An exhortation to chastity, temperance, and works of mercy; with the praise of a wise woman.
An exhortation to chastitie, temperance, 8. and to workes of mercie. 10. with praise of a valiant wise woman.
1The words of king Lamuel. The vision wherewith his mother instructed him.Parole del re Lamuele. Profezia, colla quale lo istruì la sua madre.THE wordes of Lamuel the king. The vision wherwith his mother instructed him.Verba Lamuelis regis. Visio qua erudivit eum mater sua. 2What, O my beloved, what, O the beloved of my womb, what, O the beloved of my vows?E che, o mio diletto? e che, o caro frutto del mio seno? e che, o amato oggetto de' voti miei?What ô my beloued, what ô the beloued of my wombe, what ô beloued of my vowes?Quid, dilecte mi ? quid, dilecte uteri mei ? / quid, dilecte votorum meorum ? 3Give not thy substance to women, and thy riches to destroy kings.Non consumare il tuo bene nelle donne, nè le tue ricchezze in quello che fa lo sterminio dei re.Geue not thy substance to wemen, & thy riches to destroy kinges.Ne dederis mulieribus substantiam tuam, / et divitias tuas ad delendos reges. 4Give not to kings, O Lamuel, give not wine to kings: because there is no secret where drunkenness reigneth:Non permettere ai re, o Lamuele, non permettere il vino: perocché dove regna ebbrezza, non v'è segreto:Geue not to kinges, ô Lamuel, geue not wine to kinges: because there is no secrete where drunknes reigneth,Noli regibus, o Lamuel, noli regibus dare vinum, / quia nullum secretum est ubi regnat ebrietas; 5And lest they drink and forget judgments, and pervert the cause of the children of the poor.E perché dopo aver bevuto non si scordino di far giustizia, e non tradiscano la causa de' figliuoli del povero.& lest perhaps they drinke, & forget iudgements, & change the cause of the children of the poore.et ne forte bibant, et obliviscantur judiciorum, / et mutent causam filiorum pauperis. 6Give strong drink to them that are sad; and wine to them that are grieved in mind:Date la sicera agli afflitti, e il vino a quelli, che hanno il cuore amareggiato:Geue strong drinke to them that be sad, and wine vnto them, that are of a pensiue minde:Date siceram mœrentibus, / et vinum his qui amaro sunt animo. 7Let them drink, and forget their want, and remember their sorrow no more.Questi bevano, e si scordino di lor miseria, e non abbiano più memoria del lor dolore.let them drinke, and forget their pouertie, and not remember their sorow any more.Bibant, et obliviscantur egestatis suæ, / et doloris sui non recordentur amplius. 8Open thy mouth for the dumb, and for the causes of all the children that pass.Apri tu la tua bocca in favore del mutolo, e a difesa di tutti i passeggeri:Open thy mouth to the dumme, & to the causes of al the children that passe:Aperi os tuum muto, / et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
9Open thy mouth, decree that which is just, and do justice to the needy and poor.Apri la tua bocca, ordina quello che è giusto, e rendi ragione al meschinello, ed al povero.open thy mouth, decree that which is iust, & iudge the needie & poore.Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, / et judica inopem et pauperem. 10Who shall find a valiant woman? far, and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.Chi troverà una donna forte? il pregio di lei è come delle cose portate di lontano, e dalle estremità della terra.A valiant woman who shal finde? far, and from the vtmost borders is the price of her.Mulierem fortem quis inveniet ? / procul et de ultimis finibus pretium ejus. 11The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no need of spoils.In lei riposa il cuor del suo sposo, il quale non avrà bisogno di proccurarsi bottino.The hart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shal not neede spoyles.Confidit in ea cor viri sui, / et spoliis non indigebit. 12She will render him good, and not evil all the days of her life.Ella del bene darà a lui, e non del male, per tutti i giorni che durerà la sua vita.She shal render good, and not euil, al the dayes of her life.Reddet ei bonum, et non malum, / omnibus diebus vitæ suæ. 13She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands.Ella si proccura della lana, e del lino, e lo mette in opra colla perizia delle sue mani.She hath sought wool and flaxe, and hath wrought by the counsel of her handes.Quæsivit lanam et linum, / et operata est consilia manuum suarum. 14She is like the merchant’s ship, she bringeth her bread from afar.Ella o simile alla nave di un mercatante, la quale porta da lungi il suo sostentamento.She is become as a marchants shippe, bringing her bread from farre.Facta est quasi navis institoris, / de longe portans panem suum. 15And she hath risen in the night, and given a prey to her household, and victuals to her maidens.Ella si alza, che è ancor notte, e distribuisce il vitto alla gente di casa, e il mangiare alle sue serve.And she hath risen in the night, and geuen pray to her houshold, and meates to her handmaides.Et de nocte surrexit, / deditque prædam domesticis suis, / et cibaria ancillis suis. 16She hath considered a field, and bought it: with the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard.Pose gli occhi sopra un podere, e io comperò; del guadagno delle sue mani piantovvi una vigna.She hath vewed a filde, and bought it, of the fruite of her handes she hath planted a vineyard.Consideravit agrum, et emit eum; / de fructu manuum suarum plantavit vineam. 17She hath girded her loins with strength, and hath strengthened her arm.Ella si cinge di fortezza i suoi fianchi, e fa robusto il suo braccio.She hath gyrded her loines with strength, and hath strengthened her arme.Accinxit fortitudine lumbos suos, / et roboravit brachium suum.
18She hath tasted, and seen that her traffic is good: her lamp shall not be put out in the night.Ella provò, e vide come il suo negozio le frutta: la sua lucerna non si spegne la notte.She hath tasted, and sene that her traficke is good: her lampe shal not be extinguished in the night.Gustavit, et vidit quia bona est negotiatio ejus; / non extinguetur in nocte lucerna ejus. 19She hath put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle.Ella a forti cose stende la mano: le sue dita maneggiano il fuso.She hath put her hand to strong thinges, and her fingers haue taken hold of the spindle.Manum suam misit ad fortia, / et digiti ejus apprehenderunt fusum. 20She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her hands to the poor.Apre la mano ai miserabili, e stende le palme ai poverelli.She hath opened her hand to the neddie, and stretched out her palmes to the poore.Manum suam aperuit inopi, / et palmas suas extendit ad pauperem. 21She shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for all her domestics are clothed with double garments.Non teme per que' di sua casa il freddo, o la neve; perché tutti i suoi domestici han doppia veste.She shal not feare for her house in the coldes of snow: for al her houshould are clothed with duble.Non timebit domui suæ a frigoribus nivis; / omnes enim domestici ejus vestiti sunt duplicibus. 22She hath made for herself clothing of tapestry: fine linen, and purple, is her covering.Ella si fa dei tappeti di varj colori: il suo abito è di bisso, e di porpora.Tapestrie clothing she hath made to herself: silke, and purple is her garment.Stragulatam vestem fecit sibi; / byssus et purpura indumentum ejus. 23Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land.Bella figura farà il suo sposo alle porte assise trai senatori del luogo.Her husband is noble in the gates, when he shal sitte with the senatours of the land.Nobilis in portis vir ejus, / quando sederit cum senatoribus terræ. 24She made fine linen, and sold it, and delivered a girdle to the Chanaanite.Fabbrica fine vesti di lino, e le vende, e da ai Cananei mercatanti delle cinture.She made sindon, and sold it, and deliuered a girdle to the Chananeite.Sindonem fecit, et vendidit, / et cingulum tradidit Chananæo. 25Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she shall laugh in the latter day.Ella si ammanta di fortezza, e di decoro, e sarà lieta negli ultimi giorni.Strength and beautie is her garment, and she shal laugh in the later day.Fortitudo et decor indumentum ejus, / et ridebit in die novissimo.
26She hath opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue.Con saggezza apre ella la sua bocca, e la legge della bontà governa sua lingua.She hath opened her mouth to wisedom, and the law of clemencie is in her tongue.Os suum aperuit sapientiæ, / et lex clementiæ in lingua ejus. 27She hath looked well on the paths of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle.Sta attenta agli andamenti di sua gente, e il pane non mangia nell'ozio.She hath considered the pathes of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle.Consideravit semitas domus suæ, / et panem otiosa non comedit. 28Her children rose up, and called her blessed: her husband, and he praised her.Sorgono i figli di lei, e la annunziano per sommamente beata; il suo marito, e le dà lode.Her children arose, and commended her to be most blessed: her husband, and he praysed her.Surrexerunt filii ejus, et beatissimam prædicaverunt; / vir ejus, et laudavit eam. 29Many daughters have gathered together riches: thou hast surpassed them all.Molte son le fanciulle, che hanno adunate delle ricchezze: tu le hai superate tutte quante.Manie daughters haue gathered together riches: thou hast passed them al.Multæ filiæ congregaverunt divitias; / tu supergressa es universas. 30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.Fallace è l'avvenenza, ed è vana la beltà: la donna, che teme il Signore sarà quella, che avrà lode.Grace is deceitful, and beautie is vayne: the woman that feareth our Lord shal be praysed.Fallax gratia, et vana est pulchritudo: / mulier timens Dominum, ipsa laudabitur. 31Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her works praise her in the gates.Date a lei de' frutti delle sue mani, e lo opere sue la celebrino alle porte.Geue ye to her of the fruite of her handes: and let her workes praise her in the gates.Date ei de fructu manuum suarum, / et laudent eam in portis opera ejus.
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Challoner
Lamuel. This name signifies, God with him; and is supposed to be one of the names of Solomon. (Challoner)
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Vows. She seems unable to express her concern for him when he first mounted the throne, and shewed her the greatest reverence, 3 Kings 2:19.
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Women. This would destroy thy health, and tend to impoverish the kingdom.
Calmet
Kings, by injustice and ambition. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Give. Septuagint, "Do all with counsel. By advice drink wine. Lords are inclined to anger; let them not drink wine." (Haydock)
Solomon took this advice, Ecclesiastes 2:3.
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Poor. Solon condemned to death, at Athens, the prince who should get drunk; and the Areopagites excluded from their assembly a judge who had dined in a tavern. (Laert. 1.; Athen. 13:2.)
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Drink. Hebrew shecar, particularly palm-wine.
Are sad. Hebrew, "perish," being sentenced to die; (Mark 15:23., and Amos 2:8.) or, who grieve and mourn for one deceased. On such occasions no food was prepared in the house, but the friends supplied what was necessary, and went to eat and drink with the afflicted, Ecclesiastes 7:3.
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More. Not that intoxication is permitted even to them.
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Calmet
Pass through life, or the country. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "Open thy mouth and judge righteously. Render justice to the poor and weak." (Haydock)
Worthington
Doctrine is best received by those who are more ready to hear than to speak. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Who. The following verses are in alphabetical order. They contain a grand eulogy of Bethsabee, who repented, or of a perfect matron. (Calmet)
Worthington
Such are rare, though they may be found. (Worthington)
Valiant; industrious.
Calmet
Price. Formerly people bought their wives. (Calmet)
Is. Hebrew, "is far above rubies (Protestants; Haydock) or pearls," Lamentations 4:7.
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Spoils, taken in war. His wife will supply all necessaries, ver. 21.
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Menochius
Hands, with skill and industry, (Calmet) or "willingness." (Hebrew) (Menochius)
Eginhard
Ladies of the highest quality formerly employed themselves in this manner, like Penelope. Alexander, Augustus, and Charlemagne wore garments, which their sisters or wives had wrought. (Curt. 5.) (Suetonius 64.) (Eginhard.)
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Haydock
Bread; all that is used for meat and drink. Septuagint, "riches." Grabe, "livelihood:" Bion. (Haydock)
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Haydock
Night, or early in the morning, as soon as the night was over; de nocte. Hebrew, "while it is yet night." (Haydock)
Cato v
Extreme vigilance is required of those who direct others. "The master must be first up, and last in bed." (Cato v.)
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Calmet
Considered. This conduct is suggested by prudence. (Calmet)
Cato (Rust. 2.) says, "Do not go only once round the field," etc.
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Arm; working, and making others obey.
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Night, during a great part of which she will work.
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Calmet
Strong things, "becoming" (Septuagint) her station. (Calmet)
Worthington
Spindle. She purposes and begins well, trusting in God for perfection and a reward. (Worthington)
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Domestics. Hebrew, "house is clothed in purple," which may be understood of the domestics, though it seems more probably to refer to her husband and children.
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Tapestry, for the beds and floor.
Linen, or cotton; byssus, Exodus 25:4.
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Calmet
Gates. Chaldean, "provinces." The rich were chosen for judges. (Calmet)
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Challoner
The Chanaanite, the merchant; for Chanaanite, in Hebrew, signifies a merchant. (Challoner)
The Phoenicians travelled into all countries. Traffic was not then deemed a discredit, even to kings.
Girdles were worn both by men and women, and were very costly, insomuch that (Calmet) the kings of Persia assigned cities to furnish their wives with them. (Athen. 1:in Antylla.)
Worthington
They who practise and teach the law may be said to buy and sell. (Worthington)
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Clothing: it is very beautiful, or wisdom and virtue surround her.
Jansenius
Day. She fears not death, (Calmet) or future distress of hunger, etc. (Jansenius)
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Haydock
Tongue. She is ever bent on doing good. (Haydock)
Calmet
Very different from many of her sex, who are taken up with vanity and complaints. (Calmet)
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Idle, out of a sense of duty, and not through avarice.
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Her. They were best able to judge of her merit.
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Worthington
Lord. Hitherto natural qualifications appear: but to these the Christian matron must add sincere piety: and thus Solomon completes the character of his mother, (Calmet) who had given him such excellent instructions, or of any accomplished woman. Outward beauty soon (Haydock) decays; but the fear of God is more deserving of praise. (Worthington)
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Menochius
Gates, before all the judges (Haydock) and people. (Menochius)
Haydock
Good works shall be rewarded at God's tribunal, (Worthington) when the vain worldly beauty shall be covered with confusion. (Haydock)
Worthington
This idea of a perfect woman is best verified in the Catholic Church, (St. Augustine; Ven. Bede) though the blessed Virgin [Mary], etc., may also be designated. (Worthington)
St. Jerome
The use of the alphabet herein denotes, that we must begin with a moral good life, if we would penetrate the greater mysteries of the Scriptures. (St. Jerome, Lam.[Lamentations?])
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The Chanaanite.... The merchant, for Chanaanite, in Hebrew, signifies a merchant.
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This Book is called Ecclesiastes, or The Preacher, (in Hebrew, Coheleth,) because in it, Solomon, as an excellent preacher, setteth forth the vanity of the things of this world: to withdraw the hearts and affections of men from such empty toys.
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VVordes perteining to Salomon spoken to him by his mother: who here calleth him Lamuel, signifying, God vvith him.
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Doctrine is most profitable to those, that are modestly dumme, more vvilling to heare then to speake.
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The chief & most proper office of a king is to do iustice.
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10. A valiant vvoman vvho shal finde?] Vpon occasion of his mothers most The praise of a right vvise woman vvritten in verse, & in order of the Alphabet. prudent admonition, the wiseman singularly praiseth a perfect vertuous woman. And that in an exquisite kind of stile: in Tetramical lambike verse, with perfect order and number of the Alphabet letters Signifying, as S Ierom Proem. lament. teacheth, that as none can reade, or speale wordes, vnles they first lerne to know the letters: so we can not attaine to know the greater Mysteries in holie Scriptures, except we beginne with moral good life, according to that the Prophet sayth: By thy commandments I haue vnderstood. And therfore Psal. 11•. v. 104. wi•e Salomon, by instinct of the Holie Ghost, as wel by the maner of stile, as The Church hath al good properties requisite. A faithful soule hath them at least in desire. by the doctrine conteined, concludeth his Booke of Parables, with praise both of the Church in general, which hath al the vertues, and good properties here mentioned; and of euerie faithful soule, sincerely seruing God, which either in dede, or in desire of mind, hath such part of them, as may suffice to the attaining of eternal life. For concerning the whole Church, S Augustin in two Sermons (217. and 218 de temp.) S. Beda vpon this place, and other Fathers shew it euidently. Touching also particular soules, not only of holie men, but also of vvemen, the frailer sexe, holie Scriptures, and Ecclesiastical monuments yelde manie examples, besides the most Excellent and immaculate Rare and excellent wemen both in the old and nevv testament. virgin Mother of God; as of Sara, Rebecca, Lia, Rachael, Elizabeth, Marie Magdalen, Martha, and innumerable others, most precious pearles, deare spouses of Christ, and singular ornaments of his Church.
A vvoman of such perfectiō as is here described, is in dede rare, yet possible to be found
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Flaxe on the distafe signifieth purpose to do good workes, yarne on the spindle the vvorke vvel begune, which geueth confidence in God that the same shal be perfect and haue due revvard.
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They make and sel cloth, which lerning and obseruing Gods lavv, do teach it others
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External comelines is not durable: but the feare of God is more vvorthie of praise.
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Good vvorkes shal be revvarded,
at the tribunal seate of iudgement.
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 3.2
… Now, since it is not mere human wisdom that is claimed for himself by Solomon, who says, “God hath taught me wisdom ,” and who, where he says “all my words are spoken from God
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 2.4
… as it is said “Do everything with counsel, drink thy wine with counsel,”
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Funeral Oration on Meletius 1
… Moreover console each other with the following words; it is a good medicine that Solomon has for sorrow; for he bids wine be given to the sorrowful; saying this to us, the labourers in the vineyard: “Give,” therefore, “your wine to those that are in sorrow
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 19
… much more, I say, for the soldier, when his temper is sharpened by other causes also, by power, by authority, by being constantly in the midst of stratagems and battles. Wouldest thou know where wine is good? Hear what the Scripture saith, “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto the bitter in soul.” (
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.17
… that I should not sin against Thee.” But you will perhaps say: And to whom are the mysteries of Holy Scripture to be dispensed? Solomon, the wisest of men, shall teach you: “Give, says he, strong drink to those who are in sorrow, and give wine to drink, to those who are in pain, that they may forget their poverty, and remember their pain no more,”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 8.9
9. The divine Solomon, in his instructive wisdom, I mean his Proverbs, praises the woman
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 18.7
7. I have heard the Scripture say: Who can find a valiant woman?
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 69.5
… Concerning whom it is written in Isaiah, “Make haste ye women and come from the show, for it is a people of no understanding.” And again “Rise up, ye women that are wealthy, and hear my voice.” And in the Book of Proverbs, “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.8
… Thus, as we said above, practical knowledge is distributed among many subjects and interests, but theoretical is divided into two parts, i.e., the historical interpretation and the spiritual sense. Whence also Solomon when he had summed up the manifold grace of the Church, added: “for all who are with her are clothed with double garments.”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults 10.21
… of which presently it is said: “Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she rejoices in the latter days.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 7.10
… Let no one say that one gave the law, and that another teaches the law: for the same teaches it who gave it; He is the Master of His own law, and teaches it. And mercy is in His tongue, therefore mercifully teacheth He the law, as it is said regarding wisdom, “The law and mercy doth she carry in her tongue.”
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1. The words of King Lamuel. — Just as Solomon in the preceding chapter, in this symposium as it were of wisdom, introduces Agur speaking for the sake of elegance, and yet in Agur Solomon himself speaks: so here he introduces Lamuel speaking in turn, and yet in Lamuel no one other than Solomon speaks. Thus Plato in his dialogues introduces Protagoras, Socrates, Cratylus, and others speaking in turn, and yet in them no one other than Plato himself speaks. Thus today many write books and dialogues, in which they introduce speaking Philotheus, Philotimus and other persons true or fictitious, so that from their significance or analogy they may indicate the argument and purpose of the book, and thus more pleasantly flow into the minds of readers. Therefore "the words of Lamuel," that is of Solomon; thus all the Hebrews, Greeks and Latins: for no other king is found among the Hebrews or foreigners who is called Lamuel. Theodotion translated it "the words of Rebuel," because the letter lamed is sometimes exchanged or corrupted into the letter resh. You will ask, why is Solomon called Lamuel? I answer: There are various analogies and reasons, on account of various etymologies of Lamuel. First indeed Baynus thinks Lamuel is the same as lemo el, that is, to whom is God; but R. Solomon thinks Lamuel is the same as לאל leel, that is, of God or to God: for Solomon was God's as it were peculiar possession, indeed a son, whence he was a type of Christ to be born from himself. Hence of both it is said by God: "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son," II Kings vii, 14. Again Solomon from childhood was devoted to God, dedicated and consecrated; whence by him through Nathan he was called Jededia, that is, beloved of the Lord, because the Lord loved him, II Kings xii, 25. Thus King Melchisedech, Gen. xiv, is called priest of leel elion, that is, of God Most High, namely consecrated to God almighty; for el signifies God who is powerful by essence and omnipotence, so that from him all power, force and strength of men, Angels and all creatures, as a ray from the sun, flows forth: so that by this name every creature is most tightly bound to God to love him, worship him, give him thanks, invoke him, and serve him with all the powers of body and mind. Secondly, the Syrian, shortening Lamuel, translated it muel, just as the French, shortening the name Emmanuel, say Noel: whence they call the birthday of Christ Noel. "The words of Muel the King the Prophet," says the Syrian. Now Muel is said as it were מאל meel, that is, from God, namely chosen, exalted and consecrated king, the most powerful of all kings, the richest, the wisest. "The words of Lamuel" therefore, that is, the words of him who was created by God as king. Thus R. Levi. Thirdly, some think "Lamuel" is said as it were למוד אל lemud el, that is, taught by God, so that the letter daleth, harder, is elided for the sake of euphony: for Solomon received wisdom infused by God, which he here sets forth. Whence the Septuagint, reading דברי debarai, that is, my words, instead of דברי dibre, that is, words, translate: My words have proceeded from God, which as an oracle I learned from my mother. Thus the Author of the Greek Catena. Fourthly, Lamuel or lamoel, as it is called in verse 4, can be said as it were לעמו אל lemmo el, that is, with him is God: whence afterwards his son Christ, who succeeded him in the kingdom of Israel, that is, of the Church of the faithful, was called Emmanuel, that is, God with us, Isaiah vii; thus Aben-Ezra. Thus Solomon in the preceding chapter, verse 1, was called Ithiel, that is, with him is God. Thus Bede, Lyra and others. Hence the name of Lamuel alludes to what the prophet Nathan said to David: "As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so be he with Solomon," III Kings i, 37; and to that of the Angel to Gideon: "The Lord is with thee, thou mightiest of men," Judges vi, 12. This etymology, equally as that reviewed in the first place, is very plausible. Fifthly, others think Lamuel is composed of אם em and אל el, as if to say, To whom God was as a mother; for God loved Solomon, instructed him, exalted him, as a mother. Sixthly, Jansenius thinks Lamuel is deflected from Solomon, and signifies to him God, or God with him. Whence Aquila translated, the words of Lammun, that is, Solomon. For the first letter S is omitted, and the name of God el is added; and it can be seen that this name his mother gave to him, after she saw that God was with him: because in the words of his mother this name is placed, so that she who previously called him Solomon, now with some things omitted and some things added, called him Lamuel. But the words subjoined are said to be the words of Lamuel, since immediately he says they are the words of his mother, either because they were written down by him, or because they pertain to him, as particularly said to him by his mother. Finally, Lemuel alludes to Samuel. For just as Samuel was said to be as it were from his barren mother Anna "requested" and "obtained" "from God," 1 Kings i, 20: so Solomon was called Lemuel, as it were given by God and dedicated to God. Again, Salonius translates Lemuel as "God in him," because Solomon was a type of Christ, in whom "the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily," Colossians ii, 9. Hugo thinks that Solomon as an infant or small child, by his mother uniquely and lovingly out of the delights of affection, was called by the fictitious name Lemuel, just as children are called by their mothers with a somewhat inflected proper name, another nearby name affectionately. Aben-Ezra thinks the name Lemuel was given to Solomon by his mother with these admonitions after the death of his father David, when the whole care of the son fell upon her, so that she might form him for the kingdom: for she gives precepts of ruling, and therefore to Solomon not as a small child, but as a grown one, and already about to reign, these seem to have been given by that mother. "A vision by which his mother instructed him." — For vision in Hebrew is משא massa, that is, a burden; Aquila, weight; Symmachus, assumption; St. Ambrose to Virgins, admonition; the Chaldean, prophecy and correction, by which his mother instructed him. The Hebrews, whom Arboreus and Dionysius follow, hand down that these things were said by Bathsheba the mother of Solomon through correction, because on the first day of his nuptials with the daughter of Pharaoh, which they also say the temple was dedicated, when he had indulged more freely in his inclination and wine, he spent the whole night sleepless hearing organs and other musical instruments: from which the next day, until the fourth hour of the day he took sleep, by which it came about that until the fourth hour of the day, contrary to custom, the offering of the continual sacrifice was rejected and delayed, which by law ought to be offered in the early morning, because he himself had the keys of the temple placed under his pillow. Whence lovingly, but sharply, his mother corrected him as a son, saying: "What, my beloved?" etc., that is to say, Why do you, O son, indulge so much in your pleasures, that you postpone divine offices to them? But these things smack of a fable, and seem to be dreams of the Jews. You will ask, why this instruction and admonition of Bathsheba the mother of Solomon to her son is called a "vision," that is, a prophecy. I answer: Various people give various reasons: The first is, that it is true and certain, equally as grave and pious, like a prophecy, so that it is a catachresis. Thus Vatablus. The second, that Bathsheba, seeing Solomon's complexion, nature and habits inclined to gluttony and lust, would conjecture what happened, namely that Solomon would be womanizing, drunken and voluptuous, and therefore she corrects these vices of his, whose indications she already saw. For conjecturers are called divine, and to conjecture we sometimes call to divine or to prophesy: because a conjecturer does the same thing as a Prophet, namely he touches upon and predicts what is true, although the Prophet does this from divine revelation, the conjecturer from sagacity and natural indications. The third, that Bathsheba received these things from Nathan, who was truly a Prophet: for Nathan seems to have suggested these things to the mother, so that she might imbue Solomon with them. Thus Cajetan. The fourth, that mothers and fathers are to their sons as it were vicars of God, and, as Plato says, lib. XII Of Laws, "images of God," indeed certain earthly gods; wherefore their admonitions and counsels ought to be received by sons with that reverence and observance, as if they were oracles of God, as the Septuagint translates. And so Solomon testifies here that he received these things from his mother. Thus Baynus. Fifth, the proper and genuine reason is that Bathsheba spoke these things to Solomon from the instinct of the Holy Spirit: for being inspired by Him, as it were a prophetess, she spoke and taught Solomon these things. This is evident from the fact that these admonitions of hers are part of Proverbs, that is, of Holy Scripture, and therefore are to be believed by divine faith as the words of God and the Holy Spirit, and this not only insofar as they are reported by Solomon, but also insofar as they were spoken by the mother. For Solomon reports not his own words, but those of his mother in this sacred and Canonical book of Proverbs, and he calls them a vision, that is, a doctrine received through revelation from God, namely an oracle of God. For the Holy Spirit moved the mind and mouth of Bathsheba to speak these things, because He foresaw Solomon's fall into women and wines, and therefore wished to guard against it by warning beforehand. Thus all hagiographic writers are called Prophets, and any Holy Scripture, even historical and ethical, is called by St. Peter, epistle II, chapter i, 20, a "prophecy," that is, a revelation of an arcane matter, or an oracle of God. For, as Philo says, in the book On Rewards and Punishments: "A prophet is an interpreter of God dictating oracles." Baynus, Jansenius, Pineda and others add that Bathsheba was truly and properly a prophetess, and foresaw from God's revelation Solomon's ruin, and therefore so earnestly warned her son about it here. See Pineda, book I On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter iv, number 8 and following, where he teaches that Bathsheba repented after her adultery with David, and was a virtuous woman and one who feared God, and therefore is called the handmaid of God: "God," says Solomon in Wisdom ix, 5, "of my fathers, because I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid." Moreover, Bathsheba here admonishes Solomon concerning four things most necessary for him: first, that he beware of women; second, that he beware of wine, both himself and all the princes; third, that he be merciful and generous toward the afflicted; fourth, that he protect justice, especially that of the poor. Mystically, Bede understands by the mother the grace of God,
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2. What, my beloved? what, beloved of my womb? what, beloved of my vows? — In Hebrew, what, my son? what, son of my womb? what, son of my vows? The Chaldean, what woe, my son, woe, son of my womb, woe, son of my vows? that is to say, Great woe, that is great sorrow, great destruction both present and eternal threatens you, O my son, if you follow wines and women, toward whom I see you inclined. The Septuagint, what, my son, will you keep? what? the words of God; firstborn, I say to you, my son: what, son of my womb? what, son of my prayers? The Syriac, woe, my son. The word "what" is repeated three times for pathos, so that the mother might indicate to her son the vehemence of her love, and might commend and inculcate these teachings to him vehemently. Some word must be supplied here: for this is what is lacking, which various interpreters supply variously. There are among the Hebrews, among whom is R. Levi, who think this was the mother's response, who, being asked by her son after his father's death to ask something of him, replied: What, my son, and what, son of my womb, not whom I reared, as the daughter of Pharaoh reared Moses, but whom I bore; what shall I ask except that you not give your strength to women? Others think that the mother used these words toward her son only when she saw him taking many wives, especially foreign ones; but since this admonition and correction of the mother is set before us as a prophecy, we understand better that Solomon was instructed by his mother in these words while still a boy, as if she were divining what he would become with respect to love of women. "What, my son, and what, son of my womb?" Something must be supplied. What, my son, do you think, or what disposition do you have toward me who carried you in my womb, who made vows for you? Others thus: "What, my son? what, son of my womb?" supply, you do, who multiply wives for yourself, and are so devoted to the loves of women? Others thus: "What, my son," supply shall I ask of you? What, I say, shall I ask, I who carried you in my womb, who nourished and reared you? It pleases me more that these interrogations refer to what follows, so that the sense is: What, my son, and what, son of my womb, do I especially admonish you for with the greatest love with which I pursue you; what shall I ask or demand of you that you do? surely nothing other than what I subjoin: "Give not your substance to women," etc. Whence the Author of the Greek Catena, according to the Septuagint, thus clearly translates: what, my son, what then will you keep, except the words of God? what, my firstborn son (for I address you), what, son of my womb? what, son of my vows, what else shall I admonish you than not to give your riches to women? What, my beloved? — For beloved, in Hebrew it is בר bar, which the Septuagint first translate as son; for bar in Chaldean means son. Second, bar (whence beri) is derived from the Hebrew ברר barar, that is, clean, pure, chosen, beloved; whence they translate, what, clean, pure, chosen, beloved of mine? that is to say, You, Solomon, are still innocent, pure and clean: what then shall I commend to you other than that you remain such through sobriety and chastity? Beware therefore lest you defile yourself with women, so that you lose your purity and childish innocence, and exchange it for lust and fornication. Again, you are beloved and chosen by God as king of Israel; see therefore that you love him with spiritual love, and beware of contrary love, namely carnal love of women. The Septuagint translate, what, my firstborn son? For Solomon was the firstborn of David by Bathsheba, who bore several other sons to David after Solomon, as our Pineda shows, lib. I De Rebus Salom. cap. viii. Again, firstborn, that is, adorned in beauty, handsomeness, prudence and all other things, and raised by my vows to such eminence, and therefore beloved before the others. Thus the Author of the Greek Catena. What, beloved of my womb? — Mothers are accustomed to display the delights of their love to their children, and to urge them to obey them by recalling the pains, disgust, fears and dangers which they endured for them during nine months, when they carried them in the womb. Thus the mother of the Maccabees: "My son, she says, have pity on me, who carried thee in my womb nine months, and gave thee milk for three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee to this age, II Maccabees vii, 27. Again our Pineda, lib. I De Rebus Salomonis, cap. vi, thinks that by womb is signified not only conception and birth, but also lactation, as if to say: I conceived and bore thee in my womb; I also carried thee continually in my bosom as it were at my breast and womb, nursed thee, cherished thee, nor did I give thee to others to nurse, as some noble and delicate mothers do; but I myself from my own bowels, from my own blood, namely from my own milk nourished thee, so that thou art wholly and entirely mine, and possessest no substance, flesh and blood except mine: wherefore it is fitting that thou shouldst likewise make these my admonitions thine own, and inscribe them deeply in thy mind. What, beloved of my vows? — Vows here first can be understood as desires, as if to say: O my most desired son, whom I have longed for with all my vows and desires, whose good I wish and desire with all the marrow of my soul? Thus Vatablus and Jansenius. Second, Baynus and Cajetan, as if to say: O son sought after with so many vows and desires, requested of God with so many sighs and tears, that thou art no less the son of my desires than of my womb, inasmuch as I brought thee forth more in spirit than in body! Hear therefore these things of mine, which I am so solicitous for thy salvation, my final admonitions and vows. Third, Bede reads: "What, chosen one of my vows?" as if to say: O my chosen son and already exalted to the kingdom, which I desired for thee with all my vows and procured for thee! Fourth, "of my vows," namely for whom I made many prayers and vows to God, that according to God's promises thou mightest be born happily, educated more happily, and reign most happily. For before thy birth God had promised to David from Bathsheba a son, whose name was to be Solomon, and had destined for him a kingdom, riches, glory and all good things, as is evident from II Kings vii; Bathsheba therefore prayed and made vows, that God would exhibit and fulfill these promises of His concerning Solomon. Fifth, some think that Bathsheba was barren, and therefore obtained from God through prayers and vows by a miracle fecundity and the birth of Solomon. Thus Rupertus in cap. II Matthew: "Seven mothers, he says, the Sacred Scripture records to have been barren, Sarah and Rebecca, Rachel and she who bore Samson, Anna the mother of Samuel, Bathsheba who was the mother of Solomon, and Elizabeth who bore the Precursor of the Lord; those born from these were great, and in most cases (as has already been said) exhibited certain admirable likenesses of the Lord about to be born of virginity, which is naturally barren and does not bear, namely Isaac and Jacob, Joseph and Samson, Samuel, Solomon and John." But our Pineda rightly refutes this in the place cited cap. vii. For from Scripture it is clear that Bathsheba immediately conceived offspring from David's adultery: therefore she was naturally fruitful; for who would say that God granted fecundity by miracle to an adulteress in the very act of adultery? For thus God would have seemed to approve adultery and to cooperate in it: therefore when it is said that she "was sanctified from uncleanness," understand that she was purified from the filth of menstruation, from which by the old law and the Gospel women in childbed are purified. Sixth, the same Pineda, whom Salazar follows, thinks that Bathsheba, when she saw the offspring which she had conceived from David's adultery, was immediately struck down by God with death, and was greatly afraid lest in like manner her second son, namely Solomon, should be struck with a similar death, and therefore made prayers and vows solicitous for his life: for which reason, they say, she calls him the son of her vows, that is, whom she not only bore brought forth from the womb, but also day by day in a certain way gave birth to again through vows and prayers. To this pertains the reading of the Septuagint which has, what, son of my prayers? And so Solomon is called the son of prayers, either because his mother obtained him from God by prayers, or also because when brought forth into the light his mother by prayers vindicated him from premature death, or also because his mother by her prayers obtained for him a kingdom, wisdom and good morals. Wherefore it is permissible to affirm that prayer together with Bathsheba was the mother of Solomon, or even the co-mother: for thus in the homily On Anna and Samuel St. Chrysostom asserts that prayer was the co-mother of Samuel in his procreation, nourishment and education.
