Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Man prepares the soul, God governs the tongue, and weighs spirits, and directs the ways of men, working all things for Himself, to whom every arrogant person is an abomination: sins are redeemed by mercy: the weight and balance are the judgments of God: the indignation and clemency of the king: praise of wisdom, prudence, the learned, the sweet in speech, and the patient: the foolish and the perverse are censured: lots are tempered by the Lord.
Vulgate Text: Proverbs 16:1-33
1. It is for man to prepare the soul, and for the Lord to govern the tongue. 2. All the ways of a man are open to His eyes: the Lord is the weigher of spirits. 3. Reveal your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be directed. 4. The Lord has wrought all things for Himself: even the wicked for the evil day. 5. Every arrogant person is an abomination to the Lord: even if hand joins hand, he is not innocent. The beginning of a good way is to do justice; and this is more acceptable to God than to sacrifice victims. 6. By mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed, and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil. 7. When the ways of a man please the Lord, He will convert even his enemies to peace. 8. Better is a little with justice than much fruit with iniquity. 9. The heart of a man plans his way, but it is for the Lord to direct his steps. 10. Divination is on the lips of the king; his mouth will not err in judgment. 11. Weight and balance are the judgments of the Lord, and all the stones of the bag are His work. 12. Those who act wickedly are abominable to the king, because the throne is established by justice. 13. Just lips are the will of kings: he who speaks uprightly will be loved. 14. The indignation of the king is a messenger of death: and the wise man will appease it. 15. In the cheerfulness of the king's countenance is life: and his clemency is like a late rain. 16. Possess wisdom, because it is better than gold: and acquire prudence, because it is more precious than silver. 17. The path of the just turns aside from evils: he who guards his soul keeps his way. 18. Pride precedes destruction, and the spirit is exalted before a fall. 19. It is better to be humbled with the meek than to divide spoils with the proud. 20. The learned in word shall find good things: and he who hopes in the Lord is blessed. 21. He who is wise in heart shall be called prudent: and he who is sweet in speech shall receive greater things. 22. The learning of the possessor is a fountain of life: the instruction of fools is foolishness. 23. The heart of the wise will instruct his mouth, and will add grace to his lips. 24. Well-ordered words are a honeycomb: sweetness to the soul, health to the bones. 25. There is a way that seems right to a man, and its end leads to death. 26. The soul of the laborer labors for himself, because his mouth compels him. 27. The wicked man digs up evil, and on his lips a fire blazes. 28. The perverse man stirs up quarrels, and the talkative man separates princes. 29. The unjust man entices his friend, and leads him by a way that is not good. 30. He who with fixed eyes plans wicked things, biting his lips, accomplishes evil. 31. Old age is a crown of dignity, when it is found in the ways of justice. 32. The patient man is better than the strong man: and he who rules his spirit, than the conqueror of cities. 33. Lots are cast into the lap, but they are governed by the Lord.
1. It is for Man to Prepare the Soul, and for the Lord to Govern the Tongue
In Hebrew: to man belong the arrangements or orderings of the heart, but from the Lord is the answer of the tongue. This verse is absent from the Septuagint of the Complutensian and Roman editions; some other codices, however, render it thus: "To man belong the applications of the heart, and from the Lord the answer of the tongue." Hence also the Syriac, following the Septuagint as is its custom, thus translates: from man is the counsel of the heart, from the Lord the speech of the tongue. Likewise the Chaldean.
Now Aben-Ezra rightly expounds the Hebrew thus, as if to say: A man rightly arranges and disposes his thoughts in his mind, just as a general arranges and orders soldiers in battle formation; for thus a man mentally orders what he is about to say, and says to himself: I will say this first, this second, this third, etc. (for this is what the Hebrew ערך [arach] signifies, to which by metathesis is opposed עכר [achar], that is, to disturb, to confuse). But it is God's part to order and arrange the words, so that what you have conceived and arranged in your mind, you may utter in an orderly, fitting, and effective manner with your mouth. Just as it is the general's part to arrange soldiers in battle formation, but God's to give them fighting spirit, strength, and victory: so likewise it is man's part to arrange what he is about to say, but God's to direct the speech, so that what he intends may persuade the hearer. And Rabbi Levi says: "Although it belongs to a man to arrange things and words in his mind, he nevertheless needs divine help to pronounce his words properly; for how many are the words which, although conceived and ordered skillfully in the mind, are nevertheless confused and disordered in their pronunciation." To this point belongs that saying of St. Augustine, in Book II of On Christian Doctrine: "To capture the thought of the mind with words delights the speaker wonderfully; but when proper words flee the speaker, and foreign ones present themselves, he is so tormented, as if a bad interpreter were assigned to a wise and learned ambassador." And Vatablus says: The sense is what is commonly said: "Man proposes, God disposes." We see this happened in the case of Balaam, whose curse God turned into a blessing. For when he had resolved in his mind to curse Israel, God so turned his tongue that he blessed them instead, Numbers 23.
Less fully, Cajetan restricts this saying from the Hebrew to responses, as if to say: When someone is questioned, let him premeditate what to answer; but let him not trust in his premeditation, and let him commend himself to God, because it belongs to God to direct the tongue, so that it may respond in a manner that satisfies the mind of the questioner. But this is a narrower interpretation; for the Hebrews call "responding" what is simply speaking, even if no question has preceded. Hence our translator renders it generally: "It belongs to the Lord to govern the tongue."
The Pelagians misused this passage for their heresy, to prove that the beginning of salvation comes from free will; for by doing good works and adorning oneself, a person could anticipate and prepare himself to receive the grace of God. It would therefore be man's part to prepare the heart, that is, to begin the good, but God's to complete and perfect it. This sense is refuted by the divine Augustine, in Book II Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, chapter 8, from that saying of Christ in John 15:5: "Without Me you can do nothing"; and from that of Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:5: "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." Therefore St. Augustine, taking the answer of the tongue as the answer of the divine tongue, not the human, thus explains it, as if to say: It is for man, not alone, but aided by God's grace, to prepare his heart to receive God's speech, so that he may hear what the Lord speaks in him; but it belongs to God alone to respond to this preparation of man, and to insert in him His divine words and counsels.
But hear St. Augustine: "For this reason indeed it is written: It is for man to prepare the heart, and from the Lord is the answer of the tongue, because man prepares the heart, yet not without the help of God, who touches the heart. Man prepares the heart; but in the answer of the tongue, that is, in this, that the divine tongue responds to the prepared heart, man has no part in the work, but the whole is from the Lord God. For just as it was said: It is for man to prepare the heart, and from the Lord is the answer of the tongue; so also it was said: Open your mouth, and I will fill it, Psalm 80. For although without His help, without whom we can do nothing, we cannot open our mouth, yet we open our mouth by his help through our own work. For what is preparing the heart and opening the mouth, but preparing the will? And yet in the same Scriptures we read: The will is prepared by the Lord." From which this golden sentence is constructed: "Wherefore God does many good things in man which man does not do; but man does nothing that God does not cause man to do."
But this exposition seems rather mystical than literal. For literally the tongue of man, not of God, is understood here. Hence our translator, for "from the Lord is the answer of the tongue," clearly renders: it belongs to the Lord to govern the tongue, namely not His own, but man's. Wherefore the plain and simple sense is, says Jansenius, that Solomon wishes to signify that a man can indeed think to himself and frequently plan what he is going to say and answer; but without God's help, he will not express well what he has planned, nor bring what he has conceived to effect. Not that the heart can dispose and prepare itself for speaking without the grace of God, but that even what one has planned to say with the grace of God, one cannot express well without a new and special grace of God, which moderates and governs the tongue; so that we may understand that a learned and useful speech is not to be attributed solely to prior meditation, nor is it sufficient for speaking well and healthily that one carefully think to himself what should be said, but after all our own effort we must depend on the help of God, who must not only suggest to the memory what was previously thought out, but also moderate the tongue of the speaker, so that what has been conceived may be said well, usefully, and with grace for the hearers. It is similar in writing; for it is the same thing, whether you speak with your mouth or with your hand and pen. Hence the Psalmist says: "My tongue is the pen of a scribe writing swiftly," Psalm 44:2.
Note here, against the Pelagians, that it is a matter of faith that the preparation of the heart for good pertaining to salvation comes from the grace of God. But the Wise Man here speaks generally, even about the thinking and speaking of indifferent matters that do not pertain to salvation, and he speaks according to human custom and experience. For we see that it is harder to express the thoughts of the mind fittingly than to think and conceive those same thoughts. He therefore does not exclude prevenient grace that excites to salutary thoughts, but compares the greater with the lesser, as if to say: In salutary matters, man, stirred by the common grace of God, can conceive good things in his heart; but he needs greater grace to express them fittingly, especially because during speaking, pride, anger, envy, and also failure of memory, shame, fear, and many other impediments to speaking rightly steal in; all of which we cannot remove and overcome except through the grace of God.
Wherefore it signifies only that thought and the will, or intention, are more in our power than the execution of the work, as if to say: It is not sufficient, in natural things with the general concurrence of God, and in supernatural things even with the grace of God, to premeditate what you are going to say, unless God afterwards in the very act of speaking directs the tongue with special grace; so says St. Thomas, I-II, Question 112, article 2, in the body. What Solomon says here about words, he asserts the same about deeds and works in verse 9 and chapter 20:24: for it is easy with the common grace of God to resolve on things in the mind, but a new and special grace is needed to carry out in action what you have resolved. For in the course of working, many difficulties arise which cannot be overcome without the special help of God.
And this is the first reason a priori why it belongs to man to dispose the heart, but to God to govern the tongue, and why both, namely both disposing and governing, are more the work of God than of man. The second reason is that in speech many circumstances arise that are unforeseen by the speaker. Since therefore man has not foreseen them, so that his tongue might be adapted to them, it is necessary that it be governed by God. Add that there are many secret conditions in the hearer as well as in the speaker, known to God alone, to which the speech of the speaker must be suitably adapted, and which therefore must be directed by God. The third and chief reason is that it is indeed man's part to speak outwardly and form words; but it belongs to God alone to give them inwardly the force and vigor to persuade the hearer of what they convey; otherwise the speaker is only sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal, as the Apostle says, 1 Corinthians 13. For just as the farmer sows the seed, but God alone gives the seed the inner power of germinating and multiplying itself; so it happens exactly with the word, which the speaker sows like seed, but God gives it spirit and efficacy for converting the hearer.
For God inspires in the mind of the hearer what the speaker proposes, and illumines and inflames it with the light and impulse of His grace, so that it may understand, love, and pursue the very same thing. This is what the Apostle says: "I planted, Apollo watered, but God gave the increase," 1 Corinthians 3:6; and Christ: "Everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to Me," John 6:45; and verse 44: "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him." The same is taught everywhere against the Pelagians by St. Augustine, especially in his book On Correction and Grace.
This maxim applies everywhere, but especially in the profession of faith and for Martyrs at the time of persecution, concerning whom Bede properly explains it, so that Solomon says here the same thing that Christ says in Matthew 10:19: "But when they hand you over, do not be anxious how or what you are to speak; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Thus Esther, about to intercede with her husband Ahasuerus for the salvation of the Jews, who had already been condemned to death through Haman, prays to God: "Grant," she says, "well-composed speech in my mouth in the sight of the lion, and turn his heart to hatred of our enemy," Esther 14:13. For many causes must concur for the speaker to persuade the hearer of what he intends, and especially the heart of the hearer must be soothed and bent, so that he may be affected by what he hears, and lay aside contrary affections; but this God alone can do.
Wherefore, the preacher, the confessor, and anyone striving to save souls must pray to God to so direct his tongue that it may strike the mind of the hearer and persuade him of what is said. Let him therefore pray with the Psalmist: "Lord, You will open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise." Thus St. Augustine, as Possidius narrates in his Life, tells how in a certain sermon he said entirely different things than he had previously conceived in his mind, and afterwards perceived that this was done by God for the conversion of a certain Manichean who was present at the sermon. St. James gives the reason, chapter 3, verse 8: "But the tongue no man can tame." Where I said much on this matter. Therefore it is necessary that God curb and tame it. Hence St. Chrysostom, Homily 50 on Matthew: "The tongue," he says, "is a royal horse: if you impose the bridle of your teaching on it, you will have made it an ambler; the king will mount upon it and rest on it." Just as therefore no one could manage Bucephalus except Alexander the Great, and that horse would tolerate no other rider except Alexander: so likewise no one can govern the tongue except God; and it tolerates no other rider except God. Wherefore Hugh of St. Victor in Book I of On the Soul says: "The tongue is slippery, and cannot be held, but it slips away and deceives. It slips like an eel, it penetrates like an arrow."
Finally, from this maxim: "It belongs to the Lord to govern the tongue," Francisco Suarez skillfully and carefully concludes, in tome I of On Grace, Prolegomenon III, chapter 5, number 7, that the gratuitously given graces which St. Paul enumerates in 1 Corinthians 12, among which the first is the word of wisdom, are not given through habitual dispositions, but through an actual motion of the Holy Spirit, by which He Himself directly stirs the mind and causes apt words and fitting modes of speech to occur to it, and removes the impediments that could distract or disturb the mind. This is especially true for the preacher, as I said, the confessor, and similar persons who convert souls. Let them therefore frequently pray that God may govern their tongue for the salvation of others, namely, that He may cause them to speak so fittingly that they may strike and convert their hearers.
2. All the Ways of a Man Are Open to his Eyes; the Lord is the Weigher of Spirits
For 'patent' (are open), the Hebrew is זך (zach), that is, was clean, pure from all stain and fault, sincere, clear, irreproachable. Hence זכוכית (zecuchit) is the word for glass and crystal, on account of its cleanness and transparency. For 'ponderator' (weigher), the Hebrew is תכן (tochen), which has three meanings: first, directing, disposing; second, measuring; third, weighing. Properly, tochen means carefully considering, thoroughly examining, precisely measuring, counting, judging spirits, whether they measure up to their standard and rule, namely the divine law, reason, and the prescription of virtue, and correspond to it exactly. Our translator renders it 'weigher,' that is, one who weighs and examines whether they have the true weight of virtue.
Hence the Chaldean translates: all the ways of a man are clean in his eyes, and God directs his ways; the Syriac: all the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes; the Septuagint: all the works of the humble are manifest before Him; but the impious will perish in the evil day. The Roman editors note that in one codex of the Septuagint, under an asterisk, the following is found: "To man belong the applications of the heart, and from the Lord the answers of the tongue. The greater you are, humble yourself, and before the Lord you will find grace. All the works of the humble are manifest before God; and the Lord establishes their spirits. Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. The Lord has wrought all His works for Himself, but the wicked will perish in the evil day."
Now first, Cajetan, since the Hebrew zach is masculine and singular in number, translates thus: all the ways of a man are clean in his eyes, that is, he says, all the external actions of a just and sincere man are open to his eyes, when he examines and judges them; but the spirits and internal impulses by which he was driven to these actions, he does not see through: for these God alone weighs, that is, examines, penetrates, and measures. But all translators render זך (zach) as clean, or open and clear. For among the Hebrews there is frequent enallage and interchange of genders and persons. Again, זך (zach) can be taken as an abstract, as if to say: All the ways of a man seem to be cleanness in his eyes, that is, entirely clean. To this the Septuagint draws near, who restrict these words to the humble: "All the works of the humble," they say, "are manifest before God."
Wherefore our Salazar, adapting the Vulgate version to the Septuagint, takes these words as applying only to the humble, and explains them thus, as if to say: All the works of the humble in His sight are like glass, that is, clear and transparent; therefore he notes even the smallest blemishes and defects in them, according to that saying of Isidore of Pelusium, Book II, letter 24: "The hypocrite puts glass in place of a true pearl, that is, he peddles his vain and meritless works as great ones, and displays them as if precious. But the humble person esteems his pearls as glass," that is, he values his heroic works at little or nothing, and considers them fragile like glass.
But "the Lord is the weigher of spirits; of spirits, that is, of the proud who crave lofty spirits; for thus 'spirit' often signifies pride and haughtiness. Now he explains 'weighs' in three ways: first, as if to say: "God weighs," that is, by weighing He balances, levels, and equalizes the spirits of the proud, by casting them down and leveling them, as if by a plumb line, with other men who are cast down and lowly; second, "He weighs," that is, He weighs down with burdens, meaning: God lays down and depresses the pride of the lofty by imposing some burden of tribulation; third, properly, "He weighs," that is, He weighs in the scales of His just judgment, and rightly discerns the lightness of the proud and the weight and importance of the humble. Thus Salazar.
But the Author of the Greek Catena says: "By this, that the works of the humble are said to be manifest to God, it is implied that God does not wish to look upon the works of the proud, much less to approve them. Or they are said to be manifest because they are like a certain light."
But 'humble' is not in the Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, or Latin; much less 'of the proud,' which not even the Septuagint itself has. Wherefore, taking this saying generally as it sounds, about any man whatsoever, it should be noted that when it says: "All the ways of a man are open to his eyes," the pronoun 'his' can be referred either to God, who was mentioned in verse 1, or to man. Bede, Lyranus, Aben-Ezra, Hugh, and Dionysius refer it to God, and give this meaning: "The Lord sees the ways, that is, the actions of all, namely of both good and bad, and also the spirits of each, what they think in secret, He discerns with a sure balance," says Bede; as if to say: To God, all the actions of man are vitreous and crystalline, that is, clear and transparent like glass and crystal, because God intimately sees through their root and foundation, namely the heart, mind, and spirit of each, and weighs and examines it, whether it has the fair and just weight of goodness, or whether it is diminished, defective, and unjust.
Hence Boethius concludes, in Book V of The Consolation of Philosophy, prose 6, near the end: "Therefore shun vices, cultivate virtue; a great necessity of uprightness is laid upon you, since you act before the eyes of a Judge who sees all things."
Secondly, more simply, the Syriac, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Pagninus, Rabbi Levi, Jansenius, and others refer the pronoun 'his' to the man who immediately precedes, as if to say: Man's external actions are open to himself, and he often, out of self-love and self-regard, approves of them and considers them pure and holy; but not rarely does he err, because he does not see through the internal spirit from which they flow: for the weigher, that is, the examiner, the investigator, the introspector of this, is God.
Note here that by 'spirit' is meant, first, the thought and will of the mind, which God alone weighs, whether it is good or bad, as if to say: Man sees the external action and approves of it as good and honorable in itself. But God sees the internal volition, which is often faulty, and therefore stains and vitiates the whole external action; so that although it may seem pure to man, it is nevertheless judged impure by God. This sense is more clearly expressed by Solomon in chapter 21:2, saying: "Every way of a man seems right to himself; but the Lord weighs the hearts," as if to say: Do not flatter yourselves that your works please you and seem to be upright and just, because God will call them to the scales of His divine judgment, in which the most subtle spirits and the most hidden thoughts are weighed; hence in those scales, what is often approved and praised as good by man is reprobated and condemned as evil.
Secondly, 'spirit' signifies the intention and the depth of the heart, as if to say: Man perceives his actions, but does not see through the intention and the depth of his own heart; but God does see through it, indeed He weighs and balances it; and therefore He often condemns an action which seems right and just to men. For a good work done with an evil intention is evil, not good; for example, when someone gives alms to a poor person in order to draw him into luxury or heresy. But a work indifferent in itself, that is, neither good nor bad, becomes good if it is done with a good end and a good intention. But a work evil in itself cannot become good, even if it proceeds from the best intention. Behold, the Lord is the weigher of all these intentions. Therefore let no one be his own judge, let no one be proud of his own judgment, but let him tremble before the divine judgment.
Here pertains the explanation of our Vilalpando, Part II On the Temple, Book III, chapter 9, which is as follows: "All the ways of a man are open to His eyes, the Lord is the weigher of spirits, as if to say: Works are the way which seems right and smooth to each person; but its roughness and outcome are hidden and unseen to a man who trusts greatly in himself and is blind; but to God they are open. For He Himself judges and discerns the spirits, and by what impulse each person is led in every one of his actions."
Thirdly, by 'spirit' understand the affection, love, intention, fervor, zeal, force, and efficacy, as if to say: Man sees the external work and greatly esteems it, and considers it very pious and holy; but God weighs the spirit, that is, the quantity of affection, intention, love, and zeal from which the work proceeds, according to the saying: "God considers not how much, but from how much." For a great work done with a small spirit, affection, and love is of little weight and merit before God, who is the just appraiser of virtues; but a small work done from a great spirit and love is of great weight and worth before God. Hence St. Thomas, Part I, Question 21, article 4, reply to objection 3, says it is rash to determine which was holier, St. Peter or St. John: for "the Lord is the weigher of spirits."
Fourthly, by 'spirit' understand the quantity of grace and charity, which gives weight to the work. For the same good work done by a man who has great grace and charity, and is therefore eminently holy and a friend of God, is of far greater weight, worth, and merit before God than the same work done with equal intensity by another who has a small habitual grace and charity, and is therefore little pleasing to God and His friend, as Francisco Suarez teaches, Treatise On Grace, Part III, Book XII, chapter 22, number 2, and others generally. But this quantity of grace and charity, God alone weighs and measures. Hence St. Francis used to say: "Everyone is worth as much as he is worth before God, and no more." It is therefore God's part to weigh works, whether they are weighty or light, from the weighty or light spirit that produces them. Again, God, says Lyranus, weighs spirits in order to repay merits and demerits. Hence the Hebrew tochen the Zurich Bible translates as 'disposing': "The Lord," it says, "disposes spirits," that is, says Vatablus, He works in us the things that are good; Rabbi Levi translates 'directing,' as if to say: God directs the actions of the just so that from crooked they may become straight; or, if they are straight, that they may remain straight, and that they may continually walk on the straight path of virtue and salvation, and so arrive at eternal rewards; but the wicked works of the impious He directs to the deserved punishments of hell.
He alludes to Job 28:25: "Who gave the winds their weight, and weighed the waters by measure," where for 'weighed' the Hebrew is תכן (tichen); hence tochen, which our translator here renders as 'weigher.' For just as God gives to the winds, though they are the lightest things, their own weight, that is, their measure — namely a quantity, force, and efficacy determined and defined by Him — and weighs the waters, for example the sea, by measure, so that although it may swell, it nevertheless does not exceed the limits established by God and measured out for it: so likewise God gives to the aforementioned spirits their just weight and measure, and according to that measure equalizes and measures each one.
Moreover, the weight of the spirit and the soul is love, according to the saying of St. Augustine: "My weight is my love; by it I am carried wherever I am carried." Therefore, as great as the love in the soul is, as great as the charity, so great is its weight; for charity gives weight, that is, dignity, value, and worth to the work and to the worker. The word 'weigher' therefore can be understood in two ways: first, as giver of weight; second, as measurer of weight. For God measures the weight of all actions, both bad and good; but of good ones He also gives the weight, which namely He Himself from eternity through His predestination has equalized and measured out both for the good, salvation, and glory of the one working, and for the public good, namely the state and office which He committed to the worker for the good of the Church or the commonwealth. Man therefore is the weigher of bodies, but God of spirits, and thus of all Angels, Cherubim, and Seraphim.
This sense aptly coheres with the preceding and following verse, as if to say: Just as God in speaking is the governor of the tongue, so in working He is the weigher of spirits and intentions, and in willing He is the director of thoughts, as follows. He therefore is the charioteer of the heart, the mouth, and the work. Hence in the following verse, for 'shall be directed,' the Hebrew is יכונו (yikkonu), which alludes to tochen. Truly therefore Bede says in his commentary on Proverbs: "Just as a pipe without breath gives no sound, so the heart of man without divine inspiration receives no good." Hence St. Michael, as the vicar of God, is depicted as a balance-holder, that is, weighing in the scales the souls of the dying, and assessing and weighing their merits and demerits. Thus God weighed the spirit and works of Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, when He wrote on the wall: "Mene, tekel (which word alludes to tochen, which is the Hebrew word used here), peres; tekel, you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting," Daniel 5:27, where I said much about this balance and weighing of God.
The antistrophe to Solomon is that maxim of St. Paul in Hebrews 4:12: "The word of God is living and effective, and more penetrating than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." See what I annotated there. Thus you see Solomon everywhere corresponding antistrophally to Christ and the Apostles. This indeed is the agreement of the law and the Gospel, this is the harmony of the New and Old Testaments.
Morally, learn here how highly the spirit, namely the mind and intention, should be valued in any action of ours. For a good intention gives goodness even to an indifferent work; and the better the intention is, the better and more meritorious the work is. The intention is good if you flee sin and do good in order to avoid the punishments of hell. Better, if you do it in hope of a heavenly reward. Best, if you do it out of love of virtue, for example, from obedience, to fulfill the law; from gratitude, to give thanks to God; from penitence, to make satisfaction for sins; from justice, to render to your neighbor his due; from religion, to worship God; and especially from charity, to please God more and to render Him something pleasing. For charity is the noblest of the virtues, and their chief and queen; therefore the acts which it elicits or commands through intention it makes divine and most noble, and of the highest merit before God. Wherefore the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God."
Explaining this, St. Basil in the Shorter Rules, Rule 196, says: "He truly eats and drinks to the glory of God who preserves the memory of God's benefits toward him, and retains such a disposition of soul as is also manifested by the composure of his body, so that he does not eat as one entirely carefree, but as one who has God as his inspector; and when taking food, he has this set before him, that he does not eat as a slave of his belly for the sake of pleasure, but as a worker of God, so that he may be stronger for carrying out the works that are according to the commandment of Christ." And Blessed Lawrence Justinian, in his book On Discipline, chapter 10: "All servants of Christ," he says, "who desire to please God, should strive to consecrate to the Most High the beginnings of the day and of their actions, so that the subsequent works may not deviate from their principle; wherefore as soon as they awake from sleep, let them always strive to lift up their hearts; let their first voice, first thought, first affection resound with divine praise, let them direct a fervent supplication to God, and commit themselves to Him with a sincere heart, who is powerfully able to deliver from impending dangers."
