Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Through riddles he exhorts to generous almsgiving. Then, from verse 8, he admonishes that a man should be constantly mindful of the last judgment and therefore mortify his desires, and devote himself to virtues and good works.
Vulgate Text: Ecclesiastes 11:1-10
1. Cast your bread upon the passing waters: for after many seasons you shall find it. 2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight: for you know not what evil shall be upon the earth. 3. If the clouds be full, they will pour out rain upon the earth. If a tree falls to the south or to the north, in whatever place it falls, there it shall be. 4. He who observes the wind shall not sow: and he who considers the clouds shall never reap. 5. As you know not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you know not the works of God, who is the maker of all things. 6. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening let not your hand cease: for you know not which may rather spring up, this or that; and if both together, it shall be the better. 7. The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun. 8. If a man live many years, and have rejoiced in them all, he ought to remember the darksome time, and the many days: which when they shall come, the things past shall be accused of vanity. 9. Rejoice therefore, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart be in that which is good in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes: and know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. 10. Remove anger from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh. For youth and pleasure are vain.
Verse 1: CAST (the Syriac has "throw") YOUR BREAD UPON THE PASSING WATERS, FOR AFTER MANY SEASONS YOU SHALL FIND IT
The word "passing" is not in the Hebrew, but is understood, for true and living waters are flowing and passing in their course. Following Solomon, Ben Sira, whom the Hebrews hold to have been the grandson of Jeremiah the prophet, in Alphabet 1, letter zayin, says: "Scatter your bread upon the surface of the waters, and on dry land, and you shall find it at the end of days," as if to say: Just as the farmer casts seed into the ground, taking no account of whether the soil is moist or dry, so also you should scatter your alms among the needy, alms to the needy, even to the barren, that is, the utterly destitute, or the forgetful and ungrateful, who cannot or will not return your favor. Now,
First, Cajetan explains it literally thus: Send your bread across seas and rivers to distant poor people. But he restricts this universal proverb of almsgiving to absent persons, unless you explain it thus, as if to say: Enlarge your spirit and your alms so much that you not only give to those present, but also send them in every direction to those who are absent and remote, as St. Gregory did. The Chaldean, however, takes "passing waters" to mean the poor traveling on the waters: "Extend, he says, your food to the poor who travel in ships upon the face of the waters, for after a time of many days you shall find its reward in this age and in the age to come."
Second, Aben-Ezra translates it in the opposite way; for instead of "passing" he translates "standing" or "stagnant" waters, as if to say: Just as in ponds and fish-pools the master throws bread, which the fish devour, and thereby fatten themselves, so that when they are fattened and extracted they feed the master: so likewise cast your bread to the poor, so that when they are fed they in turn refresh and feed you with their thanks and good prayers. Akin to this meaning is the Arabic proverb: "Do the good you can, and cast it into the water; for some fish will bring it out some day for your benefit." A literal example is found in the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, chapter 135, where he narrates that a certain man gave 30 coins to the poor, and therefore received them back multiplied sixfold, when in a fish extracted from the water he found a gem, which he sold for three hundred coins: so for 30, the fish returned to him three hundred.
Third, Olympiodorus takes the waters to mean tears: "With tears, he says, and with a feeling of mercy, give alms." The tears can also be taken as those of the poor, as if to say: To the poor man groaning and weeping from hunger and affliction, give a charitable gift, so that you may console and wipe away his tears.
Fourth and more fittingly, others consider it a metaphor from merchants who ship grain and bread by ships to foreign regions for the sake of profit, as if to say: Just as a merchant transports bread and grain by ships to other shores, so that he may sell them there at a high price, and thus bring home immense profit: so you should send your bread and wealth to the poor, both urban and rural, for from this you will bring home immense profit, namely the favor of God and men. To this pertains Proverbs 31:14: "Like a merchant's ship, bringing her bread from afar;" and Genesis 49:20: "Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties." To this belongs the subtle and sublime exposition of our Sebastian Barradas, Book VII of the Prolegomena, chapter 14: "Cast bread upon the passing waters," that is, send your bread into the sea, and let it be carried by ships to the distant region of heaven, and after many seasons when you have breathed your last, you shall find it: what are the ships? The hands of the poor.
To this belongs that saying of Christ, Luke 18: "Sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven," as if to say: Load your riches upon ships, that is, upon the poor; they will carry your lowly wealth to heaven and exchange it for a most precious treasure. Moreover, these ships never suffer shipwreck nor plunder, as the ships of merchants do, but on a sure course they convey alms to heaven. Whence St. Chrysostom, Homily 48 on Genesis chapter 24: "Easy, he says, is this transport, we transfer there securely, and we deposit in an unplunderable treasury whatever we send ahead through the hands of the poor." Therefore, if you are wise, fill the hands of the poor with your bread and wealth; they will carry them to heaven, where in return you will receive a hundredfold, indeed a thousandfold.
Again, some take the "passing waters" to mean the souls detained in purgatory, as though he commands here that alms, prayers, and suffrages be poured out for them; for those souls have passed from the present world into another of a different life, and from earth into purgatory, where they are most grievously tormented by fire. Therefore, whoever is merciful and wise assists them by every means and art through indulgences, Masses, and alms, in order to free them from such great torments; for once freed, they will fly to heaven, where, grateful to their liberator, they will obtain ample gifts from God for him.
Fifth and genuinely, as if to say: Just as seed is sown abundantly in moistened earth, through which waters — whether rain or river — have passed, so that it may draw sap from it, by which it can germinate and produce an abundant harvest: so you, O faithful one, O Christian, scatter your bread, that is, your alms abundantly among the poor, so that from it you may gather abundant fruits both temporal and spiritual. For by "passing waters," understand metonymically the earth made moist and damp by waters passing through it, and therefore fit for receiving seed: for one sows not in water, but in earth moistened by water. For water is life-giving and the source of all fertility, says St. Cyril on Isaiah 32:20: and so also is almsgiving. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: After the rain-waters have passed through and have left the earth moist and prepared for timely sowing, make your sowing: so likewise when you see flocks of the poor, needy from poverty or some other affliction, and therefore ready and eager for alms, bestow them generously.
So St. Jerome says: "He exhorts to almsgiving, because one must give to every one who asks and do good without discrimination. For just as one who sows upon irrigated ground expects the fruit of the sowing, so one who gives generously to the needy sows not a grain of seed, but bread itself, awaiting a certain multiplication by interest, and when the day of judgment comes, he will receive far more than he gave." In Hebrew it is: Cast your bread upon the face of the waters, that is, upon the face of the earth irrigated by waters. for indeed the face of a wretched and afflicted man is most fertile, moistened with "waters," that is, with sorrows and tears; in this face sow your bread, and it will return the seed with great interest.
Finally, the phrase "upon the waters" could be explained as "beside the waters," just as Christ "standing over (that is, beside) her, rebuked the fever," Luke 4:39. For seed cast near water flourishes more happily and yields a richer harvest.
Note that the poor are aptly compared to passing waters. First, because men in this life pass away and flow by, like waters and rivers. Whence that saying: "The waters which you saw, are peoples and nations," Revelation 17:15; and: "We all flow away like waters into the earth," 2 Kings 14:14.
Second, waters denote the multitude, confluence, and passage of the poor, by which they pass from one door to another, from one city and village to another, begging and seeking their livelihood. For they do not stay in one fixed place, but continually go about and wander, to seek food. So Olympiodorus, Bonaventure, and Lyra.
Third, passing waters indicate that one should not look for recompense from the poor in giving alms, because they pass away like waters that will not return, and often they are unknown or unable to repay, indeed sometimes forgetful and ungrateful. Therefore the reward must be expected from God, as if to say: Even though the poor are, or seem likely to be, ungrateful, so that a benefit bestowed on them seems cast upon the waters and destined to perish; nevertheless, do good to them, because if not they themselves, then certainly others, and above all God, will repay your gift with great interest. Whence Pagninus translates: cast your bread even to strangers, as if you were throwing it upon the face of the waters; for in the multitude of days you shall find it. And Rabbi Solomon says: do good to a man whom you think in your heart you will never see again, like one who casts his food upon the waters.
And Thaumaturgus says: it is right to share bread and the other necessities of this life with the needy, even though the benefit seems destined to perish, as if one were casting bread upon the water; but in the course of time it will appear that the alms was not useless to you. Seneca wisely says, Book IV of On Benefits, chapter 25: "Our purpose is to live according to the nature of things and to follow the example of the gods: but what do the gods pursue in whatever they do, besides the very principle of doing it? Unless perhaps you think they gather the fruit of their works from the smoke of sacrifices and the odor of incense. See what great things they undertake daily, what great things they distribute, with what great fruits they fill the earth, with what favorable winds blowing to every shore they stir the seas, with what great rains suddenly sent down they soften the ground, restore the drying veins of springs, and renew them with nourishment poured through hidden channels. All these things they do without recompense or any benefit coming to themselves. Let this same principle of ours also be maintained, if it does not stray from its model, lest it come to honest things for hire. Let it be shameful for any benefit to be for sale: we have gods who give freely. If you imitate the gods, give benefits even to the ungrateful."
Fourth, passing waters suggest that alms must be given abundantly, because the poor flow in abundantly and in great numbers like waters, and the fruit of alms will be abundant. For although it does not appear now and is hidden, just as seed is cast abundantly and hidden in the earth moistened by water; yet at the harvest, that is, on the day of judgment, it will appear abundant and splendid. So St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 19: "To this (he says, namely to joyful and generous almsgiving) seems to pertain what Scripture says, that bread must be cast even upon the water; for it will not be wasted or perish before the just appraiser of these things, but it will reach the place where all our goods will be stored." In a similar way the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 9:6, compares almsgiving to seed producing a great harvest: "He who sows sparingly, he says, will also reap sparingly: and he who sows in blessings
(that is, beneficently, abundantly, generously) will also reap from blessings." See what was said there.
He alludes to the Nile, which by its flooding passes through Egypt, neighboring Judea, covering it with silt, enriching and making it fertile. Almsgiving does the same, for it enriches the giver and heaps every good upon him. Whence also follows: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight." Where he alludes to the seven branches and streams of the Nile (so that the body of the Nile itself is the eighth), by which it flows into the sea through as many mouths, and does so in order to better irrigate and fertilize all of Egypt divided into as many parts. Hence the Nile was called "sevenfold" by Virgil, Aeneid VI, and by Ovid, Metamorphoses XV: "And through the seven-flowing rivers of the papyrus-bearing Nile." For in Egypt it does not rain, but all irrigation of the fields is done by the Nile; whence Claudian, Epigram 6: "Egypt is fertile without clouds, and alone holds serene rains, secure from the sky, needing no wind, rejoicing in the waters which it itself conveys, and overflows with the Nile."
Finally, the phrase "cast upon the passing waters" signifies that almsgiving should be done, first, generously; second, not slowly but quickly; third, with a cheerful spirit, according to the saying: "God loves a cheerful giver," 2 Corinthians 9; whence "Fabius called a benefit given harshly by a hard man 'stony bread,'" says Seneca, Book II of On Benefits, chapter 1 and following; fourth, the poor must be anticipated, so that before they ask, we voluntarily send alms into their lap.
Hear Seneca in the cited passage: "It is better to anticipate before we are asked: because when the face of an honorable man draws together to ask (others read, falls), and a blush suffuses him, he who removes this torment multiplies his gift. He did not receive freely who received only after asking: he gave a benefit late who gave to one asking. Therefore each person's wish must be divined, and when it is understood, he must be freed from the most grievous necessity of asking."
Fifth, the phrase "your bread" signifies that what is given must be from your own, namely, what you have acquired by your own labor, not from plunder or another's property; again "your," that is, necessary, not merely superfluous. Furthermore "your," that is, the same bread you yourself eat, not its falling crumbs and crusts, not some other cheaper and inferior bread: "If the orphan did not eat from my morsel," Job 31:17: "Eat your bread with the hungry and needy," Tobit 4:17: "Break your bread for the hungry," Isaiah 58:7.
Sixth, almsgiving must be done to the passerby, that is, secretly and in private, both so that you may avoid vain display and so that you may not afflict the needy person with shame. Whence Isidore of Pelusium, Book II, epistle 151, praises a certain Timothy, "because although he embraced almsgiving with a singular kind of love, he studiously endeavored that this kindness should be obscure and unknown. For if it partakes of ostentation, it seems not to display kindness, but rather to exaggerate the calamities of those who receive the benefit, and to undermine a divine work with a most troublesome disease." Wherefore he adorns Timothy with these praises: "Truly he was a shrine of purity and temperance, a seat of prudence, a citadel of fortitude, a capital of justice, a storehouse of humanity, a temple of gentleness, and, to embrace it in a single word, a treasury of all virtues."