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3. Give not thy substance to women, and thy riches to destroy kings. — In Hebrew, give not thy strength to women, and thy ways to destroy kings; the Chaldean, give not thy strength to women, and thy ways to the daughters of kings; the Septuagint of the Vatican, give not thy substance to women, and thy mind, and thy life in a late change of counsel; the Complutensian and Royal editions as well as Theodotion, sis usrausheau, that is, in repentance. For substance in Hebrew is חילך chelecha, that is, thy strength, or thy virtue; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, thy riches: for in these the rich place their strength; the Septuagint, thy wealth. Therefore first, by substance understand riches, as if to say, Do not squander thy riches, O Solomon, upon women; for a harlot is an abyss and a gulf, which devours and swallows up riches however great and royal. Second, "give not thy substance," that is, thy strength, thy flesh and blood to women: for lust and fornication exhausts the vigor of the body, the spirit and blood, and wastes and consumes it, indeed infects and destroys it with venereal disease and many sicknesses, as I said at chapter v, verse 9 and following. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Do not, O my son, by the contagion of powerful women destroy and extinguish the most sound strength of the king, and the most ample riches of thy kingdom. The prophecy of Bathsheba was true; for with true foresight she divined Solomon's fall and ruin through women. Moreover, for riches the Hebrew and Chaldean have, thy ways to destroy kings. First and properly, as if to say, Do not enter upon those ways, that is, do not pursue those actions by which kings are accustomed to be weakened, destroyed and ruined; these actions are fornications, feasting, drunkenness, squandering of riches as well as of strength upon harlots and women. For these rob kings of the strength of mind and body, judgment, prudence, health, and equally exhaust the treasury, so that they do not have the expenses necessary to defend the commonwealth, and become poor, cowardly, vile, unwarlike and contemptible, which is the certain ruin of kings and kingdoms, when kings devoted to pleasures neglect the kingdom, and squander the riches of the kingdom in their own delights and luxuries. Whence the Chaldean translates, give not thy ways to the daughters of kings, so as to join thyself in carnal love to the daughters of princes, especially of the kings of the neighboring Canaanites, which was forbidden by the law of God, as indeed forgetful of this maternal warning, Solomon joined himself to them with grave fault and punishment, III Kings xi, 1. The Syriac, give not thy ways to the foods of kings. Therefore he forbids gluttony and lust, to which kings are accustomed to devote themselves, who abuse royal riches for luxury and license of the flesh. For this hemistich depends on the former: "Give not thy substance to women," and repeats and emphasizes it by showing its effects and harms, namely that women destroy the riches, fame, dignity, strength and life of kings. Thus the Hebrews, Bede, Jansenius, Baynus and others. Examples are in David, Samson, Sardanapalus, Hercules and Solomon himself: for women took from these wisdom, holiness, strength, vigor and all glory: indeed they made them effeminate, and betrayed and destroyed them to enemies. Second, others, as if to say, Do not, O Solomon, squander thy riches and strength upon women, lest by thy example thou destroy and ruin kings, and thy princes and counselors especially, so that they likewise squander theirs upon harlots. For the example of a king is powerful: for subjects and princes are accustomed to observe and imitate it. Third, others think that here there is a different and new admonition from the preceding, concerning the cultivation of peace with neighbors, as if to say, Do not, O Lemuel, stir up war with neighboring kings, so as to overthrow them, and transfer their kingdoms to thyself: for this is proud and unjust; but rather strive for peace and friendship, so that thou mayest reign quietly and for a long time, and be in reality as well as in name a Solomon, that is, peaceful. For the wise Bathsheba gave this counsel of peace to Solomon, lest he cast both himself and neighboring kings and peoples into the troubles and damages of war. And Solomon followed this and made his kingdom peaceful, wealthy and fortunate. Moreover the Septuagint translates, give not thy mind and thy life in a late change of counsel, or, as the Author of the Greek Catena has it, do not pledge thy mind and life to that pursuit, of which thou mayest afterwards repent, which will happen if thou squander thy riches and strength upon women, as has been said before. In what way this version agrees with the Hebrew is not sufficiently clear. Some adapt it thus: The Septuagint, they say, translated from the Hebrew, to destroy kings, that is, to the destruction and obliteration of kings, as if to say, Do not enter upon those ways and manner of living, which compel kings to turn the stylus, that is, to change their sentences and counsels, so that it is a metaphor from those who are compelled to erase and delete with the reversed stylus what they once wrote on tablets. Others think that the Septuagint, in their manner, rendered the Hebrew not word for word, but paraphrastically as to sense: for elsewhere they not rarely act more as paraphrasers than as interpreters. The truer reason is that the Septuagint understood by מלכין melachin, that is, kings, counsel, as if to say, to destroy counsel, that is, to a late change of counsel. Whence they soon add: Do all things with counsel; of which more presently.
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For "no secret" in Hebrew is לרוזנים lerozenim, that is, do not give strong drink to princes. For the Hebrew אין e is equivalent to אין en, that is, not, as Aben-Ezra and others say. It appears that Our Author read in the Hebrew ולא velo rozenim, that is, because not secretaries, namely they are, where drunkenness is; whence he translated it, because there is no secret where drunkenness reigns. For rozenim signifies secretaries and searchers of secrets, as is evident from Isaiah xl, 21. Thus Jansenius. You may ask why the Septuagint, for "Do not give wine to kings," translate it as "Do all things with counsel"? For the Hebrew melachim signifies kings, not counsel. I answer: The Hebrew melachim, that is, kings, also signifies counsel, and מלך melach, that is, to reign, also signifies to take counsel, because truly to reign is to take counsel for the commonwealth, or to govern the commonwealth with counsel and prudence. Whence a king is the same as a counselor and prudent governor, as I have shown in many places from Daniel iv, 24, according to that saying of St. Basil among the sayings of Antony in the Melissa, part II, cap. 1: "It is proper to a king to provide for those over whom he presides. A kingdom is a legitimate prefecture." And this the Septuagint plainly signify here and in Ecclesiastes ii, 12, when for melachim, that is, kings, they translate counsel; wherefore for אל al, that is, not, they read אל el, that is, to, with. Whence they aptly translate, "Do all things with counsel," and "Drink wine with counsel," namely soberly, sparingly and moderately, as much as the health of mind and body requires, as if to say: Beware, O my son, Solomon the king, of women equally as of drunkenness, because both of these take away counsel and mature deliberation and prudence which in a king are required most of all for ruling wisely, according to that saying in Hosea iv, 11: "Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness take away the heart," as I have shown at greater length there. And for this reason sins and faults are greater in kings than in common people, because namely they impede sound counsel, which is supremely necessary to kings for ruling rightly, as St. Thomas teaches, II II, Question cxlix, art. 4 in the body. Whence the Author of the Greek Catena thus explains the Septuagint, as if to say: Rather do you rule over wine and excess, than undergo their rule; for if you do this, you will not easily fall away from what is honorable which nature or reason dictates. But occupy yourself with the wine of the true vine, that is, with the interpretation of divine Scriptures, and the consideration of things constant in their nature, and apply yourself to it with great judgment and deliberation of mind. From this the sense of the Vulgate version is clear: "Do not give wine to kings, O Lemuel;" which words at first sight seem not to forbid Solomon wine, but to command that Solomon forbid wine to other kings. But this sense is trivial, indeed absurd. For in Judaea there was only one king, Solomon: among the neighboring Gentiles, there were indeed many kings, but Solomon could not forbid them wine. Hence some think that the mother here suggests to Solomon that he not permit wine to kings, that is, to his prefects, judges and counselors, so that being sober they may give sound counsel, and keep those secrets, and administer the commonwealth wisely. But, since the mother here instructs Solomon, and directs the other admonitions to him himself, there is no doubt that this too is directed to him. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Do not give wine to kings, that is, to yourself, O my son Solomon, who are a king, and to your royal counselors (who are also called melachim, that is, kings; for to reign is to take counsel for the commonwealth as I said a little before) wine, namely in great quantity, so that they become intoxicated, drunken or drunk: for wine taken moderately sharpens ingenuity, counsel and wisdom for ruling rightly. It is a euphemism: for the mother speaks to Solomon festively and decorously, for the sake of honor, not in the second person, but in the third person after the manner of the ancient Hebrews, which today the Germans follow more than other nations, who, when they speak to honored men, do not say in the second person: Lord, do this or that; but in the third: May the Lord do this or that. For it is odious and rustic to use the familiar form of address, and to say: You, O king or prince, abstain from wine. That this is the sense is clear from the Hebrew, from which they commonly translate thus: "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine," that is, it is not for you, O Solomon, who are a king, to indulge in wine, but to devote yourself to wisdom and to the wise governance of Israel. Whence also what Our Author adds in the plural: "Lest perhaps they drink, and forget the judgments," the Hebrew texts render in the singular: "Lest perhaps you drink, and forget the statute," that is, lest perhaps you drink, O king my son Solomon, and forget the statute, namely the precept, and the divine or human law. O Lamuel,—Tacitly here Bathsheba gives another reason why Solomon and other kings ought to abstain from drinking, namely that they are Lamuels, that is, vicars of God on earth, with whom and in whom God is, and commands and governs. But God is entirely free from flesh, being pure spirit, and abhors the drunken and intoxicated. For drunkenness makes men wrathful and furious like demons. Whence St. Augustine, sermon 24, calls it "a gentle demon;" St. Chrysostom, homily 1 to the People: "The drunkard," he says, "is a voluntary demon." Again St. Basil, homily 16 On Gluttony and Drunkenness: "Drunkenness," he says, "does not receive the Lord, it drives away the Holy Spirit; for as smoke drives away bees, so gluttony drives away the gifts of the Holy Spirit." Salomon learned the same thing from Plato, who, in book III of the Republic: "From drunkenness therefore," he says, "we have said all ought to abstain; but nevertheless, when others, then especially the guardian is not permitted to be so weighed down by drunkenness that he knows not where on earth he is. For it would be ridiculous to need a guardian for the guardian." He calls the prince a guardian, because it is the prince's duty, like a guardian's, to watch and to protect subjects from enemies and other evils. And Solon, who brought this law to the Athenians: "The prince, if caught drunk, shall be punished with death." Likewise Alexander ab Alexandro, book III, chapter xi, relates that among the Indians a similar law was established, that a concubine, or any other woman, killing the king when drunk, should be rewarded with this gift, that she should marry his successor. An example is in Alexander the Great, who in his drunkenness killed Clitus, most dear and faithful to him; concerning whom St. Augustine, Exhortation to Holy Virgins: "Innumerable indeed," he says, "having long refused the yoke of dominion, drunkenness reduced to another's will: Alexander, conqueror of all, was conquered by wine." Because no secret is safe where drunkenness reigns.—This is the first reason expressly given, on account of which Bathsheba forbids wine to Solomon and to kings, namely that drunkenness reveals their secret counsels, by which it comes to pass that tumults, seditions and wars are stirred up. "For what lies hidden in the mind of the sober man, this swims in the mouth of the drunkard." Wherefore alluding to this passage of Solomon, St. Augustine, homily to Holy Virgins: "The drunkard," he says, "lies back with downcast face, and without any other compulsion than wine, lays bare the secrets of his heart, and brings forth to the light the secrets entrusted to friends." Weigh well that: "Without any other compulsion than wine," as if to say: Wine does not so much drive the drunkard to the betrayal of secrets, as it compels him. Namely "bronze is the mirror of form, but wine of the soul," says Aeschines in Maximus, sermon 30. For this reason some princes are accustomed to intoxicate those whom they suspect, so that from the drunk they may fish out and extort the secrets of their counsels. For, as Plato says in the Symposium: "Wine both with youth and without youth is truthful." Hence that saying of the Poet: "And tortured by wine and anger." For men are in a certain way tortured by wine and anger, and when drunk and angry they sometimes reveal secrets entrusted to them. Thus, ode 21, book III, Horace sings: Thou gentle torment to the stubborn mind Dost gently apply; thou the cares of the wise And the secret counsel dost reveal With jesting Bacchus. Rightly indeed Plato, book I of the Laws, says there is no torture less costly, less harmful and less dangerous than wine, for exploring the affections and character of men. Aptly again Horace to the Pisos: Kings are said to press with great cups, And to torture with wine, whom they have labored to understand. Whence ωμηστής Διόνυσος, that is, cruel Bacchus, was called by the Greeks, not so much because once living men were sacrificed to him, as because he torments those who dedicate themselves to him, that is, the drunk. And Διόνυσος is called as if τον νοῦν νύσσων, that is, striking the mind, piercing, lacerating, wounding. Anacharsis in the Banquet in Plato thus lay down sleeping, that what nature affixed to the body for the sake of procreation, he held with his left hand, but his mouth with his right, thinking that the tongue of a well-drunk man needed a stronger bridle. Wherefore the ancients made the magpie sacred to Bacchus and dedicated it, as Natalis Comes testifies, book I of Mythology, chapter xi. For the magpie is talkative, and whatever it hears it repeats. The drunkard does the same, whence Horace: Drunkenness mad reveals the secret. For: "In wine is truth." Wisely Seneca, epistle 84: "Just as," he says, "the very casks burst from new wine, and all that lies at the bottom is cast upward by the force of heat: so when wine is seething, whatever lies hidden at the bottom is brought forth and comes to light. Those burdened with unmixed wine, just as they cannot contain food when wine overflows, so neither can they keep secret; both what is their own and what is another's, they pour out alike." Most excellently Ambrose, contemplating this same power of wine, said, in the book On Elias and Fasting, chapter seventeen: "Many use wine as a torture instrument, and those whom torments do not draw forth a voice of betrayal, they attempt by drinking to make betray the state of their country, the safety of citizens, the counsels of their defense. Who among cups concealed what he wished to hide?" If you seek examples of this matter, that well-known case of Marcus Crassus is noted. For he, as Dio relates in book fifty-one, while waging war against the Dacians and Bastarnae, admitted their envoys and received them at a rather sumptuous banquet: these, full of wine, laid bare all their counsels. Thus also the emperor Bonosus would make the envoys of barbarians drunk by giving them wine, and would extort whatever he wished, as Flavius Vopiscus says. For the drunk know how to conceal no secret; indeed, those who do reveal secrets are to be reckoned drunk: for it is drunkenness also to reveal one's own secret, but especially to a stranger. Give not wine to kings, O Lamuel, give not wine to kings.—He repeats to kings for weight and emphasis, as if to say: Kings are to be kept away from drunkenness in every way and manner, both because it is utterly shameful and disgraceful if a king, whose office it is to rule a kingdom, be drunk and be ruled by wine, and because it is the duty of kings to do all things with reason, judgment and counsel, as the Septuagint translates. They ought therefore to be sober, not drunk and deprived of reason and counsel. The Septuagint gives another reason why kings ought to abstain from wine, when they translate: the mighty are prone to anger, and wine let them not drink. For wine kindles anger and bile, and drives the angry into fury. Whence Plato, in book eight of the Republic: "A drunken man," he says, "bears a tyrannical spirit; nay, even frenzied and beside himself, he attempts to command not only men, but even gods, and hopes to succeed in this." And he adds the reason, that drunkenness sharpens minds and angers, which give rise to tyranny and fury. Truly Eratosthenes in Stobaeus, discourse eighteen On Incontinence: "Wine," he says, "has a power equal to fire when it has overcome a man, which disturbs him as the North or South wind disturbs the Libyan sea, and thus it brings forth what lies hidden in the recesses of the mind, and shakes the whole soul." Tullius Cimber was drunken, and therefore prone to anger, and impatient of restraint and mastery; wherefore he conspired with others in the murder of Julius Caesar, saying: "Shall I bear with anyone who cannot bear with wine?" as Seneca relates, epistle 84.
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5. And lest perhaps they drink, and forget the judgments, and change the cause of the children of the poor. — In Hebrew, lest perhaps he drink, and forget the statute (of law and justice) and change the judgment of the children of affliction. He speaks to Solomon's mother in the plural, and in the third person for the sake of honor, as I have said, as if to say: Lest perhaps you, with your counselors drinking wine, become drunk, and through drunkenness forget law and justice, and thus change and pervert the causes of the poor. Whence clearly the Chaldean translator renders it, lest perhaps you drink, and pervert your reason, and change the judgments of all the children of the poor; the Septuagint, lest they forget wisdom, and are not able to judge rightly the weak; or, as the Author of the Catena of the Greeks, lest they crush the infirm and feeble; the Syriac, beware from kings, or, lest you drink and forget investigation, and forget the judgment of the children of the poor. The physical cause is that drunkenness stupefies the mind, indeed submerges and buries it in wine, so that a man is now deprived of reason, and is no longer a man, but rather a brute: wherefore forgetfulness seizes him of wisdom, law, justice, causes and all things. For the brain is troubled by the fumes of wine, which cloud, confuse and mix the species of imagination, so that he imagines false things for true, and seems to see things. The ethical cause is that drunkenness makes a man light, petulant, prone to anger and love, so that with reason now lulled to sleep, in favor of a drinking companion, he promises and does many things which are contrary to law and honesty. Wherefore St. Chrysostom in the Melissa of Antonius, part I, chapter xxx: "Those," he says, "who live in drunkenness and luxury, turn their day into nocturnal darkness, not indeed with the sun extinguished, but with their own mind obscured by drunkenness. Drunkenness is alienation from right reason, and delirium, and according to the soul the loss of health. Wine drunk immoderately is the fuel of luxury, the supply of pleasures, the plague of youth, poison of the soul, extinction of reason, alienation of virtue." In the same place Clement: "Every drunkard," he says, "is inferior to anger, and empty of mind." In the same place St. Basil: "Wine," he says, "given by God as a gift to the temperate for the consolation of infirmity, has now become to the wanton an instrument of luxury. That fire which is born in the flesh from wine becomes the fuel of the burning arrows of the enemy: for wine submerges reason and mind; but it kindles affections and pleasures, as oil does flame." And soon after: "Drunkenness is a demon willingly admitted through pleasure into souls. Drunkenness is the mother of malice, the assault of virtue; this makes the strong timid, the modest wanton, it knows not justice, it abolishes prudence. For as water is opposed to fire, so immoderation of wine extinguishes the sober mind. The sleep of drunkards is heavy, deep, and near to suffocation, indeed truly near to death; but their wakefulness, even less than sleep, has sensation; for life to them is sleeplessness, who, though they have not a tunic, nor what to eat on the morrow, yet reign, and command armies in the very midst of drunkenness, and build cities, and distribute monies." The same, in the homily On Fasting: "Drunkenness," he says, "as it brings sleep, the twin of death, so it has wakefulness forgetful, resembling sleep." Wherefore God forbids wine to priests, while they perform sacred rites, under penalty of death, Leviticus chapter x, 9: "Wine," he says, "and all that can make drunk, you shall not drink, you and your sons, when you enter into the tabernacle of the testimony, lest you die: because it is an everlasting precept in your generations: and that you may have knowledge to discern between holy and profane, between polluted and clean: and teach the children of Israel all my ordinances, which I have spoken to them." And for this reason Nadab and Abihu, because being drunk they offered profane fire instead of sacred fire, were consumed by that same fire, as is shown in the same place.
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6 and 7. Give strong drink to those that are mourning, and wine to those that are bitter in soul: let them drink, and forget their want (the Chaldean paraphrase: the loss of their garments), and their sorrow (the Septuagint: their labors; Symmachus: their troubles) let them remember no more,—namely, so long as wine, or the power of wine shall be in them, says Galatinus, book V On the Mysteries of Faith, chapter vii, where he proves by many examples that "no more," or "beyond," does not always signify eternal or long time but sometimes brief time. The Septuagint: give an intoxicating drink to those who are in sorrows, and wine to drink to those who are in pains. In the Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia between שכר sechar, that is, strong drink or wine, and לא יזכר lo yizchar, that is, let him not remember, as if to say: sechar or strong drink takes away זכר zechar, that is, the memory of sorrows and anguishes. First, for "those that are mourning" in Hebrew it is לאובד leobed, that is, to one perishing, that is, one condemned to death, as the Hebrews and Arboreus say; for wine is customarily given to such, so that they might mitigate their sorrows and gather strength of mind and body to endure punishment, according to that passage in Amos ii, 8: "And they drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God." Thus the Jews, in crucifying Christ, gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to bear the torment of the cross, Mark xv, 23. Whence Vatablus translates: give wine to the condemned, etc., so that they may not remember their calamity. The Syriac: so that they may not remember injustice and calamity. Namely, Bathsheba dissuades Solomon and the judges from wine, by an argument drawn from contraries, as if to say: Wine pertains to the guilty, and to those who are to be punished with death for their crimes: it is therefore unbecoming and unworthy that judges, who punish them with death, should take the place of the guilty and drink wine. Hear Galatinus from the book Sanhedrin, book VIII On the Mysteries of Faith, chapter xix: "Rabbi Rasda said that one about to be executed was given to drink powder of incense in a cup of wine, so that his senses might be separated from him, as it is said in Proverbs xxxi: Give an intoxicating drink to the lost, and wine to those bitter in soul. And there were in Jerusalem honorable women who freely sent these things." Second, others understand by "those that are mourning" those who mourn, namely, those who mourn the death of a father, brother, sister, or wife: for wine is customarily given to these, so that they might drive away or mitigate their sorrow. Whence Jeremiah, chapter xvi, among the extreme calamities of the Hebrews, assigns that they would be deprived of wine to moderate mourning: "And they shall not give," he says, "them the cup of consolation to drink for their father and mother." Thus our Jerome Prado in Ezekiel, chapter xliv. Third and genuinely, understand by "those that are mourning" any who mourn, with St. Chrysostom and others throughout. For these are called in Hebrew those perishing, because they are consumed by sorrow and waste away, so that they seem nearly to perish, says Rabbi Levi. For this reason God after the flood taught Noah the manner of making wine from grapes, so that he and his sons might temper by the cheerfulness of wine their sorrow on account of the flood brought upon the world and the destruction of all things, Genesis ix, 20. For wine brings about forgetfulness of sorrows, refreshes the imagination, and gladdens the mind. Nor is there great danger of drunkenness for those that mourn, because sorrow resists drunkenness. Whence Hippocrates and physicians teach that the sad and melancholic are hardly overcome and made drunk by wine, but this happens easily to the sanguine and cheerful. Our Vilalpando in Ezekiel, chapter xxvii, verse 15, page 19, letter D, thinks that שכר sechar, that is, intoxicating strong drink, and drunkenness itself, allude to אשכר escar, that is, gift, price, reward, as if here it were forbidden to princes and judges lest they accept gifts, because gifts intoxicate them like wine, so that they forget the law and pervert it; wine therefore is here taken for a gift like wine that maddens, by catachresis. But from what precedes and follows it is clear that all these things pertain to drunkenness, not to the acceptance of gifts. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 29 on Genesis, who explaining that passage Genesis ix, 20: "And Noe, a man of the earth, began to till the ground, and planted a vineyard, and drinking of the wine was made drunk," assigns the cause: "Because," he says, "he was held by great sadness, and wished to find consolation for himself from it, just as a certain wise man also says: Give wine to those who are in sadness, and strong drink to those who are in pain, showing that there is no remedy for sadness so present as the use of wine; let not intemperance lose so great a benefit of it. But that this just man was in sadness and grief, seeing himself in such great solitude, and the bodies of those men cast before his eyes, and a common sepulcher made for all men and beasts, who would contradict? For it is the custom of the Prophets and all just men, not only to grieve for those who are near to them, but also for all the rest." The same St. Chrysostom, in the homily On Chastity and Sobriety: "Wine in moderation," he says, "restores a weak stomach, repairs failing strength, warms one chilled by cold, poured on wounds it heals, joined also to various antidotes and medicines it works health, removes sadness, destroys languor of soul, infuses joy, makes honest conversation among guests; but taken somewhat more it is converted in a manner into poison." And after some things: "A rustic saying indeed, but sound: Wine as a medicine taken more than is right is known to be poison." Following the custom of Solomon, Sirach says: "Wine," he says, "was created for gladness, and not for drunkenness from the beginning. Exultation of soul and heart, wine drunk moderately," Eccles. cap. xxxi, 35. See the things said there. Alcaeus, a Greek lyric poet, thus sings of wine: For wine, because it brings forgetfulness of sorrows, The son of Semele and Jupiter Gave to men. Pour out mixing wine, Adding two parts to one measure of water, so namely in a cup two parts be wine, the third be water. The same: No other tree do you sow before the vine with severity. From which Horace: No tree, Varus, do you sow before the sacred vine. Xenophon in the Symposium: "Wine thus lulls sorrows to sleep, as mandragora does a man; but benevolence it excites, not otherwise than oil does flame." Epictetus in Maximus, sermon 30: "Cicadas," he says, "are melodious, but snails are silent, yet these rejoice in moisture, those truly in heat: these are provoked by dew, and go forth into it, those on the contrary the burning sun excites, and in it they sing. Therefore if you wish to be both a musician and a man apt in every way, when in drinking parties the soul has been irrigated with wine, then do not let it go forth and be defiled: but when in assemblies the soul has been inflamed by reason, then it also commands to divine and to sing the oracles of justice." For this reason the discoverer of wine was called Liber, either because he gives license and freedom of speech, or because he frees from cares, says Seneca, book On the Tranquility of Mind, concerning which see James Pontanus, book II of Progymnasmata. Whence Horace, ode 7, book I: O brave men," he says, "and who have suffered greater things With me often: now with wine drive away cares. And Ovid: Wines prepare minds and make them apt for heat: Care flees and is diluted by much unmixed wine. Then come laughter, then the poor man takes on horns: Then pain and cares, and the wrinkle of the brow depart. And Plato, book I On Laws: "Wine," he says, "drunk immediately makes a man more joyful and more cheerful than himself." Socrates in Xenophon in the Symposium: "And that we drink," he says, "men, also pleases me greatly. Truly indeed wine watering souls, cares no less than mandragora men, lulls to sleep." Panyasis in Athenaeus, book II: It is food equal to fire, wine itself to mortals, Medicine of any evil, medicine of sorrows, Greatest part of joy, and of splendor in themselves. Finally, St. Augustine, To Virgins, chapter 1: "Wine," he says, "removes sadness, destroys all languors of the soul, pours in gladness, causes honest conversation to be mingled among guests." Nor was Luther ignorant of this, the torch of the heresies of our age, who, as Cochlaeus relates, when he suffered sharp pangs on account of his newfound faith and invented heresy, and constant scruples of conscience, in order to lull them to sleep or extinguish them with wine, drank heavily every day and behaved like a Greek strenuously, so that he seemed always drunk and intoxicated; and to the followers of his perfidy, who were harassed by similar scruples of conscience, he suggested the same remedy, namely that they should drown their scruples in wine, but in vain: for when they awoke from drunkenness, and now sober, the scruples recurred more vividly, and the biting anguishes of the mind bit them more sharply and tormented them; for an evil conscience, and perfidy biting constantly, can be healed by neither wine nor anything in the world, except true faith alone and penance. Tropologically, Nesteros the Abbot in Cassian, Collation XIV, xvii, from the Septuagint: "Give drink, that is," he says, "drunkenness (that is, intoxication, as the Vatican translators render it, namely intoxicating drink), to those who are in sadness, etc., that is, to those who are weighed down by grief and sadness on account of the hardness of their former deeds, pour forth abundantly the gladness of spiritual knowledge like wine which gladdens the heart of man, and refresh them with the abundance of the saving word, lest perhaps prolonged sadness, and sunk in lethal despair, those who are such be swallowed up by more abundant sadness."
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8. Open thy mouth for the dumb, and for the causes of all the children of those that pass by. — Vatablus, plead the cause of the silent one; others, speak for the dumb; Aben-Ezra, on behalf of him who cannot speak, do thou speak. The dumb one is therefore called he who, when summoned to tribunal, either dares not defend his right through shame, or knows not through lack of skill, such as are strangers, orphans, rustics, widows, which from אלם illem, that is dumb or bound, to whom namely the tongue is bound so that he cannot speak, are called אלמנות almanoth, because they are bound or dumb, so that they cannot ward off their injuries, and defend their right through speeches and laws. For these the judge and prince ought to be a patron, and speak for them, and defend their right against the powerful and eloquent, as did St. Ivo the advocate of the poor, St. Louis king of France, and St. Job: "The ear that heard me, said he, blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me, because I had delivered the poor man that cried out, and the fatherless that had no helper. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow, etc. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently. I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey," Job xxix, 11. Thus interpreters everywhere. Wherefore some less genuinely understand by the dumb one the taciturn and one keeping silence, as if to say, Reveal thy secrets to none except the dumb one, that is, to the silent one, who does not blurt out the secret, but keeps and preserves it silently in mind: for the silent one seems to be tongueless and dumb. But here the matter is not about keeping silence, but about protecting the wretched who know not how to protect themselves. Whence the Chaldean renders it, open thy mouth for those who do not pervert judgment, nay, who have right, which they cannot explain and prove. The Septuagint understand by the dumb one the word of God: "Open," say they, "thy mouth to the word of God, and judge all soundly or wholly," as if to say, The word of God written in Holy Scripture is tongueless, inanimate and as it were dumb, because the judicial laws and rights are contained in the writings and tablets of Holy Scripture, and cannot speak and defend themselves. It is therefore thine, O king and judge, to animate them and make them vocal, so that thou mayest utter them with thy mouth, promulgate them, defend them, and from them bring forth a just sentence, condemning and punishing the guilty, absolving and rewarding the innocent. The king therefore and judge is the mouth of the word of God, equally as of law and justice, which makes that as it were dumb thing vocal, sonorous and formidable. Otherwise others: for they think the Septuagint for the dumb one in the dative case rendered dumb in the nominative, namely open thy mouth dumb, that is, not thy words, O king, but the words of God thou must utter: do not therefore speak from thy own mind, but dumb and silent wait from God whatever thou art about to say; and then at length utter the words dictated by God: for thou performest the office and place of God, in His name thou speakest law and judgest causes; therefore speak so as befits God, whose place thou holdest: use namely the words of God, that is, in such manner bring forth a sentence wholly and justly, as if God Himself from His throne were bringing forth the sentence: for God speaks through the judge as through His mouth, and utters just judgment. But the former exposition, as it is fuller, so it is more genuine. And for the causes of all the children of those that pass by. — The Zurich version renders it less correctly, open thy mouth for the dumb, in the judgment of all those who appeal, namely to thy tribunal and judgment. For in Hebrew it is בני חלוף bene chaloph, that is, of the children of change or passage. Which first, Pagninus renders, of all the children of the world; for these are in perpetual change and constantly pass and tend toward death. Every man therefore is a child of change, because from life he passes into death, from death into immortality. Whence Vatablus renders it, in the cause of all the children of destruction, that is of death, as if to say, Be just to all; judge all with equity; fear no one, even if he be powerful, rich and a prince: because all are mortal and shall die shortly, according to that: "We all die, and like waters slip away into the earth which returns not," II Kings xiv, 14; and that: "In the morning let him flourish and pass away, in the evening let him fall, grow hard and wither," Psalm lxxxix, 6; and that of Job xiv, 1: "Man born of a woman, living for a short time, etc., flees as a shadow, and never remains in the same state." Second, the Chaldean translator renders it, judge the causes of the perverse: for these are the sons of change, because they pervert laws, and convert and transform them into injuries. Third, others understand by sons of change those whose fortune has been changed, so that they have been cast down from prosperity and wealth into adversity and poverty: for their lot is more miserable than the lot of those who were never happy or wealthy, and therefore more deserving of pity and relief. To this is added R. Solomon: "Those who pass by," he says, are peoples whose help has passed away and proved vain. Fourth, others understand by sons of change the guilty, who exchange life with death, as if to say: See, O Solomon, O king, O judge, lest you hastily adjudge anyone to death; for from death there is no change and return to life, but once slain one remains slain forever; wherefore see that you do not rashly condemn anyone unheard: for thus you will easily condemn the innocent and the just. Thus Aben-Ezra: "Behold chaloph," he says, "are those adjudged to death for capital punishment; therefore take care to examine their cause rightly and diligently." Fifth, properly and genuinely, sons of change or passage are called strangers. For these, being absent from their homeland and among foreigners, have no one known to them or as a patron, know not the laws of the place, are held in little account by the natives, and can easily be oppressed or deceived by the wicked. It is therefore the duty of the prince to undertake their protection, and to guard and advance them as his own. He explains what he said: "Open thy mouth for the dumb." For strangers abroad are as it were speechless and dumb, especially because they often do not understand the language of the place, or know not how to speak it. Mystically, St. Jerome (or rather Rabanus) in chapter I of Lamentations, on those words: O all ye that pass by the way: "Hence," he says, "through Solomon it is said: Open thy mouth for the dumb, and for the causes of all the sons who pass by; for they are called dumb who, contradicting the words of preachers, do not resist at all, who also are passing by, because they disdain to direct the intention of their mind to the love of present life." Otherwise Bede: "To open the mouth for the dumb," he says, "is to preach the word of faith to the people of the Gentiles, who previously knew not how to sound forth divine utterances." Memius, book II, Satires 5: To lead away the pleasant forgetfulness of anxious life, that is, says Lambinus: "To drink, or to draw forgetfulness of cares." And Anacreon: When I drink wine, cares sleep.
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9. Open thy mouth, decree what is just, and judge the needy and the poor. — In Hebrew, open thy mouth, and judge justice, and the judgment of the afflicted and the needy; the Chaldean, and render justice to the poor, and to those suffering injury; the Septuagint, and judge the poor and the weak. The ancient codices add: And vindicate the needy and the poor. Which words were added by someone in the manner of a gloss. For to judge is the same as to vindicate the needy and the poor from the violence and oppression of the rich: for it is the king's duty to protect the rights of the poor against the power of the rich, since they themselves cannot defend themselves against them. Thou therefore, O Lamuel, with whom God is, exercise the place of God on earth, of whom the Psalmist says: "To thee is the poor left, thou shalt be a helper to the orphan." Most excellently St. Chrysostom in Anthony's Melissa, part II, chapter vi: "Not in precious garment or girdle," he says, "nor in the voice of a herald is the prince discerned, but in that he restores what has fallen, corrects what is badly constituted, and punishes the unjust, nor suffers the law to be taken away by the more powerful." And Epictetus: "There is nothing which more befits him who presides than that he contemn no one proudly, nor admire anyone basely, but preside over all equally."
The second and final part of the chapter and of the book Hitherto we have heard the admonitions given by Bathsheba to her son Solomon: now Solomon repays his mother in kind, and on the occasion of his mother depicts and celebrates a strong woman, that is, a distinguished matron, and in her very image his own mother graphically. Just as Christ, having received testimony from St. John the Baptist that he himself was the Messiah and the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world, repaid John in kind, giving him these praises: "What went you out into the desert to see? etc. A prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist," Matt. cap. xi, 7. Thus Vatablus, Baynus, Aben-Ezra, Jansenius and others. Others hold that these words also are those of Bathsheba, as if she, after having admonished Solomon to beware of women, now teaches him what sort of wife he ought to seek, and with how many and what great dowries she ought to be endowed. Thus Cajetan. But what I said before is more true. Furthermore, for the sake of elegance, these verses are alphabetical: for the first begins with the first letter aleph, the second with the second letter beth, and thus consequently through 22 verses, which are begun from as many Hebrew letters in alphabetical order. The same is done in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, where I have assigned the reason, and in certain Psalms, such as xxv, xxxiv, xxxvii, cxi, cxii, cxviii, cxlv. St. Jerome, to Paula of the City, holds that all these things are written at the end of the chapter in iambic tetrameter: what the ratio, number, feet and measure of this meter once was among the Hebrews, we now ignore. Allegorically Solomon here depicts the Church, which is the spouse of Christ, the true Solomon, and the matron of all the faithful. Thus the Author of the Imperfect Work in Chrysostom, hom. 23 in Matt., St. Gregory, xxxiii Moral. xxii, or according to another edition, xvi. Bede, Salonius, the Gloss, Arboreus, Baynus and others; indeed St. Ambrose at the end of vol. II of the Roman edition applies this entire chapter copiously to the Church; but this commentary is almost word for word the same as serm. 43 of St. Augustine De Diversis, and smells more of the style of St. Augustine, and is attributed to St. Augustine by Possidius and Bede Rom. viii, and by the doctors of Louvain, who first published these sermons of St. Augustine as new. In the text, however, St. Ambrose often turns and reads these verses of Solomon differently, and St. Augustine differently. Again St. Ambrose is more abundant, and has more than St. Augustine. Appositely therefore St. Epiphanius addresses Christians in his Ancoratus: "O you orthodox and children of the Church, children of truth, children of that wise and most strong woman, whose glory is in Solomon saying: Who shall find a strong woman? Prov. xxxi. As if she were rare, or rather one, he understands the strong woman to be the Church of God, your mother, than which nothing is stronger, in that she dies through each persecution raised up, for the name of her husband." Thus Epiphanius. Tropologically it depicts the holy soul dedicated to heroic virtues, and specifically the Blessed Virgin, to whom St. Bernard applies these, serm. 9 among the small, and more fully serm. 2 super Missus est; thus also the Author of the Chain of the Greeks. Symbolically, the strong woman is wisdom, likewise Holy Scripture, to which Lyra adapts these from R. Solomon. Again the strong woman is heroic virtue, or the perfection of virtue. Thus R. Levi. Hear our Pineada, lib. II De Rebus Salomonis, cap. iv, num. 10. Solomon is admonished, he says, by his mother not to take a wife from the land of Chanaan, while she says: "Give not thy substance to women (Chanaanite, profane doctrines, pleasures, false religion), and thy ways to destroy kings;" but apply thyself to wisdom, which enlarges kings. He therefore urges that he "take a strong woman from the uttermost ends and from afar:" she is wisdom itself. Hence he describes her dowries in alphabetical verse, so that the very letters themselves may be joined with the study of wisdom, and he may accustom the boy from the very alphabet table to wisdom and piety. Albert the Great wrote a huge book on the strong woman, in which he examines each word of the chapter at length, and from them draws forth moral discourses and concepts, by which he supplies great material for sermons.