St. Dorotheus, Instruction 13: "If we do good out of fear of hell," he says, "we are in a servile state; if in order to receive a reward, in the state of a hireling; if we do good for its own sake, we pass to the state of sons."
Memorable is what Joinville writes in French in the Life of St. Louis, King of France: that Yves (of the illustrious family of St. Dominic), when he had been sent as an ambassador by this Louis to the great Sultan of Damascus, met a certain woman of very advanced age, who was carrying in one hand a vessel of burning coals, and in the other a jar full of water. Astonished by this spectacle, he asked her for what purpose she was carrying these two things with her. She answered in this manner: "My intention is to burn Paradise with this fire, and to extinguish the flames of hell with this water."
Stupefied even more than before by this unexpected response, he again asks her why she would attempt such a thing. She replied: "So that in the future no one may devote himself to virtue and the practice of good works out of hope for a reward, nor refrain from evil out of fear of hell, but purely for the honor of God and the singular love which we owe Him." When he understood this, he stood completely in admiration, so greatly had the immense piety and perfection of this woman, and her great zeal for the honor of God, shaken his soul with astonishment.
St. Father Ignatius, eager to spur the students of his order to this perfection, speaks in this manner: "Let all strive to have a right intention, not only regarding the state of their life, but also regarding all particular things, always sincerely aiming in them to serve and please the divine goodness for its own sake, and on account of charity and the extraordinary benefits with which He has anticipated us, rather than from fear of punishments or hope of rewards (although they ought to be aided by these too); and in all things let them seek God, stripping themselves, as far as possible, of the love of all creatures, so that they may direct all their affection toward the Creator of creatures, loving Him in all creatures and all creatures in Him, according to His most holy and divine will."
Those four living creatures which were shown to the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 1 had their wings spread out and their heads raised upward, God signifying by this vision that those endowed with virtue ought to lift their intentions to the heights, namely by carrying them out for the honor of God. King David clearly showed that he purely sought the honor of God when he said: "Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory," Psalm 113. This is what is commonly said:
Whatever men do, the intention judges them all; because, as St. Ambrose says in Book II of On Duties: "Your affection gives its name to your work." For just as branches and fruits draw their sap from the lowest root, so good actions draw their principal goodness and merit from a good intention. St. Gregory, in Book 28 of the Morals, chapter 13, values it so highly that he calls it the foundation of the entire spiritual edifice.
3. Reveal Your Works to the Lord, and Your Thoughts Will be Directed
For 'reveal,' our translator reads גל (gal), from the root גלה (gala), that is, 'he revealed.' But with a different vowel pointing, others read גל (gol), that is, roll, devolve, from the root גלל (galal), that is, 'he rolled.' Hence gilgal is the word for a sphere, namely the heavens, from its rolling and roundness. Therefore Pagninus, Vatablus, Cajetan, and others translate thus: roll or devolve, or turn over to the Lord your works, and your thoughts will be directed, or established; and they explain this in various ways.
First, Cajetan refers it to intention and end, as if to say: The works you plan to do, turn and refer to God as to your ultimate end; so it will happen that your thoughts will be rightly directed to their end and goal. And Vatablus says: Accomplish whatever you do for the honor of God, and you will not be frustrated in your plans. And Rabbi Levi says: Refer everything you do to the divine service, and your plans will proceed rightly, with God lending help so that you may attain the goal of your desires.
Secondly, Baynus and Salazar refer these words to the giving of thanks, as if to say: Everything you do, roll back through thanksgiving to God, the author of those things; whatever good you have done, reflect it entirely back to God, and credit it to Him as to the fountain of all good; thus "your thoughts will be directed," namely they will be carried most rightly and will not go astray. For if from the things you do well, you arrogate anything to yourself, you go completely astray; hence the Hebrew gol can be translated: like a ball, throw back and return to God the holy works which He Himself has cast into you. For, as St. Chrysostom says, Homily 8, tome V: "We ought to refer our good works back to God, just as in the game of ball one person throws and the other returns the ball, and the game is carried on elegantly for as long as the ball, thrown and returned between the hands of each, does not fall." Therefore whatever benefit you have received, with God as it were throwing it, do not let it fall (says Solomon), but immediately throw it back into His hands, so that from there, as if bounced back, it may return to you again; and this not only in prosperity but also in adversity, as if to say: Whatever good you have done, or whatever evil you have endured, credit it to God and return it through thanksgiving.
And you will be more skilled when you have promptly and readily returned the adverse and unfortunate things cast, not to say hurled, upon you by Him. He adds: "And your thoughts will be directed," in Hebrew "will be ordered, or established," as if to say: With this humble judgment already laid down, your "thoughts," that is, your plans and reasoning, will by no means waver. Beautifully St. Chrysostom, in Homily 3 On Lazarus, teaches how we ought to reflect all things, both adverse and prosperous, back to God through the giving of thanks.
Thirdly, more fully and more aptly for the Vulgate translation, refer these words both to hope and invocation, and to praise and thanksgiving. For he explains what he said in the preceding verse: "The Lord is the weigher of spirits;" and in verse 1: "It is for man to prepare the soul," namely by revealing and laying open to God his affairs, and asking Him to direct, confirm, and prosper them. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Devolve your works upon God, that is, reveal them to Him, announce them, offer them, commend them to Him, and wholly commit them to Him, firmly trusting that He will most excellently direct and establish them for His glory, and for your salvation and that of others. For we roll our works unto the Lord, says Jansenius, when we credit to the Lord whatever is done rightly by us, and when we refer all our works to His honor, and when we commend and commit to Him the tasks that are incumbent upon us, praying that He may direct them and bring them to a salutary effect.
The third of these the Wise Man counsels when he says here: "Roll your works unto the Lord." For to this it is fitting that what follows applies: "And your thoughts will be directed," or, as others translate, "established"; that is, with God prospering them, what you have planned will proceed and be fulfilled successfully. He therefore admonishes here the same thing that Tobias says in chapter 4, verse 20: "Ask Him to direct your ways, and that all your counsels may abide in Him." And what David says in Psalm 36:5: "Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in Him, and He will act."
We are therefore admonished to reveal our works to the Lord, not so as to make them known to Him as if He were ignorant of them, but so that in our prayers we may set them before Him, imploring His help and favor. Hence Bede says: "We reveal our works to the Lord when we bring into memory Him whom we know nothing escapes, in all that we do, and earnestly beg His help in all things." So also Paul, Philippians 4: "Be anxious about nothing," he says, "but in every prayer and supplication let your petitions be made known to God."
Therefore, just as an infant reveals his desires to his mother, and devolves and entrusts them into her lap and care, and there reclines, sleeps, and rests: so likewise the faithful person should reveal, surrender, and commit all his affairs to God, and in the care of His fatherly providence fall asleep and rest, according to chapter 3, verse 6: "In all your ways think of Him, and He will direct your steps," where I said much on this matter. Thus Rabbi Solomon says: גל (gol), he says, means devolve, cast away, as if to say: "Devolve upon God all things you need, and what you plan will succeed happily. Or also: Pour out prayers to God for everything you will need." And Aben-Ezra says: "Since God has done all things for the man free from fault, He grants his wishes; and when he asks for something, He freely grants it. And if you reveal your plans to Him, He will kindly provide what you seek." So also Lyranus, Hugh, Dionysius, and others. The word 'roll' signifies that anxiety is a great weight that burdens the soul of the anxious person; let him therefore roll it from his soul into the lap of God, and so he will be free and secure about the happy outcome of his affair.
Finally, St. Chrysostom, in Homily 41 to the People, refers these words to confession, as if to say: Reveal, that is, confess to God your sins and evil works; thus He will direct you to their pardon and His grace, and to humility and the other virtues. "I do not tell you," he says, "to display yourself, nor to accuse yourself before others, but obey the Prophet who says: Reveal your way to the Lord; confess them before God, acknowledge your sins before the Judge with supplication, and if not with the tongue, at least with the memory, and thus ask that mercy be shown to you. If you continually keep your sins in memory, you will never harbor the memory of anger toward your neighbor. I do not say: if you persuade yourself that you are a sinner. This cannot humble the soul so much as sins themselves, ruminated upon in their particular details. You will not be mindful of evil, if you always carry these things in memory; you will not be angry, you will not revile, you will not think lofty thoughts, you will not fall into the same sins again, you will be stronger for good. Do you see how many good things are born from the remembrance of sins?"
In a similar manner, our Alvarez de Paz, in Book IV, Part IV, On the Effects of Humility, chapter 5, beautifully applies these words to the manifestation of conscience, especially that which most Religious make at stated times to their Superior, as the vicar and interpreter of God: for through this they are most excellently directed by their Superior, indeed by God, toward their own salvation and that of others.
4. The Lord Has Wrought All Things for Himself, even the Wicked for the Evil Day
For 'for Himself,' the Hebrew is למענהו (lemaanehu), which can first be translated as 'for its sake,' namely the work; says Pagninus: For God needed nothing. Or rather 'for his sake,' namely for man, who preceded in verses 2 and 1. Hence the Chaldean translates: all works are of God for those who obey Him, and the wicked is preserved for the evil day; and so there is a clear antithesis between the obedient and the wicked or disobedient: that God prepared all His works, and especially heaven, for those who obey Him; but for the disobedient He prepared evil, that is, destruction and hell.
Secondly, Rabbi Solomon translates lemaanehu as 'for his praise'; for ענה (ana) means to sing and to praise, according to Psalm 146:7: "Sing praises (in Hebrew ענו enu, that is, sing) to the Lord in confession."
Thirdly, the same Rabbi Solomon explains lemaanehu as 'for a testimony of Himself,' that is, so that all things might bear testimony concerning God Himself, because the divine works testify to God's strength and majesty.
Fourthly, most aptly our translator, Pagninus, Vatablus, and others translate lemaanehu as 'for Himself,' which Rabbi Jonah explains as: According to His will and good pleasure. Far better, others explain it thus: For His glory, so that the sense is: God created the world and all things that are in it, not under compulsion serving the utility of others, but freely in service of His own glory, for Himself, as for the ultimate end of all things. For He Himself, just as He is the first efficient cause of all things, so also He is the end and goal of all things; for all things tend to the praise of God, so that they may proclaim and celebrate throughout the whole world the power, mercy, justice, and wisdom of their Creator. Hence God is the same in all things, and like Himself throughout all things. "God," says St. Augustine, "is neither greater in the greatest things, nor lesser in the least things."
Note here that God did not work all things for Himself out of a desire for glory, but because the nature and order of things demands it. For the creature from its innermost and entire essence is referred and looks to its Creator, as to its end and supreme good. Conversely, the nature and divinity of the Creator is of such dignity and majesty that it requires all things to be referred to Himself; indeed, it is one property and essential attribute of the divinity that it is the ultimate end of all things. This maxim therefore admonishes us to refer all our works to God, and to perform them for His sake, just as He Himself has wrought all things, and works those very works with us for His own sake. Since therefore God works all things for Himself, it is fitting that we also, cooperating with Him, should conspire in the same intention as His, and do all our works for His praise and glory, and say that motto of St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus: "All for the greater glory of God."
To this a new stimulus is given by the Chaldean version, which reads thus: all the works of God are for those who obey Him; and the wicked is preserved for the evil day, as if to say: God, although ultimately He created all things for Himself, yet proximately and mediately He created all things for the just who obey Him, and devoted the sun, moon, fire, trees, fruits, and all created things to their service; so that they in turn might devote those same things and all they have to the service of God. For if God does all things for man, then it is fitting that man in turn should do all things for God. If you object that the wicked and impious also use the things created by God, and that these things serve them, I respond that this service is brief and small. For the wicked man is preserved for the evil day of damnation and hell, when heaven, earth, hell, and all creatures will conspire and, as it were, join forces for his punishment and torment.
Hence St. Bernard, Sermon 3 On Pentecost: "He does all things for Himself," he says, "namely by gratuitous goodness; all things for His elect, namely for their utility, so that the former is indeed the efficient cause, the latter the final cause." See St. Thomas, Part I, Question 44, article 4, where he teaches that God is the first efficient, exemplary, and final cause of all things: because God in their production intends to communicate His goodness to them, and they intend to participate in the same. For the end is that which is intended by the agent. But God did not work them for Himself as the end of Himself (for God does not have an end for Himself, but He Himself is the end of all things), but for the end and the good of creatures. For in God, wisdom, goodness, and operation are one and the same with God, and therefore He Himself cannot be their end. God therefore has "wrought all things for Himself," that is, He wrought all things to this purpose: that He might show and communicate His goodness, wisdom, power, magnificence, glory, etc., to creatures, which is the good of creatures, not of God. For God acquired nothing from this communication of Himself, since nothing can be added to Him (hence even the glory with which men, Angels, and all creatures glorify Him adds nothing to Him, since He has in Himself uncreated and infinite glory). But creatures have drawn their essence, properties, endowments, and every good from God. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics at the cited Question, and Question 65, article 2.
This is what St. Dionysius says: "The divine love of God did not leave Him without offspring." And Christ: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," Revelation 1:8. Indeed even Plato in the Timaeus, inquiring why God fashioned the world, answers: "He was supremely good; and from the supremely good, envy is far removed. And so, consequently, He willed all things to be made like Himself, insofar as the nature of each was capable of blessedness."
This saying is explained with learned, profound, and delightful contemplation by our Alvarez de Paz, Book III, Part III, decade 9, contemplation 80, "That God is the Ultimate End." I will weave it in here, because it profoundly explains this maxim, and few possess and read this author. The first point says: O most holy Lord God, You are the ultimate end of all things, and all created things seek nothing as their ultimate end besides You. For You created all things by Your power, not because of any need of Yours, but so that they might share in Your infinite perfection according to their capacity. Their end therefore is to tend toward You, to put on some likeness of You, and to draw near to You their Creator. And indeed creatures lacking reason tend toward You as toward their end by the impulse of their nature, insofar as they seek their own proper good, which is a participation of Your goodness. Only wretched man again and again separates himself from You by sinning and turns to the baseness of the creature. But You who are not just somehow, but as it were the magnet of our heart, draw us to Yourself and compel us to enter the way of rectitude.
The second point: All things rest in their end, and separated from it they do not cease to be moved, until they reach it in their own way. You therefore, O Lord, are our rest. Your majesty alone can fill our heart, Your goodness and sweetness can satisfy it. Neither dignities, nor riches, nor pleasures, nor all created goods fill this capacity of ours; but only the one infinite and uncreated good, which is You Yourself, can fill it and make it happy. You, O Lord, are the city toward which we journey; the harbor into which we sail; the bed in which we rest; the staff by which we are supported. The ivy clings to the tree by which it is supported and raised up high with a thousand branches like arms, because it receives from it its growth and elevation. Therefore I too wish to embrace You with all the love of which I am capable, because without You I cannot stand even for a moment.
The third point: When therefore I shall have possessed You as my ultimate end, then I shall be blessed. This will be to have returned to the homeland, to have passed from the exile of bodies into the region of spirits. In Your very grace, You are our God, the greatest spirit, the greatest dwelling place of the blessed spirits. Where all is truth, is wisdom, virtue, eternity, the supreme good. While we are absent from You and are here, it is a valley of tears in which sensuality reigns and contemplation is exiled; in which the bodily sense freely asserts itself, but the spiritual eye is entangled and grows dim. Let us therefore strive, O God, to depart from this exile at least by our desires and holy affections, and to dwell in You, our supreme good. Amen.
From what has been said, it is clear that when God is said to have created and to work all things "for Himself," that is, for His glory, the glory should be understood not as created glory, which God receives from creatures, but as uncreated and infinite glory, which God has had from eternity and has from Himself and in Himself, which is God Himself. As if to say: God created and works all things for this end: that He might reveal the immense glory of His essence, goodness, power, and wisdom to His creatures, and communicate it to them as far as is possible, so that they might become partakers of it. Nevertheless, from this uncreated glory there naturally and necessarily results created glory, by which men, Angels, and all creatures praise their Creator: for this glory is owed to God by them with every right. And this glory is either manifest and clear, as in men and Angels; or silent and mute, as in irrational creatures: for these glorify God with a silent voice, just as a work glorifies its maker — for example, a house glorifies its architect, a painting celebrates its painter.
Nevertheless, this created glory could not properly be the end of God, which God sought for Himself, so that for the sake of attaining it He created the universe and works all things, both because this glory is outside God and is something created and insignificant; and because it adds nothing to the uncreated and infinite glory which God has had in Himself and possesses from eternity; and because this glory, or glorification, is rather the good of creatures than of God. For it is the happiness of creatures to acknowledge, love, worship, and glorify their Creator, according to that saying: "You have made us, O Lord, for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You," as St. Augustine says in Book I of the Confessions.
Wherefore, for the answer to and understanding of this passage and similar ones, note that the Hebrews often, and especially in song and verse, speak concisely and leave much to be understood, which they leave for the reader to supply. Therefore when Solomon says: "The wicked also (supply: He created, or as the Chaldean and others translate, who is preserved and ordained) for the evil day," repeat from the preceding hemistich: "the Lord has wrought for Himself." For this repetition is required by the conjunction 'also,' as if to say: All created things, and therefore even the wicked and the impious themselves, who did not seem to be made for God, nor to be subject to His glory and to serve it, nevertheless truly are subject to it and do serve it. For God, who produced all things for His glory, also created those whom He foresaw would be impious if created by Him, and would resist Him and His glory, and He permitted them to act wickedly, so that by rendering to them the punishment they deserve for the faults they have committed, He might reveal in them the glory of His justice.
Hence Vatablus translates and explains thus: and even the wicked will fall into the day of affliction, that is, of perdition, namely so that the wrath of God may be known. This is what Paul says in Romans 9:22: "God, willing to show His wrath and to make known His power, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction, that He might show the riches of His glory toward the vessels of mercy, which He prepared for glory." But so far is it from being the case, as Bellarmine rightly concludes in Book II On the Loss of Grace, chapter 12, that Solomon said what Calvin claims — that God, before the foresight of sin, decreed to damn some — that he seems rather to have signified the contrary, when he says that God works all things "for Himself," that is, so that He might demonstrate the glory of His mercy or justice. To decree this damnation on account of foreseen sins is an act of justice; but to decree damnation without the foresight of sins seems to be an act of injustice. For thus speaks St. Augustine, Book III Against Julian, chapter 18: "God is good, God is just; He can free some without good merits, because He is good; He cannot damn anyone without evil merits, because He is just." And in Letter 106 to Paulinus: "If God is believed to damn anyone who is undeserving and subject to no sin, He is not believed to be free from iniquity." Therefore God could not, before the foresight of sin, decree the damnation of anyone in order to demonstrate His justice by that damnation. For the justice of just vengeance and punishment first requires and presupposes the guilt of fault.
THE WICKED ALSO FOR THE EVIL DAY — namely, God has wrought, say Calvin and Beza: Because, they say, before all foresight of fault and sin, God as the absolute lord of all predestines and creates the wicked for punishments, so that in them He may show the glory of His justice; just as He predestines the elect to rewards before all foresight of merits, so that in them He may demonstrate His clemency. But this is an error. For in this way God would equally have to predestine the means to these punishments, namely to send sins upon man and make men wicked (for punishment essentially regards fault and is its correlative: hence no one is punished unless guilty of fault), which is a horrible blasphemy: for it destroys free will, and in its place introduces a fate of sin, and attributes to God, who by His essence is sanctity and goodness itself, all the guilt of sin, so that now not the sinner but God Himself would have to be blamed and punished, according to Calvin. These are monstrous blasphemies unheard of in all ages. See what I said about the hardening of Pharaoh, Exodus 7:3.
I say therefore: God of Himself wills, desires, and commands not the punishment of anyone, but the salvation and consequently the blessedness of all, as is clear from 1 Timothy 2:4, and Ezekiel 33:11, and from the continual exhortations and warnings of all the other Prophets.
5. Every Arrogant Person is an Abomination to the Lord: Even if Hand Joins Hand, He is not Innocent
For 'arrogant,' the Hebrew is גבה לב (geba lev), that is, exalted in heart; the Septuagint expressively renders it ὑψηλοκάρδιος, that is, lofty-hearted. The second part the Septuagint explains thus: but he who unjustly lays hand upon hand will not be innocent; thus the Syriac: he who stretches out his hand against his neighbor is not prevented from evil; the Chaldean: he will not be cleansed from evil; the Scholiast: and he who joins hand to hand, etc.
The sense is, as if to say: God abominates all sins and sinners, but especially arrogance and the arrogant; wherefore even if they have many associates to protect themselves, and through whom they jointly lay violent hands on others, so that they continually pile sins upon sins, they will not nevertheless be innocent, that is, unpunished; but soon the wrath of God will rage against them and lay low their pride. The reason is that the arrogant person is the rival and antagonist of God, so that like another Lucifer he wishes to make himself equal to God and to contend with Him for honor and primacy. God therefore pursues, strikes down, and overthrows him as the rival of His honor, as I have shown elsewhere. Hence St. Gregory, Part III of the Pastoral Rule, admonition 25, applying this maxim to vain and proud preachers, says: "Let them hear what is written: Every arrogant person is an abomination to the Lord, because when he seeks his own glory in the word of God, he invades the right of the Giver, and does not at all fear to set Him below his own praise, from whom he has received the very thing for which he is praised."
Otherwise Pagninus, who translates: soon he shall not be unpunished; and Vatablus: soon he shall not be held innocent, that is, he shall immediately be punished, as if 'hand to hand' meant the same as 'quickly, immediately.' Otherwise also Cajetan, as if to say: Even if the arrogant person rubs his hand with his hand, wipes it, and washes it, yet no water, no lustration will wash away his crime of arrogance; nor will he be innocent, that is, unpunished, but he will be sharply punished by God. Otherwise also Rabbi Levi: "Hand to hand," that is, he will be entangled in continual evils; and Rabbi Solomon says: Punishment will be inflicted on him by hands. But Aben-Ezra translates: the hand of the Lord on account of the hand of the wicked, as if to say: The hand of the Lord destroys him because he uses a deceitful hand. See what I said about this proverb at chapter 11:21.
The Beginning of a Good Way is to Do Justice: And it is More Acceptable to God than to Sacrifice Victims
This verse is not in the Hebrew and Chaldean; it is taken from the Septuagint, who have it thus: the beginning of a good way is to do just things; and they are more acceptable to God than to sacrifice a victim. Our Salazar takes justice as mercy, as if to say: Among the other parts of living well, mercy toward the poor and needy holds the chief place, and that this is more pleasing to God Himself than great sacrifices and victims, you have in Hosea 6:6: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."
Hear St. Chrysostom, in his Homily on Matthew 5: "Do you wish," he says, "to honor the body of Christ? Do not despise Him when He is naked; and do not here in the Church dress Him in silken cloths while you neglect Him outside, wasting away from cold and nakedness. For He who said: This is My body, and accomplished the reality together with the word, the same said: You saw Me hungry and did not feed Me; and inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, neither did you do it to Me. This body of Christ assuredly needs not clothing but a pure soul; and that other body needs much care and great diligence. For this, what is needed is not golden vessels but golden souls. I say this not because I wish to discourage the offering of such vessels, but because I think mercy and kindness should be attended to before all else."
From which it is clear that God gives such deference to the poor, or rather to Himself in them, that as far as externals are concerned, He wishes Himself to be treated more honorably, more generously, and more fittingly in them than in the sacrament of the Eucharist. And indeed this one reason moved the ancient leaders of the Church, in times of great distress of the poor, to break up sacred chalices and spend their value on the poor.
But Solomon adds that mercy and almsgiving are not only more pleasing to God than sacrifices and victims, but also more useful to man; for if sacrifices were chiefly instituted for cleansing and washing away sins, "by mercy" indeed "and truth iniquity is redeemed," etc.
This sense is appropriate, but too narrow. Wherefore others generally take justice broadly, insofar as it extends to any virtue, as if to say: The beginning of a good way, that is, of virtue and an honorable life, is to do justice, that is, to practice works of virtue, as if to say: The way to virtue is not speculation but action and the exercise of virtue. For thus "humiliation is the way to humility," says St. Bernard, "as reading is the way to knowledge, suffering to patience." And he says 'beginning,' because the greatest difficulty of virtue is in its beginning, in starting it. As if to say: Begin the works of virtue, start to do what is honorable and holy, and you will find that virtue is not as arduous as it appeared to you from afar, when the devil and the world were prodding you. Indeed, you will learn by experience that virtue, and its summit, are easily attained by continuous exercise. Here that saying of Horace is true:
He who has well begun has half the task done.
And that of Ausonius, Epigram 83:
Begin! To have started is half the task; let the other half remain — Again begin this, and you will finish it.
And another:
Begin whatever you do; the first part of the work counts for the whole.
Hence prudent people, when something arduous presents itself, immediately undertake it, and with the eyes of the mind, as it were, closed, lest they be frightened by the sight of its difficulty, they set their hand to the work, and thus they overcome the first apprehension of difficulty.
