Cornelius a Lapide

Proverbs XII

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

In his customary manner he proposes antitheses between one who loves discipline and one who hates it, the wicked and the just, the worker and the idle, the fool and the wise, the truthful and the liar, the faithful and the fraudulent: but he more frequently emphasizes the goods and evils of the tongue, namely from verse 13 to 20, and from verse 22 to 24.

Vulgate Text: Proverbs 12:1-28

1. He who loves discipline loves knowledge: but he who hates reproof is foolish. 2. He who is good shall draw grace from the Lord: but he who trusts in his own devices acts wickedly. 3. A man shall not be strengthened by wickedness: and the root of the just shall not be moved. 4. A diligent woman is a crown to her husband: and she who does things worthy of shame is a rottenness in his bones. 5. The thoughts of the just are judgments: and the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. 6. The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the just shall deliver them. 7. Overthrow the wicked, and they are no more: but the house of the just shall stand. 8. A man shall be known by his learning: but he who is vain and foolish shall be open to contempt. 9. Better is the poor man who is sufficient for himself, than he who is glorious and lacks bread. 10. The just man knows the lives of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel. 11. He who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he who pursues idleness is most foolish. He who is pleasant in lingering over wine leaves disgrace in his fortifications. 12. The desire of the wicked is the fortress of the worst: but the root of the just shall prosper. 13. For the sins of the lips, ruin draws near to the wicked: but the just shall escape from distress. 14. By the fruit of his own mouth shall each man be filled with good things, and according to the works of his hands it shall be repaid to him. 15. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he who is wise heeds counsel. 16. A fool immediately shows his anger: but he who conceals an injury is prudent. 17. He who speaks what he knows is an indicator of justice: but he who lies is a fraudulent witness. 18. There is one who promises, and is stung as with a sword of conscience: but the tongue of the wise is health. 19. The lip of truth shall be firm forever: but he who is a hasty witness contrives a tongue of falsehood. 20. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil: but those who take counsel for peace, joy follows them. 21. Whatever befalls the just man shall not sadden him; but the wicked shall be filled with evil. 22. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord: but those who act faithfully please Him. 23. A shrewd man conceals his knowledge: and the heart of fools provokes foolishness. 24. The hand of the strong shall rule: but the slack hand shall serve under tribute. 25. Grief in the heart of a man shall bring him low, and with a good word he shall be made glad. 26. He who disregards loss for the sake of a friend is just: but the way of the wicked shall deceive them. 27. The deceitful man shall not find gain: but the substance of a man shall be the price of gold. 28. In the path of justice, life: but the byway leads to death.

Verse 1: He Who Loves Discipline Loves Knowledge

The Arabic: he who loves discipline loves goodness, or kindness. For 'discipline,' the Hebrew is musar, that is, chastisement, correction, reproof. Whence the Zurich Bible: he who loves chastisement loves knowledge; but he who hates chastisement becomes brutish, that is, becomes dull and brutish: for this is the Hebrew baar. By knowledge, understand practical knowledge, namely the formation of morals, honesty, and virtue.

The sense therefore is: he who is a lover of discipline, and when he strays from duty and from what is right, allows himself to be corrected and receives reproof with a willing spirit, this man surely loves the knowledge of morals, namely honesty and virtue, and therefore he truly is wise, a true philosopher, that is, a lover of wisdom; but he who hates reproof, and when he acts badly does not suffer himself to be corrected, this man is surely foolish, and that for three reasons: first, because he shows his pride and arrogance, by which he thinks he knows more than others, and therefore stupidly and proudly defends his vices and defects. Secondly, because he persists obstinately in error and vices, and does not wish to be instructed and corrected; and therefore is incorrigible and beyond amendment. I shall presently subjoin the third reason from Antiochus.

Therefore just as a sick man is foolish who does not acknowledge his illness, nor permits cautery or a more potent medicine to be applied, and so remains in his illness and dies; and just as one who strays from the road is foolish if he does not wish to be led back to the right way; and just as a student who deviates from the truth is foolish if he does not wish to be corrected and instructed by the teacher: so utterly foolish is he who, straying from virtue and the way of salvation, does not wish to be corrected, instructed, directed, and put back on the path of virtue and salvation.

So St. Chrysostom, volume 3, homily On Bearing Reproofs: "He who, he says, hates reproofs, says Solomon, is foolish. He did not say to be reproved in this way or that, but simply to be reproved; for if indeed a friend reproves justly, he acts to correct the sin: but if without reason and undeservedly, then his will is to be praised and the intention of his mind approved, and the kindness of friendship should be acknowledged and attested. For he would not reprove unless he loved greatly. Therefore let us not be indignant or angry when we are reproved." He adds the reason: "In sins, he says, reproofs will accomplish what remedies do in wounds. Therefore just as he is foolish who rejects medicines, so too he is stupid who does not receive reproofs with a grateful spirit." He adds a comparison from the sun: "What is brighter than the sun? And yet its light fails. And indeed, just as encroaching darkness very frequently covers that bright light, so too a lack of consideration creeping in renders our understanding, shining as at midday and clear, dark; and it sometimes happens that the wise man does not see what he should, and a lesser and duller person perceives it clearly and sharply." Whence St. Chrysostom concludes: "To bear correction well is the herald and praise not of common, but of the highest philosophy."

So also Antiochus explains in homily 68: "If a man, he says, thinks most modestly of himself, and considers himself abject and worthless, he desires with much pleasure and goodwill the corrections that fall upon him, or any harsh rebuke whatsoever. Blessed is the monk who considers himself to be nothing other than the offscouring of all." Offscouring (peripsema), says the Scholiast, is the shaving and filing, by which the monk subjects himself to the judgments and censures of all, as if to files, to be corrected, scraped, and polished smooth in humility and every virtue. Antiochus proves this: "He who hates reproofs is foolish, because a tribulation that is no small thing hangs over him; but he who loves them, it is clear that he is now shaken by no perturbation of mind, but is calm of spirit. How profitable it will be, therefore, to receive kindly those who exercise us with their taunts and jibes, however bitter, rather than those who adorn us with their fabricated praises, who according to Scripture hardly differ from him who curses!"

Furthermore, St. Augustine wrote the book On Correction and Grace, in which, responding to the Pelagians who objected that no one should be corrected since correcting vices is the work of God's grace, not of free will and human powers — as St. Augustine and the orthodox maintained — he replies in chapter 5: "Whoever does not wish to be corrected, you should certainly be corrected for the very reason that you do not wish to be corrected. For you do not wish your vices to be shown to you; you do not wish them to be struck, and a useful pain to come upon you by which you may seek the physician; you do not wish to be shown to yourself, so that when you see yourself deformed, you may desire the Reformer, and beg Him that you not remain in that ugliness." And shortly after: "For that pain by which one is displeased with oneself, when one feels the sting of correction, arouses one to a greater desire for prayer, so that, with God having mercy, helped by an increase of charity, one may cease to do things that are shameful and sorrowful, and do things that are praiseworthy and pleasing."

To these add the apophthegms of St. Augustine, from the book On Correction: "It is better to be mercifully corrected by a just man than to be deceitfully praised." So he himself on Psalm 140: "No one is corrected and instructed without labor and pain, because virtue is perfected in weakness," on Psalm 89. "Correction pertains to amendment; reproach of fury, that is, accusation, pertains to condemnation," on Psalm 6. "Whom words do not correct, experience will correct," sermon 50 On the Seasons. "We are not corrected except by the gift of God," homily 2 among the 50. "Truth corrects sinners even through the wicked," ibid., homily 5. Relevant here is the proverb of Sixtus the Philosopher, number 237: "He who does not obey the wise man will not obey God either."

Verse 2: He Who Is Good Shall Draw Grace from the Lord

In Hebrew it is iarscia, which, being in the hiphil form, signifies first, to act very wickedly, as is evident from Daniel 9:5 and chapter 12, verse 10. Secondly, it signifies to prosecute and condemn as guilty of impiety. Whence Pagninus translates: and him who has evil thoughts He will condemn; and the Zurich Bible: the wicked man shall be condemned for impiety. Therefore the general and adequate sense is, as if to say: A good man, who constantly devotes himself to goodness and good actions by which he may please God, will draw grace from God, so as to advance from good to better, according to that saying: "They shall go from virtue to virtue; the God of gods shall be seen in Zion," Psalm lxxxiii, 8. "But he who trusts in his thoughts," in Hebrew, a man of thoughts, or of schemes and imaginations, who, that is, follows his own imaginations and relies entirely on them, not on God and God's will and law; this man will continually act impiously, and will daily advance from one impiety to another, from a lesser to a greater, until he ascends the summit of impiety and becomes entirely impious, and thence with Lucifer is cast down by God into the underworld. Hence the Chaldean translates: good is he who accepts the will of God; the counsel of the impious man will be broken; the Syriac: it is beneficial for the man who keeps the will of the Lord; the impious man will be condemned; Aquila: the good man supereffundit, that is, pours over abundantly; or rather, he will abundantly and copiously draw the good pleasure and grace from the Lord. Hence Bede aptly and clearly explains thus: "He who is good does not trust in his own thoughts, but seeks the grace of the Lord, and finds what he sought; and through it he receives the ability to live piously. But he who trusts in his own thoughts cannot be good; for because he does not care to seek the grace of a heavenly helper, he deservedly persists in impious action."

Moreover, by "good" here any just person is understood, but especially the humble, say Bede and Hugh, who humbly accepts the discipline and correction just discussed: for this man is directly opposed to the proud man who, trusting in his own thoughts, rejects discipline. For the humble man, by his humble submission in which he subjects himself to the one instructing and correcting him, merits a notable grace from God, by which he both effectively corrects the vice for which he is reproved, and greatly advances in the opposite virtue and other virtues.

Hence Antiochus, in the homily 68 already cited: "The humble man," he says, "is filled with incredible joy, silently, over private correction and contempt, more than over honor shown to him and the celebrity of his own name; whence such a man is also proclaimed blessed by God, according to the testimony of Isaiah: Sanctify him who diminishes his own soul; but he who hates corrections is imprudent." For just as one drawing water draws it purer and more copious the greater the depth of the well from which he draws; so also the just man draws forth a greater and more copious grace from God the greater his humility and self-abasement: for from this, as from a well, the water of life, namely God's grace, must be drawn.

Finally, the Septuagint has: better (less correctly the Complutensian reads: it is better) is he who finds grace from the Lord; but the wicked man will be silenced. This statement is obscure and disjointed; hence the Greek Catena expresses it more fully and clearly thus: "Better or more excellent is he who finds grace with the Lord than he who is honored among men; but the wicked man and transgressor of the law will be overwhelmed with silence." "For, as Didymus says in the same place, there are found certain good men, devoted to good actions, known to God alone. These he prefers to those who are honored among men and are highly esteemed. For those who are commended among men very often turn such praise and commendation into pride: but those who are known and approved by God alone preserve their virtue undefiled to the end; and not without reason. But among wicked and corrupt men nothing of this sort has a place: since among them all things are perverse and distorted."

Parallel to this saying of Solomon is that of Plato in the Theaetetus: "Nothing is more like God than when one of men is most just. In this indeed both the true excellence and power of man consists, and as much as a man departs from this, cowardice and anandreia, that is, worthlessness, and a certain ignominy or weakness of this kind, so that he loses the name of man, indeed exists." And again: "Philosophy and true wisdom is the soul's return from this dark life, which ought rather to be called night than day, to that true light of being." And that saying of Pindar in the Isthmians, ode 6: "If anyone, delighting in labor, exercises the virtues built by God, at the same time God sows for him a lovely glory; already sailing to the farthest bounds of felicity he has cast anchor, being honored by divine favor." And that saying of Sixtus, not the Pope, as Rufinus supposed, but of the Pythagorean Philosopher, no. 1: "A faithful man is a chosen man; a chosen man is a man of God; a man of God is one who is worthy of God; worthy of God is one who does nothing unworthily."

Morally, from this verse and the preceding one, learn how the faithful who are devoted to virtue, especially Religious, ought to be ready in admitting discipline, correction, rebuke, and chastisement, indeed to love, desire, and seek it. For this is the ladder to the amendment of life, to humility, to patience, and to every virtue and perfection.

Wherefore Antiochus, Abbot of the Laura of St. Sabas, who flourished a thousand years ago at that time when the Emperor Heraclius brought back the Holy Cross to Jerusalem around the year of the Lord 614, Antiochus, I say, in homily 68 already cited: "Surely," he says, "how fitting it is that he be considered great and admirable who, when he is rebuked rather sharply and sprinkled with no slight ignominy, nevertheless endures; just as that honorable Canaanite woman of great merit, who as soon as she heard from the Lord: It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs, was not only not indignant, but on the contrary, diminishing herself, responded: Indeed, Lord; for even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. Raising Himself in admiration of such great humility and faith in her, the Lord said: O woman, great is your faith; be it done to you as you wish." Blessed Isaiah the Abbot, oration 8, has among other sayings this one: "If someone rebukes you for something you did or did not do, if you keep silent, you show yourself like Jesus; but if you answer, saying: What did I do? you are no longer like Him. And if you return like for like, you are entirely unlike Him." Blessed Dorotheus, instruction 21, teaches that an effective remedy against any sins is patience under correction.

But above all others, John Climacus treats this argument sublimely and divinely, in step 4 On Obedience. Receive a few things from many: "Just as it is cruel," he says, "to snatch bread from the mouth of a hungry child with one's hands, so he harms both himself and the laborer who takes souls to govern, unless he strives to provide for him at every hour the crowns that he knows him able to bear, whether through insults, or through ignominies, or through humiliations, or through mockeries. For he commits three things that are most to be avoided: First, that he himself is deprived of the reward of correction; second, that though he could benefit others from another's virtue, he failed to do so. The third, which is the most serious, is that sometimes those who seem to be the most proven and most patient in labor, if they are neglected for a time and are no longer corrected as those advanced in virtues, or are not subjected to reproaches and injuries, the modesty and tolerance that were in them will be undermined. For even if the soil is good and fertile and rich, yet the lack of water, that is, of ignominy, is accustomed to render it unfruitful and wild, and to cause the thorns of fornication and harmful security to sprout in it."

He then brings among other things the example of Abbacyrus, whom, seeing him corrected daily by all and harassed with reproaches, he asked: "What is it, brother Abbacyrus," he says, "that I see you daily expelled from the table, and sometimes going to sleep without supper?" He answered: "Believe me, father, my fathers are testing me to see whether I wish to be a monk; but they do not really do this; and I, not ignorant of the intention of the father and others, bear all things most lightly and without any distress. And behold, for 15 years now I have been thinking thus, just as they too, when I entered the monastery, told me that they were accustomed to test those who renounce the world up to 30 years. And rightly indeed, father John, for without testing gold is not perfected. This distinguished Abbacyrus then, in the second year after I arrived, departed to the Lord in this monastery, saying to the fathers as he was dying: I give thanks to the Lord and to you, fathers, because you tested me continually for my salvation; for by this reason I have remained free from the temptation of demons until now." Whence, exhorting, he concludes: "Fix upon the wood of the soul (which we call the cross) the anvil, namely the mind, so that struck by alternate blows and clanging of hammers, provoked by mockeries and curses and ridicule, afflicted with injuries, remaining below itself and in no way harmed or dissolved, persevering, entirely smooth and even and immovable. Strip yourself of your desires as of the garment of confusion; and thus naked enter the arena of piety; drink in mockeries at every hour as living water." And after several more things interposed, he seals the matter with this golden saying: "He who to his companion in all things, comfort and remedy: whose heroic qualities he therefore describes throughout chapter xxxi.

Verse 3: Man Shall Not Be Strengthened by Wickedness

For "will not be strengthened" the Hebrew is לא יכן lo ticcon, that is, will not be established, as the Complutensian Septuagint has, and the Chaldean likewise, will not be made firm, will not be established. So Aquila and Symmachus; the Roman Septuagint, a man will not prosper from wickedness; but the roots of the just will not be taken away; the Tigurine, no one with impiety will be firm; but the root of the just will not be moved; Vatablus, the impious man will not endure, but will quickly perish.

The general and adequate sense is, as if to say: Impiety does not prosper, nor does it make the impious man stable, but rather causes him to fall into many adversities, to be overturned and uprooted: but on the other hand, justice and probity prosper, establish, and strengthen the just, so that they seem to be like a tree that has driven firm roots into the earth, and therefore cannot be uprooted or moved from its place by any force of winds.

Now under this general sense one may descend to particular applications. Hence first, Baynus applies this to heirs and children, as if to say: The impious man leaves few or no heirs and descendants, and those wretched and unhappy, who therefore cannot propagate and exalt his house and family: but the just man, like a well-rooted tree that therefore spreads many branches from itself, will beget a numerous, happy, and splendid offspring, through whom he will propagate his family and make it abundant and splendid. So also Aben-Ezra: "The root," he says, "is a symbol of the posterity that the just, when they depart this life, leave behind them."

Secondly, our Salazar in his usual way restricts this to riches, as if to say: From impiety, that is, from wealth unjustly acquired, no one is strengthened, that is, no one obtains a robust, firm, and stable fortune from it. For since ill-gotten goods are ill-dispersed, with them likewise the man's fortune slips and falls: "But the root of the just will prosper," as if to say: The possessions of the just, that is, justly acquired, like a tree that has driven deeper roots, will be uprooted or taken away by no force; they will be stable and unmoved. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on the Epistle to the Ephesians: "If you wish to leave riches to your children, possess just ones, if any such exist; for these remain and stand firm and stable: but those that are not of this sort quickly perish and disappear."

Thirdly, Lyranus: The root of the just, he says, is their stability in virtue and honor: hence David was established in his kingdom for himself and for his posterity.

Fourthly, others refer this to actions: for God prospers these in the just, but renders them unfortunate in the impious. So the author of the Greek Catena: "Although," he says, "the just man departs from the midst and dies, yet his root remains firm. And not only that, but also his good and praiseworthy actions and sound counsels, runs to the most peaceful quiet of the soul and to God; on every day when he does not endure curses, he considers that he has sustained a great loss." which had proceeded thence, etc. For besides other things, this still remains for the just, that they will one day return again to life."

Tropologically, the root of the just man is justice, grace, and charity, which will never fail, whereas all other things, even knowledge and prophecy, shall pass away, I Corinthians xiii, 8. For grace is the root and seed of glory: just as a tree sprouts from a root, so eternal glory is begotten from grace and charity. Hence the Apostle, Ephesians iii, 17: "Rooted and grounded in charity, that you may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth."

