks ahead to bringing a remedy to each and healing them completely. Again, the tongue of the wise heals not only his own pains, but also those of others, namely hatreds, quarrels, disputes, and other sicknesses of the mind; for he knows how to soothe, soften, and, so to speak, enchant them with prudent counsels and sweet words. Such was the tongue of our Reverend Father Peter Canisius, of which it was commonly said: "The tongue of Canisius is the tongue of a dog," because just as a dog by licking heals wounds, so also Canisius by his wisdom and sweet eloquence healed hatreds, quarrels, dissensions and all sicknesses of the mind. Thus Father Sachinus, secretary of the Society of Jesus, relates in the Life of Canisius. Thus we see today holy men by a single word sometimes soothe the sorrows of the afflicted, and disperse their fears, scruples and anguishes. This is what Solomon admonishes, Ecclesiastes V, 1: "Speak not rashly, neither let thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God, etc. If thou hast vowed anything to God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools and a rash promise; but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it; and it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to pay what thou hast promised." To this pertains that saying of Sextus, or Sixtus, the Pythagorean in Sentences 187: "Do great things, not promising great things; for the foolish promise great things, but perform small things."
12:19
The Hebrew after their manner are concise and ambiguous, and for עד ed, that is witness, they now read עד ad, that is until. Again ארגיעה argia signifies a moment, swift; for the root רגע raga signifies to be stirred, moved, suddenly disturbed; whence aptly Our author renders it, sudden. Therefore from the Hebrew thus first, the Septuagint translate, lips of truth direct testimony; but a swift witness (the Scholiast: swift, that is, irascible) has an unjust tongue, as if to say, A considered and truthful witness gives right and true testimony: but a hasty and precipitate witness often speaks and testifies falsely and unjustly. Whence the author of the Catena of the Greeks thus translates, and thus explains: "Lips of truth rightly moderate testimony; but a hasty witness has an unjust tongue. Here more plainly and accurately he expounds, that the tongue of a truthful man favors truth, and by his testimony makes it credible, and directs those who study truth: but truly the tongue of a hasty and incontinent man so little favors truth, that he does not hesitate to arm his own tongue even against truth." St. Chrysostom, in the same place: "In both cases, he says, there is a tongue; but there wounds, here remedies. But what more admirable than this can be brought forth? You see here that a tongue is not by its nature evil; since its use extends to opposites, namely to good and evil." Secondly, the Chaldean: the lip of truth shall be directed into the age, and the hasty tongue of the witness is falsity; and the Syriac, lips of truth are right, the tongue of the hasty witness is iniquitous. Thirdly, Pagninus, Cajetan and Vatablus, the lip of the truthful shall be firm forever, and for a moment the tongue of the liar, as if to say, Truth is stable and eternal, but falsehood is fleeting and momentary, namely the tongue of the liar immediately betrays itself, and its lie is discovered and dispersed: but truth and the truthful tongue endure firm and unshaken. Thus R. Solomon: The truthful lip, he says, rests on a solid foundation, and will endure to eternity; but a false witness truly will endure for a moment of time and briefly, nor will it make any progress, since, as they say, lies have feet cut off. And R. Levi: The liar, he says, sometimes by chance speaks truth, but for a moment; for immediately mixing false with true, he relapses into his lies. Fourthly, Aben-Ezra, taking Hebr. ארגיעה argia, that is sudden, as a future from the verb רגע ragu renders it, I will cause to cease, and I will abolish the false tongue. Fifthly, Our author renders it most excellently, the lip of truth, etc., as if to say, The truthful one who speaks truth with deliberation, always like himself, stands firm in truth, and the same always steadfastly asserts it, nor does he contradict himself in any matter, and conversely he cannot rightly be contradicted, because true is not contrary to true, but to false; whence truth is unconquered, and therefore iron and adamantine. Wherefore St. Ephrem, tract. On Truth, compares it with flint, because truth, he says, like flint, first, is robust and firm; secondly, struck by arguments shines forth more clearly and gleams; thirdly, strikes sparks, which if they once seize the mind, illuminate and kindle the whole soul. But truly the hasty witness, in Hebrew argia, that is, stirred, who is stirred and disturbed by levity or hatred, or some other passion, rashly rushes forth to bear testimony, and therefore testifies and speaks unpremeditately and precipitately, what his cupidity, or anger, or levity suggests to him. He fashions the tongue of falsehood, because he does not regard truth, but his own cupidity and levity, which is often contrary to truth; and so he easily lies; and when he has spoken one lie, in order to defend it, it is necessary that he fashion and invent many other lies: by which it comes to pass that he easily varies, and falls into contradictions, and contradicts himself, and with truth casts down his reputation, and is held to be false and a liar. For truth is opposed to falsehood alone; but falsehood is opposed and contradicts not only truth, but also another falsehood, and that multiple. Whence the Zurich Bible renders it, the truthful lip is always firm; but the false tongue varies in a moment, that is, says Bede: "Sacred doctrine, while it does not deviate from truth, persists firm forever." But this is mystical. Hence Lyra notes that it is not said lips in the plural, but lip in the singular, because truth is one and singular, nor does it vary from one to another, but as if it speaks with one mouth and lip alone, it always perseveres the same and one, which is a certain sign of truth. For, as Tertullian rightly says, lib. On Prescription, cap. XXVIII: "What, he says, is found as one among many, is not an error, but a tradition." This metalepsis is frequent and constant in Solomon. For from the preceding he understands by implication the connected and consequent things, which are opposed to the prior part by antithesis. The sense therefore is, as if to say, A truthful man investigates truth maturely and prudently, and does not speak before he has ascertained it with certainty: wherefore in it now ascertained he is constant and firm; but the light and lying man speaks unpremeditately whatever comes to his mouth, and from this utters many falsehoods, which are therefore weak and unstable, and like smoke are scattered and vanish. Therefore "a sudden witness," that is unpremeditated, rash, hasty, easily mingles some falsehood with his loquacity by which he itches, and with his testimony which he utters; which he is then forced to defend with many other falsehoods fabricated by himself; namely, so that he may speak deception consistently and coherently, he mingles deceit, guiles and simulations with his words; for truth, which is simple and solid, rejects all deceit and adventitious ornament, and defends itself by simple speech and assertion. To this pertains the Hebrew proverb: אמת emeth, that is truth, has square and stable feet; but שקר sheker, that is falsehood, has sharp and weak ones.