6. By Mercy and Truth Iniquity is Redeemed, and by the Fear of the Lord One Departs From Evil
For 'is redeemed,' the Hebrew is יכפר (yekuppar), that is, is expiated, is propitiated; the Chaldean: by kindness and truth sin is propitiated, and the fear of God turns away from evil. This verse is repeated: for it was also placed in the preceding chapter, verse 27, where our translator transcribed it from the Septuagint, but here from the Hebrew. I explained it there, so I will not add more here. Now if "by mercy and truth iniquity is redeemed," and, as the Hebrew has it, expiated: therefore through works of mercy and truth we make satisfaction for the punishment still remaining and owed for sin whose guilt has been remitted, says Bellarmine, Book IV On Penance, chapter 8. For redemption pertains to justice no less than satisfaction. And if it were absurd to say that satisfaction is made for sins by our works, it would be far more absurd to say that sins are redeemed by our works: just as even the heretics themselves take it harder if we wish to call ourselves in some part redeemers rather than those who satisfy.
7. When the Ways of a Man Please the Lord, He Will Convert even his Enemies to Peace
In Hebrew: when the Lord is pleased with the ways of a man, He will make even his enemies at peace with him; Vatablus: He also reconciles his enemies to him; the Chaldean: He makes them peaceful toward him; the Syriac, however: in the will of the Lord are the ways of man; He will also repay his enemy with punishments. For the Hebrew שלם (shalam) means both to repay and to make peace. The Septuagint (who here, as throughout, transpose many sayings, and indeed add different ones) at the preceding chapter, verse 27, have it thus: the ways of just men are acceptable before the Lord; and through them even enemies become friends.
First, Baynus explains it thus: Men exercise enmities and hatreds against each other because they do not seek the love of God, as if to say: It is impossible for the faithful to be friends with each other if they do not love God. But if we love God, friendship will easily spring up among us. For the charity by which we love God extends itself to our neighbor: for it causes us to love our neighbor also for God's sake, as the image of God. Therefore, if in both sides of the quarreling parties charity and the love of God is kindled, the same love will bend both, so that for God's sake they may love each other and enter into peace. But if one party loves God while the other obstinately perseveres in hatred, at least the former will seek peace and strive to pacify the opposing party and reconcile it to himself as far as he can. This would be a hypallage, as if to say: "He will also convert his enemies to peace," meaning: the just man who loves God will also extend his peace and love to his enemies, that is, he will love his enemies for God's sake and strive to make peace with them, so as to enter into and cultivate peace with them.
Wherefore Demosthenes called just, fair, and gentle men the rennet of the state, because just as rennet binds and unites milk that is of itself liquid and flowing, so the just man strives to bind the hearts of all — both friends and enemies — with peace and concord, and to unite them both to himself and to each other.
Secondly, more simply and more genuinely, as if to say: When someone strives to please God in all things, it often happens that God in turn appeases his enemies and converts them to peace, so that they themselves desire to please, just as he pleases God. And this for a threefold reason. The first is that enemies see that they cannot prevail against those who love God and whom God in turn loves, protects, and defends. The second is that virtue and piety are lovable everywhere, and draw even enemies into love and admiration of themselves: whence it happens that when enemies see their adversary endowed with virtue, sincere, holy, they are compelled to love him and to restore peace with him. Hence Bede explains it thus: "So great is the sanctity of divine religion," he says, "that even those who are outside usually hold it in veneration; and those whom they have observed to serve God perfectly, they begin to be at peace with, however much they may differ in religion." The third reason is that God holds in His hand the hearts of enemies, so that He can bend them to love or hatred as He wills. Since therefore He wills the very best for His just friends, He bends the hearts of their enemies so that they desire and cultivate peace with His friends. Finally, God is the center of love and friendship: for just as at the center all lines cutting a circle into two equal parts meet and are united, so in God all — friends and enemies alike — are united. For just as the center unites in itself all lines, even those opposed to each other, so God makes friends and binds together any people whatsoever, even those who are enemies to one another. I say this often happens, not always: for we see that the just often suffer continual persecutions from their rivals, as the faithful and Martyrs suffered during the first three hundred years of the Church, from Nero to Constantine.
A clear example of this saying is in Solomon, to whom God subjected all neighboring kings and peoples, even hostile ones, or united them by treaty: hence he was called Solomon, that is, the Peaceful, because he had full peace with all, both enemies and friends, 3 Kings 10:23. Again, this is evident in David, with whom Saul was sometimes reconciled, God moving his heart on account of David's merits. Likewise in Tobias, who, because he remembered the Lord with his whole heart, God gave him grace in the sight of King Shalmaneser, as is clear from Tobit 1. The same is evident in Ahasuerus, before whom Esther and Mordecai, and through them the Jewish people, found grace. Likewise in Joseph, Daniel, and the three youths. Also in Alexander the Great and Jaddus the priest, whose story can be seen in Josephus, Book XI of Jewish Antiquities, last chapter. But above all in the Christian people, whose enemy kings and princes God finally, after many persecutions, reconciled with them, so that they not only ceased from persecution, but also submitted themselves to the yoke of faith.
He teaches therefore by this maxim, first and above all, that the faithful person must seek the love and worship of God, so that he may please Him in all things, even if on that account he displeases men, and say with the Apostle: "If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ." Both because pleasing God is far better than pleasing men, and displeasing God is far worse and more harmful than displeasing men; and because God easily can, and often does, convert the enemies of His friends to peace, as He converted the nations that were hostile to Christ and the Apostles to peace, faith, and obedience. And parents who initially resist their children entering religious life, He often converts so that, having seen the piety, progress, and fruitfulness of their children, they love those same children above their other children.
He teaches secondly that the effective and best means of reconciling enemies is to first reconcile God to ourselves: for God holds in His hand the hearts of enemies. Therefore if we win His benevolence for ourselves, He will easily reconcile our enemies to us, especially if we earnestly implore this from Him. God also does the will of those who fear Him, and to those who obey Him He, as it were, obeys, and makes all other things, even enemies themselves, obey. Add that God in the old law specifically promised the Jews, if they obeyed His law, victory over their enemies and lasting peace — Exodus 23:27 and Leviticus 26:6 and following.
To this pertains the axiom of Rabbi Simeon in Pirkei Avot, that is, in the Apothegms of the Fathers, chapter 2: "So conform to the will of God as to your own; indeed, leaving aside your own will, submit yourself to His judgment; for thus you will also make others immediately serve your desires and wishes." For God, in whose hand are the wills of all, will bend them and make them obedient to you.
Mystically, as if to say: If through obedience you fully subject yourself to God and to His law and will, so that you please Him in all things, it will come about that your senses also, appetites, and all the powers of soul and body, and especially thoughts and temptations, will submit to your mind and will, so that you may easily suppress them, restrain them, and master them, as Adam mastered them in paradise, as long as he obeyed God; but when he rebelled against God, he immediately felt the rebellion of the flesh and concupiscence. For this is according to the law of retaliation: that if you subject yourself to your superior, your inferiors will likewise be subject to you; but if you rebel against your superior, you will likewise experience rebellious subjects. Hence St. Augustine, Book I of On Marriage and Concupiscence, chapter 6: "For it was unjust," he says, "that his servant, that is his body, should obey one who had not obeyed his own Lord." And Book II Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, chapter 22: "For indeed the order of justice brought this about, that since their soul had received its servant body from the Lord, just as the soul itself should obey the same Lord, so the body should obey it, and render a service fitting to that life without any resistance." And soon after: "For the rational soul, the mistress of the flesh, had not yet been disobedient to her Lord, so as to experience in reciprocal punishment a disobedient servant flesh with a certain sense of confusion and annoyance." And Book 14 of The City of God, chapter 15: "In the punishment of that sin, what was repaid for disobedience but disobedience? For what is man's other misery except his own disobedience against himself, so that since he willed what he could, he now wills what he cannot?"
Indeed, God subjects to His great Saints and friends the greatest enemies, both His own and ours, namely demons, according to that saying of Christ to His disciples: "Behold, I have given you the power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall harm you," Luke 10:19. Thus St. Anthony, St. Hilary, St. Macarius, and St. Francis had dominion over demons, and expelled them from the possessed, and subjected them to themselves.
8. Better is a Little With Justice than Much Fruit With Iniquity
In Hebrew: than much produce without judgment. But 'judgment' among the Hebrews often means equity; hence our translator, following the Septuagint, rightly renders it: with iniquity. For thus the Septuagint has it, and from them St. Jerome in chapter 4 of Ecclesiastes reads: "Better is a small portion with justice than many offspring with iniquity." For 'portion,' the Greek is ἁλίεσις, that is, a catch, an occupation, a possession.
First, Baynus takes 'justice' to mean almsgiving, as if to say: Better is a little with justice, that is, with pious generosity and almsgiving, than an abundance of fruits without judgment, that is, gathered unjustly and by plundering. For riches will not profit in the day of wrath, unless from them is produced justice, that is, works of mercy by which iniquity is redeemed, as he said in verse 6.
Secondly, more simply and fully, take 'justice' generally as the totality of the virtues, as if to say: It is better to have small fruits and resources with virtue and holiness, than many with iniquity; which you may explain in two ways. First, as if to say: It is better to gather small resources from just labor than many from unjust means, for example through usury, fraud, and illicit contracts. Hence Vatablus translates: the little that one possesses with justice is preferable to immense revenues acquired unjustly. Secondly, as if to say: It is better to have little with a just life than much with an unjust and wicked one.
The first reason is that justice and holiness are a greater good than all the riches of the world: for holiness is a heavenly and divine good, and is therefore the highest participation of God and of divinity. The second reason is that he who possesses little with justice enjoys peace of mind, tranquility, and joy, which surpass all the goods of the world, according to Ecclesiastes 4:6: "Better is a handful with rest than both hands full with labor and affliction of spirit." Where St. Jerome says: "Elegantly, justice has rest, iniquity has labor." On the other hand, he who possesses much unjustly and wickedly is driven by perpetual pangs and anguish of conscience, as well as by lawsuits and troubles in the courts, which exhaust and swallow up all the pleasure of wealth.
The third reason is that God brings it about that the just man lives more comfortably, more happily, and often more lavishly from a little than the wicked man from much, according to the preceding chapter, verse 16: "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great and inexhaustible treasures." See what was said there. And Psalm 36:16: "Better is a little to the just man than the great riches of sinners," to which Solomon alludes here. "Better therefore is a little with justice"; better, that is, happier, more peaceful, more joyful, richer, more abundant, more fruitful. This is what Christ says in Matthew 6:33: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added to you." Where St. Chrysostom notes that God forbade excessive care for temporal things so that we might more surely obtain them from God and God's providence: for excessive anxiety makes us unworthy of them, but hope placed in God's providence makes us worthy. "I command," he says, "that these things not be sought and not be worried about, not indeed so that you may not receive them, but so that you may receive them more abundantly. For afflicted by anxiety, and often torn by the bites of cares, you make yourself unworthy of these goods."
Mystically, Bede says: "Blessed, says the Lord, are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven." And again: "Woe to you who are rich, for you have your consolation." It can also be understood thus: Because it is better to serve God devoutly in a simple way of life than to abound in many virtues — for example, almsgiving, prayers, fasting, learning, chastity — and to despise the deeds of one's neighbors, and to glory in one's own supposed eminence.
9. The Heart of Man Plans his Way, but it Belongs to the Lord to Direct his Steps
In Hebrew: the heart of man will think out his way, and the Lord will direct or establish his step. For 'will direct,' some translate 'will weigh,' but less correctly, for the Hebrew יכין (yakhin) signifies no such thing. Hence the Septuagint: the heart of a man thinks just things so that his steps may be directed by God; St. Cyprian, Treatise On Jealousy, near the end: and his steps will be directed by God. But what and what kind of just things will the just man think, to plan his way? Hear St. Cyprian presenting them in the same place: "You have," he says, "many things to think about. Think of paradise, to which Cain, who killed his brother out of jealousy, does not return. Think of the heavenly kingdom, to which the Lord admits none but the harmonious and like-minded. Consider that only those can be called sons of God who are peacemakers, who, united by heavenly birth and divine law, correspond to the likeness of God the Father and of Christ. Consider that we stand before the eyes of God, and that with Him watching and judging we run the course of our conduct and life; that we can ultimately arrive at seeing Him only if we delight Him who now sees us by our actions, if we show ourselves worthy of His grace and mercy, if we who are to please forever in His kingdom first please Him in this world."
The sense of the Vulgate reading is, as if to say: Man with the general concurrence of God thinks and plans his natural works, and with the supernatural concurrence of the same God thinks and plans supernatural works of virtue which are incumbent upon him. But neither concurrence of God suffices for man to carry out in action what he has thought, but for this a new and special grace of God is needed, which may remove, level, or overcome all the difficulties that arise in the execution. It is therefore signified here that the subsequent concurrence and grace is greater and more necessary than the prevenient, according to that saying of the Apostle: "God is He who works in you both to will and to accomplish according to His good will," Philippians 2.
Secondly, the Zurich Bible translates: the heart of man deliberates about his way; Vatablus: he carefully devises his way; as if to say: It is man's duty to diligently, prudently, and carefully premeditate what it is fitting for him to do, and to commend it to God. If he does this, as is right, in the manner I explained shortly before, then surely God will direct, that is, properly arrange, and bless and prosper his actions: namely, He will first cause them to be upright, prudent, and holy; and secondly, to achieve a happy outcome. Similar is what he said about the tongue in verse 1: "It is for man to prepare the soul, and for the Lord to govern the tongue." Hence some theologians explain it thus, as if to say: One established in the grace of God can, through free will imbued with grace, resolve never to offend God mortally, indeed not even deliberately venially, to preserve chastity, to overcome all temptations; but it belongs to the Lord to direct his steps, that is, but this without a new and daily help of God he cannot accomplish it. It is similar with the tongue: the just man can resolve never to offend God with an idle or harmful word; but he needs the special help of God to actually carry this out, namely, so that he may not slip in his tongue and offend God with some speech. Solomon therefore signifies that the governance of the tongue and the direction of one's steps, after the resolution of the heart, come from God alone, because it belongs to God alone to remove all internal and external impediments that are wont to hinder the governance of the tongue and the direction of one's steps. This therefore is rightly called subsequent grace, by which a man is confirmed in the very work and perfected in his good resolution, and with impediments removed perseveres in it all the way to the completion of the work. So says Gabriel Vasquez, following St. Augustine, in I-II, tome II, distinction 185, number 50. Wherefore the Council of Orange, canon 2, teaches the faithful to pray thus against the Pelagians: "Grant to Your suppliants, that we may think what is right by Your inspiration, and by Your governance do the same." And the Church in the Secret prayer for travelers prays: "And may You direct their way with Your preceding grace, and deign to accompany them with Your subsequent grace." And St. Jerome, Dialogue 3 Against the Pelagians: "It is now," he says, "in the Lord's power that what we desire, what we labor at, what we strive for, we may be able to fulfill by His help and assistance."
He proves the same point with the example of King Ahasuerus, who, distracted by various thoughts after a banquet, when sleep usually steals in more easily, nevertheless could not sleep, God so arranging it for the redemption of His people. Here he recognizes a new grace whenever we carry out in action what we desire, or are freed from impending dangers.
10. Divination is on the Lips of the King; his Mouth Will not Err in Judgment
For 'will err,' the Hebrew is ימעל (yimal), that is, as Aquila and Theodotion translate, his mouth will not transgress; the Chaldean: will not lie; Symmachus: will not do injustice. First, some explain these words imperatively, as if to say: Let the lips of the king be truthful, so that in judgment they do not err and do not pervert it in favor of anyone; but let his responses and judgments be so true and certain that they seem to be oracles, and let the king himself be so truthful and faithful, deceiving no one and keeping his word to all, that he seems to be a prophet and one who decrees fates, says Aben-Ezra, Isidore Clarius, and others. Hence Vatablus translates and explains thus: as divination is upon the lips of the king, that is, he ought to speak divine things, as it were. And Lyranus says: Divination, that is, the reading of divine things, is in the eyes and on the lips of the king. This etymology of 'divination' is absurd and far-fetched. Nevertheless the reality was once true; for thus God decreed concerning the king, Deuteronomy 17:18: "And after he shall have sat upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself the Deuteronomy of this law in a book, etc. And he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord."
Secondly, others take the first part assertively and the second imperatively. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: oracles are what proceed from the lips of the king when he pronounces; therefore let not his mouth transgress.
Thirdly, Vatablus again explains it thus, as if to say: When prophecy is on the lips of the king, then in judgment his mouth does not usually lie.
Fourthly, better, others generally take both parts assertively and absolutely: for this is what the Vulgate, Septuagint, Hebrew, Chaldean, and the other translators require. But in what way is this true? For we know that Ahab, Jeroboam, Manasseh, and other wicked kings issued erroneous and impious judgments. I respond: Solomon speaks not of tyrants, nor of faithless and impious kings such as those just mentioned, but of faithful, pious, upright, and just kings, who exercise the royal office fairly and wisely, and administer the kingdom worthily, as befits true kings, who properly carry out the office of a king and fulfill all the obligations of royal duty. For these are the vicars of God, and like certain gods on earth, according to the saying: "I said: You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High," Psalm 81:6. God therefore assists and cooperates with them by special help, so that they may govern their subjects justly and wisely, by enacting just laws and settling disputes with true judgments.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: The edicts, decrees, and judgments of a just and upright king are to be received as oracles of God, in whose place he presides over the people, and who assists him, intent and fixed on God and justice, as His vicar, lest he err in commanding or judging. For if the king issues edicts and judgments according to laws and rights, and admits wise counselors into his council and follows their judgment, he will certainly not err, because he will always and everywhere conform himself to the dictates of laws and of the wise; and this dictate is prudent and practically true and certain. Moreover, this saying applies especially in obscure, doubtful, and perplexing matters and judgments, whether of fact or of law: for some legal decrees are so obscure that they seem to be riddles, which the king or emperor must resolve and interpret, as it were, by divination. In these matters therefore, if the king uses the counsel of the wise and invokes God, God will surely direct him to pronounce a true and just judgment, as He assisted Solomon in the judgment of the harlots, who assigned the living infant to the true mother because he shrewdly perceived in her the bowels of maternal love, 3 Kings 3:26. For then the judgment of the king has a certain appearance of divination.
Hence the ancient Romans called the adjudication of an obscure and uncertain matter — for example, which of two accusers should be chosen — a 'divination.' Gellius gives the reason, Book II, chapter 4: "This adjudication," he says, "is called divination because the judge must in a certain way divine what judgment it is fitting for him to pronounce, etc.; because in other cases the judge usually follows what is said and what has been demonstrated by arguments or witnesses; but in this matter, when an accuser must be chosen, the grounds on which the judge can be moved are very small and slight, and therefore which person is more suitable for the accusation he is suited, must be divined, as it were." Hence Cicero's prosecution against Verres is called a "divination." In a similar way, one could say of a teacher: "Divination is on the lips of the teacher; in teaching his mouth will not err." And of a confessor: "Divination is on the lips of the confessor; in the judgment of conscience his mouth will not err." The same may be said of counselors, lawyers, physicians, and professors of any art whatsoever. For if each one follows the prescriptions and directives of his own art, as he ought, he will not err in the exercise of his art. Here applies the saying: "Let priests live as divinities, and speak as oracles;" and as Malachi says, chapter 2:7: "The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts."
Tacitly, therefore, Solomon by this maxim admonishes kings of their dignity and office, that they should remember they are, as it were, God's intermediaries and Prophets, and therefore should exercise the utmost prudence, diligence, moderation, and maturity in judging and commanding, so that their judgments and decrees may appear to be divine. Conversely, he admonishes subjects to obey the decrees of their kings and princes no differently than divine oracles, interpreting them candidly and embracing them benignly, and courageously defending and upholding them. The truth of this maxim is clear from the code of Civil Law, in which stand the laws of Theodosius, Constantine, Valentinian, Justinian, etc., so just, prudent, and true that as many as the decrees are, so many seem to be oracles. Similar are the sayings of Cyrus in Xenophon, and of Alfonso king of Aragon in Aeneas Sylvius and Panormitanus. Such also are the Apophthegms of kings in Plutarch.
The voice and judgment of the king is therefore called "divination," first, because among all it is ratified and firm, and of such authority as if it were a kind of oracle, which it is unlawful to oppose; second, because the mouth of the king is, as it were, the mouth of God; for God speaks through the king, enacts laws, and governs the people. Moreover, every law of kings is derived from the eternal law, which is in the mind of God. God, therefore, is the first and supreme lawgiver, who through kings and princes enacts laws and decrees: hence they are called "sanctions," as if sanctioned by the holy God; third, because the king commands and ordains concerning future things, just as diviners divine the future; fourth, because kings in enacting laws and judgments foresee future advantages or disadvantages, and moderate their decrees and decisions accordingly; fifth, because sometimes they decide matters so obscure and entangled that they seem to divine. Hence in Book X of the Code, under Laws, the Emperor says: "Who will seem fit to solve the riddles of the laws and lay them open to all, if not he to whom alone it has been granted to be a lawgiver?" Sixth, because kings and holy princes were sometimes men who were Prophets, as were Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and Solomon, whose oracles accordingly stand in the Pentateuch, the Book of Joshua, Judges, and Kings; seventh, because the kings of the Jews, as I said a little earlier, were required to judge and govern the people according to the law of God and Deuteronomy. Their decrees, therefore, were oracles of God, being drawn from Deuteronomy. Finally, "the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; wherever He wills, He will incline it," Proverbs 21:1.
Let kings and princes know, therefore, that in order to rule well, they must rely on God and be governed by Him, according to Proverbs 8:15: "By Me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things;" and they should accustom themselves to converse frequently with God through prayers, and to be familiar with Him, so that they may make themselves worthy instruments and organs of His governance of the kingdom. Let them therefore pray with Solomon, Wisdom 9:4: "Give me the wisdom that assists at Your throne, etc., that she may be with me and labor with me, that I may know what is acceptable before You; and my works will be acceptable, and I will govern Your people justly, and I will be worthy of the throne of my father." Wherefore Agapetus the Deacon in his Admonition to the Emperor Justinian thus warns, number 9: "The anxious soul of the Emperor must be polished like a mirror, so that it may always shine with divine splendors, and from that learn to distinguish its judgments of affairs. For nothing so enables one to perceive what must be done as keeping it perpetually sincere." Hence Moses in all doubtful matters consulted God and heard Him answering from the tabernacle. David and the other kings of Israel likewise consulted and heard Him through the high priest clothed with the Urim and Thummim, 1 Samuel 14:27; 23:2, and 28:15. Hence the legislators of the nations, in order to give weight to their laws, pretended to converse with the gods: as Lycurgus of the Spartans with Apollo, Numa Pompilius of the Romans with the goddess Egeria, Minos of the Cretans with Jupiter, Zoroaster with the Deity, Zamolxis with Vesta, Menas with Mercury, and Mohammed with an Angel. Therefore they asserted that their laws and edicts were divinations and oracles of the gods.
Allegorically, this maxim is most true of Christ, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the first truth, so that He cannot err in judgment, but all His sayings are divinations and oracles. Thus Bede says: "He signifies that King, of whom it is said in Psalm 71:1: 'O God, give Your judgment to the king.' For who among earthly kings never errs in judgment? On whose lips is divination, because not only his own words He directs their deeds, but also the prophets of the Gentiles, who are commonly called diviners, are disposed by His inward indication as to what they should answer those who inquire." Moreover, Christ communicated this gift to the Pontiffs. For concerning the Pontiff of the Old Testament it was decreed in Deuteronomy 17:8: "If you perceive that the judgment before you is difficult and ambiguous, etc., you shall come to the priests of the Levitical order, and to the judge who shall be in office at that time, and you shall inquire of them, and they will show you the truth of the judgment, etc. But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to obey the command of the priest, etc., that man shall die." Hence Caiaphas, though impious, nevertheless because he was pontiff, uttered the oracle that it is expedient for one man to die for the people, lest the whole nation perish, John 11. Much more does Christ assist the Pontiffs of the New Testament, so that they do not err in decrees of faith and morals, as the Orthodox teach. See Bellarmine, treatise On the Pontiff.
Mystically, the author of the book On the Essence of Divinity, which is found in volume IV of St. Augustine, says: "The lips of the Lord are understood as the harmony of both Testaments, concerning which two testaments it is written in Proverbs: 'Divination is on His lips; in judgment His mouth will not err.'" That is to say, judgment on matters of faith and morals is drawn from both Testaments, namely the New and the Old, which are like the two lips of God; and therefore that judgment is certain, and like a divination and oracle. For each Testament is an oracle of God, who is the King of kings.
11. Weight and Scales Are the Judgments of the Lord: And All his Works Are the Stones of the Bag
So it should be read with the Roman editions and the Hebrew, not sæculi ["of the world"], as Bede and others incorrectly read. For the ancients, says Vatablus, designated weights with small stones; therefore stones are taken for weights; and they were accustomed to keep them in bags. In Hebrew: a balance and scales of judgment belong to the Lord; and His work is all the stones of the purse. For the Hebrew word for "weight" is פלס peles, that is, the equilibrium of a balance, the pointer, the plumb-line, the rule on a scale, or what the weigher holds in his hand while he weighs a thing on the balance. For the root פלס palas means to balance, to weigh in a scale, to rectify, to regulate. Hence some translate it as: rule, or equilibrium and scales are the judgment of the Lord. Now first, the Zurich version translates and explains it thus: a balance, a scale, are the judgment of the Lord; all weights are His work — that is, says Vatablus: All things that have been devised for the preservation of justice among men, such as balances, scales, and weighTheodotion renders: all His works are the weights of the purse. Which the Author of the Greek Catena explains thus: "God is not just in any ordinary way, but so just and equitable that all His works are brought to a precise standard, and, as it were, reduced to a level. For just as things that are weighed on a balance are brought to such equality that they admit no excess or deficiency whatsoever, so all the works of God have been made with the most exact just measure."
