1Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whosoever is delighted therewith, shall not be wise.Lussuriosa cosa è il vino, e madre de' tumulti l'ebbrezza; chiunque ha genio a tali cose non sarà saggio.VVIne is a luxurious thing, & drunkenes tumultuous: whosoeuer is delighted therwith shal not be wise.Luxuriosa res vinum, et tumultuosa ebrietas: / quicumque his delectatur non erit sapiens. 2As the roaring of a lion, so also is the dread of a king: he that provoketh him, sinneth against his own soul.Come il ruggito del lione, così è l'ira del re; chi lo irrita pecca contro l'anima propria.As the roaring of a lyon, so also the terrour of a king: he that prouoketh him, sinneth also against his owne soule.Sicut rugitus leonis, ita et terror regis: / qui provocat eum peccat in animam suam. 3It is an honour for a man to separate himself from quarrels: but all fools are meddling with reproaches.E onore per l'uomo l'allontanarsi dalle contese: ma tutti gli stolti si immischiano nelle alterazioni.It is honour to a man, that separateth himself from contentions: but al fooles medle with contumelies.Honor est homini qui separat se a contentionibus; / omnes autem stulti miscentur contumeliis. 4Because of the cold the sluggard would not plough: he shall beg therefore in the summer, and it shall not be given him.Il pigro non volle arare a causa del freddo: egli adunque anderà accattando nell'estate, e non gli sarà dato nulla.Because of cold the slothful would not plowe: he shal begge therfore in the summer, and it shal not be geuen him.Propter frigus piger arare noluit; / mendicabit ergo æstate, et non dabitur illi. 5Counsel in the heart of a man is like deep water: but a wise man will draw it out.Come un'acqua profonda così i consigli dell'uomo nel cuore di lui: ma l'uomo sapiente li trarrà a galla.As deepe water, so counsel in the hart of a man: but a wise man shal draw it out.Sicut aqua profunda, sic consilium in corde viri; / sed homo sapiens exhauriet illud. 6Many men are called merciful: but who shall find a faithful man?Molti uomini sono chiamati misericordiosi: ma un uomo fedele, chi lo ritroverà?Manie men are called merciful: but a faithful man who shal fynd?Multi homines misericordes vocantur; / virum autem fidelem quis inveniet ? 7The just that walketh in his simplicity, shall leave behind him blessed children.Il giusto, che cammina nella sua semplicità, lascerà beati dietro a se i suoi figliuoli.The iust that walketh in his simplicitie, shal leaue blessed children.Justus qui ambulat in simplicitate sua / beatos post se filios derelinquet.
8The king, that sitteth on the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his look.Il re assise sul trono, dove rende giustizia, dissipa col suo sguardo ogni male.The king, that sitteth in the throne of iudgement, dissipateth al euil with his looke.Rex qui sedet in solio judicii / dissipat omne malum intuitu suo. 9Who can say: My heart is clean, I am pure from sin?Chi è, che dir possa: Il mio cuore è mondo? io son puro da qualunque peccato?Who can say: My hart is cleane, I am pure from sinne?Quis potest dicere: Mundum est cor meum; / purus sum a peccato ? 10Diverse weights and diverse measures, both are abominable before God.Doppio peso, doppia misura: ambedue queste cose sono abbominevoli presso Dio.Weight and weight, measure and measure: both are abominable before God.Pondus et pondus, mensura et mensura: / utrumque abominabile est apud Deum. 11By his inclinations a child is known, if his works be clean and right.Dalle inclinazioni del fanciullo si riconosce, sé le opere di lui siano per essere pure, e rette.By his conuersation a child is perceiued, if his workes be cleane and right.Ex studiis suis intelligitur puer, / si munda et recta sint opera ejus. 12The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made them both.L'orecchio che ascolta, e l'occhio che vede, l'uno, e l'altro è opera del Signore.The eare hearing, and the eie seing, our Lord made both.Aurem audientem, et oculum videntem: / Dominus fecit utrumque. 13Love not sleep, lest poverty oppress thee: open thy eyes, and be filled with bread.Non amare il sonno affin di non essere oppresso dall'indigenza: tieni aperti gli occhi, ed avrai pane da saziarti,Loue not sleepe, lest pouertie oppresse thee: open thyne eies and be filled with breades.Noli diligere somnum, ne te egestas opprimat: / aperi oculos tuos, et saturare panibus. 14It is naught, it is naught, saith every buyer: and when he is gone away, then he will boast.E cosa cattiva, è cosa cattiva, dice ogni compratore; ma quando se n'è ito (con essa), allora ne fa festa.It is naught, it is naught, sayth euerie byer: and when he is departed he wil boast.Malum est, malum est, dicit omnis emptor; / et cum recesserit, tunc gloriabitur. 15There is gold and a multitude of jewels: but the lips of knowledge are a precious vessel.Cosa preziosa è l'oro, e le molte gemme: e vaso prezioso sono le labbra scienziate.There is gold, and multitude of pearles: but a precious vessel the lippes of knowlege.Est aurum et multitudo gemmarum, / et vas pretiosum labia scientiæ. 16Take away the garment of him that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge from him for strangers.Prendi la veste di colui, che entra mallevadore per uno straniero, e portati dalla casa di lui il pegno pel debito del forestiero.Take his garment, that was the suretie of a stranger, and for strangers take a pledge from him.Tolle vestimentum ejus qui fidejussor extitit alieni, / et pro extraneis aufer pignus ab eo.
17The bread of lying is sweet to a man: but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.Dolce è all'uomo il pane di menzogna; ma questo in appresso gli empie la bocca di pietruzze.The bread of lying is swete to a man: and afterward his mouth shal be filled with the grauelstone.Suavis est homini panis mendacii, / et postea implebitur os ejus calculo. 18Designs are strengthened by counsels: and wars are to be managed by governments.Col consiglio si da vigore alle imprese: e le guerre si governano colla prudenza.Cogirations are strengthened by counsels: and battels are to be handled by gouernmentes.Cogitationes consiliis roborantur, / et gubernaculis tractanda sunt bella. 19Meddle not with him that revealeth secrets, and walketh deceitfully, and openeth wide his lips.Non aver familiarità con un uomo che rivela i segreti, ed è raggiratore, e fa grandi sparate.Medle not with him that reuealeth mysteries, and walketh fraudulently, and dilateth his lippes.Ei qui revelat mysteria, et ambulat fraudulenter, / et dilatat labia sua, ne commiscearis. 20He that curseth his father, and mother, his lamp shall be put out in the midst of darkness.Chi usa cattive parole verso il padre, o la madre, la sua lucerna si spegnerà nel forte delle tenebre.He that curseth his father, and mother, his lampe shal be extinquished in the middes of darkenes.Qui maledicit patri suo et matri, / extinguetur lucerna ejus in mediis tenebris: 21The inheritance gotten hastily in the beginning, in the end shall be without a blessing.Il patrimonio, che fu dapprima messo insieme con celerità, sarà privo di benedizione nel fine.The inheritance wherunto haste is made in the beginning, in the later end shal lacke blessing.hæreditas ad quam festinatur in principio, / in novissimo benedictione carebit. 22Say not: I will return evil: wait for the Lord, and he will deliver thee.Non dire: Mi vendicherò: aspetta il Signore, ed ei ti libererà.Say not: I wil requit euil: expect our Lord, and he wil deliuer thee.Ne dicas: Reddam malum: / exspecta Dominum, et liberabit te. 23Diverse weights are an abomination before the Lord: a deceitful balance is not good.E abbominevol cosa dinanzi al Signore la doppia bilancia: non è buona cosa la stadera falsa.Weight and weight are abomination with our Lord: a deceitful balance is not good.Abominatio est apud Dominum pondus et pondus; / statera dolosa non est bona. 24The steps of men are guided by the Lord: but who is the man that can understand his own way?Il Signore è quegli che dirige i passi degli uomini: e chi è degli uomini, che possa conoscere la via, che dee battere?The steppes of man are directed of our Lord: but who of men can vnderstand his owne way?A Domino diriguntur gressus viri: / quis autem hominum intelligere potest viam suam ?
25It is ruin to a man to devour holy ones, and after vows to retract.E rovina per l'uomo il divorare i santi, e tornar a fare dei voti.It is ruine to a man to deuoure saintes, and afterward to retracte the vowes.Ruina est homini devorare sanctos, / et post vota retractare. 26A wise king scattereth the wicked, and bringeth over them the wheel.Il saggio re disperge gli empj, e alza sopra di essi un arco trionfale.A wise king dissipateth the impious, and bendeth ouer them a triumphant arch.Dissipat impios rex sapiens, / et incurvat super eos fornicem. 27The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, which searcheth all the hidden things of the bowels.Fiaccola divina è lo spirito dell'uomo, il quale penetra tutti i nascondigli delle viscere.The lampe of our Lord, the breath of a man, which searcheth al the secretes of the bellie.Lucerna Domini spiraculum hominis, / quæ investigat omnia secreta ventris. 28Mercy and truth preserve the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemency.La misericordia, e la giustizia custodiscono il re, e il trono di lui si rende stabile colla clemenza.Mercie, & truth kepe the king, and his throne is strengthened by clemencie.Misericordia et veritas custodiunt regem, / et roboratur clementia thronus ejus. 29The joy of young men is their strength: and the dignity of old men, their grey hairs.La gloria de' giovani è la loro fortezza, e la dignità de' vecchi sta nella loro canizie.The ioy of yongmen their strength: and the dignitie of oldmen a gray head.Exsultatio juvenum fortitudo eorum, / et dignitas senum canities. 30The blueness of a wound shall wipe away evils: and stripes in the more inward parts of the belly.Si purgano i mali colle lividure delle percosse, e co' tagli, che vadano fino alle interne viscere.The blewnesse of the wound shal wipe away euils: and stripes in the more secrete place of the bellie.Livor vulneris absterget mala, / et plagæ in secretioribus ventris.
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A luxurious thing. Hebrew, "a scoffer." Chaldean, "renders one a scoffer."
Drunkenness. Hebrew ssocor, any strong drink, particularly palm-wine. Intemperance places the strongest obstacles in the way of wisdom. It causes a person to mock at all sacred things, and to be quarrelsome, Proverbs 23:29., and Ephesians 5:18.
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Calmet
Reproaches. It is better not to commence a lawsuit, even when we are in the right, Proverbs 17:11. (Calmet)
Val. Max
Plena victoria est ad clamantem tacere. (Val. Max.)
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Out. So David discovered the meaning of the Thecuite, 2 Kings 14:18. A wise politician carefully examines everything in a foreign court.
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Calmet
Faithful. Few continue steady to their engagements or friends, whom they will assist to a certain point. In God these two virtues always go together, Psalm 84:11. But they are rarely found in men. (Calmet)
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Look. It is the duty of kings to administer justice.
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Haydock
Sin. Protestants, "my sin?" We know not when it is remitted. (Haydock)
St. Augustine in Psalm cxlix
Without a special revelation, no one can be secure, 1 John 1:8., and Ecclesiastes 9:1. (Bayn.) (St. Augustine in Psalm cxlix.)
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St. Gregory in Ezechiel iv
Measures. In commerce, (Calmet) as well as in judging. (St. Gregory in Ezechiel iv.)
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Horace
Right. We may form some judgment of his future conduct, from the inclinations which he manifests in his infancy. Naturam expellas furca, tamen ipsa recurret, Et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia victrix. (Horace)
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Calmet
Both. Consequently he will know all our actions, Psalm 93:9. We must refer all to him, as he gives us the means of learning. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Sleep. Septuagint, "back-biting, that thou mayst not be taken off." (Haydock)
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Calmet
Buyer. This is the common practice; yet it is not without exceptions. St. Augustine (Trin. 13:3.) observes, that the mountebank having promised to tell what every person had in his heart, many came to the theatre, when he told them that they all wished to buy cheap, and to sell dear. They all applauded the remark. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint is here defective. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Strangers. For whom he has bound himself foolishly, Proverbs 6:1. All who have the care of others, must answer for them. (Calmet)
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Lying. Deceit, and unlawful pleasures, Proverbs 9:17. But God mingles disgust with them, and will punish the guilty, at least hereafter. Worldly enjoyments seem sweet, but they are full of gravel, and hurtful.
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Governments. Or prudence, else the best designs may prove abortive.
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Lips. And speaketh much. These people are unworthy of our friendship.
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Lamp. Prosperity, or children.
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Blessing. It is morally impossible that they should have been acquired justly, Proverbs 13:11., and 21:5.
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Evil. And revenge myself. This belongs to the Lord, Deuteronomy 32:35. Man would be too favourable to himself, and would also pronounce his own condemnation, as he is also a sinner.
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Calmet
Way? Jeremias 10:23. Independently of God, who can do any good? (Calmet)
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Haydock
Ones. Hebrew, "the saint or holy thing." (Haydock)
Calmet
Chaldean, "to make a vow for the sanctuary, and afterwards repent;" having acted inconsiderately at first. To attack the persons or relics of the saints, or to plunder what is consecrated to pious uses, will bring on destruction; so also to make vows, and then seek to evade them, will not pass unpunished. (Calmet)
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Ven. Bede
Wheel. Or triumphal arch, fornicem. (Ven. Bede; Jansenius)
He will make his enemies lie prostrate under his chariot-wheels, 2 Kings 12:31.
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Lamp. The breath of life, (Genesis 2:7.) and the light of man, 1 Corinthians 2:11.
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Calmet
Clemency. Such a king need not fear rebellion. (Calmet)
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St. Ambrose
Hairs, and experience. They have a greater contempt of death and pleasures. (St. Ambrose, Hex. 1:8.)
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Evils. The wicked shall derive benefit from correction.
Calmet
Belly. They shall feel the remorse of conscience, as Chaldean seems to indicate. (Calmet)
Menochius
A serious illness often causes people to repent. (Menochius)
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Sobrietie.
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Obedience to Princes.
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Concord.
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Industrie.
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Profound counsel.
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Fidelitie.
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Sinceritie.
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Execution of Iustice.
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Necessitie of grace. ••quitie.
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Good toward •••es
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Right vse of senses. Diligent trauel Prudence.
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Knowlege is 〈…〉ewel.
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Secu〈…〉 in ••e••snipe.
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Truth.
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Counsel in warre.
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Consult with the faithful.
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Honour of parents.
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Law ful gaine.
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Meeknes.
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Equitie.
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Trust in Gods prouidence.
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Performance of vowes.
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Publique iustice.
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Puritie of minde.
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Three kinglie vertues.
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Prudence with fortitude. Punishment of sinnes.
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St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh 3
… He that eateth of the sacrifice in the name of devils, becomes devilish without all contra diction. He that eateth the Heavenly Bread, becomes Heavenly without doubt! Wine teaches us, in that it makes him that is familiar therewith like itself: for it hates much him that is fond of it, and is intoxicating and maddening, and a mocker
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 2.21
109. There are two kinds of free-giving, one arising from liberality, the other from wasteful extravagance. It is a mark of liberality to receive the stranger, to clothe the naked, to redeem the captives, to help the needy. It is wasteful to spend money on expensive banquets and much wine. Wherefore one reads: “Wine is wasteful, drunkenness is abusive.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.10
… It follows that reason must be present, that we may take food of such a kind and in such quantities as will not burden the body, or hinder the free movement of the soul: for it is the way with us that we eat, and walk, and sleep, and digest our food, and afterwards in the fulness of blood have to bear the spur of lust.
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St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… Insolence goeth before bruising, and evil thoughts before a fall. He who closeth his eyes speaketh perverse things, and provoketh all evil with his lips. The lips of a fool lead him into evil, and the foolhardy speech calleth down death. The man of evil counsel shall suffer much loss. Better is a poor man who is just than a rich man that speaketh lies.
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.15
… and so, as though finding something that he may reasonably fear, he satisfies himself that he has good reason for remaining torpid. To him it is rightly said through Solomon, The sluggard would not plough by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in summer, and it shall not be given unto him (
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1.1
… He spoke to himself, and conversed with himself, as these words show: “I said, I will take heed to my ways.” Solomon his son also said: “Drink water out of thine own vessels, and out of the springs of thy wells; ” that is: use thine own counsel. For: “Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep waters.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.10
… For “man is a great thing, and a pitiful man is precious,”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 1.16
… And they were stayed and stood still from their courses. But enough! All the righteous, our fathers, in all that they did were victorious through faith, as also the blessed Apostle testified with regard to all of them:— By faith they prevailed . Again Solomon said:— Many men are called merciful, but a faithful man who can find ?
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 5.2
2. Here then it is further required, that each of you be found faithful in his conscience: for a faithful man it is hard to find
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 12
… and from that small beginning spread into this infinitude of evil. Then that godly beauty of the soul which was an imitation of the Archetypal Beauty, like fine steel blackened with the vicious rust, preserved no longer the glory of its familiar essence, but was disfigured with the ugliness of sin. This thing so great and precious
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 16
[5.] For this is a great good and a gift of God; and rightly done assimilates us, so far as may be, unto God; for such an one is in the highest sense a man. A certain one, at least, giving a model of a man has mentioned this, for “Man,” saith he, “is a great thing; and a merciful man is an honorable thing.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 4
… iii. 8 .) Listen to a certain other one who saith, “Alms do deliver from death” ( Tob. xii. 9 .); If Thou takest away pity, “Lord, Lord, who shall stand” ( Ps. cxxx. 3 .); and it is said, If Thou enterest “into judgment with thy servant” ( Ps. cxliii. 2 .); “A great thing is man”; why? “and an honorable thing is a merciful man.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 13
… But let us not take our definition from them, but whence? From the sacred writings. Where then has the Scripture given a definition of man? Hear its words. “There was a man perfect and upright, one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” ( Job i. 2 .) This was indeed a man! Again, another says, “Man is great, and the merciful man is precious.” (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.2
… when you can do good immediately. For thou knowest not what may happen on the coming day.” Also in the same place: “He who stoppeth his ears that he may not hear the weak, shall himself call upon God, and there shall be none to hear him.” Also in the same place: “He who has his conversation without reproach in righteousness, leaves blessed children.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 33
… We for our part indeed tell him, in answer, that the clause, “Who will boast that he has a pure heart?” is a suitable sequel to the preceding sentence, “whenever a righteous king sits upon the throne.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace 41
… On which account also the mother of the Maccabees says to her son, “That in that mercy I may receive thee with thy brethren.” “For when a righteous king,” as it is written, “shall sit on the throne, no evil thing shall oppose itself to him. Who will boast that he has a pure heart? or who will boast that he is pure from sin?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 41.8
… Accordingly He has not said, “The servant” is not in the house, but “abideth not in the house for ever.” If, then, there shall be no servant there, who will be there? For “when” as the Scripture speaketh, “the righteous king sitteth on the throne, who will boast of having a clean heart? or who will boast that he is pure from his sin?”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Works and Alms 3
… Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, “Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins?”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 8
… i. 10 . Sept.) saith He; and unto the contrary habit I will change you. Let us not therefore give up in despair; for to fall is not so grievous, as to lie where we have fallen; nor to be wounded so dreadful, as after wounds to refuse healing. “For who shall boast that he has his heart chaste? or who shall say confidently that he is pure from sin?” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 125.7
… If your eye offend you or your foot or your hand, cast them from you. To spare your soul spare nothing else. The Lord says: “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” “Who can say,” writes the wise man, “I have made my heart clean?”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 133.2
… “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not:” and again, “if thy people sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not:” and “who can say, I have made my heart clean?”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.2
… although He had done no sin, God made Him sin for us. But we, according to the Epistle of James, “all stumble in many things,” and “no one is pure from sin, no not if his life be but a day long.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.28
xx. 9 . Who can say, I have a clean heart?
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Prov. xx. 9 . “Who will boast that he has a clean heart?” which shows at least that the commandments are not easy, as Pelagius says they are.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Of Holy Virginity 48
48. What now shall I say concerning the very carefulness and watchfulness against sin? “Who shall boast that he hath a chaste heart? or who shall boast that he is clean from sin?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 33
“This,” says he, “is another text of theirs: ‘Who will boast that he has a pure heart?’”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 11
… “For who will boast that he is pure from sins?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.27
… And they are committed, whether by acting, or by speaking, or—and this is the easiest and the quickest—by thinking. From all which things what believer ever will boast that he has his heart pure? or who will boast that he is pure from sin?
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.27
… Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, ‘Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins?’
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.28
… although Cyprian says, nevertheless, no one can be without sin, and whoever should assert that he is blameless is either proud or a fool. Nor is it with reference to anything else that he understands the Scripture, “Who shall boast that he has a pure heart? or who shall boast that he is pure from sins?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 149.7
… For every one ought to exult with fear, for that wherein he exulteth is God’s gift, not his own desert. For there be many that please themselves, and think themselves righteous; and there is another passage which goeth against them, which saith, “Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, and that he is pure from sin?”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.19
… (for he could both collect and supply corn duly, as he also could foresee the famine, and provide against it afar off,) but the property of their fellow countrymen in an illegal manner, for they say, “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell, and the sabbaths, that we may open our stores?” And they corrupt justice with divers measures and balances,
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.9
… Even in common things, false weights and unjust measures are accursed. And if fraud in the market or in business is punished, can it seem free from reproach if found in the midst of the performance of the duties of virtue? Solomon says: “A great and a little weight and divers measures are an abomination before the Lord.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Widows 13
… “A false balance is abomination to the Lord.” There is, then, an excess and a defect in weight, but the Church accepts neither, for: “Excessive and defective weights and divers measures, both of them are alike abominable in the sight of the Lord.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 21.22
… “Let the balance be just and the weights equal, the bushel just and the sextarius equal,” and Solomon also gives a like opinion on this matter: “Great and small weights and double measures are both unclean before the Lord, and one who uses them shall be hindered in his contrivances.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.108
In Solomon, in the Proverbs: “Love not to detract, lest thou be taken away.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) 21
… So easily is my conduct made matter of accusation by them, and so ready are they to vent their calumnies in despite of that Scripture, which says, ‘Love not to slander another, lest thou be cut off
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… The lips of a fool lead him into evil, and the foolhardy speech calleth down death. The man of evil counsel shall suffer much loss. Better is a poor man who is just than a rich man that speaketh lies. It is a glory to a man to turn away from evil words; but he that is foolish bindeth himself therewith.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 5.22
… but in the case of the former there is at the very first a dangerous tendency to devour the brethren; of which it is said, “Do not love backbiting lest thou be rooted out.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 5.16
… “Neither murmur ye,” says he, “as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer:” and of temptation: “Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted and perished by the serpents.” Of backbiting: “Love not backbiting lest thou be rooted out.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 7
… For even when the sinner thinks to find pleasure, the end of that food is not pleasant, as the Wisdom of God saith again, ‘Bread of deceit is pleasant to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… The lips of a fool lead him into evil, and the foolhardy speech calleth down death. The man of evil counsel shall suffer much loss. Better is a poor man who is just than a rich man that speaketh lies. It is a glory to a man to turn away from evil words; but he that is foolish bindeth himself therewith. Love not detraction, lest thou be rooted out.
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.28
17 . Who will boast that he is clean?
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.20
… When they desire any gains of the present world, and are ignorant of the losses they will suffer in the world to come, let them hear what is written, An inheritance to which haste is made in the beginning in the last end shall lack blessing (
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 An Address to Demetrianus 17
… Nor let any one think that this occurred by chance, or think that it was fortuitous, since long ago Scripture has laid down, and said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” And again the Holy Spirit forewarns, and says, “Say not thou, I will avenge myself of mine enemy, but wait on the Lord, that He may be thy help.”
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.14.4
… but on hearing words and terms proper to a work, forthwith drop down to the notion of His being by nature a work, and deny the Word; and this, though it is possible, from His having been made man, to refer all these terms to His humanity? And are they not proved to be ‘an abomination’ also ‘unto the Lord,’ as having ‘diverse weights
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 21.22
… For if we dispense them in one way to ourselves and in another to our brethren, we are rightly blamed by the Lord because we have unfair balances and double measures, in accordance with the saying of Solomon which tells us that “A double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful balance is not good in His sight.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 1.27
27. In another place you maintain that “All are governed by their own free choice.” What Christian can bear to hear this? For if not one, nor a few, nor many, but all of us are governed by our own free choice, what becomes of the help of God? And how do you explain the text,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints 1.42
… and ye shall observe my judgments, and do them.” Let them hear, “Man’s goings are directed by the Lord, and how can a man understand His ways?”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 12.9
… and therefore they do not arrive at the eighth, that is, at eternity, for which this Psalm is entitled. So too it is said by Solomon, “For the wise king is the winnower of the ungodly, and he bringeth on them the wheel of the wicked.—After Thine height Thou hast multiplied the sons of men.”
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Pope St Clement I † AD 99 The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians 21
Take heed, beloved, lest His many kindnesses lead to the condemnation of us all. [For thus it must be] unless we walk worthy of Him, and with one mind do those things which are good and well-pleasing in His sight. For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, “The Spirit of the Lord is a candle searching the secret parts of the belly.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 2.13
… Because, although what you do with an intent which is neither upright nor pure, may turn out for some one’s good, it is the way in which you have done it, not how it has turned out for him, that is reckoned to you.
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.12
… But by the appellation of belly the mind is wont to be understood. For that the mind is called the belly is taught by that sentence in which it is written, The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord , which searcheth all the secret parts of the belly (
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) 11
… Search into the matter, as though Truth were the partner of your throne. She is the defence of Kings, and especially of Christian Kings; with her you will reign most securely, for holy Scripture says, ‘Mercy and truth preserve the king, and they will encircle his throne in righteousness
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.12
… Whence it is written, The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, and stripes in the secret parts of the belly (
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Wine is a thing of luxury. In Hebrew it is a mocker or deceiver is wine. Thus Aquila and Theodotion. Which various ones explain variously. First, the Chaldean translates it, wine is for mockery; Pagninus makes wine a mocker: for the drunk laugh at all things and everything, and turn all laws and sacred things into games, trifles and jests; Vatablus, he who is devoted to wine is a scoffer, he makes tumult who loves it; Aben-Ezra, a mocker of wine, supply, that is to say, "A mocker is a man of wine, that is, addicted to wine." Second, the Zurich Bible translates it, wine is a thing of sport, because namely it makes men playful and ridiculous; for it gives many spirits, which cause effusive joy, which is dissolved into laughter, games and jests. Whence that saying of Homer in Stobaeus: "Wine impelled even the wisest man to sing, to laugh softly and to dance." Third, the Syriac translates it, wine is strong, and drunkenness is shameful. See concerning the strength of wine in III Esdras III, verses 10 and 18. Whence Varro thinks wine is named from vis (strength), because it brings force against reason, mind and the whole man. Fourth, Symmachus and others translate it, wine is pestilent. For thus the Hebrew לץ lets, that is mocker, Our version and the Septuagint sometimes translate as pestilent, that is to say, Wine is a thing most harmful and pestilent, because it robs reason, which is as it were the life and soul of man, by which man is rational, from him, so that man appears to be a beast and brute: whence he pours himself forth into all licentiousness and wantonness. Hence the Septuagint translates fully and forcefully ἀκόλαστον, which signifies many things: first, wanton; second, lustful and unchaste; third, impudent and shameless; fourth, prodigal; fifth, intemperate and immoderate; sixth, immodest, untamed, unbridled; seventh, wicked, lost, impious; all these things befit wine: for wine makes the drunk wanton, unchaste, shameless, prodigal, intemperate, untamed, wicked. Properly ἀκόλαστον is said as it were α, that is without, and κόλασις, that is chastisement, not that which is called punishment, but that which is restraint of appetite, that is to say, Unchastened, unrestrained, unbridled, who does not chasten or restrain his impulses of lust and concupiscence, which wine excites. Hear Gellius, book XIX, chapter II: "That excessive pleasure, he says, from taste and touch, is, as wise men have judged, the foulest of all things, and those especially who have devoted themselves to these two bestial pleasures, the Greeks call with the gravest terms of vice ἀκόλαστος or ἀκρατεῖς; we call them either incontinent or intemperate." Hear St. Basil, homily On Drunkenness: "Incontinence itself, he says, openly flows from wine as from some fountain, which far surpasses all the madness of brutes toward females; for indeed brute animals do not exceed the bounds of nature, but those who are overwhelmed by wine seek in males a female, and in a female in turn a male." And St. Chrysostom, homily On Drunkenness: "For what evil does drunkenness not do? It makes pigs of men, and worse than pigs; for a pig indeed wallows in mud and feeds on filth; but that one feeds at a table more abominable than that, devising illicit intercourse and unlawful loves." Our version, following the Septuagint, translates it, wine is a thing of luxury; where luxury is the same as luxuria. For luxury here signifies not only lust and the venereal thing, but any excess. Whence alluding to this the Apostle, Ephesians V, 18: "Do not, he says, be drunk with wine, in which is ἀσωτία," that is luxury, wantonness, excess, filthiness, unchastity, from luxury." St. Ambrose, book II of the Duties, chapter XXI, reads: "Wine is prodigal, and drunkenness is insulting;" prodigal, because it consumes and squanders wealth. Whence St. Ambrose adds: "It is prodigal to abound in sumptuous feasts and much wine. It is prodigal for the sake of popular favor to empty one's own resources." For wine loosens the mind and makes it effusively joyful and cheerful: by which it comes about that he squanders his own, and makes enormous gifts, and dissipates all his possessions, of which soon, when he is sober, late repentance seizes him. Again prodigal, because it makes the drunk profuse in wantonness, loud laughter, mockery, insults, revelation of secrets, curses, excess, lust: for this prodigality, or luxury, signifies any excess by which man pours himself forth into illicit things. Therefore wine is a thing of luxury, because it creates all luxury; and it is also tumultuous, because it stirs up tumults, quarrels and fights. And so wine, says Jansenius, is called a "thing of luxury," because it provokes men to luxury, prodigality, lust and all wantonness and petulance. He therefore attributes two evils to wine or drunkenness, of which one pertains to immoderate pleasures, the other to disturbances and anger; one to the concupiscible appetite, the other to the irascible faculty. Whence St. Ambrose, in his Exhortation to Virgins: "Drunkenness," he says, "is the mother of all shameful deeds, a tempest of the body, a shipwreck of chastity." Moreover, wine is ἀκόλαστον, that is, untamed, because once it seizes a man, it invades the citadel of the mind, so that man cannot resist it, but allows it to dominate him, indeed from one drunkenness he is drawn to another and another: for the sweetness of wine and habit draw him to this. Hear St. Basil, in his Homily Against Drunkenness: "For when much wine has been poured in," he says, "like a certain tyrant it seeks the citadel, and from the highest peak it brings great tumults to the mind, sparing no thing nor even a ruler; but it first brings reason itself into servitude, then confuses and disturbs that disposition and adornment which has been acquired by learning, with unseemly laughter, horrible voice, precipitous anger, unbridled lust, frenzy and madness toward every pleasure." This is what Solomon says, chapter XXIII, 29: "To whom is woe? to whose father is woe? to whom are quarrels? to whom are pits? to whom are wounds without cause? to whom are reddened eyes? Is it not to those who tarry long at wine, and study to drink cups?" AND TUMULTUOUS DRUNKENNESS. — In Hebrew, and tumultuous strong drink: strong drink is called every drink that intoxicates; the Chaldean [paraphrase], strong drink intoxicates; others, wine makes a mocker, and strong drink a disturber; Pagninus, strong drink makes tumultuous. The Septuagint, δεριστικόν μέθη, that is, drunkenness is injurious, insolent, or contemptuous. So also the Syriac; for, as St. Chrysostom says, in his 54th Homily to the People: "Just as when enemies enter a city and a siege is made, much tumult is produced from the disturbance: so it happens also in the soul when wine creeps in." The same, in his 51st Homily: "Where drunkenness is," he says, "there is the devil; where foul words, where satiety, there demons dance." Aben-Ezra more strictly: The drunken man, he says, tumbles about and cries out, so that wine be poured for him. Morally, Solomon here notes three harms of drunkenness: first, that it makes the drunken into mockers and ridiculous persons like apes; second, that it makes them lustful, petulant and filthy like swine; third, that it makes them quarrelsome and pugnacious like dogs and lions. That these might symbolically represent this, the Deeds of the Romans feign that Noah, who was the inventor of wine, Genesis IX, 20, mixed with the vine and wine the blood of four animals, namely an ape, a lion, a pig and a lamb: for wine intoxicates, and makes the drunken ridiculous like apes; others pugnacious and cruel like lions; others lustful and foul like pigs; others mild, gentle and pious like lambs. Hear St. Basil, homily 44 On Drunkenness: "Drunkenness," he says, "is a voluntary demon, implanted in our souls through pleasure. Drunkenness is the mother of malice, the enemy of virtue; it renders a strong man sluggish, makes a temperate man wanton; it knows not justice, it extinguishes prudence. For as water is adverse to fire, so immoderate wine is to reason, etc. What, I ask, are the drunk other than idols of the Gentiles? They have eyes, and see not." St. Ambrose, in the book On Elias and Fasting: "Drunkenness is the fuel of lust, drunkenness is the incentive of madness, drunkenness is the poison of folly. This changes and forms the senses of men; through this men become neighing horses, etc. They lose their voice, their color varies, their eyes blaze, they pant with their mouth, they snort with their nostrils, they burn in fury, they lose their senses." St. Jerome in chapter V to the Galatians: "Drunkenness holds the fourteenth place among the works of the flesh with the Apostle. For the drunk shall not possess the kingdom of God. And the Lord said to his disciples: Take heed, he says, lest your hearts be overcharged with wine and drunkenness. By wine the senses of man are overturned, his feet fail, his mind wavers, lust is kindled, etc. Beautifully a certain not ignoble orator, when describing a drunkard awakened from sleep, said: He could neither sleep when awakened, nor be awake when drunk. By which saying he expressed in a way that he was neither dead nor alive." St. Chrysostom, homily 57 to the People: "Where drunkenness is, there is the devil. Such a table had that rich man Epulo, wherefore he was not even master of a drop of water." And again, homily 1: "A drunkard is a voluntary demon, an animated corpse, a sickness having no pardon, a ruin lacking excuse, a common reproach of our race. For the drunkard is useless not only in assemblies, or in private and public affairs, but by his very appearance alone is most grievous to all, exhaling the foulest stenches, belchings and yawnings." From the Philosophers, let Seneca stand for all, thus writing to Lucilus: "Say how shameful it is to take in more than one can hold, and not to know the measure of one's stomach. How many things drunkards do, at which the sober blush! that drunkenness is nothing other than voluntary madness, etc. Every vice drunkenness both intensifies and reveals, removing the shame that stands in the way of evil attempts. Where the excessive force of wine has possessed the mind, whatever evil lay hidden emerges." And a little later: "Consider what disasters public drunkenness has wrought. This has delivered fierce and warlike nations to their enemies; this has opened walls defended by persistent warfare of many years; this has brought the most stubborn and those refusing the yoke into subjection to another's will; this has conquered the unconquered in battle by mere wine;" and that arises from wine; for wine inflames the blood, and from this stirs up bile. Wherefore the Nazarites, that they might live free from anger, were commanded to abstain from wine: thus he. Whoever is delighted with these things shall not be wise. — For "is delighted" in Hebrew is שגה soge, that is, erring; but to err in wine and love is to be delighted in the same things, as is clear from chapter V, 19; for whoever is delighted in any thing, in that thing his whole mind errs and wanders, that is, is wholly occupied, clings and feeds. Whence the Septuagint translates, "but every imprudent one is entangled with such things"; or, as Procopius reads, "whoever mingles with these is not wise"; the Complutensian editors, however, "but everyone who loses himself (depriving himself of reason in wine, and as it were casting off his mind) shall not be wise"; the Chaldean, "whoever shall err in it"; the Syriac, "whoever shall burn with it." The sense is, says Salazar, as if to say, Wine not only nourishes lust and kindles anger, but also extinguishes the light of reason and wisdom, not only because in drunkenness reason and mind depart, but because the bibulous also, when they are themselves, are wont to be foolish. Hence that common saying of Menander: "Much unmixed wine compels one to think little." Galen touches on the cause: because unmixed wine is wont to go to the head, and dulls the senses immersed in the brain with excessive moisture. Whence comes that saying of Heraclitus in Stobaeus, discourse 5 On Temperance: "A wine-loving man staggers, and is led by a boy not yet of age, having a moist soul, ignorant whither he goes; but a dry soul is wisest and best." He calls that soul dry whose keenness excessive moisture of wine has not dulled with blunted senses. Again, wine excites the passions of the concupiscible and irascible appetite, which disturb the judgment of reason, so that it cannot discern the truth; for this a calm mind and a temperate body are required. Whence Osee chapter IV: "Fornication," he says, "wine and drunkenness take away the heart;"; see the things said there. Finally, the human soul, gorging itself with wine, depresses itself to material and carnal things, and becomes like beasts and brutes: for wisdom is situated in spiritual things abstracted from sense, as is evident in Angels. The intemperate man therefore becomes dull and brutish like a pig; the temperate man is sharpened, becomes wise and intelligent like an Angel. Hence σωφροσύνη among the Greeks signifies both temperance and prudence; and therefore sobriety, as Aristotle testifies, lib. VI Ethic. cap. V, is called σωφροσύνη as if σώζουσα τὴν φρόνησιν, that is preserving prudence, and, as Socrates says in Plato, as if σωτηρία τῆς φρονήσεως, that is the salvation of prudence and wisdom. Sobriety therefore is the mother of wisdom, the pillar of fortitude, a helmet against lasciviousness, the charioteer of the eyes, the guardian of benevolence, the circumcision of thoughts, the castration of luxury, the harmony of soul and body; it prevents shameful works, promotes continence, bends the heart, applies reason as a rule to prayers and vows. Drunkenness and intemperance do the very opposite. Hence also the Philosophers, that they might be apt for the study of philosophy, carefully abstained from wine-drinking, gluttony, and luxury. And, as I asserted in Paradise: "It is in no way fitting for a philosopher to occupy himself with the pleasures of taste and touch." Whence when someone asked Plato: "Whence comes such wisdom to you?" he answered: "Because I have consumed more oil in a lamp than wine in a cup." Aristotle also in his Problems confesses "that lovers of sweets are foolish." Nor is it inconsistent with this that it is written of wisdom in Job: "It is not found in the land of those living sweetly." Hence, as Dionysius says lib. IV Proverb. suorum, cap. V, Cyril writes: "Wine is honey to the mouth, but poison gall to the head; it heals in the mouth, burns in the belly, smokes in the head, dulls the senses, confounds vigor, destroys imagination, takes away the mind, clouds the sight, loosens the nerves, makes the tongue stammer and dishonors it, makes the hands tremble, inflames the breast, foams up lasciviousness, enervates the generative power, disorders the gait, and lays waste the whole body, so that from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there is no health in it." Thus Dionysius. First, Lyra, Hugo, Dionysius and others, by the divisions of waters, understand that primordial separation of waters, by which God at the beginning of the world divided the upper waters from the lower, interposing the firmament in the middle. Gen. i, 8, as if to say: Just as God at first divided the upper waters from the lower, so he divides the heart of the king, now elevating it, so that he may think and undertake great and sublime things; now depressing it, so that he may think and deal with lowly and humble things: indeed he now raises up the king himself, so that he may be powerful; now depresses him, so that he may be abject and common, as he depressed the proud Nebuchadnezzar.
