An exhortation to fly unlawful lust, and the occasions of it.
Againe wisdom dehorteth from fornication (carnal and spiritual) 6. shewing that in the end sinners shal see and feele the effect of their follie: 20. which God seeth and wil punish.
1My son, attend to my wisdom, and incline thy ear to my prudence,Figliuol mio, sta attento alla sapienza, che io ti insegno, e porgi l'orecchio alla mia prudenza.MY sonne, attend to my wisdom, and to my prudence incline thyne eare,Fili mi, attende ad sapientiam meam, / et prudentiæ meæ inclina aurem tuam: 2That thou mayst keep thoughts, and thy lips may preserve instruction. Mind not the deceit of a woman.Onde tu custodisca i miei concetti, e le tue labbra ritengano la disciplina. Non credere alle false lusinghe della donna:that thou mayst keepe cogitations, and thy lippes preserue discipline.ut custodias cogitationes, et disciplinam labia tua conservent. / Ne attendas fallaciæ mulieris; 3For the lips of a harlot are like a honeycomb dropping, and her throat is smoother than oil.Perocché le labbra della meretrice stillano miele, e molti più dell'olio sono le sue parole:Attend not to the deceipt of a woman: for the lippes of an harlot are as a hony combe distilling, and her throte netter then oyle.favus enim distillans labia meretricis, / et nitidius oleo guttur ejus: 4But her end is bitter as wormwood, and sharp as a two-edged sword.Ma alla fine la troverai amara come l'assenzio, e trinciante come una spada a due tagli.But her later endes are bitter as wormewood, and sharpe as a two edged sword.novissima autem illius amara quasi absinthium, / et acuta quasi gladius biceps. 5Her feet go down into death, and her steps go in as far as hell.I piedi di lei si stradano verso la morte, e i suoi passi per termine hanno l'inferno.Her feete goe downe into death, and her steppes penetrate vnto hel.Pedes ejus descendunt in mortem, / et ad inferos gressus illius penetrant. 6They walk not by the path of life, her steps are wandering, and unaccountable.Ella non batte la via della vita, i suoi andamenti sono instabili, e incomprensibili.They walke not by the path of life, her steppes are wandering, and vnsearcheable.Per semitam vitæ non ambulant; / vagi sunt gressus ejus et investigabiles. 7Now, therefore, my son, hear me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.Adesso pertanto, figliuol mio, ascoltami, e non recedere dalle parole della mia bocca.Now therfore my sonne heare me, and depart not from the wordes of my mouth.Nunc ergo fili mi, audi, / et ne recedas a verbis oris mei. 8Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the doors of her house.Vanne lungi da lei co' tuoi passi, e non appressarti alle porte della sua casa.Make thy way far from her, and aproch not to the doores of her house.Longe fac ab ea viam tuam, / et ne appropinques foribus domus ejus. 9Give not thy honour to strangers, and thy years to the cruel.Affinchè tu non dia l'onor tuo a gente straniera, e gli anni tuoi ad una crudele:Geue not thy honour to strangers, and thy yeres to the cruel.Ne des alienis honorem tuum, / et annos tuos crudeli:
10Lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in another man’s house,Se non vuoi, che delle tue facoltà si empiano gli estranei, e le tue fatiche vadano a finire in casa d'altri.Lest perhaps strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in an other mans house,ne forte implentur extranei viribus tuis, / et labores tui sint in domo aliena, 11And thou mourn at the last, when thou shalt have spent thy flesh and thy body, and say;Onde abbi tu da sospirare alla fine, allorché averai consunte le carni tue, e il tuo corpo,and thou mourne in the end, when thou shalt haue spent thy flesh and thy bodie, and say:et gemas in novissimis, / quando consumseris carnes tuas et corpus tuum, / et dicas: 12Why have I hated instruction, and my heart consented not to reproof,Ed abbi a dire: Perché ebbi io in odio la disciplina, e non si arrendè alle riprensioni il mio cuore,Why haue I detested discipline, and my hart consented not to reprehensions,Cur detestatus sum disciplinam, / et increpationibus non acquievit cor meum, 13And have not heard the voice of them that taught me, and have not inclined my ear to masters?Ed io non ascoltai la voce di quelli, che mi ammonivano, e non diedi retta ai maestri?nor I heard the voice of them that taught me, and haue not inclined mine eare to masters?nec audivi vocem docentium me, / et magistris non inclinavi aurem meam ? 14I have almost been in all evil, in the midst of the church and of the congregation.Son quasi ingolfato in ogni sorta di male in mezzo alla Chiesa, e alla Sinagoga.I haue almost bene in al euil, in the middes of the church and of the synagoge.pene fui in omni malo, / in medio ecclesiæ et synagogæ. 15Drink water out of thy own cistern, and the streams of thy own well:Bevi l'acqua di tua cisterna, e le acque vive del tuo pozzo:Drinke water of thyne owne cesterne, and the stremes of thy wel:Bibe aquam de cisterna tua, / et fluenta putei tui; 16Let thy fountains be conveyed abroad, and in the streets divide thy waters.Si diramino le tue fonti al di fuori, e le tue acque si spandano per le piazze.Let thy fountaines be deriued abrode, and in the streates diuide thy waters.deriventur fontes tui foras, / et in plateis aquas tuas divide. 17Keep them to thyself alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.Siine tu solo il padrone, e non ne entrino a parte con te gli stranieri.Haue them alone, neither let strangers be partakers with thee.Habeto eas solus, / nec sint alieni participes tui. 18Let thy vein be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth:Benedetta sia la tua vena, e lieto vivi colla moglie sposata da te in tua giovinezza:Let thy vayne be blessed, and reioyce with the woman of thy youth:Sit vena tua benedicta, / et lætare cum muliere adolescentiæ tuæ.