Third, the Syriac translates: the scales of the balance are the judgment of the Lord, all His works are weights of truth; and our Vulgate: weight and scales are the judgments of the Lord. For although in the Hebrew it is in the genitive — a balance or scales of judgment belong to the Lord — yet in reality this amounts to the same as: weight and scales are the judgments of the Lord. For scales of judgment are called the judgments of God weighed and examined in the balance and scales of justice to a precise standard, that is, most just and most equitable. Therefore scales of judgment, that is, just ones, as Symmachus translates, are the very most just judgments of God; or by hypallage, the balance and scales of judgment are called the judgment of the balance, that is, weighed and balanced on the scales: for such is every judgment and work of God, which in every respect has its just weights. Finally, the Hebrews sometimes by antiptosis take the genitive construction for the absolute nominative, namely, "balance of judgment" for "the balance is the judgment of the Lord."
Now R. Solomon explains it thus, meaning: The judgments of the Lord are weight, that is, the justice of mortals and their crimes are weighed by God as if by a just weight and balance. R. Levi, however, refers these words to the preceding verse: "Divination is on the lips of the king; in judgment his mouth will not err." For the mind, he says, is like a king in man. The mind, therefore, will be as it were divine and divining, so as not to err in judgment, if its weight and balance are the judgments of the Lord — that is, if by the right weight and balance of reason it examines and judges what is just before God: namely, what is good and what is evil; what is pleasing to God and what is displeasing; what is temporal and vain, what is eternal and solid — so that it may despise what is perishable and pursue what is eternal. But this interpretation is symbolic and mystical.
Therefore, taken literally, the sense is this: The judgments of God — whether properly so called, or what are metonymically called judgments and justifications because they are equitable and just — namely, the very commandments and precepts of God, are weight and balance, that is, most exact and most just, just as if they had been weighed to a precise standard and equilibrium on a balance; for thus they have indeed been weighed and balanced on the scales of divine judgment, mind, and assessment. "And all His works are the stones of the bag," that is, the works of God are equal and similar to all the stones of the bag — that is, to any weights whatsoever, even those exact and just to a precise standard — which weights were formerly stones kept in bags for weighing: because, namely, all the works of God are so perfect and exact that nothing can be added to or taken from them. So say Bede, Lyranus, Hugo, Dionysius, and others generally.
Second, the Septuagint translates: the movements of the balance of justice are with God, and His works are just weights. Symmachus: weight and just balances are with God, etc.
Moreover, the judgments of God properly so called are various: First, they are punishments, which God justly measures out and inflicts on sinners in proportion to their crimes. Hence the Emperor Maurice, slain by Phocas along with his sons on account of his crimes, as he died in penitence exclaimed: "You are just, O Lord, and Your judgment is right."
Second, they are rewards which God repays to the just, both in this life and in the future, in proportion to their merits.
Third, they are the various conditions, states, and lots of men — for example, that this man is poor, that one rich; that this man is sick, that one healthy; that this man is fortunate, that one unfortunate; that this man is a king, that one a commoner; that this man is a teacher, that one unlearned; that this man advances to the lowest, that one to the middle, and yet another to the highest degree of grace, and becomes an Apostle and Martyr, etc. All these things, if you consider men, seem fortuitous, mere lots and chances; but if you look to God as their author, they are judgments — that is, weighed and distributed by just judgment. Hence mystically, Bede, reading sæculi ["of the world"] instead of sacculi ["of the bag"], says: "He calls the stones of the world the just and strong in faith; such the Apostle Peter wished those to be, whom he admonishes saying: 'And you as living stones are built up into spiritual houses.' No one, therefore, from the beginning of the world has been chosen by his own virtue and made fit for the heavenly building; but rather by the work of Him who, constituting all things in weight, measure, and number, distributed to each one, as He willed, the measure of faith and graces."
Fourth, they are temptations and tribulations: for God by His just judgment balances these so that they are proportionate and commensurate with man's powers, both of nature and of grace, so that they may be bearable, according to 1 Corinthians 10:13: "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also provide the way of escape." Moreover, just as in a balance, if you place a weight on one scale, the other, previously depressed, is raised: so God places the burden of tribulation on the body and the lower portion of the soul, so that the higher part and the mind, previously depressed toward earth and earthly things, may lift and raise itself up to God and the love of heavenly things. Furthermore, just as gold refined by fire is weighed on a balance — for if it gives an equal weight to what it had before the test of fire, it is a sign that it was pure and had no dross, since dross is consumed by fire, and its consumption diminishes the weight of the gold; but if it returns an unequal and lesser weight, it is a sign that it was impure and mixed with dross, for the fire in refining away the dross took away as much weight from the gold as there was dross: so likewise God by temptation and tribulation tests the strength and constancy of the just. If the just person loses nothing in the temptation, it is a sign that his virtue was pure and solid; but if the temptation takes something away, it is a sign that it was mixed and weak: for however much strength he lost, that much weakness and admixture of carnal love he had. Hence Job 31:6: "Let Him weigh me," he says, "in a just balance, and let God know my simplicity;"
In Hebrew: and let Him see my perfection, or my integrity.
12. They who Act Impiously Are Abominable to the King: Because the Throne is Established by Justice
In Hebrew: It is an abomination for kings to commit impiety, because the throne is established (the Chaldean: directed) by justice. The Septuagint: An abomination to the king is he who does evil things, since the throne of sovereignty is prepared by justice. From God He descends to the king, who is the living image of God on earth, meaning: The king who fulfills the office and honor of a true king imitates God; for just as God in His judgments and works is most just, so in turn the just and upright king abhors all injustice and impiety along with those who practice it, and accordingly exercises just vengeance upon them, punishing them with loss of goods and life, in order to defend and protect the upright from their injuries and scandals. He adds the reason a priori, saying: "Because the throne is established by justice" — justice, that is, by the just punishment of the impious and just rewards for the pious, whereby all injustice and impiety are banished from the kingdom, and justice and piety reign and triumph. For thus both kingdoms and kings within kingdoms are strengthened and prospered: both because justice is the cause of peace, concord, commerce, wealth, and all good things; and because God strengthens, enriches, and prospers kings and kingdoms in which justice flourishes. Hence the throne of Solomon was supported step by step by twelve lions wrought of gold, 3 Kings 10. For lions are the symbol of fortitude and of robust justice and vengeance against the impious. They signified, therefore, that Solomon had ascended to the royal throne, as it were by steps, through the strength of justice and through vigorous punishments of the impious, and was thereby confirmed and strengthened in it. For Solomon at the beginning of his reign put to death Joab, Shimei, Adonijah, and others whose crimes David had been unable to punish, but whose punishment he had on his deathbed entrusted to Solomon, 3 Kings 2, according to Proverbs 20:26: "A wise king scatters the wicked and drives the wheel over them." On which see more in the same place. On the other hand, kings who lead the life not so much of a king as of a tyrant, who love and foster the impious, overturn both themselves and their kingdoms, as is evident in all the schismatic kings of Israel from the first king Jeroboam to the last, Hosea. Read the Fourth Book of Kings.
13. The Will of Kings is Just Lips: He who Speaks Rightly Will be Loved
So it should be read with the Roman, Hebrew, and Greek editions; not dirigetur ["will be directed"], as Bede and others read, meaning: "He who speaks rightly will be directed with straight steps into eternal life," says Bede. In Hebrew: the good pleasure (so Aquila and Theodotion) or benevolence of kings is lips of justice, and he who speaks right things will be loved; or, as Vatablus renders: just lips please kings, and they love him who speaks rightly. The Septuagint: just lips are acceptable to the king, and he will love upright words. The Chaldean: he who speaks rightly is loved; the Syriac: loves. From deeds he descends to words, meaning: Just as the wise and upright king hates unjust works and loves just ones, so likewise he hates unjust words, loves just ones, and cherishes, honors, and exalts those who speak rightly. He describes the ideal of a true king; for he signifies not what kings are, but what they ought to be. For many kings and princes have in their courts flatterers, parasites, and hypocrites, who, though they are wicked, pretend to be upright, so that by fawning upon and flattering princes, they may be raised by them to wealth and honors. These do not speak what is just or right, but what is pleasing, and what they know will be agreeable to the desires and ambition of princes — and so they drag them along with themselves into crime and ruin.
Hence Alfonso, king of Aragon, as Panormitanus testifies in Book III of his Deeds, compared flatterers to wolves; for just as wolves are accustomed to devour donkeys by tickling and scratching them, so flatterers by their blandishments and lies aim at the destruction of princes. The Emperor Constantine, moreover, called sycophants and parasites the moths and mice of the palace, as Nicephorus and his Scholiast testify, Book VIII, chapter 54.
Hear Seneca, Epistle 21: "I will show you what great eminence lacks, and what is wanting to those who possess all things: namely, one who tells the truth, since no one speaks or advises from his true conviction, but the contest of flattery is the one duty of all their friends."
Solomon here therefore admonishes kings to shun flatterers who suggest pleasant but harmful things, as they would plagues; and instead to summon to themselves just, serious, upright men who will offer true, just, and right counsel, even if it sometimes proves unpleasant, stern, and burdensome to princes. Conversely, adding: "He who speaks rightly will be loved," he admonishes counselors and courtiers to give right and sound counsel to princes, even if austere; for although at first they may find them less benevolent and favorable, yet when their sincerity, faithfulness, and truthfulness are finally recognized, they will win the love of princes, and former austerity will be turned into benevolence, aversion into favor, horror into affection. On the other hand, if by flattering them they suggest pleasant things instead of salutary ones, fictions instead of truths, when this pretense is discovered, as it will be, they will incur their indignation, and thence death. For as follows: "The indignation of the king is the messenger of death." Hence the Author of the Greek Catena explains thus: "Both to Christ the Lord and to any faithful and upright king, just lips are acceptable. For to hold the truth of the faith and to apply oneself to justice are things that contribute most to the advancement of the king and the kingdom. If therefore you are a king, imitate Christ the King; but if you do not endeavor to imitate Him, you are assuredly not worthy of the name of true king, nor will you escape the just judgment of God. For Christ is the judge not only of private individuals, but also of kings and princes."
Mystically, Bede says: "He calls kings the saints, who rule principally over vices and are attended by the virtues of the soul as if by wedges of obedient retainers.
They are accustomed to this, of whom the Lord says: 'Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it,' Luke 10. Otherwise earthly kings very often detest just lips, as Herod did those of John, on account of which he even punished him with beheading."
14. The Indignation of the King is the Messenger of Death: And a Wise Man Will Appease it
In Hebrew: the wrath of the king is the messengers of death, and a wise man will expiate it. The Septuagint: the fury of the king is the messenger of death, and a wise man will appease him. The Chaldean: the indignation of the king is the angels of death, and a wise man will extinguish it. R. Solomon: the indignation of the king is like one sent by the king to inflict death. Aben-Ezra: the wrath of the king is like the indignation of the Angels of death, who devote the impious to destruction.
R. Levi connects this maxim with the preceding one, meaning: When the king sees that he has been deceived by a flatterer or hypocrite who suggested pleasant but unjust and harmful things, and has been persuaded to accept the false for the true and the harmful for the useful, he becomes vehemently angry and indignant at such deceit, so much so that this anger is like a sentence of death, indeed an indicator and messenger of death.
Now first, our Salazar takes the death to be that of the king himself who is indignant, as if Solomon were deterring kings from indignation because it portends and brings upon them their own death, meaning: "The indignation of the king is the messenger of death" — that is, the king who is accustomed to becoming indignant and raging against his own people over trifling causes has the clearest premonition of his own death; for subjects, unable to bear the cruelty and difficult character of the prince, frequently remove him by poison, treachery, or an uprising of rebellion.
AND A WISE MAN WILL APPEASE IT — that is, since anger exposes the king to such great danger, the man who brings wisdom to governance will temper his wrath, and will strive to show himself mild, easy, and merciful to his subjects; for clemency and agreeableness of character above all else protect the prince, so that no bodyguard more abundant or stronger can attend princes than humanity and clemency, as Plato teaches in Book I of his dialogue On the Kingdom, near the middle. Others generally, by common agreement, understand the death to be not that of the angry king, but of the one at whom the king is angry. Hence, second, Hugo judges that kings are here warned not to outwardly display the indignation they have conceived against anyone, because this display becomes an occasion and stimulus for the king's servants, wishing to ingratiate themselves with him, to announce and even actually inflict death upon the one at whom the king is angry, and then to report it to the king so as to win his favor. Hugo gives examples: First, of the one who announced to David the death of King Saul, and of another who brought him word of the murder of Ishbosheth — neither without punishment. Yet their intention was to comply with the king's indignation; for they did not know his most gentle character. There also comes to mind that crime committed by the servants of King Henry II of England against St. Thomas of Canterbury, who in order to comply with the fury of their king they cruelly murdered the most holy Pontiff.
Third, plainly and simply, meaning: "The indignation of the king is the messengers" — that is, the messenger (there is an enallage of number) — "of death," to him who offends the king and arouses his indignation; just as conversely, the joy of the king is the messenger and sign of a happy and honored life, as is said in the following verse. For Solomon, just as in the preceding verse he showed what pleases or displeases the king, so in this verse he fittingly adds how much one should value pleasing or displeasing the king — that is, how much the king's indignation or benevolence should be esteemed — namely, that the latter is the cause and harbinger of life, the former of death, so that subjects may learn to fear, honor, and observe the king, says the Author of the Greek Catena.
For the wrath of kings is heavy and bitter, both because they consider the royal majesty to be deserving of the highest respect — hence if anyone offends it even in the slightest, they become gravely indignant and prepare a fierce vindication of their trampled majesty — and because power is joined to their anger, for they hold supreme power over the life and death of all. Power, therefore, sharpens wrath. Hence the Chaldean and the Septuagint translate: the wrath of the king is the angel of death. Now the angel of death in Scripture signifies the demon, who is accustomed to be the messenger, indeed the executioner, of death — meaning: "The wrath of the king is the angel of death," that is, anger in a king is a kind of voluntary demon, driving him to savagery and cruelty. And indeed many interpret that passage in 1 Samuel 19, "And the evil spirit of the Lord came upon Saul," as referring to anger, which stirred Saul so violently that he raged like one possessed.
Moreover, St. Basil in his homily On Anger says: "For neither the sword, nor battle lines, nor fire, nor anything terrible can sufficiently restrain a soul swelling with anger; no more than one can be defended from demons, from whom angry men differ neither in appearance nor in disposition of soul." And again he calls anger "a voluntary demon."
The sense, then, is this: The indignation or fury of the king is like messengers of death, because, like them, it strikes great terror and portends impending death or some grievous punishment, as is evident from Esther 7 in the wrath of King Ahasuerus against Haman. Likewise later in chapter 19:12 it is compared to the roaring of a lion: "As the roaring of a lion," he says, "so also is the wrath of the king;" where it is also added by way of antithesis, which agrees with the following parable: "And as dew upon the grass, so also is his cheerfulness." But although the wrath of a king is heavy and dangerous, yet it can be overcome and appeased by wisdom. Hence it follows: "And a wise man will appease it," because with his wise eloquence, or by some clever device, he averts and calms the king's wrath conceived against himself or others, as is evident in the case of Joab, 2 Samuel 14, who through the cleverness of the woman of Tekoa calmed David's anger against Absalom. So says Jansenius. Here applies the maxim of Bede in Proverbs: "A great storm is the indignation of the king." And that of Seneca: "Where anger dwells with power, it is a thunderbolt."
An elegant fable of the she-goat and the raging lion is found in Gabrias: "The she-goat," he says, "when she saw the lion raging, said: 'O most wretched fate of wild beasts! If when in your right mind you are intolerable, lion, how now that you are raging is your face not full of tears?'" "The moral: that it is not fitting for one who has power to fly into a rage;" nor is it prudent to provoke him to anger, but rather to avoid it altogether.
An example is found in the Emperor Domitian, whom Pliny depicts thus in his Panegyric of Trajan: "Terrible in his approach and appearance, pride on his brow, anger in his eyes, a feminine pallor on his body, impudence in his face suffused with deep redness; no one dared approach or address him, as he always sought darkness and secrecy, never emerging from his solitude except to create solitude around him." For all these reasons he was hated by all, and was finally killed by his own household servants on account of his excessive cruelty. Wherefore Pliny, contrasting Domitian with Trajan, thus praises the latter's humanity and benevolence: "He," he says, "derived much pleasure from the company of his citizens, both initiating and returning conversation; and not only was it permitted to see his chamber, but to behold the prince himself in public." By such courtesies he so won over the people that he obtained from them the title of "the Best," and thereafter it was acclaimed by all as a felicitous omen to each new Emperor: "More fortunate than Augustus, better than Trajan."
Mystically, Bede takes the king to mean Christ, whose wrath on the day of judgment against the reprobate will be so great that they will say "to the mountains and rocks: Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who will be able to stand?" Revelation 6:16. This wrath of Christ, then, will be to the reprobate a messenger of death, when He will thunder upon them the sentence and thunderclap of eternal damnation, saying: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels," Matthew 25:41. But the wise man — namely, he who wisely anticipates the wrath and judgment of Christ, and strives to avoid sins in this life, or if he has committed any, to blot them out through penance, and endeavors to please Christ in all things — he will assuredly appease His wrath and will find Him placid and cheerful on that tremendous day of judgment; and he will hear that longed-for sentence of life: "Come, blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," Matthew 25:34.
15. In the Cheerfulness of the KING'S Countenance is Life: And his Clemency is Like the Latter Rain
In Hebrew: in the light of the king's countenance is life, and his benevolence is like the cloud of the latter rain. The Chaldean: in the light of the king's countenance is life, and his will is like a cloud in fair weather. The Syriac: like a late rain cloud. Pagninus clearly: when the king's countenance shines, there is life, and his benevolence will be like the cloud of the latter rain. Vatablus: the serene countenance of the king is thus it is, and his favor is like the cloud of the latter rain. The Septuagint goes in a different direction, as I shall show below. The light of the countenance is the serenity, joy, and cheerfulness of the face; for light is the sign and symbol of these. For "latter rain" the Hebrew is עב מלקוש ab malcosh, that is, a cloud (about to be resolved or already resolved into rain) of the late season. Note here that in Palestine there are two rainfalls: one in October, when seeds are sown, so that they may be softened by the moisture of the rain and begin to germinate — this rain is accordingly called the early or morning rain; the other in spring, when the crops are ripening, so that the grains may be nourished by the moisture of the rain, grow large and become full — this is therefore called the latter rain, and it is the most welcome, most pleasant, and most useful, like the clemency of the king. On this twofold rain I have often spoken in the Minor Prophets and in James 5:7. Finally, just as in the preceding verse death, so also in this verse life can be understood either of the king himself or of those to whom the king shows a cheerful countenance.
Hence first, some, taking life as they took death — of the king himself — explain it thus: Just as the king who shows an angry and fierce countenance to his subjects in turn provokes their anger against himself, so that they plot his death, so conversely, if he shows a placid, joyful, and benevolent countenance to his people, he wins them all over and draws the love of all to himself, so that they strive to preserve, protect, and defend his life even at the risk of their own. Therefore, the life of a benevolent king is secure; but the life of an angry and cruel one is exposed to great danger. Second, and more genuinely, you should understand it of the life of the subjects; for this is what the other part of the verse requires: "And his clemency is like the latter rain," irrigating and gladdening his subjects.
The sense, then, is this: The bright — that is, serene, joyful, and cheerful — countenance of the king attracts, refreshes, and gladdens his subjects, so much so that he seems to breathe upon them life, that is, the flower and vital joy of life; just as conversely an angry or sad countenance of the king dismays the spirits of the subjects, makes them fearful and sad, and breathes upon them, as it were, a kind of death of sadness and sorrow. The reason is, first, because the king is in the people what the head is in a man: just as the health and cheerfulness, as well as the sickness and distress of the head, overflow into the members subject to it and imprint their own quality upon them, so likewise the cheerfulness or anger and severity of the king affects the subjects and impresses a similar disposition upon them. Wherefore Plutarch teaches in his Politics that a prince must govern the emotions of his soul, especially anger, fears, and sorrows, lest he impress them upon his subjects. So did Aeneas act in the peril of shipwreck, of whom Virgil says, Aeneid I: "He feigns hope in his face — and buries deep grief in his heart." Second, because the life or death of subjects depends on the king's love, or anger, or hatred; for kings by their power can, and by their will desire to, prolong life for those they love, and bring death upon those they hate. Baynus considers it to be a metaphor from the light of dawn, meaning: Just as the dawn, now approaching dispels the darkness of night, so too the joyful countenance of kings banishes sorrow and fear from hearts and produces a government similar to a clear and serene sky. Hear Seneca, in his book On Clemency: "Which," he says, "is more pleasing to the eyes and more beautiful — the state of the world on a serene and clear day, or when everything is shaken by frequent crashes and fires flash here and there? Yet the aspect of a clement and moderate government is no different from that of a serene and shining sky. A cruel kingdom is turbulent, obscured by darkness, among those who tremble and are startled by every sudden sound — nor is even the one who causes all the disturbance himself unshaken." Hence of Christ, the King of kings, it is said in Psalm 110: "With You is sovereignty (in Hebrew, nedaboth; in Greek ἀρχή, that is, principate) in the day of Your power; from the womb before the morning star I begot You" — in Hebrew: from the womb, from the dawn, Yours is the dew of Your youth; Aquila: from the womb, from the dawn rising or appearing, Yours is the dew of Your childhood — where the dew, as well as the dawn, signifies the gentleness, cheerfulness, and sweetness of Christ's mind and countenance, says R. Solomon.
Our Salazar thinks the metaphor is rather drawn from the light of the sun; for as the sun is the light of the eyes, so wisdom is the light of the heart. Moreover, the king on earth is what the sun is in the sky and world. For the king is the sun of beneficence, cheerfulness, and life to the whole kingdom, meaning: "In the light of the king's countenance is life" — that is, the king's serene and benevolent face imitates the sun when it shines most brightly. For just as the sun with its rays warms all things and inspires life, joy, and gladness in all things, so too the benevolence and favor of the prince lifts up his subjects and brings a certain delightful pleasantness and charming joy to those upon whom he looks kindly. On the contrary, the stern countenance of the king is like a failing sun, which brings sorrow, languor, disease, and death itself to men and all things. Hear Agapetus the Deacon to the Emperor Justinian, On the Duty of the Prince: "It is indeed the function of the sun to illuminate the world with its rays; but the virtue of the prince is to show mercy to the needy. Moreover, brighter than the sun itself is the emperor who is pious: for the sun yields to succeeding night, but the pious emperor does not permit the rapacity of the wicked any indulgence, but with the light of truth convicts the hidden things of iniquity." And Plutarch in his Moralia: "As God in heaven has established the most beautiful and most pleasing image of Himself, the sun, so in the republic He has established the prince, who should represent Himself to all by prudence, justice, and kindness." Hence Cyrus was the sun of all Persia, for Cyrus in Persian means the sun. See the many analogies between king and sun which I reviewed at Isaiah 45:1.
AND HIS CLEMENCY IS LIKE THE LATTER RAIN. — He compared the king's cheerfulness to the dawn and to the sun illuminating and giving life to all things; now he compares his clemency, and, as the Hebrew has it, his benevolence, to the spring rain, which revives, gladdens, and brings to life the earth and the crops that have been languishing, mourning, and nearly dead from the severity of winter, and causes the earth to burst forth into shoots, leaves, and flowers, and to produce fruits of every kind, most sweet and most abundant. For in a similar way, the clemency, benevolence, and beneficence of the king refreshes, restores, promotes, and enriches with all good things everyone, both rich and poor, as we read that Trajan, Antoninus, Constantine, Theodosius, etc., did in their Panegyrics and Lives. See Seneca, book On Clemency, where in Book I, chapter 8, he celebrates the clemency of Augustus Caesar, who received into favor L. Cinna, who had plotted against his life: "I give you your life again, Cinna," he said, "formerly as to an enemy, now as to a plotter and parricide. From this day let friendship begin between us. Let us contend whether I have given you your life in better faith, or you owe it to me." After this he voluntarily conferred the consulship upon him, complaining that he did not dare to ask for it. He found him a most loyal and faithful friend; Cinna was his sole heir. He was never again plotted against by anyone." Now the Septuagint, for בני beni, that is, "countenance," reading in their codex בנו beno, that is, "son," translate thus: in the light of the king's life is his son; and those who are very acceptable to him are like a late rain cloud. So read the Complutensian and Roman editions; which the Author of the Greek Catena renders more clearly and explains tropologically thus: "The son of the king dwells in the light of life; but those whom he receives are like a late rain cloud. He who has been perfectly instructed in the knowledge of truth according to Christ can more truly be called the son of the king, or of God. But those who came to the faith after the coming of Christ are like late rain clouds, as having been finally joined to God near the consummation of the age." Another: "The son of the king is a disciple of Jesus; he is compared to a late rain cloud because he is laden with many good works.
