1The wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth: but the just, bold as a lion, shall be without dread.Fugge l'empio senza avere chi lo incalzi: ma il giusto è franco come un lione, e senza timore.THE impious fleeth, no man pursewing: but the iust confident as a lyon, shal be without terrour.Fugit impius nemine persequente; / justus autem, quasi leo confidens, absque terrore erit. 2For the sins of the land many are the princes thereof: and for the wisdom of a man, and the knowledge of those things that are said, the life of the prince shall be prolonged.A motivo de' peccati del mondo si moltiplicano li suoi principi; ma per la sapienza di un uomo, e per la cognizione delle cose che si insegnano, la vita del principe sarà più lunga.For the sinnes of the land the princes therof shal be manie: & for the wisedom of a man, & the knowlege of those thinges that are said, the life of the prince shal be longer.Propter peccata terræ multi principes ejus; / et propter hominis sapientiam, et horum scientiam quæ dicuntur, / vita ducis longior erit. 3A poor man that oppresseth the poor, is like a violent shower, which bringeth a famine.Un uomo povero, che opprime i poveri, è simile ad una pioggia violenta, che prepara la carestia.A poore man calumniating the poore, is like a vehement showre, wherby famine is gotten.Vir pauper calumnians pauperes / similis est imbri vehementi in quo paratur fames. 4They that forsake the law, praise the wicked man: they that keep it, are incensed against him.Quelli, che abbandonan la legge, lodano l'empio: quelli, che la osservano ardono di zelo contro di lui.They that forsake the lawe, praise the impious: they that kepe it, are set on fire against him.Qui derelinquunt legem laudant impium; / qui custodiunt, succenduntur contra eum. 5Evil men think not on judgment: but they that seek after the Lord, take notice of all things.I malvaggi non pensano a quel, che è giusto; ma quelli, che cercano il Signore badano a ogni cosa.Euil men thinke not on iudgement: but they that seeke after our Lord, marke al thinges.Viri mali non cogitant judicium; / qui autem inquirunt Dominum animadvertunt omnia. 6Better is the poor man walking in his simplicity, than the rich in crooked ways.E più stimabile il povero, che cammina nella sua semplicità, che il ricco negli storti suoi andamenti.Better is a poore man walking in his simplicitie, then the rich in crooked wayes.Melior est pauper ambulans in simplicitate sua / quam dives in pravis itineribus. 7He that keepeth the law, is a wise son: but he that feedeth gluttons, shameth his father.Chi osserva la legge è un saggio figliuolo; ma chi pasce i mangiatori, fa vergogna a suo padre.He that kepeth the law is a wise sonne, but he that feedeth gluttons, shameth his father.Qui custodit legem filius sapiens est; / qui autem comessatores pascit confundit patrem suum.
8He that heapeth together riches by usury and loan, gathereth them for him that will be bountiful to the poor.Chi aduna ricchezze per mezzo di usure, e di scrocchi, le aduna per un uomo liberale verso de' poveri.He that heapeth together riches by vsuries and ocker, gathereth them for him that is liberal to the poore.Qui coacervat divitias usuris et fœnore, / liberali in pauperes congregat eas. 9He that turneth away his ears from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination.Chi chiude le orecchie per non ascoltare la legge, la orazione di lui sarà in esecrazione.He that turneth away his eares from hearing the law, his prayer shal be execrable.Qui declinat aures suas ne audiat legem, / oratio ejus erit execrabilis. 10He that deceiveth the just in a wicked way, shall fall in his own destruction: and the upright shall possess his goods.Chi con frode conduce i giusti nella mala via, precipiterà nella propria sua fossa: e gli innocenti saran padroni de' beni di lui.He that deceiueth the iust in a wicked way, shal fal into his destruction: and the simple shal possesse his goodes.Qui decipit justos in via mala, in interitu suo corruet, / et simplices possidebunt bona ejus. 11The rich man seemeth to himself wise: but the poor man that is prudent shall search him out.L'uomo ricco si crede sapiente: ma il povero dotato di prudenza lo smaschererà.The rich man seemeth to him self wise: but the poore man being prudent shal searche him.Sapiens sibi videtur vir dives; / pauper autem prudens scrutabitur eum. 12In the joy of the just there is great glory: when the wicked reign, men are ruined.Nella prosperità de' giusti trovasi gloria grande: sotto il regno degli empj vanno in rovina gli uomini.In the exultation of the iust there is much glorie: when the impious reigne ruines of men.In exsultatione justorum multa gloria est; / regnantibus impiis, ruinæ hominum. 13He that hideth his sins, shall not prosper: but he that shall confess, and forsake them, shall obtain mercy.Chi nasconde i suoi delitti, non avrà bene; ma chi li confessa, e gli abbandona, otterrà misericordia.He that hideth his wicked deedes, shal not be directed: but he that shal confesse, and shal forsake them, shal obtayne mercie.Qui abscondit scelera sua non dirigetur; / qui autem confessus fuerit et reliquerit ea, misericordiam consequetur. 14Blessed is the man that is always fearful: but he that is hardened in mind shall fall into evil.Beato l'uomo, che è sempre timoroso; ma chi è duro di cuore precipiterà in sciagure.Blessed is the man, that is alwayes fearful: but he that is of an obstinate mynde, shal fal into euil.Beatus homo qui semper est pavidus; / qui vero mentis est duræ corruet in malum.
15As a roaring lion, and a hungry bear, so is a wicked prince over the poor people.Lion che rugge, orso affamato egli è un principe empio, che regna sopra un povero popolo.A roaring lyon, and hungrie beare, an impious prince ouer the poore people.Leo rugiens et ursus esuriens, / princeps impius super populum pauperem. 16A prince void of prudence shall oppress many by calumny: but he that hateth covetousness, shall prolong his days.Un principe che manca di prudenza, opprimerà molti con vessazioni: ma chi odia l'avarizia farà lunga vita.A prince lacking prudence, shal oppresse many by calumnie: but he that hateth auarice, his dayes shal be made long.Dux indigens prudentia multos opprimet per calumniam; / qui autem odit avaritiam, longi fient dies ejus. 17A man that doth violence to the blood of a person, if he flee even to the pit, no man will stay him.Chi per via di calunnie sparge il sangue, in cui è la vita, quand'anche fugga sino a gittarsi in un baratro, nissuno lo riterrà.A man that doth calumniat the bloud of a soule, if he shal flee into a lake, no man abideth.Hominem qui calumniatur animæ sanguinem, / si usque ad lacum fugerit, nemo sustinet. 18He that walketh uprightly, shall be saved: he that is perverse in his ways, shall fall at once.Chi cammina con semplicità, avrà salute; chi batte vie storte, caderà una volta.He that walketh simply shal be saued: he that goeth peruerse wayes, shal fal once.Qui ambulat simpliciter salvus erit; / qui perversis graditur viis concidet semel. 19He that tilleth his ground, shall be filled with bread: but he that followeth idleness, shall be filled with poverty.Chi lavora la sua terra, avrà del pane da satollarsi; ma chi è amico dell'ozio, abbonderà di miserie.He that tilleth his ground, shal be filled with breads: but he that purseweth idlnesse, shal be replenished with pouertie.Qui operatur terram suam satiabitur panibus; / qui autem sectatur otium replebitur egestate. 20A faithful man shall be much praised: but he that maketh haste to be rich, shall not be innocent.L'uomo leale sarà lodato assai: ma chi ha fretta di farsi ricco, non sarà innocente.A faithful man shal be much praysed: but he that hasteneth to be rich, shal not be innocent.Vir fidelis multum laudabitur; / qui autem festinat ditari non erit innocens. 21He that hath respect to a person in judgment, doth not well: such a man even for a morsel of bread forsaketh the truth.Chi in giudizio è accettator di persone, non fa bene; costui anche per un tozzo di pane abbandona la verità.He that knoweth a person in iudgement, doth not wel: this man euen for a morsel of bread forsaketh the truth.Qui cognoscit in judicio faciem non bene facit; / iste et pro buccella panis deserit veritatem.
22A man that maketh haste to be rich, and envieth others, is ignorant that poverty shall come upon him.L'uomo, che ha fretta di arricchire, e porta invidia ad altri, ci non sa che lo invaderà repentinamente la povertà.A man, that hasteneth to be rich, and enuyeth others, is ignorant that pouertie shal come vpon him.Vir qui festinat ditari, et aliis invidet, / ignorat quod egestas superveniet ei. 23He that rebuketh a man, shall afterward find favour with him, more than he that by a flattering tongue deceiveth him.Chi corregge un uomo sarà alla fine più accetto a lui, che quegli, il quale con lingua lusinghiera lo inganna.He that rebuketh a man, shal afterward find fauour with him more then he, that by flatteries of tongue deceiueth.Qui corripit hominem gratiam postea inveniet apud eum, / magis quam ille qui per linguæ blandimenta decipit. 24He that stealeth any thing from his father, or from his mother: and saith, This is no sin, is the partner of a murderer.Chi ruba a suo padre, ed a sua madre, e dice ciò non esser peccato, è compagno dell'omicida.He that pilfereth any thing from his father, and from his mother: & saith this is no sinne, is the partaker of a mankiller.Qui subtrahit aliquid a patre suo et a matre, / et dicit hoc non esse peccatum, / particeps homicidæ est. 25He that boasteth and puffeth up himself, stirreth up quarrels: but he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be healed.Colui, che si millanta, e si gonfia, fa nascere delle contese; ma chi spera nel Signore otterrà salute.He that exalteth, and dilateth himselfe, rayseth brawles: but he that trusteth in our Lord, shal be healed.Qui se jactat et dilatat, jurgia concitat; / qui vero sperat in Domino sanabitur. 26He that trusteth in his own heart, is a fool: but he that walketh wisely, he shall be saved.Chi si confida ne' suoi consigli è uno stolto; ma chi cammina con saggezza, sarà salvo:He that hath confidence in his owne hart, is a foole: but who so walketh wisely shal be saued.Qui confidit in corde suo stultus est; / qui autem graditur sapienter, ipse salvabitur. 27He that giveth to the poor shall not want: he that despiseth his entreaty, shall suffer indigence.Chi dona al povero non sarà mai in bisogno; ma chi disprezza colui che domanda, soffrirà penuria.He that geueth to the poore, shal not lacke: he that despiseth him that asketh, shal susteyne penurie.Qui dat pauperi non indigebit; / qui despicit deprecantem sustinebit penuriam. 28When the wicked rise up, men shall hide themselves: when they perish, the just shall be multiplied.Quando gli empj alzeranno il capo, gli uomini anderanno a nascondersi: quando quelli saranno spenti, moltiplicheranno i giusti.When the impious shal rise, men shal be hid: when they shal perish, the iust shal be multiplied.Cum surrexerint impii, abscondentur homines; / cum illi perierint, multiplicabuntur justi.
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Dread. Of any thing terrestrial, as long as the object of his love is not attacked, Romans 8:35.
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Calmet
Princes. Who each contend for the sovereign power. (Calmet)
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Poor. It seldom happens that the unjust leave their riches to their children, Proverbs 13:22., and Job 27:16.
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His. Septuagint, "he rendereth his prayer abominable."
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St. Ambrose
Mercy. This is true repentance, which enjoins, "not only to bewail past sins, but also to amend." (St. Ambrose, 2:Pen. v.)
Calmet
Sacramental confession was not required of the Jews, but they confessed their sins, when they laid their hands on the victim, etc., Leviticus 4., and 5. (Calmet)
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Innocent. Unpunished, if he employ fraud, ver. 22., and Proverbs 13:21.
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Calmet
Forsaketh. Hebrew, "oppresseth (Septuagint, selleth) a man." (Calmet)
Justinian
Neither small nor great bribes must be taken. (Justinian)
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Haydock
Poverty. Septuagint, "the merciful shall have power over him," ver. 8. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Men. Septuagint, "the just groan," and all are under "apprehensions." (Calmet)
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Innocencie is without feare. General pietie of the people procureth Gods fauour, Neighbourlie compassion.
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Zele of iustice.
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Remember the day of iudgement. Honestie and pouertie. No want nor waste.
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Just gaine in traffike.
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Obedience to magistrates.
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Geue counsel sincerely.
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Humilitie in authoritie.
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Place the godlie in office.
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Acknowlege thy faultes.
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Feare to offend.
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Clemencie in princes, and prudent liberalitie. Reuenge bloudshed.
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Harmles life.
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Diligent labour.
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Iust dealing.
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Iust iudgement.
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Moderate gaine.
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Freindlie correption.
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To robbe parents is a greuous crime. shalt not thyself. Trust not thyne owne iudgement. Almes dedes.
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Godlie magistrates.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 8
… it condemns whilst no one accuses; it makes the sinner a timid being; one that trembles at a sound; even as righteousness has the contrary effect. Hear, at least, how the Scripture describes this cowardice of the former, and this boldness of the latter. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 24
… Or rather even before that loss, no life so wretched as he must live that follows after this; dwelling with continual despondencies, alarms, cares, anxieties; which a certain wise man also was intimating when he said, “The wicked fleeth, when no man is pursuing.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 53
… Where thorns are, there are wild beasts: where hospitality is, there are no thorns: for almsgiving having entered in, more keenly than any sickle it destroys the thorns, more violently than any fire. Be not thou afraid: (the wicked one) fears the tracks of saints, as foxes do lions. For “the righteous,” it says, “is as bold as alion.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 24
… cix. 19 .); and the Prophet Isaiah again saith, that God hath “put on righteousness as a breastplate” ( Isa. lix. 17 .); by these expressions instructing us that these are things which we must have, not for a short time only, but continually, inasmuch as there is continual need of warfare. “For it is said the righteous are bold as a lion.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Philippians 11
… 27 .) And again, “Have not your iniquities separated between Me and you?” ( Isa. lix. 2 .) How then comes this removal, how comes this separation? In purpose and soul: for it cannot be in place. For how could one fly from Him who is everywhere present? The sinner then flies. This is what the Scripture saith, “The wicked fleeth when no man pursueth him.” (
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 7.23
… or whether it is the man who is rich in the sense of abounding in false notions, of whom it is written in the Proverbs, “Better is the poor man who is just, than the rich man who is false.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Baptism 20
… “They were baptized,” saith (the Scripture), “confessing their own sins.” To us it is matter for thankfulness if we do now publicly confess our iniquities or our turpitudes:
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.3
… “I will teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” For as “confession and beauty are before God,” so a sinner who confesses his sins and says: “my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness” loses his foul wounds and is made whole and clean. But “he that covereth his sins shall not prosper.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.21
In the cxth Psalm: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Of the same thing in the Wisdom of Solomon: “The beginning of wisdom is to fear God.” Also in the Proverbs of the same: “Blessed is the man who reverences all things with fear.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 7.25
… and shall one whose conversation is still on earth desire already not to fear? Consider, most sweet daughter, that security is wont to be the mother of carelessness. Thou oughtest not, then, in this life to have security, whereby thou mayest be rendered careless. For it is written, Happy is the man that is always afraid (
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 10.21
And Solomon, the wisest of men, clearly points to this fault of idleness in many passages, as he says: “He that followeth idleness shall be filled with poverty,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 7.6
… “I have stuck unto Thy testimonies, O Lord;” and: “It is good for me to stick fast to God;” and: “He who cleaveth to the Lord, is one spirit.” We ought not then to be wearied out by these wanderings of mind and relax from our fervour: for “he that tilleth his ground shall be filled with bread: but he that followeth idleness shall be filled with poverty.”
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.20
… v. 9 ). For indeed he would reap fruit of them, were he minded, not loving them, to disperse them well. But whoso in his affection for them retains them, shall surely leave them behind him here without fruit. When they burn to be filled at once with all manner of wealth, let them hear what is written, He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent (
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St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… If thine enemy ask thee aught, sparingly but with a loud voice, consent thou not to him, for there are seven degrees of wickedness in his heart. The stone is heavy, and the sand hard to be borne; but the anger of a fool is heavier than either; indignation is cruel, anger is sharp, and envy is impatient.