12:20
For "those who think" in Hebrew is חורשי choresche, that is "those who fabricate," as the Septuagint translates it, and as Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion render it, "those who devise" evil. For just as a craftsman by hammering fabricates a sword, so the impious by thinking fabricates guiles and frauds. Again, for "those who enter into counsels of peace," in Hebrew it is ליועצי leioatse, that is "counselors of peace," or those who counsel peace, there follows joy. Now first, R. Levi holds that properly and precisely here the guile of the impious is opposed to the joy of the pious. It is, he says, the cunning by which someone becomes crafty, so that he can astutely bring ruin to others; but indeed the fraud which he devises against those who enter into counsels of peace, that is the good, whose studies and counsels aim at peace and right action, will redound into their own joy and pleasure; for they will receive no harm from the wicked machinations of the impious, upon whose head such wickedness will fall back, God preventing the just from coming into their power: for which reason joy will befall the just, joy, I say, lasting to eternity; from which it will come to pass that the wicked undergo destruction. This will also be the opinion of these men, that the mind of those devising wicked things is held constantly with fraud and guile to the inflicting of evil, but in the soul of those counseling peace joy always has its station: wherefore in the wicked mind there is fraud, but in the just mind there is always gladness in station. Thus he himself. Secondly, more aptly others hold by metalepsis that the joy of the peacemakers is opposed to the guile, that is to the pain which the guile of those devising evil produces; for when they constantly turn over thoughts full of fraud, they are not suffused with any gladness or pleasure, says R. Solomon, just as on the contrary those who enter into counsels of peace enjoy joy. For just as those in labor are tormented by their offspring with great pain, so also those in labor with guile are tortured by a thousand fears, cares and anguishes, according to that in Job XV, verse 35: "He hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity, and his womb prepareth deceit." And that in Psalm VII, 15: "Behold he hath been in labour with injustice, he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity." And that in Isaiah LIX, 4: "They have conceived labour, and brought forth iniquity. They have hatched cockatrice eggs, and wove the webs of spiders: he that shall eat of their eggs shall die: and that which is hatched shall break out into a serpent." See the sayings there. Hence און aven, that is iniquity, contracted into און on, is the same as pain, because pain is born and contracted from iniquity, just as a chick is born from an egg; wherefore if you turn away the chick of pain, take away the egg of iniquity: for from that nothing other than the chick of pain is brought forth. Moreover all the good, but especially the peacemakers, who counsel and make peace, will be followed by joy, because peace is above all things a great and divine gift, pleasing to God, delightful to Angels, desired by men, as I have shown elsewhere many times.
12:21
For "it shall grieve" in Hebrew is יאנה ieunne, which first signifies "it shall meet"; second, "it shall grieve"; for the root אנה ana signifies to meet and to mourn. Again, for "whatsoever shall happen to him," in Hebrew it is כל און kol aven, which you may first translate "all iniquity"; second, "all sorrow." The Septuagint, following the first meaning, translates: "nothing unjust shall please the just; but the impious shall be filled with evils"; and the Syriac: "it is not good for the just that anything be unjust"; and the Chaldean: "it is not fitting for the just that anything be iniquitous"; Pagninus: "all iniquity shall not be caused by the just"; Tigurina: "no iniquity shall impend upon the just," which Vatablus thus explains, as if to say: "No iniquity of an unjust man shall be able to harm a just man; but the impious are full of malice, as if to say, The impious are not only harmed by the malice which comes upon them from without, but also by their own, with which they are full of wickedness." But St. Chrysostom in the Greek Catena thus explains the Septuagint: "Just as that which is unjust does not please the just, so neither does that which is just please the unjust. This does not, however, proceed from the nature of things, or at least not solely from that, but from their diverse opinion and judgment, who determine and feel differently about the same things. Wherefore do not say to me: This or that man is offended by truth; this or that man again does not believe in truth. For this defect is born from the judges themselves, not from the things which are judged. For just as this corporeal sun brings no utility or sweetness to those who suffer from weakness of eyes by its rays, but rather harm and pain: so also manifest truth brings no advantage or joy to a perverse soul." Another in the Greek Catena: "He gives," says he, "a reason why nothing unjust pleases the just; because, he says, all virtues are connected, and all cohere with one another, and tend toward one goal." Add that good arises from an entire cause, and from the completion of the whole; but evil arises from particular defects. Wherefore, in order that someone be just, it is required that he possess all justice and virtue; but in order that someone be unjust, it suffices if he commit one crime, for example, that he be a robber, or an adulterer, or a murderer. Second, Our version translates better: "Nothing shall grieve the just, whatsoever shall happen to him," that is, any sorrow, namely any sad thing which might cause him sorrow; "but the impious shall be filled with evil," namely with manifold tribulation and sorrow. Thus also R. Levi: "Nothing pernicious," says he, "shall befall the just, God withdrawing him from the calamity which the wicked intended to bring upon him, lest he be harmed in any way. God will also keep these same ones unharmed from depravity of morals and opinions on account of His peculiar providence"; whereas He permits the impious, indeed even causes them, to be afflicted and punished with many afflictions. Hugo notes the accident: "An accident," says he, "is present and absent apart from the corruption of the subject; thus present prosperity and tribulation is present and absent to the just man apart from his sorrow and disturbance." A fable. A fable signifies that one ought not to grieve, with hope frustrated." Moreover, he does not say: "Nothing evil shall happen to the just"; for we often see the contrary, namely that Tobias was afflicted and oppressed with blindness, Job with various diseases, Lazarus with sores, David with persecutions, Daniel with lions, Susanna with calumny, etc. But he says: "Nothing shall grieve the just, whatsoever shall happen to him," because the just man bears and endures whatever tribulations come upon him, whether from God, or from the demon, or from man, or from nature, with a patient, strong and cheerful spirit: so that he is troubled by no hardship, does not collapse under any affliction, and does not lose heart, but remains calm, trusting and unperturbed in all adversity. For, as the Poet Syrus says: "Equanimity is the medicine of calamity." And Sixtus the philosopher in his Sentences: "Prepare and fit your soul for tribulations, and you shall be blessed. A tyrant does not take away blessedness." Wherefore St. Thomas, III part., Question XV, article 6, teaches that in Christ and in the just there was sadness, which