1The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him, shall suddenly be destroyed: and health shall not follow him.All'uomo di dura cervice, che disprezza chi lo corregge, sopravverrà repentina la perdizione, e non vi sarà rimedio per lui.THE man, that with stiffe necke contemneth him that rebuketh, soden destruction shal come vpon him: and health shal not folow him.Viro qui corripientem dura cervice contemnit, / repentinus ei superveniet interitus, / et eum sanitas non sequetur. 2When just men increase, the people shall rejoice: when the wicked shall bear rule, the people shall mourn.La moltiplicazione da' giusti sarà la letizia del popolo: quando gli empj prenderan le redini del principato, il popolo avrà da gemere.In the multiplication of iust men, the common people shal reioyce: when the impious shal take princedom, the people shal mourne.In multiplicatione justorum lætabitur vulgus; / cum impii sumpserint principatum, gemet populus. 3A man that loveth wisdom, rejoiceth his father: but he that maintaineth harlots, shall squander away his substance.Colui che ama la sapienza, da consolazione al padre suo: ma colui che pasce le meretrici dissiperà le sue sostanze.A man that loueth wisedom, maketh his father glad: but he that maintaineth harlots, shal destroy his substance.Vir qui amat sapientiam lætificat patrem suum; / qui autem nutrit scorta perdet substantiam. 4A just king setteth up the land: a covetous man shall destroy it.Il re giusto felicita lo stato; l'uomo avaro il distrugge.A iust king setteth vp the land, a couetous man shal destroy it.Rex justus erigit terram; / vir avarus destruet eam. 5A man that speaketh to his friend with flattering and dissembling words, spreadeth a net for his feet.L'uomo che tiene un linguaggio finto, e di adulazione col suo amico, tende una rete a' suoi piedi.A man, that with fayre, and fayned wordes speaketh to his frend, spreadeth a nette to his steppes.Homo qui blandis fictisque sermonibus loquitur amico suo / rete expandit gressibus ejus. 6A snare shall entangle the wicked man when he sinneth: and the just shall praise and rejoice.L'uom peccatore, e iniquo cadrà al laccio: e il giusto canterà, e farà festa.A snare shal intangle the wicked man sinning: and the iust shal praise and reioyce.Peccantem virum iniquum involvet laqueus, / et justus laudabit atque gaudebit. 7The just taketh notice of the cause of the poor: the wicked is void of knowledge.Il giusto ha a cuore la causa de' poveri: l'empio non se v'informa.The iust knoweth the cause of the poore: the impious is ignorant of knowlege.Novit justus causam pauperum; / impius ignorat scientiam.
8Corrupt men bring a city to ruin: but wise men turn away wrath.Gli uomini malvaggi son la rovina della città: i sapienti la salvano dall'ira.Pestilent men dissipate a citie: but the wise turne away furie.Homines pestilentes dissipant civitatem; / sapientes vero avertunt furorem. 9If a wise man contend with a fool, whether he be angry, or laugh, he shall find no rest.L'uomo sapiente se viene a contesa collo stolto, o vada in collera, o rida, non avrà pace.A wise man, if he contend with a foole, whether he be angrie, or whether he laugh, shal not finde rest.Vir sapiens si cum stulto contenderit, / sive irascatur, sive rideat, non inveniet requiem. 10Bloodthirsty men hate the upright: but just men seek his soul.Gli uomini sanguinati odiano l'uomo semplice, ma i giusti cercano di salvarlo.Men of bloud hate the simple: but iust men seeke his soule.Viri sanguinum oderunt simplicem; / justi autem quærunt animam ejus. 11A fool uttereth all his mind: a wise man deferreth, and keepeth it till afterwards.Lo stolto mette fuora tutto il suo spirito: il saggio va adagio, e si serba qualche cosa pell'avvenire.A foole vttereth al his spirit: a wiseman differreth, and reserueth til afterward.Totum spiritum suum profert stultus; / sapiens differt, et reservat in posterum. 12A prince that gladly heareth lying words, hath all his servants wicked.Il principe che ascolta volentieri le menzogne, non ha se non empj ministri.A prince that gladly heareth wordes of lying, hath al his seruants impious.Princeps qui libenter audit verba mendacii, / omnes ministros habet impios. 13The poor man and the creditor have met one another: the Lord is the enlightener of them both.Il povero, e il suo creditore si vanno incontro l'uno all'altro: ad ambedue ha data la luce il Signore.The pooreman and the creditour haue mette one an other: our Lord is illuminatour of both.Pauper et creditor obviaverunt sibi: / utriusque illuminator est Dominus. 14The king that judgeth the poor in truth, his throne shall be established for ever.Se il re fa giustizia a poveri secondo la verità, il suo trono sarà stabile in eterno.The king, that iudgeth the poore in truth, his throne shal be replenished for euer.Rex qui judicat in veritate pauperes, / thronus ejus in æternum firmabitur. 15The rod and reproof give wisdom: but the child that is left to his own will, bringeth his mother to shame.La verga, e la correzione danno saggezza; ma il fanciullo abbandonato a' suoi voleri è di rossore a sua madre.Rod and rebuke geueth wisedom: but the childe, that is left to his owne wil, confoundeth his mother.Virga atque correptio tribuit sapientiam; / puer autem qui dimittitur voluntati suæ confundit matrem suam. 16When the wicked are multiplied, crimes shall be multiplied: but the just shall see their downfall.Saran moltiplicate le scelleraggini colla moltiplicazione degli empj: e i giusti vedranno le loro rovine.In the multiplication of the impious, wickednes shal be multiplied, and the iust shal see the ruines of them.In multiplicatione impiorum multiplicabuntur scelera, / et justi ruinas eorum videbunt.
17Instruct thy son and he shall refresh thee, and shall give delight to thy soul.Istruisci il tuo figliuolo, ed egli ti recherà consolazione, e sarà la delizia dell'anima tua.Nurter thy sonne, and he shal refresh thee, and shal geue delightes to thy soule.Erudi filium tuum, et refrigerabit te, / et dabit delicias animæ tuæ. 18When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad: but he that keepeth the law, is blessed.Quando la profezia verrà meno, il popolo sarà dissipato; ma colui che custodisce la legge, è beato.When prophecie shal fayle, the people shal be dissipated: but he that keepeth the Law, is blessed.Cum prophetia defecerit, dissipabitur populus; / qui vero custodit legem beatus est. 19A slave will not be corrected by words: because he understandeth what thou sayest, and will not answer.A istruire un animo servile non bastano le parole: perocché egli intende quello, che tu dici, ma non si degna di rispondere.A seruant can not be taught by wordes: because he vnderstandeth that which thou sayst, and contemneth to answer.Servus verbis non potest erudiri, / quia quod dicis intelligit, et respondere contemnit. 20Hast thou seen a man hasty to speak? folly is rather to be looked for, than his amendment.Hai tu veduto un uomo, che corre a furia a parlare? Si può sperare, che si corregga la stoltezza piuttosto che egli.Hast thou seene a man swifte to speake? follie is rather to be hoped, then his amendement.Vidisti hominem velocem ad loquendum ? / stultitia magis speranda est quam illius correptio. 21He that nourisheth his servant delicately from his childhood, afterwards shall find him stubborn.Chi delicatamente nutrisce il suo servo fin dall'infanzia, lo proverà poi contumace.He that nourisheth his seruant delicatly from his childhood, afterward shal feele him stubburne.Qui delicate a pueritia nutrit servum suum / postea sentiet eum contumacem. 22A passionate man provoketh quarrels: and he that is easily stirred up to wrath, shall be more prone to sin.L'uomo iracondo attizza risse, e chi è facile a dare in escandescenze sarà più proclive a peccare.An angrie man prouoketh brawles: and he that is easie to indign〈…〉, shal he more prone to sinne.Vir iracundus provocat rixas, / et qui ad indignandum facilis est erit ad peccandum proclivior. 23Humiliation followeth the proud: and glory shall uphold the humble of spirit.L'umiliazione va dietro al superbo, la gloria abbraccerà l'umile di spinto.Humiliation foloweth the proude: and glorie shal receiue the humble of spirite.Superbum sequitur humilitas, / et humilem spiritu suscipiet gloria.
24He that is partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul: he heareth one putting him to his oath, and discovereth not.Chi fa società col ladro, odia l'anima sua: sente chi gli da il giuramento, e non confessa.He that is partaker with a theefe, hateth his owne soule: he heareth one adiuring, and telleth not.Qui cum fure participat odit animam suam; / adjurantem audit, et non indicat. 25He that feareth man shall quickly fall: he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be set on high.Chi ha timore dell'uomo caderà ben presto: chi spera nel Signore sarà esaltato.He that feareth man, shal soone fal: he that trusteth in our Lord shal be lifted vp.Qui timet hominem cito corruet; / qui sperat in Domino sublevabitur. 26Many seek the face of the prince: but the judgment of every one cometh forth from the Lord.Molti cercano il favore del principe: ma dal Signore dee venire il giudizio di ciascheduno.Manie seeke after the face of the prince: & the iudgement of euerie one commeth forth from our Lord.Multi requirunt faciem principis, / et judicium a Domino egreditur singulorum. 27The just abhor a wicked man: and the wicked loathe them that are in the right way. The son that keepeth the word, shall be free from destruction.I giusti hanno in abbominazione gli empj, e gli empj hanno in abominazione quelli, che sono nella buona strada. Il fanciullo, che tien conto di questa parola, sarà sicuro dalla perdizione.The iust abhorre an impious man: & the impious abhorre them that are in the right way. The sonne that keepeth the word, shal be out of perdition.Abominantur justi virum impium, / et abominantur impii eos qui in recta sunt via. / Verbum custodiens filius / extra perditionem erit.
29:8
Corrupt. Hebrew, "scoffers," who provoke both God and men.
29:9
Calmet
Rest; or bring him to hear reason. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "a wise man shall rule nations; but the wicked being angry, is laughed at, and does not frighten."
29:10
29:13
Enlightener. Septuagint, "visitor," with punishment, as they seem to speak of palliated usury, which cannot escape God. See Proverbs 22:2.
29:18
Calmet
Prophecy, by the urim, or by the mouth of prophets, who were in great power and estimation, 3 Kings 1:24., and 12:23., and 2 Paralipomenon 25:6., and 28:8. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "There shall be none to explain the law to the impious nation." (Haydock)
Calmet
When pastors are wanting, all goes to ruin, 1 Corinthians 11:4. (Ven. Bede) (Calmet)
29:20
29:24
29:25
Calmet
Fall. Human respects will not long preserve him from sin. (Calmet)
29:1
Loue to ••e corrrected.
29:2
Choose godlie magistrates.
29:3
Loue wisdom.
29:4
Iust and liberal magistrates. Sincere amitie
29:6
Iust joy of the wickeds fal.
29:7
Compassion of the poore.
29:8
Care of common good. Contend not with a foole. Defend the iust. Discretion in iust anger. Derestation of lying. Contentment in state of life. Equitie in iudgement.
29:15
Chastisment of youth. God neuer permitteth al to be euil Instruct children. Pray to haue good Pastors.
29:19
Compel the froward to obey. Consideration in speaking. Subdue the flesh to the spirite. Meeknes.
29:23
Humilitie.
29:24
Participate not with sinne.
29:25
Feare not men in Gods cause remembring that God is Iudge of al. Hate al wickednes. Obey spiritual and temporal parents.
29:7
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 3.25
… for the Spirit of God departed from him and an evil spirit was afflicting him . God’s enemies hearing this ought to be henceforth abashed, and no longer to feign themselves equal to God. But they neither understand (for ‘the irreligious,’ he saith, ‘does not understand knowledge’
29:11
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 3.43
… 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. The impious man speaketh against the poor; and he that trusteth in the audacity of his heart is most foolish.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 16.27
We ought then to restrain every movement of anger and moderate it under the direction of discretion, that we may not by blind rage be hurried into that which is condemned by Solomon: “The wicked man expends all his anger, but the wise man dispenses it bit by bit,”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.9
… Thus we learn how great is the sin of impatience, through which we lose the very possession of what we are. Let the impatient hear what is said again through Solomon; A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man putteth it off, and reserves it until afterwards (
29:12
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Persecution in Egypt 1
… But when I compare his letters, I find that he does not possess common understanding, but that his mind is solely regulated by the suggestions of others, and that he has no mind of his own at all. Now Solomon says, ‘If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked
29:16
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 22.3
… If even thus he fail to be set right he is to be cut off from the rest as one that maketh to offend, and regarded as a heathen and a publican, for the security of them that are obedient, according to the saying, When the impious fall the righteous tremble.
29:19
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 93.17
… How many were bound, not by truth—for you never pretended to that as yours—but by the heavy chains of inveterate custom, so that in them was fulfilled the divine saying: “A servant (who is hardened) will not be corrected by words; for though he understand, he will not answer”!
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Correction of the Donatists 6
But, moreover, holy Scripture has both said concerning the former better class, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear;" and also concerning the latter lower class, which furnishes the majority, "A servant will not be corrected by words; for though he understand, he will not answer."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 5
… “Wish not to be as the horse or as the mule, which have no understanding;” although it may show itself even worse, of which it is written, “A stubborn servant will not be reproved by words; for even if he understand, yet he will not obey.”
29:20
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.73
… or like the foundation laid upon the sand, which could not even make a slight resistance to the rain and the winds. Woe to thee, O city, whose king is a child, says Solomon. Be not hasty of speech,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.9
… Be then in all things “swift to hear, but slow to speak,” lest there come upon you that which is noted by Solomon: “If thou seest a man who is quick to speak, know that there is more hope of a fool than of him;”
29:22
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 The Epistles of Cyprian 74.24
… so that of none more than of you does divine Scripture say, “A wrathful man stirreth up strifes, and a furious man heapeth up sins.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 8.1
… because “an angry man acts without counsel.” Nor can we be free from dangerous disturbances, nor be without sin, even though no sort of disturbances be brought upon us by others; because “a passionate man engenders quarrels, but an angry man digs up sins.”
29:27
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Lying 37
37. Likewise, touching that which is written, “A son which receiveth the word shall be far from destruction: but receiving, he receiveth it for himself, and no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth:”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against Lying 33
… That city’s sons are they of whom it is written,“In their mouth was found no lie:” son of that city is he of whom is also written, “A son receiving the word shall be far from destruction: but receiving, he hath received that for himself, and nothing false proceedeth out of his mouth.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Against Lying 40
… But that son, who, receiving the word shall be far from perdition, and nothing false cometh forth of his mouth,
29:1
A MAN WHO DESPISES HIM THAT REPROVETH HIM WITH A HARD NECK, SUDDEN DESTRUCTION SHALL COME UPON HIM, AND HEALTH SHALL NOT FOLLOW HIM. — The Chaldean: a man who does not receive correction, and hardens his neck, shall quickly be broken (the Syriac: shall suddenly be overthrown), and there shall be no medicine for him; in Hebrew: a man of reproofs hardening his neck shall suddenly be broken, and not health, or not healing, that is, shall be broken incurably, irreparably and without remedy of any kind, as Aben-Ezra, R. Levi and R. Solomon say. It is asked, who is the man of reproofs? Some Rabbis take it actively, as if to say "a man reproving" others who are delinquent. Whence the Septuagint translates ἐλεγχων, that is, reproving, as the Complutensian editors render it: "Better," they say, "is a man reproving, namely gently, than a man of hard neck. For, as the Author of the Catena of the Greeks explains: 'He who reproves skillfully heals; but he who is reviled on account of the hardness of his neck does not so much heal as irritate, and on account of the shame which he rashly inflicts, renders those whom he rebukes shameless.' " The Apostle sanctions this gentle mode of correction, Galatians VI, 1: "Brethren," he says, "if a man be overtaken in any fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." See the sayings there. And St. Gregory, II part. Pastor. cap. X, and St. Chrysostom, hom. 30 in epist. ad Hebr.: "Do you not see," he says, "physicians, when they burn or cut some, with how much gentleness they exercise the work of healing; much more ought he who reproves to do this, so that he may be meek and gentle," so that he may coat and sweeten the bitterness of so bitter a pill with the sugar of gentleness. But the Rabbis thus expound it: A man reproving hardening his neck, as if to say: If he who reproves others, so as to subject them to law and discipline, himself shakes off his yoke with a hard neck, and does those things which he reproves in others, he shall suddenly be broken, and not health, that is, shall fall into some case whereby he shall be utterly broken, so that he cannot be healed and repaired. But all the rest take τὸ man of reproofs passively, so that it is the same as a man reproved, as Pagninus translates it. So also the Chaldean, and even the Septuagint; for ἐλεγχων is not a participle from the verb ἐλέγχω, signifying reproving, rebuking; but is a plural noun from the singular ελεγχος, that is, reproof, rebuke. Whence Vatablus from the Septuagint translates: better is a man of reproofs, that is, frequently reproved, who allows himself to be corrected, who receives reproofs calmly, than a man of hard neck; for suddenly, with him burning, there is no remedy. It is a metaphor from oxen and bulls, which with hard neck fierce shake off the yoke, as if to say: He who is frequently reproved for vices, either by man through words, or by God through scourges and stripes, or through internal inspirations, and yet like a bull hardens his neck, so as to persist in vices and stubbornly reject reproofs; upon this man sudden destruction shall come, and health shall not follow him: because either in a quarrel he shall be beaten by enemies, or he shall fall into some grave crime, for which he shall be punished with death by God or by a judge. An example is in Pharaoh, who being reproved ten times by Moses to let the Hebrews go, whom he tyrannically oppressed, when he hardened his neck, and resisted Moses and God obstinately, God broke his neck, drowning him with all his in the Red Sea, Exodus XIV. Thus Ophni and Phinees living luxuriously, often reproved by Heli their father, when nevertheless they persisted in their crime, both were suddenly slain in battle on one day, I Kings IV, 11. Well known is the slaughter and damnation of Udo Archbishop of Magdeburg, because, being reproved by God: "Udo, Udo, cease from play, thou hast played enough, Udo," he nevertheless persisted in his luxury. Thus we often see sons despising the admonitions and reproofs of parents, gradually rushing into crimes, and finally committing theft, homicide, or a similar deed, for which they are punished with death by a judge. The reason a priori is: first, that such men, as I have said, harden themselves in crime, so that from a lesser to a greater they gradually slip, whereby it comes to pass that finally they commit something enormous punishable by death; second, that this punishment is deserved by contempt of reproof and the hard neck of the reproved. For this, since it does not allow itself to be bent by gentle reproof, but proudly and stubbornly resists it, must be broken by a hammer, or cut away by iron; third is the just judgment of God, by which he avenges the neglect of reproof and of his grace, as well as obstinacy in evil, so as to allow such a one to rush into destruction, both of body and of soul. Moreover, this destruction is both temporal, namely death, and eternal, namely damnation in hell; for often such a one is overtaken by temporal death, and not rarely by eternal, from which he cannot be recalled: "For in hell there is no redemption." And deservedly: because the reproved man was unwilling to foresee and escape destruction, justly does it come upon him unexpectedly; and because, when he could have been healed, he did not receive the saving medicine, when he will wish to be healed, he shall not obtain health. Baynus, however, understands destruction here as mystical and spiritual, whereby namely the soul lapses into enormous sin, so that it does not rise from it, but dies and is damned in it, as if to say: The stubborn man, who trusts in his own opinion and prudence, and clings tenaciously to his own desires, so that he rejects all admonitions, shall at length fall into mortal sin, by which he shall be broken irreparably, just as a glass or earthen vessel dashed against a stone shatters into the tiniest fragments, so that it cannot be restored. Thus indeed we see it happen in secular clergy and Religious, who spurn the reproofs of their Superiors, so that at length they fall into grave crimes, indeed sometimes they apostatize from the Order, and even from the faith and the Church, and become heretics and ministers, such as this age has borne many. You will ask, why do the Seventy translate, "A man of reproofs is better than a man of a hard neck"? — for "better" is not in the Hebrew, Chaldean and Vulgate. I answer: The Seventy read for מקשה macsi, that is, hardening, with another pointing with daghesh מקשה mickesse, that is, very hard. Thus therefore to translate word for word from the Hebrew, a man of reproofs before a hard neck; before, that is, it is better, that is, he is better than one who is hard of neck, as if to say: Better is he who allows himself to be reproved, than he who with hard neck resists reproof. They add the reason: For suddenly when he is inflamed there is no remedy, as if to say: Often when admonished and rebuked he will burst forth into impatience, anger, quarreling, obstinacy, and wish to excuse his crimes and defend them as if they were virtues: wherefore then no hope of his cure remains; for he does not admit medicine, namely reproof. Such are the Jews, who are unwilling to hear those who reprove their perfidy, but with deaf ear like asps obstinately persist in Judaism, and therefore are incurable. Such also were the Pharisees, resisting the reproofs of Christ, and attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to the devil, whose sin therefore was against the Holy Spirit, which is not remitted neither in this world, nor in the world to come, Matthew XII, 32.