Allegorically, the root of the just is God and Christ: for since the just are rooted in God and in the cross of Christ, as in a living and immovable tree, they are shaken or moved by no temptation or tribulation, and they say with St. Paul: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, etc. I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor strength, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Hence Christ is called "the root of David," Revelation v, 5, and chapter xxii, 16, and "the root of Jesse," Isaiah xi, 1.

Anagogically, the root of the just is eternity: for they pursue eternal goods and fix their mind and all their hopes upon them; therefore they are moved by no temporal goods or evils, as being perishable and fleeting. But the impious, who pursue present goods, pass away and vanish with them: therefore they cannot be firm and stable. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on Genesis: "Riches," he says, "are of such a kind, and all the prosperity of this life is of such a kind, having nothing firm, nothing subsisting, nothing fixed, nothing rooted; but it passes by more quickly than the streams of rivers. But spiritual things are not such; for they are firm, immovable, not subject to change, but extending to every age. How great then is the folly of exchanging things that waver for things immovable?"

Verse 4: A Diligent Woman Is a Crown to Her Husband

In Hebrew: she who puts to shame; the Tigurine: a shameful wife (Vatablus: disgraceful) is like decay in his bones. Similar to this is that saying of Sixtus, not the Pope, as Rufinus supposed, but of the Philosopher, in the Proverbs or Sentences, which are found in the Library of the Holy Fathers, no. 228: "A modest wife is a man's glory; having reverence for your wife, you will have her reverent."

Some take "diligens" as a participle of the verb diligo and interpret it as "loving her husband"; but incorrectly: for the Hebrew is אשת חיל escet chail, that is, a woman of virtue, that is, industrious, diligent, manly, who vigorously governs, manages, and advances her children and household; and therefore she is to her husband not only faithful, modest, and chaste, but also the companion, comfort, and remedy of all his labors and sorrows: whose heroic qualities he therefore describes throughout chapter xxxi. Hence Theodoret translates: a woman of fortitude; Symmachus: of abundance; the Septuagint: a strong woman; the Chaldean: honorable; the Syriac: manly; the Tigurine: endowed with virtues; Aben-Ezra: "A wife who gathers riches is her husband's crown, because through her work he is held in esteem and honored; just as a royal diadem makes the head venerable to others."

She is a crown to her husband, that is, like a crown she adorns, gladdens, protects, and strengthens him, fills and replenishes him with holiness, vigor, joy, and every good. For a crown is a symbol of perfection and completeness, and signifies nothing except what is perfect and complete in all its parts, as I have said elsewhere. Again, a crown is said of what is beautiful and glorious. He alludes to the nuptial crown, with which bride and groom are customarily crowned as a sign of love and harmony, congratulation and nuptial joy, as Carolus Paschalius teaches, book II On Crowns, chapters xvi and xvii, and Alexander ab Alexandro, book II of the Genial Days, chapter v. Hence Claudian in the wedding of the Emperor Honorius sings thus:

You, Hymen, choose festive torches; you, Grace, choose flowers; You, Concord, bind the twin crowns together.

Again, this crown was a symbol of victory, namely that the spouses had conquered by marriage fornication, adultery, suitors and adulterers, and all wandering and shameful lust. So St. Chrysostom, homily 9 on I Corinthians, in the moral section: "For this reason," he says, "crowns are placed on the head, to be signs of victory, namely that they had previously been impervious to lust. Thus at last they will enter the bedchamber, because they have not been overcome by pleasure. But if someone overcome by lust has devoted himself to harlots, for what reason would he walk crowned, who has so shamefully submitted his neck to lust?" Thirdly, the same was a sign of labor and diligence. Hence it was formerly the custom for a new bride to crown the husband's door with wool, as one who, being diligent in wool-working, would clothe her husband and children with linen and woolen garments, according to that saying of chapter xxxi, verse 13: "She sought wool and flax, and worked with willing hands." And verse 21: "She does not fear for her household from the cold of snow; for all her household are clothed in double garments." Fourthly, this crown is a symbol of kingship: for the husband is like a king, whose kingdom is his wife and family. Hence St. Chrysostom, homily on Psalm iv: "Since," he says, "David had occupied the woman (Bathsheba, wife of Uriah), who was in her husband's power, as though it were another's kingdom (for to every man his own wife is his kingdom; and a king does not love his purple and diadem as a man loves his wife), therefore the son who was born to him from that wife rose up as a tyrant wishing to seize his father's kingdom: he himself had seized another's kingdom by force, and he suffered violence regarding his own; and he who had sinned secretly, over him a triumph was publicly celebrated." Fifthly, this crown is a symbol of integrity, virtue, and perfection, according to that saying of Isaiah lxi, 10: "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice He has surrounded me, like a bridegroom adorned with a crown, and like a bride adorned with her jewels." Sixthly, this crown is a symbol of many and distinguished children, whom a manly wife bears and raises for her husband. For these are a crown, that is, the ornament and glory of parents, who surround them both at table and abroad, and encircle them like a crown. Hence the Apostle, I Thessalonians chapter ii, verse 19: "For what is," he says, "our hope, or joy, or crown of glory? Is it not you," etc. And that saying of Psalm cxxvii, 3: "Your children are like young olive trees around your table," as if to say: With God blessing you and you cooperating with God, from your wife you will beget many distinguished children and raise them in every virtue, who therefore will surround and adorn you like a crown.

Mystically, the diligent and industrious wife is the Church, and any holy soul, which adorns and delights Christ the bridegroom like a crown, according to that saying of the Song of Songs iii, 11: "Go forth, and see, O daughters of Zion, King Solomon in the diadem with which his mother crowned him on the day of his espousals, and on the day of the gladness of his heart," namely on the day of the incarnation, when Christ espoused our flesh to Himself, and in it the rest of the faithful and holy people, as St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, St. Bernard, Cassiodorus, Philo of Carpathus, and others explain in the same place. And Isaiah, chapter lxii, 3: "You shall be," he says, "a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of your God." Moreover, in the Incarnation the crown of Christ was the flesh and humanity He assumed: for this encircled and crowned the Word; but in the Passion the crown of Christ was of thorns, through which He merited to obtain in heaven a crown of roses and gems. And the crown of thorns He communicates in this life to His elect, as He communicated it really to St. Catherine of Siena. For by the crown of thorns Christ shows Himself the king of the patient, the afflicted, and the troubled, and goes before them as a standard-bearer, so that through thorns, pains, and His crosses He may lead them to the unfading crown of glory. "Let it be a shame," says St. Bernard, "sermon 5 on the feast of All Saints, for a member to be delicate under a thorn-crowned head." The first Christians considered it shameful to be crowned with flowers after the custom of the Gentiles, because Christ had been crowned with thorns, lest they seem to mock and insult Christ. Hence Clement of Alexandria, book II of the Pedagogue, chapter viii: "It is contrary to reason," he says, "that we who have heard that the Lord was crowned with thorns should ourselves, mockingly insulting the venerable Passion of the Lord, have our heads wreathed with flowers." Tertullian teaches the same in his book On the Soldier's Crown. St. Athanasius adds that Christ was crowned with thorns so that, taking upon Himself all the thorns of our cares and anxieties, He might bestow upon us His security and joy, and protect and crown us with His patronage. Hence in his treatise On the Passion and the Cross, he says thus: "Christ wore a crown of thorns so that He might abolish the cares of our life (as it were taking the thorns upon Himself)."

Mystically, St. Thomas, in his sermon On St. Cecilia, proposes this as the theme of his sermon: "A diligent wife is a crown to her husband." For, he says, St. Cecilia was diligent in five ways: first, in mortifying the flesh; second, in love of God; third, in devout prayer; fourth, in generosity of almsgiving; fifth, in the conversion of others. She was likewise a crown to her husband, because she converted him to Christ and to chastity: hence with him she merited to be given by an angel a crown of lilies. She is likewise a crown of gems to her husband in eternal life. The same St. Thomas, in I Corinthians vii, lecture 2, adorns St. Cecilia with these nine crowns: first, wisdom in the rational part; second, purity in the concupiscible part; third, constancy in the irascible part; fourth, modesty against loquacity; fifth, truth against falsehood; sixth, discretion against foolish talk; seventh, holiness in deed; eighth, modesty in appearance; ninth, grace in conversation.

Moreover, the author of the Greek Catena mystically takes the woman of virtue as virtue itself; and the shameful thing as vice and malice: "The sense is," he says, "just as virtue adorns the mind, so malice profanes and destroys it, and renders it depraved and an insolent reviler. Again, the manly woman is the soul of the just man: for this fights manfully against vices and perturbations of the soul; and labors strenuously to emerge superior to any adversity.

AND ROTTENNESS IN HIS BONES IS SHE WHO DOES THINGS WORTHY OF SHAME.

Salonius, Bede, Lyranus, and Hugh refer "his" to the woman, as if to say: The immodest woman by her lust brings upon herself diseases and decay, as is evident in venereal disease, by which both her flesh and bones rot and waste away, as experience teaches that prostitutes and adulteresses decay. But from the antithesis, and from the masculine Hebrew pronoun, it is clear that "his" refers to the husband, as if to say: Just as a modest and industrious wife adorns, gladdens, strengthens, and enlivens her husband like a crown: so on the contrary an immodest, lazy, and slothful wife (for to this the diligent and industrious is opposed, so R. Levi), quarrelsome, drunken, prodigal, and devoted to other shameful vices, disgraces, afflicts, and defames her husband, wears him out with sorrow and troubles, to such an extent that the marrow of his bones melts and is consumed from sadness, and so all his strength (which resides in the bones) and vigor perishes, and he himself also contracts old age prematurely and dies. He alludes to that saying of Adam about Eve: "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh," Genesis ii, 23. Where Anastasius of Sinai says: Bone, he says, pertains to strength, flesh to pleasure, because a good wife brings to her husband not only pleasure but also strength to overcome all labors and difficulties of the family. And he adds: Conversely, a bad wife consumes and devours the bone, that is, the strength, of her husband. Hence the Septuagint translates: as a worm in wood, so a wicked woman destroys her husband; and the Syriac, following in its custom the Septuagint: as a fungus and worm in wood, so a woman who does evil ruins her husband, as if to say: woodworm and moth gradually consume, erode, and devour wood: so a bad and perverse wife erodes and consumes the strength of her husband. A wicked woman is malicious, also unchaste and adulterous, and thence properly a sorceress and poisoner. For adulteresses are accustomed, in order to enjoy their adulterous lovers, to secretly administer poisons to their husbands, whether natural or magical, by which they may kill them either quickly or gradually, according to that saying of Ausonius:

The adulterous wife gave poison to her jealous husband.

And that saying of the bewitched man to the sorceress in Athenaeus, book VI: "You have putrefied him with your poisons, and ruined him like wood corrupted by decay."

For since women are timid and weak, what they cannot accomplish by force and strength, they carry out by fraud and sorcery, so that not by open warfare but by ambush they attack and destroy their enemies. Diodorus reports, book V, that Hecate was the first of all women to discover aconite, and to devote the greatest effort to making deadly poisons. Well known are Medea, Circe, and the Thessalian woman, that is, the sorceress. Hence there are so many witches and sorceresses, while fewer men are sorcerers and magicians. Finally, civil laws join adulterous and poisoning women together, as though connected by a certain affinity: for adultery and poisoning are close and related, so that a woman who is immodest is not rarely a poisoner. Tiraquellus cites these laws in law VIII on Marriage, no. 22 and following. Here applies the Hebrew proverb from the beginning of the Gemara: "What the caterpillar is to sesame, that a prostitute is in a house." For just as a caterpillar feeds upon and devastates the sesame and vegetables among which it lives, so a prostitute consumes the house in which she dwells and devours the wretched husband. Hence she is called a slug by the Comic poet: for slugs consume vegetables.

Verse 5: The Thoughts of the Just Are Judgments

In Hebrew: the counsels of the impious are deceit; the Septuagint: the impious steer deceits. For the Hebrew תחבלות tachbuloth means both counsels and rudders. Hence with the Septuagint you may translate literally: the rudders of the impious are deceit, as if to say: The rudders by which the impious steer and advance themselves and their affairs are frauds and deceits. It is a metaphor from the rudder of a ship: for just as the helmsman steers the ship by it, and it is hidden within the ship, so the fraudulent carry out their affairs through deceits, and conceal and hide them in their heart. The Chaldean: the skill (the Syriac: the machinations or conduct) of the impious is fraud; Pagninus: the thoughts of the just are for making judgment, the counsels of the impious are for making deceit.

You may ask what are the judgments that the just think about and turn over in their minds. First, the author of the Greek Catena responds that they are God's judgments and His precepts: for the just continually ponder these in meditation and in their heart and mind, and through them instill in themselves the fear and worship of God.

Secondly, the same author: "They exercise judgments," he says, "who continually act according to the dictate of reason. So also St. Gregory, book XIX of the Morals, chapter xiii, explaining that passage of Job xxix, 'And with the diadem, by my judgment': "The judgments of the just," he says, "are rightly compared to a diadem, because through the glory of great work they lead to the crown of retribution. These judgments indeed they conduct within themselves daily: they carefully consider what they owe to God, what to their neighbor, and they powerfully kindle themselves to do good, and strictly reprove themselves for the evils they have committed. Hence it is also well said through Solomon: The thoughts of the just are judgments. For the just, withdrawing from all worldly noise, return to their hearts, and there they ascend the tribunal of the mind, and set before their eyes both themselves and their neighbor, and bring them to the middle rule of the testament, which says: What you wish men to do to you, do the same to them. They transfer to themselves the person of the neighbor, and carefully consider what they would justly wish to be done or not done to them if they were in that situation: and thus by strict law and judgment they examine their own case and their neighbor's according to the tables of divine law in the court of the heart. Rightly therefore it is said: The thoughts of the just are judgments, because their innermost movement of heart is like a certain balance of judicial authority."

All the persons of this tribunal of conscience are aptly represented by St. Bernard, in the book On the Interior House, chapter xiv: "In my own house," he says, "and in my own household I have accusers, witnesses, judges, and torturers. My conscience accuses me, memory is the witness, reason the judge, pleasure the prison, fear the torturer, delight the torment: for as many as were the evil delights, so many will be the harsh torments in punishment. For we are punished from the same source whence we took delight.

Bede adds: "The just," he says, "judge by diligent meditation whether their deeds please the Lord; lest perhaps, if they are less careful, the heavenly judge should invisibly arrange adversities against them, according to that saying of the Apostle: If we judged ourselves, we would certainly not be judged, I Corinthians xi. But the reprobate, forgetful of the fear of God, compose their counsels from the fraud they practice."

Thirdly, St. Jerome on chapter v of Amos takes judgment as constancy of mind, as if to say: The just deliberate maturely; but once they have deliberated, they are constant in their purpose: the impious, however, change their counsels and decrees from hour to hour. "The judgment of the worst," he says, "will be rolled about like water, because it does not stand in one opinion, but is carried about by every wind of doctrine. What they had approved they disapprove, and what they had previously praised, they think to be nothing."

Fourthly, and genuinely, Vatablus, Jansenius, Lyranus, and others take judgment as right and justice, as if to say: The thoughts of the just are judgments, that is, are of justice, that is, are just and equitable, so that they do injury to no one, but render to each his own right (it is metonymy: for the abstract is placed for the concrete, justice for just). But the thoughts, machinations, and "counsels of the impious" are about deceits and frauds. For they think of nothing else than by what means they can deceive others, trick them, and defraud them of their goods, so that by frauds and deceits they may increase and advance their own affairs.

Morally, the thoughts of the just ought to be judgments, so that, just as a judgment is not conducted without consideration but is exercised by a judge with great attention of mind: so the mind of the just man, aspiring to perfection, should receive thoughts selected by the judgment of reason, and should not indiscriminately admit those arising from idleness or curiosity. Let the holy fear of the Lord, which searches even the hidden and secret things of our heart, suppress them; let the hope of heavenly gifts, which is frequently offered not to those who think vain things but to those who consider things pure and holy, bind them.

Moreover, the Wise Man here touches upon the root of all good or evil; for this is good or evil thought. Hence Bede in the Collectanea: "By these incentives," he says, "as by steps, every sin grows together. For the thought of something depraved begets delight, delight begets consent, consent begets action, action begets habit, habit begets necessity." Conversely, a holy thought begets delight in a holy thing, delight begets consent, consent begets action, etc.

Verse 6: The Words of the Wicked Lie in Wait for Blood

This statement coheres with the preceding one and is an escalation, as if to say: The impious not only strive to defraud the pious of their goods, but also to strip them of life: both so that they may more easily seize their goods, and because they hate them and their piety and virtue, which like stakes in their eyes constantly pricks, torments, and scourges their impiety. Thus Jezebel through false witnesses killed Naboth, in order to seize his vineyard, III Kings xxi.

BUT THE MOUTH OF THE JUST WILL DELIVER THEM. — Whom? Those, namely, for whose blood the impious lie in wait: just as Daniel delivered Susanna, for whose life the unchaste elders plotted, Daniel xiii: so Lyranus, Baynus, and Cajetan. Moreover, Jansenius extends this also to the impious, as if to say: The impious desire to destroy others; but the just strive to save all, both the pious and the impious. Our Salazar refers it to the impious alone, as if to say: The just do not return like for like, but those very persons by whom they are condemned through fraudulent accusations, those very persons, I say, they absolve by their own testimony. For virtue not only protects and saves itself, but also any others whatsoever.

"Indeed virtue is of such power that it not only helps and defends itself, but fights for others and brings aid to those destitute of help," says the author of the Greek Catena. So great and ample is the charity of the just that it embraces even all enemies with the arms of love, and overcomes evil with good, making friends out of enemies, according to that saying: "Love befriends enemies equally as friends."

Finally, the Decree V, Question V, final chapter, takes "the mouth of the just" as the mouth of a judge punishing the impious, and thus freeing them from impiety: "It is one thing," he says, "to report the crimes of others out of charity, so that those whom we cannot correct by private admonition the sentence of a judge may convict and reprove; and another thing to maliciously bring false charges, or to readily reproach with truths by way of insult. The former indeed is a duty of charity, the latter of impiety. Hence it is said in Proverbs: The words of the impious lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the just will deliver them."

Verse 7: Turn the Wicked and They Shall Not Be

For "turn" the Hebrew is הפוך haphoc, which is both an infinitive and an imperative form; hence it means both "to turn" and "turn." The infinitive among the Hebrews is used for every tense, mood, number, and person. Hence Pagninus translates: God will turn over the impious, and they will not be; and Vatablus: the impious will be overthrown, so that they are nowhere; and the Chaldean: the impious are overturned and are not found. For the Hebrews, since they lack compound verbs, use the simple for the compound; hence הפך haphac means both to convert, to overturn, to subvert, as well as to turn.

