Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He compares and prefers wisdom to folly. Then, from verse 8 to the end of the chapter, he assigns various lessons of wisdom, especially that no one should lay snares for another, or speak ill of the king or the powerful.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiastes 10:1-20
1. Dying flies spoil the sweetness of ointment. More precious are wisdom and glory than a little and brief folly. 2. The heart of the wise man is at his right hand, and the heart of the fool at his left. 3. Even when a fool walks along the road, since he himself is senseless, he considers everyone a fool. 4. If the spirit of one having power rises against you, do not leave your place: for yielding will make great offenses cease. 5. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as if proceeding by error from the face of the prince: 6. A fool set in high dignity, and the rich sitting below. 7. I have seen servants on horses, and princes walking on the ground like servants. 8. He who digs a pit will fall into it: and he who breaks through a hedge, a serpent will bite him. 9. He who moves stones will be hurt by them: and he who splits wood will be endangered by it. 10. If the iron is blunt, and this not as before, but has become dull, it must be sharpened with much labor, and after industry wisdom will follow. 11. If the serpent bites in silence, the secret slanderer is no better. 12. The words of the mouth of the wise are grace: and the lips of the fool will swallow him up: 13. The beginning of his words is folly, and the end of his mouth is the worst error. 14. The fool multiplies words. Man does not know what was before him: and what shall be after him, who can tell him? 15. The labor of fools will afflict those who do not know how to go to the city. 16. Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning. 17. Blessed is the land whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in their time, for refreshment and not for luxury. 18. Through laziness the rafters sink, and through the weakness of hands the house leaks. 19. For laughter they make bread, and wine that the living may feast: and money answers all things. 20. In your thought do not speak ill of the king, and in the secret of your chamber do not curse the rich: for the birds of the sky will carry your voice, and he who has wings will report the matter.
Verse 1: DYING FLIES (about to die; the Complutensians: dead; the Scholiast: the death of flies) SPOIL THE SWEETNESS OF OINTMENT. — The Hebrew: "Flies of death cause to stink, and to flow forth or bubble the oil of the perfumer, or apothecary, or pharmacist." For flies have the taste of all flavors, says Aristotle, book VIII of the History of Animals, ch. 11, which has not been granted to other animals. Again, for flies — indeed for all insects — oil is lethal and deadly, as Pliny testifies, book XI, ch. 19; Galen, book II On Simple Remedies, ch. 20, and others. Now,
First, Cajetan explains it thus, as if to say: Just as a fly defiles ointment, so a fool — namely a slanderer and calumniator — defiles the name and reputation of a wise man. For just as impure flies sit upon impure corpses, so a slanderer occupies himself with nothing but others' faults, to spread abroad what is true and fabricate what is false. Again, certain flies are venomous; so too the tongue of a slanderer is venomous. Finally, the shamelessness and impudence of a fly is well known, as is that of a slanderer: hence it was called cynomyia, that is, the dog-fly, Exodus 8:24. And Diogenes was called a Cynic, that is, canine, because like a dog and a dog-fly he barked at and bit everyone with his witticisms, and sprinkled them with the mark of infamy. But there is no mention of a slanderer here. Add that "dying" does not properly suit a slanderer, who lives and thrives in his curses. In a similar way, conversely, by "flies" one could understand parasites and flatterers, who corrupt the minds of princes with flattery. For these are similar to flies, because they hunt after others' tables, just as flies do. Hence that Parasite in Athenaeus, book VI, says:
"Because I love to dine uninvited, I am a fly."
In the same place, Hegesander narrates that when Alexander said he was being bitten by flies (thus he called parasites) and was trying to drive them away, Cinesias, one of that order, who happened to be present, said: "Indeed other flies, more thirsty, will press upon you more, once they have tasted your blood."
Second, R. Haccados and John Ferus take "flies" as spies and traitors. For a fly curiously invades what belongs to others, and goes about and surveys everything, so that these things refer to war and the besieged city discussed in the preceding chapter, verse 13, as if to say: Just as flies ruin the most precious ointment, so traitors who curiously explore everything, and treacherous counselors, destroy cities and republics. Hence Plautus in the Merchant thus portrays the meddlesome man:
"My father is a fly; nothing can be kept secret from him, / Neither sacred nor profane, but he is right there immediately."
But all these interpretations are remote, foreign, and far-fetched.
Third, therefore, and genuinely, as if to say: Just as a fly, immersing itself in oil, kills itself and defiles the oil: so one act of folly of one sin and sinner defiles and destroys both himself and the sweetness of grace and reputation; for the oil, that is, the fragrant ointment, represents this. For this maxim pertains to the end of the preceding chapter, namely to "he who sins in one thing will lose many good things" (so St. Jerome and Olympiodorus), where I said that this applies properly to princes and magistrates, and the like, who govern cities and free them from siege; for one error of theirs not rarely brings not only to themselves, but also to the city, destruction or grave damage; yet generally it extends to anyone at all who through one small imprudence or fault brings grave harm to themselves and their reputation, and even to others, according to the saying: "A small error at the beginning is great at the end."
Note "dying" — for flies, attracted by the fragrance and sweetness of the ointment, fly to it in competition, whence they are plunged in it as if in birdlime, suffocated, says Thaumaturgus, and they die. So Galen, book II Simple Medicines, ch. 20: "Bees, flies, wasps, and ants, he says, moistened with oil, perish." Hence natural scientists teach that flies have a keen sense of smell and memory, because they fly to sweet, pleasant, and rich things, and although driven away many times, they always fly back to the same place.
For "spoil" the Hebrew has "cause to stink"; the Septuagint: "putrefy the composition of oil of sweetness"; the Syriac and Arabic: "corrupt"; St. Jerome: "destroy"; Thaumaturgus: "render unseemly"; others: "cause to become stale"; Campensis: "corrupt and cover with bubbles as with scabs." By "stench" understand the filthiness, disgust, and horror that dying flies generate in the ointment for one who looks at, smells, and tastes it; for properly speaking flies do not stink, as we experience in reality. Thus in Exodus 5:21, the Hebrews say to Moses and Aaron: "You have made our name stink before Pharaoh," that is, you have made us hateful, despised, and loathsome to Pharaoh. Nevertheless the filthiness of the flies blunts the fragrance and flavor of the ointment, so that on account of it the ointment is less fragrant and flavorful than before. For in a similar way, says Vatablus, a small piece of foolishness makes a man stink, that is, makes him who was well spoken of become ill spoken of — that is, as Campensis puts it, it takes away much of his esteem.
Mystically, first, the fly signifies wicked, crafty, and malicious thoughts suggested by the devil or the flesh and the world, which like flies buzz around the mind of the wise man and defile it. So St. Jerome: "Because, he says, wisdom is often mixed with cunning, and prudence contains malice, he commands us to seek simple wisdom, and that it be mixed with the innocence of doves — that we be wise for good, and simple for evil. For it befits the just man to have a degree of simplicity, and through excessive patience, while he reserves vengeance for God, to seem foolish, rather than immediately avenging himself and exercising malice under the cloak of prudence."
Second, flies spoiling the ointment signify that the society and evil examples of the wicked contaminate even the good. It signifies, says St. Jerome, "that through one fool many good things are overturned, because thus an evil man mixed with good men contaminates very many, just as flies, if they die in the ointment, destroy its scent and flavor." And the Scholiast in the Greek Chain commentary: "For flies, he says, suffocated in the ointment, render it useless: thus
DYING FLIES (about to die; the Complutensian, dead; the Scholiast, the death of flies) SPOIL THE SWEETNESS OF OINTMENT. — The Hebrew reads, flies of death cause to stink and to flow out, or bubble forth the oil of the perfumer, or the apothecary or pharmacist. For flies have the taste of all flavors, says Aristotle, History of Animals, book VIII, chapter 11, which is not granted to other animals. Moreover, oil is lethal and deadly to flies, indeed to all insects, as Pliny attests, book XI, chapter 19; Galen, book II On Simple Remedies, chapter 20, and others.
"Because I love to dine uninvited, I am a fly."
In the same place Hegesander relates that, when Alexander had said he was being bitten by flies (so he called parasites) and was now trying to drive them away, Cinesias, one of that order, who happened to be present, said: "Surely other, thirstier flies will press more urgently, once they have tasted your blood."
Second, R. Haccados and Joannes Ferus take flies to mean spies and traitors. For a fly curiously invades what belongs to others, and goes about and inspects everything, so that these words are referred to war and a besieged city, of which the preceding chapter, verse 13, speaks, as if to say: Just as flies spoil the most precious ointment, so traitors who curiously spy out everything, and faithless counselors, destroy cities and commonwealths. Hence Plautus in the Mercator depicts the curious person thus:
"My father is a fly; nothing can be kept hidden from him, Neither sacred nor profane is there, but he is there at once."
But all these interpretations are remote, foreign, and far-fetched.
Note the word "dying": for flies, lured by the fragrance and sweetness of the ointment, fly to it eagerly in competition, whence they are plunged in as if in birdlime, are suffocated, says Thaumaturgus, and die. So Galen, book II of Simple Medicines, chapter 20: "Moistened with oil," he says, "bees, flies, wasps, and ants perish." Hence natural philosophers teach that flies excel in smell and memory, because they fly to sweet, pleasant, and rich things, and although driven away many times, always fly back to the same place.
For "spoil" in Hebrew is "cause to stink"; the Septuagint, "they putrefy the composition of the oil of sweetness"; the Syriac and Arabic, "they corrupt"; St. Jerome, "they destroy"; Thaumaturgus, "they make deformed"; others, "they cause to wither"; Campensis, "they corrupt, and cover over with blisters as with scabs." By "stench" understand the filth, nausea, and horror that dying flies generate in the ointment for the one looking, smelling, and tasting; for properly flies do not stink, as we experience in reality. So in Exodus 5:21, the Hebrews say to Moses and Aaron: "You have made our name stink before Pharaoh," that is, you have made us ungrateful, hated, and odious to Pharaoh. Yet the filth of flies blunts the fragrance and flavor of the ointment, so that because of it, it is less fragrant and flavorful than before. For in a similar manner, says Vatablus, a small folly makes a man "stinking," that is, makes one who was well spoken of become ill spoken of, or, as Campensis says, takes away much of his esteem.
Mystically, first, the fly signifies wicked, cunning, and malicious thoughts suggested by the devil, the flesh, or the world, which fly around the mind of the wise man like flies and defile it. So St. Jerome: "Because," he says, "wisdom is often mixed with craftiness, and prudence contains malice, he commands that we seek simple wisdom, and that it be mixed with the innocence of doves, that we be prudent for good, but simple regarding evil. For it is fitting for the just man to have a degree of simplicity, and because of great patience, while he reserves vengeance for God, to seem a fool, rather than to exercise malice under the cloak of prudence by immediately avenging himself."
Second, flies spoiling the ointment signify the society of the wicked and their evil examples defiling even the good. It signifies, says St. Jerome, "that through one fool many good things are overturned, because thus one evil person mixed with good people contaminates very many, just as flies, if they die in the ointment, destroy its fragrance and flavor." And the Scholiast in the Greek Catena: "For flies," he says, "suffocated in the ointment, make it useless: so
...of licentiousness and curiosity, and the cause and source of all evil is idleness. Finally, the fly is an insolent, shameless, unteachable, and untamable creature. For other animals can be tamed by skill, but a fly never. So also concupiscence rejects all teaching, reason, and discipline; therefore it must be completely cut out and eradicated, indeed burned with iron and flame like a hydra; otherwise it is reborn and sprouts again, indeed it revives like flies. For "if flies that have been killed by moisture are covered with ashes, life returns," says Pliny, book XI, chapter 36.
Fourth, St. Gregory, book XVIII of the Moralia, chapter 18, takes flies to mean light and troublesome thoughts, which though they do not take away the sweetness of the ointment, that is, purity, holiness, dignity, peace (and devotion, says Bonaventure, especially in prayer), they nevertheless disturb, defile, and perturb it: "Egypt," he says, "which represents the form of this world, is struck by flies. For the fly is an exceedingly insolent and restless animal. What else is signified by it than the insolent cares of carnal desires; hence it is said elsewhere: Dying flies spoil the sweetness of the ointment, because superfluous thoughts, which continually arise and die in a mind thinking carnal things, destroy the sweetness with which each person is inwardly anointed by the Spirit, because they do not permit one to enjoy its integrity." "From these flies," says St. Jerome, "the prince of demons was also called Beelzebub, which is interpreted either as the idol of flies (as if to say, the fly-god, because this idol had the head of a fly, or was filled with flies swarming to the flesh sacrificed to it), or the man of flies, or the one having flies:" for the demon sends these flies of restless thoughts to swarm around our mind. See what I said about the plague of flies in Egypt in Exodus 8:7. Moreover, the Hebrews in Pirke Avoth, among the ten miracles of the Fathers, assign this as the third: "A fly was never seen in the house of the sanctuary," lest by flying to the meats offered and burned to God, it should defile them.
Fifth, Lyranus, as if to say: Just as a fly destroys ointment, so one mortal sin destroys the accumulated store of merits, as well as a good conscience; St. Ephrem, however, takes flies to mean demons: "Ecclesiastes says," he writes, "that dying flies destroy the sweetness of ointment, so that the saints may understand the vileness and impurity of sin and the demon, while the negligent may understand their snares and subtleties. For the enemy brings ruin upon those who seemed secure to themselves. And Elijah called the god of Accaron the fly of Baal. For he sits in the minds of the impious as if on roses and shining pastures, that is, withering ones; and he expresses the unclean action of the impious, and delights in the bubbling of their drunkenness. Among the wicked he moves as a dragon; but among those dissolving in luxury, as a fly. The dragon suffers himself to be transformed into a fly.
The minds of the Jews and heretics, falling upon the good fragrance of the Scriptures, both afflict themselves with death and make the ointment appear putrid to the faithful." So also St. Augustine, in his book Against Fulgentius the Donatist, article 14, takes flies to mean heretics: "The flies about to die, the Donatists, fly around through all the members of the body, to find where there are wounds; they sting the healthy, they lick the sick, and from the ulcers of sinners they pour forth worms, which spare not even corpses. Flies about to die, while they destroy the oil, are destroyed by the oil; for you do not live, you who breathe out the Holy Spirit." In the same place St. Augustine refutes the Donatists, who from this passage taught that the baptism of heretics was invalid and therefore had to be repeated; hence they explained this proverb from their own fancy thus: Flies spoil the sweetness of ointment, that is, heretics spoil the sacrament of baptism, in which the baptized are anointed with oil. But more truly St. Epiphanius, book I, chapter 3, adapting this proverb to the Archontic heretics: "They detest baptism," he says, "like death-bringing flies, spoiling the composition of fragrant oil. Just as the parable in Ecclesiastes was said about these and others like them: for they are truly flies that kill, that mortify, and that make putrid the aromatic and ointment oil, that is, the holy mysteries of God themselves."
Third, the Chaldean takes the fly to mean concupiscence: "Evil concupiscence," he says, "which remains at the gates of the heart, is like a fly, because it brings the cause of death into the world; so much so that it hands over the wise man at the time when he sins, and corrupts his good name, which before had been like the most sweet ointment of anointing with spices." Concupiscence is aptly compared to a fly, because like a fly it is vile and small, biting, unclean, filthy, stinging, troublesome, hostile, shameless, and putrid; for a fly born from putrefaction lives and dies in putrefaction, and putrefies everything with it. Concupiscence does the same. Hence St. Bernard, Sermon 44 on the Song of Songs: "These (concupiscences)," he says, "are truly filthy and stinging flies, which defile in us the beauty of nature, tear the mind with cares and anxieties, and destroy the sweetness of social grace." Moreover, the fly is of short life, for it lives only a few days, indeed sometimes only a few hours, and suffocates itself in oil, honey, or some other sweet thing, or burns itself by flying to the light of a lamp or candle: concupiscence and the concupiscent man do the same; it is therefore the fly of death, that is, a vile and tiny thing, but deadly, and soon to die and death-dealing. In addition, the fly is idle, and therefore wandering and curious, invading what belongs to others. Hence St. Francis: "If he saw anyone idle and vagrant, wanting to eat the labors of others, he thought such a brother should be called a fly-brother, because such a one, doing nothing good but infecting the good done by others, renders himself vile and abominable to all," says St. Bonaventure in his Life, chapter 5. So also concupiscence rejects all teaching, reason, and discipline; therefore it must be completely cut out and eradicated, indeed burned with iron and flame like a hydra; otherwise it is reborn and sprouts again, indeed it revives like flies. For "if flies that have been killed by moisture are covered with ashes, life returns," says Pliny, book XI, chapter 36.
Sixth, St. Bernard, in a sermon for Wednesday of the sorrowful week, adapts this to the Jews crucifying Christ: "Far be it," he says, "that dying flies should destroy the sweetness of the ointment that flows from Your body, because mercy is in Your bosom, and plentiful redemption is with Him. Dying flies are miseries, dying flies are blasphemies, dying flies are insults, which a perverse and exasperating generation renders to You. In the very lifting up of Your hands, etc., for Your honor You cry out: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The same, in a sermon On the Threefold Custody of the hand, tongue, and heart, applies it to the tongue, which is a small thing, but gives great harms: "A vile thing," he says, "is a dying fly, but it destroys the sweetness of the oil. The tongue is a tender member, yet it can hardly be restrained; it is indeed weak and small in substance, but it is found great and powerful in use; it is a small member, but unless you beware, a great evil."
Seventh, flies are the distractions and anxieties of business occurring during prayer, which pierce the heart, and are as troublesome to those praying as flies are to those feasting. They are aptly called "dying," both because they destroy the grace and devotion of prayer; and because, although they seem useful when they occur, appearing to be profitable later, yet after prayer they are found no more fruitful than dead things. Those phantoms which during prayer offered the hope of great utility, after prayer so vanish that they are left behind as truncated and useless corpses. Hence they must be constantly driven away from us. As a type of this, when Abraham once offered a sacrifice of animals to God: "The birds came down," the text says, "upon the carcasses, and Abraham drove them away," Genesis 15:11: on which passage St. Gregory, book XVI of the Moralia, chapter 8: "Often," he says, "in the very sacrifice of prayer, troublesome thoughts thrust themselves upon us, which are able to seize or stain what, weeping, we immolate to God in ourselves. Hence Abraham, when he offered a sacrifice toward sunset, endured the insistent birds, which he diligently drove away lest they seize the offered sacrifice. So therefore, when we offer a holocaust to God in the ark of the heart, let us guard it from these unclean birds, lest evil spirits and perverse thoughts seize what our mind hopes to profitably offer to the Lord."