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On Works and Alms 9
… Neither do I vouch for this on my own authority; but I promise it on the faith of the Holy Scriptures, and on the authority of the divine promise. The Holy Spirit speaks by Solomon, and says, “He that giveth unto the poor shall never lack, but he that turneth away his eye shall be in great poverty;”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.2
… Alms is a good office for all who do it in the sight of the most high God.” On this same subject in Solomon in Proverbs: “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the Lord.” Also in the same place: “He that giveth to the poor shall never want; but he who turns away his eye shall be in much penury.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.7
… how straight and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!” Of this same thing in Tobias: “Where are thy righteousnesses? behold what thou sufferest.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “In the places of the wicked the righteous groan; but at their ruin the righteous will abound.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution in Egypt 1
Will not every just person break forth into lamentations at the sight or hearing of these things, at perceiving the arrogance and extreme injustice of these impious men? ‘The righteous lament in the place of the impious
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1. THE WICKED FLEES, NO ONE PURSUING: BUT THE JUST SHALL BE CONFIDENT AS A LION WITHOUT FEAR. — In Hebrew, they fled, no one pursuing, the wicked (that is, each of the wicked), but the just (each of the just) as a young lion trusts; Arabic, the wicked flees, no one abhorring; but the just taming as a lion, that is to say, Just as a lion tames all animals and subjects them to itself: so also the just all terrors; Vatablus, they flee, no one pursuing, the wicked; the just as lions are confident; St. Jerome in Michea II: No one, he says, that is, no demon pursuing. For a demon is so vile and weak that it is reckoned and called no one, because "from the time it lost its well-being, it tended toward non-being," says St. Gregory, XIV Moral. XI. But this is mystical. It is customary among the Hebrews to join a plural verb with a singular noun, when plurality, or distribution among many, is signified. Thus here it is said: They fled, the wicked, that is, the wicked, or each of the wicked; the just is confident, that is, are confident, or each of the just is confident. Understand the just one who is real and solid, who continually perseveres and advances in justice; for he is confident as a lion, and the more he advances in justice, the more confident and courageous he becomes; but if he grows lukewarm in it, the confidence and courage in him likewise grow lukewarm. The truth of this maxim is seen in all the pious and impious, but especially in princes: hence Salazar understands by the wicked a tyrant, and by the just a just king who rules his people justly and administers to each his due. For tyrants everywhere are agitated by a thousand fears and suspicions, and fear all safe things, because being conscious of evil they know themselves to be hateful to God and men; but a just king knows himself to be dear to God and men, and therefore fears no one. Hence Job, cap. XV, 21, describing a tyrant: "The sound, he says, of terror is always in his ears; and when there is peace, he always suspects snares: he does not believe that he can return from darkness to light, looking about everywhere for the sword." Wherefore Dionysius the tyrant instructed Damocles, who was praising his happiness, with a sumptuous banquet; but he suspended a sword hanging over his neck from the ceiling, to show that the happiness of tyrants is unhappy, inasmuch as slaughter threatens them every hour. And Plato, lib. IX De Republica: "A tyrant, he says, dwells within the walls of his house fearful as a woman." Phavorinus gives the reason in Stobaeus, serm. 49: "Can it be, he says, that they escape God? certainly wherever they flee, they will be caught by justice." Examples are in C. Caligula, Domitian, Nero, Dionysius, Decius, Diocletian and Maximian, etc. Furthermore, why the lion is fearless and fears nothing, the reason is given by Albert the Great in Leone: "Certainly, he says, natural strength does not give the lion these spirits;" for many elephants, indeed many bulls joined together, are stronger than a lion. "It follows therefore that other beasts do not fear the lion's strength, but recognize his natural dominion and rule," just as all birds recognize the dominion of the eagle. The sense therefore is, says Salazar, that is to say, "Just as all beasts, recognizing the lion's natural dominion as it were, willingly obey: so also to a prince who wields natural, just and legitimate dominion, all willingly acquiesce, so that against him neither individual subjects can be moved treacherously and traitorously, nor the multitude through sedition. For this is the force and power of legitimate and just dominion." This sense is indeed very apt, but inadequate and too narrow by comparison. For why should we restrict the words of Solomon to kings and tyrants alone? especially since the Hebrew has, the wicked fled, that is, each one of the wicked; the just trusteth, that is, each one of the just. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Each one of the wicked fears, and from fear suspecting evil to be impending upon him flees, even when none is impending, and no one pursues him, and this not only when he is engaged in the act of sin, and actually commits fornication, or perpetrates some other wickedness, but also when he rests from crime; on the other hand each one of the just, who is solidly and perfectly just, even in the midst of persecutions trusts as a lion, and is fearless, just as the wicked man is fearful everywhere. This fear of the wicked Job depicts graphically, cap. XV, 21, and the Wise Man, Wisdom, cap. XVII, 10 and seq., and makes the fearful and the wicked fearful and pale; because, as Plutarch says: "Wickedness builds for itself its own punishment from itself." And Seneca, epist. 97: "The punishment of crime is in the crime itself." And another: "Conscience before sin is a bridle, after sin is a scourge." The just man therefore trusts as a lion, the wicked man fears as a hare. Whence the Poet: "The great hand of thundering Jupiter" does not terrify the just man. Even if the broken world should fall upon him, the ruins will strike him unafraid. For although the just man be humble and meek as a sheep, yet he is at the same time magnanimous as a lion; for, as St. Lawrence Justinian says (as his Life has it, cap. IX): "Humility is like a torrent, which in summer is thinner and creeps as it were, but in winter and spring overflows: thus humility in prosperity is indeed small, but in adversity ought to be magnanimous," as it was in St. John Chrysostom, when cast down from his throne he was led into exile. Hear him himself, epist. 9 to Cyriacus, tom. V: "For I, he says, when I was fleeing from the city, cared nothing for these things; but I said within myself: If the queen indeed wishes me to be an exile, let her act in exile, the Lord's is the earth and the fullness thereof. And if she wishes to cut, let her cut; the same thing happened to Isaiah, I will subscribe to him. If she wishes to cast me into the sea, I will remember Jonah. If she wishes to cast me into the furnace, the same thing happened to those three boys. If she wishes to cast me to wild beasts, let her cast me; I will remember Daniel cast into the lion's den. If she wishes to stone me, let her stone me; I have Stephen as my first martyr companion. If she even wishes to take my head, let her take it; I have John the Baptist as my companion. If she even wishes to take away my substance, let her take it away; naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked also shall I depart. The Apostle admonishes me: God does not accept the person of man. And if I still pleased men, I would certainly not be a servant of Christ. David arms me, saying: I spoke before kings, and was not confounded." Second, that justice brings forth a good and secure conscience; but iniquity brings forth a bad one, and therefore a timid and anxious one. For a good conscience fears nothing, a bad one grows pale at everything, according to that of Wisdom cap. XVII, 10: "Since wickedness is timid, it gives testimony of condemnation; for a troubled conscience always presumes harsh things." Concerning which matter I have said more elsewhere. Third, because the just make little account of all things of this life, whether prosperous or adverse, which the unjust make much of; for the just hope for and long for heavenly riches; whence their conversation, mind and hope are in heaven: wherefore nothing in this life is terrible to them except sin. Thus St. Hilarion, as St. Jerome writes in his Life, captured by robbers, when asked if he feared, answered: "Naked, the robber does not fear." And they said: "Certainly, you can be killed." "I can, he said, I can; and therefore I do not fear robbers, because I am prepared to die." St. Martin and St. Dominic gave the same answer to robbers. For this reason Solomon said, cap. XII, 21: "Nothing that happens to the just shall sadden him; but the wicked shall be filled with evil." See the things said there. Fourth, because the just know themselves to be dear to God and the object of His care; therefore, relying on God, they fear nothing; for they say with St. Paul: "If God be for us, who is against us?" Romans VIII, 31. This reason is assigned by Ecclesiasticus cap. XXXIV, 16: "He that feareth the Lord shall tremble at nothing, and shall not be afraid; for he is his hope." See the remarks there. Hence for lion in Hebrew is כפיר kephir, that is, a young lion, which is plainly fearless, far more so than an old lion, both because he has not yet experienced hunters and enemies as the old lion has; and because keen hunger, which he constantly suffers from, and the thirst for blood, which he has recently tasted and therefore craves, sharpens his spirit and his rages; and because he has sharper and stronger teeth: for with age lions' teeth are often worn down or fall out. Whence that passage in Job IV, 10: "The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions are broken;" and because under the wings of his father and mother, that is, of the lion and lioness, he rests secure: thus the just rest under the wings of God, who is to them father and mother, and therefore they are unafraid, according to that in Psalm XC: "He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven, etc. His truth shall compass thee with a shield, thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night; of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark, of invasion, or of the noonday devil." And Psalm XXVI: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? If armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear." St. Gregory assigns these reasons briefly, lib. XXXI Moral. cap. XIV: "The just man," he says, "like a lion confident without fear shall be; for in the encounter of beasts the lion does not tremble for this reason, because he does not ignore that he prevails over all; whence the security of just men is rightly compared to a lion; because, when he sees any adversaries rising up against him, he returns to the confidence of his mind; and he knows that he overcomes all who oppose him, because he loves him alone whom he will by no means lose unwillingly. For whoever desires external things, which are also taken away even against his will, voluntarily submits himself to foreign fear; but unbroken virtue is the desire for eternal life, contempt of earthly things," etc. The fifth is, that God often sends panic terrors upon the wicked, as He threatened the Jews, if they should depart from His law, Leviticus XXVI: "Those of you," He says, "that shall be left, I will send fear into their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword, they shall fall when no one pursueth, and shall stumble one upon another as if they fled from war, and no one shall dare to resist their enemies: you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall consume you. But if some of you remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities in the land of your enemies, and for the sins of their fathers and their own they shall be afflicted; until they confess their iniquities and those of their fathers, by which they transgressed against me, and walked contrary to me." Such terrors God sent upon the Egyptians and Pharaoh through the darkness that could be felt, in which He also sent upon them phantoms and visions of horrible things, which the Wise Man describes at length, cap. XVII, 2 and seq. Such also He sent upon the Midianites at the sound of Gideon and his three hundred companions, Judges VII, 21, and upon the Syrians through Elisha, IV Kings cap. VII, 6. On the other hand, to the just and the Saints, God in harsh or difficult matters sometimes sends such great hopes and courage, that they dare all things and undertake them fearlessly, indeed they become altogether terrible to their enemies. Such courage God sent to St. Peter, St. Paul and the other Apostles; to St. Athanasius, who like a lion resisted the Arians and almost the whole world; and, in our age, to St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier, who, relying on God, courageously and fearlessly overcame innumerable and great persecutions, whom God made terrible not only to men, but also to demons, according to that promised by Him: "This day I will begin to send thy fear and dread upon the nations, that they may hear thy name and be afraid, and tremble in the manner of women in travail," Deuteronomy II, 25. Moreover, the just man is aptly compared to a lion, first, because "the lion (as is said in chapter XXX) is the strongest of beasts and will fear the encounter of none." For, as Aristotle says, book V of the History of Animals, chapter XIII: "The lion in hunting, when it is seen, never flees or is afraid; but even if it is sometimes forced to yield by a multitude of hunters, it departs slowly and gradually, frequently stopping and looking back. But when it has found a dark place, it withdraws itself with the swiftest flight it can; then again it proceeds slowly." From Aristotle, Pliny, Aelianus and others have described these things. Pliny adds, book VIII, chapter XXXVI: "The head is weakest in the bear, which is strongest in the lion;" thus the just man has all his strength in his head, that is in his mind and generous will armed with the love of God. Second, because, as from St. Basil, homily 9 on the Hexaemeron, St. Ambrose says, book VI of the Hexaemeron, chapter III: "The lion, proud in its natural ferocity, does not know how to mingle itself with the kinds of other beasts, but as a certain king disdains the company of many." Thus the just man disdains the life of worldly men, even if it be delicate, splendid, and pompous, because he reckons all earthly things as dung. The Chaldean interpreter suggests a third analogy, when he translates, "And the just as a lion, who intends to his food, hope in wisdom." For the lion securely feeds on its prey, and neither fears nor regards other beasts standing about; but when it has satisfied itself, it leaves the remainder for other beasts to eat. Thus the just men are wholly intent upon justice and God; for this is their food, and they fear nothing that might take it from them, through whom they hope to obtain that very wisdom, that is grace, virtue, glory, the vision of God, happiness and every good: and they communicate the remnants of this their mystical feast to their neighbors, to whom they breathe forth their wisdom. Fourth, because lions despise all beasts as enemies and terrors; and the greater these are, the more their confidence and courage increases. We have seen a lion, into which hunting dogs and mastiffs were sent, when one seized it by the front, others by the ears, others by the tail, others by the back, others by the breast, persist unmoved; and when it was now completely surrounded by dogs, embrace each one with its feet, and tear and rend them all in order from the first to the last individually, with the ease and quietness with which we tear paper. Thus to the just man, with adversities and dangers, his courage increases, according to that saying: "Virtue, agitated by adversities, grows." Hence the just man rejoices in adversities, because in them he has matter for exercising virtue and sharpening his spirit. Whence he says boldly with St. Paul: "Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? I am sure that neither death, nor life," etc., Romans VIII, 35. As therefore the lion is confident, because seeing a rival beast it is confident that it will prostrate it, indeed it destines it for itself as prey and food: so the just man, seeing an enemy and temptation, is confident, because with sure hope of divine aid he prescribes victory and triumph for himself. Again Aristotle, book II of the History of Animals, chapter I: "The lion, he says, has a neck stiffened by one bone, and is not joined by any vertebrae." And book IV of the Parts of Animals, chapter X: "The neck, he says, is flexible in other animals and is compacted of vertebrae; but in the wolf and lion it is stiffened by a continuous bone: for nature wished the neck to be more useful for strength in them than for other uses." Thus the unafraid and inflexible confidence of the just is stiffened and flourishes with perpetual constancy against all terrors. Leonidas, the leader and lion of the Spartans, with three hundred citizens threw himself against the entire army of Xerxes at Thermopylae, saying to his men: "Dine here, fellow soldiers, for you will sup in the underworld." Thus Cicero in the Tusculan Disputations. Thus St. Leo with leonine confidence met Attila, the king of the Huns, who called himself "the scourge of God," and repressed him; and forced him to depart from Italy, as Eutropius testifies, book XV. St. Ignatius was the leader and lion of Christians: for he was confident as a lion, when among roaring lions eager for martyrdom he said: "I am the wheat of Christ, to be ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread;"; he therefore was stronger than lions, and a lion of lions. Whence condemned by Trajan to the lions, he provoked them not so much to combat as to his own banquet, in his epistle to the Romans: "From Syria, he says, I fight with beasts all the way to Rome, on sea and on land, bound day and night with ten leopards, that is soldiers who guard me." And soon after: "Would that I might enjoy the beasts which are prepared for me, which I also pray may be swift for my destruction, and for torments, and enticed to eat me, lest, as has happened with other Martyrs, they should not dare to touch the body! But if they should be unwilling to come, I will use force, I will urge myself, that I may be devoured. My children, forgive me, what profits me, I know." And a little later: "Now I begin to be a disciple of Christ, desiring nothing of the things that are seen, that I may find Jesus Christ. Let fire, cross, beasts, the breaking of bones, the division of members, and the crushing of my whole body and all the torments of the devil come upon me, only let me enjoy Christ." Finally, St. Chrysostom explains this saying most clearly and elegantly in his homily 8 to the People, whom hear: "Such is the custom of sinners, they hold all things suspect, they tremble at shadows, they fear every noise, and they think that everyone is coming to them. Many sinners therefore, having often seen others running to another ministry, thought they were coming to them, and when others were discussing various things among themselves, conscious of their sin, they thought those were speaking about them. For such is the nature of sin, it is revealed by no accuser, condemned by no prosecutor, it makes the sinner fearful and timid, just as justice does the contrary. Hear therefore how Scripture has designated both this fear and that freedom: The wicked fleeth, when no one pursueth, it says. How does he flee when no one pursueth? He has within an accusing conscience as an agent, and he carries this everywhere with him; and just as he cannot flee from himself, so neither from this internal agent; but wherever he goes, he is scourged, and has an incurable wound. But the just man is not such; but such as you hear: The just man, as a lion, it says, shall be confident. Such was Elias. He saw therefore the king coming to him, and when he said: Art thou he that troublest Israel? I have not troubled Israel, he said, but thou, and thy father's house. Truly the just man as a lion is confident. For just as a lion rose up against the king as against some vile whelp." And after inserting some things, calling the lion St. Paul, he thus continues: "Such was the lion and blessed Paul, Acts XVI; for entering the prison, by his voice alone he shook all the foundations, he broke the bonds not with teeth, but with words. Therefore not only lions themselves, but something else greater than lions ought to be called. For a lion often caught in nets is captured; but the saints, when they are bound, become stronger from this. Just as this blessed one did here in prison, loosing the bound, shaking the walls, terrifying the prison keeper, and capturing him with the word of piety. A lion roars, and puts all beasts to flight; a saint cries out, and expels demons from everywhere. The weapons of a lion: the horror of its mane, the sharpness of its claws and sharp teeth; the weapons of the just: wisdom, temperance, patience, endurance, contempt of all present things. Whoever has these weapons will deride not only wicked men, but even the adversarial powers themselves. Meditate therefore, O man, to live according to God, and no one will ever overcome you. But even if you appear to be the vilest of all, you will be the most powerful of all: just as if you neglect the virtue of the soul, even if you are the most powerful of all, you will be easily overcome by all who lie in wait." St. Thomas objects, III part. Question XV, article 7, to 1: It is said of Christ in Mark XIV: "Jesus began to fear and to be heavy;" but Christ was most just; therefore fear and terror fall upon the just. And he answers: "The just man is said to be without terror, according as terror imports a perfect passion turning man away from that which is of reason; and thus fear was not in Christ, but only according to a preliminary passion, and therefore it is said that Jesus began to fear, as it were according to a preliminary passion, as Jerome expounds it." To this pertains what Ezechiel, chapter I, gives to the Cherubim, who are types of the just, the Apostles and preachers of the Gospel, four faces, namely the face of a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle, where the lion denotes their fortitude: for this has something of the leonine and fierce nature. "The minister of the Gospel therefore, says our Alvarez, ought to be a man, who knows how to have compassion for the small and miserable sinners; a lion who knows how to roar against sins, and to thunder forth the divine threats terribly; an ox, who is able to bear the burdens of solicitude; and an eagle, which by contemplating heavenly things is able to flee earthly things, and to fly sublimely to God. In another way St. Gregory expounded these faces of the perfect man: Everyone, he says, who is perfect in reason is a man. And because he mortifies himself from the pleasures of this world, he is a calf. But because by his own spontaneous mortification he has the fortitude of security against all adversities (whence it is written: But the just man as a lion shall be confident without fear), he is a lion. But because he contemplates sublimely those things which are heavenly and earthly, he is an eagle." Thus St. Gregory, homily 4 on Ezechiel. See the sayings of Ezechiel I.
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2. BECAUSE OF THE SINS OF THE LAND MANY ARE ITS PRINCES: AND BECAUSE OF THE WISDOM OF A MAN, AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE SPOKEN, THE LIFE OF THE RULER WILL BE LONGER. — In Hebrew, in the transgression of the land many are its princes; and in a man understanding and knowing; ken, that is, right, or thus it shall prolong, or it shall be prolonged, namely the principate, or the anger of the prince; the Chaldean, in the sin of the land many are its princes: and the sons of men who understand knowledge, shall endure; that is, as the Syriac, and men of justice, who know (practice, that is, do) justice, shall make their days long; the Septuagint, because of the sins of the impious, judgments and contentions are stirred up; but a man astute or prudent extinguishes them. For judgments in Greek is κρίσεις, for which the Complutensian editors read κρίσεις, that is, grievances, oppressions. BECAUSE OF THE SINS OF THE LAND MANY ARE ITS PRINCES. — This is, say some, from the sin of Adam were born principates and kingdoms, princes and kings: for before sin they did not exist; for then all were equal, and through original justice each conducted himself, and maintained himself in justice; but when through sin they departed from it, there was need of princes, who would bring them back into order, and keep them in it by laws, punishments and rewards. Whence St. Gregory, book XXI of the Morals, chapter X: "All," he says, "men are equal by nature, but there came by providential order that we appear to be set over some, and that very diversity which came from vice, has been rightly ordained by divine judgments, so that because not every man walks the path of life equally, one may be ruled by another." Others secondly interpret these things concerning polyarchy, that is to say, the best government is monarchy; for a monarch presides over all subjects, and keeps all in duty and peace; but because of the sins of men, especially ambitions, polyarchy has arisen, that is, the dominion of many: either of the optimates, as happens in aristocracy; or of the people, as happens in democracy, in which frequent seditions, schisms, tyrannies, murders and other crimes arise. Whence Plato teaches in the Laws, dialogue 8, that monarchy is the best government, and polyarchy should be called not so much a government as a sedition; and Aristotle, book V of the Politics, chapter XII. And Euripides in the Archelaus: "A kingdom," he says, "seems to be a certain life of the gods; for besides immortality they have all other things:" a kingdom, that is, a monarchy; for in a kingdom the king rules as a monarch. Thirdly, others interpret this concerning the division of one kingdom into many principates, that is to say, Often because of the sins of the people one kingdom is divided into many principates. Just as the kingdom of the Hebrews was divided into two, namely into the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel under Rehoboam because of the sins of Solomon, III Kings XII. For such a division of kingdoms, as it arises from the sins of the king and people, so it is grievous and harmful to the people, because from it arise greater expenses. For it is easier to support one king royally than two or three; hence new tributes and exactions, new laws, new rights, and often murders and wars, while each strives to extend his own and the kingdom's borders; or when hatreds and disputes arise with a neighboring king, as there were frequent wars between the kings of Judah and Israel. But all these senses do not cohere with the following verses, nor do they have any antithesis with them, which other maxims contain. Wherefore the genuine antithetical sense is, that is to say, Because of the sins of the people God brings it about that good princes are of short life, and thus others and others succeed, who burden the people with new tributes, laws, expenses, burdens, wars: but truly a wise and upright prince restrains the sins of the people; and thus he brings it about that God, as a reward for both the people and the upright prince, prolongs the life, dominion and prosperity of each. Because of his wisdom and knowledge of those things which are spoken and done in the kingdom, that is, because he strives diligently to know every condition of the people, and prudently foresees that the people be kept in duty and in religion, therefore his life shall be longer. For above he said: "Take away wickedness from the face of the king, and his throne shall be established in justice." Our text can also be understood thus. Just as because of the sins of the land it happens that there are many of its princes: so because of the wisdom of someone, whose works the prince uses, and the knowledge of those things which must be said in rendering judgments, the life of the ruler shall be prolonged by God's gift. Or because of the knowledge of those things which are spoken by God, that is, because of the knowledge of the commandments of God: for on account of this in Deuteronomy the length of the kingdom is promised. Thus Jansenius. Others, by the knowledge of those things which are said, understand the knowledge of public crimes, namely of those crimes which fame has made known; for to restrain the public crimes of subjects is the chief duty of a king. Or plainly and simply, those things which are said, namely by prudent counsellors, and are suggested to the prince, that is to say, On account of the sound and wise counsels which a prudent prince embraces and executes, suggested to him by the wise, that is to say, Folly and sins destroy, change and multiply kingdoms; but wisdom and justice establish, prolong and extend the same, as is evident from Deuteronomy XVII, 20. Whence clearly from the Hebrew with some, you will translate, on account of a wise and understanding man the kingdom shall be prolonged, namely. Note: By the wisdom of man he signifies the wisdom of the prince or of some eminent man, by whose counsel the prince does all things. Or take the singular for the plural, that is to say, On account of wise, capable and upright men the life of the leader shall be prolonged, just as the life of King Hezekiah was prolonged for fifteen years by the counsel and prayers of Isaiah, chapter XXXVIII.
