Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Commentators on the Proverbs of Solomon
St. Ambrose wrote a book on Solomon (it is found in volume II of his Works), in which he treats nothing other than the parable, or rather the enigma of Proverbs 30:18: "Three things are difficult for me, and the fourth I know not at all: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man in his youth." He then appends an explanation of the entire chapter 31 of Proverbs on the Valiant Woman.
In volume VIII of St. Jerome there is found a Commentary on Proverbs; but it is certain that it did not come from St. Jerome's workshop, both because the style plainly differs from his, and because in chapter 30 St. Jerome is cited by name, and in chapters 21 and 31 St. Gregory the Pope is cited, who lived nearly two hundred years after St. Jerome, and also because the same Commentary is found word-for-word among the Works of Bede. It is therefore Bede's, and it has the flavor of his style, as Bellarmine and others have noted; therefore I shall cite it under the name of Bede.
St. Basil wrote Homily 12 on the Beginning of Proverbs (which is appended to the homilies On Anger and Envy), in which he explains the first sentences of the first chapter of Proverbs. But certain learned men, who have a sharp critical sense, doubt, and even deny, that this work is by Basil.
St. Augustine wrote on Proverbs 31 concerning the Valiant Woman in Sermons 217 and 218 De Tempore.
On the books of Solomon wrote Honorius (published at Cologne in the year 1544), a priest of Autun, who flourished in the year 1220, according to Trithemius.
Again on chapter 31 of Proverbs concerning the Valiant Woman, Albert the Great wrote an enormous volume, in which he explains that entire chapter partly in the physical sense, partly in the ethical sense, and partly in the mystical sense.
Salonius, Bishop of Vienne (found in volume V of the Library of the Holy Fathers), also explains Proverbs and Ecclesiastes mystically, but briefly and in summary fashion. Eucherius of Lyon dedicated and inscribed to him his Commentaries on Genesis and on the Book of Kings; indeed Baronius teaches that this Salonius was the son of Eucherius, begotten by him before his episcopacy, in the year of Christ 441, and he praises both father and son for their learning and holiness.
Faustinus the priest (commonly called Gregory of Baetica, Bishop of Elvira) explains chapter 4 of Proverbs against the Arians, in Book VI of De Fide contra Arianos, addressed to Galla Placidia Augusta, in the time of the Emperor Theodosius. But this book is of little authority, because its author was a schismatic: for he supported with the priest Marcellinus the schism of Ursicinus against Blessed Pope Damasus, in the time of St. Jerome. It is found in volume IV of the Library of the Holy Fathers.
There exists in Rome in the Sforza Library and others, a Catena on Proverbs from fifteen Greek Fathers, namely Apollinaris, Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Didymus, Diodorus, Epiphanius, Evagrius, Eusebius, Eustathius, Hippolytus, Julian, Origen, Olympiodorus, and Polychronius; which our Theodorus Peltanus translated from Greek into Latin, and it was published at Antwerp in the year of the Lord 1614, which I shall frequently cite.
In a later age, Robert Holcot wrote on Proverbs, but his work contains miscellaneous matters from various fields of learning, which the preachers of that age used to hunt for their sermons. There are, however, those who think that the work is not by Robert Holcot, but by Thomas the Englishman of Wales, as we read noted on the title page of the book. William of Paris wrote Lectures on Proverbs. Lyra, Hugh, and Denis the Carthusian wrote on Proverbs, as they did on all the other books of Holy Scripture.
Antonius Giggeus, a doctor of the Ambrosian College at Milan, published a Catena of three Jewish Rabbis, namely Solomon (who is surnamed Isacides after his father, because he was the son of Isaac; and from his homeland Jarhi, or rather Jarchi, that is Lunaeus or Lunensis, from the town in Aquitaine which is called Lunel; for from jareach, that is moon, he seems to have been called Jarchi, that is of Lunel. He is very famous among the Rabbis, and Lyra frequently cites and follows him). He therefore is the first in the Catena; the remaining two are R. Abraham Ben Ezra and R. Levi Ben Gershom. Moreover, Giggeus translated the Catena from Hebrew into Latin, and added the Chaldaic and Syriac versions, which I shall frequently cite. Those who have hitherto written on Proverbs seem to have seen neither this Catena of the Hebrews, nor that of the Greeks, nor the Syriac, nor certain other works already cited. Truth, wherever among the nations it may be found, must be cultivated, and one should say with Virgil reading Ennius: "I gather gems from the dung."
