1A wise son heareth the doctrine of his father: but he that is a scorner, heareth not when he is reproved.Il figliuolo saggio rappresenta la dottrina del padre: ma lo schernitor non ascolta quando uno lo corregge.A wise sonne, is the doctrine of the father: but he that is a scorner, heareth not when he is rebuked.Filius sapiens doctrina patris; / qui autem illusor est non audit cum arguitur. 2Of the fruit of his own mouth shall a man be filled with good things: but the soul of transgressors is wicked.L'uomo si sazierà dei beni, che saran frutto del suo parlare: ma l'anim dei prevaricatori è iniqua.Of the fruite of his owne mouth man shal be filled with good thinges: but the soule of the preuaricateurs is wicked.De fructu oris sui homo satiabitur bonis: / anima autem prævaricatorum iniqua. 3He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his soul: but he that hath no guard on his speech shall meet with evils.Chi custodisce la sua bocca, custodisce l'anima sua: ma colui, che avventato nelle parole, caderà in guai.He that kepeth his mouth, kepeth his soule: but he that is vnaduised to speake shal feele euils.Qui custodit os suum custodit animam suam; / qui autem inconsideratus est ad loquendum, sentiet mala. 4The sluggard willeth, and willeth not: but the soul of them that work, shall be made fat.Il pigro vuole, e disvuole: ma anima degli uomini attivi si impinguerà.The sluggard wil and wil not: but the soule of them that worke, shal be made fatte.Vult et non vult piger; / anima autem operantium impinguabitur. 5The just shall hate a lying word: but the wicked confoundeth, and shall be confounded.Il giusto ha in orrore la parola di menzogna: ma l'empio diffama, e sarà diffamato.The iust shal detest a lying word: but the impious confoundeth, and shal be confounded.Verbum mendax justus detestabitur; / impius autem confundit, et confundetur. 6Justice keepeth the way of the innocent: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner.La giustizia custodisce i passi dell'innocente; ma la (sua) empietà perverte il peccatore.Iustice kepeth the way of the innocent: but impietie supplanteth the sinner.Justitia custodit innocentis viam, / impietas autem peccatorem supplantat. 7One is as it were rich, when he hath nothing and another is as it were poor, when he hath great riches.Uno la fa da ricco, e non ha nulla; un altro la fa da povero in mezzo a molte ricchezze.There is one as it were with riches wheras he hath nothing: and there is as it were poore, wheras he is in much riches.Est quasi dives, cum nihil habeat, / et est quasi pauper, cum in multis divitiis sit.
8The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but he that is poor, beareth not reprehension.Colle sue ricchezze riscatta il ricco a propria vita: ma colui, che è povero, è esente dalla minaccia.The redemption of a mans life, his riches: but he that is poore, beareth not reprehension.Redemptio animæ viri divitiæ suæ; / qui autem pauper est, increpationem non sustinet. 9The light of the just giveth joy: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.La luce de' giusti è apportatrice di letizia: ma la lucerna degli empj si spegnerà.The light of the iust maketh glad: but the candle of the impious shal be extinguished.Lux justorum lætificat: / lucerna autem impiorum extinguetur. 10Among the proud there are always contentions: but they that do all things with counsel, are ruled by wisdom.Tra i superbi sono sempre delle risse; ma quelli, che tutte cose fanno un consiglio, si governano con saggezza.Among the prowde there are alwayes brawles: but they that doe al thinges with counsel, are ruled by wisdom.Inter superbos semper jurgia sunt; / qui autem agunt omnia cum consilio, reguntur sapientia. 11Substance got in haste shall be diminished: but that which by little and little is gathered with the hand, shall increase.Le ricchezze fatte in fretta deperiranno: ma si moltiplicheranno quella, che son messe insieme appoco appoco con fatica.Substance hastened shal be diminished: but that which by litle and litle is gathered with the hand, shal be multiplied.Substantia festinata minuetur; / quæ autem paulatim colligitur manu, multiplicabitur. 12Hope that is deferred afflicteth the soul: desire when it cometh, is a tree of life.La speranza differita affligge lo spirito; ma il desiderio adempiuto è albero di vita.Hope that is differred afflicteth the soule: a tree of life the desire of coning.Spes quæ differtur affligit animam; / lignum vitæ desiderium veniens. 13Whosoever speaketh ill of any thing, bindeth himself for the time to come: but he that feareth the commandment, shall dwell in peace. Deceitful souls go astray in sins: the just are merciful, and shew mercy.Chi biasima alcuna cosa, si fa debitore pel tempo avvenire; ma chi rispetta il precetto, starà in pace. Le anime, che aman la frode, restan deluse ne' loro peccati: i giusti sono benigni, e usano misericordia.Who so detracteth from any thing, he byndeth himselfe for the time to come: but he that feareth the precept, shal conuers in peace. Guilful soules erre in sinnes: the iust are merciful & haue pitie.Qui detrahit alicui rei, ipse se in futurum obligat; / qui autem timet præceptum, in pace versabitur. / Animæ dolosæ errant in peccatis: / justi autem misericordes sunt, et miserantur.
14The law of the wise is a fountain of life, that he may decline from the ruin of death.La legge del saggio è fontana di vita, ond'egli schivi la rovina, e la morte.The law of a wise man a fountaine of life, that he may decline from the ruine of death.Lex sapientis fons vitæ, / ut declinet a ruina mortis. 15Good instruction shall give grace: in the way of scorners is a deep pit.I buoni insegnamenti rendono l'uomo amabile: ma quelli, che li disprezzano, trovano tra via il precipizio.Good doctrine shal geue grace: in the way of contemners a whirlepoole.Doctrina bona dabit gratiam; / in itinere contemptorum vorago. 16The prudent man doth all things with counsel: but he that is a fool, layeth open his folly.L'uomo circospetto fa ogni cosa con consiglio; ma l'insensato fa conoscere la sua stoltezza.The subtel man doth al thinges with counsel: but he that is a foole openeth folie.Astutus omnia agit cum consilio; / qui autem fatuus est aperit stultitiam. 17The messenger of the wicked shall fall into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.Il messo dell'empio caderà in isciagure: ma il messaggero fedele porta salute.The messenger of the impious shal fal into euil: but a faithful legate, is health.Nuntius impii cadet in malum; / legatus autem fidelis, sanitas. 18Poverty and shame to him that refuseth instruction: but he that yieldeth to reproof shall be glorified.La miseria, e l'ignominia è per chi fugge la disciplina: colui che da retta a chi lo corregge, avrà gloria.Pouertie, and ignominie, to him that forsaketh discipline: but he that yeldeth to him that rebuketh, shal be glorified.Egestas et ignominia ei qui deserit disciplinam; / qui autem acquiescit arguenti glorificabitur. 19The desire that is accomplished, delighteth the soul: fools hate them that flee from evil things.Il desiderio ridotto ad effetto con sola l'anima: gli stolti detestano quelli, che fuggono il male.Desire if it, be accomplished, delighteth the soule: fooles detest them that flee euil thinges.Desiderium si compleatur delectat animam; / detestantur stulti eos qui fugiunt mala. 20He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise: a friend of fools shall become like to them.Chi conversa co' saggi, sarà saggio: l'amico degli stolti diventerà simile a loro.He that walketh with the wise, shal be wise: a freind of fooles shal be made like.Qui cum sapientibus graditur sapiens erit; / amicus stultorum similis efficietur. 21Evil pursueth sinners: and to the just good shall be repaid.Il male perseguita i peccatori: i giusti avranno i beni per loro mercede.Euil purseweth sinners, and to the iust good thinges shal be repayed.Peccatores persequitur malum, / et justis retribuentur bona.
22The good man leaveth heirs, sons, and grandsons: and the substance of the sinner is kept for the just.L'uomo dabbene lascia eredi i figliuoli, e i nipoti; ma le facoltà del peccatore sono riserbate pel giusto.The good man leaueth heyres, sonnes and nephewes: and the substance of the sinner is kept for the iust.Bonus reliquit hæredes filios et nepotes, / et custoditur justo substantia peccatoris. 23Much food is in the tillage of fathers: but for others it is gathered without judgment.Uno trova abbondantemente da mangiare nei campi de' padri suoi, e senza giudizio raccoglie per altri.Much meate in the tilled growndes of the fathers: and to others they are gathered with our iudgement.Multi cibi in novalibus patrum, / et aliis congregantur absque judicio. 24He that spareth the rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him, correcteth him betimes.Chi risparmia la verga, odia il suo figliuolo: ma chi lo ama, lo corregge di buon ora.He that spareth the rod, hateth his childe: but he that loueth him doth instantly nurture him.Qui parcit virgæ odit filium suum; / qui autem diligit illum instanter erudit. 25The just eateth and filleth his soul: but the belly of the wicked is never to be filled.Il giusto mangia, soddisfa l'anima sua; ma il ventre degli empj è insaziabile.The iust eateth and filleth his soule: but the bellie of the impious vnsatiable.Justus comedit et replet animam suam; / venter autem impiorum insaturabilis.
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Ven. Bede
Doctrine. Or he gives proof of his good education, (Calmet) and excites even his father to advance in piety. (Ven. Bede)
Haydock
Septuagint, "is obedient to his father; but the disobedient son is in destruction." (Haydock)
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Calmet
Mouth. In reward of his good speeches. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "of justice the good man eateth; but the souls of the lawless perish before the time," Proverbs 12:13.
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Haydock
Hath. Hebrew, "who openeth his lips inconsiderately, is lost, Judges 11:35. (Haydock)
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Willeth not. Hebrew, "hath not." He only desires riches, or to be converted, and will not labour, Proverbs 21:25., and Ecclesiasticus 5:8.
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St. Chrysostom
Confounded. The detractor is like swine, stirring up dirt. (St. Chrysostom, 32. ad Pop.)
Aristotle
The liar is not believed, even when he speaks the truth. (Aristotle)
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Calmet
Reprehension. Or is not able to defend himself, like the rich. (Calmet)
Bayn
He is not exposed so much to great revolutions. (Bayn.)
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Calmet
Out. They are hated as well as their offspring. (Calmet)
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Menochius
Contentions. As none will yield. (Menochius)
Hebrew, "only by pride cometh contention." (Protestants)
St. Augustine
"Pride is the mother of all sects." (St. Augustine)
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Plut.[Plutarch?]
Haste. Hebrew, "by vanity," and injustice. Those who become rich on a sudden fall under suspicion, as a Roman objected to Sylla, who had inherited nothing. (Plut.[Plutarch?])
Haydock
By little. Hebrew, "he that gathereth by labour, (Septuagint, piety) shall increase." (Protestants) (Haydock)
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Hope. Septuagint, "(the just shews mercy and lends) better is he who begins heartily to assist, than he who promises and leads to hope. For a bad (Grabe substitutes good) desire is a tree of life."
Haydock
Soul. Protestants, "maketh the heart sick." (Haydock)
Haydock
The pain increases in proportion to our eager desire. Calvin maintains, that the souls of the blessed are not yet in heaven, but hope: and of course he would establish a sort of purgatory for them. (Haydock)
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Haydock
Come. To defend what he has asserted, or to pass for a liar. Hebrew, "shall be destroyed by it." (Mont.[Montanus?]) (Haydock)
Those who despise God's order shall perish.
Calmet
Deceitful, etc. This is not in Hebrew, nor in some of the Latin editions. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "to the deceitful son nothing shall be good. But the ways of the wise servant shall prosper, and his paths shall be made straight," Proverbs 14:15. (Haydock)
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Haydock
That. Septuagint, "but the fool is slain in the snare." (Haydock)
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Calmet
Grace. God assists those who strive to be well instructed. (Calmet)
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Menochius
Of the. Hebrew, "a wicked ambassador." A king generally chooses people like himself. (Menochius)
Septuagint have read melec. "A rash king shall," etc.
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Calmet
To him. Hebrew, "destroy discipline," so that the most wretched are often noted for immorality. Septuagint, "instruction takes away poverty," as "the whole earth supports the man that has a trade," technion, according to the Greek proverb. (Calmet)
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Haydock
That is. Septuagint, "of the pious, but the works of the impious are far from knowledge." (Haydock)
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Become. Septuagint, "be known." A person's disposition may be seen by the company which he frequents.
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Calmet
Heirs. This was more observable under the old law: yet we often see the distress to which the unjust are exposed. De male quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres. (Calmet)
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Menochius
Fathers. Heirs often lose their property by their misconduct. Hebrew and (Haydock) Chaldean read, "of the poor," who till their land better than those who have too large farms. (Menochius)
Calmet
Nature requires but little. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "the just shall spend many years in affluence: but the unjust are cut off at once." (Haydock)
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Calmet
Betimes. God has always treated his friends in this manner, to preserve them from sin, or to increase their reward. (Calmet)
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•••al feare.
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Sound doct•e.
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Discretion in speach.
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Constant endeuour.
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Truth in wordes and dedes.
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Iustice.
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True acknowlegement of temp• al state.
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Mediocritie of riches.
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Sincere conscience.
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Humilitie.
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Iust gaine.
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Speedie performance of promise. Good reporte.
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Plaine dealing. Good instruction. True doctrine.
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Prudence.
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Faithful message.
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Desire to lerne.
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Hate of sinne.
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Conuersation with the good.
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Iustice.
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Succession.
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Frugalitie.
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Chatisment.
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Contentment of state.
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) 17
… lest by acting hastily, they should become to themselves the cause of terror: for thus it is written, ‘He that is hasty, with his lips, shall bring terror upon himself
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… 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. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.11
… Twist lines too for catching fish, and copy books; that your hand may earn your food and your mind may be satisfied with reading. For “every one that is idle is a prey to vain desires.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 130.15
… however late the summer sun may be in setting, a day will always seem too short on which something remains undone. By observing such rules as these you will save yourself and others, you will set a good example as a mistress, and you will place to your credit the chastity of many. For the scripture says: “the soul of every idler is filled with desires.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 10.21
… of which presently it is said: “Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she rejoices in the latter days.” Of this evil of idleness Solomon thus makes mention again: “The ways of the idlers are strewn with thorns;” i.e., with these and similar faults, which the Apostle above declared to spring from idleness. And again: “Every sluggard is always in want.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.2
… And so I see that you are labouring under that infirmity of sluggishness, which is thus described in Proverbs: “Every sluggard is always desiring something;” and again: “Desires kill the slothful.”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.13
… For “There are who make themselves out rich though possessing nothing, and there are who humble themselves amid great riches;” and: “Better is a man who serves himself in a humble station than one who gains honour for himself and wanteth bread.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 7.21
… that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” For, as Solomon says, “riches” are the true good, which “are the ransom of the life of a man;” but the poverty which is the opposite of these riches is destructive, for by it “the poor cannot bear rebuke.”
St Peter of Alexandria † AD 311 The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras 12
… “The ransom of a man’s life are his riches.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose 63.24
92. But riches themselves are not blameable. For “the ransom of a man’s life are his riches,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 25
… Mark how even Christ shows this, by the care taken to have a purse, and to bear the contributions put into it. And Paul also says, “Only that we remember the poor” ( Gal. ii. 10 ): and everywhere the Scripture has much discourse concerning this matter. “The ransom,” it saith, “of a man’s soul is his own wealth” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.31
… “If have not been faithful,” the Lord says, “in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” “That which is another man’s” is a quantity of gold or of silver, while “that which is our own” is the spiritual heritage of which it is elsewhere said: “The ransom of a man’s life is his riches.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 71.4
… Then, as you know, believers sold their possessions and brought the prices of them and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: a symbolic act designed to shew that men must trample on covetousness. But the Lord yearns for believers’ souls more than for their riches. We read in the Proverbs: “the ransom of a man’s soul are his own riches.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 3.6
… he execrates sin, and does not claim his righteousness as his own. But you say, “Now Thou knowest how holy, how innocent, how pure from all deceit, wrong, and robbery are the hands which I spread out before Thee.” He says that he fasts twice in the week, that he may afflict his vicious and wanton flesh, and he gives tithes of all his substance. For
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 3.9
… glory and riches are in his house, and his righteousness remaineth for ever:” and again “the ransom of a man’s life are his riches.”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 2.5
No one will contradict this; least of all he who looks for celestial light as one of the rewards promised to virtue, the light which, as Solomon says, is always a light to the righteous,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 40
… For I myself shall be happier for remembering them (for what is sweeter than light to those who have tasted light?) and I will dazzle you with my words. There is sprung up a light for the righteous, and its partner joyful gladness. And, The light of the righteous is everlasting;
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 6
… when he goes up, ‘shall receive a blessing from the Lord .’ Now this clearly also refers to what the Lord gives to them at the right hand, saying, ‘Come, ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you .’ But the deceitful, and he that is not pure of heart, and possesses nothing that is pure (as the Proverb saith, ‘To a deceitful man there is nothing good
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St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… 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. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. He that keepeth his lips guardeth his own soul; but he that is rash with his lips shall be a terror to himself.
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 11.10
… but the heart of the ungodly is without pity.” And so a monk is quite certain to fall into the same sins which he condemns in another with merciless and inhuman severity, for “a stern king will fall into misfortunes,” and “one who stops his ears so as not to hear the weak, shall himself cry, and there shall be none to hear him.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 93.50
… is in the jurisdiction of the kings of the earth, you are mistaken in calling those things yours which you do not possess as righteous persons, and which you have forfeited by the laws of earthly sovereigns, and plead in vain, “We have laboured to gather them,” seeing that you may read what is written, “The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just;”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Correction of the Donatists 9
37. But if we consider what is said in the Book of Wisdom, "Therefore the righteous spoiled the ungodly;" and also what is said in the Proverbs, "The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just;"
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Theodotus † fl. AD 160 Excerpts of Theodotus 1
IX. God, out of goodness, hath mingled fear with goodness. For what is beneficial for each one, that He also supplies, as a physician to a sick man, as a father to his insubordinate child: “For he that spareth his rod hateth his son.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.106
In Solomon: “He who spareth the rod, hateth his son.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Correction of the Donatists 6
… for he says, "Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell;" and elsewhere he says, "He that spareth the rod hateth his son."
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 7.24
… Consider the lilies of the field;” —these precepts, and those which follow, are not inconsistent with the promised blessings of the law, which teaches that the just “shall eat their bread to the full;” nor with that saying of Solomon, “The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want.”