Seventh, almsgiving must be done not once or twice, but continuously and constantly to whatever needy persons come daily. St. Gregory of Nyssa brilliantly says in his Oration On Love of the Poor: "Do not allow another to snatch from you the endeavor of earning merit among those close to you. Beware lest another seize the treasure stored for you. Embrace the afflicted person as you would gold. Tend the poor man's weak health in such a way that you consider your own health, and the welfare of your wife, children, servants, and entire household, to be invested in it."
Mystically, by bread and corporal almsgiving, understand spiritual almsgiving, such as teaching the ignorant, consoling the afflicted, and converting sinners. So St. Jerome says: "In whatever person you see that water of which it is said, 'Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly,' do not hesitate to furnish the bread of wisdom, the bread of reason, the bread of discourse. For if you do this frequently, you will find that you have not cast the seed of your teachings in vain. I think something similar is said in Isaiah: Blessed is he who sows upon the water, where the ox and the ass tread. That teacher is to be considered worthy of blessedness who sows upon a well-watered heart, hearing the rain gathered from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentile people." St. Jerome cites Isaiah, chapter 32, verse 20, according to the Septuagint. See what was said there.
"For after many seasons you shall find it." — as if it were a lost thing, or rather something hidden; but you will find "it" as seed wondrously multiplied, that is, its reward and abundant recompense, and this often in this life, and always in the next. So the Chaldean. In Hebrew it is: For in the multitude of days you shall find it. See St. Chrysostom, Homily "That Almsgiving Is the Most Profitable of All Arts."
He alludes to the origin of the Jordan (which is the most noble river of Judea). For this river, as Josephus testifies in Book III of the Jewish War, chapter 18, and Hegesippus and others, rises from the spring of Phiala in the region of Trachonitis. For this spring, of wondrous depth, discharges and transmits its copious waters through hidden underground channels to Dan, or the spring of Paneas at the source of the Jordan. Therefore to those observing at Paneas, the Jordan seems to rise there, and from the confluence of two small streams, Jeor and Dan, the name and river Jordan was formed; but in reality, as I said, it rises secretly much earlier at the spring of Phiala. This was discovered by Philip the tetrarch of Trachonitis. For he, having sent chaff into Phiala, found it returned at Panum at the spring of Dan, where the river Jordan was previously believed to originate. See Adrichomius in the Description of the Holy Land, under Jordan.
Just as bread and chaff cast into the spring of Phiala, after long and hidden passages, are returned in the Jordan, so bread cast into the laps of the poor after long stretches of time will be returned to the giver. Therefore, as if into Phiala, let us scatter bread upon the waters, that is, upon the poor, so that it may be returned to us in the Jordan, that is, in the river of judgment (for this is what "jordan" means in Hebrew), that is, of just recompense in heaven, where God will give to drink from the fountain of life and the torrent of His delight, Psalm 36:9, those who have cast bread upon the passing waters and have given a cup of pure water — or water brewed with vine or grain, that is, wine or beer — to the thirsty.
Verse 2: GIVE A PORTION TO SEVEN, AND ALSO TO EIGHT: FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHAT EVIL SHALL BE UPON THE EARTH
For "portion" (singular), Lyra, Dionysius, and St. Jerome on Ezekiel chapter 41, verse 1, and St. Gregory, Homily 16 on Ezekiel, read the plural "portions"; but one should read "portion" (singular) with the Roman editions, the Hebrew, Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, Chaldean, and others: the word "portion" indicates that alms must be distributed according to each person's need or merit, and not so that one goes hungry while another is drunk, 1 Corinthians 11:21.
First, the Chaldean expounds this proverb concerning sowing, as if the master of the household is here instructed to sow the field at the proper time, just as Columella, Varro, Cato, and other writers on agriculture instruct the farmer, as if to say: Sow seed in the field in the seventh and eighth months: "Carry the best part of the seed to your field in the month of Tishri; and do not be diverted from sowing in the month of Kislev either, nor can it be ascertained what evil threatens the land itself, or whether the first or the second sowing will prove superior." But this meaning is foreign and does not pertain to the subject at hand. For the topic here is almsgiving.
Second, Rabbi Haccados takes the seven to mean the seven planets; the eight, the eighth heaven, or the starry firmament; and by the planets and fixed stars he considers that eminent men and princes are denoted, as though he commands here that a portion of honor due to each should be given to them, and that they should be honored and revered, so that in turn they may look upon us and treat us with the benign aspect of their favor. But this is as remote as heaven is from earth.
Third, Rabbi Solomon, Aben-Ezra, and Clarius take the seven to mean the seven days of the week, and the eight to mean the eighth day, which is the first of the following week, as if to say: Give alms daily through the seven days of the week, and do not stop there, but give also on the eighth day, that is, the first of the following week, so that you begin anew a new seven-day cycle with the new week, and finish with it, and do so constantly and continuously, as if to say: Give alms continuously through all the days of every week and of your entire life.
Fourth, Cajetan takes the seven to mean precisely seven poor persons: "For perhaps, he says, it was customary at that time among Jewish almsgivers to feed seven poor persons, out of reverence for the divine actions which are described by Moses in seven days, counting the Sabbath of rest. Give therefore a portion of your table to seven poor persons, that is, a fixed number of poor, and also to eight, that is, if another should arrive, give him a portion too."
Fifth, Osorius and others take the seven and eight to mean a seventh or eighth part of one's wealth and income, as though he commands this to be given to the poor, just as Moses commands a tithe to be given to them, Deuteronomy 14:28. Others take seven and eight to mean sevenfold and eightfold, that is, manifold and abundant almsgiving, as though one is commanded to seize every opportunity for doing good and earning merit from one's neighbor. So Osorius and Lyra, who reads it in the accusative: "Give portions to seven and eight."
Sixth, St. Bonaventure considers the number six to signify what suffices for us: whatever is beyond that is called seven and eight, as if to say: Alms must be given from what is left over, and indeed generously in proportion to our means, so that our abundance may supply the want of others.
Seventh and genuinely, as if to say: Give a portion of your bread, that is, of your food and alms, to seven, that is, to many poor persons, and also to eight, that is, to far more, as if to say: Be most generous in giving, give to as many needy persons as you meet, give to very many, indeed to an infinite number if you can. Note from St. Jerome on Isaiah chapters 4 and 5 that the number seven was familiar to the Hebrews because of the Sabbath, just as ten was because of the Decalogue. The number seven signifies multitude and universality, since all the days of the week, perpetually recurring, are no more than seven: the number three signifies the same; whence that saying of Aristotle: "Three is everything" — namely, that which is first; for it is not two but three that is first called a plurality. Now, if to three you add a fourth, or to seven you add eight, a great and unusual multitude is signified. Whence the saying: "O thrice and four times (that is, in every way) blessed."
So in Amos chapter 1, verses 3 and following, this is repeated many times: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four," that is, for its very many and very great crimes, "I will not turn him back." See what was said there; and Proverbs 30:15: "Three things are insatiable, and the fourth never says: Enough." Similar is Job 5:19: "In six tribulations He will deliver you, and in the seventh (that is, in the very many and greatest) no evil shall touch you;" and Micah 5:5: "We will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight chief men," that is, very many and very great princes, as I said there. So here it is said: "Give a portion to seven and eight," that is, give to many, indeed to far more and to innumerable persons.
Hence Thaumaturgus translates: "Give generously and distribute to many, yet to each his own," as if to say: Do not be frightened by the multitude of the poor streaming in one after another, so that you deny alms to the last ones; rather give to all, so that as the number of the poor increases, your spirit and the number of your alms may increase.
Hence Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 19, praising his deceased father for his almsgiving: "Truly, he says, he thought about his goods as a steward of others' property, relieving the want of the poor as much as he could, taking not only what was superfluous but also what was necessary for that purpose, and giving a portion not only to seven, as Solomon's law prescribes, but also if an eighth should arrive; pouring out his goods more gladly than others acquire theirs." In this he was imitating God, who is generous to all and leaves no one without a gift. Cicero truly says: "Men approach the gods in nothing more closely than by giving; fortune has nothing better than the ability, nor nature anything better than the will, to save as many as possible."
To this belongs the old proverb: "All things are eight," about which the Collector of adages writes, and Bongus in the Mysteries of Numbers, when it signifies that nothing is lacking: either because of the monument of the poet Stesichorus, says our Lorinus, constructed entirely of groups of eight — columns, steps, and angles; or because the Corinthians were distributed by their first founder into eight tribes; or because of as many gods ruling over the highest affairs, by whom Orpheus is said to have been accustomed to swear: fire, water, earth, sky, moon, sun, Mithra (the Persians confuse him with the sun), and night; or because on an Egyptian column, as a sign of justice, the names of eight gods were inscribed: Saturn, Rhea, Osiris, spirit, sky, earth, night, day; and Xenocrates posited the same number, as Cicero reports, though he made different gods; or because of eight kinds of contests in the Olympics; or for some other reason.
Therefore seven and eight exclude no one, and this saying has the same force as what Christ commands: "But to everyone who asks of you, give," Luke 6:30. It alludes to the ancient custom of eating and banqueting, whereby, as Macrobius testifies, Book I of the Saturnalia, chapter 7, and Gellius, Book XIII, chapter 11, seven guests were invited to a banquet, and the eighth was the king or president of the feast. Whence the proverb: "Seven make a banquet, nine make a brawl." See Sidonius Apollinaris, Book I, epistle 11, and Rhodiginus, Book II, chapter 8. Hence the emperor Heliogabalus, as Lampridius attests, used to invite to dinner at the same time eight one-eyed men, eight bald men, eight deaf men, eight gouty men, eight black men, eight tall men, eight extremely fat and obese men, to provoke laughter for himself and his guests.
FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHAT EVIL SHALL BE UPON THE EARTH. — as if to say: Many calamities, both unforeseen and virtually inevitable, threaten the earth; therefore, in order to free yourself from them, give much alms: "For almsgiving delivers from death, and it is that which purges sins and causes one to find mercy and eternal life," says Raphael, Tobit chapter 12, verse 9. Such calamities are attacks of thieves, robbers, and enemies, barrenness of fields, winds, storms, blight, plague, famine, war, diseases, death: these are evils of punishment; evils of guilt are sins and occasions and temptations for sinning: against both kinds, almsgiving is the antidote, as I showed in Daniel 4:24 and Deuteronomy 26, where I enumerated 22 fruits of almsgiving. Truly St. Jerome says to Nepotian: "I never recall having read that anyone who willingly performed works of charity died a bad death."
Again St. Jerome and St. Gregory, Homily 15 on Ezekiel, refer this evil to the examination, sentence, damnation, and hell of the impious on the day of judgment, from which Christ will exempt the merciful, Matthew 25. So also Olympiodorus: "Act modestly, he says, in what pertains to the duties of this life, thinking constantly also about the future age: for you do not know how heavy are the torments stored up for those who have given their portion neither to the sevens nor to the eights." He then adds another meaning, saying: "Or bestow alms on all in the simplicity of your heart; for you do not know which person is truly in need, and which asks through avarice under a pretense of poverty." But the first meaning, which I gave, is the literal and genuine one.
Solomon learned this from his father David, who in Psalm 41:1 sings thus: "Blessed is the man who understands concerning the needy and the poor: in the evil day (Symmachus: in the day of affliction; Eusebius: whenever calamity presses) the Lord will deliver him."
Tropologically, St. Ambrose in his commentary on Luke chapter 6, explaining the eight beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor," etc., applies this passage to them: "You receive a commandment, he says, to give a portion to those eight, perhaps to the blessings," that is, to the beatitudes, so that we give a portion of our life to the practice of poverty, which is the first beatitude proposed by Christ; a portion to meekness, which is the second beatitude; a portion to mourning and compunction, which is the third, and so on for the rest. He adds the reason: "For just as the eighth is the perfection of our hope, so the eighth is the sum of virtues," as if to say: Just as our hope, that is, the eternal life which we hope for, will be perfected in the eighth of the resurrection, when we will actually attain the hoped-for eternal life: so the eighth of the beatitudes is the sum of virtues, that is, the eight beatitudes are the supreme perfection and summit of all virtues. Therefore, devote yourself to and strive for the beatitudes, that you may pursue them, press on toward the eighth, that is, the perfection of virtues, and through it attain the eighth of glory in the blessed resurrection.