Symbolically, St. Eucherius, book On Spiritual Forms, chapter 5, and Pierius, Hieroglyphics 25, take the fly to mean both the evil demon and the impure and malicious man. For the fly was among the Egyptians the hieroglyphic of importunity and troublesome vexation. For the fly is so shameless and shamelessly persistent that, although driven away, it always returns, equally harasses, and takes no account of any of your occupations, whether you speak, or sleep, or write, or eat, or read; always standing ready to leap upon your face, hostile, troublesome, harmful, and fit for nothing except stirring up disgust with itself: such also is the demon and the diabolical man. Hence Plutarch, Symposiacs 3, asserts that there are only two domestic animals that never become tame through human companionship, and admit neither touch, nor familiarity, nor discipline, namely the swallow and the fly: for both always remain unteachable and wild. Thus Pierius explains this proverb: "Dying flies destroy the sweetness of oil," that is, so malignant is the race of flies, and likewise Beelzebub, that is, the evil demon and the malicious man, that even if they must die, they choose and desire to do harm; since, while they corrupt someone's good habits or break some virtue, they consider it nothing that they themselves are also destroyed.
MORE PRECIOUS IS WISDOM AND GLORY THAN A LITTLE AND TEMPORARY FOLLY. — So it must be read with the Roman editions: for other Codices vary remarkably here. See Francisco Lucas in his Notes on this passage. The meaning seems plain, namely that glorious wisdom surpasses folly, which in itself is vile, small, and inglorious, so that wisdom is in the nominative case, and folly in the ablative. But to say nothing of the fact that this meaning is thin and cold — for who does not know this? — from the Hebrew the contrary is clear, namely that wisdom and glory are in the ablative case, while folly is in the nominative. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: A little folly, employed at the opportune and fitting time, surpasses rigid wisdom and glory, which is sometimes the occasion of great harm to oneself and others in dangers; it is sometimes better to feign folly than to display one's wisdom and glory. He alludes to the poor man who by his wisdom liberated a besieged city: for he is laughed at by worldly people because of his poverty, and his wisdom, because mixed with poverty, appears to be folly; but this folly of his is more valuable than all the wisdom and glory of worldly people. Hence that verse of Horace, book IV of the Odes, ode 12:
"Mix a little folly with your counsels. It is sweet to be silly in the right place."
And that: "To feign folly in the right place is the highest prudence."
So David, feigning folly before King Achish, escaped the danger of death, 1 Kings 21; indeed even Brutus assumed the appearance of folly in order to obtain the rule, as the Roman Histories relate. So Christ was made a fool to this world, when He chose and taught poverty, humility, patience, which the world considers foolish; but this folly is the highest wisdom. Hence Paul: "The foolishness of God is wiser than men." And: "Because in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom: it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe,"
1 Cor. 1:21 and 25. See what was said there. So likewise the folly by which the saints are considered fools by worldly people is more precious than all the wisdom and glory of the world. Hence Paul also said: "We are fools for Christ's sake: but you are wise in Christ." And our St. Ignatius: "Desire to be considered a fool by men, so that you may be considered wise by God, so that you may gain Him."
"Be a fool to the people; thus you are wise before God."
This is what Paul says, 1 Corinthians 3:18: "If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." So to accommodate yourself in teaching to the foolish, to children, to the unlearned, it is necessary that you play the fool with them and become as a child again, according to the saying of Paul: "I became all things to all men, that I might save all," 1 Corinthians 9:22; therefore it is great wisdom to deal with rustic people in a rustic manner, with children in a childlike manner, with the foolish in a foolish manner: for whoever does not know how to do this labors in vain in teaching them. So it is necessary for a prince and magistrate to accommodate himself to the humor, capacity, and crudeness of the common people.
Now the Hebrew reads thus: יקר מחכמה מכבוד סכלות מעט iakar mechachma michabod sichluth meat, which is variously translated by various interpreters. First, Pagninus, Vatablus, Clarius, Arias, Cajetan, Campensis, and other Hebraists, joining this hemistich to the preceding, connect and translate this entire verse aptly thus: as dying flies spoil the sweetness of ointment, so a little folly ruins a man precious for wisdom and glory; or thus: A man precious for wisdom and glory stinks because of a small folly, as if to say: A small folly destroys the entire esteem and glory of a man, which he had acquired through wisdom and wise words and deeds. Hear Cajetan: A small folly will cause to stink and reek any man however excellent, who seemed more precious than wisdom itself and superior to all honor: just as even a fly, as has been said, corrupts the noblest ointment. For good arises from an integral cause, and the contagion of evil, however small, is great. Second, Lyranus, translating the Hebrew יקר iakar, that is, precious, as "weighty," translates thus: Weightier than wisdom and glory is a small folly. Weightier, because it depresses, casts down, and destroys a man. But the Hebrew iakar everywhere means precious, not weighty. Third, the Septuagint, transposing the words, translates conversely: a little wisdom is more precious than the great glory of folly. So Olympiodorus, so that there is an antithesis with the flies, as if to say: A few flies spoil the sweetness of ointment, but many and great fools do not destroy or corrupt the wise man, even one less excelling in wisdom. For a small amount of wisdom is more worthy and stronger than great folly and all its glory, that is, all the honor, wealth, pomp, and splendor of foolish rich men. Hence the Arabic, the Septuagint following its usual practice, translates: a little wisdom is more precious than the magnificences of much folly. Fourth, our Vulgate most excellently translates from the Hebrew: more precious is wisdom and glory than a little and temporary folly, in the sense I assigned at the beginning. For the Chaldean agrees: but how much does the prudence of the wise and the wealth of the rich surpass him whose folly is moderate and light? And St. Jerome in the old edition: small folly is precious above wisdom and glory.
You will ask, how does this translation cohere in the same verse with the flies spoiling the ointment? I respond through antithesis or exception in this sense, as if to say: Dying flies spoil the sweetness of ointment, and so likewise foolish and true folly destroys the sweetness of wisdom and reputation. I say foolish folly, for wise and small folly, which is wisely assumed at the fitting time, surpasses rigid wisdom and its glory, and thus suffocates, wears away, and destroys its glory. Or more directly and as if on equal terms, as if to say: Just as a few small flies spoil the sweetness of ointment: so a little folly, which is called folly by worldly people, though it is in reality before God true and pure wisdom, surpasses and destroys all the sweetness of worldly wisdom and glory, since it is far more precious and powerful, as was evident in Christ and the apostles, according to the saying: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject," Isaiah 29:14, and 1 Corinthians 1:19. For he alludes, as I said, to the poor wise man who by his wisdom liberated the city, but because of poverty is despised and regarded as a languid and dying fly, that is, a man of no account, when in reality he is a most excellent bee, distilling the sweetest honey of wisdom.
Tropologically, St. Jerome and from him Albinus: More precious and more useful is humble glory than the elation of the proud. It is better to appear a fool for a time, that is, simple, than proud and glorious. And Lyranus: More precious is wisdom with small honor than folly with great honor, according to the saying of chapter 4:13: "Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king."
Verse 2: THE HEART OF THE WISE MAN IS AT HIS RIGHT HAND, AND THE HEART OF THE FOOL AT HIS LEFT. — The Hebrew reads, at his right hand, etc., and at his left hand. The heart in all men, whether wise or foolish, is in the middle, not of the body (for the middle of this is the navel), but of the chest, or breast, inclining however to the left, as Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, and other natural philosophers and physicians teach.
By heart, therefore, understand not the heart of the body, but the mind, namely the reason, will, affection, and its pious actions and operations. It is a catachresis; for what the heart is in the body, the mind is in the soul. The meaning therefore is, first, as if to say: The wise man has his heart at the right, that is, he does all his things promptly, readily, nimbly, wisely, and successfully; but the fool has his at the left, that is, he does his things slowly, awkwardly, ineptly, foolishly, and unsuccessfully. For in the right side of the body and right hand there is more strength and agility than in the left: hence the right hand is a symbol of strength, readiness, agility, wisdom, and good fortune; the left of weakness, slowness, hesitation, imprudence, and bad fortune.
Second, as if to say: The wise man does everything with reason and judgment, as if he had his heart, that is, his mind, at the right; but the fool acts without reason and judgment, as if he had his heart at the left. The reason is that the wise man acts from wisdom, that is, from his heart, mind, reason, and judgment; but the fool acts from folly, that is, from concupiscence, as if this were at his right hand, commanding, ordering, and directing everything; while mind and reason are at his left. Hence in Hebrew it reads: the heart of the wise man is at his right, and the heart of the fool at his left. For, as Aristotle teaches, the right side is always stronger; hence the right side provides the beginning of walking. For the right side is suited to move, the left to be moved, and for this reason burdens should be placed not on the moving part but on the mobile part; and so porters carry them placed not on the right but on the left shoulder. So he himself says, in the book On the Gait of Animals, chapter 3. Because therefore in the wise man the mind and wisdom are stronger, since they move the other powers and rule concupiscence itself, hence for him the heart, that is, the mind, is at the right, but concupiscence at the left. Conversely in the fool, that is, the vicious man, concupiscence is stronger, which moves the other powers to pursue the wealth, banquets, and honors it covets; hence concupiscence is at his right, but the heart and mind at his left.
Third, the heart of the wise man is at the right, that is, it tends toward what is honorable, better, sounder, and holier, namely toward virtues and good works, by which he may arrive at happiness and eternal life. So the Chaldean: The heart of the wise, he says, is set on acquiring the law, which was given by the right hand of God, and the heart of the fool on acquiring wealth of silver and gold; and Thaumaturgus: The wise man, he says, is his own guide toward right and honorable things; but the fool inclines toward left things, and never uses folly as a guide toward excellent things; and St. Jerome: "The just man," he says, "has no left in himself, but everything in him is right. And when the Savior comes to judge, the sheep will stand at the right, but the goats will be at the left. And in Proverbs it is written: The Lord knows the right ways; but those that are perverse are on the left. Therefore he who is wise always thinks about the future world, which leads to the right; but he who is foolish, about the present, which is placed on the left. Following this, the same philosopher and poet says:
"The right way leads beneath the walls of great Dis, This is the path to Elysium for us, but the left exercises punishments on the wicked, and sends them to impious Tartarus."
Our Firmianus also, in his excellent work of the Institutes, mentioned the letter Y, and discussed most fully about right and left, that is, about virtues and vices." See what was said on Proverbs 4:27.
Fourth, the wise man has his heart at the right, because he does his things circumspectly, effectively, in order, and perfectly, so that he errs in nothing; but the fool at the left, because he carries out his things improvidently, languidly, in reverse order, and imperfectly: hence he always mixes some defect into a good work. This meaning correctly coheres with what preceded: "He who sins in one thing will lose many good things." Moreover, the wise man has a right heart, strong, robust, and constant in good, so that in it he stands immovable against all the assaults of Satan, the world, and the flesh; but the fool has a left heart, that is, one that is weak, infirm, and inconstant, because where he has begun to do good, he soon falters at a light temptation and recoils from it.
Fifth, the right hand is a symbol of liberty as well as liberality; the left, of servitude and avarice. For at the right walk lords, the generous, and the magnificent; at the left, servants, the mean, and the miserly. Therefore the fool does his things servilely, meanly, under compulsion, and avariciously; but the wise man freely, amply, and liberally. Hence the Egyptians, as Pierius attests, used to say that from the right hand of God all good things and benefits flow, but from the left all evils, all plagues and punishments. Hence again a certain learned man explains it thus, as if to say: The heart of the just man is always moved and raised by the right and happy hope of good things, but the heart of the wicked is struck and beaten down by left-handed distrust, suspicion, fear, terror, and anguish.
Finally, you may briefly embrace all these meanings by explaining thus: The heart of the wise man is at the right, that is, in wisdom, meaning in prudence and virtue, for to this he devotes himself entirely, and in it he as it were dwells and resides; but the heart of the fool is at the left, that is, in folly, namely in imprudence and concupiscence; for on this he entirely sits and is bent. That this is the meaning is indicated by what follows.
Verse 3: MOREOVER, WHEN THE FOOL WALKS ALONG THE WAY, SINCE HE HIMSELF IS SENSELESS (the Hebrew reads, his heart fails, that is, in wisdom; the Syriac, his heart is small, that is, he is of small mind and judgment. The Arabic, his heart makes him to be in want, so that he is destitute of mind and counsel), HE CONSIDERS EVERYONE FOOLS. — Symmachus, suspecting of all that they are fools; Campensis, wherever the fool goes, folly will accompany him, and he will call everyone he meets a fool.
This proverb coheres aptly with the preceding, as if to say: The heart of the fool is so much at the left, that is, so foolish, that he considers all others, even the wise, to be fools, both because from foolish persuasion and self-love he considers himself alone to be wise and the rest to be foolish, just as one who has an infected palate considers a sweet taste to be bitter, and thinks those who judge otherwise to be in error and delirious. This is what is said in Proverbs 26:16: "The sluggard seems wiser to himself than seven men who speak wise sentences;" and also because he measures others by his own character and disposition: therefore what to him
...pleases himself and seems right to him, he judges to be pleasing and right for all, so that if he himself is gluttonous, lustful, proud, etc., he judges all to be gluttonous, lustful, proud, etc.: for such as each person is, so he judges others, says Aristotle, Politics III, chapter 6. So Nero, filled with lusts, was firmly convinced that no one was chaste or modest in any part of his body, as Suetonius attests in his Life, chapter 29. So heretics think that Catholic priests and religious live impurely and merely cautiously, not chastely, because they think chastity impossible for them to keep, just as they judge it impossible for themselves. For, as Seneca says: "Every passion has this quality, that it thinks everyone is mad in that same thing in which it itself is mad." And, as Cassian says: Whoever is subject to some vice is inclined to judge that others are subject to the same. Hence Seneca infers that it is a sign of a good man if he displeases the wicked; that one is not yet good and happy enough whom the crowd does not yet ridicule.
For "he considers everyone fools," the Hebrew has, he says to everyone that he is a fool: which indefinite words can be defined in various ways: first, as if to say, the fool says to anyone: "You are a fool;" second, as if to say, the fool tells everyone he is foolish, that is, whatever he does and transacts, he shows in reality that his heart, that is, his mind, fails him, and therefore reveals his folly to all. Following this second reading, the Septuagint translates: even when the fool walks along the way, his heart will fail or be held back, and whatever he thinks or reasons, all is folly; Thaumaturgus, his thoughts are vain and filled with folly; Olympiodorus explains the Septuagint thus: "In this life, which you would rightly call a way, the fool walking along, since his heart is at the left, always halts and is found behind: for he goes forth in vain, having by no means set before himself the prize of the heavenly calling. Therefore he does not stretch himself forward, nor hasten to the end; but although he may seem to proceed to these things, he will fail in mid-course, thinking and undertaking everything imperfectly and without reason. And if he should approach the way of justifications, or, to speak more truly, pretend to approach it, that is, the observance of the divine commandments, because nevertheless his mind is deflected to the left, he will entirely cease and fail, so that he neither understands what is commanded nor acts according to the will of the Lawgiver." The Chaldean translates: even on the perplexing way when the fool walks, his heart lacks wisdom, so that he does things that ought not to be done, and all say that he is a fool.
Verse 4: IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM WHO HAS POWER (in Hebrew, of him who rules) RISES UP AGAINST YOU (Symmachus, should come upon you, or rush upon you; Thaumaturgus, if the adversary spirit wages war against you, resist strongly), DO NOT LEAVE YOUR PLACE (St. Cyril, commenting on Isaiah chapter 1, reads "heart": for in the heart is the place of wisdom and constancy): BECAUSE HEALING WILL CAUSE THE GREATEST SINS TO CEASE. — St. Ambrose reads, care will mitigate great offenses: "care," that is, diligence, lest you fail in your duty in any matter, he himself says on Psalm 37. Symmachus, because modesty suppresses great sins. Less correctly, Aben-Ezra takes "healing" to mean relaxation of mind, leisure, also medicine by which a physician cures diseases of the body. The Septuagint translate the Hebrew מרפא marpe, that is, healing, as "health"; the Syriac, "medication"; the Arabic, "misery"; Pagninus, "gentleness." For "your place," the Zurich version translates "your station"; Vatablus, "your former place."
Now first, Campensis translates thus: if the desire of ruling has invaded your mind, do not easily abandon your former position; for he who restrains his mind from such desires will avoid many grave sins. The Zurich version agrees, translating: whenever the impulse of dominion (or of lordly dominion, or domination) has arisen in you, do not abandon your station; for he who calms his passions, suppresses great sins. And Vatablus explains this in two ways. First, as if to say: If the desire to dominate has crept in, cure it, that is, repress and chastise it: for thus you will avoid the many sins of arrogance, injustice, plundering, etc., into which those who rule or desire to dominate fall. Second, if the power of ruling is offered to you, do not be puffed up in spirit, but use it modestly and prudently: thus you will avoid many sins. The Hebrew favors this, as does St. Jerome, whose words I will soon recite, as well as Pineda. Seneca truly says, epistle 84: "Whatever things," he says, "seem to stand out in human affairs, however small they are, are approached through difficult and steep paths. The road to the summit of dignity is rough."
Second, Cajetan, as if to say: If you have accepted dominion and governance, you will be a physician who for your office will make medicine for sins, not all of them, but great ones: "For political governance," he says, "does not remove all the sins of the people, but the great sins; for the magistrate does not concern himself with the smallest things," nor can he attend to everything: but if he tries, he will hear the saying: "Fools at the sieve," that is, fools try to plug up all the tiny holes of a sieve, but with a foolish and futile effort.
Third and genuinely, as if to say: If the anger, force, or attack of some powerful ruler drives you toward some sin, do not abandon the place and office of virtue that your state and rank require.
BECAUSE HEALING. — In Hebrew, מרפא marpe, that is, medicine, health, gentleness, healing, because by healing the sicknesses and passions of the mind, both your own and of the powerful one assailing you, it will avert many offenses. Hence the Zurich version translates: he who calms his passions suppresses great sins. Others translate marpe as relaxation, submission, namely a mind that is humble, relaxed, loose, and unbound, not puffed up, swollen, and proud.
This healing, therefore, or health, is the stability of the soul and constancy of virtue, by which you heal your own infirmity, fear, and dread, together with the gentleness, patience, and meekness by which you heal and soften the wrath of the powerful one, and thus cause very many offenses to cease, which you would commit by yielding and consenting to the wicked will of the powerful one or prince, and which he himself would commit by forcing you to consent, or by unjustly harassing, tormenting, and eventually killing you. Healing therefore is tolerance of a violent and unjust lord: which whoever retains, averts many quarrels, hatreds, rivalries, and damages that would otherwise arise. For "by patience a prince is appeased, and a soft tongue breaks hardness," Proverbs 15:1 and 25:15. See what was said there.
The word "healing" signifies that in the exercise of power there intervene passions, sicknesses, and wounds of the soul: namely, in the one who rules, haughtiness and anger; in the one who is ruled, fear and dread; and both must be cured by the wise man as by a physician, the former with constancy, the latter with gentleness and patience. Therefore the sole remedy for temptations and persecutions is stability, tranquility, and constancy of soul; conversely, their nourishment is levity, pusillanimity, and inconstancy of soul. Hence Jeremiah, Lamentations 1:8: "Jerusalem has sinned grievously," he says, "therefore she has become unstable." See what was said there. And Solomon, Proverbs 27:8: "As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who leaves his place." And Sirach 11:22: "Trust in God, and remain in your place." And Paul: "So stand firm in the Lord, beloved," Philippians 4:1. Philosophers say the same as Solomon. Hence Horace, book III of the Odes, ode 3:
"The just man, firm of purpose, is not shaken in his solid mind by the passion of citizens ordering wrong, nor by the face of a threatening tyrant."
