Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He seriously admonishes kings and princes of their duty, that if they discharge it badly, they will be judged by God and severely punished: for the mighty shall suffer torments mightily. Hence in verse 10 he exhorts them to the study of wisdom and the law of God, whose praises, gifts, and effects he then enumerates in verse 19 (and especially its beauty and graciousness, which anticipates all who desire it and offers itself to them first), namely that it bestows incorruption, makes one close to God, and leads to an everlasting kingdom.
Vulgate Text: Wisdom 6:1-27
1. Wisdom is better than strength: and a prudent man is better than a strong one. 2. Hear therefore, O kings, and understand; learn, O judges of the ends of the earth. 3. Give ear, you who hold sway over multitudes, and take pride in the throngs of nations: 4. because power was given to you by the Lord, and strength by the Most High, who will examine your works and scrutinize your thoughts: 5. because when you were ministers of His kingdom, you did not judge rightly, nor keep the law of justice, nor walk according to the will of God. 6. Horribly and swiftly He will appear to you: because the severest judgment shall be for those who rule. 7. For to the lowly, mercy is granted; but the mighty shall suffer torments mightily. 8. For God will not exempt any man's person, nor stand in awe of any man's greatness: because He made both the small and the great, and He has equal care of all. 9. But a stronger torment awaits the stronger. 10. To you therefore, O kings, are these my words, that you may learn wisdom and not fall away. 11. For they who have kept just things shall be justified justly: and they who have learned these things shall find what to answer. 12. Desire therefore my words; love them, and you will have instruction.
13. Wisdom is bright, and never fades, and is easily seen by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. 14. She anticipates those who desire her, so that she first shows herself to them. 15. He who watches for her at dawn shall not labor; for he will find her sitting at
his doors. 16. To think therefore about her is perfect understanding: and he who watches for her shall quickly be secure. 17. For she goes about seeking those who are worthy of her, and she shows herself to them cheerfully in the ways, and meets them with all providence. 18. For the beginning of her is the truest desire of instruction. 19. Care for instruction is love: and love is the keeping of her laws: and the keeping of laws is the consummation of incorruption: 20. and incorruption makes one near to God. 21. Therefore the desire for wisdom leads to the everlasting kingdom. 22. If then you delight in thrones and scepters, O kings of peoples, love wisdom, that you may reign forever: 23. love the light of wisdom, all you who rule over peoples. 24. Now what wisdom is, and how she was made, I will declare: and I will not hide from you the mysteries of God, but will search out from the beginning of her birth, and bring the knowledge of her to light, and will not pass over the truth: 25. neither will I go with consuming envy: for such a man shall not be a partaker of wisdom. 26. Now the multitude of the wise is the health of the whole world: and a wise king is the stability of his people. 27. Therefore receive instruction by my words, and it shall be profitable to you.
1. WISDOM IS BETTER THAN STRENGTH: AND A PRUDENT MAN IS BETTER THAN A STRONG ONE.
This maxim is now absent from the Greek, but it is placed at the beginning of the chapter as a theme and argument, which is treated throughout the entire chapter. For since kings place their power and splendor in the strength and might of their soldiers, cities, and resources — as the first king and tyrant of the world, Nimrod, did, but imprudently and in vain — he refutes this and teaches that wisdom is a greater foundation for a kingdom than strength, and accordingly urges them to the study of wisdom. Similar to this maxim is that of Proverbs 16:32: "The patient man is better than the strong, and he who rules his spirit than the conqueror of cities;" and that of Ecclesiastes 9:16: "And I said that wisdom is better than strength." Hence some think this maxim was taken from those passages: see what was said there.
This is therefore the conclusion drawn from the principles set forth in the preceding chapter: for there he described the groans of the wicked on the day of judgment, because in life they had devoted themselves to the vanity of riches, pleasures, and honors, having neglected the truth of wisdom, and so had brought upon themselves the wrath and vengeance of God and of all creatures. From which he here concludes: Therefore, O kings and princes, if you are wise, if you wish to avoid the fierce vengeance of God, devote yourselves to truth, not to vanity; attend to wisdom, not to cupidity — for this is the aim of the entire book. Hence he adds:
2. HEAR THEREFORE, O KINGS, AND UNDERSTAND; LEARN, O JUDGES OF THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.
Hear my exhortation to the study of wisdom. He alludes to that passage, Psalm 2: "And now, O kings, understand; be instructed, you who judge the earth." For kings and princes who govern the commonwealth are the leaders and teachers of the entire people: they teach them to live civilly, that is, justly, uprightly, and harmoniously. Hence the king in Hebrew, and more so in Chaldean, is called melech, that is, counselor. For the root malach, that is, to reign, signifies to administer a kingdom by counsel, prudence, and laws, and to govern legitimately; hence in Chaldean milki means "my counsel."
See what was said on Daniel 4:24. In Latin as well, a magistrate is so called as if "master of the people," as Varro says in book 4 of On the Latin Language: for just as a master teaches and guides children, so a prince guides his people. Again, just as the soul is the charioteer of the body, so the prince is of his people — for he is in the community what the mind, sense, and reason are in the body, and what the sun is in the universe. For like the sun he surveys and illuminates all his subjects, and with swift motion and influence diffused to each one, he imparts to all his light, that is, his wisdom, providence, vigilance, and beneficence. Therefore he must abound in great wisdom: "Learn it therefore, O judges," that is, princes,
"of the ends of the earth" — for in ancient times the chief duty of kings and princes was to judge and settle the disputes of the people; hence this word is extended by amplification to every office of a king, so that "to judge" is the same as to rule and govern justly, as I said in chapter 1, verse 1, namely to command, prohibit, permit, punish, and reward — for these are the five acts or offices of dominion and jurisdiction. Moreover, because no one is born wise, wisdom must be learned with great effort even by kings, for no one teaches rightly unless he has first learned rightly. Again, because wisdom is vast and virtually immense, it must always be learned, even by the elderly, as Cato used to say that he learned every day, even in old age, until death, and grew old learning and learned while growing old. The word "learn" therefore signifies that kings ought to be teachable, so that they willingly listen to the more learned and those experienced in affairs, and learn from them what they do not know. For many, puffed up by the dignity they hold, refuse to be taught by anyone, but wish to teach everyone, even things they do not know — which is great pride as well as great imprudence.
For this reason Solomon, in 3 Kings 3:9, when asking for wisdom from God, equally asks for a docile heart — in Hebrew, a hearing heart; the Septuagint has a wise heart — for, as Plato says, "the wise man is teachable;" and Saint Paul, in 2 Timothy 2:24, wants the servant of God to be teachable, so that he may hear the sound counsels of the prudent and obey them.
For many do not dare to admonish and instruct princes, because they find that they accept advice with difficulty and turn away from those who give good counsel. For this reason Demetrius of Phalerum urged King Ptolemy to read ethical and political books, because the reason they were written was that no one dared to teach princes the truth — so Plutarch in his Apophthegmata. Others advised kings to have secret and trustworthy inspectors who would report to them what they heard said by the people about them and their government. For this is the misery of princes, that they often do not know these things, nor the public needs and calamities of the people, because courtiers, in order to flatter the prince, conceal or minimize them. For this reason Francis Valois, King of France, used to go about in disguise in the evening visiting inns and listening to what was said about him there, and he declared that in this way he gathered great skill in governing.
3. GIVE EAR, YOU WHO HOLD SWAY OVER MULTITUDES.
"Hold sway" means by your rule and government, as by a bridle: for in Greek it is kratountes ochlon, that is, you who command and rule over the multitude, and as if by laying hands on it seize it, hold it, occupy it, conquer it, subdue it, and bind it with your laws, edicts, and commands as with chains, and by your command and nod, as with a fist, you squeeze it, so that you turn it in every direction and do with it whatever pleases and delights you — and this not rarely in a domineering and tyrannical way. Against which Saint Peter thunders in 1 Epistle 5:2: "Not lording it over the clergy." Hence it follows:
AND YOU TAKE PLEASURE IN YOURSELVES (in Greek, gigauriomenoi, that is, acting proudly, growing insolent, glorying, exulting, like a horse leaping proudly or a raging lion) IN THE THRONGS OF NATIONS — because, namely, you command many, and that often at your whim and out of arrogance. Accordingly, Ecclesiasticus wisely admonishes them, chapter 32, verse 1: "Have they made you ruler? Do not be puffed up: be among them as one of them." Where I treated this matter at length. Saint Bernard speaks beautifully in the person of God: "O man, he says, if you could see yourself, you would displease yourself and please Me; but because you do not see yourself, you please yourself and displease Me." Then he adds the fitting punishment: "The time will come when you will please neither Me nor yourself: not Me, because you have sinned; not yourself, because you will burn forever." Saint Gregory treats this argument excellently in Part 2 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 6, where among many things he gives these instructions or axioms about it: "He becomes like the apostate angel when a man disdains to be like other men. For generally, when the mind is puffed up by the abundance of subjects, it is corrupted into the wantonness of pride, with the very height of power acting as its enticement, etc. Yet that man rightly dispenses power who carefully knows both how to take from it what helps, and to overcome what tempts, and to see himself as equal with others in it, and yet to place himself before sinners with the zeal of correction." And after some further remarks: "When superiors correct their erring subjects, it remains necessary that they dili-
gently attend, so that through the duty of discipline they may indeed strike at faults by the right of their authority, yet through the preservation of humility they may recognize themselves as equal to the very brothers whom they correct — although it is often also fitting that we prefer to ourselves in silent thought those very ones whom we correct."
To this point belongs an ancient emblem: for the Lacedaemonians depicted Apollo, the patron of wisdom, furnished with four ears and as many hands, by which they signified that wisdom is acquired by listening to many things and by the practice of many virtues. For, as Horace says:
"To manage affairs and to display captured enemies to the citizens reaches the throne of Jove."
So Pierius, Hieroglyphics 33, chapter 25.
4. BECAUSE POWER (of judging, commanding, ruling, and governing) WAS GIVEN TO YOU BY THE LORD, AND STRENGTH (in Greek, dynasteia, that is, principality, dominion, dynasty
so "strength" here means not moral virtue, which is opposed to vice, but political virtue, namely the power of ruling) BY THE MOST HIGH, WHO WILL EXAMINE (etasei, that is, will test, scrutinize, inquire into, also sift, discuss, judge, punish, torment, and inflict tortures, as our translator renders in verses 7 and 9) YOUR WORKS, AND WILL SCRUTINIZE YOUR THOUGHTS (in Greek boulas, that is, counsels, intentions, desires). — For, as the Apostle says in Romans 13:4: "There is no power but from God," for in God there is the most eminent and supreme authority over all things,
both rational and irrational creatures alike — for they are His creatures, who received from Him all their being through creation and receive the same at every moment through the influx of His conservation — so He has the right and dominion to command all and each whatever He pleases and to dispose of them at His will. He Himself therefore is the supreme legislator, from whom every just law descends; He is the most powerful judge and avenger of all angels and men; He is the supreme Lord of all, from whom all dominion, all power, all jurisdiction over angels and men, including kings and pontiffs, is derived — for He is "the King of kings and Lord of lords," 1 Timothy 6:15. Hence Esther, chapter 13, verse 9, prays and professes: "O Lord, almighty King, all things are in Your power, and there is none that can resist Your will, if You determine to save Israel. You made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven; You are Lord of all."
5. BECAUSE WHEN YOU WERE MINISTERS OF HIS KINGDOM, YOU DID NOT JUDGE RIGHTLY, NOR KEEP THE LAW OF JUSTICE, NOR WALK ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD.
The word "of justice" is not in the Greek, but is understood. The meaning is, as if to say: You thought, O proud kings, that you were supreme and absolute princes, subject to no one, when in fact you were vicars and ministers of God, who is the King of kings — indeed, merely instruments. Hence "you did not judge rightly," that is, you passed unjust sentences in judging and enacted unjust laws in
your governing. "Nor did you keep the law of justice," but out of greed and cupidity you perverted justice and imposed unjust tributes and burdens on your subjects. "Nor according to the will of God," but according to your own ambition, "did you walk," forgetful of that warning of King Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 19:6: "Take heed what you do: for you exercise not the judgment of man, but of the Lord: and whatsoever you judge, it shall redound to you. Let the fear of the Lord be with you, and do all things with diligence: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor desire of gifts."
Let judges and princes consider these things: for this is a sharp spur for them toward all justice and moderation — namely, that they will stand before the tribunal of Christ as defendants, to render an exact account to Him who demands the reason for their judgment or government.
Therefore by these three parts of the sentence, three vices of judges and princes seem to be indicated: namely, corrupt judgment, unjust government, and neglect of religion or the worship of God. However, if anyone contends that all refer to one and the same thing, namely corrupt judgment, I will not engage in a contentious tug-of-war with him. Hence Saint Bonaventure says that of these three statements — "You did not judge rightly, nor did you keep the law of justice, nor did you walk according to the will of God" — the first applies when there is no just cause; the second, when proper order is not observed; the third, when something is done by a judge with corrupt intention. But Cantacuzenus says: The first signifies a sentence deviating from the rule and standard of reason through the corruption of accepted bribes; the second, favoritism, when not all equally observe the law due to the negligence or indulgence, hope, or fear of the judge; the third, when religion and the worship of God are offended — which interpretation seems very apt and genuine. Less aptly, Cervantes refers the first to duty owed to neighbors; the second to duty owed to oneself; the third to duty owed to God.
Moreover, such greedy and unjust princes must necessarily be hateful to men and to God alike, and therefore most wretched. Hear Plato, book 9 of the Republic: "The soul of a tyrant," he says, "must be always beggarly and insatiable;" and soon: "I say that this man is by far the most wretched of all;" and after some further remarks: "He is in reality, although it may not seem so to anyone, truly a tyrant, truly a slave bound to the utmost slavery, who never satisfies his desires but always lacks very many things, and truly appears to be destitute, if anyone were to inspect the inner chambers of his soul." For this reason the Emperor Basil, in his Exhortation to his son Leo, chapter 27, impresses upon him contempt for money and a just moderation of taxes: "You will best administer the state," he says, "if you take care of the public treasury and strive to collect it by just means, not by scraping it together through the oppression or tears of your subjects. For if money is collected justly, it is of great profit to the possessor and adds sinews to the government; but what
has been scraped together from the tears of subjects and from injustice will dissipate even what was justly collected: for it will draw God, who established the laws of justice, to avenge the wrong, and fire does not consume straw as quickly as unjustly amassed wealth brings even legitimately acquired goods to ruin along with itself."