The same St. Ambrose, Book II of On Jacob, chapter 11, alluding to the seven lamps of the candelabrum, and to the eighth as the vessel supplying all of them, applying them to the seven Maccabees, whose eighth was the mother: "How good, he says, is this harbor of faith, how safe this harbor of piety, how splendid a lamp of the Church shining with sevenfold light, and the eighth vessel supplying oil to all the lamps! Of whom it is beautifully said: Give a portion to those seven and also to those eight, because in both numbers they attain the fellowship of grace, nourished in the law, crowned through grace — seven as in the Sabbath; eight as in the Gospel. The pious mother, joined by the completion of suffering, who in such sons both labored to bring forth and brought forth the complete form of piety."
Second, St. Gregory, in the Prologue to the 6th Penitential Psalm, teaches that a portion should be given to seven, that is, to the active life by performing the seven works of mercy; and to eight, that is, to the contemplative life. "Give me, he says, O Lord, portions of seven, and also of eight. For he desired to rule his subjects in such a way that he would not be deprived of the perfection of divine contemplation. For constrained by the necessary obligations of his administrative office, he was compelled to attend to temporal action; but the sweet delight of divine contemplation refreshed him in mind. It can also be understood that he ascends the fifteen steps to that temple of divine illumination, who of eternal virtue seized by the love of God, and with temporal things — designated by the number seven — gradually despised, is raised through the ladder of the eight beatitudes to sublime heights, until the God of gods is seen in the mind in Zion." Philip the Solitary says similar things, Book III of the Dioptra, chapter 8.
Again, Olympiodorus takes the seven to mean the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Hugo and others take it to mean the three theological virtues, namely faith, hope, and charity, and the four cardinal virtues, namely prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, as though he commands us to devote ourselves to them in the seven-day period of this life, so that through them we may reach the eighth of eternal happiness.
Allegorically, the Hebrews, says St. Jerome, understand this passage thus: keep the Sabbath and circumcision (for this was given to the infant on the eighth day), lest if perchance you fail to do so, unexpected evil come upon you. Better, some Christians explain it thus, as if to say: Keep the seven, that is, Easter, and the eight, that is, Pentecost. For from Easter to Pentecost seven weeks are counted, whose quasi-eighth is the fiftieth day, namely Pentecost, to which St. Gregory Nazianzen alludes, Oration 43, which is on Holy Pentecost, at the beginning: "Give a portion to seven and to eight," that is, he says, give a portion to Holy Pentecost and to the future blessedness. For he says: "This excellent number seven introduced the honor of Pentecost. For seven multiplied by itself produces fifty, with one day excepted which we have taken from the future age, the same eighth and first, or to speak more correctly, the one and everlasting. For there the present sabbath rest of our souls must end, that a portion may be given to seven and also to eight, as some of our elders have already expounded this passage of Solomon."
Again St. Jerome, in his book Against Lucifer, takes the seven to mean the Old Testament, and the eight the New: "Ecclesiastes, he says, commands to give portions to seven, to give portions to eight, that is, to believe in both Testaments." And St. Isidore, Book I of the Offices, chapter 24, reading: "Give a portion to the one seven and to the other eight," explains it thus, as if to say: The Jews celebrate the seventh day, namely the Sabbath, which was the rest of the dead; but Christians celebrate the eighth day, namely Sunday, which is the day of the resurrection, and therefore of the living, not of the dead. St. Augustine explains it the same way, Epistle 119, chapter 11, and Olympiodorus and Salonius: "He commands, he says, that the precepts of both the Old and New Testaments be observed." Finally, St. Jerome, writing on this passage of Ecclesiastes, says: "In Ezekiel, seven and eight steps are read for the ascent to the temple. And after that moral psalm, that is, the hundred and eighteenth, there are fifteen Psalms of the steps, through which we are first instructed in the law, and when the number seven is completed, we then climb through the eight to the Gospel. Therefore it is commanded that in both Testaments, namely both Old and New, we should believe with equal veneration. The Jews gave a portion to seven, believing in the Sabbath; but they did not give to eight (not accepting the Gospel and) denying the resurrection of the Lord's Day. On the contrary, the heretics Marcion and Manichaeus, and all who tear the old law with rabid mouths, give a portion to eight by accepting the Gospel, but do not grant the same to the number seven, rejecting the old law. Let us therefore believe in both Testaments. For we cannot even now comprehend in our minds the worthy torments and worthy punishment that is stored up for those who dwell on earth — Jews and heretics alike — who deny one of the two."
Furthermore, Cassian, Book II of the Institutes of the Renunciants, chapters 9 and 10, explains it thus, as if to say: On the Sabbath, that is, the seventh day, keep the fast according to the ancient rite of the Church: but on the eighth day, celebrate the feast, namely the Sunday of Christ's resurrection.
Anagogically, St. Gregory, Book XXXV of the Moralia, chapter 7, takes the seven to mean the present life and its goods, and the eight to mean the future life, as if to say: So manage temporal things that you may deserve to receive eternal ones. "For the number seven, he says, when another still follows it, is shown by its very nature to express that the temporal order must end and be concluded by eternity. For this is why Solomon admonishes, saying: Give a portion to seven, and also to eight. For by the number seven he expressed the present time, which is conducted in seven days; but by the number eight he designated eternal life, which the Lord revealed to us by His resurrection. For He rose on the Lord's Day, which, since it follows the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath, is found to be the eighth by its position. And well it is said: Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you know not what evil shall be upon the earth — as if it were openly said: So manage temporal things that you do not forget to desire eternal ones. For you ought to provide for the future by doing good, since you do not know how great a tribulation will follow from the coming judgment. Hence the temple is ascended by fifteen steps, so that from its very ascent one may learn how through seven and eight both the temporal action should be carefully managed, and the eternal dwelling providently sought. Hence also, when the monad rises to the ten, the Prophet sang one hundred and fifty Psalms. On account of this number seven signifying temporal things, and eight signifying eternal things, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the one hundred and twenty faithful sitting in the upper room. For through seven and eight, fifteen are composed, and if we count gradually by increments from one to fifteen, we arrive at the number one hundred and twenty. By this pouring out of the Holy Spirit they learned both to pass through temporal things by enduring them, and to desire eternal things eagerly."
Symbolically, the same St. Gregory, Homily 16 on Ezekiel: "We give portions of both seven and eight at the same time, he says, when we arrange what unfolds over seven days in such a way that through these things we come to eternal goods." For the ages of human life change every seventh year, and through periods of seven run toward their goal — namely toward the eighth of the resurrection, says Hugo. "Every seventh year imprints a mark upon one's age," says Seneca.
Hear Hippocrates as quoted by Philo, in his book On the Creation of the World: "In human life there are seven periods, which they call ages: infant, boy, adolescent, young man, man, elder, old man. An infant is up to the seventh year, within which the teeth come in; a boy, up to the second seven-year period, until he is mature enough to produce seed. An adolescent, up to the third seven-year period and the first growth of the beard. A young man, up to the fourth seven-year period, and the full growth of the body. A man, up to the forty-ninth year and the seventh seven-year period. An elder, up to the fifty-sixth year and the eighth seven-year period. An old man, for all the remaining time." And after some intervening remarks: "Besides what has been said, the ages themselves from infancy to old age most clearly represent the designative power of perfection in the number seven, being measured by sevens; in the first seven years the teeth come in. In the second, there is readiness to produce seed. In the third, the growth of the beard. In the fourth, the increase of strength. In the fifth, the time for marriage. In the sixth, the vigor of understanding. In the seventh, the increase of both understanding and eloquence. In the eighth, the perfection of both. In the ninth, fairness and gentleness, the passions being for the most part tamed. In the tenth, finally, a desirable end of life, while the instruments of the senses are still intact. For otherwise, prolonged old age tends to undermine and afflict."
From this it follows that the number seven determines the ages and periods of life: for in it occurs the change of blood, humors, spirits, heat, and constitution. For this reason the ninth seven-year period, that is, the 63rd year of life, is climacteric, and brings death to many. Hence Aristotle, Cicero, Chrysippus, Boccaccio, Cardinal Cusanus, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, and very many others died in their 63rd year. Whence also Augustus Caesar feared the year 63 as fatal, and when he had passed it, he congratulated himself as if he had escaped danger. Abraham died at the age of 175, which comprises 25 seven-year periods; Jacob at the age of 147, which is 21; David at 70, which contains ten seven-year periods; at the same age very many die. For, as the Psalmist says, Psalm 90:10: "The days of our years in them are seventy years. But if in the powerful, eighty years," which comprises eight tens, in accordance with what is said here: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight."
In a similar way the state of the republic often changes through seven-year periods. The captivity of the Hebrews in Babylon ended in the 70th year, which is the tenth seven-year period; the series of all monarchies ended in the 70th week, Daniel chapter 9, in which Christ, the monarch of monarchs, was born. Now 70 weeks of years make 490 years, which is, as it were, the cube of seven and ten: for seven times ten make 70; seven times 70 make 490. And around that same year 490, the frequent change of the Hebrew state — as also of others — occurred, namely: the first from Moses and the judges to Saul and the kings; the second from the kings to Zerubbabel and the leaders at the time of the Babylonian captivity; the third from the leaders to Christ. For in each of these you will find approximately 490 years, as can be gathered from the chronological table which I prefixed to the Pentateuch.
According to this meaning, the Sage admonishes us to be mindful of the seven, that is, of the course and end of our age — both our own and that of the republic — and in it to recognize the vanity of both, and to say: "I have seen an end of all perfection: Your commandment is exceedingly broad," Psalm 119:96. For just as in a seven-day period, that is, in seven days at the beginning of the world, God created all things, so in a seven-year period He varies and ends the same. Again, so that we may give to each age (which are seven in number) its own portion, namely the duty proper to each age — that is, let us give to infancy its innocence, to boyhood obedience, to youth chastity, to adolescence the study of wisdom, to manhood the strength of virtue, to old age maturity, impassibility and perfection, and to decrepit age meditation on the approaching eternal life.
Finally, as I indicated above, some take the seven to mean the living poor, and the eight to mean the deceased dwelling in purgatory, as if to say: Give alms to the living poor in the week of this life, and also to the deceased who have passed from this life to purgatory, where they await the eighth of eternal happiness. Again, some explain it thus: give portions to seven, and also to eight, for you know not what evil shall be upon the earth. That is, exclude no one from the partnership of your labors, since you do not know what evils, namely temptations, will befall people, which if they should perchance cast down the rich man, you will have through the industry of your labor a poor man persevering in good, in whom as in a wise son you may glory.
Verse 3: IF THE CLOUDS BE FULL, THEY WILL POUR OUT RAIN UPON THE EARTH (Hebrew: they will empty, they will exhaust). IF (in Hebrew: and if) A TREE FALLS TO THE SOUTH OR TO THE NORTH, IN WHATEVER PLACE IT FALLS, THERE IT SHALL BE
The meaning is, says Olympiodorus, as if to say: just as the clouds by divine command scatter rain upon all people, so it is fitting to distribute alms to all people. Indeed, a heart full of riches should also be full of charity, and ought to give generous alms, just as clouds swollen with water pour out abundant rain. Whence that saying in Hosea 6:4: "Your mercy is like a morning cloud;" and Sirach 35:26: "The beautiful mercy of God in the time of trial is like a rain cloud in a time of drought." See what was said in both places.
Moreover, dense clouds are a sure sign of rain, as are many other things which natural philosophers identify. For rain is presaged by dogs eating grass, and their stomachs rumbling; flies and wasps stinging horses more sharply; smoke rising more thickly through the chimney's throat; more frequent and fiercer bites of fleas. Further signs of rain are cranes flying silently through the heights of the sky; oxen sniffing the air and licking themselves against the grain of their hair; swallows circling the lake and beating the surface of the water with their wingtips; frogs croaking unusually; ants carrying eggs out of their burrows; the rainbow; crows and rooks cawing; land birds raising cries toward the water and drenching themselves; lamp oil sparking and fungi rising from it; the waxing moon appearing darker; the sun rising concave and spotted; also dark clouds appearing beneath the rising sun, interspersed among red ones.
Almsgiving is aptly compared to a cloud, because first, just as a cloud formed from heaven has no other end and purpose than rain, so the end of wealth given by God is none other than that it be spent on the needy. Second, just as God rains indiscriminately and equally upon all, whether good or evil, whether friends or enemies: so also the almsgiver should do good to all without distinction of persons. Third, just as a cloud expects no thanks from the rain, so neither should the rich man expect anything from the poor, according to that saying of Christ: "Lend, hoping for nothing in return."