But our translator properly and vigorously translates in the imperative "turn," but in a difficult sense. First, Bede explains, as if to say: Convert, O God, the impious, especially heretics and unbelievers, to a better life, and thus they will cease to be impious and will become pious; heresy and unbelief will cease, and faith and piety will triumph everywhere. Turn them therefore, so that what they were they may no longer be impious or enemies, but may become pious and friends. So also St. Gregory, homily 32 on the Gospel: "Let us leave behind," he says, "ourselves as we made ourselves by sinning, and let us remain ourselves as we were made by grace. For behold, he who was proud, if converted to Christ he has been made humble, has left himself behind. If any lustful person has changed his life to continence, he has certainly denied what he was. If any miser has ceased to covet and has learned to give freely of his own, who previously seized others' property, he has without doubt left himself behind; he is indeed the same by nature, but he is not the same by malice.

For hence it is written: Turn the impious, and they will not be. For the impious once converted will not be, not because they will not exist at all in their being, but because they will not be in the guilt of impiety. Then therefore we leave ourselves behind, then we deny ourselves, when we change what we were through our old nature and strive toward that to which we are called through newness. Let us consider how Paul had denied himself, who said: It is no longer I who live. For that fierce persecutor had been extinguished, and a pious preacher had begun to live." This sense is moral, not literal, as is clear from the antithesis that follows: "But the house of the just will remain."

Secondly, Jansenius explains: "turn," that is, overthrow them, O God, so that they may exist no longer and may not oppress the pious.

Thirdly, others explain as if to say: Turn away, O man, yourself and your face from the impious for a little while; and when you turn yourself back to them and look again, you will see that they are no more and have perished, according to that saying of Psalm xxxvi: "I saw the impious exalted and elevated like the cedars of Lebanon. I passed by, and behold he was no more: I sought him, and his place was not found." But if this were the sense, it should say: "Turn yourself from the impious;" but it actually says: "Turn the impious, and they will not be."

Fourthly, our Salazar: "Turn," he says, "that is, spin the impious man around, or whirl him in a circle, so that the sense is: the impious man perishes and ceases to be as quickly as one is whirled in a circle, that is, he will not endure for a longer span than the time it takes to complete a turn. Turn him therefore in a circle, and in the meantime he will be no more. To this relates the deed of that Philosopher who, when asked to declare his opinion on the brevity of human life, turned himself in a circle, implying that he measured the span of life by the duration of one turn. Here alludes the proverb of the Greeks: kuklos ta anthropina, that is, a circle or orbit is human affairs; which therefore I refer not to vicissitude, but rather to duration, that is, human affairs pass away and fail with the same speed with which a circle or orbit is completed by a dancer or by anyone else. So he says.

Fifthly, simply and genuinely, "turn," that is, if you turn the impious even slightly, you will see them overturned and no longer existing, as if to say: The impious have the thinnest subsistence, which by the slightest turn, and so to speak by a single breath, is blown away, scattered, and vanishes like a bubble, just as in the game of chess, dice, or knucklebones, if you turn one chess piece or one die, you will have overturned the entire game, the entire fortune and luck of the player who was winning. For what is the life and lot of the impious but a game of fortune, a game of dice? Hence the Septuagint: wherever the impious man turns himself, he is destroyed; and Cajetan: turn the impious, that is, turn, he says, the wheel of fortune of the impious, so that when the wheel is turned, the impious who stood at the summit are rolled down to the bottom, and you will see them to be no more, as being cast down and deprived of fortune, honor, status, and rank, and finally of life itself, and overturned. Again, "turn the impious," that is, roll the age and century of the impious, roll the few years of their life, and you will see them consumed by death, according to that saying of Ecclesiastes chapter i: "A generation passes, a generation comes." For all these things indicate the swift passage, end, and destruction of the impious with their offspring, as if to say: Turn even a little the wheel of times and ages that are constantly turning and succeeding one another, and you will see that after a few years the impious have perished. For just as in a book, if you turn one page, another follows which covers and buries the first; and if you watch the water of a river being turned and rolled, you will see the water that is before you immediately slip away and flow off, and another succeed and flow in, which pushes out the preceding: so it is exactly with the impious and their houses and families with a small turn of time; if you look for them after a few years, you will see that they have utterly perished and left no heirs, but have been scraped from the earth and buried in eternal oblivion; you will see others, and often outsiders, have succeeded to their place, house, position, wealth, and estates, indeed have excluded and cast down the impious themselves: but the houses and families of the just, because they are founded on justice and on the patronage of God, endure and last through many ages.

Finally, the author of the Greek Catena translates and explains the Septuagint thus: wherever the impious man turns himself in thought, all his effort and thought and every study and counsel is fruitless. By "the house of the just" he expresses in this place good thoughts; since good judgments, and good and salutary reflections, proceed from their minds no differently than from some rich storehouse. For these men are such that their houses too are built upon a rock.

Verse 8: A Man Shall Be Known by His Learning

"Will be known," that is, will be publicly recognized, praised, and celebrated; for this is what the Hebrew יהלל iehulal means: for this is what the antithesis requires. In Hebrew: according to the measure of (that is, in proportion to) his understanding a man will be praised, and he who is perverse in heart will be held in contempt; the Septuagint: the mouth of the intelligent is praised by man: but the sluggard is mocked; or, as the author of the Greek Catena translates and explains: "The mouth of a prudent man is commonly praised: but he who is of a dull and sluggish heart is mocked by all; a man who is industrious and devoted by principle to good actions, even if he is unlearned and unpolished, is better and more honored than a lazy man who uses elegant and polished speech;" the Syriac: mortals praise a prudent mouth, but the senseless will be despised as a fool; Symmachus: according to his prudence a man will be praised; but he who is divided in heart will be put to shame.

Some take doctrine here as speculative, as if to say: A man will be known by his doctrine, namely whether he is a philosopher, or a grammarian, or a physician, or a jurist, etc. For he who teaches or learnedly discusses philosophical matters is known to be a philosopher; he who discusses medical matters, to be a physician; he who discusses legal matters, to be a jurist: but this sense is irrelevant to this passage.

Others take doctrine as truth, as if to say: He who speaks the truth will be known to be truthful and wise: but the vain and senseless man, who utters falsehoods, will be known to be a liar, and therefore will be open to contempt.

But I say: Doctrine here, as throughout this book, is understood not as speculative but as practical, and is the same thing as prudence both in speaking and in acting. The sense therefore is, as if to say: By his doctrine, that is, prudence, a man will be known, in Hebrew, praised, because however much prudence he shows in speaking and acting, so much fame and praise he will equally obtain: on the contrary, he who is vain and senseless, in Hebrew, who is crooked or oblique, that is, depraved and perverse in heart, who namely speaks or acts wickedly, this man will be held in contempt, because he will be considered imprudent, foolish, depraved, and perverse.

Moreover, this prudence requires that what we say and do, first, be true and free from all falsity and lying; second, that it be sincere and free from simulation and hypocrisy; third, that it be weighty and serious, free from levity and the frivolity of jests and trifles; fourth, that it be just and free from injury to others; fifth, that it be useful and free from harm and damage; sixth, that it be mature and opportune, namely suited to the persons, place, and time: for things that are said or done at an inopportune place or time smack of imprudence, and therefore expose the speaker and doer to contempt and ridicule as imprudent.

An example is Joseph, who both in prison and in the house of Potiphar conducted himself so prudently that, celebrated by the mouth of all, he was made by Pharaoh governor of Egypt, and by his prudence relieved the famine that had occupied Egypt and the neighboring provinces, according to that saying of Psalm civ, 21: "He appointed him lord of his house, and prince of all his possessions, that he might instruct his princes like himself, and teach his elders wisdom." And David, of whom it is said in I Kings xviii, 5: "David also went out to whatever Saul sent him, and he conducted himself prudently." And the last verse: "David conducted himself more prudently than all the servants of Saul, and his name became exceedingly famous." And Daniel, who on account of his outstanding prudence was placed by Nebuchadnezzar over the entire Babylonian monarchy, Daniel ii, 48, and v, 12.

Moreover, in speech prudence or imprudence is immediately discerned. Hence Socrates used to say: "Speak, young man, so that I may see you;" for in speech, as in a mirror, the character of the heart and mind is seen. He also used to say: "As a man is, so also will his speech be; and his deeds will be most similar to his speech, and his life to his deeds." Witness is Cicero, Tusculan Disputations V; and about Scipio, cautious in words and deeds, Cato said:

He alone is wise; the rest flit about like shadows.

Maximus, sermon 15, cites Romulus saying that "earthen vessels should be tested by their sound and percussion, but a man by his speech;" and Demonax asserting that "in mirrors the figure of the face can be seen, but in conversations the nature and image of the soul: for speech, like a potter, fashions and brings forth the form of the soul;" and Solon who used to say that "speech is the image of deeds:" for indeed those things which burst forth into action are first conceived in the mind and indicated by words. This is the saying of Democritus in Stobaeus: "In a mirror the figure of the face is seen; but in words the quality of each man's soul is discerned."

Mystically, Bede: "By his doctrine," he says, "each man is known to be what he is, because if he teaches rightly and fulfills these things by works, he is gathered to be holy."

Verse 9: Better Is the Poor Man Who Provides for Himself

In Hebrew: better is one who is base or ignoble and a servant to himself, than one who glorifies himself and lacks bread. For "and a servant to himself" others translate "and a servant is his." Hence the Chaldean: better is the lowly man who has servants; Pagninus: better is he who thinks little of himself and has a servant, than he who glorifies himself and lacks bread; and Vatablus: better is the lowly man who has servants, that is, who is rich, etc., as if to say: He is esteemed more, and cultivated by more people, who goes about humbly in common clothing without a retinue of servants and horses, and meanwhile has at home servants who cultivate fields and vineyards or acquire merchandise by which to increase his wealth, than the boastful man who, dressed in silken and golden garments and pompously attended by many servants, goes about ostentatiously, and yet at home does not have food with which to feed himself and his household. For there are some who display their splendor outwardly and spend all they have on external ornaments, which causes them to be in want at home; for they prefer to go hungry at home and shine abroad, rather than to abound at home and appear shabby abroad, against whom St. Chrysostom inveighs at length in homily 22 on Matthew.

But our translator more correctly translates: better is a poor man who serves, that is, who is self-sufficient; for he who serves himself by working and does not refuse menial tasks easily provides himself with sufficient food and clothing. This man is better, that is, is judged more excellent and wiser, and is more esteemed and cultivated by more people, than the boastful man who goes about magnificently as if noble, and therefore does not wish to work, but boasts of the nobility of his grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and of the splendor of his garments and servants, and meanwhile scarcely has bread at home to eat. Hence Symmachus translates: better is a man serving himself in lowliness; the Syriac: who is of use to himself and serves himself; and the Tigurine: an obscure man who labors for himself is better than a boastful man who lacks bread. So also R. Solomon, Aben-Ezra, and R. Levi: "Better," he says, "is the lowly man who serves himself and cultivates fields, and thus grows rich, than he who is cultivated with honor and wants service rendered to him by others, while he struggles with a lack of bread." Most clearly, however, the Septuagint in the Greek Catena reads thus, and is explained thus by Basil and Chrysostom: "A man who, disregarding honor, serves his own interests, is better than one who hunts for glory and yet does not have bread to eat." Basil: "It is better," he says, "to apply oneself to one's own interests, even if for that reason one is held in contempt by some, than to act thus in reality and yet wish to be counted among the rich." Chrysostom: "Since many refuse labor, not only as troublesome but also as not very honorable, first he sought to remove this objection by the example drawn from the ant's industry and labor (for to those ants he was sending all the lazy above); but here he endeavors to remove that other suspicion, with which someone imbued might perhaps say: Hey you, why do you preach about labor? Working is a base and shameful thing, proper to slaves. But to this he replies: And how much better it is to endure whatever shame this may be and live well, than to waste away with hunger! For what reason, I ask, do you consider it disgraceful to work? For you are not serving another to avoid reproach, but yourself, and that voluntarily. For unless you wished to free yourself from the hardship of starvation, you would have absolutely no otherreason to consider: therefore you yourself are the one who reaps the fruit of such service, and so you serve not so much another as yourself. Consider soldiers — does not each one of them serve himself? Do not those who sustain life by the work of their hands serve themselves in the same way? Therefore do not be angry on account of labor; for you are your own master, and not anyone else. Do you not see beggars who seek their food door to door, serving no one? Therefore they too serve themselves. What honor, I ask, is it for them to lack the bread on which they feed?" So far St. Chrysostom.

Moreover, the Septuagint elegantly opposes the dishonor of the self-sufficient to the honor of the one lacking bread, as if to say: Better the self-sufficient man without glory than the glorious man lacking bread: better the humble man who is sated than the noble man who is famished. From this learn that riches are more excellent than nobility, according to that saying:

Money, the queen, bestows both lineage and beauty.

And hence that labor is better than idleness, and a poor man laboring for himself and content with his few possessions is better than a boastful man for whom nothing suffices for ostentation while everything is lacking for life. Hence the Apostle: "Godliness with sufficiency," he says, "is great gain," in Greek autarkeia, that is, a spirit content with what it has, I Timothy vi, 6. Sirach echoes Solomon: "Better is he," he says, "who works and has abundance in all things, than he who boasts and lacks bread," Sirach x, 30. See what was said there. The maxims of philosophers also echo this. Antonius in the Melissa, chapter xxxviii, cites Socrates saying that it is better to be content in small means and live cheerfully than to live unhappily in great ones. Therefore the richest man is he who is content with the least. Epictetus, when asked "who was rich," answered: "He for whom what he has is enough." Maximus, sermon 12, cites Democritus who, when asked "how one could become rich," answered: "If he is poor in desires, if his wish is needy. Therefore those who are content with natural riches are richer than those who, though possessing much, yet covet more: for those lack nothing, while these lack more than they possess." Plato, when asked "how great should one's wealth be," said: "So great that it neither breeds plots against the possessor nor causes a lack of necessary things." Cleanthes, preferring his own laborious life to the idle life of nobles: "While they," he said, "play ball, I exercise by digging the hard earth." The wise man perceived that man was created by God not for idleness but for labor, so that by it he might provide himself with sustenance. Maximus, sermon 32, cites Democritus who, when asked "how the industrious and diligent differ from the idle:" "As," he said, "the impious differ from the pious, namely by good hope. For those who exercise their body with labors hope for the rich rewards of their labors; but the idle contemplate present want." The Emperor Probus did not allow soldiers to be idle, but accomplished many works by military hands, saying that "a soldier should not eat his ration for free." So Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Probus. Alfonso, King of Aragon, rebuked by someone because he had labored with his own hands, said: "Did God and nature give hands to kings in vain?" Again: "The food of kings is honor," he said, "which the immortal gods sell to men not for idleness or luxury, but for hard labors and much sweat." So Panormitanus in the Fourth Deeds of Alfonso.

True nobility therefore resides in labor, not in idleness, not in pomp, but in virtue; in deeds and virtues that are the coat of arms not of grandfathers but proper to each person: for by labor we are sustained and live, by virtue we are glorified, by deeds we are celebrated. Cicero says admirably in his speech Against Sallust, who reproached him for the lowness of his birth: "It is better," he says, "to flourish by my own deeds than to rely on the reputation of my ancestors; and to live so as to be for my posterity the beginning of nobility and the example of virtue." And the Poet:

Lineage and ancestors, and what we ourselves have not done, I can scarcely call our own.

And Cassian, Conference II, chapter x: "Nothing," he says, "is ours except only this, which is possessed by the heart and clings to our soul, and absolutely cannot be taken away by anyone." Therefore: "The only and sole nobility is virtue. Most noble before God is he who is most illustrious in virtues. He praises what is foreign who praises his own lineage."

And Solon in Ausonius: "It is far more beautiful to acquire nobility than to be born noble." Pope Urban III, to one who objected to him the lowliness of his birth: "Great men," he said, "are not born but made by virtue." Emperor Maximilian, to someone offering gold and wishing to buy nobility: "I can indeed make you rich," he said, "but only your own virtue can ennoble you." As the saying goes: "An ape does not become a lioness by royal decree." St. Gregory Nazianzen, oration 19 On Gregory His Father: "He held," he says, "that the only nobility resides in piety, and in understanding whence we came and where we shall ultimately arrive." And beautifully in Prudentius's Peristephanon, or On Crowns, the Martyr Romanus, noble by birth but more noble by faith and shed blood:

After he spoke a hymn amid the leaden blows, Rising he said: Far be it that the blood of parents Should make me noble, or the law of the Senate: The noble sect of Christ ennobles men.

And St. Agatha to the Governor Quintianus: "Far more excellent," she said, "is Christian humility and servitude than the riches and pride of kings."

Mystically, Salonius: "Truly," he says, "better is a simple and uneducated brother who does the good he knows, by which he may merit to have eternal life in heaven, than a boastful man, that is, one distinguished in learning or adorned with the office of teacher, who lacks the bread of love, because he neither loves the Lord nor his neighbor. Or certainly he lacks bread because he does not practice what he understands or teaches," for example, St. Francis is better than Aristotle and any philosopher or vain theologian.

Cyril adorns this maxim with a beautiful fable of the ape and the fox, book III of the Moral Apologues, chapter x, whose title is: That it is better to need less than to have more. When the ape, he says, playful, dressed in a garment and entangled in a vain little chain, was exulting and rejoicing and boasting of its wealth and happiness, the fox rebuked it, saying that these things were not so much abundance as want, since the garment was a sign of need and the chain of captivity. "For poverty," he says, "consists in being in need; fortune consists in having the means to supply this need; but avarice consists in always desiring more. If you have more, either you need it or you do not; and if you have it, either you use it or you do not. If you use it by indulging in luxury, you are foolish; if you do not use it, you are avaricious by hoarding. But if you are needy and yet possess things, however artfully rich, you are naturally that poor. See then that to have more is possible for no one without either vice or some poverty: therefore you boast in vain because you have more. I for my part now glory in needing less, and in being bare by design; because I neither need nor desire a garment, I consider myself richer. Certainly, he who needs less is naturally rich, since he is self-sufficient. For this alone, unless I am mistaken, I would consider to be true wealth: not begged from elsewhere, but born from the renunciation of desire, to have sufficiency. Diogenes, the conqueror of desire, considered himself the richer the less he needed. Hence when he had seen a man taking a drink with the natural vessel of his hands, now made richer by his example than he himself had been, he broke his drinking cup. Therefore riches of this kind are either the consoling relief of natural poverty, or the burdensome yoke of anxious desire. Learn therefore that it is better not to be in need than to possess while being needy."