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For lion in Hebrew is כפיר kephir, that is, a young lion or whelp of a lion: for this reason, driven by hunger with a roaring stomach, it roars more fiercely at prey than an aged lion. We have heard and explained the first hemistich of this verse in the preceding chapter, verse 12. The Septuagint translates: the threats of a king do not differ from the fury of a lion; but he that provoketh him sinneth against his own soul. For provoketh, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translate, ὑπερθαίνων, that is, he that insulteth; Pagninus, he that is angry with him; the Syriac, the fury of the king roareth as a lion; he that inflameth him with anger sinneth against his own soul; R. Solomon, he that stirreth up anger against the king. The Hebrew מתעבר mitabber, since it is hitpael, signifies an action of the agent reflected upon itself, or an action which endeth in passion, as if to say, passing into anger, and causing anger to pass upon himself, that is, his anger bursting forth in insults and curses provoketh upon himself the anger and vengeance of the king. The Complutensian editors add καὶ ἐπιμιγνύμενος, that is, and he that mixeth, namely himself in the king's affairs, saith the Author of the Catena of the Greeks. Whence St. Ambrose, book II of the Apology of David, chapter III, readeth: "The anger of the king differeth not from the anger of a lion; he that stirreth him and mixeth with him sinneth against his own soul, that is, against his own life, because by exposing it to the anger of the king, he exposeth it to certain danger of death and vengeance: as Clitus, reproving Alexander, was slain by him. Secondly, 'against his soul,' that is, against his conscience, because he woundeth it with the most grievous crime of disobedience, irreverence and contempt, Rom. XIII, 1 and seq. One could also take τὸ mixeth or mixeth thus, as if to say, Not only he that provoketh the anger of the king sinneth against his own soul, but also he that mixeth and associateth himself with him that provoketh. For as fire not only burneth the wood cast upon it, but also spreadeth to neighbouring things and consumeth them: so also the anger of the king rageth not only against those who provoke it, but against their parents, friends and associates. To this pertaineth that passage of Isaiah XXV, verse 4: "The spirit of the mighty as a whirlwind driving against a wall." The spirit of the king, most fierce and violent, rageth and raveth sometimes, riseth up suddenly, driveth dark clouds of threats, overturneth all things in its way, stirreth up seas, and growing stronger against the most solid buildings and most ancient oaks, threateneth; whom to calm and restrain belongeth to Him alone who "commandeth the winds and the sea;" for "it is not in the power of man to prohibit such a spirit." St. Ambrose addeth: "Beware therefore lest any one stir up authority, lest the soul ensnared in snares by vice cannot cast off the vice," as if to say, Do not provoke the anger of the king, because by provoking his anger thou stirrest up his power; but anger armed with power is uncontrollable: for it is like a net which on one side anger, on the other side power, enmesheth and entangleth the soul of the king, so that it cannot cast off this vice of anger; for immediately when he wisheth to lay down his anger, power and majesty intervene, saying that they are injured, and demanding vengeance. Except the case in which the king commandeth something against God: for then the anger of God is to be feared more than the anger of the king. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 5 On the words of Isaiah, praising Azarias the high priest, who rebuked Ozias the king wishing contrary to right and law to offer incense to God; for this is the proper office of priests and high priests: "He regarded not, saith he, the pride of authority; he weighed not how great a thing it was to restrain a mind drunk with desire; he heard not that saying of Solomon: The threats of a king, as the fury of a lion; but lifting up his eyes to heaven, and considering those punishments, and that tribunal, and arming himself with these thoughts, he made an assault upon the tyrant. He knew, he knew, I say, that the threat of the king was like the fury of a lion, only to those who looked upon the earth. But to a man who had heaven before his eyes, and who had so disposed his mind that he would sooner lay down his life than see the sacred laws violated, that king was viler than any dog. For nothing is more weak than he who trampleth upon divine laws; and on the other hand nothing is more powerful than he who defendeth divine laws. For he that committeth sin is the servant of sin, even though he have ten thousand crowns upon his head. Again, if any one doeth justice, he is more kingly than the king himself, even though he be the lowest of all." Fitly is this verse subjoined to the preceding, because wine and drunkenness make the drunkard impudent, wrathful and mad, so that he attacketh any one with reproaches and quarrels, and spareth not the king or prince; wherefore he bringeth upon himself his anger and vengeance. Thus Baynus. Fitly also is the king compared to a lion, and the anger of the king to the roar of a lion, because as the lion excelleth among animals, and is their king and prince, so also is the king among the people, and as loftiness sharpeneth anger in the lion, so also doth majesty injured sharpen fury in the king. Wherefore he that provoketh and stirreth up the king provoketh and stirreth up a lion; for a lion, unless stirred up, is not angry, but when stirred up it rageth fiercely, and cannot be calmed: so also the king beareth a lion as it were in his heart, so that if thou stir it up, thou shalt experience the claws of the lion.
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that is, contentions; for these break forth into reproaches and insults. In Hebrew, it is glory for a man to cease from strife (Aquila, to desist) from litigation; whoever involves himself in litigation is a fool; the Septuagint, it is glory for a man to turn away from insult: but every fool is entangled with such things; Symmachus, it is glorious to separate oneself from hateful contention. For "is entangled" in Hebrew is יתגלע vitgala, which the Syriac and Chaldean render as "mocks": Everyone, they say, who is foolish mocks, namely contention, that is, contentions and litigations as if laughing and playing he undertakes them; but afterwards, feeling their harms, he repents too late. R. Solomon renders it, "shall be revealed," as if to say, The reproaches and ignominy of the fool, who does not separate himself from contention, shall be revealed and made manifest. For the angry and contentious cast all vices and reproaches, even secret ones which they know, at one another mutually, and openly upbraid them. Whence also Symmachus renders it, "but the fool is revealed," or "reveals himself." Aben-Ezra connects this verse with the preceding one, as if to say, A king bestows honor upon a quarrelsome man when he ceases from quarreling and removes himself from dissensions; upon him, I say, from whom he had been inflamed to anger. But this is too narrow; for these maxims are general, and therefore often disparate and not connected with one another. Therefore by this meaning, as also by many others, Solomon dissuades from litigations and quarrels, and meets a tacit objection, and thus points out and cuts off the source of evil, as if to say, Men are accustomed, if they are touched by a harsh word, to undertake litigations, and to this desire of theirs they attach a pretext of their own name's fame and honor. For they say: Such a one has injured my honor; therefore I must bring a suit against him, so that I may recover my honor taken from him by him. Again, if a suit has been begun, and in its course they discover it to be unjust, or very troublesome and harmful, they are unwilling to cease from it, nor to retreat, lest they appear to have begun it unjustly or rashly, or to yield victory to the adverse party. But they err, because the honor and glory of a man is not to begin a suit, and if one has been begun, to cease from it. The first reason is that litigations bring a thousand cares, troubles, sorrows, dangers, ignominies, waste of wealth, etc., which bring far more harm than any profit can be hoped for from the suit, even if it were adjudged to us, which nevertheless is uncertain and doubtful. It is therefore the part of the wise man to cut off one not yet born, or to cut down one already born immediately. The second is that litigations take away peace and charity, which surpasses all the goods of the world. Whence Cardinal Bellarmine truly said: "An ounce of peace and charity is better than a pound of victory." What is more honorable than peace? What is more glorious than charity? The third is that litigations, unless they are cut off, grow immensely, and become immortal and irreconcilable, according to that in chapter XVII, 11: "The wicked man always seeks quarrels; but a cruel angel shall be sent against him." And that in chapter XVIII, verse 6: "The lips of the fool are mixed up in quarrels, and his mouth provokes disputes." Wherefore the wise compare a suit to a serpent, which, when it has inserted its head through a hole, then brings its whole body through it, insinuates and creeps in. Hence one suit begets another, and another without end, just as one strawberry plant begets another and another, so that it spreads through the whole garden. For this reason Solomon prudently says in chapter XVII, verse 14: "He that letteth out water, he saith, is the beginning of strife; and before he suffereth reproach, he forsaketh judgment." And Ecclesiasticus, chapter XXVIII, verse 10: "Refrain thyself from strife." See the things said there. The fourth is that a suit with one's neighbor begets an internal suit with the soul; for the soul of the angry and litigant man seethes perpetually with a thousand passions, disputes and litigates with itself, while anger and the desire for vengeance struggle and clash with right reason forbidding it. Whence St. Ambrose, and from him Dionysius: "Contention," he says, "is an assault upon truth with the confidence of clamor. It is better to depart with peace and grace than to dwell with contention and discord. It is better to go without suit than to resist with quarreling." For, as St. James says, chapter III, verse 15: "For this is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, sensual, devilish; for where envying and contention is, there is inconstancy and every evil work." The source of all evil is pride, and from it hidden hatred in the heart, by which one is unwilling to yield to his neighbor, nor to be reconciled, much less to seek reconciliation, and to ask for it first. For worldly men esteem this as vile and inglorious. But they err, because it is honorable to seek a work of heroic virtue, namely reconciliation and friendship; wherefore he who first occupies it and forestalls the adverse party and seeks peace, this man is without doubt magnanimous, because he is the victor and master of anger and vengeance, and therefore worthy of great honor and glory; and because he puts to sleep and destroys enmities both in himself and in his enemies. But this is a heroic, magnanimous and glorious work. That this is so is evident from the manner of God; for God, to whom all honor and glory befit, forestalls sinners with His grace, and admonishes them that they wish to be reconciled to Him, indeed He sent Christ for this, according to that of the Apostle: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." God therefore this work, namely that someone first reconcile himself to his enemy, has honored, adorned and glorified by His own example. For who would deem unbecoming there what God deemed becoming to Himself? Hear St. Basil in the Melissa of Antonius, part II, cap. LXVIII: "In contests of wickedness he is more wretched who has conquered, because he departs more burdened with sins;" and St. Gregory of Nazianzus: "It is better to be honorably defeated than to conquer dangerously and unjustly. Those who are of warlike genius seek their glory from public harm, and glory in their dishonor." And St. Chrysostom in the same place: "Why do we rashly fight among ourselves? Why do we war with one another, to whom it is commanded that we love those who hate us?" Following Solomon, the Philosophers profess the same. Euripides in the Andromache: "From a wicked beginning, he says, the tongue of man produces great disputes. But the wise avoid this, lest they stir up any contention among friends." The same in the Protesilaus: "When one of two conversing is indignant, he who does not oppose himself is wiser." Demosthenes, when provoked by someone with insults: "I would not wish, he said, to descend with you into this kind of contest, in which he who is defeated is better than the victor." Aristippus, when attacked with insults by someone: "It is in your power, he said, to speak evil; but it is in my power to hear rightly." Musonius in the discourse Whether a Philosopher will undertake action against someone for injuries: "It is better, he said, and more fitting for an excellent man, to overcome injury than litigation. Whoever is magnanimous cuts off litigation and spares his adversary." Pittacus, when he could have avenged the one who injured him, spared him saying: "Pardon is better than vengeance. For that is of a mild nature, this of a savage." Pythagoras: "Consider it great skill, he said, that you are able to bear the ignorance of others." Theophrastus: "He who avenges himself on his enemy with harm gives punishment rather than receives it from him; but you should not avenge yourself on enemies in such a way that you harm yourself more than them." Plutarch, in the tract On the Utility to be Derived from Enemies: "Silence, he said, in the insults of others carries something I know not what excellent, Socratic, or rather Herculean. For indeed he cared not for hateful words any more than for a fly." Seneca: "Nothing is more shameful than to wage war with one with whom you have lived familiarly." Valerius Maximus: "Complete victory is to be silent to one who cries out, and not to answer one who provokes." For he has both reward and glory from his patience, and from the healing of his neighbor. Wherefore just as nothing is more unseemly than to answer the raging, so nothing is more useful than to be silent to the provoked. Finally, the wise man, knowing that saying of Seneca to be true: "To be reviled by the wicked is praise," is not moved by words of insult.
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In Hebrew, he will ask in harvest and not, supply, receive or find. For cold in Hebrew is חרף choreph, which properly signifies reproach or upbraiding, as the Septuagint translates it. Hence winter, which is bare, dreadful and cold, as it were a reproach and disgrace of the whole year; hence childhood and adolescence, which commits many things worthy of laughter and reproach through imprudence. For to plough in Hebrew is חרש charas, which signifies first, to plough; second, to fabricate; third, to be silent; fourth, to become deaf. For he will beg in Hebrew is שאל schaal, which signifies first, to ask; second, to beg; third, to lend; fourth, to borrow or ask for. First, the Chaldean translates: the sluggard endures want and does not keep silent; he will ask in harvest and will not have; the Syrian: it is lacking to the sluggard, he asks in harvest and there is not, that is to say, the sluggard, while enduring want from the omission of ploughing and labour, does not keep silent, but exposes his want everywhere with groaning; hence he asks in vain in harvest, and no one cares to give to him as unworthy on account of his sluggishness. Second, the Septuagint translates: the reproached sluggard is not ashamed; likewise also he who receives grain by usury in harvest, that is to say, the sluggard is so idle and torpid that, even if someone reproaches him for his sluggishness and thence his want, he does not blush: preferring to be torpid and to beg with shame than to prepare sustenance for himself with labour. Such is he who, when he was unwilling to plough in winter, is forced in harvest to receive grain at usury, when he has nothing wherewith to repay. For he prefers the burden of usury and interest with idleness and torpor than to rejoice in harvest in the fruit of his labour and ploughing. Third, our translator renders it most excellently, with whom Symmachus agrees when he translates: on account of cold the sluggard will not plough, and he will ask in harvest and will not find; and the Zurich Bible: because of cold the sluggard does not plough, but begging in harvest he will take nothing; Vatable: and he will ask his servant about the harvest, whether it be good? and there will be none. The obvious, easy and plain sense is, that is to say, the sluggard in winter fleeing labour and cold neglects to cultivate his field; wherefore he will gather no harvest in summer, but will be forced to ask by begging either alms or a loan, that he may live. But there will scarcely be anyone who will give to him, both because his sluggishness has made him unworthy, and because no one will lend to him, knowing that on account of his poverty he is not able to pay, nor can repay. To this pertains the proverb of the Apostle, II Corinthians IX, 6: "He that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he that soweth in blessings (that is, abundantly and liberally) shall also reap of blessings." And: "If any man will not work, neither let him eat," II Thessalonians III, 10. Tropologically and anagogically, the Fathers refer this to the torpor of good works, especially almsgiving, by which the sluggish neglect to work well and to labour in this life, fearing through sloth the harshness and troubles of virtue, and therefore in the other life they will beg; but no one will help them, according to the parable of the virgins asking for oil when the bridegroom comes, Matthew XXV. For, as the Apostle says, Galatians VI, 8: "For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh shall of the flesh also reap corruption; but he that soweth in the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And in doing good, let us not fail; for in due time we shall reap, not failing." Thus St. Gregory, III part. Pastor. admonition 16: "On account of cold, he says, indeed the sluggard does not plough, while constrained by sloth and torpor, he considers and dissimulates the good things which he ought to do. On account of cold indeed the sluggard does not plough, while he fears small evils set against him and neglects to do great things. But it is well said: He will beg in summer and it will not be given to him. For he who now does not toil in good works, when the sun of judgment shall appear more fervent, because he asks in vain for entrance to the kingdom, begging in summer receives nothing." Cardinal Hugo brings two other expositions. The first is: "The sluggard (that is, the lukewarm) on account of cold (of charity) was unwilling to plough," that is to say, he refused to serve in the field or vineyard of the Church. "Therefore he will beg in summer," namely in the day of judgment. The latter: A man, growing lukewarm by the cold of charity, is unwilling to break up the field of his heart with the ploughshare of penance and to sow it with good works. "He will therefore beg in summer," namely when death is now at hand, when sickness grows worse, and fever burns intensely, he will ask for time for penance, "and it will not be given to him." Rabbi Solomon adds: "On account of the cold, he says, the sluggard was unwilling to plough, that is, fearing the frost, the idle and sedentary man lies down, and performs no work, and has no leisure for the study of the law." And Rabbi Levi: "The sluggard, he says, at the beginning of the matter will not be zealous to plough his body, that is, to prepare himself for receiving the formation of instruction, and therefore will not be able to acquire wisdom, nor will he expend any effort in it; from which it will come to pass that the mind given by God will not bear opportune fruits." Moreover, the present life is aptly compared to winter, the future life in heaven to summer, both because this life is full of sorrow, harshness, ignorance and darkness; and because it is destined for ploughing, that is, for labor to produce the fruits of happiness and glory. In the future and heavenly life, however, the darkness and cold of this life having been dispelled, the eternal day will shine with the perpetual brightness and warmth of the divine Sun, and will give the harvest of all happiness. This is what is said in the Canticle II, 11: "For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers have appeared in our land." And Psalm CXXV, 6: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds. But coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves." To this pertains the Hebrew proverb: "He who on the eve of the Sabbath did not prepare what he might eat on the Sabbath day, shall not eat on the Sabbath," that is, he who does not labor, so that he might gather to himself the merits of good works in this life, shall not receive the reward of life and eternal glory in the future. For this age is one of labor and merit, but the future one of rest and reward.
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The Syriac version: the counsel of deep waters in the heart of a king. For "and" in Hebrew is also used for "but"; truly "and" in Hebrew is put for "but," "for," "although," and any other conjunction, inasmuch as the Hebrews lack these. Whence in this place the Septuagint also translates "and" as "but." First, Aben-Ezra expounds it, that is to say: Just as deep waters are cold and transparent, for they are not disturbed by any feet: so too wisdom and counsel, by which the heart abounds in prudence, will be sincere and clear. "But a wise man," etc., that is to say: A man, however, once he has become possessed of prudence, will draw counsel from his own heart, that is, he will be a teacher to himself, and will acquire this by his own diligence. Hugo adds: Counsel, he says, is compared to the deep water of a man on account of washing, on account of irrigation, on account of fruitfulness, on account of cooling. Second, R. Solomon, that is to say: The doctrine of the wise man is set apart in the innermost recesses of the soul; but if a prudent disciple should approach him, he will fish out and draw from his very heart, that is to say: Women are similar to fountains bursting forth above the ground, which immediately pour out all the water they receive: for thus women pour forth whatever they know. But men of prudent and cautious heart are similar to deep wells, who conceal their doctrine, and therefore they increase and fill their mind like a well, with water of doctrine always flowing in through meditation and assiduous study; wherefore a wise man will continually draw from them and learn, so that he himself may make his mind a deep well of doctrine. Third, our Salazar thinks there is a hypallage, wherefore the words should be arranged thus: The doctrine in the heart of an erudite man is deep like a well, wherefore he who shall exhaust it will surely become and be a wise man; for just as wells springing from below, the more waters are drawn from them, the more they overflow, for waters flow of their own accord to the place recently exhausted: so also it happens with teachers; for the more doctrine and deep wisdom are drawn from them, the greater and deeper wisdom flows into them. Then the hearers zealous for wisdom are admonished that it is not obvious and easy to acquire doctrine, but like the deepest water it must be exhausted with great labor. "The man exhausting it will be wise;" it embraces the principal duties of the best hearer: silence, namely, lest he pour out what he has heard; humility of mind and docility, so that he may adapt himself to discipline; perseverance, so that he may attain to the deepest dogmas of wisdom; effort and strength, lest he grow faint; and he shows that all these things are necessary for acquiring wisdom. Fourth, properly and genuinely, by "counsel" understand the secret thoughts, counsels, intentions, machinations of a cautious and prudent man: for these are deep; but nevertheless they can be drawn out and brought forth by a wise man, according to that: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah XVII, 9. Whence Lyra, by counsel, understands a secret. Thus Vatablus, who translates: as deep water is counsel in the heart of a man; but a man of understanding will draw it out; and thus he explains it, that is to say: It is difficult to extract counsel from the mind of a man. And R. Levi: Counsel, he says, lying hidden in the heart of a man is not so easily discovered, but only after singular investigation, since it is like deep water, the things beneath which can scarcely be reached; but a prudent man by diligent investigation and careful study will draw counsel from his soul. And the Author of the Greek Catena from the Septuagint thus translates and explains: and if counsel in the heart of a cunning man is hidden like deep water, nevertheless a prudent man will exhaust it, that is to say: "And if the counsel of a deceitful man is like a gulf or a certain deep well, nevertheless a prudent man will exhaust it, and bring it forth into manifest light." And Jansenius understands these things concerning the thoughts and counsels by which some wise man has determined what to do. For such counsels and decrees of the mind he who truly has a manly spirit does not reveal like women to just anyone, but keeps hidden in the innermost recesses of his heart, like deep water, so that not just anyone can easily fish it out and understand it. Nevertheless a prudent man, and one endowed with much intelligence, knows how to draw out from the depth of another's heart, and as it were to exhaust deep water, counsel hidden in the heart; for he knows by various means how to penetrate what was hidden counsel in the heart of a man. For he employs many circumlocutions and speeches remote from the matter, opens certain things of his own, and does many other things by which he may perceive what was hidden. This saying therefore signifies that prudent men are deep and secretive, and that by wisdom and shrewdness they discover various practices and methods of fishing out the counsels and secrets of others. Wherefore you should understand this likewise of any counsels with which the heart of the wise man is full, and by which he himself instructs, advises, and teaches others, whether in civil, domestic, or spiritual matters: for these, because they are deep, are difficult to grasp; but nevertheless a prudent man, constantly drawing them in, hearing and meditating upon them, will at length perceive them. Thus Paul spoke wisdom in mystery, I Corinthians II. Thus Christ taught profound wisdom through parables, which his hearers scarcely grasped; yet the Apostles, questioning him in secret, learned their meaning and sense from Christ interpreting them. For others, being worldly and carnal, did not grasp the sublime and profound counsels of Christ: for they seemed paradoxes to them; such as: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. He that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto life eternal. If thou wilt be exalted, humble thyself. Die, that thou mayest live. Be poor in spirit, that thou mayest be rich in heaven. If thou wilt be blessed, suffer persecution for Christ." But the wise, namely true Christians, spiritual and religious men, grasp these things, and by practicing them exhaust their meaning. The Septuagint for "shall exhaust" renders ἐξαντλήσει, that is, shall pump out; by which word is signified that to draw out and extract the deep counsels of a prudent man, there is needed not only a rope and bucket, but a pump, indeed a tubular machine (for water in its depth is so confined that it does not admit a bucket, but only a tube or channel); just as by that means water from great depths is raised upward and brought forth through narrow tubes by the suction or drawing of air, so by the keen and shrewd investigation of the wise man's counsel, hidden in the heart, is drawn upward to the mouth and elicited. For from the tubes the air lying in them and confined is drawn upward by the pump, and therefore to prevent a vacuum the water is forced to rise from its depth, to fill the internal space of the tubes, which the air has left by being drawn upward through the pump and left empty. So likewise when the wise mix various questions and interrogations, they hear various answers, from which by comparing them together they elicit the secret lying in the heart of the respondent, indeed they force him to confess and reveal it, lest he appear empty-minded or foolish. For the wise collect effects from causes, consequences from antecedents, they conjecture about a thing from its signs, they divine from connected things what are wont to be joined and accompanied together; for given one of the connected things, the other must necessarily accompany and be given. Finally, from places and topical arguments the Dialecticians search out, infer and collect many things. Understand these things for the most part to be so. Yet sometimes the contrary happens; for there are some so cautious and guarded that you would sooner draw water from pumice than a secret from their mouth and heart. Wherefore such men are greatly esteemed in the courts of princes; for princes, who wish their counsels to be most secret, communicate them only to those who are secretive and close-mouthed. Hence they give this first command to their legates, that they conceal the secrets of their prince, but fish out those of others. For in secrecy consists the force and nerve of accomplishing a matter, as I have noted elsewhere. Therefore in courts you sometimes see a great contest among legates, while some strive to fish out the secrets of others, and others carefully conceal them; but he wins who excels in wisdom and cunning. There are those who use this practice to fish out secrets: They invite others to a banquet, treat them lavishly, overwhelm them with wine and drinking, and when they have become merry and intoxicated, they inquire after secrets. "For in wine is truth, and what lies hidden in the heart of the sober man, this swims in the mouth of the drunk."