Fourth, just as rain is pleasing to the cloud, and returns cloud for cloud — for in the earth moistened by itself and warmed by the sun's rays, it raises vapors which, lifted into the air, condense again into clouds: so likewise almsgiving enriches the giver, and thus the almsgiver competes in generosity with God; whence the more generous he is toward the poor, the more generous he experiences God to be toward himself, as St. John the Almsgiver confessed he experienced, according to Leontius, Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, in his Life, who also adds that he used to say confidently to God: "We shall see who wins, whether You by giving, or I by distributing."
Hence the Chaldean translates: if the rain clouds be full, they will pour out their waters upon the earth because of the merits of the just. And if there is no just man in that generation, they will descend into the sea and the desert, so that there is no benefit from them to the children of men.
And so St. Jerome explains it as if to say: "Keep the commandments that have been prescribed to you above, so that the clouds may pour out their rain upon you. For wherever you have prepared a place for yourself, and a future dwelling whether to the south or to the north, there when you have died, you will remain. Otherwise: therefore above we said: Cast your bread upon the face of the water, and give to everyone who asks of you; because the clouds too, when they are full, bestow their riches upon mortals." The cloud of our mercy toward the poor, therefore, draws out and provokes the cloud of divine mercy, so that it may rain and pour out upon us His graces and gifts, according to the saying: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy," Matthew 5:7.
Mystically, Olympiodorus says: "Clouds are holy men, one of whom was Moses, who says: Let my speech be awaited like rain, Deuteronomy chapter 32. Therefore the saints, filled with the divine word — such as was made to Hosea and other saints — pour out a fertile rain (of doctrine) not upon Judea alone, but also upon all the earth, into which their sound went forth." So also St. Jerome and St. Ambrose, Book III, epistle 19 to Constantius, whom hear: "Whoever gathers water from the mountains and draws it to himself, or draws it from springs, he too gives dew like a cloud. Therefore fill the lap of your mind, so that your earth may be moist and irrigated by its own springs. For he who reads much and understands is filled; and he who is filled waters others. Therefore Scripture says: If the clouds be full, they will pour rain upon the earth; therefore let your words be flowing, let them be pure and clear, so that in moral discourse you may infuse sweetness into the ears of the people, and by the grace of your words caress the populace, so that they willingly follow where you lead." See what was said on Ezekiel 10:4, where I enumerated the properties of clouds and applied them to the apostles and preachers. Therefore fertile and favorable clouds are the holy preachers, says Hugo, whose role is to be raised from the earth, to rain with doctrines, to thunder with threats, to flash with miracles and the example of their life; but clouds without water, and carried about by winds, as St. Jude says, are those who, empty of grace, seek the applause of their hearers, not their lament.
IF A TREE FALLS (the Arabic has "beam") TO THE SOUTH OR TO THE NORTH, IN WHATEVER PLACE IT FALLS, THERE IT SHALL BE. — The Zurich Bible renders it: it will remain in that place; Campensis: there will be those who gather it. The Hebrew, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic prefix the conjunction "and" — "and if it falls," etc. — from which it is clear that this proverb is to be joined with the preceding hemistich, "if the clouds be full," and belongs to the same verse, whether by way of similarity or dissimilarity. Whence
First, Thaumaturgus translates: there is no tree which stands forever; for even if men do not cut it down, it will eventually be overturned by the wind, as if to say: Just as a tree falls by every kind of accident, so also man, who is an inverted tree, is overturned by death: therefore if he is wise, before he is cut down let him do good, so that when cut down he may receive eternal life as the reward of his good deeds.
Second, Aben-Ezra, Clarius, and Campensis take the wood or tree to mean the fruit of the tree, which when ripe falls from it, as if to say: The fruit of a tree — for example, apples and pears — into whatever part or side of the tree it falls, does not perish, since there are always those who gather it. So the alms of a generous man, into whatever place it falls, does not perish, since nowhere are there lacking poor people to gather it, and almsgiving everywhere finds its reward before God and men. This meaning seems quite fitting; to which add also this related one, as if to say: Just as rain and fruit falling from a tree does not consider where it ought to fall, whether on good ground or bad, whether to the north or to the south, but falls by its natural weight into whatever direction is inclined and available to it: so likewise generous men, in giving alms — namely, into whatever direction, place, or lot they have fallen — are everywhere munificent, feeding these and those and as many others as possible, exercising their beneficence toward all they meet; nor do they curiously examine whether they are worthy or unworthy, whether they will be grateful or ungrateful, whether they will use the alms well or badly, whether the alms will prove useful or harmful to themselves; because into whatever person it has been bestowed in the end, there it will be, and for the giver it will not be lost, but there he will find it in its own time. Similar is the case of the bread cast upon the passing waters, verse 1. Here Rabbi Solomon agrees, who takes "it falls" not as a physical fall or collapse, but as chance or lot, as if to say: Just as a tree, wherever its lot falls to be planted and to stand, whether in the southern region or in the northern, bears its fruit there for the benefit of the inhabitants: so a generous man, wherever he is placed and wherever chance or fortune carries him, shows himself beneficent to all natives and strangers alike.
Third, Rabbi Haccados, as if to say: Just as clouds pour rain upon every place, even upon dry and barren ground, where the trees have dried up and fallen by some accident: so likewise a beneficent man distributes his benefits to all, even to the unworthy and ungrateful, who because of their ingratitude seem to have dried up and to be useless for any good.
Fourth, the Chaldean refers this to unmerciful princes who lose their power because of their lack of mercy, just as the merciful are raised to the same, or having fallen are restored to it, as is clear in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4; and partly to abundance or famine, which God sends now to this region, now to that, on account of virtues and vices, and especially on account of mercy or cruelty. Whence he translates thus: if it has been decreed from heaven that a king and his counselors should fall from their power, it will be done by the authority of the said Lord, and also abundance or famine to the south or north — wherever it has been decreed, that counsel is established and sent there, to be done.
Fifth, our Pineda, as if to say: Give alms to the poor man while he lives, because if he dies, you will no longer be able to give them to him. For wherever he has finally fallen and wherever he is, your beneficence will no longer recall him to life; therefore almsgiving to the needy must be hastened and not postponed. By almost the same reasoning Job 7:7 sought to attract divine mercy, saying: "Remember that my life is a breath, and my eye shall not return to see good things;" and verse 21: "Behold, now I shall sleep in the dust: and if you seek me in the morning, I shall not exist."
Sixth, some attach this proverb to the preceding one, as though it proves and confirms it, so that the first hemistich corresponds to the first hemistich of the preceding verse, and the second to the second, as if to say: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight," that is, give alms to many, indeed to very many; because just as clouds when full pour out abundant rain upon the earth, so generous persons, abounding in wealth and liberality and as it were swollen, give abundant alms, and thus do good to many, indeed to all to whom they can. He adds the reason: "For you know not what evil shall be upon the earth." Therefore strive to anticipate and avoid all this evil through almsgiving: because "if a tree falls to the south or to the north, in whatever place it falls, there it shall be," as if to say: Wherever and in whatever direction evil falls — that is, a disaster and destruction sent by God — there it will inflict its damages, and it is impossible to escape or remove it unless you avert it from yourself through almsgiving.
Seventh, more plainly, fittingly, and properly, St. Jerome says: "Therefore, he says, above we said: Cast your bread upon the face of the water, and give to everyone who asks of you, because the clouds too, when they are full, bestow their riches upon mortals; and you, like a tree, although you may be long-lived, will not be here forever, but overturned by the sudden force of winds, that is, by the tempest of death, wherever you fall, there you will remain perpetually, whether the last hour finds you harsh and fierce, or merciful and compassionate." This meaning is required by the antithesis of south and north. For, as St. Jerome notes, when the south wind is opposed to the north wind in Scripture, the south is taken in a good sense, the north in a bad sense, according to the saying: "The Lord shall come from the south," Habakkuk 3:3. For the southern region is the right hand of the world, bright and warm; the northern region is the left, dark and cold.
Add that Babylon, which through Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and Judea, was to the north of it. Whence the saying: "From the north (that is, from Babylon) evil shall spread," Jeremiah 1:14. The south wind therefore denotes the state of mercy, grace, and salvation; the north wind the state of mercilessness, sin, and damnation — namely, that after the fall, that is, death, there is no passage from one state to the other, so that those who die in the state of grace and salvation cannot pass into the state of sin and damnation; nor can the latter in turn pass into the former: for a great chasm has been fixed between the two, which is impenetrable and impassable to anyone, as Abraham said to the rich glutton, Luke 16.
To this meaning the common exposition of the Fathers and interpreters excellently adheres, who interpret the fall of the tree as the death of man: for man is an inverted tree, because he sends his roots, namely his head with its hair, upward, and his branches, namely his feet, downward. Whence that saying of the blind man illuminated by Christ: "I see men walking like trees," Mark 8:24. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Into whatever place and state a man falls in death — whether to the south, that is, to the state of the elect and the blessed, on account of the works of mercy which he did in life; or to the north, that is, to the state of the damned, on account of works of mercilessness — there he will remain for eternity, unable to migrate and cross over into the other and opposite state. Therefore take care that by accumulating alms and merits you fall to the south, not to the north, since you must die soon; see therefore where your mind inclines, whether to avarice, whether to virtues, whether to vices; and if you see it leaning toward the north, with all effort bend it back toward the south, so that it falls to the south, not to the north. Throughout your entire life, therefore, learn how to die well once; and the discipline of dying well is a holy life; therefore live holily, if you wish to die holily, so that you fall to the south.
Fittingly, the south wind, as the right and warm region of the sky, represents heavenly happiness; while the north wind, because it is the left and cold region, represents the damnation of hell. So St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Albinus, Salonius, and St. Gregory, Book XII of the Moralia, whom hear: "If a tree falls to the south, or to the north, in whatever place it falls, there it shall be. On the day of his death, the just man falls to the south, the sinner to the north: because the just man through the fervor of his spirit is led to joys, and the sinner is condemned in his cold heart together with the apostate angel, who said: I will sit upon the mount of the covenant, on the sides of the north."
Hear St. Bernard, Sermon 49 among the shorter ones: "Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, there it shall be. The warmth and lightness of the south in Sacred Scripture usually have a good signification. From the north, however, all evil spreads. Moreover, someone saw men as trees. Now a tree is cut down in death, and wherever it falls, there it shall be, because there God will judge you, where He finds you. There, I say, it shall be immutably and irrevocably. Let it see where it is going to fall before it falls, because after it has fallen, it shall not rise again, nor even turn itself. But if you wish to know where the tree is going to fall, observe its branches. Where the abundance of branches is greater and heavier, do not doubt that it will fall in that direction, if it is then cut down. Our branches are our desires, by which we stretch toward the south, if they are spiritual; if carnal, toward the north. But the middle body indicates which preponderate, for those preponderate which have drawn the body along with them."
He then illustrates the same point with a fitting simile: "For thus the body is between the spirit, which it ought to serve, and the carnal desires which war against the soul, or the powers of darkness, as if a cow were placed between a robber and a farmer. Whatever the robber threatens, whatever he intends, if he has not led away the cow, the farmer has won: so however much the evil one rages, however much wicked desires torment, if the soul claims its vessel for itself, it must be believed to have won, so that, as the Apostle says: Let not sin reign in our mortal body; but as we have presented our members to serve iniquity unto iniquity, so let us present them to serve justice unto sanctification."
Tropologically, Geoffrey in his tropological commentary on this passage says: In the east stands he who makes progress; in the west, he who declines; in the south, he who tends toward heaven; in the north, he who tends toward hell. Finally, the south, as the right side of the world, represents the right hand of Christ the Judge, at which on the day of judgment all the elect will be placed by Christ to be blessed; while the north, as the left side of the world, represents the left hand of Christ the Judge, at which all the reprobate and damned will be placed.
Heretics object: Ecclesiastes here names only two places after the fall, that is, after death — namely the south and the north, that is, heaven and hell: therefore there is no middle place between these two, namely purgatory. I reply: I deny the conclusion; for he who names two extremes does not exclude the middle things that intervene between the extremes, but rather includes them: just as here under the south and the north, Ecclesiastes includes the east and the west, which are midway between south and north. He names these two rather than east and west because these two correspond to the two poles of the world — namely, the north to the arctic pole, the south to the antarctic. Those who are in purgatory therefore belong to the south, because they are certain that, once their purification is complete, they will go to heaven. In the same way, the patriarchs who in Solomon's time were in limbo belonged to the south, for they were awaiting the opening of heaven through Christ.