29:2
2. IN THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE JUST THE PEOPLE SHALL REJOICE (The Syrian: the people are multiplied, both in number, in wealth, and in strength): WHEN THE WICKED HAVE BORNE RULE, THE PEOPLE MOURN. — In the multiplication, in Hebrew בּרבות birboth, that is in multiplying, that is, in magnifying and exalting the just, namely when the just rule, and consequently their subjects by their example and command (for this is the multiplication of the just) strive after justice, and thus the just are multiplied: for it is opposed to the rule of the wicked. For the Hebrew rab and rabbi, that is much, is not only of quantity and number, but also of quality and power, and signifies the same as great, mighty, prince; whence rabbim are called the great men and princes, in Isaiah XLI, and Job chapter XVI. Therefore Pagninus translated it clearly, when the just have ruled, etc.; the Chaldean, in the multitude of the just, etc.; the Septuagint, when the just are praised, the peoples shall rejoice; but when the wicked rule, men groan; Aquila, in the multiplication of the just. Therefore this maxim agrees, and is as it were the same as that in chapter XXVIII, 12: "In the exultation of the just there is great glory, when the wicked rule there is the ruin of men." Whence R. Solomon: "Great glory," he says, "is the multiplication of the just." It signifies therefore how great a good to the people and the commonwealth is a virtuous prince, and how great an evil a vicious one, and therefore both those who elect must take care to elect a virtuous one, and the one elected must strive to excel in virtue: for thus he will gain for himself the good will, obedience, and reverence of the people, so that they will obey him readily and gladly in all things: but if on the other hand he be vicious, he will bring upon himself the hatred, disobedience, and contempt of the people, so that they will obey him with difficulty and under compulsion, indeed they will strive to deprive him of his rule, or even of his life. The first cause is that a virtuous prince treats the people kindly, and does not burden them with taxes, but strives to consult their advantage rather than his own. Why then should not the people rejoice under such a one? But a vicious one treats the people harshly, presses them with burdens, exhausts them, so that he may enrich and exalt himself; why then should not the people groan under him, and, as Cajetan translated it, sigh, and long for another more merciful? The second is that a virtuous prince causes his subjects likewise to be virtuous; and thus the just are multiplied, and justice and virtue reign, whence the greatest peace, concord and love of citizens follows, so that the city appears to be happy and blessed like paradise. On the other hand a vicious prince makes his subjects vicious, so that all are indiscriminately impious, and impiety and vices reign, from which discord, quarrels and seditions arise, so that it appears to be the circle of the court or courtyard of hell. The third is that God often blesses and loads with every good the subjects on account of a virtuous prince, but curses and does evil to them on account of a vicious one; thus R. Levi. Hence the Prophets praise the birth and kingdom of Christ, because under him justice, peace, and happiness shall reign, and in it the peoples shall exult. The Psalmist depicts this exultation and jubilation graphically in Psalm LXXI, 7: "In his days," he says, "justice shall spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken away," etc. Whence verse 17: "And all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed in him," he says, "all nations shall magnify him." And Isaiah, chapter XXXV, 1: "The desert and the wilderness shall be glad," he says, "and the solitary place shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily. It shall bud and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it, the beauty of Carmel and Sharon," etc. Thus under pious Emperors, Pontiffs and Prelates there was common rejoicing of the people, and as it were the exultation of the whole world in jubilation, as under Constantine, Theodosius, Charlemagne; under Sylvester, Leo, Gregory the Great as Pontiffs; under St. Augustine, St. Jerome, Basil, Chrysostom; under St. Benedict, Romuald, Bernard, Dominic, Francis, Ignatius. For, as the Wise Man says, chapter VI, 26: "The multitude of the wise is the health of the world." And Rufinus, in the Preface to the Lives of the Fathers: "Who would doubt that the world stands by the prayers of the Saints?" Then therefore rejoicing they said with the Psalmist, Psalm LXIV, 12: "Thou shalt bless the crown of the year with thy goodness, the fields shall be full of plenty, and the hills shall be girded about with rejoicing." Hear what St. Athanasius writes concerning St. Anthony and the multiplication of his Religious: "There were," he says, "on the mountain as it were tabernacles full of divine choirs singing psalms, reading, praying, who seemed to inhabit a certain infinite region, and a town separated from worldly conversation. Who then, beholding the band of monks, who seeing that manly assembly of concord, in which there was no one harmful, no detraction, but a multitude of the abstinent and a striving in duties, would not immediately burst forth into such a voice? How goodly are thy dwellings, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As woody groves, as gardens by the river side, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waters," Num. XXIV. For subjects follow their ruler, children their father, disciples their master, soldiers their leader. Moreover, how consonant this is with nature, and flowing forth as it were from its principles, Seneca declares, epistle 90: "It is nature," he says, "to subject the inferior to the superior. Indeed in many flocks either the greatest bodies or the most vigorous preside. A degenerate bull does not lead the herds, but he who surpasses the other males in size and strength. The most excellent leads the herd of elephants. Among men the best is at the top; and therefore the greatest happiness was of those nations to whom there could not be a more powerful one unless he were better: for as much as he wishes he can, he who does not think he can do anything except what he ought."
29:3
3. A MAN WHO LOVETH WISDOM REJOICETH HIS FATHER: BUT HE THAT FEEDETH (in Hebrew, pastures) HARLOTS, WASTETH HIS SUBSTANCE. — The Chaldean [paraphrase], he who adheres (the Syriac, he who associates) with a harlot. Wisdom especially in youths consists in continence and temperance, which moderates the brutish pleasures of gluttony and lust, to which youth is swept away by the fervor of nature and blood; whence St. Jerome, to Eustochium: "Adolescence," he says, "and wine are a twofold fire of pleasure." The sense is therefore, as if to say, A wise youth who strives for continence and chastity, he gladdens his father with great joy, because with a chaste body and mind he also preserves chaste and whole the patrimony: on the contrary a foolish youth, who indulges the belly and lust, he squanders and dissipates his own and his father's wealth with harlots, and therefore afflicts himself with want, his father with sorrow: for harlots drain away riches however ample, and know a thousand arts by which they wring them from their lovers, nay extort them; and lust is blind and prodigal, whence youths driven by it pour everything into harlots. An example is in the prodigal son, who consumed all his own with them living luxuriously: wherefore reduced to extreme hunger, he was forced to be a swineherd, and to feed swine, Luke XV. Concerning whom Chrysologus elegantly [says]: "What had been composed by the father moderating, is dissipated by the son prodigal. He dies to virtues, who grows in vices: he is buried in shame, perishes in glory, who remains in turpitude, grows in infamy." Moreover the prodigal son is rightly opposed to the wise, because the prodigal is unwise and like a madman: hence by Roman Law a guardian is given to such a one in the law His qui in ea, Cause XII, § 1. Hence Tiberius the Emperor, as Dio testifies, lib. LVII, gave a guardian to a certain luxurious and prodigal senator, as if he were a ward, nay mad and furious. Hence also § If an adolescent, lib. XII, law 17, title 1, it is enacted that he who lends money to a luxurious adolescent shall not have the right to recover it, because knowing and willing he gave it to a prodigal youth, who will most certainly lose it. See what Solomon said concerning the arts and damages of harlots cap. VII, 6 and seq.
29:4
4. A JUST KING RAISETH UP THE LAND, BUT A COVETOUS MAN DESTROYETH IT. — In Hebrew, a king by judgment maketh the land stable, and a man of offerings destroyeth it; the Chaldean, a king by judgment maketh the land stable, a wicked man scattereth it; the Septuagint, a just king raiseth up a province, but a wicked man destroyeth it; Vatablus, by judgment a king maketh his dominion firm; but he who extorteth tribute destroyeth it. For a covetous man, in Hebrew it is איש תרומות is terumot, that is, a man of elevations, that is, of offerings. Hence throughout Scripture teruma is called a gift or offering, which was offered to God through the priest with uplifted hands. You will ask, who then is this man of terumot, or of elevations? First, R. Solomon translates it, a man of elevations, that is, a proud man, who does not fear to be called into judgment by anyone; whence according to his pleasure and arrogance he judges, and thus perverts judgment. Such a man indeed destroys the commonwealth. Second, others say: A man of elevations or offerings is a prince or judge who plunders sacred things, and ascribes to himself the offerings made to God. Such a man indeed overturns the Church, and consequently the commonwealth: for religion and piety is the foundation of the commonwealth, so that if you remove it, that must necessarily fall. Such are not a few who seize the lands and fields of the Church, and apply ecclesiastical revenues to their own treasury, whom God punishes in kind, so that those who seize ecclesiastical things lose their own and secular possessions, as happened to Henry VIII, king of England. To this pertains what R. Solomon writes: "The Rabbis, he says, pronounced that a judge, if he be like a king, whom it is not necessary for him to make friends for himself, nor to receive offered gifts, by this means he maketh the land firm; but if he be like a priest going about through the threshing-floors to demand first-fruits, he plundereth and destroyeth the same." Third, Aben-Ezra translates is terumot as a man of exactions, who exacts tribute. Now it is clear that the tributes which a prince takes from the people are a sixth part of an ephah, as if to say, A king, when he conducts himself justly, rendereth the land firm and stable; but he who taketh greater tribute than is established by a certain order and measure, demolisheth it. Thus also Vatablus. Fourth, the Septuagint and the Syriac translate it, a wicked man, who violates equity and laws; Aquila and Theodotion, ἀνὴρ ἀφαιρεμάτων, that is, a man of takings away or offerings, who taketh away what is another's, or seeketh and seizeth what is offered. Fifth, Baynus translates it, a man of gifts: A king, he says, created by just judgment, that is, legitimately elected, namely one who attaineth the kingdom through good deeds, or virtues, or legitimate succession, he shall make it stable, that is, shall reign long among the people; but a man of gifts, who hath been raised to principality through largesse and gifts, he shall destroy the land, that is, shall plunder the people of the land. Sixth and genuinely, a man of terumot, that is, of offerings, is a man of gifts, who namely doth not give, but seeketh and receiveth gifts, namely a covetous man, as Our translation rendereth it, and therefore wicked, as the Septuagint translateth it, and a man of takings away, that is, who taketh away from subjects gifts and goods, as Aquila and Theodotion translate it, as if to say, A king who judgeth justly, and justly administers the kingdom, he shall make it stable, rich, happy and prosperous: but he who receiveth gifts, by which being pleased he dismisseth crimes unpunished, permitteth evils to be done, oppresseth good men, absolveth the guilty, unjustly condemneth the innocent. Again, he who conferreth offices and magistracies not on the worthy, but on the unworthy offering gifts, he shall indeed destroy the commonwealth and the people subject to him. For such a one, first, shall burden and fleece his subjects, so that the gifts which he gave for principality (as covetous men are wont to give them, that they may grow rich thereby) he may recover from his subjects threefold, nay tenfold, as the Emperor Justinian saith. Second, such a one shall treat his subjects like slaves bought at the price of gifts, harshly and unworthily. Third, by this means a way is opened, so that good and prudent men, who either cannot or will not give gifts, are excluded from offices, while wicked and foolish men, but rich, through gifts obtain the same. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote a notable little work on this matter addressed to the Duchess of Brabant, in which he plainly dissuades her from seeking office at a price and selling it. Note the Hebrew יעמיד iaamid, that is, causes to stand, establishes, stabilizes the earth, alluding to the center of the earth, and comparing to it the king, or rather the judgment of the king, as if to say: A just king stabilizes the earth like the center, or rather through justice as through a center. For just as the center, as Aristotle testifies in book I of the De Cœlo, confers a threefold benefit upon the earth and all bodies which tend toward it, namely unity, preservation and rest; so also the king through justice, which he administers equally and uniformly to all, unites all to himself in the same bond, and preserves them in concord with seditions removed, and grants rest from wars and enemies, whom he drives away from them. On the other hand, a covetous man, that is, a tyrant, unworthy of the name of king, who ought rather to be called a private man than a king, who sells justice for bribes, tears his subjects away from their center as it were and makes them eccentric, and in place of unity brings discord and schisms, in place of preservation brings ruin and destruction, in place of rest brings seditions and tumults. Whence our Salazar: Just as bodies, he says, separated from the center do not rest, but by their own force strive toward further regions; so also citizens who have obtained a tyrant as their prince endure incredible force, and indeed do not long persist in his obedience, but restless and unstable they think of another and desire another. Again, just as bodies separated from the center are wont to be corrupted by their contraries; so also empires which have fallen to tyrant princes, when attacked by external enemies, are more easily overthrown and destroyed. That this is the nature and property of tyranny Plato, Plutarch and Aristotle teach, in book V of the Politics, chapter X. Wherefore Agapetus the Deacon, in his Admonitions to the Emperor Justin, repeatedly commends to him justice and beneficence toward his subjects: "Truly, he says, it is the part of the sun to illuminate the world with its rays; but the virtue of a prince is to have pity on the poor. Moreover, that emperor is more illustrious who is merciful: for he yields to the succeeding night; but this one does not yield to or indulge the rapacity of the wicked, but by the light of truth convicts the hidden iniquities." And Plutarch in his Moral Works: "Just as God, he says, has established in heaven the most beautiful and most pleasant image of himself, the sun; so in the republic the prince, who represents himself to all through prudence, justice and benignity." Sixtus the Pythagorean in his Sentences, Sentence 15: "A wise man, he says, and a despiser of money is like unto God." And Sentence 33: "Let the world revere your life: admit nothing that would bring you into disrepute." Otherwise: "Christian theology places three principal things in God, supreme power, supreme wisdom, supreme goodness. You ought to fulfill this trinity to the best of your ability. For power without goodness is mere tyranny: without wisdom, it is ruin, not rule. First therefore strive, since fortune has given you power, to acquire for yourself the greatest measure of wisdom, so that you alone may best perceive what ought to be sought and what avoided by all. Finally, strive to benefit all as much as possible: for that is goodness. But let power serve you chiefly for this purpose, that as much as you desire to benefit, so much also you are able, indeed you wish more than you are able. Moreover, you should wish to harm as much less as you are able to do more."