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For the doctrine in Hebrew is מוסר musar, that is, discipline, instruction, learning. This maxim gives a sharp spur both to parents, that they may instruct their sons in all the discipline of virtue; and to sons, that they may embrace the same with their whole mind. The sense therefore is, as if to say, A wise son hears the doctrine of his father, and obeys him. "But he that is a mocker and a scorner," that is, unwise, who laughs at and despises the warnings of his father, he does not hear him rebuking, when he is reproved by him concerning his vices. Thus the Chaldean: A wise son, he says, receives the doctrine of his father; the Syriac: A wise son hearkens to his father, but the wicked, who does not receive reproof, shall perish; the Septuagint: A wise son (cautious, prudent, wise, as Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated it) obeys his father, but a disobedient son is in destruction. Note: Our translator renders it more forcefully from the Hebrew, doctrine, than the others, namely hears. First, because it is the proper part of sons to be instructed in the doctrine of their father, just as to suck milk from their mother; for the father's doctrine flows into the son's mind paternally, naturally and sweetly, and bends him whichever way it pleases, and makes him like itself. Whence the Zurich Bible: A wise son is the discipline of his father, that is, says Vatablus, from the discipline of his father a son becomes wise. It is a metonymy; for the effect of paternal discipline is shown, namely that it causes and produces wisdom in the son. And the glory of his father is a wise son, just as shame is a foolish one. To this pertains the maxim of Sixtus the philosopher in Sentences, no. 245: "Let thy children living wickedly torment thee more than dying." And no. 164: "The sins of learners are the reproaches of teachers." Secondly, more closely and significantly: "A wise son is the doctrine of his father," because he not only receives it, but also bears and represents it, just as an image represents its exemplar. Just as therefore the form and figure, for example of Alexander, is represented and seen in his image, so that seeing the image we say: This is Alexander; so likewise the father, and the doctrine of the father, in a wise and obedient son, is represented and shines forth, as it were in a living image of himself, so that seeing the son you can say: This is the father, this is the doctrine of the father, because namely the son is a living mirror of paternal virtue and wisdom. Doctrine therefore here is taken rather and more forcefully as a nominative case than an ablative; although it can also be taken in the ablative, as if to say, A wise son becomes, or turns out to be, the doctrine of his father, that is through the doctrine of his father; yet more significantly in the nominative, a wise son is called "the doctrine of his father" by metonymy, that is the effect of the father's doctrines, a living image, in which you behold the doctrine and virtue of the father; a living book, in which you read expressed the wisdom of the father, so that you say of him: Behold, this is the wisdom of the father. Hence a son in Hebrew is called בן ben, as it were a structure carved to the likeness of the father: for the root בנה bana means to build and to construct, and in Greek τέκνα as it were the offspring of the father; and in Latin natus, from being born; and son as φίλος, that is the love of the father, says Sipontinus. Hence Cicero, in book II of On Ends: "An image of paternal integrity, a son." The same to Caecinnia: "An image of mind and body, a son." Hence the Son of God the Father is called the image of the Father, the character, the wisdom: "The brightness of his glory and the figure of his substance," Hebrews I, 3. Let the sons of men imitate this Son of God, so that they may bear and represent the wisdom and virtue of the father, and especially of God, who is the supreme parent of all. Furthermore, a son, receiving the doctrine of his father, is called and is wise, because through the reception of paternal doctrine he obtains first: wisdom; secondly, the name and reputation of wisdom; thirdly, a greater inheritance of his father. For a father will leave more goods to an obedient and wise son than to a disobedient and foolish one. Thirdly, properly and precisely Bede: A wise son is the doctrine of his father, that is, he teaches his father. "So much," he says, "does a wise man differ from a fool, that the latter sometimes by the progress of learning comes to teach him who had taught him; the former does not even know how to listen when reproved." Thus the sons, that is, the servants, of Naaman taught him to obey Eliseus, namely to wash in the Jordan; which done, he was healed of his leprosy. IV Kings V, 13. Thus St. Francis Xavier through the sons of the Indians instructed by him instructed and converted their parents. The same is frequently seen in our schools, in which disciples teach their own parents what they have learned.
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For 'goods' in Hebrew is תוב tob, that is, good in the neuter, and good in the masculine. Now because the Hebrews lack cases, hence some translate it for 'mouth' otherwise, the mouth of the good, or of the just. Moreover, because these sentences are parabolic, hence they are at once acute and concise, and leave much for the reader to investigate and supply. Whence first, the Septuagint, understanding τῆ justitia (for the fruit of the good and just is none other than the fruit of justice and of just works), translate, from the fruits of justice the good shall eat, namely the mouth of the good; but the souls of the wicked shall perish untimely, as if to say, The just on account of just works enjoys a holy and pleasant longevity, and shall receive the fruit of youth justly spent in good old age, namely wisdom, joy, counsel, honor, authority, hope of future and blessed life, prudent sons and grandsons, grave and honored; but the impious by gluttony, lusts and other crimes shorten their life for themselves, or are punished by God with swift death, so that they die prematurely, nor reach old age, or obtain it unhappy and full of hardship; as therefore unripe fruit is sour, so to them life and old age is sour; conversely, as ripe fruit is sweet and savory, so to the just age and old age happens sweet and savory. Whence St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Old age," he says, "of those who instructed their youth in honest arts, and meditated on the law of the Lord day and night, becomes more learned with age, more certain by use, wiser by the progress of time, and reaps the sweet and mature fruits of former studies." Secondly, Pagninus, repeating τὸ of the fruit thus translates, from the fruit of the mouth of a man shall a man eat; and from the fruit of the soul of transgressors shall an unjust man eat. Thirdly, Cajetan translates, from the fruit the mouth of a man (good) shall the good eat, and the soul of liars the unjust, and thus explains it. In general, he says, this is said here which Paul said in particular: "We are the good odor of Christ, to some an odor of life unto life, to others an odor of death unto death." For from one and the same fruit of the law, faith, justice and doctrine, men diversely disposed eat diverse, indeed contrary foods. For the mouth (that is, the mind) of a man infected by no depraved affection shall eat good, and the soul of liars in their iniquities to God, shall eat unjust, interpreting the fruit either of faith, or of justice, or of doctrine, in an evil sense. Fourthly, the Hebrew thus plainly you would translate, from the fruit of his own mouth each one shall eat good; but the soul of sinners violence, which Vatablus explains, as if to say, Transgressors shall be affected with injury. For as they themselves were violent and injurious to others, so likewise by the law of retaliation and God justly disposing, they themselves shall experience others violent against them, and shall feel injurious; and the Chaldee, each one from the fruit of his own mouth shall be satisfied with good; but the soul of robbers with dejection, repeat, shall be satisfied; the Syriac, shall be destroyed. Our author wished the same, translating, from the fruit of the mouth man shall be satisfied with goods, but the soul of transgressors with unjust; in Hebrew with iniquity, repeat, shall be satisfied, as if to say, As the good soul is satisfied with the fruit of its own good speech, by which it taught others good things, while on account of it it will rejoice that it has done this good, and thereby others have profited, and therefore either by men, or certainly by God, shall be affected with great rewards: so on the other hand the soul of transgressors, who namely transgress the law of God and justice, and teach others to transgress, is unjust, that is, injurious and violent to others, and therefore this iniquity or force and violence shall recoil upon their head, so that on account of it they are forced to suffer and devour many hard things violently. As therefore their soul was unjust in force and guilt, so likewise it shall be unjust in violent punishment, by which their iniquity and violence shall be justly punished, which they themselves are compelled to undergo: for punishment otherwise (namely before sin) unjust, after sin becomes equal and just, and so the iniquity of punishment directly corresponds to the iniquity of guilt, properly agrees with and is due to it. For a soul, which has treated God and God's law unjustly, deserves to be treated unjustly, unworthily and tyrannically by torturers and executioners, especially by demons, according to that of Hosea X, 13: "You have ploughed iniquity, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies." And that of the Psalmist concerning God, Psalm XVII, 26: "With the holy thou wilt be holy, etc., and with the perverse thou wilt be perverted," as if to say, Thou, O God, wilt show thyself holy, innocent, good and kind to the holy; but with the crafty and perverse not kindly, but wickedly and perversely, that is, severely and craftily wilt thou deal, and wilt invert thy proper manner, which is to have mercy and to do good, because they themselves are inverted and perverse from what they ought to be. Thus St. Jerome there. Whence the Chaldee translates, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob the pious thou hast multiplied piety; with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who thought evil thoughts against thy people, thou hast troubled them in their thoughts.
13:3
The Chaldean paraphrase: he who covers his mouth guards his soul; and he who opens his lips, terror threatens him; the Arabic: and bold in lips shall make his soul tremble; the Syriac: makes a breaking of his soul, guards his soul: first, from all anguish and sorrow; second, from many sins which are committed by the mouth; third, from dangers, enemies and snares. Whence Vatablus: He guards his soul, that is, says he, his life. For, as Pliny says: "Often a voice rashly uttered returns through the throat." He frequently inculcates the guarding of the mouth and tongue, because that is to be guarded as much or more than a city surrounded by enemies; whence just as a city is fortified by walls, gates and bars: so nature and God have fortified and enclosed the tongue with the palate, teeth and lips. Again, just as a watchman keeps vigil at the gates of cities, lest any enemy break in or creep in: so over the gates of the mouth the mind and reason keep watch, lest anything go out from the mouth, or enter in, which might create harm for man. For this reason Ecclesiasticus, chapter XXVIII, verse 29: "Gold, says he, and silver of thine melt down, and make a balance for thy words, and a bridle straight for thy mouth; and take heed lest perhaps thou slip in thy tongue, and fall before them that lie in wait for thee, and thy fall be without remedy unto death." See the remarks there. For "he shall feel evils," in Hebrew it is מחתה לו mechitta lo, which first, you translate with Pagninus and Vatablus, to him who opens his lips there is a breaking; the Syriac, makes a breaking for himself, that is to say, he who speaks inconsiderately shall be broken, shattered and destroyed, nay by his own inconsiderateness in speaking he shall break, shatter and destroy himself. Second, terror is for him; the Chaldean, terror threatens him; Theodotion, confusion; the Septuagint, and he who is rash in lips, shall terrify himself, that is to say, he brings upon himself many anguishes and terrors; for he exposes himself to terrible evils and troubles. For this reason the Psalmist earnestly prays: "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips," Psalm CXL, 3.
13:4
The Hebrew concisely has, he desires, and not, soul, or the soul of the lazy man. Which first, thus the Chaldean fills out and expounds: the soul of the lazy man desires something, and it does not come to him; the Syriac, at all times in desires lies the man who does not work; thus also the Arabic and Pagninus, the soul of the lazy man desires, and there is not for him what he wishes; but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat; the Zurich Bible, the mind of the idle craves, and has nothing; but the soul of the industrious shall be made fat. Vatable, desires, and the soul of the lazy man does not obtain its wish, that is to say, The lazy man desires many things, but does not obtain them, because he is unwilling to labor, nor to prepare for himself by labor those things which he desires. For idleness makes him desire many things, but inertia prevents him from obtaining them, because he always remains in idle desires, and does not go further, so as to apply his hand to work and labor, by which he might obtain those things which he desires. To this exposition the following antithesis aptly responds: "But the soul of the industrious shall be made fat;" because namely he does not shrink from work and labor, but by it prepares for himself those things which he desires. The lazy man therefore is "unwilling (not willing,) and therefore of many wills;" for he wishes to have nothing by laboring, but wishes to have all things by idling; hence nothing suffices for his will and desire: for he is full of desires, and is troubled by them, since he does nothing else but desire: wherefore he himself seems to be nothing other than desire, and desire itself; for where there is no labor for wealth, there an inert wind of concupiscence fills all things. Secondly, Our author thus fills out and explains the Hebrew: He desires, or wills, and not, supply and repeat, wills the soul of the lazy man. And this is more forceful; for the former exposition already given touched upon the end and effect of the evil; but this touches its root, and assigns the cause, that is to say, The cause of sloth and laziness, and of all evil which follows from it, is that the will of the slothful and lazy man is languid and torpid, so that you know not, indeed he himself knows not, whether he wills or wills not; because it is languid, hence it is scarcely felt, and with the slightest motion and suggestion it wavers, so that what he now wills, he soon wills not. Hence it comes to pass that it is irresolute and wavering, and he undertakes nothing, but is occupied in perpetual consultation and deliberation, and concludes nothing; and like scales in a balance now rises by willing, now is depressed by not willing. Again, the lazy man wills, that is, inefficaciously desires riches, wisdom, virtues; but he does not will absolutely and efficaciously: wherefore in him there is mere velleity, not absolute will: for he wills, that is, he would wish the end; but he does not absolutely will to apply the means, namely labor necessary for obtaining the end. Whence some from the Hebrew word for word thus translate, he wills and there is not spirit to the lazy man, which the Italians significantly say: Non gli basta l'animo, that is, there does not suffice to him the spirit; which Our author clearly renders, the lazy man wills and wills not, that is to say, The lazy man wills remissly, and does not will efficaciously; hence he struggles with himself now willing, now not willing; and in this vain balancing and struggle of will he consumes all his time, and does not go further to the pursuit of the thing willed: wherefore he does not obtain it, but truly the soul of the industrious by working pursues and obtains the thing desired, and thus enjoys it and is made fat. The reason is, that it is resolute, and efficaciously wills that which it wills, and therefore applies all labor opportune for obtaining the thing, especially because the wisdom and virtue which it desires is properly situated in the efficacious will. For virtue is nothing other than love and desire of honest good. Whoever therefore wills resolutely to be humble, patient, brave, temperate, etc., by this very fact at least inchoately becomes humble, patient, brave, temperate, etc., and is so esteemed before God. Thirdly, the Septuagint thus fills out, he desires, and not, supply, does anything else the soul of the lazy man, that is to say, He does nothing except desire. Whence they translate, in desires is (or, as the author of the Greek Catena says, is agitated, tossed about, and fluctuates like the wave and surge of the sea) every idle man: every properly; and every, that is, the whole, that is to say, The idle and lazy man spends all his idleness in bare and barren desires, in them consumes and uses up his strength, his time; wherefore nothing remains to him, which he might necessarily spend on work and labor for obtaining the thing desired. Thus also the Syriac, at all times, says, in desires lies he who does not work; and St. Jerome in Ezekiel cap. XVI, vers. 49, to those words, Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and idleness: "In desires, he says, is every soul of the idle man; which indeed always something ought to be done, lest the field of our breast, the hand ceasing, be filled with the thorns of evil thoughts." Finally, "pro vult" in Hebrew is מתאוה mitauue, from the root אוה aua, that is, to desire, to will, to long for. Mitauue moreover is a participle of the hitpael conjugation, which signifies a reflexive action, namely when the same one is both agent and patient, or when the agent acts upon himself and reflects his own action upon himself. Mitauue therefore is the same as desiring, stirring up in himself desire and concupiscence, willing in himself: one who namely does nothing outwardly, but reflects the whole action of desiring and willing inwardly upon himself, and does nothing other than to will and desire, namely to stir up and foster in himself the surges and waves of velleities and concupiscences. For the slothful and lazy are full of desires and concupiscences, just as bellows are full of wind: whence they are not capable of any solid work or other matter. But the soul of those working (in Hebrew הרוצים charutsim, that is, of the diligent, industrious, strenuous, as I said in chapter XII, verse 14. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, the soul of the strong; the Syrian, of the mighty; the Septuagint, but the hands of the strong in diligence) SHALL BE MADE FAT, that is to say, the strenuous and industrious, when they will and desire riches, wisdom and virtues, do not deliberate long what must be done, but immediately set hand to the work, and by striving laboriously they prepare for themselves the riches and virtues desired: wherefore they are made fat, that is, they are filled, satisfied and abound. Otherwise the Arabic, and the hands of the bold, he says, are in solicitude. Hear Bede, and from him the Gloss: "Rightly by the word of the slothful is denoted one who wishes to reign with the Lord, and not to suffer for him; delights in rewards, when they are promised: he is deterred by struggles, when they are commanded; concerning which James says: A double-minded man is inconstant in all his ways, James I. And the son of Sirach: Woe to the sinner entering the earth in two ways! Ecclesiasticus II. But those who work the commandments of the Lord, they do so because their soul is refreshed by the sweetness of heavenly things, according to him who beseeches the Lord, saying: Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness, Psalm LXII. Or certainly the soul of those working shall be made fat, because those who toil in pious labors for the Lord will be rewarded after their labors with a heavenly and unfading crown." Excellently the Angel, in the Lives of the Fathers, against the weariness of labor, suggests a pleasant alternation of occupation, which the Poet rendered thus in verse: Now read, now pray, now labor with fervor: Thus the hour will be brief, and labor itself light. Wherefore St. Jerome, in his letter to Rusticus, admonishes him to flee idleness as a plague: "Do," he says, "some work, so that the devil may always find you occupied." And further: "Let books be written, so that the hands may work for food, and the soul be satisfied with reading. For in desires is every idle person. The monasteries of the Egyptians hold this custom, that they receive no one without work and labor, not so much on account of the necessity of sustenance, as on account of the salvation of the soul, lest the mind wander in pernicious thoughts, and after the manner of a fornicating Jerusalem spread its feet to every passer-by." Whence Abba Abraham with Cassian, Conference XXIV, chapter II, to certain ones disclosing to him their temptation of revisiting their parents under the appearance of piety, answered: "The wandering of your desires testifies to the sloth of your heart, etc.; and therefore I perceive you to labor under that sickness of idleness, which is thus noted in Proverbs: In desires is every idle person." See the same, book X On the Spirit of Acedia, chapter XXI. Indeed even Pharaoh ascribed the desire of the Hebrews to depart from Egypt to their idleness and sloth: "They are idle," he says, "and therefore they cry out, saying: Let us go," etc. Whence cutting off the cause: "Let them be oppressed," he says, "with works, and let them fulfill them," Exodus V, 8.
13:5
In Hebrew, the impious man will cause to stink and will affect with shame; the Chaldean, the impious man will cause to rot and to be reviled. Our translator reads in Hebrew for יחפיר iachpir in the hiphil, that is, will affect with shame and blushing, in the qal יחפור iachpor, that is, will blush, will be confounded, will be ashamed; or certainly he accepted the hiphil as if placed for the qal, as sometimes happens among the Hebrews. Thus also the Septuagint, who accordingly translate, but the impious man shall be confounded, and shall not have freedom of speech; and the Syriac, shall be confounded and shall blush; Pagninus, a lying word the just man will hate; but the impious man will cause his works to rot, and will affect his soul with shame; finally the Arabic, a word of oppression the just man hates, and the impious man shall be relaxed, and shall not have confidence. For a lying word, the Septuagint translate, an unjust word the just man hates, which first, by a metonymy customary in Scripture, you should take for a thing or unjust work, as if to say, the just man hates an iniquitous work, which he sees, or hears being perpetrated by another, and reproves and refutes it; but the impious man dissembles and connives, and thus causes evil to rot, that is, by repetition to tend toward worse, and like a rotten thing to spread infamy from itself, which creates reproach, shame and confusion. Secondly, properly take a lying word as a false calumny, or detraction, by which a false crime is imputed to another. For the just man execrates this: but the impious man contrives it, or fosters and praises it, and therefore confounds others and causes them to stink, that is, affects them with shame as if with a foul odor of reputation; but finally, when the truth is discovered, he himself as a liar and calumniator will be confounded, will be affected with shame and will be hissed off. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily 32 to the People, compares detraction to the mud of pigs: "Do you not see, he says, pigs eating and wallowing in mud? Thus also these detractors. For what is more foul than the words which the contentious speak?" Indeed he compares it to dung, homily 5: "If anyone, he says, moving dung as you pass by, would you not affect the one doing this with insult and reproach? Do this also concerning the detractor; for dung thus moved does not strike the cartilage of the nostrils receiving that foul odor as the sins of others stirred up and moved, and the impure life of others revealed, are wont to sadden and disturb the minds of those hearing." Thirdly, by a lying word understand a false praise and flattery, by which false virtue, or a gift, is attributed to someone by assenting. For this confounds and affects with shame him who is praised, when there is falsely attributed to him what he does not have: and therefore, when flattery is discovered, the flatterer himself will be ashamed and confounded. Finally, by a lying word understand any lie, deceit, falsehood, especially that which is an injury to God, or harmful to a neighbor. For this is a deadly sin, and therefore the just man execrates it, as a lover and son of truth and virtue: wherefore he merits and obtains great honor and praise with God and men; but the impious man loves lies, deceits and falsehoods, because he is a hater of truth and justice, and therefore merits shame and disgrace, and brings it upon himself. Philosophers agree with Solomon. Sextus, or Sixtus, the Pythagorean, in the Proverbs, or Sayings, at number 153, has this truthful saying: "It is better to be overcome by one speaking truth, than to overcome by one lying." And at number 158: "Nothing is so native to wisdom as truth." And at number 20: "Consider the best purification to be to harm no one." And at number 33: "Let the world revere your life; admit nothing that brings you a stain." Aristotle, when asked: "What profit do liars make?" answered, "That truth-speakers are not believed." Thus Laertius reports it, book V, chapter 1. The maxim of Cyrus was: "One must not lie at all. For open lying is the greatest obstacle to obtaining pardon." Thus Xenophon reports it, book II of the Paideia. Epænetus, as Plutarch testifies in the Laconian, used to say that liars are the authors of all crimes and injuries. Finally, wise men and philosophers and Christians everywhere reject Plato's paradox: "One must sometimes use a lie as hellebore. A lie should be conceded to physicians, but to others not at all." This is a common saying: "Show me a liar, I will show you a thief."