19Let her be thy dearest hind, and most agreeable fawn: let her breasts inebriate thee at all times: be thou delighted continually with her love.Sia ella carissima come corvetta, e grata come un piccolo cervo: ti esilari l'amor di lei in ogni stagione, e nell'affetto di lei riponi sempre la tua contentezza.a hinde most deare, and a most grateful fawne: let her breastes inebriate thee at al time, in her loue be thou delighted continually.Cerva carissima, et gratissimus hinnulus: / ubera ejus inebrient te in omni tempore; / in amore ejus delectare jugiter. 20Why art thou seduced, my son, by a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosom of another?Per qual motivo, o figliuol mio ti lascerai sedurre da una estranea, e riposerai in seno ad un'altra?Why art thou seduced my sonne of a strange woman, and art cherished in the bosome of an other?Quare seduceris, fili mi, ab aliena, / et foveris in sinu alterius ? 21The Lord beholdeth the ways of man, and considereth all his steps.Il Signore sta osservando le vie dell'uomo, e nota tutti i suoi passi.Our Lord beholdeth the wayes of a man, and considereth al his steppes.Respicit Dominus vias hominis, / et omnes gressus ejus considerat. 22His own iniquities catch the wicked, and he is fast bound with the ropes of his own sins.Dalle sue iniquità, riman preso l'empio, e stretto dalle funi de' suoi peccati.His owne iniquities take the impious, and he is fast bonde with the ropes of his sinnes.Iniquitates suas capiunt impium, / et funibus peccatorum suorum constringitur. 23He shall die, because he hath not received instruction, and in the multitude of his folly he shall be deceived.Egli morrà, perché non ha abbracciato la disciplina, e dalla sua molta stoltezza si troverà ingannato.He shal die because he hath not had discipline, and in the multitude of his folie he shal be deceiued.Ipse morietur, quia non habuit disciplinam, / et in multitudine stultitiæ suæ decipietur.
5:2
Thoughts. Or wisdom; and act with discretion.
Worthington
By woman all concupiscence, or the inducement to sin, is commonly understood. We must not think of such things. (Worthington)
5:4
5:6
Haydock
They. Hebrew, "if perhaps thou ponder the path of life." (Pagnin) (Haydock)
Calmet
Or "she ponders not," etc. She walks inconsiderately, and consults only her passions, Proverbs 7:10. (Calmet)
Menochius
No one can depend on her love. (Menochius)
5:9
Worthington
Strangers. The world, the flesh, and the devil are such; cruelly devising our ruin. (Worthington)
5:10
Calmet
Strength. Or children, ver. 16., and Genesis 49:3. (Calmet)
5:11
Body. He alludes to a shameful disease, the just punishment of intemperance, Ecclesiasticus 19:3.
5:14
Calmet
Evil. Infirm and worn out, having lost my reputation, etc. (Calmet)
Menochius
Though I lived among the faithful, I was under no restraint. (Menochius)
5:15
Calmet
Well. Live comfortably on your own property, (Cajetan) with your own wife. (Calmet)
5:16
De Dieu
Waters. Mayst thou have a numerous offspring, (ver. 10.) and be liberal. Many copies of the Septuagint, etc., have a negation, with Aquila, "let not thy," etc., (Calmet) though it may be read with an interrogation, "are the waters of thy fountain to be?" etc. (De Dieu)
Worthington
Good instructions must be given to those who are well disposed, but not to scoffers, or obstinate infidels. (Worthington)
Capellus
Husbands are exhorted to be content with their own wives, (ver. 15, 20.) so that the negative particle seems to be here wanting, as it is, Proverbs 6:17., in Manuscript 60, (Kennicott) and Proverbs 14:33. (Septuagint, etc.) (Capellus)
5:17
Thee. Stick to thy own wife. In a moral sense, let those who instruct others, take care not to neglect themselves.
5:18
5:19
Calmet
Love. This is spoken by way of permission, and to withdraw people from unlawful connections, Ecclesiastes 2:1., and 1 Corinthians 7:29. (Calmet)
5:22
Haydock
Ropes. "Evil habits unrestrained induce a necessity," (St. Augustine, Confessions 8:5.) though not absolute. (Haydock)
Calmet
The libertine thinks he can get free as soon as he pleases; not being aware of the chains which he is forging for himself. (Calmet)
Menochius
Sin requires punishment. (Menochius)
5:2
To auoide al impietie it is first of al necessarie, not to thinke, speake, nor heare vnlawful thinges.
5:3
By woman is generally vnderstood concupiscence of vvhat sinne soeuer, as. ch. 1. v. 10. & ch 3. v. 33 chap 4. v. 14.
5:9
The vvorld the flesh and the diuel are strangers.
And cruel enemies that render for revvard eternal damnation.
5:16
Good doctrine is to be imperted to men of sincere intention.
5:17
no to contemners and obstinate infidels.
5:1
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.3
… not he whose neck pride doth lift up. For whatever is poured in is received on the concave surface of humility, is shaken off from the convexity of swelling. Whence in another place, “Incline,” he saith, “thine ear, and receive the words of understanding.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.14
… that they fear more a hidden judgment in respect of their thoughts than the reproof of their neighbours in respect of their speeches. For it is written, My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my prudence, that thou mayest guard thy thoughts (
5:2
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 70
… for honey droppeth from the lips of a woman that is an harlot, which, for a season, is luscious unto thy throat; but afterwards thou shalt find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 4
… such as, “Be not like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding;” and, “Reject not the counsels of thy mother;” and, “Be not wise in thine own conceit;” and, “Despise not the chastening of the Lord;” and, “Forget not my law;” and, “Forbear not to do good to the poor;” and, “Devise not evil against thy friend;” and, “Give no heed to a worthless woman;”
5:3
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 7
… but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel .’ And, ‘Honey droppeth from the lips of a whorish woman, which for a time is sweet to thy palate; but at the last thou shalt find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 4.2
… A most precious possession therefore is the knowledge of doctrines: also there is need of a wakeful soul, since there are many that make spoil through philosophy and vain deceit . The Greeks on the one hand draw men away by their smooth tongue, for honey droppeth from a harlot’s lips
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 14.10
10. Therefore one gives this admonition; “Observe not the beauty of a strange woman, and meet not a woman addicted to fornication. For honey distils from the lips of an harlot, which at the time may seem smooth to thy throat, but afterward thou wilt find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 5
But the gestures of a harlot seem to you agreeable. I know it. For the Scripture says, “The lips of a strange woman drop honey.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 128.2
… While the former penitently shun the insidious advances which pleasure makes, the latter coquet with the allurements of sense and fancying them to be as sweet as honey find them to be deadly poison. They quote the passage which says that “the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb;”
5:8
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 12
… Yet, if we have touched it, let us spring away from its first motions ( προοιμίων ). For this is the advice the writer of the Proverbs gives us, when he speaks about the harlot: “Spring away,” he says, “tarry not, neither go thou near to the door of her house” (
5:9
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.12
… Whence it is well said through Solomon, Give not thine honour unto aliens and thy years unto the cruel, lest haply strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy labours be in the house of a stranger, and thou moan at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed (
5:15
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 4.44
… Let not your water be poured out beyond your own fountain, but let it pass into your own streets. Let it belong to you alone, and let no alien partake with thee.”