6. HORRIBLY AND SWIFTLY HE WILL APPEAR TO YOU.
In Greek, epiphora, that is, He will press upon, assail, loom over you — namely, the supreme Judge, God — just as a judge presses upon a defendant, a tax collector upon a taxpayer, a creditor upon a debtor, instituting a rigorous examination against you, a more rigorous judgment, and the most rigorous punishment. Hence, explaining further, he adds:
BECAUSE THE SEVEREST JUDGMENT SHALL BE FOR THOSE WHO RULE.
Vatablus renders: because the most rigorous judgment will be exercised upon the nobles. For "severest" the Greek has apotomos, that is, harsh — but by antonomasia and by way of excellence, it means the harshest. The reason is that the sins of judges and princes are more serious than those of subjects and private persons: first, because they are the sins of exalted persons, whose station and eminence require greater virtue and perfection, whence it is said in Psalm 81:1: "God stood in the assembly of gods (that is, of judges), and in the midst He judges the gods." Second, because they give scandal to the whole people and are an enticement to sin, for:
"The whole world is modeled after the king's example."
Third, because their unjust judgments as well as their laws and edicts inflict grave damage — on property, on body, and on soul — not on one subject alone but on many, indeed on the entire commonwealth. For this reason God commanded Moses to hang on gibbets facing the sun the princes of the tribes of Israel who were fornicating with the daughters of Moab and worshiping their idols, Numbers 25:4. Origen adds in that place, homily 20, that they were hanged because they had not taught the people, had not admonished them, had not diligently reproved them; hence he concludes: "If men thought about these things, they would not seek positions of authority." Hence wicked kings and tyrants are horribly afraid of everything, are full of dread, and fear all things even when safe. Xenophon vividly depicts this horror and dread of theirs in the Hiero:
"Indeed," he says, "to fear the crowd, to fear solitude, to fear the absence of bodyguards, to fear the very guards themselves, and to be unwilling to have them unarmed around you, nor to see them armed with pleasure — is this not a wretched thing? Finally, to be driven to this, that you wish to treat slaves as free men, and are compelled to make free men out of slaves — do not these things seem to you signs of a mind stunned and struck with terrors?
Moreover, not only is this fear itself a troublesome thing when it has settled into the mind, but since it is never absent and is carried about everywhere, it becomes the corruption of all pleasant things." Examples are found in Pharaoh, Exodus 1 and following, in Athaliah, 4 Kings 11, and in Herod the murderer of infants, Matthew 2.
For these reasons holy men have fled from government, both ecclesiastical and civil: thus the episcopate
was fled by Saint Clement, Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, Saint Athanasius, Saint Basil, Saint Chrysostom, Saint Nazianzen, Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Ephrem, Saint Augustine, Saint Ambrose, Saint Fulgentius, and very many others, who were nonetheless most worthy of the episcopate and discharged it most illustriously. Hence the Emperor Leo, in the year of our Lord 469, in chapter 31 on Bishops and Clerics: "Truly," he says, "he is not worthy of the priesthood unless he has been ordained unwillingly." For the unwilling grasp the danger of the episcopal burden rather than its honor, and therefore are zealous and diligent in its office. Certainly that Canon of Saint Victor whom Thomas of Cantimpre mentions, book 1 of Examples, chapter 20, after death appeared to his friend and said to him: "If I had been numbered among the bishops, I would have fallen into the danger of damnation and would not have been among the elect." Many others said similar things. Saint Thomas Aquinas had three wishes: first, to know what had happened to the soul of his brother Landulf slain in battle — whether salvation or punishment; second, the preservation of his original purity of mind; third, to be promoted to no honors or prelacies. Hence he refused the archbishopric of Naples offered to him by Clement IV, and at his death he congratulated himself and gave thanks to God that He had granted him the fulfillment of these three wishes. Fi-
nally, hear Saint Gregory, epistle 6, book 6, and book 7, epistle 110: "Just as he who, when invited, refuses, and when sought, flees, is to be brought to the sacred altars, so he who spontaneously solicits or importunately pushes himself forward is without doubt to be repelled: for he who strives in this way to climb to higher things — what does he do but decrease by increasing and descend by ascending?"
Indeed, the following abdicated their kingdom and civil principality and devoted themselves to a quiet, holy, and religious life: Saint Josaphat the king, converted by Saint Barlaam, as Saint Damascene attests in his History; Saint Carloman, the uncle of Charlemagne; Pepin, the firstborn son of Charlemagne; Lothair, the grandson of the Emperor Charlemagne through his father Louis, from whom Lotharingia received its name, having previously been called Austrasia; Rachis, King of Italy, in the year of our Lord 741; Bamba, King of Spain, in the year 674; Veremundus, King of Castile, in the year 786; Ramiro, King of Aragon, in the year 1150; Sigebert, King of Northumbria in England, in the year 640; Ethelred, likewise King of Mercia, in the year 704, and his brother and successor in the kingdom, Coenred; Offa, likewise king of the East Saxons, as well as Ine, in the year 740; Trebellius, King of the Bulgars, in the year 862; John of Brienne, Emperor of Constantinople; Henry, King of Cyprus; John, King of Armenia; Saint Louis, son of Charles II, King of Sicily, in the year 1297; and in our own age, the Emperor Charles V. Our Hieronymus Platus enumerates more in book 2 of On the Good of the Religious State, chapter 26 and following. Surely, "from private life comes blessed life." How foolish therefore are those who seek principalities and prelacies! For when they can scarcely render an account to God for their own soul, they bur-
den themselves further with the obligation of saving as many souls as they take under their care — which is truly a stupendous madness, as Saint Bernard shows at length in epistle 42 to Henry, Archbishop of Sens.
7. FOR TO THE LOWLY, MERCY IS GRANTED; BUT THE MIGHTY SHALL SUFFER TORMENTS MIGHTILY.
In Syriac: the mighty shall be mightily examined. In Arabic: concerning the mighty, there shall be a mighty investigation. In Greek: for the least is syngnostos, that is, pardonable or excusable, worthy of pardon and mercy; but the strong shall be strongly examined, that is, they shall be judged and punished — for in Greek the word is etastai, which is the future first person from etazo, whose meanings I enumerated in verse 4. "The lowly" means the poor, the plebeian, the private citizen: for necessity often drives such a person to sin, or at least his sin harms others less, and therefore he seems worthy of pardon. Hence he contrasts "the lowly" with "the mighty," that is, kings and princes, who abuse their power for arrogance in order to oppress others. Hence Vatablus translates: for a common man is worthy of pardon, but against the mighty there shall be a sharp inquiry, that is, a severe and rigorous account shall be demanded of them as to how they have used or abused the power committed to them — for "to whom more
has been given, more will be required of him." The reasons I enumerated in the preceding verse. So Saint Cyprian, book 3 of Testimonies to Quirinus, number 112: "That those who had more power in the world will be judged more severely," he says, "is taught by Solomon in Wisdom 6:7: For to the lowly, mercy is granted; but the mighty shall suffer torments mightily; and in Psalm 2:1: And now, O kings, understand; amend yourselves (for so he reads; whereas we read, be instructed), you who judge the earth." Theodoret, in Question 43 on Deuteronomy, sets up Moses as an example; for he asks why Moses was excluded by God from the Holy Land on account of a slight fault of doubt, while the people, who sinned more gravely, were brought into it. He answers: "Through these things the Lord teaches us that He demands the highest virtue from the perfect, and that, while He is long-suffering toward other men who sin gravely, He does not grant this pardon to the saints — which a certain Wise Man said, Wisdom 6:7: The very least is worthy of pardon and mercy, but the mighty shall be mightily tormented; and the Lord in the Gospel, Matthew 13:11: From him to whom little has been given, little will be demanded." Anastasius of Nicaea has the same words verbatim, having transcribed them from Theodoret, in Question 35 on Scripture.
A more terrible example is found in Pharaoh, who stubbornly resisted and refused to release the Hebrews from Egypt: God afflicted him with ten atrocious plagues and finally drowned him with all his forces in the Red Sea, Exodus 7 and following; and in Nebuchadnezzar, whom God transformed into a beast because of his pride, Daniel 4; and in Antiochus, whom He consumed with worms and dreadful torments, 2 Maccabees 9. A more recent example is provided by the Emperor Maurice, about whom Baronius writes thus from Cedrenus, volume 8, in the year
of Christ 602, page 158, at the end. It happened exactly according to that passage of Wisdom: "Hear, O kings, and understand; horribly and swiftly He will appear to you, because the severest judgment shall be for those who rule." Indeed, the terrible judgment of God was thus manifested against the Emperor Maurice, when he paid the penalty of retaliation (as was fitting) for the crime he had committed not long before. For since he had allowed so many thousands of innocent Christians to be most cruelly slaughtered by a dire barbarian — men he could have redeemed for the smallest price — having become guilty of innocent blood shed, he himself was most cruelly put to death by a tyrant together with his innocent sons, with no one helping, no one rescuing. But feeling that this was the hand of the Lord stretched out for vengeance, he gave proof of a most excellent Christian, making for himself from the chalice of God's wrath a cup of medicine that would serve for the purgation of his sins and the attainment of the perfect salvation of his soul. But come, let us now review all things in the same order in which they occurred. So writes Baronius, who proceeds to narrate how Maurice was deprived of his sons, kingdom, and life by Phocas, the usurper of the empire, saying: "You are just, O Lord, and Your judgment is right."
Saint Isidore aptly applies this maxim to priests, in book 2 of Offices, chapter 5: "Therefore," he says, "since the law removes sinners from ministry, let each one consider himself, knowing that the mighty shall suffer torments mightily: let him withdraw from this not so much honor as burden, and not seek to occupy the place of others who are worthy. For he who will preside over the instruction and education of peoples in virtue must be holy in all things and found blameworthy in none: for he who rebukes another for his sins must himself be free from sin. For with what face will he be able to rebuke his subjects, when the one rebuked can immediately throw back at him: first teach yourself what is right? Therefore, he who neglects to do what is right, let him also neglect to teach what is right." And Saint Jerome in his Epistle to Titus, chapter 1, whose words are cited in the eighth book, Question 1, canon 19: "This must be said," he writes, "against those who are puffed up about the episcopate and think they have obtained not the stewardship of Christ but an empire — that not everyone is automatically better than all those who were not ordained bishops; and from the fact that they were chosen as bishops, let them not consider themselves more approved. Rather, let them understand that some have been removed from the priesthood because the vices of their children hindered them. And if the sins of children prohibit a just man from the episcopate, how much more should each one, considering himself and knowing that the mighty shall mightily suffer torments, withdraw from this not so much honor as burden, and not seek to occupy the place of others who are more worthy?" Finally, the Glossa on that passage, Malachi 1:14: "Cursed is the deceitful man who has in his flock a male, and making a vow, sacrifices that which is feeble to the Lord:" "Sometimes," it says, "a man well created by God has a mind apt for sacred studies, but
surrenders himself to luxury and idleness: having a male, he offers the feeble, that is, a prayer corrupted by some perturbation of the soul. Such a one will feel fulfilled in himself what is written: "The mighty shall mightily suffer torments."
8. FOR GOD WILL NOT EXEMPT ANY MAN'S PERSON, HE WHO IS THE RULER OF ALL, NOR WILL HE STAND IN AWE OF ANY MAN'S GREATNESS: BECAUSE HE MADE BOTH THE SMALL AND THE GREAT, AND HE HAS EQUAL CARE OF ALL.
So read the Greek and many Latin codices. But the phrase "who is the ruler of all" is deleted by the Roman edition, Saint Augustine in the Speculum, and Lucifer in defense of Saint Athanasius.
"He will not exempt" — namely, from His judgment and vengeance. From the Greek some translate with Jansenius: He will not fear the face of anyone; He will not by fear of him let Himself go or shrink back, so as to yield to him or not dare to judge and condemn him freely — for this is what hyposteletai means. Hence the Roman editors in the Additions to the Septuagint edition translate: the Lord of all will not withdraw His countenance (as if out of shame or fear of the powerful), as if to say: God is not moved by favor or fear; He will not dread, revere, or overlook anyone's sin because that person has an august, magnificent, royal countenance. For He Himself is the Lord of all, and therefore He will take no account of countenance or person so as to exempt anyone from His rigorous judgment; but He will judge equally justly and rigorously whether king or commoner, because "He has equal care of all." So Plato said that God in His judgment would take account neither of Achilles nor of Thersites, neither of the highest nor of the lowest. Note here that the word "anyone's" is not in the Greek, but only "He will not withdraw the person" or "the countenance" — whether another's, as our translator understood it; or even His own, meaning that God Himself would not out of fear or shame change His expression toward the powerful, shrinking back and lowering His countenance (as sailors furl their sails when a storm breaks), as timid judges do, who with the poor put on the face of a lion, but with the rich and powerful put on the face of a mouse, so that they dare not open their mouths — for this is properly what hyposteletai means. God therefore with the same expression and the same just and steadfast countenance will judge the mighty as He judges the commoners.
HE HAS EQUAL CARE OF ALL. — In Greek, homoios, that is, similarly, equally, pronoeitai, that is, He provides for, has care of all. Saint Augustine in the Speculum reads "for all." The meaning is, as if to say: God has equal care of all, namely of the common people as well as the powerful. For He does not care for the powerful and princes in such a way as to neglect the poor and commoners, but has a common and equal providence for both groups and indeed for all things — yet in such a way that He provides for each one according to his station, condition, and need. Hence He does not say "equal" but "equally He has care of all." So a king equally cares for the whole kingdom and for one city of the kingdom, but with unequal and different care: for he would rather lose one city than the whole
kingdom. Hence the Arabic omits the word "equally" and translates: therefore He provides for all and governs all things. So also the Syriac.