apprehended and felt evils, not which disturbed reason. The causes why the just man is not grieved and disturbed by anything are various: First, because he esteems all things of this world, which can bring disturbance, as of little value, and therefore does not love them; wherefore, if these are taken from him, he does not grieve, because he does not care for them. Hence Sixtus the philosopher in his Sentences, chapter XIV: "All things," says he, "yield to him who takes them from you except freedom. A wise man and a despiser of money is like unto God." And Isocrates to Demonicus: "Think," says he, "that nothing human is stable; thus you will be neither excessively joyful if fortunate, nor excessively sad if unfortunate." Second, because the just man restrains his desires, which are the causes of sins, and consequently of disturbances and tumults, according to that passage in Lamentations I, 8: "Jerusalem hath sinned a sin, therefore is she become unstable;" where I have said much on this matter. Wherefore Tertullian, in the book On Patience, chapter VII: "What seems to be ours," he says, "is another's: for nothing is ours, since all things are God's, and we ourselves are His. Thus if we feel ourselves affected by loss impatiently, grieving over what we have lost as our own, we shall be found to be akin to covetousness. We seek what is another's, when grieving over what is another's lost we bear it ill. He who is stirred by impatience at loss, preferring earthly things to heavenly, sins against God in the matter itself; for he shakes the spirit which he received from the Lord for the sake of a worldly thing. Let us therefore willingly lose earthly things, and preserve heavenly ones. Though the whole world perish, provided I gain patience." Third, because the just man prefers peace and quietness of mind to all things, and therefore purchases or redeems it at the cost of any things whatsoever, according to that passage of St. Paul to the Colossians III, 15: "Let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts." And that passage Philippians IV, 7: "The peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." To this pertains the fable of the fishermen in Aesop: when the net was heavy, they rejoiced and exulted greatly, thinking there was much prey in it; but when they had drawn it to the very shore, and found few fish but a very large stone in it, they began to be sad and to grieve, not so much at the fewness of the fish, as because they had presumed the contrary beforehand in their minds; but a certain one among them, advanced in years, said: Let us not be sad, O companions; for as it seems, sadness is the sister of pleasure; and therefore we, who were so greatly rejoiced before, ought also to be sad in some matter. Fourth, because the just man knows that he and his are the care of God: wherefore in His paternal and watchful providence he rests sweetly, and says with the Psalmist, Psalm XXII, 1: "The Lord ruleth me, and (therefore) I shall want nothing." And he hears that passage of the Apostle, Philippians IV, 6: "Be nothing solicitous, but in all prayer, etc., let your petitions be made known to God." And that passage Romans VIII, 28: "To them that love God all things work together unto good." To this pertains that passage of Pindar in the Isthmian Odes, ode 3: "Time, while the days roll on, brings one change after another of things; but nevertheless the children of the gods are invulnerable." Fifth, because he has his mind fixed on God, and unites himself with Him in such a way that he becomes one spirit with Him. Wherefore God, since He is immutable, and consequently imperturbable, makes also the just who are glued to Him as it were immutable and imperturbable. Hence Sextus, not a Pontiff, but a philosopher, in the Proverbs or Sayings, chapter XIII, verse 36: "The mind of the wise man," he says, "is always with God. God dwells in the mind of the wise man. The wise man is always like himself. And chapter XXXVI: "Honor God, that He Himself may rule over you. But if God holds dominion over you, then at last you will rule over all things." And chapter XLI: "A holy temple to God is the mind of the pious, and the best altar to Him is a pure heart and one without sin." Finally, St. Chrysostom, homily 1 on II Corinthians: "Nothing else," he says, "is so troublesome as to have offended God. If this be absent, neither affliction, nor snares, nor any other thing can bring trouble to the truly wise; but just as if you immerse a small spark in deep water, you extinguish it: so although great dejection of mind, if it falls upon a good conscience, perishes and easily vanishes away." The same author elsewhere often treats this argument excellently, as he prays: That no one is harmed except by himself, and in the epistles to Olympias. Morally, learn here that the fruit of justice is the imperturbable peace and tranquility of mind, which is almost the highest good of this life, even by the common voice and testimony of the Philosophers. Hence Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais, who flourished admirably in sanctity and learning about the year of the Lord 420, a contemporary of St. Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome, in his first hymn, which is found in volume VIII of the Library of the Holy Fathers, thus sings: Let another skillfully drive horses, Another well hold the bow. Another guard heaps of wealth, Let another be very celebrated: But may it be allowed to me To lead a tranquil life Unknown to others, but known to God. And Pentadius: You are deceived, this is not the blessed life. To see shining gems in the hands, Or to drink from gold, and to lie on purple, To load royal tables with feasts; But to fear no trembling misfortunes, Nor to be touched by the vain favor of the people. And the Comic poet: The life of the continent and patient man is most tranquil. The blessed life is perpetual tranquility: Tranquility is the gymnasium of wisdom: Do you wish to grieve, do you wish to rejoice less? Live for yourself. And Elyricus: I have a small estate, a small income without reproach, but these two things make for us what is great: peace. Let others be called to laborious camps and curule chairs, and whatever vain joys move the empty mind. Let me be part of the common people, seen by no one with honor, so long as I live as master of my own time. And the Epigrammatist: As he who stands safe upon the summit of a lofty cliff laughs at the wrath and force and threats of the angry sea: so the mind holding itself in peace, despises on all sides the barking waves of things with fearless heart. This peace of an unperturbed mind is seen most of all in religious and monastic life, concerning which Simon Junior speaks excellently among others in the Moral Chapters, the last chapter: "Monastic peace," he says, "is an unperturbed state of mind, the serenity of a free and exulting soul, a certain foundation of the heart, agitated by no disturbances, inundated by no waves, contemplation of light, mystical knowledge of God, discourse of wisdom, abyss of God's counsels, rapture of mind, pure conversation with God, the watchful eye, intellectual adoration, union and coupling with God, the end, deification, and in the great labors of ascetic life, rest without labor." He gives the reason, chapter LII: "He who sees in the One (God) through the One sees both himself and all things, and hidden in Him, sees nothing of all things," that is to say, the religious sees and loves the one God, and through Him all other things: but apart from God he sees nothing, cares for nothing, loves nothing: fixed therefore in God, he remains unmoved and unperturbed.