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3. A POOR MAN WHO OPPRESSES THE POOR IS LIKE A VIOLENT RAIN (The Syrian, beating down and prostrating; Aben-Ezra, tearing away seeds), IN WHICH FAMINE IS PREPARED. — For oppresses in Hebrew is עשק oset, that is, doing injury, unjustly oppressing, exacting by fine, plundering, despoiling, etc. Thus the Hebrew has it: a poor man oppressing the poor, rain drawing away, or detracting, so that there is no bread. From the Hebrew this should be referred both to principality and to a leader and prince; whence from it Pagninus thus translates: a poor man and plundering the poor is like an inundating rain, and there is no bread; and Vatablus: a poor man, who oppresses the poor by violence, is just as a rain rotting the crop so that nothing comes forth. A learned interpreter thinks that by this maxim it is signified that the rich are often unjust to the poor, and therefore the poor ought to conspire among themselves to protect themselves. For if they vex one another mutually, they will ruin all their possessions, and reduce themselves to extreme famine. Again, it is the concern of a prince that the lawsuits of the poor, especially of farmers, be prevented, or if they have arisen, be immediately quieted or settled, so that they may be able to devote themselves to agriculture, from which the Republic lives, lest both they themselves and the republic suffer famine. Wherefore Plato in his book On the Republic thought that judges should be given to farmers who are neighbors and fellow-citizens, whom they themselves might choose as arbiters, lest, if they should go to cities and forum judges, they should have to abandon agriculture, and this is done among the Turks. Hence Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book II: "When, he says, the whole land was divided into districts, he placed over each a rural magistrate (Romulus, the founder of Rome) who would care for them, rebuke idle farmers, punish many things even, and judge concerning their disputes." But I say truly: This maxim properly touches him who, although he is poor, is placed in charge of other poor men, whether as a governor, or as a censor, or as a fiscal officer, or as a praetor, or by whatever other title; who, since he is poor, in order to relieve his own poverty from the goods of other poor men and to fill the leanness and famine of his resources, strips the poor to the bone. For he is called in Hebrew גבר geber, that is, a man; the Septuagint, ἀνδρεῖος, that is, manly, strong, powerful, namely through the care or office which he holds over the common people and country folk, or rustic poor. And he (as Jansenius rightly notes) is compared to rain, which when it inundates the earth with great violence, buries it, and also strips the seeds bare, and prostrates the crops that have been born, and thus sterility follows, want and famine. Thus a poor official does not dare to afflict the rich and powerful; for these, as it were mountains, shake off all tributes and burdens into the valleys, that is, upon the common people and country folk, who are therefore completely impoverished and reduced to beggary. Fourth, just as inundating rain floods the fields, so likewise it floods neighboring cities; thus he who strips the poor also strips the citizens. For the poor, stripped of their goods, abandon agriculture and mechanical arts; therefore cities must necessarily suffer from famine and want of all things. Tacitly therefore Solomon admonishes here princes and magistrates not to place the poor, especially those desirous and avaricious, in public offices, lest they strip the poor (in Hebrew, dallim, that is, the weakened, the exhausted) citizens and farmers, not only with their own loss, but also with the loss and damage of the whole republic. For often the poor, stripped and turned to desperation and fury, attack the princes themselves, the powerful, merchants and the rich, plunder, and despoil them. An example is in Dionysius the Elder, who, as Plutarch says in the Apophthegms of Kings: "He had exacted money from the Syracusans, then when he saw them lamenting, beseeching, and denying that they had anything to give, he imposed another exaction, and did this again and a third time. And after he had demanded a larger sum, he heard them walking about in the forum laughing and hurling jests at the king, he ordered the prefects to cease from exacting. For now, he says, they have nothing, since they despise us." The Emperor Vespasian underwent a grave mark and censure, because he was accustomed to promote every poor man who was most rapacious, so that he might soon condemn him; whence it was commonly said that he had his officials as sponges, because he would wet them like sponges when dry, and wring them out when wet. Thus Suetonius in his Life. "Batto the Dalmatian, when asked by Tiberius why he had so often revolted with his men and brought such disaster to the Romans, answered: You are the cause, who to guard your flocks gave not dogs or shepherds, but wolves. Sensing that the tyranny of governors or Caesar was the cause of the revolt." Thus Dionysius in Augustus. "When Antigonus was slain, his slayers, having seized power, afflicted the Phrygians with every kind of injury. But a certain farmer, digging his little field, when asked what he was doing, said with a sigh: I am re-digging Antigonus." Thus Brusonius, lib. VI, cap. XXI. Wherefore Solon the legislator of the Athenians ordained that only the rich should be adopted into magistracy, as Aristotle testifies, lib. III Polit. cap. X, and Plutarch in the Life of Solon. "Among the Indians also, says our Octavianus, the richer governed the commonwealth, as Pliny says, lib. XVI, cap. XIX, and Solinus, Collect. cap. LX. The Carthaginians did the same, as Aristotle says in the same lib. III Polit. cap. IX, who, lib. II, cap. VII, censures the Lacedaemonians because they raised the poor to the highest magistracy. This accords with what Isaiah has, cap. III. For when called to the kingdom he answered: In my house there is no bread nor raiment, which he thought sufficient reason for not being chosen: indeed it is true what Silius Italicus has, lib. XIII: Poverty is prone to crime. Therefore Philemon, a Comic poet, in Stobaeus, sermon. 94, said that poverty is ready for the perpetration of evils; wherefore Ecclesiasticus himself, cap. XXVII: "On account of poverty, he says, many have sinned." To this pertains the answer of Scipio Aemilianus in Valerius Maximus, lib. VI, cap. IV: "For when Servius Sulpitius Galba and Aurelius Cotta contended in the senate as to which should be sent against Viriathus in Spain, Scipio being asked his opinion: Neither, he said, does it please me to be sent, because one has nothing, and for the other nothing is enough; judging poverty and avarice equally evil masters of one holding power. Cicero also says there are two things which can move men to shameful gain: poverty and avarice." Mystically this maxim can be applied to those who, though weak and subject to vices, nevertheless chastise the same in others. For thus it happens that he who is too indulgent to himself is too rigid toward others. Then indeed a poor man oppresses the poor. Furthermore the Septuagint translate, the strong who in impieties (the Hebrew resh, that is poor, they received by apocope for rascha, that is impiety) slanders the poor, like a violent and useless rain, that is harmful and noxious. It is a meiosis. By the strong understand a prince or any powerful man, as Salazar says: "Just as when violent rain falls, collecting streams here and there torrents overflow, and fill the fields far and wide, and indeed tear up and carry away the crops; but what they have collected in this way they do not retain, but pour into other larger rivers, and these in turn into the sea itself: so whoever by violence and injury despoils the poor, does not become rich thereby; for whatever they have torn from them contrary to right and justice, like certain swift torrents they pour into richer others, as into larger rivers, and these in turn pour into the sea, because either they are abandoned by death, or on account of some crime are adjudged to the treasury."
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4. HE THAT FORSAKETH THE LAW, PRAISETH THE WICKED: BUT HE THAT KEEPETH IT, SHALL BE INCENSED AGAINST HIM. — Vatablus, shall be incensed against him. Thus the Roman edition. Some read less correctly, shall be incensed, although not without sense, as if to say, the pious who keep the law are not only incensed with zeal for justice against the wicked and wickedness, but also incense others with the same zeal, so that with joined ardors and strengths they may exterminate the wicked and wickedness; in Hebrew it is יתנרו itgaru, that is, they will stir up strife in them, they will contend, they will fight, they will gather forces, they will wage war against them; Cajetan, they will be stirred up against them; the Chaldean, those who forsake the law glory in wickedness (the Syrian, are praised in iniquity); and those who keep the law will contend with them, namely with the wicked; the Syrian, they magnify themselves. There is an antithesis between those forsaking the law and those keeping it, in that the former praise the wicked, the latter are indignant against them, as if to say, Those who violate the law of God love and praise the wicked, both because they are like them in wickedness, and because they strive to propagate the kingdom of wickedness, and because they arm themselves with them against the pious and the kingdom of piety, which they themselves abhor. For, to pass over other things, the life of the pious is a silent reproof of the life of the wicked. When therefore the pious increase in number and strength, the wicked are disparaged and held cheap, indeed gradually exterminated. Wherefore, lest this happen, the wicked rejoice and strive to gather more companions to themselves, and to make them like themselves in wickedness, so that they may fortify themselves against the pious. On the other hand, the pious who keep the law of God are incensed with anger, or rather with charity and zeal against the wicked, both because they are indignant at their wickedness and violation of the divine law; and because they reprove them and severely chastise them with words, and if they have power, they punish them with penalties and stripes, so that they may amend them, or at least deter others from their wickedness; and because they incense others with the same zeal, and, as it is in Hebrew, יתנרו itgaru, that is, they gather forces and strength to assail and overcome the wicked with their wickedness. It signifies therefore, as the wicked burn with zeal for wickedness, so the pious burn with zeal for propagating piety; wherefore it is not enough for the pious man to live piously for himself and for God, but he ought to put on this zeal to overthrow wickedness in others: for this is demanded by zeal for the honor of God and the salvation of neighbors. This zeal David had when he said, Psalm CXVIII, verse 136 and 139: "My zeal hath made me pine away, because my enemies forgot thy words." And Psalm C, 5: "Him that spoke ill of his neighbor in secret, I persecuted." And Elias, III Kings XIX, 14: "With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant; thy altars they have thrown down, thy prophets they have slain," etc. With this zeal Phinees slew Zambri, Mathathias a Jew practicing idolatry, St. Peter sharply chastised Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus; indeed Christ the Lord cast out those buying and selling from the temple. Furthermore, the Septuagint, drawing from the preceding verse to this one, τὸ as rain, thus connect and turn it, as if violent and useless rain, so those forsaking the law praise wickedness; but those who love the law surround themselves with a wall, that is, as the Author of the Greek Catena translates it: The wicked who, abandoning the law of God, praise wickedness and, with joined forces, propagate it, are like a harmful and impetuous rain, which like a torrent sweeps all things with it: thus indeed the wicked strive to sweep the pious to their wickedness; but the pious, who love the law, gird themselves with a strong wall, so that against this fury of the wicked they may defend themselves, lest they be swept away by the torrent of their wickedness. This wall is twofold, namely the keeping of the divine law, that is, a constant and steadfast mind to observe it even unto death, and the invocation and protection of God. For he who constantly keeps the law of God acquires for himself a certain impassibility and the favor of God, who in turn keeps him and renders him safe from enemies, says the Author of the Greek Catena. This is what God promises to the new Jerusalem, that is the Church, and to any faithful and pious one, through Zacharias, II, 5, saying: "I will be to him, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be in glory in the midst of him." See the things said there. The truth of this maxim is evident in heretics, who, like the foxes of Samson, conspire by their tails, although they differ in mouth, words, heresies and opinions, so that they may assail Catholics with joined forces and draw them from the faith to heresy; on the other hand true Catholics unite and fortify themselves against them, indeed they declare holy war upon them, as we now see waged by the Most Serene Emperor Ferdinand II in Germany and by neighboring kings in their kingdoms, a fierce and internecine war against heresy. Hence also the Hebrew itgaru, that is, they stir up strife in them, some thus expound it, as if to say, they sow dissensions in them, or permit them to be sown and to grow, so that they themselves, like the Midianites, Judges VII, may destroy one another with mutual strife and swords, and being divided and nearly destroyed may be completely destroyed by Catholics. For the war of heretics is the peace and victory of Catholics.
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5. WICKED MEN DO NOT THINK UPON JUDGMENT: BUT THEY THAT SEEK THE LORD SHALL UNDERSTAND ALL THINGS. — In Hebrew, they understand all things; the Chaldean, they understand all good things; the Septuagint, in all things. For think and understand, in Hebrew it is the same verb יבינו ichimu, that is, they understand, prudently consider and observe. By judgment, first, take that which is equitable and just, as if to say: The wicked do not consider what is equitable and just, what equity and virtue demand, but what their cupidity wishes; but those who study to please God, carefully consider all and each thing which pleases or displeases Him, so that they embrace those things and reject these with all their heart. For this is the one and true wisdom, understanding and knowledge of the saints, of which Moses speaks, Deuteronomy IV, 6: "This," he says, "is your wisdom and understanding before the peoples, so that hearing all these commandments, they may say: Behold a people wise and understanding, a great nation; nor is there any nation so great that has gods drawing nigh to it, as our God is present to all our prayers." Whence the Nazianzen, oration 14: "The first," he says, "wisdom is a good and honest life, and purged for God, or at least purging itself." And St. Chrysostom, homily 19 on the epistle to the Colossians: "Nothing is wiser than he who conducts himself rightly from virtue. See indeed how he is a philosopher." And then he shows this from the definition of philosophy. "Therefore a just man has knowledge of divine and human things: for he knows what are divine things, and what are human things; and from these indeed he abstains, but those he exercises and performs." Secondly, by judgment understand God's vengeance and punishment, both temporal which He inflicts upon the impious in this life; and eternal and infernal, which He will inflict upon them on the day of judgment, as if to say: The impious do not think upon the terrible judgments of God and punishments, which He is accustomed to inflict upon the wicked, and especially which He will inflict in the final judgment: wherefore they freely and with impunity follow their desires, according to that saying of St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusians: Thus men live as though no death should follow, And as though hell were but an empty fable. But truly those who fear God, and seek His will and law, these consider all God's judgments, and especially the eternal rewards of the good and the torments of the impious, constantly and with dread; and by this consideration, as by a sharp goad, they continually stir and spur themselves on to the flight from sins and to the study of virtue. Indeed, by this consideration of God's judgments, and of the most blessed or most miserable eternity, no other more efficacious can be given. I heard a certain old man, very religious and God-fearing, saying: "I ascend to heaven every morning to consider the joys of the Blessed, and descend into hell to behold the punishments of the damned; and thus from this morning consideration I feel myself urged throughout the day to all good, however arduous and difficult."
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6. BETTER IS A POOR MAN WALKING IN HIS SIMPLICITY, THAN A RICH MAN IN WICKED WAYS. — In his simplicity, in Hebrew not tummo, that is, innocence, integrity: Pagninus, in his perfection. Thus Job chapter I, 1, is called a simple man, that is, upright and righteous. Wicked ways, or paths, are wicked actions and manners. The Septuagint, better is a poor man going in simplicity, than a rich man lying, that is, unjust and fraudulent; the Chaldean, than he who is perverse in the way and himself is rich; the Syriac, a poor man walks in his simplicity, and a rich man in crooked ways. "Better," that is, more excellent, richer, happier, and more useful to the commonwealth, is a poor man living rightly, than a rich man living perversely, because the highest wealth and the highest happiness is virtue and the grace of God; conversely, the highest poverty and unhappiness is vice and enmity with God. Hence clearly St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Poem to Nicobulus hurls at a rich man lacking wisdom and virtue that commonly said saying: "An ape is an ape, even if it wears golden insignia." And that: "An ass even laden with gold will not cease to bray." And that: "Why a golden sheath for a leaden sword?" Similar to this verse, indeed almost the same, is that of chapter XIX, 1. See the sayings there. To this St. James alluded, epistle chapter I, verses 9, 10 and 11: "Let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation, and the rich in his humility; for as the flower of the hay shall pass away, and the rich in his ways shall fade away." For as virtue, so also law consists in measure and the mean. Finally, by law understand the law of temperance and continence, which is a general virtue, and puts a measure to any pleasures whatsoever, and circumscribes them within certain limits, which limits the glutton and the gormandizer transgresses.
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7. HE THAT KEEPETH THE LAW IS A WISE SON; BUT HE THAT FEEDETH RIOTOUS MEN IS A CONFUSER OF HIS FATHER. — The Septuagint: A wise son keepeth the law; but he that feedeth luxury dishonoureth his father. The Chaldee: He that is a companion of riotous men (the Syriac: he that bestoweth vain and useless things) exasperateth his father. It is difficult here to assign the usual antithesis between the first hemistich and the latter. First, Jansenius: As, he says, that son is wise who keepeth the law of God, which among other things forbiddeth all luxury especially in the young, and therefore such a son affecteth his father with honour and joy, because a wise son maketh a glad father: so he that feedeth riotous men, acting against the law of God, affecteth his father with ignominy, because the vices of sons redound to the ignominy of the father, as one who hath not well instructed his son. These things are rightly said, except that this antithesis is too general and far-fetched; for thus thou mightest oppose pride, anger, luxury, envy, and any vice whatsoever to the law, because the law forbiddeth all things. Wherefore secondly, more strictly our Salazar understandeth by law, not a precept of God, but the portion of inheritance left to each of the sons by their parents, which they call legitimate, in that it is due to sons according to both natural and positive law, as if to say: "He who keepeth his legitimate portion, which the law itself commandeth to be retained and in no wise alienated, keepeth the law itself and doth not squander it, is certainly a wise son and glorious to his parents. He who squandereth in riotous living the inheritance received from his fathers, reduced to extreme poverty, while inglorious and obscure he is compelled to beg or to serve others, affecteth his parents with dishonour." But nowhere, so far as I know, is law taken for the legitimate portion of paternal inheritance due to sons. Thirdly therefore and plainly, Vatable taketh law for measure, as if to say: He who in his expenditures keepeth measure, so that according to his station and means he moderateth the expenses of his table and household from the virtue of temperance, he is wise, because temperate, and because he preserveth his means for greater and better uses, so that he may never be in want, but always abound. He who on the other hand rioteth in feasting and carousing, and squandereth his substance with gluttons, he is foolish, and affecteth both himself and his parents with confusion, both because vices are ascribed to parents, such as prodigality and riotous living of sons, as if they had indulged them therein or brought them up in it; and because these riotous doings reduce both son and parents to poverty and beggary, so that they are compelled to beg. Thus law is often taken for a norm, rule, form and measure, as when Cicero saith, III De Oratore: "We must form our oration according to this law." And: "It is more difficult to use oration than verses, because in the latter there is a certain definite law which one must follow."