St Ephrem the Syrian † AD 373 Ephraim Syrus: Three Homilies 2.8
… If thou shalt look unchastely, and shalt desire thy neighbour’s wife, lo! thy portion shall be with the adulterers, and thy hell with the fornicators. Let thine own fountain be for thyself, and drink waters from thy well. Let thy fountains be for thyself alone, and let not another drink with thee .
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.11
11. Let then thus much suffice concerning those outcasts; and now let us return to the divine Scriptures, and let us drink waters out of our own cisterns [that is, the holy Fathers ], and out of our own springing wells
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1.1
… that we should hold converse with it as with some trusty companion. He spoke to himself, and conversed with himself, as these words show: “I said, I will take heed to my ways.” Solomon his son also said: “Drink water out of thine own vessels, and out of the springs of thy wells; ”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 1.16
… Who will give this Fount to my breast? Let it spring up in me, let that which gives eternal life flow upon me. Let that Fount overflow upon us, and not flow away. For Wisdom says: “Drink water out of thine own vessels, and from the founts of thine own wells, and let thy waters flow abroad in thy streets.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 14.10
… And indeed such a man is no longer worthy of compassion but deserves to be derided and jeered, since he is found more irrational than a woman, and a harlot besides. Therefore the Wise Man gives this word of exhortation again, “Drink waters from thine own cistern, and from the fountain of thine own well.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 128.3
… let him not seek the nakedness of virginity and of that eternal chastity which he has lost once for all. No, let him “possess his vessel in sanctification and honour,” let him drink of his own wells not out of the dissolute cisterns of the harlots which cannot hold within them the pure waters of chastity.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.13
… For that will happen in your case, which is spoken in Proverbs to one who has achieved this in his work: “Drink waters from your own cisterns and from the fount of your own wells. Let waters from your own fountain flow in abundance for you, but let your waters pass through into your streets.”
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 3.24
… Let them hear what is said to the preacher through Solomon, Drink water out of thine own cistern, and running waters of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and divide thy waters in the streets. Have them to thyself alone, and let not strangers be partakers with thee (
5:16
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.17
… What that porch was the prophet teaches, saying: “I will walk in the midst of Thy house in the innocency of my heart.” So, then, we have in our own selves the house of God, we have the halls, we have also the porches, and we have the courts, for it is written: “Let thy waters flow abroad in thy courts.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 7.6
… For it is even this Holy Spirit, whom the bad cannot receive, even He is that Fountain of which the Scripture saith, “Let the fountain of thy water be thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee.”
5:17
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 37
… if a hasty tongue, restrain it; if a meretricious laugh, make it modest; if immoderate expenditure or drink, reduce it; if unseasonable going out, shackle it; if a lofty eye, chastise it. It is uncertain which is in danger, the separator or the separated. Let thy fountain of water, it says, be only thine own, and let no stranger share it with thee;
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Duties of the Clergy 3.1.1
… ” that is: use thine own counsel. For: “Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep waters.” “Let no stranger,” it says, “share it with thee. Let the fountain of thy water be thine own, and rejoice with thy wife who is thine from thy youth. Let the loving hind and pleasant doe converse with thee.”
5:18
St Methodius † AD 311 The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity 1.3
… and from the times of the prophets the contracting of marriage with several wives has been done away with; for we read, “Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites;” for “wine and women will make men of understanding to fall away;” and in another place, “Let thy fountain be blessed; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth,”
5:19
St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Proverbs 1
… And as for the rest, wisdom, figuratively speaking, like a stag, can repel and crush the snaky doctrines of the heterodox. Let her therefore, says he, be with thee, like a roe, to keep all virtue fresh. And whereas a wife and wisdom are not in this respect the same, let her rather lead thee; for thus thou shalt conceive good thoughts.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 14.10
… Therefore the Wise Man gives this word of exhortation again, “Drink waters from thine own cistern, and from the fountain of thine own well.” And again; “Let the hind of thy friendship, and the foal of thy favours, consort with thee.”
5:22
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.9.3
… For “He needed not that any should testify to Him of man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” For He called all men that mourn; and granting forgiveness to those who had been led into captivity by their sins, He loosed them from their chains, of whom Solomon says, “Every one shall be holden with the cords of his own sins.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.14
… and the gates of Hades ought not to prevail against him when he wishes to bind and loose. But if he is tightly bound with the cords of his sins,
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 13.31
… And, in like manner, he who was admonished once for all, and did things worthy of being gained, having been set free by the admonition of the man who gained him, and no longer bound by the cords of his own sins,
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 11
… Although they may not be able to bring these upon others, they forthwith return upon and against themselves, as he prays, saying, ‘Let their sword enter into their own heart.’ There is also such a proverb as this: ‘The wicked is held fast by the chain of his sins
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 48.21
… Mary is “a garden enclosed…a fountain sealed,” and from that fountain flows, according to Joel, the river which waters the torrent bed either of cords or of thorns; of cords being those of the sins by which we were beforetime bound,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 10.5
… behold thou addest a fourth sin. The rope is growing; be thou afraid of the rope. It is good for thee to be corrected here, when thou art scourged with it; that it may not be said of thee at the last, “Bind ye his hands and feet, and cast him forth into outer darkness.” For, “With the cords of his own sins is every one bound.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 18.26
26. “With the holy Thou shalt be holy” ( ver. 25 ). There is a hidden depth also, wherein Thou art known to be holy with the holy, for that Thou makest holy. “And with the harmless Thou shalt be harmless.” For Thou harmest no man, but each one is bound by the bands of his own sins.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 35.8
… For I know of their trap. But what trap is coming upon them? That which they know not of. Let us hear, lest haply he speak of that. “Let a trap come upon them, which they know not of.” Perhaps that is one which they hid for him, that another which shall come upon themselves. Not so: but what? “The wicked shall be holden with the cords of his own sins.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 58.3
… and thou, a man that out of bonds hast been loosed, shall cry out to God, “Thou hast broken asunder my bonds.” “Thou hast broken asunder my bonds,” is what else but, “Thou hast remitted my sins”? Hear why chains they are: the Scripture maketh answer, “with the chains of his sins each one is bound fast.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 140.8
8. But those “proud ones have hidden a trap for me;” they have sought to trip up my steps. And what have they done? “And have stretched out cords as traps.” What cords? The word is well known in holy Scripture, and elsewhere we find what “cords” signify. For “each one is holden with the cords of his sins,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 20.7
… “I have blotted out as a cloud thine iniquities, and as a mist thy sins:” and again: “I even I am He that blotteth out thine iniquities for mine own sake, and thine offences I will no longer remember;” and so, when he is freed from the “cords of his sins,” by which “everyone is bound,”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 24.24
… For “Each one is bound by the cords of his own sins,” and hears from the prophet: “Behold all you that kindle a fire, encompassed with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled.” Since, as Solomon is witness, “Each man shall thereby be punished, whereby he has sinned.”