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10. A valiant woman, who shall find? (that is to say, She is found not to be impossible, but difficult, because there are few such, and like a rare bird upon the earth) far and from the uttermost ends of the earth is her price. — Marcus Antonius Abagarus from the most ancient Bibles written eight hundred years ago in the Armenian language and character, read: A woman of sound mind, who shall find? she is more precious than precious stones. For woman in Hebrew is אשת esceth, that is woman or wife: for it is evident from what follows that a married woman and mother of a family is here spoken of: "The heart of her husband trusteth in her," etc. For valiant in Hebrew is חיל chail, that is of strength, virtue, strenuousness. Whence first, some translate it, a woman of riches: for riches are the strength and fortitude of the rich man, Prov. xviii, 11. Thus Aben-Ezra, who translates it, a woman preparing riches, that is to say, "Who could find a woman making a thing and preparing strength through the wisdom by which she is refined?" Secondly, others translate it, a woman of the army, that is a woman strong and warlike: whence he adds of her: "And she shall not want the spoils," that is to say, By her fortitude she shall bring back abundant spoils from enemies, such as the Amazons once were, who by handling arms became most warlike, of whom Valerius, book V of the Argonautica: "Such as the warlike Amazon beheld;"; warlike, that is warlike or born of Mars, as they themselves boasted. And Virgil, I Aeneid: "He leads the Amazonian bands with crescent shields, Penthesilea raging." Thus Lycurgus, legislator of Sparta, trained the bodies of maidens so that they might contend with men in virtue, indeed surpass men. The Chaldean translator: a good woman; Vatablus: a manly woman; others properly and genuinely, a strenuous, industrious, heroic woman, namely a heroine; others, a woman endowed with every virtue; Baynus, a woman bold in undertaking deeds. For women are wont to be faint-hearted and fearful; whence woman is said to be called as it were soft. "Why is a strong woman called such," says Jerome Osorio, "because she surpasses womanly weakness: for almost the whole race of women is weak and soft, and woman is said to be derived from softness, as the crowd of etymologists everywhere teaches; therefore a woman who has overcome womanly, that is soft and feeble nature, and exists superior to her condition, this woman is called strong, or a woman of virtue." For the Hebrew chail is called strenuousness, industry, vigor both of mind and body, which indeed consists in labor and exercise, and strives with pain, and as it were brings forth (for the root חול chol signifies to bring forth, and to strive with pain) heroic deeds and acts. A woman therefore of chail, that is of virtue and strenuousness, is she who in working is strenuous, in suffering magnanimous, in ruling discreet and wise, in consoling pleasant, in trading industrious, in providing solicitous, who nourishes her husband, comforts him, enriches him, blesses him; who educates her offspring strictly in the law and fear of God, who keeps servants and handmaids in duty and harmony, who prudently governs her house and family, provides it with food and clothing, enriches it. Such was Salome, mother of the seven Maccabees, II Maccab. vii. Such was St. Felicity, such St. Symphorosa, who educated seven sons unto martyrdom. Such was Nonna, mother of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, of whom he himself at the funeral of his father thus speaks: "I have heard the Divine Scripture saying: A valiant woman, who shall find? in which opinion even the pagans agree: for it is theirs, that nothing better can befall anyone than a good wife, nor again anything worse than a bad one." Moreover he himself defines a good wife as one who is pious toward God, and industrious and diligent toward her family, and he commends her as a mother in both respects: for it is difficult to join both together, since piety requires quiet and leisure, but diligence requires solicitude and business. Far and from the uttermost ends of the earth is her price. — Our Hebrew text perhaps reads מפננים mippinanim, that is from the corners, that is from the uttermost ends (for פנה pinna signifies corner and end) her price; already others with different pointing read מפננים mippeninim, that is before pearls, or before unions her price; the Septuagint, she is more precious than precious stones which is such; the Chaldean, she is more precious than the best stones; others, she is more precious than rubies, or carbuncles; Vatablus, whoever obtains a woman endowed with virtue has a price more precious than gems sought from afar. Third, the Septuagint translates better, γυναῖκα ἀνδρείαν, that is a manly woman, namely a virago, whom she exercised in running, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing. When asked, he gave this reason: "That in a strong body the offspring, taking strong roots, may grow beautifully, and that the women themselves, strengthened in childbirth, may easily bear and overcome its pains and the labors of marriage and household, and that if necessity should demand, they may be able to fight and do battle for themselves, their children and their country." Hence Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, when someone said to her: "You Lacedaemonian women alone command your husbands," replied: "We alone indeed bear men." Thus Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus and in the Lacedaemonian Apophthegms. Our age has seen and sees Amazons and Lacedaemonian women similar to these. Indeed, a harder and more severe education of daughters makes them robust, spirited, industrious, and generous, as daily experience teaches. "The Sauromatae obey their wives as mistresses in all things: they do not give a maiden in marriage until she has killed an enemy," says Nicholas in his On the Customs of Nations. First, some explain it thus, that is to say: A strong woman is so rare and precious a thing that it must be sought in the uttermost ends of the earth, and from there brought and summoned. Thus the Queen of Sheba is said "to have come from the ends of the earth," that is from a distant region to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, III Kings x, 1, and Matt. xii, 42. Second, more plainly and properly, that is to say: A strong woman, that is industrious and diligent, is a rare thing and of rare price, as are those things which are brought from the uttermost lands of the Indies: for her price is so great that it should be compared with the most precious gems and pearls, which are brought from the most remote parts of the world. Whence those reading from the Hebrew mippeninim now translate it, her price far exceeds that of pearls, that is, it far surpasses the price of pearls or gems. Or what amounts to the same thing, that is to say: The price of a strong woman is so great, dear and rare, that it must be sought from the uttermost ends of the earth: for nothing however precious in our land is such that the price of a strong woman should equal it; but it must be sought from afar, which should be compared and equaled to her in price, that is, a strong woman is the most precious thing, whose price can scarcely be estimated, more difficult to be found, because it surpasses the price of gold and silver, and contends with the price of gems, indeed it surpasses and transcends that very thing. It alludes to the ancient purchase of wives. For formerly husbands purchased wives at a given price from their parents, as in Hosea, cap. iii, vers. 2, he purchased a wife for himself with fifteen pieces of silver. See the remarks there. And Jacob purchased Rachel, serving for her to Laban her father for seven years, Gen. xxix, 27. The sense therefore is, that is to say: If you wish to purchase a diligent and manly wife at the customary just price, spare no expense, because such a one surpasses all price. Hence the Septuagint translates it, she is more precious than precious stones, which such a one is; the Hebrew, she is more precious than pearls. What and how great the price of pearls is, and of the saints who are represented by them, especially of the Blessed Virgin, has been shown through many analogies of both in Rev. xxi, 21. The Syriac, she is more precious than the most precious little stones, to which no equal price exists. Allegorically, St. Ambrose in this chapter of Proverbs, toward the end of vol. II, understands by the strong woman the Church, by her husband Christ, by her sons the Martyrs: "It is fitting," he says, "that strength of a woman belongs to the day of Martyrs; for unless she herself were strong, her pledges would have failed in their passion." And St. Augustine, sermon 217 On the Seasons: "Who shall find a strong woman? What he said, 'Who shall find,' ought to be understood as indicating the difficulty of finding, not the impossibility. This strong woman is the Church. How is she not strong, she who from the beginning of the world is wearied by such great tribulations, and yet is not overcome? Who shall find a strong woman? Who else but Christ? But he did not find her strong, but by finding her made her strong. For in order to find her, no-" ninety-nine left in the mountains, and sought the one that had gone astray, and having placed it upon his shoulders brought it back to his own fold." And more fully, sermon 218: "Who shall find a strong woman? It is difficult to find her, and difficult not to know her. Is she not a city set on a mountain, which cannot be hid? Why therefore was it said: Who shall find her? when it should have been said: Who shall not find her? But thou seest a city set on a mountain, so that when it is placed on a mountain, it is found: for she is that very sheep which had been lost." And after some intervening matter: "And after he found her, not only did he snatch her from the thorns of her sins, but also adorned her with precious stones. Therefore of her it is said: She is more precious than precious stones." He concludes finally assigning her precious stones, as the adornment of woman: "There are in the Church precious stones, and there have always been, namely the learned, abounding in knowledge and eloquence, and in all instruction of the law. These stones are truly precious: of their number was Cyprian, of their number was Ambrose, and others like them. From their number some have gone astray from the adornment of this woman." St. Ambrose has nearly the same thing word for word in the place already cited; wherefore it appears that one has been transcribed into the other from one or the other. More clearly and more pathetically Bede, who understands by the price of the strong woman, that is the Church, Christ, who redeemed her by the price of his blood: but this price was far off, because it came from the heavens. He then adds: "Although it can also be rightly understood thus, that the price of the holy Church was placed far off, because the incarnation of the Word of God, his conversation among men, his passion and resurrection were far removed from the condition of our nature; namely because he was born when he willed, and of what mother he willed, and lived without sin in the world, and when he willed, and by what death he willed he departed from the world, and had in his power the time of his resurrection and ascension, and other things of this kind, in which he is as far from us as heaven is distant from earth." Tropologically, the strong woman, nay the most heroic of all heroines, and the prince and queen of martyrs is the Blessed Virgin, who, as St. Bernard says, sermon 9 among the lesser ones: "Was so strong that she crushed the head of that serpent, to whom the Lord said: I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head." Wherefore the Blessed Mary is a pearl which surpasses all price: for she is worth more than all angels and men and the whole world, and, as St. Augustine says: "She herself is the price of her adornment." She is rightly called a union, because she united and joined to herself and to her flesh, and consequently to the whole human race the Son of God, and together the whole Holy Trinity in perpetuity. The same St. Bernard, sermon 2 on Missus est: "To whom," he says, "was this victory (of the crushed serpent) reserved if not to Mary? What other woman was Solomon seeking, Again the strong woman is a holy and religious soul, especially one that joins action to contemplation. For the active life is as it were a handmaid, the contemplative is as it were a fair and delicate daughter; but both together is as it were a strong woman the spouse of Christ, for she embraces him with the embraces of contemplation, and by her teaching, preaching and action brings forth, educates and governs many sons for him. Such a one is rare and difficult to find. Her clothing is the strength of patience, and the beauty of justice: strength protects beauty, and beauty adorns strength. See our Alvarus de Paz, book II On the Spiritual Life, part II, chapter xix.
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11. Her husband's heart trusteth in her, and he shall have no need of spoils. — "Trusteth," that is, the heart of the diligent husband rests securely in his wife, because he is certain not only of her chastity, but also of her faithfulness and diligence: therefore he entrusts to her the cares and anxieties of his heart concerning the provision of the household; he safely commits to her his wealth, his secrets, and all things either done or to be done. For great is the cross and anxiety of a husband if he has a wife suspected of infidelity, or lazy or improvident: then indeed all the care of the household falls upon the husband, and not only the household, but of the wife herself: for the husband fears lest his wife squander his goods, or consume them feasting with friends or lovers, or secretly dispense them to her own relatives, or through carelessness scatter them by neglect: wherefore, so to speak, with a thousand eyes like Argus he observes her deeds, so that he can scarcely do anything else, nor has he the mind to undertake anything great. From all these things the prudent and diligent wife relieves her husband, and therefore brings to him confidence, peace, security and unspeakable joy. And he shall have no need of spoils, — namely the husband, not the wife. For the Hebrew יחסר iechsar is of the masculine gender: whence it refers to the husband, not the wife. It can however be referred to both, if thus you translate word for word from the Hebrew, and spoil shall not fail, namely to both husband and wife. The Chaldean: and he shall not be despoiled, nor shall he lack. Now first, by spoils some understand provisions and foods necessary for feeding the household. Whence the Syriac translator rendered it, and he shall have no need of dates. For dates, which are the fruit of the palm, the Syrians, Indians and Egyptians live on, as those to whom an abundance of palms is available, which supply them with food and clothing. Whence St. Paul the first hermit, St. Anthony, St. Macarius, and the other Anchorites in the Thebaid lived for many years on dates, which they took few of each day. Secondly, others by spoils understand wealth and any goods whatsoever. Whence R. Solomon rendered it, and she shall not lack good things; Vatable, she shall not be in want of household goods; Zurich, her goods do not decrease; Aben-Ezra, the husband's mind trusts in her, that she administers the household; wherefore he shall never desire the furnishings which are prepared by her. Thirdly, our Salazar by spoil understands a scalloped garment, which is called from the shield, because it is marked with the forms of shields. But shields are wont to be spoils of war, as if to say: The diligent wife has no need of a scalloped garment and jewels, but can be led by her husband naked and without dowry, both because to her the dowry of her own industry and diligence is sufficient; and because she herself is manly, and therefore despises those ornaments of women as feminine and base, which vain and worldly-loving women so eagerly seek, as being destitute of true ornaments of prudence and virtues, and places all her adornment in wisdom, integrity and diligence. Fourthly, Jansenius properly understands spoils, as if to say: The husband of this diligent wife will have no need to go to the camps and become a soldier to capture the spoils of enemies, that he might feed and enrich himself from them: because the diligent wife will abundantly supply him with wealth, so that he ought not to seek it from the spoils of enemies with such great expense and danger to himself. Fifthly, Lucius of Leon, in his tract On the Strong Woman, by spoils understands commerce and merchandise, because merchants not rarely heap together merchandise and wealth from spoils, namely from usuries, frauds and unjust contracts, by which they despoil others, as if to say: This happy man, to whom a diligent and solicitous wife has fallen, placing hope in her for increasing the household goods, will think it sufficient for himself to till the fields and gather the fruits which the earth brings forth of its own; but he will not think it necessary for himself to engage in business and commerce to obtain greater gains. Sixth, more plainly and more fully, that is to say: The heart of her husband trusteth in her, because she herself will abundantly provide for herself and her household the things necessary by her diligence, so that she will not need spoils; but in place of spoils taken by arms, let there be for him fruits and riches obtained by his own labor and vigor. He names spoils, first, because he persists in the metaphor of the strong woman, in Hebrew חיל chail, that is, military and warlike, whose spoils are from her hands, not from enemies: for with her own hands she seizes great gains like spoils; second, because formerly the first riches of the Hebrews were gathered from spoils, by which they despoiled Egypt, Exodus xii, 36, and the Canaanites, when they conquered them through Joshua and occupied Canaan. Hence by catachresis the Hebrews call any riches whatsoever spoil or prey, as appears in verse 13. Thus even now Arabs, Tartars, Cossacks and many others live from plunder: whence all their riches are spoils; third, the spoils denote both the virtue of the woman and the abundance of riches, that is to say: The strong woman by her valor and wisdom will procure for her household the things necessary for her husband and herself, with no less diligence, nor with less virtue than if she had carried off spoils from conquered enemies; wherefore she will abound in all things, just as if she had brought back rich spoils from the enemy: for when cities are captured, great and various household goods pass to the victors, which are called spoils; thus Baynus. Hence the Septuagint: And she shall never want for good or honest spoils, where the Author of the Greek Catena says: Her, he says, produce and fruit are called honest spoils to distinguish them from evil ones, such as those which are unjustly obtained. Allegorically, the heart of God and Christ trusteth in her, the Church, whom He espoused to Himself, because by His grace and charisms He makes her strong and stable, so that against all the assaults of demons and the impious she perseveres faithful and holy even unto the end of the world, indeed eternally. Thus St. Ambrose, book VI on Luke, after the beginning: "He trusteth in her," he says, "her husband. Let us see what this woman does for her husband, what is her work, what is her obedience, why Christ trusteth in her. A good wife clothes her husband. Let our faith clothe Jesus with her body, let it clothe the flesh of His divinity with the glory of His divinity; just as she also made two garments for her husband, so that she might honor him in the present and in the future age. This is no ordinary woman, whose such is her loom, whom her husband finds not carding soft threads of wool, but handling precious weights of virtue, who lifts up her hands in the nights, and directs her work by the scale, and weighs the weight of her morals, and knows also to keep the measure of her deeds, weaving in the glorious foundation of her labor." He adds the cause, the love and expectation of the spouse, namely Christ. Whence he says: "She is anxious when her husband returns, anxious and sighing, and already desiring to be with her husband, saying: My husband delays in coming, I will hasten to him; I will meet him face to face, when he begins to come in his glory. Come, Lord Jesus, that thou mayest find thy spouse, not defiled, not adulterated, who has not violated thy house, has not neglected thy commandments. Let her say to thee: I have found him whom my soul loveth, let him bring thee into the house of wine (for wine gladdens the heart of man), let her be inebriated with his spirit; let her know the mystery, let her speak the sacrament." Again St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Diverse Matters (which exist among the new ones published by the Louvain scholars), which is found word for word the same in St. Ambrose, in this place of Proverbs at the end of vol. II of the Roman or Sixtine edition: "Plainly he trusteth," he says, "and that we too might trust, he taught. For he commended the Church even to the ends of the earth through all nations, and from sea to sea. If she did not persevere even unto the end, in her the heart of her husband would certainly not trust." And after some things: "This woman wants not for spoils, not because she does not seek them, but because she abounds in many. From everywhere she despoils the world, from everywhere she seizes trophies from the devil. Therefore she says to her husband, as it is written in the Psalm: I exult in thy words as one who hath found great spoils. How shall she want for spoils, she who from everywhere seizes, from everywhere draws, from everywhere acquires, from everywhere works good?" Thus also Bede, who adds also the cause: For she knows, he says, the spirit of grace which he gave; she knows the virtue of charity which he poured into his heart. Whence it is said to her by the spouse in the Canticles viii, 6: "Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for love is strong as death, jealousy hard as hell." The same is said tropologically of the same Bridegroom to any faithful and holy soul, which has fixed her whole mind, her whole love and affection in Christ as her Bridegroom. Whence St. Aegidius, companion of St. Francis, being asked "what was the way to holiness," answered: "One to one, one to one," namely that one soul be given to one God, wholly and entirely, as much as she is; thus she will become holy, nay heavenly and divine, so that God may trust and rest in her as in His temple, and conversely she may trust and rest in God and Christ as her most loving Bridegroom; as we read that St. Agnes did above all others in her Life in Ambrose, sermon 90, and book I On Virgins. For a holy soul, loving God and Christ perfectly, pours forth and transfuses herself wholly into His love: wherefore she thinks of nothing but Him, whom she contemplates and loves in all things; nor does she love anything else in them but Him, whence she loves Him equally in all things both adverse and prosperous: because she finds her Christ both on Mount Calvary and on Mount Tabor. Just as therefore on Mount Calvary she loves not the cross, but Christ crucified, so on Tabor she loves not glory, but Christ glorious: to Him she says: "My beloved is mine, and I am his." Again, the strong woman is the Blessed Virgin, in whom her husband, namely St. Joseph, after plainly perceiving her extraordinary holiness and learning of the conception by the Holy Spirit from the revelation of the angel, plainly trusted and rested. Hence grave theologians assert that Joseph, as soon as he entered into marriage with the Blessed Virgin, on account of reverence for so great a virgin and Mother of God, was freed from every incentive and feeling of lust, so that he did not even perceive the first movements thereof. Thus hold John Eck, sermon On St. Joseph, James Christopolitanus in the Magnificat, Gerson, sermon On the Nativity of the Virgin, and
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12. She shall repay (namely to her husband, as is evident from the Hebrew הו which is masculine) good, and not evil, all the days of her life,—namely those days in which she herself lives, as is evident from the Hebrew, that is to say, Not for some days, months or years, but constantly throughout her whole life shall the industrious wife repay good to her husband, and not evil. First, Aben-Ezra thus expounds it, that is to say, The industrious woman repays good things to her husband, because the husband casts his hope upon her and trusts in her, and never deals badly with her. To this Baynus adds, that is to say, The wife repays to her husband faith for the confidence by which he has bound her to himself, not faithlessness, so that namely she may repay him good things, not evil things, which argues a sincere and generous disposition of the wife, and is an indication of her magnanimity, because she does not allow herself to be conquered by love, but repays love with love, surpasses services with services. Second, Vatablus, that is to say, The strong wife always affects her husband with joy, because she causes him to rejoice continually on account of the good things which she constantly procures for him; for good often signifies what is joyful or pleasant, just as evil signifies what is sad and troublesome; as when it is said: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" And: "Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," that is the affliction and sadness thereof, Matthew vi, 34. Third, others, that is to say, The worthy wife shall not dissipate her husband's wealth, but shall accumulate and increase it, and she shall do this so as to repay good with good, by which Solomon signifies that a husband ought to be so benevolent and beneficent to his wife, and by his benevolence and beneficence provoke, and as it were compel her to repay and return the same to him, which is indeed prudent counsel: for this is the best way of securing peace and harmony between spouses, if they vie with each other in services. Let the husband therefore anticipate the wife with benefits, let the wife repay the same, indeed greater ones to him: "For love is the magnet of love;" and: "If you wish to be loved, love." For there is no more powerful weapon for extorting love than love itself. Fourth, Jansenius takes good in any sense, that is to say, The strong woman shall repay good to her husband, and not evil: that is, according to the confidence which the husband has in her, this woman shall repay good to her husband, and that without any admixture of evil; nor shall she do this for a brief time, but all the days of her life; therefore also after the death of her husband, if it should happen that she survives him, she shall not forget him, but shall persist in being always piously affected toward him. Now the good which the woman repays to her husband is the security of mind, and through it the joy of heart, the length of life, the care and preservation of domestic affairs, etc. Thus also Ecclesiasticus says, chapter xxvi, 1: "Blessed is the man of a good woman: for the number of his days shall be doubled. A strong woman delighteth her husband, and shall fill the days of his life with peace;" and verse 16: "The grace of a diligent woman shall delight her husband, and shall fat his bones; the discipline thereof is a gift of God." Fifth, more strictly and precisely our Salazar takes these things concerning the wife to whom a severe, morose and harsh husband has fallen, that is to say, Although the bitter husband reproves the generous wife, censures her, grows angry with her, she nevertheless is so gentle and magnanimous that she endures all things, and repays evil and bitter words with good and peaceful ones; and thus she overcomes the harshness of her husband, so that from an irascible man he becomes mild and gentle, as the blessed Monica, mother of St. Augustine, by her gentleness tamed the angers of her husband Patricius, as St. Augustine relates, book IX of the Confessions. On which account St. Basil proposes a beautiful example of the viper, which, while it couples with the moray eel, first vomits forth its venom, as something to be imitated by spouses, homily 7 of the Hexaemeron: "The viper," he says, "out of reverence for marriage vomits forth its poison: do you not put aside your hardness, your savagery, your cruelty out of reverence for the union?" Therefore this is the heroic degree of gentleness, patience and magnanimity, by which the wife repays good to her husband for evil, soft things for harsh things, humble things for proud things, gentle things for angry things. Assuredly it is the part of man to repay good for good; of saints and angels to repay good for evil; conversely, it is the part of pagans to repay evil for evil; of barbarians and demons to repay evil for good. All these senses are opposed to one another; the first however is plainer, the fourth fuller, the fifth more strict and deeper. Moreover, R. Levi says that "to reddet" or "retribuet" is taken improperly for "dabit," "largietur," just as "to retribuere" is sometimes taken in Scripture for "tribuere," ἀντίδωρον for δώρῳ, that is, a compound for a simple word, with no regard had to merit or recompense. Whence he expounds it, as if to say, A diligent wife wins over her husband to herself by benefits, in that she utterly humbles and enslaves herself to his service and obedience, and never flees from servitude. Hence also the Septuagint of Complutum translates it, "for she worketh her husband good, and not evil all her life"; the Vatican, "for she worketh her husband good in all her life," as if to say, A lazy woman, or one slow and quarrelsome, troubles her husband and stirs him to evils, namely to anger, sadness, desperation; but a diligent woman, and one loving her husband, cooperates with him for all good, because she comforts and raises him up in adversities, encourages him in difficulties, suggests sound counsel to him in perplexities. Wherefore just as oxen drawing the same yoke console, encourage, and strengthen one another, so that they easily draw a cart laden with grain, which either one alone could not draw: so a wife, joined in the same yoke of matrimony (whence also she is called "conjunx"), and coupled with her husband, alleviates his labors and sorrows by compassion and consolation, nay, she takes them upon herself, so that with joined strength on both sides they easily bear and overcome all things, and thus they lead the yoke of marriage with equal minds and steps, cheerfully and joyfully. St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Various Matters, reads, "she worketh her husband good and not evil"; and the Syriac, "she did good to him"; and the Author of the Greek Catena, "all her life she procures good for her husband, and not evil," as if to say, In order to win her husband's favor, she always works good, never evil; this is a sign of good character, equally as of virtue: for it is the proper axiom of the faithful and Saints, which they prefer as if premeditated in all their actions: "Do good to all, evil to none: deserve well of all: retain all friends in benevolence, reconcile enemies by your services and make them friends." Christ taught this same thing by word and example, who wished vengeance on no one, however much an enemy, much less inflicted it, but offered his doctrine and grace to all. Whence St. Luke says of him, Acts x, 38: "He passed about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him." For God does good to all, evil to none, and therefore he is and is called God, because "he maketh his sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and unjust," Matt. v, 45. Allegorically, the Church, and the holy soul, renders good to her spouse Christ, and not evil, because she strives in good works, and guards against evils, so as to please him, and therefore she endeavors to accumulate good upon good, so that she may daily increase his grace and Christ's glory in her by great increments. Thus St. Ambrose in chapter xxxi of Proverbs, near the end of vol. II: "Hence this woman, he says, because she despoils the world, seizes nations, all her life works good; but not for herself, but for her husband: so that she who now lives not for herself, but for him who died for all and rose again. For her husband she works good, him she serves, to him she is devoted, him she loves, him she always strives to please. Not Again, this woman is the Blessed Virgin, who rendered all good to Joseph her spouse, in that she was the guardian of her virginity in marriage. Hear St. Bernard, sermon On St. Joseph: "Moreover, because all things that are the wife's are the husband's, I believe that the most blessed Virgin most liberally exhibited to Joseph the whole treasure of her heart, which Joseph could receive." And after some things: "How many exhortations, consolations, promises, illuminations, and revelations of eternal goods do you think Joseph received in his passage from his most holy spouse Mary?" For this reason the Blessed Virgin cooperated with Joseph for all virtue, grace and glory, as St. Bernard goes on to explain: "How, he says, can a discreet mind think that so great a union would unite to itself some soul of so great a Virgin, unless one most similar to her in the working of virtues? Whence I believe Joseph was most pure in virginity, most profound in humility, most ardent in charity, most lofty in contemplation," etc.