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The Hebrew has, word for word, a multitude of man shall call a man of mercy, or of his grace; and a man אמונים emunim, that is of truths, or of faithfulnesses, firmnesses and constancies, who shall find? Whence First, Aben-Ezra, that is the son of Ezra, thus translates: Many men proclaim their beneficence, as the Pharisees, who when about to give alms sounded a trumpet, Matt. VI, 2. But who shall find a faithful man, who confers benefits and does not proclaim the same? or who is he that speaks true things of himself? Secondly, Pagninus translates, a great man's mercy shall each one proclaim, and a true man who shall find? For it is written: "Every man is a liar," Ps. CXV, 11, as if to say, Many are found merciful, but few truthful. Or, as if to say, Many proclaim by word, and exalt to heaven the beneficence of their benefactors: but those who are faithful in deed, that is who repay and compensate benefits with benefits, are very rare. Thus R. Levi. Thirdly, the same R. Levi explains, as if to say, Many are those who exercise mercy once or twice: but those who are faithful in it, that is constant and perpetual in it, are very rare. Fourthly, Cajetan translates, many are called men of grace, but a faithful man who shall find? as if to say, Many are those who willingly accept free benefits and give thanks; but those who faithfully care for the affairs of others entrusted to their trust are very few, as if to say, It is magnificent to bestow grace upon others, but to commit one's own affairs to another to administer is unsafe and dangerous: for few faithful men are found; for all seek what is their own. Fifthly, Vatable translates, many invoke a man upon whom they have conferred benefits; but a faithful man who shall find? as if to say, How rare is he who, although called upon and invoked by his benefactor, is found mindful of the benefit received, grateful, and one who repays? Others translate, many wish to be called beneficent, but do not perform in deed what they are said to be, responding little to their own name. Sixthly, our Salazar, as if to say, Many are those who mercifully bestow their own upon others, and few who are faithful, that is just, so as not to seize what belongs to others, or having seized it to restore it, as if to say, It is easier to exercise mercy than to preserve justice; it is easier to impart one's own than to restore what belongs to others, or not to desire it. For thus we see many making alms from plunder, indeed giving it to the temple; but unwilling to restore it to its owners, lest they appear as plunderers and unjust. Seventhly, Bede, R. Solomon, Jansenius and others explain, as if to say, Many are called merciful, but few are faithful in mercy. Many have the name of merciful, but few have faith, that is the reality and truth, because namely in almsgiving they seek ostentation, profit or some other interest: whence they do it falsely, not faithfully, that is truly and sincerely for God's sake; so that there is an antithesis between being called merciful and being faithful, as if to say, Many are called merciful and faithful, but few are so in reality. Eighth, fully and adequately, Scripture is accustomed to join mercy and faithfulness, or truth and justice; and by mercy it understands a liberal and unowed work of virtue, but by faithfulness a necessary and owed work, which is manifold, as manifold are the laws and likewise the duties to which each person has obliged himself. Solomon therefore says: It is easy to be merciful, because he who exercises mercy by turns at his pleasure is called merciful, and as such is praised by all; but a man who is faithful in all things, that is, who sincerely, wholly and faithfully carries out all things to which he is bound by laws, and likewise all things to which he is obliged by duty, is difficult to find. For many give alms, but meanwhile they rob, deceive, defraud others: many therefore are merciful, but faithful ones are rare. For the faithful man must be faithful at all times, and is obliged to perform many things from faithfulness, which to perform all faithfully is difficult. Whence Lyra and Dionysius apply these to the faithfulness of correcting vices, that is to say, "Many men are called merciful," who nevertheless are not so in truth, but rather are pusillanimous, leaving vices unpunished; therefore it is added: "But a faithful man" in the correction of vices, according to the duty imposed upon him, "who shall find?" that is to say, rarely is he found. For which reason it is said in Luke XVIII: "The Son of Man coming, thinkest thou, shall find faith on earth," that is, faithfulness, namely a faithful man, who, setting aside human fear and favor, does justice? Thus far Lyra. Whence St. Augustine, sermon 13 On the Saints, from recently discovered works: "Have you not," he says, "in you the bowels of Christian piety, so that you weep for the body from which the soul has departed, and do not weep for the soul from which God has departed?" that is to say, A rare man so faithful, not flattering his friend, nor abandoning truth. For here is opposed איש חסדו is chasdo, that is, a man of his mercy, that is, devoted to his works of piety, which his own devotion suggests to him, to איש אמונים is emunim, that is, to a man of truths, faithfulnesses, firmnesses, constancies, that is to say, Who is not faithful once, but everywhere and always faithful, like unto himself and constant like the holy Constantius and Constantine. He therefore is emunim, who puts aside his own advantages for faithfulness, who carries out his duties whole with faithfulness, who in temptation does not allow himself to be moved from duty, who neither by threats, nor by promises, nor by gifts allows himself to be drawn away from what is equitable and just, who resists iniquity even unto death and martyrdom, who corrects those whom he ought to correct by duty, and spares no one, however powerful. A merciful man therefore is easy to find, because both the kindness of nature and the praise of men invite to mercy: but a faithful man, who in any adversity remains faithful to God and men, who in any virtue everywhere remains consistent with himself, who resists the impious courageously, who spends his life for faith, who alone persists in faith when others fail from faith, like unto Tobias I, 5, who shall find? Surely this man is rare and difficult to find. A rare bird on earth, and most like to a black swan. Such a man of faithfulness was Abraham, who proved faithful to God even unto the immolation of his son Isaac. Such a man of faithfulness was Joseph, who showed himself faithful to his master even unto calumny and imprisonment. Whence Mathathias, dying, exhorting Judas and his other sons the Machabees to show faithfulness to God in the persecution of Antiochus: "Now," he says, "pride has been strengthened and chastisement, and the time of overthrow, and the wrath of indignation; now therefore, O sons, be zealous for the law, and give your souls for the covenant of your fathers, and remember the works of your fathers, which they did in their generations; and you shall receive great glory, and an eternal name. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reputed to him unto justice? Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and was made lord of Egypt. Phinees our father, being zealous with the zeal of God, received the covenant of eternal priesthood. Jesus, whilst he fulfilled the word, was made a leader in Israel." And Judith, VIII, 22, exhorting her people to constancy in the siege of Holofernes: "They ought to be mindful," she says, "how our father Abraham was tempted, and being proved by many tribulations, became the friend of God. So Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all who pleased God, passed through many tribulations faithful. But those who did not receive tribulations with the fear of the Lord, and poured out their impatience and the reproach of their murmuring against God, were destroyed by the destroyer, and perished by serpents." Thus God praises Moses for his faith, Num. XII, 7: "But not so my servant Moses," he says, "who is most faithful in all my house." Whence also he subjoins the reward: "For mouth to mouth I speak to him; and plainly, and not by riddles and figures does he see the Lord." And Christ commends and rewards the Apostles for their faith: "You," he says, "are they who have continued with me in my temptations, and (therefore) I dispose unto you, as my Father hath disposed unto me, a kingdom; that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom," Luke XXII, 28. Furthermore the Septuagint, translating the Hebrew rab, that is, many or multitude, render it great or greatness, thus transferring it: a great man, and a precious man of mercy; but a faithful man it is hard to find. St. Chrysostom cites this saying of Solomon, homily 4 on the epistle to the Philippians, at the end. His words, which by some are cited incorrectly, have precisely this sense: "What is a great thing in a man, for what reason? and precious," he says, "is a man of mercy. For this is a merciful man: nay, to have mercy is to be God. Do you see how great is the power of God's mercy? It made all things, it wrought the world, it made the Angels for the sake of goodness alone. Therefore also it threatened hell, that we might obtain the kingdom: but we obtain the kingdom through mercy. By what reason, when he was alone, did he make so many and such great things? Was it not for the sake of goodness? Was it not for the sake of benignity?" Note that he says: "Nay, to have mercy is to be God," that is to say, it is proper to God and to divinity to communicate itself, to do good, and to have mercy on the wretched, so much so that this appears to be his proper character and nature, and so that God appears to be God through beneficence and mercy. Wherefore those who imitate it become divine, and are as it were certain earthly gods, according to that saying of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, On the Care of the Poor: "Be a merciful god." Moreover the Author of the Greek Catena reads thus from the Septuagint and explains it: "Man is a great thing, inasmuch as he is created according to the image and likeness of God. But if man has embraced mercy according to its practice and the other virtues, he becomes precious from being great. Meanwhile to find someone from among men who does his duty for the honor of God and from faith is a rare and very difficult thing: for τὸ opus here means the same as what is arduous or difficult, namely to find such a one." And St. Ambrose, in Psalm CXVIII, octave 18: "It is indeed a great charge, if one knows himself, and a certain form of justice, born to the world rather than to himself. Whence Solomon says: Great is man and precious the merciful man; but a faithful man is hard to find. And truly great is he who is the interpreter of the divine work and an imitator of God. For man is he who could say: Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ. He cultivates the earth, uses the sea as a possession, the ornaments of heaven he greatly admires as their asserter. The nature of things would have perished, unless he who used them had been added by divine providence. Finally, after God made heaven and earth and seas, after he brought forth all creeping things, flying things, and living creatures, he made man, whom he set before the living creatures. Concerning which not undeservedly the heavenly sentence resulted: Let us make man to our image and likeness. The same St. Ambrose, in the 3rd oration at the funeral of the Emperor Theodosius, vol. V, adapts this sentence to Theodosius and celebrates his mercy and faith. Finally St. Hilary in Psalm CXVIII, letter iod: "Great," he says, "is man, and precious the merciful man; but a faithful man is hard to find. For what is so difficult, or what is so arduous a work, as to find him who remembers that he was made according to the image and likeness of God, intent upon the study of divine utterances, who has known the reason of his soul and body, and has perceived the origin of each kind and the nature thereof, to which end finally this institution of his and his birth tends? And on this account man is something great. For this name, when neglecting the knowledge of the things mentioned above he falls into vices, he loses, being judged unworthy to be called man. And since he was made according to the image and likeness of God, according to the reproaches of the Prophets and Gospels, he is called a serpent, or a brood of vipers, or a horse, or a mule, or a fox, and the property of his name, when he has fallen from innocence, is taken from him." Therefore man is something great if merciful, but a faithful man is necessary; for everywhere fidelity is needed and faithful officials and ministers, to whom we entrust ourselves and our affairs, especially matters of conscience and salvation. Such was St. Paul, who therefore, in I Timothy I, 12, says: "I give thanks to him who has strengthened me in Christ Jesus our Lord, because he esteemed me faithful, putting me in the ministry." Such ministers, namely Priests and Bishops, Christ sought, and taught that they should be sought in the Church, Matthew chapter XXIV, 45: "Who, think you," he says, "is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom, when his lord shall come, he shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, that he shall set him over all his goods." And Christ writing to the Bishop of Smyrna, Apocalypse II, 10: "Be faithful," he says, "unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." And verse 13: "Antipas," he says, "my faithful witness, who was slain among you." And chapter I, verse 3, Christ himself is called "the faithful witness." And chapter XIX, verse 11: "Behold," he says, "a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and fights." Faithful to God and the Church was the Archdeacon St. Lawrence, who when roasted on the fire said: "On the gridiron I did not deny you, O God, and applied to the fire I confessed you, O Christ. You have proved my heart, and visited me by night; you have examined me with fire (with keen examination indeed), and iniquity was not found in me."
20:7
For 'in simplicity' in Hebrew is בתומו betummo, that is, in his integrity; Pagninus, in his perfection. Thus Job, I, 1, and elsewhere throughout, the just and holy man is called simple, that is, pure of life and free from wickedness. More strictly therefore Lyra: In simplicity, that is, he says, without the fold of falsehood. More fully he would have said, without the fold of iniquity or sin. Wherefore from the Hebrew thus word for word Vatablus translates it: The just man walking in his probity, his children are happy after him; the Chaldean, he who walks in his simplicity is just, and blessed are his children after him; the Septuagint, he who conducts himself without reproach, that is, blamelessly in justice, shall leave his children blessed, that is, says the Author of the Greek Catena: "He who practices justice before God and men, saves both himself and also others who hear him." R. Levi: The upright man, he says, pursuing the path of integrity and equity, is not only himself preserved from calamities, but also his offspring is especially dear to divine providence on account of the parent's merits; indeed, when it has been honestly instructed by its parent in divine worship, it merits for itself that it may experience God's peculiar and favorable providence. Note that 'walks,' that is, continues to advance and make progress. Whence St. Bernard, sermon 49 in the Canticles: "To walk," he says, "is to make progress. The Apostle walked who said, Philip. III: I do not think that I have comprehended; and he adds: But forgetting the things that are behind, I stretch forth myself to those that are before, etc. Therefore not the one who walks, but the one who sits is in danger of being seized by the darkness of death. And who sits, except he who does not care to make progress?" For 'blessed' in Hebrew is אשרי asre, that is, blessednesses to his children after him, as if to say, Not one, but manifold, indeed all-encompassing blessedness shall be given to the children of the just man. The first is justice itself. For the just man walking in simplicity, that is, in justice and probity, educates his children in the same and makes them like himself, simple, that is, just and upright. For simplicity, that is, justice and the duty of a parent, obliges him to this: for it is his duty to live in probity and to educate his children in it. This is the source of the other blessednesses: because the just man forms his children to justice, hence God blesses both him and them, and heaps them with every good and makes them blessed. For He promised this, Exodus XX, 5, saying: "I am the Lord thy God, strong and jealous, visiting (that is, punishing) the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments." The physical reason is that children are a portion and as it were members of their parents. Wherefore while the father acts well or ill, he is punished or rewarded not only in himself, but also in his children, as in his parts and members. Thus Adam sinning, transcribed both guilt and punishment to all his posterity, as being his parts and offspring. The ethical reason is that God gave this bridle to parents, by which He might restrain them from sin and keep them in their duty and His worship, namely by threatening that He would punish their evil deeds also in their children, and by promising that He would reward their good deeds in their posterity. For great is the care and solicitude of parents for their children, and on account of making them blessed they do many things which they would not do for themselves. The second blessedness, therefore, by which God makes blessed the children of the just, is the favor and blessing of men. For all approve and bless the children of upright parents, as happened to young Tobias, to whom his father-in-law Raguel said: "Blessed be thou, my son, because thou art the son of a good and virtuous man," Tobias VII, 7. Thus Aben-Ezra: He who pursues, he says, the path of integrity, shall be called just, and shall leave blessed children after him. For these on account of their parents' integrity shall be honored by others, so that they are even proclaimed blessed. We therefore attain blessedness from our parents' equity. Thus also Lyra. The third is abundance of the things of this life, prosperity, power, glory. For God had promised these to the Jews, if they lived justly, that He would give them both to themselves and to their children, according to that Psalm CXI: "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, in His commandments he shall delight exceedingly. Mighty upon earth shall be his seed (the Chaldean, strong in the law shall be his children), the generation of the righteous shall be blessed. Glory and riches shall be in his house." The fourth and supreme beatitude promised to the just and to the children of the just is eternal glory and happiness: for this certainly and always befalls them, although temporal prosperity is often denied them, and this depends most of all on the good instruction of parents. For a sure sign of the divine predestination of children is the good education of parents, just as for the reprobate it is bad education. Whence Tobias, when dying, gave this final admonition to his son, cap. IV, 23: "Fear not, my son; we lead a poor life indeed, but we shall have many good things, if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do well." St. Cyprian cites this saying, tract. De Opere et Eleemosyna, and explains it thus, that is to say, A father who does justice, that is, almsgiving, makes his children rich and blessed. For simplicity is called the simple and candid liberality of the almsgiver. Whence the Apostle says, II Corinth. IX, 11: "That being enriched in all things, you may abound in all simplicity," that is, almsgiving. But hear St. Cyprian: "If therefore you truly love your children, if you show them full and paternal sweetness of charity, you ought rather to work, that you may commend your children to God by just works. And do not think him a father to your children, who is both temporal and weak; but compare him who is eternal and strong, the father of spiritual children. Assign to him your resources, which you keep for heirs; let him be guardian to your children, let him be curator, let him be protector against all injuries of the world by divine majesty. A patrimony entrusted to God neither the state takes away, nor the treasury invades, nor any legal calumny overturns. The inheritance is placed in safety, which is preserved with God as guardian." He then proves the same thing from Scripture, saying: "This is to provide for dear pledges in the future; this is to consult paternal piety for future heirs, according to the faith of holy Scripture saying: I was young, and now am old, and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is merciful all the day, and lendeth: and his seed shall be in blessing. And again: He that walketh without reproach in justice, leaveth blessed children after him. You are therefore a transgressor and a traitor father, unless you faithfully consult for your children, unless you provide for their preservation with religious and true piety: you who study earthly rather than heavenly patrimony, you commend your children more to the devil than to Christ, you sin twice, and commit a twofold and double crime; both in that you do not prepare for your children the help of God the Father, and in that you teach your children to love patrimony more than Christ." A notable example of this matter exists in John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. CCI, concerning a son from Constantinople, to whom his father, spending all his possessions on the poor, left no other inheritance than Christ as guardian; who therefore procured for him the daughter of a noble and rich man as wife, and with her all his inheritance.
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Vatablus, understanding; the Chaldean, from his face all the wicked; the Septuagint, when a just king shall sit upon the throne, there is no opposition (that is, he does not set himself against, the Scholiast says, does not subsist) all evil in his eyes; the Author of the Greek Catena, no evil thrusts itself upon his eyes. The sense is, as if to say, A king who from the high throne of his majesty surveys, governs, rules and judges his kingdom, by this very gaze of his puts to flight and scatters all crimes and criminals: for all who are conscious of wrongdoing, fearing the king's judgment, wrath and vengeance, flee and hide themselves; and those who were plotting some crime or were about to plot it, fearing the king's severity, restrain their mind and hand from crime. For they see that the king is not idle, nor at leisure, but vigilant and keen in occupying his throne, that is, in exercising his authority, in performing his royal office, and in strenuously exercising the power entrusted to him by God, so that he shows himself a father and protector to the good, and to the wicked a terrible avenger, bestowing upon the latter ample rewards, upon the former sharp punishments. This maxim therefore teaches how much the authority and vigilance of kings and princes avail when they strenuously perform their duty; and how much their decrees and judgments avail when they are handled with equity and authority, and are forcefully carried out for execution. Truly the Persian says in Aristotle's Economics: "As the eye of the master, he says, makes the horse fat, so indeed before the eyes of the prince justice thrives." Note: τὸ he who sits in the seat of judgment involves and embraces much. First indeed it signifies that the king ought to be upright and keen, so that from the seat of judgment he may pronounce just judgment, and reward the pious, punish the wicked; second, that he ought to be wise, so that he may distinguish good from evil, judge the just from the unjust; third, that he has the most ample power of judging; fourth, that he ought to judge by himself, and not entrust everything to his counselors, praetors, judges, but rather ought to watch over them, and judge them, whether they are sincere, whether they allow themselves to be corrupted by gifts, whether they administer justice through favor and partiality, etc. For thus he keeps all in their duty, and by his vigilance and his gaze scatters all evil. Whence Ptolemy Philadelphus, as Aristeas relates, proposing to each of the seventy Interpreters of Holy Scripture individual political questions, proposed this one to him who was fifteenth in order: "What ought chiefly to be observed in a kingdom?" To which he answered: "To keep oneself, he said, uncorrupted by gifts, and to spend a great part of one's life in watchfulness, and to cultivate justice before all things, and to acquire such friends for oneself. For God loves the just." Then in the fifty-fourth he proposed this: "What preserves a kingdom?" To which he answered: "Care, he said, and meditation, lest anything be done or committed wrongly by those placed in charge of affairs against the people, as you do when God grants you a superior intellect." For this reason St. Louis, the renowned king of France, sat in judgment twice each week, so that he might hear cases of widows and the wretched neglected by the senators, and decide them with equal justice and mercy. The same, when dying, left this among other counsels to his son Philip: "In administering justice be severe and upright, so that you do what the laws decree, and do not turn aside from them to the right or to the left. Listen carefully to the complaints of the poor, and strive to understand the truth. Let it not suffice you to have chosen the better men of the kingdom as judges, but moreover watch over them and investigate in what manner they perform their office." For a king who entrusts everything to his counselors or officials yields his throne to them, and chooses for himself a footstool, on which, sitting as it were a boy or ward, he allows himself and his kingdom to be ruled by them: which thing brings shame upon himself, envy upon the officials, and hatred and indignation upon the whole commonwealth. Fourth, this phrase signifies that the king, while thus sitting in the seat of judgment as if a vicar of God, is peculiarly illuminated, directed, strengthened by Him to scatter all evil, according to that in chapter XVI, verse 10: "Divination is in the lips of the king, his mouth shall not err in judgment." See the things said there. Therefore a king is like the sun, whence the first king of the Persians was called Cyrus, that is, sun: for this is what Cyrus signifies in Persian. First, just as the sun rising, sitting gloriously in its chariot and throne as it were, puts to flight darkness and wild beasts, and indeed thieves, murderers, adulterers and other wicked men, who seek the darkness that flees light to conceal their crimes: so likewise a just and wise king by his gaze, as it were solar, disperses all shadows and darkness of sins. Second, just as the sun goes forth and traverses successively the individual regions of the earth, so as to illuminate them, warm them, make them fertile: so a king should go through his provinces in turn: for his presence will disperse many crimes, settle many disputes and difficulties, refresh his subjects, hear them, console them, drive away excessive burdens from them, and confer great benefits upon them. "Princes must often visit the distant parts of the empire. How often do we remember that the Divine Augustus journeyed to the West and East with Livia as his companion?" says Tacitus, III Annals. Indeed, if the king of Spain, at the beginning of the tumults in the Low Countries, had betaken himself to the Low Countries, as Charles V had done, or had been able to do so, he would have settled them, which disturbances continue even now and are almost incurable. Diotogenes most excellently, in Stobaeus, discourse 48 On Kingship: "To judge," he says, "and to distribute justice to each is the proper work of a king, who is as it were a god in the world." More divinely St. Thomas, book III On the Government of Princes, chapter III, compares a king to the highest angel, who is illuminated by God, so that he may illuminate others. Third, the sun places its throne as it were at midday: for there it shines most brightly, and hurls its most powerful rays into all parts of the world, by which it fills all things with its light and heat: so a king should place the throne of his judgment in the capital, so that, situated in the middle of the kingdom as it were in the center, he may look upon all the provinces of his kingdom as the circumference of his circle, judge them, and kindle them with zeal for justice and virtue. Fourth, just as the sun is pleasant, agreeable and cheerful to strong eyes, but appears to weak eyes as lightning, disagreeable and harmful: so the face of a king is joyful to the good, terrible to the wicked, so that by his very aspect they are struck and flee. What is said of the King, understand it of any Prince, Prelate, Rector, Pastor, Bishop, President, indeed of any father of a family: for he is as it were a king in his own house and family. Symbolically the Author of the Greek Catena: The King, he says, sitting on the throne of judgment is God, who, residing in the heavenly court, from there sees all evil, corrects and disperses it. Again, this king is Christ, who on the day of judgment will remove all evils and all the wicked, however hidden and concealed, by his aspect, voice and sentence from the earth, and will relegate them to the depths. Thus Bede, Salonius and Hugh. Mystically St. Augustine, book On Correction and Grace, chapter XIII, and others: The King, they say, is Christ, who now sitting at the right hand of God, from there illuminates the minds of sinners with the rays of his grace, drives all evils and sins from them, and leads them to the grace of God and all virtue, according to that Psalm XLIV: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; the scepter of thy kingdom is a scepter of uprightness." Where St. Augustine: "The King," he says, "is named from ruling: but he does not rule who does not correct. For this purpose is our King the king of the righteous; as the priest is named from sanctifying us, so the king is named from ruling us." And a little before: "Thy arrows are sharp, O Most Mighty; the peoples shall fall under thee in the hearts of the enemies of the king." Where St. Augustine: "The enemy of Christ was slain, that the disciple of Christ might live; an arrow was sent from heaven, Saul was struck in the heart, etc. O sharp and most mighty arrow, by receiving which Saul fell, that he might be Paul!" Tropologically, the King sitting on the throne of judgment is the mind and reason, which, while it occupies the throne of kingdom and judgment in man, puts to flight and disperses all evil of errors and vices, which the senses and other powers, especially concupiscence, and appetite both concupiscible and irascible suggest. Hence the king is said to be one acting rightly, says Isidore. The mind therefore, while it acts rightly, and compels the other powers to act rightly, is a king. Wherefore he who is wise gives his government to the mind, not to appetite, not to concupiscence: let him therefore place the mind on the royal throne of judgment, so that it may command the other powers, and compel them to obey the mind. By this reasoning one obtains a quiet, noble, holy and glorious kingdom of the soul. Thus Rabbi Levi. Hence that saying: "Thou shalt be a king, if reason shall rule thee." Hear St. Gregory in Psalm V Penitential, verse 23: "In gathering peoples together in one, and kings, that they may serve the Lord: By kings," he says, "understand those who direct the motions of their souls according to the will of God, and rule them in the manner of kings, while presiding in the eminence of reason as it were on a royal throne, subjecting all resistance to servitude, and when all is at peace, establishing the laws of equity and the rights of innocence in themselves." Other Theologians and Philosophers agree with Solomon. Antonius in the Melissa, part II, cap. I, cites St. Irenaeus saying: "Every just king obtains the priestly order," that is, authority, right and office, so that he may scatter profane things and sanctify holy things; and Democritus saying: "It is fitting for a ruler to use reason in matters of opportunity, boldness against enemies, but benevolence toward subjects;" and Isocrates saying: "Make yourself appear grave and to be feared, leaving nothing of what is done unexplored; but be merciful by imposing lighter punishments for lighter offenses;" and Diodorus saying: "A king performing his duty well ought to be just and magnanimous and truthful and liberal in giving, and superior to any greed: to impose lighter punishments than the offense deserves, but to repay favor greater than the benefit, both to subjects and to friends." And cap. VI, he cites St. Chrysostom saying: "A prince is not discerned in precious garment and belt, nor in the voice of a herald; but in that he restores what has collapsed, corrects what is badly constituted, and watches over all, nor permits the more powerful to take away justice." Agapetus the Deacon admonishes the Emperor Justinian in his Admonition thus, num. 2: "As a helmsman, the most watchful intellect of the Emperor keeps vigil perpetually, holding safely the rudders of equity, and forcefully driving back the impetuous waves of iniquity, so that the ship of the world's commonwealth may not be dashed against the waves of iniquity." And num. 9: "The careful soul of the Emperor ought to be wiped clean like a mirror, so that it may always gleam with divine splendors, and from there learn distinct judgments of things; for nothing so much makes it possible to see what must be done and to keep it perpetually pure." And num. 27: "Impose upon yourself the necessity of guarding the laws, since you have no one on earth who can compel you. Thus indeed both will you yourself show reverence for the laws before others, revering them; and to your subjects it will be established that transgression of laws is not free from dangers." And num. 28: "To sin and not to restrain sinners, judge equally. For if anyone in the city conducts his own life justly indeed, but tolerates those living unjustly, he is judged a partner in evils before God. But if you wish to be approved in two ways, honor those doing the most beautiful things, so be angry at those perpetrating the most foul." And num. 30: "Since the kingdom of the lands of the earth has been entrusted to you by God, beware lest you use any of the wicked for the administration of things. For those who have done wrong to him will render an account to God, who has granted them the faculty of sinning. Therefore the promotion of magistrates ought to be done with great and careful scrutiny." And num. 36: "So that you may make the dominion of your empire celebrated, hold that you ought to have toward yourself sinning as much anger as you have toward your subjects sinning. For no one is able to correct one so powerful in authority, except reason itself, which is moved from the sinner himself." And num. 42: "The judges of things ought to be heard with intent mind. For the discovery of justice is difficult to grasp, and it easily escapes those not paying much attention. But if, passing over the eloquence of speakers and neglecting the plausibility of what is said, they penetrate to the deepest profundity of intentions, thus at last they will draw what is sought from them; and they will be innocent of a twofold offense, neither revealing what is honorable themselves, nor conceding to others that they commit it." And num. 46: "As the eye is innate to the body, so the Emperor is adapted to the world, given by God for the administration of things which are useful. It is fitting therefore that he should look out for all men as for his own members, so that they may make progress in good things, and may not be dashed against the stumbling block of evils." And num. 48: "Be to your subjects, most pious Emperor, both formidable on account of the excellence of power, and lovable on account of the bestowal of beneficence; nor let them despise fear on account of love, nor likewise neglect love on account of fear; but bearing before them both clemency not to be despised, and despicable familiarity chastised by harsh severity." Euripides in the Syleus has this golden saying about a prince: "Let him be just and fair to the just; but to the wicked, the greatest enemy on earth." And from Isaiah: "Those who punish the unjust prevent injury from being done to the rest." And from Hyperides: "The ways of beginning evils ought to be blocked." And from Pythagoras: "Those who do not exact punishment from the wicked wish harm to befall the good."
20:9
In Hebrew, who will say: I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin? Thus Symmachus; the Septuagint, who will glory that he has a chaste heart, or who will dare to say freely (for this is what παῤῥησιάσεται means, as the Complutensian edition reads, St. Chrysostom, St. Jerome, book I Against Pelagius, who translates it as who is confident, for which the Roman edition and St. Augustine repeat καυχήσεται, that is, will glory) that he is clean from sins? Whence it is clear that the Septuagint, equally as our version, read זכיתי zickiti in the piel, that is, I have cleansed, as זכיתי zachiti in the qal, that is, I am clean in heart; and מהטאתי mechattati, that is, from my sin, took it as מחטאת mechattat, that is, from sin, so that the yod is not an affixed pronoun, but a paragogic one, as it is elsewhere often. Calvin, book III of the Institutes, chapter XIII, § 3, from this place and similar ones contends that no one in this life is truly just, so as to have a heart intrinsically pure from sin, but that it is always infected and disordered by some avarice, or by some perverse motion of pride, lust, or similar concupiscence. Wherefore all his acts are sins: and therefore he does not have justice intrinsic to himself, but is justified by the extrinsic justice of Christ imputed to him. But this is a heresy condemned by the Church and the Council of Trent, session VI, indeed by Holy Scripture itself, in which Christ says: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God," Matthew V, 8. And David, Psalm L, 12: "A clean heart, he says, create in me, O God." And Psalm CXVIII, 4: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way." And Paul, Ephesians I, 4: "That we should be, he says, holy and unspotted in his sight." Therefore, lest this saying of Solomon appear to be at odds with the other senses of Holy Scripture already cited, various interpreters explain it, all appropriately. First, Cajetan responds that in Hebrew it is: "Who can say: I have cleansed my heart, and purified myself from my sin?" that is to say, Who arrogantly claims for himself and his own powers justice and purity from sin, when this is the work of God, not of man, of grace, not of nature? Let him therefore say: God has cleansed my heart, not I. Second, St. Chrysostom in Psalm CXLII, to those verses 2: "Enter not into judgment with thy servant;" Gabriel Vasquez, II II, disputation 200, chapter IV, and Salazar thus explain it, that is to say, Who says, that is, who dares to say and boast that he is pure from sin? Whence the Septuagint translates, who will glory, that is, who will proclaim glorying that he has a chaste heart? Therefore what is censured here is not a simple affirmation, but pride, boasting and gloriation: because some, like the Pharisee of the Gospel, glory in their innocence or justice, and ascribe it to themselves, not to God. Even if some are indeed just and clean of heart, nevertheless they ought not to glory in it and boast of themselves, both because this cleanness is not the work of themselves, but of God; and because he who is just today can become unjust tomorrow, and from innate fragility fall into sins, as very many do. Third, St. Augustine in Psalm CXLIX, Bede, Jansenius, Baynus and Bellarmine, book III On Justification, chapter IV, explain this of the uncertainty of grace, and prove it from this against the Heretics and Catharinus, who wish the just to know for certain that they are just and pure from sin. So that the sense is, that is to say, No one, however just, knows for certain that he is just, that is, that he is in the grace and friendship of God: for they do not have an infallible testimony of their grace and justice, and many things lie hidden in the depths of the heart in secret, which man himself does not see, nor perceives, but God alone. This sense adheres very much to and is consonant with the Vulgate version, equally as with the Hebrew text, which has, who will say: I have cleansed my heart, and I am pure from my sin? that is to say, Who knows for certain, so as to dare to say and assert, that he has done true penance, and by it has cleansed himself from past sins: especially, says Aben-Ezra, those committed in youth? according to that: "Be not without fear for forgiven sin," Ecclesiasticus, chapter V, 5. Fourth, others explain it, that is to say: No one can live long without sin, at least venial sin. For even if sometimes a just man is pure from all sin, even venial, as when he has just been baptized, when he has made a full confession and received absolution, when he produces vehement acts of contrition and charity, nevertheless in this state of purity he cannot endure long without relapsing into it from the innate tinder of sin, according to that passage in Ecclesiastes VII, 21: "There is no just man upon earth, that doth good, and sinneth not." Thus St. Augustine explains it, in the book On the Good of Virginity, chapter XLVIII, and St. Jerome, book I Against Pelagius, and St. Chrysostom, discourse 3 On Lazarus. This exposition is favored by the Hebrew זכיתי ziechiti; for the root זכה zacha or zachah signifies to be clean from all stain, or vice or blemish. Whence זך zach is called clean, to which nothing of stain or vice is mixed, sincere, clear, irreproachable; and זכוכית zecuchith is called crystal, on account of its cleanliness and transparent clarity, so that the sense is, that is to say: Who would dare to say that he has a heart completely pure from all stain, indeed a crystalline heart, that is pure, sincere, bright like crystal, to which no stain, even the slightest and venial, is attached? that is to say: No one. Fifth, St. Chrysostom in the earthquake and Lazarus, sermon 6, understands by sin the tinder of sin, or the filth of concupiscence remaining from sin, from which no one in this life can be free: Although, he says, someone is just, although he be just a thousand times, and has ascended to the very summit, so that he is free from sin, he cannot be clean from filth; although he be just a thousand times, he is nevertheless a man. For who will glory that he has a chaste heart, or who will trust that he is clean from sin? Therefore we are commanded to say in prayer: Forgive us our debts, so that by the custom of prayer we may be reminded that we are liable to these punishments. For indeed Paul the Apostle, a vessel of election, the temple of God, the mouth of Christ, the lyre of the Spirit, the teacher of the world, who traversed land and sea, who plucked out the thorns of sinners, who sowed the seeds of religion, he richer than kings, he more powerful than the wealthy, he more a philosopher than the philosophers themselves, he more eloquent than orators, he who had nothing and possessed all things, he who by his shadow loosed death, he who by his garments put to flight diseases, he who erected trophies in the sea, he who was caught up even to the third heaven, and entered into paradise, he who preached Christ God; he says: I am not conscious to myself of anything; but yet am I not hereby justified, I Corinthians IV, 4. He who had acquired such a great multitude of virtues, says: But he that judgeth me, is the Lord. Who therefore will glory that he has a chaste heart, or who will trust that he is clean from sin? It is therefore impossible that any man be immune from sin. For what does he say: He is just? He is merciful? He is a lover of the poor? Yet he has some vice, or he strikes someone with untimely insults, or is led by vain glory, or does some other such thing; for not all things are to be enumerated." Moreover, this tinder of concupiscence is seen especially in lust and venereal matters. For the concupiscence of these things is so innate to man, that no one can have a pure heart from them, without sometimes feeling impure and obscene imaginings, titillations, movements, unless God grants this by a singular gift to someone, as he granted it to St. Thomas Aquinas, to whom, when a harlot sent to solicit him was put to flight, while praying and falling asleep, he seemed to himself to be girded by Angels with a girdle of chastity, and thereafter he was free from all sense of lust. Our Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga had the same gift, and therefore he is called an Angel. Whence the Septuagint translates: Who will glory that he has a chaste (namely, from unchaste and foul thoughts and impulses of lust) heart? The remedy for these is humility and humble invocation of the grace of God. Whence St. Augustine, On the Holy Virgin, chapter LI: "That good (of virginity)," he says, "the greater I see it to be, the more I fear that pride will come upon it and it will perish. Therefore the good of virginity is not guarded except by God himself who gave it; and God is charity. Therefore charity is the guardian of virginity; but the dwelling place of this guardian is humility. For there indeed dwells he who said upon the humble and quiet, and trembling at my words, my spirit shall rest, Isaiah chapter LXVI. For I say faithfully: More easily do humble married persons follow the Lamb, if not wherever he goes, certainly wherever they are able, than proud virgins." The a priori reason is that the movements of this appetite and concupiscence are most naturally connected to carnal man, equally as to other animals: wherefore they often anticipate reason, so that the will is forced to feel them unwillingly, although it is in its power to consent to them or not. For we have already lost the bridle of original justice, by which Adam so restrained and held in check these movements, that they could not arise unless he saw and willed it. Therefore, just as an ulcer, namely an abscess, perpetually putrid bubbles forth and vomits pus, and just as a sewer continually exhales foul vapors, and just as a burning furnace constantly ejects smoke and sparks of fire: so likewise concupiscence, especially of lust, continually exhales foul imaginings and movements of lust. The antistrophe of this saying of Solomon is that of St. John, epistle I, chapter I, 8: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." See the sayings there.