5:1
1. MY SON, ATTEND TO MY WISDOM (The Septuagint have: applying thine ear to my words), AND INCLINE THINE EAR TO MY PRUDENCE. — Solomon, about to deliver a new lesson of wisdom concerning the flight from the harlot, in his manner stirreth up the attention of the disciple, that he may take heed and weigh how great is its importance. He therefore saith to him: Silent and diligent, attend and take heed to my words. For silence is the guardian of discipline. Whence Pythagoras imposed five years of silence upon his disciples.
5:2
2. THAT THOU MAYEST KEEP THY THOUGHTS, AND THY LIPS MAY PRESERVE DISCIPLINE. — The Septuagint has: that thou mayest keep good thought (Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion: good knowledge); and the sense of my lips I commend to thee, that is: My lips declare the inward thought and sense of my wisdom, and commend it to thee, that thou mayest receive it simply as it is declared, impress it upon thy mind, and carry it out in deed. Others read: the sense of my lips I commend to thee. Take therefore here thoughts not of the disciple, but of wisdom and Solomon, as if to say: Attend that thou mayest keep my conceptions, my cautions, my counsels, as Vatablus translated it. Whence the Chaldean translated: that thou mayest be admonished in counsel; the Syrian: that thou mayest be cautious in thought; R. Levi: that thou mayest keep the thoughts by which thou art instructed in prudence. So also Aben-Ezra. Nevertheless take thoughts also of the disciple; for he who keeps the thoughts of wisdom, certainly keeps his own as well. For the thoughts and counsels of wisdom teach and prescribe the keeping of one's own thoughts. Whence St. Gregory, in the third part of the Pastoral Admonition, 15: "That thou mayest keep thy thoughts: For nothing, he says, is more fleeting in us than the heart, which departs from us as often as it flows away through wicked thoughts. When therefore the guarding restrains the thought, the heart which was accustomed to flee is found." ATTEND NOT TO THE DECEITFULNESS OF A WOMAN. These words are not expressed in the Hebrew, but are tacitly understood. Whence the Septuagint, and from them our Vulgate, expressed them. These words therefore depend upon what follows: "For the lips of a harlot are a honeycomb that droppeth, etc."; from these things therefore it is gathered: "Therefore attend not to the deceitfulness of a woman." By deceitfulness therefore he understands the blandishments, softness and elegance of words, form, ornament of garments, paint of the face, pretexts, arts and cunning by which harlots are accustomed to allure, ensnare and pervert their lovers. Whence the Septuagint has: attend not to an evil woman, that is, malicious, depraved, perverse, deceitful; St. Jerome in Isaiah, chapter XXIII: attend not to a most wicked (St. Cyril, book XV On Adoration: shameless) woman; whence it is strange that the Arabic translates: hear not a good woman. St. Chrysostom, homily 14 to the People, reads: look not upon the beauty of a stranger, nor meet a woman that is a fornicatress; for honey, etc. — as if these words pertain to the eyes; as if to say: Look not upon the beautiful face painted and adorned of a harlot, because this beauty is strange, that is, of a strange woman who is not thy wife. Again "strange" because this beauty is often not natural but painted, and borrowed from elsewhere, namely from antimony, white lead and cosmetics, and from garments and gems. For a woman especially strikes and wounds him who gazes upon her most beautiful face and eyes, like a serpent and a basilisk. But in this place it pertains more to the bland and deceitful words of harlots, as is evident from what follows. For by these they deceive and madden many men, especially when the paint of the face and eyes is added. Whence Codrus sings of them: "Heaven has not so many stars, nor rivers fish, as the wicked girl carries deceits in her mind." For since a woman excels neither in force, nor in ingenuity, nor in counsel, hence she turns to deceits, that what she cannot accomplish through those, she may obtain and accomplish through these: just as weak animals are astute for the same reason, such as foxes, apes, cats, etc., but on the contrary lions, tigers, and wolves are not astute but violent, because, since they accomplish their designs through their own strength and power, they have no need of cunning. Add that a woman has something serpentine in herself. For the serpent in seducing Eve seems to have inspired her with its nature and frauds, and through her the whole of her sex. Add also the malice of harlots and their zeal for deceiving, indeed the constant practice by which they daily devise new arts of deception, so that they seem to think of nothing else, to dream of nothing else, and seem to be wholly stitched together from frauds. The same Ecclesiasticus treats this, chapter XXV, verse 22, where I have said more about this matter. Wherefore I shall be briefer here. Excellently does St. Jerome say in Book I Against Jovinian, near the end: "The love of beauty is the loss of reason and borders on madness, a foul vice in no way befitting a sound mind; it disturbs counsel; it breaks lofty and generous spirits; it drags from great thoughts to the most base; it makes one querulous, wrathful, rash, harshly imperious, servilely flattering, useless to all, and finally hateful even to love itself. For when it rages with immoderate desire for enjoyment, it consumes much time in suspicions, tears and lamentation; it makes one hate oneself, and at last becomes hateful to oneself." And after some remarks: "It is the opinion of a very wise man that chastity must be retained above all: once lost, all virtue collapses. In this lies the sum of women's virtues; by this the poor woman is commended, the rich exalted, the deformed redeemed, the beautiful adorned: to have deserved well of one's ancestors, whose blood is not vitiated by adulterous offspring." Wherefore St. Augustine, in the book On the Honesty of Women, chapter II: "Among other Christian battles," he says, "those of chastity alone are fierce, where there is daily struggle and rare victory. For a grave enemy has been assigned to chastity, against whom resistance is made daily and always feared." And St. Ephrem, in a sermon Against Wicked Women: "What indeed is a woman?" he says. "An elegant snare, enticing men to pleasures, who with splendid attire and high neck nods to eyes and smiles at cheeks, but singing sweetly with her tongue deceives others with her voice and entices with her speech, etc. What is a woman? A shipwreck on land, a fountain of iniquity, a treasure