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13. She sought wool and flax, and wrought by the counsel of her hands. — In Hebrew, she sought wool and flax, and made according to the will of her hands; others, according to the good pleasure of her hands; the Chaldean, and she wrought according to the will of her hands; the Septuagint, spinning wool and flax, she made what is useful with her hands; the Syrian, she sought linen, or a tunic; her hands wrought whatsoever pleased her. The meaning is clear, namely that she was devoted to wool-working: hence she did not wait for her husband to buy wool and flax for her, or to provide them; but of her own accord she sought both, so that from them she might make woolen and linen garments, with which she might clothe her husband, children and household members becomingly. This is what is added: "And wrought by the counsel of her hands," that is, her hands worked according to her will, so that her hands were as ready for the work as her will, just as if will and readiness to work were implanted in her hands. This is a hypallage. Thus Aben-Ezra: She wrought, he says, in the will of her hands, as if the faculty of willing were present in her hands; whereas on the contrary in the hands of the lazy there is, so to speak, an unwillingness to work. And Vatablus, in the good pleasure, he says, of her hands, because it pleases her, and she delights in the work of her hands; the Zurich Bible, she works with pleasure in her hands; for indeed, so that the work be easy, fruitful and constant, the will must be present. Secondly, Emmanuel translates, she made the will of her hands, that is, whatever she wished she made from wool and flax; so great was her skill in working in linen and wool, that the will did not follow the material, but the material and hand followed the will, so that whatever she wished, immediately by the skill of her hands it came forth and was made. Thirdly, our translator renders "counsel," that is, the industry, skill and dexterity of her hands, as if to say, her hands are endowed with wonderful industry, as much as her mind, for spinning, weaving, and making any textile work in an excellent and skillful manner. For art, namely the habit and dexterity of spinning, weaving, fabricating, etc., consists both in the mind directing the hands to the work, and in the hands themselves working, which from constant practice have acquired the habit and facility of working. Thus concerning Beseleel the architect of the tabernacle God says in Exodus xxxi, 2: "I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, and understanding, and knowledge in all manner of work, to devise whatsoever may be made artificially." Again "counsel," that is, prudence and prudent choice, as if to say, she works prudently with her hands not futile and useless things, but serious and useful things, which contribute to the clothing of her household. Hence the Septuagint translates, and she made what is useful with her hands. For many frivolous and curious women work frivolous and curious things, but useless, indeed alluring and harmful: but this prudent woman works nothing but useful, wholesome and holy things. This is her counsel, this is her wisdom and prudence. Hence Plato in the Symposium, following Solomon, made Poros, that is the god of wealth, the son of Metis, that is counsel: for by counsel riches are obtained. Alluring are the robes and tunics so subtle that through them the form and nakedness of the body shows through, which indeed St. Jerome, censuring in epistle 7 to Laeta, concerning the education of a daughter, thus says: "Let her despise silken webs, the fleece of silk, and gold drawn into threads: let her prepare such garments as drive away cold, not such as clothe naked bodies." Morally, let women here learn to accustom themselves and their daughters to linen-working and wool-working: for this is the proper work of women, so that they seem to be born for this and fashioned and made by nature for it, and this for a twofold end and fruit: first, for the avoidance of idleness; second, for the preservation of honesty and chastity. For while they attend to the work, they flee lovers, and are unable to attend to them. Wherefore from all ages the occupation of industrious women, even of princes and queens, has been in wool and linen. Anna the wife of Tobias is praised because she went daily to the work of weaving, Tob. cap. ii. St. Jerome, instructing the virgin Demetrias: "Have," he says, "wool always in your hands, or draw out threads with the thumb of the spindle, or let them be twisted for the warp in the spindle-whorl. And elsewhere to Laeta, concerning the education of a daughter: "Let her learn also to make wool, to hold the distaff, to place the basket in her lap, to turn the spindle, to draw out threads with the thumb." From the ancient custom of the Romans, the name thalassii was frequently uttered at weddings, namely so that by this nuptial voice the new brides might be provoked and exhorted to work and wool-working, as Varro and Juba, and Plutarch both in Romulus and in Questions, chapter twenty-nine, and Festus Pompeius transmitted: for θαλάσσιον signifies wool-working, says Plutarch, whence thalassio among the Latins. Which word the brides frequently sang, and Varro testifies that it was a sign of wool-working, namely that the ancients called thalassionem a basket suitable for wool-working. Hence Thalassio among the Romans was Hymenaeus, that is the god of virginity, says Servius: for wool-working is the guardian of virginity. But also the brides (as Varro writes, and Plutarch in the place last cited by me, and Pliny book VIII, chapter forty-eight) brought with them a distaff and spindle into the house of the bridegroom, and crowned and girded the door of the men with wool: by this nuptial ceremony also indicating that wool-working was to be exercised from the wedding in the house of the husband. Likewise among the same Romans the new bride used to sit upon a new woolen skin, by which she testified that she would perform the duty of wool-working for her husband, as Pompeius himself relates. Moreover the Romans themselves fixed a distaff, wool and spindle at the bronze statue of Caia Caecilia, situated in the temple of M. Ancus, certain monuments of her modesty and industry. The authorities are M. Varro and Pliny in the place already cited, and Plutarch in the Problem mentioned, chapter twenty-nine. She is, as the same Pompeius writes, she who, before she came to Rome, was called Tanaquil, wife of Tarquinius Priscus king of the Romans, who was of such great virtue that brides frequented that name Caia for good omen, whom they assert to have been a most excellent wool-worker. Of which matter also Caius Titus Probus makes mention in the Epitome of the ten books of Valerius Maximus, if the title of his book be not deceptive: where he also says moreover that it was instituted so that the new bride, when questioned before the door of her husband what she was called, should say that she was Caia. Not long after that time Lucretia, devoted to wool in the late night, sitting in the middle of the house among her handmaids working by lamplight, her husband Collatinus and the youths of Tarquinius find; which Livy wished to be accepted as a sign of virtue, a little before the end of book I from the Founding of the City, and Pliny, or whoever is the author, book On Illustrious Men, in Tarquinius and Collatinus; and Servius on that passage of Virgil, book VIII of the Aeneid: Nor indeed Tarquinius cast out. But also Ovid, recounting the same history, book II of the Fasti, says: Thence swiftly Lucretia is sought; before whose bed the basket and soft wool were: Light given to the handmaid drew out the tasks. Theano the Pythagorean, wife of Brotinus of Crotona (as it pleased Plotinus) or of Pythagoras himself (as Theocritus preferred), being asked what kind of wife she would especially commend, answered that Homeric saying: "Weaving the web and arranging my (that is the husband's, for Agamemnon is he who speaks) bed." Thus Athenaeus of Naucratis, and Stobaeus, discourse 72. In Homer himself, book IV, both of the Odyssey and of the Iliad, Helen exercises wool-working; and book V of the same Odyssey, Mercury finds the nymph Calypso, daughter of Atlas, weaving; and book VI, Arete wife of king Alcinous sitting by the hearth, with her handmaids twisting purple tasks, Nausicaa his own daughter finds. Herodotus in Calliope relates that king Xerxes, king of kings, was given by his wife Amestris a garment which she herself had woven. Curtius also, book V, has handed down to memory that Alexander ordered Macedonian garments sent to him from Macedonia, together with those who had made them, to be given to Sisygambi mother of Darius, and ordered her to be admonished that, if the garments pleased her, she should accustom her granddaughters to them. At which word, when tears bursting forth revealed the mind of one rejecting this gift (for the Persian women receive no other insult more than to put their hands to wool), Alexander, having learned of this matter, came to her: "And, mother," he said, "this garment in which I am clothed, you see is not only the gift of my sisters, but also their work; our customs deceived me. Beware, I beseech you, lest you take my ignorance as an insult." In Terence in the Andria, these words are from Simon the old man to Sosia his freedman: First she lived this life modestly, sparingly and harshly, Seeking her livelihood from wool and the loom. Poets assert that the goddesses themselves handled flax and wool. Ovid recounts, in book VI of the Metamorphoses, that Arachne, daughter of Idmon, because she dared to challenge the goddess Pallas in weaving, was overcome by her and transformed into a spider, which still preserves its former art of weaving; whence also the spider is called in Greek ἀράχνη. I have said that the distaff is the glory of women, for it is the shame of men. Whence David cursed Joab the murderer: "Let there not fail from the house of Joab... one holding a distaff," II Kings III, 29, as if to say, May the descendants of Joab be effeminate, so that they be reduced to a vile and womanly exercise of spinning, and be forced to seek their livelihood thereby. Thus it was a reproach and ruin to Sardanapalus that the general Artabanus found him among concubines spinning purple; for he deprived him of his kingdom and life. Hence Claudian thus censures Eutropius, the eunuch pedagogue of the Emperor Arcadius, and therefore rector of the empire: "Why do you thrust yourself, most shameful one, into wars, or attempt the fierce Pallas of the field? You can cling to other pursuits of Minerva, you can endure threads not weapons, you can know the warp, you can skillfully urge the idle maidens to their work, and wrap the snowy wool of your mistress upon the distaff." For this reason Narses, a man of great strength and valor, when that imperious Juno, the Empress Justinian, threatened him that she would consign him to the gyneceum with distaffs and spindles, a strenuously-minded man avenged this ignominy with great loss to the Roman empire. A great example lest Moreover, Charlemagne, when asked why he kept his daughters occupied in weaving, gave two reasons: first, that they might avoid idleness; second, that if they were reduced to poverty through changing and adverse fortune, they might prepare their livelihood by this work. Thus Einhard. In this work St. Elizabeth excelled, daughter of Andrew, King of the Hungarians, who, by a most grievous wrong, was despoiled by her kinsmen of camps and possessions, and worked wool with her hands and flax, so that from the proceeds of her labor she might feed herself, and clothe the poor, whose handmaid she was, as a mother. Thus born of the noblest birth, she made herself ignoble to the world, that she might be ennobled in heaven, taking ashes for a crown, a hair shirt for a pectoral band, a distaff of wool and flax for a scepter. Whence also she merited, fixed in heaven, to see the Son of God Jesus inclined toward her with the heavens opened, and to hear him say among other consolations and comforts: "If you wish to be with me, I will be with you, and I will in no way be separated from you." Thus her Life has it. To this pertains that saying of Ovid to Leander: "And twisting the threads drawn out with the spindle turned, we beguile with feminine art the slow delays." And Claudian in that epigram which he published concerning the horse of the Emperor Honorius, speaking of Serena the queen, wife of Stilicho: "And a girdle, varied with flowers of colors, binds you in the middle, and sweated by the chaste hands of Serena." Tranquillus records that Augustus Caesar so trained his daughter and granddaughters that they accustomed themselves to weaving. Einhard, his Chancellor, writes that Charlemagne did the same in his Life of him. Elsewhere also Plutarch himself testifies that Augustus himself rarely wore any garment other than domestic clothing, made by his wife, sister, daughter and granddaughters. Plutarch, on the testimony of Bibulus, asserts that Brutus, about to go to war, when his wife Porcia entreated him, sent her back to the distaff and loom, using the verses which Homer assigns to Hector addressing Andromache, Iliad XXII, where he recounts that she, while setting up the loom, heard laments and wailings from the tower on account of her husband's death. Well known is the chaste heroine Penelope, wife of Ulysses, who, in the absence of her husband, being sought after by suitors on account of her beauty, to deceive them said she would marry none unless she first completed the web which she had begun; wherefore by day she wove the web, but by night she unraveled it, so that no one whose superiors they are should rashly loosen their tongue against their subjects. Allegorically, St. Augustine, sermon 217 On the Seasons: The strong woman, that is the Church, and the holy soul, works wool, that is carnal and temporal things: and linen, that is spiritual and eternal things: for both are necessary to the faithful in this life. But hear St. Augustine: "What is wool, what is linen? Wool signifies something carnal, linen truly something spiritual; because in the order of garments, the inner garments are linen, but the outer ones woolen. Wool also is born from the mixture of animals, but linen is produced from the earth without the pleasure of the flesh, indeed it seems to present an image of chastity. So much so that the priests of the Old Testament by the precept of the law, on account of the testimony of chastity, used linen breeches. Therefore in wool something carnal, in linen truly something spiritual is signified. They are also placed for praise. For you find a man extending his hand in alms to a poor person, and yet not thinking of God there, but desiring to please men: he has a woolen garment, which can be seen, but does not have the inner linen. You find another saying to you: My conscience suffices me, I worship God, I adore God, what need have I to go to church, or to mingle visibly with Christians? he wants to have linen without a tunic. This woman does not know, nor does she commend such things. This woman finds wool and linen, and made them useful. Many find them, but do not make them useful with their hands. When you listen willingly, you find: when you live well, you make." St. Ambrose has nearly the same thing word for word in the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs, toward the end of volume II, who also adds: To work in the flesh, and not to work in the spirit, although it may seem good, is not useful; but to work in the spirit, and not to work in the flesh, is the mark of the lazy, etc. Hold to spiritual things, and carnal things spiritually, work." Bede truly understands by wool the works of simplicity and piety, by linen the mortification of the flesh: for linen is prepared in various ways by soaking, beating, combing, carding, etc., and is as it were mortified: "It is possible, he says, in wool, which is the nature of sheep, to understand all the works of piety and simplicity, which we bestow on our neighbors. It is possible in linen, which springs forth green from the earth, but through long and manifold exercise loses its native moisture, and arrives at the grace of new whiteness, to intimate the mortification of our flesh: while we burn out the innate filth of vices through continence, we truly make it worthy, with which we may put on Christ, according to that of the Apostle: As many therefore as have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ. The strong woman therefore seeks wool and linen, and has worked with the counsel of her hands, when the holy Church carefully seeks out with what fruits of piety she may exercise herself, how she may cleanse herself from carnal enticements. And this both she does with the most prudent counsel, that is with regard to heavenly recompense alone." Again, the work of wool and linen most excellently befits the Blessed Virgin. First, plainly according to the letter; for, as Epiphanius, Presbyter of Constantinople, says in the Life of the Blessed Virgin, "she was docile, and loving the threefold, and labored not only in the sacred Scriptures, but also in wool and linen, silk and fine linen. She was moreover in wisdom and understanding, above all the maidens of that age, a marvel to all, and she truly made those things whose use was in the temple for the priests." And St. Anselm in the book On the Life of the Virgin: "The work truly of her hands, he says, was of wool, linen and silk." Hence also the Nuns in monasteries, following the example of the blessed Virgin, spend a great part of the day in manual work, working wool and linen. The same prudent Confessors advise, indeed command, to virgins and devout women; for those who, leaving this aside, wish to give themselves wholly to prayer, reading, contemplation, afflict and harm the brain, which is weak in women, and become fanciful, anxious, scrupulous, maniacal, proud, delirious, as I have learned from much experience. Secondly, allegorically: because, as St. Epiphanius says, book III Against Heresies, further from the beginning, explaining that passage from Job chapter xxxviii, according to the Septuagint: Who gave to women the wisdom of weaving, and the knowledge of varying? "It was given to Mary," he says, "that she bore for us a lamb and a sheep, and from the glory of that lamb and sheep, there was made for us as it were from fleece in wisdom through his virtue, a garment of incorruptibility." Thirdly, tropologically: for, as Proclus, Bishop of Cyzicus, says, On the Nativity of Christ (which is found at the beginning of the Council of Ephesus), "this alone is the bridge by which God descended to man: this is the web of that admirable dispensation, from which and in which in some ineffable manner the tunic of that admirable union was fashioned; whose weaver was indeed the Holy Spirit, the carding virtue from on high overshadowing, the ancient and wine-colored wool of Adam's skin, the warp the undefiled flesh of the Virgin, the ray of the weaver bearing immense grace, the artificer the Word flowing in through hearing." The warp is the thread that runs within the weft. The warp is called, as Sergius says, the thread that runs within the warp. Warp is called, as Varro says, "because it traverses the Phrygian garment." For tranat it seems one should read trameat, that is transmeat, or penetrates. Fourthly, anagogically: because wool represents the active life, fine linen the contemplative; both did the Blessed Virgin work, and exercised in an eminent degree, who in every work perfectly associated Martha and Magdalene in a miraculous harmony.
31:14
In Hebrew, she was as the ship of one going about, from afar she brings her bread; the Chaldean, she is made as the ship of a merchant, whose food is brought from far away; the Septuagint of the Vatican, she is made as a ship engaged in trade from afar; and this gathers life; the Complutensian and Royal editions have, and this gathers riches; the Syriac, as the ship of a merchant bringing merchandise from afar. A merchant is therefore called institor because he is diligent in accumulating wares and wealth, or because he persists in his business, as Ulpian says. Whence also he goes about houses and cities (and therefore in Hebrew he is called socher, that is a goer about or one who goes around) offering his wares to individuals, and urging and pressing them to buy them. The sense therefore is, as if to say: This woman, diligent in working wool and linen, is like the ships of merchants, because just as those carry cloths, fabrics, and other wares to distant parts of the world, for which they bring back other wares from the same places, whence merchants procure for themselves their livelihood and necessities: so also she procures for herself bread from afar, that is the necessary food of her household, because for those things which she has worked with her hands, she also procures for herself those things which are brought from far away, and giving to foreigners cloth made by herself, she receives from them grain for food; she herself therefore, though she remains at home and does not run with merchants to the farthest Indies, yet like a certain ship bringing necessary things from afar, she also by sharing her things with foreigners carries bread for herself from afar. Therefore the analogy of the ship and the diligent woman consists in these things. First, just as a grain ship from Sicily or Egypt (which was formerly the granary of Italy) carries grain to Italy: so this woman brings bread, that is any food into her house. Again, just as Indian ships bring from India to Spain and Europe spices, gold, silver and other precious wares; and just as a Japanese ship yearly brings from India to the Portuguese and to Religious dwelling in Japan and evangelizing the annual provisions of the whole year, so much so that if the ship perishes, all the Religious who are in Japan are endangered as to their livelihood and life: so likewise this woman procures any food and household furnishings necessary for her family, so that from her the livelihood and life of all who are in the house depends. Hence he compares her to a ship, not to a cart, because one ship carries more than a hundred, indeed a thousand carts. Secondly, just as a ship carries domestic wares to distant shores and sells them, and brings back other wares from there, and thus makes a double profit: for it profits from both: so likewise this woman sends her cloths and fabrics, which she herself and her household have woven, through ships and merchants to foreign regions, where they are dearer, and sells them; and from there procures other wares, by which she feeds her family, or which she sells again; and thus makes a double or triple profit. Indeed, as Baynus notes, in this she surpasses ships, in that she herself remaining safely at home accomplishes all these things through merchants or servants and handmaids, whereas ships must traverse the longest regions and wander about, and that with perpetual danger to themselves and their wares, lest they suffer shipwreck or be captured by pirates. Thirdly, just as a ship never rests, not even at night when sailors are sleeping, but always navigates and travels about and visits various regions, offering its wares to each and pressing the inhabitants to buy them: so a diligent woman never rests, but while others sleep she herself keeps watch, always solicitous, vigilant over all, constantly thinking how she may provide for the household in all things; and therefore she works and labors day and night without ceasing, and is never wearied or exhausted in her work. Fourthly, just as ships do not for one or another year, but as long as they last, traverse the seas and carry and bring back merchandise: so a diligent woman throughout her whole life remains like herself, and always labors to care for and increase the family property, and does not rest except in death, as if having completed the course of her voyage. Fifthly, just as ships bring from the most remote regions rare and precious merchandise, so that the Venetians, Antwerpers, Genoese, and other dwellers by the sea, who devote themselves to navigation and commerce, have in their homes whatever riches and delights they wish, and whatever anywhere is excellent or precious, because they take care to have all things brought to them by ships: so likewise a diligent woman furnishes her house not only with meat, wine, fabrics, cloths of that region, but also from distant places brings those things which serve not only the necessity but also the splendor of the family. Sixthly, this woman is compared not to one ship, but to ships in the plural, as the Hebrew has it, namely to an entire fleet, which brings an immense abundance of merchandise, because she, though one, is like many, and through herself and through her sons, servants and handmaids accomplishes more than many joined together accomplish in their families. Allegorically and tropologically, all these things are easily adapted to the Church and the holy soul, merely changing the name of woman to the name of Church or soul. For the Church, like a ship, brings to the faithful all kinds of provisions, namely the word of God, examples of Saints, sermons, exhortations, Sacraments, and especially the Eucharist, which is the bread of life, bringing to those who eat it present and eternal life. Hear Bede: "A ship," he says, "traveling through the sea, so that there it sells what it had brought, may bring back more precious things to home: so indeed the holy Church, so every perfect soul rejoices to be laden with the riches of virtues, by which it merits greater gifts of divine grace. For it is the best commerce, when, doing the good works we are able to do, first we receive from the Lord this reward, that we may always make progress toward greater deeds, then we receive eternal life. The holy soul has therefore become like the ship of a merchant, which passes through the desire of the waves of the present world, and hopes to receive in heaven alone eternal joys, and to accomplish eagerly whatever it can, to overcome strongly whatever adversity occurs, in order to obtain these more abundantly." Hear also the Author of the Imperfect Work on St. Matthew in St. Chrysostom: "She has become like a ship of distant commerce, that is the Church, which, with the Apostles sailing, the Lord governing, the Holy Spirit blowing, runs everywhere with the word of preaching, carrying with itself great and inestimable treasure, by which all mankind, or rather the whole world, has been purchased by the blood of Christ, of which the same Solomon, chapter thirty, verse nineteen, reported, saying that the track of a ship sailing the sea cannot be found, showing that the conversation of the Church is not earthly but heavenly, according to that which the Apostle says: Our conversation is in heaven," Philip. iii. In like manner you may adapt the same to the Blessed Virgin, who brought into the house, that is into the Church, the life-giving bread, namely Christ the Lord, when she bore him in Bethlehem, that is in the house of bread. Whence St. Gregory, homily 8 in the Gospel: "Well," he says, "is he born in Bethlehem, that is in the house of bread; for he himself is he who says: I am the living bread which came down from heaven," John vi. She therefore "from afar," that is from heaven, carries her bread through the sea of this life. For "from afar" denotes the distance between the Word and human nature, which he united to himself hypostatically in the womb of this blessed woman. Rightly indeed does she call this bread hers, because she alone without the work of man conceived him, whom in Bethlehem through her virginal childbirth, as from a ship, she exposed for the benefit of all, so that we may be fed by him in the Eucharist. Again, she herself, the ship of the merchant, was full of heavenly merchandise, namely all virtue and grace. Whence Damascene, oration 1 On the Dormition of the Virgin: "This is she," he says, "who found the abyss of grace, and kept safe the twofold ship of virginity, and preserved her soul no less than her body unharmed."
31:15
In Hebrew, and she rose while it was yet night (while night still was), and gave prey to her household, and a portion to her maidens. For prey in Hebrew is טרף tereph, which properly is wild food, and is said of beasts which by hunting seize smaller beasts and beasts of burden, and tear them apart and devour them. Hence by catachresis it is transferred to any food of animals and men, especially that which is obtained by hunting, that is by laboring and sweating. It is a metaphor from lions and beasts, whose entire food is acquired by preying, and is prey. For cibaria in Hebrew is חק choc, that is, measured, appointed, customary, from the root חקק chacac, that is, to appoint, describe, define: whence it can refer both to appointed food and to appointed measure. Hence the Chaldean translator renders it, she gave a measure to her maidens; the Syrian, she gave work to her maidens; Theodotion, she gave an ordinance to her maidens; the Septuagint, she gave works to her maidens. Choc therefore signifies both a measure of work and a measured portion of food, namely a portion and food defined, that is she appointed bread and food constituted or ordained for each day, and therefore signifies ordinary food. The sense therefore is, as if to say: This industrious and provident woman does not sleep late into the light, but before dawn in the night she rises, so that she may prepare and give food to servants and maidens, sons and daughters and other members of the household, and so that she may distribute the works and measures of the whole day among them, and assign and apportion to each their own, namely lest they lose any light and time, but spend it all on work. Wherefore to servants going to the fields to till them, or to do other work at the earliest dawn, indeed at night, earlier, she gives breakfast, and at the same time assigns foods which they may carry to the field, and eat there, lest, if they return home for dinner, they lose so much time and steal from their work. Similarly to her maidens at dawn she distributes measures of wool, linen and works, and assigns provisions, so that they may be ready for work, and spend the whole day on it. For these are signs, indeed acts of great providence, diligence and industry in a matron of the household. Furthermore, she calls these foods "prey," first, because they are seized and snatched by night as it were in passing. For she alludes to lions and beasts, which after their evening meal digested at night again hungry, in the darkness and at dawn go out to hunt and prey, so that they may seize other beasts and animals as prey and devour them. Thus in Job xxiv, 5, it is said: "Others like wild asses in the desert go forth to their work, watching for prey (in Hebrew, dawning for prey or rapine) prepare bread for their children." Hence they are called evening wolves, that is nocturnal, which prey at night, concerning which I have said much on Habakkuk i, 8, and Jeremiah v, 6. Thus also this lion-like woman at the earliest dawn prepares these foods for servants and maidens to be seized and snatched as it were in passing, so that they may be ready and swift for their journey and work. Again, prey signifies that these foods are obtained by great industry and labor of the woman, and are given to the servants and maidens not except as a reward for their remarkable labor. "For he who does not labor, does not eat," says the Apostle. Hence, as St. Ambrose says in the book On Abraham: "In the house of the wise no one is idle." Formerly mothers in the Balearic islands did not give food to boys unless when they had struck down from a distance what was set before them by a cast of the sling, both to accustom them to labor, and to exercise them in the art of shooting, in which they therefore became so excellent, that they struck any target not by missing, but by a sure blow, indeed they would strike a hair on the head without wounding it: wherefore in battle the slingers became formidable to enemies. Thirdly, just as a lion and lioness do not eat alone the prey which they have hunted, but tear it into parts, and distribute it to their cubs or lion-cubs: so this woman distributes the foods prepared by her industry to servants and maidens, but separately. Not mixed together, namely first she gives to servants טרף tereph, that is wild meat, namely harder foods; then separately she gives lighter foods to maidens. Note here her honesty and concern for modesty, which separates maidens from servants, so that she may remove mutual glances, conversations, and other allurements of luxury among them; and at the same time her discretion, by which she assigns to each the appropriate provisions. Fourthly, for and cibaria to her maidens, the Septuagint, Chaldean, Syrian and others render, and a measure of works to her maidens. For the Hebrew חק choc signifies both a measure of works and a measured portion of food, the measure of works, as it were a reward corresponding to merit and labor: by which it hints that this wise woman fixed this law for her maidens, that they should not take the measured portion of food or appointed food before they have completed the measures of their works. Morally, learn from this that the dowry of a matron of the household is vigilance, so that, as one says, she goes to bed last, rises first before others, and rises before dawn, in which matter she ought to surpass the nature of women: for woman by her nature is phlegmatic, and therefore slow, tardy, sleepy, so much so that the Comic writer asserts that she was born from delay itself. For thus says Plautus in the Soldier: A woman is truly born from delay itself; for whatever else is delay equally, delay seems less than that which is on account of a woman. And Terence in the Self-Tormentor: While they are preparing, while they are adorning themselves, a year passes. It is different in this manly woman, who is a virago, and surpasses not only women, but also men in virtue and vigilance. Whence vigilance is painted in emblems as a matron and virago, holding a book in her right hand, a rod with a lighted lamp in her left: a crane stands by her with one foot raised, holding a stone, so that, if by any chance she should fall into sleep, by the fall of the stone to the pavement and the noise of it, she might be awakened and roused. Again, this wife gives food to her household at night, so as to suggest that the whole day should be given to labor and work, but the night to necessary refreshment. Thus St. Antony, St. Hilarion and the other Anchorites took food not during the day, but in the evening and at night, and this for two reasons. The first was, that they might devote the whole day to work, either manual or mental, namely to prayer, study, reading and contemplation, and not be hindered from it by food: for the belly laden with food dulls the mind, so that it cannot use its acuteness, and search into sublime things. The second was, that they were ashamed, and considered it as it were unworthy for a man and a servant of God to eat during the day, and that the sun should see him eating. For eating is the basest action of man, inasmuch as in it the mind of man, born for spiritual and heavenly things, is depressed to earthly and carnal things, and is like to brutes. Whence that holy Anchorite in the Lives of the Fathers, suffused with shame, wept when he took food, because he was forced to take food at night like swine and animals, he who during the day fed on the food of angels. Allegorically, St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Diverse Matters, expounds these things of the Church, as well as of a holy soul: "From nights, he says, she rises: nights are tribulations, but for whom are these? From nights she rises, that is, she makes progress in tribulations, etc. And she gave food to her household: in nights she presented herself as an example to be imitated, by doing she taught what she had said should be done." Again Bede: "Night, he says, is appointed to rest, day to labor. Thus the Church and a holy soul rest as it were at night, when, having laid aside for a time external solicitude, she begins to have leisure for herself, and to care for herself spiritually: namely by sacred readings, or by prayers and tears, or by exercising herself in other such studies in secret. But she rises from night, when in these her faithful ones, she busies herself to care also for neighbors. Which work of fraternal administration she is accustomed to exercise in two ways: because both those who erred without, she calls to the grace of faith; and those who are already imbued with the Sacraments of faith, she ceases not to stir up, that they may apply themselves more to good works. Whence it is well said: She gave a prey to her household, and victuals to her maidens. For she gives a prey to her household, when those whom she was able to snatch from the ancient enemy by teaching, she reconciles to the society of those who went before in faith; and she gives victuals to her maidens, when the humble ones, and those serving her commands with due fear, lest they grow weary in pious labor, she refreshes by the remembrance of heavenly reward." Furthermore, all these things, with the name changed, are adapted to the Blessed Virgin, who, receiving at night the message of the Incarnation of the Word from the Archangel, giving her assent to him, embodied the Word in herself, so that she might set it before us as food in the Eucharist. Again, her grace and merits, which in the night of this life she acquired innumerable and as it were immense, through acts of intense charity, humility, patience and other virtues, she did not keep for herself alone, but dispensed to the Church and all the faithful, and dispenses daily. For, as St. Bernard says, "of his fullness we have all received." Moreover, she anticipated eminent Saints at night, that is, before their age, so that from childhood, nay from the womb, they might begin to have leisure for God and piety, as we read of St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas, St. Dominic, and others: wherefore then she dispenses to them the weights of virtues, so that they, growing in age and merits, might weave and perfect them gradually.
31:16
In Hebrew, he thought of a field and acquired it; Aben-Ezra, he undertook the thought of buying a field; the Chaldean, he thought in counsel and acquired a field; Vatablus, he contemplates a field; the Zurich Bible, he consults about a field and buys it; the Septuagint, considering a field he bought it, and from the fruits of her hands she bought a possession; the Syrian, he meditates on agriculture. This verse can be understood in two ways: first, concerning a field separated from a vineyard, as if to say, This prudent and diligent woman from the price of the cloths and fabrics which she made, bought both a field and a vineyard, that is, a field for sowing and reaping wheat; a vineyard for the vintage of grapes and wine: and thus she provided for the family both with food and drink, namely both with bread and wine. Note here that she considered, as if to say, not rashly, not by chance, but maturely and deliberately she bought a field, namely she first examined carefully the condition, convenience and fertility of the field, as well as the cheapness of the price at which it was offered to her: wherefore she bought a fertile field at a good and cheap price. Again in like manner she bought a vineyard, and in it she took care to plant vines, or certainly she planted vines in a part of the field already bought suitable for vines. Thus we see in Lombardy in the same field vines mixed with crops and trees, with great elegance and fruit. For the same field bears wheat, grapes, apples and pears. Second, it can be understood concerning a field converted into a vineyard, as if to say, She considered a certain field which on account of the meager yield of wheat was neglected by its masters and held in low esteem; wherefore she bought it at a cheap price, and made a vineyard from it: because considering it, she perceived its clods, and that it was more suited to vines than to crops, and more fertile in grapes than in wheat; wherefore from uncultivated she made it cultivated, from barren she made it fertile, which is indeed an excellent industry and skill on her part. For wheat requires thick and rich soil, but vines require thin and light soil. Hear Virgil, I Georgic: "The other favors wheat, the other Bacchus, denser for Ceres, the rarest for Lyaeus." More plainly and clearly Theophrastus, lib. II, cap. xxv: "Meadow and sandy soil," he says, "is very suitable for vines, and in short loose, light, thin." Hear also Columella in the book On Trees, cap. XIII: "In dry, lean and parched places sow the vine, fertile by nature and strong, with frequent berries: but if you plant strong vines in rich soil, they will luxuriate more in shoots, and whatever fruit they bear, they will not bring to maturity." And lib. III, cap. v, he says: "A vineyard should be made in moderate rather than rich soil." Anagogically St. Augustine, serm. 45, among the new Louvain sermons, understands by the field heaven and heavenly glory, which the Church and the faithful soul purchase and buy by the labor of her hands, namely by laboring and accumulating many good works, especially of charity and patience. For she considers and foresees that "the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us." Allegorically Bede understands by the field and vineyard the propagation of the primitive Church: for the Church founded by Christ in Judaea began to propagate and plant itself through neighboring provinces and peoples, and to cultivate them through the breaking up of spiritual fields and vineyards, and from thence to gather a great harvest and vintage of the faithful, virgins, martyrs and confessors. All these things you adapt to the Blessed Virgin, who first planted in herself a field and a vineyard, when she cultivated her body and soul by the constant working of all virtues. Second, she herself planted the field and vineyard of the primitive Church by her wisdom, providence, merits and examples, and made it so fertile that it flourished in all holiness, and brought forth Apostolic men, martyrs and virgins, indeed so that all the faithful lived a life not only Christian, but also religious in poverty, chastity and obedience, as the Essenes did under St. Mark at Alexandria, and the Christians of Jerusalem under St. Peter, as appears in Acts, chapters ii, iii and iv, where I have said much about this matter. Again, she throughout all ages propagated the field of the Church through other and other nations, and planted in them vineyards of holy and chosen congregations, especially of Religious Orders and Religious of diverse orders, who would inebriate the Church with the wine of their devotion, chastity and charity. Moreover, she brings forth to the faithful from her field and vineyard in the Eucharist "the grain of the elect, and wine springing forth virgins," as Zechariah says in chapter ix, 17. Third, she cultivates each of the faithful individually as it were new fields and vineyards in faith and holiness: for there is no faithful one and no Saint who does not owe his faith and holiness, whatever and however great it may be, to the Blessed Virgin: for she was constituted by Christ as the mother of the household, whose sons therefore, whom she bears to Christ, nourishes and advances, are all the faithful and the just. Furthermore, just as that wise woman by her sagacity makes the earth suitable for seed into a field, and the earth fertile in grapes into a vineyard: so also the Blessed Virgin directs and advances each of the faithful to that virtue, state and perfection to which by nature and grace he is most inclined, and to which he appears most suited and apt. In this matter let superiors—prelates, princes, rectors of Religious Orders, and any superiors whatsoever—imitate her, so that they apply their subjects to those duties to which by their natural disposition and grace they observe them to be most able and inclined: for when nature is seconded by grace, something great is produced; but if these two disagree and grace be discordant with nature, little is accomplished, according to that saying: "You will accomplish nothing against the will of Minerva," that is, nature. For who is able to struggle perpetually against nature, and as it were to row against an adverse stream, and to sail perpetually against contrary winds?
31:17
In Hebrew, she girded her loins with strength, and strengthened her arms for work; the Septuagint, she girded her loins strongly, she strengthened her arms for work; Aquila and Theodotion, she girded herself with strength her shoulders, that is her shoulder, or her arm, or her back. For "she strengthened" Symmachus translated, ἐκρατιάωσε, that is she solidified; Aquila and Theodotion, ἐκαρτέρωσε, that is she hardened and caused calluses to form; Vatablus, she girded her loins strongly; Aben-Ezra, she girded her loins with that as if she had equipped herself with strength. First, St. Augustine, sermon 43, Bede, Salonius and Hugh understand by this girdle of the strenuous woman mortification and chastity; for in the loins is the origin of seed and lust, as physicians teach. Therefore to gird the loins with strength is to restrain and check the desires of the flesh strongly. Whence Bede: "The action of good work cannot be acceptable to the Lord, unless one first restrains from the flesh and from the mind the flowing of lust together." Thus also St. Gregory in that passage of Luke xii: Let your loins be girded: "Then," he says, "we gird our loins, when we restrain the lust of the flesh through continence." Hence a girdle was once the sign of virginity, which married women therefore loosened. But here properly this virago is praised not for chastity, but for strength; yet concomitantly for chastity, because, just as lust exhausts and weakens strength, so chastity strengthens and fortifies it, as experience teaches. Whence the camps of strong soldiers are said to be named from chastity, or from the castration of lust, as I have shown elsewhere. Chastity therefore makes this virago strong. Second and genuinely, it alludes to the girdle by which virago women and men, especially those about to depart, to labor, or to fight, gird their loins, so that they may bind, compress, firm and strengthen them in themselves weak, soft and loose by the girdle: thus likewise this virago girded herself with a girdle, so that she might gather strength and vigor, both so that she might traverse and inspect her house, field and vineyard with swift and strong step, and so that she might undertake robust works with robust body and mind. Wherefore both by the girdle, and through the girdle more by strength itself she girds herself: for this itself is her girdle, and as it were a military belt, by which she girds herself for heroic works as a soldier for battles, and has sharpened her spirit and strength. It is signified therefore by this catachresis, that this virago stirs up and stimulates her feminine and soft nature to manly strength, both of mind and of body, as if to say: She aroused and put on manly strength, manly spirits, as did the mother of the seven Maccabees, "inserting a masculine spirit into feminine thought," exhorting her sons strongly to martyrdom, II Maccabees vii, 21. See what I have said at length concerning the girdle of Christian warfare at Ephesians vi, 14. AND SHE STRENGTHENED HER ARM. — as if to say: She exerted her arms robustly for the robust labors which she exercised: for by this exercise of strength, strength is increased. Whence Milo of Croton, a famous boxer, daily carrying a calf with his arms, as it grew in age and size, gradually through exercise with his arms' strength growing likewise, carried the same one grown up and become a bull with those same arms. This is relevant to what Plato, book V of the Republic, and book VIII of the Laws, teaches that virago women should be enrolled in military service, and therefore exercised in the circus and equestrian games, and in the Critias asserts that such women once existed, who were elevated to goddesses on account of their mighty deeds. But Plato attributed more than enough to women, when in the same book of the Republic he wishes them to be common to all men for greater union of citizens, in which the wise man clearly raves. Mystically St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Various Matters, or among the new ones published by the Louvain scholars, applies these things to the Church and the holy soul: "Girded," he says, "she firmly strengthened her arms, truly strong. See if she is not a handmaid, whom she serves devoutly, how readily: lest the flowing folds of carnal desires impede the worker, she girded her loins, so that nothing superfluous might hinder her, while she hastens in her work; for there the chastity of this woman, constrained by the zone of precept, girded her loins strongly, strengthened her arms which would not fail." Moreover adapt all these things to the Blessed Virgin, whose virginity and divine strength shone forth, both in the journeys, labors, poverty, persecutions, which she bore strongly from Herod and the Jews on account of the infant Christ; and in the constancy by which she stood by Christ crucified even unto death, and endured all kinds of torments which Christ suffered, she herself suffering with him; and in that at Pentecost with the Apostles, indeed before the Apostles, she was clothed with power from on high, and received the Spirit in the fullness of supreme strength, so that namely she herself after Christ's death might sustain all the sorrows of the Apostles, all the crosses of the faithful, and the entire weight of the Church; which she indeed accomplished in fact. See what I have said at chapter viii, verse 14, to those words: "My strength is." She was therefore as it were the Atlas of the primitive Church, as she is also of the modern.