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That is to say, Double and diverse weight, double and diverse measure, when namely someone uses a greater weight while buying, a lesser while selling, makes a thing abominable to God and men, because he commits injustice, and overturns the society and commerce of men, which consist in justice and just weights and measures. See the sayings at chapter XI, 1, and chapter XVI, 11. In Hebrew it is, stone and stone (because stones were formerly used as weights), ephah and ephah, both these are an abomination before the Lord, that is, as Vatablus says, to use diverse weight, and to use diverse measure, the Lord detests both; the Septuagint: great weight and small, and double measures are unclean before the Lord. St. Jerome in chapter XXV of Ezekiel: "Great and small balance, both are abominable in the sight of God." Mystically, first Rabbi Levi, that is to say, It is not lawful to add weight to truth, so that you amplify it more than is right; nor to subtract, so that you diminish it more than is right. Second, St. Gregory, homily 4 on Ezekiel: Weight and weight, etc. "We know," he says, "that in the double weight of merchants one is greater, the other smaller; for they have one weight by which they weigh for themselves, and another weight by which they weigh for their neighbor, preparing lighter weights for giving, but heavy ones for receiving. Every man therefore who thinks differently of the things of his neighbor than of his own things, has weight and weight. Both therefore are abominable before God: because if he loved his neighbor as himself, he would love him in good things as he loves himself; and if he regarded himself as his neighbor, he would judge himself in evil things as his neighbor." Third, the Author of the Greek Catena thus reads from the Septuagint: "Small and great balance, and one and another measure, both are unclean before the Lord; but he also who does these things is hindered in his undertakings." Which he thus explains: An evil and deceitful mind and disposition of soul, of such a kind as that which uses fair and convenient speech, but brings forth no work, or only an unclean one, are execrable before the Lord. Or by small and great measure, in any thing or action defect and excess are denoted; for both have vice attached to them. Or they use double measure, who wish to receive benefits from others, yet never bring themselves to render equal ones. For he who does such things is hindered in the works of his hands, that is, shall obtain no happy success. Thus he. Fourth, Cassian thus reads and explains from the Septuagint, Conference XXI, chapter XXII: "Great and small weight, and double measures, both are unclean before the Lord, and he who does these things shall be hindered in his inventions. Therefore we must strive not only in the way we have mentioned, but also in this way, that we have neither unjust weights in our hearts, nor double measures in the barns of our conscience, that is, lest we ourselves, presuming with remote indulgence those to whom we preach the word of the Lord, overwhelm them with stricter precepts and heavier weights than we ourselves can bear. When we do this, what else do we do but weigh or measure the merchandise and fruit of the Lord's precepts with double weight and measure? He adds the reason: For if we dispense things differently to ourselves and differently to our brothers, we are rightly rebuked by the Lord, in that we have deceitful balances and double measures, according to that saying of Solomon in which it is said: Double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful balance is not good in his sight. In this way also we clearly incur the guilt of deceitful weight and double measure, if we display before the brothers certain more austere practices, which we are accustomed to exercise privately in our cells, from desire of human praise, namely appearing more abstinent and holy to human sight than to divine."
20:11
For his studies in Hebrew it is מעלליו maalalau, that is, undertakings, studies, thoughts, machinations, exercises, counsels, inventions, occupations. For the root עלל alal signifies to meditate, to think, to attempt, to undertake, to do, to design, to declare the force and power of the mind. Whence עליל olel is called a boy, who is always doing and undertaking something; and תעלולים taalulim are called the sports which boys contrive, by which they show the nature and inclination of their minds. For intelligitur in Hebrew it is יתנכר iitnacker, which properly signifies is known, is understood. Yet sometimes it signifies the contrary, namely is hidden, conceals itself, or alienates itself. Whence R. Levi and Aben-Ezra thus translate, in his studies the boy conceals himself, even if his work be pure and upright, as if to say, The nature of the boy is not easily known from his works. For some boys are cunning dissemblers and deceitful, so that they hide their studies and counsels. Whence it comes to pass that what they do presents the appearance of honesty on the surface; yet their mind is impure and full of wickedness. R. Emmanuel translates, in his works the boy presents himself as a stranger, as if to say, Sometimes boys show themselves in childhood to be different from what they will be in manhood; for they change their nature and habits, and alienate themselves from the customs which they will have in old age. Or rather, as if to say, The boy, when he exercises pure and upright works, alienates himself from infancy and boyhood, because he conducts himself excellently beyond his years, so that he seems to be not so much a boy as a man or an old man. But יתנכר iitnacker properly signifies is known, is understood, and therefore it is plain that it should be translated here from what precedes and follows; for thus the discourse flows plainly and clearly, as if to say, From his studies the boy is known, what sort of man he will be. For if his works be pure and upright in boyhood, it is likely that such also will be his works in manhood. Or: From his studies the boy is understood, if pure and upright, that is, will be, his works in old age; for the word sint is not in the Hebrew: for the Hebrews understand the substantive verb. Whence here you should understand both tam erunt, or futura sunt, as well as sint. Again, iitnacker descends from nachar, which root, both in letters and in signification, alludes to כרת cara, that is, digs, pierces through; for when the eye of the body or of the mind knows and perceives something, it seems that it penetrates and pierces through that very thing with its vision. Whence Plato held that vision occurs by the emission of species from the eyes to penetrate the thing seen, and as it were to pierce through it; although more truly Aristotle and the Peripatetics hold that vision occurs not by emission but by reception of species from the object: for through those the thing seen is penetrated, and as it were pierced through by the eye. Wherefore, just as a treasure, or veins of gold and silver are sought out and found by experts; for they know certain signs, from which they know that gold lies hidden there, for example if the outermost surface of the earth does not produce herbs and shoots, but is barren and bare; if the color of the earth approaches the color of gold, if in it fragments or veins of gold and silver appear, as Gregory Agricola teaches, book I of De Re metallica. Whence Pliny, book XXXIII, chapter IV: "The mountains of Spain," he says, "are dry and barren, and in which nothing else is produced, are forced to be fertile for this good (gold)." And he adds: "Those who seek gold, before all things remove the segulum: thus are called the signs; the bed, where it is, and the sands are washed, and from what settles in it a conjecture is made, so that it is sometimes found on the very surface of the earth straightway, by rare good fortune." Segullum is a kind of earth on the top soil, from which miners know that a vein of gold lies beneath. Wherefore, when these signs are seen, they pierce through the earth, and bring out the hidden gold. Thus likewise boys in boyhood give signs and specimens of future honesty, which wise men seek out and as it were pierce through; these signs are: if their works be pure, that is, free from all wantonness and impurity; and upright, that is, free from fraud, paint, simulation, deceit, falsehood, wickedness, malignity. From these therefore wise men conjecture that their works in manhood will be similar, nay greater and heroic. Thus nature preludes in boys what it will do in men, according to that saying of Ovid: A heavenly genius rises swifter than its years, And brings the ills of ungrateful delay. Thus St. Ambrose as a boy, delighting in sacred things, gave a foretaste that he would be a priest, indeed a Bishop; whence he also offered his hand to be kissed by his sister, and declared that he would be a Bishop. Thus St. Thomas Aquinas as an infant would turn over papers, and especially one on which was written: "Hail, Mary," which, snatched from him by his nurse, he demanded back with all eagerness, and when returned, he swallowed it, by which deed he signified that he would be devoted to books and to the worship of the Blessed Virgin. Thus St. Nicholas as an infant, abstaining on Wednesday and Friday from sucking at his mother's breasts, gave a specimen of future abstinence and holiness. I have recounted more examples of this matter in II Timothy III, 15. Hence the Spartans exhibited to boys the instruments of all arts, and applied them to those things to which they spontaneously ran and occupied themselves; for in those things to which the nature of a man inclines, each one excels. Solomon therefore signifies that from the character and habits of childhood it can almost be discerned what the course of the whole of life thereafter will be. Understand this maxim to be commonly and generally true, but not always, both because boys sometimes cunningly dissemble their inner counsels, and because they sometimes degenerate from themselves, especially when they fall in with bad companions, so that they become altogether different men, and do and desire other things than they did as boys. But for the most part, such as anyone is in childhood, such also is he in manhood. Wherefore all Theologians and Philosophers, and notably Plato and Aristotle in the Politics, teach that the greatest care must be had in the Republic for the instruction of boys, that they be rightly trained: for boys are the seed-bed of the Republic; for such as boys are formed, such do men become. Solomon therefore admonishes parents and teachers here to watch over the nature of boys, and to strive to investigate their vices and propensities, so that they may afterwards be able to correct them and bend them toward virtues. Furthermore, the codices of the Septuagint vary here. For the Complutensian edition reads: "In his studies the adolescent will be hindered, with the holy one, and his way is right," that is to say, A holy man will hinder and restrain the perverse studies of the adolescent, and will moderate his ways and actions, and make them right; the Roman edition reads: "In his inventions the adolescent will be hindered; with the holy one, and his way is right," that is, as the Author of the Catena of the Greeks clearly translates it: "The adolescent, conversing familiarly with the holy one, will make his way right." Cassian, Collation XXI, chapter XXII, and others punctuate it differently; for they refer the former part of the verse to the preceding verse in this manner: "A great weight and a small weight, and double measures are unclean before the Lord, and he that doeth them, in his inventions shall be hindered," that is, shall be taken in bonds, constrained and punished. Then they add as it were a new sentence: "The adolescent with the holy one (if he associate with him); his way will be right."
20:12
The Septuagint translates: the ear hears and the eye sees, the Lord made both, or both are the work of the Lord, as the Author of the Greek Catena translates it, who explains it thus in the first place: as if to say, Just as the eye, which sees rightly, sees the works of the Lord, so also the ear, which hears rightly, hears the wonders of the same Lord. Both therefore are made by the work and operation of the Lord, as if to say, God gave to man not only the power of seeing and hearing, but also the right use of it, both physical, namely that the ear rightly perceive sounds and the distinctions of sounds, and the eye truly see and discern all species of colors; and more properly ethical, namely that we use the ear for hearing what is honest, chaste, and holy, and use the eyes for beholding the same things. Whence it leaves to be inferred that man ought to give thanks to God in this right use of the senses, to obey and comply with Him, so that he may use them for the honor and good pleasure of God, namely so that he may not open his ears except to hear the law of God, psalmody, divine offices, sciences and honest matters, etc.; and may not open his eyes except to behold the creatures of God, so that from them he may know and praise the Creator. For God gave eyes and ears to man for this end. See St. Chrysostom, homily 11 on the epistle to the Romans, and homily 22 on the first epistle to the Corinthians. Secondly, our Salazar aptly refers this verse to the preceding one. For when Solomon has premised, he says, that from the first studies and efforts of a boy his talent and disposition may be discerned, whether he is docile in hearing and keen in observing; he aptly subjoins: "The ear that hears, and the eye that sees, the Lord made both," as if to say, In these there is no intervention of counsel or freedom; for the fact that someone is docile in hearing and keen in observing is part of nature created by God himself, and therefore in boys also who are not yet possessed of counsel and reason, it shines forth not a little. And so "in the mind there are sparks which, excited by the spirit of the teacher, seize upon a generous fuel of discipline: otherwise you will blow in vain upon cold ashes," says Petrarch, Dialogue 81. Levi says: "These two senses, namely sight and hearing, render peculiar service before the others, so that a man as to morals and the feelings of the soul may become absolute and truthful." And Vatablus: "The one that hears," he says, "namely precepts, and the one that sees what is good, the Lord makes both." Others refer these things to good obedience in government. For this exists when Superiors administer all things with the eye, that is with good counsels, and the people obey them with obedient ear, as if to say, Both are the gift and blessing of God; for in both consists the pillar, safety and happiness of the commonwealth and of any college or congregation. Thirdly, others refer these things to God, as if to say, God gave to man eyes for seeing, ears for hearing; how much more does He himself have most keen eyes, and ears most sharp for hearing, according to that in Psalm XCIII, verse 9: "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? or He that formed the eye, shall He not consider?" Against those who said in verse 7: "The Lord shall not see; neither shall God understand the ways of Jacob." And: "Clouds are His covert, neither doth He behold our things, and He walketh about the poles of heaven," Job XXII, 14. It signifies therefore that all things are naked and open to the most clear eyes of God, and to the most keen ears. "For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of murmurings shall not be hid," Wisdom I, 10. To this pertains that saying of Pliny, book II, chapter VII: "God is wholly sense, wholly sight, wholly hearing, wholly soul, wholly mind, wholly himself." Fourth, our Jerome Prado treats this more fully and deeply in Ezekiel, chapter XII, verse 2: "To see with the eye," he says, "is to perceive clearly and openly; to hear with the ear is to perceive and rightly retain what you hear; it is the same thing to see by seeing, and to hear by hearing. The reason for this signification is that those ablatives, infinitives, or gerunds augment and complete the action of the verb, and convey the manner in which it is accustomed to be done; since vision occurs by means of light, and hearing by receiving and retaining the word that is uttered, hence to see by seeing is to perceive clearly; and to hear by hearing is to retain rightly; just as also to speak by mouth, or to speak by speaking, is to speak with deliberation, or from forethought, because truly the word of the mouth is that which is conceived and thought in the mind. Since therefore these senses are ministers of the intellect and will, similar to their masters in all things (for sight and intellect delight in and operate by clarity: the ear and will are captivated by sweetness and goodness); hence it is that for an intellect not blinded, the seeing eye is used, and the hearing ear for a will not hardened by some immoderate affection, in Matthew XIII, 9, and in the Apocalypse XIII, 9: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," that is, a will that is obedient and compliant. Hence that passage in Psalm XVII, 43: "At the hearing of the ear he obeyed me." And Proverbs XX, 12: "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made both," that is, it is equally a marvelous work of God that a teacher be learned and a hearer of the word be docile. He mentions these senses, however, because, as Polychronius noted, sight and hearing alone receive admonition; for either seeing the calamities of others we return to health, or hearing divine laws we become more diligent in the study of virtue, nor is there any other sense besides that leads to piety. Thus Prado. There is added Rabbi Solomon: "The ears and eyes of mortals," he says, "are a divine work; God is greatly delighted by ears hearing reproof, and by eyes foreseeing the outcome of things." And Rabbi Levi: "Ears were created by God to listen to instruction, and eyes to contemplate those things by which we are corrected; wherefore do not love sleep, for eyes are made only for sleep to be taken at fixed hours, since afterwards they ought to be free for penetrating and grasping the institutions of discipline. He returns to forbidding sloth; for sleep is its companion, indeed its parent, or rather the love and affection for sleep. For sleep is natural, and owed to nature; and the love of sleep is almost vicious, because excessive. To sleep, says Cajetan, is a matter of necessity; but to love sleeping is a matter of will and sloth, and this affection makes sleep longer than is needful. For he who loves to sleep continues sleeping into broad daylight, and does not rise, but indulges in sleep, until he satisfies his torpor, according to that saying of St. Dominic Loricatus: "Sleep begets sleep, vigils beget vigils." The sense therefore is, as if to say: Do not love sleep, nor indulge it according to the pleasure of a lazy body, so that you pass by the light and time destined for labor in idleness and sleeping, lest from idleness you fall into poverty, and it oppresses you, and hunger wastes you away, indeed forces you to die; wherefore open your eyes, awake, shake off sleep, labor so that you prepare food for yourself, and be satisfied with bread, that is, abound in all things necessary or suitable for sustenance; for bread to the Hebrews signifies any food."
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Pagninus, he will satisfy you with bread: to satisfy, that is, you will be satisfied. For often among the Hebrews the imperative is put for the future, as in Psalm XXXIII: "Come to him, and be enlightened," that is, you will be enlightened. For "lest poverty oppress you," in Hebrew it is פן תורש pen tiuvares, that is, lest you be deprived of inheritance, lest you be impoverished. For the root ירש iaras signifies to inherit and to possess, but in the niphal it is of contrary signification, and signifies to be driven from inheritance and to be impoverished, when someone becomes not Croesus from Croesus, but Irus and poorer than Irus. It is a metalepsis; for from sleep is understood idleness, from idleness leisure, from leisure the flight of labor, which begets poverty. Conversely, from the opening of eyes is understood wakefulness, from wakefulness rising up, from rising up labor, which begets satiety, that is, abundance of things. For these are connected like a chain, and one is inserted and bound to another like a ring to a ring, so that from one you may infer and understand the rest. Aben-Ezra connects this verse with the preceding one, as if to say: Ears were created by God to listen to instruction, and eyes to contemplate those things by which we are corrected; wherefore do not love sleep, for eyes are made only for sleep to be taken at fixed hours, since afterwards they ought to be free for penetrating and seizing the institutions of discipline. Mystically, as if to say: Shake off the sleep of idleness and concupiscence, and give yourself to good works, so that you may prepare spiritual food for yourself, by which you may live for all eternity. This food is the Eucharist and Holy Scripture in the present life, and glory and perpetual happiness in the future. Thus Bede: "Do not," he says, "love the sleep of sin and inertia, concerning which the Apostle says: It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep, lest you, if you do not know how to watch well, be oppressed by poverty in the future: namely, that most grievous poverty, where you cannot find even a single drop of water when thirsting, nor pour oil into extinguished lamps. Open the eyes of your heart to holy vigils, and acquire for yourself the satiety of heavenly joys by living well." The Septuagint goes another way, for they translate: do not love to detract, lest you be exalted; open your eyes, and be filled with bread. Which some explain concerning theft, which is the companion, indeed the daughter of sleep, leisure and idleness, as if to say: Do not by idling detract and steal the things and wealth of neighbors, lest you be exalted to the gallows, and be hanged. But truly for "detract" in Greek it is καταλαλεῖν, which signifies to detract not from wealth, but from reputation: to speak against, to rail, to accuse. Therefore the Hebrew שנה scena, which properly signifies sleep, from the root ישן iaschan, that is, he slept, the Septuagint translate as detraction, from the root שנה schana, that is, he changed, he altered, that is, he detracted from reputation. For the detractor is accustomed to narrate things otherwise than they were done, and thus to change and alter them for the worse, indeed to fabricate and lie. Whence in cap. XVII, vers. 9, it is said: "He that hideth a sin, seeketh friendships; he that repeateth a matter in another manner" (in Hebrew שנה schana, that is, he changes), "separateth allies." Do not therefore detract and speak against your neighbor, lest you be exalted, that is, do not by accusing another depress him equal to you or your rival, so that you may exalt yourself. For the root of detraction is pride, by which someone, so that he may exalt himself, depresses another equal to him or his rival by disparaging him. Whence St. Jerome, or rather Paulinus to Celantia: "Never," he says, "detract from anyone at all, nor wish to appear more praiseworthy through the disparagement of others; rather learn to adorn your own life than to carp at another's." Add also Jerome in the epistle to Rusticus: "It is the way of base men, and those seeking their own praise, to make others base; because they think themselves praised by the disparagement of another. And when they cannot please by their own merit, they wish to please in comparison with the wicked." For "lest you be exalted" in Greek it is μὴ ἐξαρθῇς, which the Complutensian and Royal Bible translate, lest you perish; Cyprian, lib. III Testimon., lest you be exalted; although some codices have, lest you be uprooted. But truly to this Septuagint version, namely to detraction of reputation, does not sufficiently correspond what is added: "Open your eyes, and be filled with bread;" and the Hebrew שנה scena always elsewhere signifies sleep, not detraction: wherefore the Vulgate version, as more apt and true, is to be preferred.
20:14
In Hebrew יתהלל yithallel, that is, he praises himself and boasts, because he has bought a precious thing cheaply. For evil in Hebrew is רע ra, for which the Chaldean, reading with different points דרע rea, that is, companion, translates: one companion says to another companion what he has bought, and then he glories and proclaims it; in Hebrew it is, evil, evil, says the buyer, and going away he will praise himself. It is redundant in the Hebrew manner, the "to himself," that is, when he has bought the thing, he holds it in honor and value. Or the "to himself" has emphasis, that is, when he has departed, claiming for himself the thing bought cheaply, then he glories. For this is plainly understood by aposiopesis from the sense and meaning of the sentence. Some translate it, but when he has lost it, then he praises. For things, when they are possessed, become worthless; but when they are lost, they are held in value and anxiously sought after. This is the nature of man. Whence Rabbi Levi: "Far different," he says, "is the possession of wisdom from the possession of other things: for when other things are valued at the price of silver, they are depreciated by the buyer, and faults are imputed to them, and a price equal to what the seller demands is denied; but after he has departed, the merchandise is praised, and he regrets that he did not buy them, and therefore those things which he would obtain seem worthless, and those which he lacks seem best. But the opposite altogether happens in acquiring wisdom: for no one considers it useful to himself unless he has obtained it." Now first, Baynus refers these things to the labors, hardships and dangers which merchants undergo in order to become rich, that is, many evils, that is, many troubles, cares and sorrows do merchants undergo in order to acquire merchandise and wealth; but when they have acquired them, they rejoice and glory. Whence that saying of Horace: The industrious merchant runs to the farthest Indies, fleeing poverty through the sea, through rocks, through fires. Hence mystically Salonius, and from him the Gloss: "Whoever," he says, "desires eternal rewards, evil is, evil is, he says; because in the present he must endure, so that, when he has departed from the world, he may glory, perceiving that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us." Cardinal Hugo also agrees, who refers this saying not so much to the endurance of labors as to penance. Mystically, he says, it is expounded of him who buys heavenly merchandise with the coin of penance; evil is, he says, that is, too dear, too troublesome to do penance, and when the buyer, that is, the penitent, has departed from the market of penance to the house of the heavenly homeland, then indeed he will glory, because he had a good market. He also adds that heavenly merchandise does not seem dear so much because it costs many labors, as from the fact that it has not yet been fully revealed. To this is added the exposition of Rabbi Solomon: "He who," he says, "becomes rich through knowledge of the sacred law by the scourges of hardships and stripes, often complains of this, and alas cries out on account of this torment and anguish; but when wisdom is accumulated, the labors which he has performed he will proclaim glorious to himself." Second, the same Baynus: By the example of merchants, who praise and boast of the merchandise they have bought, so also, he says, it happens in acquiring wisdom, that is, evil is, evil is (that is, the seller demands too dear a price), says the buyer, and when he has departed, then he will glory, in Hebrew, and when he has departed, then he will glory. — In Hebrew
20:15
That is to say, Gold is precious, and a multitude of gems is precious; but far more precious are lips full of knowledge. For the word precious in the first member is understood, and from the second member is to be repeated by zeugma, that is to say, Men hold gold and gems in great esteem; but I place the true and supreme value of things in the learned heart and mouth. For this pours forth masses of gold and as many gems as sentences. For when he discourses on chastity, he pours forth golden maxims, and as it were emeralds of virginity. When he reasons about temperance, he pours forth amethysts of sobriety. When about the love of God, he pours forth carbuncles of charity. When about patience, he pours forth jaspers of fortitude. When about constancy, he pours forth diamonds of martyrdom, etc. For by knowledge here and throughout this whole book is understood not speculative, but practical knowledge, which consists in prudence and the study of virtues. By vessel in the Hebrew phrase understand an organ and instrument. Whence the Author of the Catena of the Greeks beautifully translates from the Septuagint, there is gold, there is a multitude of precious stones, but more than either is honored the organ of the lips of understanding. The Hebrew texts have, there is gold and a multitude of gems, and a precious vessel the lips of knowledge: the Syriac, and precious vessels and lips of knowledge. The Chaldean connects this with the preceding verse, as if they were the words of a buyer, who, having endured many evils, that is labors and hardships, acquired knowledge, and glories, proclaims and says: "There is gold and a multitude of precious pearls, and precious vessels the lips of knowledge," that is to say, By small evil and labor I have acquired for myself knowledge, which is more precious than gems and gold. Thus also R. Levi. Now first, R. Levi thus expounds, that is to say, There are those who abound in gold and precious stones, but nevertheless precious things, such as the lips of knowledge, are not theirs. Second, Baynus, that is to say, He easily acquires for himself riches, gold and many pearls and precious vessels, who excels in the knowledge of lips, that is, a wise and eloquent man can very easily become rich: so that the first care ought to be had by young men concerning wisdom, not concerning trade, or other arts by which riches are acquired. It is easy, as Thales of Miletus once said, for philosophers to become rich, if they wish: which he demonstrated in fact; for, having foreseen through the course of the stars the future abundance of oil, he purchased all the olives of the whole province; wherefore he became very rich. Third, more rightly Cajetan from the Hebrew judges that here the value of knowledge is compared to the value of gold and pearls. For the copula both in Latin and more in Hebrew is often a mark of comparison. Whence Vatablus translates, and as it were a precious vessel is the discourse of knowledge, that is, a learned and erudite discourse. Fourth, more profoundly Our Author, the Septuagint and others for and translate, but; for the Hebrew vau, that is and, is often to the Hebrews an adversative signifying but. Whence the Zurich Bible translates, a knowing mouth is more precious than gold, gems and precious vessels. This version is somewhat freer word for word, but nearly equals the sense. Therefore knowledge here is not only compared, but is preferred to gold and gems, that is to say, In gold is praised brightness, solidity, value; but knowledge, that is prudence, virtue and wisdom, shines more brightly, is more solid, constant and precious. The Tagus and certain other rivers, but few and exceptional, are gold-bearing, and carry particles of gold: but more gold-bearing are the lips of the wise; for they carry the gold of wisdom, virtue and charity. Such were the lips of St. John of Constantinople the Patriarch, who was therefore surnamed Chrysostomus, that is, the golden mouth: and of Blessed Peter of Ravenna, who was therefore called Chrysologus, that is, the golden discourse, on account of the sweetness and elegance of his eloquence. Whence by Sixtus III the Supreme Pontiff, at the command of St. Peter the Apostle and St. Apollinaris the first Bishop of the Ravennates, appearing to him in sleep, although still young in age, he was made Archbishop of Ravenna. Thus the wisdom and eloquence of St. Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine were golden, nay rather gem-like. All the praise and "dowry of pearls consists in whiteness, magnitude, roundness, smoothness, weight," says Pliny, book IX, chapter xxxv. Thus a man of knowledge, that is wise and eloquent, especially an Apostolic man, has the praise of whiteness in chastity, of magnitude in magnanimity, of roundness or circular and round figure in resignation of spirit and obedience, of smoothness in modesty and composure of manners, of weight in gravity and prudence. See the 13 qualities of pearls, which I applied to Religious and Apostolic men in Apocalypse xxi, 21. Moreover the Hebrew פנינים penimim signifies not only pearls or unions, but also precious stones, as the Septuagint translates, or gems, as Our translator renders it. Therefore a wise and eloquent man has the gifts of carbuncle, sapphire, beryl, diamond and other gems, which I have enumerated in Apoc. xxi, 19 and seq. Some translate penimim as innermost or intimate things, both because unions are intimate to their shell, and because they are drawn forth from the innermost and deepest sea; for from there sailors fish them out. Thus the heart of the wise man is deep, and as it were an inexhaustible sea of wisdom, from which the hearer ought continually to fish out wisdom even to the bottom, so that he may penetrate its innermost senses, and search out the deep secrets of its words and sentences. This is what I said in cap. III, 13: "Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and who is rich in prudence." He adds the reason, saying: "The purchasing thereof is better than the merchandise of silver, and her fruit than the best gold, and her genimina than choice silver. All desirable things are not to be compared to her." And cap. viii, 19: "Better is my fruit than gold and precious stone, and my genimina than choice silver." See the things said there; and Job. cap. xxviii, 15: "Gold shall not be given for it, nor shall silver be weighed in exchange for it," etc. Now a Precious Vessel are the Lips of Knowledge. — Vessel, that is, first, an organ uttering and modulating knowledge with a sweet harmony as it were; second, vessel, that is, the furniture of a man and part of his riches: for all furniture is called vessel by the Hebrews, says Jansenius; third, properly a vessel, namely a cask, amphora, crater or cup containing and adorning wisdom, a most precious thing. Therefore the vessel denotes first, that, just as a vessel, namely a cask or crater, full of wine, so the heart and mouth of the wise man is full of knowledge; second, just as a crater is filled with wine, so that it may be served to guests: so the wise man does not keep wisdom for himself alone, but pours forth and communicates his wisdom to others by mouth and lips; third, just as craters from which the rich drink and quaff wines are wont to be elaborated with skill, and adorned artfully with gold, and distinguished with gems and as it were studded with eyes, both for ornament and to make the drink more pleasant: so likewise the wise man elaborates his sayings and discourses with skill, distinguishes, arranges, composes them, so that he may appear to be a certain well-composed and skillfully constructed crater. For wisdom and eloquence consist chiefly in order and apt arrangement of things and sentences, composition and connection. For thus it becomes a well-composed and fitting structure and fabric, so that it can be perceived and grasped by hearers, and thus flow into their minds and persuade them of those things which are of virtue and salvation. For just as the beauty and strength of an army consists in the camp arrayed and ordered in proper battle line; for this is impenetrable to enemies, and therefore invincible and victorious over all, whereas a disorderly and confused multitude hinders itself and offers itself to be trampled by the enemy: so likewise the energy and force of oration consists in the apt sequence and arrangement of those things which are said, so that each thing and reason may be placed in its own order, where it will have more weight and efficacy, sweetness and beauty and elegance: for thus it teaches, delights, moves and penetrates the minds of hearers, so that they cannot resist it. See Cicero in the Orator. Hence Themistocles, fleeing to the king of the Persians, when he spoke before him, said that oration was similar to painted tapestries, which, while they are unfolded, display the order and composition of the things painted. Thus Plutarch in Apophthegm. But Augustus Caesar, writing to his Maecenas, censured the lasciviousness in his style, and the insolence in his composition; whence, imitating it and representing it, he subjoined this clause: "Farewell honey of the nations, ivory from Etruria, laser of Aretium, diamond of Luperna, Tiber pearl, emerald of the Cilnii, jasper of potters, beryl of Porsenna, may you have carbuncle as a poultice of adulterers." Thus Suetonius in Augustus.