of uncleanness and malice, a deadly conversation and cohabitation, the ruin of eyes, the destruction of souls, a dart to the heart, the destruction of youths, the scepter of hell, and headlong lust. What is a woman? The cause of the devil, the rest of the serpent, the consolation of the devil, an inconsolable sorrow, a burning furnace, an incurable malice, daily garrulity, a lodging of the lustful and a workshop of demons," etc. For this reason St. Jerome to Nepotian, on the life of clerics and priests: "Rarely shall you tread the feet of women upon the threshold of your small dwelling. All girls and virgins of Christ either ignore equally or love equally. Do not remain under the same roof: nor trust in past chastity. You will not be able to be holier than David, nor stronger than Samson, nor wiser than Solomon. Always remember that a woman cast the inhabitant of Paradise from his possession." Furthermore, another trick of the harlot, and the principal one, is that she flees in such a way as to wish to be seen; she fights in such a way as to wish to be conquered; she exercises hatred in such a way as to love most then. Thus Plutarch writes of Cleopatra in the Life of Antony: "She took care often to be seen weeping, but immediately wiped away her tears and hid them, as if she wished Antony to be unaware of them." Hear St. Jerome, epistle 47: "Now and then her cloak slips from her head, so as to bare her white shoulders, and as if she had not wished to be seen, she hastens to cover what she had willingly uncovered." St. Nilus in the Sentences, chapter On Fornication: "Flee the gatherings of women," he says; "as soon as you have met them, with face cast down they speak blandly and pleasantly, and shed such tears as to insinuate compassion: they compose themselves modestly and frequently sigh: they inquire about chastity, and listen studiously and diligently. If you gaze upon them, they gradually raise their head. Then they contemplate you with more fixed eyes, and smile, indeed burst into unrestrained and dissolute laughter, and finally unfold all the hooks of death and the allurements of deception, and all the nets by which the soul is besieged." And soon after: "The grass thrives," he says, "which is near water, and the sense of wantonness in the conversation of women. Painted beauty is the ruin and shipwreck of the intemperate." Wherefore St. Gregory of Nazianzus in the Precepts to Virgins: "Be a virgin," he says, "in your eyes, a virgin in your ears and in your tongue; for through these three it is easy to turn from the right path." Diogenes, seeing two women conversing with each other, said: "The asp borrows poison from the viper." A second Philosopher, when asked by the Emperor Hadrian "what a woman was," replied: "Man's shipwreck, a house's storm, life's captivity, a lioness's embrace, an adorned Scylla, a malicious animal, a necessary evil." Mystically, all that is said here of the harlot, Olympiodorus and Polychronius in the Greek Catena, and St. Jerome in Ezekiel chapter VI, and others apply to heresy; Lyra to idolatry; you apply it to pleasure and concupiscence, concerning which Damascene aptly says, in Book III of the Parallels, chapter 28, from St. Chrysostom: "Pleasure is like a dog, O man; if you drive it away, it flees; if you fear it, it remains. Pleasure is the head of all evils."
5:3
3. FOR THE LIPS OF THE HARLOT DROP AS A HONEYCOMB, AND HER THROAT IS SMOOTHER THAN OIL. — In Hebrew: for the lips of the strange woman drop honey, and her palate is smoother than oil. Thus Pagninus and Vatablus, who translates smoother as "more blandishing"; others: "more slippery"; others: "her throat polished beyond oil." For the Hebrew word chalak signifies soft, tender, smooth, blandishing, slippery; and such things are wont to be oily. "Fattens" therefore signifies: soothes, blandishes, fattens, and ensnares with the rich oil of blandishments. Aptly Hugo of St. Victor, in the book On Avoiding Carnal Marriages: "In the honeycomb, he says, there are two things, namely honey and wax. In the face of the harlot similarly there are two things, namely beauty and grace, that is, the loveliness of the mouth and the sweetness of speech. Wax kindles fire, honey provides the smoothness of anointing: thus the harlot's beauty kindles the flesh with the fire of lust, and the blandishing flattery of speech subverts the mind; honey drips from wax, when the harlot makes her words soft and sweet." St. Chrysostom, homily 14 to the People, refers the "honeycomb" of the lips to the blandishing kisses of harlots, but the throat smoother than oil to their blandishing speeches. "For the harlot, says Chrysostom, knows not how to love, but only to lay snares; her kiss has poison, lethal venom and ruin. But if this does not appear immediately, for that very reason it is all the more to be fled, because it hides destruction and concealed death, and does not allow it to appear manifest from the beginning." Others more rightly refer both universally to the words of harlots; for these sweeten so much that they seem to drip honey (whence Diogenes called them "honeyed snares"), and soften so much that they seem smoother than oil, and are most efficacious in soothing and softening even the most manly minds. For just as oil lubricates and flows into minds, softening, weakening and effeminating them, so are they the voices and songs of Sirens. Furthermore, blandishing and deceitful words are aptly compared to oil: first, on account of similar slipperiness; second, because oil has the greatest power of penetrating inward — honeyed words have the same; third, because oil, as Galen testifies, is powerful both in its biting and softening force. Rightly therefore are blandishing words, which nevertheless fix stings in the soul, compared to oil, which soothes the skin but bites the interior. Hence "to anoint the mouth" is the same as to deceive with flattery and blandishments. Mystically, St. Ephrem in the tract On Abstinence from Desires takes these words of the sweetness of carnal pleasure or concupiscence: "Let us remember, he says, what the Wise Man says: A honeycomb dripping from the lips of the harlot, signifying by the honeycomb the sweetness of concupiscence; and what he adds saying: Which for a time makes the throat smooth, but afterwards you will find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword." Excellently Boethius, book III of the Consolation of Philosophy: "Every pleasure has this: it drives those enjoying it with stings; and like a pair of flying bees, where it has poured forth welcome honey, it flees, and strikes hearts too tenaciously with a bitter bite."