31:18
In Hebrew, she tasted that the good circulation of it will not be extinguished, etc.; the Septuagint, she tasted that it is good to work, and her lamp is not extinguished all night; Vatablus, perceiving her work to be fruitful, she also works by night; Aben-Ezra, by diligent reasoning and counsel (for taam, that is taste, also signifies counsel and reason, because just as taste savors and discerns foods, so reason savors and discerns things suitable from unsuitable), she discovered and understood that it is most useful to engage in business. Others translate taam as, she reckoned to herself the business transactions, that is the expenses and profits, and she saw, that is she certainly gathered that she practices a lucrative art. She tasted therefore, that is she learned by experience, and by taste itself clearly felt how great and how sweet was the profit of her business and diligence in working wool and linen, especially since from these she bought a field and vineyard, and from there tasted wine and drank: wherefore she spent almost the whole night in work by lamplight, and therefore did not permit it to be extinguished. The word tasted signifies first, consideration and reckoning of expenses and profit; second, frequent experience, namely that she frequently obtained and felt great profit from wool-working and linen-working; third, taste and delight: for profit gained by labor, as if one's own, and the fruit of one's own industry, tastes wonderfully, and as if sugar seasons labors and makes them savory; whereas profit obtained without labor, for example from inheritance or donation, delights little as if foreign and extrinsic, and is as if insipid: for what has cost much is rare and dear; what comes of its own accord is esteemed lightly. Moreover, that in former times industrious women with their maidens and handmaids occupied themselves with wool-working and linen-working not only by day but also by night at the lamp, is evident from what is said in verse 13. Whence Virgil, in the first Georgic: Nor did the maidens carding the tasks by night know winter. And Ovid, in the second book of the Fasti, relates that Lucretia was found by the adulterer Tarquin thus by night: Thence with swift step Lucretia is sought, before whose bed were baskets and soft wool. And again in an epistle thus Penelope to Ulysses: Nor would it weary my hands, seeking to pass the spacious night, the hanging web of a widow. Let Pastors, Prelates and zealous men imitate this, so that with the shepherds of Bethlehem they may keep watch over their flock; thus they will merit to see Christ being born with them, indeed rising again and coming to judgment; for this must be done either very early in the morning or by night, according to the parable of the prudent virgins having their lamps lit by night and awaiting the bridegroom: "At midnight," he says, "a cry was made: Behold the bridegroom comes, go out to meet him, etc., and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage," Matt. xxv, 6. Wherefore the Church formerly celebrated vigils on the feasts of Martyrs: for by night the faithful kept watch in prayer at the temples and tombs of Martyrs. Hence the nocturns in the Ecclesiastical office, which many Religious still chant by night: in which they imitate Christ, who preached by day, but in the evening withdrawing to the mountains spent the night in prayer. Whence mystically the Author of the Greek Catena: By the lamp, he says, understand a pure mind and devoted to contemplation, adorned with spiritual gifts. It is memorable what we read of St. Genevieve in her Life. Since she was accustomed to spend the night in prayer on individual Saturdays, and on a certain night she went to the basilica of St. Denis constructed by her labor, the candle shining before her and her companions was extinguished while she was praying, and immediately from heaven it was lit again by angels (The same happened to St. Gudula, who was the daughter of St. Amelberga, sister of Pepin, and is the patroness of Brussels, as her Life has it in Surius on the 8th of January). Whence this verse is aptly inscribed under her image: "Her lamp will not be extinguished in the night," especially because she herself by the splendor of sanctity, constant prayer, abstinence and miracles shone forth and shines to all Gaul, indeed to the world. And therefore St. Simeon Stylites by letter commended himself to her prayers, and St. Remigius, Clovis, Clotilda and other Princes and Prelates held her in great honor and esteem, so much so that the Parisians constantly venerate her as their patroness, because besides other things she turned away Attila and the Huns from their city by her prayers, who were laying waste the rest of Gaul. In former times in the East there was a monastery of the Acemetae, that is, of those who do not sleep, but are always keeping vigil in the praises of God, as St. Simeon Stylites did, and St. Daniel his follower, and others: namely, "the life of the Saints is vigilance;" life is brief, eternity is long; therefore both by night and by day let us work good, that we may accumulate merits and glory lasting for all ages. Plato followed Solomon: "No one sleeping," he says, "is worthy of anything;" thus Laertius reports it, lib. III: and Philip king of the Macedonians, when he had fallen asleep at some time in his army, upon waking said: "I slept safely, for Antipater was keeping watch," signifying that it is not fitting for kings to indulge in sleep, especially in war, unless they have a faithful prefect of the watch. Thus Plutarch in Apophthegmata. Truly Philo with Antonius in the Melissa, part. I, cap. xxii: "Sleep," he says, "like a publican divides half of life with us." And Democritus with Maximus, serm. 29: "The temperate," he says, "and the studious never sleep, even if they extend their studies far into the night; for sleep does not drive them like some master, pressing down a neck subdued by wine and reduced to servitude, as if with insult; but they remain free and upright: when however they seek sleep, they receive it with a pure mind, neither elated by prosperity nor cast down by any adverse things: for a sober mind bears both of these equally, and does not allow itself to be overcome by either of them; and thus it sleeps most sweetly, empty of all pain, and with uninterrupted sleep." Symbolically, "it shall not be extinguished in the night," that is, in adversities, temptations and persecutions, the lamp of the manly woman, that is, her joy, reason, counsel, glory, posterity, happiness; for these are the symbol of a lamp, as I said cap. xx, 27, and cap. xxiv, 20. Allegorically St. Augustine, serm. 45 De Diversis: The lamp of the Church in the night, he says, is hope in tribulation and the hardships of this life; for this hope illuminates her, animates her, strengthens her, so that she persists constant in virtue and good works, awaiting the light and day of blessed immortality. "That in darkness," he says, "we may not fail, but through patience await; what we do not see, let us hope for. Therefore let our lamp burn all night long. And because he who speaks the word to us daily pours in oil, lest the lamp be extinguished: therefore let us daily hear the word, receive the oil, sustain our burning lamps, as the Lord teaches: And let your lamps be burning in your hands, Luke xii. Thus indeed shall we imitate the example of this strong woman." Hear also Bede: "The Church," he says, "and every perfect soul tasted, that is, knew by intimate desire of the mind, that the business of incorruptible life is good, which, leaving behind the allurements of temporal things, we purchase eternal reward in the heavens. She tasted, that is, openly learned, that it is good through earnest preaching to bring whomever she is able to the way of truth, and therefore by no darkness of tribulations, nor even by death itself can the lamp of her devotion be extinguished. For their lamp is extinguished in the night, although it may be seen burning in the day, who, as the Lord says, believe for a time, and in the time of temptation fall away." He then adds that night can be understood as the quiet of prayer and contemplation, as if to say: "The lamp of the Church and of the holy soul is not extinguished in the night, because even when it rests from the business of action, it is more freely vacant to the light of supernatural contemplation; and when it ceases from public works, it takes care to devote itself more earnestly either to the hearing of holy reading, or to divine praises, according to the example namely of the industrious woman, who is accustomed not only by day to apply herself to the necessary labors of the household, but also often by night with the lamp lit to give similar care to the affairs of the family." You may most excellently accommodate these things to the Blessed Virgin. First, because she herself both by night and by day was devoted to prayer, and to divine love and other good works, according to that of Canticles v, 2: "I sleep, and my heart watcheth." Whence St. Bernard, serm. 2 De Assumptione, contrasting her with the foolish virgins, who, when the bridegroom came, lacked oil to light their lamps: "Not so," he says, "that strong woman, who crushed the serpent's head; for you have after much in her praises, that her lamp shall not be extinguished in the night. This is said as a rebuke to the foolish, who, when the bridegroom comes at midnight, complain too late, and say: Because our lamps are going out. Therefore the glorious Virgin went forth, whose lamp was so burning that it was a miracle of light even to the angels themselves, so that they would say: Who is she? etc.: for it shone more brightly than the others, which Christ Jesus her son filled with the oil of grace beyond her companions," etc. Secondly, because when Christ was dying on the cross, while the apostles doubted and despaired of His resurrection, in the Blessed Virgin alone there remained a lamp, that is, a certain faith and hope of the resurrection, namely that He would rise on the third day as He had promised. And the Church represents this, says Amalarinus in the Office of the Church of Holy Week, when she extinguishes twelve candles and keeps one lit; namely, she signifies that in the twelve Apostles the faith and hope of Christ's resurrection was darkened or extinguished, but in the Blessed Virgin it remained living and splendid. Whence St. Cyril, in his sermon Against Nestorius, calls her an inextinguishable lamp. The Mother of God therefore preserved her faith during the time of the Lord's passion, as in a night of tribulation and anguish, most dark to her on account of her compassion for her Son, solid and burning, which she sufficiently showed when she stood firmly by her Son fixed to the cross, and did not blush at His cross by hiding herself at home, but went forth openly in public, and in order to communicate more fully in Christ's sufferings, she stood by His cross following Him. But with the other women she did not come to anoint His body (whom she believed with firm faith would rise on the third day), so that on account of this it was said of that strong woman: "Her lamp shall not be extinguished in the night." Thirdly, because when she died, she immediately rose again, and was assumed into heaven happy and glorious both in body and soul; wherefore death was to her not so much death as life. Her lamp therefore, that is, her life, was not extinguished by death, but rather kindled. Whence Damascenus, in his second oration On the Assumption: "Thou alone," he says, "art left to us as consolation on earth, and it is blessed to live when thou livest and to die when thou diest; but what shall we say when thou diest? For to thee death itself is also life, and a life more excellent, and surpassing this life incomparably." Fourthly, because the Blessed Virgin both while she lived, and much more now in heaven, solicitous for the salvation of all the faithful and of men, labors day and night and keeps vigil, and brings it about that each one solicitous for his own salvation keeps vigil. To which St. Bernard adapts that passage: "At her light they shall walk in the night." That is, he says, her favor and grace will be to me as a torch and light to dispel the nocturnal darkness of this age. She therefore is as it were a lighthouse surrounded with lights, showing to the faithful navigating in the night and sea of this age the harbor of salvation. Why not? since St. Paul says to each of the faithful, Philip. ii, 13: "Among whom you shine as lights in the world." Finally, St. Bernard, in his second sermon On Pentecost: "To her," he says, "as to the center, as to the ark of God, as to the cause of things, as to the business of all ages, they look, both those who dwell in heaven and those in hell and those who went before us, and we who are, and those who shall follow, and the children of the children, and those who shall be born from them. Those who are in heaven, that they may be restored; and those in hell, that they may be snatched away; those who went before, that the faithful Prophets may be found; those who shall follow, that they may be glorified, etc. In thee the angels found joy, the just found grace, sinners found pardon eternally. Deservedly in thee the eyes of all creation look, because in thee, and through thee, and from thee the benign hand of the Almighty recreated whatever it had created." Where note that the Blessed Virgin is called the business of all ages: first, passively and objectively, namely because all ages tend toward her, so that all ages seem to be occupied, that is, perpetually turned, laboring and working, in adorning and crowning her; secondly, actively, because she herself is the "business," that is, the businesswoman with God on behalf of the faithful of any age, and she does this with such care and zeal that she seems to be not so much a businesswoman as the very business itself of each one; so much does she have at heart the business of each one's salvation, as if her own proper matter and business were being transacted; wherefore like the very business itself she is never idle, but conducts business intently and assiduously.
31:19
Septuagint, he extends his hands to useful things, and his hands to the spindle, as if to say: Thus constantly does he draw the threads, so that his hands appear to be fixed and bound to the spindle. For "strong" in Hebrew is כישור kiscor, which the Rabbis, Vatablus, Pagninus and others commonly translate as distaff or spindle; the Chaldean as spindle. By this can be understood either that stone ring which is inserted into the spindle below, both for weight so that it descends and flows, and so that by its roundness the spindle turns more easily; or a wheel, which being turned by one hand, the threads which are spun by the other hand, it draws around the spindle, which therefore more honorable and wealthy women use, both for ease of spinning, and so that in a short time they may complete and accumulate many threads and yarns. But Our [translation] better renders it "strong." For Symmachus, Aquila and Theodotion translate ἀνδρικά, that is, manly things; the Septuagint, useful things. For the Hebrew כשר casar means to be right, to be fitting, to be suitable. Hence כישור kiscor is rectitude, fitness, suitability, propriety, usefulness, and also the industry of doing rightly, which is true strength. It signifies therefore that this virago extended her hands to works suitable to her, proper, useful, industrious, and consequently strong. By which understand both generally any heroic works of women, and specifically the work of wool-working and linen-working, which requires great industry and strength. Whence explaining this, he adds: "And her fingers took hold of the spindle." For there is no work more fitting for women, more decent, more honorable, more worthy, more useful, than to spin and weave, as is evident from what was said in verse 13: for this requires remarkable skill and art; this also is strong, both on account of the reasons already stated, and because it requires great constancy of body and mind, so that this virago may strengthen her mind equally with her arms to constant spinning and weaving, and so that she may spend her whole life in this labor, indeed may keep vigil through entire nights in it. Wherefore the Poets made Pallas, or Minerva the goddess, the patroness both of spinning and weaving, and of warfare, and of study. To the same goddess therefore they attributed these three things, linen with wool, arms and letters, because the industry of weaving makes women strong and learned in their kind, or according to their state and rank. Whence in Exodus xxxv, 25: "But also the women that were skilled, he says, who spun hyacinth, purple," etc. Hence "the spindle, says St. Isidore, lib. XIX Orig. cap. xxix, is called so because by it is founded what has been done; the distaff, because it is in length and roundness like a column." Therefore to a woman her arms are the distaff and spindle; these are to her the book of wisdom, honesty and virtue. Somewhat differently, but morally, does Blessed Peter Damian explain it, Opuscul. XV, cap. 1: "She put her hand, he says, to strong things, and her fingers took hold of the spindle, because namely the suitable executor of this life so extends herself through greater works from the fervor of desire, that even cautiously she does not leave what is least." Allegorically St. Augustine, serm. 45 De Diversis, adapting these things to the Church and the faithful, teaches them to continually draw the spindle, when they constantly apply themselves to good works in the present, so that they may gather many merits as if threads, and not defer them to the future, when this is uncertain, and often does not happen; and this from the fact that through this small present labor they hope certainly to obtain great rewards in the future age: "Carefully, he says, attend to two instruments in wool-working, the distaff and the spindle. On the distaff indeed the wool is wrapped, which is to be drawn by thread into the spindle: what is wrapped on the distaff is still on the left, and is not yet on the spindle; what is collected on the spindle is already past; let your work therefore be on the spindle, and not on the distaff; on the distaff is what you are about to do, on the spindle what you have done. See therefore if you have something on the spindle; there your arms are strengthened, there will be your strong constancy, there securely you will say to God: Give, because I have given; forgive, because I have forgiven; do, because I have done. What hangs on the distaff is to be transferred to the spindle; but not what is collected on the spindle is to be recalled to the distaff. Therefore see what you do so that you may have on the spindle, so that you may strengthen your arms on the spindle, which may console you, which may confirm you, which may give you confidence in praying and hoping." The Poets represent this by establishing three Fates, who by spinning distribute to man the days of his life and his lots, as it were threads, so that together with the days of each man's life they bring forth his lots, namely his actions and passions; for life consists in action, for to live is to move and to act. Whence the idle man who does nothing seems rather dead than alive. Hence the Poet depicts the three Fates thus: Clotho spins the distaff, Lachesis spins, and Atropos cuts. For, as Apuleius says: "The three Fates are three destinies in number, making with respect to the measure of time, if you refer their power to the likeness of that same time. For what is perfected in the distaff has the appearance of past time; and what is twisted in the fingers indicates the spaces of the present moment; and what has not yet been drawn from the spindle and worked by the care of the fingers seems to show the later things of the future and following age." They think Lachesis was named as it were from lot, because λαγχάνω in Greek designates to draw lots; Atropos, because she cannot return; Clotho, because she holds all things twisted and coordinated. For these very names are shown by the Greek language itself. Hence Martial, book I: "It has befallen no one to entreat the three wool-working maidens: they observe what day they have determined." Again: "The Fates, harmonious with the stable divinity of fate," says Virgil, Eclogue 4. Furthermore, each one ought to work כבישור, that is in beauty, each in rectitude and congruence, so that namely each one works suitably to his own person, vocation and rank: namely the king works royally, the citizen civilly, the Religious religiously, the priest as befits a priest, the soldier as befits a soldier, the senator as befits a senator, etc., and this perfectly and excellently; thus each one will act his part decently and remarkably. Again, through the distaff which is straight and rotates rightly, Hugo understands the rectitude of intention, which also rectifies and sanctifies even indifferent works, so that the more right and holy the intention, the more right and holy the work; for intention is as it were the form and soul of the work: "The fingers," he says, "of this hand are all the elect, who grasp the distaff, that is the rectitude of intention, by which they twist all works as threads into the circle of eternity. But here it should be noted that by the left hand temporal things, by the right hand spiritual and eternal goods are signified. Likewise by the spindle is signified temporal life, by the distaff the intention of good work: the spindle indeed is placed in the left hand, and the wool or flax is twisted from the distaff into the right hand, which is to spin rightly: but this happens when temporal and human things are so exercised that through good intention, as it were drawn into thread, they pass into the condition of eternal and spiritual merit." Moreover the Author of the Greek Chain says: "The distaff," he says, "is the pure mind, which has woven virtue to virtue, and dogma to dogma continually." Adapt all these things, changing the name, to the Blessed Virgin, who assiduously exercised strong, that is suitable to her dignity and heroic works of charity, love of enemies, such as the Jews who had killed Christ, patience, etc., such as it befitted the mother of Christ to work, and namely she bodily assiduously held the distaff, so that she might make cloths for the temple and for Christ her son: but spiritually in every good work she had the distaff, that is the most right intention, equally as the assiduous continuation, and their apt connection and order among themselves, so that among themselves beautifully connected and ordered, these three, namely rectitude, continuation and connection, or order of actions, the distaff represents. Wherefore whenever an opportunity of working well was offered to her, she seized it, and from that as it were from the spindle good works, like threads by efficacious operation into the distaff, that is into the heap of her merits, she transmitted. Again, whenever a good desire was sent to her by God, immediately from it as it were from the spindle and flax she drew forth threads of efficacious operation. To us so many opportunities, so many good desires are offered, but like flax on the spindle they stick, because from them we do not draw forth threads of good actions, and meanwhile the threads of our life run to their end; wherefore at death we shall find the distaff of our merits thin and slender, and we shall repent too late. Anagogically, Bede understands by the distaff, which is on the right, eternal life; by the spindle which is on the left, present life: "Often, he says, in Scripture the right signifies perpetual life, the left the present gifts of God: namely, the abundance of things, the peace of times, the health of bodies, and also knowledge of the Scriptures, and the perception of heavenly sacraments. When we have received these and such like goods through the Lord's bounty, we carry the wool wrapped on the distaff in our left hand as it were. But when we begin to exercise them healthily for the love of heavenly things, we now transfer the wool of the Immaculate Lamb from the distaff to the spindle, from the left to the right hand, because from the gifts of our Redeemer, from the examples of His works, we make for ourselves a robe of heavenly glory and a nuptial garment of charity." And below: "And it is well said: They took hold, so that it may be more vividly commended with what zeal, with what haste in the uncertainty of this life, we ought to act for rewards certain with the Lord." Tropologically, Martyrs, Virgins, and Religious carry robust, manly and martial spirits, and therefore they put their hand to strong things; for what is stronger than to overcome beasts, fires, crosses, indeed to seek them? What is stronger than to live in the flesh as if without flesh, like an angel? What is stronger than to conquer oneself, to consecrate oneself wholly to God, to seize and plunder all virtues, all perfection, all the gifts and riches of earth and heaven?
31:20
In Hebrew, she extended her hand to the afflicted, and she sent her hands to the needy; the Chaldean, she extended her hand to the poor, and her arms she sent to those suffering injury; the Septuagint, she opened her hands to the poor, and she extended her palm to the needy. For palm in Greek is καρπόν, which word signifies both fruit, and the joint or connection of the arm with the hand, which the Latins after the Greeks call carpus, and consequently signifies the palm. Whence St. Augustine reads: And she extended her fruit to the needy. But that here it signifies palm, not fruit, is clear from the Hebrew, Chaldean and Vulgate. For extended in Hebrew is פרש paras, that is, she extended, she stretched out, she spread out, which word denotes the liberality of this woman, as if to say: The hand, which other women are accustomed to keep timidly closed and bent lest at some time they should be in want (for this is what the Hebrew כף caph signifies), this woman not only opened, but also liberally spread out to any who came by, indeed she even stretched it out to those far away, and she did this not only from the desire of doing good, but also from concern for herself and her household. For she knew that nothing so increases the wealth of a household as almsgiving, to which God blesses, nor does He repay merely equal for equal, but tenfold for single. See St. Chrysostom, homily: That almsgiving is the art of all arts most profitable. The Septuagint translates, she extended her palm to the poor, which some explain thus, as if to say: To the poor she gave not only present alms, but also future alms she promised as it were through the palm by faith. For the ancients were accustomed, as Clement of Alexandria testifies, when they bound themselves to another and gave their faith, to hold the palm in hand, and to offer it to the other to whom they gave their faith to press, so that by this rite the knot of faith pledged might be expressed. St. Augustine reads fruit, and explains it thus, as if to say: The fruit, namely the gain which she gathered and amassed from the work of her hands, she did not keep for herself, nor did she spend it only in feeding her household, but also distributed it to the poor: by which is signified the great work of this woman, and the gain of her labor, as much as her spirit and beneficence, so that in this she would be equal to him, and matched on equal terms. This was accomplished by the Blessed Nonna, mother of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, of whom he himself writes thus in oration 19: "She considered these riches of hers alone and free from all theft to be for pouring out to God and the poor, and especially to her kinsmen, who had fallen from their fortunes as if from some flower: to whom she judged that to provide only what was necessary was not the averting of calamity, but a memorial; but to help them more liberally and abundantly, that truly was the mark of firm honor and most perfect consolation." And the Blessed Gorgonia, daughter of the Blessed Nonna, and sister of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, of whom he himself writes thus in oration 11: "Who extended a more liberal hand to the needy? Indeed I would not hesitate to boast of her the words of Job: His door was open to every traveller, nor did the stranger lie outside. She was the eye of the blind, the foot of the lame, the mother of orphans. As for her humanity and mercy toward widows, what greater thing can be said than that from this she bore this fruit, that a widow was never called such? Her house was a common lodging place to kinsmen laboring in want. Her riches were no less common to all the poor than each one's own faculties: she dispersed, she gave to the poor, and on account of the firmness and supreme truth of the divine promise she stored up much in heavenly granaries, and very often by doing well to many she received Christ Himself." St. Paula was so lavish toward the poor that she exhausted the very great wealth which she possessed, and dying left enormous debts to her daughter St. Eustochium to be paid; indeed, what she had desired befell her, that she should be buried in another's shroud: St. Jerome is witness to this in her Epitaph. It is memorable what we read concerning St. Oswald, king of England, that his hand, on account of alms lavishly bestowed, remained incorrupt after death. Hear concerning him from Bede, book III of the History of the English: "When on the holy day of Easter he had sat down to dine with Aidan the Pontiff" (that is, the Bishop), "and a silver dish had been placed before him on the table, filled with royal foods, and already hands were about to be sent to bless the bread: suddenly there entered his minister, to whom the care of receiving the needy had been delegated, and he indicated to the king that a very great multitude of poor people coming from everywhere was sitting throughout the streets, asking for some alms from the king, who immediately ordered the foods set before him to be carried to the poor; but also ordered the dish to be broken, and to be divided among them in small pieces. When the Bishop who was sitting saw this, delighted by such an act of piety, he grasped his right hand, and said: May this hand never grow old, which also thus according to the wish of his blessing came to pass. For when he was killed in battle, the hand with the arm was cut off from the rest of the body, it happened that it has remained incorrupt until now. Finally in the royal city, which was named from the queen formerly called Bebba, enclosed in a silver casket in the church of St. Peter it is kept, and is venerated by all with worthy honor." In a similar manner the right hand of St. Stephen, the first king of the Hungarians and apostle, by which he gave abundant alms, remained incorrupt after death, revealed by an angel, and honored by the nobles of the kingdom with due worship, as his Life has it. Having completed his life he passed to the heavens in the year of the Lord 1038. Allegorically Bede says: "The Church," he says, "opened her hand to the poor, when she revealed the mysteries of faith to the ignorant through workers of truth. She stretches forth her palms to the poor, when far and wide she sent preachers to instruct the needy of eternal salvation throughout the nations." Moreover all these things are easily accommodated to the Blessed Virgin, whose alms, mercy and liberality the histories of all ages celebrate, all nations, every age and sex; whom therefore the whole Church daily cries out to with these words, and with these praises implores her aid: "Hail, Queen, Mother of Mercy; our life, our sweetness and our hope, hail." For, as St. Anselm says: "She cherishes Charity and Mercy as her foster-children in her arms;" and St. Bernard: "God willed that we have nothing which did not pass through the hands of Mary." Whence St. Bonaventure: "As the eyes," he says, "of the handmaid are in the hands of her mistress, so our eyes are toward our Lady until she have mercy upon us."
31:21
For "duplicibus" in Hebrew it is שנים schanim, which the Chaldean, Pagninus and others translate as "scarlet." For thus the Chaldean has it: the children of her house shall not fear the snow, because all her domestics are clothed in scarlet, that is, in scarlet garments, as if to say: All are clothed in precious garments, how much more in necessary ones to ward off cold? Thus Vatablus. But it seems unseemly that this virago should clothe with precious scarlet vile handmaids devoted to works of wool and linen, and servants appointed to the cultivation of field and vineyard; especially because scarlet, although warm, is nevertheless simple and thin, and therefore wards off cold less than thick cloth and reinforced garment. Therefore Our translation is better, "duplicibus"; for the Hebrew schanim descends from שנה schana, that is, to change, to repeat, to double, whence schanim signifies doubled and double; or, if you read it with other points as שנים schenaim, it is precisely the same as "twofold" or "double." Whence the Septuagint, connecting it with מרבדים marbaddim, which follows in the next verse, translates δισσάς, that is, twofold or double; but the ancient codices of the Septuagint agree with the Vulgate; whence Cassian, Collations XIV, chapter viii, reads from the Septuagint: for all who are with her are clothed doubly. By double garments some understand one lighter summer garment, another heavier and warmer winter garment; others, one worn and old garment, another new and napped. But properly you should understand double garments, namely twofold and paired; or simple, but reinforced. For in winter the wealthy are accustomed to multiply garments and to put on two garments, or certainly one reinforced with furs or cloth, so that it serves as two for warding off cold. Again, "duplicibus" can be taken for "multiplied," of which meaning I have elsewhere collected more examples. For what is signified here is the provident care and liberality of the virago, by which she provides abundantly for her household and domestics with manifold furnishings, provisions and clothing. For their honor and fine garment are the honor of the virago herself. For, as St. Chrysostom says: "A complete household holds together like a certain body, of which the head is man and wife, while the other domestics (namely sons and daughters, servants and handmaids) compose the other members. Therefore he who allows his servants to be indecorously naked, or clothed in worn and obsolete garments, affects a good part of his own body with dishonor." Add to this that this is gain for the virago and her household. For when domestics are furnished by her with garments against cold, they grow warm and are eager for work; wherefore they accomplish twice as much work as they would accomplish if they were shivering and torpid from nakedness and cold. Let Religion, of which this woman bears the type, hear this, and let Abbots, Priors and Rectors of Religious communities open their hands to Christ's poor, their religious sons who have made themselves poor for Christ's sake, and let them provide for them with necessities with great manifestation of charity, lest they be forced to beg them from parents or friends, or to procure them from elsewhere for themselves, with loss of poverty, reputation and discipline. Cyril illustrates this name with a notable allegory of the tortoise and the mouse, filled with his parables, in book I of his Moral Apology, chapter vii, whose title is: Always proceed with safe burden: "A mouse, he says, running through a storehouse with hasty step, met a tortoise proceeding with slow pace. The foolish mouse, immediately mocking her fitting gravity, spoke to her thus ironically: Why, sister, do you proceed with such rapid velocity? To which she, moving her head and deceiving the mocker, answered to the truth: I proceed thus because I am burdened with my arms. Then he said: It is foolish to carry so great a burden everywhere. But she: Rather it is foolish what you judge not to feel, and more stupid to run about unarmed, not yet secure from enemies: namely by the providence of nature, surrounded on all sides by the weight of my shell, I find for myself a home, a wall and a shield when necessity presses, and I do not run about begging for help. You indeed are light because you are unarmed; when a furious enemy with claw comes upon you, running about here and there seeking help, you run stupidly; and suddenly prevented by the enemy's soldier, you perish if you have not found where to hide yourself. Why therefore do you rejoice in lethal lightness?" He then confirms the same thing by a similitude of sailors, a horse, the sea, the earth and straw, and says: "Attend therefore to this, that the lightness of winds often submerges the sailor in the deep: and a warlike horse, unless it be weighed down by burden, does not safely throw itself into the wedge of enemies, the wave of the sea always flows around with fluctuating lightness, and the earth rests in its weightiness, light straw is tossed about restlessly by the blast of winds, and a small stone is made firm by its gravity. Therefore, my brother, let the pleasant season of your lightness be yours; to me the dear tranquility of my weightiness. Certainly it pleases me everywhere to have the sweet yoke of protection, and always to have with me the light burden of salvation. Having said these things, he departed, converting the laughter of his mocker into mourning." Furthermore the Septuagint translate not word for word, but paraphrastically, he is not concerned about those who are in the house of her husband, if he has remained anywhere (snow cutting off the return); for all who dwell with her are well clothed and rightly constituted. Thus the Author of the Greek Catena, as if to say: The man casts off all concern of his household regarding food and clothing upon his wife, who is a virago. For he knows that by her all are abundantly provided for regarding food and clothes, and especially himself, as the husband: whence the Septuagint add, she made two garments for her husband. Allegorically Bede and from him the Gloss: The Church, he says, and the faithful soul is clothed with a double garment, namely first, doctrine and virtue; second, wisdom and patience; third, grace and good things of the present life, and glory of the future; fourth, faith and works; fifth, the Sacraments of Christ and examples. Hear Bede: "They are clothed with doubles, because they have the promise of life which now is and which is to come: now in temporal pilgrimage by divine aid, lest they fail, Moreover the Church and the faithful soul against the cold of snow, that is of acedia and torpor, is clothed with a double charity, namely of God and of neighbor, which therefore is scarlet dyed twice, says St. Gregory. Furthermore St. Ambrose, book II to Gratian, in the preface, by double garments understands the sacerdotal ones, as if this virago had imitated them, so that she might set before her eyes their sacred significance: "For those things too are good, he says, which the weaving of the priestly garment shows, either the law namely, or the Church, which made two garments for her husband, as it is written, one of work, the other of mind, weaving in faith and the veils of deeds. And so elsewhere, as we read, gold was woven over, and afterwards hyacinth and purple with scarlet are added and fine linen, Exodus xxviii. Again elsewhere from hyacinth and the others he first forms little flowers, and joins gold beneath, and there is one habit of the priest, so that shining with the same colors, the diversity of grace and beauty shines forth by the diversity of order." The same St. Ambrose in chapter xxxi of Proverbs, by two garments understands a twofold faith concerning Christ: for we believe and confess Christ both as God and as man. Finally, St. Bernard, in book III of his work On Consideration addressed to Eugenius, understands by the double garments fortitude and comeliness: fortitude in conscience, comeliness in reputation. "The Lord, he says, hath reigned, He hath put on comeliness: the Lord hath put on fortitude. Do thou also be strong in faith, comely in glory, and thou hast proved thyself an imitator of God. Thy fortitude is the confidence of a faithful conscience; thy comeliness is the splendor of good repute. Thus, I beseech thee, put on fortitude: for the joy of the Lord is thy fortitude. Moreover, in thy beauty and comeliness He delights as in His own likeness. Put on the garments of thy glory, clothe thyself with double garments, with which that strong woman was wont to clothe her household. Let there be no wavering weakness in conscience from faint faith, let there be no blemish in reputation from evil appearance; and thou shalt be clothed with double garments, and thy spouse shall rejoice over thee as a bride, and thy God shall rejoice over thee." Symbolically, Cassian, in Collation XIV, chapter viii, understands by the double garments the twofold sense of Holy Scripture, namely the literal and the mystical; for the Church adorns and clothes herself with both. All these things are easily adapted to the Blessed Virgin; for she was clothed with a double garment and scarlet twice dyed, that is, with the burning charity of God and of neighbor, according to that passage in Psalm xliv: "All the glory of the king's daughter is within, in golden borders surrounded with varieties," namely with the variety of all virtues. For the inner man, namely the mind, the garment is golden charity; for the outer man truly the garment is modesty and continence, which embraces the other virtues. Again, she was endowed with a double garment, namely the active and contemplative life. Moreover, her charity was most precious, both because the Holy Spirit coming upon her, who by His essence, nay by the force of His procession is uncreated love and charity, poured Himself wholly into that Virgin; and because she herself, drawing forth continuous and ardent acts of this love, increased it with immense growth; and because she herself by a heroic act of charity frequently and as it were continually devoted herself with her Son, God, as a holocaust unto death for the salvation of men: which act had everywhere immense worth and merit, and incomprehensible to us. With the same garment she adorns her devoted ones, and it is again double, because she clothes and invests them with the virtues both of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin, according to that saying of St. Bonaventure in his Psalter: "Put on Mary, all ye who love her; let this shine in your conduct, let it gleam in your actions." Moreover, how the double garment, that is, the burning and continuous act of charity, excludes all the cold of snow, that is, of sin, I shall show at the end of the following verse. Furthermore, just as Eve, as St. Bernard says in his Sermon on the Praises of St. Mary, "clothed the flesh of her children, as with a double garment of confusion: for from her hand the seed of double evil the earth of ours received, namely iniquity and guilt in the soul, calamity in the body:" so on the other hand the Blessed Virgin gives us a double garment contrary to this, namely grace and glory, both of body and soul. This therefore is the bright double garment which the glorious Virgin bestows on her own. Wherefore the translation of the Septuagint is most fitting for her: she is not solicitous about those things which are in the house of her husband, wherever he may have remained; for all who are clothed with her: because namely Christ committed the administration of the Church and of the faithful until the day of judgment, when He Himself after a long delay shall return to judge all, to the Blessed Virgin, as St. Germanus, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure and others teach. Again, the ancient, pious and learned Doctor teaches from this passage that those who in this life have served the Blessed Virgin with special devotion are to be given by her in heaven a singular glory as it were a double garment: "Just as, he says, royal servants and those of the queen in the royal court proceed in certain garments and insignia gilded, by which they are recognized to be servants of the king or queen, and walk clothed in special purple: so in the heavenly court the servants of the Blessed Virgin shall shine with special ornament and glory, by which they are distinguished before others as servants of Mary, according to that passage in the last chapter of Proverbs: All her domestics are clothed with double garments." Finally, some interpret the double garments as signifying the doubled merit of each action of the Blessed Virgin. For Francis Suarez, III part., Quest. xxxvii, art. 4, disput. 18, sect. ii and iv, holds that the Blessed Virgin throughout her life continually merited and grew in grace: for she most frequently and almost constantly elicited the most intense acts of charity, and thus doubled them through merit, and this through continuous intensification and doubling: by which means it came to pass that at the end she arrived at an immense accumulation of charity and merits. For he teaches that the Mother of God worked according to all degrees of intensification of the habit of charity and grace, so that the pre-existing habit exhausted the whole force of the subsequent act. He proves this first by the example of the angels, who while they were wayfarers accomplished the same thing: for they loved and worshipped God with the most intense and continuous love, so that their actual love was commensurate with and equal to their habit, and exhausted it; but what was granted to angels or to any creature cannot fittingly be denied to the Mother of God. Second, he proves the same thing by reason, because there was nothing in the Virgin that would weaken the force of this habit—not distraction, not temptation, not concupiscence, not the heaviness of the body, which in us diminish and weaken acts, so that no one of men is such as to love God continually as much as he is able to love from the habit of charity which he possesses. Let us therefore grant that the Blessed Virgin in the first instant possessed a habit of charity and grace intensified as a thousand (for a greater habit was infused into her than into the highest Seraph), and elicited an act of charity as a thousand, by that act she merited that as many degrees be added to the habit of charity, and that it be doubled: God therefore immediately doubled it, and made it intensified as two thousand. In the second instant of her operation, from this infused habit intensified as two thousand, she elicited an act equally intensified as two thousand: she therefore merited as many, namely two thousand degrees to be added to the habit of charity, so that it was now intensified as four thousand. In the third instant of her operation, cooperating equally therein, she elicited an act intensified as four thousand: she therefore merited an increase of another four thousand, so that she now received a habit intensified as eight thousand. And thus always matching the habit to the act, he continually doubled it, so that in the fourth instant the habit would be intensified as sixteen thousand, in the fifth as 32 thousand, in the sixth as 64 thousand, in the seventh as 128 thousand, in the eighth as 256 thousand, in the ninth as 512 thousand, in the tenth as 1024 thousand, in the eleventh as 2048 thousand, in the twelfth as 4096 thousand: and thus consequently by arithmetical progression, whereby the number and value, though small at first, after a few progressions grows to the immense. From this Suarez concludes that the Blessed Virgin by the final act of charity, which she elicited when dying, merited greater grace and glory than by all the acts of her entire preceding life. For thus in arithmetical progression the last number doubled exceeds in multitude all the preceding ones. This pious and probable calculation is possible to God; but it is not altogether certain, both because it is uncertain whether throughout the individual operations of her entire life for 72 years the Blessed Virgin elicited such intense acts as always to equal and exhaust the habit: especially since Adam did not do this in the state of innocence, nor perhaps would the angels have done so for 72 years, if their state of wayfaring and meriting had lasted so long: for created power, being flexible and free, does not appear to bear so long and continuous attention, intensification and striving: for it is extreme, and therefore violent: whence no example of it exists; then because acts in man are not renewed so frequently, but the same ones in contemplatives are wont to endure for several quarters and hours; then because it is uncertain whether an act as three merits an increase of the habit as three, especially that it be given immediately in this life; for the merit of supernatural acts seems to correspond to the physical action of natural acts: but natural acts do not increase or double the habit unless they be more intense than it. God could indeed through continuous and vehement impulses of grace so excite and strengthen the will of the Virgin, that not only would she equal the habit by act, but even exceed it, and that both day and night she would constantly elicit and double the most ardent acts: but whether in fact she accomplished this is not clearly evident. It is certain that God conferred upon the Blessed Virgin many extraordinary privileges unknown to us, which befitted the Mother of God; but what precisely, of what kind and how great those were, he has revealed to no one hitherto, wherefore various persons hold and conjecture various things.