20:16
A surety for a stranger is one who pledges or becomes surety for another, that is, for a foreigner: for this is what the Hebrew word zar signifies. Again, for strangers in Hebrew is for a strange woman, or unknown woman, namely not a thing, but a woman; for this is what the Hebrew word nochria signifies, for which the Royal edition and other codices more correctly with the Vulgate and Pagnino read nochriim, that is, for strangers. For the Rabbis wrongly placed points and for nochriim they point nochriam; for nochriam is not customary among the Hebrews and signifies nothing, although they did this with good intention, namely to indicate that the true reading is nochria, as is noted in the margin. The sense therefore is, as if to say: If anyone becomes surety for strangers, namely for a foreign man or a strange and unknown woman, so that you may provide for yourself and secure your property, take a pledge from him, and so if he has nothing else, take his garment as a pledge, so that, if either or one of them breaks faith, or is unable to pay, you may recover your property from the pledge. The reason is that business with a stranger is uncertain and slippery, inasmuch as he is not sufficiently known and dwells far away: wherefore if he is unwilling or unable to pay the debt, he will escape and return to his own people; hence he cannot be compelled by the creditor to pay: you may summon a citizen and neighbor before the magistrate of the city, but if you summon a foreigner, he will flee. Thus a Frenchman with difficulty compels a Spaniard, a German a Pole, an Englishman a Scot, an Italian a Greek to pay the debt: for if he wishes to compel, the debtor will return to his Spain, Poland, Scotland, Greece, and thus will escape the creditor's hand. For who will seek him in such remote lands? Or who will dare to bring suit against him among his own people? Wherefore he who wishes to provide for himself should demand a surety from the stranger, and take a pledge from him, so that he may more securely and quickly extort payment of the debt. For when the stranger delays or procrastinates in paying, his surety also delays or procrastinates in paying, for he does not wish to pay out of his own the debt of another. Wherefore in order to compel him quickly and securely to fulfill his pledge, take a pledge from him, especially if the surety himself also be a stranger, as can be translated from the Hebrew; for the Hebrews lack cases, hence the same noun signifies any case. Hence the Zurich edition translates: if a stranger has pledged, take his garment, so that his pledge be for the stranger. But Our author translates better in the genitive, surety or pledgor of a stranger, that is, of a foreigner. For it follows: "And for strangers, take a pledge from him." That this is the sense is clear from chapter twenty-seven, verse thirteen, where in the Hebrew the same sentiment is word for word; which here and there Our author translates, take the garment of him who pledged for a stranger; and for strangers take a pledge from him. Moreover, if this pledge were that of a poor man, namely a garment in which the poor man was accustomed to sleep, it was to be returned to him before evening; yet in the morning it could again be taken from him according to the old law laid down in Exodus twenty-two, twenty-six. Although that law properly concerns a poor debtor, especially from a loan, as is evident from verse twenty-five, not a surety, although it can be extended to him by parity of reasoning: for a surety is a debtor of him for whom he became surety. Hence in Deuteronomy twenty-four, ten, it is extended to any debtor who owes something to another in any way. This verse is now lacking in the Roman Septuagint and others; the Complutensian editors, however (and from them the Royal editors), who supplied in the Septuagint those things which were lacking, indeed accommodated the Septuagint to the Hebrew and Vulgate version, render this verse thus: take the garment of him who pledges for another, and for another take a pledge from him (the Chaldean: pledges it). One old codex of the Septuagint has it thus: take the garment of him who became surety for a stranger, and for a stranger pledged himself. Therefore directly and expressly this maxim admonishes creditors to be on their guard in dealings with strangers, and therefore to demand a surety, and to receive from him a garment as a pledge, so that, since the surety cannot lack his garment, he may be compelled to urge the stranger to pay the debt immediately. Indirectly, however, and tacitly it admonishes sureties not to be rash and precipitate in becoming surety, especially for strangers, as are the prodigal and fraudulent, inasmuch as the creditor will accept a garment from them as a pledge and will exact the entire debt. For since he does not wish to pursue strangers as they depart, he will approach the surety, and from him will demand the faith pledged and the entire debt. See what I have said concerning the danger of the surety in cap. vi, 1. R. Solomon, in cap. xxvii, vers. 13, and certain others take tolle et aufer in the potential mode, for "it can be taken and removed," or "it deserves to be taken," or "it will in fact be taken and removed." That is to say, he who easily and rashly becomes surety for a stranger deserves to have his garment and pledge taken from him; indeed, if the stranger fails, the judge will condemn the surety to provide the pledge and the entire debt of the stranger, and therefore will take away his garment and other goods. In a similar phrase the Psalmist says, Psal. cxliii, 5: "Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke," that is, the proud and swollen, like mountains, if they are touched by God, that is, are struck by lightning or afflicted by a similar plague, as they deserve, will soon turn to smoke and be converted to ashes. Thus St. Jerome there. According to this sense, tropologically R. Levi expounds it, that is to say, "He who has become surety for a stranger," that is, who obeys concupiscence, which alienates the mind from God and the law, is stripped of the possession of all things, and in place of it will pay the entire debt of sins to which illicit concupiscence leads. Vatablus understands by "stranger" the infidel and heretic; for he who becomes surety for one who lacks faith exposes his faith to danger and his goods to spoliation. Allegorically, Christ, becoming surety for the debt and guilt of the stranger Adam and of men alienated from God by their sins, was stripped of his garments and coverings, and thus hung completely naked upon the cross, and on it as on a bed of death fell asleep. Mystically Hugo: "Take away the garment," that is, the care of worldly things, he says, of him who has pledged his faith for souls and for strangers. More precisely our Salazar: "Take away," he says, from Prelates and Pastors the garment, that is, the softer coverings, lest they sleep, but rather keep watch and be sleepless. For they themselves have bound their faith for the souls of their neighbors; and therefore, in order that they may obtain grace and salvation for them from God, it is fitting that they live a more austere life, with vigils and chameunia, that is, sleeping on the ground.
20:17
Complutensis and Royal, with pebbles; the Author of the Greek Catena, with small stones; others, with sand, so that sand is opposed to flour, from which bread is made: just as pebbles are opposed to pieces of bread. You may ask, what is "bread of deceit," or deceitful bread? I answer, according to the letter and grammatically, deceitful bread is stony bread, to which pebbles or sand are mixed. For this presents the appearance of true bread, but deceives and defrauds those eating it. For when they eat it, at first indeed they see and taste mouthfuls of bread: but when they chew and crush it, they feel it full of pebbles, by which their teeth and palate are offended, according to that passage in Lamentations III, 16: "He hath broken my teeth with gravel, he hath fed me with ashes." See what is said there. Now under this shell of the letter, or parable, "bread of deceit" signifies parabolically, first, foods and riches obtained by deceit, namely by usury, fraud and injustice. Whence the Zurich version translates, sweet is to a man bread obtained by fraud; but at length his mouth shall be filled with gravel. For just as bread mixed with gravel and pebbles appears beautiful to the beholder, but is troublesome to the one chewing it, being stony and full of gravel, so it happens: thus riches and delights obtained by fraud appear sweet at first; but in the end are found to be destructive, when namely conscience, which is the mouth of the soul, is lacerated, tortured and tormented by a thousand scruples, anguishes, lawsuits, the burden of restitution, etc., especially when the fraudulent are condemned by a judge, or their fraud is discovered and punished by God. Then therefore, what has been unjustly obtained cannot be digested, but torments the mouth, stomach and the whole man. Secondly, "bread of deceit" by synecdoche signifies any riches, delights, pleasures, even justly obtained. For if anyone indulges in or covets these through gluttony, pride, avarice, or some other vice, they appear sweet at first indeed; but are finally felt to be harmful, just as if one were to chew stony bread. For he will be punished either by men, or by God, or by remorse of conscience, or by the intemperance and losses following gluttony and other vices. Whence mystically Bede, and from him the Gloss: "In whatever member, he says, anyone has sinned more, in that he shall be punished. He who has offended more through the tongue, is said to be about to burn more in it, when his mouth is said to be filled with a stone, which is burning stone, which happened to the rich man who feasted sumptuously every day, when burning in hell he sought refreshment for his tongue, which had flowed away in superfluous words during feasting, Luke xvi. Parabolically therefore this maxim signifies that delights, pleasure, gluttony and any vice in appearance pleasing has within itself its stone, its pebbles and scruples, which torment far more those devoted to them, than any pleasure previously afforded has delighted them. For every sin has this nature and custom, that first it soothes the senses with a certain sweetness, and tickles and delights the mind; but afterwards it harms the teeth of those eating it, either through remorse of conscience, or through the manifold punishment owed to sin. Whence the Poet: Spurn pleasures, pleasure bought with pain harms. Wherefore Aristotle admonished that "we should contemplate pleasures not as they come, but as they depart," that is not from the front, but from behind. For as they come they beguile with false appearance, as they depart they leave repentance and sorrow. Thus Laertius, book V, chapter 1. And Socrates, comparing pleasure to itching and scratching: "How wonderfully, he says, is this arranged by nature, that these two things accompany each other, pleasure and pain." For those itching scratch themselves with pleasure, but soon from scratching they feel themselves bitten and pinched. The same Socrates said, "that those who had exercised themselves in continence and frugality had far more pleasure and less pain than those who prepared delights everywhere with the greatest care." Which pleasures of the intemperate, apart from the torture of an ill-conscious mind, apart from infamy and poverty, frequently bring to the body itself more annoyance than delight. On the contrary, the best things are the same as the most pleasant, if one has become accustomed to them. Thus Laertius, book II, chapter v. Thirdly, the Author of the Greek Catena translates, bread of deceit; for ψεύδους from ψεῦδος signifies bread of deceit; but from ψεύδου, if you note the final letter with the circumflex accent placed upon it, signifies the bread of the deceiver. Now the bread of the deceiver is adulation, arts, frauds, by which the deceiver strives to delight others and to exalt himself. For these appear sweet at first both to the one speaking and to the one hearing: but finally, when their falsity and vanity are discovered, they torment both, as happens to heretics and Jews, as I shall soon show. Some understand here an arithmetical reckoning; for reckoning is usually made with counters, and thus they give this sense, as if to say: Those who administer the property of others, and convert it to their own uses through lies and frauds, enjoy its benefits at first; but when they are forced to render an account of it by masters, or judges, or confessors in confession, or by God on the day of judgment, then their mouth shall be filled with counters, that is, with the numbers and reckonings by which they defrauded the alien property, which they will then be unable to divide and arrange. Others understand it as a condemning counter. For formerly judges used to pronounce a sentence of condemnation by casting a black counter into an urn; and of absolution, by casting a white one, as if to say: The mouth of the liar and defrauder shall be filled with a counter, that is, shall be condemned either by a judge or by God. Furthermore, our Salazar understands by counter the smaller weights, such as drachmas and scruples. Whence those are called scrupulous who weigh and ponder small things too minutely, as if to say: Those who in life defrauded or plundered the property of others, and allured by pleasure heaped up great weights of plunder, yet did not esteem or care for them; these in the hour of death are tormented by scruples of conscience, and feel the slightest faults as goads, so that they are tortured and overwhelmed by remorse. If you refer this to God the judge, the sense will be: "And afterwards his mouth shall be filled with a counter," that is, of former pleasure and delights; yet something else shall remain, namely the experience of a most cruel examination, in which the judge will not only weigh great thefts and robberies on the scale of his judgment, but will also use scruples, that is, the minutest weights, so that he may weigh even the lightest faults. But the Hebrew חצץ chatsats signifies a counter, not arithmetical, nor condemning, nor pertaining to a balance; but a natural one, namely a rough, sharp and penetrating pebble, which when mixed with bread offends the teeth and palate. For it alludes to קצץ katsats, that is, to cut off the extremities, and to חצה chatsa, that is, to divide in half, that is, to cut a thing into two or three middle parts. Hence חץ chets is called an arrow from penetrating, because it divides and halves what it touches. The sense therefore assigned at the beginning is genuine and true. Mystically: To heretics the bread of falsehood is sweet, that is, false doctrine, which they rejoice to minister to the people in place of the bread of the Gospel; but afterwards they are forced to feel that what they offer is not truly bread, when they cannot defend their doctrine, but are compelled to vomit it forth and reject it, especially in the judgment of God and in hell. There therefore Arius, Nestorius, Calvin and the like see that their heresy was bread of falsehood, and that it has been turned into a counter, that is, into sharp pain and the fire of hell. Thus Jansenius. Whence the Gloss understands by counter the bitterness of penance succeeding the pleasure of concupiscence. Hence Galatinus, in book VII of the Secrets of Faith, chapter xv, aptly explains this verse concerning the Jews: for to these the falsehood of their perfidy is delightful. For since they hate Christ and truth, they delight themselves with the falsehoods of the Talmudic Rabbis, as if with the most delicious feasts; but their mouth shall be filled with a counter, that is, with the eternal punishment of hell. For a counter, he says, since it is hard, cannot be chewed, nor consumed, nor swallowed, nor spat out, when the whole mouth is full of it. Thus the punishment of hell is most hard and endures, and in no way can it be escaped, nor ended, nor diminished, nor softened by any moisture of tears. This is what Jeremiah prophesied concerning them, ix, 3: "They have made their tongue sharp as the tongue of a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips. And they have not known me, saith the Lord." And verse 5: "They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and they have laboured to commit iniquity." This is what St. Paul predicted concerning them, II Thessalonians ii, 9, namely that God would permit the Jews to be given over to Antichrist: "Whose coming is according to the operation of Satan, in all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying: that all may be judged who have not believed the truth, but have consented to iniquity." The signs, riches and delights of Antichrist therefore shall be to the Jews bread of falsehood, which shall soon be turned for them into a counter and torment.
20:18
The Syrian, on account of provocation, war is made, as when someone provokes another to a duel or war by an injurious word or deed. R. Solomon thus explains it, as if to say: When you come to fighting with Satan, undertake it armed with the aids of penance, prayers and fasting. For "are strengthened" in Hebrew is תכון ticon, which the Chaldean translator renders as "are directed"; R. Levi, "are set right": "When," he says, "someone is entangled with thoughts warring among themselves, by counsel taken, he will enjoy tranquility and peace; but this happens when these stirrings of the mind are collected together, true things are separated from false by contemplation completed in their proper order, and the mind is settled. But if two or other thoughts war among themselves, wage war vigorously against that one whose works you are barred from by the crown of virtues; thus you will be safe from those by which you are ensnared in the gravest difficulties: for thoughts warring among themselves, by which someone is distracted, produce perturbation equal to the sequence of things. Our translator and others in many places better render "are strengthened." For strength includes direction and adds force to it. By "counsels," that is, the counsels by which wars are governed and directed to a happy outcome and victory. For this is what תחבלות tachbulot signifies; the Septuagint, and in the methods of governing conduct war; Cajetan, in devices, namely in skill, sagacity, cunning, which is especially seen in stratagems by which skilled commanders overcome the enemy and achieve notable victories. The Hebrew tachbulot alludes to חבל chibbel, that is, a mast, ropes, rigging; and to חובל chobel, that is, the helmsman of a ship. Just as a skilled shipmaster, appropriately extending ropes and sails to the winds and moving the rudder, directs the ship to the destined port: so the commander of an army, appropriately disposing and governing soldiers by his counsels, arts and stratagems, directs the army to victory. Hence wise kings have counsel of war, as it is called, namely counselors skilled in military matters, who devise and suggest counsels for conducting war skillfully. Whence our Salazar understands by counsels vigorous commanders and those skilled in the military art: for these conduct wars prudently, just as jurists in peace administer the commonwealth justly and peacefully. The Septuagint in the Catena of the Greeks favor this, when they thus render it: thoughts are strengthened by counsel; but war is conducted by the industry of commanders. Whence the Emperor Leo, On Military Matters, cap. I, num. 41: "It is," he says, "the proper duty of the commander to surpass his subjects in prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance." And cap. II, num. 7: "The commander ought to be circumspect, prudent and resourceful, turning the thought of his mind in all directions with a certain swiftness; for when unexpected disturbances occur, they immediately require the devising of present aid." The sense therefore is, as if to say: "Thoughts," that is, the thoughts, designs, purposes of men, in themselves uncertain, unstable, changeable, are strengthened and confirmed by the prudent counsels of wise counselors, so that from uncertain things they become certain, from unstable things stable, from movable things immovable. The reason is, because many counselors foresee all difficulties and all the ways and means of accomplishing the matter; which being examined and wisely ordered, the matter becomes clear and morally certain, so that nothing in it needs to be changed or altered. Again, he who relies most on counsels undertakes the matter with certainty and without fear. For he plants his foot prudently in them: for he hopes prudently for a happy outcome of the matter; and if that does not succeed, he himself is beyond blame and infamy: for he has that by which to defend himself, the counsel of the prudent. This maxim therefore signifies that in wars and matters to be accomplished, industry, counsels, arts and stratagems avail more than the number and strength of soldiers; and that an active commander, who is skilled in military matters, will accomplish more than any external forces and fortifications whatsoever. Whence Alexander the Great, being asked by what means he had conquered so many enemies in so short a time, replied: "By counsel, eloquence and the art of command." Thus Plutarch, discourse IV. And Gideon with only three hundred soldiers, sounding as many trumpets, and clashing together pitchers with a burning torch inserted in them, presenting a great army, cast such great fear upon the Midianites, that he routed and put to flight their innumerable forces, Judges cap. VII, vers. 18. Thus Abraham with three hundred and eighteen servants of his household, attacking enemies unprepared and sleeping by night, defeated the armies of four kings, Genesis xiv, 15. Thus Judith, feigning herself a fugitive, slew Holofernes, and scattered the whole camp of the Assyrians, Judith cap. XIII, 11. Thus the Romans "possessed every place by their counsel and patience," I Maccabees VIII, 3. Thus Samson by three hundred foxes, binding burning torches to the tail of each, inflicted great slaughter upon the Philistines, and burned all their crops, Judges xv, 5. Wherefore the Emperor Leo in the Tactics, or On Military Matters, which he composed to be instituted against the Saracens, cap. I, num. 3: "The art of command," he says, "is that in which exercise, or study, or diligence is placed together with στρατηγημάτων, that is, counsels of commanders and the collection of victories." And cap. III, num. 2: "Before all things military, take counsel with those prefects who shall seem to you suitable for this, of which kind are the turmarches and the rest. But when counsel shall seem to have some firmness, strive with all study and diligence to bring the matter itself, about which you have deliberated, to completion." And num. 6: "But employ as counselors those experienced in affairs, provident, discerning, companions of your hardships and prosperity, diligent in devising, faithful, who will obey neither you for favor, nor him who is the undertaker of the matter, nor each other; but who speak what they think, who are of simple and uncorrupted mind, and seek no profit from these matters, but at that very time explore what is most useful." And num. 9: "Deliberate slowly, unless some necessity requires speed; when you have taken counsel, if there be no hindrance, act promptly." And cap. XX, num. 7: "Great praise of a commander is to be temperate in food and watchful; for by night we deliberate more about grave matters, and more easily by night is a conclusion reached, when the mind rests from all external tumult of things." And num. 8: "Say one thing to enemies, do another. Do not share grave and secret matters with many, but with few, and those your most faithful friends. For thus it is often necessary to deceive enemies." And num. 108: "Have the sun and wind and dust at the back of your men, and in the face of the enemy; for indeed the eyes of enemies, either dulled by dust or their breath obstructed by powder, or their bodies battered by wind, easily grant you victory." Vegetius has similar things, lib. III, cap. IX. I have said more about the usefulness of counsel cap. I, 3, at those words: "He that is wise shall possess the helm."
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Many from the Hebrew make this sentence bipartite. For the Hebrew words literally thus have it, revealing secret going informer, and to one dilating, or seducing with his lips do not mix yourself. Whence the Septuagint in bipartite manner thus translate, revealing mystery walks fraudulently, and seducing with his lips do not associate yourself. The Complutensian and Royal editions read, revealing counsels in assembly goes double-tongued, and with one extending his lips do not associate yourself. The author of the Greek Catena more clearly, who opens secret counsels in assembly, double-tongued proceeds; with him moreover who dilates his lips, do not associate yourself. Vatable, who reveals secret, walks in informing, and with him who allures men, by his words do not associate yourself, that is to say, Flee the counsel of the informer, and moreover of the flatterer. Cajetan, revealing mysteries walks as a scout, that is to say, He who reveals secrets is not so much a friend as he pretends to be, as a scout and informer. Or, that is to say, From this you will know someone to be not a friend, but a scout, if namely he reveals and betrays your secrets. For he is double-tongued, because he speaks to you in a friendly manner, but hostilely and as an enemy among strangers, to whom he betrays you and your counsels. But because, if you make the sentence bipartite, there is no connection of the latter hemistich with the former, hence Our author better translates the Hebrew in the dative (for Hebrew nouns are of any case), and thus makes it unipartite and connected in this manner: To one revealing mystery, or secret, and walking fraudulently like an informer, and dilating his lips do not associate yourself. For here he notes three vices connected with each other, of which one flows and proceeds from another in its order. The first is to reveal mysteries, or secrets, entrusted to oneself by another, which is a crime of infidelity and betrayal; the second, to walk fraudulently as a scout and informer. For a scout acts and speaks fraudulently, so that he may fish out secrets which he may carry to others. The third is to dilate his lips, that is to flatter with ample, specious and magnificent words; for by these scouts are accustomed to fish out secrets which they then carry to others. He admonishes therefore that one must beware of the betrayer, who is infected with these three vices, who namely by ample flattery fishes out secrets, which he then carries to others. Whence the Zurich edition translates, do not enter into friendship with him who reveals secret, or who like a merchant goes about and is smooth-tongued. For the Hebrew rachil signifies a merchant, and thence an informer: because just as a merchant carries merchandise, so also an informer carries and spreads the words and deeds of others to others. The same signifies Our author, the Septuagint and Pagninus, when they translate, dilates; for a flatterer and seducer dilates his lips, narrating or promising ample and specious things, so that he may allure and capture the hearer by them, and especially so that he may fish out his secrets, which he then betrays to others, which is what Solomon properly intends here. For all these things pertain to the revelation of secret and its betrayal. For this is a great crime, hateful and harmful. I have given the reason a priori at Ecclesiasticus xxvii, 19. Hence it is clear that the Hebrew patha signifies not only to allure and deceive, but also to dilate, because the deceiver dilates his lips beyond the limits of truth and fidelity to false, specious, vain, fallacious things, by which he may capture another. Whence at chapter xxiv, 28, the Septuagint translate the Hebrew patha, do not dilate your lips. And at Deuteronomy xi, 16, the Septuagint translate to patha, do not dilate your heart, that is, as Our author explains, do not let your heart be deceived, so that namely sated with the good things of the land you may wanton like calves, and dilate your heart beyond the worship of the true God to adore strange gods, which is the greatest deception and error. Note: For "dilates" in Hebrew is פותה pothe, which the Syriac translator first rendered as "hastens"; for thus he translated, "he who is faithful in spirit conceals a matter, and let him not associate with him whose lips are hasty," that is to say, "he who is faithful is slow of speech and conceals secrets; but he who is unfaithful is precipitate and hasty in speaking, and therefore easily pours forth secrets: wherefore do not associate with him." And thus some explain "dilates his lips," that is to say, "he who is verbose and garrulous"; for this man has a longer tongue than is fitting, as is commonly said, and lips wider than they ought to be, because beyond the bounds of the trust of secrecy and the silence owed to it they rashly dilate and extend themselves. They prove this from Aristotle, who in the Physiognomics teaches that those who have extended lips and a large gape of the mouth are excessively talkative and biting, and are to be compared to dogs. Moreover, Albert the Great adds that these same men are revealers of secrets: for these two vices always cling to each other, to speak much and to keep no secret. Thus Plutarch teaches in the book On Talkativeness, where he says these two vices are familiar to the garrulous and talkative, to disclose secrets and always to add something to conversations received from others. Wherefore Seneca, epistle 110 to Lucilius: "Nothing will so much profit toward retaining comfortable quiet as to speak least with others, most with oneself. There is a certain sweetness of discourse which creeps in and flatters, and produces secrets not otherwise than drunkenness or love." Secondly, properly פתה patha signifies to allure, to entice, to flatter, to cajole, to seduce, to deceive. For those who strive to deceive others flatter and cajole them, so that by their flatteries they may deceive and capture them, just as fish and birds are captured by bait. Whence the Zurich Bible translates, "do not enter into friendship with him who is smooth-tongued," namely beware of the flatterer and his flatteries: just as Ulysses beware of the Sirens and their alluring song; and just as travelers beware of deceitful dogs, which by flattering bite. Others render it "to the enticer," or "to the deceiver," or "to the flatterer," or "to the seducer, do not associate." Thus R. Solomon, Aben-Ezra and others. The counterpart to this maxim is that of the Arabs, Centuria I, no. 36: "Do not open your secret to apes," that is to scoffers and revealers. For just as apes imitate the gestures of men which they observe by imitating them: so scoffers and traitors represent those whom they scoff at and betray, by narrating their words and deeds to others. And that saying, Centuria I, no. 56: "Do not bring reproach upon your brother"; or, as others translate it, do not make manifest the shame of your brother. And thus Ben-Sira, Alphabet 2, letter scin: "Refrain from quarreling with your neighbors; and if you notice something evil in your associates, do not bring their infamy upon them with your tongue." If therefore you see something blameworthy in a friend, be silent; if something praiseworthy, bring it forth and praise it. For, as the Arabs say: "When you magnify him whom you see, he will magnify you whom he does not see." And again: "Praise enriches, defamation punishes."
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Hebrew, in blackness or obscurity of darkness; Chaldean, like the darkness of shadows; Syrian, like a dark pupil. For this is called in Hebrew אישון ischon, from the likeness of a little man, or pupil, which appears in the pupil. Whence also the Greek κόρη, as the Septuagint translates it, signifies both pupils and girls or maidens. From the Septuagint therefore thus you translate, her pupils or maidens shall see darkness, that is to say, His daughters in girlish age before marriage shall die: wherefore the hope of his offspring and propagation shall be extinguished. "He curseth," that is, he assailed with reproaches, jeers, insults, mockeries: or he imprecates upon them death, plague or some other evil: or in like manner by words or deeds he is injurious, cursing or harmful toward them. Note also the mother, that is, either the mother: for it suffices for guilt and punishment to curse one or the other, as is evident from Leviticus xx, 9. Whence the Septuagint translates, the lamp of him that curseth father or mother shall be extinguished, and the pupils of his eyes shall see darkness; Symmachus, his lamp shall be extinguished in σκοτομήνη, that is, in obscurity, or in the moonless night; others, in the pupil of night or darkness, that is in the darkest and most obscure night: for the pupil of the eye, because it is the darkest, is hence a symbol of blackness, darkness and obscurity. You will ask, what is this "lamp," and how is it to be extinguished in the midst of darkness? I answer first: "Lamp" by its light is a symbol of brightness, excellence, fame, name and glory. Whence it is commonly said that someone obscures the lights of another, when he darkens his fame and glory. The sense therefore is, that is to say, He who is cursing or harmful toward father or mother, even if he be otherwise illustrious, and distinguished by many names, shall obscure all these names, and shall extinguish all honor, brightness, dignity and glory, and shall bury them in the darkness of impious cursing toward parents, and moreover in the ignominy, reproach and infamy that follows from it; nay, he shall not only darken himself, but also his whole family and its splendor, with the reproach and darkness of this impiety and infamy. This sense is plain, obvious and common. Secondly, "lamp" is a symbol of reason, knowledge, prudence, that is to say, They shall be punished with great ignorance, says Vatablus, so that captured in reason and deprived of mind, they may appear not so much men as beasts, because they have willingly extinguished or put out the light of natural reason, which dictates that parents are to be honored. Whence our Salazar thus expounds it, that is to say, The son who violates his parents, and drives them far from him with curses and insults, "his lamp shall be extinguished in the night illuni," that is, reason and counsel shall fail in him, and he shall walk in dark night. Because he who lacks his own counsel, and does not have the exhortations and teachings of father and mother at hand, acts in night without sun, without moon and without lamp. And indeed for him who has harmed his parents, a fitting punishment is surely the defect of counsel and reason. For he who has entirely cast off humanity, and has in a manner descended to beasts through savagery, is justly deprived of those goods which most distinguish man from beasts, namely in reason and counsel. Thirdly, "lamp" is a symbol of sons, grandsons and descendants. For just as one lamp kindles another and another, and through it propagates its light: so a father breathes his spirit and life, as it were, into his sons, and propagates it through grandsons and descendants. Whence many of the ancients were accustomed to hold that the soul of man, equally as that of a horse and of beasts, is born from transmission, that is, the soul of the son is transmitted and generated from the soul of the parent, just as the light of one lamp is transmitted from the light of another lamp. But this is an error; yet it is true that the vital spirits and consequently the life of the son are transmitted from the spirit and life of the parent. Hence that passage of Lucretius, book II: "And like runners they hand on the torch of life." And Plato, book VI of the Laws, teaches that parents hand on life to their sons, as runners hand on burning torches, which at the beginning of the course they had received from the prefect, and after completing it they handed on to others, and these to others and others; but he in whose hand the torch was extinguished was held to be unlucky, base and inglorious: so a father who died without children, so that in him the lamp of the family was extinguished, was held to be unhappy and inglorious. Again, the life and glory of the father survives after death and lives on in the son, whom he leaves after him as another self. Solomon therefore says that the lamp of him who curses his parents shall be extinguished, that is, the generation and propagation of his sons, namely that he shall not beget sons, or if he begets them, they shall soon die, and thus he himself and his name shall perish, and pass into the darkness of death and eternal oblivion. For he who does not honor his father deserves to lack paternal honor, namely that he does not become a father. He who despises the one who begot him is worthy to be deprived of begetting and generation. On the contrary, God in the Scriptures is said to prepare a lamp for dutiful sons, that is, sons and a renowned and splendid posterity, as when He says to David and to Christ: "I have prepared a lamp for my Christ," Psalm cxxxi, verse 17. And of Abijah: "Because of David the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him," III Kings xv, 4. The lamp of King David therefore is the royal posterity, or the sons and grandsons of David succeeding in order in the kingdom. Therefore this sense is very well suited to this place, and equally fitting to the phrase and to Scripture. Fourthly, "lamp" is a symbol of life. For just as life is nourished by radical moisture: so a burning lamp is nourished by oil, and when that fails it languishes and dies. Hence that passage of Polyxena in the Iphigenia of Euripides: "Farewell, friendly light," that is, farewell, life; behold I die. For fire is lively, and seems to live; whence by some it was thought to be an animal, not only for the reason that like other animals it is nourished, indeed it is omnivorous and insatiable; but also because it seems to possess sense, which appears especially when it is extinguished, inasmuch as it, as if deprived of the vital principle, is not at all, cries out, flares up, hisses, strives to avenge itself, and resists struggling, just as other living creatures do which are destroyed by violent death, says Pierius, Hieroglyphics 46, chapter xiv. The sense therefore is, as if to say: He who curses his parents shall be deprived not only of sons and offspring, but also of life itself, either by the judge or by God, according to the law sanctioned by him, Leviticus xx, 9: "He that curseth his father, or his mother, dying let him die; he that curseth his father or mother, his blood be upon him;"; and this "in the midst of darkness," when a lamp is most needed, that is in youth, as Cajetan says, when he ought most to be living, he shall die an untimely death and be buried in eternal oblivion. Pierius adds, chapter ix: But the vestal fire, which the Roman virgins nourished with such great care, seemed to display a more sublime and divine life: they therefore aided it both with custody and nourishment, because it seemed to be a symbol of that higher eternal life. And among portents, as Dionysius and others relate, it was held to be a presage of the city's destruction, if by any chance it should happen to be extinguished. Hence Camillus says to the Quirites: "What shall I say of the eternal fires of Vesta, and of the sign by which the pledge of the empire is held in the custody of her temple?" And Virgil, Aeneid II: "And bears the eternal fire from the inner sanctuaries." To see is sometimes a lamp in the base of some idol: some think this signifies eternity. Thus far Pierius. Indeed in Rome in the cemeteries of St. Priscilla, St. Sebastian, St. Lawrence and others, in the tombs of Martyrs and the faithful, we see earthen lamps placed everywhere, as it were indices of their faith, hope and virtue revived, and tokens of triumph, life and glory; because, although dead to the world, they live nevertheless to God in hope of eternal life, awaiting the glorious resurrection of the body. This lamp likewise of the one who curses his parents shall be extinguished, because he shall be deprived of eternal life, and shall go into Tartarus to outer darkness. Fifth, "lamp," namely light and fire, is a symbol of piety, holiness, religion, divine worship and divinity itself. Hence lamps are used in Mass and divine offices, and are hung at the bodies of Martyrs, as in Rome in the temple of St. Cecilia we behold eighty lamps burning constantly night and day. Why fire is fitting for God and divine things, I have reviewed seventeen reasons and analogies in Leviticus IX, at the end of the chapter. The sense therefore is, as if to say, The one who curses and is impious toward his parents extinguishes in his mind the lamp, that is the light of piety, holiness and divine worship; because, God commanding that parents be honored, he has cast off fear, love and obedience, and appears plainly profane, impious and atheistic. Hence Plato, book XI of the Laws: "The worship of the gods," he says, "is toward honoring parents as a prelude." Hence again the lamp is a symbol of the priesthood, as in Jeremiah xxv, 10: "I will destroy, etc., the light of the lamp," that is I will destroy the priesthood whose duty it is to care for lamps, and the temple in which they were lit, and the sabbaths and sacred rites which were celebrated with their splendor, I will overturn. Wherefore priests of old carried lighted lamps, torches and brands. Whence that saying of Clement of Alexandria in the Protrepticus concerning the priests of Bacchus: "Extinguish the fire, O priest, revere the lamps, O you who bear torches! Your Iacchus is convicted by light." Lipsius demonstrates this more fully in the Electa, and Martin de Roa, book II of Singularities, chapter xvi. Sixth, "lamp" is a symbol of dominion, wealth, kingdom and empire; because, just as fire is the king of the elements, so the prince is of men. Wherefore lamps, torches and fires were wont to be carried before kings, as I showed in Jeremiah cap. I, 13. Hence it came about that by sacred writers especially the lamp is taken for kingdom and kings, for splendor and glory, as purple and torches for magistracy, and things of that sort. Thus it is said in II Kings xxi, 17: "Thou shalt not extinguish the lamp of Israel," that is the kingdom or the king. And the Royal Prophet: "I have prepared," he says, "a lamp for my Christ," that is a kingdom and empire for my king. John the Baptist is called a lamp, first because he shone as a torch before Christ the true king of gods and men entering the earth; or professing his empire and principality by this symbol as it were; or the nuptials which he was about to celebrate with his spouse the Church. Then also he is called a lamp, because he himself was not the light, but a messenger of light, and therefore a shining lamp; and because he contained that fire who had come to send fire upon the earth, burning. This was kindled first in the womb of his parent, when both children not yet even brought forth into the light, the one gave light, the other received it; then inflamed more abundantly, when they came together at the Jordan on the day of lustration. Thus our Martin de Roa, book II of Singularities, chapter XVII. Solomon therefore signifies that sons, although powerful princes ruling widely, if they are impious and curse their parents, are by the just vengeance of God to be stripped of this power, dominion and kingdom, as happened to Absalom who impiously invaded the kingdom of his father David, who, suspended by his hair in a tree, was pierced through with three spears by Joab, II Kings xviii, 14. Seventh, a "lamp" and light is a symbol of joy, prosperity and happiness; for these things refresh and make blessed the mind, just as light does the eyes. Hence we have heard concerning the impious, cap. XIII, 9: "The lamp of the wicked shall be put out." And Job cap. XVIII, 6: "The light," he says, "shall be darkened in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him shall be put out." And cap. XXIX, 3: "When his lamp shone upon my head, and I walked by his light in darkness," that is, when I enjoyed prosperous fortune, when I was abundant, happy and fortunate. The lamp therefore of him who curses his parents is extinguished in darkness, when God, as a punishment for impiety, takes away from him prosperity, and changes it into calamity, and happiness into unhappiness, namely by bringing it about that all things fall out unhappily for him, and rebound upon the head of the one who curses, who was not afraid to insult his father. "In darkness" therefore, that is through darkness, namely when the gravest darkness shall overwhelm it. But this happens both at death, which takes away all brightness and happiness of the impious; and also in time, even in temporal divine vengeance, which is frequently signified by darkness. On the contrary, concerning the just it is said: "Thy light shall rise up in darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday," Isaiah cap. LVIII, 10. And again: "Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?" Isaiah L, 10. For when the day of death and divine vengeance arrives, the virtue and brightness of the just is not overcome by those darknesses, but rather shines forth and overcomes the darkness: but on the contrary the brightness of the impious is overcome and oppressed by those darknesses. This sense is very apt and equally common and comprehensive, and embraces all the others; for a lamp and light is a symbol of joy and happiness, and of all things that produce pleasure and gladness, or are held in honor, in delights and in value; such things are riches, fame, power, dominion, kingdoms, empires, triumphs, honor and glory, and other things of this kind. Symmachus translates: his torch shall be put out in the night, that is in the densest darkness, when he shall have light neither from a lamp nor from the sky. For all the light of night is from the moon and stars. Symbolically, the moon represents the mother, just as the sun represents the father. According to that of Joseph: "I saw as it were the sun and the moon and eleven stars adoring me," that is I saw my father, mother and eleven brothers adoring me, Genesis XXXVII. For just as at night, the sun being absent, the moon provides light: so the mother, the father being absent or dead, provides to her son consolations, counsels and admonitions of salvation; if the moon become moonless, that is, if the mother be absent or die, the son, bereft of father and mother, is destitute of all consolation and counsel. Solomon therefore says: A son, who has assailed his father and mother with reproaches or insults, deserves to be bereft of both, equally as of children, namely he deserves that he himself be neither a father to children lost, nor a son to parents extinguished; thus indeed all his lamp both from above and from below is extinguished. Mystically, by father and mother understand Prelates, Pastors, Princes; for whoever curses these, his lamp, sevenfold as already recounted, shall be extinguished. Hence the Author of the Chain of the Greeks: By father, he says, understand God in this place; by mother, however, the justice of the law: whoever has assailed these with curses, or otherwise despised them, the lamp, that is the light of knowledge, which was in him, shall be extinguished. But the pupils of his eyes shall see darkness, namely the terror and obscurity of the future judgment.