5:4
4. BUT HER END IS BITTER AS WORMWOOD, AND SHARP AS A TWO-EDGED SWORD. — For "wormwood" in Hebrew is laana, which some translate as bitterness, poison or venom; but commonly they translate it wormwood. It signifies therefore that the honey of the harlot's words is converted into the gall of sorrows: sorrows, I say, so sharp and lethal as if inflicted by a two-edged sword; just as honey and all sweet things in the stomach are converted into gall and bitter and painful bile, as Galen and physicians teach. The bitterness of this wormwood and the sharpness of this sword are felt by fornicators: first, in filthiness, nauseas and diseases, especially in the Neapolitan disease, by which God punishes fornication; second, in the loss of things, for harlots drain away riches; third, in infamy; fourth, in quarrels, brawls and fights with the harlot, who more impudent than a dog spews all her venom upon her lover; fifth, in the guilt of sin and the wrath of God, and finally in present and eternal death, which she brings with her; sixth, because she deprives man of wit, judgment, fortitude both of mind and body, and makes man as if irrational and brutal. Plautus in the Truculentus: "In honey, he says, your tongues are placed (addressing harlots), and your speeches are milky; your hearts are in gall and sharp vinegar; what you bring forth from your mouth is sweet, but what you feel in your innermost breast is bitter." Wherefore rightly does Solomon say "a honeycomb dripping," because pleasure gives only a drop of honey, soon to give a sea of gall: on the contrary virtue gives a drop of gall, soon to give a sea of honey.
5:5
5. HER FEET GO DOWN INTO DEATH, AND HER STEPS TAKE HOLD ON HELL. — For "take hold" in Hebrew is itmochu, that is, they sustain, support, cherish, strengthen hell, just as a wall is sustained by a buttress lest it fall and perish. For in a similar manner harlots sustain hell, because the greater part of men are damned on account of lust, as if to say: Hell would be emptied and as if would collapse, unless the lustful filled it and sustained it, says Cajetan and R. Levi. Lust therefore is the buttress and foundation of hell.
5:6
6. THEY DO NOT WALK IN THE PATH OF LIFE; HIS STEPS ARE VAGUE AND CANNOT BE TRACED. — The Septuagint: he does not enter the ways of life; and his slippery paths are not easily discovered. In Hebrew literally: lest perhaps you should make level the way of life — and they should be enlarged? His steps are vague or unstable, so that you do not know them, as if to say: If you seek the way of life, which leads to life — here to a sound and prosperous one, but in heaven to a blessed and eternal one — do not follow the feet and steps of harlots, because they do not walk in the way of life, but their steps are vague, and they are so variously tossed about by the waves of lusts that their ways, appetites and actions are beyond investigation. For vague love makes a vague heart, a vague heart makes a vague imagination, and a vague imagination makes vague feet, hands and the whole body.
5:7
7. NOW THEREFORE, MY SON, HEAR ME, AND DO NOT DEPART FROM THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH. — The Septuagint has: do not make my words void. For young men entangled in loves are accustomed to despise and make void the counsels of the wise as the ravings of old men. The word "now" in the Hebrew manner, after the enumeration of the harms of the harlot, is aptly added as a particle of conclusion and exhorting to flight from her, as if to say: I have said that the harlot is more bitter than wormwood, sharper than a two-edged sword, leads to death and hell, etc. "Now therefore, my son, etc., keep your way far from her"; do not foolishly bring upon yourself such grave harms for the sake of shameful and light pleasure.
5:8
8. KEEP YOUR WAY FAR FROM HER, AND DO NOT APPROACH THE DOORS OF HER HOUSE. — For every remedy of fornication, all salvation is in withdrawal and flight from the harlot and occasions of sin, as St. Cyprian teaches vigorously and elegantly throughout his treatise On the Singularity of Clerics. Indeed, the Apostle also says in I Corinthians VI, 18: "Flee fornication." For to touch the doors of the harlot and even to knock lightly with the hand can be and is usually the beginning of impure fornication. Mystically, the most frivolous harlot is frivolity of mind, whose doors, that is, first approaches, a Religious ought to avoid and flee, lest he wish to be defiled by greater vices: for frivolity of mind generates buffoonery, detraction and mockery, stirs up anger and indignation in those who are mocked, and not rarely breaks out into open insults hurled back and forth.
5:9
9. GIVE NOT YOUR HONOR TO STRANGERS, AND YOUR YEARS TO THE CRUEL. — For "honor" in Hebrew is hod, which signifies celebrity, dignity, honor, glory, majesty. Therefore in this place, by honor, first, understand the glory and fame of integrity and chastity: Do not lose the glory and fame of chastity through the shame of fornication. Second, by honor understand public honors, namely magistracies, prefectures, prelacies, etc. Third, by honor understand the glory and honor of outstanding deeds. Fourth, by honor understand the flower of youth and its beauty and strength. It alludes to Samson, who gave his honor to a stranger, namely to his Philistine Delilah, when he revealed to her the secret of his strength: for when she had shaved it off, as if weakened, he was captured by the Philistines, and with prodigious strength lost his glory and his life, Judges XVI. AND YOUR YEARS TO THE CRUEL. Others more correctly understand by "the cruel" the harlot. For she is cruel because she cruelly takes away the wealth, fame and life of many. Or, which amounts to the same thing, by "the cruel" understand lust; for this rages cruelly upon the body and the whole life of man, indeed upon the mind and soul, torturing it with a thousand cares, jealousies, anguishes, remorse, sins, punishments, and finally with the torments of hell.
5:10
10. LEST STRANGERS BE FILLED WITH YOUR STRENGTH, AND YOUR LABORS BE IN ANOTHER'S HOUSE. — You would better understand "strength" and "vigor" as wealth: for harlots are satisfied with these. For harlots do not seek young men, but the purses and wealth of young men, and are never satisfied with gifts until they have drained everything and left the young men naked, and expose them naked and poor to the mockery of all. Wherefore St. Chrysostom, homily 63 to the People, calls harlots "the rocks and stones of patrimony." Thus the prodigal son exhausted his whole patrimony on harlots, so that from poverty he was forced to be driven to feed swine, Luke chapter XV, verse 17.