But above all the Wise Man speaks of equal providence in judgment and the just distribution of punishments and rewards, as is clear from the preceding, where he contrasts this care of God with the acceptance of persons — which occurs only when some irrelevant quality is considered and on account of it one person is preferred to another in office, benefit, reward, or judgment. He does not, however, contrast it with God's generous predestination and His free love and election to goods both natural and supernatural: for according to this, God loves and cares for some more than others — the just more than the unjust, the elect more than the reprobate, the Blessed Virgin more than an ordinary saint, as is clear from Romans 9 and following; Deuteronomy 4:8; Wisdom 4:11; Matthew 13:11; Acts 14:13. So says Saint Augustine in the entire book On the Predestination of the Saints, and the whole Council of Orange. The Wise Man therefore does not speak of the gift of grace, but of the retribution of rewards and punishments: for this is preceded by "horribly and swiftly He will appear to you, because the severest judgment shall be for those who rule." "Therefore the meaning of this passage is that in the last judgment God will not accept the persons of kings and princes, but will pronounce sentence according to the equality of justice," says Bellarmine, book 2 of On Grace and Free Will, chapter 3.
Furthermore, Saint Cyprian, in book 5, epistle 8 to Fidus, teaches that God has equal care of infants and adults: therefore infants should be admitted immediately to the grace of baptism, and the eighth day should not be awaited, as the Jews waited to circumcise them. For, he says, "the Holy Spirit is given not by measure (of age and stature), but from fatherly piety and generosity equally to all: for God, just as He does not accept persons, so neither does He accept age, since He shows Himself as Father to all with equality balanced for the attainment of heavenly grace" — "balanced," that is, weighed, considered, and measured according to each one's state, need, and condition.
The genuine meaning therefore of this statement — "He has equal care of all" — is as if to say: God does not love or care for the great more than the small, the rich more than the poor, the noble more than the ignoble, as men do. Rather, He has an equal (yet proportional, according to each one's degree, office, and merit — hence in Greek it is homoios, that is, similarly; this equality therefore consists in likeness) providence for both groups, so that He provides for all in all necessary things. For nothing is withdrawn from God's providence, because it governs all things without exception, however lowly and insignificant. Hence some explain "equally" as "commonly." Thus Antonius in the Melissa, Part 2, chapter 2, reads: He equally looks after and attends to the welfare of all. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 6: He similarly provides for all and has care of all, just as the sun, as far as it is in its nature, equally illuminates all things.
Therefore Averroes errs, first, in his commentary on Metaphysics 12, comments 51 and 52, teaching that God only cares for incorruptible things that are above the moon, not for corruptible things that are below the moon. That Aristotle held the same opinion is the judgment of Saint Ambrose, On Duties 1, chapter 13; Nazianzen, Oration 4 On Theology; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5; Eusebius; Epiphanius; Theodoret; and from among our own, Gabriel Vasquez, Part 1, Question 22, disputation 87, chapter 1. But others, such as Suarez in Metaphysics, disputation 59, section 15, absolve Aristotle from this error. Certainly this was formerly the error of many, as Job 22:14 indicates, saying in their sense: "The clouds are His hiding place, and He does not consider our affairs, and He walks about the poles of heaven."
Cicero errs, second, in book 2 of On Divination, teaching that God does not know future contingent events, for example, the free actions that we are going to perform — for otherwise, he says, they would already be determined and necessary, not contingent and free. But, as Saint Dionysius says in On the Divine Names, chapter 7, if there is something in things that is not known by God, that thing must be exempt from divine providence. Hence Saint Augustine, book 5 of The City of God, chapter 9: "Cicero," he says, "while wanting to make men free, makes them sacrilegious" — indeed atheists: for he who denies in God the divine power, that is, providence over future things, denies the divinity and God Himself. For these two are so connected that whoever affirms or denies one is compelled to affirm or deny the other. For God's foreknowledge does not impose necessity on future things, because it presupposes that the things themselves will happen freely — for these are its object: God foreknows things as freely future because they will be freely done by man, not because God foresees them as future.
Rabbi Moses errs, third, in book 3 of the Guide for the Perplexed, chapter 18, holding that God only has care of individual human beings, but of other creatures has care only as regards the species, not individual specimens — that He does not therefore care for individual gnats, flies, fleas, etc. Saint Jerome seems to say the same thing on Habakkuk chapter 1, but I absolved him of this error in that place. Saint Ambrose wisely says, in book 1 of On Duties, chapter 13: "What craftsman," he asks, "would neglect the care of his work? Who would abandon and forsake what he thought worth making? If it is an injustice to govern, is it not a greater injustice to have made? Since not to have made something involves no injustice, but not to care for what you have made is the height of harshness."
The Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians err, fourth — such as Cassian and Faustus, Bishop of Riez — who from this maxim conclude that it is equally in the free will of all men to have the grace of God, so that anyone can be holy who wishes to be holy, because, they say, God is equally disposed toward all and offers His grace to all, if through their free will they wish to seek and receive it. But Saint Augustine refutes them in epistles 106 and 107, and
often elsewhere, as well as Hilary and Prosper in their epistle to Saint Augustine.
Finally, Saint Thomas, Part 1, Question 20, article 3, teaches that God equally loves all things, because He loves all things by one simple act of His will, which always remains the same — though from the side of the object willed, He wills more good to one than to another; or rather, because He administers all things with equal wisdom and goodness, even though with this equal care of His He distributes unequal goods to various ones: for by one simple act He gives more to some and less to others. He teaches the same in the First Part of the Second Part, Question 112, article 4, reply to 1; and Saint Augustine, tractate 110 on John: "God loves all things that He made, and among them He loves rational creatures more, and of those, He loves more those who are members of His Only-Begotten, and much more the Only-Begotten Himself."
Morally, learn here from divine Wisdom not to despise the least and the smallest things, but to care for them just as much as for the great and the mighty. For God in creating all things did not say: Let us omit the gnat, because it is vile and small; but He created it just as much as the elephant, and governs it once created. Do likewise yourself.
9. BUT A STRONGER TORMENT AWAITS THE STRONGER
in Greek: upon the strong (or powerful) a mighty scrutiny, or investigation, or examination presses. Vatablus: a vehement inquiry awaits the powerful. Our translator renders it "torment," both because the judicial inquiry of defendants is conducted through tortures and torments (which are therefore called "questions"), and because its end is the torment that is decreed and inflicted upon defendants as punishment by the judge. This is a metonymy and metalepsis, for the cause is put for the effect and the antecedent for its consequences: for from the judicial examination follows the confession of the defendants, from the confession the knowledge of the crimes, from the knowledge the sentence is pronounced, from the sentence the punishment and torment are inflicted. Our translator renders "the stronger" and "a stronger," instead of "the strong" and "a strong," because under the positive degree the comparative and superlative are understood: for if a strong torment awaits the strong, then by just proportion a stronger torment awaits the stronger, and the strongest torment the strongest. He says the same thing in other words by way of exaggeration, in keeping with what he said shortly before: "The mighty shall suffer torments mightily" — as if to say: Kings and princes who have oppressed others by their power will be equally mightily oppressed and tormented by God.
10. TO YOU THEREFORE, O KINGS, ARE THESE MY WORDS, THAT YOU MAY LEARN WISDOM AND NOT FALL AWAY — that is, lest you fall into sin and thereby into the wrath and vengeance of God; lest you transgress, lest you offend, lest you fall from the state of justice and thereby from your kingdom and life. For this is the Greek me parapisete, whence paraptoma means a fault, an offense, a sin. Again, he addresses kings so as to spur them more sharply to embrace these counsels of wisdom concerning moderation and justice: for they have few advisors on this matter, and because of their power they have great enticements and impulses toward arrogance and injustice. Hence for "kings" the Greek has tyrannoi, that is, tyrants. Lucifer in defense of Saint Athanasius reads: "O wicked tyrants!" Saint Augustine in the Speculum reads: "wicked kings." For "tyrant" was anciently the word for king,
prince, lord, having all power over his subjects. Hence that verse:
"To the son-in-law of Ceres (to Pluto) without slaughter and blood few kings descend, and tyrants die a dry death."
For many kings have been slain. Thus Aristophanes calls Jupiter the tyrant of the gods, that is, king; for he is a tyrant far and wide, that is, one who reigns and rules widely. Kings therefore were called tyrants because of their strength. "For strong kings were called tyrants: for tyros means strong," says Isidore, book 9 of the Etymologies, chapter 9. Hence Athenaeus, book 13: "O love," he says, "tyrant (that is, king and emperor) of gods and men" — for nothing is stronger than love. But Stephanus, in his book On Cities under the entry Tyrrhenia, thinks "tyrant" is derived from Tyrrhenia, which was formerly a city and province near the Adriatic, whose citizens were called Tyrrheni, hence tyrants. Now Tyrrhenia is called Etruria, and the Tyrrheni are the Etruscans or Tuscans, whose capital is Florence, as Philippus Cluverius demonstrates at length in his Description of Italy, book 2, chapter 1. For Hadria, a city near Venice, was a colony of the Etruscans, and from it the nearby sea was called the Adriatic. For formerly the Tuscans were powerful and extended the boundaries of their dominion from the Lower Sea (or Etruscan Sea) to the Upper Sea (or Adriatic), as Livy attests, book 5. More plausibly, others think the word "tyrant" is derived from the Hebrews and Palestinians: for the Hebrews call princes sarim, and the Philistines seranim. Hence the five satraps of the Philistines — namely the satraps of Gaza, Ashdod, Ascalon, Gath, and Ekron — are everywhere in the Hebrew called seranim. Seranim is therefore a Phoenician or rather Philistine word, for which the Chaldeans, who customarily change the Hebrew and Syriac samech into tet or tau, say turanim, as is clear from Joshua 13:3 — hence tyrants. Again, seranim in Hebrew and Syriac means axles in wheels, by which wheels are supported and turned, as is clear from 3 Kings 7:30. Hence princes are called seranim because they are like axles in wheels, that is, the supports of the people and the pivots of affairs to be managed — just as in Greek basileus is said as if basis laou, that is, the foundation of the people; and in Hebrew adon, that is, lord, is as if eden, that is, a support, a sustaining pillar, because the lord is the column and sustainer of the family or commonwealth over which he presides. But as arrogance grew, when proud kings began to abuse their power, the name "tyrant" was restricted to those alone who abused their power through the insolence of rule, and having set aside reason and the moderation of equity, dominated by force and a certain lust of the soul. Lust and cruelty, therefore, caused the name "tyrant" to acquire a bad reputation. For this reason the Wise Man here seriously warns kings not to degenerate into tyrants, but to govern their subjects and administer the commonwealth wisely, that is, modestly and justly — for thus they will reign most widely, most peacefully, and most lastingly, as the Romans did, of whom the Poet sang:
"The extent of the city of Rome and of the world is the same."
Mystically, kings are those who rule over their passions and trample upon the vanities of the world, such as religious. These therefore, by their institute and profession, should devote themselves entirely to wisdom, that is, to contemplation, virtue, and perfection: for all else is trifles and vanity of vanities.
THAT YOU MAY LEARN WISDOM. — Wisdom here embraces prudence and every moral and political virtue, especially the science of governing rightly: for this is proper and necessary for a king and prince. Maecenas gave the same counsel to Augustus Caesar, whose wise speech Dio records in book 52, where among other things he says: "You will live as if in a theater of the whole world, and it will not be possible for even the smallest sin of yours to remain hidden: for you will do nothing without witnesses, but always in a great multitude of men, and all men most eagerly scrutinize the deeds of princes. If they once discover that you prescribe one thing to others and do another yourself, they will no longer fear your threats but will imitate your deeds." After several further remarks he concludes: "Therefore prepare your own splendor through illustrious deeds. Never allow golden or silver statues to be made for you, for they are not only very costly but also liable to plots and short-lived. Rather, by doing good, fashion other statues for yourself in the very souls of men, statues subject to no destruction. Permit no temple to be built for you either, since much money is spent in vain on such things and it is better to spend it on necessary matters. For great wealth is amassed not so much by receiving much as by not making great expenditures; and things of that kind bring no glory." He adds the cause and a priori reason: "For virtue indeed makes many equal to the gods, but no one has ever been made a god by the votes of mortals. Therefore, if you are good and rule rightly, the whole earth will be your temple, all cities your shrines, all men your statues, in whose souls you will always dwell with glory. But those who exercise supreme power badly — these ornaments, although set up in all cities, are so far from adorning them that they expose them to the reproaches of men, as being trophies of their malice and monuments of their injustice; and the longer they endure, the longer also the infamy of those men persists. Therefore, if you truly desire to become immortal, you must act as I have said." Finally, summing up everything in a single counsel of wisdom: "One thing I will say," he declares, "which is the chief point and sum of all things that have been said or remain to be said. If you do of your own accord all the things you would want another holding power over you to do, you will err in nothing, you will accomplish all things prosperously, and thereafter you will lead a life most pleasant and most secure. Who indeed would not receive you and love you as a father and savior, when they see you modest, of upright life, excellent in war and peace?"
Here belongs the debate of the seven sages of Greece about the glory of a prince — in what it consists. For most of them asserted that it consists in humility and modesty. Hear Plutarch reciting their opinions in the Banquet of the Seven Sages: "Solon, after a brief pause, said: It seems to me that a king or tyrant has most attained glory if he converts the rule of one man into a popular form of government for the citizens. Bias added: If he is the first to obey the laws of his country. After them, Thales declared that in his opinion the prince is happy who dies an old man in the natural course of things. The fourth, Anacharsis: If he alone is prudent. The fifth, Cleobulus: If he trusts none of his close associates. The sixth, Pittacus: If the prince so trains his subjects that they fear not him but his authority. The last, Chilon: A prince should meditate nothing mortal, but all things immortal."