This man, therefore, is sound and strong, indeed healing and making sound his own and others' diseases of the soul. So St. Jerome, Titelmannus, Lorinus, and others.
Tropologically, which however some consider to be the literal sense, St. Jerome, Salonius, Thaumaturgus, and others take the spirit of him who has power to mean the impulses and temptations of the devil and of concupiscence, which must be resisted through constancy of mind and purpose in good: for this is the healing and health of the soul, which causes very many sins to cease, to which the demon incites the soul through movements of concupiscence, which he arouses from it and in it. So the Chaldean: "If the spirit of evil desire," he says, "dominates you and grows strong so as to rise up over you, do not leave your good place, in which you were accustomed to stand: because the words of the law were created as medicine in the world, for the forgiveness of sins, and so that the greatest sins may be consigned to oblivion before the Lord." Hence St. Ambrose, on Psalm 12: "And if the spirit of him who has power rises up against you, as you read in Ecclesiastes, do not abandon your place. For Christ has made you superior, whom He made in the image of God. Therefore hold the superior place of faith and piety which you received from God, so that having been made superior, you may easily repel the evil spirit ascending from lower things, that is, from earthly and worldly things, and may not receive his marks in your breast; let him not occupy the vestibules of your soul, nor the entrances of your mind, and let him not, as if in a forest of wood, devastate perishable and fragile things with his fires, or cut down the doors of your heart with his axes. Therefore let there be in us not a forest, but a vineyard; let the gate of our mouth and heart be more diligently closed, lest the enemy enter. He quickly throws down the door, if he finds it open." So also Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 2, and Cyril of Alexandria, book XII of On Worship in Spirit, who also adds that if vices are not punished, they creep daily to greater ones, and corrupt the heart and mind, and lead to utter ruin. For, as St. Jerome says, citing this proverb in his treatise On Preserving Virginity: "We stand always as if on the battle line and in formation for war. The enemy wants to move us from our place and make us step down from our position, but our footsteps must be made firm, and we must say: He set my feet upon a rock: the rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs," Psalm 39:3 and 103:18.
Now in particular: First, St. Jerome takes this spirit to mean the spirit or impulse of lust, which is healed by the love of chastity and constant modesty. Hence for "healing" Symmachus translates "modesty." Hear St. Jerome from Symmachus: "If the spirit of the prince rushes upon you, do not withdraw from your place, because modesty suppresses great sins, that is, if the devil has tickled your mind and stirred you to lust, do not follow the most wicked thought and the alluring pleasure; but stand firm and rigid; extinguish the flame of pleasure with the cold of chastity." The Hebrew suspected something of this sort in this passage. If you have received some dignity in the world, and have been ordained as a superior among peoples, do not abandon your former works, and do not begin to forget your old virtues, nor to lack the former labor, which remedy for your sins is born from a good conversion, and not from a swelling and superfluous dignity." So also St. Basil, in his book On Virginity, takes power to mean the imperious thought of concupiscence, which powerfully invades the mind of a virgin and solicits her to shameful things; but if she is wise, she should stand in her place and shake it off: "Therefore," he says, "let the soul of a virgin be the mirror of no man, absent or present, except her holy Spouse; let no other form be seen in it than that of the Spouse."
And the Author of the Greek Catena: "If," he says, "while you are seeking higher things, the evil spirit of fornication or avarice has by chance attacked you, close all your senses to him. But if you have sinned, seek the remedy of penance:" where by healing, or medicine, you see that penance is understood. Therefore the spirit of him who has power ascends over someone when a disease of the soul attacks him and miserably
...assails him. And what medicine must then be applied? Surely this, that the one assailed by vice should not abandon his place, that is, his method of healing; because if a uniform and constant treatment usually heals the greatest sins, how much more will it cure lesser ones, or those not too deeply rooted?
Second, St. Ambrose, book I of On Duties, chapter 21, takes this spirit to mean the spirit of anger: "Therefore," he says, "if anger has come upon you first and seized your mind, and has risen up in you, do not abandon your place; your place is patience, your place is wisdom, your place is reason, your place is calm indignation. Or if the stubbornness of the one answering has moved you, and perversity has driven you to indignation: if you cannot calm your mind, restrain your tongue. For so it is written: Restrain your tongue from evil, and let your lips not speak guile. Then seek peace, and pursue it. See the peace of holy Jacob. What calm of mind first! If you cannot prevail, put reins on your tongue: then do not neglect the effort of reconciliation."
Third, St. Gregory, book III of the Moralia, chapter 13, takes this spirit to mean the spirit of pride: "For in this way," he says, "the place of the wicked is pride, just as conversely humility is the place of the good, of which place it is said by Solomon: If the spirit of him who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place; as if he openly says: If you consider that the spirit of the tempter prevails against you in something, do not abandon the humility of penance. That he called our place the humility of penance, he shows by the following words, saying: Because healing will cause the greatest sins to cease. For what else is the humility of lamentation, if not the medicine of sin?"
Fourth, St. Bernard, in a sermon On the Fourfold Debt, takes this spirit to mean the temptation of the demon against one's vocation, namely that you should abandon your order under the pretext of a better good: "For according to the impulse," he says, "of your spirits, he proposes to this lukewarm one a more relaxed life, and to that fervent one a stricter life, seeking and expecting only this: that by any means he may remove him from the assembly of the just and from the congregation. Surely that spirit who suggests this to you is a lying spirit, a spirit having power, who envies you your place. Hence the Wise Man, not ignorant of this, says: If the spirit of him who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place. For far be it that the Spirit of truth, who brought you here, should want to lead you back: because 'yes and no' is not in His mouth, but 'yes' is in Him, as the unshakeable authority testifies: No one, says the Apostle, speaking in the Spirit of God, says 'anathema' to Jesus. Jesus means Savior, or salvation; anathema means separation. But whoever whispers to you separation from salvation is not the Spirit of God, nor from God; because the Holy Spirit came not to scatter but to gather: He who always recalls the scattered of Israel to their land." The same, Sermon 48, among the lesser ones, explains it in two ways, namely concerning the twofold portion of the soul: "There are two places," he says, "of the rational soul: the lower one which it rules, and the upper one in which God rests. Of both can be rightly understood what is written: If the spirit of him who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place, either the lower one by ruling it, or the upper one by resting in it." And further: "He is told therefore not to abandon his place when the spirit ascends over him, that is, not to present his members as weapons of iniquity to sin when temptation presses upon him. But note that it says: If the spirit of him who has power ascends over you; for the evil spirit can do nothing against us unless sent or permitted. Hence although his will is always evil, his power is never anything but just. For the will indeed resides in him from himself, but he has power from no other source than God. Yet the Lord always moderates this power, lest from the wickedness of his will he punish more than the merits of those who are punished demand. And let this be said concerning the lower place. But concerning the upper place, this is understood to mean that he should not, when the devil tempts, abandon the quiet of mind that he has in God, but wherever the devil tempts him, he should remain fixed in God, constantly in tranquility." And soon after: "This sentence, I say, is fitting for the perfect, who already in their manner of life imitate in a certain way the state of eternity."
5 and 6. THERE IS AN EVIL THAT I HAVE SEEN UNDER THE SUN, AS IF PROCEEDING BY ERROR FROM THE FACE OF THE PRINCE: A FOOL SET (repeat: I saw) IN HIGH DIGNITY (the Hebrew reads, folly set in high places or lofty positions, that is, great ones), AND THE RICH SITTING BELOW. — The Hebrew, and the rich sat in a lowly place and seat; the Septuagint, a fool has been placed in great eminences; the old translation, a fool to be placed in great eminences; the Chaldean, he placed the wicked fool so that he might be in happiness, and serve in prosperity, and in a high heaven, and his armies might be lofty and many, and the people subjected to servitude under him; the Arabic, a fool has been placed in higher positions, and the rich will sit in a despised state. This proverb is aptly connected to the preceding, as if to say: He said: "If the spirit of him who has power rises up against you, do not abandon your place:" because among the other vanities of the world and of kings and courtiers, this one is not the least, that often through the error of the prince who has power, the poor, vile, and foolish are exalted, while the rich, honored, and wise are oppressed; therefore if the same happens to you, do not abandon your place, retain patience, and preserve constancy of mind.
Great indeed is this vanity and indignity, when the tail rises to the top, when the feet exchange place with the head, when fools command the wise, and the blind lead those who have sight, according to the saying: "As he who throws a stone into a heap of Mercury: so is he who gives honor to a fool," Proverbs 26:8. See also Symmachus, book I, epigram 29, applauding Ausonius: "Whose gravity of character and antiquity of learning earned him the distinction of the curule chair." Error is properly in the intellect, as when a prince from false information thinks that a man who is foolish and wicked is wise and good, and conversely thinks that one who is good and wise is wicked and foolish, and therefore exalts the former and depresses the latter. Hence Aquila and Theodotion translate "error" as "ignorance." Sometimes however the error is in the will and affection, when out of love by which he favors a fool because he is witty and a flatterer, or serves his desire, he exalts him; and out of hatred by which he pursues the wise man as his adversary, he humiliates him. Therefore by the error of the prince this unworthy exchange of persons occurs, and this distribution of dignities and offices; but not by the error of God, but by His certain providence, especially by which He wills to chastise or test the people, or the prince, or the fools or the rich themselves; of which matter Anastasius of Nicaea recounts two illustrious examples, Question 15 on Scripture. This is what Job 34:30 says: "Who makes a hypocrite reign because of the sins of the people." Moreover, the foolish and impious are "raised on high, so that they may fall with a heavier crash." The wise and pious fall from a high place to a low one, so that they may despise present honors as unstable, and look up to and pursue future ones in heaven as stable and eternal: for who would trust in human affairs and thrones that are consistent only in this, that they are not consistent with themselves? Yesterday's glory, today's disgrace excludes. Yesterday's joy, today's sudden grief and mourning overwhelms. Yesterday's riches, today's poverty knows not, indeed begs and entreats from them for a pittance. Yesterday's hope and life, today's death and desperation strangles and suffocates. O how much emptiness there is in things! O how narrow are the limits of mortals!
Moreover, that the reason God permits fools to rule and the wise to be oppressed is His wrath and the punishment of sins, St. Chrysostom teaches, Homily 2 On Penance; St. Augustine, City of God XIX, chapter 21; St. Gregory, book XXV of the Moralia, through several chapters; St. Cyprian, book I, epistles 3 and 4; St. Bernard, On the Conversion of Clerics, chapter 27, and others.
By "fool" understand the poor and vile man who lacks means; but by "rich," whom he opposes to the fool, understand the powerful and prudent man, who by his prudence and skill has acquired wealth and honors for himself, such as lords and princes are. Hence explaining he adds: "I saw servants on horses, and princes walking on the ground like servants." It is a catachresis. For the rich man is used for the wise man, because riches often add spirit and sharpen the intellect and industry, which depresses and prostrates the poor. Add: riches are as much spiritual, such as virtue and wisdom, as corporeal. Hence some, following St. Jerome, take the rich man to mean the wise man, who is rich in wisdom, virtue, merits, and endowments of the soul. Hence Campensis translates: those who are exceedingly fit for conducting affairs will sit in lowliness; Thaumaturgus, those abounding in the riches of prudence; Vatablus, those rich in wisdom and virtues; others, those great in wisdom and knowledge; but this seems mystical to some. Therefore the former meaning I gave is more literal. Hence Aristotle, Politics IV, chapter 8: "Nobility he defined as ancient wealth with virtue;" and St. Jerome, Against Helvidius, as long-established riches.
Examples of this saying are: the 70 kings who were subjects of Adonibezek, sitting under his table like dogs, indeed lying down and collecting scraps. He himself was forced to do the same when conquered and captured by the Hebrews, Judges 1:6-7. The Emperor Valerian, captured by Shapur, offered his back as a footstool for him when mounting his horse, as also did Bayezid, the Turkish Emperor, for Tamerlane. So Diocletian and Maximian, having laid down their rule, were humble and subject to Constantine the Great, indeed driven to death by him. The Chaldean gives the example of the Israelites, who though they were masters, were forced to serve the Edomites and other nations, as is clear from the book of Judges. So the Emperor Heliogabalus, says Lampridius, chapter 11 of his Life, made freedmen into governors, legates, consuls, generals, and polluted all dignities with the baseness of depraved men. Plutarch says admirably, Oration 2 on the Fortune of Alexander: "Who," he says, "is great when placed in power, with wickedness and folly possessing him? Take away virtue from the fortunate man, and you will see him utterly humble in winning favor, because of meanness: in labors, because of softness: toward the gods, because of superstition: toward the good, because of envy: among the living, because of timidity: among women, because of lust. For just as incompetent craftsmen, when they place large bases under small offerings, thereby prove their smallness: so fortune, when it raises a base talent with great and splendid things, thereby more clearly exposes it and subjects it to infamy, when from its weakness it totters and stumbles."
Tropologically: The fool is foolish concupiscence, which is raised up while the foolish man subjects himself to it; but the wise man is reason and mind, which sits in a low place while it is forced to serve concupiscence. So Olympiodorus and the Author of the Greek Catena: "Those who serve sin," he says, "have become stallion horses; but those who have been mastered by sin have a humble understanding." Moreover, the prince is the devil, who arranges for the unworthy and impious to be promoted to honors, so that through them he may dominate the people and open the way to all crimes. So St. Jerome, who also adds that his Hebrew understood the prince to mean God, who permits the impious to be raised to honors.
Verse 7: I SAW SERVANTS ON HORSES, AND PRINCES WALKING (on foot like pedestrians) ON THE GROUND LIKE SERVANTS, — as if to say: I saw servants, glorious and proud, riding on caparisoned and gold-adorned horses, but masters going on foot in shabby garments, indeed as footmen. Hence the horse is a symbol of eminence and pride, for a man mounts a horse to walk more loftily, and the erect neck of a horse indicates the proud. Hence the saying: "Some in chariots, and some on horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God," Psalm 19:8. Thaumaturgus translates: servants of sinners are carried on horses, and holy men walk honorably on foot, and see before them the impious strutting proudly — repeat what preceded, it is the work of the tyrant and the devil. Examples are in Rehoboam, from whom Jeroboam his servant took away the rule of ten tribes; in Haman, who was forced to walk before Mordecai the horseman, and to proclaim as a herald: "Thus shall be honored the man whom the king wishes to honor," Esther 6:9. Seneca says admirably, epistle 47: "I saw," he says, "the master of Callistus standing before his threshold, and the one who had hung the notice on him, who had put him on display among the ridiculous slaves, being shut out while others entered." And soon after: "You can as easily see that man as a free man, as he can see you as a slave. In the Varian disaster fortune cast down many of the most splendidly born, who were beginning their senatorial career through military service: she made one of them a shepherd, another a keeper of a cottage! Despise now the man of that fortune, into which you can pass while you despise it." And a little further: "So live with your inferior as you would wish your superior to live with you. Whenever it comes to mind how much you are permitted against your slave, let it come to mind that just as much is permitted to your master against you. But I, you say, have no master. It is a good age; perhaps you will have one. Do you not know at what age Hecuba began to serve, at what age Croesus, at what age the mother of Darius, at what age Plato, at what age Diogenes? Live with your slave kindly: admit him also as a companion, and to conversation, and to counsel, and to your table." As a symbol of this, among the Romans at the Saturnalia masters served their servants, and Roman matrons served their handmaids in the month of March, as Macrobius attests, book I, chapters 7, 10, and 12. The Comic poet says wisely:
"When Fortune dances, she mocks at the same time. When a slave reigns, true slavery reigns."
See what was said on Proverbs 30:22. It has been found, says Victor regarding Diocletian, "that the lowest of men, especially when they have reached high positions, are immoderate in pride and ambition." Hence Felix, from being a slave and freedman of the Emperor Claudius, was made by him governor of Judea, and "exercised royal authority with a slave's character through every cruelty and lust," says Tacitus, book V of the Histories, chapter 2; and the Romans, as Suetonius attests, chapter 59, cried out to Tiberius:
"He will reign with much blood, whoever comes to the throne from exile."
Tropologically, St. Gregory, book XXXI of the Moralia, chapter 10: "By the name of horse," he says, "temporal dignity is understood, as Solomon attests, who says: I saw servants on horses, and princes walking on the ground like servants. For everyone who sins is a servant of sin; and servants are on horses when sinners are carried aloft by the dignities of the present life. But princes walk like servants when no honor raises those who are full of the dignity of virtues, but the greatest adversity here presses them down as if they were unworthy. Hence again it is said: Those who mounted horses have fallen asleep, that is, in the death of the soul, they have closed the eyes of the mind from the light of truth, those who trusted in the honor of the present life."
Verse 8: HE WHO DIGS A PIT WILL FALL INTO IT: AND HE WHO BREAKS DOWN A HEDGE, A SERPENT WILL BITE HIM. 9. HE WHO MOVES STONES WILL BE HURT BY THEM: AND HE WHO SPLITS WOOD WILL BE ENDANGERED BY THEM. — This is the second part of the chapter, in which after the praise of wisdom and the censure of folly, he here appends, as is customary, the teachings, acts, and effects of each; for the foolish man, while digging a pit for others, that is, laying snares, himself foolishly falls into the same; therefore the teaching of wisdom and the wise is: "Do not dig a pit for another," for the one you dig for others, you dig for yourself. Therefore what you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to another: so the Chaldean, who goes on to adapt this to the Edomites, who treacherously captured the treacherous Jews; hence the Edomites themselves were treacherously captured by the Chaldeans: "The measure of judgment answered," he says, "and thus it says: They themselves were the cause that all these things befell them; just as a man who digs a pit at a crossroads is liable to fall into it, so the nation that transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, and those who engaged in the battle of the world, fell into the hand of the wicked king, who was deceitful to them like a serpent." So he in his usual close and rabbinic manner.
Aptly therefore these words cohere with the preceding, as if to say: Fools often cast down the wise, and servants seize the seats of their masters through deceit, slander, or violence; but these things finally recoil upon their own heads, so that they themselves are likewise cast down and prostrated by rivals or enemies. Otherwise Thaumaturgus, who thinks that here are reviewed the works of the prince of whom verse 5 speaks, namely of a tyrant or the devil. These four proverbs all aim at the same target and signify the same thing, namely the vanity and folly of those who through difficult, arduous, and dangerous matters, especially through fraud or force or similar injury, undertake great things, from the fact that they can only accomplish them with immense labor and danger; hence it happens that they are often harmed and perish by that very danger, and the evil they prepare for others, though not always, often by the just judgment of God rebounds upon themselves, while by the reciprocating just vengeance of God or of men, the same or similar calamity is turned back upon its authors: so that those who have unjustly contrived poverty, plunder, imprisonment, blows, wounds, and death for another, incur the same under the law of retaliation; and this often in this life, always in the future. Cajetan subtly distinguishes these four proverbs thus: the first, of pits, pertains to those who lay snares for others; the second, of one breaking down hedges, to those who invade what belongs to others; the third,
...of one moving stones, to those who disturb assemblies; the fourth, of one splitting wood, to those who split unity and cause schism; but, as I said, they all tend to the same thing, and the scope and intention of all is the same in general. So St. Jerome, Thaumaturgus, and others.