12:22
In Hebrew, workers of truth, or of faithfulness. רצונו retsono, that is, his good pleasure. Thus Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion. But the Septuagint, "he who does faith" (that is, he who acts in good faith, as the author of the Greek Catena translates it, namely he who everywhere faithful fulfills the faith given), is acceptable to him; Pagninus, "and in those who do truth is his will"; the Zurich Bible, "the Lord abhors lying lips; but he who is devoted to truth has his favor." By lying lips understand fraudulent ones, which deceive others, or inflict harm through lies, such as a false witness, who through calumny imputes a false crime to another; and thus it comes about that an innocent person is condemned in judgment. Thus Aben-Ezra. For God execrates these things: hence he opposes to them workers of faithfulness or truth, namely those who enunciate truth, and who do not deceive the faith given to others either by word or by deed, but fulfill it in reality. Likewise those who as witnesses in judgment bear sincere testimony to truth, so that the innocent is acquitted and the guilty condemned. For these are patrons and defenders both of faith and of justice and innocence, and therefore are most pleasing to God.
12:23
For "crafty" in Hebrew is ערום arum, that is, astute, cautious, prudent, as the Septuagint translates it; for it is opposed to the foolish, that is, to the imprudent. For "uttereth" in Hebrew is יקרא ikra, that is, calls, provokes, evokes, namely from the heart to the mouth and tongue, that is, brings forth, speaks, proclaims, boasts, displays. Again, "uttereth," that is, seeks and looks for occasions of divulging his own foolishness, by betraying secrets entrusted to him. Whence the Chaldean: "but a fool uttereth knowledge," that is, again and again the secret which he knows, given the occasion by others and others, he utters and betrays: because he itches in mind and mouth to lay bare the secret hidden in his mind, and as it were to bring forth offspring and produce it into the light. Dionysius adds: "The fool," he says, "by his foolish speech provokes his hearers to inept joy, laughter, guffaws, and even to lusts and other crimes." Wherefore Vatablus clearly translates: "A prudent man concealeth knowledge; but the heart of fools uttereth foolishness." The sense therefore is, as if to say: A man cautious and prudent does not boast, but conceals knowledge, that is, the secret which he knows and has learned, and which he keeps closed in his heart and mind, and this first, from a study of secrecy, prudence, humility and modesty; secondly, from a study of peace, lest he be forced to utter openly the secret which he knows; thirdly, to avoid the envy of rivals and the ignorant, contentions, lawsuits and quarrels; fourthly, that he may enjoy his knowledge more greatly, and its fruit and gain. Thus cautious craftsmen, when they discover in their craft some new thing or secret practice very useful, conceal it, and from it acquire great wealth for themselves, since they alone know and practice it. Thus cunning players of dice, chess, ball, etc., dissemble that they are skilled in that game, so that they may provoke others to play, overcome them, gain and enrich themselves. On the other hand, the foolish, when they have thought up, learned, heard, or in any other way know something, cannot conceal this knowledge or secret which they know; but like hens, when they lay eggs, they vociferate, and boast and proclaim it with full cheeks: so that they boast not so much their knowledge as their own foolishness, and lay it bare to all. And this first, from pride, so that they may display their knowledge; secondly, because they are garrulous and clamorous, and impatient of secrecy and quiet; thirdly, because they delight in contention, lawsuits and quarrels; fourthly, because they are imprudent, and do not see that from this display of knowledge its fruit and gain will be diminished for them. Wherefore they imitate the raven, who, having found a carcass as if a feast, croaks, and thus calls others, who snatch a part of the feast from him, concerning which the Poet says: "For if the raven could feed in silence, he would have More food, and much less strife and envy." Finally, the prudent man, says R. Levi, conceals what he knows, that is, what he has heard, or learned from elsewhere, until he is fully certain that it is true, lest, if it be doubtful or false, he bring shame upon himself: but the fool immediately utters what he has heard or knows, even if it be doubtful; whence, if it be found to be false, he is exposed to the ridicule of all. Moreover the Septuagint, for כסה kose, that is, covers, conceals, hides, reading with other points כסא kisse, that is, seat, throne, throne, translate: "A prudent man is a throne of sense, or of intelligence; but the heart of the foolish shall be subject to curses." Which Olympiodorus and St. Chrysostom in the Greek Catena thus expound. Olympiodorus: "For all his sense, on account of the prudence with which he is endowed, rests in him. Or for this reason he calls the prudent man a throne of sense, judgment, or intelligence, because prudence, as the queen of all things and as it were the head, is in it. Finally, just as he who is full of malice or ignorance is wont to be called the seat of malice or ignorance: so he who knows all things is rightly called the seat of senses or knowledge. Prudence is also called the principle of sense, because it holds dominion in it. St. Chrysostom: "A prudent man is called a throne or seat of sense, because he is the cathedra of wisdom, and sense and judgment rest in him in such a manner that they never depart from him. But the heart of the foolish, etc. Whence this? Because, as one of the wise men said, he pursues a way which is subject to curse and execration; but also every wicked man is accursed before the Lord: just as every fool also on account of his iniquity is detestable." This is supported by the proverb of Sextus the Pythagorean in the Sentences, number 54: "A good mind is a chorus of God, an evil mind is a chorus of demons." And number 40: "The mind of the pious is a holy temple to God." This is also supported by the emblem of the serpent: for the serpent in Hebrew is called ערום arum, that is, astute, cunning, cautious, because it hides itself and its own so that it may not be betrayed by its voice and hiss and be killed by men: wherefore it is silent and does not hiss except in battle, or when a great storm is about to break. The prudent man does the same: for lest his voice be his ruin, he is silent, unless necessity compels him to speak. Whence Isocrates to Demonicus defines and circumscribes the time of speaking and keeping silent with these boundaries: "Make two occasions for speaking, either concerning things which you know clearly, or concerning things which it is necessary to speak about; for in these alone is speech better than silence, but in other matters it is better to be silent than to speak." And Thales of Miletus in Laertius, book I, chapter 1: "The wise man," he says, "will speak only when the matter demands it, and will express his opinion in few words; but the fool, having no regard for place, time, persons, etc., will pour out everything by his talkativeness." For, as Solon used to say: "The fool cannot be silent."