Verse 10: The Just Man Regards the Lives of His Beasts

The Syriac: but the impious close their bowels; the Chaldean: the compassions of the impious are cruelty. For the Hebrew רחמים rachamim means both compassions and bowels, which are the seat of mercy and are moved by compassion. The sense of the Chaldean therefore is, as if to say: The compassions of the impious are cruel, and therefore are not compassion but cruelty. For whenever they render some mercy, they drag the poor wretch through so many delays, and bring their benefits into hatred with such harshness of words and arrogance, and finally burden and sell them with such a weight of conditions and usury, that they seem not so much to have mercy as to exercise ferocity and cruelty.

The sense of the Vulgate version is, as if to say: The just man knows how great are the labors and pains that the souls of his beasts endure: and therefore he moderates, alleviates, comforts, and heals them. Again, he knows what the soul of the beast desires, and provides it. Hence Pagninus translates: the just man knows the appetite of his beast. For the soul is the seat and symbol of appetite. He knows therefore not merely speculatively but also practically: he knows, that is, he attends to and takes care of his beasts. Thus it is said in II Timothy ii, 19: "The Lord knows who are His," that is, God loves, cares for, protects, and advances His elect. And Psalm i, 6: "The Lord knows the way of the just;" He knows, that is, He loves, directs, favors, and prospers them. Hence the Septuagint translates: the just man has mercy on the souls of his beasts; but the bowels of the impious are without mercy.

Now by beasts, first, Lyranus understands servants and handmaids: for beasts are called "jumenta" as if "juvamenta" (aids); and servants help their master.

Secondly, Bede by beasts understands neighbors who are rude and dull like beasts: for we ought to help these and in turn be helped by them by the law of nature and charity. "The just man," he says, "has compassion and mercy on the dullness and frailty of the neighbors committed to him." For the care that a herdsman bears for his oxen and beasts, and a shepherd for his sheep, the same care a ruler ought to bear for his subjects.

Thirdly, properly and genuinely, Aben-Ezra: The just man knows, he says, what his cattle need, and mercifully provides it to them, because the just man has mercy not only on humans but also on brute animals; especially because this mercy redounds to his own benefit. For he who feeds and fattens his ox feeds and fattens himself: for the ox will plow the earth for its master and produce crops, and then will yield itself to him for food. And so, even though friendship and charity properly speaking do not exist between us and brute animals, as St. Thomas and Aristotle teach, yet it extends to them as if by an addition and a certain increase; and this love is not so much of friendship as of desire, because the master loves the ox not for the good of the ox, but because the ox is his beast, his property, and his good. So St. Chrysostom, homily 29 on the Epistle to the Romans: "For the souls of the Saints," he says, "are exceedingly gentle and loving of men, not only toward their own but also toward strangers, so that they extend this their gentleness even to brute animals. Therefore a certain wise man also said: The just man has mercy on the souls of his beasts. If therefore on beasts, much more on men." The same Chrysostom more fully explains this passage in the Greek Catena: "What," he says, "do I hear? Does the just man have mercy on the souls of his beasts? Certainly we ought to show great humanity and clemency even toward them, both for other reasons and especially because by that means and occasion we learn to have compassion and sympathy for those who are of the same kind as we. For God did not without reason command in the law that we raise up a beast that has fallen, lead back a straying sheep to the way, and not muzzle the ox that threshes. He wishes therefore that we exercise great mercy even toward brute animals. First indeed for our own sake, then so that they may be more fit for performing their necessary services; and finally so that, accustomed to exercising care and humanity toward those which render their services to us, we may gradually become kind and merciful toward our neighbors.

He then relates that he had cursed his sow, which had killed a lamb, and the sow soon began to be sick and died within three days; similarly, that he had set free captured birds and fish: wherefore they applauded him, and invited by him praised God with their song. Wonderful are the things he adds about a cicada, a pheasant, a falcon, and wolves loved and protected by the holy man, and invited to the praise of God.

Mystically, R. Levi: The just man, he says, knows the soul of his beast, that is, he protects and cares for the life of his body (for the body is as it were the beast of the soul), and therefore he takes care not to afflict his body with excessive labor, nor to destroy it with excessive austerity of vigils, fasting, hair shirts, and disciplines. "But the bowels of the impious are cruel," because while they intemperately indulge in gluttony, lust, and vices, they cruelly rage against themselves: for they harm both their health and their strength, and indeed not rarely take away their own life, or certainly shorten it.

Finally, noteworthy here is the inference and hidden teaching of Cassian, Conference xi, chapter x: "The just man," he says, "has mercy on the souls of his beasts; but the bowels of the impious are without mercy. And therefore it is most certain that a monk is subject to the same vices which he condemns in another with harsh and inhuman severity. For a rigid king will fall into evils," Proverbs xiii, according to the Septuagint.

Therefore God had commanded the Jews to have mercy on beasts, so that they might learn to have mercy on their neighbors, lest, if they were cruel to beasts, they should learn to be savage toward men. Thus He ordained: "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together," Deuteronomy xxii, 10, because the donkey is unequal to the ox: therefore if it pulled the same yoke with the ox, it would be burdened beyond what is fair. And: "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk," Exodus xxv, 19, because it is cruel that the mother's milk, which is the kid's nourishment of life, should become for it a torment of death. And: "If walking along the way you find a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground, and the mother sitting on the chicks or eggs, you shall not take her with the young, but shall let her go," Deuteronomy xxii, 6. Thus He ordained the Sabbath day, so that rest might be given in it both to beasts and to men from all work and labor at which they toil throughout the week, Deuteronomy v, 14. This mercy God ordained not only by His word but also by His example. For He Himself takes care of beasts. Hence that saying of Psalm xxxv, 7: "You will save men and beasts, O Lord." And Christ, says St. Bernard, was placed in the manger between the ox and the donkey, to save men and beasts. And Psalm ciii, 14: "Bringing forth hay for the beasts." And Psalm cxlvi, 9: "Who gives the beasts their food, and the young ravens that call upon Him." Therefore those who are merciful to animals imitate God and God's piety.

Thus St. Anselm, as his Life records, was moved by a feeling of compassion toward animals, and wept for them when he saw them caught in the snares of hunters. The Emperor Gordian the Elder, according to Capitolinus, was of such great goodness that in the schools, if any of the boys was beaten, he could not hold back his tears.

Above all others, St. Francis showed this sense of piety toward animals, about whom St. Bonaventure writes thus, book I of his Life, chapter viii: "Filled with an ever more abundant piety from his consideration of the first origin of all things, he called creatures however small by the names of brother or sister, because he knew that they had the same origin as himself. Yet he embraced more tenderly and sweetly those which by their natural likeness prefigure the gentle meekness of Christ and represent it in the signification of Scripture. He frequently redeemed lambs that were being led to slaughter, mindful of that most gentle Lamb who willed to be led to the slaughter for the redemption of sinners."

For he who has mercy on strangers will much more have mercy on those who are close and members of his household, and he who exercises mercy on a beast will exercise it even more on a blood brother. But perhaps you will say: A beast brings the use of service, but a brother brings none at all. On the contrary, a very great one: for he obtains for you an eternal reward with God. See what care and service we bestow on beasts so that they may be well: and we do not consider this shameful or disgraceful, and yet shall we consider it shameful to serve men? But tropically, by beasts he signifies in this place disciples who are unteachable and almost destitute of the light of reason."

Verse 11: He Who Tills His Land Shall Be Satisfied

In Hebrew: he lacks sense. For "idleness" the Hebrew is רקים rekim, which Aquila, Theodotion, and the Septuagint translate kena, that is, vain things; the Syriac: he who hastens after vanity; the Chaldean: empty things; Pagninus: empty ones; Baynus: inane things; the Tigurine: lost ones. For rekim signifies lazy, idle, vain, lost people, such as buffoons and able-bodied beggars; likewise vain, empty, lost things. For he who keeps company with lazy and idle buffoons pursues lazy, vain, shameful, and wicked idleness, and becomes a buffoon, a slanderer, a thief, etc. Here applies the proverb of the Syrians and Arabs, Century 2, no. 27: "Acquire diligence, for it is a great treasure;" and no. 28: "Depart from laziness, for it is full of loss."

St. Chrysostom, in the Greek Catena, connects this to the preceding verses 9 and 10, as if to say: "Not because I said one should work and labor did I also say one should grow rich unjustly. Work is indeed good and honorable, but that which is joined with justice, such as agriculture. For sloth begets and fosters malice, and does not increase the household's wealth." St. Jerome adds: he takes "vain things" as commerce, being dangerous and uncertain, as if the Wise Man calls men away from it to agriculture. For explaining that passage of Isaiah xxiii about Tyre: "Work your land; for ships no longer come from Carthage. For it benefited Tyre," says Jerome, "that foreign ships perished, so that she was forced to work her own land, about which it is said in Proverbs: He who works his land will be satisfied with bread."

But under agriculture here he understands any honest work and any art of growing rich honorably: for this is opposed to idle sloth; yet he proposes agriculture, both because it is most necessary, and because it is "the most innocent art" (says St. Augustine, writing against Faustus the Manichean, who condemned it as homicide because by uprooting plants one takes away their soul and life), and therefore it was commanded to Adam in paradise, and again after the expulsion from paradise, which the first Patriarchs consequently practiced, and then kings and princes too, such as Job, Abraham, Moses, Esau, etc. Indeed even Diocletian, according to Eutropius, having left the empire, grew old in rural life, and when Herculeus and Galerius invited him to resume the empire, he said: "If only at Salona you could see the vegetables planted by our own hands! You would certainly never judge that worth attempting." Farantes, king of the Indians, when Apollonius asked about his diet, said: "I feed on the fruits of my citizens, or on vegetables, or on what the trees provide me, which I cultivate with these hands." Lysander the Lacedaemonian, when he came to Cyrus the Younger, king of Persia, was led into the garden, and having admired both the height of the trees and the rows arranged in quincunx pattern and the well-worked soil, asked Cyrus by whom the trees had been planted and by whose skill they had been so aptly measured. To whom Cyrus replied: "Indeed I myself am the one who measured all this; mine are the rows, mine the design; for they were sown by my own hand." Then Lysander, gazing at the purple robe and the Persian ornament gleaming with much gold, is said to have declared: "Rightly, Cyrus, do men call you blessed, since fortune is joined to your virtue." So Cicero in the Cato.

You ask why the pursuer of idleness is called most foolish. I answer first, because idleness induces poverty and reduces a man to hunger and death. But what is more foolish than to bring upon oneself hunger and death through idle sloth? And what else is idleness "but the burial of a living man?" as the Philosopher says.

Secondly, because idleness makes the lazy mind grow dull and brutish, just as idle iron grows dull and is covered with rust, like a sword or knife that no one uses. Hence Cassiodorus: "Human nature," he says, "just as it is instructed by hard labors, so it is made stupid by torpid idleness." Plutarch agrees in the Morals: "The intellect of man," he says, "contracts a kind of decay and old age in idleness, because of obscurity, and a quiet and sedentary life brings languor not only to bodies but also to minds." And St. Chrysostom, homily 5 on I Corinthians: "Their souls (of those who labor) are purer," he says, "their minds are stronger and firmer. For he who is idle both speaks much rashly and does much rashly, and works at nothing all day long, and has his mind filled with torpor and lethargy."

Thirdly, because idleness breeds slander, calumnies, mockeries, thefts, and is the cause of every evil; for the idle become gamblers, drinking companions, fornicators, plunderers, etc. Wherefore Diogenes, according to Laertius, book VI, used to say that the occupation of the idle was love, because this passion especially occupies those devoted to idleness. For thus it happens that while they are at leisure, they fall into the most busy affair of all. And Appius Claudius, according to Valerius Maximus, used to say that the Roman people were far better entrusted with business than with leisure: because the people are aroused to virtue by wars, but in peace they slide into pleasures and luxury, from which arises the destruction of republics and kingdoms.

Mystically, Polychronius in the Greek Catena: "By land," he says, "he here means the soul, in which good and evil thoughts are generated; good ones, if you exercise it with holy thoughts and works; evil ones, if you allow it to be idle. By bread he means the nourishment of the divine word; and he calls those foolish who occupy themselves with vain doctrine." So also Bede: "He," he says, "strenuously works his land who instructs the soul of his heart through daily exercises, through meditation on the law, through vigilance of mind, like one who practices agriculture, and does not cease to refresh the sense of his inner man with spiritual food as with bread, lest he be endangered by the famine of ignorance. He who exercises his soul with spiritual studies will now be filled with virtues and then with the feasts of rewards; but he who now refuses to labor for the salvation of his soul will then be rejected among the fools: even though he now seems glorious in either divine or worldly wisdom."

Again, Blessed Peter Damian by land understands the body, which must be subdued by labors and penances so that it may bring forth the fruit of continence and beneficence. For he says thus in his letter to the Brothers who transgress the commandments: "Whoever desires to grow rich with the abundance of spiritual harvests, let him now toil to furrow the field of his body with the plowshare of discipline and continence by continual labor, and let him break up the clods of his fallow ground as with a wise hoe; and whatever he finds hard and barren in himself, let him crush by the blows of constant penance. Nor let him cease to uproot entirely the stinging nettles of gluttony and the bristling brambles of carnal desires, so that the fields of his body may be able to bring forth abundant yields of spiritual harvests. Hence Solomon says: He who works his land will be satisfied with bread." See what I have said about agriculture both literal and mystical at Genesis ii, 15.

HE WHO IS PLEASANT IN LINGERING OVER WINE (Bede and Lyranus incorrectly read: in the moderations of wine), LEAVES DISGRACE IN HIS FORTIFICATIONS.

This verse is absent from the Hebrew, but the Roman and Greek editions have it, reading thus: he who pleasantly lingers at wine gatherings (symposia) leaves ignominy in his fortifications. The sense is, as if to say: He who delights in lingering at banquets and wine-drinking bouts, this man "in his fortifications," that is, in his houses, citadels, cities, and other places however well fortified, leaves infamy and ignominy, because drunkenness brings with it many disgraces, dishonors, and losses, among which the first is that the drunk man, bereft of his senses, blurts out whatever is in his mind and reveals all his secrets, on account of which he stirs up hatreds against himself, invites ambushes, and is deprived of his fortune and often of his life. Again, the drunk man in the heat of unmixed wine strips his body and its parts which decency covers. Thus Noah drunk uncovered his shameful parts, which is indeed a great ignominy, and therefore he was mocked by his son Ham, Genesis ix, 22.

The second is that, when he grows hot with unmixed wine, he says and does many ridiculous, tasteless, and delirious things. Hence St. Basil, oration On Drunkenness: "When much unmixed wine has been poured in," he says, "like a certain tyrant it seizes the citadel, and from the very summit produces immense tumults in the soul, sparing nothing, not even the ruling part; but first it leads reason itself into captivity; then it confuses and disturbs that disposition and ornament which is the offspring of learning, with indecorous laughter, dreadful voice, headlong anger, unbridled lust, and frenzy and madness toward every shameful pleasure."

The third is that he fills the dining room and bedroom with vomit, hangover, and filth, according to that saying of Isaiah chapter xxviii, verse 8: "The tables are filled with vomit." And Jeremiah xlviii, 26: "Moab shall dash his hand in his own vomit, and he too shall be a laughingstock." And that saying of Habakkuk ii, 16: "You are filled with ignominy; drink you also and be stupefied; the cup of the right hand of the Lord shall surround you, and the vomit of ignominy shall be upon your glory."

The fourth is that by drinking he squanders his patrimony, and thus reduces himself, his children, and his wife to want and poverty. For, as St. Ambrose says, book On Elijah and Fasting, chapter xii: "Drunkards drink in one day the labors of many days."

The fifth is that the drunkenness of citizens and soldiers gives the enemy the opportunity to invade, capture, and lay waste to citadels and cities: so the author of the Greek Catena. Thus Belshazzar by his drinking bout lost his life, Babylon, and the monarchy of the Babylonians, Daniel chapter v, verse 30. Thus Holofernes by his drunkenness lost himself and the entire Assyrian camp, Judith xiii. Wherefore, as St. Ambrose says, book On Elijah and Fasting, chapter ix: "The fasting of one woman (Judith) laid low countless armies of drunkards." Thus Troy, indulging in pleasure, was captured by the Greeks, according to that saying of Virgil, Aeneid II:

They invade the city buried in wine and sleep.

Truly Plato, in Stobaeus, sermon 18: "A drunken helmsman," he says, "and anyone placed in charge of anything overturns everything, whether a ship, a chariot, an army, a city, or whatever thing is committed to his trust." Wherefore the same Plato, dialogue 3 On the Republic, ordains thus: "It is not granted to a guardian to be so weighed down by drunkenness that he does not know where in the world he is, for it would be ridiculous for a guardian to need a guardian."

Finally, St. Ambrose describes the disgraces and damages of drunkenness, book On Elijah and Fasting, chapter xvi: "Drunkenness," he says, "is the incentive of lust, drunkenness is the incitement of madness, drunkenness is the poison of wisdom. It changes the senses and forms of men; through it men become neighing horses. For, inflamed both by the natural heat of a hot body and beyond nature by the heat of wine, they cannot restrain themselves and are aroused to bestial lusts, so that they have no prescribed time that would teach them to indulge in intercourse; they lose their voice, they change color, their eyes burn, they pant with their mouth, they snort through their nostrils, they burn with fury, they lose their senses. Hence dangerous delirium, hence the grave pain of kidney stones, hence deadly indigestion, hence the frequent vomiting that pours forth half-eaten meals with blood from the inner bowels." And after a few things interposed: "Hence also vain visions, uncertain sight, unsteady gait; they often leap over shadows as if they were pits. The earth sways before their face, it seems suddenly to rise and fall, and as if it were spinning; fearing, they fall on their face and grasp the ground with their hands, or they seem to themselves to be enclosed by converging mountains. A murmur in their ears like the crashing of a surging sea and shores resounding with waves. If they see dogs, they think them lions and flee. Some dissolve in disorderly laughter, others lament with inconsolable grief, others perceive irrational terrors. Waking they dream, sleeping they quarrel. Life for them is a dream, sleep for them is death; they cannot be roused by any voices however much you may prod and push them; unless they come to their senses, they cannot awaken. Hence rightly Jeremiah thinks that such a man should be mourned as a superfluous creature. What is a drunken man but a superfluous creature?"