More properly, take these words mystically of Christ, meaning: Christ, the Son of the eternal King, namely God the Father, received from Him the light of life: first, of divine life, when He was begotten by Him from eternity; second, of human life, when the Word was made flesh; third, of all grace in that same incarnation; fourth, of all glory in the resurrection. This twofold life He communicates to His own; for to those "who are very acceptable to Him," He Himself is "like a late rain cloud" — that is, like a spring cloud that pours down and rains a copious shower of grace, and then of glory, upon His faithful and elect.
But the true and genuine reading of the Septuagint seems to be that which the Scholiast has, who reads thus: in the light of the son of the king is life, etc. For this reading corresponds to the Hebrew and Latin texts, with only the word pene, that is, "countenance," changed to bene, that is, "son." Thus the sense will return to the same as the Hebrew and the Vulgate, if by "son of the king" you understand the king himself, according to the idiom of Scripture, which calls sons of men simply men, and sons of kings simply kings. But if you take "son of the king" properly, meaning the king's offspring and future heir, the sense will be that which our Salazar gives: "In the light of the king's son is life" — that is, the good and happy fortune of the nation entirely depends on the good character and morals with which the king's son and heir shines. Therefore all together, they observe his character and morals. "And those who are acceptable to him are like the latter rain" — that is, the fortune and happiness of those who have found favor with him is similar to the latter rain, which, though it falls later, nevertheless fertilizes the earth more abundantly. For after delays of time and long expectation, when the heir at last obtains the kingdom, he elevates his friends and intimates with great fortunes and honors. For just as in early spring the rains tend to be more intense and prolonged, as the Philosopher observes in Problems, section 26, so also the beneficence of the king at the beginning of his reign tends to be more abundant and generous. Or, if you punctuate it thus: "In the light of a son, the king's life," the sense will be: Just as one torch is lit from another, and one lamp from another, so the life of a son is like a lamp lit from the father; hence Solomon is called the lamp of David, 3 Kings 15:4. Just as runners of old, having completed the course assigned to them, would hand the torch to their successor, so too parents, having run the course of life, give to their son, as their successor, the torch of their life, virtue, wealth, and glory, so that in him they may, as it were, continue to live and endure, according to the saying of Lucretius: "And like runners they pass on the torch of life."
"In the light," therefore, "of the son is the king's life" — that is, the king must transfer his life, wisdom, character, and virtues to his son, so that, just as one lamp is lit from another, so the life, character, and morals of the son may be kindled by the instruction and example of the father; and the father, even in dying, may live and shine in his son, whom he leaves as an heir like himself and, as it were, another self — like light from light, or like a torch passed on in a race. "And those who are very acceptable to him are like the latter rain cloud" — meaning: Those who find the favor of the king's son — to them he himself will be like a spring cloud, which indeed comes late after a long expectation of the reign, but copiously rains down upon them wealth, honors, and every good thing.
Allegorically, the same applies most aptly to the incarnate Word, namely Christ; for Christ as the Word is the life of the Father, as well as of the Holy Spirit, and consequently of all creatures, especially plants, animals, men, and Angels. For through the Word all things have been created, and through the Word God gives all things the power to thrive, endure, grow, and propagate themselves. As man, He is the life of Angels and of men: for all these draw and share the life of grace and glory from Christ as from their Head. Hence, alluding to this, St. John says, chapter 1, verse 4: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." And verse 9: "He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world." And verse 16: "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace; because the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." In Christ, therefore, as in a fountain, is all life of all. Hence St. Augustine in the same place explains it thus: The very substance of the Word is life, for this is the idea of all creatures; and the idea is the very essence and life of God. St. Chrysostom, however, along with Cyril, Theophylact, and Ammonius, at the same place say: "In Him was life" — that is, the vigor, duration, and conservation of all things; it was in Him, however, not formally but causally, because it is caused and produced by the Word and through the Word. Hence St. John often calls Christ the light and eternal life. See the commentary on 1 John 1:2 and following. in virtue and discipline. For in the preceding verse the Septuagint had said that the father, as it were, lives on in his son even after death; now they fittingly add that, in order for the father to live gloriously in his son rather than shamefully, the son must be raised in nests of wisdom, so that in them he may become wise and noble — like an eagle's nestling, that is, a son worthy of his father and similar to his wise father, indeed even wiser. For it is better to gather for the son these nests of wisdom than treasures of gold and silver, since wisdom is far more precious than these.
16. Possess Wisdom, Because it is Better than Gold: And Acquire Prudence, Because it is More Precious than Silver
For "possess" the Hebrew is acquire, buy, obtain, possess in the imperative; or to acquire, buy, possess in the infinitive. Hence Pagninus translates: to acquire wisdom is much better than to acquire precious gold; and to acquire understanding is much better than to acquire choice silver. The Chaldean: he who possesses wisdom is better off than with refined gold; and he who possesses prudence is better than with choice silver. This maxim is expressed in similar words in chapter 8, verse 10, and chapter 4, verse 5, where I explained it.
Now the Septuagint, instead of קנה keno ["acquire"], reading with different vowel points קן ken, and with a paragogic nun as קנה kinneh, meaning "nest," or else referring the letter ה by diastole to the following word החכמ chachma, as if the ה were the article or the demonstrative ה of chochma, that is "of wisdom" — or more briefly and truly, reading קנת kinnot instead of קנה (for ה and ת are similar characters), meaning "nests" — translate: nests of wisdom are to be preferred to gold, and nests of prudence are to be preferred above silver. Which first, St. Chrysostom in the Greek Catena explains thus, meaning: "The thoughts and theorems of divine wisdom surpass worldly wisdom by many degrees. Just as gold is more excellent than silver, so wisdom is also nobler than prudence. For the latter is chiefly occupied with the knowledge of things, while the former with the elucidation and interpretation of unknown things." Another in the same place: "'Nest' signifies two things: namely, the place where the chicks of birds are kept, and again the chicks themselves contained in the nest. By the nest, therefore, the wise man designates divine theorems, for in these wisdom dwells; and he says they are more excellent than worldly or falsely named wisdom. And if he has elsewhere taught that prudence is akin to wisdom, it must be said that the wisdom of discourse has been preferred to the wisdom of the world. For as gold is more excellent than silver, so the former also surpasses the latter. Or he calls the nests of wisdom the Churches of Christ, or the mansions of the Saints; and wisdom itself, Christ Himself.
Second, St. Ambrose, Book V of the Hexameron, chapter 17, more literally understands the nest of wisdom as a nest built by a wise creature, such as the swallow constructs for its eggs and chicks, meaning: Wisdom teaches swallows and other birds to build nests, and in them to hatch and raise their young, so that through them it may give to all a type and example of wisely begetting and educating children and disciples in every But hear St. Ambrose philosophizing naturally about the wisdom of the swallow's nest: "We have the example of the piety of the feathered offspring toward their ancestral worship; let us now receive the great lesson of maternal diligence toward offspring. The swallow, small in body but sublimely noble in its devout affection, builds nests more precious than gold, though it lacks all things, because it builds its nest wisely. For a nest of wisdom is more precious than gold. What is wiser than that it should both enjoy the free liberty of flight, and entrust its little ones to the homes and roofs of men, where no one can attack its young? It is also beautiful that from the very beginning it accustoms its chicks to the use of human society, and makes them safer from the ambushes of hostile birds. Then it is remarkable with what skill it constructs its home without any helper, as if skilled in the art. For it gathers straw with its beak and smears it with mud so as to glue it together. But since it cannot carry mud with its feet, it wets the tips of its feathers with water, so that dust may easily adhere to them and become clay, by which it gradually gathers and makes the straws or tiny twigs stick together. In this manner it builds the entire structure of the nest, so that its chicks within their home may move about as on a paved floor without stumbling, and no one may insert a foot through the crevices of the woven structure, or that the cold may creep in upon the tender chicks. But this industrious work is common to many birds; what is singular, however — in which there is a remarkable display of dutiful care and the mark of prudent understanding and knowledge, as well as a certain skill in the healing art — is this: if any of its chicks have been afflicted with blindness of the eyes or had them pierced, the swallow has a certain method of healing by which it can restore their sight to use when it has been lost." Namely, "the swallow, if its chicks have been blinded, knows how to give them sight again with its own chelidonia [celandine]," says Tertullian, in his book On Penance, near the end. The same is found in St. Basil, Homily 8 on the Hexameron, from whom St. Ambrose transcribed it, but endowed it with the elegant style of Latin discourse.
Therefore, the nests of wisdom for a son are, first, honorable education at home; then schools, academies, seminaries, colleges, and monasteries, in which youth is instructed and educated in wisdom as well as virtue, so that, having been formed there, like chicks they may fly forth boldly and wisely to their prey, and be able to imbue others with the wisdom and virtue they have learned, indeed even to build and erect nests of wisdom similar to their own elsewhere. For nests of wisdom are erected in souls when souls are so composed and shaped by knowledge and discipline that they know and are able to direct themselves wisely in all things, and even others, and to protect themselves against all the stumbling blocks of vices.
17. The Path of the Just Declines From Evil; He who Guards his Soul Preserves his Way
In Hebrew: of the upright. The Chaldean: the path of the just is to decline from evil; he who is cautious for his soul preserves his way. The Zurich version: and he who keeps his way (of the commandments of God, says Vatablus) keeps his soul. The Septuagint, however: the paths of life turn away from evils; and the length of life is the way of justice — for the Septuagint judged that "guardian of the soul" is the same as "prolonger of life," meaning: Justice makes its followers long-lived here and eternal in the future; therefore he who keeps the ways of justice will obtain a favorable length of the present life and a blessed eternity of the future. The word "path" signifies that the way and life of the just is straight, hidden, and narrow, so that it turns aside from the crooked, depraved, and wide diversions of vices that surround and encircle it on every side, through which the impious walk as through wide, open, royal roads. For "semita" is said in Latin as if semi iter, that is, a half-road, a narrow path. Hence Virgil, Aeneid IX: "A rare path led through hidden trails." For "path" the Hebrew is מסלה mesilla, that is, a trodden way, a causeway, a path paved and raised with stones, lest travelers be forced to walk through mud; hence מסלה mesullam is called a stairway. The way and life of the just, then, is a mesilla, both because it is elevated and higher than the earth, being heavenly and divine — for through virtues, as through staircases, they strive and ascend to heaven — and because through continuous and long exercise of good works and virtues it has been trodden, leveled, and worn, and is therefore easy and secure.
Moreover, the Septuagint explains and illustrates this maxim with two other sayings that are not found in the Hebrew or the Latin. They are as follows: "He who receives discipline will abound in all good things; likewise he who heeds reproofs will make progress in wisdom. He who keeps his ways keeps his soul; but he who loves his life must spare his mouth."
18. Pride Goes Before Destruction, and the Spirit is Exalted Before a Fall
In Hebrew: before a breaking is pride, and before a stumbling (by which one strikes against a stone or obstacle) is haughtiness of spirit. The Syriac: before sickness is exaltation of spirit. Aquila: in the face of destruction, pride. The Zurich version: haughtiness goes before crushing, and pride of soul before ruin — that is, calamity is the companion of pride, says Vatablus. The Chaldean: before destruction comes pride, and before ruin the spirit is lifted up. The Septuagint: before destruction goes hubris, that is, insult or injury (the Syriac: disgrace), and before ruin kakophron, that is, evil thinking. The Complutensian and Roman editions: immodesty; others: rashness, folly; for κακόφρων means insane, impatient, thinking evil, as if thinking badly and ignobly. The sense, therefore, is: Before anyone undergoes the evil by which he is crushed, broken, and overthrown, his pride usually goes before, by which he proudly exalts himself so as to dominate others — for God is accustomed to strike down and shatter this. Similarly, before anyone stumbles and falls into some lesser evil, haughtiness of spirit or some arrogance and swelling of soul that merits this evil usually goes before in him. Now understand evil both as punishment — such as diseases, poverty, disgrace, persecutions, exile, and death itself — and as fault: for God punishes a lesser and hidden fault with another, greater and open one. Thus God punished the hidden pride of Adam, with which he swelled upon hearing from Eve the serpent's promise — "You shall be like gods" — by permitting his fall into open and manifest disobedience, by which, eating the forbidden fruit, he ruined himself and the entire human race; as St. Augustine beautifully teaches from this passage, Book XIV of the City of God, chapter 13: "That evil (of pride) had preceded in secret, so that this evil which was perpetrated openly might follow. For what is written is true: Before a fall the heart is exalted, and before glory it is humbled. That fall which happens in secret altogether precedes the fall that happens in the open — while that hidden fall is not considered to be a fall at all. For who thinks that exaltation is a fall, when the deficiency is already there by which the exalted one has been abandoned? But who does not see it as a fall when a clear and undoubted transgression of the commandment occurs? For this reason God forbade what, once committed, could not be defended by any pretense of justice. And therefore I dare to say that it is useful for the proud to fall into some open and manifest sin, by which they may become displeasing to themselves — they who had already fallen by being pleased with themselves. For Peter more healthfully displeased himself when he wept than he pleased himself when he presumed. The sacred Psalm 82 says the same: 'Fill their faces with shame, and they shall seek Your name, O Lord' — that is, so that You may be pleasing to those who seek Your name, who had been pleasing to themselves when they sought their own."
Therefore, pride goes before destruction. What kind of destruction? Every kind. For we never fall into sin unless we are raised up against God by at least a tacit or interpretive pride. Pride opposes God Himself; it is intolerable to neighbors, and exceedingly harmful to the proud person himself. For unless man were to abandon the reverence and submission due to God, and with stiffened neck were to rebel proudly against Him and His commandments, he would never fall into the dissipation of grace and the ruin of sins.
The Septuagint version has: before destruction goes insult, and before ruin, evil thought. Note here how emphatically pride is called by antonomasia "insult" — namely, one inflicted upon God. Pride is so grave an evil that it mocks God Himself, as it were, with insults and derision, strikes slaps upon the face of God, smears it with spittle, and, as it were, provokes God to combat when He is unwilling and resistant. This you will also find in James 4: "God resists the proud." He does not say: He withstands them, as one who stands in the way of those at peace; rather He "resists," as though, against the proud who attack and provoke God, He Himself fights back for His own honor, as for hearth and home, repelling injury from Himself rather than inflicting it, defending Himself rather than attacking others. Which St. Augustine once experienced and lamented thus: "But I, O Lord, was striving toward You, and was being repelled from You, that I might taste death; You were resisting my puffed-up neck," etc., Confessions, Book IV, chapter 15. Behold the windy head of the proud man: yet the fool flatters himself with his own wind.
But why does pride, whether great or small, go before and cause almost all the falls, ruins, and destructions of everyone, even of the Saints? Cassian gives the first reason, Conferences VI, chapter 17, that from lesser things a step is usually made to greater ones: "Any fall," he says, "should by no means be believed to have come about through a sudden collapse; but rather the person either was deceived at the beginning by a perverse formation, or through long carelessness of mind, with the soul's virtue gradually declining, and vices thus slowly increasing, fell by a miserable crash. For before destruction goes insult, and before ruin evil thought — just as a house never collapses into ruin by a sudden blow, unless the defenses of the roof, weakened first by the fewest drops seeping through, either on account of an ancient defect of the foundation or through the long negligence of the inhabitants, have been gradually corrupted, and when these have been opened up more widely through longstanding negligence and have collapsed, the storm of rains and showers thereafter pours in like a stream."
St. Chrysostom gives the second reason, Book V On the Incomprehensible Nature of God, namely the gravity and weight of pride, which is so great that it presses the proud man down to the depths.
The third and most potent cause is the vengeance of God. For God pursues pride and the proud with extreme hatred, and therefore strikes them down with lightning and lays them low even to hell. Hence Aesop, when asked by Chilon what Jupiter was doing and with what He occupied Himself, answered: "He depresses the lofty and raises up the lowly." So Laertius, Book I, on Chilon. And the Seventy Translators, when asked by Ptolemy Philadelphus how one could avoid pride, answered: "If one considers that God casts down the proud, but exalts the meek and humble." This is what God threatens against the proud through Obadiah, verse 4: "Though you be exalted as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, thence will I bring you down." And concerning Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel says to his son Belshazzar, chapter 5:20: "When his heart was lifted up, etc., he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom, and cast out from among the sons of men, and his heart was set among the beasts." For this is a great incentive to humility — if you consider that through humility you will be exalted, and through pride you will most certainly be cast down, and perhaps even to hell with the proud Lucifer. For just as humility is a sign of predestination, so pride is a sign of reprobation. When therefore you sense in your mind any elation, swelling, or haughtiness, know that this is a sign that there is at hand a fall and ruin for you; for just as smoke is a sign of a nearby fire, so elation is a sign of an approaching ruin. Therefore, just as when you see smoke rising you immediately run to throw water on it, to suffocate and extinguish both it and the fire hidden beneath it, so likewise when you feel a swelling in your soul, you should immediately beat it down and break it, and thus dispel and avert the fall threatening you. For the fall and ruin is the inseparable companion of pride; for God punishes no one before sin, and no one sins except from a certain pride — namely, that he does not wish to be humbled before God. For we never contemptuously and mortally transgress God's commandments unless we value our own will or pleasure more than God's command. Hence it is well said in Sirach 10:15: "The beginning of all sin is pride."
Note: The humble and the saints are sometimes afflicted and cast down by the will of God, but not so that they may fall and be destroyed — rather so that they may be exalted, as is evident in Joseph, Job, David, etc. The same calamities, therefore, are merits and crowns for the just, but demerits and punishments for the proud, because they are inflicted by God upon the former for the increase of virtue and glory, but upon the latter for torment. Finally, as great as the pride, so great the ruin and destruction that follows it; for the measure of punishment corresponds to the measure of fault. Just as he who falls from a height falls deeply and is utterly crushed, so the greater the exaltation, the greater the precipice, according to the saying of Claudian: "They are raised on high, that they may fall with a heavier crash."
Thus God crushed the pride of Pharaoh through Moses, of Goliath through David, of the Pharisee through the Publican, of Absalom through Joab, of Adonijah through Solomon, of the giants through the flood; and even the presumption of Peter, who asserted that he would die with Christ, through a maidservant, who struck and drove him to deny Christ.
A more recent and very apt example is related by Blessed Peter Damian, Epistle 24, chapter 6, concerning a proud cleric who, when in Mass there was read that saying of Christ: "He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted," Luke 14:11, mocked it, and full of arrogance and excessive confidence in his military prowess, leaping into battle as if he would be the victor, miserably fell in a wretched conflict. St. Antoninus relates a similar tale, Part II, title III, chapter ..., concerning a certain tyrant who ordered to be scraped from the books the passage from the Canticle of the Blessed Virgin: "He has scattered the proud in the conceit of their hearts; He has put down the mighty from their seats, and has exalted the humble" — because he denied that he could be deposed from his seat. When once, after his bath, an Angel, assuming his likeness, had put on his clothes and gone home with his courtiers, the tyrant was left naked and recognized by no one. Moreover, the Masoretes note that the midpoint of the book [of Proverbs] occurs at this verse.
19. It is Better to be Humbled With the Meek than to Divide Spoils With the Proud
The Chaldean: better is the humble of spirit and the meek. The Syriac: better is the humble in spirit and with downcast eyes than he who divides the prey with the strong. The Septuagint: better is the gentle man with humiliation than he who divides spoils with the insolent or those who inflict injury, because these spoils are unjust: therefore he who takes a share of the spoils consents to and cooperates in the injury, and will consequently undergo the same destruction as those who inflict injury, says Aben-Ezra.
For the proud are accustomed through arrogance to commit injury against others, to despoil them of their goods, and to invite associates and friends to share in their quarrel or war and in the spoils; but the same vengeance of God and the same destruction awaits both parties. This maxim is drawn as a conclusion from the preceding one: for if pride produces destruction and exaltation brings ruin, as he has just said, then it is better to be humble in spirit, as the Hebrew has it — that is, to lower oneself with the humble and meek (for those who are humble are also meek) — than with the proud to raise oneself above others and despoil them and enrich oneself with their spoils. Solomon alludes to the saying of his father David: "I have chosen to be cast aside in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners," Psalm 83:11.
Hence, second, it can be explained thus: It is better to be humbled — that is, afflicted in spirit, namely in soul and mind — with the meek, and to patiently bear the injuries and despoiling of the proud, than with them to commit injury against others and to unjustly divide their spoils. Hence Cajetan and Baynus explain it thus: Proud men sometimes inflict injury on the humble, plunder their goods, and divide the spoils; yet virtue of soul is better than external goods, however well acquired. If you walk with the humble and meek, if you yourself are also humble, you lead a kind of heavenly life on earth, in peace and tranquility of soul. But among the proud there are always quarrels: therefore do not judge things by the assessment of the crowd, but by that of the wise; prefer virtue to vice, tranquility of soul to external goods.
Third, explain it thus: It is better to be humbled — that is, impoverished — with the meek, than to divide spoils — that is, to grow rich — with the proud, especially if one becomes poor in spirit, according to the saying of Christ: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 5. So Vatablus and the Author of the Greek Catena.
Fourth, more fully and profoundly, by catachresis from the Septuagint, by "the meek" you may understand the peace and tranquil life that association with the meek produces; and by "dividing spoils" you may understand the hatreds and quarrels that pride produces. For, as St. Chrysostom says, Homily 8 on Matthew: "Humility is the nurse of love (and consequently of peace and concord); but pride is the mother of all evil." The sense, therefore, is, as our Salazar says: "Better is it to be humbled with the meek" — that is, it is better indeed to be cast down in spirit and to be humble: for thus one will be able to live among the humble, who are for the most part very gentle, and no indignation or discord divides them; rather, held together by mutual benevolence, they lead a very tranquil life. It is better, I say, to live with these than, swelling with pride, to associate with the proud, who constantly clash with each other and divide the spoils — that is, who attack each other in turn and mutually despoil one another of honors and fortunes, and who ultimately lead a life full of innumerable storms and tumults. Therefore the wise man prefers humility to pride in this passage, because the humble live with the humble very peacefully and benevolently, while the proud clash with each other and despoil one another of their plundered fortunes.
Mystically, the Author of the Greek Catena says: Better is a small amount of knowledge with humility than great learning with pride.
20. He who is Learned in the Word Will Find Good Things: And He who Hopes in the Lord is Blessed
In Hebrew: he who is discerning about a word will find good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord — that is, blessings are or will be his. The Chaldean: he who contemplates the word. The Syriac: he who understands the word. The Septuagint clearly: he who is discerning in business is a finder of good things, and he who trusts in God is most blessed. For "word" metonymically signifies the thing signified by the word, namely, a business matter.
First, Aben-Ezra refers this maxim to the preceding one, meaning: He who, by the pursuit of humility with the meek, is trained not to think highly of himself, will find good things: for he will be heaped with blessings by God; and he who places his hope in God will by no means take pleasure in dividing spoils with the proud, but, enriched by God and abounding in all good things, will be blessed.
Second, others explain it thus: "He who is learned in the word" — that is, powerful in speech — will indeed win his case and lawsuit, and obtain the goods he claims; but more blessed is he who avoids lawsuits and, keeping silent, commends his affairs to God.
Third, R. Levi more genuinely explains it, meaning: He who has understanding about a matter — that is, who intelligently applies himself to any business and diligently considers how he should conduct himself in each thing, and does not act hastily or rashly — this man, by thinking, will find good counsels by which he may successfully complete his business and attain the desired goods he wishes for. But he who, having done all this through his own industry, does not trust in himself, in his own counsel, or in the causes and reasons he has skillfully prepared, but places all his hope of accomplishing the matter in God — this man will be blessed, because God will not disappoint his hope but will grant his wish and bring the matter to the desired goal, even if he may have erred somewhat in the preparation of his aids. For this is Christian prudence, which St. Ignatius, founder of the Society of Jesus, commended to his followers by word and example — namely, that whoever undertakes a difficult matter for the glory of God should prudently and diligently employ all human counsels and means opportune for accomplishing the matter, as if the whole thing were to be accomplished by those very means alone. Then he should place all his hope in God, as if the matter were to be accomplished by Him alone, so that, distrusting himself and trusting in God, he should invoke Him with his whole heart, and offer to Him the means he has found for accomplishing the matter, so that God may approve or disapprove them, suggest better ones, direct and prosper them, and from Him alone expect the successful completion of the affair. Hence Baynus explains it thus: It is better to place one's trust in the Lord than in one's own prudence. Or: Blessed is he who, besides administering each thing with much prudence, nevertheless places all his confidence for accomplishing it in the Lord, according to Psalm 145:5: "Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob; his hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth."
This maxim therefore teaches us to manage our affairs so prudently, persistently, and carefully as if they did not depend on God and God's special care; and conversely, to place all our hope in God as if all our own prudence and care were vain, powerless, and futile. So say Cajetan, Jansenius, Salazar, and others.
21. He who is Wise of Heart Will be Called Prudent: And He who is Sweet in Speech Will Perceive Greater Things
In Hebrew: and sweetness of lips adds learning — which our Vulgate translates as "will perceive greater things." Others take לקח lecach, that is "acceptance" or "receiving," to mean doctrine, for the disciple draws and receives this from the teacher. Hence the Chaldean: and he who is sweet in his lips will add discipline. The Syriac: will add knowledge. The Septuagint: the wise and intelligent are called evil; but those who are sweet in speech will hear more.
First, Bede explains it thus: "He who keeps untainted in his heart the wisdom of the Catholic faith that he has learned deserves to receive the name of prudent. But he who also knows how to learnedly preach and defend it against heretics will receive the greater rewards of his greater labor." Hugo adds: He will also receive a greater name, namely that of doctor.