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In Hebrew and Chaldean, "in the end shall not be blessed"; the Septuagint, the part hastened in the beginning, shall not be blessed in the end. There is here in the Hebrew what the Masoretes call keri and ketib, that is, a variety of reading and writing. For it is written מבחלת mebochelet through chet, which root is found only here and in Zechariah XI, 8, where I have explained it at length. For it signifies a detestable thing, which we abominate and nauseously vomit forth, such as "a hastened inheritance," especially one obtained by theft and evil arts, as Aben-Ezra says. But it should be read מבוהלת mebohelet through he, that is, hastened, as the Septuagint, Symmachus, Theodotion, Pagninus and others translate it; the Zurich Bible, precipitate; Vatablus, precipitated, or obtained with precipitation; Aben-Ezra, gathered from rapine: for such things often are, which are quickly and hastily scraped together by fair means and foul. For the root bahal imports with passion the swiftness of time and precipitation, and signifies he hastened, he hurried, he precipitated, he disturbed, he struck with sudden terror. It agrees in meaning, equally as in letters transposed by metathesis, with הבל habal, which signifies sudden evanescence; whence הבל hebel is vanity, and from this Abel was named, because he was quickly slain by his brother Cain and suddenly vanished. Thus also here bahal is turned into habal, that is, riches quickly obtained quickly vanish. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Inheritances and riches quickly and precipitately obtained lack blessing, that is, success, felicity, abundance and fruit; because they not only do not increase, but gradually decrease and fail, both because they are precipitately and tumultuously, and therefore imprudently, and often by fair means and foul scraped together: for precipitation is opposed to consideration and counsel, by which things are wont to be established and to obtain a happy outcome; and also because the heir obtained them quickly without great labour, indeed easily: hence he esteems them less, and guards and preserves them less; for those things which anyone has obtained by great labour and sweat, he loves, cares for, and studiously preserves, says R. Levi. So that this maxim says the same thing as that in chapter XIII, 11: "Substance hastily gotten shall be diminished; but that which by little and little is gathered with the hand shall be increased;" where I have explained it at length. R. Solomon gives an example, the tribes of Gad, Reuben and half of Manasseh, which because they hastily received their portion on this side of the Jordan, hence they were first exposed to the incursion of enemies, and were first laid waste by Hazael king of Syria, in the time of Jehu king of Israel and Joas king of Juda, IV Kings x, 33. Therefore you will rightly adapt this sentence to parents, who by fair means and foul accumulate riches, so as to leave a large inheritance to their sons after them; for these not rarely are frustrated in their hope, and often leave their sons poor. The reason is, that ill-gotten gains are ill-spent; and, as is commonly said: The third heir does not rejoice in ill-gotten gains. Secondly, Cajetan aptly thus expounds it, as if to say, An inheritance, which a young son hastens to enter upon before his father's death, lacks blessing; because it cannot be ruled and preserved by him, but is youthfully and rashly dissipated, consumed and squandered. Hence that common saying: "If you are a vulture, wait for the carcass;" if you wish to enjoy your father's inheritance, and to be satisfied and to enjoy it, wait for your father's death, like a vulture, which kills no animal, but feeds on the dead or those killed by others. An example is in the prodigal son, who hastily demanding from his father a portion of his inheritance, consumed it by living luxuriously with harlots. Whence he was reduced to such poverty, that he was forced to become a swineherd and to feed swine, Luke xv. Thirdly, "hastened" can be taken for "quickly and hastily consumed," as if to say, An inheritance, which is quickly and hastily consumed, shall lack blessing, that is, shall sooner fail and be dissipated. For thus gluttons and youths, when they approach the table of feasts and riches with hasty greed, immediately consume it, devour and dissipate it. It is a metalepsis. This threefold exposition arises from a threefold acceptance of the verb "hastened." For first "hastened" means hastily acquired; secondly, "hastened" means hastily entered upon and occupied; thirdly, "hastened" means hastily consumed. Mystically, worldly men, because they hasten to inherit the earth and to enjoy present things, thereby lose future goods and the heavenly inheritance. Thus Cain, building a city on earth, lost the city on high, Genesis IV: "These men imitate him, who hasten to the festival of earthly happiness, and do not await the future dedication of the kingdom of the Son of God (whence also that saying of the Wise Man: An inheritance, which is hastened after in the beginning, shall lack blessing in the end), as Enoch awaited, that is, dedication, "who walking with God was not found, because God took him. For indeed the just through faith in the seventh age of the world dedicated to them hope for rest, and their hope proceeds to that which in the present they do not see. For we have not, they say, a city remaining here, but we seek a future one," says Rupertus, book IV on Genesis, chapter x. Just as therefore Esau, gluttonously, greedily and precipitously gaping after Jacob's pottage, sold to him and lost the rights of primogeniture, Genesis xxv, 34: so the impious, because they precipitously and impatiently gape after happiness and pleasure, hence accept that which the world brings forth on earth, and therefore lose the heavenly happiness, which the just, waiting with long hope and patience in the tribulations of this world, obtain in the heavens. Whence the Apostle, Hebrews xi, 1: "Faith, he says, is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not." See that whole chapter. There is added the Author of the Greek Catena, who thus explains it, as if to say: Malice at the beginning draws in pleasure with greedy jaws; but in the end it casts down its follower into a curse. Moreover virtue, which makes its beginning from labor, ends finally in blessing. Or that part is called accelerated which has been undertaken with excessive haste and tumult, according to that: "Then the princes of Edom made haste," Exodus xv. Thus he. Morally, learn here how great an evil precipitate haste and rashness is, and how contrary to wisdom and prudence, which require counsel and maturity for acquiring both spiritual and bodily riches. Hence the maxim of Augustus Caesar was, σπεῦδε βραδέως, that is, hasten slowly, as Gellius testifies, book X, chapter xi. And the Comic poet: "Those things are safer which are provided by slow counsels, than those which are hurried by hasty counsels. Deliberate on useful things, delay is the safest. In the night counsel." Sallust: "Before you begin, take counsel; when you have taken counsel, swift action is needed," which saying Aristotle praises, book VI of the Morals. Bias: "Approach the business slowly, but in what you have undertaken persevere constantly." Terence in the Phormio: "May the gods prosper what you do, yet step by step;" and, as Plutarch says, "at an ox's pace." Sophocles in Oedipus: "Precipitate prudence is dangerous." The Mime Publilius: "War must be prepared for a long time, so that you may conquer more quickly." Quintilian: "That precocious kind of talent does not rashly reach fruition." It is commonly said: "Those who are wise while still children and as it were before their time, become foolish in old age." Aelius in Gellius says that in youthful talents, just as in unripe fruits, he is pleased by acidity, for these finally ripen; moreover maturity brings timely sweetness: the rest rot before their time. Homer hints at this, Iliad I, where Pallas stands behind Achilles and restrains his hand as it moves to the sword. The companions of haste are usually error and repentance, according to that: "Precipitance is the cause of many evils." And that: "A hasty dog bears blind puppies." St. Jerome to Pammachius: "That saying of Cato is well known, he says: Soon enough, if well enough." Thus those who precipitously consecrate themselves to virtues acquire hasty and fleeting ones rather than solid and perpetual ones. For precocious things are wont to wilt quickly; but that which grows gradually is durable, according to that of Horace: "It grows in secret like a tree with age." Whence Pindar, hymn 8 in the Nemean Odes: "Virtue grows, he says, just as when a tree rises green with dew, lifted up among wise men and just men to the clear aether." Tropologically, St. Gregory, in the third book of the Pastoral Care, admonition 21, applies this name, or rather objects it to the avaricious, who, grasping at transitory things that are at hand, lose eternal things, as if they were tenants of the earth and exiles from heaven: "When they desire, he says, any gains of the present world, and are ignorant of what losses they will suffer from the future, let them hear what is written: The inheritance, to which one hastens in the beginning, shall lack blessing in the end. For from this life we take our beginning, so that we may come to the lot of blessing in the end. Whoever therefore hastens to inherit in the beginning, cuts off for himself the lot of blessing in the end; because, while through the wickedness of avarice they desire to be multiplied here, there they become disinherited from the eternal patrimony." But Bede thus: "The inheritance to which one hastens," etc., that is: "Whoever, hastening before he has learned to be subject, that is before the time, in a disordered manner, receives the degree of rule, shall lack in the end the reward of blessing, which is owed to good rulers; he who approached the mystery of the altar untaught and rashly, he himself on the last day will lose the grace of recompense, which is promised to those who minister well. It can also be understood thus, that whoever wishes to avenge his injuries in the present, here shall lack the crown of patience in the future. To which sense it seems especially fitting that what follows applies: Say not: I will return evil; wait for the Lord, and he shall deliver thee."
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In Hebrew veioscha lach, that is, he will save you, Jesus will be to you. For the name Jesus, that is, savior, is derived from iascha, that is, he saved. The Septuagint, lest you say: I will avenge myself on my enemy (St. Cyprian, book III of Testimonies, and in the work to Demetrian reads: I will avenge myself on my enemy), but wait for the Lord, that he may be your help; the Syriac: I will repay evil for good: better in others: I will repay evil for evil. For it properly forbids vengeance and retaliation, namely lest evil be repaid with evil. For to repay is similar to rendering like for like or equal for equal. Whence Aben-Ezra: "Do not say," he says, "that you will repay in kind those who have harmed you with evil." For that appetite of repaying like for like in evils is very vehement in man, and as it were innate to him; and some nations are so inclined to this that they think their honor, indeed their happiness, is situated in that matter. The Author of the Catena of the Greeks: "Do not avenge yourself," he says, "but wait for the Lord, who said: Give me vengeance, and I will repay," Romans, chapter XII, verse 19. DO NOT SAY — in your heart, and much less with your mouth, both because by uttering with your mouth the evil of vengeance The reason a priori is, because to repay evil for evil is not an act of justice, but of vengeance, which is illicit and forbidden by all law; evil therefore must be repelled by the shield of patience, not by the weapon of vengeance. Again, he who inflicted the evil gave you an occasion of great virtue and merit; therefore he did not offer you evil, but immense good; for he gave you matter of great victory and a crown. Wherefore he is worthy not of hatred, but of love, not of vengeance, but rather of thanksgiving. Those therefore who harm us by word or blow are not torturers of torments, but goldsmiths of crowns: therefore they are benefactors, not malefactors, and their benefit (material, not formal, because it is not from their mind and intention) must be weighed with equal benefit. See what I have said on this matter in Romans XII, 17; Ecclesiasticus XXVIII, 7 and following, and I Peter II, 23. Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. — He does not say, and he will avenge you, although this often truly happens, but he will deliver you, so as to signify that the injured one ought to desire his own deliverance, not the punishment and harm of the injurer. The Chaldean: hope in God, and he will save you. For wait in Hebrew is קוה kawe, which word is said of those who are intent upon someone with great desire of heart and look upon him, and wait for him and embrace him, and apply him to themselves. It signifies therefore that the injured one ought to flee not to friends, not to attendants, not to soldiers, but to God, to look upon him, and to direct all his hope, and to expect his deliverance from him; therefore he ought to embrace God with his whole heart, and to apply him to his injury and sorrow as the most efficacious remedy and the most certain consolation. Our Jesus, that is, savior, does this for his beloved ones trusting in him, and directing their whole mental force toward him. Look therefore upon him, and he himself in turn will look upon you with the eye of paternal providence and will save you, according to that of the Psalmist: "As the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a handmaid on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us," Psalm CXXII, 2. Behold with what affection dogs look upon their master dining, that they may receive food from him; with equal affection look upon Jesus, and he will feed you with all good. This maxim therefore instructs and teaches him who suffers injury what he ought to do, and suggests to him an invincible panoply, by which he may overcome and surpass all things. This panoply is patience, meekness, resignation of spirit and hope in God. For by enduring with this he conquers first the injury, however atrocious and manifold, just as Christ our leader conquered, as St. Peter testifies, in the place already cited. Second, he conquers the injurer himself, while he shows himself unmoved by his injuries, indeed stronger and more elevated by them, and repays good for evil; by which charity as if by fire he sets his heart ablaze, and binds him to himself, and compels him so that he who is loved loves in return, and thus makes an enemy into a friend. Third, he conquers himself, namely his own anger, desire for vengeance, impatience, and over all these and other movements of the soul he rules and commands as a king. The patient one therefore is master and king of himself and his spirit, and consequently of the devil, indeed of all demons, who once conquered by anger, now strive to rouse all to the same. Fourth, he conquers those standing by and listening. For these, having heard his invincible patience, admire him, love him and honor him. Fifth, he conquers God himself, and draws help from him, so that he may be freed from all evil. On the contrary, the impatient man is conquered first by the injury of his neighbor; second, by the one who injures him, and he confesses himself to be harmed and overcome by him; third, by his own anger and impatience, and by the demon who stirs it up; fourth, by those standing by, who mock him; fifth, by God, who abandons him and exposes him to greater injuries. Take up this virtue therefore, apply it to yourself, meditate upon it and practice it, whoever you are that suffers, and you will find in it relief from all evil. Truly St. Augustine says: "A curse, he says, repelled by patience returns upon its author, while he who was struck remains unharmed." Hence Jeremiah, a type of Christ suffering, afflicted with so many insults and blows by the Jews, fleeing to God, cap. XVII, 14: "Heal me, O Lord, he says, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for thou art my praise." And soon after: "And I was not turbulent following thee as a shepherd, and I have not desired the day of man, thou knowest. That which went out of my lips was right in thy sight. Be not thou a terror to me, thou art my hope in the day of affliction." And David, fleeing from Absalom, attacked with curses by Semei: "Let him alone, he says, that he may curse according to the commandment of the Lord, if perhaps the Lord may look upon my affliction, and the Lord may repay me good for this curse of this day," II Kings, cap. XVI, vers. 11. Solomon is befitted by Sirach, Eccli. I, 20: "Until the time, he says, the patient man will endure, and afterwards joy will be returned to him." And cap. II, 21: "They that fear the Lord keep his commandments, and they shall have patience until his visitation." And vers. 2: "Do not be hasty in the time of clouds (affliction), endure the sustenance of God, join yourself to God, and endure, that your life may grow in the end." And vers. 6: "Believe in God, and he will recover you, and direct your way, and hope in him." And St. Ignatius, in Anthony's Melissa, part. II, cap. LXXXIX and XC: "Stand firm, he says, while you are being struck, like an anvil. It is the part of a noble athlete to be struck and to conquer; but especially for God's sake all things must be endured by us, so that he himself may endure us. Patiently bear one another with gentleness, so that God may always bear us gently." St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in the same place: "There is in fables, he says, a certain plant which, when cut, germinates, and which is said to contend with iron, which lives by death, and is born by cutting, and is increased by consumption. Such seems to me to be the wise man, who in disturbances attains clarity, to whom the matter of virtue is trouble, and who becomes more adorned by adversities. It is useful to overcome boldness with gentleness, and to make better those who do injury, which we bear patiently when inflicted upon us. Nothing is stronger than those who are prepared to bear all things." St. Chrysostom in the same place: "No thing equally makes men venerable, he says, as to endure injury. God is accustomed not to avert evils from the beginning, but when they have come to the highest point and grown, when nothing has been left untried by enemies, when they have tried all things, then all at once he converts all things into the greatest tranquility, and beyond everyone's expectation he constitutes and strengthens the things themselves in the best way. When someone offends you, do not look at him, but at the demon impelling him, and pour out all your anger upon him; but have mercy on him who is impelled by the demon." St. Basil in the same place: "If you become angry at one who reviles you, he says, you have approved the reviling. For what is more foolish than anger? But if you are not moved at all by anger, you have affected the one doing injury with shame, declaring temperance by the deed itself." St. Gregory of Nyssa, brother of St. Basil, in Maximus, sermon 42: "The progress of reviling and insults, he says, is stopped by bearing them gently. For if one avenges insult with insult, and reviling with reviling, these very vices will be increased, while what is absurd is nourished by like things. A firm and undoubted hope of grace, and enjoyment of it, belongs to those who wait through patience."
20:23
A FALSE BALANCE IS NOT GOOD. — but evil, indeed most evil. It is a meiosis: for less is said, and more is signified. In Hebrew, balances of deceit are not good: in Chaldee, it is not pleasing before him. We have heard this saying in verse 10, and in chapter XI, verse 1, where I explained it. Mystically, St. Ambrose in Psalm LXI, reading from the Septuagint thus: "An abomination to the Lord is double weight, and a false balance is not good;" and thus he explains it: "In which he signifies those who meditate rapine with inexplicable heart, and pretend sobriety in their countenance. Such are the scribes of the Jews, who impose heavy burdens on others to be observed with harsher discipline, not having a straight yoke of their own soul, but bent down by propensity to iniquity: but they themselves are fugitives from their own precepts." Again, others apply these things to those who humble themselves before God in secret, but publicly exalt themselves before men. Hear St. Bernard, sermon 42 in the Canticles: "Weight," he says, "and weight is an abomination before God. For what then? You depreciate yourself in secret before yourself, weighed by the balance of truth, and outside you, feigning a different price, you sell yourself to us with greater weight than you received from truth itself! Fear God, and do not do this most evil thing, that he whom truth humbles, will be exalted by will: for this is to resist truth, this is to fight against God." But, as he himself says: "another humility, which truth prepares for us, does not have color;" but it is necessary that it be formed and inflamed by charity.
20:24
The Septuagint: but how shall a mortal man think upon his ways? In Hebrew: the steps of a man are from the Lord, understand, depend, are, are directed; and how shall man understand his way? Solomon borrowed this sentiment from his father David, Psalm XXXVI, verse 23: "The steps of a man are directed by the Lord (in Hebrew, from the Lord), and he shall will his way." Where for "are directed" in Hebrew it is כוננו conannu, that is, as St. Jerome says, they shall be made firm; others say, they are prepared, or fitted; others, they are ratified; others, they are perfected. For the root conen is said of any fitting which in itself includes firmness, certainty and solidity. Steps and way signify works, studies, actions, and the whole institution and course of life. For all these things in man, as a wayfarer, are not stable, but rather a perpetual motion and transition, as St. Ambrose says from Origen. It signifies therefore that it is not man's, but God's and His providence to dispose, order, establish, prosper, perfect and lead to a happy end the actions, state and whole life of man. For all these things are signified by "are directed." Moreover, the actions of man are twofold, namely natural and supernatural: God directs the former by His natural and common providence, the latter by His supernatural and special providence. Whence concerning natural actions the Rabbis and Baynus thus expound, as if to say: Man does not know whither he is going, when, what and what kind of journey he ought to undertake, especially at a crossroads or three-way junction; nor does he know again what shall befall him on the journey, and when and how he shall return home. The faithful better understand this concerning supernatural actions. Whence David, Psalm XXXVI, applies this sentiment to the just man (for here it is geber, that is, a valiant man), whose steps, that is, actions and studies God directs, that is, seconds, moderates and prospers, so that he may arrive at the end of eternal happiness. Therefore He directs him, that is, rules and protects him amid so many adversities, temptations and dangers, lest he fall into sin (unless venial). But if he has fallen into mortal sin, He immediately raises him up, as He raised up David fallen into adultery and the murder of Uriah. Whence He adds: "When he shall fall, he shall not be bruised; for the Lord putteth his hand under him." This direction therefore of God is manifold: first indeed God directs our actions, when from eternity He destines and preordains them, so that in time He may excite man to them, according to that: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works (that is, for good works) which God hath prepared, that we should walk in them," Ephesians II, 10. Secondly, when in time He excites and directs man to them, illuminating the mind and impelling the will to them. Thirdly, when He suggests to man the manner of executing them in an orderly and happy way. Thus He directs the steps of the wayfarer, when He suggests safe ways to him: for often unless we were directed by God, we would choose dangerous ways, in which we would fall upon robbers either temporal or spiritual, such as demons, evil companions, scandals, temptations, enticements to sin. Fourthly, when He removes obstacles and those standing in the way of our studies, as when with St. Paul He removed the obstacles of Jews and Gentiles resisting the preaching of the Gospel. Whence he himself asks the Thessalonians, epistle II, chapter III, 1, saying: "Pray for us, that the word of God may run and be glorified, as it is also with you; and that we may be delivered from importunate and evil men: for not all have faith." Fifthly, when in execution He directs man, lest he err, lest he fall, and if he has erred or fallen, He corrects and raises him up; if he is weary, He sustains him; if he is fainthearted and despairs, He lifts him up in hope; if he is doubtful, He shows what he ought to choose. This is what the Church prays daily at Prime: "Let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us; and direct the works of our hands upon us: vouchsafe to direct and sanctify, rule and govern, O Lord God, king of heaven and earth, this day our hearts and bodies, our senses, words and actions in Thy law, and in the works of Thy commandments, that here and in eternity with Thy help we may deserve to be safe and free." Sixthly, when He seconds and prospers them, so that they may obtain the desired end, for example, so that preachers, confessors, doctors may enlighten, convert, sanctify their hearers. Thus Christ, God directing, "exulted as a giant to run his way, etc., nor is there any who can hide himself from his heat," Psalm XVIII, 7. And the Apostles, of whom Isaiah says, chapter LII, 7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings and preacheth peace!" Seventh, when He suggests to man that state of life, those occupations and studies, that manner of living, by which He foresees that he will live without danger of sin and falling, and will reach rightly to glory and eternal happiness, by continually giving grace which He foresees will be congruous and efficacious: wherefore God ought to be asked continually for it; for upon it depends our salvation, predestination, election and eternal happiness. Hence we ought to pray frequently with the Psalmist: "Make perfect my steps in thy paths, that my footsteps be not moved," Psalm XVI, 5. And: "Direct my steps according to thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me," Psalm CXVIII, 133. Eighth, when He perfects them, so that day by day we may grow and be perfected in the intensification and extension of virtues. This is what the Church prays to God on the Sunday within the Octave of the Nativity: "Direct our actions in thy good pleasure, that in the name of thy beloved Son we may deserve to abound in good works." Hence St. Prosper, book I On the Calling of the Gentiles, chapter ci, teaches that God is the author of all virtues and all good: "That no one, he says, can walk rightly unless the Lord directs him, is clear from that saying of Solomon: The steps of a man are directed by the Lord; but how shall mortal man understand his own ways?" And Bede here: "Whosoever of men, he says, walk the straight path, this does not happen by the freedom of human choice, but by the governance of Him to whom Isaiah says, chapter XXVI: For all our works thou hast wrought for us. But who of men can understand his own way? In this, he says, it is clearly evident, that whatever good anyone has, he does not have from himself, but through the grace of God: and neither through the freedom of his own choice can he understand what sort of person he will be, how, or how long he will live." Hence concerning the bride, namely the Church, and the holy soul directed by God the Bridegroom, it is said in Cant. VII, 1: "How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O daughter of the prince! For God it is who worketh in us both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will," Philip. II, 13. Indeed, Rabbi Levi explains this saying of Solomon thus, as if to say: "The steps of one walking are from the Lord, since they require divine works, which may be present and accompany each step." And the Author of the Greek Catena: "The sense is, he says, of one who still savors mortal and earthly things: how can he understand the straight life, or sanctify and consecrate the ways of the Lord?" See the things said there at chapter XVI, 9. BUT WHO OF MEN CAN UNDERSTAND HIS OWN WAY? — In Hebrew, and how shall Adam understand his own way? Adam from adama, that is man from earth, as if to say: Man made from earth, and creeping on the earth like a worm, how shall he know the exalted way, which leads him to heaven? The to and, first, can be taken as causal for for, so as to give the reason for the preceding hemistich, as if to say: The steps of a man ought to be directed by the Lord: for man is not able by himself to understand his own way, namely so that he may foresee and provide beforehand by what way it is safe to walk, what to do, what to choose in doubt, what is the way and manner of accomplishing the matter happily: for all these things exceed human providence, and require the divine. For often man thinks he is walking the straight way of virtue, and he walks the crooked way of vice; he thinks he is going to Jerusalem, while he goes to Jericho; he thinks he is entering the way of heaven, and he enters the way of hell, according to that at chapter XVI, 25: "There is a way that seemeth to man right, and the ends thereof lead to death." Again he thinks he is pursuing the way to happiness, and he pursues the contrary. Haman, invited with King Ahasuerus by Queen Esther, thought he was going to glory, and he was going to the gallows. Aesop, caught on the road by a magistrate, being asked where he was going, answered that he did not know. The magistrate, thinking himself mocked or insulted by him, led him away to prison. Then Aesop: "Did I not, he said, speak truly that I did not know where I was going? For I was going to prison, and I did not know this." Thus every day when we leave home, we do not know where we are going: for often beyond our intention we are led elsewhere by those we meet. Wherefore, when we go out, let us pray with the Psalmist: "Show me thy ways, O Lord, and teach me thy paths," so that God may direct our steps in such a way that we may procure some good for ourselves and others, and may avert evil and sin either by word or by look. Second, the word 'and' can also be taken as an illative particle, indicating an outcome and consequence, so as to signify the same as 'therefore', as if to say: It is God's alone to direct the steps of a man, and to foresee and ordain them, so that they may be good, and so that they may obtain a happy outcome. For this alone He can do, whose it is to know and to predestine for all the end and the means suited to the end: who therefore of men would dare to arrogate to himself this foreknowledge and ordination? For that which depends on God's direction cannot be perceived and penetrated by man. Thus nearly Cajetan. According to both explanations, God's providence is commended to us, and His special care concerning the studies, affections and works of man in this life: and understanding this, let us not rely too much on our own prudence, but depend on God in all things, committing ourselves to His direction, according to that word in Tobias IV, 20: "Ask of God that He may direct thy ways, and that all thy counsels may abide in Him." This is what Jeremias confesses to God, cap. X, 23: "I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not his, nor is it for a man to walk, and to direct his steps." From this you may gather that the cause why one man is happy and another unhappy is not fortune, not natural disposition, not the heavens, but God: for God according to His good pleasure and free election makes whom He will happy, not only if he be prudent, but even if he be imprudent. For the prudent man is not always, yet often prospers in his actions, so as to have happy successes: both because he disposes all things prudently, so that they may turn out happily; and because he merits that God should direct and prosper his actions. St. Thomas, lib. III Against the Gentiles, cap. XCII, inquires what is the cause why someone is fortunate, that is, so that goods and good outcomes come to him beyond expectation? and he answers that the proper cause of good fortune is God, and God's benevolence and election, by which He directs and guides someone happily for the most part, for example, so that he may dig in such and such a place where he may find treasure: and sometimes this happens through the ministry of Angels suggesting or persuading it; but the heavens and the influence of the heavens do not properly make good fortune, but sometimes dispose to it accidentally, for example, when the heavens incline someone to dig, to which digging the finding of treasure is accidentally joined. For the heavens do not incline, so that you should dig here rather than elsewhere where there is treasure, rather than elsewhere where there is none. Wherefore since the heavens cannot combine these two things, it follows that the heavens are not by themselves the cause of good fortune. To God therefore nothing is fortuitous, because He Himself is the ruler and director of fortune. Finally, why one is happy and another unhappy, I have taught at length in Genesis XXX, 27. Symmachus for 'way' rendered τροχιάν, that is, an orbit or curved path, which is a symbol of life, or of a manner of living plain and expeditious, which God alone knows how to suggest to the man whom He loves. For just as a chariot rolls smoothly and expeditiously along its orbit, so through a manner of living suited and congruous to him, each one easily and expeditiously runs his course to the goal, namely to happiness and eternal glory, with God as charioteer. Hence conclude that no one ought to deviate from that way into which he is led by God calling; for by this curved path, that is, easy and inclined, he is directed to his destined end. This, I say, is for him the magic, that is, the chariot's way: because by it he does not so much walk as is carried, than which nothing is sweeter and more pleasant; but the other ways, which man undertakes not from God's impulse, but from his own counsel, are difficult for him, rough, wandering, and leading to precipices, etc. Hence the Gentiles made a god and worshipped Janus, as the indicator of the way; and Mercury, as the guide of the way; and they called upon and invoked the god Domiducus, who would lead a new bride home, although Juno was also called Domiducus for the same reason. Hear from Varro St. Augustine, lib. VI On the City of God, cap. IX: "If a bride is to be led home," he says, "the god Domiducus is employed; so that she may be in the home, the god Domitius is employed." More truly Christians invoke the true God, as the director of their steps and holy actions; for they know that they cannot undertake a way unless God goes before, according to that word: "They shall walk after the Lord," Hosea XI, 10. Whence St. Augustine, lib. II Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, cap. IX: "This," he says, "is the nature of human will, that to evil indeed its prior mover is itself, but to good its prior mover is the will of its Creator." A notable example of this saying was Littorius, who, as Prosper testifies in his Chronicle and Baronius in the year 439, fighting for the Emperor Theodosius and the Romans, trusting in his Huns, was defeated and taken captive by Theodoric king of the Goths, who, placing his hope in God, besieged and took Arles. Whence Salvianus, in book VII of On Divine Providence, censuring Littorius by this maxim of Solomon without naming him: "Therefore," he says, "that general of our faction acknowledged this, who entered the same city as a captive, which he had presumed he would enter as victor on that very day. He proved indeed what the Prophet said: For the way of man is not his, nor is it for a man to walk, and to direct his steps. For because he esteemed his way to be his own right, and had no direction of his step, nor found the way of salvation, there was poured out, as we read, rejection upon the prince; he was led into a pathless place, and not into a way, and was brought to nothing, like water running down. In which indeed, besides the very misfortune of affairs, the present judgment of God was manifest, so that whatever he had presumed he would do, he himself suffered. For because without the aid of divinity and the guidance of God he believed the enemy could be captured by himself, he himself was captured; he usurped the sum of counsel and wisdom, he incurred the ignominy of rashness; he prepared chains for others, he himself endured them." He then showed the same thing afterwards in detail through elegant antitheses: "And what, I ask, could have been more evident as God's judgment than that he who had the confidence of a plunderer became plunder, presuming triumph became triumph, was surrounded, corrected, bound, carried his arms twisted behind his back; saw his hands, which he thought warlike, bound; became a spectacle for children and women, beheld barbarians mocking him, endured the mockery of both sexes, and he who had possessed the greatest arrogance of a strong man, underwent the death of a coward?"