29:5
5. A MAN WHO SPEAKS WITH FLATTERING AND DECEITFUL WORDS TO HIS FRIEND SPREADS A NET FOR HIS STEPS. — Thus the Romans and other printed editions; the manuscripts, however, read suis instead of ejus, and thus translate R. Levi, Aben-Ezra and the Septuagint; for the Hebrew pronoun affixed is both reciprocal and absolute, so that it can be translated both as suis and as ejus. Our Vulgate version therefore, which has ejus, signifies that flattery is to be guarded against both by the flattered and by the friend who flatters, that is to say: He who flatters his friend with flattering and words composed for flattery is not a friend, but a flatterer and an enemy; because either knowingly or unknowingly, either simply or fraudulently, he spreads a net and snare for the morals and actions of him whom he flatters. For he causes him to become proud, and to think himself greater than he truly is, and to hold as virtues and to practice the vices which the flatterer excuses or praises. It is a metaphor taken from hunters, who ensnare birds and beasts in an expanded net: for just as birds and beasts are caught and killed by this snare, so are the souls of the foolish caught and killed by flattery. Thus Plutarch, in the treatise On the Difference between the Flatterer and the Friend: "The flatterer," he says, "draws in and casts into a snare by imitating." And a little later: "He does not spare the beast, but casts it itself into the toils, and surrounds it with the hunter's net." See more there. Seneca, Natural Questions, book IV, in the Preface: "Nor give your side to flatterers, for they are craftsmen at capturing superiors (behold the art by which hunters themselves draw them to the nets). Believe me, you will be captured if you yourself surrender to their betrayal." But Plato in the Gorgias: The flatterer, he says, has no care for the best, but always with that which is sweetest, as with a hook, ensnares the unwary mind, and deceives it so much, etc. This is the self-love of man, that, even if he knows the flatterer to be flattering, and imprudently speaking falsehoods, and lying splendidly, nevertheless he is delighted by it, and is soothed and rejoices in his false praises sung by him. Seneca gravely, in epistle 59: "Quickly," he says, "we are pleased with ourselves, if we find someone who calls us good men, who prudent, who holy, we acknowledge. Nor are we content with moderate praise: whatever flattery without shame has heaped upon us, we seize as if it were owed; we assent to those affirming us to be the best, the wisest, when we know they often lie." No less truly and gravely, On Tranquility, chapter X: "Who has dared to tell himself the truth? who, placed among the throngs of those praising and flattering, has not nevertheless flattered himself greatly?" Therefore that we are seduced by the deception of flatterers flows from our own error and our own self-flattery. "Self-love," says Plutarch, "causes that each man, being his own first and greatest flatterer, does not easily reject an external one, whom he thinks and wishes to be to him a witness and supporter agreeing with him." Wherefore wisely Diogenes in Dio, oration 3 On Kingship: "Of all vices," he says, "you will find flattery the most shameful: for it corrupts that which is most honorable and just in life, namely praise, so that it no longer appears credible or true; or (which is the worst of all) it attributes the rewards of virtue to vice. And so they do much worse than those who corrupt coin, who make virtue lack faith." And below: "He who praises the poor man as if he were rich, he indeed is a liar, but to the one praised he reproaches his poverty." The Chaldean agrees with the Vulgate, who translates: a man who divides (for the Hebrew חלק chalac means both to flatter or to adulate, and to divide) from his companion, spreads a net for his steps, that is to say: He who separates himself from his friend through strife, anger or hatred, he devises a snare for him, that is, fraud and deceit, so that he may deceive and supplant him. The Hebrew is: a man who softens, or flatters, over his companion, spreads a net for his steps, that is to say: For this reason he uses soft words, and flatters his neighbor, so that through these flatteries he may deceive him, or obtain from him something which is advantageous to himself, burdensome and disadvantageous to the giver. He warns therefore that flatteries and flatterers are to be guarded against, because they almost always intend to deceive, or to extort something; that this is so we experience daily. Flatteries therefore are sweet and honeyed snares of the imprudent. Whence Cato in the Distichs, following Solomon, thus warns: Do not approve men too smooth in speech: The pipe sings sweetly, while it deceives the bird in its snare. And below: Remember to beware of smooth and lisping words: Simplicity is the form of truth; fraud, feigned speech. To this point tends the saying of the Syrians and Arabs, Cent. 1, num. 97: "When thou shalt hear one speaking good of thee, which is not in thee, believe it not (rejoice not in thy heart): for he will also speak evil of thee, which is not in thee." Hence to soften words, or to flatter, in Scripture is the same as to deceive, as: "His words were softer than oil, and they themselves are arrows," Psalm LIV, 22. Thus Dalila by her flatteries seduced Samson, and brought him to death, Judges cap. XIV, 15. Similar passages are Proverbs II, 16, and cap. VI, 28, and cap. XXIII, 31, and cap. VII, 23. In like manner those who treacherously give poison to an enemy, offer it in sweet and delicate wines, and in golden cups. Whence Juvenal: No aconites are drunk From earthen vessels: then fear them, when thou shalt drink From jewelled cups, and broad Setian wine shall burn in gold. For formerly Setian wines (from the town of Setia not far from Rome) were most delicate, whence Augustus Caesar drank them; now that the situation of the town has changed, these delights of his wines have been changed and lost. But the Septuagint of the Vatican, which have theirs, thus translate: "He who prepares a net against the face of his friend, shall surround it with his feet;" which meaning is more forceful, and warns the cunning and fraudulent, who lay snares for others and devise deceits, to abstain from these, because these frauds shall fall back upon their own head, as if to say: He who devises evil against his friend through snares, shall himself be ensnared and caught by the same, as it were by his own net, according to that cap. XXVIII, 10: "He that deceiveth the just in a wicked way, shall fall into his own destruction, and the simple shall possess his goods;" and cap. XXVI, 27: "He that diggeth a pit, shall fall into it; and he that rolleth a stone, it shall return to him." For this is the just judgment of God and the just penalty of retaliation, that the deceitful shall be ensnared by their own deceits which they have laid for others, as I said there, according to that Psalm XXXIV, 8: "Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him; and let the net which he hath hidden catch him, and let him fall into the snare into it." Furthermore the Septuagint of Complutum and the Royal thus have it: "He who prepares himself against the face of his friend, shall cast a net about him with his feet." But this reading is obscure and involved, and disagrees with the Hebrew, Chaldean, Vulgate, and even with the Vatican Septuagint, and with the Author of the Catena of the Greeks, who all omit τὸ ei; perhaps because the Hebrew pronoun, as I said, can be translated both as his and as theirs: someone added to the margin of the Septuagint τὸ his or to him, to indicate both versions, which afterwards crept into the text.
29:6
6. THE WICKED MAN SHALL BE CAUGHT IN HIS OWN SNARE: AND THE JUST SHALL PRAISE AND REJOICE. — In Hebrew, in the transgression of the wicked man a snare, and the just shall speak praises and shall rejoice; Cajetan, and the just shall sing and shall rejoice; Chaldean, the wicked man is caught in his sin, etc.; Septuagint, a great snare for the man who sins, but the just shall be in joy and gladness; Aquila, in the sin of the wicked man an offense; Symmachus, in the injustice of the man an evil scandal. Offense and scandal here can be taken both actively, that is to say, the unjust man by his iniquity offends and scandalizes his neighbors; and also passively, that is to say, the unjust man in his iniquity shall offend, shall be scandalized and shall be caught, just as a mouse is caught and scandalized in the bait of a trap: for from this the word scandal is derived, as I have said elsewhere. And this latter sense is more conformable to the Hebrew, Chaldean, Vulgate and Septuagint; whence Pagninus translates, on account of the transgression of the man, an evil snare shall come to him; but the just shall praise and shall rejoice; Vatable, to the wicked man his transgression is a snare: but the just exults and rejoices. You will ask, who is here called the sinning man and the wicked man, who is caught in a snare by his own sin and iniquity? First, Baius understands the fraudulent and deceitful man, of whom the preceding verse speaks, to which he himself connects this verse, that is to say, the net spread by the flatterer shall not hinder the steps of anyone, but the iniquities of the wicked catch him, and he is bound by the cords of his own words. Or more forcefully, that is to say, the crafty and fraudulent man, when he prepares a net for another, casts a snare upon himself, by which he is strangled and suffocated: for frauds recoil upon the fraudulent man and suffocate him. Second, Aben-Ezra understands the rebel: for rebellion in Hebrew is called pescha, that is, transgression. For rebels are accustomed to be caught in their rebellion, and on account of it to be punished by the prince with death. Third, R. Levi understands the scandalous man, who strives to entice others to his crimes, according to that saying: "Woe to the wicked man, woe to the wicked man's neighbor." For this man, as a plague of the commonwealth, on account of this scandal is accustomed to be punished and destroyed by death; just as we see those heretics who dogmatize, that is, who solicit others to their heresies, are punished. Of these God says, Jeremiah chapter V, 26: "Impious men are found in my people lying in wait as fowlers, setting snares, and laying traps to catch men: as a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit." Fourth, our Salazar understands the despairing man; for to him his despair is a snare, that is, a most grave and incurable sin, which kills and suffocates him; just as we see despairing men often strangle themselves with a noose, or drown themselves in waters. Despair therefore first strangles the soul, then the body. On the other hand, the just man, raised up by hope, exults with joy, and breaks forth into the praises of God. The sense therefore is, that is to say, the sinner guilty of the greatest crimes is often brought by his own conscience to despair, and is forced to put a noose around his own neck, condemned by his own judgment. Thus Judas the traitor, spurred on by the consciousness of his committed crime, cast a noose around himself. These explanations are apt, but inadequate and partial. For despair is only one part and one species of sin, which, just as it contains various other species, so it binds to itself various snares besides despair. Fifth, therefore, you should understand here fully and adequately any sinner, namely one who sins gravely and enormously, who is injurious, malignant and harmful to others. For this man in Hebrew is called רע ra, and denotes injury פשע pescha, that is, transgression. This maxim therefore teaches that sin is similar to bait to which, while birds, mice and beasts fly, they become entangled in a net nearby or caught in a snare. In a similar manner sin has its own bait and allurement, namely the pleasure of gluttony, lust, ambition, vengeance, etc., but when with it sin pierces the sinner with the hook of crime, holds and catches him, according to that passage in Wisdom XIV, 11: "The creatures of God are turned to an abomination, and into a temptation to the souls of men, and into a snare to the feet of the foolish." This hook is the guilt of sin, by which the sinner binds himself to the demon, and makes himself liable to the wrath of God and guilty of hell. Whence it follows that there is perpetual sorrow and anguish of conscience, infamy, punishment from the judge, and a thousand afflictions, sent upon the sinner either by God or by men. This is what Isaiah, following Solomon, says in chapter V, 18: "Woe, he says, to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with the rope of a cart;" and Job in chapter XVIII, 9: "His foot shall be held, he says, in a snare, etc., his snare is hid in the ground, and a gin for him in the way;" and the father of Solomon, David: "The cords of hell, he says, compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me," II Kings XXII, 6. See the remarks at verse 22, on those words: "His own iniquities shall catch the wicked," etc. The Just Man Shall Praise and Rejoice. — The Hebrew: he shall exult and be glad; both because he rejoices that crimes and criminals are punished from zeal for justice; and because he sees himself freed from both; and finally because the just man, being glad in justice, has a glad conscience, and securely awaits joys and rewards both present and eternal from God. Cajetan: he shall sing and rejoice, so as to allude to that passage of Isaiah XXXV, 8, according to the Septuagint: In the thirsty land there shall be a fountain of water, there shall be the joy of birds. But Cyril, alluding to these words, says: "The fountain, he says, of living water is Christ the Saviour, in him there was a gathering and joy of birds. By birds here he means those who fly beyond earthly things, and who use the freedom of the spirit, who are exalted on account of virtue, and who understand the things that are above." Truly and piously St. Augustine in the Sentences, no. 90: "No one, he says, can be deprived of his delights, to whom Christ is joy. For it is eternal exultation, which rejoices in an eternal good." And no. 113: "For the Christian, the cause of rejoicing rightly is not the present world, but the future. And thus temporal things are to be used, lest they harm eternal things, so that on the way in which pilgrims walk, that may please which leads to the homeland." I have said more about this joy of the just in chapter XV, 15, on those words: "A secure mind is like a continual feast."
29:7
7. THE JUST MAN KNOWETH THE CAUSE OF THE POOR: BUT THE WICKED MAN HATH NO KNOWLEDGE. — For "cause" in Hebrew is דין din, that is, judgment, that is, the suit and forensic cause which is disputed in court. Whence it is most evident that here the discourse is concerning judges and advocates, as if to say: The just judge and advocate have care and concern for the causes, and therefore diligently investigate the forensic suits of the poor, so that they may know, protect and decide their justice and equity from the root and foundations. But the unjust and wicked judge or advocate does not care for the suits of the poor, because he expects little profit from them, and therefore does not inquire into their reasons and foundations, but rather affects ignorance of them, lest he be forced to stand for them against the rich and powerful, whose gifts and favor he seeks; such persons Isaiah rebukes, cap. I, 23: "To the fatherless, he says, they do not judge, and the cause of the widow does not come before them." Contrary to what the Prophet ordains, Psal. LXXXI, 3: "Judge for the needy and the fatherless, do justice to the humble and the poor." Whence in Hebrew it is לא יבין lo iabin, that is, he does not discern, namely בין ben, that is, between what is just and what is unjust, between the suit of the rich and the poor, between the general law and the particular case; but he involves all under one general law and sentence: and thus the poor are often unjustly condemned when they should be excepted. Such a just man was St. Job, saying, cap. XXIX, 16: "I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently." Such was St. Louis IX, king of France, who, fearing lest the causes of the poor should be heard negligently by judges, himself heard, discerned and decided them every single week. The same did St. Ivo, who devoted himself entirely to the free defense of the poor, and therefore, as it were, the patron of the poor, was enrolled in the number of Saints. For this reason in many academies those about to take the degree of Doctor or Licentiate in law, and advocates of the courts, swear that they will conduct the causes of the poor for free: indeed in Rome advocates are designated with public stipends, who conduct the suits of the poor for free. This pertains to that saying of Democritus in Antonius in the Melissa, part. II, cap. VII: "The best judge is he who understands quickly and judges slowly; for the one is a matter of benevolence, the other truly of exquisite diligence." Most excellently King Theodoric in Cassiodorus, lib. III of the Variae, cap. XX: "Among the glorious, he says, cares of the commonwealth, which we turn over in perpetual thought with God's aid, it is a concern of our heart to be a relief to the humble against the power of the proud." And Pliny in the Panegyric of Trajan: "He is a king whose imperial majesty is the protection of safety." And another: "God gives a prince, who may discharge his office toward all mankind in his stead." This pertains to what David sang concerning Solomon in the type of Christ, who was the idea of kings and princes, Psalm. LXXI, 12: "For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty, and the poor man that hath no helper." Furthermore the Septuagint translates: the just man knoweth to judge for the poor: but the wicked man knoweth not science; the Complutensian, knoweth not the cause; the Royal, understandeth not judgment. And they add: And the poor man hath not a mind knowing, or shrewdness, as the Author of the Greek Catena translated it. Which words are not in the Hebrew, Chaldean, or Vulgate: wherefore either they were added paraphrastically by the Septuagint, or certainly were adjoined from another version. For if for רשע ruscha, that is, wicked, by apocope you read רש ras (as I noted above that the Septuagint read elsewhere), that is, poor, and add the rest which follows to the same, this sense will result: "The poor man understandeth not science, that is, the poor man hath not a knowing mind," as if to say: Therefore the just judge or advocate investigates the right of the poor, because the poor man is by himself simple, stupid or dull, or ignorant, or unacquainted with law: therefore he pities him all the more, and has all the more care for so miserable a cause, and applies himself diligently to it, so that he may discover and protect its equity. This is what David sang concerning Solomon in the type of Christ, who was the idea of kings and princes, Psalm. LXXI, 12: "For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty, and the poor man that hath no helper."
29:8
8. PESTILENT MEN SCATTER A CITY: BUT WISE MEN TURN AWAY WRATH. — In Hebrew, men of mockery (that is, mockers; the Syriac, deceivers, who mock all things human and divine, and therefore are pestilent) blow out, or blow away the city: But wise men turn away the nose, that is, wrath and fury. For scatter the Hebrew is יפיחו iapichu, that is, they blow out; the Chaldean, they speak falsehood. For those who lie are commonly said to blow out: just as by blowing we stir up wind; so by lying we blow out nothing but vanity and falsehood; Symmachus, they kindled; the Septuagint, they burned; others, they cause to fluctuate; Vatablus and Pagninus, they ensnare, so that iapichu alludes to פח pach, that is, a snare. First, Aben-Ezra thus expounds it, as if to say: God on account of mockers prepares snares for the citizens, by which they are entangled; but wise men by the prudence in which they excel, appease divine wrath and avoid snares. Second, R. Levi: Mockers, he says, sow quarrels and dissensions by which the city is destroyed; but wise men strive to bring about peace, and utterly soften wrath and the heat by which one burns against another. And Vatablus: Deceivers, he says, are the ruin of the city, but wise men turn away the wrath excited by mockeries. Third, the Hebrews, who translate iapichu as blow out, or blow away, or cause to fluctuate, believe it to be a metaphor from wind, as if to say: Just as strong winds, especially contrary ones, when they clash with each other, lay low trees, overturn towers, tear apart cities, dash ships in the sea and break them, and raise high waves to the stars; so likewise tumultuous and seditious men stir up quarrels, schisms and seditions, by which the whole city is dashed and shaken; but truly wise men by their prudence and tranquility calm these waves and movements, and restore citizens to peace and the city to integrity. Fourth, the Septuagint, Symmachus and others, who translate iapichu as kindle or inflame, believe the metaphor is drawn either from a bellows, or from the blasts of winds, as if to say: Just as by blowing with a bellows fire is stirred up, which spreading through a whole pile of wood, indeed a forest or house, street, city, burns it up; so likewise whisperers, who sow enmities, discords and quarrels, are like bellows and fans, which kindle wrath and quarrels among citizens, so that the whole city seethes with quarrels and goes into battles and slaughter; but truly wise men compress these bellows and restore malice and peace to the city. Fifth, Our translation renders iapichu as scatter, that is, blow away, a metaphor taken from chaff and stubble, as if to say: Just as one winnowing wheat by winnowing blows away and scatters chaff, so that the light vanishes into the air; so likewise whisperers and seditious men by their whisperings and tumults agitate and winnow the light and fickle common people, so that they stir up seditions by which the rich are despoiled, the good are slain, the powerful are put to flight, and thus citizens perish and vanish; but truly wise men by their wisdom and gravity calm these tumults and reconcile the people with the senate, and thus restore concord and tranquility to the city: as once in Rome Menenius Agrippa did, who reconciled the people dissenting from and seceding to the Aventine hill from the senate, because stirred up by whisperers they complained that they were oppressed by the senate, through the allegory of the belly and the members, which I recited in I Cor. XII, 23, with the senate, and restored peace to the city. Most excellently Epictetus in Stobaeus, discourse 43: "Just as," he says, "torches raised in a harbor with great flame kindled in few combustible things bring much aid to ships wandering through the sea; so also splendid men in a city in peril, content with few things themselves, shall benefit citizens with great benefits." Let the example be the wise woman of Thecua, who by her wisdom freed the city of Abel from the rebel Sheba harassing it, and settled the war of Joab and David, II Kings XX. Moses also and Aaron often turned away the wrath of God from Israel, as also Phinehas by slaying the pestilent worshippers of Belphegor fornicating with the Midianites, who had stirred it up, Num. XXV.