12:24
For "of the strong" in Hebrew is חרוצים charutsim, that is, of the precise, keen, strenuous, diligent, careful ones; Theodotion, ἀνδρῶν, that is, of manly ones; Aquila, συντεμνόντων, that is, of those who cut short, who dispatch their affairs briefly, that is, swiftly and quickly; the Septuagint, ἐκλεκτῶν, that is, of the chosen; Pagninus, the hand of diligent merchants shall rule; Tigurina, the hand of the diligent obtains the first place; Vatablus, those who strenuously perform their duties are accustomed to be masters of others, but against the idle they will be tributaries of the just, that is, they will serve the just. Moreover, lest anyone object difficulty to strenuousness, the Septuagint removes it by adding easily: "The hand of the chosen," they say, "easily," or without difficulty, "shall possess." For "slack" in Hebrew is רמיה remia, that is, slack, slow, lazy: for this directly opposes the hand of the strong, that is, the strong and strenuous hand. The sense is clear, as if to say: The strong, diligent and strenuous by their virtue and strenuousness prepare for themselves wealth, dominion and empire: but truly the sluggish, slack and lazy are put under the yoke by the strong and strenuous, and become their tributaries, so that the strenuous after labor rest in the wealth they have acquired for themselves, and live quietly from the labors and tributes of others whom they have subjected to themselves; the lazy, however, subdued by the strenuous through idleness, after idleness and inertia are forced to embrace the labor which they had fled, so that they pay census and tributes to the strenuous. Surely this is the just reward of labor, this likewise the fitting punishment of idleness and inertia, so that namely the strenuous are granted rest, the idle are condemned to labors. Thus the Romans by their fortitude acquired empire, and ruled over the greater part of the world. Thus also the Greeks, Assyrians, Persians and Germans, who afterwards degenerating into pleasures, luxury and sloth, were despoiled by others of dominion, and put under the yoke and tribute, as Sardanapalus on account of luxury and sloth was despoiled of the empire of the Assyrians, which Ninus had obtained by his fortitude. Baltassar by his feasting lost the monarchy of the Babylonians, which Nabuchodonosor had raised up by his strenuousness. Darius by his idle luxury lost the monarchy of the Persians, which Cyrus had founded by his virtue. Chilpericus by his sloth lost the kingdom of the Franks, which Pharamundus had begun by his vigor. Secondly, however, רמיה remia is the same as deceitful, fraudulent: thus the Syrian. Whence the Septuagint, but the deceitful shall be for plunder; Aquila and Symmachus, for tribute, that is, as the Vulgate, shall serve in tribute; Pagninus, the deceitful hand shall be tributary. For the deceitful hand indirectly opposes the strong hand, because the strong hand is laborious, the deceitful hand is idle: what the laborious hand obtains through labor, the deceitful hand strives to obtain through deceits and frauds. But it is deceived, and is frustrated in its hope, because God blesses the laborious, curses the deceitful, and brings it about that when deceits are exposed, the goods which they have scraped together through deceits are despoiled either by judges, or by soldiers and robbers. Whence Cajetan translates, and deceit shall be for melting, because just as snows melt and vanish in the heat, so riches obtained by fraud when detected are taken away and perish. Finally, this maxim is akin to that in chapter X, verse 4: "Poverty hath wrought the hand of the remiss; but the hand of the strong prepareth riches." Mystically, this sentence is truer in spiritual dominion and servitude, as if Dionysius says: Those who are strong in the operation of virtues, these are accustomed to be placed over brothers, and to preside also over the sensitive appetite, and to command its passions. Whence Seneca: "Do you wish," he says, "to have honor? I will give you great empire: rule yourself." But those who are lazy and slack in the works of virtues, these are filled with sins, and serve the prince of darkness, namely the demon, to whose exaction or temptation they give assent to evil continually as tribute: wherefore with him they shall finally be sent into the infernal prison, where they pay to him eternal tribute of all labors and sorrows. Therefore the slack hand brings poverty upon itself and servitude, because by its negligence in operating, fostering vices flowing from lukewarmness, it weakens the good morals previously acquired; and what before, supported by virtues, ruled, now bound by the chains of sloth, is subjected by virtue to its enemies, namely vices. Whence wisely concerning a king corrupted by pleasures sings Prosper, epigram 53: Although he uses a wide kingdom, he is sufficiently wretched a servant. When the mind, with the carnal tyrant ruling too much, Serves under so many scepters subjected, as it has vices. Therefore works done lukewarmly and slackly create these harms: first, they do not please God; second, they move the stomach of Angels and Saints; third, they provoke demons to laughter and contempt; fourth, they do not perfect the one working; fifth, they bring about greater difficulty day by day in working well; sixth, they consume time without fruit. Thus Alvarez de Paz, book V, page 3, On Documents of Perfection, chapter XXXI. Works therefore done tepidly and remissly create these harms: first, they do not please God; second, they move anger in Angels and Saints; third, they provoke demons to laughter and contempt; fourth, they do not perfect the one working; fifth, they bring about greater difficulty in working well day by day; sixth, they consume time without fruit. Thus Alvarez de Paz, lib. V, pag. 3, De Documentis perfect. cap. XXXI.