13:6
In Hebrew, justice guards the upright in the way, but impiety either deflects, or twists, or makes crooked, or perverts (for all these things are signified by סלף salaph) sin; the Zurich Bible: justice observes the whole way; but impiety deflects to sinning; Vatablus: impiety overturns the sinner, that is, says he, frustrates him in his wish; Pagninus: justice guards the perfect in the way; but impiety perverts the way of the sinner; the Septuagint: justice guards the innocent in the way; but sin makes the wicked, the evil (the depraved, the perverse); Symmachus forcefully: but injustice draws sin; the Chaldean: but the unjust shall be unstable because of sin; the Syriac: justice guards him who is innocent in the way; but the sinner is destroyed by his own crimes. All these come down to the same thing, but exaggerate the matter and sense. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Justice guards the just, so that he always walks in the straight path of justice, and therefore protects and guards him from all evil both of guilt and of punishment: but impiety, erring and wandering, deflects and turns aside from the path of reason and justice, and therefore the impious man following it slips from one thing into another and another, so that he becomes worse day by day, and more liable to greater guilt and punishment: wherefore "the impiety of sinners," which namely causes the impious man to slip continually from one sin into another, and to heap up nothing but sins for himself (for the genitive of sinners is from the nominative sin, as is evident from the Hebrew הטאת chattat, not sinner) "supplants" the impious man, that is, treads him under foot and presses him as guilty of all fault and evil. Again Rabbi Solomon: The sinner, says he, is called chattat, that is sin, on account of great impiety, just as we call something notably wicked a crime. Impiety therefore "supplants" the sinner, that is, turns him upside down, casts him down, drives him awry, so that he strikes against everything on all sides, and like swine wallows in the mire of turpitudes. And Aben-Ezra: Impiety, says he, sin, that is, bound by sin, supplants him, and drags him awry. And Rabbi Levi: Custom, says he, to which the upright man has accustomed himself by living justly, will preserve for him the rectitude of life, which he has set forth in all things; for he treads the path of integrity on account of the habit of justice, to which he is most tenacious. But it is otherwise with him who has accustomed himself to impiety; for by it he is supplanted, and is driven awry from those things to which he was tending, so that he cannot accomplish what he had set his mind upon. Thus we see sinners, having heard sermons or admonitions, sometimes pricked in conscience, and propose the amendment of life, but by the inveterate habit of sinning, as soon as temptations are offered, they are immediately snatched away to them like horses to fodder. For there is a chain of virtues, equally as of vices: for just as in a chain one ring draws the next, so virtue draws virtue, and impiety draws another impiety. This is what Origen says, homily 23 on Numbers: "From justice is generated justice, and from chastity chastity. For if anyone has begun to be chaste even slightly at first, having received the leaven of chastity, he becomes more chaste day by day." Whence St. Dominic, surnamed Loricatus from the iron breastplate which he wore next to his bare flesh, being asked by what means he was able to perform such great penances of disciplines (which he performed daily through entire psalters), hair-shirts, fastings, answered that he had gradually made his way from lesser to greater degrees, and therefore they had become easy for him: "For sleep begets sleep," says he, "vigils beget vigils, and in that by which the human body is gradually nourished, by that through increments it is afterwards strengthened." St. Basil, in chapter IX of Isaiah, brings forward the likeness of grass: For just as grass cut down, or eaten by horses, grows again, and other and other shoots spring up: "Thus one sin," says he, "succeeds another as if congenital by degrees, as fornication fornication, and the very habit of lying becomes the mother of lying; and he who has long exercised his mind to stealing, now undertakes iniquity without any difficulty. For that which sin has caused to occupy him, this becomes for him the occasion of another sin." Bede brings forward another similar likeness of a magnet, in a sermon On the Nativity: "Just as a magnet," says he, "draws iron to itself, so sin draws to itself." Likewise as an iron ring adhering to a magnet lifts another, and this in turn another, until there is a chain, so sins hang one from another. A third likeness is that of flax, thread and rope. For just as flax draws flax, one part of thread and rope draws and embraces another; so likewise one virtue binds and draws another: and one vice embraces another, and draws it to itself, as Symmachus rendered it, according to that passage in Isaiah V, 18: "Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity!" Where I have said more on this matter.
13:7
In Hebrew, it is one who enriches himself, and has nothing; it is one who impoverishes himself, and has much substance; the Septuagint, they are who enrich themselves having nothing, and they are who humble themselves in much wealth; Symmachus, beggars; Theodotion, πτωχοφανής, that is, who appears a beggar, who presents the appearance of a beggar; the Chaldean, it is one who makes himself rich, and has nothing; it is one who makes his soul poor, and has much substance; the Syrian, they are who enrich themselves, and have nothing; they are who make themselves poor, and possess much. First, R. Solomon, Aben-Ezra and Cajetan thus expound it, as if to say: There is one who by his industry, or fortune, becomes rich, when previously he had nothing; and there is one who by his idleness, imprudence, or misfortune falls into poverty, when he has many possessions and riches. Second, the same R. Solomon, as if to say: There is one who becomes rich by theft, withdrawing goods from the poor, who finally, stripped of all riches, falls back into his former poverty. Third, Hugh and others, as if to say: The wealthy man, not content with his riches, but insatiably desiring more, is as it were rich, that is, appears rich; but in truth is not rich, since he has nothing, that is, thinks he has nothing or little; or has nothing, because he does not have peace of mind, so as to be content with his lot: for he who does not have this, has nothing; conversely, the poor man, content with his meager lot, is in much wealth: for riches do not make one rich, but the mind, to which its own suffices, and which is quiet and joyful in its lot, according to that saying of the Poet: Who is rich? he who desires nothing. And who is poor? the avaricious man. Whence St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 25 to the Church of Vercelli: "But you wish, he says, to be rich? be poor. Then you will be rich in all things, if you are poor in spirit. Not wealth makes one rich, but the mind. There are those who humble themselves in much wealth, and rightly and prudently. For the law of nature is sufficient wealth to all, to whom you quickly find what abounds. But to desires all abundance of riches is poverty. Finally, no one is born poor, but becomes so. Therefore poverty is not of nature, but of opinion; and therefore the rich man of nature is quickly found, difficult to desire; for the more each one acquires, the more he thirsts, and as it were burns with a certain intoxication of his desires." He then pursues this at length and shows that truly rich is only the just and holy man, who can say: "The Lord is my portion." Fourth, others, as Vatablus testifies, translate: There are those who in the want of all things know how to be rich; there are those who, when abounding in immense riches, know how to be frugal and poor. And to this sense, which is very apt, the Vulgate version can be expounded. For it is great prudence to show one's riches and liberality in its time; and conversely, when the time demands it, to spare in expenses and to show one's frugality. Such was Paul who says: "I know both how to be abased, I know how to abound (everywhere and in all things I am instructed), both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need," Philippians IV, 12. The wise man therefore knows where to conduct himself as poor, where as rich. Fifth and genuinely, as if to say: There are those who simulate themselves rich, when they have nothing; there are, conversely, those who simulate themselves poor, when they abound in riches. That this is the sense is clear first, from τὸ as it were, which signifies simulation and external appearance. Second, because in Hebrew it is מתעשר mitasser, that is, who makes, feigns, simulates himself rich, and מתרושש mitrosces, that is, who makes, feigns, simulates himself to be poor, when in truth he is not such, but rich. Both are indeed of the hitpael conjugation, which often signifies to feign, to simulate, to present. Third, because thus translate the Septuagint, the Chaldean, the Syrian, Theodotion, cited a little before, and Vatablus, Pagninus, R. Levi and others. This maxim signifies that a man is not easily to be judged from external appearance, because that often deceives, since the rich appear outwardly, who at home are poor, and conversely. For the rich sometimes conduct themselves as poor, and the poor as rich, and this either from pride, or from avarice, or from prudence, or from humility and modesty, or from some other virtue. Moreover, this maxim is universal and can be adapted to various particular cases: First, to the noble and avaricious, that is to say, There are nobles who, in order to protect the dignity of their nobility, pretend to be rich, and therefore go about outwardly attended by splendid garments and servants, when at home they scarcely have bread to eat; conversely, there are rich men who abound in wealth, but because they are avaricious, pretend to be poor, lest they be compelled to live splendidly, to distribute alms, to pay great tributes, etc. Second, to princes and commoners, that is to say, There are kings and princes who appear to be rich, when they have nothing, indeed are in grave debt, because the immense riches which they have, they expend upon the works of the commonwealth, and especially upon soldiers and armies; conversely, there are commoners who appear to be poor, when they abound in wealth. Thus today we see kings and princes exhaust the treasury in wars, so that they are truly poor; conversely, commoners abound in wealth, and proportionally in their station and degree fare better than kings, and are more convenient and opulent than they. Third, to the proud and the humble, and these especially does Solomon seem to note here, that is to say, There are the proud who boast of and display themselves and their things splendidly, as if they were rich, when in reality they have nothing or little; conversely, there are the humble and modest, who although they abound in wealth, nevertheless conceal it modestly, so that they appear to be poor. In like manner you should apply the same to the prudent and the imprudent; for the prudent conceal their riches, the imprudent display them. Whence Tropologically, you may twist this proverb against the arrogant, who arrogate to themselves knowledge or virtue which they do not have. Or against those who boast as if they were rich, because they abound in wealth, not in virtues. Whence the Author of the book On the Twelve Abuses, vol. IX of St. Augustine: "The first," he says, "abuse is, a wise man without works; the second, an old man without religion; the third, a youth without obedience; the fourth, a rich man without alms; the fifth, a woman without chastity; the sixth, a master without virtue; the seventh, a contentious Christian; the eighth, a proud pauper; the ninth, an unjust king; the tenth, a negligent Bishop; the eleventh, a people without discipline; the twelfth, a people without law." To the eighth, namely to the proud pauper, Solomon's maxim is adapted: "He is as if rich, when he has nothing; and he is as if poor, when he is in great riches. As if poor therefore," he says, "in great riches, is the rich man humble in spirit; and having nothing as if rich, is the poor man proud in the affection of mind. Noble therefore is the poverty of humility of mind, and inept riches are the enormity of souls." Again, Bede mystically adapts this maxim to those who are rich in wealth, but poor in good works, such as was the rich man Dives, and to those who are poor in wealth, but rich in virtues, such as was Lazarus. He adorns this meaning with an apposite allegory of a crocodile and a little bird, varied with wars in similitudes, as Cyril does in book III of his Moral Apology, chapter III, which has the title, That the covetous, however much they have, are poor. A certain little bird, he says, having entered through the mouth of a crocodile into its viscera, tore them and wounded it mortally: then, having gone out and flown away, when the crocodile accused it of injury, it responded: "If justice is a common friend to all, surely he is justly guilty to all who has harmed some. But you, a depraved example of insatiable covetousness, have given yourself entirely to the abyss, while with mouth not closed but open, as if never satiated, you sleep; and armed with a wider gape, with the series of your teeth pressing upon you, and with the savagery of your claws, yet voracious things do not fail you, because so long as your voracity is filled, you do not distinguish what you have seized. Therefore on account of covetousness you justly lose your vital parts, so that just as you have given the form of depraved action, so also you bear it. Thus indeed the covetous man vomits more than he exhausts. For no one loses more than he who loses himself. For what is it that you possess, when avarice absorbs you? Fire never says: It is enough, nor has covetousness ever been satisfied. Wherefore avarice is the destruction of the heart, and devours all possessions. An emptied stomach desires, and a member dried by natural burning hungers. An evacuated place attracts, and the breast of one fevering with burning thirsts more." Whence, concluding, he adds this moral: "Therefore covetousness is the poverty of the mind, and so much greater, the more ardent was its flame. Diogenes, desiring nothing beyond himself, despised the world; Alexander, possessing all things, desires more: who therefore is richer? Is it not he who despised? For a belly too full eructates, and then a river is poured out when it overflows. Do you see therefore that to desire more is unhappy poverty, but to desire nothing is supreme wealth? Which said, the words ended with the crocodile's life." Again, a rich man who has nothing is an opulent man who has broad dominion, but little or no use and fruit of it, either because he is a minor and a ward, or because he is a spendthrift, or because his estates are burdened with debt, or for a similar reason; but a poor man having many riches is one who has little dominion, but the use of many things, such as Religious "having nothing, and possessing all things." Thus expounded, this proverb has the appearance of an enigma. Bede proceeds: "That rich man," he says, "seemed to himself to be rich, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day; but because he did not have God, he discovered in the end that he had nothing that he had. Whence it was said of such: They have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands. The poor man, on the other hand, seemed to be Lazarus, who lay at his gate full of sores; but he was in many riches, because he had the virtue of humility, because he carried in his heart the creator of all riches, namely God." Bede borrowed this from St. Augustine, sermon 212 On the Seasons, where he treats this sentence and the following one at length, and among other things says: "There are those who affect themselves to be rich, when they are poor, that is, they seem just when they are impious, etc.; they wish to seem just, when in the cell of conscience they do not have the gold of justice. And there are those full, so much the more humble, the richer, of whom it was said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Gold shines, but faith shines more." And of these he said a little before: "There are rich in heart, rich full of strength, abounding in piety, abundant in charity; they are rich with themselves, they are rich within." And throughout the sermon he teaches that true riches consist in abundance, not of gold, but of faith and virtues. Whence after the beginning he says: "But the disease of riches is great pride. For it is a great soul which among riches is not tempted by this disease. Greater is the soul than its riches, which conquers them not by coveting, but by despising. Great therefore is the rich man, who does not think himself great because he is rich. But he who thinks himself great for this reason is proud and needy. He bursts in flesh, he begs in heart, he is inflated, not full." And below: "All good rich men therefore are faithful. Let no one despise himself, poor in the cell, rich in conscience. For he who is rich in conscience sleeps more securely on the earth than he who is rich in purple. There no evil solicitude excites him with a stricken heart. Keep riches in your heart, which your poor Lord has conferred upon you. Nay, employ him himself as your guardian; let not perish from your heart what he gave, let him himself who gave it keep it. All good rich men therefore are faithful, but not rich of this world. Finally, they do not themselves feel their riches, they will feel them hereafter."
13:8
For redemption in Hebrew is copher, which Cajetan translated as price, and gives the sense, as if to say: The riches of a man are the price of him; we value a man according to how wealthy he is: for the common people place all dignity in riches, and esteem each person according to his wealth; conversely, a poor man is so abject and of such vile price, that he is not even admitted to hear a rebuke, but is repelled from the eyes and conversation of men like refuse. But copher properly does not signify price, but redemption, expiation, satisfaction. Whence Symmachus and Theodotion translate it as propitiation; the Septuagint as redemption; the Syriac as the salvation of a man is his riches. St. Jerome notes in Ezechiel chapter XVIII, that it is significantly said his riches: "Lest," he says, "we turn bread sought from rapines and usuries, and another's harm into mercy." Therefore first, St. Augustine, sermon 212 On the Seasons, thus expounds it, as if to say: Riches add courage and strength to a man, so that he may free himself from whatever adversities befall him: for from his riches he can liberate and redeem himself; but a poor man is of little courage, and is struck down by any sharper rebuke; wherefore he yields to threats, even to cooperate in his own crime. "When," he says, "it shall be said to him by some powerful man: Say this word against my enemy, speak false testimony, so that I may oppress him whom I wish; and he gives a gift. Perhaps he denies, saying: I will not do it, I cannot bring myself to sin. But he is denied only until the rich man begins to threaten; for a poor man does not endure threats," but yields and succumbs to them. To this is added the exposition of St. Jerome in chapter XXII of Ezechiel: "A poor man," he says, "does not endure a rebuke, that is, an injury or harm intended against him," as if to say: A poor man is easily oppressed by injuries, and is prostrated by intended losses, and, as is commonly said: "He who has nothing in money, pays in skin." Second, others thus expound it, as if these things were said in praise of riches, as if to say: Riches free and redeem the rich man from any evil that may befall him; but a poor man does not endure a rebuke, because before correction he is immediately accused and condemned, according to that saying of the Poet: He gives pardon to crows, but censure vexes doves. Third, the Rabbis in the Midrash Agada: These things pertain, they say, to the half-shekel, which in the law was commanded for the redemption of the soul, Exodus XXX, 12; which indeed was equally owed to be paid by the poor as by the rich, lest namely the poor man should hear reproach and rebuke from the rich man, boasting that he had a greater share in the common sacrifice of all. Fourth and genuinely, Solomon here assigns the advantage of riches and the advantage of poverty; and prefers the latter to the former, as if to say: Riches will bring this advantage to the rich man, that if perchance he should fall into danger to his soul, that is to his head and life, he may easily shake it off, and redeem himself with gold, according to that in Ecclesiastes VII: "For as wisdom protects, so does money protect." But a poor man often escapes rebuke, accusation and lawsuits for this reason alone, that he is poor, namely that he does not have riches, which accusers covet, so that they may wring them out by their accusations. He gives the reason why there are those who wish to appear rich, and conversely those who wish to appear poor, as I said in the preceding verse: namely the rich wish to appear so in order to redeem danger with gold; the poor, so that they may decline and escape danger by their poverty. Thus Aben-Ezra, Jansenius, Vatable and others. This sense is required by the Hebrew which has, and the poor man does not hear; the Syriac, does not receive a rebuke. Hear St. Chrysostom, in the Catena of the Greeks: "What do you say? What do you do? Why do you exalt money so greatly? He did not say that any money, or riches, has this power; but his own, that is, gained by just labors, not seized by force or fraud: for these are not his own. But a beggar does not endure threats. Is poverty perhaps an evil thing? Or did he perhaps wish to say this, which follows immediately? Behold, want is a thing so secure and safe, that no one can even threaten a poor man with spoliation, much less actually spoil him; for how can one terrify him who has absolutely nothing? For such a life, as far as cares are concerned, is altogether secure and at leisure. These things can also be referred to the fear of punishments; for those who are pressed by adverse fortune do not fear the threat of punishment." To this pertains that saying of Theodoret, oration 7 On Providence: "A poor man does not fear the noise of the forum, nor does he dread the voice of the herald, nor is he terrified by the judge's stern face and eyes breathing fire." And that saying of the Poet: So he is guilty, as it were, from whom victory can be gain: the deeds of the poor lack an avenger. And that: The traveler with empty purse will sing before the robber. Thus St. Hilarion, as testified by St. Jerome in his Life, when surrounded by robbers and asked by them: "What, they said, would you do if robbers came to you?" he answered: "A naked man does not fear robbers." And they said: "Certainly, you can be killed." "I can," he said, "I can, and therefore I do not fear robbers, because I am prepared to die." And St. Francis, when asked by similar persons who he was, answered intrepidly: "I am a herald of the great God." And St. Martin, captured by brigands, asserted that he feared nothing at all: "For I know," he said, "that God is more present in greater dangers, and helps more those who trust in him." Thus Severus in his Life. Mystically: "The redemption of the soul of a man is his riches," that is, his own riches, and therefore not temporal: for these are foreign and strange, not his own and domestic; but spiritual, namely virtues, concerning which St. Paul says: "That you are made rich in him in all utterance and in all knowledge," I Cor. I, 5. Thus St. Jerome, in his epistle to Lucinus: "We can indeed," he says, "understand riches which are not from another's property, not from plunder, according to that: Honor God from your labors; but it is better understanding, so that we recognize our own riches as treasures (of virtues and good works) laid up in heaven, which neither thief can dig under, nor violent robber snatch away." And Bede: "But what true riches avail, what true poverty does, he makes clear by adding: The redemption of the soul of a man is his riches; but he that is poor cannot bear rebuke. Whoever therefore wishes his soul to be redeemed from future wrath, let him gather riches of good works. For he who lacks such riches cannot bear the rebuke of the strict judge, concerning which the Psalmist asks, saying: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger; neither chastise me in thy wrath. Otherwise the poor are not rebuked there by the Lord, but receive the blessing of eternal inheritance." Furthermore, before all other works, almsdeeds are the redemption of the soul. Whence St. Chrysostom: "A rich man," he says, "receives riches at the peril of his soul: wherefore when he hoards them, he makes a loss of his soul; but when he gives to the needy, he frees his soul. Because the redemption of his own soul is riches." Finally St. Jerome in chapter II to the Galatians: "A poor man," he says, "cannot bear the threat. For the poor man cannot hear the terror of future punishments, poor in faith, poor in grace, not having spiritual riches;" and St. Ambrose in the Annotations on Exodus, chapter XXX, to Justus: "Redemption of the soul is," he says, "mercy. For the redemption of the soul of a man is his riches, by which indeed mercy is made, which helps the poor at expense. Therefore faith is grace, grace is mercy, mercy is redemption of the soul, which is purchased with a drachma, that is with the full price of the greater sum." Hence also that counsel of Daniel given to Nebuchadnezzar, chapter IV: "Redeem your sins with almsdeeds." The same St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 25 to the Church of Vercelli: "The redemption of the soul of a man," he says, "is his riches, because he who gives to the poor redeems his soul."