FOR THEY WHO HAVE KEPT JUST THINGS (Saint Augustine in the Speculum reads "justice") JUSTLY, SHALL BE JUSTIFIED (so the Roman and Greek texts; therefore some wrongly read "judged"), AND THEY WHO HAVE LEARNED THESE THINGS (so the Roman and Greek; therefore some wrongly read "just things" for "these things," though the meaning is the same) SHALL FIND WHAT TO ANSWER — as if to say: You, O kings and princes, hear these my counsels about wisdom, that is, about justice, namely about virtue and sanctity, because he who keeps them justly and holily — at the tribunal of Christ, where, as preceded, the severest judgment shall be for those who rule, and for the stronger a stronger and more rigorous examination and torment shall press — will be justified, that is, pronounced just and holy by Christ, and rewarded with eternal glory. "And they who have learned these things" already mentioned "shall find what" to answer the Judge examining them about their life and the government of the commonwealth — in Greek, they shall find an apologia, by which they may defend themselves against all objections and the accusations of men and demons. For "to find" (invenire) pertains to counsel, "to discover" (reperire) to fortune, says Valla. Hence in Greek it reads: hoi gar phylaxantes hosios ta hosia hosiotheisontai, that is, those who keep holy things holily shall be sanctified — that is, through the exercise of holy works they shall become holy and holier, and on the day of judgment they shall be declared, praised, and crowned as holy by Christ before the whole world. Hence Vatablus translates: those who have cultivated holy things holily shall be deemed holy.
Note that it does not suffice for holiness that a person do a just and holy work: it is additionally required that it be done justly and holily. For example, it does not suffice to give alms; it is necessary that the alms be given from one's own property, not from what is stolen or belongs to another; likewise, that it be given with a right intention, not a corrupt one — such as when you give alms to draw a poor person into heresy or lust, for thus the almsgiving is contaminated and becomes an act commanded by heresy or lust. For, as Saint Dionysius says, good requires an integral cause, but evil arises from any single defect. Hence if any required condition is lacking in a good work, it is no longer
good, but deficient and defective, as Saint Thomas and the Scholastics teach — indeed Aristotle in the Ethics: "What is just," he says, "must be done justly." Saint Cyprian (or whoever the author is — he is certainly ancient and weighty) in On the Singular Life of Clerics: "What is done as holy," he says, "is not holy unless it is carried out holily, as Solomon asserts, saying (Wisdom 6:11): For they who have kept just things justly shall be justified. Therefore sincerity itself must be sincerely preserved, and everything that pertains to a vow must also be attested in the act, lest vows commend one thing and actions suggest another." He proves this from that saying of Paul, 2 Timothy 2:5: "He who strives in a contest is not crowned unless he has strived lawfully." The same thing is signified in Song of Songs 5:14: "His hands (that is, the Bridegroom's, namely Christ's) are turned of gold, full of hyacinths." Commenting on these words, William surnamed the Little, but great in sense and wisdom, who flourished in the year of our Lord 1200: "The hands of the Bridegroom," he says, "are those who persist in pious actions. In the hands of the Bridegroom three things are noted: first, they must be turned, that is, rightly and properly fashioned without crookedness, roughness, or angles — that is, acting not only piously but justly and purely. For they labor to relieve the necessities of the needy in such a way that, while providing for them, they do not harm others by force or fraud. If they defraud some to help others, if they lend at interest or steal in order to spend on the needs of the poor, theirs are crooked and angular hands. Therefore, second, they must be golden, that is, resplendent before the Lord in all their actions with the gold of charity. Third, they must be full of hyacinths, that is, adorned also outwardly with a becoming and, as it were, gem-like appearance of their actions. For there are two things that especially commend an action: the intention of the agent, and the outward appearance of the action. Good intention commends a work before God; an honorable exterior commends it before men. When there is nothing alien to the piety of charity in the root of the intention, and nothing unseemly in the surface of the action, then the hand is not only golden but full of hyacinths," etc.
THEY SHALL FIND WHAT TO ANSWER. — "I will take my stand," says Habakkuk, chapter 2, verse 1, "to see what shall be said to me, and what I shall answer to him who rebukes me." He who is wise, therefore, should perform each of his works so holily and perfectly that he may render an account of them to Christ on the day of judgment, lest Christ find something in them to criticize. "For, what cannot be said without a groan, in that rigor of the final rebuke every argument for excuse ceases; for He who rebukes outwardly is the same who, as witness of the conscience, accuses the soul within," says Saint Gregory, homily 38 on the Gospels. Hence then the wicked, struck silent, will have no excuse with which to defend themselves and extenuate their crimes.
12. DESIRE THEREFORE MY WORDS, LOVE (in Greek medikasthe, that is, wish for and desire) THEM, AND YOU WILL HAVE INSTRUCTION.
In Greek, paideutheisesthe, that is, you will be trained, you will become learned, you will acquire paideia, that is, instruction — meaning the discipline and ordering of morals, just as children through rebukes, beatings, and floggings learn to order their behavior toward both interior and exterior propriety. For our flesh and concupiscence is blind and greedy, like a child; hence it must be chastised with scourges and conformed to virtue. Hence the scourge and scourging is called "discipline," about which Peter of Blois (who was a contemporary of Saint Bernard and flourished in the year 1160, as Trithemius attests) wisely said in sermon 6: "There are two things that wonderfully preserve a person from sin: frequent confession and more frequent discipline." He repeatedly insists on the same elsewhere, as in epistles 16, 27, 46, 57, etc. For just as flesh without salt rots, so the body without mortification becomes corrupt and dissolves into vices, as I have shown at greater length elsewhere. Saint Chrysostom wisely says, homily 34 to the People: "The medicine of penance," he says, "is the greatest remedy for our wounds, curing and removing the ulcers of souls so that neither scar nor wart will appear — which is not possible with bodily wounds."
Moreover, discipline must be applied continually, both outwardly to the body and inwardly to the mind for the chastisement of its disordered affections. Hence Richard of Saint Victor, in his commentary on the Song of Songs, chapter 2: "He," he says, "possesses perfect virtue who by the strength of the spirit powerfully restrains both the pleasures of the flesh and the will of the heart." For, as he also says in On Preparation for Contemplation, chapter 32: "Discipline of the body without discipline of the heart is useless." See Cassian, book 5 of The Institutes of the Renunciants, chapters 21 and 22. Therefore, just as study is the path and method to knowledge, so discipline and the chastisement and reformation of morals and affections according to the law of God is the path and method to divine wisdom. Saint Bernard gives the reason, sermon 58 on the Song of Songs: "For who," he asks, "has so trimmed away to the quick everything superfluous from himself that he thinks there is nothing left worthy of trimming? Believe me, what was pruned sprouts again, what was driven out returns, what was extinguished is rekindled, and what was lulled to sleep is roused again. It is therefore not enough to have pruned once: one must prune often, indeed (if it were possible) always, because you always find something that needs pruning if you do not pretend otherwise. However much you may have advanced while remaining in this body, you err if you think your vices are dead rather than merely suppressed. Whether you like it or not, the Jebusite dwells within your borders: he can be subjugated, but not exterminated." And below: "Let us examine," he says, "according to the Prophet, our ways and our pursuits, and let each one judge himself in this regard —
he has made progress not when he finds nothing to criticize, but when he criticizes what he has found. Then you have not examined yourself in vain, if you have realized that there is again need for examination." Hence Saint Cyprian, in his sermon On Fasting: "All the men of virtue we have seen," he says, "we read did not ascend without fasting; nor did they attempt anything great unless abstinence had first preceded. Whenever they strove to obtain something from God, they devoted themselves to fasting and tears, and spending the night in prayer, with hairshirts clinging to their
flesh, they humbly requested favors."
Abbot Pinufius, as recorded by Cassian, book 4 of The Institutes of the Renunciants, chapters 34 and 35, sets forth this ideal of the perfect Christian, indeed of the perfect religious: "To have all concupiscences and carnal affections mortified and crucified with Christ. Just as one who is crucified no longer has the power to move his limbs in any direction according to the impulse of his soul, so also we must direct our wills and desires not according to what is pleasant and delightful to us at the present moment, but according to the law of the Lord, which binds us." Those who live amid constant pleasures, freedom, and dominion stand in greater need of mortification — such as kings, princes, prelates, the wealthy, and the affluent.
Theodoret in the Philotheos, chapter 28, narrates that Thalilaeus enclosed himself in a wheel for ten years so that he could not stand upright, but always sat bent over with his face pressed to his knees. When Theodoret asked him why he afflicted himself so greatly, he replied: "The mortification of the flesh is the flight from the punishment of hell." Frequent meditation on approaching death and fear of hell therefore teach true mortification and discipline — which was the common teaching of the holy anchorites.
13. WISDOM IS BRIGHT (Vatablus: illustrious), AND NEVER FADES, AND IS EASILY SEEN BY THOSE WHO LOVE HER, AND IS FOUND BY THOSE WHO SEEK HER.
In Greek, lampra kai amarantos estin he sophia, that is, wisdom is radiant and unfading — namely prudence itself, virtue, and sanctity — both because in itself it is a most noble quality, incorruptible and eternal like the amaranth; and because it ennobles those devoted to it, makes them illustrious and eternal. He compares wisdom to the amaranth flower or spike, about which Pliny writes thus, book 21, chapter 8:
"By the amaranth we are undoubtedly surpassed: it is a purple spike rather than a flower of any kind, and it is itself without scent. It is remarkable that it delights in being plucked, and grows back more luxuriantly. It comes forth in the month of August and lasts into autumn. The prize goes to the Alexandrian variety, which when plucked is preserved. And remarkably, after all other flowers have failed, it is revived with water and makes winter garlands. Its supreme nature lies in its very name, which signifies that it does not wither."
Such precisely is wisdom: she never fades but always revives, and she is purple, that is, fiery — for purple both in color and in name is pyr pyr, that is, fire fire. Related to this is Psalm 11:7: "The words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried in the fire, proved in the earth, purified seven times." For wisdom is the law itself, or the words and sayings of God, which virtue receives, loves, and carries out in practice. And Psalm 18:8: "The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls; the testimony of the Lord (that is, the law itself, which testifies what God wishes us to do) is faithful, giving wisdom to little ones. The justices of the Lord are right, rejoicing hearts; the commandment of the Lord is lightsome, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring forever and ever." Hence wisdom "is easily seen by those who love her" — for she herself, like a torch on a lighthouse, illuminates all who sail in this world and lights the way before them to the harbor of salvation. He who loves her, therefore, let him open his eyes to her light and behold her. For, as Saint Augustine says in On the Morals of the Church, chapter 1: "Not all from whom knowledge of the truth is sought are able to teach it; nor are all who seek worthy of learning. Both diligence and piety must therefore be applied: by the one we find teachers who know; by the other we merit to know." Philosophy therefore is the path to sophia — that is, love of wisdom is the path to wisdom: for love sharpens the powers of the mind and overcomes all difficulties.
He commends wisdom on three grounds: first, from necessity; second, from beauty, splendor and excellence, as well as from ease and graciousness; third, from usefulness. He commended her from necessity from the beginning of the chapter up to this point — because without wisdom, kings will undergo the terrible judgment and torments of God. From beauty he commends her here, as well as from the ease of attaining her. From usefulness he will commend her in verses 19 and following. Here therefore he praises her for her singular beauty and kindness, by which she first offers herself to those who desire her and entices and invites them to herself and to devotion to her. Beautiful women do the contrary, who take pride in their beauty and wish to be sought, not to seek, according to that verse:
"Pride dwells in the beautiful, and arrogance follows beauty."
So too secular knowledge puffs up.
14. SHE ANTICIPATES THOSE WHO DESIRE HER, SO THAT SHE FIRST SHOWS HERSELF TO THEM.
Vatablus: she freely offers herself to be known by those who desire her. Pagninus: she anticipates those who desire her, so that she may be foreknown. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 9: she precedes those who desire her, so that they may foreknow. Thus Ecclesiasticus says of Wisdom, chapter 15, verses 1 and following, that she "will meet those who seek justice as an honored mother, and will receive him as a wife wedded in virginity." See what was said there. This maxim can be taken in two ways. First, so that the word "so that" refers to "anticipates" and "those who desire her" is taken materially, as if to say: Wisdom, namely God and the grace of God, anticipates those who desire her, so that He first shows Himself to them and arouses in them a desire and longing for Himself. For in this consists the prevention of grace and the anticipation of God — that He Himself anticipates every desire of ours, indeed arouses it, as the Council of Trent teaches, session 6; likewise the Councils of Orange and Milevis, and Saint Augustine throughout against the Pelagians. For the error of the Pelagians was that the beginning of virtue and salvation is not from God but from ourselves — that a man disposes himself for grace by his free will and asks it from God and thereby obtains it. This is plainly false and erroneous, for God and Christ are like the sun, who with His light and grace anticipates all, and cannot be anticipated by anyone.
Second, so that "those who desire her" is taken in the sense
formal, and "so that" refers to "those who desire her," as if to say: Wisdom anticipates those who desire her and ask that she anticipate them and first show herself to them — anticipate them, I say, for the purpose of knowing particularly and distinctly that wisdom which was already known confusedly. For there is no desire for the unknown; therefore it is necessary that a person first know and desire wisdom confusedly before being anticipated and taught by her in particular details. But that very act of knowing and desiring wisdom confusedly flows from another prior anticipation of wisdom, namely the first and general one. For first God arouses in the soul a general and confused knowledge and desire of wisdom, virtue, and salvation, so that the soul may ask for it from God. When therefore the soul asks for it, God infuses it particularly, but gradually and by degrees: for first He illuminates the soul through faith; second, He instills the hope of salvation; third, He sends sorrow for sins; fourth, He arouses an act of love and contrition — which is the last and proximate disposition for grace and justification, as the Council of Trent teaches, session 6. Thus the Church, and every faithful and just person, continually prays to be anticipated by a new grace of God for the performance of new and heroic works of wisdom, that is, of the virtues. But this prayer of his flows from another prior prevenient grace, which aroused him to pray. For this is the prayer of the Church on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost: "May Your grace, we beseech You, O Lord, always both go before us and follow us, and make us continually intent upon good works."