Again, the south and the north signify the two final places to which souls proceed after death, to remain there forever; and there are only two such places, namely heaven and hell. For purgatory is not a final place but an intermediate one, because from it all souls pass on to heaven. So St. Jerome, Olympiodorus, Salonius, and others generally. Hence Francisco Suarez expounds this proverb, first, concerning the two ultimate places in which the journey of wayfarers ultimately terminates; second, concerning the place of consolation and of sorrow: purgatory, however, is a place of consolation; or best of all, as if to say: After this life there is no place for losing or recovering God's friendship; but if a man has departed to the south, that is, in divine friendship, there he will remain forever; if to the north, that is, in God's wrath and enmity, there he will be forever. So Suarez, Part III, volume IV, disputation 45.
Salonius agrees: "By the tree, he says, man is designated, because every person is like a tree in the forest of the human race; by the south wind, which is a warm wind, the rest of paradise is designated; by the north wind, which is a cold wind, the punishment of hell is designated." See Bellarmine, Book I On Purgatory, chapter 8.
Morally, learn here that the great stimulus to almsgiving and every virtue is the consideration of eternity, stable and immutable, which will be most happy for the charitable and most miserable for the merciless. Hence Ecclesiastes frequently applies this stimulus, as in verse 9 and following; chapter 9, verse 10; chapter 12, verse 5. Let our preachers learn from him to frequently prod their hearers with the same stimulus in their sermons. For what is greater, longer, more terrible, more happy or more unhappy than eternity? Therefore whoever is not moved by it is either a stone or a demon of hopeless salvation.
Bede truly says in his Collectanea: "God established three principal dwelling places: heaven, earth, and hell; and in those three, three principal things: in heaven He established peace and eternity; on earth He established faith, penance, and the remission of sins; in hell He established fear and eternal punishment. From the earth, which is in the middle, heaven and hell will be filled."
Verse 4: HE WHO OBSERVES THE WIND SHALL NOT SOW: AND HE WHO CONSIDERS THE CLOUDS (the Arabic has "the air") SHALL NEVER REAP as if to say: He who is frightened by difficulties and withholds his almsgiving on account of uncertain outcomes — for example, because he fears becoming impoverished, or lest the fruit of almsgiving be lost — this person neglects good works that are fruitful and necessary. For prudent farmers are accustomed to observe the winds and clouds, as Columella, Varro, and Virgil in the Georgics attest, but moderately: therefore only their excessive observation, anxiety, and unreasonable fear is criticized here; for otherwise seed now requires a cold wind, so that it may drive deep roots into the earth; now a warm one, so that it may burst forth into abundant growth; so it now requires rain so that it may thicken, now dryness so that it may consolidate itself. This is and after interposing some remarks, he assigns a remedy for fear: "Here let prudence be of service, here with strength of spirit reject even obvious fear; if not, drive out one vice with another, temper fear with hope. Nothing among the things we fear is so certain that it is not more certain that dreaded things subside and hoped-for things deceive. Therefore examine both hope and fear, and whenever everything is uncertain, favor yourself; believe what you prefer. If you have more reasons for fear, nonetheless incline rather to this side, and cease disturbing yourself. And frequently turn this over in your mind: the greater part of mortals, though nothing bad has happened to them nor is certainly going to happen, are agitated and rush about. For no one resists himself once he begins to be driven; nor does he reduce his fear to the truth. No one says: The author is unreliable, he is unreliable, either he invented it or believed it. We give ourselves over to reporters; we are terrified at what is doubtful as though it were certain; we do not observe moderation; immediately a scruple turns into fear."
Differently, St. Jerome says: "He who considers to whom he should do good, and does not give to everyone who asks, often passes by the one who deserves to receive." Olympiodorus: "You too, do not be so anxious, curiously inquiring to whom you will give alms and to whom not, as for example whether he is faithful or unfaithful, just or unjust; for if you remain undecided examining these things, you will lose the time of sowing, and in the time of harvest you will find nothing to reap. Therefore without any delay of time, give alms in simplicity of heart."
Finally, Thaumaturgus considers that these things are said against astrologers, who conjecture and divine from the stars about future fertility or sterility; whence he translates thus: "Many desire to foreknow what things will come from heaven, nor is there lacking one who, gazing at the clouds and waiting for the wind, has abstained from harvest or winnowing, trusting in a vain thing; nor knowing anything of those things that are divinely appointed to be." St. Athanasius in his Synopsis agrees, who from this passage judges that Solomon overthrows "the religion of the Egyptians concerning divination from a person's birth." The Chaldean agrees: "He who observes soothsayers and diviners," he says, "will scarcely accomplish distinguished deeds in this life rashly, and he who seeks understanding from the stars will not increase his reward; for augurs are very much like wind, which cannot be enclosed in a man's palm; and the planets are compared to the clouds of heaven, which always go and never return." But the first sense, which I have given, is the genuine one.
Tropologically, Albinus understands by winds those who oppose us; by clouds, those who flatter us: so also St. Jerome: "He who preaches the word of God only at the time when the people willingly listen, and a favorable breeze blows, is a negligent and lazy farmer, a sower of pride: for in the very midst of prosperity, while we do not know it, adversities arise. But the word of God must be preached in season and out of season: nor in the time of faith should one ever consider the storm of adversarial clouds; as it is said in Proverbs, Proverbs 26:3 and 4: a proverb parabolically signifying those who are too fearful and anxious about the future outcome of things, designating the idle: just as if a farmer too anxiously observing the winds does not dare to sow, for he thinks to himself: If I sow while the wind is blowing, the wind will scatter and disperse my seed, so that it is carried outside the field or into other parts of the field where I do not want to sow; or the wind, being now too cold, will kill the seed, or being too hot, will drive out the sprout excessively, and so I will sow in vain and without hope of harvest; whence it happens that he never sows, and consequently never reaps: for there is always some wind, especially in winter, when it is time for sowing; therefore whoever fears the wind will never sow, since the air in winter is never free of wind. In like manner, whoever considers the clouds will never reap: for he anxiously persuades himself and says: If I reap now, the clouds will pour down rain, which will infect and rot the crop I have harvested with its moisture; I will therefore wait until there are no clouds, and the weather is entirely fair and safe; whence it happens that he never dares to reap, but the crop dries out and is lost in the field. For there are always some clouds in the sky; therefore whoever fears them will never sow. Just so, whoever too anxiously fears a public shortage of grain supply, or lest something be lacking at home for himself and his family, saying: If I give bread to the poor, my grain will not suffice to feed my family for the whole year; I will therefore wait for an abundance of goods, and the assurance that nothing will be lacking to me, and then I will generously distribute the surplus to the poor: this man, I say, will never give alms, because he will always be struck by some fear of present or future need, which will hold him back from giving and close his hands; whence it will happen that grain rots in his granary, an example of which is found in Moschus in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 74.
This proverb therefore signifies that the dangers and difficulties that occur in practicing virtue, especially almsgiving, should not be too anxiously considered and feared, but should be committed and resigned to divine Providence, and that with great spirit and great confidence in God, one should generously do good to every needy person; for thus we will in turn experience God being generous toward us.
Truly, Seneca, epistle 13: "For the most part," he says, "we suffer from suspicions, etc.: we do not refute the things that bring us to fear, nor examine them; but we tremble, and so we turn our backs, like those whom the dust raised by a stampede of cattle drove from camp, or whom some story spread without an author terrified. I do not know why empty things disturb us more: for true things have their own measure; whatever comes from uncertainty is handed over to conjecture and to the license of the fearful mind. No fears, therefore, are so pernicious, so irrevocable, as frantic fears: for other fears are without reason, but these are without mind:" because, as the same author adds, "sometimes, with no signs appearing that might announce anything bad, the mind fashions false images for itself;" or a violent and useless rain, so are those who abandon wisdom and praise impiety. Therefore without consideration of clouds and fear of winds, one must sow in the midst of storms, nor should one say that this time is convenient and that one useless, since we are ignorant of the way and will of the Spirit who dispenses all things."
Furthermore, St. Gregory, Part III of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 16, understands by winds the suggestions of demons; by clouds, the persecutions of men: "He who observes the wind," he says, "does not sow, and he who considers the clouds never reaps. For what is expressed by the wind but the temptation of malign spirits? And what is designated by the clouds, which are moved by the wind, but the adversities caused by wicked men? By winds, indeed, the clouds are driven, because by the breath of unclean spirits wicked men are stirred up. He therefore who observes the wind does not sow, and he who considers the clouds never reaps: because whoever fears the temptation of malign spirits, whoever fears the persecution of wicked men, neither now sows the seeds of good work, nor then cuts the sheaves of holy retribution." He has similar things in Book XXVII of the Morals, chapter 5.
Again, our Alvarez de Paz, Book V, Part II, chapter 20, On the Means of Perfection, understands by winds and clouds self-interest and self-love, the enemy of virtue: "He who observes the wind," he says, "does not sow, and he who considers the clouds will by no means reap;" it is as if he had said: He who in all things seeks what is most convenient for himself, and strives to fulfill what is most pleasant, that man certainly does not sow seed from which he may reap an eternal reward. For he sows works infected with the vice of his own will and disordered love, which, since they please only the man who performs them, do not bear the fruit of eternal reward.
Verse 5: AS YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS THE WAY OF THE SPIRIT, NOR HOW THE BONES ARE JOINED TOGETHER IN THE WOMB OF HER THAT IS WITH CHILD; SO YOU DO NOT KNOW THE WORKS OF GOD, WHO IS THE MAKER OF ALL.
This maxim pertains to almsgiving, as is clear from the preceding and following. For lest anyone timid or avaricious excuse himself from it, out of fear that he himself might be in need of all his resources for supporting his family, he counters by saying: "He who observes the wind does not sow: and he who considers the clouds, let him never reap," that is to say: One ought not so anxiously to dread future blasts of winds and rains of clouds, that on account of them we are called away from sowing and reaping at the proper time. For it is God who governs the winds and clouds, and makes them serve the uses of men, and so moderates and dispenses them, that they do not hinder but help and promote sowing and harvesting, even though this does not appear to men at the beginning, but rather the contrary, namely that they will be harmful, not beneficial. For God knows hidden ways and reasons by which He brings it about that they are helpful, not harmful. He now proves this by the example of the formation of man, saying: "As you do not know what is the way of the spirit," etc., that is to say: Just as you do not know by what method the soul is inserted by God into the embryo and the human body in the mother's womb,
What is the way of the spirit. -- First, many probably understand by spirit the wind, as Symmachus translates it, about which the discourse has preceded; for in both places in the Hebrew the same word ruach is used; for the ways, movements, and circuits of the winds are hidden, and impenetrable to men, because they proceed from the secret dispensation of God's providence, according to that saying of Christ to Nicodemus, John 3:8: "The Spirit breathes where He wills; and you hear His voice, but you do not know whence He comes, or where He goes," because, as St. Dionysius explains, Celestial Hierarchy chapter 15, the winds bear an image of divine action, on account of their swift and insurmountable departure, and on account of the sources and springs unknown and invisible to us. So say Thaumaturgus, Olympiodorus, Hugo, Arias and others.
Second and more fittingly, by spirit you may understand the soul which informs the body: for here the discussion concerns the joining and formation of man in the mother's womb, as is clear from what follows. Whence the Chaldean translates: "Just as it cannot be entirely clear to you by what way the breathing soul, capable of life, is infused into the body of an infant, and into the fetus which is contained in the womb of the mother who carries it, and you are entirely ignorant, until it is brought to light, whether it is male or female: so neither can you judge the works of the Lord, who accomplishes all things with supreme wisdom." So St. Jerome: "Just as you do not know," he says, "the way of the spirit and soul entering into the little one, and are ignorant of the varieties of bones and veins in the womb of the pregnant woman, how from base matter the human body is varied into diverse forms and limbs; and from the same seed, one part softens into flesh, another hardens into bone, another throbs in the veins, and another is bound in the sinews: so you will not be able to know the works of God, who is the maker of all. So also explain Lyranus, Hugo, Cajetan, Clarius, Vatablus, and others, who interpret the way of the spirit as the way by which the soul enters the human body when it begins to live, and the way by which it departs from the same when it dies.
Moreover, how hidden and obscure the origin of the human soul is, and its entrance into the body and into each of its members, is shown by the various, indeed contrary, opinions of philosophers on this matter. For Democritus held that the soul, like all other things, was formed from a fortuitous concurrence of atoms. Plato in the Timaeus, because he made numbers the principles of things, pronounced the soul also to be composed of numbers. Heraclitus, who established fire as the principle of natural things, also supposed the soul to be a warm exhalation. Diogenes, and those who composed all things from air, said it was air; Thales, moisture; Critias, blood; Empedocles, a certain harmony and temperament of the elements; Hippocrates said the soul is a thin spirit dispersed through the whole body. See more in Theodoret, Book IX On the Nature of Man; Gregory of Nyssa, Disputation On the Soul; Lactantius, On the Workmanship of God, chapter 17; Plutarch, Book IV On the Opinions of Philosophers, chapters 2 and 3; Aristotle, On the Soul, chapter 2; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations I.