13:9
The Septuagint: light to the just always, but the light of the impious shall be extinguished; the Chaldean: the light of the just shall exult, that is, shall cause both themselves and others to exult. In Hebrew it is ישמח iismach in the qal, that is, shall rejoice, that is, shall cause to rejoice. For iismach is put for ישמח iesammach in the piel; and thus perhaps our author read it: for the same letters are in both places, with only the points changed. You will ask: what is this light? First, Aben-Ezra and Pagninus understand the soul of the just, which is called light, because wisdom shines and shines forth to others. Whence Pagninus translates, the soul of the just, which is as it were light, shall rejoice; the soul of the impious, which is as it were a lamp, shall be extinguished. For the soul of the just is similar to the light of the rising sun, which endures, indeed grows; but that of the impious to a lamp, which lacks the firmness of light and is consumed, says Aben-Ezra. Second, Vatablus: "Light," he says, "is understanding, concerning which Christ says, John VIII: 'He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life;' but the understanding of the impious shall be extinguished, according to that in Luke VIII: 'Whosoever hath not, even that which he thinketh he hath shall be taken from him.' For the just, by cultivating that light of reason and faith and living justly, increase it: but the impious by living unjustly gradually diminish and extinguish it, according to that of St. Ambrose, book I On Abraham: 'That light which was implanted in man by God with his mind, the pride of arrogance and the moisture of pleasure have put to sleep.' Third, 'light' is a symbol of joy; for the sun by its light gladdens all. Thus the sense will be: As the rising sun by its light gladdens the world, so the cheerful minds and countenances of the just easily dispel the sorrows and troubles of this world, as if to say, The serene and joyful mind of the just shall make others joyful, or in his own light and pure conscience each of the just shall be joyful; but the lamp of the wicked, that is, their vain and false joy and gladness, is therefore quickly extinguished and vanishes. Thus the author of the Greek Catena. Fourth, 'light' is a symbol of prosperity and happiness, just as darkness is of adversity and unhappiness, as if to say, The happiness of the just is solid and endures, because founded in justice, and therefore brings solid and clear joy both to themselves and to others: but the lamp, that is, the small and brief happiness of the impious, is more quickly extinguished and perishes, especially when they display it after their manner, and thus they stir up envy and rivalry against themselves; for the envious and rivals often extinguish it. Thus Lyra, Baynus, Salazar and others. This sense is very apt. Fifth, 'light' is a symbol of fame, brightness and glory, as if to say, The fame and glory of the pious is similar to a broad light, which illuminates, gladdens, and makes joyful all: but the lamp, that is, the brief and small fame of the impious, is immediately extinguished, and therefore cannot bring solid brightness and joy. Sixth and more sublimely, 'light' is a symbol of doctrine, justice, virtue, grace, which is heavenly and divine light, concerning which Christ says, Matthew V: 'So let your light shine before men, that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven,' as if to say, The just by their splendid doctrine and glorious life, and especially by their beneficence and alms both spiritual and corporal, illuminate and make joyful all. Whence they are called by Christ 'the light of the world,' Matthew chapter V. But the lamp, that is, the small doctrine, virtue and glory of the impious, which seems to shine in the night of this life and age, shall often in it, always after it, or when it has passed, be extinguished, and when the day of eternity and heavenly glory arises, like stars when the sun rises, shall set and vanish. It alludes to Job XVIII, 5: 'Shall not the light of the wicked be put out, and the flame of his fire not shine? The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him shall be put out.' This sense is indicated by the Septuagint, when after this verse for the sake of explanation they subjoin this one, which is not in the Hebrew: 'The souls of the deceitful wander in sins; but the just pity and have mercy,' which our author places below and connects with verse 13. Thus the anonymous author in the Greek Catena. Note: The wisdom, virtue, dignity, joy and happiness of the just is compared to אור or, that is to light of great extent, such as solar light, because it is solid, immense, perpetual, stable and spreads itself throughout all parts of the world, according to that Proverbs IV, 18: "But the path of the just, as a shining light, goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day." See the things said there. Such was that of Christ, who was the sun of the universe, concerning whom Psalm XVIII, verse 7: "He hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way; his going out is from the highest heaven. And his circuit even to the highest heaven: and there is no one that can hide himself from his heat." Whence Aben-Ezra: "The light of the just, he says, is similar to the light of the coming age" (indeed it begins that and ends in that, according to that Psalm XXXV, 10: "For with thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light," namely in the light of glory, "we shall see light"), or according to the splendor of salvation, according to that Isaiah, chapter IX, verse 2: "The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light." Finally or of the just is אור ur, that is fire, namely clarity and zeal, by which they inflame others with the love of God. But truly the wisdom, virtue, joy and prosperity of the wicked is compared to a lamp, because it is unstable, small, brief, cold, fleeting, and is extinguished by the slightest breath of adversity. Note secondly the antithesis: for τὸ gladdens by metonymy is opposed to τὸ is extinguished; for the light of the just, because it endures solidly, grows and increases; hence it gladdens them and others: but the lamp of the wicked, because it is immediately diminished and extinguished, hence it cannot bring solid joy, but shadowy and false joy, which vanishing ends and terminates in greater sorrow and sadness. Such is the light, that is the doctrine and splendor of heretics, hypocrites, fraudulent persons, liars, etc., which detected in heresy, hypocrisy, fraud, falsehood, immediately vanishes. Again, the light of the just gladdens, or, as it is in Hebrew, rejoices, that is is joyful, ample, clear, because it is intensified day by day and becomes more bright: but the lamp of the wicked as it were sadly languishes, and like a lamp failing in oil dies away and is extinguished. Whence our Salazar: "The light, he says, of the just gladdens," that is increases; but the lamp of the wicked decreases and is extinguished: thus a joyful harvest is called great, increased and ample. Thus the Hebrews call a great palm tree the palm שוחק schocek, that is laughing and joyful; but a small palm tree they call the palm עצב atseb, that is sad and sorrowful. Thus chapter X, verse 1, it is said: "A wise son maketh a glad father:" gladdens, that is magnifies and makes great. For joy gives increase and life to things, but sadness gives decrease and destruction. Morally, our Alvarez de Paz, book III On Perfection, part II, chapter XIV: The light, that is the life and conversation of the just, he says, gladdens God, Angels and men: God, to whom they exhibit the purest honor; Angels, whom they show themselves to be disciples and imitators of; men, whom they teach the sanctity of life and the perfection of good works. If perfect men pray, with such fervor of spirit, such reverence and fear, such confidence and love do they pray, that they appear not so much fragile men, as certain earthly angels. If, necessity or charity compelling, they speak, with such circumspection and modesty do they speak, that they permit nothing idle, nothing sad, nothing harsh to proceed from their mouth to their hearers. If they sustain the body with food and drink, they retain such abstinence and sobriety, with such strictness do they restrain appetite, that knowing they do not exceed even in the least the measure of temperance. If they do anything else, they do it so that they do not abandon the circumstances of good and perfect action: for they are as it were most skilled artificers of virtue, and most wise painters, who permit no unpolished or less becoming work to go forth from their hands. For Thomas Aquinas, explaining in what manner God does all things well, exhorts us to his imitation in almost these words: Likewise we also ought to apply diligence, that we do each of our works, as well as ever we can, from all the virtue of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with all the desire of the triumphant and militant Church, and under the name of the Creator, as if our whole salvation, and all praise of God, and the utility of the universe depended on one work, as if we were never to return to that work, nor to begin another work afterwards. Thus he.
13:10
In Hebrew, only in pride will he give (the proud man) strife, and with those who take counsel wisdom. The Septuagint, the wicked man acts wickedly with contumely; but those who are their own knowers (they seem to have read יודעים iodeim, that is, knowers, whereas Our text and others read נועצים noatsim, that is, counselled or counsellors), wise men. The Septuagint in its usual manner is followed by the Syriac, the wicked man, it says, with contumely works evil; Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, whom Lucifer of Cagliari follows, in his Apology for St. Athanasius, and St. Jerome against Rufinus, the wicked man in pride will give battle; Theodotion continues, and in those who take counsel, wisdom; the Chaldean, yet in pride comes contention, and those who take counsel are wise; the Zurich Bible, arrogant rashness excites nothing but quarrels, but with those who take counsel wisdom, that is, as Vatablus says, it is peculiar to the proud man to stir up strife, etc. The sense is, as if to say, Pride causes the proud to be continually litigious and quarrelsome; for it causes each one to wish to surpass another, and to be esteemed wiser and more honourable than him: wherefore in counsel the proud man wishes his opinion to be preferred to the judgment of all others, nor can he bear to yield even to anyone wiser; hence arise lawsuits and quarrels. But truly "he who is conscious of himself," as the Septuagint translates it, that is, conscious of his own weakness and ignorance, willingly hears the counsels of others, and prefers them to his own, and acquiesces in them; wherefore he has no quarrels, no discords, but peace with all, and conducts affairs prudently and successfully, and is therefore wise. Hence we see among heretics so many quarrels, so many sects as there are heads. Hear St. Augustine, On Pastors in chapter XXXIV of Ezekiel, 10: "Another sect, he says, in Africa, another heresy in the East, another in Egypt, another in Mesopotamia, for example: in diverse places there are diverse ones, but one mother, pride, has begotten them all; nor is it a wonder if pride brings forth dissension: for this is her own offspring." The same, epistle 120 to Honoratus, explaining that passage of Psalm XXI: "And from the horns of unicorns my humility: In unicorns, he says, the proud are understood, because pride hates all fellowship." The antithesis again here is obscure; it would be clear if he had said: "Among the proud there are always quarrels, but among the humble peace and concord always flourish;" but in his manner he wished to teach by metalepsis and metonymy that the companion and effect of humility is the hearing and following of counsel, equally as wisdom is of concord and peace. For this reason there are quarrels among the proud, because they are unwilling to hear and follow the sound counsels of others, and for both reasons they are foolish; for it is the part of the foolish to quarrel, equally as to follow their own proud and foolish mind. On the contrary, peace is established among the humble, because they willingly hear and follow the judgments of others, and for both reasons they are wise. For true wisdom is humility, and knowledge and lowliness of oneself. Whence that most wise oracle of Apollo of Delphi: γνώθι σεαυτόν, that is, know thyself. Hence again true wisdom is not to rely on one's own judgment, but to do all things with the counsel of the wise. Pride therefore is the cause of quarrels, dissensions, schisms, heresies, lawsuits, wars: but humility is the cause and mother of concord, peace, union, charity. This is signified by the Hebrew words, which have, truly, or only in pride (the proud man) will give strife: in pride, that is, on account of pride; for from pride and arrogance alone does dissension and quarrel arise, says R. Solomon; but with those who act with deliberation, there is wisdom, because this professes to dwell in counsel, Proverbs VIII, 12: "I wisdom, he says, dwell in counsel, and am present in the thoughts of the learned." Thus also Aben-Ezra: "It signifies, he says, that quarrels arise from arrogance; but those who take counsel, that they may not conduct themselves proudly, with them is wisdom." Examples are found in the civil wars of the Romans and Greeks, which had their origin in ambition; such as those of Sulla and Marius, Caesar and Pompey, Augustus and Antony, the Antiochuses and Seleucuses, propagated to their descendants in a continuous series for 150 and more years.