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8. HE THAT HEAPETH UP RICHES BY USURY AND GAIN, GATHERETH THEM FOR HIM THAT WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THE POOR. — Lyra joins "liberally" with "gain." For gain is liberal when it is given not by agreement, but liberally beyond the principal by the borrower to the lender or money-lender: which indeed is not expressly against justice, but is often against charity, when the lender tacitly intends and expects it; for it is repugnant to the precept of Christ: "Lend, hoping for nothing thereby," Luke VI, 35. Thus Lyra explains it. He that heapeth up riches from usuries and gain, let him be "liberal," or liberally given, "to the poor," that is against the poor, "gathereth them;" for he exhausts the poor equally as if he were exacting the same usuries by agreement. But "liberally" does not cohere with "gain," but with "to the poor"; this is evident from the Hebrew, Chaldean and Septuagint. For the Hebrew texts have: Multiplying his abundance in usury and increase, to have mercy on the needy he gathered it: the Chaldean, to him who is merciful to the poor he gathers it; the Septuagint, he who multiplies his goods with usuries and increases, to him who hath mercy on the needy, gathereth it; the Syriac, he shall leave it to him who hath mercy on the poor. Now first, some from the Hebrew thus explain it, as if to say: He who wishes to multiply his riches through usury as fruitful and lawful, he spends them in the miseries of the poor; for by pitying the poor he merits that God in turn have pity on him: for what is given to the poor, God esteems as given to himself; wherefore since he does not allow himself to be overcome by liberality, he will repay more to the giver than the giver disbursed to the poor. Whence that saying, cap. XIX, vers. 17: "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord." But this sense seems forced, and inverts the words. Secondly, Vatable understands by "liberal" a judge, as if to say: The judge recovers usuries from the usurer, as unjustly received, and restores them to the poor, from whom they were extorted. There is added R. Solomon from R. Tanchuma: "He who, says he, heapeth up riches by usury and gain, does this to disburse them to the poor; for when magistrates have discovered that this man is wealthy from unjustly acquired goods, they despoil him of his riches, with which they build bridges and repair roads: which indeed is to show oneself pious and beneficent to the poor." Thirdly and genuinely, as if to say: He who heapeth up riches from usuries, does not preserve them for his avaricious heirs; for "the third heir does not rejoice in ill-gotten gains;" but to some man who is liberal and munificent to the poor: for God's providence is wont to transfer riches from the avaricious and usurers to the liberal, both to punish their avarice and usury, and that riches unjustly extorted from the poor by usuries may be justly and piously restored to them by the liberal. An example is in St. John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria, who because he was most liberal to the poor, God therefore directed to him the riches of the avaricious and usurers, and also of the upright and merciful. Thus often the goods of usurers, if they die without heirs and intestate, devolve to the Prelates and Bishops of the Church, who after making possible restitution, what remains they disburse to the poor. Thus Alexander III, cap. Cum tu, tit. De usuris, commands, "that those things which were unjustly acquired by usuries, if there do not survive those to whom they are owed, or their heirs, be given to the poor; and usurers and their heirs be compelled to this by ecclesiastical penalties:" which Navarrus, Covarruvias and other Doctors extend to uncertain goods, owed from other crimes, as from theft, robbery, damage given and unjust contracts, and this deservedly, because the same or greater reason exists in these, namely lest it be lawful for unjust men to become rich from iniquity and injuries. Whence our Lessius, lib. II De Restit. rat. rei acceptae, dubit. 6, teaches that uncertain goods, whether from contract or from crime, are to be restored to the poor, not by natural law, but by positive law or custom. Hence it is evident that usuries are unlawful and unjust. The same the Philosophers taught. Whence Aristotle, lib. I Polit.: "Justly, says he, is money-lending held in hatred, because it uses money as merchandise, and from that which does not bear fruit by nature, it takes fruit. But money was made for the sake of exchange. Therefore it is most contrary to nature for money to become merchandise." And Cato, when asked "what it was to lend at interest," answered: "What it is to kill a man." Antistrophic to this maxim are these: "If he shall have heaped together as earth silver, and prepared raiment as clay; he shall prepare indeed, but the just shall be clothed with it, and the innocent shall divide the silver," Job XXVII, 16. "A good man leaveth heirs, sons and grandsons, and the substance of the sinner is kept for the just," Prov. XIII, 22. "But to the sinner he hath given the affliction and the care of heaping up and gathering together, that he may give it to him that pleaseth God," Eccle. cap. II, 26, where again I shall speak of this matter. Let the avaricious note here that the way and manner of becoming rich is not the study and solicitude of heaping up riches; but justice and probity, and especially liberality and the study of almsgiving. Dost thou wish therefore to enrich thyself and thine? First enrich the poor of God: thus shall God in turn enrich thee.
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9. HE THAT DECLINETH (the Syrian, stoppeth) HIS EARS LEST HE HEAR THE LAW, HIS PRAYER SHALL BE EXECRABLE. — The Hebrew, Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, also his prayer itself an abomination; the Septuagint, and he himself made his prayer abominable; the Syrian, also his prayer shall be abominable, that is to say, He who the law, which is the interpreter of the divine will, doth not hear, that is, doth not obey it, he deserveth in turn not to be heard by God when he prayeth; nay, not only his vices, but also his prayer is execrable to God. The reason a priori first is the penalty of retaliation; for God rendereth like for like: for as he himself will not hear God speaking through the law, so God in turn will not hear him speaking to himself through prayer. Secondly, because the prayer of one willing to persevere in sin is sin, and therefore abominable to God; for it is joined with the affection of sin, and therefore he who thus prayeth seemeth to mock God; for such a one in truth saith: I will worship God and invoke Him, and at the same time I will offend and provoke the same God, wherefore he doeth even as the Jews, who bending the knee adored Christ, saying: "Hail, King of the Jews;" and at the same time with the same mouth spat upon Him and smote Him. Yea, and sometimes he seemeth to make God a partner in his wickedness, as when thieves pray God to give them occasion to steal much, the adulterer to commit adultery, the murderer to slay his enemy, etc. For these prayers ask that God favour the crime, and therefore they are blasphemies and the greatest injuries to God. Hence that saying in Psalm CVIII: "When he shall be judged, let him go out condemned, and let his prayer become sin," that is, an offence, so that the prayer of so impious a man may offend and exacerbate God more than please Him, because, as St. Gregory saith there, hom. 27 in Evang., prayer becometh sin when one prayeth for things which God forbiddeth, for example, that God avenge enemies, slay Christ and the Martyrs; for the soul of prayer is charity. For in that psalm CVIII, Judas and the Jews pray and ask that the name of Christ and the Christians be blotted out, as Euthymius saith there. And St. Augustine there: "The prayer, saith he, of Judas was sin, because it was not made through Christ, whom he would not follow, but persecute." Such was the prayer of Antiochus already as it were condemned and despairing, praying for remission not so much of guilt as of punishment, II Maccabees IX, 13: "He prayed, saith the text, the wicked man to the Lord, from whom he should not obtain mercy." Whence the Author of the Imperfect Work, hom. 15 in Matt.: "He, saith he, prayeth who now sinneth not; but he who asketh and sinneth, doth not so much pray as delude God." See St. Gregory, XVIII Moral. cap. V. Thirdly, because, as a fragrant aroma smelleth ill if placed in dung, a sewer or a dunghill, in that it is infected with its foul odour: so likewise prayer, although in itself it be fragrant and pleasing to God, yet, because it proceedeth from the putrid heart of a sinner, which exhales its foul stenches of concupiscence, hence it is stained with its putridities and smelleth ill before God; but it smelleth well if it be drawn forth from a pure heart and one fragrant with virtues. Fourthly, because he who remaineth in sin remaineth in hostility to God; but God hateth His enemy, nor accepteth his prayers. Wherefore, he who persisting in the affection of sin prayeth to God, doeth even as Judas, who kisseth Christ, and meanwhile betrayeth Him; or as one who with one hand caresseth a friend, with the other striketh or killeth him. For by prayer he as it were kisseth God and caresseth Him; but by perverse work or affection he offendeth God, and as it were striketh Him. This is what is said in Ecclesiasticus cap. XXXIV, vers. 23: "The Almighty approveth not the gifts of the wicked, neither hath He respect to the oblations of the wicked." See the sayings there, and Prov. XV, 8. Appositely Ambrosiaster in cap. IV Apoc.: "To demonstrate their excitation, saith he, I will propose a certain similitude. A certain man was held fast in mire up to his neck: and when he saw someone passing by, stretching out his hand he cried out, saying: Have mercy on me, and draw me out from this mire. And when he stretched out his hand to draw him out, he plunged the hand which he had stretched out under the mire. And while he who had come to draw him out wished to depart, he again asked to be drawn out. And when he a second time stretched out his hand to draw him out, he as before plunged his hand under the mire. And while he did this repeatedly, he grew angry and said: Why dost thou ask to be drawn out, when thou wilt persist in thy peril? and because thou lovest thy destruction, possess what thou hast chosen. Similarly these men beseech God continually, that they may be drawn out from vices, and yet they so embrace these vices, that they cannot be torn away from them in any way." Whence he subjoins that the just man always prayeth, because when the mind is vacant from prayer, his works themselves intercede; nay, when he sleepeth, his works shine forth in the sight of God, and they themselves are intercessors with God. Understand these things concerning those who persist hardened in the act or affection of sin; for if anyone desires to escape from the bonds of sin, he rightly prays to God that He may grant him grace and strength to accomplish this: for a sinner cannot achieve this by his own powers, but needs the mighty grace of God, which therefore he can and ought to implore by prayers. Thus St. Thomas, II II, Question LXXVIII, article 2, to 1, where objecting to himself that saying of the man born blind: "We know that God heareth not sinners," John chapter IX, verse 31; and this saying of Solomon, he responds: "Prayer in obtaining is not founded on merit, but on divine mercy, which extends even to the wicked; and therefore sometimes the prayer of sinners is heard by God. Whence St. Augustine says upon John, tract. 44, that that word spoken by the blind man was as it were still anointed, that is not yet perfectly illuminated: for God heareth sinners. But that which is said, that the prayer of one who heareth not the law is abominable, is to be understood as far as it concerns the merit of the sinner; but sometimes he obtains it from the mercy of God, either for the salvation of him who prays, as the Publican was heard, as is said Luke XVIII, or even for the salvation of others and the glory of God." This is what God thunders forth with terrible voice through Isaiah, chapter I, verse 15: "When you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you; and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear, for your hands are full of blood." A most efficacious reason indeed, says our Alvarez, and one to which no evasion can be made. I will not hear, because the hands of sinners are full of blood, that is of sins and iniquities, by which (as far as concerns them) they shed the blood of Christ again. For St. Basil said most excellently: This is the reason why God is accustomed to turn away his eyes, when we stretch forth our hands, namely because the judgments of supplanting provide occasion for wrath. Just as if someone, having killed the son of another, whom he held dear, still had hands sprinkled with gore, should stretch them out to the father, even then beseeching him in anger to receive him into friendship; would not the blood of the son, which appears in his hand, which brought death to the son, incite him to wrath more, to whom injury has been done? If his father will not hear his petition, seeing his hands polluted with the blood of his son, how will God receive the prayers of the wicked, whom He knows to be transgressors of His law, and injurious to Himself, and cruel toward the blood and merits of His only-begotten Son?
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10. HE WHO DECEIVES THE JUST IN AN EVIL WAY, IN HIS DESTRUCTION (the Syrian, in a pit) SHALL FALL: AND THE SIMPLE SHALL POSSESS HIS GOODS. — The word "his" is not in the Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, Aquila and Theodotion, nor in many Latin texts. For the Hebrew texts have it thus: "Causing the upright to err in an evil way, in his own pit he himself shall fall, and the upright shall inherit good"; the Chaldean, "in a pit he shall fall; but the perfect and immaculate shall inherit goods"; the Septuagint, "he who seduces the upright in an evil way, into corruption he himself shall fall; but the wicked shall pass by goods, and shall not enter into them"; Aquila and Theodotion, "and the simple shall obtain goods." Therefore, by deleting "his," this general maxim gives this sense. He who causes the simple and just to err, by seducing him into an evil way or by an evil way, by which namely he may lead him into some pit and destruction prepared for him, whether it be corporeal or spiritual, such as error, heresy, lust, strife, etc., he himself shall fall into that very evil which he prepared for the simple, that is the upright and innocent; but the simple, that is the upright and free from guile, with the seducer perishing and caught in his own deceits, for the evil structured for them, God protecting and directing them, shall receive good and shall possess it, so that for example in place of error they may seize truth, in place of heresy faith, in place of lust chastity, in place of strife peace, and in these as possessors they may be strengthened and solidified, etc. Therefore this maxim agrees with that in chapter XXVI, verse 27: "He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it." But the Vulgate version, which adds "his," so that this maxim may be narrowed to the fraudulent, who through deceits and frauds strive to deprive others of their goods, here is the sense: "He who deceives," that is strives to deceive (for the act of deceiving begun, not completed, is signified, as is evident from what follows) the just "in an evil way," that is by some fraud, art, or deceit, namely by some perverse and fraudulent action, for example by counsel, machination, or some deceitful contract, so that he may claim his wealth to himself by ingenious fraud; he "in his destruction," that is by the art and fraud by which he has machinated destruction and ruin for others, shall fall, that is he himself shall incur the evil which he structured for the just, so that by the fraud by which he thought to despoil them of goods, he himself may be despoiled of his own goods by the same means, and those goods may be transferred to the just. For thus not rarely does God's providence punish deceit and the deceitful by retaliation, so that the deceit which they prepared for others may recoil upon their own head, those who deceitfully attempted to steal the goods of the just are forced to have their own goods cede to them, as Haman, plotting through fraud to despoil Mordecai and the Jews of dignity, goods and life, was himself despoiled of the same along with his own by them. This is what the Septuagint wished when they translated, "he who seduces the upright in an evil way, into corruption he himself shall fall; but the wicked shall pass by goods, and shall not enter into them," as if to say, The wicked shall see the goods of the upright and just, to which they aspire through frauds; but they shall not enter into them, nor shall they possess them, because they themselves shall only pass by these goods, or rather according to these goods, so that in passing they may see them, but soon they are forced to pass through them with sorrow and to leave them, just as he who wishes to possess the water of a river labors in vain; for this water cannot be held, because it continually flows and passes, and therefore flows past: such precisely are riches, especially those which are obtained unjustly and by fraud and deceit; for they pass away and flee from the wicked possessor, and fly away to the just and upright, and conversely the greedy and deceitful pass by them, and go elsewhere, namely into poverty, or death and hell, according to that: "They have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands," Psalm LXXV, 6. A notable example is found in Laban, who, wishing to circumvent Jacob through new and unjust agreements, was himself circumvented by God's will. Hear Jacob himself speaking to his wives, Genesis XXXI, 7: "But your father also circumvented me, and changed my wages ten times, and yet God did not suffer him to hurt me. If he said at any time: The flocks shall be speckled for thy wages, all the sheep brought forth speckled young; but when on the contrary he said: Thou shalt take all the white ones for thy hire, all the flocks brought forth white young. And God took away the substance of your father, and gave it to me." For God is the guardian of innocence and justice, and the avenger of the guilty and the wicked. For it is just that he who attempts to circumscribe another by deceit should himself be circumscribed by the same means; it is fitting that he who covets another's goods should lose his own; it is proper that he who desires another's possessions through fraud should have his own ceded to him. Thus Pharao and the Egyptians, deceitfully despoiling and oppressing the Hebrews, were themselves despoiled and oppressed by them through the same deceit, Exodus XII, 36, and chapter XIV, 27. Thus in these years heretical princes, striving through clandestine conspiracies and rebellions to strip the most invincible Emperor Ferdinand from his dominions, were themselves stripped of theirs by him through the same means. We read similar things frequently in Histories. Mystically, heretics, the lustful and other wicked men, who attempt to draw the upright through fraud into heresy, lust and other crimes, and thus to despoil them of heavenly glory and drag them into hell, themselves fall into hell, and cede to the upright and steadfast the glory prepared for them in the heavens. Thus Baynus.
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11. THE RICH MAN SEEMETH TO HIMSELF WISE: BUT THE POOR MAN THAT IS PRUDENT SHALL SEARCH HIM OUT. — Various men expound this in various ways. First, some, that is to say, the rich man seemeth to himself to be wise, because he knoweth the manner of heaping up riches, even through unjust and usurious contracts, by which he drains the purses of the poor; but the poor man, who is prudent, shall shrewdly scent out these methods and contracts, and shall detest and flee from them. Secondly, others, that is to say, the rich man seemeth to himself wise; that is, prudent, honest and upright, because he honourably and splendidly maintaineth his household; but let him not flatter himself concerning his uprightness; for the witnesses and judges thereof are the poor: for the uprightness of the rich man consisteth chiefly in almsgiving, whose witnesses are the poor. Whence Blessed Chrysologus, in his homily On Riches and Poverty: "The rich man, saith he, whether good or bad, appeareth in the consciences of the poor; thou shalt be such as the flocks of the poor esteem thee to be." Thirdly, the Rabbis and Baynus, that is to say, the rich man thinketh the highest wisdom to be diligence in heaping up riches; but the poor man who truly is wise searcheth out and condemneth this judgment of his, while he believeth wisdom to consist not in riches, but in the contempt of riches, which also the Philosophers held, such as Seneca, epistle 119, Diogenes, Aristides, Crates, and others. Whence the Chaldean rendereth it, and the poor man who is prudent despiseth him. Fourthly and genuinely, that is to say, riches add courage to the rich man, and puff him up, so that he thinketh himself to be wiser than others, especially because by the common people he is proclaimed great and exalted, and by flatterers is called prudent and fortunate: but the poor man who is prudent, despising this his arrogance, is able to search him out through conversations, questions and actions, and not rarely doth in fact search him out, whether besides riches he possesseth true wisdom: and he shall easily discover his foolishness, reprove and condemn it. Solomon tacitly intimateth that riches are an impediment to wisdom, but poverty is an incentive to it, both because riches puff up and make men proud, whereas poverty maketh them modest and humble: for true wisdom is humility; as foolishness is pride and arrogance; and because riches, being loved, torment him who loveth them with care, and depress him to riches and earthly things, so that concerning the high things which wisdom beholdeth, he cannot judge sincerely: but poverty, being freed from riches, freely attendeth to better and heavenly things; and because the rich abound in pleasures, and are given to gluttony and luxury, which dull and blunt the mind; but the poor are frugal and temperate; and temperance is the mother of health, holiness and wisdom: whence the Philosophers cast off riches, that they might freely philosophize with a serene mind. Hence Crates the Theban cast a great weight of gold into the sea, saying: "I sink it lest it sink me," as St. Jerome testifieth, epistle 13 to Paulinus, and epistle 33 to Julian. And Menander: "Blessed is he who hath both riches and mind," because to have both is difficult: for riches often rob the rich man of his mind. And because God thus divideth His gifts, that He giveth riches to the rich man, and to the poor man ingenuity and wisdom: hence we see that the poor are wiser, more pious, holier than the rich. Whence St. James, chapter II, 5: "Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him?" Most excellently St. Chrysostom, homily on Psalm IV: "Riches, saith he, are the ministers of vices and errors, but poverty is the mother of philosophy. And the things themselves show this daily, that the poor are more prudent than the rich, and more lovers of wisdom." And that Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers: "Voluntary poverty, saith he, is the rest of the soul." And in rest the soul findeth and seeth true and genuine wisdom. Hence the ancient Ascetics and Anchorites, professing poverty and quiet, became most holy and most wise. Well known is the story of the poor man in Damascus in the Life of Barlaam and Josaphat, chapter IV, who professed and said: "I heal those wounded by words." Whence being summoned by the prince, who through an incautious word had incurred the anger of the king and the danger of death, the wise man gave him counsel, by which he both appeased the king and escaped death. Again, Solomon signifies that the rich have the appearance and pomp of wisdom, but the poor have the substance and marrow of wisdom. For the rich display gravity and wisdom outwardly by the splendor of their garments, servants, and palaces; but the poor scrutinize its interior, namely the soul and mind, and often find it empty of wisdom. Thus Diogenes scrutinized and freely criticized the ambition of Alexander the Great, and led him to such a point that he said: "If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes." Wherefore Diogenes used to say "that poverty is a help to philosophy, because what philosophy strives to persuade by words, poverty compels to." Thus Stobaeus, sermon 93. And Ariston said, "poverty is a lamp which shows all evils." Xenophon: "Poverty," he says, "is of itself a learned philosophy." St. Chrysostom: "Those who philosophize with poverty draw ever nearer to God." Thus Antonius reports in the Melissa, part I, chapter XXXIII. Finally, "shall scrutinize" by metonymy signifies shall judge and condemn. For a judge by scrutiny of crimes judges and condemns the guilty. Thus a poor judge, but prudent, often scrutinizes, judges and condemns the rich, because by usuries, unjust contracts and robberies they have oppressed the poor; for poverty provides sincere judgment, which cupidity infects and obscures. In the rich therefore are many things covered with paint, many things of avarice, pride and specious coverings of vices; these the poor man endowed with prudence strips away, and scrutinizes, shows and condemns the vices lying hidden beneath them. But the truth of this maxim will appear most of all on the day of judgment: for then the Apostles and Apostolic men, who in this life had been poor in spirit, shall judge and condemn the rich and proud and wicked, as Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham condemned with him the rich Dives burning in hell, Luke XVI, 25, according to that promise of Christ, Matthew XIX, 28: "Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit upon twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel." And Luke XVI, 9, Christ makes the poor the gatekeepers of heaven, judges and rulers, saying: "Make unto you friends of the mammon of iniquity, that when you shall fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings;" therefore the poor preside over these.