Finally, St. Augustine, a man of the sharpest intellect, doubted until death about the origin of the soul, namely whether individual souls are created by God for individual infants, or whether they are from transmission, that is, whether the soul of a child is derived from the soul of the parent, just as the light of one candle is transmitted and kindled from the light of another, as is clear from Book I On the Origin of the Soul, chapter 15, and Book I of the Retractations, chapter 1. For this latter view seemed to him to be supported by the transmission of original sin, for that appears to be transmitted in the soul to the offspring from the soul of the parent: but the Church has now defined the contrary, namely that human souls are created by God at the birth, or rather at the conception, of each person, and are infused by being created. Hence the mother of the seven Maccabees wisely says to them: "I know not," she says, "how you appeared in my womb: for neither did I give you spirit and soul and life, nor did I myself fashion the members of each one: but the Creator of the world, who formed the birth of man, and who found the origin of all things," etc. 2 Maccabees 7:22.
Third, St. Bonaventure understands by spirit God and the Holy Spirit, that is to say: The divine Spirit secretly permeates, forms, compels, moves, and dispenses the winds and clouds about which the discourse preceded. Again, the same Spirit secretly forms, fits, joins, and fastens together the bones of the infant in the mother's womb, as follows. Mystically, the same Spirit so secretly enters into the soul through grace and operation, that man does not see Him, indeed often does not recognize Him, according to that saying of Job 9:11: "If He comes to me, I will not see Him: if He departs, I will not understand." Whence Blessed Isaiah the Abbot (found in the Library of the Holy Fathers), oration 19, in the middle, reads thus: "Just as the bones are joined together in the womb of her that bears, so is the way of the spirit;" and he explains it of the Holy Spirit: "For just as the holy Virgin bore the Son of God in the flesh, so those who receive the grace of the Holy Spirit conceive and bear Him in their heart."
AND HOW THE BONES ARE JOINED TOGETHER IN THE WOMB OF HER THAT IS WITH CHILD.
Pregnant is called in Hebrew full, namely heavy with her fetus and embryo. The formation of the bones and members of the embryo is a work of nature, or rather of God, admirable; whence all philosophers and physicians marvel at it, as Galen, in the book On the Use of Parts; Lactantius, On the Workmanship of God; Cicero, Book II On the Nature of the Gods; indeed also the Psalmist, Psalm 138:15: "My bone," he says, "was not hidden from you, which you made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my imperfect being," that is, the joining of my bones was not unknown to you, and all the inner members in the hidden place of the maternal womb (as the Chaldean translates) as in the depths of the earth, where I was embroidered with a needle as if by Phrygian work, as regards the nerves, flesh, bones, and skin. For this is in Hebrew רקמתי ruchamti, that is, as if embroidered by a Phrygian with a needle, which accordingly the Italians call ricamo. And Job chapter 10 and following: "Did you not," he says, "milk me like milk, and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh: you joined me together with bones and sinews: you granted me life and mercy."
Moreover, above all other parts and members, wonderful in man is the joining of so many and such varied bones, namely their formation, solidification, binding, connection, articulation, and structure, as can be seen in the Anatomy of Vesalius and others. This therefore is the work of Elohim, as the Hebrew has it, that is, of the all-knowing, most wise, and supremely provident Deity, who by His efficacy and power permeates, penetrates, moves, nourishes, and gives life to all things. There is emphasis in the phrase in the womb of the pregnant woman, that is to say: Tell me, if you can, by what method the one soft and tender womb of the pregnant woman forms so many hard and solid bones of the embryo? By what art does it clothe, interweave, and join together the same with so many muscles, nerves, tendons, cartilages, veins, arteries, etc.? Especially since the pregnant woman herself knows nothing of these things, indeed does not even feel them, which are nevertheless so varied and artful that no embroiderer, however skilled and expert, could I do not say form them by variegating, but not even express and represent them by painting with a needle.
Finally, by this proverb he signifies that, just as God aptly connects and joins together diverse and sometimes opposing bones in the body, so that they mutually help and strengthen each other, so likewise the same God directs and connects even contrary winds and clouds, so that they do not harm but benefit the seed and harvest: likewise all adverse and prosperous things, and especially those which threaten a shortage and scarcity of grain supply, and all the difficulties and dangers that strike a man with fear and call him away from almsgiving; that, I say, God directs, arranges, and combines all these things, so that they bring not scarcity but rather abundance to the almsgiver. "For to those who love God all things (God directing) work together for good," Romans 8:28: for God governs, tempers, and connects all secondary causes, so that they serve the interests of His friends and elect.
Verse 6: IN THE MORNING SOW YOUR SEED, AND IN THE EVENING LET NOT YOUR HAND CEASE: FOR YOU DO NOT KNOW WHICH MAY RATHER SPRING UP, THIS OR THAT; AND IF BOTH TOGETHER, IT WILL BE THE BETTER.
For let not cease, Symmachus translates, do not let go of your hand; the Hebrew, do not cause to rest; the Septuagint, let not your hand relax. For what may spring up, in Hebrew it is כשר iichsar, that is, will be directed, will succeed; Aquila, will profit; Symmachus, will find or attain, namely your hand; St. Jerome, will be right, or what may please; the Tigurina, what will be more advantageous; others, what is more fitting, that is to say: You do not know whether morning almsgiving or evening almsgiving will be more useful to you, as well as to the poor, and more pleasing to God.
The Chaldean understands this maxim as referring to the generation of children; whence he translates thus: In the beginning of your youth, take a wife, so that you may beget children: for thus, when you are older, she as a part of you will not cease bearing. Nor will it be possible for you to know whether one of them is chosen for good, whether this one or that, or whether two together will be upright. But this sense is carnal and Judaistic, and does not pertain to the matter at hand. For this entire passage pertains to almsgiving and beneficence.
The sense therefore is, that is to say: Just as a prudent farmer, while it is time for sowing, at any time (for under morning and evening, as under two extremes, he understands all the intermediate times that occur) sows his seed both in the morning and in the evening, so that if one sprouts and bears fruit less successfully, the other more successfully; or if both succeed, he may gather a double and abundant harvest: so you, O faithful one, do good at all times, and never cease from almsgiving or good work, because if one does not succeed, the other will succeed and bring the hoped-for fruit: if both, you will fully obtain your desire. Finally, the reward of both is certainly prepared for you with God.
So St. Jerome: "Do not choose," he says, "to whom you should do good, but also when you have done good, never cease from good work. Let the evening find morning justice, and let sunrise add to evening mercy. For it is uncertain which work is more pleasing to God, and from which the fruit of justice is being prepared for you. But it can happen that not one, but both please God."
Otherwise: And in both adolescence and old age let your labor be equal. Nor should you say: While I was able, I labored; I ought to rest in old age. For you do not know whether in youth or in advanced age you please God. Nor does the frugality of adolescence profit, if old age is spent in luxury. For on whatever day the just man goes astray, his former acts of justice will not deliver him from death.
Olympiodorus agrees, who explains it thus, as if to say: From the beginning of life apply yourself to virtues until its end, according to that saying of Christ: "I must work, while it is day," John 9:4: "Having undertaken virtue," he says, "persevere to the end: for you do not know which of your good works will be pleasing to the judge, those which you performed at the starting gates, or those when you have already been brought to the finish line. But if both are approved in the same manner equally, such activity will be judged full of goodness and perfection. Or otherwise understand it thus: From the beginning of childhood practice virtue, and do not say: Now since I am younger, I will enjoy the delights that life has, and later when I have reached old age, I will turn to repentance: for you by no means know what will happen to you, or when the end of life will arrive. It is therefore worthwhile to always practice virtue, and to strive with the greatest effort to attain it. One must also often pray to God, that the works we perform may be pleasing to His majesty and goodness." Therefore no vacation from work is granted to man in this life; for as Job says, chapter 5:7: "Man is born to labor, and the bird to flight." And the Psalmist, Psalm 103:23: "Man shall go forth (when the sun rises in the morning) to his work, and to his labor until the evening."
Wherefore we ought to grow in virtues as well as in merits daily, up to the last breath of life. Whence the Damascene wisely says, in his oration On the Dormition, that virgins are entirely perfected and made holy by death, which brings it about for them that no change any longer falls upon their virtue.
Tropologically, St. Jerome understands by morning and evening the Old Testament and the New, which is like the latter and the former rain. "Whence we are now admonished," he says, "to read the old law in such a way that we do not despise the Gospel; to seek the spiritual understanding in the Old Testament in such a way that in the evangelists and apostles we do not think that only what is read has meaning: for we are ignorant of that in which knowledge and grace are more greatly bestowed upon us by God, and happy is he who has joined both together in common, and has made them as if one body. He who has achieved this will see the light, will see Christ the sun of justice."
Again, by morning and evening you may understand prosperity and adversity, or the rise and fall of good fortune, that is to say: Neither in prosperous nor in adverse circumstances should one cease from virtue: in adversity exercise humility, patience, fortitude; in prosperity, modesty, temperance, gratitude; in both, charity and beneficence; therefore let no occasion for doing good slip by, so that if the former works are less pleasing to God, the latter or the last may please more. Seneca says excellently, epistle 12: "Therefore," he says, "every day is to be so arranged as if it were closing the march, and completing and fulfilling life." And further on: "When about to go to sleep, let us say joyfully and cheerfully: I have lived, and the course which you had given, O fortune (or rather, O gracious God), I have finished."
IN THE MORNING SOW YOUR SEED AND IN THE EVENING.
Our Delrio, adage 300, page 2, understands by morning and evening two times of sowing, namely the early and the late, just as the early rain is said to be that which moistens the seed that has been sown, so that it sprouts; the late rain, that which ripens the grain already formed. Whence Symmachus translates, sow your seed early, but also let not your hand relax from the late sowing. But in Scripture no mention is ever made of early or late sowing, but only of rain. Therefore take morning and evening properly, that is to say: With the sun, indeed before the sun rises, let our zeal for doing good arise; let the same not set except with the sun, so that the rising sun finds us doing good, and the setting sun leaves us doing good. Let beneficence rouse us from bed in the morning, and return us to bed in the evening.
Rabbi Akiba says rather tepidly: When you have given something to the poor in the morning, and he returns in the evening, do not send him away empty.
And if both together, it will be the better. -- The Hebrew has, and if both of them, as one good, that is to say: You do not know whether both will be of equal goodness, whether one will be as good as the other. But our translator took the word good for better; for the Hebrews use the positive for the comparative which they lack; whence he translates more clearly and significantly, and if both together (spring up), it will be the better.
Verse 7: THE LIGHT IS SWEET, AND IT IS DELIGHTFUL FOR THE EYES TO SEE THE SUN.
For light is the most noble, most pleasant, heavenly, most useful, and life-giving quality; the sun too is the eye of the world, and "a vessel of admirable beauty of the Most High," Sirach 43:2. See what was said there. See also Dracontius, Book I of the Hexameron, where he celebrates light among other things (found in volume VIII of the Library of the Holy Fathers): Light, the ethereal beam, light, the boundary of night and shadow. Light, the face of all things, and light for the elements. Light, warmth for the born and the made, light, the grace of the sun. Light, the glory of the stars, light, the golden horns of the moon. Light, the splendor of heaven, light, and the beginnings of the world. Light, the brightness of flame, light, the index of great time. Light, the honor of farmers, light, the rest for all fields.
Hence also Varro, Book V On the Latin Language, thinks that the day, which carries light, is named from God; or as Festus says, because it is of divine workmanship; or from Jove, whom they call Dia. Hence also the sun is called by Cicero, Book II On the Nature of the Gods, "the prince of the stars"; by Heraclitus, as Macrobius attests, Book I on the Dream of Scipio, chapter 20: "The fountain of light and the heart of heaven;" by Chalcidius on Plato's Timaeus, and by Pliny, Book II, chapter 6: "The soul of the world, the ruler of the stars and heaven, the governance and divine power of nature." Numen, that is, a nod and power, says Festus, from nuo, nuis, which the ancients used in place of volo (I wish). Hence finally some, as Macrobius attests, in his book On Living Hidden, thought the soul to be a kind of light, because it intensely delights in light, and abhors ignorance and darkness. Wherefore Anaxagoras, as Laertius attests, said that man was born for this purpose, to see the sun and its light; and the Greeks called man phota, that is, light, because he alone, illuminated in mind by the light of the Sun and the divine Word, illuminates others with the same light. So says Gregory of Nazianzus.