Second, and better: He who has wisdom in his own heart — this man "will be called," that is, will truly be, so that he may rightly and truly be called, prudent, and, as the Hebrew has it, intelligent. But he who is wise not for himself alone but also for others, and channels wisdom from his heart to his mouth for the salvation of others, so that what he has wisely conceived, he instills into his neighbors by wise and sweet eloquence — this man will assuredly perceive greater things, because he will receive a greater knowledge of those things which he teaches others. For by teaching, the intellect of the teacher is illuminated and expanded, so that he sees more clearly what he teaches than he knew it before; indeed, the mind, stimulated by teaching, suggests to the teacher new concepts, new reasons, new truths, new subtleties, which would never otherwise have come to his mind.
He who teaches others, therefore, teaches himself. Hence experience shows that those who teach Poetry, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics become by teaching outstanding and accomplished Poets, Rhetoricians, Philosophers, Theologians, and Ethicists.
Third, genuinely and fully, by this maxim Solomon teaches that true prudence and wisdom, and the wise man, have two duties, two functions: the first, to contain wisdom in the heart; the second, to wisely and sweetly express and articulate it. Thus wisdom demands eloquence, so that what is savored within may be conveyed to others with grace and fruit. And therefore wisdom is not perfect unless one who understands knows how to communicate and persuade others, according to Sirach 12:17: "Hidden wisdom and an unseen treasure — what use is there in either?" And St. Augustine, Book IV of On Christian Doctrine: "Every thing," he says, "that does not diminish by being given, while it is possessed and not given, is not possessed in the way it ought to be possessed." That this is the sense is clear from the two following verses, and especially from verse 23, where, explaining this maxim with another, clearer one, he says: "The heart of the wise will instruct his mouth, and will add grace to his lips."
The sense, therefore, is, says Jansenius: He who is wise of heart — since by the wisdom stored in his mind he speaks learnedly and prudently with his mouth (for the heart of the wise will instruct his mouth) — will therefore be called prudent; and being also sweet in speech through his wisdom, he will add doctrine both to others and to himself, becoming daily more learned and more eloquent, and ever more and more implanting wisdom in others. Thus the verse contains a single clause, teaching that the wise man obtains the name of prudent because by his eloquence he increases knowledge through teaching.
The Septuagint seems to have intended the same when they translate: the wise and intelligent are called evil; but those sweet in speech will hear more — that is, will learn more by listening, for hearing is the sense of learning, says Aristotle, whence listeners are called disciples. Now the wise are called "evil," in Greek φαῦλα, meaning first, worthless, useless, idle — because they are wise only for themselves and decline the labor of teaching others; second, depraved, envious, malicious — because they begrudge others wisdom, and in order to surpass all others in it, they selfishly conceal it and are unwilling to share it with others; third, the Author of the Greek Catena reads it thus: the wicked call wise and prudent men wicked and criminal; but those who use pleasant speech learn and absorb more. And he explains it thus: "Flatterers, sweet-tongued and plausible men, are considered wise and intelligent, and their discourses are commonly held in greater esteem than those of truly prudent and wise men.
Moreover, for the speech of a wise man to be sweet, many things are required: first, that the speech be filled with wisdom and prudence, for the wise derive more delight from the meaning than from the sound of speech, says Dionysius; second, that the speech be orderly, elegant, clear, and easy to understand — for there are some men who are otherwise learned but cannot express their deep and profound concepts elegantly and clearly, because in their very manner of speaking they are disorderly and confused, or barbarous, or obscure and convoluted. Their wisdom is deficient: for they lack a mouth, namely eloquence; third, that the speech be gracious, courteous, pleasant, cheerful, having its own wit and charm, according to the saying of the Apostle: "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt," Colossians 4:6. For there are some men who are otherwise learned but in speaking are coarse, rustic, harsh, and stern, so that they seem to speak not words but thorns and stones, and who are therefore little suited for teaching, admonishing, and exhorting; fourth, and most importantly, that the speech proceed from a gentle, benevolent, and love-filled heart. For this inspires its own love and sweetness into the words, so that whatever he says is loving and sweet, and is eagerly seized upon by all as such, even if in itself it is terrible, harsh, or biting. Hence St. Augustine, commenting on Galatians 6:1, requires this quality in one who corrects his neighbor: "Love," he says, "and say what you will;" for he who loves, even though he may hurl sharp words of correction, these are received by the one corrected not as darts but as remedies, willingly. Conversely, if someone speaks pleasant words but with a heart that is not pleasant, these are rejected as bitter. For the soul that loves pours its love, indeed itself, into its words, and through them into the hearts of its listeners, which it accordingly strikes, softens, inflames, and bends wherever it wills. Examples are found in the Confessions of St. Augustine, and in St. Bernard, who everywhere, honeyed and fiery, breathes honeyed and fiery wisdom into the reader.
22. The Learning of the Possessor is a Fountain of Life: The Instruction of Fools is Folly
In Hebrew: a spring of lives is understanding to him who has it (or to its master and lord), and the instruction of fools is folly. The Septuagint: a fountain of life is the thought of those who possess it; but the discipline of the imprudent is evil. So the Complutensian and Roman editions. For "thought" the Greek is ἔννοια, that is, intelligence, knowledge, notion, perception, judgment, prudence, cognition. Hence Aquila translates ἐπίγνωσις, that is, knowledge; Symmachus, ἐπίνοια, that is, prudence.
He explains what he said: "He who is sweet in speech will perceive greater things," because indeed he himself is like a fountain of wisdom. Therefore, just as the more sweet water a fountain pours forth and discharges, the more continually succeeds and flows into it, so likewise the wise man, the more wisdom he speaks sweetly, the more is suggested to him by God, just as udders, the more they are milked, the more milk they receive.
Jansenius maintains that the reading should be: "A fountain of life is learning to those who possess it," as the Septuagint has it. For thus the sense is clear, meaning: Wisdom to the wise who possess it is like a fountain of life, which the more vital wisdom flows forth from it, the more it draws and receives from God. But the Roman and other codices read "of the one who possesses it," and this is more meaningful. For it signifies, first, that wisdom in the heart of the wise man, through meditation, study, and prayer, springs up and bubbles forth as from a fountain, as in its own property and estate, and therefore continuously and constantly pours forth copious waters of wisdom, by which it irrigates, gives life to, and makes fruitful not only his own household but his neighbors all around, so that they may be rich and fertile in good works. Second, the word "of the possessor" — or, as you might translate from the Hebrew, "of the master or lord" — signifies that no one should teach wisdom before he has fully learned it, so that he possesses it, as it were, as a master. "A teacher, therefore, should be a reservoir, not a channel," says St. Bernard; let him be a possessor of wisdom, and so he will become the possessor of the pulpit from which he teaches it. Third, "of the possessor" signifies that wisdom is the fountain of life proper to the possessor — that is, to the one who exercises it and uses it in teaching and instructing others. For full and firm possession of a thing, beyond mere ownership, requires the use and exercise of the thing possessed, namely, that one may easily and readily use the thing possessed and exercise it. This signifies, therefore, that the wise man must first thoroughly imbue his heart with wisdom, so that he may possess it firmly and solidly, and then exercise it and pour it forth in teaching, both by word and by deed and example. For he who has wisdom in himself but does not exercise it or teach others — for him wisdom is not a fountain of life but rather a pool or stagnant water, and therefore decaying and dead, according to the saying of Christ: "To everyone who has, more will be given; but from him who does not have (that is, who does not use the talent he has), even what he has will be taken away," Matthew 25:29.
The sense, therefore, says Jansenius, is this: Learning — that is, wisdom and understanding — is for those who have it a fountain of life, because like a spring always flowing and never failing, it continually supplies them with that by which they themselves may live in soul, and others through their teaching. But on the contrary, the teaching of fools, by which they instruct both themselves and others about what is to be done or believed, is nothing but folly — that is, whatever things fools teach from their own heart are foolish. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
From the belly of fools, therefore, flow rivers of dead water; but from the belly of the wise according to God flow rivers of living water, says the Author of the Opus Imperfectum, Homily 20 on Matthew.
Here also apply the seven riddles or enigmas of the Venerable Bede in his Collectanea: "Three unhappy ones are read of in the law: he who knows and does not teach, he who teaches and does not practice, and he who does not know and does not ask." Who are they who are healthy yet sick? Those who mind other people's business. How does a man never become weary? By making a profit. What is the longest thing? Hope or thought. What do the king and the wretch have in common? Birth and death. What is the best and worst thing? A word. What is it that pleases one and displeases another? Life.
23. The Heart of the Wise Will Instruct his Mouth, and Will Add Grace to his Lips
In Hebrew: will add acceptance — that is, doctrine, as the Chaldean and the Syriac translate — namely, the grace of teaching, which our Vulgate at verse 21 translates as "will perceive greater things" — that is, he will obtain greater doctrine and greater grace of teaching. For "will instruct," the Hebrew is ישכיל iaskil, which, as Pagninus understands it, means: will make intelligent and prudent, will prudently direct, instruct, educate.
The heart is the symbol of three things and signifies three; hence a threefold sense emerges here. First, the heart is called the mind and intellect; for just as from the heart the life and vital spirits of the whole body proceed, so from the mind proceeds the life and spirit of the whole soul and all its powers. The sense, therefore, is: The mind of the wise man is what directs his mouth and teaches it not to blurt out anything rashly, but to speak things that have been premeditated, and it instills and adds to his lips the grace of teaching, so that they may produce a pleasing and sweet discourse that gently flows into the minds of the listeners and instills wisdom. For the mind of the wise man first thinks and meditates on what and how he should speak, so as to benefit his listeners and persuade them of wisdom; but the mind of the fool premeditates nothing, and blurts out whatever comes into his mouth. Hence Sirach 21:29: "In the mouth of fools," he says, "is their heart; and in the heart of the wise is their mouth." See what is said there. Hence also the Septuagint translates: the heart of the wise will consider what comes from his own mouth, and on his lips he will carry doctrine. The Syriac: the heart of the wise knows the speech of his mouth, etc. R. Solomon: the mouth of the wise man has its direction from the mind, so that he may speak rightly and eloquently. Vatablus: the breast of the wise man prudently governs his mouth, and adds doctrine to his lips.
Second, the heart of the wise man is wisdom itself, just as the heart of an animal is its very soul; hence one who has "heart" is called prudent and wise. And in Hosea 7:11 it is said: "Ephraim has become like a foolish dove, without heart" — that is, senseless and imprudent. The sense, therefore, is: Wisdom directs the mouth of the wise man, so that he may speak wisely. "It will add grace to his lips," so that he may bring forth and produce wisdom with grace. For the mouth of itself is senseless and does not understand what it says; therefore it is necessary that it draw wisdom from the wisdom of the heart. Let the heart, then, be the teacher of the mouth, and let it teach the mouth wisdom — namely, the manner of speaking wisely and prudently. For the wise word of the mind produces from itself a similar wise word of the mouth. So Aben-Ezra: "The wise man," he says, "by his speech will reveal the wisdom with which he is cultivated, and in order to make his doctrine clear to others, he will add greater keenness of mind." For wisdom is resourceful, and devises many modes of speaking wisely, and discovers many methods by which to eloquently express what it intends and persuade the listener. Hence, explaining further, he adds: "A honeycomb is composed words," etc. See what was said at verse 21; for that verse agrees with this one both in words and in meaning.
Third, the heart signifies affection, benevolence, and love, meaning: The heart — that is, love — instructs and teaches the mouth of the wise man, so that he may generously overcome all the tedium, weariness, and difficulties that arise in teaching the uneducated, the difficult, or the obstinate, and indeed discover modes of speaking and acting by which he may persuade his listeners of wisdom, faith, and virtue — as the Apostle did to the Galatians, saying, 4:19: "My little children, whom I am again bringing forth in labor until Christ is formed in you. I wish I could be present with you now and change my voice." Hence St. Augustine, in his book On Catechizing the Uneducated, chapter 10, teaches that the catechist should imitate a mother, who out of maternal love gradually teaches her untaught infant to babble and speak, and even pre-chews food for it. For love overcomes all rudeness, all tedium and disgust: "Does it delight," he says, "unless love invites, to murmur shortened and broken words? And yet people desire infants to whom they may do this." And below: "It is sweeter for a mother to put into the mouth of her little son food she has chewed small than for her to chew and swallow greater portions herself." He then adds a new simile of the hen: "Let the thought not leave your breast of that hen who covers her tender young with drooping feathers and with a broken voice calls to her peeping chicks — whose gentle calls the proud, fleeing from them, immediately become prey for birds of prey. Just as heat by cooking makes all fruits and all foods savory and sweet, so also love makes all words pleasant and agreeable both to the speaker and the listener. When therefore you are about to say something, or teach or correct someone, let love go before and prompt your words; thus love will teach you the manner of speaking rightly and persuading. For love, boiling up from the heart into the mouth, will pour forth and produce speech similar to itself, according to Psalm 44:1: 'My heart has uttered a good word.' See St. Bernard, Sermon 67 on the Song of Songs.
24. WELL-COMPOSED Words Are a Honeycomb: Sweetness to the Soul and Health to the Bones
In Hebrew: a honeycomb is words of beauty or elegance, sweet to the soul and healing to the bone. Pagninus: and health to the body. The Septuagint: good words are a honeycomb; and their sweetness is healing to the soul. The Chaldean: a honeycomb is a wora sweet word. The Syriac: a word of the wise. Vatablus: a honeycomb is a pleasant discourse, the sweetness of the soul and the healing of the bones. For honey, he says, heals the languors of the body. For "composed words," the Hebrew is אמרי נעם imre noam, that is, words of beauty, comeliness, pleasantness, elegance. Hence Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, was so named from beauty and comeliness, Ruth 1:20. For just as the beauty of a face captivates the eyes of beholders, so the beauty and comeliness of a discourse captivates the ears of listeners. This maxim is connected with the preceding one; for Solomon extols at length the advantages of prudent and sweet speech. The sense is clear, meaning: Just as a honeycomb delights the palate and at the same time refreshes, nourishes, and strengthens the body, so likewise words prudently and sweetly composed and arranged delight the ears, sweeten the soul, and heal the bones. By "bones," understand metaphorically with the Septuagint the innermost parts of the soul, or literally the bones of the body, meaning: Sweet speech not only nourishes the soul but also the body and its bones, in which its strength resides — it refreshes, restores, and strengthens them.
Aptly is beautiful and sweet speech compared to a honeycomb: first, because just as the honeycomb drips the sweetness of honey, so the orator drips the eloquence of speech. Hence Homer says of Nestor: "From his mouth there flowed speech sweeter than honey." Second, honey is the work and nectar of bees, which are the exemplar and symbol of prudence and chastity. In a similar way, the sweetness of speech flows from a prudent and chaste mind. Hence on the lips of St. Ambrose while still a boy there played a swarm of bees, portending his chastity and the sweetness of his speech. The same happened to St. Isidore, Archbishop of Seville; to St. Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers; and among the pagans, to Plato and Pindar. Third, bees gather honey from flowers and fragrant herbs: so the wise gather the honey of speech from the anthology of Sacred Scripture. Fourth, the three duties of an orator are to teach, to delight, and to move, which are represented by honey: for honey refreshes, sweetens, and heals; refreshment represents doctrine, sweetness represents delight, and wholesomeness represents persuasion and motivation. Hence St. Augustine, Book IV of On Christian Doctrine: "A certain eloquent man," he says, "has said, and said truly, that the eloquent man should speak in such a way as to teach, to delight, and to persuade. Teaching is a matter of necessity, delighting of agreeableness, persuading of victory." Fifth, R. Levi says: Honey is a remedy for soothing the pains of limbs when they have been bruised, if it is applied to them, and it is also very helpful for other diseases. So too sweet speech contributes to preserving the proper constitution of the body, and to driving away the sicknesses of depraved morals. Above all, it soothes and dispels the sorrows, anxieties, angers, bitterness, and envies of the soul that torment, gnaw, and consume it. Hence Clement of Alexandria, Book I of the Pedagogue, chapter 2: "Medicine," he says, "heals the diseases of the body; wisdom heals the disturbances of the soul." Sixth, honey is health — that is, the marrow of the bones: for honey supplies excellent marrow to the bones, and thus heals them when they are languishing and gives them vitality. Moreover, marrow is like the honey of the bones, nourishing, healing, delighting, and strengthening them. In a similar way, wise and sweet speech nourishes, heals, and strengthens the bones — that is, the vigor of soul and body for doing and enduring difficult things. Thus Sts. Mark and Marcellian, being severely tempted by their own people to deny the faith of Christ during persecution, when they were wavering, were confirmed in it by the prudent and sweet speech of St. Sebastian, and died a glorious martyrdom for it. The same happened to the physician Ursicinus, who, stumbling at the moment of death, was strengthened by the exhortation of St. Vitalis and eagerly offered his neck to the executioner for Christ. The same was done by the Theban Legion, strengthened by the address of St. Maurice and St. Exuperius; and the seven Maccabee brothers under Antiochus, strengthened by their mother, a true heroine; and the seven sons of St. Felicitas, and the same number of St. Symphorosa, inflamed to martyrdom by their mothers. Thus by the outstanding exhortation of Judas Maccabeus the soldiers "grew strong in spirit, prepared to penetrate not only men but also the most ferocious beasts and walls of iron," 2 Maccabees 11:9. Seventh, just as honeycomb cells are constructed by bees with marvelous art and symmetry, so the wise man with great prudence, order, method, and elegance composes and arranges his discourses, and from this comes their effectiveness combined with sweetness and their sweetness combined with effectiveness. Pliny recounts examples of Plato, Ennius, Virgil, Varro, and Cicero in Book VII, chapter 30. Hence bees store honey in the comb and coat it with wax lest it flow away; and they construct their combs with such art that they seem like skillfully built houses and palaces. "They build," says Pliny, Book XI, chapter 10, "beginning from the vaulted ceiling of the hive, and carry the fabric all the way down to the floor, with double passageways around each arch, so that some may enter by one and others leave by the other. The combs are attached at the top, and also hang slightly from the sides, all together. They do not touch the floor of the hive, now oblique, now round, as the hive requires." And chapter 11: "All the cells are hexagonal, the work of six individual feet." The wise man similarly constructs and composes his discourses.
Hence Esther prays to God, chapter 14, verse 13, teaching us: "Grant a well-composed speech in my mouth in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to hatred of our enemy."
Finally, hear St. Ambrose, book On the Good of Death, chapter 5: "Sins," he says, "are dead things that cannot have the sweetness of life. But they are bathed in the ointments of the divine word, and certain wounds of transgressions are healed with the stronger food of words, as with bread, and with sweeter discourse, as with honey. That discourses are food, Solomon also teaches elsewhere, saying: 'Good words are a honeycomb.' In that garden, then, there are good discourses: one that restrains fault, another that corrects iniquity, another that puts insolence to death and, as it were, buries it, when someone who has been corrected renounces his errors." Then he lists several kinds of useful discourses, saying: "There is also a stronger discourse, which strengthens the heart of man with the more substantial nourishment of heavenly Scripture. There is also a persuasive discourse, sweet like honey, and yet piercing the conscience of the sinner in that very sweetness. There is also the discourse of a more fervent spirit, which inebriates like wine and gladdens the heart of man. There is also a milk-like discourse, pure and bright. These foods of sweet and useful discourses the Bridegroom offers to His friends to feast upon, saying: 'Eat, my friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my brethren.'" I have said more about honey and bees at chapter 6, verse 6, and Sirach 11:3.
25. There is a Way That Seems Right to a Man, and its End Leads to Death
In Hebrew: and its end is the ways of death. The Chaldean: and its end are the ways of death. The Septuagint: yet its final things look toward the depths of hell. The Syriac: its ways are a path of death. Solomon repeats and insists upon this maxim because the greater part of mankind, says Jansenius, suffers from self-love, and is excessively pleased with itself in its own judgments and perceptions. Therefore Solomon calls everyone away from this, saying that many are more than justly pleased with their own views and plans, and although they are in truth crooked and twisted, yet to those blinded by self-love they seem right, and so, blind and asleep, they tend toward death and hell. We have already heard this maxim at chapter 14, verse 12, where I explained it.
26. THE SOUL OF THE LABORER LABORS FOR ITSELF, BECAUSE HIS MOUTH HAS COMPELLED HIM. that is, the hunger and necessity of his mouth. In Hebrew: the laboring soul labors for itself, because his mouth bows down upon him — meaning: Man labors because his mouth and the hunger of his mouth presses upon his labor and upon him who labors, and lies upon him, and begs from him, bent and suppliant, the bread on which he may feed. This alludes to Genesis 3:19: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread." Indeed, Bede narrows this maxim and explains it of Adam, meaning: Adam, sinning, was condemned to labor so that by the labor of his hands he might procure his sustenance; thence his mouth compelled him to labor — namely, when he spoke with the serpent and with his mouth ate the forbidden fruit. Because man ate the forbidden fruit intemperately against God's commandment, he was justly punished with this penalty: that thenceforth he would not eat food unless he acquired it with great labor and sweat, says St. Augustine. But others generally take this broadly stated maxim broadly and apply it to all mankind.
The plain and genuine sense, therefore, is this: Man "labors for himself" — that is, for his own benefit, namely to sustain life — because "his mouth" compels him to labor, so that by laboring he may seek food with which to satisfy his mouth, gaping and barking with hunger. By "soul" he understands synecdochically the whole man; yet he says "soul" rather than "man" because in laboring the soul labors more than the body. For it is the soul that in labor moves, drives, and impels the body, and supplies the body with all the power and strength for laboring. Hence in labor the soul suffers and is fatigued more than the body, especially because it is the soul's task to prudently direct all labors so that they may be useful and fruitful. Moreover, it is the soul that feels the thousand anxieties, cares, and worries in laboring, as we see merchants, craftsmen, farmers, and other laborers stretched and tortured by the thousand cares that labor produces.
This maxim therefore signifies that man's lot and condition after sin is to labor, and by labor to procure his sustenance. "For man is born to labor, and the bird to flight," Job 5:7. For the provident wisdom of God condemned man on account of sin to continuous labor, both as a punishment for sin — so that labor might be his penalty and penance — and as a remedy for concupiscence: lest, dissipated by idleness, he should be driven by his lusts, God bound him to labor, so that intent upon it he could not think about his lusts, or, if he could, would not have the inclination to do so, being fatigued and broken by labors. It also signifies that God gave man a goad for labor — namely, want and hunger: for these compel him to labor so that by labor he may procure food for himself. If there were not this necessity and hunger, no one would wish to labor. Therefore the law of nature and of God has decreed that he who refuses to labor shall be deprived of food, according to the saying of St. Paul: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat," 2 Thessalonians 3:10. Thirty years ago, when I was living at Louvain in Belgium, the Duke of Aerschot at Heverlee near his castle was having vast hills around it piled up and moved. When people asked why he was spending such great wealth on a matter of little use, he replied: So that I may keep a hundred and more poor people occupied and fed by this work, lest they be idle and steal, but rather by labor procure their sustenance — by which arrangement I bestow alms both spiritual upon their souls and temporal upon their bodies. Finally, it signifies that labors must be moderated, so that we do not undertake excessive ones that overwhelm body and soul for the sake of heaping up riches, but moderate ones — namely, only as much as suffices for earning one's sustenance, according to the saying of the Apostle: "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. But having food and clothing, with these we shall be content," 1 Timothy 6:6.
Solomon echoes himself in Ecclesiastes saying: "All the labor of man is for his mouth," chapter 6. Hence R. Levi explains this maxim of Solomon thus: "When anyone continually toils to procure food, he toils only for himself, since he has been bent down and made lowly only by his mouth. This is therefore a certain instruction, that mortal man should abstain from a superfluous abundance of food and take only the portion necessary for himself."
Second, the Hebrew עמל amal, and the Latin laborare, sometimes mean the same as "to be afflicted," and labor is called trouble and affliction. Thus the sense will be: Man who is afflicted is afflicted for himself — that is, through his own fault: because his mouth drove him to such affliction, and was the cause of his miseries. For many are of intemperate tongue, and blurt out many things that injure, offend, and torment others; therefore they in turn are injured and tormented by those same people. Such are those who mock, harass, ridicule, slander, detract from, defraud, deceive, and despoil others, etc. The Chaldean favors this sense, rendering thus: the soul of the laborer will endure labor, because from his mouth will come humiliation or bowing down upon him. Third, Aben-Ezra renders the Hebrew אכה achaph, that is, he bent, he compelled, as 'he was the cause,' meaning: "That one is perpetually in labors is brought about by his mouth, because he has not learned the sweetness of speech, whereas conversely, for those cultivated by wisdom, it brings life: for those who close their mouth and ears to wisdom must labor with their hands to provide for themselves." Fourth, the Septuagint renders: a man in labors labors for himself, and does violence to his own destruction. So the Roman edition. In Greek ἐκβιάζεται αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀπώλειαν, which first, the Complutensian edition translates as he does violence to his own perdition; and the Author of the Greek Catena renders thus: a man engaged in honest labor persists for himself and forcefully repels his own destruction; and he explains it thus, meaning: He who seriously undertakes the path of virtue labors for himself, not for another; moreover he routs destruction and preserves himself through penance. Whence by antithesis the Septuagint adds: but the perverse man bears destruction in his mouth.