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12. WHEN THE JUST ARE EXALTED, THERE IS GREAT GLORY: WHEN THE WICKED REIGN, MEN ARE BROUGHT TO RUIN. — The Syriac version: in the exaltation, or strengthening, of the just there is much praise; when the wicked arise, the son of man is sought out. For the exaltation of the just brings forth their exultation; and the exaltation of the just is directly opposed to the reign of the wicked. The sense therefore is, as if to say: When the just are exalted to dignities, offices, prelacies, rule and kingdom, and therefore exult; the whole Church and commonwealth are likewise exalted and exult, and therefore there is the greatest joy and glory. On the contrary, when the wicked are exalted and reign, the common life of men and the commonwealth are depressed, fall and are ruined. The reason a priori is that the just, while they rule, cause justice, probity and piety to flourish in the commonwealth: from this arise peace, commerce thrives, arts and agriculture are vigorously exercised, from which arises abundance and plenty of all things. Finally, God blesses the commonwealth on account of the justice and probity of the princes and citizens in all things. On the other hand, when the wicked reign, they introduce into their commonwealth impiety, frauds, crimes, from which arise schisms, seditions, quarrels, wars, which drive away farmers, craftsmen and merchants: whence it must follow that poverty, famine and want of things ensue. Finally, God curses the wicked prince and commonwealth. For just as when a just man rules, justice and virtue reign and triumph: so when an impious man rules, impiety and crime reign and triumph. For a just prince strives to make all his subjects like himself, that is, just; but an impious man makes them impious. Whence that saying: "Such as the king, such the people." And: "By the example of the king the whole world is ordered." For glory in Hebrew is תפארת tipheret, that is, glory, beauty, splendor, magnificence, as if to say: When the just dominate and exult, all temples, forums, streets, courts, houses, business, merchandise, crafts, studies, arts, conditions, citizens, and all things that are in the commonwealth, exist splendid, glorious, beautiful, bright, magnificent; but when the wicked reign, all these things are ruined and become inglorious, foul, base, vile. Thus when Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne ruled, who exalted the faith of Christ, the Pontiffs and Christians, there was common exultation, happiness and glory of the world and the city: on the other hand, when Nero, Decius, Diocletian, Valens, Julian reigned, there was common sorrow, squalor, slaughter and ruin of all. For it is the nature of tyrants to enrich and magnify themselves from the losses and ruin of others. Whence Aristotle, in book VIII of the Ethics, chapter X, says these things are proper to tyrants: "To take away arms from citizens, to trample down the multitude of the people, and to drive them from the city, and to render the city empty of inhabitants, to harass the nobility, to overthrow them secretly, and openly to drive them into exile as adversaries and plotters against their power: whence the counsel given by Periander to Thrasybalus, to cut off the outstanding ears of grain when it is opportune, that is, to remove the more eminent citizens from their midst." For the ruin of men in Hebrew is יחפש אדם iechuppas adam, that is, man shall be searched out, explored, inquired after; others say, man shall be stripped: for when impious tyrants search out someone, they strip and despoil him; others say, man shall be changed. Hence the Chaldean version renders it: when the just rejoice, there is much beauty; when the wicked arise, the son of man is sought out. Whence first, Rabbi Solomon thus explains it, as if to say: When the wicked dominate, every man is searched out and inquired after by them, so that he may be drawn to any of their crimes; for the wicked desire that all imitate their shameful deeds: for they think it fitting that all others also direct and conform their actions to theirs, as being subject to them. Second, Aben-Ezra, as if to say: When the wicked are exalted, a man is searched out; for the wicked search out and violently seize the property of others. Third, Rabbi Levi, as if to say: When the wicked are exalted, the pious flee and hide themselves in hiding places: wherefore the wicked search them out and hunt them, so that they may draw them forth into the light to themselves and lead them away. Fourth, Baynus, that is to say: When the wicked reign, all bend themselves to their impiety; wherefore then it is difficult to find a man who resists them, and remains constant in his integrity, so that if you were to search with a lamp, you would scarcely find one out of a thousand. Whence Cajetan translates, "and with the rising of the wicked man is changed," that is to say: When the wicked reign, even pious men change their ways, and bend themselves to the impiety of kings, as many embraced Arianism when Constantius the Arian reigned. And recently in England, when Henry VIII caused schism from the Church, all England followed his schism. For, as Sosipater says in Stobaeus, sermon 46: "Who is so steadfast as to remain firm through every change of fortune, of things, and of empires, accommodating himself to princes and subjects, and reconciling himself to all, and connecting every difference everywhere to one principle?" Or, that is to say: When the pious rule, the kingdom is happy and stable, wherefore citizens remain in it joyful and constant; but truly when the wicked rule, they flee their tyranny, and therefore change their dwelling, and transfer themselves elsewhere. Or, as Pagninus says, that is to say: When the wicked reign, man will be changed in garments, that is, he will change his garments, and assume another habit lest he be recognized, but so that he may hide and conceal himself. Again, through an impious king offices, commerce, laws, and the entire state of the Republic are changed, as we have recently seen happen in England. To this pertains the deed of Diogenes, who, as Laertius testifies, book VI: "At a certain time, carrying a lamp enclosed in a lantern and walking about in the forum in the brightest light, he seemed like one searching. When asked what he was doing: I am seeking a man, he said, noting namely that the public morals of the city were not even worthy of a man." Fifth, Vatablus translates, "and with the rising of the wicked man will be explored," that is to say: When the pious reign, all are, or simulate themselves to be pious and upright: wherefore then the integrity of anyone cannot be explored; but if the wicked reign, then the virtue and constancy of man is explored. For if, when others everywhere yield to impiety and the impious man, he alone bravely resists both, it is a sign that he is of great and proven virtue; such was Tobias, who, while all his fellow-tribesmen went to adore the golden calves, he alone went to Jerusalem to adore God, Tob. I. Whence St. Gregory, book I on Job, chapter 1: "Among the wicked," he says, "to be good is of immense goodness." Hence the Septuagint translates, "through the help of the just much glory is made; but in the places of the wicked men are taken." All these things come down to the same thing, and Our Author has embraced all of them in translating, "with the wicked reigning, the ruins of men;"; for these ruins happen through the scrutiny by which the wicked scrutinize them, so that they may despoil the good, and force them naked to change their dwelling and go into exile, or so that they may draw them to impiety. Anagogically, "in the exultation of the just," that is of the Blessed, in the heavenly kingdom, where the Saints exult in joys and ineffable hymns, is the supreme glory of the Church both militant and triumphant. I say both militant, because the Church militant celebrates their feasts with great glory, and especially the feast of all Saints (as on this day on which I write this, we celebrate it magnificently in Rome in the Blessed Mary at the Martyrs, formerly the Pantheon), in which it sings to them: "O how glorious is the kingdom, in which the saints rejoice with Christ, clothed in white robes, they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." It alludes to that of David his father: "The saints shall rejoice in glory, they shall be glad in their beds; the exultations of God shall be in their throats," Psalm CXLIX, 5. St. Evergistus Archbishop of Cologne, as his Life has it, entering the temple of St. Gereon and his fellow Martyrs, greeted them saying: "The saints shall rejoice in glory;"; immediately St. Gereon and his companions from their tombs, as if applauding, exulted in response: "They shall be glad in their beds." Concerning this glory of theirs Isaiah says, chapter LXIV, verse 4; and from him St. Paul, I Corinthians II, 9: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him." Hence that immense exultation of the Saints, jubilation and dancing. For the Hebrew עלע alats signifies to exult, to dance, to leap, to spring forth with joy, to jubilate, as the Blessed do in the heavens perpetually. Conversely in hell, where Lucifer and impious demons reign, there are ruins and eternal slaughter both of men and of demons. For, to say nothing of the eternal fires of Gehenna, there are hatreds, quarrels and fights, both of demons and of men among themselves, by which they bite and torment one another, indeed they would tear each other apart, if they could.
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In Hebrew, he that hideth his transgressions shall not prosper, etc. The Septuagint: he that covereth iniquity shall not prosper; but he that declareth reproofs shall be loved; Symmachus: he that uttereth (Aquila and Theodotion: confesseth) reproofs shall prosper; the Chaldean: God shall have mercy on him. You will ask, what confession does Solomon require and commend? Some think he demands auricular and sacramental confession, which in the new law is made to a confessor to receive the absolution of sins in the Sacrament of Penance. Thus Hugo, Dionysius, Baynus and Cajetan. But this had not yet been instituted in the time of Solomon, for it was sanctioned by Christ a thousand years later. I say therefore that he speaks of confession which is of natural law, and that twofold. The first is that by which a penitent sinner confesses his sins before God, and humbly begs pardon and remission from him. Thus the Publican confessed, saying: "God, be merciful to me a sinner," Luke cap. XVIII, vers. 13. Thus Daniel, cap. IX, vers. 5, confesses his own and the people's sins, that he might obtain mercy and deliverance from Babylonian captivity from God. Thus Jeremiah, Isaiah and the other Prophets, the three youths in the Babylonian furnace, Daniel III, 29, the Maccabees and other Saints of the Old Testament frequently humbly confess their sins to God in Scripture. The second confession is that by which someone, admonished and corrected by a Superior or another concerning his sin, humbly acknowledges and confesses it, and promises amendment; or that by which he who has injured or offended another, acknowledges his fault before him and begs pardon, that he may make satisfaction to him for the offense and reconcile himself with him: for there is no more efficacious remedy for pardon and reconciliation than humble confession of fault. Whence an elder in the Lives of the Fathers: "When you have offended someone," he says, "immediately say: It is my fault." The sense therefore is, as if to say: The humility of confession of him who confesses and does penance, seeking pardon and forgiveness, obtains the same both from God and from men. For it is itself an act of penance and contrition, which even in the new law without the Sacrament actually received, with only its vow and purpose, abolishes guilt, as the Council of Trent teaches, sess. XIV, cap. IV. For contrition is an act of charity, by which someone loving God above all things is supremely grieved that he has offended him: "and charity covereth a multitude of sins," as St. Peter says, epist. I, cap. IV, vers. 8. He says: I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin, that they may obtain the grace of God; for, as St. Chrysostom says, hom. 20 On Confession: "Before a good judge confession is the mother of pardon." Rightly mother, because just as a mother brings forth a son with pain, so confession brings forth pardon with pain. Thus David, as long as he hid his adultery and murder, was hateful to God; but when, being reproved by Nathan, he confessed it and said: "I have sinned against the Lord," he immediately obtained grace, Nathan saying: "The Lord also hath taken away thy sin," II Reg. XII, 13. Whence he himself, Psal. XXXI, 5: "I said, it runneth, and he was deprived of kingdom and life, I Reg. XV. Thus Cain, unwilling to confess the fratricide of his brother Abel, was cursed by God, Gen. cap. IV. The meaning therefore is, as if to say, "He who hides his sins shall not prosper, nor shall he be directed to their forgiveness, grace, virtue and salvation; but he who confesses them in that manner and rite which his law requires, and God has instituted according to the variety of times, for example, so that a Gentile illuminated by faith and the grace of God confesses them to God, a Jew to the priest offering sacrifice, a Christian to the priest absolving; provided he has not at the same time abandoned them and amended his life, he shall obtain their forgiveness, mercy and grace." For, as St. Augustine says in Sentences, no. 240: "With the mercy of God the confession of the penitent avails greatly, by which the sinner makes propitious by confessing him whom by denying he did not make ignorant." Therefore from this place theologians not unreasonably prove sacramental confession, both because this was foreseen by the Holy Spirit and adumbrated here through the mouth of Solomon; and because this maxim is general, and is therefore to be adapted to each state of the Church according to the reason and manner prescribed by God to each. Now God in the state of the new law has prescribed the manner of sacramental confession as necessary for the remission of sin, and has willed that there be no other remedy for the abolition of sin than the Sacrament of confession. Therefore it must be used by the sinner, if he wishes to do penance rightly and to obtain the forgiveness and grace of God: and this among other things Solomon signifies here, acting and impelled by the Holy Spirit. For, as St. Cyprian says: "What medicine does not know, it does not heal." See the maxims and examples of the Fathers concerning the fruit of confession, which I cited at Leviticus, chapter VI, verse 4, and in the epistle of St. James, chapter V, verse 16. Add that the Jews were commanded not only by natural law, but also by positive and divine law, in certain cases to make special confession of some sin, as I showed at Numbers V, 7, and Leviticus V, 5. But to Christians confession of any mortal sin has been commanded by Christ in the law of the Gospel, and this fittingly to the nature of sin, confession and remission. For no virtue or action is so fitting, and, so to speak, connatural to obtaining forgiveness of sin, as humble confession of the same; for this includes contrition and satisfaction: for the confession itself is no small satisfaction and compensation of the offense. Confession therefore includes three parts of penance, or three duties of the penitent, which are contrition, confession, satisfaction. Again, as Tertullian teaches in the book On Penance, confession performs the office of God; for it causes the penitent himself by confessing his sin to judge and avenge it; and condemning and punishing himself, he forestalls the wrath of God, leaving nothing for him to punish or to accomplish. Add: confession is a retraction of sin, and therefore a fitting disposition for forgiveness; for the penitent, by confessing his sin, recalls it, retracts it, and, as far as in him lies, destroys and abolishes it, because he grieves over it and refutes and detests it; wherefore he deserves that God forgive it and destroy it by his grace. But he who does not acknowledge his sin, but excuses or defends it, confirms himself in it, and is therefore incapable of forgiveness, both on account of his pride and arrogance, and because he himself adds and accumulates to the sin of concupiscence into which he has fallen the sin of impenitence and defense. Thus Saul, unwilling to confess his disobedience to Samuel, by which he had spared the flocks of Amalek against God's command, but excusing it, incurred the wrath of God— Fittingly St. Chrysostom in the Melissa of Antonius, part I, chapter XVII, assigns confession first among five modes of expiation of sin: "The ways," he says, "of penance are five: the first, knowledge and reproof of sins; the second, forgiving to neighbors their errors; the third, which is done through prayer; the fourth, through almsgiving; the fifth, through humility of mind." And again: "While time permits us," he says, "let us forestall the face of God in confession, so that we may then see him mild and placid, and escape those threatening Angels. If you confess your sin, you will diminish it; otherwise, you will increase it."