12:25
For sorrow in Hebrew is דאגה deaga, that is, solicitude, anxious fear and dread, whose companion, nay whose offspring, is sorrow. For "he shall humble him" in Hebrew is ישחנו iaschenu, that is, he shall bend him, and as it were into שחת scachat, that is, a pit, shall cast him down. The plain sense therefore is, as if to say: Solicitude, and thence anguish and sorrow, cast down, prostrate, and as it were precipitate the heart and mind of a man, however strong and magnanimous, into a pit of pusillanimity, distrust and despair: but a good word, that is, a sweet, pleasant, cheerful word, raises that up into hope of better fortune, animates it, gladdens it, vivifies it. Furthermore, because this sorrow often arises from a sadder message, or from a sharper rebuke or threat, which directly opposes a good word, that is, a sweet, joyful and mild word, and by which it is cured and healed, hence the Septuagint translates: "A terrible word troubles the heart of a man, but a good message gladdens him"; and the Chaldean: "A word of fear generates terror in the heart of a man"; the Syriac: "A fearful word troubles the heart of a man," as if to say: Just as a fearful word instills fear in the hearer, so a word of courage disperses it, which instills courage, confidence and joy in the hearer. Again, a terrible word is a sharp, biting, threatening word, especially of a Superior, a Prince, a Prelate, which troubles and prostrates the heart of a man, especially a subject, so much so that sometimes it robs him of his mind and makes him mad and delirious, as experience shows: but the remedy is, if the same person or another suggests to him troubled by fearful or sharp words, courageous, gentle, mild, pleasant words, which obliterate, overcome and blunt the fear or sharpness of the former, just as a dog heals by licking the wound which it inflicted by biting; and the bite of a viper is cured by its own flesh, namely theriaca (for this is made from the flesh of a viper). Whence Theodoret in "On the Cure of Greek Affections": "The blows of words, he says, as happens in theriac remedies, are cured by words; and the damages which speech has brought, speech redeems." For contraries are cured by contraries, for instance an angry and biting speech is cured by mild and gentle speech. Finally, the author of the Catena of the Greeks takes the terrible word by metonymy, a figure used in Scripture, to mean a terrible thing, such as labor, as if to say: Labor casts down a man, reward raises him up. Whence thus also the Septuagint translates and thus explains: "A terrible word troubles the heart of a man; but a good report or promise gladdens it. Those who first undertake a life occupied with action, the troubles which occur everywhere, and the remembrance of these same troubles, trouble them not a little: meanwhile the reward of good promises consoles and raises their minds anew. For the perfectly just man will not fear from hearing evil; for he is fortified by the fear of the Lord, which surpasses all these things."
12:26
In Hebrew, he will cause them to err. For "he who neglects damage," in Hebrew it is יתר iather, that is, remaining, surviving, excellent, distinguished, abundant. Whence first, Aquila translates, "abundant for his neighbor the just," that is, as Pagninus says, "more abundant is the just man than his friend," as if to say: The just man who increases his property only through just contracts, modes and practices becomes richer than his partner who is not just, says Vatablus, and therefore through right and wrong, namely through frauds, usuries and unjust contracts, he strives to enrich himself: for riches justly acquired are increased and established by God's blessing; but riches acquired through injury, God cursing them, are diminished and perish. Thus Aben-Ezra: "The sense," he says, "is as if to say, 'Greater is the abundance of riches to the just man than to his partner.'" Second, the Chaldean translates, "the just man is better than his partner"; better, both ethically, that is, more just: whence the Syriac translates, "the just man gives good counsel to his friend"; then physically better, that is, more excellent; whence the Zurich Bible, "the just man will be more distinguished than his neighbor," as if to say: The just man surpasses others in honor and glory among all his partners, even the rich, honored and noble, because the splendor and brightness of justice transcends and surpasses all the splendor of riches and honors. For justice is the sum of glory and majesty, so much so that all external glory compared to it appears inglorious, and all disgrace seems to be, says St. Chrysostom in Psalm XXXIV. Third, R. Levi: "The just man," he says, יתר iather, that is, profits from his friend, that is, the just man seizes from his friend excellence, since he learns from him the most excellent things, by which he is perfected in all virtue: the opposite happens in the wicked, who learn from their associates nothing but vices and crimes, which they see and hear. Fourth, R. Solomon: "The just man," he says, יתר iather, that is, forgives his neighbor, as if to say: A virtuous man spares the depraved morals of his friend and forgives his errors. Fifth, the Complutensian Septuagint translates, "the wise just man will be a friend to himself"; the Roman, "the knowing just man will be a friend to himself"; but those who sin, evils will pursue them, and the way of the impious will seduce them. In some books is added: "But their judgments are harsh." But the author of the Greek Catena translates the Septuagint more fully thus, and explains it thus: "The just man, prudent and a friend to himself and also to his neighbor; but the ways of the impious lead them into error. Observe here that the just man shows himself favorable and benevolent to both fortune and misfortune. For if he hears anything good about his neighbor, he does not grieve, nor is he envious, but rejoices from his heart; on the contrary, if he learns that anything evil has happened to him, he is troubled and saddened in mind. Yet both his pain and his joy are moderate. But among the impious a different affection prevails: for where they ought rightly to fear and be terrified by terrible threats, there they rejoice and reject them. On the contrary, where they ought to rejoice because of the good things that have befallen someone, there they waste away through envy, driven and incited by opposite affection." Another anonymous writer in the same Catena: "He who," he says, "recognizes himself to be created according to God's image, he dwells with himself, and thinks modestly of himself; and moreover, he carefully guards against designating anything that would lead to enmity or malice, nor does he finally disturb good thoughts or infest pious studies." Another: "A man," he says, "cultivated in prudence and justice always regards and cares for his friend's advantages, and observes in what manner each thing is rightly administered. And if it should happen that his friend commits some error, he dissimulates it and forgives; but the impious, having entered a completely opposite path, seize everything in a worse sense." Sixth, our Latin Interpreter profoundly and genuinely translates the Hebrew יתר iather as "he who leaves, or neglects his damage"; for the