Verse 12: The Desire of the Wicked Is a Defense of Evil

Bede, Lyranus, and the Complutensians incorrectly read "monument" for "fortress," and thus explain it as if to say: The impious desire and rejoice as long as wicked men like them flourish in human memory and splendid tombs and monuments are erected to them. Incorrectly, I say: for the Hebrew מצוד metsod means a citadel and fortress, not a monument; it also means a net and hunting. Hence R. Solomon, translating it as "hunting," explains thus, as if to say: "The impious especially desire this: to feed on and sustain their life with what wicked men have hunted down by fraud and plunder." Better the Chaldean translates: the impious man desires the nets of evil; the Syriac: for doing evil; Cajetan: the desire of the impious is a snare of evils, as if to say: The impious man desires and seeks ways, arts, and deceits by which, as by nets, he may ensnare and destroy the just; but the just, with God protecting them, will escape them. "For the root of the just will prosper;" the Syriac: will sprout; the Chaldean: will remain; the Tigurine translates: he who desires impiety hunts evil; but the root is fruitful for the just; Vatablus: the impious man desires the net of evildoers, that is, he desires that the arts of evildoers or the fortress and defense of evildoers be given to him, by which he may safely harm others.

This version is clear and easy, and the Vulgate can be accommodated to it. Yet the more straightforward sense of the Vulgate version is, as if to say: The impious desire that the worst men be fortified and strengthened, so that by their alliance and strength they may protect and establish themselves and their impiety against pious and upright men and princes. Thus heretics of one city or kingdom desire that heretics of other cities and kingdoms be strengthened and win victories against orthodox princes, so that through them they may establish themselves and their heresy, and ruin and overturn the orthodox faith along with the princes who defend it. But they labor in vain. For with God as the avenger of impiety protecting the faith and His faithful, "the root of the just will prosper," so that justice and the just may drive firmer roots, that is, may be more confirmed and strengthened, and may grow and advance more and more; while on the contrary impiety with the impious gradually weakens, decreases, and vanishes, as we now see and rejoice that heresy is decreasing. Wherefore the author of the Greek Catena translates and explains from the Septuagint thus: the desires of the impious are wicked, but the roots of the pious, as if surrounded by a rampart, are firm. And the Apostle Paul also calls piety and charity a root and foundation: "Grounded," he writes, "and rooted in charity." Moreover, men of this kind are placed in safety, since piety frees from every adversity. Or certainly this is said because their judgments and thoughts are founded upon the rock, which is Christ: so far the author.

Again, our Salazar, translating the Septuagint from the Complutensian and Roman editions literally, renders it thus: the desires of the impious are evil; but the root of the just is in fortifications. And he explains this in three ways: First, as if to say: The desires and pursuits of the impious are fixed on evil things, that is, on perishable and earthly things; they think of nothing sublime and heavenly; but on the contrary the roots of the just, by which, as by nets, he may ensnare and destroy the just; but the just, with God protecting them, will escape them. "For the root of the just will prosper;" the Syriac: will sprout; the Chaldean: will remain; the Tigurine translates: he who desires impiety hunts evil; but the root is firm and fruitful for the just; Vatablus: the impious man desires the net of evildoers, that is, he desires that the arts of evildoers or the fortress and defense of evildoers be given to him, by which he may safely harm others. that is, their affections and pursuits are in fortifications, as if to say: The just aspire to higher and more sublime things, they meditate on heavenly things, and in these they fix their desires. Or alternatively: The will and mind of the impious is indeed disarmed and weak, and therefore innumerable desires and depraved affections invade it. But "the root of the just," that is, their will and spirit, is "in fortifications," that is, hedged in on every side and fortified, so that depraved desires cannot assail and conquer it. Or finally, which I think is preferable, the word "root" in the familiar manner of speaking in Scripture signifies riches and fortunes. And so the sense is: The desires of the impious are evil, that is, inclined to inflicting harm; for they most eagerly desire to circumvent the just and upright and to plunder them of their goods. But the root of the pious, that is, their possessions, are in fortifications, that is, they are safe and secure from their plots, as if surrounded and enclosed by walls. So he says in his customary elegant and ingenious manner.

Verse 13: He Who Is Snared by His Own Lips

The word "malo" (to the wicked) is masculine gender, not neuter, as if to say: to a wicked man, not to a wicked thing, or toward a wicked thing. For "ruin" the Hebrew is מוקש mokes, that is, a snare, which leads men and birds into ruin and death. Hence from the Hebrew you may translate: in the transgression of the lips a snare to the wicked, that is, to the impious man, supply: draws near. Others translate: a wicked snare, as if to say: The impious man by the fraud he fashions with his lips constructs an evil snare for others. But the former version is more apt. Hence the Septuagint translates: because of the slip of his lips the sinner falls into snares (the Chaldean: the wicked man falls; the Syriac: will be captured), but the just man easily avoids such snares; Vatablus: the wicked man is entangled by his own speech, but the just man escapes from distress.

The sense is, as if to say: The impious man is intemperate of tongue, and by his garrulity and scurrility he imprudently prepares for himself a snare and ruin, because on account of it he falls into many quarrels and calamities. But the just man will escape from distress, both because he guards against garrulity, which begets snares and distresses; and because the just man is so wise and cautious that if he should ever fall into some distress, he knows how to extricate himself from it and escape the snare by his prudence and sagacity in speaking and acting. Thus David, accused before Achish, king of the Philistines, of being a traitor sent by Saul to destroy him, escaped this calumny by prudently feigning himself mad and delirious, I Kings xxi, 13. Thus Abigail averted and escaped the destruction threatening her house from David on account of the harshness of her husband Nabal, by calming the anger of David with prudent and humble speech, I Kings xxv, 23 and following.

Mystically, St. Thomas, in his sermon On the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, applies this statement to him and proposes it as the theme of his sermon: The Baptist, he says, today beheaded by Herod, was freed from a threefold distress, namely of prison, of the body, and virtue consists; for very often it also consists in words. Wherefore he adds: The retribution of his lips shall be rendered to him. And here also pertains that saying of the Lord: Out of thy own mouth I judge thee, thou wicked servant." Another author in the same place says: "The speech of a manly soul tends toward virtue; and indeed a good man produces good fruits, just as conversely a bad man produces bad ones. The Lord, however, as a kind and generous giver, pays a generous reward to the good, but does not inflict punishments by design; rather, the wicked bring them upon themselves."

But most especially this wise man signifies those who, by kind words as well as almsgiving, console, gladden, and cheer up the sorrowful, the sick, and the afflicted — that they shall in like manner, and with equal, indeed greater measure (as the Septuagint implies), be gladdened and cheered by God and by others, according to that saying of St. Gregory: "And by bestowing joys, you shall receive that by which you yourself are to be gladdened." And that saying: "With what measure you have measured, it shall be measured back to you." And that saying of Christ: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," Matthew 5.

After this verse, the Septuagint in the Roman edition inserts this maxim, which exists neither in the Hebrew, nor in the Greek, nor in the Latin Vulgate: "He who looks upon light things shall be deemed worthy of mercy; but he who meets in the gates shall vex souls." That is, as the Scholiast says: "He who looks upon light things," that is, the upright, modest, and not curious man, is worthy of mercy. "But he who meets in the gates," that is, the curious man who intrudes himself into affairs, will vex many. The author of the Greek Catena, however, states this verse thus and explains it: "He who looks with a calm and merciful eye shall himself obtain mercy; but he who thrusts himself forward in the gates wears out souls. By 'one who looks calmly' he seems to mean one who labors under neither envy nor avarice, nor is ignorant of what discretion requires; but by 'one who meets in the gates' he designates the avaricious man, or certainly one who lays snares for his neighbor or opposes him; or a man of the sort who thrusts himself upon those entering the tribunal for the sake of controversies, right at the very entrance; or finally one who tries to lead away from the paths that lead to life onto evil byways, those against whom he plots evil." And Olympiodorus says: "He who does not look harshly, that is, he who is adorned with an upright and calm mind (having nothing of harshness remaining from sin), shall see God. But he who meets in the gates is the avaricious man; indeed, seeking someone to wear down and consume, he is said to meet and lie in ambush, as it were, in the gates, where justice was formerly administered."

Verse 14: Of the Fruit of His Own Mouth Shall a Man Be Filled

So also St. Chrysostom, in the Greek Catena, says: "Do not think that only in works of the world, etc., because it passed into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God; for he went to the limbo of the fathers, announcing to them that Christ had come. Whence Christ also, crucified and dead the following year, descending to limbo, conferred upon him together with the other fathers the glory of blessedness, and ascending gloriously into heaven, led him along with Himself in triumph.

Verse 15: The Way of a Fool Is Right in His Own Eyes

Pagninus renders it: he obeys counsel. Symmachus rightly inverts it: but he who hearkens to counsels, he says, shall be wise, because from the counsel he has received, he will advance in wisdom. The meaning is, as if to say: The fool, that is, the unwise and imprudent man, deems what he has conceived and judges, or desires and loves, to be fair and right in the eyes of his mind; whence, trusting in himself, he neglects to consult others. But the wise man, distrusting his own judgment, consults others and willingly embraces and follows their counsels.

The first reason is that fools are proud, and they think themselves wiser than others, indeed that they alone are wise. Again: "While they desire to be thought learned and wise rather than to be so, therefore they refuse to listen to others," says St. Augustine, Epistle 174. But the wise are humble, and they know that in one's own affairs anyone is easily deceived, nor do they seek to be regarded as wise, but to be wise; therefore they gladly listen to others, indeed they consult them. For others judge more sincerely about us and our affairs than we ourselves do. For in our own matters, self-love blinds us.

The second reason is that fools love their desires and are so attached to them that they are unwilling to be torn away from them; therefore they take care not to consult others, lest their depraved desires and judgments be exposed, and they be forced by the power of truth to abandon and change them. But the wise follow the judgment of reason, virtue, and divine law, which counsels us to consult others in our own affairs, lest a hidden love of some desire obscure our judgment and substitute desire for reason.

The third reason is that fools are hard-headed, tenacious and obstinate in what they have once persuaded themselves of; whereas the wise allow themselves to be led and bent wherever reason and the truth of counsels suggested by others lead them. Thus Moses, although conversing continually with God, nevertheless willingly accepted the counsel of his father-in-law Jethro about sharing the burden of governance with others, to the great advantage of himself and the whole people, Exodus 18. Thus St. Peter, although the head of the Church, humbly heard and accepted the counsel — indeed the correction — of Paul, though his inferior, about not Judaizing, Galatians 2.

St. Augustine excelled in this regard, for although he was of the keenest intellect and eminent learning, he was nonetheless accustomed to consult others, and especially St. Jerome, about difficulties in Sacred Scripture, as is evident from his Epistle 8 to St. Jerome, at the end of which he says: "Indeed, the same brother carries with him some of our writings, which if you deign to read, I beg you to apply also a sincere and brotherly severity. For I understand the Scripture passage — 'The just man shall correct me in mercy and shall reprove me, but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head' — in no other way than this: that the one who reproves and heals loves more than the flatterer who anoints the head. But I find it very difficult to be a good judge of what I have written; I am either more timid than is right, or more partial. I also sometimes see my own faults, but I prefer to hear about them from my betters, lest, when I have perhaps rightly reproved myself, I again flatter myself and seem to have passed upon myself a timorous rather than a just sentence."

Likewise St. Ambrose, who, writing to Sabinus, submits his writings to the judgment of one whom he acknowledged to be his inferior in learning, and adds the reason: "For I do not know how it is that, besides the fog of imprudence that surrounds me, one's own writings deceive everyone, and just as even ugly children delight their parents, so also even unbecoming words flatter their author."

Finally, parallel to Solomon is that maxim of Sirach: "My son, do nothing without counsel, and after the deed you shall not repent," Ecclesiasticus 32:24. And that saying of Tobit to his son, chapter 4, verse 19: "Always seek counsel from a wise man."

Verse 16: The Fool Immediately Shows His Anger

In Hebrew: the fool's anger shall be known in the same day, that is, as the Septuagint and the Syriac render it: the imprudent man declares his anger on the same day. St. Cyprian: he reveals his fury. The Chaldean: the fool inopportunely displays his anger.

BUT HE WHO CONCEALS AN INJURY IS PRUDENT.

In Hebrew: he who covers disgrace is prudent. Vatablus: is cautious. The Septuagint: but the prudent man hides (Bede: conceals) disgrace. "Prudent" here therefore means the same as wise and shrewd: so the author of the Greek Catena. It signifies that in offense and anger, a wise man is most easily distinguished from a fool, because the fool immediately betrays his anger, while the wise man covers, conceals, and dissimulates it. Hence that elegant Hebrew proverb: backis backos backaus, that is: in the purse, in the cup, in anger, the character and disposition of a man is most readily known — for in the purse his avarice or generosity is known; in the cup his sobriety or drunkenness; in anger his prudence in dissimulating, or his imprudence in showing indignation or seeking revenge.

A threefold distinction is therefore here implied, by which the wise man is distinguished from the fool in anger. The first is: If a fool is stung by a rather harsh word, much more if by a blow, he is immediately seized by anger and flies into a rage, because he is driven by passion, not by reason. But the wise man, even if he is assailed by a taunt, or some other harsh word or deed, restrains his mind from becoming angry, because he possesses it in a calm state, since he has mortified his anger and is its master and lord. Wherefore in the wise man "anger obeys reason as a dog obeys its shepherd," as St. Basil says, Homily On Anger — namely, that like a dog it is now set loose upon the flock, now called back by reason at its pleasure.

The second: The fool, seized by anger, inwardly indulges it in his soul. For while he continually dwells on and exaggerates the injury done to him, he further kindles and inflames his spirit, already heavy with anger; for he has not applied himself to mortification, but like a brute follows his angers and appetites and indulges them. Whence it happens that from anger he falls into indignation and fury. But the wise man, even if sometimes seized by sudden anger, immediately restrains and curbs it in his soul. For he at once calls upon the judgment of his mind, which suggests to him many reasons for repressing anger. Again, the wise man knows that saying of Sixtus the philosopher, number 273: "Know that it is great wisdom by which you can bear the foolishness of the uneducated." And number 283: "It is the mark of a wise man to bear the indignation of those in his household." St. Ambrose says excellently, commenting on chapter 6 of St. Luke, on the words Blessed are the poor: "Calm your feelings, so that you do not become angry, or at least if angry, do not sin, according to what is written: Be angry and sin not. For it is splendid to temper impulse with counsel, nor is it considered a lesser virtue to restrain anger than not to be angry at all, since generally the former is deemed more gentle, the latter more courageous."

The third: The fool outwardly betrays the anger conceived in his soul through an angry countenance, through words full of indignation, through threatening gestures, etc. For he shouts, clamors, threatens, claps his hands, stamps the ground with his feet, hurls insults, etc. For just as a spark of fire cast into straw, unless it is extinguished, creeps and spreads, nor ceases until it has pervaded the whole house within — and once that is done, bursts forth outside through windows and roofs — so exactly is the case with anger, which the fool does not resist, but follows, favors, and augments. But the wise man suppresses and conceals anger conceived in his soul, even if justly conceived, lest it burst forth. For he wisely considers that if he betrays it, he will further inflame both others and himself with anger, stir up quarrels and disputes, and accomplish nothing good but much evil, according to the words of the Apostle: "Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your anger," Ephesians 4:26 — see what is said there. "For he who avenges injuries magnifies them," says Aristotle. Prudently, therefore, he restrains anger like a wild beast in his soul, lest this raging lion, leaping forth, rush to the harm and slaughter of many; wherefore he waits until, with anger calmed, he may handle his affair by reason, and either by correcting the offender, or by legally pursuing his case, or better still by pardoning and obliterating the injury done to him.

So Cassian, Conference 16, chapter 27: "The fool declares his anger that very hour; but the prudent man conceals his disgrace. For he does not decree, he says, that the disgraceful passion of anger should be so concealed by the wise as to blame the swiftness of anger without prohibiting its slowness — which indeed, if it has rushed in through the necessity of human weakness, he judged should be concealed, so that while it is wisely covered up for the present, it may be destroyed forever. For this is the nature of anger: that when deferred it languishes and perishes, but when brought forth it blazes up more and more. Therefore our hearts must be widened and enlarged, lest, constricted by the narrowness of pusillanimity, they be so filled with the turbulent surges of anger that we cannot receive with a narrow heart that exceedingly broad commandment of God according to the Prophet, nor say with the Prophet: I have run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou didst enlarge my heart."

Therefore the wise man judges it better to conceal and pardon the disgrace inflicted upon him than to renew and increase it by dwelling on it; for he knows that by this means more virtue and glory will accrue to him than if he were to betray his anger by threatening or avenging. For, as St. Basil says, Homily On Anger: "If you are not moved at all, you are whole in soul and healthy; but if you suffer something in spirit, at least hide the sorrow within yourself. My heart is troubled within me (says the Prophet), that is, I did not show outwardly the disturbance of my soul, but retained it like a wave within a steep shore." And shortly after: "You will therefore calm your mind when it is raging and embittered." He suggests the method: "Fear within yourself, in the recess of your heart, the tribunal of reason, just as boys doing something immodest are wont to fear the presence of a venerable man." Thus Saul, already created king, dissimulated the taunts and reproaches of his people, and restrained his anger and vengeance, 1 Kings 10:27: "For he who knows not how to dissimulate, knows not how to rule."

I have reviewed various methods of calming anger at Ephesians 4, verses 26 and 31; but scarcely any is more effective than the contemplation of Christ crucified, if you gaze upon and meditate on His sufferings as well as His patience. For, as St. Ambrose says, in his treatise On the Conflict of Virtues and Vices: "If the Passion of the Redeemer is called to mind, there is nothing so hard that it cannot be borne with equanimity." Thus St. Elzear, Count of Ariano, conquered anger by meditating on the Passion of Christ, to such a degree that he seemed already free from anger and impassible. For whenever he felt that any injury was said or done to him, he immediately took refuge in the Passion of Christ, nor did he cease from its contemplation until, by the example of such great patience, the impulse of anger subsided and the former tranquility of a calm spirit returned.