31:22
In Hebrew, for a decorated garment is מרבדים marbaddim, which Aquila and Theodotion translate as peristromata; Symmachus and Vatable as tapetia; the Chaldean as "he made coverings for himself"; the Syrian as "he made for himself a bed (lectisternium)"; less correctly Pagninus as "he made for himself a collar"; our translator therefore most excellently renders it as "a decorated garment." For the root רבד rabad signifies to spread out, and by spreading out to adorn; whence marbaddim signifies decorated and variegated coverings. For Varro, in De Lingua latina: "Whatever they spread out," he says, "is called a covering from the act of spreading." Valla, book VI, chapter 46: "A covering," he says, "is a kind of garment, or whatever is spread upon a bed, horse or other thing, such as an altar, wall, pulpit, etc." Moreover the ancients made and adorned these coverings with various textures, needlework and various designs of figures, and therefore they were precious; whence Tibullus, book I, Elegy: "For neither then feathers, nor decorated coverings brought sleep." Hence among coverings are numbered Turkish and Flemish tapestries, skillfully cut or embroidered with various figures. Whence Isidore, book XIX, chapter 26: "A covering," he says, "is a garment of varied colors, which is distinguished by the hand of a craftsman with diverse variety. It is called from the fact that it is suited to a bed and a garment, concerning which Solomon says: She made for herself a decorated garment." And chapter 7, verse 16: "I spread my bed with cords, I covered it with tapestries dyed from Egypt," where in Hebrew the same verb רבד rabad is used as here. A decorated garment therefore is a garment variegated with diverse figures, colors and threads through various means, whether by weaving, or needlework, or cutting, etc. The sense therefore is, as if to say, This strong woman not only wove and worked simple cloths and linen and woolen fabrics for domestic use, for servants and handmaids, but also precious coverings, namely tapestries, bed-coverings, altar-frontals, etc., either by weaving or by elegant needlework in the Phrygian style, and with these she furnished and adorned her house, just as we see the houses of nobles and princes furnished and adorned with the same. "Fine linen and purple is her clothing." — As if to say, By her industry she made for herself and equally for her husband, as the Septuagint has it, and for her children garments of fine linen and purple, in which she imitated priestly vestments: for these were woven from fine linen and purple: to signify that her adornment is sacred and mystical; for just as the priest is adorned with these to please God, so also she adorned herself with similar ornaments to please both God and her husband. For fine linen by its whiteness represents chastity, purple by its flaming color represents conjugal love. Whence formerly the veil with which brides were veiled at weddings was white and purple, and from this was called flaming, as Isidore and others testify. By fine linen therefore she displays and professes her chastity, by purple her love. Allegorically you may adapt this to the Church, whence St. Ambrose, in the book On Tobias, chapter 20: "The garment of Wisdom," he says, "is from those garments which Wisdom made for herself from fine linen and purple, that is, the garment of faith consists of the preaching of heavenly things and the passion of the Lord's blood. By fine linen heavenly things are figured, by the appearance of purple the mystery of sacred blood is declared, by which the heavenly kingdom is conferred." The same in chapter 31 of Proverbs: "And she made for herself garments of fine linen and purple. Of fine linen on account of bright confession, of purple on account of glorious passion. When we pray we recognize this fine linen of hers, in the Martyrs we praise this purple of hers." St. Augustine has the same word for word, sermon 45 On Various Matters. Bede adds, who understands by the decorated garment the various ornaments of virtues, indeed of each virtue. For humility is adorned and as if variegated by modesty, shame, silence, etc.; charity is adorned by almsgiving, beneficence, liberality, zeal, etc., and so of the other virtues. Fine linen is chaste and pure conduct, purple is the shedding of blood for Christ and piety; for the Church in peace has white lilies and as it were fine linen of virgins, in war the purple roses of Martyrs. Note here that byssus of the ancients was the most excellent linen, from which precious cloths, such as those which are now Flemish and Cambrai cloths, were made, as I showed in Exodus chapter xxv, 4. Now linen, because it is variously carded, beaten, soaked, combed, signifies the chastisement of the flesh, by which chastity is to be preserved. Hear Bede: "Because byssus," he says, "springs forth green from the earth, but through long and manifold exercises, having lost its native moisture and greenness, is brought to the beauty of a white garment. But purple is the garb of royalty. The Church is clothed in byssus when the elect chastise their bodies and subject themselves to servitude; but in purple, when they exercise that same continence not for the favor of the multitude, but to acquire the blessedness of the eternal kingdom. But this garb of virtues appears contemptible indeed in the present to those who know it not, but in the future it will be plainly manifest what it was. Whence John beautifully in his Apocalypse relates that he heard the voices of the saints saying: Let us be glad and rejoice, because the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath prepared herself, and it is given to her to cover herself with fine linen shining and white. For fine linen is the justifications of the saints." The Blessed Virgin had all these things eminently, whose garment was byssus, that is, virginity more than angelic; and purple, that is, most ardent charity. Her garment was embroidered with the variety of holy inspirations and desires, which both the angels through imagination and God himself continually instilled into her mind, for strenuously performing any acts of heroic virtues, but especially for continual and continuous and burning love of God. That this love existed in her from the first instant of her conception, continual, indeed always increasing, and through her merit by assiduous progress, if not equally doubled and redoubled, certainly very much increasing, is taught by Francis Suarez, Gabriel Vasquez, Barradius, Canisius, Salazar and others. Moreover, since this act of love of God at the beginning of her conception in her was so intense that it surpassed all acts of divine love which the highest angels, even the Cherubim and Seraphim, elicited at the end of their way, which were certainly most intense: for this was fitting for her, who was destined by God and was about to be the mother of God: hence they conclude that she continually had this increment of divine love, to such an increment of charity, This is what is said of her in the mystical sense in Ecclesiasticus chapter xxiv, 41: "I as an immense stream of water from a river, I as a river's channel, and as an aqueduct I came forth from paradise." See the things said there. And St. Augustine, whose words Bonaventura recites and follows in the Mirror, chapter xiv: "Who," he says, "can doubt that the bowels of Mary passed entirely into the affection of charity, in which she herself, who is God, charity, rested bodily for nine months?" that is to say, the Blessed Virgin appears to be not so much imbued with charity as informed and animated by it, and thus to be charity itself, just as glowing iron does not seem to be iron so much as fire. There is added Damascene, oration 1 On the Nativity: "You have," he says, "every holy thought and that which is joined with the benefit of the soul; against every superfluous and soul-destroying thought, before you taste it, you spit it out." Then reviewing individual actions of the senses: "Her eyes," he says, "are always toward the Lord, gazing upon the eternal and inaccessible light; her ears drink in the divine word, and her spirit delights as a harp, etc. A pure heart and lips free from fault, seeing God lacking all filthiness, and always burning with desire for him." He adds then that she surpasses the Cherubim in knowledge of God, and the Seraphim in love, and therefore was represented to Moses by the bush which burned and was not consumed, Exodus iii. Finally, Galatinus, in book VII of De Arcanis fidei, from ancient Rabbis, whom our Canisius cites and praises in book I of De B. Virgine, chapter xiii: "Among other perfections," he says, "she was endowed with the spirit of prophecy to such a degree that if by chance she were about to see or hear anything forbidden or illicit, immediately her ears and eyes would be closed, so that her senses or members would serve only the divine will." The cause, therefore, of immunity from all sin, even venial, in the Blessed Virgin was twofold. The first was the protection and constant assistance of God, which so governed her senses and mind as to prevent all illicit movements of concupiscence, even those not deliberate and the very first stirrings, as happened in Adam before sin so long as he remained in the state of innocence. And this properly is the cause why in her the tinder of concupiscence was lulled to sleep, indeed extinguished; yet this was not sufficient for her not to sin at all; for even with the tinder extinguished, she could nevertheless have used her freedom toward evil and sinned, as Adam did. The other cause, therefore, and the adequate one why she never sinned, was the garment spread over her, that is, her most ardent charity and continuous love of God, which far from her drove away all the cold of snow, that is, of any sin whatsoever. For just as continuous heat opposes snow and excludes it, so continuous love opposes sin and excludes it. I say continuous, because if the heat and love were to cease, the warmth and love would diminish, there would be lukewarmness, and with cold approaching there would be snow, indeed the coldest ice and frost. Albert the Great teaches this here at the preceding verse, who, assigning the physical cause why snow is extremely cold and describing its mode of generation from Aristotle, book II of the Meteorology: "Snow," he says, "is generated from hot vapor greatly elevated in the middle region of the air, the significance of which is that it falls broad like carded wool; this happened to it because the heat of the cloud is such that cold overcomes it part by part, and not the whole in large parts, so that it could harden the whole. Similarly, as to quality, it is extremely cold, because the rule is that the hotter something has been, the colder it becomes when the heat is driven out. For the heat that was previously present opens the pores, so that cold enters abundantly and everywhere, and thus it takes in much cold. A sign of this is that hot water is constricted and frozen more deeply by cold than water that is cold throughout. As to heat, however, it is white, because it is from pure moisture first dispersed by the heat of the cloud, and afterwards congealed by cold. For whiteness is caused by its coldness and the transparency and brightness of the moisture." Which then individually he accommodates mystically to sin and sinners. In a similar way we see ethically that those who in Religion were fervent and most ardent in zeal and other virtues, if they intermit this fervor, become lukewarm, and finally most sluggish, cold and rigid; just as those who grew warm in a hypocaust, if they go out into cold air, with the pores opened by heat and cold entering in, become extremely cold; indeed they fall into the gravest crimes, as Lucifer from a most ardent Seraph became a most foul demon; thus Judas from an Apostle became a traitor to Christ; Luther from a monk, doctor and preacher became a heresiarch. Whence St. Augustine says he found none better than those who made progress in monasteries, nor worse than those who fell away in monasteries. But the Blessed Virgin, because she continually burned with seraphic fires of love, gave no place to cold or lukewarmness, but was ever more and more inflamed; wherefore all sin, even the slightest, and every temptation fled far from her, as flies flee from a pot that is hot and boiling, as a certain Saint says; especially because her eyes, mind, senses and affections were fixed and absorbed in the incarnate Word, namely in Christ the Lord her Son. For, as St. Cyprian says in his tract De Nativit. Christi, "the presence of the little child so occupied the eyes of those who were present, so illuminated their minds, so drew their hearts, that in this supreme good the collection of all goods was seen, nor was there need to wander and beg through parts, which all at once in himself the almighty infant presented to the faithful;" and after some things: "The Holy Spirit possessed his house, and the temple which he had consecrated to himself, he adorned, he kept his sanctuary, and the chamber of holiness they honored, consolations of this kind gladdened that blessed soul, and the reverence of so great a dweller drove away the mockeries of concupiscence; the law of the flesh did not harass the law of the mind; no rebellion afflicted the peace of the spirit. The little child sucking used pure nourishment from pure breasts, and the fountain of the sacred breast poured purified food into the most pure mouth. But also the heart of the mother was imbued with certain sweetnesses which surpass human understanding, and there was on both sides pure joy, when the pious and devout humility of the holy mother and the immense benignity of the Holy of Holies, with affections joined together, were merged."
31:23
Hebrew נודע noda, that is, known, that is, illustrious, conspicuous, in the gates her husband, when he shall sit with the elders of the earth, that is, with the princes, as Vatablus says; for formerly the elders were the princes and judges of the region. The Chaldean: known in the provinces is her husband; the Syrian: among the cities her husband is celebrated; the Septuagint: And her husband becomes conspicuous in the gates, whenever he shall sit in the assembly with the elders of the inhabitants of the earth, namely with senators and judges; for these used to sit as a tribunal in the gates, so that they might give easy access to themselves both to strangers and rustics and to citizens, as I have said elsewhere. Our translator aptly and elegantly rendered known as noble, that is, excellent and illustrious; for noble is said as it were knowable, because by his dignity and virtue he is known everywhere and recognized by all. Whence Cicero in the speech for Flaccus: "Other men," he says, "are known among you, noble among their own people;" and in the speech for Caelius: "Clodia," he says, "is not only noble, but also known;" and Plautus in the Pseudolus: "With them neither place nor conversation suits me; I was never known to them," that is, recognized. He praised the valiant woman from herself; now he praises her from her husband, as if to say: She herself is noble in the nobility of virtues and illustrious deeds; she is equally noble in the nobility of her husband, indeed she herself honors and ennobles her husband, both because by her labor and industry she honors, enriches, and illustrates her husband and family: for the rich become noble and are elected to the senate; and because she so manages the household that she frees her husband from all domestic care, and he is able to devote himself entirely to the affairs of the state in the senate, which is the mark of the illustrious and noble; for, as Plato says in the Meno: "It is the part of man to administer the state, of woman the family;" and because she clothes him in fine linen and purple with decorum and splendor, as he said a little before, so that in noble attire he may stand out illustrious among the senators: for noble clothing makes a man respectable and noble, especially in the eyes of the common people. Finally, because, as Rabbi Levi says, when her husband shall sit among the wise, he will be conspicuous in wisdom, because by his prudent wife he is most excellently cultivated and instructed for acquiring wisdom: for she herself supplies to her husband, as riches, so also counsels, and transfers her own virtues and her own glory, fame and name to her husband, so that all on account of such a celebrated woman honor and ennoble her husband. This was accomplished by the Blessed Nonna, mother of St. Gregory of Nazianzus and wife of Gregory the Elder, of whom Nazianzenus writes thus, oration 19 at the funeral of his father: "To him a woman was granted by the benefit of God, who was not only a helper, but also a guide and standard-bearer: namely, leading by her life and discourse to all that is best, and in other matters, as the laws of matrimony required, judging it best to obey her husband, yet not at all blushing to show herself also a teacher of faith and piety;" and soon after: "She held that there is one nobility situated in piety, and in this, that we understand whence we have come and whither we are finally to go." Following her holy mother came the daughter St. Gorgonia, sister of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, whom he himself, oration 11, adorns with these praises: "The country of Gorgonia was the heavenly Jerusalem (she was therefore most noble, because heavenly); that city, I say, which is not perceived by the eyes, but understood by the mind and reason, in which we perform the office of citizens and to which we hasten with all speed, of which city Christ is a citizen, and fellow-citizens the frequent assembly and the Church of the primitives, who are written in the heavens, and around the great founder of the city celebrate festive days through the contemplation of glory and perform an eternal dance; but nobility is the preservation of the divine image and the imitation of the archetype, which reason and virtue effect, and the pure desire of those who are truly zealous for heavenly things, forming them daily more and more, as far as God is concerned; and finally to know both who and for what cause we were made." Thus St. Cecilia ennobled her spouse St. Valerian, while she made him a Christian, holy and illustrious martyr. Thus St. Clotilda ennobled Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks, and St. Pulcheria her brother Theodosius and her husband Marcian the Emperor, when she made them worshippers of God and pious, and therefore victors over enemies, powerful and glorious. Allegorically, the Church's husband, Christ the Lord, will deservedly appear noble, that is, illustrious, by reason of His humility, in that He was judged and condemned by Pilate as a man of no account, indeed as an infamous thief crucified; when the Judge shall sit gloriously in the seat of His majesty, with the Apostles as it were as senators and assessors, about to judge the world. Thus St. Augustine, Bede, Salonius and others. For the Apostles are noble, and those like them, who prefer heavenly things to earthly; but ignoble are the worldly, who prefer earth to heaven, mud to gold, human things to divine, temporal things to eternal, as St. Gregory says, explaining these words of Solomon, book XIX of the Morals, chapter xvi. The Blessed Virgin's spouse also, namely St. Joseph, will be noble in this assembly, because after the Blessed Virgin he is reckoned among the first saints; wherefore on the day of judgment he will sit among the Prophets and Apostles, indeed he will appear illustrious and conspicuous among the first orders of angels. Others understand by the Virgin's husband the Holy Spirit, who among the senators, that is, among the two persons of the Holy Trinity, namely the Father and the Son, is the third noble one, indeed equal and the same as them in all things. For He sat with them in the Blessed Virgin, when He wrought the incarnation of the Word in her, according to that passage in Luke I: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee."
31:24
The Chaldean paraphrase, Vatablus and R. Solomon render it as merchant. Thus also the Septuagint of the Vatican, Complutensian and Royal editions; but in the Greek Catena the Septuagint has it thus: she wove fine linen and delivered it to the Phoenicians; but girdles she sold to the Canaanites. The Author adds that fine linen is woven from flax; Pagninus renders it: he made linen and sold it, and delivered a girdle to the merchant; Vatablus: he wove linen, that is cloth. For the Hebrew סדין sadin, whence the Latin and Greek sindon, signifies linen and linen cloth, as our translator renders it in Isaiah iii, 22, but fine and precious linen; whence the Septuagint in Isaiah iii, 22 renders it byssus; for byssus of the ancients was the finest and whitest linen, as I said at verse 22. Perhaps sadin is named from Sidon (the letter tsade, which is initial in Sidon, being changed to the neighboring samech, which is first in sadin), a city of Phoenicia, because the finest fine linens were woven in it; whence also Martial, book IV, epigram 19: You will laugh, he says, protected by this gift against winds and rains: nor will you be so safe in Tyrian fine linen. For Tyre was adjacent to Sidon; although some think sindon is called Tyrian because it was dyed with Tyrian murex or purple, yet others believe sindon is so called because it was made in Tyre and Sidon. Thus Theodore Gaza in book IV of Theophrastus' History of Plants, chapter ix: "Sindon," he says, "is a garment of linen so called because this kind of garment was first begun in the city of Sidon, for which reason it is called Tyrian by Martial; for Tyre and Sidon were neighboring cities." The Syriac version agrees, which for sadin, that is sindon, renders it a cotton garment; for xylon is a small woolly shrub, from which cloths are made, concerning which Pliny, book XIX, chapter 1: "The upper part of Egypt," he says, "bordering on Arabia produces a shrub which some call gossypion, more call xylon, and therefore linens made from it xylina," that is gossypina. See Ruellius, book II, chapter ci. St. John the Evangelist favors this, chapter xix, 40, where concerning Joseph of Arimathea burying the body of Christ with his companions, he says: "They bound it in linen cloths," that is linen cloths with spices, for which St. Matthew, chapter xxvii, 59, says: "Joseph wrapped it in a clean sindon," and that this sindon was linen is evident, because the very same one is still seen at Turin and is honored with great veneration. Afterwards the Greeks and Latins transferred the name sindon to signify a certain elegant kind of garment, when properly the Hebrew sadin, and thence the Greek and Latin sindon, signifies linen or a finer linen cloth. Whence rightly she sold it, because it was not fitting for her to be clothed in it, inasmuch as through it the very subtle nakedness of her body would appear, which was contrary to her remarkable modesty and chastity. Hence Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Pedagogue, chapter x, forbids chaste women fine linen: "For it is no longer," he says, "a covering of soft and delicate garment, which cannot conceal the naked form. For such a garment falling upon the body, is impressed and applied more softly to the body itself, adhering like the figure of flesh, and so expresses the form of the woman that even to one not seeing, the whole constitution of the body is manifest." Furthermore, a girdle or zone, to the Palestinians and other Orientals, who use tunics instead of breeches and breastplate, is common and celebrated; for they bind and gird the flowing and loose tunic to the body with a zone: and therefore they were accustomed to paint the zone as a conspicuous binding of the tunic with a needle, to weave lilies, flowers and similar figures partly of gold, partly of silver, partly of purple and byssus. Whence Homer, describing the zone of Venus: "He loosens," he says, "from her breast the woven zone, adorned with pictures." And soon after: "Gird yourself with a zone woven variously." Hence zone is called balteus, as if bullateus; for balteus was a girdle of leather, adorned with bosses of gold, byssus, purple, gems, etc. Whence Livy: "They had," he says, "gilded sheaths, gilded belts for them;" and Virgil, V Aeneid: "The other an Amazonian quiver, full of Thracian arrows, which a broad belt of gold encircles about, and a rounded buckle fastens beneath with a gem." The sense therefore is, as if to say: This woman of valor increased her own affairs and those of her family by every art and means; whence she sold precious linens, woven by herself and her household, and each one skillfully painted and worked with the needle, and delivered them for sale to the Canaanite, that is to the merchant, and from this made great profits. For the Canaanites, because they were neighbors to the sea, were especially devoted to commerce. Whence in Scripture Canaanite is the same as merchant, as is evident from Zacharias xiv, 21; and Isaiah xxiii, 8, where for merchant in Hebrew is Canaanite. The same is evident from Tyre and the Tyrians who were most addicted to commerce and navigation for gain. For Tyre was the emporium of Canaan, namely the metropolis of Phoenicia. Thus the Chaldean paraphrase and R. Solomon, Aben-Ezra, R. Levi, Vatablus, Pagninus and others throughout. A most illustrious example again was given by the Blessed Nonna, mother of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, who fulfilled all the marks of a valiant woman, concerning whom Gregory of Nazianzus accordingly writes in oration 19: "Now whereas some women excel in the praise of increasing their household affairs, others in the glory of piety (for it is difficult to attain both), she surpassed all women in both respects, both because she achieved each of these to the highest degree, and because she alone embraced these two things. For she increased her household affairs by her industry and diligence, according to the laws of the valiant woman established by Solomon, as if she knew not how to cultivate piety; and again she devoted herself to God and divine things, as if she were far removed from the management of household affairs; and she was hindered by neither of these from fulfilling the other, but rather each one supported and confirmed the other by its aid." The Armenian version in Abagarum has: she made a girdle for her soul, and for herself a girdle, or belt, as if to say: Both for her spouse and for herself she made a girdle, by which she signified that they were bound together by the mutual bond of marriage and conjugal love. The words of the spouse I shall presently recite. It could conversely, so that the order of words might correspond to the order on both sides, be understood through fortitude as the byssus of the ancients, which was so strong that it resisted fire, and remained unharmed in it like asbestos, as I said on Exodus xxv, 4: through beauty however purple: for this is wonderfully beautiful. Furthermore, the Blessed Virgin made and sold the linen cloth, teaching by example and word that married women ought to submit themselves to their husbands and obey them, and serve them in all things: for the linen cloth is the symbol of this, namely the veil of linen, which they wear on their head, according to that word of the Apostle: "A woman ought to have a veil, or authority, upon her head," for this veil is a symbol that she is subject to the authority of her husband, I Corinthians xi, 10. See the things said there. For the Blessed Virgin most humbly submitted herself to Joseph and obeyed him, as St. Ambrose teaches in chapter I of Luke. Again and more aptly the linen cloth is a symbol of purity and virginity, which she herself sells at the price of humility, abstinence and prayers to virgins; for she herself is the standard-bearer of virgins and the patroness of virginity. But the girdle, because it binds the loins, in which is the origin of lust and concupiscence, is a symbol of mortification and penance; which the Blessed Virgin gives to those who have fallen into luxury and incontinence, so that they might exchange it for chastity and continence, and thus they are Canaanites, that is exchangers and merchants, who exchange merchandise for merchandise, namely concupiscence for penance, luxury for continence. Allegorically St. Gregory, book XXXIII of the Morals, chapter xvi: "What," he says, "is signified by the linen cloth of the linen sheet, except the subtle weaving of holy preaching? in which one rests gently, because the mind of the faithful is refreshed in it by heavenly hope. Whence also to Peter animals are shown in a linen cloth, because the souls of sinners mercifully gathered are contained in the gentle quiet of faith. This linen cloth therefore the Church made and sold, because the faith which she had woven by believing, she gave by speaking, and from the unbelievers received the life of the sect's conversation. And she also delivered a girdle to the Canaanite, because through the vigor of demonstrated justice she bound the fleeting works of paganism, so that what is commanded might be held by living. Let your loins be girded about. The Lord therefore seeking his preachers found handmaids, by exchanging makes friends, by enriching exhibits merchants." These things from St. Gregory word for word he transcribed in his manner, both Bede and Salonius.
31:25
Septuagint, strength and honesty it puts on: and it shall rejoice in the last days; the Syriac, it shall exult on the final day. For beauty in Hebrew is הדר hadar, that is, glory, beauty, decency, comeliness, splendor, magnificence; the Septuagint translates it εὐπρέπεία, that is, beauty, form, honesty, ornament. St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, to be cited presently, understand by strength purple: for this is strong; but by beauty linen: for this is beautiful, so that here the same thing is said as in verse 22: "Linen and purple are her clothing." It could be the reverse, so that the order of words might correspond to the order on both sides, by strength the linen of the ancients might be understood, which was so strong that it resisted fire, and remained unharmed in it like asbestos, as I said on Exodus xxv, 4: but by beauty purple: for this is wonderfully beautiful. Interpreters explain this verse in three ways: first, some understand strength as internal, beauty as external; second, others understand both as internal; third, others understand both as external. First therefore Lyran: Strength, he says, is constancy of mind; beauty is external modesty and honesty. And Cajetan: Strength, he says, is the habit of fortitude, which holds the mean between audacity and timidity, which clothes the mind of a strong woman, and by this very fact she appears outwardly in her acts strong, spirited and fearless. This interpretation is favored by the fact that in the Vatican Septuagint before this verse is prefixed: "She opened her mouth with care and lawfully, and she set order to her tongue," and is subjoined: "She opened her mouth wisely and in accordance with laws." Which seem to be two interpretations of one and the same sentence. For in place of both the Hebrew, Vulgate and Complutensian Septuagint have only this one, which immediately follows: She opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue, as if to say, This strong and manly woman is equally as beautiful and gracious both in acting as in speaking, and therefore appears clothed in strength and beauty: for she speaks wisely, and therefore constantly and strongly; and clemently, and therefore beautifully and graciously. The Author of the Catena of the Greeks also favors this, who connecting this verse with the following from the Septuagint thus reads: "She put on strength and beauty, and she shall be glad and joyful in the last days. She opens her mouth cautiously and in accordance with law, and she established order and measure for her tongue;" and then explains thus: "It seems in this place to expound the manly deeds of wisdom. For first she opens her mouth prudently and ornately. Soon she prefigures good order and graceful arrangement for her tongue. Hence in works of mercy and other honest actions she shows herself strong and manly. From which it finally follows that in the last days, when namely she departs hence full of good works, she rejoices. For then her good and honest actions shall be made manifest to all and shall be magnified, and shall be rewarded with many and great rewards." Learn here that modesty is the garment and purple of virtues. For it itself proceeds and flows from the internal composition endowed with virtues of the soul, and adorns it and shows it to others; and this is the garment of this strong woman, which describing by periphrasis, he says: "Strength and beauty are her clothing;" for manly modesty and gravity shining forth in all gestures, words and actions with beauty and grace is her garment and most beautiful robe. Which therefore Tertullian, proposing it to women to be imitated and put on, in his book On the Dress of Women: "It is not enough, he says, for Christian chastity and honesty to be, but also to be seen; for such ought to be the fullness of it, that it may emanate from the soul into the habit, and may burst forth from the conscience to the surface, so that it may also look outward as if at its own furnishings." Second, others understand by strength and beauty all virtue and probity of mind; for virtue is said from strength and man, whose property is virility and fortitude, as if the action and work of a strong and vigorous man. Whence Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations II, teaches that virtue properly signifies manly fortitude. "It is called, he says, from man virtue; but fortitude is especially the property of man;" and in book V of On the Ends: "Virtue, he says, is that force by which that which has virtue is perfected;" and to Plancus, book X: "You have achieved all the highest things by virtue as guide, fortune as companion;" and Virgil, book V of the Aeneid: Then shame kindles strength, and conscious virtue. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: This woman of valor did not put on fine linen, but sold it, because it was not fitting for her to be clothed in so delicate a garment, nor does she herself rejoice in external adornment and the splendor of clothes; but she seeks the internal garment of manly and strong virtues, and adorns herself far more beautifully with it; for through this she becomes manly, so that she now appears not so much a woman as a woman of valor, indeed even a man, according to what St. Peter admonishes and establishes, epistle I chapter III: "Whose adorning let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of apparel; but the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptibility of a quiet and meek spirit, which is rich in the sight of God." The same teaches St. Chrysostom in Psalm XXIV, where he adds that women, even if deformed, can acquire this form and beauty of virtues for themselves, and increase it immensely, when they often cannot the external; moreover external adornment stands at great expense, but the internal is prepared by will alone. Thirdly, others better understand strength and external beauty, but flowing from the internal, as if to say: This woman of valor does not care for fine linen and precious garments, but dresses herself gravely, modestly and honorably, as befits a strong and manly woman: wherefore in all her gestures and actions strength shines forth, that is, gravity, maturity, robustness and vigor of a manly spirit, and beauty, that is, honesty of morals, dignity and grace; just as if her garment were strength and beauty itself, says Aben-Ezra, which indicate and show forth the internal strength of mind and beauty of virtues. Wherefore she does not luxuriate in bodily adornment, as do other worldly women; but she adorns herself with virtues, namely with strength and honesty, and rejoices to be adorned with the beauty of her whole life, more than with sumptuous garments. And from this it comes about, says Baynus, that she is always joyful, indeed, the longer she lives, even unto extreme old age, with her virtues of mind ever increasing her joy increases, and the gladness of a secure conscience. Little women who spend the flower of their age in delights, and delight themselves in careful bodily adornment, and please themselves in beauty, when the injury of time has withered the flower of age, when a wrinkled face will shine with no cosmetic or rouge, when old women have begun to be despised; as their strength and beauty fail together they grieve, now unhappy and destitute of the gifts of body and soul: when a wise woman rejoices especially when the final day approaches, knowing that she will receive the reward of her labors. Then he joins: "I have already delivered you, instructed with medicines and ornaments of the Apostles, taking from simplicity whiteness, from chastity redness, painted with eyes by modesty and mouth by silence, inserting in ears the words of God, binding about your necks the yoke of Christ; subject your heads to your husbands, and you will be sufficiently adorned; occupy your hands with wool, fix your feet at home, and they will please more than in gold; clothe yourselves in the silk of probity, the fine linen of holiness, the purple of modesty: thus painted you will have God as a lover." Allegorically St. Gregory in Psalm IV of Penance: The Church, he says, and the faithful soul is clothed with strength, so that she may resist temptations; and with beauty, that is, the splendor of justice, so that she may shine forth in works of justice. Again, strength designates a persevering mind, by which one fights against oneself; and beauty the brightness of purity, by which one adorns oneself. For this reason the strength and beauty of one and the same garment are said to be equal: because whoever forgets perseverance in self-denial, is in no way adorned with the beauty of perfect virtue. Indeed, while a man first denying and mortifying himself ceases from the study of self-denial, he gradually declines from cleanliness to uncleanness, and from great perfection to great imperfections. And he is like the statue seen in sleep by that proud king, which began in gold and ended in clay, Daniel II. But St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Various Matters, and more fully St. Ambrose in chapter XXXI of Proverbs, near the end, volume II, chapter X: "She puts on," he says, "strength and honesty, honesty as fine linen, strength as purple: because the strong one rejoices in suffering, because she is honest: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. And she rejoiced in the last days. In the last days she rejoices, because in the world she is continually troubled. Wherefore it is beautifully written: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted, Matthew V. And the Lord to his disciples: In the world you shall have pressure, John XVI; and: Your sorrow shall be turned into joy, in the same place. Without tribulation whence would she have the purple garment? Hence when the Prophet inquires: Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress? he answers: I have trodden the winepress alone," etc., Isaiah LXIII. More fully Bede, and from him the Gloss: "Strength," he says, "to endure the wickedness of the perverse; beauty to exercise the grace of virtues. Beauty, because she works justice; strength, because she suffers persecution for the sake of justice: and therefore she will laugh on the last day, that is, she will rejoice in the retribution of the heavenly kingdom, which she grieved over in the struggle of the present life. For it is the manner of Scripture to put laughter for joy, just as the Lord also says: Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh, Luke VI. And blessed Job: But the mouth of the just shall be filled with laughter, Job VIII. The Prophet indeed set forth a similar sentiment concerning the Lord and Saviour of this most strong woman, saying: The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty, the Lord is clothed with strength, Psalm XCII. For when he preached the Gospel of the kingdom, to some it pleased, to others it displeased; some spoke well, others detracted, tore, bit, reviled. To those therefore to whom it pleased, he put on beauty: to those to whom it displeased, strength. Imitate therefore also you your Lord, that you may be able to be his garment; be with beauty to those to whom your good works please, be strong against detractors." Moreover all these things, and severally the three senses given at the beginning, it is easy to assign to the Blessed Virgin. For she herself according to the first was most powerful in constancy and strength of mind; inwardly and outwardly with equal modesty and beauty in all her nods, acts, words and gestures, according to that Psalm XLIV: "All the glory of the king's daughter is within, in golden borders surrounded with varieties." Secondly, according to the second she excelled in all virtue and probity: for she had all virtues in heroic act, as befitted the mother of God; see what is said cap. VIII, 14, to those words: "My strength is." Thirdly, according to the third, the very appearance of her body was an image of her mind, a figure of probity. "For a good house ought to be recognized in its very vestibule," says St. Ambrose, lib. II De Virg. Hear St. Bonaventure in Specul. B. Virg. lect. 2, from St. Bernard: "Not thus," he says, "do visible enemies fear the abundant multitude of camps, as the powers fear the name of Mary, her patronage, her example; they flow and perish like wax before the face of fire, wherever they find frequent remembrance of this name, devout invocation, careful imitation." And St. Bernard, serm. 51, art. 3, cap. II: "Just as a great fire puts to flight flies, so from the most ardent mind of the Virgin and her most inflamed charity demons were put to flight, and were driven away to such a degree that they scarcely dared to look upon her mind, nor to approach her from a great distance." And Richard of St. Victor, AND SHE SHALL LAUGH IN THE LAST DAY. — First, some understand by the last day the sabbath, that is to say, This virago works strenuously through all the days of the week: hence on the last, namely on the sabbath, according to the law she rests, and enjoys the fruits of her labor, laughs and rejoices. Secondly, others understand winter, that is to say, She works in summer, hence she rests in winter, and like an ant lives luxuriously on food prepared in summer. But these are cold interpretations. Thirdly, better Baynus, Jansenius and others understand by the last day the following age, and later times: for in Hebrew אחרון acharon, that is the last, signifies the following, future and later time. Fourthly, properly and precisely by the last day you should understand old age and the final times of life, that is to say, Lazy women, who in youth lying idle snored, are in want and grieve in old age. But this virago, because she labored strenuously in youth, hence in old age abounds in riches, and therefore laughs and exults. Finally by the last day you should understand death, that is to say, This virago has worked well and strenuously all good throughout her whole life: wherefore in death, well conscious of herself, and hoping for heavenly rewards, she will not be sad, but will laugh and exult, and will sing with St. Simeon and with St. Mary of Egypt that swan-song: "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace." An example to the letter is in St. Sabina, who was the companion of St. Pionius (as his ancient acts, which Baronius approves, relate) in martyrdom, on the first day of February. For when Pionius said to the prefects: "Would that I could persuade you to become Christians!" they said with open laughter: Do not do that, lest we be burned alive. "It is more serious and bitter," said Pionius, "to be burned in eternal fire after death." And as Sabina smiled, the attendants of his executioners said: You laugh? "Thus it pleases God," she said: "For we are Christians: and those who have firm and constant faith in Christ will laugh with perpetual laughter; and when they threatened her with a brothel, she answered: That will be the care of the Holy God." St. Mechtildis at her death was three times assailed by demons, and three times wept; but three times defended by holy Angels, she three times laughed, and laughing and exulting as a victress and triumphant one, she yielded up her spirit to God, as witnessed by Engelhard in her Life. Thus St. Gorgonia, as testified by her brother St. Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 11, fell asleep peacefully and joyfully in the Lord, exulting: "In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and rest." St. Gertrude at her death saw by vision that she was received into the bosom of Christ, and by Him applied to His heart, soon thereafter the holy Angels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Virgins approached in turn, and each communicated to her their own gifts and graces by which they excelled; surrounded and penetrated through and through by these, Christ rendered her so like to Himself, as burning iron is made like to fire. Thus her Life has it, book IV, chapter XXXIV. How great therefore was her joy then, how great her laughter and jubilation! St. Tharsilla, aunt of St. Gregory, dying saw St. Felix the Pontiff her ancestor, who showed her "a dwelling of perpetual brightness, saying: Come, for in this dwelling of light I receive thee;" who soon thereafter seized by fever came to her last day. When suddenly looking upward she saw Jesus coming, and with great attention began to cry out to those standing by, saying: Depart, depart, Jesus comes. And as she fixed her gaze upon Him whom she saw, that holy soul departed from the body; and such a sudden fragrance of wonderful odor was spread abroad, that the very sweetness itself showed to all that the author of sweetness had come there," says St. Gregory, book IV of the Dialogues, chapter XVII. He has similar accounts in the same book I, chapter XIII, concerning Galla, daughter of the consul Symmachus, and chapter XV concerning Romula, in whose death "before her cell two choirs of singers stood: the men sang the chant of psalmody, and the women responded; and thus that holy soul, freed from flesh, was led to heaven, and the higher the choirs of singers ascended, the more softly the psalmody began to be heard, until both the sound of that same psalmody and the fragrance of sweetness faded away," says St. Gregory. St. Mary of Oignies dying laughed, and exulting mocked death; for, as the eyewitness Cardinal James of Vitry writes, book II of her Life, chapter XIII: "Smiling for a long time from joy, she sang in a subdued voice: How beautiful thou art, our King Lord! In that joy, after she had long persisted in singing, laughing, and sometimes clapping her hands, at last coming to herself: Wonders, she said, I would tell, if I dared." And below: "She sang Alleluia in a sweet voice; and almost the whole of that night, as if invited to a feast, she was in jubilation and exultation; but shortly after, singing Alleluia again, on the vigil of St. John the Baptist (on which also St. John the Evangelist is believed to have departed from the world), about the ninth hour, at which Christ yielded up His spirit to the Father on the cross, she too migrated to the Lord, never losing the cheerfulness of her angelic countenance by any pain of death, in the year of the Lord 1213, at the age of 36." Thus the Cardinal more fully, from which I have excerpted a few things. Much more so the Blessed Virgin at her death, having seen her Christ and being called by Him: "Come, my chosen one," rejoicing and laughing was freed from the body, and went forth to the Lord, as St. John of Damascus says, sermon 3 On the Assumption; indeed grave authors hold that she breathed forth her soul from excessive desire to see Christ, from love and joy. Whence St. John of Damascus in oration 1 On the Virgin's Dormition exclaims: "O truly a miracle surpassing nature! O a thing full of the highest wonder! Death, which was previously an object of hatred and curse, here is commended and deemed blessed: which formerly brought mourning and sorrow, tears and sadness, now is the cause of joy and glad celebration." And shortly after: "Wherefore, he says, death did not make thee blessed, but thou didst adorn death itself, so that thou who didst remove its sadness, and didst make death full of joy." And oration 2 on the same dormition thus he writes: "For just as before she was afflicted by any pain of childbirth she gave birth, so also her departure from life was free from pains." Whence he concludes: "And therefore we shall by no means call thy sacred migration death, but sleep or pilgrimage, or, to use a more fitting word, presence with the Lord." The same is confirmed from a revelation of the Mother of God herself made to St. Bridget, book VI of Revelations, chapter LXII: "I prepared, says the Mother of God,
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In Hebrew, she opened her mouth in wisdom, and the law of piety is upon her tongue; the Chaldean and Theodotion, and the law of grace upon her tongue; the Septuagint of the Vatican, she opened her mouth attentively and lawfully, and she set order to her tongue: but the Complutensian edition, she opened her mouth wisely and lawfully: but her alms upon her tongue; Vatable, she speaks wisely, and it is gracious. For mercy in Hebrew is חסד chesed, that is, piety, grace, charity, benevolence, beneficence, gratitude, goodness, holiness. He explains here what he said in the preceding verse: "Strength and grace are her clothing," namely that the gravity and becoming modesty of this virago especially shines forth in wise and clement words. For women, because they are idle and curious, are accustomed to be talkative and garrulous; and because they have less brain than men and are driven by passions, hence they utter and cry out much imprudently, wittily and impudently. This virago does otherwise, who has tamed and chastened both her mind and her tongue by wisdom and piety: by wisdom, so that she speaks nothing foolish; by piety, so that she speaks nothing unjust or harmful. The phrase "opened her mouth" indicates that she kept her mouth closed and sealed by silence, so that nothing but the key of wisdom might open it. Again, "opened her mouth" in wisdom suggests that wisdom dwells in her heart, and as it were animates, moves, governs and guides it, so that it seems not so much the virago as wisdom itself speaks through her mouth, and works through her hands. Thus St. Mechtildis so rightly "kept silence that you would think her mute: but if she spoke, she did it with such grace that you would think you were conversing with an angel," says Engelhard in her Life, chapter V. So St. Gertrude, pious and holy, gave counsel of salvation to everyone, and so it seemed not so much she herself as the Holy Spirit spoke through her mouth and tongue. Wherefore all ran to her as to a heavenly oracle, and whenever anyone came and sought her aid or counsel, before he himself would declare in what matter he sought it, the Holy Spirit would suggest to her what she ought to answer, what to counsel and speak. Thus her Life relates. We read similar things of St. Catherine of Siena, whose words were so efficacious and ardent that no sinner could resist them, nor did anyone depart from her unless made better. Note that clemency is joined to wisdom, as it were the effect to the cause; for true wisdom moves a man to clemency and beneficence, as if to say: This virago speaks wisely, and therefore clemently; wisdom St. Jerome, or rather St. Paulinus, inculcates this law of wisdom and clemency to Celantia the matron: "Let your speech," he says, "in all things be moderate and sparing, and let it indicate the necessity of speaking rather than the will. Let modesty adorn prudence: and what has always been the chief virtue in women, let shame surpass all virtues in you. But consider long what is to be spoken, lest you repent of having said anything; let thought weigh your words, and let the balance of your mind dispense the office of your tongue. Whence Scripture says: Melt down your gold and silver, and make a balance of your words, and make straight bridles for your mouth, and take heed lest you slip in your tongue," Ecclesiasticus XXVIII, 29. Then concerning the law of clemency he immediately adds: "Never let an evil word proceed from your mouth, you who are commanded for the accumulation of kindness even to bless those who curse. Merciful, he says, modest, humble, not rendering evil for evil, nor cursing for cursing, but on the contrary blessing, I Peter III, 8. But let your tongue utterly know not to lie and to swear, and let there be in you such love of truth that whatever you have said you may think sworn." And finally he concludes: "In every act therefore, and word let a quiet and peaceful mind be preserved; and let the presence of God always occur to your thought: let your mind be humble and meek, and against vices alone be raised." St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, learned this law of clemency excellently, who by the same means tamed the angers and choler of her husband, and made him from a lion a sheep, indeed from a pagan a Christian: and she herself taught this same law to other matrons, who following her doctrine with their husbands, lived a happy life in perpetual peace and love, as St. Augustine relates, book IX of the Confessions, chapter XXIX. But before all matrons, men and angels, the Blessed Virgin kept and taught this law of wisdom and clemency, and keeps and teaches it, who, as St. Ambrose says, in the book On Virginity: "She was humble in heart, grave in words, prudent in mind, more sparing in speech, more devoted to reading." And St. John of Damascus, Oration 1 On the Nativity: "Her speech," he says, "is pleasant, proceeding from a gentle soul." And St. Bonaventure in the Mirror, chapter VIII: "Mary," he says, "was most gentle through mildness, most patient against all adversity." Innumerable examples of her clemency toward sinners and the afflicted exist. Wherefore the Church greets and invokes her in the hymn Salve, Regina, thus: "O clement, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary!" And in the hymn Ave, Maris Stella: "Virgin singular, among all meek, make us freed from guilt both meek and chaste." And St. Bernard, sermon on that passage of the Apocalypse XII: A great sign: "Nothing," he says, "austere in her, nothing terrible, she is wholly sweet, offering milk and wool." And soon after: "But if (as is true Allegorically Bede attributed these things to the Church and the holy soul: "She opened her mouth in wisdom," he says, that is to say, "She opened her mouth for this alone, that she might teach wisdom, according to that of the Apostle: Let no evil speech proceed out of your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of faith, that it may give grace to those who hear, Ephesians IV. Or certainly she opened the mouth of her heart to learn from wisdom itself the truth inwardly, which she might teach others outwardly. To both senses, because the Church did both, that which follows is fittingly suited: And the law of clemency on her tongue; namely, that she might not immediately after the manner of the Mosaic law punish sinners, but mercifully call them to the remedies of penance. The example of which clemency she clearly perceived from God himself and our Saviour, when a sinful woman was brought to him: If any one of you, he said, is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. And thus he had mercy on her from the crime which she had committed, under the condition of sinning no more, and absolved her."