5:11
11. AND YOU SHALL GROAN IN THE END, WHEN YOU SHALL HAVE CONSUMED YOUR FLESH AND YOUR BODY. — For "groan" in Hebrew is nahamta, that is, you shall roar like a famished lion, or one wounded and struggling with death: for thus indeed he roars, that is, the young man grieves and wails inconsolably and miserably, when through fornication, all things consumed, both strength and wealth, "in the end," that is, finally or late, he finds himself exhausted of wealth, consumed in strength and flesh, and that irreparably. Furthermore, lust emaciated the whole body and exhausts the vigor and flesh of each member. First, because it pours out the blood and vital spirits, by which all parts of the body are nourished and sustained. Second, because it harms the vital parts, namely the brain, heart, liver and stomach, which give nourishment and strength to the other parts. Third, because seed is drawn from each member and part of the body, and therefore through the frequent effusion of seed each member is emptied and attenuated.
5:12
12 AND 13. AND YOU SAY: WHY HAVE I HATED DISCIPLINE, AND MY HEART HAS NOT ACQUIESCED TO REPROOFS, NOR HAVE I HEARD THE VOICE OF THEM THAT TAUGHT ME, AND I HAVE NOT BOWED MY EAR TO MASTERS? — These words are clear: for they signify a great, but late and useless sorrow and repentance of a life spent in lusts, when the luxurious man, naked, wretched and sick, shall cry out, and with wretched and useless complaints shall strike at all things. Similar, but more pathetic, is the voice of the impious, Wisdom V, 6: "Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and perdition, and have walked through hard ways: but the way of the Lord we have not known. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow," etc. These are four degrees of those who despise correction. First, indeed, such persons entangled in desires, if they are admonished, overcome by pleasure do not acquiesce to the admonition. Second, they decline and flee from it. Third, they spurn it. Fourth, they exacerbate it, while they afflict him with harsh words, ridicule and reproaches.
5:14
14. I WAS ALMOST IN EVERY EVIL, IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCH AND SYNAGOGUE. — By "evil," first, understand the evil of guilt: for lust is the origin and cause of all evil, that is, of all guilt and sin. Second, by "evil" understand the evil of punishment. Third, by "every evil" understand all infamy. Fourth, others by "evil" understand the demon. Fifth, by "every evil" understand hell. For as in heaven there is every good, so in hell there is every evil. Through lusts he was almost cast down into hell; only a small space separated him from hell. Therefore let the penitent say with St. Mary of Egypt: "The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever."
5:15
15. DRINK WATER FROM YOUR OWN CISTERN, AND THE STREAMS OF YOUR OWN WELL. — Therefore, literally, by cistern and well understand a wife, from whom pure water is drawn by the husband, that is, the chaste pleasure of marriage and the procreation of children. He alludes to the Hebrew etymology; for in Hebrew a woman is called nekeba, as it were mackebet, that is, a cistern. These sentences therefore: "Drink water from your own cistern, and the streams of your own well," etc., are proverbs or parables, which in a parabolic sense literally signify nothing other than: Love your wife, use her honestly in the fear of God; rejoice with her, so that through her you may quench the thirst of concupiscence, and beget many and excellent children. For God instituted marriage to extinguish the fire and thirst of lust, and added His grace to it, so that spouses might live chastely in this state and vocation of theirs. Mystically, the Fathers expound it variously. First, Origen by the well understands the knowledge of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Second, St. Augustine by the well and fountain understands the Holy Spirit, by water the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Third, St. Ambrose by the fountain understands wisdom and moral doctrine. Fourth, St. Ambrose by the cistern and well understands grace and internal sanctity. Fifth, others by the cistern and fountain understand a good mind, from which holy thoughts emanate. Sixth, Salonius and St. Jerome by the cistern and fountain understand Holy Scripture.
5:16
16. LET YOUR FOUNTAINS BE DISPERSED ABROAD, AND DIVIDE YOUR WATERS IN THE STREETS. — The sense is, as if to say, From you and your wife, as from copious and pure fountains, let many legitimate, beautiful and well-mannered offspring be born and flow forth, which may run through the streets like the clearest streams. Moreover, he calls fountains wives, because in that age polygamy was permitted to the Jews. Yet in order to show that monogamy is far to be preferred to polygamy, on account of peace and better education of children, he repeatedly calls the wife in the singular: a vein, a cistern, a well, a doe, a hind. Mystically, we disperse our fountains of wisdom and virtue abroad when we teach others, give good counsel, admonish, and form and perfect all in holiness.
5:17
17. HAVE THEM ALONE, AND LET NOT STRANGERS BE PARTAKERS WITH YOU. — It is better to understand this not so much of children as of a wife, with Hugo, Jansenius, Baynus and others, as if to say, "Have," that is, you shall have these waters, namely legitimate offspring, "alone," if you beget them from your wife alone; nor shall strangers, namely adulterers and fornicators, claim a share of them for themselves. Mystically, St. Gregory, book I on Ezekiel, homily 12, by fountains understands the wisdom which we ought to preach with pure and sincere intention of promoting God's glory and the salvation of souls. And he divides the waters in the streets and has them alone, who by this, that he preaches to many, does not exalt himself in the thought of temporal glory. "For then indeed does a man possess what he teaches, when he does not rejoice to be made known, but to be useful." St. Bernard, book I On Consideration, chapter V, from this place admonishes Pope Eugenius that amid so many affairs of the Pontificate he should from time to time return to the fountain of his heart: "All," he says, "share you equally, all drink from the public fountain of your breast, and will you stand thirsty apart? Remember therefore, I do not say always, I do not say often, but at least sometimes to restore yourself to yourself."
5:18
18. LET THY VEIN BE BLESSED, AND REJOICE WITH THE WIFE OF THY YOUTH. — The Septuagint: Let the fountain of thy water be thine own, and be gladdened with the wife who is from thy youth. By vein or fountain understand thy wife: Make thy wife fruitful and blessed by God, and happy in the blessings of the womb. Thou shalt accomplish this if, content with her love and lawful use, thou dost not exhaust the strength of thy body through wandering and foreign lust. For thus thy wife shall be blessed by God, and shall bear thee many distinguished, strong and virtuous sons, according to that in Psalm 127: "Thy wife as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house; thy children as olive plants round about thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord." Thus did St. Joachim rejoice with St. Anne, especially when by the oracle of the Angel, after long barrenness, by miracle she brought forth the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary.