Examples are in Saul, whose snares against David were turned back upon himself; as also those of Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 17:23; likewise of Jezebel, 1 Kings 21:5; of Caiaphas, John 11:49, and others. So Maxentius, treacherously constructing a collapsible bridge over the Tiber against the pursuing Constantine, was cast from it into the Tiber and drowned, as Eusebius attests, book IX of the History, chapter 8, and book I of the Life of Constantine, chapter 12.
Similar are the maxims of the philosophers. Hence Plutarch in his Life of Cimon relates that this oracle was given to Pausanias, leader of the Lacedaemonians: "You must pay the penalty: injustice brings ruin." And to Pisistratus: "No man who does injury to others will escape paying the penalty." Rhadamanthus, in Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics V, pronounces "it is just that whoever has done something unjustly should suffer the same things." Hence the axiom of the Pythagoreans: "Justice will be right, if one bears the equal of his deeds." The Law of the Twelve Tables: "If he has broken a limb, unless he makes peace with him, let there be retaliation."
HE WHO DIGS A PIT WILL FALL INTO IT — that is, he who devises deceit for another will perish by the same. The metaphor is taken from hunters who prepare treacherous pits for wild beasts, and from soldiers who treacherously prepare ditches for enemies and cover them with turf, into which the unsuspecting enemies and beasts fall; but the hunters themselves not infrequently thoughtlessly fall into them. Sirach 27:29 has the same proverb word for word, where I explained it. Moreover, Thaumaturgus clearly translates: but he who lays snares for another does not know that he prepares snares first and only for himself. So often (and this is what the Wise Man chiefly has in view, as I said at the beginning of the verse) those who through fraud and slander cast upright men from their position and invade and seize it, are cast down from the same by others whom God raises up as their rivals, indeed they are sometimes beheaded and punished with death.
HE WHO BREAKS DOWN (Vatablus, breaks through; the Zurich version, demolishes) A HEDGE, A SERPENT WILL BITE HIM — which usually lurks in the hollows or plants of hedges. The meaning is what I gave a little above, as if to say: He who invades and breaks into what belongs to others will incur the same or a similar harm. Thaumaturgus: he who demolishes another's safe protection will everywhere fall into the bites of a serpent.
Tropologically, those who break down hedges and move stones, as follows, are those who tear down received and approved laws and rights, whether public, or of religion, or of discipline, and therefore are punished either by men, according to the saying of Proverbs 22:28: "Do not transgress the ancient boundaries that your fathers set." And that of Isaiah 58:12: "You shall be called the builder of hedges," that is, the reformer of discipline. So St. Jerome; and Olympiodorus: The hedge, he says, is the faith of the Church founded on the Apostolic preaching, which heretics overturn; hence they themselves will also be overturned. Moreover, the hedge is the holiness of the soul and the fear of the Lord, which whoever breaks down will be bitten by the devil. Hence the Author of the Greek Catena translates this entire verse thus: he who sins punishes his own soul: Therefore he who despises the commandments, or even stumbles into the knowledge of deceptive things, stripped of divine grace, will be bitten by sin. Furthermore, hedges are the defenses of the soul, by which it is protected from the dangers of sinning, such as the enclosures of virgins, the presence of parents, superiors, or companions, which whoever removes easily falls into the temptations and bites of the devil.
HE WHO MOVES (removes; Cajetan, disturbs; Campensis, casts out; the Syriac, will change; the Arabic, takes away) STONES (that is, some material of stones, especially if he does it to tear down or lay waste the hedge, or garden, or house of another), WILL BE HURT BY THEM — both by the labor of moving them, and by the fall or impact of some stone, by which he will be injured or crushed. For "will be hurt" the Hebrew reads, will be afflicted with pain; Aquila and Symmachus, will be torn by them; the Complutensian, will be tormented. The meaning is, as if to say: He who undertakes a dangerous matter is not infrequently caught and harmed by that very danger. Moreover, he who inflicts harm on others inflicts it on himself. So Samson, shaking the columns of the house to destroy the Philistines, destroyed himself, when he was crushed by the ruin of the same, Judges 16:30.
AND HE WHO SPLITS (cuts, cleaves) WOOD WILL BE WOUNDED BY IT. — The Septuagint, will be endangered by it; the Syriac, his destruction will come from it; the Arabic, will be enclosed by it; another, will be heated by it, that is, burned and tormented. Now first, the Chaldean takes this proverb and the preceding one as applying to Manasseh who worshipped wooden idols, and was therefore captured by the Assyrians: "Solomon the prophet said," he writes, "It was revealed before me that Manasseh the son of Hezekiah will sin and worship stone idols; therefore he will be handed over into the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and he will bind him with chains because he caused the words of the law to cease, which were written from the beginning on stone tablets; therefore he will be afflicted in them: and Rabshakeh his brother will worship wooden idols, and will abandon the words of the law which were placed in the ark of setim wood: therefore he will be burned with fire by the hand of the angel of the Lord." But these are symbolic, Judaic, and foreign interpretations. Second, Vatablus and Clarius think it is signified here that nothing can be done rightly without industry, and that without wisdom any labor is burdensome, so that whether one moves stones or splits wood, unless he applies industry, he will labor much and exhaust himself, and that often with a futile effort and no result. Third and genuinely, the meaning is, as if to say: He who undertakes difficult and dangerous matters is often caught and overwhelmed by their dangers, according to the saying of Sirach 3:27: "He who loves danger will perish in it."
Tropologically, he who causes a schism in the Church or a congregation will be afflicted by the same, indeed sometimes he perishes by it.
...wisdom follows; the Arabic, and wisdom is the strength of vigor; St. Jerome in the old edition, and the remainder of strength is wisdom; Symmachus, he succeeds who applies vigor to wisdom; another, the excellence of directing is wisdom; Pagninus, the excellence of wisdom is above high things, because it makes straight; Vatablus, the excellence of directing (Cajetan, of rectitude) is wisdom; Campensis, wisdom makes things otherwise difficult easy; the Zurich version, an army also requires some who may make them stronger; another, excellence directs itself through wisdom. Almost all amount to the same thing, as if to say: Just as a whetstone sharpens and makes straight the edge of iron, which before was bent and blunted: so the excellence, industry, and exercise of wisdom, like a whetstone, consists in this, that it makes a man upright and directs him in all his actions, and makes them right, equitable, just, and holy. For it brings about that a man does not fail in his right purpose, but in all things follows the judgment of right reason and of the divine law and will as the most correct rule of his works.
Finally, the Hebrew כשרון kisron has three meanings, namely industry, rectitude, and fittingness. Hence, third, you may translate: and the residue, or the excellence of fittingness is wisdom, as if to say: The excellence of wisdom and virtue is situated in this, that all things be done fittingly, honorably, and becomingly, so that in all things the sense of propriety be preserved; but this is the work, this is the labor of a vigilant mind, carefully surveying and examining all circumstances of place, time, and persons.
Now first, the Chaldean takes iron to mean the iron sky, which wisdom, that is, the wise prayer of the penitent, unlocks and opens: "When," he says, "the people sinned, the heavens became strong as iron, so as not to send down rain; and because that generation did not pray before the Lord, therefore the whole age was condemned to famine; and when they come together and gather in groups, and prevail against their lusts, and appoint leaders to seek mercy from the God of heaven, their will is because of the excellent rectitude of their wisdom:" will, that is, favor, benevolence, beneficence; hence Costus translates: heaven, on account of the dignity and beauty of their wisdom, grants them all things according to their wishes. But no one fails to see that these interpretations are mystical, indeed forced and contrived.
Second, the Septuagint, whom Thaumaturgus, Olympiodorus, and St. Cyprian, book V of Testimonies to Quirinus, chapter 86, follow, connect these words to the preceding verse: "He who splits wood," they say, "will be endangered by it, if the iron falls off, and he himself will disturb the face," as if to say: He who splits wood incurs the danger that the iron with which he cuts may fall from the handle and disturb him, while it strikes and injures himself or another.
Third, Campensis translates and explains through the antithesis of iron and wisdom, that iron sometimes fails, but wisdom never: "If the iron," he says, "with which they cut wood has become blunted, it will give much trouble even to the strongest; but wisdom often makes things otherwise difficult easy."
Fourth, the Hebrew חילים chaialim, which our Vulgate translates "with much labor," also means forces, troops, and armies. Hence the Zurich version translates: when the iron has been blunt and its face not polished, it requires exercise; armies also require someone who may make them stronger: but it will be more fitting to desire wisdom with greater zeal, because, as he said above, wisdom avails and achieves more than weapons of war. So also Pagninus, Clarius, and Vatablus. Otherwise also Cajetan, Olympiodorus, Moringus; and there are almost as many versions here as there are interpreters, as many opinions as heads.
Verse 10: IF THE IRON IS BLUNTED, AND IT IS NOT AS BEFORE, BUT HAS BECOME DULL, IT WILL BE SHARPENED WITH MUCH LABOR, AND (thus) AFTER INDUSTRY WISDOM WILL FOLLOW. — For "is blunted," the Hebrew is קהה keha, that is, has become stupefied, is dull and blunt; keha both in its letters and in its meaning alludes to כהה caha, that is, has grown dim, is darkness, and pertains to the eyes and to sight: for what the edge of seeing is in the eye, the edge of cutting is in the knife; hence just as an eye dulled in its edge is said to grow dim, so also a knife. Hence Cajetan translates: if the iron has been darkened. For rust darkens and dulls iron, and when it is wiped away, the iron is polished, becomes bright, and shines, according to the saying of Ezekiel 21:9: "The sword is sharpened and polished, etc. It is polished so that it may shine." For "and it is not as before," the Hebrew is והוא לא פנים קלקל, vehu lo panim kilkal, which Pagninus and the Zurich version translate: nor has its face been cleaned or polished; Vatablus: and the one cutting has not cleaned both sides; the Syriac: and it disturbs the face itself. Our Vulgate better translates "and it is not as before," namely, cleaned and polished.
For "it will be sharpened with much labor," the Hebrew is וחילים יגבר vachaialim iegabber, which various interpreters translate variously. The Septuagint, and he strengthened his forces; the Syriac, and he multiplies the slain; Pagninus, and he will strengthen his forces; others, the one cutting will strengthen his forces; the Zurich version, it requires exercise; Campensis, it gives much trouble even to the strongest; Vatablus, then the forces of the cutter will overcome the iron; our Vulgate most excellently translates, "it will be sharpened with much labor." St. Jerome, in the old edition, will be strengthened or fortified by virtues; the Complutensian, and he will strengthen his powers; Thaumaturgus, he seeks by injustice to increase a power that will be short-lived; others, the army will prevail. "AND AFTER INDUSTRY WISDOM WILL FOLLOW." The Septuagint, and abundance for the man, not wisdom; the Syriac, profit for prosperity.
But our Vulgate translates far better and more truly through homoiosis, or comparison of iron with wisdom, namely that just as iron that has become blunted is sharpened by labor, so also wisdom and virtue that have become dull through torpor are sharpened by industry. Hence he says: "If the iron has been blunted," namely an iron knife or sword, "and it is not as before," that is, and it is no longer polished and sharp as it was before, "but has become dull" through rust or too much cutting, "it will be sharpened with much labor;" in Hebrew, with strengths, or with much vigor, strength and force the smith will strengthen it: "And (that is, in a similar manner) after industry wisdom will follow."
The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Just as a knife or sword of iron covered with rust (for rust eats away iron), blunted and dulled, is sharpened by frequent and laborious rubbing with a whetstone or steel, and sometimes also by heating and hammering: so likewise the edge of the mind, blunted and dulled by idleness, sloth, gluttony, or some other vice, must again be sharpened by the great exercise and labor of industry, study, and virtue, and recalled to its former keenness. The whetstone, therefore, by which blunted and torpid virtue and wisdom are sharpened, is the stirring up, rubbing, and exercising of soul and body, just as the sharpness of intellect and truth is sharpened by disputation and the friction of arguments; the heating is ardent consideration and meditation, according to the saying of the Psalmist: "In my meditation a fire shall burn" of charity and zeal. The hammering is mortification, penance, and tribulation. So St. Jerome: "If someone," he says, "sees that he has lost through negligence the knowledge of the Scriptures, and the sharpness of his intellect has become dull, and he has by no means remained in his troubled state as he had begun to be: for it happens sometimes that when someone has had a small amount of knowledge, being puffed up with pride, he ceases to learn and read, and gradually, from the fact that nothing is added to him, something is taken away, and his breast remains empty of learning, and the iron that had been sharp becomes dull: for idleness and sloth are, as it were, a kind of rust of wisdom. If therefore anyone has suffered this, let him not despair of the remedy of health, but let him go to a master and be instructed again by him, and after labor and industry and great sweat he will be able to recover the wisdom he had lost. This is what is more expressively said in the Hebrew: And with strengths he will be strengthened, that is, with labor and sweat, and industry, and daily reading, he will attain wisdom; and his strength will have this end, that he may receive wisdom." Albinus, Titelmannus, and others agree, who explain it thus, as if to say: Just as iron, if it lies idle, becomes blunted, blackens, contracts rust, and is consumed: so if art, knowledge, or virtue is not exercised, it languishes, becomes sordid, and is corrupted: and this damage cannot be repaired except by great labor and study. Plutarch truly says in the Moralia: "As the stalk," he says, "first shoots up with vigor, then is cut by frequent joints, and finally at the top labors under the blasts of the wind: so some persons are fervent at first, then from time to time pause and stumble, and in the end fail, exhausted."
Again, you may apply this proverb to governance, namely to rulers, teachers, parents, as if to say: Just as iron that has become dull is sharpened not by itself, but by the smith with a whetstone or other instrument: so subjects, students, and children who are sluggish and idle in the pursuit of wisdom and virtue must be aroused, sharpened, polished, and perfected by the great labor and industry of rulers, teachers, and parents. Hence Blessed Dorotheus, Climacus, Cassian, and other masters of spiritual matters teach that superiors ought to prick and stimulate the virtue of their subjects with various exercises and industries, and thus sharpen it, lest if they allow it to be idle, it grows lazy, torpid, and dull: therefore those who neglect to do this either from fear or from sloth act as if a parent were taking bread away from his child: which causes the child not to grow, but to fail and wither; conversely, subjects ought not to bear this ill, but to give thanks to them, because they duly perform their duty, to which they are obligated by God, for the good of their subjects. Just therefore as a knife does not resent the whetstone, but if it could speak, would give thanks to it because by its rubbing, although laborious and rough, it is sharpened, polished, and made to shine: so likewise it is right for subjects to give thanks to their rulers, because by their admonitions, corrections, discipline, penances, etc., they are sharpened and perfected in humility, patience, obedience, and every religious virtue.
Moreover, St. Bonaventure applies this proverb not to subjects but to Prelates, whose habits have been changed by their honors, as if to say: Prelates, who before were modest, humble, upright, and keen for every virtue, having been made proud, unconstrained, imperious, and devoted to honor, wealth, and pleasures through the prelacy, these stand in need of the great labor of correction, so that they may be recalled to their pristine splendor and the keen edge of virtue. The reason is that no one among their subjects dares to correct them, and if anyone dares, they themselves will not listen. See St. Gregory, Homily 18 on Ezekiel, where he teaches that subjects ought to correct their superiors more by prayer and the example of a holy life than by words.
Finally, you may apply this proverb to anyone whatsoever, whether
...superiors, or inferiors, or equals, according to the saying of Proverbs 27:17: "Iron is sharpened by iron, and a man sharpens the face of his friend," as if to say: Just as iron retains its edge while it is worn by use; and while it is not used, it is more worn away: for by use itself it is sharpened, but by disuse it is consumed by rust: so likewise the power of our mind, whether in virtues or in the habits of knowledge and arts, collapses unless they are recalled to action; therefore a friend, conversing with a friend, polishes and sharpens the powers of his mind. Moreover, iron signifies the hardness and depression of our nature corrupted through the body and concupiscence, so that like iron it can only be polished and sharpened to virtue and heavenly wisdom by great and prolonged labor. Hence Isidore, book XVI of the Etymologies, chapter 20, gives these etymologies of iron: Iron, he says, is called ferrum from far (grain), because it stores farra, that is, the seeds of the fruits of the earth; others say because it is carried (feratur) into the fields for cultivating; some from bearing (ferendo). And he adds that the appearance of iron has been turned to reproach, because human blood is shed by it, and therefore this blood avenges itself on iron, since iron touched by blood contracts rust more quickly. Hear also Pliny, book 34, chapter 14: "Iron," he says, "is the best and worst instrument of life: for with it we break open the earth, plant groves, set out orchards, and force vines to grow young every year by cutting away their ugliness. With it we strip roofs, cut stones, and use iron for all other purposes. But the same is used for wars, slaughter, and robbery, not only in close combat, but also as a flying missile, now hurled by engines, now by arms, now indeed feathered: which I consider the most wicked fraud of human ingenuity. For so that death might more swiftly reach man, we made it winged and gave feathers to iron. Therefore let the blame be attributed to man, not to nature: and yet iron can be innocent. In that treaty which Porsenna gave to the Roman people when the kings were expelled, we find it specifically stated that iron should be used for nothing but agriculture." So he says.
AND AFTER INDUSTRY (follows) WISDOM. — Industry is the readiness and sagacity of the mind, or the ability to accomplish something, namely the art and ingenious skill for completing a task; hence it is taken to mean the exercise of art or intellect. Hence Festus: The ancients, he says, used to call the industrious man indostruum, as if whatever he did, he planned and studied it at home from the beginning. Wisdom and virtue, therefore, are acquired by industry, that is, first, by labor and exercise; second, by the sagacious skill and ingenuity of the mind. Thus we see that those who study industriously, that is, methodically and skillfully, with little labor make more progress than the rest, who labor much. For art surpasses nature and forces. So smiths who know the art of sharpening iron knives do it far better and with less labor than others who are ignorant of that art. Pliny truly says, book 9, chapter 4: "The turbot," he says, "and the angel shark, the ray, and the stingray, though they are the slowest of fish, are nevertheless often found with the mullet, the swiftest of all, in their belly, catching it by skill and ingenuity. Thus some by art surpass those who are far more powerful in wealth or strength." Hence in emblems, Industry is depicted as a matron dressed in precious garments, skillfully wrought with embroidery; in her right hand she holds a swarm of bees, in the other a crane, which raises weights on high; she is depicted with bare feet, and on her head she bears a statue of Plutus, because she herself produces the wealth over which Plutus presides. The same has its place in virtue, holiness, and perfection. For whoever knows the art of striving for the summit of virtue attains it with little labor, which others barely achieve after many years of great exertion. Such are those who are entirely devoted to fasting and to the rigor and austerity of life; likewise those who are entirely occupied with external works, such as caring for the sick, the poor, guests, etc. But those who devote themselves to charity and prayer quickly ascend to perfection: for holiness consists in charity. Moreover, the industry and practice of accumulating merits and increasing grace and glory is this: if you do all works, even indifferent ones, out of charity; and if you add to this the acts and ends of other virtues, each one will add a new merit to the same act; therefore skillful men perform their acts under the command of charity, religion, humility, obedience, gratitude, patience, and other virtues, for example, when they eat, study, teach, etc., at the beginning of the work they offer it to God and say to the Lord: I wish to eat, study, teach, and do such a work out of love for You, that I may please You; out of worship of You, that I may honor You; out of humility, that I may despise myself; out of obedience, that I may obey Your commands or those of my superiors; out of gratitude, that I may give You thanks for the benefits bestowed on me, and praise and glorify You; out of patience, that I may conform myself to Your cross and passion; out of zeal for souls, that I may convert my neighbors or promote them in virtue: for the more and the better the virtues that command the same act, the better it is, and the greater the rewards of grace and glory it merits. This is what St. Augustine says: "Not the number of works, not the length of time, but greater charity and a better will increases merit." There exist wise books on the practice and industry of accumulating virtues and merits, which it is worthwhile to read and put into effect.