To this purpose serve the axioms of prudence, or teaching, of St. Severinus the Bishop, in the Library of the Holy Fathers, volume 14, or in the Supplement recently published by the theologians of Cologne: "Speak reproach to no one; despise no one; speak evil of no one; hate quarrels; do not provoke your enemies: for it is more profitable to make them friends than to have them as enemies; quarrel with no one; dissolve enmities; pursue silence, because it is without regret — regret follows tumult; conquer the desires of your soul. The works of justice are: always to give thanks to God, to love the worshipers of God, to harm no one, nor to sadden anyone, to live chastely, to be merciful, to love one's neighbor as oneself, to feed the hungry, etc. Be as a burning lamp, and you shall be called an Angel of God. Do not condemn the absent; receive the present man justly. Do not condemn on the basis of arguments, lest you too be condemned. Do not reproach the wretched, lest you too become worthy of reproach; for around all is the judgment of God, and He judges as is just. Always seek out the faces of elders, that you may be instructed by their words: for the understandings of the wise are full of the fruits of life. Regard the guide of your life as God: for he has been sent to you by God that you may be saved." He who observes these things easily restrains his anger and dissimulates and pardons offenses.

Such ought a priest to be, says St. Ambrose, Book 3, Epistle 25, to the Church of Vercelli: "That he be ready for mercy, that he not go back on a promise, that he call back the fallen, that he sympathize with grief, that he maintain gentleness, that he love piety, that he drive away or digest anger; let him be a kind of trumpet to rouse the people to devotion and to calm them to tranquility. The old saying is: Accustom yourself to be consistent, so that your life may express a kind of painting, always preserving the same image that it received. How can one be consistent who is now inflamed by anger, now boils with grave indignation, now flushes in his face, now changes with pallor — varied and changing color from moment to moment? But granted that it is the nature to be angry, or usually the occasion, it is nonetheless the part of a man to temper his anger, not to be carried away by leonine fury; he should not accustom himself to shouting, not sow nor embitter a household quarrel. For it is written: An angry man digs up sin," Proverbs 15.

Verse 17: He Who Speaks What He Knows Is a Witness of Justice

The Complutensians, Hugo, and others incorrectly read judex (judge) instead of index (witness). In Hebrew: he who breathes forth truth announces justice; the witness of falsehoods — supply: announces or breathes forth — deceit. The Septuagint: the just man announces full faith, but the witness of the unjust is deceitful. Symmachus: he who makes known faith (that is, a true and certain thing) announces justice; the witness of falsehood, deceit. The Chaldean: faithfulness shall speak and announce justice; false testimony is deceitful. Or: he who attests the truth, narrates justice, etc. The Syriac: the just man speaks the truth of what is seen; a false witness is fraudulent. Vatablus: he who speaks truth announces justice, and the witness of lies is fraudulent — that is, as he himself says: "He who is truthful speaks what is just; but a liar is fraudulent."

The plain and genuine sense of the Vulgate version is, as if to say: He who speaks what he has certainly come to know — because he saw it, or heard it from trustworthy men — whether in court or outside of it, this man indicates what is fair and just; for what is true and said in good faith is likewise fair and just, since truth is just, indeed truth and justice are one and the same. "But he who lies is a fraudulent witness," both in court and outside of it, because he commits fraud and deceives judges and others by persuading them of a falsehood; and therefore he commits injustice, both because by lying he deceives, and because by fabricating a false crime against another he is the cause of that person being unjustly condemned for a crime he did not commit. R. Solomon agrees, explaining it thus: In a trial the truthful man deposes true things, so as to show the just man innocent. And Aben-Ezra says: He who in his speech brings forth things just and true, and has rightly accustomed himself to this, when called as a witness will without doubt be a faithful assertor of truth, and will not depart from the standard of equity; but the defrauder, accustomed to lying, when summoned to give testimony, inflamed by love of iniquity and falsehood, will testify falsely. Baynus also agrees, explaining it thus, as if to say: He who is accustomed to speak what he knows, that is, who habitually speaks the truth, this man "is a witness of justice," that is, he is regularly called upon as a witness to truth, to testify in court to what is true and just. "But he who lies," that is, who habitually lies, this man as a liar and fraud is rejected from giving testimony in court. For the judge rightly presumes or fears that he who habitually lies outside of court will also lie in court.

Moreover, the Hebrew reading — he who breathes forth truth announces justice — and the Septuagint — the just man announces full faith — our Salazar aptly explains thus: "He who breathes forth truth," that is, he who speaks confidently, who declares a matter with full breath, who, when giving testimony, does not utter a trembling voice, as if strangled with stifled breath (as is the custom of liars) — this man indeed "is a witness of justice"; for by his very manner of speaking and declaring, he sufficiently indicates that he speaks things true and consistent. "But he who lies is a fraudulent witness," that is, he who hesitates, who wavers, as those are accustomed to do who utter falsehoods — this man reveals himself to be a false witness. This is what the Hebrew reading means: "The witness of falsehoods, deceit" — supply: by his very speech he displays it. St. Chrysostom, however, in the Greek Catena explains the Septuagint so that the meaning is: "Whatever a just and faithful man asserts, that is immediately received as true; or the just man narrates only those things which he has certainly ascertained. But the deceitful man, who endeavors to weave a lie or persuade injustice, does not easily find credence. By the name 'unjust' he designates heretics in this passage: for although they arise armed against the truth and press falsehood, they obtain no credence with the wise. They are also called deceitful, because they carry nothing right or sound in their hearts." So says St. Chrysostom.

Verse 18: There Is One Who Promises Like a Sword

The Syriac renders it: heals. For "there is one who makes promises," in Hebrew it is bote, that is, one who rashly blurts out or swears, promises and vows something. Whence from the Hebrew you may translate: there is one who blurts out things like the piercings or stabbings of a sword. Less correctly, Theodotion and Symmachus, reading bote as botech or boteach, that is, hoping, trusting, translate: there is one who trusts in the piercing of a sword. Symmachus: like the piercing of a sword.

Therefore the Hebrew, in the first place, is aptly rendered by the Septuagint: there are those who, speaking, wound like swords; or, as the author of the Greek Catena has it: there are those who by their speech wound no less than with a sword; but the tongues of the wise bring health. And he explains it thus, as if to say: The imprudent, when they criticize someone, do it so harshly, imprudently, and crudely that their words seem to be swords piercing through the soul. But the reproof of the prudent heals rather than wounds; for although it may seem to strike more sharply than a sword, yet that mystical cutting brings life more truly than death. Here the Zurich version agrees: to blurt out rashly is the same as to pierce with a sword; but the tongue of the wise is healthful.

Secondly, Aben-Ezra refers this to perjury, as if to say: The perjurer, rashly committing perjury, by his false testimony so injures his neighbor as if he were running him through with a sword. But the tongues of the wise, who examine these testimonies with precision and detect and refute their falsity, heal this wound that the perjured witness had inflicted.

Thirdly, R. Levi, Cajetan, and Jansenius refer this to false accusations and calumnies, as if to say: The slanderer who fastens a false charge upon another is the same as if he were stabbing him with a sword, because not infrequently, on account of a falsely imputed crime, an innocent person is sentenced to death. Whence the Chaldean translates: there are those who speak as with tumultuous swords. But the tongue of the wise speaks nothing but what is honorable, just, and worthy of honor, words that console and heal even embittered spirits.

Fourthly, our translator aptly applied the force of bote to a vow and promise, as does also Aben-Ezra: "These words pertain, he says, to those who vow grave and difficult things." Again, "with a sword of conscience" is the same as "with knowledge as with a sword." It is a hypallage similar to that of Psalm 5: "O Lord, with the shield of Thy good will (that is, with Thy good will as a shield) Thou hast crowned us." Whence Bede reads conscientia (conscience) in the nominative case.

The meaning therefore is, as if to say: He who rashly promises or vows something, which he afterward repents of — either because he promised something unlawful or unbecoming, as Jephthah vowed that he would sacrifice whatever first came to meet him from his house if he returned victorious, and it was his daughter who first came to meet him, wherefore he repented of his vow, Judges 11:35; or because the promise or vow is difficult and arduous, and therefore he cannot or will not fulfill it — such a man is perpetually pricked, as with a sword, by grief of soul and remorse of conscience, and says to himself: Why did I bind myself by so difficult a vow or promise? Why did I rashly obligate myself to perform so arduous a thing? How shall I shake off this burden of a vow so heavy upon me?

So Bede says: "Some promise, he says, to obey the divine will, but when a frightening or enticing temptation presents an obstacle, they abandon their undertakings, but are nonetheless pricked in conscience as with a sword of their promise." Here belong the vows and oaths of angry people, as when angry parents vow or swear that they will beat, mutilate, or disinherit a wayward son, which they afterward repent of when their anger has cooled. But the tongue of the wise, which promises and vows nothing except what is well considered and premeditated, heals all griefs and afflictions of the soul that can arise from a promise or vow. For all these things the wise man foresaw before the promise, and conceived in his mind, and likewise made provision for bringing a remedy to each one and healing them thoroughly.

Again, the tongue of the wise heals not only its own griefs but also those of others — namely hatreds, quarrels, contentions, and all other afflictions of souls; for it knows how to soothe, mollify, and, so to speak, charm them away with prudent counsels and sweet words. Such was the tongue of our Rev. Father Peter Canisius, of which it was commonly said: "The tongue of Canisius is the tongue of a dog" — because just as a dog heals wounds by licking them, so Canisius by his wisdom and gentle eloquence thoroughly healed hatreds, quarrels, dissensions, and all afflictions of souls. So relates Father Sacchini, secretary of the Society of Jesus, in the Life of Canisius. Thus we see today that holy men with a single word can sometimes soothe the sorrows of the afflicted and dispel their fears, scruples, and anguish.

This is what Solomon warns, Ecclesiastes 5:1: "Do not rashly speak anything, nor let your heart be swift to utter a word before God, etc. If you have vowed anything to God, do not delay to pay it; for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases Him. But whatever you have vowed, pay it; and it is much better not to vow than, after a vow, not to fulfill what was promised."

Here pertains that saying of Sixtus, or Sextus, the Pythagorean, in his Sentences, number 187: "Do great things, not promising great things; for fools promise great things but accomplish small ones."

Verse 19: The Lip of Truth Shall Be Steadfast

The Hebrew, in its customary fashion, is concise and ambiguous, and instead of ed, that is, "witness," some read ad, that is, "until." Again, argia signifies a moment, a brief instant; for the root raga signifies to be agitated, disturbed, shaken suddenly; whence our translator aptly renders it as "hasty."

Therefore, from the Hebrew, firstly, the Septuagint translates: truthful lips direct testimony; but a hasty witness (the Scholiast says: swift, that is, hot-tempered) has an unjust tongue — as if to say: A careful and truthful witness gives upright and truthful testimony, but an inconsiderate and rash witness often speaks and testifies what is false and unjust. Whence the author of the Greek Catena thus translates and explains: "Truthful lips rightly regulate testimony; but a hasty witness has an unjust tongue. Here he sets forth more plainly and accurately that the tongue of a truthful man defends truth, and by its testimony creates trust and directs lovers of truth; but that the man of a rash and intemperate tongue so far from favoring truth, does not hesitate to arm his tongue even against truth." St. Chrysostom says in the same place: "On both sides there is a tongue; but on one side there are wounds, on the other remedies. But what could be said that is more admirable than this? You see here that the tongue is not evil by its own nature, since its use extends to opposites — namely, to good and evil."

Secondly, the Chaldean renders: the lip of truth shall be directed forever, and the hasty tongue is a witness of falsehood. And the Syriac: truthful lips are upright; the tongue of a sudden witness is iniquitous.

Thirdly, Pagninus, Cajetan, and Vatablus render: the lip of the truthful shall be firm forever, and for a moment only the tongue of the liar — as if to say: Truth is stable and eternal, but falsehood is slippery and momentary. Namely, the lying tongue immediately betrays itself, and its falsehood is detected and dissipated; but truth and a truthful tongue endure firm and unshaken. So R. Solomon says: A truthful lip, he says, rests on a solid foundation and will last for eternity; but a false witness will last only for a moment and a short time, nor will he make any progress, since, as they say, lies have their feet cut off. And R. Levi says: A liar, he says, sometimes by chance speaks the truth, but only for a moment; for immediately, mixing false things with true, he lapses back into his lies.

Fourthly, Aben-Ezra, taking the Hebrew argia, that is, "sudden/hasty," as a future tense from the verb ragu, translates: I will cause to cease and I will abolish the deceitful tongue.

Fifthly, our translator most excellently renders: the lip of truth, etc. — as if to say: The truthful man, who speaks the truth deliberately, always consistent with himself, stands firm in truth, and always asserts the same thing steadfastly, nor contradicts himself in any matter; and in turn he cannot rightly be contradicted, because truth does not contradict truth, but falsehood. Whence truth is invincible, and therefore as iron and adamant. Wherefore St. Ephrem, in his treatise On Truth, compares it to flint, because truth, he says, like flint, is first, strong and firm; second, when struck by arguments, it shines forth and gleams more clearly; third, it strikes out sparks which, if they once seize the mind, illuminate and inflame the whole soul.

But the hasty witness, in Hebrew argia, that is, the agitated man, who is stirred up and disturbed by levity or hatred or some other passion, rashly rushes forward to give testimony, and therefore testifies and speaks without premeditation and precipitously what his desire, or anger, or levity suggests to him. This man fashions a tongue of falsehood, because he does not look to truth but to his own desire and levity, which is often contrary to truth; and so he easily lies. And once he has told one lie, in order to maintain it, he must necessarily fashion and fabricate several others. Whence it comes about that he easily varies, and stumbles into contradictions, and contradicts himself, and together with truth ruins his reputation, and is regarded as deceitful and a liar.

For truth is opposed only to falsehood; but a single falsehood is opposed and contradicts not only truth but also another falsehood, and indeed many falsehoods. Whence the Zurich version translates: the truthful lip is always firm; but the lying tongue varies in a moment. That is, as Bede says: "Sacred doctrine, so long as it does not deviate from truth, persists firm forever." But this is a mystical interpretation. Hence Lyranus notes that it does not say "lips" in the plural, but "lip" in the singular, because truth is one and singular, nor does it vary from one thing to another, but as if speaking with only one mouth and lip, it always perseveres one and the same — which is a certain proof of truth. For, as Tertullian rightly says, in his book On Prescription, chapter 28: "What is found to be one and the same among many is not error, but tradition."

This is a metalepsis frequent and habitual with Solomon. For from the antecedent he implies the connected and consequent things, which are opposed to the first part by antithesis. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: A truthful man carefully and prudently investigates the truth, and does not speak before he has certainly ascertained it; therefore in what he has already ascertained he is constant and firm. But the frivolous and lying man speaks without premeditation whatever comes into his mouth, and thereby blurts out many falsehoods, which are accordingly weak and unstable, and like smoke are dispersed and vanish. Therefore the "hasty witness," that is, the unpremeditated, rash, agitated man, easily mixes some falsehood into his loquacity, which itches to speak, and into his testimony which he blurts out; which he is then forced to defend with many other lies of his own fabrication. Namely, in order to speak plausibly and consistently, he mixes deception, tricks, and pretenses into his words; for truth, which is simple and solid, rejects all disguise and borrowed ornament, and defends itself with simple speech and assertion. Here pertains the Hebrew proverb: emeth, that is, truth, has square and stable feet; but sheker, that is, falsehood, has pointed and weak ones.

Verse 20: Deceit Is in the Heart of Those Who Think Evil

For "of those who plot" the Hebrew is choresche, that is, "of those who fabricate," as the Septuagint translates, and as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion render it, "of those who contrive" evil. For just as a smith by hammering fabricates a sword, so the wicked man by thinking fabricates tricks and frauds. Again, for "those who take counsel for peace," the Hebrew is leioatse, that is, counselors of peace, or those who take counsel for peace — joy follows them.

Now firstly, R. Levi judges that properly and precisely here the deceit of the wicked is opposed to the joy of the pious. There is, he says, a craftiness by which someone becomes cunning in order to cunningly bring ruin upon others; but indeed the fraud which he contrives against those who take counsel for peace — that is, against the upright, whose studies and counsels are directed toward peace and right action — will redound to the joy and delight of those same persons. For they will suffer no harm from the nefarious machinations of the wicked, upon whose heads such villainy will fall, since God prevents the just from coming into their power. For this reason joy will come to the just — a joy, I say, that will last for eternity — from which it will come to pass that the wicked will meet their destruction.

This also will be the meaning of these words: that the mind of those who contrive wicked things is continually occupied with fraud and deceit for the purpose of inflicting evil, but in the soul of those who counsel peace, joy always resides. Wherefore in the soul of the wicked man fraud, but in the mind of the just man gladness, always has its abode. So he says.

Secondly, others more aptly judge that by metalepsis the joy of peacemakers is opposed to deceit, that is, to the pain which the deceit of those who contrive evil produces. For when they continually turn over thoughts full of fraud, they are flooded with no joy or pleasure, says R. Solomon; while on the contrary, those who take counsel for peace enjoy great delight. For just as women in labor are racked with immense pain, so also those who are in labor with deceit are tormented with a thousand fears, anxieties, and anguish, according to that passage from Job 15:35: "He has conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity, and his womb prepares deceits." And Psalm 7:15: "Behold, he has been in labor with injustice, he has conceived sorrow and brought forth iniquity." And Isaiah 59:4: "They have conceived labor and brought forth iniquity. They have hatched the eggs of asps and woven spider's webs; whoever eats of their eggs shall die, and what has been hatched shall break forth into a basilisk." See what is said there. Hence aven, that is, iniquity, contracted into on, means the same as pain, because from iniquity pain is born and contracted, just as a chick is born from an egg. Therefore, if you would avoid the chick of pain, remove the egg of iniquity: for from it no other than the chick of pain is hatched.

Moreover, all good men, but especially the peacemakers, who counsel and bring about peace, shall be followed by joy, because peace above all other things is a great and divine gift, pleasing to God, delightful to the Angels, and desired by men, as I have shown more fully elsewhere.

Verse 21: Whatever Befalls the Just Shall Not Make Him Sad

For "shall sadden" the Hebrew is ieunne, which firstly means "shall meet," secondly, "shall sadden"; for the root ana means to meet and to mourn. Again, for "whatever happens to him," the Hebrew is kol aven, which you may firstly translate as "all iniquity," secondly as "all sorrow." Following the first meaning, the Septuagint translates: nothing unjust shall please the just man; but the wicked shall be filled with evils. And the Syriac: nothing unjust is good for the just man. And the Chaldean: nothing iniquitous befits the just man. Pagninus: no iniquity shall be attributed to the just man. The Zurich version: no iniquity threatens the just man, which Vatablus explains thus, as if to say: "No iniquity of an unjust man can harm the just man; but the wicked are full of malice, as if to say: The wicked are harmed not only by the malice that comes from without, but also by their own, with which they are full of wickedness."