13:11
In Hebrew, riches from vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by hand shall increase, supply, his riches. Whence he who gathers always and takes care of and preserves what is gathered, increases them. First, Rabbi Levi thus expounds: Riches which are gathered from vain things shall be greatly diminished, because namely vain and fragile things are easily broken and vanish. I saw at Louvain a certain man who spent his wealth on glass cups and vessels being melted, so that he might sell them elsewhere at a high price, and when he had loaded a cart with them, it was dashed against a rock on the journey and overturned, and all the glass was dashed against the stones and broken: thus from a rich man he suddenly became poor. Second, Cajetan refers "from vanity" to "shall be diminished," not to "substance," as if to say: Substance, which is spent on vain things, from this vanity shall be diminished: because namely the master is occupied with drinking parties, feasts, splendid garments, horses, servants, carriages, and other vanities; but he that gathereth by hand, that is, he who preserves his riches, and by manual labor multiplies them, he shall increase them. Third, others, as if to say: Substance from vanity, that is, which is gathered incidentally and perfunctorily, shall be diminished. Thus Rabbi Solomon: He who, says he, conducts his studies in a scattered and desultory manner, shall be diminished, that is, shall gradually consign them to oblivion. Fourth, the same Cajetan, and from him our Salazar: "Substance," says he, "from vanity shall be diminished;" Symmachus, from emptiness, that is, which has cost the possessor no labor or industry, because he either received it from his ancestors, or obtained it by some sudden fortune. And indeed this (in my opinion) our Interpreter called hastened, accelerated, or sudden substance, which someone suddenly received without his own industry or labor. This therefore shall be diminished, because riches which someone obtained without labor he esteems of less value, and accordingly squanders them recklessly. But that which is gathered little by little by hand shall be multiplied: namely that substance, which over a long time by hand, that is, by labor and one's own industry, is acquired, is not spent recklessly, but rather is increased day by day. For he who acquired it in that manner indeed holds it in great esteem, and accordingly spends it sparingly, and takes care to increase it more abundantly daily. To this applies that saying of Treviri: "The air," says he, "which early in the morning prematurely raises the mist and clouds, almost abundantly sends rain from midday: thus the sons do not usually retain what the fathers gathered avariciously," namely they squander and dissipate the patrimonies gathered avariciously by the fathers. Fifth and genuinely, substance from vanity, that is, acquired by vain and wicked ways and arts, such as through magic, usury, rapine, frauds, etc., shall be diminished: because God avenging, it shall fly away from the unjust and violent possessor to another, either just, or less unjust; but that which by hand, that is by just, strenuous and continuous manual labor, is gathered, shall be multiplied. Our Interpreter rendered it "hastened," that is hastily acquired, because what is thus acquired is almost always scraped together by illicit means through right and wrong. Add, it appears that Our Interpreter for מהבל mehebel, that is from vanity, read מבהל mebohal, that is hastened, by metathesis. Thus also the Septuagint, who nevertheless appear to have read both, namely with an elegant paronomasia in this manner: חוץ מהבל מבהל hon mehebel mebohal, that is, as they render it, substance ἐπισπουδαζομένη μετ' ἀνομίας, that is hastened with iniquity, is made less; but he that gathereth with piety shall be filled. The Septuagint add, the just man hath mercy and lendeth; and the Chaldean, wealth acquired with iniquity (the Syriac, from iniquity) of the possessor shall be diminished, and he who gathers and gives to the poor (the Syriac, but that which is justly gathered), shall be multiplied. It is added that mebohal rather than mehebel is found in chapter XX, verse 21, where the sense is almost the same: "An inheritance," says he, "to which one hastens (in Hebrew, mebohelet) in the beginning, shall lack blessing in the end." Thus Aben-Ezra, the Author of the Greek Catena, Lyra, Jansenius and others explain it. Philosophers agree with this. Menander: Never did a just man become rich quickly. To this looked he who said to Sulla boasting of himself: "How can you be a good man when you possess such great riches, since nothing was left to you by your father?" Thus Plutarch in the Life of Sulla. It is a maxim of Quintilian, book X, chapter III: "Nature itself has willed that nothing great be made quickly, and has preferred difficulty for the most beautiful works; which has made this law also for birth, that larger animals be contained in the bowels of their parents for a longer time." Moreover, the reason why riches quickly gathered quickly dissipate, while those assembled gradually endure, is first that which I have already stated, namely that riches quickly collected are often acquired through usury, rapine, fraud, or other crimes. But ill-gotten gains are ill-spent. Second, riches which are quickly gathered are gathered precipitously and rashly without consideration and prudence. Whence the Hebrew mebohal signifies haste with precipitation and rashness; those riches which are amassed rashly and imprudently are easily subject to some tax, tribute, mortgage, obligation, or other burden or vice, which when later discovered diminishes or takes away those riches themselves. Again this precipitation causes riches collected not to be sufficiently prudently strengthened and reserved; wherefore they are easily snatched away or overturned either by man or by some chance. But he who gathers riches gradually does so prudently, and therefore makes them firm and stable for himself. Third, riches quickly and easily collected are spent lavishly and liberally, indeed are squandered; but he who prepares riches gradually with labor spends them sparingly, and daily strives to add something to them and accumulate them. Finally, that saying is well-worn: "What is done quickly, quickly perishes." Moreover this maxim holds place in riches not only temporal but also spiritual. For thus we see those who hasten to become learned, and therefore study Grammar, Rhetoric and Philosophy simultaneously (which happened to St. Ignatius, our Father, at the beginning of his conversion), make little or no progress and waste time. Again we see those who wish to become quickly perfect in virtue through immoderate fervor do not attain it, because that fervor quickly cools: whence such persons abandon as suddenly what they suddenly embraced. On the contrary, virtue and knowledge, which are acquired gradually through moderate and continued study, through humility and scholastic exercises, grow and endure. Whence some translate the Greek ἐπισπουδαζομένη as substance effervescing will be diminished. For, as Plutarch aptly says in his Morals, these precipitous and tumultuous increases of riches, sciences and virtues are similar to milk or water effervescing and boiling over fire, the greater part of which goes off in foam and vapors and flows over the pot's rim; the remainder, as soon as it is removed from the fire, settles down and appears diminished and consumed; just as therefore milk rises more than other liquids from heat and is consumed and depressed by the same heat: so in just the same way the untimely fervor of Novices exalts them, but also weakens and consumes the strength both of mind and of head and body, and so will depress and prostrate them into greater dejection of spirit, with the result that they become as suddenly languid and torpid as they were a little before vigorous and fervent. The type and symbol of this untimely fervor is the Maurusian ass, which, as Aelian writes in book XIV of On Animals, chapter X, at the beginning has the swiftest course: you would say it flies rather than runs; but this fervor quickly cools, and the swiftness degenerates into the greatest slowness. In a similar way for those burning with zeal, the beginning often ferments, the middle grows lukewarm, the end grows cold: with the result that those who conduct themselves thus never arrive at solid wisdom and virtue, which requires perseverance above all. Lucretius gives the reason, in book IV of the Nature of Things, saying: For lightly though what is struck frequently by blows, Is overcome in long space yet and fails. Do you not see also drops falling on rocks Of moisture, in long space pierce through the rocks? Hence that well-worn saying: "Make haste slowly," whose symbol is a dolphin entwined with an anchor, which was the emblem of the Emperors Augustus and Titus. To this pertains that passage from Accius in the Chrysippus: To delay less than to hurry is impious. Again, the symbol of premature growth is the willow tree, so called because it grows so rapidly into branches and foliage that it seems to leap, says Verrius (though Festus Pompeius gives another etymology for willow); but soon the same willow loses its leaves in autumn with equal rapidity, and branches are cut off. Thus Pierius, Hieroglyphics 32, chapter XXIX. The symbol of the same is the gourd embracing the pine with this inscription: "Born quickly, perish quickly." And the eagle alighting on the tortoise, of which the Poet says: And beware of being too slow and too precipitous. He is wise who holds the middle in all things. Hear Thucydides: "Two things are most adverse to right mind, anger and haste." And hear also the Comic poet: The brighter the fire shone, the more quickly it is extinguished. That which is born swiftly cannot be celebrated. To be known cannot be both lasting and premature. Things which have obtained their end immediately do not endure through time. Swiftness is one thing, maturity another. Nature willed nothing great to be made quickly. A hasty dog bears blind puppies. A deed is sufficiently quick if it is done well. Fortune destroys as swiftly as it raises up. Haste is forgetful and not sufficiently in control of itself. The more hasty you are, the more slowly you accomplish the matter. Tacitus speaks excellently, book III of the Annals, chapter LXVI: "Haste has ruined many good men, who, scorning what is slow with security, rush forward prematurely or with destruction." To this applies the fable of the gourd growing quickly and the olive growing slowly. For the olive marveled at a gourd born beside it which had grown so much in a short time that it was far taller than itself, which had remained in the same place for many years. But when, as winter approached, the gourd had withered: "By no means," said the olive, "should envy be felt toward those who grow quickly, for whom destruction has been prepared so quickly." This fable signifies that things hastily begun are not lasting. A similar fable of the gourd and the palm exists in Cyril, book III of the Moral Apology, chapter XIV: "A gourd," he says, "sprung up beside a palm, having a root not at all firm, lifted up in a few days to a great height, and equaled the very ancient palm in swifter growth, and proposed saying: Sister palm, how much time do you have? To which she replied: One hundred years of life. Then the gourd, rejoicing that it had grown more maturely, said with gratitude to nature: Thanks to you, because for a year you gave me a day; for what is a year to the palm, that gave me a day. Soon the palm, in order to cast down its pride, is said to have spoken thus: You are rightly a gourd, since you have a curved judgment. For if you felt rightly, you would attend to the fact that nature, arranging all things with admirable regularity, measures the periods of duration according to the modes of growth." He proves this by a priori reasoning, which he confirms by the example of the mayfly, the elephant, and the torrent: "For indeed what grows maturely decays quickly; and what is increased gradually is lasting for a long time. The mayfly fish, growing with sudden increases, dies on the very day it is born; and the elephant reaches a term of three hundred years, because it did not have swift growth. A rapid torrent is consumed quickly, but one slow in pace is made more ancient by moderation. It is better therefore to grow gradually and live very long, than to grow more swiftly and finish all the sooner with dryness." Whence he adds the late repentance of the gourd, saying: "Having heard these things not without tribulation, the gourd sighed and said: Who taught you this? To which she replied: The antiquity of my certain slowness; for in ancient things is wisdom. Then, with hidden sadness arising in her, the gourd, instructed by the same teachings to her own prejudice and the advantage of others, exclaimed with tears and said: O too unhappy rapacity of desire, and of violent root! O most blessed moderation of equity! For what violent rapacity devours quickly, is poured out after a short time; but what equity acquires gradually, never fails, because the foundation of justice remains forever. Having said these things, she fell silent."
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First, Baynus holds that here hope of temporal goods is set in opposition to hope of spiritual and eternal goods, in that the former is always perishable and vain, deferred and never comes, and thus deceives and torments those who hope; the latter is stable and true and comes immediately: both because the eternal goods which we hope for are held as it were in hand by certain hope; and because they will come by means of a thing soon to be held in hand and possessed: wherefore this hope, like the wood of life, nourishes and delights the soul. Whence St. Gregory: "Hope," he says, "raises the mind to eternity, and therefore it feels none of the evils which it endures externally." And Origen, homily 9 on Exodus: "Hope of future things brings rest and consolation to those laboring, just as hope of the crown mitigates the pain of wounds in those placed in struggle." The Apostle shows this by many examples in the whole chapter XI to the Hebrews, as I have shown there. Therefore God's promises, equally as His gifts, are golden and jeweled: on the other hand, the world's promises are golden, but hope and the thing itself are glassy; for the world promises a jewel, when it scarcely provides crystal. Second, the Septuagint of Complutum renders this verse thus: The just man has mercy and lends; but a good or honest desire is a tree of life, because just as from the tree of life were born the best fruits, which prolonged long life to man: so from good desire are born good works, by which the just man, by showing mercy and lending to others, imparts life. But the Roman Septuagint has it thus: Better is he who begins to help with his heart, than he who promises and brings into hope; a tree of life is good desire; and the Syriac: Better is he who begins to help than he who suspends hope; and the Chaldean: Better is he who casts away his hoe than he who hangs in hope. But I think, says Giggeius, there is an error, and for משרי demisde, that is, he who casts away, one should read דמשרי demisre, that is, he who begins. Whence thus you would translate: Better is he beginning (to help, as the Septuagint and Syriac translate) than he who hangs in hope. Wherefore from these versions our Salazar thus explains the Vulgate: "Better is he who begins to help with his heart," that is, far more pleasing will be he who immediately and forthwith begins from his heart to do good, and to extend aid to his neighbor, than he who, promising great things, torments the mind of the recipient with long hope. Moreover he adds: "A tree of life, desire coming," that is, a thing desired, not indeed delayed, but coming quickly into the hands of the one desiring it, is likened to the tree of life. To this pertains that saying: "He who gives quickly, gives twice." And: "A benefit to the poor is doubled by him who bestows it swiftly." But the author of the Catena of the Greeks thus clearly translates and explains the Septuagint: "Better is he who helps from his heart and in deed, and begins to help, than he who promises himself to be helpful, and raises up hope of aid. It is beautiful to begin virtue early, and not by putting off from day to day with vain hope to deceive God and men. For he who hopes to make a beginning tomorrow, knows not at all what the coming light may bring. For this is what is signified when he says: He who begins to help with his heart." This sense is true and fitting, but narrower: for it does not equal, nor does it fully express the whole force of the thought. Whence, thirdly, fully and adequately: "Hope" is put metonymically for any desired thing, as also elsewhere often. Thus it is said in Romans VIII, 24: "Hope (that is, the thing hoped for) which is seen, is not hope." Whence the Apostle, explaining, adds: "For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for?" Therefore the sense is, says Jansenius: When any thing whatsoever which is hoped for, whether by man, or by angel, or by air, or by another creature, or by God, is deferred, this delay grieves and torments the mind; but when a thing long or much desired comes to the one desiring it, then it nourishes him, delights him, cheers him, strengthens him like the wood of life. For just as the fruit of the tree of life would have restored and refreshed the heart and strength of man growing old in age, weakened and languishing, and restored it to its former vigor: so precisely when anyone possesses and enjoys a thing much desired, by the desire of which he languishes, from it he is refreshed, cheered, recovers strength and is fortified. Whence in the Hebrew the antithesis is clearer; for it has, hope deferred is languor and sickness of heart. For to the infirmity of the heart is aptly opposed the wood of life, says Jansenius, whose office it is to vivify and heal its infirmity. It is signified therefore that deferred hope makes the heart and soul of man languid, so that he is hindered from most of his functions, nor does he desire to live; conversely, from the presence of things which are desired the heart and soul are vivified, comforted and cheered, not otherwise than if from the apple of the tree of life, which was in paradise, one had eaten. Whence Vatablus clearly translates, expectation delayed wears away the heart; but when that which is desired comes, it is as the tree of life; the Chaldean, the tree of life (which) brings desire, that is to say, How pleasing was the tree of life, so pleasing is he who brings and exhibits the desired thing. Parallel to this sense are the maxims of the Philosophers. Of P. Syrus: "Even swiftness in desire is delay." Of Epictetus: "What is longest? Hope. What is hope? Sleep to the waking, doubtful outcome to the waiting." Of Seneca: "When expectation is longer, the soul grows old, and the mind is weakened." Of the Comic poets: "To the desiring, any delay is hateful. Desire is sharpened by the nearness of the absent. After hope every desire is most impatient." Of Nazarius, oration to the Emperor Constantine: "The desires of souls are burning, when they have lost the solace of hidden things." Of Symmachus, book III, epistle 46: "Grievous is the thirst for good things, to which only the constant enjoyment of them brings remedy." Thus Jacob languished with desire for Rachel, and served Laban his father-in-law for her seven years: "And the days seemed to him but a few, because of the greatness of his love," Genesis XXIX, 20. Thus the bride languishing with love and desire for the bridegroom: "Comfort me, she says, with flowers, surround me with apples, because I languish with love." This is experienced by holy men, who long for heaven, that they may enjoy God and Christ; of whom the Apostle, Romans VIII, 22: "We know, he says, that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even until now. And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit; and we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body." And chapter VII, verse 24: "Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And Philippians I, 23: "Having a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ." Where I have said much on this matter. Whence Bede explains this passage concerning the desire of heavenly glory thus: "Hope that is deferred afflicts the soul; the tree of life is desire coming. Because surely, he says, as long as hope of eternal things is deferred, the soul of the faithful is afflicted, either on account of the delay of goods which it loves, or on account of the infliction of evils which it endures. But when that which is desired comes, it easily forgets what it had endured, because it begins to live eternally with its Redeemer, whom it sought with all its intention; for he himself is the tree of life to those who embrace him." Thus the Blessed Virgin insatiably desired to depart from this life, that she might enjoy her Christ, and this desire made her languishing and gradually consumed her; and therefore they judge that she died not from disease, but from this desire—Francis Suarez, Ribadeneira and other theologians. Thus the souls of the fathers in limbo, and especially of Adam, Eve, Seth, Enosh, etc., which for three thousand years in the limbo of hell awaited the coming of Christ, who would free them thence, were afflicted by this long waiting. Whence they cried out continually: "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just; let the earth be opened, and bring forth a Saviour," Isaiah XLV, 8. Thus souls in purgatory, besides fire and sensible punishment, are wonderfully tormented by the pain of loss, namely by desire of the beatitude hoped for but delayed, and the vision of God; and so among them are some who have purgatory not of fire, nor of other sensible punishment, but of desire and expectation alone, by which they languish and are tormented, because they clearly see how desirable is the good which they await, from which they are retarded on account of their guilt. Whence from the apparitions of souls it is established that in this purgatory of expectation those souls are tormented among others, which were more lovers of this life, and therefore departed from it more slowly, and desired death and the heavenly homeland less eagerly. As if to say: He who despises evil impending upon him nearby, and does not strive to take counsel concerning averting it, for this reason will undergo destruction and suffer the worst things; but he who fears and observes the precepts of God will enjoy peace, despising the evils impending upon him, because he has placed his hope in God. Secondly, Baynus understands by thing a family possession, as if to say: He who neglects the care of his family property will suffer its loss. Thirdly and genuinely, by thing is understood a good and honest thing prescribed or approved by the law of God, such as an honest work or an act of any virtue. For this is what the antithesis demands, as if you were to say: He who despises or detracts from a good thing approved by law, such as virtue, binds himself to judgment, that is to condemnation, wrath and divine vengeance; but he who fears the precept and observes the things prescribed in it will live in peace. And thus this sense coincides with the Hebrew according to the third sense assigned a little before. Thus Baynus. The sense, he says, is, as if you were to say: He who detracts from sacred things by blaming those which are ordained by God, or who detracts from and speaks against good men, transgressing the commandment of God and dissolving peace among men, he will be liable and bound to punishment by the law, or by God appointed for transgressors: on the contrary, he who keeping the commandment of God loves his neighbour and all that is honest, he has peace with God and with men, according to that Psalm CXVIII: "Great peace have they that love thy law." To this the author of the Catena of the Greeks contributes, who in the Septuagint, reading τάγμα, that is order, ordinance, precept, for πρᾶγμα, that is thing, thus translates: he who despises the commandment shall be despised in turn by it; but he who reverences the precept, he is endowed with a sound mind; and thus explains it, as if to say: "He who despises virtue and patronizes malice, receives like for like, because in turn he will be despised by it; and he will be entangled in it, and not unjustly: for the nature of the thing demands this," as if you were to say: Virtue despises him who despises it: conversely, the same honours and observes him who honours and observes it, and loads and blesses him with peace, that is prosperity, abundance of things, and every good. This opinion can, however, be extended also to an evil thing, and be twisted against detractors, who censure the vices of their neighbours. Thus Lyra: "He who," he says, "detracts from any thing by disparaging it, binds himself for the future not to commend it, because thus it would come dishonestly against his word. He who fears the precept, that is transgression of the divine precept, will live in peace, namely in threefold peace: first, in internal peace as to conscience; secondly, in fraternal peace, because he does justice with his neighbour; thirdly, in heavenly peace; because finally he comes to glory." Thus Lyra. And Jansenius: He who, he says, speaks ill of any thing, whether it be good or evil, binds himself for the future, because if he speaks ill of a good thing, he makes himself liable to punishment and condemna-
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In Hebrew, he who despises the word יחבל לו iechobel lo, that is, binds or pledges himself; Baynus, loses himself; Vatablus, will suffer loss; others, will be corrupted: "He who despises the word, they say, will be corrupted, or corruption is his." Again, for "will abide in peace," in Hebrew it is ישלם iesculam, which secondly can be translated, will be repaid. Whence Vatablus translates, he who despises a thing will suffer loss; he who fears the precept, to him it will be repaid; but Pagninus, he who despises something will be corrupted on account of that very contempt; and to him who fears the precept a reward will be given. Now first, Aben-Ezra explains it thus, as if to say: He who despises the word, that is, correction and instruction, his counsels will have an unhappy outcome and will fall; but he who fears the precept, that is, he who fears God, and therefore reveres His precepts, he will sit in peace and will enjoy tranquility. Second, the other Hebrews, as if to say: He who despises the word, that is, the decree or edict of a prince, he will be punished by him and will be struck down. Third, better do R. Solomon and others throughout understand by the word the law of God; and thus the antithesis is evident and the meaning is clear, as if he were to say: He who spurns the law of God, binds himself, that is, makes himself guilty and liable to judgment, that is, to the condemnation and penalty appointed for transgressors; but he who fears, and therefore observes God's precepts, he will abide in peace, as being dear to God, free from punishment. Whence the Chaldean translates, he who despises the word will suffer loss from it (the Syrian, will be destroyed by it); but he who fears the precept will be compensated with goods; the Syrian, will be freed. But the Hebrews often take by the word metonymically the thing signified by the word, as when it is said in Luke 1: "There shall be nothing impossible with God concerning any word," that is, any thing. Thus our author took the word for the thing, R. Levi, Vatablus and others. Now by the thing R. Levi understands the impending evil, if indeed concerning an evil thing he binds himself more to its avoidance, lest what he blamed in another, he afterwards be deservedly reproved for the same thing, according to that: "Thou that preachest that men should not steal, dost thou steal?" Rom. II. Thus Bede explains it almost. But it would be simpler and more fitting to the latter part, that it be understood only of detraction from a good thing, to which properly it is said to detract; for he who detracts from it, binds himself in the future to punishment, reproof or defense, by which obligation he casts himself into great perplexity and disturbance of mind. On the contrary, he who fears the divine precept, by which both detraction is forbidden and what ought to be done to each is decreed, he will both here abide in the peace of conscience and tranquility of mind, and will also have peace with men, and in the future age will live eternal and unshaken peace. For those who are curious searchers and detractors of another's life cannot have peace of mind; but he who proves his own work, according to the Apostle's precept, and weighs it by the Lord's precepts, he has glory and peace in himself. To this St. James alluded, cap. IV, 11, saying: "He that detracteth his brother, or he that judgeth his brother, detracteth the law. But if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge," etc. Where I have reviewed various explanations of that passage. DECEITFUL SOULS ERR IN SINS; BUT THE JUST ARE MERCIFUL AND COMPASSIONATE. — This verse is not in the Hebrew, but our author transcribed it from the Septuagint, which have it at verse 9, where I explained it; in the Roman Septuagint it is placed at cap. XIV, verse 15. The Syrian, following the custom of the Septuagint, says to the deceitful man, there will be no good; and of the wise man, whose works are right, his way also will be set on high, that is, as the author of the Catena of the Greeks clearly translates from the Septuagint: "To the deceitful son no good will befall; but to the prudent servant prosperous actions will succeed, and his way will be happily directed;" and he explains it thus: "The deceitful son, he says, he calls Israel in this place; but the wise servant, those who from the gentiles converted have believed in Christ, whose way he preserves as of the faithful and rightly directs." But this sense is rather symbolic and mystical; for the literal sense is clear, which the words themselves bear. Incidentally note here those verses which are not in the Hebrew, in the Vulgate Latin edition do not have their own number, but are joined to the preceding verse and assigned its number, and this so that it may be known which verses exist in the Hebrew and which do not. Such is this one.