Verse 11: IF THE SERPENT BITES IN SILENCE (Hebrew, without murmur, whispering, or hissing), HE WHO SECRETLY DETRACTS HAS NOTHING MORE. — For "he who secretly detracts," the Hebrew is בעל לשון baal lashon, that is, master of the tongue, or one having a tongue, by whom the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic understand an enchanter, who by his לחש lachash, that is, whispering and murmuring, namely by his incantations or sorceries, usually charms serpents so that they do not bite or harm. Hence the Septuagint translates: if the serpent has bitten not in a whisper, there is nothing more for the enchanter, namely no remedy against the bite: because the serpent is charmed so that it does not bite; for after the bite, the incantation is of no use. Hence the Syriac translates: there is no profit (others, usefulness) in the sorcerer; the Arabic, there is not found-
...goodness is not found in the sorcerer; Aquila, without an enchanter; but St. Jerome in the old edition translates: if the serpent has bitten in silence, there is nothing more (no remedy) for the one who has a tongue; understand, if the one who has a tongue remains in silence and does not use his tongue: and he explains it of the sinner who keeps silent about the sin he has committed and does not wish to confess it, for whom therefore no remedy of forgiveness remains: "If the devil-serpent," he says, "has bitten someone secretly, and with no one knowing has infected him with the venom of sin; if the one who was struck keeps silent and does not do penance, and does not wish to confess his wound to a brother and a teacher, the teacher who has a tongue for healing will not easily be able to help him. For if the sick man is ashamed to confess his wound to the physician, medicine does not cure what it does not know." So also Olympiodorus. Hence also Thaumaturgus translates: but the secret bite of the serpent, enchanters will not heal. Therefore the wicked are vain. Cassian agrees, Conferences II, chapter 1, where Serapion relates that he overcame the habit of stealing bread through a public confession of the theft. He confirms this from this passage which he reads thus: "If the serpent has bitten," he says, "not in a hiss, there is no abundance for the enchanter, designating that the bite of a silent serpent is deadly; that is, if a diabolical suggestion or thought has not been revealed through confession to some enchanter, namely a spiritual man who is accustomed to heal a wound promptly with the incantations of Scripture and to extract from the heart the noxious venoms of the serpent, he will not be able to help the one in danger who is about to perish." Therefore the superior and confessor is the enchanter of sins. But St. Jerome translates most excellently in the Vulgate; for baal lashon, that is, master of the tongue, is a detractor. The meaning therefore is, as if to say, says St. Jerome: "The serpent and the detractor are equals: For just as the serpent biting secretly injects venom, so the detractor, secretly slandering, pours the poison of his breast into his brother, and has nothing more than a serpent. For since the tongue of man was created for blessing God and edifying his neighbor, the detractor makes it equal to a serpent, while he misuses its powers for evil. The detractor therefore is a serpent."
First, because just as a serpent secretly injects its venom, and when you notice, you find yourself struck by it and wounded by the violence of pestilential poison: so when you admit a detractor and listen to the sins or faults of a brother, you suddenly find the love you had toward him either wounded or completely spent. For detraction differs from insult in this, that the latter throws a reproach openly and to the face of another person who is present; but the former secretly, covertly, and in hiding slanders one who is absent.
Second, the bite of a serpent inflicts not one but many wounds on a person by its bite, because the venom creeps through all the members, infects, and torments them. So also the detractor by his malevolence and slander injures his brother, disturbs peace, dissipates charity, splits unity, scandalizes the listeners; stirs up hatreds, quarrels, brawls, and wars, and even sometimes overturns assemblies, cities, and kingdoms.
Third, the tongue of the serpent is three-forked, says Pliny, book 11, chapter 57; and Isidore, book 1 of the Origins, chapter 4: "The tongue is very thin in serpents," says Pliny, "and three-forked, darting, of a dark color, and, if you pull it out, very long." Hence by biting it inflicts three wounds: so also the tongue of the slanderer wounds the conscience of the one slandering with mortal sin, injures the reputation of the neighbor, and infects the ears and mind of the listeners with its malevolence. Hence St. Bernard, On the Threefold Custody of the hand, tongue, and heart: "The slandering tongue," he says, "striking the conscience of the one and wounding the charity of the other, destroys both alike along with itself. Is not this tongue venomous? It is most savage indeed, which so lethally infects three with a single breath. Is this tongue not a spear? Indeed it is most sharp, which pierces three with a single blow: Their tongue, he says, is a sharp sword. Truly the tongue of the detractor is a double-edged sword, indeed triple-edged." Then he adds something great and wondrous: "Nor should you hesitate to call a tongue of this kind more cruel than the very spear point by which the Lord's side was pierced; for it too digs into Christ's body and member from member, and does not dig into what is already lifeless, but makes it lifeless by digging. It is also more harmful than the thorns which military fury placed on that most sublime head; or even than the iron nails which the consummation of Jewish iniquity drove into those most holy hands and feet. For unless He had preferred the life of this body of His, which is now pierced and transfixed, to the life of that body, He would never have delivered that one to the outrage of death and the ignominy of the cross for this one. And we say: Speech is a light thing, the tongue of man is tender, soft, and small flesh: what wise person would think much of it? Speech is indeed a light thing, because it flies lightly, but it wounds grievously; it passes lightly, but it burns heavily; it penetrates the mind lightly, but does not lightly depart; it is uttered lightly, but is not lightly recalled; it flies easily, and therefore easily violates charity."
Fourth, Horus Apollo places the basilisk, or kinglet serpent, as the hieroglyphic of the detractor, which kills men by its gaze alone: so also the detractor kills by his voice alone. Moreover, other serpents can be charmed by enchantment, but the basilisk can in no way be charmed. Hence the saying of Jeremiah 8:17: "I will send against you serpent basilisks, against which there is no enchantment." So also the detractor, because he slanders secretly, cannot be stopped by the one he slanders, since the victim cannot clear himself, not knowing that a charge is being leveled against him. indeed they restore even others who have suffered calumny to the highest reputation and tranquility with a single word.
Finally, for "no less has," in Hebrew it is lo iitron, that is, "he does not have more," "the serpent does not excel" with its bite over the bite of the master of the tongue, that is, the detractor, but rather is surpassed by him. It is a litotes: less is said and more is signified, as if to say: The tongue of the detractor bites more than that of the serpent. The bite of the detractor is more hidden, more deceitful, more harmful than that of the serpent. For the latter bites the body, but the former bites reputation and conscience, and by biting destroys them. Therefore the venom of the detracting tongue surpasses all the poison of snakes and asps; nor is it so much serpentine as it is hellish and diabolical, as St. James teaches in chapter III, 7, where I have shown this more fully. Therefore "while it infects the ears, it kills souls," says St. Bernard, Sermon 24 on the Canticles, and he so graphically depicts the detractor's hypocritical manners and gestures, by which with feigned love he conceals his venomous hatred: "Some," he says, "attempt to disguise with simulated modesty the conceived malice that they cannot contain. You may see deep sighs sent forth, and then with a certain gravity and slowness, with a sad countenance, lowered eyebrows, and a lamenting voice, the curse emerges, and indeed all the more persuasive because it is believed by those who hear it to be uttered with an unwilling heart and with the feeling of one who sympathizes rather than of one who speaks maliciously. 'I grieve greatly,' he says, 'for one whom I love dearly, and whom I have never been able to correct in this matter.' And another says: 'Indeed, this matter was well known to me about that person, but it would never have become known through me; but since the matter has been revealed through another, I cannot deny the truth; I say with sorrow: It is truly so.'"
Fifth, the tongue of the detractor is serpentine; for the serpent has under its tongue a bladder full of venom, which ruptures when it bites. The detractor or whisperer has something similar. Hence that saying: "The venom of asps is under their lips, with their tongues they dealt deceitfully" (Psalm 139:4). For this reason, when the serpentine tongues of the Jews murmured against Moses and detracted from him, God sent fiery serpents (Numbers 21:5), to which the Chaldean here alludes and aptly renders: just as fiery serpents are sent to vex and harm the age on account of the sins of the house of Israel, who did not labor in the words of the law in silence, so there will be no more for the man who is an accuser and whisperer, for he will be set ablaze with the fire of Gehenna.
Sixth, Vatablus explains it thus, as if to say: Just as a serpent that is not forestalled or hindered by incantation bites those it meets, so our nature, destitute of the incantation of wisdom, detracts from others, and devours, gnaws, and bites the reputation of neighbors, according to that saying of Horace, Satires I, 4: "He who gnaws at an absent friend, etc. This man is black; beware of him, O Roman."
Seventh, the bite of the asp is gentle, so that it is scarcely felt, like the prick of a needle, without swelling; yet its poison immediately pervades the blood and entrails. Hence Cleopatra killed herself with an asp's bite, so that she might die most sweetly, lest she be led in triumph by Caesar Augustus after his victory at Actium over her and Antony her husband. So too the words of the detractor are gentle, flattering and pleasant: for he feigns and asserts that he is not reviewing his neighbor's faults out of hatred, but out of love and zeal for correcting them; but immediately his slander wounds the reputation of the absent person and the conscience of the listener. Again, from the bite of the asp scarcely a drop of clear, red blood trickles forth, but rather dark and black blood: so too detraction distills nothing but the blackening of reputation and conscience; for it proceeds from the tongue and its bladder, which, as in the serpent, so also in the detractor, is dark and black, and filled with black venom.
Eighth, the Syrians near the source of the Euphrates, through a natural antipathy of constitution, or as others prefer, sympathy, are not bitten nor harmed by serpents, just as the Psylli in Africa, the Ophiogenes in Cyprus and the Hellespont, and the Marsi in Italy: for all of these, says Pliny, Book XXVIII, chapter III, "are a terror to serpents, by their very touch they relieve those bitten (by serpents) and by slight suction." See Delrio, On Magic, Questions IX and XIII. So men eminent in wisdom, reputation, and sanctity do not fear the tongues of detractors; but they are superior to all detraction, and moreover
Verse 12: THE WORDS OF A WISE MAN'S MOUTH ARE GRACE: AND THE LIPS OF A FOOL SHALL THROW HIM DOWN.
The Hebrew has: will swallow up, or devour him. So the Septuagint; the Syriac: the words of a wise man's mouth are glory, and the lips of a fool stain him; the Arabic: hinder him; another: destroy him; Cajetan: will overthrow him; Campensis: will overturn him; the Zurich Bible: from the mouth of a wise man proceed things that confer grace, which the lips of a fool take away as if by swallowing.
The pronoun "him" can be taken in two ways: first, absolutely, as referring to the wise man; second, reflexively, as referring to the fool. In the first sense, there is an antithesis of the fool's fight and folly against the wise man and wisdom, as if to say: The wise man speaks gracious words; but the proud and envious fool contradicts, and fights against him with many words and arguments, to overthrow him, supplant him, defeat him, confound him, and make him like himself. So St. Jerome, who adds: "And indeed the wise man is cast down when he speaks in the ear of an imprudent man, and his words perish in a deep whirlpool, so to speak. Hence blessed is he who speaks in the ear of the wise." In the second sense, the antithesis is more forceful -- of folly and the fool, attacking and casting down not the wise man but himself, as if to say: The wise man speaks with much grace, namely wisely, modestly, benevolently, usefully, lovably, pleasantly: whereby he gains the favor of his hearers; but the fool speaks tastelessly, immodestly, arrogantly, imprudently, shamelessly, insolently: whereby he incurs the hatred of his hearers, and even quarrels and brawls, which cast him headlong into grievous losses, and eventually into death and hell. Hence Thaumaturgus says: the good man works things beneficial both for himself and his neighbor; but the fool's garrulity is pernicious. And Olympiodorus says: the speech of the wise man is neither inhuman nor harsh, neither soft nor dissolute; but seasoned with much grace, so that it equally restrains and does not allow the hearers to go astray. So St. Bonaventure.
The a priori reason is that the words of the wise man's mouth proceed from a heart fragrant with graces and virtues, which breathes its fragrance into words; but the words of the fool proceed from a dull, senseless heart destitute of all grace, which instills its dullness and senselessness into words, according to that saying of Seneca, Epistles 114 and 115: "Such as was the speech of men, such was their life. The color of the mind cannot be one thing in talent (words and deeds) and another in spirit: speech is the countenance of the soul." Therefore the voice of the wise man proceeds from the affection of the heart, in the grace of the mouth, in the magnificence of works, according to that saying: "Grace is poured forth on your lips" (Psalm 45:3); and that: "The wise man makes himself lovable by his words, but the graces of fools are poured out" (Sirach 20:13); and that about Christ: "All bore witness to Him, and wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from His mouth" (Luke 4:22); and that of Paul: "Let your speech always be in grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer everyone" (Colossians 4:6, and Ephesians 4:29); and that of Moses: "Let my speech flow as the dew, as rain upon the grass, and as drops upon the herbs" (Deuteronomy 32:2).
Third, the Chaldean understands grace not of men but of God; hence he renders: "The words of the mouth of a wise man, who at the time when punishment threatens the world is found in the generation; if he prays, he averts the punishment and leads the Lord to mercy."
These maxims are separate, just as those in Proverbs: therefore it is not necessary to connect one with another. If, however, anyone wishes to connect this one with the preceding, let him say that the wise man, whose words are pleasing and acceptable to all, is here contrasted with the detractor who is hateful and loathsome to all.
Moreover, Cajetan, Arboreus, Hugo, and Dionysius aptly connect this maxim with the preceding one, as if to say: The fool, such as the detractor is, harms not only the other person whom he detracts from, but also himself; for he voluntarily casts himself headlong into grave and inextricable evils, which will swallow him up and devour him, as a whale did Jonah, as the Hebrew has it.
Note: The word "shall throw down" indicates first the precipitancy of the tongue in the fool, by which he utters precipitously whatever comes into his mouth without consideration. Hence St. Bonaventure says: "The reason for precipitancy is indiscretion; and the reason for this is that he does not consider."
Hence it is said in Proverbs 29:20: "Have you seen a man swift to speak? Folly is more to be hoped for than his correction." Hence Thaumaturgus renders:
"But fools, by contrast, an immoderate desire for speaking Drags headlong with their whole neck."
Second, the word "shall throw down," says Lyra, indicates that the talkative man is rolled headlong by his own wit, and like one who is hurled from a high mountain, rushes through precipices to the ruin of both his crimes and his punishments and losses. Hence Olympiodorus, reading "the lips of the fool shall submerge him," says: The submersion of which Ecclesiastes speaks here is to be referred to eternal punishments, as if to say: The talkative man casts himself into the depth of the abyss, namely into the stomach and lowest belly of hell, to be food and fodder there for both fire and the devil. Differently, St. Jerome says: "Indeed the wise man is cast down when he speaks in the ear of an imprudent man, and his words perish in a deep whirlpool, so to speak."
Verse 13: THE BEGINNING OF HIS WORDS IS FOLLY, AND THE END OF HIS TALK IS MISCHIEVOUS MADNESS.
Pagninus renders: great madness; the Zurich Bible: pernicious insanity; Cajetan: bad trifles; Campensis: fury that is not without danger; the Septuagint: the worst circumlocution; the Syriac: shameful evils; the Arabic: inconvenient perversion. "Symmachus," says Jerome, "translated: Tumult and a certain inconstancy of words, since he does not remain in his opinion, but thinks he can escape sin by multiplying words. For since he neither remembers the past nor knows the future, and is rolled about in the darkness of ignorance, falsely promising himself knowledge, he thinks himself learned and wise in this -- that he multiplies words. This can also be applied to heretics, who do not grasp the sayings of prudent men, but preparing themselves for contrary disputations, they wrap both the beginning and end of their speaking in vanity with much error, and though they know nothing, they speak more than they know." So far St. Jerome.
Under the beginning and the end, or under the first and last, as under the extremes, understand the things that lie between, as if to say: The fool, when he speaks, begins to belch out the folly with which he is full; and the more he speaks, the more foolish things he utters; so that finally he pours out the worst errors, because what he once said foolishly he strives to defend and pursue obstinately, according to that saying of the Philosopher: "A small error in the beginning becomes great in the end." The fool therefore raves throughout his entire speech, and no part of it is free from folly; indeed, as his speech increases, his ravings increase, to such a degree that they end in the worst errors, for example, in heresies, blasphemy, atheism. Here applies that saying of Cleomenes to the ambassadors of the Samians: "What you said first I do not remember, the middle I do not understand, the last I do not approve." So Plutarch, in the Apophthegms.
Differently, Thaumaturgus says: The fool, when he opens his mouth, begins foolishly, about to end immediately, because out of senselessness he does not know how to continue and connect his speech. Therefore he begins from rashness, from vainglory, from the desire of pleasures, and ends in obstinacy, pride, imprudence, blasphemy. So Hugo. Again others say, as if to say: Wise orators take the greatest care with their exordium so as to win the favor of their hearers, and with their peroration so as to persuade what they intend; but the fool neglects both; for in his exordium he turns the hearers away from himself by his tasteless witticism, and in his epilogue he proposes nothing but folly to be hissed by all, especially when through the foolish inconstancy of his mind he makes the epilogue not correspond to the exordium, but rather contradict it. Hence the Chaldean renders: the peroration teems with depraved impulses.
Verse 14: A FOOL MULTIPLIES WORDS. because he lacks substance and wisdom: hence he heaps up trifling words, and repeats the same things importunately and noisily without judgment, to the disgust of his hearers, a thousand times over, according to that saying of Apuleius, Apology 1: "A speech that is weak in substance is vigorous in noise." And that of Theocritus about Anaximenes orating: "A flood of words begins, a drop of mind." So Stobaeus, Sermon 34. On the contrary, the wise man is brief in words but copious in meaning, for he signifies much in few words. So the author of the Greek Catena says: "Even saying little to many, he seems noisy and a trifler. The wise man therefore is of few words, but the fool of many." Again, the fool multiplies words because even when he speaks about virtues he vainly babbles many things about them that he himself does not have in his heart nor feels: therefore he is like a chattering magpie or swallow, or a talkative jackdaw, who though he chatters constantly with his lips, yet his heart is empty of sense, and he understands nothing of what he chatters. This is what Ecclesiasticus says, chapter 20:21: "A graceless man (that is, one without grace, whose speech is not seasoned with grace) is like a vain fable (he tells fables like a storyteller, indeed he is a fable himself), it will be continually in the mouth of the undisciplined:" therefore "a parable will be rejected coming from a fool's mouth: for he does not speak it in its proper time."