Both meanings are true, both are fitting, and both demonstrate the remarkable humanity, benevolence, generosity, solicitude, and philanthropy of our God — for He Himself with His love, calling, and grace anticipates us who are unworthy, indeed sinners and His enemies, in order to make us His friends, indeed His sons and heirs. In both senses therefore God anticipates us; in both, wisdom — that is, God's illumination and grace — goes before us; in both, He takes the first steps in the pursuit of wisdom and anticipates us. For first He offers Himself to the soul to be known confusedly and arouses a general desire for Himself; then, having been confusedly known and desired, He arouses in the soul a particular and more ardent desire for Himself, and this more and more each day, so that by His gift the desire born in the soul may grow, until it becomes most eager for Him and is completely inflamed with love of Him. Hence Christ in John 4:14 speaks thus of wisdom to the Samaritan woman under the image of water: "The water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting." And in John 7:38, crying out in the temple: "If any man thirsts," He says, "let him come to Me; and he who drinks of the water that I shall give him, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly." And in Revelation 3:20: "I stand at the door and knock: if any man shall hear My voice and open the door to Me, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me." And Saint Augustine, book 11 of the Confessions, chapter 2: "Through Christ," he says, "You sought us, not
we who were seeking You; but You sought us so that we might seek You."
Mystically, the Blessed Virgin, as the mother of eternal Wisdom, is said to anticipate those who desire her and to go to meet those who seek her: for no one runs with such speed to implore the Virgin that the Virgin herself does not run ahead even faster to hear the one imploring her. Hence in Song of Songs 4:3 she is compared to fawns, because just as these, according to the interpretation of Richard of Saint Victor, are swift in running, so the Blessed Virgin is swift in coming to the rescue. Indeed, by Saint Epiphanius, in his sermon On Her Praises, she is called a cherubic chariot, because just as this flies at the greatest speed, multiplied by ten thousands, so she too, borne aloft on innumerable wings of mercy, hastens to give her patronage — nor is this surprising, since she performs the office of a mother, not of a judge. For this reason the Virgin Mother sometimes seems swifter in bringing aid than her Son, Christ the Lord, as Saint Anselm asserts in his book On the Excellence of the Virgin, chapter 7: "Sometimes," he says, "salvation is swifter at the mention of her name (that is, Mary's) than at the invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus." And he gives the reason: "because to Christ, as Judge, it also belongs to punish; but to the Virgin, as patroness, nothing belongs but to have mercy."
Morally, learn here, O Christian, to imitate the eternal Wisdom, namely Christ and His Mother, by anticipating both enemies and friends with love and honor, according to the Apostle's words, Romans 12:10: "Anticipating one another with honor." For this is what perfect charity and beneficence require. If therefore you wish to be loved, love — for the magnet of love is love. Hence Christ first anticipated men, becoming man, so as to compel them to love Him in return. Here that saying of Lucian applies:
"A favor that is slow is an ungrateful favor: for when it hastens to be done, the favor is more welcome."
Hear Seneca, book 2 of On Benefits, chapter 1: "The most welcome benefits are those that are ready, easy, and presented spontaneously, where there was no delay except in the modesty of the recipient. The best thing is to anticipate each person's desire; the next best, to follow it. It is better to anticipate before we are asked: for when an honest man's face falters (others more aptly read: his heart fails) at asking, and he is suffused with a blush, whoever spares him this torment multiplies his gift. He did not receive it for free who received it after having asked. For, as it seemed to our ancestors, most serious men, nothing costs more dearly than what is purchased by prayers." And below: "Therefore each person's wish must be divined, and once understood, he must be freed from the very heavy necessity of asking. Know that the benefit which meets someone halfway is the one that will be welcome and live in the memory. If it is not possible to anticipate, let us cut short the many words of the one asking, lest we seem to have been asked; but having been informed, let us promise at once, and let us prove by our very haste that we were going to act even before we were appealed to."
15. HE WHO WATCHES FOR HER AT DAWN SHALL NOT LABOR —
HE WILL FIND HER SITTING AT HIS DOORS -- that is: He who rises early, who at the first light of dawn seeks her by praying, invoking, meditating, and studying, will not labor to find her, because she herself in the morning assists and sits beside the one who watches for her. He notes that the morning time, as the first and most fitting, should be given to wisdom, that is, to prayer, study, and divine things, according to that saying of Psalm 62:2: "O God, my God, to You from the light I watch;" and Proverbs 8:34: "Blessed is the man who hears me, and who watches at my doors daily, and observes at the posts of my gate" -- see what was said there. But the vigilance of wisdom surpasses and outstrips even the most vigilant: thus St. Mary Magdalene went to Christ's sepulcher before dawn to seek Him, and therefore she was the first, even before the apostles, to deserve to see Him risen.
For "sitting beside" the Greek is paredrin, by which name the philosophers used to call their gods and familiar spirits: just as Socrates had a genius as his paredrus, that is, assessor, so heresiarchs had demons as their paredroi. Magicians also have such in their rings; but the paredrus of the just is God, and God's wisdom and grace, about which more will be said at chapter 9, verse 4.
Suetonius narrates in his Life of Galba, chapters 14 and 18, that this omen was given to him of both gaining and losing the empire: "He dreamed, he says, that Fortune said she stood before his doors exhausted, and unless she were quickly received, she would become the prey of whoever came along. Waking, he opened the hall and found a bronze statue of the goddess, larger than a cubit, beside the threshold, and placed it in his shrine and worshipped it. Long afterwards, he dedicated to Capitoline Venus a most precious necklace that had been intended for Fortune. The next night he dreamed of the image of Fortune, complaining that she had been defrauded of the gift intended for her, and threatening to take back what she had given." And shortly afterwards he was deprived of both his empire and his life. True wisdom, and the fortune that truly favors, is God, from whom all our salvation and blessedness proceeds. Let us therefore eagerly receive Him when He offers Himself to us, and once received, let us constantly hold fast to and worship Him, so that He may preserve, increase, and perpetuate His goods and gifts in us forever.
16. THEREFORE TO THINK OF HER IS PERFECT UNDERSTANDING: AND HE WHO WATCHES FOR HER SHALL QUICKLY BE SECURE.
For "to think" the Greek is enthymēthēnai in the aorist, that is, to have thought, to have turned over and revolved in the mind, to have understood and impressed upon the mind, so that it may continually be before the mind, and one may think about it constantly -- whence our translator aptly rendered it as the present tense "to think." Add that the past tense is often taken for the present, especially among the Hebrews, who lack a present tense. For "perfect understanding," the Greek is phronēseōs teleiōtēs, that is, it is the perfection of wisdom, or the consummation of prudence and intelligence, or perfect prudence -- wherefore Holcot wrongly takes "senses" here as the bodily senses, as if to say: Wisdom corrects and perfects the faults and defects of the bodily senses, such as sight, hearing, taste, etc.
The meaning, therefore, can be first as follows, that is: He who constantly turns over in his mind understanding, that is, wisdom and prudence, and its doctrines and dictates, so that he may always have them before his eyes and may direct and govern his actions according to them -- this man is perfectly wise and prudent; "and he who watches for her," so as to know wisdom and her precepts and impress them upon his mind, this man "will quickly be secure," in Greek amepimnos estai, that is, without care (for "secure" means the same as "removed from care"), he will be without anxiety, and consequently cheerful and glad. For "a secure mind is like a perpetual feast," because such a man will wisely order his life according to the dictate of wisdom; whence he will be secure, both from sin and falling, and from the dangers that are wont to accompany and follow difficult actions: for wisdom foresees and provides for these; whence it either flees them, or drives them away and repels them, or endures and bravely overcomes them. Wisdom therefore bestows security and tranquility upon the soul, whereas folly and imprudence bring upon them a thousand cares, anxieties, dangers, unfortunate outcomes of actions, and losses, says Cantacuzenus.
It could, secondly, be explained more plainly thus, that is: He is perfectly prudent who is concerned and anxious not about the vain, perishable, curious, and futile things of the world, but about true wisdom, which may lead him to virtue and happiness -- namely, how he might attain it. Moreover, he will be secure that he will attain it who watches for it in the morning, that is, who diligently seeks and searches for it; for he will find it running to meet him of its own accord and standing beside him, indeed anticipating him, as was said just before: so a Castro. Whence Vatablus translates: namely, to think about her pertains to the perfection of wisdom, and he who watches for her will quickly be secure. Hence Cicero, as St. Augustine testifies in Book I Against the Academics, chapter 3, declares that man happy who devotes himself to investigating the truth, even if he does not attain it. Much more must he be called happy in hope who in this life begins to study wisdom and truth, which is God, in order to know it, so that in heaven he may deserve to see it perfectly and become happy in reality.
Thirdly, Cantacuzenus explains it thus, that is: Perfect prudence and understanding consists in thinking about learning and acquiring true wisdom: for just as the end of a house is its roof, that is, to protect it against the injuries of weather and men; the end of a city is the safety of its citizens; the end of medicine is health: so the end of all knowledge and understanding is true wisdom, which teaches a man to live rightly and leads him straight to blessedness.
Fourthly, our Lorinus says: After the ease of acquiring wisdom, he pursues the happiness found in its acquisition; and this is twofold: the perfection of the intellect and security of the mind -- that is, the exclusion of both error and evil, so that it may root out false opinions by inflaming the mind with knowledge of the truth, and remove anxieties and expel vain cares.
Of these four senses, the second seems plainer and more suitable, and the inferential word "therefore" demands it (although in the Greek it is gar, that is, "for," but gar sometimes means certainly, indeed, namely, therefore), which connects this maxim with the preceding one and draws out and gathers from it, as if to say: Wisdom is so ready and inclined to communicate herself that she anticipates those who desire her and shows herself to them first. Therefore, to think about her is perfect understanding, that is, perfect prudence and wisdom: for wisdom, from her own readiness, will of her own accord and immediately come to meet the one thinking about her, and will teach him full and perfect wisdom. Wherefore, he who watches for her will quickly become secure about attaining wisdom, and about every other care, and about successfully accomplishing his affairs. That this is the meaning is clear from the reason the Wise Man adds: "For she goes about seeking those who are worthy of her, etc., and in all providence she meets them." It is a metonymy, for the thought and study of wisdom is called the perfection of wisdom, not in the consummated sense, but in the inchoative sense, because it is the way to it and gradually leads the diligent person to it: for the words and nouns of the Hebrews often signify not a completed act but one begun, as I have now often noted. Moreover, the thought of wisdom brings wisdom, because whoever often thinks about something comes to love it: and wisdom, once loved, of her own accord runs to meet the one who loves her and communicates herself to him.
Mystically, the consummation of wisdom and security of mind consists in diligently thinking about, meditating upon, desiring, and loving divine things; but no one has this wisdom, begotten from the Holy Spirit, this security flowing from a good conscience, unless he excels in charity toward God and neighbor.
Secondly, the phrase "in all" could be referred not to wisdom, but to the student of wisdom, for wisdom meets him in every thought and deliberation, and so presents herself, as if to say: Whenever a prudent mind prudently and providently thinks and meditates on something, wisdom immediately meets him there, and God Himself: wherefore it is most salutary to think and speak about wisdom, and about God and divine things, for there God immediately inserts Himself, just as Christ inserted Himself among the disciples going to Emmaus, when they were speaking about Him. So say Cantacuzenus and Jansenius.
This meaning also seems fitting, and sufficiently corresponds to the Greek: for "in all providence," or, as some read, "prudence meets," corresponds to "in the ways she shows herself": for it is the function of human prudence and providence to suggest to a man who wishes to prudently direct his ways, that is, his natural actions, and who consults it, all the appropriate reasons and means by which he may accomplish the same. But divine prudence and wisdom, much more so, does this in supernatural and divine actions. All these metaphors signify that God most willingly communicates His wisdom (that is, His precepts and counsels, His divine lights) to those who desire it, indeed that He is eager to pour out His benefits upon the desirous with spontaneous will and most kind liberality. Wherefore it is fitting that men respond with a like desire and go to meet God, that they may ardently seek and request it from Him, as the bride sought the bridegroom, saying in Canticles 3:2: "I will arise and go about the city, through the streets and broad places I will seek him whom my soul loves." Thus Magdalene sought Christ, and therefore found Him to her great good and happiness. Both senses already given are congruous and connected: for the same is the prudence and providence that is sought and consulted by man, and that meets the man who seeks and consults, and suggests the reasons for acting prudently in all matters, especially the weightier and more difficult ones.
17. FOR SHE GOES ABOUT SEEKING THOSE WHO ARE WORTHY OF HER, AND IN THE WAYS SHE SHOWS HERSELF TO THEM CHEERFULLY, AND IN ALL PROVIDENCE SHE MEETS THEM.
He gives the reason why to think about wisdom is perfect understanding, and why he who watches for her will be secure in the future: namely, because she herself goes about and seeks those worthy of her, that is, those who think about her and diligently search for her, so that of her own accord "in the ways," that is, in all the actions, undertakings, and duties of life, both private and public, and especially in governing the commonwealth, she may cheerfully show herself and all her goods to them and communicate them; indeed she meets them "in all providence," in Greek epinoia, that is, counsel, ingenuity, skill, consideration, deliberation, invention, prudence -- as if to say: First, wisdom skillfully devises and discovers a thousand ways and means by which she may with the greatest care and providence meet and assist those who desire her. God (who is wisdom itself), says Nazianzen, loves to be loved, seeks to be sought, thirsts to be thirsted for; hence He devises a thousand ways by which He may draw souls to Himself and convert them. Whence Vatablus translates, "with the greatest zeal she runs to meet them"; our translator rendered it "providence," because the more important part of wisdom and prudence is to foresee the future, and to procure good things if they are good, and to avert evil things if they are evil. In a similar manner, but with the opposite end, the harlot of luxury and pleasure meets the incautious young man, and entices him with her delights, drives him mad, ruins and kills him, as is described in Proverbs 7:13 and following.