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In Hebrew, the law of the wise is a vein of the waters of life for drawing back from the snares of death; in the Septuagint, the law of the wise is a fountain of life; but the fool shall die under the snare. Some less correctly read for "of the wise" "to the wise" in the dative, and give this sense, to wit: The law of God is to the wise man himself the fountain and origin of rightly conducted and ordered life, for avoiding and escaping all the perils of death. This indeed is the difference between the wise man and the fool, the upright and the wicked; that for the wise and upright man the law of rightly conducted life is a beginning, turning him away from evil and directing him to good, but for the fool and wicked man the same law becomes a cause of ruin. For the law presents precipices and occasions of falling, which the fool either knows not how to avoid, or will not. Whence it comes to pass that he, whom perhaps before knowledge of the law ignorance would have excused from crime, now that the law is known sins knowingly and willingly. But the Hebrew, Greek and Latin texts have "the law of the wise" (not "to the wise") in the genitive, namely the law which flows from the mind and mouth of the wise man, or which the wise man himself teaches. The sense therefore is, to wit: The law which the wise man teaches and dictates brings life, so that both he himself and anyone of his disciples following his law may decline and escape the snares and perils of death. Whence the Syriac translator rendered it, the law of the wise is a fountain of life to those who decline from the snares of death. Understand life both temporal, both spiritual of grace, both eternal glory. Whence in Hebrew it is "fountain of lives" in the plural. Thus Rabbi Levi: "The law of the wise," he says, "is a fountain of life, because from it immortal life flows forth, and the ruin of death is avoided, besides which the wise man is of peculiar care to God." The reason is that the wise man teaches prudence and virtue, namely to live prudently, justly and holily: but prudence, virtue and holiness are the cause of present and eternal life, because prudently they decline the perils of death, and procure for themselves the aids of life, and from God they merit and receive the reward of longer life in this age, and eternal life in the future. Thus the old law dictated by Moses the wise man to the Jews promised and afforded long and happy life, Leviticus XVIII, 5. But the new law dictated by Christ to Christians brings the life of grace and eternal glory, John cap. V, 24. So the laws and rules dictated to Ascetics and Religious by St. Anthony, Pachomius, Basil, Augustine, Benedict, Dominic, Francis, confer on their followers a holy, religious and glorious life. On the contrary, the laws and dogmas of the unwise, namely of heretics, politicians, Saracens, Philosophers, bring present and eternal death. Such are the dogmas of Epicurus: that all good and human happiness is situated in pleasure: that there is no Deity and providence of God: that the soul after death does not feel, but perishes with the body. And of the Stoics: that all things happen by fate and necessity: that mercy is weakness of mind, and therefore the miserable are not to be pitied: that the wise man can, indeed ought to, kill himself, lest he live miserably: that all gods are mortal, except Jupiter: that the guilty who offends is not to be forgiven: and many similar things, which I reviewed in Acts XVII, 17.
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In Hebrew, good understanding shall give grace, but the way of transgressors is hard; in the Septuagint, good understanding gives grace, but to know the law is the mark of a good mind: and the ways of those who despise in perdition; in the Chaldean, the way of the strong plunderers shall perish; in the Syriac, the path of the impious unto perdition; in the Zurich Bible, good understanding conciliates grace (Vatablus, makes a man acceptable), but the way of the transgressors is hard. For the abyss in Hebrew is אתן ethan, which first, R. Solomon translates, difficulty, as if to say, The way of the contemners, that is, their conduct, is difficult and grievous, both to themselves and to others. Second, Aben-Ezra, Vatablus, Pagninus translate, hard, as if to say, So obstinate are the contemners that, although a wise man employ all the arts of wisdom, he nevertheless cannot recall them from a criminal way. Third, R. Levi translates, rough, as if to say, The way and doctrine of transgressors is rough, just as if it were covered with thorns and stones. Fourth, others translate, stubborn and unstable. Fifth, Marinus in his Lexicon translates, the way of transgressors is strength, or, force and vehemence, as if to say, The actions and manners of transgressors are robust, vehement and violent. Sixth, most excellently our author translates, abyss, namely of ruin and perdition, as the Septuagint, Chaldean, and Syriac translate. The sense is, as if to say, "Good doctrine," that is, wise and prudent instruction and discipline, wins the grace of God and men, and makes both the teacher and the learner acceptable to God and men, so that, enticed by the sweetness of his custom, they may embrace his life and doctrine, imitate it, and express it in their manners, as R. Levi says, and thus, like a master, conciliate to themselves the grace of God and men: but "the path," that is, the life and doctrine, "of the contemners," that is, of those who despise sound doctrine and transgress the law of God, is "an abyss" of perdition and hell, into which they themselves and their disciples plunge. Whence Barlaam, in Damascene's History, cap. XII, represents to King Josaphat the vanity and folly of sinners through the parable of a man hanging from a tree, who tastes a little honey from it, but soon falls with it into the abyss beneath, where he is devoured by serpents, dragons and scorpions. A similar abyss of sinners St. Carpus beheld through a vision, as St. Dionysius the Areopagite testifies, epistle 8 to Demophilus. The way therefore of the impious is ethan, that is, hard, inhuman, cruel, devouring others, striking with horror, and like an abyss absorbing and destroying, and dragging into an abyss of ruin and hell. Thus in Psalm LXXIII, 13, it is said: "Thou didst dry up the rivers ethan," that is, strong rivers, namely deep, abysmal and rapid ones, which sweep all things into their abyss and gulf. And in Amos V, 24: "A strong torrent," in Hebrew ethan, is called rapid, which sweeps all things into its abyss and submerges them. Furthermore, others explain these things differently. First, Jansenius according to the mind of the Rabbis: The sense, he says, is, as if it were to say: Good instruction gives men grace, that is, makes them gracious, because it makes them merciful and humane; but the way of those who despise good instruction makes them inhuman, rough and intractable, and on that account disliked and hated. Second, Baynus, who translates ethan as hard, or hardened by custom: The life of transgressors, he says, who, having darkness of errors with their mind's eye obscured, so that they judge badly, thus act badly, is strong and hard, most difficult to correct, so that those who err in both respects, namely in the speculative intellect, which judges badly, and in the practical, namely in actions flowing from error, while they do not understand how great is the difference between heavenly and earthly things. Otherwise: Good understanding, or he who is good in his own understanding and prudence, shall give great grace to others, and so that they themselves may conceive right faith and find grace in the eyes of many; but against the way and manner of living of transgressors, understanding, however good, however great the doctrine, shall not prevail: where their heart has been hardened, or their manner of living has been hardened by custom, in the manner of a path frequently traversed. The Proverb teaches that sound understanding and faith are first necessary for wisdom, that is, for integrity of life: thus Baynus. Third, Cajetan translates, good understanding shall give grace, and the way of liars is hard; and thus explains it, as if to say: He who is endowed with good understanding and a docile nature, he is gracious, that is, benevolent and beneficent toward others: but he who is of hard and dull nature (such are here called liars), his way, that is, his life and manners are hard and rough. Fourth, our Salazar: A good understanding shall gain favour, that is, he says, facility of wit and mildness of character conciliate grace and benevolence of all; but the way, that is, the conversation of those who despise, that is, of men insolent and stubborn, whose manners are difficult and harsh, is a gulf, that is, in their conversation there lies great and steep occasion of falling: for those who converse with a rough and difficult man, just as those who journey on a rough way, often stumble and fall. Moreover, a man of good understanding or wit is called gentle and mild: for just as to be angry and to rage degenerates into the nature of beasts and wild animals: so also to become mild and tame befits men especially. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 34 on Genesis, where he thus says: "For this is the most certain sign by which is distinguished a man endowed with reason and wit, if he be meek, if he be gentle, if he be mild, if he be modest and quiet, if he be not as it were a slave led and dragged by anger, or by other affections; but let reason overcome those internal disordered movements, and preserve his noble generosity, lest through negligence it degenerate into the ferocity of brutes." Fifth, the same Salazar, that is to say, sound and true doctrine by itself, without allurements and cosmetics, pleases and is acceptable; but truly the doctrine of those who despise, namely those who despise truth, and hand down false dogmas, is suspect, and no one trusts it: for there always lies beneath suspicion of a pit or gulf, that is, of some hidden error, into which the mind might be led or might slip. The true sense was explained at the beginning by the Vulgate version, the Septuagint, the Chaldean and the Syriac.
13:16
In Hebrew, every prudent man shall do his works with knowledge; but the fool shall unfold, or spread abroad, folly; the Septuagint, shall spread abroad his wickedness: Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, ἀφροσύνη, that is, foolishness. "Prudent," in Hebrew ערום arum, that is, prudent, cautious, discreet, cunning. Whence the Zurich Bible, the cautious man does all things wisely (Vatablus, with knowledge, that is, with discretion, namely discreetly) does; but the fool betrays, that is, says Vatablus, he is inept who does not observe what is fitting, as if someone were to dispute about obscure questions before an ignorant populace, meanwhile omitting the doctrine of the fear of God and faith; the Chaldean, every prudent man's work is with knowledge; but the fool spreads abroad his own folly; the Syriac, with knowledge the cunning man does all things; but the foolish man speaks with vain discourse. The sense is clear, that is to say, the prudent man, that is, the cautious and wise man, does all things with knowledge, that is, with reason, with counsel, with deliberation, with foresight. For before he undertakes anything, both by himself and through others whom he takes into counsel, he thinks and foresees the difficulties, the success and outcome of the matter, likewise the means by which difficulties may be overcome, and the work may be accomplished: wherefore he institutes his actions prudently and successfully, and in all things shows his wisdom; but the fool without counsel and counsellors rashly undertakes things either impossible, or inopportune and untimely, or indeed opportune, but by incongruous and inopportune means; he betrays, nay spreads abroad, before all his foolishness: because either from the work which he does, or from the means by which he does the work, it appears and is recognized by all that he is foolish, and acts foolishly. Solomon inculcated this maxim above, chapter XII, 15: "The way of the fool," he says, "is right in his own eyes; but he that is wise hearkeneth to counsels." And chapter II, 10: "If wisdom shall enter into thy heart, etc., counsel shall keep thee."
13:17
For 'messenger of the wicked' from the Hebrew with Aquila and Theodotion you translate, wicked messenger; and indeed a messenger of the wicked, who namely carries and announces his impious counsels, must be wicked: for he cooperates in his impiety and executes it. Again for 'faithful ambassador,' the Hebrew texts have, ambassador of truths, or of faithfulnesses, is health or medicine. The Septuagint for מלאך malach, that is messenger, reading מולך melech, that is king, translate, a bold king shall fall into evils; but a wise messenger shall deliver him; Aquila and Symmachus, however, a hostage of faith is health; Theodotion, guardian of faith. The sense is, as if to say, A rash king often provokes others to war, and thus is captured by them; but an ambassador or hostage sent from the republic or by another prince, mitigating their anger by his prudence, whom he provoked, shall deliver him. But the Hebrew texts constantly read malach, that is messenger, not melech, that is king. Therefore from the Hebrew first, some give this sense to it, as if to say, A wicked messenger, that is unfaithful, who unfaithfully and fraudulently announces matters committed to him by a prince or any other, or betrays his secrets, this one, as if perfidious and a traitor, shall be punished and chastised by the prince or judge, or by him who sent him; but a faithful ambassador, who namely faithfully announces the commands or matters committed to him by his prince or master, shall procure for himself health, that is safety: for an ambassador faithfully and holily performing his embassy is everywhere safe and inviolable even among enemies by the law of nations. Again a faithful ambassador announcing the counsels of his master, faithful ones, that is equitable, just and holy, to many, and sometimes to the whole republic brings salvation. Thus the wicked messenger was Balaam, says R. Solomon, who sent by king Balac to curse Israel, gave to the king an impious counsel of destroying the Hebrews through beautiful girls, and therefore perished by the sword of the Hebrews, Num. XXV and XXXI; but a faithful ambassador was Moses, who saved Israel. An ambassador therefore is health, that is salutary both to himself and to the master from whom he is sent, and to those to whom he is sent. Secondly, as if to say, A messenger of a wicked prince or man, who namely announces his impious deceits and frauds, by which he plots evil against others, this one, these being detected, shall give penalties, because he cooperated in the deceits and frauds of the wicked, as if to say, The fraud of dishonest ambassadors is finally discovered, and discovered is punished: but truly a faithful ambassador, who namely announces the true, faithful and just commands of his prince or master, this one shall bring health both to himself, and to the prince, and to the republic. This sense is the genuine one of the Vulgate version. Thirdly, our Salazar taking τὸ fidelis as a genitive opposed to the genitive of wicked, thus explains it: "A messenger of the wicked shall fall into evil," that is, an ambassador sent by a wicked king or prince shall be perfidious to his own prince: for he shall betray his counsels and plans to enemies. He wishes that meaning in this: "Shall fall into evil," that is, shall act maliciously and perfidiously: which is the same as if he should say: A wicked and tyrannical prince on account of his impiety and tyranny shall use a perfidious and traitorous ambassador. On the other hand, "a faithful ambassador is health," namely of a just prince and not a tyrant, who legitimately and faithfully administers the affairs of war and peace, an ambassador shall faithfully perform the commands committed to him, and shall bring health to the prince, and safety to public affairs. And so according to this exposition Solomon proposes the dissimilitude of a just and tyrannical prince from the fact that a just man uses faithful ministers, but a tyrant uses perfidious and traitorous ones. But τὸ fidelis is rather a nominative case. For in Hebrew a messenger of faithfulnesses is the same as a messenger very trustworthy and faithful: and this is opposed to a messenger of the wicked obliquely and indirectly (for frequent here are antitheses not direct, but oblique), because ordinarily such as the messenger is, so also is the master who sends him: wherefore a messenger of the wicked is likewise wicked, and conversely a faithful messenger is not usually sent except by a faithful master, according to what Solomon adds: "He that walketh with the wise shall be wise; but he that is a friend to fools shall become like to them." Morally, Bede says: "A faithful messenger is health," that is, he says, "every Catholic preacher acquires eternal health for himself and his hearers." Thus Gabriel, sent by God to Daniel, chapter IX, announcing to him the liberation of Israel from Babylon and the coming of the Messiah after seventy weeks, brought strength and health to Daniel languishing, and joy and salvation to the whole people. Thus the same Gabriel, sent by God and announcing to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, the conception of the eternal Word, brought salvation to her and to the whole world. The Angels did the same when announcing Christ's nativity to the shepherds, and therefore singing together: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will," Luke II, verse 14. The other Angels accomplish the same thing, who by their office are angels, that is, faithful messengers of God to men, according to that: "All are ministering spirits, sent in ministry for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation," Hebrews I, 14. Thus all the Prophets and Apostles were faithful messengers of God for saving men: for Apostle in Greek is the same as in Latin a messenger, sent by God into the world, as is evident from Isaiah chapter VI, from Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the others it is evident from the beginning of their prophecy. Their leader and prince was Christ, sent by the Father for the redemption of mankind, who therefore says, Isaiah LXI, 1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me, to preach to the meek he hath sent me, to heal the contrite of heart, and to preach deliverance to the captives, and opening to them that are shut up." See the words there.
13:18
For discipline in Hebrew is musar, that is instruction, correction, chastisement, such as that of children, whose appetites and levities must be corrected and chastised by the instructor. For he who deserts in Hebrew is פורע porea, that is he who dissolves, empties, enervates. Again, ei is not in the Hebrew; and for poverty and ignominy it can be translated poverty and ignominy. For Hebrew nouns, because they lack cases, can be translated in any case. Whence the Septuagint thus translates, discipline takes away poverty and ignominy. Conversely the Chaldean thus, the poor man, and he who is ignominious, deserts discipline; and the Syrian, poverty and tribulation render discipline vain; and Symmachus, poverty and ignominy dissolve correction. Both are true, both are fitting. For discipline, namely of virtue and honest life, are inseparable companions and followers of riches, shame and honor, which put to flight poverty and ignominy as inseparable companions of vice and of dishonorable life, opposed to them diametrically. For as virtue begets shame, so vice begets shamelessness, which is the cause that shame and virtue are deserted. For when someone hardens his brow and puts on shamelessness, as the poor, beggars and infamous do, then he casts off shame, and its companion discipline and virtue. Conversely, he who casts off shame and virtue, and becomes shameless and vicious, immediately attaches to himself the companions of vice, poverty and ignominy. In sum, as poverty and ignominy dissolves and puts to flight discipline, so conversely discipline and virtue dissolves and puts to flight poverty and ignominy. Hence he endowed with virtue becomes rich and honored, but the vicious becomes poor and vile; and conversely, as the honored and wealthy put on honesty and virtue, so the poor, beggars and vile put on vice, and engage in things dishonorable, shameful and infamous: because with hardened brow nothing any longer shames them. The sense is clear, as if to say: He who deserts discipline and correction, because he wishes to indulge his own liberty and concupiscences, shall fall into poverty and ignominy, both because by indulging the belly and Venus, the luxurious, with the bridle of shame and reverence broken, have lost shame, which restrains from crime. These aphorisms of the wise are parallel to Solomon. St. Chrysostom, sermon On Discipline: "Correction instills shame; but shame deters from crime." Aristotle, Problem 6: "The poor and infamous do not feel shame." St. Ambrose, book I On Duties, chapter XVIII: "Shame is the companion of modesty, by whose society chastity itself is safer. For shame is a good companion for governing chastity; which if it present itself to those things which are first dangers, does not allow chastity to be rashly violated." St. Bernard in Declamation: "Shamelessness and hardness of face, when it has hardened so that it does not fear, does not hesitate, does not tremble, that is then despair." St. Gregory Nazianzen in Exhortation to Olympias: "Immediately with shame extinguished all evils follow." Wherefore that impious utterance of the Emperor C. Caligula: "I approve nothing in my nature more than shamelessness," was deemed worthy of an executioner rather than of a Caesar. Diogenes said shame was "the tincture of virtue," as Laertius testifies in his Life. Demetrius Phalereus admonished young men "to reverence their parents at home, those they met on the way, and themselves in solitude." For shame most excellently deters young men from sinning, which is nowhere absent if one reveres oneself. Thus Laertius, book V, chapter V. He therefore fleeing the lesser evil shall incur the greater. But he who humbly and modestly acquiesces to the one who reproves, and according to his admonitions cuts away his vices and corrects his ways, he shall surely be glorified, because it is glorious to obey one who counsels well, and equally to compose one's ways rightly. Finally God honors those who honor Him and dishonors those who dishonor Him; wherefore to those keeping His law and discipline He imparts riches and glory, but to those spurning it He sends poverty and ignominy. Thus St. Augustine explains in Questions of the New and Old Testament, chapter XXXIV, although this book is not of St. Augustine, but of an author of suspect faith: perhaps of Hilary, Deacon of Rome, who propagated the schism of Lucifer, as Bellarmine shrewdly conjectures, On Ecclesiastical Writers, in Ambrose and Augustine.