29:9
9. A WISE MAN, IF HE CONTEND WITH A FOOL, WHETHER HE BE ANGRY OR LAUGH, SHALL FIND NO REST. — In Hebrew, a wise man undergoing judgment with a foolish man, and he shall be angry, and he shall laugh, and there is no rest; the Chaldean, a wise man contending with a foolish man, whether he be angry or laugh, shall not be worn down; the Septuagint, a wise man shall judge nations: but a wicked man raging is derided and does not terrify; the Syriac, he does not bear it ill, or is not indignant. First, Rabbi Solomon understands by a wise man God, who contends with fools, that is the impious, continually without rest. Second, Baynus, as if to say, A fool is incorrigible: for he rejects the admonitions of others either by laughing or by being angry; wherefore he is to be beaten down and corrected not by word, but by rod and scourging. Third and genuinely, the "whether he be angry or laugh" refers to the wise man correcting, not to the fool being corrected. The sense therefore is, says Jansenius, as if to say, If it should happen that a wise man, whether in judgment or outside judgment, must dispute with a foolish man, that is a wicked man, whether the wise man be angry or laugh, that is, whether he act seriously or in jest; whether he show his just indignation in serious words, or declare by laughing that he despises his wickedness; whether he deal harshly with him or gently and kindly, he shall find no rest, that is he shall not easily be freed from him, he shall not easily satisfy him, so as to have quiet from his attacks. The proverb teaches that a fool and a wicked man is implacable and incorrigible; wherefore it is to be carefully avoided by the wise to contend with him. An example is in the Pharisees, with whom Christ contending could never obtain rest from them, when now he pressed them harshly, now strove to satisfy them gently. For fools, like dull and stupid beasts, neither by the blandishments of words nor by threats or blows of scourging allow themselves to be transferred to wisdom and virtue; but the wise, as being endowed with mind and judgment, are stirred to honesty by both. To this pertains that saying of Sixtus the Pythagorean: "Neither voice is to be sought in fishes, nor virtue in unlearned men." And that of Crater: "Fools are like augers, in that unless forced by bonds and necessity they do not perform their duty." And that: "A Phrygian is corrected only by blows." Furthermore the Septuagint translates, a wise man shall judge nations: but a wicked man raging is derided and does not terrify, as if to say, A wise man easily rules peoples: both because he is prudent and moderate; and because he goes before his subjects by his example, who therefore follow him, and willingly obey; but truly a wicked and improper man obtains nothing from his subjects, but, even if he rage at them being disobedient, is derided by them, and by threatening does not terrify, is held cheap and despised; both because he burdens his subjects with laws, tributes and burdens; and because he is imprudent; and because he gives scandal to his subjects and an example of evil life, prescribing right things, and living dissolutely. Whence the Author of the Greek Catena translates the Septuagint thus clearly, a wise man judges the people rightly; but a wicked man inflamed with anger makes himself ridiculous; nor does he strike terror into anyone. Hence learn that probity avails much for rule, and for obtaining obedience from subjects; for this is obtained by the opinion of prudence and virtue, as much as by the example of life. Whence Plutarch in his Morals compares a prince to law and right: "Of so many and such great goods and gifts," he says, "which the gods bestow, there is no fruit or right use without law, right and a prince. Right is the end of law: the work of a prince is law; but a prince is the image of God administering all things." Whence Cato said it was the worst thing for a prince, who could not rule himself, so as to subject himself to reason, law and virtue: for by what reason would such a one subject others to himself and to law?
29:10
10. MEN OF BLOOD HATE THE SIMPLE: BUT THE JUST SEEK AFTER HIS SOUL. — For simple in Hebrew is תם tam, that is, whole, spotless, uncorrupted; the Syriac, innocent; the Septuagint, ὁσίον, that is, holy. But here it especially denotes the just man, the defender and avenger of justice, who namely sharply rebukes unjust robbers and murderers, and if he holds office, he pursues them and punishes them with death; for murderers hate him as the destruction of their lives. The sense is, as if to say, Men of blood and murderers hate the man innocent and zealous for virtue, both because he is contrary to their morals, and by his life silently condemns them; because therefore they delight in a wicked life, hence they hate virtue and those endowed with virtue. Whence the Chaldean translates, men shedding blood hate simplicity; but the upright seek it, both because they long for his goods, and therefore they lie in wait for his life as if exposed to them as prey. But the just seek after his soul: they study to preserve his life, as one which is most useful to themselves and to the whole commonwealth for example, counsel, prayers and merits before God; then finally, because, as I have said, assassins hate upright men, who protect the laws, and pursue the unjust, especially murderers: therefore they pursue them with hatred as their judges and most cruel executioners. Note: that they seek after his soul is variously expounded: first, the Zurich Bible translates, but the upright have care for his life; second, the Syriac, the upright love him, namely they love to converse and speak with him, so that they may be instructed, directed, sanctified by his wise and holy soul, and receive counsel, consolation, help; third, Vatable, the upright seek his will, that is, they study to obey him in all things. For soul often signifies metonymically the desires and counsels of the soul. Whence Rabbi Solomon: "This voice," he says, "signifies charity and benevolence, and has the same force as that of David to Abiathar," 1 Kings 22:23: "If one seek after my soul, he will seek after thine also, that is, he who shall gratify me with benefits, shall also gratify thee." But the sense of that passage is different: for soul there signifies life. Fourth, Rabbi Levi: The just, he says, seek after their own soul, that is, so that they may fulfill the holy desires of their soul, as if to say, In every way they attempt to carry out those things which they desire; fifth, Aben-Ezra, Salazar and Baynus, as if to say, Soul, that is, life, taken from the just by murderers, the upright and equitable judges will require and avenge, nor will they permit murderers to rage unpunished, so that they shed the blood of the good, as if to say, This especially pertains to equitable judges, so that, just as they scrutinize and protect the causes of the poor, lest they be oppressed by the rich, so also they inquire into and punish the authors of the slaying of the simple man, that is, the innocent, just and upright, that they may avenge the blood of the innocent. In this sense it is said in Psalm 9, verse 5: "There is none that will require (that is, avenge) my soul." And Ezekiel 3:20: "But his blood I will require at thy hand;" and elsewhere often. For since the simple and innocent are modest and patient, and do not avenge their own injuries, it is fitting that the just judges do this, so that satisfaction may be made for justice violated, both human and divine, through the punishment of the guilty. Whence Phocylides: "The wicked," he says, "justly slain, are victims of Jupiter." From these senses the first and last are most genuine. You may connect both thus, as if to say, Assassins hate the upright man, who stands firmly for justice which they violate, and therefore they conspire for his death, as the Pharisees conspired for the death of Christ. Whence this is their voice, Wisdom 2:12: "Let us lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, etc.: let us condemn him to a most shameful death." But the just, especially judges and magistrates, on the contrary conspire, so that they may protect the life of the upright man, and, if it be taken from him by murderers, it may be avenged, and punished by retaliation, even if his death must be expiated and atoned for by the death of many, who were the authors or helpers of the death. This maxim is most true in good and diligent praetors and magistrates who pursue assassins: for assassins hate them worse than dog and serpent, and seek their death; but the just, especially judges and governors, surround such men, so that they may protect their lives: and if they are killed, they sharply punish those responsible for the death. Thus the life of David, innocent and pursuing robbers, is protected by the Gethites and six hundred guards, and so much so that they would have killed Saul lying in wait for him, had not David forbidden it, 1 Kings 24:5.
29:11
11. THE FOOL UTTERETH ALL HIS MIND: BUT A WISE MAN DEFERETH AND KEEPETH IT IN FOR AFTERWARDS. — Note: Spirit in Scripture signifies many things: first, the mind and senses of the soul; second, wisdom; third, desires and cupidities of the soul; fourth, secrets of the mind; fifth, the soul and its powers and impulses. According to this fivefold acceptance of spirit, a fivefold sense arises. First therefore, R. Solomon, taking spirit for mind, thus explains it: When the fool uttereth all his mind, the wise man comes and disapproves him, restrains him and depresses him by his answers. Second, Aben-Ezra, taking spirit for wisdom, and by אחר achor, that is, afterwards, taking the heart of man, which is after the utterance of the lips, thus expounds it, as if to say: The fool uttereth all the spirit of knowledge and divulges it to others, according to that: "In the heart of the prudent resteth wisdom, and it shall be known in the heart of fools;" but the wise man contains and restrains the spirit of knowledge in his heart, which is after the organs of utterance, nor does he divulge it to the fool, as that testifies: "In the heart of the prudent resteth wisdom." Third, R. Levi, taking spirit for desires and cupidities, thus expounds it: The fool pours himself out into his cupidities and gives himself over headlong; but the wise man restrains and restrains them by reason, wherefore he who is wise hides and restrains them. Truly St. Ephrem, in a discourse to those exercising piety and good works: "He is truly a divine philosopher, he says, who at all times resists his wicked concupiscences: for he who flatters himself with the name of wisdom alone will be reckoned altogether foolish and stupid, in that he wishes to be troubled and tormented by such slight passions." Fourth, Cajetan and Baynus, taking spirit for secret, interpret it, as if to say: There is no greater argument of foolishness than not to be able to keep a secret: to utter immediately whatever one has conceived in mind is the height of stupidity; wherefore the wise man restrains it and hides it in his mind, according to that in chapter XVII, 27: "The spirit of a learned man is precious;" and chapter XXV, 28: "He that can govern his spirit is better than he that taketh a city." Fifth, the Chaldean takes spirit to mean anger and fury: for angry spirits indeed breathe out smoke through the nostrils; whence he translates, the fool pours forth all his fury, but the wise man restrains it in prudence; and Vatablus, the fool pours forth all his anger, but the wise man afterwards pacifies it. Which can be understood in two ways: first, concerning the anger of the fool, that is to say, The fool quarreling and bursting into rage pours out whatever his bile suggests to him, and the wise man, reason being restored, pacifies him so that, his bile laid aside, he becomes mild; second, concerning the anger of the wise man himself, that is to say, The fool cannot restrain anger, but the wise man restrains it by prudent silence and consideration; whence Symmachus translates, in the end he mitigates it. The Septuagint agrees, which for spirit translates θυμόν, which St. Jerome and from him Cassian translate as anger. Hear Cassian, Conferences XVI, chapter XXVII: "The fool pours forth all his anger, but the wise man distributes it in parts, that is, the fool indeed is inflamed by disturbance unto vengeance of his anger; but the wise man gradually weakens and expels it by the maturity of counsel and moderation. Such also is that which is said by the Apostle: Revenging not yourselves, dearly beloved, but give place unto wrath, that is, by no means, driven by the impulse of vengeance, do you strive; but give place unto wrath, that is, let not your hearts be so straitened by the anguish of impatience and faint-heartedness, that when a violent storm of commotion rushes in, you cannot bear it: but be enlarged in your hearts, receiving the adverse waves of wrath in those extended bosoms of charity, which bears all things, endures all things; and thus your mind, enlarged by the amplitude of long-suffering and patience, may have in itself the healthful recesses of counsels, in which received and as it were diffused, the most foul smoke of wrath, straightway vanishes." And after some things: "For this is the nature of wrath, that when dilated it grows weak and perishes, but when prolonged it burns more and more." Solomon therefore teaches here that an efficacious remedy for anger is, if vengeance, harsh words, quarrels, etc., to which anger incites, are deferred, so that they may be considered more maturely: for anger is like a flame, which when it has boiled over, straightway cools and subsides. The best remedy for anger therefore is delay, especially because through it reason awakens, and considers many things prudently, which restrain the tumult of anger, and tear and scatter those things in parts: for this is to deceive anger, and by deceiving and eluding to weaken it. The Philosophers taught the same: Aristotle: "That anger may be digested, he says, time is necessary, nor does any other more healthful remedy occur." Athenodorus gave this admonition to Augustus Caesar as a golden necklace: "Whenever you are angry, say or do nothing, until you have recited the twenty-four letters of the alphabet." A similar instruction was given by St. Ambrose to the Emperor Theodosius, when sudden anger had commanded that the Thessalonians, who had cast down his statue, be killed. Seneca, book II On Anger, chapter XXVI: "The greatest remedy for anger, he says, is delay, nor from it seek at the beginning that it forgive, but that it judge: it will cease, if you wait; nor will you attempt to remove all of it: it has grave first impulses: it will be entirely conquered, while it is torn in parts." The same, book III, chapter XII: "No one defers himself: yet the greatest remedy for anger is delay, so that its first heat may grow weak, and the darkness which presses on the mind, either may settle, or be less dense. Some of those things which were bearing you headlong, an hour, not merely a day, will soften; some will vanish entirely." Beautifully the Nazianzen in his Iambics: "Patience, he says, is the cooking down of troubles." This sense rightly falls into the Chaldean version, Vatablus and the Septuagint, but less conveniently into the Vulgate, which has, but the wise man defers and reserves for the future: for anger is not to be reserved by deferring, but plainly to be extinguished. Furthermore, St. Gregory, III part of the Pastoral, admonition 10, takes spirit to mean impatience, which he says is reserved for the future, while it is remitted at the last judgment of God: "Let the impatient hear, he says, that through Solomon again it is said: The fool pours forth all his spirit, but the wise man defers and reserves for the future. Impatience indeed, being driven by impulse, is moved so that all the spirit is poured forth outwardly, which therefore disturbance casts out more quickly, because no interior discipline of wisdom encloses it; but the wise man defers and reserves for the future; for being injured in the present, he does not desire to avenge himself, because even being patient he wishes to be spared; yet he does not ignore that all things are justly avenged at the last judgment." Sixth and genuinely, the Septuagint translates the Hebrew רוח ruach, that is spirit, by θυμόν, that is mind, and the force, energy, efficacy, impulse, fervor, heat of the mind, which stimulates and agitates a man to those things which he has conceived in his mind, to speak or act precipitously, as if to say: The fool pours forth all the forces of his mind, impulses and heat, so that he keeps nothing for himself, but pours himself out entirely and exhausts himself; but the wise man retains and restrains the forces and impulses of his mind, and, as some translate from the Hebrew, drives them backward, so that he does not exhaust himself entirely, but keeps something for himself, which he may afterwards bring forth and dispense by parts, as the Septuagint translates. The fool, says Cajetan, is driven by impulse; the wise man restrains impulse and moderates it by the bridle of reason. Thus we see fools pour forth all their knowledge at once and all together, and afterwards become mute like infants; again in acting they bring forth all their industry and strength at once and all together, and soon become torpid and dull like the stupid. On the other hand, wise men relate what they know gradually at intervals, so that they always have matter for speaking and teaching. Again in acting they are moderate, and temper their strength, and exercise it by parts successively, so that they are able to work for a long time, and increase their industry and strength by working. Whence from the Hebrew you would translate: but the wise man in the future promotes it, namely his spirit: for the Hebrew שבח scabach signifies contrary things, namely to promote and to restrain, likewise to praise and to glorify. Whence with Cajetan you would translate: but the wise man in the future will praise, or will glorify it, that is will make his spirit and mind praiseworthy and glorious, namely while he brings forth its forces gradually, so that he is always able to work: and thus he increases and sharpens its virtue and energy by continuous operation and unceasing exercise. For nature proceeds by working, and polishes and perfects its work gradually; grace does the same. Whence in trees it first produces leaves, then flowers, then fruit, and forms, increases and ripens them gradually. On the other hand, when a tree or vine grows luxuriantly and pours itself entirely into leaves, it keeps nothing for itself of sap to contribute to flowers and fruit: wherefore it is barren and unfruitful; the same happens if in one year it grows luxuriantly in fruits and exhausts all its strength: for soon it becomes sterile and dries up. The same happens in water and milk, which when placed in a pot over fire boils over from the heat of the fire, and pours out almost entirely to extinguish the fire, and soon becomes completely reduced and subsides. The fervers of novices are altogether similar, which suddenly boil over, but soon subside. Daily examples of this teaching are seen in novices who begin the way of virtue, and especially in novices of Religious Orders who with precipitous fervor, excessive fastings, penances, prayers fatigue head and body, and consume all their strength, so that they languish in body, grow weary and waste away in spirit, so that that vigor collapses, and they fall into sicknesses, become weak, enervated, torpid and unfit for all things. Whence St. Basil wisely admonishes them of moderation, in the tract On Virginity.