5:19
19. A MOST DEAR HIND, AND A MOST PLEASING FAWN. LET HER BREASTS INEBRIATE THEE AT ALL TIMES, BE DELIGHTED CONTINUALLY IN HER LOVE. — This is a post-parable, or application and explanation of the preceding parable concerning the use of the cistern, well and vein, as if to say: What I said, "Drink water from thy cistern, and the streams of thy well, etc. Let thy vein be blessed," I now explain by saying, "Rejoice with the wife of thy youth," namely through these parables I introduce nothing else to chaste ears than that they should beware of the loves of strangers and harlots, and content themselves with their wife alone, whom they loved as a virgin in youth and took in marriage, using her honestly, and rejoicing and living pleasantly with her. Yet this is conjugal love, that is, honest and moderate; not adulterous, that is, dishonest and immoderate. "Breasts" signify loves. Whence Vatablus translates: let her loves refresh thee perpetually. The sense therefore is: The love, grace, services and attentions of thy wife, by which she feeds thee, clothes thee, refreshes thee, loves thee, be to thee as breasts; and thus let them inebriate thee, that is, satisfy and satiate thy desire, so that thou seekest not the loves and pleasures of a foreign harlot. Ten loves and duties of spouses are most excellently represented by hinds and stags. First, the love of stag and hind is singular; second, the hind is lovable and in delights to man; third, stag and hind lack gall, to designate the charity of spouses; fourth, they mate chastely and only in secret; fifth, they are most swift to help one another; sixth, the love of stags for hinds is most ardent and strongest; seventh, hinds are faithful to their mate; eighth, the stag soon after mating hides himself in a pit as if ashamed of lust; ninth, after conception they abstain from mating; tenth, stags and hinds support one another and bear each other's burdens mutually; eleventh, hinds because of their narrower womb give birth with great difficulty, hence they love their young intimately; twelfth, the hind pursues and devours serpents; thirteenth, hinds, because they are cold, are timid, which teaches them circumspection and prudence. Finally, hinds, because they lack gall, are long-lived and live very long. Allegorically, stag and hind represent the marriage of God with a holy and religious soul. Symbolically, St. Ambrose by "the stag of loves and the fawn of graces" understands Christ, who is the love of loves and the grace of graces.
5:20
20. WHY ART THOU SEDUCED, MY SON, BY A STRANGER, AND CHERISHED IN THE BOSOM OF ANOTHER? — This is a conclusion, as if to say: Since from what has been said thou canst clearly perceive how great are the advantages of an honest wife and marriage, and how great the damages of a dishonest harlot and fornication, wilt thou still be so mad and senseless as to allow thyself to be seduced and cherished by a strange harlot to thy own destruction and ruin?
5:21
21. THE LORD CONSIDERETH THE WAYS OF MAN, AND ALL HIS STEPS HE PONDERETH. — In Hebrew: before the eyes of the Lord are the ways of man, and all his paths he weighs with precision. This is a new and efficacious reason for dissuading from fornication and intercourse with a stranger: that whereas fornicators seek darkness and brothels in which to hide, as if seen by no one; God nevertheless most clearly beholds their turpitude and crimes, and is about to weigh them in the balance of public judgment, condemn and punish them. For He himself "all his steps," that is, actions, weighs with a balance, examines and ponders whether they be good or evil; again how good or how evil they be, and how much reward or punishment they deserve.
5:22
22. HIS INIQUITIES SHALL TAKE THE WICKED, AND HE SHALL BE HELD FAST WITH THE CORDS OF HIS OWN SINS. — This verse is rightly connected both with the preceding and with the following. With the preceding: God the judge and avenger regards sins, and the sinner is now held fast with the cords of his own sins, so that as it were a guilty party he is brought before the judge. With the following: fornicators persuade themselves that they will do penance in old age, but they are deceived, because vices strengthened by habit are like cords made up of many acts as if from threads intertwined and twisted, which bind the soul so powerfully that they cannot free themselves from them even in old age. "When one serves lust, habit is formed; and when one does not resist habit, necessity is formed," says St. Augustine. What are the "cords of sins"? First, the guilt or stain of sin. Second, the liability attached to the stain. Third, the very servitude to the devil. Fourth, the habit and customs of sinning. Fifth, the connection and binding together of sins; for one sin draws to another: gluttony draws to lust, lust to theft, theft to murder, etc., from all of which is formed a cord so intertwined and thick that it can be compared to nautical ropes.
5:23
23. HE HIMSELF SHALL DIE, BECAUSE HE HAD NO DISCIPLINE, AND IN THE MULTITUDE OF HIS FOLLY HE SHALL BE DECEIVED. — The constant practice of fornicating and sinning, which like a cord binds the young fornicator, will drive him to present and eternal death, because he did not admit discipline and instruction, and was unwilling to obey it. Whence on account of his great folly he shall be deceived; because, when he will hope for a long life still ahead, suddenly seized by plague or disease, or struck by sword, weapon, or similar chance, he will die. Again, he will hope that he will change his life in old age, but he will be deceived, because in old age he will find the vices of his youth clinging to him and glued to him, indeed ingrained in him. Wherefore it is great folly that the sinner always promises himself a longer life, and does not put an end to sinning. The demon promotes this folly, while every year he suggests to man: You are still strong, you will not die this year. But he renews this suggestion every year: so that, when the year of death itself arrives, they are deceived, because they die in that year unprepared. Let sinners therefore hear the wise counsel of St. Augustine: "The remedies of conversion to God are not to be deferred by any delays, lest the time of correction be lost by tardiness. For he who promised pardon to the penitent did not promise the day after tomorrow to the one who delays." And: "There is no place in God, nor is there any way to flee from him except to him. Whoever wishes to escape an offended God, let him take refuge in a placated God."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
5:5
… At their death all men descend to the f. (Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; Num. 16:30, 33; etc.) where they "are gathered to their fathers" (Gen. 25:8, 17; 35:29; 49:29, 33). All the dead are under the dominion of the f. (Os. 13:14; Ps. 15:10; 48:16; 88:49; Prov. 5:5; 23:14), which lies beneath the ocean (Job 26:5) and swallows all without distinction (Ps. 88:49). The "gates of the f." (Is. 38:10; Job 38:17; Ecclus. 51:9; Sap. 16:13; Ps. Sal. 16:2; …
5:15
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 …
5:20
… In particular, the action of inducing to idolatry (cf. Deut. 7:4) and to impurity (cf. Prov. 5:20; cf. also Gen. 34:1-31; II Sam. 13) is called seduction.
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.