A MAN KNOWS NOT WHAT HAS BEEN BEFORE HIM: AND WHAT SHALL BE AFTER HIM, WHO CAN TELL HIM? -- This maxim aptly coheres with the preceding one, as if to say: Fools multiply words because they are accustomed to chattering much about things that are past, and also to inquiring too anxiously into the future with curious investigation, and dare to predict, when there are very few things that a man knows for certain about the past, and about the future almost no certain knowledge is had. For which reason it seems entirely vain to multiply words about such uncertain and unknown things (which is what fools do). We heard this maxim in chapter III, 22, and VII, 1, where I explained it.
Now first, the Chaldean renders: the fool is wholly occupied with the empty noise of words, for which there was no need, nor can anyone know what will happen in his days, and what will occur at his end. For who will report it to him? Second, the Zurich Bible renders: the fool uses many words, and this man does not know where he is going; who will tell him what is to follow? And Campensis: the fool so multiplies words that no one can understand what he wants, much less gather anything about the future from them. Third, Aben Ezra thinks the last words are spoken from the person of the fool, as if to say: The fool multiplies words about his pleasures and the things he desires, because he is touched by no fear of future things, namely of judgment and hell. For he says: These things are uncertain, indeed vain and empty, according to that saying of Epicurus:
"Eat, drink, play; after death there is no pleasure."
For pleasure-seekers, in order to indulge their desires freely and securely, deny the immortality of the soul, deny heaven, deny hell, and finally deny all divinity. But the first sense is the most fitting and genuine.
Verse 15: THE LABOR OF FOOLS SHALL AFFLICT THEM, WHO KNOW NOT HOW TO GO TO THE CITY.
This is a difficult passage, because it is hard to define what this proverb means: "To go to the city." First, Cajetan thinks that the prince is here rebuked who makes the road to his city obscure, winding, and difficult, when it ought to be straight, open, and passable. And in this one labor of the fool, he says, all similar labors of fools that are unseemly and harmful are understood. But this is far-fetched, and foreign to the Vulgate.
Second, Mercerus, and after him Delrio in his Adages, think that "the city" proverbially signifies the height and end of a business, as if to say: Fools begin a thing and do not know how to finish it and bring it to perfection.
Third, Isidore Clarius and Campensis render: the fool does not know the manner of living civilly; he is barbarous and rustic, while the wise and just man is courteous and urbane. Moringus agrees, thinking there is an allusion to rustics whose labor is in vain if they do not convey their produce to the city in time for the market to sell them; or, as if to say: Vain is the labor of fools who multiply words, because they do not know how to speak in a polished and urbane manner, as city-dwellers do.
Fourth, Aben Ezra and Vatablus, as if to say: Fools occupy themselves and tire themselves out with difficult questions; yet they are ignorant of common and obvious things, which is proverbially expressed: "He does not know the way to the city;" for what is more well-known than the royal and well-trodden road to the city? Hence Emmanuel Sa says: They do not know how to go to the city, that is, he says, they are ignorant of the most well-known things.
Fifth, our Pineda takes "to go to the city," or as the Arabic renders, "to walk through the city," as meaning to traverse the city, that is, to govern the city, so that foolish princes, counselors, and magistrates are here censured, who do not visit the cities subject and entrusted to them, to remove abuses, administer justice, and arrange all things rightly. For "to traverse" in Scripture is a word denoting authority and governance, as I showed in Zechariah 1:11. With this interpretation what follows aptly coheres: "Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child!"
Sixth, more simply one may say it is a metaphor from slaves condemned to labors, whether in workhouses, or in fields, or in mines for digging out metals of iron, copper, silver, etc., who since they lead a laborious life there, do not know the way to the city, so as to lead a civil, easy, and comfortable life there (for in the city there is the convenience and abundance of all things); or from travelers and pilgrims who, since they do not know the direct and shortest road to the city they are heading for, through circuitous routes, detours, and roundabout ways arrive at the intended city either late or never. As if to say: In a similar way the fool labors to live wisely and happily; but in vain, because he does not know the way to the city, that is, the method and system of wisdom; he does not know how to execute his affairs wisely, he does not know in what thing wisdom consists: for he seeks it in license, gluttony, luxury, etc., when it resides in prudence and virtue.
There is a well-known example in Italy of a certain Transalpine nobleman, who heading for the city of Rome, since he sought out fine wines in the inns, and therefore sent servants ahead to explore the wines of the inns, and wherever they found better wine to inscribe on the door "est" [it is good], and when they finally found the best they inscribed "est est"; and so the nobleman drank so much there that he died from overindulgence and never reached the city. Hence his servants inscribed on his tomb: "By 'est est' our lord died."
Hence St. Jerome takes the city to mean truth and the city of wisdom, and expounds this maxim first concerning the philosophers: "Read Plato," he says, "turn over the subtleties of Aristotle, examine Zeno and Carneades more carefully, and you will prove true what is said: The labor of fools shall afflict them. They indeed sought truth with all zeal, but because they did not have a guide and forerunner of the journey, and thought with human senses that they could comprehend wisdom, they by no means reached the city. Concerning which it is said in Psalm 72:20: Lord, in Your city You will reduce their image to nothing. For all the shadows and diverse images and masks that they put on for themselves in diverse doctrines, the Lord will scatter in His city. Concerning which it is written elsewhere: The rush of the river makes glad the city of God" (Psalm 45:5). And in the Gospel: A city set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14). And in Isaiah: A fortified city (Isaiah 27:10), which is besieged; indeed this city of truth and wisdom, although it is firm and strong, all the wise men of the world and heretics strive to attack." Second, concerning heretics: "And what we said about philosophers," he says, "the same must also be understood about heretics, that they labor and are afflicted in vain in the study of the Scriptures, since they walk in the desert and cannot find the city, of whose error the Psalmist also speaks, saying: They wandered in the wilderness in a waterless place; they found not the way to a city of habitation" (Psalm 106:4). So far St. Jerome. For he alludes to the city of Jerusalem, which for the Jews was the city of wisdom, doctrine, law, faith, religion, the temple, and every good. Hence three times a year the Hebrews by law went to it from all Judea, to worship God in the temple and hear the law. Jerusalem was therefore for them the city of wisdom, the mother of the Church, an earthly paradise, and an image of heaven. Therefore those who wished to lead a wise, holy, and happy life went to Jerusalem; but those who did not know this way, or who were occupied with rural and other troublesome business outside it, led an ignorant or foolish, earthly, troublesome, and unhappy life. With these, then, Ecclesiastes here compares fools, because occupied with their troublesome, yet vain and empty business, they live as it were laboriously in the fields, and do not arrive at the peace and holy way of wisdom and virtue, of which Jerusalem (which in Hebrew is the same as "vision of peace") was the type.
Hence the Chaldean renders: the weariness of the fool, with which he is wearied in his folly, wearies him, so much so that he does not learn to go to the city in which the wise man dwells, to seek instruction from him. For this reason Christ commanded Saul and said: "Enter the city, and there it will be told you what you must do" (Acts 9:7).
Allegorically and anagogically, fools do not know the way to the city, that is, to the Church both militant and triumphant, because they cling to the way, that is, to the earth and its delicacies and trifles. They do not know, then, the way to the city, that is, to heaven and eternal happiness. So St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Thaumaturgus, and others. This maxim therefore teaches that in this life we are not citizens but sojourners and pilgrims, whose task is to journey to the fatherland, namely to the heavenly city, "whose maker and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). "For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14). Hence Thaumaturgus renders: moreover the man who does not know how to proceed to the good city awaits the affliction of his eyes and face.
Verse 16: WOE TO YOU, O LAND, WHOSE KING IS A CHILD, AND WHOSE PRINCES EAT IN THE MORNING.
"A child," both in age and more especially in folly, inexperience, and desire, namely one who has childish manners, affections, and thoughts, such as Rehoboam had though he was 40 years old (3 Kings 12:4). For we read that some illustrious kings were elected as boys, such as Joash, who was made king at age seven (4 Kings 11:22); and Josiah who was eight (2 Chronicles 33:1); and Solomon, who was twelve, as St. Ignatius writes to the Magnesians, although it is more true that Solomon was about twenty years old when he began his reign.
Youth of age therefore matters little, as does royal lineage. Hence Plato in the Theaetetus says all kings are descended from slaves, and slaves from kings. Wherefore St. Jerome, having interpreted "child" as a child in age, adds: "But something more sacred seems to me to lie hidden in the letter, namely that those are called 'young' in Scripture who depart from ancient authority and despise the venerable precepts of their fathers; who, neglecting God's commandment, desire to establish the traditions of men. Concerning whom the Lord also threatens Israel in Isaiah, because it refused the water of Siloam which flows in silence and turned away the old pool, choosing for itself the streams of Samaria and the torrents of Damascus: 'And I will give,' He says, 'youths as their princes, and mockers shall rule over them.'"
Hence for "child" in Hebrew it is naar, that is, boy, youth, fool; from naar the Germans received their word Narr, that is, fool. For the vices of childhood are inconsiderateness, inexperience, lack of learning, ignorance, desire, folly, fickleness, inconstancy. Wherefore Seneca, Epistle 4: "Still," he says, "not childhood but, what is graver, childishness remains; and this is indeed worse, that we have the authority of old men but the vices of children; and not of children only, but of infants: the former fear trifling things, the latter false things, we fear both."
Hence that threat in Isaiah 3:4: "I will give children as their princes." Where St. Basil says: "Youth is most fickle and highly disposed to all kinds of wickedness, such as untamed and unbridled desires, bestial and savage angers, incontinence of tongue, insults, arrogance, haughtiness from mental pride; likewise other passions native to and bred with youth, envies arising from another's surpassing eminence, suspicions on account of close familiarity: for swarms of innumerable vices cluster together and attach themselves to youth." And St. Ambrose, Book I, On Interpellation, chapter VII: "Youth," he says, "is alone and weak in strength, infirm in counsel, hot with vice, disdainful of advisors, enticing with pleasures, and blazing with the heat of seething blood." Xenophon adds: "Just as," he says, "novice lyre-players ruin many lyres, so eager young men often overturn the state."
On the occasion of fools, about whose folly and harmfulness he has said much, Ecclesiastes now passes to foolish and stupid kings and princes, whose harmfulness is all the greater as their dignity and power is greater. For their foolishness spreads throughout the whole kingdom and ruins it, especially because, as Claudian says, "The whole world is shaped by the king's example." Wisely does Gerbod, Bishop of Rheims, in his epistle (it is number 80 among the epistles of St. Hildebert, vol. III of the Library of the Holy Fathers) to the Bishop of Angers, a young man poorly in control of himself, say: "You have not yet through long age acquired experience, nor has your mind yet matured, tempered by the variety of circumstances, namely: The boy exults in levity, old age in gravity." Woe therefore to the family, household, city, and state whose king or ruler is immature in age and knowledge. Moreover, the Chaldean restricts this maxim to Jeroboam: "Woe to you," he says, "land of Israel, in the time when the impious Jeroboam shall have reigned over you and shall cause the morning sacrifice to cease from you, and your princes eat bread before they offer the daily morning sacrifice."
Here applies the maxim of Pythagoras: "A child or woman wandering with a drawn sword is a bad omen, that is, evil will not be lacking if governance is entrusted to imprudent, inept, and fickle people."
Tropologically, Olympiodorus says: The city is the soul, whose king is the mind and intellect, which if it is fickle and desirous of gluttony and pleasures, will destroy the soul; but if it is nourished with sacred disciplines, it will make it blessed. Again, St. Jerome says: The city is the Church, whose king, that is, prelate or bishop, is a child in weakness, folly, and life. Symbolically, St. Jerome and St. Augustine, Book XVII of The City of God, chapter 20, take the child-king to mean the devil, foolish and impious. I will cite the words of St. Augustine in the following verse.
Tropologically, St. Gregory, Book XVI of the Morals, chapter 25: "Again by 'morning,'" he says, "the prosperity of the present life is designated, as it is said by Solomon: Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning. For since morning is the first time of day and evening the last, we should by no means be refreshed by the prosperity of this life which comes first, but by those things which follow at the end of the day, that is, at the world's end. They therefore eat in the morning who are puffed up by the prosperities of this world, and while they care vehemently for present things, do not think of the future."
AND WHOSE PRINCES EAT IN THE MORNING -- that is, they feast intemperately with the child-king; for children in the morning, before sunrise, as soon as they awaken from sleep, are hungry because of the heat of their stomach and demand food. For all their wisdom is in their palate and taste, whereas the wisdom of kings and princes should reside in the brain and in the care of wisely governing the state. Therefore they must be temperate and sober: for nothing is so contrary to wisdom and counsel as intemperance and drunkenness.
In the morning, therefore, while the fasting mind is vigorous and the light of reason strong, and the spirits are lively from nocturnal sleep, princes should devote themselves to consultations and the handling of business; the midday or evening they should give to the refreshment of the body, as Augustus Caesar used to do, according to Suetonius. For the morning time is most suitable for counsels and business, because it is the light of the mind as well as of the body. Hence 'mane' [morning] is said to be the beginning of the day and of light, which thence remains for the rest of the day, says Varro, Book V of On the Latin Language. Servius and Festus add that 'manum' for the ancients meant 'good'; hence 'immane' [monstrous] is the same as 'evil'; and nothing is so good as light. Hence the Greeks, when a light is brought in, say: phos agathon [good light]. Some, however, derive 'mane' from 'manibus' [the dead], because from the lower places where the manes are, that is, the souls and spirits of the dead, light seems to emerge and rise with the sun.
Wherefore Jeremiah, chapter 21, verse 12: "Judge," he says, "judgment in the morning;" in the morning, that is, sober, says Vatablus, lest through drunkenness you corrupt judgments. Hence Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 11: "Woe," he says, "to you who rise in the morning to pursue drunkenness." The a priori reason is that the king and princes ought to be the rule of the whole state. Therefore in governing they must follow right reason; but gluttony and drunkenness obscure, indeed avert this, while temperance and sobriety, especially in the morning, foster it. Hence Solomon, Proverbs 31:4: "Do not," he says, "give wine to kings, O Lemuel, do not give wine to kings: for there is no secret where drunkenness reigns, lest perhaps they drink and forget their judgments and change the cause of the children of the poor." Again, magistrates who hold banquets consume in them the revenues and wealth of the city, and offend and scandalize the people.
Examples of intemperate kings are: Sardanapalus, wholly given to feasts and taverns, was attacked by Arbaces the prefect and was forced to burn himself with his palace; he lost his life together with the monarchy of the Assyrians (for Arbaces transferred it to the Medes). So intemperate gluttony destroyed Alcibiades, Lucullus, Caligula, Ptolemy Philopator, Antiochus the Great, who because of his addiction to wine used to sleep whole days, according to Plutarch in his Life of Flaminius, Demetrius Poliorcetes, Mark Antony the Triumvir, whose timely bouts of drinking Cicero recalls in the Philippics. The Emperor Tiberius sometimes feasted and drank for two days continuously; hence by his soldiers, instead of Claudius Tiberius Nero, he was mockingly called Caldius Biberius Mero [Warm Drinker of Pure Wine], says Suetonius in his Life, chapters 13 and 22. Vitellius, by his habit of vomiting, made himself fit for every kind of food; he had breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and a late supper, and for that reason was deprived of both life and empire after a few months. Nero was a monster of nature and a slave to pleasure and gluttony; hence cruel to others, condemned by the senate, he was forced to turn his fury on himself and to stab himself with a dagger. The Emperor Commodus, having lost his sense of taste from excessive debauchery, mixed human excrement into his food, mocking those who were horrified by this mixture, says Herodian and Lampridius. The Emperor Elagabalus, constant in banquets, furnished his feasts with the tongues of peacocks, nightingales, flamingoes, pheasants, and parrots, and the heels of camels; what was left over from the birds he gave to the dogs, says Herodotus and Lampridius. Hence he perished miserably, overwhelmed.
For, as Aristotle wisely says, Book V of the Politics, chapter 10: Those who give themselves to pleasures easily fall into contempt and provide many opportunities for being oppressed. Hence Alexander the Great obscured the glory of his deeds by his addiction to wine, to such an extent that Antigonus told him he was unworthy to rule; hence that very vice deprived him of both life and empire. He imbibed this vice from his father Philip, about whom a humble woman said: "I appeal from Philip to Philip, but from a drunk one to a sober one."
Verse 17: BLESSED IS THE LAND WHOSE KING IS NOBLE, AND WHOSE PRINCES EAT IN DUE SEASON, FOR REFRESHMENT AND NOT FOR LUXURY.
One translator renders pathetically: O blessed land, etc. For "not for luxury," in Hebrew it is lo basthi, which some according to Kimchi render: not in the warp, that is, not in mixture, so that wisdom is not mixed with wine, as the warp is mixed and interwoven with the weft in weaving; or lest individual cups be mixed with individual morsels of food, as drinkers do, when one should drink far more sparingly than eat. But this exposition is novel and forced.
For "noble" in Hebrew it is ben chorim, or as others pronounce it, horim (as if to say, of heroes), that is, son of candidates, meaning of freeborn, noble, princely people (for formerly nobles and princes went about as candidates, that is, clothed in white garments, as I showed in chapters VIII and IX), namely a freeborn, noble prince (for as the father is, so is the son, and the sons of nobles and princes are nobles and princes). Hence the Septuagint renders: sons of the freeborn; the Syriac: sons of freedom; the Arabic: a free son; another: son of heroes; for horim means heroes. The Zurich Bible: is noble; Campensis: a vigorous man. Such were the ancient heroes. "A hero," says Servius from Hesiod, "is a strong man, a demigod, having more from the divine than from the human." Hence Cicero, Book I to Atticus: "That hero of ours, Cato."
Noble. -- Understand nobility not so much of birth as of wisdom and virtue, which alone is true and solid nobility, namely generosity of spirit for daring and performing great and illustrious things, which shows one to be a descendant worthy of his family and his fathers and grandfathers. For, as Euripides says: Blessed in my eyes is the noble man. But he who is not just, even though he traces his lineage from a father better than Jupiter, seems ignoble to me.
This is the antithesis of the preceding verse, as if to say: Just as miserable and unhappy is the land whose king is a child, that is, with a childish mind given over to gluttony and cast into pleasures, so blessed and happy is the land whose king is of noble and generous spirit, who with his princes contemplates and undertakes noble things, and therefore despises pleasures, and does not eat until public business has been completed and at the proper time, not for luxury and gluttony, but for the necessary restoration and sustenance of strength.
Moreover, the Chaldean restricts this maxim to Hezekiah, whom he contrasts with Jeroboam: "Blessed will the land be," he says, "at the time when Hezekiah the son of Ahaz shall have reigned over you, who will be of the house of David, king of Israel; who will be a man strong in the law and will do what is obliged by the precepts of the law; and your princes, after they offer the daily sacrifice, eat bread after the fourth hour of the day, from the labor of their hands, in the strength of the law and precepts, and not in weakness and blindness of eyes, in weakness of zeal and precepts."