Cassian excellently explains this reading, Conference XXIV, last chapter: "The kingdom of heaven," he says, "according to the Lord's statement, suffers violence, and the violent seize it, Matthew 11. These indeed are praiseworthy violent ones, who do violence to their own destruction. For man, as it is written, in labors labors for himself, and does violence to his own destruction. Our destruction is the delight of the present life, and (to speak more expressly) the execution of our desires and wills; which if anyone withdraws from his soul and mortifies them, he indeed does a glorious and useful violence to his destruction, denying to it only those most pleasant wills, which the divine word frequently censures through the Prophet, saying: Because in the days of your fasting your own will is found," Isaiah chapter 58.
Second, others translate ἐκβιάζεται in the opposite sense: he does violence unto destruction. So the Roman edition. Whence Theodotion translates: he who labors immoderately in labors, attracts death upon himself, meaning: The greedy who torment themselves with excessive labors in order to heap up riches, often thereby wear themselves out and kill themselves. And the Syriac: a soul harassed by pains is exercised for itself, and from its own mouth destruction is brought upon it.
So also Bede understands this of the impious, especially heretics, of whom it is said in Jeremiah 9: "They have labored to act wickedly," namely to corrupt the Holy Scriptures and thereby establish their heresies.
Mystically, St. Gregory applies this maxim to teachers, who are compelled to practice what they teach, lest they be put to shame. For he says thus in Book II, Homily 18 on Ezekiel: "But when they consider the life of their good hearers, and think that it has profited from their exhortations, they are ashamed not to be such as they see others have become through God by their own agency; and they are strengthened in mind by as much as they were nearly falling into fault. For when their own words come back to the memory of teachers, they are ashamed not to observe what they say. Whence through Solomon also it is said: The soul of the laborer labors for himself, because his mouth compelled him. For our mouth compels us to labor, when through what we say we are restrained from vices; because it is exceedingly shameful to fall through negligence in the very place from which by preaching we have tried to raise others."
Again R. Levi explains it thus: "The soul of the laborer will labor for himself, because he undertakes labors when he has bent and lowered his mouth, that is, when he has restrained his mouth from the desire for eating and the pleasantness of drink, so that he is not called away from the study of wisdom and the labors to be endured for its sake by such desires.
Finally, Denis the Carthusian explains it morally thus: "The soul of the laborer labors for himself, that is, the soul of one exercising good works, whether bodily or spiritual, does them for his own profit or advantage, and for the necessities of body or soul. Therefore the Apostle admonishes: Labor as a good soldier of Christ. And again: Your labor will not be in vain in the Lord. And likewise: Each one will receive according to his own labor, because his mouth compelled him to labor, that is, the word by which he bound himself to do good at the font of baptism, in the reception of sacred Orders, or in monastic profession, or in the forum of confession, or in the act of preaching, because he is obligated to practice what he teaches others."
27. An Ungodly Man Digs Up Evil, and in his Lips There is a Burning Fire
In Hebrew it is: a man of Belial (that is, as Aquila renders it, a man of apostasy and rebellion, that is, an apostate and rebel; Symmachus, an intolerable man. On Belial I spoke at length in chapter 6, verse 12) digs up evil, and upon his lips is as a burning fire; the Septuagint: an imprudent man digs evils for himself, and in his lips stores up fire; St. Cyprian, treasures up fire (for in Greek it is θησαυρίζει); Theodotion, as a burning fire; the Syriac: an impious man devises evil, and from his mouth fire is kindled; the Chaldean: a slanderous man digs evil, and in his lips fire sends forth sparks; R. Solomon: the lips of a false and perjured witness are like a burning fire, consuming the neighbor. More generally and fully R. Levi explains thus: "A man of Belial contrives wicked things in his mind; and what passes from the mind to the lips is the evidence by which the evil hidden in the heart is recognized, which indeed like a consuming fire brings ruin; and this is as if he had said that graver damages are inflicted by his mouth than his mind had planned: for he utters his words so eloquently that the most bitter damages follow from them."
The word digs can be taken in two ways: First, he digs in his mind, that is, he investigates evil in his heart and searches out methods and means by which to harm his neighbor. For just as a digger by digging searches out minerals hidden beneath the earth, such as sulfur, coal, and metals: so the impious man searches out, turns over, and devises slanders, frauds, and arts of harming. Second, he digs with tongue and hand a pit into which others may fall, that is, the evil which he dug up and devised in his mind, he actually digs out and inflicts with his tongue by slandering, detracting, whispering, deceiving, etc. Again, he directly digs evil for others, but indirectly for himself, as the Septuagint translates, because the evil returns and falls back upon its author; according to that saying of Sirach 27:29: "He who digs a pit will fall into it; and he who sets a stone for his neighbor will stumble on it; and he who lays a snare for another will perish in it." Third, certain Rabbis in the Glossa Magna translate: a man of Belial by his malice uproots grass, that is, digs up roots: for earth clothed with grass is more difficult to dig up, because it is entangled with the stalks and roots of the grass, is bound together, and is as it were compressed so that it coalesces into one continuous clod; so the whisperer who strives to dig up, rend asunder, and dissolve friendships — like certain intertwined grass connected together and grown together over a long time — must indeed labor greatly, and must necessarily dig up many injuries of former times buried in oblivion. Fourth, some think there is an allusion to soldiers who undermine a fortress or city, and having brought in gunpowder and ignited it, blow it apart, hurl it aloft, and overturn it: for in the same manner the slanderer and whisperer digs evil in his mind, that is, drives tunnels and a deep trench through pretense and secrecy; but when he has deeply undermined the bonds of friends, he then sets fire with his tongue: namely he says those things by which he knows friends can be inflamed and provoked; and by this stratagem he disrupts the firmest peaces and friendships, and sometimes utterly overthrows homes and cities, and even kingdoms and empires.
Therefore Solomon fittingly says: "An ungodly man digs up evil."
AND IN HIS LIPS THERE IS A BURNING FIRE. — For, as St. James says, chapter 3, verse 6: "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, etc., which sets ablaze the wheel of our birth, being set on fire by hell." Where I have said much about this conflagration of the tongue. Accordingly St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 3 Against Julian the Apostate, compares a cursing tongue, such as Julian's was, to Etna, which first conceals and gathers its fires, and then vomits and hurls forth the collected and massed flames like hell itself, by which it consumes and devastates fields, towns, and even far-distant provinces.
28. A Perverse Man Stirs Up Strife, and a Talkative Man Separates Princes
In Hebrew: a man of turnings, or overturnings, or perversities (that is, crafty and perverse, who turns, inverts, and perverts everything), sends forth contention, and a whisperer divides a prince; Symmachus: and he who slanders, defames a leader; the Chaldean: and a whisperer tears away from himself his own friend; the Syriac: a vain man pursues his friends; the Septuagint: a perverse man sends evils, and kindles the torch of deceit among the wicked, and separates friends; Vatablus: a perverse man casts in occasions of contention, and an informer often stirs up dissensions among great men.
The meaning is clear, namely: A perverse man, who of course perverts everything and seizes upon things in the worst sense, and reports a matter and words differently from how they stand; likewise one who attributes a bad intention to another's affairs, good deeds, or certainly indifferent ones, and distorts them as if done with a crafty and hostile spirit in contempt of another: such a man stirs up quarrels and disputes; "and a talkative man," that is, as in the Hebrew, an informer, gossip-monger, and whisperer, sows discord, and separates not only private persons but also princes, and kindles among them the torch of deceit, as the Septuagint translates, and of war. The torches of deceit are suspicions, distrusts, ambitions, and envies, which whisperers stir up among princes with great loss and harm to their subjects, as do political schemers and heretics, who are therefore the bellows of sedition and the firebrands of hell, as St. James says, chapter 3, verse 6 — indeed, virtually incarnate demons.
29. An Unjust Man Entices his Friend, and Leads Him by a Way That is not Good
In Hebrew: a man of violence; the Chaldean: a man of plunder; Vatablus: a violent man seduces his friend or neighbor, and makes him walk in a way that is not good. For entices the Hebrew is יפתה iephatte, that is, he allures, entices, seduces; Aquila and Symmachus: he deceives; the Septuagint ἀποπειράται, that is, as the Complutensian edition has it, he tempts; the Roman edition: he flatters. This saying is clear, and first, it can be applied to robbers and bandits, who assault travelers and anyone else as if they were friends with smooth words, and gradually lead them into pathless forests or caves, where they despoil and sometimes kill them; second, to swindlers who by specious promises induce their neighbors into contracts, agreements, and obligations, etc., which they know will be advantageous to themselves but harmful to their neighbors; third, to procurers and fornicators, who bait simple boys and girls with gifts and seduce them to serve their own or others' lust; fourth, to heretics and those who sow wicked doctrines, who, as the Apostle says, Romans 16, "by smooth words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the innocent," and thus drag them into heresy, error, and destruction.
30. He who With Fixed Eyes Thinks Wicked Things, Biting his Lips Accomplishes Evil
So the Roman edition; but Jansenius and others read perficiet mala [will accomplish evils]. Reading perficit [accomplishes], Jansenius says the sense is, meaning: Not only does he accomplish evil before God who perpetrates deeds, but also he who with fixed eyes, that is, with intent mind, thinks wicked things; likewise he who from indignation bites his lips. But if one reads perficiet [will accomplish], then it signifies that some evil is to be feared from him who with intent mind thinks wicked things; likewise from him who bites his lips out of anger and desire for revenge. For this proverb indicates certain conditions and outward signs of a man who is plotting evil against another, so that by observing him from these signs, we may guard ourselves against him.
But the sense comes to the same thing, whether you read perficit or perficiet; for often the present tense is used for the future, especially where a habit or custom is signified: he accomplishes, therefore, means he will accomplish, that is, he is accustomed to accomplish.
For he who with fixed eyes, in Hebrew it is עצה otse, which the Septuagint translates as he who makes his eyes firm; others: he who has obstinate eyes; our Vulgate: astonished [attonitos]. For those are called attoniti [astonished, thunderstruck] who, as if stupefied, so often gaze at or think about some thing that they do not notice what is present around them, according to that saying of Job 15:12: "What does your heart lift you up to, and thinking great things as it were, you have astonished eyes?" For attonitus [astonished] is derived from the ancient verb attono: and attonare means to stupefy by thundering; hence attonitus is as if struck and stupefied by thunder. Whence Ovid, Epistle 4: Or those whom the half-divine Dryads and two-horned Fauns Struck senseless by their divine power. And Celsus, Book III, chapter 26: "We also rarely see the thunderstruck, whose body and mind alike are stupefied. It happens sometimes from a lightning strike, sometimes from disease: the Greeks call this ἀποπληξία [apoplexy]." Finally Virgil, Aeneid Book III: Astonished by such sights, and by the voice of the gods. Where Servius comments: "That is, by such appearances of the gods; whence follows: and by the voice of the gods. For he says he was astonished both by sights and by voice. Attonitus indeed means stupefied: for properly attonitus is said of one to whom the fall of a nearby thunderbolt and the crash of thunder cause stupor."
However, because someone with fixed eyes could be thinking and contemplating holy and heavenly things, our Vulgate therefore connects the fixed eyes with wicked thoughts. Whence the Chaldean translates: he who winks with his eyes and thinks perverse things, nodding with his lips accomplishes evil; and the Syriac: he signals with his eyes and thinks wicked things, and with his lips contrives and accomplishes evil. Aben-Ezra translates: he who closes his eyes to contrive wicked things: for he shuts his eyes lest his mind be distracted by following his eyes, so that he may freely meditate and contrive crimes. So also R. Levi, Pagninus, Vatablus, and Baynus: he who closes his eyes, he says, in order to think perversities; Marinus in his Lexicon: moving his eyes while thinking perverse things.
Therefore two signs of perversity and consummate malice are given here. The first is, if with fixed, firm, or closed eyes one thinks wicked things. For this is a sign that he is so intent upon his wicked thought that he allows his mind and will to be absorbed in it, and cannot think of anything else that is good — indeed, he cannot divert and distract his mind from it. Therefore such a person is like the devil, says the Author of the Greek Catena, who often considers what vice each person labors under, so that through it he may cast him down. The second sign is, if after wicked thought and fixed eyes, he bites his lips. In Hebrew קרץ corets, which our Vulgate translates as biting; Vatablus: moving; the Zurich Bible: contracting; R. Levi: opening; better Marinus and others in the Lexicon: cutting into or winking. For to cut into with the eyes is to wink with the eyes: but to cut into with the lips is to wink with the lips, or rather to bite them, which is the gesture of one plotting evil against another, as if he wished to cut into and tear him apart in the same way as he cuts into and bites his own lips. Whence Horace, Book I of the Odes: He impressed upon his lips a memorable mark with his tooth.
For from the imagination of accomplishing the evil he is thinking about, or from indignation, the teeth are moved to this kind of biting of the lips, as if eagerly desiring to harm the one against whom they bear ill will. But these signs especially apply to the angry: for they bite their lips, as if threatening others with a similar bite. Whence Aristophanes in the Wasps: "Eating his lips," he says, "from anger." And Homer, Iliad V: But they all pressed their lips with their teeth. So untamed young horses champ fiercely at the bit. So Italians by biting the thumb of the right hand threaten evil. So George Castriot, the terror and thunderbolt of the Turks — so much so that he was called by them Skanderbeg, that is, Alexander the Great — when he had bitten his lips, indeed had as it were split them apart by biting, would rush headlong into battle. And this gesture is consonant with nature; for almost all animals, and especially serpents, fight and kill by biting. Whence Lucan, Pharsalia IX: They have venom in their bite, and threaten death in their fang.
Finally, the Septuagint clearly expresses the whole sentence in one breath thus: He who makes his eyes firm thinks perverse things, and determines or decrees, and decides all evils with his lips — this man is a furnace of malice; for he who has all these things together, which are signs of enormous malice, like a furnace seething with fire and malice, constantly hurls forth volleys and conflagrations of curses, quarrels, fights, etc., nor can he be extinguished by any blandishments, promises, or threats, but by all these he is rather more kindled and inflamed. For, as St. Chrysostom says, Homily 46 on Matthew: "Just as a fire is more inflamed when water is thrown on it, so it usually happens in great anger: whatever anyone may say, it becomes fuel for this conflagration."
31. Old Age is a Crown of Dignity, Which Shall be Found in the Ways of Justice
In Hebrew: gray hair is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of justice. Which first, Jansenius explains thus, meaning: Through justice one arrives at extreme old age, since the impious generally die before their day, according to that saying of Psalm 55: "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days." So R. Solomon. Second, meaning: Old age is established in the way of justice, according to that saying of Wisdom chapter 4: "Gray hairs are wisdom, and an unspotted life is old age." Third, meaning: Granted that young people sometimes live freely and impurely, nevertheless when they come to old age, they often grow wise and repent. But our Vulgate translates best by supplying according to the Hebrew manner the pronoun which [quæ]. Whence also the Septuagint: old age is a crown of boasting (the Complutensian edition: of exultation; the Chaldean: of beauty), and it is found in the ways of justice; the Syriac: old age is a diadem of praise, and in the way of justice it is praised; Vatablus: old age, if you find it in the way of justice, is a most ornate crown.
For dignity in Hebrew is תפארת tipheret, that is, of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence. The meaning is clear, namely: Old age is for an old man like a beautiful and magnificent crown, provided however that he lives justly and blamelessly, and is adorned with the acts of justice, that is, of any and all virtues: and therefore such old age is venerable and praiseworthy to all. Moreover, the crown of old men and of old age is manifold.
The first is the crown of gray hair: for gray locks like a white crown adorn the head of old men. Whence Phocylides: "Venerate," he says, "those who have temples wreathed or crowned with gray hairs, yielding to the elderly in seating and in all duties." And Philo, Embassy to Gaius: "Age itself crowns old men with gray hair, as soldiers discharged from service and veterans. For what else is gray hair, if not a poplar or a flowery garland?" So Pliny, in his Panegyric of Trajan, calls Trajan's whitening hair not indeed crowned, but, what amounts to the same thing, adorned.
The second is the crown of age and antiquity. Whence Aben-Ezra explains thus, meaning: Old age is like a glorious diadem placed upon a man's head. For old men are crowned, as it were, with as many flowers as the years — 70, 80, 90 — they have lived. Whence Philo, cited by Antonius in the Melissa, Part I, Sermon 17: "The youthful life," he says, "is succeeded by old age, most excellent and most sacred, to which, as to a supreme helmsman, God has handed the helm, as to one fit to hold the helm of earthly affairs." Hear Charles Paschal, Book I, On Crowns, chapter 5: In Anacreon, he says, gray hairs crown the head, that is, honor it: indeed, in ancient times they used to properly adorn old men and gray-haired persons with crowns, as is evident from that saying of Euripides: "A gray head crowned with garlands." Just as the law, says Plutarch in the passage soon to be cited, imposes a diadem and crown, so nature imposes gray hair as a symbol of the highest dignity and honor.
The third is the crown of offspring and children. For the crown of old men is grandchildren, that is, children's children, according to that saying: "Your children like young olive plants around your table," Psalm 128:3. Likewise the crown of old men is the young: for they, like a crown, surround the wise old man, listen to him, honor him, and venerate him. This is what is said in Proverbs 17:6: "Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their fathers." So the faithful are the crown of Christ, and in turn Christ is the crown and glory of the whole Church.
The fourth is the crown of wisdom, namely of experience and prudence; for in old men the mind, reason, counsel, judgment, and prudence are strong. So St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration On the Plague of Hail, citing these words of Solomon, takes the crown to mean the excellence of wisdom, which confers upon the elderly a dignity for teaching and giving counsel. So also R. Levi, and St. Ambrose, Book I, Hexameron, chapter 8: "Old age itself," he says, "is sweeter in good morals, more useful in counsels, more ready for the constancy of undergoing death, firmer for repressing lusts; and the weakness of the body is the sobriety of the mind. Whence the Apostle: When I am weak, then I am powerful," 2 Corinthians 12.
The fifth is the crown of rank and station. For the elderly are customarily placed at the head of the commonwealth and govern it. Hence from senium [old age] comes senatus [senate], as if the council of old men, says Festus. Hear Plutarch, treatise On Whether an Old Man Should Engage in Public Affairs: "For youth," he says, "is suited to obeying, old age to commanding: and a state is most secure where old men hold counsel and young men hold weapons; and that passage of the Iliad is praised in the greatest degree: First, those grave with age and famous for their stout hearts, He bade be led to Nestor's ship to speak And give counsel. And therefore Lycurgus expressly named the magistracy of the best men attached to the kings of the Spartan state Gerontes, that is, old men, called by Apollo presbygenai, that is, those advanced in age. And the Roman senate to this very day bears its name from old age [senium]. And just as the law makes a crown and diadem, so nature has made gray hair the venerable sign of dignity and sovereignty. And γέρας, which means distinguished honor, and γεραίρειν, which means to venerate, are retained by the Greeks from old age and its excellence."
Wherefore at the end he adds: "Lycurgus accustomed young men to obey steadfastly any old man as if he were a lawgiver. Whence at Sparta the old men not only oversee the commonwealth, but also the individual deeds of individual young men, and not incidentally, but so that they are a terror to those who sin, and the good reverence and esteem them," because old men teach the young and sharpen their character. So everywhere on earth the elder sons, namely the firstborn, succeed their father the prince or king in the principality or kingdom. Hence senior means the same as lord: just as now the Spanish say señor, the Italians signore, the French seigneur; although Joachim Perionius, in his treatise On the Kinship of the French Language with Greek, prefers to derive it from κύριος.
Whence Sire and Sieur, or rather Cyre and Cyeur, and by a not very ancient manner of pronunciation Cyour, and finally by a certain change Seigneur: "For," he says, "we would be ridiculous if, calling God Seigneur, we professed to venerate Him as an old man." Nevertheless even Daniel venerated God as the Ancient of Days, and the Latins would be equally laughable, who certainly for many centuries past used senior for prince and lord. Moreover, Chilon used to say that honor should be given to old age by the young, so that they themselves when they have become old may be esteemed by others. This practice had a double usefulness. For just as the authority and reverence of old men restrained the wanton age from sinning, so old men took care not to commit anything by which they could be a laughingstock to the young on account of foolishness, or pernicious on account of baseness; but among all the young and all the old there was that reverence which exists between parents and children. So Laertius, Book I, chapter 4.
The sixth is the crown of a life that is, as it were, the completion of military service, namely that the old man has overcome all the hazards and labors of this life, and has arrived as a survivor, a victor as it were, at the final goal of life. Whence Elias of Crete in his commentary on Oration 19 of Nazianzen: "Just as," he says, "in contests, he who has received the crown is now safe: so also the old man glories in safety, as one who no longer fears change." And St. Ambrose, Book II, On Jacob, chapter 8: "Blessed indeed is the young man," he says, "who lives well; but more blessed is the old man who has lived well. For what the young man hopes for, the elder has attained; what the old man was, the young man wishes to be. Certainly the young man, with a longer course still remaining before him, is tossed about by the waves of a restless sea; but the old man is as if in port, in the haven of old age." And chapter 10: "Old age ought to be a harbor, not a shipwreck of one's former life."
The seventh and most excellent crown, with which Solomon here endows old men, is that of justice and virtue. For if Hercules, having conquered and subdued monsters — namely the Lion, Cacus, the Lernaean Hydra, Cerberus, and triple-bodied Geryon — placed upon himself a poplar crown, much more will the old man deserve the same, who like an athlete of justice has mastered the monsters of his desires — namely the Lion of anger, the Cacus of avarice, the Lerna of lust, the Cerberus of gluttony, the Geryon of pride. Whence St. Augustine, on Psalm 112: "Let your old age," he says, "be childlike, and let your childhood be wise, that is, let not your wisdom be accompanied by pride, nor your humility be without wisdom, that you may praise the Lord from this time and forevermore." This is what the Wise Man says, chapter 4, verse 8: "Venerable old age is not measured by length of time, nor by the number of years; but gray hair is the prudence of man, and an unspotted life is the age of old age." So St. John, Apocalypse 4:11, saw the twenty-four elders (who were the principal just men of both the New and Old Testaments) crowned, and offering their crowns to the Lamb, where I have said much about them.
So recently here Pope Gregory XV himself, when he was visiting Cardinal Bellarmine, who was nearly eighty years old and lying in his final illness, and heard him wishing many years, indeed all his years, upon the Pope, wisely replied: "I," he said, "desire to be filled and crowned not with your years, but with the virtues of your years." For, as St. Ambrose says, Book I, On Cain and Abel, chapter 3: "Old age is venerable, not gray with years, but with morals." And Book III, Epistle 24, to Anisius: "Truly," he says, "that old age is venerable which is white not with gray hair, but with merits. For that is a reverend hoariness which is the hoariness of the soul, shining forth in holy thoughts and works. For what is truly the age of old age, if not an unspotted life, which is prolonged not by days or months, but by ages, whose length has no end, whose longevity has no weakness? For the longer it lasts, the stronger it is; and the longer one has lived that life, the more vigorously one grows into the perfect man." Finally Synesius, treatise On the Praise of Baldness, calls a bald head "the dwelling-place of prudence, the temple of divinity."
Mystically, St. Jerome on chapter 16 of Ezekiel: "Old age is a crown of glory: Of those, namely," he says, "who have destroyed the things of children, and after the age of the mature man have come to old age and to the names of fathers, to whom John writes, Epistle I, chapter 2, verse 13, after children and young men, who can say: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; when I became a man, I destroyed the things of a child," 1 Corinthians 13.
32. The Patient Man is Better than the Valiant; and He who Rules his Spirit, than He who Takes Cities
In Hebrew: good is the long of nostrils [slow to anger] above the mighty, and he who rules over his spirit above him who takes a city; the Chaldean: better is he who is slow to anger of soul than the mighty, and he who rules himself rather than he who takes a province; the Septuagint: a patient man is better than the mighty, and he who restrains anger is better than he who takes a city. The Complutensian edition adds: and a man having prudence with a large field, or farmer, or rather farming (for this is what the Greek γεωργίου signifies). But since these words are not found in the Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, or Latin, they seem to have been copied from chapter 24, as the Roman editors note. St. Cyprian, Book III of the Testimonies, number 8, reads: "The patient man is better than the mighty; for he who restrains anger is better than he who takes a city," as if the second hemistich gives the reason for the first.
Here the fourfold problem of R. Ben Zoma in Pirke Avoth, that is, in the Sayings of the Fathers, chapter 4, is relevant: "Who is powerful? He who bravely resists temptation. For Scripture says: The patient man is better than the valiant; and he who rules his spirit, than he who takes cities. Who is wise? He who always desires to be taught by everyone. Who is rich? He who is content with his own things and does not covet what belongs to others. Who is honored and esteemed? He who honors others, observes them, and cultivates them with due reverence according to the rule fixed in Scripture: Whoever glorifies Me, I will glorify him; but those who despise Me shall be ignoble," 1 Kings 2:30. The Syriac: the patient man is better than a giant; and he who tramples down (subjugates) his soul, than he who holds a city.
The question is asked here in what sense this statement is true. For St. Thomas, II-II, Question 136, article 2, in the body, seems to teach the contrary. For he says that fortitude is a greater virtue than patience: "Because," he says, "the dangers of death, which are the concern of fortitude, draw one back from the good more than any adversities, which are the concern of patience."