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In Hebrew: Blessed is the man who fears always, and he who hardens his heart shall fall into evil; the Chaldean: Blessed is the man who fears all things through fear, but he who is hard of heart shall fall into evils; the Septuagint: Blessed is the man who fears all things on account of piety, that is, on account of piety, fear and reverence of God, by which he fears lest he offend Him in any way; or, as the Complutensian editors say, on account of caution, or carefulness, by which the prudent man fearing evil carefully avoids it. Whence Cicero, in the Fourth Book of the Tusculan Disputations: "We naturally, he says, decline from evils; which declination, if it be done with reason, is called caution; but that which is without reason, fear." Now first, the Rabbis thus expound it. R. Solomon: "Blessed, he says, is he who always dreads punishment and torment: for thus he will restrain himself from wrongs;" Aben-Ezra: "Blessed, he says, is he who always fears God, and does not bind himself to Him through crimes; but he who is so hardened in mind that he is unwilling to lend ear to one who reproves him, shall be subject to those calamities which he thought he would bring upon others;" R. Levi: "Thrice blessed is he who fears Him whom it is right to fear; for this will be the cause that, by adopting suitable counsels, he shall conduct himself wisely, so that he may withdraw himself from the calamities which he dreads. But he who is of a stubborn mind, and sets up for himself what ought to be feared instead of God, shall suffer the extremes. Is it not clear that on account of a stubborn mind the temple was first built and then restored, and was utterly destroyed? For if Zedekiah had not been of a contentious mind, and if he had submitted his neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon, we should not then have been forced to depart from our seats; and the same must be judged concerning the restored temple: for we should not have been subject to the Roman Empire, nor forced to bear its yoke." Secondly, St. Gregory, and from him Bede, Hugh, Dionysius, and others understand these things concerning fear and dread of the final judgment and punishment. Hear St. Gregory, homily 40 on the Gospel: "Thus the joy of the present life ought to be conducted, that the bitterness of the following judgment may never depart from memory: so that while the fearful mind is pierced through with the fear of extreme vengeance, as much as the present joy is now, so much may the following wrath be tempered afterwards. Hence it is written: Blessed is the man who is always fearful; but he who is of a hard mind shall fall into evil: for the wrath of the following judgment shall then be borne so much more strictly, as it is now feared the least even amid faults." Thirdly, the Author of the Catena of the Greeks understands these things concerning fear and reverence of God; whence from the Septuagint thus he translates and explains: "Blessed is the man who, touched by a certain reverence of God, dreads all things; but the man of hard and stubborn heart falls into evils. He who obtains the fear of God, he, it is said, dreads all things which could bring any contagion or detriment to the soul, and holds them in suspicion: and thus he ought to be reckoned blessed. But the wicked man fears no one, and thus falls into various inconveniences." The interpreter of St. Chrysostom, homily 55 on Genesis, translates piety for reverence: "Blessed, he says, is he who fears all things on account of piety. For if we, when we see a servant who cares for our things with diligence and much fear, declare greater benevolence toward him; much more does the good Lord on account of this say: I will look upon him who trembles at my words. Let us therefore tremble, I beseech you, and with great fear fulfill his words; for they are His words. And when we have learned what pleases Him, and what He approves, let us obey those things, and strive to become such as He wishes." What those things are in particular he subjoins: "Let us exhibit quietness, gentleness, great humility, and let us fulfill all things which have been commanded by Him with reverence, so that, when He shall have approved the affection of our mind, being pleased with our obedience, He may deign to look upon us also. And if this should befall us, we shall be secure in all things. For He says: I will look upon, that is, I shall deign to care for you, I shall stretch out my hand, I shall be a helper in all things, I shall pour out my liberality upon you abundantly." Thus merchants cautiously enter into contracts, purchase goods, send ships, etc., so that they may avoid the dangers of losing their capital. The same caution citizens, craftsmen and other prudent men employ in their dealings, because experience has taught that excessive confidence, rashness and boldness have deceived many and brought them to ruin. Vatablus adds: Blessed, he says, is he who continually fears lest he offend God. Note here that "all things" and "always" are in both the Latin and Hebrew texts; which St. Chrysostom restricts to God's precepts, as if to say: Blessed is he who fears, that is, from fear and reverence of God observes all his precepts. Others explain it generally, as if he were to say: Fear and dread all business, all works, all persons, all sexes, all contingencies, lest anywhere you offend God. For the demon lays snares for you in all things, so that in all things the danger of sin may lurk. This indeed is the best and most holy fear and dread. Thus Job, cap. IX, 28: "I feared," he says, "all my works, knowing that thou wouldst not spare the offender." And cap. XXXI, 23: "I always feared God as waves swelling over me." And David, Psalm CXVIII, 120: "Pierce," he says, "my flesh with thy fear, for I was afraid of thy judgments." And Ecclesiasticus cap. XXV, 15: "Blessed is the man to whom it is given to have the fear of God; he that holdeth it, to whom shall he be like? The fear of God is the beginning of love." See the sayings there. Fourth, Jansenius takes these things generally and adequately of the fear and caution to be employed in all matters, which is opposed to rashness, so that he is called here "blessed," that is, happy, who is thus timid in all things, so that he may foresee lest he undertake anything rashly, nor without due deliberation and the counsel of others, carefully guarding lest he omit anything of those things which are required. For such a one is usually prospered in his affairs; whereas on the contrary he who is "of a hard mind," that is, undertakes his affairs with an obstinate spirit without any fear, caring nothing for whatever is suggested and advised, often rushes into many evils and is forced to endure many losses. Note here: This fear ought not to be excessive; for thus it becomes anxiety and scrupulosity, which vexes and gnaws at a man, so that it deters and turns him away from great things, and drives him into desperation. Whence Seneca, epistle 56: "He is unskilled," he says, "who fears all his affairs, trembling at every sound, whom any voice whatever accepted as a roar casts down, whom the slightest movements agitate." This fear therefore ought to be moderate: for this fear is a virtue, and therefore is placed in the middle of two extreme vices, namely audacity and hardness of heart, which fears nothing unafraid, and excessive timidity; and it is the fear and caution of a wise mind, by which he carefully foresees and provides for all things which can happen, lest anywhere he be deceived, deceived or slip; wherefore he proceeds safely and securely in all things with due caution, as the Septuagint translates it. This fear therefore does not destroy, but effects security, confidence and magnanimity. Fourth, the lion attacks harmful animals; the bear harmless ones, namely sheep and lambs: thus the tyrant vexes, plunders and slaughters both the good and the wicked. Whence Antisthenes in Stobaeus, sermon 49, says the tyrant is worse than the executioner: because, he says, the executioner kills only the guilty and the wicked, but the tyrant equally the innocent and the guilty. Fifth, both the lion and the bear are a symbol of rapacity and injustice, because it invades, seizes, slaughters and devours what belongs to others. Again, the lion leaves the remains of his meal for bears, wolves and beasts to devour. Thus the tyrant is most rapacious and unjust, and creates magistrates and officials like himself, rapacious and violent, so that he may have suitable associates and helpers for his tyranny, as Plato teaches, lib. IX De Republica. Hear St. Ambrose, sermon 59: "Many say that wolves are accustomed to follow the tracks of lions, and to wander not far from their hunts, namely so that they may satisfy their rage with plunder of others, and what remains from the satiety of lions may be consumed by the rapacity of wolves. Thus these wolves of avarice have followed the tracks of plunderers, so that what their rapacity left over might fall to the savagery of these." Again, the she-bear is more savage than the bear, as Aristotle testifies: thus the wives and concubines of tyrants are often more savage and rapacious than the tyrants themselves. From this hunger for gold it comes about that a greedy prince does nothing freely, but demands gifts for any matters whatsoever, indeed sells prefectures and offices for a price, from which no small damages follow to the commonwealth. Wherefore Basil the Emperor, in his Exhortation to his son Leo, chapter XLIII, prescribes that offices not be sold: "Gold, he says, and by gifts do not have honors and dignities for sale, but bestow them freely upon the worthy; for he who buys a magistracy for a price, buys those subject to that magistracy for much more, so that, relying on the gifts which he gave, he himself may more boldly take gifts. Therefore approve and examine diligently, and only then promote those who seek without gifts, if you wish to banish from the republic every stain of filth and extortion." He brings forth a vigorous reason: "For he who gives, he says, in order to obtain a magistracy, seeks gain for himself from the magistracy; for he gives so that he may have the right to take, acting against the laws, so that he may be bound by no laws. For he who has learned to traffic in a magistracy will never unlearn to take gifts, and will never wish to do anything without gifts: and he will have you as a teacher of corruption and filth, whom he ought to have had as an avenger. Nor will he alone take gifts, but he will also compel those who are under him to take gifts." Sixth, a lion and a bear attacking one another, with young deer and other beasts fighting between them, invade, seize and tear them: thus tyrants rejoice in the dissensions of their subjects, indeed famine and thirst run about and rage, so that they may satisfy hunger and thirst. For prince in Hebrew is מושל mosel, that is, a ruler. For impious is רשע rascha, which the Septuagint, reading by apocope רש ras, translate as needy, poor; the Septuagint therefore thus have it: A roaring lion and a thirsty wolf, who, being needy, tyrannizes a poor nation; the Chaldean: a lion roars and a bear cries out on account of the impious one, who rules over a poor people; the Syrian: a bear gives voice, in that an unjust one is set over a poor people. Rightly is an impious prince and tyrant compared to a lion and a bear, just as a pious prince is compared to a dog and a shepherd of sheep. Whence Plato, book II of the Republic: "Do you think, he says, that the nature of a noble dog and a noble prince differ in performing guardianship? To what end this? Both of them ought to be keen in perceiving, and swift in pursuing; and finally strong, when they have caught up, for fighting and seizing." A prince therefore is like a watchful dog and guardian of the flock; a tyrant truly like a lion and a bear invading. First, because just as a lion by its roar strikes down other animals and stuns them, so it seizes, snatches and devours; and just as a bear growling by its growl terrifies young deer and pigs: so also an impious prince by his terrifying voice, threatening countenance and impious edicts strikes terror into the people. Second, the lion and bear have supreme savagery and cruelty, especially when their young are taken, Hosea XIII, 8, and when they hunger: therefore lions roar from hunger, bears growl. Lions hunger, because they eat only on alternate days, on account of a quartan fever, which they suffer perpetually, as Aristotle and Pliny testify. Bears, however, because they lie hidden through winter and eat nothing, as Aristotle says, book VIII of the History, chapter XVII. Hence therefore a bear emptied through winter in spring has extreme want and hunger, so much so that it devours all things, even ants and bees. Hence by Aristotle in the same place, chapter V, it is called omnivorous. Such precisely is the savagery, avarice and greed of a tyrant, so that from all things, even vile and sordid ones, he seizes gain, just as Vespasian seized gain from urine and filth. Third, in the lion is noted the tyrant's cruelty, in the bear deceit and cunning. Whence Pliny, book VIII, chapter XXXVI: "Nor to any other animal, he says, in wrongdoing is there more clever craft." Hence in Apocalypse XIII, 2, the Antichrist, who will be most cunning, is compared to a bear. And in Lamentations III, 10, he is called "a bear lying in wait;" because, as St. Ambrose says, in book VI of the Hexameron, chapter IV: "The beast is full of fraud." And before him St. Basil, homily 10 of the Hexameron: "Whenever, he says, deceit in a soul has chosen for itself a dwelling place, the maker of deceit and fraud, is it not more implacable than any bear in its den?" Similarly wolves, as the Septuagint translates, are cunning and deceitful; for they wander about sheepfolds, "and they learn the sleep of dogs, the absence or negligence of shepherds, they attack the throat of sheep, so that they may quickly strangle them," as St. Ambrose says in chapter X of Luke. Indeed even the hyena, which is a certain species of wolf, learns the names of shepherds by hearing them, and then calls them out of the sheepfold by name, just as if some man were calling them; coming forth, it then attacks and strangles them, and soon breaking into the sheepfold it rages against the sheep. Similar is the cruelty and cunning of tyrants. They sow and foster these, so that they may help the weaker part and oppress the stronger, which being oppressed, they easily seize the weaker now bound to them, as the Turk does. Whence Aristotle, book V of the Politics, chapter XI: "To slander one another, he says, and to set friends against friends, and the people against the nobility, and the rich among themselves, and to reduce subjects to poverty, is of tyrannical depravity, so that no expense is made in guarding, and those occupied with daily troubles may not be able to have leisure for taking counsel against tyrants."
28:16
In Hebrew: a leader lacking understanding, abundant in oppressions; hating avarice, will prolong his days; the Chaldean: and he who hates calumnies, his days shall be prolonged; the Septuagint: a king lacking revenues, a great sycophant: but he who hates injustice, shall live a long time; the Scholiast, for "a great sycophant," translated "abounding in extortions," and adds "but he who hates injustice, lives life"; the Zurich Bible: under a foolish prince are frequent violences: but he who hates avarice (the Syriac, fraud), shall rule for a long time; Vatablus: a prince lacking prudence and (that is, therefore, as if to say, because he has little prudence, therefore he has much injury) abundant in injuries shall not prolong his days: but he who hates avarice, shall prolong his days. For from the end of the verse is explained its beginning: for he shall prolong his days by zeugma to be repeated at the beginning, and on account of the antithesis it must be denied, with the negation "not" added. He alludes to the bear, to which, as Pliny testifies, the head is very weak: thus a prince oppressor, in head, that is in brain, judgment and prudence, is very weak. "This sentence demonstrates, says Jansenius, who those impious princes are, who conduct themselves as lions and bears, namely those who lack prudence, by which they ought to understand what is their duty toward their subjects, and in what their own prosperity is situated, namely if they have subjects well-disposed toward them, and loving rather than fearing them. Whoever therefore lacks such prudence, will oppress many through calumny, that is through whatever injury, and therefore will make many enemies for himself: whence deserted by his own, he will easily be oppressed by his enemies, or, as is wont to happen to tyrants, will be slaughtered by his own. For this is left to be understood in this first part from the second part. But he who hates avarice, and therefore does not press his people with exactions, his days shall be long, either because God will prolong his life on account of piety, or because such a one, surrounded and beloved by his own, will not only be safe from the snares of his own, but also from the incursion of enemies. The sentence indicates that princes err, who for their protection and preservation of their life think riches and wealth are to be gathered from everywhere, and therefore plunder many, never satisfied." For such are imprudent and deficient in understanding, as the Hebrew has it, that is manifoldly foolish, because they turn the people away from themselves, since the good of a prince is to love the people and to be loved by them; then because by plundering him they impoverish and plunder themselves: for the riches of a prince consist in the riches of his subjects; then because they give cause for rebellion, so that rivals rise up against them, indeed the whole people expels them as tyrants, and deprives them of principality, or even of life, according to that saying of the Poet: To the son-in-law of Ceres (to Pluto, namely to the underworld) without slaughter and blood few Kings descend, and tyrants without dry death. For it is established from histories and constant experience that tyrants live and reign for a short time. Whence they fear all things: for they know that like swine they owe their life to many, as I said a little before. Hence Thales, returning home from a long journey, being asked what new thing he had seen in it: "I saw," he said, "an old tyrant," as if that were prodigious, unheard of and almost a miracle. Thus Plutarch. Furthermore, the Septuagint translate: a king lacking revenues, a great sycophant, that is, a king avaricious and greedy of wealth is a calumniator, oppressor and plunderer of the people. For sycophant literally means the same as an observer, and an informer of him who had stolen figs, thus called ἀπὸ τοῦ σῦκα φαίνειν, that is from informing on him who had eaten figs: hence sycophant is used for a liar, caviler, informer and defrauder. Which had its origin from this. Of two servants of a certain Greek man, one had consumed the figs which had been prepared at home; the other did not know who had taken them. When the master sought them, the guilty servant accused the innocent one. The master, in order to explore the truth, ordered both to drink warm water, and then to vomit. Then for the first time the word sycophant arose: thus was called he who had devoured the figs and had cast the blame upon the innocent by cavilling and lying. Festus says: "Sycophants, he says, are said to have been called for this reason, because certain Athenian youths were accustomed to break into gardens and to pick figs: for which reason it was established by law that whoever did this should be punished with death. Those therefore who would prosecute this penalty on account of small damages were called sycophants, that is, fig-eaters." Thus the Sipontine. Sycophant therefore, translated word for word, means fig-like, fig-lovers, fig-counters, fig-guardians, living on figs, slandering about figs. Festus and Athenaeus, book III of the Deipnosophists, testify that at Athens the penalty of death was established for those who stole figs by theft; hence sycophancy is called slander, false accusation, accusation, deceit and circumvention. Such a sycophant was the Emperor Constantius, who, as Marcellinus testifies in book XIV, lent his ear to informers not only of words and deeds, but also of dreams. He indulged especially a certain Mercury, who mixed himself in convivial gatherings under the appearance of familiarity, and if anyone had uttered a nocturnal vision, he would carry it to Constantius with a distorted account, so much so that scarcely anyone dared to confess that he had slept, and certain learned men lamented their fate that they had not been born among the Atlanteans, where they say dreams are not seen: which Stephanus also confirms in the entry Atlanteans. A very great sycophant was Julian the Apostate, cousin of Constantius, who by wonderful arts and deceits circumvented Christians, and among other things despoiled them of their goods on the ground that they themselves had seized them from the temples of the Gentiles. And when they showed that this was false: "Your Christ, he said, has counselled you to poverty, and preached the poor blessed, and promised them the kingdom of heaven; obey therefore Christ and your law, and yield your riches to me." Thus he invaded the estates of Blessed Gallicanus, who was the son-in-law of Constantine the Great; but Christ exposed the sycophancy, indeed avenged it: for as many as invaded the estates of Gallicanus were seized by a demon, or touched with leprosy departed. Thus it is in the Life of Blessed Gallicanus, and in Baronius, in the year of Christ 362.
28:17
For lake in Hebrew is בור bor, that is, cistern, well, lake, and it is taken for sepulchre and hell. "Calumniateth," that is, by calumny or violence oppresseth, and sheddeth "the blood of the soul," that is, blood, in which is the soul, that is, life. It is a periphrasis of homicide. For the Hebrew עשק asac, that is, calumniateth, signifieth to oppress, to use violence, to defraud, to extort by violence, to snatch away by calumny, violence or guile: for often one killeth another not by piercing with a sword, but by false testimony, as false witnesses do; or by pronouncing an unjust sentence of death, as perverse judges do; or by falsely accusing before a prince or other powerful man, that he may be slain by him, as the envious and detractors do, who are all murderers not by physically striking, but ethically by taking care through calumny that he be slain by another. This is what the Hebrew asac signifieth, that is, calumniateth. Now in the man whom he hath slain, he hath shaken. Thus Aben-Ezra. Secondly, the Syriac version rendereth it, a man who is conscious of the blood of the soul, shall flee to the elect, and they shall not help him. For the Hebrew בר bar (whence בור bor) signifieth pure, naked, elect, as if to say, A murderer who is conscious to himself of blood shed, shall implore the aid of the elect both of heaven, namely Angels and Saints, and of earth, namely pious and merciful men; but no one shall free him from punishment. For all abhor homicide and the homicide, and desire that he pay the penalty for so great a crime so harmful to mankind. Thirdly, the Septuagint rendereth it, he who in the matter of slaughter becometh surety for another (who giveth himself as pledge to the judge for the murderer), shall be mulcted with exile (when the murderer fearing capital punishment shall not present himself, but shall flee and hide himself in lurking places), and shall never obtain any security. For the friends and relatives of the slain shall pursue him as a murderer for whom he became surety, and shall continually harass him. Fourthly, the Chaldee rendereth it, the son of man who is anxious about the blood of the soul, if he flee even to the lake, they shall not seize him, as if to say, A man guilty of blood shed, and therefore anxious and troubled, even if he flee into caves, caverns and pits, for example into mines of gold, silver, copper, coal, such as those at Liège, that he may hide himself there; yet neither the coal-miners, nor others who are in or work in the mines, shall receive him, but shall drive him away as a common enemy, fearing lest he slay some of them there also. Fifthly, Vatable rendereth it, he who violently, or by violence, hath shed blood, shall flee even to the sepulchre, and they shall not hold him, as if to say, A murderer casteth himself into certain danger of death, that he may be slain by the judge, or by the kinsmen of him whom he hath slain, and no one shall snatch him from it. Again, "shall flee to the sepulchre," because many murderers, driven by the consciousness of their crime, slay themselves, or deliver themselves to the judge to be slain, as Judas the betrayer of Christ hanged himself. For justly he who hath been the executioner of others becometh also the executioner of himself; for this is the fitting retaliation of the crime and the vengeance of God. Sixthly, Lyra, as if to say, "A murderer, if he flee even to the lake," that is, if he defer repentance even until death and the sepulchre, "no one sustaineth," that is, no one can help him, because after death there is no place for repentance and grace. But this is mystical. Seventhly, Pagninus and Baynus render it, a man oppressor in the blood of the soul, that is, he who violently hath wrested from another the soul from blood and body by homicide, shall flee to the pit, namely to caves and caverns, that he may hide there, lest they hold him, lest namely they seize him and bring him before the judge to be punished. Spiritually many murderers doing penance have fled to caves and caverns, and there have spent their whole life in austere penance, and have become saints, as the thief converted by Abbot Apollo in Palladius in the Lausiac History, cap. LII; and another in Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. CLXVI; and another in Rufinus, cap. XVI, whom St. Paphnutius saw by vision to be equal to him in merits. Thus spiritually St. Mary Magdalen, St. Pelagia, St. Mary of Egypt, etc., who by their allurements had slain the souls of many, doing penance lived an angelic life in caves. It is wonderful what John Moschus writeth of Mary the infanticide in the Meadow, cap. CLXXVI, namely that as she was fleeing to a ship, she stood still so that she could not proceed; she then being cast into a boat and submerged, the ship completed its course. The same, cap. CLXVI, relateth of a certain robber doing penance who went to a monastery, and there becoming a monk saw the spectre of a boy saying: "Why didst thou slay me?" wherefore returning to the world the next day he was beheaded. Thus vengeance followeth murderers even to the altars. This is what God has strictly ordained from ancient times, Genesis IX, 5: "I will require the blood of your lives at the hand of every beast, and at the hand of man, etc. Whosoever shall shed man's blood, his blood shall be shed; for man was made to the image of God." See the remarks there. Eighthly, our Salazar, ingeniously as is his custom, taking the lake to mean a well, thinks that here is alluded to an ancient rite, whereby those who had killed others, justly or unjustly, washed their hands, as if contaminated by the blood shed, they might wash it away, and thus pure approach the altars and sacred rites, as Pilate washed his hands in the condemnation of Christ, as if to say: A murderer, if he be a private person, will be an abomination to all, so that, even if he flee to the well and wash himself in its waters, all will nevertheless detest him: but if he be a leader or prince who has shed the blood of many, and against right and justice has condemned the innocent to death, "if he escape even to the lake," even if daily, having received most abundant waters from the lake or well, he wash his hands, "no one endures it," that is, his subjects cannot tolerate his rule being pure, and therefore they deprive him either of his power or of his life.