Noble. -- From this passage, Bartolus in law Honor, section De Honor, digest De muner. et honor., teaches that the privilege of nobility, namely that from it rather than from common families people should be appointed to honors, dignities, and magistracies, conforms to natural and divine law. The same is taught by Tiraquellus, treatise On Nobility, chapter 20, numbers 1 and following. Indeed, Plato in the Alcibiades says: "It is reasonable that natures are better in a noble family than in an ignoble one; and it is necessary that the well-born, if well educated, should thereby at last attain to virtue." And St. Thomas, commenting on Hebrews chapter 1, lecture 3, says that for someone to easily administer any dignity, besides wisdom he requires that he not err in governing, and power of virtue in executing, and also the lineage of birth so as not to be despised in commanding. For nobility of birth gives the noble son great authority among the people; hence the Germans honor nobles wonderfully. Again, the same is a stimulus to the son to live nobly and to conduct himself in a manner worthy of his nobility and the deeds of his ancestors. Moreover, when sons succeed a king or prince in his principality by hereditary right rather than outsiders however more qualified by right of election, all ambition of those to be elected is removed, as are the envy, quarrels, brawls, schisms, and wars that customarily follow from elections.
However, in ecclesiastical prelacy, although sons and grandsons succeeded Aaron in the Pontificate by God's command, in the new law Christ willed that Pontiffs, Bishops, and other Prelates should not be born into office, nor succeed by hereditary right, but that those who excelled in wisdom, virtue, and other endowments should be elected. For this was required by the dignity, usefulness, and majesty of the Pontiffs and Priests of Christ, inasmuch as they, as heavenly men, ought to lead the way to heaven for others, and therefore "live as divinities, speak as oracles." Hence when in the election of a certain Pontiff one was commended for his nobility of birth, another replied: "A successor is being sought for Peter the fisherman, not for Augustus," as the Gloss reports, cap. Quoniam, Question I, the word Invidia.
WHOSE PRINCES EAT IN DUE SEASON, FOR REFRESHMENT AND NOT FOR LUXURY.
The Hebrew has: in strength and not in drinking, that is, they eat to strengthen the powers of body and mind for laboring for the state, not for carousing, debauchery, and overindulgence. Hence the Zurich Bible renders: they eat to restore their strength, not to compete with cups; Campensis: they eat as much as suffices for preserving their strength, not given to feasting; another: for necessity, not for luxury and drunkenness. Hence St. Jerome says that here those judges are praised who by no means prefer pleasure to the affairs of citizens, but after much labor and administration of the state take food as if compelled by necessity. The same thing Solomon taught and Plato decreed, Book II of the Laws, where he does not grant the use of wine to magistrates except for restoring the body or for illness. Symmachus renders: with manly probity, that is, that they might acquire for themselves manly strength and firm health, says Olympiodorus: for he who eats at the proper time, namely at set hours, and does so moderately, is healthier and stronger, according to Thaumaturgus.
Moreover, the Septuagint renders: your princes will eat at the proper time in strength and will not be confounded; the Syriac: with prosperity and not in confusion. For the Hebrew word basthi, if it is marked with a hateph qamets vowel point, so that the initial beth is not radical but servile and a mark of the preposition, means "in drinking"; but the sense comes to the same thing: for drinking is called confusion because it induces overindulgence, vomiting, drunkenness, etc., which make the drinker worthy of confusion, so that he is put to shame before all and exposed to everyone's laughter and mockery. "How many things drunkards do, at which sober men blush!" says Seneca, Epistle 83.
Wherefore the tyrant Dionysius used to say that he and those like him were very similar to capons and calves, which are fattened not for their health but for their destruction, namely so that once fattened they might be slaughtered and eaten, as Eusebius reports, Book I of the Preparation, chapter 5. Such people St. Peter, 2 Epistle, chapter 2, verse 12, calls "irrational beasts, rioting in their banquets;" and St. James, chapter 5, verse 5: "Nourishing your hearts in luxury."
Examples of temperate princes are: Julius Caesar, watchful and sober, engaged in nothing but war councils, obtained, indeed founded, the empire of the Romans. Hence Cato used to say that Caesar was the only one of all who came sober to the overthrow of the republic. So Suetonius in the Life of Caesar, chapter 53. By sobriety and vigilance Cyrus obtained and established the monarchy of the Persians. Augustus Caesar sometimes abstained from food until evening, occupied until nightfall with the diligence of rendering justice to everyone. Hence he himself says in a letter: "We tasted bread and dates in the carriage." And in a letter to Tiberius he says that on returning home from a journey he ate an ounce of bread. See Suetonius in his Life, chapters 73, 74, 76, and following.
The kings of the Egyptians ate simple food, so that nothing but wine and goose was served at their tables. A certain fixed measure of wine to be drunk was established, by which neither could the stomach be stuffed nor could they become intoxicated. Finally, they were so sober that their life seemed to have been arranged for health by a most skilled physician, says Diodorus, Book I, chapter 6. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, ate and drank whatever was set before him, even if tasteless, says Xenophon. Hannibal was sober and watchful, and therefore victorious, until the delights of Capua enervated and destroyed him. Publius Scipio Aemilianus ate only bread. Marcus Cato used the food and drink that sailors used, says Valerius, Book IV, chapter 3. Trajan was most frugal in eating, according to Alexander, Book V, chapter 21. Charlemagne was most sparing in food and drink, according to Granzius, Book II, chapter 8 of the Saxon Chronicle. Alfonso, king of Aragon, almost entirely abstained from wine.
When asked why, he replied: "Because wisdom is obscured by wine, and therefore it does not befit a king to extinguish with immoderate drinking that without which the title of emperor and king cannot properly be maintained." When asked again why he condemned drunkenness so severely: "Because," he said, "I am not unaware that rage and lust are the children of drunkenness." So Panormitanus, Book II of his Deeds. Selim, emperor of the Turks, was so sober that he ate from only one dish; hence amid so many warlike labors he always enjoyed good health. So Jovius in his Life. Emmanuel, king of Portugal, always abstained from wine, according to Osorius, Book XII of his Deeds.
Allegorically, the noble king, or son of candidates, is Christ, whose princes the apostles were wonderfully sober. So St. Jerome says: "Blessed is the land of the Church, whose king is Christ, the son of the freeborn, descending from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also from the stock of the prophets and all the saints: over whom sin did not have dominion; and for that reason they were truly free, from whom was born the Virgin more free still, St. Mary, having no branch, no shoot from the side, but all her fruit burst forth into the flower speaking in the Song of Songs (Canticles 2): I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys. Her princes too are the apostles and all the saints who have as king the son of the freeborn, the son of the free woman, generated not from the slave Hagar, but from the freedom of Sarah. Nor do they eat in the morning, nor hastily. For they do not seek pleasure in the present age, but they will eat in their proper time, when the time of retribution shall have come; and they will eat in strength, and not in confusion. Every good of the present age is confusion, but the good of the future age is everlasting strength. Something similar is said in Isaiah: Behold, those who serve Me will eat good things, but you shall hunger (Isaiah 63). And again: Behold, those who serve Me will rejoice, but you shall be put to shame."
St. Augustine supports St. Jerome, in Book XVII of The City of God, chapter 20, where from this passage he establishes two cities, one of the devil, the other of Christ, and their kings as the devil and Christ: "Woe to you, O land, whose king is a youth, and whose princes eat in the morning. Blessed are you, O land, whose king is the son of the freeborn, and whose princes eat in their time, in strength and not in confusion. He called the devil a youth because of folly, pride, rashness, insolence, and the other vices that are accustomed to abound in that age; but Christ the son of the freeborn, of the holy patriarchs who belong to the free city, from whom He was begotten in the flesh. The princes of that city who eat in the morning, that is, before the proper hour, because they do not await the opportune time -- which is the true happiness in the future age -- desiring to be hastily made happy by the renown of this age. But the princes of the city of Christ patiently await the time of true blessedness. This he says 'in strength and not in confusion,' because the hope does not deceive them, of which the Apostle says: Hope does not confound."
Verse 18: BY SLOTHFULNESS A BUILDING SHALL BE BROUGHT LOW, AND THROUGH THE WEAKNESS OF HANDS THE HOUSE SHALL DROP THROUGH.
Campensis renders: it will happen that rain cannot be kept out. In Hebrew it is atsalthaim, a dual noun, as if to say: limping on both feet, that is, double slothfulness, of soul and body; or negligence of present and future things; or the indolence of both subjects and superiors and princes; or of father and mother: for these are the two caretakers of the house, whose double negligence destroys it. So the Chaldean. Or, as Pineda says, one slothfulness belongs to the king, the other to the princes and magistrates. For the discourse has preceded about both. Or the king's slothfulness is double: one insofar as the king is a private person, the other insofar as he is a public one, to signify that the slothfulness which in a commoner would be single, in a king and prince is double, indeed manifold. Hence the Arabic renders: on account of modes of negligence the roof will incline; Thaumaturgus: the lazy and idle make their house smaller.
For "shall be brought low" in Hebrew it is iimmach, that is, it will incline, be depressed, sink, collapse; Vatablus: it will lean; the Zurich Bible: it will deteriorate; Campensis: it will be dissolved; others: it will decay, rot -- for so the Septuagint translates the Hebrew iimmach in Leviticus 27:8; another: it will be oppressed; another: it will be bent.
He aptly passes from feasting to slothfulness and its damages, because the daughter of gluttony is sloth, says St. Gregory; for when the stomach is weighed down with food and the brain with wine, the whole man becomes heavy, torpid, lazy, drowsy, inert, sluggish. This proverb therefore signifies that any house, whether private or public, namely a kingdom and state, is dissolved, collapses, and is overthrown by the slothfulness of princes born from feasting and carousing, through which they are lazy and negligent in averting small harms and damages (for as many as the cracks and drips are, so many are the instances of slothfulness in averting them); for these, when neglected, increase and finally destroy the state, just as a house is gradually weakened and finally collapses if the master is lazy in repairing it.
"By slothfulness" therefore, that is, on account of slothfulness and negligence, small at first but prolonged and manifold, in repairing tiles, beams, rafters, etc., and keeping the building in good repair; "shall be brought low," that is, the framework, namely the joining of beams and the roof of the house, will be weakened, decay, crumble, fall, collapse, and be destroyed; whose ruin will shake the walls beneath and overturn the whole house. "And through the weakness," that is, through the relaxation, idleness, and as the Septuagint has it, sluggishness; the Syriac: the depression of lazy and slow hands that do not repair the small cracks and holes, "the house shall drop through," that is, it will receive the drops of rain pouring down, which by continually falling will rot the beams, so that when they collapse the whole house collapses, both private and public, namely the state and kingdom.
For he continues to describe perverse kings and princes, by whose slothfulness and vice the state collapses. Hence concerning the same he adds: "They make bread and wine for laughter, that they may feast while living." For since they devote themselves wholly to, indeed immerse themselves in, delights and pleasures, they forget the state: for the care of the belly begets negligence and indolence of mind. Here applies that saying of the Comic Poet in the Mostellaria: "Rain comes, washes the walls, the rain pours through the timbers, the air rots the work of the builder." Aptly the construction of a house is established here as a type of the construction of a man and family, or of the state. For as Vitruvius says: "Buildings cannot have symmetry and a proportional system of composition unless they have in themselves the exact system of a well-formed man's members."
Less aptly, some connect this maxim with the preceding, as if to say: The care of moderate food preserves the strength of the body, which carelessness destroys, just as carelessness in keeping the building in repair destroys the house. And others connect it with the following, as if to say: Those who feast in laughter gradually grow weak in body and mind, just as a house grows weak from the master's folly. Both connections are forced and weak. Similar to this maxim is that saying: "He who is slack and dissolute in his work is the brother of him who wastes his own works" (Proverbs 18:9). And that of Hosea 7:9: "Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not," not feeling, says St. Bernard, On the Interior House, chapter 11, the interior worm (of sloth and concupiscence) that gnaws at his innards; and he adds: "And therefore going wholly into exterior things and ignorant of my interior, I am poured out like water, forgetting the past, neglecting the present, not foreseeing the future. I am ungrateful for benefits, prone to evil and slow to good." Therefore when you hear of the grave fall of a great and holy man, do not think it was sudden, but that small things neglected grew into greater ones, and that he finally fell headlong from the summit into the abyss.
Mystically, therefore, this maxim is most true in the construction of the spiritual house and the perfection of the soul: for a small defect, if neglected, produces a greater and greater one, until finally the man falls into grave sins and exchanges virtue for vice. So Olympiodorus and St. Jerome. Hence the Chaldean renders: in the study of the law and commandments the man of broken spirit is deprived of his children; but the woman, if she has more negligently failed to observe the precepts commanded to her to guard against the pollution of menstrual blood, will be afflicted with the deepest sorrow of soul.
But hear St. Jerome: "Our house, which was erected with the stature of man, and the dwelling that we have in the heavens, if we are lazy and slower toward good works, will be brought low. And every framework that should carry the ridge aloft, falling to the earth, crushes its inhabitant. And when the aid of hands and virtues has grown torpid, all the storms from above and the whirlwind of clouds bursts upon us." He then adds and applies it to the Church: "Moreover, what we have interpreted of one man can be better applied to the Church, namely that through the negligence of its leaders all its height collapses, and where it was thought there was a covering of virtues, there are the enticements of vices." So far St. Jerome.
Slothfulness, therefore, is the indolence of the just, by which they refuse to apply a remedy to the smallest sins; and the weakness of hands is their same vain security, by which they want both to willingly admit lesser faults and not to fall into greater ones. But this slothfulness and weakness will first be followed by the dripping of the house, then by the wretched and manifest ruin of the house itself, because by vain security the edifice of virtue softens and falls, and finally collapses by the repetition of lighter faults -- not because these alone destroy virtue and cast down the soul, but because they open a breach in the wall of fortitude for the importunate enemy to break in. That this is indeed the meaning of the Wise Man, Cassian, treating another passage of the same author at the same time, clearly expressed: "Elegantly," he says, "he compared the carelessness of the mind to a house, and through the neglected roof, at first certain very small drippings of passions penetrate to the soul; which if they are neglected as small and light, they corrupt the beams of the virtues; and after this the most copious rains of vices pour in, through which on a winter's day, that is, in a time of temptation, when the devil's assault bears down, the mind is expelled from the dwelling of virtues, in which it had formerly rested as in the possession of its own house while maintaining watchful diligence." So far Cassian, Conference VI, chapter 17.
Moreover, "framework," which is nothing other than "the covering of beams and timbers," as Budaeus says, signifies first the more sublime state of the Church's clergy and religious, says Hugo; second, the ultimate end toward which all things must be directed and properly connected, says Olympiodorus; third, the connection of virtues that seem contrary to each other, such as hope and fear, humility and magnanimity, poverty and beneficence, action and contemplation; fourth, the sublimity and solidity of virtues, and especially the loftiness of charity, says Dionysius.
Therefore Ecclesiastes signifies to us "in the enigma of the parable that through the strength and firmness of virtues we should not yield to the streams of temptations flowing from without into the heart, through which the things stored up within us may perish," says Nyssen, Homily 4. Therefore when you feel even the smallest crack in your soul through which the devil sends in a drip of temptation, immediately stop it up; otherwise the crack will become a window, and the drip will become a downpour, indeed a torrent and a river that cannot be resisted.
Fifth, the framework or flooring signifies princes and nobles, who protect and defend the other lower parts of the state subject to them. For these are compared to beams of cedar and cypress (Canticles 1), as St. Gregory, Bernard, Rupert, Anselm, and others explain in that passage.
Sixth, the framework represents counselors and officials of princes: for when they are connected by concord as if by a framework, they preserve the house of the state; but when they fall apart from one another through envy, they overturn both one another and the state.
Finally, St. Hilary, Canticle 6 on Matthew: "By rains," he says, "he signifies the enticements of soft pleasures gradually slipping in, by which first faith becomes soaked through open cracks; after the rush of torrents, that is, the impulses of graver desires, has invaded, and then the whole force of surrounding winds rages, namely the entire spirit of diabolical power is brought in." The drip, therefore, is a small pleasure, indeed a small love of a forbidden thing, which unless it is excluded penetrates the mind, subjugates it, and destroys it, according to that saying of Sirach 19:1: "He who despises small things shall fall little by little." See what I said there.
Moreover, Rabbi Solomon takes the house to mean the temple of Jerusalem, as if to say: Because the Jews were too negligent in observing God's laws, hence it happened that their house, city, and temple were laid waste by the Chaldeans and Romans, when they could have met this destruction in time and averted it by their diligence and piety.
Verse 19: THEY MAKE BREAD FOR LAUGHTER, AND WINE THAT THE LIVING MAY FEAST: AND MONEY OBEYS ALL THINGS.
The Hebrew has: they make bread for laughter, and wine (the Septuagint and Syriac add: and oil gladdens the living); Campensis: they prepare foods for pleasure; the Zurich Bible: they furnish banquets magnificent with foods; another: they celebrate merriment with wine and feasts, so that the living may feast, that is, so that they may feast joyfully, cheerfully, and gladly; for to truly live is to rejoice, and life is joy. So Nonius says: "The ancients called the living 'the rejoicing,' from the good comfort of life, just as when someone is now in the greatest happiness, we say he is living." So in chapter 9:9, for what our translator renders "enjoy life with your wife," in Hebrew it is "see life," that is, "live." So in Psalm 71:15, of Solomon and his antitype Christ it is said: "And He shall live," namely happy, cheerful, rich, honored, glorious. Hence explaining, it adds: "And to Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, and they shall adore Him, always blessing throughout the whole day." So also Ezekiel 16:6: "Live; I said, I say to you: live in your blood." See what I said there.
Now first, Cajetan refers this maxim to verse 17: "Blessed is the land whose king is noble and whose princes eat in due season," etc. As if to say: The abundance of bread, wine, and money belongs to the blessedness of the land, and all these things a sober and provident king and princes procure, so that they may provide for the state from the abundance of goods.
Second, the Chaldean refers these words to the almsgiving of the just, and renders: the just joyfully make bread to nourish the poor and those wasted by hunger; the wine too that they mix for the thirsty will bring them delight in the future age; the price of redemption also will render testimony of justice in the future age for them in the light of all.
Third, Thaumaturgus thinks that lazy men are noted here, concerning whom the preceding verse speaks, and therefore base, buffoonish, and gluttonous men: "The lazy and slothful man," he says, "diminishes his house. They mock others, abuse all things with their gluttony, are drawn by any amount of silver, ready to do anything base and vile for a cheap price." And the author of the Greek Catena says: "The lazy devote themselves to their belly and gape after money, looking only to pleasure and merriment."
Conversely, Rabbi Solomon and Aben Ezra think that here a stimulus is given to the lazy to shake off their slothfulness, as if to say: Setting aside slothfulness, work energetically; for thus by your labor you will prepare for yourselves splendid feasts and wealth.