Let wise men imitate wisdom as their mother, so that putting on her zeal they may go about seeking the worthy and well-disposed, to whom they may communicate their wisdom, and show it to them -- not slowly, grimly, or reluctantly, but swiftly, cheerfully, and joyfully ("for God loves a cheerful giver," 2 Corinthians 9:7); and in all providence let them go to meet and assist them, as Christ the Lord did, and St. Peter, St. Paul, and the other apostles and apostolic and religious men, who strive to lead souls to the knowledge and love of God.
Symbolically, St. Gregory, in Book 26 of the Moralia, chapter 8, takes "ways" as creatures, by which we ascend to the Creator. "In the ways," he says, "she shows herself to them cheerfully, and in all providence she meets them: for the ways to the Creator are the considered works of the Creator, which, while we observe what has been made, we admire the power of the Maker. In these ways, all providence is brought to meet us by wisdom, because of the Maker to us...
the power to be sought is set forth in everything that appears wonderfully made; and wherever the soul turns, if it attends watchfully, it finds God in those very things through which it had left Him, and recognizes His power again from the consideration of those things for love of which it had forsaken Him; and through the same things by which it fell when perverted, it is recalled when converted." This interpretation is supported by the Greek phantazetai, which our translator rendered as "shows," namely as if through a vision and phantasm: for through the phantasms of created things the mind rises to purely contemplating their Creator, and there finds rest, cheerfulness, and every good, so that it may say with St. Francis: "My God and my all." For, as St. Augustine wisely says in Book 4 of the Confessions, chapter 10: "Wherever the soul of man turns, it is fixed to sorrows except in You."
18. FOR THE BEGINNING OF HER IS THE MOST TRUE DESIRE OF DISCIPLINE.
In Greek, archē gar autēs hē alēthestatē paideias epithymia, where the word alēthestatē ("most true") can be referred either to archē, that is, "beginning" (and the article hē inclines in this direction), or to epithymia, that is, "desire." Cantacuzenus, Jansenius, and Osorius refer it to archē, whence they translate: "for the most true beginning of her is the desire of discipline," as if to say: Various beginnings of wisdom are commonly assigned, but the most true beginning of it is the desire of discipline, or, as Osorius says, the most true foundation of wisdom is contained in the desire and inflamed longing for it. But our translator, Vatablus, and others refer alēthestatē to epithymia, whence they translate: "for the beginning of her is the most true desire of discipline" -- for he proves what he said, that wisdom runs to meet, indeed anticipates, those who desire her, from the fact that the desire of discipline is the beginning of wisdom: for discipline is the companion and sister of wisdom.
The meaning therefore is, as if to say: I said that wisdom meets not all, but those who desire her, because the desire of discipline (which gives birth to wisdom) -- not just any desire, but the most true, that is, the most pure, and entirely removed from all pretense, deceit, and self-interest; likewise the most true, that is, the complete desire, which devotes itself wholly to wisdom and does not distract itself to desiring other things (for it demands the whole man) -- is the true and proper beginning of practical, salvific, and divine wisdom. For many desire discipline so that through it they may be promoted to honors, wealth, and positions; these do not have a true and sincere desire for it, and therefore do not have the beginning of wisdom. Furthermore, discipline, as I said at verse 12, is the chastisement of depraved affections and desires: for through this the beginning of wisdom and virtue is given, if indeed discipline is desired most truly, that is, not ambitiously, not curiously, not sluggishly, not for profit, not partially; but humbly, candidly, fervently, piously and purely, totally and entirely. For just as the desire for health, knowledge, and skill is the beginning of health, knowledge, and skill; so philosophy is the beginning of [wisdom]...
or rather of virtue, is a great beginning of wisdom and virtue, according to the saying: "He who has begun well has half the deed done." Both because he who vehemently desires something devotes himself entirely to it, exerts all his strength, undergoes and overcomes all difficulties; and because virtue consists in the will, whose act is desire: for what is humility but the love and desire of lowering oneself? What is patience but the love of suffering? What is charity but the desire of loving? Wherefore, as great and as ardent and efficacious as the desire of virtue is in the will, so great implicitly in it, and so ardent and efficacious, is the virtue itself. He therefore who strives to grow in any virtue should frequently stir up within himself ardent and efficacious desires for it: thus he will make wonderful progress in it. You are therefore as great in virtue as you effectively will to be: this desire for wisdom St. Augustine had, as he says in Book 11 of the Confessions, chapter 2: "Let Your Scriptures, he says, be my chaste delights, and let me neither be deceived in them nor deceive through them." Hence also the beginning of justification, and the disposition toward it, is that the sinner, prevented by the grace of God, should desire justice and ask it of God, and begin to love Christ as the font of justice, says the Council of Trent, session 6.
One may object: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord," Psalm 110:10; how then is it said here that the beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline? The answer is: The fear of the Lord is the desire of discipline, because this fear is the love of God, which brings with it the desire and love of discipline. See what was said at Ecclesiasticus 1:16.
Morally, learn here that the beginning and the way to wisdom, that is, to virtue and perfection, is an intense desire for it. Hear our Alvarez de Paz, On Perfection, in the Preface: Just as the greatest perversity of the human heart takes its origin from the desire of evil -- by which desire the mind, aroused and overcome, commits evil once, and from one sin rushes into another, until it reaches habit, and from habit falls into hardness of heart and into extreme misery -- so the greatest perfection of the same heart must necessarily begin from the desire of good, which desire, accumulating strength and frequently urging the mind of man, goes forth into action, and from the repetition of good works begets the habit of virtue, and from good habit ascends into the love of good for its own sake and thus into perfection itself. This desire is the door through which the human mind enters the sanctuary, or sanctity itself: it is the wind by which the ship of the heart, being driven, departs from itself and from earthly things, and sails on a happy course into purity: it is the first step by which one turns away from evil, and gradually progressing little by little, is at last established in the possession of perfect virtue.
19. CARE THEREFORE OF DISCIPLINE IS LOVE: AND LOVE IS THE KEEPING OF HER LAWS: AND THE KEEPING [continued]
19. CARE THEREFORE OF DISCIPLINE IS LOVE: AND LOVE IS THE KEEPING OF HER LAWS: AND THE KEEPING OF THE LAWS IS THE CONSUMMATION OF INCORRUPTION.
From the fact that he said wisdom meets those who desire her, he commends the desire of wisdom, and ranges forth into her praises, and by gradation and sorites, that is, a cumulative syllogism, enumerates her excellent endowments and fruits. For "therefore" the Greek is de, that is, "but, indeed," so that the gradation may begin from the preceding verse, as if to say: The beginning of wisdom is the desire of discipline; but the desire of discipline begets care and solicitude for the same; care begets love, love the keeping of the laws, this incorruption, which makes one near to God through the eternal kingdom which the desire for discipline, or wisdom, bestows. Or, as our a Castro says, that is: The most true beginning of wisdom is the desire for it; desire increases care, care increases love, love kindles the soul to the observance of the law; moreover, the observance of the divine law makes a man certain of future incorruption; and incorruption leads to the enjoyment of God: therefore the desire for wisdom leads to the kingdom of God.
However, since the Wise Man does not say: "The desire of discipline is the care of discipline," as he does say: "Care of discipline is love, and love is the keeping of her laws," etc., hence our translator more aptly judged that the gradation should begin here, and that the desire of discipline is the same thing as the care of discipline: for he who desires something takes care and is solicitous to attain it. Whence for de, that is, "indeed," he translated "therefore" (ergo), which is often a particle not of inference, but of beginning a discourse, and means the same as "and so." Likewise the Greek de and the Latin vero sometimes serve not as adversative particles, but as expletive or ornamental ones; whence Terence in the Eunuch says: "That indeed, he says, which I think I have found to be my crowning achievement" -- where Donatus comments: "Unless 'indeed' were ornamental, it would mean nothing." The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The beginning of wisdom, and consequently of happiness and every good, is the desire or care of discipline. He then shows the same thing by parts, ascending step by step up to the eternal kingdom, and says: "Care therefore of discipline, etc.," that is: And so the desire or care of discipline is love, that is, it wins love, or charity -- for as much as desire is repressed and diminished through discipline and chastisement, so much is charity expanded and increased, and therefore full charity is no desire at all, says St. Augustine. Love indeed is the keeping of her laws, that is, charity impels, persuades, and effects the keeping of the laws: for he who loves God assuredly keeps His commandments, just as he who loves the king carries out his orders; and he who loves a friend fulfills his will.
And the keeping (in Greek, prosochē, that is, attention, diligent hearing, and careful diligence in keeping and observing the laws of God, which we have heard and known) OF THE LAWS IS THE CONSUMMATION (in Greek, bebaiōsis, that is, confirmation) OF INCORRUPTION. -- St. Athanasius, in On the Incarnation of the Word, says: attention and observance of the laws is the establishing of immortality; Vatablus: observance of the laws is the establishment of integrity, or of immortality, that is, the support, basis, and foundation. This incorruption or integrity can be taken both generally for virtue and purity, as if to say: The keeping of the laws makes a man whole and perfect according to all virtues, and the laws and prescriptions of all virtues -- so Hugo; and properly for chastity, as if to say: The keeping of the laws brings chastity (for this is one of the laws sanctioned by God, and the crown and complement of the other laws), which makes a man whole and uncorrupted, in both mind and body. Whence Climacus, at step 15, and Basil, in his book On Virginity, teach that chastity is the virtue that makes men angels, and that it is both the seed and the type of the future incorruption in heavenly glory, indeed that it bestows on man the likeness of God who is whole and incorruptible, insofar as it is permitted to a mortal to be made like God in both mind and body; whence it follows: "Incorruption makes one near to God." Hence also the bodies of many male and female virgins have remained incorrupt after death, and remain so even now. Hence again you may translate from the Greek: the keeping of the laws is the foundation of immortality, because just as the violation of the law about not eating the forbidden fruit, committed by Adam, was the cause of corruption and death, both his own and that of all his descendants: so the keeping of the laws is the cause of incorruption and immortality, because one merits to attain it in the future resurrection -- so Lyranus and Dionysius.
Note that all these gradations and maxims must be explained in a causal sense, not a formal one: for the keeping of the laws is not the consummation of incorruption and immortality formally, as is obvious; but causally, because it will cause it and bring full and consummated immortality to the blessed in heaven. Hence Clement of Alexandria, in Book 6 of the Stromata, paraphrases it thus, or rather explains it: "Therefore the love of knowledge makes one free from destruction, and raises up to God him who is of kingly character" -- for which our translator renders:
20. AND INCORRUPTION MAKES ONE NEAR TO GOD.
In Greek: incorruption makes one to be near God, that is, nearest to God, for positive forms are often used for superlatives. The Syriac reads: truth that is not corrupted, and work that is without corruption, draw near to God. The Arabic: and the privation of temptation places man near to God -- for the Arabs call every evil and every corruption a temptation. He continues in the gradation, as if to say: The integrity of mind that the keeping of the laws brings about, makes man like God through grace and sanctity, and the same will make man like God in heaven through immortality and glory, according to 1 John 3:2: "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is" -- for the vision of God will make us blessed and make us like Him. Whence St. Irenaeus
in Book 4 Against Heresies, chapter 75: "The vision of God," he says, "is efficacious for incorruption; and incorruption makes one near to God." And the same author a little before: "Subjection to God," he says, "is the perseverance of incorruption; and incorruption is the glory of the Uncreated," as if to say: Incorruption is the endowment and glory proper to God, who was not made but always existed of Himself; from whom the just and blessed participate in the same, being entirely subject and united to Him. For even though the damned will also be immortal, they will nonetheless be in perpetual torments; whence they will be corruptibly incorruptible, and mortally immortal. St. Bonaventure takes incorruption as virginity, for this makes people whole in mind and body, and near to God; indeed, it makes chaste souls the brides of God; whence virgins will follow the Lamb most closely wherever He goes, Apocalypse 14:4. But this is a partial incorruption; the total incorruption is the keeping of the laws, which belongs to all the just. To this purpose is that saying of Pliny in his Panegyric to Trajan: "Nothing more excellent or beautiful among the gods than a chaste and holy prince, most like the gods." And that which Plutarch writes, in his book That One Should Philosophize with a Prince, that Minos was the disciple of Jupiter: "For they did not wish," he says, "private men or idle men to be the disciples of the gods, but kings, who having attained wisdom and virtues of the soul, would use them for the benefit of all."
To this also pertains that saying of Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 10, chapter 8: "He who exercises his mind and cultivates it is disposed in the best way, and he also seems to be the most beloved by the immortal gods: for if the gods have any care for human affairs, as is believed, it would surely be reasonable that they should take delight in what is best and most akin to themselves; and this would be the mind itself; and that they should in return bestow benefits on those who most love and honor it, as having care for what is dear to themselves, and as acting rightly and well. But it is clear that all these qualities belong most of all to the wise man; therefore the wise man himself is most beloved by the immortal gods; and it is fitting that the same person be also the happiest: wherefore the wise man would in this way also be supremely happy."
21. THEREFORE THE DESIRE FOR WISDOM LEADS TO AN EVERLASTING KINGDOM.
This is the conclusion and summit of the gradation and sorites, as if to say: The desire for discipline, and for wisdom connected with it, makes people incorrupt and near, indeed like God through grace and glory, and thus bestows upon them the perpetual kingdom of God, and makes them heavenly and eternal kings: for this kingdom is owed, and has been prepared and promised, to the wise, that is, to the just, who keep the law, and through the integrity of their life are near to God -- for the Wise Man leaves this to be understood as known. Who therefore would not desire, who would not strive for wisdom, that is, virtue and sanctity, which so blesses, exalts, and glorifies those who pursue it? Our a Castro judges that the reference here is to an earthly kingdom, not a heavenly one, and proves this from
the following verse. But although on the surface this maxim can be taken of an earthly kingdom, which wisdom makes long-lasting and propagated through many centuries, as it did for David, nevertheless it must be taken fully and perfectly of the heavenly kingdom: for this alone is perpetual, and makes people blessed, incorrupt, immortal, and near to God. For although the word "perpetual" is not in the Greek, it is sufficiently understood from the following verse; whence St. Augustine in the Speculum, Cantacuzenus, and others read it thus: for it is clear that a kingdom, not only earthly (as a Castro maintains), but also heavenly, is promised to the Jews in the Old Testament, from chapter 5, verse 17: "Therefore they shall receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty from the hand of the Lord"; and more clearly Daniel, chapter 7, verse 27: "And the kingdom and power, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom," etc.