20:25
Thus the Romans. Others read "to handle." And thus Francis Lucas contends it should be read in his Notes here. There is a fivefold reading here, which the rash audacity of scribes has produced for us. For "to devour" some read "to devote"; others "to vow"; others "to denote"; others "to invoke." First therefore Bede, Salonius, Lyra and others read: it is a ruin for a man to devote the Saints, that is, to bind himself by vow to persecute the Saints, as Salonius and Bede say; or to make frequent vows to the Saints, as Lyra and Hugh say: for this is a snare to him who afterwards repents of his vows, so as to violate them. Thus Acts XXIII, 12: "Forty men had bound themselves with an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul." Moreover "he devoted," although it may now appear to be a barbarous word, was nevertheless once in use; for it is used by Apuleius, book IX of the Metamorphoses: "The powers of heaven," he says, "which you suddenly devoted by swearing." And Cicero in the Paradoxes: "What force," he says, "held Cocles alone against all the forces of the enemy on the bridge? What devoted the father Decius, what the son, and sent them into the armed forces of the enemy?" For thus it is read in ancient manuscripts. Secondly, others read: it is a ruin for a man to vow to the Saints, that is, rashly to vow his things, or himself to the Saints and consecrate them; for afterwards, seeking back his things and his freedom, he transgresses the vow. Thirdly, Cajetan and others read: it is a ruin for a man to denote the Saints, that is, to blacken the Saints, to harm their reputation, and to afflict them with insults and blasphemy. Fourthly, others read: it is a ruin for a man to invoke the Saints, that is, to invoke them, and to call down their aid from heaven into his assistance by prayers and vows, and afterwards to retract and nullify these vows, as some do, when they have obtained what they vowed. But the true reading is: it is a ruin for a man to devour the Saints. Our text reads קדש cades, that is, the Saint, that is, the Saints. Now others with different pointing read קדש codes, that is, sanctity, that is, sanctuary, or the sanctified, that is, things sanctified and consecrated to God. Whence the Hebrew literally has thus: A snare, or a mousetrap, is for a man to devour, or to precipitate sanctity, that is, holy things, and after vows to turn to seeking. Now the whole difficulty is what it is to devour the Saints, or, as it is in Hebrew, sanctity? First, Vatable thus translates and explains: "The scandal of a man devours sanctity, and after vows we are accustomed to seek; that is, the sin of a man, which is scandal, is accustomed to destroy that divine aid, which truly is and is most holy; and afterwards we are accustomed to seek what was the cause that we did not obtain what we asked for by vows." To this R. Solomon adds: "When a mortal," he says, "is bound by the expiation of sin, then he devours sanctity granted by God, that is, he loses and corrupts it." Thus also R. Levi and others, as if to say: It is a detriment for a man to devour a thing consecrated or owed to God, and afterwards to seek vows by which God is pleased; so that it may be signified that the vows of the sacrilegious and wicked (for all the wicked devour and lose a sacred thing, namely virtue and grace) are vain and displeasing to God. Secondly, Cajetan, as if to say: A snare is for a man to devour a sacred thing, such as firstlings and other things owed to priests by law or offered to God; and also a snare is for a man after vows are made to inquire whether the vow binds, or the manner by which one can be freed from the obligation of a vow, and not to render what he vowed, so that by this verse a twofold kind of sacrilege is signified, namely to seize things consecrated to God, and to violate a vow. Third, Baynus, Jansenius, Franciscus Lucas, Salazar and others in various places expound it, as if to say: A fall and sin is immense, and becomes the occasion of the gravest ruin for him who, after he has seized upon the goods of the saints and the just, and devoured the innocent people of God as if it were bread for food, turns to vows. For thus usurers and other devourers of the commonwealth are accustomed before death to promise and designate a large alms, which is either to be distributed to the poor, or divided among the families of monks, or turned to other pious uses; in which kind of vows confidence frequently gives cause for perpetual ruin. Thus to devour is taken for to despoil, Habakkuk III, 14: "Their exultation is as of him that devoureth the poor," that is, despoils, destroys, impoverishes, "in secret." And cap. I: "Why dost thou look upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth one more just than himself?" And Psalm XXXIV: "Neither let them say: We have devoured him." And often elsewhere. To devour the Saints, or, as some read, the Holy Things, is to strip just and holy men of their goods, or even to despoil or consume those things which have been given and consecrated to the Saints by vow or oblation. These are to man a snare and ruin, because they are the cause of great calamities and destruction. Thus in this year 1628, La Rochelle, the unconquered Sion of heretics, which had devoured so many Holy Things and Saints, came into the power of the Most Christian and equally unconquerable King of the French, Louis XIII, with the Saints avenging their own, nay God's, injuries. Nor is there doubt that the Saints in turn fought for him, since all the powerful machines and machinations of the hostile fleet, suddenly turned back and repelled against the fleet itself by the winds, so that it is truly permitted to sing to the Most Christian king that which Claudian sang of Theodosius fighting against Eugenius: O too much beloved of God, to whom the aether fights, And the confederate winds come at the trumpet call! On the same feast of All Saints recurring through the Octave, Ferdinand II, the Most Pious and Most Fortunate Emperor, a few years before with the Duke of Bavaria, that illustrious hero, conquered Prague and almost all of Bohemia, and restored it to the Church, snatched from the Hussites and Calvinists, the enemies of the Saints, as also to himself as the legitimate king. That this victory was obtained especially through the auspices of the Saints, namely SS. Wenceslaus, Adalbert and Vitus, the patrons of Bohemia, is shown by not doubtful signs; indeed it was even presignified by the apparitions of those very Saints themselves, who therefore fighting for the Orthodox, hurled their darts like thunderbolts against the heretics twice as numerous, so that it is permitted here to use that which the thunderbolt-like Barak (for barac in Hebrew is thunderbolt) fighting against Sisera said: "The stars from heaven fought against them; remaining in their order and course, they fought against Sisera," Judges V, 20, namely as once two thunderbolts of the war of the Scipios. Thus in this age for Austria. Thus Constantinople, with the Holy Spirit as avenger, on the very feast of Pentecost, was captured from the Greeks, the pneumatomachists, inasmuch as they denied that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, by Mahomet in the year of the Lord 1453 into the hands of the Turks. What do these things signify, nay what do they cry out except this: Learn justice, warned, and do not despise the Gods. This sense is plain, easy, obvious, and therefore common. But it does not sufficiently connect the first hemistich with the latter, nor does it adequately explain to retract vows, which word signifies both hemistichs to speak of vows. Fourth, therefore, I shall propose a new sense, which is indeed more laborious, but deeper, and connects the first hemistich with the latter most aptly, which I submit to the reader's judgment. This phrase, to devour the Saints, is not to be understood properly; for there is no nation so barbarous (except the Brazilians, anthropophagites, who were unknown or unseen to Solomon and the Jews) that properly devours the Saints. It is therefore to be understood figuratively, as a proverb or proverbial phrase signifying to name and invoke the Saints so hastily and precipitously that you seem to swallow them down and devour them. Thus those who rush through the Litanies most swiftly, saying: "Saint Peter, St. Paul, St. James," etc., and do not leave space for those standing by to respond to each one, "pray for us," seem to devour the Saints, that is, the names of the Saints. In a similar manner, those who hastily and tumultuously invoke the Saints by vowing, saying: Saint God, if you give me offspring, I will sanctify an ox to you. St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, if you give me abundance of grain, I will offer you thirty measures of wheat. St. Abraham, St. Isaac, St. Jacob, if you obtain for me from God an ample family, I vow to you a daily nocturnal light. Which appears to have been familiar to the Jews. These, I say, were said to לוע קדש lua kodes or cades, that is, to devour the Saints or holy things, because just as food is said to be devoured when it is transmitted whole into the stomach without chewing and eating, and by devouring flies away as it were: so the Saints are devoured, that is, prayers and vows made to the Saints, when they are poured forth whole without prior consideration and consultation, that is, unexamined, rashly and inconsiderately. For lua to the Hebrews is to precipitate, to swallow, to absorb, to lose, to corrupt. Thus in Job VI, 3, for what we have: "Wherefore my words are full of sorrow;" Vatablus translates, my words are absorbed; others, my words are precipitated, that is, poured forth rashly. Hence Pagninus in his Lexicon says that lua signifies to speak, which is to utter a vow. Whence some translate: It is a snare to a man to sanctify, that is, to vow something to God in conceived words, to sanctify and consecrate; "and after vows to inquire" into something worse, which for something better God's vows substitute and replace. Thus the Latins are said to devour words, because they precipitate and absorb them, precipitously either in speaking, or hearing, or reading, as those do who are gluttons for books. Whence Cicero, in the Pro Sestio: "That very word," he says, "he devoured in all ways of mind and body." And Plautus in the Poenulus: "This little oration sweet ears devour." Hence to devour someone's oration is put for not to notice. Whence Cicero in the Brutus: "His oration," he says, "attenuated by excessive scrupulosity, was brilliant to the learned and attentive listeners, but was devoured by the multitude," that is, was transmitted without being understood. Which signification is drawn from those who transmit food untasted, as if with a stupefied palate. Hence again to devour someone's name is to forget the name. Thus Plautus in the Trinummus: "He devoured," he says, "the name unwittingly just now." In a similar manner the Saints and vows made to the Saints are devoured. That this is the sense appears clear first from the fact that the other Interpreters interpret this phrase, to devour the Saints or holy things, as to vow something to the Saints precipitously and rashly. Hear the Septuagint: "It is a snare to a man what from his own property to sanctify: for after he has vowed, it happens that he repents." Or, as the Author of the Catena of the Greeks more clearly: "A man lays a snare for you, who from his own resources rashly sanctifies (that is, vows and consecrates) something to God, since indeed after a vow is made it very often happens that repentance follows." And he gives the example of Jephthah, who rashly vowed that if he came out victorious in war, he would sacrifice to God the first thing that came forth from his house; but his daughter came forth first to him, whence he sacrificed her to God with sorrow and repentance. Likewise Ananias and Sapphira, who when they had vowed their possessions to God, thence stole part of them, whence they were punished by death by St. Peter, Acts, chapter V. The Chaldean adds: It is a snare, he says, to a man who vows sanctity (or, as others translate, to the sanctuary), and afterwards his soul touches him, namely the pain of soul and repentance; the Syriac: It is a snare to a man who vows sanctity, and afterwards repents of the vow. Secondly, the same thing is argued by the connection of the former hemistich with the latter; for the latter explains the former, as if to say: A snare, in Hebrew, is it for a man to devour the Saints, that is, rashly and heedlessly, like one devouring, to vow something to the Saints, and afterwards to retract the vows; this is, shortly after the vows which thou hast rashly vowed to the Saints, to revoke them; for this properly is to retract. Whence in Hebrew it is, and after vows to turn back to seeking an escape, namely by investigating the ways and means by which thou mayest free thyself from the vow, of which thou repent. It is a metaphor taken from one who is famished, who devours foods, that is, not chewed, nor broken by teeth, but whole swallows and passes into the stomach. For he burdens and oppresses his stomach with these, who therefore is forced to retract them, that is to chew minutely and digest what he can, what he cannot reject and vomit forth. In like manner, he who rashly and heedlessly vows something, after the vow is uttered, feeling the difficulty or impossibility of fulfilling the vow, retracts it, thinking in what way he might redeem, diminish, change or annul it. A rash vow therefore is a snare to him who vows; because as a snare captures, binds and strangles ensnared birds: so this vow captures, binds and strangles the conscience, while it torments it, straitens it, pierces it, and then suffocates and kills it, when namely he who repents of the vow violates and transgresses it. Therefore such a one devours the Saints and holy things twice: first, when he rushes forward, and rashly utters to them a holy vow; secondly, when the vow already uttered he again devours, that is violates, destroys, consumes. It is therefore the same: "A snare is it for a man to devour the Saints and holy things," as: "A snare is it for a man after vows to retract," that is to revoke the vow uttered, to violate it. Thirdly, this exposition comprehends all the others, and unites them all in itself; for he who devours the Saints, that is rashly vows something to the Saints, he rashly devours and vows to the Saints; he devours, that is defiles and dishonors the Saints; he vainly calls upon the Saints for his aid; he also devours, that is despoils the Saints of the thing owed to them from the vow; for he devours holy things, as some read it, that is holy things, which he vowed to the Saints. For whether thou read devour the Saints, or holy things, the matter comes to the same thing; for holy things are devoured, when holy things vowed to them are devoured: just as we say the poor are devoured by tyrants, when through rapines the goods of the poor are devoured. Fourthly, because thus Solomon explains himself, Ecclesiastes V, 1, saying: "Be not hasty (in Hebrew, do not rush with thy mouth) to speak, neither let thy heart be swift (in Hebrew, do not hasten) to utter a word (a vow) before God;" which he explains when he adds: "If thou hast vowed anything to God, defer not to pay it. For displeasing to him is an unfaithful and foolish promise, etc., and much better is it not to vow, than after a vow not to render what was promised." What could be clearer?
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The first part agrees with verse 8: "The king that sitteth upon the throne of judgment scattereth all evil with his look." See what is said there. Note — scattereth; for it teaches the manner in which the assemblies, counsels and forces of the wicked are to be broken, namely by scattering and separating them; for thus counsels and forces cannot be brought together into one, and individuals, while they are separated, are easily oppressed. Here therefore that saying is true: "If thou wishest to reign, divide," that is, disjoin and separate; for by separation the consensus and strength of the impious multitude is taken away. The first part therefore is clear; but the latter is obscure. For it is asked what it is to "bend the arch." First, the Hebrew texts have: He maketh to return, or reduceth upon them a wheel; and the Septuagint: He sendeth upon them a wheel, that is, a wheel; the Chaldean, he rolleth them upon a wheel; the Syrian, he reduceth upon them a chariot. For it seemeth to allude to the deed of David, who, having conquered the impious Ammonites, sawed them, and drove over them iron-bound chariots, II Kings, XII, 31. It is a metaphor borrowed from threshing, which in Syria, Italy and other places is wont to be done with wheels and horses; for this is a symbol of punishment and torment, according to that of Isaiah XXVIII, 27, describing the punishment of the impious by the metaphor of threshing: "For," saith he, "gith shall not be threshed with threshing instruments, neither shall a cart wheel be turned about upon cummin." And soon after: "He shall not always be threshing it, neither shall the cart wheel hurt it, nor shall his horses break it in pieces." Therefore the arch, here thou shouldest take not of a house, but of a wheel, namely the rim, or the outermost surface and curvature of the wheel: for as the arch in a house is a vaulted arc, so the arch in a wheel is the curvature and rim of the wheel: for a wheel can be called arched by catachresis. For what roundness is in a wheel, this is a round arch in a house: wherefore as a house on account of the arch is round, so a wheel on account of its roundness seemeth arched. This sense therefore appeareth very apt and genuine, and the word wheel, which is in the Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean and Syrian, demandeth it. The sense is, as if to say, The wise king with sharp torments, such as is a wheel, scattereth and exterminateth the wicked. Thus R. Solomon, R. Levi, Aben-Ezra, Vatablus, Pagninus, Baynus, Jansenius and others. Again, a wheel, or the arch of a wheel, can be taken for a kind of questioning, or torture and punishment used among the ancients, which was called a wheel. Whence Cicero, Tuscul. V, saith, "into a wheel a blessed life doth not ascend." For they tortured the accused with a wheel to elicit the truth, as now they torture with the rack, which was called to torture with a wheel and examine. It was therefore a wooden instrument in the manner of a wheel, in which the bodies of servants and the accused, stretched out and turned about, were examined; such as that which the French commonly call the pillory: wherefore a wheel is different from the rack. For they bound the accused to the wheel, bending feet, hands and the whole body and applying it to the wheel; and thus by turning the wheel they rotated them, and that sometimes over or near fire, and thus they roasted them. Whence Tertullian in the Apology, treating of martyrdoms and Martyrs: "Although," saith he, "ye now call them bundle-bearers and half-axle-bearers, because bound to a half-axle post we are burned with a wrapping of bundles." And Josephus, lib. Of the Maccabees, cap. IX and seq., teacheth that they were tortured by Antiochus with the torture of the wheel, and he calleth the wheel the punishment of the first among seven brothers: "To be bound," saith he, "and fastened to the wheel is commanded, with the body stretched by the spokes." And in the third: "When already from excessive loss of blood he was weakened by emptiness, bereft of hands and feet, he perceived approaching death near to him." And in the fourth: "Parts and fragments of the body hung in a most horrible sight." Hear also the Gentiles. Seneca in Hercules Furious: Ixion is snatched, tortured by a swift wheel. Another: Ixion is turned, and followeth and fleeth himself. Tibullus, lib. I, Eleg. 3: Harmful limbs are turned by a swift wheel. For they very swiftly turned the guilty upon the wheel by rotating it, now in one direction, now conversely in another with changed motion; whereby it came to pass that in this rotation the viscera were poured out, and all the limbs were twisted and torn away. Whence Euripides in the Phoenissae: "The limbs," he says, "were scattered from one another, as if they were sent forth from a sling." And Josephus, concerning the Maccabee: "With the viscera loosened on either side, and the veins distended." Moreover they hung a stone attached to the feet of the guilty bound to the wheel, by which the body was pressed down more by that weight. They also added or placed fires beneath. Hear Josephus: "A fire is prepared, and, as he was fixed to the wheel, he is cast into the fire on the pyre, and thus with the body stretched by the rays and contracted by the flames, the ribs then opening on the sides, the vital organs are ruptured." Third, they scourged the guilty stretched upon the wheel with hands, feet and whole body extended. Whence Aristophanes in Peace: "Let him be dragged upon the wheel to be scourged." Fourth, they mutilated the guilty by amputating his limbs. Hear Josephus: "While being tortured like a brute animal, he is flayed, the tongue is drawn out, he himself is cast into a frying pan." Which even now the Germans do to those guilty of atrocious crimes upon the wheel by breaking the limbs, especially by breaking the bones, or even by cutting them off; otherwise the German wheel is altogether different from the wheel of the ancients. Finally, Virgil, in the fourth book of the Aeneid, describing the punishments of the damned in the underworld, thus sings: Some roll a huge stone, and stretched upon the rays of wheels they hang. Where see our Ludovicus de la Cerda, and Plutarch in the Nicias, Ammianus Marcellinus, book XXI, and Nicephorus, book VII, XXIV. Whence the Author of the Greek Catena: "He will bring the wheel," he says, "upon the impious. But by the wheel is denoted an inevitable punishment, which is established in the underworld for sinners." Wherefore also wheels in the underworld, and the damned tortured upon them, have been seen by those who are read to have been caught in ecstasy there. For with these Christ the king, most wise, torments them, says Bede. Hence also St. Augustine in Psalm XI, toward the end, from the Septuagint reads this name of Solomon thus, and applies it to the impious walking in a circle: "The impious walk in a circle, that is," he says, "in the desire of temporal things, which by the repeated circuit of seven days rolls like a wheel, and therefore they do not arrive at the eighth, that is at the eternal, for which this Psalm is titled. Thus also through Solomon it is said: For the wise king is a winnower of the impious, and sends them the wheel of evils." By this therefore most severe torment of the wheel, the wise king punishing the impious, scatters and destroys them. Moreover τροχός, that is wheel, could also be understood as τροχαλία, that is a pulley, which kind of torture was frequent in martyrdoms, as Baronius teaches in the Martyrology, on the seventh day of December. For there is celebrated the martyrdom "of St. Servus the martyr, who under Huneric the Arian king, beaten with rods, elevated high by pulleys, and dropped by swift blow upon flints by the weight of his body, and rubbed with the sharpest stones; obtained the palm of martyrdom." For a pulley is properly a wheel containing a movable wheel, through which a drawing rope is sent, dragging the guilty bound with arms upward, or released downward relaxes him. This torture therefore was called elevation by pulleys, and at Rome and in Italy is still frequent, and is commonly called la corda. Of this it is rightly said: "He incurveth over them the wheel," or a rotating arch; for by this penalty and similar ones the wise king strikes, puts to flight and scatters the impious. For from the wheel, as it were a principal and most well-known form, every kind of torture by which the impious are punished by kings is understood by synecdoche. This sense seems very apt and altogether genuine, and touches especially impious judges, governors, magistrates, rulers, whom the king strikes with the torture of the wheel, by which they themselves unjustly tortured others innocent. Hence learn how great is the power of a king for good equally as for evil. Whence a sevenfold riddle: What is worst? a tyrant. What is longest? time. What is shortest? a benefit. For men are forgetful of benefits. What is best of all? God. What is most to be desired? the salvation of the soul. What is most shameful? evil demons. What is most powerful? a king. Second, others understand by the wheel the revolution of fortune and dignity, as if to say: The wise king by his prudence turns, incurves and gyrates downward the fortune and dignity of the impious, so that those who were eminent on the summit of dignities, with the wheel turned, are cast down to the bottom. Thus Seneca, in book II of On Clemency, says: "Fear rather than love the heights of power, lest fortune, turning the wheel, cast you down from there empty and vain." The Hebrew ישיב yashib, that is he causes to return, converts, revolves and unrolls the wheel, favors this. Thirdly, Bede, Lyra and others understand by the arch a triumphal arch, which kings are accustomed to erect as a trophy when they have conquered impious enemies, as if to say: A wise king subdues, defeats and subjugates the impious, and raises a triumphal arch over the conquered impiety, as Saul did when he defeated Amalec, I Kings xv, 12. For this is the office of kings, and likewise the honour and glory which God and the commonwealth promise and prepare for the king who persecutes the impious, namely a certain victory over them, and after that a triumph and a triumphal arch as a perpetual monument of victory, as if to say: A wise king curves an arch over the impious, that is, so completely destroys and buries the impious that over their corpses he builds an arch either as a sign of vengeance or as a sign of triumph. The Hebrew word therefore אופן ophan, that is, wheel, is taken for an arch, which is round like a wheel, namely for a triumphal arch. Thus Titus and Vespasian, having conquered the impious Christ-killing Jews, erected a triumphal arch at Rome, on which the triumph of Titus is carved, which still exists and is seen in it. Thus Constantine the Great, having conquered with heavenly aid five tyrants, Diocletian, Maximian, Maxentius, Maximinus and Licinius, by the sign of the Holy Cross appearing in heaven with this inscription: "In this sign thou shalt conquer," erected the labarum marked with the cross of Christ, and a triumphal arch, which is still seen at Rome and is called the Arch of Constantine. Theodosius did the same, having subdued Maximinus, Arbogastes and Eugenius. Fourthly, our Salazar understands by the arch magnificent palaces and mausoleums which the impious built for themselves, as if to say: A wise king renowned for prudence removes the impious from the midst, and lest their memory descend to posterity, if they have raised any masses of sepulchres or mausoleums for themselves as a monument to posterity, he indeed overturns or demolishes these over them, that is, destroys them and levels them to the ground, as Josias is said to have done in IV Kings xxiii; for he cast down the sepulchres of those who had grown up in groves and sacred woods, and reduced their bones to ashes. Or otherwise: This wise king not only cuts off the impious, but also destroys their palaces and structures, a punishment which the laws today establish for traitors, namely that their houses be levelled to the ground and sprinkled with salt, so that no monument of theirs may remain. Finally, by the arch can be understood the gallows and the gibbet, as if to say: A wise king hangs the impious on the arch, and thus puts to flight and scatters their followers in impiety. For thus formerly on arches, by inserting rings into them through which the rope for hanging the condemned would be fastened, they used to hang criminals, as is still done in some places, especially in Lombardy. For those arches are more convenient for hanging, and are often at hand, and last longer; since it is laborious to erect for each criminal his own gallows and cross from wood. Wherefore I have seen somewhere triangular gallows erected from a threefold column of sides; but these sides are joined and fastened to each other most excellently and solidly by means of an arch. Therefore a wise king curves an arch over the impious, when from a curved and arched structure he bends and hangs their stiff neck. In Hebrew it is: He causes to return, or brings back upon them the wheel.
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First, some, with Aben-Ezra, understand by the lamp of the Lord God's knowledge itself, which penetrates and perceives even the most secret things of hearts. Whence from the Hebrew they translate thus: the light of the Lord is the spirit of man, searching all the innermost parts of the belly; that is to say, to God the spirit of man is lucid, that is, clear and manifest; for He Himself searches and perceives all the inmost things of the mind. The spirit therefore, that is, the secret thought and intention of man, which is hidden from others, is manifest to God and clear to Him as light; for He Himself searches all inmost things, according to that of Jeremiah xvii, 9: "The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable: who can know it? I am the Lord who search the heart, and prove the reins." Hence the Septuagint translates: "The light of the Lord is the breath of men, which searches the secret places of the belly," that is, the light of the Lord is the soul of man, which (the Lord) searches the hidden places of the belly. "It is signified," says the Author of the Catena of the Greeks, "that nothing in man is so hidden and concealed that it is obscure to God, since even the soul itself, when He searches it, is light to Him, that is, is as clear to Him as light itself." God therefore penetrates and perceives the inmost recesses of the mind. Whence the Scholiast translates: a lamp, that is, a torch, of the Lord is the spirit of man, which searches the innermost parts (others say, chambers) of the belly. Second, others by the lamp or light of the Lord understand God's favor and benevolence, which, like light, recreates and vivifies. Whence they translate: to be gladdened by God is the life of man, and it penetrates the whole body. Third, others, with R. David, translate the Hebrew נשמה nescama, that is, breath or spirit, as speech; for speech is made by the spirit striking the tongue in a certain manner against the palate, lips and teeth; that is to say, the lamp of the Lord is the speech of man, that is, the speech of a pious and learned man is "the lamp of the Lord," that is, a clear and burning light, by which God illuminates the minds of those who hear, and sets them on fire with love of Himself, and thus penetrates the inmost parts of him, and fills and illuminates them on all sides with the light of His knowledge and ardor. Or, that is to say, the speech of man is a lamp and light given by God, so that through it man may lay bare his secrets to another, indeed so that another may penetrate his mysteries from his speech itself, and gather what his mind and internal affection are. For, as St. Jerome says: "The mind and conscience shine forth in the mouth." And Philo, in the book That Every Good Man is Free: "As, he says, those things which are hidden in darkness are concealed, until shining light reveals them, so my thoughts my mind hides in an invisible place, until the voice, like light, lays bare all things." Fourth, others by the breath of man understand the vital spirit, and life itself of man; for this consists in respiration, that is to say, the vital spirit and the very life of man is as it were a light derived and kindled from a lamp, that is, from the light and vital spirit which is in God; for God is life itself, uncreated and essential, from which all the life of Angels, men and animals flows forth, as a ray from the sun. Thus the Author of the Catena of the Greeks. For a lamp is a symbol of life; for as a lamp is nourished by oil and air, and is extinguished when these fail: so life is nourished by radical moisture and spirit or breath, and fails and dies when these fail. Again, as one lamp kindles another near to it: so a father communicates his life to his son. Whence Plato, in book VI of the Laws: "Those who beget and nourish children, he says, hand on life like a lamp to one another." And that saying of Lucretius which I cited in verse 20: "And like runners hand on the lamp of life." Hence that superstition of lamps, that they might take an omen from it whether offspring would be vital, which St. Chrysostom reviews and censures, homily 22 on the first epistle to the Corinthians: "For indeed, he says, when a name was to be imposed on a son, omitting the names of the Saints, as the ancients did, with lamps lit, and these names (of the Gentiles) imposed, whichever lasted the longest, they called the son by that name, hence they conjectured that he would live longer." Whence also that saying of Plautus in the Curculio: "You yourself, boy, are fine, you shine like a candle." Hence again they carried lamps and burning torches to the bride in marriages, and signified that through the marriage act they would be communicating the light of life to offspring to be begotten by them. This the Gentiles signified, when they feigned that Prometheus had stolen light from heaven and inserted it into the bodies of men, and that it had animated and vivified them. Fifth and genuinely, the breath, or spirit of man, is his very soul, or mind, as Pagninus translated it. For this is called in Hebrew נשמה nescama, that is, spirit, because the soul reveals itself through breathing, and is equally preserved in man, as if to say: The soul of man is like a lucid spirit, or a spiritual light derived and illuminated from the immense light, or from the most lucid spirit of God, through which both itself, indeed its innermost depths, and God its creator, it knows: which the other animals do not do. The spirit therefore of life, which God breathed into the face of Adam, by giving him a rational soul, Genesis ii, is like a lamp, indeed a torch to the other powers of the soul, administering light and knowledge to them, through which light imparted to him the soul tracks and perceives its innermost thoughts, desires and intentions. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him?" I Corinthians ii, 11. Nor does it search out and perceive only its own, but also those of others. Whence our Salazar aptly explains thus: "The lamp of the Lord is the breath of man," that is, the mind indeed is a light sent by God to man, or certainly a great and most splendid light, namely a lamp surpassing all other lamps is the human mind; for the splendor of other lamps fails when blocked by any opaque body, and does not penetrate further: but the mind penetrates all things, so much so that it cannot be contained even by the object of the thickest body, so as to prevent its light from reaching the inner and secret places of the heart, and from detecting the hidden thoughts in the minds of others. Moreover the light of this lamp, namely of the soul, is twofold: one natural, namely the natural light of reason, by which man is endowed by God before all other living creatures: which embraces two most noble powers, namely the intellect and the will, by which man is able to understand and desire all things that are in the world. The other light of the soul is supernatural, namely grace with its virtues. For this is like a lamp and a heavenly light, derived and kindled from the divine light, by which going before it comes to pass that man far better and more clearly than by the light of natural reason investigates, knows and directs the secrets of the belly, that is the innermost thoughts of the mind both his own and then also those of another. Whence Baynus connecting this verse with the preceding: And these, he says, seem to be referred to the wise king, who while he exercises the judgments of God, and in some way performs his office on earth, has need of divine wisdom and light, by which he may be able to distinguish the bad from the good, and to investigate the secrets of hearts, which Solomon himself did; when he listened to two women contending about infants, one dead and one living, II Kings iii. Of this latter light of supernatural grace St. Jerome understands this passage (or rather Rabanus), lib. I in Lamentations of Jeremiah, cap. i, 20: "The lamp of the Lord, he says, is the breath of man, which investigates all the secrets of the belly. For the light of grace which comes from above provides the breath of man for life; which light indeed is said to investigate all the secrets of the belly, because it penetrates the hidden things of the mind, so that those things which were hidden from the soul itself, it may bring back before its weeping eyes. Hence Jeremiah himself in the preceding passages says: My belly doth pain; who, in order to show what he meant by his belly, added: The senses of my heart are troubled. The belly therefore is rightly understood by the mind, because just as offspring is conceived in the womb, so thought is generated in the mind; and just as food is contained in the belly, so thoughts are contained in the mind." And St. Gregory, lib. II Moral. cap. xviii: "What, he says, is our belly but the mind? which, while it receives its heavenly food, namely understanding, is certainly refreshed and governs all the members of actions. Unless indeed sacred eloquence sometimes expressed the mind by the name of belly, Solomon certainly would not have said: The lamp of the Lord is the breath of man, which investigates all the secrets of the belly. Because namely, while the grace of the divine regard illuminates us, it also manifests to us all things hidden from our mind." The same, III part. Pastor. admonit. 13: "The lamp of the Lord, he says, is the breath of man, which investigates all the secrets of the belly, as if to say: The illumination of the divine breath, when it has come into the mind of man, showing it to itself illuminated, which before the coming of the Holy Spirit it was able both to carry wicked thoughts and did not know how to weigh." Vatablus is added, who thus translates and explains: "The illumination of the Lord is the soul of man or in the soul of man, because the spirit of man without the spirit of God does not know itself." Again, grace is to the soul as breathing is to the body; for whatever respiration provides to the body, divine grace provides to the soul. Hence St. Cyprian, in his oration on St. Pentecost, teaches that from this spirit which we draw there comes about "breathing, aspiration, sighing, expiration, inspiration;" breathing signifies life, expiration signifies death, aspiration signifies an exhalation directed upward, inspiration signifies a breath sent inward, and sighing signifies a breath interrupted by sorrow. Wherefore, when Solomon says that God's grace is the breathing of the soul, he intimates that it is to the soul as respiration, because the spirit lives from its breeze, and when it fails, the spirit almost dies. Why grace is compared to spiritual light and is called light and lamp, I have assigned many reasons in 1 John, chapter i. Grace therefore is light investigating all the secrets of the belly, or, as others translate it, all the chambers of the mind, namely all the powers of the mind, its forces, its recesses, and it illuminates them, directs them, purifies them, kindles them, and provides to the mind all that light provides to the eyes and to the body. Finally, the force and energy lies hidden in the lamp of the Lord; for this contains the root and cause of the whole sentence, as if he were to say: The cause and root why the spirit and mind of man, especially when illuminated by the grace of God, penetrates all the secrets of the mind, even of another's, is that it itself is the lamp of the Lord, that is, a lamp and light created and kindled from the very fountain of light which is in God: for because the created mind is a participation of divine and uncreated light, hence it also participates in divine knowledge and perception, so that, just as God penetrates and perceives the secrets of hearts, so also it, as a ray of divine light, can penetrate the secrets of hearts, not indeed clearly as God does, but from signs and conjectures with wonderful acuteness diligently investigate, conjecture, and as it were through a crack perceive. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm iv, 7: "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us;" because "the natural light of reason," says Lyra, "is a certain impression of divine light;" much more is such the supernatural light of grace, revelation, and God's direction.