29:12
12. A PRINCE WHO WILLINGLY HEARS WORDS OF FALSEHOOD HAS ALL HIS MINISTERS WICKED. — First, Baynus understands this of the falsehoods of flatterers, that is to say, a prince who is nourished by the flatteries and assents of sycophants has wicked ministers: for flatterers are indeed wicked, who praise the vices of the prince as if they were virtues by adulation, whereby it comes to pass that the prince becomes vicious and a tyrant, and oppresses the commonwealth. Second, others understand this of him against whom the prince is angry or offended, and therefore from the same person he willingly hears false accusations and criminations, so that he may destroy him: for when the subjects know this, they strive to obey him, and contrive many falsehoods against him, so that they may gain the prince's favor at the cost of the innocent and the ruin of the commonwealth. But this sense is more restricted. Third therefore, adequately and genuinely, understand falsehood here as plain and full, namely not jocose, nor officiously kind; but pernicious, which namely brings grave injury and damage to others either in goods, or in reputation, or in life, such as when someone detracts from another in a serious matter, or calumniates him, or falsely accuses him of a crime, on account of which he is to be punished with infamy or loss of goods, or to be imprisoned, or deprived of life. For a prince who willingly hears calumnies and false accusations causes his ministers to seek out and fabricate such things to please him, whereby it comes to pass that the innocent is oppressed, justice is destroyed and overturned. That this is the sense is clear from the Septuagint, which translates, "the king hearing an unjust word, all his subjects are unjust"; in Hebrew, "the ruler who attends to words of falsehood, all his servants are wicked." For, as Ecclesiasticus says, X, 2: "According to the judge of the people, so also his ministers; and such as the ruler of the city is, such also are they that dwell in it." See the sayings there. Hence in the courts of evil princes, we see ministers conforming themselves to them in wickedness, indeed striving to be worse than they are. Note: For "wicked" in Hebrew it is רשעים rescaim, that is, restless, tumultuous, turbulent, namely those who are not so much composers of lawsuits as builders and instigators of them, liars, and not so much zealous for truth as for impostures, desirous, avaricious: and therefore "in the place of judgment" there is not only an impious judge, but the benches of the courts are full of most iniquitous sycophants, and nefarious informers, dishonest ministers, quibblers not so much truthful as verbose, advocates not so much pleading the cause of truth as of their own gain. Finally, the forum is full of avarice and calumny, as Isaiah, cap. LIX, vers. 4, complained: "There is none that calleth upon justice"; for justice is absent as an exile from its place: rather they implore the present aid of impiety and iniquity. Or: "There is none that calleth justly," who calls another justly into court. This is what Ecclesiastes, cap. III, vers. 16, deplores as it were a great crime and expiation: "I saw under the sun in the place of judgment impiety, and in the place of justice iniquity," so that impiety and injustice possess the throne of justice, and in it as it were reign and rule as a queen, that is, so that Lucifer occupies the throne of God, and Antichrist occupies the throne of Christ, as I shall say more fully there. See the sayings cap. XVII, vers. 7, to those words: "Composed words do not befit a fool, nor a lying lip a prince." Most excellently Agapetus the Deacon admonishes the Emperor Justinian thus, num. 41 and 42: "Undertake the duty of judging with an even balance inclining both to friends and to enemies, neither gratifying those who think well of you on account of benevolence, nor resisting the malevolent on account of enmities: for it is the same absurdity both to grant a suit to one who petitions unjustly, even if he be a friend; and to inflict injury on the just, even if he be an enemy: for the evil is similar in both cases, although it be found in contraries." Whence he concludes: "Judges of affairs ought to listen with intent mind. For the discovery of justice is difficult to grasp, and it easily escapes those who do not attend carefully: but if, setting aside the eloquence of speakers and neglecting the plausibility of what is said, they penetrate to the deepest profundity of intentions, thus at last they will draw forth what is sought from them, and they will be innocent of a twofold fault, neither themselves producing dishonor, nor allowing others to commit it."
29:13
13. THE POOR AND THE CREDITOR HAVE MET ONE ANOTHER: THE ILLUMINATOR OF BOTH IS THE LORD. — We have heard this saying in chapter XXII, verse 2, except that there it says operator instead of illuminator; but both amount to the same thing. For the illuminator is the creator and provider, who bestows upon each the use of light and life, preserves, directs, prospers, and makes blessed: for light is a symbol of life, joy, grace, happiness and every good. Whence in Hebrew it is: The Lord illuminates the eyes of both, so that namely they may enjoy the use of this light, according to that in Job III, 20: "Why is light given to the miserable?" and chapter XXXVIII, verse 15: "Light shall be taken away from the wicked," that is, life; and elsewhere often. "Illuminator" therefore is the same as patron, guardian and most beneficent provider; or, as Baynus says, nourisher, that is to say, The Lord nourishes and feeds both, according to that which Jonathan, failing from hunger, upon tasting honey says: "My eyes have been illuminated," that is, I have been fed and refreshed, so that the eyes, growing dim from the defect of the visual spirits due to hunger, now refreshed by honey would be illuminated and gladdened, I Kings XIV. For creditor in Hebrew it is איש תכבים ish tecachim; which word is found here alone, whence it is uncertain what it properly signifies. The Rabbis, Pagninus, Baynus, Cajetan and others variously translate it, a man of contritions, or of frauds, or of usuries (for these are indeed great frauds, because under the appearance of loaned money they exact multiplied gain), such as actively is a usurer, as the Septuagint translates it, and creditor, as Our interpreter translates it. Cajetan however and Aben-Ezra take it passively, so that it is the same as a man contrite, having suffered fraud, afflicted, and, as the Syriac, affected with sorrow. This is joined with the poor, because the afflicted is wont to be joined with the afflicted, so that they may mutually console one another through hope in God and his invocation: for God is the illuminator, that is, the consoler, provider and gladdener, of both the desolate and as it were blinded by affliction. Others, with the Chaldean, deriving tecachim from toch, that is, middle, translate it, a man of medieties, that is, a man of middling fortune, or a man of frauds: for tach, that is, middle, or internal, among the Hebrews sometimes denotes fraud, because it is concealed and contrived in the middle, namely of the breast, and in the heart. R. Levi translates it, a man perplexed: for God illuminates his eyes, when by illuminating his mind he dissolves his perplexities and scruples: others translate it, a man intermediate or mediator, namely for the doing of mercy. More credence should be given to our Interpreter who translates it, creditor, and the Septuagint who translate it, usurer, and others who translate it, a man of usuries. For the rich are often usurers, and they lend to the poor: whence he who is here called creditor and usurer, in chapter XXII, 2, is called rich. Mystically Baynus says: God illuminates the eyes of the poor, when by the light of his grace he shows him how great a good and gift of God poverty is, so that bearing it patiently he may merit eternal riches. But he illuminates the eyes of the creditor, while he shows him how great a gift is beneficence, by which the poor is succored: so that this saying may admonish the poor of patience, creditors and the rich of beneficence, both of hope in God and confidence, so that they resign themselves to divine Providence. For this the word illuminator denotes. Whence the Septuagint translates, the usurer and debtor meeting one another, the Lord makes ἐπισκοπήν, that is, inspection, or visitation, of both, that is, he inspects and visits both, provides and looks out for both in their necessities. Mystically, again, the poor is the subject, who needs doctrine and owes reverence and obedience; but the creditor is the Prelate, who dispenses doctrine, and credits and commits to the subject: the illuminator of both is the Lord: for he illuminates this one, so that he may teach rightly; and that one, so that through the mouth of this one he may see and understand what are pleasing to God.
29:14
14. A KING WHO JUDGES THE POOR IN TRUTH, HIS THRONE SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER. — By the poor understand also the rich: for he who judges the poor in truth, says Cajetan, will much more judge the rich in the same manner: for the poor are accustomed to be oppressed by the rich: for the rich prevail through favor and power with princes and judges, and corrupt them with gifts, so that they may pronounce sentence for themselves against the poor. A king therefore who does not fear the power of the rich, nor regards gifts, but speaks justice in truth to the poor, and pronounces an equitable sentence for him, his throne shall be established forever, that is throughout his whole life, so that as long as he lives and judges in truth, he may obtain a perpetual kingdom. Whence Aquila translates it, for the future; Theodotion, for the age. Again "forever," because his kingdom shall be transferred to his posterity through many ages, as the kingdom of David was transferred even to the destruction of the nation by the Chaldeans. Moreover, "forever," because the perpetual fame and glory of his kingdom, so just and equitable, shall endure among posterity. Finally "forever" he shall reign with Christ the King of kings in heaven. Baynus carefully observes: Divine wisdom, he says, always proceeds by far different paths than human: for in human affairs, riches and the power of the wealthy, favor and friendship lead to the kingdom, but the diadem is accustomed to be established and retained by arms and fortifications. Contrary to these things, the heavenly wisdom of Solomon teaches that the throne can be established most durably by the defense of the poor: for he who patronizes the poor, in a certain way performs the office of God the best and greatest on earth. For the Lord claims for himself a special defense of the poor, according to that: "To thee is the poor left, thou shalt be a helper to the orphan," Psalm IX. Furthermore the Septuagint, reading לעד laad, that is forever, with another pointing לעד laed, translate it, as a witness, or as a testimony: The throne, they say, of the prince judging the poor in truth shall be established as a testimony, so that namely the subjects, to confirm the truth spoken by him, cite the king as a witness, and the king's word as an infallible oracle, just as in testimony of the truth asserted by us we cite God as a witness by oath, saying: I call God to witness that I speak the truth. Again, his throne shall be established as a testimony, so that namely his throne may be held, and be an infallible testimony of truth, and so that the king from the throne judging and defining something, may seem not so much himself as truth itself through him to speak, judge and define. Morally, learn here how much truth and truthfulness, especially of equity and justice, ought to be the care and concern of a king. First, because a king is the vicar of God, and as it were a vice-god on earth: but God is himself the first, uncreated and essential truth. Whence St. Dionysius in the Melissa of Antonius, part I, chapter XXI: "Truth," he says, "is God, as being one, not many according to nature. For the true is one, but falsehood is manifold. For Christ also says, John XIV: I am the way, the truth, and the life." In the same place Evagrius: "To be silent about truth," he says, "is to bury gold." Hence by God's command Moses inscribed in the Breastplate of the High Priest: "Doctrine and truth," Exodus XXVIII, 30. And Pythagoras said that these two things were given by God to men as far the most beautiful, to embrace truth, and to apply oneself to benefits; and he added, "both can be compared with the works of the immortal gods." Thus Aelian, book XII of Miscellaneous History: "When asked the same question what men would do similar to God: When they practice truth, he answered." Thus Stobaeus, discourse 9. Secondly, because truth and the true administration of justice is the basis and pillar of the republic. For from this arises concord among citizens, peace, equity, probity, sanctity. Whence the chief judge among the Egyptians wore a sapphire at his neck, on which was inscribed Truth. Hear Aelian, book XIV of Miscellaneous History: "He who was to be the most just and sincere of all men ought to wear around his neck an image made from the sapphire gem, which was called Truth. But I would prefer that a judge carry truth not so much carved or expressed in stone, as implanted and fixed in his mind and understanding." Diodorus also makes mention of this same thing, book II, chapter 1, writing that in that vestibule of Simandius the Egyptian king: "Thirty wooden statues of judges were placed, and in the middle the prince judging, from whose neck truth hung suspended, and his eyes were closed by a heap of books surrounding him." Diodorus moreover adds: "These images signified that judges ought to be upright, the praetor to look only to truth." Thirdly, because truthfulness conciliates to a king the love and reverence of his subjects; falsehood, however, hatred and contempt. Whence Pliny in the Panegyric of Trajan: "Never," he says, "was a prince deceived, except he who first deceived himself." Alfonso, king of Aragon, is reported always to have had this on his lips: "the single word of a prince of a man ought to be worth as much for credibility as the oath of private citizens." For truth, although it ought to be the care of all, ought nevertheless to be the special ornament of princes. Panormitanus, book I On the Deeds of Alfonso. Aeschines against Timarchus: "Truth is a thing so powerful," he said, "that it easily surpasses all human thoughts." Thus Stobaeus, sermon 9. Demosthenes, when asked "what men had similar to God," replied: "To do good, and to love truth." Thus Maximus, sermon 8. That saying of Zorobabel proposed to King Darius is well-known: "Wine is strong, and a king is stronger, but women are stronger still, but truth is stronger than all these: for it conquers all things," III Esdras III, 10. Plato therefore errs gravely, not only against faith, but also against political science, when, in book V of the Republic, he writes: "Those who rule ought to use frequent falsehood and fraud for the advantage of their subjects." The words of Plato are these: "The magistrate ought to be instructed in manifold falsehood and in various deception, which he may abuse for the utility of his subjects; we have said, however, that all such things are useful, as it were a medicine;" and Pliny, in book XII of his Letters, saying: "To deceive according to the customs of the times is prudence;" and he among the Apophthegms of Plutarch, asserting: "Children indeed ought to be circumvented in this way, but men by oaths." These are the impious, ignorant and shameless axioms of atheists and Machiavellians, which Solomon, the teacher of political science and the prince of politicians, refutes throughout here, and which the Church condemns, indeed every well-constituted republic. See St. Augustine, in the book Against Lying, where he teaches that it is not lawful to lie in any case. And in epistle 8: "To lie," he says, "is not lawful, not even for the praise of God."
29:15
15. THE ROD AND CORRECTION GIVE WISDOM: BUT A CHILD LEFT TO HIS OWN WILL CONFOUNDETH HIS MOTHER. — Understand "wisdom" here as practical or ethical, namely the composition of morals, honesty, virtue. The Septuagint: blows and corrections give wisdom; but a child erring confounds his parents; Aquila and Symmachus: a young man, however, dismissed; the Chaldean: a child who does not receive correction. Understand by mother also the father. Whence the Syriac translator renders: a child who is not chastised brings shame to his father; he names the mother before the father, because the education and instruction of children pertains to the mother: wherefore if she neglects it, and dismisses her son to his own will, she will be put to shame by him. Just as Ishmael, says Rabbi Solomon, brought shame to Hagar his mother, when, vexing Isaac, he was expelled from the house by the command of Sara and Abraham along with his mother, and affected her with great dishonor, as well as misery and sorrow, Genesis xvi. To this pertains the proverb of the Arabs: "Joking (familiarity) takes away reverence." The Italians say: The boldness of a master, the hat of a fool. The Arabs continue: "Do not jest with a great man, lest he be angry with you, nor with a lowly man, lest he dare to abuse you," that is, lest he take advantage of you. This saying signifies that a child is like a young horse, wanton, playful, and obedient to his own imagination and desire; wherefore just as a young horse is tamed by the bridle, spur, and whip, so that it may serve its master: so a child ought to be tamed and formed by correction and chastisement, namely by words and blows, so that he may learn to obey not desire, but reason and instruction; otherwise, like an untamed young horse, he will become insolent, stubborn, and will hurl himself headlong into every crime and disgrace, and will drag his father and mother along with him. Thus Blessed Levi: "By blows," he says, "and correction a child is cultivated in wisdom: for thus he is formed in honest morals; if he lacks these, no path will be left for obtaining wisdom: but a child who is permitted to his own will lacks both right instruction and wisdom, and therefore is a reproach to his mother on account of his wickedness; especially when the blame for the same wickedness is often cast back upon her, all affirming that it was brought about by her, who did not properly instruct the child from tender years." Thus he. Following Solomon, Plutarch, in the book On the Duty of a Listener, teaches that a child ought to be chastised and formed just as a young horse is chastised and formed, so that he may be tractable, flexible and convenient for his rider. Seneca, however, prudently admonishes, in book II of On Anger: "It will profit greatly," he says, "to instruct boys immediately in a healthful manner; but the management is difficult, because we ought to take care lest we either nurture anger in them, or dull their natural disposition." And after some remarks he concludes: "Thus therefore he ought to be governed between both, so that we use the bridle at one time, the spur at another." Certainly parents who are too severe dull, blunt, and harden the nature and disposition of children by excessive chastisement, and make them hard and stubborn; but those who are too lenient and mild, of which there are many, deliver that same nature to their desires, spoil and corrupt it. I have said more on the education and chastisement of children in chapter x, 1, and chapter xxiii, 13, and more fully on Ecclesiasticus xxx, 1 and following.
29:16
16. IN THE MULTIPLICATION OF THE WICKED SHALL INIQUITIES BE MULTIPLIED: AND THE JUST SHALL SEE THEIR RUINS. — In Hebrew, transgression shall be multiplied. The reason is that the wicked man provides assistance to the wicked man for iniquity, and adds courage and boldness, which, if he were alone, would be weak, and would fear being caught and punished in his crime. Again, the multitude of the wicked brings about license in sinning and its impunity, because no one dares to punish a multitude; moreover, multitude brings authority and honor to crime: for the more wicked anyone is, the more he sees himself pleasing to many, and being held in esteem, as if he were conducting the chorus of their impiety. But lest the pious be struck down by this multitude of the wicked and follow and emulate them in impiety, Solomon strengthens them in piety, while he adds: "And the just shall see their ruins," that is to say, Brief shall be the joy of the wicked, brief the reign of impiety, because soon they shall be punished by God the avenger, destroyed and brought to ruin; which the just shall see and rejoice, both on account of the punishment and destruction of impiety, and on account of their own holy and blessed lot of justice, which separated and vindicated them from the common destruction of the wicked. The Septuagint, reading יראו iiru, that is, they shall see, with different pointing as יראו iireu, that is, they shall fear, from ירא iare, that is, he feared, translate: the just, however, become fearful at their falling; or, as the Author of the Greek Catena, in their ruin the just are dismayed, that is, the just are struck down and restrained by the gravity of the punishment of the wicked, lest they think to imitate their crimes. This maxim is akin to that of verse 2: "In the multiplication of the just the people shall rejoice; when the wicked shall bear rule, the people shall mourn." And to that of verse 6: "A wicked man shall be caught in his own snare; and the just shall praise and rejoice." And to that of chapter xxviii, 12: "In the exultation of the just there is great glory, when the wicked reign there is the ruin of men." An example is I Maccabees 1, 55, where through Antiochus, with the wicked multiplied in Judaea, iniquities are narrated as multiplied, but their ruin with Antiochus was swift and horrible, as is evident from II Maccabees chapter IX.