A similar gradation and sorites through similar maxims and rewards, linked and chained together like rings, can be seen in the Code of Laws of the Visigoths, Book 1, title 2, chapter 6, which is appended to Cassiodorus: "Just as the moderation of princes," he says, "is the tempering of laws, so the concord of citizens is the victory over enemies. For from the gentleness of princes arises the arrangement of laws; from the arrangement of laws, the instruction of morals; from the instruction of morals, the concord of citizens; from the concord of citizens, triumph over enemies; and so the good prince, governing internal affairs and conquering external ones, while he possesses his own peace and cuts short foreign strife, is celebrated as ruler among citizens and victor among enemies -- one who will have, after the passing times, eternal rest; after earthly gold, a heavenly kingdom; after the diadem and purple, a crown of glory. Indeed, he will not even cease to be king: for when he leaves behind an earthly kingdom and gains a heavenly one, he will not have lost the glory of his kingdom, but increased it." For this is what all kings must wish and pray for with all their vows, that like St. Louis they may be transferred from this earthly and transient kingdom to the heavenly and eternal one: for all the glory of an earthly kingdom passes like a shadow and immediately vanishes like smoke.
22. IF THEREFORE YOU DELIGHT IN THRONES (royal thrones) AND SCEPTERS, O KINGS (in Greek, O tyrants) OF THE PEOPLE, LOVE WISDOM, THAT YOU MAY REIGN FOREVER.
For "love," the Greek is timasate, that is, honor, esteem, regard as precious and dear. For "scepters" St. Augustine in the Speculum reads "stemmatibus" (garlands); St. Bonaventure reads "schematibus" (figures), but incorrectly. The meaning is, as if to say: O kings, if kingdom and reigning delight you, love wisdom, so that you may wisely, that is, equitably, justly, and uprightly, administer the kingdom: for thus you will reign forever, as the Greek has it, that is, a long-lasting and enduring kingdom will last for you on earth, and from it you will be transferred to an eternal kingdom in heaven. For what will it profit you, says Cantacuzenus, if from the throne
not to heaven, but to the mire of hell; if from the purple robe to fire, from the scepter to chains, from the crown to the dungeons of the underworld you are led? What did such great opulence, majesty, and glory of his kingdom profit Solomon? Indeed, what did it not harm him, since it struck wisdom from him and made him a slave of women and idols, so that his salvation is rightly doubted? Let all therefore hear St. Gregory, Homily 45 on the Gospels: "If therefore, dearest brethren, you truly desire to be rich, love true riches; if you seek the summit of true honor, strive for the heavenly kingdom; if you love the glory of high offices, hasten to be enrolled in that celestial court of the angels."
He again addresses and exhorts kings and princes to the study of wisdom, that is, of prudence and virtue, from the fact that wisdom establishes and perpetuates a kingdom. Hence it is clear that this book is especially addressed to princes, and was written and dedicated to them. He therefore assigns here the true reason and method of acquiring, administering, preserving, and propagating a kingdom, namely wisdom, that is, justice and uprightness; of which the judicial throne and scepter, which is the type and symbol of justice, reminds kings. For the scepter was originally a staff or straight rod; whence in Hebrew it is called shebet, that is, a rod, staff, or shepherd's crook, to signify that a king is the shepherd of his peoples, as Homer says, and therefore ought to govern the people with the same equity, kindness, care, and vigilance with which a shepherd governs his sheep. Moreover, this staff was formerly adorned with bronze, then with gold -- not for severity, but for firmness and durability, as our Martin de Roa shows in Book 2 of the Singularia, chapter 5. The same thing is signified by the pastoral staff, which all bishops use except the Pope, who is the universal shepherd of all. "The staff," says the jurist Paulus, "is a curved pastoral rod, so called because sheep are caught by their feet with it." "The bishop has a staff," says Bede in the Collectanea, "in order to govern his subjects and support the weak." When consecrating a bishop, he hands him the staff and says, as the Roman Ordinal has it: "Receive the staff of pastoral office, the power of binding and loosing, and be persevering in correcting vices, holding judgment without anger, soothing the minds of your hearers in fostering virtues, not abandoning the censure of severity in tranquility." Or, as in the same book: "Receive the staff as the sign of sacred governance, that you may strengthen the weak, confirm the wavering, correct the perverse, direct the upright in the way of eternal salvation, and have the power of raising up the worthy and correcting the unworthy, with the cooperation of our Lord." Hence the verse about the staff, signifying its three parts and three offices:
"The curved part draws, the straight part rules, the last part pricks."
See Joannes Stephanus Durantus, Book 2 On the Rites of the Church, chapter 9, numbers 38 and following, and Josephus Stephanus, book On the Power of the Pontiff, chapter 8, number 5.
To this purpose is the emblem of wisdom: for wisdom is depicted as a heroine, holding a book in her right hand and a scepter in her left. The book denotes the study by which wisdom is acquired; the scepter denotes the honors and authority that she bestows. Whence Cicero, in Book 1 On the Orator and in the Tusculan Disputations, exclaims: "O philosophy, guide of life! O seeker of virtue and expeller of vices, what would not only we, but the whole life of mankind, have been without you? You have founded cities, you have called scattered men together into the society of life." Aristotle, in Book 1 of the Rhetoric, says: "To be wise is a quality suited to ruling." The prayer of the Emperor Vespasian, as Philostratus attests in Book 5, chapters 10 and 11, was this: "O Jupiter, grant that I may rule over wise men, and that I may have wise men! Wherefore I wish my doors to be open to wise men." Seneca, in Epistle 108, writes about his teacher Attalus: "He himself used to say he was a king, but to me he seemed to be more than a king, since he was permitted to pass censure on those who reigned." Plutarch, in his book On Isis, reports that the Egyptians used to choose their king from among the priests for their wisdom, or from the soldiers for their courage; but the soldiers would devote themselves to the priests in order to learn wisdom. The well-known saying of Plato is: "States would flourish and be happy if either philosophers ruled, or rulers philosophized," as the Emperor Antoninus did, for which reason he was surnamed the Philosopher, whose philosophical writings still survive. The Emperor Theodosius entrusted his sons Arcadius and Honorius to the tutelage of Arsenius, a man celebrated for wisdom and sanctity. Indeed, King Philip also entrusted his son Alexander the Great to Aristotle for his education. Finally, wisdom herself openly proclaims: "By me kings reign, and lawmakers decree just things," Proverbs 8:15. "Philosophy," says Cicero, "has all things that can befall a man under its control, and it despises human accidents." Whence Diogenes, when asked: "What good had philosophy done him?" answered: "This -- that I am prepared for every fortune." And Dionysius the tyrant, expelled from his kingdom of Sicily, when asked: "What good had he drawn from Plato and his philosophy?" replied: "That I may bear this reversal of fortune with equanimity: for philosophy teaches one to rule and master the soul and the passions." Wherefore Zeno used to say that wise philosophers were not only free, but also kings. When Cyrus was designating his son Cambyses as successor to the empire, he said: "I want you to know, my Cambyses, that it is not this golden scepter that will preserve your kingdom; but faithful friends are the truest and safest scepter for kings. This cannot be denied; but a far better protection comes from wisdom itself, through which kings reign." So says Xenophon, in Book 8 of the Cyropaedia.
Furthermore, how much wisdom, that is, uprightness, piety, and the pious education of parents, ennobles royal families and their offspring, and increases them in honors, wealth, and kingdoms, as well as in sanctity and merits, and establishes and confirms them in these, is clear from the family
of Charlemagne, which through many continuous centuries produced dukes and kings, conspicuous in both heaven and earth for the glory of their deeds, and this from the pious instruction of St. Modoald, Archbishop of Trier, and St. Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, from whom the line descended: for Itta, the sister of St. Modoald, outstanding in piety, married Blessed Pippin the first Duke of Brabant, who reproved Dagobert, King of the Franks (whose household he managed), when he had given himself over to luxury, restrained him, and led him back to a chaste and upright life. Whence these praises are given to Pippin in the Life of St. Modoald: "Pippin was a man of the most proven life and the purest reputation, a dwelling-place of wisdom, a treasury of counsels, a defense of the laws, a resolver of controversies, a bulwark of the fatherland, the glory of the court, the guide of leaders, and the instructor of kings." When he died, his wife Blessed Itta received the sacred veil and the habit of holy religious life from St. Amand, and in it she finished her life holily. Their offspring were two daughters: St. Gertrude, who professed the monastic life like her mother at Nivelles in Brabant, where she is still religiously venerated; and Blessed Begga, who married Ansigisus, the son of St. Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, and from him bore Pippin the Second, who defeated Theodoric, King of the Franks, in battle. 3. Begga, when her husband died, built a monastery at Andenne, and having professed the monastic life there, merited being enrolled in the Catalogue of Saints; whence her feast day is commemorated in the Martyrology on December 17. Pippin the Second's son was Charles, surnamed Martel, because he crushed the Saracens like a hammer; whence his motto is celebrated: "I do not wish to reign, but I wish to command kings." Martel's sons were Blessed Carloman, who, having left his dukedom, embraced the monastic life at Monte Cassino and shone as an example of religious humility; and Pippin the Third, surnamed the Short, who by the merit of his prudence and virtue, with the acclamation of the dukes and peoples, was created and crowned King of the Franks by Pope Stephen in the year of the Lord 753. This Pippin liberated Rome and Italy from the incursions of King Aistulf. The son of this Pippin was Charles, the Great by the glory of his deeds, upon whom Pope Leo III accordingly placed the imperial crown. Charles was succeeded by his son Louis, surnamed the Pious. Louis was succeeded by his son Lothair (from whom Lotharingia, subject to him, received its name), who, as august emperor and heir of his father's religion, after very many deeds accomplished as wisely as bravely, divided his kingdom among his sons, and having left the world and taken the habit of holy life in the monastery of Prum, happily completed the course of his life there. All these things are found in the Annals of the Franks, and in the Life of St. Modoald, gravely written by Stephen, Abbot of Liege, a serious man, which is found in Surius under May 12. Let the kings and princes of France, and all others, imitate these as their ancestors and forefathers, if they earnestly desire to perpetuate their kingdom and make the commonwealth flourish in justice and uprightness; let the powerful who judge the earth be instructed by their example.
I have narrated these things at greater length, because, as St. Jerome says: "The life of the saints is the interpretation of the Scriptures."
23. LOVE THE LIGHT OF WISDOM, ALL YOU WHO PRESIDE OVER PEOPLES.
This maxim is not in the Greek manuscripts, but in all the Latin ones. Hence the ancients used to dedicate a round shield to Pallas, by which they signified that the whole world is ruled by wisdom: for Pallas was the presiding deity of wisdom. Whence Martianus Capella sings of Pallas: "Hence wisdom gives you a shield, to rule the world." So Pierius, Hieroglyphica 42, chapter 42. There is an ancient saying: "The shield of the Romans was Fabius Maximus, and their sword was Marcellus." Moreover, princes are the teachers and leaders of the people; how great, therefore, must be the light of wisdom with which they should shine, so as to illuminate all with their teaching and holy life. Whence by Isaiah, chapter 29, verse 10, they are called eyes: "The Lord has poured out upon you, he says, a spirit of deep sleep, He will close your eyes, your prophets and your princes." Wherefore let princes devote themselves to prayer, and with Solomon ask God for wisdom, and in doubtful matters have recourse to God: for in prayer Moses, breathed upon by the light of God, received horns, that is, rays of light fixed to his face, Exodus 34:30. Indeed, Augustus Caesar, says Suetonius in chapter 79 of his Life: "had bright and shining eyes, in which he wished it to be thought there was something of divine power; and he was pleased if anyone, when looking at him intently, lowered his gaze as if before the brightness of the sun." Tiberius also, Augustus's successor, as Suetonius says in chapter 68 of his Life, "had very large eyes, which (a remarkable thing) could see even at night and in darkness, and when they had first opened from sleep." This is the brightness of the eyes of the body, but the brilliance of the eyes of the mind surpasses it.
St. Thomas wisely says, in Book 3 On the Government of Princes, chapter 3, comparing the king to the first angel, who is illuminated most immediately by God and illuminates the rest: "Of the irradiation just mentioned, necessary for good government both in the prince and in his subjects, we recognize a circular motion, both straight and oblique. The straight motion is so called because it happens through divine illumination upon the prince for governing well, and from the prince to the people by the merits of the prince. But it is oblique when through divine illumination he so governs his subjects that they themselves live virtuously, and divine praise and thanksgiving arise in them, so that there is, as it were, a kind of arched figure from the straight chord and the oblique arc. But the circular motion of divine rays is said to occur when divine illumination radiates upon the prince, and from the prince upon the subject, from which indeed one is elevated to contemplating and loving God; and this is called a circular motion because it goes from the same to the same: for from God to the prince, from the prince to the subjects, and from them back to God." Finally, how necessary wisdom is for a prince, Plato teaches admirably in Book 5
of the Republic; Stobaeus, sermon 46, which is on kingship; Lipsius, Politica Book 1, chapter 10; Tiraquellus, On Nobility, chapter 5; and our Pineda, Book 7 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 9.
24. BUT WHAT WISDOM IS, AND HOW SHE WAS MADE, I WILL RELATE: AND I WILL NOT HIDE FROM YOU THE MYSTERIES OF GOD, BUT FROM THE BEGINNING OF HER BIRTH I WILL SEARCH OUT, AND I WILL BRING TO LIGHT THE KNOWLEDGE OF HER, AND I WILL NOT PASS OVER THE TRUTH.