St. Chrysostom, in the Greek Catena, explains the Septuagint thus: "Just as what is unjust does not please the just man, so also what is just does not please the unjust man. This does not arise from the nature of things, or certainly not only from that, but from the different opinion and judgment of those who determine and think differently about the same things. Wherefore do not say to me: This or that person is offended by the truth; this or that person does not believe the truth. For this fault arises from the judges themselves, not from the things that are judged. For just as this bodily sun brings no benefit or sweetness by its rays to those who suffer from weakness of the eyes, but rather harm and pain, so also manifest truth brings no advantage or joy to a perverse soul." Another author in the Greek Catena says: "He gives the reason why no iniquity pleases the just man: because, he says, all virtues are connected, and all cohere with one another, and tend toward one goal." Add that good arises from an integral cause and from the completeness of the whole; but evil from individual defects. Wherefore, for someone to be just, it is required that he excel in every justice and virtue; but for someone to be unjust, it suffices if he commits a single crime, for example, if he is a robber, or adulterer, or murderer.

Secondly, our translator better renders: "Nothing shall sadden the just man, whatever happens to him," that is, no grief — that is, no sad thing that might cause him pain. "But the wicked shall be filled with evil," that is, with manifold affliction and sorrow. So also R. Levi: "Nothing harmful shall befall the just man, he says, since God withdraws him from the calamity that the wicked were plotting to inflict upon him, so that he is not harmed in any way. God will also preserve them unharmed from the depravity of morals and opinions by His special providence" — while He permits, indeed arranges, that the wicked be visited and afflicted with many tribulations. Hugo notes the word "happens" (accidens): An accident, he says, is present and absent without the corruption of the subject; so present prosperity and tribulation are present and absent for the just man without his being saddened or disturbed.

The moral of the fable. The fable signifies that one ought not to be saddened by frustrated hope." Moreover, he does not say: "Nothing evil shall befall the just man" — for we often see the contrary: Tobit afflicted with blindness, Job with various diseases, Lazarus with sores, David with persecutions, Daniel with lions, Susanna with calumny, etc. But he says: "Nothing shall sadden the just man, whatever happens to him," because the just man endures and bears whatever tribulations come upon him — whether from God, or from the devil, or from men, or from nature — with a patient, brave, and cheerful spirit. Whence it comes about that he is disturbed by no affliction, cast down by no tribulation, nor loses heart, but stands calm, trusting, and unperturbed in every adversity. For, as Publilius Syrus says: "Equanimity is the medicine for calamity." And Sixtus the philosopher in his Sentences: "Prepare and fit your soul for tribulations, and you shall be blessed. A tyrant does not take away blessedness." Wherefore St. Thomas, III Part, Question 15, Article 6, teaches that in Christ and in the just there was a sorrow that apprehended and felt evils, not one that disturbed reason.

The reasons why the just man is saddened and disturbed by nothing are various. The first is that he esteems lightly all things of this world that can cause disturbance, and therefore does not love them; wherefore, if they are taken from him, he does not grieve, because he does not care about them. Whence Sixtus the philosopher in his Sentences, chapter 14: "Yield all things, he says, to him who takes them from you, except your freedom. A wise man who despises money is like God." And Isocrates, to Demonicus: "Consider, he says, that nothing human is stable; for thus you will be neither excessively glad in good fortune nor excessively sad in misfortune."

The second reason is that the just man restrains his desires, which are the causes of sins and consequently of disturbances and tumults, according to Lamentations 1:8: "Jerusalem has sinned grievously, therefore she has become unstable" — where I have said much on this matter. Wherefore Tertullian, in his book On Patience, chapter 7: "What seems ours, he says, is another's: for nothing is ours, since all things are God's, whose we ourselves also are. So if we bear loss with impatience, grieving over what was not our own, we shall be caught as allies of covetousness. We are seeking what belongs to another when we grieve painfully over the loss of what belongs to another. He who is provoked by impatience at loss, by preferring earthly things to heavenly, sins against God in a matter close at hand; for he shakes the spirit which he received from the Lord for the sake of a worldly thing. Let us therefore willingly lose earthly things and protect heavenly ones. Let the whole world perish, provided I gain patience."

The third reason is that the just man prefers peace and tranquility of soul above all things, and therefore purchases or redeems it at the cost of any possessions whatever, according to St. Paul's words to the Colossians 3:15: "Let the peace of Christ rejoice in your hearts." And Philippians 4:7: "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Here pertains the fable of the fishermen in Aesop: when their net was heavy, they rejoiced and exulted, thinking there was much prey in it; but when they had dragged it to the very shore and found few fish indeed, but a very large stone in it, they began to be sad and mournful — not so much because of the scarcity of fish, as because they had presumed the opposite beforehand. But one among them, the eldest, said: Let us not be sad, O companions; for sorrow, it seems, is the sister of pleasure; and therefore it was fitting that we, who had previously rejoiced so much, should also be saddened in some matter.

The fourth reason is that the just man knows that he and his affairs are in God's care; wherefore he sweetly rests in His fatherly and watchful providence, and says with the Psalmist, Psalm 22:1: "The Lord rules me, and (therefore) I shall want nothing." And he hears the Apostle's words, Philippians 4:6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in every prayer, etc., let your petitions be made known before God." And Romans 8:28: "For those who love God, all things work together for good." Here pertains that saying of Pindar in the Isthmian Odes, Ode 3: "Time, while the days roll on, brings now one, now another change of fortune; but yet the sons of the gods are invulnerable."

The fifth reason is that he has his mind fixed on God and so unites himself with Him that he becomes one spirit with Him. Wherefore, since God is immutable and consequently imperturbable, He also makes the just who are united to Him quasi-immutable and imperturbable. Whence Sixtus — not the Pope, but the philosopher — in his Proverbs or Sentences, chapter 13, verse 36: "The mind of the wise man, he says, is always with God. God inhabits the mind of the wise man. The wise man is always like himself." And chapter 36: "Honor God, that He Himself may rule you. But if God holds dominion over you, then at last you will have dominion over all things." And chapter 41: "The mind of the pious man is a holy temple to God, and a pure heart without sin is the best altar for Him." Finally, St. Chrysostom, Homily 1 on 2 Corinthians: "Nothing else, he says, is so troublesome as having God offended. If that is absent, neither affliction, nor plots, nor anything else can cause trouble to the truly wise man. But just as you would extinguish a small spark if you plunged it into deep water, so even a great dejection of spirit, if it falls upon a good conscience, perishes and easily vanishes." The same author elsewhere frequently treats this argument splendidly, as in his oration That No One is Harmed Except by Himself, and in his letters to Olympias.

Morally, learn here that the fruit of justice is the quiet and tranquility of an undisturbed soul, which is nearly the highest good of this life, even by the common voice and testimony of the philosophers. Whence Synesius, Bishop of Ptolemais, who flourished admirably in holiness and learning around the year of the Lord 420, a contemporary of St. Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome, in his first hymn, which is found in volume 8 of the Library of the Holy Fathers, sings thus:

"Let another skillfully drive horses, Let another deftly draw the bow. Let another guard heaps of wealth, Let another be exceedingly famous: But let me be permitted to lead A tranquil life unknown to others, but known to God."

And Pentadius:

"This is not, you are mistaken, the blessed life: To see gleaming gems on one's hands, Or to drink from gold and recline on scarlet, To load royal tables with feasts; But to fear no anxious reversal of fortune, Nor to be touched by the vain favor of the people."

And the Comic poet:

"The life of the continent and patient man is most tranquil. A blessed life is perpetual tranquility. Tranquility is the gymnasium of wisdom. Would you suffer less pain, would you rejoice more moderately? Live for yourself."

And Elyricus:

"I have a small farm, a small income free from blame, But repose makes both of these great for us. Let busy camps and curule chairs summon others, And whatever moves vain joys in the mind. Let me be a part of the common people, noticed by no honor, Provided I live as master of my own time."

And the Epigrammatist:

"As one who stands safe on the summit of a lofty cliff Laughs at the force and threats of the angry sea: So the soul that holds itself in peace Looks down fearlessly on the barking waves of things all around."

This tranquility of an undisturbed soul is most clearly seen in the religious and monastic life, about which, among others, Simon the Younger speaks excellently in his Moral Chapters, the last chapter: "Monastic tranquility, he says, is an undisturbed state of soul, the serenity of a free and exultant spirit, a kind of foundation of the heart shaken by no disturbances, flooded by no waves — the contemplation of light, the mystical knowledge of God, the discourse of wisdom, the abyss of God's counsels, the rapture of the mind, pure conversation with God, the ever-watchful eye, intellectual adoration, union and bonding with God, the final goal, deification, and in the great labors of the ascetic life, rest without labor." He gives the reason in chapter 52: "He who in the One (God) through the One sees both himself and all things, and hidden in Him sees nothing at all of all things" — as if to say: The religious sees and loves one God alone, and through Him all other things; but apart from God he sees nothing, cares for nothing, loves nothing. Therefore, fixed in God, he stands immovable and unperturbed.

Verse 22: Lying Lips Are an Abomination to the Lord

In Hebrew: doers of truth, or of faithfulness. Retsono, that is, His good pleasure. So Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. But the Septuagint: he who keeps faith (that is, he who acts in good faith, as the author of the Greek Catena translates — namely, he who everywhere faithfully fulfills the faith he has given) is acceptable to Him. Pagninus: and in those who do truth is His will. The Zurich version: the Lord abhors lying lips; but he who is devoted to truth has His favor.

By "lying lips" understand fraudulent ones, which deceive others or inflict harm through lies, such as those of a false witness who through calumny fastens a false crime upon another, and thus is the cause of an innocent person being condemned in court. So Aben-Ezra. For God detests these things; whence He sets against them the doers of faithfulness or truth — those, namely, who declare the truth, and who do not betray by word or deed the faith given to others, but fulfill it in very deed. Likewise those who as witnesses in court render sincere testimony to the truth, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned. For these are patrons and defenders of faith, as well as of justice and innocence, and therefore very pleasing to God.

Verse 23: A Shrewd Man Conceals Knowledge

For "shrewd" the Hebrew is arum, that is, astute, cautious, prudent, as the Septuagint translates; for it is opposed to "foolish," that is, imprudent. For "proclaims" the Hebrew is ikra, that is, calls, provokes, evokes — namely, from the heart to the mouth and tongue — that is, utters, speaks, proclaims, boasts, displays. Again, "proclaims" means he seeks and pursues occasions to publicize his folly, by betraying secrets entrusted to him. Whence the Chaldean: but the fool repeats his knowledge, that is, again and again, seizing every occasion, he announces and reveals to various people the secret he knows, because his mind and mouth itch to lay open the secret hidden in his mind and, as it were, to bring forth a child into the light. Dionysius adds: The fool, he says, by his foolish talk provokes his hearers to silly merriment, laughter, guffaws, and even to lusts and other crimes. Wherefore Vatablus clearly translates: a cautious man conceals knowledge; but the heart of fools proclaims folly.

The meaning therefore is, as if to say: A cautious and prudent man does not boast of, but conceals, his knowledge — that is, the secret he knows and is aware of, and which he keeps locked in his heart and mind. And this, firstly, out of devotion to secrecy, prudence, humility, and modesty; secondly, out of love of quiet, lest he be forced to declare publicly the secret he knows; thirdly, to avoid the envy, contentions, quarrels, and strife of rivals and the ignorant; fourthly, so that he may enjoy greater fruit and profit from his knowledge. Thus shrewd craftsmen, when in their art they discover some new thing or a very useful secret technique, conceal it and from it amass great wealth, since they alone know and practice it. Thus cunning gamblers at dice, chess, ball games, etc., pretend they are not skilled at the game, in order to provoke others into playing, defeat them, profit, and grow rich.

On the contrary, fools, when they have thought up, learned, heard, or in any other way come to know something, are unable to conceal this knowledge, or the secret they know; but like hens when they lay eggs, they cackle, and boast of it and proclaim it at the top of their voices. Whence it happens that they boast of and display to all not so much their knowledge as their folly. And this, firstly, out of pride, to show off their knowledge; secondly, because they are garrulous and loud, impatient of secrecy and quiet; thirdly, because they delight in contention, quarrels, and strife; fourthly, because they are imprudent and do not see that by this display of knowledge its fruit and profit will be diminished for them. Wherefore they imitate the crow, which, having found a carcass, crows as at a feast, and so summons others to snatch away part of the feast from it — of which the Poet says:

"For if the crow could feed in silence, it would have More food, and far less strife and envy."

Finally, the prudent man, says R. Levi, conceals what he knows, that is, what he has heard or learned from elsewhere, until he is quite certain that it is true, lest, if it be doubtful or false, he bring disgrace upon himself. But the fool immediately speaks out what he has heard or knows, even if it is doubtful; whence, if it is found to be false, he is exposed to the laughter of all.

Moreover, the Septuagint, instead of kose, that is, "covers, hides, conceals," reading with different vowel points kisse, that is, "seat, throne," translate: a prudent man is a throne of understanding, or intelligence; but the heart of the foolish shall be subject to curses. Olympiodorus and St. Chrysostom in the Greek Catena explain it thus. Olympiodorus: "For his entire understanding, on account of the prudence with which he excels, rests in him. Or for this reason he calls a prudent man a throne of understanding, judgment, or intelligence, because prudence is the queen and, as it were, the head of all understanding. Finally, just as he who is full of malice or ignorance is commonly called a seat of malice or ignorance, so he who knows all things is rightly called a seat of understanding or knowledge. Prudence is also called the beginning of understanding, because it holds dominion in it." St. Chrysostom: "A prudent man is called a throne or seat of understanding because he is the chair of wisdom, and understanding and judgment rest in him in such a way that they never depart from him. But the heart of the foolish is subject to curses, etc. Whence this? Because, as one of the wise men said, he follows a path that is subject to cursing and execration; but every unjust person is also execrable before the Lord, just as every foolish person also is detestable on account of his iniquity."

Here pertains the proverb of Sixtus the Pythagorean in his Sentences, number 54: "A good mind is the choir of God; an evil mind is the choir of demons." And number 40: "The mind of the pious man is a holy temple for God." Here also pertains the emblem of the serpent: for the serpent in Hebrew is called arum, that is, astute, shrewd, cautious, because it conceals itself and its own, lest it be betrayed by its voice and hissing and killed by men. Therefore it is silent and does not hiss except in battle, or when a great storm is about to strike. The prudent man does the same: lest his voice be his ruin, he is silent unless necessity compels him to speak. Whence Isocrates, to Demonicus, defines and circumscribes the time for speaking and keeping silent within these bounds: "Make two occasions for speaking: either about things you know clearly, or about things it is necessary to speak of; for in these alone is speech better than silence, but in other matters it is better to be silent than to speak." And Thales of Miletus, in Laertius, Book 1, chapter 1: "The wise man, he says, will speak only when the matter demands it, and will complete his opinion in few words; but the fool, without regard for place, time, persons, etc., will blurt out everything with his loquacity." For, as Solon used to say: "A fool cannot be silent."

Verse 24: The Hand of the Strong Shall Bear Rule

For "strong" the Hebrew is charutsim, that is, decisive, sharp, vigorous, diligent, industrious. Theodotion renders it as "manly." Aquila: "those who cut short" — who dispatch their affairs briefly, that is, quickly and swiftly. The Septuagint: "of the chosen." Pagninus: the hand of industrious merchants shall rule. The Zurich version: the hand of the diligent takes first place. Vatablus: those who vigorously perform their duties are accustomed to be lords of others; on the contrary, the idle shall be tributaries to the just, that is, they shall serve the just. Moreover, lest anyone plead difficulty against diligence, the Septuagint removes it by adding "easily": "The hand of the chosen, they say, shall easily," or without difficulty, "prevail." For "slack" the Hebrew is remia, that is, slack, slow, lazy — for this is directly opposed to the hand of the strong, that is, the strong and vigorous hand.

The meaning is clear, as if to say: The brave, diligent, and vigorous by their virtue and energy acquire for themselves wealth, dominion, and empire; but the lazy, slack, and idle are placed under the yoke by the brave and vigorous, and become their tributaries. Whence it comes about that the vigorous, after their labor, rest in the wealth they have acquired, and live in peace from the labors and tributes of those they have subjected to themselves; while the lazy, subdued by the vigorous through their own sloth, after their idleness and inertia are forced to embrace the labor they had fled, in order to pay taxes and tributes to the vigorous. Indeed, this is the just reward of labor, and likewise the fitting punishment of idleness and inertia — namely, that the diligent are rewarded with rest, while the idle are condemned to toil. Thus the Romans by their fortitude acquired an empire and ruled over the greater part of the world. So too the Greeks, Assyrians, Persians, and Germans, who then, degenerating into luxury, extravagance, and sloth, were stripped of their dominion by others and put under the yoke of tribute — as Sardanapalus was stripped of the Assyrian empire on account of his luxury and idleness, which Ninus had won by his fortitude. Belshazzar by his carousing lost the Babylonian monarchy, which Nebuchadnezzar had raised up by his energy. Darius by his idle luxury lost the Persian monarchy, which Cyrus had founded by his valor. Chilperic by his sloth lost the kingdom of the Franks, which Pharamund had begun by his vigor.

Secondly, however, remia also means deceitful, fraudulent — so the Syriac. Whence the Septuagint: the deceitful shall be given over to plunder. Aquila and Symmachus: to tribute — that is, as the Vulgate has it: shall serve in tribute. Pagninus: the deceitful hand shall be tributary. For the deceitful hand is indirectly opposed to the strong hand, because the strong hand is laborious, while the deceitful hand is idle: what the laborious hand obtains through labor, the deceitful hand strives to obtain through tricks and fraud. But it is deceived and frustrated in its hope, because God blesses the laborious and curses the deceitful, and causes them, once their tricks are exposed, to be stripped of the goods they scraped together through fraud, whether by judges, or by soldiers and plunderers. Whence Cajetan translates: and deceit shall be unto dissolution — because just as snows melt and vanish in the heat, so wealth acquired by fraud, once it is discovered, is taken away and perishes. Finally, this maxim is related to chapter 10, verse 4: "The slack hand has wrought poverty; but the hand of the strong prepares riches."

Mystically, this saying is truer in spiritual dominion and servitude, as Dionysius says. Those who are strong in the practice of virtues are accustomed to be placed over their brethren and to preside even over the sensitive appetite and to command its passions. Whence Seneca says: "Do you wish to have honor? I will give you a great empire: rule yourself." But those who are lazy and slack in the works of virtue — these are filled with sins and serve the prince of darkness, that is, the devil, to whose exactions or temptations they constantly pay the tribute of consent to evil. Wherefore with him they shall at last be sent into the prison of hell, where they will pay him the perpetual tribute of all labors and pains.