Hear Lactantius, Book III On False Religion, chapter 12: "So great a thing is (as Anaxagoras judged) the contemplation of heaven and of light itself, that one may willingly sustain any miseries whatsoever."
St. Jerome and his followers refer this maxim to the preceding, as if to say: In the morning and evening, that is, continually and always, sow the seed of almsgiving and good works, because, if you do this, you will obtain the reward, namely the sweetest light of glory, in which you will see the sun of justice, Christ the Lord, in heavenly glory. But this sense is mystical and symbolic, just like that of Rabbi Haccados, who understands by light children: for these are like the lights of parents, that is to say: Sow, that is, beget children; for they will be light and splendor to you and your family.
I say therefore that this maxim depends on and pertains to what follows: for there it is completed, that is to say: Sweet indeed is this life and the enjoyment of light, in which we pleasantly behold the most brilliant sun; but nevertheless death will shortly succeed it, which will wrap us on every side in dreadful darkness. Therefore, mindful of approaching death, do not abuse the sweetness of life for excessive pleasures; but use it moderately for every virtue and beneficence. And so while we live, life should be enjoyed, or rather modestly and honestly used, so that we may help as many people as possible with services and benefits, mindful of impending death and judgment.
Note, from this place to the end of the book, Ecclesiastes, or Solomon, removes from himself all suspicion of Epicureanism, and of a pleasure-seeking life, which above, by frequently recommending that one should cheerfully enjoy one's possessions while living, he had implanted in some. Whence here he seriously warns us of our end, namely that we should pass in mind and affection from vanity to truth, from time to eternity, which is likewise the end and scope of the whole book, as is clear from its beginning and end.
Thaumaturgus agrees here, who, joining this maxim with what follows, aptly weaves all together from verse 10 in one connection: "But if anyone reasons with himself how beautiful the sun is, how sweet this life, how pleasant it is to become long-lived in the fullness of happiness, and how dreadful and perpetual an evil death is, bringing no advantage at all, from which he might conclude that we should enjoy all present things, however agreeable they may seem. Moreover,
Anagogically, the Chaldean explains this maxim of the light of glory, by which the Saints are blessed in heaven: And sweet, he says, is the light of the law, and most fitting indeed, which brings light to dimming eyes, so that they may at length behold the majesty of the Lord's countenance, who with a certain divine splendor will illuminate the face of the just, so that they may be compared with the sun in beauty.
Symbolically, it is sweet to see the light and the sun, that is, to contemplate God, who as He is the giver of gifts, so also is the Father "of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration," James 1:17. Hence God is said to be "clothed with light as with a garment," Psalm 102:2; and light is said to be properly His "possession," Job 36:33. Whence St. Dionysius, chapter 4 of On the Divine Names, says the sun is a living image of God. Wherefore Christ says: "I am the light of the world," John 8:12. Indeed Plato, Book VI of the Republic, calls light and the sun the offspring and son of the good.
Hear Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 40: "And indeed God is the supreme and inaccessible light, which can neither be perceived by the mind nor expressed in words, illuminating every nature endowed with reason, being in intelligible things what the sun is in sensible things; presenting Himself the more for our contemplation, the more carefully we have purified our minds; to be loved the more, the more we have contemplated Him; and finally to be known the more, the more we have loved Him; gazing upon and comprehending Himself, and very sparingly diffusing Himself to external things. Moreover, I speak of that light which is considered in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, whose wealth is the identity of nature, and the one and same outpouring of splendor. The second light is the angel, as a small stream or participation of that first light through inclination toward it, having illumination by ministry, about which I cannot determine whether the splendor is imparted to it according to the order of its rank, or rather whether it receives this or that station according to the manner of divine illumination. The third light is man, which is also clear and manifest to those outside; for they call man phota, that is, light, on account of the force and faculty of reason implanted in us. By which name also among us are called those who are more like God and draw nearer to God."
Tropologically, Olympiodorus says: He who receives in his mind the sun of justice, that is, the illumination of Christ, clearly sees what things are to be done according to the will of that same sun, and what things are to be let go: and the same man is therefore filled with great pleasure and joy, because he not only knows what he should do, but also, illuminated by that same sun, with the most peaceful mind contemplates those most beautiful forms which, separated from matter, are perceived by the intellect alone. Moreover, he comprehends in his mind the unending days of darkness which in the future age will seize the impious; and therefore with every effort he turns away from evil and does good. So says Olympiodorus.
Verse 8: IF A MAN LIVE MANY YEARS, AND HAVE REJOICED IN THEM ALL, HE OUGHT TO REMEMBER THE DARKSOME TIME, AND THE MANY DAYS: WHICH WHEN THEY SHALL COME, THE THINGS PAST SHALL BE ACCUSED OF VANITY.
This maxim connects with the preceding, and suggests its salutary antithesis, that is to say: Sweet indeed is it to enjoy the use of light and to contemplate the sun. Sweet it is to live, and to taste the pleasures of life; but do not take too much delight in them; do not rest secure upon them, nor through them offend God; do not consider them perpetual or long-lasting, because shortly the dark and sorrowful days of old age and death will succeed them, and when they come, they will in fact show how vain the past days of life and pleasure were, that is, how brief, few, fleeting, and evanescent: for then all light will end in darkness, pleasure in misery, joy in sorrow, life in death.
For just as the sun, when it rises in the morning, is bright and radiant, and grows toward noon, but shortly after a few hours decreases, declines, and sets: so likewise our life, when we are born, shines and grows toward manhood; but after a few years it decreases, grows old, and sets. Therefore when you daily behold the sun rising and setting, take it as a living image of your life, and in it measure and contemplate your own rising and setting. Even if you had lived the years of Methuselah, when they have been spent, they will be just as if they had not been, according to that saying: "A thousand years in your eyes are as yesterday, which has passed," Psalm 89:4.
HE OUGHT TO REMEMBER THE DARKSOME TIME, AND THE MANY DAYS.
The Hebrew has, let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. By which, first, may be understood the days of old age, which although few, yet because they are filled with many miseries, seem to the aging man many and long and equally dark, that is, wretched and sad, just as to a sick person the night, though otherwise short, seems long. Add that the eyes of the elderly grow dim, so that the sun seems to them to darken, as will be said in chapter 12, verse 2: for there he describes at length these dark days of old age.
Second, the days of death and burial, for these are many, because they will last until the day of judgment, when we will rise from death. Whence the Chaldean translates, for many are the days in which he will sleep in the house of the tomb, and it pertains to him to receive judgment from heaven for every and advises the young to abuse their age, to allow their souls every pleasure, to indulge their desires, to live as they please, to behold delightful things, and to turn away from things that are not of that sort. To whom I would say only this: You act foolishly, O whoever you are, not expecting the future judgment of God in all these things." The author of the Greek Catena says similar things. time, whatever evil may come upon him, on account of the vanity he committed.
Third, the many and dark days are the days of eternity, which the impious spend in the most wretched and perpetual darkness of hell. So Olympiodorus: "He considers," he says, "in his mind the days of darkness, which in the future age will seize the impious, and that sinners, after the vanity of all things, will come to eternal punishments."
WHICH WHEN THEY SHALL COME, THE THINGS PAST SHALL BE ACCUSED OF VANITY.
The Hebrew has, everything that comes is vanity; St. Jerome, everything that will come is vanity; others, everything that follows will be vain; Vatablus, everyone who is born is vanity, that is to say: Whatever comes and happens in this world is vain: for just as past things have vanished, so present things immediately pass away and vanish, and future things will pass and vanish. For from the past vanity of things, one may certainly conjecture and measure the present and future vanity; to indicate which, our translator skillfully rendered, which when they shall come, the things past shall be accused of vanity.
Wisely therefore St. Remaclus, Bishop of Maastricht, when about to die, gave this final admonition to his people: "The whole life of a wise man ought to be a certain meditation on death." Indeed Plato also says: "Philosophy (ethics) is nothing other than a meditation on death." The Life of St. Remaclus was written by Notger, his successor. It is found in Surius, on September 3.
Verse 9: REJOICE THEREFORE, O YOUNG MAN, IN YOUR YOUTH, AND LET YOUR HEART BE IN JOY IN THE DAYS OF YOUR YOUTH, AND WALK IN THE WAYS OF YOUR HEART, AND IN THE SIGHT OF YOUR EYES: AND KNOW THAT FOR ALL THESE GOD WILL BRING YOU INTO JUDGMENT.
St. Jerome begins chapter 12 from here. For youth in Hebrew is bechuroteca, that is, of your elections, that is, in the age that is truly chosen and flourishing; for youth is the spring, beauty, and flower of all ages: wherefore then each person must choose a state of life and the best plan of living, so as to spend the best age in the best way, and dedicate it to God who is best.
The Septuagint adds amomous, that is, blameless, spotless, without fault. Whence they translate, walk in the ways of your heart spotless. So also the Arabic translates. Again, for: "And in the sight of your eyes," the Roman Septuagint reads contrariwise, and not in the sight of your eyes. St. Ambrose however, in the Exhortation to Virgins, reads thus: Walk in the ways of your heart without stain, and in the sight of your eyes, and not in the boldness of your eyes, that is, he says, "in spiritual sight, not in worldly boldness." But the Complutensian reads in the same way as the Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac, namely, in the sight of your eyes.
Wherefore St. Ambrose, Albinus, Olympiodorus, and St. Gregory, Morals XXIV, chapter 4, judge that young men are here invited to spiritual joy, to which the Apostle invites in Philippians 4:4, saying: "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: the Lord is near."
Hence also the Chaldean translates, rejoice, O young man, in the days of your youth, and let your heart be cheerful in the days of your adolescence, and walk in humility in the ways of your heart, and stand warned in the sight of your eyes, and do not look upon evil; and let it be known to you that for all things God will bring you into judgment. But to walk in the ways of the heart and in the sight of the eyes signifies not spiritual but sensual and carnal joy, according to that saying of chapter 2:10: "And whatsoever my eyes desired, I refused them not: nor did I withhold my heart from enjoying every pleasure, and delighting itself in the things which I had prepared; and I considered this my portion, if I should use my labor."
And that the Septuagint also intended nothing other than this is clear from the interpretation of Thaumaturgus, which I recited at the preceding verse, from which it is evident that he did not read in the Septuagint the word amomous, that is, blameless; or if he read it, he interprets it thus, that is to say: Walk in the ways of your heart blameless, that is, live as you please, in such a way that no one dare reproach you, and that you neither fear nor hear nor admit into your heart anyone's reproach. It is therefore a concession, that is to say: Cheerfully and pleasantly enjoy, O youth, the pleasures of adolescence, yet in such a way that you remember that you will render an account of them to God in judgment; and to do this rightly, use them modestly and honestly.
To this pertains the proverb of the Arabs, Century I, number 69: "Live, little donkey, as long as the pasture blooms;" enjoy the pasture as long as you have it: for shortly it will fail, and you will not have it. For to live is hedypathein, that is, to take pleasure and enjoy, which the French call se donner bon temps (to give oneself a good time). Or rather it is irony, that is to say: O young man, who in adolescence burn with blood, spirits, and desires, go ahead, let your heart be in joy, that is, make your heart merry (for good is taken for cheerful and pleasant); whence St. Ambrose, Exhortation to Virgins, translates, let your heart delight you, walk in the ways of your heart, that is, follow the desires of your appetite, and in the sight of your eyes, so that whatever your eyes desire, you may pursue, indulge your desires, sate yourself with your lusts; but "know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment."
Break the couch, seek wines, take roses, anoint yourself with nard: God Himself commands you to remember death.
Wherefore if you are wise, by fear of death and divine judgment restrain your pleasures, resist your desires, mortify vain loves, so that to the Judge, who granted the use of them but forbade their abuse, you may render a fitting account. So say Thaumaturgus, St. Bonaventure, Hugo, Cajetan, Titelmannus, and others.
For adolescence, as St. Ambrose teaches, On the Interpretation of Job, chapter 7, and Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics VIII, chapter 6: "With the heat of the body burning, and the fever of the blood raising steaming fires, as it is weak in strength, so it is feeble in counsel, hot with vice, disdainful of advisors, enticing with delights." Wherefore it must be restrained and curbed from its desires by the sharp spurs of fear of judgment and hell.
Wherefore St. Anysia the Martyr was accustomed to complain about youth, saying: "O treacherous age, which either harms or is harmed! Old age is a beautiful thing. Alas for me! The length of time fills me with sorrow, which for so long separates me from heavenly things."