29:17
17. INSTRUCT THY SON, AND HE SHALL GIVE THEE REST (In Hebrew, shall cause thee to rest), AND SHALL GIVE DELIGHTS TO THY SOUL. — The Septuagint: instruct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; and shall give ornament to thy soul. Note: The word instruct, in Hebrew יסר iasser, that is, reprove, chastise, instruct, properly pertains to the chastisement of desires and the conforming of morals; it can, however, also be referred to arts and sciences: for a son instructed by his father and sent to schools, if he becomes learned and wise, first, is a great consolation to his father, and rest, so that in him as in a staff of his old age, indeed as in the center and fulfillment of his wishes, he may rest peacefully; second, is to him in delights of the soul, that is, the highest and deepest, which penetrate to the innermost parts of the soul, and fill and replenish it with delightful pleasure and wonderful delights; third, is to him a great ornament, as the Septuagint translate, because through a learned and instructed son, who by his knowledge becomes a teacher, bishop, senator, prefect, governor, etc., the father of the commonwealth is honored, praised, adorned, and through his son his name and fame is celebrated for many years, and thereafter endures for many centuries. See the sayings at Ecclesiasticus xxx, 1 and following, where the sentiment is nearly the same, indeed many others on the same matter. To this pertains the proverb of the Arabs, Century 2, number 66: "Branches, when thou shalt have corrected them, are straightened; but a beam does not bend, when thou shalt have corrected it," that is, tender age can be bent and directed, but hardened age cannot be corrected. This is what is said in French: Vieil arbre, malaisé à redresser.
29:18
18. WHEN PROPHECY SHALL FAIL, THE PEOPLE SHALL BE SCATTERED: BUT HE THAT KEEPETH THE LAW IS BLESSED. — The Chaldean [paraphrase]: the people shall be scattered in the multitude of the impious; the Septuagint: there shall be no one to declare [the law] to a wicked nation; but he that keepeth the law is most blessed. For "shall be scattered" the Hebrew is יפרע iipara, that is, as Cajetan [says], the people shall be stripped or despoiled; Pagninus [renders it]: shall be rebellious; the Syriac: the people shall be torn; others [say]: shall retreat; Baynus: the people ceases and is idle. All these suit this place: for when Prophets fail and pious teachers and preachers, first the people ceases from good works, then it declines and retreats from religion, soon it is torn into sects and schisms, immediately it rebels against its pastors, and thus finally it is stripped of all virtue and all spiritual good and often temporal [good] as well. You will ask, what is this prophecy? First, the Rabbis take it literally in the proper sense. For the Hebrew חזון chazon, that is, vision, signifies this: whence Prophets were called חזים chozim, that is, seers, because they would see and perceive from afar future and hidden things with the keen and God-illuminated eye of the mind. But the ancient Prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc., were not only true Prophets, but also teachers and preachers sent by God to the people, so that they might correct its idolatry and crimes, and lead it back to the study and observance of faith and law, threatening and preaching captivity and other punishments to be inflicted by God, and proposing liberty, peace and other rewards promised and revealed by God if they kept the law. Wherefore the defect of prophecy is rightly opposed here to the law and to the study and observance of the law, as if to say: When Prophets have failed, who might correct the people going astray into idols and vices, teach it, restrain it, threatening future punishments and promising future rewards revealed to them by God, then the people, unbridled, will wander into idolatry and its own desires, and will be scattered into various errors and crimes, on account of which it will be led away into Assyrian, Babylonian, Roman, etc., captivity. But when there have been Prophets and holy men, by whose admonitions and example the people, or any private person, obedient, keeps the law, then he will be happy and blessed, because he will escape the punishments intended by God for the transgressors of the law, and will obtain the rewards promised by God to its observers. The event itself confirms this sense. For when the Israelites under the kings Hosea and Zedekiah despised the Prophets threatening Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, going away to idols and crimes, then they were led away into the same [captivity] and scattered throughout Assyria and Babylon. But as long as they heard them under David, Solomon and others, so long they remained safe, wealthy and happy in Judaea. Thus R. Solomon, R. Levi, Aben-Ezra and others [say]. So under the priest and prince Eli, on account of the wickedness of his sons, prophecy failing, the people was scattered and delivered to the Philistines, I Kings cap. II and following. Whence God then raised up Samuel, who would restore the people to God and to peace: because "the word of God was precious (that is, rare) in those days, there was no manifest vision," I Kings III, 1. This is what God threatens through Isaiah, cap. xxix, 9: "Be astonished, and wonder; waver, and stagger; be drunk, and not with wine; be moved, and not with drunkenness. For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of deep sleep, and will close your eyes, the prophets and your princes, that see visions, he will cover. And the vision of all shall be to you as the words of a sealed book, which when they shall give to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book shall be given to one that is unlearned, and they shall say to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know not letters," which, explaining this, he adds: "For wisdom shall perish from her wise men, and the understanding of her prudent men shall be hid." For this reason the prophet Elijah was called by Elisha "the chariot of Israel, and the charioteer thereof," because he himself, as it were a chariot, carried, protected and guided the people through the study of the law to happiness and all good, IV Kings II, 12. Secondly, Bede, Hugh, Cajetan, Baynes, Vatablus, Jansenius, understand by prophecy the interpretation of Holy Scripture. Thus Francis Suarez, tract. On Faith, disput. 8, sect. III, num. 5; for prophecy extends widely, and embraces the interpretation of Holy Scripture, sacred doctrine, preaching, psalmody, etc., as I said on 1 Cor. xiv, 10. The sense therefore is, as it were Bede says: "When priestly learning shall have ceased, the discipline of divine law shall immediately be dissolved, by which the people ought to have attained to the rewards of blessedness." It signifies therefore, says Jansenius, the people scattered, when they refuse to receive prophecy, that is the oracles of the Prophets, and in their place the sacred doctrine of preachers, so that prophecy fails, that is, it is no longer admitted and received; for when this happens, it is necessary that the people be scattered, that is, dispersed into various errors and sects, and separated from true religion and piety. "But he that keepeth the law (namely the people), is blessed," as if to say, Blessed therefore and happy is that people which has regard for the law of God, and strives to observe it. Secondly, as if to say, When by the sins of men deserving it, it has come to pass through divine vengeance that prophecy and sacred doctrine fail, and are withdrawn from men, certainly then it will go ill with that people: it will be scattered and drawn apart into various errors, sects, vices and dissensions. For this is either the greatest vengeance of God, and a seedbed of many evils in the commonwealth, that it withdraws the sincere announcement of His will. Whence through Amos cap. viii, He threatens to send a famine into the land, not of bread, but of hearing the word of God. Thirdly, our Salazar by prophecy, equally as by law, understands true religion and true worship of God, as if to say, If prophecy fail in the people, that is religion and the worship of the true Godhead, immediately peace is dissolved and the people is cut into factions, and the commonwealth falls. "Religion alone," says Philo in the Life of Moses, "binds together the minds of citizens, and confirms associations and societies." Seneca, in epist. 95: "First," he says, "the bond of the army is religion." Livy, lib. V: "All things prosper for those who worship the gods, adversities for those who despise them." Pliny, lib. XIV: "Life consists in religion." Cicero, act. 3 in Verrem: "All are moved by religion." This is "that light of doctrines;" for thus Pliny calls Cicero, lib. XVII, cap. v. Flavius Vopiscus, lib. II: "The commonwealth of the Romans," he says, "stood among many empires through religion. But he that keepeth the law shall be blessed," that is, the people observing true religion shall be most fortunate, as the Hebrews were so long as they sincerely worshipped the true God, as testified by St. Augustine, book III On the City of God, cap. xxxiv. All these explanations tend to the same point. Mystically some expound it thus, as if to say, When it shall have failed, that is when the prophecy shall have been completed, that is the oracles of the Prophets through the birth and death of Christ, the Jewish people shall be scattered, because Judaea laid waste by Titus shall be dispersed throughout the whole world. For prophecy which is of the future fails when it is fulfilled and passes into the present or past, according to that of Daniel. IX, 24: "Let the vision and the prophecy be fulfilled, and the Holy of Holies be anointed."
29:19
19. A SERVANT CANNOT BE CORRECTED BY WORDS, BECAUSE WHAT YOU SAY HE UNDERSTANDS, AND HE DISDAINS TO OBEY. — In Hebrew, because he understands, and does not respond, neither by word nor by deed, that is, he does not obey, he does not do what his master commands him. The Septuagint: a stubborn servant shall not be corrected by words; for even if he has understood, he will not obey; the Syriac: for he knows that he is not to be beaten, or wounded; the Chaldean: he who knows the yoke, and does not endure it. By servant, therefore, is understood one who is of servile nature, so that he does nothing unless driven by blows and whips. From this, servile fear received its name, which does nothing from love of good, but all things from fear of evil, namely from fear of punishment. For a servant who loves his master and obeys him from love is not so much a servant as a free man and freedman. Whence that servant in Euripides in the Helena says: "I do not have the name of a free man, but I have the mind." And he in Sophocles: "Although, he says, my body is enslaved, yet my mind is free." What kind of servant, therefore, should be treated kindly by his master, as is taught in Ecclesiasticus, chapter thirty-three; for when in verse 28 he had said: "For a wicked servant, torture and fetters," concerning a good servant he adds in verse 31: "If thou hast a faithful servant, let him be to thee as thy own soul; treat him as a brother." See the sayings there. Some servants, therefore, have a servile nature, and are dull and stupid: these are to be taught according to the measure of their capacity; others have a servile will, namely a hard, stubborn, rebellious one, whose hardness, disobedience and rebellion must therefore be broken by blows. To this applies the saying: "A Phrygian is corrected by blows," commonly said of barbarians and men of servile nature, who are made better not by shame or admonitions, but by beatings, whereas, as Seneca says, a noble spirit is led more rightly than dragged. For Phrygia produced many slaves. Whence the proverb: "A Phrygian slave." To this also applies that saying in Macrobius in the Saturnalia: "As many slaves, so many enemies," both because formerly conquered and captured enemies were reduced to slavery: whence they were called mancipia, as if captured by hand, and this is the first origin of slavery and of slaves; and because "Jupiter has taken away half the mind from slaves," as Homer says in the Odyssey, Book V, and from this Plato in Book VI of the Laws: "For nothing, he says, is whole or sound in the mind of a slave. For a wise man ought to believe nothing concerning those men; since the most learned poet says: Jupiter deprives of half their mind Those whom the lot of servile fortune has ever seized. Then because, just as true love of freedom is the nurse of freedom, so mere fear of slavery is the companion of slavery: for whoever fears hates. Whence a certain genuine hatred seems to be implanted in slaves toward their masters. Hence Euripides in the Alcmaeon: "Whoever, he says, trusts a slave, seems to be very foolish." Wherefore Philo wisely gives here an admonition to slaves in the book "Who is the Heir of Divine Things?": "The greatest praise of a slave, he says, is to despise nothing of the commands of his master, but eagerly and diligently to strive to carry out all things, even beyond his strength, according to the intention of his master's mind. Slaves also ought to listen rather than to speak, to whom indeed is said: Be silent and hear: a most beautiful precept." Whence, as he himself says: "No one is so mad as one who, being a slave, resists his master;" for he provokes him against himself, and thus brings upon himself nothing but reproaches and blows. See the admonitions which St. Paul gives to slaves on this matter in Ephesians vi, 5; Colossians III, 22; and St. Peter, I epistle II, 18. Symbolically St. Augustine, epistle 48 and 50, understands by a slave a heretic, who has enslaved and bound himself to his own imagination and heresy. Whence from this maxim he proves heretics, because they are unwilling to yield to words and arguments, must be compelled by punishments, so that they may resume the Orthodox faith, which they perfidiously abandoned. For thus he says in epistle 50: "Some propose to us a saying of a secular author (Terence in the Adelphi) who said: I think it better to keep children by shame and liberality, than by fear. This indeed is true, but just as better men are directed by love, so more are corrected by fear. For, to answer them even from that author himself, they also read in him: Unless compelled by evil, you know not how to act rightly. Moreover, divine Scripture, both on account of those better ones, said: Fear is not in charity, but perfect charity casts out fear. And on account of these inferior ones, who are more numerous, it says: A servant shall not be corrected by words; for even if he understand, he will not obey. When it said he shall not be corrected by words, it did not command him to be killed, but tacitly admonished whence he ought to be corrected. Otherwise it would not say: A servant shall not be corrected by words, but would only say: He shall not be corrected." Again Bede: "A servant, he says, is any sinner who indeed understands rightly, but in the work of truth disdains to respond without the discipline of the scourge. Concerning such the Truth says: The servant who knew the will of his lord, and did not do it, shall be beaten with many stripes," Luke XII. A Man Swift to Speak
29:20
20. HAST THOU SEEN A MAN SWIFT TO SPEAK? FOLLY IS MORE TO BE EXPECTED THAN HIS CORRECTION. — "A man swift to speak," say Bede, Hugh, Lyra, Cajetan and others, is a garrulous, futile, vain-speaking man, who is precipitate and itches to speak; whence he blurts out whatever comes into his mouth; wherefore folly is more to be expected than correction, because he speaks many things futile, vain, inept, which indicate and increase his folly, both because he applies himself wholly to what he says, and does not allow others to interrupt his discourse; wherefore he does not hear their correction, nor does he care. Bede gives this reason: "Indeed," he says, "a grave vice is folly, but not less grave is verbosity. For it often happens that some unlearned man receives the words of salutary correction more quickly than he who, endowed with an abundance of speech, strives rather to put forth boastfully what he knows, or what he thinks he knows, than to hear the sayings of the wise," that is to say, such a man is incorrigible, because pleased with himself, he applies himself wholly to what he speaks: wherefore he cannot attend to the admonitions of others by which he would be corrected. Secondly and rather, "a man swift to speak" is one who seems to himself to be wiser than others, and therefore on any matter proposed hastily interposes and prefers his own judgment to that of others; wherefore he does not await their opinion, nor sufficiently examines and considers the matter, but hastens to judgment: by which it comes about that he often wishes to say and teach what he has not learned and does not know, and then wishes to defend it, and does not allow himself to be corrected. Wherefore from such a man nothing is to be expected, except that he may more and more reveal his folly by speaking, indeed may utter many absurdities, false things, foolish things, and become more foolish. For this maxim is the same as 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." For there the cause is indicated, namely that he seems wise to himself; but here the effect is noted, namely that he is swift to speak, and therefore foolish and incorrigible. Such a man St. James admonishes, saying, chapter 1, 19: "Wherefore, my dearest brethren, let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak;" and Ecclesiasticus, chapter iv, 34: "Be not hasty in thy tongue;" and chapter xix, 28: "There is one that holdeth his peace, and is wise;" and chapter xx, 5: "There is one that is silent, and he is accounted wise; and there is another that is hateful, for his much talking." That he detested this vice, St. Gregory of Nazianzus writes, Oration 1, Apology: "When we," he says, "with ourselves, not perhaps with the worst counselors, but certainly with benevolent ones, had discussed these matters, we judged it better, since we did not know what things ought to be said and done, to learn them, than to teach them not knowing. For it goes well with him to whom a hoary discourse comes even into deep old age, and has such power that it can be a help to a soul still fresh in piety." He adds the reason: "For certainly to attempt to teach others before one is sufficiently taught oneself seems to be the part of very foolish or rash men; foolish indeed, if they do not even know their own ignorance; rash, if, knowing it, they nevertheless do not fear to undertake this business." Hear Nesterus the Abbot in Cassian, Conference XIV, chapter IX: "Be therefore in all things swift to hear, but slow to speak, lest there fall upon thee that which is noted by Solomon: If thou seest a man swift in his words, know that the fool hath more hope than he. And presume not to teach anyone by words what thou hast not first done in deed. For our Lord instituted that we ought to keep this order even by his examples, of whom it is thus said: Jesus began to do and to teach. Beware therefore lest, rushing forward to teach before the deed, thou be numbered among those of whom the Lord speaks to the disciples in the Gospel: All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say, and do not." FOLLY IS MORE TO BE EXPECTED THAN HIS CORRECTION. — First, some expound it thus, that is to say, his folly is more to be expected, that is, to be feared and awaited, namely that he will become more foolish, than that, being corrected, he will correct himself. Thus to expect is taken for to fear by catachresis in Virgil, Aeneid I: If ye despise mankind and mortal arms, yet hope that the gods remember right and wrong. Where Servius says: Hope, that is, fear, used abusively. The same, Aeneid IV: If I could hope for such great sorrow: for sorrow is not hoped for, but feared; for we hope for good things, we fear sad and adverse things. Secondly, others, that is to say: From a man swift to speak, if he ought to admonish or reprove anyone, foolish rather than true and useful correction is to be hoped for and expected, namely that he should flatter rather than reprove, or exasperate rather than amend the delinquent. For in such great profusion and swiftness of words he mixes many things rashly, which flatter or exasperate. Thirdly, others, that is to say: More is to be hoped from foolishness than from the correction of one swift to speak, that is, foolishness will accomplish more in reproving than loquacity, for instance a fool than a talkative man. For if a fool utters something ineptly, it is forgiven him, because he is a fool; if he says something aptly, it is received with applause: but to the talkative man who is wise, nothing is forgiven. Fourthly and genuinely, correction is to be taken passively, not actively, that is to say: Foolishness offers greater hope of correction concerning itself than swiftness to speak, for instance loquacity: foolishness itself in foolish men exhibits greater hope concerning itself, that it will allow itself to be reproved and through reproof to be corrected, than the correction and amendment of one swift to speak exhibits hope. That is, a fool will be more easily reproved and corrected than one swift to speak. The reason is, because a fool does not know that he is a fool, whence when his foolishness is shown to him he will condemn it, and will embrace the wisdom exhibited by the wise man. Thus Rabbi Levi: A fool, he says, when his stolidity is observed, uses counsel in his affairs; but a rash man consults no one, since he seems to himself to have more than enough wisdom. This man therefore hears no one, but despises all before him, as if he were the eighth of the wise, nay the first: for he thinks he is wiser than all, and therefore is incorrigible. Thus also the Author of the Greek Catena: "For the rash man, he says, and the precipitate man supposes that to be which is not, and therefore is alienated from the hope of that which is. But of the fool there is hope that he will someday lay aside his foolishness, namely when he has been taught the truth." That this is the meaning is clear, first, from the Hebrew, which thus reads, hope of the fool is before him; the Chaldean, better is hope concerning the fool than concerning him; the Syriac, know this to be better a fool; the Septuagint, know that the unwise man has more hope. Secondly, from chapter twenty-six, verse twelve, where this maxim is thus expressed: "Hast thou seen a man wise in his own conceit? there shall be more hope of a fool than of him." Thirdly, because the manuscript Codices, Rabanus and Bede for foolishness read foolishness in the genitive, in this manner: "Foolishness is more to be hoped for than his correction," that is, you may more easily hope for the correction of the foolishness of the fool than of the swift to speak; which reading is indeed plain, and plainly corresponds to the Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac and Septuagint. Hence Isidore Clarius thus amended this maxim: "Foolishness is more to be hoped for than his correction;" thus Jansenius, and Francis Lucas in Notes here, number 189. St. Gregory suggests an appropriate remedy for verbosity and swiftness to speak, in book eight of the Morals, book two, namely the balance of reason and premeditation, so that we weigh those things which we think to say, lest if we neglect this, our hearers weigh them and disapprove. "He who speaks, he says, awaits the judgment of his hearer concerning his words, and is as it were subjected to the judgment of him by whom he is heard. Whoever therefore fears to be reproved in his utterances, ought first himself to examine what he says, so that between heart and tongue there may sit a certain equal and discreet arbiter, subtly weighing whether words offer a right heart, which receiving them usefully, the tongue may bring to the judgment of the hearers." And after a few words thus he writes: "If in that which exits to us through the step of speech, you do not wish to be reproved, hold within the balance of justice, so that what is said without may please from the weight of truth, as much as this within the scale of discretion weighs it," that is to say: Be yourself the weigher of your own words, lest if you utter anything unpremeditated and incongruous, a prudent hearer be the weigher of them, and weighing them exactly by the balance of judgment, may disapprove, laugh at and condemn the futile, insipid, foolish things. I have said more about this balance in Ecclesiasticus twenty-eight, verse twenty-nine, and chapter nineteen, last verse, and the beginning of chapter twenty-three. Aptly Plutarch, in the book On the Duty of the Hearer, compares those precipitate to speak to women in childbirth aborting, who bring forth the fetus before its time, and therefore imperfect, maimed, weak and scarcely vital: for thus the precipitation of speaking is not so much the birth and origin of discourse, as an abortion; and therefore it pours forth, nay vomits forth, mutilated, gaping, futile and inept things. Likewise to hens bringing forth eggs prematurely: for these lay eggs hastily, that is evanescent and sterile. Thus verbosity is evanescent and sterile, and brings forth no fruit to the speaker or hearer.