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In Hebrew, considering the ways of her house, and she ate not the bread of idleness; the Chaldean, the ways of her house are manifest; the Septuagint of Complutum, the ways of her house are narrow, and she ate not foods of idleness; but the Vatican thus, constrained (in Greek στεγναί, that is, strict, shut off, barred, firm, solid) dwellings of her houses, and she ate not lazy foods; Symmachus, she considers the paths of her house; clearly Vatable, she observes the condition of her house, and she eats not the bread of shame (the Greek Scholiast, the bread of sloth; the Chaldean, the bread of sluggishness); R. Solomon, she observes diligently what is needful for her household. For considered, in Hebrew it is צופיה tsophia, that is, she observed, she perceived, she uncovered, with open eyes she surveyed all around. Whence צופה tsophe is a watcher (hence the country of Samuel is called Ramathaim sophim, that is, of watchers); מצפה mitspe is a watchtower: whence Maspha was called a city of the Levites, situated on a mountain as a watchtower of Israel. Moreover the root tsapha is of contrary signification: for just as it commonly signifies to open by watching, so also it sometimes signifies to cover with plates, to shut and to cover, as appears in Exodus XXXVI, 34. Hence the Septuagint translates: Shut or narrow and constrained are the ways of her house. There is noted here the proper gift and principal office of the mistress of a household, which is to observe, and as it were from a watchtower to look out and survey the whole house and all the household members, and to keep idleness and all harm from them, and to procure diligence and all good things; by the paths of the house understand both the doors, chambers, corners of the house: for she surveys all these, and watches and keeps guard lest anything harmful be brought into the house without her knowledge, or anything be carried out by theft; then the ways, that is, the actions of the household members, by metonymy, as if to say the mistress of the household bears this diligent care of her house and household, watches, observes and surveys the actions and customs of her household members, what namely, what kind and how much they do, whether they grow sluggish in idleness, whether they give themselves to quarrels, gluttony, lust; wherefore to rightly exclude these, she urges all to labor and work both by word and more by going before in example: wherefore "she ate not the bread of idleness (in Hebrew, the bread of negligence or sloth)"; but the bread earned by many cares and labors she takes sparingly, and distributes it to others laboring to eat. For to the lazy and idle she directs that saying of the Apostle: "He who does not labor, let him not eat." The virago therefore prudently chastises idleness and the idle by hunger; for hunger compels these to labor. That saying of Appius Claudius was celebrated among the Romans: "Business commits itself better to the Roman people than idleness"; let the same be said to any faithful person. The reason a priori is, that the care of the house properly falls upon the wife, as external business upon the husband, as I said verse 21. This is what Aristotle says, book I On Household Management, chapter III: "Divine providence has ordained the nature of both, namely of man and woman, for society. For He made one robust, the other weaker: this one indeed for caution through fear, that one moreover through strength more combative; and this one so that it might supply from without what is necessary; that one so that it might preserve the same within." More excellently St. Jerome, or rather St. Paulinus, thus instructs Celantia: "Rule and cherish your household so that you wish to be seen by them as a mother rather than a mistress, from whom you exact reverence rather by kindness than by severity. Service is always more faithful and more pleasing which proceeds from love than from fear. Especially however in the venerable and immaculate marriage let the order of the Apostolic rule be observed. Let the authority of the husband be preserved first of all, and let the whole household learn from you how much honor it owes to him. You make him lord by your obedience; you make him great by your humility—" Allegorically, let any Prelate carefully consider the Church, or the congregation committed to him. For from consideration depends all good, from lack of consideration all evil, both of the Prelate and of the Church, as St. Bernard graphically teaches in the five books which he wrote on Consideration, those excellent works addressed to Pope Eugene, where among other things, in book I, near the end, he thus speaks: "And first indeed consideration purifies its very source itself, that is the mind from which it arises; then it directs the affections, directs the acts, corrects excesses, composes morals, makes life honest and orderly; finally it confers knowledge of divine and human things alike. This is what distinguishes the confused, compels the gaping, gathers the scattered, searches out secrets, tracks down the true, examines the probable, exposes the false and the painted. This is what prearranges what is to be done; it reviews what has been done, so that nothing remains in the mind either uncorrected or needing correction. This is what in prosperity foresees adversity, in adversity as if does not feel it: of which the one is of fortitude, the other of prudence." He then adds that all virtues depend on it: "There also it is most sweet for you to notice a certain harmony and connection of virtues and one to depend on another; just as in this place you see prudence to be the mother of fortitude, nor is it fortitude, but temerity, which is any daring that prudence has not brought forth. This likewise is what sitting between pleasures and necessities as a certain arbiter, determines the limits on both sides with certain boundaries, assigning and providing to these what is enough, to those what is excessive is madness, and thus forming from either the third virtue, which they call temperance. Namely consideration deems intemperate both him who stubbornly deprives himself of necessities and him who indulges in superfluities. Therefore temperance is not only in cutting away superfluities, it is also in admitting necessities." Tropologically, St. Gregory, in the 35th book of the Morals, chapter XV, whose words Bede transcribes as usual and adds more, through this consideration of the paths, that is of actions, understands the examination of conscience, which is most useful for the purification and progress of the soul: "She considers the paths, he says, of her house, because she subtly investigates all the thoughts of her conscience. She does not eat bread in idleness, because what she had perceived from understanding sacred Scripture, she shows forth in works before the eyes of the eternal Judge. Likewise the house of the strong woman is the dwelling of the heavenly homeland. The paths of that house are the precepts of justice, by which one arrives at the mansion of eternal life. Which paths indeed the soul considers well, when it both diligently looks to what acts it ought to use to reach the heavens, and does not cease to diligently exercise what it has learned to do." He continues Apply these things to the Blessed Virgin, whose life was severe and rigid in fastings, prayers, tears, persecutions, sorrows, sufferings. Whence St. Bernard in his Meditations on the Hail Queen: "O certainly a life, he says, lovable, a life desirable, a life delightful! O life which nourishes your own with heavenly nourishment! For whoever wishes to have you, let him afflict himself, let him reject delights, let him despise all delicate things; and whoever has mortified himself more, will possess you more." To this pertains what St. Bridget narrates, that the Blessed Virgin revealed to her that she had received no grace from God except after great labor, prayers and tears. And therefore she exhorts the same and any faithful, that by these same means they procure for themselves the gifts of grace; for there is no other way to grace than mortification and the cross. Furthermore, the Seventy translate, the dwellings of her house are constrained, that is to say, this virago constrains and closes the storehouse, the pantry, the cupboard, etc., and keeps their key to herself, so that she may guard the provisions and goods, lest access to them be open either to thieves, or to servants to carry them away and squander them. Morally, the diligent Prelate and Prince constrains discipline, and wishes all laws and ordinances to be strictly observed, and thus causes the commonwealth to flourish: for "where there is rigor, there is vigor;" but the lazy one loosens discipline and laws, and thus dissipates the commonwealth. Charles V the Emperor was accustomed, entering any city, to conjecture from three P's whether good government flourished in it; for he considered whether there was in it a diligent pastor, praetor and preceptor; for a diligent pastor strictly guards the discipline of the Church, the praetor of the commonwealth, the preceptor of the school, so that youth may be rightly educated and formed. And our Holy Father Ignatius conjectured from three things whether religion flourished in any monastery or college, namely he considered whether in it the enclosure, neatness and silence were exactly observed; for these three things he said were certain signs of good discipline. Symbolically the Author of the Greek Catena, applying these things to the Blessed Virgin, understands by her narrow or constricted paths her virginity, and her virginal childbirth with a closed womb. St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Various Subjects, for "constricted" renders: "The severe practices of her household, and she did not eat idle bread: severe, I say, strong, strict; there is no place where she might dissolve, she does not love dissolution; and deservedly she acquired so much, because she did not eat idle bread," that is to say, This virago strictly maintains the order and discipline of her household, and therefore accustoms all to severe labor rather than soft idleness, and she herself goes before them by example; wherefore she eats bread not idle, but labored and brought forth by sweat. "Therefore," says St. Ambrose in this place of Proverbs, "this woman is laborious, watchful, solicitous, rising in the nights, anxious lest the lamp be extinguished, strong in tribulation, patient in promises not yet received, forming her fingers to the spindle, not eating idle bread; but after these labors what shall be for her? Her sons rose up, and became rich. The Apostle said in I Corinthians XV: It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory. Then her sons shall be enriched; prepare yourself therefore to receive the glorious riches (gifts of members) of the resurrection." Thus he himself reads from the Septuagint and thus explains it.
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The Chaldean paraphrast gave her blessedness. The Hebrew אשר aschar in the piel form signifies both to bless or to pronounce blessed, and to enrich; for riches make the wealthy happy and blessed. Whence the Complutensian Septuagint translates, "Her sons rose up, and were enriched"; but the Vatican Septuagint has, "And alms raised up her sons, and they were enriched"; the Author of the Greek Catena, "Her alms raised up her children, and they were enriched." In Hebrew קם kam, that is, he rose, he stood, often signifies not the bodily posture of rising or standing, but merely existence and presence, or the beginning and commencement of an action; as if to say, Her sons rose up, that is, this woman is not barren, nor without children; but she has many distinguished sons, who, existing and present and seeing their mother so diligent, industrious and wealthy, began to celebrate her and to proclaim her most blessed. Yet in this place kam and kamu, that is, they rose up, can be taken properly, and this has emphasis. First, as if to say, Her sons, who slept the whole night without care, peacefully and pleasantly, rose up in the morning, says Aben-Ezra, and found that their mother had kept vigil while they slept at night, had combed wool and flax, spun, woven, prepared food for servants and handmaids, and arranged all the affairs of the household most decently and excellently for the coming day; indeed, by her industry both she and all her household abound in double garments and all things; wherefore they proclaimed themselves and their household happy and blessed with such a mother, and their mother most blessed, since all this praise, all the honor and glory of the house is due to her. Secondly, "they rose up," says Baynus, that is, her sons grew and increased, not only in age and bodily stature, but also in virtues which they learned from their mother, and thence in honors, dignities and glory, by which all they celebrated their mother not so much by word as by deed, and in fact proclaimed her most blessed, as one who had borne, nourished and made such blessed children; for the education of offspring is wont to fall to the mother; wherefore their probity, dignity and glory is justly attributed to the mother. Moreover, the husband also is said to praise and commend this woman not only by word but also by his conduct, because the gentleness, mildness and sweetness of a husband's character depend in great part on his wife, and hang upon her conduct. Furthermore, the Complutensian Septuagint translates, "Her sons rose up, and were enriched," as if to say, The mother gathered together such riches that, when her sons, having taken wives, rose up, that is, migrated from their mother's house to their own, she assigned them a rich dowry and inheritance, so that her sons, enriched by her in this way, proclaimed their most blessed mother, and exalted her with praises to heaven. But the Vatican Septuagint has, "And alms raised up her sons," as if to say, Women who are timid, and therefore avaricious, retain their own and do not give alms to the poor even when they ask, lest they be impoverished by them; but this wise and magnanimous woman gave alms generously to those who asked and to those who did not ask: for she knew that through these she and hers would be blessed by God, and enriched with great profit. And so in fact it came to pass; for her alms raised up, that is, exalted her sons to great riches and honors: for this to be the fruit of alms St. Chrysostom teaches in his homily "That Alms is the Most Profitable Art of All," and St. Basil in his homily "On Avaricious Rich Men," St. John the Almsgiver, and others whom I cited above. Tropologically, the Author of the Greek Catena says: "No one, he says, limps or stumbles with her: for if she notices any who have fallen into some wickedness, she immediately, by her piety and mercy, raises them up from the filth in which they lie, and increases them with spiritual riches. Wherefore also her husband praises and admires her." Anagogically, the Saints who in this life sit mourning in ashes and sackcloth of penance, shall rise in heaven, nay, shall rise again in the robe of glory, and there shall proclaim their mother the Church, now militant, then triumphant, most blessed. Her husband himself, namely Christ, shall praise her, seeing her with so great a multitude of rich children in the resurrection of the dead, says St. Augustine, sermon 45 "On Various Subjects." And Bede: "The sons of the Church, he says, rise up, and proclaim her most blessed, when, exalted with heavenly goods, they behold how great is the blessedness of that country, of which they have merited to be partakers, and they celebrate her with due praise in the divine vision. Her husband praises her, when he rewards the good things which he himself gave. But in what words he praises her is shown subsequently, when it is said: Many daughters have gathered together riches, thou hast surpassed them all." All these things you easily adapt to the Blessed Virgin. For Christ her son proclaimed her most blessed, both by word and by deed and by his conduct. For Christ drew his nature and disposition from the Blessed Virgin: wherefore the actions and conduct of Christ represented the actions and conduct of the mother, and the virtue, blessedness and glory of Christ represent the virtue, blessedness and glory of the mother. Whence she exclaimed in the Gospel: "Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the breasts which thou hast sucked." For all the praise of the son returns to the mother; and, as Solomon says: "A wise son is the glory of his father (and mother)." Again, St. John, whom Christ dying substituted for himself and assigned as a son to the Blessed Virgin, proclaimed her blessed, when he expressed her singular holiness by his own holiness. The same did St. Germanus, Damascenus, Ildefonsus, Anselmus, Bernardus, Dominicus, Franciscus, Ignatius, and countless others, who as most devoted sons to the Blessed Virgin, celebrated her praises through themselves and their followers by words and deeds, and celebrate them daily, and from this draw forth singular gifts of grace from heaven. For, as St. Bonaventura says in the Psalter: "Joyful is the man who is not satisfied in thy praise; the light of God has arisen in his heart, the Holy Spirit illuminates his understanding." Finally, all the faithful of all ages in the Church wonderfully love and glorify the Blessed Virgin. Hence there is scarcely any city which does not have a temple dedicated in honour of the Virgin; no temple which does not have a chapel, or altar, or image of the Blessed Virgin; no church which does not sing to her daily the Salve Regina, and similar hymns and praises; indeed the whole Church continually greets her: "Blessed art thou among women, and (that is, because) blessed is the fruit of thy womb." This is what she herself, foreseeing in the spirit of prophecy, foretold: "All generations shall call me blessed." For, as Damascenus says, in his Oration on the Nativity: "The Virgin exceeds the law of all eulogies, nor, if all the tongues dispersed throughout the whole world should come together into one, could they attain to her praises in speech." Truly: So many are thy gifts, O Virgin, as there are stars in heaven. Again, her husband, namely the Holy Spirit, praised and praises her, when he stirred up all the Prophets, Apostles and Saints to her praises. Hence everywhere he established Congregations and Religious Orders in honour of the Virgin, which continually sing her Office and proclaim her praises, as among others the Order of Carmelites, Annuntiates and Servants does, who wholly devoted to the worship and the Virgin, are called Servants as if servants of the Virgin.
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In Hebrew, many daughters have done chail, that is, virtue, strenuousness, fortitude, glory, riches; and thou hast ascended above all of them. Hence the Septuagint, embracing both significations of chail, translate it, many daughters have acquired riches, many have done virtue; but thou excellest, or eminest and hast surpassed all of them, that is, excellently and eminently, or from afar, hast surpassed all of them: this is a hendiadys. St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Various Matters, reads: Many daughters have done power, but thou hast surpassed and placed thyself above all. It could also be translated, many daughters have done an army, that is, an abundance of sons, servants, handmaids; "but thou hast surpassed all," because thou hast borne many sons, and hast procured more servants and handmaids, so that from them thou couldst form and equip an army, and be able to fight in battle against enemies, as Abraham did, Genesis chapter XIV. The Armenian version in M. Antonius Abagarum has: Many daughters have gathered magnificence, have acquired justice. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Thou by thy strenuousness and heroic deeds hast prepared for thyself strength, honor, glory and riches, such as no other of women; but in these thou dost transcend and surpass all. This is the praise of a virago, by which, as he has gone before, her husband praises her, says Bede, and the sons proclaim her most blessed, saying namely that she by her chail, that is, vigor, valor, industry, strength, riches, far excels other women. This was accomplished by the Blessed Gorgonia, sister of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, to whom he himself gives this eulogy, oration 11: "And that we might grant that some existed who contended with her in some one virtue, yet certainly in this respect she surpassed all, that she alone embraced all virtues. For thus she accomplished all things, that not even one other person did even moderately; but thus to the highest degree each thing, that even one alone would suffice abundantly for all." Whence enumerating certain things one by one he exclaims: "O squalid body, and raiment flourishing in virtue alone! O soul retaining body almost without food, as if bereft of matter! O sleepless nights, and the singing of psalms, and standing from day to day unceasing! etc. O fountains of tears, which were sown from affliction, that they might reap in exultation! O nocturnal cry penetrating the clouds, and reaching unto God! O fervor of spirit on account of desire for prayer, fearing neither nocturnal dogs, nor cold, nor rains, nor thunders, nor hail, nor darkness! O feminine nature, which on account of the common struggle for salvation hast surpassed masculine nature, and hast made it manifest, that the distinction of male and female is of the body, not likewise of the soul! O great chastity after baptism, and soul the bride of Christ in the pure chamber of the body! O bitter taste, and Eve, both the mother of our race and of sin, and the deceiving serpent, and her death overcome by continence! O the self-emptying of Christ, and the form of a servant, and his passions honored by mortification." Symbolically Lyra takes this saying: "Thou hast surpassed all," of Holy Scripture, which includes more and more useful truths than all the monuments of other writers. Hence St. Augustine in Psalm CXXX, explaining that passage I Corinthians chapter XV, 10: I have labored more abundantly than all: "Paul," he says, "labored more than all, because he wrote more copiously than all." For other Apostles did not write, others neither wrote so much, nor wrote with such great grace. Where therefore more is written, more is labored; as if the labor of writing alone were so great, that Allegorically St. Augustine, St. Ambrose and Bede understand these things of the Church, which surpasses all daughters, that is the Synagogue of the Jews, the schools of Philosophers and all sects of heretics (which are called daughters, because they confess the same baptism, the same God, but wrongly on account of heresy) glorying in their fastings, prayers, almsgivings, and even in their prophecies and miracles, far exceeding them in true faith, wisdom, virtue, grace and glory. "Many," says St. Ambrose, "have wrought mighty works, many have spoken with tongues, have known mysteries, have cast out demons, have distributed their goods to the poor, have delivered their bodies to be burned in fires; yet because they have not had charity, they have been puffed up, and have remained defrauded of praise and reward. But this woman abounds both in flower and fruit, because she is full of charity, which the Apostle testifies to be the fruit of the Spirit to the Galatians, Gal. V. She herself is the cluster of the vineyard of the beloved, Cant. I; for from her proceed the perfections of the other virtues which the Apostle enumerates to the Galatians, saying: Now the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, etc., Gal. V. But truly because in these daughters, who have also wrought mighty works, charity was lacking, therefore it is said to them: Deceitful graces and vain appearance, because without charity they are like sounding brass, and like a tinkling cymbal, they are nothing, their virtues profit nothing. Therefore deceitful graces. But this woman, because she sought to understand what, because she kept understanding, is deservedly commended as wise." Tropologically these are adapted to the heroic soul, such as was that of St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Athanasius, St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Ignatius, etc., who surpassed the common virtues, grace and glory of other Saints through a more illustrious grace of God and through heroic operations of virtues. Therefore in this virago is described the emblem of a heroic soul and virtue, to which individual maxims from the aforesaid are easily adapted. Singularly indeed and most excellently do the Fathers and Doctors adapt this maxim of Solomon to the Blessed Virgin thus. First, St. Bernardine, vol. II of Sermons, sermon On the Blessed Virgin: "Mary the virgin, he says, most holy, who gave birth to, bore and nourished the Saviour; who clung to his side continually, who was his inseparable companion and was scarcely absent from any journey, who watched intently over his word and work more than others, alone saw the remarkable works of the Saviour's deeds, the honeyed kinds of preaching, unheard of against the world, and sin and the infernal devil, the most keen utterances of divine severity, which she attended to for a long time, more spiritually, heard more secretly, recognized more quickly, retained more readily, and imparted more abundantly to the Apostles and other disciples, reported more carefully, impressed more deeply, transmitted more faithfully." He proves this from this maxim: "Hence it is that of her it is read in the Gospel: But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart. Secondly, St. Bonaventure in the Mirror, cap. II: "To Mary, he says, God had prepared not only greatness, but also a multitude of goods in heaven, so that no Angel, no Saint could be equal to her in the multitude and congregation of heavenly goods, according to that: Many daughters have gathered together riches, thou alone hast surpassed them all, Prov. XXXI. If we understand these daughters as holy souls, or angelic intelligences, have you not surpassed the riches of all, since you yourself are the first of Virgins, the mirror of Confessors, the rose of Martyrs, the register of Apostles, the oracle of Prophets, the daughter of Patriarchs, the queen of Angels? For what of the riches of all these was lacking? For St. Jerome says: If you look upon Mary more diligently, there is no virtue, no beauty, no brightness and glory, which does not shine forth in her." The same, cap. VIII: "And because the Lord, he says, most rich is most richly with you, therefore you are most rich or most wealthy with him; so that thus truly that of Proverbs can be said to you: Many daughters have gathered together riches, thou hast surpassed them all. Daughter Agnes, daughter Lucy, daughter Cecilia, daughter Agatha, daughter Catherine, and many other daughters, and many other holy virgins, and many just souls have gathered together riches of virtues and graces, riches of merits and rewards; but Mary has surpassed all with riches most excellently all." And cap. X: "Mary has surpassed, he says, all daughters, she has surpassed in nature, she has surpassed in grace, she has surpassed in glory all daughters, that is all souls, and all angelic intelligences." Third, St. Bernardine, vol. II of Sermons, sermon 51, article 3, chapter X, says that the Blessed Virgin by that act of faith and obedience by which she assented to the Angel announcing to her the incarnation of Christ, and by assenting disposed herself worthily, and by congruity merited that she should be the mother of God, merited more than all the Angels and Saints merited in all their acts, because namely (as Suarez explains, disputation 12, section IV) by that act she merited at least by congruity that dignity (the motherhood of God) to which a more excellent grace and glory The reason a priori is that the Blessed Virgin is venerated as the mother of God: for this dignity, since it is immense, far transcends all others; hence to her is owed honor equally and worship which transcends all others. For the motherhood of God is an incomparable and incomprehensible dignity. For it is itself consanguinity with God and that the nearest, supreme and most intimate: wherefore by it the Blessed Virgin was elevated, made as it were of the divine order, so that she might have the same God as her son consubstantial with her in humanity, whom God the Father has as his only and consubstantial son in divinity. Wherefore just as God the Father says to him: "Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee;" so the same can say the same thing to the Blessed Virgin. She therefore before all others properly is "mother, daughter, spouse of God," namely mother of God the Son, only daughter of God the Father, spouse of the Holy Spirit. What therefore and how great is it to be the mother of God? It is to be the mother of the Creator, it is to be the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is to be The same is clear again from this, that the dignity of the hypostatic union of humanity with God in Christ is plainly immense, which far surpasses all the dignities and excellences of all creatures conflated into one: for it makes this man, namely Jesus, to be God. To this union the Blessed Virgin cooperated intimately and proximately, when she clothed the eternal Word in flesh from her womb, and clothed him in her flesh. Her motherhood therefore approaches closely to the incarnation of the Word. Whence just as nothing is more excellent than this union, so neither by the motherhood of God can anything be done more excellent, or by God himself, as St. Thomas teaches, I part. Question XXV, article 6, to 4: "It must be said," he says, "that the humanity of Christ from this Fourth, the Fathers teach that the Blessed Virgin far surpasses in grace and glory all absolutely holy men and Angels, even Cherubim and Seraphim, and that no creature can be compared with her, as one who is surpassed only by the Creator God alone. Thus St. Epiphanius in the oration On the Praises of the Virgin: "Excepting God alone," he says, "thou existest superior to all." St. Gregory, book I of Kings, chapter II: "The Blessed Virgin was a mountain, which by the sublimity of her election transcends all the height of every chosen creature." St. John of Damascus, sermon On the Nativity of the Virgin: "Today," he says, "the salvation of the world began; rejoice, mountains, that is, you endowed with reason who ascend to the summit of spiritual contemplation: for the most brilliant mountain of God is brought forth, that mountain, I say, which surpasses every hill and mountain, that is, the sublimity of Angels and men." Fifth, all agree that the Blessed Virgin, just as in grace, so also in dignity and honor surpasses all Angels and men, because the whole Church venerates these with dulia, but the Blessed Virgin with hyperdulia, which approaches closely to latria, by which God is venerated. Now join together all the honors which are owed and paid to individual angels and men, all will be dulia, and will never attain, Sixth, from this root and foundation all the charisms and privileges of the Virgin Mother of God flow forth, among which grave Doctors, such as Francis Suarez, Salazar and others, hold to be this, that the Blessed Virgin by her grace and by her merits surpasses all the grace and merits of all Angels and men, not only taken separately, but also united and collected into one heap, so that if all these were placed in one pan of a balance, and in the other that of the Virgin alone, this would outweigh that. Whence it follows that she is more pleasing, beloved and precious to God than are all men and Angels taken together: wherefore her prayers are worth more with God than are the prayers of all men and Angels. For the Mother of God is more worthy to be heard by God than are all men and Angels together. The a priori reason is the dignity of motherhood already assigned, which plainly seems to demand this excellence as it were by its own right. It is added that, just as a mother of a household, as such, is more dignified than all her sons, servants and handmaids taken together, as mother, head and princess of the whole household: so also the Blessed Virgin, constituted by Christ as mother of a household of His Church, ought to be more dignified than all its sons and faithful, even taken together. Whence St. Irenaeus: "What is it," he says, "that is not accomplished without Mary's consent in the mystery of the incarnation? because namely God wills that she be the principle of all goods;" and St. Gregory, book I of Kings, chapter II: "The most blessed Virgin was a mountain, which by the sublimity of her election transcends the entire height of every chosen creature." Furthermore, the Blessed Virgin, because she became the mother of God, is queen of all Angels and men, so that all ought to subject themselves to her, and profess themselves her subjects, indeed her servants, and recognize her as their lady, princess and rightful queen, indeed ought to rejoice and desire it. But the honor and dignity of a Queen surpasses all the dignities of Dukes, Barons, and Counts subject to her, even taken together, because it is transcendent and of a higher order, and equal to royal majesty. Therefore likewise the Blessed Virgin, because she is queen of heaven and earth, by this royal majesty surpasses all the dignities of all Angels and men, as being subject to her, even united and conflated into one. Finally, the Blessed Virgin, because she is the mother of God, is called by St. Anselm and the Fathers and truly is the mediatrix of the whole Church and of all the faithful, because she herself proximately cooperated in the incarnation of the Word, and consequently in our redemption. Again, through her as mother of a household and mediatrix, God distributes to Martyrs fortitude, to Virgins chastity, to Apostles zeal, to Confessors patience, to Anchorites austerity, to Religious humility, poverty, obedience; to married couples continence and conjugal faith, and to other faithful their gifts, virtues and graces suitable and proper to each. Wherefore it is necessary that she herself possess all these more perfectly and eminently: just as a universal cause, for example the heaven eminently contains in itself all the perfections of elementary bodies, which it causes and produces; wherefore just as heaven surpasses all earthly things, fire in heat surpasses all heat produced by itself, and just as the sun by its splendor overcomes and obscures all the light of the air and stars, as being produced by itself: so likewise the grace, and consequently the glory of the Blessed Virgin, surpasses all the grace and glory of all the faithful. Again, just as the head, influencing sense, reason, motion and direction into the other members, far excels all of them even taken together (for the head alone has more reason and wisdom than all the members taken together): so also the grace of the Blessed Virgin ought to excel the grace of all others taken together, because it is the grace of the head, which therefore she received not for herself alone, but as the head pours forth the same into the other faithful according to each one's capacity. Moreover, even if Christ did not merit grace and glory for the Angels, nor did the Blessed Virgin obtain or distribute it to them, so that she cannot properly be called the mediatrix of the Angels: nevertheless she can be called their mediatrix to this extent, that there is one Church in heaven, of Angels and blessed men; wherefore since Christ and the Blessed Virgin brought it about that the ruins of the Angels, made by the fall of demons, should be repaired through men, and one complete and full Church, perfect and blessed in all respects, the Church triumphant, should be formed from both, hence it comes about that Christ can be called the mediator of the Angels, and the Blessed Virgin their mediatrix, because she conferred a great good upon them, namely the restoration of their damaged commonwealth and Church, and thence mutual joys, which wonderfully increase the accidental beatitude of the Angels. For the Angels rejoice wonderfully at the zeal and fruit of the Apostles, at the invincible constancy of the Martyrs, at the angelic chastity of Virgins, etc., and they esteem their merits, triumphs, glory and rewards through the communion of charity and the Church. For this brings it about that what belongs to one of the Blessed belongs also to another, and thus each Blessed one enjoys and rejoices in the good of another, just as if it were his own and proper good. Wherefore since all the Angels together could not merit and obtain this restoration of their ruin through men, but Christ accomplished it, and afterwards through Christ the Blessed Virgin, hence it follows that she has more power with God in grace, and has obtained more from Him, even than all the Angels together joined could obtain for themselves, and therefore the Blessed Virgin in both grace and glory transcends and surpasses all the Angels taken together. Whence St. Anselm says that through the Blessed Virgin the whole world was raised up, and the whole nature of things was renewed. And Blessed Peter Damian, sermon On the Assumption, to those words: Chosen as the sun: "Chosen," he says, "but pre-chosen as the sun, because just as the sun alone illuminates the orb, so she alone illuminates both Angels and men with a more solid light." Finally St. Bernard: "Mary," he says, "opened the bosom of mercy to all, so that from her fullness all receive, the sinner forgiveness, the just grace, the Angel joy, the whole Trinity glory."