Among the more recent writers, and in our own century, there wrote Jerome Osorius, and from our Society Theodorus Peltanus, both of whom illuminated Proverbs with an elegant paraphrase; Constantinus Fontius, Petrus Nannius, Sixtus of Siena in his Sophias Monotessaron, Michael Sidonius, Peter Skarga from our Society, Robert Bayne, Joannes Arboreus, Thomas de Vio Cardinal Cajetan, Cornelius Jansen in his usual solid and profound manner, and many others; but after all and above all, our Ferdinand de Salazar, who wrote copiously and learnedly, containing not only sacred but also profane erudition, and who digresses more freely into elegant and moral reflections, even those drawn from the Gentiles.
The Author's Method and Approach
I shall be somewhat more expansive here, both because I am here explaining Solomon as the fountain of wisdom, who teaches Ethics through brief and concise maxims, each of which often explains an entire virtue, which Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, and other Philosophers and Theologians treat in many chapters and questions; and because this entire book is moral: and the subject of morals is vast and most useful to readers, teachers, preachers, and every class of people.
Therefore I present the interpretations and opinions of each of the Fathers and Commentators, often word for word; but trimmed for brevity and compressed into a few words, for the sake of abundance of material, so that the reader may justly desire nothing further, but reading now one Commentary, may behold and read all in it, with great saving of his own time, labor, and expense: for many lack the leisure, the inclination, and the strength to unroll so many vast and prolix Commentaries. This I have performed for their benefit, I who for 37 years now, publicly teaching Sacred Scripture, have gone through all the commentators on all the sacred books, and have also diligently collected from all the Fathers — Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Scholastic — and from other classical authors, the passages of Holy Scripture treated by them here and there.
The expositions and opinions of others, especially those that are probable, ingenious, and symbolic, even if less literal, I do not however disapprove or reject, both so that I may not arrogate to myself the censor's rod over learned and eminent men, and so that I may submit and resign them to the judgment and use of readers, as St. Jerome professes he did. Therefore I present various interpretations, but always indicate and prefer the more genuine one. For that is the true and proper sense of Holy Scripture, which the Holy Spirit, its Author, conceived, and intended to signify by these maxims. For this reason I search out and pursue that sense everywhere as the genuine mind of the Holy Spirit, and I do not indulge my own ingenuity or ingenious conceits. For I have so fixed upon this goal of the genuine sense conceived by the Holy Spirit, that with unturned eyes of the mind I continually aim at it, nor will I allow myself to be moved from it even a hair's breadth, even though others more ingenious and plausible may present themselves. For these are often not literal and genuine; hence they tickle the ears of the curious, but do not satisfy or fill the soul hungry for truth.
For here the same thing happens that we see in human intellects: for some are subtle and excel in keen ingenuity, but have little judgment; others conversely are prudent and excel in sharp judgment, but have little ingenuity: this happens, both from the gift of God, who thus distributes His charisms, and from different and contrary temperament. For ingenuity and the sharp subtlety of invention reside in heat, fervor, and ardor; but judgment consists in the coolness and quiet of a settled mind: for which reason we experience that the elderly, on account of their cool and settled passions, are strong in counsel and judgment, while the young, on account of the fervor of their blood, excel in ingenuity and acuteness. So likewise in the sciences, and especially in the exposition of Holy Scripture, what is overly acute is insufficiently genuine; what has more subtlety, has less solidity; what has much ingenuity, has little judgment: because the Holy Spirit dictated Scripture not in a subtle and acute, but in a simple, candid, and plain style, as one suited to the understanding of all, even the unlearned, and suited to the formation of discipline and morals; yet so that, lest it become cheap, it retains its own obscurity and difficulty, which sharpens the zeal as well as the reverence of readers, as I shall show more fully in chapter 1. Well known is that saying of the Philosopher: "The acuteness of Chrysippus is broken against itself." For excessive acutenesses of matters, when they are cut into overly fine subtleties, like indivisible and therefore invisible atoms, are dissolved by their own thinness, so that they escape and vanish from the mind's sight.
Finally, I shall more often add fables and maxims of other Sages as antistrophes to those of Solomon, which will bring them great charm as well as light, and especially those of Cyril, which no commentator has hitherto seen, except Denis the Carthusian alone, who frequently cites them. The title of the book is: Moral Apologues of St. Cyril distributed in four books. They were found, in manuscript, in that famous library of Buda of Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary; our Father Balthasar Corderius published them at Vienna in Austria in the year of the Lord 1630. In these, Cyril explains many proverbs of Solomon as well as of Ecclesiasticus luminously, learnedly, piously, elegantly, and wisely, as will be evident to the reader. I have said more about them at the beginning of Ecclesiasticus.