29:21
21. HE THAT NOURISHETH HIS SERVANT DELICATELY FROM HIS CHILDHOOD, SHALL AFTERWARDS FIND HIM STUBBORN. — So that he may refuse the services of his master, indeed may wish to be held and treated as a son, and thus to be the heir of his master. For this is what the Hebrew word מנון manon signifies, that is, one who arrogantly claims the right of sonship: נין nin indeed is son; whence the Spanish niño. Whence the Zurich Bible translates, at last he will strive to occupy the right of sons; Vatable, at last he will be his son, that is, he will wish to be held as a son; Pagninus, in the end he will be proud just as a son, indeed he will be able to bring suit against the sons, so that he may be heir with them, claiming the right of prescription, namely that he was nourished and treated as a son from boyhood, and thus was tacitly adopted by the father, and by so long a time has prescribed the right of sonship and inheritance. Thus Siba, the servant of Mephibosheth, son of Saul, being treated indulgently by him, invaded part of his inheritance, when accusing his master before David, he obtained the same from him, II Kings xix. Therefore this maxim signifies, says Jansenius, that he who is too familiar with his servant, and indulges him too much, nourishing him with delicacies of food, and adorning him with splendor of clothing, and permitting him leisure, afterwards experiences him more rebellious to him for the benefits bestowed; therefore the proverb subtly indicates that heads of households ought carefully to consider that they should deal with their servants from the beginning in such a way that they have them as useful and obedient as possible. The proverb also indicates that those who are of ignoble condition and spirit cannot bear prosperous fortune, and abuse it into ignorance and pride. This is seen in the Jewish people, who, when they were of servile condition, freed from the servitude of Egypt, after many and great benefits with which they were affected from their departure from Egypt, became stubborn and rebellious, according to the prophecy of Moses in his canticle: "The beloved grew fat, and kicked; he grew fat, and waxed gross, and was enlarged, and forsook God his maker, and departed from God his saviour," Deuteronomy xxxii, 15. Following Solomon, Sirach, chapter xxxiii, 25, thus ordains concerning servants: "Meat, and a rod, and burdens for an ass; bread, and discipline, and work for a servant;" where I have said more on this matter. Indeed, even Plato, in the sixth dialogue On Laws, teaches that servants ought to be treated more harshly, lest they become softer: "All address, he says, to servants ought in some way to be command, and no joking with them ought to be had; which many foolishly doing, while they nourish them more delicately, render the way more difficult both for themselves in commanding, and for them in obeying." The Septuagint for מנון manon seem to have read מאנ maon, that is, pain, as if to say, He will be pain to his master, just as Benjamin was born when his mother was dying, hence he was called Benon or Benoni, that is, son of pain. The Septuagint therefore thus translate, he that delighteth a boy shall be deceitful; but at last he shall grieve over him. Just as the prodigal son grieved, when after consuming his goods in delights and luxuries, he was forced to beg and feed swine, Luke xv. And the Chaldean, he who indulges in delights from childhood shall become a servant, and at last shall be overthrown; the Syrian, at last he shall groan; Symmachus, and in the end there shall be murmuring. To this pertains what Celsus writes, book IV: "A falling sickness, he says, is wont to befall boys from delicate education." Finally, the Septuagint perhaps took manon as if compounded from מן man, that is, part, or manna, and און on, that is, pain, as if to say, He who nourisheth himself delicately shall at last have pain as his part and lot, that is, shall fall into diseases, poverty, hardships and other pains. Or manna, that is, his sweet delights shall become pain, that is, shall be turned into pains; for the letter aleph which is in און on, because it is quiescent, is often elided and omitted. Tropologically, the servant of the soul is the body: he therefore who nourisheth it delicately shall experience it stubborn and rebellious to him, so that, addicted to its delights, it will not wish to obey the soul in praying, meditating, and other works of penance and arduous virtues; but rather will wish to rule the soul, and draw it to its own desires. Let therefore the cultivator of his own mind, free and master, say with the Philosopher: "I was born for greater things than to make myself the slave of my body;" and: "Great care of the body is great neglect of virtue." Crates, as witness Maximus, sermon 27, having observed an athletic youth made corpulent by wine, meat and exercise: "O wretched one, he said, cease to fortify a prison against yourself." In the same place Diogenes says: "In those houses where there is great abundance of food, there are wont to be many mice and cats: thus those bodies which take much food are wont to contract many diseases." In the same place St. Basil: "The belly, he says, is a faithless merchant (in Greek συναλλάκτης, that is, an exchanger, one who contracts with another, bargains, or exchanges goods), preserving nothing: retaining the inconvenience of many things placed there, but not preserving the things themselves."
29:22
22. A MAN OF WRATH STIRRETH UP STRIFES: AND HE THAT IS EASILY MOVED TO INDIGNATION SHALL BE MORE PRONE TO SIN. — In Hebrew, a man of nose shall mingle strife, and the author of burning anger much transgression; the Chaldean, and men of fury have many sins; the Septuagint, an indignant man stirreth up contention, and an angry man diggeth out sin. For stirreth up some codices read maketh equal, that is, diggeth strife; Symmachus, irritateth battle; the Syriac, the angry man multiplieth sins. Wrongly doth Rabbi Solomon take strifes as the strifes of God, as if to say, The angry man shall call down God's wrath and judgment upon himself. For here we are not treating of the wrath of God, but of the strifes of men, which the angry man stirreth up. We have heard the first hemistich in chapter xv, 18; the second sayeth the same as the first, but repeateth and exaggerateth it in other words, namely that the indignant man is prone to fall into many sins of heart, mouth and deed: of heart, namely into internal murmurings, burnings of anger, impatiences, thoughts of vengeance, etc.; of mouth, namely into clamours, brawlings, revilings, strifes, curses; of deed, namely into fights, robberies, slaughters, etc. This is what St. James saith in chapter 1, 20: "The wrath of man worketh not the justice of God," but all the injustice and iniquity of the devil, who is wholly burning with wrath, and setteth all on fire with wrath. Whence Nazianzenus in his Poem On Wrath: I am angry, saith he, at wrath, at the demon dwelling within. For the angry man seemeth to be a demon incarnate: for thus he rageth, crieth out, furiouslly acteth, fighteth, etc., as if he were not a man, but a demon. For, as St. Ephrem saith, in his treatise On Virtues and Vices, § On Anger: "From anger the mind is disturbed, the senses are weakened, and thoughts of vengeance spring forth like a river."
29:23
23. PRIDE IS FOLLOWED BY HUMILITY (not that which is voluntary and a virtue, but involuntary and forced, which is a punishment, namely humiliation, depression, contempt), AND THE HUMBLE IN SPIRIT SHALL RECEIVE GLORY. — Powerfully in Hebrew: the pride of man shall humble him, and the humble in spirit shall obtain glory; the Chaldean, and he who is submissive in spirit shall divide glory; the Septuagint, contumely humbles a man; but the Lord establishes in glory those who think humbly; the Syriac, to the lowly humility multiplies honors. For "shall receive" the Hebrew is תמך iitmach, that is, shall sustain, shall support, as if to say: The humble man even when depressed shall be sustained, lest he be stripped of honor; or he who is humble in mind shall be sustained by divine glory, as Aben-Ezra says. Glory therefore receives the humble, that is, takes them up and snatches them upward, elevates them to high degrees of honor, and keeps them elevated there, lest by any chance they slip downward. Whence Rabbi Solomon: He who is humble in mind, he says, draws near to glory, and shall always cherish it, or rather shall be cherished by it. It is a prosopopoeia: for glory is here introduced as a person, namely as an agonothete to the humble striving earnestly in the contest of humility, bestowing upon them his own dignity and laurel, indeed his own rank and place, namely that they be elevated to the exalted rank and throne of glory, and sit together with it. For glory and humility are equal companions and attendants, and on the other hand ignominy and pride. Whence pride is here introduced as a judge or executioner humbling and casting down the proud. Just as therefore an eagle feeds its young, receives them and lifts them on high, and there sustains and holds them lest they fall: so likewise glory receives the humble on its wings and shoulders, and elevates them on high, and there sustains and strengthens them, lest any fall cast them down. To this the true Solomon, Christ the Lord, alluded, saying: "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted," Luke xiv, 11. Nothing in this matter is truer than this saying, yet nothing in practice is more difficult. We know, indeed we believe, all of us who are faithful, Solomon and Christ, asserting that the true and safe way to glory is humility, and the way to ignominy is pride; and yet we strive to attain to glory by proudly displaying and magnifying ourselves and our own, and to humble and depress our rivals, so that we may heap ignominy upon them: when according to this maxim of Solomon and Christ, by this means we procure for ourselves ignominy through pride, and the glory of humility, often in this life, always in the future. What great error is this, what great abuse of the children of Adam! says St. Bernard. Finally this maxim harmonizes with that in chapter xvi, 18: "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall;" and chapter xviii, 12: "Before destruction the heart of a man is exalted; and before honor goeth humility." See the sayings in both places. The reason is the just judgment of God, who with just and fitting retaliation punishes the proud with depression and ignominy, and rewards the humble with exaltation and glory. The Septuagint translates, the Lord establishes in glory those humble in spirit, namely while he keeps them in humility, lest through glory they become proud, and thus they perfect both; but so that, the more glorious they become, the more humble they become, as those who think themselves unworthy of glory and worthy of confusion, and ascribe all their virtue and glory to God alone and to God's grace. The Chaldean translates, and he who is submissive shall divide glory, that is, he receives so abundant glory that he is able to divide it with others, indeed he wishes and desires to. For the nature of the proud is to keep all glory for themselves alone, indeed to seize and attribute to themselves that of others: but the nature of the humble is to yield their glory to others, and to share and divide it with others, and to associate others as companions of their glory, and to make them partakers of it. The Syriac, to the lowly humility multiplies honors, as if to say: Humility alone produces many honors: for he is honored by God, by Angels, by all men, and that not with one, but with manifold honor, both temporal and eternal. Again, the humble man, just as he multiplies the acts of humility, so through them he increases and multiplies glory for himself: for nothing is so glorious and excellent as to act nobly and to think humbly of oneself; for this is the proper object of glory. Wherefore the humble man, the more excellent things he does, the more humbly he thinks of himself, and the more he renders himself worthy of greater praise and glory. Note: The first author of this axiom, that God humbles the proud and exalts the humble, was St. Job, cap. xxii, vers. 29, saying: "He that shall be humbled shall be in glory; and he that shall bow down his eyes (for the humble lower their eyes from lowliness of spirit), he himself shall be saved." Solomon confirms the same here, and Christ in Luke xviii, cap. 14, and the Blessed Virgin singing in her Magnificat: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble." These four wisest of men therefore asserted this maxim, so that by their testimony all human incredulity and distrust may yield and be confuted. The humble in spirit therefore will be received by glory into his dwelling, nay into his throne, especially since God will insert him among the Angels, nay among the Seraphim (into which order the most humble St. Francis was inserted), and will make him illustrious and glorious in heaven and earth and the whole world, even in hell. For pride and humility are as it were two scales, such that if pride ascends and grows, man decreases and descends; but if humility descends and depresses itself, man ascends into great dignity. Let the first leaders and standard-bearers of each be examples: St. Michael and Lucifer. For Lucifer, arrogantly saying: "I will ascend into heaven, etc., I will be like the Most High," Isaiah xiv, 13, soon heard, vers. 15: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit;"; but Michael, most humbly saying מי כאל mi cael, that is, who is like God?, occupied the primacy among the Angels and the throne of Lucifer. Let the humble, who fight under the standard of St. Michael, expect the same fate of their leaders; and the proud, who fight under the signs of Lucifer. "For he is king over all the children of pride," Job XLI, 25.
29:24
24. HE THAT IS PARTAKER WITH A THIEF HATETH HIS OWN SOUL: HE HEARETH ONE ADJURING HIM, AND DISCLOSETH IT NOT. — In Hebrew, he shall hear a curse, and shall not declare it; others read, he shall hear perjury, etc.; the Chaldean, an oath is laid upon him, and he shall not confess; the Septuagint connects this verse with the following thus: He that is partaker with a thief hateth his own soul; but if those who heard the oath proposed did not declare it, fearing and reverencing men, they were overthrown; but he that trusteth in the Lord shall rejoice. They were overthrown, that is, they shall be overthrown so certainly, as if they were already overthrown, they shall surely be subverted, as the Complutensian and Royal editions have it, and the Author of the Greek Catena. Interpreters generally and plainly take this saying of the thief's associate, who is a partaker in the theft. For there are some so dull or blinded by covetousness, that they think, or wish to think and persuade themselves, that to steal is indeed a sin; but when once the thing has been taken by theft, it can be used by themselves without sin, since it is now outside the thief's power: nay, they think it better that it should be occupied by themselves, innocent, than by the thief, guilty, who unjustly seized it. Solomon refutes this error here, and teaches that the associate of the thief, who is a partaker in the theft, is as guilty of theft as the thief who commits the theft. The reason is, that he cooperates with the thief and the theft. The same holds in any other crime; for he who is a partaker in a crime, cooperates with the crime and the criminal, and therefore he himself commits the crime, and is criminal. The sense therefore is, as if to say, He that partaketh with a thief in dividing the thing stolen by him, hateth his own soul, because for a small temporal gain he stains his own soul with the sin of theft, and makes it guilty of hell, and moreover renders it liable to infamy, and to temporal punishment inflicted by the judge. But in various ways can one be a partaker with a thief: namely, first, if a master send a servant or son to steal, that he may enrich himself; secondly, if he have a partnership with a thief for stealing: for in some places and cities there is a society of thieves, as there is of merchants, in which, as the latter divide profits, so thieves divide thefts with their associates; thirdly, if he provide the thief with a refuge, namely a lodging, to which he may resort, that he may steal securely; fourthly, if he sell and dispose of the thing stolen by the thief, that he may make money. HE HEARETH ONE ADJURING HIM, AND DISCLOSETH IT NOT. — This is another reason why he that is a partaker with a thief hateth his own soul, namely because he violates justice and public judgment, and is often perjured. For he heareth the judge adjuring him lawfully and judicially, that he may declare the thief and his associates and partners, and yet he discloseth it not, lest he betray himself. The judge adjures in two ways: first, when he compels him whom he summons to swear that he knoweth not who stole the thing, and who are his associates. Whence the Chaldean translates, an oath is laid upon him, and he confesseth not; and the Septuagint, but if those who heard the oath proposed did not declare it, fearing and reverencing those men, they shall be overthrown. Secondly, when he compels and binds the guilty, for example the thief and his associates, by fear of violating religion, or of incurring divine vengeance or curse, under the invocation of the divine name, to speak the truth, namely whether they stole the thing or divided it among themselves, for this properly is to adjure someone. Wherefore the guilty, lawfully adjured by the judge, is bound to speak the truth. Whence Tobias, chapter ix, verse 5, saith to Raphael: "Seest thou how Raguel adjured me? whose adjuration I cannot despise." Thus Caiphas adjured Christ, saying: "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou be the Christ the Son of God." Whence Christ, not so much from fear of the judge, as being not subject to him, as from reverence of the divine name, by which he was adjured, immediately answered that he was Christ, Matthew xxvi, 63. Similar was the adjuration of the adulteress in the old law, Numbers v, 19. Wherefore Pagninus and Vatablus translate less correctly and coldly, he heareth a curse, and discloseth it not, as if to say, "He who is a partaker in theft, is ill spoken of by men, who curse him, and dares not complain that he is ill spoken of." Secondly, some by him that is a partaker with a thief understand a witness; whence from the Hebrew they thus translate, he that is a partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul; he shall hear an adjuration, and shall not declare it, as if to say, A witness adjured by the judge to betray the thief, if he do not declare him, but conceal and hide him, is deemed to be a partaker with the thief, and to hate his own soul, both because he wounds his soul with a grievous perjury, and because he is the cause that the theft is not prevented, and that the owner is not restored his property: either of which is sufficient that he be called into the partnership of the theft itself, and be deemed to divide with the thief, and to be a partaker of the stolen thing. This interpretation also could be applied to the Vulgate version, if you supply something, in this manner: "He that is a partaker with a thief, hateth his own soul." Such is the witness, who heareth the judge "adjuring" him, that he may betray the thief, and yet "discloseth it not." But this sense supplies much that is not in the text. Wherefore the former sense, as being simpler and plainer, and therefore more genuine, seems preferable, nor does it therefore lie idle and wither, but has its use, as the weight of it appears from what has been said. Whence David, the father of Solomon, rebuking the same associate in theft, saith: "If thou sawest a thief, thou rannest with him," Psalm xlix, 18.