Up to this point there has been an exhortation and encouragement to wisdom; now he describes its origin, nature, and dignity, and the manner of attaining it, as if to say: Thus far I have exhorted all to wisdom; now, that my exhortation may be more effective, I will explain its nature, origin, and definition -- namely, what wisdom is, how it was made (in Greek, egeneto, that is, how it came into being), both in itself from God (and this principally), and in me, that is, how I attained it through prayer. The author speaks in the person of Solomon, as is clear from the following chapter, verse 5.
AND I WILL NOT HIDE FROM YOU THE MYSTERIES OF GOD. -- In Greek, "mysteries," and the word "of God" is not in the Greek, but is understood: for mysteries are proper to God, especially the origin of wisdom, for this was hidden in God from eternity and was revealed by Him to men in time, according to Job 28:20: "Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all the living, etc. God understands the way to it, and He knows its place." The philosophers also saw the same thing, for Plutarch, in his book On Isis, narrates that on the temple of Minerva, who was believed to be the goddess of wisdom (on whose head and helmet a sphinx was visible, as Pausanias testifies in his Attica; and the sphinx was a symbol of involved and abstruse matters), this emblem was inscribed: "I am all that exists, is, and will be, and my veil no mortal has yet revealed." And he adds that God was called by the Egyptians Amun, or Amon, that is, the Hidden One, and was invoked by them under that name, that He might deign to reveal Himself.
BUT FROM THE BEGINNING OF HER BIRTH (in Greek, gennēseōs, that is, of generation and origin -- both my own, as Hugo and Lorinus would have it, and more properly of wisdom herself) I WILL SEARCH OUT. -- Whence Vatablus translates: "but from her very first origin I will investigate the knowledge of her." He does this in the following chapter, where he narrates the origin of wisdom, both in herself -- namely, that she came forth from God, verse 25 -- and in Solomon, who there in verses 1 and following, elaborately narrates the beginnings of his own birth, and recalls that from his ignorance, darkness, and hardships, he ascended to invoking and obtaining wisdom.
AND I WILL BRING TO LIGHT (in Greek, eis to emphanes, that is, into the open) THE KNOWLEDGE OF HER (Vatablus: I will make known the knowledge of her), AND I WILL NOT PASS OVER THE TRUTH -- I will not spare the truth, nor hide it out of envy or any other base motive, as follows, but I will communicate it to all candidly and liberally. Mystically, Phoebadius, bishop in Gaul, applies this to the birth of Christ, in his book Against the Arians, volume 5 of the Library, where, having taught that the Son and all truth are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, he adds: "For the Spirit of knowledge and truth, through whom Solomon speaks of the Lord's birth, Wisdom 6:24: 'What wisdom is,' he says, 'and how she was made, I will relate, and from the beginning of her birth I will search her out' (whence he himself infers): Therefore through the same Spirit we can find what we seek."
25. NOR WILL I TRAVEL WITH WASTING ENVY: FOR SUCH A MAN (the envious one) WILL NOT BE A PARTAKER OF WISDOM.
Whence it is clear that "wasting" does not refer to "envy" but to the envious man, as if to say: Let me have no communication, no fellowship with the envious man, who out of envy conceals wisdom and begrudges it to others: for such a man cannot be a partaker or capable of wisdom, because the malice of envy blinds and clouds him, so that he cannot perceive wisdom, which is benevolent and communicative of herself. For this reason wisdom herself flees the envious and malevolent man, according to chapter 1, verse 4: "Wisdom will not enter into a malevolent soul" -- because this wisdom is sanctity, goodness, and charity itself, to which envy is diametrically opposed. Whence Vatablus translates: "nor will I yield to one wasting with envy, who cannot have a sound judgment about wisdom" -- that is, as our a Castro says, I will not imitate one touched by envy so as not to communicate wisdom; I will not associate with, I will have nothing in common with, nor will I deal with him who wastes with envy. By this word the nature of malice and envy is signified, for: "Envy, a poison that wastes the wicked, devours the marrow in untouched bones."
For wisdom communicates herself to all, because "what use is hidden wisdom and an invisible treasure?" Ecclesiasticus 20:32. And the ancients said that the doors of the Muses were open, because the gifts of God must be communicated candidly and liberally. Hence also Plato asserted that envy is far from God and from the divine choir; and following him as usual, Philo, in his book That Every Good Man Is Free, says: "Wisdom, since nothing is more divine and more accessible than she, never closes her lecture hall, but with open doors admits the thirsting." Following this, Solomon says in the next chapter, verse 13: "What I learned without pretense I communicate without envy," like the sun, which bestows the rays of its light upon all.
26. BUT A MULTITUDE OF THE WISE IS THE HEALTH (in Greek, soteria, that is, salvation) OF THE WORLD: AND A WISE KING IS THE STABILITY OF THE PEOPLE.
that is, the firm and stable condition of a people consists in the prudence of its king. He gives the reason why he does not wish to have dealings with the envious, nor to imitate those who want wisdom only for themselves and take care that many do not become like them in wisdom -- because, namely, it is to be desired that many be wise; for a multitude of them is the health, that is, the salvation of the world, because the wise strive to lead all to virtue and salvation by their teaching and holy life. Wherefore a wise king is the stability, that is, the foundation and pillar, of the people,
because he strives to instruct, preserve, and advance the people in every virtue and good. "The Scripture does not say," says St. Augustine in Book 4 of On Christian Doctrine, chapter 5, "a multitude of the eloquent, but of the wise, is the health of the world." Yet St. Augustine adds: "But what is better than wholesome sweetness, or sweet wholesomeness? For the more the sweetness is sought there, the more easily the wholesomeness benefits." Wherefore Charlemagne, restoring the study of letters throughout his whole kingdom, exclaimed: "O that I had twelve clerics so learned and instructed in all wisdom, as were Jerome and Augustine!" To which Albinus Flaccus, Charlemagne's teacher, somewhat indignantly replied: "The Creator of heaven and earth did not have more like them, and you wish to have twelve?" So reports the monk of St. Gall, in Book 1 of The Deeds of Charlemagne.
Moreover, the word "health" and "salvation" signifies that the wise man is a physician who cures the infirmities of others. Whence St. Basil, in Rule 30 of the Longer Rules, when he asked with what disposition of mind a superior should undertake the care of others, answers: "Like one who ministers to many wounded, and wipes the discharge from each of their wounds, and applies remedies suited to the nature of each illness -- he is accustomed to use that office not at all for the elation of souls, but rather for humility and solicitude and a certain greater care. Likewise, and much more so, the one to whom the charge of healing the whole society of brethren has been delegated, inasmuch as he is the minister of all and will render an account for each one of them, ought to ponder in his mind and strive anxiously." Cantacuzenus gives the example of Moses, who stood in the breach and resisted God when He wished to destroy the people for the adored calf, and obtained pardon and salvation for them, Exodus 32; and Zerubbabel, who led the people from Babylonian captivity back to their homeland and freedom. Hear St. Gregory, Book 9 of the Moralia, chapter 10: "Under whom bend those who bear the world: for they themselves bear the world who endure the cares of the present age. For each one is compelled to sustain as great burdens as correspond to his governance in this world. Whence also the prince of the earth is not unfittingly called in the Greek tongue koiranos: for koiranos is interpreted as 'people.' Therefore koiranos is called basis laou, which in the Latin language means 'foundation of the people': because he himself sustains the people upon himself, who, fixed by the weight of that power, governs their movements. For as he bears the burdens of his subjects, so the foundation bears the column placed upon it, as it were."
He proves the same thing by the comparison of a bird called the icterus, because it heals those with jaundice, about which Pliny says in Book 30, chapter 11: "A bird is called the icterus from its color, which, if it is looked at, they say this disease is cured, and the bird dies." Alluding to this, St. Ambrose says: "For if there is such power in natural things that a living animal benefits those with jaundice, so that even the horn of this dead animal is said to be beneficial, as has been demonstrated to those who have fallen into such a...
Again, a most clear example of this maxim is found in Sodom, which God would have spared if He had found ten just men in it, Genesis 18:32. See St. Ambrose, Book 1 On Abraham, chapter 5: "For the sake of the justice of a few," he says, "He promises impunity to the whole people. Whence we learn how great a wall for the fatherland a just man is, and how we ought not to envy holy men nor rashly detract from them; for their faith preserves us, their justice defends us from destruction. Sodom too, if it had had ten men, could have avoided perishing." The a priori reason is that the just are members of the commonwealth, and indeed its noblest members, who, as it were, clothe the whole commonwealth with their justice, and indeed communicate their justice to it, according to Psalm 118:63: "I am a partner of all who fear You." Wherefore God spares the whole commonwealth, because He sees that many just people exist in it: for just as a member participates in the whole body, so in turn the body participates in the goodness and health of the member. Add what St. Ambrose says on Psalm 118, section 10, regarding the words: "Those who fear You shall see me and be glad," etc.: "For most people, the sight of a just man is an admonition to correction; for the more perfect, however, it is a source of joy. How beautiful, therefore, if you are both seen and do good! Good, therefore, is a just man. For this reason, finally, the Apostle Paul went up to Jerusalem to see the just men; and he remained with Peter for fifteen days, that he might profit something from his company."
Such was Amalasuntha (a name which in Gothic and Belgian means, as it were, "son"), the Catholic and pious daughter of the Arian and impious Theodoric, King of the Goths, who succeeded her father in the kingdom of Italy when male offspring was lacking. She administered it with wonderful wisdom and uprightness, and restored their goods to the children of Symmachus and Boethius (whom her father had unjustly killed), and entrusted her son Athalaric to good and learned teachers for his instruc-
tion; but the Goths opposed this, boasting in their Gothic barbarity that literary culture made the spirit effeminate, led it to fear, drew it away from arms and the boldness of waging war -- arguing that a king who had learned to fear a teacher's rod would be much more terrified of the swords and weapons of enemies. She yielded to them, although unwillingly, but to the great harm of her son and the Goths, as the outcome showed. So says Procopius, Book 1 of the Gothic War, and Baronius under the year of the Lord 536, under the Emperor Justinian: for Amalasuntha was a contemporary and ally of his. Louis XI, King of France, wanted his son Charles to be ignorant of all arts, lest he be too resistant in taking counsel and too tenacious of his own opinion; and indeed this came to pass, for two or three of the most worthless men led the king now here, now there, to the great indignation and harm of his subjects. He erred, therefore, for true philosophy, as Plato testifies, is teachable and obedient to sound counsels, and indeed knows how to distinguish so keenly between counsels and counselors as to know which are upright, which wicked, which sound, which harmful -- which look to private advantage, which to the public good.
condition -- can we doubt that the sight of a just man heals? Therefore, if a worthless irrational animal has such power that it can heal a man in a brief moment, does a just man, if he is looked upon with faith by one who desires to receive benefit from him, contribute nothing? Do not the very rays of the eyes seem to infuse a certain power into those who faithfully desire to see him? But just as a just man gladdens the hearts of the innocent when he is seen, so too the wicked are tormented by the knowledge of the just, because they are reproved even by the silent conduct of the saints. Chastity torments incontinence, liberality torments avarice, faith torments impiety." And after some intervening remarks: "The serpent itself is also said to die if it is first seen by a man. Therefore, if there is such power either in the eyes of a serpent or in the eyes of a man, that whichever one sees the other first can kill, is there not power in the eyes of a just man, who is filled with the grace of virtue, especially since faith works so powerfully that the woman who touched the hem of the Lord was healed, and the man upon whom the Lord Jesus fixed His gaze immediately drew the grace of healing from His eyes? But he who sees a just man must know what he sees: he does not see him in his body, not in his clothing, not in his wealth, not in his face, but he sees him within. I say, he does not truly see him unless he has seen his mind, unless he has attended to his speech, unless he has been able to grasp his thoughts and draw wisdom from his discourse. Then therefore he will rejoice, when he has perceived these things, when he has come to know them. So then let us also, wherever we have heard of a just man, hasten to see him, like that woman who heard that the Lord Jesus was reclining in the house of the Pharisee, and entered and poured ointment upon His feet. Let us be imitators of her: for who would doubt that the Church is prefigured in that woman? Wherever therefore a just man sits, wherever he reclines, let us hasten to see him. It is precious to see a just man, that you may see him according to the image of God. What is on the outside profits nothing; what is within heals. Indeed, even in the one who
is on the outside, we frequently look upon him who is within." Whence he finally concludes: "The Gentiles worship wood, because they think it the image of God; but the image of the invisible God is not in what is seen, but assuredly in what is not seen. Do you see, then, that we walk among many images of Christ? Let us beware lest we seem to remove the crown from the image which Christ has placed on each one." He therefore who sees a just man, loves, honors, and imitates him; in him, as in an image, he sees, loves, honors, and imitates Christ, and therefore by him he is healed in mind, and often in body, from the infirmity that holds him. A multitude, therefore, of wise men, that is, of just men endowed with virtue, especially eminent ones who excel in teaching or counsel so as to instruct and govern or guide others, is the salvation of the whole world.
27. THEREFORE RECEIVE DISCIPLINE THROUGH MY WORDS, AND IT WILL PROFIT YOU.
indeed, it will win for you many and the greatest gifts, which he enumerates in the following chapter. It is a meiosis (understatement). The philosopher Carneades had so wonderfully devoted himself to the works of learning that when he had reclined for the purpose of taking food, being absorbed in his thoughts, he would forget to extend his hand to the table, and his wife Melissa, in the duty of relieving his fasting, would guide his right hand to the necessary uses. Cato the Younger, even in the senate-house while the senate was being convened, could not restrain himself from continually reading Greek books; by which diligence he showed that some lack time, while others have time to spare. It is written of Varro that on the same couch both his spirit and the course of his distinguished works were extinguished together. The zeal for learning of the philosopher Cleanthes was so persistent that, lest he be absent from Chrysippus's lectures during the daytime, he would spend the nighttime drawing water to sustain himself in his poverty. The industry and diligence of these men in pursuing human disciplines, if it does not now powerfully stir up our sluggish negligence and sloth regarding divine matters and the procuring of the soul's salvation, will hereafter severely condemn it.