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Hebrew: And he establishes his throne in mercy; Septuagint: Mercy and truth are a guard to the king; Aquila and Symmachus: They shall preserve the king, and shall surround his throne in justice; Lucifer of Cagliari, Apology for St. Athanasius, reads: "Mercy and truth are a guard to the king, and the just shall surround his seat." The Hebrew חסד chesed signifies piety, mercy, clemency. First, St. Athanasius, Apology to the Emperor Constantius, takes truth properly; whence from this maxim of Solomon he urges Constantius to investigate, cherish and defend truth, both of religion and faith, and of his cause and innocence against the calumnies of the Arians. For this truth, and the worship and defense of true religion, especially guards kings and kingdoms, as we read of ancient kings in histories, and in modern times we see with our own eyes in Spain, Germany and France. But hear St. Athanasius, or rather the divine Spirit speaking in him: "Examine the matter thus, as if truth were present to you in counsel, which is the guard of kings and especially of Christians; for when you administer kingdoms with her, it is most safe, as Holy Scripture says: Mercy and truth are a guard to the king, and justice shall surround his throne. For when that wise Zerubbabel preferred this to all else, he obtained victory, and it was proclaimed by all the people: Great is the matter of truth, and it prevails over all," etc. And further below, praying to God that he might give Constantius a peaceful mind regarding truth: "O Lord Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thou through thy Word hast given dominion to thy servant Constantius, do thou illuminate his mind, that, having learned of the calumnies, he may benevolently receive my defense, and make clear to all how confirmed his ears are and his fellowship with truth, and that just lips alone, as it is said, be acceptable to him: for thus thou hast pronounced through Solomon that the throne of his kingdom shall be made fortunate." Second, others understand by truth truthfulness in speaking, fidelity in promises, constancy in words and deeds. For these guard kings against all complaints, calumnies, plots and schemes of subjects and enemies. Wherefore, in chapter seventeen, verse seven, Solomon said: "Eloquent words do not befit a fool, nor lying lips a prince," where I have said more on this matter. Thus Vatablus: It is fitting, he says, that a king be merciful and truthful; yet mercy is more important. Third, most excellently from the phrase of Scripture would you understand by truth justice: for this is wont to be joined with and opposed to mercy, in that the latter is due, the former undue and gratuitous, and both guard the king, as if to say: Kings are exposed to the envy and plots of many: wherefore they procure for themselves satellites and guards, as it were guardians of body and life, who may surround and guard them. But I, the wisest king, say and declare that there are no better, more faithful and more powerful satellites and guards of a king than these two, namely mercy and justice, and especially mercy and clemency: for these strengthen his throne and his kingdom. These therefore are two hyperaspists, who keep watch night and day for the king, and perpetually protect and guard him. The reason a priori is first, that a king through mercy binds to himself the hearts of his subjects; through justice he defeats the frauds, plots and schemes of enemies, and having defeated these, he makes all others his friends through mercy. Since therefore he has all as friends, there is none whom he need fear and dread. Again, a king binds the good to himself through clemency, he prostrates the wicked through justice: the former therefore he has as friends, the latter as prostrated and subdued, so that they cannot harm him. It is added that a just and merciful king appoints similar officials, judges and magistrates, namely just and merciful ones, who governing the people rightly, keep them in obedience and love of their king. Whence Lucifer reads: "And the just shall surround his seat," namely just ministers and officials: for these are wont to conform themselves to the morals of their king, and to express and represent them in their own conduct. Second, that mercy and justice are two bases and columns sustaining any government, kingdom and commonwealth; for justice renders to each his due, and thus brings about peace: mercy is generous toward all, and thus earns the gratitude and goodwill of all, and even makes enemies into friends. But the stability of a king and kingdom consists chiefly in the love and goodwill of citizens and foreigners. Moreover, the mercy of a king is seen chiefly in the defense of the wretched, the relief of the poor, the lifting up of the oppressed, the moderation of punishment, clemency and the mitigation or remission of vengeance, when circumstances and time demand it: justice in just laws, the punishment of crimes, the avenging of the wicked. "For mercy without justice," says Lyra, "is cowardice, and justice without mercy is cruelty, which destroy the king and kingdom; but mercy stimulated by justice, and justice tempered by mercy, preserve the king and kingdom." Hence David sings of the kingdom of the true Solomon, that is Christ, perpetual, Psalm xliv, verse 7: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness. Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Whence also Aristotle, book V of the Ethics: "Justice," he says, "is perfect virtue, and the most splendid of virtues, and neither Hesperus nor Lucifer is so admirable." But clemency is the sweetest of virtues, and most pleasing to all, according to that in chapter xvi, 15: "In the cheerfulness of the king's countenance is life; and his clemency is like the latter rain." Third, that mercy and justice most befit a king, and therefore most make him dear to God, so that God himself becomes his guardian and protector: wherefore a king protected by God has nothing to fear. And he is dear to God for this reason, that he imitates God: for God inclines toward mercy of himself, but exercises justice not of himself, but compelled by the crimes of the wicked, who as it were against his will extort from him the scourge of vengeance. The same does a merciful and just king, as St. Thomas teaches, book I of the Education of Princes, chapter xvi, citing this saying of Solomon: "Mercy," he says, "is very necessary for a prince; for it preserves him, lest the fire of zeal and anger destroy him. Whence it is said in Proverbs xx: Mercy and truth preserve the king. The fire of zeal ought to burn in the oil of mercy; but if this oil fail, the fire of zeal destroys princes: as fire, if material oil be lacking, destroys a lamp. Gregory upon Ezekiel: The strictness of holy zeal must necessarily burn by virtue of mercy." And further: "To pardon all is cruelty, as is to spare none; we ought to keep a mean: but because this moderation is difficult, what will be more than fair should incline to the more humane side." Wherefore when in doubt whether it is better to use mercy or justice, a prince should rather incline toward mercy. Therefore those politicians and Machiavellians err, whose principles are these which they instill into princes: "Oppress your subjects, lest they rebel; burden them with taxes, so that by their poverty you may enrich yourself and grow strong. Oppress them with fear: let them hate, provided they fear. Take from them strength, wealth and spirit, so that you may make them slaves and bondsmen. Subdue cities with fortresses." These and similar things Solomon here refutes. For fortresses and the other things mentioned are often the nests of tyrants, as someone said; but a king establishes his throne by nothing better than by love and clemency: for clemency is the mother of all goods, as I showed from St. Ambrose in chapter xi, 19. Seneca, the teacher of Nero, saw this, who writing to him, in the book On Clemency: "There is no need," he says, "to hide the sides of mountains with multiple walls and to surround them with towers; clemency will keep the king safe in the open, cruelty multiplies enemies." And Cicero, II On Duties: "Fear," he says, "is a bad guardian of permanence, but on the other hand goodwill is faithful, even unto perpetuity. For indeed those who wish to be feared by others must necessarily fear those by whom they are feared." Thus David, seeking stability of the throne for himself and his posterity from God, that he might obtain it: "Remember," he says, "O Lord, David and all his meekness." Upon which words St. Gregory, writing, teaches that David, by the merit of singular meekness, obtained that God would perpetuate his kingdom in his posterity even until the destruction of the Jews; indeed David himself indicates this in II Kings xxii, 36: "Thy meekness," he says, "which thou hast communicated to me, hath multiplied me." Receive illustrious examples and maxims of kings and princes altogether similar to this Solomonic one. Alexander the Great stabilized his empire by clemency, which was so great in him that Darius, king of the Persians, envying him, prayed to the gods that either he might be able to overcome Alexander in clemency, or, if he were stripped of his kingdom, Alexander alone might rule in the Persian kingdom. Antigonus, king of the Macedonians, when friends urged him that, if he should capture Athens, he should fortify it with strong garrisons lest it should ever fall away, replied that he had always been of the opinion that he believed "clemency to be able to do more than violence." The same man, when he had been harsher at the beginning of his reign, now that he was old, administered the kingdom clemently and peacefully. But when his subjects marveled at the change of his character, he replied: "At first the kingdom had need of severity, now of glory and benevolence, by which the recovered kingdom is preserved." Thus Plutarch in the Apophthegms of Kings. Pittacus, one of the seven wise men of Greece, when the slayer of his son was sent to him so that he might exact punishment upon him, having learned the cause, dismissed him, saying that "ignorance is more powerful than repentance;" or, as others say: "It is better to forgive than to punish." Thus Laertius, book I. Cato advised the powerful to use their power sparingly, so that they might always be able to use it, sensing that power is made lasting by clemency and courtesy, but brief by ferocity. Julius Caesar, having gained control of affairs, honorably restored the statues of Pompey that had been thrown down. Then Cicero: "Caesar, he says, while he restores the statues of Pompey, establishes his own," sensing that he did this not for the sake of Pompey, but so that he might win over the citizens under the name of clemency, and thus stabilize his own rule. Thus Plutarch in the Apophthegms. Nero at the beginning of his reign was so clement that, about to subscribe to the sentence of a certain man condemned to death, he exclaimed: "Would that I did not know letters!" Seneca is witness, book II On Clemency. Theodosius the Younger, when asked why he did not punish with death any of those by whom he was harmed, replied: "Would that it were permitted to me to recall even the dead to life!" Alphonsus, king of Aragon, when charged with excessive leniency, replied: "I prefer to preserve many by my clemency and gentleness than to destroy few by my severity. For clemency is of man, ferocity of beasts. I am grateful to the good by justice, but to the wicked by clemency. For nothing bends adversaries more than the name of placability and gentleness." Thus the Panormitan, book II On the Deeds of Alphonsus. Truly Sallust in the Jugurthine War: "Not armies, he says, nor treasures, are the defenses of a kingdom, but friends, whom you can neither compel by arms nor procure by gold: they are procured by duty and faith."
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For exultation in Hebrew is תפארת tipheret, that is, beauty, comeliness, glory, magnificence, by which young men leap and exult like young stags. For dignity in Hebrew is הדר hadar, that is, beauty, comeliness, honor, splendor, excellence; the Septuagint, ornament to young men is wisdom: the glory indeed of the aged is grey hair; Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, ornament to young men is strength; the Chaldean, the glory of young men is strength, and the praise of the aged is grey hair. The author of the Greek Catena thus explains the Septuagint, as if to say, Just as grey hair renders an old man venerable, so does wisdom a young man; the Syriac, the honor of the aged is grey hair; R. Solomon, as it is glorious for a young man to excel in strength, so for the aged grey hair is an ornament. Thus also R. Levi. By grey hair, first, some by catachresis understand sense and wisdom: for this is grey, that is, ancient; and conversely the grey-haired, that is, the aged, through much experience are wise. Whence some think old age is derived from sense. Thus St. Isidore, book II On the Offices of the Church, chapter vii: "The glory, he says, of the aged is grey hair, that is, wisdom, of which it is said in Wisdom iv, 8: Grey hair of men is prudence." Thus also St. Jerome, book II Commentary on Isaiah chapter iii, at the beginning: "The glory of the aged is grey hair. What is this grey hair? Doubtless wisdom, of which it is written: Grey hair of men is prudence. And whereas we read that men lived nine hundred and more years from Adam to Abraham, no one was called presbyter, that is, elder, before Abraham, who is shown to have lived in far fewer years. Whence John also writes to children and young men and also to elders, saying: I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. And Roboam the son of Solomon lost his kingdom for this reason, because he would not hear the elders." Which words of St. Jerome have been translated into Canon Law, and are found in distinction 84, canon at the end. Secondly, others take grey hair properly, as if to say, Grey hair adorns the aged, and grey hair itself is the honor and dignity of them, which makes them honorable and venerable, especially because grey hair and the whiteness of the head indicate the greyness and whiteness of the mind. Whence St. Isidore, book XI Origins, chapter ii: "Grey hair, he says, is called from whiteness as if whiteness. Whence comes that: Blooming youth, milky grey hair, as if to say, white. But old age brings many good things with it: because it frees us from the most powerful masters, it sets a limit to pleasures, it breaks the impulses of lust, it increases wisdom, it gives more mature counsels." The same, book II On Spiritual Differences, § 15: "Old age, he says, begins from the fiftieth year, and old age ends from the seventieth." St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 21 to Anysium: "Truly, he says, that venerable old age, which grows white not only in hair but in merits; for that is the reverend greyness of the soul, shining forth in grey thoughts and works." And book I On Cain, chapter iii: "Old age is venerable, not grey in years, but in morals." And St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on the epistle to the Hebrews, in the moral sense: "For indeed, he says, we honor the grey-haired, not because we honor white color more than black color; but because it is a sign of a life advanced in virtue, and seeing this we conjecture the inner greyness: but if they have acted contrary to old age, they become ridiculous on account of this rather. For we also honor a king and his purple and diadem, because these are signs of sovereignty; but if we should see him with his purple spat upon, trampled by his guards, suffocated, put in custody, scattered, should we then revere the purple or the diadem? should we not rather weep for the very appearance itself? Do not therefore wish to be honored on account of grey hair, when you yourself treat it with contempt; for they themselves ought to avenge themselves, because you confound a splendid and so honorable appearance." Thirdly, by grey hair you may understand old age itself: for this is what the Hebrew שיבה sebah signifies, as if to say, The honor and dignity of the aged is old age itself, which is seen both in grey hair and in the face and grave gait, and in the gravity and maturity of morals and speech. This old age therefore is the gravity and sanctity of morals, which dignity is as it were divine. Whence Junius, the orator and philosopher, in Stobaeus, discourse 116: "This greatest and most beautiful gift, he says, I think has been given by the gods to men, by which they become in some way similar to the divine nature." And below: "Old age expresses in itself a certain imitation of divine moderation." Hence Macrobius, book II Saturnalia: "Old age, he says, if we are wise, is to be adored by us;" wherefore he adds that the counsels and admonitions of the aged are to be received as oracles and responses of the gods, because they are secure and certain like oracles. Therefore old age is a certain divine dignity, and an old man among young men is like a certain earthly god. First, because old age is an image of the antiquity and eternity of God; whence God appeared to Daniel, chapter vii, verse 9, as "the Ancient of Days," having white hair, that is, gray hair. Similarly He appeared to St. John, Apocalypse i, 14. For this reason St. Ambrose, book III, epistle 21 to Anysium: "What, he says, is truly the age of old age except an immaculate life, which is prolonged not by days or months, but by ages, whose duration is without end, whose longevity is without weakness? For the longer it endures, the stronger it becomes; and the longer one has lived that life, the more strongly does it grow into a perfect man." Second, because just as God is insensible, lacking all appetite, passion and disturbance, namely anger, love, sadness, vengeance, etc.—"The gods, he says, do not eat fruits, do not drink hot wines"—so also the old man, with his body growing cold, is free from disturbances of mind, and masters those by which the sanguine and hot youth burns; indeed, the appetite for food and drink fails in the old, wherefore Mars and Venus grow cold in them along with Ceres and Bacchus. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on Hebrews, compares and equates an old man who masters passions to a king: "A king, he says, is an old man, if he wishes, and more regal than one who wears purple, if indeed he has conquered the passions of the mind, and as it were subjected passions like soldiers. But if he is drawn away and cast down from his throne, and becomes a slave to the love of money, and adorning his body, and delights, and drunkenness, and anger, and venereal things, and has his hair combed with oil, and afflicts his whole age with evil will and shame, what punishment is he not worthy of?" Third, just as God excels in wisdom, so also old age in its own way. Whence St. Jerome says that in old men all things fail, except wisdom: for this alone flourishes. And St. Ambrose, book I of the Hexameron, chapter viii: "Old age itself, he says, is sweeter in good morals, more useful in counsels, more prepared for the constancy of enduring death, stronger for restraining lusts. Moreover, weakness of body is sobriety of mind. Whence the Apostle says: When I am weak, then am I powerful," II Corinthians xii, 10. To this pertains that saying of Ovid, VI Metamorphoses: "Use comes from later years." And that of the Comic poet: "Wisdom is the seasoning of age, in turn wisdom is food for age," that is to say, Wisdom is seasoned by old age, because it itself is as it were insipid and ungrateful in a young man: for it becomes more pleasing and lovable from old age; in turn wisdom feeds and nourishes old age like food. Wisdom therefore adorns old age, and in turn is adorned by it. Fourth, just as God numbers a great progeny of men, animals and created things: so also old men see a great progeny of sons and grandsons. Fifth, just as God foresees and foretells the future: so also old men through long experience foresee and declare future things; whence they give sound counsel to young men about those things which in the future throughout all life are to be done or not done. "For the testimony of divinity is the truth of divination," says Tertullian, Apology xx, according to that saying of Isaiah xli, 23: "Tell the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that you are gods." Finally, old men, sated and full of days, and near to death, think of nothing but the passage to blessed immortality, so that joined to God they may enjoy His glory and blessed life forever and ever. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 37 on Genesis: "But you (O Abraham), he says, shall go to your fathers, turned in good old age. He did not say: You shall die, but you shall go, as if you were about to journey and migrate from one country to another country." Soon he teaches that good old age is not that which indulges in delights and the belly; but "he who has walked in the way of virtue, he says, truly turned in good old age, ends his life, and finds the rewards and recompenses of his present labors." You will ask, to what end and for what purpose and scope Solomon assigns this gnome? I answer first, physically, so that it may signify the disparity of the ages of old age and youth, and attribute to each age its own comeliness and honor: namely that the honor of youth is strength, of old age is old age itself, and therefore young men should exult in their liveliness and lively strength; old men truly should rest in their senile gravity, and as it were be confident: wherefore young men ought not to insult old men, nor these in turn to despise the youthful gestures and movements of young men, but each one should live content with his own lot and age, cultivate mutual peace, and not require of one another the work and customs of a different age. For labor befits young men, rest, gravity, and maturity befits old men. Secondly, ethically, so that he might signify that although youth equally with old age have their defects and vices, yet each has its own gifts and endowments, and such as those by which both to themselves mutually, and to the commonwealth are useful and necessary; for the commonwealth has need of the strength of the young, and the wisdom and reverence of the old. And just as the young have need of the counsel and wisdom of the old, lest they do anything rashly with the bodily strength with which they abound, so the old do not have sufficient strength, but are compelled to use the works of the young, so that friendship may easily come together for them, and they may preserve a certain harmony in the commonwealth. Thus Jansenius and Baynus. What therefore Plutarch said concerning mixing wine with water, "that a raging god is tempered by another sober god," the same you might say of the fervor of the young being tempered by the maturity of the old. For just as the ardor of the young sharpens the torpor of the old, so conversely this moderates that, and reduces it to a mean. Whence St. Ambrose, book I On Cain and Abel, chapter iii: "The grave movements, he says, of our youth are calmed by the faithful station of old age." Thirdly, tacitly here Solomon admonishes both the young and the old of their duty, namely the young, that they exercise their strength, and do not allow it to waste away through torpor and idleness, but use it for the good of the old and of the commonwealth; but the old that they rest from the labor of the young, and moderate and direct it by their maturity and counsel. How useful the counsel and example of the old is to youth, St. Ambrose teaches most excellently, book II On Cain, chapter iii, toward the end. Fourthly, that strength may be to the young a stimulus to undertake arduous and heroic works of virtue and fortitude; but old age may console the old by the memory of past labors, virtues and merits, and may tacitly admonish them of their own dignity and virtue, lest they commit anything unworthy of it, juvenile and degenerate, but may give to the young an example full of maturity and composure of character. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 4 on the epistle to the Hebrews, in the moral sense: "It is absurd, he says, if an old man sits in a tavern, an old man hastens to the circus, an old man ascends to the theater, running like a boy with the crowd; truly it is confusion and mockery, that he be adorned with gray hair on the outside, but have a childish mind within; and if indeed a young man should reproach him, straightway he brings forth his gray hairs: do you revere them first; but if you do not show reverence to them, how do you desire the young to revere your gray hairs? You do not revere, you say, these gray hairs? but you confound them. God has honored you, has given the whiteness of hair, has conferred much prerogative; why do you betray that honor? how will the young man revere that honor, when he sees you more devoted to wantonness? For gray hair is then venerable, when he who bears it does what befits gray hair; but when he conducts himself in a youthful manner, it will be more ridiculous to the young: how will you old men be able to admonish these young men, while you are made drunk by your incontinence? For I do not now say these things accusing the elders, but the young. For you who do these things, even if you reach a hundred years, seem to me young, and like boys." Let Eleazar be an example, who when commanded by Antiochus to eat pork forbidden by the law, unless he wished to be most cruelly flayed, "answered quickly, saying that he wished to be sent before to hell. For it is not fitting for our age, he says, to feign, so that many of the adolescents, thinking that Eleazar of ninety years has passed over to the life of aliens, and they themselves on account of my pretense, and on account of a short time of corruptible life, should be deceived, and through this acquire a stain and curse upon my old age. For although in the present time I should escape the torments of men, yet the hand of the Almighty I shall not escape, neither living nor dead. Wherefore by bravely departing from life, I shall indeed appear worthy of old age: but to the adolescents I shall perhaps leave an example, if with ready mind and bravely for the most grave and most holy laws I fulfill an honorable death. Having said these things, he was immediately dragged to torture," II Maccabees vi, 23. Whence St. Ambrose, celebrating Eleazar, book II On Jacob, chapter x: "I am not so old, he says, that the strength of my mind does not remain young. May it never befall me that I become old as an incentive to youthful error, I who have hitherto been a form of wholesome instruction. Old age ought to be a harbor, not a shipwreck of the life before." Following the custom of Solomon, Sirach published these antistrophic maxims: "The crown of the aged is much learning, and the glory of them is the fear of God," Eccles. xxv, 8. Where he bestowed a sevenfold crown upon the aged. "The prince of the people in the wisdom of his speech, and in the understanding of the elders the word," cap. ix, 24. "What thou hast not gathered in thy youth, how shalt thou find it in thy old age?" cap. xxv, 5. "How beautiful is the wisdom of the aged!" ibid. vers. 7. And the Philosophers, whom Stobaeus cites, serm. 116, such as Euripides in the Bellerophon: "O son, the hands of the young are indeed strong for action, but the counsels of the aged are superior." The same in the Menalyppe: "This is an ancient saying, that the works are of the young, but the counsels of the aged have force." Alexis: "Old age is like old wine. Old age is more just than youth." Hippothoon: "Gray old age has flowers among men." For gray hairs are like white flowers; but what fruit these flowers produce, Democritus teaches, saying: "Strength and beauty of body are good, but old age is the flower of temperance and prudence." Anthonius: "The old age of lions is better than vigorous young deer." Pythagoras and Plato: "Old age is not so much near the end of life as near the beginning of living well and happily." Plutarch: "It is fitting for the young to emulate their elders, according to Simonides: As a young girl follows the mare to which she is accustomed."
20:30
The plain sense therefore is, as it were: Just as filth and stains are rubbed away with soap, and unclean cloths with lye, and other stains with salt, vinegar and nitre: so likewise the vices both private to man and public to the city and commonwealth are rubbed away, cleansed and removed by stripes, wounds and blows, especially those which touch, strike and torment the belly, that is, the inmost parts of man. Again, just as an abscess, or hidden ulcer, is cured by cutting and opening it, so that pus and corruption flow out: and indeed when the ulcer is wiped away, pure flesh unites and solidifies (for he alludes to this): whence the bruise of a wound is the same as the blow of a wound, that is, a blow opening the wound; or the bruise of a wound, that is, the livid pus and corruption flowing from the wound cut and opened: so likewise stripes and blows, which God inflicts upon the impious, wound them, and by wounding open their eyes and mind, so that the corruption of sins may flow out and be wiped away through penance; which being wiped away, the mind as it were polished is restored to its health and purity. Thus St. Gregory, whose words I shall presently recite. Thus also R. Levi. By bruises therefore and stripes the wicked are corrected, or at least their evils, so that the wicked abstain from vices, if not from love of virtue, certainly from fear of punishment they restrain themselves from them. Thus pain is the medicine of pain in diseases, both of the body and likewise of the soul. Whence some of the Rabbis thus translate, the bruise of a wound is medicine with evil, that is with pain, and even the blows in the inmost parts are healed with pain, that is, just as blows on the surface of the skin and in the soul are healed with pain, so also the wicked man is healed with pain. This is the genuine sense. But, because others add others not unprofitable, I shall here weave them in, and assign each to its author for credibility and greater weight, after the manner. First therefore the Chaldean translates, terrors and blows befall the wicked, and the prick of a needle in the innermost parts of his belly, as it were: The impious are punished with three torments: first, with terrors of an anxious conscience, and then with horrible phantoms, which either imagination from fear, or God from just judgment presents to them, as He presented to the Egyptians in the plague of darkness, Wisdom cap. xvii, 6 and seq.; and to King Theodoric the Arian, who while eating fish seemed to himself to see St. John the Pontiff and Symmachus the consul, whom he had unjustly slain, threatening him, and by that phantom from fear he incurred disease and death; secondly, blows of every kind; thirdly, pricks most sharp and like a needle, which pierce through the innermost parts of the belly and mind. Secondly, the Septuagint translates, bruises and contusions, or wounds befall the wicked; but blows in the more secret parts of the belly; the Syriac, contusion and torment befall the wicked. Which some expound by a gradation of threefold punishment, or manner of striking. For with a sword, for example, one can first strike flatly, which is a light blow without a wound; secondly, with the edge of the sword wounding, cutting, mutilating; thirdly, with the point of the sword piercing through. In a similar manner God, says Salazar, brandishes the sword of His wrath against the wicked, striking them first indeed flatly, then with the edge, finally with the point: inflicting first a bruise, then a wound, and finally a deep blow penetrating the inner viscera. For those whom a bruise does not restrain, He strikes with a wound; but those whom a wound does not check, He plunges the sword most deeply into the viscera. And so Solomon recounts the degrees by which the wrath of God against the wicked is kindled. This is what Solomon said in the preceding chapter, in the last verse: "Judgments are prepared for scorners, and hammers for the bodies of fools." Thirdly, R. Solomon, and from him Lyra thus translate, the bruise of a wound is evacuation in the wicked, and a blow in the belly; and thus they expound: "Evacuation, namely of substance, or riches in the wicked, that is in wicked works, as happens to the prodigal and foolish, is, supply, the bruise of a wound, causally, because such blows are wont to be inflicted on such men, bruises, wounds and blows in the belly, that is, mortal blows reaching even to the vital members hidden in the belly," just as excessive gluttony and drunkenness brings on dropsy, colic, stone and other diseases tormenting the inmost parts. Fourthly, Baynus explains, as it were: What we see happen in bodily wounds, the same must be understood of the blows of the mind. The collection of purulent matter in wounds contributes to health and the purging of evil, and the blows which are made in the innermost parts of the belly, that is, of the soul, are cured in the same way by bruises and corruption collected in one place: while sins are recalled to memory, while we consider how great an evil it is to offend God, while we think on the gravity and facility of sinning, and grieving from the heart we seem to recall the purulent matter of the soul's wounds as it were to one place and to purge it through penance. Fifth, others by hypallage: The bruise of a wound, they say, is the wound of a bruise, namely a wound dripping with livid pus and filth, as if to say: In an abscess and ulcer with purulent bruising hidden within, it cannot be healed otherwise than by being deeply wounded, and expelling the collected filth: so also sins which shame covers and conceals cannot be cured unless the soul is transformed by deep sorrow and penance, so that with shame broken through by confession the filth and corruption of sins may flow out, which being done, the conscience wiped clean, its wounds thereafter coalesce so that no trace of them remains. For this is the power and energy of penance, which thus heals and abolishes the wounds of souls, so that neither scar nor wart shall appear, says St. Chrysostom. Thus deep sorrow wiped away the shame of St. Mary Magdalene in the public banquet. Sixth, others fittingly judge that here is taught the manner of curing the diseases and vices of the soul from the manner in which physicians cure wounds and ulcers of the body. Whence thus they expound the saying: As the bruise of a wound cleanses the evils of the body, and (that is thus) wounds in the inner parts of the belly, supply, the same cleanse, as if to say: As a physician cures an abscess and wound, when wounding and opening it, so that hidden filth may flow out: for thus with it all evil is cleansed; so likewise hidden and deep vices of the soul are not cured unless by wounding it through shame, anguish, sorrow: for thus with the wound opened the filth of the hidden vice will flow out, and the vice will be cleansed. Thus St. Monica in her youth was more inclined to tasting wine, when by an angry maidservant she was called a drunkard, struck as it were to the marrow by this reproach and shame as by a wound, she erased all desire for wine from her soul. By this goad, says St. Augustine, lib. IX Confess. cap. viii, "struck she looked upon her foulness, and straightway condemned and cast it off: as friends flattering pervert, so enemies quarreling often correct." In a similar way, when some are corrected somewhat sharply and bitterly concerning their vices, with shame and sorrow penetrating and as it were cutting the soul, they themselves immediately cut off the same from themselves, as daily experience teaches. Wounds therefore in the inner parts of the belly are deeds and words or jests, which transform the intimate soul of the hearer with sorrow, and thus wound and cure it. This sense is very apt, hidden and illustrious. For "cleanseth" in Hebrew is תמרוק tamruq, that is, rubbing, cleansing, purification, spotlessness, is in evil, that is of evil and evils: for מרק maraq indeed signifies to wipe, to rub, to polish. Whence Pagninus and Vatablus translate, the bruise of a wound is medicine cleansing evil, as if to say: "The bruises of a wound cleanse the evil man, and his malice and vices cleanse." Or: "The bruises of a wound, that is which are the cause of the wound, are medicines for evil men, because these are not corrected by words, but by scourges and the rod of discipline, indeed by deep wounds, which penetrate to the innermost belly." Hence also Cajetan translates, blows of the head shall cleanse evil, and wounds the chambers of the belly. For as cataplasms and pills penetrate the chambers, that is all the sinuses of the stomach and belly, and from them cleanse noxious phlegms and humors, and thus heal the man: so likewise wounds and tribulations penetrate the innermost sinuses of the mind, and from them eradicate and cleanse whatever is vicious, and thus restore it to health and holiness. Bruise is a blow, by which someone is beaten, so that he becomes livid, of a wound, that is even to wounds, from which blood flows, says Aben-Ezra, who connects this saying with the preceding, as if to say: As strength adorns and polishes the young man, gray hair the old man, so bruises and wounds adorn the impious, both because punishment befits, and as it were adorns guilt; and because it washes it away and cleanses it, and thus purifies and polishes the impious: "Wounds," he says, "are the cosmetics of the impious, by which he is polished." Wound properly is a blow, a scourge, a beating; for this in Greek is called πληγή, in Doric πλαγά from πλήσσω, that is I strike; hence to wound is to strike, as in Zechariah xiii, 6, the crucified Christ says: "With these I was wounded in the house of those that loved me." And IV Esdras iv, 51: "Wounded and chastised by women."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
20:15
… 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. …
20:19
… In this sense speak Sacred Scripture (cf., for example, Ps. 14:3; 33:14; Prov. 20:19; 30:10; Wis. 1:11 agg.; I Tim. 3:2; Rom. 1:30; II Cor. 12:20; Inc. 4:11, etc.) and patristic tradition (especially the Fathers' commentaries on the cited biblical passages).
20:22
… doctrine of the New Testament; for which reason 25:21 is cited (Rom. 12:20) with regard to certain acts of courtesy to be performed even toward the enemy, whose misfortune one must not rejoice in (24:17 f.). A free use of 25:6 f. is found in Lk. 14:8 ff. Prov. 20:22 (cf. 24:29) forbids returning evil for evil: once the law of retaliation is surpassed, it approaches that of charity (cf. Rom. 12:17; I Thess. 5:15; I Pt. 3:9). The motive for not …
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.