Fourth and genuinely, these words are to be referred to verse 16: "Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child and whose princes eat in the morning." For this eating and feasting is here exaggerated, as if to say: The pleasure-loving king and princes make bread and wine for laughter, that is, for the sake of laughter and pleasure, for luxury and extravagance -- as I said at verse 17 -- they arrange to have delicacies prepared, that is, every kind of food and drink, "that the living may feast," that is, while life lasts, throughout their whole life; for after death they hope for nothing good, indeed they do not believe the soul survives. Therefore as long as they live they hold banquets, they sumptuously furnish their tables with feasts and wine, and for these they spare no expense, but whatever is delicious, rare, and magnificent in the city, they purchase at great cost. For "money obeys" and procures "all things"; or, as you may more elegantly and forcefully translate from the Hebrew: money hears all things, responds to all and assents. It is a personification. Money is introduced here as a queen, whom all persons and all things pursue, seek out, and petition, and immediately present and offer themselves wherever Lady Money has appeared.
The phrase "for laughter" could also be referred to parasites, flatterers, actors, and jesters, who seek the tables of the rich and as it were purchase them by seasoning them with their ridiculous jests, witticisms, taunts, gestures, and antics, by which they excite the diners to laughter and merriment. In this the Palestinians, Syrians, and Alexandrians abounded, according to Capitolinus in his Life of Aelius Verus.
Mystically, St. Jerome refers these words to Prelates who court the applause of the people in order to acquire wealth and feasts. "He accuses those," he says, "who indeed speak in the Church and teach the people, but teach what the people delight to hear, because they flatter sinners in their vice and stir up the clamor of the hearers. Is it not so that when the orator revels in the Church and promises blessedness and the kingdoms of heaven to the multitude, he seems to you to be making bread for laughter and mixing wine for the merriment of the living? Whether it be that those who teach acquire riches and food and wealth through their pleasing promises; or that they prepare the bread of the Church, which is the bread of those who mourn and not of those who laugh (blessed indeed are those who mourn, for they shall laugh), in merriment and joy." He continues: "As for what follows -- money or silver obeys all things -- it is to be taken in two ways: either that the teachers themselves, once enriched by flattery, exercise dominion over the people; or certainly because silver is always taken for speech: for the utterances of the Lord are pure utterances, silver tried by fire, tested of the earth, purified seven times. This affirms that the common crowd easily yields to eloquence and oratory that is composed with the foliage of words."
The same St. Jerome again takes these words in a contrary sense, of evangelical teachers who joyfully announce the Gospel, that is, the glad tidings and the good things that Christ the Bridegroom brought to His bride, among which is money, that is, the talents distributed by Him to each person (Luke 19:15). So also Olympiodorus contrasts them with pleasure-seekers, saying that strengthened by the mystical bread and wine, they easily laugh at the snares of the devil, knowing that the whole world is subject to the silver, that is, to the Word of God incarnate for our sake.
AND MONEY OBEYS ALL THINGS. -- For "obeys" in Hebrew it is iaanah, that is, it humbles and subjects all things to itself, or it hears all things, or it responds to all. Hence first, the Septuagint renders: and to silver all things obey with humiliation, as if to say: To silver all persons and all things humble themselves, prostrate themselves, and obey. Hence the Arabic: and all things are humbled and obey silver; the Syriac: silver humbles and seduces them in all things; another: to silver all humble themselves, as if worshipping Mammon. Second, Symmachus renders: silver will be useful for all things; Thaumaturgus: by silver all things are drawn. Third, the Zurich Bible: with money they subdue all things; another: silver obtains all things; Vatablus: money provides all things; Campensis: money supplies all things; Marinus: silver will help in all things.
Fourth, others render: money answers all, or all things, as if to say: If you desire anything, consult money; if you have it, it will satisfy your desire and all your wishes. Fifth, another renders: money hears all things, so that by personification it is introduced here as a most powerful queen, indeed as the deity of mortals, which when invoked commands and provides all things whatsoever that are sought, that is, whatsoever are desired. Hence the Poet says: Whatever you wish for with cash in hand, it will come; the strongbox holds Jupiter under lock and key.
A similar phrase is found in Hosea, chapter 2, verse 21: "And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear the heavens, says the Lord, and they shall hear the earth. And the earth shall hear the grain, and the wine, and the oil: and these shall hear Jezreel," as if to say: I will grant the heavens the wish they desire, giving them an abundance of rain; the heavens will bestow this on the earth, which requests it; the earth will assent to the desire of grain, wine, and oil, that they may come forth abundantly; these will enrich Jezreel with an abundance of crops and fruits, so that there may be a great yield of all things, as well as of animals and men. Therefore there is no thing that money cannot accomplish; no crime that money cannot command. Hence the Apostle, 1 Timothy 6:10: "The root of all evils," he says, "is cupidity;" in Greek philargyria, that is, the desire for silver.
There is nothing so hidden that riches cannot unearth, nothing so dear that they cannot buy, nothing so lofty and inaccessible that they cannot obtain. They are the firm protection of this life; by them we comply with the will of the kings and princes of this age; by them we purchase tranquility, liberty, and the most ample honors; by them, finally, the most abject men are sometimes made like noble men and raised to the supreme power.
Sixth, our translator, embracing all these senses, expressively renders: money obeys all things. For it is as it were a queen, to whose call and command all persons and all things present themselves, obey, and do what is commanded. Hence Thuanus renders: And everywhere Queen Money rules over affairs.
Hence Aristophanes in Plutus, act, scene 2, borrowed this same idea: If anything illustrious, or beautiful, or pleasing exists among men, he says, it exists especially through Plutus (the god of wealth): for money obeys all things. And Horace, Book I, Epistle 6: Of course wife with dowry, credit and friends, birth and beauty Queen Money bestows, and Persuasion and Venus adorn the well-moneyed man.
Hence also that saying of Sallust in the Jugurtha: "At Rome all things were for sale, even the city itself, if it could find a buyer." See Seneca, Book III of On Anger, chapters 33 and 34; Cicero in the Verrines, act 2, complains that a wealthy man, however guilty, cannot be condemned. Epicharmus says that gold opens all things, even the very gates of hell. Hesiod in the Works and Days calls money man's second soul; the Philosopher calls it blood and life. Hence the jurists whom Tiraquellus cites, On Nobility, chapter 3, number 5, think that all the rich can be called princes; for riches are called "faculties" because they provide the faculty, and hence the facility, for all things. Indeed, Plutus and Mammon were held and worshipped as gods. Moreover, Judas for thirty pieces of silver sold, betrayed, and destroyed Christ God.
Finally, the pagans called Jupiter himself, the greatest of the gods, money. St. Augustine cites and refutes them, Book VII of The City of God, chapter 12, whose words I cited at Sirach 10:9 at the beginning. The same, Book IV, chapter 21, teaches that they worshipped a god Argentinus [Silver-god] and Aesculanus, named from bronze; and Tertullian, Book IV Against Marcion, chapter 33: "The author of injustice," he says, "and the lord of the whole age, we all know to be coin." Hence avarice is called by Paul the slavery of idols; for many worship gold as a deity and virtually adore it (Ephesians 5:5).
Wisely Seneca and after him Dionysius say: "One ought to command money, not obey it;" and Cicero, On Duties, Book I: "Nothing," he says, "is of so narrow and depraved a mind as to love money"; "for such a person is a golden slave," says Socrates; and the Poet: Accumulated money either commands or serves each person, worthy rather to follow than to lead the twisted rope.
Finally, Julius Caesar held that power was acquired, preserved, and increased by two things, namely money and soldiers, and that these mutually produced each other. So Xiphilinus in his Caesar. Hence Flaminius, aptly jesting about Philopoemen who was abundant in soldiers but empty of wealth, said: "Philopoemen indeed has hands and legs, but has no belly;" by hands and legs signifying generals and soldiers, by belly signifying money, which nourishes soldiers and is therefore the sinew of war. So Plutarch in the Roman Apophthegms.
Moreover, St. Thomas, I-II, Question 2, article 1, reply to objection 1, asks whether man's happiness consists in riches, from the fact that money obeys all things, and responds: "All bodily things," he says, "obey money with respect to the multitude of fools, who know only bodily goods, which can be acquired with money. But judgment about human goods should not be taken from fools, but from the wise, just as judgment about flavors should be taken from those who have a well-tempered palate." Hence the poets aptly gave Jupiter the rule of heaven, Neptune of the sea, and Pluto of the underworld, because ploutos, that is wealth, is dug out from the deepest bowels of the earth, and leads the avaricious down to hell, to Proserpina, the wife of Pluto. Hence Pluto was called Orcus and Uragus from "urging," and Dis. Cicero gives the reason, Book II of On the Nature of the Gods: All earthly force, he says, and nature is dedicated to Father Dis; who is called Dis, as among the Greeks Plouton (that is, the rich one), because all things both fall back into the earth and arise from the earth.
Verse 20: DO NOT DETRACT FROM THE KING IN YOUR THOUGHT, AND DO NOT CURSE THE RICH IN THE SECRET OF YOUR BEDCHAMBER: FOR THE BIRDS OF HEAVEN SHALL CARRY YOUR VOICE, AND THOSE WHO HAVE WINGS SHALL ANNOUNCE YOUR WORD.
This maxim aptly coheres with the preceding, as if to say: Even though kings and princes devote themselves to banquets, neglect the state, and vex and oppress the citizens, nevertheless the subject should beware lest he detract from them: for his detraction will easily reach the ears of the prince, who will punish and chastise him. "He commands," says St. Jerome, "that we not, overcome by anger and fury, burst forth into cursing and detraction of kings and princes: because against our hope it sometimes happens that what we have cursed is reported to those persons, and we incur danger from the immoderation of our tongue. As for what he says: The birds of heaven shall carry away your voice, and he who has wings shall announce the word -- this is to be understood hyperbolically, in the way we are accustomed to say that even the walls themselves, in whose presence we speak, will not conceal what they have heard."
IN YOUR THOUGHT. -- The Hebrew has: in your knowledge; the Septuagint: in your conscience; St. Jerome: in your mind; the Syriac: in your understanding; the Chaldean: do not silently in yourself, in the intimate and hidden places of your heart, wickedly curse the king. Therefore "in your thought," that is, not even in the most secret way, or with only yourself aware, as Thaumaturgus renders. Hence the Arabic renders: in your bed; Cajetan: in your solitude. It is a catachresis, for thought is taken for what is most hidden. So Lyra, Cajetan, and Vatablus. Add that properly one should not curse the king even in thought and mind, because what we often think and turn over in our mind bursts forth through the mouth, that is, through words and gestures, so that it can be perceived and reported by hearers to the king. So Lyra. Hence Campensis renders: do not dare even to think once of reproaching such things in the king or prince. And Thaumaturgus says: He commands that the princes and magistrates of the kingdom are to be obeyed in all things, so that no one should even oppose them with a word or murmur at any sad little expression.
DO NOT DETRACT FROM THE KING. -- In Hebrew, al tehallel, that is, do not despise, do not belittle, do not speak lightly of him as of someone vile and abject, do not revile; the Septuagint: do not curse, do not execrate; Symmachus: do not assail with insults. He alludes to the precept of Moses: "You shall not detract from the gods (that is, judges and magistrates), and you shall not curse the prince of your people" (Exodus 22:28).
THE RICH MAN -- that is, the powerful man, the prince, the governor. So Vatablus, Cajetan, Titelmann, and others, indeed even St. Jerome. For in Scripture "rich" often denotes the powerful and the prince; indeed also among the poets. For riches make men powerful and princes, and virtually gods; hence "God" (Deus) and "Divine" (Divus) are said as if from "rich" (dives), because He abounds and gives to all, just as money obeys all things. Hear Horace, Satires II, 2: For every affair obeys riches; whoever shall have built them up, he will be illustrious, strong, just, wise, and even a king.
"We call the eternal ones gods, but those who are made by men we call divine," says Servius. For divus is said as if dius, that is, apo Dios, that is, drawing one's lineage from Jove, or divus as if divinus. Hence "dominion" (ditio), which belongs to the rich and the richer, is called power and authority.
Hence Cicero says: "Almost all talk flows to public reputation from domestic sources." Concerning which St. Eucherius wisely, in his epistle to Valerianus, thus instructs: "Even in your secret places, what you would not want men to know, do not do; what you would not want God to know, do not even think."
FOR THE BIRDS OF HEAVEN SHALL CARRY YOUR VOICE, AND THOSE WHO HAVE WINGS (Aquila renders: winged ones) SHALL ANNOUNCE YOUR WORD. -- The Hebrew has: word; the Zurich Bible: your curse. The latter hemistich says the same thing by way of elegance as the former: for birds and flying creatures have wings. There is a common proverb: "Unless some bird has seen it," signifying that a thing is very secret. Hence Aristophanes in the Birds: No one has seen my treasure unless some bird somewhere. And Suidas from Aristophanes: No one observes me except a bird flying past. Therefore this is a hyperbolic proverb signifying that a most secret thing, namely slander and secret detraction, will be conveyed by some hidden means to the king, who has many eyes and ears, namely many spies and informers. Hence the saying: Do you not know that kings have long hands?
In a similar manner and proverb we say that forests and hedges have ears, because things said there as if in a deserted and secret place are often seen, heard, and discovered by someone hiding there or watching from a distance. Again, when we say "crime can be hidden by no walls;" and: "If these should be silent, the stones will cry out." A literal example is that of Ibycus the musician, and therefore wealthy, who when he was being killed by robbers for his wealth, calling upon the cranes flying past as witnesses and avengers of his murder, through those very cranes the authors of the murder were detected and paid the penalty. Hence that saying of Ausonius in his Monosyllables: When Ibycus perished, the high-flying crane was his avenger. Hence the proverb: "The cranes of Ibycus," against those who pay the penalty for a crime revealed by an unusual chance. So Plutarch, in his book On the Delays of Divine Vengeance, who adds a similar story about Bessus, whose parricide was betrayed by swallows.
Concerning the porphyrion bird, some report that it reveals a wife's adultery to her husband. Similarly, we have often heard that trained talking magpies at home have revealed with their voice and gesture the curses and deeds of children or servants to the absent master of the house. It is well known from Porphyry, Philostratus, and others that Melampus, Tiresias, and Apollonius of Tyana boasted that they understood the voices and chatterings of swallows and other birds, and from them knew secret sayings and deeds. Here applies that passage of Juvenal, Satire 9: O Corydon, Corydon! Do you think any secret of the rich man exists? Though servants be silent, the pack-animals will speak, and the dog, and the doorposts, and the marble. Close the windows, let curtains cover the cracks, fasten the doors, remove the lamp from the midst -- all cry out; let no one recline nearby. Yet what that man does at the crowing of the second cock, the neighboring innkeeper will know before daybreak.
By the birds of heaven, therefore, he denotes informers, as Vatablus renders, and spies; for birds are sharp-sighted, swift, chattering, fickle, inconstant: such are informers and curious spies who search out all the most secret things. And as the Comic Poet says in the Trinummus: "They know what the king whispered in the queen's ear; what Juno chatted about with Jupiter." Moreover, Olympiodorus and after him Pineda understand by birds reputation: "The curse," he says, "running forth as fame, will carry it to the ears of the one against whom you have uttered the imprecation." For fame is depicted by the poets as winged, watchful, talkative, swift. Hear Virgil, Aeneid IV, proposing this enigma or hieroglyph of fame: As many feathers as she has on her body, so many watchful eyes beneath -- wondrous to tell! -- so many tongues, so many mouths sound, so many ears she pricks up. By night she flies through the midst of heaven and through the shadow of earth, hissing, nor does she close her eyes in sweet sleep. By day she sits as sentinel on the peak of the highest roof or on tall towers, and terrifies great cities, as tenacious of fiction and falsehood as she is a messenger of truth.
Add (to return to birds) that letters were customarily sent by birds when something needed to be communicated secretly and swiftly to someone absent and far away. Concerning pigeons, Pliny asserts, Book X, chapter 37: "They served as intermediaries in great affairs, with letters attached to their feet during the siege of Mutina, when Decimus Brutus sent them to the camp of the consuls. What good were the rampart and the watchful siege, and even the nets stretched across the river, to Antony, when the messenger went through the sky?" On which matter I said more in my commentary on Hosea. Finally, the ancients sought auguries and divinations of secret things from birds.
Moreover, it is expedient for a prince and magistrate to have truthful and trustworthy informers who may search out what is done everywhere, especially secret things: but those who are fickle and deceitful must be guarded against, who for the sake of flattery, hatred, or gain fabricate crimes and pin them on the innocent. Hence Maecenas wisely writes thus to Augustus Caesar about them, according to Dio, Book 52: "Since you must have listeners and informers, by whose help you may know all the affairs of your empire, lest anything needing custody and correction be able to escape your notice, remember that what is reported by them is not to be believed entirely at once, but that careful consideration must be employed. For very many of them, either out of hatred of others -- as coveting their goods -- or to curry favor with certain people, or angered because money was demanded and not received, burden them with the false charge of attempted sedition, or of some improper act or word against the emperor. For if you are slower in giving credence, this will cause you no great harm; but by hastening, it can happen that you commit some irreparable offense."
Mystically, the birds of heaven are the angels (hence the Zurich Bible renders: swift and winged angels), good or evil, who report our affairs to God and sometimes to men -- the evil ones to accuse, the good ones to excuse and obtain grace. For the angels know our thoughts, sometimes even secret ones, not of themselves but from signs and conjectures, or from God's revelation. Less accurately, Hugo thinks that the angels know indeed the thoughts sent into us by themselves, whether we consent to them, but do not know those that the flesh or the world suggests to us. Less accurately, I say, for they know or are ignorant of both equally: for the reason is the same for both, and the same mode of investigation. So Olympiodorus, Thaumaturgus, Hugo, and others. Moreover, Olympiodorus also takes the birds to mean one's own conscience, which as is commonly said is like a thousand witnesses, and the Holy Spirit. But these interpretations are unsuited to this passage.
Moreover, St. Jerome, taking the prince mystically as Christ and the saints, and the birds as angels, explains thus: He commands, he says, "not only that nothing rash should be spoken against Christ, but also that in the secrets of the heart, although we may be pressed by various tribulations, nothing blasphemous, nothing impious should be felt. And because the love that we show to Christ we owe also to our neighbor -- for you shall love the Lord your God, but also your neighbor as yourself -- we are now also commanded that after the king we should not easily detract from the saints either; and that we should not gnaw with the sharpness of our tongue those whom we see endowed with wisdom, knowledge, and virtues, because the angels who traverse the earth and are ministering spirits, and who speak in Zechariah: (We have gone around the earth, and behold, the whole earth is inhabited and is silent) -- like birds they carry our words and thoughts to heaven, and what we secretly think does not escape the knowledge of God."
Moreover, the Chaldean takes the birds to mean the angel Razael and Elijah. Hence he renders thus: "But do not you silently in yourself, in the intimate and hidden places of your heart, wickedly curse the king, nor curse the wise man in the inner chamber of your bedroom: for the angel Razael cries out every day upon Mount Horeb, and his voice roams throughout the whole world. Elijah too, the great priest, like an eagle furnished with the highest wings, flying surveys the air and heavens, and reports and announces to all who dwell on earth what has been done in secret." But these are Jewish and cabalistic fictions.