root יתר iathar means to remain, to be left, to leave, as if to say: He who leaves, namely his gains, that is, he who neglects his damage. The sense therefore is, as if to say: He who not only does not defraud others, but also neglects his own losses, so that he may consult the advantages of his neighbors, he is truly and by antonomasia and by excellence just, that is, equitable, honest, upright, and endowed with charity, and therefore dear to God and honored by men, who therefore abundantly repay the damage which he underwent for the love of God and virtue, and make it so that he becomes richer than others; whereas on the contrary the impious, who strive to become rich through frauds and redeem their own advantages by the losses of others, do not thereby become rich, but are impoverished; wherefore "their way will seduce them": their way, that is, their manner and mode of acting, namely of becoming rich through frauds and the losses of others, will deceive them, because it will lead them away from hoped-for riches to poverty. Whence it follows: "The fraudulent man will not find his gain." Thus Abraham yielded the better region of Pentapolis to his nephew Lot; but God repaid him in kind in Chanaan, where He enriched him with all goods. Conversely, Lot, snatching away Pentapolis from Abraham and all the riches which he had gathered there, lost them all in its burning, Genesis XIII, verse 9 et seq., and chapter XIX. Thus Isaac willingly conceded the wells dug by him to the invading Gerarites; but God repaid him in kind, when He bestowed upon him great riches and namely another well, which on account of the abundance of waters he called Abundance (whence the city which was afterwards built near it was called Beersheba, that is, the well of abundance), Genesis XXVI, 21 and 33. Thus Jacob, yielding to his father-in-law Laban the better offspring of sheep, received a greater reward from God, Genesis XXXI, 7 et seq. It is memorable that in the Annals of the Society of Jesus we read that Father John Baptist Roman, seized in a shipwreck by a plank, yielded it to a certain Jew on the condition that, if he should swim to shore, he would become a Christian; both swam to shore, the Jew clinging to the plank, the Baptist to the sea, or rather to God: and so God bestowed upon him temporal life with great joy of merit, and imparted to the Jew both temporal and spiritual life: for the Jew, overcome by the example of such charity, gave his hand and name to Christ, and regenerated by baptism, thereafter lived according to Christian rite. Finally, St. Thomas, II II, Question XXVI, article 4, to 2, teaches from this saying of Solomon that temporal goods can be neglected through charity for the sake of the greater good of friendship, but not spiritual goods: for I ought rather to avoid my own sin than my neighbor's, and ought rather to care for my own salvation than another's. Hence Theologians consequently infer that through charity it is lawful to expose one's life to danger for a friend's life, as among the Gentiles did Pylades and Orestes, Nisus and Euryalus, Damon and Pythias, and others whom Valerius Maximus recounts, lib. IV, cap. VII, whom the Fathers praise for so generous an act of friendship, as St. Ambrose, lib. III Offic. cap. XII, and he asserts that the tyrant Dionysius, having seen the friendship of Damon and Pythias, whereby one offered himself as a pledge to death for the other, wished to take them into his friendship. The same are praised by St. Augustine, lib. IV Confess. cap. VI, and St. Jerome in cap. VII of Micah. Indeed, Aristotle also, IX Ethic. cap. VIII: "Those," he says, "who have been accustomed to meet death for others, choose for themselves a certain great honor." For it is a generous and perfect act of friendship and magnanimity to die for friendship and for a friend. Finally, Christ, John XV: "Greater love," He says, "no one has than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." Suarez confirms this by many reasons, II II, Question XXVI, article 4, against Paludanus and Durandus. If it is lawful to lay down one's life for a friend's life, much more is it lawful to do so for defending his chastity or another virtue. Thus St. Didymus exposed his life for the life and chastity of St. Theodora, when, having exchanged clothes with her, he remained in her stead in the brothel: whence afterwards he was crowned with martyrdom together with her. Their feast day is celebrated in the Martyrology on the 28th of April. The same are praised by St. Ambrose, lib. II De Virgin. Thus St. Alexander, having exchanged clothes with St. Antonina, freed her from the brothel, and afterwards consummated martyrdom with her by fire, as the Martyrology has it on the 3rd of May: their Life is extant in Surius. Palladius relates in the Lausiac, LIV, that a certain man did the same for a virgin of Corinth. Thus the matrons of Lacedaemon, having exchanged garments with their husbands imprisoned in chains, freed them both from prison and from death, as Valerius Maximus relates, lib. IV De Amore conjug. cap. VI.
12:27
In Hebrew לא יחרך lo iacharoch, that is, it will not burn, or it will not consume the deceitful one's hunting, that is, he will not eat the beast or prey which he hunts through deceit and fraud: thus R. Solomon, R. Levi, Aben-Ezra, R. David, Pagninus, Vatablus and others everywhere. Another interpretation: he will not pierce his fowling, that is, by piercing he will not capture, will not consume, will not eat that which he hunts; another: he will not enclose his prey, so that namely he may enjoy it for a long time; for it will quickly be taken from him or escape him; hence חרכים charachim are called lattices, because they enclose a thing, or because they are perforated. The sense of all is the same. For it is a proverb among the Hebrews, indeed also among other nations, in common use: "The deceitful one will not consume his prey," that is, he will not possess, will not eat and enjoy his prey, because that which he hunts through fraud, either he will not obtain: whence the Chaldean translates, hunting will not come to the deceitful man; or, if he obtains it, it will be taken from him, so that he cannot consume it, and eat and enjoy it. Whence Our Lord clearly expressed the force of the proverb by translating, the deceitful one will not find his gain, which he hunts by fraud and deceit; and the Septuagint, he will not obtain; the Complutensian editors, he will not make his huntings. Namely: "Ill-gotten gains are ill-spent." And: "The third heir does not rejoice in ill-gotten wealth." The man who gathers through fraud will not be nourished by it, nor will it enrich him, but from him as from a robber it will fly away to others; but truly the riches of the just and sincere man, which he himself prepares for himself by his own labor and diligence, will be "of the price of gold," that is, they will be stable and precious, and will be valued at the price of gold, that is, they will be great and many; for that which we measure by gold, this is great and precious. AND THE SUBSTANCE OF A MAN SHALL BE OF THE PRICE OF GOLD. — He reads יקר iekar, that is, price; already others with different pointing read יקר iakar, that is, precious. Again חרוץ charuts, that is, cut off, signifies both a man