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In Hebrew, lying grace, and vanity of beauty; a woman fearing (or fear, for the Hebrew יראת jirath signifies both, that is to say, She who is the fear of the Lord, or she who so fears the Lord that she herself appears to be fear) the Lord, she herself shall be praised; the Syriac version: beauty lies, beauty is unfruitful, etc.; Rabbi Solomon: a woman is not to be extolled with praises because her form excels, since all things are something vain and mere falsehood; but a woman who fears God, she alone is to be celebrated with praises. The same author understands this woman mystically as Holy Scripture and the law of God. The Septuagint varies here; for the Vatican codex has: Deceitful are graces, and vain is beauty; but a woman of understanding shall be blessed: let her fear the Lord, these last words appearing to be a double version of the same Hebrew sentence. The Complutensian and Royal editions: lying graces and vain beauty is not in thee; and St. Ambrose: deceitful (St. Augustine: false) graces, and vain appearance; a prudent woman (St. Augustine: wise) shall be blessed: let her fear the Lord; and thus he expounds it mystically, that is to say, Vain are virtues without charity; for the fear of God is filial love and charity. The author of the Greek Catena reads thus, and thus expounds it mystically: lying graces, and vain is the beauty of a woman in thee; a prudent woman is well spoken of by all. Let her herself praise and extol the fear of the Lord: "Many," he says, "are the arts and disciplines of external wisdom, which draw a man to themselves and distract him. But divine wisdom, that true wisdom and adorned with true and saving beauty, excels. Grace is gracious comeliness, or beauty and elegance, both of body and of gestures and actions, by which someone in bearing, gait, speech and action conducts himself so decorously that he wins the love of those beholding him, and is acceptable and pleasing to them: thus well-educated women are wont to be gracious in speaking and acting, and in every gesture and bearing. "Beauty is that good elegance in the composition of members, having a grace superinduced upon itself like a flower," says St. Basil in the Melissa of Antonius, part I, chapter LX. Beauty consists in three things: first, in the just quantity, quality and complexion of the body; second, in the fitting proportion of the members; third, in the pleasing sweetness of color. The sense is, that is to say, Other women seek vain praise from their grace, and desire to be praised for their beauty; but this woman seeks true praise from the fear of God. For beauty is a vain dowry, and vain praise; but true praise and true dowry to be praised is the fear of God, and therefore she herself shall be praised before others in reality. For women are wont to place their adornment in the grace of manners and the beauty of bodies, both natural and acquired, which they assume by painting their face with purple, white lead, and other pigments and cosmetics: likewise by dressing themselves in fine linen, ornaments, golden chains, pearls, bracelets, and other feminine finery. But all this grace is deceitful and vain, and is quickly taken away and vanishes. Wherefore this woman places her adornment not in grace and beauty, but in the fear of God, which remains for ever and ever, and brings to her the grace and glory of God and the Angels, and eternal praise. Second, that is to say, Bodily grace and beauty, which men and women so greatly desire, is deceitful and vain; for true grace and beauty consists in virtue, which the fear of God brings: for that beauty adorns the body only; but this virtue adorns both soul and body, and therefore is wont to be praised and celebrated before that one by all; for virtue alone is worthy of praise: whence by the poets through metonymy virtue is wont to be called praise. Most excellently St. Gregory of Nazianzus in the Melissa of Antonius, part I, chapter LX: "Esteem," he says, "beauty to be the adornment of the mind." And St. Chrysostom: "Beauty consists not in the form of the body, but in manners and modesty." Note: Grace and beauty is called deceitful, false, fallacious and vain; or, as the Hebrew has it more forcefully, falsehood or falsity and vanity. First, because it is brief and perishable, fleeting and evanescent: for it quickly perishes and vanishes through age, disease, labor, or some other accident. It therefore lies in appearing to be a real and stable thing, when in reality it is shadowy and unstable. Whence the Poet: Form is a fragile good, and as it approaches the years It becomes less, and is consumed by its own span. Just as solar rays shining through red glass appear red, when in truth they are not such, but the glass deceives that they are red; and just as sepulchres full within of filth, worms and corpses, deceive outwardly that they are beautiful, namely white and golden: so beautiful women and covered over, like harlots, by external paint deceive that they are beautiful, when within they are full of filth, intolerable stench, and diseases and venereal plague which they transmit to their lovers, so that truly a harlot is nothing other than a whitewashed sepulchre, and foul flesh shining broadly through the skin. Secondly, because grace and beauty deceive, trick and cast down those very graceful and beautiful women themselves, because it makes them proud, difficult, intemperate. Whence that saying: Pride dwells in the beautiful, and pride follows beauty. For beautiful women desire to display their form to all, and therefore provoke in themselves the desires and temptations of all. Whence Ovid: There is conflict with beauty, great conflict with chastity, because beautiful women are scarcely chaste: for young men and adulterers lie in wait for their beauty. Hence the philosopher Aristippus, when consulted by someone whether he ought to take a wife, denied it, and gave the reason, saying: Either you will marry an ugly woman, or a beautiful one; if ugly, you will have ποινήν, that is a punishment; if beautiful, you will have κοινήν, that is one common to many. Thus Antonius in Melissa, part. II, cap. XXXIV. See St. Chrysostom, homily On Woman and Beauty, vol. VI, and homily 20 on the epistle to the Ephesians. Wherefore we read in the Lives of the Saints that chaste virgins and heroic women asked God to remove from them this allurement of beauty, and to make themselves deformed, and obtained it; otherwise they tore out their own eyes, cut off their noses, disfigured their faces with welts, so that they might cut off the occasion of incestuous temptation. For, as Leucippus says in Antonius in Melissa part. I, cap. LX: "Beauty wounds more sharply with a dart, and flows through the eyes into the soul;" and an Anonymous author there: "Exceptional beauty is stained with many crimes as well." Thus St. Ebba, Abbess of the convent of Collingham in England, in the year 870, when the Danes were invading England, in order to escape their lust, cut off her nose and upper lip together with all the nuns: wherefore the Danes, enraged, burned her together with the convent, and thus for virginity they obtained the crown of martyrdom, as Baronius reports from Matthew of Westminster, vol. X, at the year of Christ 870. Sophronius, or rather John Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, cap. LX, relates that a virgin, desired by a young man on account of the beauty of her eyes, dug out her eyes for herself, and sent them to the young man; when he saw this he was moved to compunction, abandoned the world, and became a most approved monk. The same did a certain nun, of whom Cardinal James of Vitry writes, who, loved by a prince on account of the beauty of her eyes, tore them out for herself, and on a dish Thirdly, because grace and beauty deceive and drive mad the minds of men and youths, so that like madmen they love them insanely, and like unbridled horses neigh toward mares, and thus with them they lose chastity, health, virtue, conscience, reputation, heaven, and become effeminate and incestuous, and bring upon themselves present death and eternal death in hell equally as the women whom they loved. To this pertains that saying of Theophrastus, which St. Jerome cites, book I Against Jovinian: "A beautiful woman," he says, "is quickly loved; but it is difficult to guard what many love: nothing is safe into which the prayers of all the people aspire: one man solicits by beauty, another by skill, another by wit, another by generosity. In some way or at some time that is overcome which is attacked from all sides." And below: "Every guard, however circumspect and prudent, is mocked." Wherefore what is grace, what is beauty? Let both the Fathers and Philosophers answer, whom Maximus cites, serm. 44; Antonius in Melissa, part. I, cap. LX; Stobaeus, part. II, serm. 66 and 63, and Tiraquellus, leg. II Connub. num. 10 et seq.: St. Jerome: "Beauty is the oblivion of reason;" Socrates: "Beauty is the tyranny of a brief time," because the charm of form soon fades; the same: "The kisses of the beautiful are to be avoided like the bites of venomous animals;" Theophrastus: "Beauty is silent deception," because it persuades without words; Euripides in Helen: "Beauty is an unhappy thing;" Xenophon, lib. De Amore: "Beauty is a fire, which burns those who touch it, inflames those at a distance. But the cultivation of the soul is discipline, and a mind composed toward prudence;" Petrarch, lib. I De Remed. utriusque fortunae: "Beauty is a veil to the eyes, a snare to the feet, birdlime to the wings, so that one does not easily discern the truth, nor follow virtue, nor let the soul soar on high. It is a domestic enemy, a robber of peace, a source of labor, a torment of lust." Proclus, lib. De Anima, says: "Souls deceived through ignorance of true beauty admire and perish for bodily forms." St. Chrysostom, epist. ad Theod. lapsum: "Beauty, he says, is plaster applied to a sepulcher, that is, phlegm mixed with blood shining beautifully through the skin." Strip away the skin, and you will see how foul the flesh beneath lies, what a dunghill is in the belly, what phlegm bursts forth through the mouth, nostrils, eyes, etc. I omit abscesses, gangrenes, carcinomas, flatulence, stenches, filth. Again Bion in Laertius, lib. IV, cap. VII: "Form, he says, is an alien good," sensing that it is outside man, which he himself can neither give to himself nor preserve once given. The goods of the soul are truly ours. Theocritus: "Form is an ivory loss," because it is indeed pleasing to the sight, but the cause of many inconveniences. Carneades: "Form is a kingdom without attendants," because the beautiful command whatever they wish, with no force applied. Laertius relates these things, lib. V, cap. 1, and Stobaeus, serm. 63. Isocrates said that those who have a beautiful body but a wicked soul have the best ship but a wicked helmsman; Aesop: "Do not look at my form, he says, but at my mind;" thus Maximus, serm. 44. Another: "Form is the flower of youth, which fades in old age." Just as a rose blooms in the morning and withers in the evening. See the rosy face of a youth, and compare it with the wrinkles and gray hair of old age. Seneca in Hippolytus: As the brightness that shines on tender cheeks, In a moment is snatched away, and not a single day Has not taken the spoil of a beautiful body. Form is a fleeting thing. Philo, lib. De Providentia: "Because of bodily beauty, he says, no one in his right mind will be able to boast and seek praise, since it is extinguished in so brief a time that it seems to have faded before it even bloomed." Finally St. Gregory of Nazianzus, orat. 31: "Beauty, he says, is the mockery of time and disease;" for, as Boethius says, lib. III De Consol. prosa 8: "It can be dissolved by the fire of a three-day fever." Note: Solomon does not deny that beauty and grace are the ornament of a woman, but only asserts that this is deceptive and perishable, since the true and solid ornament of her is wisdom and virtue, which the fear of the Lord produces. Otherwise, the beauty of the body is often an index and specimen of the beauty of the soul. Wherefore Bartholomaeus Capranus, Archbishop of Milan— Therefore he condemns the acquired beauty which worldly women prepare for themselves; but he does not condemn natural form, but teaches that it is deceptive and fleeting, and, if compared with the fear of God and virtue, is far to be set aside by it, since virtue is the true and solid beauty and comeliness of soul and body, as St. Peter teaches, epist. I, cap. III, 3 et seq., where I have said more on this matter, as also on Isaiah III, toward the end of the chapter. Blessed Nonna, the mother of St. Gregory of Nazianzus, knew this very well, of whom he himself writes thus, orat. 19: "She is the one, he says, who, while other women are accustomed to glory both in the elegance of their native form and in that which is feigned and acquired, and to be puffed up in their minds, she on the contrary recognized that one beauty alone which is placed in the soul and in the divine image, either to be preserved or to be purged as far as she was able; but she cast aside the painted and artificially sought ornaments to theatrical women." A wise daughter followed a wise mother, St. Gorgonia, of whom the same [St. Gregory of Nazianzus] speaks thus, oration 11: "Gold, elaborated by art into exceptional beauty, did not adorn her; nor fair hair, now displayed, now gleaming beneath; nor the knots and artifices of braids, making a precious head a stage of supreme infamy; nor the magnificence of flowing and transparent garments; nor the splendors of stones and the grace coloring the air nearby, and forms suffused with light; nor the arts of painters and their tricks, and beauty consisting of base and small things, and an earthly artificer fabricating to the contrary, covering God's creation with insidious colors, and by honor inflicting infamy, and proposing the divine form as an idol to the wanton eyes of harlotry, so that adulterous beauty might steal away the natural image, which is preserved for God and the future age. But although she knew many and various external ornaments of women, she recognized none superior to her morals and the splendor hidden within. One blush pleased her, which modesty brings; one whiteness, which abstinence produces. For paints and cosmetics, and living pictures, and the fleeting beauty of form she left to theatrical and common women, for whom it is shameful to blush." A WOMAN FEARING GOD, SHE HERSELF SHALL BE PRAISED — with true and solid beauty of soul, which consists in the fear of God and virtue; virtue therefore alone is praiseworthy, and true praise and glory of a woman. The Septuagint translates: "But let her fear the Lord, she shall be praised," that is to say, let other worldly-loving and vain women praise their grace and beauty of cheeks, eyes, face, etc.; but let this wise woman praise the fear of God, in which she has wisely placed all her glory and form. Let her therefore glory in this, celebrate this, proclaim this to all by word and more by deed, so that they may learn to acquire it for themselves, and, leaving aside the vain care of bodily beauty, adorn themselves far more beautifully with it. St. Bernard wisely says, sermon 1 On St. Victor: "What glory is without virtue," he says, "assuredly comes undeserved, is sought prematurely, is sung dangerously. Virtue is the step to glory, virtue is the mother of glory. Deceitful and vain is the beauty which she has not brought forth; she alone is she to whom glory is owed by right, and is bestowed securely." Note here: This woman is of such wisdom, virtue, name and fame, that she herself is not so much praised by the fear of God, as she herself praises and commends it. For thus eminent women and men by their word and example give weight, authority, honor and praise to laws, rules and virtues, and themselves appreciate, authorize and as it were canonize the same virtues, neglected and little esteemed by the common people; thus Christ by his authority added weight, authorized, and as it were canonized poverty, humility, patience, the cross, martyrdom, whose dignity and value were unknown to men, indeed which were held in contempt as base and ignoble, when he himself humbled himself and emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in a stable, laid in a manger, living a poor life, suffering reproaches, torments and the death of the cross, dying on the gallows. Whence all the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Anchorites, Virgins, and Religious followed him. Hence St. Bernard, sermon 1 in the Vigil of the Nativity, speaking of poverty: "On earth," he says, "this kind abounds and superabounds, and man knew not its value. The Son of God therefore, desiring this, descended, that he might choose it for himself, and make it precious to us also by his esteem. Adorn your chamber, Sion, but with humility, but with poverty." Thus the Blessed Virgin authorized virginity, humility and other virtues, when she was unwilling to be the mother of God unless she remained a virgin; whence virginity, by her vow so called, she first raised the standard, which afterwards so many bands of virgins followed; thus Religious, Doctors and those eminent in rank authorize the discipline of their Order, obedience, poverty, humble offices, when they themselves perform them, and shine forth to their juniors by example of performing the same. Allegorically St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Various Subjects: "Deceitful," he says, "is grace, and vain the appearance of a woman, because if I have not charity, I am nothing, etc. But she herself praises the fear of the Lord, and she herself is blessed; she praises that from which she is blessed. What does she praise? The fear of the Lord by which she has been led to wisdom. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But she herself shall praise the fear of the Lord, laborious in so many praises, patient amid so many scandals, provident in waiting, strong in enduring, constant in persevering. When labors are finished, give her of the fruits of her hands. What give? Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Again you adapt this name to the Blessed Virgin, who was distinguished by an exceptionally splendid and beautiful body, not feminine and alluring, but grave, comely, venerable and august in beauty, such as the images of her painted by St. Luke present to us, which here The first reason was that she herself was conceived by miraculous means from sterile and aged parents, and was the work not so much of her parents as of God and the Holy Spirit. But the works of the Holy Spirit are perfect, beautiful, and excellent. Thus Albert the Great in Dionysius the Carthusian, book I On the Praises of the Virgin, chapter III: "Just as," he says, "the body of Christ, which God supernaturally formed by himself, is most perfect and most beautiful in nature, as far as it could be according to the state of the way: so the body of the Virgin, immediately ordained for this purpose, was most beautiful according to the state of the way, which nature operating by itself can make; therefore we say that, just as Christ was fair in form above the sons of men, so the Virgin was most beautiful among the daughters of men, and that she possessed the highest and most perfect thing that could be in a mortal feminine body, according to the state of the way with nature operating." Thus Albert. Dionysius himself in the same place, article 35: "From the sole of the foot," he says, "to the crown of the head, there was absolutely nothing in the Virgin, neither in body nor in soul, that was unbecoming, reprehensible, or unseemly; rather, everything was formed most beautifully by divine wisdom, refined from all superfluity, wrought most fully and most splendidly. For just as it was fitting that the humanity of Christ, on account of his personal union with God, should shine forth with all the perfection of nature and grace at the height of excellence: so it was necessary that the person of his Mother herself be adorned in all things in this way. For after the hypostatic conjunction in God, there is no other so near, as the union of the Mother of God with God her Son." Thus Dionysius. The same, article 36, believes that the face of the most holy Virgin was illuminated by a certain splendor, and that her flesh breathed forth a sweet odor. Second, because she herself, as the mother, formed the body of Christ, which was most beautiful, according to that passage in Psalm 44: "Fair in beauty above the sons of men; grace is poured abroad in thy lips." The beauty and comeliness of Christ, therefore, was derived from the beauty and comeliness of his mother: for children are accustomed to derive these more from the mother than from the father, inasmuch as they are formed in her womb from her flesh; wherefore children often tend to resemble the mother more than the father, and to bear more the features, manners and gestures of the mother than of the father, according to that saying: "Much of the father's beauty you have, more of the mother's you bear." Third, because the inward beauty of the Virgin's mind poured itself forth into her body, so that her divine purity and holiness shone luminously in her face. St. Athanasius writes something similar concerning St. Anthony. Furthermore, if such was the beauty of the body of the Blessed Virgin, how much more was that of her soul and mind! Read the Song of Songs and you will see it; for she is described and depicted therein before the other faithful of the Church. Whence that passage in chapter IV, 7: "Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee." The a priori reason is that she was the bridal chamber of the Word incarnate from himself, and consequently of the whole Holy Trinity. What is more beautiful than God's throne? For, as St. Augustine says, tract. 32 in John: "Just as the soul makes beauty in the body, so God in the soul," and soon after: "Therefore the beauty of the body is the soul, the beauty of the soul is God." Again, the beauty of the soul consists in the splendor of all virtues and the excellence of divine grace: but the Blessed Virgin far transcends all men and Angels in grace and virtues. Nothing therefore created— Now receive the sentiments and sayings of the Fathers and Doctors concerning both forms of the Virgin. St. Gregory of Nazianzus in the Tragedy, Christ Suffering, thus sings of her: Alas, among the modest and most beautiful, and venerable first, virgin and mother Mary the same! And again from the person of the chorus: O Virgin of form who in splendor surpass others, noble maiden, who bearing God the infant in thy womb (as you relate), in that same womb carried the greatest treasure. St. Ephrem, in the Oration On the Mother of God, calls her a most beautiful urn, which carries the manna of heaven. Epiphanius, in the Oration On the Praises of the Virgin, addresses her in these words: "You who, God alone excepted, exist superior to all, you are more beautiful than the Cherubim and Seraphim themselves, and than all the heavenly host." Andrew of Crete, in the Oration On the Dormition of the Mother of God, adorns her with these praises: "Extraordinary beauty sculpted by God, a statue rightly described, the image of the living archetype." Gregory of Nicomedia, in the Oration On the Offering, thus addresses the Mother of God: "O most beautiful beauty of all beauties! O Mother of God, the supreme ornament of all beautiful things!" Richard of St. Victor, chapter XXVI in the Canticles, attributes to the Blessed Virgin angelic purity and an angelic countenance. St. Bonaventure in the Litanies calls upon her thus: "Most beautiful of women, Holy Mary." The same in the Mirror: "Let us say," he says, "that passage from Canticles V: What is thy beloved of the beloved, O fairest among women? and behold she herself answering immediately says: My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands, he is the brightness of eternal light. White indeed by divinity, ruddy by humanity; white also in conversation, ruddy in passion. Behold how fair a fruit: for this reason Augustine rightly says of him: Fair in the heavens, fair on the earth, fair in the Father's Word, fair in the mother flesh and Word; but this most beautiful tree Mary not only has the most beautiful fruit of her womb, but also fair— The same teach St. Antoninus, IV part. tit. XV, cap. XI; Canisius, lib. I On the Blessed Virgin, cap. XIII; Suarez, tom. II, in III part. disp. 2, sect. II; Barradius, lib. VI, cap. IX. Finally St. Bridget in Serm. angel. cap. XIII: "Just as," she says, "God and the Angels rejoiced in heaven over the beauty of the Virgin's soul, so also her most pleasing bodily beauty was useful and consoling to all who desired to see her on earth;" and lib. V, after question 9, Christ the Lord praises each member of his mother, and mystically declares their beauty; and lib. I, cap. LI, he is reported to have said to his mother: "The Angels consider one another's beauty, and they marvel at the beauty of all souls and all bodies; but they see that the beauty of thy soul is above all things that are created, and the comeliness of thy body surpasses all men who are created, and thus thy beauty excels all the Angels and all things that are created." St. Ambrose adds, lib. On the Institution of Virgins, cap. VII, speaking of the Mother of God: "So great," he says, "was her grace, that she not only preserved in herself the grace of virginity, but also conferred the mark of integrity upon those whom she visited; she visited John the Baptist, and not without reason he remained whole in body, whom for three months with a certain oil of her presence and the ointments of the Lord's integrity the mother exercised." Alexander of Hales, III part. of his Theology, Question IX, num. 2, art. 5: "The Blessed Virgin," he says, "by her appearance extinguished the movements of concupiscence." St. Thomas, in III part., dist. III, Question I, art. 2, quaestiuncula 1, ad 4: "The grace," he says, "of sanctification in the Blessed Virgin not only repressed in her illicit movements, but also had efficacy in others, so that, although she was beautiful, she could never be desired by anyone." Finally Rupert, lib. III in Canticles, in that passage chapter IV: How fair thou art, my love! thy eyes are doves, perceived seven virtues of the Mother of God signified in seven members of the body, on account of which she is praised by the bridegroom, and rightly esteemed beautiful by Angels and men: "O admirable beauty," he says, "which the most beautiful author of beauty thus admires and praises! In seven praises he considered the eyes, the hair, Wherefore St. Dionysius the Areopagite, converted by Paul and sent by him to the Blessed Virgin, was immediately by her appearance so suffused with such sweetness,
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Aquila, they shall praise her in the gates the works of her; the Septuagint of the Vatican for hands have lips: Give, they say, her of the fruit of her lips. But the Royal, Complutensian, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and the Author of the Catena of the Greeks from the Septuagint read hands, not lips, and this seems to be the ancient and pure Septuagint version. For it answers to the Hebrew and the Vulgate, and to Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, who consistently translate hands; wherefore the Septuagint translated χειρῶν, that is hands, which afterwards seems to have been changed by scribes into χειλέων, that is lips. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Since this virago, strenuous with her hands, has acquired so many riches for herself and her family, she is now worthy to enjoy them. Give her therefore to drink delicate wine, which the vineyard she herself planted produced: give her a garment of fine linen and purple: clothe her in fine linen, which she herself spun and wove with her own hands: prepare for her a sumptuous table from grain of every kind and precious, which she herself obtained by her labour: let her rejoice in gold and silver vessels, with which she herself adorned her house by her industry. For it is written: "Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands; blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee," Psalm 127, 2. Secondly, Aben-Ezra: Give, he says, namely praise to her, that is praise her, according to that: "Give to the Lord your God glory," Jeremiah 13, 16; and "Give glory to his praise," Psalm 65, 2. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Give praise to her works, which she has wrought with her hands, nay her own works praise her in the gates, before the assembly of the magistrates and the whole people. If with the Septuagint of the Vatican you read lips for hands, the sense will be, as if to say, Give, that is offer, to her the fruit of her words, by which she has instructed her own in the fear of God, prudence and honesty: give her children, servants, handmaids, etc., well-mannered by her instruction, honest, industrious, so that she may rejoice in them as in her fruits, and on account of them praise and celebrate her. Again, seek and receive from her the abundance of speech and of speaking rightly and eloquently, says the Author of the Catena of the Greeks. Or, as if to say, This virago has not abused her lips for insults, quarrels, disputes; but has used them well for the praise of God and the utility of her neighbour; she has detracted from no one, but has spoken honourably of all; she has cursed no one, but has blessed all. Therefore in like manner let no one speak ill of her, let all praise her, let all bless her, let no one dare to curse or speak ill of her. And they shall praise her in the gates the works of her, as if to say, Let others boast of the deeds and ancestors of their fathers, riches, honours, and praise themselves from these: this heroine brings forth her own, not those of others, and makes herself praiseworthy from these. For since she is grave, modest and chaste, she thinks modestly of herself, nor does she herself boast in words, but her strenuous and magnificent works, even she being silent, speak her praises; and that not only at home, so that she may be praised by her household from them; but also in the gates, that is openly and in public in the assembly of magistrates and judges, where wise and noble men, admiring her heroic works, celebrate them, and carry her praises to the heavens: and that both for her praise and glory, and for the example of others, so that her praise may be a stimulus to virtue for others. The Septuagint in the same sense translate: And let her husband be praised in the gates, as if to say, The judges and princes of the people, who according to ancient custom are accustomed to sit in the gates, praise and declare blessed her husband, who has obtained such a wife and virago, who has heaped so many goods, riches, fame and glory upon him and his whole family. Allegorically and anagogically, the Church and the holy soul will hear in the hour of death, and on the day of judgment from Christ the judge, and from the holy Angels: "Give her of the fruit of her hands," namely, give her reward and glory for the merit of the heroic works which she has wrought with her hands. Thus Salonius: "These," he says, "are the words of Christ to be spoken to the Angels on the day of judgment: Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let them praise her in the gates the works of her," so that namely in the gates of heaven her mighty deeds, which she wrought with her hands, may be inscribed, which may perpetually present her eternal praise to all the inhabitants of heaven, so that they themselves may perpetually praise and celebrate those deeds and God in them. Her victories and trophies which she obtained over the world, the flesh, the devil are engraved on the doors of paradise, as it were perpetual monuments of her virtue and fortitude, and encomiums of God's grace. Nay, just as Christ in heaven will preserve the sacred marks of his passion and the stigmata of his wounds, so also the Saints will there display their stripes and scars, as it were perpetual praises and encomiums of God and themselves. There the fiery gridiron will praise St. Lawrence, arrows St. Sebastian, the cross St. Andrew, etc. For there each one will be praised not by words, but by blows; not by sayings, but by deeds; not by tongues, but by hands and works. Think on this, O athlete of Christ, when you undertake a difficult work, when harsh temptation, persecution, death, martyrdom press upon you. Set before yourself the eternal praise and glory which, if you overcome it, you shall obtain; labour and pain will pass away in a short time, but its reward and glory shall endure for ever and ever: God, Angels and all the Heavenly host shall praise you because you have conquered yourself, because you have trampled upon the world, because you have overcome torments. "For that which is momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory." Whence St. Gregory, book VI of the Morals, chapter XV, whose title is: The Day of Judgment is the Gate of the Kingdom. "Concerning these gates," he says, "Solomon again says: Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates. Then indeed the holy Church receives of the fruit of her hands, when the recompense of her labour lifts her up to perceive heavenly things. Then her works praise her in the gates, when it is said to her members at the very entrance of the kingdom: I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you covered me, Matthew XXV. The children therefore of this world are exalted before the gate, but in the gate they shall be crushed: because the lovers of this world are proud in the present life, but at the very entrance of the kingdom they are struck with eternal punishment." Bede adds: Give, he says, him his reward in heaven, because he strives to bring forth the fruit of the spirit, namely charity, joy, peace, kindness, modesty, continence, faith, patience. Hear St. Ambrose on this passage of Proverbs, and St. Augustine, sermon 45 On Diverse Matters: "Her husband is praised in the gates. The harbour of our labours is to see God, to praise God. This John teaches in the Apocalypse, when the Blessed in the heavenly kingdom, inviting one another, say: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to God, Apocalypse XIX. There it shall not be said: Labour, clothe servants, clothe yourself, adorn yourself with purple, give food to handmaids, take care lest the lamp be extinguished, be anxious, rise in the nights, open your hand to the poor, transfer from the distaff to the spindle: there shall be no works of necessity, where there is no want; there shall be no works of mercy, where there is no misery. For you do not break bread to the poor, where no one begs; you do not receive the stranger, where everyone rests in his own country; you do not visit the sick, where all enjoy perpetual holiness; you do not clothe the naked, where all are clothed with eternal light: you do not bury the dead, where all live without end." He adds what shall be the occupation of the Saints in blessed leisure: "Yet by not doing these things you shall not be idle. What then shall you do? The Prophet teaches: That I may see the pleasure of the Lord, All these things are easily adapted to the Blessed Virgin, who perceives the fruit and glory of her transcendent labors and sorrows before all Saints and Angels in heaven, and there on account of the heroic works of her humility, patience, charity, etc., is praised by Angels and all the Heavenly Ones. Hear St. John Damascene, oration 2 On the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin, speaking of her assumption into heaven: "On this day," he says, "the Angels form choirs, the Archangels clap their hands, the Virtues celebrate together, the Principalities exult, the Powers rejoice, the Dominions indeed, the Thrones keep festival, the Cherubim lift up with praises, the Seraphim bestow glory: and they themselves are no less glorified, when they bestow glory upon the mother of glory." And after some remarks he asserts that all Angels were present at the Dormition of the Virgin: "For however much," he says, "they stand before the supreme King, yet it was fitting that they should surround his mother, and her who is more excellent than all created things." The same, oration 1 On the Nativity, addressing St. Joachim and Anna: "You," he says, "have brought forth a daughter superior to the Angels, and now ruling over the Angels." St. Athanasius, sermon On the Mother of God: "Blessed," he says, "do all the Angels and the terrestrial hierarchy proclaim you, you who are blessed in the heavens and proclaimed blessed on earth." And the blessings of each hierarchy, with which they celebrate her, St. Ephrem assigns, sermon On the Praises of the Virgin: "Hail," he says, "song of the Cherubim and Seraphim, and hymn of the Angels: hail, most splendid ornament of the heavenly hierarchies." Sophronius among the works of St. Jerome On the Assumption of the Virgin: "She," he says, "is said to be terrible as an army set in array, fortified and surrounded by many bands of Saints: for she is terrible by her virtues, like an army most orderly arranged, supported on this side and that by the protection of holy Angels, beautiful as the moon, nay more beautiful than the moon, because now without her defect she shines forth illuminated by heavenly splendors." St. Augustine, sermon 35 On the Saints: "If I call you heaven," he says, "you are higher; if I call you mother of nations, you surpass; if I call you mistress of the Angels, you are proved to be all these things." St. Epiphanius, sermon On the Praises of the Mother of God: "I behold, St. Gregory Nazianzen in Distichs: "Have care for perpetual eternal glory; for this present glory deceives men daily." Boethius, book II Of Consolation: "But of the infinite and the finite there can never be any comparison. Thus it happens that however long the fame of a prolonged time, if it be thought of in comparison with inexhaustible eternity, it appears not small, but plainly nothing." Habakkuk chapter III: "The hills of the world are bowed down by the journeys of his eternity." Sixtus the Philosopher in Sentences: "Believe that you remain immortal in judgment, both in honors and in punishments." "If we have labored in the work of God for eighty or a hundred years, we shall not reign for an equal time in the future, but for the aforesaid years all the kingdoms of all ages shall be given to us." St. Anthony in Athanasius. "No labor ought to seem hard, no time long, by which eternal glory is acquired." Angels in Bede book III History chapter XIX: "You cast the die of eternity, a single cast and irrevocable; see therefore that for the casting you throw not mud, but heaven." "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord; for ages of ages they shall praise thee." LIVE FOR ETERNITY. THE END.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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Lamuel (Heb. Lēmū'ēl and Lēmō'ēl; Septuagint: Ὑπὸ Θεοῦ = Lēmō'ēl)
… In Prov. 31:1-9 are preserved the counsels addressed to L. by the queen his mother.
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We already have examples of these in Hebrew poetry (Lam. 1-4; Ps. 33; 36; 118; Prov. 31, 10-31). Among the ancient Christian authors, we find them in Commodian (Instruct., I, 35; II, 19; CSEL, XV, [1887]), in Sedulius, with the hymn
The author was certainly inspired by the passage in Prov. 31:10-31: Mulierem fortem quis inveniet? which extols the virtues of the wise woman. …
Finally, mention should be made of the texts that recommend perfect conjugal fidelity (Prov. 5:15-20; 6:24-35; 23:26-28; Eccl. 9:1-13; Mal. 2:14 ff., etc.) or describe the ideal wife (Prov. 31:10-31; Eccl. 26:1-24) in opposition to the perverse one (Eccl. 25:17-36). For the preference of the married state over celibacy cf. Judg. 11:37.
Nahum (Hebrew: Naḥûm «Comforter»)
… The alphabetic character of the psalm would document its later date (but cf. Lamentations, and Prov. 31:10-31); nor is such a character certain here: it is only hypothetically deduced from vv. 1-8. Its abstract theoretical nature, as opposed to the living and concrete prophecy, is sufficiently …
31:24
In the Old Testament too there are texts in which Canaan means rather the land of the Phoenicians; thus, for example, Iudc. 4, 2, 23; 5, 19; II Sam. 24, 7; Is. 23, 11; Prov. 31, 24; and again in the New Testament Mt. 15, 22 (the "Canaanite woman"). …
31:26
… The generic sense of "teaching" also appears in the didactic books: the t. is given by God to his faithful one (Job 22, 22; Ps. 78, 1 Heb.), by the sages (Prov. 3, 1; 4, 2; 6, 23; 7, 2; 13, 14), by the mother (ibid. 1, 8; 6, 20; 31, 26); Yahweh (or his representative) will give it in the messianic kingdom (Is. 2, 3 = Mic. 4, 2; Jer. 31, 33; Is. 42, 4; 51, 4). In this second semantic stage, the t. ("instruction," …
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.