13:19
In Hebrew, a desire accomplished, or existing, becomes sweet to the soul, and the abomination of fools is to depart from evil: just as swine abhor being drawn back from mud, in which they delight to wallow. For "if it be accomplished" in Hebrew is נהיה niia, which R. Levi, Cajetan, Pagninus, and others translate as broken, crushed, from the noun הוה houa, that is, breaking, crushing: whence they translate, a broken desire, or weakened cupidity, will be sweet to the soul; and they give this sense: when cupidity is weakened and subdued, the mind and spirit are suffused with delight, because it exercises dominion over it and compels it to be subject to itself; but this is hateful to fools: for they bear it ill that they are forbidden to obey their cupidities, and they detest being restrained from doing evil. But niia is the same as accomplished, completed, not broken and overthrown; for it is a passive participle from the root היה haia, that is, it was, it existed. By desire therefore understand only what is good and honest; for this is what the antithesis of fools demands, who detest those who flee from evils. Whence the Chaldean translates, an honest desire is sweet to the soul; and the Septuagint, the desires of the pious (thus the Roman manuscripts reading εὐσεβῶν; the Complutensian editors therefore read badly and contrarily ἀσεβῶν, that is, of the impious) delight the soul; but the works of the impious are far from knowledge; the Syriac, the filth of the wicked separated from knowledge. The sense therefore is, as if to say, The just desire honest things, namely to do good and to depart from evil, and they wish this both for others and for themselves; wherefore when this desire is fulfilled, and when they hear something done by others honestly and holily, they are wonderfully delighted and refreshed by this very thing: conversely, the impious desire dishonest things, namely to do evil, and to depart from good; wherefore they detest the pious, who flee from evils, and love the impious, who pursue evils. For they fear, if the number and strength of the pious should grow, lest the kingdom of impiety, which they love, should be weakened and overthrown; wherefore as the number and strength of the impious grows, it grows, and they rejoice and are delighted. The same thing therefore which delights the impious saddens the pious, namely growing virtue delights the pious, saddens the impious; but growing vice delights the impious, saddens the pious. Thus we see heretics saddened by the increase and victories of Catholics, but rejoicing when heretics like themselves rule and triumph; conversely, Catholics rejoice in the prosperity and increase of Catholics, but grieve over the happiness of heretics. The cause is that desire is as it were hunger and thirst of the soul, which hungers and thirsts for the thing desired. Just as therefore if a hungry man eats honey, and a thirsty man drinks nectar, he is plainly refreshed, restored and recreated by it: so likewise, if the hunger and thirst of desire is satisfied by the presence and taste of the thing desired, the mind is affected with wonderful sweetness and delighted, according to that saying of Christ, Matt. V: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill." And that of Ps. XLI, 1: "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong God (thus the Hebrews, although many of the Latins read fountain) living; when shall I come and appear before the face of God," etc. Now just as the greater is the pleasure and delight of the eater and drinker, the greater was his hunger and thirst, so likewise the greater the desire, the greater is the delight of its fulfillment, namely while it is fulfilled and perfected. Hence the Blessed, who supremely desired in this life to enjoy God, are supremely delighted when they see and possess Him. The measure therefore of the preceding desire is the measure of the delight of the thing subsequently obtained. Furthermore the Septuagint, which translates, the desires of the pious delight the soul, but the works of the impious are far from knowledge, gives this sense, as if to say, The pious not only exercise good works outwardly, but also adorn the mind inwardly with pious and holy thoughts and desires, by which they are wonderfully nourished and delighted; but the impious, because they not only think and desire evil things inwardly, but also perpetrate them outwardly in deed, hence they are very far removed from knowledge, namely practical knowledge, that is from prudence and virtue.
13:20
In Hebrew there is an elegant paronomasia ורועה כסילים ירוע veroe kesilim ieroa, which first the Chaldean translator rendered as, he who has fellowship with fools will be evil to him; the Syrian, he will be harmed; R. Solomon, he will be broken, or dashed. Second, Vatablus, he who joins friendship with fools will be afflicted with evil. Third, Pagninus, he who is a friend to fools will be crushed; R. Levi, he will be cut off. Fourth, Baynus, the companion of fools will act badly or unhappily. Fifth, Cajetan, the companion of fools will be broken. Sixth, others, he who feeds fools, or he who is fed and lives together with fools, will be shattered. For the Hebrew ירוע ieroa signifies both to act badly and to be afflicted with evil: רע ra indeed signifies evil both of guilt and of punishment. The Septuagint, reading ק for ו, namely reading יודע iadea instead of ירוע ieroa, that is, it will be known, translate συμπορευόμενος (the Complutensian editors read συμπεριφερόμενος, that is, he who is turned about together; the Scholiast, συμπλανώμενος, that is, he who errs together), that is, walking with the unwise will be known. But one should read ieroa, that is, he will be afflicted with evil, as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate. Finally, Our translator skillfully rendered ieroa as "will be like," because ieroa is derived partly from רוע roa, that is, he was evil, or was afflicted with evil, partly from רעה raa, that is, he became a friend, a companion, that is, he was like; for a friend is like to a friend, a companion to a companion. For often the orders of imperfect verbs that are akin, such as roa and raa, are mixed together among the Hebrews, and one borrows inflection or signification from the other. And this is required both by the antithesis and by the paronomasia, roe, ieroa, as if to say, The friend of evil will be a friend and like to him in evil and folly. The sense therefore is manifest, as if to say, He who is familiar with the wise, that is, with prudent and upright men, and converses with them, he will become prudent and upright; but he who converses with fools, that is, with the imprudent and wicked, he likewise will become imprudent and wicked. For we almost always become such as those are whose company we delight in. For frequent and constant conversation gradually and imperceptibly instills, ingrains and impresses its sentiments, its affections and customs upon him with whom one associates, especially if one loves the other and is loved in return, and delights and rejoices in his words and deeds; just as those who walk in the sun are warmed by its rays even unknowingly: thus those who are in cold air silently receive its cold; for air everywhere accompanies us, and drawn in through breathing penetrates the innermost parts of man's body, imparting to them its heat or cold. Moreover τὸ circumfertur or circumvertitur signifies him who associates with a companion in whom he delights, bending, accommodating and turning himself about to all his nods, affections, movements, actions, so that, if he be upright, he imbibes all his upright customs; if wicked, all his wickedness. For the contagion of evil is greater than of good; for vice is more easily rubbed off and learned than virtue. Whence we see one scabious sheep infect the others; and one gluttonous, proud, luxurious, slanderous, impious person makes those with whom he associates gluttonous, proud, luxurious, slanderous, impious; whereas on the other hand many chaste persons scarcely make one unchaste person chaste, and many humble persons scarcely make one proud person humble, and so with the rest. Thus a little gall, myrrh or wormwood makes a whole cup of milk or wine, indeed of honey, bitter; whereas on the other hand a whole cup of honey scarcely sweetens a glass of myrrh or wormwood. For vice is gall, virtue is honey. The Wise Man therefore signifies that fellowship and association is a matter of the greatest importance in either direction, inasmuch as upon it depends the uprightness or wickedness of a person, and consequently his eternal salvation or damnation. Wherefore parents should inculcate to their children, teachers to their disciples, confessors to their penitents above all, that if they wish to save their souls, they should flee the fellowship of the wicked like a basilisk, but seek the society of the upright as the sole asylum of salvation. For, as Bede says from Isidore in the Common Places, chapter LXII: "Just as the common life of the saints has many goods, so the fellowship of the wicked brings more evils. It is therefore better to have hatred of the wicked than fellowship with them; for just as it is to be desired that the good have peace with one another, so it is to be desired that the wicked be at discord with one another." Wherefore St. Gregory of Nazianzus most excellently admonishes in his poem 50 to Nicobulus concerning his son: Join not to thyself a companion full of vices: For even a grave pestilence seizes the strong limbs. Thou wilt not bestow virtue, but thou thyself Wilt receive disgrace, and be infected with profane vices. And the Comic poet: A man is thought to be such as is his association. But they do not dwell together one night, one day; good, bad—scarcely do the dwellings of discordant morals last a day. Scarcely does a sober man merit to dwell in one house with a drunkard. Do you wish to become wise? Use the company of the wise. Vices never come together with virtues. Dangerously do you play with a serpent. And another: You will learn to limp if you have grown accustomed to one who limps. The conversation of the good makes the bad good: and likewise leaven communicates its power to the dough. You draw nothing but filth from servile association. Nothing is more pestilential than association with the wicked. You are made wicked by the partnership of the wicked. Morals are drawn by each from those with whom he converses. Do you wish to know the king? Know his familiars. This is evident in Rehoboam, III Kings XII. Finally, Crates, epistle 12 to Origen: "Neither the country, he says, makes men good, nor the city makes them bad, but the commerce of the good and the bad. Wherefore if you wish your sons to become good and not bad, send them not into the field, but to the house of a Philosopher, where they themselves, by frequenting it, have learned honesty. For virtue is established by practice, and does not thrust itself into the minds of men of its own accord as malice does."
13:21
The Septuagint: evils shall pursue those who sin; and good things shall overtake the just. Understand "evil" both as guilt and rather as punishment, torment and vengeance. For guilt once committed pursues him who committed it, and continually stimulates his conscience, pricks it, troubles it, torments it, so that he who is conscious of the crime to himself fears, trembles, and fearfully awaits the executioner or the vengeance of God. Whence St. Basil among the Fathers in the Melissa, part I, sermon 16: "As, he says, shadows follow bodies, so sins follow souls, and present manifest images of deeds." Thus in the Lives of the Fathers we read that the shadow of a boy slain by a murderer continually pursued the murderer, even after he had become a monk, and stood perpetually before his imagination, saying: "Why did you kill me?" so that the monk, overcome by anguish and weariness, departed from the monastery and voluntarily delivered himself to the judge for punishment. This scourge of conscience no wicked man escapes. Whence the Poet: Do you think those have escaped whom the mind conscious of a dread deed holds aghast, and strikes with a deaf blow, shaking a hidden torturer in the soul? And another: These are they who tremble, and grow pale at every lightning flash. On the contrary, "the just man is confident as a lion." Excellently Pacatus in the Panegyric of the Emperor Theodosius, chapter XLIII: "The wicked mind has, he says, I know not what internal executioners, or conscience itself is the executioner to itself." And Quintilian, Declamation XV, § 18: "O sad, he says, remembrance! O conscience heavier than all torments!" And Chrysologus, sermon 15: "He falls, is destroyed, cannot stand, whom conscience abandons, whom guilt impels." Philostratus, book VII On the Life of Apollonius, chapter VII: "Conscience is that which punishes men, when they recall that they have acted badly. For it was conscience that imposed the penalties of the Furies upon Orestes, when he raged against his mother." St. Augustine in Psalm XXXVI: "Whoever is wicked is at odds with himself. He must necessarily be tormented; he is a torment to himself. For he is his own punishment, whom his conscience torments; he flees from an enemy as far as he can: from himself how shall he flee?" St. Gregory, in Psalm CXIII: "There is no greater affliction than the conscience of sins. For when a man suffers outwardly, he flees to God. But if, bearing the tribulation of an evil conscience, he does not find God in the secret of his heart, where shall he find consolation? where shall he seek rest?" Conversely, a great good and reward of the just is the testimony of a good conscience, to spend time fruitfully, to devote oneself to holy purity, to serve God in tranquility and sincerity, as Eusebius Emissenus says, and from him Dionysius here. But punishment and vengeance of God, equally as that of judges and men, pursues the sinner, so that it may exact from him the penalties he deserves. For the justice of God allows no crime to go unpunished, and conversely allows no good to go unrewarded. Whence Bede in Proverbs: "Before the face of God nothing wicked remains unavenged." And the Poet: "Rarely does punishment with halting foot desert the wicked man who goes before; guilt follows the head." Therefore, as the magistrate pursues thieves to hang them, so vengeance pursues the sinner to punish him. The emblem of the rhinoceros concerning vengeance is well known: The rhinoceros, though scarcely pricked by stinging spurs, gathers its rage, yet cannot satisfy its kindled wrath: Thus at last divine Nemesis, overflowing upon the guilty, comes late in greater punishment for payment. Excellently Orosius, book VII Against the Pagans, chapter XXII: "Forgetful malice, he says, provokes its own punishment. For impiety indeed feels the scourges that torment it; but, hardened, does not feel by whom it is scourged. Thus the guilty man feels the executioner before he sees him." And: "No unjust man is he behind whom his punishment is not."
13:22
In Hebrew, the good man will make a good inheritance for the sons of his sons, and the riches hidden from the sinner belong to the just; in the Septuagint, and riches of the impious are treasured up for the just; in Syriac, the riches of sinners which the world has not seen. This sentence is clear, and signifies not what always, but what frequently or sometimes happens, especially in the Old Testament, to which temporal goods were promised by God. Wherefore then commonly a good and upright man left his goods as heirs to his sons and grandsons, especially if they followed the father's goodness, and were heirs both of paternal integrity and substance. The same also happens frequently now. But the wicked and dishonest often do not pass on their goods to posterity and grandsons, especially if they were unjustly acquired, according to that: The third heir does not rejoice in ill-gotten gains. Indeed, not rarely does God guard, that is, hide away and transfer to the just the substance of the sinner, so that whatever was left by him is transferred to the uses of the just, according to that: "The wicked man shall prepare, and the just shall put on." I say this does not always happen, but frequently or sometimes, because we often see the contrary also happen, namely that good men are despoiled of their goods by the wicked, according to that in Hebrews X, 34: "You took joyfully the plundering of your goods." Examples of this sentence are in Jacob the faithful, to whom God gave the flocks and riches of Laban his unfaithful father-in-law, Genesis XXXI, 9; in the Hebrews, who going out of Egypt by the command of God, borrowing from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver, etc., afterwards retained them, Exodus XII, 35; of whom therefore it is said in Wisdom X, 19: "Therefore the just took the spoils of the wicked." The same, under Joshua, conquering the land of Canaan, occupied the riches and goods of the Canaanites. Thus today heretics are not rarely deprived of their goods according to Civil and Canon law, and those goods are given to Catholics. In the Theodosian Code, lib. XVI, tit. V, there are laws of Honorius and Theodosius 43, 52 and 54, in which it is commanded that buildings, lands, and places which formerly belonged to the conventicles of Donatists or other heretics should be reclaimed by the Catholic Churches, or should be joined to them; which when Petilianus the Donatist objected to Catholics as unjust, thus St. Augustine responds to him from this place of Solomon, lib. II Against Petilianus, cap. XLIII: "But if," he says, "concerning ecclesiastical things or places, which you held and do not hold, you complain, the Jews also can call themselves just, and object iniquity to us, because the place in which they reigned impiously, Christians now possess. What therefore is unworthy, if those things which heretics held, according to the like will of the Lord, Catholics hold? For to all, that is to all the impious and unjust, that voice of the Lord applies: The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. Or is it written in vain: The just shall eat the labors of the impious? Wherefore you ought rather to marvel that you still hold anything, than that you have lost anything." And cap. LIX, when Petilianus objected: "It is said: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. You plunder ours, that you may have them for your own;" St. Augustine responds: "And if you have begun to possess what I have already cut off, because offered to us the Lord gave to us, we do not therefore covet others' goods, because by the command of Him to whom all things belong, they have become ours, and justly ours; for you were using these for schism, we for unity. Otherwise the first people of God could object to themselves the coveting of another's goods, who by divine power were expelled from their face, because they were using that land badly; and the Jews themselves, from whom the kingdom was taken, according to the words of the Lord: And it was given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof, can object to themselves the coveting of another's goods, because the Church of Christ possesses where the persecutors of Christ reigned." All which things are transferred from St. Augustine into Canon Law, and are found 23, Quaest. VII, can. 2. Antistrophic to this maxim is that of cap. XXVIII, vers. 8: "He that heapeth up treasures by usury and gain, gathereth them for one that will be kind to the poor." Where I shall say more about this matter. Mystically Bede and Baynus: The vineyard and substance is heavenly, that is God's law, grace and the Church with other goods once deposited in the Jews, taken from them as wicked husbandmen, are let out to the Gentiles justified in the blood of Christ, Matthew XXI, 33 et seq. Thus in the grace and apostolate of the traitor Judas succeeded the just Matthias. Hence it is said in Revelation III, 11: "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown." See the things said there.