29:25
25. HE THAT FEARETH MAN SHALL QUICKLY FALL: BUT HE THAT HOPETH IN THE LORD SHALL BE EXALTED. — In Hebrew, the fear or trembling of man shall give a snare, and he that trusteth in the Lord shall be lifted up; the Chaldean, the calumny of the son of man bringeth him a stumbling block, and he that hopeth in God shall be strengthened. The Septuagint connects this verse with the preceding one, as I said a little before. Whence they set forth this maxim thus repeated as it were separately: Impiety (by which one feareth man more than God, and therefore falleth into all manner of crimes, even heresy and idolatry) giveth a fall: but he that trusteth in the Lord shall be saved; the Syriac, shall be great. Aben-Ezra explaineth it in three ways: first, as if to say, "The Lord shall lift up him that hopeth in Him from him that injected fear;"; secondly, as if to say, "The Lord shall strike him with fear, and entangle him in snares, which he had laid to ensnare the poor;"; thirdly, as if to say, "Him that is anxious with fear, and placeth not his hope in God, the evils which he feareth shall overtake." R. Levi, as if to say, The fearful man shall fall upon a wicked man, who, observing his fear, shall do him harm and destruction. But the fear of man here is not to be taken actively, that is, whereby man feareth and dreadeth something, but passively, that is, whereby man is feared and dreaded; whence Our [translator] rendereth it, he that feareth man, and so also the Septuagint. He speaketh of excessive and inordinate fear, whereby one so feareth man that through fear of him he forsaketh the law of God, and sinneth, and preferreth to offend God rather than man. For he that thus feareth man shall fall into grave evils of body and soul, from which he shall be delivered who feareth God more than man, and placeth his hope in God. Vatablus translated it forcefully from the Hebrew, the fear of man injected a snare (to the fearful man); but he that trusteth in the Lord shall be exalted. To be exalted is to be saved as in a citadel and lofty place. It is a metaphor taken from soldiers, who, when the enemy is at hand, betake themselves to high places, as it were to a safe refuge and asylum; such indeed is God to those that hope in Him, and flee to Him from men whom they fear. Whence David often calleth God משגב misgab, that is, height, exaltation, a lofty and inaccessible place to enemies, a fortification so high that it cannot be crossed or taken; a refuge in time of persecution or war, as Psalm XVII, 3: "The Lord is my firmament, and my refuge, and my deliverer;"; and verse 17: "He sent from on high, and took me, etc., He delivered me from my enemies most mighty." For God keepeth those that hope in Him, and driveth away from them all fear of men, and utterly dispelleth the evils which might be feared from them or from any other source whatsoever: as He dispelled from David the evils and death which Saul was continually plotting against him. Antithesis would have required him to say: "He that feareth the Lord;"; but he preferred to say: "He that hopeth in the Lord," because hope is always joined with fear; but to God hope is more pleasing, which lifteth man up, than fear which depresseth him. Thus likewise in place of he that feareth man, he might have said: "He that hopeth in man shall quickly fall": for these two affections, namely hope and fear, are inseparable companions, and one is born from the other; for hope of acquiring good from someone bringeth forth fear of offending him, lest he be deprived of the good hoped for from him. Fear therefore is to the fearful man a snare, which straitens him, ensnares him and as it were strangles him, both because it is the cause that he offendeth God, and ensnares and killeth his own soul with the snare of this fear; and because he acquireth not the favour of the man whom he excessively feared, but often incurreth his displeasure, and by the just judgment of God falleth into the evil which through human fear he strove to avoid; and because it impelleth him into other grave evils of body and soul, which as snares ensnare and suffocate him, and especially because he weaveth for himself the snare of eternal damnation and hell. There is one who explaineth it thus, as if to say, Whosoever ambitiously pursueth the favour of men, and feareth slavishly to displease them, is very like unto one who hath put his neck in a snare, because he perpetually hangeth as long as he dependeth on the will of men, on fear and desire to please; but thus to hang is the same as to be suspended, and as it were continually strangled; for he that feareth observeth all the nods, gestures, words, acts of him whom he feareth, and if he see them severer than usual, he is anxious, trembleth, and is tormented; wherefore as many anxieties, fears, dreads, tremblings as he hath in a day, so many snares hath he, which indeed do not strangle the throat of the body, but the soul and as it were strangle it. Fear therefore and dread are rightly compared to a snare; for as a snare straitens the neck, so fear straitens and constraineth the soul, so that it intercepteth its voice, breath, motion and life. This is what the Psalmist saith, Psalm lii, 6: "They have not called upon God; there they trembled with fear, where there was no fear," as if to say, They feared that which was not to be feared, they dreaded men in whom there is nothing that could justly inspire fear; "because God hath scattered the bones of them that please men: they are confounded, because God hath despised them." Behold a threefold great destruction which the desire to please men bringeth forth, namely the breaking of all bones, confusion and the aversion or reprobation of God, saith St. Bernard (or whosoever be the author; for the style suggesteth it is not St. Bernard's) in the Sermon on the Misery of Mankind.
29:26
26. MANY SEEK THE FACE OF THE PRINCE: AND JUDGMENT PROCEEDETH FROM THE LORD FOR EVERY ONE. — In Hebrew, many seek the face of the one who rules, and from the Lord is the judgment of a man. Thus also the Syriac. The Chaldean, and from the face of the Lord is the judgment of a man; the Septuagint, many honor the faces of leaders; but from the Lord justice is made for a man. You will ask, what is that judgment of each one which proceedeth from the Lord? First, judgment among the Hebrews is often the same as lot, condition, status, fortune. Whence Vatablus translates it, from the Lord proceedeth the lot of each one, or fortune and condition, that is to say, Many and great men, says Aben-Ezra, seek the face, that is the grace and benevolence of the prince, so that by him they may be raised to status, dignities, offices and riches; yet the lot, status and office of each one dependeth from the Lord, since it is His to measure out to each his own degree and honor, his own dignity and lowliness, his own riches and poverty, that is to say, Therefore the face, that is the grace and benevolence of God, is to be sought after much more than that of the prince. For God is the ruler of the world, the arbiter of men, the steward of the earth, the distributor of offices, the apportioner of statuses, the dispenser of riches, who measureth out and dispenseth to each his own measure of riches, honors, offices, as it pleaseth Him. God also ruleth the hearts of kings and princes, so that they distribute to each the same measure which pleaseth Him. This is what the Psalmist acknowledgeth and prayeth, Psalm xxx, 16: "In thy hands are my lots," that is to say, The status, chances, events, vicissitude of my affairs, such as riches and poverty, servitude and principality, health and infirmity, honor and abjection, peace and war, says Theodoret, these, I say, and any other lots, statuses and conditions depend not on fortune, not on princes, but on thy, O Lord, providence, are ruled and dispensed; whence from that I ask and expect my lot. This sense is very apt and genuine, and this maxim connecteth with the preceding one, nay giveth its cause, that is to say, Therefore those who fear men shall fall; but those who fear and hope in the Lord shall be exalted, because it is not men's but God's to distribute to each his good or bad and wretched lot. But God loveth those who hope in Him, and therefore dispenseth to them a good lot, and raiseth and exalteth them. But those who, neglecting Him, fear men and hope in them, He hateth, and therefore attributeth to them a wretched lot, so that they fall into many troubles. Note: To seek the face of the prince or of God is to seek and court the benevolence of the prince or of God. In this sense the Psalmist saith, Psalm xxvi, 8: "Thy face, O Lord, will I seek;" and Psalm civ, 4: "Seek ye his face always," and elsewhere often. For the favor and benevolence of anyone appeareth and shineth forth in his face and countenance, serene and benevolent. Secondly, judgment is called that which is equitable and just, as the Septuagint translate it, that is to say, Many seek the right and justice of their cause and suit from the prince, and therefore conciliate his face, that is his benevolence, to themselves, so that in judgment he may weigh the matter rightly and adjudge it to them; but they do not observe that judgment, that is the administration of justice, and the sentence of the judge and prince dependeth on God more than on the prince. Wherefore, he who is wise should demand it from God, to whom the right of the judge belongeth, since the prince is ruled by God, and accommodateth his mind to those things which God suggesteth, according to that in chapter xxi, 1: "The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will, he shall turn it." Thus R. Levi, R. Solomon and Jansenius, who explaineth it thus, that is to say, Many study to please princes, who are only judges of some things, and in certain causes; but much more is the face, that is the favor of the Lord, to be sought, inasmuch as by Him all and each are to be judged, and He will also examine the judgments of judges, and, if they be unjust, will retract them, and will restore their right to those unjustly condemned. Salazar also agreeth, who understood seeking the face as to court the grace and favor of someone through gifts, namely to conciliate or purchase a judge or prince with gifts, according to that Psalm xliv, 13: "And the daughters of Tyre shall entreat thy face with gifts," that is to say, Although princes and magistrates, bent by gifts, pronounce an unjust sentence, the matter is not therefore settled and the cause perfected; there still remaineth that final judgment, to which both the prince and he who corrupted him with gifts must be subject, so that they be absolved or condemned by right. But this is God's most severe and incorruptible judgment, which it is not permitted for anyone to escape. Third, by judgment some understand God's final judgment, that is to say, Many fear the judgments of men and of judges, and therefore seek their favor: but these are of little moment; but of the highest moment is the final judgment, which God will render concerning the soul of each one, and its merits or demerits, so as to adjudge it to heaven or hell for all eternity, concerning which nevertheless men think and care little, that is to say, What great madness it is to fear the judgments of men, and not to dread God's judgment, upon which depends our eternal salvation or misery, and therefore not to seek His favor through good works! O vanity! O stupor of men! O senseless minds! This sense is wise, pious and profound. For God's ultimate judgment is called "judgment" κατ' ἐξοχήν, first, because it will be the last and supreme, from which there is no appeal; second, because it is most sincere and most just: for in it God will search Jerusalem with lamps; third, because it is most efficacious and plainly inevitable: for immediately He will adjudge the good to heaven, the wicked to hell; fourth, because it is longest, immense and eternal: for it will last as long as God, for ever and ever. Who therefore will not fear thee and thy judgment, O King of ages, in whose hand are life and death, election and reprobation, salvation and perdition, happiness and unhappiness of each one for all eternity? "Fear therefore the Lord, all nations, tribes, tongues and peoples, small and great, and give Him honor, because the hour of His judgment is come, and adore Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters," Apoc. xiv, 7.
29:27
27. THE JUST ABHOR THE WICKED MAN: AND THE WICKED ABHOR THOSE WHO ARE IN THE RIGHT WAY. — Those who enter upon the way and custom of living rightly, says R. Solomon. In Hebrew, abomination of the just is a man of iniquity, and abomination of the wicked is the right way; the Septuagint, abomination to the just is an unjust man; but abomination to the wicked is the right way going forth. Solomon concludes his proverbs with this maxim, in which manner St. Augustine, he constitutes for himself two cities contrary to one another, one of God, the other of the devil; one of the just, the other of the wicked, between which there is perpetual strife and war. The just therefore abhor and persecute the wicked, and conversely the wicked the just, both on account of the dissimilarity and repugnance of morals, and because the just strive to propagate the kingdom of probity. Probity therefore, lest it be overcome and succumb to improbity, must always keep watch in arms, and must strive not only to repel but also to expel the satellites of improbity; for there is between the two mutual hatred and dissension. The just therefore do not hate the wicked, but their impiety; the wicked however hate the just, equally as justice and piety. Whence the Syriac renders it, the wicked abhor the right paths. This is the ἄσπονδος πόλεμος of the pious and the wicked, and an irreconcilable war. "For what participation hath justice with injustice? or what fellowship hath light with darkness? or what concord hath Christ with Belial?" II Cor. vi, 14. Hence let each one discern whether he be just or wicked. For if he abhors the wicked and impiety, he is just; but if he persecutes the pious and piety, he is wicked. Let each one therefore see of which kingdom he is a citizen, of piety or of impiety, of God or of the devil. He adds the fruit and end, that the end of the kingdom of impiety is perdition, but of piety liberation from perdition. Similar to this maxim is that which we heard in cap. xxi, 8: "The way of a perverse man, he says, is strange; but he who is clean, his work is right."
Appendix: The Word Guarding the Son THE WORD GUARDING THE SON SHALL NOT BE IN PERDITION. — This verse is wanting in the Hebrew, Chaldean, and Complutensian Septuagint. It has been transcribed from the Vatican Septuagint, which has it in chapter twenty-four, at the end of verse twenty-two, before "These things also to the wise." Therefore this maxim is as it were a crown and conclusion of the Proverbs of Solomon, signifying their fruit and reward, so that with this as it were an epiphoneme he concludes his work and commends it to all, as if to say: Whoever shall have guarded in his mind these words of my proverbs, that is, my admonitions, doctrines and precepts, so as to exercise them in deed, and according to them shall direct and compose all his actions, he shall escape the perdition prepared in Gehenna for the impious who transgress them, and shall obtain the happiness and eternal glory decreed from eternity for the pious who keep the law of God (which I have embraced in these proverbs). How much therefore each one holds his soul dear, and the eternal salvation of his soul, let him hold these my words and precepts equally dear: for these indicate the straight way to heaven unto salvation and perpetual happiness, according to that in chapter twelve, verse twenty-eight: "In the path of justice, life; but the by-way leads to death." St. Augustine cites this maxim in his book "On Lying" to Consentius, chapter eighteen, and adds certain things which almost accord with those which the Vatican Septuagint has in chapter twenty-four, verse twenty-two. For Augustine thus has it: "The son receiving the word shall be far from perdition; but he that receiveth it shall receive it to himself, and nothing false shall proceed from his mouth." For which the Vatican Septuagint, chapter twenty-four, verse twenty-two, has: nothing false shall be said from the mouth of the king, and nothing false shall go forth from his tongue: and they add many things which concern the king, the sense of which I have rendered in chapter fourteen, verse twenty-two. St. Augustine, however, omitting "nothing false shall be said from the mouth of the king," attached the following, namely, "nothing false shall go forth from his tongue," or, as he himself reads it, "goes forth" or "proceeds," to the son receiving the word, as if these things were said not to the king, but to anyone, to commend the study of truth and hatred of falsehood, namely to prove that it is never lawful to lie: whence by the word he understands Christ, who is the truth. Concerning him therefore he himself thus expounds: "Although someone might not think that anything else is to be understood here which is set down: 'The son receiving the word,' except the Word of God, which is truth. Therefore the son receiving truth shall be far from perdition, and it is referred to that which was said: 'Thou wilt destroy all who speak a lie.' But what follows: 'But he that receiveth it shall receive it to himself,' what else does it insinuate, except what the Apostle says: 'But let each one prove his own work, and then he shall have glory in himself, and not in another'? For he who receives the word, that is, truth, not to himself, but that it may please men, does not keep it when he sees that falsehoods can please. But he who receives it to himself, nothing false proceeds from his mouth, because even when falsehood pleases men, he will not lie who has received truth not that it might please them, but that it might please God. And so there is no reason why it should be said here: 'All who speak a lie shall perish.'" Therefore the meaning of St. Augustine is that the Word of God is Christ who is truth, and consequently he who guards Christ guards likewise truth, so that he may be truthful both in speech and in deed; and therefore such a one is so far from perdition as Christ is far from it, who is Jesus, that is, the Saviour, and himself salvation and life, according to that which Christ says to the Jews, John six, verse forty: "And this is the will of my Father that sent me, that everyone who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day;"; and chapter eight, verse twenty-four: "Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sin;"; and verse fifty-one: "If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever;"; and chapter seventeen, verse three: "Now this is eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." This sense is sublime, but rather mystical than literal.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
29:23
… It is said, for example, that the Lord will give, in messianic times, a "new rūah" (Ez. 11, 19; 18, 31; 36, 29; Ps. 51 [50], 12); in the rūah thoughts ascend (Ez. 11, 5); the rūah seeks, desires the Lord (Is. 26, 9), is cast down (Is. 66, 2; Prov. 15, 13), humble (Prov. 16, 19; 29, 23), magnanimous (Ps. 51 [50], 14).
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.