I respond first that this passage is not about fortitude which is a virtue of the soul, but about fortitude which is the strength of the body; for the Hebrew גבור gibbor means robust, strong, powerful in physical strength, one who storms cities with his forces and might, as follows, meaning: Of all bodily endowments, fortitude has the greatest praise among men. For none are more celebrated than illustrious commanders in war who have conquered enemies and subjugated cities and provinces; and yet more excellent is he who conquers one of his own passions, namely anger, and moderates the impulse of his spirit by reason, than he who overcomes cities or provinces. More excellent, I say, not only because he is more praiseworthy, but also because he is in reality stronger than the other, according to the saying of the Poet: Stronger is he who conquers himself than he who conquers The mightiest cities, nor can virtue go higher. And again: It is a hard thing to have conquered others; but a greater victory Is to have composed the tumults of one's own spirit.
And the Philosopher: "You will be a king," he says, "if you rule yourself and your passions. You will be a king, if reason rules you, not passion."
I respond second: St. Thomas in the cited passage takes patience strictly, as it is the virtue that moderates sorrows arising from common adversities that occur daily; this is inferior to the virtue of fortitude. For patience taken generally, which strengthens the soul against the fears and pains of death and of evils that bring death — such as shone forth most eminently in the Martyrs — is an integral part of fortitude, and indeed the principal part, or it is the very virtue of fortitude inadequately conceived. For there are two parts of fortitude: one in undertaking difficult things, the other in enduring, which is patience; and the latter prevails over the former, because it is harder to sustain harsh things by enduring them than to inflict the same upon others by attacking; as St. Ambrose teaches, Book I of the Offices, chapter 41, and St. Chrysostom, Homily 85 on Matthew, where among other things he says: "In wars, the display of war is if a soldier has killed; but the most brilliant victory is when you have overcome by enduring the one who inflicts injuries, etc. God has granted you strength, not to conquer by clashing of hands, but by patience. So blessed Joseph, who bore injuries with great spirit, is everywhere proclaimed a victor. For he overcame both his brothers and that Egyptian woman who plotted against him by bearing their attacks with equanimity." So also St. Thomas, cited Question, article 4, who also cites St. Gregory and Cicero asserting the same. Therefore explain it thus: The patient man is better than the valiant, that is, the patient man who bravely endures adversity is stronger than the valiant man who bravely undertakes difficult things, for example, one who besieges and storms cities. So Job, overcoming by his patience all the demons, the assaults of the Ishmaelites, his wife, his friends, diseases, poverty, and afflictions, was stronger than Samson who conquered the Philistines. So Joseph, bravely enduring the hatred of his brothers, exile, false accusation, and prison, was stronger than he himself was when he subjugated Pharaoh by his wisdom and vigor of mind, and ruled over all of Egypt. So David, by his meekness conquering the envy of Saul, was stronger than he himself was when he entered the duel with Goliath and slew him, as is the common judgment of the wise and those who judge rightly.
I respond third: For patient in Hebrew is ארך erech appaim, that is, long of nostrils, that is, slow to anger, calm, master of his anger; and he is better, that is, more excellent, more illustrious, stronger, more powerful, more praiseworthy, than the valiant man who storms cities. The reason is that anger in man is the most vehement passion which confuses and disturbs everything. To tame it therefore through calmness of mind, meekness, and patience is a mark of extraordinary virtue and fortitude. Therefore explaining further he adds: "And he who rules his spirit," that is, his high temper; whence the Septuagint translates: and he who rules over his anger is better (that is, more powerful and stronger) than the conqueror of cities. For of all passions anger is the most vehement and most difficult to overcome, by which the strongest men in body are frequently overcome more quickly than by anything else. Alexander the Great conquered very many cities, nearly all of Asia and Africa; and yet he could not stifle the beast of anger and fury within himself; but overcome by wrath, he murdered his dearest friends — Parmenio, Philotas, Clitus, and Callisthenes — not to mention other conquerors of cities who were unable to conquer their own passions.
Moreover, for spirit in Hebrew it is רוח ruach, that is, spirit, meaning: He who rules over his spirit, that is, over his passions and emotions — such as fear, sadness, timidity, rashness, pride, and especially anger — this man is better, that is greater, more powerful, and more praiseworthy, says R. Levi, than a prince who storms cities with arms. For how will he command another by reason, who cannot exercise command over his own soul? It signifies therefore that he who rules over anger and passions is stronger and exercises greater mastery, and has a greater dominion and authority, than a king who subjugates cities and kingdoms to himself by arms: because he rules over all the soul's passions, thoughts, senses, powers, and faculties, and over the entire kingdom of vices and sins — over which indeed the dominion is ample, and the rule is greater and more excellent than any kingdom. Accordingly Horace, Book II, Ode 2, sings thus: More widely will you rule by taming your greedy Spirit, than if you joined Libya to distant Gades, and both Carthaginians Served one master.
And Boethius, Book III of the Consolation, meter 5: He who would wish to be powerful, Let him tame his fierce passions. And Claudian in the Panegyric of Theodosius: Though you rule far and wide over the remotest Indians, Though the Mede, the soft Arab, and the Seres adore you, If you are afraid, if you desire wicked things, if you are led by anger, You will bear the yoke of servitude, you will endure unjust Laws within; then you will hold all things by right, When you can be king of yourself.
So St. Gregory explains this passage, Part III of the Pastoral Rule, Admonition 10: "Let the impatient hear," he says, "what is written: The patient man is better than the valiant, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes cities. For the victory over cities is lesser, because the things subdued are external; but that which is conquered by patience is far greater, because the mind is conquered by itself, and subjects itself to itself, when patience compels it to be restrained within itself. Let the impatient hear what the Truth says to His chosen ones: In your patience you shall possess your souls, Luke 21. For we have been wonderfully made so that reason possesses the soul, and the soul possesses the body. But the soul's right is driven from the body's possession, if the soul is not first possessed by reason."
And St. Ambrose, on those words of Psalm 119: My soul is always in my hands, says thus: "Whoever has subdued his own body, and would not allow his soul to be disturbed by anger and other passions, maintaining right governance — but in this the glory is outstanding and splendid, that amid the storms of temptations rushing upon him he perseveres immovable. For in that whereby he is believed to be harassed and broken by adversities, he is rather strengthened, and in that whereby he is thought to be blunted, he is rather sharpened. For no one is unaware that patience gets its name from passions and endurance; and therefore it is agreed that no one can be proclaimed patient except he who has endured without indignation everything that has been inflicted upon him. And therefore not without reason is he thus praised by Solomon: Better is the patient man than the strong, and he who restrains his anger than he who takes a city."
For again, he acts in the manner of nature. Whence that he does certain things that belong to virtue without premeditation, when necessity is pressing on account of sudden dangers, this especially manifests that fortitude is a habitual disposition confirmed in the soul.
Moreover, Abbot Chaeremon in Cassian, Conference 12, chapter 6, describes this passage and this dominion of the patient and meek man — who rules not only anger, but also lust and all other vices — in the following detailed manner: "By which it is most clearly shown that patience is the most efficacious medicine of the heart, according to that saying of Solomon: A meek man is a physician of the heart; so that he may root out the kindling-wood not only of anger, sadness, sloth, vainglory, and pride, but also of lust and equally of all vices. For in long-suffering (as Solomon says) is the king's prosperity. For he who is always mild and tranquil, and is neither inflamed by the disturbance of anger, nor consumed by the anguish of sloth and sadness, nor puffed up by the vanity of vainglory, nor lifted up by the swelling of pride — for great peace have those who love the name of the Lord, and there is no stumbling block for them, Psalm 119. And therefore not without reason it is declared: Better is the patient man than the mighty, and he who restrains his anger than he who takes a city."
Again Abbot Piamun, Conference 18, chapter 13, teaches that this ample dominion of patience is acquired through humility, which, placing itself beneath all, endures all things calmly: "For patience," he says, "would not be praiseworthy nor admirable, if it maintained its resolve of tranquillity without being assailed by any injuries and the darts of enemies; but its glory and excellence consist in this, that amid the storms of temptations rushing upon it, it perseveres immovable."
For that enduring hardships is a greater work of fortitude than doing brave deeds, St. Thomas teaches by three a priori reasons, II-II, Question 123, article 6, reply to objection 1: "To the first objection," he says, "it must be said that enduring is harder than attacking, for a triple reason: First, because the one who endures seems to be resisting someone stronger who is attacking him; but the one who attacks invades in the manner of the stronger. It is harder, however, to fight with a stronger opponent than with a weaker one. Second, because the one who endures already feels the dangers; but the one who attacks has them as future. It is harder, however, not to be moved by present things than by future things. Third, because enduring implies a lengthy duration of time; but one can attack from a sudden impulse. It is harder, however, to remain immovable for a long time than to be moved by a sudden impulse toward some difficult thing. Whence the Philosopher says in Ethics III that some are bold before dangers but shrink back in the dangers themselves: but the brave are the contrary." And in the same place, chapter 9, he says that one is called especially brave in enduring sorrowful things. Again St. Thomas, II-II, Question 123, article 9: "Fortitude," he says, "especially concerns sudden situations, because according to the Philosopher, Ethics Book III, chapter 8, in sudden dangers the habit of fortitude is especially manifested. A habit acts in the manner of nature. Whence that one does, without premeditation, things that belong to virtue, when necessity presses on account of sudden dangers — this especially manifests that fortitude is a habitual disposition confirmed in the soul."
Moreover, just as cities, though fortified, are easily stormed by strategy and speed (by which two means Julius Caesar accordingly accomplished all his achievements so successfully), namely if they are seized before they can equip themselves with soldiers, strategy, provisions, and other things necessary for sustaining a siege: so likewise anger is most effectively conquered by strategy and speed, namely if, as soon as it arises, or even before it arises, the mind is preoccupied with prudent consideration of things that can avert or soften and put anger to sleep. So Plutarch in his Moralia: "Just as," he says, "those who prepare to storm a city invade the citizens before they sense the enemy's approach, catching them secure and unsuspecting, so as not to give them all the opportunity to take up arms: in the same manner anger must be preempted, and conquered before it has taken up arms." Hence St. Hilary, chapter 4 on St. Matthew, says that Christ through meekness dwells in our minds; and Christ is the King of kings, who foresees and preempts all movements of anger, and causes the mind, persisting in meekness, to resist, unshaken, all the gusts of passion, and to enjoy perpetual peace of soul, serenity, loftiness, and joy. And an anonymous author in the Greek Catena explains this maxim of Solomon thus: "Nothing is equally strong as patience. For the patient man can suffer nothing grievous, nothing troublesome from anyone; for he is, according to the soul, impassible. There are those who think that anger is needed in wars; but if anywhere, here especially the suppression of passions is needed: since this matter is accomplished much more easily through prudence and wisdom than by hands or bodily strength. Without patience, however, there is no progress."
Xenophon compared and even preferred a patient Spartan woman to Hercules. For thus he writes from Cicero's Oration for Marcellus, Book I of the Divine Institutes, chapter 9: "For there is no force so great (as the Orator says) that it cannot be weakened and broken by sword and strength: but to conquer the spirit, to restrain anger — this belongs to the bravest; which that man [Caesar] neither ever did nor could do. The man who does this, I not only compare with the greatest men, but I judge most similar to God. I wish he had added about lust, luxury, greed, and insolence, so as to complete the virtue of him whom he judged similar to God. For he is not to be judged stronger who overcomes a lion than he who overcomes the violent wild beast of anger enclosed within himself; or he who brings down the most rapacious birds than he who restrains the most greedy desires; or he who defeats a warrior Amazon than he who conquers lust, the destroyer of modesty and reputation; or he who cleans dung from a stable than he who drives vices from his own heart: for these are more pernicious, because they are domestic and personal evils, than those which could be avoided and guarded against. From which it follows that he alone should be judged a brave man who is temperate, moderate, and just."
Moreover, patience conquers demons, inasmuch as they are proud and impatient. For patience is the daughter of humility; for through this the patient man humbly submits himself to the persecutor, the slanderer, infirmity, and other adversities. So we read in Cassian, Conference 18, chapter 15, of a young man who had falsely defamed Abbot Paphnutius of theft, and was possessed by a demon, and could not be freed from it, even though he employed various anchorites who had the power and grace to expel demons; but he was freed by Paphnutius alone, who had patiently borne this calumny. Clearly Christ reserved this glory for the patient Paphnutius, so that the possessed youth would be cleansed only by the prayers of the one he had plotted against; and so that he who had enviously believed he could detract something from another's praise would receive pardon for his crime and an end to his present torment by proclaiming that man's name. So that Isaac freed by his patience one possessed by a demon, and stirred all the people to veneration of himself, as narrates St. Gregory, Book III of the Dialogues, chapter 14. So a humble monk, struck with a slap by a demoniac, when according to the precept of Christ he offered him the other cheek, expelled the demon from him, which cried out saying: "O the violence of Christ's commandments drives me out!" Whence the Fathers on hearing this said: "It is the custom of diabolical pride to collapse before the humility of God's commandments." So it is reported in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Book on Humility, number 5. In the same place, paragraph 4, a similar example is reported, whose conclusion is this: "Humility dissolves all the power of the enemy, as I have heard them saying: When we disturb monks, one of them turns around and, doing penance, destroys all our power," by which we strive to sow quarrels and disputes among them. So a girl who falsely accused St. Marina of having violated her (for Marina had put on men's clothing so that, living among men and monks, she would appear to be a man and a monk), was seized and long tormented by a demon, and was not freed from the demon until after Marina had died, when her sex and innocence were evident to all by sight, and the girl came to her funeral and begged pardon for the calumny. So the Life of St. Marina relates.
33. Lots Are Cast Into the Lap, but They Are Governed by the Lord
"Lots" here means pebbles by which the lot is cast, or slips of paper on which various lots are inscribed, or similar tokens and marks of lots. For these were formerly cast into the lap or an urn, and by soldiers into a helmet, from which each one then drew out a pebble or slip, etc., by lot, and whatever it contained fell to the one who drew it as his lot. So judges gave the lots of their verdicts by means of pebbles: for when they condemned the accused, they cast a black pebble into the urn; but when they acquitted, a white pebble. Now, First, Aben-Ezra and R. Levi connect this maxim with the preceding one: "The patient man is better than the valiant." Aben-Ezra does so in this way, meaning: When lots are cast into the lap, by what reckoning they will fall pertains to the divine judgment, and by the same reckoning one has from God the ability to temper the impulses of the soul. Briefly, meaning: Just as it belongs to God to govern lots, so it belongs to the same God to govern the impulses of anger; for these burst forth now here, now there without reason, as if by lot and chance, and must be tamed not by the forces of nature, but by the grace of God. R. Levi however holds that this maxim confirms the preceding one, in which he said: "The patient man is better than the valiant," etc., meaning: The storming of cities, which is the work of the valiant man, is often a matter of lot and fortune. For some are fortunate in wars and conquer everything; others are unfortunate, who conquer nothing but are rather conquered themselves. But that these are fortunate and those unfortunate, these are lots dispensed to each by God: but that one is patient and rules his spirit is not a matter of lot, which is uncertain, variable, and unstable, but of virtue which comes from a definite choice, and is therefore constant and stable. Therefore better is the condition of the patient man than of the valiant; for the former's condition depends on virtue, the latter's on lot.
Second, the Complutensian Septuagint translates: all things come into the laps of the just; and from the Lord all things are just, meaning: By the just judgment of God it happens that all things prosper for the just, and come as it were spontaneously into their lap, and fall of their own accord into their hands. For the just merit this by their justice; and it belongs to the Lord, who is the most just judge, to reward the just with the just reward of prosperity. For temporal prosperity was promised to the just in the Old Testament, spiritual prosperity in the New. So the Author of the Greek Catena. But the Roman Septuagint has unjust instead of just: To the unjust, they say, all things come into their laps; but from the Lord all things are just. And the Syriac: into the lap of the impious falls the lot, and from God goes forth his judgment; and the Arabic: to the laps of oppressors come all things, and from God all things are just, meaning: For the unjust, all things often fall out and happen prosperously according to their heart's desire, but for the just, adversely; wherefore the simple and common folk are sometimes troubled and murmur, accusing the providence of God because He makes the unjust prosperous and presses the just with adversities. But let them know that from the most just God nothing proceeds except what is fair and just. God therefore makes the unjust prosper so that, by rewarding with temporal prosperity the few good things they have done, He may afterwards punish their unjust deeds and crimes with the curse and torment of eternal hell. But He afflicts the just so that, by chastising with temporal adversity the evil things they have committed, He may afterwards reward their just deeds and merits with blessing and eternal glory in heaven, according to that saying of Luke 6: "A good measure they shall give into your lap."
Alternatively you may also explain it thus, meaning: For the unjust, all their crimes return into their own lap, when they are punished by God on account of them; for then the crimes, that is, the punishments of crimes, return upon the guilty head, as justice demands, whose arbiter is God: for from the Lord all things are just.
But because the Greek manuscripts thus vary and contradict one another, it is likely that both 'just' and 'unjust' crept into the Septuagint version, as the Roman editors note; for neither is in the Hebrew, Chaldean, or Latin; and when both are removed, the Septuagint plainly agrees with the Hebrew and Latin.
Third, therefore, and genuinely, our Vulgate translates: "Lots are cast into the lap, but they are governed by the Lord;" the Hebrew: from the Lord is all judgment thereof, meaning: Lots seem to be cast, drawn out, and to fall by chance and at random; yet God by His hidden equity disposes and governs them, and assigns to each his own. For temperare [to temper, govern], derived from tempus [time], means first to have regard for time, to moderate, to adapt to time, to administer a matter in its proper order and measure. Second, temperare means to rule. So Cicero, Academica IV, says that Lucullus governed [temperasse], that is, ruled, the cities of Asia with the greatest equity. And Horace, Book I of the Odes, ode 12, of Jupiter: And governs the world With its varied seasons. So God governs [temperat], that is, rules lots. Third, God governs [temperat] lots when He causes them not to be too fortunate or too unfortunate; but He mixes and tempers the fortunate with the unfortunate, just as wine is diluted and tempered with water.
This maxim teaches that nothing in human affairs happens without the will and dispensation of God, so that not even lots — which are customarily attributed by men to blind fortune, and are thought to fall without reason — happen otherwise than according to divine governance. Whence it is said in Psalm 31: "In Your hands are my lots."
Moreover, it appears that formerly the custom was for lots to be collected in someone's lap, from which each person's lot was then drawn out, just as among us they are collected in a jar or any vessel. Or certainly sinus [lap] here means an urn, or a hollow curved vessel into which the lots were cast. For this is what the Hebrew חיק cheq signifies. Whence the Chaldean translates: into the lap of counsel falls the lot; and from God goes forth its judgment. The sense therefore is, meaning: All things, even those that seem fortuitous, are governed by God; for all things are subject to God's care and providence. Therefore it is fitting for each person to depend upon it, so that if in the drawing of lots a rich portion or otherwise has fallen to us, we should attribute this not to chance or fortune, as the crowd does, but to God. For the common people attribute most things to fortune; whence the ancients made her a goddess, who would assign fortunate or unfortunate chance events to each person. Accordingly, so that each might obtain fortunate outcomes from fortune, they would weary her with many prayers, vows, and sacrifices, as I said on Isaiah 65:11.
Solomon therefore refutes this, and teaches that fortune is nothing, and that nothing happens by chance, but that all things happen by God's provident judgment and counsel. For granted that with respect to secondary causes, which are contingent, free, and uncertain, many things happen by chance and fortune; yet with respect to the first cause, namely divine providence, nothing is fortuitous, because all things, even those that seem fortuitous, have been foreseen and decreed, or permitted, by providence, and directed to a right end. Whence St. Augustine, Question 91 on Genesis: "Fortune," he says, "is to be understood as referring to those things which seem to happen by chance, not because there is some divine power in it, since nevertheless these very things which seem fortuitous are given by hidden causes from God." The same author, Retractations I, censures the very bad custom of men, as he himself says, who instead of saying 'God willed this,' say 'Fortune willed this.' For, as the same author says on Psalm 31: "If men are governed by chance, nothing is accomplished by any providence," meaning: Providence eliminates fortune and chance. If therefore you assert fortune, you eliminate providence. The same author, City of God Book V, chapter 9: "We say that those causes which are called fortuitous — from which the very name of fortune is derived — are not nonexistent, but hidden, and we attribute them to the will either of the true God or of any spirits whatsoever." God therefore is the governor of lots, the arbiter of chances, the charioteer of fortune, indeed the one who makes fortune fortunate. For fortune, the goddess of the pagans, has often been found to have had adverse fortune herself, as St. Augustine says, City of God Book V, chapter 3. This is what Boethius says: "In the kingdom of Providence nothing is permitted to chance, nothing to rashness."
Furthermore, Solomon here signifies that lots, more than other natural things that are certain and definite, are subject to the special care of God, and that God governs and disposes lots by a special providence, though within the limits of ordinary providence. The reason is that the first cause must supply the deficiency of the secondary causes. Since, therefore, the secondary causes cannot with certainty direct contingent and fortuitous events, it is necessary that God supply this deficiency and direct the fortuitous with certainty, lest anything happen rashly in the world and there result a great confusion and disturbance of affairs. So kings and prelates watch with special care over slippery, doubtful, and dangerous matters, lest government or discipline be relaxed; in like manner God's providence watches most vigilantly over fortuitous things, and in these it especially shines and gleams. For who rules so many and such great doubtful events of men and all things, and uncertain lots, in so fixed and established an order, unless the supremely provident mind and ever-watchful eye of the supreme God? Fortuitous successes and the outcomes of lots, therefore, are to be attributed especially to God and His providence.
This is especially evident in free contingencies. For God by His special grace goes before the free and holy acts of the just, and directs them toward justice, perfection, and from there to the rewards of heavenly glory; but the free yet depraved acts of the impious He directs by special care, lest they go too far astray and spread into harm for many, but are constrained by the limits defined by God; He then directs them either to repentance, or to just punishment, whether in this life or in hell. Whence St. Augustine, City of God Book V, chapter 9: "In His (God's) will is supreme power," he says, "who assists the good wills of created spirits, judges the bad, and orders all." So God has special care, as Scripture attests, for the poor, wards, widows, orphans, children, the foolish, the blind, and the afflicted, because since they cannot govern themselves, and are often destitute of the help and counsel of men, it is necessary that God take their care upon Himself, according to that saying: "The poor man is left to You; You will be a helper to the orphan."
Therefore Solomon here signifies that in fortuitous matters one must have recourse to God, and must constantly implore His help, so that He may Himself govern and direct them to His glory and our good. For there are many matters that can be settled only by lot, such as divisions of inheritances, prizes, offices, and benefices, when equally worthy persons seek them. So St. Augustine, Epistle 180, says that a priest should be chosen by lot who will remain in the city during a time of plague or persecution, and administer sacred rites and Sacraments to the faithful. The same author, Confessions Book VIII, chapter 12, opening a book by lot at the prompting of God, when the first thing he came upon was that saying of the Apostle: "Not in carousing and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurity, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ," he took this as the rule of his life. Finally, God has a supremely special and most singular providence over lots that are commanded or consulted by Him. For from time to time God reveals His will through lots, and then directs them specifically, so that they fall upon the one whom God wishes and chooses. So by lot He chose and designated Matthias as Apostle, Acts 1:26. So in Joshua 7, by a lot commanded by God, he detected the theft of Achan. Likewise he distributed the land of Canaan to the twelve tribes by lot. So Saul was chosen as king by divine lot, 1 Kings 10:20. Likewise by lot he detected the violated fast by his son Jonathan, 1 Kings 14.
Mystically, Bede says: "Just as lots are cast openly into the lap, but are held enclosed in the lap; and it belongs to the divine judgment whose lot, when drawn out, shall hold the palm: so the deeds of men indeed lie hidden in the present life; but whose merit they are will become clear in the future, when the end and manifest judgment of each individual is revealed, as if from the lap of the divine examination." So also Hugh and Denis, meaning: Just as lots, as long as they are in the lap or urn, are uncertain and doubtful until they are drawn out and complete the selection; so also every person's lot and election to eternal happiness is obscure, ambiguous, and uncertain in this life, until death draws out the lots and reveals the elections of the predestined. I have said more about lots at Jonah 1:7 and Acts 1:26. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm 31:16: "In Your hands are my lots," meaning: The chances, events, and conditions of my affairs — such as riches and poverty, servitude and sovereignty, peace and war — says Theodotion, are governed not by fortune, but by the certain providence and governance of God. So the Apostle says that God has called and "made us worthy for the share of the lot of the saints," Colossians 1:12. Because the election to this order of grace, to which God foresaw that St. Peter would come but Judas would not, does not come from the merit of St. Peter, but is a lot, that is, for Peter it is fortuitous and gratuitous; but for God it is a determined and destined counsel.
"I see no merit," says St. Augustine, "by which from the universal impiety of the human race You chose me above all for salvation: I came to the tunic of the Lord by lot." The same author on Psalm 31:16, In Your hands are my lots: "A lot," he says, "is not something evil, but is a thing that in human doubt indicates the divine will." And shortly after: "What then does it mean: In Your hands are my lots? He said lots, as far as I can judge, to mean the grace by which we have been saved. Why does he call the grace of God by the name of lot? Because in a lot there is no choice, but the will of God. For where it is said, this man does, that man does not, merits are considered: and where merits are considered, there is choice, not lot. But when God found no merits of ours, He saved us by the lot of His will, because He willed it, not because we were worthy. This is the lot. Rightly was a lot cast upon that tunic of the Lord, woven from above, which signified the unity of charity, since it could not be divided by the persecutors; those to whom it came were meant to signify those who are seen to arrive at the lot of the saints. By grace you have been saved through faith, says the Apostle, and this is not from you, Ephesians 2: see the lot; and this is not from you, but is the gift of God."