28:18
In Hebrew, and he that is perverse in his ways (Cajetan, going across the ways) shall fall in one; the Chaldean, and he whose all ways are, shall fall once; the Septuagint, he that walketh justly is helped; but he that goeth in perverse ways shall be entangled; or, as the Interpreter of the Greek Catena translates more clearly, beware of obeying a wicked nation: he that walketh justly shall obtain help; but he that goeth in perverse ways shall be entangled in errors and snares; the Syriac, shall fall into a pit. The sense is clear, as if to say: He who in his actions, which are as it were ways, proceeds simply, in Hebrew תמים tamim, that is, innocently, harmlessly, candidly, with integrity: let him fall into detractors, rivals, and other harms and dangers which this wretched life brings forth, yet by God's aid he shall be saved from them, and shall escape unharmed; but truly he who in his actions proceeds wickedly, distortedly, malignly, deceitfully, even if those things succeed well for a time and turn out as desired, yet at length he shall fall in one irreparably, namely he shall fall into adversities, from which he cannot emerge and rise again. Therefore "he shall fall once" signifies two things: first, as if to say, he shall fall in one of his schemes, so that he may be caught by his own arts and deceits; secondly, he shall fall irreparably. So Aben-Ezra, R. Solomon and others. Otherwise R. Levi: He shall fall once, that is, always: for since, he says, there is one way of virtue and good, but many ways of vice and evil, the perverse man, however, abandons the way of good, it is necessary that he take the way of evil, and in it fall into evil. Antistrophic to Solomon is the maxim of Isaiah cap. XLIII, 2: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee; when thou walkest in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flame shall not burn thee, because I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." See the remarks there. Thus God preserved the three Hebrew boys unharmed in the Babylonian fire, Daniel, cap. III, and Jonah in the belly of the whale. The same God led the Hebrews through the Red Sea as through dry land, with Pharaoh pursuing being submerged in it, Exodus XIV. John Moschus in the Meadow, cap. II, relates that a certain old man was of such virtue that he received lions with him in the same cave, walked with them, and provided them food in his bosom. And cap. XVIII, he relates the life of another old man, who slept with lions everywhere. "And on a certain day," he says, "he took two lion cubs into the church, saying to the brethren: If we kept the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ, these animals would surely fear us; but because of sin we have become their servants, we are compelled to fear them."
28:19
In Hebrew, he that follows vain or empty things, that is, idle things, shall be filled with poverty; the Syriac, he that walks after vanity (vain idleness), shall be filled with want. It is an elegant antithesis, as if to say: He that works is satisfied with the eating of bread: the idle man, however, is satisfied, that is, is filled, with his hunger and famine; the laborer shall abound in riches: the sluggard and the slothful shall abound and be consumed by want. We have heard this maxim cap. XII, 11, where I explained it abundantly.
28:20
In Hebrew, a man of truth, or faithful, abounding in blessings; Aquila, a man making faith; the Chaldean, of a faithful man many blessings (the Syrian, the faithful shall be blessed): but he that runneth into iniquity to become rich, shall not be innocent; the Septuagint, a faithful man shall be blessed abundantly: but the wicked shall not go unpunished. Blessing is twofold, verbal and real: verbal is praise and the wishing of good things, real is abundance of things; hence a twofold sense arises: The former, that is to say, He who is faithful in his actions, and dealeth with faith, him all shall praise, and shall wish all good things upon him by acclamation: but he who hasteth to become rich, and therefore scrapes together wealth by fraud and deceit through right and wrong, he shall not be innocent, but as guilty and a defrauder, shall be blamed and condemned by all. Thus Vatablus. The latter, that is to say, He who is faithful in his business, he shall be "abounding in blessings," that is, shall be heaped with abundance of things so that he shall overflow with riches: for God shall prosper all his business, so that daily his fortune may be advanced and increased; but he who hasteth to become rich through frauds and usuries, he shall not be innocent, that is, unpunished, because he shall be deprived not only of the riches he hoped for, but also of those he hath, and shall be impoverished.
28:21
In Hebrew, to know the face, or countenance, is not good: and for a morsel of bread a man shall transgress; the Chaldean, to regard the face is not good, and for a morsel of bread a man shall sin; the Septuagint, he that feareth not the faces of the just is not good; such a one selleth a man for a morsel of bread. Thus the Complutensian, Royal and other editions; wherefore in the Vatican copies it has crept in erroneously for "selleth a man" the words "selleth wine"; the Syrian, for a morsel of bread he betrayeth a man. Our translator rendereth "a man" as "truth" paraphrastically, because, when truth is forsaken in judgment, the man is betrayed, sold and lost, who in it is falsely and unjustly condemned; "in judgment" is not in the Hebrew, but is understood, because the acceptance of persons is seen chiefly, and harmeth chiefly in judgment. Concerning the baseness of the acceptance of persons, as well as of gifts, I have spoken at chapter XXIV, verse 23, and elsewhere: for by these things justice is corrupted and as it were defiled, which the ancients painted in the likeness of a most chaste virgin; whence that saying: "The lust of the eunuch shall deflower the maiden, so he that doeth violence to an unjust judgment," Ecclesiasticus chapter XX, 2. See the things said there. We have heard the former part of this sentence at chapter XXIV, 23. The sense is, that is to say, To accept the person especially in judgment, so that on account of gifts or friendship thou shouldest adjudge the cause to thy friend, which ought to have been adjudged to the adverse party from justice, is not good, nay it is a great evil and wickedness. It is a meiosis. For, as Cicero saith: "Whosoever putteth on the person of a friend taketh off the person of a judge." It is necessary therefore that a judge should judge with closed eyes, and receive no man's person. For this reason the Areopagites judged in darkness by night. He subjoins the reason: "And," that is because, such a one "for a morsel of bread forsaketh truth," that is, for a thing small and of small price and moment he exchangeth truth for falsehood, equity for iniquity, while in favour of his friend he pronounceth a false and unjust sentence against the adverse party. For every thing, even if precious in itself, is vile if compared with the price of truth and justice. Add: Not a few unjust judges for a vile thing, as for a gift of one kid or lamb, pervert justice. So vile is their spirit, vile their faith, vile their honour, vile their justice. This is what God complaineth of, Ezekiel XIII, 19: "Ye violated me, saith He, to my people, for a handful of barley and a piece of bread," just as birds and fishes are caught with a hook by a morsel of bread: for being baited by it they put their mouth on the deadly hook; or as sheep which are led by a piece of bread by the butcher to the shambles to be slain. Wherefore, although some Doctors assert that it is lawful for judges to accept eatables and drinkables, yet Solomon here reproveth it, because judgment is often perverted on account of them. Hence the Emperor Justinian, § It is necessary, concerning the mandate of the prince, Authentic collection III, enacted, "that (prefects and judges) accept no gift at all, neither great nor small. It is necessary, saith he, that thou taking the administration purely, and without all favour, and before all others keep thy hands clean to God, and to us and to the laws, and touch no gain, neither great nor small," etc.
28:22
In Hebrew, the hasty man to riches, a man of evil eye, and he shall not know that want shall come upon him; in Chaldean, he who hastens to substance is a man of evil eye; in the Septuagint, the envious man hastens to become rich, and knows not that a merciful man shall overtake him; in Syriac, he hastens to become rich with an envious eye. An evil eye is the eye of the avaricious man, who, in order to enrich himself, envies others their gain and steals it, so that he may turn it to himself, according to that saying about the avaricious man: "What thing is created more wicked than an evil eye? therefore it shall weep for every trouble." Ecclesiasticus 31:18. See the remarks there. Solomon signifies that avarice begets envy, and conversely envy begets avarice: wherefore every avaricious man is envious, and every envious man is avaricious. See St. Chrysostom, homily 63 on John: "Envy," he says, "is a grave affection: this has filled the whole world with innumerable evils. Hence judgments are fulfilled, hence grudges and the love of money." And a little later: "This disease has begotten avarice, which has confused all things and corrupted justice. For gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and like a bridle in the mouth, they turn away and restrain testimonies." And St. Augustine, tract. 8 on John: "If you wish to be richer than another man, you will envy him, when you see him equal to you. You ought therefore to wish all men to be equal to you." And in Psalm 125: "No one," he says, "envies another in that which he himself does not wish either to be or to seem. Another envies you because you are rich; but he either wishes to be rich, so that he may envy you, or wishes to be thought rich." Wherefore the same Augustine often inculcates that the effective remedy against envy is contempt of riches. More forcefully St. Cyprian, tract. On Zeal and Grudge: "Widely extended," he says, "is the manifold and fertile destruction of zeal. It is the root of all evils, the fountain of calamities, the seedbed of offences, the matter of faults; from it hatred arises, from it animosity proceeds. Zeal inflames avarice, when one cannot be content with his own, seeing another richer. Both— AND HE SHALL NOT KNOW THAT WANT SHALL COME UPON HIM,—because avarice blinds his heart equally as envy does, and therefore in heaping together riches by fair means and foul he makes no end. Understand want both temporal in this life and spiritual in Gehenna, where the rich man begged of Lazarus a drop of water, and received it not. "For justly he receives not a drop, who denied a crumb to Lazarus," says St. Augustine. Moreover, I have recounted the causes of this want in chapter 13, verse 11, at those words: "Substance hastily gotten shall be diminished." Here another cause is hinted at, namely envy; for since he himself envies others, others in turn envy him, and therefore they strive to turn away his gain from him and to impoverish him. Add that by the just judgment of God it comes to pass that the avaricious man, envying others so that he alone may stand out and become rich, while the rest are impoverished, is punished by retaliation, namely so that the rest become rich and he alone is impoverished.
28:23
In Hebrew, reproving a man after me he shall find grace more than one who flatters with his tongue; the Chaldean, he who reproves the son of man shall find grace before him, more than he who is double-tongued; the Septuagint, he who reproves the ways of a man shall gain more thanks than he who gratifies with his tongue; Aquila, before him who flatters the tongue. For "after" our text reads אחרי achare, that is, after, afterwards; already with another pointing they read אחרי acharai, that is, after me; R. Joseph Kimchi in Pagninus reads אחרי ochari, so that it is a noun with the paragogic yod, that is, backward turned, tardy, receding, recoiling, namely from the law of God; whence he translates, he who reproves a man who recedes (from the way of God, virtue and law) shall find grace more than he who flatters with his tongue; Aben-Ezra and Vatablus, he who reproves a man after me, that is, they say, so that he may follow me and my laws, so that these words are of God, or of Solomon commanding that he who sins against these his laws be reproved, and according to them be amended and corrected. Baynus indeed expounds "after me" as if to say, He who reproves the sinner more sharply shall gain the grace of the reproved, just as I Solomon am accustomed to chastise the depraved morals of my subjects more severely, and yet I am very pleasing to them. But the Vulgate version is to be preferred, which gives a more suitable sense, as if to say, He who reproves the erring one, at first bites him with the harshness of reproof, afflicts and torments him; but when the reproved perceives the fruit of reproof, he accepts it gratefully, indeed gives thanks to the one who reproved him, as the Septuagint translates, because through reproof he sees that he has changed his depraved morals into good ones, and thus has avoided grave damages and dangers to reputation, fortune, life and hell: but the flatterer, offering bland and sweet things, even if he delights at first, yet afterwards when his hearer perceives quarrels and damages, he hates and detests him. For the flatterer is double-tongued, as the Chaldean translates, because he has, as it were, a double tongue: one with which he flatters when present, another with which he slanders when absent; one with which he flatters, another with which he bites; one with which he licks, another with which he stings. To this pertains that passage in chapter XXVII, verse 6: "Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy." See the remarks there. Thus we see good men give thanks to parents and teachers, because in childhood and youth they chastised their depraved morals and wanton desires, and frankly confess: Unless thou hadst reproved me, O father, unless thou hadst chastised me, O teacher, I would have destroyed myself, I would have gone to the gallows, indeed to hell: to thee therefore I owe my probity, my life, my salvation. On the other hand, many when they are led to the gallows for their crimes, and more in hell curse their parents and teachers, because they did not correct them when they acted badly, and say: Cursed be thou, father, who didst beget me; cursed be thou, mother, who didst bear me: for if thou hadst chastised my vices from childhood, I would not have become a robber, an adulterer, a murderer, nor would I be tormented in hell with demons, but I would reign in heaven with the Angels. Furthermore, reproof is troublesome to anyone at first, as our Pontanus declares in the apologue which he relates, volume III, page 1, chapter XL. Truth once a fugitive throughout the whole world, when she wandered, toward evening one day turned aside to the cottage of a poor old woman. By her received most kindly to hospitality, she is asked who she is, whence and whither so late? She answers: I am Truth, whom all envy, and whom they suffer to settle in no place. What have you deserved? I accuse the vices of all, I conceal nothing. And because no one can bear to be reproved moderately, hence for me flight and perpetual exile. What then? After supper they go to sleep. Both commit themselves to one bed. When light arose, as they put on their clothes again, Truth observing the old woman, noticed that she was deprived of one eye, and does not keep silent about the defect. She becomes angry, and driving Truth out of the cottage with force adds: No wonder if nowhere is there a place for thee, if all hate thee, when thou art accustomed to freely cast their vices in the face of all.
28:24
In Hebrew, he that spoileth his father and his mother, and saith: It is no transgression, is a companion of a man that is a destroyer; the Chaldean, a companion of a man that wasteth; the Septuagint, he that rejecteth father or mother, and it seemeth to him that he sinneth not, this one is a partner (Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, a partaker) of an impious man; the Syriac, is joined with a wicked man; Pagninus, is a partaker of one that wasteth his goods. For the murderer in Hebrew it is משחית maschit, that is, a corruptor, a destroyer, a cutter off, a waster, a ravager, as Vatablus translated it. First, Lyra, Hugo, Dionysius, hold that here is refuted the error of the Scribes and Priests, saying that it is lawful, yea pious, if sons withdraw the sustenance owed to parents, provided they give it to the temple and to Priests, whom Christ refutes, Matt. XV, 5, so that the sense is, as if to say, He who withdraws, that is, denies to father or mother the sustenance necessary for life, that he may bestow it on the temple, saying this is not a sin, yea that it is holy, he is a companion of a murderer, because he compels parents to die of hunger. Our Salazar agrees, who thus expounds it, as if to say, He who doth not succour the want of parents, and therefore withdraweth from them the debt of nature, is to be reckoned and numbered with murderers, yea with parricides, according to that saying of St. Ambrose to the avaricious: "If thou didst not feed him, thou didst kill him." But it is objected, that for withdraweth the Hebrew is גוזל gozel, that is, he seizeth, he stealeth, he plundereth, which is far more than he denieth or succoureth not. Secondly, therefore Cajetan translated, he that plundereth father or mother, and saith: It is no crime, is a companion of a man that is a destroyer, because namely he destroyeth and spoileth the family and the paternal house. Thirdly, Jansenius and Baynus the Hebrew maschit, which our author translated murderer, translate destroyer, as our author translated it cap. XVIII, vers. 9, so that the sense is, as if to say, He who stealeth away the goods of parents, and this without acknowledgement of guilt, is a companion of a destroyer, because he joineth himself with such a one, and with such a one he also himself wasteth paternal goods. For young men are wont to steal away paternal goods for this reason, that they may squander them, and join themselves to destroyers. And almost such become afterwards notable squanderers and lost men. Fourthly and genuinely, the Vulgate version calleth the son who stealeth paternal goods a companion of a murderer: first, because by continual thefts he exhausteth his parents, and thus killeth them by want equally as by sorrow, especially while he saith it is not a sin, because he esteemeth the goods of his parents to be his own, because he shall be their heir. In which matter he erreth gravely, and doeth grave injury to his parents: for although the goods of parents are owed to sons, that they may succeed to them after death, yet the sons are not yet their masters; much less have they the administration of them, that they may use them at their pleasure, wherefore they sin mortally, if they steal away a notable sum from their parents; this notable sum, however, ought to be greater in a son than in a servant or an outsider, because a father indulgeth more to a son than to an outsider; hence also a son is more easily excused from restitution, as learned Peter Navarre teacheth, and from him our Lessius, lib. II De Injur. fortun. cap. XIII. Secondly, because sons who are spendthrifts are wont to be companions of villains, of lost men, of robbers and of murderers. Again, robbery and the squandering of paternal goods leadeth to robberies of the goods of others, and thence to murders and brigandage, as if to say, A spendthrift son at length becometh a murderer, a robber and a brigand, and as such is punished with death, or hanged, as we often see happen. Hence Plato in the Phaedrus numbereth the violators of parents in hell with murderers, and affirmeth that they are punished with a like punishment with them.