13:23
In Hebrew, much food in the furrows, or in the ploughing of heads; and it is gathered together or consumed without judgment. Which words various men variously explain and interpret. For the Hebrew word ראשים (rascim) signifies both heads, that is fathers and chiefs, and also the poor. Again נספה (nispe) signifies both to be gathered together and to be consumed and lost. First therefore Cajetan thus translates it: much food is in the furrows of heads, and it is consumed in non-judgment; and thus explains it, as if to say: Some field produces many fruits, and some is found consumed without judgment, that is without reason, why this should be consumed, not that; understand it of human judgment and reason: for God does not without judgment make this disparity, which we often see to happen. Second, Aben-Ezra, R. Solomon and Vatable translate it: much food is in the fallow land of the poor; and truly it is not dealt with in judgment, there is want. Or thus: there is one who perishes on account of not-right, that is, because he does not properly cultivate his field, because he does not observe the customary laws of cultivating the field. For the Hebrew word משפט (mispat), that is judgment, signifies reason, rite, law, right, custom. The Chaldean refers perishes not to the field, but to the man, namely the farmer, who perishes and comes to want, because he does not exercise himself with good judgment in cultivating the field. Whence it translates: much food happens to the poor, and there is one who dies contrary to right. But Bain most excellently refers perishes to food, or grain; for this frequently perishes for farmers, when it is not dispensed at the legitimate time, or when too little is left to heirs. Thus the sense will be, as if to say: Much food will be for the poor, when the seeds of the earth grow, and they cultivate the same diligently with judgment, namely according to the laws of agriculture; for, as he said in chapter XII, verse 11: "He that tilleth his land shall be filled with bread." But if without judgment they cultivate the land wrongly and negligently, the fruits will be lost and they themselves will perish of hunger. Whence Isidore Clarius clearly translates: much food in the fallow lands of the poor; and there is one who is lost, there is one without judgment, that is, he says, who in his field in time omits to perform the duties owed of ploughing, hoeing, weeding, reaping, etc., his fallow land will produce nothing. To this pertains the fable of the farmer and his sons in Aesop: "A certain farmer, he says, about to depart from life, and wishing to make trial of his sons in agriculture, calling them to him said: My sons, I now depart from life, but you, if you seek out whatever things have been hidden by me in the vineyard, you will find all things. They therefore, thinking a treasure was buried there, dug up all the earth of the vineyard after their father's death. They found no treasure indeed, but the vineyard, well dug, yielded manifold fruit. This fable signifies that labor is a treasure to men." Mystically, our Salazar and others refer these things to almsgiving, as if to say: The poor are surely fields ploughed, worked again and renewed, which, when they have received the seed of alms, have brought forth the most abundant fruits. Wherefore "others gather together food without judgment," namely, that is, those altogether lack judgment and mind, who, although they are able to scatter their riches among the poor, and to transfer themselves with them to heaven, gather them to others and keep them. Whence St. Ambrose, in the book On Naboth the Jezreelite, chapter VII, to those words, Sow for yourselves unto justice, Hosea chapter X: "Be," he says, "a spiritual farmer; sow what may profit you: good sowing in the heart of widows. If the earth returns to you fruits more abundant than it received, how much more will the recompense of mercy return with multiplication of what you have given? It profits you, whatever you have bestowed on the needy; it grows for you, whatever you have expended on the poor; it is sown in the earth, it germinates in heaven; it is planted in the poor, it sprouts with God." And St. Basil, in the homily On the avaricious rich: "Just as," he says, "grain falling into the earth brings forth gain to the one who throws it, so also bread thrown into the hungry." Similar things has St. Chrysostom, homily 42 and 55 in Genesis and homily 5 in Matthew. Third, the Septuagint and the Syriac by fallow lands understand years, because each year fields are ploughed and renewed, so that it is a metalepsis, similar to that of Virgil: After some time my kingdoms seeing I shall marvel at the ears. Moreover, by rascim, that is, heads, they understand the just, who are the heads and leaders of men before God. Finally, by foods they understand riches; whence the just turn, make many years in riches with pleasure (as the Septuagint has in the Greek Catena), but the unjust shall perish quickly; the Septuagint however, many years squander riches, and men have utterly perished. According to the Septuagint therefore this verse coheres with the preceding one, and explains it, and by amplification enlarges it, as if to say: The just not only leave their goods as heirs to sons and grandsons, but they themselves, being long-lived, enjoy their goods for many years; the unjust however so far do not leave their goods to heirs, that they themselves shall be of brief life, and in brief time be stripped both of life and of goods. Fourth, others translate, much food in the fields of princes is consumed without judgment. The sense is clear, as if to say: Princes have many estates, from which they indeed gather great harvests and riches; but because they spend and consume them without judgment, that is, without discretion, rashly on servants, followers, parasites, hence the poor remain naked, just as if they did not have such estates. Fifth, Our translator most excellently renders, much food in the fields of fathers; and others are gathered without judgment. Here note especially: A novale is a new field, and that in three ways: first indeed a novale is called a field then first broken up for sowing, as Servius says. Whence Virgil, Eclogue 1: Shall an impious soldier have these cultivated new fields? A novale therefore is a meadow or forest, when with trees cut down and brambles removed the field is made, and by ploughing is subdued. Second, a novale is that which is sown in alternate years. Whence Varro: "That which is left fallow, from renewing is called a novale field." Third, any field, while by ploughing it is as it were renewed, is called a novale. Whence Festus: "A novale," he says, "is a field left of new division." And Servius: "A novale," he says, "is new land, which through individual years is renewed by seeds." Again for others, thirteen codices read alii; to which reading the Hebrew and Chaldean favour. For in Hebrew it is ve-et naos nispe, that is, gathered (food) without judgment. If therefore you read alii, the antithesis is clear. For the sense, says Jansenius, is, as if to say: They prepare much food for themselves, sons from the fields of their fathers, that is, if they persist in the labours of their fathers and emulate their diligence, because food thus sought is multiplied by divine blessing. But there are other foods, that is, some foods are, which are gathered by many unjustly, not with due judgment, because namely they do not discern, and how foods ought duly to be prepared, according to having either by right or by wrong, either honestly or dishonestly they gather; and how unjustly obtained things soon slip away. This sentence therefore teaches according to this understanding that some gather for themselves prudently and honestly, others imprudently and dishonestly. But because the codices corrected at Rome and others everywhere have alii, not alii, which reading also agrees with the Hebrew; for nispe signifies contraries, namely to gather, and to take away or remove. Whence to gather is sometimes taken in Scripture for to take away and to lose, and gathering is called death and destruction, as in Hosea IV, 3: "And the fishes of the sea shall be gathered," that is, shall be taken away, shall fail, shall die, as the Septuagint and Chaldean translate. I have assigned the causes of this phrase and signification there. Therefore foods, which are gathered to others, are called in Hebrew mispim, that is, taken away, removed, lost, because those things which are gathered to others, these are taken away and removed from the master, and thus perish to the gatherer. And thus this sense comes down to the same as the second given a little before, which is that of many Hebrews, and is he who perishes by defect of judgment; or, as the Zurich Bible, where truly there is no dealing with judgment, there is want. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: There are those who, although they have many foods from the newly-broken fields of their fathers, that is, from fields and lands ploughed and cultivated anew, that is, although their sustenance abounds from the estates and riches of paternal inheritance, yet all these things are gathered by them for others without judgment, that is, foolishly and imprudently; as if to say: So foolish are most people that what has been left to them by their fathers, they do not use for themselves, but the same thing they foolishly gather for others, because namely they are prodigal, and they pour out their own things for others, or being negligent and improvident they allow their own things to perish, and to be occupied by others. This proverb therefore signifies that the rich estates of parents are often squandered and dissipated by sons, because they lack the judgment and prudence to cultivate them, preserve them, and dispense them frugally. Thus we see ample patrimonies overturned, when they are left to heirs who are little thrifty, or improvident, or careless, namely when those things which industrious parents gathered with great labor, prodigal sons squander, and senseless ones dissipate; whence that common saying: "O how great a revenue is frugality!" Hence it is clear that this saying: "Many foods in the newly-broken fields of the fathers, and they are gathered for others without judgment," is parallel to that which preceded: "A good man leaveth heirs, sons and grandsons, and the substance of the sinner is kept for the just." For he is a sinner who without judgment gathers his things for others, especially for the just. Mystically Bede, and from him Dionysius, say that in the newly-broken fields, that is, in the books, doctrines, and examples of the fathers, there are many spiritual nourishments, which are gathered for others without judgment, when someone preaches such things to his neighbors, and yet he himself does not profit from them, nor is he refreshed in mind. Thus St. Gregory, at the beginning of the Morals, chapter 1, and at the beginning of the Dialogues, confesses that he is wonderfully stirred to virtue by the examples and words of the Saints, and therefore he writes their life in the Dialogues. St. Bernard testifies the same of himself, sermon 14 in the Canticles. See our Alvarez de Paz, book V On Perfection, part II, chapter XXIII. In like manner you may apply this proverb to priests, pastors, and preachers, who in the newly-broken fields, namely in the doctrine, writings and deeds of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Leo, St. Gregory, etc., have great spiritual and doctrinal nourishments and incentives; but some, to whom flesh and the world appeal more than the spirit, leave these things for the laity to read, ruminate upon, and practice. In like manner Religious have abundant and delicate spiritual nourishments stored up for themselves in the newly-broken fields of their fathers, namely in the rules written and examples of their founders, fathers, and predecessors, for example St. Anthony, St. Basil, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Francis, St. Dominic, St. Ignatius, St. Xavier, etc.; but those who are lukewarm or sluggish leave these things for others, even seculars, to imitate, who therefore will precede them in the kingdom of God with great shame and confusion to them, according to that saying of Christ, Matthew XII, 41: "The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here," etc. And chapter XI, verse 21: "Woe to thee, Corozain! woe to thee, Bethsaida! for if in Tyre and Sidon had been wrought the mighty works that have been wrought in you, they would have done penance long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you," etc. Otherwise Lyra explains this proverb: Many foods in the newly-broken fields of the fathers, because, he says, the ancient fathers by their labors cultivated lands previously uncultivated, which are called newly-broken fields; and thus foods were multiplied in the sustenance of those following. And they are gathered for others without judgment, that is, without labor, that is, because they do not follow such things as a reward of their labor, in which there is a certain execution of justice, which properly is judgment. You may explain it mystically of the foods of the mind: because the ancient fathers and philosophers labored much in the discovery of sciences and arts, by which posterity is refreshed without such labor." Thus far Lyra, whom Hugo follows. Otherwise, our Salazar also, who thinks that agriculture, as the most innocent and useful of arts, should be compared and preferred to commerce, that is to say: The best and most just industry for acquiring abundance is in tilling the fields, which parents ought to use in order to enrich their children; and they deal well indeed with their children if they leave them broad estates and lands for cultivation by hereditary right. "And others gather together without judgment," namely by other reasons or arts food, that is, resources, are gathered together for children without judgment, that is, unjustly, and contrary to right by fraud and injury. For commerce and business are very much subject to frauds and injuries, but agriculture is the most innocent art. Symbolically the same (although he himself thinks it to be the literal sense) he understands by the fields of fathers the minds of sons, that is to say: The fields and lands of parents are the minds of their children, which parents ought to plow and sow with good precepts and disciplines, so that they leave them worthy heirs of their resources. "And others gather together without judgment," that is, if any father gathers and collects for children other than those properly cultivated and instructed in this way, he is indeed imprudent and foolish. A father does this who is more intent on gathering together riches and estates which he may leave to his son to enrich him, than on watching over his instruction, discipline and virtue. For such a son, lacking discipline, will not know how to use the resources left to him, but will squander them and consume them on harlots and parasites, to whom therefore the father has gathered them, not to his son. Thus Plutarch, in the tract On the Education of Children: "Just as," he says, "in the cultivation of fields it is necessary first that the land be good, then that the farmer be skilled in sowing, finally that the seeds be good: in the same way you will compare the son to the land, the teacher to the farmer, and the institutions and precepts of studies to the seeds." And St. Chrysostom in the first epistle to Timothy, homily 9: "Do you wish," he says, "to leave your son rich? Teach him to be good and kind; thus you will be able to make his property even greater. But if he should be wicked, even if you leave him infinite substance, you have not left him a guardian. Again, it is better for sons not rightly instructed to be poor than rich; for poverty restrains them even unwilling, and keeps them within the bounds of virtue. But riches do not allow them to live chastely and temperately even if willing, but cause them to go beyond bounds and become perverted, and subject them to countless evils."
13:24
In Hebrew, he who withholds or restrains his rod hates his son; and he who loves him, seeks out, that is, in the morning seeks for him chastisement, in the morning chastises him; the Septuagint, instructs diligently; the Scholiast, applies chastisement to him at dawn; St. Jerome, he who corrects diligently loves. The sense is clear, as if to say: He who does not chastise his sinning son, lest he afflict him, seems to omit this from excessive love of him; but in reality this is not love, but hatred, because it is the cause that the son becomes idle, rebellious, wicked, and such that his father almost necessarily must turn away from him and hold him in hatred. Whence that saying: Gentle indulgence of fathers makes idle offspring. But he who truly and heartily loves his son, he constantly instructs him, Heb. שחר iescar, in Greek παιδεύει, that is, he institutes, forms, corrects, and when necessary he scourges, so that he may cut away vices and implant virtues. Hence Hugo of St. Victor most excellently, in his Institutes for Novices, cap. X, says, "discipline of evil desires is a prison, a bridle of wantonness, a yoke of pride, to tame intemperance, to restrain levity, to stifle disordered movements of the soul." But why do the Hebrew texts add in the morning or at dawn? I answer first, because the morning time is most opportune for instruction, teaching and discipline; for in the morning the mind, spirit and talent are vigorous. Thus Rabbi Solomon and Aben-Ezra. Secondly, because what the son learns in the morning, he remembers it, retains it and does it throughout the rest of the day; wherefore morning discipline is to him a monitor and caution until evening, lest he commit any evil. Thirdly, in the morning, that is, from childhood, from the first age: for this is as it were the dawn of the whole of life. Thus Rabbi Levi. Fourthly, because in the morning the spirit is more calm and tranquil, says Jansenius, so that not from anger which has already cooled, but from reason he corrects and chastises the faults of the preceding day. In a similar way God chastises those whom he loves, according to that in cap. III, vers. 12: "Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth; and as a father in a son he taketh pleasure in him." Wherefore just as it is the greatest sign of God's hatred and indignation when he does not correct sinners, so it is the greatest indication of love when he chastises them, according to that Psalm. XCVIII, 8: "Thou wast a merciful God to them, and revenging all their inventions." And II Maccabees VI, 13: "For to allow sinners to act according to their will for a long time, but to apply punishments immediately, is a sign of great kindness." Following Solomon's custom, Ben-Sira in his Sentences thus pronounces: "Gold needs striking, and a boy needs beating," that is, "gold must be struck, and a boy beaten." If you spare the rod, he becomes wicked and useless, just as gold is less useful unless it is hammered by a hammer into a certain form. The Scholiast explains it thus: As gold, if you strike it, shines more brightly; so a boy, if you beat him, becomes better. For, as clay, so tender age, in whatever direction you lead it, follows; but when the mind has hardened, it is not easily bent into another form. Wherefore Solomon wisely commands that we do not deprive a boy of chastisement when it is necessary, Proverbs XXIII, 13. Since foolishness is joined to his heart, which the rod of correction drives out, he says in cap. XXII, vers. 15. Therefore, he who loves his son hastens to chastise him, he says in cap. XIII, 24, by which he gains wisdom for him, he says in cap. XXIX, vers. 15, and for himself pleasures of spirit, ibid. vers. 17. Finally, which is the greatest thing, he defends his son's soul from hell, he says in cap. XXIII, vers. 14. The Lacedaemonians or Spartans were singular in the instruction of children, concerning whom Plutarch in his Laconic Sayings: Among the Lacedaemonians, he says, if a boy chastised by someone had brought a complaint to his father, it was shameful for the father if, hearing this, he did not again correct his son; for from the institution of their ancestors they had this mutual confidence in themselves, that they believed there was no one who would command anything dishonorable to the children of anyone, whom each held as his own. The first age, since it does not yet feel what is shameful, what is honorable, needs beating. Boys are accustomed to complain to their parents about the cruelty of those by whom they were chastised. Since this thing diminished the authority of other elders, they closed this window to their children, so that the authority of all elders toward boys would be the same as that which fathers had. Themistocles, because as a young man he seemed to have a fierce and changeable nature, when people marveled at his changed character, was accustomed to say: "Rough and untamed colts become the best horses, if one applies discipline and right instruction to them." Thus Plutarch in his Life. The same pedagogue was accustomed to say to him: "You will be nothing mediocre, O boy; for you will be either a great good to the Republic, or a great evil." For a noble nature, if right instruction follows, is a great good to the fatherland: but if it degenerates into vices, it brings great harm. Thus Plutarch in Themistocles. Demetrius of Phalerum said that the haughtiness of arrogant youths should be cut away in education, but sobriety should be left. The wisest man taught that these natures should not be despaired of, but that what is excessive should be cut away in their instruction. Thus Laertius, lib. V, cap. V.
13:25
In Hebrew, the just man eats to the fullness of his soul (that is, of his desire, as Vatablus says, that is, he fulfills his desire); but the belly of the wicked shall fail, or shall be in want; the Septuagint has, but the souls of the wicked shall be in want. Baynus thus expounds τὸ "shall fail": as if to say, the just man, keeping temperance in food, preserves the strength of his stomach, so that he can eat to satiety; but the wicked man, indulging in gluttony and excess, so weakens his stomach that he rejects food, nor is he able to take and digest the food necessary for sustaining life. Others say "shall fail": Because, they say, the avaricious, from avarice, in order to increase their wealth, do not dare to eat to satiety, but torment their growling belly with hunger. But the Vulgate version demands another sense, as if to say, the just man eats until satiety, and satisfies his soul, that is, the hunger and desire of his soul. This meaning is often true in bodily goods, both because he is prudent and generous, and uses his own things frugally and temperately for the just sustenance of himself and his own; and because by his labor he prepares for himself the food by which he may be satisfied; and finally, because from God's blessing it comes to pass that the just man acquires for himself the food necessary for satiety, and that this sufficiently nourishes him, satisfies him, strengthens him, and gladdens him for better fulfilling his duties and serving God. But "the belly of the wicked is insatiable," because their hunger and gluttony is not satisfied, either because it always desires new things and more and more delicate things, and therefore is inexhaustible; or on account of want and destitution, into which they fall either through sloth or through God's curse. Whence in Hebrew it is "shall fail" or "shall be in want." Hence also "insatiable" could be taken for "unsatisfied," as if to say, the belly of the wicked is not satisfied, but is consumed by want and hunger. Thus "incredible" is taken for "unbelieving," in Titus 1, 16; Baruch 1, 19; Ecclesiasticus 1, 36, and elsewhere. Thus also Jeremiah, chapter XV, 18, says: "My wound is desperate (that is, despaired of) refuses to be healed." There are therefore three causes why the just man is satisfied: first, that he prepares for himself by labor the food by which he is satisfied; second, that he moderates his gluttony through temperance; third, that God blesses his labors and fruits, and grants them the power of satisfying and nourishing. There are as many causes why the wicked man is not satisfied: the first is sloth by which he is torpid, and is unwilling to labor, so as to procure food; the second, that he indulges his gluttony: but gluttony is insatiable. "The beginning of the life of man is water and bread," says Ecclesiasticus XXIX, 28; but for the gluttonous not enough are so many kinds of fruits, legumes, herbs: new fish are sought in the sea, new beasts on the earth, new birds in the air, fowls are fattened, and to these new aromatics are mixed, new seasonings, and the belly is stuffed with irritants. The third, that God curses the fruits and food of the wicked, and takes away the power of nourishing and satisfying, and as it were blows it away, according to what is threatened, Hosea chapter IV, 10: "And they shall eat, and shall not be satisfied;" and Haggai chapter 1, verse 6: "You have sown much, and brought in little; you have eaten, but have not had enough; you have drunk, but have not been filled; you have clothed yourselves, but have not been warmed; and he that earned wages, put them into a bag with holes." See the words there. Thus manna satisfied the just, nay, gave them every sweetness of flavor, Wisdom XVI, 20; but moved nausea in the wicked, Numbers 11, 4. Whence allegorically St. Jerome takes these things of the food of the word of God by which the Church is fed. Hear him in Amos chapter VIII, at the end: "From which we understand," he says, "when doctrine shall not be in the Churches, modesty perishes, charity dies, all virtues depart, because they have not eaten the word of the Lord, which he who has eaten, his satiated ear will hear through Solomon: The just man eating satisfies his soul; but the souls of the wicked shall hunger. And David sang: I was young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. How many Martyrs perished in persecutions from hunger, and lacked this grain and food of bodies. Therefore he speaks of that bread, which came down from heaven; he who eats it, shall not be able to hunger, nor to thirst." Tropologically Dionysius says: The just man, he says, refreshes himself with spiritual food, and fills his soul with pious affections. But the belly of the impious is insatiable, that is, their heart is not satisfied with earthly things, but rather like those suffering from dropsy, the more they acquire, the more they desire, and just as in those with dropsy thirst grows even from drinking, so in them affection grows from acquisition. Whence Seneca: "To the poor, he says, few things are lacking; to the greedy, all things." Therefore the belly must be restrained, that is, the desire and greed of the heart. And Hugo the Cardinal: The just man eats, he says, everywhere, and fills his soul, but the belly of the impious is insatiable. And soon after: The belly of the impious is cupidity, which is insatiable, as it is said in Ecclesiastes, chapter V: "The covetous man shall not be satisfied with money." And it is insatiable for many reasons: First, because it has no bottom; for it is like a perforated sack. Second, because it always grows, even from the mere sight of food, that is, of riches. Third, because nothing of the things it desires enters into this belly. For cupidity is in the heart, where money cannot enter: how therefore can money placed in a chest extinguish the hunger of the heart? Fourth is, because such desired things do not fill the human heart, where there is hunger of cupidity. For just as he would be mad who would attempt to fill a chest with wisdom, which it is altogether incapable of holding, so certainly many are mad who attempt to fill the human heart with money. Fifth is, because all such coveted things are vain, and rather cause emptiness than fullness, according to that in Genesis I: "And the earth was void and empty." Thus Hugo.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
13:14
… The generic sense of "teaching" also appears in the didactic books: the t. is given by God to his faithful one (Job 22, 22; Ps. 78, 1 Heb.), by the sages (Prov. 3, 1; 4, 2; 6, 23; 7, 2; 13, 14), by the mother (ibid. 1, 8; 6, 20; 31, 26); Yahweh (or his representative) will give it in the messianic kingdom (Is. 2, 3 = Mic. 4, 2; Jer. 31, 33; Is. 42, 4; 51, 4). In …
13:24
… However, some physical punishments are not always and entirely to be reproved: "Qui parcit virgae, odit filium suum" (Prov. 13, 24) and "Virga atque correptio tribuit sapientiam" (Prov. 20, 15), observes Scripture. …
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.