Therefore the slack hand brings upon itself poverty and servitude, because by its negligence in working it fosters the vices flowing from lukewarmness and weakens the good habits previously acquired; and she who before, supported by virtues, held dominion, now, bound by the chains of sloth, is subjected in virtue to her enemies, namely vices. Whence Prosper wisely sings of a king corrupted by pleasures, Epigram 53:

"Though he enjoys an ample kingdom, he is a wretched enough slave. When the mind, under the excessive dominion of the carnal tyrant, Serves as many scepters, brought low, as it has vices."

Therefore works done tepidly and slackly produce these harms: first, they do not please God; second, they provoke the displeasure of the Angels and Saints; third, they provoke the demons to laughter and contempt; fourth, they do not perfect the worker; fifth, they introduce day by day a greater difficulty in doing good; sixth, they consume time without fruit. So Alvarez de Paz, Book 5, page 3, On the Principles of Perfection, chapter 31.

Verse 25: Grief in the Heart of a Man Shall Bring Him Low

For "sorrow" the Hebrew is deaga, that is, anxiety, anxious fear and dread, whose companion, indeed offspring, is sorrow. For "shall humble him" the Hebrew is iaschenu, that is, shall bow him down, and as it were cast him into scachat, that is, a pit. The plain meaning therefore is, as if to say: Anxiety, and the anguish and sorrow arising from it, casts down, prostrates, and as it were hurls into the pit of pusillanimity, distrust, and despair the heart and spirit of a man, however brave and magnanimous. But a good word — that is, a sweet, pleasant, cheerful word — raises it up to hope of better fortune, encourages, gladdens, and revives it.

Moreover, because this sorrow often arises from a sadder report, or from a sharper rebuke or threat — which is directly opposed to a good word, that is, a sweet, cheerful, and kind word, and is cured and healed by it — hence the Septuagint translates: a terrible word disturbs a man's heart, but a good report makes him glad. And the Chaldean: a word of fear in the heart of a man produces terror. The Syriac: the word of a formidable man disturbs a man's heart — as if to say: Just as the word of a formidable person instills fear in the hearer, so the word of a courageous person dispels it, instilling courage, confidence, and joy in the hearer. Again, a terrible word is a sharp, biting, threatening word, especially of a superior, prince, or prelate, which disturbs and prostrates a man's heart, especially a subject's, to such a degree that it sometimes deprives him of his wits and makes him senseless and delirious, as experience shows. But the remedy is if the same person or someone else suggests to the one disturbed by frightening or harsh words encouraging, gentle, soothing, pleasant words, which obliterate, overcome, and drive out the fear or harshness of the former — just as a dog heals by licking the wound it inflicted by biting, and the bite of a viper is cured by the flesh of the same creature, namely by theriac (for this is made from the flesh of the viper).

Whence Theodoret, On the Cure of Greek Ailments, says: "The blows of words, he says, as happens with antidotes, are cured by words; and the damage that speech has brought, speech redeems." For contraries are cured by contraries — that is, an angry and biting speech is cured by a mild and gentle one.

Finally, the author of the Greek Catena takes "terrible word" by the metonymy customary in Scripture to mean a terrible thing, such as labor — as if to say: Labor casts a man down, but reward lifts him up. Whence thus also the Septuagint translates and explains: "A terrible word disturbs the heart of a man; but a good report or promise makes it glad. Those who first undertake a life occupied with action are somewhat disturbed by the troubles that will occur everywhere and by the recollection of them; but meanwhile the reward of the promised goods again consoles and encourages their spirits. For the perfectly just man shall not fear from an evil report; for he is fortified by the fear of the Lord, which surpasses all these things."

Verse 26: He Who Neglects a Loss for the Sake of a Friend Is Just

In Hebrew: shall cause them to go astray. For "he who neglects loss," the Hebrew is iather, that is, remaining, surviving, excelling, outstanding, abounding. Whence firstly, Aquila translates: the just man abounds more than his neighbor — that is, as Pagninus puts it: the just man is more abundant than his friend — as if to say: The just man who increases his possessions only through just contracts, methods, and practices, becomes richer than his associate who is not just, says Vatablus, and therefore strives to enrich himself by fair means or foul — that is, through fraud, usury, and unjust contracts. For wealth acquired by right is increased and made stable by God's blessing; but wealth acquired by injustice, with God's curse, diminishes and perishes. So Aben-Ezra says: The meaning, he says, is, as if to say: "Greater is the abundance of wealth for the just man than for his associate."

Secondly, the Chaldean translates: the just man is better than his associate — better, both ethically (that is, more just) — whence the Syriac translates: the just man gives good counsel to his friend — and physically better, that is, more excellent. Whence the Zurich version: the just man shall be more excellent than his neighbor — as if to say: The just man surpasses all his associates in honor and glory, even those who are rich, honored, and noble, because the distinction and splendor of justice transcends and surpasses all the splendor of wealth and honors. For the glory and majesty of justice is supreme, so much so that all external glory compared to it appears inglorious, and all that is not it seems disgrace, says St. Chrysostom on Psalm 34.

Thirdly, R. Levi says: The just man, iather, that is, profits from his friend — that is, the just man seizes excellence from his friend, since he learns from him most excellent things by which he is perfected in every virtue. The opposite happens with the wicked, who from their associates learn nothing but the vices and crimes that they observe and hear.

Fourthly, R. Solomon says: The just man, iather, that is, pardons his neighbor — as if to say: The upright man forbears with the bad habits of his friend and pardons his faults.

Fifthly, the Complutensian Septuagint translates: the wise just man shall be a friend to himself. The Roman edition: the discerning just man shall be a friend to himself; but evils shall pursue those who sin, and the way of the wicked shall lead them astray. In some books is added: "But their judgments are merciless." However, the author of the Greek Catena more fully translates the Septuagint and explains it thus: "The just man, wise of heart, is a friend both to himself and to his neighbor; but the ways of the wicked lead them into error. Observe here that the just man shows himself agreeable and well-disposed toward both kinds of fortune. For if he hears something good about his neighbor, he does not grieve or envy, but rejoices from his heart. On the contrary, if he learns that something bad has happened to him, he is disturbed and saddened in spirit. Nevertheless, both his grief and his joy are moderate. But among the wicked a different disposition prevails: for where they ought rightly to fear and be terrified by dreadful threats, there they rejoice and are contemptuous. Conversely, where they ought to rejoice because of the good things that have befallen someone, there on account of envy they waste away — led and driven, of course, by an opposite disposition." Another anonymous author in the same Catena says: "He who recognizes that he was created in the image of God dwells with himself and thinks modestly about himself; and he also carefully guards against designing anything that tends toward enmity or malice, and does not disturb the thoughts of good people nor trouble their pious pursuits." Another says: "The man cultivated in prudence and justice perpetually looks to and cares for the interests of his friend, and observes how to administer each thing properly. And if it happens that a friend commits some error, he dissimulates and pardons it; but the wicked, having clearly entered upon the opposite path, seize upon everything in the worse sense."

Sixthly, our Latin translator profoundly and faithfully renders the Hebrew iather as "he who abandons" or "neglects his own loss"; for the root iathar means to remain, to be left over, to leave behind — as if to say: He who leaves behind, namely his own profits — that is, he who neglects his own loss. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: He who not only does not defraud others but even neglects his own losses in order to look after the interests of his neighbors — this man is preeminently and par excellence "just," that is, fair, honest, upright, and endowed with charity, and therefore dear to God and honored by men. And therefore the loss he incurred out of love of God and virtue will be abundantly repaid to him, and they will cause him to become richer than the rest. While on the contrary the wicked, who strive to grow rich through fraud and redeem their own advantages at the cost of others' losses, are not thereby enriched but impoverished. Wherefore "their way shall deceive them" — the way, that is, the manner, method, and mode of acting, namely of growing rich through fraud and the losses of others, shall deceive them, because it will lead them from the riches they hoped for to poverty. Whence follows: "The fraudulent man shall not find his profit."

Thus Abraham yielded the better region of the Pentapolis to his nephew Lot; but God repaid him in Canaan, where He enriched him with all good things. Conversely, Lot, seizing the Pentapolis from Abraham, lost all the wealth he had amassed there when it was consumed by fire, Genesis 13:9 and following, and chapter 19. Thus Isaac willingly yielded to the Gerarites who were invading the wells he had dug; but God repaid him, granting him immense wealth and in particular another well, which on account of the abundance of water he called Abundance (whence the city later built near it was called Beersheba, that is, the well of abundance), Genesis 26:21 and 33. Thus Jacob, yielding to his father-in-law Laban the better offspring of the flocks, received a greater one from God, Genesis 31:7 and following.

Memorable is what we read in the Annals of the Society of Jesus: Father John Baptist Romanus, in a shipwreck, yielded to a certain Jew the plank he had seized, on the condition that if he survived, he would become a Christian. Both survived — the Jew clinging to the plank, Romanus to the sea, or rather to God. And so he bestowed upon himself temporal life crowned with great merit and joy, and upon the Jew both temporal and spiritual life. For the Jew, conquered by such an example of charity, gave his hand and name to Christ, and reborn through baptism, thenceforth lived according to the Christian rite.

Finally, St. Thomas, II-II, Question 26, Article 4, reply to 2, teaches from this saying of Solomon that temporal goods can be neglected out of charity for the sake of the greater good of friendship, but not spiritual goods: for I ought to avoid my own sin more than my neighbor's, and care for my own salvation more than for that of another.

Hence theologians consequently infer that through charity it is lawful for a friend to expose his life to danger in order to protect the life of a friend, as among the pagans Pylades and Orestes, Nisus and Euryalus, Damon and Pythias did, and others whom Valerius Maximus recounts, Book 4, chapter 7 — whom the Fathers praise for so generous an act of friendship, such as St. Ambrose, Book 3 of the Offices, chapter 12, who asserts that the tyrant Dionysius, having seen the friendship of Damon and Pythias, in which one offered himself as surety to death for the other, wished to take them into his own friendship. St. Augustine praises them as well, Book 4 of the Confessions, chapter 6, and St. Jerome on Micah, chapter 7. Indeed Aristotle too, Nicomachean Ethics 9, chapter 8: "Those who are accustomed to die for others choose for themselves something greatly honorable." For it is a generous and perfect act of friendship and magnanimity to die for friendship and for a friend. Finally Christ, John 15: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Suarez confirms the same with many reasons, II-II, Question 26, Article 4, against Paludanus and Durandus. If it is lawful to lay down one's life for the life of a friend, much more is it lawful to defend his chastity or some other virtue. Thus St. Didymus risked his life for the life and chastity of St. Theodora, when, having exchanged garments with her, he remained in the brothel in her place — whence afterward he was crowned with martyrdom along with her. Their feast day is celebrated in the Martyrology on April 28. St. Ambrose also praises them, Book 2 On Virgins. Thus St. Alexander freed St. Antonina from the brothel by exchanging garments with her, and then together with her consummated his martyrdom by fire, as the Martyrology records on May 3 — their Life is found in Surius. Palladius narrates in the Lausiac History, chapter 54, that a certain man did the same for a Corinthian virgin. Thus Spartan matrons freed their husbands who had been consigned to prison by exchanging garments with them, liberating them from both prison and death, as Valerius Maximus relates, Book 4, On Conjugal Love, chapter 6.

Verse 27: The Deceitful Man Shall Not Find Gain

In Hebrew lo iacharoch, that is, the deceitful man shall not roast, or shall not cook his quarry — that is, he shall not eat the game or prey that he hunts through tricks and fraud. So R. Solomon, R. Levi, Aben-Ezra, R. David, Pagninus, Vatablus, and others generally. Another renders: he shall not pierce through his catch — that is, by piercing he shall not catch, shall not roast, shall not eat what he pursues. Another: he shall not fence in his prey — that is, so as to enjoy it for a long time; for it will quickly be snatched away from him or slip away. For from this root charachim are called lattices, because they fence in a thing, or because they are perforated.

The meaning of all these renderings is the same. For it is a proverb customary among the Hebrews, and indeed among other nations as well: "The fraudulent man shall not roast his prey" — that is, he shall not possess, shall not feed upon, and shall not enjoy his prey, because the quarry he hunts through fraud he either shall not obtain — whence the Chaldean translates: the game shall not come the way of the deceitful man — or, if he does obtain it, it will be snatched from him so that he cannot roast it, eat it, or enjoy it. Whence our translator clearly expressed the force of the proverb by rendering: the fraudulent man shall not find his profit, which he hunts by fraud and deceit. And the Septuagint: he shall not obtain. The Complutensians: he shall not construct his catches. Indeed: "Ill-gotten things are ill-lost." And:

"From ill-gotten gains the third heir does not rejoice." what the sluggard gathers through fraud shall not feed him nor enrich him, but shall fly away from him as from a plunderer to others. But the wealth of the just and sincere man, which he himself prepares for himself by his labor and diligence, shall be "the price of gold" — that is, they shall be stable and precious, and shall be valued at the price of gold — that is, they shall be great and abundant. For what we measure against gold, that is great and precious.

AND THE SUBSTANCE OF A MAN SHALL BE THE PRICE OF GOLD. — He reads iekar, that is, "price"; others with different vowel points read iakar, that is, "precious." Again, charuts, that is, "cut" or "decided," signifies both a vigorous, diligent, keen man, and gold. Whence firstly, Pagninus translates: and the riches of a man are precious — that is, industry, or vigor and diligence — because through vigor, wealth and dominion are acquired, both temporal and spiritual, as he said in the preceding verse. And R. Solomon: the substance of a diligent man (and one devoted to business, says Aben-Ezra) is precious and honorable. And Vatablus: the substance of a diligent man is precious. Others: the precious substance of a man is diligence — as if to say: The most precious thing among a man's possessions is his diligence and industry. So R. David.

Secondly, the Chaldean translates: the substance of a man shall be precious gold — which version gives the same meaning as the Vulgate.

Thirdly, R. Levi: the substance of a precious and glorious man, namely a just man, shall be gold, which is the most excellent of all possessions.

Fourthly, a Hebrew author cited by Pagninus in his Lexicon: substance acquired through industry is precious, that is, rare and dear. And Baynus: the precious riches of a diligent man — as if to say: Wealth left by inheritance is dear, but dearer still is what is acquired by one's own labor and industry. Therefore, even if someone squanders the former, the latter he carefully guards and preserves, as the fruit and reward of his labor.

Fifthly, the Septuagint translates: but a precious possession is a pure man — one, namely, who has been purged of all the dross of sin, avarice, and fraud, like gold refined by fire; for this is what the Hebrew charuts signifies. Whence the author of the Greek Catena translates: but a sincere man, free from crime, is a precious treasure. So also the Syriac, following in its custom the Septuagint's footsteps: precious substance, he says, is a chosen man. For what is more precious than sincerity, purity, justice, holiness? Hear St. Ambrose, Book 1 of the Offices, chapter 3: "Indeed, a precious possession is a pure man. Therefore hedge this possession and surround it with thoughts, fortify it with pious cares, lest the irrational passions of the body rush upon it and lead it captive, lest grave impulses assail it, lest those who pass by the way plunder its vintage. Guard your inner man. Do not neglect or disdain him as something cheap, because he is a precious possession. And rightly precious, whose fruit is not perishable and temporal, but stable and of eternal salvation. Therefore cultivate your possession, so that you may have lambs."

Sixthly, our translator, reading iekar, that is, "price," most excellently renders: "the substance of a man shall be the price of gold." "Of a man," namely, of a truthful, serious, and diligent man; for he alone is worthy of the name of man and truly is a man; and that this is the meaning is persuaded, indeed compelled, by the antithesis. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The riches that the fraudulent man gathers through fraud shall not feed him, nor enrich him, but shall fly away from him as from a plunderer to others; but truly the riches of the just and sincere man, which he himself prepares for himself by his labor and diligence, shall be "the price of gold" — that is, they shall be stable and precious, and shall be valued at the price of gold — that is, they shall be great and abundant. For what we measure against gold, that is great and precious.

Anagogically, Bede says: "The fraudulent man shall not find his gain, etc.: for money acquired by fraud adds more damage to the soul than profit to the chest. And he who knows how to dispense his own substance for the Lord shall receive, with the Lord Himself repaying, heavenly gifts in exchange for earthly ones. Otherwise: The fraudulent man shall not find his gain, and the substance of a man shall be the price of gold — as if to say: He who with a fraudulent mind pretends to be good while living wickedly in secret shall not find the good things of the next life. But he who truly acquires the substance of spiritual virtues shall purchase with it the glory of the everlasting kingdom, which he says more openly in the following words: In the path of justice is life, etc. For in the path of justice one acquires the substance of virtues; with virtues is purchased the glory of eternal life, more precious than gold. But the crooked path on which the fraudulent man walks, having lost the temporal gain he desired, tends to the eternal death he was unwilling to foresee."

Verse 28: In the Path of Justice There Is Life

For "devious way," the Hebrew has: the way of his path — that is, the way along another and new path, straying from the royal road and the common path of justice — as if to say: Justice is like a royal road that leads to life and ends in life; but the devious way — that is, action and conduct that turns aside and deviates from the standard of justice — leads to present and eternal death.

Moreover, the Septuagint refers and narrows "the way of the path" to the remembrance of injuries, because along it, as along a path, the angry and vengeance-seeking man continually goes and returns: "In the ways of justice is life, they say; but the ways of those who remember injuries lead to death." For from the remembrance of injuries the desire for vengeance is kindled, which rushes to the destruction of others and of oneself. The Chaldean interprets "the way of the path" as: the way of our fathers — that is, the impiety well-trodden by wicked fathers.

More recent interpreters, for el mavet, that is, "to death," reading with different vowel points al mavet, that is, "not death," translate quite differently: in the path of justice is life, and this same path by no means leads to death. So the Zurich version, Pagninus, R. Levi, R. Solomon, and others. But this reading more obscurely and meagerly repeats what has already been clearly and sublimely asserted, and lacks its own antithesis, which the Vulgate and the Septuagint present. Therefore their reading is the true and genuine one.

This maxim is a sharp goad to pursue justice and virtue, and to flee injustice and vice. For what is more desirable for man than life, and that a blessed and eternal one? What more execrable than death, and that heaped up with the eternal fires of hell? Wherefore the philosophers also adopted this same maxim, and Plato especially often spurs his followers to all virtue with the same thought. And Sixtus the Philosopher in his Sentences, number 11, establishes this as a kind of principle of an honest life: "Believe that immortal honors and punishments await you in judgment" — namely: in hell "what torments is eternal, what delights here is momentary; in heaven what delights is eternal, what torments here is momentary. Choose."