strenuous, sedulous, keen, and gold. Whence first, Pagninus translates, and the riches of a man precious, solicitude, or strenuousness and sedulity, because through strenuousness riches and dominions are prepared, both temporal and spiritual, as he said in the preceding verse. And R. Solomon, the substance of a solicitous man (and one engaged in business, says Aben-Ezra) is precious and honorable; and Vatablus, the substance of a sedulous man is precious; others, the substance of a man precious, is sedulity, as if to say: The most precious thing in the riches of a man, is diligence and sedulity. Thus R. David. Second, the Chaldean translates, the substance of a man shall be precious gold; which version renders the same sense as the Vulgate. Third, R. Levi, the substance of a precious and glorious man, namely a just man, shall be gold, which is the most excellent of all faculties. Fourth, the Hebrew in Pagninus's Lexicon, substance which is prepared through solicitude, precious, that is, rare and dear; and Baynus, the precious riches of a solicitous man, as if to say: Riches left by inheritance are dear, but dearer are those which are prepared by one's own labor and solicitude; wherefore even if one squanders them from time to time, yet these, as it were the fruit and reward of his labor, he carefully guards and preserves. Fifth, the Septuagint translates, but precious possession is a pure man, who namely is purged from all dross of sin, avarice and frauds like gold refined by fire; for this is what חרוץ charuts signifies in Hebrew. Whence the author of the Greek Catena translates, but a sincere man and pure from crime is precious possession. Thus also the Syriac in its manner following the footsteps of the Septuagint, precious substance, he says, is a chosen man. For what is more precious than sincerity, purity, justice, holiness? Hear St. Ambrose, book I of the Duties, chapter III: "Finally precious possession is a pure man. Therefore enclose this possession and fortify it with thoughts, strengthen it with pious solicitudes, lest irrational passions of the body rush upon it and lead it captive, lest grave movements invade it, lest those passing by snatch away its vintage. Guard your inner man. Do not neglect and despise him as if vile, because he is a precious possession. And deservedly precious, whose fruit is not fleeting and temporal, but stable and of eternal salvation. Therefore cultivate the possession, so that you may have lambs." Sixth, our author reading iekar, that is price, translates most excellently, "the substance of a man shall be the price of gold." "Of a man," namely of a true, serious and industrious one; for this one alone is worthy of the name of man, and is truly a man; and this interpretation is suggested by, indeed compelled by, the antithesis. The sense therefore is, as if to say, The riches which a fraudulent man heaps together through frauds will not nourish him, nor enrich him, but will fly away from him as from a robber to others; but truly the riches of the just and sincere man, which he himself prepares for himself by his own labor and diligence, shall be "the price of gold," that is, they shall be stable and precious, and shall be valued at the price of gold, that is, they shall be great and abundant; for whatever we measure by gold, that is great and precious. Anagogically Bede: "The fraudulent man shall not find gain, etc.: for money acquired by fraud adds more damage to the soul than profit to the purse; and he who knows how to dispense his own substance for the Lord, receiving from Him in return heavenly gifts for earthly things. Otherwise: The fraudulent man shall not find gain, and the substance of a man shall be the price of gold, as if to say, He who with fraudulent mind feigns himself to be good while living wickedly in secret shall not find the good things of the life to come. But he who truly acquires the substance of spiritual virtues shall purchase from it the brightness of the eternal kingdom, which the following words declare more openly: In the path of justice is life, etc. For in the path of justice he acquires the substance of virtues, and by virtues the brightness of eternal life, more precious than gold, is purchased. But the crooked path, by which the fraudulent man walks, tending toward death, which he was unwilling to foresee, leads to eternal perdition.
12:28
For a devious path, in Hebrew it is the path of his way, that is, a path by another and new way, deviating from the royal way and the common path of justice, as if to say, Justice is as it were a royal way, which leads to life, and ends in life; but a devious path, namely an action and conduct deviating and deviating from the norm of justice, leads to present and eternal death. Furthermore the Septuagint refer and restrict the path of the way to the remembrance of injuries, because by it as by a path the angry man goes back and forth continually, and seeking vengeance: "In the ways," they say, "of justice is life; but the ways of those who are mindful of injuries lead to death;" for from the remembrance of injuries the desire for vengeance is kindled, which rushes into the death of others and of oneself. The Chaldean interprets the path of the way as the path of our fathers, namely impiety worn by impious fathers. The moderns, reading אל מות el mavet, that is to death, with another pointing אל מות al mavet, that is not death, translate quite differently, in the path of justice is life, and this itself by no means leads to death; thus the Zurich Bible, Pagninus, R. Levi, R. Solomon and others. But truly this reading repeats more obscurely and thinly what was already asserted clearly and sublimely, and lacks its own antithesis, which the Vulgate and Septuagint exhibit. Therefore their reading is the true and genuine one. This maxim is a sharp stimulus to pursue justice and virtue, and to flee injustice and vice. For what is more desirable to man than life, and that blessed and eternal? What is more execrable than death, and that heaped with the eternal fires of hell? Wherefore the Philosophers also used the same, and especially Plato often thus spurs on his followers to all honesty. And Sextus the Philosopher in Sentences, no. 11, established this as a principle of honest life: "Believe yourself to remain immortal in judgment for honors and punishments," namely: in hell "what torments eternally, what delights here momentarily; in heaven what delights eternally, what torments here momentarily. Choose."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
12:2
… heaped up those who forget God, sinners (ibid. 9:18; 21:16), despisers of the Law (Eccl. 41:11). It appears ever more as the "wages" of sin (cf. Rom. 2:7; 5:12, 21; 6:23), in opposition to the "life" reserved for the good (Prov. 3:18; 8:35; 9:6; 12:2; 16:21); to the f. that is below is opposed "the way of life" that leads on high (Prov. 15:24). Even after the exile, the twofold conception coexists, partly interpenetrating, …
12:10
… « For six days you shall work and on the seventh day you shall not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest » (Ex. 23, 12). « The just man has care for the life of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel » (Prov. 12, 10).
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.