28:25
Hebrew: A broad soul will stir up strife, and he that trusteth in the Lord shall be fattened; Aquila and Symmachus, πλατύψυχος, that is a broad soul, or broad-minded, stirs up strife; the Septuagint, ἄπιστος, that is insatiable (the Vaticanus less aptly reads ἄπιστος for the Hebrew, that is unfaithful) a man judges rashly; but he that trusteth in the Lord shall be in careful diligence. You will ask, what is a broad soul, or broad-minded? First, the Syriac translates it as a man greedy and gluttonous: for he is broad of soul, that is of soul's greed and avarice, who, to satisfy it, contracts debts, and from this stirs up quarrels and disputes, which empty the belly, so that he feeds on disputes instead of food; but he who hopes in the Lord shall obtain food, and even delicacies, by which he may satisfy and fatten his soul's appetite. Second, R. Levi by a broad soul understands the profligate and prodigal: for he dilates his soul by profusion of wealth. Third, Pagninus: A broad soul, he says, is spirited, bold and wrathful, who therefore stirs up quarrels, brawls and fights; but he who trusts in the Lord and fulfills that: "To me belongeth vengeance, I will repay, saith the Lord," Deut. XXXII, 35; Rom. XII, 19, he shall be fattened with tranquility of conscience, and peace with all men, as much as in him lies. Fourth, Baynus: A broad soul, he says, is the avaricious man, who dilates his soul to seize and plunder many things. Whence the Septuagint translates it insatiable: for while he hastens to grow rich, and labors with insatiable desire for wealth, while he injures many, he shall have many enemies, and shall stir up quarrels; but he who has placed his hope in the Lord (thus the Hebrews read), seizes nothing from anyone, preferring rather to die than to plunder what belongs to others, to him an honest and sufficient livelihood shall never be lacking, nay he shall abound in delicacies, if not of the body, at least his soul shall be fattened and grow thick with heavenly fatness, of which the Psalmist speaks: "Let my soul be filled with marrow and fatness." Fifth, Jansenius: A broad soul, he says, is the proud and arrogant man, as the Chaldean translates it. For by pride the mind of man is dilated and extended beyond itself toward the honors of this world; which our Interpreter followed, translating it as he who boasts and dilates himself: that is, he who is immoderate in praising himself, expanding his mind toward honors, such a one stirs up quarrels, because he does not suffer anyone to be preferred to him or equal to him. But he who is not exalted in himself, but humbly subjects himself to God, placing all his hope in Him, such a one shall be fattened, that is shall prosper in all things, God himself favoring him: he shall enjoy tranquility of mind, and, as we read, shall be healed of all evils; or, as it is rather to be read, as the more corrected Codices have it, shall be healed. Sixth, our Salazar: A broad soul, he says, signifies two things, namely the proud and the avaricious. Hence the Vulgate translates it as he who boasts and dilates himself: for the word boasts seems to hint at the pride of arrogance, the word dilates at the cupidity of avarice. This man therefore, proud at once and avaricious, stirs up quarrels, or mingles strife, namely within himself: he contains two vices, which wage war against each other. For pride demands profuse expenditures for the display of glory; but avarice on the other hand restrains expenditures, and renders the man sordid. Seventh and genuine: A broad soul is covetous. For the soul is the inferior part of the soul, in which appetite and concupiscence reside; but the spirit is the superior part of the soul, in which reason, mind and spirit reside; whence from the soul which we have in common with brutes, we are called animal, just as from the spirit and spirit we are called spiritual. Therefore it is one thing to be broad of heart, namely magnanimity, which was in Solomon, III Kings IV, 29, and great charity, which was in St. Paul, when he said: "My mouth is open to you, our heart is enlarged," II Cor. cap. VI, 11; it is another thing to be broad of soul, that is, of covetousness: for this is evil and wicked. Therefore he is broad of soul who burns with great desires, who covets many things, who stretches all his powers to satisfy his covetousness. Moreover this breadth of soul, or covetousness, is threefold, namely: the first is covetousness of honors, which is called ambition; the second of riches, which is called avarice; the third of pleasures, which is called gluttony and lust. Whence that passage I John II, 16: "All that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life." Therefore a broad soul is said in three ways: first it signifies the ambitious; second, the avaricious; third, the gluttonous and lustful, and thus we embrace all the other expositions already given in this broad and general sense. Hence the Septuagint translates ἄπληστος, that is, insatiable; for such is every covetous person and covetousness. Hence also Our Lord, that he might embrace all these things, wisely translated it, he who boasts and enlarges himself. For the proud man boasts and displays himself like a peacock, the avaricious and gluttonous enlarge the mouth of their covetousness, like a wolf wasting with hunger. Therefore the sense is, as if to say, A broad soul, that is, proud and ambitious, who boasts, likewise who enlarges the opening of his covetousness, namely avarice, gluttony and lust, that is, avaricious, gluttonous and lustful, this man in order to satisfy either his ambition, or his avarice, or his gluttony and lust, trusting in his own soul, that is in the sagacity, strength and vigor of his soul, stirs up quarrels and disputes with all, from which it comes to pass that both the honors which he sought after, and the riches and delights which he coveted, he is deprived of, and remains empty, hungry and dry; for quarrels exhaust and emaciate a man. But he who hopes in the Lord shall be healed of all these things, and shall obtain honors, riches and food, which shall abundantly suffice him, and shall be fattened by them, as the Hebrew has it; whence it might seem that in the Vulgate for "shall be healed" should be read "shall be satisfied," or "shall be fattened," if thus some manuscripts had it, because it would agree with the word "shall be fattened." But it is likely that our Interpreter here, as also elsewhere, followed the Greek which has ἐν ἐπιμελείᾳ ἔσται, that is, shall be in care, or shall be cared for, and thus translated it "shall be healed," signifying that he shall be made whole by God caring for him, and free from all disturbances. Note from the Septuagint that he who hopes in the Lord shall be in diligent care, namely of God himself. Whence the Author of the Chain of the Greeks clearly translates: He who trusts in the Lord shall be a care to the Lord, that is, he says, he shall be preserved by the Lord in soundness of mind and body. Therefore God is the provider and curator of him who hopes in Him, and He is exact and diligent, according to that Psalm LIV, 3: "Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." For God shall care for his things, just as if they were His own and proper. For diligent care, says the Jurist, is when someone cares for the things of another with that care with which he cares for his own, by which it will come to pass that he abounds in all things, and is in need of nothing, that is, is sufficient to himself, and desires nothing, content with his own, lives happily and blessedly, which is proper to God. Great is this dignity, great is the fruit of hope, that it places the one who hopes in the care and bosom of God, and makes God his curator, that is, solicitous in all things his guardian and provider. For care is vehement and anxious solicitude, thus called, says Festus: "That which eats the heart, or which cares;" whence Ennius in Cicero, On Old Age: I have lightened care; Which now cooks you, and turns fixed beneath your breast. Just as therefore a guardian and curator bears solicitous care for his ward committed to his trust, so God bears a like care for him who hopes in Him; for hope delivers him to God's care, and God accepts him into His care, that in it he may rest secure, according to that: "To thee the poor man is left, to the orphan thou shalt be a helper." Again, just as a shepherd has care of the sheep entrusted to him, so God has care of those who hope in Him, so that they can confidently say with the Psalmist: "The Lord ruleth me (in Hebrew, my shepherd), and I shall want nothing; in a place of pasture there He hath placed me," Psalm XXII, 1; wherefore he who touches one who hopes in God touches the heart of God, according to that: "He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye," Zacharias II, 8. See the things said there. Care of us burns the eyes, burns the heart of God. Wherefore St. Peter, epistle I, cap. V, 7, exhorts the faithful saying: "Casting all your care upon him, because he hath care of you." And St. Paul, Philippians IV, 6: "Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God." For, as the Psalmist says, Psalm XXXIX, 18: "The Lord is solicitous for me." Thus St. John the Silentiary, when the Saracens rushed upon him, refused to flee, saying: "If the Lord taketh not care of me, why do I live? but if He doth take care, whom shall I fear?" Cyril is witness in his Life. Morally, learn here that the covetous man dilates the jaws of his heart and body, so that he may seize and swallow all things, and therefore brings upon himself quarrels and wars by which he perishes; hence hell likewise, so that it may receive him and his broad and vast covetousness, dilates itself. Hear Isaiah, cap. V, 14: "Therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds; and his strong ones shall go down into it, etc."; and cap. XXX, 33: "Topheth (that is, gehenna) is said to be prepared, deep and enlarged; the nourishment thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a torrent of brimstone kindling it." For the fire of covetousness kindles and enlarges the fire of hell, so that in it he may burn and be consumed perpetually. But truly he who hopes in God enlarges in Him his affairs and his hopes, so that in Him he may rest peacefully and securely, knowing that he shall obtain his hopes from God through prayers, and shall be possessed of the fulfillment of his vows, according to that Psalm LXXX, 11: "Dilate thy mouth, and I will fill it." Hope therefore in God is a secure axe cutting down all restless covetousness; for he who hopes in God, content with that one thing alone, lives: for he knows that in God he possesses all things. Wherefore he says to himself silently and securely: "Thou sufficest to thy God, let thy God suffice thee." St. Lawrence Justinian often admonished that "confidence in God should never be lost; it is that in which the life of souls consists." Thus his Life has it. This is what Paul says, I Timothy VI, 17: "Command the rich of this world not to be high-minded, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who giveth us all things abundantly to enjoy." Nay, even Seneca, epistle 119: "How great a thing it is, he says, to ask for nothing alone, to supplicate no one and to say: Thou hast nothing to do with me, O fortune, I do not give thee power over me." And epistle 120: "Hath not he enough who lacks almost nothing, who is not cold, not hungry, not thirsty? Jupiter hath not more. Never is there too little of what is enough. Never is there too much of what is not enough. After Darius and the Indies, Alexander the Macedonian is poor; he seeks what he may make his own, he searches unknown seas, he sends new fleets into the Ocean, and, so to speak, breaks through the barriers of the world. What nature deems enough, man deems not. There was found one who coveted something after all things. Such is the blindness of minds!" From the things said gather this axiom: "Covetousness is the mother of quarrels and wars, and thence of poverty and want"; for this is an inseparable companion and follower of wars; "but mortification and renunciation of covetousness is the mother of tranquility and peace," by which one, trusting in God and His providence and resting in Him, obtains from Him all sufficiency of things, nay even abundance. This is what St. James eagerly inculcates to the faithful, cap. IV, 1: "Whence come wars and contentions among you? Are they not hence, from your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not; you kill, and envy, and cannot obtain; you contend and war."
28:26
Some wrongly read "shall be praised" instead of "shall be saved." For in Hebrew it is, "and he that walketh in wisdom, he shall escape"; the Chaldean, "he that walketh in wisdom shall be protected from evil"; the Septuagint, "he that trusteth in the boldness of his heart, he is foolish; but he that walketh in wisdom shall be saved." This maxim is similar and akin to the preceding one. It is asked, who is he that trusteth in his own heart? First, Lyra and Hugh think it is he who trusteth in his own wisdom, that is to say, He who, puffed up with pride, presumeth upon his own wisdom, he is foolish, according to that in chapter XXVI, 12: "Hast thou seen a man wise in his own conceit? there shall be more hope of a fool than of him"; but he who followeth wisdom itself in himself, he shall be saved. He intimates that wisdom is situated not in pride, nor in presumption of one's own wisdom, but in the rules of wisdom handed down by Holy Scripture and the Fathers. Secondly, Cajetan by heart understands the desires of the heart, that is to say, He who confidently followeth his own desires, he is foolish; but he who followeth the dictates of wisdom, that is, of the divine law, he shall be saved and shall be blessed in heaven. Thirdly, more rightly Jansenius by heart understands the judgment and counsel of the heart, that is to say, He who trusteth in the counsels and thoughts of his own heart, so that he followeth them in all his actions, seeking no one's opinion, but relying on his own judgment; such a one is foolish, and through his foolishness shall fall into many dangers and evils; but he who walketh wisely, so that he hath not his own heart, but wisdom as the guide of his actions, such a one shall be saved, so that either he shall not fall into evils, or, if he fall into them, he shall be delivered from them through his wisdom and God's grace. Fourthly and genuinely, he here marks the rash and presumptuous, that is to say, He who trusteth in the imaginations of his own heart, that is, in the counsels and powers which he himself imagineth and fashioneth, and therefore boldly and rashly casteth himself into temptations and dangers; he is foolish and mad, because in them he shall succumb and fall; but he who walketh wisely, that is, providently and cautiously so as to avoid dangers, he shall escape perils and falls, and shall be saved. It is a metalepsis: for by trusting in the heart is signified boldly encountering dangers, and rashly rushing into them. Thus to trust is taken for to dare, and boldly to undertake difficult things, in chapter XXVIII, 1, when it is said: "The just man is bold as a lion"; and in chapter XIV, 16: "The fool passeth over, and is confident"; and in II Maccabees XV, 7: "But Machabeus was always confident." Nay, Cicero also, in Tusculan Disputations III: "He who is strong, the same is also confident." Terence in the Phormio: "A confident man, may all the gods destroy him." Where Donatus says: Confident, he says, is wicked, bold, rash. Plautus in the Amphitryon: "Who is another man more bold than I, or who more confident?" Virgil, Georgics IV: For, who of the youths most confidently (that is, most boldly) bade thee approach our homes? That this is the meaning is clear from the Septuagint, from which the Author of the Catena of the Greeks thus clearly translates: He who putteth his hope in the boldness of his own heart is foolish; but he who walketh prudently and cautiously shall obtain salvation, and thus he explains it, that is to say, "He is rightly called foolish who trusteth in his bold heart, because he giveth more weight to rashness than to judgment, and again more to iniquity than to equity." Following Solomon's custom, Sirach, in chapter III, 27, saith: "He that loveth danger shall perish in it." See the sayings there. Hear also Seneca the Tragedian in Hercules Furens: No one can long safely Offer himself to such frequent perils: He whom chance often passeth by, at some time it findeth.
28:27
In Hebrew: He that giveth to the poor shall not want, and he that hideth his eyes shall have a multitude of curses; the Chaldean: And he that forbiddeth his eye from the poor, many shall be the curses upon him; the Septuagint: But he that turneth away his eye shall be in much want. This maxim is clear. The reason a priori is, because, as I said at chapter XIX, verse 17: "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord." See what is said there, and St. Chrysostom, homily: That almsgiving is the art of all most profitable. Almsgiving therefore doth not impoverish, but most greatly enricheth. Hear St. Cyprian treating this maxim elegantly, homily On Works and Almsgiving: "If thou fearest and art afraid lest, if thou shouldest begin to work much, thy patrimony being finished by liberal working thou shouldest be brought to want, be in this matter undaunted, be secure; it cannot be finished whence it is spent for the uses of Christ, whence a heavenly work is celebrated. I do not promise this to thee from my own, but from the faith of the holy Scriptures, and by the authority of the divine promise do I promise it. For the Holy Spirit speaketh through Solomon, and saith: He that giveth to the poor shall never want; but he that turneth away his eye shall be in great want, showing that the merciful and those who work cannot be in want, but rather the stingy and barren shall afterwards come to want." Indeed it is wonderful that faithful rich men, since they have faith, in reality and in deeds do not believe this oracle of Solomon and God's promise. God promiseth to thee, O merchant, an increase of riches, if thou shalt share them with the poor. Dost thou not believe God asserting and promising? Dost thou demand security? Behold, this assertion of Solomon from God's mouth is security for thee, the Holy Scripture is a deed of hand for thee. Hear also St. Basil, homily: "Imitate, saith he, O man, even the earth: that it may bring forth fruit, that thou mayest not be seen to be worse than it, which is inanimate; surely it doth not strive to minister to its own use or advantage, but to thine; thou however, whom thou shouldest have shown the fruit of beneficence, that thou gatherest to thyself: for the grace of benefactors returneth to those who give: thou hast given to the hungry, thou hast consulted for thyself; what thou hast given shall return to thee with increase: for as grain falling into the earth bringeth forth gain to him who casteth it, so also bread extended to the hungry shall bring forth much utility to thee in the future." Seek examples of this matter from Gregory of Tours, book V of the History of the Franks, chapter XIX, from the Life of St. John the Almsgiver, from St. Gregory, book II of the Dialogues, chapter XXIX, from Sophronius in the Spiritual Meadow, chapters CLXXXV, CXCV and CCI. Furthermore, the Hebrew words are to be weighed, which have: And he that hideth his eyes from the poor, a multitude of curses, that is to say, Many, namely God, Angels, demons and men, curse the avaricious and unmerciful, both in words and in deeds, because they do him harm, so that he may fall into poverty, misfortunes and many adversities; they deprive him of gifts and graces both spiritual and corporal, both present and eternal. But especially do the poor curse and devote him to dire things, to whom he denieth alms, as they cursed Troilus the avaricious, as Leontius testifieth in the Life of St. John the Almsgiver. Finally, on the day of judgment Christ shall curse them with seven curses opposed to as many works of mercy, which the unmerciful neglected, saying: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink," etc. Matthew XXV, 41. But St. Chrysostom describeth the manifold poverty of the avaricious in justice and virtues, homily 15 on the epistle to the Hebrews and elsewhere: "There are, saith he, pilgrims in heart, there are weak in soul, there are blind in mind, deaf through disobedience, and sick with other spiritual passions, whose souls abhor all spiritual food, and have drawn nigh unto the gates of death." Hence we see that the avaricious and unmerciful fall into many troubles, lawsuits, misfortunes, losses, and are thus not rarely in sharp conflict with poverty; but the liberal and merciful abound in all goods. Mystically, R. Solomon taketh these things of spiritual almsgiving, that is to say, A doctor, who communicateth his doctrine to others, shall not be in want, but shall always abound in conceptions of wisdom, that he may impart them to others; but he who keepeth it avariciously to himself shall feel its want and defect. Say the same of a preacher, counselor, confessor, etc.
28:28
Hugo takes "let them be hidden" as an imperative for "let them be hidden," that is to say, I advise and command the just that, when the impious reign, they hide themselves, both that they may consult for their own lives, and that they may preserve themselves for better times, in which, persecution ceasing, they may restore the faith and piety collapsed in it; also that they may not irritate the minds and fury of the impious persecuting them, so that persecution may increase and rage against all. Thus Christ ordained to the Apostles: "When," He says, "they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another," Matt. X, 23. An example of flight was St. Athanasius, whose life for 46 years in the Episcopate of Alexandria was nothing other than continual flight and hiding. See him in his Apology concerning his flight, and St. Augustine, tract. 46 in John, and epistle 180, where he teaches at length when flight is a matter of counsel, when of precept; to whom it is lawful, to whom unlawful. Hence the book of Tertullian On Flight is to be condemned, in which he strives to prove that it is unlawful to flee persecution, which he wrote after his fall into the heresy of the Montanists. But "let them be hidden" will be future, not imperative, and therefore signifies the event of the matter, not a precept, that is to say, when the impious rise to and are elevated to the kingdom or government, as if by antipathy (by which heat flees cold, and cold flees heat, and each contrary flees what is opposed to it), men flee and hide themselves, so that they may decline the tyranny of the impious, excessive exactions, vexations, etc. Especially the just: both because, as Jansenius says, they are cast into prison by the impious reigning; and because they willingly give themselves into exile, and turn their native land into a solitary place, so that they may decline the fury and persecution of the impious; and because even remaining in their native land they contain themselves in silence. Whence the Arabic version translates it, in the places of the impious the state of the just is straitened. On the contrary, when the impious have perished, and the pious have risen in their place, the just are multiplied, both because those who were previously just and hidden do not fear to show themselves openly and everywhere; and because by their example and teaching many are stirred to embrace justice. This teaching shows how much it matters who preside. Thus, when Ahab reigned with his Jezabel, the Prophets of the Lord were hidden in caves; but when they themselves perished, in the time of Jehu the just were multiplied; and in this time of grace, persecution raging from tyrants against Christians, Christians sought hiding places, who, when tyrants were removed, were multiplied. But our own age also shows how necessary it is for the pious to be silent, to hide, and to flee, where heretics reign. (1) The just shall be multiplied, that is, they increase and flourish. The reason is that the impious, while they rule, strive to propagate their impiety, and to make all like themselves, that is, impious, both through the example of life, and through impious laws, and through ruins and punishments, and through honors and rewards, which they set before their followers, and through impious officials whom they take to themselves: whereby it comes to pass that many weak and fearful yield, and conform themselves to their impiety; but those who are solidly pious flee and hide themselves. On the other hand, while the pious rule, they strive to spread their piety, and to make all good and pious: wherefore almost all, so that they may please them, study piety, or pretend to study it; but the impious depart, and seek hiding places. So great is a good or bad prince, that if he be good, almost all subjects are good; if bad, bad, according to that saying: At the king's example the whole world is fashioned. For a king gives great encouragement to virtue or vice. And that saying: "The prince is an animate law." Law can do much, while it restrains citizens and keeps them in duty; but it is inanimate: if it be animated by the life of the prince, it will be most efficacious in inspiring the same in all, and making all like the prince, good and holy, not only those present, but also posterity. For the fame of a pious prince endures after his death, and transmits his memory, praise, and stimulus to imitation to many years. Wisely Agapetus the Deacon in his Admonitions to the Emperor Justinian, no. 49: "What," he says, "you prescribe to your subjects by word as by law, this you yourself, going before, have performed in deed, so that to the words by which you persuade, your whole life may also assent; for thus you will make your empire commendable, if you both reason not without action, and act not without reason." And no. 53: "By as much as you excel others in power, so much also strive to shine forth before others in deeds; hold it most certain that from you is demanded the account of honest things, which may correspond in proportion to the greatness of your strength." And no. 61: "As you are set over all men by God, so hasten more to honor Him before all."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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.