She also used the briefest sleep, saying: "It is bad for me to sleep while my enemy is awake." So her Life has it in Surius, last edition, December 29.
Moreover irony and sarcasm, that is, hostile mockery, is frequent in Scripture, especially in the Prophets, as Lamentations 4:21: "Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom," upon whom destruction to be inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar is shortly threatened: "The cup (of God's wrath and vengeance) shall also come to you; you shall be made drunk, and shall be stripped naked." Similar are Daniel 5:18, where he mocks Belshazzar; and Ezekiel 28:12, where he mocks Tyre, just as he mocks Pharaoh, chapter 31:18, and chapter 32:19.
AND KNOW THAT FOR ALL THESE THINGS GOD WILL BRING YOU INTO JUDGMENT.
"Whose judgment, says Tertullian, in the book On Patience, does not turn on a fetter or a cap (for bad slaves were condemned to fetters, but good ones were granted freedom, whose badge was the cap), but on the eternity of either punishment or salvation." Moreover the judgment of God encompasses, first, a strict examination of youth spent in pleasures; second, the sentence of the judge; third, the punishment, namely hell.
Similar to this maxim is the proverb of the Arabs, Century I, number 20: "Every sheep is hung by its own heel in the market," that is, everyone will be judged and punished for his own conduct, especially the last and final conduct of life, according to that saying of Galatians 6: "Everyone shall bear his own burden."
To this pertains the golden maxim of Rabbi Achaviah son of Mahalaleel in Pirke Avoth, chapter 3: "Three things," he says, "you must consider, by which you may be restrained from sin: what is the origin of your condition, what is the end, and before what judge you must render an account. What is your origin? From foul seed. Where are you going? To worms and moths. Before what judge must you stand to receive sentence? Before the King of kings, the terrible one, who takes away the spirit of princes, the terrible one among the kings of the earth, the holy and blessed God."
In the same place Rabbi Eleazar says: "Those who have been born must die once; those who have died must rise again to life; and those who have risen must be judged, and know that the Lord Himself is God the former of men, and the creator of the world, and the supreme governor and ruler. He Himself is both the one who brings the suit, and the witness against us, and the judge. Blessed be He, holy and just, in whom there is no iniquity, nor forgetfulness, nor respect of persons, nor acceptance of gifts or persons, because all things are His, and know that all things will come according to the measure of those things for which you must render an account.
But beware lest you rise to a vain and foolish hope, by which you presume in vain that the grave will be a place of refuge for you, and promise yourself this in vain; for without being consulted you were created, without being consulted again you were born, and you live and will die, and you must render an account to the King of kings, holy and blessed."
Moreover, the exact and terrible examination of divine judgment is graphically depicted and represented to the life by St. Cyril, oration On the Departure of the Soul and the Second Coming, volume IV, where he recounts five toll-stations, as it were tribunals, in which the soul is accused by demons, that is, by the most savage publicans, concerning each sin committed through the five senses: "The soul," he says, "held by the holy angels, passing on high through the air, finds certain ones like publicans guarding the ascent, and seizing and preventing ascending souls. For each of the publicans has its own sins which it objects against them; one objects wrongly spoken things, whatever was committed by mouth and tongue, by lying, swearing, and perjuring; as well as superfluous, trifling, and vain words, and gluttony, and abuse of wine and luxury, and immoderate and unbecoming laughter, light and dishonest kisses, and impure songs.
But the holy angels, leading the soul, also bring forth whatever good things we have spoken by mouth and tongue: supplications, thanksgivings, psalms, hymns, praises, divine songs, and readings of scriptures, and whatever good things we have promised to God through mouth and tongue. The second toll-station is that of the sight of the eyes, whatever is committed by indecent gaze, and by curious and unbridled staring and deceitful nods. The third toll-station is that of hearing, and whatever impure spirits are received through this sense. The fourth is that of the smell of fragrant ointments and sweet odors, which befit actresses and shameless women. The fifth is that of things done perversely and wickedly by the touch of the hands, and the remaining shops of vices: of envy and rivalry; of vainglory and pride; of bitterness and anger; of wrath and fury; of fornication and adultery and effeminacy; of murder and sorcery, and all other impious and perverse deeds, which at present it is not possible to pursue in detail, so that they may be deferred to another time.
Briefly, in the same manner thereafter each disease of the soul and each sin has its own publicans and tax collectors. The soul therefore, which sees these things and more and greater ones, in how much fear and trembling do you think it is, until the sentence is pronounced and its freedom comes? That is the hour full of pain, danger, and groaning, and inconsolable, until it sees what the outcome will be."
Verse 10: REMOVE ANGER FROM YOUR HEART, AND PUT AWAY EVIL FROM YOUR FLESH. FOR YOUTH AND PLEASURE ARE VAIN.
The Hebrew has, cause to pass away; the Syriac, cause to be distant; the Arabic, strip your humanity of malice. From this verse the Complutensian and the Royal Bible, the Chaldean, Olympiodorus, and Albinus begin chapter 12. It is a conclusion drawn from the preceding verse, that is to say: Because God will bring you into judgment, to judge you concerning the desires of the heart and eyes, remove and cut them away from yourself, especially anger and lust.
For pleasure, some incorrectly read will. In Hebrew it is שחרות sacharut, that is, blackness, twilight, dawn, and from that, youth; for this is like the rosy dawn of age and life. Whence Clarius, Vatablus, and Cajetan translate in this place, youth; Pagninus, puberty; the Chaldean, the days of the blackness of hairs: for in young men the hair grows black, while in the el- derly the hair grows white; much more the mind of young men is black, that is, obscure, ignorant, blind, confused. The Septuagint translates, agnoia, that is, senselessness, folly. Our translator better renders it pleasure, for these are the two vices of youth, namely folly and pleasure: folly is born from inexperience and ignorance, pleasure from the fervor of blood and the bloom of age. It is a catachresis: for youth is called pleasure, whose characteristic, as it were, is pleasure, with which, like the dawn, it passes and vanishes, according to that saying of Hosea 11:1: "As the morning passed, so passed the king of Israel." Hence for Varro, to be youthful is the same as to be dissolute, as Nonius attests, chapter 1; and Terence in the Adelphi: "Believe me," he says, "it is no crime for young men to consort with harlots."
Moreover here he criticizes the two primary vices of youth, namely anger in the heart, and malice, or, as Ambrose reads, wickedness, the Arabic, iniquity, that is, lust in the flesh. For the chief malignity of the flesh is lust, says Olympiodorus and Thaumaturgus, under which he comprehends all the rest: for anger is the daughter of pride and the mother of envy; lust is the daughter of gluttony and the mother of sloth; both arise from the heat and ardor of youthful age: for this heat blinds the young man and drives him headlong into pleasures and vices, and especially into anger and the desire for revenge, and lust.
Hear St. Jerome: "In anger he comprehends all disturbances of the soul, in the malice of the flesh he signifies all bodily pleasures. Therefore," he says, "enjoy the goods of this world in such a way that you do not sin either by desire or by the flesh. Leave behind the old vices by which in your adolescence you served vanity and folly, because youth is coupled with foolishness."
Olympiodorus, Hugo, the Gloss, and Ferus say similar things; hear Ferus: "Let him not be vexed by sorrows, nor broken by adversities, but let him accustom himself not to be angry and not to be overcome by indignation, when he sees everything going very badly; if he sees something sad, let him know it pertains to the world, let him allow others to envy, and let him not wish to lose a pleasant life." For all passions are in the irascible appetite, where anger presides; or in the concupiscible, where love and desire preside, and love stirs up anger, in order to cast away the impediments that prevent it from enjoying the beloved good.
Hence that saying of Lucian in the Dialogue of the Dead and Maia: "Those who love are prone to anger;" and that of Aristotle, Rhetoric II, chapter 12: "Young men," he says, "love everything too much, hate too much; they are apt for anger, and sharp angers and powerful appetites follow them." Wherefore, in emblems youth is depicted as an spirited young man, clothed in diverse colors, crowned with flowers, scattering coins with his hand; at his left side stands a hunting dog, at his right a caparisoned horse. For, as Horace says in the Art of Poetry: He delights in horses and dogs and the grass of the sunny field, Waxen to be bent toward vice, rough toward those who advise him, Slow to provide for useful things, lavish with money, Lofty, desirous, and swift to abandon what he loved.
Finally, adolescence and pleasure are vain, because both, like a flower, quickly fade, wither, are corrupted, and vanish; whence the poets call adolescence a withering flower, especially when one lives wickedly, that is, luxuriously, according to that saying: It is wickedness that does not let you become old. For by malice is understood wickedness, that is, lust; although Campensis translates for malice, trouble; better the Tigurina, viciousness. Whence Thaumaturgus translates, disease is intemperance, and lust and filthiness bring harm and injury to our bodies. Adolescence is the companion of foolishness, and foolishness leads to destruction.
Truly Cicero, Book I On the Laws: "From that pleasure," he says, "which sits deeply entangled in every sense, the imitator of the good, but the mother of all evils." And in the book On Old Age: "In the kingdom of pleasure, virtue cannot stand."
St. Chrysostom, in Antonius's Melissa, Part II, chapter 20: "By anger," he says, "and desire young men are easily led and conquered; wherefore they require a certain greater guard, and a harsher bridle." In the same place Gregory of Nazianzus: "Youth," he says, "is the heat of time." And St. Basil: "Youth is light, and inclined to wickedness; unbridled desire, the anger of beasts, rashness, injury, and puffings up, and great spirits are the congenital and ingrown evils of youth; envies against what is excellent, suspicions against familiars. In short, a swarm of evils is connected and coupled with youth, the fruit of all of which must necessarily overflow upon subjects, because the vices of magistrates bring calamity upon their subjects."
Moreover, concerning pleasure as the enticement of youth, St. Ambrose judges thus, Book IV on Luke: "The soul is fastened as if by nails to bodily pleasures, and once it has clung to desires, plunged in earthly things, it can with difficulty fly back to the heights." More forcefully St. Augustine, Book XIV of the City of God, chapter 16: "This (lust) claims for itself not only the whole body, and not only externally, but also internally, and moves the whole man, the affection of the soul being joined and mixed with the appetite of the flesh." This is what that saying of Genesis 6:3 signifies: "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, because he is flesh."
Writing on which words St. Chrysostom, homily 22 on Genesis: "Of them," he says, "it was said that they are flesh, for although they had a rational soul as the better part of themselves, they nevertheless lived without reason, as if they consisted of flesh alone." See St. Gregory, Book VI on 1 Kings, where concerning Agag he says: "A man becomes flesh when reason is subjugated to the sense of the flesh." And Cyprian, On the Good of Chastity: "Immodesty renders an obscene mockery to its servants, sparing neither bodies nor souls, making the whole man a trophy of lust." And Lactantius, Book VI, chapter 23: "The mind is defiled by the contagion of an unchaste body."
This struggle of reason with youthful appetite, or of spirit and flesh, or of mind and concupiscence, the ancients represented through Hercules wrestling with Antaeus, that is, with his contrary or adversary. For Hercules is the symbol of reason, mind, and spirit; Antaeus, of the body. The breast of Hercules is the seat of wisdom and prudence, which are in perpetual combat with appetite and pleasures: for appetite always resists reason, and reason cannot overcome it, unless it has lifted the body so high and so far from the sight of earthly things, that the feet, that is, the affections, no longer receive any nourishment from the earth, indeed it must utterly slay the desires and affections, which are children of the earth. Of which kind of death St. Paul speaks, Colossians 3, when he says: "You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." And David, Psalm 116: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
And the Savior Himself: "Unless a grain of wheat falling into the ground dies, it remains alone: but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit," John 12:24. And this is the most excellent of all victories. Whence on the tomb of Scipio Africanus is read this most elegant verse: The greatest victory of the steadfast is conquered pleasure. And Boethius, celebrating this very deed of Hercules, says: "The conquered earth gives the stars."
Moreover Fulgentius in his Mythology and Boccaccio in the Genealogy of the Gods, Book I, chapter 5, relate that Antaeus was a son of the earth, whom Hercules, seeing that when repeatedly thrown down by him he rose up stronger, and perceiving that he recovered his strength from contact with the earth, now exhausted, lifted up in his arms on high, and held him there so long until he expired. Fulgentius understands by Antaeus lust, which is born from the flesh alone, which when touched, even if exhausted, rises again. But it is overcome by a virtuous and chaste man, when the act of the flesh is denied. St. Augustine mentions Antaeus in the book On the City of God, and reports that he lived during the reign of Danaus at Argos, and Eusebius in his book On the Preparation of the Gospel.